Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Observe, huh. Useful skill." I murmured in thought as I stand up, and began to walk toward the street, intending to go to the park, again, since I didn't know much about this town yet, I'm also excited at the prospect of such a simple skill. Simply knowing someone's opinion about me opened up so many options in diplomacy if I ever needed it. Could also be useful in a combat situation, a pity it didn't show much more than just general information, if it showed someone's weakness..

"Hey! Watch out, kid!" I heard a voice called out, to me, as I bumped into a person at the crosswalk near my apartment, turned out I was zoning out pretty badly, that I didn't even feel anything with my new sense.

"Oh, sorry," I mumbled as I step aside, the guy shook his head and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Whatever, just be careful next time," he answered and promptly walked away grumbling something under his breath, but I didn't even register what he just said because I felt it again, that tingling sensation, it was almost the exact same feeling. I was sure this time that it was not a coincidence. Had they done something to me? Twice now I felt it, but I didn't feel anything wrong with myself, my status also agreed, though that was not saying much considering how random(kind of?) my system was so far.

I looked back discreetly as I turned the corner, and used Observe on him. The result, was.. surprising to say the least. I just walked faster not wanting to alert him in case he felt something when I used my skill. I admit I was pretty shaken, by what Observe showed me.

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Name : Ueki Shinya

Age : 45

Guild : Yuki

Level : 24

Relationship : 5

Hp : 500

Mp : 380

Mood : cautious, upset

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Guild? That was new, that also meant there were more of those guys. Fuck! What did they want with me? I didn't even know them. I was just minding my own business so far. I kept walking toward the park, now slightly cautious myself, while I used Observe to every people I saw on the street, all of them was just normal people, the result was similar, with just a variation of level from as low as 3 to the highest I saw was 9, that one belonged to an old lady, Observe also said nothing special about her, so I guessed she was just a mundane, as the system categorized it, while that Ueki guy was clearly a magical.

Now that I had the time to just walk and did some investigation with my skill, I was reminded once again by the Observe result from that guy from the Yuki Guild and then on after that, the bottom part said Mood now, and not opinion about me, why though? When just one hour ago it said opinion that one time to Marvin. I hated that these questions just keep pilling on me without any clear answer. How am I supposed to contend with these people? I had to find some way to be safer, and maybe got stronger too. Hell, I didn't even do anything, and they already did something to me, twice, and without my consent too.

It was then that I felt something with my space sense, to be exact, the absence of something, people, there was no people around me. Not just that, the air also felt different, no, not the air, it was something else, but I didn't know what, the point was that everything felt dense now around me.

I looked around with my eyes just to be sure, and yes there were no people, it was like they suddenly just.. disappear. And why was it suddenly became dark here? At that I instinctively looked up, and found out why, the skies..

"Oh shit!" I said, surprised and feeling panicked slightly, I remembered I had my Observe skill so I used it on the purple skies that was constantly moving. It was like if you mixed water and oil and shook it, except it was purple, that was what the skies looked like right now. It was scary, and it was foreign, and the human brain didn't like what they didn't know.

Observe confirmed my suspicion, I was inside a Barrier. I just jinxed it didn't I?

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Illusion Barrier

Type : Trap/Ambush

Level : 18

Owner : Tokuzo

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Note : You can't get out of a Trap/Ambush Barrier without the owner consent, alternatively you can try to take control over the barrier yourself.

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"Thanks, system. Why couldn't you be always helpful like this?" I said sarcastically, a note of trembling that I could felt in my voice. I took a deep breath to try to calm myself slightly.

How should I even began to take control over the barrier? Even if I knew how to even began to try taking control of it, the likelihood that it would succeed was low, cause the damn thing got more than 10 levels over me for crying out loud!

I took another deep breath and this time actually tried to do something sensible in this situation, what did I know? I'm inside a barrier, but there was no one near me and it's been like 2 minutes, maybe I just got caught up in some other poor guy's ambush? Could be. I should be careful, maybe find somewhere more discreet than the middle of the street, with that I moved on cautiously, my eyes and my new sense alert about any movement I could find.

~

-10 minutes ago somewhere nearby-

Two women were in a shop, one old, and the other young. The old woman was putting some things to a plastic bag, which looked like medicine, in fact the shop was filled with medicine of all kind, the smell too was an indication of what the shop was.

"Here you go, dear," said the middle-aged lady that owned the traditional medicine shop, her tone soft, she also had a small smile on her face, there was a little wrinkle around her eyes, and the edge of her mouth, the sign of someone that liked to smile, her faced wrinkled by the smile, even though she was still in her late 30s.

The young woman on the other side of the counter smiled back at the mature lady, she made a motion to grab the plastic bag while fumbling for something on her jacket's inner pocket with her other hand. "Thank you, maam. Let me grab the money real quick," She said with a half formal tone.

"I told you, Yafumi, you don't have to be so formal around me," the old lady scold her lightly.

The now named young woman, Yafumi laugh politely in response. "I'm sorry, you just have to accept it as my nature at this point," she said jokingly.

"Whatever you say, honey, so hard headed as usual," she answered exasperated, but amusement clear in her eyes, though Yafumi couldn't help but felt like there was some truth in her statement. How could she not, Yafumi lived only with her mother all her life, and her mother was even worse than her. She could speak with harsh tone, or she could shout all she wanted, but her language, was always formal, it was just part of her, and she most likely inherited that part just by proximity alone.

"Mother's a good influence on me it seems," she said in jest while she handed the money for the medicine bought, and the middle aged woman just chuckle quietly.

"Of course, give my greetings to your ma, kay?" she said, "I'm sorry I couldn't visit more, and oh you don't have to pay, dear" Yafumi opened her mouth to protest, but she was cut off before she could, "I know how your situation is, just accept it, please,"

Yafumi huffed, "Okay, but I will repay this!" she said biting the inside of her mouth, trying to held the tears back. She walked hurriedly to the door, and yelled a 'Thank you!' without looking back.

It was so sudden, one moment she was in the shop, and the next she was here, whatever or where ever here was. she walked outside and was greeted by purple skies, she looked around and saw no one, empty street, which was virtually impossible in weekend morning, she looked back and realized the shop was.. old, like an unused building, the surface was cracked, and the door wide open, showing an eerie dark interior.

She took a step back in shock, fear and confusion beginning to take root inside of her, only to be startled once again by big hands on both of her shoulder, instinct kicked in, Yafumi tried to elbow the general abdominal area of her assailant, 'tried' was the operative word here, because she failed, her elbow being grabbed by what most likely was a hand, and another hand circled her body in place before she could try to fight back more, she grunted as she felt their too strong grip hurting her. Which just made her panicked even more.

"This one's got a bite, heh," A slimy voice said behind her, the tone condescending.

"Let's just bag her and get out of here first, before the Yukis noticed," A second voice joined the first one, but this one seems worried. Yafumi didn't understand much of what the voice said, but she did recognize enough to get the context, so she redoubled her struggle at the mention of kidnapping, but it was of no use, she only managed to hurt herself more, her assailant tightened his grip on her forearms and to her horror, she felt and heard her bone broke. A horrible scream escaped from her throat, her eyes watered, her body trembled at the pain she felt.

"Someone's else already in here anyway," her holder said shortly with an amused chuckle, not even acknowledging her suffering.

"Let me go!" she could only shout desperately through the pain, her voice noticeably strained.

"No one will come help you, kitty, you're alone here, with me," the voice, most likely a man, exclaimed with a lecherous laugh. His hand began wondering around her body, groping her breast roughly through all her layers of clothing, that wasn't enough apparently, because he promptly tried to get her jacket off through her weakened struggle.

"What? Then why are we still here?! Wasn't she supposed to go to the factory anyway? You can do her before we sent her in!" she heard her second kidnappers answered heatedly.

"Chill out while ya! who ever entered the Barrier is weak, so weak I almost can't feel their pathetic amount of mana, this is my fucking Barrier, ya dickhead! I'll know, so you can just go and get them!" he yelled at his partner angrily, but then his expression brightened, "in fact, this is good, we can get both of em, we can even keep this one for ourself!" her hold was loosened as he tried to convince his partner, and she managed to escape through his grasp, though she finally losed her jacket in the process.

She ran as fast she could through blurry eyes, her body shuddered at the phantom sensation left all over her breast, her right arm below the elbow dangling uselessly at her side, the pain unbearable, she ran even as she could hear her captor exclaimed how her struggle was useless, that she could not escape. She ran, because that was the only thing she could do. Her thought rampant through the pain, these horrible men.. no! she thought resolutely. monsters! She decided, heartless, heartless.. monsters, while something else bubbled in her core, trying to escape, waiting for the right moment.