He Confesses Everything!

Meiling was suddenly acutely aware of her pounding heartbeat, her pulse quickening and mind racing as Ryker seemed to gather the courage to speak.

'Wh-what do I do? I'm not ready for that kind of relationship with him, yet... but wait, didn't I kiss him last night?!'

Partly because she'd been affianced for most of her life, and mostly because she acted coldly to most men that approached her, she'd never had any experience with romance, and certainly never had anyone confess to her.

Luo Shuchang had been too self absorbed to show her any kind of affection while they'd been engaged, and there was no need to mention Li Daoming.

Her only experience in such matters were the romantic stories and poems she liked to secretly read, so she was understandably flustered.

'Do I even like him, that way? It's... certainly hard to deny at this point... Should I say yes?'

As Meiling was panicking and sorting out her feelings, Ryker let out a deep breath, before quickly blabbing out his anticipated confession.

"I have a system that gives me stuff for being friends with you!" he said, bowing ninety degrees in apology, "Sorry for hiding it, all this time!"

"... Huh?"

A moment passed before Meiling processed what he said, realizing it had nothing to do with a confession of love, at all.

"... So, this isn't about..." she muttered, an embarrassed look on her face.

"Huh? Isn't about what?"

"Nothing! More importantly, why would you start off with such a misleading sentence!!!"

She pounded a fist on his shoulder a few times to hide her embarrassment, eliciting a startled yelp from Ryker.

"Ow, ow! What do you mean?" he said, rubbing his shoulder tenderly.

"... Nevermind."

Meiling sighed, regaining her composure. It was her fault for assuming things, in the first place, so she couldn't get too mad at him.

Now that she had her wits about her, though... What was this about a system?

"Explain it to me a little more clearly. What do you mean when you say you have a 'system'?"

--

The two of them sat under the shade of a large tree as Ryker explained everything he knew about the Friend System to Meiling.

Although it was hard for her to understand just how such a thing could exist... if she took him at his word, it made some sense now why Ryker was able to get so many cultivation resources from seemingly out of nowhere, when he supposedly hadn't cultivated at all, until now.

"So to summarize... This system gives you items related to your cultivation based on how deep a relationship you create with others?" she asked, rubbing her chin in thought.

"Well... Yeah."

She sighed, rubbing her temples in irritation, to which Ryker gulped apprehensively. He knew telling her this might have soured their relationship, but it looked like he was in for it right off the bat...

"And why are you telling me all this? Are you really that much of an idiot?"

"Huh?"

Ryker tilted his head to the side in confusion, the expected tirade about how they couldn't be friends anymore never coming.

Meiling just gave him an exasperated look, frowning at his inability to understand why sharing such a secret was foolish.

"You're too trusting! Do you know how many people would try and take advantage of you, if they knew this?"

"... You're not mad that I only tried to be friends with you because of the system?"

She sighed again, crossing her arms as she leaned back against the tree.

"Well, I can't say I'm not annoyed by that, at all," she said, "But I know you're too much of an idiot to have meant any harm, as evidenced by how you foolishly told me all that, just now."

"But--"

"Did the system make you help me train to defeat my sister?" she interrupted him, before he could get in another word.

"Well, it didn't *make* me do it, but it was kind of encouraged, I guess...?"

"And did it force you to give me this sword artifact?"

"Er, not really..."

"Did you risk your life fighting the Great Void Sect because of the system?"

"Uh, the mission was done, by then, so no..."

Meiling smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder with a soft expression.

"Then don't worry about it. If it were someone else, I might have felt a little slighted, but you're much too foolish to have such ulterior motives. And... I trust you."

"Aw, thanks! ... I think?"

She giggled, getting up from the soft grass, and she extended a hand to help Ryker up, as well.

"Come on, it's time for us to get going," she said, a gentle smile on her face. Ryker grinned and took her hand, using her help to get up to his feet.

"Right!"

They stood there at the top of the hill, for a while, admiring the scenery in silence.

"... When I get stronger, I'll come find you, again," Meiling eventually said, still looking off into the distance.

"You take care of yourself, and remember what I said about that system of yours! Don't tell anyone else!"

"Haha, yeah, I got it!"

Ryker gave her a salute, which she returned with one of her own.

"I'll see you later, then. Good luck with your training!"

"And good luck finding your friends."

The two of them smiled at each other, before Ryker's smile grew into a wide grin, moving to scoop her up in a big hug. Meiling's first reaction was to freeze up, but she was eventually able to timidly hug him back, a faint blush on her face.

"Hey, I just wanna say I'm glad we became friends," he said, gently letting her down, "Remember to stay in touch!"

[Indeed. We still need to keep an eye on how your cultivation will progress, from this point on.]

{Yeah! And you can't forget about us, either!}

Mini C and Bestie chose this time to chime in, now that their emotional moment was over. Meiling nodded with a smile, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Of course. I won't forget about any of you!"

She waved goodbye, walking down the hill and heading along the northern road as she tried not to cry. This was the start of her own journey, now; she had to be strong! When the time came, she would surely see them, again.

Ryker waved her off from the top of the hill, smiling with a hint of sadness, himself. He could hear Bestie sniffling from the compad, and he couldn't help but let out a few sniffles of his own, wiping at his nose as he turned towards the east.

"Well... guess we should get moving, ourselves!"

--

In the depths of the Red Viper Mountains...

A young child ran desperately through the forest underbrush, lungs heaving as the leaves and branches scratched at his skin. He was lucky that the commotion he was making hadn't attracted any wild beasts, yet, but he couldn't afford to stop, here.

'Mother... Father... Big Sister...'

The child closed his eyes to try and squeeze back the tears, remembering the sudden attack on his village by those bandits. He'd been able to escape, but he didn't know the fate of his family; his father had stayed behind to buy them time to escape, while he'd been separated from his mother and sister as the rest of the village fled into the forest.

He had to do something, but what could he do?

As he was frantically trying to think of what do next, however, his foot suddenly caught on an exposed root, sending him tumbling to the forest floor. He hurriedly tried to pick himself back up, but cried out in surprise as he felt a hand grab him by the neck, lifting him up off the ground and choking him.

"Well, looks like that's as far as this brat can go," a mocking voice sounded in his ears, causing him to flinch. Had they caught up to him, already? Then did that mean his mother and sister...?

"Haha, I thought we were gonna let him run for a while longer?"

"We've fooled around long enough, looks like there aren't any demonic beasts around, anyway. Must've been someone came and cleared 'em out, recently."

Several men dressed in rough furs and tattered rags walked out from the surrounding woods, leisurely brandishing their swords and spears. The child struggled in his captor's grip, thrashing about in an attempt to break free.

"Let go of me!" he shouted, furiously clawing at the hand around his neck, but the men gathered around him just laughed, looking at him with derisive eyes.

"Sorry, brat, blame your bad luck for getting caught!"

"Tch, I remember this brat's sister looked pretty fine. Why couldn't we have stumbled upon her, instead?"

"It's not like they could've gone far. Let's go take a look before we head back..."

The young boy felt the tears falling down his face, crying in frustration at his own helplessness. If only he were stronger...!

Suddenly, a strong breeze blew past him, and he heard a cry of pain and felt something warm splatter all over his face as he dropped to the floor, landing on his rear. He pulled the hand that was still gripping his neck away from him, opening his eyes to see that it was now *just* a hand, severed at the wrist.

"Who the hell are you?!" the man who had his hand cut off shouted from his spot kneeling on the ground, clutching at his severed wrist as his face twisted in agony.

The other men retreated back a step at the sight of the stranger who had just arrived, a towering young man carrying a shimmering blade. They couldn't even see his movements when he cut off their brother's hand, only a sudden blur and a flash of steel.

The young man just grinned broadly at the rough man's question, holding a hand up to his face in a 'mysterious' fashion.

"You can call me... The Mysterious Stranger!"