The dazzling light of the sun pierced through Khan's eyelids, giving him the heat that he needed to wake him up. He stood up groggily and walked towards the bathroom, after brushing his teeth and taking a bath, he went towards the living room and found a smiling Lily waiting for him.
"You finally woke up, I tried waking you up but you just groaned and kept sleeping." Lily puffed her cheeks out, causing Khan to smile and stretch her cheek.
"Hmmm, so you stayed here and waited for me to come so you could eat?" Khan gave a bold smile before seating on the couch, he looked at the prepared meals and found that it was his favorite dough sticks.
"So, what are you doing for today? Are you going to that casino again?" Lily's stern glare focused on him.
Just as he thought that he could evade the question, Lily continued.
"Barhan told me that you spent six million to order a gaming capsule. Remember that we still have an entrance exam on Monday, we only have two days left to study." Lily reminded him as she sipped on her soy milk.
"It's okay, I already memorized that formulas needed to answer the questions." Khan confidently said.
"Oh? So you're that confident? Okay then, let me test you." Lily stood and returned to her room and brought a paper and pen with when she came back.
She scribbled some problems on the paper and handed it to Khan.
"Try solving these questions, if you can perfectly answer it, I'll let you off for a day." Lily wore a smug smile as she looked at Khan.
"Hoooh, you're becoming really cheeky..." Khan smiled and poked her cheek with his index finger, Lily shoved his hand away and sternly retorted.
"Enough with the teasing, get those hands moving." Lily's glare sent a shiver down his spine, he gave a helpless sigh then started working on the paper that Lily gave.
For the past Khan, these questions would make him question his entire existence, but now. It was simple for him to answer it, with a wave of his wrist, the complete answer and with the detailed solution was displayed on the paper.
Lily who nonchalantly watched television didn't even notice that Khan had already placed the paper on the table as he sneakily went out of the mansion.
"Eh? Where did he go?" The dumbfounded Lily only saw a piece of paper of which she read, the contents, greatly startled her as if she didn't even believe its existence.
Khan walked out of the mansion but didn't go to the casino, instead he walked near the gates and beckoned for Dobart who was stationed there.
"Sir? What can I do for you?" Dobart politely asked.
"Just call me Khan, I don't deserve that politeness since I'm just freeloading here." Khan shrugged as he spoke, confusing Dobart who stood before him.
"Dobart, is your name, right?"
Dobart nodded as he glanced at the youth before him.
'This huge mansion is owned by a man with a huge backing behind him that I wouldn't even dare to know his name, but this kid is saying that he's freeloading? No- I mustn't fall to his antics, I heard that every rich young man has an eccentric personality... ' Dobart thought as he judged Khan to be one of those children of nouveau riche.
"Yes, this one's name is Dobart, May I ask if I can help you with something?" Towards this strange politeness, Khan could only smile before saying.
"Yeah, I wanted to ask you for a favor." Khan mysteriously smiled.
"A favor it is?" Dobart pondered for a moment before nodding.
"As long as I have the capability to accomplish it, I will help you, sir." Khan nodded approvingly. His gaze turned towards the vambrace looking device on Dobart's wrist and said.
"Can you hit me with a spell?"
"Yes...?" Dobart blankly stared, of all the request that he could make, Khan had to request something that he didn't want to do.
"Ermmm... Can you request something else? Using my Decipherer for inappropriate purposes will sanction me..." Dobart reluctantly said, his face burning in embarrassment. 'And I just told him that I would do it If I could...'
'Well I totally could, but I wouldn't, this kid may die if I cast a spell on him.' Dobart thought, what a joke, he was a peak Silver Tiered Magician and as a member of the security team, his spells have enough power to incapacitate a normal person or even kill them.
His doubt increased when he looked at the sickly pale Khan.
'Damn, this kid looks like he just went out of a coma...'
As if predicting his thoughts, Khan spoke.
"Don't worry, even though I look like this, I have quite the strength." Khan gave a smug smile and spoke, prompting Dobart to retort it with a threat.
"Since you're that confident, how about you sho-" But before he could continue, he found that Khan's figure flickered and reappeared behind him, he clenched his fist and sent it flying towards Khan.
Khan expected him to counter-attack and had already prepared a stance, he grabbed Dobart's wrist and twisted, sending his force recoiling back to him as he staggered backward and groaned.
"Woah..." Dobart wobbled backward and fell on his knee, he looked up to find a smiling Khan looking towards him from above.
"So, do I pass?" Dobart stared at Khan with widened eyes.
'What just happened? How did he suddenly appear behind me?'
"That's invalid! You preactivated an Acceleration Type Spell right?" Dobart angrily retorted, his face flushed with rage.
"Preactivated a spell? Nope, that was a pure display of technique." Khan gave an enigmatic smile in response. Seeing that Dobart looked unconvinced, Khan slightly bent his knees and with a flicker, he appeared beside Dobart and patted his shoulder.
"See?" Khan said with a satisfied look on his face.
"Fine, you win, I'll just have to blast you with a spell, right?"
"Blast, you say? Let's not get too violent here." Khan laughed and distanced himself from the indignant Dobart.
"Kid, although I agreed to your request if you ever got hurt because of this, you better not blame me." Dobart's face became filled with complacency, evidently, he was quite confident about his strength.
"Okay, okay. I'll make sure that no one will sue you after this." Khan replied, formed a finger sword on his right hand and took a defensive stance with his knees slightly bent.
"Ready?" Dobart's face became solemn, his right hand extended towards the Decipherer on his left wrist, with a snort, he tapped and a burst of silver light enshrouded his body.
Khan's eyes constricted and focused on the Decipherer, his brain processed vast amounts of information in that instant. His lips curved as he condensed a small amount of soul energy on his fingertips and slashed towards the materializing rune.
Dobart's arm stretched towards Khan as the flow of runes converged on his palm, but before it could materialize, a sound akin to a glass breaking echoed and the rune that appeared on his palm cracked before dissipating into innumerable motes of light.
'What the...' Dobart uttered as the backlash of his rune's dissipating sent him flying backward, he used his foot as a traction and eventually stopped.
His eyes looked incredulous when he turned towards Khan.
"Wha...What did you just do?" He spoke, his tone enunciated every word that he said.
Khan only gave a thankful, yet mysterious smile before walking towards the mansion, leaving the dumbfounded Dobart behind.
Khan wore a determined smile, earlier, he had confirmed that the concept of Talisman Creation and Rune Creation was greatly intertwined that it even adapted the concept of energy grids.
If a talisman's energy lines were destroyed, it would be rendered useless, it seems like it was the same for Runes. With the use of soul energy, using Runes to fight with Khan would be a foolish endeavor. For with a wave of his sleeve, he could render those Runes, useless.
He had wanted to experiment more, but since he doesn't really want to reveal all of his cards to someone whom he didn't even know, Khan decided to return to the mansion and there he found Lily who wore a pair of glasses with a pen on her right hand pondering about something on the paper before her.
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Lily's gaze momentarily stopped on Khan before returning back to the piece of paper with a frown.
"Hey, Khan, did you really solve this by yourself?" She asked with an uncertain tone.
"What are you saying? I answered that before your eyes." Khan shrugged and moved towards the kitchen to get something to drink.
He returned carrying a bottle of nutrient-dense Oolong Tea and two cups. Pouring the contents in the cup, Khan said.
"Did I do well?"
"Do well? More like you perfectly passed everything. I really wonder what's going on inside that mind of yours, just several days ago, you created a Rune by yourself and now, you solved these equations in like under five minutes or so." Lily puffed her cheeks out in indignation. She had also studied hard but was unable to match the results that Khan gave.
"Well, I don't have much choice but to study hard, gotta show my cute little wife about how smart am I." Khan cheekily laughed, prompting Lily to chase him with a broom across the mansion.
An exaggerated mournful cry of a man echoed inside the mansion, Khan rubbed his aching head in pain as he followed Lily to the living room.
"Are you trying to become a widow? We aren't even married yet, you're trying to kill me..." Khan complained, causing Lily to send him a death glare, sensing the ill intent behind the glare, Khan hurriedly looked towards the side and hummed a tone.
"The weather really is great, right?"
"Great, your face!"
The skit of the two went on and was only interrupted by a sudden delivery. Khan signed as a consignee and after the technician completely measured their bodies, she gave them the terms of conditions about the VRMMORPG: SpectatorUnknown's Battlegrounds and the game capsule themselves.
The technician told them that they would have their Virtual Reality Adaptability tested before they could enter the game, because of this, the two postponed their meals and tested their adaptability.
Khan had an adaptability score of ninety-five percent, while Lily had a ninety-three percent score, scaring even the technician for she heard that it was the first time for the two to enter a virtual world.
She tested for several times more just to confirm it, but in the end, she could only smile in defeat.
She looked towards the two and said.
"You guys remember the folders that I gave you, right?"
The two nodded in response.
"Can you write it now? I need to pass it to the higher ups for evaluation since it's a special form." She gave a meaningful smile which left the two dumbfounded, but upon signing, Khan gave a wry laugh
Written, three rows after the names was a question asking about their civil status, Khan brazenly smiled and wrote 'Married' without even thinking of the possible consequences, he looked towards the blushing Lily before writing her name in the 'With who' panel.
[Married; With who?; Lily Gabica] After confirming that the contents of the form were right, Khan passed his form to the technician. He then turned towards Lily and teasingly smiled.
"What's wrong? Oh, could it be that you don't know my full name? Listen, your husband's name is Khan Liverto."
Lily startled her cheeks became filled with a crimson hue, prompting the technician to say.
"Miss, your boyfriend is quite cumbersome, he actually refers to himself as your husband." But the technician didn't expect that this would make her even more embarrassed. In the end, they had to wait for about five minutes before Lily wrote Khan's name on the form.
The technician left with a meaningful message while smiling smugly.
"I'll be leaving now, so you guys better enjoy the night." Khan even replied with a thumbs up which made Lily pinch his waist in return.
After the holdup, the two were finally able to eat their dinner in peace, although the atmosphere was quite strange since Lily still felt embarrassed by the disturbance earlier.
They finished their dinners and connected the power brick to the game capsules. A mechanical voice echoed that indicated that they could enter the game world.
Wearing an excited smile, Khan leaped towards the game capsule and laid there, Lily helplessly sighed, she didn't even want to play the game since she still has to study for the exams, but what can she do? She promised Khan earlier that she would let him do anything for a day if he passed her exam.
She could only reluctantly get in the capsule and start the game with him.
"ANGSUMULATAYGWAPO!" With the keywords, the game capsule buzzed as their consciousness materialized inside a huge city, a city surrounded by gigantic walls.
[Welcome to the VRMMORPG: SpectatorUnknown's Battlegrounds!]
A system prompt appeared in the air, Khan curiously tapped but found nothing in response.
[Please follow the lines on the ground.]
The two obeyed the instructions and arrived inside a huge skyscraper, they continued following the line and reached the rooftop of the skyscraper. There, their eyes widened in surprise.
The earth outside the walls looked like something that came out from a war movie. Several corpses of beasts and humans alike filled the ground, the soiled soil emanated a heavy smell of gunpowder and grime.
[The game is set in the year 2224 where the unceasing wars between countries led to a nuclear war which decimated a huge part of the planet, leaving everything in ruins and inhabitable. Because of the vast amount of radiation, animals mutated into bloodthirsty beasts and hunted the humans for food. In the end, the humans were only left with a single continent as a safe haven. For additional protection, the first generation ancestors created a huge walll which continously protected the humans from the beasts. But with the threat of declining resources, the humans eventually started expanding their territories and work their way up to regain the lands that they once possessed.]
A system prompt explaining the circumstances of the world appeared before the two after the system noticed that they had stopped reading, it disappeared, followed by the appearance of a woman who wore a military uniform.
The woman had jet black hair and a bountiful chest which could make every other woman envious. However, her mechanical voice indicated that she was something that wasn't human.
Khan went beside her and started poking her cheeks, prompting Lily to complain.
"Hey, she's an A.I you aren't even going to let an A.I go?" Lily crossed her arms together, making Khan smile in helplessness.
By the guidance of the A.I they arrived at a facility where several firearms could be seen.
"Judging from Miss Liverto's stats, I recommend that she takes the role of a markswoman, thus, this Karabiner98k is suitable for her."
"With the amount of money that was given to her by the system, she can afford the bolt-action rifle and thirty bullets."
The A.I that was apparently named Chiha turned towards Khan before speaking in a tone void of any emotions.
"Judging from Mister Liverto's stats, I recommend that he takes the role of a vanguard, thus, this Assault Rifle M416 is suitable for him."
"W-w-wait... Did you just call me, Miss Liverto?" Lily asked the A.I Chiha with reddened cheeks, Khan turned towards her and found that the measurements and scans that the technician had done earlier really worked well, they perfectly captured the girl's beauty.
"Yes, the system confirmed your relationship as a spouse." The mechanical voice echoed, but to Lily, this was a huge shock that she would never forget in her life.
"But that's wrong, I didn't place that I'm married in the terms of conditions acceptance form!" Lily shouted, but upon finishing her sentence, she seemed to have realized something and gritted her teeth before looking at Khan with a fiery gaze.
"Co-could it be..."
Khan's crooked smile confirmed her theory and she sent a fist towards Khan's head. But with Khan's ability, how could such fist damage him? In the end, he caught the fist, moved his head towards Lily and pecked her luscious lips.
"Don't say that you didn't want it."
"Warning: Excessive public display of affection may psychologically harm the pitiful virgins around so please be careful." Khan looked at the system prompt and couldn't help but laugh.
The person who made this game really is vicious! Khan had this small thought before he got pummeled by the embarrassed Lily.
After the disturbance, the two went into an instanced training ground to test the weapons that they bought.
Lily followed Chiha's suggestions and bought a Karabiner98k and thirty 7.62mm bullets, while Khan bought a sword named the Diffusal Blade which has a slowing effect against enemies, he also bought a Glock 18c as his sidearm and three fully loaded 9mm magazines.
Khan held the handgun and pointed it towards a training dummy, he found that as he concentrated, a pulsating reticle would appear before his eyes.
[The game utilizes an aiming assist system which synchronizes the user's accuracy with their heartbeats, the calmer you are, the higher your accuracy]
Khan took a deep breath, he waited until the reticle became as small as a ping-pong ball and shot.
Bang!
A fierce sound echoed, Khan's arms swayed due to the recoil, he found that he had hit the bullseye on the training dummy.
[Accuracy: 100%]
'Since bullets are free here anyway, I'll just shoot to my heart's content.' Khan flipped a switch and the Glock 18C entered the full-auto mode.
Khan pulled the trigger as several consecutive gunshots echoed in the training grounds. Astoundingly, all of them struck the mark.
[Accuracy: 100%]
Giving a satisfied smile, he turned towards Lily who was still reading the instructions manual about the gun she had brought. Noticing Khan's gaze, she closed the book and positioned herself towards the training dummy.
Her hand reached out from her pocket as she pulled out a magazine filled with five bullets, holding the chamber down, she placed the magazine on the whole and rechambered.
Towards this fluid movements, Khan doubted Lily's words that it was her first time entering a virtual world. However, he smiled in the end for he found that her hand slightly trembled with nervousness.
'This girl really likes acting tough, dishonest even to herself.' Khan helplessly shook his head and turned his focus towards how she would do.
The reason why she was nervous wasn't because she held a gun. But because of Khan's intervention where he placed her name as his wife.
'What should I do...? My heart is beating so fast...' She clutched her chest and took several deep breaths, her glazed look paired with her moistened eyes would shock any other men into arousal.
Thankfully there was only Khan inside the room or else he would need to temporarily blind all men near the vicinity.
Lily looked at the pulsating reticle and found that it wouldn't stabilize. In the end, due to Khan's expecting gaze. She could only close her eyes and pull the trigger, hoping for a miracle to arrive.
Bang!
With a whistling sound of air being pierced, unfortunately, Lily's bullet went pass the training dummy and struck nothing but the white walls. She felt indignant and tried four more times before she ran out of bullets.
In the end, the game tutorial ended with Khan having a hundred percent accuracy and Lily having twenty percent accuracy.
Lily glanced at Khan in exasperation. 'In the end, it's this guys fault, always teasing me.'
"What's wrong?" Khan noticed her odd gaze and asked.
"Nothing..." Lily spoke, but at the same time she sweetly smiled, she moved near Khan and hugged his arm.
"Hmm? What's going on with you? Acting so sweet all of a sudden." Khan frowned as he said, the usually conservative girl was flirting with him with her own accord? Did she eat something bad?
Lily wanted to be angry but found that she couldn't, the earlier events reminded her of how Khan really treasured her of which made her endlessly smile.
"Nothing... I just wanted to do this, that's all." Lily stuck her tongue out as she pulled Khan with an even greater force. Thanks to the height difference, Khan was forced to bend his knees as he walked towards a nearby inn.
It was at that day that Khan became a public enemy of men and Lily became the public enemy of women.