"Rupert... How dare he..." her voice shook as she slowly rose from her chair, its elegant structure contrasting with the ugly expression adorning the old woman's face.
Nayana gripped the report in front of her, tearing the sides of the paper as her fingers dug into it. Never had she been disrespected in such a way. Hardly believing her own eyes, she read it once again.
{
To: Nayana Prim.
Reports of your malfeasance exhibited during the disappearance of an adventurer have been brought to the attention of the 3 guilds. Your request for an A-rank task force has been accepted, yet full authority and command will be handed to Rupert of the Black Bear guild until further notice.
Regards, H.V.W
}
"Malfeasance..."
While petty, Nayana knew that her actions were nowhere near as unjust to receive such a punishment. Before long, she figured out that Rupert must've used his connections to make this happen; knowing that her reprimand was engineered by a long-time rival and borderline enemy, the woman was practically blowing smoke out of her ears.
Nayana threw open her desk's drawer and plunged her hand into it, reaching for a cigar. Expertly, she ripped open the packaging and torched it with a wave of her hand.
*Pfoooofff...*
The woman breathed in as much as she could and allowed herself to exhale, she could feel the smoke carrying her stress away. While her rage subsided, her desire for revenge grew all the more powerful.
Nayana wasted no time.
*BOOM!*
The door to her office flung open, its hinges squeaking in pain as the old woman's foot kicked at it, the sounds of revelry in the bar below were silenced. Nayana's heavy footsteps walking down the stairs echoed ominously through the guild's walls.
The adventurers, G-ranks to the B-ranks, all stood still, eyeing the old woman silently so as not to become her prey. Nayana's infamously bad temper was something even the newest adventurers were all too well aware of.
"Frankie." Her voice was a menacing whisper.
The receptionist stiffened up and quickly answered, "Y-Yes Ma'am!". The other adventurers looked at him with a tinge of pity in their eyes, no one wanted to be near that woman when her temper flared-up.
Nayna paid the onlookers no mind, she had one goal.
"Call my son."
-----
*Clink clank*
After successfully manipulating Chakra and learning about the "sneeze" from Chimey, Cal eagerly scoured the dungeon's depths, wanting to use his newfound abilities and satiate his curiosity. Not taking a single rest since his encounter with Kent, he was once again nearing the spot where he had died.
Cal trudged through the damp and dimly lit dungeon, as annoying as Chimey was at times, he was thankful for its assistance and company. During the walk, Cal felt the need to fill the silence with some questions.
'Hey Chimey, how come you knew about Ki or Mana when you were... born, but had no information about Chakra?' Cal questioned the system.
[Hmm...]
Chimey stayed silent for a moment, you could almost hear the wheels churn as the system wrung its memory.
[I don't really know~!]
Cal was unsatisfied with the answer but he can't say he didn't expect it.
Chimey had mysterious origins and an even more mysterious existence, Cal remembered Chimey mentioning how he was "born" a while after Cal woke up in his new body; no being Cal knew was capable of coherent thought moments after being born.
'Can you tell me what you do know? Are there any memories you have of before you met me? Some hidden information that you feel you forgot? Anything helps, really!'
[Nope~! I don't really know anything!], Cal was stumped.
[Oh! I do know one thing for sure though!]
'Hm?' the skeleton looked at the screen in interest.
[Cores are tasty~!!! You promised we're going to a place with LOTS right?] a chime sounded, hungrily.
'This glutton.'
Cal ignored the core-hungry systems chimes and focused on the cave in front of him. The stalactites on the ceiling were remarkably familiar.
'We're here...'
Cal felt the world go silent, not a chime or a clink was heard.
The boy stepped into the looming cave, careful as not to trod on any corpses that may lay on the floor.
Surveying the surroundings, Cal saw a scene that stopped him in his tracks.
Scattered around him were shreds of armour and torn cloth, each with flecks of dried blood staining them. The main attraction, however, was a deep crimson circle at the centre of the new cave.
'This is where... yeah. Right here.'
The skeleton crouched down and gingerly traced his finger across the dried blood on the floor, it brought back unpleasant memories. Beyond the pool of blood, there was a trail of the same substance, leading further into the depths of the dungeon.
'...'
'Wait...'
'The trail goes... inside?!'
'...' Cal slowly stood up, pieces of the puzzle clicking into his head.
'My gods.'
Cal wanted to smack his skeletal head with a Chakra infused fist.
During his great quest to save himself moments before he died, Cal was actually pulling himself deeper into the dungeon.
That's right.
After being jumped by a horde of monsters, Cal had unwittingly flung himself deeper into the very cave he was struggling to escape.
The stupidity shocked even Cal, and he had known himself for as long as he was alive! For two whole lives actually!
The tragedy was almost comical, with some lungs, Cal was sure that he'd probably be giving himself a dry chuckle or two by now.
'Wasn't like I could save myself anyway... at the end of the day, it didn't matter.'
It was true.
Cal could see that the trail went deep, he had dragged his damaged body much further than he realised, but that much wasn't nearly enough to escape the cave, much less the dungeon as a whole.
The boy stared at the stalactites and lamented. He had thrown himself a pity party after being reborn, yet standing in the same spot while staring at this familiar ceiling brought back his memories, the pain of being sliced and stabbed crashed into him with overwhelming might.
[Cal?] a chime broke his concentration.
'Do you remember what happened here, Chimey?' asked Cal.
[We haven't been here before?]
'Ah'
With that, Cal's deepest question had been answered. Chimey couldn't see his memories. Cal was preparing himself for a situation where this child-like system would see everything he had experienced and felt in his 19 years of life but he was extremely happy that that wasn't the case.
Cal wanted to leave this place as staying here evoked too much pain, but before he made his way out, Cal made his way to a red piece of cloth that lay on the floor, this was the fabric he would tie onto his sword, a tradition he and his brother had inherited from his grandpa. Cal weaved the fabric around his third pair of ribs, tying it into a knot to secure it.
Cal felt peaceful. Dwelling here further would do nothing but bring him pain.
Beyond his careless death, another strange view caught his eye.
Or, the lack of a view to be precise.
'The goblins... are gone?'
Around where the trail began, Cal remembered with great clarity that there were piles upon piles of shredded green bodies, even while bleeding out he was regretting not being able to harvest those cores. But now, nothing remained.
No evidence of the existence of the goblins remained, nothing but the stains of Cal's blood.
'Ah! My own corpse! That has to be there right?!'
Cal was apprehensive about seeing himself dead, but the mystery was too strange for him to ignore, especially considering the many mysteries he already couldn't understand.
Cal hopped over the loose rocks and armour that lay on the field and made his way to the end of the trail and he found:
'Nothing...'
The trail ended as suddenly as it began. The splotchy lines of dried up blood led up to a point and simply vanished, leaving nought but a memory behind.
'First the goblins... now this?'
'Could this be connected to how strong the normal goblins are getting? There are way more of them as well...' Cal stroked his chin bone with a bony finger. One surprise after another awaited him. Before he could think of a hypothesis, he saw a pale green pot-bellied creature walk out from the shadows.
A stray goblin. Cal's eyes lit up as they saw his prey.
'Ah! Leave the thinking for later! Chimey, time to harvest a core!'
Chimey's light could shine for about a 10-metre radius from its screen, he wasn't used to goblins being this sneaky but a core was a core!
Wasting no time, Cal focused his Chakra on his knees, elbow and wrist. The skeleton sprung forward, using his knees to leap into the range of the lone goblin, before it could react, Cal swung his blade, making use of both his elbow and wrist to make a few efficient cuts. Before the goblin could react, it was dead.
<
[Sneeze! Cal, I sneezed again!]