Strange Magic²

After Owen was done scheduling an appointment with the Star modeling company, he stretched his body and rose from his seat. Taking the now empty lunch box with him, he grabs his car keys and signals to his AI.

"Come on, I have to go see my mom before she starts to nag." He stops for a while and smiles sadly. His mom when he was still Owen Hamburger would always nag him for sitting hours at his computer and not going anywhere. She would be mad at him if he doesn't have lunch on time and his sisters do their best share of nagging him as well. Being the only male and last born, even as a grown up, they all still treated him like he was still their little new born. 

He wonders if they are doing well? 

What if he had died in the other world? 

He shakes his head off the bad thoughts and smiles walking towards the door. Regardless of what he couldn't let someone's mom be so sad. 

Joy notices him immediately and walks to him. 

"Going somewhere?" 

He glances at the huge lunch box in his hand and tilts it in the direction of the exit door. "Going to see my mom." 

She nods her head and pats his arm. "Please tell Unique lady I will drop by some time later. I will close off after an hour. I just have to look through some artists. We have to sign new ones." 

He agrees with her and walks out of the office. His AI walking behind him. 

"Young master, you and her seem so close. Does young master like her very much?" 

He first makes sure he presses the button on the elevator before softly replying her. "Joy and I attended dthe same university. We are both introverts and know how we work. You can say we are best of friends." 

His AI twitches her lips and nudges him even though he couldn't feel any flesh and only felt a tiny shock in the place she had nudged him. "Is young masters sexual life even active? Your special front tail looks unused?" 

Owen begins to cough rigorously when she says this. He glares at her while coughing and the elevator door opens. Patting his chest he smiles at the people in the elevator and attempts to step in only for his system to ring him warning bells again. 

With a slightly red color the system begins to warn. 

'Dear host, strange magic detected, please stay fifteen feet away.'

Owen glances at his Ai from the corners of his eyes and notices that she looks just as surprised as he did. 

"Are you getting in Mr Duurm?" One plump man in the back questioned. He looked slightly impatient. 

Owen takes a step back and his system drops another warning. 

'Strange magic detected. Energy will begin to drop.' 

He hurriedly takes two steps backwards and waves at the people in the elevator before running to the door leading to the stairs. Only when he reached the ninth floor did he stop to take deep breaths. 

"You should check your system status." His AI reminds. 

"System status." 

Status: Amateur 

Level: 1

Energy: 125/200

Power: 

Coins: 20

IQ level: 10/50

"Geez ... .I lost 75 just for those few seconds. just how strong is whatever is absorbing my energy?" He asks his AI. 

His AI places her hand on his chest and checks his core.

"Your core is still quite intact, but your energy has dropped. I didn't notice anything strange." 

"How possible? I thought you should be able to notice it even if I don't." 

She raises a brow and begins to tap her left leg on the floor. "Young master, I am also in amateur  mode. Did I not tell you that I also level up as you level up?" She didn't have enough power to know where the source of black magic came from. 

"Well...at least I still have more energy left." He will simply have to take the stairs once his system gives him such warning again. He begins to descend the stairs stopping to take deep breaths at intervals. "Why…" he pants and pasts his chest. "Why are the stairs so long?" 

His AI shakes head at him. "Young masters is very weak even though your core is intact and you have some energy." 

"Is it my fault? I can't push myself too hard." He tells her. The lunch box was  to become heavier in his hands. 

"That is where you are wrong. When it comes to the gods, you have to push yourself farther than your limit." She hops to the next floor and raises her head to look at him as he slowly takes the stairs to meet her. "Which is why I asked if you know your limit. Only when you know it can you know if you are able to push past it." She hops onto the next flight of stairs again and waits for him to meet up with her. 

After getting to her, he places the lunch box on the floor, and tells her in a breathless tone. "Push past the limit? Isn't the limit there for a person to know what they can and can't do? how am I… am I supposed to push past the last point of myself?" 

"You will have to. That is for you to figure out." It didn't concern her that much. After all, she was simply there to serve as a CCTV for him. Little does the man know what he has gotten himself into. "Hurry up. We only have one more floor to reach." She tells him. 

Owne picks the lunch box and begins to descend the stairs again. When he finally made it to the last floor and stepped out of the building, he walked to his car and hopped in it. He waited for a few minutes to calm himself before starting the car. Just as he was about to drive off, he heard a knock on his window. 

Looking beside him, he saw a woman with red hair smiling at him. She urges him to wind the glass down and he does. 

"Good evening Mr Duurm, I work on the eleventh floor. My name is Rosa. You can just call me Rosa. No need for formalities." 

Owen, who is an introvert, had begun to internally panic on how to talk to a strange human who appears out of nowhere. He gives her a smile he was sure came out as a grimace. "Right..good evening. How can I help you?"