-Vol 5: A New Life-

-Shock!!-

“Joy, wait!!” Kenshin called out to Joy who was running ahead of him with a jolly smile on his face.

“Never. You think I will stop just cause you called me? Idiot!! I will win this race and drive your car for a few days.” Joy was having too much fun to care about anything else.

“You ass, it's not about race, just look to your front. An old man is standing a few kilometers away.” Kenshin said. He had noticed this old man since a while, at first, he thought he was just some random old man, but, its already been a few kilometers since then, but the distance between them still remained same. Its as if they weren’t moving a single step at all.

“What of it? He might be some random old man., don’t try to distract me.” Joy squinted his eyes, but his eyesight wasn’t as good as Kenshin’s, so he wasn’t able to see that far. Besides, he couldn’t lower his guard in this race, his acting cool moment was on the line here. If he manages to drive Kenshin’s car, even for a few days, he will able to show off a lot of people and gain himself some hardcore reputation among the rich and spoiled circle of other car fanatics.

“Sigh! You…alright. Just do as you wish.” Kenshin gave up about Joy and decided to just go with the flow. That old man might just be another hunter heading for something. Or he might be some formidable hunter who had the same idea as them, going to provide help to Yonezawa.

Some minutes later, he saw the old man suddenly stop and turn around. Before Kenshin could realize what happened, a sudden flash of light blinded him for a second. He came into a sliding halt. After his eyes gained their sight, he saw a very familiar old man standing in front of him while giving him a toothy smile.

“You!!” Kenshin had seen this old man before. Back during the mission to the ocean, when he was in that ship, he had used his aura to counter the captain’s aura as well. This old man was also there, drinking with the captain. During that time, although the captain huffed and puffed, unable to endure Kenshin's formidable King’s presence, this old man was completely calm about it. He even dispelled it easily with just a few words. He had made some impact on Kenshin’s memory that day. It's just that time was tight, so he didn’t get time to think about this, and gradually forgot about it completely.

“So, you remember me after all!! Hello, Kenshin Muto, nice to meet you.” The old man smiled once again. Kenshin remained silent, looking warily at the old man. His head was still filled with that bright light before the old man crossed a huge distance and appeared in the fort of him. That looked like teleportation, but Kenshin wasn’t sure about it. It might be a speed increasing skill. There were a diversity of skills in the world that resembled some of the obscure phenomena in this world. Even his [Opposites] look like rewinding time to some and reflection to others, even Kenshin wasn’t sure under what category it comes under.

“Kenshin, who is this old man?” Joy also realized the presence of the old man, but since his back was towards Kenshin, he hadn’t seen the blinding light that came out of nowhere. Seeing an old man appearing out of thin air, he jumped back, preparing to defend against the old man.

“Kid, we are going to talk about something private. It's better if you take a few minutes of ‘power nap.’” The old man’s left palm faced Joy, and he fell down like a crumpled up paper in a very weird angle, looking very hilarious. But Kenshin didn’t have the urge to laugh, pulling the [BlackMoon Beheader] from his storage space, he took an offensive and defensive stance, aiming the sword tip at the old man.

“What did you do to him?” Kenshin looked serious and controlled his anger. Joy was alive, so he didn’t need to be frenzy here. Besides, from the words of old man, he wanted to talk about something private, so Kenshin guessed he didn’t have any ill intentions, at least for now. Even so, he remained wary, holding the sword and prepared for everything.

“Hmm! That’s fast!! It seems you have taken some time to master the usage of Inventory, to the degree of pulling out things that fast. Good work, Kid.” The old man rubbed his chin as he analyzed the actions of Kenshin. But there was something else that thundered Kenshin’s eardrums. His hands shook, and the sword in his hands nearly slipped. His eyes were widened, and his mouth hung loose. He hadn’t expected to hear that familiar name from the mouth of the old man, not while he was accurately telling about its function as if he owned one. He didn’t care about his praise, though.

“You! You know about Inventory?” Kenshin’s voice shook as he asked with a trembling voice. It was really unexpected on his part to encounter someone having the same ability as him.

“Know about it? Kid, I also have one…see!” the old man pulled out a long staff from thin air. The air rippled as if the very space itself was being punctured. After he pulled out the staff, the ripples vanished, and everything returned to normal. Even so, it showed everything that must be shown to Kenshin to make him understand the situation a bit clearer.

“I see…sigh!!...it was really unexpected. So that means you also have a system?” after cooling off, Kenshin asked the mysterious old man whom he had only met once.

“I do. You must have thought you are the only one with the ability, thinking that you are the special one, right? Fufufu…hahaahaa!!!” the old man laughed loudly, pointing his fingers at Kenshin.

Kenshin felt something break in his head, he also had a sudden urge to break that mouth of the old man. This old man was hitting the nail with his every word, driving Kenshin insane. If not for his knowledge of this old man’s strength or the lack of, he would have already attacked him with everything he got.

“Well, I don’t blame you for thinking like that anyway. You also have the right to be prideful about it. The appearance of that system was nothing sort of miracle, you know that?” after calming down, the old man revealed something interesting.

“What do you mean?” knitting his brows, Kenshin eased up a lot and put away the sword. Then he asked the old man to elaborate what he just said. Although he could guess what he meant, Kenshin still wanted to hear it from the old man’s own mouth.

“The appearance of the system meant you have successfully defied fate and destiny. Before that, let me ask you this, you only got this system after nearly coming back to life after killing an enemy far stronger than you or passing some unsurmountable hurdle, right?” the old man asked, looking at Kenshin in the eye.

“Indeed. I have fought with a monster far stronger than me and even killed it while I was fatally wounded before.” Kenshin nodded as he recounted the event inside that level 3 dungeon. Thank God for his inherent skill, or else he wouldn’t have survived the encounter, even with Aoi’s help.

“That marked the beginning of your new life. You are no longer bound to mundane fate, as you surpassed your bleak destiny with your own power. The system was the gift you received after you successfully passed the test. Since mundane fate could no longer control you, your existence became special among all the living beings, as such normal laws and rules of creation would no longer work on you. A higher-order has to be established for people like you.

Think of this like this, before you are a normal soldier, could only take order from your captain. But then suddenly you became the General, the highest-ranking military leader. You will have a whole army under your command, controlling their fate as you wish. At that time, no one can order around the General, except for the Prime Minister and the special laws which were only applicable to people of the General or equal statuses.

It's the same. For you, a higher-order system is at work, but this system was pretty lax in its handling. As for why you got a system, well that’s because you need something like that to peek into the [Knowledge Realm] to control your own destiny. Call it a perk to those who had passed the test with flying colors.” The old man finally ended his long winding explanation.

“Who is it that conducts such a test? Also, why are you saying all these things to me?” Kenshin took in everything and asked the two main questions that were on his mind.

“I don’t know who conducts the test, but I know that it happens to everyone, and I mean every single living being. Once in their life, they had to go through some tough times, betting their lives on the line. If they pass, they will become one of us, if not…well most of the time they just die and reincarnate.” The old man shook his hand, indicating that he wouldn’t answer anymore. Taking a deep breath, he looked at the sky, pondering about the second half of Kenshin’s question.

Kenshin also waited for the old man to answer. The silence was getting on his nerves. Also, the old man’s actions made him think that the matter might be something serious. Gulping his saliva, he waited for the old man to reveal the truth.

Finally, the old man looked away from the sky and turned towards Kenshin, opening his mouth, he said, “Just felt like it, also I wanted to see that shocked reaction on your face. hahaha!!!!”

“Fuck!!!” Kenshin shouted in rage and nearly sent the old man flying with a kick. All this dramatic silence, only for such a shitty reason? And here Kenshin thought ut would concern something really important about the fate of his life and family. Kenshin gritted his teeth and fought hard to not use his [Exploding Domain] to ignite the old man’s white hairs all over his body. He was really getting on his nerves.

“Calm down will ya! Young people shouldn’t curse like that. Also, where are you heading in such a hurry? Is it to defend Yonezawa? Don’t bother, it was already in ruins. The monster there is also way out of your league, not to mention kill it, you cant even stop its charge for even a second, you will only give away your life.” The old man shook his head and turned around, pretending to walk away.

“You think I will just walk away after listening to that? It might come to my home next.” Kenshin shook his head, voicing his disagreement with him. He also knew he won't be able to do much to the monster if it was of the same strength as Core, but even a tiny ant has its role in the greater cycle of life. There might be a chance that something he could do will pop-up! If nothing else, he could take his time and spam [Starfall Doomnion] to the monster. Also, he had discovered a new way to use [Opposites], he can use it to deal with all kind of damage to the monster.

There were many things he could do to the monster on the battlefield. It was better than sitting in one place and put his fate on other’s hands. Besides, he wanted to know if he can really do something about a monster that strong with his current strength. It's all about research, how can he leave without finding anything about it?

“Suit yourself then!! Oh wait, I forget to ask you this, what is your system’s specialty?”