Chapter 118 A Mood Change

Ritsuka moved over to the corner of the room near his closet and grabbed the bow on the floor. He turned around and handed the bow to Lee Seng. Lee Seng noticed the bow was cleaner. His eyes fixated on the many enchantment runes etched into the bow.

"Ah, you cleaned it for me?" Lee Seng asked looking up at Lee Seng.

"Mmm, I cleaned it. How did you get it so dirtied? You got it from a what, again?" Ritsuka asked moving to his bed.

"I got it from a Blood Puppet disguised as an Elven archer. It wasn't as clean as this, though." Lee Seng twirled. He looked through the enchantment runes. His mind began to recall Number 2's lessons. "High enchantment level... Weapon reinforcement... Spell capability..." Lee Seng muttered to himself. Ritsuka's stare slowly burned through Lee Seng's mind, making him look up.

"You know how to read enchant runes?" Ritsuka asked.

"Yeah," Lee Seng answered, depressed. Memories flooded of Number 2 teaching him the different runes. He could hear Number 2's voice explaining the different rune types he's discovered and the types of runes others can easily use without Runic magic.

"Runic magic is a very special type of magic. It's embedded all around us if we care to look for it." Number 2's gruff voice spoke. "There are over a thousand types of runes that I've come across. Fire, water, earth, and air are basic runes."

"But we can't use all of the runes you can, right?" The younger Lee Seng asked.

"That's right," Number 2 nodded. He grabbed a pencil and started to draw the basic elemental runes.

"Fire, water, earth and air." The young Lee Seng repeated. He tapped the correct one for each and Number 2 smiled.

"That's right. Now, there's only about 1/4 of runes that are available for everyone to learn and use. Based on the nature's energy and the Dark Matter within an individual, the rune can grow stronger or weaker based on these two categories." Number 2 continued.

"Is enchantment runes one of the many types I can use then?" Lee Seng looked up at Number 2. He had black hair and a six o'clock shadow. His brown eyes glistened at Lee Seng as he nodded.

"Yes, enchantment runes are half of what you can learn. The other half are different elemental runes that someone can use based on the two categories that are...?"

"Oh, nature energy and Dark Matter!"

"Correct!" Number 2 laughed. The young Lee Seng and Number 2 high-fived each other. They began to go through the enchantment runes. Lee Seng's mind pulled out of the memory and he sighed, trying to hide the small sob and tear rolling down his cheek. He quickly wiped his tear and looked at Ritsuka.

"There was that famous guy who wrote many volumes about rune magic, right?" Ritsuka recalled. "What was his name again? Ni... Nick... No, not Nick..."

"Nikolai Volkov." Lee Seng answered.

"Ah, yes, him!" Ritsuka snapped. "He had runic magic and learned from nature itself of all the different runes that existed. He found out that most people can do about 2/8s of runic magic."

"Mmm... Number 2 always strived to give knowledge to everyone if he could."

"Yeah, he was a Number! Man, he was so cool." Ritsuka beamed. "I'm trying to learn enchant runes but the runic language is hard."

"Mmm, its been a long time since I've written or even seen a enchantment rune this powerful." Lee Seng's finger slowly traced the powerful 'high enchantment' rune.

"Ah, so you're well-versed in it too then?" Ritsuka asked.

"I had a lot of time as a kid, so I learned runes on my off time. I couldn't activate the runes, ever, so I'm not sure if they would work like Number 2 said they would."

"Ahh, well, I guess I could learn a thing or two from you then, right?"

"Mmm, I don't remember much, but maybe." Lee Seng answered. He hadn't looked up at Ritsuka and was focused on tracing the runes.

'Did I accidentally say something wrong?' Ritsuka thought to himself. Lee Seng cleared his throat and turned away, wiping a tear.

"Well, I guess I should get going." Lee Seng said.

"Ah, alright." Ritsuka stuttered. He stood up off the bed and followed Lee Seng back towards the front door. He watched Lee Seng slowly slip his sandals on and open the door. Lee Seng stepped out as Ritsuka grabbed the door and held it open. Lee Seng slowly turned around and looked up at Ritsuka.

"Thanks for holding my bow for me." Lee Seng forced a smile. Ritsuka slowly nodded.

"Yeah, no problem, dude. It was honestly an honor. I haven't seen high level enchant runes like that in a long time." Ritsuka pointed.

"Well, I'm going back to my room. I'll see you tomorrow, maybe?" Lee Seng waved.

"Y-ye... See ya." Ritsuka waved. He watched Lee Seng slowly turn and make his down the hall.

'Nikolai Volkov, aka Number 2... Didn't he die years ago?' Ritsuka wondered. He shut his door and spun around., making his way to the laptop on the desk. He pulled the chair and sat and opened his laptop. He began to search up Nikolai Volkov and got a wiki page as the first result. Ritsuka clicked it and noticed the birth and death date.

"October 5, 1958 - July 21, 2016," Ritsuka read. He leaned back and sighed. He shook his head shut the laptop. "Number 2 must've meant a lot to Lee Seng if he still acts like that... I wonder if his mom's death is... No, don't get nosy, Ritsuka." He slapped his cheeks and stood up. "If you got time to wonder about someone's personal life, even if they are the son of a huge public figure, you should just workout!"

----

Lee Seng scanned the code on his door lock and listened to it beep and unlock. He threw himself into the door and pushed it open with his body. He sluggishly walked in with the bow in hand and let the door slam shut on its on. He lightly chucked his sandals off and wandered over to his bed and set the bow next to the nightstand.

Manny turned from his desk and looked at Lee Seng. The laptop was opened in front of him as music blasted from his earbuds. Manny plucked one out.

"Ah, you're back." Manny noticed. Lee Seng didn't reply. He simply stared at the bow next to the nightstand. "Everything all right?" Lee Seng continued to ignore Manny. Manny pushed the chair as he stood and wandered over in between the beds to get a better look. He watched as Lee Seng simply sniffed and wiped his nose.

Manny moved in closer to look at the bow and noticed the enchantment rune etchings and slowly nodded.

'Hopefully he's not thinking about him...' Manny thought. He moved back to his desk and plugged his ear with his earbud and continued to work. 'Niko always treated Lee Seng the best. Even though its been five years, Lee Seng hasn't really gotten over his death just like Number 1. I'll give him space to try to recollect himself and talk to him later if I can. Otherwise, it'll have to be tomorrow after the last bit of his hell event training.'

An email chimed and Manny moved the mouse over and clicked on his email. He noticed the email was from Vickie Sanchez and sighed. He turned to look at Lee Seng who was still staring at the bow and clicked on it.

The subject line simply read "Tomorrow's Hell training event." Manny sighed as he read the email. He quickly read it and at the end, turned to look at Lee Seng. Lee Seng had gotten up and pulled the sheets away and decided to cover himself with his sheets on the bed. Manny turned back around and read the last few lines of the email, again.

'Come with Lee Seng tomorrow. Noah is pissed that your sister got in between him and Lee Seng. Whatever you do, don't let Lee Seng out of your sight tomorrow. If Noah even tries to come near him, let me or Callas know, got it? Tomorrow's event needs to go exactly as planned or else we're screwed.'

Manny shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

'This is what I get, isn't it?' Manny groaned. 'I had to say something stupid and let it be known I'm his childhood friend like Sara was and now Vickie wants to use that against me... Doesn't she know our relationship isn't GREAT?'

"UGHHHHHHH." Manny groaned.

'I'm screwed if Greenhorn see's Lee Seng. There won't be anyone to protect him from the Greenhorn Frenzy...' Manny shuddered. He turned to look at Lee Seng who still had the covers over his entire body. It seemed like Lee Seng wouldn't be in the mood to talk for the rest of the night and Manny groaned.

'She's gonna owe me one after this.' Manny nodded.