Chapter 58: The Challenge
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[Bai Xiaobao’s Village; Eight Months Earlier… ]

A solitary cloud blew overhead the shade from which landed perfectly onto a young man lying on a rock in an open field. Children played nearby in the sunshine, they ran about and playing through the abnormally fierce wind that blew over the area.

Most people in this village were just beginning to adjust to life in this place. The situation was rather strange to suddenly be teleported from various universes and expected to nonchalantly accept it.

Children adapted the swiftest to the circumstances, but were unable to take care of themselves properly.

That’s partly why the village was founded.

The other reason is that people tended to get used to their everyday comfortable lives and they wanted to emulate those lives with village life. The adventurer's lifestyle, especially for the weak and unskilled, isn't a pleasant one.

However, not everyone was weak and unskilled, people all stayed behind for their own reasons.

Some stayed behind to support the children who were teleported to this place. Some didn’t want to risk the danger of the forest. Others stayed behind waiting on the slim hope that people, family most of the time, would teleport here at any moment.

Although it soon became apparent that, if they hadn’t arrived by now, they never would.

At that point, though, people had already become used to their lives here.

While the new abilities and system were odd, the vast majority of universe had their own strange occurrences.

People were first intrigued by the new phenomena, but then quickly lost interest.

Magical, supernatural, and unexplainable phenomena were interesting to everyone at first, but the majority lost interest quickly.

People have their own lives.

Building a house, farming, and raising animals were are extremely time consuming tasks.

While some people might spend their free time exploring magic and the supernatural, any level of progress takes a long time.

Thus, people became bored of it after awhile.

Most quickly adapted… and it soon became part of their routine.

People had comfier lives with a full civilized society around them. Even in harsh dictatorships people tended to have better conditions than our current state.

For some of these people, it wasn’t entirely terrible.

A few were in horrible debt or cursed with incurable diseases that abilities had been able to cure in this universe.

The ‘lucky ones’ as they’re called.

Those who were already praying for a salvation before being teleported randomly into this universe and were thankful for the opportunity.

This young man lying in the shade was not one of those people.

He had everything before he was teleported here.

Money, fame, and influence.

A promising future.

Loving parents.

Even had a girlfriend that he’d planned to marry.

When he was teleported here, he lost everything.

The stark contrast between his miserable life here and the beautiful life he had before was like night and day.

These days it seemed like the world hated him. Perhaps it did. As everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

When he only desired sunshine and a peaceful afternoon, he’d be the only person in the shade.

When chickens were stolen, he’d appear to be the only suspect nearby.

Overall, for this young man, the days kept on getting worse.

For this young man, there’s one redeeming grace of this place.

Sidney.

The young man’s only friend, the first person he met after arriving in this place, and a beacon of justice and kindness within this heartless universe.

The only person who believes he’s innocent.

Sadly, even Sidney cannot protect him forever.

Evidence is piling up and loud extremists keep pushing for direct action against him.

The young man had soon decided that his best option was to leave this village before the villages rallied themselves up.

Standing up, he glanced toward the playing children and nearby town. As the shade finally moved off him, the young man briefly basked in the warm sunlight before setting off.

Before he could go more than several steps however, a familiar voice from several feet behind him interrupted his escape.

“I thought I told you to watch the children, Ivan.” Sidney called voice portraying mock anger.

Ivan, the young man, turned around and calmly replied. “There’s no danger here… and, well, I think it would be better if I left.”

“You aren’t the one causing trouble around here. Both of us know that.” Sidney attempted to soothe him.

“Look, at this point, it doesn’t matter.” He pointed out, “They want a criminal, a strawman, to drag down into the dirt to prove themselves correct. This isn’t a fully civilized society with a proper justice system, we’ll be dealing with a town mob soon.”

“I won’t let them harm you.” Sidney protested, a black corrosive substance traveling toward her hands and destroying a leaf she picked up nearby to demonstrate the point.

He chuckled to himself at that naïve statement, “Even with the strongest offensive ability, you wouldn’t be able to help with that. Especially considering you’re not willing to use it against people.”

“That doesn’t mean I cannot protect you.” Sidney replied, unwilling to lose the argument.

“Enough. I made my decision. It’s not forever. If I find another place safer than this one, I’ll return to let you know.” Ivan concluded.

Sidney saw the determination in his eyes and finally conceded, “Fine. I’ll await your valiant return then.”

With that, the young man set off into the distance. Unknown and unsure whether he’d be able to return.

…But he knew, if he did, Sidney would be here awaiting for him taking care of the many parentless children.

She’s too kind to abandon them. She would never leave the village without a safe place to take them.

Or rather, she never would've had she not been kidnapped by a certain individual.

As he traveled from place to place, he heard about the exit beacon from travelers and the city that lies thereafter.

Receiving directions, he soon arrived in the residential zone.

The residential zone wasn’t a kind place for the weak. Especially for weak people from the Easy Difficulty Zones.

However, there’s no need to worry about food and there are some basic laws in place to prevent the greedy and dangerous people from casually harming others.

Meanwhile, joining a guild provided enough deterrent and protection to prevent people from casually harming them.

After assessing the overall situation, he decided this was probably the safest alternative to the village available.

Thus, Ivan began the long journey back to the village that he’d months prior.

A freak rainstorm halted his travel back when he was nearby. A few days after it ended and Ivan arrived back at the village, the majority of the village had already collapsed into Bai Xiaobao’s sinkhole and was only minimal progress had been made in cleaning up.

“What happened?” Ivan inquired, pulling aside a friendlier villager who worked to cleaning up the area.

“Zhang Wei is what happened.” The man spit on the ground in anger, before continuing, “The bastard. We invited him in like family and how does he repay us?”

“He caused this? Why?” Ivan remembered Zhang Wei and he was nowhere near powerful enough to cause this much devastation.

“Don’t have the slightest clue. The bastard's the phantom thief and someone helped him evade capture.” The man complained.

“The children are okay?” Ivan quickly confirmed.

“Aye, they’re all fine. Somewhat depressed though.” The man affirmed, staring back toward the broken village.

Relieved at the good news, Ivan joining him in looking over the fallen houses and debris, “Depressed over the devastation?”

Sounding somewhat melancholic, the man replied shaking his head. “Over Sidney. Kidnapped by that madman who saved Zhang Wei. Even now, I cannot imagine what torture she’s going through.”

“What?! Kidnapped?! Torture? Sidney’s been kidnapped? By who? Where are they?” Alarmed, Ivan released a barrage of questions.

“I don’t know the details. I wasn’t there.” The man replied, attempted to end the conversation before realizing how panicked Ivan looked and continued. “Look, all I know is they were close to capturing Zhang Wei. Someone saved him and Sidney stood up to them. Guess they took a liking to her as they took her with them as they left.”

At this point, Ivan was full of anger.

Anger toward the kidnapper and furious at the villagers who let this happen. Sidney had helped almost everyone in the village, yet, when she needed help, they’re sitting here pointlessly lamenting her fate instead of actually doing something to save her.

“Bastards.” Ivan whispered to himself, still calm enough to not destroy relations with his primary source of information. “Where was Sidney kidnapped?”

“Down by the waterfall.” The man replied, gesturing in the direction of the waterfall she was taken from. “There are no leads, though. The rain washed them all away.”

“I’ll figure something out.” Ivan countered and set off.

[Present time]

Trees and foliage lined the area. Beneath a sun’s ray a black-haired young-man leaned over onto a tree. Placing his hand over a mark scratched into the tree.

The trail ends here. There are no other clues in the area.

The initial portion of the most difficult.

The kidnapper didn’t leave a single traces while traveling.

Whether they became overconfident or not Ivan wasn’t aware. However, they never haven’t bothered to hide or disperse their trail of campfires.

This allowed Ivan to easily follow their trail.

Although more accurately, he’s been able to follow the traces and marks Sidney has been leaving behind.

Somehow Sidney had managed to leave a relatively complete trail of marks to follow. The fact that they hadn’t noticed a line of marks behind them when they are so professional in traveling stealthily is peculiar.

Still, it was a blessing that made tracking the group far easier considering their professionalism in stealthily traveling.

Except that trail had finally gone cold.

There were no more marks.

Ivan fist slammed against the marked tree, frustrated with himself for failing.

She’d left a clear trail, yet he still failed her.

Looking back toward the direction of the previous mark, his gaze turn toward the direction they had been heading.

He can only hope that they won’t change direction.

Snap

Before he could head off, a twig snapped beside him.

“Who?!” Spotting the shocked face of his missing companion. Noticing the familiar face, Ivan cried out and rushing up to her, “Sidney!”

Grasping Sidney’s shoulder before embracing her in a hug.

“You’re alright!” Ivan said relieved, before asking, “How did you escape?”

“Tobias has never tried to prevent me from escaping. He’s probably confident that he’ll be able to catch me again, which judging from past experience, is an accurate assessment.” Sidney replied less excited and more anxious. “He’s probably already on his way here.”

Clenching his jaw, he swiftly accepted that explanation and said, “Then we should get going. This time if he catches up, we’d be able to deal with him together.”

“You wrong. Even a hundred of us wouldn’t stand a chance at beating them.” Sidney shook her head in response, before stating, “I can find my own way to escape. You need to leave, quickly.”

“No way, I’ve become far stronger over my travels. I even found a place that can assure the kids’ safety. We can handle him.” Ivan refused to believe Sidney’s words, convinced that she was only attempting to keep him from a potentially dangerous situation.

Sidney cautioned, “I’m serious, fighting is the worst option. My position is stable and I’m not mistreated. I’ll find a way to escape on my own.”

“Fine. No fight… We can still escape. We only need to arrive at the teleportation beacon first and join a guild for safety. No matter how strong they won’t be able to fight against an entire guild.”

Sidney hesitantly nodded, although unsure she didn’t have a better plan to escape.

“You received the new mapping system program, right? The teleportation sigil is in the direction of the white light.”

Sidney resigned to his point, “Fine… but, you need to meet me there. There’s no point in you encountering danger as well.”

Ivan hesitated but eventually agreed.

Sidney didn’t seem as though she was being tortured or abused.

If the situation was relatively stable, throwing new variables into the situation would only potentially worsen the problem.

“That’s a rather cute escape plan.” A male voice rung out from behind Sidney. “It might have actually worked, although that largely depends on the guild you decided to join.”

Sidney faced turned dark. “Tobias.”

Ivan removed his sword, stepped in front of Sidney, and pointed it in the kidnappers direction.

He had no idea when the man had arrived here, but his words changed the situation dramatically. The plan was no longer viable.

Thus, fighting became the only option left.

“Whose this anyway? Boyfriend?” Tobias glanced toward Ivan’s sword before completely disregarding him.

“Just a friend of mine.” Sidney replied.

Tobias sent a pitying gaze toward Ivan, before staring back at Sidney and saying, “Anyway, taking advantage of other people’s strength to escape is forbidden. Accepting that plan means that I’m going to have to cancel your escaping privileges.”

Bastard…

Ivan got fed up with this farce and stabbed toward the kidnapper. The sword never reached Tobias as Sidney interrupted the strike.

“Sorry, my friend is somewhat prone to violence.” Sidney apologized before turning toward Ivan and signaling him to play along. “He was just LEAVING.”

Anger boiled up threatening to explode, he felt betrayed by her words but barely managed to nod in response.

Tobias stared between the two with a calculative gaze before deciding he didn’t care and walked off.

Ivan angrily whispered to Sidney, “What are you doing?”

“That’s my line, are you trying to get yourself killed?” Sidney replied in a similarly hushed tone. “Quickly, go! Before he changes his mind. I can solve this myself.”

“No way.” Ivan quietly responded, before declaring out toward Tobias. "Tobias, I challenge you to a duel, if I win, you'll let Sidney go.”

Spoiler

Some stuff came up today and I was not satisfied with the chapter state enough to release it at noon.
Sorry for any inconvenience!

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