Loki’s Successor System

Chapter 178: Kai + Kaylie = Boredom

Jin grimaced at Kaylie’s previous words. “Scanned? Elaborate, woman.”

Kaylie, still energetic and cheerful, clasped her hands behind her back and chuckled. “Newcomers are scanned. Y’know, just to make sure they’re not shapeshifting vengers. If the test shows positive,” she closed her eyes, cocked her head, and smiled, “let’s just say you’ll have to fight against over one hundred ability users.”

Jin smirked, rubbing his hands together. He liked the idea of that. It would a battlefield with men falling like dominoes. A fight of abilities, and ability users. The system always rewarded him with experience points for taking out living mortals, to begin with. “So much Exp. Sounds fun!”

“That’s the spirit, hottie!” Kaylie cheered, with laughing eyes. “Let’s get you to Kai. He’ll usher you to the Wizard.” She started walking.

“Stop calling me that,” Jin snapped. 

“What? Hottie?”

“Yes! I have a name. It’s a name that will take over and become infamous, and fabled when if I perish. So stop it, and call me by it.”

“Not until you call me by mine instead of just ‘woman’,” she said brusquely, “that’s so uncharitable coming from you and to the woman who just saved your life.”

Jin scoffed. “I feel like killing you all …”

“Wait,” Kaylie paused, “what is your name? I didn’t get it.”

Jin sighed. “I’m Jin. Now let’s get going already.  Before my stomach starts eating my intestines in there.”

Suddenly, Kaylie paused, staring at Jin as if she had just seen a ghost. “Jin,” she muttered, “Jin, Jin …” she said softly to herself, musing at her words, “it’s soooo hot!” her tone suddenly escalated. “Now, your face just screams Jin to me. Your parents did a great job.”

Jin’s face suddenly got serious for a second. Parents. He shook his head at the word. 

Kaylie blabbered on. “Is it an Asian name? It sounds like an Asian name. Is that like a Chinese? Oh!” she raised an index finger, holding it at the level of her shoulders. “Is it Japanese? I watched a lot of Shoujo anime before the world got like this. Or is it Korean? It sounds Korean. But wouldn’t a Korean name be something like ‘Sae-byeok?”

Jin sighed stressfully, narrowing his eyes at the girl again

Suddenly, the door was knocked open. A young lad lurched at the door, his hand reaching for the dagger at his side. He was right-handed so he reached for that one. But he usually wielded dual blades. He looked like Kaylie in terms of appearance, but his personality wasn’t on par with hers. He had the same fleshy nose, but his was a bit more crooked. He had eyes that were almost golden. His brown hair, also golden, was held in a man-bun, but no jell was used—the hair saw to its natural waviness because of the latter. 

Jin had sensed the young man’s malice. His right hand was half-closed. He was prepared, keeping his eyes peeled and sharp, focused. He still had trouble trusting people.

Kaylie heeded the intensity of the air and quickly started toward the lad at the door. “Oh. Kai … you’re here. We were just talking about you.”

Kai lowered his hand to his side, no longer reaching to draw his sword from its sheath. He cursed. Why was Kaylie so ignorant? He told her about getting comfortable with strangers a thousand times over after what happened in the past. He shook his head. When will it be etched behind her stubborn mind? 

He looked at Jin, malice no longer in his eyes. To which, Jin simply deflated, his right hand relaxing. The green in his eyes visible to a lesser extent. At that moment, he saw the innocence in Kai’s eyes. But the urge to farm Exp by killing villagers here was still present. Still great. 

“I told you to report to me when he’s awake,” Kai said, a bit too calmly, “he could’ve …” he’d almost said too much, so he paused there.

He was always a bit too straightforward with everything. Including his words. Plain and straight to the point. He noticed that Jin hadn’t said any words yet.  He stared at him. The cuts were almost completely gone. Only little marks remained, like little shreds of opened skin, exposing flesh. These cuts—the same zigzagged patterns left behind, some cuts were much larger than others as if the perpetrator had used other blades. Kai didn’t blink. It was irrefutable at that point. These cuts were from the blade of a Void.

“Are you finished healing him?” He asked, still looking Jin over from the established distance.

Kaylie nodded. “Yup. Forty percent, just as you asked of me.”

Kai scratched his neck. “Why not one hundred percent?”

Kaylie looked at him and cocked her head. “Huh?”

Kai folded his arms. “Those wounds are still mildly opened and look like scratches from a cat’s claws. Not dissing your healing capabilities, sis, but you could’ve clearly done better. If you don’t completely close those things, your hot guy here will end up with more scars than our uncle!” He smiled.

Kaylie cackled. “Hah! But what about the orders? Lest Jin attacks us, they told you to make sure he isn’t fully rehabilitated so that his wounds hinder him in the potential battle against we hunters. “

Kai scoffed. “Nah, just forget about all of that.  If this ‘Jin’ gets out of hand, I’ll step in before there are casualties. So go ahead and heal him up. It’s not like another sixty percent of health is gonna make that much of a difference anyway.”

Kaylie looked happy. “I like your spirit today! You might just become my favorite brother.”

Kai pressed his lips together in a line and raised a brow. “I am your only brother, Kaylie,” he said, “Kyle’s long dead.”

“Not to me,” she said brusquely.

Kai sighed. “Let him go already, Kaylie.”

“So …. you want me to just forget about him? Is that what you’re asking.”

“I just want you to stop mourning because of a death that happened a decade ago.” His tone was still calm.

“And I just want you to stop being paranoid,” she said, “because of a death that happened a decade ago.”

Kai rolled his eyes. Kaylie usually won the arguments, so he was able to stomach another defeat like nothing without being embarrassed. But embarrassed because an enigmatic being like Jin—whose eyes were always half-opened—was there? He sighed. Jin obviously couldn’t care less about their conversation. In spite of the latter, Kai didn’t know whether he should feel relieved or not. 

“Look, Kaylie, you win,” Kai said, “you’re already boring the new guy to the core with all that talk.”

Apathy was in Jin’s eyes, but he was in fact paying attention to what came out of their mouths, looking for secrets, weaknesses perhaps even lies. After all, it was these things he could use later should there be conflict. 

Kai continued. “Get him healed up, Kaylie. What are you waiting for? I have to take him to get the test. For now,” he looked at Jin, “he’ll have to cope with the villagers hating his gut or even attacking him with their abilities.”

Kaylie started toward Jin. “Yeah, I should heal him up. There are even some new rumors suggesting that Jin is a Jinn, an evil spirit. Apparently, the person who made that one up thought Jin was bad at concealing his true identity. Then,” she stopped in front of Jin, looking up at him, “there is a rumor about you being a succubus too. That would explain why you’re so god damn hot. But frankly,” she blushed, “I made that one up.”

Of course, she did.

Kai snapped. “Kaylie! Just hurry up and heal the guy. Look at him. Look at his eyes. Those are eyes that tell you he’s drained. Exhausted.”

Kaylie furrowed her brows. “I think his eyes are hot. He’s not drained. He’s not exhausted. My ability doesn’t just kill wounds but also fatigue and tons more. It works like a healstone, but it’s not capable of triggering that reaction where the person’s mind is relieved of its negative emotions and notions, and habits for a while. But it does trigger dopamine.”

“Still,” Kai said, “heal him. Your healing takes really long. If forty percent took you that long—”

“Shut up,” she drawled curtly, “there’s only twenty percent left any,” she raised her hand and carried it to Jin’s chest. 

“Wait, then that means-” Kai shook his head, smirking, “you did it again, didn’t you?”

Kaylie’s hand started to glow. The light green glow intensified as she deepened focus. “Did what?” 

Jin’s wounds started to close, and then disappear as if they were never there. 

“You said twenty percent,” Kai said, “that means you almost fully healed him. You lied.”

She snorted, her eyes glowing green. A much, much lighter green than Jin’s. “Obviously.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t heal him fully, completing disobeying orders.”

“Well, I’m surprised you’re not mad about one of my lies for once.” The glow in her eyes became less intense, and then slowly faded. She edged her hand away from Jin’s chest. “There,” she looked up at him, smiling jovially, “all done. You’re ready to go see the Wizard. The healing’s gonna come in handy if the old geezer attacks. Or you can even say when. Try not to look too ‘enticing’ when you get there, or else he’ll attempt sparring with you.”

Kai started toward the door. Then, he stopped, looking over his shoulder. “Are you coming nor not? The rain’s coming soon. Now’s the best time to leave. Finding the Wizard wouldn’t be too easy.’