Chapter 67: Chapter 67 : A Different Flame

Close enough to the ground, Ralf dismissed the Psi Parachute and made his landing.

Psi splashed up at his touchdown, no different than a boulder dropping into a still lake. Similarly, ripples of shock and surprise passed through onlookers’ eyes as they stared at Ralf.

Ralf ignored them and their subsequent utterances and strode into the Adventurer Association branch.

Many gazes locked onto him as he entered. When the owners of these gazes realised who he was, their eyes flickered with many different emotions.

Only ten minutes had passed since Jeff concluded his unbelievable account; the topic of Ralf was still fresh in people’s minds and most present were eager to know more about the young man. Their eyes moved over him, taking note of every oddity they could find. His sliced shirt and pouch which jingled with a familiar melody naturally drew the crowd’s attention and speculation.

Under this scrutiny, Ralf moved to the reception counter.

“I’m back,” Ralf declared with a smile.

“That you are,” Genise mirrored his expression in response. “Glad to see in you in one piece. With this trip, you’ve become a real Adventurer. How did it go? Did you complete the quest?”

“Yep, easily,” Ralf said as he shook the pouch.

“Hmm, that seems a bit heavier than it should be,” Genise commented, her extensive experience telling her that there was a dozen or so more than his mission required.

Ralf nodded at her keen senses. “It is. I ended up killing quite a lot of monsters and building a few crystal depots. I brought ten extra crystals. I want to buy them to do some experiments.”

“Oh, I see. Then, that’s not a problem.”

Ralf placed the pouch on the counter and then after requesting a map, he listed where he had made the crystal depots. Hearing about the crystal depots brought great joy to the surrounding Adventurers…and just as much shock.

Genise was similarly affected.

‘He really killed that many monsters all by himself…and in such a short time frame. Could anyone here have done the same? Jeff’s words don’t seem as absurd as before,’ Genise gaze shifted from the pouch to the glowing Ralf and noticed that his combat harness was absent. Once her eyes were in the area, she also noticed the slit across his white shirt.

“What happened to your harness and shirt? Did a monster tear it?”

“A monster, no. They couldn’t land a scratch,” Ralf waved his hand dismissively before correcting the record. “An Adventurer randomly attacked me and did this.”

“What!” Genise jolted at the claim. Her face turned serious and she quickly probed for further details. “What happened? Tell me everything.”

“Sure sure,” Ralf said, nonchalant. “So, I had just finished my mission and was dealing with a swarm of monsters. When the last monster fell, I ran into him, a C-Rank Adventurer and Surveyor by the name of Donald Ripply.” Ralf took out the Adventurer tag and banner and placed them on the desk.

‘Donald Ripply,’ Genise repeated in her mind as she tried to connect the name to her memories. Failing to do so, she sent a query about a ‘Donald Ripply’ through the telepathic network she was connected to.

In this time, Ralf finished explaining Morris’ basic physical features.

“…and he had a wild aura to him. He pretended to be a good apple but when he thought my guard was down, he attacked. He was pretty skilled. I ended up killing him but he managed to leave a few injuries.” Ralf took a step back and lifted his shirt to reveal his torso.

Genise and the Adventurers’ eyes bulged as they captured the end-to-end slit running across Ralf’s waist. Eyeing it, they could tell it was a fresh wound; the sight of glistening blood peeking through and squirming flesh trying to heal itself made that evident. Along with the slit, they also found the presence of several other injuries.

Shock reverberated through Genise and the others’ souls. The severity of the injury was shocking to them, but even more shocking was Ralf’s devil may care attitude while showcasing it.

Observing the sight, their mirror neurons couldn’t help but mentally reproduce the pain he must be experiencing. But after an initial wince, the existence of the painless potion flashed through the Adventurers’ minds and they relaxed. However, while the Adventurers could breathe easy as they made this assumption, Genise couldn’t. For unlike them, she knew that Ralf didn’t have this potion on hand.

“Ralf…doesn’t it hurt?”

Ralf shook his head. “Nope, not at all,” he dropped his shirt then tapped his belly, “this body is made of different stuff. Fire, ice…and everything nice,” he flashed a cheeky smile as he listed.

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Genise’s face turned wry.

“Still, I’ll need to check into the medical ward. His knife slash poisoned me.”

“Poisoned?!” Genise’s eyes widened.

“Yeah,” Ralf brought up the vial and shook it.“ The medics here should be able to identify what type of poison this stuff is, right.”

“Yes!” Genise leapt from her seat in agitation. “Stop wasting time, head in, immediately,“ she ordered.

Ralf was made to smile at Genise’s frantic concern. He did a quick salute and said, “Yes mam,” before vanishing from her vision with a Flicker, leaving chaotic winds in his wake.

Only after they settled and Genise confirmed he was gone could she breathe easy. The tension in her body faltered and she collapsed back down to her chair.

A long sigh escaped her lips. ‘That kid’s going to be the death of me.’

***

Now in the medical ward, Ralf lay on a bed waiting for a medic to arrive.

[[…Rei?! There’s no need for both of us to do i-]]

[[Shut up. Remember your words, what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine…this is the same.]]

Ralf sighed with a shadow of a smile on his face. [[Fine. Let’s do it then.]] He peeked into the Mental Space to confirm that the helmet was indeed recording. Confirmed, he began the countdown. [[Okay, 3 2 1 go…]]

“Aaarrgghh aaahh fuck fuck aaarrgh…”

The reactivation of their sense of pain brought with it an immediate reaction.

Ralf’s previous composure scattered into the void. Jaw and hands tightly clenched, his body squirmed on the bed like a slug that was salted. His entire body was engulfed in an invisible flame, one that his Fawkes lineage didn’t give him any resistance to. Burning in this flame, each minute movement he made seemed to increase this fire’s temperature. Realising this, Ralf willed himself to remain still and bear the heat.

[[Aargh, Ra..lf, do it…alrea…]]

Ralf didn’t delay any further, for his and Rei’s sake. He attempted to wield his Psi in this state. But this turned out to be a futile endeavour. His Psi entered its rebellious phase, as no matter what, it wouldn’t move according to his wishes. The Psi moved with a will of its own, appearing as a dancing blue flame.

After spending five seconds confirming the futility of this exercise, Ralf once again deactivated his sense of pain.

“Aaaa.” Out of the fire, Ralf’s heart was flooded with relief and joy.

While letting these emotions wash over, he directed his now obedient Psi to repair the damage the experiment had wrought.

[[No doubt, I’m no masochist. Ah, that was the worst. No wonder he was fooled, there’s no way we would have been able to fight if this body was normal,]] saying, Ralf rushed to the cafeteria and selected a milkshake. His agitation quickly faded as the sweet sensation passed through his mind.

Rei did the same. [[Yeah. The Feigned Pain tactic will serve us well in the future.]]

[[...Rei.]]

[[I know I know,]] Rei said, understanding his other self perfectly. [[Still, Ralf…only the strong have the privilege of having many options to choose from. We’re weak. If we want to avoid using it, we’ll have to get a lot stronger.]]

[[Yeah,]] Ralf responded, voice echoing a deep determination.

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