Chapter 107: New pet (1)

The group found something like that hard to believe… even if someone used nukes, certainly their country wouldn't disappear overnight. However, even Shalia, who was always bickering with Rina, didn't say anything or looked anything other than anxious… that was a kind of enemy that she also had experience with and probably never had the chance to defeat.

Without knowing what to do, Billy passed that new piece of information to Frank, and weirdly enough, he told them to immediately return… They rescued some important individuals in three countries, so they couldn't risk it. Luke, on the other hand, wanted to take a peek at that kind of enemy… that surely would make him eager to obtain power and remind him not to get carried away with his current strength.

"I am surprised you managed to survive an attack of a creature of that level," Shalia said upon noticing that Rina was more quiet than usual.

"... I was fighting at the frontlines when that thing attacked our capital," Rina explained. "He just wanted to make us feel despair since he could have decimated us on the frontlines… we couldn't retreat, and we couldn't defeat the enemies ahead of us, so we went into hiding and began to look for allies. In other worlds."

"Hiding, huh… that sure is pathetic," Shalia said.

"Pathetic indeed," Rina nodded.

It wasn't fun to annoy her if Rina didn't get annoyed, so Shalia stopped there. She wasn't in the mood to say something sarcastic after recalling her past bad events. In any case, after hearing that, Luke realized that perhaps skills like Meditation were something that he needed urgently. 

In the end, Luke returned to his Meditation. While the bonuses were daily and meager, they certainly would become something impressive one day.

When the group returned home, the sun was just rising in the sky. Despite some setbacks, they had achieved their mission, and more than anything, the whole group was eager to become stronger. During the ten hours of travel, Luke meditated. While he obtained a single point in mana, his perseverance increased his skill level.

"I didn't know you were into that kind of stuff, Luke," Julia said. "I guess kids nowadays want to experience all kinds of things, but don't be reckless."

Luke smiled a little and explained to her what he had done. It would take a while for everyone to have that many gold coins left, but learning that skill was a pretty good idea. When the airplane landed, and the group left the vehicle, the newcomers frowned at the sight of Arcnine. They frowned, even more when Luke patted him.

Congratulations! The skill Tame has leveled up.

You obtained 05 status points.

"It seems you have been hunting a lot… good boy," Luke said.

Arcnine had reached level forty while Luke was away, but the strength difference was still the same. Nevertheless, now Luke could tame another monster, but he wanted a flying one, this time that could use magic. The crows were too lame, so Luke wanted something else.

"We are going to report to Frank. You can rest here and unpack your things," Mark said to the newcomers.

Considering his calm behavior, Luke realized that his father didn't know about the incident of the first night. That was another annoying thing that Billy had done, but Luke didn't want to inform his parents of that. Right now, Frank holds the reins of many powerful soldiers, and he has many resources under his command, so they shouldn't oppose him for the time being.

Amanda and Celia left to meet their parents, and Chloe also left with Billy and Julia with Mark, so Luke was alone with Rina and Shalia. 

"What are your plans now, Luke?" Shalia asked.

"Find a flying monster to tame, help my parents level up and gain some extra skills and then hunt and destroy those Crystals," Luke replied. "Once that is done, and the country is a bit safer, I suppose I can go and see these planets of yours… if there is an easy way of coming and going."

"It will take a while because some requirements are needed to open a portal," Shalia said. "Thanks to your current progress, I should be able to maintain my original form for a full second at some point tomorrow. However, I will need ten times more energy than that to open a portal. Back in my world, it will be much easier to open a portal back to Earth."

"Same here," Rina said.

"I see… so either keep fighting monsters to get stronger, or I wait here and use Meditation nonstop," Luke said.

"While your growth is remarkable, I would advise against the second option," Rina said. "You are strong, but you only have the strength at the same level of someone who has been fighting for almost a year if compared to someone of my world."

Luke knew that there was a gap between him and them, but he didn't imagine it was that big… he fought like crazy over the course of ten days, but he still had the help of two elves and one very useful skill. Still, when he began to think clearly about it, Luke realized that his growth was already abnormal… humans and the elves of Rina's world were probably equally peaceful before the attacks. Perhaps the elves were even more peaceful since a lot of crime still existed on earth. So, considering all that, leveling up ten times more than an ordinary person was already impressive, even more considering the current situation that was thirty times faster…

Nevertheless, after helping his parents and making them level up a lot more alongside Arcnine, Luke will probably leave his first pet with them for protection. Once that is done, and he is satisfied, he will go and look for the crystals to destroy them. He may not be strong enough to fight with the owners of the crystals, but Luke was determined to cause them more than a little bit of trouble.