"Argh!"
Liel threw his stone dagger to the wall in front of him, ten meters away. It lodged between the bricks, showing his improved physical power. Well, or that the builder didn't use their finest material for the wall.
Beside him, Naomi loudly exhaled. Again. "Stop before it bounces back and stab you."
"It wont," the red-eyed man grumbled, expecting a glitch to appear in the air.
It did, right by where his right hand was. The Stone Fang Dagger came back, as expected. He wouldn't lose it, that was the law. The very system attached to his life now.
"I never saw that kind of magic," Naomi stated after witnessing it, brows furrowed at the glitch that disappeared once he grabbed the stone dagger.
Liel cheekily said, "Now you see it."
The ginger-haired girl grumbled, "Not what I mean. Where did you learn it?"
That didn't even cross his mind.
"You have magic school here?"
"… where did you come from again?"
'Fuck.' Liel deliberately avoided eye contact with her. It wouldn't be funny if he blurted, 'For the record, throughout my life, I never saw magic with my own two eyes. So please excuse me for not knowing shit here.'
Instead, he waved his hand, gesturing to a faraway place behind him. "Somewhere around."
"Around what?" she was expecting him to answer directly. Give her a place name.
With a sigh, Liel rubbed the back of his white-haired head. "I travel much, didn't I tell you that?"
"You did," she didn't seem convinced. "Tell me about the last place you have been to, then."
'Double fuck,' now he had to be creative. "I don't know what it was called, so I just call it Bali."
It was a real place. A small island in the Southeast country – Indonesia. He went there with Naomi last year. Just after she was promoted to be a retail manager.
She didn't actually want to go there, because she wanted to save money for their wedding. Despite her parents – especially father – not agreeing to it yet.
So, being the kind boyfriend that he was, Liel used a portion of his savings and went to the casino in the neighboring city. He made history that night with his unbeatable poker game.
Let it be said that he couldn't go to that certain casino again, to minimalize the probability of being caught after his superb counting card skill.
He didn't tell Naomi this, at first.
However, after a cold night bereft of her warmth and sleeping on the couch, he told her everything.
For a person who was against him betting his savings in a casino, she was far too eager about the trip to Bali. Couldn't even shut up about their time there even after a month.
"What kind of place was that?"
She bought it. He took the opportunity.
"Bali was a magical place. The people there believed the island to be a place where gods used to live. Very beautiful and rich in culture. You'll love it. I know for sure."
"Is that where you learn your magic?"
Oh, she even suggested it for him. Liel smiled, lying through his teeth. "You can say that, yes."
It was fine, she wouldn't be harmed by the small lie.
"Can you teach it to me?"
"As much as I want to, I can't. It's, ugh …" he remembered the System told him to tell anyone. "It's a secret. A secret knowledge only a handful of people can learn."
"That's a bummer."
"Yeah, you have to go there yourself if you want to know about it," he added, not counting how many lies he just utter for a single question asked.
Naomi smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. He knew her little telltale well, knew her inside out. "I would love to."
But Liel already knew that it was impossible. As much as Naomi wanted to go there, the place itself did not exist here in this parallel – or whatever world this was. Besides, even if that kind of place did exist, she wouldn't go there.
If this world Naomi was the same as his own – they were the same, he knew it – then, she would choose to stay at her village, living there in peace with her mother and tend the garden.
A dream she had told him once, when they were both hungover after a wild night out celebrating Liel's three month anniversary working in a warehouse. An achievement, of sorts, as he tended to get fired on the seventh day of work.
[A new quest found.]
[Quest No. 5: Kiss a girl.]
[Difficulty: Grade A.]
[Time Left: 3 days 0 hours 0 minute.]
[Status: Incomplete.]
[Reward: A chance to get a special item – Invincible Iron Man or Forbidden Divine Book of Eros.]
'What the fuck,' was what Liel thought as he learned of the new quest. 'Do you want to mess with me? You think it would be so difficult for me to kiss a girl?'
[The System has no personal opinion to comment on this particular subject.]
'Useless.'
[This user is a useless one. You need the System to tell you to kiss a girl.]
[What a loser.]
'You fucker–'
"You okay?" Naomi's soft voice put a damper on Liel's internal fury. "You looks like you're about to murder someone."
He huffed, "Yeah, I'll kill that Samir Higgins when I see the fucker again."
"It's impossible to search for him in this big city though. Besides, rather than go looking for him, I'd like to look for another mage who can cleanse the curse."
She was right. It was practically useless, going after a slippery stingy shaman, when they needed to get the village free from Melva's deadly curse. Liel had no personal relation to the villagers, but Naomi clearly cared for them – so he would, too.
'Hey, System, do you know who the best mage with a skill to purify curses in town is?'
[Yes.]
Liel took a deep, calming breath to stop himself from strangling the non-physical thing that had plagued his second life. 'You better tell me now before I find where the real you is and unplug your sorry excuse of a–'
"Liel."
Once again, her soft voice snapped him from his murderous intent. "What?"
"I think I heard people running and yelling–"
Someone ran right into Naomi, making both of them collide on the ground. "Please, help me get away from them!"
But the white-haired man didn't want to hear that. Instead, he glared daggers and growled at the stranger, "Get your dirty hands away from girlfriend's breasts!"
"AAAARGH!"