13 - Ariel

"Lucian! You're here!"

Lucian looked around himself in confusion over what was happening. He didn't have the slightest idea as to who could be calling at him like that. However, he instantly understood when he saw the person almost crying, currently running in his direction with both her arms open.

'Right, I forgot about how obsessed she is with me… Huh, here we go again. Let's keep the act up…'

Ava jumped into the arms of Lucian, who formed a smile on his face right away, not wanting to let it known that he was tired of interacting with her. After all, Ava had a lot of talent, and Lucian wouldn't lose such a talented person because he was annoyed by her obsessive behavior.

"Are you in pain? Did they hurt you? Are you okay now?"

A bunch of questions came out of Ava's mouth, and Lucian couldn't help but wonder why she was so worried about him.

'Don't tell me that she fell in love with me…'

Lucian couldn't even believe himself as he thought of this.

"Did they do something to you inside there?"

Lucian softly pushed her away from her chest and placed his hands on both sides of her face, looking at her crying eyes. If Ava had fallen for him, there was no reason for Lucian not to exploit this as much as possible. He would have preferred to keep purely a platonic relationship. Still, It wasn't a bad idea to push their relationship further.

As soon as Lucian's hands touched Ava's face, she became red… extremely red.

Lucian put on a beautiful smile, and his eyes practically started shining. "Don't worry, nothing happened to me. I only bought some items from the Point Shop."

'And now to finish this perfectly.'

"The only thing I missed was you…and the feeling of your touch."

Ava looked away, unable to face Lucian anymore. The tension between the two of them was too much.

"M-My touch?! What… Did… you really miss it?"

She was all red as she uttered those words. However, Lucian couldn't help but remember how she had mercilessly killed Trevor, Bob, and Bobby. He still remembered that little smirk that had appeared on her face while she had done so.

Lucian didn't say anything as she turned her head for them to look at one another. He hadn't planned to use words for what he would do next.

They were now very close, slowly breathing down each other's necks.

They were about to seal their lips until… an emotionless voice distracted the two of them.

"What are you guys doing?"

Alex just plainly looked at Lucian and Ava, getting closer to one another. There wasn't any judgment in his eyes. He just wondered why they would be getting closer right now. Weren't there more important things to do at the moment?

"U-Us! W-we…" 

Ava quickly looked at Lucian, wondering what he was going to say.

"Uh, we weren't doing anything."

The two of them slowly moved their head back, and Ava's face was completely red in embarrassment. Alex had truly caught them at a bad time; a few seconds later, they would have kissed.

*Swoosh!*

A little bit of wind pushed back everyone's hair as Ariel once again descended from the sky, looking at everyone.

"Seems like everyone bought what they wanted."

'Why is she only looking at Ava and Alex when saying that?'

Lucian was curious as he opened both of their statuses. He wanted to see if they had bought any kind of equipment or something else from the Point Shop.

—-----------

[Alex Baker]

[Equipement]

-Excalibur (Legendary): A Legendary Sword that disappeared from Earth many years ago. It is one of the best swords in all the worlds combined. It is truly a sword worthy of its owner.

[Points Remaining: 29 000]

—-----------

Alex hadn't bought anything for some reason, which meant one of two things. Either he hadn't bothered buying anything apart from that sword… or the sword was so expensive that he couldn't buy anything else.

'He probably couldn't bother, considering he still has some points left. Man… 29 000 points gone just like that. Why didn't he give them to me? Maybe the points we gather will follow us in the Otherworld... but still.'

Lucian was almost mad at Alex for having thrown away so many resources. He could have bought a really good class and many other things with so many points. Still, he couldn't say anything since he would be depending on him in the Otherworld, or at least, he would try to.

Having spent enough time looking at Alex, Lucian looked away toward Ava, who, without much surprise, was still holding onto Lucian's arm like a good puppy.

—-----------

[Skill]

- Magic Control (Common): Enhances the skill owner's Magic Control. 

[Points Remaining: 0]

—-----------

'Looks like the amount of points she had didn't get her a lot of things… Not that it matters.'

Ava already had two skills that were way too overpowered. It wasn't like she needed more of them. It might not be a bad thing for her to get stronger, but it wasn't like she lacked power.

Coming out of his thoughts, Lucian heard Ariel's voice once again. It seemed she hadn't finished speaking just yet.

"Well, we wasted enough time here already. The other Tutorial Areas have already started heading toward the Otherworld. So, let's go."

Ariel quickly moved her hand again, and a completely different portal from earlier opened. It wasn't blue anymore, but purple. But that wasn't the end of it, as the portal was a lot more massive, going as high as the skyscraper Lucian had been living in.

Everyone who had survived in the 10th Area slowly started entering the portal, crossing it one after another. Slowly stepping through the unknown…

'I wonder how my father is going to react when he sees him,' Ariel thought, her eyes glued onto Alex's back.