Restructuring (1)

"A-Are you okay?"

So-Hee was the first one that responded after seeing the little girl lying on the ground. She kneeled and grab the girl's little arms to help her get up. The girl stood up on her two feet, finally revealing her appearance.

"Um..." The little girl nodded, answering So-Hee question, and hung her head low after.

Yuri and Felix broke away from their startled state. They saw the girl was standing in front of them, with her petite body and ragged brown clothes. That looked like two pieces of cloth sewed together, intended to only cover her up. They also saw the girl charming feature, despite all the dirt that covered her face.

Her face was round like an apple, covered by her long hair that was deep blue in color. Completed with her radiant blue eyes, sad, if only she was outfitted with a clean and better dress that was suitable at her age.

"How did you get here? You're from Xeipes right?" Felix assumed a kneeling position while asking her a series of question.

The girl was fidgeting, nervous by the question. So-Hee noticed her behavior, and assured her, "Don't worry. You can choose not to answer if you didn't want to." She smiled with her beautiful face.

The girl saw So-Hee smiling at her, she blushed and buried her face even deeper with her long yet messy brown hair.

Yuri was standing still, as the two questioned the girl. He decided to stay silent while thinking how did the girl ended up in here with them. It was stated from the item description that the teleportation scroll could only transport him or someone inside his party. Also, he was sure that he saw the girl in Xeipes before, when he stared at the inspection line, although it was just a glance, somehow he can remember her.

He wandered inside his thought, while, in the background, the sun was slowly coming down, glowing orange as it sunk deep into the mountains. Yuri noticed the change of lighting in his surrounding, albeit still deep in his thought. He shook his head and turned his head towards the surrounding while at the same time, he decided to put on hold his previous thought.

"We need to move..." He said as he scanned his surrounding. They were in a wilderness, surrounded by plateaus and river on the side, while on the distance, he saw a range of mountains, with the biggest of them all, stuck in the middle, while a waterfall can be seen going through its peak.

The two heard what Yuri said, and scanned their surroundings too. Felix got up from his kneeling position, he also decided not to ask the nervous girl any more question. He can force her to talk, however, it didn't hold any purpose to him except filling up his curiosity, besides, he didn't mind one more companion anyway. It just meant that Yuri and So-Hee had one more to worry about, while he just stood on the background and occasionally heal them.

"So? Where do we go now?" Felix asked while putting his hands behind the back of his head.

"Hmm...Maybe...That way?" Yuri pointed out his finger. He saw a small smoke rising from the feet of the mountains. He predicted, maybe there's a village or a camp there.

Felix squinted his eyes, however, he didn't see what Yuri had seen, "What's in there?"

"I saw a smoke rising from there." Yuri said with confidence.

Once more, Felix squinted his eyes, still, nothing came into his view, except the green forest and the tall mountains behind it, "I didn't see any smoke..." Felix turned his head toward So-Hee, "Do you see a smoke there?"

So-Hee still kneeled beside the girl. She also took a glance towards the direction where Yuri has pointed. But, she didn't see any smoke rising in there too, she also saw Felix gazes, she looked back towards Felix and shrugged her shoulders.

The girl also took a glance, albeit her nervous state, she was curious too, however, what she saw was different from them. She saw there was a strange aura there, a blue aura, concentrated at the foot of the mountains. But, she chose to stay silent, afraid to grab their attention.

'Hmm...They can't see that far into the distance...Which mean, my stats increase also improve my senses...But, which one? Vitality?' Yuri saw the two conversated with each other, while at the same time letting his thought wanders.

"It looks like we have too much difference in stats..." Yuri said his thought out loud.

"Stats difference? Didn't we just have a couple of levels difference?" Felix asked while turning his head once more towards Yuri. The two were still clueless about Yuri boosted levels and status. The only thing that they knew were the changes in his hair and the power to display the game menu on Earth.

Yuri took a glance at Felix for a second, and turned his gaze once more towards his planned destination, "I'll explain later...The sun's going down, and we're on an unknown grounds. Who knows what monsters lurk when the place got dark."

The two nodded at Yuri, they approved what Yuri had suggested. However, they still had a problem in their hands. Which is the girl, what will they do about her.

So-Hee looked at the girl, she saw the girl still had her face buried beneath her hair, "So, what are you going to do now? You're free now, you can do whatever you want. However, I suggest you come along with us, it's dangerous when this place gets dark." So-Hee suggested.

She was concerned about her well-being. Although Felix and Yuri didn't say anything, they felt the same as So-Hee did.

The girl was startled when she heard what So-Hee said, she took a glance towards So-Hee, showing her beautiful blue eyes, and nod. To be honest, she was embarrassed and also nervous. In her thought, she was afraid if she was left behind in this place alone. She knew that she wasn't meant to be here, however, she would take the chance no matter how small to change her pitiful fate.

"Let's move on then." Yuri took his first step, with a small smile plastered on his face. Felix followed after, while So-Hee grabbed the girl little arms, and smiled towards her before following Yuri.

----

"Please welcome our guest for today topics. Professor Nikolai Schmidt from Germany. He will explain about Multiverse to us today."

"Hello. Pleased to meet you today."

"Wow! Your Koreans pronunciations are very good Mr. Nikolai?"

"Hahaha. I'm just an avid K-Pop fan."

"Really, I was really surprised about it, haha— Anyway, let's move on to our topics then."

Click.

"Music Link!"

Click.

"...."

The sound of the TV reverberated throughout the house. Lillie was seen hanging around in the lounge room alone. She was surfing through the channels, trying to find herself some entertainments.

She glanced towards the clock above the TV, it showed that it was eight in the evening, she sighed, "...I'm bored...Big brother still inside the game...His dinner's getting cold...Uuu..." She fidgeted with her finger while holding the TV remote in her hands.

The reason why she was absent on Emperor's Destiny was because, she was sleeping all day long. She finally felt that she was at home, as soon as she saw the bed in her room, she snugged inside it, as if it was a precious treasure for her, beside her dive device. Although, to be honest, she was away from it for only a couple of weeks.

Just awake from her beauty sleep, she goes straight away towards the fridge, trying to find herself some refreshments, and also some food to eat. She rummaged through the refrigerators, but, there was nothing there besides the basic ingredients, like vegetables, eggs, and meats. However, her eyes sparkled looking at it.

Lillie didn't know how to cook yet, despite her willingness to learn about it. This was because of her brother, Yuri prohibited anything that could lead her to exhaustion, because of her previous conditions. However, now, her conditions were improved and the illness in her body was finally cured.

She was determined looking at the ingredients in front of her eyes. A smile was plastered on her face, now was her time to show off her cooking skills. She spends two hours just to make one dishes, however, she was satisfied. She put it inside the oven to preserve it, waiting for her brother to taste it. But, the circumstances betrayed her expectations, she thought her brother would come out when it was dinner time.

However, it was already eight in the evening, and there was no sign of her brother coming out from her room, while she was fidgeting playing with the television remote with a pouted mouth, angry at her brother.

----

The smell of burning wood lingered through the air. Yuri and the other walked their ways through the thick forest and plateaus. They were close to their intended destination. Yuri scanned their surroundings, as expected, there is a settlement in there, at the foot of the biggest mountains.

"Woah. You're right about the smoke, I can smell it from here." Felix chimed, while turning his head left and right.

Meanwhile, So-Hee and the girl walked side by side, following the two through the dirt road.

Wooden walls complete with its wooden gate barred their passage. Their surroundings were completely dark now, except the fires that were coming from the other side of the wall. The gate was closed, while there was no guard outside its walls. They were perplexed by the situation, however, they can't give up now.

Yuri walked closer towards the gate, he knocked it, hoping there's someone on the other side of the wall, "HELLO!!" He yelled at the same time.

Just about to knock his hands the third time, the gate was opened. A male youth was peeking his head through the gates, his face was lit by the fire in his hand, making his tanned face a bit orange.

"Who are you guys? State your reason for being here!" The youth scrutinized them one by one.

"We're an adventurer, and we hope to spend the night in here." Yuri stated their reasons concisely.

The youth scrutinized them once more, however, instead of letting them in, he closed the gate once more.

Yuri and the others were perplexed by the youth actions. Does this village didn't accept strangers? They thought inside their heads. Although it wasn't a problem for Yuri to stay camp outside the village, he wasn't sure about the others.

"You stupid boy! Open the gates now! What?"

Smack

Smack

"Open the gates now! Trying to act tough, you're lucky I'm not in my prime!"

Yuri heard the commotions on the other side of walls, from the voice he deduced that it was the voice of an elder person. The gates were opened once more. They were surprised by what they saw on the other side. There was two people there, a male elder and the youth that scrutinized them before. However, there was a difference, the youth cheeks were red covered up with his hands, trying to rub away the pain.

The elder scrutinized them with his wrinkled eyes, "You're an adventurer?"

"Yes, sir. We're intending to spend the night in here if we get the permissions." Yuri answered politely.

"Hmm...Okay then. Follow me." The elder turned his back and walked away.

Yuri and the other were perplexed and happy at the same time, Yuri was the first to move his feet, following the elder, and the rest followed after. Walking past the youth. Mischief filled Felix minds, knowing the fact that the youth was beaten down by the elder, he tried to add salts to his wounds.

He walked past the youth, however, just one step further from the youth he stopped, grinning at the youth and slightly bowed to annoy him. Yuri was clueless to this, however, So-Hee and the girl was just behind him and saw all of that, So-Hee shook her head, and walked past Felix and the youth with the girl, trying not to get caught up in their stupidity.

"Oh. Right. Welcome to Marinea, we didn't have much, but, at least we got warm beds and warm food." The elder chimed as he walked further into the village.