Varian's face flushed as he watched Sarah sob quietly while presenting the storage device.
He gritted his teeth and swore, "Kyle, my good brother. You are done."
Boo trembled in fear, looking at its master crazed appearance. But it was also quite confused.
"Master, what's so bad about being single? Boo is also a single."
Varian's face twitched, watching his ghost AI pity him.
Wait, was it pitying him or mocking him?
"M-Master, why are you staring at me like that?" Boo staggered back (in the air?).
"I only like female ghost AIs." It declared.
Varian had the urge to smash it to the ground. But he had a question before that. "So you're a male?"
"How can AIs have genders?" Boo contradicted itself.
Varian didn't get angry. Instead, he looked at his ghost AI with pity. 'You're right when you said only a fraction of your brain is working.'
Boo felt its master's gaze turn weird. Wait, why was he looking at it like it was some brain dead brat? It was an amazing ghost AI, okay?
Varian turned his gaze back to Sarah below and asked in confusion. "Haven't I asked you to message her already? Why does she still think I'm dead?"
A few code lines flashed in Boo's eyes before it answered. "M-Master, none of the recipients actually checked the message."
Varian facepalmed.
"Really now? Not a single one?"
"None."
"..."
"Master, would you like to meet Sarah?" Boo enquired.
Varian eyed the maid standing behind Sarah. What was her level that assured Sarah of infiltrating Astor Clan with no help?
Boo said, timely. "Anna Lane. Level 8 Space Awakener. She is the maid of Sarah's mother's family."
Varian's world view crashed. "Level 8 Maid? What the actual fuck?!"
This was beyond ridiculous.
For any human, reaching Level 8 was the peak of life. But the same person was now a maid.
Are you for real?
Varian clutched his weak heart and waved his hand. "Boo, let's go to a mid dungeon."
"Aren't you going to return to the academy, master?" Boo frowned. Was its master's memory not as good as a goldfish's?
"I am missing for over 50 days now. So if I show up directly at the academy, and they try to trace my trails, what will they find?"
"You popped out of nowhere."
"Exactly! So let's play a little drama and make it more convincing." Varian instructed the ghost.
As they left for the nearest dungeon, Varian's gaze lingered on Sarah's lonely figure.
*** *** ***
"All clear! Go!" Narvi informed the people below her.
Her teammates nodded and marched deeper into the Outer zone's forest of the Dungeon 'Karma'.
Narvi jumped down from the floating fire sledge and followed them.
She was helped when she was young by a kind old man. Now it was her turn to repay the favor.
They received information that a special flower that could help tackle the bottleneck of Level 3s was growing near a swamp.
The old man, now running out of life, requested the flower for his son. Narvi agreed to repay the favor.
They entered the dense forest and soon encountered the level 4 magic beasts. Giant Apes.
But Narvi's team was more than prepared.
At the sight of the beasts, they assembled into the standard formation and took the initiative.
The two controllers heightened their defense and blocked off the Giant Apes.
The beast morpher partially transformed into a wolf and, using her beast instincts, engaged in a fierce battle with the giant apes.
Narvi, along with the other elemental awakener, used their fire and lightning powers to launch a fatal blow and ended the giant apes.
Looking at the six meter corpses, everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
Giant Apes had high attack power. If not for the Controllers blocking them, the apes would've decimated the team.
The Controllers also could deal surprise blows by heightening their attack power.
And surprise blows they did in the next round.
They kept advancing, and the fights took longer.
After clearing ten Level 4 beasts, Narvi's team finally reached the swamp.
There was a white flower growing at the center. Crystal Solvo.
The flower that was said to loosen the bottleneck of any Level 3 Awakener.
Narvi floated above the swamp and carefully collected the flower. As she was about to order everyone to return, she found all her teammates were transfixed on a tree.
'What happened?' She wondered and spread her fire sense.
'This!'
It was an inconspicuous ten meter tree. But what they were staring at was an injured young man lying under it.
His aura was weak, and he looked like he'd die at any moment.
After confirming he was not waiting in ambush and was actually injured, Narvi said. "Let's take him out."
After feeding him a healing potion, they rushed back. Fortunately, they didn't encounter any beasts, and quickly admitted him to an emergency unit.
Narvi and her teammates were actually curious about his identity. Unlike them, who were all in their late 30s or 40s, the injured guy was very young. Perhaps barely 20.
However, none of them could mistake his aura. It was a level 4.
Did they encounter a genius?
Even if he wasn't from a great background, helping him was the best option.
Only those who look at short-term benefits would do foolish things like killing him.
A genius owing them a life saving favor was much more valuable.
What's more, this genius was still in ascent and one day, he could reach a position beyond their reach.
Just like the old man who helped her, he was a level 3 throughout his life. But with the favor she was going to repay, his son would escape that fate and break into a mid awakener.
Of course, Narvi didn't see exactly endorse the view that one should be kind for the sake of benefits.
But knowing random acts of kindness might benefit them some day, more people could be kind, even if for selfish reasons.
As the young man got treated, a Dungeon Bureau officer entered the hospital and inquired them about the process.
After knowing the situation, the officer looked at them with envy. "You're going to be lucky."
"Huh?" Narvi and her teammates didn't understand.
The officer lowered his voice and explained. "There was a huge announcement by the military to find a cadet a month ago. This is that guy. The DNA scans match. You've won a lottery."
"Wow!" Narvi covered her mouth in elation.
The rewards of finding the cadet were massive.
Their act of kindness gave them back. Too quickly.
"I've informed the academy. There will be someone here soon." The officer informed.
He added. "He is awake. You can talk to him."
It was thirty minutes since the cadet was admitted. With the current technology, this was considered normal.
When they were about to enter the ward, hurried footsteps sounded and a girl arrived with her maid.
"Hey you! This is off lim—" The officer's body froze and the girl entered the ward.
"Varian!"