The journey on the boat was long and tiring, but Keith at least had something he could watch. A day after Keith boarded the boat, Vincent had managed to recover almost completely.Once he felt fine, the first thing he did was to go back to the underground cave ring to find the owner, who was the middle aged woman.
"Hey, I'm fine now. Who should I fight next?" He asked enthusiastically, wanting to unlock the unarmed combat skill tree as soon as possible.
Keith, who was watching everything happen from far away, sighed, 'This guy... his parents most probably got killed in front of him and he himself got tortured too. Just how is he able to act so enthusiastic and cheerful?'
Putting Keith aside, even Vincent wouldn't know the answer as he was trying his best to not think about his past and the best way to do it was to blindly follow the system's orders to get as strong as possible.
Every time he saw a reward, he couldn't help but get excited.
Keith continued to watch and saw the woman laugh loudly in response to Vincent's question.
"Hahahahaha, this wild kid! I'll arrange a fight for you tonight, but keep in mind that biting isn't allowed anymore and hmm, let's see... if you win this fight, I'll give you 10 Zen."
Vincent nodded, unable to stop himself from grinning when he heard about the price money, "Wow that's a lot!"
"Yeah, but don't expect to win easily. You'll be fighting an awakened this time, but as for whom you'll be fighting, that's a surprise." she said, smiling back at him.
Keith squinted his eyes when he saw this and immediately issued a quest as he was feeling refreshed and rejuvenated at the moment.
Vincent paused when he saw a system screen pop up in front of him, but he played it cool and talked to the woman for a few more seconds before leaving the place.
Only when he felt like no one would bother him, did he take a good look at the notification.
[Event Quest: Bet 20 Zen on yourself and win the fight.]
Accept: Receive 20 Zen and temporary physical ability boost during the fight. The gains from the bet will be taken by the system.
Reject: No rewards or Drawbacks.
Quest Completion reward: None
Quest Failure punishment: 5 Zen
Vincent stared a the screen for a whole minute as he thought about the pros and cons of accepting the quest.
'If I accept it, even though I won't be getting any money at he end, I will still receive a buff which will increase my chances of winning. And if I do win, I'll get 10 Zen as a prize anyways. But if I lose... I'll have to give away most of my money.'
He frowned as he walked back to the place that the owner of the cage had lent to him for stay. He didn't know when he would be kicked out, but until that happened, he decided to stay there for free.
Keith silently watched him overthink about the quest through his screen and relaxed as he didn't bother too much with he the outcome. He was technically gambling his own money through Vincent, so if he rejects the quest, then he wouldn't have to risk losing his money.
And in the off chance of Vincent accepting the quest, Keith simply planned to support him as much as possible so he could win some good money.
'In both cases, there isn't much for me to lose.' he thought as he sent out another notification which wasn't a quest but a simple message.
[System Advice: Practice using your awakened ability in secret to get ready for the fight that'll take place at night.]
Reading this, Vincent nodded to himself and rushed out of the room before heading towards the river. He ran along the river bank for a few minutes until he got tired and continued to walk for a few more minutes.
Once he made sure that there was no one in the vicinity, he took a deep breath and opened his hand, making his palm face the skies before forcefully willing to create a fireball.
Keith stared at Vincent's constipated like face and chuckled before sending him another tip.
[System Advice: Imagine a spark forming on your palm and once it does, imagine it turning into a flame. If you want a ball of fire, imagine a vortex of air forming at the center of this flame, sucking in the air from the surroundings.]
"Ooooh so it's like that." Vincent muttered as he followed the advice.
He remembered the times when he used to play with the other kids of the village, hitting two stones against each other to create sparks. The one who created the biggest spark would be he winner.
He felt a little sad as he remembered the good times, but he pushed those thoughts away and imagined a spark forming on top of his palm, which happened almost instantly.
"Hell Yeah!! I love you, battle god system!"
The corners of Keith's lips twitched, but he didn't take Vincent's words at face value and silently watched without responding.
Vincent tried it once again and this time, the spark turned into a flame. With a wide grin on his face which made him look foolish, he imagined a vortex forming at he center of the existing flame which pulled the surrounding air towards itself.
It made the flame even bigger, but it didn't exactly create a fireball.
"Well, something is better than nothing." he commented, imitating one of the sentences that Keith used while he travelled with Vincent.
He then stretched his arm forward with his palm facing a rock that was at he river bank. Sёarch* The nôvel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
"Alright, here we go..." he muttered as he used his imagination as a tool once again to shoot he fire forward.
The flame shot forward, but disappeared in less than a second as soon as it left his palm.
"Uh... what am I doing wrong?" he asked out loud before looking at the skies, "Hey system, help me out will you?"