Chapter 14: Ezufia
"Alright, let's go."
Ertex teleported back to Arga, taking a last look at the city.
"Where to?"
"Wherever Edna is."
Arga nodded, following Ertex.
"Where were you?"
"I've no idea. I just talked with someone. She told me how to get to Edna and things."
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"Just walk the opposite way you were facing, you'll know when you reach the place. You should hurry, though. If they find you here, I doubt they'll let you go."
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"She was pretty useful."
Arga looked up, trying to see for herself what Ertex sensed, but it was of no use. The stars were far too bright for her to see anything. She furrowed her eyebrows, giving up on the idea, closely following Ertex.
They walked in silence for a while, until they reached a portal.
"I never expected a city like this to have such a... run-down place."
Arga was right. In comparison to what they've seen previously, this place was miserable.
The big walls near the portal are almost entirely devoid of the beautiful light blue color they once had, looking so fragile that she thinks one small touch is enough to make them fall.
She had a hard time trying not to cough due to the excessive amount of dust there was, and her feet will soon be covered in mud if she were to take 2 more steps.
Nothing pleasent was present here.
"This place must be old. Seeing how we didn't come from here, they most likely don't use it anymore or something like that."
Seeing how the mud was just getting deeper and deeper, Ertex grabbed Arga and placed her on his shoulders.
"Huh?"
To suddenly find yourself not touching the ground anymore sure is surprising.
"... I can walk just fine by myself, you know?"
"Shut up. Don't fall."
She just laughed.
After all, Arga knew how Ertex was.
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Night fell.
Artrus just finished a trial, gaining once again a new item. A ring.
While it wasn't as good as the one that Arga has, being of epic rarity, it was still good enough as a backup plan.
He looked up, only to once again be forcefully reminded that he had nothing to see. Just darkness.
Sighing, he started to slowly walk towards his new rented room. Today, he should have met an ally. One with a shitty personality but immense potential.
But he didn't. Said ally never appeared throughout the day. He looked for him in the entire town, waited for him at the trial Artrus knew he was gonna enter. But nothing. Nowhere to be found.
This put Artrus in a bad mood. Besides the equipment, nothing went the way it was supposed to. He didn't like that.
[??? asks you why you chose not to go with Ertex!]
'That bastard too..'
While he was looking for his ally, he also tried to remember why Ertex's first name sounded so familiar. Though, he didn't find an answer to this either.
He still doesn't know how Ertex truly is, never having the chance to hang out with him for more than 10 minutes.
Today was maybe the only time he had where he could actually do it, but for him, finding his old companions was more important than befriending someone he had no memories of.
Yet he was left alone.
In situations like this, he really asks himself if it was worth it.
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The sun was high in the sky.
Ertex placed down Arga after going through the portal. While nowhere near as big as the supercity they just came from, this new city was significantly bigger than the previous town.
It was a much cleaner place than that town. No skyscraper or anything of that sort, but there were many different houses, some bigger, some smaller, some made with different materials that gave a pretty nice atmosphere. It even had its own supermarket right at the entrance.
On a big piece of floating metal, a name was written. Most likely the name of this city.
"Ezufia... Pretty unusual name."
Looking at the people that were there, Ertex discovered something.
Almost everyone was laughing. These that didn't, they at least had a smile on their faces.
"... They're looking pretty happy, don't you think?"
Arga looked up at him, but didn't respond.
She knew how Ertex was.
"Well, let's change our clothes, shall we?"
He began walking, Arga being right behind him.
They've been looking around for quite some time trying to find a clothing store, until they finally found a small one in a corner, pretty far away from the entrance.
Upon entering, they've seen only one person, probably the owner. He was a man, looking to be around 30 years old. His brown hair was slicked back using tons of hair gel, his eyes had the same color as his hair, and he was wearing a blue suit assorted with a watch.
They ignored him just as the man ignored them and began looking for clothes.
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'The audacity to wear such a suit while selling these trashy clothes..'
Ertex wasn't pleased with what he saw.
'Why the fuck did someone think it was a good idea to just make a t-shirt using 8 different colors?'
Arga, on the other hand, wasn't so picky. She chose two white t-shirts, two pairs of black pants, and one long red dress.
She saw Ertex waiting at the entrance, so she went to the owner, paid 300 coins and left.
"You didn't buy anything?"
"No, everything was shit. If only he had something at least similar to what I have right now..."
He suddenly stopped.
"What happened?"
'Maybe..'
He glanced at his clothes, his eyes glowing, seemingly thinking about something.
[Duplication (Error)
You can duplicate... well, things.]
In the next moment, the same clothes he's wearing appeared in his hand. Besides the fact that they were clean, they felt even more premium than the others.
"Genius. I'm telling you, mom, I'm a genius."
Arga wasn't even surprised anymore.
Wanting to test something, he looked at her ring, his eyes glowing again.
A ring appeared in his hand.
[Ayra's Ring - Mythic
Ayra's favorite ring. She lost it when she fought Lyvia.
It increases your magic power by 3 times.
Has the ability to absorb up to 40% of the damage received and add it to your next move, as long as it's magic related.]
He nodded, doing it again. This time, the ring glowed way more than before.
[The Creator's Ring - Transcendent
One of The Creator's least favored ring.
It increases your magic power by ???
Has the ability to absorb ???% of the damage received and add it to your next move.]
"Fuck off."
He immediately did it again. The ring continued to glow even after appearing.
[Ertex's Ring - Error
Ertex's Ring?
???
???
???
???
???
???
...
???]
Ertex chuckled.
"That's more like it. Your own creation knows I'm better."
This time, Arga was a bit surprised. She didn't quite understand everything, but she saw the rarity increasing.
"Just imagine how much money I'll be able to make!"
She could only laugh.
"Now... Will it only continue to increase?"
He duplicated the ring a few more times, but the description remained the same. There was only one way to test it.
He put the first ring of his name on his finger, feeling his power increasing by leaps and bounds. He nodded and took it off, placing the last ring created.
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Arga, seeing her son not reacting anymore, was about to rush towards him, but was interrupted by his sudden laugh.
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"It's not additive... It's fucking multiplicative!"
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