"What did you say?"
"What do you think we said? You third world country people are disgusting monkeys, all of you." said a talkative blonde guy, to which they all began to laugh.
Before Midas could even make a move, Julio had already pounced forward with the vigour of a beast. His body accelerated at the inhuman rate of possibly 40 metres per second, which Midas calculated would allow Julio to reach the closest of the group in the time of 0.5 seconds.
Midas could keep up because his brain was working at full speed trying to analyse and coordinate with Julio. It was too late to stop him now, so he might as well join him.
'[Eye of Judgement] [Eye of Truth]' thought Midas while running forward.
With his speed, he knew he would get there after 1.6 seconds at least, considering his top speed and the environment of the grass and any other obstacles that might hinder him.
He decided to guide Julio as best as he could using the skill descriptions of the men. Midas read the Index of the man Julio was pouncing at and immediately found something problematic.
'Gift of Corrosion (C Rank), with skills that are capable of melting someone's skin on touching, and a projectile release skill on top.'
"Julio, watch out for corrosive Skills!" said Midas while following. Meanwhile, he was also analysing what they were doing in the meantime.
0.5 seconds passed.
The men were startled that these two weak-looking guys had made a move, and by the time Julio had stabbed his spear's blunt end into the talkative guy's ribcage, knocking air out of his lungs in the process and almost incapacitating him with his raw strength, they began to react.
Midas, with his [Eye of Truth], found out that some colour specks inside two of the guys were rotating and moving as if they were going to manifest themselves. He had previously inferred that this is what happens during the activation of a Skill.
Back at the Apple tree, Midas had already activated his [Eye of Truth]. He had noticed Gwen's blue-coloured specks located at her throat start rotating and moving and shaping themselves when she looked him deep in the eyes but that didn't mean much to him until he later discovered that she had a skill called [Mesmerising Eye].
Then he noticed a little girl's indigo-coloured specks start rotating, moving and shaping themselves into incomprehensible shapes while she was staring at Midas, and when Midas activated his [Eye of Judgement], he discovered that she had an [Appraisal] skill of B rank.
He figured that his Eye of Truth could give him insight into when people activate skills. The discovery was enlightening and also meant that Midas had more options in future confrontations with others. He now had an opportunity to analyse people's battle plans in real time and react to them.
More interestingly, this time it was a green orb located at the chest area that was releasing lights. Midas noted all of this and would explore its meanings soon enough.
He pulled up the two men's info and found out their Gifts and Skills, thinking 'Gift of Speed, B Rank, has an ability that makes things slower and affect Inertia. GIft of Barriers, C Rank, has an ability that can put up barriers…'
Midas thought 'Okay so they are going to slow him down and block him, allowing the two other guys with the powerful B Rank Gift of The Moon to transform into a Wolf, and B Rank Gift of Light to release a flash of light, blinding Julio, or maybe a laser to destroy him… They don't care about me, do they?'
Thinking this far, Midas threw his spear at the bearer of the Gift of Speed with the intent to knock him out or kill him if he was unlucky, aiming for his head.
With the millions of years of practice Midas had in the library, he was an expert spear thrower, and his spear reached the bearer of the Gift of Speed at almost the same time as Julio was about to reach him.
The man, obviously sensing the threat, focused his Momentum-altering skill on the spear, allowing Julio free access to him if he wanted.
But the other man had erected an invisible barrier in front of both of them.
0.7 seconds had passed.
"Julio, jump left! There's a wall!"
Almost immediately, Julio jumped left and went around the invisible barrier. Before anyone could react, Julio stabbed the bearer of the Gift of Speed with a Spear in his stomach, causing him to curl over while coughing and drooling like an idiot.
Julio obviously used the blunt of the spear, otherwise, there would have been blood and guts everywhere, causing Midas to be impressed with him. Even when he was angry, he could still keep his composure and rationalise what to do and not to do.
Julio continued to punch the bearer of the Gift of Barrier in the face, causing him to bleed out of his nose and fly back, landing on top of the bearer of the Gift of the Moon.
0.9 seconds had passed.
"Use [Unbreakable]!" screamed Midas, seeing the bearer of the Gift of Light charging up a Skill.
The bearer of the Gift of the Moon was also charging up but having been impeded by the act of saving his friend, he would probably waste some time.
In Midas' vision, Julio's inner body's blood-red specks started swirling and shaping themselves. His skin started darkening as if layers and layers of it were growing on top of it. Julio kept moving forward towards the two remaining men while Midas was gaining from the back.
At this moment, the bearer of the Gift of Light's Skill had finished charging up and he raised both his hands to his chest, with his hands assuming a diamond shape. A myriad of lights converged in the middle, ready to be shot out at any moment.
Midas calculated the trajectory of the shot, realising that the man was aiming for Julio's head. Midas wanted to tell Julio to dodge down but the speed of light would always eclipse the speed of sound. He would have to depend on Julio to somehow make it through by his skill, ability, and luck.
He had already prepared as best as Julio could handle by having him become unbreakable for some time. The rest would be in Julio's hands. Midas leaned forward preparing to roll on the floor. He would make sure to grab some soil and grass in the process.
1.1 seconds had passed.
*Zoooom*
A beam of Light lit up the forest. Julio had dodged it by leaning his head left at the last moment. This guy…
Before the bearer of the Gift of the Light could blast another beam, Julio was already upon him. The guy, realising that Julio was already here, tried to throw a punch, but it was too late.
Julio dodged the punch, and threw one of his own, dislocating the guy's jaw and knocking him out in the process.
But before Julio could continue his rampage..
*Boosh*
Julio was thrashed away backwards, towards the left of Midas's current position. In front of Midas and Julio stood a large 2-metre-tall man beast with the body of a man and the head of a wolf.
"Rawwwrr!!"
It had a line of drool running down its face with a deranged appearance that visualised its anger and hatred at the two weaklings before it.
Blood-red pupils stared at both Julio and Midas. Julio paused somewhat, affected by the intimidating presence of the beast before him, allowing Midas to catch up.
1.6 seconds passed.
"It's strong but it's dumb. Go [Berserk]." said Midas while running forward and picking up his spear lying next to a collapsed Gift of Speed bearer.
Julio imperceptibly nodded and ran at the beast. Midas calculated that he was 0.4 seconds behind. He tossed the soil he had collected into his hand straight into the beast's eyes, forcing the beast to close its eyes in irritation.
Julio used that moment to get close to the beast and send three rapid punches into its sides where a normal human's liver would be. Midas couldn't help but be impressed at Julio's battle sense. A powerful blow at the right place could destroy any opponent.
"Rawrrrr!!" howled the beast, while trying to separate itself from these pests. It swiped left and right with its large arms but felt no contact at all, which seemingly sent it into an even more furious state.
Because of the dirt thrown by Midas, it could not see anything and thus could not deal with Julio's taunting but powerful blows using his arms and spear. All it could do was swipe left and right, trying to give itself some respite.
"Rawwrrrrr!! Raaahhhggg!!"
Midas finally reached the beast at this moment. The beast, as if sensing another danger, began flailing even wilder. Julio leaped backwards while Midas donkey-rolled again and stabbed its side aiming for a bloodied wound on its belly, and managed to slice the beast open.
"Aww Oorr!!"
The beast wailed in pain, and turned away in the opposite direction from Midas and Julio's attacks and ran with all its might, even faster than Julio. Midas calculated it to be 64 metres per second. Even if Midas and Julio followed, they may not catch up, so Midas decided to say "Don't chase, Julio."
Before long Midas saw a spectacular sight. In his [Eye of Truth] vision, the green particles all around nature were drawn and shaped. Then suddenly out of the direction of the beast's escape, which happened to coincide with the river's location, a domineeringly cold voice sounded.
"How dare you."
*Boom**Woosh**Shwaahhh*
A loud booming sound followed by a raging cold wind. Midas looked around and could perceptibly see the trees around gaining some frost on them. He could even feel the temperature in the surroundings get even colder than it was previously.
'Cold.' thought Midas at this moment.
The clearing at the front had been taken over by snow and turned into a tundra. Midas came from the Southern hemisphere, so he rarely saw snow but he was sure that right there was a scene from the coldest winters.
"What the fuck" said Julio in fear and disbelief. And Midas understood. If someone was capable of changing their environment like this, they must be strong.
That Wolf was fucked.
And sure enough, out of the frozen tundra stepped a group of women with their numbers counting to 16. They were all beauties and the most eye-catching one stood among them with light blue hair and a white dress.
Her skin white as snow, her eyes baby blue like oceans. She seemed almost dainty and fragile and yet the look in her eyes was domineering and powerful. Her eyes were like the coldest fire that people could not stare at too long with fear that they could never look away anymore.
Midas had never seen such a beautiful Woman before. Well, he had, according to his [Divine Database], but she had changed so much from any known images that existed of her that she seemed almost foreign.
Her hair used to be a light blonde and her eyes did not radiate their blue as much as they did now.
She was like an Ice Goddess and a Fire Goddess at the exact time..
' Helga Gunnarson from Greenland… A 22 year old CEO running her own women's beauty product company… Her record's clean, Her social media is impeccable… [Eye of Judgement]... Sheesh.'
|————————————
|| Index || Network | Statistics |
—————
Earth Name: Helga Gunnarson
AC: 10,900
Gift: Gift of Kinetic Manipulation (S Rank)
—————>
| The Gift of Kinetic Manipulation (S Rank) |
[You can shape, manipulate and create the kinetic energy in the World around you. You control the absolute temperature.]
Skills: [Thermal Manipulation(Lv. 1)], [Thermal Body(Lv. 1)], [Kinesis(Lv. 1)]
|————————————
| Thermal Manipulation (Level 1) |
[You can induce any absolute temperature possible in and around you.]
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|————————————
| Thermal Body (Lv. 1) |
[Adaptation to any temperature conditions greatly increases. The body can embody kinetic energy for some time.]
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|————————————
| Kinesis (Lv. 1) |
[You can Control the energies of objects and their movements.]
————————————|
<—————
Conditions and States:
—————>
Nature: Neutral Evil
Trait: Cold Hearted
Mental: Avoidant Personality, Borderline Personality
Physical: -
<—————
Stats:
—————>
Dexterity (Agility, Flexibility) → 3.2
Strength (Speed, Power) → 2.1
Constitution (Endurance, Health) → 2.1
Intelligence (Memory, Reasoning) → 2.7
Charisma (Charm, Persuasion) → 4.9
Wisdom (Intuition, Adaptability) → 3.0
Spirit (Mental State, Character) → 5.9
<—————
————————————|
'Jesus fucking Christ. That's a cheat. How the hell does she have those stats and those skills in her little body.' thought Midas. Why couldn't he have something like [Kinesis] which was basically like the Gift of Speed in and of itself.
Midas wanted to get to know her. She was the strongest S Ranker, or at least she had the most potential according to Midas' judgement. So when she looked at him and he looked at her, they maintained eye contact with eachother for a while with no person making the first move.
"Was it your fault?" demanded a brown haired girl beside the woman, seeing Midas not apologise for ruining their bath time. Midas, turned towards the woman.
"I'm guessing the doggy's been turned into a popsicle?" asked Midas with a mocking smile on his face.
"You!! You ruined our bath time!" said another woman.
"You better give us an explanation." said another and like that some of the women were putting in their two cents. Julio at this point stood forward to say:
"They were insulting us, so we fought against them. That guy ran away towards you by himself. We didn't force him to do that."
"Boohoo, I guess I'm not gonna force you to kneel down and apologise, now am I?" said the brown haired girl while raising her right hand
"Julio, step away from the trees. Follow me." Midas said. And right after, vines radiated from the trees and attempted to bind Julio and Midas.
But because they had stepped at the midpoint between trees and were too far, about 1 metres away from any surrounding trees, the vine's reach could do nothing against them.
"What?!" exclaimed the Brown haired girl.
"Hey, hey… Can we please get along" said Midas with a placating smile.
At this moment, the Ice beauty spoke, saying, "How did you know?".
Immediately, the scene came to a standstill, with just two people calmly looking at each other.