POV – Rin

Returning back to their residence, where Tobias slept, Rin silently glanced around at the surroundings outside the apartment.

There were no traces of the battle that had injured Tobias. Even so, the scent of his blood lingered in the air and reminded her of her failure.

She hated it. Even with power and experience behind her, she's still cannot protect him.

Lightly banging her fist against a nearby wall, Rin muttered with a voice filled with resentment and helplessness, “Why do you have to always act so stupidly?”

If Tobias had just kept quiet and let her deal with everything, he wouldn’t have been noticed and promptly attacked.

Didn’t he promise to avoid taking unnecessary risks? Does he even understand what an unnecessary risk is?

The first action he took after promising that was shouting out, drawing unnecessary attention to himself without thinking of the consequences. If that didn’t qualify as an unnecessary risk, then nothing would.

And for what? That girl? He’d nearly died again for someone that barely matters.

He treats his own life as worthless, yet hypocritically says that everyone’s life has value.

If you truly believe everyone’s life has value, why don’t you start by valuing your own life? Why do you always act in a manner that gets yourself killed?

When you’re powerful enough, you can do whatever you want. Before then, keep your head down to avoid getting it chopped off.

Breaking her out of her daze, Rin became alert at the sound of approaching footsteps.

Glancing in their direction, she recognized the figure approaching, “Stanley.”

Rin thoughts about Stanley were complicated.

Generally, she found him plain annoying.

He projected this air of cluelessness and naivety that annoyed her. That combined with him stealing their rations and eating it on their first meeting meant her initial impression of couldn’t have been much worse.

That being said, there were many situations where Stanley had helped without asking for anything in return.

The situation where he’d given Tobias that bottle of blood essence earlier was a perfect example of that.

However, Stanley was also one of the people who turned anywhere between slightly unfriendly to completely hostile whenever she began killing people. Making him one of the troubles she would have to deal with.

The news of attacking the Demon Slayers’ guild shouldn’t have spread this quickly, though. It’d only been a few hours.

Despite the troubles that came with the event, the only part of the ordeal Rin regretted was that the shapeshifter had escaped.

While troubles would pop up, there would be several benefits.

Gaining influence through a good reputation was slow. However, bad news spread like a wild-fire. After a massacre in a guild hall, it wouldn’t be surprising if the entire Residential Zone learned her name and appearance.

When she was finished dealing with the backlash, nobody would dare to mess with her or Tobias.

Intercepting Stanley’s approach, Rin place one hand on her sword and greeting him, “Stanley.”

Stanley nodded back, “How’s Tobias doing?”

Rin relaxed her grip on the sword, and shook her head, “Still sleeping.”

Stanley wouldn’t hide his hostility, meaning they wouldn’t be fighting for the moment.

“Well, he should wake up soon.” Stanley said, rubbing his head awkwardly.

‘Understood…” Rin quietly acknowledged, accepting his report even without questioning its validity. Even so, Rin was internally conflicted at the news, Rin had wanted to deal with the culprit of his injuries before Tobias had awoken.

Unfortunately, it seems she’d fail in that regard.

Stanley gestured toward the general surroundings, “I don’t suppose you’ve learned where to find two pounds of gold since we last met?”

“I found it.” Rin nodded, taking the gold out of her bag. Two pounds wasn’t much gold, she’d just taken a portion out of the Demon Slayers’ vault before she’d left.

“Yeah, I didn’t…. Wait, you found gold?” Stanley looked down the gold in her hands in surprised, “Seriously? Where did you find it?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Rin knew better than to inform him. Instead she just quietly handed over the gold.

While Stanley would become unfriendly when he learned the news, that didn’t change the fact remained that he had saved her from watching Tobias die again.

Stanley’s expression became slightly embarrassed as he took the gold from her. “Thanks…”

With one task completed, Rin turned back toward the door and asked, “Anything else?”

“Huh? Uhhh, no. I mainly came to ask about Tobias and see how you were coping.” Stanley rubbed the back of his head, “…and you seem fine. So, yeah.”

“Goodbye, then.” Rin said in dismissal, while entering the apartment door and leaving him standing outside alone.

Closing the door after entering, Rin briefly listened by the door.

“Right.” Stanley awkwardly sighed, standing outside alone. Before walking away.

Relaxing as she heard him walking away, she set down her bag and weapons by the door.

Tapping on the mana lights as she moved about the room, the area gradually lit up.

“I’m home.” She quietly whispered after turning the lights on.

Moving into the kitchen, she emptying Tobias’ canteen into a pot and lit up the stove. Beginning the process of boiling it on the open flame.

Opening the bedroom door, light poured in. Showcasing the empty bed with Tobias quietly sleeping on the floor beside it.

Listening to the quiet breathes of Tobias, she found herself calming down considerably.

Moving beside him to lift him up, Rin discovered the knife in his hand. Furrowing her brow, she glanced toward the table beside the bed.

Her initial thought was that Tobias had rolled off the bed in his sleep, but she’d left the knife on the bed stand.

Had he woken up or instinctually grabbed his weapon?

Shaking him, she called out to wake him, “Tobias?”

Tobias yawned and stretched out in response.

Encouraged by movement, Rin gently shook him further.

“I’m up.” He replied without actually opening his eyes or moving about to Rin confusion. The reason for her confusion wasn’t his actions though, it was the language he’d spoken in.

He words were in his native tongue and hadn’t been translated by the system.

While Rin had learned a few basic words in his native tongue in the past, she was nowhere near proficient.

Calling up her inheritance menu, she confirmed that the system was still active.

<Fenrir’s Inheritance; Level 10, 33%– Stats greatly strengthened, Sense of smell enhanced, Hearing greatly enhanced, Secondary abilities added Fenrir’s Stomach and Hunter’s Intuition>

<Fenrir’s Stomach; Digest anything into nutrients to improve basic stats. Greater improvements from eating powerful beings>

<Hunter’s Intuition; Generally know the location and strength of powerful beings around you.>

Frowning while looking at the inheritance menu. With the system active, she had no idea what to do.

The last time the translation function had stopped worked had been in the Fourth Zone when the system went down.

They had trouble communicating for awhile… but, when everything calmed down, the system rebooted and the translation function returned.

Calming her distress, Rin settled down for the time being.

She could find a solution later. Even in a worse case scenario, she only had to do was learn his native language. That wasn’t too terrible.

Carrying Tobias over to the bed, she gently set him down on the bed. In a soft tone trying portray her meaning across the language barrier, she said, “Rest up, I’ll make us some food.”

---

POV – Tobias

Hazily awake, I found my mind drifting in and out of consciousness.

I’m unsure why exactly I’m this tired and barely able to stay awake, but it should have something to do with my injuries.

I vaguely remember Rin coming in and speaking with me… Though, that might’ve been a dream.

No, it shouldn’t be. I can vaguely feel the bed underneath me. Unless I moved myself in my sleep?

Despite being half-awake, I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes. Everything felt so hazy and distant.

I need to wake up soon though. At the very least, I need to confirm with Rin that I’m okay. Barely able to stay conscious, but alive and safe.

Drifting in and out of lucid consciousness for awhile, I eventually woke up enough to force my eyes open.

“Ugh…” Releasing a groaning as I moved my body into an upward position. However, I knew better than attempting to stand this time.

Glancing around the room, I found it empty.

While the room remained empty, but I could vaguely hear someone (presumably Rin) moving about in kitchen.

God-hunter, status report.

Receiving no reply, even after several seconds, I gazed around the room searching for her. Before realizing she was still in my hand.

Tapping on her blade, I attempted to wake her.

You okay, God-hunter?

Frowning as I still didn’t receive a response from her. Is God-hunter sleeping?

The door opened and light poured into the room. Wincing as the light burned my eyes, I spotted Rin entering the room.

Rin spoke with a soft tone, “Terus ki loin?”

Blinking, I briefly wondered if I was having a stroke. I hadn’t understood a single word she said.

I leaned forward, gestured toward my ear, and asked, “Could you repeat that for me?”

“Keros cain un.” Rin shook her head in response.

Yeah, that’s definitely not English. Did the translate function break? That’s going to be annoying.

Is the system still operational?

Attempting to pull up the system, I found myself stunned by the response.

<System Error>

<Nature of error: Identification error>

<Error description: Unknown bloodline detected.>

<Please await high-level administrator response.>

Conflicting gene pool? Await administrator response?

I rolled my eyes at the system error report.

Contacting an administrator is impossible. There’s no administrators left. They would’ve either been killed by mana pollution or already left the universe.

Pausing at that thought, I felt nauseous.

I dismissed the thought from from my head. I’ll figure something out later. I might be able to override the error in the system console and fix it myself.

Glancing toward Rin, who stood awkwardly by the door twiddling her fingers.

I’ll have to deal with the system error later.

Yawning while I patted on the bed beside me in a gesture for her to walk over. I tried to take the opportunity to explain the situation, despite knowing it wouldn’t do much good. “I’m fine, but I cannot understand what you’re saying.”

“Quvark?” Rin said another incomprehensible word, but her face lit up and she walked over.

Regardless of whether she actually understood, any improvement of mood was a good thing.

When she arrived next to me, instead of sitting down, Rin placed her hand on my forehead.

“Tev su quvec, carm.” She said gesturing toward the bed, before pointing back toward the kitchen, “Yeris.”

After that she disappeared back into the kitchen, leaving me alone in bedroom.

Alright… well, I’m going to see about messing around with the system settings to fix this mess while she's gone.

System console. Login. Administrator.

<Account name: Administrator>

<Password?>

Furrowing my brow, I looked at console screen while attempted to remember the password.

Ah, right… Hopefully, I remembered this correctly.

<Password: Romeo Juliet Zero Alpha Zebra.>

Mental inputting the password into the system before submitting it.

This was a low-level administrative account, if I remember correctly.

<Password or login information incorrect. Try again.>

Damn it… this might be a problem.

Running through a variety of passwords, while receiving errors each time. Eventually I gave up.

I would’ve sworn the first password was correct… But since that didn’t work, I’ll just have to work around it.

System console. Activate offline mode.

<Warning: Offline mode is intended for programmers to diagnose problems. It prevents all system updates and removes a large portion of functionality. It is not recommended under normal circumstances.>

Confirm.

<Personal system disconnected. Pending requests canceled.>

System console. Manual override. View data log.

<System Log>

<…>

<Fatal injury, medical assistance requested (Request canceled).>

<Fatal injury received, reporting circumstances (report filed).>

<Identification – Unknown identification error occurred. Situation requires administrative intervention (Request canceled).>

<Offline mode activated. Outstanding pending requests canceled.>

Looking at the last entries in the system log, I frowned.

An unknown error occurred during identification process? What kind of error occurred?

System console. Manual override. View latest identification results.

<Identification reports cannot be viewed>

<Identification reports are highly-classified>

System console. Hidden Backdoor 12345. Declassify identification reports.

<Data Declassified>

<Identification Report>

<Race: Unknown>

<Sex: Male>

<Power: Planet level, initiate>

<Notable Abilities: Advanced stealth technique, Advanced regeneration, Limited precognition.>

<Identification Error: Top-level Basilisk deoxyribonucleic acid detected.>

<Identification Error: Race unknown.>

<Administrative Intervention Required: Identification data outside acceptable standard deviation. Potential new monster species.>

<Automated action: Temporary restriction of system functions until resolved.>

Looking over the report, I found myself more confused than beforehand.

I didn't know they did identification reports like this. Otherwise I would've been checking them earlier.

Top-level Basilisk DNA? Precognition?

I can understand limited precognition. The system might be misunderstanding my foreknowledge to an extent.

Where did Top-level Basilisk DNA come from, though?

Tilting my head in confusion, maybe it has to do with the Basilisk Inheritance Manual?

But that shouldn’t be? While Inheritance Manuals imitate top-level bloodlines techniques, the system shouldn’t be confusing the imitation for actual Top-level Basilisk DNA.

At least, not at the stage I’m currently at.

No matter the reason behind it, it didn’t stop my action of moving onward to the next step.

Since the identification reports are causing the problem, I just need to delete them and prevent the system from creating new ones.

Operating through the system commands, I used the hidden backdoor command to override the system protections and deleted the problematic identification reports. Then moved onward to turning off automated system identification.

Of course, that doesn’t prevent manual system identification requests or delete the system report already filed to the administrator.

I don’t have many other options though, I can only hope that the system restrictions are client-side or attempt to access the administrative account again and use the backdoor there.

Still, if everything goes well, this should fix the translation function.