Trying not to let it show too much, I pulled myself together in my chair and became serious.
—Ehem. Sorry about that. But why the offer?
You could see that some of the 7 demigods were holding back a chuckle, but it was Milos who spoke to me.
—You see, we need ears among you to know what's going on, what you think, what you want... do you follow me?
I nodded. Basically he wants me to be a spy, but that was bad enough for me. If I was found out it would leave me in a pretty tricky situation.
—Don't worry, we're not looking for you to betray their trust —Viktor told me—. We simply want to know if there is something serious or something important we should know.
Then I remembered what Igor had told me not long ago.
—Well, it isn't confirmed, but it seems that those wearing a fisherman's cap are a gang and they have some kind of objective, I don't know if it will be good or bad, but from the secrecy it seems like something important.
Silence reigned for a few seconds that took forever before Milos spoke to me again.
—Well, we'll keep an eye on them. If you need anything Viktor's number will be available most of the time.
I nodded and got up from the table when Lidia said something to me from her seat.
—Remember the meeting now, it's important.
I nodded and left. When I got into one of the elevators going upstairs I could breathe easy.
—Those demigods are all crazy, and now they are my bosses. Hilarious.
When I got to the top floor there were already quite a lot of people and I could see the groups that had been forming throughout this month. The biggest of course was the one with the fishermen's hats.
When I was looking for Igor and Basma I was surprised to see that they were with Mason and his soccer friends. I approached carefully trying to give the little girl a scare when she turned and caught me trying.
Mason, who had followed the whole process silently, laughed at me when I was discovered.
—You tried.
—She found me out because you kept looking.
—Admit defeat Caelum. Your thing is not to move in silence.
Am I doing so bad that Igor supports Mason?
—It's not your fault Cam, if you learned from Igor to move silently I wouldn't have found you.
Then I understood why it is said that there are words that hurt like stabs. And what Basma had just done left a deep wound in my pride.
—Heh, maybe when he manages to beat me in a 1vs1 I'll let that bald guy to taught me something.
—If you didn't use things only you know you wouldn't stand a chance.
Sparks flew in an intense gaze between Igor and me.
—Don't fight, guys, it never leads to anything.
Mason tried to mediate between the two, but Basma cut him off.
—But I want to know who is stronger of the two of us.
I laughed a while later.
—If Igor was really serious, and I didn't use traps, I wouldn't stand a chance, he's a machine.
A while later the seven people I had just met appeared on stage along with a few white lights bringing the missing people.
—Good morning everyone again. We bring you several news and things that need to change. If I may be a little harsh, currently if you don't improve you will all die in the next test.
After those words everyone started complaining and asking for explanations.
I sighed as I listened to her. She couldn't have been a little softer, or maybe put it another way, could she?
—Calm down everyone, we have come here to help you and explain how to improve. Listen up.
When Milos stepped forward and spoke everyone fell silent to listen to him. I don't know why, but Milos conveyed this sense of security and confidence in his voice, maybe it was the calm and serenity with which he spoke. After Milos had silenced us, Lidia continued her speech.
—Thank you Milos. Where I was going. As you are right now most of you will not survive the next test, that's why we are going to tell you the secret behind the status window and how the system works.
In front of me I opened the status window.
___________
Name: Caelum
Age: 20
Titles: --
Level: 9
Remaining points: 0
Status:
Ø Strength: 21
Ø Agility: 24
Ø Vitality: 21
Ø Senses: 17
Ø Intelligence: 21
Ø Mana: 15
Skills:
Karate (D), Hard Skin (D), Intimidation (D), Strong Fist (E), Light Movement (D), Use of Mana (F), Body reinforcement (F), Free Style (D)
___________
—Well —Lidia continued—. As you may have noticed by now the status sale shows your information, which is different from each one and each one grows in a different way. What we are here to explain today is how the skills work. But before that I guess I have to tell you one thing you need to hear, since you passed level 5 you are no longer human. Those of you at level 4 - 5 would be considered super humans, but those of you above that have surpassed human capabilities.
That news was shocking. No one opened their mouths, no one knew how to react. Although inside we knew that we were above human capabilities we did not expect to be told that we were no longer human. Then Milos interceded again.
—We want you to know that even though your bodies are slightly different, it is your heart that defines who you are regardless of what you are called.
Although the news was still shocking, some people seemed to breathe easy after listening to him. To me it all seemed crazy and this was news that was not good for my heart.
—But the important thing is not that, this is something I need you to know now for the explanation that comes next. You see in every normal human being there is something called life force or Qi, each person has a different capacity of Qi that depends largely on your physical state. Another characteristic that humans do not have and that is the reason why we tell you that you stopped being human is mana.
I was surprised to hear that, how long since I was human? I started to laugh nervously.
—And why do I tell you this? Because the system what it does is to move these energies for you to make those 'skills', the idea was that you learn to capture this energy flow by yourselves, but we don't have time to waste so we want you to focus on capturing these changes in your body. This will increase your stats and the efficiency of the energy within you.
—I know this may be a bit hasty when we were just giving you a free hand yesterday, but we think it is the best thing to do. This was also the reason for the night fights, so that you can use the skills and understand what changes your body undergoes when you do it.
—We know that this is something unbelievable, in the end we didn't believe it when we started either, but that's also why we want to help you. Our goal is not that you die, on the contrary, is to make you strong, we did not organize this or design this bunker, but it is also true that it is our fault that we are here.
—We want you to trust us, and if that's not possible at least trust each other. I know it's been a crazy month, but we're trying to defend humanity, and we need you to be strong.
Everyone was stunned. Between Lidia and Milos, they had put together a pretty good speech, I thought. I felt like applauding. And it seems that I am not the only one, I could see that some seemed more confident or even more motivated. I wonder how knowing that there is a way to become strong will influence people.
Meanwhile, in a remote place to where I was, I had no idea that the 3 beings called Gods were meeting.
—How long Goddess and God.
—How are you third one?
—Are we friends now?
—I had heard that The first and The second were in the middle of a fight and I wanted to join in.
—I'm just having a little fun.
—Why can't you leave the humans alone First?
—Why don't you ask The Second why she defends them so much?
—Really? Just because these humans killed your child you want to exterminate them. Go to one of the other worlds where humans live and destroy them.
—They're too far away and it wouldn't be so much fun if they had no resistance.
—Hahahahahaha, sounds like you guys are having fun. I wonder, who should I support?