Bad News

Hozumi stayed silent for quite a while as she finished their food and Kurai was pretty sure that it was the only reason he wasn't at least partially roasted at the moment.

Soon they both sat at the table to eat, but it was a silent dinner even as Hozumi kept muttering things under her breath in thought.

The pressure in the room felt like it slowly became heavier and Kurai reached a point where he needed to get out a bit to just breathe, "Thank you, it was delicious. I'm going to head out for a bit to clear my head. Are you coming?"

A worried frown crossed her face for a moment, but then Hozumi examined his face before she shook her head and Kurai nodded his understanding.

He walked out of the apartment and closed the door before leaning against it for a bit, "Why the hell does it seem as if it's one thing after another?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you are in a game and getting quite cozy with a female NPC it seems."

Kurai's eyes widened and he glanced around for the source of Lin's voice, but saw nothing, "Lin? What the hell?! Why were you gone for so long? I thought the people at Zenomitec figured out that you switched the headsets or something. Why can't I see you?"

His words were followed by an amused huff before he heard her take a deep breath and suddenly he knew something had happened, "Lin? Speak to me please."

"I may have run into some trouble, but it was more military-related than Zenomitec. I hacked their site from an internet café and didn't expect that they would improve on their security measures so quickly. Luckily I used a fake name and ID as well as changed up my appearance quite a bit. I used a wig so it was easy to change my appearance again, and managed to grab some chick's jacket on my way out. I would have left her some cash in exchange, but didn't want to leave any prints behind."

Her voice sounded calm, and Kurai wished he could thoroughly throttle her at that moment because of the danger she put herself in, "Were you a spy and just never told me? Or do I blame the games for this? Fudge, this is just one gigantic mess."

Kurai sighed as he tried to gather his thoughts, "Please tell me you at least found some good news…and that still doesn't explain why I can't see you."

Lin's voice sounded irritated as she spoke, "My 'good' news and yours are very different you know, but I did manage to gather some information. Apparently, two experiments were being run through the headsets after Zenomitec announced the creation of the game. The military saw a different use for it and sponsored them on the condition that they could use the design in their own experiments. Zenomitec needed the funds for the game so they agreed."

It didn't take much to figure out what happened, "There was a mix-up with the blueprints?"

An almost bitter laugh sounded out, "Exactly. And they took the chips out to ensure that no one can figure out about the person being stuck in the game in the same way I did. Which brings me to how you can hear me but not see me. The headset has registered me as your guide and only voice chat is enabled when you are 'awake' in the game, but you would be able to see me if you are 'asleep' when I am on."

Kurai scratched the back of his neck in frustration, "And the time conversion? It's been more than a week since we last spoke."

A soft curse rang out and Kurai winced as he realized that his suspicions had been correct.

"I last spoke to you last night. It is now the next evening here. I visited the hospital before I tried finding out more at the internet café and I returned here after taking many confusing routes."

Despite the situation, Kurai found himself chuckling softly, "I guess you were right when I called you paranoid at that time and your only reaction was to say that we'd never know if it could save your life one day."

A weak chuckle sounded out before Lin changed the subject, "What about you? If it's really been a week you would've visited a few dungeons by now."

Kurai took a deep breath before he started filling her in on everything that had happened and he was almost proud of himself when she wasn't able to answer him for quite a few minutes after his revelations.

"You know, I always thought you had legendary luck, but I am starting to think there is such a thing as too lucky."

Kurai glared at nothing in particular, "You think?"

A chuckle sounded out, "Well if your class is unknown, then maybe examining your abilities could help. Certain abilities are always restricted to certain classes. You can't have a tank ability if you are a healer."

Kurai blinked in surprise before he smiled, "That could work. Maybe we should head to the library tomorrow."

A hum of agreement followed his words and Kurai's body stiffened in worry, he'd heard it too many times to know that it usually required him to do something, "What are you thinking about now?"

Innocent laughter followed his words, but he didn't trust it even for a second, and she didn't disappoint, "I was simply wondering what you would look like with white hair and golden eyes."

His hand automatically snuck up to pinch the bridge of his nose, "Didn't I just explain that I don't know how to use the skills?"

Kurai was very sure that she was pouting when she answered him, "If you felt it while you were healing that other guy, why not simply try to replicate the feeling?"

He didn't feel very convinced it would work, but given that nothing else did, he couldn't really deny that it was worth a try at least, but where was he going to find an injured person at this time?

Lin must have known the way his thoughts would turn because she distracted him before he could spiral into making some truly random ideas, "Try making a ball of energy by closing your eyes. Try to focus only on the feeling traveling down your arms and into your hands."

Kurai leaned back as he concentrated on the feeling he'd felt previously, but picturing energy flowing down to his hands felt useless so he focused on the phantom feeling of blood getting absorbed into a sphere within his hands.

An echoing gasp told him that he was succeeding until the door behind him suddenly gave way and his eyes snapped open as the world seemed to slow down once more before he lost control of the red ball of energy in his hands as he landed flat on his back.

He watched in surprise as the energy shot forward and proceeded to hit a wall.

At first, nothing happened, but then a large chunk of the wall disintegrated and he watched in shock as the red energy seemed to eat away at the rest of the wall before slowly coming to a stop.

He didn't know what to say, and it seemed Lin didn't really know what to say either, but then a voice rang out from above him and Kurai looked up to see Hozumi standing at the door, "That was 'Seraph's Blessing', but I've never seen it in that color before."

She looked down and blinked at him in surprise before a worried smile formed on her lips, "It seems you managed to find a way to activate 'Seraph's Form' as well. Luckily you haven't passed out yet."

Kurai frowned, "Isn't 'Seraph's Blessing' meant to heal injuries? I'm pretty sure that whatever it just did to that wall would almost immediately kill a person."

Hozumi looked around as if someone could be watching them, "We need to get inside."

Kurai nodded as he moved to stand.

His body felt like it was made out of lead as he moved, but he still managed to head inside before he sunk into the chair.

He noticed Hozumi watching him again, "You wore that expression earlier as well. What is it?"

For a moment he wondered whether Lin had taken the headset off, given that she was so quiet, but he then realized that they didn't know whether Hozumi would be able to hear Lin if she were to speak.

The room was silent as Hozumi gathered her thoughts, but then she sighed and sank into the opposite chair, "I'm trying to figure out where I've read about this before. 'Seraph's Blessing' isn't meant to be that color, but I know there has been a previous case where it happened. On the positive side, this means that you should be able to at least get into a guild if we can hide how your appearance changes and also train up your resistances a bit."

Kurai nodded before he eyed the makeshift bed, "I think I am going to head to bed for now though. I think we should still visit the library tomorrow and we probably need to start training from tomorrow then.

Hozumi didn't argue, instead, she nodded before clearing up the dishes and heading to bed as well.

Kurai closed his eyes as the same dream-like state washed over him, as it did last time, and he opened his eyes to see Lin standing there, seemingly deep in thought.

She finally noticed him, though it didn't take a genius to realize that she looked extremely troubled.

He waved a hand in front of her face to try and snap her attention back to him, "Lin? What's wrong?"

She was startled for a moment before she looked up at him, though her face still looked grim, "While you were talking with the NPC, my dad called and said they were moving all the unconscious players into one facility. He tried to reason that we would be able to care for you until you woke up, but as you know they have a different agenda."

Kurai's eyes widened before he recalled something about the contract, "Are they going to place our bodies in cryo?"

Lin shrugged, "I don't know, but I really don't like the idea. They probably want to run some tests and experiments and given what they've done so far, I'm afraid that they might just end up saying that a few died before they could save them."

Kurai shuddered at the thought.

It's not as if he would be able to feel it if they did anything, theoretically at least, but just the thought of them being able to do something like that sickened him.

He barely noticed as Lin stepped forward, "I doubt my father is going to give up on the idea though, and as you know, he might just get the media involved if the government tries to put up a fight."

Kurai nodded, he knew that her father would do what he could, "But what about the rest of the players?"

Lin winced, and that answer was enough before she bid him goodbye and removed the headset, leaving him alone with his thoughts.