Chapter 167 – Stalker
After escaping from the Kobolds' village, Noah returned to his meditation room in the Threadweaver mansion where he had one of the medallions hidden. This way the entrance point inside the Kobolds cavern closed, erasing all traces of his presence there.
"Alright, let's see the stories you choose for information gathering." Said Noah as he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.
"User, I analyzed that these stories may have needed source code for the skill but I can't guarantee we would not see a nightmare there. After all, some of the names of these stories suggest that we might see a lot of deaths there." Warned Ugy in his mind.
"Let's do it. We lost enough time. Every minute we lose, Firria is closer to danger." Said Noah.
"Alright. First, we'll start with this one." Said Ugy and started a story, sending Noah's mind into an illusory world.
Darkness around him instantly crumbled as the bright burning sun drove away all shadows. Noah found himself standing in the middle of endless white sand with not a single trace of civilization as far as he could see. Far in the distance, he could see sands shake as if in waves as air shuddered from the heat of the sun. In this invisible shudder of air, the sunlight refracted making it seem like there were lakes far in the distance, but Noah understood that it was just a mirage.
The sun that hung in the sky like a huge ball was a lot bigger than the sun that he was used to. A huge fiery red ball was very close to the horizon slowly sinking toward the ground, as the day was coming to an end.
Noah turned around trying to understand what he was supposed to see here when he noticed a strange metallic object looking like a strange pike in the distance.
He walked toward that object and soon saw that a small hill that he perceived from the distance as a sand dune near that metal pike was actually a structure reminding him of a snow iglu that he once saw somewhere in the books.
As he walked closer he saw a man in white robes walk out of that sandy iglu structure and look around.
"Luke?" Shouted the man.
"Luke!" He repeated as he did not hear an answer. "Damn it, boy!" Grumbled the man going back into the house and walking out a few seconds later with some object in his hands. From other stories, Noah recognized it as a weapon called a rifle, but this one looked a bit different than the one he saw before.
The man armed with a rifle quickly walked away gazing at the footprints in the sand. He walked through the desert with quick steps as the sun was sinking below the horizon, quickly sending the world into darkness.
"Luke!" Shouted the man when he walked over to some rocks that stuck out of the sand, where he saw a young boy laying on his back staring into the now dark night sky.
"Boy, what are you doing here?" Shouted the man at the young boy as he walked over. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? I told you a hundred times that it's dangerous to go out at night!" The man swore at the boy.
"I am sorry, Uncle Owen." Said the boy standing up and jumping off the rocks.
Noah followed the man and the boy as they safely returned to their home. After that, he witnessed this boy's daily life as he and his uncle worked on a strange farm in the middle of a desert, every day repairing some strange devices that they used in their lives. In the evening when they finished their main tasks, the man that boy called Uncle Owen would teach him how to shoot the rifle that they named Laser Rifle.
Owen's wife grumbled at him for teaching a seven years old how to shoot, but he fended her off by saying there were far more dangerous things out there than a seven years old with a laser rifle.
Years passed and the boy's marksmanship rose greatly, as he now shot better than his uncle.
"He is gifted as his father." Said Owen's wife one day, but the man's face changed from these words.
"I don't want to hear about his father ever again." Said Owen in a serious voice.
"We can not keep it from him forever. You know that."
"I will keep it from him as long as I can. There is nothing in this world more important to me than his safety. He may be my nephew, but I love him like a son. And my son is safer being a farmer on our moisture farm than going to war like his damn father."
After that this family's lives carried on without anything special happening in the life of a boy until one day he got lost in a sand storm and when he lost his way unable to see his road clearly, he was attacked by a huge dragon-like creature.
Noah's heart skipped a beat as the boy was almost in the creature's maw full of sharp teeth, but a strange line of blue light shone in the mist of swirling sand and slid through the creature as if it simply passed air.
The creature dropped to the ground as its head separated from its neck and out of the blowing dust wind walked a man holding a sword that reminded Noah of the energy beam sword in his battle puppets arsenal. Man bent down on his knee offering the laying on the ground boy a hand to help him stand.
"Come, Luke. I will take you home." Said the stranger covered in a dark brown cape.
"Who are you?" Asked the boy fearfully gazing at the dead creature and the weapon in the caped man's hand.
"My name is Ben. Ben Kenobi. I am an old friend of your father." Said the man, taking off his cape and revealing a bearded face and a head of gray hair.
*****
A few hours later Noah woke up, rubbing his eyes, clearing the tears from his eyes.
"Damn. I am so glad his father finally saw the path of the good side once again and protected his son. Fuck, that was a good story." Said Noah with red eyes.
"Ready for the next story?" Asked Ugy without giving him any time to rest.
"Damn, I don't think I am, but we are in a hurry." Said Noah. "Do it."
*****
Noah stood on top of the rock gazing down at the huge village below him.
"Whahahah." Came someone's laughter, surprising Noah. He looked around but did not see anyone around.
He slowly walked over to the edge of the rock and looked down, his eyes going wide in surprise. What he saw as a rock was actually a huge sculpture of a face carved into the mountain, clearly honoring the person after whom it was portrayed. However, currently, a small boy was hanging down from the rock on the rope with a bucket of red paint and painting ugly symbols on the statue's face while laughing wickedly.
"Narutoooo!" Screamed the man from the roof of one of the buildings below the mountain with a face full of fury from witnessing the boy's action.
*****
"Holy shit! What the hell? Why did you stop? He beat that damn Pain but the Hidden Leaf village is in ruins. What's next? The hell you stop it here?" Screamed Noah as he plunged from the dream back into the meditation room in Threadweaver mansion.
"I am sorry, User, but we would have to stop here." Said Ugy.
"What? Why?" Exclaimed Noah.
"Several hours passed already. It is almost evening now. We have enough source codes to open the skill to save that girl Firria. But as you said every minute counts and we can't keep reading it."
"Who…?" Muttered Noah still not quite aware of what was going on, forgetting even what day it was. "Oh. Right. Damn, there's so much time passed within those stories that time starts to become blurry in the real world. Reading so much in one day is dangerous." Whispered Noah, shaking his head.
"Are you ready for the next step?" Asked Ugy.
"Hold on. Give me a minute." Said Noah as he lightly slapped his cheeks with both hands trying to clear his mind and breathing in and out a few deep breaths.
"Damn it. I am ready. Let's go." Said Noah finally feeling clear-headed a few minutes later.
*Conditions have been met. You have leveled up* Said the system voice in Noah's head.
Noah felt nausea all of a sudden as something seemed to creep into his mind. Some kind of new feeling kept pounding at his mind, giving his head lots of information that he could not make sense of, and starting to feel overwhelmed.
"Calm your mind." Said Ugy. "Remember Paula's training. Feel your body. Turn your senses inside yourself. See your inner mana circulation."
Noah started to breathe in and out in measured cycles, carefully sensing his own body. Sitting with his eyes closed he slowly started to see his organs shining in brilliant light as some kind of energy flowed over them, circulating through his entire body. This energy flowed into him from outside through several spots and as it passed within him, changed color, the strength of the flow, and even brightness. It seemed that this energy had countless permutations and he could not understand any logic behind it. But as he gazed at it he saw an endlessly deep ocean that had no bottom.
"No matter what you do. Do not try to touch this flow with your mind. Any mistake and you might die." Said Ugy's serious voice.
"This is an inner flow of mana…" whispered Noah in awe at the scene that he saw lying on the bed with his eyes closed.
"We have succeeded in opening the needed sense. Now I will create a new skill that will let us find the girl."
*Conditions have been met.* sounded the system voice again.
*New skill has been created.*
*Skill: Stalker (Active)*
"Hold it. What the hell? No, no, no, no. Change it!" Exclaimed Noah. "I don't know what this skill does, but change the damn name!"
"I can't the name has already been registered." Said Ugy in an innocent voice.
"Why every skill you make has makes me look even more like a pervert!"
"User, you are trying to find a location of a girl you saw once in a dream. Put your hand on the chest and ask yourself honestly. Does this skill really not fit you?"
"That's not how it is!" Screamed Noah.
"All stalkers say that." Said Ugy in a voice as if he talked to a pervert.
"Fuck you, you plush bastard!"