“Hm…” Feral groaned slightly as he stirred and on opening his eyes saw a white and gold panda with a pair of red jewel eyes cuddling right on top of him.
Instantly reacting, Feral flipped the guardian away before stumbling up to a fighting stance as he vigilantly glared.
Just then, Genad came in holding a bowl and raised a brow at the protective stance Feral had taken. Was he frightened? How cute.
/Awemeter increased to 72%/
‘Seventy-pfft!’ Dina yelped in shock. Just what the hell had happened after she was woken up? When did the awemeter increase to 72%?!
“Come sit,” Genad quietly spoke while patting at the bed Feral had just woken up from, his actions were so generous when compared to his previous prick attitude that Dina raised her brows in suspicion, could it be because of how high the meter was?
‘Zero?’
“Yes?” Zero responded, immediately calming Dina’s heart, at least he was here.
“Why is he so nice?” Dina wondered suspiciously, this sudden change in attitude was… odd.
“It seems your trainer also missed this part,” Zero stated with a sigh, just how many essential things did they miss while being rushed to the next world? These kinds of things were important things that every transmigrator should know.
“What?”
“All meter increases are equivalent to how valuable you are to the target. But each meter however varies depending on the target. To Genad, after defeating that illusion, your value had risen in his eyes and now you could say that instead of some useless slave, he now sees you as a proper companion.” Zero explained thoroughly.
Actually, there was more to this but he felt he’d confuse Dina’s mind if he continued, so this was enough, for now.
“M-master? What happened?” Feral muttered as he sat down, panda in hand as he comforted Paws who thought he was no longer needed due to the crazy kick.
“Do you not remember a thing?” Genad asked cautiously and after a short while of wandering, Feral shook his head, not even a single thing.
“Only been trapped in an illusion even after passing the tests,” Feral responded with a frown, indeed, that had been quite traumatic.
Genad stared at him profoundly for a while before handing her over the bowl of meal, it was a bowl of salad along with layers of roasted meat on it and instantly Feral found himself salivating. This looked good!
Genad stared at the male viciously stuffing the salad along with the meat into his mouth as he gobbled it up mannerlessly.
Eventually, Feral was done and after being handed a glass of freshly drained grape juice, he began wondering where they were. Freshly drained grape juice? Salad? Meat? These were all just too convenient and after pondering for a while Feral finally decided that they were in a place that had farmland.
“Update me on everything that happened Zero,” Dina said and soon information flowed freely to her mind.
‘Ah, so that’s what happened!’
Apparently, she had been given an emergency skill that obliterated the VR, and Genad on crashing the space met a holographic image of a gnome who ended up giving him the reward and even improved his sword from legendary grade to semi-spirit grade.
Not only that, but the VR apparently had taken the form of an item that was handed over to Genad, this was mainly because the evil thing had finally attained a form after draining the entire life essence of the gnomes. Dina couldn’t imagine just how powerful that thing would be after devouring a whole race.
In the end, the gnome finally having his last wish fulfilled (the destruction of the VR) had sent them away peacefully before setting off explosions that bombed the entire gnome ruins down, completely destroying even traces of it and now if one was to go back they would see nothing but a collapsing landscape which couldn’t hold itself together.
It was truly a sad thing, a whole race being exterminated from a single mistake, this was the true danger of magic!
But why wasn’t her item upgraded too? It was still so bland!
“The gnome wanted to but was stunned by how lucky you were to gain the approval of an evolutionary weapon type. He had claimed that the weapon had previously rejected everyone but you and that with constant practice, you could bump its grade up eventually.”
Dina was finally satisfied. Not bad, everything that happened so far was almost according to the plot but with a slight twist. Originally, Genad was to break out of the illusion many years later before eventually getting what he wanted but they had no choice but to bump that up, because if Zero had been a moment later then Dina would’ve been done for, talk more of in years.
“Master, where are we?” Feral inquired curiously as he gently played with the golden panda in his hands to a certain person’s annoyance.
“The demon realm,” Genad answered casually before pulling out a round-like item, its size was around that of a medium-sized ball and its body was pure obsidian color with a large symbol—‘VR’, written on it with white.
Placing the VR in front of Feral who stared at it strangely, he asked, “It won’t respond to me no matter how much I try. Would you like to give it a go?”
Feral blinked in confusion before agreeing and stretching forth his hands to the VR, a holographic scan suddenly scanned across her hands and the next instant the words ‘VR’ lit up and after a long deafening beep a female AI voice finally spoke—
{Hello, Master.}
‘M-master?’ Dina wondered internally before her eyes drifted to Genad who was looking at her with a profound look.
“It seems to really like you,” Genad said softly.
Feral stared incredulously as he bit his lips, what the hell had happened?
Eventually, Dina was told that the skill she used had knocked some senses into the robot. This was where she finally found something odd, why did she feel like… Zero was hiding something from her with all these stories? There was no evidence, just a strong feeling, and a very strong one but because she couldn’t back it up she could only swallow what she had been fed, just what had really happened there?
‘It’s also strange how Genad’s meter isn’t decreasing even with all the suspicions laying around me...’ Dina thought as she glanced at Genad but on seeing the male’s unexpectedly calm face it finally clicked in her.
Why had he been so caring? Why had he been so nonchalant about all this? After all, he had every right to be threatened but he was so calm, and adding to the sudden increase of the meter Dina could finally see why this son of a gun was so ‘accepting’ towards her.
‘Zero did say it just now... I see that you finally see me as something useful, master?’
It seemed she had the wrong approach all this while, Genad wasn’t like Jack, he didn’t need company. Acting like a companion and following him everywhere would only get her stuck! If there was something Genad really really wanted, it was revenge.
Of course with this in mind, it was plainly obvious that he would only be interested in things that would help his revenge. Before he had simply seen Feral like some ornament, something to follow him around, and if asked, Dina was as sure as heck that the moment she got useless she would be disposed of.
How could she have been so careless?
This wasn’t an easy task, in the first place as a responsible employee what she should have done was study her target and look for the most efficient way to tackle his meter! She wasn’t on holiday! How could she have been so lazy and stupid?!
‘This isn’t like me, I’m usually rational, could it be because Jackson was involved or have I actually turned retarded?’ Dina wondered direly.
Either way, one thing was sure, if Genad needed someone useful then she would be that someone. In the end game, they were only using each other, and she should have never forgotten that in the first place.
“VR, call me Feral. If you really want to call someone master, then call him master. That is an order,” Feral stated while pointing at Genad, an unusual light flashing in his eyes.
Genad glanced at the male who shyly looked away. What an incredible actor. He never knew this little thing he had grabbed was unexpectedly useful, something like this… really made one happy, didn’t it?
{Affirmative Feral. Greetings, Master.}
The VR responded just as ordered. Genad smirked. This might just be fun.
/Awemeter increased by 75%/
“Greetings to you too.”
‘Jackpot!’ Dina scoffed internally.