Difference

As Lucas continued to lament his ears' terrible fate after hearing the man's wretched screams again and again, a familiar sounding voice interjected the chaos.

"Hey!!"

It was Adel, the man who actively led the group of Players for now.

"What happened, Ivan?!" Adel came running into the scene after a short while. Some other guys followed behind him.

They had been staying inside an inn while trying to get accustomed to the ways of this world. Suddenly, they heard a deafening scream that they recognized to be Ivan's voice.

"Adel! Adel, S-Save me!! You need to.. That demon.. Urgh, you, you need to kill that little shit!!" The man shouted, his words in shambles as he wasn't able to think clearly.

A smile formed on Ivan's face after he saw Adel entering the scene. He thought that he had been saved. He looked at Lucas like he had already won against the other.

[..This man, he really doesn't have a brain, does he?] Cecil was disgusted.

Cecil thought that it was absurdly lucky for her that the anomaly she had to watch over turned out to be someone like Lucas. She came to appreciate the man even more.

The rotten trash before them couldn't even be compared with a shred of Lucas' personality.

'Who knows. Maybe he sold his brain to a Muscle God.' Lucas casually replied, joking.

Ivan was all bark and no bite. He had a large physique, but that was it. As far as talents and aptitude went, Lucas thought that he was not that special.

[Even the Muscle God have standards!] Cecil rebutted.

'Wait, the Muscle God exists?' Lucas raised a brow, weirded out.

[There has to be one.. Well, he's not necessarily the Muscle God, but there's a God of Strength. I'd say he is the perfect epitome of brawns before brains. Just like this guy.]

Lucas tried to imagine what a Muscle God's appearance would look like. A body swollen up like a deformed balloon, filled with the strongest muscles everywhere. It made him cringe just a bit.

"Hey, it's.. you again. Mind explaining what happened here?" Adel was baffled by the situation.

It was clear from his expression that he was wary against Lucas. For what reason, though?

The sentiment mostly came from the fact that Ivan was his teammate, whereas Lucas was someone who declared his departure right after their first meeting.

Now that he came back like this, Adel couldn't help but feel a bit suspicious.

"This guy tried to punch me, so I stopped his blow. He tried to punch me again, so I crushed his knuckles. One time might be an 'accident', but a second time, can you justify his side? You're welcome to try, but I don't take bullshit very well."

"If you're not yet convinced, then you can ask that shop owner.. that lady over there... or literally every single person on this street. They would definitely tell you the same answer." Lucas chuckled.

Adel heard Lucas words, assessed the situation and looked at Ivan, who immediately reacted and shook his head to defend himself in a frantic manner.

He was a good judge of someone's character and knew from the very beginning that Ivan was the type to cause trouble just like what Lucas said.

"Also, it's not like I didn't give him a chance to repent at all, you know? I gave him multiple chances, and he threw them all away. Sucks." Lucas shrugged.

"..I get it. On behalf of him, I will apologize. I think he was just agitated because.. You know, we were thrown here out of nowhere, and-" Adel tried to fan down the argument and reclaim peace.

However, he was cut off by Lucas.

"He called me arrogant, said that I was stupid for running away, and that I came back here to follow you guys' footsteps."

"From what I've seen, you guys are the stupid ones. You don't even know what to do, scattering about like baby chicks who have no sense of urgency at all. At this point, you are all going to die as soon as you reach Eve.. No, perhaps even before that, your journey may end."

Adel was taken aback. Did that mean Lucas knew a lot more than them? And his unprecedented strength, too, made him cautious.

Indeed, when he first came down to the scene and saw that Ivan was on the ground, he didn't believe that the culprit would be Lucas. After all, Lucas looked quite small compared to Ivan, who was the bulkiest out of the entire group when they arrived.

He believed that Ivan was the strongest out of pure common sense.

His world was similar to that of Ivan's, where magic and mystical abilities weren't really a prominent subject. Hence, he believed that Ivan really did possess a lot of strength.

However, his thoughts spun around one more time and connected Lucas' disappearance to the reason he was back here again.

He saw that Lucas' clothes were quite disheveled. It was torn up here and there and seemed to have deep stains of blood even though Lucas had cleaned himself up with Water Magic earlier. There was also quite the pungent odor coming from his body.

"Wait.. Could it be.. did you already begin fighting creatures? Alone?!" Adel asked, surprised.

From the very first time they opened their status, there was a clear indicator for 'levels' and other attributes that looked like it came straight out of a game. If Lucas killed monsters and grinded to level up, he could increase his strength in that amount of time.

His showcase of power would then make much more sense.

"...I don't know who you are, but unlike him.. You're smarter, and possesses more talent. You should choose your teammates well, not just accept anybody that comes into your arms." Lucas stated.

"Get someone with a brain. The opposite of this guy. That way, maybe your chances of surviving would increase. Not that it would matter to me, though."

He said, before continuing his original path to the butcher's shop without paying the crowd a single heed.