*crackle*    *crackle*

The long electric snake continued to shoot out small bolts of lightning while Calron numbly stared at the scene in front of him. He was exactly in the center, with the electric snake coiling around him. The lightning around the snake seemed to be getting thicker and thicker by the moment, until an ear-piercing roar resounded throughout the room.

BOOOM!

The whole ma.s.s of lightning collapsed into the broken metal bow and a shrill cry of an animal penetrated into Calron’s mind!

The bow slowly rose up in the air out of its own accord, and waves of blue lightning bolts surged around it. A faint glow started to emit from its body, as the rust slowly peeled away, just like an exterior skin, revealing a dark onyx metallic body.

When the dark metallic body of the bow appeared, a baleful aura spread around the room at the same time and nearly choked Calron, until the locket transmitted a surge of protective energy around him.

Within the crackling of the blue lightning, thin threads of faint pitch-black lightning also rippled around the bow.

The metal appeared to be absorbing the bolts of lightning, as the essence slowly decreased by the second, while the metal bow continued to mutate.

All of a sudden, the bolts of blue lightning violently expanded in the span of a second and were then vigorously absorbed back into the bow. The previous azure glow around the room disintegrated along with the protective energy surrounding Calron.

Silence.

Calron let out the breath that he had been subconsciously holding the entire time. The scene he just witnessed seemed more like a dream than reality, especially considering the vicious aura that he felt before the locket intervened.

Calron was captivated by the mysterious bow in front of him. It had an alluring presence that was impossible to ignore. Upon closer inspection, he could detect faint traces of patterns emitting a dim azure glow that snaked around the bow. The most noticeable fact about the dark metal bow was that it did not even have a bowstring!

Calron was a bit apprehensive on touching the metal bow, but he felt the locket subtly compelling him to retrieve it. His hands trembled as they drew closer to the dark bow on the floor.

At that moment, the sound of gla.s.s shattering reverberated throughout the entire shop.

“Wha- what was that?”

The old widow’s asked with a quivering voice.

Her dull brown eyes were wide open as she dumbly gaped at Calron and the dark onyx bow on the floor. Her soul shuddered as she recalled the baleful aura she had felt a few minutes ago.

It seemed as if all the despair and misery of the world threatened to devour her fragile soul, and she felt that something as nefarious as that bow, should not exist in this mortal world.

The only thing that saved her life was the distance between her and the bow, which was too great to cause any permanent damage. Noticing that Calron was unfazed by that deadly aura, a hint of fear seeped into the old woman, as she inwardly questioned whether the boy was truly human or not.

“Uh, grandma, I-“

Not knowing what to say, Calron fumbled around while trying to think of a way to explain what had just happened. What worried Calron the most, was whether or not she actually saw the Azure Lightning released from his body or not.

“Boy! Get away from that vile thing!”

In the end, Calron was still a child, so the old woman found it hard to believe that all the destruction and the lightning she saw, was from this boy. She naturally concluded that the entire cause of this was the black bow! If she had known that Calron was actually a lightning elementalist, her thoughts might have been different.

Calron realized from her words that the old woman believed the whole mess was due to the black bow, and he could not help but feel slightly relieved. However, he had another dilemma on his hands. If he purposefully took the bow now, then it would gather too much unwanted suspicion.

Just then, Calron felt the locket heat up again, and a series of images flashed inside his mind. This sensation felt very similar to the time when his Teacher had transferred the second stage of the Thunder-Bird technique directly to his soul!

The images disintegrated as soon as they appeared, but the information remained inside Calron’s head.

He discretely clenched his fist with the finger that had been injured before and used the pressure from his other fingers to reopen the wound. Just as he felt a slight wetness within his fist, Calron moved on to the next part of his plan.

“Sorry grandma, I don’t know what happened! I was just looking through the weapons, and when I touched the metal bow, it suddenly started shooting off lightning! Look, this is where I touched it!”

Before the elderly woman could stop him, Calron touched the dark onyx bow with his injured hand, and in a blink, the bow completely vanished!

“Where did it go? Boy, move aside!”

The old woman frantically searched for the dark weapon, but could not find any traces of it at all! It was impossible for the boy to hide it as the thing was almost as big as him and the kid seemed to be just as surprised as her!

That was close! I thought she almost saw through me at the last second. Why do I always get pulled into the most troublesome situations? So, its name is Thunder’s Hand, huh? Thankfully the locket told me how to bind it with my blood, otherwise, I doubt I could’ve taken this bow anywhere. I wonder what this locket really is, I’ve never heard of any object being able to convey its thoughts to others…

Calron silently pondered, while the old woman continued to search for the missing bow.

“Uh, grandma, I need to leave right now. I told my friend to wait for me and it has already been way past the meeting time. It was nice meeting you!”

Seeing as there were no signs of the bow, the elderly woman simply sighed and rasped to the boy as he began to leave.

“Go, go. It’s not good manners to be late.”

As the boy left the store, the old woman slowly started to pick the broken shards of gla.s.s up from the floor.

“Blood?”

The old widow whispered as she saw the drops of crimson blood on the floor, and unintentionally gazed at the door from which the boy just left.

In a crowded district, inside a small meat shop, a lone chubby boy sat at a table by himself.  He had a look of despair on his face as he continued to stare at the streets, looking for that one familiar face.

“Where is big bro? It has already been hours since we were supposed to meet, and he still hasn’t shown up!”

Fatty quietly murmured to himself and after a few moments, his stomach growled.

“I’m starving! I already spent all my money on the Flame-tailed Buffalo… that meat was so delicious, I will definitely come here again after big sis gives me some more money!”

As Fatty dreamed of more meat, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Sorry, Fatty! I got lost on the way back…”

Calron sheepishly said while scratching his head.

“What! You got lost? How can you be lost for hours? And couldn’t you just ask someone for the directions?”

Fatty burst out emotionally. For the past few hours, he was tortured by the constant smell of meat roasting and with no money, and forced to stay at the shop by Calron, he could only silently cry tears and curse his luck.

Knowing he didn’t have a good excuse, Calron hurriedly stated.

“Fatty, let’s go back! I’ll give you half my share of dinner!”

“You promise?”

Fatty suspiciously inquired.

“Would I ever lie to you?”

Calron realized his blunder as he said those words, as Fatty suddenly glared at him.

After fervently apologizing to Fatty and with future promises of more food, Calron finally appeased him.

Soon, both boys started walking back towards the Red Boar School as they each recounted their tales of day. Fatty unceasingly described the taste of the “dream meat”, while Calron told Fatty about some of the fascinating items he saw while wandering around. Obviously, Calron kept the situation with the dark onyx bow to himself.

He did not have the time to summon it again after leaving the old woman’s shop, as there were too many people around. He decided to wait until he reached his hut to further explore the bow that was named Thunder’s Hand.

The sky soon turned dark, and even the weather dropped in temperature, as the boys suddenly felt a bit chilly.

Finally, the gates of the Red Boar School appeared in sight, as both Calron and Fatty rushed to get indoors for warmth.

Their breath turned foggy as they exhaled, and Fatty gave a withering scowl towards Calron, as if blaming him for the situation they were in.

Calron purposefully ignored Fatty’s stare, but he did feel a bit guilty, as it was because of him that they were so late.

“Huh, who’s that, big brother?”

Fatty whispered as a hazy figure suddenly appeared within their sight.

The figure was still a few meters ahead, but the light fog in the air obscured all features of the man, so Calron and Fatty could not distinguish the ident.i.ty of the figure.

The reason both boys were anxious was because, the shadow of the man appeared to be slowly approaching their direction.