บท 49: Chapter 48
"It was about true love!"
The room was silent for a moment, as they felt Leon didn't answer the question, they honestly had no idea how what he said related to the conversation. Helen quickly caught onto what the others were feeling and decided to give a proper explanation.
"To clarify, he wanted me to help him find true love. It's admittedly an unorthodox request but nothing too difficult.
While we're on the subject, I seem to have already completed that request, so our deal is officially over."
Now it was Leon's turn to be shocked. He expected a little more help from the gangster, which wasn't much to begin with.
"But what am I supposed to do? You didn't even tell me who she is yet!"
"I agreed to help you meet her, which you already have. Being your matchmaker wasn't part of the deal."
Anthony sighed in disappointment and looked at the now severely confused politician. Initially, he thought he might get a good story out of this secret deal, but it was obvious that Leon essentially got scammed because of a technicality.
Seeing that the conversation was going nowhere he tried to change the topic to something more substantial.
"Did you find anything about the spear?"
The spear that was used to impale the miracle bear was extracted during the clean-ups and it turned out to be similarly special to the thing it was used against.
It was a relatively simple weapon, made with some good quality wood. The interesting part was the tip of the spear, which had a slight reddish hue, even after it was cleaned off.
"Nothing we didn't already know. The metal is mostly steel, and is a little tougher than the regular kind, the rest of it is unidentified. Whatever is in it gets inseparably attached to all forms of protein upon contact.
We took some samples for studying, you can have the rest if you want."
With the number of different abilities in the world, it wasn't out of the question for some of them to create new materials, but they were rare enough to serve as an incredible business opportunity for anyone who had access to some.
"Is there information on anything similar?"
"Allegedly there is something similar in Eastern Europe, but it's possible they're just messing with us."
After some more exchange of information, Anthony and James decided to take the kids home so Helen and Leon were left alone to discuss the legal definition of "find".
312.4.71.
Anthony decided to go to work and speak to his boss. There was something very important he had to discuss with her.
"I want a different job."
"You what?"
She was under the impression that Anthony was fine with his current work, happy even, but apparently she was mistaken and was now waiting for an explanation.
"The recent incident served as a sort of wake up call. I think being an investigative journalist, or something similar, would suit me much better."
"I guess you did like that sort of stuff. And it's not like you lack the tools for it, with your hearing and all."
It was an offhand remark but it stuck out as Anthony was under the impression that no one really knew of his old ability. It turned he was wrong.
"How exactly do you know about that? And if you do, how didn't you notice that I lost it?"
"You lost it?!
... Well, I'm sure you got it figured out. Just try not to get yourself killed ... again."
Meanwhile at the Williams house, the kids were in the middle of training. Anthony told them about his plans and they wanted to tag along, which James would only agree to if they could pass a strength test set up by him. And so they trained.
[Achievement unlocked: Strength training 5/5]
[Reward: STR +0.3]
[Achievement unlocked: Agility training 5/5]
[Reward: AGI +0.3]
[Achievement unlocked: Stamina training 5/5]
[Reward: STA +0.3]
[Phantom achievement unlocked: Intermediate training]
[Reward: STR +0.1, AGI +0.1, STA +0.1, END +0.05]
[Shared messages:]
[Achievement unlocked: Strength training 2/5]
[Reward: STR +0.15]
[Achievement unlocked: Agility training 2/5]
[Reward: AGI +0.15]
[Achievement unlocked: Stamina training 2/5]
[Reward: STA +0.15]
[Achievement unlocked: Learn to write.]
[Reward: AGI +0.1, INT +0.05]
Rose was also with them. She didn't really have a choice due to her connection to Peter, but she also didn't really protest the situation.
She took up the job of teaching the children instead of James, in exchange for a place to stay and a salary.
Peter of course used the opportunity to figure out what happened to her. Rose's transformation was more complicated than Anthony's, who was essentially an immortal zombie.
They had limited time and resources to try out everything they wanted but one thing became apparent after a very short time.
Rose wasn't really Rose anymore.
Her body was cold like a regular undead and her senses were severely numbed. The definitive conclusion came when she accidentally left her own body once and could walk around as a solid shadow. From what they knew, her old body was little more than a puppet.
This revelation led to discoveries both good and bad. The good part of it was that her body didn't seem to deteriorate, even though it was technically dead, the bad part was that she didn't seem to heal either, with the injuries caused by Jake showing no signs of recovery.
It wasn't a problem for now but it was bound to be if she got more visible wounds.
They didn't accomplish much else before they got news about their next travel destination.
312.4.72.
"What do you think we should do, if you are so against involving the kids."
"I'm not saying we shouldn't involve them. I'm saying you should think more realistically."
Anthony and Leon were alone in the latter's office. They were in the middle of arguing about what to do with the gods. As much as they hated each other, they knew when to put their differences aside.
"As great as their growth is, it's not a guarantee they could handle whatever's coming. My kids are among the stronger ones and even they are weak by our standards, let alone divine standards."
"What other choice do we have? Ask one of the powerhouses who could be possessed at any moment for help?"
Even though reality was probably nowhere near as desperate as they portrayed it, both of them knew from experience that preparing for the worst was necessary.
"I was thinking more along the lines of people like you."
"Why? Is there anything special about me?"
"You could say that. My son is talented at spotting this kind of thing."
[Entity class 32]
[Abilities: Dominion, Strategic mind, Survival instincts, Commanding authority, Ruler's strength, Lie detection]
[Divinity: 0.73]
"If that's true, then let's hope I'm enough for whatever's coming. What are you planning to do in the meantime?"
"I thought it would be obvious after what we talked about. I'm going traveling!"
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