"Oh nothing much. How was... your patrol Marc?" Kyra shrugged as she sat down on the grass. Marc had appeared out of nowhere, silent like the breeze. In fact, Marc seemed to have caused the breeze.

"We'll be safe." Marc replied.

Kyra bit the inside of her cheek, internally debating whether or not to confront Marc about the system. She despised being manipulated like this, because she is weak. Marc has his terrifying abilities that seemed to emerge from nowhere, and the innocent-looking little boy contorted reality itself - or did something to their surrounding that left Kyra still feeling dizzy. But then Kyra decided to ask him anyway. Doubting herself was not something Kyra did often.

"You play games a lot right?" Marc nodded, head leaning to one side. "Then explain this system thing to me." Kyra commanded, glaring at him with a serious face. Marc looked startled.

"Um... I don't know much about it either." Kyra could tell he was lying. Marc rubbed his middle finger with his thumb, his face blank of emotions - little things Kyra noticed over the years they spent together. Marc did well telling the lie, but his follow-up actions were very unconvincing. If you want to act, you gotta follow the scene through, Kyra's sister had told her a few times as she practiced for auditions. Kyra gave Marc a look of disbelief. Sighing, he continued.

"I think it's like a gaming system? You level up, you get stat points to increase stats which will increase actual abilities. You can learn skills and level them up too..." Marc rubbed the back of his neck.

"And what's this path thing you were looking at?" He jolted, eyes growing just a little wider.

"Um... it's a function that will guide you through certain missions that will gain you specific skills and stuff..." Marc stared into the fire, obviously ignoring Kyra's gaze. Internally, Kyra was smiling - this was why she liked Marc. He was just so innocent.

"Really? Lemme see yours then." Kyra walked over to him while the little boy sat, watching amusedly.

"Um no..." Marc tried to back away, but Kyra gabbed his shirt and tugged on him.

"Marc Baxter you know I will not take no for an answer." He stayed silent, clearly going through deep thought. For a moment he resumed his 'gamer mode' where his face dropped into a deadbeat look and the life vanishes from his eyes. All that was heard in the clearing was the crackling of the fire and the raspy breath of the little boy. Kyra's palm has never felt so sweaty.

"Fine." Marc called up his menu and status screen.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Kyra shoved him to the side like he did her in the afternoon.

[STATUS]

Name: Marc Braxter

Path: Path of the Godly

Level: 100

Class: Disciple of Fire

Health: 3541/3541

Mana: 3438/3566

Stamina: 3132/3245

Vitality: 153

Strength:132

Endurance: 164

Agility: 163

Intelligence: 172

Perception: 153

[SKILLS]

ACTIVE:

Dragon's Fury Lvl. 83, Killing Intent Lvl. 87, Sneak Lvl. 93, Fishing Lvl. 70, Electric Bolt Lvl. 68, Fireball Lvl. 64, Sprint Lvl 100, Scan Lvl. 102

Deadly Art of the Blazing Spear (Set) Lvl. 46: Furious Slash Lvl. 98, Burning Stake Lvl. 94, Lightning's Call Lvl. 95, Gateway to Hell Lvl. 91, Sahara's Revenge Lvl. 89, Hell King's Judgement Lvl. 45

PASSIVE:

Rigor Training Lvl. 90, Amphibian Lvl. 56, Silent Breath Lvl. 32, Vigil of the Dying Lvl. 57, Psychic Awareness Lvl. 45, Fortitude Lvl. 43, Resistance Lvl. 67, Fire Immunity Lvl. 29

Kyra blinked three times. His screen was stretched longer than hers to accomodate for the number of skills. There were so many of them, and most of them sounded dead threatening.

Refocusing, Kyra saw that under paths was the phrase, The Path of the Godly Ones. Kyra frowned deeply. How could she have Path of the Peasant, a freaking peasant, while Marc, who was the shy kid who didn't do anything other than game, have a path related to God? Her mood soured further when she realized that Tiny had been right.

More time must have past for him since Marc's level was... 100. He couldn't have spawned in with that level, since Kyra excelled at physical activities and had a higher IQ than Marc - at least in her opinion. Marc hated PE class because he never understood the satisfaction like Kyra does when she finished running a mile or showering after class. He had the lowest scores in PE. So it would be impossible for Marc to have starting stats that were almost tenfold Kyra's.

Pursing her lips, Kyra quietly stood up and left the fire, leaving behind a confused Marc. She tucked herself away into one of the tents, zipping up the entrance behind her. Kyra's heart was on the floor of her stomach and her gut was screaming. Could things get any worse? Why could he be so much better than she was? Before, she was better than everyone else, but now, with the system, even Marc was better? What about other people? Did other, normal people get chosen like Marc? Or was he "special"? Even just thinking that thought made Kyra salty.

She let tears escape since Kyra knew she couldn't change the status quo. She felt strangled in her own body because she didn't know what was going on like at all. Games was the one thing Marc beat her at, no matter how hard she grinded, and now Marc had a decade or so of an advance on her. And also, she didn't control this system so how could she change it? How could she change this Path, or his level?

It was like being the hare in tortoise and the hare after she wakes up. Worst thing was that the tortoise had a car now.

Kyra wiped her tears into the sleeping bag, buried herself inside and drifted off.

<<<>>>

The morning came quickly as Marc dosed off a little, assured that his high perception would undoubtedly be enough to alert him of enemies. What bothered him was the depressed look Kyra had when she trudged off to sleep. Marc had thought that once Kyra saw his prowess, she would like him more. But the opposite had happened. What did he do wrong?

Just then, Kyra walked out of the tent, stretching under the sunlight. Marc blushed a little at the sight of her ruffled clothes. Another part of him was glad that they could finally go to the Trainer's village. With the map, he knew that a village spawned nearby and it offered protection to those who had the Path of the Peasant. He wanted her there as soon as possible before he went off to fulfill the quests his Path has been pushing. He had to collect people and take them to the village and find the other 11 Demigods. He wanted to stay with Kyra but, alas, he shouldn't be ignoring people when he knew what it was like to be helpless, right?

"Alright Kyra, we should start heading to the Trainer's Village now." He stood up, seeing that Kyra was just idling around the embers of the fire.

"No." It was a whisper, but Marc heard it as clear as a bell.

"What?" Marc couldn't believe his ears. Kyra looked into his eyes, full of resolution.

"I'm not going with you."