King raised his hand to do a handshake.
A Divine Scroll that could teleport a young brat to that place freely...
Wasn't that the key he needed the most?
It was still not too late. He must get that Divine Scroll no matter what!
Even if he had to lower himself and stoop so low to befriend an insignificant human.
Meanwhile...
Jax also raised his hand and grabbed the other party's hand with a firm handshake.
And with a bright smile, he replied, ''So, you are King. My name is Jax by the way.'' There was a moment of pause before he added, ''Jax Jabat.''
''Ah, okay.'' King nodded his head, seemingly uninterested. After a moment, he spoke without thinking, ''So, when are you going to give me the Scroll?''
''What?'' Jax was taken aback as he asked. He wanted to make sure if he heard it right.
''Huh?'' King was also taken aback. It seemed like he misspoke without thinking. How clumsy of him. Immediately, he diverted the topic as he asked, ''I mean, how can you get out of this place? I mean, you entered this place, right? So, you must have a way to leave as well, right?''
''Hmm... Maybe? If I complete the Lord's Quest?'' Jax thought for a moment as he replied with uncertainty.
''So, you're not sure?'' King asked, the corner of his lips twitched slightly. ''What is this Lord's Quest you're talking about?''
''Ah, that... I also don't know exactly. But it's a quest given to me by the Scroll.'' Jax forced out a smile and laughed dryly. It was true though. He really didn't know exactly, since that Scroll just suddenly popped out before him and gave him strange messages.
He only knew what little information the Scroll revealed to him. For whatever the truth was, he didn't know yet.
''Is... that so...'' King also forced out a smile, the corners of his mouth kept twitching. Veins bulged out of his hands, threatening to crash the other party's hand at any moment. Why could he feel like wanting to kill this brat now?
Hold on. Hold on. King kept repeating to himself to have some patience. His freedom was on the line here.
Taking a deep breath, King let go of the hand of the other party, afraid that he might accidentally crash it.
Jax, on the other hand, hurriedly retrieved his hand and hugged it with the other. He really thought that he would lose his hand there.
''Ah, right, you keep talking about the Lord's Quest and collecting the souls of those insects.'' King said, as he seemed to realize something. After a moment of pause, he added, ''How do you intend to do that? I mean, souls are physically intangible. Unless you are a Necromancer, or someone who practiced evil arts, or a Spiritualist, or an Exorcist or anything alike, you won't be able to do anything about it.''
Jax smiled in response. He walked forward as he said, ''I don't know what you're talking about, but just watch me from behind and relax.''
Since Jax was a complete newbie, he didn't know that revealing his abilities could also mean revealing his weakness. Yet again, even if he hid everything, against such a person, his every body part was a weakness.
Jax went near to one of the bodies of the Cute Puffies, put his hand on to it, and then whoosh, when he lifted it again, the soul of the fish came out with his hand. After a moment, the soul transformed into something like a wisp — a transparent orb of light in which without form.
Only then did the Cute Puffy stopped twitching. It looked without a sign of life, no different than a cold corpse.
Jax smiled. This time, instead of collecting the soul for the Lord's Quest, he absorbed it for himself. He wondered at first how to do that, but going along with his instinct, he stuffed it in his mouth and swallowed it whole.
He felt a satisfying sensation washing over him, filling him up with vigor and strength. His body shuddered, a mix of excitement and joy loomed upon him.
''What the... He's eating the soul?'' King, who watched Jax from the distance was obviously taken aback. He couldn't help but doubt his own eyes.
But more than that, did he just grab the soul out of that fish without any preparation? Like chants and incantations? What the hell was that? That wasn't even an evil art, that was not even how Exorcists tended to do things either.
What kind of human was that brat? He looked pretty normal, yet he could do something like no human had ever done in the past? It seemed like this young brat had quite a few secrets.
''Sigh, it seems like there's still a lot to learn from this world...'' King sighed deeply as he muttered to himself. Now that he thought about it, he fixed his gaze on Jax, who was busy absorbing souls greedily. He walked forward unhurriedly, and then he asked, ''Are you from the Outlands?''
If there was something he didn't know about the world, then it must be from the Outlands. Humans there tended to develop scientific knowledge and technologies rather than the true knowledge that this world possessed. But by the looks of it now, it appeared like the Outlanders had also managed to develop something near the truth and were grasping the true knowledge of the world.
It seemed like he really needed to put an eye on the Outlanders this time.
Jax paused, his eyes blank as he drifted his gaze at King. Two question marks floated over his head as he asked in response, ''Outlands? What's that? I'm from Mindoro, a province in Maharlika country.''
After he said that, Jax continued collecting souls. He had already absorbed enough souls for the requirement of his Phase 3 ability. Now, he only needed to kill an Elite monster, and he would be able to unlock a new skill.
That said, Jax collected all the other souls for the progression of the Lord's Quest. And since there were a lot of souls down there, he needed to make it faster.
''Maharlika? So, you really are from the Outlands... An Outlander, huh...?'' King replied as he nodded his head in realization. Since he knew very well all the places on the Mainland, a place he had never heard of before must be from the Outlands. A place where he never put his interest in.
''Haha, I don't know what you're talking about. Anyway, where did you come from?'' Jax replied with a question. His hunch was that this guy was a native of this place, and that he called everyone who lived outside as Outlanders.
However, if that was the case, why was he so eager to leave this place? As if he got trashed here instead, as this place was also a hell for him.
''I am...'' King thought for a moment before he continued, ''I'm from the Mainland. You people from the Outlands have no idea about that place so don't ask.''
''Mainland? You mean the place inside the Mists?'' Jax replied as he joked and chuckled. Legends had it that there was a place on the other side of the mist that people couldn't get through. That Mists was located in the middle of the North Ocean, stretching across the horizon as far away as eyes could see.
Many adventurers and archeologists tried to explore that place, but no one managed to get through. It was as if they kept moving in circles and would soon go back to where they came from. No human technology could ever get through the Mists, not a boat, not a vapor, not submarines, or even all types of aircraft.
Even when people looked from the satellite hovering in outer space, they would only see a huge mass of mists with nothing else to see. In the end, people on earth concluded that it was an inhabitable place filled with mists that evaporates from the ocean. And with that said, many legends and myths surfaced one after another.
And the most popular was that, there was a huge mass of continent hidden in the Mists where people also lived.
They called it Mainland.