by L. M. Kerr
After a moment, the door opened up, revealing the figure of Sophia. She was wearing a pair of jean shorts and brown boots, and a tight white t-shirt. Her short brown hair swirled as she gave him a winning smile.
"Good morning!" After three days, she had become much more friendly with him. Their teamwork together, coupled with his honesty, had seen results.
"Heyo, Sophia!" He smiled back,
"How well did you absorb the third set?" He queried.
After they escaped the Pirate Lord Brandon and rested, Micheal had directly told Sophia about the Dragon Building Liquid, and how it could improve her physical condition, enacting her talent when it came to cultivation and growing stronger.
If she was to be one of his allies, there was no reason to not help her grow as quickly as possible. She would need to keep up.
"It's been fully absorbed! I can feel the changes already, it's crazy how much its upped my Strength!" Sophia replied, her voice excited. Her cheeks were flushed as she spoke.
With three sets of the Dragon Building Liquid absorbed, she only needed one more set to get the full transformation and enhance her Physique.
'When I reveal the secret about hunting the Golden Morenkai, I'll reveal the details on Dragon Building Liquid with instructions on how regular people can make use of it.' He mentally decided as he nodded his head. Even small changes like this would have a huge effect when taken at a grand scale.
"Alright, let's get the fourth set done right now, before we leave. After that, we're going to take a detour from hunting today." He added,
"We're going to check out the Stardust Open Market." He tapped on the backpack he had strapped to his back.
It was a special tool he had purchased from the Shop, a Spatial Backpack. Unlike Spatial Rings, Spatial Backpacks were heavy and clunky. A Spatial Ring would magically store anything, depending on size, and make it weightless. A Spatial Backpack could magically store large amounts of anything, but it would only reduce the weight by around 90-95%.
In the backpack he had on his back, he had stored 7 Abnormal Morenkai corpses, all interesting ones that they'd run into while hunting.
The backpack weighed roughly 250 pounds (113 kg), annoyingly heavy even with his enhanced strength. Still, it was a far better solution than trying to cram them all into a Low-Tier Spatial Ring.
'If only Spatial Rings didn't interfere with each other.' He grumbled mentally.
Spatial Rings were tied to one's soul, allowing one to innately sense what was in one's ring. While it was possible to have multiple Spatial Rings, there was a small chance that doing so would cause one of the other rings to become corrupt and cease functioning.
He had learned this lesson the hard way back in his first run. Spatial Backpacks didn't seem to have the same issue, probably due to the differences in how each worked. Micheal was unsure on the specifics.
"Sounds good to me. I almost have half the Points to purchase the Ability I was looking at, the Wind Sweeper Ability. Maybe I can find something there that will make our Points gain quicker." Sophia nodded, her fists clenched, her eyes full of emotion.
'Ah, she did have that Ability when she was the Demon Fairy. That's the same.' It was a power that cost 86,000 Points and vastly enhanced the mobility of its user, allowing them to manipulate the wind to a small degree. They could jump or glide on the wind, using it to speed themselves up or outmaneuver their enemies.
'Hmm, I don't believe it's a permanent Ability, and it matches well with her combat style. I don't need to micromanage her choices here.' He nodded.
"I'm about 6,000 Points off from the Ability I'm eyeing. If we can find some useful Artifacts, it indeed might be able to speed our progress up." He replied, eyeing her. After a moment, he added another line,
"After we check it out, I thought we might drop by the Godfather Organization. We can ask about your little sister and see if they have any records of her." He also intended to warn them of the actions of the Black Flag Pirates, now that they had some strength to back themselves up a bit. He would kill two birds with one stone.
When Sophia heard this, she looked at Micheal, her eyes watering.
"Thank you." She reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it.
Micheal simply smiled and patted her on the head,
"Don't get your hopes up too high yet, Sofa, it's just a preliminary check. We will keep looking in the future, if they have nothing. Let's go check the Open Market first!"
Sophia nodded, controlling herself. After a moment, she paused, blinking in confusion.
"Sofa?"
"What? It's a nickname." Micheal grinned shamelessly.
After gaining an ally to work with the past few days, he had started to fall back into his old groove, working on improving and enjoying life. He valued the moments of levity he could squeeze in, knowing his mission was one that would last years.
"You gave me the nickname of… Sofa? Like… a couch?" She held her hands out to the side in exasperation.
"Quick! Get ready to absorb the last set of Dragon Building Liquid, no time to delay!" He ran away.
.
Chapter 49: Rude Encounter
"Control your breathing as you feel the pulse in your veins, just like last time." Micheal's voice was calm as he spoke out loud, his hands resting on Sophia's bare back. Her skin was tanned, dotted with small freckles.
As he spoke, he focused on his own hands, feeling the pulse of Ki within him. Faintly, he could also sense the pulse of Ki within Sophia. It was like feeling a vibration within her body, one that was warm and comforting.
They were currently sitting down in Sophia's room on her bed, working on one last thing before they left. Sophia had lifted up the back of her shirt, revealing a supple back that was currently hunched forward as she sat down in meditation.
Micheal focused on the feeling of Ki, his eyes narrowed.
The miraculous energy flowed in their veins like blood, powering the body and allowing it to reach a superhuman status. The energy reinforced their body, regenerated cells, and had a plethora of capabilities, one of the marvels of the 7 Layers.
It had been intensely studied by scientists and researchers, but little had been found out about it. The energy seemed to exist beyond the normal dimensions that humans could observe, having inexplicable properties. Micheal wasn't too sure on all the specifics, only knowing that the energy of Ki could be absorbed from the surroundings, building up in strength and purity.
As he sensed the pull of Ki within Sophia, he could faintly feel it began to move at a slightly erratic pace. He frowned slightly when he felt this.
Using Dragon Building Liquid required a very fine-tuned handling of one's Ki. Without years of practice and experience, or without being a freakish genius, this would normally be impossible for most people to have.
There was another way to use Dragon Building Liquid. Instead of injecting the liquid directly as a shot, one could swallow it as if it was a drink. The Dragon Building Liquid would need to be prepared in a slightly special manner and the cost would increase from 4,000 Points total to roughly 10,000 Points total to fully upgrade.
However, by doing so, one could safely upgrade their Physique.
The downside was that it would take several months for this to come into effect. Not exactly a feasible option for Micheal or Sophia.
'It is an option that regular people can take on, though.' He nodded. Obtaining a 1 Star, or higher, Physique would have large benefits in the long run.
'Focus.' He stared intently at her back as he looked beyond it, his senses centering on the erratic pace of Sophia's Ki. He began to inject some of his own Ki, causing it to interact with Sophia's.
Whoosh
The air around them stirred ever so slightly as he emitted energy from his hands, carefully guiding it into her body.
"Stay calm, perfectly calm." He could feel her start to sweat, taking deep breaths. Her heart rate had picked up, indicating a state of nervousness or excitement.
Soon, her body returned to a normal state. At this point, Micheal sat backwards and let out a breath, his Ki returning to normal as well.
"All done."
He leaned back on the bed, pulling out a water bottle from his Spatial Ring. He took several gulps, feeling slightly tired. Using his energy like that took a great deal of mental focus. It would be very difficult to do it more than once or twice a day.
"Thanks, Micheal!" Sophia quickly pulled her shirt back down as she turned around, her eyes eager. She stood up, looking down at her hands. She then waved them in the air.
"It'll be a few hours for it to fully settle and assimilate with your body." Micheal explained to her as he stood up as well, stretching. Unless you took it on your own with no help, the Dragon Building Liquid would take time to fully meld with one's body.
"Once it finishes, you will gain a 1 Star Physique, just like me." He grinned, giving her a thumbs up. She nodded and smiled back.
"Alright. Now, for the main course." He stepped over to the window, looking outside. As he moved, he picked up his backpack from the floor, grunting at the heavy weight inside. He slung it on and added,
"The morning light has fully come in. Let's get moving! We have an Open Market to get to!"
.. .. .. .. .. ..
Sophia and Micheal were situated in the western portion of the central area of the Stardust Cluster, relatively close to where the Tobagin Party was headquartered. They controlled several dozens of skyscrapers in the western portion of the Cluster, only allowing their members to live there.
They had ended up here through their hunting expeditions, switching skyscrapers each night. While most people in the Cluster would avoid living in the lower levels, Sophia and Micheal were each more than capable of handling stray Morenkai. Thus, finding rooms to stay wasn't difficult at all.
The Open Market started today, but wouldn't get that crowded till around midmorning. They set off early to make it there around then.
In the first hour of their travel, they crossed more than 40 skyscrapers. They moved cautiously and several times doubled back to avoid running into active battles between Morenkai.
'It'd be better to avoid having people think we're trying to steal their kills.' He'd thought at one such occurrence as they avoided a large group taking out several Morenkai.
Due to the strange mechanics of this world, one only got the Points from killing a Morenkai if they were the last one to affect that Morenkai, in some way, before its death. Sophia killing the first Golden Morenkai after Micheal disabled it was a straightforward example.
The way this got measured was theorized to have something to do with the soul, though the exact workings of how it functioned were still unknown.
If one lured a Morenkai to fall to its death without touching it, one would still get Points for killing it. The damage they caused it to sustain seemed to be connected almost through fate, as if one's actions that affected others were tracked and connected to them on a tangible level.
As a side effect of this, it was possible for someone to do a tremendous amount of work taking down an Abnormal and, right as they were about to make the kill, someone else kills it.
In this scenario, the person that did all the work to get the kill would score nothing, while the person that jumped in and killed the vulnerable Morenkai would get everything.
Thus, most groups would be rather territorial when it came to defending their kills, willing to get in fights with anyone approaching them. Humans were far easier to kill than Morenkai, after all.
On the bright side, their outfits had the bonus of making people avoid trying to mug them. After all, if one saw two people running around with mildly creepy masks on their face in a world where people had superpowers… very few people would want to have anything to do with them.
They had made it two-thirds of the way across the central zone when they finally ran into something that gave them both pause.
"…and where your Artifacts are stored. Don't be stupid!" They caught the back half of a statement as a man's voice carried onto the wooden bridge they were crossing, in between two skyscrapers.
The bridge was bowed, meaning they couldn't see what was going on ahead of them.
Micheal and Sophia exchanged glances. Without hesitation, Micheal stepped forward, a frown appearing on his face, beneath his mask. He motioned for Sophia to follow him, telling her to walk carefully.
"I-I-I-we don't have a-anything else! P-please!" A high pitched voice responded, a man stuttering in fear. Micheal could practically feel the sheer terror coming from the speaker.
In just a few seconds, they crossed over a majority of the bridge and got a clear glance at the roof of the skyscraper.
There were two standard sheds leading downstairs into the skyscraper. The roof was a plain white one, with checkered lines covering it. There was a trio of men standing on the roof, and a man and a woman cowering on the ground.
The standing men all wore jeans and t-shirts, two of them in plain green shirts while the speaker wore a grungy blue one. They all were white and looked to be in their 30s.
All three held handguns in their hands.
In addition… all three of them stood with a type of familiar grace despite their brutish demeanor, a faintly bloody aura surrounding them.
'Vampires.' His eyes narrowed. They were all likely Lesser Vampire Types. The Ability boosted one's reaction speed, Strength, Endurance, and Recovery by a decent margin, instantly making one superhuman.
The speaker was wearing a green shirt, a man with dark brown hair and a slightly chubby build. He towered over the two cowering figures, his eyes merciless.
The man on the ground had dark skin and wore a set of jeans and a white shirt, while the woman was much paler and wore an almost identical outfit. Neither one of them had a gun, but they both looked miserable.
"No one in the central zone has nothing at all. You want us to go away, it's simple. All you hav-" The speaker cut himself off abruptly as he noticed the arrival of Sophia and Micheal.
"The fuck are y'all freaks looking at?" The man's voice echoed as he turned and pointed the gun at them.
"Turn the fuck around. This has nothing to do with you."
.
Chapter 50: Reality
The speaker's voice echoed as he finished speaking, glaring at the two of them.
'Y'all? Is he from Texas?' Micheal washed the stray thought from his mind as he focused.
He didn't recognize the attacker. They were likely part of some small team, attacking people to gather Artifacts and Points. They probably were hoping that the man and woman were carrying Artifacts of some sort since today was the day of the Open Market.
As Micheal glanced down, he saw that the duo did indeed look rather vulnerable. Neither one had the experienced air of a human that had lived in the 7 Layers, they were both likely 4th Wavers.
Micheal's entire body tensed up as his hand rested on his Spatial Ring, mentally lining everything up in case the man took a shot. His heart began to pound with adrenaline, his eyes tightening.
'They're Vampires. That means they will react faster than regular fighters. Even if they can't aim well, their shots will be far better placed than a normal human would be capable of. I'll need to adapt and-'
Just as he was about to act, he paused, interrupted.
WHOOSH
A blast of cool air swept across the skyscraper as a pink aura appeared around Sophia's masked face. In a literal split second, all three of the armed men stumbled to their knees, guns dropping from their hands.
Whatever Abilities the three men had, as Vampires or not, were instantly nullified due to their average Soul stat and carelessness as they looked over at Micheal and Sophia. Her Fairy Eyes were incredibly potent to low-level humans, even Adapted Humans
.
Unless you had a very powerful strength of will, it was almost impossible for someone with a low Soul stat to resist her Ability without the use of an Artifact. Even then, you would still suffer from at least minor effects of it.
"It's okay, you two. They can't harm you." Sophia's voice echoed out as she rushed forward, righteous anger filling her tone.
Micheal watched her go, his eyes placid as his heart returned back to its normal pace, adrenaline fading.
'Well. I guess her Ability is so expensive for a reason. She did reign as an S Ranker partly because of it here in the First.' He shrugged. The Limited Fairy Eyes Ability cost well more than 100,000 Points, it wasn't weird for it to be so useful. His thoughts continued,
'She's still emotional, revealing her Fairy Eyes and rushing forward like that.' He sighed and then shrugged.
'Well, it is what it is. I suppose she wanted to avoid any chance of those two getting shot.' He looked over at the previously fearstruck pair of humans as Sophia helped them up. He began to walk towards them, remaining silent.
"Oh my gosh, thank you so much!"
"Yes, thank you!! Without you, Sarah and I would've died!" The duo was quite grateful, tears streaming down their face.
Micheal narrowed his eyes as he saw this, staring at the faces of the duo. He went over his memories, trying to see if he recognized them.
'Oh!' He blinked, coming to a realization.
'I have no idea who they are.' They seemed to just be random people that had been attacked. He nodded as he thought that. It wasn't as if everyone he met would be someone important in the future, there were far too many people here for that to be reasonable.
Sophia took it all in, calming them down as she told them it was fine.
"Do you two not have any weapons at all?" Sophia asked, staring between them. They shook their heads.
"We only just arrived here a few days ago. Even surviving this long has been horrifying." The man, apparently named Patrick as he introduced himself, quietly sobbed while the woman remained stalwart, though she teared up slightly.