THE VILLAIN's APPRENTICE ✔

02 🗡 Maidservant

Dana trailed behind Yong Jie as they exited the gambling den. She stared up at the dark sky, multitude of thoughts running through her mind. It was early morning when she went to the library and read the mysterious, ancient book, but it was night time when she arrived in this world.

She regretted that she didn't fully read the contents of all the pages. It would have been very helpful to her if she knew all the details of what was going to happen. She inwardly cursed the author of the ancient book for not describing everything in detail. The name of Old Hai wasn't even mentioned in the book! It was only mentioned that Da Xia was bought from the local official and was later sold to a brothel where she met her demise.

Her gaze landed at the back of the man walking in front of her. With her short height, she didn't even reach his shoulders. Looking at his build and the way he carried himself, one could sense he was a man who was not easy to be messed with. Fire conjurer, she pondered.

Based on the pages she read, she was now in the eighth year of what was called the Tiger Dynasty in Chun Empire. And their current location was the Yellow Dirt City in the South River country. In the ancient book, there were three prominent countries among all countries in Chun Empire: North Mountain country, Middle Lake country, and South River country. Scattered around them were the villages and towns of various tribes and sects.

Upon birth, babies of this world were tested if they were capable of 'awakening'. People who were capable of 'awakening' could release their qi and could use it as a form of weapon. It could be used for offense and defense, which was why the 'awakened' ones, both male and female, often joined the military or the local government or earned a living by swearing servitude to high-ranking officials. Those who did not wish to serve others would sometimes just stay within the sect that they belonged to.

The released qi would be in the form of white light. It could be as sharp as a knife, as sturdy as a shield, as high as a wall, and so on. To be able to release qi in various ways, the 'awakened' people should study different yin gestures or hand seals. The strength of 'awakened' ones varied depending on the qi in their core and the amount of training they went through.

Unfortunately, some 'awakened' ones chose to walk the dark path by practicing forbidden arts. It was for a variety of reasons, but the most common was for revenge or their thirst for power. Dark arts practitioners were called witches or sorcerers, and their qi would be in the form of dark light.

Among the 'awakened' people, the fire conjurers were said to be the abnormal and weakest ones since they couldn't release their qi in the form of powerful white light and could instead just conjure fire which could hastily consume their qi. The biggest fire they could conjure was a fireball as big as a fist and only up to a maximum of two fireballs.

Only the common folks would be scared of the fire conjurers, but the 'awakened' ones could easily extinguish those fireballs with minimal release of qi. Furthermore, the summoned fireballs could only exist within a few meters of the conjurer, so they wouldn't be able to throw them in a very far distance. In the 'awakened' circle, fire conjurers were teased to be the 'candles' since their power could only help in lighting up the path.

Lost in her own thoughts, Dana bumped on Yong Jie's back when the latter abruptly halted his steps. She hastily stepped back while nursing her nose, her eyes cast downward.

"Maiden," Yong Jie called out, making her lift her gaze. "This is where we will part." He handed the papers to her and added, "That's your servitude contract as well as the contract I signed with Old Hai handing you to me. You are now a commoner."

Dana received the documents and hastily read them. Any servant would be grateful to be granted their freedom and to live as a commoner, but Dana had a different thought. Panic engulfed her as she realized that she was all alone, trapped in this world. Admittedly, she needed the help of someone to stay alive until she finds out how to get back to the modern parallel world. If she roamed alone, being nabbed by some ruffians and being sold to a brothel was a big possibility. And the brothel was where the original Da Xia was killed.