"How did you get here so fast?" Asked Seon, "I don't see a horse."

"I ran."

"Jokes? Coming from someone like you won't make anyone laugh." Seon drew his sword, "Well, how you got here doesn't matter." In the back of his mind he worried for the monk but he knew how to control his emotions in battle, the scars on his body had taught him that.

Seon went for a quick lunge aimed at Rika's neck. A one handed move that only took one step forward to hit the opponent. But, what he couldn't understand was how Rika disappeared and appeared behind him. His confusion even prevented him from feeling any pain along his arm. It wasn't till he saw his amputation and his severed hand lying on the ground still clutching his sword did he feel pain. Though the pain was delayed, it dug through the flesh till it reached him. The confusion and the oppressive pain filled his lungs with fear. The screaming was probably a reaction to keep himself sane. He was so loud, he couldn't hear Rika say: "I wasn't joking." Before he cut off his head.

He followed Leon into the cave. Through diverging paths which led to dead ends and cliffs. He followed the hoof marks to a dip in the path which took him into a pool of water with a ceiling of dripping stalactites where his powers vanished into a confusion of signals and static. He tried to use an explorer skill that would allow him to rewind everything within a range and observe as if he was a ghost from the future but again the source wouldn't allow this use of excessive mana. Doing what he can with what he had he reached a small stream flowing down the mountain, where he lost their trace.

Having lost their path he struggled through the forest till he reached a road that led to Jak. He arrived at the gates of Jak at noon. He felt it was all too late. And as he entered the gates Leon was heading out with the gang to help his brother.

Rika activated his monk skills and walked through the market place hoping to detect Elizabeth. He did this till evening and with the twilight of the setting sun he entered a popular tavern for adventurers. As he entered there was a fist fight to the left of him, while the men were placing bets, the barkeep was trying to get it outside. A big pot-bellied dog was swing his fists against this quick catman. The catman hit the belly, hit the chin, dodged the wide swings, and kicked the knee. Just a flurry of shots at the dogs face, legs, torso... The dog was getting hurt, but it wouldn't budge, it would stumble back a bit whenever a blow would hit him with a thud - on the face or chest - but he'd come right back with a wide swing.

Rika took the stairs on his right and went upstairs and took a table overlooking the fight. He waved the waiter to his table and asked for beer.

"What!?" She shouted over the chanting of the men bellow.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" It went on.

"Will you fuckers shut up!" She shouted and asked him what he wanted again.

"A beer." He said.

"A beer!?"

"Yeah." He said nodding his head. She took that down and went to the next table.

He watched the fight, it was a good way to take his mind off things. It ended all too abruptly just when he was getting bored of it and thought it would go on like that for hours. The catman had landed another hit on the dog’s face, a hard one that you could hear the thud all the way from where Rika was sitting. And the dog stumbled back like all the other times he was hit, and he raised his fist high for his usual wide swing. The catman saw it all coming and he was going to dodge it, then bam the catman was down, the dog did this strange kick and punch at the same time. It was a stupid looking move you'd see some fat kid in the playground do but from this big dog it was like a truck had hit the catman. The catman did a weird cough and stumbled back like he was running on a spinning log till he hit the bar and crumbed on the floor. He was trying to get up but it was all too late, the dog came rushing in and gave another kick. He wouldn't stop kicking the catman and the barkeep and barflies had to stop him.

The bar got quite after that, and the waitress brought him his drink. "Much nicer, isn't it?" She asked and went away. He sat there drinking when he heard this half conversation from the table behind him.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Can't believe he's dead."

"When I find him..."

"How're you going to find him?" A cynic and a pessimist.

"The monk knows how he looks, I'll drag him here."

"He won't leave his cave."

"He'll leave it, I'll make him leave it."

There was a pause, and 'the monk' and 'cave' rang a bell with Rika and he perked up his ears.

"How's Leon doing?"

"He took the body to the priests to have it cleansed before the cremation."

"What happened to the girl?"

"We took her to the orphanage."

"Alright, I'll go get her, she should know how he looks."

"You're not going to drag the girl out of the orphanage, sit the fuck back down."

"If I have to that's what I'm doing."

"The girl's been through enough."

"I haven't seen her."

"I'll have a look myself."

"Even with the girl... what next? You going to wander the land looking for a human?"

"What's Leon doing!? He should... he should!"

"Will you shut up, he's doing what he can."

"Can!?"

"Whoever can do that to Seon, must be strong."

Rika finished his beer and paid the waiter.

Time had passed quickly. The dark blue night sky greeted him when he stepped out. An orphanage would be hard to find at this time of the hour he thought, and found an inn.

"Here for the festival?" Asked a smiling goat.

"Yeah." He replied unenthusiastically. Silver was exchanged and he was led up 3 stories to a little room at the edge of the building.

"Dinner's already passed but I can have Mikey bring it up for you if you need it."

"No, that's fine."

"Alright, breakfast's at 8 and lunch at 12, Mikey will knock on your door if you don't come down."

"Okay."

"Enjoy your stay."

"Thanks." He said and the landlord gave a smile and walked off.

He opened a window, a queer thing to do on a cold night but he felt nothing having that passive skill of his always active.

He could hear the people bellow but all he saw were roof tops. A few chimneys were puffing out smoke. He threw his cloths on a chair and got in his bed and counted his money. The bed felt like a plank. There was a thin layer of straw covering the bed sheet.

He must have laid there for an hour or so when he saw the fireworks. Around 9 or 10 the fire works started going off in the arena. From the inn he couldn't quite well see the arena, the mosque blocking his line of sight. But he could see the pink, orange, red, blue and etc., balls of light rise and explode into little pieces.

Not so sleepy and feeling bored he put on his cloths and went down stairs. The landlord saw him and asked: "So, you want your supper after all."

"No, no, I'm fine." He replied and stepped out. He saw a few adventures' parties, going the same way.

The seats were already filled up, the counter girl told him, but they could pay to sand at the back. Some of the adventurers didn't like that, but he paid and went in.

A show of dancing and music was going on in the middle of the arena. The main events hadn't began and he walked around to find a 'good' spot. He went on searching weary and tired, the music stopped the dancing stopped but not him, he went on till the first contestants came out on to the stage and the announcer riled everyone up. He still went on searching pushing through, till the first deadly blow was struck in the arena and the crescendo of the crowd made him stop, and take notice of the battle. A man struck on the thigh and knee and was hobbling away from his contender. The announcer stopped the battle and announced the winner. The injured man was taken away and the beastman walked back into the waiting area.

That had put the crowd in a good mood.

A party was announced, this time the adventure parties were both composed of beastmen. It was 5 against 5, team battle; vanguard, magician, ranger, sharpshooter, and healer. It was mostly the vanguards fighting with the others supporting, and the sharpshooters sat it out. The fight was well orchestrated like a dance, each paring and dodging with precision.

"Their speeds are unbelievable." Said an adventurer to her friend.

"I don't think anyone will be able to join Tropic." Said her friend.

"There's no loss in trying." Said another team mate.

The fight went on like this till the time ran out, with the magicians having casted a spell or two each one averted by the other team. All was quite equal and they tied.

"Hmm... I thought Tropic would win."

"Claw's an S class team too..."

Another fight was announced, this time one of the contestants was a soldier. The soldier won almost instantly against an A class adventurer.

Rika activated his eyes to check his level and found him to be level 70, beating the highest 'he' had seen in this world before: 53.

The soldier said a few words about joining the army and said thanks to the vizier Al Muin. The crowd cheered.

"The king couldn't be here today, but we have Al Muin the Great with us today!" Shouted the announcer and the crowd cheered with pride for their country. The humans stood back and watched as Al Muin stood up from his balcony seat and waved his hand. Al Muin looked much like Anubis, with a black body, a canine's head and pointy ears.

Rika saw his level was 371. He realized right away this was a player. As the Anubis was waving his hand a little Anubis came running up to him and Al Muin lifted it up and the little one began to wave its hands as well. The level of the little one was quite low and matched those of the kids around its age.

It took Rika a while to realize that the little one was his daughter.

"He's been here a long time." He mumbled to himself. They had suspected someone might be a player in Jak. He waited till the cheering died and left the arena.