"Hmph, no need to get so defensive," Bellatrix said. "I just wanted to see how she lured all of you."
"Miss, please go back. You are not welcome here," Ning said.
"You don't own this place, do you? If you want me to leave, then make me," she said.
"Very well," Ning said and grabbed Bellatrix by the arm before lifting her entirely off the ground with a single hand.
"Should I throw you out too?" he asked.
Bellatrix's face had drained of all colors by this point. "Let me go!" she started shrieking.
Ning set her down and stared at her with wide eyes to scare her. "If you come here again, I will throw you out of the city. Do you understand?" he asked.
"I… I will kill you," the woman's face suddenly got sinister as a sneer came upon her. "Just you wait."
However, despite her brave words, she was still afraid, so she quickly turned around and ran away.
"Finally," Drake said as he slumped back into the room and practically crawled his way to the bed.
"Where's Nova?" Ning asked.
"In the other room," Drake said as he got on the bed and pulled his blanket over.
Ning walked over to the other room and knocked on the door. "Nova?" he called.
No one spoke from the other side for a few seconds, but the door opened and Nova walked out.
She was now wearing a simple blue dress and her black hair was tied in a ponytail.
"Where did you find that dress?" Ning asked. He hadn't seen her change clothes before.
"I got it from some of the people in the city. They have nice clothes here," she said with a small smile.
"That girl bother you?" he asked.
"She tried to, but I ran away," Nova said. "She couldn't catch up before I came in."
"I see," Ning said. "As long as you aren't bothered."
Nova gave a meek smile and quickly her face changed as if she remembered something. "Wait," she said and quickly ran back inside.
When she came out, there was a box of candies that she showed him. "Look, sweets!" she said.
"I can see that," Ning said, a bit confused about what was so great about it. "Can I taste some?"
Nova quickly nodded her head. Ning took a piece of the candy and ate it. The candy was hard but still had a chewy texture. In terms of flavor, Ning could taste some citrus fruit, maybe a lemon or lime.
"It's quite good," he said as he ate it.
"Isn't it?" Nova said with wide eyes. "I can't believe I forgot what candies tasted like."
Ning stopped. "You haven't tasted candies in a while?" he asked.
Nova shook her head with a foolish smile. "I've been alone for many years now. There wasn't anyone to make candies," she said.
"Surely there were some out there, right? It wasn't like all candies suddenly vanished," Ning said.
Nova suddenly got a little smaller as she crouched a little. "I… I never went outside my house after… after everyone died," Nova said.
"What? You remained in your house for years?" Ning asked.
Nova couldn't bring herself to say anything, so she simply nodded.
Ning looked stunned. "What did you eat? Did you have a garden or something?" he asked.
Nova shook her head.
"What did you eat then?" Ning asked.
"Nothing," Nova said.
Few things had managed to get Ning as confused as he was right now. "Do you not get hungry?" he asked, but then he remembered her stomach growling a few days ago.
"I do," she said. "But then I don't."
"What?" Ning had a dumb look on his face.
"Never mind," she said. "It's my powers. Anyway, you want more?"
Ning shook his head. "You eat. I'll go rest for a bit," Ning said and left Nova alone.
It felt weird to see her as happy as she was currently. He was happy for her.
Ning went to his room and lay on his bed with a head full of thoughts. Slowly, one by one all those thoughts disappeared, and he fell asleep.
When his eyes opened up again, Ning found himself in a white room.
Immediately, he got up and looked around. There were 9 other people around him, all equally confused.
"Great! Since all 10 of you have rested, we can continue on with our competition," Genesis spoke, and Ning finally noticed him up in the air.
"Before we continue, however, I promised you all something," Genesis said as he brought out the glowing orb for all to see.
The System.
"As I mentioned before, this is the Conversion system. Now you might be wondering what it converts," he said. "And the answer is simple. It converts energy."
"Imagine you are running out of Mana in the middle of the battle and your enemy sends out a fireball. No problem. Use the Heat from the fireball to convert it into mana and suddenly, you no longer have mana problems."
"You need extra Spiritual energy to summon something and you can't find the energy? Simply use the gravity of the planet to convert it into Spiritual energy to aid your summoning."
"You are going through Heavenly tribulation, the lightning is getting more and more fierce, and you have run out of Qi. What do you do? Simple! You just convert the lightning into Qi and continue on."
"There are many scenarios where this system can be useful, and if I do say so myself, this is one of the best systems out there right now," Genesis said.
"Of course, you won't be able to use it just like I explained it just now. After all, you will have to slowly evolve it by gaining experience which will involve achieving something, learning something, or killing something."
"Once you do gain the experience and fully unlock all the functionalities of the system, I am sure you will reach the height you have never before," Genesis said with a proud voice.
"And it will be all thanks to the system I created for you."
