After Freddy promised Gabe that he’d listen to him, Gabe asked him to take out the necklace, but Freddy was hesitating.“Do it before the girls find us,” Gabe hastened him.Freddy reluctantly took out the necklace. Seeing Mia and Carrie in the distance, he went past Gabe and gave the necklace to Mia. “I got it.”Mia was so relieved to see the necklace that she didn’t mind thanking him. Freddy happily smiled, whereas Carrie went speechless. She was not expecting Freddy of all people to bring the necklace back. This boiled her blood for many reasons. Did Freddy double-cross her? The thought itself was indigestible.Mia’s gaze eventually shifted to Gabe. She came over to him and said, “The thief wasn’t caught, but you tried. Thank you.”“Don’t mention it,” Gabe forced out a smile.Mia then went to Freddy and Carrie and scolded them for their carelessness, but then she also told them they could buy things up to 7000 dollars. And they were extremely happy for the 2000 dollar increase she b
After entering the cafe, Doon, the blue-eyed guy with a short but sharp hairstyle, showed Mia the seat, being the gentleman he was.Mia happily sat down, and then Doon sat opposite to her. Gabe sat next to Mia, whereas Carrie sat next to Doon, leaving Freddy standing because every table had only four seats.Freddy pulled a chair from another table and sat at the same table as the rest.“Today has been a little crazy,” Mia said. “I almost lost my family heirloom not once but twice. My parents would be ashamed of me if they were alive.”“Don’t blame yourself for things that aren’t in our control, Miss,” Doon spoke in a friendly, sweet voice all the while showering a subtle smile that got on Gabe’s nerves.“You are right,” Mia said.The waiter came, and Carrie ordered macarons and bagels for herself. Freddy asked for a hot chocolate. Doon wanted a smoothie. Mia wanted a lemonade, and so Gabe also asked for a lemonade and felt like he achieved something.After the waiter left, Mia started
“I’m so sorry!” Mia was quick to apologize. She couldn’t believe what she had just done. Spilling a drink on another person’s face… she had never done anything remotely close before, so she was in a shock. “I didn’t mean to…” She took out her handkerchief and gave it to him. “I’m really sorry.”“It’s okay,” Doon wiped his mouth with her kerchief. While doing that, he also noticed the rings that were on the hands of Mia and Gabe. What caught his eye was the copper ring on Gabe’s finger. He soon squinted his eyes, and his pupils faintly glowed.[Uh-oh…] Systa immediately sensed the frequency vibration that she detected in Doon’s mind. [Gabe, I have to tell you something right away.]“What is it?” Gabe asked mentally.[Doon is… a transhuman.]“What?” Gabe ended up speaking out loud. “Ahem, sorry.” He then quickly went back to speaking in his mind while keeping his gaze on Doon who looked normal to his eyes. “What do you mean he’s a transhuman?”[There’s no doubt. He’s the owner of the Te
Getting spilled in the face was something that never happened to Carrie, so saying she was shocked or humiliated wouldn’t be enough.It was a heart-stopping experience for her, but what was even more shocking was that Gabe didn’t even say sorry and instead began to mumble something as if he was talking with himself.Freddy tried to clean Carrie’s face with the same kerchief that Doon had wiped his face with, and that made her even more angry. She grabbed the hot chocolate glass and threw it in Gabe’s face, including the glass.Gabe moved his head away, and the glass hit the customer sitting at the table behind Gabe.“Kyaa!” Carrie screamed in shock and acted like she fainted.The customers at the other table quickly came to quarrel, but Mia and Gabe apologized and tried to calm them down, but one of them, a bearded guy, still threw a milkshake on Gabe’s shirt and said, “Now, we’ll accept your apology.”Gabe clenched his fist and stepped forward.Mia held his hand and stopped him. “Don
Gabe froze like a chicken whose throat was held by the butcher. All he could do was watch as the butcher put his throat under the knife.There wasn’t any cash in Gabe’s pocket, either, so he just didn’t know how to react to this situation.Mia took out the money from her purse and paid the bill. The waiter left, but Gabe was still blankly staring with his mouth partly open.“There must have been some kind of issue with the card,” Mia said, even after she believed that there was no money in Gabe’s bank account. She didn’t want to make him feel embarrassed.Gabe pressed his lips together before putting the debit card back in his purse. He wanted to say thank you to her, but words didn’t come out of his mouth for some reason.[You should look at your face in the mirror right now. It’s hilarious.] Systa leaked out an annoying laugh to further test his nerves.Gabe’s face had no more color left to lose.[I told you already that the punishment will make you cry and beg me to forgive you.] S
Venkat’s face darkened like the night. He wanted to slap Gabe straight away, but after experiencing Gabe’s strength on his shoulder, he didn’t want to risk it.Instead of giving way for Gabe to leave the cafe, he walked alongside him and went to where Mia and Nora were talking.“Why don’t you two join us?” Venkat asked with a smile.“We just ate, so…” Mia apologized. “Sorry.”“Then, you can at least treat us to a nice meal,” Venkat suggested. “You two got married but didn’t even call us, so you can at least do this much for us, can’t you?”“Uh, sure,” Mia agreed out of shyness.“I’ll wait outside,” Gabe said and was leaving, but Venkat grabbed his hand.“Don’t go, my friend. We have a lot to talk about,” Venkat forced him to come with them and sit at the same time once more.“Order anything you want,” Mia told Nora. “I’ll pay for everything.”“That’s the Mia I know,” Nora excitedly called the waiter and then began to look at only the premium items. From burgers and ice creams to milk
The word ‘poor’ struck a vein in Gabe’s heart, especially because Mia was not talking back to Venkat anymore, which meant that she accepted his words probably because in her eyes Gabe was really poor.Gabe might have been able to clear his debts away, but he was still someone who was living in a small house that hasn’t been painted in decades.“Do you really work in UTS?” Venkat further questioned Gabe’s identity. “It’s a big company, so it makes me wonder if you’re really working there, or did you make a fake identity card to trick an innocent woman like Mia?”Mia looked at Gabe, wondering what he’d answer.“Why do you care where I work?” Gabe asked back.“Because you claimed that you earn more money than I do,” Venkat replied sharply. “So, obviously, I want to see if what you said was true or not. Why don’t you call your boss and talk with him in front of us?”Gabe slightly frowned.“Or, you can just show your bank statement for the past couple of months to show us your salary,” Nor
“Why are you spacing out when I asked you to do such a simple thing?” Mia snapped her fingers before Gabe’s face.“M-Mia, it’s a long story,” he grabbed her hand and took her to the elevator. Inside, they were alone, and he tried to explain things to her. “I want to give your money back, but I can’t. You know about the system I have, right? That thing is taking my money away.”“Huh?” Mia kept staring at him without blinking.“You don’t believe me?” He quickly showed the transactions and proved to her that his bank balance was zero. However, Gabe could easily have transferred the money to another account also owned by him, so Mia wasn’t too sure about what he was saying.“If the system is troubling you, then why don’t you take it off?” Mia asked.“Like I said, it’s a long story,” Gabe couldn’t tell her about the millions of dollars that he earned through the alpha system and then breaking the deal. It was too sensitive of an information that he didn’t want anyone to know.“Alright,” M
“Whoever manages to defeat that ‘worthless’ brat will get to keep the omega system.”The moment Gabriel Agnar uttered those last few words, all the nine standing members of the Jaguar squad rushed toward Gabe without a shred of hesitation.They were all elite warriors his grandfather had commanded, all intent on claiming the power that lay still dormant within Gabe."Stand down, brat," the third ranker Bennie called out, her voice layered with authority. "You cannot hope to win against us. Surrender, and you may yet find mercy."“You monsters who are ganging up on me, do you even know what mercy means?” Gabe retorted and countered Fang with a punch.Surprisingly, Gabe’s punch seemed simple but the weight it had was tremendous. Fang was pushed back.But at the same time Stark kicked Gabe’s face.Once again, Stark expected Gabe to be sent flying, but Gabe took the attack without even moving an inch.And it was Stark who frowned in response.Zephyr raised his hand, stopping others from a
“It’s time to return,” Gabriel Agnar said, and these few words changed the body language of all the squad members.In that moment, they let their guard dawn, a small figure dashed in through their ranks and attacked their patriarch Gabriel.Gabriel saw through the first feint and responded accordingly, but the second attack also turned out to be a feint just to distract him so that they could pluck the severed hand out of Gabriel’s hand.And they managed to grab the hand, but no amount of pulling was enough to get the severed hand out of the old man’s grip.Everyone was startled after seeing the young kid who gave off an ethereal energy, which they could sense.This young kid was none other than Ulf.“What do you think you’re doing, kid?” Gabriel asked him.“Ha-ha, good afternoon,” Ulf replied awkwardly, “or is it evening now?” He grew triple in size and clenched his fists. “Omega Arts Secret Move…” He threw in a straight punch at Gabriel’s chest. “Final Fist!”Gabriel took the attack
At Russell’s estate.Zephyr, the head of the Jaguar Squad, struck Gabe’s chest with his palm. A shockwave burst through his chest and ripped the back of Gabe’s shirt in the shape of Zephyr's palm.Gabe coughed out a lot of blood, and his eyes nearly turned white. He was about to fall back.Zephyr caught Gabe’s throat and squeezed it. “If I kill you, then the Alpha System will be ours.”“Gabe!” Mia ran toward him. “No!”“Where do you think you’re running?” Pixie, the number five, blurted. Her green hair extended forth like tree vines and sought to capture Mia.Mia moved swiftly and dodged a few vines, but the hair grew branches like trees, and they were sharp enough to pierce through Mia’s body.Her torso and limbs were riddled with many thin holes.She bled from the nose and mouth and couldn’t move at all. She felt completely frozen.Pixie pulled the hair out and retracted them. Mia fell to her knees.Seeing all this, Gabe’s blood thrummed beneath his skin. His heart pounded with the c
In ancient times, serpents had wings and feet, and they were called by many names. One of those kinds were also called Dragons.So, dragons were indeed serpents with wings and legs. Even in the modern day, dragons were worshiped in some places. Some martial arts were derived from dragons, too.However, Alleria’s martial arts were not related to dragons but of a different serpent kind, whose existence had been erased from history..When Alleria was young, she spent her time in the woods, and the most difficult enemies she faced were the monstrous serpents that lived in that forest. This made her wonder just how much stronger would the serpents be if they had legs, too, as they did in the past.This led Alleria to search through her clan’s library and find the ancient serpent art books. And she picked one that she believed would be the most challenging.And thanks to her collective efforts, she managed to become the head of one of the Eight Enigma Squads, the Serpent Squad.The Ancient S
Alleria was sent flying through multiple walls, and she ended up crashing into the tables of the precious customers.“That hurts…” Alleria’s cheek bruised, and she bled from a corner of her mouth.“W-Who are you?” The customers were all shocked because this woman was wearing armor underneath her cloak, and there was even a short sword at her waist. “Are you a cosplayer?”“Who was that little girl?” Alleria got back up, looking quite irritated because her cloak was dirtied by the food, so she had to remove it. She looked sturdy despite her age, and she was nearly six feet tall. Many men in that hall hadn’t seen such a well-built woman with attractive looks like that before. “Call herself as my grandmother,” she cracked her neck, releasing the gas bubbles from the joints in her spine, “let’s see if you’ve really got what it takes to utter such words.”She rushed into the bathroom, but to her surprise, Systa and Nicole were gone.“What?” Alleria frowned. “I didn’t see them leave. Where di
Nicole was getting out of the taxi, but Systa held her hand and stopped her. “I’m not feeling the urgency anymore. Can we go somewhere else now?”Nicole couldn’t make sense of Systa’s words. The little girl was struggling until seconds ago, and she’s fine now? Something didn’t feel right. Whether Systa was playing games or not, Nicole didn’t want to take the risk. “I’m taking you to the toilet room once.”“Ugh,” Systa hissed at her. “Listen to me.”Nicole was startled. “Did you just hiss at me? And why are you gritting your teeth?”“Because you don’t understand the trouble that you’re in!” Systa blurted. “Driver, turn the car around and get going.”The driver, however, looked at her with a silly expression as if Systa was not the one who’s going to pay him for the ride.Systa didn’t like that the driver was treating her as a little girl. She wished she could show her powers to him, but because of Nicole, she had to hold herself back.“Can you wait here for half an hour for us?” Nicole
Nicole finished her work in the hotel and walked out with Systa who was in the form of a little girl now.“Why do you look like that?” Nicole asked her.“Look like what?” Systa asked her back.“Look like you’re weighing life's burdens on your shoulders?” Nicole said.“I was just thinking about something,” Systa replied.Nicole picked her up onto her waist.“W-What are you doing?” Systa quickly said, her cheeks flushing. “This is embarrassing. Put me down.”“Get used to it,” Nicole pinched Systa’s cheeks. “You know, I watched Gabe grow, but I missed watching a girl grow. I didn’t have a daughter, you see. So, I feel like keeping you with me for as long as possible.”“S-Stop pulling my cheeks!” Systa found it annoying because her skin was not perfectly authentic human-standard.“Stop acting like that,” Nicole stopped pulling the cheek and gently rubbed it. “You’re a girl, so you’re going to raise kids one day. You shouldn’t get angry easily. Your worth will be decided by how good you ca
In Sciocidad, also known as the phantom city which floated through the sky also known as the lower heaven.At the border, Russell and Jessica were talking with a mature lady whose name they didn’t even know. All he knew was that she was the librarian of the clan that lived in this city.“My goal is to stop another world war from happening,” Russell told her. “If a war breaks out again, then the world really is going to end.”“Silly young man,” the lady named Uzza smiled, “the third world you were worrying about has long started and is still ongoing.”“W-What?” Russell was startled.“Food, air, water, and even people’s very blood has been polluted for decades now and it’s still happening today,” Uzza said. “We see a lot of chemicals being sprayed in the air through special jets. There are nanoparticles, graphene, and even parasites in those chemicals, which will mix with water, food, and can even enter people’s bodies through their skin. Everything the media tells you is fake. The elect
“It’s one thing that James lost, but for Atarah to lose to this brat…” The number one ranker of the Jaguar Squad, Stark, spoke. “This is quite shameful.”“Indeed,” Fang, the second ranker, opined. “I feel a little embarrassed since I’ve trained James for over a month now. For him to lose without even taking an opponent’s limb is quite disappointing. I hope he’s not dead.”“James is the last ranker, the number 10 of the squad,” the zeroth ranker and the head of the Jaguar Squad, Zephyr, replied. He had a sharp mustache and was cleanly shaven. “He’s the weakest, but Atarah is the ranked fourth in the squad, and she let her younger comrade lose. So, she failed both as a teammate and as an individual fighter. She needs to be punished for her mistakes later. But for now…” He glanced at the number five ranker, who was a green-headed female, Pixie.Pixie stepped forth and treated Atarah’s injury with her vivre. It was as though she was conducting surgery with her vivre, using it as needles to