Morning light shines through Steve's face, looking at a man in a feathery black costume, with only his mouth and eyes seen.
His capa was also noticeable as it was so feathery.
One might mistake him as a joke as he looks goofy, yet the way he stands and talks to the little boy beside him makes Steve feel that this guy is brilliant.
'Who is he?'
Steve thought. He ignored the ray of sunlight shining through his eyes.
His breathing was calm, yet he was cautious and confused about what was happening.
The frustration he had when the disgustingly looking man tricked him.
It disappeared when the disgustingly looking man was sent flying down to the ground.
All of them still seem surreal.
Before this happened, he had just moved on from his girlfriend, who had always forgotten him.
His family and friends forgot him too.
He let himself thrown into the river of hunting humanoid creatures to release all the frustration.
He thought he was one of them when he found out about them.
Yet he knew something was different and didn't get the answer yet.
When he reached the 10th order, however, everything took a turn.
Steve steeled his heart.
'Calm down.'
He said.
'Calm down.'
He continued.
He closes his eyes. He is invincible as he is still wearing a boxing glove, so he is not worried about this man and the little kid in costume attacking him.
All of a sudden, the system woke him up.
Ding!
[ The host is not moving or performing shadowboxing. ]
[ The host will be subtracted by 16 shadow boxing performance. ]
Steve eyes the system screen.
This is how his system works. If he is wearing it constantly, it punishes him by multiplying numbers.
No shadow boxing, one plus one equals two, then two plus two equals four, four plus four equals eight, and so forth.
Steve immediately went to his boxing stance.
Using his left, he drove a punch to the air with his shoulder.
Pak!
Ding!
[ Shadowboxing: Perfect jab, 250 punch! ]
The system said.
Swoof! Swoof! Swoof!
Some of his punches would be perfect, yet there are also almost perfect jabs.
However, he didn't let it phase him, as it was inevitable to fail occasionally.
Steve made a series of jabs in the air to reach the thirty-five thousand punches he needed to perform before fifteen days.
It's almost due. Five days have already passed.
He is using his left hand, the one he can use to fight without killing an enemy.
If he put on boxing gloves or used his right hand with boxing gloves, he would obliterate anything in his path if he didn't have a target.
Even the whole world or half of it might be taken by his punch.
"Ahrmm!"
Steve heard someone clear his throat.
When he opened his eyes, he saw the man in a raven costume and a little boy beside him.
"Hi."
The man in a raven costume said.
Steve stared at him.
"Hi?''
He said back.
Steve needed to find out their intentions.
Soon he realised that the kid and this man were peculiar.
His guts tell him he is like them, yet he doesn't see him fight street humanoid monsters, so he is unsure.
However, defeating a disgustingly looking man and sending him flying was suspicious.
Steve knew that the answer he wanted was near.
"I want to thank you for saving Rainbow Raven."
He said and bowed to Steve respectfully.
Steve was taken aback.
He never thought that this tall, muscular man, that's only a little smaller than him, would act like this.
He didn't seem to look like he was faking it because of how his hand swayed, his facial and movement and how he talked.
This is a person who knows what he is doing.
"May I know your server profile?"
The man in a black raven costume asked.
Steve noticed that the kid was not talking like earlier. It seems he is following that man.
'His father?'
The man in a black raven costume saw that Steve was spacing out.
However, his eyes were locked on gigantic Steve.
He could see that Steve was not showing any kind of caution, yet he could feel a huge threat coming from him.
'He is confident.'
He thought.
'Interesting.'
He said in his head while scrutinising Steve from bottom to top.
'I must know his ability and put a contagious plan on him if he ever becomes one of the fallen.'
He concluded.
Steven and the man in a black raven costume had been staring at each other for a minute now. The kid finally could not take it.
"Server profile."
He said.
Waking up both of them.
Steve felt slightly embarrassed but didn't show it and just put on his usual stoic expression.
"What's that?"
The man in a black raven costume put his fingers on his chin.
"Have you ever seen that thing that would make a sound like 'Ding!', host is like this and like that?"
He asked.
At first, he didn't believe his trained ninja that this one was a natural elite.
Looking at Steve now, his trained ninja was proper.
Steve felt his muscles were constricting.
The hunch he is feeling earlier, he is right.
"You both have it?"
He asked.
The man in a black raven costume nodded.
Seeing this, Steve felt like, somehow, in a dark tunnel of loneliness, he could see a beast and humans like him too.
As a human, they are naturally social creatures, so knowing that there are humans with related experiences or who can see things similar to him is crucial.
His heart felt glad.
Steve quickly composed himself. He wanted to know more.
"Do-"
He stuttered.
"Do you know what that is?"
The man in a black raven costume nodded again and opened his mouth.
"Yes."
He said.
"We also know that the people or civilians you see can somehow forget you."
He calmly explained.
"They would remember everything about you if you showed yourself to them, yet they would forget you once you disappeared from their senses."
He continued.
Steve's eyes were wide open. The man in a black raven costume is right.
He thought he was the only one. He felt like something had opened to him.
A hope.
"You're correct."
He said.
Ding!
[ The host is not moving or performing shadowboxing. ]
[ Plus 32 punches to perform. ]
Seeing this, Steve moved to his boxing stance again.
The man in a black raven costume and the kid became alert.
However, Steve did not face them and was only on the side.
He shook his hand and shoulder a little to relax.
Swoof!
Ding!
[ Shadowboxing: Perfect jab, 250 punch! ]
Swoof!
Ding!
[ Shadowboxing: almost perfect jab, 100 punch! ]
Swoof!
Ding!
[ Shadowboxing: Perfect jab, 250 punch! ]
Seeing Steve enter a shadow box in front of them took them a little aback.
However, as if the man in a black raven costume was experienced, he didn't react to anything harmful.
'Maybe it's a part of his power.'
The man in a black raven costume in a black costume thought.
"So, what about those humanoid creatures I met?"
Steve asked while doing some jabs.
Swoof!
Swoof!
Swoof! Swoof!
The man in a black raven costume watches him for over a minute and finally opens his mouth.
"They are called the deprived beings, similar to a fallen as you've seen earlier."
Hearing this, Steve stopped shadowboxing.
"Deprived?"
He asked.
"Fallen?"
And continued with his face wondering what those were.
"They are people who failed to play the game and were killed."
The man in a black raven costume replied.
He took a little pause and asked.
"I believe you will also experience that game later."
Steve stopped punching again.
"Game?"
He asked with a foreboding feeling.
The mysterious woman named endless witch also mentioned it.
Yet, he had no idea what that was.
The man in a black raven costume nodded.
"Yes, a multiversal game that takes chosen to the multiverse to play a game."
He said.
"If they fail, they will become fallen or villains, and if they are killed, they will become humanoid monsters, depending on what killed them."
The explanation of the man in a black raven costume was calm and casual.
Like what he said is nothing to him.
However, to Steve, hearing this is enough to make his skin crawl.
"What the?"
Steve exclaimed with his mouth wide open.
Just thinking of the dangers he faced in the past few days is enough to convince him they are dangerous.
It would be catastrophic if he couldn't punch everything without boxing gloves.
Suddenly, the kid nudged the man in a black raven costume on his side with his shoulders.
The man in a black raven costume turned his head to the kid and nodded.
Steve's eyes flicked.
The man in a black raven costume handed him something.
When he saw it, it was two identity cards.
"Here is my contact. Contact me if you survive the multiversal unknown, random and mysterious game."
The man in a black raven costume flicked his finger a little, and another card was shown.
"Also, this card to buy anything in the City 3."
He added.