Once Rey settled all the floating thoughts in his mind, he pulled out a crumpled envelope from his pocket.
It was the letter that Noah gave him since the start of the day.
'I still haven't read it.'
Rey tore through the envelope and brought out the white sheet that was trapped inside.
He was still on his bed when he turned to lie on his belly, placing the paper in front of him so he could read its contents.
~Dear Rey
Ah… what am I saying? How do I even put this?
I just wanted to let you know that I've made up my mind about all of this. After seeing that Dragon yesterday, I realize that I just can't cope with this.
I want to live a normal life, no matter what.
Sorry, my thoughts and words are all jumbled up. My hand still trembles whenever I remember the entire thing that went down.
As much as I want to tell myself that I can get stronger to face the Dragons, I know myself. I'm not cut out for this stuff.
So… I think I'll leave and go to a quiet city where I can live a stable life. There doesn't yet seem to be a way to return home, so there's no use sticking around.
If you do find a way to return to Earth, please don't gatekeep it.
COME AND FIND ME, PLEASEEEE!!!
I wish you well. You seem to fit in so well in this world that I find it almost absurd.
Hopefully, you survive till the very end.
I'll be rooting for you in my warm mansion.
Your loyal subordinate… Noah!~
"Pfft! This guy… he remained an idiot until the very end."
Rey found himself chuckling as he read the letter.
Despite smiling at the silly thing in front of him, he felt a deep pain in his chest.
It didn't come from any kind of external damage, and Rey didn't think he was physically hurt.
He just felt strangely pained by the whole thing.
To Rey, it felt just like losing his close friend all over again.
"I'll miss you, buddy."
He wasn't too worried about Noah, considering the fact that he was relatively on the stronger side compared to the people of this world.
'He also has hundreds of Platinum Coins, so he should be able to live a fairly comfortable life.'
Rey also knew how Noah had matured in both business and general perspective as a whole.
He was sure the boy wouldn't get so easily swindled.
'Or maybe he will. How can I know?'
Rey crumpled the note along with the envelope and threw it towards the bin that sat at an inconspicuous corner in the room.
The crumpled paper perfectly landed inside the bin, causing the boy to leak out a stifled smile.
"Hehe…"
Despite his own maturity, he couldn't escape the thrill any teenager would feel when they got their aim perfectly right.
He sat up from his bed and sighed, feeling the pleasant emotion evaporating in no time.
'I just can't forget it—that face.'
The grinning face of the mastermind, as he turned and smiled in Rey's direction…
'It—no, HE—troubles me.'
Adrien Chase was the mastermind, but Rey knew absolutely nothing about him.
The boy stood out even less than he did.
'There's no way to track him down now, so I can only hope he doesn't cause any more havoc.'
At the very least, Rey hoped he wouldn't have anything more to do with Adrien now that the boy was gone.
However, something told him their eventual confrontation was inevitable.
'At least he's not evil. I should probably stop thinking about him and focus on the matters that are within my control.'
With that thought, Rey exhaled deeply and considered the two most important things he had to do at the current moment.
'First is to go and see the Half-Elf.'
He had abandoned her at the KariBlanc Group's building, but since he didn't think she was in any danger, he hadn't been in a rush to get her back.
After all, where exactly would he put her?
'I'll just trust that Aldred and everyone over there have been taking good care of her.'
Rey initially wanted to go see her during the day, or maybe in the night, but he and Alicia spent so much time together that he lost track of time.
'I'll have to see her tomorrow, then.'
The second thing that he had to do—which he planned on starting now—involved himself.
"Status Window."
[STATUS WINDOW]
- Name: Rey Skylar.
- Race: Human (Otherworlder)
- Class: Anomaly (A-Tier)
- Level: 99 (78.54% EXP)
- Life Force: 72 (+158)
- Mana Level: 189 (+158)
- Combat Ability: 130 (+158)
- Stat Points: 0
- Skills (Exclusive): [Doppel]
- Skills (Non-Exclusive): [Fusion/Fission]. [Merger]
- Alignment: Neutral Good
[Additional Information]
You are an irregularity to the world. Achieving the unbelievable, shaking the balance of reality… you seek to overturn what is and isn't.
Will you succeed? Or will your failure be miserable?
[End Of Information]
'I've grown relatively stronger, but without relying on Items, my Base and Bonus Stats are still quite low.'
After facing the Dragon Commander Jer'ard, Rey realized just how low his Stats were.
If it wasn't for the combination of all his Skills, he would have lost terribly.
'Speaking of Skills…'
That was precisely why he had opened his Status Window.
"Doppel: Display all Skills."
Responding to his command, a system panel popped up, revealing his Skills.
All 76 of them.
'My goal is to use [Merger] and combine my Skills—especially the lower tier Skills together so they can be more effective,'
Rey somewhat regretted letting go of some of his older Skills, since they could have been used as growth fodder now, but it was too late for that.
He couldn't have foreseen this sort of development.
'If I combine the Lower-Tier Skills, and all the Skills that have very high compatibility, I can free up space in my arsenal.'
Having too many Skills to call on was also too bothersome for Rey, so he preferred keeping things compact if he could.
'I'll also need to restructure the categories I placed earlier.' He noted to himself as he looked at all the Skills displayed before him.
It was going to be quite the chore, but Rey was determined to see things through to the end.
'Alright… let's begin!'
*******
[Some Time Later]
"Ahh… finally done!"
It took Rey over two hours to complete what he set out to do.
He hadn't expected it to take so long, and the tired expression on his face was enough proof of that.
Unfortunately for him, there was one major factor he never factored in when he considered the time he would dedicate towards merging his Skills.
[Merging Process]!
Depending on the quality of the Skills being merged, and the Skill that would be born, it could range between a minute to nearly twenty.
He also had to carefully pick what Skills to merge with what others skills, which ended up taking additional minutes.
As a result, a lot of time ended up passing by in the blink of an eye.
"At least, it ended up being productive." Rey smiled as he looked at the System Panel before him.
'Perfect!'
*
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Thanks for reading!
Apologies for the slow pace. The beginning always has to be like this to set things up.
Let's just keep moving, shall we?
