I have Nine Lives

Chapter 21: Talk

Landers's eyes shined as he looked at Felix, he knew that he was quite talented but today's events surprised him pleasantly, he opened his mouth and told him:

"Do you know why I have chosen you to be in this squad?"

Felix shook his head, he thought that it was for his potential just like he told him previously but it seemed there were also other things that Landers didn't mention before.

Landers sat on the ground and said to him:

"There are a few reasons and I will list them right now, this is just a confidence boost for you but don't become too excited:

First, your potential to grow while in battle is enormous, I already saw that from before as you always came stronger from a mission, even though you have gone only in two missions you came back stronger from both and this isn't something everyone does, combined with the fact that you learned a new strategy while fighting Varra's disciple shows you have a good head on your shoulders.

The second fact is that I like you, you are different from other cat tribesmen, from your potential to your strange body that cannot achieve its human form, you are special and the lion tribe is always open to people like you.

The third fact is I like your ruthlessness, I remember quite vividly that you entered the battle royale with a woman from your tribe but you escaped alone, I like that you abandoned her so you could live, this is something a lot of people lack, you have put your mission above your comrades and this is something that the lion tribe needs in these times of war. As long as you finish your mission it doesn't matter what you have to do.

The fourth and final fact is that I feel something special when I look at you, something that I cannot understand, even though you do not have Hex energy in your body you can absorb it somehow and it strengthens you I know that the first moment I saw you,when you came with that woman of your tribe you were weaker, you are a different breed, maybe even a mutant, you might even be someone that would lead the continent to better times after you grow up."

Landers smiled at Felix as he patted his head, it took him quite a bit of time to explain all of his thoughts and Felix was silent through the ordeal, it still stung him a bit that he left Sahee behind but since she forgave him the wound closed and the only thing that remained was a phantom pain that would disappear completely with time.

Landers nodded as he saw that Felix mulled over his words instead of becoming happy and making all of his praise go to his head, it seemed that Felix was quite a level headed individual even though he was quite young.

Felix looked up at Landers and asked him:

"What kind of training will we do?"

Landers's smile disappeared as he entered into his 'captain mode' and told Felix about all of the upcoming training:

"Since you are different from us and you don't have any Hex abilities from what I saw, you won't train with us, the forest that we are currently in isn't that big but there are a few rogue tribesmen of a variety of tribes gathered inside that would be used to polish our killing techniques, most of the others want to strengthen their abilities first before they go and train their bodies and I won't interfere with their training nor with yours, the youths will train with the youths and the captains with the captains."

Felix nodded at his explanation, it seemed that training with the others wouldn't give him many benefits, after all, he was an assassin and not a team player, he would be the one that saved the others not the one that needed to be saved, his position made him a lone wolf involuntarily.

Landers looked at Felix's face and responded to his thoughts:

"You don't have to train with them but making a good impression is still needed, you can chat with them before the training starts tomorrow, anyways have a good night."

Landers got up from the ground and left Felix behind as he closed the door.

Felix sat down on the floor as he drifted to sleep, time passed and it was morning, Felix woke up quickly as he left his room and got out of the mound meeting with the others who were already up.

Korro wanted to mock him for being late but Ricko shook his head indicating that he didn't come that late.

The pig, flamingo, and crocodile were also there and the captains seemed to have disappeared as they were all left alone near the mound.

The big crocodile yawned as he wanted to make his way into the forest but Korro stopped him and said:

"Sandors where are you going? We are a team we must go together to fight those rogue tribesmen!"

The crocodile tribesman which was known now as Sandors was pretty annoyed by Korro's words and wanted to slap her away but Ricko came in front of her and parried his attack, he looked down at his hand and he could see that it reddened a bit indicating that he wasn't a match for Sandors in a 1v1 fight.

Ricko frowned as he got in front of Korro and told Sandors:

"Fighting with our own teammates will get you in trouble Sandors, why don't you back off and let's continue with our training?"

Sandors shook his head as he was too lazy to bother with them, he waved his hand to the pig and said with a full toothy grin on his face that showed all of his sharp teeth:

"Hey, emergency food why don't you come with me?"

The pig snorted as he waved his hands awkwardly and got near Korro and Ricko while saying:

"Oh you can go ahead Mr. Sandors, this humble Bibo will stay with these teammates."

Sandors chuckled as he saw how flustered Bibo was and looked towards the flamingo youth and asked him the same question.

The flamingo youth was quite flamboyant as he stood there on one leg, he opened his mouth to respond and from it, came to a negative response:

"My master told me to not trust you, fully carnivorous tribes like you are quite sketchy."

Sandors scratched the back of his head and left into the forest not bothering to talk with them anymore, he tried to talk with them as his master instructed them, but since his big and bulky figure scared them away there was nothing he could do, maybe after he killed one or two rogues and ate them he would just go to sleep.

The others looked at Felix expectantly thinking he would go with them but Felix shook his head as he said:

"My master told me that I should move alone to polish my skills to their highest, I will protect you from the shadows while you guys go on ahead."

Felix wouldn't fight with them but he would follow them and attack when they wouldn't be able to handle their fighters anymore, and if there was anyone hidden that Felix needed to take care of he would fight alone.

The others nodded understanding his situation, while Sandors had to fight with them, Felix wouldn't be that great in group fights due to his techniques and relatively weaker constitution, even though he could be considered a peak cat tribesman and his strength were also quite high compared to others, his toughness was nothing worth about, after all, cats were nimble and fast but their bodies were weak and Felix didn't have any chance to eat something with a tough body to strengthen his.

Felix followed the others from above as they started to run into the forest, the forest wasn't very big but it was quite wide, the trees were sturdy and Felix had an easy time jumping from tree to tree while following the others, while he followed them he used all of his senses to catch up to them instead of only sight as he needed to train all of his senses to the peak if he wanted to be a good assassin.

It didn't take them much time to find a rogue tribesman which was from the flamingo tribe, he was quite strong and his techniques were fused with a strange dance that made his wings have a sharp attribute to them that almost sliced Ricko's mouth open, however, he was quite though and there was no lasting damage remaining to him besides maybe a scar.

Felix didn't need to act versus the flamingo tribesman as the other 4 could handle him by themselves, but that didn't mean he stood idle and watched, while the others fought he scanned the surroundings to make sure no one else would come and interrupted their fight.

Fortunately for all of them no one came to disturb them and they finished the fight quite easily, Felix stood behind and waited for them to disappear as he looked down at the corpse of the rogue flamingo tribesman, it was bloody and it was decapitated, his eardrums burst from Korro's sonic techniques and his head was taken off by the flamingo youth.

Felix's mouth watered unconsciously as he looked down at the corpse and gulped hard, suddenly some bushes around him started to move as the huge figure of Sandors appeared, his eyes were still lazy but they had a certain light in them that Felix recognized, it was hunger!

Sandors looked at Felix with a big grin as he told him:

"Hey there teammate, why don't we share this flamingo corpse, I can see that you are quite famished as well."

Sandors's tail was moving erratically behind him as he got closer and closer to Felix, it seemed that if Felix refused he would eat both of them at once!

Felix knew that Sandors didn't work at all for the corpse but he also knew that fighting him here wouldn't be beneficial at all for the whole team so he told him:

"Ok 50/50 what do you say?"

Sandors looked as he used his big hands to rip the flamingo corpse into two as he took the upper half and the head and left Felix with the lower half, he started crunching on the body immediately as he talked with his mouth full:

"You are quite smart, I like you, cat."

Felix finished the lower half of the body quite quickly, Sandors was actually surprised by Felix's eating speed and smiled at him as he said:

"What's your name, I like people who can enjoy their meal like you do, you should already have heard my name from that woman but I'm not sure what's yours."

Felix looked at Sandors and responded:

"My name is Felix."

Sandors got closer to Felix and his big hands approached his head, Felix felt threatened by his sudden movement but before he could dodge Sandors petted Felix on the head and started to leave towards the woods, his silhouette disappeared as he left some words behind:

"Let's have a great time on the battlefield!"

Felix nodded his head as he used his sense of smell to follow his team, while he talked and ate with Sandors they might have encountered another enemy, and if they were interrupted by someone while they fought there was a high chance he would be blamed for leaving his post.

Felix quickly jumped from tree to tree as he used his strong sense of smell to approach the location of the team and found them fighting a tiger tribesman!

And they were losing!

It also seemed from the expressions that they have shouted for his help quite a while ago and they wondered why he didn't show up.

The tiger tribesman was a youth around their age, he had an X scar around his forehead, his body was quite muscular and he wore nothing but rags, he also seemed to be quite hungry as he always lunged towards Bibo to take a bite out of him, Bibo had tears in his eyes as he ran around shouting for Felix's name.

Felix took in a deep breath as he disappeared, it was time to sharpen his skills even further in life and death situations!

Felix quickly approached the tiger from behind but the tiger tribesman suddenly lunged towards him and tried to take a bite out of his head!

Felix's eyes widened in surprise and fear as he tried to dodge the attack before it was too late...