Max Stats in the Apocalypse

"This is the rift, Roger..." Clara pointed at a direction in the dense forest they had entered. Roger vigilantly looked at it, and as he felt a distortion of magical powers from this direction, he nodded and carefully entered its range.

Entering the range of a rift was a must, as there might be a sudden appearance of a monster. Powerful or not, it was already Roger's habit to be vigilant when entering a new place. Even though he thought he could merely defeat someone, there was nothing wrong with being careful.

And just as they arrived, Roger could finally see the rift, the gate into the other specific dimension where the person Clara was living. 

'It is amazing that he could live inside a dungeon. I have been inside once, but there should be proper attire to be protected from the harsh change in the gate. It destroys the skin and penetrates any weak defense.' Roger thought while looking at the rift. And as they finally must enter, he faced Clara.

"Do you have anything that could protect you inside? Something that could protect your skin from the gate?"

Clara shook her head, but after remembering something, she nodded immediately to change her answer. "I have already entered once, so I think I can recreate the protection with my veins. How about you?"

"I already have one. Let's go." Without wasting time, Roger asked Clara to enter the dungeon.

The rift had an obvious distortion in the dimension. As the colors of it indicated, it was purple and sometimes blue, but the color of the rift only indicated that the dungeon was small and that it fell into the F-Rank category, where no harmful monsters existed. 

There could still be monsters inside, but they should be E-Rank or below, in which case a normal person could do much against them. Normal physical traits could defeat them.

They finally entered the dungeon, and with it, the surroundings changed into a more plain, open field. There were minimal numbers of maple trees, and one atmosphere that stood out was peace. Roger remembered the peace again as if it was soothing his system. This feeling was special to him.

However, remembering the reason for their visit, Roger asked Clara about the direction. Clara then willingly guided Roger to the home of the person they were visiting.

Anyone could say that this dungeon had a similarity or resemblance to a countryside village. Roger could see small signs of human life. There were cut logs scattered, with small veins growing, and also cleanly stacked dried leaves. At this point, Roger was convinced that this person was living in a harsh place like a dungeon.

Despite having a peaceful atmosphere, it could not be said that this dungeon was safe. Anyone who was inside could die when the dungeon closed, stuck forever, and could die from the harsh disruption of space. Anyone inside would die along with the erasure of the dungeon.

However, it was not his problem anymore. Roger must have that perfect disguise in order to freely move to the District Overdrive. To finally have a hint of his family, he should be hasty and careful at the same time.

"We are here," Clara stated as they arrived in front of a small hut.

Clara approached the door and knocked on it three times. They waited for a few minutes, and then, afterward, the door opened. 

"It is surprising to have a visitor in this secluded place." A person said, as he arrived at the door and revealed himself after completely opening it.

Roger saw a decently built man in his thirties. He had clean, blonde, short hair and also sharp facial features that resembled those of a character from a novel. Roger stared at him for a second, feeling odd towards him, but after assessing him well, he stopped and greeted him after Clara greeted him.

"Hello, I am Roger Wyles. I will not be beating around the bush; I am here to ask for help." 

"Are you a new member of the ASSC? I have never seen you before."

Roger nodded. "Yes, I am."

"I see... Please have your way inside and feel at home. I will prepare the food first for my visitors." The person said and then left the door open. And as Clara led the way, Roger followed her and went inside.

"Excuse me for the intrusion," Roger mumbled and then went to the living room where Clara sat on a couch.

Despite the house was small, there were at least a few decent spots in it. There were basically three rooms: the living room, kitchen, and bedroom. And as the person they were visiting went to the kitchen, he left a teapot first before preparing their food.

"Sorry if I could only offer you a cup of tea. By the way, I am Liam Guanzo. It is a pleasure to meet you, Roger Wyles." Then he left and went straight to the kitchen.

Roger just contained his smile on his face and then looked at the cup of tea afterward. He raised an eyebrow, looking at the tea, and scoffed awkwardly. "A poison."

When Clara heard it, she snickered, making Roger curious about her reason. "So, Liam still does it. He is really mean."

"What do you mean? Is this normal for him? He offered us poisons."

Clara shook her head and explained. "His unique ability is around particles, and mostly around poisons. That is why the tea had poison in it. I am just amused that he still remained ignorant despite having that kind of ability."

Roger just paid heedless attention to it and drank the tea. After cleaning the poison off, Clara widened her eyes and tried to take the cup. "You already know that it was poisoned. Why did you drink it?"

Despite having a soft voice, Roger could still hear that Clara was sincere about being worried about him. But then, he just declined her worries and gave her a small smile.

"Don't worry, I am immune to poisons," Roger explained.

Clara became silent and then nodded afterward. She lowered her head and said, "You have plenty of abilities. You have secrets."

Roger awkwardly chuckled. "I am sorry if I have plenty of it. It is just necessary for me." 

"I can understand. I will probably do the same, but I am not a liar." Clara said. It was a blunt word from her, but as she sounded innocent, Roger couldn't see it as a conceited notion. 

'Clara is really a kid. I can say that she is innocent and doesn't belong in this harsh life. But, I cannot do anything about it as she is at the right age to decide for herself.' Roger thought.

Silence covered the living room until it broke when Liam arrived with the food. And as he placed the food tray on the table, Roger jokingly stated, "Are you sure that it is not poisoned."

Liam's eyes widened, and a gap was created between his lips. Those lips trembled, and his face turned red, probably from shame. He rushed to hide his face.

"I am sorry if the tea has poison. I cannot just control it." Liam reluctantly said.

Roger shook his head with his hand swaying to dismiss it. "Don't worry about it. I can listen to your explanation. I am rather intrigued by your unique ability."

Liam slowly turned and shifted his attention to Roger. He then took a chair while his face was showing obvious embarrassment from what had just happened. He then scratched his nape after that.

"I am really sorry for that, Roger. But, as I said, it is just about my unique abilities as I can create items from my hands and, mostly, when they are mixed with foods, they become poisoned."

"It is okay, as I said. But, can I ask? Can you help me with my problem?" Roger started a topic and then continued. "I know that you are not part of the ASSC, but I can feel that you are open with us. So, may I ask if you can help me create a disguise? A fake skin if possible."

Liam had a deep thought and didn't answer Roger's question. He was thinking about the methods of creating the fake skin, but, as he had his curiosity piqued, he asked a question.

"For what purpose? Depending on your answer, that will be the amount of effort I will put into the creation of the skin. Since the group has been friendly with me, I am still willing to help."

Roger smiled and then started explaining things in a simple manner.

"I am also a Unique Awakened like you, Liam. However, just like the others, the Supreme Council used my family as a hostage to control me, but I was lucky to escape. My family is in their hands now, and I am hiding from the Supreme Council. To secretly search for them, I am thinking of disguising and infiltrating the building of the Supreme Council to search for some clues."

After telling a small part of his stories nicely and softly of speech, Liam's eyes flickered in amusement and admiration because of his love for his family.

"Roger, I will help you! I know how much you love your family so much that you even want to infiltrate a dangerous place. I will help you; don't worry!"

Roger smiled and was happy about it. He knew that it was not a sign to be complacent, but as he had thought, he should rather stop creating ideas about what he noticed from Liam.

'He is a simpleton. But I wonder, why did he not join the ASSC?'