The Earth After Rebirth

Kiro attempted a cheeky smile, "It's a very long story."

"You're not even wearing shoes, just what the hell!" He was still pretty short so it wasn't that hard to notice.

Kiro sat him down, and started his story from when he left their base. Hiro had a very annoyed and very bored expression on his face.

Kiro knew starting from the very start would annoy his friend and that's why he did it anyway. Things got a bit interesting when he mentioned Harbingers. He got even more interested when Kiro told him about the Underworld.

Everything he said was too detailed for it to be a lie. His face was a mix of shock and curiosity. Kiro didn't leave out a single detail. It took them hours to go through the story in its entirety.

He told it within just hours, but the experience was months of battle and hardwork. He was starting to feel like, time was a great scam.

"Hubris got left behind?" He asked a little surprised.

"He's the king after all. His people needed him more." Kiro shrugged.

"So you use a different energy from our magic now, Kaos is it called?"

Hiro kept asking questions to make sure he got the details down to the bone. He got excited as if he was the one who was there. The fact that there may be more worlds Kiro could tap into, intrigued him. He wanted to travel too.

He wanted to be plunged into an unknown realm, specifically, one where crafting is the epitome of society. So he could learn everything he needed to know about craftsmanship.

"Earth to Hiro?" Kiro snapped his fingers in front of a daydreaming Hiro.

"Yes yes." He replied, as if he was all there. "You spent months there? No wonder you look like a homeless person from the lower district." He joked.

They had a good laugh. "But why didn't you take me with you?" Hiro abruptly asked, threatening to sulk. He wanted a sweet power up too.

"Eh, I asked you before but you didn't want to go..."

"You should've dragged me with you!"

"Don't regret saying that Hiro, because that's exactly what I'll do the next time you don't want to come with me."

They continued chatting while Hiro was working on a strange sceptre. He was doing it as a favour for Felix, who also evolved into a sprite with a higher priest class.

"You know, Felix is still at the mine? Because you told him to be there for a while. But good thing, because he keeps sending me resources." He motioned to the corner where there was a pile of raw materials that still needed to be purified.

With his alchemy though, it wouldn't take a long time to purify any material.

"Ah sh*t." He scratched his head not knowing how to to reply, he only told him to go there because he had expected for the game currency to be convertible.

If it were up to him, he'd be at the lower district, egging on other kids to play asgard so they can get coins. But it was useless for now. He had to think of another way to help his district crawl out of poverty.

'Ah, that can only happen if this conversion happens.' He found himself saying a little prayer to Sun Wukong, as a ridiculous as it felt, he still did it.

Kiro looked at his friend as he held up a really a strange weapon, "isn't that just, a chain with saws?"

He put a bit of mana in it and it solidified into a sceptre. It kept changing from chains to sceptre.

"Wow, you can create such weapo—whoa are you insane?"

Hiro had whipped the chain at Kiro's direction, it almost hit him too but it changed into a sceptre as soon as it reached out.

"So I can still be caught off guard? Useless! How are you even using a weapon that's not made for your race?" He asked a little bit agitated.

Hiro lightly laughed, "To answer your second question, thanks to my alchemy infusion, I'm not restricted." He gave him a smug smile, "To answer your first, this is my domain, the fire has in a way, dulled your senses, you can't have your guard up."

"What?" Kiro was dumbfounded.

Hiro simply threw a toy ball, which hit him right between the eyes and sure enough he couldn't react in time.

He was about to get mad, but realized how strong his friend had become even though he had barricaded himself in his shop.

"That's some amazing stuff Hiro, when did you get that? How many days have I been gone? I mean, the last time you saw me."

"Haha well you aren't the only one getting stronger, a couple of weeks I think? I can't be too sure as I've been here all that time, never set foot outside. So time for me is also warped." discover-stories-NovelFire

He was going to be petty and freeze the room, but decided against it. He had to remind himself he was back from the hellscape that was Hubris' world. Except for some weaklings, nobody was really out to get him.

"The weapon is done, want to log out?"

"Yes, please, I'm tired. We also have class tomorrow."

Hiro immediately sent the weapon to Felix and they logged out. It was already night, so the best he could do then was just sleep.

Sleep came easier than on any other night. He slept through the night, and almost through the morning. He woke up with a banging on his door. The person on the door was threatening to break it off its hinges.

When he looked at the time, it was already 9:50. The alarm tried and failed to wake him up. Even though it wasn't his real body, he could feel the toll, it was psychological if anything.

He sprinted to open the door, Hiro stood on the other side of it. Already in his school uniform.

"I know, I know, don't lecture me."

He sprinted to the bathroom and took a 2 minute shower. He wore his uniform in record time. Hiro had already gone down for breakfast and bought a drinking yoghurt for his friend.

They ran to class, and got there with just a few seconds to spare. But alas Dr. Ramirez was already there.