Is That A Wisp? Chapter 23
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Krune eventually made his way out of the inner parts of Katiu Forest. With his current cultivation, what had taken him weeks before to travel, now only took three days to go back. First of all, it was because there wasn't any demon beast on the way that could possibly be his match. And second, he knew the way back so he could simply head straight back without any detours.
After arriving at the outer parts, Krune started to find demon beasts and wisp hunter groups every now and then. He pondered if he should get rid of them on his way out, but after thinking for a while, he gave up the idea.
He was just a single wisp. It didn't matter how strong he got. He couldn't possibly wipe out every single group. His life span would long be finished by the time he eliminated half of them. There were just way too many people! Not to mention the fact that the majority of the cultivators weren't in the forest to look for wisps, but to train or hunt other beasts. It's just that if they found a wisp, they wouldn't let it go. Though, they wouldn't go out of their way just to capture them.
Of course, there were two occasions where Krune found groups of cultivators with captured wisps. On those occasions, he didn't let them go. He couldn't simply ignore his race when they were suffering right before his eyes. Unsurprisingly, he wiped out the two groups. They didn't have a single Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, so it was quite easy. He might not like killing, but since they dared to touch his race, he wouldn't show mercy.
The further out Krune went, the more groups he found on the way. Krune hadn't noticed yet, but every single group was looking at him with weird eyes. There was no helping with it since he was a guy with rainbow hair that was almost buck naked. If this wasn't a pervert, then what was?
After another day of travel, there was finally someone who stopped Krune in his journey. It was a couple who came here just to procure some demon beetle carapaces. Demon beetles weren't that strong to start with, so they obtained quite a few already. Just when the man had called out Krune, the woman by his side tried to stop him. This rainbow hair guy was obviously a pervert, so why was her husband calling him out?
Krune looked at him with a hint of confusion but stopped anyway. It's extremely rare for someone to call him out, so he was on guard at the same time. The man then looked at Krune and couldn't help but ask.
"Sorry for stopping you, brother. If I'm not wrong, you aren't human, right?"
Krune simply nodded. He knew very well that although people couldn't tell which race he was from, it's very easy to see that he wasn't actually a human. Their auras were very different, after all.
"Would you mind telling me if you have just acquired your human form?"
Krune pondered over the question for a bit. Though, after checking the couple's cultivation, he thought there was no danger, so he replied.
"Indeed, I have just broken through a few days ago, around the same time I got my human form."
The man nodded in response as it was as he thought. His wife, by his side, didn't understand why he was even talking with this demon beast. Though, after learning that Krune wasn't a real human, she kept quiet. No demon beast below the Foundation Establishment Realm could possibly turn into their human form. With that, Krune's cultivation was bound to be much higher than theirs. He could definitely squish them with one finger.
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"As I thought. Brother, you might not know about this, but the way you look at the moment is definitely bad. Anyone out there will simply think of you as a pervert, so you should put on some clothes. If you're heading to the city, the guards absolutely won't let you enter the city wearing just that."
It finally dawned on Krune that he forgot this critical point. All the humans he had seen so far used clothes. There was no exception. But what about him? Now that he noticed this, Krune also thought that he wasn't supposed to look like that. At first, he thought that as long as he had his human form, it would be okay. But it seemed like humans place a lot of importance on their clothes, so Krune looked back at the man and asked.
"I didn't know that, and I'm very grateful for your advice. If this cultivator here doesn't mind, would you tell me why humans exactly place so much importance on clothes? We demon beasts have never put them on while in our true form. It just gets in the way."
The man and woman were taken aback as the man replied.
"Well, brother. We don't have fur, scales, or carapaces. If we don't wear clothes, we'll feel cold in the winter, for example. Clothes could also be used as a means of defense."
Krune noticed that he had worded his question wrongly. He already knew of that part, but that wasn't what he was talking about.
"Oh, sorry. I should have worded my question better. I know that clothes can help protect and guard one against the weather. But what I want to ask is why someone without clothes is not accepted. In the city, for example, if it's not winter, you won't feel cold. With the protection in the city, there's no need to overthink about defense either, so why is it that humans use clothes regardless?"
This time, the man was tongue-tied. Is it because people would think that they were perverts if they didn't use it? Then again, such knowledge had no use for demon beasts to start with.
"Well, I guess it's because we'll feel embarrassed if we do that. It has always been like that since we could remember."
After hearing that, Krune felt even more confused. He was part of the wisp race, an innately intelligent race to boot. The word 'curiosity' could almost be considered their second name.
"Embarrassed? That's a really weird way to put it. The penis and the vagina are the organs that ensure the continuation of your species. From my point of view, that's something you should be showing off to others, or at least not hiding them on purpose, just like us demon beasts. Why is it that your race feels embarrassed to show them? Could it be that your race doesn't wish to continue existing?"
The man couldn't find an answer, while the woman by his side was already as red as a tomato after listening to their conversation. Though, she, too, couldn't find a solution either.
Were humans proud of their reproductive organs? Well, if they were to choose an option, they would surely say yes. So why was it that they felt like it was wrong to show them out in the open? After pondering a bit, they just gave up thinking. If they continued their trains of thought, they might develop some weird habit of walking around naked in the future.
"Well, brother, I can't give you a satisfactory answer. It simply has been like that ever since, so I don't know how it turned out like that. You just need to keep in mind that if you don't wear clothes, let alone someone putting importance on anything you say, you wouldn't even be able to approach people to start with."
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Although Krune was still puzzled, he could only accept the answer. Since this couple didn't know the reason, then there was no meaning in continuing to ask. He was just curious, that's all. Krune then looked back at the man to ask.
"In that case, does this friend have a set of clothes he could part with? I'm willing to pay for it."
The man just laughed as he said.
"No problem, no problem! No one ventures into the danger zones without a few sets of clothes in their spatial rings. It's common sense. There's no need for this brother to pay for it."
He then took out a set of clothes. If not because of his rainbow hair with colors changing all over, Krune would be considered to have a very ordinary appearance. Not handsome nor ugly, simply common. The same went for his height. Krune accepted the set of clothes from the man. Surprisingly, there were also undergarments in the set. What Krune was using so far was something he made with leaves, and it wasn't even attached to him either. He was simply using a little bit of spiritual energy to hold it together.
The couple was surprised to see that Krune started to change right there and then. He didn't try to hide anything, so the woman immediately turned around with a scream, while the man gave a bitter smile. Krune thought that since he wasn't inside the city, then there was no need to care about such things. The couple even noticed that not only the hair on Krune's head was rainbow-colored, even the hair covering his little friend was rainbow as well. The man just pretended he didn't see anything and advised Krune.
"Ehem. Brother, when you change clothes in the future, make sure not to do that in front of others unless you're with your wife. This is considered disrespectful between humans."
Krune felt puzzled as he responded.
"You humans have bizarre customs. As long as your wife is with you, there's no problem changing clothes in front of others. From my point of view, that makes no sense."
The man noticed that Krune had misunderstood him, making him even sweat a little.
"Oh! When I say that you can change clothes when you're with your wife, I don't mean that you can do it everywhere. What I meant was that it's not wrong for your wife to see you doing that, but it'll be considered disrespectful if you do it in front of others even if your wife is beside you."
Krune finally understood after that.
"I see. Thanks for the advice."
Krune then took out a hundred low-quality Rank One Spirit Stones and gave them to the man. Both the man and the woman were stunned to see this. Let alone one set of clothes, they would be able to buy thousands with this amount. Although spirit stones were considered the main currency for cultivators, people would usually use gold, silver, and copper to do transactions unrelated to cultivation. Ordinary clothes just so happened to be part of it. As one could imagine, spirit stones were worth several times more than gold.
"Brother, this is too much. My set of clothes aren't worth even a thousandth of this amount."
The man was afraid that Krune would find out about the real value of his clothes and think that they tricked him. It would do no good to have a Foundation Establishment Realm demon beast who had just acquired his human form become his enemy.
But Krune simply brushed it back as he said.
"This is not the payment for the clothes, but for the information. You even went out of your way just to advise me about that. This price is totally fair, so I won't be taking it back."
The more they talked with this demon beast, the more stunned they became. Since when were demon beasts so generous and polite like this? They weren't wrong, though. If it was any other demon beast, they wouldn't care the least bit about this couple, let alone pay them in spirit stones. The man was just trying to build a small relationship that might help him in the future. There was nothing wrong with having some ties with a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator after all.
"In that case, I'm going to accept it. By the way, brother. Why is your hair rainbow-colored? It catches a lot of attention, you know?"
Krune felt gloomy at the comment as he replied.
"It's not that I want it to be like this. I had some troubles with my cultivation in the past, and it turned out like this without even giving me a choice. I'm also suffering here, you know?"
Seeing the helpless face that Krune showed while he was talking, the woman couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. Though, she felt fear soon after as she realized she was laughing in the face of a Foundation Establishment Realm beast. It's not that she didn't know about it. It's just that after knowing that Krune wasn't really a pervert and with the warm air around him, she let down her guard. She immediately bowed and apologized.
"So- sorry, Senior. I didn't mean to be disrespectful."
Krune didn't mind, though. After being laughed at by Lakin and Ruik for several days, he already became numb to it, so he simply laughed back.
"Don't worry, I know very well how weird it looks."
At first, the man just wanted to form some ties with the Foundation Establishment Realm beast, but after knowing Krune a bit more, he really felt that they could be friends.
"Brother, if that's the case, take this robe with you instead."
He took another robe from his spatial ring. The difference between this one and the previous set he gave Krune was that it had a hood attached.
"Just put the hood up, and it should conceal your hair quite well. Although it would still be possible to see a little through the front, at least it won't attract much attention."
Krune instantly became ecstatic. To think that there were such nice humans out there in the world. It seems like it wasn't just Feifei. This time, Krune remembered not to change clothes in front of them as he moved behind a tree and changed straight away. He then put his hood up, and sure enough, you would have to pay attention to notice the rainbow hair at the front. He couldn't help but nod in satisfaction. The man looked back at him and commented.
"Now it's much better, brother. Oh, right! Let me introduce myself and my wife. My name is Jolk, and this is Kala."
Krune was happy at the moment, so he complimented them enthusiastically. As someone who had seen the dark side of humans so many times, Krune could already more or less tell if someone was trying to bring him harm. This couple obviously wasn't trying to do any of that.
"My name is Krune. Alright, you two. If you get into trouble in the future, come look for me. I'm heading to Kaley City, so I have to make an ID when I get there. With that, it shouldn't be hard for you to find about a rainbow-colored hair guy who registered there."
The couple then told a few more things for Krune to pay attention to before saying their goodbyes.
While Krune was moving away, he commented from a distance.
"You humans are really strange. To think that instead of cursing your enemies, you prefer to change clothes to show disrespect to your enemies. That's really weird."
The couple was left speechless!
The hell? When did we say that? That wasn't what we meant at all!
"Brother, wait! That wasn't wh-"
Unfortunately for them, Krune was already gone.
Poor Krune. It seemed like he wasn't fated with the words 'low profile' as he wished.
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