Chapter 7 - Take Off Your Clothes

"What do you mean to have a look at me?" I asked her, looking confused.

"I mean I wanna see if you're hurt so can you take off your clothes please?" She asks softly, making me blush.

I couldn't believe what just happened. One moment, we were introducing ourselves to the stranger, and the next thing I knew, she was asking me to take off my clothes! I could feel my face turning red as a tomato as I stumbled over my words. "What are you doing?" I managed to sputter out, my heart racing.

"I can't see if you're hurt or not. Can you take off your clothes?" Basil asked softly, still looking intently at my body. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was she really asking me to undress in front of her?

The sword, meanwhile, was laughing and making crude comments about the situation. "Come on get it on now! Damn, it's only the first day and a girl already asked you to take off your clothes. Lucky. When am I going to get the hot swords in my area?"

I couldn't take it anymore. I pushed Basil away softly, trying to regain some sense of control. "Why would you ask a guy to take off their clothes in front of you?" I demanded. "Wouldn't that be an awkward thing to do to a girl?"

"Don't be such a coward! She's cute so what's the big deal? She's got that soft-spoken voice, the short stature, the thin build. So what's the problem?" The sword jested.

"That's not the point! It's just weird!" I whispered under my breath so only the sword could hear my response.

There was a long silence before. "Oh, I'm not a girl," Basil explained, his voice soft and gentle. The shock must have shown on my face because even the sword was speechless for a moment. "No way! This guy is way too cute to be a guy," the sword exclaimed, unable to contain its surprise. "But then again, you know what they say, every hole is a goal."

"Oh! you're a guy!" I exclaimed, making realization. It all made sense now. I could see why the sword was so surprised. Basil had a certain charm about him that was hard to resist. I felt a little embarrassed about my initial reaction.

But then, Basil continued on with what he was doing. "Yes, I am. Anyways, I can see that you're hurt so show me your wounds," he said, his voice steady and reassuring.

Feeling a little more at ease, I showed him the wound on my leg. It was a small scratch, but it still stung. I got it when I was hit by the sharp rocks of the cliff. Basil put his hand on the wound, and a green light glowed. I watched in amazement as the wound began to heal, the skin closing up before my very eyes.

"There. All better now," Basil said with a smile, withdrawing his hand. I looked down at my leg in amazement. It was as good as new. I couldn't believe it.

"How did you do that?" I asked, still feeling a little stunned. Basil just smiled, his green eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Let's just say that being part plant has its advantages," he said, a hint of mystery in his voice. "But seriously, are you alright? You took quite a fallback there. You should be more careful next time." He scolded me a little bit.

When I looked beside him again, some of the blurred words from the tab were readable now. Under "Vine Manipulation", it now includes "Life Energy Magic" at the bottom. I turned to him to ask if he sees the tab beside him. "Do you see that beside you? Some sort of window in the corner. It says Florant, your origin level which is 15, and some abilities like Vine Manipulation and Life Energy Magic"

He shook his head. "No, I don't, sorry. I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, I see... alright. Ignore what I said It's nothing!" I acted like it was nothing but I definitely could see that. What even is that? It's like showing me their stats, their abilities and their origin and the information updates on what I see from them.

After Basil healed my wound, I was still a bit flustered from the earlier incident. I could feel my face still burning up. The sword was still in shock and kept whispering about Basil's feminine appearance. "That guy is definitely a girl. I mean come on, he is too cute like what the heck? How is he even prettier and more feminine than most girls I've seen?"

"Maybe because that's just how he was born and that's just how he styles himself," I whisper back to the sword. Also, can we stop talking to him behind his back like this?" I told the sword. I knew that it wasn't polite to keep whispering about someone, but I couldn't help it.

"I know but yeah it's just really weird somehow I feel attracted to him. Even though he's a guy, kinda weird since I'm a 10000-year-old sword and he's like about the same age as you which is like 19 years old but still.."

"Hey, guys can be feminine too," I whispered back to the sword.

Basil then asked, "Who are you whispering to?"

I quickly replied, "No one, don't worry about it."

I then remembered that I had to get going to school. I pulled out the map of the city and showed Basil where the school was.

"Oh, Golden Gates! Wow, we go to the same school! It's my first today actually! Is it your face day too?" Basil exclaimed in surprise.

I nodded my head and then asked, "Do you want to come with me to school?"

Basil agreed with a smile, "Sure, I would love to come with you. Kind of boring if I walked their by myself.

I was excited to have Basil join me on the walk to school, but I was also a bit nervous. I didn't want to say or do anything that might make him uncomfortable. As we started walking, I tried to make small talk with Basil.