23 Chapter 22

"Elise."

An Elf girl turned her head to the side as she saw a youthful, handsome human with a muscular figure walking towards her. Raising her right eyebrow, she asked impatiently, "What is it again this time?"

Ignoring Elise's rude tone, the young man said, "Hey, you were in the latest batch of the newcomers, right? Did you know, one of the people that was beside you back then had become famous!"

"Oh?" Answering in a disinterested voice, Elise continued after a second, "And?"

"He had become the dark horse of this year's Hall of Fame!" Said the young man in an excited manner.

"Oh, you and your gambling habit." She glanced at the man once more and said, "Isn't it better for you to train more in Temple of Trials, Shuki."

Shaking his head, Shuki said, "Although I did participate in the betting game, it's always useful to see your potential enemies' skills."

Rolling her eyes, Elise retorted, "You just bored."

"You got me." Laughed Shuki as he lightly patted Elise's back. Moving his attention to the surrounding antiques, Shuki asked, "What are you looking for in this place anyways? If you want to look for something specific, why not go to the Terminal? There's an interface system that connects to all stuff that is being auctioned right now."

"The real treasure is always hidden beneath the rubble, you know." Winked at Shuki, Elise continued to look around the display glass in the store. Sighing at the response, Shuki moved his gaze towards the cashier where there was a black skeleton with a ruby in its forehead.

"Even if you say so... Looking at that skeleton clerk, I really doubt there's something good in here, unless a souvenir." Mumbled Shuki as he walked to the weapon section. Rows of sword, axe, mace, and more lay inside the showcase. One of the axes with bone ornaments had caught Shuki's attention as he murmured, "Oh, this one was from the Orc civilizations.. Ancient one to boot?"

"This is it!"

Elise's sudden exclamation surprised Shuki as he quickly turned away from the cabinet and went to his companion, "What's wrong? What do you mean by this is it?"

Opening the glass case, she took an old parchment that was grey in color. It looks as if it was made of ashes that was sewed together. But ignoring its fragile form, Elise said, "Bless her name, Queen of all nature. With this, I can guarantee it..."

"Guarantee what?" Asked Shuki as he observed the parchment with interest.

Smiling at Shuki as she turned her head towards him, she said mischievously,

"To aim for the legend."

****

"We lost."

Whispered Zuyuan as he sat with his head covered on his hands. Frustration overwhelmed him as he tried to shake away the feelings.

'Losing is normal… but this is a different matter completely.'

Yes, what had been bothering him was not the loss itself, nor because he had dropped in rank after his unstoppable winning streak. No, it was something else.

'Strong…'

Too strong, he couldn't even react until the enemy had almost killed him. If it weren't for the fact that you couldn't kill your opponent in the Hall of Fame and when you were leaving the arena, all your wounds would disappear, then he would have been dead by now.

'He fended off the ultimate move of Phantom's Sword easily…'

Although the phantoms created by the move were not able to use any martial arts, each of them still had his swordsmanship, all of his body constitutions, and battle instincts. And yet, his foe was able to even deal with them at the same time along with XB11's barrage of guns.

'Are you saying that four of me are not even his match..?'

Letting go of his face, his hands now clenched as he scowled at the idea.

"Master, the opponent was too powerful for us. He's the person that holds the highest rank in our sector. It should be impossible for us to meet him so soon when we were nowhere near his rank."

Moving his gaze to XB11 who bowed slightly at him, Zuyuan sighed from the poor attempt of consolation. Raising his body from the white bench of the waiting room, he said, "I'm alright. It was a shame that I was lost when I was about to reach top fifteen in rank. It was weird too for the Champion to be paired with someone that's still rank 17."

"Yes, Master." Agreeing with Zuyuan, XB11 said, "We could grow stronger and more, master. One day, master would be able to defeat him with ease."

Shaking his head, he said with a smile, "Let's go and make some preparation. It's time."

Nodding at what he said, XB11 followed behind Zuyuan as he walked towards the door, "It's tomorrow, isn't it?"

"Yes, master. The time was up and it would be tomorrow for us to depart."

"To the new world." Chuckled Zuyuan as he put his hand on the white door. In the next second, a notification rings out inside his mind.

[Would you like to leave the Hall of Fame, Missionary?]

"Yes." Zuyuan answered right away as if he had expected what the notification was about.

XB11's body shone in a flash as it disappeared shortly. But instead of the normal procedure where he would be transported right away, another notification rings inside his mind.

[Commencing the-.... Bzzt-]

[Unexpected order had arrived, cancelling the current route.]

[New route had been issued.]

Eyes widened at the abrupt event, he murmured, "The hell?"

[Higher authority level seeks for the permission of the content transportation.]

[Permission granted.]

His body started to shine as the familiar feeling of going inside the space rift had emerged.

"Huh??"