[Ruby's POV]
I was shocked at what I just witnessed.
Looking at Raven who is casually exiting the arena and Velcro who is being taken away by the staffs because he needs a healing.
I recalled their fight just now. I was almost sure that Velcro will win the fight, and even if Raven did, he will be most likely to be battered up.
But contrary to my prediction. Raven won, and he's fine, based on his appearance I presumed, but what I mean is that he won without receiving a direct hit from Velcro!
Even Velcro's rank and stats were restrained, he has more experience in combat than Raven based on the information I have, Raven is a non-combatant to begin with. So Raven winning is really a surprise.
But throughout the duel, Raven's movements were calm and efficient. He seemed to used a lot of artifacts, but the way he utilized them was incredible to begin with.
It's no use having a lot of artifacts if you can't use them properly.
And at the ending part of the duel, when Velcro slashed downwards to the rushing bull-like Raven, I was sure that Raven wouldn't be able to dodge that attack.
But when Velcro's sword was about few meters away from Raven's head. I felt a sudden burst of mana from Raven's body.
It was only for a split second that I wouldn't be able to notice it if I wasn't paying attention carefully.
The next thing I saw after that was Raven's figure in the air with black wings keeping him from falling and Velcro's sword hitting nothing but the air and ground.
Then after a while of silence. Raven shot down toward Velcro and finished him with a drop axe kick.
That last kick was nothing but clever, Raven used the force of his speed and the momentum of his flip to amplify the kick's power.
And though only few noticed, including me, I saw a cotton-like thing appeared near Raven. Then not long, the mana around Raven started to move weirdly, like it's being sucked into something.
"Interesting..."
I got curious at the person named 'Raven Obadiah' after witnessing his prowess.
Although the duelers were both low ranks, the duel was engraved to everyone's memory who witnessed it. Especially Raven's performance.
I know the other spectators will agree to me.
I stood up from my seat, and headed where I assumed Raven will go.
***
Upon arriving to the waiting room.
I was shocked at what I saw.
I saw Raven staggering left and right, his calm and collected figure was nowhere to be seen.
He was frowning while pressing his temples and struggling to stand up.
Then, Raven started to fall. I rushed to his side in a flash and supported his body.
He's so hot, I mean, high on temperature. His face is also red, not from being flustered, his breathing is rag like he has a fever.
-Kyuuu!
Then I saw a familiar cotton flying toward me.
'It was the cute cotton ball bird that appeared near Raven!'
The bird landed on my shoulder and pointed at Raven with its wing.
-Kyu! Kyu!
If I'm not just imagining things, the bird's tweeting sounded worried and desperate.
It was then Raven raised his head and looked at me. He looked at me for a while as if trying to identify me.
And maybe after confirming who I was, he smiled.
I don't know what's with me but I think Raven's smile was attractive.
"Oh... Please take a good care of me for a while."
Snapping me out from silly thoughts were Raven's words. And after that, he hung his head down and lost consciousness.
My eyes widened, but checking his pulse, Raven seems to be only sleeping.
"He just fell asleep. By mana exhaustion and overwork?"
'Just what did he do to use all of his energy in his body?'
I thought.
Though Raven's condition seems bad, he's actually gonna be fine after some few hours of sleep and rest.
"His body is fine, there's nothing wrong. Looks like I have nothing else to worry about."
I mumbled after making sure Raven is alright.
But then Raven's body suddenly got smaller and smaller and black furs grew all over his body.
Raven's body became small enough to slip from my grasp. Now he's not lying on the cold floor.
After just some seconds, Raven turned into a cat with shiny black furs.
"..."
My eyes widened.
"Umm... What?"
I was so dumbfounded at what I just witnessed, that I just stared at the cat, I mean Raven.
-Kyuu!
Snapping me out of my confusion was the cotton bird on my shoulder that I assumed Raven's pet. It's looking at me while pointing at Raven, the cat to be precise.
Vaguely understanding what the cotton wants. I picked up the ca... Raven.
I know the cat is probably Raven, but I can't help but just call it 'cat' and not Raven.
-Kyuu!
The cotton sounded grateful, I patted it as it's cute.
Not wasting any more time, I started heading back to my office.
I unconsciously smiled when I thought of how cute are the cotton bird on my shoulder and the Raven cat on my hands.
***
[You recieved 1200 CP. The transcend beings wants to send you their congrats, they also said your performance was splendid.]
The first thing Raven saw after opening his eyes was the system.
Though it's annoying, he noticed that the reward he got was a lot more than what they previously said.
[They gave you bonus for the show.]
'I see.'
Raven replied telepathically and closed his eyes back again. He's exhausted, mentally and physically, his head and body aches.
The only good thing is that when he checked his CP balance, he now possesed [3552] CP.
'Comfy'
Raven's expression turned soft as he felt he's currently lying on something soft and smells good. Raven became sleepy again.
'Looks like I'm lying on a premium bed.'
"Huaaah."
"Oh, you're awake!"
Raven yawned and was about to fall asleep again, when he heard a familiar alluring voice not coming from his sides, but above him!
Of course Raven got startled and immediately looked up.
There, Raven saw Ruby smiling at him mischievously while looking at him.
Raven's eyes widened after meeting her eyes. He realized that he's currently resting on Ruby's lap and not on some premium bed, based on the surroundings, Raven assumed he's inside Ruby's bedroom!
And that he's also in his cat form!
Raven quickly jumped out away from Ruby. Unfortunately for him, Ruby who is several times faster than Raven caught him in mid air, and as if she's trying to humiliate him, Ruby held Raven in her arms like how will she hold a baby.
Raven knew he couldn't win against Ruby in any aspect of stats, so all he can do is talk with frown.
"Put me down."
Ruby got surprised knowing Raven can talk normally in that form and widened her eyes, though it was short-lived as soon a teasing smile rose from her face.
"You're lucky, you know? Normally you will only get a lap pillow, but you got a lap bed! And from a beautiful woman like me on top of that."
"Well, yeah thanks for taking care of me. Now you can put me down."
Raven didn't deny that he's indeed lucky, though he wants to get out of his embarrassing position fast.
Ruby didn't reply to Raven but instead started caressing his furs.
'It feels so good... Fuck'
Raven thought with a frown. He was being aroused.
"You have a cute side too huh."
Ruby mumbled teasingly, looking at the frowning but delighted Raven.
Raven knew Ruby wouldn't listen to him any time now and, so his pettiness activated.
While Raven is in Ruby's arms, he transformed back to his human form.
A satisfied smile appeared on Raven's face seeing Ruby startled and her eyes widened.
Being back to his human form. Raven is now sitting on Ruby's lap, and Ruby's arms are wrapped around his waist.
Raven is topless so his well built body with his balance trained muscles and pale white skin were openly revealed.
Raven then wrapped his arms above Ruby's shoulders and slouched to her left ear.
Their faces were so close to each other. Ruby's sweet fragrance entered Raven's nose, which turned him on.
"Let me go."
Raven softly whispered in a calm but seductive voice.
Ruby immediately covered her ear and looked at Raven with disbelief at what he just did. Ruby seems pretty flustered at the situation, her ears are a bit red too.
"You have a cute side too huh."
Raven returned Ruby's words earlier back at her by whispering on her other ear with a seducing voice.
Now Raven knows that Ruby's ears are sensitive.
Ruby's face became more red that now it's quite visible to Raven.
Ruby can easily throw Raven out of her lap, but because she was surprised at Raven's advances she forgot that fact, also her pride is unconsciously telling her that if she let go of Raven, she lose.
Creak-
"Master, here's your wi—"
And as Raven and Ruby were in that position. The door opened and a woman in her early 30s in a maid dress entered.
The maid saw them.
They saw the maid.
"..."
"..."
"..."
An awkward silence engulfed the room.
The maid then grinned at them.
"Sorry for disturbing."
The maid slowly backed away, still looking Ruby and Raven while blushing.
Click-
Then she left and closed the door. She even locked it.
Raven immediately broke free from Ruby's arms and stood up. Ruby's hand loosened when she saw the maid looking at them earlier so Raven broke free effortlessly.
"Ehem..."
Raven faked a cough and looked at Ruby.
"Sorry I got carried away."
He then apologized at her.
"No, I got carried away too."
Ruby did the same.
The atmosphere bacame pretty awkward. Luckily for them, someone broke that awkwardness.
-Kyuu!
Yuki who seems to have just woken up from Ruby's bed flew immediately to Raven.
Raven smiled and embraced Yuki when she reached him.
"What's that cotton by the way?"
Ruby asked, pointing Yuki.
"Her name is Yuki, she's my familiar."
Raven answered, patting Yuki's head.
Yuki was pleased as she just let Raven pat her.
"You're popular with girls huh."
Ruby said looking at the two.
'Raven identified cotton as a 'she', and its name is Yuki... I knew it, it's a girl.'
Ruby thought.
Meanwhile, Raven just shrugged as a reply to Ruby's statement just now.
Raven recalled his fight with Velcro, he then remembered some kind of light engulfing his body and power surging his body.
'At that moment, my body became light and energy filled my body... I didn't notice the other, but I'm sure there are more effect I recieved that moment.'
Raven thought as he recalls the unknown power.
'If not for that power, I would have lose to Velcro and die that time.'
As his curiosity peaked, Raven opened his status.
=====
[STATUS]
Name:Raven Obadiah
Rank:F+
Mana Control:E-
Strength:F
Agility:F+
Stamina:F
Intelligence:E-
Luck:E-
Charm:E-
[SKILLS]
<Monarch's Presence Lvl.2>
<Insight Lvl.2>
[TRAITS]
<Calm Thinker>
<Understanding>
<I like the spotlight>
<???>
=====
Raven's eyes widened seeing some changes on his status window.
His mana control rose by 2 ranks.
He can also feel that he's on the verge of ranking up.
Raven checked his stats again and again to make sure he's not just seeing things.
Until his eyes finally landed to his new trait. <???>, Raven have no idea what the hell is that, he tried pressing it to read its description, but nothing happened, no transparent window with the explanation of trait appeared before him.
So in the end, Raven asked for the system's help.
'System, what's this trait about?'
[I don't really know, the Higher Being is stopping me from acquiring any information about it. They also said it's a surprise you acquired it immediately and even by yourself even though you can't use it yet.]
'What are those shits on about now?'
Raven was frustrated. He hate it when someone knows the answer but reveals things slowly like a teaser.
[I don't know either so don't snap at me. Anyway, they told you; "Discover things by yourself, it wouldn't be fun if I, or we, revealed everything to you now."]
'Those piece of shit!'
Raven frowned but didn't pry anymor about the trait. He knows he wouldn't get an answer anyway.
'I need to discover things myself huh...'
Raven is loss at the moment, but there's one thing he was sure with.
'The unknown power I used against Velcro is connected to this <???> shit.'
Raven started to rack his brain for a while, but then gave up not long.
'My stats increased and I'm near on ranking up, let's not stress out on those unanswerable problems for now and just focus on the good things.'
Looking at Ruby again. Raven asked her.
"What happened to that Velcro guy?"
"He's unconscious. Your last attack damaged him greatly."
Ruby casually answered.
Raven was actually relieved knowing that. Raven isn't ready to kill a person yet.
He knows he will eventually need to kill someone, but for him, Raven will only kill if the situation calls for it, or if someone doesn't deserve to live.
Velcro and Raven only had a small beef because of Velcro's stupid brain and jealousy.
For him, that's not enough reason to kill him. Though Velcro did try to kill him, Raven let it go because he knew it's the result of his bluffing, he also got stronger because of it so Raven wasn't really angry at Velcro.
"Anyway, that guy is pretty stupid huh."
Raven said which Ruby smiled and nodded as a reply.
"So you noticed. Yeah, he's stupid."
"The first time I saw him, I already knew he's stupid."
Raven replied immediately.
'Though Velcro is a looker, he gives off an aura of someone dumb.'
Raven thought.
But after fighting Velcro, Raven noticed that Velcro doesn't have a technique, he just fight using his brute strength.
"But he's <E> rank, so how..."
Raven muttered in wonder.
"Velcro reached that rank by consuming medicine and herbs. And when raiding dungeons, he's like a meat shield that fights back."
Ruby said who heard Raven's words.
"Oh, that makes more sense."
Raven said. Glancing at Ruby, Raven saw her staring at him.
"What?"
He asked.
Ruby pointed her beautiful and slender finger to Raven and spoke.
"Your fighting style is weird. It's messy and clean at the same time."
Raven tilted his head at her words.
Ruby sighed and started to explain.
"You fight in close-quarter combat using a long-ranged weapon, that's just pure shit. But your actions are efficient and always produces the best results they can."
After looking at Raven briefly to see if he's still listening, Ruby continued.
"You're always calm which is good, your fighting sense is top notch."
Ruby's tone and voice were serious and convincing, so Raven listened to them as he took note everything Ruby said.
"If you hone your style, you will be much stronger."
"Let's just say, you're a diamond in rough."
Ruby noticed Raven is listening seriously as he occasionally nod his head.
A silly thought entered Ruby's mind as the corner of her lips rose and formed a sly smile.
"You know you look so hot while fighting."
Ruby said. Her silly thought really worked as it made Raven's serious expression crumbled into a frown.
Raven was too tired to exchange silly words with Ruby anymore, so he instead looked at the time.
<6:37 PM>
Though it only made him frown deeper.
"You slept for 8 hours."
Ruby's words entered Raven's ear as if she predicted his worry.
"I need to go."
Raven immediately grabbed his possessions, including his top and hurriedly walk to the door.
"Wait!"
Raven was about to open the door when Ruby caught his wrist.
Turning his head back. Raven opened his mouth.
"What?"
Ruby's brows knitted together, she's contemplating about something.
Raven didn't wait long because a mischievous smile appeared on Ruby's face. Raven felt chills after seeing that.
Ruby shook her head and let go of Raven's wrist.
"It's nothing."
Raven frowned but just proceeded to open the door.
Creak-
"See you soon!"
Ruby's sweet voice reached Raven's ears.
Raven looked back one more time and saw Ruby waving her hand goodbye smiling like an idiot.
"We won't see each other for a while, I have to attend the academy."
Raven said seriously.
"I know."
Ruby replied.
Raven frowned as he feels something is definitely off, though, because he's in a hurry, he ignored such feeling and closed the door.
Click-
***
[Raven's POV]
About an hour, I was back in the hotel I'm currently staying.
"Tomorrow, I'll meet with Tyrone."
I reminded myself.
I grabbed my phone. I bought one on my way here, I connected my phone to my V.D so setting it up was easy.
I then sent a message to Tyrone.
[Night]: I'll be at your place tomorrow about 1:00 P.M; can you send me your address?
Not waiting for long, Tyrone sent a reply.
[Tyrone]: Got it, see you tomorrow. My address is <XXX-ZZZ-CCC>, in Gleda City.
Tyrone and I had been exchanging messages these past days. And I'm glad to know that he trust me enough to give me his address.
Thoug, I didn't reply to his message as I got bored. Closing the message tab with Tyrone, I saw another mail.
[Nightfall]: Thanks for the chapters, keep up the good work.
It was Nightfall. He or she was online, curiosity got over me so I replied.
[Night]: Thanks for supporting me :>
Don't mind my poor communication skill. I've been alone for a long time.
Ping-
A reply came after some seconds.
[Nightfall]: Oh? Sir Night. Good evening.
My gender is public. I put it in my profile.
[Night]: Good evening too! :3
Greeting each other with 'good evening' is weirding me because of our nicknames.
I actually notice most weird things.
[Nightfall]: This is kinda weird because of our nicknames, isn't it? Anyway, how's your day?
Looks like Nighfall notices weird things too.
Nightfall asked how's my day?
'It's a fucking disaster.'
I thought as I recalled shits that I've been through in less than a day!
[Night]: It's Great :)
Is what I actually replied, I can't really tell those things to someone I don't even know the gender nor age. Nightfall is still a stranger to me, a stranger that gives me huge amount of money!
[Nightfall]: That's good to hear! Anyways, thanks for the early chapters you sent me!
[Night]: You're welcome, I hope it reduces your stress.
I remember Nightfall complaining about someone stressing them.
[Nightfall]: My stress lessened a lot! Actually, one of the cause of my stress is nowhere to be seen these days. Maybe he's dead.
I don't know what to reply to Nightfall's message.
Pfft–
A small laugh escaped my mouth.
"What the heck?"
I said breaking out a smile.
I find Nightfall's message hilarious for some reason.
[Night]: Umm... Good for you?
I sent to Nightfall. After that, I heard a knock on the door.
[Night]: I'm gonna continue my novel now, have a good day! ^o^
I sent another message to Nightfall then I turned off my phone and approched the door.
Opening it, a cute woman greeted me.
It was Keara.
"Umm... I'm back?"
She said shyly.
"Welcome back."
I smiled at her as I prompted her to come in.
"Come in, I'll cook something for us."
Keara's face brighten at my words. Then she entered the room.
***
Sunday, <10:00 AM>.
I'm currently at the mall with Keara.
We're in Gleda City.
3 hours before I meet with Tyrone.
Keara came with me because after meeting with Tyrone, I'll be going back to Lunar.
So Keara took a day off from work today and went on a date with me.
"Are you sure you want to spend your day off with me?"
I asked Keara. We're walking toward the cinema.
"Not just my day off, but all of my time."
Keara answered.
I glanced at Keara. Her answer just now was pretty good that I got flustered, though I kept my calm facade.
"I also want that."
I replied. Hearing my words, Keara halted her steps and smiled brightly at me.
"Then you will recieve a good news in the near future!"
Keara said cheerfully.
"Good news? What news?"
I asked because I'm confused.
"Secret, you'll know later."
Though I got no answer back, seeing Keara smiling brightly, I didn't pry any longer.
I then caught a glimpse of 3 men in front of us few meters away. They seems to be in their early 20s.
They are approaching us. And they're ignoring my existence as they're focused on Keara.
Lust and contempt can be clearly seen on their face.
I frowned upon seeing that.
'Now I have 2 reasons to be annoyed with them.'
For ignoring my existence, and for wanting to steal what's mine.
This is a too common cliche.
Some delinquents will hit on someone's date, that happens to romcoms almost everytime.
Observing the 3 men. They're handsome but have nasty looks on their eyes. For me they look disgusting.
Before they can even get close to us.
I activated <Monarch's Presence> to the max and focused the pressure I'm emitting to the 3 men.
Their steps halted and their eyes finally landed on me.
They're <F+> rank like me.
I looked at them with a cold indifferent eyes.
And just about for some seconds, they avoided my gaze and lowered their heads.
Even in that situation, I didn't withdraw the skill. I even exerted mana aura and pressed it down on them too.
The men seems to want to run away, but their bodies wouldn't move.
Their faces are turning blue as they must feel like choking under my pressure.
"What are you doing?"
Then I heard a sweet and calming voice coming from my side.
Withdrawing my mana and skill. I looked at Keara.
I smiled and spoke.
"Nothing. Just protecting what's mine."
Keara just tilted her head in confusion.
'Cute.'
I smiled and patted her.
"Don't mind it. Let's go."
I held Keara's hand as I took the lead. Though I'm matching Keara's small steps.
I'm greedy and I hate dirty things, so I don't want any nasty bastards near to what's mine.
I don't have the time to deal with such cliche.
'I'm on a date right now.'
I thought, walking toward the cinema.