"What do you mean?" Marc lept to his feet.
"What I said. I'm not going with you to whatever this Trainer's Village. You can go if you want to." Kyra grabs her arm and shrugs.
"What? Why not?!" Marc whines, walking closer to Kyra, his leart lurching around and his palm sweaty.
"Because! I just- I just don't want to." She gave him a snobby look. Marc could feal heat rising through his body, boiling on the tip of his tongue. Kyra was going to basically suicide out here instead of going to safety just because she doesn't want to? What has gotten into her? Doesn't she realize she would die?
"You will die out here!" He exasperates. "Can't you understand that?" Marc sighs, the wrinkles between his brows deepening.
Kyra scoffs. "I'm already dying of humiliation right now," she points her finger at him, "having you protect me is humiliating. Seriously. Like what, yesterday you were just a nerdy gamer and now... this?" She gestured wildly at Marc. Marc's heart stops cold. How could he explain to her what happened? How he now has a new responsibility, something that he carries on the back in trade for getting this power to protect her? How to say?
"You need help. You won't survive here, with such a low level and a low path." Marc stumbled on his words. He didn't mean to sound so demeaning but he needs Kyra to understand that circumstances have changed since yesterday. The world she knew is gone. Screw knowledge: strength is power.
If that decade in the dungeon taught him anything, it was that survival is not guaranteed. Unlike the old world, where survival for people like them was not hanging over their heads like a thread, Marc has had to clutch onto his life like a madman.
Getting stronger by cultivating skills and boosting stats was a must, but since Kyra had the Path of the Peasant, which provided neither helpful combat skills or lots of stat points, her death was a matter of seconds or minutes. Especially that they ended up together in this forest, with monsters ranging from level 15-25. It was partially his fault. Marc thought it was almost certain this was one of the places with the highest leveled monster around, since most people should be level 1. The reason they were here was probably because he was a 'Demigod'.
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"And you think I'd let you baby me?" Marc took a step back, shocked when Kyra replied. Kyra had changed so much from the sweet girl he was friends with. The Kyra he knew was mature, calm and collected at all times, with a leveled head. What was this? Confusion raged in his head along with the growing annoyance he felt. Strength is power, he reminded himself. And he was more powerful than she could ever be.
"You need me to." He shied away from her face, glaring into the trees, worried that her expression might snap his string. Marc unleashed his [Killing Intent], an aura thick with the power of the Deity of Fire. His surroundings blazed with the heat of a thousand fires, and the feeling of death felt imminent with the suffocating waves of heat. Kyra needed to taste the horrors of the new world if Marc wants a chance to persuade her. Power, like his, she needed that.
But she was just not destined for it.
Taking a deep breath, Marc looked back at Kyra, expecting her to at least drop on the ground in pain from his [Killing Intent].
But unfortunately, she didn't look too fazed.
<<<>>>
Kyra was fuming. She could feel the smoke rising from herself by what Marc said so nonchalantly. While Kyra could tell Marc was irritated - he wore his emotions like a cape sometimes - the icy way he said that Kyra would die without him was offending and insulting. How could a weak man like him tell her that she would die? Sure, he's different whatnot and is level 100, but Kyra would reach level 100 too.
"You need me to." Marc turned his head away. Under the glare of the sun, Kyra saw his eyes turned shades of dark red, glowing faintly under the sun. Abruptly, she felt a ferocious wave of heat wash over her. It made her panic. It felt as if the air around her was burning to a crisp, leaving her with nothing but ash to breath. Her legs wanted to crumble. She wanted to give in to this dread.
Then she remembers the distortion, the black barrier that Tiny erected last night. Thinking back, Kyra recalls how she breathed through the confusion, that it was magic, not an illusion. And last night, she had managed under the different contortions of the barrier, albeit barely. This was child's play compared to that. She only needed to deal with the heat. She can... somewhat manage the pressure for a little while. And surely, Marc would stop soon. He wouldn't actually hurt her, right?
Kyra controlled her facial expressions, forcefully keeping a straight face while she struggled. But a moment later, that suffocating feeling dimmed by a little.
[Due to your actions, you have learned the skill Fortitude! Mental attacks will now decrease efficiency by 2%.]
She looked at the screen and frowned. This screen thingy did have an effect on mitigating the aura, so maybe it really impacted people deeply. Before, she wondered if the stats really did anything. Maybe she was just denying what happened to Marc.
Kyra dismissed the screen, and looked up, seeing a puzzle forming on Marc's face.
"But...how?" Of course, as a level 100, Marc must be expecting Kyra to drop after he unleashed that aura, but thanks to her new skill, she is able to withstand it, barely, but enough so that she doesn't seem to struggle much. Thank god for her sister's snobby remarks on Kyra's acting.
[Fortitude has leveled up!]
Kyra smiled smugly. "Told you, I don't need you. Bye bye!" Kyra turned around and strutted over to the tent, the soles of her feet as if on fire simply by walking away. Trying her best to ignore the searing agony, Kyra snatched her jacket from the tent and walked off, leaving behind a dumbfounded Marc.