Adrenaline Junkie [Book 2 Complete]

Archie looked at the two of them, processing what they had told him before glancing out of the alley Tim had brought him into, his gaze fixed past the magical storm construct and through and toward the twin suns, Syjun and Ryjun.

Slowly, he nodded, seemingly coming to terms with his thoughts. If there had been an explosion large enough to destroy three entire universes, then it wasn't hard to conclude that Earth most likely hadn't survived.

There were over 800 billion planets in the Milky Way alone and more than twice that number of galaxies we had uncovered, Archie mused. The odds of Earth surviving-

Surviving, he thought sarcastically, clicking his tongue. Hell, if it was anything still left of it, I'd eat my own shoes and let Henry paint my Mana Bike.

He turned back to face Tim, still perched atop the garbage lid, and Aoife, who stood with her arms crossed, looking uncertain, though about what, he couldn't say.

'Honestly, I think it was a hundred percent deserved,' Archie stated. 'If anything, I'd say it wasn't enough, maybe whatever I'm thinking right now is blasphemous, but I genuinely don't care.'

How he hated not being able to speak.

'It's where I grew up, where I lived,' Archie signed. It's where I had loved ones buried, was left unsaid, too personal to be touched on.

Veil of Silence was far worse than Hollow Slumber - hell, even Echoing Pain hadn't annoyed him as much. The frustration of not being able to express the emotions that I wanted to express…

He wanted to punch something, but there was nothing to hit - no one to shout at that deserved it, not that he could anyway.

When I find the one who cursed me…

'I both loved and hated Earth, it brought me the best moments of my life and the worst,' Archie wrote out, eyes now fixed onto a cybernetic alley cat hissing at a group of radioactive-looking rats.

But it was mine, ya know, Archie continued in his head, watching as a pack of rats pounced atop the cat and began to tear into it.

'But it's gone now. And from what I learned from a friend, all the major players involved in its destruction were either gods who died 1.3 billion years ago or ones still hiding from the others.'

And even if I do find one… how could I possibly kill them now? I'm not even a D-Grade, Archie thought to himself. By the time I do become a god, will I still care about Earth's destruction? Say it takes me a thousand or even a hundred thousand years to reach godhood, the time I spent on Earth would be less than a fraction of a fraction of a percent compared to my time off it.

"Then get strong enough to kill the ones still alive who fucked over your entire universe," Tim stated plainly moments before pulling out a photo from thin air. "Who cares if you're weak now? You can always become stronger."

"This dragon right here - the fat one with bluish-pink scales," Tim said, pointing to a figure in the photo. It appeared to be a family picture of larger dragons gathered for dinner, with younger ones playfully fighting atop a pile of gold.

A younger-looking, smiling Tim, one of the few Dragon Sprites attending, was making snow angels in one of the gold piles, basking in the sun's rays.

"She's my great, great Aunt from my dad's side, Aunt Frin. She became a dragon goddess a long time ago. One of the stories she used to tell me as a hatchling, when I didn't know she was a goddess, was her Journey to becoming a goddess."

"She was the runt of the litter, too weak and meek to reach beyond the initial stages of C-Grade. She talked about those days fondly, she found herself a partner who loved her and had a kid," Tim said, before his tone became solemn. "Dragons are prideful races, so she was pretty much ignored when the Elders judged her potential to be on the lower ranks of C-Grade as she struggled to even kill things on the same level as herself."

What does this have to do with whatever has to do with my issue? Archie asked himself. Unless she… yeah, I can see where this might be going, best keep my mouth shut.

"On one of the few times every couple hundred years or so, there is a large family gathering, where every pureblood dragon who underwent their coming of age is forced to attend, she left her partner and child to attend. While she was at the far end of the table, still being ignored, she felt her link with her partner and child severed."

"If I remember correctly, she was the first in seventy thousand years to leave the gathering early without giving notice, breaking countless years of tradition," Tim said, switching himself to now freely swinging his legs from atop the garbage can lid. "She knew she'd faced repercussions, but she didn't care at the time. When she attempted to teleport back to her planet, where she left her family, the teleporter was offline, and the signal to her home was dead."

"So, she teleported to the nearest available signal that was registered onto the family teleporter, one universe away, and flew to her planet."

"No…" Aoife softly muttered, much to Archie's confusion.

"Yeah," Tim said solemnly, facing Aoife and turning back to look at Archie. "Early C-Grades warm and cold bloods that aren't made to withstand the full effects of space travel unprotected. But Aunt Frin didn't care, she didn't have the luxury to."

"When she arrived in the galaxy she called home, in the star sector of her planet, almost completely covered in ice and scales either gone or raw, she found half of her star sector destroyed, torn asunder, by two S-Grades who were sparing with each other. Her planet being one of the many casualties of their sparring, such is a normal thing when two strong beings fight in the multiverse. It's a normal, everyday occurrence."

"She just happened to be one of the many victims of being weak. The family wouldn't help her, she broke tradition along with being complacent with remaining at C-Grade," Tim sighed, his feet kicking against the garbage bin, looking away at Archie and towards the rats eating the street cat. "She was all alone, Dad couldn't help them, because he wasn't even hatched at the time, so she had no one to rely on except for herself."

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"She fought, killed, and trained for years, thousands of them. Digging herself out of the grave she had dug herself in when he fell complacent, eventually she reached S-Grade and managed to track down one of the two who were responsible for the deaths of her husband and daughter, and killed him. The other became a goddess, but Aunt Frin didn't care; she tracked down the goddess and ripped her apart limb from limb, becoming a godkiller while in the early stages of S-Grade."

"It took her almost five hundred thousand years, but she got her revenge on those who killed her husband and daughter. She never forgot and never stopped, even when no one was around to help her for the most part," Tim said, looking back at Archie and Aoife.

"Gods and goddesses don't die of old age, and you've only just started your journey to godhood. So why are you trying to stop yourself when you've barely crossed the starting line? Yeah, they're strong and terrifying - but they can be killed. Think of your loved ones, remember them, and cherish your memories, remember what you've lost, and get your revenge."

Archie nodded slowly, taking a breath before turning his head back toward the rats feasting on the street cat. Without hesitation, he drew his Mana Revolver and fired three quick shots, each bolt finding its mark, dropping the rats dead and atop the street cat's corpse.

*[Toxinclaw Rat Lv 21] has been slain – XP has been given.*
***
*[Toxinclaw Rat Lv 23] has been slain – XP has been given.*

'Sorry for your aunt, and thanks for your words,' Archie signed, letting out an exhale and putting away his Mana Revolver back into his Livingwood Propagator's spatial storage. 'It's… It's just, it all happened not long ago, and I haven't really gotten down to process this whole fuck fest of emotions that I have thrashing around within me.'

Who would have thought that a flying salamander would be the one to encourage me to kill gods?

"It's no biggie," Tim dismissed, sliding off the garbage bin lid and now hovering beside both him and Aoife. "We are friends, and soon, once we register at the guild, we'll be a team. As team leader, it is my job to make sure we are all in tip-top shape."

Chuckling, Archie turned to follow Tim out of the alley, with Aoife in tow, unaware of the complicated emotions that flickered across her face.

"You sure this is the building?" Archie asked, glancing over his shoulder at Tim, who nodded, and Aoife, who still looked detached from everything around her and was simply following them.

He had tried asking what was wrong when he first noticed her distant expression, but she insisted she was just lost in thought, processing everything that had happened.

He wanted to help, but he didn't want to push any further than he already had, especially given her situation. In his mind, giving her space was the best option, as that's what he would have preferred himself.

It was probably better than what he was doing to himself, keeping himself busy just to avoid thinking about the friends he had made during the Group Tutorial, his family, and the countless times he had stopped himself from calling out to Bralmir on reflex before he was cursed.

It was all too much for him right now.

He let himself be distracted by anything, throwing himself into strange and random situations just to keep from thinking about the past. That was why he had even entertained the idea of going along with Tim in the first place.

The moment he had a second to think for himself, when he wasn't distracted by forging, he found himself trapped in his own mind, spiraling through endless what-ifs.

He hated it.

Being trapped in his own mind, lost in his own anxiety and dark thoughts… He hated it. Fighting was so much easier, no need for any complex thinking, just hit the guy harder than they hit you, and you win.

It was probably why Bralmir had given him the task of building a teleporter - something far more advanced than any sci-fi show or comic had ever prepared him to expect. It forced him to focus on the present rather than lose himself in his own thoughts of having his universe destroyed, family fractured, and friends gone.

Leaving him certain of only one thing - by the time he finished the teleporter, met up with Bralmir, and evolved, he was going to have one hell of a crash. And after that, he was going to find Henry, reunite with his niece, and get absolutely wasted with Bralmir and Henry.

"Yeah, this is it," Tim answered, zipping in front of Archie just as he was about to push open the medieval-looking tavern door that supposedly led to the "greatest guild in the Multiverse."

"Don't push the door open, it has security on it," Tim said, pulling out a dull, iron-colored metallic card with a semi-large star in the middle. Hovering himself up to be eye level to the semicircular stained-glass window on the door, he held the card up to his face and gave a toothy grin.

After a moment, a click echoed, and the door swung open, revealing the inside of the "greatest guild in the Multiverse".

Tentatively walking inside, Archie felt himself enter through a membrane of mana that clung to his body, not unlike the one that he went through in the jungle during the Group Tutorial.

But it also felt similar to what I got mana cleansed with when I inserted both jewels into their sockets in the Hidden Temple dungeon, Archie mused, clenching and unclenching his hands as he followed behind Tim, who teleported in a firework explosion in what he assumed to be a guild receptionist.

His crimsoned irised eyes wandering towards the few others that stayed within their own corners and groups scattered within the tavern, observing them with both Vital Sight and Identify.

[Human Lv ???]
[Troll Lv ???]
…
[?]

These people are strong, Archie noted as he saw them flicker their eyes toward him before looking away, uncaring of his attempt to Identify them.

"Oi, Archie!" Tim shouted. Archie, watching him out of his peripheral vision, waved his hands in order to get his attention. "Get over here, I got you an interview."

Well, I guess a guild could be a job. It's been a while since my last interview, though, Archie remarked, walking toward the brunette wearing the classic fantasy tavern wench garb.

[Elf Lv ???]

Not as strong as the other people around, but definitely stronger than the three of us, Archie noted as he stood beside Tim and Aoife.

"I will now take them one by one for the interview," the elven receptionist said, fluidly extending one arm to point toward a door behind her, her other palm facing him. "You shall be the first, seeing as your friend seems a bit preoccupied with her own thoughts at the moment."

Glancing at Aoife he found her being led by Tim towards one of the booths. Holding his tongue, Archie nodded and followed the receptionist into the room she pointed to.

This looks homey, Archie sarcastically thought as he looked at the bleak and bare room with a singular square table and two wooden chairs that looked similar to the ones he'd seen in the entrance hub of the tavern.

He pulled out one of the chairs for the receptionist, letting her sit first before sliding her seat toward the table and sitting down in the opposite one. While he might have lived as a barbarian murder hobo for the past two months, he had, in fact, been raised with manners by his parents.

"Thank you," the receptionist said plainly, giving Archie a soft smile, who in turn nodded in acceptance.

"Now, let us begin," the receptionist said, pulling out a bejeweled handbell and placing it on her right-hand side before interlocking her fingers together atop the table. "Why do you think an E-Grade like yourself deserves the right to become a member of the single greatest adventurers' guild in the Multiverse, Omniversal Solutions, when the minimum entry requirements to enter are to be a C-Grade?"

I have to be C-Grade to join? Archie looked at her in confusion. Is Tim playing some sort of prank on me?