Duel... Yeah...; It's just a...;

As he took two pendants out Yusaya stared at them intensely. Kerren thought that he finally found the reason, but...

- Hm... Doesn't look like they're special, i'm sure that even if you're not him... you definitely received something from him!

She was hellbent on it! From her perspective Kerren was the only person that shined, now, not even a months after he "disappeared" another shining person appeared? Yeah, right, just a coincidence...

- Honestly, it doesn't matter who you really are, as long as u're willing to help me - i will pay. -- she wasn't going to surrender just because of this small uncertainty -- I need you to help me find a particular monster in the university's dungeon. Of course, it would be great if you managed to kill it, but i'm not expecting that you can, just giving me information about it is enough, i will even reward you for that!

Yusaya then explained some more things about the dungeon and the mission inside of it, just in case the guy before her wasn't lying and he didn't know anything.

As for crucial information about the thing she needed? She decided to keep it a secret, for some reason. Maybe she didn't trust "Gorven" enough, maybe she was confident that this guy will give it to her if she asked... Maybe it didn't even matter as she could kill him if he didn't...

- I didn't agree to help you, did i? Dont you think that revealing this information to me is a little bit risky? What if i decide to do it on my own and claim the reward alone? -- he pretended that he was clueless...

- Well, that's what i wanted you to do in the first place! You see, i only need one thing from the reward, you can take the rest, i'm sure it will be enough for you to live a long and happy life!

So it turns out it was her plan all along... She "baited" Kerren into asking that question!

- Oh? So i receive everything but the most valuable thing? Interesting, what if i refuse to give it to you? -- he didn't make a scary face or a creepy voice when he said it, it sounded like a casual question.

- I will have to kill you then -- she smiled as she said it.

- Well, why dont you try tight now? It'll be a nice way to see who's above who in our little agreement!

Without even waiting for her answer Kerren launched his attack!

His fighting style right now was completely different to the one he showed her previous time. He looked like a berserker who didn't care about any damage done to him!

Even if she struck back with her sword he simply took the hit, in exchange for one of his!

The fight itself didn't last long at all and there's nothing to talk about. Kerren simply launched a horrendous number of attacks!

Some she could dodge or block, as for the rest? She had to endure them with her body! Kerren didn't even hold back, he was striking at "full force"...

Well, it was barely 10% of his actual capabilities, but it was more than enough to deal serious damage to her, if the hit connected!

Oh, i have to say that, when i say "barely 10%" i dont mean that it's 10% of his actual power, it's 10% of the maximum he could muster out of himself.

If he really did fight with all he had he would die in a minute or so, it wasted too much mana and even eating all of his mana crystals wouldn't do much difference!

Of course, when he casted his spells and such he only used some % of his "actual" power, it's not like he couldn't do more, but as i just said - he didn't have enough mana or spell mastery to allow him to use them more efficiently.

As such, Kerren always fought at ~20-30% of his "actual" power even in critical situations. Even in his fight with the patriarch he "loved" so much he barely used 50%, as any more would've killed him for good!

So, technically, with sufficient amounts of mana Kerren was... strongest on this planet! In actuality, however, he was barely in the top 10 right now...

When was i? Oh, right, the fight... Guess what, it ended already! What a surprise! It took 13 seconds before Yusaya said...

- I surrender, stop! I understand!.. -- her face was paler than the moon, it seemed like she was d*ad already!

- Now we're talking. So, what about that item? What is it that you want? -- Kerren knew that he wont get an answer to that, he asked it only since he was in character right now...

- I can't tell you that... -- but as she saw that Kerren started lifting his arm -- Wait! I can assure you that it is of no use to you! It's just a rock... it's special, but for you it's just that!

Suddenly, Kerren's eyes went wide! A rock!? There was indeed a peculiar rock in his previous life! It was sold on some great auction that was held yearly in the future! How did it end up there?

Logically speaking, if Yusaya took it, then why would it be there?.. That is only if there's only one such rock! Could it be that there's several!? A puzzle, perhaps? Or parts of a key?

However, as usual Kerren didn't have enough information... Knowing what it was did help a little, but that's all he knew now.

He was sure that it was insanely important, as in his previous life some S ranked guy bought it with almost a 10 tonnes of crystals! Kerren couldn't even believe when he first heard that a singel person could muster such a sum!

Wait... if that guy bought it, does it mean that he's somehow connected to Yusaya? Same organization, maybe?.. Whatever it was, it's not the time to think about it!

- Well, fine, if it's just a useless rock i'll think about giving it to you... If i see an usual mosquitoe in the dungeon i'll try to kill or let you know.

As he said it he turned around and left. He didn't walk as he usually did, but ran back as fast as he could, since he neede to think about it in a calm environment!

That information was too important to let it rot for a long time, maybe he'll forget some crucial details in those 20 he spent walking!?

As Kerren left, Yusaya, who was covered in blood quietly said...

- What a f*kking c*nt that guy is... Is he really the one?.. -- her face was somewhat happy but at the same time it looked solemn.

She slowly got up and started limping in an opposite direction Kerren ran off to...

As for Kerren?.. Well, it took him 3 minutes to find out he ran to the other edge of the forest! That discovery made him angry, and he decided to just sit somewhere around here and think...

It's not like it wasn't nice and calm here, it felt even nicer than in his room!

As such, Kerren spent the whole night here, thinking about the rock, Yusaya and her connection to it and all that.

I wont bother you with his thought process as i've already told you most of it earlier, i'll just say what he got in the end.

It wasn't anything fancy or anything, but he was now sure that this rock had some sort of a connection to the sudden increase of mana that happened in his previous life.

He assumed that those rocks were some sort of a mana increasers that worked on the whole world! He even compared them to terraforming devices, as mana changed everything around it!

We wasn't correct at all though, but it's between you and me, dont tell him that!