The Gamer's System

Chapter 130: Some Peaceful Moments

Quinn woke up just a few hours later after the fight. His vision slowly adjusted to the surroundings as if he just regained consciousness after a year's worth of time. And this much was understandable because he was suffering from the effects of using the same deadly skill twice within the same day.

Under normal circumstances, Quinn would've already died from the first usage of the skill. But, because of Zeke's presence and interference, the human was able to stay alive. This was also the reason why Zeke prevented the human from using the full output of the skill for the second time. He didn't fear the attack. In fact, Zeke would've perfectly handled such a blow. But he feared that the body of the human would not be able to take it anymore. 

"Aghh my head hurts." He said to himself, getting the same sensation as a hangover except that it was ten times stronger. 

Slowly, the human got up. Quinn was so nauseated that, he felt like vomiting all his organs out. There was nothing easy about his body's condition because even healing spells can only do so much for someone. 

So Quinn just stayed there. He felt the same rumbling created when he fought against Zeke's [Conjure] but paid it no mind for the moment. Then, after half an hour, he finally got a bit better, enough for him to move around; and he did. The human got out of bed, trying to find where all the commotion was coming from.

"If my guess is right, that's probably them." He told himself, going towards the same direction he did when he spared against Zeke.

As soon as he found himself in front of the door, the gamer himself came out, greeting Quinn whom he saw immediately.

"Oh. Good you're finally awake." Zeke told him, showing his usual carefree smile at Quinn; as if he already forgot how the human almost killed his own teammates a few hours ago.

"Forgive me sir. That won't happen again." Quinn began; immediately remembering the blunder he did. The human bowed his head apologetically at Zeke who just shrugged the whole thing off.

"Don't sweat it man. If anything, I'm glad that I have you on my side." He replied, patting the human's back and motioning for Quin to raise his head up.

"By the way, your allies are sparring with Heron and Morpheus as we speak. It seems like all of you got a decent boost from the previous fight." Zeke continued, satisfied with the results produced by the elites.

"Yes. I'm glad that you appreciate it." Quinn continued, not forgetting to be courteous with Zeke who continued helping them out and supplying their needs.

"So how did I fair on our little spar sir?" Quinn followed up, wanting to know Zeke's thoughts.

"Okay first of all, I didn't spar against you, my Conjure did. And secondly, if we ever fought, I'd only take the same amount of time that I did when I finally stepped in." Zeke replied which was not of arrogance. It was pure facts that he was saying and Quinn knew it. 

The assessment didn't end there. Quinn followed Zeke as the gamer went for the pantry. He still hasn't eaten anything yet upon returning and, quite frankly, he was already famished.

"Okay but I have another question if you may." Quinn continued.

"Yes, you may. After I get some food on my plate. Do you mind?" Zeke replied, finally reaching the area and getting stuff to eat. The human nodded in agreement, watching Zeke move around to do as he said.

Quinn had nothing but shock from what he saw. Zeke had a mountain of food on his plate, with a towering amount of mashed potato coated in gravy. This was food from the Elven Continent and, since Zeke had the time, he grew a farm on his cave, making him have a constant supply of food for himself and all his allies.

"Now you may." Zeke said, finally digging in.

"Okay sir. It never occurred to me how the time difference between us was actually really long. In fact, you spent 13 whole years on this world, counting the amount of time you spent on your first run." Quinn began and, as Zeke finished swallowing a spoonful of potatoes, he answered:

"Mmmhmm?" which gave Quinn the permission to proceed.

"When we fought, there was the difference between a battle-hardened human who spent thirteen years here, to someone who just started off a few days ago." Quinn said, as if trying to prove a point. Zeke simply nodded, knowing that these are all facts.

"So with all that being said, who do you think would I win if we started at the same time?" And at this, Zeke looked at Quinn with a funny looking smile. As if the question was so irrelevant to the current situation of the elites and the things that Zeke discovered regarding the Windsprites.

"Look kid." Zek began, making sure that there was no food left on his mouth before proceeding.

"The difference between you and me is way more than just those years." Zeke continued, telling the whole proceeding of events during his run.

As soon as he was summoned, Zeke was immediately faced with trained mercenaries. He was still at level one at that time and, nobody was there to back him up. His [System] was still at base form and so was his level. He continued by saying all the misfortunes which he faced and, these were enough for him to prove his point.

"Unlike you, I wasn't given extensive education by the main deities before getting sent here. I also had no allies. I was alone and I had to survive on the single blessing that those three bestowed upon me." Zeke furthered.

"The difference is not simply with the years kid. Even if we started on the same stage, I'm sure that I could wipe the floor with you." Zeke pointed his fork to Quinn as he said this.

"But there's no way for me to prove that of course." Zeke finished, munching on his food again.

Quinn contemplated on the gamer's words. His original goal was to beat Zeke after all. And this was still the same goal Quinn had in mind. There was nothing more important than proving his supremacy.

He wanted nothing more than to finally claim that he is at the top of humanity's food chain. He wanted to be able to say that: he is the perfection of humanity's efforts to evolve. But, with every encounter with Zeke on the battlefield, Quinn felt nothing but the overwhelming difference between him and the gamer and, this pained him so.

"But you see, the difference between us shouldn't matter. If you are really better then, time would come when you would surpass me and I wont mind." Zeke said to Quinn which boosted the human's declining morale.

The two continued talking, moving on to Zeke's death once again. This time, the gamer was sure that nothing could hurt him regarding this experience so he continued answering all of Quinn's questions, thinking that the human deserved this much from finishing the mission beyond Zeke's expectations.

"Something that ran through my mind before dying? Hmmm well there were actually a lot of instances when I died but, the one I had with Glade felt so final that, only one thought surfaced on my head."

"And what was that?" Quinn asked.

"That, if by some sort of miracle I'd still come out alive, then I would dedicate my life to ensuring that no other humans would suffer the same fate as I have." There was a deep seriousness on Zeke's voice and, Quinn was able to feel it.

"I knew those gods would send another batch because that's how the universe works. They need to fix these glitches not because they care, but because the balance must be maintained." Zeke continued, not telling where he got the information from and leaving things at that for the moment.

"Anyway I hope that you were satisfied with my answers Quinn. Feel free to stay if you want to and, I'm willing to answer questions if you still have some." Zeke said and, Quinn gladly accepted this offer feeling a sort of achievement from finally being called by his name by Zeke Elwood.

The two stayed at the pantry area for a while because, Zeke wanted to eat some more. Unknown to everyone, the reason why Zeke needed to eat so much and why he was constantly hungry was because his brain always worked full time. It always thought of the things that needed to be done and, quite frankly, he couldn't properly use it on an empty stomach.

Hence he continued gobbling down food. It wasn't long after when Heron finally contacted him to give an update about the sparring session with the elites.

"Master." 

"Yes, what is it Heron?" Zeke said, finally finished with his meal. He also placed it on loudspeaker so Quinn could also hear. This was also a way for Zeke to continue affirming his place as the ally of the elites and to not raise any doubts that he and his comrades are actually enemies.

"We've just finished with the training. Should we proceed to the meeting now?" Heron asked.

"Give them at least thirty minutes to rest and change clothes. I won't be able to focus in a room full of sweaty kids." Zeke replied.

"Okay master, I'll relay the message to them." Heron answered, closing the communication channel.

"We're having a meeting again?" Quinn asked.

"Yup. I would hold it off until tomorrow but, time is not actually on our side so we need to be quick about this." Zeke replied washing the dishes he used.

"You should go and prepare kid." Zeke told Quinn, using [Shadow Dive] to teleport the human back to his room.

With nobody around, Zeke continued thinking about the Windsprites and the current state of things. He couldn't help but get a bit worried for the group because of the earlier encounter against Sylph. But he placed his trust on them, thinking that the group was ready for the storm that was brewing.

"I promise to bring all of you back home."