Chapter 8 - The Paths

"Where am I?" I asked myself, feeling a splitting headache. "Conrad."

The name came to me and I sat upright, gripping the Daikatana in my hand, I looked for the creature, the hideous hog, which was on my tail seconds ago. However, the moment saw it, my heart dropped.

Conrad had collapsed down next to the hog, in a puddle of blood. His left arm was in the creature's mouth as the hog stood over Conrad triumphantly.

The scene drove all sense away from me, as I dashed toward the hog with a thunderous roar, and swung the Daikatana with all my might. Like a hot knife through butter, I was able to cleave the hog's head clean off as the creature fell to the ground.

In an instant, I threw my weapon to the ground, "No, no, no."

I tried to emulate the countless hospital drama I had seen and check for his pulse, thankfully, Conrad was still breathing, though slower than mine, I could still feel it. Then, I turned my attention toward his left arm, or what left of it.

Seeing the wound, I barfed in my mouth, and when I pulled him upright, it was even worse. Seeing the blood was still pouring out, with how the flesh being mauled and the bit of bone still stuck out of his shoulder, I felt blood was drained from my body, and my hands shook violently.

Knowing time was paramount, I reached into my backpack and pulled out the first piece of clothes that I could feel, which was nothing else but my pink pajamas.

Without any hesitation, I used it to cut the circulation and stopped his bleeding, before bandaging what left with my first aid kit.

However, tried as I might, but the bandage kept falling off. Once. Twice. Thrice. At which point, the trembling only grew more intense as I saw the first aid kit running out.

My nerves got the better of me as my heart beat up and my vision began to blur.

"He is counting on you. Get your act together, girl."

Gritting my teeth and steeling my nerves, I worked on his shoulder again. One lap followed by another, before tightening everything to the best of my capability.

Thankfully, this time, it stopped falling off.

I should be relieved, or proud of myself, but I could not. All I feel was anger, toward my situation, toward everything, and most of all toward the hog in front of me.

I gripped for my Daikatana, as I hacked and chopped at the hog. Over and over. Before long, there was nothing left of the hog body, only chunks of purple flesh scattered on the ground and a token lying centimeters (an inch) away from my feet. I picked it up reluctantly, even when my eyes laid on the blacken rose, the object on my presumed survival, I felt nothing but loath as I chewed on it. The fragrant aroma and the captivating taste were so bitter.

***

"A blooming flower was consumed."

"Reward distributed."

"8 alteration point acquired."

"Token system activate."

"Congratulation."

***

For a moment, I froze. My mind cast back to the few questions we managed to ask that floating steel ball. "If these points can give you power like the ball said, then, it should have something for Conrad's arm, right?"

With those thoughts, I shouted the countless thing I heard during Conrad many late-night gaming sessions. Remembered back to the random moment, I would head those screams of anger, put a smile on my face, as my hand ran through that messy hair was his, and his crooked glasses.

"Inventory. Bag. Storage. Shop. Token."

However, no matter what I did, nothing happened, "Is it not on? Do I have to turn it on or something?"

The moment my hand touched the token, it was as if a gigantic and transparent flatscreen TV popped out of nowhere, on it, three tabs presented themselves to me.

*Status - Paths - Shop*

Seeing it, my hand moved in an instant, touching the word Shop, the tab expanded into any other online shopping site that I had visited. Just a brief moment, I could even saw items out of a movie. Lightsaber. Plaster. Magic carpet. Invisibility cloak. And so many more.

However, when my eyes stopped at their price, I could only let out a self-mocking chuckle, as their price were in the millions.

But with a groan from Conrad, my eyes and fingers moved, searching for a means to save Conrad. Soon, I found them. Health potion as they were named.

*Diluted health potion - Heal minor injuries - 1 ap*

*Health potion - Heal serious injuries and recover blood lost - 5 ap*

*Condensed health potion - Heal life-threatening injures - 100 ap*

Looking at the 8 alteration points I gained from chewing that ridiculous flower, I selected the health potion without hesitation. In seconds, a small glass vial floated there in front of me. Seeing it, floating there, my hand reached for it, before propping Conrad up, and gently feeding it to him.

Once the potion was gone, Conrad complexion brightened up, while his breathing recovered, he even started to mumble nonsense in my arms.

Even so, it was the time for me to celebrate just yet, as the roaring on the street outside the alleyway only grew louder and louder. Along it was the sounds of guns firing nonstop and explosions occurred one after another.

Knowing that we could not stay on the ground too long, I flung Conrad over my shoulder as I began to climb the fire ladder again.

Each step was tiring. Worse was how the ladder sway and trembled along with the ascended. When I had finished struggling and reached Conrad's backpack, the firing and chaos did not stop, in fact, it only increased in intensity.

"How is a steel weapon better than a gun? Just what did you learn, Conrad?" I asked myself.

However, with Conrad out cold, a sigh escaped my mouth, I began to turn my attention back to the Token's menu. I scrolled through the shop endlessly, looking through their millions, if not billions of options on display. There are even items I could not even understand. Mud golem construction. Encyclopedia of fireballs. But all of my confusion paled to the heartache I receive when I saw the price tag of the one item I desperately needed, and how measly my three remaining points get me.

Nothing to buy, and the more I looked, the more annoyed I was getting, I turned my attention toward the remain two tabs. Followed the order, I selected Paths.

Instantly, a message greeted me, "For this trial the selected theme is Mana."

Like that, the options presented themselves to me. But being someone who barely understood what was going on, I only felt even more overwhelmed.

*Aeromancer - Air.*

*Astromancer - Stars and Dimensions.*

*Dismancer - Chaos, Confusion, and Disarray.*

*Domimancer - Mythical beings.*

*Dracomancer - Dragons.*

*Faemancer - Fairies and Spirits.*

*Geomancer - Earth and Metal*

*Hydromancer - Water and Ice.*

*Lunamancer - Nights and Moons.*

*Luxmancer - Lights.*

*Necromancer - Death.*

*Pyromancer - Fire.*

*Sanamancer - Life.*

*Seimancer - Ghosts and Spirits.*

*Solimancer - Day and Sun.*

*Tempumancer - Time and Tempurature.*

*Technomancer - Electricity and Lightning.*

*Umbramancer - Shadow and Darkness.*

*Utaumancer - Charms and Songs.*

*Zomancer - Animal and Wildlife.*

*Please select your path.*

I sat there silently, while my thoughts ran rampant, "What do you think I should choose, Conrad?"

"I don't know, I think you are perfect." I mimicked Conrad's toneless voice, with a hand on my hips, "Whatever you choose, I will still love you."

"Ah, thank you," I giggled to myself.

"Thea..." With Conrad's voice, I jolted upright, while my heart beat like a war drum, even my cheeks were flaring up.

"Did you hear anything?" I asked with great difficulty.

The longer I threw the question out, the more nerve-wracking it felt. The unbearable silence. And the chaos on the street only amplified the heart-pounding sensation.

"Thea...." Conrad cried out once again.

That simple word made my heart fluttered time and time again. Unable to bear with the torturous silence, I turned toward him, only to see him laid there, still out cold, only with his eyebrows wrinkling and his mouth mumbled incoherent words.

Instantly, my heart plummeted with disappointment, but when he mumbled my name yet again and I saw the innocent smile crept onto his face, I felt a little warmer inside.

At that moment, something clicked inside my mind, my hand quickly moved toward the Solimancer and confirmed it without hesitation, "Let me be your sun. Like you are mine."

Once I said those words, something in my body changed. Even under the cloudy sky, I suddenly felt the warm sunlight flowing into me, and in mere seconds, it triggered something in the depth of my body. Like finally waking up from a wonderful nap on your arm, the tingling sensation was invading every corner of my being. But when it left, I felt something strange from my own body, as if a part of it was awakened.

I felt my body brimming with energy, while the paths tab changed, revealing an image of a sun, mediocre and almost inconsequential. Even more frustrating was no matter how close I looked nor how hard I pushed against the transparent screen, nothing changed.

Feeling annoyed, I turned to the last remaining tab, status.

The moment I accessed it, I saw myself, standing there like a model, it was both familiar and distant. But what intrigued me was the line of information next to it.

*Thea Rayen*

*Strength - 6*

*Agility - 8*

*Stamina - 10*

*Mana - 4*

*Control - 3*

*Recovery - 8*

*Alteration Point - 3*

My finger quickly moved as they tapped onto each of the six characteristics, like any other, the description was as brief as always. Thankfully, even with those brief descriptions, someone like me was able to understand.

*Strength - The power of your muscle*

*Agility - The flexibility of your body*

*Stamina - The recovery of physical strength*

*Mana - The amount of mana in your body*

*Control - The amount of control you have over your mana*

*Recover - The speed of your mana absorption*

With that knowledge, I distributed my points as evenly as I could, strength, agility, and stamina, each was increased by one. And I hope that it was enough for the risky step I was about to take.

Studying the unconscious Conrad and remembered how he called my name moments ago, a smile could not help but plaster all over my face. However, the moment my eyes gazed at his missing left arm, there was this pain, which stabbed me, it was reminding me of my failure. A slip of my feet and a panic moment when I first stared down the enormous hog, brought such a disastrous result.

"I don't know if you can hear me or not, but stay here and rest okay? I will be right back, it is as if you never notice me gone," I said softly.

Griped onto my Daikatana, I climbed down the ladder again. This time, I moved slowly toward the chaotic street, with my ears perked up, listening to even the smallest of noise. In that constant explosions, finally slowed and the chaos had potentially stopped.

Even the cheer of ecstasy resounded throughout the city. They banged at the building nearby. They jumped onto the countless parked cars and almost trambled them to rubble. Even the wild gunfire could be heard, but no one cared. they only cheered and laughed.

However, it did not last.

In the midst of the joyous celebration, the cries and howls of apes echoed. Those distinctive and wild cries silenced everyone and everything, they even suffocated those blaring sound of alarms as the trashed cars continued to blinked and beeped almost cheering for the death of those who caused it.

Soon, countless white lights materialized on the roofs.

Those crimson red eyes flared up with anger and murderous rage. Their thick and grey fur almost blended them against the cloudy backdrop. But their arms, their ridiculously large arms were the only thing that I noticed.

However, what happened next, brought me unmeasurable horror.

"Bullets, anyone has some spare?" A person cried out.

"I am out of bullet myself," Another one added.

"F*ck, then someone, anyone. Just killed those hideous apes already."

Followed was the barraged of firepower, bullets flew through the air unceasingly, the ringing of explosions soon began picking up.

But once the sound of empty magazines echoed out and they finally saw how little of the apes had died, some had a few injuries while the majority simply put down the enormous and reddened arms.

That was when one person ran for their life. Then it was the second. The third. The fourth. Before anyone knew it, their bravado had completely crumbled.

Agilely, the apes descended to the ground using the walls, the ledges, the railing, and anything they could get their hands on. Some, even leap to the ground, creating a gigantic crater on where they landed.

Like that, chaos once again reigned.