'There's no doubt...it's 'him'!'
It was a tall, attractive man with tan skin and a muscular build. He had golden eyes and very long, purple hair tied in a ponytail.
Evan did not even bother with his clothes as he already knew the identity of the man standing on that building roof.
It was one of the strongest NPCs in all of Aidos online. Now that he was in the world the game was based on, it only made sense that Evan was going to encounter him, sooner or later.
'That's 'Strongest Human' Rathal!'
It was a being he had not expected to see anytime soon. One of the 'Five', the strongest beings in all of Aidos.
Before Evan could even finish being surprised, Rathal just held up two fingers and pointed them to his eyes before turning them in Evan's direction.
[I'm watching you, boy.]
Evan suddenly heard a deep masculine voice in his head, a voice that he was all too familiar with.
The next moment, Rathal's body vanished from the spot. Or rather, he moved so fast that Evan could not dream of catching his body's movements.
The whole situation was so bizarre that Evan couldn't help but stare at the empty spot where Rathal was standing with a slacked jaw.
'Wait! Was that really Rathal or was it my mind playing tricks on me?'
Evan began to doubt what he had just seen.
After all, at this point in time, 'Strongest Human' Rathal was supposed to be in a dungeon in the Beta continent where he discovered a means to accelerate his leveling speed and break past the level 950 barrier.
'That's how it was in the game. Why has it changed, is it because of me?
No way that's the case, I haven't done anything that affects the future much besides stopping the Seven deadly sins from wiping out a country.
But, if it really is because of me, because I fought Xakon...'
The reality that his actions were changing things that he wanted to remain the same infuriated Evan a bit.
'I only wanted to avert the disasters and leave everything else to flow like it did in the game. But Rathal's presence here means that a major event has changed, and it was an event that I did not want to change.'
Evan held a hand to his chin and began to ponder on Rathal's words when Pride suddenly tapped him on the shoulder.
He looked up to see the priest presiding over the ceremony looking in his direction.
'What...?'
Before Evan could even ask Pride what happened, the priest spoke to him, causing the attention of the hundreds of people present to turn towards him.
"Can the hero who felled the monster responsible for this tragedy say a few words before we send off the departed to the goddess Artemisia's embrace?"
'Tsk...troublesome.'
Evan clicked his tongue internally but maintained a sad smile on his face as he gazed towards the hundreds of coffins in the ground before speaking.
"May the souls of those who have departed, rest in eternal peace."
The priest nodded before flicking his fingers. Holy magic filled the area as he casted a blessing on those present before carrying on with the final part of the funeral ceremony.
Evan was about to make another snide comment to himself when he suddenly lost all feeling in his left arm.
'Huh...? For real! Why now of all times?!'
Pride who was beside Evan, noticed his uncomfortable expression and figured out the reason instantly.
She didn't think twice about grabbing Evan's other arm and silently leading him out of the area, taking him back to the inn they resided in.
By the time they arrived, Pride was basically carrying him as Evan had lost all feeling in his entire body, save his head.
"Thanks."
Evan muttered out words of gratitude as Pride hoisted him up to his bed, his vision fading shortly after as he lost consciousness.
◇ ◇ ◇
To understand the reason for Evan's body's strange reaction, one has to understand the first message Evan had seen the moment he regained consciousness two weeks ago.
He tried to open his status board to see what level he was at now, but he was unable to see it due to this notice.
|Reincarnated Hero System Updates Installing.
Status would be temporarily Unavailable until the updates are completed.
The host's body would occasionally shut down to 'update' its state.
Advising the host to not take any strenuous action during this period. |
Naturally, his first course of action was to call out to Artemisia but like he past few weeks, the goddess did not answer him.
Evan also discovered that he could not use magic or skills during this period, even his body' strength was lower than it was before.
However, after the first time that he lost all feeling in his body and passed out, his body's strength recovered to a certain extent.
He understood that this was the 'shutting down' phenomenon the system spoke of and the process of him recovering his strength was his body updating its state.
The only issue was that the times his body shut down completely were completely random, as such he could not predict when it would happen.
Once, it even happened during his bath and he nearly drowned in the bath tub had it not been for Pride who noticed his unusual state and pulled him out.
The second time, his body recovered even more as he felt his muscles increase in strength and compress, allowing him to wield his full strength even with his lean physique.
The third time, he realised that his eye level had gone a bit higher, making him figure out that his body was growing exponentially.
The fourth time, his body bulged up with muscles temporarily before returning to normal a few moments after.
By the fifth time, he felt the familiar feeling of magic power circulating through his body, making him realise his full recovery was not far off.
At the sixth, his body grew again, this time even more obvious as his clothes became undersized for him.
His face matured a bit and his overall physique became like that of a fifteen-year-old's, despite his body only being eleven.
Eliza even commented on his new appearance stating that he looked a lot cooler than before.
The seventh and most recent was during the funeral ceremony, a few moments after his short speech.
Eliza who knew about his situation, couldn't help but rush towards his room after handing over the remaining matters concerning the funeral ceremony to actual 'Priests'.
Her blonde hair flowed in the wind as she ran through the empty street and into the Telltale inn Evan was staying in.
**BAMM!!
She slammed the door open, causing Pride to turn her cold gaze to the fifteen-year-old priestess, causing the latter to instinctively tremble in fear.
"Can you be quiet?"
Eliza nodded in response to Pride's question before turning her gaze to the boy on the bed. Upon seeing him, she couldn't help but let out a shocked voice.
"Huh?"
"What is it no-Huh?"
Pride who wanted to chide her turned to Evan and had the same reaction. That was only natural, after all, Evan's hair had suddenly grown long enough to reach the floor.
"I call bullshit!"
"I second that!"
Ignoring the strange words exchanged between Pride and Eliza, Evans eyes fluttered open as he turned his gaze to the two females who were staring at him like a monkey in a zoo.
"What?"
He cocked his head to the side as he asked, only to notice two things that were very different from before.
One; there was more weight on his head, courtesy of his now waist long hair.
The second, was the one that made his eyes widen in surprise.
"My...voice."
It was then that the two females snapped out of their shock and took note of the difference. Evan's voice had indeed changed a lot.
It was a lot less like 'Evan Del Eris'' voice and more like 'Evan Von Bourne's' Voice.
"My actual voice..."
"Actual?"
His words made Pride raise a question to him, making Evan remember he was in the presence of others.
"Nothing serious.
More importantly, why are you guys staring at me like a monkey in a zoo?"
"Why?!
You look so different, that's why!"
Evan sent a questioning gaze towards Eliza but the priestess only heaved a heavy sigh before pulling out a mirror from heaven knows where and shoving it in his face.
"Where did that come from?"
"Don't ask, just look."
Evan wanted to ask once more but upon seeing the look on Eliza's face, he didn't bother and just turned his gaze to the mirror.
"What the actual fuck?"
Now, it was his turn to be surprised as the amount of hair on his head was a lot more than he remembered.
"It definitely was not like this when I passed out!"
"And that was barely an hour ago."
"Barely an hour? That's short!!"
Normally, when Evan passed out, it usually took him about three to five hours to wake up. Spending barely an hour was a first so he was naturally surprised at this.
"The both of you are getting surprised over every little thing that it becoming noisy here. Let's take this from the top and address the important matters one by one.
First of all, Evan."
"Yeah?"
"You need to get a haircut done. ASAP."
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