Chương 83: (B2 Chapter 34)

It wasn't a goblin scout. In fact, it wasn't anything remotely dangerous, and I felt idiotic with the dagger in one hand and the wind bolt in the other, pointing at the small child looking up curiously at me. The wind bolt petered out and I lowered the dagger sheepishly, before looking around and being thankful that no one had seen me getting scared by a small child. Standing in front of me was a small girl who looked to be about six or seven years old.

She had shoulder-length blonde hair and large, hazel eyes that were looking up at me with the unbridled curiosity that only a child has.

"Hi," she said brightly, completely ignoring the fact that she had snuck up on me. Actually, how had she done that? Was I just that lost in my thoughts…?

"Hi," I replied.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"I'm Alex, and what's your name?"

"I'm Alex too!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Actually, my name is Alexandra, but everyone just calls me Alex."

"That's great, nice to meet…" I was going to politely send her off while I went inside the room, but she cut me off.

"You walk silently. Everyone says I walk silently too! That's another thing we have in common!" she said with a huge smile. Walks silently… is that how she was able to get so close to me…?

"Um… okay… that's nice. But listen, it's been great meeting you, but…" I tried to end the conversation again, but she cut me off once more.

"I walk like this and see, it makes no noise," she then proceeded to walk up and down the hallway in front of me, and I had to admit, she indeed was moving very quietly. I could hear her movements, but I think it was because I was concentrating on her completely, as even with that I could barely hear her small frame move around. She suddenly stopped walking and turned to me, "that's how I do it. How do you do it?"

I looked at her small face turned up toward me, filled with curiosity, and I had to admit I was completely stumped. In fact, I was very thrown off by this entire situation. And the small child didn't give me much of an opportunity to settle down either.

"Come on! Hurry up!" she insisted. A few seconds later, I was walking up and down the hallway in front of her, still thinking about how things had ended up this way. Alexandra, on the other hand, was completely engrossed by my seemingly interesting walk. She jumped up and down excitedly, clapping her hands, "Wow! You're very good!" I cracked a smile, before suddenly stopping in place. Shaking my head, I turned towards her, "Thank you.

Now, I am busy and need to do some work, so if you'll go back downstairs, I'm sure Lucas or someone else will help you."

"Who's Lucas?" she questioned instantly.

"He's the leader here, and he will surely be able to help you," I explained.

"Why aren't you the leader?"

"Well… because Lucas is a much better leader than me."

"Really? I think you'd be a great leader! Alex is a leader's name after all! Haven't you heard of Alexander the great? Dad told me he named me after him! Did your dad name you after him, too?"

"Uh… sure…"

"See! I haven't heard of anyone named 'Lucas the great', so I think you should be the leader!" she finished, absolutely sure of her conclusion. Still unsure of how the conversation had reached this point, I simply nodded.

"Okay then, you should go downstairs now, I need to do some important work."

"Do you know where Mom and Dad are?" she suddenly asked, her voice getting just a little quieter with this question. I sighed as the realization hit me. I had been so focused on the system messages that I had treated being 'ambushed' by her as simply a nuisance. However, I had failed to consider what a little girl would be feeling coming to this place suddenly. I crouched down so I was eye-level with her, "I don't know your mom and dad. Why don't you tell me about them so I can help you find them?"

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Her eyes regained a bit of their brightness, and she immediately started describing her parents. Their names were Meghan and Keith, but her description of them as the 'best mom and dad in the world' wasn't really helpful. Still, I nodded along.

"They sound wonderful, I'll keep an eye out for them and be sure to let you know when I find them, okay?" she nodded happily, so I continued, "Great, now that that's settled, you should really go downstairs and find a place to sleep before all the good ones are taken." I still felt bad trying to get rid of her, but there wasn't really anything I could do here. Finding her parents was going to be next to impossible, and statistically, they were probably dead.

From the people who had come from their tutorials today, ours had been a major outlier. Most of the people hadn't been able to beat their tutorials, and they said that almost everyone else in their tutorials had been wiped out. Despite our tutorial's success, we had still lost about twenty to twenty-five people in total, and that was without counting the ones who hadn't even been able to reach the clearing with the longhouses.

It was a brutal reality, but I had a feeling that almost all the children that had come here today were now orphans. Alexandra looked straight into my eyes, and then nodded her head. She said bye to me and started heading back down the stairs, still moving surprisingly quietly. I stared at her small, retreating figure and wondered why she was so silent. I turned around and continued towards my room, still thinking about her silent movement.

Did she have some kind of passive skill that was working without her knowing? Wait… did she even have access to the system? The old people did, but did the children have it? I turned back around, intent on asking her about it, when I saw her little face peeking out from the corner of the stairway. As soon as our eyes met, she vanished back behind the wall, but a few seconds later, her head slowly re-appeared around the corner. I gave a chuckle, and then went towards her while calling out her name.

She jumped a bit at being called out, and slowly came out of the stairway and into the hall, looking extremely sheepish and guilty.

"Why didn't you go downstairs?" I asked her.

"… I don't know anyone there, and they all seem angry or sad…" she replied in a small voice, looking down at the ground. She's surprisingly observant for someone so young. Wait… how old is she…?

"How old are you?" I questioned. She seemed a bit surprised at the sudden question, but answered nonetheless.

"I'm six!" Wow… she really seems much more observant and intelligent than any six-year-old I had ever met. Is that just her being naturally more intelligent… or does it have something to do with the system…? My mind started racing again. If children had access to the system as well now, did that mean they could start gaining levels and get skills? Wouldn't that mean they would get more time with the system than, say, a fifty-year-old, and be able to reach a higher level?

"That's great! Would you like to do a small experiment with me?" I asked her in a kind voice. I expected her to excitedly agree, but surprisingly, she immediately looked at me with suspicion, "What experiment? Dad told me not to trust strangers, so I won't do anything dangerous!" she exclaimed, crossing her little arms and frowning. Wow, she really is smart…

"Your Dad was absolutely right, and you're a very smart girl to follow his advice. But this experiment isn't dangerous at all, I promise," I held up my hands in a placating gesture. She still looked at me with narrowed eyes, but nodded, and I immediately tried to get her to think about her status screen. She tried repeatedly, even closing her eyes in concentration, but if her words were to be trusted, she couldn't see any system screen at all. I believe her, but I'll still confirm it with other children.

For now, though, it looks like the system isn't 'unlocked' for her… but then, is she just naturally silent as well as smart and observant? It is possible… but I still have my doubts. I thanked her, but then sternly asked her to go downstairs now. She nodded, and started heading down the stairs again. This time, I went under concealed presence and followed her, noting how she was still moving very, very, silently.

She paused at the first landing and turned her head back, apparently listening intently, and then she turned directions and headed back up the stairs, slowly approaching the corner and peeking out like she had done earlier. I chuckled to myself at her antics. She looked surprised at the empty hallway and looked in both directions rapidly. She then rushed up and down the hall, stopping and listening at doorways in an attempt at finding me. She even opened a few doors and looked inside.

The search continued for a few minutes before she gave up and silently trudged down the stairs, sadness etched over her face. I felt a bit bad, but I couldn't have a small child sticking to me. And no matter how smart she seemed, she was still a child looking for someone to attach herself to, and I didn't want that someone to be me. That being said, I still found myself curious about her, and I followed her down the stairs just to ensure she found Lucas or someone else to guide her.

She clearly couldn't access the system, but that didn't mean the system couldn't have an influence over her. Has the system somehow enhanced the natural abilities of children in some manner? Perhaps in a way to herd them into specific roles when it came time to select classes? She had said that everyone always told her she moved silently, but her movements really were unnaturally silent, so is this the system enhancing her own natural ability subtly? The thought gave me pause, as I thought of a wider implication.

I had always been good at strategizing in games and was a fair bit more intelligent than the average person, but hadn't I been a bit too successful during the tutorial? I had constantly picked up on things that the others had missed, and had been able to come up with a way to beat the tutorial with minimal losses. A tutorial that had been designed to make us fail from the looks of it. And then I thought about Lucas, and how he had always been a social person.

But had he ever so effortlessly been able to change the sentiments of an entire crowd of agitated and confused people? There's a large difference between being able to handle a dozen professionals in a meeting and a crowd of hundreds of panicked people thrust into an extreme situation.

I didn't know the others from before the system, so I didn't have anything to compare their current personalities to, but as I continued behind the quietly moving child, so did my train of thought continue churning, and I soon came to a potentially exciting conclusion. If this works… it could be amazing!