*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
Sharla took her lightning covered fists and gave her friend several strong strikes to her face. Marie just let it happen as she felt her life crumbling around her. She had lost her friend over what? Just some handsome freeloader who would probably leave within a few months even if she did nothing?
She had so much regret for her actions and she was even confused as to why she continued on this dark path. Then she remembered something important and closed her eyes letting the tears fall before being evaporated by the lightning that invaded her body.
She gave a small self-deprecating smile as she thought of one of her incredible, yet dangerous skills. Her shadow traveling technique had a lot of versatility in attack and defense however it changed her mentality greatly. Especially when she got this skill from an outside source, a "treasure" more specifically, it left lasting damage to her.
It made her distant but also extremely overprotective of those close to her. She ended up pushing away her best friend due to this skill but at the same time went crazy over the fact that the Setters were getting chummy with this freeloader who came out of nowhere.
Her mind just snapped after realizing how close they were getting and she began using her powers and leverage as the manager of the Inn to throw around nasty rumors about him. She hoped it was enough to get him to run away but it only backfired on her as Alan started training him wholeheartedly.
With no way to really interact with the freeloader at that point since he spent all his days training in a hidden place, she could only grit her teeth and make his life miserable with others. However, when her favorite employee that reminded her of her best friend Sharla started getting very close to Alex, she had had it.
The freeloader had "tainted" her "friend" and as someone who had to protect her best friend from suitors while Alan was gone on his own journey, she felt she was obligated to protect Alicia. Her changing mentality made her reach out to the thugs of the adventurer's guild here in Floren. As she was a strong 4th Ringer, she was able to conquer the gangs in this city and became the unofficial ruler of this place.
Even the "mayor" of Floren took orders from her as she quickly became the Queen of the underground. Her nasty illusions and deadly shadows made everyone fear her but she stayed out of their business and only asked for a favor when she needed it because Alan could topple everything in an instant once she found out how strong he was!
Marie looked to her best friend who was bawling her eyes out as she punched her like it was torture for Sharla to do. She was a lover, not a fighter but it didn't mean the healing doctor didn't have ways to protect herself.
This was one such where she borrowed the power of lightning to create deadly attacks. It was also from a treasure and she received a lot of backlash from it so every strike that Marie got to her face, Sharla would receive a similar wound.
Marie began bawling too as she cursed herself for all the stupid shit she did. She may not have liked Alex since he really did make more work for her, she had hurt many of those she cared about by trying to kill him.
With one last punch, Sharla fell forward onto her friend before pushing herself back up with wobbly arms. She had a lot of electricity flowing through her arms preventing her from using them well but she gritted her teeth and got off.
She sat up against a part of the broken wall while Marie slowly tried to get up as well. Both women were panting hard and had tears in their eyes for different reasons. For Sharla, she felt like she had lost a close family member.
Marie was like a sister to her and ever since she had started pushing her away, Sharla felt one day one of them would snap. She never imagined it would be herself, but fate was a fickle mistress.
She put her face in her hands and cried hard, not wanting to look at her friend any longer. Her own face was already healing from her own passive skill and she had ended up healing her friend out of her own kindness despite her rage.
Whenever she would make contact with Marie's face, she would push a wave of light green essence into her body to heal previous wounds. It wasn't a perfect technique but as the healer in her, Sharla couldn't stand to see her friend's face look unrecognizable.
Marie could tell what she did as well and it only served to make her feel worse. Even in her unyielding pain and rage, Sharla still cared for her.
All the others who had watched the cat fight unfold thought they had seen ghosts. They managed to destroy a huge chunk of the building and surrounding ones as well in their one-sided brawl so Alan quickly kicked everyone out. Nobody complained but the news of this would quickly spread.
Alan had taken Alex aside to hear what had happened when he fought with the assassin and was shocked to hear he managed to kill two 3rd Rings at almost the same time. Since Alex couldn't remember his conversation with the mysterious entity, he didn't talk about it however Alan had his suspicions about his sudden increase in strength.
He had done it before when he first evolved and it was time for him to get some answers now that his family was in more serious danger and his friend had gone to the lengths of trying to kill this unknown person. It only made him more cautious around this freeloader so even if Alex became his enemy and would need to be put down, it was better than letting him roam this world free.
With a serious gaze, Alan sat up with his hands locked together in Alex's direction from the chair of his office. Alex stood at attention in front of the desk but didn't look nervous like he might have been before the Ether forest trip. He had done something impossible for this world and he felt that he was truly strong for the first time since entering this world.
He no longer wanted to be a "yes man" and listen to every word this guy said. Even if Alan was stronger than him, it wasn't to the point where he could overwhelm him anymore. Alan was at the end of his Ring journey while Alex was just beginning.
Alan had a complicated gaze as he looked at the scruffy young man with a missing arm. He glanced at the moving appendage as it slowly built itself up and while he had questions about it, that was for later.
He knew Alex had abnormal strength and be able to fight people who are a bit stronger than him, potentially even beat someone 1 Ring higher than him in the early stages since stats were much closer in numbers, however, a 1st Ring killing two 3rd Rings, even if he made it to 2nd Ring beforehand, was an impossibility in Alan's mind.
The maximum amount of stats a person had at these stages doubled as they evolved so if he fought them as a 1st Ring, they would have been 4 times stronger than him! Yet he managed to kill not just one, but two.
"I think you owe me some answers, Alex, regrets aside, for Marie to send a 3rd Ring assassin after you and fail? That is impossible. Unless you are some sort of alien race or consumed a massive amount of treasures that should have killed you, I just can't put my finger on what you did to live.
"I only put that 3rd Ring on there as a lesson more than anything. It was supposed to get you to realize the massive distance between Rings, yet you ignored that and still made it out alive and stronger.
"So... Are you going to give me an explanation? Or will you become an enemy by hiding more secrets?"
Alex took a deep breath as he thought of what he wanted to say. He really didn't feel comfortable talking about it with someone he didn't trust much, but he didn't have much of a choice. He may be strong, but his loved ones were a weakness just like Alan's family.
The two of them had come to a silent agreement before about how they dealt with things. As long as they didn't get in each other's way it was fine. Alex was undoubtedly going to become someone stronger than Alan, so the old man needed to take precautions as well.
Alex also wanted more freedom, slowly earning that trust over the course of the last few months before he left. He was able to finally earn a wage that employees get and got a few hours each day for relaxation rather than just straight training. Now, however, Alan was wanting to "renew" these agreements since Alex could threaten him now.
"Let me answer your questions, with a question of my own, Mr. Setter," Alex began taking another deep breath to calm himself. After all, what he was about to say could not only get him killed now but also potentially this entire town.
Alan leaned back in his chair a little and folded his arms as he waited patiently. He had his secrets as well so he knew just how hard it would be to talk about them. Just saying one word could be the difference between life and death.
"Do you know what an Avatar is?"
A deafening silence filled the room for a few minutes as Alan heard those words. He went through many emotions but settled for a plain narrowing of his eyes.
"Avatars are legendary beings who were said to be the Gods' apostles, however, there is no evidence of their existence. Even if they are real, they wouldn't be dumb enough to reveal themselves and there have been no records in the history of most likely any human kingdom that a human with divine powers exists.
"The mortal body cannot contain so much power and the Gods would not be willing to sacrifice their divinity to support a being who would die in a few hundred years. There is no merit in those actions.
"On top of that, I really hope you aren't fucking with me because Avatars are a well known fairytale that parents tell their kids. I would know because one of Emma's favorite children's books were about Avatars.
"So please tell me you are really bad at jokes and give me a real answer."
Alan didn't want to believe something like this could ever be true, and Alex had to agree.
Alex thought back to when he came out of his coma in the forest. He felt stronger, smarter, deadlier... It was hard to describe as he felt an overwhelming power flow through him. He found a 2nd pitch-black circle on his arm similar to his first "Ring" and when looking at his status page, he didn't know how to react.
Not only had he gotten new titles and skills, but his stats were way above what they should be. Even if he predicted his stats by doubling his current strength, it was above that. Alex wasn't sure what to do so he quickly took the bodies of the 2 3rd Rings and disappeared from the forest.
When he began his journey back to the inn, he took a look at several things on his status but couldn't find an explanation for how these things could appear.
He asked Alan a question specifically about Avatars because he wanted to confirm it with his own knowledge from earth stories. With it being more or less the same, he sighed and opened his status page.
He hesitated one more time before swiping it around so that it was visible for Alan to see. He had no way of explaining everything and could only put his trust in this old man. If it was the end of him, so be it, but he would go down fighting. The memories he had slowly been getting back made him realize just how difficult it was to live in both worlds and he didn't want to harm anyone unless forced to.
Even if the 6th Ring before him found out of his origins, it was more worth it to find someone in this cold and cruel world to trust with secrets. Alan leaned forward with his eyes narrowed as he read every detail of the young man before him.
He wasn't able to see any of the descriptions, and some he had many questions about, but he got the gist of several of them... including the Avatar one.
[Alex Vorgen]
[Titles: Otherworldly Soul, Aria's Lover, Freeloader, Chaos Incarnate, Ezxio's Champion, Dual Avatar]
[Stats:
Health -1233
Strength -1247
Stamina -1520
Essence - N/A ]
[Skills: Booty Conqueror, Intermediate Weapon Mastery, Intermediate First Aid, Intermediate Resistance, Diamond Skin, Basic Crafting Mastery, Basic Trapping, Lost Art of the Living Chain, Unstoppable Regeneration]