Chapter 23: Orb of Demonic Energy

“Wait what?” Jacob nearly shouted. Until now, he was wondering what loophole he had left behind. But this?

“Sir, I am very sure that I have been wearing a ruby necklace since I was young. My mother gifted it to me. Since her accident, I’ve kept it close to me as it reminds me of her. Even my teammates know of it!” Jacob reasoned. He sounded so confident that even the others almost believed it for a moment.

Mr. Adam shook his head.

“We’ve already confirmed with your father. He doesn’t know about any ruby necklace. Though he did mention that he used to wonder why you wore a silver string around your neck every time.”

Jacob nearly lost it.

“M-my father!?” His voice raised up by a notch. “Please tell me you didn’t tell him about my situation!”

Mr. Adam smiled. “Of course I had to. How else will he leave you alone? But he has no choice but to wait for you to return home since you got injured in the school gym.”

Jacob smiled gratefully.

“Ahem.” A commander next to Mr. Adam elbowed him. “Adam, get back on track.”

“I’m coming right there Jake.” Mr. Adam looked back at Jacob. “It’s not just your father. Ask your teammates.”

Jacob looked at Bob since he was present when the ruby had shattered. But the big guy simply shook his head with an innocent face. Jacob’s mouth was left open in disbelief at the situation.

“So we have no choice but to do this.”

Blue waves of mana gathered around the mages, including Mr. Adam, and entered an orb he took out. Wind blew along with the mana while the empty chairs shook. Jacob stood up in shock while Sumei had tears in her eyes. She felt that she had failed Jacob’s trust in her. But how else could she clear the fear in her heart?

The orb grew brighter and levitated while the mages went a shade paler. The soldiers stood up and reached the walls of the room. Jacob’s team did the same. The pressure radiating from the orb was just too much to bear. Jacob looked at the door to the room to his left and wondered if trying to escape was the right choice.

‘But it’ll make it look as if I have something to hide. I do have to hide my system, but they don’t know that. I don’t think they need to go through all this trouble to kill me.’

Jacob strained his eyes and looked at Mr. Adam who looked like an anemic patient. His usual stoic face held a smile as he mouthed, ‘Don’t worry. It’ll be over soon’.

Before he could reply, a surge of light radiated from the orb and instantly struck Jacob’s face. A few seconds later, the orb fell down at the same time Jacob fell unconscious on his face. Sumei paid tribute in her mind to Jacob’s unlucky nose for always being down to earth.

The orb rolled on the table like any common glass ball. It was about to fall off the side but was caught by Jake at the last moment.

“Didn’t think you could take this out.” The unruly commander smirked. “If you’re too rich, why don’t you let me have this?”

Mr. Adam shook his head while trying to recover his mana. He drank a potion like other mages who were pale.

“Do you think this exhausted Orb of Demonic Energy is something you can buy? Even I paid a great price to have that one orb!”

“But come on! You know this is useless for the next month. Those four eyed fools couldn’t use fast charging on this one! I’ll trade a better item in exchange!”

“No means no!”

“Tch.”

The banter ended while Bob and Sumei looked at Jacob in panic. Bob wondered why Jacob went unconsciousness once every few days since he had met him. Sumei was still concerned if Jacob’s nose would remain the same after being repeatedly forced to be down to earth.

“He’s okay.” Mr. Adam came along. He got two soldiers to get Jacob to sit in his chair. Sumei glanced at Jacob’s face and noticed his nose was simply bleeding and didn’t become crooked. She secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

“Sir, what was that?”

Even though Sumei trusted Mr. Adam for all the support he had shown them, this was different. Jacob had literally saved their lives multiple times! She felt that even if he was really a doppelgänger demon, she would still be his teammate because he had done far too much for them.

Bob remained still since he didn’t know how to help Jacob out. He wasn’t smart nor strong compared to those surrounding him. So he wanted to get Jacob’s help after he woke up. He felt that the recent improvements in him and Sumei were still insufficient to beat the hidden boss Jacob had fought.

“It’s an Orb of Demonic Energy!” Jake butted in. He was still upset at not getting the orb. “That does not mean it has demonic energy. It’s made by using spiritual, temporal, and… wait, you wouldn’t get it even if I told you. Simply, it will go through someone’s memories and react when they use demonic energy.”

Sumei still had a clueless look on her face. Memories and demonic energy? Why did this combination seem unreliable?

You are reading story I Also Level Up at novel35.com

Mr. Adam smirked. He bounced back to his stoic look and moved Jake aside with a hand.

“That’s why you should leave professional work to the professionals.” He looked at the concerned duo.

“A doppelgänger has to use demonic energy when it transforms into any creature. This transformation is not permanent. It depends on the strength of the doppelgänger. Once the transformation expires, the demon will return to its original form. Then it has to use demonic energy to transform once again. This orb can scan the memories of the last 3 to 5 years. If it detects usage of demonic energy, it will react.”

Even though the duo had more questions, they remained silent for a moment. They never knew something so magical existed! Of course, they were also happy that a human did not do the memory scanning since nobody would like someone to see their memories.

“So what is Jacob’s condition, sir? Is he simply unconscious?”

Mr. Adam shook his head.

“The orb creates a mirror world by using the memories. So the affected person will relive the past few years of their life. That’s how it detects demonic energy.”

“Oh!” Bob and Sumei gasped. It suddenly dawned on them that the orb was way more precious than they had given it credit. But Sumei began feeling uneasy. She knew Jacob’s past.

“So he’s…”

Mr. Adam understood her concerns. He too didn’t want to do this as he was aware of Jacob’s hardships. But the current situation left him with no choice. This was the only way to let others know of Jacob’s innocence. It was the only way to redeem the boy!

“Yes, he’s reliving the weakness of mana poisoning and years of being bullied.”

***

6 am.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

A bedside alarm clock rang ten times before a thick hand shut it off with force. The man’s entire obese body was covered with his blanket except his hand. He began feeling odd but remembering the pending assignments he had to complete shook off any lingering sleep.

‘Whatever. It was a good dream. I must say, I don’t dislike this change. At least it’s better than that nightmare that always repeats.’

The man got up, wore his slippers and mechanically walked towards the bathroom. He brushed his teeth, took a bath, wore clothes, ate a jam sandwitch and left for work. He had followed the same routine since leaving high school that he could do it with eyes closed.

One hour later, a 50 storey building entered his eyes. But he didn’t bother looking up at its grandeur. The lift was waiting for him and a bundle of papers were also waiting on his desk in his cubicle. His lunch was spent looking up on the latest anime shows and eating the cheapest meal from the canteen. Nobody talked to him and he liked it that way.

Evening came, and he clocked off from work. He took the same subway back home and refreshed himself. His shoulders were sore from constantly working and his back hurt. But his eyes brightened at the thought of his remaining activities for the day.

He turned on the only expensive item in his small one bedroom rented apartment—a gaming computer. The first email notification after his computer opened attracted his attention.

‘Hey Jacob!

I hope you’re having a good time. We’ve been playing the same game for years and I didn’t know you lived in the same city as me!

I was looking forward to meeting you in person and getting to know you better.

Are you up for it?

Don’t be in a hurry to say no!

I look much better in real life than my game avatar, and my temper is better too.

Your gaming buddy,

Karen’

You can find story with these keywords: I Also Level Up, Read I Also Level Up, I Also Level Up novel, I Also Level Up book, I Also Level Up story, I Also Level Up full, I Also Level Up Latest Chapter