Faust did a quick scan of everyone on the secluded, stylishly-lit balcony.
Spider was the first one he saw.
He remembered how he had seen her walking on air back in the Slime Fields. Her real name was Freya if he remembered correctly.
She had a wild look to her. The curly brown hair, the way she glared at him. She wore a blue and white varsity jacket over her white shirt and long skirt.
On her left was the boy she had been kicking. Zen was his nickname, Faust didn't know his real name. He was a handsome Korean boy with lazy eyes, slouching in his seat. He wore chainmail over his clothes strangely, and didn't even spare Faust a glance.
On Spider's right was Greg. Faust hated that guy. He was six-foot seven, two hundred pounds of muscle. Greg wasn't a bad guy. But Faust lost a couple wrestling matches to him; The boy also had a round, punchable face with a excited expression. He was tanned with black hair, smiling at Faust's arrival.
On the other side of the table was Thalia, a dark-skinned girl he only remembered for her academics. Her braided hair was stuffed under a viking's helmet. She wore a long white dress under a sea-blue cashmere sweater stained by dirt. Her head tilted in surprise.
The final member of the group, Nirvana wore her blue hair was tied in a ponytail, with a butterfly hairpin.
Faust remembered her wearing it since they were in middle school. She wore a baggy, green military jacket and had lots of bandages around her arms.
"F-faust?" She stuttered.
"You lost our game," Faust said, making a disappointing sound. He hadn't permanently gotten her Schema so it must be that he had to challenge her in a more direct way.
Which was part of why he was here. To scope out what type of challenge would be a true defeat for Nirvana.
Nirvana sat up immediately. "There's no way you're already level 5!"
Sergio brought a chair so Faust sat at the other head of the table, across from him Zen finally raised his head.
"Getting to level 5 without a Schema or System" Zen said, shivering. "I'd rather just become a busboy from Sergio"
Tch. They were there when Liora and I broke up.
"Maybe," Faust shrugged. "Hi, Greg. Don't worry, I'm not ignoring you."
The giant boy had been trying to meet Faust's eyes this whole time. "I was waving at you this morning, but you walked past me…"
"Smile for the camera," Thalia said, pulling out a digital camera and taking his picture.
Faust squint through the flash. "Excuse me, but why are you taking my picture?"
"It's the first step of studying an anomaly."
"You can't just take pictures of people."
Thalia shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe on earth with privacy laws. More importanly…." Her narrowed, dark eyes settled on him. "What did you make a deal with Nirvana for?"
"You're worried about nothing." Faust commented casually. "I was supposed to join your team if she reached level 5 before me. But based on her spot on the leaderboard, I'd say you're still level 3."
Nirvana looked hysterical. "There's no way you already… fuck. Can we make another—"
"Nope," Faust said flatly.
Sergio interrupted her with an entourage of servers, bringing in steaming food.
"I listened to your advice," Sergio said to Spider. "Dinner is Smokehouse burger, Rigatoni al Forno with a cheddar and lager pot. Eat quick. You only have a few minutes before the next wave arrives."
"This is too much, Serg," Spider shook her head. "And you took too long to serve us. We can't eat all this in time! Why are you only serving us anyway?"
"Well, serving you is a nuisance," Sergio sniffed. "But since Red God is eating with you I decided to be quick."
As the servers departed, they all just stared at Faust.
"If it's any consolation Nirvana," Zen said first. "He's probably lying about not having a Schema or System. Bad Faust." He made a tutting sound and threw a pickle at Faust.
Greg clapped Faust's shoulder, almost throwing him off his chair. "Number one! Good job, man!"
Spider just started eating, watching Faust out the corner of her eyes. Nirvana looked paler than she already was, making those crimson eyes pop even more.
"Did you get anything from the milestones?" Thalia asked immediately. Then a barrage of questions followed, trying to scientifically probe Faust.
But he was busy stuffing his mouth. "Talk later, eat now," he said with a mouthful of burger.
◇◇◇
Ding!
[The Second wave is beginning!]
Faust had just barely finished eating, and he was already running down the stairs of the restaurant.
His five new acquaintances were a step behind him. Greg held a burger in one hand and carried Thalia in the other. Zen and Nirvana were pushing each other out of the way, laughing loudly. Spide didn't bother with stairs, jumping over the balcony.
Everyone was running out of the restaurant to get to their positions. Sergio slapped everyone on the back as they ran out.
"Good luck, boys!" Sergio shouted. "Give them hell!"
Everyone was on the one, huge road leading to the North gate.
It was honestly awe inspiring seeing this many people move at once. Faust couldn't even count how many heads were ahead of him.
But that also meant he couldn't even run at full speed. The crowd was choked the space with their sweaty bodies.
"We should follow Spider," Zen suggested, turning and leaping onto one of the houses.
Glancing up at the roofs of the small houses, he saw Spider and many other agile Players jumping from the roof.
Greg wasn't as fast as them, but he was strong.
A single leap cast him off the ground and onto the roof of a nearby building. Wood cracked under his feet. He jumped from roof to roof casually.
Faust wondered how high the boy's strength stat must be as he followed. With a slight hum of effort he shot into the air, wind whistling in his ears.
Nirvana was falling behind though. She made a narrow jump between the roofs and nearly fell off.
Faust lagged back and said. "Should I carry you?"
She instantly turned red. "Isn't that bit…"
"No one complained when Greg picked up Thalia."
She weakly agreed, then yelped when Faust picked her up and took off. A large gap had built between them and the others, but Faust cut down the distance in seconds. The wind roared in his ears as he finally got to move at top speed.
Nirvana wrapped her hands around his neck. "Too fast, too fast! Please slow down!"
"You don't trust me?" He said slyly.
She closed her eyes to avoid his gaze. "Just please slow down."