chapter 4 :- "winter's training begins"
Xen rubbed his finger against his chin. "So, Winter... you like summer?".
Winter crossed his arms, his brows slightly furrowed."It doesn't matter. But the explanation you provided me back in the cave doesn't satisfy my hunger."His tone sharpens."Why choose me to summon a sword if you didn't know goblins were going to show up? How would you know you would need a sword? I think you are somehow connected with events at the cave, how's that not your doing?"
Xen tilted his head, a smirk curling at his lips. He clicked his tongue. "See, kid… umm, how to say this..."He paused, "I actually could have killed the entire locality. Community. Town. Or the military of those goblins, even at my weakest. 'Cause I still have my perks. The ones I earned by myself. They're still sticking with me."
He took a step forward, waving his hand casually."I was moving at a very fast rate, so a sword proved to be more effective. It has a longer range. That's it. Any other weapon would require me to spend more time cleaning them up."
Winter's eyes narrowed,"You spew a lot of gibberish and still haven't answered my damn question!"
Xen leans in, his voice lower. "You didn't even let me build suspense. You're so boring, dude. Hmm… Answer my question, and you'll get your answer, Winter."
Winter scoffs, "What question?"
"What are you exactly?"
Winter blinks, confused.
"What makes you different, young man?"
"I'm a summoner. That makes me different. "Winter's voice grows defensive." And will you stop treating me like a kid? You're hardly three years older than me, and you have no sign of a moustache growing up!"
Xen chuckles, "Okay, thanks for stating that. Coming back to the topic... "Yes, you're a summoner, which led to you summoning a demon whose name is Killihigo back then… and later, he kills you."
Winter's face pales. His lips tremble. "Dead...? Why would I summon a demon? Historically, the Gates open for them to enter our world."
Xen shrugs. "Yeah. You were killed. That's why I chose you. There's your answer. The gates permit demons to enter our world, yes. And the resista—"
"Resistance of our sun makes them build caves and live there," Winter completes the sentence, annoyed.
Xen stares at him for a moment.
"Sorry," Winter mutters, looking away.
Xen continues, "So, this Killihigo demon was sealed three hundred years ago by a hero named Joshua Etherene. And he wanted to make a comeback. But he's locked and he wanted a key."
He looks at Winter."A key that has the potential to summon otherworlders like me into his world. Understand?"
" But he's in that world. How did it get me to bring him back to Earth?"
"Hmm. He has his minions in the human world as well. Some human beings worship these creatures as if they were superior beings. And every follower tries to be like these monsters. Driven by emotion, the followers form symbiotic relationships with these monsters by absorbing beetles of their kind. They become half-monsters themselves. This ritual grants them power."
Winter's tone softens, "Why go this far?"
Xen's voice turns distant. "In a world where outsiders like us get access to the magic system, we level up and get a head start over many native adventurers, not only that, we level up at a much faster pace, which will cause a huge lack of opportunities, bitterness and weird dynamics."He gazes upward."The world I come from… people hated humans of different backgrounds, guess, the human race's nature is universal. But most of the time, a lot of such people are just driven by negative emotions to leave their humanity behind. People are flawed. I think that's enough information for you."
He claps his hands once."So, Winter… how do you rate the entire story?" Each of Xen's eyebrows raises back and forth.
"But was I that much obvious? I tried to keep my identity a secret."
"Well, you didn't manage to do so against me. An adventurer has perks like Seeking. You can hardly keep yourself hidden. It's a rare ability, Winter. Everyone wants to have a summoner in their squadron."
"I guess I'll be of no help. My knowledge isn't that much… that I would summon a hero from another world—let alone a monster."
"Yeah. Even I don't know how they got an amateur like you to do the hard part for them, but they succeeded. That's all I know."Xen smiles faintly. "So when I decided to travel back, I thought. Let's do this one thing right as well. Bring Winter back to life. Yahoo."
"So… what happened when Killihigo arrived?" Winter asks
Xen's tone, emotionless."123 killed. 299 injured. All the followers of the cult were chopped to pieces. We have no evidence. And Killihigo escaped. Hid himself, maybe."
A beat. He continues."Uncle Ten and Aunt April were scrutinised, and it became a law for any kid with summoning ability to be brought to the king's palace at once… for higher study and protection. You were really popular back when it happened."
Winter breathes out slowly."All for the wrong reasons."
Xen nods."Yeah. Killihigo became a huge ticking bomb back then. He pats Winter on the shoulder. "Since I don't want the same to happen again, I'll have to make you a tough fighter, Winter."
Xen's voice lowers into a whisper."For that, I will allow you to access my Rue-based management system."
"Rue-based system?" Winter replies, blinking with visible confusion.
Xen doesn't answer. Instead, he turns his back to Winter, raises his hand into the air, and closes his eyes. His stance becomes still.
"Wait and watch," he says calmly, his voice filled with certainty.
A strange energy swirls around him. Suddenly, a glowing graphic, etched in glowing lines and symbols, appears in front of him, hovering in the air.
Xen grins. "See?" he says, laughing softly, proud like a child showing off a hidden toy.
"Nothing's visible. You looked stupid back there," Winter responds flatly.
Xen clears his throat with a fake cough. Then he speaks out loud."Magic System, allow Winter to see my Rue Base Management System."
Instantly, the table explodes into full view; massive, wide, floating above the ground like a deity's spreadsheet.
Winter instinctively jumps back, startled by the sight. His heart skips a beat.
"Woah!" he exclaims. You heroes are something.
Xen commands the screen, "Select items from the table. Xen is cool."
A spreadsheet appears on the screen. Rows and columns arrange themselves with mechanical elegance. Each glows faintly with a warm blue hue.
Xen points casually at the top left. "See at the top-left in that rectangular box? That's the sword you summoned for me back in the dungeon."
Then, without missing a beat: "RBMS, give that sword to me."
A flash, and a glowing sword appear in Xen's hand. The system obeys instantly.
He twirls the blade once, then says, "RBMS, store it back to its original place."
The sword vanishes with a hum.
"Great. Look at it, Winter. Isn't that great?"
He gestures toward the spreadsheet."These are called tables. A table consists of rows and columns. The first row is the sword you summoned for me, while the columns are stats. And each column has useless information about the sword, which I'm not laying my eyes upon. NOW. Rue Base Management System, I want you to link my Rue Base with Winter. Allow him access too. He's your new boss… and my co-worker."
Winter stands stunned. He stares at Xen.
"You said you wanted to be a hero," Xen says, turning to him, eyes lit with hope.
"This is your first step at it."
He steps closer. "I hate spoonfeeding. I'm not protecting you. If you die, you die. Full stop. But I will give everything I can to help you survive."
A new prompt floats in front of Xen.
Xen doesn't hesitate. He presses YES.
A glowing window flashes in front of Winter. He stumbles slightly, overwhelmed."Oh… What do I do?"
"Say 'Create table', then give it a name," Xen guides, cool as ever.
"Okay. Create table 'goods'."
"Now say, insert my dagger into goods."
Winter looks at his dagger, then makes it face the screen. The dagger vanishes into thin air as if it's been pulled inside by unseen threads.
Suddenly, a new row appears in the table. The stats of the dagger are listed as sharpness, weight, and durability.
"Woah…" Winter's eyes glitter with joy.
Xen crosses his arms."As you gain experience, you'll only need to think commands, and the RUE-Base Management System will do your work in seconds. In a fight, we don't have time. You need to switch from spells to shields, from shields to swords, from swords to the next weapon in a heartbeat."
Winter stares at him."How… how is something like that even possible?"
"You need to perform it to answer that question. Trust me, it's easy. But…"
Xen smirks."We're not done yet."
"What more do you have to showww...—"
Before Winter can finish his sentence, Xen grabs his hand and launches himself with Winter into the air.
Winter's scream echoes through the entire area."WAAAAAAA!"
The two figures ascend like meteors. A milkman walking down the street looks up and drops his bottle, watching in disbelief as two young men come crashing toward him.
Smiling Xen and terrified Winter disappear from the sky, blinking out just before impact.
They land, hard but unharmed. A patch of moss breaks their fall.
"Where… where are we?" Winter asks, looking around.
They stand before a towering, ominous forest.
Xen stretches his arm and points forward. "To your training. say thanks to my perk, teleportaion"
He nods toward the forest."When you were sleeping, I had already asked my magic system to allow you to have access. Now… you are part of the levelling system. You will go into this demonic forest. Kill some of what's inside. Gain some experience. Then come back. If you die, then… You should hope I fail my mission again, so I can bring you back to life."
"WHAAAT?! You're telling me to go out there and hunt?!"
Xen nods, "Exactly."
The forest has a mixture of roaring, hissing and barking noises of foreign creatures emerging in the open.
What will happen to terrified winter next?