Chapter 122: Decisions

In a small city not so far from the Forbidden Lands, Greg's friends were sitting inside a restaurant.

Before them, several delicious-looking foods like croissants, boiled eggs, sandwiches, and other things could be seen, however, even after seeing those none of them looked hungry at all. Not even a little bit. On the other hand, it was totally the opposite. All three of their faces looked insanely tired, while also lost. 

"We... We completely lost.", said Mila with a sad face as she poked the egg on her plate with a fork from time to time.

"Yeah... Not only did we failed to find Greg, but we have almost died too.", answered Emma with the same depressed mood as Mila.

Joe on the side hearing the two girls talk didn't say anything, but just simply stayed quiet. It wasn't because he didn't agree with them, but instead because he was incredibly tensed.

Under a mere few days, he realized a lot of things. The first thing that he discovered was that the Demon Hero, who was almost a legendary figure among the people turned out to be his very best friend from the beginning. 

The second thing which made him incredibly angry was that even though he knew he was weak, he didn't think he was this weak.

The moment that strange creature appeared and tried to take Greg away, he couldn't do anything. The only thing he was able to do was to watch as Greg was trapped and taken away by full strangers.

And also let's not talk about the incident inside the Forbidden Lands. To someone, who specialized in explosive speed and attack, that was something extremely shameful. If that stranger didn't come in time to save him, he would be dead a very long time ago.

"I need to get stronger."

As the three were sitting in the diner, suddenly a voice sounded on their side.

"Ah, there you are."

Turning their heads toward where the voice came from, they saw as Kuragari walked in with steady steps and stopped next to their table.

However, the moment he saw their distressed expression, Kuragari instantly knew what their problems were, so he said, "Don't let yourself be affected by what happened. Only think about the present and what you can do next in the future. That will help you a lot."

"But what if there wasn't that guy who saved us? Then we wouldn't have the next time.", said Mila quietly without looking up.

Kuragari turned his gaze toward the girl and with a smile, he said, "You said it right."

"Said right what?", asked Mila with a frown, now with a raised head.

"You said 'what if'. Let me ask you something then. What if you don't come to this tournament? What if that creature didn't show up? I could ask hundreds of similar questions like this, but you know why I don't? Because I can't do anything with it. The past is the past, like it or not, you can't change that fact. However, you can change one thing. An that is the future."

Seeing as the three raised their heads with much more spirit this time, Kuragari smiled but the next second his expression turned serious.

"And this is the reason why you need to strive for more power. To avoid the possibility of 'what if'. If you can become strong, no one can put you into a situation like that one ever again."

In an instant all three of their eyes brightened, making Kuragari to nod with satisfaction.

"Well then, seeing that you are ready to hear what I want to say...", said Kuragari and looked around, only to see that there were a few people around them, so he waved his hand and in an instant, a small barrier appeared around them.

Joe, Mila, and Emma seeing Kuragari's act looked quite confused, but just as they wanted to ask him what was going on, Kuragari suddenly talked.

"What you will hear from me in the next few minutes, you need to promise that you won't tell anyone."

Seeing as one of the world's best experts was this serious about something, made the three instantly nod seriously.

"Perfect, well then..."

After that, Kuragari told the three what Greg asked him to tell. The reason why he decided to stay away from them, the lurking danger in the future, and what they need to do to avoid being killed as easily as an ant. Kuragari told them everything from the beginning to the end.

As Joe and the two girls listened to this, their expression slowly turned from seriousness to total shock then into utter disbelief.

Under 15 minutes, just like how it happened to Kuragari, their view about the world changed too. 

However, the reason why they were so stunned wasn't that they discovered that there is a way to break through the God rank, but instead because Kuragari told them that Greg needed to hide because he had something that he shouldn't have in the beginning.

This fact made all three of them extremely astonished. They would have never believed in the past, that from a boy, who was all the time the aim of bullies would turn into the 'world's' most wanted person. And what is more, it was all because of something that not even Greg himself knew why. It was simply too shocking.

"I start to feel that I misknew Greg from the beginning. He has too many secrets that it is almost scary.", said Mila with a widened eyes as he started to think about Greg and his behavior in the past.

It wasn't just her by the way. Joe and Emma too looked quite confused by all of this. These pieces of information were just too much for them at once.

"So that is what he told me to tell you guys. Maybe he didn't tell you, but if it's really true that there will be a war, do anything you can to reach the God rank as soon as possible. At least you can save yourselves if not others."

As he said that, Kuragari turned around and with a wave of his hand he disappeared from the restaurant once and for all.

Watching as Kuragari vanished with that last sentence, the three just stayed quiet and thought over the things they just heard not long ago.

After a full 5 minutes, Joe stood up and said without the slightest expression visible on his face, "I think I don't have to tell you what we need to do."

Mila and Emma looked at each other and with a nod, both of them stood up.

"We all know Greg. Maybe he is much mysterious nowadays, but he won't tell something this life-threatening out of nowhere. Especially when his own life is under danger.", said Mila.

With a nod, Emma said, "Yeah. We need to be thankful that he warned us. If not..."

Joe nodded to and stepping to the side of the table he said, "I will go back to Nexus city. Will you come?"

Mila looked at Joe and after thinking for a while she shook her head and said, "No, not me. I will go to Lava city and ask my grandfather to help in my cultivation."

With a nod, Joe turned his gaze at Emma and waited for her answer.

Seeing both of her friends questioning gazes, Emma shook her head too and said, "I will go back to my mom. She is not in Nexus city, so I won't go."

"Okay, then it's decided.", said Joe, and after a deep sigh, he said, "Then good luck for both of you. I hope we can meet in the future."

And just like this, after hugging each other for the last time, the three of them started to walk away in three different directions.

***

Back in the Forbidden Lands, Greg was crouching before a pile of huge energy crystals, while counting.

"52 Middle-Class and 21 High-Class energy crystals. And all of them from 4th ranked creatures. This should be well enough to rank up one of my Soul Creatures.", said Greg and opened his device.

From all of his Soul Creatures that was not on the dimensional grade, he had the Silver Wolf, the Black Larva, the fairy, and the Mist Bat.

"From these four the fairy has already reached the 4th rank and it can only rank up by requirements, so it is a no for me. The Mist Bat is only on the Awakened rank so that is also a no. What remains is the Silver Wolf and the Black Larva."

As he thought about this he started to think.

"Well, I have the First Flow, so for the time being I don't need any tracking ability, so let's go with the Black Larva."

With that said, Greg summoned the black gloves onto his hand and started to put one energy crystals after another onto it, making them melt into the Soul Creature slowly.

After 5 minutes, when Greg wanted to put the last crystal onto the glove, it suddenly started to shine with a black light while small changes occurred too.

Under a second around the black gloves, more black smoke started to form, while the surface of it changed a bit rigid, just like that of a larva's skin.

"Woow...", said Greg with surprise and raised his device to see what the changes were.

{Black Larva}

○ Rank: Creator

○ Type: Gloves

○ Powers: Toxic smoke, Melting touch, Parasite, Immunology

• Energy Crystals: 0/5000

¤ Requirements for the next rank:

° Toxic Crystal: 0/1