CHAPTER 23: HARVEST THE CRYSTALS

Roy was still holding onto the dagger lodged in the Spearhead Wyvern King’s left eye when that voice came, bringing him a profound sense of shock and awe.

"So? What happened?" Abraham impatiently asked. To him, the kid was just staring ahead blankly.

"I-I... heh," Roy’s lips cracked into a broken smile, "I just gained some xp!"

Abraham seemed to freeze for a few seconds, but then grinned underneath his mask.

"How do you feel?"

"I-I’m not sure. I guess... a bit rejuvenated?"

"That’s the bit of energy you get from killing abyss creatures," Abraham said.

"The test was successful, so now it’s time for the next phase. And kid, from now on, call me Master."

Roy struggled a bit to remove the dagger from the eye socket of the dead avian creature, but answered regardless, "Yes, sir."

"Now," Abraham began and stepped off the Spearhead Wyvern. He walked over to its torso and continued, "We harvest the crystals."

Grrrrr!

Master Abraham’s chainsword whirred again and he cut precisely on a particular part of the Spearhead Wyvern King’s carcass, where its heart would be but slightly below.

And a few seconds later, Abraham pulled something out and tossed it to Roy.

Roy, despite his slightly invested-in physicality, wasn’t reflexive enough to catch the item, and it fell onto the concrete and rolled.

However, Roy saw it, a bloodied roughly shaped crystal with glowing white light within. This crystal was quite larger than the ones he was used to, and the reason was simple.

He picked it up and muttered to himself, "An E-grade energy crystal..."

"Give it back," Master Abraham coldly said and Roy did as he was ordered.

Pa! The man caught the crystal easily and put it in a small pouch on his utility belt.

"Unless enemies are charging at you, it is always advisable that you acquire as many energy crystals as you can during battle. You never know what to expect," he lectured Roy, already walking over to the lesser Spearhead Wyverns.

Roy followed behind and was even made to carve out two of the energy crystals. They were all E-grade and could sell for about four hundred dollars each, so Roy was eager to possess one.

However, the D-Class Executioner only gave him one.

"You should only have the energy crystals of the abyss creatures you kill," was what he said.

’Tch. Using field experience to defend your greed. I see through you,’ Roy thought.

"What was that?" Abraham suddenly asked, making Roy flinch in shock.

"I-I didn’t say anything," Roy answered.

"..." Abraham ignored him and headed back to the APC.

’Can he read minds too?’ Roy fearfully thought and kept close.

He looked about his surroundings and asked, "Master, I always felt there should be more abyss creatures lurking in the area, but it seems like there are none. Is it because of the Gate?"

"Yes, in a few cases. But you’re asking the wrong question," Abraham said, glancing at Roy. "You never asked what the curbing threshold is for executioners to be dispatched."

"What is it?"

"One hundred abyssals. So imagine that number spread across five thousand square metres of land. Not much anymore, is it?"

"Oh, I understand then. I just didn’t expect the threshold to be that small."

"It has to be. Anything more and it can’t be controlled," Abraham said.

"And... Master, how are you so fast?! I could barely keep up," Roy said in awe.

Master Abraham observed Roy for a second, and answered, "My body stat is Quickness."

The body stat was the known general term for the first of the five attributes all Irregulars possessed. Each was tailored to their System.

Pierre’s LOVE.exe had Appeal as his body stat, Master Abraham’s MATH.exe had Quickness, while Roy’s 404.exe had Physical.

Aside from the body stats, there were also the mind stats, release stats, fortification stats, and randomness stats.

He grinned slightly, ’Mine’s practically the body stat itself.’

"What is your body stat? It’s more general, isn’t it?" Abraham deduced.

Roy was both annoyed and surprised at his master’s ability to connect dots or speculate accurately. It was almost as if he knew it too as soon as you thought of it, unless...

"Do you have a mind-reading skill?" he finally asked.

"No. But I have a passive skill that helps me know everything about my surroundings using math to calculate and figure things out."

Roy’s eyes widened in surprise. "That’s cool, whoa. You’re basically predicting the future!"

This skill was practically the reason why the D-Class Executioner always seemed ten steps ahead of the abyssals he fights. He didn’t need any flashy skills to bring his enemies to their knees. He didn’t need magic or brute strength, only cold calculation and precision.

’No wonder he was a contender for God of Irregular High School,’

Roy thought.

"What’s the name of the skill?"

"Find X," Abraham said and waited, as though expecting Roy to say something unique in response.

"So that’s why Donny makes that ’I need my X’ joke. Heh. That’s so him, quite stupid."

Abraham nodded approvingly, as if to say, "We’ll get along very well."

"Your XP meter," he voiced, chaining the subject to more pressing matters, "how many points does it need to be filled up?"

Roy quickly answered, "One thousand experience points. The Spearhead Wyvern King gave me one hundred and eighty XP."

"I see." Abraham removed the flap from the lower half of his face. "You will need—"

"Wrrgh! Wrrrugh!!"

Suddenly, rabid-looking, beastly four-legged creatures appeared from the subway entrance at the intersection far up ahead, growing into a small horde.

They had smelt blood!

They weren’t fully visible yet to Abraham and Roy, but they could see a significantly large dog-like creature directing the beasts from the back.

A chill ran up Roy’s spine and he looked to Abraham, finding strength in his presence, and tightened his grip on the Netherstone dagger.

Abraham extended his hand again, and his bracket-shaped weapon rack materialised out of thin air almost instantly.

"Grab the pistol," he said to Roy, already dropping the chainsword at his back holster and grabbing an axe and submachine gun from the Array.

Roy stepped closer to the arms rack and grabbed one of the two black pistols, while his other hand still held onto the dagger.

"Have you handled a gun before?" Abraham asked.

Roy tried not to look at the incoming horde and said with beads of sweat rolling down his forehead, "I’ve never. I thought you said they won’t be around..."

"I did. The safety’s already switched off. Your aim should be abysmal, but that’s not what is important right now," Abraham said and looked around.

He pointed at a coffee shop with broken windows and obviously limited space and began running to it.

Roy followed too and shouted, "What about Donny? Are we just going to leave him there"

"The APC has a defence mechanism. And isn’t Donny trained? He can use the mech suit," Abraham answered and jumped over the dust and rubble-covered counter.

He added, "However, they won’t get past us alive."

Just then, the first howling beast appeared before the coffee shop.