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Chapter 126: Dragon Meets Tiger

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Rainbow lights flashed in front of him and his view of the event venue's dim halls was gradually replaced by a seemingly imposing luxurious study with a large window on a wall and an imposing red leather, wood-lined office chair behind a desk.

"This is surprisingly elegant."

One look and you'd know the room was adorned with Victorian-styled furniture and the furnishings were padded from genuine leather ,and coated in vivid cold-processed lacquers, varnished in one-directional one-0sided strokes that give an overall impression of the entire thing being made from a single trunk carved slowly to be its current shape.

Rex felt for his body and Cortana's voice echoed from his mind.

[Scan Complete. Boss, the avatar you're using is a little bit similar to the Avatar rendering-ID used in Terroa but there are subtle differences between them. One being that this avatar does not register any avatar-added improvements from this side. I would also like to inform you sir that processing the entire situational data of your location took an entire 0.01% of all my data-processing capability.]

Rex was a bit surprised by this information. Take note that Cortana only needed 0.0001% of all her data-processing capability to handle all the tasks he gave her back in Terroa.

As such, for this entire room alone to take up to 0.01% of her capacity is already speaking enough of the amount of data available in this room alone.

It was an increase of 100% so it's impossible to be dismissed as mere concurrence.

'Is it because of the increased internal time rate?'

[There is an active data-scanning attempt that was happening in the background and holding it back and delaying it while feeding it false information is what's taking most of the processes. But all in all, sir, there is no need to update the security threat level. I can handle it from the outside with ease.]

'From your analysis, is it possible to split my mind just like when in the game? After all, we have an ample breathing room, right?'

[The situation is unstable sir and there's a large possibility that they will do something that's not in our prediction range so it is safer to assume our current setup until I get a proper anchor in this private server of theirs.]

'I see. Then I'll leave the external scanning to you and Lily. Make sure to keep Amanda updated so that the Asgardians are informed to react if the situation demands it.'

[Yes sir.]

Although it was preposterous for Rex to demand for the Asgardians to "react" if something do care to happen, what he actually meant by that is for the entire to escape and not associate themselves with him or his name.

With Lily and Cortana working in the background, they can at least make sure that the Asgardians will be able to escape any immediate threat.

Rex heaved a sigh and then looked around him. A thought entered his mind as he clenched his fist and stared at the window on his right.

There were white puffy clouds outside and a wide field of grapevines full of the purple fruits ripe for a bountiful harvest. It gave the impression of you being in a farming location in Italy or Rome.

From what he could tell from his position the moment he was 'transported' here, he would seem to be a guest and the chair behind the desk in front of him was for the host of this place.

—it's as if I am on an interview.

The thought wasn't unfounded as he was already aware that Chronos will be entering this place with him any moment now.

And thinking of that, he had to make sure of a few things so that he wouldn't be caught off guard in their coming conversation.

'Well then, is it safe to assume that this avatar is just like my real world body?'

[Yes sir.]

He paused to think again. Are battles prohibited in this place?

'Isn't this just the same as the one in Terroa?'

[The difference, sir, is that the physics engine in this server is based wholly on Earth. Magic does not appear to be possible here.]

'I see now. I think I understand. In short, this is a simulated space of a location in the real-world. Is that it?'

[Yes sir.]

'What about pain rendering simulation? If I die in here, will there be traumas to be expected?'

[It's about 100% of the real world's rendering. It's the same situation you're in back in Terroa. But if you did die in this place sir, then let's assume that there might be repercussions so please avoid any death as much as possible.]

—you're making sound like its normal. (—_—)

'So it's painful to be here as well? Great... what about our security? Can you crack this?'

[Not in the interim, no. But if you give me at least 30min of time here then I can at least cage up this entire location. By then, I can be free to fly into the opponents' server and take control of it.]

'I see. Are these things limited to me only?

[As far as my data scanning goes, those features go on both ways.]

'Alright. Do it then. I'll try to buy you some time.'

Rex finished the entire exchange and he smiled.

He relished in the small quiet moment that he can study his immediate surroundings.

He turned his head around the room. There was a door behind him with a very plain yet also special design. Typical of the wooden doors of that era in this motif; it's a design that's obviously inspired in pre-renaissance time that emphasized a religious view of the now inter-continental religion that also depicted five angels surrounding a landscape with a tiptoeing veiled-lady with a halo. Looking at the door alone, you would imagine that the owner of this room is somewhat of a spiritual person.

—though in my opinion, it's a bit of a contrast to the impression given by these furnitures.

There are shelves behind the desk filled with lots of books bound by leather cloth and animal skins.

Perhaps it was already edited data but reading the titles of the books, Rex felt his own curiosity was piqued by their labels: Genetics, Bio-Mechanical Technology, NanoTech Development, Application and Research, Space Sciences, even something titled [Breaching the Limits of the Five Branches of Physics]. These titles were just too far off from your average books in stores. In fact, there were even books on the shelves labeled to topics such as sorcery and alchemy.

It was a bizarre collection. He was beginning to think that the person who owned this space was a total fan of out-of-this-world concepts —whether it was of the spirit........ or of the body.

—all because every book title he saw pertained to knowledge bordering the limitations of the current "available sciences" of the human race. Or maybe even the theoretical limitations of humanity's own aspirations as a race.

——it included books about alchemy and sorcery!

On the walls, to solidify this impression, were the paintings of many artists depicting people who're 'connected' to some heavenly beings; of a person suffering in passion; of a naked man pointing to a an angelic being with his index finger; of knights in valorous divine expeditions; of places seeming to have a fake Jesus face; of a shepherd and his flock; of an aristocrat smiling stiffly to the painter; of a hero who fell on a thirteen layered deep pit filled with the damned souls of the dead.....

....and then there's the tapestry of a faceless man with a bright golden halo radiating golden lights as he stood in a cloud while descending from above, escorted by little angels and heavenly beings that held swords and trumpets, and waved banners of light in celebration of his return.

It took a significant area of the wall above a table in laid with a few religious ornaments; of goblets and golden saucers with white round bread on top as if to be used on a mass.

On the other side, was a more... casual area; for drinking and relaxing. And yes, that's beside the wooden shelves filled with the books.

Golden trinkets were laid in a series above leather dashboards, with picture frames of unknown people; some even wearing lab gowns and others in hiking gears.

Rex, seeing the room, couldn't help make a sigh.

"Well, he's sentimental, that's for sure."

"You are absolutely right."

Rex was just murmuring upon himself but he was startled when he heard someone actually admit to his random ramblings in reply.

He turned his head and saw an old man closing the only door in the room. It was the old man he knew had an indirect connection to a certain location in Terroa and a certain Godfather he had some beef to settle with, Chronos.

Rex stood up and, only noticing now, fixed his tie and straightened his suit.

"You're my proctor?" he said, feigning ignorance.

The old man paused as he stood there, studying Rex... or to be exact, reading the information that was available to him as he gazed at the boy.

Rex was confident of Cortana's work. He knew he was protected by a series of false information fed to whoever was moderating this "space" who are then feeding reports to Chronos.

Chronos wasn't aware that the NL-Device that he had given to Rex was already hacked and edited.

It was practically an open deception right now.

After a while, he smiled, "Not quite, but also right at the same time. To be exact, I am the one who had put your name in the Military Recruitment List at the final moment, Mister Kingsley. I felt that I just had to meet you so I used my connections to arrange this meeting for us."

Rex wasn't surprised that his identity was already known as he nodded in affirmation.

He smiled in response, in fact, and knew that the old man was trying to look as if he was just any of the World Nobles and not a Family Head of one of the Five Great Clans.

Rex was already made aware of the few probable directions this meeting will head into and as such calculated his replies based on the outcome that he wanted the most to happen. So Chronos being aware that he is Rex Kingsley was already a given since, after all, he just starred on an action event here in Lausanne not even a week ago.

"Well, coming to your venue after what happened, I was prepared to get stung by the bees since my shaking their hive was provoking their ire."

This relaxed reaction made the old man's brow twitch once before he smiled. He was finding this meeting more and more exciting to him.

"Ahaha! You're really interesting! You got me right there. I can't say you did a good job hiding after a stunt like that but then again, only World Nobles will be aware of the true things happening behind the scenes." After the clash of impressions and greetings, the old man held out a hand that Rex shook. "I'm sorry for the sudden invitation. It's just that I am intrigued by your boldness and strength, Mr. Kingsley. It's really... fascinating how a young man could change so much in just eight months after a major accident."

Rex didn't let go of the hand and firmly shook it as a proper businessman. "After the things that'd happened to me, even a boy would change into a man overnight."

"Nicely said, nicely said. Anyways, let me welcome you to my office, Mister Kingsley. You can call me Chronos and I belong to one of the factions in the World Government."

"Rex Kingsley. Pleasure to meet you, sir."

The two let go of their hands and Chronos sat at his desk chair and stared at Rex for some time before smiling widely.

"How fascinating." Chronos commented.

"What is?" Rex said.

"Your presence. It's as if I'm looking at a Veteran General of a battlefield rather than a boy who just came out of an accident. Please accept my honest sympathies for the death of your parents. Losing them would have been painful to you, but they're also an integral part of the Scientific World so in a sense, their deaths were also a great loss to us."

Rex suppressed the raging emotions in his heart and only accepted the words, glancing at the pile of books on the only bookshelf in the room.

"I can see that." He commented and Chronos also looked over to the shelves of books, thoughtful of Rex's train of thoughts.

"Truly incredible." He said in a hush. "Anyways, I really don't plan to waste your time here although I would like to ask if you could join me in making a few little assessment tests to give meaning to our meeting in this night's gathering. What would you say?"

The old man was trying to be friendly with his kind and amiable approach. Overly so, in fact, that any person will find it suspicious, much less business-people like Rex who thought he had already made his stance clear with their initial wordplay earlier.

It struck a few warning signals in Rex's heart but he kept it all to himself and just stared back at the old man, eye to eye. Calmly. This prompted the old man to smile once again as he read the data of Rex's readings. He was fascinated by all of the things he was seeing at him. Most importantly, his eyes were looking at the boy's mental fluctuations and he was impressed by the calmness he was seeing at the young man.

Rex, cut the short pause and asked, "Why am I here, exactly, Sir Chronos? Surely you weren't planning to let me join the Military, right? Although you did put my name in the list, it is still up to me if I am willing to join UNICORN or not."

"Is it impossible?" Chronos shot a calm stare. Rex sighed. This old coot seems to be the kind to act on his impulse and was too used to getting what he wanted out of people.

On occasions as these, it was better to make his stance as clear crystal water —whether it was too offensive to the old man or not is last of the large concerns to think about.

"Might as well be honest here; I have no interest in joining the UNICORN. I just want to live my life as normal as I can. But, well, it's a different matter if my girlfriend was kidnapped isn't it? Since you know of me being part of Mitra and inviting me here with an invitation for a talk... then I assume that you are aware of my current predicament. I'm currently working to save my brother. His body is currently being held by AG but his mind's trapped in Terroa. Everything that's happening in Terroa with my name in it is all but consequences of my enemies blocking my path. All of these added on top of my situation, you cannot blame me if I am ruthless in enacting my own judgement as well as punishment to the culprits that kidnapped my girl because, after all, good people are bullied and is taken advantage of and I don't want that kind of situation happening to me or to anyone I know."

Chronos leaned back, crossing his fingers in front of his mouth, smiling, studying the boy. By now, his expression was solemn yet the smile did not vanish on his lips.

He decided to test him.

"Well, for one, you do know that you've touched a World Noble while passing your judgement. Thou you returned their assets, you didn't return all of them back in full. Also, you tipped the balance in Christiana Monarchy so greatly that the House of the Dukedom you destroyed had cases of suicide and murder in it. It may have been a punishment, but isn't your punishment heavier than what they deserve?"

Chronos put away his smile and wore the face of a stern leader. His presence increased and all his playfulness vanished to be replaced by a Head.

"Who am I speaking to, actually? Are you the kind man, Mister Chronos, or are you the World Noble representative from UNICORN sanctioning a guy who acted outside of their law against one of their World Nobles?"

Rex's reply was clear: he will maintain to uphold his dignity and carry his own balls.

The room may be imaginary but the tension rose to an unimaginable extent.

Sparks were clashing between them and Chronos was slightly surprised that Rex remained relaxed despite knowing that he was in front of the World Noble Council's representative.

Chronos did make sure that he didn't speak any clue that may lead to Rex knowing his real identity but, well, since Mitra was this "brave" then maybe he already knew who Chronos was...

...and yet Rex still chose to defy him.

This was really a fascinating boy and he liked him more and more that he couldn't help smiling.

Is he aware of the consequences or he just does not care at all about UNICORN because he was a part of [Mitra]? What is this Mitra anyways?

Curiosity bubbling, Chronos couldn't help but look at the stats Rex was radiating. Of their exchange, there was only a minimal fluctuation to his emotion circuits but there wasn't much to stress to know of him actually agitating the NanoMechs they've installed in his body.

At the thought of this, an idea flashed in his mind that made him gravely look at Rex in another light.

What if he was able to control it?

During the investigation of the incident, they were able to discover that Rex actually came crashing into the building through the window, to the floor that had falsified data recordings.

All of the guards were gone and many cars were stolen with their tracers lost.

It was evidence that Mitra —Rex Kingsley— didn't enter the Hotel where Amanda was held alone.

He had accomplices and they took out the Murim members led by a Martial Specialist like Kanzu. It was something that no ordinary civilian would truly be capable of if they aren't fearless and confident with their backing, much less of their own ability to hold a candle against a fight with a Murim. As such, Chronos had the right to suspect that this is Rex's situation and current thinking. This would explain why he was fearless in actually trying to prove that he isn't intimidated by the prospect of clashing against UNICORN.

—Ah, boy, how cute of you...

Chronos assumed that Rex was already aware of the existence of the Five Great Clans if he's this confident in still meeting his gaze head on. If so, then Rex trusted Mitra so much to a certain extent that he wouldn't mind being the Five Clans' target.

For the Family Head of Abraxas Family, Rex was a truly cute boy and he was enjoying his replies.

Furthermore, there was now a possibility that Rex was able to control the NanoMechs in his body to a certain extent. If not, then how could he still win against Kanzu and dispatch him?

It was reported that aside from the corpse of man who was identified as the leader of the Guards of the kidnapped Amanda, no other corpse were in the site —much less a total bloodshed where the traces of a massacre occurred.

In other words, the place was clean...

...so clean, in fact, that it was as if the bodies are taken away and hidden somewhere else, and that Rex, alone, had dispatched more than 20 people who had proper Military Training and was part of the elite groups nurtured in the environment of a brutal world such as the Murim.

"Ahaha... hahahahaha..!!!"

Unable to hold it in, Chronos began to laugh and Rex only silently watched the old man until he had his fill and tapped the armrest of his chair.

If this was the real world, any 'antiques collector' would've visibly cringe at the sight of the old man hitting a Victoria-chair with all his strength.