Hale stepped out of the tent, his gray hair slightly dancing in the night breeze.
He stared up, noting the 2 moons in the sky, a sight he had once longed to see so desperately,
But now it was a mundane part of his life.
As his lips curved into a smile, his thoughts were brought to the boy in the tent.
[Eyes reflected heaven.]
The words of the prophecy weren't literal; the word 'heaven' in this case meant sky,
And with 'eyes' that reflected this sky, it meant the child of heavenly talent had sky-like eyes.
'Blue eyes… but his are like an ocean, nothing like a sky.'
On top of the fact that Ren's body wasn't at the level of what was foretold, his eyes were also a color different yet interestingly similar to the prophecy.
Hale touched his pocket, which was now empty, the coin that was formerly there now in the hands of that ocean-eyed boy.
The martial token was given to the martial lord and was a symbol of their authority.
It singled the receiver as being the best within their field of martial arts. Yet ironically, gave them access to a seemingly endless library of martial techniques.
'The token was made to be given away.'
A mysterious prophecy, a history spanning thousands of years, that was the Martial Union.
But, at the end of the day, the Union wanted advancement in martial arts; that advancement came in the form of new martial artists bringing in new ideas and insights.
The Martial Lords were made up of people who went around the world and experienced many situations that most wouldn't experience even a fraction of.
Thus, just as they experienced many situations, they also met many people.
The token was made to be given and to recruit others into the union.
And as the Southern Martial Lord, when Hale gave his token to Ren, he designated the boy his successor.
"I don't regret it, not one bit."
Hale's green eyes glowed, remembering Ren's rejection,
"Your senses made you reject, yet my senses say the opposite. I wonder who is right?"
The look in Ren's eyes was rare, even when meeting the most talented in this generation; few, if any, rivaled what Hale perceived as an endlessly strong will in the boy.
Of course, successor and student, although similar, were very different; However, Hale didn't care.
'He's probably worried about his freedom… but the Martial Union focuses on freedom more than anything, isn't it perfect for the boy?'
As he was about to let out a loud laugh, a knight approached him.
"Captain!"
"Clarence? What's up?"
Face calm, with luscious blonde hair and a knightly presence, Clarence stood ready.
He was the vice captain of the Golden Dragon Squad. And was one of the people riding alongside Hale on the wyverns.
Hale was quite joyful at the thought of Ren succeeding him, yet this joy was completely stripped away by Clarence's next words.
"The Royal Guard is here."
"F*ck"
Clarence nodded stiffly,
"I agree, Captain."
Hale could only curse, realizing the long night ahead.
…
"You mentioned reading a novel, Relia. Did it have a solution?"
Relia had read a novel about the world, and when talking about it, she mentioned that it had a good and happy ending.
So, shouldn't the solution to their biggest problem be right there?
On cue, Relia nodded excitedly,
"Yes! The main characters, Leon and Marianne, use the power of love to narrowly bridge the gap between rank 7 and rank 8, the realm of the gods, to deal a final blow to the Chaos God!"
The two smiled at Relia as she gushed over her favorite characters and their journey of hardship and romance.
"Power of love, where will we find that?"
Ren smiled as he asked the question, causing Aria to turn her gaze towards him, thinking about his words.
'Love…'
Before her thoughts could continue, she frowned, replaying what Relia said in her head.
"Rank 8? The Chaos God is rank 8?"
Relia tilted her head, nodding,
"Yes, rank 7 is the highest rank possible, yet the evil Chaos God transcended that and reached rank 8!"
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Did I say something wrong?"
Ren and Aria's expressions couldn't help but turn confused.
The two turned to each other, communicating both with their messages and their eyes.
'The Chaos God is rank 8? No way, right?'
Aria nodded to Ren's question,
'Yes, if Astlyn is correct, then the Chaos God should be ranked 10.'
Even if the system wasn't too helpful, they trusted it and thus trusted that the rank 10 did exist.
In fact, they had once witnessed beings of rank 10 from the Abyss and Solaris.
They would be happier if the Chaos god were just rank 8, yet the pair were inclined to think the worst.
Then did that mean Relia's novel was wrong?
They both shook their heads, denying that question.
Relia had accurately predicted her own assassination, and the world in the novel was the same as the world they were in right now, or at least that's what Relia said.
She also mentioned recruiting people from the novel into her family to help her survive in the future.
If the novel was wrong, how could she have done all of those things?
Relia, the girl in question, had a curious expression, feeling slightly left out of their internal conversation.
So Ren explained it to her.
"R-rank 10?!"
"That's right, it's hard to believe, isn't it?"
Aria nodded with Ren's explanation, causing Relia's face to pale slightly.
"No… I believe you, but if it's true, how… how will we stop the Chaos God, then?"
It was a normal thought to have, in Relia's mind, if the main characters of her novel barely won against a rank 8, how would they fare against a rank 10, two ranks higher than that?
The confidence she gained from surviving her assassination was lowered instantly.
Contrary to her thoughts, Aria and Ren's expressions didn't change one bit.
Relia's trust made Ren smile, while Aria's expression remained calm; she spoke matter-of-factly.
"Isn't it obvious?"
Ren then spoke with confidence.
"We'll have to become rank 10 ourselves."
Relia stared at the two,
'Is that really possible?'
The question couldn't help but form in her mind. Relia felt both despair and the idea of giving up emerge.
Seeing her gloomy expression, Ren quickly spoke,
"I mean, what else can we do?"
Watching Ren shrug his shoulders, Aria smiled and gently held Relia's hand,
"You've worked hard, haven't you? What makes this any different?"
Her words struck a chord in Relia,
She had prepared intensively for the assassination, recruiting many people, planning different routes, commissioning powerful magic tools, and most of all improving her own rank, becoming a rank 3 before adulthood, an occurrence seldom seen across the entire continent.
'Yet things still went wrong, things always go wrong…'
Relia nearly died, her plans falling apart as if fate was toying with her.
But despite that, Relia didn't give up when the assassin appeared; she still tried her best, even if in the back of her mind she knew she would fail.
'Now there's a rank 10? This is unfair, isn't it!?'
Even with those thoughts, Relia felt something inside her, a fire igniting in her heart.
'But… But Ren and Aria are right, there are no other options. And I worked hard, so very, very hard, how can I let that be wasted on giving up?'
Relia's face changed, forming a smile as she nodded, clenching her fist,
"You're right, I worked hard so I… no, we can't give up if we want to save the world!"
Aria and Ren smiled.
…
They watched in amusement as Relia quickly left the tent with a blush,
"Is she embarrassed?"
Aria tilted her head, causing Ren to laugh,
Relia was embarrassed by her heroic words, seeming to think that they were childish to say.
"She's an earnest girl, isn't she?"
"Yeah, she really is."
As they spoke, Ren focused on opening the system, specifically, he focused on the [Status] section that showed his condition.
***
Ren
-Injured
-Soreness
-Slight Mana exhaustion
-...
Concentrating on the top status, a new window opened.
***
Injuried
[Internal and external injuries from overloading mana, especially on the left arm.]
[Specialized equipment required: Mana Bandages(Applied), Healing, Rest, …]
The system had a summary of the injury, even showing where it was most prevalent, which was Ren's left arm, and it also showed you how to heal the injury
Ren smiled joyfully at the function that wasn't part of the commonly useless system in his past life.
"Useful, right?"
Aria smiled at his joy, sitting beside Ren on his bed.
"Yeah, the system would just say you were injured, and that's it."
When they first met, their systems broke into fragments before piecing themselves back together into one system.
They believed that combining the two systems made it stronger.
They had come up with this theory before, and it was truly confirmed in the present.
'It says bandages have been applied…'
Ren looked down at his left arm, finding bandages covering it entirely, all the way up to his shoulder, and then some nearly touching his neck.
"They gave us some after you collapsed."
Aria lightly spoke before gently holding his left arm and discharging her mana into the bandage.
As the bandage glowed with Aria's golden mana, Ren felt his pain slowly wash away, and although he couldn't see under the bandages, he assumed his injury was also healing at a faster rate.
"Aria… aren't you tired?"
Ren frowned in concern. Just as he was exhausted, Aria should have been as well, yet she shook her head lightly.
"I'm fine, do you remember that old man Thetford?"
Ren nodded. Relia had told them that if they ever had a problem, they should ask the old butler for help.
"Yeah, I do."
"He gave me a mana potion as an apology for earlier."
"Ah…"
Mana potions were similar to mana crystals in that they gave you mana.
What made them stand out was that you could cultivate the plants to create them instead of needing to kill monsters; it was a safer alternative.
"Aria… The worlds are so similar, huh?"
Be it the ranking system, spells, and enchanted equipment, the similarities between the Abyss, Solaris, and this unknown world were no coincidence.
"You're right, we'll probably get an answer in the future."
However, although they wanted the answer, they didn't need it right now.
It wasn't like the similarities would hurt them; in fact, it would be helpful as they slowly adapted.
Ren nodded as he moved through the system, opening a window describing his fate.
The two stared in silence.
***
[Seed of Self Annihilation]: The fate of destruction looms over your existence; your life will soon end, and your body is weak. Pushing the body will expedite the process, so be careful.
[You will die in 190(-140) days.]
Ren's life had been shortened by 140 days; he now had half a year to live.