"So, I have the knowledge of a high school graduate, huh..."
"PEEP, PEEP, PEEP" the timer on the watch ended.
"Times up, ok let's see now..." Leon turned around.
"Yup, the forest entrance is still there... this might take some time getting used to" Leon walked back through the forest entrance and to his surprise there wasn't a hill before him but a barren plain without a single blade of grass to be found. In the Middle of this plain was an old, shriveled tree that matched its surroundings in terms of looks.
"no one's here, I mean no houses, no shacks, no sign of people anywhere..." Leon walked to the tree and examined his surroundings with no positive answer.
"Did the memo's owner lie…"
WACK!!
"Ouch!" Leon turned around abruptly to see what hit his head from behind.
"Weird, there is nothing but this tree here..." Leon looked at the tree and discovered nothing at first, but after a careful second look he saw the bark had contortions that made a face, he moved closer to inspect it and...
"AAAAH!" the tree opened its eyes and screamed.
"AAAAHHHH@#$&-@!!?" Leon screamed back like a little girl from fright.
"hahaha, ya didn't see that coming did ya?" the tree's face had a sinister laugh and spoke in a hoarse voice.
"a-a t-talking t-tree?" Leon exclaimed stuttering, still in shock
"No, I'mma an old man with branches for limbs, of course I'mma tree ya dimwit!"
"Let me guess, mister tree, is it?" Leo replied half curious, half alert.
"Humph, so ya still have some semblance of a brain left."
"Why did you hit me?" Leon asked while rubbing the back of his head.
"Cause ya were and still stepping on my roots"
"Oh! I'm so sorry mister tree"
"don't sweat it, I'm too old I can barely feel my body anymore. I did it for fun"
Leon was speechless for a moment, then he took a moment to organize his thoughts and before he could ask anything...
"Stop there, I know ya have a lot of questions about this place and how ya got here. I have a serious headache, and l will tell ya, so keep quiet and don't interrupt me. first did ya wake up on a hill that has a hole in the sky above it?"
"Yes..."
wack!
"Ouch! why!?" Leon shouted, feeling a little wronged.
"Cause ya talked!" mister tree shouted back.
"How am I supposed to answer then?!" Leon retorted.
wack!
"Ouch!"
"ya talked again, just nod ya fool"
"Okay, where was I...? ah! That's right the hole, so the hole ya saw is where ya came from, and that hole is called a breach."
Leon made a why exclamation with his hands.
"Why is it called a breach? or why did you come from there?"
Leon showed two of his fingers.
"Huh? It's called a breach because it's a breach in the rune net that is keeping the things here from breaking free and causing chaos to the outside world. as to why ya came here, I haven't a clue."
'Maybe he could identify the writing' Leon showed him the memo.'
"ya can't assume that I know everything. but I do recognize the writing"
'He knows! okay I should ask him where to find the memo's owner!' Leon was thrilled.'
"Hold ya horses, finding that man won't help ya"
'H-how?! He couldn't possibly figure out what I wanted! wait a minute... hey, you can read my mind, right?'
"So, ya finally figured it out, ya talkin' and thinking at the same time gives me a headache, so speak using your thoughts only"
'So why did you say that? about the man that is.'
"Simply, he's dead"
"What?!" Leon Exclaimed, deserving another hit from mister tree.
WACK!
"Ouch! What was that for?!" Said Jack.
"I said speak with your thoughts!" mister tree yelled in an outburst in his head.
'Fine! What did that guy die from?' Leon asked still thinking about mister tree's earlier answer.
"Sigh..., I donno kid. all that I know that is he asked me to give ya something that will help you escape from here" replied the old tree.
'Really?! finally, some good news. Well, what is it?' you can hear the hope in Leons voice, or rather subconscious voice to be precise.
The old tree responded by moved its entire body, removing itself from the ground but not with the roots, they were still buried deep under the soil if one looks really carefully one can tell it stretches and branches very deeply compared to normal trees. from underneath the tree was earthed a dark reddish metallic object the size of a fist, the tree using its branches and twigs brought the orb to the completely astonished man.
"W-what is this?!" speaking out loud Leon earned another hit ...WACK!!...' Ouch!... God damn it. okay you shouldn't have hit me there you kind of surprised me this time! ' Leon shouted (with his thoughts) quite angerly at the tree with the frowning face.
'Not my problem. anyway, take this damn thing from me or I will get a cramp if I keep holding on to it!' the curiosity got ahold off Leon urging him to take the orb from the hold of the branches and twigs that and the frown on the tree's bark was starting to deepen by the second which was a compelling extra motive.
'Answering your previous question. your predecessor gave it to me for safe keeping before returning to his home.'
'He managed to escape?!' Jack was ecstatic for the great piece of news.
'Yeah. he managedto do it thanks to the help of the device now in your possession. he used to call it the system core. that's all that I know.'
Examining the orb in his hands he noticed a small hole that can fit an index finger, so he put his finger in it to instinctively and a ...CLICK... sound was made from the orb followed by the orb opening from the inside out slowly in a mechanical way.
Inside the open now orb, was a small shiny diamond shaped metal of unknown material, his curiosity peaked, Leon decides to take hold of the stone. and the moment he touched the stone a small holographic window appeared in front of him, which had the following massage written on it.
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'What?!' although Leon was surprised, he didn't utter it aloud.
"Hehe, I finally see that all that hitting paid off." mister tree laughed in a cheeky way.
Í swear you damn tree...' before he could finish his threat he got hit by mister tree, and this time it was a hard one.
...WACK!!!...
Leon knelt on the ground holding his head from the pain, dropped the orb along with the metallic looking stone. he still lifted his face to look at mister tree who had a disgruntled look and only uttered a single word.
'Why?!'
"Because you disrespected me." one can even feel the anger in mister trees voice.
'Okay I apologize.' Leons patience was wearing thin.
Leon stands up but not before taking the orb and metallic thing from the ground, only to be faced with the same holographic window upon coming in contact with it.
<
Soon enough, Leon notices something on his wrist that fits the description wanted in the window, so he immediately takes of his watch and observes the indent in the inner side of it, and he did the obvious thing he put the metallic thing in it only to fit perfectly. and then he was assaulted with a series of notifications.
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< 1- Please acquire and input the following codes (processing family {0\5}, function family {0\10}, logic family {0\20})
2-Please acquire memory crystals (RAM crystals {0\4}, storage crystals {0\10}, cache crystals {0\20})
3-Please acquire the auxiliary system assistants (A.I {0/3})
4- Please acquire THE SWORD (urgent!!!)