Second World

The next morning, Jack and the others woke up early. He cooked two portions of Chicken Soup for Bowler and Flame. The food gave them 10% boost to stats for the next three hours. While he himself just ate normal bread. He then told them about the Party function and they formed a party with Jack as the leader.

He figured that it was time to help them level up. The incident yesterday had reminded him that his strength was limited. When facing numerous enemies, even though he was powerful enough to protect himself, it might not always guarantee that he could protect his friends. The best way was to help them become strong as well.

The party system would allow him to power-level his two friends. It was a loss to him as he did most of the work yet his experience gain was less. However, it was something he thought he should do. Actually, he could just copy what the guilds usually did when power-leveling their core members, by luring and weakening the monsters before letting their core members dealt the killing blow.

But it was too much of a hassle for him. With his overpowered damage, it would be difficult to control in letting the monsters not dying. If he changed to a weaker weapon, it would take longer time to kill. So he opted for the Party system.

After they set up the Party, they prepared to set out, but Penielʼs voice suddenly sounded out in Jackʼs ear.

”Try to open up the Map.”

”Map?” Jack was confused. ”What are you talking about?”

”What map? Who are you talking to?” Bowler asked.

Jack looked at him in bewilderment.

”Donʼt get bothered by it. They canʼt hear me,” Peniel said from empty air. ”Unless I speak out loud, they wonʼt hear me. This is me speaking to you psychically.”

”Psychic?” Jack blurted out.

”Huh?” Bowler was puzzled by Jackʼs self-talk. ”Brother, are you all right?”

Flame was also looking at him with brow creased.

Penielʼs voice was heard again, ”oh, actually you donʼt have to speak out loud as well. You can speak to me through your mind. And I think you better do that, or else your friends might think you went cuckoo.”

ʼWhy didnʼt you tell me about this before?ʼ Jack spoke in his mind.

”There are a lot of things I have not yet told you about. If I am to tell you everything that I know, whole month time will also still not enough.” Peniel retorted. ”Now try to focus and open up the Map interface.”

ʼhow do I do it?ʼ He asked.

”Same as the way you activated your skill, think about it.”

He focused his mind to summon a map system, suddenly a holographic image appeared in front of him. He could see details of the landscape from a birds-eye view on the image. He could see the City Hall, the abstract sculpture, the pond, the bridge, and the river they crossed yesterday. But not all the landscape was seen, several parts were covered by some kind of grey fog.

”After looking at it, do you understand how this map works?” Peniel asked.

ʼThese visible images are the areas where we have walked past. The ones covered by grey fog are the ones we had not yet traversed.ʼ

”Thatʼs correct,” Peniel confirmed.

ʼThere are two green dots nearby. Hey, they are the same positions as on my radar.ʼ

”Yes, they are Bowler and Flame, the Friends registered in your system. If you formed a Party with people who are not on your Friend list, they will also appear on this map.”

ʼSo it serves the same function as my radar?ʼ

”No, this map only displays friendlies, like friends, party members, and guild members. Your unreasonable radar on the other hand, also displays hostiles, which in my opinion, completely give you an unfair advantage.”

ʼSpeak for yourself, I donʼt mind if getting more unfair advantages. By the way, whatʼs the range of this map?ʼ Jack asked.

”Around 1000 meter radius with you at the center.”

ʼI see… So it has much larger coverage than my radar,ʼ Jack was still studying the map when he realized Bowler was waving to him from behind the map. Bowler had been trying to get his attention since he started acting strange.

Jack laughed to himself, he then told Bowler and Flame about the Map system. They tried it out and were excited about these new functions. Like Jack, they studied their own respective map for a while.

While they were examining their maps, Jack suddenly thought of something. He spoke in his mind to Peniel, ʼhey, does this mean you can read my mind? You know everything I was thinking about?ʼ

”Donʼt be absurd,” Peniel replied. ”I speak to you psychically but I donʼt have Psychic skills. We can speak with our minds because we have the link that the Goddess created. These thought speaking could only be done between us, we cannot do it with other people. And thought-speaking doesnʼt mean mind reading. If you donʼt intend for me to hear your thoughts, then I wonʼt be able to.”

ʼOh, thatʼs reassuring,ʼ Jack thought with a relieved sigh.

Peniel sent him a disdainful thought. ”Donʼt worry, I am not interested to hear your dirty thoughts as well.”

After they finished familiarizing themselves with the map system, they headed out. The members of White Scarfs didnʼt give them any trouble as they went out of the building. They didnʼt meet Silverwing or his other four entourages on their way out, they might be busy with their own matters at the moment. Jack didnʼt bother to look for them as well, he had told them of his plan yesterday, so he didnʼt feel obligated to tell them again now. They went South West as was advised by Silverwing yesterday.

At this South Western part, the light dome ended at a commercial district with several large malls lining up the street. They could already saw several monsters roaming outside. They could also see several groups fighting with the monsters outside. Guess their idea of hunting monsters for experience while waiting for the day to pass was not exclusive to them.

Jack brought them moving along the edge of the light dome looking for a more secluded area where they didnʼt have to struggle with other groups for experience points. After a while, they finally found an area where there were no other people, they could see two groups of Goblins and Zombies outside the light dome.

”Ok, letʼs start with that zombie group. Afterward, we will move to that Goblins group. Those Goblins might call for backup, so letʼs leave them for last. One other thing, we will stick together out there, but in case we get separated, remember to use the Map to find out where the others are,” Jack reminded them.

Bowler and Flame nodded.

”Alright, we did it like before. I take the vanguard. Flame, you look for opportunity and flanked them when you see one. Bowler attack at will from distance,” Jack laid out the strategy.

Once everyone was ready, they charged out of the safe zone. The Zombies who sensed them immediately welcomed them with attacks. Jack used Swing as an opening move which hit all four zombies in the group. Flame used the chance when the zombie stumbled to backstab one of them. Bowler sent his Energy Bolts hurtling at them, causing further damage. Their cooperation was fluid and organized. The more they fought, the more they found that they cooperated very well together. The zombies were no match for them and were quickly taken care of.

They advanced towards the Goblins without bothering to take a rest. The Goblins were a little bit more troublesome compared to the zombies as they were faster and also higher in level, but still, it didnʼt cause them too much trouble. The Goblins called for another two packs of nearby Goblins when they lost their members, but the three easily dispatched the lots.

They went further in and battle more monsters. Just in half day time, Bowler had managed to level up to level 10, and Fierce Flame was closed to reaching level 11. Jack was still some way to reach level 14, since he was already at such a high level, he needed much more experience compared to them. Not to mention that his experience was also further divided by half due to his dual-class.

When it reached noon, Jack noticed some blue dots appearing at the corner of his radar.

ʼFinally making a move, eh?ʼ Jack thought in his mind.

😉