Chapter 42: Encounter.
Chapter 42: Encounter.
The next morning, Felix woke up with gusto and refreshed himself before doing his usual routine of morning meditation.
One hour later, he finished and entered the bathroom to wash off his sweat.
Before entering rank 1, cultivators had to cleanse their bodies of all impurities and break the first limit of their bodies. Until then, they could only meditate and train for days and months.
From what he had heard from Steve, every rank had four minor stages in them, they were; early, mid, late, and peak stages. Being a rank 0, he was called a novice warrior and could only get the title of a Mortal Warrior after advancing.
Coming out of his bathroom, Felix flexed in several gym poses in front of the mirror while wearing his clothes which were getting a bit tight.
"Holy sh*t, I look so damn cool."
His fair and fit body looked majestic along with his shining hair. After changing from his previous weak body, he could now call himself handsome with shapely cheeks and beautiful red eyes.
Done with praising himself, he came out of his room with a smile and entered the dining hall, eating a nice meal for breakfast.
Still eating, he glanced around and failed to find the chatterbox.
It seemed the boy was preoccupied with something else or he already had lunch and was going on a mission.
Coming out after a full meal, he thought of going out into the city for today as Steve was absent for more training.
His clothes were getting smaller and tight with his growing body, so he had to buy some new pair of clothes and other necessities for him.
When he walked down the stairs to the reception hall, he saw Miss Elsa busy with some work.
After not seeing her for more than 12 days as he was busy with training and meditation, he kind of missed her.
Approaching the reception desk, he placed his hand on it and called out to her with a smile.
"Hey there Miss Elsa, how are you doing?"
The receptionist was busy handling her work so when a voice called out to her, she got annoyed and raised her head to scold the person.
"Don't you think it's rude-....wait,....Felix is that you?"
Her voice turned from stern to surprised as she widened her blue eyes reflecting her astonishment.
Felix smiled wider and nodded his head while showing his both arm's biceps to her.
"Hehe, it's me Felix, Miss Elsa. I've got bulk after training in seclusion for a few days. Don't I look awesome?"
He didn't know why but showing off his gains to her made him feel nice and satisfying. The way her beautiful features changed after looking at his strong body made his heart soothe.
Elsa stared in amazement as the previous weak and small boy had suddenly gotten taller and bigger almost reaching her height. But what made her heart skip was his handsome face and bright red eyes that seemed to have grown healthier and captivating.
"Umm.....you surprised me there and yes, you look a lot better now."
She said with a happy smile while calming her heart from falling for the boy. In her mind, he was still a kid so she could not have some forbidden feelings for him.
The both of them chatted for a while with Felix telling her about his training except for how he tricked Steve into becoming his wikipedia and free training partner.
She nodded in appreciation when he gave his best at meditating and training as now he was just a bit further away from reaching rank 1.
If his talent was higher at three or four stars, then he could have already advanced in about one or two weeks but given his average talent of two stars, it was a nice result to have achieved this much.
"By the way, Miss Elsa. Today I'll be going out to buy some things for me. So can you mark some shops where I could buy stuff from?"
Felix brought out the map of the city from behind him and handed it to her with a strange smile.
She received the map shaking her head and marked various shops while chuckling before handing it back to him.
"Take it, I've pointed out some places where you could buy clothes, weapons, accessories, and many other things on here. Be careful on your way out there and don't follow some strange people if they talk with you."
"Alright, I'll remember that. Thank you, Miss Elsa."
He thanked her and turned around to leave the hall when she called him back again.
"Wait, I forgot about this."
Opening a drawer from her desk, she took a bag from there and placed it on the desk as the chimes of coins hitting the wooden table sounded.
Felix came back to the desk and curiously asked while tilting his head and staring at the bag.
"What's the matter?"
Elsa smiled poking out her tongue, and hit her head cutely.
"I forgot about this. As you and the kids were given a false mission and were exposed to danger, the guild had to compensate you and also reward you for saving them. So here is five thousand tahl that you deserve."
Looking at the bag, Felix was surprised as he picked it up and weighed it in his hand.
"Really? I get all this?", he smiled at the unexpected reward.
"Yes. You get it everything."
"And for the others?"
"Their compensation was already sent to their homes."
Accepting the money, he tied the bag to his belt and thanked her.
"Thank you. With this, I'll be able to buy more things."
His face beamed with joy as he couldn't wait to go buy nice clothes for him.
"I'm going now, bye."
He waved his hands and walked toward the main door under the engrossed eyes of the receptionist.
'He's growing stronger while showing incredible spirit for fighting. Although he has average talent, it can be replaced by hard training and sufficient grooming. Maybe he can be the one the guild leader is looking for.'
Elsa mused as she remembered her leader's job that he had shamelessly handed to her.
While the receptionist observed the boy pondering about the future, Felix walked out of the hall by showing his card to the door.
Feeling the cool wind of the morning, he glanced around at the sky and sucked deep breaths of the fresh air after staying inside for several days.
"Haaa~, it feels nice to finally come out and touch some grass."
Unlike many hermits who rarely come out of their homes, he was someone with an adventurous spirit who used to walk around the neighborhood.
Although he used to unconsciously get into fights and trouble in his daily walks, he swore that he was not the one to hit first.
Walking out of the gates, he left the guild building and opened his map.
"Hmmm, where should we go now?"
Noticing the location of a store not far away from here to the north, he chose to go there and read the directions of the way.
"Okay, from here we go north and turn to the east after walking two kilometers."
He nodded and folded the map before stepping forward in the north direction to the store.
Strolling in the busy morning street, he glanced around at the local people and shops who were going about their daily lives.
As he walked, other people noticed him and stared at his handsome figure with his shining silver hair dancing softly in the wind. It was the first time in their life to see someone with such a rare color of hair, also with an attractive pair of eyes and face.
They thought he was some noble but rejected that idea when they saw his commoner clothes. The nobles would die but never wear such clothes which they called as filthy.
Noticing the people eyeing him with interest, especially the cute girls and mature ladies, Felix got a bit nervous.
'I know I'm handsome, but you don't have to stare so much.....'
He was never handsome in his previous, just average, and most of the girls he had met would be scared to talk with him as his notorious reputation was quite famous around the area.
Walking while showing a confident expression on his face, he ignored all the people and made sure to not forget the way as he traversed around the streets.
Some minutes later, he reached his destination and stopped in front of it.
"Raziel's Clothing Store huh..."
Staring at the big board above the store, he read its name and nodded at himself as the exterior looked grand and posh.
"I hope they're not too pricey."
Shrugging at his not-so-rich self, he walked ahead and opened the nice-looking door of the store.
"Chime~"
The bell at the door chimed as someone else walked out the door at the same time and bumped into him with their heads hitting each other.
"Bam-"
"Ouch" x2
Felix rubbed his head even though it didn't hurt much and looked straight at the person who headbutted him with almost the same height.
"Look where you're going, idiot!"
A clear and soft voice complained in anger but her words were like ethereal music to the ears, unlike her intended grumbling.
With a pair of captivating purple eyes that could charm anyone at first sight, her similarly colored waist-leveled long hair was neatly tied in a ponytail.
Her fair face without a blemish was pouting as she looked in slight anger at the boy who was speechlessly staring at her with his wide eyes.
The girl harrumphed and raised her leg before stomping it onto his feet with a slight force to awaken him from his stupor.
But the pain did not faze him at all as he continued to stare at her absentmindedly before voicing out.
"Beautiful..."