Chapter 7: Journeying on

I stared at Tracy, who had fallen sound asleep. It had been about eight hours since the battle ended, and she didn't show any signs of waking up anytime soon. I sighed and stood up from my crouching position. If she didn't wake up soon, I might have to leave her here.

Most of the skills I acquired only lasted for a short while and disappeared as if they were never there. I wasn't sure if I could keep this new face forever. I decided the best thing for me to do now was to review all the things I knew about the system. Currently, I understood that the skill produced other skills for me to use in a particular situation. That meant if I was in trouble, a skill would be automatically generated for me. The second thing was that if I wasn't in a real or life-threatening situation, no skill would be produced. As for the number of skills at a time, I couldn't tell, but so far, I had both Fresh Start and Muscle Prominence active simultaneously. Technically, since the Fresh Start skill had already changed my appearance, it wasn't in use.

The next thing was probably the most surprising. The skill would never produce a skill for the protection of others. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but being a caller meant I would have to protect people from other people and beasts. This meant that in such circumstances, my work would be a lot harder. And considering all the other factors, if the skill judged that I wasn't really in trouble, it wouldn't generate a skill. So, that meant in order to fulfill my duties, there would be times where I'd have to intentionally put myself in danger. This one thing would be my greatest disadvantage, but I had made up my mind already. I was going to become a caller, and this wasn't going to stop me.

The one thing that still bothered me was how the system knew that Tracy didn't intend to harm me. Even if it was an illusion skill, it seemed the system knew that she wasn't going to harm me in any way. Also, when fighting the wolf earlier, the attack she used had an effect, which means it wasn't an illusion. I had been a bit awestruck, but she blacked out before I could ask anything. I would ask her when she woke up.

Speak of the devil; I heard a yawn and snapped out of my thoughts. I looked down to find Tracy sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning," she said, still yawning.

"It's afternoon, you buffoon!" I exclaimed.

"You talk too loud," she said, slowly getting up.

I sighed. "We have to leave, now."

She stared at me strangely and nodded.

I listened for the sound of the river and beckoned for her to follow. Soon, we were walking by the riverside in silence.

"If we hurry up, we should get to the next town before dark," I said to break the silence, but there was no response. I watched her as she walked beside me with a solemn expression. I wondered what was on her mind. I cleared my throat and spoke again. "I noticed that your explosions worked on the wolf, any explanation?"

She seemed to become a bit more lively. "It's just one of my many skills," she said. I stared into her eyes.

I had hoped a bit.

I had hoped she wasn't a terrible person who killed others and stole their systems, but it seemed I was wrong. I was suddenly angry. At that moment, I really felt she should be punished. After all, she took the life of a fellow human or even humans over something inhuman. It made me sick.

She seemed to notice it and

asked me with concern, "Hey, are you okay?"

I calmed myself down and gave a wry smile. "Why wouldn't I be?" I said. It seemed she was about to say something but stopped. From then on, no one said anything again.

***

By nightfall, we had reached the next and final town before we reached the city. I was really excited. For the first time, I'd get to walk through civilization without fear. There were no barriers to entering the towns and villages since there was nothing of value in these places.

Even though the world had significantly advanced, these advancements were barely seen in these towns. It was rare to see people with expensive gadgets as they were impossible to find or likely to be stolen.

It was nighttime, but the streets were bustling with noise. Tracy had wandered off somewhere, saying something about finding a nice food place. Thinking about it, I hadn't really had any good food to eat over the past few months. I had a little money on me which I had been saving up. I searched for a place to eat.

Right now, what I was really craving was fried rice with chicken. Just thinking about it made my mouth water. I asked someone walking around, and he showed me a place. It was a kind of restaurant with a simple but nice decor. I walked in and spotted Tracy in a corner, feasting on some dumplings.

'Really, she couldn't even tell me where she was going,' I thought. I headed towards the counter and ordered my food from a friendly lady who greeted everyone who came in. I asked for the price of the dish and almost fainted when I heard it. It seemed things had gotten really expensive. Although I had more than enough money to pay for it, I still felt it was an extravagant purchase. Nevertheless, I bought it and went to sit with Tracy.

She seemed to really enjoy the dumplings and was eating without a care. I was also eager to eat my food, so I skipped the fork and used a spoon. I could feel the gazes piercing at me, but I didn't mind. These people had no idea what I had been through. After finishing the dish, I drank the complimentary tea and sighed.

The food was really good!

I caught Tracy staring at me, and my face flushed red with embarrassment. She didn't seem to mind and just giggled. I sighed and set down my cup. "What?" I asked, curious about the reason she was giggling. "Nothing," she said, turning her face away. I shook my head. "You know," I said, "You're not as crazy as I thought you were." She looked at me and frowned.

I burst out laughing, and she joined me, paying no attention to the people around us.

When we met, she was coming from the same direction I came from. I wondered what her story was...

... Tracy laughed a lot that night. For a second, she had almost sympathized with this man's life story.