———————————Event Quest "Peril" Complete!
Reward: 1000xp
Performance Rating: S+
Skill Tome (Thought Processing - 16x)
Skill Tome (Legendary) x2
Skill Tome (Epic) x2
Skill Tome (Rare) x2
Skill Proficiency
+100 all stats
+1000xp
"Ma.s.s Murderer" t.i.tle upgrade
+1 Backup Life (Reward for completing the condition flawlessly)
————————————
"Holy s.h.i.t!"
Zeke was absolutely ecstatic by the rewards he got. Even though he felt pain all over his body, the excitement seemed to make him numb. He felt like the system was too generous to give all these.
*No, Zeke. This is your rightful reward based from your performance. You faced a lot of enemies that are stronger than you in terms of power but your resourcefulness made up for it as well as your uncanny fighting style. If you had not applied your resourcefulness, my estimation is that you could only clear at most the second floor seeing as the third floor had individuals that are a lot stronger than you. Even I didn"t expect you to reach and contend against the strongest in equal footing.*
"Well, it was thanks to the inventory"s fast swapping that I could do it."
Zeke really meant it. If it weren"t for him switching weapons in the middle of the fight, he would"ve likely died before he could even hit Val with his spear or sword. The inventory"s feature made it so when he equips and unequips items, it will immediately vanish in thin air while the equipped one will appear based on Zeke"s will. When utilized in combat against someone of equal footing or even stronger, this feature can serve as a very weird and ghostly trump card.
"Young Master! Are you alright?" Esteban hurriedly checked on Zeke who had wounds all over his body. Still, he couldn"t help but wonder how his Young Master could still smile despite his condition.
"I"m as fine as ever Mr. Esteban. It was a good thing you noticed my hand back there, hehe." Zeke said.
"Woah, my whole body hurts. OUCH!" Zeke suddenly felt intense pain over his entire body. It seemed like his adrenaline rush completely died out, making him feel the intense pain of his wounds.
"It"s because of the heat of the battle, Young Master. You only feel yourself after the immersion and excitement of a heated battle. Young Master, I know I have been saying this a lot, but I really admire you. To be able to achieve this sort of feat is nothing short of a miracle for a 3-year-old." Esteban held the urge to laugh at his Young Master"s reaction.
"By the way, just to clarify, you were the one who killed all the people outside?"
"Yes, Mr. Esteban. I had to do it. By the way, have you rescued the other children already?"
"Yes, Young Master. However, we haven"t started transporting them out. The guards are sorting them out on the first floor."
"Good. I have a plan, Mr. Esteban. One that could pluck the roots of this entire s.h.i.thole!" Zeke sternly said.
"I"m all ears, Young Master." Esteban"s expression turned serious.
"Let"s discuss this when we go home. For now, let"s go down and see the others."
Esteban had to match Zeke"s slow pace due to his wounds. Esteban offered to carry Zeke but he heavily protested against it. It seemed like his Young Master didn"t really like to be treated like a child anymore. It was actually the truth for Zeke. He didn"t like it because he had his pride as a teenager.
When they went down and saw rows and rows of children, Zeke heaved a sigh of relief. He saved all these children from potential harm and he was very happy and contented with what he has done, no guilt or remorse whatsoever. In his mind, he had let them off very lightly for what they did to countless children. They deserved to be punished and tortured just like how they did to the children, but due to the circ.u.mstances, Zeke couldn"t prolong their lives.
The children gazed at the boy who was going down with blood and wounds all over his body with intense grat.i.tude and awe. The boy, who had the same or even lower age than them, saved them when no adult could. In their mind, Zeke"s status even risen above their parents, and it was to the point that he"s practically their idol and role model. Someday, they wanted to be like Zeke who, despite the odds, still had the courage to continue forward.
"ZEKE!" Gaia ran towards Zeke and was very worried about Zeke"s current form. Even with all the filth on Zeke"s body, Gaia still hugged him, tears visible in her eyes. Even Rosaline and Aura went near, their eyes just like Gaia"s, wet and ready to pour down at any time.
"I"m alright. I just needed to end those evil people. Cmon now Gaia, I"m full of blood. You don"t want your father to think that you"re injured, yeah?" Zeke smiled and lightly shoved off Gaia. He was touched by the three girls" worries and swore to protect them even in the future. He considered the three girls as his childhood best friends, something so precious that he didn"t have in his previous life.
Gaia shyly lowered her head but still looked at Zeke"s body with worry.
"Don"t worry, Gaia. I"m strong as ever, you see?" Zeke smiled, showing his bright white teeth and held his left hand up in a flexing motion.
"What about your wounds?"
"I can endure it, but I probably need a bit of help." Zeke dryly smiled.
"We"ll help!" Rosaline volunteered and went to Zeke"s left while Gaia went to the right. They both lifted and placed Zeke"s arms towards them and a.s.sisted him in walking, surprising Zeke. He was shocked by the girls" sudden actions.
"Hmph! Why did you have to occupy both sides? Now I can"t help Big Brother! Hmph! Enjoy it while you can! I"ll be the one to marry Big Brother in the future!" Aura approached and stuck out her tongue.
Aura"s words puzzled Zeke while both girls beside him reddened.
Zeke laughed at Aura"s "playful joke".
"Hahaha, you and your jokes, Aura. We"re only kids, what are you talking about?"
"You don"t need to worry about that, Big Brother Zeke. I promise to get older and stronger so I"d have the right to be with you!" Aura puffed her chest.
Zeke didn"t know whether to laugh or cry. This girl is just too childish to even joke about something like that.
"There"s no saving you, Aura." Zeke shook his head and laughed.
"Mr. Esteban!" Zeke called.
"You called, Young Master?"
He whispered something on Esteban"s ears. Moments later, Esteban shuddered and looked at Zeke with awe and surprise.
"are you sure, Young Master?"
"Like I said, plucking the roots." Zeke smiled.
"Alright, if that"s what you say, Young Master." Esteban turned to the black-clothed men.
"Men, escort the children one or two at a time. The target destination is Dragonsoar Palace. Make sure n.o.body sees anything of the sort. Some of you leave behind and clean the whole building. Make sure there"s no mess and no signs of battle. I"ll escort the royal children first. I want this operation to be clean and no failures!" Esteban ordered and went outside with Zeke and the three girls.
"... royal children?" Marcus, who was looking at Zeke"s back, wondered.
...
"Ezekiel!" "My daughter!" "Rosa!" "My precious daughter Aura!"
Meanwhile, Esteban and company finally went back to the Palace, and they were happily welcomed by their parents.
"What the h.e.l.l happened, son?" Charles furrowed his brows, noticing Zeke"s overall state.
"Just a little skirmish, Dad. No worries." Zeke smiled, showing his teeth.
"You idiot! Why do you always want to fight?! Take care of yourself, Zeke!" Catherine shouted and lightly hit Zeke on the head, however, the tone of her voice betrayed her. Instead of anger, Catherine was actually only filled with immense worry towards his son.
"Mom, Dad. I think it"s about time to tell you something. Can we go inside now?" Zeke asked.
Charles didn"t know what Zeke wanted to talk about, but he nevertheless nodded and gestured with the other fathers. Zeke and his family left first.
"... is he going to be okay, Dad?" Gaia looked at Zeke"s fading back with worry.
"I hope so, my daughter." Grad noticed the expression of his daughter"s eyes. It seemed like this daughter of him is very interested in Zeke.
"Worry about yourself first, Gaia. How are you faring, my dear?" Meryl knelt and caressed her daughter"s messy hair.
"We"re all okay, Mom. Someone tried to do some nasty things to Rosaline, but Zeke already crippled him." Gaia casually stated.
"WHAT?! SOMEONE DARED TO DO THAT ON MY DAUGHTER?!" Alcazar roared after overhearing the conversation.
"Did you say Zeke crippled the guy who attacked you, Rosa?" Mediula calmly asked her daughter. However, anyone could feel the slight anger within her tone.
"Yes, Mom. Fortunately, Zeke was awake and hadn"t succ.u.mbed to the weakness and protected me." Rosaline stated. She randomly thought of Aura"s words before they went out of the building and she suddenly blushed.
"Oh?" Alcazar noticed it. Her daughter blushed when Zeke"s name was mentioned.
"Oh my my my. Our daughter"s becoming a lady now!" Mediula noticed it too and teased Rosaline.
"I-it"s nothing. Can I rest now?"
The other families went back immediately. They forgot that their children had just experienced something traumatizing. They were thankful that nothing bad happened to their daughters, while they also thanked Zeke in their mind since they knew from Zeke"s state that he did all the work just to protect the other children including theirs.
Meanwhile, Zeke"s family didn"t go to sleep but instead convened on a round table in their living room.
"What do you want to talk about, my son? Don"t you want to rest first and recuperate? I"m afraid your whole body is wounded, son." Charles looked at his son with worry.
"No can do, Dad. I just want to tell this to you right now so I can hopefully clear off your worries." Zeke replied.
Charles acutely noticed that Zeke was actually talking about the secret he had!
Charles and Catherine took a deep breath and looked at Zeke seriously. Esteban was just standing in the corner of the room, looking at the trio with curious eyes.
"Alright son, we"re ready. What"s it?"
"First off, you don"t need to worry about my safety at all, Dad. I can say that I"m a tough c.o.c.kroach myself!" Zeke held the urge to laugh at the last part of his own words.
"What do you mean?" Charles was puzzled by what Zeke said.
Zeke removed the tattered shirt he had and revealed his chest. To his parents" surprise, the big gash in Zeke"s chest was actually slowly st.i.tching itself back and it was very visible to the eye. With a little bit of focus, both could see the subtle movements of the wounded skin, and it was actually closing itself slowly but noticeably.
"Holy!" Esteban also looked and was shocked by what he"s seeing. That wound was clearly just inflicted minutes before, how come it had already started recovering?
"This is one of my powers, dad. My wounds repair very quickly as long as I"m not in combat. Now, before more questions were asked, I"d like you three to know." Zeke stood and looked at the trio in front of him. Esteban was also at the back of Charles looking at Zeke.
"I"m something sort of a champion." Zeke"s sudden words puzzled Catherine and Charles, but Esteban"s facial expression was different. It was a mixture of shock, surprise, and awe. His eyes looked like he was looking at a G.o.d in front of him.
"You seem to know something about this Champion my son is talking about, Esteban. Tell us. What about it?" Charles noticed Esteban"s expression and figured being a champion is probably good for their son.
"Your Majesties, I-I have just read this on books, but I-I don"t dare confirm if it"s really the truth..."
"Champions are people gifted with immense power bestowed upon them by a certain G.o.d. According to myths, most of the legendary figures were Champions and there were even rumors that some Champions ascended and became G.o.ds themselves. I don"t know if this is all true but that"s what I have read from our family"s archives when I was young." Esteban slowly recited what he remembered, excitement present in his voice.
The parents looked at their son with confusion and a bit of shock. They found it hard to absorb the fact that their son is one of the Champions from the books. They didn"t actually know what to feel besides ecstasy, joy, and pride by having such a son. But they were still confused, how did their son know about it?
"The champions seemed to have an identification of some sort in them though. They had a symbol representing the G.o.d they serve. Ever since you came here, Young Master, I haven"t seen any symbol in your body. How come you said you"re a champion when you don"t have the symbol?" Esteban asked Zeke. Indeed, he felt suspicion since from what Esteban knows, Zeke didn"t have any kind of symbol etched on his skin, not even one.
Zeke was puzzled by that. He didn"t know about it and planned to ask the System. However, before he could do so, his hand suddenly raised and he felt hot somewhere in his arm.
Suddenly, to the trio"s surprise, a tattoo appeared on the back of Zeke"s left hand. It was an incomplete skull-shaped symbol but the skull"s eye sockets had two squarish symbols. If one looked closely, they could see that the left eye had some sort of a cube while the other had a miniature card. The overall tattoo itself was very cool and edgy and Zeke"s parents" eyes were basically glued to it now.
"Uhhh, would that suffice?" Zeke innocently asked.
"Hmmm, interesting." Charles stroked his imaginary beard as he scrutinized the symbol.
"Strange. I don"t know any G.o.d that"s remotely close to Young Master"s symbol. Although it had a skull, it"s definitely not the skull of the Deity of Death. Death Deity"s skull looked very complete and had empty eye sockets. This one, however, didn"t. Also, why would it only appear now?" Esteban wondered.
*I hid it because I deemed it unnecessary for you. However, I realized that having Mr. Pandora"s symbol be spread out towards the inhabitants of the world, perhaps his believers would increase. This symbol is also personally made by Mr. Pandora. I am in no way related to that abomination of a symbol.* The system "washed its hands".
"It"s because I could hide and show it at will, Mr. Esteban." Zeke mouthed a lie.
"System, can I control when to make it visible and when not to?" Zeke asked.
*Yes, it"s just based on what you will it to. If you want it to hide on your hand then you only need to think about it and it"ll bury itself. But in my opinion, spreading Mr. Pandora"s influence would also be good for you in the future.*
"Eh, I guess so. Looks like I"ll keep it intact then." Zeke decided to keep the tattoo and continued looking at his parents.
.....
After round and round of questions, Zeke finally managed to lay on his bed. His parents also asked him about certain stuff, but he all brushed it off as being Pandora"s Champion. His parents couldn"t do anything but believe it since it was also reasonable if Zeke"s really a Champion. It also made sense for them since even when Zeke was only a toddler, he already achieved an impressive feat. It would make sense for all these if Zeke is actually someone as amazing and heaven-defying as a Champion. They also asked about Zeke"s mental capacity and Zeke just replied that his mind advanced and matured quickly due to being a champion and he now thinks like a teenager. His parents bought all of that and finally released Zeke after the bombardment.
"It"s 3 in the morning now. I"ll just check the new skills after I wake up and be done for today. Whew, what the h.e.l.l just happened today!"
Zeke recounted the events leading today. It was a very bizarre but very thrilling experience for Zeke who longed for it even back on Earth.