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Chapter 143 : Sora, Why ?
🕑 Added 2024-11-29 16:55:21 +0000 UTC« Chapter-142 | Index | Chapter-144 »
Alius’s heart sank at her words. Floating back cautiously, he asked, “Who’s coming for me?”
Hope sighed, as if weighing how much to reveal. “You’re disturbing the ecosystem. The balance established by the World Update is something quite important to some players. Certain groups monitor such changes, looking for opportunities and anomalies. Some call themselves Easter Egg Hunters or Hidden Quest Seekers, but I prefer to call them Nosy Pests.”
Alius clenched his fists, understanding his mistake 'I shouldn't have relied on the legion to gain experience! Damn it.'
Taking a steadying breath, he asked, "Why are you here?"
Hope smiled. “I wouldn’t involve myself in such a troublesome situation under normal circumstances, but I need a favor from you. In exchange, I’ll protect you from the Nosy Pests for a month.”
Alius felt the immense pressure radiating from the young woman. He was flooded with questions but didn’t know where to begin.
He narrowed his eyes. Her words made sense, but his paranoia wouldn’t let him trust her easily. “I don’t know you. Would you mind signing a contract to ensure I can trust your words?”
Hope sighed and shook her head. “Normal contracts don’t work on me for more than a few days.”
Alius blinked, caught off guard. “How is that even possible?”
Hope chuckled softly, her tone both amused and patient. "You're quite naive. I’ve taken a liking to how you treat your underlings these past few days, so I’ll share a little secret. Contracts work by binding the soul, but the stronger the soul, the less effective basic contracts become. For someone like me, you’d need a Soul Contract to actually hold any weight. But I doubt you have access to that. As far as I know, no one on Earth has mastered the real thing yet—most people rely on the cheap, temporary versions that use mana and mental power instead."
Thinking of the [Soul Contract] skill he had unlocked while experimenting with Soul Power and standard contracts, Alius realized something. ‘So, the contracts I’m using to bind my undead and familiars are something no one else is using, according to this lady? It was only after mastering the [Deathweaver] class that I managed to create that skill... What I used in the past are what she’s calling the ‘cheap’ version...’
Hiding this truth from her, he said, resigned, "What exactly is the favor you want from me?"
Hope crossed her arms, and explained. “I have a special quest that requires me to capture a beast from every type of monster found on Earth. Thanks to you, some species have already gone extinct in certain regions. If you release control over a few of them, I’ll ensure the Nosy Pests stay off your back for at least a month.”
Alius frowned, her words sinking in. “What will you do with them if I release them?”
His voice was sharp. While he didn’t particularly care about wild monsters, each beast and undead he had tamed or trained became important to him. The idea of giving them up, even a few, didn’t sit well with him—especially if he knew they would be harmed.
“It’s simple,” Hope said. “Once I capture them, they become a part of me. No harm will come to them. You could say our hobbies are similar in a way.” She laughed, acknowledging their shared trait.
Alius paused, considering his options, and finally said, "Let’s sign a contract, then."
Ignoring her strange gaze, he insisted.
Knowing that he could always come back to life if things went wrong, he decided to create a contract to establish temporary trust. Once the initial contract was formed, he moved on to something more permanent. He crafted another scroll, pouring in Soul Power.
When the scroll materialized, it radiated a power so immense that it sent a chill down Hope’s spine. "A Soul Contract?" she said, her voice tinged with surprise.
Hope carefully studied the scroll, her sharp gaze analyzing every detail. "There’s no breach, no missing part. It’s flawless... I've been told one needed perfect control over Soul Power just to meet the basic requirement to create something like this. It's amazing! You're amazing!"
She glanced back at Alius, her expression changing to a mix of amusement and respect. "So that’s why we signed that seemingly useless contract a minute ago... It was to make sure you could trust me while you prepared this. Well done, kid. Now I’m basically forced to sign this if I truly have good intentions. If not, the other contract will give you at least a few days to run and hide."
Signing the new contract, Hope and Alius became 'friends'. The bond ensured they would protect and assist each other for a month, with the added clause that they would forever keep each other's secrets, even after their partnership ended.
As they began working together, Alius assisted Hope with her unique quest. She revealed that her innate skill, [The Collector], granted her immense power.
"Every time I complete a collection, I gain an ability related to that collection," she explained. "Right now, my goal is to collect all beasts in the world. Once I complete it, every beast in my [Beast Space] will get a massive boost in strength, my [Beast Space] itself will upgrade, and my Soul Level will double. I’ve already completed about 120 collections, and let’s just say... I’m pretty strong right now." She paused dramatically, hoping for a reaction.
Alius, unimpressed, merely nodded. Her bragging fell on deaf ears, making Hope pout in frustration. Pulling an orange juice from her inventory, she took a sip and tried another approach. "You probably know by now that your innate ability is the key to increasing your Soul Level. So, what’s your current Soul Level?"
Alius stiffened at her words, though he kept his face calm. 'The innate skill is the key to increasing Soul Level? I had thought only Prestige did this... I’ll have to find a way to tell Kara one day.'
Her boasting was starting to annoy him, so he let a small smile play on his lips and said casually, "My Soul Level is one hundred thousand."
Hope froze mid-sip, her eyes widening in disbelief. Almost choking on her juice, she spit it out in shock, the stream drenching poor Nyx, who had insisted on staying between them to "protect her master."
The tiny undead fairy turned her deathly glare on Hope, her eyes narrowing with an intensity that could chill anyone to the bone. Embarrassed and flustered, Hope immediately began apologizing profusely, her confident demeanor crumbling in an instant.
"I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean—little fairy, really, I’m sorry!" She looked for a towel from her inventory, trying to clean up the mess, while Nyx remained furious, her tiny form trembling from indignation.
Alius couldn’t suppress a chuckle at the unexpected scene. "Nyx, relax. She didn't mean to do that. Probably..."
Nyx huffed but stepped back, muttering something under her breath about "a dangerous woman"
Over the following weeks, Hope and Alius spent more time together, their partnership evolving into something resembling friendship. Despite her initial boasting, Hope began to genuinely enjoy Alius' company. She would swat away any group of players that dared to bother him while he developed his army.
Meanwhile, rumors began to circulate in the surrounding regions about a super rookie controlling massive legions of beasts and undead.
Hope, sensing potential in Alius, decided to help him refine his strength. "You’ve got the potential," she said one evening, watching him spar with his generals. "But your own power isn’t high. Your generals are stronger than you in too many areas. How can you accept being beaten up by your own troops? It’s unacceptable."
Under her guidance, Alius began a training that targeted his body, energy, and mental power.
Hope was relentless, pushing him to his limits and beyond. Alius’s overall power soared, quickly closing the gap between him and his generals.
'What a genius. I've never seen someone so strong at his level... He could enter the Ascension Tower and dominate the competition there. It's a shame this year's edition has already started,' Hope thought, observing Alius as he began another round of recruitment.
Alius, however, was distracted, his thoughts tangled with doubt and confusion.
She had appeared out of nowhere, taken what she needed from him, and yet—she was still here. An entire month had passed with her by his side, the agreed-upon time limit ending yesterday. And yet, she lingered.
'Does she not know how to count? Doesn’t she have a calendar?'
Afraid she might realize it on her own, Alius kept his thoughts to himself. He watched as Hope effortlessly destroyed waves of attackers—Easter Egg Hunters, curious researchers, even players looking for an opportunity. She handled them all without breaking a sweat.
Still, he was frustrated.
'Why am I so desperate to keep her around? I don't need her protection anymore... Have I grown attached to her presence?'
After days of internal struggle, he finally gathered the courage to confront her. The question had been eating away at him for over a week.
"Hope," he finally said. "It's been a week since the month we agreed on ended... Why are you still here?"
Hope, sitting casually with a handful of sunflower seeds, barely reacted. She was watching a group of his generals playing cards. She seemed momentarily lost in thought, as if she hadn’t heard him.
She finished the seeds in her hand, then extended her palm toward him, wordlessly demanding more.
Alius hesitated, refusing her gesture at first, but she remained patient, her gaze unwavering as if waiting for him to crack.
When the silence stretched too long, she finally spoke.
“I can’t stand it.”
Her voice was soft, but her next words made him freeze.
“The look in your eyes.”
Alius turned away rapidly, his heart tightening as her words struck something deep inside.
Without looking at her, he extended his hand, holding out the pack of sunflower seeds in surrender. He expected her to take it immediately, but instead, he felt warmth at the tips of his fingers.
A gentle touch.
Her fingers closed around his hand, the contact so foreign to him that it stole the breath from his lungs.
“I’ll protect you for as long as necessary," she murmured. "In return... I want to see the pain in your eyes disappear.”
Alius stood frozen. As her fingers released his, she grabbed the pack of seeds, resuming her familiar routine of cracking them open. The familiar sound seemed to ground the moment, but Alius stood frozen.
He stared at his hand.
The warmth lingered, but the flood of emotions it stirred could not be ignored. And then—his vision blurred.
A single tear slipped free, then another, unstoppable despite his best efforts to suppress them.
'When did I become so sensitive?' he wondered bitterly.
He gritted his teeth, but the flood had already begun. The fragile walls he had built around himself were breached, and the questions he had buried for so long found their way back to the surface.
'Am I even real?'
'Am I human?'
'Everyone in this world has a body waiting for them somewhere, but what about me?'
Feeling a familiar ache deep in his chest, he thought, 'I was born to feed you, my twin.'
'Why did you have to create me, Sora? Why...'
The weight of those thoughts crushed him, spilling out in silent sobs as he tried to suppress the pain that Hope’s words had stirred so easily.
But for the first time in a long while, he couldn’t.
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Comments
Amari Charles
I am really excited for sora and alius to meet
Doki
I don't trust Hope. She doesn't see to be from Earth or have other plans.... hmmmm.
