"Which first?"

Mewtwo blinks at the question. Then again food would be the right answer for Astra. He will need it to recharge itself. But would that work? I believe food should be provided first. He will need it. Mewtwo answers, making the purple villager shudder.

The villager regains his composure quite fast and then looks confused. "Food was for you though. He needs healing first." The villager says as he look down to where Astra lays. He frowns at his position. "Why is he on the floor? Are the beds not good enough?" he asks in fake affront

His weight would destroy the frames. I wished to avoid breaking your lodgings. Mewtwo defends himself.

"Ah, just pulling your leg here. It just surprised us. Still, you prefer food before healing?"

Food should lead to healing, so if possible yes.

"If you say so. May I still look him over? I may have some onguents and potions that may help him." The villager asks.

By all means do! I tried to help, but I know nothing of his how his body functions. He laments.

"That I can, now for food, see with my colleagues here."

"Aye, wha' can we do for ya?"The villager with the straw hat asks.

We collected these on the way. Mewtwo points at the pile of vegetables on the side. Could you maybe prepare something he could ingest?

"Ah''ll see what Ah can do." The straw hat villager shudders when Mewtwo's words enters his mind, but quickly nods. "Do ya need somethin' special?"

Mewtwo considers the question. Get me the same thing as for him. I am curious.

"Yer call." The apron villager answer with a chuckle. "We'll git y'all some soup!"

He and his colleague gather the vegetables with Mewtwo's help and then they are gone. The purple villager kneel down next to Astra and start to inspect him.

Mewtwo lets out an exhausted sigh and sits on the mattress-less bed. This day is barely half-way done and yet I feel like it has lasted twice longer than yesterday already. He stretches and then turn to the remaining occupants of the room. The elder and the six young look still have their eyes glued on him.

They heard only a one sided conversation. Mewtwo realize. His thoughs have, to this point, always been targeted to a single mind. He had yet to have the opportunity to expand to multiple at once. Is it even possible? Could I do it? Only one way to find out.

Mewtwo look at each of the humans, he slowly feel their minds and only the elder flinches when he brushes his. Hans's eyes grow wide when he feels the ethereal mind probe from what he had considered to this point a hallucination. Before him stands a Mewtwo. A legend.

And then the legend speaks. This is a test. The entire room, except for the healer, jumps at the words coming from within their very mind. Ah good, it works. Greeting, I am Mewtwo.

"Ah shit you're real." Hans reacts first, wincing. "Why only now? Where did he find ya?"

"Holy shit you can speak!" One of the younger ones speaks above Hans angry questioning.

"Are you here to help us?"

"How much did you travel?"

"How much tokens did your trainer need to be able to tame you?"

A grunt from the villager healer breaks the flood of questions and Mewtwo holds his hands before him, an amused smile forming upon his face. Please, one at a time. I cannot answer everything all at once.

"Me first then!" Hans bellow above the others, "Where did he find ya?"

The healer grunts louder for calm but Hans ignores him.

Mewtwo studies the old man. His short white hair is unkempt and greasy looking, his frame seems frail, but toned muscles can be seen on a closer look. Mewtwo can feel the horrors he has seen, but his mind is more guarded than his younger companions. We found each other in the forest from that direction. Mewtwo tries to point vaguely toward the way he came.

"In the Woods of Beginning? Impossible! That place was swept so many times! Someone else would have found you!"

"But he said they found each other Hans. Mewtwo must have come to the woods to find his trainer." One of the younger one tries to placate Hans. "I'm Emile by the way."

"What? But that's not what I- YOU!"

I did answer your question, we found each other In what you call the 'woods of beginning'. Was that not what you wanted to know? Mewtwo asks innocently. Why is Hans so angry at his answer?

"Then where were you before you found your trainer!"

"Hey no fair! We want to ask questions too old fart!" Another one whines.

Why not ask so then? I awoke within a cave beneath the plain.

"You're toying with us right? Ya want us to believe ya were sleeping beneath the fucking Arrival plain ALL THIS FUCKING TIME!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH YOU COULDA HELPED? OR SAVE? WHY AWAKE NOW? WHY CHOOSE HIM??" A coughing fit overwhelm the old man as tears start to stream from his eyes. "Why?" He wheeze once the fit passes.

The anger and passion in the old man's voice takes Mewtwo by surprise. His eyes grow wider with each accusations. What did Hans mean? Why would his presence be so important. Once the old man stops, Mewtwo slowly prepares his answer. I... I do not know why I awoke now. I did so alone, with only a message from a trio of beings urging me on a quest. They left me directives to grow stronger and join forces with another like me. They gave me some sort of direction and what seemed at the time, mostly useless information. I spent most of my first day here exploring and looking for Astra, and once I found him, we only had more questions than answers for each others.

The occupants of room let Mewtwo explain himself, and then slowly let what he has just said sink in. One of the unnamed young is the first to break the silence. "Wait, a trio? What do you mean a trio? Are there more gods now?" they ask in worried tone.

Gods? What are gods?

"You know, the powerful being you just mentioned? Do they serve the evil one or...?"

I would appreciate more context here. I am still quite new to this world.

"Wait, wait wait. How new are we talking here?"

I awoke yesterday, the same as him if that helps. Mewtwo answers while also pointing at Astra.

Stunned silence fills the room at that declaration. Every human look at Mewtwo and now Astra almost as they did when they first came through the door. But this time it is not awe, fear or denial. It is pure and unfiltered disbelief.

Emile is the first to talk again. "You mean to tell us... That this man laying here... arrived on the Ezian plane yesterday... the same as you... And looked like that?"

That is correct.

"Wait if it's his second day he's going to have a crimson trial soon! Why the fuck did they bring him here!! We need to get him away from the village! NOW!"

Ah, that already happened. That is the reason for his current state.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"What? Was he too weak to defeat a lesser disciple? Even if he is almost completely naked, he has you!"

Lesser... Disciple? That was not what we had to fight against.

"Oh, so a a disciple immediately? Still shouldn't be too hard for the both of you."

If the achievement we both received for our victory is to be believed, we defeated something called a Crimson Praetor.

"Achievement?" One of the young looks dubious at Mewtwo

"PREATOR??" Hans almost jumps out of his bed, revealing that one of his leg truly is missing.

That is what the achievement called it. Although I can not show you, it seems Astra's state limits my systems capabilities.

"Okay what the fuck are you talking about here? Also the fuck's a Praetor?"

"Jocelyn, you are on you eleventh week correct?" Hans asks the girl that just spoke.

"Yeah?" She answers with nonchalance

"You had to deal with a Crimson leader then."

"Yeah..." This time her voice is meeker and she shudders at the memories, unconsciously rubbing some of her bandages.

"Imagine something far stronger, with an almost endless onslaught of high tier spells at its disposal and almost impervious armor beneath night unbreakable wards. That is a Praetor." The room descends into silence once more "They are always the bottleneck for the first year. Many successful abductees have been reset by them." Hans adds in a whisper.

Then the reason this topic was brought up returns to the occupant and Hans turns his eyes sharply to Mewtwo. "Ya can't have fought one. On his first week? Impossible, he should be dead, even with ya!"

We almost did die. Astra tried to run at first was caught almost instantly. It seems the Praetor did not take us seriously, even at the end. We were lucky, at best.

"Nah, luck does not explain how you slain a praetor! Those bastards can shrug almost any sort of punishment many can dish out or heal through almost any injuries."

It seems decapitation was quite effective.

"How?"

His sword was sharp enough, although the side effects in Astra were clearly a harsh price to pay.

The entire room blinks. "Ya... Ya stole a Praetor sword and decapitated them with it?"

That is correct, it was quite clever on Astra's part. Again, I believe we were lucky the Praetor decided his fists would be enough.

The room blinks once more. And then Hans starts laughing. And all six of the young ones look at him with concern etched on their faces. Even the healer looks up before shaking his head and returning to his examination. Hans keeps laughing until another coughing fit stops him. "Ack, aight, fine. Eh... I will believe ya for now."

I could maybe go and get a trinket from his corpse to prove it? Once Astra is awake once more he should be able to show you the achievement notification. Maybe there is an entry within the Monstropedia too... Mewtwo adds that last part to himself, but forgets he is still broadcasting his thoughs.

"Okay! Stop! Full stop here. I don't care about praetor and crimson whatnot, but what the FUCK are you talking about. Why do YOU, a pokemon, and from what I gathered, him receive notifications about achievements? Is it some sort of special magic? What about that system you referred to? What the fuck is it?"

"Yeah Simon is right here. I'm curious too about that system you talked about." Emile adds.

"How is that more important than information on the stronger members of the crimson cult!" Hans retort.

"You got your answer old man, we want ours!" Simon counters. "Now spill. What is that 'system' you talk about?"

Do... Do you not have it? Again, Mewtwo is confused at what these humans are asking him.

"Why do you think we ask?" Both Simon and Emile shout back in unison.

Hum... I am... I am unsure to be honest. It arrived the moment I woke up. A little envelope of light exploded into screens filled with information. Then once I met Astra, it evolved into quests, guides and knowledge repository. Astra might have had his the moment he arrived I believe, but that is all I can tell you. I know not what the system is, only that I have it and it is helping us grow stronger.

"Okay that's bullshit." Simon deadpans

"You don't have soul tokens then?" Jocelyn asks.

Mewtwo focuses on Jocelyn. Those words, again. We... Do not. But we have heard of those 'soul tokens'. What are they? They seemed valuable to our previous encounter...

"The Praetor?" Hans asks, confused.

Other humans. Mewtwo sends with an acidic tone.

"Ah... ya met newbie hunters... How did ya survived dat one?"

Our poochyena guide. Mewtwo simply sends.

"Make sense. So... Soul tokens. Ya don't have them but ya still grow stronger." Hans muses. "If I say Eziakophael, what do you say?"

Mewtwo looks at the old man, the word he just pronounced bouncing in his head. The symbol of a singular diamond shaped eye seems to answer to that name, but he does not understand why. It seems... familiar yet alien, Hans.

"Also make sense. This," Hans brings up his right sleeve up, revealing a scarred arm, but more importantly a diamond shaped mark that is starting to become too familiar to Mewtwo, "is the mark of our cursed kidnapper, Eziakophael, great creator and master of the Ezian plane."

The symbol is the same he saw earlier in the background of the crimson church, the same he saw in his dream last night. A diamond shaped eye containing a circular iris which itself contains another diamond shaped iris with an oval pupil at the center.

Hans continues. "We all have it when we arrive here. It is a brand to let all know we are his. And with it," He holds out his hand and a couple of large silvery tokens appears out of thin air, "come soul tokens. We all start with a hundred and can give them up to the mark to strengthen ourselves. These are our only way to grow stronger. And it only applies to us humans. There should be no reason for a pokemon to have any. Except if ya kill one."

Except if you kill one...

"Yeah ya can scavange a lot from mons'... corpses... hum..." Hans sputters out, realizing who he just told about pokemon murder.

Mewtwo stays silent with a neutral expression on his face. "I... uh... Not all of us are able to be trainers!" Hans tries to justify himself. The other occupants are trying to distance themselves, even if they were already some beds away.

I will keep this information in mind. Is it only food or... The thoughs are like ice in Hans's mind

He gulp at the mounting pressure emanating from the legend. "Erm... There is food yes... But also the tokens and... well... other materials..." He squeaks out.

Good to know. Mewtwo nods, a cold smile painting his face. You wanted to know how we grew stronger right?

The room slowly nods in apprehension. We get experience. From killing monster, defeating pokemons for me and completing quests. Astra is rewarded with points he can spend like your soul tokens and I am rewarded with levels, making me grow stronger. No idea if killing humans would grant me experience though, I have yet to try.

The room remains silent for a couple of minutes, the sound of the village life streaming from outside and the shuffling from the healer the only things disturbing it. The implied threat has been felt by all in the room. Mewtwo takes this reprieve from the questioning to gather his thoughts on the informations he was just given. He and Astra are not here by the will of the same entity as most others. Their ways of operating is different from the others in this world and finally, they are tested in far harsher manners than those brought by the ruling entity, if what he just learned is to be trusted in any ways. And he might have met the ruling entity in his dream. But then what was the egg of light? Why did it feel so familiar, so warm?

The sound of a throat clearing brings him out of his thoughts. The healer is looking at him expectantly. Mewtwo looks holds the healer gaze, curious.

"I finished... inspecting him... He is not like any other abductees I have ever seen. There is no blood, no organs, nothing of flesh beneath the skin... None that I know anyway." He gives a summary of his short examination. "I am not sure anything I have will help..."

I see... Mewtwo is only half disappointed. Astra had hinted at being different from normal humans. This is just one more confirmation. Give him what you have anyway. It could still help.

"Best I can do is this." The healer answers, producing a glass flask filled with purple-pink liquid. "Regeneration potion." He says. He slowly lifts Astra's head and pour the liquid in the unconscious man's mouth.

Strange wisps of purple-pink smoke start to emanate from Astra's body but disappear less than a minute after. There is no change in Astra's condition. The healer look around some more until he holds up Astra's metallic arm. "Is that normal?"

Mewtwo squints at what the healer is pointing at. At first he does not see it. Then something blinks. Mewtwo concentrates on the origin of the sudden light and sees it again. A red dot blinks. There, on Astra's left forearm, where a glass oval takes most of the upper part of said forearm, a small red dot is blinking.

I have no idea. Mewtwo finally answers the healer. He studies the dot. The blinking is regular. About a second on, then a second off, then repeat. What could it mean? Mewtwo asks himself. Has this always been here? He tries to remember if he saw such tiny light before. While he was laying Astra down? During Astra's transport? While he tried to bring him back? Mewtwo cannot remember. He had not really cared for such tiny signs. And he almost feel ready to berate himself. Astra's body is becoming more of an enigma by the second.

What does the red dot means? That is the question right now. No a better question, Mewtwo realizes, is why here? Astra has many places where light could be displayed, so why on this part? What is special about this oval of glass. He had seen it pulse with light multiple times but the reasons fro why had never been too much of a concern for Mewtwo. It had only been one and a half day. Not enough to start questioning Astra about every kinks of his strange body.

Out of curiosity, he pokes the blinking dot, and the reward is instantaneous.

◻◼◼◼

/!\ Warning /!\

Power reserves critical. System now operating in Power-saving mode

Full shutdown of Bio-reactor in : 2:35 minutes

Acquire compatible organic compounds ASAP!!

The four dots at the top of the screen slowly deplete and the screen vanishes. Mewtwo looks at the healer. The healer looks at Mewtwo with at least a dozen questions at the tip of his tongue. We need the food. Right. Now. Mewtwo exclaims before the healer cans ask anything. The healer nods and runs out.

"Fuck he's got an honest to god Manhwa system." One of the humans, Simon, exclaims. The others looks at him expectantly and he reluctantly starts to explain.