The Astral soul system-Chapter 212: I don’t need help

Zen wiped his lip, cleaning the blood and straightening himself.

He looked up at Jade, dozens of thoughts running through his head.

First of all. He’d gravely miscalculated on both ends.

He was much weaker than he originally anticipated and Jade was much stronger. He’d already expected a similar stat boost for her just like after he completed his first evolution but he didn’t think one hit from her would feel like getting rammed into by a beast.

Feeling the taste of metal resurface he quickly stopped himself from spitting blood again, swallowing it. Luckily his healing had started dealing with it

[HP: 130/166]

"I-i didn’t... I’m so sorry-"

"I’m fine"

Zen said as he stood up straight.

"I just needed to test something"

Nobody else spoke but they were all looking at Zen strangely. No one had expected that outcome, especially not Jade herself, and it didn’t look like Zen had faked that reaction either.

Diane suddenly stepped forward.

"Hey,ja-"

Before she could finish, Zaria held her back, shaking her head.

"Not the time"

"That wasn’t... fine"

Neo scrutinized Zen. Ever since he’d seen Zen in his soul realm he’d been able to tell something was off but now it was indisputable.

"Looks like someone got a little bit too cocky"

He said, downplaying what happened, slinging one hand around Zen’s neck.

"We’ll take him to the infirmary for a quick patch"

Maximilian added.

"See you guys tomorrow?"

No one here was stupid enough to just believe it like that but overlooking it might be the best option for now.

Something was clearly wrong with Zen

As the girls walked away Xavier joked.

"Guess Jade no longer has to worry about bullies,huh?"

A few seconds passed and it was just the four boys left.

"You wanna talk about it?"

Maximilian asked first.

Zen shook his head.

"That’s what I thought"

"Does it have to do with the...you know what?"

Zen pauses for a few seconds before nodding. They were his largest suspects for now.

"Do you want help?"

Zen shook his head

Neo chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"Tough luck, you’re stuck with us"

Zen sighed and pulled out of Neo’s grip, walking towards the dorm alone.

"They just want to help"

Theia said, appearing on his head

"I don’t need help, not for this"

She sighed and gave up, looking into the distance.

"You need to talk to Jade"

"Why?"

"Because she’s scared. She died, woke up one random day with super strength and durability, and what do you think is going to happen when she learns she can heal, or worse, transform?"

"She could expose herself?"

"Yes"

He looked back, glancing at his roommates and looking in the direction sable and the other girls went.

"And they could turn on us"

Theia facepalmed

"That’s not the point!"

Zaine suddenly grunted.

"Then just get rid of them"

"You two are being paranoid"

"Maybe Theia’s right "

"Shut up you-"

""ENOUGH!"

Zephyr suddenly yelled.

"I can barely hear myself think. YOU can’t even hear yourselves think. I thought you were all supposed to be the same person. You’re completely out of sync "

Theia sighed. Zephyr had successfully gotten their attention.

"Alright, let’s focus on another problem."

Zen looked down at the choker and heard Zaine groan in the back of his mind.

"Why not just take it to the playground. They could probably get rid of it?"

Zen didn’t reply to that.

Did this thing even count as beast gear? He wasn’t entirely sure, although it could be something else,he wasn’t entirely sure

"We can’t do this. They’ll kill you, remember?"

Theia said although even she didn’t know why. Zen wouldn’t say exactly what he’d done to anger them, but he seemed pretty certain.

"It seems the only solution is the tedious one"

She sighed.

"Good old fashioned levelling up"

Zen hummed. It would take anywhere from three to nine times the amount of effort he’d put in since he got the system to reach his previous strength.

But right now...there wasn’t any other way.

He suddenly got a text and looking at it he noticed it was from Zaria

<Are you sure you’re okay?>

<It’s the necklace isn’t it?>

<I’m still looking into it, I’ll tell you if i find anything>

<Also I’ll keep an eye on Jade.,you should too>

...

He didn’t reply, he had nothing else to say

Zen walked into the dorm and instead of heading straight to his bed,he moved towards the game pod in the corner of the room.

He opened it up and laid In it, switching it on.

He remembered what Theia said about it draining his life force. Another mystery he couldn’t solve.

He waited a few seconds for the scan to be complete before it switched on, pulling him into the world of the game.

He opened his eyes and found himself in front of his farm. It looked less abandoned than when Zyro came here

He looked at the time and muttered.

"She’s late" 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Theia scoffed

"And she was so serious when she said we had to get here early"

Zen didn’t bother with that and started looking around, examining the place.

He went into the barn and silo, checking to see all the items still where he’d placed them and even more that mao-mao had probably put there.

He spent the next few hours browsing before deciding to go check on the plants

He’d only walked for a few minutes when he heard a voice.

"Masteeeeeerrrr!!!"

"Oh no"

He immediately looked back and a huge vine had already wrapped around him, pulling him towards Alarune.

Similar to before he couldn’t resist as she crushed him, hugging him tightly

"You’re... going...to kill me"

He groaned, trying to squeeze out of her embrace.

"Master came back again!"

"Let... me go!"

He felt himself about to black out again before something suddenly grabbed his clothes and punched Alarune, sending her tumbling and ruining the ground as her roots tore through it.

"Mao?"

He heard her groan as she put him down.

"That stupid plant never listens. At least she’s got clothes on now"

She sighed, turning to face him.

"She’s fine by the way, that barely scratched her. Sorry I came in late,had to take care of some personal business. You okay?"

"Yeah...."

Zen said absentmindedly, trying to make sense of the system notification in front of him.

[Notice]

[Herald fragment detected]

[Execute leap protocol ?]

Zen wasn’t sure what this was but he clicked yes and immediately he did a timer began

"Hey,you good?"

"Yes"

Mao sighed.

"Great, you’re all moody again"

"You have an issue with how i act?"

She shook her head, smiling

"Honestly, I’d be more disappointed if you went and became normal without me"

She looked around, breathing in the nostalgia

"So you wanna go on a quest or something? You’re weak as shit right now,we need to get your levels up"

"I don’t mind"

"Too bad, I’m deciding for you, besides,you don’t need to fight to level up,Mr farmer"

Zen wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted to do but he was down with whatever. Zyro had promised to spend time with her so he had to honor that promise.

"It’ll be like old times, I’ll fight off monsters and you take care of literally everything else.

Zen looked at the farm. The few seeds Zyro had planted last time had grown.

***********

A few hours passed and Zen was carefully adding new seeds into the soil while Mao watched from the side.

"It really has been a while,huh?"

"Yes"

"I’m glad this doesn’t feel...akward. it’s nice. Even if I’m still pissed at you"

"..."

"You’re really not gonna say anything? It’s been years man, and even before then you sometimes disappeared for weeks. "

"I got in trouble "

"Yeah I know that, but... you know if you actually asked for help I’d help you, right?"

"... It’s complicated "

"Yeah, everything with the arcade is complicated"

She sighed, taking a deep breath.

"Your family -"

"Dead. As far as I can tell."

All of Mao’s annoyance disappeared into thin air and she sighed. She hadn’t meant to push, especially after he already said it last time.

"Sorry. I-"

"Don’t have to apologize. My sister might be alive though "

"Rio?"

He nodded.

"I have a clue but I’m not sure."

"So you’re trying to find her?"

Zen nodded. It was on his list of priorities.

She immediately perked up.

"Where are you?"

"Hmm?"

"I mean in real life. We can meet up and I’ll help. What planet are you on?"

"..."

Mao groaned.

"Come on. I used to talk to Rio too, she’s practically my little sister I’ve never met,you have to let me help."

Zen went quiet for a few seconds before opening his mouth to speak

At that second the timer in the system reached zero and the ground immediately started quaking like it was the end of the world.

The player systems immediately popped up

<Error!>

<System malfunction>

<Forced logout initiated>

Mao’s eyes immediately widened and she yelled.

"Let’s meet in-"

*Bang!*

A large explosion suddenly appeared out of nowhere, blinding them .

Zen’s eyes opened and he found himself back in the pod, with an error screen on the headset.

He immediately got out and headed towards his bed , sitting down.

"Did you get it?"

Zyro asked

Zen nodded.

"Looks like mao-mao wants to meet in dragon city"

That was the only information he had for now, according to what he saw the game was going to be under maintenance for a while.

"Zen,look at this."

The notification finally popped up and he saw what had happened with the system and the game

[Congratulations host]

[Partial link has been created to beacon]

[Realm identified : Varian"