Different Choices

"You sure you don't want to return to the town." She said as she looked at me with concerned eyes and had to stop myself from patting her head or pinching her cheeks. I don't want to get beaten again.

"No. I think it's better for me and every else if I stay out here." I said. And I don't to get looked at like a monster once again. Or have the other guards look at me with eyes full of hatred.

Or have another guard stop me from going outside because I don't have a 'Permission Slip' from the 'leader'. No. I would definitely not like that.

"I'm more comfortable out here." I said and shrugged "Besides, if you want to talk to me then you can just ask Rahul for his walkie talkie. I promise I'll be always be close by. Alright."

She looked at me in silence for a long while before she finally hugged me once again.

I hugged her back and after a short silence she stepped back and said "Big bro is taking a small party to clear a town 12 kilometer North-East from here tonight. He wants you to come as well."

I nodded at her words. "I'll be waiting for him there. Anything else."

She shook her head and gave me one last look before she turned to leave.

"Wait!" I said after she had walked a good distance away from me. She turned and looked at me quizzically and I turned my head away to look at anything else but her eyes.

"That… guy." I said and was a bit ashamed at how low my voice was. I just hoped she heard what I said. I did not want to repeat it. "Did he had a family?" I asked.

"No." She said and I felt a heavy burden lift from my heart. But her next words crushed my rising mood altogether. "But he did have a girlfriend."

I grimaced at her words and sighed at what I had done.

"But they were close." She hastily added and I wondered if she said that just because of my guilty expression.

"They met two weeks ago and got into a relationship a just few days ago. So they were not all that close." She said.

"And how do you know that?" I snarled at her and immediately regretted my action when I she her flinch.

"I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean to shout at you." I said and took out twenty 2nd tier crystals and threw the pouch at her.

"It's not much but… can you give it to her. Just… tell her I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it. Please tell her that. Will you." 'I didn't mean to crush him into a bloody pulp' my inner demon raised his head to mock me.

Neha looked at the pouch and looked at me with a complicated expression before saying "I'm sure Rahul has given her enough compensa…"

"Just… Just give it to her will you. Please." I said with a defeated tone as I waved my hand away which told her that this conversation was over.

I heard her sigh any say "Take care brother." Before she turned and left for the camp.

I stared at the stone near my feet and sighed heavily.

Could this day get any worse.

'I wonder if I'll dream of Creepy Buggers or that Bloody Pulp tonight. Maybe I'll have a specially artistic nightmare that will show me both of them.' I chucked at the dark image presented in my head and ran in the deeper into the forest.

I needed to clear my mind if I wanted to keep my sanity.

I needed to kill something to clear my mind.

'No wonder those people look at me like I'm a monster.' My inner demon said.

—————

I looked at the 75 2nd tier crystals in my hand as I sat on top of a large and dense tree.

The forest down below was littered with a dozens of dead bodies of mutant boars.

This was a rather large group of mutant beasts. There were about 40 or so mutant boars in this group or herd or whatever you call it.

When I found them, they were feasting on the large corpse of a family of mutant deer. They were rather loud while feasting which made it easier for me to find them in this silent forest.

They were boisterous, confident in their numbers and their individual strength. They large. They were loud. They strong. And they were… alive.

And then they met me.

I guess I should learn from their example and not be boisterous, loud and overconfident in my strength when I become strong. Like I am now.

In case some else comes along and kills me like I killed them. Like a pig.

I had 46 2nd tier crystals before I started my hunt. Now I have 74. Buying and Selling Worldwide can be a very useful tool if used properly.

The 3 3rd tier cores I had in my possession were being auctioned and the highest bidder had bid 970 white coins for now. Some guy named Carl Henson. What a weird name.

Hen-son. What next. Cock-Daughter.

It seems like he desperately wanted these cores for some reason. Because the bidding started at 600 white coins and since then, half of the bids had been made by him singlehandedly.

Why anyone would want to buy Mutant Cores was beyond my scope of understanding. Not that I wanted to understand it any way.

As long as people gave me money I was fine with it. Especially if those people had funny names like Hen-Son.

I changed the 2nd tier crystals with my black watch and ate the pills (which were worth ten crystals) all at once.

After the warm feeling faded away, I realized that Carl Hen-Son had won the auction at 1030 white coins.

'Thank you Carl Hen-Son.' I thought and used the 3557 white coins in my possession to upgrade my equipments as well.

After the upgrade, I used my helmet to check on my interface once again.

User name:- Ashok Singh Rana (Enhanced Human I )

Stats:-

Strength - 5.9 (4.4)

Agility - 4.0 (8.0) -Skill Recuperation Penalty

Endurance - 5.0 (4.4)

Perception - 8.0

Mana - 8.0 (6.2)

Skills:-

Agility Booster (3rd tier)- Skill Recuperation time left- 5 hours 49 minutes 27 seconds, Advanced Vision (2nd tier), None

Equipments:-

Basic Sword (3rd tier), Clipping Glove (4th tier), Basic Defensive Suit (3rd tier), Basic Helmet (3rd tier), Spatial ring (2nd tier)

Wealth:-

817 white coins, 181 crystals (1st tier), 1 crystal (2nd tier)

"Wait! I almost forgot I can use one more skill book." I thought as I looked at the 'None' in the Skill slot.

'I need to call Big bro.'