The Earth After Rebirth

When Kiro offered the potion, he practically snatched it out of his hand and downed it immediately. As though someone was going to come and steal it from him or that Kiro would say he was joking.

"Huh, I expected something to happen." He said turning his hands, thinking maybe he'd see something.

"Were you hoping to get instant powers so that you can fight your way out of paying? Pay up!" Kiro eyed him warily.

"A man can only try." He shrugged, transferring the gold half-heartedly. Now that it could be exchanged for real money, it wasn't easy to just buy anything, especially when it was expensive.

But Viktor figured he could use the power boost, that will enable him to earn more than fifty thousand rushing dungeons. He liked those odds, so he wasn't too hurt.

"You're such an idiot, how did you even become a guild master, I told you it took 72 hours. What school do you go to?" He wasn't trying to insult him but his attention span was that of a gold fish.

He started to doubt his better judgement, maybe he made a mistake giving someone such as him that much responsibility.

"School? Kid, I'm a paying member of society!" He shouted proudly, banging his chest.

Kiro laughed at the joke, waiting for him to take it back but when he didn't the laugh died abruptly. "You can't be serious?"

"Kid. I have a kid!"

"Wha—why are you somehow dumber than my little brother, what is he 13, 14. Dammit, how old is that brat again."

Kiro was simply astounded. He thought he just had a crazy growth spurt. He never imagined that this person in front of him was older, with a child even.

"I have the most beautiful wife too." Though older, he didn't care for the insults Kiro was laying in on him. He was carefree like that.

"Tsk. I have the most beautiful girlfriend." He tried to hide being embarrassed saying that, he didn't know why he was trying to have one over this guy.

"You're what? 15? What do you know about women and beauty." Viktor laughed a little, his eyes reminiscent of the past.

"Shut up! Why are you following us?"

They'd been walking all this time throughout the market, but Viktor had stuck to them like gum. Not willing to leave until he got his money's worth.

"Oh, I figured I'd follow you guys around until I gained these new powers. I'll need someone to test them on." He looked at Kiro hopefully.

Even though Viktor liked acting old, he was only three years older than Kiro. He could afford fooling around now and then—well almost all the time.

"If you have a daughter, why are you wasting your time here?" Aeron finally joined in on the conversation.

"It's pretty obvious isn't it? Ever since these babies could be exchanged for real money, this became my full-time job. Meaning you guys are taking fifty thousand from my daughters mouth."

"You'll be fine, if you could afford the head gear before the money exchange, you were well off to begin with." Kiro understood the hypocrisy in his statement.

He wasn't well off but he was here too before the money exchange. That was only thanks to his past knowledge, he wouldn't have dared use his parents' money otherwise.

"Can't argue with that."

They were just walking out of the market, Kiro felt the meat he'd gotten was enough to last them for a few weeks. There was yelling behind them, when they turned a capital officer was waving for them to stop.

Kiro knew better than to run away from the NPCs that upheld law and order within Asgard. They were capable of doing more than just punishments to one's character, the heftiest fines he'd witnessed back then was them taking a characters levels like they physical scout badges attached to them.

"Could we help you Sir?" Kiro said before the two could say something dumber that'd get them into more trouble.

"By the law of the King, fighting within capital walls is forbidden. Player versus Player was created for such matters."

The insane, never been seen before Asgardian King. Nobody had ever seen him, he just let his footsoldiers handle the business. A famous theory in the past was that, the King wasn't real. It was just the system giving out orders.

Having experienced the system's very bad attitude, Kiro had no doubt that, that theory was right on the money.

"The last I checked, roughhousing wasn't a problem. We weren't really fighting you see, we were just sparring." Kiro explained sincerely hoping they won't have to be in deep trouble.

"Even that, requires the space the PVP offers. If every warrior started fighting on the streets, what do you think would happen to the citizens? This is their safe haven." The capital officer explained the gravity of the situation since they weren't able to grasp it on their own.

"We're sorry, we didn't know." He forced out a smile. This NPC was kind of arrogant and he didn't take kindly to that.

"I'm afraid even so, you'll have to pay the price."

"Okay, how much?" Viktor asked.

If it weren't for the fact that they were in trouble not only because of him, but because they were fighting—Kiro would've loved smacking him around—just to knock some sense into him. No matter how old he was.

"Bribes?" The officer looked absolutely disgusted.

"He didn't mean it like that, he thought by price you meant we had to pay in gold." Kiro tried to mend.

"I see. As Asgardians, it is your duties to rise up when your Kingdom needs you. There's a remote village, 4 hours out of the capital. Overnight, a tower appeared in the middle of it. Its causing, problems, your job is to investigate and eradicate the threat."

'Okay, a quest. Still better than having your levels stolen like they were nothing.' Kiro sighed in relief.

They agreed to do it, the only rule was they went only the three of them, since it was their collective punishment and they had to leave immediately, that's how urgent the matter was.

Aeron was ecstatic, this wasn't his first quest but he was sure it would be his most exciting one. He'd of course watched the viral videos, so he was a fan.

"Well men, forward we trudge."