Chapter 31- To Go Or Not To Go

~Selena Williams~

Selena was getting frustrated. It had been over forty-eight hours since she’d been tasked by Tatsumi to secure Arthur Ward's assistance. She’d gotten on the job immediately, checking first on his place of residence. When she hadn't found him there, she had quickly made her way to the locations that she knew he frequently visited from the investigations that the Zaibatsu had done on him.

When even that proved futile, she had begun to panic a little bit but reassured herself that she would find him eventually. It had been a day since then, and she was no closer to her objective. Selena had asked anyone that even knew the young man a little about his whereabouts, going so far as to track down his old friends to see if they had seen him.

No one had.

True to his word, Arthur seemed to have gone on vacation. Either that, or he had disappeared off the face of the Earth. She hoped it was the former as she had no way to track him down if he’d actually gone off-planet as had become the rising trend for Earth’s talented mages.

‘Did I read him wrong? I’m sure he was interested in the job, he was just proving a point when he rejected it. Right?’

By this point, Selena had practically dismissed her search as a lost cause, instead now planning on how best to break the news to her boss. Tatsumi was a man who loved power simply for the sake of having it, and despite all the financial capital he had built up, he had a surprisingly fragile ego. ‘He’s a fucking man-child.’ An incredibly intelligent and decisive one, but a man-child nonetheless.

It would hurt him, almost like a physical blow that someone had refused his offer. And a hurt CEO of a huge corporation like Zaibatsu along with all its legally questionable assets was a recipe for disaster. And like every other time Tatsumi lost his cool, it would be others that would pay for his mistakes and Selena Williams was a woman who didn't want to carry the egomaniac’s burdens when they came crashing down.

That was why she had decided to check one last time at Arthur's house to see if he was home. She wasn’t hopeful of success but how much could one last search hurt. She’d wasted so much time already on the task.

The traffic, however, seemed to have decided to hinder her every step of the way and her two-seater hatchback was moving at a crawl through the congested roads.

‘What the hell happened. Has there been a car crash for god's sake,’

She didn't understand how such a mundane problem could cause such a delay in the post-system world. Humans were now long past suffering from the once fatal injuries reckless driving resulted in with their ether enhanced bodies and a group even at the measly level of thirty should be able to deal with moving a car’s wreckage off the road.

Selena pulled down her window to see what was going on.

“What do you mean there's been some flooding on the road? How the fuck does that happen?” An angry man shouted at the police officer that was trying to explain the situation to him. Selena had to agree with the man. There’d been little to no rainfall over the past week.

‘A flooding? Is it the result of a water monster appearing, or a misuse of magic?’ Selena was getting a little excited at the prospect of meeting a powerful monster. The past few days had been a drag on her psyche, and a threatening monster was just what she needed to loosen up.

She quickly got out of her car after retrieving its keys from the ignition, and after a brief moment of hesitation, began to walk away from it.

“Hey, where are you going?” The police officer called after her.

“You can't just leave your car here in the middle of nowhere.”

Selena pulled the keys out of her pocket and threw them at the man. “Don't worry, it's yours now,” she replied, not even stopping to look back at her former vehicle. It pained her heart a little to give away the expensive car, but in the end, her choice came down to the fact that she just didn't care enough about a mode of transport she could probably already outrun enough that she could be bothered wasting hours of her time in traffic to keep it.

She’d much rather walk, and so she sauntered down the now-familiar street. God knows she’d seen it enough to last a lifetime on her hunt for Arthur Ward. As she approached her destination, she paused for a moment. She had goosebumps on her arms, almost as if the temperature had suddenly dropped, except no one else seemed to have noticed it.

‘Actually, that kid over there looks a little nauseous,’ Selena observed as she noticed the young child clinging to her father’s legs on the sidewalk. Others too seemed to have noticed that things weren’t quite right here, but they mostly looked bemused at their own feelings of weary caution.

Something was definitely wrong.

Selena sniffed the air once, twice, and then cast a spell using her sonar manipulation skill. With it, she could detect the most subtle of movements from hundreds of meters away and even the more ethereal reverberations caused by ether usage.

It was what made her such a great scout and a useful asset to the Zaibatsu CEO in the wake of the system’s arrival, in addition to her already formidable analytical skills.

Sadly, it meant that she was now basically a glorified magic detector, instead of the more dignified position she had held prior to the world’s evolution. It wasn’t all bad though, as it suited her purposes just fine, if not better than her previous job had.

When she received feedback from her skill, the magnitude of power she detected gave her pause for a moment and she seriously considered turning back. The residual ether she could sense was on par with the after-effects of her boss’s spells. Not as refined maybe, but it was far beyond her abilities to handle.

That meant that whatever lay ahead of her was above her paygrade. An unnecessary risk. A liability to her mission.

‘Should I carry on going, or turn back now.’

Indecision gripped her and Selena was unsure of what she should do. In the end, though, her decision came down to the realization that if things got too dangerous, she could always run away. After all, her highest stat was agility, by quite a large margin actually, which sat at a sky-high 155.

Speed was the most important trait for a scout, and that was where her sonar abilities shined best. As she approached the source of ether usage, some of her cautions began to fall away, replaced instead with confusion.

The effects of a spell that had so much residual ether should be visible from hundreds of meters away and yet the street she was observing looked completely fine.

‘What the hell’s going on here,’ she thought as she looked at everyone going about their normal lives as if they didn't have a care in the world, completely unaware of the fact that a dangerous monster was in their vicinity.

Using her sonar manipulation again, she tried to track the magic to its source, and yet despite all her best efforts, Selena couldn't pinpoint its location. Perhaps it was the fact that her skills were at such a low level or maybe the magic she was trying to track was very obscure, but the only result she could get was that it came from somewhere underground.

In all her excitement, she’d almost forgotten her original reason for coming here, and so she made her way to Arthur’s house; a small two-bedroom property that looked completely ordinary.

Selena prayed that he was in this time as she stood at its entrance.

Taking a deep breath, she rang the doorbell.

~Arthur Ward~

It had been twenty minutes since Arthur drank the elixir, and he was still trying to learn exactly how the core had affected him. After some quick maths, Arthur realized that the title's effects were additive instead of multiplicative like he had initially hoped for.

Still, he had plenty to be happy about. It just meant that he now had a 20% boost to his strength with the addition of his latest titles effects to his already existing underdog title which gave a 10% boost to the attribute.

Unfortunately, they would not multiplicatively affect each other, but Arthur knew that a 20% permanent increase to even a single attribute was a great boost that people would give an arm for, and he had an even greater one for constitution with a 30% increase from his half-breed status, something that Arthur was still trying to come to terms with.

With this, he had fulfilled one of his goals of acquiring a new title before unlocking a class at level 100, far earlier than he’d expected actually. Now, all he had to do was absorb another monster core or two, evolve at least once, learn another magical skill and raise his current ones to level 10.

After that, he would be able to break his self-imposed restraints and start to power level himself. Okay, maybe he did still have a long way to go, but the journey wasn't going to be as long as he’d expected.

Hopefully.

Just as he was congratulating himself for achieving so much in so little time, he heard the doorbell ring, a resounding chime that broke the magic of the moment.

‘Who could that be?’

Arthur wasn't expecting anyone to come today and his friends were not the type to just spontaneously visit him. Well, Elizabeth had sometimes, but she’d learned to call in beforehand after the countless times she hadn’t found him at home.

Walking towards his door, Arthur looked through the peephole and sighed when he recognized the woman in front of him. He knew he’d be seeing her again the last time they’d met, but Arthur had hoped the Zaibatsu corporation would have been able to wait at least another day before they’d come calling for him.

He hadn't even started the vacation he had claimed he would be going on in jest, and after his fight with the Draconic Liverthion, he felt that he deserved one. Reluctantly opening the door, Arthur prepared himself to receive his uninvited guest. He carefully observed the stunning young woman in front of him.

In the intervening two days since he’d last seen her, Selena Williams had managed to level once to reach level 80. If she noticed his own growth in power, she didn't comment on it, but Arthur saw how her eyes widened in shock for the briefest of moments before quickly returning to normal.

“It's nice to see you again,” she told him, reaching her hand out to shake his own. This time, she didn't try to crush it like she had last time and instead tried to smile pleasantly at him. She had, however, been on a wild goose chase for the past two days and some of that frustration seeped into her face despite all her attempts at cordiality, ruining the effect she hoped her joyful appearance would bring.

“So why did you come here to see me again?” Arthur asked despite knowing almost certainly why she was here.

“I’m sure I was quite clear in our last meeting. Right?”

Selena William took in the strange sight that Arthur presented, choosing not to reply to his probing statement yet. His shirt was filled with holes and covered in his blood from the shadow bomb he’d cast earlier and he hadn't had the time to change into appropriate attire yet. In all honesty, he looked like a homeless man that had just been stabbed with a broken glass bottle. A handsome mysterious homeless man, but a homeless man nonetheless.

Deciding to just get this over with, Selena pulled out the monster core she had bought with her, presenting it to Arthur.

“The Zaibatsu Corporation offers this core as a form of apology for the way we treated you the last time we met,” she said, pushing it into Arthur’s surprised hands.

“I too would like to personally apologize for the way I treated you in our prior meeting. Testing you as I did was uncalled for and unprofessional, and for that, I’d like to ask you for your forgiveness. I am invested on a personal level with the matter the corporation requires your assistance with, and so I couldn’t help but be skeptical of your abilities.”

She bowed her head to him.

“A feeble excuse I know, but I ask that you don’t take my own shortcomings as a reason for you to antagonize our group.”

Arthur accepted the augmented regeneration core, both confused and amused that the meeting was proceeding much like he had expected it to. Amused at how quickly the woman had come back to him, but also confused at her own genuine apology for what was in all honesty a standard test judging by the information she’d had on him. ‘So maybe she isn’t all that bad, actually. I can only hope that goes the same for those she works for.’

“I’m sure that isn't the only reason why you came here,” Arthur stated dryly.

“Could you not find anyone else for the job?” He tried to appear nonchalant and talk politely, but a bit of satisfaction almost crept into his voice as Selena scowled. If he’d known she’d been searching for him for two days now, he wouldn’t have been anywhere near as passive-aggressive as he currently was.

The look of discontent was gone from her face just as soon as it had appeared, replaced by the business smile the woman always seemed to wear.

“That is exactly the case, Arthur Ward. As expected of a prodigious medical student, you saw through me straight away. Though we have searched high and low, we wouldn't quite find a healer of your caliber,” Selena said, laying it on a little too thick. A little flattery never hurt anyone.

Arthur smirked when he heard her words of praise, ignoring her sarcastic tone completely.

“That is why I would like to extend to you an offer to request your assistance. I’d like it if-”

“You or your boss,” Arthur rudely interrupted.

“My boss.”

Selena gritted her teeth. There was only so much cheek she would accept from someone younger than herself and Arthur knew she was approaching that limit. He decided to relent and ease up on his bitchiness.

After all, she was just an underling, not responsible for the callous disregard of Arthurs wishes that the Zaibatsu corporation had treated him with. Selena took a deep breath before continuing her speech.

“You'll be duly compensated for your time. Toshiro Tatsumi for all his strange eccentricities is a very, very generous man. I advise that you make the right decision. It could change your life forever.”

Arthur narrowed his eyes. Her last words had almost seemed like a warning. Maybe even a threat. Arthur knew that there probably would be some sort of backlash if he refused such a powerful individual's offer for a second time which is why he had decided long ago to accept the offer if it ever came around again.

And yet by Selena’s tone, it seemed that he would not want to cross Toshiro Tatsumi in the slightest even with his considerable strength which the man’s messenger woman must have noticed in their brief interactions.

“So, what do you want my help with, anyway,” Arthur finally asked. He was curious; even with all their conversations being centered around the fact that he was a healer, he still had no idea what was wanted from him.

Selena sighed in relief when she heard the curiosity in Arthur’s voice. It seemed that she'd be successful in recruiting Arthur despite all the struggles of the past few days. He seemed like he’d accept, all these questions now more a formality than anything else. At least that was what she hoped for.

“Well, the details can't really be given to you until you formally accept our proposal. All I can tell you is that we need your assistance in killing a particularly troublesome monster. One where your unique healing capabilities may play a pivotal role in ensuring our success,” Selena explained.

She’d told Arthur more than she was supposed to, but she reckoned her superiors wouldn't mind too much if it would help her secure Arthur’s assistance. The man in question meanwhile, was frowning, eyebrows scrunched in deep thought.

‘What kind of monster can a man in charge of the Zaibatsu Corporation not deal with on his own, and why will my healing abilities help against it.’

A beast that was supposed to be far beyond Arthur's current abilities, of that he was sure. At least if he was going off how strong the group probably thought he was. Still, despite all the risks and uncertainties surrounding the task, the promised rewards were so tempting given the fact that they had given away a monster core like it was nothing. Even if they couldn’t derive benefits and stats from it as he could, it was still a rare rated item.

Arthur took a look at his status, inspecting the numbers it displayed before committing himself to anything. With his current stats, Arthur was positive he could take some, no, a LOT of risks and at least survive the consequences. He didn't want to live the rest of his life as a cautious hermit and if anything could help him get stronger and better faster, it would be braving the unknown.

Taking a deep breath, Arthur reaffirmed the decision he’d made the second he’d laid eyes on the woman, hoping that he wouldn't come to regret it in the future.

“So, when do we go meet your boss?”