90. Julia

Compare to two years ago, Julia was a changed girl. But still, that fateful day is still vivid in her mind. It all began when she lost every will to live and decided to put an end to her life. But when reality struck and the rope tightened around her neck and her breath was cut, she could not bear the pain or the idea of death.

Why was the universe so cruel to her? She lost all her relatives in the dalki war. There was only one hope to revive her destiny and that was to get an ability. But with nothing in her possession, Julia found it impossible to buy an ability book. She could not even afford the cheapest level 1 book.

There was no job, nor any food. The ones provided by the military were mercilessly stolen by others like her. To survive, the weak formed group and built the weaker. It was survival of the fittest.

Julia has asked for help, begged others, and even kneeled in front of others, yet her pleading hands were useless.

That fateful day when her life was at the end, she muttered a last plead while struggling to free herself from the rope and it finally happened. The universe answered her supplication. No, not the universe, it was a mysterious man. The man rescued her, and on top of that teach her something. Something that she treasured deeply.

A strange energy is known as Qi.

For that, Julia wanted to repay his benefactor, but as said by the man himself, Julia would just slow him down. Julia is even prepared to repay the mysterious man with anything.

Julia began training vigorously, and after some time, she began noticing a difference. She found more strength, more stamina to do things. Thus she began to help others. she decided to put t herself to the service of the other weak humans that were living around.

Once when she confronted the group that was stealing other people's rations, she was finding it hard to fight against so many adversaries. At that moment another woman came to her rescue.

Later they became friends and Julia found out that the woman was named Lucy and that she had a young girl. Unlike her Lucy was a fierce woman. She did not even blink when she would kill those vile humans.

Today both of them were sitting and talking about everyday life, and how the camping site has changed since both of them started helping everyone. They found out that there was no more need for them to intervene or fight against other as the thugs were all eliminated or disappeared from the camp.

Lucy felt someone approaching and when she lifted her head, she saw a man in black. Literally, the person was completely covered from top to bottom in black.

"Hello, Lucy. Hi Julia." standing just a few meters away the person greeted them. What was surprising was that the person knew both of them.

There was complete silence from both Julia and Lucy. Lucy's heart pounded as she tried to process the situation. The fact that this man knew both her and Julia was unsettling. She exchanged a quick glance with Julia, who seemed equally puzzled and uneasy.

As the silence lingered, Lucy finally found her voice and cautiously asked, "Who are you? How do you know our names?"

A the same time, as Julia observed the mysterious man, a realization dawned on her. A single person's name can to her mind. Summoning her courage, Julia finally spoke up, her voice wavering slightly, "Are.... are you Abraham?".

Abraham looked at her and smiled gently, though his face remained concealed by the darkness of his attire. When he saved Julia, Abraham told her his name. But for Lucy, he kept his secret identity.

"You did keep your promise. You have become stronger Julia. It seems that both of you have been training well your Qi well." said Abraham.

The last sentence came as a shock to both of them. Both Julia and Lucy turned their head to face each other and stared into each other eyes. They have been together for some time now, but never at any time did one of them mention Qi or even their encounter with Abraham.

Observing their reaction, Abraham immediately understood what was going on.

"You two seems good at keeping secret. To clear your mind, yes, I have meet both of you at around the same time two years back and taught both of you about Qi energy. While I did not expect that both of you would meet and help each other, I was very hopeful that both of you would put good use of the Qi energy to help others in need. I did tell both of you that we would meet in the future and here am I." spoke Abraham.

"You... you really came back. I... I was waiting for you," Julia said, her voice trembling with emotion, tears streaming down her cheeks. She fell to her knees, overwhelmed by the moment and the flood of gratitude she felt. "Thank you. For everything."

Abraham extended a gloved hand toward her, offering support and lifting her back up.

Lucy watched the scene unfold, feeling a mixture of awe and curiosity. Compared to Julia, she did not have such a reaction but from the day she met Abraham, there was a burning question that she wanted to ask.

But first, Lucy let Julia speak.

As Julia regained her composure, she looked up at Abraham with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Will you accept me this time by your side?" she asked, her vulnerability evident in her voice. "I have worked hard to better myself. Please don't reject me".

As always, the system had to add its own comment. "Are you sure your charm skill is not on? How come another girl is directly throwing herself at you? The universe sure is unfair."

Ignoring the system's usual tease, Abraham replied to Julia.

"Yes, and on top of that, I have a favor to ask you both."

Julia wiped away her tears, feeling a newfound sense of determination. "Thank you, Abraham," she said with a blush. "Whatever you need, I'm willing to do it."