9 JIGANSKI ORIGINAL POPULATION

Fish, bats, and reptiles have been my food for the past month. My fragile body is constantly being trained by the Black Pearl so that it can accommodate all the magic power that we will collect in this body.

In a short period, the lessons taught by Black Pearl were straightforward to understand, and I started to get used to controlling the magic soot around me.

"Hera, don't you want to step forward for now?"

Black Pearl's question made me realize my condition was getting worse daily. My shoulder blades began to show clearly, and the hollows of my cheeks and ribs were very clearly visible.

"I won't force you to do all this, but…."

"Black Pearl, I know." That was my only answer to him to keep him quiet for a moment.

Every night I go downstream and start leaning my back on the riverbank while tilting my head to see the blue moonlight.

"What should I do?" I thought.

The moonlight shone on my ugly face. "Haaah~!" I can only sigh, seeing the way my life is now.

It was time to sleep in the dilapidated barn that had become my new home. The cold night made me unable to sleep peacefully, and the swish of the wind grew stronger.

In my sleep, I dreamed about Grandma.

"Grandmother? Is that you?" I asked as I chased after the shadow.

My hands couldn't reach him as if there was a barrier between him and me.

Grandma saw me and said, "Go west until you find the palace ruins and look for it."

"Grandmother!" loudly enough, I called out to him as I gasped and sat up, reaching for something as my body awoke.

"What is it?" asked the Black Pearl, who was surprised by my wake in the early morning.

"We have to go west!"

"West? What are you looking for?"

"I don't know, but I felt and saw a splash of green soot like Jervin from the west."

Black Pearl was silent.

"Well, can we get out of this place?" My skeptical question made Black Pearl respond quickly.

"Of course! Who do you think I am?" he arrogantly solved my tension and doubt.

An hour had passed before the sun lit up the horizon above me, but I had not seen any sign of large debris along my way.

"Tired," I moaned as I leaned against the collapsed building.

I took out a water bag made of lizard skin that I had made using my black magic. The water filled my mouth, and at the same time, the ring I found at the beginning of my suffering began to shine strongly.

"Huh? What's this?"

"Looks like he's responding to something," said Black Pearl.

I started down the road in front of me, noticing the thing that triggered this cursed ring. Before long, a similar light appeared through the moss-covered ruins of the wood with the rafters running out.

"Looks like there," I thought.

Green soot began to collect in the cracks of the ground I stepped on, but white soot was the dominant one. I quickly hit the ground and used my black magic to break my footing.

"Aaah! Why is there a big hole down here?" I shouted, falling and being swayed by gravity.

"Hera! Don't let yourself fall!" Black Pearl's orders made me shudder.

"He must have felt something I didn't," I thought.

I quickly hit the dirt wall beside me and softened the ground so my fingers wouldn't hurt, releasing little by little my magic so that my thin body stopped on the wall.

"What happened?" I asked Black Pearl.

"Look!" then he showed me something I had seen before, but my current view was completely different from before.

Its white body is decorated with black patterns that are circular with a large body that makes the creature look graceful and deadly.

"What's that-"

"That's right, she is the mother of the white snake that injured you."

Suddenly my body shivered, and cold sweat started pouring down until my body went limp.

"Hera, hold on! I know it's impossible, but… you know that—"

"Well, I know what I have to do… Black Pearl, may I ask you something?" I try to keep interacting with him so that my consciousness is not distracted.

"Do all magical creatures have magic from you or your brother?" I asked.

"Hmm, it's hard for me to say no, but that's what happened."

"But why is their magic color so soft rather than human magic?" I continued to extract information from him while watching the monstrous creature below me.

"Magic beings are creatures we voluntarily bestow magic on, whereas human magic is a magic they took by force from us." Her explanation made the image of Grandma come back to me.

"Is Grandma too?"

Silence. Black Pearl's snort started to sound as if she was reluctant to tell the truth about Grandma.

"Not! I'm the one who gave him magic through Imirin Kafa even though he doesn't know what's going on, but that's the truth."

The ambiguous answer left me a little confused. Suddenly my heart felt like it had been released from a shackle when I heard the answer.

"Black Pearl," I called.

"Hmm?"

"How long will I hang here?"

"Have you calmed down?" He made sure I was.

I nodded as I swallowed the saliva in my dry throat.

"Well, it's a time for each him a lesson!"

"Wait! Wait! How do I beat him?" I said, blazing.

"Hera, that creature is weaker than you, believe me. Don't you believe me?" asked the Black Pearl who cornered me.

"I, I...."

"Why are you hesitating? Calm down! You have gone through the strenuous training period I gave you, and the results are quite satisfactory. Maybe," he said.

"You might say! You just said it was impossible. Are you crazy? You just doubt what I expect of me!"

The Black Pearl fell silent as if confirming my words and making my heart wild.

"I'm back!" In annoyance, I climbed up the dirt wall but—

Knock!

"Shit!"

A stone that I was stepping on fell. The boulder is large enough that in just 3 seconds, the rock hits right on the snake's snout.

His eyelids began to open.

"Black Pearl, see you in the afterlife."

"There's no hope anymore," I thought hopelessly.

"Who dares to wake my sleep!" The mighty roar of the snake made my body limp, and I almost fainted, and I unconsciously cast black magic in my hand so that the ground I had gripped firmly on softened and crumbled.

"Eh? Aaah!"

Bumps!

"Safe!" I shouted happily, having landed safely by softening the ground with my magic.

"Hoo! So… this skeleton human who dared to wake me up?"

His arrogant insults made me angry again.

"Hah?! Skeleton, you say?" I unconsciously provoked and tilted my face at him.

His face began to wonder when he met my gaze. "What happened to your face?" asked the serpent flatly, as if his will to fight had disappeared the instant he saw my face.

I quickly covered my face and squeaked, "It's okay." While enduring immense shame.

The snake kept watching me, so it made me uncomfortable.

"Enough! You know this is the work of that little white snake!"

"Little snake, what do you mean?" He tilted his head for me to look up.

How surprised I was to see thousands, wasn't it? Hundreds of thousands of snakes filled the walls of the hole.

"But ...."

"What?"

"Hmm, this is the first time a human has been able to live after receiving this much venom from my children. Who are you?"

There was neither wind, nor any sign of impending disaster as the Black Pearl's magic suddenly filled my body.

Quickly the snake was shocked and immediately became violent.

"Is he dangerous?" I asked Black Pearl.

"Now I understand your aim! He is our go-between and our first step in starting all this!"