Arashi saw Reiki being pulled by the collar and all the while being threatened. She coldly said. "What do you think you're doing?" The sickly pale girl looked at her and saw that the woman beside him was a lot more gorgeous than her. 

The sickly pale girl said. "You're in the wrong district, booby wonderland." As she turned to Reiki and said. "Now... Repeat what I just said. Word. For. Word." Arashi, being ignored, walked towards the sickly pale girl and before she was able to do anything Reiki said. "Nee-san."

Arashi with gritted teeth and Kiru watching everything unfold at the same time said. "Yes?" Arashi hearing this turned her glare towards Kiru. Kiru, seeing this, didn't mind and just smiled brightly, not taking Arashi's deadly glare seriously.

Before anything got out of hand the old man once again shouted. "Final call adventurers! After this! The next carriage! Won't be here until tomorrow at the earliest!" Making sure the four people fighting heard him.

Reiki said. "Arashi Nee-san. We need to be on that carriage." Arashi, seeing Reiki wasn't taking her side, crossed her arms and eventually nodded indicating her agreement. Reiki looked behind to stare at the sickly pale girl and said. "Can you please let go of me? So we can catch the carriage that's about to leave?" The sickly pale girl glared at him and said. "I don't know? Should I?" Before Arashi did anything else Reiki raised his right hand and swiftly tapped two places in her wrist.

[System: User has dealt 52 Damage.]

[System: User has dealt 60 Damage.]

[System: User slightly affected the target's nerves.]

The sickly pale girl instantly let go of Reiki's collar as she held her right hand in pain. She shouted. "You little!" Kiru, seeing this, narrowed her eyes and kept silent. Arashi pulled Reiki to her side and started to walk to the carriage with Reiki beside her. Kiru made an apologizing look to the sickly pale girl and went after the two. The sickly girl seeing this realized that they would be on the same quest. She said. "God no..."

As she pulled out a large leather book to read on the carriage as she begrudgingly walks towards them. The old man seeing this had a smile on his face looking friendly while all four of them went towards him. The old man said. "The carriage one the left is full so the three of you." As he looked toward the sickly pale girl in the back the old man continued saying. "And her making four would have to stay in the same carriage on the right."

The sickly pale girl hearing this closed her leather book with a bit more force and said. "No! I! Will! Not! How much would it cost to trade a seat for the left carriage?" The old man kept on amiable expression and explained. "The left carriage is filled with a team with all their equipment. Plus they also paid extra to be together." The sickly pale girl let out a small sigh in defeat as she made her way inside the carriage first. Reiki stayed oddly silent as he tried to smell something familiar. Arashi seeing this tapped on his shoulder as she said. "Lil bro let's go.

 As both of them went inside followed by Kiru behind them Reiki saw that the inside of it was fairly simple. It had two rows of seats that looked like it was made out of fake leather and was stuffed with something similar to feathers. And inside of the carriage were other adventurers and a couple of mages one had their hood on and the other revealed his face. Most of the other adventurers were male and looked to be a warrior class of some type. The sickly pale girl was two seats away from a male adventurer to her right.

Arashi picked the seat nearest to the entrance with Reiki on her left Kiru sat one seat away from the sickly pale girl on her left. Below the seats is a spot to store some equipment and a single row of somewhat medium-sized cubbies in square shapes to place bags at the top. Reiki, still staying silent, was starting to softly sniff for something. Arashi kept her glare at the sickly pale girl while Kiru was trying to get her to talk. Kiru said. "Listen... I think we got off on the wrong foot at the start. Since we're going to be working together for some time we should at least be on the same page even if it's only temporary."

The sickly pale girl said. "...Haruka." Kiru gave a warm smile and said. "See that's a start. Now from how the two of you interacted, I'm guessing... There's some sort of misunderstanding between the two of you." Kiru changed her gaze between Reiki and Haruka. Haruka kept her gaze at her book while Reiki had his eyes narrowed. Kiru smiled at seeing him as that said. "So... I'm thinking one of the available ways to clear the misunderstanding is to talk about it."

Haruka closed her book with one hand and replied. "You really wanna know what happened?" Kiru answered. "I would like to. If it could help keep the harmony of the team." Haruka said. "Fine then. This... The kid over here blackmailed me!" Arashi was caught by surprise and immediately said. "Did he now? I hope you have proof then because this is defamation. With someone as old as you, blaming a child will destroy your reputation once word gets out."

Haruka scoffed and with a mocking smile said. "No, it wouldn't." Arashi narrowed her eyes and coldly said. "Ohh I'm sure it will. I don't care what field you're in but I'll make sure it'll happen one way or another." As she kept her cold glare on Haruka. Haruka lightly shuddered without knowing why but something deep inside her told her to not do anything with her around. While Reiki was being quiet he heard the voice say. [What are you looking for? You've been sniffing like a dog for a couple of minutes already.]

Reiki thought to himself. I knew this smell was too familiar... The voice said. [What is it?] Reiki continued his thoughts. It's blood. This carriage is a trap... And the small faint smell is coming from one of their clothes. Reiki using the corner of his eyes to look around the carriage and thought. It's coming from one of those mages wearing robes. Reiki with his eyes narrowed lightly tapped Arashi's knee.

Arashi, feeling the light taps, changed her gaze to look at Reiki and saw that his eyes were narrowed. With his eyes narrowed Reiki tried his best to pass a message to her without alerting anyone. He thought. Come on Arashi... Put your guard up. Arashi straightens her sitting position as she stares at Reiki for a while trying to understand his intent. Reiki uses his eyes to slowly point at the adventurers they were with. Arashi seeing this gave a small nod in understanding.

Reiki slowly moved his right hand using his middle finger and pointing finger. Reiki made fingers crossed gestures as he slipped his hand into his pocket without drawing anyone's attention. Arashi realizing this had her eyes turned cold as fury was written all over her face. Before she could do anything Reiki poked her cheek with a calm expression. Reiki mouthed the words. 'Don't let them sense anything wrong.' 

With another smile as he let the other adventurers see as Reiki poked her cheek again and mouthed. 'There are too many of them with just the two of us.' Arashi blankly looked at Reiki's face before slightly blushing as she smacked his hand away. With her eyes narrowed she kept her guard up just as he said. Reiki made a small sigh of relief and thought. Good... Now when hell breaks loose the two of us won't be caught by surprise... Make that three.

Reiki saw that Kiru was watching the exchange that happened between him and Arashi. Reiki narrowed his eyes as he looked at the adventurers to his left. Kiru immediately understood it nodded and narrowed her eyes. Arashi seeing this exchange smacked Reiki's head. Reiki with his eyes wide looked at Arashi with his eyes saying. 'What did I do?' Kiru chuckles at his misery while also being the source of it for him.

~8 Minutes Later~

All of a sudden a shout was heard. "Stop the carriage! We have a quest to gather some herbs! And some of them should grow here!" As both carriages stopped roughly 30 feet away from each other. Reiki stood up and said. "Hey, Nee-san." As both Arashi and Kiru spoke simultaneously again. They said. "Yes?" Arashi glared at Kiru again as she just ignored it just like last time. Reiki spoke again saying. "Arashi Nee-san, let's go outside to collect some herbs. I scanned some books and I could make something to help your nerves."

While giving her a meaningful look. Arashi for appearances ruffled his unkempt and scraggly hair with a giggle and said. "Aww, how nice of you Lil bro. Sure, let's go." Kiru said. "Can I try some?" Arashi who was about to stand and leave the carriage looked at her with an indifferent expression and said. "Come again?" Kiru replied saying. "I asked if I could tag along. I'll help if that's what it takes to try some of what he's trying to make." Before she said anything else with a smile Reiki said. "Feel free to join us." Arashi gave Reiki a weird look as he stepped outside the carriage. Kiru with a smirk on her face followed suit as Arashi was in a daze for a short period then followed both of them.

While Reiki was collecting herbs in the grasslands near a murky pond Kiri was just standing behind him observing his every action. Arashi seeing this frowned and said. "Lil bro why are we helping her?" Reiki didn't take his sight from the herbs he was harvesting as he said. "She's helping us. Not the other way around." Kiru immediately said. "Little brother just say the word and I'll do everything within my power." Reiki rolled his sleeves up to his shoulder to avoid his new clothes from getting wet.

He said. "I'm guessing from your purple pouch you should have a teapot and some hot water." With a smile Kiru said. "Correct! Little brother does know me so well." Reiki with a nod said. "Perfect. Can you please prepare them? Oh! And by any chance, if you have a tray of some sort can you place it next to me. I just need a few more things." Arashi being left out of the conversation had an irritated look on her face as she interrupted and said. "Why can't we just kill all of them, Lil bro?" Reiki who had his right arm nearly to the shoulder, took out one long plant that looked like seaweed and seemed to bear some sort of fruit similar to algae.

Kiru who finished preparing the teapot and hot water already set down a table with a white cloth as he saw a different version of an electric kettle. Kiru walked over next to him with a silver tray in hand said. "Is that Caulerpa racemosa? On... Seaweed?" Arashi who was suddenly also next to him said. "Calirpa race what now?"

Reiki said. "It's also more commonly known as sea grapes. In summary, it's just an edible form of algae that was able to stick itself to the seaweed due to the amount of mana in the sea. Over time the plant mutated since it was at the time one of a kind. The only way it was able to multiply was to release the algae as it went with the current of the ocean. Where it's usually found at the bottom of any ocean some even planted them on ponds deep enough since all they needed was a ground to attach themselves to. And the water has a certain amount of mana... Oh, and its official name is life grape seaweed."

Arashi said. "But don't seaweed need saltwater?" Reiki said. "Normal seaweed does. Life grape seaweed can both grow on saltwater and freshwater as long as they were planted in algae form. If you look at the seaweed part it looks almost black if not for the small hint of green of the sea grapes on it." Arashi looked at the life sea grapes and noticed the seaweed's color was similar to car tires.

Kiru said. "Life grape seaweed... Then how did you know it would be here?" Reiki felt something and grabbed it with his right hand that was covered in some mud and thick dark green algae. He said. "Easy. Look at the water." As both of the girls looked at the pond Reiki placed his hand in. Arashi was the first one to ask. "Lil bro it looks like a dirty pond to me." Kiru didn't say anything but her eyes were on Reiki as she waited for his explanation.

He said. "That's what caught my attention in the first place. It's not murky... It just filled with algae." As Reiki was washing something using the water from the pond. Both the girls looked at his hand that was covered in mud and algae. Reiki threw what he was holding back into the pond as he started to search for it again. Kiru couldn't contain her curiosity and asked. "Little brother, what are you looking for?"

Arashi glared at her but Kiru didn't even see it. Reiki said. "I'm looking for..." As he felt something in his hand again he pulled it out and started to wash it using the pond. With his right hand still covered in mud and algae, Reiki washed something that looked like a piece of coral that looked like it was rotting. After a few quick washes and peeling the outer skin the coral had a faint color of blue that looked transparent.

Reiki saw this and smiled. And said. "This. I'm looking for this." He snapped the small blue transparent piece of coral in half as he carefully placed half of it on the tray along with three pieces of life grape seaweed, half a piece of coral, and a handful of other herbs Reiki pulled from the ground. He washed his hand from the pond to remove all the mud and algae on him as he carried the tray over to the table Kiru set up.

Arashi poked at Reiki's shoulder and said. "Lil bro you didn't answer my question." Reiki carefully set the tray down. And replied. "Were outnumbered." He turned his head to Kiru and continued to speak. Saying. "I need a mortar and pestle. And can you put the settings to medium for a few minutes and turn it to the highest setting possible." Kiru pulled out a mortar and pestle that looks like it was made from pearls. And set up the electric kettle as she was told Arashi frowned and pinched Reiki's cheek to get his attention and said. "That's not an explanation Lil bro."

With his cheek being pinched he said. "They have two mages on their side. Meaning they want to separate us. Not only that, we don't know if someone from the distance is watching over this operation right now. They probably have a window of opportunity to apprehend us... I'm guessing it's that old man since he's the only one who has a connection with other mages."

Kiru didn't comment on it and instead looked at the ingredients that we're on the silver tray. Reiki pulled out his tattered pouch and pulled out a few more ingredients. Kiru asked. "Little brother... What type of potion are you making?... Life grape seaweed, emerald petals, pond grass with exposure to mana, a few pieces of the stem from a ground lily, and the piece of coral is rotten glass coral... And is that a half a shard of pure mana crystal? Where did you even get that?"

Arashi pondered for a bit then she realized where Reiki got the heart of mana crystal. Reiki said. "I found most of them here. You saw me harvest them a few seconds ago." Kiru replied. "Then where did you get the crystal?" Arashi was staring at Reiki with her hands on her hips. He answered. "I borrowed it from a restaurant we went to." Arashi pinched his cheeks again and said. "How many did you steal... And when did you even steal them?"

Reiki replied. "I borrowed the one." Arashi started pinching him repeatedly. Reiki said. "T-two I borrowed two." Arashi only pinched him harder and Reiki screamed. "Ouch! Alright, alright. I borrowed three." Arashi didn't stop pinching him and asked. "When did you even steal it?" Reiki shrugged his shoulders and said. "They were using it for a tree they were planting... So when no one was looking I might have accidentally brushed my hand on it."

Arashi stopped pinching him and said. "Hasn't someone taught you that stealing is wrong?" Reiki answered. "Well, if you want to get technical about it. They might have added it to our bill which no one bothered to look at." Kiru asked. "What kind of tree was it?" Reiki replied. "It was a bonsai tree." Kiru said. "Why was there a bonsai tree left unguarded?" Reiki chuckled. "Someone forgot it was there. Whoever left it is getting fired, that's for sure." Before Arashi said anything Reiki let out a small sigh and said. "If it makes you feel better, have someone go to the restaurant and pay for it. Add it to my... I.O.U's."

Reiki took off the lid of the teapot and turned the kettle to the highest setting possible. He thought. Is this gonna work? The voice said. [More or less. Just do what was written in your notebook. Even with the substitute of ingredients, the effect should be more or less the same.]

Reiki placed both the rotten glass coral and mana crystal in the teapot then using all three of the life sea grapes by hand he removed all the algae and placed it all in the mortar and crushed it into a paste-like consistency. Adding the paste to the teapot Reiki added the emerald petals, pond grass, and ground stem lily one by one and the water slowly turned into a dark blue lemonade color. Kiru seeing this didn't ask anything but made sure to memorize what he was doing. Arashi with the lack of potion brewing knowledge kept silent and let Reiki brew in peace.

[System: User has no jobs related to alchemy.]

[System: User has no experience with alchemy.]

[System: User has bypass master class requirements.]

After placing the last piece of ground lily he turned the electric kettle off and immediately poured it into the ceramic kettle that was white with purple engravings and placed the lid on immediately.

[System: User has created a one type debuff immunity.]

Reiki thought. So what is this exactly? The voice replied. [In short, it gives the caster the buff to be immune to the first debuff they received. Debuff ranges from bleeding, fire, acid, mental assaults, and etc.] Reiki thought. That's fairly good. What's the duration? The voice answered. [5 Minutes on the moment the debuff has affected the caster and it stays dormant for 12 hours. And 'fairly good' that's all you have to say?]

Reiki thought. It's powerful. But it's not gonna be that useful when your fighting against someone that can cast different elements or if you're fighting two mages with different elements. At most, it'll just be a precaution when going somewhere-. The voice interrupted. [Alright now SHUT UP!... Min maxers...] Arashi, with a concerned look on her face, gently tapped Reiki's shoulder and said. "Lil bro... Are you okay?" Reiki snapped back to reality and said. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

As he started to pour the tea that changed into a sky blue color into the three teacups for everyone to drink. Reiki said. "If I made this correctly it should give you guys immunity to the type of debuff that affects you. It can stay active for about 12 hours and it should be enough to help us. Cheers." As Reiki drank from his teacup downing it one go. Arashi copied Reiki and chugged hers down too. Kiru on the other hand took a sip and said. "It's good."

Arashi said. "What do you call this Lil bro? It's delicious." Kiru said with a skeptical look. "What did you mean it gives you a one type debuff immunity? Because from what I know there isn't such a thing. If it were a one-time immunity to debuff using a talisman I would've believed you but... Tea don't get me wrong it is good can you just enlighten me on how tea gives us a buff. I've heard of potions that have a one-time immunity but that's using top tier ingredients-."

Suddenly Reiki heard an eagle squawk as he turned his head to the source of its sound. Seeing nothing was out of place Reiki turned his head around to answer Kiru but they were both gone along with the table. The only thing Reiki had as evidence was the teacup he was holding. Reiki observed his surroundings and heard something whistling on the wind. He barely dodged an arrow that was aimed towards his left eye giving him a light cut right below it.

[System: User has received 58 Damage.]

[System: The user has tier I light bleeding effect. The user will receive 53 damage every 5 seconds.]

[System: User has been targeted by debuff sleep.]

[System: User is now immune to mental debuff for 10 minutes.]

One of them was holding a crossbow with a makeshift scope, he said. "I... Missed? I missed my shot?" A male mage said. "That's weird, why isn't he asleep yet?" One of the adventurers with a greatsword on hand said. "The boss said the kid doesn't matter. So we might as well kill him." The mage said. "Or we can keep him alive and tear his eyelids off and make him watch us rape those three girls."

The one with the crossbow said. "Don't care as long as I get to ride the blonde." The male mage shrugged and said. "We might as well put him out of his misery. Engulf." The teacup in Reiki's hand was enveloped into flames as he threw it away from him from a distance.

[System: User has received 304 Fire Damage.]

[System: User has 1st-degree burns on three fingers.]

[System: User has bleed 53 Damage.]

Reiki saw that the one wielding the crossbow was already aiming at him so he tried to dodge the arrow. As he jumped forwards to roll on of the ground one of the arrows hit his back.

[System: User has received 158 Damage.]

When Reiki was close to the end of his roll the mage said. "Fire Pillar." Reiki stood up as fast as he could but only barely managed to dodge it.

[System: User has received 89 Fire Damage.]

The mage said. "He's a slippery one." Reiki, barely standing on his feet, started to run. No one chased him but he noticed the one with the great sword was missing. The one with the great sword was using both his arms as he placed it above his head. With one quick motion, the sword slashed down. The swordsman intentionally missed his attack that could have hit the boys back by a few inches making Reiki run faster than he was before. He thought. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! While sprinting to buy himself a few seconds to think of something.

The mage pulled out a large brick from the ground that was roughly the same height as Reiki. The mage said. "I've already made his grave so make it quick! I wanna hear the screams of those girls so hurry up!"

After the mage finished speaking another figure appeared in front of Reiki wearing a black hood that covered up his face. The man wearing the hood had a jagged knife that was chipped in places and was getting closer to Reiki's throat. Reiki, using his momentum, made a slide with his right leg tucked in. The swordsman was suddenly in front of Reiki while he was sliding. The swordsman made way for him and lifted his greatsword above his head. Reiki couldn't stop his slide and could only grit his teeth. The swordsman swiftly slashed down, cutting off Reiki's left leg.

[System: User has received 799 Damage.]

[System: User's left leg has been sliced off.]

[System: User has tier I lethal bleeding effect. The user will receive 948 damage every 2 seconds.]

[System: User has bleed 948 Damage.]

Reiki was kicked by the swordsman which made him lie on his back. The man wearing the black hood place his foot on his right arm making sure to put his weight on it. With one swift slash, the swordsman tried to slice off Reiki's right arm.

[System: User has received 108 Damage.]

[System: User has received 752 Damage.]

[System: User has bleed 948 Damage.]

[System: User has shattered bones at the right shoulder.]

With one more slash the swordsman made sure to aim for his joint as he slashed down his sword.

[System: User has received 975 Damage.]

[System: User's right arm has been sliced off.]

[System: User has bleed 948 Damage.]

[System: User tier I lethal bleeding changed into tier II lethal bleeding effect. The user will receive 1,231 damage every 2 seconds.]

[System: User has bleed 1,231 Damage.]

After the swordsman had his fun he forcefully kicked Reiki into the direction where the mage made his grave.

[System: User has received 704 Damage.]

With a loud splat. Blood covered one side of the large rectangular brick as Reiki fell inside the ditch. While he fell something black started to stop the bleeding but by this point, Reiki's vision was getting blurry and darker. Before losing his grip on his conscious he remembered what the voice said. No guarantees.

[System: User has received 205 Damage.]

[System: User health is below 10%.]

[System: User is losing consciousness.]

[System: Q. Covered the host's bleeding arm.]

[System: Q. Covered the host's bleeding leg.]

[System: Q. Is in temporary control of the host.]

While Reiki's eyes were slowly being closed something strange happened. Something black looked like it was spreading like a crack was growing in the whites (sclera) of his eyes. The more it grew the whites of his eyes turned pitch black. Rapidly the crack invaded his iris and his pupil at the same time turning both of them into white. Soon more cracks appeared in his eyes as Q changed the color of it to the inverse.

[System: Q. Has entered the host's body. All of the host's stats will be doubled.]

[System: Q. Is stimulating the host's healing factor too much.]

[System: To heal the host. Q. Has started to hunt the strongest thing that is closest to her.]

While Reiki was unconscious Q was trying to copy the length of his limbs as black matter was slowly trying to form itself.

As the group of four walked away the on with the crossbow said. "Did you guys notice something... Off about the kid?" The warrior with the greatsword said. "I notice something was lacking. I just couldn't put my hand on it." The assassin said. "The kid didn't scream." The greatsword shouted. "That's it! No wonder it felt less satisfying when I chopped his limbs off! He... didn't... scream?..." The mage didn't say anything but held out his hand and a flame appeared on it. He looked at the crossbow and said. "Do it."

Before the crossbowman was able to take his bow out. The grave where the body was placed made a sound of rocks breaking and flung. As the four of them looked they saw the large brick was missing the middle portion along with some of the ground beneath it.

The voice said to Q controlling the body. [Careful now Q. We don't need to add more injuries to the kid's body. Now gently use his left arm to pull yourself out of the ditch.] Q slowly raised Reiki's left arm and suddenly gripped the edge. Which made three fingers bend the other way.

[System: The host has received 189 Damage.]

[System: The host broke three fingers.]

The voice said. [Q... Just be careful with his body. The only way he lives is when you eat that thing that's causing trouble over there.]

Q slowly climbed out of the ditch as the four adventurers watched in horror as they saw the boy they just killed walk out of his grave. They saw something black that was slowly turning into the shape of his arm. Q slowly climbed out of the grave and stood on Reiki's right foot and the left was slowly turning solid.

With a deep breath, Q shouted. "H-H... HUNGRY!!!"