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Paragon
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Cafeteria
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"Hmm... I sense a tension among the both of you," Sylvia said looking at me and Tommy, while trying to be a mediator.
"Oh it's nothing, he is being a pretentious popsicle," I replied.
"That's a new one..." Sylvia muttered.
"Pretentious what? You knew that we were supposed to turn it off somehow and not destroy them, yet told me nothing about it," Tommy remarked.
"I tried to warn you, but you didn't listen. By the way, I see it, it's not my fault, plus I destroyed one as well to lessen your punishment," I said.
"Can someone explain what happened? I feel like I am missing out on a lot of information," Sylvia asked, diverting our attention.
"I wanted to learn archery from him and try to understand the basics. However, since I am a speedster, a normal archer's techniques won't be of much help to me, so he proposed to teach me his ways and yada yada we ended up in the advanced training room, meant for archery. I tried to warn him that we needed to pay for the hard level but he pressed the button before I could warn him. I think you know what happened after that," I explained. "Sooooo... I meant to ask that. Would it be possible for you to join us for a mission?"
"When are we leaving?" Sylvia asked, looking at me with expectant eyes.
"Let's see... We need to skip some classes if we were to go on a mission so let's go the day after tomorrow, I hate Malcolm's classes. I will see if I can find a C-rank or B-rank mission," I answered.
"Ok, I will look forward to it then," Sylvia replied.
"Aren't you being too relied on her?" Ryuk remarked.
'I think not, I am not only taking her along because Tommy is being a pretentious popsicle for no reason. I need her to act as a mediator between us. Plus she asked me to trust her, so I am letting her help me. I don't think there will be any harm with that,' I explained. 'You are used to reading novels where the main characters are almighty and work alone. Don't you think it's time to change your taste a bit?'
"Smart," Ryuk commented. 'Hehe, this is why you are the special one Ray Allen.'
The truth was far from it, I was never reliant on Sylvia, I just wanted others like Ryuk to think that way. Especially, Sammy, since he thinks of me as his rival now, he will have less motivation to improve himself knowing that I am relying on others to complete missions.
That was the only way for me to survive... Because no one can understand me like Holborn. But if my theory really is correct then... There may be more like me. People who understand me, I am a bit excited to meet this Doctor.
"If you are looking for B-rank missions then let's do the Vampire Pirates mission one," Tommy finally spoke up.
"Vampire... And pirates?!" I exclaimed, astonished by the name of the quest. 'Vampires who are pirates?! Are they the famous pirates that rose up in ranks in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, just for Julia to burn all of them and leave their heads on a stake in a single night? I should get their autographs before I kill them.'
"Why do you want the autographs of people who you are about to kill? What kind of psychopath does that?" Ryuk asked.
'Oh come on! They defeated a main character two times before they got killed. Honestly, I wish they would join the Assassins Syndicate... Wait... I got an idea,' I said. "Alright, let's go for that then. I have never fought with pirate vampires, I am excited to see what they are like."
"Poor souls... I hope they led a good life till now," Ryuk sighed.
'So do they say year matey or stuff like that, you know?,' I asked Ryuk, expecting a reaction from him but he just stared at me weirdly. 'Funny how it sounds better in my head than saying it out loud. I don't even know what that phrase means...'
"I thought you knew everything about them," Ryuk said, surprised by my words.
'Well I did but I suppressed some of my memories for the fun of it,' I replied. 'I don't want to re-experience my novel. That would be lame. Is re-experience a word or did I create a new one?'
"It's a word alright, but never mind that. How did you copy that so perfectly at a single glance?" Ryuk asked. "Hunters are basically nothing without their techniques and gadgets. But you just... Copied one of their techniques at a single glance. That is some talent I would say, they probably need to build up so much muscle memory for that, yet you executed it perfectly on the first try."
'It's not all about muscle memory, the main point of it is angles and reaction speed. They don't care about stance, all they need is a good view of their target, and then they proceed with their calculations. And you know me, I am good at calculations, been doing that since I was one,' I said, smiling in my mind. "Well then I will be off to get the quest first, I don't like being patient, patience is for wimps."
Crackle
"Did he just-" Tommy asked surprised by my words, as I left.
Crackle
"Yes, I did, where is the quest hall again?" I said interrupting him, to annoy him further.
"Southwest from the cafeteria," Sylvia answered.
"What would I name the group?" I asked.
"Probing Bloodhounds?" Tommy said, being serious.
"What kind of stupid name is that?" I asked back. "I love that name!"
"So is it The Probing Bloodhounds or just Probing Bloodhounds?" Sylvia asked.
"'The' brings more of an intimidating impact... Allons-y then," I said before running off to the quest board.
Crackle
"What does pretentious popsicle mean?" Tommy asked, still confused by the nickname I gave him.
"Oh, that's a new one! Congratulations on getting a nickname because believe me that's just the start of it," Sylvia said, laughing lightly.
"...What?" Tommy said with a confused expression.