Despite what was supposedly described, Jack's actual sense of smell hadn't changed much at all despite consuming the red bead.
However, his sense of smell had started to pick up on different things in addition to things normally. Though it would almost be more accurate to say that he was seeing something new.
When he looked at Jessica, he could sense an incredibly small amount of blood around her, small to the point that it was easy to miss. On the other hand, Mia had none at all. He set his eyes on the man in the suit and noticed a very strong smell of blood that lingered around him, one that was nearly one hundred times as dense as the one around Jessica.
In the distance, while he couldn't actually see, he could still sense a comparable smell of blood in the distance, one that he could connect the dots and realize that it belonged to Emma.
Strangely enough, it wasn't purely a smell of blood, but additionally a rather strange slightly discomforting smell along with it. The best way it could be described was the smell that came after a shower of rain, that wasn't too pleasant, but not particularly disgusting either.
That sort of smell was nearly thicker than the blood itself.
As for his own smell, he could tell that he had something very similar to Emma's, just far less intensity. Though it was still several times stronger than Jessica's. There was also a variety of different blood smells coming from the animals, but they were incredibly faint and hard to really tell.
He thought about it all silently for a little while, processing all that information.
Mia couldn't help but curiously question him.
"What happened, Jack?"
In response, Jack tilted his head to the side and smiled brightly.
"I found a way to find fun people!"
He was very excited, and also understood the basics of the new ability he had gotten pretty well. It was essentially one that let him see how much blood was on a person's hands, along with some other nuances that were unclear for now.
To a normal person, it would be a very good way to tell who or what was dangerous, along with sensing potential threats from far away. Though, Jack didn't see it that way at all, as he didn't mentally connect killing people and dangerous in his mind yet.
While the group was still doing their own thing, the man in a suit let out a long sigh while shooing them away with both hands.
"Anyway, hurry up and get out. You've already completed the game."
Jack waved at him enthusiastically.
"Thank you for the fun games!"
The man in the suit paused for a short moment before sighing once more.
"Yeah, whatever. Now get out."
Suddenly, the floor underneath them shifted, becoming fluid-like despite supposedly being solid. It made a wave pattern and began pushing them incredibly quickly, like they were going down a landslide, but traveling horizontally overall.
In just a few moments, they suddenly found themselves at the original entrance to the game, along with incredibly dizziness. With the exception of Emma, who was also there, but unscathed.
In the meantime, the man in the suit looked into the sky silently, as a monkey tail suddenly peeked out from underneath his suit. He clicked his tongue before pushing it back into his clothes.
"I wonder... what is their plan giving it to a child so small?'
...
While the three were still recovering, Emma had walked over to Jessica, extending out her hand once more.
"I wonder if your mind has changed at all? I am still very willing to bring you with me. You can be rest assured that you will be very safe while under my guard."
Jessica was quite disoriented, but was still able to understand the gist of it. She had actually forgotten about that offer, but also felt a stronger inclination to accept it this time after acknowledging some sort of second force within her own body that periodically took over.
But in the end, she doubted that Emma would even be able to protect her from herself despite her strength.
"Sorry, it's a really tempting offer, but it's not what I want to do."
Emma simply raised an eyebrow, showing curiosity to the rejection rather than anything else.
"It appears you're less against it. Well, if you do change your mind and we cross paths again, you know what to do."
Jack and Mia didn't say anything. Emma walked back into the cave and went a few steps before a familiar portal reappeared. The one that they took to get here in the first place. She pointed at it before turning around with a smile.
"If you want to go back, I suggest you do so soon. This thing isn't going to last much longer."
With a wave, she stepped back into the portal before disappearing into a flash of light.
Mia blinked a few times as she took a few steps forward.
"I guess we should go-"
"Hey! Hey!"
A muffled voice came from Mia's pocket as the gameboy in there vibrated rather violently. Mia was a bit surprised, but took Anna out and looked at the smiling screen.
"Ah, hey Anna. We're back."
Anna appeared rather excited.
"Yeah! Yeah! Now you have time for my game right, it's really close by!"
Mia's expression turned awkward, as she came to realize the situation.
"E-Er, but there's a portal back to the hub that's going to disappear soon. It would be a shame to just not use it."
Anna put on a sad face before pouting, with a digital puff of air going across her screen.
"Wow, even when I waited so long for you to come! Didn't you say that you would come to play my game too? So it looks like I'm talking to a liar!"
Mia held onto the side of her head with a bit of frustration.
"I did say something like that, didn't I? Would it be alright if only I came to the game then?"
Anna suddenly put on a happy face again, though it didn't seem that disjointed due to it being a digital screen anyway.
"Yes! That would be great! I can make it so my game only needs one person and we can play together!"
Mia turned to the others with an awkward smile.
"You two hurry on through the portal. I'll go play a game with Anna."
Jessica furrowed her brows slightly in concern.
"Are you sure you'll be ok?"
Jack put a finger on his chin and looked on curiously.
"We don't come to play the game too?
Mia waved her hand dismissively.
"If anything goes wrong, I'll just use the instant warp that we just got. And if things go well, I'll just warp back after finishing the game. You two hurry up and take the portal. There's no reason for all of us to waste our stones."
Jessica was a bit concerned, but decided to put an arm around Jack and drag him along to the portal.
"Hurry back soon!"
Jack simply looked around confused while he was being dragged along.
"What? Why don't we play too?"
Mia gave a small wave.
"If I don't come back within a few hours, just go on without me and do the promotion mission or something."
Jessica gave a nod before she and Jack disappeared into a flash of light. The portal visibly showed its instability, warping and phasing in and out of existence after transporting them. It clearly looked like it was about to fizzle out at any moment.
Mia silently looked at it for a few moments before it did indeed fizzle out.
Anna called out to her excitedly, before her display transformed into an arrow.
"Now come on, come on! Follow the arrow quickly, before someone else shows up to the game! I'm super excited for a game only between the two of us!"
Mia looked down at the gameboy she was holding onto with both hands, with a bit of a solemn expression.
"Alright."
She took out the lantern and followed the arrow, jogging lightly as she went. Her eyes were constantly in a swivel, looking around like a paranoid person. She had the warp stone between her index finger and thumb with the other fingers holding up the lantern.
Being by herself made her even more scared, making her ever more alert than usual.
Though other than the faint sounds of water droplets, there was nothing. In the end, after just ten minutes, Mia had arrived.
There was a bright white display, with big bold outlined letters.
"Welcome Mia!"
The name was very clearly not what the actual game was. Underneath, the finer print didn't exactly show anything special either.
"Reward: Lots of fun!
Punishment: Nothing!"
Anna appeared on the gameboy with a proud pixelated smile.
"How do you like it?"
Mia couldn't help but laugh a little.
"It looks great."
She relaxed a little, and decided that she might as well have a bit of a fun time with Anna herself as she inserted the deck into the indent.