Truth behind his shining?;
When Kerren saw Yusaya wait for him once more he felt somewhat strange. Did he miss the girl or something?
It wasn't as if he loved her or anything, but attention that he got from her... he liked it.
It reminded him of a... Of nothing, yep, it didn't remind him of anything... Don't ask.
Anyway, he felt somewhat grateful to her as he was basically the only person in this life that didn't try to cheat him or leech off him in any way...
Yeah, she did try to put the ahievement of clearing the first floor on him, but was that a bad thing? Nope, any person would want to get that reward!
You might think that the reward was somewhat small since the last reward from an "S" ranked dungeon wasn't that good... Well, you see... This dungeon wasn't an "S" rank one... It was far above that, as even in his previous life that was clasiffied as S+, which basically meant that it was unknown how difficult it truly was.
As for the first floor? It might seem easy for you, but that mosquitoe and the whole mission even wasn't completed in almost 20 years. What did that mean? Well, it meant that it's hard, duh!
Kerren didn't even know what the reward was, but judging from the spendings of the guy who "cleared" it in his previous life?.. It was insane. Far above what he previously seen!
What about next floors, then? What reward was there?.. Kerren couldn't even begin to imagine how rich and powerful he would be once he got them! Even the reward from the first floor would allow him to buy lots of of mana increasing stuff!
Wait, now that i think about it... You dont really know how strong Kerren truly is?.. Eh... Since he is somewhat special there's no definite answer to that question, i could just say that he's around Low A rank now, but does that really say anything?
Eh... Let's just put it like that, Kerren's strength couldn't be measured normally, so, at best, i could compare him to other people. Yeah, i could just tell you the exact amount of mana he has, but if i just say "Well, duh, Kerren is 1000 crystals worth of mana strong!" how would you understand that?
There's a lot of factors in that equation, but even if you had the true answer, what will you compare it to? Do i just tell you how strong on that scale everyone else is? Well, that could work later, but now?... Every single person on this planet, including Kerren, wont even amount to 1!
So, let's just keep it for later, okay? When Kerren is strong enough i will tell you how strong others are, now let's just classify them with those numbers, it should be enough.
Anyway... Where was i?... Oh, right, Kerren met Yusaya! Well, Gorven did...
- Hey, Gorven, i see that your test went well? -- She ran to him with a happy smile
- I guess so, do you... need anything from me?.. -- Kerren had a "sceptical" look on his face
- No, nothing, i just wanted to ask you to help me with something... are you willing to listen? It should be a secret between us, though... -- she said with a quiet voice so only "Gorven" could hear it.
- Hm... Well, it depends. You can tell me, i promise not to tell anyone! -- as he said it he hit himself in the chest once.
- Follow me, then, this is not a place to talk...
Yusaya then led Kerren god knows where, it wasn't a long walk but while it lasted Kerren couldn't help but think about why she would tell him to go here...
They were in the forest now, and there wasn't anything there. Yeah, it was a secret place that nobody visited and all... Why all this secrecy tho? Last time she told him about it... Eh... He doesn't remember where it was... In his room or something?... Whatever...
He, however, remembered that it wasn't "Look, were talking about a secretly secret in this dark and hidden place in the forest that nobody even visits!"
If any sane person saw them there they would think that they're either a couple who likes to make out in such places or some cultists that need to be reported...
Well, it seems that Yusaya didn't really care, neither did Kerren. I dont even know what he cares about! Last emotion i saw in him, that wasn't boredom, of course, was when he fought that patriarch guy! Was he in love with him or something?..
Oh, right, when he saw Yusaya today he also felt something... Eh... Did he love them both? Kind of strange if you ask me...
Anyway, that's it for my ramblings for now, they finally arrived!
It was a somewhat dark place even though it was sunny outside. It was also somewhat... quiet, i'd say... Too quiet for it to be a normal forest, but that's a given, it's in the middle of a city, after all. The only animal that would live here is a rat or some random squirrel...
As Yusaya stopped, she turned around to look at "Gorven" and said...
- Okay, we can talk here. Just listen to me and say yes or no, are we clear?
She then casted some sort of a spell that engulfed the whole area. Kerren immediately casted his own in hopes of finding out what the spell was, he succeeded, it was just a type of a silenting barrier that prevented anybody who was not in it from hearing what people inside said.
It was all in a span of less than a second, so his answer right now wasn't with an awkward pause or anything like that...
- Maybe, you can talk though.
He didn't even pretend in front of her, it was pointless since they were alone and he knew perfectly that she wont go around to spread how cruel and bad "Gorven" truly was.
- Are you Kerren? -- she smiled as she asked.
- Kerren? That guy who killed lots of people and ran away somewhere? Well, i wont say that i dont want to be as strong as he is, but no, i am not.
He, of course, didn't forget to praise himself, why not? If he's not going to like himself, who would?
- Oh, come on now! You are the only person that shined through my whole life! I cant believe that i met two in a span of less than a... -- she paused for a split second -- year.
- Shined? What do you mean by that? -- he made a confused expression. He's not going to reveal it as is, what if he didn't shine and it was just a test or something? she did that thing last time...
- Okay, whatever, pretend all you want. I found another clue to the mission we have to solve, it turns out that there are insects that are called "Mosquitoes", people describe them as annoying, their females also suck blood for a living! I think that the boss is actually a mosquitoe, not a vampire as we thought previously!
As she was talking Kerren's face looked weirded and weirded. He was now sure that she was some rich and influental lady from some "Hidden Secrecy Inc.", she didn't even know what a mosquitoe is! It must have been her underlings who killed all of them for her!
He, however, wasn't planning to play along, he didn't care if she really knew that he's Kerren or not...
- Uhm... What mission, again? I'm sorry, u're mistaking me for Kerren, were you in a relationship with him or something? Or... is it a game of sorts? I... I dont understand, really -- he made a confused and "understanding" face as he was telling her all that... Maybe he could get her to change her mind?
- Are you... Are you really not Kerren?.. -- now it was her turn to be confused -- Uh... Did you pick up any strange items from the ground? Maybe Kerren himself gave you something? -- she truly couldn't understand why this guy was like that, she also didn't know the reason behind Kerren's "shine", so it was interily possible that the guy wasn't lying...
- Well, i picked up some artefacts i found the other day, but i dont think that they're the reason behind my... shine, was it?.. -- it was a trap from him. He too wanted to know why he shined! He made two pendants from ore leftovers a month or so back, even before he changed his identity.
One was infused with his mana to the brim, it was just a normal pendant it every other aspect.
Second one, however, was infused with a little portion of the thing inside of him. It was insanely hard for him to do, he even had to make several tries as he couldn't force it to stay inside of it, that thing just dissipated when it wasn't in his body!
As such, he took out those two pendants from his inventory, now it was time to test whether or not that thing is the reason!