⟐ CHAPTER 18

That puny coward of an insect!I looked at the fire trail that the man that I was about to free from suffering left. He used a sudden skill just as I was about to end him, and in an instant, he disappeared from my grasp. I was annoyed and angered. How could he just leave like that and make me do more work when you’re just going to die anyways? Why won’t he just face me like a decent being in his final moments, at least that’s more honorable, but running away? I was going to give him a quick death, but now I don’t care anymore, and now I just want to eradicate his existence because of his cowardly behavior.

And so I followed his trail that leads towards the village, and by the looks of it, he’s not even at the village yet, just outside it as I could see him run inside in a hurry. How annoying, why would he go back inside the village? I thought he was a decent individual because of his actions towards the innocent civilians for running away from the village, but now all my minuscule respect for him was gone, and only annoyance and contempt towards the weak remained.

“You can’t run away from me.”

I said as I ran towards the populated town to finish off this coward. Upon reaching the town, I was glad to see that the guards heeded my warning and moved all the civilians away from this side of the town. But then, as I look for the fire monk, I frowned as I realized what was happening. That bastard! His action just now complicated the current circumstance. I had become too complacent and allowed him to run off for a second, and now he’s endangering the innocent. I want to erase him, but if he’s in a populated area and he initiates a fight there, many people who have done nothing would be endangered. Well, it’s not that I would shed a tear or cry if they die, their life doesn’t matter to me, but still, I have my own rules, and it would leave a sour taste in my mouth if I get them involved without reason. Unless it's necessary, I won’t touch an innocent.

I chased him some more, following his noticeable steps as embers still lingered on where he stepped on as he ran, and my suspicions were proven correct as upon looking at the end location of his destination, there were a lot of people gathering. Confused men and women and even children were following the orders of the guards without knowing what was going on. And so I ran towards them to order them to disperse away from the upcoming cleanup, but then suddenly someone fired at me, and it hit my shoulder.

“TSK! YOU STUPID INSECTS!”

Then another and another. The [Mana-Gun] damage was non-existent, but it was annoying as there were lots of them, and going by how many hit me or were just a few feet off. These people are accurate shooters, but what’s the point of hitting your shots if it doesn’t even do anything? And so I just ran towards them while dusting off their insolence for now, but I’ll make sure to receive an ample amount of compensation for this violation later. But all thoughts suddenly disappeared when I saw a flash. It was as beautiful as it was powerful, as if it seemed like a star had descended or the sun just rose in the middle of the night sky. But that only lasted for a very brief second, as for the first time, I felt threatened since coming here. This isn’t something I can just receive bruntfully, so I used the fast cast version of the spell [Gravity Expanse] in front of me many times and layered them to provide a gravitational defense, but still this solar flare managed to rip through it, and that was the very first time I felt excruciating pain around my body.

“What the!? AARRGHH!”

What the hell happened?! I didn’t know, but this pain is something else. I didn’t know how long this thing would last, but thankfully it only lingered for about three seconds before it dispersed, but like a scene from hell itself, everything around me was burning. And among the crackling of the flaming wooden houses and faraway screams, I couldn’t help but be shocked at the sight before me. How did this happen? I asked, but then I concluded, there’s only one person with fire skills that I knew here, and it was the fire monk, but this, I didn’t think that he could do this as this was on an entirely different level. If he could do this, then why didn’t he use it against me and even involve the innocent civilians. Why? I didn’t understand at first, but after looking around, I could see that neither he nor anyone in the populated place survived. A suicide? It could be a suicide spell or something similar, or it could be an escape skill too that has a very powerful extra feature like leaving a final attack, then I remembered something, in the fire monk’s status screen there were question marks within his skills and its rank was hidden. It could be that, but why didn’t I think about it further when I was fighting with him? Did I underestimate him after seeing his inferior stats? If I didn’t, I could’ve just finished him off quickly, and all these could’ve been avoided.

But so what? A little pain is mere annoyance and the damage is minimal but this ruined my plans a little bit, but it doesn’t matter much now, there are still a lot of towns present here in this forest, and I could just always use them, but well that’s a shame this event would add more work for me. Though this is quite a valuable lesson that I shouldn’t play with my food too much, well not unless I’m one hundred percent certain that is. And just as I was about to ask Eve to send in forty-two [Neutralite Basics] to search around this area a little bit just to be sure that the fire monk was dead, I then remembered. The child, where did she live? Did she survive? This thought occurred to me last but unlike all the random civilians that just died here, the child was someone I spent time with even though it was incredibly brief, but now that I think about it she is the first human I actually spent a few moments with for a very long time. As back on earth I was alone even at my last moments.

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“Such a shame.”

I uttered as then I heard a cry, a very small and pained cry.

“BIG BROTHER! HELP! IT HURTS! BIG BROTHER UWAAA!!!”

This sounds incredibly familiar. This is the voice of that child. I quickly rushed towards where that particular scream came from, and there I was just a few houses from the blast point in front of a destroyed and burnt building. This place, it’s in the direction of where I and the fire monk first fought, why is she here? Didn’t I tell the guards to evacuate this place of people? If so, why is this child here? Then I remember my earlier words. I asked her to hide. And upon going in the burnt remains trying to find the her I then eventually found the girl, and she was in critical condition, she was burnt, her skin was roasted red and the fat in her wrink

led skin oozed out from the burnt cracks in her flesh, her hair was burnt and it stuck to her now unrecognizable face that looked no less than someone that shouldn’t be alive but she was breathing though the flesh of some parts of her body was gone and she was screaming, her every audible sound was that of intense pain. I don’t even know how this girl managed to survive but I knew that she wasn’t going to be for long if nobody came to save her.

How awful this world is. But she isn’t the only one suffering here but except her I don’t care as much as a speck towards the others. How ironic, saving one and turning your back on others, but such is the world I live in, and such is the world I want to change. I want to save her and if possible, the others too after her. But how?

“Eve any suggestions on how I can save her?”

[Please wait for a moment my master… Done! I found a solution that may save her my master. We could [Convert] them into a [Neutrumoid] back here in the main headquarters. Though it cost [Neutrium] and upon reading more of it it seems like the [Neutrium] amount for every [Conversion] varies depending on the quality of the soul and the body of the subject and those are the only cost and the only limitation are whether the subject agrees to a [Conversion] and or they are a [Champion] but other than that any unit could be [Converted].]

“Good, let’s try that and save this child. Also command the on standby forty-two [Neutralite Basics] here and collect as many other critical survivors too and subject them to [Conversion], it’s up to them for whether they agree to live or not.”

[As you will my master.]

And so I carried the child that kept on screaming especially the moment I got her out of the heaps of burnt debris. And not a few moments later she passed out from the pain and went silent. That alarmed me though but thankfully she was still breathing so I quickened my pace and the one and a half-hour travel time last time turned into a fifteen-minute full sprint. She did woke up a few more times but passed out not soon after and a few moments passed. I arrived and without wasting more time I followed Eve’s instructions and began to start saving her.

I laid her small burnt body on top of a pure white bed while the [Neutrumaids] transferred her towards a basement I didn’t know existed and was then set into a pod filled with fluid that she floated within.

[Please wait as the [Conversion System] examines the soul and body my master… Done! The cost for [Conversion] is ten thousand (10,000) [Neutrium] my master but it seems we currently lack that much [Neutrium] at the moment. Though don’t be warned my master as it seems that her condition turned stasis inside the pod.]

“What!? Also, is it that expensive? No, whatever, those could be regained and spent as much as needed, I already decided on saving her. Now how long will it take for there to be enough [Neutrium] for conversion?”

[It would currently take nine hours (9:00) my master.]

“That’s too long to make it faster, focus on [Neutrium] gathering at the moment and also have the other [Neutrulite Basics] arrived at the town yet? If so, how many critical conditions do we have to convert?”

[The units arrived my master but it seems that other than non-fire-related conditions which unfortunately none were fatal all those that got burned have already perished.]

“That’s a shame but how did this child survive then? Strange.”

[If you want I can examine her my master.]

“That would be appreciated, also retrieve back all [Neutrulite Basics] and have them focus on the current thing at hand which is collecting [Neutrium].”

[Understood. Then please just wait my master.]

And so the hectic first night finally went dormant, and with that, my first day in this world has finished its zenith.