Reunion (1)

Since Red's constant use of his skills and leveling these past two weeks, he became a walking powerhouse. After using Flash red appeared outside on the roof of the apartment building.

....

Two girls and a little kid were hanging out on the roof, they were playing around. one of the girls looked quite average but with her own vibe, she was a little tall for a girl around (5 foot 6), with blond hair and ocean blue eyes. She was wearing casual clothes, jeans shorts and a tucked in white t-shirt.

The other girl looked completely different though. She was petite, (5 foot) high, with flaming red hair with shades of gold and emerald green eyes. She was wearing an emerald green day dress that highlighted her hair and eyes.

The odd hair color caught red eyes for a second, they represented a talented awakened. she might have not awakened yet but her staying in that building which is owned by the guild explains it. With an overwhelming amount of mana or energy inside a person's body, without proper training or control it might have effects on the person's outer appearance be it negative or positive. That girl's name is Ellie, she was sponsored by the guild, her hair was bright red, proving her magic talent, specifically fire magic.

"Did you see that?" the average looking girl spoke. while they were hanging out a guy appeared out of nowhere and disappeared, he had a grim and scary expression. the power of his mana was suffocating and even a layer of raging purple energy was swarming and convulsing around him. "Who was that?" she asked.

"Not sure, he must be that new ranker living here. his energy is out of control, someone pissed him off." Ellie was capable of sensing the sheer quantity and quality in reds mana. she was a born talent even without awakening, such things were easy to detect for her. "How powerful is he for a new ranker? i feel suffocated just by looking at him." she took a deep breath.

"Why would you say he's a new ranker then? since he's powerful he must have awakened years ago" the average looking girl looked at ellie questioning.

"You dummy, he lives in the building, I saw him once before. He's kind of famous too, ``Ellie continued "Do you remember that dungeon's reopening thing? where it got reset"

"Yeah, that was all over the news." she answered.

"He was one of the party that was pulled in, and from the report of the other members he took out the boss all by himself. He's been all over the internet then and probably still is. he even has his own fans too." Ellie explains.

"That's him? I couldn't see his face due to all that energy around him. He's really strong... I heard he refused all interviews and didn't make any comments, how did he get fans?" she asks.

"Hah..'' Ellie sighs "A new ranker... First dungeon reopening.... killing the boss by himself even though some people are doubting it but they can't prove otherwise.... and he's good looking. him having fans is really that hard for you to believe?"

....

Red was fuming. He didn't know what was happening or where to look but he won't stop looking.

Red kept teleporting from building to building. sometimes jumping off and using Float to keep himself in the air to have a better look around. His direction was the area of Sam's house and college. The place was dark but with night vision and mana augmentation to his eyes, red could see everything and everyone.

Hours passed and he was still looking around nonstop and calling Sam over and over again but to no avail. He couldn't find nor hear anything.

"I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO IT AT THE TIME. WHAT THE F**K HAVE I DONE" red screamed in his head while panicking more and more.

Red was like a flash of light. jumping from building to building and even running around in the street. no one could even see him let alone get in his way. Since advancing to Tier 6 of body tempering he was slowly becoming more and more powerful, he can feel every inch of his body and that includes the strange energy that's slowly but steadily emerging with his bones making them shine in a dim light. his senses were on another level, hearing even the footsteps of a person walking at the end of the street. But with all of that red couldn't see nor notice anything out of the ordinary.

He had no choice but to go to Sam's house and knock. He lived in an impoverished area, the house was old. The neighborhood looked dirty and not taken care of.

Bam Bam Bam!!

It was a bit late, but Red needed to check on sam. a minute later a woman in her late forties opened the door. She was wearing pajamas while holding a cup with steam coming out of it.

"Who are yo... RED?" The woman was surprised but happy to see red. He was Sam's best friend and they used to be together all the time. Neither she nor her son saw red in close to a month. but what red saw in her eyes as well was relief.

"So you guys started hanging out again. Sammy has been really depressed since you guys stopped talking. That's great, he must have been excited to see you, i was a bit worried he was late but i guess you guys were together." the woman said with a genuine smile. Red could tell she was up waiting for Sam to come home, and misunderstood red's visit.

Reds heart sank even further, he felt like crying.

Tears started forming slowly underneath his eyes.

The moment Sam's mom noticed, her expression went from happiness to worry again.

"I'm so sorry." Red was barely able to mutter those words before he started crying.

It's been a long time since he cried. The Steady Mind skill always kept him in check and stopped any of his emotions from clouding his judgment or affecting him.

But today, for some reason. It's not working....