17 Blink

'Another innate ability? [Blast], huh? 'Aiden wanted to inspect the details of it, but he had a more important problem to deal with first.

There were more than 700 operatives who came to the planet before him. There was no way that not one of them had any contact with the natives. 'ESS, has there been a record of interaction with natives before now?'

[123. 51 dead. 20 wounded. 52 friendly.]

'51 dead?'

[The operatives have to kill the natives because of their hostility.]

[The host is asked to be careful with the natives.]

'Caution, huh!'Even without a comment from the system, he would have done the same thing.

As time went by, he could move his body again. It was still painful, but he was able to move.

Looking at the short man and bare-chested tall man coming to their way, Aiden whispered, "Let me do the talking."

Owen was surprised by his words but nodded nonetheless.

"Thank you." The short man was the first to speak, "I am Jewel, A trader from the white root city. Thank you for saving us."

Aiden nodded, "I am Aiden, from the mountain of the west."

According to the ESS, it was the mountain cities that had the least amount of interaction with the outside world. So that's the identity that had the least chance of exposing.

"No wonder, you are very strong, Aiden. I am Kaiser." The tall man walked forward to shake his hand, as Aiden slowly stood up.

"You too." Aiden could feel his overflowing strength from his grip. "Still it was hard to believe that you were caught."

"We have our circumstances." Jewel sighed. "Again, thank you for saving us."

"No, no. With his strength and your gun, you wouldn't have much of a problem in killing it." Aiden took a good look at his face as he said the words.

A tinge of surprise flashed on his face before it vanished. It was easy for one to miss Jewel's emotion if he hadn't been keenly watched. Kaiser, on the other hand, had a hard time hiding his shock.

"How do you know about guns?" As soon as Kaiser spoke, Jewel frowned.

'Wasn't the gun an easy weapon to get before the apocalypse? In 20 short years, there's no way it can go extinct.' Aiden was confused by their reaction. The ESS did not give him an explanation but offered him an answer.

"The elders have given us the knowledge," Aiden said as the ESS had told him to. "But why didn't you use it earlier?"

Feeling Aiden's displeasure, Jewel pulled out the so-called 'gun'. "I don't think it would have been enough to kill that Four-arms"

[Modified Double Barrel Shotgun (Firearm)

Type: Shotgun.

Number of bullets: 2

Effective distance: 40 meters

Comment: Heavy recoil. 8% chance of exploding.]

'Shotgun? It seemed more powerful than the revolver. But only two bullets won't be enough.'

And Jewel gave him the same excuse, "I don't think two bullets would have been enough to start with. On top of that, in that distance, I would have been killed even before I could pull the trigger."

Jewel sighed as he continued, "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even be able to pull the trigger."

Aiden knew very well that it was not a lie. Still, Aiden was unable to relax. There were too many things he didn't know about. The transformation of the bear-man was also a shock to him.

"We should leave this place, as soon as possible."

"We should." Aiden nodded, "Let's go Owen." The path in front of him was lit by green footprints. He recovered his blade, dyed in the blood of Four-arm and…

"Where are you going? That isn't the path." Jewel spoke in confusion.

"It is." But Aiden's reaction confused him more.

"Aren't you going to the White Root city? This isn't the way."

"I didn't say I was going to White Root City. You can go wherever you want to go. We're not going to go with you."

Aiden wanted to go to the so-called White Root city, but not now. He was weak, and he would not be able to use his innate talent. So he was trying to avoid unknown territory.

Aiden wasn't sure why Jewel was so persistent about it, but he had no intention of entertaining Jewel.

But jewel quickly ran up to him, "Then, where are you going?"

"You don't need to know." Aiden didn't stop for him anymore.

"Why are all of you so stubborn? Do you even have any idea what lies in that direction?" Aiden felt little concern in his voice, but didn't dare to relax, "There is a devil in the forest. A Mana King. One-touch and you will die."

"That Four-arms," he pointed at the dead body as he continued, "He is like an ant in front of it. As soon as you hear the bell you will die a horrible death."

"Haha." Even if he wanted, Aiden couldn't control his laughter any longer. It wasn't just Jewel who was shocked. Owen, who was fearful of the beast in the discussion, looked at Aiden in confused eyes.

"Sorry." Aiden spoke in a serious tone, but the trace of a smile was still there, "You don't have to worry about us. You can go back to your city. We have no intention of going there."

Jewel was trying his best to hide his discontent. He sighed, "If you survive, please come to White Root city. I would like to reward you properly for saving me."

'Could it be he is someone important from within the city?' Aiden was tempted to follow him but resisted the urge. Aiden nodded, and he was stopped again as he was about to leave.

"Do you even know the path to the city? Do you even have a City light?" This time, Jewel gave him an all-knowing smile.

'City-light?' This was the first time Aiden had heard about it, much less had it? Looking at the confused Aiden, Jewel smiled at him as he took something small out of his clothes.

"Take this. This is a city light of White Root city." Aiden accepted the small round thing and checked it.

'Is it a compass?' That was his first reaction, but the system was unable to provide him with an answer.

[City Light(??)

Type: Compass (??)

Comment: Find White Root city, Detect specific wavelength of mana.]

'You just told me what I know.'

[The ESS have prior knowledge of 'City Light'.]

"If you have this, you will be able to find the city. But you need to be within 200 km of the city." Jewel opened another city light to show Aiden the use of it.

There was a tiny piece of azure silk that was swimming inside a red liquid. No matter in which direction Aiden moved it was always heading in the same direction.

"And the direction in which it is pointing is the White Root City," Jewel spoke. "And there is a mark on its back. It is my mark. If you show it to the main city gate, they're going to take you to me."

"I understand. I will go if I get the chance." Aiden said and left quickly, fearing that he will be stopped again.

They were moving at the top speed Owen could manage. It took more than two hours to get to his shuttle pod.

'ESS, will it be possible to retrace the path to Levi's shuttle pod from here?' The system didn't answer but a new set of footprints appeared in front of him.

"This is?" Owen asked in a confused voice. He had expected Aiden would come to take him to his shuttle pod. But rather than entering it, Aiden took him to another one.

Aiden didn't answer but entered the pod, and Owen followed. After the door closed, the interior lit up again, the system of the shuttle pod spoke.

[Welcome, 1st officer Aiden Law.]

Ignoring the surprise of Owen's face, Aiden ordered, "show me the body."

Soon a compartment opened up and out came the coffin. Inside it was Levi, with a burned face. "I saved you because he wanted me to."

Owen was staring at the cold coffin, not daring to believe what he was seeing was real.

"Stay here until the end of the task period. I won't save you a second time." But Owen didn't respond. There were tears in his eyes and looking at him all Aiden could do was sigh.

'Why the hell the federation had sent children like us to do something like this?' Still, Aiden had no intention of comforting him, 'ESS, ready the stasis pod for [Mana Healing]'

So it did. Before entering the pod Aiden took a last look at Owen. 'ESS, Don't open the door without my permission' And the hatch closed on him.

He was again standing in the 3X3 space with a giant screen in front of him, that was showing his status.

[[NAME: Aiden Law

Age:16

Rank: First officer

Team: EP00 (Previously UG93)

Condition: severely wounded

Element: Wind[locked], Water[??]

Level: 1

Grade: none

Strength: 33(32)

Agility: 50(47)

Endurance: 56 (54)

Dexterity: 40 (38)

Intelligence: 67 (67)

Health: 189/189

Mana: 5/5

Battle rating: Level 6

Innate skill: [Light Foot] [Skill Mine] [Zone] [Blink]

Passive skill: [Mana Acceleration(??)] (Locked)

Skill: [Reduce Drag] [Air Punch] [Air spike] [Wind Skin] [Wind Burst] [Wind Scythe] [Wind Gale]

]

'My stats have increased!' Aiden was pleasantly surprised.

[Every time the host will push himself beyond his limit, the host will evolve in a superior being.]

'Superior being?' Aiden smiled, 'Being a superhuman won't be bad, but…' He knew very well that without mana there would be a lot of bottlenecks he wouldn't be able to cross. But there's one thing that could help him out. That's the innate skill.

'Show me the innate skill.' Aiden could help but feel excited.

[[Light Foot]: A traceless agility skill. X1.5 normal speed. Duration: 20 seconds

Cooldown time: 50 seconds. Maximum use: 12 times/day

[Skill Mine]: A long-distance bestowal skill. Can bestow known magic skill to an inanimate object. Object limit: 3. Mana limit:1. Activation distance: 1 meter.

[Zone]: A limit breaker skill. Double all the physical stats. Duration: 5.5 Seconds. After effect: 09:50 minutes. Cooldown time: 20 hours. Maximum use: 2 times/week.

[Blink]: A short distance agility skill. Can only be activated during [Zone]. Distance: 5 meters. Maximum use: none.]

'How can there be a distance limit on an agility skill?' Aiden wasn't sure about it.

[The host can appear in any position within a radius of 5 meters around him with a single step.]

'But why can't I use it without [Zone]?' Aiden was a little confused, but the system cleared his doubts.

[During [Zone] the host's agility stats exceed 100.]