CURSED AND LOVE

THE ABILITY OF JOCEFIE

Seeing the two people leaving without saying another word, the middle aged man who was still feeling rather wary finally relaxed his guard against them but he did not ask them to stay, as the things they were going to do here on this trip must not have any outsiders with them.

After walking for a distance, Khallel Alcatraz was still feeling rather puzzled and he asked: "Little kid, did we agree to ask whether they would let us travel with them? Why did we leave without even asking?"

Jocefie had a blade of foxtail grass dangling from his mouth, her strides carefree and uninhibited as she swung a small tree branch in her hand before she said: "Why should we travel with them?"

"Of course it is for them to lend us a helping hand when there is danger!"

"Wrong."

She shook her head and reasoned: "One must depend on himself. When one is always thinking of depending on others, he is bound to not survive long. Moreover, the reason we approached the group was to rid ourselves of the wolves. Now that the wolves are no longer following us, why would we want to continue to stick to them?"

Khallel Alcatraz was speechless as he scratched his head: "That sounds quite reasonable I think." As he spoke, his eyes began to fill with awe and admiration as he looked at the little beggar and continued to say: "Little kid, you are so obviously much younger than I am, but you are so much smarter and highly skilled than I am."

"Of course, you think I am like you? Having gotten yourself stabbed in the back."

"What stabbed in the back?" He asked, not understanding what she was saying.

Jocefie rolled her eyes and glared at him a moment as she slowly explained patiently: "Your wound came from a stab from close proximity, and it was from behind you while you were not aware. It is obvious that someone you know wants to kill you and you don't even believe me when I say that you are dumb."

Upon hearing Jocefie's words, Khallel Alcatraz was taken aback a moment and was unable to speak for a long while as he walked with his head lowered in forlorn silence.

The two people did not just walk without stopping as Jocefie's purpose in the forest was to pick herbs and the route they took was windy as they detoured. Especially after having shaken off the pack of wolves off their backs, they often went through areas thick with weeds and wild vegetation.

Having picked and plucked along the entire way, she managed to accumulate quite a sizable harvest of useful magical herbs, but from her assessment of the grade of herbs she found in this area, they were all of a more common variety and not anything incredibly precious or rare. Afterall, in a big and wide city, this place would be impossible to be able to find herbs of the rarest and most precious kind anyway.

Hence, they continued along on their way and they came to the foot of a mountain peak. With the sharp eyes of Jocefie was able to spot a clump of magical herbs swaying in the wind near the peak from there and her eyes lit up immediately:

"You wait for me here while I go pick those magical herbs." After searching for so long, she had finally found magical herbs that would be able to remove scars, so how could she not be excited?

"Little kid, you..... you will return here right?" Khallel Alcatraz asked her uneasily.

"Can you change? Oh, never mind, Jocefie said. She stopped for what she wanted to say because it's all about Felisa; she was the one who got confused by calling her "little kid, beggar, or her real name, Jocefie," but soon she realized there's nothing she can do because her body is the real Jocefie Abad; whatever her name is, there will be no big deal.

After having taken a few steps, Jocefie was a little startled to hear Khallel Alcatraz say that and she walked back, pulling out the roasted meat and hand it over to him.

"I will go pick the herbs now and I will return shortly. You have some of that roasted meat in the meantime. And, it's best that you climb up one of the trees so that you won't have to worry even if you come across a wild beast." She looked around and saw a slightly bigger sized tree that towered high towards the sky. She pointed at it and said:

"Are you able to climb that tree? I will come back here to find you after I have picked the herbs."

Hearing that she had no intention of leaving him behind, Khallel Alcatraz was finally able to smile as he assured her confidently: "Sure I can! Then I will wait for you up upon that tree and you must remember to come back and look for me!"

"Sure." She patted him on the shoulder reassuringly before she turned and went towards the peak.

The steep mountain slope was precipitous and it was rather strenuous for her as she pulled herself up as she climbed. There were times that if she was careless with her footing, loose rocks and stones would become dislodged to roll down the mountain which required her to be extremely careful with every step.

It was about two hour later as she was getting close to the clump of herbs that she saw that there was a small hole beside the clump of magical herbs. A green venomous snake that was about the size of a finger's width was hissing as it spat out its forked tongue from inside the tiny hole, its vicious eyes staring balefully by her.

She surveyed the area in front of her a moment and noticed that there was another small hole beside the first one she saw, seemingly linked to each other.

She realised that before she was able to pick the magical herbs, she would need to first get rid of the snake. Having decided, her eyes scanned the surroundings a while and she grabbed at a fist sized rock from the mountain's face that was filled with mud and stones. She then pushed herself up a little nearer and just as the snake had pushed itself out of the hole a little to take a peek, her hand immediately reached out and stuffed the hole shut.

At the same moment, a purple dragon snake had speedily swished out, suddenly appearing from the other hole, its mouth opened wide showing its venomous fangs while it struck quickly closing in towards her arm.

Like a lightning quick speed, Jocefie had drawn her dagger and slashed out in an instant. The dragon snake's head was sliced off in one cut as its body dropped down the cliff. And after that, she carefully dug out the magical herbs from the mud and kept it into her sack-bag.

"Hooh! So many wild animals here." Jocefie said.

"In this realm there are so many different kinds of animals you may be able to meet. A few of their kind can absorb energy, that's why some cultivators can manipulate them, and make into a beast." Felisa told her

"What motivated them to act in this manner? They have specific abilities that must be cultivated and exploited in a way that is beneficial rather than being intentionally used for negative purposes.They put at risk the lives of others!" Felisa said

"So you mean, I am that bad woman?"

Confusingly, Felisa confirmed her being ruthless, during her living in this realm, and Jocefie entered into deep thoughts and asked her, "You did that?

"Yes"

Having picked the herbs, she climbed all the way to the peak, intending to see the surroundings from a high vantage point. However, she chanced upon a magical herb that was emanating a faint aura of energy, Jocefie has no idea that this herb has the ability just at the side of the peak and she joyously plucked it and put it in her sack-bag as well.

"What luck! I actually managed to find two types of magical herbs in this place!" She said to herself with a smile. Standing upon the high peak and looking down, she could see that a team of people were going deep into the woods on the west side.

The leader among them was a handsome man dressed in a suit of white, and recognised him to be the third son of the great King of Surigao City. His name is Mario Marasigan.

"Do you know him?" Felisa whispers to Jocefie's ear.

"No, not really I just hear his name but it was my first time to meet him in person. I don't expect that he is really a handsome guy."

"How about the girl? What can you say about her?" Felisa asked her, she wanted to know how sharp Jocefie's mind was.

"And...for a girl at his side, dressed in a flowing water blue dress, with a face so undeniably... she look so familiar..."