Ascension: Rune Evolution System

The pair remained frozen in place for a few odd moments, each seemingly waiting for the other to say something first.

Neither did.

The wind blowing through the narrow street and the distant buzz of unstable electricity were the only sounds between them, occasionally joined by the flickering hum of one of the dying lights overhead.

Jason’s stomach suddenly rumbled.

Frost’s eyes snapped toward him.

An embarrassed expression flashed across the handsome bastard’s face, and Frost couldn’t help himself.

”Pfft—”

Jason’s head snapped toward him, a hostile but embarrassed expression on his face.

”What the fuck are you laughing—”

Grrrrrrr...

Frost’s snicker came to an abrupt halt as his own stomach betrayed him.

Jason stared at him, and Frost stared back.

”...”

”...”

What followed was perhaps the strangest turn of events Frost had experienced since arriving in this world.

Jason actually suggested that the two of them work together to find somewhere they could get food.

Frost had initially wondered whether he’d heard him correctly, but he soon understood that hunger and thirst had a miraculous ability to bridge even the most irritating of differences, because barely a minute later, the two of them were walking down the street together.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to search for very long.

They ran into the very same man who was supposed to serve as their babysitter going forward.

Samuel.

From the little time Frost had spent around him since Harod introduced them, he had already come to one simple conclusion.

The old man was incredibly difficult to talk to.

Not because he was rude or particularly unpleasant, but because he barely fucking spoke.

Samuel mostly listened, occasionally nodded, and only seemed willing to open his mouth when someone directly asked him something that required an actual answer.

And so, with Samuel walking several steps ahead while Frost and Jason followed side by side behind him, neither willing to speak to the other either, the trio continued through the slums in complete silence.

Their surroundings, however, were anything but quiet.

Frost’s eyes constantly moved from one side of the chaotic street to the other as they walked.

Unlike the mostly empty street they had been given as their new homes, this area was kind of pack.

Fortunately, no one bothered them. Most people barely even acknowledged their existence.

Part of the reason Frost and Jason remained so quiet was because both of them were far too occupied surveying the unusual sights around them.

One thing in particular quickly became blaringly obvious: Substance and drug abuse were everywhere, at least, Frost assumed that was what he was looking at.

Whatever these people were taking certainly wasn’t anything he recognised from the streets back on Earth.

While there seemed to be an odd variety of fluids, smoking agents, and injection devices, the most notable one was a rainbow colour fluid, since every other person was using it.

The substance appeared to be some sort of thick, multicoloured liquid compound, its colours shifting strangely beneath the dim streetlights.

Within only a few minutes of walking, Frost had already witnessed at least three different methods of consuming it.

One man drank the substance directly from a small glass vial.

Another placed several drops beneath his tongue before leaning back against a wall with a blissful expression.

A third person had some strange little device attached to their arm, feeding the liquid directly into their body.

’Well... that’s certainly efficient.’

Frost continued walking.

Considering how euphoric most of these people appeared, despite living in conditions that should have left them anything but happy, whatever that colourful shit was, it was clearly doing its job quite well.

Curiosity got the better of him, even though he didn’t like to admit it.

He wouldn’t exactly have minded trying it once, just to see what all the fuss was about.

’You know... purely for scientific purposes.’

That curiosity quickly disappeared once he started paying closer attention to the people using it.

Most of them looked sickly.

Gaunt faces, sunken eyes, trembling hands, discoloured skin, and bodies so thin that their clothes hung loosely from their frames.

Then Frost saw something that killed whatever curiosity remained.

A person was sitting against the side of a building several metres ahead, completely lost in some sort of daze.

At first, Frost couldn’t tell what they were doing, but then he realised they were scratching their face.

No.

Clawing at it.

Their fingernails repeatedly dragged down their cheek with enough force to peel away thin lines of skin, leaving streaks of exposed flesh and blue blood behind.

Yet the person didn’t seem to notice; if anything, they seemed quite happy, laughing like a maniac.

The blue blood was very unusual, especially since it looked like it was glowing a bit, but Frost paid it no mind.

The sight disgusted him, more so since this person simply continued clawing at their face. Frost’s steps slowed before eventually stopping altogether.

His stomach twisted, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away. Another strip of skin caught beneath the person’s fingernail.

Frost started walking again.

’Nope.’ He had seen enough. ’I guess wherever you go, addiction to substances always ends the same way.’

Travelling to another world didn’t change that particular aspect of civilisation.

Frost glanced toward Jason.

The other young man’s face had gone noticeably pale. There wasn’t a trace of arrogance on it.

Jason looked like he was on the verge of throwing up.

Frost considered making fun of him, then decided against it. He wasn’t feeling particularly great himself.

The suggestion to look for food together was still hanging at the back of Frost’s mind. The thing with Frost was, small things like this always stayed at the back of his mind.

And considering that Jason had been on the brink of punching him befor they were transported to this world, a cordial, food hunting operation with Jason was the last thing he would be expecting

He could only assume that the horrible experience they had shared had taken some of the bite out of the bastard’s personality, or perhaps he had earned a few more braincells recently.

Then again, survival came first, and as far as Frost knew, even the dummest creatures possessed at least some sort of survival instinct.

’Meaning he might become hostile again once his stomach is full.’ Frost deduced, nodding silently to himself.

Samuel glanced back at the pair. His eyes moved from Frost to Jason, lingering for a second on their unsettled expressions.

He said nothing.

The trio continued for another hundred or so steps before Samuel finally changed direction, walking toward a structure that looked considerably more intact than most of the buildings surrounding it.

”We’re here,” he said.

Frost looked up at the building.

Well.

At least it didn’t look like it was about to collapse.

That was already an improvement.

”I brought a few of your friends here earlier,” Samuel continued. ”That’s when I ran into you two.”

Frost and Jason exchanged a brief glance. So, they weren’t the only ones whose stomachs had eventually forced them outside.

Samuel reached the entrance and pushed open the metal door.

Creeeeeeak...

Frost stared at it.

’Why does every fucking door around here sound like it’s about to fall off?’

Samuel stepped inside.

Frost and Jason followed shortly after, disappearing through the doorway as it slowly creaked shut behind them.