Second World



"High-rise building? Which one?" Jack asked. He and the others had passed through a few areas with high-rise buildings when they were driving in the car, but all of them were in a ruined state.

"I will show you, come," Master said.

"Hold your horses. Do you think we are your lackeys?" Jack pointed at Spring Crown while speaking. "You can't expect us to go when you say go. Explain first. If you can't get through the security to get to this main node, what makes you think I can do it?"

"Because you are the most likely to be able to battle through the horde," Master answered.

"You have more classes than me. Why didn't you do it?"

"My strength is in my spell casting. There are not enough skill-free stones here to give me enough spells to battle my way up to the top which is where the main node is. You, on the other hand, are still formidable by relying only on standard attacks."

"It felt weird receiving praise from you," Jack said. "But have you encountered those dark creatures last night? If your high-rise building is full of them, even I won't be able to fight my way up. All I can rely on are my basic stats and they only need to hit me thrice… Oh, I'm sorry, I mean, twice."

Jack pointed at the two shields above him. He had lost one shield from the fight from last night.

Master replied by throwing an adhesive bandage at Jack.

"Uh… You have more for the others?" Jack asked.

Master didn't answer. He instead threw a different tool at Jack. Jack caught it and a series of texts appeared.

*

Equipment-free tool

Pick one equipment. Duration varies based on equipment type.

Weapon: 5 minutes

Armor: 1 hour

Accessory: 8 hours

*

"Cool," Jack uttered. "But I can only use a weapon for five minutes. It won't get me far."

"That is for your armor," Master threw another two equipment-free tools. "Before you enter, equip your helmet, chest armor, and pants armor. Those are your vital parts. They should protect you from getting your shields shattered. These tools are limited, it is better to stack their benefits on one person and maximize that person's ability. That's why I choose you. With these tools, you should be able to make your way up to the main node."

"In that case, you shouldn't hold back. What else do you have? Give them all out. You want me to succeed, don't you?" Jack said.

"I will give it to you when we are at the entrance to the building," Master said. "There is no reason for you to refuse. You want to be out of this place as much as I do. Getting our abilities back is a start. We are powerless as we are. With our powers back, we might be able to force our way out."

Grace moved her chair to sit next to Jack. She then whispered, "If your abilities are freed, your mana ability should be back as well. Perhaps you can find the exit then."

Jack nodded. However, there was one thing he needed to do before that.

"All right, but I have to find Kramer first. I need to make sure he is fine," Jack said. Winson and Kerry were also still alive when they split, but Jack's main concern was Kramer because that kid believed in him and Kramer was also his kingdom's citizen.

"That human native? You are willing to delay our freedom for that insignificant person?" Master asked in disgust.

"Even if I try explaining to you, you won't understand, so I won't bother. Seeing that you need me to get to that main node, you will have to play this my way. You can come with us if you want, or you can go hide somewhere and show up again later. It's your choice."

Jack stood up and walked out. Grace followed him. Spring Crown stayed for a while, grinning widely. He then stood up and said, "Sorry, boss. Outside, you are the boss. Here, I'm on a different team. So, I got to follow my team."

Master remained silent as Spring Crown walked out.

After everyone was out, Master took deep breaths several times. 'Emotion is useless. Emotion is pointless,' he continued this mantra inside him.

When he felt himself calm down. He walked out of the building. Outside, he saw everyone gathered and started moving in a direction. He followed after them.

*

Without a vehicle, it took them hours to be back to where Jack last saw Kramer. He was now back to the park where they were ambushed by the first enemy team they encountered. Luckily, no one intercepted them. Considering both the enemy teams were down to two members the last he saw them, he figured these enemies won't try anything on them anymore.

"How are you going to find Kramer and the others?" Naomi asked. They could be miles away from here by now.

"Well, I was hoping they will be waiting for us here," Jack said. "Let's stay here for a while. They might watch this place from afar. They should come here if they see us."

They hung around the place. Grace organized several people to keep watch on their surroundings.

While waiting, Jack came to Master.

"What do you want? Other than about the main node, I'm not interested in a conversation," Master said crudely.

"Don't be like that. I'm just wondering. Even I who have mana sense wasn't aware of the rune diagram inside the worlds used for the matches and the sacrificial rounds, how could you tell there were rune diagrams there?"

"… I have my way," Master replied.

"So, we are keeping secrets, huh? And here I am thinking that we have started to open up to one another."

"Do you have so much free time to kill?" Master asked in annoyance. "It will be dark in a few hours. If we don't find a place to hide. You will lose more people."

"Yeah, you are right," Jack said. "If Kramer hasn't shown up by now. It means he doesn't watch this place."

Jack saw Spring Crown come back. He had gone somewhere since they started hanging in this park.

"You find any?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. There is a good warehouse building not far from here. The walls and roof were still intact. No window, only one way in," Spring Crown answered.

"Perfect," Jack uttered. "You and Grace led the others there."

"What about you?" Grace asked.

"I'm going to search for Kramer," Jack said and took out one of the equipment-free tools Master had given him.

Before Master could protest, he activated it. His God-eye monocle appeared on his left eye.

"I bet you have more of this, right? So, you don't mind if I use one first," Jack said to Master. "And this is how you move around without stumbling into enemies, isn't it? I'm going to use this radar to find Kramer."