Versatile: Alternate World

Once the shikigami is deployed, I tested the shikigami's effects, fighting capabilities, and how it moves. Even if it is small, the stats that the shinigami that I deployed are similar to my current stats which means this little piece of paper in the shape of a paper human is my other half.  I also did try to feel the shikigami's movement while I am just in the distance and thankfully, everything is very smooth and no trouble arises after that. It is much easier than expected compared to what I expected. Just imagine that you have two bodies that are controlled by one brain, that's how it feels with me controlling the Shikigami.

I didn't rush to infiltrate the village immediately. I familiarize myself with the usage of the Shikigami and made sure I am comfortable with it already before I begin to make a move. After several practices, I finally completed everything and the next thing I learned is that controlling the Shikigami is just like controlling a drone or a robot but minus the controller you hold on your hands as the main controller will be your mind itself. I have experience in controlling drones back in the past timeline so I am pretty confident on using the Shikigamis this time around.

After getting familiar with how they work, I deployed the shikigami to its first job, scouting. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not here to grind as I already did earlier. I have already set camp too where I am safe from being seen by other players and also far enough but not that far to actually see the village that I am trying to infiltrate. I still remembered that anyone who are in their range will immediately be noticed which is why it was necessary for me to scout using my Shikigami. I know that there are some things that have yet to happen since we are on an earlier timeline but who knows?

Since my Shikigami is already under the passive effect of [Shikigami Camouflage], I don't need for sneaky movement and can just fly unless enemies have true sight though that should be impossible for enemies here which is why this shikigami of mine can just go and sneak around without any problems.

To make sure that I have full control of my situation, I summoned Lucia and the Desert Wolf buddies to ensure that while I was controlling my shikigami, I will have at least someone who can watch my back while doing so.

"Lucia, my Desert Wolves, I need your assistance."

The moment I said that, everyone goes outside the summon's area however, another two appeared with them and out of those two, one of them, despite not being part of my summons and followers also came out. Yep, the Half Angel and Half Fallen kid that has been under Atlas's care. The other one is Cotton who is staying on Lucia's head, sleeping and since it is normal, I let Cotton be. However, it is a different matter from this kid.

"Wait, kid. Why did you come out too?"

"I am bored staying there and Uncle Atlas already agreed to let me out and not wander too far or else, he will whoop my ass."

Lucia gives a thumbs up as she pat my shoulders. "Don't worry master, if he decided to do something that he shouldn't even be doing, I will be the one who will whoop him on the butt.

Even the wolves are barking in agreement, which means they can easily keep watch on this guy here.

"Well, that is reassuring. Anyways, I needed your help on watching my back as I control my shikigami to infiltrate a place. Tell me if there are any intruders on the camp or there are enemies nearby."

"No problem with that Master."

I turned to look at the little boy whose name I still have yet to know.

"What about you? Are you going to help or not? You can just stay still there and do nothing. Chill out around the camp."

"Nah, I will help out. I still owe Uncle Atlas for taking care of me and since you are his master and helping him get strong, then if I help you, that also counts as repaying Uncle Atlas for all his efforts done to me."

"Well, you are good to go then. I don't mind what you do, just don't interrupt me unless its really important."

Everyone went to their positions around the camp and started their task to protect me while I am busy with my Shikigami. And as for me, I resumed my control with the Shikigami. First, scouting. I let the Shikigami roam around the village's vicinity. I never properly scouted this place before and even the others also didn't do that which caused us a lot of time to waste due to the wasted potential of the place during the first quest.

While I am busy checking out the terrains, I just realized something. There are no other creatures around the place. Not even a small beast or a neutral monster. Nothing at all. Heck, even birds that should be common are nonexistent. Even the fishes in the nearby river seems to be also gone. No signs of animal wildlife at all. It would make sense if I also saw monsters but there are no monsters at all, just the plant life and nothing else.

I made a second round of checking the vicinity and there are just nothing there. Not even insects like what the heck? In the past timeline, I even saw multiple Cloud Bunnies hopping around the place and right now, they don't seem to appear at all. Just what is going on?

Seeing that I have no answer to my questions about the disappearance of the animal wildlife of this area, I decided to move to the next phase and that is to go now to the village itself.

The village is not that big but that doesn't mean it does not hide a dark secret. But since its still very early, I doubt there are any changes, right?

It didn't take long for my Shikigami to arrive at the village itself. Since its not my body that arrived there, the discovery notification of the village did not appear for me. But that's fine, much better than actually entering this hell hole. I am also thankful that my Shikigami is flying in the air or else, it would be a slow thing.

Now, first things first, I decided to do an inspection to the villagers. Compared to the past timeline where monsters ran rampant in this village, the monsters that I killed during that past timeline shenanigans are nowhere to be seen here.

The villagers are all normal angels. No distinctive looks on their faces and they don't seem to look much different. And thanks to the [Shikigami Camouflage], I can just spy them face to face and see what these guys are doing and what the village was all about too. They seemed to be doing fine, working fine, and just doing what they do best. It was like a very generic NPCs gathered around which made the NPCs in this village horrendous.

Since the villagers doesn't seem to look like they are of concern at the moment, I decided to explore the buildings this time around. In the past timeline, there are no buildings here after the monster destroyed them all and the only structures left are the ruins left from the destroyed houses. It wasn't a village at all and became a place to kill monsters.

Now, those ruins are not ruins anymore. But I am kinda disappointed as they look like generic houses. It seems the design team of the game decided to give this place a normal look, and keep it like that as the monsters will ravage this place and kill everyone in the end. I mean, that kinda makes sense especially if you would just burn it out anyway.

I visited all of the houses one by one, checks out every single thing, then leave. Rinse and repeat. Sometimes, I would find some fascinating things but they are things that are not even related to what I am looking for, just random stuff happening around houses and buildings. However, there is one thing that keeps me wondering.

In every house that I visit, all houses have one single item in them that every houses I visited have that item. At first, I didn't care, but the more I explored, the more the item became more and more I have noticed how relevant the thing is. Not only does the item common, it is in every household.

What item was it?

A skull. I don't know if it was a human skull or a skull of any of the humanoid races like the elves and of course, the angels or anything else. One is fine, two is a coincidence, then third is already not  a good thing already. It seems this is indeed the main case here. The skull seems connected to the situation that is happening in the future.