Second World

When Jack woke up, it was still dark. He turned and saw Bowler sleeping not far from him.

”He went to sleep at once after he came into the room,” he heard Penielʼs voice beside him, but he couldnʼt see her as she was still hiding inside her isolated dimension. ”He didnʼt do anything that looks suspicious.”

Jack nodded, maybe he could trust this guy.

He rose and brought out his Apprentice Cooking Stove and started cooking two portions of Egg Fried Rice. The smell of the cooking seemed to wake Bowler up. He rose and came near.

”You could cook?” He asked.

”I learned it from a cooking recipe,” Jack said. ”You havenʼt tried any of your artisan jobs yet?”

”I can do some alchemist,” Bowler brought out a box with a set of bottles. Jack used his God-eye monocle to identify the tool.

Apprentice Alchemist Apparatus (common Alchemist tool)

Allows creation of potion in the wilderness

”I can make a potion called Basic Healing Potion, it can instantly heal 200 of your HP,” he said. ”Alas, Iʼve used up my last potion in the fight yesterday. If not, I would have given you a bottle as thanks. If we manage to find more ingredients to make the potion, I will give you some bottles.”

”Whatʼs the ingredients?” Jack asked.

”Two green leaves,” Bowler replied.

”All right, if I find some, Iʼll give it to you and you can make me that potion. Here, have a breakfast,” Jack passed him a plate of Egg Fried Rice that was cooked.

The sun had started to rise when they finished the meals.

The sunrise cast a long shadow over the business district, it created an eerie scenery along the street due to it being devoid of activity. The once crowded district had now become a deserted ghost land. Two men walked along this street, their medieval garbs made them looked out of place under this modern backdrop.

One of the men in antiquated armor led the way with a calm demeanor. The other one in a traditional robe looked uneasy, he kept on looking around, afraid that something would jump out from somewhere unseen.

Jack looked back to Bowler and said, ”I told you already, no need to worry about being ambushed. I will know if any monster comes near us.”

”How can you be so sure?” Bowler was not convinced. ”I have seen an incident where I thought was safe, only to end up getting jumped by a monster. The group I was in, originally had four people. One of us got wasted precisely because of that incident.”

”That wonʼt happen to us. I have a very good sense of my surroundings.”

”Overconfidence has been the downfall of many great men.”

Jack was helpless. He was not going to tell him about the radar ability of his monocle. His trust of this new acquaintance was still not that strong to let him in on his secrets.

”If you donʼt hurry up, Iʼll leave you,” Jack said as he picked up the pace.

”Wait! Iʼm coming, Iʼm coming.”

They had three skirmishes during their journey the entire morning. Same as yesterday, Jack did most of the fighting, while Bowler sneaked in attacks from a distance once in a while. Jack didnʼt purposefully run into any monsters in range looking for a fight like the day before. He took a straight line towards their destination, only engaging the monsters if they were really on the way. From the fallen monsters, they received some medicine and a few coins. They divided the loot equally even though Bowler said Jack should get more.

When the sun was high up in the sky, indicating noon, his radar picked up some other blue dots. There were four of them this time.

Some other people? Jack thought. It made sense to meet more people on the way as everyone would be heading towards the same destination at this time. He observed his radar and found out that the four dots were stationary instead of moving. Maybe they were resting from the heat. He pondered if he should go over and meet this group.

”Why are we stopping?” Bowler asked when he saw Jack suddenly paused.

”Is there a monster?” He looked around. His nervousness came back to haunt him.

”No monster, there is no need to be agitated,” Jack told him.

”Letʼs head this way,” Jack said as he moved towards the four blue dots.

”Eh? But the light beam is that way!”

Jack didnʼt bother to give an explanation as he continued onward. Bowler only hesitated for a moment before he hastily followed behind.

As they were getting near the four dots, they could hear the sound of some people. Not the unintelligible sound of the Goblins or the groans of the Zombies, but words from known language. They could even distinguish the voice to be from at least two males and one female. The tone of the voice didnʼt sound pleasant to each other.

”There are people there,” Bowler was trying to state the obvious. ”They sound like they are having a fight.”

”Letʼs get closer,” Jack said.

As they moved closer, they could see the group. They were three males and one female. The three males looked like middle-aged men. One of them was folding his hands with an arrogant look. The other two were cornering the sole female, whose hand was holding a dagger and looked about ready to give the men some makeover to their faces. She looked like a young girl that was just about to reach twenty of age. Jack and Bowler could hear their voices more clearly now.

”Come any closer and see what will happen!” The girl warned.

One of the men laughed it off, ”haha, this chick here is real fierce. I bet she can be even more fierce on the bed.”

His companion joined in the mocking, ”Iʼm sure you are right. Look at her angry face, or is that an eager face I see?”

”Donʼt be ridiculous, who would be eager with your ugly look? She must have been charmed by our big brother Bigarm here. When will it ever be your turn?”

”Our big brother is generous. Once he is done, he is sure to share with us. Ainʼt it, bro?” They look at the man with the arrogant look.

That big bro of them smirked. ”Just cut the chase already. Whatʼs the point of all the teasing? Just hold her down and we can get on business.”

”Brother is right. Sorry, lass. Just cooperate if you donʼt want to get hurt.”

The two men pulled out their own dagger and closing in on the girl. The girl didnʼt wait passively, she initiated first strike by thrusting towards one of the men coming forward. The man being attacked was obviously not expecting this, as he tried to duck away awkwardly. The girl retracted her thrust before performing a very fast attack that hit the dodging manʼs head. She scored a critical as damage numbers appeared on the manʼs head.

That girl was pretty skilled. That must have been the fast strike skill from the Ranger class, like the one Mouse had used on me, Jack thought as he saw the move.

Unfortunately, the girl was not fighting one on one. As he hit the first man, his partner used the same fast strike on her. She suffered some damage, yet she refused to back away. She cut at the other man fiercely at his head. Every strike she delivered was aimed at her opponentʼs vitals. She was really angry with them and had no intention to show mercy.

The other man who received the first damage looked at her with rage. He couldnʼt accept being hurt by a girl. She lunged at her with his big body. The girl was expecting this and he avoided it by doing a skillful roll on the ground. She ended up at the guyʼs back and make another slice that caused more damage to the man. She then made a turn and slash towards the other man. The man did a back roll and evade the slash.

How come the man and woman could perform such rolls? Could it be one of the rangerʼs skill? Jack thought. If only the girl did the roll, he could consider that the girl was very athletic. But if another person immediately did the same skillful roll, it couldnʼt be such a coincidence, right?

When he was having the thought, he suddenly heard the girlʼs scream. He returned his attention to the fight and found out the girl had been lying on the floor. The arrogant guy was holding a large sword. It seemed like the guy had ambushed her while her attention was on the two men.

”That prick, I canʼt take this no more!” Bowler said as he ran forward and cast Energy Bolts.

😉