Chương 53: Tempest (I)
Friday. July 10, 2054. 6:00 pm.
The street lights flickered on in the neighborhood as the sun slowly began to set. The birds were loudly chirping as they chatted with one another, and a soft breeze blew through the hot summer evening. Old newspapers were plastered against the interior walls of the bus stop alongside lettered graffiti. Kiyro waited patiently for the bus. Already he was sweating from the hot, sticky Georgia weather.
How he missed Chicago's summer weather. The cool breeze from the lake, the less humid air, and the city that never sleeps—nothing truly stopped in the city of Chicago. Throughout the day, different shops stayed open, and people were out in the street. Unlike in Georgia, more cars could be seen out in the city of Chicago than in Atlanta.
With a loud screech the bus stopped in front of Kiyro. The moment the door opened, a musty smell wafted out. He stepped back from the strong stagnant air. Quickly scanning inside, he walked to an empty bus seat and sat down comfortably.
Today he was wearing black sneakers, blue jeans, and a blue shirt. He did not feel the need to look decent while doing his errands. It didn't take long for Anna to continually whine and bother him for food while he was playing Growth. Every couple of seconds a flood of messages would ring in his ears, breaking his concentration.
Having an extra person in the apartment depleted his food. He forgot how hungry Anna got, even though she was really skinny. The thing about his whole family was that they all had a high metabolism and foods tended to disappear like water. Any leftovers usually were gone in under a day. Nothing lasted in his house.
Lately though, he noticed an increase in her consumption of food. It usually meant one thing: it was that time of the month. It wasn't strange that he knew his sister's cycle. It only meant one thing to him. All food depleted under a week. He always wondered where all the food went in her stomach.
Kiyro pulled out the note that was in his pocket. Scribbled on it quickly was Anna's handwriting with one word written on it: Bibimbap. He crumpled the paper back into his pocket. Anna left him a note and money to buy groceries for the night. She was going to be late again tonight.
It was the usual routine whenever she was going to be late: leave a note asking for a specific meal and leave money if there wasn't any food left in the fridge. Today was Bibimbap: a spicy dish that had mixed vegetables, beef, egg, sesame oil, Korean red hot pepper paste, and rice all into one bowl. It was one of Anna's many favorite dishes.
He didn't mind cooking for her. He actually enjoyed cooking his own food: he could eat a variety of food at his own leisure and at a low cost. He made sure to take the necessary vitamins to keep his body healthy. It wasn't difficult to do. In the past it took a while to memorize the basic nutritional information of all of the different vegetables, fruits, and meats, but as time went on he now kept it in the back of his mind.
He crumpled the paper into his pocket as he leaned back. It was not a packed bus tonight; oddly enough there were less people on the bus route than usual. There was only a group of rowdy teenagers talking loudly amongst themselves.
"Were you guys at the coliseum to hear the speech today? It gave me the shivers." One of the boys leaned over the seats as he talked to the other two that were behind him.
"No." The teenager next to him heavily sighed. "I was at work. I wish I was there."
"Man, you missed something great. You should've seen it all. It was truly AMAZING."
"I know, man. Don't rub it in."
"Sorry. It's just I can't tell you enough how great it was. Are you going to do the event, though?"
"Hell yeah I am. It's an once-in-a-lifetime thing. Who would want to miss such an opportunity to work with the warlords? Especially Jergorian's guild. Their accomplishments are almost legendary. How I wish I could join his guild."
"Tch. The Grand Legion guild is nothing compare to Liliac's WaterRose guild. Come on. Haven't you heard about their latest accomplishment of taking down the General Kirin's Fortress? She did it all under thirty minutes flat with only the top ten of her best warriors. Seriously, who would be nuts enough to do that without getting killed? It's known to be one of the top difficult quests to do before the second update happened."
"You guys are all wrong. Aldran's Hercules guild is the best. They're the ones that activated the Seed Shard quest. That quest must've been something big for it to be announced. Think about it. It was announced throughout the whole server."
A couple of the teenagers nodded in agreement.
"Keh, I cannot wait for the event to start. I want it to start now."
"You got to be joking. That would be a bad idea. Didn't you heard about the predicament we are in? There is no solution as of yet. It would be a complete massacre. It's like going blindfolded to our death sentence."
The others' faces scrunched with worry at the thought of death.
"Okay. Okay. Fine, but did you see her pet black panther? It looked so cool. I wish I had one."
"Yeah." One of the guys' voices trailed off for a moment. "I saw it. Taming wild animals is hard, especially that one. Don't you need a special skill to even tame them?"
"Yep. You need some kind of intimacy to handle them. I wonder what her secret is."
"Not sure, but I would like one as well. On the note of pets, did you guys hear that the one million gold egg got sold to a girl?"
"You serious?"
Kiyro slightly fidgeted as he strained to hear what they were saying. His curiosity piqued at what they might say about him.
"Mhmm. Apparently it was a common monster, a fox. Its true value was one gold. I personally say it's worth 10 copper."
Kiyro coughed loudly as he tried to stop himself from blurting out loud and giving them a piece of his mind. He almost fell out of his chair trying to stop himself from getting up and walking towards them. The four teens turned around towards him to see what the ruckus was about. He played it off as if it was nothing.
Kids these days. They don't see the value of a pet, thought Kiyro as he continued to listen to them. Even having a fox pet could truly be handy.
They turned back towards one another and continued with their conversation.
"Agreed. Who in the right mind would want a fox for a pet? They don't do anything except for hunting small game. All the lower class pets are just decoration and for carrying your bag."
"All you get is their pelt if they die."
"That's kind of sick. Who in the right mind would want to wear their pet? That's some psycho stuff right there."
Pfft. If you only knew. Kiyro chuckled softly to himself.
"Well, it's probably dead by now. Low class pets don't last long. Give or take a week and…" The male student motioned his hands across his throat. "Players usually use them as a shield when things go bad. I think I saw the owner with a replacement that is a bigger dog-like creature. I wouldn't ever forget a beauty like her, but her past pet is so dead."
Kiyro once again struggled to stop himself from speaking out loud in an outburst and instead gave a loud hacking cough. Everyone turned around towards Kiyro.
"Is that guy okay?" one of the guys leaned over and whispered loudly to his friend.
"I don't know, but I hope I don't catch the flu from him." They whispered to one another as they eyed Kiyro warily.
"I think I heard that there was an outbreak of avian flu or something." Everyone inched backwards in their benches away from Kiyro.
"No shit. You serious?" Their eyes become wide with worry. "Let's go."
"Yeah."
All four of the teenage boys got up and hurriedly left, for they did not wanted to catch the possible flu.
"Dead? Me? Hardly!" Kiyro was slightly irritated that they thought so little of him. It bothered him to the point where he wanted to give them a piece of his mind. Throughout the whole bus ride, he sat silently thinking over ways to make his character known. With a loud screeching halt, the bus stopped in front of a large grocery store.
Rushing out, he began walking towards the grocery store that was around the corner. He didn't have time to dally to long today. Today was the second-to-last day to complete leveling up to 150, and he was only at 130. Doing the quest for Bishop Etran had helped raise him five levels, while the Drezo Regalia quest has given him an extraordinary boost in levels that helped him reach to 120. The last ten was a constant grueling task of killing nearby monsters. Luckily, he was able to get Zeraph's help to get the last kill on monsters, for which he was given bonus experience points. Zeraph on the other hand had already reached his quota of level 150, as had Agnis. He was surprised that Agnis has reached her level of 150 so quickly before him. The last 20 levels he heard took about another couple of days straight of grinding to reach to 150. He was not so sure that he would make it in time.
Going through the store, he knew what he needed to buy. Walking through the grocery aisle, he had begun to pull out different ingredients that he needed for the next week. He had the habit of choosing the freshest variety of vegetables and meat. He understood how precious it was to not squander the food that he ate. During the one-month training of hell at his DanketsuRyu Academy, he had to survive off the land. There were a lot of times he had suffered from starvation and he now understood the value of food.
When his mother had passed away, he took over cleaning and cooking for the family. There were a lot of mistakes at first, but it took time and effort to learn. He did not mind it at all. It was a survival skill that he needed.
Kiyro took his time through the process of picking out each one of the ingredients. Even though he had a deadline, his priority to take care of his body was of the utmost importance. If he wanted to make money, he knew he had to keep himself in top shape. Walking over to the check out with a basket full of items, he noticed a young cute lady pulled up in front of him carrying a large number of grocery bags.
One of the bags tore, creating a loud crashing sound against the stone floor. Different varieties from spaghetti sauces to canned fruits rolled along the ground. Kiyro stepped out of the way before one hit his foot. People nearby stared to see what was going on.
"Damn it," exclaimed the young lady as she stepped backwards in frustration. She looked around flustered as her groceries were all splayed out on the ground.
A spaghetti sauce can lightly tap his foot and stopped next to it.
"I'm so sorry." She bent over to quickly pick up her groceries.
"It's alright." Zero began to help her.
A soft sweet smell tickled his nose. It reminded him of the smell of bubblegum and fresh laundry.
"Thank you." She smiled angelically.
What a pretty smile. His thoughts were dazed for a moment. He couldn't help but smile back.
"No problem. I hate it when the bags do that as well. It just means that you need to double bag it when you think it's going to be too heavy."
"I see." Her long eyelashes batted lightly. Kiyro cheeks burned slightly red. Her cute, petite round face and short hair waved side to side.
Kiyro unconsciously took a slightly deeper breath of her sweet bubblegum scent. He felt a bit like a pervert, but he couldn't help himself. He took a quick glance and noticed her frilly white dress puffed up around her; her sleek legs were covered in black stockings with black shoes.
"Thanks for helping me out."
"No problem, glad to help."
The girl stopped and turned towards him shyly. "I know I am asking for too much, but do you mind helping me carry this bag over just down the street? I should've gotten less, but the amount of people I have to feed for this weekend's dinner party…" She sighed heavily.
"Sure. Let me finish with mine first."
She nodded and side stepped out of the way.
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