Chương 36: Mental Note

I halted my sprint. The baldy and the rat-faced guy did the same. Theo stood in front, blocking the door. He was tall and muscular with a fully tattooed left arm and a razor-sharp army haircut. He held a paper bag in one hand, presumably filled with cucumbers, and another cucumber in the other. He took a loud, crunchy bite out of it.

"Clark. Haven't seen you in a while," he said, spraying a few small flecks of cucumber as he chewed.

"Hanz said you locked him up in a room."

"You know how Hanz is," I kept my distance from him.

"Works so hard. I had to force him to take a rest."

"Haha!" Theo burst out laughing. Luckily, I was far enough that the flying cucumber didn't reach me.

"Still as funny as ever, I see. So, why were you here?"

"He came asking for Hanz," the baldy grunted from behind. Theo squinted.

"Oh? Why were you looking for Hanz?"

"Just wanted to see if he was well-rested now or not."

"Brave, aren't you?"

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't have come here, would I?" Theo's eyes narrowed.

"Oh? Has little Clark grown so big that he thinks he can beat me?" Theo had joined the Round-Ring-Wright Guild a month after I did. He was a bottom-tier Silver-ranker who did not wanted to serve under anyone—he wanted to rule. But with his cheap Silver card, he couldn't push around high-ranking Walkers. So he came here, surrounding himself with weak Copper-ranks just to feel like a king. He took pleasure in terrorizing everyone below him. Right now though, I could easily beat his ass.

I wouldn't even need to rely on Rotary Rend. The buffs from Shadowstride, combined with a bit of caution and his own blinding overconfidence, will be enough. I looked him straight in the eyes.

"Yes." Theo's expression twisted. The amusement was replaced by rage. A insignificant pebble had dared to challenge his authority.

"Catch him," He ordered his minions, his voice dropping into a snarl. I really, really wanted to beat the shit out of these guys, but I forced myself to hold back. I had much bigger problems to deal with than participating in petty cat-fights.

"Not today," I muttered. I channeled my magika, focused on Shadowstride, and dropped straight down into my own shadow. I emerged three buildings over, in a dark alleyway. I felt for their presence. The rat faced guy was on his knees, slapping the wooden floor to see if it had swallowed me. Theo was screaming at the top of his lungs, demanding to know where I went, while the baldy had ran out looking for me. I activated Shadowstride once more, targeting a shadow at the very end of my range.

I sank down and re-emerged blocks away in a cramped, quiet alleyway, well clear of their search area.

"Ah. It's you," a voice said from right behind me. I spun around. Standing a few feet away was a girl in a white top, olive-green cargo pants, and a baseball cap with a ponytail poking out the back. She blew a pink bubblegum bubble, let it pop with a quiet snap, and looked down at her phone before glancing up at me.

"Clark Benz. I have some questions for you."

"How the hell did you know I'd come here?" I demanded.

"I didn't," she said flatly.

"Total luck." Mental note: Never teleport to the absolute edge of your range without checking if someone is standing just outside it first.

"When exactly did you exit Life's Last Hope?" she asked.

"I'm not obliged to tell you anything," I said, shifting my stance.

"Who are you, anyway?" She gave me a deadpan stare.

"Why is your guard up? It's almost like you're trying to hide something."

"If a random stranger calls out my full name in a dark alley and starts interrogating me out of the blue, am I supposed to just start spilling my guts?" You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"What if I say I'm from the government?"

"I'll ask for an ID."

"What if I show you my ID?"

"I'll ask what the interrogation is for."

"What if I say: I can't tell you the reason, but you have to answer my questions anyway?"

"I will politely decline." She nodded her head slowly, her ponytail bouncing slightly. I caught sight of a tiny white earbud in her left ear. Was she stalling? Was she coordinating with a team to surround me? Noticing my gaze, she pulled the earbud out and dropped it into a charging case in her pocket.

"Don't worry, I don't have a team waiting around the corner. I was just listening to music." She popped her bubblegum again.

"You're registered as a Copper-rank, but the skill you just used was easily Silver-ranked. Why are you hiding your rank?"

"I just haven't had the time to go to the Association to register it," I lied smoothly.

"Did you get that skill inside Life's Last Hope?"

"Not answering that."

"Did you close that Rift?" I flinched. That subtle twitch was all the confirmation she needed. I immediately channeled my magika, focusing on Shadow—An agonizing pain erupted inside my skull. It felt like someone was hammering rusted iron nails directly into my brain. My concentration shattered. The magika dissolved, my knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the cold alley floor, gasping desperately for air.

"Don't try to escape," she said calmly.

"I just want to talk." She walked over and knelt down, bringing her face to my level.

"I'll make the pain stop if you promise not to try running again."

"I… I won't…" I gritted out. Instantly, the pressure vanished, my mind cleared. I lay on the floor, my heart hammering against my ribs.

"See? I stopped it," she said.

"Now just answer my questions." Fuck. What do I do now? Whatever psychic attack she just used was terrifyingly precise. It completely severed my ability to focus on skills. Could I overpower her physically? No—if she could paralyze my mind in a split second, I wouldn't even get close. What about Rotary Rend? I had time for one quick strike, but I had no idea if she had good defenses. If she didn't, a skill like that would rip her to shreds, and I wasn't in the business of murdering people over an interrogation.

I was completely trapped.

"Here," she said, reaching into her pocket and holding something out to me. It was a small, worn book. My swordstyle manual. I snatched it out of her hand, scrambling backward against the alley wall.

"How the hell do you have this?"

"Duh. I went to your apartment, obviously."

"Do you have a search warrant? That's illegal!"

"Are we really still doing this legal dance?" She rolled her eyes.

"You called a dozen top journalists last night. Have you seen a single line on the news today? No. It's all being suppressed. There are no official records, no warrants, and no public information. So stop deflecting and answer me." I stared daggers at her.

"Did you get that in Life's Last Hope?" She asked while pointing at the manual.

"I am not going to answer that."

"How about a deal, if you tell me how you closed the rift, I will decode that manual for you…You know what, to show my good faith, I will do it right now." The book glowed gold. Thinking it had caught fire I dropped it. It didn't burn. Five seconds later the golden gold was gone. The text on the cover had changed. It read 'Swift Gale Swordstyle' in standard English.

"How did you do it?"

"By God, I thought you were somewhat intelligent for changing the records—which didn't work, they could have always checked the server logs. Which I deleted. Now they won't be able to track you, and that was my skill. Here, just see it. A gold card popped into existence. She was a fucking Gold-ranker. Athenaeum Of Language Lillia loved the how different humans of different time and area were. There culture varied so much. She wanted to learn more about it. But there was a huge barrier.

The language, they were different for everyone. But she wanted to know. She spent years and years learning them all. Recorded in the Akashic System in the year 1945377. Athenaeum of Language lets the wielder understand and translate all languages.

"Why are you showing your card to me?"

"Because I want you to trust me. I am not with the authorities or any Guild. I am here because one of the Rifttubers you emailed last night is a friend of mine. She messaged me. While she went in I surveyed the perimeter while hacking the association's server. I traced it back to you, went to your house to know how you closed the rift. When you weren't there I came out looking for you, my luck worked and you popped out of the shadows."

"You encountering me here, doesn't look like coincidence to me."

"Whether you believe it or not is on you. Even if I hadn't encountered you here, I would have tracked you anyway." This is so frustrating, do I trust her or not. She did show me her card, a gold one. A decode skill, which are very rare.

"Just to be 100% clear: you're not working with the authorities or any major Guild, right?" I picked up the manual from the ground.

"Nope." I massaged my glabella.

"Okay, thanks for deleting the server logs and I am sorry for your friend."

"She'll manage."

"You're not worried about her?"

"If she got captured, it means she wanted to get captured."

"Still, I'm sorry I dragged her into this mess."

"If you really feel bad, apologize by telling me how you actually cleared the Rift." I hesitated, looking at her closely.

"Can I trust you?" She simply nodded.

"Okay…sorry, I don't know your name."

"Cerise Truman."

"Cherry?" Her demeanor cracked as her eyes narrowed into cold slits.

"Don't you fucking dare call me that again." I took an instinctual step back.

"Wait… Truman? You're Eric Truman's daughter? Didn't you just say you aren't affiliated with any Guilds!"

"Because I'm not," she shouted.

"I was never part of my father's Guild. Have you ever seen my name on any of their delving rosters? I refused to join him until he changes the way his organization operates." I stared at her, searching her face for any sign of a lie. But there was something in her ocean-blue eyes that told me she was speaking the truth.

"Alright…" I sighed.

"So, where do I began?"

"From, how you closed the rift."

"It's a long story," I grumbled, then paused.

"Do you… want to come over to my place?" The moment the words left my mouth, I instantly regretted it. A wave of mental imagery hit me—if Pyiari or Lania were here right now, they would be teasing the absolute shit out of me for inviting a girl to my apartment within five minutes of meeting her. Cerise didn't even blink.

"Okay." I let out a quiet sigh of relief. Thank god she wasn't the teasing type.