The Place Where Everything Begins

After sitting down...

While Eddie's mind was currently drifting into an unknown faraway place, Jeremy just sat idly opposite to the daydreaming man like a good friend.

After a few minutes passed, Eddie's eyes finally gained back their clarity...

*Huff* *Huff*

"That... That was tiring... as... as f*ck" With incessant huffing sounds coming out of his mouth nonstop, Eddie spoke like someone who had just gone through a hellish workout just now.

Soon, Eddie's eyes finally spotted that the cause of his earlier nightmare was actually sitting right in front of him with a curious expression plastered on his face.

As a result, Eddie felt extremely terrified inside.

With a wide-open mouth and eyes, dilated pupils in response to the rush of adrenaline, Eddie almost screamed in fear...

"Ya... you... no, don't kill me." Eddie uttered in fear.

After seeing Eddie, aka 'his past life savior' like this, Jeremy felt a 'sliver' of guilt inside.

Then he decided to give some more time for Eddie to calm himself down...

"..."

"..."

After some more minutes passed...

Upon seeing that Eddie felt quite okay now, Jeremy spoke with a tinge of helplessness in his voice, "Alright, I won't do that again. So, can you tell me now? You see... I'm very curious about your ability to sense my intent."

*Fuuuu...*

Having heaved out a long breath of cold air after settling himself down, Eddie finally said his own thoughts...

"If my guess is right, it's... it's not your intent that I have sensed."

"Oh? What is it then?"

Those words of Eddie's had gained Jeremy's full attention now.

However, the following words spoken by Eddie had caught Jeremy quite off guard...

"It's your strength..."

"My what? My strength?" Jeremy asked again to be clear.

"Yeah... I think so. It's your strength." Eddie confirmed yet again.

"But you see, I am only 'a bit' physically stronger than you, though. How is it possible to make you react like you've seen a ghost?" Jeremy asked back in perplex while feigning ignorance as if he didn't quite understand what strength Eddie was talking about.

At this moment, inside Jeremy's head, something was unfolding entirely different from his outward expressions. In fact, he was currently trying to analyze that his cover was blown or not.

'Does he know I am a mage? Maybe he only knows somehow that I haven't shown my true power as of yet. Or is it something else entirely?'

After hearing Jeremy's words and question about his earlier reactions, Eddie suddenly felt quite stumped, as he could only reply unsurely, "That is... I... I don't know..."

'He seems clueless for real. So, he doesn't know if I'm hiding my true power or not.'' Jeremy thought realizingly after hearing Eddie's answer.

However, to make sure that Eddie was indeed clueless about his mage's identity, Jeremy decided to probe further...

"Is that so? Then why did you react like that a moment ago?"

"Yeah, I don't really know... As for that, I just feel 'instinctively' that you are very strong... Way stronger than everyone I have ever met in my whole life." Replied Eddie straightforwardly.

'Instinctively? Is he an animal or what? Whatever it is, I need to know about his so-called ability first before deciding my next moves.'

Jeremy got a bit perplexed by Eddie's choice of words. As a result, Jeremy decided to know the causes and effects of all this first before proceeding with his next action steps.

So, Jeremy pressed Eddie for the answer, "You said, it was 'instinctively'. Now, can you tell me already about your so-called skill? You know you make me quite curious right now."

After some thoughts of whether to tell Jeremy or not, Eddie finally decided to tell him the truth as there was no point in hiding anything anyway, 'It isn't like I will lose my talent after telling him the truth... So be it then.'

"Actually, it is a talent called 'Instinct'. Not a skill, though." Said Eddie while stroking his bald head lightly.

Then with a trace of astonishment written on his face, Jeremy said, "A talent named 'instinct' huh... That's why you said that you felt like I was the strongest existence you had ever met."

"That's right. Those two times, my instinct screamed hysterically for me to run away as far as possible from you. But you know, my legs just didn't respond no matter what and my body seemed to be stiff like a stone statue. It is exactly as you had just seen a moment ago." Clarified Eddie.

"I see. So, it is like that. Wait... two times? There is also another time?" After realizing that there was another time Eddie had felt like that, Jeremy inquired further.

"Yes, do you remember when you just came out of that green toilet? It is at that time..." While clearing Jeremy's doubt, Eddie pointed his right index finger at the green toilet situated not far from the floating Crystal.

"So, that's the first time..."

Jeremy finally understood the cause and effect of everything that had happened so far.

Then Jeremy thought understandingly to himself, 'It seems like he still doesn't truly understand his own 'instinct'. At that time, after coming out of the toilet, I should have become overly excited and accidentally released my aura, which is an embodiment of my real powers.'

"Correct." Eddie said.

With a light nod responding to Eddie, Jeremy finally realized that there was nothing serious about his own 'cover'. So, he started looking for a loophole of Eddie's instinct instead.

Not long after, Jeremy suddenly spoke up, "By the way, you said that I was strong, right? Maybe, have you ever thought that it is just your imagination? Or you might just be overthinking things. Look at me; I'm just a human like you. I couldn't be more normal, could I?"

"I know that... but my instinct says otherwise..." Eddie spoke in confusion, with a bit of doubt towards his own 'instinct'.

When Jeremy saw that Eddie was moving according to his rhythm now, Jeremy spoke again, "Think carefully... You said that I was the strongest person you had ever met. However, do you really think that I'm even stronger than the cupid we've met at the tutorial space?"

"That is...I think..." Eddie got stumped again after being faced with a question so hard to be solved.

After struggling hard left and right within his own head, Eddie finally let out a sigh.

*Sigh*

"I don't know... At that time, I don't feel anything out of the ordinary from the cupid at all."

Eddie didn't know anymore if his 'Instinct' was trolling with him or not; he had no clue whatsoever...

Upon seeing that Eddie was almost there, Jeremy decided to put one last nail in the coffin, "Do you still remember the time when the cupid popped those people's heads like balloons? Doesn't it feel weird that you think I'm stronger than the cupid?"

"Yes...I... remember it clearly... But... Ah... never mind. Can we not talk about this anymore? I'm confusing myself now, ya know." Said Eddie, while scratching his bald head in confusion; he suddenly felt like his talent was but a lie.

Then Eddie thought and reminded himself inwardly, 'I guess my instinct talent is not always accurate huh. I have to be more careful from now on.'

While Jeremy was also having his own thoughts, 'Did I just make him doubt his own life? Sorry mate, my life might fall into danger if 'they' know that I'm actually a mage since even before entering Ortus.'

After a few seconds of dead air, Jeremy finally changed the topic, "Okay, there is no point in discussing those obscure things anymore. We should go do our own things and prepare for the upcoming fight for now."

Regarding the head popping incident in the tutorial space, Jeremy actually knew why Eddie didn't feel a thing when the cupid imploded those people's heads.

In fact, the principle behind that reason was very simple...

That was when a person decided to kill or trample an ant, was there any need to exert force or put in any killing intent, left alone an aura?

The answer was obvious...

Which was 'No'...

When someone killed an ant, they would just kill it without any sympathy, then completely forgot about the incident in the next seconds.

As a result, Eddie was confused because he didn't know the fact that the cupid didn't express any killing intent or feeling when it killed those people.

It was that simple...

"Alright, I gotta help those goons with some training. Excuse me."

Having finished that sentence, Eddie didn't even wait for Jeremy's reply as he scurried away as fast as he could.

Upon seeing Eddie's back going further and further away from him, Jeremy could only shake his head lightly and thought amusingly, 'Well, I do hope that your coup is doing well. I will make sure you survive this time, and then we can finally break even...'

Having finished thoughts, Jeremy finally walked towards an empty corner.

He soon reached the corner, and then he turned his head to look at the countdown timer, which was floating silently above the Survival Crystal.

The numbers were showing...

00:05:30:25

00:05:30:24

00:05:30:23

It was clear that there were around five hours and a half before the next wave of monsters assaulted them again.

'As Mitchell has asked me to help everyone fight with the outlanders... It seems like I need to help them out after all, as I will be able to help them survive and also, at the same time, able to accumulate more SP to buy more skills.'

Upon finishing his thoughts, Jeremy finally sat down on the ground with his back facing the corner...

'Alright, let me check my Status Window for a bit...'

With that thought in mind, an interface suddenly showed up in front of him.

...

[A/N: Q&A within author's thoughts below.]