The room was filled with silence after John posed the question to Adam.
"Adam, I'm not asking again," John insisted.
Adam was utterly confused by what was going on. First, he had woken up in a dark space where he thought he was dead, and now, all of a sudden, he was in a hospital with two Pro Reapers standing in front of him.
"John, calm down. I'm sure the kid's already overwhelmed by everything that's happened," Amy tried to convince him.
John sighed. Maybe she was right; he needed to calm down. The boy was just a kid, after all.
"Alright, kid, let me explain this."
Adam was already confused enough, so he decided to listen to what this Reaper had to say. He was really hoping they could also explain that strange black space he'd found himself in.
"First of all," John began, "we were successful in taking down that malevolent ghost today…all thanks to you, that is."
"Oh yeah, I think I remember that…"
"Sigh, please let me finish speaking before you interru—"
"Oh, I'm so sorr—"
"LET ME FINISH!"
The interruptions from Adam were seriously getting on John's nerves.
"Finally, silence. Okay, now where was I?"
John went on to explain how the fight with the ghost had played out. But Adam already remembered most of that.
John scolded Adam a little for endangering himself in such a situation. It was risky, but he also praised him for taking action when he saw a vulnerable civilian.
Then, John described the final moments of the fight—how, at the very last second, Adam had managed to defeat the creature with one fatal strike.
So far, Adam could recall most of what had transpired during the fight. However, the moment John started talking about the ghost stone, Adam was completely clueless.
Ghost Stones were precious crystals left behind after a ghost was destroyed. They came in different shapes and sizes, depending on the ghost they originated from.
Reapers usually harvested Ghost Stones for numerous purposes. Some were used in the design and creation of everyday Reaper weapons. A typical example was Amy's staff or John's warhammer—both crafted using high-level Ghost Stones.
Additionally, Ghost Stones were classified based on the ghost they came from. So, a B-rank ghost would leave behind a B-rank Ghost Stone upon its death, an A-rank ghost would leave an A-rank stone, and so on. Wait… ghosts are already dead, but you get the point.
Ghosts were also classified by strength, with the weakest being E-rank and the strongest being S-rank.
"Now tell us, Adam," John said, "what did you see after touching the stone?"
Adam was silent for a moment, as he honestly didn't know what to say.
'Should I tell them?' he thought.
He was afraid that saying anything about the dark space might put him in trouble. Even if he told the truth, he'd still have to mention the system as well, and that frightened him.
What would they do if they found out about his system? He'd heard of people manifesting unique curse factors, but There had never been a report of someone manifesting one that granted them a game-like system.
Would they cut me open? Lock me up? Run experiments on me? Adam panicked.
"Well, Adam, what did you see?" Amy pressed, noticing his long pause.
"Um… nothing. I didn't see anything," he finally said. Until he himself knew more about this system and what it meant, he'll have to keep it a secret
John looked at Adam closely, clearly unsatisfied with his answer. But eventually, he said, "Hmm. Okay."
'Phew, that was close', Adam thought.
"Well, this is a dead end," Amy said.
"I can't tell, but I'm sure since the ghost was unstable, the stone was too," John replied. "I was hoping we could find a lead on these unstable ghost sightings lately."
John reached into his pocket, pulling out a white envelope with golden edges and a bold red stamp in the middle. After studying Adam for a few seconds, he handed the envelope to him.
Adam took it, still unsure of what was inside. He was about to open it when Amy stopped him.
"It's a surprise," she said.
With that, the Reapers left the room, leaving Adam alone with his thoughts as he tried to process everything that had happened.
Later, a nurse came in and told him he was fine—his wounds had already been treated by the doctor and he was free to leave.
Adam looked at his arm, touching it a few times. He could still feel a slight pain, just not as agonizing as before
Most doctors had healing curse factors, so treating injuries like his wasn't a problem as long as they weren't too serious.
The hospital wasn't very far from Adam's house, so he managed to make his way home.
On his way, he wanted to call his mom to tell her he was okay, but his phone—already on its last legs—had been destroyed during the fight.
Opening the door to his house, he heard soft sobbing sounds coming from the living room. As he stepped inside, he saw his mom, her face buried in her hands.
The moment she heard the door open, she lifted her head, and when she saw her son standing there, she immediately rushed over and hugged him tightly.
A wave of relief washed over her, and she started crying even more, but this time, they were tears of joy. She was relieved that her done was safe
Adam was speechless. He didn't even have time to react before his mom overwhelmed him with the hug, but without saying anything else, he embraced her back.
"Oh, sweetie, I thought…" she sobbed, "I thought something happened to you!"
"I'm sorry, Mom," Adam said, his voice trembling. "I didn't mean to make you worry."
Adam explained what had happened—though not in full detail. Luckily for him, his mom was very understanding and didn't scold him. She was more concerned about his new hair color.
To be honest, Adam didn't even know how to explain it to her. It's not like he could say a crazy old man lured him into the woods, a creepy ghost attacked him, and he woke up with new hair, am I right?
Telling her he dyed it was the only option, and fortunately, she didn't get mad.
After that, Adam went straight to his room. luckily, His little brother, Jimmy, was already fast asleep. He didn't want to have to explain things to him as well
Taking out the envelope, Adam said quietly, "Now… let's see what this is all about."
****
Somewhere on the rooftops of Cradle city, Two figures stood confidently
"He was lying, wasn't he?" Amy asked
"Correct." John responded "However, this is a good thing, now we can monitor him keenly for any suspicious activity"
"Hmm, you think he'll apply?"
"Hehe, I'm certain" John laughed "This only the beginning, Adam"