Chapter 64: Chapter 64 : A Reminder (Part 1)

[[Always so arrogant…I wonder where he gets that from?]]

Ralf narrowed his eyes at his other self’s accusing words. [[You trying to imply something, mister Silver Devil?]]

[[Maybe I am, Bloodline of Fire descendant.]]

[[…]]

[[…]]

Being Silver was quite an eye-opener for the duo. They had believed themselves to be down to earth and fairly humble, but apparently they weren’t. Silver’s existence proved otherwise, his ungodly arrogance had to come from somewhere after all.

After a few seconds of silent accusations being thrown around, the two’s attention turned to their surroundings.

[[We really made a mess.]]

[[Yeah,]] Rei agreed. [[There must be like two hundred goblins here. We’ll probably be fined if the Surveyors find out about this.]]

While underkilling monsters was a problem, so was overkilling. It was frowned upon and fined by the Adventurer Association, and should they note a pattern of this behaviour, they would take punitive action.

For the occupation of Adventurer to exist, monsters were necessary. A strong individual killing in mass negatively affected other Adventurers’ livelihoods.

Of course, Ralf knew this.

[[[It’s only an issue if we try to cash it all in ourselves or hide it. We just have to build a crystal depot here and…no problem.]]

[[Hmm, go ahead.]]

Rei shifted to the Mental Space and plopped himself on the couch. [[I’ll be watching from here. Get to it.]]

[[…and you wonder where that arrogance comes from…bastard.]]

After grumbling out these words, Ralf got to it. His Psi flew toward the nearest goblin and with surgical precision, sliced out and retrieved the crystal embedded in its forehead. Before getting to the others, Ralf took a moment to study what now lay in his palm.

Monster crystals were a valuable commodity. Most overkilling incidents came as a result of Adventurers’ greed in retrieving these items. If it wasn’t for its commonness, monster crystals would be classified as starstones, for like starstones, they too displayed unique properties that couldn’t be explained or recreated by humanity.

Still, while it wasn’t totally understood, a few of its properties were put to good use, especially in the areas of power production and grendo weapons manufacturing.

[[Hmm…]]

Ralf’s vision tunnelled with the inch-long dipyramid at its centre.

Watching this from his screen, Rei was immediately hit with a bad feeling and promptly spoke up.

[[Hey Ralf, don’t be stupid.]]

[[Huh…what do you mean,]] he asked innocently, knowing full well his mind had been read.

[[You were going to eat it, right.]]

[[…no,]] Ralf answered, his voice noticeably lower.

Rei faced palmed from his couch. [[Of course of course, my other self wouldn’t do something so foolish. Take a dozen or so, and ask Genise if we can buy them to do experiments with. Maybe we’ll discover something useful, though with thousands of years of research already been done on it, I’m not too hopeful.]]

Ralf nodded, then continued his task. His Psi Scan explored the insides of the now crystal-less goblin. Not finding what he was looking for, Ralf moved on to the next.

He repeated this process for the next ten minutes until all goblins were stripped of their crystals and examined.

[[Two hundred and forty-five goblins and none of them had what we were looking for,...your luck is really abysmal,]] Rei said, shaking his head.

Ralf smiled bitterly. [[Yeah, it seems a single coin and an apple isn’t enough to seduce lady luck.]] He shrugged. [[It is what it is, we’ll just have to keep searching.]]

Important to note, their adventurer mission had nothing to do with goblins, but orcs. Ralf’s current doing was their personal mission.

The duo was in search of poison. From ancient to modern times, poison remained an extremely effective tool. It was the number one level-crossing method that allowed the toppling of otherwise unbeatable powerhouses.

The duo, always eager to increase their overall power, naturally sought to add this to their arsenal. This was the main purpose behind their current outing. The Great Ocelot Forest had many monsters that had poisoning capabilities. The duo’s focus was on goblins.

Now, generally, goblins didn’t have poisoning capabilities, at least most of them. However, there was a small portion of them whose claws secreted a particularly potent poison. It was fast-acting and was well-known to greatly disrupt a psionic’s Psi manipulation. The duo wanted this for themselves.

[[Yeah.]]

Rei brought up the map of the region and placed an ‘x’ to the northeast of their location before sharing it with Ralf.

[[That’s our next spot. Hopefully, we’ll find it there.]]

Ralf nodded, then quickly built the crystal depot. He shaped the sand into a giant pyramid, then planted the monster crystals into the structure. Crystal depots were freebies of sorts. Those who discovered it could pick up what they needed for their missions and get rewarded all the same.

After finishing the structure, Ralf hopped on the Psi Bike and sped off to the destination Rei gave him.

The journey to the ‘x’ was fraught with monster attacks. He dispatched them and made more crystal depots.

These clashes were loud affairs, thanks to monsters’ insistence in giving voice to their uncontrollable desire to consume. The commotion attracted others’ attention…and not just monsters.

At this moment, Ralf had attracted the attention of a different type of monster, one far more dangerous.

‘This deep in and all alone, this is quite something.’ From the top of a mound, Morris made this observation. He was a kilometre away from Ralf’s position, watching as Ralf casually dispatched the attacking monsters.

The longer he watched, the more excited he became. His lips tugged up and a ferocious toothy smile formed on his face as thoughts of what he would do next passed through his head. ‘Mmm, and he’s so young and confident,’ Morris’s eyes narrowed into crescent-shaped slits. He licked his lips. ‘Breaking him will be fun.’

With his urges egging him on, Morris swooped down. With his prey marked down, it was time to hunt.

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Danger quickly approached Ralf.

***

“Kree-”

Exploding the orc’s head with a Psi Bullet, Ralf swung around and took aim at the last remaining monster some fifteen metres away.

*Bang*

Before his projectile could do the deed, another had done the honours. The orc’s charge was brought to an abrupt end as a bullet struck its temple, veering its lifeless body into a thick tree where it crashed with a fleshy splatter.

‘Hmm, he covered that distance pretty quick,’ Ralf thought, eyes moving to where the bullet came from.

At pretty much the same time as Morris had spotted him, Ralf’s sharp senses caught the other. Since then, he had allotted a portion of his attention to Morris’ movements.

Morris holstered his crimson coloured pistol, turned to Ralf, and strode forward.

Face forward, Ralf got a clear look at the features of the beast of a man before him.

Morris’s six-foot-tall muscular physique radiated an immense physical might. Even just walking casually as he was, his muscles still squirmed wildly across his figure, as though agitated worms were moving underneath his skin. He exuded a wild aura, and with each step, his weighty figure sunk the dirt beneath his feet.

A gust of wind blew through the forest, causing Morris’ ocean blue eyes to blink and his lengthy blonde hair to sway wildly.

As eye-catching as these features were, Ralf’s attention was focused on two other points. The first was the High Tier Rank 4 Telekinetic aura the other was exuding and the second was the yellow armband worn on his right arm. The latter made him tense up slightly, for it was the fabric that identified one as a Surveyor.

[[Incoming fine in 5 4-]]

[[Not,]] Ralf interjected. [[It’ll be fine. This silver tongue of mine will clear things up swiftly.]]

[[Hmm, go ahead then.]]

But before Ralf could, Morris started. “Surveyor and C-Rank Adventurer, Donald Ripply,” he said while pulling out the chain from underneath his shirt.

Ralf focused on the Adventurer tag hung off it, and sure enough, found the name and rank match up to Morris’ words.

“Identify yourself, young man,” Morris followed up, his voice ringing with authority.

Ralf complied, pulling out his own Adventurer tag and saying, “D-Rank Adventurer, Ralf Fawkes.”

“D-Rank,” repeating, Morris’ brows began furrowing. “Young man, D-Rank Adventurers aren’t allowed to go past the beginner zone. This should have been relayed to you at whatever branch you came from. We are five kilometres beyond it, so it’s not even touch-and-go. You’re just a Rank 3, and even worse, you’re all alone. Do you understand how serious this is?”

Bearing the brunt of this lecture, a sheepish expression overcame Ralf’s face. “I can explain. You see, while I’m a D-Rank, I’m actually as strong as a C-Rank,” he gestured at the slew of dead monsters in the surroundings. “See, I defeated them without any trouble.”

“That doesn’t change anything young man. Rules are rules,” Morris said sternly after shaking his head.

Ralf fell into silence.

Morris sighed. “Ralf was it?.”

“Yes.”

“You seem like you’re a good kid. I’ll let you off with just these words. Return to the beginner zone.”

“Really? Thanks, mister.”

Morris shrugged as a wry smile adorned his face. “No need, just go. If you’re really as strong as a C-Rank, earn your qualification, and then you can roam these parts no problem.”

“Will do,” Ralf replied with a nod.

Understanding that the other was just doing his job, Ralf didn’t give him any hassle. Nor did he have any reason to. The reason he went this far out was to field test Dragon Tail in secret. With that completed, he didn’t mind heading back.

Morris nodded as well. Having already come to a stop, he did a half-turn and look, effectively gesturing for Ralf to take his leave.

Ralf took his cue. Hopping aboard his Psi Bike, he twisted the throttle and moved forward. “I’ll be off then, see you around mister Ripply.”

“Yeah, see you around.”

Passing by Morris’ right side, Ralf began speeding up, preparing to take to the air once again.

‘So young, so foolish.’

As soon as Ralf passed by, Morris’ demeanour immediately shifted. The calm and sincere mask he wore was shattered to pieces and replaced by one showing gleeful cruelty. The corners of his mouth tugged up to form a cold smirk as he observed Ralf’s retreating form.

‘Seeing your despair will be delicious.’ Morris licked his lips in anticipation, then moved his hungry gaze over Ralf’s backside until it settled on his left shoulder.

Ending it in one shot wasn’t Morris’ style. The sight of his prey breaking down as they realised their death was near brought Morris a rush like no other. Their tears and snot-filled faces, wailing cries and shouts, scrunched up and twisted expressions in these moments, were all things that brought Morris great pleasure as he took them in. Thus, killing his foe instantly was against his interests.

10 metres.

14 metres.

18 metres.

‘Hunt…start!’

Following the internal proclamation, his crimson pistol flashed out of the holster, locked onto its target, and…

*Bang*

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