CHAPTER 20: CHOOSE A WEAPON

The concept of false gates really bothered Roy, so much so that he remained quiet throughout the rest of the ride.

Before returning home, they purchased the necessary survival kits, tranquilliser guns, and so on from the general store. Donald trusted that anything beyond this, for example, Roy’s weapon of use, was the responsibility of Abraham.

Back at home, Donny lied to Nana, saying they were going to the next city for a few days to scout for a capable executioner to mentor him. This was so she wouldn’t worry, as leaving the city was practically a death sentence for the average man.

Roy fell on his bed and let out a long sigh.

’Such a long day. So I’m leaving the city tomorrow...’

He stared blankly at the ceiling of his room. Roy had never left the city before, and now he was even going to challenge abyssals. The feeling was quite surreal.

However, there was no point in thinking too deeply about it now when Abraham had been paid a whopping five million dollars to mentor him.

’System,’ he called inwardly, and the iridescent cube of shifting nature appeared above him as he remained lying on his bed, spinning gently on its axis.

Roy sprang up from his bed and moved over to his bedside drawer. Opening the first drawer, there was an open box with five white crystals the size of a pinky finger. These were the F-grade energy crystals Donny had provided for him yesterday.

’Only five remaining.’

He grabbed a crystal and compressed it to the best of his ability in his fist. Instinctively, he let the white particle-like lights flow out from his tightened fist, curl around his hand in a spiral, and enter his chest.

In just ten seconds, the ethereal particles stopped flowing.

"Doesn’t feel enough..."

Roy threw the dimmed crystal into the trash, picked up another F-grade energy crystal, and then repeated his actions.

’Ah, now that’s better. Hm, I wonder how many crystals Pierre uses each day. With him being at Level 10, he will need to absorb at least four or five F-grade energy crystals to be able to sign in again.’

There was still the natural recovery rate of this mystical ’energy’ that powered their sign-in attempts and skills, but it was far too slow.

Currently, Roy kept his cube visible, and it only displayed a simple countdown timer:

[00:03]

"Three more minutes and we’ll see if he can sign in today again," Roy muttered and waited patiently.

When the time elapsed, the displayed message changed into a familiar annoyance.

~Tap to sign in~

Roy took a deep breath and tapped the floating cube.

[Sign-In Unavailable!]

’As expected. Reaching that level will surely make signing in harder for the bastard. Tch,’ Roy clicked his tongue.

He waited for about twenty minutes more, but Pierre still hadn’t signed in.

Roy accepted the fate of the night and just went to bed.

***

Early next morning, before the sun arose, Nana had dozens of meal preps ready and had even arranged Roy’s travel bag for him, making sure he wasn’t forgetting anything.

"If I leave it to you, you’ll come back home with yellow teeth and say it’s because you forgot your toothbrush," she said to Roy when he told her that he wanted to do it himself.

It was only a three-day trip, so the goodbyes weren’t stretched out.

"Better eat everything there. I haven’t slept at all because I was preparing them," Nana said.

"Fine, I’ve heard," Roy groaned, placing his back into Donny’s vehicle.

The night sky was still present when they left for Abraham’s house. The retired D-Class lived in the lower area of X-City, where the poorer class roamed and lived, while the middle class lived in the middle area, which was where they lived.

Donny was quite punctual, so he arrived there by 5:50 a.m., but waited exactly six before he rang on Abraham’s doorbell again.

Automatically, the door opened with Abraham nowhere to be found, and a briefly startled Donny entered.

"Just get to the elevator. It’s already open," said Abraham, whose voice came out from a speaker hidden somewhere in his parlour full of trash.

"Couldn’t you at least reduce the mess up here?!" Donny yelled as he covered his nose.

He and Roy ran to his room and entered the wardrobe, only breathing deeply when the elevator door closed in front of them.

A minute or two later, with a chill ding, the elevator door opened to reveal Abraham’s true abode.

The D-Class Executioner was standing before them in matte black full-sleeve clothing reaching up to his neck that seemed to stick to his skin. His lower body was in a tactical, stealth body suit.

Abraham didn’t waste a second after the elevator door opened before saying, "We leave soon. Follow me."

"..."

Roy and Donny looked at each other and simply followed behind Abraham.

He led them to a wide showroom with a few matte black tactical armors on display. One looked more medieval but was bulky, another was minimalistic, while another had more visible metallic components.

There was another set of items on display, and they were weapons, including pistols, rifles, swords, daggers, spears, axes, bow-and-arrows, and more, all with varying designs.

Abraham stopped before the medieval tactical gear and voiced, "First thing you must understand about being an Executioner... specialization is for insects. But for now, choose a weapon."

Roy glanced at Donny and walked over to the weapons display, his hands hovering over several instruments of death.

’I would rather kill abyss creatures from afar,’ he thought and pondered on his options.

Roy then pointed at the bow and arrow. "This one."

Abraham smiled lightly and nodded. "You want to take the abyssals out from afar. Good choice."

He walked up to the weapons display and opened it. But instead of the bow and arrow, Executioner Abraham grabbed a dark dagger with jagged edges, flipped it, and caught it.

"This was made from Netherstone, an extremely hard and durable substance found in God’s Abyss. Take it."

Abraham held the dagger by the tip, leaving its handle for Roy to grab, but the kid’s face contorted to express his confusion.

"I want the bow and arrow," he repeated.

"...Yes, because you’re afraid of getting too close. Abyss creatures sense fear and are attracted to it. If you want to be an executioner, you must forfeit fear. And the only way to do that is by doing what you fear."

Roy understood what his D-Class mentor was getting at, but he just couldn’t accept it.

’How dare he read me so well?’

"Tsk. What if I chose a spear?"

"That will mean you underestimate how capable abyssals are, thinking you can pierce them once and be done with it. I will replace it with a rapier to give you more adaptability."

"What about the dagger?"

"If extreme fear made you choose the bow and arrow, then only extreme foolishness cloaked as bravery will make you choose the dagger. I will replace it with the bow and arrow to teach you a bit of fear."

Roy grumbled but took the dagger regardless.

Donny watched with an amused expression and voiced, "I’m sure Instructor Gideon was the one who taught you this, right?"

"Shut up," Abraham said and put on a large brown overcoat with a fluffy white collar, making him look quite distinguished. If not for the blonde wig he wore, Roy would’ve strongly believed his overall style was the coolest he had ever seen.

Shortly after, Abraham led them to his garage. He casually had a military standard grey-black APC and even a mobile mech suit attached to it in his garage.

Donny and Roy had their mouths drop open. These were not surprising for a renowned executioner, but such purchases weren’t easy to make.

The Executioner glanced at them and smiled lightly.

"What are you two waiting for? Hop in."