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Volume 4

Chapter 22: Moving Forward

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“I have to prepare.”

—were the words Rex left them when he departed.

After spending a few minutes holding Baron’s hand in the capsule, he took off wearing a stern resolve.

His face couldn’t be painted as it was fumll of seemingly insatiable amount of violence barely held in on his fists. Even watching from behind, the aura he’s hardly keeping in check was seeping out like a violent tide in a full moon.

Faust, unfamiliar with that side of a person, could only watch his assumed nephew as he walked away.

Still, one thing is for sure, he was also angry.

…for a different reason and direction.

When the limousine drove away in the gates, Faust did not waste any time to face Augustus. But before any distance could be emptied between them, the two giant guards already pulled Faust off in both arms.

“Augustus! What did you do? What did you do!!”

The man in question was watching the silently sleeping kid in the chryo-tube in a smiling manner. Now that the main guest had left, he couldn’t hold the happiness in his chest and let it out in a happy smile.

He faced Faust and played with his cane like a long staff, rotating it and dancing his way towards him.

Slowly, step by step, in an invisible rhythm, he closed the distance between him and the doctor until Faust is in arm’s length.

Then, Augustus stopped and swiped the air.

“Isn’t this lovely?”

A panel appeared in front of the doctor and he read the contents with shock in his face. Faust’s struggle to free from the men’s grasps went limp and he took the panel as he read it intently.

“…signed by… Martinez?! You bastard!”

“Now, now. Don’t be angry and read further.”

“I don’t need to read further when that man’s name is in this report. Knowing he’s involved with Rex is just a matter enough to make me want to punch you.”

To the serious, teeth-gritting threat, Augustus only took a small glance over Faust before he laughed hard.

“Faust… you’re still too pure. So easy to read, so easy to understand. But being overly protective of the boy, I should say you really earn that title of UNCLE.”

Damn it.

Faust couldn’t believe in his eyes.

It was Rex’s neural activity report. As regions of the human’s brains were dedicated to certain emotions, it’s possible that one’s emotional state can be measured by numbers or graphs.

And in that certain part of the equation is the fact that if a person’s emotional states can be measured by values, then Rex’s numerical version of his mental reserves is rather alarming.

To have two emotional graphical peaks is just plainly too disturbing. Normal people tend to have a wave-like emotional quantity and not a focused ‘rage’ + ‘love’ in an emotional data. The graph in Faust’s eyes was like a numerical representation of a doll who was only taught how to destroy.

“What did you do to him?”

The question came like a plead to Augustus. Genuine tears started to roll out of his eyes.

Seeing that made Augustus’ happy expression vanish in the clouds of his disappointment to his “friend’s” current state.

“You’ve become too soft, Faust. What happened to the old stubborn and iron-hearted you?”

“Bastard!”

Faust spat in a rage assault but the moment he raised his fist, he was immediately pinned down to the floor by the two brutes on his sides.

The white tux’s pants in his vision knelt down and the masked host of the facility pulled Faust by the hair.

With such pressure on his eyes, Faust almost felt regret that he tried to hurt him. He momentarily forgot that he was just a tag-along doctor that volunteered to take care of Baron. He can always be replaced and disposed off anytime by the same man who pulled his hair.

“Faust. You have no idea how much special that kid is to the world. You have no idea how much is at stake here. If I wanted to hurt him, I would have done so. If I wanted him dead, he’d be long gone.”

“You’re experimenting on him!” Faust shouted in fury.

At that, behind his mask, Faust felt that Augustus had a frown that made the pressure in his gaze even heavier.

But the rage fit didn’t come. Instead, Augustus gently, calmly slapped his cheek with the back of his hand.

“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You really have no idea.” He said as he shook his head, looking at the side. And when he faced Faust again, Augustus was already all smiles, the same smile he was wearing a while ago. “Let me tell you this Faust, the experiment had already, utterly failed, four years ago. What you are seeing now is the part where a God amongst men will rise.”

“A… A God? God amongst men?” Faust wanted to be as sure as possible if he actually did hear the right words from Augustus. “Augustus, what are you…”

“—simply put it this way,” Faust was cut in the middle of his sentence. “The era of heroes and villains have long been obsolete. What you are witnessing right now is the beginning of the era of the Gods.”

Wide eyes in shock, Augustus’ words rang repeatedly on Faust’s ears. Gods amongst men. As absurdly and as fictional as it sounds, the data on his finger tips served as one strong evidence that it was possible.

But then…

As his struggle died out again, the Augustus whose full attention is now on the image of the capsule inside the observation room, also knew what question is going to be raised.

“Augustus, tell me. What kind of… what kind of God are you making here?”

A long sigh escaped the man in white tux.

“Sadly, it’s one that I would rather not want to witness being born.” Augustus measured the man on the floor as he knew that the pause on his speech indicated that Faust, as a doctor who pursues the innovation of the field called «Medicine», had been overruled by his own wish to witness a miracle. But then he smiled. “But a God is still a God. And no matter how much I would be regretting it later, the part of me that wants to see it is more powerful than any moral values can dictate.”

I knew it. Faust slumped his face on the floor. He may not know what exactly is happening to Rex but based on the things he saw and the things he knew from his own stories and reports, the God that Augustus talks about is a God that neither one of them want to see.

A God that knows destruction, a God that cannot be stopped with any mortal effort.

A God that can either be a savior and yet also a ruiner of worlds. Depending on the circumstances at which he was molded to, Rex will become either of the two.

“Augustus…” He paused as clenched his fist on the floor. The two men who pinned him down loosened their holds and Faust raised his body slowly, brushing the gown clean as he stood. “H-How did you do it?”

Ah, his scientist side won over, eh?

With a smile ever so wide, Augustus opened his arms to him. “That’s more like it!” and the man looked aside as if to endure the sense of morality burning his core. “I will tell you how I did it. But in exchange, I want you to do one thing. Something that I know is a simple and very meaningless act for you and in exchange, I will not only tell you how I did it, I will also teach you a lot more things that you don’t know.”

Very tempting, very tasty, so very delicious that Faust’s thirst for knowledge sealed the little sense of morality he had left.

He still wanted to pull Rex away from Augustus’ claws and fangs, but at the same time, he was also, still, one man—a scientist—and he was curious of the rewards of this deal.

“What do you want?” He asked with a little hesitation.

The piercing eyes behind Augustus’ mask came heavier to Faust, the smile he wore became a sinister, cruel grin with white teeth shown.

“I want your soul.” Augustus said and from that day on, Faust never had one single good night sleep.

**************************

The limo parked neatly outside the gates and Rex only took a glance at Graham as he stepped out of the car and went inside.

Graham wanted to say something as he opened his lips but the glance he received from Rex felt cold.

Nothing that Graham had not faced before, that’s for sure, but the once color in those eyes had been hidden in a veil made up of darkness. The pressure in that one single glance felt like the ones his employer is capable of in his early teen years.

A smile drew on Graham’s face as it happened and so he came back to the car and drove the Limo off the tiny streets of the townhouse subdivision.

When Rex came back to Loire as The Volume Hunter, he was in standing in the middle of the quiet Plaza.

“…?”

He looked around and confirmed it. There were lesser people than he remember having in Loire.

But…

What do he care? He had a more important mission at this moment. A mission that he can’t waste, not even a single second, even for his search for the cure to his curse, away.

He went into the cab stand and entered a cab.

“Where do you go if you want to buy a cyclone?” He asked and made sure that his mask was hiding his face.

The bald driver from the Gonn Race turned his head to the masked man to cheerfully reply to him but regretted it as soon as he saw the mask.

The way it was asked should have been enough for him to know that he wasn’t in a mood to be jolly. He just turned his attention to his helm and started the engine.

“Hangar sir.” The driver replied and secretly glanced at his rear view mirror.

“Go.” Siva said and the driver gulped down and never spoke a single word again. The quiet hum of the engine drove off from the stand and Siva was driven to the Hangar port bay.

The sight of the in-lined parked warships he once saw in Hagonoy is in the Hangar Port Bay. The place had a series of warships from Guilds who managed to gather funds of more than a billion Zentra. In the game, there is not a single player who owned a personal warship so the logo they had in them says it all.

As he skimmed through the warships lined in the bay, looking over NPC and players gathering their supplies, Siva managed himself towards a corner where an office with lots of papers posted on one wall was being kept by a fat bearded guy.

DING! DIDING! DIDING!

The quiet office was disturbed by the sound of bells.

“Please be careful of the be…” —lls. The sentence is stopped before it was completed.

Staring at the Tekz manager was a hollow eyed skull mask, barely seen from the shadows under the hood. Its eyes were intently staring at him and what felt like a grin could be felt emanating under that dark veil.

A sense of formality crept over the manager’s skin, the same sense that said the skull masked guy meant pure business. Money is on the way.

The wide smile beamed off the manager’s lips as he leaned back to his seat, he gestured for the customer to come in as he summoned a series of files that he presented Siva.

“What do you want?” He asked with a formal smile.

The customer’s heavy breathing could be heard behind the skeleton mask. He stood in front of him, looking at the manager from the man’s tall stature.

“Is there a ship traveling north?” a calm yet hasty tone was used to ask. The keeper raised a brow on Siva and he chuckled as it felt like a ridiculous query.

“Are you looking for a commercial flight? Sorry son, I think you are in the wrong place.”

BLAG!

A fist wearing black leather gloves slammed in the table and the keeper calmly glared at the man as a reaction.

“I need to go to the north. Fast.”

Sensing that it might be trouble, the keeper raised his hand and did a small signal and the door behind Siva opened with three large Gonn Race guards entered with hammering fists.

But Siva’s eyes remained fixed on the manager.

“Looky here, son, this is a merc office and not a commercial air port flight desk. If you want to go to the north kingdom…”

“Please, let me apologize then.” Siva’s posture relaxed as he stood straight. “I’m not saying that I want to go in the north kingdom, what I meant is want to go to the Northern Continent. Is there a job available in Tiara?”

The men behind Siva exchanged glances and the face of the keeper made a surprised face before ending up in a meaningful smile.

His eyes wasn’t lying.

Business is what this man brought in the office.

“Why didn’t you say so?” He said and cleaned the files in the table, replacing it with windows that made Siva squint his eyes.

The list he was presented had titles in them and in the titles were the location and job description.

But what made him narrow eyes and whine, “Are there more jobs available?” is because of the risk level of the merc jobs available in Tiara.

“As you can see, the North is a very peculiar place. The business there isn’t flourishing unlike on the other city and countries in the planet. The weather is bad, people are also bad, the cities are too few and far in between, and there are also repeated reports of crimes happening all over the place. If you want to go to Tiara, you can’t go in there like a normal passenger of a normal airline, you will have to be a crew of a warship in order to go to the Northern Side. But even being a crew doesn’t fix you a seat. You got to take up a merc job before they actually try bringing you along. So?”

Siva would have said YES on the offer but seeing the requirements of the ‘fare’ was making him falter.

“Is there an easier ‘fare’ in this?”

The keeper chuckled at the question and the men on the triad formation also laughed.

“Easier fare? Hahaha… looky here, son, the North, ever since the war, had become an almost abandoned place in the planet. If not for the rich monster resources and untouched mining spots, Tiara wouldn’t have any tourism whatsoever at all. But with as much bounty in the North there is, the competition there is also as high as in any other place. If I should say so myself, what my problem in the north is, is the fact that there is a very large demand for the working force than we have supply. We lose men more often than we get them. So if you want to go to the North, you will have to pay the price of your fee as a mercenary. Alas, we’re even going to pay you for your service. So?”

Siva thought for a moment.

The North Continent of Tiara, as far as he know, is the only place in the planet where crimes were as high as a crime city like the Xargoal cities —only worse.

Also, as weird as it may seem to be, the players in that continent could only number in two hundred thousand or so. And not even all of them were adventures.

Most of them were criminals and they use the North as means to hide from the authorities of the world.

Speaking of which, one reason why Siva is reluctant on the fare of traveling is because he knew himself that he was in a weak state. So weak, in fact, that he even saw himself as being back in square one of his entire career.

He can’t use his strongest ability and for that reason, his confidence is shattered to pieces.

The grade of the ‘fare’ —the job he was looking at, had a minimum requirements of being an A-ranked player.

Form this alone, it meant that the enemies in the North is around the same or even higher ranked difficulty. It ‘is’ that bad and yet he was just thinking about the side against players and pirates.

What about the monsters’ side? The manager said that the monster resources in the North were rich, meaning monsters in there are really strong as they are valuable.

“You know, you can always say no.” The keeper made another chuckle as he pointed his finger on the panel in front of Siva. “The easiest escort mission is on the border of Ravendel. But I sense that your urgency lies far up north than that. If I may ask, where in the North are you going?”

Siva raised his head to the keeper. Seeing that there is no harm if he replied, he answered him honestly.

“Alexandria.”

On hearing it, the keeper cleared his throat and his face changed from casual business to a serious stare.

“Why, if I may ask? There is nothing in there except for a base of «Spade» and a vast cold land.”

“I am in an important mission that cannot be delayed.”

The keeper looked at his men and then came back to Siva wearing a meaningful grin.

Siva felt that something was about to happen.

“You’re in luck.”

The keeper said and Siva narrowed his eyes behind his mask in affirmation of his doubts.

Perhaps this is a «secret quest» only produced by a very select few who had enough “kill count” to trigger them.

But no matter how hard he thinks about it, no answer will dawn on him for as much reality it may really be, it doesn’t have any value to Siva as he was already in this stage.

All he’s capable of doing now is just moving forward.

“I happen to have a special mission in Alexandria that needs strong people to solve. If you’re confident with your strength, then I will see to it that you will arrive in Alexandria and also be paid with a hefty reward. So?”

DING!

[Mission]

“Finding Hero”

Rank “A” difficulty

«Unknown mission detail»

Requirements: 6/10: Engage in a conversation with the office manager and mention Alexandria before the time for the preparation is up. (Time Remaining: 6H, 14M, 14S... 13S... 12S...)

Rewards: Unknown

Time Limit: 15 days

Will you accept?

(Yes?) — (No?)

“The details of the request will be disclosed when you accept it but rest assured, it’s worth your while.”

No doubt it was a secret mission.

An A-rank mission that should be completed only in a 15-day margin. He remembered the B-rank mission on Hagonoy and he almost sunk on the pits of despair with its difficulty.

Back then, he fought a dragon, and struggled neck to neck against death. If his avatar dies in the game then he also let his brother die on the other side.

That’s a price he just couldn’t pay no matter what.

He only won because there are B-ranked monsters who distracted the Dragon’s attention away from him. What kind of opponent will he face now if he accepted this mission?

He swallowed as he felt cold on his spine. The thought of the beast he saw in Anazon brought upon the cold feeling. There was just no other opponents left that will serve the idea of a higher stake with the higher ranked mission.

And yet, he still wanted to accept this.

Not for the sake of curiosity about the rewards but to the fact that it was a straight shot towards Alexandria.

If the mission detailed a limit of 15 days duration that is going to be done in Alexandria, then it means that they are going to be at least teleporting their way there.

And speaking of teleporting their way there, a certain person came to his memory. But it’s not yet sure if that guy will cooperate. Still, whether he’ll cooperate or not, Siva still had another reason why he must prepare.

“Is this mission restricted to me alone?”

When Siva asked this question, in his mind, he was thinking of actually using this opportunity to find H-class worth of treasure or information to present to the deal. After all, as rare as it was, an A-rank mission ‘may’ yield unexpected high rewards. And that is based on his experience.

The manager frowned and glanced over his men as the trio replied with a shrug.

“Well, not really.” He answered reluctantly. “This is a mission open to all competent enough to its difficulty to complete. If you want to bring in people, then do so on your leisure. Just make sure they‘re strong as we are not giving out hazard pay.” When he finished, he prompted Siva with an open palm, “So, how about it?”

“Can you wait until tonight?.”

The keeper smiled and nodded at him, and he stood up to offer a hand to seal the agreement.

“If you can bring people, then do so. The more people, the better for the both us. I will disclose the mission’s details to you if you are here by sunset.”

“Alright.” And they shook hands.