Villain Path

Chapter 21. New novel

Muan jerked forward for a moment as Shen fell, but he froze with his hand outstretched.

And Shen was somehow slightly cheered up by the fall on the hard stone. With a muffled growl, he sat up with difficulty.

"Um ... are you okay?" Muan asked in a conciliatory tone.

Shen's gaze wished him a quick death right there.

Actually, Muan wanted to offer him his help, but still figured that Shen would rather throw him off the bridge than accept it. The task of mending their relationship turned out to be more difficult than Muan had imagined. More precisely, he always assessed it as his full right to express disapproval of the owner of the Cursed Peak, to watch and not let him do vile deeds and all that. The fact that it can work both ways, and in fact, Shen will not change a bad opinion of him just because Muan changed his opinion, he somehow did not think. And now the good old damn Shen again looks at him as an enemy. Previously, this did not cause any emotions, but now for some reason it hurt.

"In any case, I said everything I wanted. I have to go," Muan said in a calm tone, bowed slightly, turned around and walked away.

Then, Shen, still watching him, saw Muan leap onto the sword and fly into the air, quickly moving away. After watching him with tense eyes, Shen finally took a breath.

[+10 to villainous image], commented System.

Shen lay down on the bridge and stared up at the blue sky.

The next few days passed (surprisingly) in peace and quiet. No one had ever tried to encroach on Shen's loneliness in the black castle. He spent these days in bed, and, since there was absolutely nothing to do, he managed to bother System with questions so much that she had already refused to get in touch for several hours. But he found out how he got to the Golden Dawn Peak, disconnected in a clearing (Would it be worthwhile to thank Muan? No - for - what!), how to activate his overwhelming dark aura, what kind of story arcs and tasks opened up when he did not pay attention to it and why Lord Leo had a falling out with Shen at one time. The latter turned out to be a rather interesting story. It turns out that in the past Shen and Lev got along well, but Lev always had a slight weakness, and people with weaknesses were like a red rag to a bull for Shen. He simply could not leave everything as it was and not use his knowledge to please his mean soul. He did it solely for fun. Lev's weakness was completely naive - he was still a collector of rare pearls. And not for any mercantile reasons, but solely for aesthetic pleasure. And he once learned about one huge, enormous, beautiful pearl, which, of course, was guarded by a giant demon snake, it was hidden in the bowels of the mountain, shrouded in an ancient curse, and so on and so forth, as far as the meager imagination of the deep-seated - darkness even when he was an ordinary hack. In general, Lev organized a sacred trip to the pearl, persuading Shen to help him. The deal was not without persuasion, and the owner of the Black Lotus Peak bargained for himself half of the wine warehouse - the second pride-collection of Lord Lev. So how did the case end? It was already obvious, but Shen did not interrupt System when she told this. Of course, Shen defeated the snake and got to the pearl, but when Lord Lev was already pulling his little hands for his charm, spreading into a happy smile, Shen hid it in his pocket and declared that it was now his property. Hurey, curtain. Lev never managed to take the pearl from Shen, although he tried many times. Lev was patient enough and made numerous attempts to persuade Shen, angry, but still not hating him. But when Shen said that he destroyed the pearl, then Lev could not endure this and since then he fiercely disliked Shen.

And now the plot task offered Shen to make peace with this man. Why not, really? (Sarcasm.)

Quiet days continued, and Shen decided to meditate and put his golden core in relative order. He climbed the highest of the towers of the black castle, went out onto the roof, warned Systema to tell him something in a week if he didn't notice how time flies again, and plunged into meditation. The golden core was still veiled. The mental wound was also in place. Concentrating his inner energy, Shen began to pacify this darkness in his chest, trying to squeeze it to a small point, just like the darkness of the curse was sealed into his golden core. Perhaps he will be able to restrain his "demonic transformation" or at least consciously control it. At first it seemed to him that everything was going quite easily, but then a sharp pain pierced his stomach, he bent over, almost groaning. Concentration was broken, and the dark veil immediately spread back to its original place.