Just like that, Sen had obtained his first connection to the Higher spheres of the Hunter society. His first connection other than Jeol, his childhood friend, or Gumiho, the creepiest guy on planet earth.
The Overlord quickly made a dash for an alley out of most people's view. He could thank his knowledge of the city. If there was one thing he knew better than most, it was all the little places you could use to hide in Seoul. He had no idea why he remembered all of them ever since he was a toddler though. His first guess was that it was due to how much he played hide and seek with Jeol and how they tended to go way too far most of the time. He could remember several intimidating voices scold Jeol for that, while he just ate snacks far from the group. There wasn't a single face other than Jeol's he could see in that memory.
However, there was a time to think about the time, and that time wasn't now.
Sen sat on a partially destroyed briefcase that lied around, and he immediately felt Vodka beside him.
"So...What did I get? Actually, wait. I barely got any information when I visited the dungeon...My dungeon, dear god I gotta get used to that shit. I have no idea how the recruiting process works, I mean I don't know what the actual details of that process are." He complained, all the while moving his hands around as though he was pitching something, just like Jeol did whenever she had to explain something to him in private.
Vodka seemed to clear her throat, something Seneos tried his best to avoid laughing at, before she went into explaining the information she had gathered so far.
"It appears, Overlord, that every time you slay a creature, I receive a notification from the system telling me whether or not said creature was added to the pool of potential recruits. I believe there is an actual menu in the System that gives details on those creatures after they enter the database...It can be useful. The information enters my own database as well, so you can ask me directly instead of having to go to your dungeon all the time. Not that this specific task would be difficult, if not a bit risky at times, but I will get into that soon.....Ahhhh, why do I feelllll the need to drink suddenly?" She suddenly stopped and Sen turned his head slightly as his face scrunched up.
"Drink? You literally cannot drink, Vodka? Damn, didn't think such a sentence would ever leave my mouth. Anyway yeah, you can't drink. Do you feel like you have a dry mouth? It happens when you talk a lot, but I didn't think you had that feeling. Damn, if you start to get itchy in some place that doesn't exist, it's going to be hell. Do you have.....The phantom limb problem? But instead of a limb, it's your entire body that feels like it's there when you don't...Well..Have one?" He remarked, tilting his head as he pondered over that question. How was that even possible? Vodka kept becoming more of a mystery as time passed on, and he had to admit he was impatient to discover all there was to know about her, or it.
Vodka voiced her annoyance in the form of a fairly long sigh. That got Seneos to shut up and let her continue. He felt her presence in front of him now. If she had a body, she would have been sitting right in the middle of a more than toxic-looking puddle. It looked like someone emptied a failed potion in there or something.
"Perhaps we will have more answers on that later, but we have lost enough time on other matters already. Focus. As I was saying I was given information on the creatures you can recruit, and I also naturally have the list that contains all the creatures that can be summoned...Weirdly enough there are no percentages. I cannot find any information on the chances you have. I can only guess the spiders should be over fifty percent while the beetle would be below fifty percent. The System simply lets me know which creatures joined the list and that is all. On the positive side, there is no suspense. The list gets updated every time you slay a creature and it is added. If nothing changes in the list, you can assume you have no chances of getting the creature you just slew. Simple and fast..I like it." Vodka finished her long-winded explanation and Seneos just knew her dry throat problem had just become worse, but she made no comments on it.
All in all, it wasn't a lot of information to assimilate but it was...Fascinating. Of course, he was still excited to actually hear what that raid had gotten him, other than his path. He should probably think of what his next path should be since he already felt like he had a good mastery over the knight path...He was also a bit too impatient.
"Well...Go on then. Tell me what I got!" He almost yelled that. He felt like Vodka was on the verge of anger, but he couldn't care less. He was going to get monsters as soldiers! He was going to get his first subjects!
"Wait...Subjects...I never asked about this actually, but what about the orcs Vodka? There was a boss orc in the throne room and he was even replaced after the team left...Are there other orcs? It could be good since I killed the remaining wolves I think. Ahhh! I should have paid more attention to the menus! Next time I am staying on the system for hours!" He ran his hands through his thick and long hair in exasperation.
Why was he caught onto so many things at the same time, and why was he always so willing to go along with those events instead of focusing on just one!? Truly he wouldn't have gotten far without Jeol. And now Vodka was there to help too, but asking Jeol felt like the sensible thing to do. Some more help just couldn't hurt, right?
Vodka seemed deep in thoughts after that sudden question and ended up muttering something to herself.
"Database.....Dens? Habitats? Unclear. Should get into the system's menus directly and...Ask the monster."
She didn't sound like she was about to answer his question directly. Hence he was going to ask for the list once more, but he suddenly heard a notification arrive on his phone.
He knew it could only be Jeol since he had muted all notifications other than messages, and only she would send him messages....Or it could be Gumiho.
His heartbeat accelerated at that simple thought. The Gods couldn't be that cruel, right? The man had already spoken to him earlier, and it was enough. There was really nothing more to be said!
He took out the device as though it was going to shoot at his face as soon as it could, and slowly unlocked it.
He slouched over the wet grey wall behind him and nearly fell off of the briefcase once he saw that it was instead a message from Jeol. Yet as he briefly took a general look at it, he saw the very name he dreaded being mentioned.
"Jeol...What the fuck have you done..."
The message read this, written as simply as possible to be sent quickly:
[ Self-proclaimed mentor left, had to do work for him. Talked to Soo-Hi, you too? We need to talk quick, want to help for 'business'. About to have a meeting with other officiate, cannot talk now, later when you have time. Found infos on 'mentor' computer, password was on desk, intentional I think. Was sent on mission in china, Summer Palace, China Hunter Commission Headquarters. Mission order by: Gumiho. Main objective: Retrieve unknown rank weapon called Staff of Wukong. Side orders: Negotiate with Chinese government for the weapon if possible. That part was erased, only found due to previous version of document. Restrictions: None. Protocols to follow: None. Sen.....]
He had to wipe the droplets of sweat that had hit his phone, and he also had to calm his heart. What was she thinking? This could be a trap. No, this was definitely a trap! The man had left his own password on his desk! This wasn't something an agent of the KHG, and one obviously as infamous as him, should do. This wasn't even the only problem! This just wasn't something she was supposed to know about! It was obviously top secret, like in those spy movies!
Perhaps he was being paranoid, but he felt like the situation called for it. He had to calm himself, or he wouldn't be able to read the last bit.
Yet, he wished he hadn't been able to calm himself. Reading that last bit nearly made him scream at the top of his lungs.
[ 'Mentor' sent himself on mission to retrieve weapon at all costs. All. Costs. Left quickly after seeing information. I know he wanted me to find it, no idea why though. 'Mentor' is interesting ]
And that was how the message ended.
"Interesting?....INTERESTING!?" Seneos yelled, his grip tightening on his phone to the point where it almost broke. However, he simply got up, put it back in his pockets, and then proceeded to trash everything around him. Trash cans were sent flying, concrete walls were punched hard enough to leave clear holes in them.
It took him a few minutes to calm down. He crashed on the ground, his knuckles bloodied and his long hair all over his face.
"Why...How can she always be so calm....I don't fucking get it." He whispered to himself, unfortunately, Vodka heard it all and hummed beside him. At that moment, he really had no strength left in his body or mind to react.
"Aaaaare you worried? Perhaps jealous? Hmmmm...Emotions that I personally feel, seem so complex." She said, more to herself than to her Overlord. Yet he couldn't help but sneer.
"Yeah...It's normal, humans feel like that all the time. It's in your hands, you feel that shit all the time, but you cannot even comprehend how it works. Can't really tell you what I am feeling right now."
He was ready to just leave that alley and go back to his dungeon. At the moment it felt like the best thing to do. He would go to the slums with Hojosa as soon as he finished going over the menus carefully. If he wasn't caught up in something crazy yet again. Then again analyzing the menus too carefully would just give him a migraine and wouldn't really help him. He should ask Baem and Vodka to analyze them in his stead. Great leaders always surrounded themselves with people better than them in a lot of areas to cover up their shortcomings. At least he heard one of his favourite Hunter say that when he was still a child with dreams.
At that point, he didn't know if he should even ask for the list now or wait until he was inside the dungeon so he wouldn't have to deal with something else at the same time.
Vodka, however, seemed to catch onto a certain thing he hadn't thought of.
"Overlord...About that message. I cannot help but wonder if it had anything to do with the call earlier on..." She expressed her curiosity and something dawned on him.
Now he really felt like things were spiralling out of control before his new life even really began. He wished he could avoid those thoughts, but the sounds came back to him. He felt like crying. What had they just gotten themselves into by playing into Gumiho's hands!?
"The sounds...Those were gunshots....Gunshots inside....That's why I couldn't get what he or the other people in the background were saying...They were speaking in Chinese!"