A True Rhombic Comes in Time

20

I finally headed toward the Door to leave.

Considering her short baby legs, Gomi kept up with my pace without any trouble. She chattered on and off, and she tried her best to answer the questions I asked along the way.

I emphasize the word "tried" because most of the time, she seemed to be unsure or confused. The only thing she was certain of was that she was here for me.

I was grateful that the path to the Door was a peaceful one. Although the plants looked different than those on the first floor, the second floor was a forest of no significance. I saw purple leaves, yellow bushes, pink grass, and blah blah blah. I didn't find anything that grabbed my attention.

There were other Rhombics walking by from time to time. This being only the second floor, most were hunting solo, though I saw some working in pairs or groups already. It wasn't uncommon for some Rhombics to find their partners early in their careers. Generally speaking, we were supposed to know whether we were a Lead or a Support soon after being marked.

It was a good idea to find your pair as quickly as possible. The more time you spent with your partner, the better you will work together.

I supposed it was just like marriage.

When you found the right one, you would want to tie the not sooner rather than later, right? I obviously didn't know anything about marriages, but I assumed a similar logic applied here.

And just like marriages, it was plenty easy to "divorce" from your pair. All you needed to do was just walk away from each other.

I glanced at Gomi waddling along. It was a surprise to me that I haven't seen any other Rhombics stare at me. I passed by a fair number of them, and none of them batted an eye. It didn't even look like they noticed Gomi at all. They all sauntered by like they saw nothing unusual.

But it couldn't have been often that you would see a baby walking inside the Door, could it?

Although this was odd, I didn't think too much about it. In fact, this was a good thing because what if any of them reported Gomi to the RAC? There wasn't any official age limit on entering the Door, but I felt certain that they would draw the line somewhere. And it was obvious Gomi wasn't going to make the cut.

I imagined her standing in front of one of those "You need to be this tall to ride" signs with a sad look on her face.

And she wasn't even a Rhombic. So when RAC learns about her abilities and powers, they were sure going to take her away from me to "study" her. This, I definitely did not want for her or for my selfish self.

I decided not to pay any attention to the other Rhombics. What occupied my mind more was the changes in my own body. It was subtle, but I felt different. Better, I guess. This made sense since according to my Display, I was stronger. I was still very far from being a fully powered Rhombic, but I was thankful that I made at least some progress.

What amazed me the most was how at ease I felt inside the Door now. Killing the goblin in the test chamber was no doubt a huge confidence booster. Yes, I know it was Gomi who did most of the fighting, but hey, she was with me now, right? There was no room for shame in my life now.

Her power was my power.

Normally, I would have left the Door immediately after my business was done. I never wanted to be forced into an unexpected and unwinnable battle against a monster bigger than what I could handle.

But today, I stayed here a quite while longer after the test. Maybe it wasn't the smartest idea to rely so heavily on a creature I just met, especially since she couldn't even explain where she came from, but I decided not to think too much about this. My gut feeling told me that she was here to stay.

My best theory so far was that she was a Rhombic turned mysterious paranormal superpower existence. But whatever she was, my instinct was telling me that I was on the right path.

I was going to be alright, and my real story was just about to begin.

"So I guess you used to work with Virpal, huh? It's one of the ladies who were in that memory. I think she was on your side."

I asked, remembering seeing the much younger version of CIO in the memory. Since Virpal looked much younger, whatever happened to Gomi had to have happened a long time ago.

But what confused me was that unlike Virpal, Valiant Vesper looked exactly the same as he was now. I saw him on TV not too long ago when he passed the 90th-floor test. He was my age, and in the memory, he again looked my age.

The more I thought about this, the more confused I became. If this did happen a long time ago, say 10 years, Valiant would have been five or six at most at the time. So could it be that it was not Valiant but his older brother in the memory? If so, they could practically be twins.

Or was there a glitch somewhere in that memory? I mean, the scene did look distorted from time to time, so this was a real possibility.

Gomi looked up at me, the fuzzy monster eyes on her head wobbling a little.

"I don't know. I can't remember," she answered.

Of course, she didn't. I wasn't even bothered by this anymore. She didn't know what she didn't know, right?

We kept walking in friendly silence. I remembered from the training that each floor had direct access to the Door. This was a good thing because if not, those Rhombics who reached much higher floors would have to climb up and down all the way every time they entered.

"Bhraaaaah!"

Suddenly, I heard a growl coming from my right. I turned to see that from the bushes, an ogre marched out toward me. It eyed me and Gomi with interest, and I could tell that we both looked very yummy to him.

I already knew that the second floor was still mostly inhabited by goblins. And I also knew that it wasn't uncommon to spot ogres here either. I've never seen an ogre before, but I have seen a drawing of it before.

The ogres were like distant cousins of the goblins. Imagine Shrek, but with a lot more wrinkles, bigger teeth, and a resting scowl face. And of course, that stupid loincloth again.

The ogres tended to be generally bigger than the goblins. Therefore, they were stronger, but slower too. Their intelligence was considered on par with the goblins, but the ogres didn't get as easily distracted.

I remembered looking at the drawings of the ogres and noticing the nose rings and earrings on them. Now that I saw one in real life, I realized that these monsters really did wear these ornaments. This was a surprise to me.

Were they born with these rings? If so, ouch for their poor mamas.

Or did they get them pierced when they were older? Was there a piercing shop somewhere in the Door where the monsters lined up for this?

I smirked, feeling extremely proud that I was relaxed enough to wonder about something silly like this. I wasn't afraid. A little nervous, yes, but to my surprise, I felt excited too. This ogre, although pretty big and mean, didn't compare to what I had to fight in the test chamber.

I was tired, but I was happy to be testing out my newly improved self.

I turned toward Gomi expectantly and requested, "Gomi! Turn into a sword like before! Let's do this!"

Gomi looked at the monster with an uninterested look on her face. She then slowly looked up at me. It was then that sudden horror filled my whole body as I recognized the confusion in her eyes.

"What do you mean? A sword?"