In Need of Strength

While Ryker was pondering over his amulet, Caelus was looking at the compad, gently swirling the teacup in his hand as he inspected it.

"I was meaning to ask, but there seems to be some other entity occupying the compad besides R.A.I.S.U?" he finally said. Before Ryker could say anything, however, Bestie popped out of the compad with a nervous smile, bowing to Caelus deferentially.

{Hello, Mr. Caelus, sir. My name is Bestie, and I'll be living with your son from now on!}

Caelus just gave her tiny avatar a blank look and, seeing that Mini C was conspicuously silent, turned to Ryker for an explanation.

"Uh, guess a lot's happened on my end, too," Ryker said with a grin, and he quickly gave Caelus a brief summary of the events of the past few weeks, including everything he knew about the Friend System.

"... Yeah, and then I kinda killed two guys while trying to protect this village in the forest," he concluded, finishing his account of the events up until he got Caelus's message. Caelus, himself, just raised an eyebrow, having finished the tea, and leaned back in his chair as he listened.

"... No trouble coming out of that, I hope?"

"Uh, well, they were bandits, so I don't think so... The one guy I killed was their leader, too, so I don't think there's anyone left that's strong enough to take revenge, either."

"Hm... We can conduct a psych evaluation once we get back to the sect. Luckily, killing seems to be a lot more commonplace here than back home."

Caelus once more looked at the Bestie, who was now kneeling on the table obediently, and rubbed his chin in thought.

"So, 'Bestie' is the administrator of this 'Friend System'? And the system simply gives you items of unknown origin for befriending others?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it," Ryker said, nodding.

"Suspicious. But interesting."

"Right? Mini C's been trying to analyze all these system thingies, but it's been slow going. Maybe it's high time for an upgrade, or something...?"

Caelus looked to the floor, seemingly contemplating Ryker's suggestion, before nodding his head in agreement.

"Indeed. It would be prudent to reassess the housing unit's general performance, in any case. Basic emergency functionality will no longer cut it, here."

Ryker grinned as he felt Mini C give him a mental thumbs up, quickly gulping down the cold tea that was left in his cup before getting to his feet and taking the compad with him.

"Alright! Let's go check out that Dabang Sect, then; I've been wanting to see what these sects are all about."

"They're nothing special, from what I've seen. Basically just like a large university..."

The two of them paid for the tea and left the teahouse, Caelus leading the way to the sect grounds. Before they got too far, however, Ryker suddenly remembered something, tapping Caelus on the shoulder as they walked.

"Ah, right! C, introduce yourself to me. With your full name," he said, to which Caelus nodded, seeing where he was going with this.

"Caelus Alaric."

As soon as Caelus spoke his full name aloud, Ryker received a flood of notifications from the system, and he eagerly checked his holoscreen to see several strange item notifications along with a new mission:

| Relationship with Caelus Alaric became: Acquaintance |

| Received: ??? x 1 |

| Relationship with Caelus Alaric became: Favorable |

| Received: ??? x 1 |

| Relationship with Caelus Alaric became: Friendly |

| Received: ??? x 1 |

...

| Warning! Prior relationship to target detected. Generating new rewards... |

| Current relationship with Caelus Alaric is: Blood Brothers |

| Received: GN-00 "Atreides" Magician's Focus x 1 |

| Quest started: Reunite With Old Friends! |

| You were able to find an old friend in this new world. |

| Reunite with both of them for a special bonus! |

| Objective Status: |

| Find Caelus Alaric: Complete |

| Find Lilliana Hartavia: Incomplete |

"Hm, not quite what I expected..."

Ryker scratched his head, wondering what the deal was with those items denoted by question marks. And the reward for becoming 'Blood Brothers' was just a run-of-the-mill magician's focus from back home? He couldn't even use those!

Was it because Caelus was also from Greyson Shores? From the warning it gave in the middle of all the notifications, maybe there was some sort of penalty for people he was already friends with.

"Indeed. I could sense some sort of signal both being sent and received, but the source of it is too far for me to determine its origin," Caelus observed, a small blue magic circle spinning slowly over one side of his face like a monocle before disappearing.

"Hm..."

Ryker just rubbed his chin before shrugging his shoulders. There was plenty of time to figure things out, now that he'd reunited with Caelus.

"Well, guess we'll worry about it, later. What kind of food they got at the sect? I'm starving!"

--

Meanwhile, at the entrance gate of the Dabang Sect...

"And just why can't I even go inside to apply? I even have a letter of recommendation from the Heavenly Jade Pavilion!"

"Scram, kid! Who even knows if the letter is real or not? The Dabang Sect isn't taking in any more disciples, you're just wasting your time!"

Hu Long stood before the gate to the Dabang Sect, having relentlessly climbed the path to the mountain's peak despite his body aching all over.

However, before he could even get into the sect, he was held up by the two disciples guarding the gate, who for some reason insisted on giving him a hard time.

"That's bullshit! I've already asked around, the Dabang Sect's application period is always open!" he said through gritted teeth. Although he had tried to be civil, at first, the two refused to listen to reason, flaring up his temper.

"Hah, that's only for cultivators with some amount of talent!" one of the guard disciples snorted derisively. The other joined in on the mocking, looking at Hu Long with an exaggerated sneer.

"That's right! Kid, do you really think you'll make it in one of the Five Great Sects when you're only at the second level of Qi Gathering at your age?"

Hu Long clenched his fists, biting back a retort. There was nothing he could say to that, after all. It always comes down to one's strength, in the end...

After a few moments of deliberation, he bowed his head low, throwing away his pride for the time being for a chance to enter the sect.

"Please, even if it's just as a servant disciple, allow me to apply," he said, maintaining his bow. However, his clenched fists were shaking at his side, a trickle of blood starting to flow down from the broken skin of his palms.

One day... There would come a day where he would never have to bow his head, again!

"And just what seems to be the issue, here?"

"Elder Jiang!"

Looking up, Hu Long saw the two disciples saluting an old man with a stern expression and a dignified beard, who walked up to the three of them with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Is there any trouble?" the old man asked, looking between the two disciples guarding the gate.

"No, Elder Jiang, this boy here was just wanting to join the sect..."

"So what's the problem?"

"Er, well..."

The disciples who had been giving Hu Long a hard time began to sweat nervously. If the elder found out that they were just bullying him...

However, before they could answer, Hu Long stepped forward, presenting the letter of recommendation to Elder Jiang with his head lowered courteously.

"Elder Jiang, my name is Hu Long. I came to join the sect on the recommendation of the master of the Heavenly Jade Pavilion," he said.

With his gaze lowered, however, he didn't notice Elder Jiang's eyes suddenly narrowing at his mention of the Heavenly Jade Pavilion, as he took the recommendation letter in Hu Long's hands.

"Hu Long, is it?" he said offhandedly, skimming the contents of the letter. It was, in fact, written by the master of the Heavenly Jade Pavilion, Liu Chao, who had actually been a part of the Dabang Sect in the past.

However, that fact didn't seem to please Elder Jiang, whose stern gaze narrowed even further, his lips creasing into a thin line.

"I don't know where you got the nerve, young man, but it's rather shameful to try and join the sect with a fake letter of recommendation."

He tore up the letter in his hands and threw it on the ground as Hu Long looked up, eyes widened in shock.

"What? That's impossible! I received this letter directly from--"

"I suggest you be on your way, young man, before things escalate any further."

Elder Jiang looked at him with a cold gaze, causing Hu Long to clench his jaw furiously. Even this supposed elder was going to treat him like this...?

However, before he did anything that he might've regretted later, a loud shout from behind him caught his and Elder Jiang's attention, both of them looking towards the mountain path leading up to the sect.

"Yooo! Ain't that Hu Long?"

Coming up the mountain path, Ryker and Caelus soon came into view, Ryker using his Profound Wind Walking Technique to quickly ascend while Caelus simply flew through the air.

"Ah, Ryker..." Hu Long greeted as Ryker landed lightly beside him.

"Sup, dude? Did you just get here?" Ryker asked Hu Long, while Caelus also landed, saluting Elder Jiang respectfully.

"Elder Jiang," he greeted, to which Elder Jiang returned the gesture.

"Sir Caelus. Is this the friend you said you were searching for?"

He gave Ryker with an appraising look, nodding appreciatively. Mid level Foundation Establishment at this age was no mean feat.

"Yes, that's correct. Is there some sort of issue going on, here?"

Caelus looked to the unusually cold elder and gate guards, and then to Ryker and Hu Long, who were chatting animatedly. He smiled wryly, feeling the trouble coming on... Of course, it came as soon as Ryker was back.