The Titan's Throne

Are You A Mark Bearer? Part 2

"Well, it's not in mine." Bastian found her reply hard to believe. When he had said 'some cultures' he was being sarcastic. She giggled when she saw that he was not happy.

"You're an interesting one. Why are you awake? How are you normal?" She ignored Bastian's displeasure and interrogated him, much to Bastian's displeasure.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Her questioning was strange. It was as if it was strange that he was awake.

"I mean you're not supposed to be awake. When you were brought here, they force-fed you incado grass."

As soon as Bastian heard this, his expression became ugly. Incado grass was a famous herb. Once ingested, it would cause the consumer to fall into a state of perpetual nightmares. The victim would remain asleep for at least a day. Rumour had it, that this grass also affected your soul, and was an ingredient in a lot of magic involving the soul.

Bastian's face was grim. "How long have I been out?"

"You were only out for a few minutes." As the girl said this, she crawled closer to Bastian so she could more closely observe him. Unlike Bastian who only had his legs shackled, the girl also had her arms shackled to her own pole as well. Her pole was only a few meters from Bastian's, so it wasn't hard for her.

Bastian was at a loss. He was sure that he hadn't dreamt anything, plus he felt fine. Consumers of incado grass not only had perpetual nightmares, but they also had hallucinations after they woke up. Bastian was not hallucinating at all, or at least he was sure he wasn't.

As he was deep in thought, he happened to notice that the girl's face was only a few inches away from his. Creeped out by this sudden advancement, Bastian backed away frantically.

"What are you doing? Please keep in mind I have no interest in little girls." He did not hide the disgust on his face as he said this, for the image of a little girl on all fours crawling toward him, had left a bad taste in his mouth.

Little girls, isn't he only a boy himself? Does he think he is an adult?

The girl chuckled at what Bastian had said. He was becoming more and more amusing to her.

"I want to talk." Said the girl in an attempt to sound mysterious.

"Why did you need to get this close? I'm pretty sure we have been talking this whole time." Bastian was a person who really cared about personal space, be it as a man or a boy.

"I needed to get closer because I wanted to examine you. Plus the matter I wish to talk to you about is sensitive, so it's best if we keep our voices down."

"How sensitive?" Bastian didn't admit it, but the girl had piqued his interest.

The girl grinned mischievously, her big black eyes staring at Bastian like he was some a toy. Bastian had a bad premonition when he saw the look on her face. This time it seems his senses were right.

The girl's next sentence changed the course of Bastian's entire life.

"Are you a Mark Bearer or not?"

Ben was in a jovial mood. As he walked to the borders of the camp he whistled, further displaying how happy he was. He greeted many people along the way, something he rarely ever did. Even going as far as to help lift up a person he had bumped into. This kind of behaviour was not something the proud and clever Ben usually had, but today was a special occasion.

Ben finally had the chance to stuff it to a noble, the kind who had enslaved him and made his life miserable. All of his loved ones were tortured or killed by them.

He had been saving the incado grass so he could sell it, but he felt that this outcome was definitely more pleasing. Money is money.

Vengeance cures the soul, or so he thought.

He arrived at the boundary of the camp. It had been roughly a day since he had stuffed the boy with the herb. So he should be waking up around this time. Not to mention it is almost time to sell the brat. As soon as he arrived, however, he once again met an unexpected circumstance.

The boy was calmly sitting cross-legged. A serene look on his face. Like nothing ever happened.

Ben looked to the other brat, a little girl he had captured.

When did that boy wake up? Why is he acting like this? This is not how a person under the influence of incado grass behaves. They normally toss and turn, shiver or sometimes even scream. Even if they wake up, they would still be hallucinating. The boy should be spooked, cowering in fear. He should at least be showing some signs of discomfort.

Yet he appeared perfectly fine!

Ben was absolutely sure what he fed the boy was incado grass. Even the little girls in chains showed a fearful expression when he took it out.

The little girl remained quiet. Her face showed indifference. As if Ben didn't exist. Ben was angered by her disobedience. He was about to do something about it as well when he heard a snicker coming from behind him.

"Not what you were expecting was it, buddy" Bastian laughed. He was enjoying this

"I'm not your buddy, you brat"

"Whatever you say, guy."

"I'm not your guy!"

Ben was fuming with rage.

This insolent brat! I will kill him!

Ben decided to relax, so his mind can properly process what was in front of him. After calming himself down, Ben started to rationalize. He needed to understand what happened.

He wanted to ask, but he felt he would lose a lot of face if he did so. Ben took pride in his intelligence. You could even say that he was famous for it around here. Normally it was people asking him questions.

"You want to know how I'm fine right." Bastian started teasing Ben, the same way Ben teased him when he had known the boy was awake yesterday during the meeting.

Ben immediately understood what the boy was doing. It made him even angrier, yet there was nothing he could do. He didn't understand how the boy had done it.

He had searched the boy and knew he couldn't have hidden an antidote. Not to mention he had to have known that he was going to be fed incado grass. Which was impossible.

He also knew that the boy had no storage treasure. On the Sovereign Continent, many tools could do miraculous things. Some objects had a massive space inside them that could be used to store things.

These storage tools were usually in the form of rings and amulets. They were very expensive, so mere low ranking mercenaries couldn't possess one, let alone a newcomer like Ben.

The boy had no such objects on his body, so Ben was left speechless. He also knew the girl had nothing on her. She came from a tribe that looked down upon the usage of such things. Her body also had nothing on it. He had made sure of that. Even the old dress she was wearing had been given to her by Ben.

No matter what Ben thought of, it just would not click.

"Alright then, let me tell you how I did it." Bastian had enjoyed seeing Ben suffer but it was time to put the plan he and the little girl had come up with into action. "I am a Mark Bearer."

"Impossible!" Ben instantly rebuked what Bastian had said. Mark bearers.

A new breed of cultivators that appeared from nowhere a decade ago. They had a dragon tattoo on their bodies, and it was widely known that this mark gave them extraordinary abilities.

Many of them had rampaged across the Sovereign Continent, upsetting the natural order. Due to the incredible abilities that these monsters had, they easily took over many kingdoms and empires.

One isn't born a Mark Bearer, but one is chosen. Very few know what caused this phenomenon to occur. Rumour had it those with the mark were the chosen descendants of an ancient and powerful immortal, looking for a successor to his legacy.

Whatever the case, normal people feared Mark Bearers. This was because anyone who became the enemy of a Mark Bearer was doomed. These monsters were not only very talented and powerful, but they also formed their own organizations. Odds are if you anger one Mark Bearer, you will anger a lot more.

It was also widely known that their Marks had an imposing presence and that they could curse your soul. This curse would destroy your soul upon death, removing you from the cycle of reincarnation. Some people even claimed that this curse lasted for nine generations!

Mark Bearers are usually people with immense talent and potential, it would not make sense that this boy was one, his own family had abandoned him. Not to mention he was alone without any guards or protection.

That's when it hit him, this was the only explanation he had that could explain why the boy could resist incado grass. Mark Bearers were monsters that defied reasoning. Ben started to break out in a cold sweat.

"It's impossible for you to be one! You have no cultivation talent!"

Bastian grinned. He had been waiting for this, "Who said I had no cultivation now? I never said I've always had the mark now, have I? Besides, is cultivation the only talent?"

Ben: "!!!"

He was right! If he was kicked out of his family before he had the Mark, then that would mean the mark could have fixed his talent issue. The boy must have been born with either extreme elemental resonance or he was born with incredible Soul Power. The mark then granted him either a boost in the talent he had or another talent.

Improving talent? Such a thing was not impossible for these monsters. They had defied logic many times in the past few years.

Incado grass was a soul herb, it attacked your soul, just because you can't cultivate doesn't mean you have a weak soul.

Before Ben could say anything else, Bastian revealed his chest, his smooth white skin was so beautiful it made even the girl jealous. Bastian was a very attractive boy. He was sure to become a ladies man in the future.

That's when it happened!