章 12: The Knight 2

Mike and Stephan stared at each other for a few seconds before the latter let down his sceptre. There was nothing to hide. Basically, because of the game, Stephan had a rough understanding of the world. It didn't look like it was right to force him to forget what he heard from Mike's mouth.

"Not a word to anyone for your own good. They don't need to know that I warned you."

"One of the things that I would certainly do is not trust anyone. You don't have to tell me about that. I am not a young boy, I am an adult."

Mike looked at him doubting his words. His eyes moved up and down gauging his appearance. He wasn't an adult in anyone. Mike was 21 and the boy looked younger than him by a few years. He looked even under his twenty. It wasn't wise to lie when the appearance gave away the truth. Furthermore, the boy had his eyes swollen as he cried. The young knight chuckled.

"It must have been hard for you to survive the night in the plaguelands. Let's get moving! I believe they will help you get back to Valtrar. Just be careful! I spent a year with them and I have still been considered a recruit in their eyes. Be polite or you may have troubles swarming at you," the young knight turned his back and resumed his walking.

He lost all interest in training and he knew what awaited him once he was back. Sir Jack would beat the hell out of him again under the excuse of training. Stephan on the other hand pondered about following him. For now, it was the best option, but was it really safe? He glanced at the floating window next to him and sighed. There was no new quest, no main quest… It seemed he lost his way to performing or completing it. However, he understood he had to do something to make the system progress.

He examined it and Mike turned his head back observing what the young boy was doing. He had his eyes fixed on something and the young knight didn't know what. Since he was an apprentice of magic, perhaps there was something only he could see. He didn't question his actions further and simply resumed his walk back. If the boy didn't want to accept his help, then there was nothing to do. He wouldn't spend the time he had in convincing him.

Yet, instead of going back, he just unsheathed his sword and resumed training. He swung his sword repeatedly until sweat pearled over his forehead. Stephan glanced at the knight who didn't distance himself far from him and wondered about his strange behaviour. As far as he knew, humans were selfish creatures; they thought more of themselves than the others, especially in the face of survival.

"I wonder why he called me a boy when the body I possessed is older even than my own. Such strange people! They need glasses and I miss mine," he attempted to raise imaginary glasses up his nose and realized he didn't have them anymore

Stephan thought more about how the window system was made. It was the same as Legend of the Past. There was an icon on the far corner of the screen in the shape of a king chess piece. Clicking on it showed his Infos. He was now a level one magic-user without any exp. The penalty quest didn't provide him with any experience points.

There were also the Infos he saw previously about his attributes. When closing that area, the main screen had simply the clock and the quests written in big letters. However, there was no quest right now. There was only a big notice of no quest awaiting him. Supposedly, the games he played assisted the players in the tutorial level and helped the player more along the journey.

"I wonder what she is planning. She must be someone powerful to be able to protect me from the Ustriestan. Even that knight can't dispel the fog around him perfectly."

With a simple thought, he made the window close and he had a clear vision of everything around him. The area was still dark but it was distinguishable, unlike when he landed in that body.

He walked toward the knight and noticing him, he stopped swinging his sword. "You are an odd fellow, do you know that?"

"They usually say that, that's why I get bullied often," he resumed swinging his sword.

"Won't you exhaust the blessing? It will be hard to survive inside with the mist around you. I am still baffled at your excessive amount of courage."

"I leave that to luck. I am gambling with my life. It certainly prinks my skin and the sensation grows with each passing moment but I need to become stronger."

"You think that by putting yourself under pressure, you will grow faster. It's a way to grow stronger, yes. However, you need guidance. I am not that good with a sword," he was a good one when he was the legend player but now holding a broken sceptre and swinging it was a hard thing to do. It felt like his body couldn't perform the way he imagined the fighting stance. It was awkward. "I don't know exactly how to do it but I have a rough idea about it."

Stephan cut the distance between them and asked awkwardly for the sword. Mike found it funny how the apprentice rubbed his cheek with his finger and looked away embarrassed. He showed him he was all confident for a moment then he was talking like a teenager all of a sudden. He surrendered the sword to him and as soon as Stephen grabbed it, his hands were dragged alongside his frame down. The knight laughed at it.

"That's why magicians mostly use sceptres, wands and such. They can't lift such an easy sword."

Stephan felt his cheeks heat up from embarrassment. He felt the man was mocking him as a mage. Mages also could use physical damage in a game. Some of them were even better than normal warriors. Furthermore, his playing style was more on balancing both sides and making the character adaptable to any circumstances. So technically, he used a sword before. He remembered how but his body refused to listen to orders.

"Shut up! I am trying to help you. Don't look down upon me," he let the sword fall whole-heartedly to the ground and switched to his broken sceptre. "I guess I will just use my broken sceptre then. You can't blame me for jumping to conclusions."

"What's the story behind that one? How can you break it? Your weapons are important for you mages, you cannot fight without them. Your mana is basically useless without a receptacle to translate it into spells."

"Oh man! You are doing it again."