Chapter 149: Mr. Datum

"No."

"What?! Listen here, whippersnapper! I need to talk to you about some"

"Don't mess with me, Simon, stop playing me for a fool. I know stranger danger, and you really bad at disguises. Is everything frozen?"

The old man gave me a stern look and then sighed.

"Just follow me, Dave; it's about what we talked about before, but I need you to come with me so I can show you."

Something felt off, but when I walked forward, but all my weapons and armor stayed in place, and I walked right through them. That was different, but Simon might have had an upgrade; I just couldn't put my finger down on what was bothering me about this. I decided to follow him out of habit; Simon always seemed to have a good reason for his cloak and dagger skits.

I was led back to a cave not far from the clearing and followed Simon inside. I was surprised by the Lumimoss on the wall and started to tense up, but relaxed once we reach a cave filled with gems. It was three meters tall and about five wide, but the Lumimoss made the gems sparkle whenever I moved my head.

"Sorry for having to bring you all the way down here, but this is the only place safe to give you this."

[Harem System Activated]

[Tequila NAV Activated]

[Pause Disabled]

The three messages popped into my screen, and I was surprised how fast he worked! I can't even think how fast he must have been! All the systems he told me about weren't there, but the NAV and the Pause Disabled functions are going to be useful.

"Even though they say they are active, they will not trigger until the mini-game is over. Complete the boss fight and I will fully activate them when we meet again. Don't worry about questions; I will have plenty of time to explain then. Everything will make sense after we meet."

Suddenly, I was back in the clearing, standing in the center where I had noticed Simon roll out of the bush. 

//Dave...are you okay? -Sandra.

/Yeah, I think so; why?

//You have been standing here like an idiot for over five minutes, and your mind has been blank. Honestly, you just dropped another five ranks in personality for me -Aquina.

/Oh? I have a rank? How many other men are in front of me on this list of yours?

*GRROOAARR*

Oh! Saved by the monster roar! I turned to the sound and started to backpedal when I saw what was breaking down trees as thick as me. 

A T-Rex? A T-Rex...a fucking three storying tall, can't scratch my nose, mini-van full of teeth sized head god damn dinosaur! The girls laughed at my loss of calm, but I was seriously excited to give these Game Masters a piece of my mind when I got all the power!

//I think you should try to avoid taking melee attack from this target -Delilah.

I was trying to do that as I slid under the tail that swung over the top of me. I slashed up and cut the tail with Sandra, sinking deep and then rolling to run again. The great beast turned its head towards me, so I switched directions, heading back to the cut tail.

I jumped and started to run up the T-Rex's back, then I leaped and plunged Sandra deep in the spine. The monster tried to fling me off, but I kept a tight grip on Sandra while pumping round into the back of the T-rex's head with Aquina. It finally went down after two clips, crashing to the ground and sending me flying as Sandra ripped from it's back.

The landing was painless; my resistance to physical damage was more significant than what the ground would deal with. I got up as I watch the massive house sized predator disappeared in black particles.

//Is that it? What happens now? -Sandra.

//We probably have to scr... -Aquina.

Her voice froze in my head, and I looked up to see a smiling but stressed-out Simon. I looked like he was being held to getter by strings and the smile looked fake. 

"Dave, I don't have much time; I have some of the System; I'm going to activate them."

Simon sounded panicked now; what was going on? I just talked to him about the system, and he had given me part of it. He had also said we would have lots of time to talk, but why was he now in such a rush?

I wanted to stop him as he opened a screen from his wrist like in the random world, but then my world went red.

//WARNING, HACKER DETECTED, ILLEGAL GAME PAUSE, SUMMONING GAME MASTER

My vision was red from the warning, and I could barely see the frozen Simon in front of me. Suddenly a light appeared, and a red-robed Game Master stepped out. The light closed and disappeared behind him as the person stepped forward. 

"We meet again, Dave."

"Who are you, and what do you mean meet again? Also, do you mind dropping the alert window; I can't close it."

I probably should have felt more panicked, but my mind was putting everything together, and I had hardly any brainpower to spare for trivial things like panic. I looked at the man again, and he dropped his hood. Shit, I knew that face.

"What are you doing here, Mr. Datum?"

"Well, almost thirteen short lifetimes, and you still remember my face, haha."

My emotions were mixed at this point, and I was at a loss for words after my initial question. Mr. Datum had helped Serina, and I get ready for the dive into Reborn along with many other kids. He had always been caring and kind to me and everyone else; this entire situation was messing with my head. Finally, I was able to speak.

"Mr. Datum, I have a lot of questions for you."

"And I have answers."