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Chapter 121: Four Girls, Maybe More
🕑 Added 2025-07-19 15:47:08 +0000 UTCRafe's mind raced. His formerly unresponsive mind raced as he considered the implications. His mother was alive. She was in a position of power in perhaps the strongest organisation on Earth currently.
He was getting an invitation to some kind of auction. Maybe it was a way for him to return to Earth?
This will be a virtual auction attended by only individuals with enough tutorial points or credits. Note that individuals, not organisations, are being invited, though the five strongest organisations or companies or guilds or system recognised cities will be given two representative slots. This is not a world congress so face to face meetings will only be possible if both parties agree to it. The auction is in one week.
Well, there went his hope. The damn system was a tease. Maybe he could give them some kind of notice that he was alive somewhere in the multiverse, and that if they leveled up diligently,maybe he'd meet them if or once Earth made it there too.
Rafe frowned at the whole virtual auction assertion. There was nothing to be done about it though. He might get to meet his mother virtually. That was something he couldn't have imagined even thirty minutes before. Even though he might not get the chance to talk with them, he knew his parents were alive at the very least.
And maybe he would talk to them. Maybe he'd get to tell them they should not worry. That he was still alive, and that he was trying to get to them.
And then Helare came in. Rafe froze, remembering where he was. He remembered crying in front of her the day before. That was so embarrassing. And she had pulled him up and supported all his considerable weight, with Filoria's help off course.
And he was lying in her bed again. And he hadn't showered in days. He was acutely aware of how well she smelled as she caressed his head.
She joined their foreheads together. Rafe vaguely remembered this having happened more than once since he'd had his episode. And then she added to his embarrassment. She kissed him on the forehead.
And she turned and walked away like nothing had happened. Rafe used all his willpower to prevent himself from making any kind of noise. But then she turned and noticed his burning face. His eyes met hers.
She came back, excited, happy for him to be back. She did not feel embarrassed at all. Or she ignored the embarrassment.
Rafe tried to emulate her, but failed.
They talked about something or other, but then things got a bit serious, and before he knew it Rafe was hugging her and listening to her heartbreaking sobs. Their family lives were so different and yet almost scarily similar.
Rafe did not want to admit his own mother and father were like Helare's father. He had only one sister, but did he know anything about her. Except that she was some kind of famous singer now. He'd last seen his father when he was halfway through the age of ten. His mother maybe two years before that.
In that last year his sister had become angry. She snapped at him for every little thing. She had become a completely different person, which was why he assumed he hadn't really ever known her. She had been an awkward girl when she was younger. A few years later she was a common face on his screens.
His father was the same, but now, with a few years under his belt, Rafe thought he roughly understood them. His father was going through something similar to a divorce back then, although since his mother did not change her name, maybe it wasn't exactly a divorce.
Of course his sister hated their mother's absence, so perhaps she'd projected her anger onto him? He couldn't tell. She was only a teenager at the time. His father turtled down on his music company, and his sister, Reyna Kingsley, went with him.
Then Rafe stayed with aunt up in Crosshill town. He only stayed with her for about four years though. Once his cousin graduated from college, he never saw that particular branch of his family again. Not even on facetime.
But he was sure there was a reason for his family’s behavior. There was a reason. There must be a reason.
The more Helare spoke though, the more a kind of lump formed in his chest. Until the end there, where she said something about having given up on her family.
That sent Rafe's mind reeling in so many directions he didn't know which way was up or down.
And then she told him she was going to leave for a while. He was still flabbergasted when she jumped on him with a kiss.
He should have gone to find her immediately, but Rafe found himself stuck. And for lots of good reasons too. First he was dirty, and stinky and sweaty too.
Second, he was pretty sure he'd just blown a chance to lose his much dreaded virginity. He was pretty sure there had been a moment there. When he'd first pulled her to his chest. But then what she'd said about her family had Rafe thinking of entirely too serious things.
And then she'd kissed him. He wasn't keeping count or anything, but wasn't this the fourth girl who'd suddenly jumped him. Okay, he was totally keeping count.
And on the other three occasions, relationships had been kind of impossible, if he remembered correctly. He found himself trying to consider. He wondered if this too was a doomed relationship, but then Helare's words started playing in his mind again.
What had she meant about giving up on trying to please her family? What had she meant when she said this was the last time she would be reporting to the king?
A faint hope flickered to life in Rafe's heart. Maybe it was not impossible.
“Still,” Rafe tried to caution himself. “I better do my best to contain this excess charm. One day the girl jumping might go too far if I'm not careful.”
And then he considered that scenario. He remembered one time talking to his sex crazed teammates back on his old basketball team. He remembered them joking about girls jumping them when they got rich and famous. He remembered them joking about being forced to do it by a girl, and how they'd love it, unlike girls who - for good reason - hated that kind of thing. Apparently, quite a few of his friends had something of rape fantasy, kink or whatever. He didn't know why he was remembering this now.
The next day, Helare was nowhere to be found. She had apparently left the camp suddenly the day before.
She left immediately after the kiss, Rafe figured after a short investigation. He had had a very short window to catch her, and he had failed. It was a bit disappointing, but he shrugged it off. He was pretty sure she was going to come back, and he would probably be here when she did. What was more important now was preparing for the auction.
He went back to training with Collab, and apparently the old man had taken on a bunch of apprentices in his absence. They still sparred together though. Collab allowed Rafe to use his newly hatched techniques in their fight, and there was a barely noticeable improvement. He could last maybe two seconds longer on average.
Rafe decided it had been a good idea not to advance his techniques to the intermediate tier. His technique's foundations still needed some work.
Two days later Filoria approached him. Apparently , even though she was her personal guard, Filoria never joined Helare when the princess went to report to the king.
“We are going on a mission,” Filoria declared.
Rafe only blinked at her in confusion. “We are?”
“Yes. Every capable fighter is supposed to take part in patrols.”
“But I'm not a fighter. I'm a crafter,” Rafe tried to defend.
It wasn't a bad idea though, to go on patrol for a while. He had been in this camp, stuck in this one place for months now, and while he loved his smithing well enough, it was getting tiresome. Besides, he was this rare kind of curiosity to the other denizens of the camp.
From being the only human to his curious tattoos which would probably stand out even on Earth. Then the time he'd caused a riot for being rude to the princess. Then his insight debacle. Then the training with Collab. And finally the last few days where he had become near catatonic and had wept like his dog had died. He didn't even have a dog, which he should have gotten during his days of loneliness back on Earth, now he thought about it.
He decided a little time away from the camp was just what the doctor ordered.
The journey wasn’t as liberating as he had expected it to be. For one thing, he hadn't thought he would be so closely under Filoria's watch. It was stifling. He was acutely aware he was suspicious and had always been, and he and Filoria didn't get along much, but nothing warranted her sticking so close to him. The princess wasn't even here anymore. How exactly was Rafe supposed to be a danger to someone who wasn't even here.
But it was a relief to stretch out a little; and to feel the slightly more significant Essence from hunting, although it barely helped him and his weirdly mutated soul.
Filoria reached level 74 early into their journey and Rafe was more than a little jealous. He seriously needed to think of a way to increase the pace of his leveling, even just a little.
One strategy was to research and hunt calamity beasts or any other stronger than normal beasts. Calamity beasts were the highest level of quality, which meant there must be another level below them. Maybe below calamity beasts, but above normal beasts. Rafe could only dream.
Although, since beasts were ranked in that way it made sense that even other system users were ranked similarly. Something to think on.
Three days after their expedition started, Rafe managed to isolate himself from the others, especially Filoria who was sticking to him like a moth to a flame. He had received a notification he had been anticipating and dreading. Mostly anticipating.
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