The Old Man
1054 Words
“I’m Shiro Kruz, the eldest son of the Kruz family, the heir of STAR-FIRE lineage!”
“...”
“Hahahahaha! I hit a fortune!!! Hahahaha.”, the old man started laughing in the most weirdest way possible.
“Looks like he really has gone senile...”
Immediately after he said that the old man appeared out of no where. He had long white hairs with some white beard. He was looking like a typical caveman.
Shiro was looking at him in a weird way and thought about ignoring him when suddenly he noticed something which made him confused.
"Oh my God, just who is he?", he wasn't able to look at his stats nor was he able to get any information about the old man.
This was the first time that the system hadn't worked after a long time. It was indeed weird since it was told that no one could enter the forest and come out so Shiro thought of only one conclusion.
"Are you stuck in this forest?"
"Huh?", the old man reacted almost instantly which allowed Shiro to confirm that his thinking was right.
"That's..." The old man was trying to thinking of some excuse when Shiro immediately laughed at him.
"Hahaha, I knew it. You are trapped here from long ago right?", he was indeed correct and the old man had to admit it anyway since he himself was going to tell this soon.
"Cheeky brat, respect elderly people!", the man was trying to show dominance over Shiro.
"Huh? So you agree that you are an old bastard? Pffttt." Shiro couldn't control his laughter and tried to taunt the old man who was trying to outwit Shiro.
"YOU! Haven't you been thought what manners are?", the old man was slowly being angered even more. He wanted to crush Shiro right away but unfortunately he couldn't since half of his powers were sealed.
Even if he had all his powers, he still wouldn't have hurt him since he was his last hope of carrying on the inheritance. He didn't want to destroy this last ray of hope.
"Oh, are you angry?", Shiro was indeed taunting him since he too was an old man from inside. No one had ever looked down on him in his past life and that was the main reason why he was so arrogant!
"Tsk, never mind. I have a favor to ask of you...", the old man controlled his emotions and finally asked Shiro to help him.
"Oh? You want my help?", Shiro was confused as he didn't find anything that would make him eligible for helping but regardless he still wanted to hear him.
"Yes."
"Fine tell me, what help do you need?"
The old man shook his head and started telling him about the request he had.
"The thing is I have been stuck in this forest for too long and the outside world has almost forgotten about me. So what I want you to do is learn my arts and pass it down so that my lineage can continue."
The old man looked pitiful as he said this. Shiro looked at him and imagined himself being in his place. He then thought for a while after sitting on a rock.
"Well, if I learn something new, I will without a doubt grow strong for sure, so in a way it will benefit me. I can pass these to my children or friends... that way it will continue to live on forever!"
The old man was expecting a good reply from him. He had his eyes closed tightly and waiting for him to finish thinking.
Shiro looked towards the old man and said, "Well, can you tell me how to exit this forest?"
The old man heard him and thought that he wanted to exit immediately and didn't want to fulfill his request.
"I'm not completely sure about that but it seems that we need a sacrifice in order to leave the forest."
Shiro immediately asked, "Sacrifice? What kind of sacrifice?"
"Well, it is just a guess but the sacrifice might be of a dragon..."
The moment Shiro heard those words, he immediately stood up and started to move back slowly. He thought that the old man might try to kill him since he too is a dragon and then after offering him, he could easily leave the forest.
"Haha, don't worry. I don't plan on killing you."
Shiro immediately paused and asked hesitantly, "How can I believe you?"
The old man immediately said, "I am not asking you to believe me but the thing is if I really wanted to kill you then I would have done it long ago. Also I would have never revealed this to you about this in the first place!"
His words somehow seemed convincing so he waited for him to finish saying everything he knows.
The old man started saying everything and one by one everything started to become clear. Soon 1 hour had passed in listening and asking about this forest after which the old man immediately asked, "So will you really help me? Are you ready to become my disciple?"
The old man was extremely happy and excited to know that Shiro had listened and understood everything keenly. He was now eagerly waiting for his approval of learning the Dragon Arts which he was supposed to teach.
"Hmm, very well then. I'm ready to learn your arts..."
There was a great improvement in the old man's expressions and he immediately asked him to prepare himself for learning the great arts that were long lost at least that's what the old man was thinking.
But little did he know that his descendants still existed and were practicing those arts even now. Though the actual master who created them was this old man who was standing before Shiro, many of them had already mastered the level of understanding of those arts.
"Okay then, I will rest for sometime and you guard me. After that I will start learning the arts."
Shiro was by no means wrong since he knew that he had exhausted his mana and it would take him quite a while to regain all of them and that was why he asked the old man to guard him since there were still many beasts in the forest.
To Be Continued...
- Writer
