Second World

”Who are you?” Jack called out to the hooded stranger. He tried using Inspect at the same time, but all he got were question marks. It should be the effect of that hooded coat, similar to his Concealment Coat.

The stranger didnʼt answer the question. He instead said, ”You are impressive to be able to kill a special elite above your level. But still, your level is too low. You are too weak. I canʼt use you, I can only hope the others that are on their way here are more powerful. As for you, leave this place at once if you still value your life.”

Jack had no idea what the dude was spouting. His voice also sounded masked. Jack could only tell that it was a manʼs voice, but couldnʼt be sure if it was the voice of an old man or a teenager.

”Are you behind the children kidnapping in this town?” Jack asked.

”Leave! If you still value your life,” the hooded man repeated. His figure receded back into the fog.

Jack hurriedly chased after him, but he was nowhere to be seen. The fog soon cleared up and Jack could see the entire graveyard. It was still creepy but it didnʼt give him the chill as before.

He looked at his radar, it should be functioning normally now since he could see some white dots at the edge of his radar, those should be the natives in the town. Nothing nearby him though. Whoever the hooded person was, he was gone.

”The fog, ghouls, and banshee were his doing?” Jack asked no one in particular.

”If he was capable of that, that means he was rather powerful. Perhaps you should heed his warning and leave,” Peniel said.

”I canʼt just leave missing children like that,” Jack replied. He went to where the trail was before. The marking had disappeared.

”Aw, hell… Now we lost the only clue we have,” Jack lamented.

”That was kind of you,” Peniel said.

Jack turned to her and said, ”Where did that come from? I am always kind.”

”Well, I mean, since you have learned the natives of this world are simply what you people called NPCs. Something that your kind created. It was kind of you to still treat them so real.”

”Didnʼt you hear what I said before? You all are as real as me and the other outworlders. My world has given its life to yours and now yours is as good as my past world. I forbid you to talk about real or fake things anymore.”

”Aye, aye, captain!” Peniel said merrily and perched on Jackʼs head. ”So, what will we do now?”

”Well, at least we know the kidnapped kids were brought here. Letʼs look around some more. See if we can gather any more clues,” Jack said and started walking around the graveyard.

He couldnʼt find anything out of the ordinary. The graveyard ended on a cliff at one side. Multiple crypts were built into the cliff wall. One which was the largest was marked with the title of Count. That should be the crypt to the Countʼs father and the rest of his ancestors.

After spending more than an hour looking around, Jack finally gave up.

”What should we do now?” Peniel asked again.

”We rest. There is nothing else that can be done at the moment. Hopefully, tomorrow after receiving Bradʼs information, we have something to go on. Afterward, we will go meet the Count. Brad mentioned he had been the one spearheading the search all these years, he should have the most information.”

”What about that mysterious hooded man?”

Jack shrugged. ”If he decided to show up again, we will ask him. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time looking for him. We have even less clue about him.”

Jack went back to the town. He was planning to ask for the location of the inn. But at night, the place was even more of a ghost town. No soul was seen on the street. He was the only one outside.

He thought about knocking on the door, but most of the house was boarded tight. He almost could not see any light from inside except the small gaps from the windows and doors. He doubted any of the owners would open them up for a stranger like him. Everyone here had been gripped by paranoia.

Jack then walked to where Bradʼs Tavern was. A tavern was usually lively at night, but he didnʼt expect the one here to be the same. As expected, it was shut tight and no light from inside at all. Brad must have gone back home. He must have only opened his tavern in the afternoon these days.

Seeing no alternative, he took out his Camouflage Tent and set it up beside the tavern. Actually, he doubted that there was even an inn in this town. This small town was too secluded, they must have very few visitors. An inn wonʼt survive here.

He did his routine meditation again. After the meditation, he took out two magic staffs, one on each hand. Using his Hundred Synchronous Thoughts, he tried casting two spells simultaneously using both staffs. Only one spell formation appeared.

”Hey, why canʼt I dual-cast like Master or the Duke?” Jack asked.

”Outworlder was never meant to be able to dual-cast,” Peniel answered. ”I canʼt tell for sure about Master, but I suspect he can do it because he has more than one magic class. So it was like two magic classes were casting the spell simultaneously inside him.”

”Thatʼs mean this is unique to him alone,” Jack said.

”I suppose so.”

”Hm, maybe I should have picked another magic class instead of Ranger. I could have dual cast then.”

”Really? I thought you said you need speed to beat him?”

”Iʼm just joking. I wonʼt be able to compete with him in terms of magic. That guy seemed to have the talent in that department. However, all the classes he chose are slowpokes, which means that is also the weakness I can exploit.”

”Good. The Beastmaster elite class should be in line with that then. It was the third-fastest melee class just behind Assassin and Battle Monk. Additionally, once you get that class, I will take you to a special place where you can get a powerful shapeshifting form.”

”Oh? Now Iʼm really looking forward to it. By the way, what about that combination spell Master exhibited when he dual-cast? Is that kind of spell not available to outworlder since we canʼt dual cast?”

”They can be done by outworlders. The difference was Master was the only one that can perform it by himself,” Peniel answered. ”A combination spell was supposed to be done by two magic-class outworlders. Two different spells can be fused into a more powerful one. For example, the one Master cast was the combination of Warlockʼs Hell Whip and Elementalistʼs Fireball. It creates a fused spell where the whip is thicker and stronger and is coated with the fire element, causing continuous flame damage to the one it catches.

”However, not everyone can do this combination spell. Aside from requiring two casters to be near one another, they also have to synchronize their casting. Too fast or too slow between their casting speed will cause each spell to be cast as a standard individual spell, they wonʼt merge. Master can do it easily because his two spells came from one mind. For two different minds to synchronize their spells, that is a harder feat to achieve.”

”Hm… I suppose you will need very good teamwork between the two casters to achieve that,” Jack agreed.

”Aside from that, not all spells can be merged. There is a list for certain combinations,” Peniel said.

”You know the list?”

”Are you not insulting me by asking that?”

”Great, you have to give the list to Jeanny or John when we return to Heavenly Citadel. The list is useless to me since I donʼt do well in teamwork. But this knowledge can help the other guild members to get stronger. Or have you informed them of this before?”

”No, they donʼt know about these combination spells yet. Okay, I will let them know when we meet them again,” Peniel said.

Jack was about to call it a day and shut his eyes when Peniel asked him, ”I have been wondering. You talked before with Wilted that there is a chance you will find out about Masterʼs machine if you defeat him, right?”

”What about it?” Jack asked.

”If the machine can truly turn this world back to yours… Are you going to make the change?”

”That…”

”Never mind that! You donʼt need to answer. Good night!” Peniel uttered in a hurry before vanishing into her hidden dimension.

Jack could still talk with her psychically, but honestly, he didnʼt know what to answer. He knew what Peniel was getting at. If the world was changed back to the real world.. That meant all the natives of this game world would cease to exist, including her.

😉