Lee Seng tapped the SCD to another dead goblin, watching as it turned into particles. The number 40 glowed brightly on the square device. He sighed as he stuffed the SCD device into his pocket. He turned around and looked at his friends.
They were all taking a moment to breathe. Lee Seng wiped the sweat off his forehead as he readjusted his clothes. He was starting to feel hot underneath all these layers.
"Alright, that small group was a bit harder " Manny sighed.
"Why did we have to fight four Direwolves?" Ritsuka asked between heavy breaths.
"We gotta practice against something a bit more speedy. If we can't keep up with that and work on our rotations when we need to then we won't ever learn the difference."
"Still," Ritsuka huffed. "I don't think I had to be that quick in a long time."
"Guess you and I need to run more I'm the morning." Lee Seng smiled.
"Please, no." Ritsuka shook his head. Lee Seng chuckled as Liz and Olivia stared at something.
"Let's see… We've been here for an hour and a half. Which way should we go?" Liz asked. Olivia pointed to the floating map.
"There's one of the telepad shacks. It'll take us twenty minutes to get to it by foot." Olivia answered.
"The others are 25+, so I guess we have to go to this one." Liz nodded. The girls spun around to look at the boys. "We found the closest exit. It's twenty minutes away by foot."
"Ahhhhhh!" Ritsuka groaned. He collapsed onto the ground, leaning against the tree. "Kill me now!"
"For a gym rat, you don't have high endurance, do you?" Evan asked him. Ritsuka rolled his eyes back into his skull.
"I wish I was dead." Ritsuka groaned.
"Come on, it wasn't that bad." Lee Seng moved over and extended his hand. Ritsuka's eyes rolled back to the front. Ritsuka groaned as he grabbed Lee Seng's hand. Lee Seng easily pulled him onto his feet.
"Says the guy who's literally a superhuman!"
"Gotta do light weights and more reps then." Lee Seng patted Ritsuka. Ritsuka swing at him, Lee Seng hopping backwards towards Manny, chuckling.
"Shut up, Chang." Ritsuka angrily glared at him.
"Okay, okay. Enough." Manny clapped his hands. He had finally caught his breath and was ready to go. "Let's get ready to leave. We don't have to go at a fast pace. We can go slower. This'll help build better endurance to these kinds of things."
Ritsuka and Evan groaned as they adjusted themselves. Lee Seng could tell the girls were getting tired too. He could feel his body growing tired. The constant movements and use of Dark Matter was a different breed of endurance he hadn't thought he needed to work on.
'One more thing to work on.' Lee Seng mentally noted.
"Lee, it seems like you've made a lot of improvement from when you first came here." Manny complimented him. Lee Seng nodded.
"Yeah, I don't think I would've learned so fast if it weren't for the facilities. Can't exactly fight against nobody and learn how to control this power." Lee Seng awkwardly chuckled. He flexed his hands.
"How's the Negative?"
"I can go longer without it feeling like a rock."
"Good." Manny patted him. "How about the rest of you? Are you guys okay so far?"
"Mmm, still hanging in there." Olivia nodded.
"Same." Evan and Liz answered.
"I'll be fine to keep going." Ritsuka answered. "Just physically exhausted."
"Alright, well y'all can rest for a bit longer. Lee, are you good to go?" Manny asked.
"Sure."
"Can you scout ahead with me?"
'Why does he wanna do that? Shouldn't I do it alone?' Lee Seng thought.
"S-sure. Will the rest of you be fine alone?" Lee Seng asked.
"Yeah, we'll handle things here. You two scout. Don't push yourselves, 'kay?" Liz motioned them to go. Manny moved next to Lee Seng and nodded in the direction he wanted to go.
The two states down the "path" Manny had decided on. Lee Seng moved at a slower pace. He wanted Manny to not fall behind, but was curious as to why Manny had opted for both of them to scout. The winter forest stretched in every direction. Lee Seng could slowly hear his friends grow quieter each second they continued forward.
Silence crawled around them as he and Manny ran side by side. Lee Seng kept tabs on the right side while Manny seemed to glance ahead.
"Why'd you want to scout with me?" Lee Seng finally asked.
"Just curious how you're doing." Manny answered. He turned to look at Lee Seng as they ran. "I've been hearing a lot of stuff about you ever since I came back. Especially the stuff online."
"Mmm, that." Lee Seng nodded. "I'm doing fine if you're gonna ask that. You don't need to worry about me. I've been dealing with this sort of thing ever since the serum didn't activate the first time. I'm used to the noise."
"But people are actually challenging you because of what happened." Manny slid to a stop. Lee Seng looked behind him coming to a stop. The two met each other in the middle. "I just want to make sure you're fine."
"I'm fine, Manny. Don't worry."
"The incident with Kaleb. Why didn't you charge for that?" Manny asked. Lee Seng gave Manny a weird look.
"Why would I do that? It was within the rules. I didn't know he would have a powerful rune enchantment." Lee Seng brushed it off. Manny set his hands on Lee Seng's shoulder, shaking him.
"But he hurt you, Ritsuka and his own teammate! You were all hospitalized! He could've harmed all those people there too!"
"Manny!" Lee Seng pushed Manny away, taking a couple steps back. "You don't need to worry about that. It's in the past. Kaleb didn't know it would be that lethal. If it weren't for Ritsuka and I, we would've all been incerinatated."
Manny's face controlled with different emotions. He took a step forward trying to reach out for Lee Seng but Lee Seng met him with a step back.
"I'm just worried that all the hate will grow. They'll find petty reasons to fight you and it'll be harder for you to do anything." Manny sigjrd. He stopped trying to grab Lee Seng. It was his way of giving comfort and Lee Seng didn't want it.
"At least they're straight forward about it." Lee Seng shrugged. He spun around on his heel and started walking.
"You would rather have people do that than do nothing?"
"At least I have a fair chance of proving them wrong."
"And if that just makes things worse? What then?"
"Why does my situation worry you so much?" Lee Seng turned to face Manny, again. He tilted his head to the side and was annoyed. "We aren't that close for you to worry about me. I can handle myself."
"I just–" Manny stopped himself. He let out a frustrated sigh as he took this moment to look around. They were supposed to be scouting but his own curiosity got the better of him. "I don't want you to have to wake up every morning thinking you need to fight for your life."
"Since I've been in the Academy, things have been way easier than the three past years, Manny." Lee Seng sternly spoke. "I don't have to worry if someone's gonna beat me. If someone decides to pick on me and fight me, they're gonna be met with more resistance. I'm not the same person I used to be."
Manny stared at his old friend for a while. Lee Seng kept his eyes and ears on their surroundings. Even if they were gonna talk about how much Manny was worried for Lee Seng, Lee Seng didn't need another party attacking them.
p
'Don't get so worked up about this, Manny.' Manny told himself. 'You haven't seen each other for three years and he isn't so defensive about being around you. Just don't fuck this up.' Lee Seng's ears twitched. He glanced behind him. He could feel his eyes focusing in on the direction of the noise.
'Something's definitely off.' Lee Seng thought. 'If I practiced my aura and gravity field more, I could tell where they are with ease… I guess we'll have to do this the old fashion way.
"Manny." Lee Seng's voice shifted. Manny immediately looked up, towards the direction Lee Seng was looking at. "These don't sound like goblins and they're definitely not Direwolves. You know what else is in this forest?"
"IF it's not Direwolves or Goblins, it could be a bugbear."
"This isn't as heavy and loud as a bugbear, though. It's quieter. If my ears weren't this sharp, I wouldn't be able to detect it."
"It's quiet?" Manny whispered. "Then it could be one of the C-ranks."
"Which direction is it coming from?" Liz's voice appeared over the comms. Lee Seng glanced at his watch.
"Northeast."
"Fuck, that's the way we're supposed to go, too." Liz cursed. "We'll come to you guys. Don't try to initiate a fight with a C-rank. Even if it's a single C-rank, it might be some trouble for all of us."
"I could kill it with my powers." Lee Seng told her.
"Yeah, you could with your B-rank power, but your actual battle instinct is probably a D-rank." Ritsuka told him. "Don't get cocky."
"Why would I get cocky?" Lee Seng rolled his neck. He could see something darting between the tree lines at a fast speed. "I'm never cocky."
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