With his serene eyes, almost like they were the eyes of the dead!, looking at the endless grey skeletons, he whispered in an icy voice, "Cards!"
*silence*
One sec.
Two sec..
Three sec...
Badump!
"... Aarrgghh... Cough....cough...."
Bittu vomited a mouthful of the deepest shed of blood as the blood vessels all around his body slowly tighten as they pumped his blood at the fastest speed they were capable of once again..... but unlike last time he didn't vomit blood again with his body on the verge of bursting, because.
[Warning! Warning! An unknown energy is detected inside you.]
The moment his veins tightened, the dark, sinister and corruptive energy that gradually originated from the border near his left arm and left chest since earlier swiftly spread all around his body internally, covering every sensitive and important part of his body in a cocoon, including his veins and heart, preventing them from suffering any more damage, almost acting like a shield.
Unknown to Bittu, his body was currently going through a change and this was all because of a single skill: Sufferance Synergy. The special skill of his class, Jocker.
Since the beginning, his thoughts only went on his skill danger intuition while he sub-consciously ignored this skill which seemed rather useful but not all that powerful and why would it not, since he didn't find anything abnormal or out of ordinary with this skill. In the first place, all he knew about the skill was that this skill helped him stop his race change and nothing else, but could a special skill be that simple?! The answer is obviously a big No! and Bittu will come to know this soon enough. He would, but at what cost?
Various notifications flashed before Bittu's eyes, but he ignored them all, his eyes staring only at the skeletons that were about to be turned into thin dust.
[An unknown energy has strengthened your stamina. Stamina+3]
[Your stamina has risen. Stamina: E -> D -> A]
But Bittu could not feel or see any of these changes and notifications because he was unconscious since earlier, with only his instincts and sub-consciousness active right now, which was influenced by this very energy.
[An unknown energy has strengthened your constitution. Constitution+2]
[Your constitution has risen. Constitution: C -> A]
With his constitution increased, finally his body can handle the intensity like a running horse and impact like two loaded trucks colliding at full speed, of using this Class A skill as his body glowed in a hue of green forming into three cards.
Badump! Badump! Badump!
With the appearance of the cards, the strain on his body increased but with the help of this corruptive and tenacious unknown energy his heart gradually began to beat in that rhythm as all the arteries and ventricles around his body pumped at the fastest rate they were capable of, to keep up with such intensity and still be fine.
[An unknown energy has strengthened your agility. Agility+1]
[Your agility has risen. Agility: C -> B]
Sparing none of these notifications any glance whatsoever, Bittu said in the same serene voice, without a change in his expression with the same cold eyes.
"Die!"
....
In the outermost forest, outside the city,
Near the river,
Currently, a beautiful girl was battling against a terrifying creature; an alligator. It had black scales and black eyes which were originally as sturdy as diamond but were now bleeding with cuts all around its body.
*Roar*
The alligator let out a pained roar.
"Now, let's finish this battle you beast!", said the beautiful girl. Her voice carrying boundless anger and guilt, probably because the creature has done wrong to one of her loved ones and, as a matter of fact, it did, but.... in her past life.
Elena wanted to finish this hideous creature as brutally as she could but unfortunately, currently she wasn't that powerful to let it experience terror of killing Aisha in her last life.
That's right- in her past life, when both of them were escaping the one slaughter of zombies after hiding for a week inside the city, they were ambushed by this alligator. She managed to live, but only at the cost of her best friend.
'Moreover, I can't be that brutal in front of her since I have always been shy and innocent before my family.', Elena thought as she looked over at her best friend who was also her bodyguard; Aisha was watching her intensely, with worry all over her face.
Elena's anger calmed a bit when she saw her friend still well. She then looked at the alligator with fury in her eyes and used her skill water manipulation to kill it with the help of the river.
Aisha, who was currently watching her lady kill the alligator, was actually not focusing on it at all. She was lost in her own thoughts.
'Why is my lady suddenly so shy and innocent?'
'She used to be cold to everyone around her. Only the boss could make her stiff face loosen a little in warmth.'
'Moreover, why is she so furious with this alligator? Did she know it? Did she hate alligators? But how can that be? She was always with us after that incident and no one would allow her to approach anything this dangerous, so how?'
Aisha was truly confused and worried about the mental state of her lady." What has happened to her?" She said in a whisper barely audible with concealed anxiety.
"What?!"
Suddenly, she heard her miss call out to her. She glanced at her lady and saw the same smile that she has been seeing for the past few days. A smile that looked genuine, so genuine that it gave chills. Looking at the smile, she only had one thought,' How can someone change so much in the span of a few days?'
"Did you say something?", asked Elena with confusion.
Aisha, concealing her thoughts, replied with a smile, " Miss, you are amazing. You killed this Lv. 3 creature easily."
"Yeah. I also got a treasure orb. Moreover, it's a rare treasure orb.", Elena said with excitement and happiness. It was like all her anger and guilt earlier was nothing but an illusion.
"Miss, is a rare grade treasure orb amazing?", Aisha said with a similar excitement and curiosity.
"Of course it is. After bronze and iron grade such as the sword we used in the city, comes a rare grade treasure. Moreover, these have an enchantment attached to them.", Elena replied naturally, as the one who asked her was her best friend. If it was someone else, she wouldn't have said a thing and just acted ignorant, but with her she could share these basic stuffs.
"That's amazing, miss." Aisha said with a smile but internally she thought anxiously, 'After coming from that strange realm, she truly has changed.'
Aisha had this thought because after hearing from Elena that she didn't have a finance. Aisha began to wonder what she meant? Since she was just acting as a proxy for her miss because of safety reasons and the true bride was her miss all along. Even the groom; Bittu was not aware of this.
This was because after that incident with miss and her father, boss, has become very paranoid about her granddaughter, so, for her young miss's safety, she has been acting as her proxy all this while. Except close family members and her none knew of this secret.
'The only reason the boss proposed for marriage was because of the aloof nature of our young miss. The only two she used to get along with, even if slightly, was me and Bittu and since he also knew Bittu well, he proposed it but, she didn't think at the last moment .....sigh....', Aisha thought pensive about the situation and what was going on with her young miss but towards the end all she felt was regret, regret for what happened at the wedding. But what could she do? She had to do it. Any method used.
"Look, Aisha. It's such an excellent sword."Elena, unaware of Aisha's thoughts, showed her the new sword she got with the same excitement. It was a Katana.
'Though her preference hasn't changed', Aisha thought as she watched her, you miss hold the sword just as dearly as she used to since her childhood.
"Yes, miss. It suits you well.", Aisha praised, happy for her young miss as she watched the sword's status.
[Item: Katana
Rank: Rare
Enchantment: Nimble
Description: A sword for someone with good reflexes.]
'This ability, Inspect, is truly a wonderful skill. It shows information about any weapon we want to know about.', Aisha thought with praise because of the usefulness of this ability. She got this ability after killing a Lv. 2 zombie that was as big as a mini-bus, which also helped her enter Lv. 2.
"Miss, it has an enchantment called Nimble.", Aisha said, letting her young miss know about the sword.
" So it focuses on speed. That's great!", Elena said with a genuine smile, satisfied with what she got.
Elena then looked at the sky and the sun that was about to set as she said, " Let's go. We need to reach the hill station before night."
"Yes, miss, ", Aisha replied as she followed behind her young miss.
As she followed her miss, she once again began to observe her miss as well as she could because her boss has given her a mission. A mission to let him know whenever his granddaughter has a change in her personality and what caused it. She was given this mission around a decade back, but sadly, it had zero progress. She had given hope on the fact that her miss could change, but she has and it could be seen from how she acts nowadays.