'It works on the principle of electromagnetic induction.'
Lucy thought and stared at the stove in a daze.
Not until, her brother suddenly appeared in front of her and grabbed her shoulders.
"Are you alright Lucy? Should I call a doctor here?"
His panicked voice made Lucy out of her daze state as she looked at her brother's panicked face.
Subtle trembling of his hand showed how weak-hearted he was from inside.
Despite being in the crime investigating branch of police for 4 years, he never showed any sign of fear or any type of hesitation and always had an easygoing atmosphere around him.
'He only breaks down at moments like right now.'
All this started when their parents passed away from SARS-19, a viral epidemic on a global scale that happened 2 years ago and since then, his vulnerable side always becomes visible when Lucy gets a cold or something.
"It's okay. Why are you getting all hyped up on simply losing a footing? Just sit on the sofa and wait for dinner to be ready.
In the meantime, why don't you find some girl on those new dating apps or whatever."
Sighing in relief, her brother let go of the matter. But the following moment, his phone suddenly started ringing when he was going to relax on the sofa.
Accepting the call with irritation written on his face, he answered.
"What is it? I thought I was finally freed from work after taking all those uncalled extra emergency shifts."
"@#£+&@"
Someone on the other side of the phone answered with haste. Not long after, his face changed from annoyance to a frown before taking a serious expression.
"It seems, I have got back to work, Lucy. Take care and call me if you don't feel good."
Saying that he went to look for his coat, before going outside.
"Then order a pizza for me, Sam. I'm not going to make anything just for myself."
Chuckling, Samuel opened the main door and took off.
After he left, Lucy moved toward her uninjured arm and massaged her shoulder right where her wound from the Tier 1 monster was located.
'Fuck, this pain.'
******
It was early 6 o'clock and sun rays were spreading everywhere, making inhabitants of the city wake.
One of them was David, who had already woken up an hour ago to make preparations for today's entry to the Cosmic Confluence.
"All done."
He said as he put the backpack on his shoulders.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and started remembering the portal to the Cosmic Confluence.
As if heeding his call, a bright blue-colored Spiraling mass of energy appeared before his eyes that now held a glint of newfound determination.
Taking firm steps toward it and stealing his heart about what was coming next, David found himself inside the same lush green patch of grassland that he had seen yesterday.
Though only 15 hrs have passed on the earth, in Cosmic Confluence it is 45 hrs.
That's nearly 2 days. And the proof of time lag could be seen from his status window.
'God, I didn't do anything in that time period but even then my level skyrocketed from 2 to 7, even that was close to entering 8.
I can't imagine how high Keira's level would be by going with 5% of the experience with me.'
The barrier would last for another 21 hr, so David didn't have to worry about securing his summoning gate for the time being.
Just when David had taken only one step away from the summoning gate, a bright light flashed all around, making his eyes close shut.
'What the fuck!'
But the luminance didn't last longer than a few seconds. David reopened his eyes to find his first summon waiting before his eyes.
'Does she…'
As if something clicked in his mind, David looked around himself and found the same stone covered in runes littered around the summoning gate.
'I don't know if she wanted to greet me to do something like this or just wanted to keep track of me.'
Saying this inside his mind, he clutched the strap of his backpack harder and reminded himself that reality wasn't a sweet blend of honey.
'Let's see her status first.'
Being apprehensive, David focused on finding the status screen of Keira before him.
==========
[Status]
Name: Keira El Aly Aicantar
Race: High Sun Elf
Rank: Tier 1
Level: 13 [----(31%)--------]
Class: Magic Lancer
Attributes: Bloodline of 1st Altian Emperor{★★★}, Mana Affinity{★★★}
»Racial Attributes: Keen senses{★}, Night Vision{★}, Mana Sensitivity{★★★}
Ability: Elemental Overload{★★★★★★★} »» Blessings of Elementals{★★★★}
Strength: 15.1 / Agility: 20.5 / Constitution: 13.4(13.2) / Dexterity: 16.7 / Intelligence: 16.9 / Mana: 18.3(11.1)
==========
David blinked after scanning the content of the blue panel.
'What the…'
David didn't know where to start from. All those stars have blinded his vision. His status felt like a blank sheet of paper compared to her status panel.
If comparing an RPG game, the Magic Lancer class seems to be rare enough to be given at the latter or at least mid-phase of the game but here, a Tier 1 holder possesses it like a normal thing.
And remembering his blank attribute column while seeing her dazzling attribute full of stars, he felt even more inferior.
While it also seems his human race doesn't amount to anything, given that there wasn't even a sub-column of racial attributes.
'Bloodline of 1st Altian Emperor! You gotta be kidding me, an elf princess right off the bat for my first summon. I don't know if it's a good thing or not?'
And seeing her stats right now, all the excitement he gained from the stats increase through level increment seems to vanish all of sudden.
When David moved his eyes from the panel to the person whose information was displayed on the panel, he was met with cold central heterochromia eyes, staring right at him.
David gripped the side of his jeans where he had kept a knife hidden inside.
'I know that she deliberately kept the information about seeing through summons status secret but I didn't think that I would be getting such an exaggerated response.
Well, I'm just about to ask more questions that might tick her off. Let's get this over with once and for all.'
Even with such thinking, David was conscientious as he didn't move an inch further from the summoning gate and was ready at the moment to jump inside it if he sensed any malice towards himself.