Rioneed: VRMMORPG

Ibro didn't comment on her words which carried a lot of pain in it. She didn't take long before she continued to say:

"In fact, I was supposed to be a master there. I was a prodigy as I came from very ancient lines of prodigies. My family was well known in this world."

"Was?" Ibro noticed this and exclaimed loudly without any thinking. When he realized his voice was loud he felt regret. She seemed to be lost more in thoughts before she said:

"Yes, my whole family got exterminated and I'm the last one of them."

"Didn't you just say that this academy is the only place that could shelter us now?"

She understood his hidden meaning, but she didn't comment. She had a lot of painful memories that were buried by her in the deepest darkest corner of her mind. 

She wasn't ready yet to open this deep wound, even after passage of a whole ten years. Ibro noticed that obvious change in her but he respected her will. 

He knew he had no right to delve deep into her memories so he started to change the subject by asking:

"I want to know why you decided to come with me?"

When she looked at him with questioning eyes, he explained:

"You could have escaped alone. Why did you attach yourself with me?"

She didn't reply to him directly but she looked at the ruby ring in his finger. 

He noticed her look so he raised his finger as he asked:

"Is this ring so important?"

"Its value exceeds your expectation," she replied without hesitation. Ibro didn't feel satisfied with her answer. 

She was the one who gave him this ring. If this ring was this valuable then why did she give him it from the first place?

"This ring is my family heritage. Actually, it's a male ring, so it shouldn't be with me. regarding that, I'm the last family member remaining alive, so I had to take it with me. 

I waited for the appropriate person to wield this ring to appear," she explained without giving Ibro a single glance. She was still immersed in her deep memories.

"And that person is me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

This time she kept her silence for a long time before saying in a soft whisper voice:

"This ring belonged to my first great grandfather. He used to have strange powers despite his weak cultivation level. He also had caused the two phenomena back then."

Ibro was surprised with this info. The first thing that came to his mind was the similarities between the two. Was he really like him?

"He was just like you, someone who came from outside this world," she threw her bomb directly on him. He looked at her and forgot to keep moving forward. She knew he wasn't from here. 

She knew that from the first time she saw him. Her great grandfather came also from outside this place. A lot of things flashed in Ibro's mind. 

He now understood the reason behind her protection over and over again. He knew why she gave him this ring and why she chose to flee with him. 

She noticed his reaction which was as she expected… so she laughed. Her laugh was so pure that it had a certain magic to it. 

Ibro looked at her as her laugh grabbed him from his thoughts and mixed feelings. He smiled and muttered to himself in low voice:

"It's a regret you are way older than me."

"Who is that old? I'm just 25 years old," she suddenly screamed at him with anger. 

Ibro was shocked at first, he thought his voice was so low for her to hear it. Then he laughed at her funny reaction.

"I'm speaking seriously here, you look like you are in your thirtieth."

"Hahaha, that's because I'm using a camouflage technique. I can change my looks to look like someone in my family."

Ibro looked at her in amazement then he got an idea.

"Can you make others change looks as well?"

She got his meaning but she shook her head while saying:

"Unfortunately I can't do that. This ability is just effective for me."

"How unfortunate indeed. Ok, let's keep going."

She started to move again with him while teasing him:

"Don't you want to see my real looks?"

Ibro smiled and replied with a smile:

"If your looks were better than this then you wouldn't have to change your looks from the start."

She looked at him faking anger while shouting:

"What do you mean? I'm not ugly at all."

Ibro laughed while saying nothing. She just harrumphed as she continued running forward. The forest that they entered was a strangely calm forest. 

In the first few hours, they didn't face a single monster on the way. Ibro spoke with Nicole about the world status and he learned a lot of info. 

This world was a mix between sects, large families, huge kingdoms and academies. The academy they were heading for didn't fall under any jurisdiction of any kingdom, family or sect. 

This academy was one of the few independent academies in this world. to be independent in such a hard environment that was a testimony for your power. 

This world law was simple, the jungle law. This was a hard but very effective rule. No weak group had the right to exist in this world. 

Simply put, the weakest people here and was very strong actually in Ibro's estimation. He had to confess, although this rule was inhuman and cruel but it was really effective. 

If he compared the situation here with the situation in the games he played he would find it here is better. 

At least here everyone was trying to get stronger all the time, even the strongest powers here. In the games, every established empire relaxed once they felt secure. 

That security issue was the determinant factor between the two worlds. After a few hours, Ibro and Nicole started to meet some monsters. 

These monsters were stage 3 monsters. Although they were way higher than Ibro on stage, they couldn't pose any threat to him. 

He also had that strong archer Nicole. She was really talented at archery. The two had developed chemistry between them in the fight. 

Each time they face a monster, Ibro moves at once to face it while she keeps her distance and uses her lethal arrows to disable these monsters. 

Most of the monsters they faced were killed by Ibro's sword. Each fight Ibro gains more strength. His system never stopped absorbing energy. 

The monsters' cores were also a bonus. He didn't hesitate to eat them while Nicole didn't argue with him about that. 

These core held no value to her. They kept doing this for nearly two days. Each 12 hours of travel and fight, they took some rest. 

Nicole was a really superb cook with these monsters' meat. She made delicious dishes that even Ibro wanted to have more rest to eat more. 

Each time he ate a dish made from these monsters' meat, he could feel the energy seeping into his body. It seemed his ability to gain power from eating wasn't lost when he came here. 

Although they had time, Ibro didn't try to ask her about her great grandfather story. Although he was very curious about that, he believed when she could speak about this she would. 

He was sure talking about her late family would cause deep pain to her, so he restrained himself many times from asking her.