Systemless in a Parallel World

Zayn was glad to have survived his encounter with the Master Weaponsmith. He was pretty sure that their personalities didn't match up well, but Zayn would have never expected Merlin to be serious when he said that he was lucky to have survived.

It caused shudders to run down his spine, and it took him a few seconds to get back to his senses.

"So what is our plan now?" Zayn asked, hoping that the next few steps of their plan could distract him a bit.

"Our next step is to buy a bunch of things. You're rich, after all!" Merlin said, trying to ease Zayn's tension a little.

"More?" Zayn enquired which Merlin affirmed with a short nod.

It was only obvious that they had to buy a few necessities to train but the expression on Merlin's face was pretty much self-explanatory. It meant that they had lots of things to buy. And by lots, Merlin actually meant a lot. That was what Zayn guessed with a dry smile on his face.

'As long as it helps me to become stronger, it's fine. Money can be earned again, and my strength is certainly worth a big investment!' He reasoned before he recalled something related to Merlin's mission, and his words.

Apparently, they were in a hurry, but how pressed on time were they actually?

"By the way, do you have some sort of time limit to finish your Mission? It would be pretty bad if I don't know about the time limit while you're struggling to teach me the Double Saber Kalivan technique," Zayn asked, coming up with a good point to take into consideration.

Merlin nodded his head once again, "I was given a time limit the moment I accepted the mission to regrow my arm. The time limit will be used up in less than a year. However, this time limit is not what I'm worried about."

Hearing the word 'this time limit' caused Zayn's ears to perk up. Merlin saw this and he tried to force a smile on his lips in response.

"I could kill the Chimera on my own but the management of the Colosseum would never allow me to face the Chimera according to the agreement they made with the merchant family. That was why I was forced to accept Lara's help and when she chose to assist me, a new timer popped up in the System window. The timer denoted the time I have left to finish my mission with Lara's help.

When she left, the timer of the countdown stopped at six months. It started to countdown again after I accepted your help," Merlin revealed, giving Zayn a rough idea of where he was standing.

"That basically means we have half a year left," Zayn mumbled, which Merlin reaffirmed, "Yes, that's about it."

Six months was plenty of time for Zayn to train and become stronger. He was pretty sure that it was more than enough time to become strong enough to defeat some crippled Chimera. However, Merlin didn't seem to think that way.

In his opinion, six months was way too short. Not only was it 'only' six months before the mission's timer would run out, but the Colosseum's Challenges wouldn't be available all the time. It was highly likely that Zayn would have to spend more than two weeks as one of the Colosseum's Challengers, fighting three to four other monsters in total before the Colosseum's managers would finally make him face the Chimera.

At the same time, it was quite obvious that Merlin would have to complete his part of the mission as well. He had to take revenge on the merchant family for taking away his right arm. Not only had they crippled him physically, but Merlin had received great psychological damage from losing his right arm, his progress was slowed down infinitely and he lost more than half of his actual combat prowess.

The prodigy, who would have become a powerhouse in the near future had been crippled, humiliated, and discarded as a nobody after he lost his powers. For Zayn, it was only obvious that Merlin wanted to eradicate the entire merchant family as revenge, but that was easier said than done.

Searching for the members of the merchant family and killing them one after another, while they were protected by a batch of guards was certainly not easy. It would take quite a while and careful planning.

"How long do you think you'll need to take revenge?" Zayn asked, trying to make sure that his guess was correct.

"If everything goes as per the plan, it will take a few weeks, if I have to face some problematic opponents, or the City Lord stirs trouble for killing the merchant family member, whether it's inside Zerek or outside, I will probably need two months," Merlin explained before he came to the most important point that Zayn had wanted to know, "That means I have only four months to instruct you. Four months may not be enough to teach you everything because you need to learn the basics as well, but I need to make sure that you're strong enough to kill the Chimera in around four months...that's why we need to buy a LOT more than you may imagine!"

Zayn didn't feel the need to rush his advancement in strength earlier, but he understood that he had to advance to the Peak of the 1st Soulring, while simultaneously training the Double Saber Kalivan technique. If he had already possessed a great foundation for Sabermanship, that wouldn't be too much of a difficulty, but things were not that easy.

He understood that time was of the essence and that even a B-rank Adventurer with two Soulrings and great talent toward combat would face difficulties training someone in such a short time. Merlin might be the strongest Adventurer in Zerek, but he could not charge into the Colosseum and kill the Chimera on his own.

Thus, Zayn could be considered the last ray of hope whether his talent for combat was great or not.

It was quite a mental challenge to think that one had to rely on a 13-year-old Normie for something as important as the mission to grow back his arm, but Merlin had no other choice.

"Alright. Let's buy a bunch of things and use up my entire fortune. It's time to go all in!"