Chapter 3185 Death Returns (Part 1) 3185 Death Returns (Part 1) "It must be his father's fault." Derek focused on the construct's gentle features while focusing hard on the word "father". At first, only flashbacks from Ezio's beating and abuse came to his mind, making Derek's stomach churn and his eyes twitch. After a while, as the Void dug deeper and the Voidfeather led the way, another face appeared. It was a poor-looking man who had skipped one meal too many and spent too much time under the sun. His skin was tanned brown and full of wrinkles. Hard work gave him solid muscles but his face was gaunt and there was dirt under his nails. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦 "The classic piece of shit who takes his anger out on his sons just because he made more children than he can afford." Derek snarled in disgust, just to eat his own prediction one second later. The man treated his wife and baby boy like treasures, making sure she had plenty of food and rest to feed the newborn properly. The Void watched another mean-looking young boy, strangely similar to the first, stealing the baby's food. The man stepped in, punishing the youth and more than making up for the baby's lost food. Derek stood in a daze as Raaz taught a young Lith how to read, write, count, and at a later age how to whittle. The man was a hard worker but not an absent father. Raaz spent his free time carving simple toys for the young boy and built with him a wooden swing. He never raised his voice or hands and always led by example, teaching his youngest that a man's authority lies in the responsibilities he shoulders, not in how strong he is. "The fuck?" Derek was outraged. "The owner of this body had wonderful parents and yet he turned into an evil overlord? I mean, I can understand why he doesn't want to die and has summoned me to take my body, but how can he not think how his parents will react when they discover the truth? "That he has killed countless innocents for his selfish desi- Wait a minute. If he needs another body, shouldn't his parents be dead of old age by now? This doesn't make sense!" Of course it didn't, because there was no evil overlord. Only Lith. "Screw it. I'm done obsessing over this bastard. If he wants my body, he can take it. Or rather, he can try." A cruel smile appeared on his face. "I'm not done having fun yet. Little buddy, what am I supposed to do?" Thanks to the chink in the barrier separating the life forces, the Voidfeather Dragon managed to re-establish contact with Ragnar?k. The poor sword had no idea why its master kept asking it questions and then ordering it to display the answers he already knew. Yet Ragnar?k's loyalty was unshakable and its limited consciousness dismissed things like doubt and confusion as pointless details. The befuddled blade conjured a hologram without hesitation. Explanations could wait. All Ragnar?k wanted was for its master to go back to normal, save Solus, and return home. In this order. The holographic interface read: "Go to the closest city and ask for help." The progression bar was now past the 50% mark and Derek noticed there were plenty of new spells available. "This is really weird. In all the system stories I've read, the guy gets stats and skill points by completing bullshit missions. Instead, I gain mine by following the random memories that pop into my head or simply by following my instinct. "All the spells listed here I've remembered them while fighting the elves, healing the trav-" The word struck a chord in Derek's mind. "Remembering? Not learning? It would explain how I can master unknown disciplines so quickly." 'I'm done getting excited.' The Voidfeather Dragon grunted. 'I bet that now George will spout some paranoid crap to fail to realize that he is Lith Verhen.' "I think I understand now. This Verhen guy doesn't want to prepare my body for takeover. He's already inside my body. When the bar gets filled, either I'll turn into him or our minds will fuse into one. "The 'system' is probably not even real. Just something he has dug up from my memories to make me accept this absurd scenario without going crazy." 'Go on.' The Voidfeather waved his hand. 'Trip on your feet one centimeter away from the finishing line. We both know you want to do it. There's no need to hold back for my sake.' "Well, he has made one big mistake." Derek grinned. "I don't care about life or death. What's a huge mess for him is nothing to me. Even if I turn into a corpse, I'll just be reborn somewhere else. Maybe even in a more powerful body." 'No! By Oppenheimer's guilt, don't say it!' "I'll follow your instructions, Verhen." Derek said while staring at the hologram. "But I promise you that the moment I feel my consciousness slipping away, I'll cripple you so badly and cause so much destruction that you'll die right after me." 'I knew it! I hate you, George!' The Voidfeather thought about changing the instructions on the hologram, but it was too late. "I'd better move. I have only until sundown before I go crazy again." Derek grunted, flying back toward the main road. 'That's great.' The Voidfeather Dragon rolled his eyes. 'The connection is lost again until something triggers more memories and even if I take back my last suggestion, George would never listen to me. 'He'd think I know that he knows and I'm trying to stop him. He would go to the city just to piss me off. I can only hope that someone has come up with a very good plan because I don't think George is going down without a fight.' Lith didn't have Solus' eidetic memory but he had taken note of enough landmarks and flown in an almost straight line so finding his way back wasn't hard. He only got lost a couple of times and ended up two hundred kilometers north of the point he remembered. Luckily for him, the main road to Zeska was large and extended for dozens of miles. As long as one moved in its general direction, it was impossible to miss. "Man, I suck at this. I need a [GPS]." Derek sighed. At least he knew he was going in the right direction because the road signs for Zeska were bigger than those for other cities and written with larger letters. Also, the signs had a small crown carved next to Zeska's name. "It must be the imperial capital." The Void said, wrong on all accounts. "I can finally find out whose body I'm inhabiting. If he's filthy rich, I can spend his money and live like a Hollywood star. "I can't wait to see Verhen's face when he finds out I've left him dirt poor." 'Why wait? Just look yourself in the mirror, George.' The Voidfeather grunted. 'And take a good picture, because if you squander the money, I bet the moment you regain your memories you won't be smiling for a long while.' The flight to Zeska took way longer than Derek expected but only because he stopped to study his surroundings often.