An Old Friend

[Quest Update: Long-term Quest]

[Become the greatest mage in existence]

[Rewards= ???]

'This is new.' Jake thought as he read through the new system messages he had just received seconds ago. 'Did the system just give me a quest based on what I said? Did I just give myself a quest? This is certainly new. And not bad too. Though there doesn't seem to be a definite reward. Which just makes it much more rewarding for the moment I'll complete the quest.'

"Hello?" Sasha said to Jake. "I'd rather not draw unwanted attention to myself, so I'm leaving this place. And I suggest you do the same."

"Alright mom." Jake said with sarcasm being clearly depicted in his voice. "Let's go." he said then controlled the fire on the trees to his hands and directed it into his mouth.

"You can also control fire that is not dependent on you?" Sasha asked after seeing what Jake had just done.

"Yeah. Pretty cool right?"

"Parlour tricks." Sasha muttered and began leaving.

Walking away from the area where he had used the fire magic to practically set the trees on fire, Jake and Sasha were heading to the barracks in search of Anna.

After the attack on the wert base, Anna had been spending more time in the barracks. She usually left at night looking exhausted and weak. As if whatever was happening there was taking a toll on her. When asked about it, she would always find a way to change the subject and divert the conversation somewhere else.

"Is asking Anna for help the best idea right now?" Jake asked Sasha. "She always leaves the barracks looking like the leftover meal from a thanksgiving night. That means she always looks terrible. In case you didn't get what I said due to your low sense of humor."

"My sense of humor is not low." Sasha said, the usual frown on her face deepening a little. "And do you have a better idea? It's you who wants to find Isabel, so do what you want."

"You're right." Jake said. "Whatever's happening to her isn't my problem. She can deal with her own shit. She just has to help me find Isabel first."

"Why do you suddenly want to find Isabel? Sasha asked.

"I need a reason? I just want to find an old friend, and rekindle a burning flame. I always knew she had a crush on me." Turning to Sasha, Jake smiled and used his hand to rake back his hair from his eyes. "Do you have a crush on me Sasha?"

Looking at Jake while still walking on the sidewalk, Sasha curled her palm into a fist, concealing it from Jake's view, and with her magic of super speed, she punched Jake straight in the gut. "Don't flatter yourself."

Wincing just a little bit, Jake continued smiling and said to Sasha, "We become closer everyday."

Getting to the barracks, Jake and Sasha stopped and looked at the soldiers in front of the entrance.

"What do you want?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Good day boys." Jake said. "We're here to see Anna. You might have heard of her. She's the daughter of the monarch of Ansteria."

"You don't have the rank or permission to see her." another soldier said.

"What the hell does that mean?" Sasha asked.

"Relax Sasha. Listen boys, just tell her Jake's here to see her."

"No. Now get out of here kid. Don't make me beat you out of here." the first soldier said.

"We don't want any trouble boys." Jake said in a good-humored manner but a narcissistic smile was on his face. "I just want to talk to Anna."

"What are you going to do about it?" the second soldier asked, with three more soldiers coming from the side to surround Jake and Sasha.

"I think he needs to be taught a lesson." a third soldier said, already flexing his fingers.

"Ugh. You guys remind me of Duke. I wonder what happened to him." Jake said, truly pondering over what happened to Duke with a smile on his face, even in his situation.

Reading the tension in the air and knowing what was about to happen, with no intention of participating, Sasha excluded herself and took multiple steps away from Jake.

"I'm gonna enjoy this. I was already getting bored." Jake said and waited for one of the soldiers to make the first move.

Running towards Jake, the first soldier was about to give him a punch on his face but instead Jake put his palm in front of the fist and lifted the soldier up from his neck, slowly choking the life out of him before the second soldier attacked him.

With a punch to Jake's ribcage, the second soldier thought he had at least broken a couple of Jake's ribs even though he didn't hear any cracking sound above the choking and struggling sounds coming from the first soldier.

Looking at the second soldier, Jake simply punched him on the nose but was sure to hold back his strength a little so as to not kill the soldier.

The soldier flew back with a badly broken and bleeding nose and ended up hitting another soldier that was going to attack Jake.

With all the commotion and noise going on, people's attention had been attracted and a soldier had also set off the alarm, loudly alerting the barracks of an intruder.

Sasha had continued moving back until she was sure that she would not be affected by the ongoing commotion.

Giving another soldier a very good slap on the neck, the soldier moved back, trying to breathe well again and Jake sidestepped a kick coming from his back and instantly broke the shin of the leg.

Watching his comrade screaming in pain, a soldier stared at Jake with utter befuddlement and fear, making him shiver down to his bones.

'How can one kid be this dangerous?' the soldier thought to himself. 'He hasn't even used magic yet he is able to take on all of us. We all are stronger than a captain yet he is beating us like we are nothing. This is a demon! A mad demon!'

Running away from Jake, the soldier did not turn to look back and kept running like his life depended on it.

More soldiers were coming from inside the barracks and seeing this, Jake threw away the soldier he was holding onto from her hair and ran straight towards the gate of the barracks, bulldozing his way through all the soldiers while releasing a huge amount of fire from his hands to prevent them from coming close to him and burn anyone stupid enough to try.

Somewhere in the growing throng of people watching the commotion, a certain girl with black eyes, slightly tanned skin and long black hair was surprised to see that the cause of all the commotion was someone she knew.

"Qué está haciendo?" Isabel asked, her eyes wide in surprise, as she watched Jake run into the barracks with fire around him.