Chapter 9 The Present

The elderly Mr. Howlett stood on the square in front of the manor with a mottled and clumped cane. The white-haired old man bent over and looked up at the people who were constantly gathering and shouting. There was danger in his gray eyes. gaze.

  Suddenly, excited shouts sounded from the tower: "It's James! Master James is back!" The lookout vigorously shook the torch in his hand and rushed down to signal. Mr. Howlett breathed a sigh of relief and groped his way to a seat on the steps of the main building.

   Within a few breaths, James ran to the square, raised his legs and jumped off the horse, looking at the horsemen of the manor who were about to rattle their swords in astonishment. A few strides came to Mr. Howlett's side.

   "Grandpa, what's the matter?" James squatted in front of Mr. Howlett worriedly. Even so, he was slightly taller than Mr. Howlett who was sitting on the steps above. The old man's muscles and bones had atrophied over the years.

   "You worry-free kid, you still have the nerve to ask? Why did you come back so late today!" Mr. Howlett asked sternly.

   "I'm sorry grandfather, I was a little delayed in the woods today, which made you worry." James replied apologetically. Mr. Howlett took a look at the mess on his grandson's body, and saw the faint bloodstains on the sleeves of both arms stopped for a while.

   Slowly said: "Don't do this again in the future, I'm not stable recently." Standing up and waving the crutch in his hand, everyone in the square dispersed in an orderly manner without asking James what happened in the forest. He just said, "Come in for dinner." Then he walked slowly back to the manor.

  Victor looked at James from a distance under another tower. He seemed to have given up trimming his nails, letting them grow black and shiny, with a bit of metallic luster, about two centimeters longer than his fingertips.

Victor James is three or four years old. Now he is more than two meters tall like an iron tower. The clothes on his body are bulging with strong muscles. His dark brown hair is long and messy draped over his shoulders. The slight whistling sound of the tiger lying on the ground.

  James, who followed his grandfather into the house, stopped at the door, turned his head and met Victor's eyes from a distance, nodded imperceptibly, and entered the house. Victor stood under the sentry tower for a while, ignoring the riders who were always keeping a distance from him and quickly returned to their respective rooms, and stayed for a long time before leaving.

  After dinner, O'Hara prepared hot water for James to wash with a blank face, put it in his room without saying a word, and tried to leave, trying not to meet James face to face.

"O'Hara, wait a minute." James stopped the little maid who was covered in "Do Not Enter", and asked cautiously, "Grandpa asked you about my situation today?" O'Hara gave an imperceptible "Yes" .

  James smiled wryly and said, "Did he reprimand you?" Seeing that she didn't say anything, James was very apologetic. "Sorry for making you worry."

   After a while, O'Hara raised his voice and said, "What else?"

   "Anything else? Hmm... I forgot your rabbit, I'll make it up for you next time." James said tentatively, carefully watching the expression of his maid. After hearing this, O'Hara glanced at him, snorted softly, twitched the corners of her mouth a few times, forced her face, and left the room unsteadily.

  James shook his head and muttered: "Isn't it too humane? How can a maid in this era dare to show face to her master..."

  Late at night, Mr. Howlett's study.

  The old man sucked his elegant dark yellow ivory pipe, and coughed violently from time to time. He turned on some kerosene lamps beside him, and carefully read the letters from the surrounding manors, frowning tightly.

  The new governor, Kevin Smith, has been raising Alberta’s taxation indicators in recent days. He believes that the early concession policy to encourage manor owners to build in the colony should be gradually canceled as the region develops. Moreover, yesterday it was claimed that Howlett's beef cattle pasture had seriously encroached on the land directly under the royal family. Not only did a pair of cavalrymen kill more than ten cattle, but also captured the head of the pasture and several herdsmen.

  Mr. Howlett clearly knew the purpose of the governor, but he did not mention the consequences of confronting the official head-on, and his age and body did not allow him to fight like before. What the old man wanted was to get through this hurdle and hand over the family business to James safely, for his grandson, and for the final future of the family. Even lower this old head.

  James has very little sleep time now, and he only needs about three hours of deep sleep every night, which is enough to cope with the exhaustion of the day. And after the mutant ability was awakened, his energy became extraordinarily abundant, even a little exaggerated for him to get used to.

  At two o'clock in the morning, he got up and jumped down from the balcony on the third floor, and landed lightly on the ground. His burly figure of nearly 1.9 meters was like a feather pillow, and he only made a slight "pop" sound. He didn't go to the stable to look for his mount Panda, but he threw off his long legs, kicked up a cloud of dust and ran towards a valley extending from the Rocky Mountains in the distance. Today he wants to test his physical level.

It is about fifteen kilometers from the manor to the valley. James sprinted with all his strength, and at the same time used the excellent Yu Bu's "shrinking the ground to an inch" technique. He grabbed the ground with his toes and pulled up a gray line mixed with turf and dust. , After reaching the foot of the mountain, he took out the pocket watch in his jacket pocket. The moonlight tonight was covered by thick dark clouds, and the light was extremely limited, but he seemed completely unaffected.

   "It took about fifteen minutes for fifteen kilometers. That's almost... a speed of six seconds for 100 meters, and I don't feel tired at all. I should be able to run more than 100 kilometers with all my strength."

  James settled down, looked up at the highest and steepest cliff in the valley, and squatted down slowly.

"boom!"

He jumped up on the spot, rising more than three meters high before slowly falling. He reached for the rock wall full of hard bluestone, his five fingers "pu chi" inserted into the rock, and he tapped the rock wall with his toes to exert force. Jump up again, and reach the highest point of this valley in six or seven jumps.

  James thought for a while on the top of the mountain, then jumped into the forest, testing his fist strength on boulders and thick trees. In this era without any testing equipment, he can only test his body in the most superficial way.

  In the dark and quiet mountains, there were discordant "drumbeats" played by the few wisps of white moonlight that leaked slightly.

boom! Puff Chi Chi! Boom boom boom!

  Whether it was the beasts in the forest or the birds in the nest, they were all startled away by this tyrannical uninvited guest. All kinds of big trees surrounded by two people were broken or tilted after being broken down, and they were full of huge bluestones after being broken and gouged. All over this messy valley, James breathed slightly faster, looking at his hands.

"The speed and explosive power of various forces far exceed the limits of my known human body and dark energy boxing techniques. Moreover, this body that can quickly heal itself can easily withstand the stimulation of dark energy. It is far from reaching it, and as for ordinary dark force boxers who can only strike three or four times, they are even more disappointed. Perhaps only the legendary "invisible and not bad" can have such physical strength. Finally..." James clenched his fists, slowly Lift up slowly.

   There was a slight squirm on the forearm, and six bone claws pierced out from the face of the fist. Under the moonlight, it was dazzling white.

James staggered and collided with the two claws, feeling their hardness, and suddenly swung his fist backwards across a tall tree that had survived. Three scars appeared on the tree's body, as deep as the bone claws on the fist. .

  Looking dazed for a moment, he punched the huge boulder next to him with his fist, and the bone claws disappeared from the face of the fist as if defeated, hitting a crack.

   "Only the last item is left..." James muttered to himself, gently unbuttoned and took off his jacket, and suddenly crossed his fists and stabbed his shoulders!

   Bang! The six bone claws were dripping with blood protruding from the shoulders. James gritted his teeth and snorted, but he didn't let himself cry out, and beads of sweat broke out all over his body.

"Hey!" He put his claws back into his own flesh and blood, his body trembling slightly, almost at the same time as the claws were retracted, the twelve blood holes on the front and back of his shoulders stopped bleeding, and slowly closed visible to the naked eye, James Looking at my shoulders left and right, I counted seven or eight silently in my heart, and the wound recovered as before, no more pain, and I could move freely.

"I remember that Wolverine Logan's physical fitness is barely at the limit level of ordinary humans. His strength, speed, and destructive power are not as good as his half-brother Victor. The bone claws should only be stronger than normal bone hardness, which is not at all what it is now. This is close to the metal-like strength. It is no different from the most outstanding self-healing ability." James considered his physical condition a little bit in his heart.

  He sat cross-legged on the ground quietly, gradually calmed down, and the world he perceived gradually changed...

  (end of this chapter)