Chapter 3

"Is mom dead?" asked Zane to Marie.

Marie quickly shakes her head and said, "No, she is still alive but… she is not much different than a dead people," Marie's face was solemn as she said that.

Hearing that, words cannot come out from his mouth. He opened his mouth but no words came out. He tried to talk but no words came out.

Looking at Zane, Marie stopped Zane from saying anything. She held Zane's wrist and lead him to Laurel. Zane followed Marie without any resistance. Walking through the corridor, Zane saw many injured people, their crying families, family members with blank faced looking at their family dead bodies and many more.

They walked for a few minutes and they arrived in a special ward. Marie led Zane into the ward and Zane can see a lot of patients with black pattern on their body. All of them was unconscious. Marie then stopped her tracks. Marie and Zane were standing in front of a bed.

On the bed lied a woman in her mid-40s with brown long hair. She was a beautiful woman, in Zane's eyes. A black pattern can be seen on her body. That woman was Zane's mom, Laurel. Upon seeing Laurel, Zane froze.

"Your mom was on her way home when the dark tarantula attack. Her contracted beast died protecting her but your mother was cursed by the dark tarantula. The black pattern on her body was the curse mark," said Marie. She looked at Zane and he was still in shock. He did not give any reaction to what she said.

However, Marie continued, "The dark tarantula curse will cause the one inflicted by it to fall into coma and the curse will eat the life force of the victim bit by bit. There is currently no cure for this curse. We predict that in 3 years, everyone in this ward will die. The dark tarantula attacking the city was a rank 6 and the curse is much more potent compare to a lower rank dark tarantula. So, the curse work faster"

Marie looked at Zane and there was still no reaction. Marie left Zane alone as she was needed to help other victims. Zane stood in front of the bed for 30 minutes and he finally moved to the side of his mother. Zane held his mother hand and he smiled but not a happy smile. Tears flowed down on his face but Zane did not let out any sound. Suddenly, a notification from the system appeared.

'Curse of rank 6 dark tarantula antidote potion formula created. 1 drops of water of life, 1 ml of rank 6 dark tarantula blood, rank 6 light element magic beast core, 50 ml water of light, 10g rank 6 light crystal'

Upon reading the notifications, Zane was shocked. Zane read the notification again. Zane closed his eyes and he did not know what to think at that moment.

Zane opened the formula system and saw the formula for the antidote was there. Zane was a bit doubtful about the formula. "Can I believe this formula?" Zane stayed silent for a bit thinking of something.

"Even if it is not true, I still need to try. I cannot give up," said Zane. His eyes showed determination.

Zane looked at the formula again, "Other than the dark tarantula blood, magic beast core and light crystal, I never even once heard of the other material. Also, I did not know that light crystal had rank too," said Zane.

Zane used his commlink and searched the internet for all the materials, however, he did not find any information about the water of life and water of light. "No information about the water materials… Hmm~ that mean no one found them yet."

Zane then used his commlink and entered the virtual world. He visited all the store that sell materials in the virtual world and asked about all the materials he needed but no one sold or even heard of them.

It was also impossible to get any materials from Rank 6 magic beast because they were so strong and rare. Even if someone defeated them, they will sell it to big company for huge sum of money.

"Is it impossible to get all the material?" Zane lose hope. While he was moping, suddenly he heard a voice in his mind.

"Zane, don't give up! We have 3 years to find all the materials. Make me stronger and we will search for the material together," it was Wulie's voice. Once a magic beast formed a contract with a human, they can also talk to each other using their mind without anyone else knowing what they talked about.

"Wulie…"

"Let's do this together Zane. We have no time to live a peaceful life. The only way we can save your mom is by searching the material. Can we live peacefully when your mom is like that? We can only find the material by going to the dangerous place. You mom at the risk of losing her life, so let's risk our life too to heal your mom," Wulie was advising Zane to get out of his comfort zone.

"…"

"Zane…,"

Zane looked at the floor as he digested what Wulie said. Zane suddenly smiled, he clenched his fist and his face was more determined than earlier when he found out about the formula.

"Let's do this, Wulie," said Zane. He looked at his mom and said, "Mom, I will heal you." Zane looked at all the other victims in the ward and said, "If I get enough materials, I will save all of you too."

Hearing what Zane said, Wulie was happy, "Let's do this, Zane. Let's save everyone and since we are going become strong, let's have another aim," said Wulie.

"Hmm? What do you mean by that?" asked Zane.

"Let's kill the dark tarantula that caused all of this," said Wulie.

"Wait, you mean the dark tarantula is still alive? How do you know that?" asked Zane.

"I heard people talking about it. Apparently, the dark tarantula managed to run away. They chased after it but, the dark tarantula disappeared. They did not know where it disappeared," said Wulie.

"Is that so? That's great. Once we become stronger, we will find that dark tarantula and kill it with our hands," said Zane.

Zane met Marie and asking her to looks after Laurel when he was not in the hospital. Marie was shocked to see that Zane looked fine. She also felt that Zane had a different aura around him. The laid-back kid she used to know was now added with burning determination.

Zane left the hospital and went home to pack Laurel's clothes. After that, he went back to the hospital. Zane stayed at the hospital taking care of Laurel most of the time for few days before his high school started.

Wulie also stayed outside the hospital and he became popular with the hospital staff due to his fluffiness and good mannered. Many magic beasts left outside the hospital was usually causing problem but not Wulie.

Sometimes, Wulie tried to stop them from causing problem although he was weak. His action made the hospital staff loves him more and that made the other magic beast jealous with Wulie.

Zane was not only taking care of his mother but he also thought that it was inefficient to find the materials by himself. Zane send an anonymous letter to all the strong synchronizer in the city about the antidote formula. He also anonymously posted it on the internet. Who knows, maybe someone will be able to create the antidote first. He did not mind whoever create it first as long as he can save his mother.

Two days later, it was the first day of high school. Zane went to school from the hospital. Zane sold all the vegetables he harvested from the farm on the virtual world with cheap price. He got quite a good profit but it was only enough for him.

Zane also sold the cotton apple too and selling the cotton apple net him a lot of money. The cotton apple came from a tree. Once the tree grew in the farming system, it did not take a long time for the fruit to appear. He harvested about 1000 cotton apple per tree. Zane planted 10 cotton apple trees (the maximum number) in the farming system. So, he harvested about 10 000 cotton apples per harvest.

Zane found out that whatever he planted in the farming system will grow to the highest quality. The cotton apples he harvested was plump, had many flesh and sweet. Wulie said that the cotton apples harvested from the farming system was the best he had ever ate. Wulie also said that he felt his energy went up a lot eating the cotton apples. He will soon level up to level 4 if he ate more of the cotton apples.

Many people in the virtual world bought the cotton apples from Zane said that his cotton apples were the best. It was not only cheaper but also tasted good. Their contracted magic beast gave high praise towards Zane's cotton apples.

Zane's business with the cotton apples was successful and he managed to get a lot of money. Zane did not use the money for himself but for his mother's medical bill. Zane moved his mother to a private ward so he can comfortably stay with his mother.

Other than selling the cotton apples and vegetables, Zane also was searching the material to strengthen Wulie. The materials were common but it was a bit pricey. For now, Zane wanted to save enough money for his mother's medical bill before he used the money for Wulie.

Wulie agreed with Zane. There was no need for them to rush. They will focus on more important matter first.

Zane took Wulie from the magic beast house outside the hospital and went to the school together. For his spending, Zane used the money he got from selling the vegetables. The money from selling the cotton apples was 100% used for Laurel.

Zane took a bus that went straight to Asce City High School. The bus passed through the area where the dark tarantula attacked. The area was still in mess and there were people working most of the time cleaning and fixing the area.

30 minutes later, the bus arrived at a bus stop near Asce City High School. Zane walked for a few minutes before he arrived at the high school front gate with Wulie. The high school was massively huge because the school knew that their students will bring their magic beast with them.

Magic beast will stay outside the school building when their master attended their class.

Zane saw a lot of students coming in. Some of them was a first year like him and most of them were his senior. He was impressed seeing his senior with strong looking magic beast. They raised their magic beast well.

Zane looked at Wulie and said, "You will become like them too in the future." Zane was smiling at Wulie.

"Obviously but you are wrong about something," said Wulie.

"? Hmm? I am wrong?" asked Zane.

"I will not become like them but I will be stronger than them," said Wulie confidently. Zane looked at Wulie with a blank face and then he laughed.

"Hahaha, you are right," said Zane. "Let's go" Zane walked into the school. The school committee was at the front gate telling everyone to go straight to the school hall. They can leave their magic beast at the field outside the school building.

Upon hearing that, Zane went to the school hall. Zane tried looking around for his friends but he cannot find them. Zane called them using the commlink and they said they entered the school from different gate.

The Asce City High School had four gates. Zane got in through the east gate. After walking for a few minutes following other students from behind them, Zane arrived at the school hall. The school hall was massive and there were already a lot of students inside.