The Earth After Rebirth

After Dark was in their meeting hall, they all looked tensed up. Clearly something serious was being discussed, something that divided them.

"We have to sell these, they will make us serious money and I know you all know we need all the resources out there." Nikolai argued.

They couldn't talk freely with Aeron there, something they didn't think of before asking him to join in. Now that he had joined, it would be pretty awkward to kick him out again.

They thought it would be alright as long as they were cautious and subtle when bringing up the matter. Having someone finding out that they were the group that caused havoc would be detrimental not only to them, but their families as well.

"I hear you Nikolai, but I think we have enough money. There's the President too helping us out, wouldn't it be great to rule Asgard as guardians? We have all this power, why share it?" Kiro shot back.

He'd seen first hand what people were capable of when they were given a taste of power. The game would become unbearable, and he couldn't have that get in the way of finding what the game was exactly. He hadn't forgotten about the voices he'd dreamed in the real world.

None of his friends understood of course because he hadn't told them. He for sure thought they'd think he was insane, they'd try to explain it away as a hallucination of some sort.

"But Ki, we have no use for the potion now. We're all guardians, I didn't work for months to keep these in storage."

Hiro just had the mind of an inventor, he wanted to show off, witness people wanting his product and only then will the fruits of his labour be rewarded.

Kiro understood his friend's perspective, but there was an itch that bothered him. He couldn't quite reach to scratch it, he didn't know whether he was just being stubborn or he was indeed onto something.

"But what happens when a vast amount of people are given power? You've seen it first hand what humans are capable of." He felt dirty bringing this up.

"Dude, it's just a game." Ishaan said.

"Is it though?"

Aeron on the other hand was quiet, not because he wanted to be but because he was very confused by the conversation. He couldn't follow anything beyond that some were on one and others on another.

"Kiro is right. We shouldn't make any rash decisions, we should think this through, a thousand times over if need be." Felix felt awkward being at odds with Nikolai, but since meeting Kiro, he was set on being on equal footing with him.

They were disturbed by Ishaan's loud gasp. He was concentrated on something in front of him. With the days that passed, everybody in the room knew just what he was looking at—he'd awakened his true blood.

His grin faded and his face was unreadable. They waited for him to say something but he was in a world of his own, oblivious to the eyes that stared daggers at him.

"What?" Hiro asked a bit agitated.

"My subclass, I'm a necromancer. My main class has an addition to it, dark—I'm a dark battle mage." He mumbled as if not proud of the boosts he'd been given.

"So it worked? Why are you so sour about it." Felix was confused as he asked.

Kiro didn't exactly like necromancy because it seemed to have effects on some of his skills but he had no qualms having one on his team. Maybe having one would be advantageous in that, it could potentially cancel out the skill that seemed to always make his vibrations useless.

"Not scared of ghosts are you?" Kiro teased him.

"Me—what—no—of course not." He didn't sound very convincing.

After laughing at him for a good minute they turned to Aeron expectedly. He wasn't too sure what his was, so he was still reading up on what it did exactly.

"Uh, it says Saint. I don't know exactly—wait, there's more details here." His eyes darted from left to right, he was under pressure having to figure what this did with all those eyes on him.

"Ahh, I give buffs, apparently. It seems I also won't need potions to replenish my mana, it gave me a skill that can do that a thousand times faster." He said finally.

Kiro's eyes were crazily focused on him, they were widened. As the ghost of Christmas past haunted his mind.

He remembered there was someone who gave buffs to his companions in his past. Though he didn't standout since he was just support. This skill made them formidable enemies, not invincible but good enough they were known, but he could only bask in their glory since he wasn't the one slaying monsters.

Though Kiro couldn't be sure whether that someone was Aeron. He was so forgettable and it seemed that he didn't like spotlights either, since he never once complained about them taking the limelight.

"That's amazing." He managed to finally say. "Let's run a dungeon right now." The earlier argument was long forgotten to him.

"Ahem! Have you forgotten, the potions?" Hiro reminded him.

"Oh."

Ding!

[Gods, you people are insufferable. Can't even decide on a simple matter? And you lot are supposed to...]

"To what?" The system went quiet for a while, so they couldn't help but ask in sync.

Ding!

[I'll suggest something—]

"No." Kiro quickly replied.

Ding!

[It's—]

"The last time I let you fool me, you ended up ruining our raid by adding other guardians into the mix."

Ding!

[You'll find that, in the near future, that was helpful if anything. How about this? Firstly, Decide who to give these to according to only your liking. Secondly, hold a tournament in-game and maybe say the top 50 gets to win one?]

It wasn't a bad idea, not at all. Kiro was surprised that the system could actually be helpful. Unfortunately, this only solidified his suspicions. There was definitely more than meets the eye with this game and he was focused on getting to the bottom of it.

"Okay, that's not half bad. We get to limit who gets the potions, while Hiro gets to be praised for his hard work. Win-win."