Name: Shimizu Noa
Age: 27
Ethnicity: Yamato/Goryeo
Arcane Path: Mage
Ability: Memory Extraction.
Ability Rank: S
Mana Reserves: 9,609,238
*
"Who are you?" Tianzhu couldn't help but ask her, who looked at him like she knew him. The fact that she knows him is a grave matter. Tianzhu's heart did spike a bit, but he kept his composure on the outside.
"Don't mind me. Your time is ticking." The woman replied, pointing at the timer on the screen. Tianzhu nodded, going back to the phone. He made the same move as she suggested earlier.
As the Bot responded with a check, forking both the King and the knight, the woman instantly spoke to him again. "Now, don't move Bishop, and instead move away the King and sacrifice the Knight."
Tianzhu glanced at her again, feeling slightly annoyed by her interruption, but then again, he already thought of that move anyway. He followed the move and sacrificed the knight.
Once the Queen of that D-column, Tianzhu took over the control in a few more moves, and the Bot resigned the game when the probability of its winning chances dipped below 5%.
Once the game was over, Tianzhu finally turned to face her. She smiled, tilting her head slightly. "You are welcome."
Tianzhu glanced at the digital board overhead. There are still more than ten minutes left. He looked back at her, offering a handshake. "Qin Tianzhu."
She didn't take his hand. Instead, she smiled again, introducing herself. "Noa."
Tianzhu pulled his hand back and asked. "Do you know me?"
Noa blinked in surprise. "Of course, not. I just felt like we met before."
Tianzhu shrugged indifferently, "I wasn't from even Zhonggou, Ms. Noa. I highly doubt that we met before."
Noa blinked, but then nodded. "Yeah, I can guess that you aren't a citizen of this country and definitely a tourist."
Tianzhu blinked in genuine surprise this time. "How do you know that?"
Noa chuckled, shaking her head. "I just have good observation skills." She pointed at his smartphone. "That's the Aota brand, which you cannot see sold anywhere outside Siberian countries. That gave it away."
"Hmm… I'm intrigued." Tianzhu said, facing her. Intending to pass the remaining ten minutes in a piece of conversation with this beautiful young lady, he continued. "Ok, let's put your observation skills to the test, then. What else can you tell about me?"
Noa hesitated, but then her gaze sharpened as she observed him again. "The girl beside you has the same almond-shaped eyes as you; both of you had matching attire, and even the phone straps. But she looks like an adolescent, perhaps 18 or 19. It is unlikely you are a couple. And you look too young to be her father. Hmm, perhaps, brother?" She paused, her eyes flicking to his exposed wrist due to the fact that he had rolled his sleeves earlier. "You are wearing expensive brands from top to bottom, but the watch was an analog watch with an almost worn-out strap. Therefore, it has a high sentimental value to you. Someone very important must have given you that watch, and judging by how you still treasure it, you were missing that person, and that means it's been years since you last met that person, or the person might have passed away. I apologize for that remark."
Tianzhu raised an eyebrow, impressed by her analysis. "Go on."
Noa continued by pointing at his left hand. "The difference in color on your ring finger clearly showed that you were married for a while and recently removed it. The absence of a ring either states that you don't like to wear it often or that you were divorced."
Tianzhu regarded her for a moment and then nodded in approval. "You are good."
"So, how many things have I got right?" Noa asked curiously with a smug expression on her face.
Tianzhu replied with a shrug. "Except for two."
"And where did I go wrong?" Noa enquired, raising her eyebrow.
Tianzhu replied, pointing his finger to the side. "First of all, she's not my sister. She's my niece."
"Oh?"
"And secondly, I'm not as young as you think. I'm at least 15 years older than you."
"Wait. What?" Noa's voice was louder than she intended, catching the attention of a few nearby people for a moment. "Sorry," She awkwardly smiled and bowed to them in apology before shifting her attention back to Tianzhu. She couldn't help but point at herself. "How old do you think I am?"
"24," replied Tianzhu right away.
Noa blinked. "Really?" She crossed her arms with a smirk. "You said that too quickly. Aren't you worried that you might offend me by giving me a higher age number?"
"Nope." He leaned back slightly, staring at her. "That's because I'm confident about my guesses."
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "But you are off by 3 years then."
Tianzhu faked a surprise, "21? Seriously?"
To that, Noa chuckled and shook her head, "Please, stop it. It's too cliche… I'm 27."
"Really?" Tianzhu tilted his head, widening his smile. "Then I guess we are born in the same year of the tiger?"
"I guess…" Noa replied slowly and looked away, pretending to brush imaginary dust off her sleeve.
Intending to talk further, he said. "By the way, there's something else I forgot to mention, the thing you missed."
"Hmm?"
"The boy sitting beside my niece is my nephew. They are twins. It was quite easy to see the resemblance. You missed it. That makes it 3, I guess." Tianzhu gave off a chuckle. To which, Noa seemed taken aback. "Eh? What boy?"
"What do you mean, what boy? The boy who was sitting…" Tianzhu suddenly snapped his head to look at Theo, only to see him missing. "This damn brat…" Tianzhu's expression changed instantly. He swiftly stood up and looked around. Fortunately, he spotted him right away. He saw that Theo was talking to some hunter nearby, belonging to the Haze Guild.
Tianzhu collapsed to the floor again, letting out a deep breath,
"What happened?" Noa asked. Tianzhu sighed, shaking his head. "Nothing. My nephew was talking to someone. I thought he ran off to fight those monsters or something."
Right then, another alarm rang all over the mall, and both of them turned their heads to look at the timer on the screens at the same time.
01:56
01:55
01:54
Meanwhile, in another corner of the Atrium;
Sungjun simply sat there in a relaxed pose against the wall while scanning the people around to see if there were any potential abilities to extract. Looking around, his eyes fell on a young man, covering his face with a mask and his head with a hoodie.
[A-rank ability: Invincibility has been detected. Proceed to Extract?]
"Invincibility?" Sungjun couldn't help but sit right up in surprise. He instantly clicked on Yes.
*Ding!
[Distance Check: 18.7 meters. Within operational range. Extraction could be done.]
[Abilities under Eyes of Dominion are filled to max. Please remove one to replace.]
[Lightning Armor (in cooldown)] [One with the Void] [Gravity Suppression] [Flaming Sword]
*Ding!
[Note: Replacing the skill in cooldown will result in the new skill remain in the cooldown timer]
"There's nothing to think about. I already have one in my head."
"Replace One with the Void." He made the decision to swap out the S-rank ability with a new one.
*Ding!
[Invincibility is an A-rank ability, lower than the existing one. Proceed?]
"Yes. With Umbra on my side, I can extract that ability whenever I want. Why would I bother missing it out? Replace."
*Ding!
[Invincibility has replaced One with the Void under Overlord's Authority: Eyes of Dominion.]