Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

"You are on your own!" said the stable caretaker as he stepped out of Kaizen's way.

After noticing on the statistics screen that Black Cloud was injured, Kaizen looked meticulously at the horse and realized that the animal was not stepping on the ground with its upper right paw, which meant that this was the limb that was injured. This was such a subtle detail of the animal's behavior that Kaizen could only notice it because he was looking for something unusual.

He opened the gate, and when the horse began to stir, Kaizen used <Telekinesis> to keep it static.

As he watched, the caretaker was at a loss to understand what was happening.

'Why is the horse, which has already hurt two other caregivers, not angry with this man?'

Slowly, Kaizen crouched down on the horse's right side and noticed that there was no wound superficially, which meant that the problem could only be under the horse's hoof. So he moved closer and carefully lifted the weakened foot. It was not difficult to notice a small, crooked nail stuck in Black Cloud's paw, bothering him. Since the nail was crooked, the more the horse moved to remove it, the worse the injury got.

Solving the situation normally requires tweezers or pliers to remove this nail. However, Kaizen had a much better method. He brought his left-hand closer and used <Telekinesis> while standing in the caregiver's blind spot.

"What are you doing? He doesn't have a horseshoe." said the caretaker, finding it odd that Kaizen was looking closely at the horse's foot.

"Don't pry."

Gently, using the strength of his inherent class skill, Kaizen easily managed to pull out the nail that was hurting the creature.

Before he stopped using <Telekinesis> to restrain Black Cloud's movements, he used the <Analyzing Eye> once more and checked to see if getting the nail out was enough to take away the wounded status.

'Whew, looks like he'll be okay.' Kaizen thought as he saw that there was no longer any special condition affecting the horse.

He then took an apple from his inventory.

"Eat this, you will feel better." he said, stroking Black Cloud's dirty mane and bringing an apple close to the animal's mouth after ceasing to use <Telekinesis>.

Black Cloud snorted and initially seemed annoyed; however, he ate voraciously the apple that was in the player's hand.

Kaizen looked at the caretaker, who was stunned by the situation and said:

"Come closer; he will no longer attack you or any other person."

"But..."

"No 'buts'. Come here!" ordered Kaizen.

The blue-haired man seemed so confident the first moment he saw Kaizen. However, he now had the same demeanor as a fearful child. Thanks to that, Kaizen's unwavering words made him obey without blinking. He reached up and touched Black Cloud's crest, just as Kaizen did.

"Oh! She really is calmer..." expressed the caretaker.

"She?"

"Yes, she's a female. Haven't you noticed?"

"Honestly? No, I didn't notice. Anyway, how fast can you give that mare a bath? I want to leave for the Royal City later today."

"I'll do it in 20 minutes, sir!"

Black Cloud was slightly startled by the caretaker's sudden shout, but Kaizen quickly calmed her down.

"Then I will wait for 20 minutes."

The caretaker lathered, scrubbed, washed, and brushed Black Cloud thoroughly, being the fastest and most efficient in meeting the customer's expectations. When he was done, Kaizen's new horse looked almost completely different, like it was another animal. The fleas were extinct, the coat shone without the mud and dirt covering it, and its crest was magnificent, worthy of what one expects from a Mutant Rank horse.

To ride this new animal, Kaizen decided to buy all kinds of equipment available for sale at the stable, such as a blanket, saddle, reins, muzzle, and mouthpiece, not to mention shin guards, tack, and many other things. This would all serve to protect Black Cloud and also ensure control over her.

As soon as Kaizen mounted his new mount, the horse seemed very happy, and Kaizen smiled as well.

The apple given earlier by Psyker was enough to restore almost all the animal's life points, but Kaizen gave it another apple as soon as it left the stable just to make sure.

The caretaker waved frantically, watching them go, proud that he managed to make a little profit for his boss.

Moreover, he was also very fascinated with Kaizen, because no other person could get close to Black Cloud, only him. In his mind, theories about this bubbled up like boiling water, trying to understand whether this tall black-haired man was a legendary knight, a transmorph who could understand the language of animals, or, being more realistic, just a caretaker like him. It was a pity that he could never find an answer to this question because Kaizen never returned to this stable.

Now that Kaizen had a horse, everything he had to do in Holinda was over for the time being, so he headed for the west gate and crossed the archway to the city border at high speed, snapping the reins of Black Cloud, who was as fast as the wind.

The road was long, but it wasn't even three o'clock in the afternoon on quiet Long Island, so Kaizen still had enough time to meet Jayaa in the Royal City.

The Tretidian Kingdom was huge and was also the oldest kingdom among all three human kingdoms. Several pristine and unexplored lands hid numerous secrets. Some of these secrets were terrible, others capable of creating hope in even the most pessimistic of men.

The roots of the great tree called Yggdrasil were the pillar of all this, as well as of all the nine worlds. However, at the same time that Yggdrasil sustained all existence, the shadows of its leaves cast on Midgard hid vile creatures.

For a few hundred years, these creatures hid in the deepest gaps of the world, in what is called the paranormal world, only now the time had come for them to emerge.

From the confines of the Whiner Mountains, an all-black carriage driven by two red-horned horses was leaving for the Royal Capital of Tretidian. The passengers inside the carriage were a man and a woman, both with very pale skin and noble clothing. Their eyes were red, their fangs pointed, and their touch as cold as death itself.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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