Chapter 4

Upon hearing a vaguely familiar voice, Saryn turned his head and locked eyes with the boy who had beaten the previous soul of Saryn out of his body. Behind the young man stood the chubby boy and black-haired girl from before along with some new additions. One was a short brown-haired boy wearing tinted glasses that seemed to have some technical functions. The second was a timid-looking young lady with curly shoulder-length auburn hair and bright orange eyes that glinted with curiosity. The third was another girl with dark purple-tinted black hair tied in a long ponytail by three white, red, and gold cylindrical ornaments. She stood twice taller than even the relatively tall chubby boy, yet her most distinct traits were her pupiless gray eyes and two small horns on her forehead closer to her temples that looked like gray mantis limbs pointing toward the sky. Although tall enough to make the people around her look like hobbits or dwarves, her facial features looked young like that of a teenager.

Raising a brow, Saryn looked up into the girl's eyes and wondered, 'Do giants exist in this world?'

The girl stared back with her pupiless gray eyes. Briefly, Saryn wondered if she was blind, but the way she quietly focused on him with lips curled downward into a frown forced him to conclude that she could see as well as anyone else.

Despite his curiosity, he tore his eyes away from the girl when he felt the air around him thicken as though gravity had doubled. Instantly, he turned to his mother. A cold voice that bit down like frostbite in the dead of winter slipped from the woman's lips.

"So you're the brat who hurt my son?"

Waves of sand rippled outward in circles with Viktoria at the center. The young people in Yu Tian's entourage all paled, though the young man himself only winced slightly before steadying his expression and gazing coldly at Viktoria, to which her lips twitched in response.

"What a bold little bastard."

Yu Tian frowned and squinted. His lips opened as though preparing a retort, but before he could, another voice interrupted him.

"Mother."

"Hmm?"

The atmosphere eased slightly as Viktoria turned toward her son.

"They aren't worth the time spent interrupting our lunch, so just ignore them," Saryn advised. Then, he glanced uninterestedly at Yu Tian and said, "Don't bother me in the future."

Moving a heavy glare over to Saryn, Yu Tian's frown deepened, his thoughts unknown to those around him.

"Are you sure, son? Breaking an arm or two could reopen the combat team's Vice-Captain position for you."

"I don't need such a thing."

Viktoria quietly observed Saryn for a few moments before sighing and halting whatever she was doing to the air around them. Feeling a weight lifted from his shoulders, Saryn cracked his neck and said, "I recall you mentioning a good restaurant after we checked into the resort earlier. Let's go there."

Eyes twinkling at the suggestion, Viktoria smiled, grabbed Saryn's shoulder, and said, "Let's go right away. Hopefully it can jog some memories for you."

Suddenly, a thin silver light covered both Viktoria and Saryn. Saryn felt his body lighten, and his vision swirled. Next thing he knew, the sight in front of his eyes changed.

An open bar and restaurant area located next to the resort's hotel entered his eyes. A semi-translucent barrier of sorts blocked sand and wind from entering the eating area where people wearing swimsuits or summer attire ate their food in peace without having to worry about the elements. A silver droid that looked just human enough to give Saryn an uncanny valley feeling operated as a bartender while beautiful young ladies dressed in surprisingly modest bikinis served food and drinks to the guests.

"A beach bar?"

"Yeah. You always loved coming here to ogle the waitresses. The food is good, too," Viktoria answered with a teasing smirk.

Sighing, Saryn said, "As long as the food is good."

Inwardly, he pondered his handling of the situation and wondered, 'I wonder if the system will judge my actions with that Yu Tian guy again?'

Luckily, he didn't need to wait long to find out.

[Avoided a direct confrontation with an Electus, indirectly protecting yourself and your mother from Rehgnehm interference.]

[+1000 Impuratus Points]

"Interesting," Saryn mumbled to himself.

'I won't set aside my overall decisions or actions for this system, but I should still figure out how it works, what these weird words refer to, how it can all benefit me, and then adjust accordingly.'

A grumbling stomach interrupted his thoughts.

"Guess I was hungrier than I thought. And here I thought I had a large breakfast," He said with a wry smile.

* * *

Meanwhile, back on the beach, Yu Tian quietly stared at the direction Saryn and Viktoria disappeared to. The tall girl also looked in the same direction with furrowed brows. In contrast, their other cohorts looked around in confusion.

Behind Yu Tian, the short brown-haired boy adjusted his glasses and said, "That didn't pan out how I expected. I thought he would lash out again. Glad he didn't, though. That woman was terrifying. According to my readings, she seemed like an extremely powerful Kaiha."

"That was his mother," The black hair girl with purple eyes absentmindedly clarified.

"Seriously? The kel doesn't fall far from the tree, does it? I thought she was going to kill us on the spot," The auburn-haired girl quietly replied while dabbing her forehead with a handkerchief she pulled out of God-knows-where.

"Did he really lose his memory? Hope it's a good thing for us. Guy was a total imbecile," The brown-haired boy grumbled.

"Seemed like he really did get amnesia since he didn't even acknowledge us. Guess the rumors were true," The auburn-haired girl quietly replied.

"Something wrong bro?" The chubby boy asked while patting Yu Tian's shoulder.

"...It's nothing."

The chubby boy's brows furrowed slightly, but he quickly brought out a smile and exclaimed, "Let's hit the beach to forget our troubles!"

"...Sure," Yu Tian quietly replied with a small nod after a few seconds. The others nodded in agreement aside from the tall girl.

While the others walked toward the beach, the tall girl trailed behind with her gaze focused on the distant resort. In a voice too quiet for the others to hear, she mumbled to herself in a soft voice, "Is that really Saryn? His mind is different, and there isn't any prejudice in his eyes toward me anymore… Does losing memory really change humans that much? What a weird species."