After wandering around Beacon for another few hours and taking in the city’s sights, Zeke began to understand why Abby had wanted to show him around. To him, it was as if every turn showed him something wondrous. Whether it was an immaculate statue of some long-dead hero, a small park filled with softly glowing flowers, or the sheer variety of humanity within, the city of Beacon was an overwhelming place, and Zeke felt certain that it would take him years to take it all in. And he hadn’t even gone past the second level yet.

He was on the verge of heading back when he felt a gust of wind press against him with undeniable insistence. It felt as if someone was shoving against him with all their might, and in his still-weakened state, it almost made him stagger. However, his two-hundred-plus strength wasn’t for nothing. On top of that, he could somehow tell that his new resistances had come into play, cutting through some of the wind’s power.

Zeke looked up to see a stunned man who looked like a Merlin cosplayer, complete with the long, white beard, elaborate robes, and a staff topped with a glowing crystal. The wizard’s surprise turned to concentration, and Zeke felt the skill’s power increase. He was ready for it, though, and the result was much the same.

“What the hell, man?” he demanded, considering summoning his mace. He’d just been attacked, so he felt entirely within his rights to defend himself. The only problem was that this man’s skill was so weak that he posed almost no threat to him.

“Out of the way, peasant!” the man screeched. “Or you will be moved!”

Zeke raised his eyebrow. “How’s that working out for you so far?” he asked, crossing his arms. “Go ahead. Move me. I’m waiting.”

For a few seconds, the wizard gaped at him in absolute surprise, as if he couldn’t comprehend a situation where he might not get what he wanted. In that moment, Zeke inspected him.

Callum Einar – Level 20

The other pedestrians backed away, clearing the street. Zeke could hear whispered exclamations about the man’s power and curious questions about who could defy such a mighty sorcerer. It was music to Zeke’s ears. What’s more, he’d been curious about his new resistances anyway; what better way to test them than to defy some uppity asshole?

Callum finally managed to wrangle his wits. “Are you challenging me, peasant?” the man spat.

“You attacked me, dick,” Zeke pointed out. “You’re lucky I didn’t turn you into a pile of meat.”

“You dare?!”

“Oh, shut up,” was Zeke’s response. “If you’re going to attack, attack. Give me your best shot. I won’t even hit you back. Not too hard, at least.”

“You won’t get the chance!” the man screamed, his anger throwing his voice into a higher pitch. It would’ve been comical if it hadn’t been for the considerable disturbance in the mana around him. It was clear that the sorcerer was gathering a significantly powerful skill. But Zeke had withstood the attacks of level twenty-five elites, so he felt confident in his ability to take whatever the screeching sorcerer could dish out.

As the skill gathered, the onlookers backed further away, clearly terrified of finding themselves in the crossfire. Considering that most of them were below level ten, Zeke could certainly understand their fear. More than once, he had seen men like this Callum Einar casually tossing pedestrians aside with their skills. Most people just weren’t equipped to take the assault, though usually, the pedestrians escaped with only a few bruises.

But Zeke wasn’t most people, so when Callum finally released the skill, he stood strong against the cutting blade of wind that was sent screaming towards him. He could’ve dodged, but he chose not to move a muscle. The crowd gasped at the power contained in the skill, and still, Zeke refused to bow before it.

It crashed into Zeke, tearing across his chest with undeniable cutting power. His shirt was ripped to shreds, and a sizable portion of flesh and blood went spraying through the air. Still, Zeke didn’t give the man the satisfaction of moving. Instead, sporting a jagged gash in his chest, he asked, “That’s it? That’s the best you can do?”

“I…I didn’t…that…”

“Okay, my turn,” Zeke said, cracking his neck. His wound looked a lot worse than it was; the blade of wind hadn’t even hit the bone, but even if it had, Zeke wouldn’t have given the man the satisfaction of acknowledging it. After activating [Leech Strike], he strode forward, the skill casting his fists in a glowing, red light. With a thought, he could’ve suppressed the visual cue, but he wanted to make an impression. And what’s more impressive than a man with glowing fists? Nothing Zeke could manage, that was for sure.

The sorcerer backed away, stumbling in his retreat. But Zeke was on him in an instant, his fist already leading the way. It collided with the man’s jaw, sending an audible crack across the street. The wizard dropped, unconscious before he hit the cobbled ground.

“I think I win,” Zeke said, standing over the man. The force of the blow was enough to empower [Leech Strike], so over the next second, the wound across his chest knitted itself back together. When the stolen vitality was spent, only an angry red scar remained of the vicious magical attack.

“What do we do?” came a man’s voice. Zeke looked up to see a nearby guard standing beside his partner. They both wore the sunburst tabard and chainmail and carried pikes.

“Nothing,” his partner said. He nodded at Zeke, adding, “Not to him, at least. We’ll get the other one to a healer.”

Zeke fixed his gaze on the two guards, asking, “Is this going to be a problem? He attacked me first.”

“N-no,” said the more nervous of the two. “Laws are clear here.”

The other one stepped forward, saying, “But you’d better watch yourself. That’s Callum Einar.”

“And?” Zeke asked. “He someone’s nephew or something?”

The more confident guard gave a chuckle, then said, “Not really. If anything, he’s the important one. He’s one of the elders of the Champions of Light. They’ve got some serious pull around here.”

“Shit,” Zeke said, recognizing the name as Abby’s guild. He hoped it wouldn’t affect his membership application. Not that he’d have done anything differently, of course. The man had attacked him, which was something he simply wouldn’t tolerate without repaying the act in kind.

The guard laughed again. “Something like that,” he said. “But the good thing is that he probably has no idea who you are. Beacon’s a big place, so it probably won’t matter to you. In any case, you’d better scramble. I’m sure someone’s already gone to get somebody from the guild.”

Zeke ran his hand through his hair, saying, “Yeah. Probably for the best. Thanks for the information.”

The man shrugged. “Made my day, honestly,” he said. “Those pricks act like they own the city.”

“Kind of my impression, too,” Zeke said. “Thanks. I’m going to get out of here, then.”

After the guard gave Zeke a nod of approval, the man picked up the unconscious wizard and threw him over his shoulder – presumably to take the arrogant sorcerer to someone who could mend his shattered jaw. Meanwhile, Zeke took the opportunity to vacate the premises, slowly making his way back to Hawthorne’s place. Given how far Zeke had wandered, it took almost two hours for him to reach the healer’s apartment-slash-premises.

“Back, huh? Half expected you to run off and leave the girl behind,” the healer said, looking up from his latest patient, a dull-faced man who was sitting at the table with a jagged wound running the length of his forearm. Hawthorne nodded toward the basement, adding, “She just woke up a couple of minutes ago, but I’ll warn you right now – she’s a bit cranky.”

“Thanks,” Zeke said, crossing the room to the basement’s entrance. He descended the stairs to find Abby sitting on the edge of the bed, a vacant look on her face. “Hey.”

She blinked a couple of times, then said, “Welcome back. You get your armor commissioned?”

Zeke nodded, “Luigi says hello.”

“You got Luigi to work with you? Impressive,” she said.

“One look at the queen’s carapace, and he just about wet his pants in excitement,” Zeke stated. “I guess he likes working with exotic materials.”

Abby laughed. “Most smiths would kill to work with that kind of thing,” she stated. “I hope he didn’t overcharge you.” Zeke told her what he’d paid, which elicited a headshake. She said, “Okay, so he didn’t fleece you too badly, but you still overpaid by quite a lot. Haven’t you ever negotiated anything before? Never take the first offer.”

Zeke shrugged, his cheeks going a bit red. “Never really did anything like that, honestly,” he answered. “But it’s not a big deal. It’s just money.”

Indeed, in the old world, money hadn’t been the easiest thing to come by. In fact, between his brother’s illness, his father’s flakiness, and the cost of his baseball career, which included team fees, equipment, and private lessons, Zeke’s family had always lived on a shoestring budget. However, in the new world, if he wanted money, all he had to do was find some monsters to kill – which he’d planned on doing anyway. So, it didn’t seem to matter if he was a little frivolous with his gold.

“Just money…”

“I mean, it is,” he said before citing his reasoning. He continued, “We’re going to be killing a lot of monsters soon. I don’t see why we need to be stingy.”

She shrugged, “Just seems wrong to throw money away, but I can’t really argue with your logic. Anything interesting happen while you were out and about?”

Deciding to keep his encounter with the arrogant wizard to himself for the moment, Zeke shook his head. Then, he changed the subject by asking, “Did you do it? Evolve your race, I mean?”

She grinned. “I did!” she stated. “I can finally level again! And I got an achievement, too. Not as good as yours, but I’m not going to say no to a couple of extra stats either way.”

Zeke couldn’t help but smile, as well. Then, he addressed the issue that had been on his mind since he’d left the healer’s apartment earlier that morning. “Listen,” he said. “I wanted to say I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be a jerk earlier.”

She waved away his apology, responding with, “No, I’m the one who should apologize. You didn’t mean anything by it. I was just nervous about the evolution, and I snapped at you. So, I’m sorry. Really.”

“Right,” Zeke said, feeling a little better. “Well, anyway, I got you something while I was out. I hope you like it.”

Then, he reached into the satchel and retrieved the bow. Handing it to her, he said, “It’s supposed to be top-of-the-line.” He gave her the glove as well. “The shopkeeper said you can bind it to you and then summon it with this glove. Cool, right?”

Abby stared at the sleek, blue weapon in her hands. “This…this is…I can’t accept this, Zeke,” she said.

“Huh? Of course you can,” he said. “I don’t think I can take it back, and I don’t have any use for it.”

“This thing must’ve cost a fortune,” she said, her voice a little more than a whisper.

Again, Zeke shrugged. “It’s just money,” he said. “Plus, we’re a team. When one of us gets stronger, we both do, right?”

For a moment, Abby didn’t move. Instead, her gaze remained locked on the bow. Then, she suddenly rose to her feet and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you,” she said, hugging him tightly. “You have no idea what this weapon means to me, and after I was such a bitch to you earlier...”

“It’s just a bow,” he said, awkwardly patting her on the back. But he knew it was more than just a weapon. It was a physical manifestation of their partnership – proof that they were in this thing together. And, he hoped, a solidification of his apology. He was going to be putting his life in her hands – and vice versa – and Zeke had no intention of letting any issues hang between them.

Plus, he couldn’t deny that, at times, he found himself fantasizing about something more than friendship between them. Maybe it was just a simple crush – that’s how he thought of it – but there was still a faint hope that someday, something else might develop. However, until Abby gave him some indication that those feelings might be reciprocated, he wasn’t going to endanger their partnership by throwing that awkwardness into the mix.

Or maybe he was just afraid of rejection. After all, she was a beautiful warrior woman who was way out of his league. It was kind of farfetched that she’d have any interest at all. So, he’d resolved to keep his crush to himself.

After pulling out of the hug, she looked at his ruined shirt and asked, “What happened?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Just snagged it on something. It’s fine.”

“Well, that just won’t do,” she said, slipping the fingerless glove onto her left hand. A moment later, the bow lit up, signifying that she’d just bound the weapon. It disappeared a second after that. “If you’re going to apply for the guild, you’re going to have to look your best. That means we need to get you a new wardrobe. And I think Hawthorne would appreciate it if we got out of his home.”

“Ugh,” he said. “I’ve always hated shopping for clothes.”

“A necessary evil,” she said. “Besides, there’s a great restaurant right beside Tailor’s Lane. They make the best tacos I’ve ever had.”

Zeke grinned. “You had me at tacos.”

“It was literally the last thing I said.”

He shrugged. “I stand by my statement.”

She rolled her eyes, then tugged him along. “C’mon, you big idiot.”