"It seems you are in a good mood nowadays."
Asahi stopped at the sound of a voice. His smile froze in his face before it turned into an awkward smile. "Haha, you've caught me, Min-jun."
Asahi was the only one who could talk with the other nationalities after getting the Language Bundle as a reward from clearing one of the Zones. It was given to the person who had achieved Usherer of Humanity.
Because of that, he was close to almost everyone regardless of their nationality. And ever since the Super Phenomena happened, they had met four other nationalities aside from Yamato locals. The close countries near Yamato were placed in different locations after they cleared out the Zones.
From the information they had gathered, it seemed that those who had exited the Zones and were deemed not strong enough to handle the instability of the world, were then randomly got teleported to the nearest stable world plot.
As such, the following countries: Zhongguo, Daehan, Formosa and Las Felipinas had been transported to Yamato. And of course, it was reasonable to think that the other Yamato citizens would also be randomly teleported to the four other countries if they were deemed not strong enough to handle the instability of the world.
When Asahi heard of the information, he thought it was reasonable because the five countries were close to each other. However, without further investigation, he could not say for certain what really happened.
For now, their greatest priority is to find a place that is safe. It has to be a place where Dragon Riders won't find them.
"So, care to share?"
He woke up from thinking about the current status of the world and broke once more into a smile. "Someone is coming~" he teased.
Min-jun frowned, his pale face and his monolid eyes slightly quivered. "We should hurry and–" He stopped when he remembered how Asahi was acting. "It's not an enemy?" He made a face so exaggeratedly funny that Asahi chuckled.
"Of course not. My best friend is coming."
"Huh? How sure are you?"
"He's the only one who would really want to look for me. We made a promise. I wonder how he has been? I knew he would survive. Maybe, this world would be perfect for him."
"Ah! The gamer-otaku?"
Asahi laughed slightly louder. "Yeah. That one. I felt some tracking put on me, when I wanted to dispel it the tracking showed signs of coming from a friendly person. And there's something familiar with it…"
"Wow… a tracking skill that can emit a friendly aura? Your best friend sure is amazing. But I guess it's natural. Aigoo, I should've known since he is your best friend."
"I'll take that as a compliment. So, what I really want to say is I won't be coming to the raid this time. I'm waiting for him to arrive~"
"Haaah. Of course, I understand. It's good to have people who can look for you. I also miss my friends and family…"
Asahi could do nothing but pat the back of Min-jun as consolation.
***
"You know, you should practice your skills instead of looking at me." Caelus broke the silence when he noticed Hiroto's eyes on him.
"Brother… What did you do? It feels like you've grown stronger!"
"Practice. If you want to grow stronger, you should practice too."
"Really? Do I grow stronger by practicing? How do I do that?"
*Hm?*
Caelus was surprised by Hiroto's attitude. But then again, he felt it was reasonable to want to grow stronger in this new world.
"Experiment with your skill. Every skill we have right now has a variety of uses. And it depends on the user how we can use it effectively. The more imaginative you are, the more your skill grows. The more you use your skill, the more mastery you'll gain. Maybe one day, you'll be able to upgrade your skill."
"W-what?"
"Hmm… okay, for example, your power is light. Then, specifically, you can create light to lighten up this cave. If you push yourself hard enough, maybe, you can even light the night. But that's just one use of the light. There are many uses of it. Illusion, speed, or even blinding someone. It depends on how you want to use it. But even if you want to use it like that, you still need to find the right element to manipulate your power. As far as I know, I haven't reached my Glitch's potential, and ultimately, I'm far away from my limit.
"Ah… aside from that, you should know what kind of Glitch you have. Linear, Branch and Unique. If you have Linear, you can only use one path. Meaning, you have to be careful when choosing your path. For the Branch, there are certain paths that are already open, still, it's up to you to find those branches. You can also ask people who have the same type of skill. The last one is Unique. Unique is really up to your imagination."
Of course, these things were something he discovered from fragments of his memories and Overview skills. Sometimes, he feels that someone or something is guiding him to be stronger. Since he didn't feel any ill will and his instincts were telling him to follow, he just followed through. It was his strong desire to be stronger that pushed him forward.
"W-wow… c-can you help me to give ideas with my skill then?"
Caelus blinked.
He didn't know that Hiroto would reach out to him for guidance. He had been aloof with the guy ever since they traveled together. It was his first impression that just could not trust Hiroto. Looking at the guy, Caelus thought Hiroto would be more guarded and not randomly say his skill.
"Are you sure you want me to know your skill? If I ever betray you, you wouldn't be able to survive from me."
"Nah. If you want to betray me, even if you don't know my skill, I still won't be able to survive. Having you to guide me is better. I'll grow stronger. Then, I'll have the power to protect myself."
*Hm? Did I really misunderstand the guy? Was I too biased in judging him?*
"Up to you. What is your skill or type? Also, you should be careful next time. Don't tell people about your Glitch."
"My skill seems pretty useless to be honest…"
"...?"
Hiroto seemed hesitant, not because he didn't trust Caelus, but because he felt his skill was really useless.
Caelus gave him an encouraging look.
"Sigh… trader… my skill is Trader… I don't even know what rotten function it has."
Caelus was indeed surprised. But then immediately thought it made sense. Hiroto was the successor of a huge corporation. Therefore, he should at least inherit the trading skill needed to be the successor.
From what he saw from people Glitch skills they manifested, it was mostly related to what kind of person they are. For example, nurses or doctors manifested Glitch that was related to medicine: potion making, healing, detoxing, purifying. It all depended… It felt like it depended on compatibility too.
"Can you explain it further?"
"Erm… *cough* Basically, I can use my currency to strengthen myself."
"A currency to give you buff…?" He blinked. "Huh? Which currency?"
"M-my bank account."
Caelus' eyes widened. "Isn't this Godly?" A currency buff that was given to one of the richest people around the world? If that was not plot armor, he didn't know what that is. And he thought he had plot armor…
"It is… until my bank account hits zero."
*For someone born with a diamond spoon, I guess he still knew how money works. Now that all the money was frozen, he could not earn anymore. I understand why he thought it would be useless. However, what I've learned so far is that there is always a solution to a problem. It's just up to the person to look for it.*