Chapter 21: It's Awkward to Meet an Old Coworker

"Hehe, don't mind the roars. We have a couple Phantom Class kept over there for training. Oh, and one Beast Class that Crisanto brought in for research. Do you know what its claws were made of? It's crazy, because…"

It had been like this for the past hour. Somehow Azi had kept up a constant stream of information and somehow Jaden had learnt absolutely nothing useful.

"Do you think maybe we could go visit Sofia?" It was a last resort, but she might be more helpful.

"You know Sofia Jensen?? She's insane, her sharpshooter system isn't great at close combat, but as a support? Oh man, you should see it. Once she got to level 25…"

Please, have pity on him! Jaden didn't even like his own system, he seriously couldn't care about someone else's! This kid really meant well, Jaden could tell, but he couldn't take it much longer!

They finally reached a place Azi said was called the "Skirmish Circle" before Jaden could get a word in. Apparently the Skirmish Circle was a place where system users in training would spar against each other to gain valuable experience points. 

The building was huge and they had been walking for quite a while. Jaden wasn't out of shape, but he didn't have the endless energy of Azi. "Wait just a second, can we take a break?"

Azi frowned: "No way, we're not even close to being done. We haven't gone to the lower levels yet!"

Lower levels!? Jaden didn't even want to see the parking lot!

"I, uh, have some science questions."

That seemed to work. "Oh, yeah, totally!"

Now was Jaden's chance to ask the question he had tried to ask Dr. Vihaan. "Just hypothetically, like theoretically I suppose you could say, would there be any sort of system that wouldn't show up on Dr. Vihaan's tests?"

That caused Azi to pause for a second. But then he laughed. "That's a trick question, right? Only one type of system doesn't show up on the tests. The monster systems!"

Haha, no. Jaden wasn't a monster.

"Is that a type of system? The 'monster system'?"

"No, like literally a monster's system. The monsters have systems too, just like us, but with different skills and everything. They don't show up on the tests, it's kind of one of the biggest mysteries we still have to solve. Super exciting, I know!"

Not exciting at all!!

Jaden was all of a sudden remembering that Emperor's words. "So you're the one who stole my system."

But Jaden was 100% human. There was no doubt about it. Did he have fangs or claws or wings!? This wasn't even a debate!!

"Well isn't that just the most interesting thing I've heard all day." Jaden' didn't mean to sound so rude to this kid. He really was doing his best. He just was ever so slightly panicking.

This trip was a complete failure!! Not only did he still have his system, but he was getting dragged further and further into something he didn't even want to touch. 

"Oh wow! That was a good one!" 

Azi was cheering on a fight currently going on in the Skirmish Circle, not noticing Jaden's inner turmoil. They were standing in a sort of viewing platform surrounded by glass which gave them a great view of the mock fight going on below. 

A young man was facing off against a middle-aged one. At first it looked like the middle-aged guy had the upper hand, with his giant battle axe. However, the younger guy was fast, and before the other man knew what was happening, he had a sparkling green knife pressed to his throat. 

There was a loud buzzer, and the two of them stood up and shook hands. Jaden couldn't help but think that the young fighter looked familiar, but he couldn't place it. 

"He's good, isn't he!?" Azi was staring at him, longingly. It suddenly struck Jaden how rough it must be for a guy who was downright obsessed with systems to not have one himself. 

How was it fair that Jaden had a system while others who wanted them had to be content with research?

"He's come a long way since he got here. He's almost level 20 now."

Jaden recognized that cold and elegant voice. He saw Sofia walking in, dressed in a tight-fitting leather jumpsuit. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it made her look really good. 

It wasn't a crime to find a beautiful woman beautiful, ok!?

"I heard you'd be somewhere around here, Jaden."

"Uh, yeah, Azi is giving me a tour."

It was extremely awkward. They hadn't seen each other since that whole thing in the plane. Had she talked to Crisanto? To Vihaan? The unknowns hung in the air like shards of ice. 

"You know Ethan, Jaden. He's from New York as well."

Hold up, Ethan!? Jaden suddenly knew why he recognized him. He had been the one who had been congratulated and sent off by Jaden's company on the very morning Jaden had gotten his system. 

They had never been close, since they had been in separate departments. 

Ethan waved, "Hey man, how's New York?"

"New York's good, how's Manila?"

"Manila's good."

Did no one notice how awkward this was!? Jaden never should have come here. He would take the next flight home and try his best to make plan #1 work: forget about the system entirely!!

[Plan: forget about system entirely: Outcome = unlikely]

Thank you for that, system.

Sofia walked over between the two of them, her face unreadable. "Ethan, Jaden here is a very gifted martial artist. I was thinking the two of you could do a round in the circle."

That cold voice calmly stated Jaden's worst nightmare.