Adrian prayed to the Great God for the second time in his life. The first had been before his wife's death, and he didn't know what he would do if his daughter didn't make it. The mysterious golden Warrior followed by a farmer holding a weird insect seemed to have injected her with something, but it seemed to have had a positive effect, as the black spots on her skin seemed to lesser in intensity.
He didn't care what they did, as long as they could help his daughter. Adrian could feel his eyelids getting heavier by the second. His skin seemed to have been dried in the sun for decades, and his hair looked like a bird's nest. He could feel his body falling apart from old age, stress, and Emotional Soul Disruption combined. If he hadn't created his Soul ability decades ago, he would have made one now.
He glanced at everyone present in the room. There were a handful of healers, maids, and the two curious lads. Seeing the healers' and maids' disinterested expressions toward the bedridden woman made his tired mind spin up a deluded narrative;
Of course, they are here just for the money. They couldn't give two shits about her if they didn't get paid to care!
Each word made Adrian's feelings and, consequently, Influence rise in intensity.
Now that I think about it, didn't Maria start feeling worse when the healers started their "cures"?
Adrian coughed twice into his fist, catching everyone's attention. He glanced at everyone's eyes, settling on each pair for at least a couple of seconds.
"I have a simple question for the healers here, not including you," He said while pointing at the golden Warrior, and continued, "Can you explain to me," He clenched his fists, and everyone present except The Warrior could feel the Influence around the man rumble and thrash, " Why, after your treatments, my daughter seemed to get worse?" The underlying fury was clear for all to see.
One of the healers, a young woman adorned in elegant robes with silver remarks, stepped forward and replied, "My Lord, we have never encountered this kind of disease. It is not a curse, as exorcist abilities don't seem to work, and it is not a normal illness, as our healing abilities don't work. We believe-" Her words were cut off as Adrian appeared in front of her in an instant, holding her chin with an iron grip.
"I asked, why is she GETTING WORSE?" He shouted centimeters from her face. The healer wore a look of horror on her face, tears intensifying this image. "I-I don't know, My Lord. Please calm dow-" Adrian slammed the woman's face on the ground with immense strength, making the whole mansion shake. She didn't get up. The only reason he hadn't completely obliterated everyone in this room was that the golden Warrior's cure seemed to somewhat help Maria. The whole room was looking at him in silent shock.
The farmer tried stepping forward when the Golden Warrior stopped him.
"You." He pointed at the mysterious man. "What did you do to her?"
"I modified her white blood cells to be able to attack the bacteria better." He replied without hesitation.
That voice of his is quite peculiar, but my senses tell me he's telling the truth. I don't understand what he means.
"Explain in simpler terms," Adrian ordered again.
The Warrior lowered his head and seemed to think for a moment. "I helped her body detect the disease and fight it better."
Adrian nodded slowly. Even with the current situation taking a toll on his body, his eyes always had that spark of intelligence. He felt like Maria was still alive only thanks to this man, while the others...
He took a deep breath and sat down. He would see how things went and decide what to do. He closed his eyes, closed his arms, and said, "Don't you dare leave this room. The moment I see anyone try to leave, I'll kill all of you."
This last part made the people present hold visages of pure fear. Some of them held their hand in front of their mouth and started crying. Adrian couldn't care less.
He could feel the farmer exchanging glances with the Warrior, clearly worried.
They all waited for a couple of hours, hoping to see something change. Unfortunately, his daughter seemed to worsen again after the initial improvement. He moved next to her, holding her hand. He couldn't stop tears from forming in his eyes at seeing his precious Maria in such a saddening state. Almost the entirety of her skin was pitch black, her heart was barely beating, and her breaths came in short and ragged bursts.
The Warrior tried helping her once again, but without success this time.
He could feel her meager Influence focusing entirely on her brain, neck, and chest. She slowly opened her eyes and whispered so quietly no one apart from Adrian could hear, "Thank you for being the best dad ever. I love you."
Adrian didn't blink once until Maria's organs finally gave up. The people in the room could feel the nobleman's Influence completely retreat into his body. With a completely neutral look, he glanced at the strange duo and told them, "With me."
He carried them outside and, after closing the door, took out a satchel from thin air. He looked the Warrior in the eyes and, with a completely blank face, said, "You are probably the only reason she lived long enough to say her last words. Take this and be on your way." He all but threw the satchel and went back into the room. Adrian didn't have any need for money, not when he couldn't use it to make his daughter's life better anymore...
---
Prometheus caught the satchel in mid-air and put it in his inventory. He could see Eadric trembling near him.
"Let's get away now. I feel like the situation might become... dirty."
He quickly headed to the mansion's front door, which took various minutes, and got out, breathing fresh air. The black hole was in the sky, as always, continuously judging them.
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the ground, coming from inside the mansion. It seemed to come from the room they had been in.
"Wh-What was that, your Majesty?" Eadric uttered in a hushed and fearful tone.
"That was probably the nobleman. Ignore that, we don't know what's going to happen here. Follow me." He started walking toward the adventurer guild, noticing the lack of care in the citizens' faces about the explosion. It seemed like they saw it only as a slight inconvenience.
Some moments later, he spotted a couple of shadows flying at the explosion site, noticing them only because his thermal sensors immediately caught the flying objects.
"Eadric, who were they?"
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Who are you referring to, your Majesty?" The farmer asked with a confused look.
"The shadows which seemed to fly at supersonic speed into the building."
"Oh, they are probably the Urban Wanderers. They usually deal with serious internal situations like this one."
"I see, thank you."
They silently headed to the front entrance of the Adventurer guild, and before entering, Prometheus took out his pouch with the coins, the four carvings of his owners and said to Eadric, "Take these and put up a missing person bounty. They can't be hurt for any reason. Give 20 Soladites for each of them that is found. Include your daughter as the fifth missing person."
Eadric's eyes flew open. "Y-Your Majesty, I can't possibly ask you to do that! The only reason we got that money was because of your efforts!"
"That's true, but see it this way" Prometheus crossed his arms and continued, "You have helped me find this place and accompanied me, all while carrying that heavy-looking hoe and Buzzelina. 20 Soladites to find your daughter is but a humble reward for your help."
The farmer's eyes started watering, and he thought to himself, I must have misjudged him.
He bowed deeply and, with genuine respect for the first time, said, "Thank you, Your Majesty." He dried his face and went inside.
Prometheus waited patiently outside when Eadric came back some minutes later. "It's all done, Your Majesty." He showed an intricate disk the size of a fist, slightly glowing now and then. "When any information is found about the missing people, it will get transmitted here. I took one for information relative to my daughter," He showed another similar disk, "Please take this, and good luck in your quest, Your Majesty!" he gave the disk to Prometheus, as well as Buzzelina.
"Thank you, Eadric. Good luck as well!"
After deciding he didn't have anything else to do in this city, Prometheus decided to leave the city and come back to his base. His 'vacation' had been shorter than he had expected, but such was life. Its unpredictability was what made it fun. How boring would life be if everything was predictable and easily anticipated?
While he was crossing the same gate he came from, he was met with the exact Guard as last time. He seemed to be talking with a merchant and reviewing some documents. He spared a single glance at Prometheus before sighing heavily and excusing himself to the merchant and walking over to the Golden Warrior.
"Going out so soon, Sir? Were you successful in your endeavor?" The Guard asked with the usual tired and sarcastic tone.
What a nice guard. He's even worried about how my search went!
He shook his head. Using his voice near so many people wouldn't be the best idea.
"I see. I'm sorry to hea-" The Guard stopped mid-sentence and whirled around to look at the sky. Prometheus looked at where the nice Guard was looking so intently but couldn't see anything.
The tired man clicked his tongue and whispered in an almost inaudible volume, "Fucking wyverns, always needing to ruin my fucking day." He got into a throwing stance, and even Prometheus could feel everything around the man shifting. Was this magic? Would he finally get to witness a cool spell? The fireball didn't count because it wasn't cool enough.
The Guard seemed ready to throw his spear, closing one of his eyes. Prometheus couldn't even register the moment the man launched the spear, the only indication that it even happened being the thunderous explosion that accompanied the launch.
After the railgun-level throw, the man softy smiled and whispered, "Got you, asshole." Prometheus couldn't understand what the man meant until he could spot a point in the distance rapidly approaching the ground. It was probably traveling at Mach-2, at least.
Is that... a dragon's corpse?? Wait, no, two legs, so it's a wyvern. Still cool.
The Guard sighed and held his hand out, almost expecting something to appear in front of it. A high-pitched sound seemed to rapidly intensify until Prometheus could see the man's spear flying into his hand!
WHAT?
Prometheus couldn't believe his eyes. Did magic allow that kind of stuff?? He would have to learn how to use Mana as soon as possible then. The corpse was rapidly falling, creating an explosion when it landed on the ground half a kilometer from the wall.
Prometheus neared the Guard and whispered, "Can I take the corpse for myself?"
"What do you need a tier 3 corpse for? They are practically garbage."
"I need to run some experiments," Prometheus answered truthfully.
The man narrowed his eyes and, after a moment of thought, shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't get paid enough to care. Go ahead."
Prometheus was jumping like a little girl about to buy a new dog.
He instantly ran toward where the wyvern crashed, avoiding every tree in the way. Buzzelina seemed to find the speed annoying. He slowed down a bit and asked the Giant Wasp queen with the same pheromones she used, "Can you climb on my back and stay there?" The cute insect buzzed her wings and slowly climbed Prometheus' shoulders and sat on his back like a backpack.
What a cute friend he had made.
He sped up again until he found a clearing in which multiple trees had been uprooted and fell down. At the center of it, the corpse of a massive creature was resting. It was a bit bigger than a private jet, with a wingspan of 45 meters. Its skin was rough and colored a dark red.
Prometheus got closer to it and walked around, analyzing every detail he could. What caused its death was clear; A hole the size of a boulder was present in its chest, leaking out blood and organs. Its internal organs were eerily similar to what animals on Earth have, with a heart, intestines, and lungs. Why would creatures from another world be so similar?
Actually, why are there humans in the first place? I struggle to believe both planets gave birth to what is practically the same species independently.
Without Prometheus' knowledge, dark clouds started gathering above him. The guard's eyes flew open in shock. The Golden Warrior continued on, his thoughts unperturbed. Buzzelina could feel something was wrong and started shivering. Prometheus continued thinking.
The only possible explanation is that either humans moved from Earth to here or-
His thoughts were interrupted as a thunderous explosion rocked his senses. Prometheus couldn't move his body at all. He had been hit by a lightning strike. Buzzelina had sensed the danger and had moved to a nearby branch watching him.
His Core was fried. It had been designed to resist nuclear strikes point-blank, but it was still damaged by a thunder strike. With his half-melted mind, Prometheus calculated that he had been hit by at least 100 trillion Volts of Voltage.
Heh, only physics-defying phenomena are enough to take me down...
He fell down. The Core had one main feature that made it priceless: Self-repairing technology at the atomic scale. It would use any matter in its surroundings, pick the atoms clean of electrons and arrange them in the configuration needed to repair itself. Even Prometheus didn't understand how it worked. He just stood there, his cells falling off his Core and being absorbed to fuel its repair. After the main parts got repaired, he swore to himself, This cannot be natural. After seeing the Hacker, the guard, and the Blackhole, I have to believe it was intentional. The sky was clear of clouds minutes ago. I didn't think I would make enemies this powerful, this quickly. I'll find them and give them back what they just did to me one hundredfold. Now, why did they decide to act now? Surely hitting me when I was in my eclipse form would have done more damage.
The Core finished absorbing every cell previously used by Prometheus, but massive damage was still present. The Core's surface was almost entirely gone, and incredibly complex circuitry could be seen inside.
The Core was slowly burrowing itself into the ground as it was absorbing the dirt and grass. After half an hour of self-repairs, It was finally whole again. Prometheus started slowly rolling on the ground, absorbing grass and other biomass to create new cells. After three hours of rolling around, he finally had the same form as before, that of the Golden Warrior.
Congratulations! For having survived a Tribulation strike many tiers above you, you have obtained a new trait!
Trait: Tribulation Resistance.
A rustle behind him caught Prometheus' attention, making him turn around.
"Don't move a centimeter. I'll blow your head away if you even think about it." The Guard from earlier stepped forward, holding a fighting stance, with focused and curious eyes.
Prometheus completely stopped and raised his hands. He knew fighting against this man would spell his death.
"You'll answer my questions, and if you lie, I'll kill you. Got it?"
"Yes, sir." He replied without hesitation.
"What are you?"
"A Biological Morphogenetic entity, created for the purpose of defending and assisting specific individuals in a variety of situations."
"Who created you?" The Guard was starting to sweat and thought to himself; This must be the work of the Order. Only they would be crazy enough to create a monster like this.
"I have been created by LifeScience Innovations."
---
The Guard grunted. The monster was telling the truth, but its words were making no sense.
"How did you survive a Tribulation many tiers higher than yourself?"
"I have been created to be as close to perfection in terms of defense and adaptability. I was lucky as well." Prometheus replied and thought, Thankfully, the Warrior's form was covered by an insulating exoskeleton.
"Come with me. I'll show you to my superiors, and they'll know what to do."
---
Prometheus went into emergency mode: his true nature could not become widespread knowledge. He had to find a way out. Fighting was not an option. A single move from the Guard would destroy his cells, but probably not his Core. Once he was exposed like that, he was as good as dead, though.
He couldn't believe his rotten luck. Now that he was thinking about it, wasn't he thinking about the weird fact that humans identical to those on Earth existed here too? He was going through some theories when-
Suddenly, dark clouds appeared above them from thin air.
This is my chance! He made every cell of his as insulated from electricity as possible. He glanced at the Guard and ran to him, hugging him. Time slowed to a crawl.
Meanwhile, the man was looking at the sky with wide eyes and thought to himself; He got me. That's at least a tier 8 Tribulation. If I focus entirely on defending myself from the coming Tribulation, I'll come out heavily injured, and he might use that chance to kill me. If I focus on this thing, the Tribulation will remove my existence from this world. At this distance from its original target, I would have to put everything in my defense to even begin thinking about surviving. Is escape possible?
He glanced at the Warrior hugging him.
Escaping a tribulation is impossible. But what if..?
The Warrior's strength was quite pathetic relative to himself, so his plan might be feasible. The man's Influence reacted explosively to his determination to live. He sent every bit of it into his arms and shoulders and planted his feet firmly on the ground, his muscles coiling like springs, ready to unleash their power. With a burst of strength, he swiftly drove his hands into the offender's sides, finding leverage in the vulnerability of their grip.
In one fluid motion, The Guard twisted his torso, expertly maneuvering out of the assailant's clutches. Sensing the momentum building, he seized the opportunity to turn the tables. With a primal roar echoing through the air, he clamped his hands onto the offender's shoulders, his body tensing with power.
At that moment, two explosions happened almost simultaneously. The first was the result of his launching the Warrior into the air away from the city at supersonic speeds. The second, which happened milliseconds after the first one, was the result of a massive white thunder hitting the soaring Warrior.
I escaped alive... A hysteric laughter escaped the man's lips. After calming down, the System interrupted him;
Congratulations! For escaping almost certain death from a Tribulation, you received a new Trait!
Trait: World's Luck.
He couldn't focus on the new trait as the shock and lack of Influence made him collapse on the ground, unconscious.