“Let’s stop for a second,” Lin’s calm voice carried through the wind, reaching Roben, who halted with a puzzled expression.
“We’re almost there. Are you tired?” Roben asked, watching Lin as he stared at his map, seemingly deep in thought. As if finding what he was looking for, Lin suddenly dispelled the status window before speaking.
“No, I’m still fine. I just wanted to leave something here,” he muttered, opening his palm as Soulex gathered, forming a familiar green tennis ball.
Confused, Roben glanced at the ball and asked, “Is that to monitor the area?”
Lin simply nodded without much thought.
As they had already experimented, creating a Soulex object also allowed them to use Echo on it, monitoring its immediate surroundings for any anomalies even while standing at a distance.
Lin stood there for a long time, pouring his Soulex into the ball, eventually sparking a worried look from Roben, who watched from the side. But even after nearly a minute, Lin didn’t seem exhausted.
Completing his action, he simply dropped the ball onto the snow and cast [Veil] on it.
“You’re really full of surprises,” Roben finally muttered. Lin looked back at him with a puzzled expression before bending down and shoving the snow forward, burying the ball beneath it. Once finished, he stood, and the two immediately continued on their path.
“You said you’re a boxer, but you fight like a veteran soldier,” Roben eventually muttered, clarifying his earlier statement. The way Lin fought didn’t seem to be inspired by any boxing techniques he knew; instead, it felt like watching a fellow soldier who had been handed a weapon and ordered to eliminate a target at any cost.
“I never said I was a boxer,” Lin muttered, and the realization quickly dawned on Roben as he recalled Lin’s introduction. Although Lin had admitted to doing some boxing, he had never explicitly claimed to be a boxer. Seeing Roben’s confusion, Lin continued,
“It was just a small phase,” he muttered casually.
A surprised chuckle escaped Roben as he shot back, “Hehe, calling a fight against the best boxer in the world a ‘phase’ is pretty unusual,” shaking his head at the thought.
While most would consider it an honor to even stand in the same ring as one of the greatest boxers in the world, Lin didn’t seem to share that sentiment. He had only mentioned it when called out, despite the fact that he had allegedly won the match.
“Did you also do some military martial arts?” Roben asked curiously, and Lin seemed to ponder for a moment before nodding.
“Yeah,” he said, thinking there was no reason to hide it. A lot of military martial arts were drawn from traditional and commonly practiced ones, so it wasn’t that unusual for a civilian to learn such techniques.
“Oh, does that mean you’ve also fought a soldier in a sparring match?” Roben asked, giving Lin a curious look, but Lin quickly shook his head.
“Nope,” he said casually.
“Mmh,” Roben eyed him suspiciously, skeptical of Lin’s words. If it had been anyone else, he might have believed them, but based on what he’d seen from Lin so far, the idea didn’t seem far-fetched. As if reading his thoughts, Lin continued.
“Soldiers are trained to kill, so if the match isn’t a battle to the death, it wouldn’t really be a fair fight for the soldier, would it?” Lin said, as if stating the obvious. It would be like asking a boxer to win a match using only kicks, without throwing a single punch throughout.
“Mmh, I get your point, but couldn’t you just fight with some classic rules?” Roben muttered, slightly thrown off by the seamlessly strict logic. Rather than killing each other, a match could simply require both parties to fight purely using martial arts and adhering to the friendly rules of said martial arts.
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“Then I would be winning against someone who’s clearly holding back. Not much of a match,” Lin said, as if the very suggestion filled him with boredom.
“Ah, I see,” Roben finally relented, realizing that Lin might actually be telling the truth.
“Aren’t you going to ask why I didn’t do a death battle instead?” Lin’s voice reached him, and Roben turned to look at him, suddenly locking eyes. Lin smiled, sending shivers down his spine.
The reason he never asked such a thing—or rather, why no one would even consider asking—was that no normal person would think it was an option to begin with. As Roben stood there speechless, Lin spoke up, walking just ahead of him.
“Well, my father was actually all for it, but my mother managed to convince him otherwise. The risk of losing me seemed to touch his heart, so we decided against it,” Lin said in one breath, snapping Roben out of his daze.
Roben quickly ran up to him, catching up and matching his stride. His expression shifted, a mix of pity and regret flashing across his face as he stammered,
“S-sorry, I shouldn’t have…” He trailed off, unsure of what to say, his gaze fixed ahead.
Lin’s voice cut through. “Sorry for what?” he asked, his tone unnaturally cold.
The unexpected sharpness caught Roben off guard, and he turned to face him. Lin’s face was serious, his expression unreadable.
“Uh… I mean, you must’ve gone through a lot and stuff—” Roben said, trailing off as he tried not to offend Lin, but Lin didn’t relent. His cold voice hit back immediately.
“I don’t understand. Is there something pitiful about the story I just told?” Lin said, stopping in his tracks to face Roben, his eyes cold and his expression stern.
“N-no, I didn’t mean it like that. Sorry,” Roben replied, fumbling for words. But the repeated apology seemed to irritate Lin further, as he asked again,
“You’re apologizing again. Why?”
“I… I just…” he muttered, struggling to find an answer.
Suddenly, Lin broke into a fit of laughter, the tension evaporating in an instant as he abruptly turned and started walking away.
“I was just messing with you. As if something like that would ever happen,” he said with a smile, shooting Roben a side glance. Roben let out an anxious nod, his confusion still lingering.
“R-right,” Roben muttered, reminding himself never to bring up such a topic again, regret still plastered on his face.
“No parent would ever do that to their own child, right?” Lin said, turning to look at Roben with a smile—a smile that seemed to pierce through his heart, causing him to look away as an overwhelming guilt seemed to wash over him.
“...”
He nodded, saying nothing more. A dead silence followed them as they completed the rest of the journey without exchanging another word.
After a few more minutes, the terrain ahead of them began to change. A few green trees appeared in the far distance, and to the right of it, a rocky area came into view. As they approached, they started to notice several individuals, each seated in small groups and chatting casually among themselves, seemingly without a care in the world.
They seem fine, Lin thought, making a quick headcount while also assessing the condition of their bodies.
None of them appeared to be injured.
One of the individuals spotted them and quickly approached with hurried steps, relief evident on his face. The man had dark circles under his eyes as if he had been under a lot of stress, though everyone had already acknowledged this as his natural appearance.
“Thank god, you made it,” Ren said, meeting Lin and Roben with a smile. Both of them nodded silently. Lin walked past him, heading to one of the small boulders at the edge of the region and sitting down, drawing the attention of everyone around.
“I’m surprised everyone arrived here this quickly,” Lin muttered, his gaze sweeping across the group once again to confirm that all twenty of them were really present. His surprise was evident—navigating these regions was challenging enough, but successfully coordinating a group this size was an even greater feat. Yet, Ren had ensured their safe arrival.
“Oh, yeah, we used a buddy system, so everyone traveled in groups,” Ren said, trying to downplay the accomplishment.
“I see,” Lin replied, his eyes continuing to dart around.
They were currently in the 'middle' region, the point where all the other regions divided.
Just ahead was the [Smelless Region], covered in a dense green forest. To his right was the [Sightless Region], with its rocky terrain, and to the left was the [Swamp Region], a dark brownish terrain with muddy lakes in the distance.
A few individuals were stationed at each region.
Swamp Region: 2
Forest Region: 3
Rocky Region: 12
Snowy Region: 3
The individuals gathered at the rocky region seemed especially anxious, cautiously reacting to every sound they heard. Their eyes stared into space, unable to see anything because of the unique restriction.
Seeing this, Lin turned to Ren and asked,
“How’s the plan going so far?”
“We are now at the third jump. The next one is back to the [Snowy Region] to complete a full rotation,” Ren explained.
Lin simply nodded, deep in thought.
The next jump will decide everything, he thought as he broke down Ren’s plan once more in his mind.
There were no visible faults in it. In fact, from an objective standpoint, it was a perfectly crafted strategy. However, what worried Lin wasn’t an apparent flaw but the potential for an unforeseen variable—a possible flaw rather than an actual one.