Pride Online

Chapter 172: “Signetic Syncro” Part IV

“...Don’t sweat over small stuff like that. In the game, I’m still your master anyway, you know. And my beloved disciple’s really not gonna help his master a little?”

“Well, I think I’ve learned so little from you that I’m not sure if I should be calling you master, Mister Sander.”

“What, come on!”

The one who claimed himself as a master smiled wryly as he scratched his cheek. While the younger one was smiling widely and enjoyingly as he started wanting to tease the other somehow.

“...What about this?” Sander yelled with a clear voice. “I heard from Maysa that you were being targeted by the item hunters now, right, kid?”

Hearing the other change that subject so quickly, his mouth frowned as he nodded in reply.

“Why’d you ask?”

“I’ll help you figure out a way to deal with those people, what’d you say?”

Wisana narrowed his eyes, understanding right away that Sander was offering this to him so that he would agree to be the lab rat in return. ...Seeing that, his pair of amber eyes stared at the one in front of him like he was trying to look through his heart, making Sander sweat instantly.

“This is like I’m being tricked by your candy somehow.”

“It’s not like that. I’m just offering a deal.” He said with a grin. “...Currently, you’ve improved so fast, and you even have two types of the Signetic in you as well. That can be reliable, but there’s nothing certain in the Pride world.”

“What do you mean?” Wisana asked.

“...Your fight with Lucy a while ago, I think you had guessed about the result, right? Did the ability of the Whisper tell you something?”

Hearing that, Wisana paused instantly. Even though he didn’t smile, he was amazed by Sander’s eyes a lot. ...Like, come on, was there anything that this man could not see right through?!

“...The last moment before we were about to crash into each other, if there was not anyone to come stop us, we both would have been dead.”

Sander smiled at his answers.

“So, you knew.” He spoke. “...Lucy’s ultimate skill is called Sacrifice Blood. It’s the fourth-ranked most violent attack of the game. Its ability is to sacrifice the user’s HP to increase the attack points. And it’s not calculated in points though, it increases attack points in percent of the left HP. ...But what’s the real pain in the neck is that it can continue to attack, even though the user gets killed. ...You might say that it’s exactly like a suicide bomb.”

“Yes... And the skill is unavoidable as well!”

Wisana added knowingly, back then, the Whisper sounded like it had warned him about this point, too. But he chose to attack back anyway, even though he knew that it would get him killed. But damn, ...hearing Mister Sander speak about this made him hurt somehow.

“But if your level was higher than Lucy, you would have won without getting hurt at all, right?”

Sander’s words made Wisana stunned.

“I already know what you’re about to say.”

Sander smiled widely.

“Good that you do. What makes you unable to win against anyone isn’t about having less experience anymore. Because the Whisper will fix that flaw for you in the blink of an eye. But right now, it’s about your level and those ridiculously small numbers of the stats that make you way behind the other.”

Wisana stayed quiet. He knew that Sander was right. Because from the start, he always met those who had higher levels than him. And for that reason, it caused him many problems such as being unable to make the damage, unable to kill in one hit, and sometimes he could not dodge that attack because of the level difference. Even though he was confident about his speed, he still lost because of the stats numbers anyway.

This was why I hated games!

But overthinking about the number was so tiring. So, the one who was good at math cursed in his mind, before glancing at Sander in asking the person who was more experienced here for his opinion.

“So, what are you offering me again? What’s that deal?” Wisana asked.

“Of course, as a teacher, it’s kind of my duty to do this anyway.” Sander smiled widely. “...Have you heard about a special system for a master like me? ...The system that is called Knowledge Passing.”

The troublemaker shook his head in reply to that question right away, making the master slip out a laugh as he got up, threw the cigar on the ground, and crushed it with his foot.

“Looks like there’re many things that I have to teach you. ...At least how to control and run the Whisper substance fluently, or you’ll be making this silly face forever.”

“Yes...?”

The younger one raised his eyebrows confusedly but did not say anything more. Sander stepped closer to pat him on the shoulder, before leaving him with simple words like,

“Go pack your things. It’s time to go to class, kid. ...Be prepared to get an intense tutorial from this master.”

Then, he walked away, leaving the younger one standing there with a confused face for a moment. Then, a delighted smile appeared on his face, thinking to himself, “Finally,” as he followed the person who he could now proudly call...

“Yes, Master!”

----------------

“Eh?! Are you serious, Wisana?”

A shout from someone who was so close to being his second mom came up in the middle of the camp. And that made the one who was changing the clothes for the ones that Waree gave him, turned to give her a big smile.

“Yeah, I won’t be gone for long. Mister Sander said that it would take only a while.”

Hearing that, Maysa glanced at Waree like she was asking her for an opinion.

“You’re going out to farm for levels right now?” His sister said. “Well, it’s already late now. And the area is full of many brutal monsters, so, will it be all right?”

“It’s fine.” The brother grinned broadly. “Mister Sander is coming with me anyway. So, no need to be worried.”

The girls caught eyes with each other with meaning instantly, and they were even thinking the same thing.

What did this guy and Uncle Sander talk about earlier? Why did he look so in a good mood like this?

“Will you make it back in time?”

A second later, a soft voice spoke up with the pair of amethyst eyes glaring at him from afar, even though he was half sitting, half lying down by the fire.

“Don’t worry, Shin. I’ll be back and help you hunt that Oro Oro boss in time surely.”

“But I’m not sure if you would get anything from going out at a time like this.”

Shin said with a drawling voice, before bringing up his information window.

“As you can see, it’s eleven p.m. now. So, you only have 7 hours before sunrise. ...And that’s when the castle’s gate opens for us to go in and hunt the boss. Are you sure that you’ll be able to do anything in just 7 hours?”