-Prelude(3)-

“A long-distance magic skill user? How come you are like a burnt steak here?” Joy asked, confused while pointing a finger at the carter, where he found the old man in the first place. As far as he knew, a long-distance magic skill user would never get close to an enemy. No matter how weak a monster was, they would never go closer to it.

“Haha! About that…” the old man smiled proudly then said, “I have stayed behind to let my friends escape. I was holding back a very strong enemy…by the way, have you seen a huge tiger here? I can’t see it anymore!! Has it been slain?” the old man asked hopeful, he was way more concerned about that tiger’s presence. Even he with his close to level 150 couldn’t make a dent on its skin, only someone above level 200 could make it submit. But how can a level 200 hunter was easy to move?

“A huge tiger, you say!? You mean that huge tiger with bone spurs on its back?” when the old man nodded his head, Joy sighed and said, “An old man came and trapped it in a huge cloth and took it away…that’s all I know.” After that, a smile broke into Joy’s face as he slapped the old man’s back, saying, “Damn old man! You are cool! To sacrifice yourself for your friends like that…I am sure your friends are lucky to have a friend like you. And also I am pretty sure they would be extremely happy to see you alive.”

“That they will be, I just hope that little girl hadn’t gone into a depression…sigh!” the old man shook his head, then a smile immediately appeared on his face. “Young man, as much as I want to have a long chat with you as my savior, I must go. My teammates must be worried and thinking that I was dead. You can inquire about me on any DCB branch, just tell them you want to talk with Takeda of the EastBlock. They will provide you with a contact number to talk to me. See you later, young man.” Waving his hand at him, the old man floated above the ground level and rocketed towards the east of where he stood, leaving behind Joy in the dust.

“What a hasty old man.” Joy commented before shaking his head and turned around to return to Kenshin so that they should go back. Joy didn’t bother to search anymore, he believed the old man, besides he didn’t have any reason to lie to him regarding this matter.

As he walked back, Joy felt his heart heavy as if a huge mountain was weighing down on him. Joy felt suffocated and wished to quickly leave this place. Thinking of this, he hastily ran towards Kenshin’s position and saw him sitting down with his back leaning against a broken rock. He had his eyes closed as if he was sleeping, his breathing was also relaxed.

“Oh! You have returned, have you find any survivor?” Kenshin asked without lifting his head, his breathing was still relaxed as if he was sleeping. This startled Joy a little, but he still showed a smile and said, “yes, an old man magic skill user. You know what, when I found him, he looked like an overly burnt steak, haha!!”

“I see, sit here. I have given Yuki a call, our pickup should be coming soon. My headache hasn't gone down yet!! I am going to sleep for two days straight.” Kenshin announced before sighing and caressing his scalp.

“Considering what happened to you earlier, I would guess this might be a side effect.” Joy said as an afterthought, but that gained Kenshin’s enough attention. He slowly raised his head and looked at him with a look that meant ‘tell me more.’

“You know, the old man told me that a fire dragon and umbrella came out of your body and fought outside for quite a while before going back. I think this might be the reason for your headache. I am not sure, though!” Joy explained everything the old man said to him after he woke up. Hearing it, Kenshin felt his heart going heavy again. The appearance of that dragon wasn’t a good thing in the slightest. Every time that blue dragon appears, his [???] increases in percentage. After hearing Core’s advice, he increased his WIL, and it had stopped for a while, but after his awakening, it seems the balance he fragilely maintained was broken again.

“I see, thanks for informing me. Did the old man say anything about the dragon?” Kenshin asked although he was awake when the old man said about meeting someone, he was unconscious before that. He had missed all these talks that happened between Joy and him.

“Nope, he didn’t tell me anything. More importantly, exactly what is that dragon that emerged from your body?” Joy asked as he landed his butt near Kenshin to take a rest. He wasn’t physically tired but emotionally roughed up. He was more curious about that so-called dragon, although he hadn't seen it, he still fought with Kenshin when he was burning with those blue flames. In that form, Kenshin was strong, too strong, and also fast. Even after using his [Overdrive] he could barely beat him to ground and run away from there.

“Honestly, I don’t know. It just appeared after I completed my mission of North.” Kenshin kept his silence after that. He really didn’t know anything about that dragon, but his money was on that [???] of his race stat. This thing was what worried him the most, making him unable to relax sometimes. He found hope to all his questions in the form of the old man, but that man’s attitude was a little jumpy, and Kenshin couldn’t determine his allignment. He was afraid of revealing too much about him and his system. Besides, he was somewhat skeptical of that old man's explanation about the appearance of the system.

To him, it sounded like a bug in a game. But everyone knows that if a bug appears, the devs immediately patch that up. How come no one patched such an obvious bug which happened in the real world? Kenshin had a hunch that the truth was more than what the old man had revealed. Either the old man hid some info or he, himself, didn’t know about it. Kenshin wasn't sure about any of the two. For now, he must find that man Henry James first and get some answers. Any answer will do, it was far better than not knowing anything and remain in the dark.

BOOM!!!

Suddenly an explosion occurred near where Kenshin and Joy sat. The wall opposite to them exploded to tiny fragments. When Joy and Kenshin looked up, they found two sets of lights flashing on them. Covering their overly sensitive eyes, they tried to see through the light.

“Hey!! Which one of you is Kenshin?” a feminine voice came from beyond the set of lights. Then a humanoid figure appeared in the front of the light as it became bigger and bigger, or more like the figure got closer. After adjusting to the light, Kenshin saw a lithe figure with a cute face, and a pair of goggles on her forehead stood in front of them. She had two dots like a tattoo on her left cheek, giving her a unique appearance. A piece of Red cloth tied around her forehead, making her look a little cool. Her eyes were what startled Kenshin the most.

Her pupils were red like blood with a vertical line in the middle as its pupils. While her scerla was pure black, not a single speck of white could seem there. If not for his high WIL, Kenshin would have flinched a little.

“Which one of you is Kenshin? I am asking, are you two deaf?” the girl leaned towards Kenshin and asked again, this time a hint of impatience could be seen on her face.

“I am Kenshin, who are you?” before Kenshin could speak, Joy spoke first. He had a strange look on his face as if he found someone to poke fun. The girl whipped her head around and found Joy showing his 32s. Her eyes widened for a briefest of a second before she suddenly jumped up and gave the grinning man a vicious dropkick.

“Stop lying, you bald monkey!!” the girl shouted angrily before whipping her head back to Kenshin and said “So you must be Kenshin. Come with me, I was sent here to retrieve you.” As she spoke, she pointed one of her fingers at the still not visible vehicle behind her. Kenshin nodded and stood up, holding the wall as a support. She turned around and started to walk back with Kenshin, following behind.

“Hey, what about me? Are you going to leave me here?” Joy pulled out his head from the ground after not lodged inside by the girl’s dropkick and shouted as he followed behind Kenshin.

“I only received an order to rescue Kenshin. There was nothing mentioned about rescuing a monkey too. You can run back if you wish.” The girl’s snappy retort came almost instantly. Seeing them, Kenshin couldn’t help but smile. He understood that this Joy and the girl might be friends or maybe acquaintances. Even so, the dynamics between them were hilarious to him. Not to mention, Joy was intentionally provoking her, right from the beginning when she appeared before them.

Kenshin didn’t butt in with their relationship, opting to follow the girl silently.