Old Man.
[Ace POV],
We didn't come across any other oil puppets as we made our way deeper into the dark forest, and Emma didn't detect anything either.
There was nothing else but a road route that appeared to have been forcefully made by humans constantly steeping on it over the ages.
We did follow the road route we discovered because it provided us with some direction.
As I reflected on these things and remembered what had happened a while ago, Emma and I came to a halt and did not move forward again.
It wasn't because we came across another oil puppet, but because of what we saw in front of us.
We had finally arrived at the cemetery.
However, based on the rotten fence and rusted metal doors in front of me, it appears that this cemetery hasn't been visited in a long time.
This was understandable if all the other villages and towns had this cemetery as the closest one to their location and were also isolated settlements within a few miles, like Sir Roland village.
If this is the case, then wanting to bury someone here at such a great distance is strange.
It was far preferable to simply burn the person's body to ashes if you did not want to bury them in your home than to waste several days traveling to this specific cemetery.
In fact, the people who built this cemetery must have had a few screws loose in their heads or had a specific reason to do it.
As I pondered on these thoughts, Emma and I entered the cemetery through the rusted gates, our guards raised.
After all, it was the cemetery that might hold the key to the villagers' disappearance.
As I thought of this, Emma and I made our way deeper into the cemetery as we ignored the graves around us and carefully watched our steps. The place was completely silent except for the sound of our footsteps on the ground. It seemed like there weren't any other living creatures around.
"It's getting darker," said Emma, looking up at the sky. "I wouldn't want to sleep in a place like this."
"Yeah, you're right. Let's keep going", I said as we continued walking until we felt a cold breeze against our skin. We turned around and looked back toward where we came from, but there was nothing behind us and there were no signs that we'd been followed or anything else out of the ordinary.
'Strange,' I thought as Emma and I came to a halt, pausing to take in our surroundings.
We had our backs to each other as we observed our surroundings to prevent anything from sneaking up on us.
This went on for a few seconds, and when I saw that nothing else was happening, I was about to let down my guard slightly and speak to Emma when I heard footsteps.
Seeing this, we turned our heads in the direction of the sound of footsteps, which was sideways to both of us.
And when we saw the owner of the footsteps, I had a strange thought that there might be a side effect for males when they evolve to rank 1.
[Rank 1 Oil Puppeteer Level 29],
In the distance, there was an old man with a big brush the length of an arm on his back and a large scroll-like object rolled up in his hands.
When I first saw the old man's level, my first thought was to use my two accumulated level-ups and go all out, but when I noticed the old man limping and a small amount of blood on his robe, I didn't attempt to increase my level again.
The old man, or should I say the oil puppeteer, was hurt.
The old man spoke as these thoughts flashed through my mind, looking at us with his hallow-looking eyes.
"What are two teenagers doing here at this hour?" The old man gave a harmless-looking smile that didn't fit his appearance or the situation we were in.
I might have relaxed my guard when I saw this if I hadn't been able to see his information and the fact that, while Emma was looking in his direction, her eyes were not focused on him and she appeared to be looking at the area behind him.
Because we didn't respond to him after a few seconds of waiting, the old man's smile faded and he stared at us coldly.
Despite this, I still remained silent as a series of thoughts raced through my mind.
One was the old man's level, which was higher than both Emma's and mine, and the other was the old man's job grade.
Although only for a short time, I had witnessed the powers of a rare grade job, and I was not foolish enough to believe I could directly match an individual with a rare grade job, and if the old man in front of me happened to have one that is above a rare grade job, Emma and I might not be able to escape even if the old man was injured.
I needed to partner up with Emma just to compete with Sir Roland, who had a common grade job, a job whose grade was above that was no laughing matter.
However, I believe it is less likely that the old man's job grade is above rare.
For one thing, the old man's pressure was far weaker than that of the two rank 1 Ice mages I had previously encountered.
Perhaps it's because the oil puppeteer job was weaker than the ice mage job, or it could be because the old man was injured, or it could be both.
The point is that I didn't get much of a threat from the old man, which led me to believe that this quest could still be completed in another way.
As I reflected on these thoughts, I noticed the old man's expression darken as two figures emerged from behind him.
....
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