17 Chapter 16

"Sir, you have to look at this."

"Okay. Let me see."

Raymond stretched out his hand to receive the exam results handed by his subordinate.

After a few minutes of staring at the documents, he lamented, "To think that a Nightmare Demon managed to infiltrate that deep into the city." He used the official term of the Hunter Association for the Soul Devil that attacked Jane.

He then looked at the giant hole in the ground that was in front of him, "But who the hell can create this much damage without being noticed by people…"

Suddenly, a certain name entered his head.

'There is no way…' He shook his head, 'After all, he is just an A---'

And like a movie on replay, images of a man blasting Goz away with a punch played inside his brain that ended his internal debate. 'No. If it is him, then maybe…'

After deliberating for a short while, he turned to one of his subordinates and issued his commands, "The classification of Hunter Nexus' information will be changed to Grade S. Start monitoring his activities outside of his home."

The trusty subordinate saluted before respectfully replying, "Yes Sir! Right away, Sir!"

Raymond once again turned his attention back to the pit, half expecting for it to give him a rerun of what happened a few hours ago.

"Let's see what secrets you hide."

♦♦♦

"Put more strength to your attacks!" Nex instructed while deflecting another punch from Jane. "Where is the breathing technique I told you about? Clearly, you aren't even trying!" His mouth castigates her as much as he was moving to either attack or evade.

"Damn you! I only started training today!" Jane could only complain feebly, as she was more focused on trying to regain her footing after being blocked that resulted to her being thrown off balance.

The moment Jane agreed to learn how to fight properly, Nex didn't waste any second and immediately began coaching her, once he had ensured her wounds were all healed and her stamina restored.

And now, here they are at an open area just outside the city, where Nex had teleported them, going through the motions of basic fighting. The training comprises of just punches and kicks; it was really more of Nex giving her real-time tips than actual sparring as she isn't anywhere near his level.

"You have the magic power inside your body that has unlimited possibilities. Why aren't you making use of it?" He continued berating her while blocking her kick.

'Good thing she has a talent for fighting. Together with her OverSoul, she could actually be able to take care of a few weak demons.' Although he was constantly verbally criticizing her with a strict voice; mentally, he was praising her innate ability to fight.

Jane didn't have an ounce of inkling about Nex's thoughts and just heard his words as it is which really pissed her off big time.

"As if it's that easy!" She grumbled out loud once and continued her complaints inside her head.

'Give me a break! I barely kept my life after meeting that monster and he decides to drag me for combat training! My heart is so totally not prepared for this! Is he out of his mind? Who does that? Not only that, he acts like he has been teaching me for months and months that I should move like an expert. Hello? Newbie here! Why the hell did I even agree to do this?'

"Big Sis! Do your best!"

Her mind filled doubts, complaints and negativity instantly cleared when she heard Eddie cheering for her. Her motivation was rejuvenated, 'Yes, this is all for him… So that nothing can threaten his existence as long as I am here… He can live his life happily with no worries… Because I am his big sister whom he loves the most…'

"Wow! Big Bro Nex! You are much cooler than Sis! Compared to you, she is way too lame!"

Lame…

Lame…

Lame…

"…"

"Oh?" Nex was flabbergasted. "Your attacks are now strong--- wait!

"Ahhh!"

"No!"

"Stop aiming there!"

Nex dodged her ferocious attacks while sweating on the inside, 'So she's one of those Type A personalities huh…'

♦♦♦

"Finally, it's over."

After a few more hours of training, Jane ultimately collapsed to the floor, completely exhausted. Normally, with her physical capability, she wouldn't have lasted even a fifth of what she had gone through.

Whenever she was at her limits and felt like giving up, Nex would inject strange energy into her and along with her breathing techniques, she would be back to full capacity in just mere minutes.

"Damn it, Nex! To train for so long without any proper rest is simply inhumane!"

Sadly, Jane didn't find herself appreciating this kind of tenacity.

"Is that so?" Nex who now completely shook off his trainer mode, could only scratch his head awkwardly. "Sorry about that. It's just that the last few times I had to train someone, it required me to use some extreme measures."

Seeing the expression on Nex's face that pretty much resembled to a kid getting caught for stealing a piece of candy, Jane could only let the matter go with a reminder.

"Forget it. Just next time, try to be a little more… considerate." She moved her sore arms and shoulders to release some leftover tension there.

"Sure."

He suddenly remembered something he had wanted to ask the siblings ever since he logged off of the game.

"Oh, right. Jane, Eddie what levels are you in the game?"

"It's---"

"We are both on the verge of Level 7! Big Bro, what level are you? Did you really select the Explorer Class? And also, in which area did you begin?"

Before Jane could start answering, Eddie cut her off enthusiastically and with follow up questions to boot. She could only shake her head once and go back to massaging her sore limbs.

"Not bad." Nex nodded.

"Well, I started at the southern part of the kingdom in the Spring Village; and yes, I did select the Explorer Class and I am now Level 10." He answered all the queries on one go with a smile that wasn't anywhere near being boastful yet with little humility at the same time.

"Oh! So you're in the southern part… No wonder we haven't met there yet." Eddie slumped his shoulders; disappointment written all over his face.

After a few seconds, his head shot up again when Nex's last words finally sank in, "Hmm? What level did you say you are again?"

After being cut off and ignored, Jane wasn't really paying much regard to the boys' conversation and just continued through her massaging. Upon hearing Eddie's words, her attention was brought back to the two with incredulity shown in her face.

Nex found their reactions a bit weird. He doesn't understand their behavior as he raised an eyebrow, "I said I am at Level 10. Why? Is there something wrong?"

"What?! Level 10?!" The siblings chorused in astonishment.

Jane was the first to recover and said in skepticism. "How can it be? It is only possible if you play without taking any breaks until now, but you obviously have played just an hour more than us. Just what did you do to reach that level, that fast?"

"Hunting Rare and Elite monsters." He shrugged as if it is the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?!"

"Wow! Big Bro, you're so awesome!" Eddie spoke with reverence and his eyes were big and sparkling like stars.

He shortly shared their own experience, "We once tried to fight a Rare Rank monster and almost died. How were you able to fight them? You must have found a great party!"

"No." Nex finally understood the situation. He wanted to earn more cool points in front of Eddie, so he decided to act like some guru of life.

"Know this Eddie. If you want to succeed in life, you have to learn how to be self-reliant. You don't have to put your fate in another person's hands or depend on them for survival. Things like friends and partying with them for level ups would only make you lazy and reliant. Only by soloing can you live an autonomous yet courageous life!"

*Smack!*

"Don't teach my little brother how to be a loner!"

His speech which he articulated confidently was met with a fierce opposition from Jane.

"Yes, Big Bro! I will remember what said!"

It seems that Jane's resistance was a bit tad too late as she failed to save the little boy from Nex's corruption. He is now under the hermit's spell.

She gave Nex a deadly glare then went back to the subject from before.

"How did you even succeed to defeat those monsters, anyway? It just isn't feasible at all! Even if you have great battle abilities and play in Professional Mode, there is no way that you would have managed to level your skills enough to take on an Elite monster."

Nex smirked, "Whoever said I play in Professional Mode?"

"Then…" Jane's eyes widened when she thought of the only possible option.

"Don't tell me you play in Master Mode?!"

He gave a nod and a simple, "Yep."

"Are you out of your mind? Who plays in that crazy Mode?!" Her voice went up a few decibels before giving it a more thorough analysis.

"No, even if you have succeeded to create decent skills in that mode, you still wouldn't be proficient enough to solo Elite monsters. The inadequacy in mana would pose a big hurdle."

"Oh, that." He made an alibi at an instant. "There was a time that I trained and fought in a place with a very similar environment to the one in the game. The familiarity made it easy for me to fight properly this early on and allowed me to take on monsters of Elite Rank."

This brought another wave of admiration in Eddie as he wowed again. "The in-game Bro is just as amazing as the real one!"

He was rewarded with a doting pat at the head by his hero-master.

Nex then turned towards Jane.

"The techniques that I am teaching you are actually from that place as well. Although you can't use them to strengthen your character, they still work quite well as combat skills."

"What?! Those skills can be used inside the game as well?" Jane scrunched up her brows, baffled. "Just what kind of place is that that could enable one to learn skills that can be used in places with different mana settings?"

"Actually, all techniques are applicable as long as the user himself adapts accordingly. As for the ones I taught you, they are a little unique. So I would be very glad if you won't expose them to others too much. They may attract some unwanted attention."

"Of course!" Jane solemnly promises at once. She didn't want any unnecessary trouble for herself.

"Good, then let's go home."

♦♦♦

After returning from training and eating dinner with the siblings, Nex returned to his home with a relaxed smile that never left his lips.

Today, with the incident with the Soul Devil excluded, is probably the best day he had for a very long time. He could no longer remember the last time that he had a good time with someone he could consider his friend. That is, except for a certain someone.

*Sigh*

Remembering the person made him slightly melancholic. He stared at the moon through the window…

"I hope that she is doing okay."

♦♦♦

In an unknown location in Perias dimension.

Inside a bright hall that was too glamorous for mortals, an unearthly beautiful woman with golden hair sat in lotus position in deep concentration.

The woman's closed eyelids trembled and unfolded, revealing shiny, multi-colored eyes. They were full of tears and complicated emotions.

She straightened up then looked towards a certain direction while mumbling under her breath.

"Nex, you f*cking bastard! I'm coming to beat you up!"