I Reject Quests

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-> Target: Blood Squad (C-15) - 4 Members

    Location: Area 51

    Maximum Level: Peak Rank 1 Mage

    Tips: Better not rely on brute strength too much.

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Looking at the message, Rewen took a deep breath and remained silent.

Svety nervously stared at him, wanting to ask if anything's wrong but held herself back.

After a while, Rewen suddenly asked. "What is the significant difference between a Martial Artist and Mages?"

"Martial Artists have to rely on pure techniques while Mages uses skills. Strictly speaking, Mages are supposed to be much stronger than Martial Artists because the former has both the physique and skills while the latter can only rely on body techniques."

"But that's not the case, is it?"

"No, it isn't. I don't know why but Martial Artists are on the same level as Mages."

"It's surely got to do a lot with later ranks. For instance, we only know Mages and Martial Artists would have the same physique if their ranks are similar. However, what about the fact that Martial Artists get a greater head start. They can start training from any age while we have this rule to not touch anything related to Mages until the age of eighteen."

"Yes. It's very unfair…"

"I'm not deciding whether it's fair or not. I'm just thinking, even if Martial Artists get a head start they are still at a disadvantage. How come they are treated as equal to Mages? Maybe there's something that happens in the later ranks that makes them equal."

"It is possible."

"Yes. Anyways, I went too off-topic. Coming to the main topic, do you have anything to add or should I start?"

Svety narrowed her eyes.

"Don't worry. He won't do anything even if discuss how to defeat him. Let him listen. He wanted to see my self-development."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because… even if he did act accordingly to the plan, I have another counter-plan."

"Stop with the stupid act."

"Alright, is there anything you want to say?"

"I want to ask. Can you defeat a Peak Rank 1 Mage?"

"I don't know." Rewen shook his head shocking her. With his confidence, she had expected him to reply positively.

"Y-you can't? Didn't you defeat a Rank 2 Mage?"

"A Rank 2 Mage who went berserk due to interference. I haven't actually fought a calm Mage."

Svety went silent. She understood the difference. It wasn't small by any means. Ten seconds later, she raised her head and looked straight at him. "Will two Rank 0 Yellow-ranked Skills suffice?" 

Rewen smiled but the smile went stiff soon. "Um, what is a yellow-ranked skill? Is it higher than purple or lower?"

"..." If Svety hadn't confirmed the fact the man in front of him had defeated a Rank 2 Mage, she wouldn't believe it. "Ranked Skills are in the order of - White, Blue, Red, Yellow, Purple, Black. White being the lowest ranked and Black being the highest ranked. Purple-ranked skills are off-limits even for me. I'm giving you the chance to choose a Yellow-ranked skill. Do you want it?"

"Of course." Rewen wasn't going to refuse the offer. "But are you sure your family would give their skills to an outsider like me?"

"You aren't an outsider." Svety said with a straight face, then realized that she misspoke. "Um, at least to them."

Rewen felt pretty bad for taking advantage of the situation but there's nothing he could do. 'Not gonna lie, conveniently taking advantage of my relationship with her while also not having any real relationship is making me feel kinda scummy.'

"Okay." In the end, Rewen agreed. 

"Good. Do you want to go now?"

"Sure."

Both he and Svety got up and exited the canteen.

[Heh! I used to look at you highly. To think you would fall this low. You are not a righteous person. At best, you are a hypocritical goody-two-shoes.]

'Why did I never notice that you looked up to me?' Rewen appeared unfettered by the words.

[You can use all sorts of reasoning to justify your actions but the fact of the matter remains that you are NOT the 'previous' Rewen. You are Rewen from Ricewater Village and all the horrible things you have done to her doesn't make you innocent. If she herself is scum, then you too are a scum for misdirecting your anger onto her from time to time.]

'...'

[And don't bring me the crap of - 'As I have taken the identity of his, I must live for him.' It's a load of crap. You only did that because when you had transmigrated, you had lost an identity for yourself and didn't know what to do with yourself. Becoming a lonely person, you can only seek the warmth from the 'previous' Rewen's family and friends. Irritation and anger clouded your mind and whether you agree or not, you had misdirected your anger towards her. You seem to think yourself as a perfectly righteous person when you are not. You cry when things get tiring. You blame someone else for the responsibilities you shoulder. You are nearly not as good as you thought yourself to be. What excuse did you get?]

'You know what? You are absolutely fucking correct.' Rewen inwardly smiled.

[Oh, you believe all of this is natural human behaviour?]

'I don't. I believe there are countless people better than me who would do way better than I'm doing.'

[Interesting. You finally realized how much of a hypocrite you are. I guess that's the first step in growth. Although from your attitude, you seem to not care.]

'I really don't. There is no such thing as being perfectly righteous. No matter how fair and just a person is, there is no way for him/her to get away from the curse of hypocrisy. It's laughable but perhaps only people who don't care about righteousness and evil could become free from hypocrisy and I'm clearly not that kind of person. Every person has an image in their mind which they want to be and to a certain extent, think that they are identical to the image they have in their minds. In a way, yes. Everyone except for psychopaths are hypocrites. And if I have to become a psychopath first to get rid of the hypocrisy, then I'm good being a hypocrite.'

[So you believe anyone who doesn't care about righteousness and evil are psychopaths?]

'That's the only term I could find. Perhaps not the kind of psychopath people would think when the word 'psychopath' is said but they are potential psychopaths.'

[You sound as if you know about everyone. Just when I thought that you had grown, you came up with all this bullshit.]

'It's not that hard to understand.' Rewen rubbed his nose and got into Svety's car. 

"Svety."

"Hm?" Svety got into the front seat and was about to put on the seatbelts when she saw Rewen very close to her face. She raised her hands to push his face. "Wha- mmm!"

"Two more."

[Somehow, I feel you are becoming more of a scumbag as time passes.]

***

Sunrise Apartments.

A man seemingly his mid-twenties was talking with another woman of about the same age. "Are you sure that Young Miss and Rewen are approaching this way?"

"I'm positive, Tervon. How many times are you going to ask?" Yeri was extremely annoyed with her bodyguard partner. Simply put, he was a perfectionist. He needed to be in control of everything. When something unexpected happens, he loses his cool.

"Better safe than sorry." Tervon frowned. He took out his smartphone and dialed his colleague.

Yeri shook her head, then heard the familiar sound of a car. "They arrived."

…

Parking in the garage, Rewen and Svety got out of the car. As soon as they came out of the garage, they were greeted by two people.

Svety came forward. "I need two Rank 0 Yellow-ranked skills."

Yeri and Tervon looked at each other. "Why do you need them so soon? You haven't even reached Rank 0."

"I need them for Rewen. Do you have them?"

"It's not a matter of whether we have them or not…" Yeri was hesitant to make the decision.

"We can give them but make sure the person whom you give the skills doesn't spread the skill around and flaunt the skill in the academy." Tervon said after some thoughts. Rank 0 yellow-ranked skills are beginner-level skills. He doesn't care much about them but he just can't hand them out without conditions.

"Thank you." Rewen stepped forward.

Seeing that Tervon had made the decision, Yeri also agreed with what he had said. "Let's go to the room first. You'll be vaporized if you continue standing here. It's too damn hot."

The group walked towards the elevator with Yeri and Svety in the front talking with each other and Rewen and Tervon at the back.

"Hey. You are doing great. Don't worry. No one would look down on you." Tervon whispered into his ears.

Rewen understood what he was talking about. "It's complicated." He could have left him thinking that Svety had become his Sugar Momma but he didn't want to.