Face of a corpse

The shards of what used to be a grotesque monster dropped down to the ground. 

A dull thud that resonated and only amplified in Rob's soul. 

"See?"

Up ahead, some distance away from the rear of the dissected monster, Leo turned his head over his shoulder and gave him a small, cheeky smirk. 

"I…" Rob gulped his saliva down. "I see… But…" for a moment, he was lost for words, "-how? No, what, wait?!"

Rob's hands moved up, stretching out toward the impossible, bloody mess that already started to boil back into the earthly slurry it came from. His wrist twitched, sending his palms up as if to guard his face not from the mess left in his older brother's wake. 

The young man's eyes dropped down to the ground, desperately rushing to remove the sight of Leo's results that only served to further confuse his brain. 

Especially, now that he finally settled on what class to pick. 

During the earlier fight with the horde, Rob had no other choice but to acknowledge one thing. From the glimpses of how Mark fought and made great use of the edge granted by his job, the advantages that picking a class brought couldn't be any more obvious. 

When Leo first attempted to talk him down into leaving the portal, his mind was frantically rushing to accomplish just one thing that came with three steps. 

First, he had to ensure everyone else left, for it was clear his older brother didn't want his strength to be seen… And according to Leo's own words, the presence of others would only handicap him instead. 

The moment Mark, the last remaining independent observer dove into the portal, Rob already completed the second step. 

A goal of taking his time to best decide on what class to take. 

With his main and ultimate goal at the helm, there was one class among those that the system suggested to stand out. 

Picking and then getting a class was no pleasant experience. Still unused to the feeling, Rob took a few moments more to regather his thoughts and establish a mental connection with all the new skills that he could now use.

And then, right as Leo vanished from just nearby only to reappear behind the grotesque monster that was now rushing to get them, Rob did it. 

He managed to fully integrate the sensation of his new skills into his brain. And with it out of the way, he didn't hesitate even a second on how to distribute his gains from the recent fight. 

[Name: Robert Pesterny]

[Level: 3>5]

[Rank: Advanced]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Inspector]

[Special Traits: Blessing of clairvoyance]

[Blessing of clairvoyance: Slight improvement to all perception checks]

[Strength: 2]

[Agility: 5]

[Vitality: 2]

[Wisdom: 2>9]

[Mana: 1>2]

[Potential: 1]

[Inspect]

[Rank: Advanced]

[Type: Active]

[Mana usage: average]

[Lore: "No lie ever got a hold on him, for it was his eyes he believed"]

[Reveals base information of the target]

[Wisdom-based]

[Riposte!+]

[Rank: Average]

[Type: Active Defense]

[Mana usage: Low]

[Lore: "He was known as the greatest, for his weapon only served to redirect his enemies' attacks back towards themselves."]

[Allows to parry and riposte any attack up to Average rank]

[Damage: Bounce + adaptable bonus]

[Wisdom and agility based]

[Crit it!]

[Rank: Average]

[Type: Active Attack]

[Mana usage: Low]

[Lore: "With the weak point revealed, his next strike brought the fear of death to his enemy."]

[Allows to parry and riposte any attack up to Average rank]

[Damage: Bounce + adaptable bonus]

[Wisdom and agility based]

With all of Rob's new abilities, he only cared about the first one. 

Even before Leo managed to slay the grotesque monster in mere passing, as quickly as Rob would take to blink his eyes… Before that could even happen, Rob long noticed that there was something strange about his returned brother. 

'I know it's been six years and we've all changed, but…'

Sneaking peaks at Leo's back ever since he suddenly reappeared after all this time, Rob couldn't shake the oppressive feeling that something was wrong. And when he saw his brother slaughter entire hordes of monsters with hardly a single move, his fear only grew. 

The worst of it came when Leo ordered him to leave him alone. 

But there was no way Rob would ever do something like this again. Who knew if Leo would still be there if he left his side even for a short moment?

With that kind of risk at hand, Rob simply refused to accept any reality in which his brother would leave his sight. Not after what happened six years ago. 

'But with this, I can finally understand what's going on…'

Leo's behavior, his powers, his strange bravado… they were all weird. They spoke the tale of a man that Rob struggled to recognize as simply his older brother. 

But with this inspect ability and dumping all the points he could into wisdom, Rob could finally learn what the hell was going on. 

Or, at the very least, figure out what kind of stats his brothers would need to have to do stuff he accomplished thus far. 

Still, it was the very moment Rob looked over at his brother with the intent to 'inspect' him when Rob's circuit suddenly bugged out. 

[Target Inapplicable]

The borders of the one and only notification that appeared started to split into several autonomous layers of different colors…

Only for the notification window to burst out in a sea of bright sparks.

Those sparks then formed various streaks, flows that arranged the sparks into things, but extremely neatly organized, swirling rows. 

And as those threads split apart and their bright shine vanished, Leo stared directly into the abyss. 

His eyesight was bugging out. Weird, geometric shapes flashed in and out of existence, as if what he saw existed on a plane his brain wasn't designed to comprehend. 

'What the…'

Scared out of the guts and with his distorting views causing a burning fire to explode in his head, Rob closed his eyes and cut off his skill. Yet, refusing to give up, he looked up again… 

Only to see his brother, as usual, standing in place as he stared at the empty, bladeless handle in his hand. 

The massive, oppressive aura that surrounded him has all but vanished. His surroundings were no longer bugged out or filled with strange, visual artifacts appearing out of nowhere only to whisk away the very next moment. 

"What the hell was that…?" 

Unable to control his voice, Rob uttered. 

Leo raised his head away from the handle. And after a second-long glance, his face contorted a bit. 

"Oh, it's way too early for you to see this stuff," he casually commented, proving he was fully aware of what just happened. 

'… what?'

What did this mean?

'Was that something I'm too young to see? Too immature?'

Rob gulped down his saliva. 

'Or was it something I simply wasn't supposed to see, to begin with?'

"I mean, you could hurt your eyes if you try to look into the…" Leo casually started to explain, only to suddenly stop his voice as he threw a cautious look around. 

It was then that his face suddenly grew dark as he looked back to the swirling portal. 

"No, we can leave it all for later," Leo picked up the pace and ran back up to Rob and the portal beside him. "If you really think you want me to, I will explain everything in great detail later. But…"

Leo's eyes emptied out as he stopped right by the portal and turned his eyes over to Rob. 

"But first, I need to make sure how things are back home," he said in a heavy voice and a face devoid of any expression. 

His eyes simply looked ahead. The muscles that held his mouth in its place all relaxed, bringing it to its most natural position. For a single moment, Leo's face turned into that of a corpse, devoid of any will or consciousness. 

"Or would you rather talk here, when the fiends from before might be very well running all over the city if not the entire damned world?"