"Aren't you going to answer my question?"
Receiving no response from Eldric, Luna couldn't help but grit her teeth while looking at Eldric who just stood there in silence while constantly caressing Aria's face gently.
"Must be convenient, huh!?"
Instead of answering her, he let out a hollow laugh.
"What do you mean by that?" Listening to his voice which seemed to be mocking her, Luna narrowed her eyes as the expression on her face became icy cold. She just floated there while looking at him with a terrifyingly calm gaze.
"Like I said... Must be convenient to come and go as you please.
Must be convenient to decide whether you want to show yourself to others today or not.
And must be really convenient to poke your nose in other's business."
"....."
"..."
"Have you got a death wish?"
Luna didn't shout or show any anger. Her eyes just stayed on the young boy in front of her, as if wondering whether she should wipe him out or not.
"Did I hit a nerve?" Completely disregarding her, Eldric raised his head and looked at the floating girl beside him.
"From your first appearance till now, I have never asked you about who you were or what your story is.
I never asked you any questions... Hell, I didn't even know your name until you told me.
And yet, here you are... Acting so high and mighty in my personal matters.
How about we both keep our personal life separate? I certainly don't need any life advice from anyone. Especially not from someone about whom I know nothing."
In the dead silence of the night, Eldric's voice sounded particularly heavy. It seems to be coming from the depth of his heart, changing the expression of Luna who widened her eyes in disbelief.
"You... You..." Pointing her finger towards him, she wanted to speak, but words seemed to be stuck in her throat.
Eldric didn't speak another word but kept silent while looking back at Aria.
"I see..." Controlling her heaving chest which was rising with anger, Luna kept on nodding her head in anger. "If you want that... Then so be it.
DO NOT CRY LIKE BEFORE AND COME TO ME FOR HELP EVER AGAIN."
With these words, she vanished from there, leaving behind the figure of Eldric standing there alone.
...
Completely unaware of her departure, Eldric kept on looking at Aria's face which was beginning to blur.
At that moment, instead of Aria, he saw the figure of another woman lying there.
It was a woman in her late twenties. She was the definition of a next-door elder sister with a charming appearance, though she was nowhere near Aria in beauty.
It wasn't until an hour passed that the figure of the earlier woman changed back to Aria.
"Heh..." Though Eldric pretended to laugh, one could feel the desolation and loneliness in his voice.
Heading back to his room, Eldric didn't enter the Zone or rush to complete the missions.
He just sat there in silence while looking at the pitch-black forest below him, spanning far into the distance.
As the noise of cricket and the hoots of owls began to dominate the night scenery, a blurry memory slowly surfaced in Eldric's mind.
It was the memory of his old world.
In the eyes of Eldric, the balcony as well as the forest below him had disappeared. Instead of the dark night, he saw the bright sunlight illuminating the surroundings, revealing a modern school classroom with two roof fans and a single light bulb just above the blackboard.
Looking around, he could see familiar faces as well as some faces that had gone blurry. He tried to recall their identity, but unfortunately, he couldn't.
Perhaps Eldric was aware that he was dreaming, so he didn't say anything and just sat there in silence, slowly observing his surroundings.
The class was filled with a mixture of noise, making it hard to understand. Eldric just sat there in silence constantly looking around in a daze. And it wasn't until a few more minutes passed that the door opened and a figure slowly walked in.
It was a woman in her late twenties, wearing a two-piece black suit. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail and she would constantly adjust her wearing glasses.
"....." Just by looking at her, Eldric felt his breathing hastened.
He raised his hand towards her as if wanting to touch her, but before he could do anything, the scene around him disappeared before he once again found himself sitting on the balcony.
"Heh..." It was a tone filled with self-mockery and helplessness.
After sitting there motionless for almost an hour, Eldric walked back to his room.
.
.
.
.
Waking up the next morning, it took a while for Eldric to gather his scattered thoughts. After preparing breakfast and lunch for Aria he headed to the shop.
But the moment he reached there he was greeted by the sight of an old man along with a young boy his age, standing there, waiting in front of his shop.
It was the same old man who taught him the basics and guided him for one week before he took charge of the shop.
Narrowing his eyes, Eldric walked forward before standing in front of him.
"Took you long enough." The old man's voice was filled with dissatisfaction. Without waiting for Eldric, he spoke further.
"It has been decided that you are no longer suitable as a shopkeeper here." There was a hint of disdain in his voice.
"From the time you were left in charge, you only managed to sell 4 items.
And it is nowhere near enough." As he spoke these words, he patted the shoulder of the boy beside him. "This is why, the higher-ups have decided to hand over this position to this bright young man.
From today, he will be taking over this store."
Eldric who was already tired after yesterday's incident was in no mood to ask any questions or argue with them. He knew things weren't just as simple as lower sales. But even if there were underlying reasons, he couldn't care about them.
He just pulled out keys from his pocket, threw them to the old man, and turned back towards his house.
"..."
'So fast?' Stunned, this was the only thought in the old man's head as he looked at the departing back of Eldric.
At first, he thought the boy would directly refuse or even argue with him. After all, this was the shop that his parents especially asked for him.
He heard some rumors that they were forced to accept an impossible task and as compensation, were given this shop.
It was only when the news of them going missing arrived, did he had thoughts about this shop.
He tried every means possible and in the end, was only allowed to take this position if Eldric himself decided to quit.
His words earlier were lies, meant to pressure Eldric. But even in his wildest dreams, he didn't think about things going this smoothly.
Holding the keys in his hand, both he and his grandson didn't know what to say next. They just stood there, unable to understand how things went this smoothly.
But soon, this confusion and surprise turned into ecstasy, as they realized what it meant for them.
.
.
.
.
Reaching back home, Eldric sat there in silence.
After the events of yesterday, he wasn't feeling like himself. For a moment, he even wished to have woken up in his old world.
As for the matter of the shop... He never took it seriously. It was his parents who wanted him to work there. And at that time, because he still hadn't completed his trial, he had no other choice but to accept this arrangement. But now that he was on the brink of the second evolution, he didn't need to work there anymore.
He could just take out materials and sell them for a staggering amount of money. After all, the small marketplace where he was working only sold ordinary materials and not materials dropped by evolved beasts.
As for the matter of old man... He had forgotten about it already.
.....
"Let's just focus on earning more tokens." Burdened by the conflicting feeling, he could only look for other things to distract himself from it.
Opening his eyes back in the portal, Eldric just looked roughly at the missions. After seeing the mission of Green Bull's horns was still there, he sighed in relief, accepted it, and looked at the maps.
He didn't choose the first map like the previous time. One reason was due to the presence of those outlaws and the second reason was because he didn't want to be in a place that was filled with people. So, after looking at a long time his face finally stopped at a map in the middle of the list.
[Tropical Tundra: 50 Tokens]
Looking at the teleportation fees which were fifty for others and zero for him, he chose to teleport and soon disappeared from there.
.
.
"..." Standing in a rainforest, the first thing that attracted his attention was the massive tree in front of him.
Looking at it, Eldric was filled with awe. It was the first time in both his lives that he saw a tree that was over one mile long and almost half a mile wide. And in the middle of the tree was a large portal.
Just standing there gave him a feeling of oppression.
Looking around, Eldric didn't see any other person. He didn't know why, but compared to the number of people in the zone, there didn't seem to be that many people on these maps. He always thought this was weird, after all, given how many materials are there in the auction, the number of people hunting the beasts should be staggering. But... Looking around, that doesn't seem like it.
Shaking his head, he didn't dwell on this matter and walked inside the portal.
As soon as Eldric opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of endless hordes of Bulls, roaming the grassland.
In the distance far away from the grasslands, there were giant trees, almost reaching the skies.
"What the hell...?" Looking at the endless number of bulls, Eldric felt his scalp tingling. Instead of bulls, he felt like he entered an ant colony.
And just when he was wondering whether to exit this place or not, he felt something hitting him in the back.
"Huh!?" The force didn't seem that strong as Eldric barely even felt the impact. It was like someone pushing him gently.
Turning around, he was stunned looking at the bull that was smaller in size compared to the ones beside it. The small bull was slowly stepping backward, making some distance between it and Eldric. It then began to glow red and rushed forward at an incredible pace, wanting to smash the human in front of it into pieces.
Looking at the incoming bull, Eldric suppressed the feeling of wanting to doge and just stood there. Till now, he had seen as well as felt the effects of his increased strength as well as agility.
Now he wanted to see how effective was the maxed-out Vitality against such an attack.
.
.
"Thud."
There was no scene of Eldric flying away while vomiting blood. There wasn't even a scene of him blowing into small pieces or lying injured on the ground.
The only scene was of Eldric standing still while the bull seemed to be stuck there, unable to take a step forward.