"You good now?"
"Yeah, thanks..." Jay replied. After being carried to his apartment again, Erik handed him a small bottle that contained a thick green liquid. It was labeled as a healing potion, and true to its name, it healed Jay's wounds over time once he drank it.
Erik looked out the window, watching the heavy rain fall on the countless umbrellas on the ground.
"So you've met another part of yours?"
"Yes." Jay answered sternly, tightening his grip on the empty bottle.
"Were you able to guess what kind of part he was?"
Jay pondered. Among all the other selves he met, not a single one was a bad part. They were all parts considered to be a positive character trait, like kindness. Thus, it was his first time encountering a version of himself that was bad.
Before Jay hunted the Jay who guided Luna back then, he needed to observe her for a while to realize that this version of himself was the kind one. However, he was certain that he would not need more time to figure out who the Jay from today was. From his first appearance, his behavior, aura, tone, and mindset, it was clear.
"He's the cold version of myself." Jay said with conviction, furrowing his eyebrows. Thinking about him sent shivers down his spine. He was surely someone Jay would have avoided if circumstances allowed it.
It was silent. Erik stared at Jay. Although it was obvious to them what they had to do next, Jay was still deep in thought. However, Erik could roughly guess what was going on inside Jay's head.
"Hey, you're not thinking about-"
At that moment, someone banged on their door. The two men exchanged glances, but neither of them was expecting visits today. Preparing themselves for the worst-case scenario, Jay reached for his equipment.
"Open the door already! I know you're there!"
"Luna? How does she know that we live here?" Jay asked Erik, baffled. The tension they had felt immediately dispersed, and they went to the door with relaxed shoulders.
When they opened the door, Luna stood there pouting with crossed arms. She wore her usual tracksuit and a baseball cap that hid her sour expression. Despite having been involved in that incident with the other Jay just a while ago, she seemed fine. There were no visible injuries or fatigue on her.
"W-want to come in...?" Jay suggested wryly, knowing very well that Luna was not here just to say hello. Furthermore, she was drenched by the rain and needed to dry off before catching a cold.
Thus, the three were now sitting in the living room. With a towel on her head, Luna drank the tea Erik poured for her.
"So how did you know about this place?" Erik asked.
"The staff at the hospital told me." she replied, still having a grumpy expression.
"Ah." Erik said bluntly. He now remembered what he had done. Before he came back to the apartment with Jay, he brought Luna to a nearby hospital to let her get treated properly. But for their protocol, he had to state his name and his address, in case something went wrong. Luna must have asked them for that information to track him down.
"Why did you leave me there?" she asked with a frown.
"Because you were injured?" he responded, confused why he had to state the obvious.
"No, why are you acting like we're strangers...?" she said, directing her words at both of them. Her tone was tense, and her voice was shaky, as if she were holding in her anger.
Erik and Jay previously separated themselves from her after teaching her the basics, and now, after the recent incident, they dropped her off at a hospital before disappearing again. From her perspective, she felt like the two wanted to stay away from her.
'Aren't we friends?' was something she thought of saying, but she had difficulties putting those thoughts into actual spoken words. Out of all people, she was the last one to talk about friendships.
However, she yearned for it the most.
"Sorry." Jay said. He faced Luna and looked her straight in the eyes, showing that he really meant his words.
"We were wrong for selfishly putting a wall between us without considering your feelings." he added.
"Yes, I apologize, too, Luna. I thought that you'd be in danger if you stayed near us." Erik said. The main culprit from today's incident was on the run, and because Jay was his target, those close to him would not be safe as well.
Luna, who did not expect them to apologize that quickly, blushed a little. She initially expected them to argue with her or make fun of her. Therefore, she felt slightly embarrassed and awkward, seeing them apologize so earnestly to her.
"I-I appreciate the thought, guys... B-but I can defend myself now...!" she claimed as she was about to change topics to avoid the upcoming awkward mood that followed after every apology.
She opened her status window, showing it to the two.
[Skills:
1. Dagger Novice (Level 2)
2. Lightning Magic Novice (Level 1)
3. Spear Novice (Level 1)]
"Lightning magic...?" Erik remarked, impressed. His eyes widened a little because he did not think that she would actually be able to obtain a magic skill, even though they had last met yesterday, when she only had the dagger skill.
"A-after you two left, I stayed at the hunting fields for a little longer and defeated a couple more Killer Rabbits. With the money I've earned, I bought this skill." she explained.
"Lightning, huh? Makes sense since it's one of the cheaper magic skills here." Erik muttered pensively.
"You should have seen her, Erik! I've never seen a beginner summon that many lightning arrows!" Jay added proudly as he recalled the fight against the other Jay. Of course, he was amazed by her usage of magic, but he also already knew the reason.
"You really made good use of your exclusive skill!" he said, rubbing the towel on her head.
"L-leave me alone!" she shouted. Feeling embarrassed about being treated like a kid, she tried to slap his arms away.
"So you've learned how to use it?" Erik posed a question to which Luna nodded her head. He glanced at her exclusive skill still displayed on her status window.
[Exclusive Skill: Magic Maniac
When using magic skills, the mana usage will be halved, whereas experience points and damage will be doubled.]
"A majority of people would kill for this skill. Do you realize how broken it is?" Jay chuckled.
"But I was still useless against that man..." Luna sighed, hanging her head low.
"Don't compare yourself with him. He's a special case." Erik tried to cheer her up. However, that backfired on him.
"Special case?" Luna muttered, glancing at Jay. Since the man was also Jay, then those two must have been similar if one looked at their stats and skills.
"Jay, can you show me your status window?" she begged. Her eyes widened suddenly, gleaming with excitement and curiosity. She hoped that maybe this time, she could get a glimpse of someone else's status window. That would allow her to compare herself with others and roughly get an overview of what an average person could be like.
Jay peeked at Erik, who, in turn, just shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine... Since it's you, I'll show it." Jay gave in, heaving a sigh of defeat.
"[Status Window]."
"Whoa...!"
Like a child, Luna went through Jay's status window, occasionally giving an understanding nod, a frown, or a shocked expression by dropping her jaw. She thought that she would get wiser after looking at another person's status, but she was left with even more questions.
"Shocking, right?" Erik remarked, letting out a short chuckle.
"When I saw it for the first time, I was surprised, too."
"Rather than surprised..." Luna muttered, stuck on Jay's name and level display.
"It's not that big of a deal. Once we find every part of me, it'll be revealed." Jay commented, easing up the mood. He smiled; however, it was not genuine.
"Anyway, are you satisfied yet, Luna?"
"W-wait!"
Luna read through the entire status window already, but she wanted to take a closer look at his stats and skills again.
"Wow... Looking at your stats makes me feel miserable..." Luna said, wearing a hollow grin. Her mana might have been above average, but compared to Jay, she was small. Almost every stat of his was not just higher than hers, but they clearly overshadowed Luna's stats, with strength and speed being the stats with the biggest gap.
[Exclusive Skill: 6-Hitter]
Her eyes stumbled upon Jay's exclusive skill.
[Hit the target with 6 consecutive magic attacks to set their mana to 0. Hit the target with 6 consecutive physical attacks to set their strength to 0.]
"A strange skill, isn't it?" Erik said, noticing that her eyes were glued to the description.
"Don't call it strange." Jay rebuked with a fierce glare.
"So that explains that weird counting you and that man did...!"
"Again, don't call it weird."
It was a skill that required Jay to land exactly six hits—either magical or physical—on his target without breaking the chain. If his target's mana were set to 0, then they could not use magic skills anymore. And in the case of having the strength set to 0, their body would not have any strength anymore, making even simple gestures, like standing or moving an arm, difficult. The stats could only be recovered after the targets took a rest.
"How did it feel to be the target of your own skill?" Erik mocked Jay, whose strength was set to 0 after the other Jay landed six consecutive physical attacks on him.
"What a ridiculous status window..." Luna sighed. She could not help but feel amazed. With stats and skills like that, she doubted that Jay was just a mere beginner.
"What did an average person's stats look like?" she wondered.
"You want to know?" Erik said, holding off Jay, who was attempting to use his exclusive skill on Erik. He got up to fetch a piece of paper and a pen.
"If I remember correctly, this is what they used to say was the average..."
[Endurance: 30
Strength: 25
Speed: 25
Dexterity: 20
Mana: 5
Intelligence: 50
Luck: 15]
Luna immediately compared her stats to the stats Erik had written on the paper.
"Wait, my dexterity is much higher than the average!" Luna noticed.
"Ah, um... we left it out on purpose so you wouldn't become arrogant..." Erik replied. He still spoke in a neutral tone, but he averted his gaze from her. He could not tell the truth and admit that he accidentally forgot to mention it back when he saw her status window for the first time.
Luna did not fall for Erik's pitiful acting. Still, she was kind enough not to point it out. However, a question that had been on her mind slipped off her tongue.
"Are you really beginners?"
"What are you talking about?" Jay wondered, genuinely perplexed.
"S-sorry, I just... I noticed that your stats were too high to be just a beginner." Luna elaborated nervously. She had not had the opportunity to see those two in action often, especially since she had only known them for a couple of days. However, when she did watch them, they appeared more like veterans than beginners. They dealt with beginners easily, did not fear the Kilgen Police Force, and were on equal footing with a person who easily sent her flying.
"Well... You can just call him abnormal if it helps you ease your mind." Erik sighed, slapping Jay's back.
"Who are you calling abnormal?! My status window clearly shows that I've cleared only six quests so far! I am a beginner!" Jay argued, butting heads with the smug Erik.
Seeing those two engage in another friendly spat, Luna stretched her limbs and removed the towel from her now-dried hair.
"So? What's your plan?" she asked curiously. However, the two only responded with strange smirks.
The next day.
Back in her knight equipment for her current quest to pass the Royal Knight Selection, Luna stepped on the training field. She got in line and looked to her front, where the captain of the royal knight order was holding an announcement.
Luna tried her best to hold her yawn in as she was still tired from yesterday. Erik and Jay did not tell her what they would do next, so she decided to leave it at that and just hang around for a while—until it was deep in the night.
"Didn't sleep well?" the candidate next to her asked.
"Not really..."
"That's what you get for partying until that late." another candidate chuckled.
"I didn't party!" she said frantically, turning to the two candidates. However, the shock after realizing who they were woke her up.
Also clad in armor were Erik and Jay—the two people she would least expect to be here.
"W-what are you doing here?!"
Jay tapped her shoulder and signaled her to stay focused as the captain was about to talk.
"We're just carrying out our plan."