Chapter 169: Handsome
Ayaan turned around and saw Rebecca entering his tent with Ifre and followed by Leafwhisk, Isobel, and Noor.
"Wow!" Suddenly Rebecca exclaimed and looked at the cute creature on Ayaan's hand. "How cute!"
Others also looked at the hamster and hearts appeared in their eyes after seeing how cute it was. "Where did you find this cute hamster?" Noor looked at the animal.
"Where did you find this pet?" Isobel asked.
And just when she said the word 'pet', the hamster looked at the lady furiously, but then, it somehow calmed itself down. It wasn't a good idea to make everyone his enemy. He thought.
The hamster looked at the girls and said in a proud tone. "Humph, what do you mean by cute? Call me handsome."
"Wow!" the tent filled with exclamations when the hamster talked. Ayaan couldn't help but have a little headache. He knew the charm of cuteness because once he was also a cute dog.
"Can I touch it?" asked Rebecca and looked at Ayaan with puppy eyes. Ayaan saw her cute face and his heart melt in just a single glance.
"Take it," he extended his hand at Rebecca on which the cute hamster was sitting.
Rebecca looked at the hamster and tried to take in her hand from Ayaan. "Heh?"
However, when she stroked the hamster, she could not touch it. Her hand passed through its body like an illusion!
"Why?" Rebecca and others looked at the hamster in disbelief and she turned towards Ayaan. "Why can't I touch it?"
"How can you touch me when I am just a spirit? I am not made of material but from energy." The hamster replied disdainfully. Though in girls eyes, its expression became cuter and wanted to pinch and feel its body. Alas, they could not.
"What is going on?" Leafwhisk asked. "What is this hamster?"
Ayaan took a deep breath and explained everything that happened just a few moments prior. The girls heard what he said and became stunned. "So this thing is a pagoda spirit?" asked Noor.
"But why didn't it reveal itself before?" asked Isobel in confusion.
Ayaan looked at the cunning hamster and also realised something after hearing Isobel's word.
"What are you staring at me?" snapped the hamster. "Do you think anyone would be happy to become someone's slave? So I didn't want to come out." It said grudgingly.
Ayaan looked at the little thing on his hand and felt as if it was hiding something. He didn't know where this feeling was coming from, but he just knew. "You are hiding something," Ayaan said, looking at the creature with narrowed eyes.
The hamster struggled and eventually lost his patience and blurted out everything because he knew Ayaan could tell if it was speaking truth or lying, that's what master-servant pact was about. "Alright, at first I wanted to control you, but I failed because of the thing inside you and somehow became your servant."
Ayaan blinked in understanding. If it wasn't for the World of Life and Death, he might have turned into someone's slave. This damn despicable, evil creature wanted to make him its slave! Even thinking that kind of possibility made Ayaan shiver in fear.
Others also heard its words and left stunned. Now they were wondering if they should call it cute, pitiful or stupid. It tried to make Ayaan its slave and turned someone's slave instead. What a tragic end, what a tragic life.
Ayaan thought of something and asked the hamster curiously. "So did you turn the previous owner of the pagoda into your slave too?"
The hamster's expression turned bitter and crestfallen when he heard Ayaan's question. "When the pagoda was passed to the previous owner I was suppressed by someone." It said. The hamster looked at Ayaan and continued disdainfully. "Don't ask who it was because you are too weak, even bugs are stronger than you in the higher worlds."
Leafwhisk who was standing not far away narrowed her eyes when she heard hamster's words. Ayaan also remembered the scene when a dying man passed the pagoda to Nolan. Just the ash of that man's body evolved the entire forest, if someone had the power to suppress the pagoda then it must be that guy, and Ayaan also remembered the man talked something about gods.
He had some doubts about this god thing before, but now after hearing this hamster's words, he was having second thoughts. Are there really gods in this world? He didn't know the answer, so he left it for the future.
"Do you know anything about the previous owner?" Ayaan asked. He was rather curious about this guy called Nolan, because he had seen a short life of Nolan, after all. He glanced at Leafwhisk from the corner of his eyes and relaxed when her expression didn't change, or she hid her real expression. No one knew.
"I don't know anything about the previous owner," replied the hamster. "I was suppressed at that time and fell into a deep slumber. I woke up from the slumber only after the previous owner died. At that time there was only this lady inside the pagoda but she never tried to get the legacy of the pagoda if she had, hehe." The hamster chuckled evilly as it glanced at Leafwhisk.
Ayaan turned towards Leafwhisk and asked, "did you know about this evil hamster?"
Leafwhisk looked at Ayaan and her face turned icy cold. "I didn't." She replied and walked away without staying any further.
Only after speaking Ayaan realised that he had said something wrong. He literally doubted the lady by speaking those words. "Leafwhisk!" before she could walk out of the tent, Ayaan called out her name hurriedly.
The lady stopped and looked at him, her face still cold. "What?" she asked.
"I am sorry," Ayaan said while looking into her green enchanting eyes. Only then she smiled and said, "no problem, but be careful next time."
Ayaan looked at her back and cold sweat poured down from his temple. Though she looked gentle and weak and carefree, Ayaan knew that she was most difficult to deal with in his group.
As she walked out of the tent Ayaan could only smile bitterly. He turned towards the hamster again. "Am I the only one who can touch you?" he inquired.
"Yes," replied the little animal with a lack of interest.
"Can you live only on my body or also somewhere else? I mean can you walk around without my help?"
"No,"
"So what should I call you?"
"Call me handsome."
"..."
Ayaan looked at the little creature and couldn't find it handsome from anywhere. "You don't look handsome to me." he blurted in the end.
"How could an ugly creature like you understand my handsomeness?" hopped the animal furiously at Ayaan.
"Yeah, yeah," Ayaan rolled his eyes at the hamster. The girls also chuckled at the side when they heard their conversation.
Isobel remembered something and asked, "you are the spirit of the pagoda so can you still change the physic of the person and give them powerful cultivation techniques?"
Everyone's eyes glittered hearing her question, and they turned towards the hamster.
The little animal looked at everyone and knew that its time to shine had arrived. He stood on its back legs and puffed the chest out. Then grinned. "If you want to know… call me Handsome."
"..."
Now Ayaan was sure that this hamster was just a child. Though he didn't know why someone made this little child of a hamster, the spirit of the pagoda, there must be a reason, but he had something else to ask, so he pushed the question for another time.
"Why do you want to be called Hansome?" Ayaan asked helplessly.
"Because I am handsome," replied the spirit on Ayaan's palm.
"Alright, Handsome, can you please tell us if you can still use the abilities of the pagoda," asked Ayaan with a bitter smile.
"Hehe, remember from now on, I am Handsome," Handsome said.
"Now tell us if you can or not!" Ayaan was at his limit and had the urge to once more smack this damn hamster.
"Hehe, see this," chuckled Handsome and shouted. "Appear!"
Ayaan looked in front of him and his eyes turned wide because in front of the hamster appeared a screen. He saw three options on the screen: one was Status; the second was Physics; the third was Cultivation Techniques. At the very top of the screen, Ayaan saw a name: Handsome.
"You have a system?" Ayaan asked in astonishment.
"What system? This is what I gain after I evolved...cough I mean after I became your servant." Said Handsome embarrassedly. Then he looked at Ayaan and asked cunningly. "Do you know why my name is Handsome?"
Ayaan looked at his smirking face and asked, "why?"
"Because you have approved it, muahahaha!"
"..."
Everyone looked at the little hamster in Ayaan's hand speechlessly. "So that's why you were insisting for Ayaan to call you Handsome?" Rebecca asked.
"Muahahaha!"
"..."