22 Jungle Boy

"Bingo!" Maya exclaimed.

"Okay... so?" I said. "That's only one of their many achievements"

"One of many, yes" she said. "But one of our most important"

"Our?" I thought.

It then hit me.

"You've figured it out" she said. "I wouldn't talk about something random. Straight to the point. Your father-"

"Is the founder of meridian tech" I finished.

She smiled.

I was about to say something back when I saw vetala with the corner of my eye. His eyes were wide.

"Ummm... yeah" I responded blankly to Maya.

She raised an eyebrow and then looked outside. "Well we're here. Come on let's go" she said.

I got out of the limo and what was before me made my jaw drop.

A huge private villa stood before me. White marble and quartz, glass sides, multi-storey. It was hard to believe that humans could live there. For someone like me it seemed like a palace for gods.

Maya saw my jaw dropping expression. "It's all your's" she said.

I chuckled. "I mean i get to live here but it's not mine." I said jokingly.

"Oh no it is. You literally own this house." she said seriously.

Vetala spoke for the first time in a few minutes. "Your dad isn't just rich. He's goddamn loaded."

I completely agreed. My dad was an asshole, but he was a rich asshole.

"So he lives here too?" I asked Maya nervously.

She laughed hysterically. "Of course not! He's a busy man with a busy life. He has multiple homes. He's never in one place." she responded.

The adrenaline from seeing just a small fraction of his wealth faded. Just a bit though. I was also pissed a bit. The guy couldn't even let me stay with him.

"He moves around a lot so it must be difficult" a part of me said.

That wasn't good. I was standing up for him.

The inside was just as amazing-if not more amazing, than the outside of the villa.

"Anyway, we'll get to talk later. Maybe at dinner. Your father will be there too. For now you should go and check out your room." she said.

I was going to meet him in 4 hours then.

I went to my room which was a struggle in it's own way, what with the sheer number of rooms in the place. My room was pretty big. But nothing too special. All my stuff had been unpacked, but it wasn't like it was much. Just a few clothes.

I jumped on the bed which was incredibly soft and lied down and looked up at the ceiling.

"So what do you think is going to happen now?" I asked vetala.

He was looking at me curiously.

"Didn't you hear what she said? Your dad practically owns netcore. Which means you can find out why you can use these abilities." he said.

"Well yeah..." I trailed off. "Is having these abilities really a bad thing?" I asked.

Vetala looked at me as if I was the most pathetic thing he had ever seen.

"You humans, your all the same. Once a little power or money hits you it's impossible to see reason" he said.

"Hey, look, maybe I'll ask him, you don't have to be so angry", but it was too late. He already vanished.

I heard a notification.

-Vetala has gone to sleep.

-Vetala's intuition is currently decreased by 90 percent.

That was news to me.

"I don't even have anyone to talk to now" I thought.

I decided to take a nap but sleep didn't come easily. My stomach was sick with nauseousness. I was nervous about meeting my dad.

I twisted and turned until finally I made a decision.

I took my vr headset plugged it in and put it on.

I materialised in the middle of the woods where Max and Aurora were sitting. They had obviously moved camp and since Aurora was a tank it wouldn't have been that hard to carry me.

"Your finally back. We were thinking about moving camp again. Come on let's go. No time to waste." Max said.

We packed everything up, which wasn't that hard since we all had a virtual storage box.

Since they, or at least Max, were acting normal I assumed they had heard nothing about my situation. They probably also didn't know what happened with the franketer but that wasn't necessarily important.

We started travelling again and I wasn't feeling as nervous as before. Everything felt normal.

Besides vetala of course.

He pranced around and enjoyed the environment. "Ah, home sweet home. This is exactly where I belong" he said.

"Looks like someone's happy" I muttered under my breath. Of course he heard it though and gave me a piercing glare, still indicating that he wasn't pleased with my decision.

I had decided not to tell Max and Aurora about vetala. I didn't feel like it was necessary for now. I just wanted to play the game freely.

I took out my dagger and revolver and held them in my hand. Unlike in the real world, they were lighter and I knew that I could use them without hesitation and with complete accuracy.

We kept moving and suddenly a giant three headed wolf crashed in front of us.

We took out our weapons and prepared to attack. But something was wrong.

"It's injured." Max said. "Which means there's an even bigger threat out there"

The wolf got up and didn't even look at us. It prepared to run. Killing it would give me no exp but we could harvest some items. I dashed towards it with my dagger and went in to stab it, but just as I thrust it, it was deflected and sent flying.

I saw it go and turned around to see who had done this. A teenage boy stood before the beast. He held a weird sword which was blue and curved slightly. Almost like a ripple of water.

"He's mine" the boy said and without looking slashed backward. The wolf disintegrated into ashes. The boy turned around to leave but I was pissed.

Logically, it was a bad idea. He was a high level for sure if he was able to make a monster like that running. Yet I didn't care.

"Hey!" I shouted. I shot a few bullets at him but they didn't even go close.

"Did he deflect them? I didn't see anything though" I thought.

He turned around. He had a look of slight annoyance on his face. Like he had experienced this before and put those people in their place. Provoking him was definitely a bad idea.

He pointed his blade at me. "Oceanus style: Water Glide Form"

I only had time to think "what?" before he disappeared.

I sensed him behind me and I turned around. When I did, the tip of his blade was under my chin.

"I wouldn't move if I were you. Your hp seems pretty low." he said.

I looked at my health bar. It was at 1.

"What? How... was it that ability he used?"

He took out a health potion from his inventory and threw it to me. I caught it.

"Let that be a lesson" he said. "This is the difference between a level 300 and a low level like you"

He then flickered away.

All the while Max and Aurora were looking at shock.

I looked at them. "Well what are you waiting for? Let's go". I tried to sound confident, yet my voice was hoarse and my mouth was dry. It was just a game and yet I had been afraid. The truth was simple and painful, right in front of my eyes. I was weak. I was only at this level because I had my class to back me up. Other than that, nothing.

We continued walking silently until Aurora broke the silence. "So what was that thing jungle boy used? Skill or something? That was so powerful."

"Jungle Boy?And for your question it's called style and it's some sort of high level technique but I've only heard about it here and there. We could never be able to use that" Max responded.

"I wonder how long it would take for us to get to level 300. With Kami's ability it wouldn't be as hard as the usual"

I wasn't listening though. I had made up my mind.

I gritted my teeth. I was going to get to level 300 and I was going to learn that technique. I would find that kid and beat him. Only then did I feel like I could be satisfied. A weird sort of hunger or drive grew in me. I didn't know what it was but it made me more determined.

Suddenly a message popped up in my notification bar. I looked at it. It was Maya.

-'Dinner in 30 minutes. Get up and get ready'

I gulped.

It was time for dinner. And more importantly it was time to meet my dad.