Chapter 687 - Woltin and Wollice Sicabor
Just when Jack was feeling irked and about to reply slyly, the second man gripped the first man's head. Then, the second man bowed while forcing his counterpart to do the same. "Please, forgive my brother's attitude. He only gets like this when he's nervous."
"Hey! That's--"
"My name is Woltin Sicabor, and this is my twin brother Wollice Sicabor," introduced the second man, who was slightly taller than the first. "We're the sons of Whallen Sicabor, the zone leader of the Emerald Zone."
"Oh…" Jack and those from his party immediately bowed as well. "Of course, there was no offense taken."
Some of the legendary gods bowed as well, but only some. At the same time, Jack lifted his head along with the twins and asked, "We're glad to finally face Glacier Keep alongside the rest of our zone."
"No, the pleasure is ours, right Wollice?"
"Y-yes," admitted the humbled young man. "Sorry for the disrespect."
"None taken." Jack waved his hands innocently while stepping toward the others in his party. "Allow me to introduce them. This is Lunara, my mother. This is Moranti, a powerful companion of mine, and he… Well, he prefers to remain anonymous to keep them from assuming his abilities."
Sensing the tension between those of Kartonia, the twin brother immediately understood. Woltin asked, "Then is there a placeholder name that we can call him for the time being?"
"Rynheart…" quietly stated the helmed man, still altering his voice.
"Well, Rynheart, it's a pleasure to meet you, as well as Lunara and Moranti." Woltin nodded in respect while shaking each of their hands.
Wollice did the same, following his brother's example. "Would you mind me asking what races you all are? Most of you don't appear to be human or at least carry a bestial energy."
"Sorry," Jack interjected with an answer, "But it would be best to reveal that in battle. Might as well use our unknown status to some kind of advantage."
"Then we'll do the same," Wollice chuckled, warming up to Jack a bit more. "Then, do you mind explaining why the strongest of you Kartonias are bunched up here against the others? Or should we assume that this is a classic example of the strong minority challenged by the weaker majority?"
"Excuse me," Halmut spoke loudly to grab everyone's attention, "but I feel you're assuming incorrectly."
"Are they now…" Jack shrugged and ignored Halmut. He threw both arms around the twins' shoulders. "So, you're from the capital of the zone, right?"
"Of course. Would you like to visit us sometime?" Woltin replied. "It would be an honor to receive the first Kartonians."
"Really? Has the rest of the zone heard about us?" Jack asked.
"It's only been in the last thousand or so years but Kartonia grabbed everyone's interest the moment the zone learned of it. To keep people from searching into Kartonia further or asking too many questions, District Leader Daruun opened Glacier Keep as a challenge for all zones to participate one at a time. As our district leader's hand-crafted world, how could Kartonia not get the attention of the masses?" reasoned Wollice. "And to be the first people to meet Kartonians is an honor for us, so long as you stand up to our expectations."
"And I'm sure you will," added Woltin, nudging his brother's side. "From there energy alone, we'll need to keep an eye on you and your people, Jack."
"I take that as a compliment."
Amid their conversation, Jack was letting his system create a new passive function. Upon the arrival of the other cosmicians, the system had given him a new notification.
[Failure to assume and evaluate the levels of strength among those present. Would the user like the system to adapt and assume local levels of strength?]
Jack selected it immediately, happy to see that there was no price tag involved. But then he got a warning.
[WARNING: Levels will be self-generated by the assumption of power and energy levels emitted by local cosmicians. Data may be incorrect and misleading without the retrieval of proper information or a skill gathering deeper levels of information of local cosmicians.]
[Proceed anyway?]
Inwardly sighing, Jack allowed his system to begin the function. Now that it had finished updating, Jack noticed the strange and varied results. The levels varied among the hundred or so cosmicians in the chamber but the twin brothers were a perfect example of unexpected results.
[Woltin Sicabor, lv. 83, Mage]
[Wollice Sicabor, lv. 79, Swordsman]
Already, Jack understood that his system was completely wrong in its evaluations. Jack guessed that the system had assumed the class based on the apparel and equipment that the twins wore, something Jack could do in his sleep. But the levels were horribly wrong. It was clear to everyone that all people in the chamber were cosmicians, yet his system classified them at such a low level… It was baffling.
While finished the conversation and let the brothers greet Halmut and his people, Jack tried a different tactic. Jack searched for the energy that the brothers were showing and then understood his system's evaluation.
Jack then warned his party via telepathy, 'Everyone, many of them are concealing their energy. Don't take them lightly and assume that everyone you face is just as strong as you. Understood?'
'Got it,' replied Moranti, taking mental notes for the near future.
Lunara agreed, 'Thank you, Son.'
'I'll do the same.'
Both Lunara and Moranti were surprised when they looked back at their mysterious counterpart. Already, their equipment made their levels invisible and somewhat blurred their apparent levels of energy. Now, however, they were both startled to see Rynheart's energy levels completely vanish. Jack then did similarly, doing his best to reduce his energy to match the twins.
They had only just met foreign cosmicians and they already discovered a key difference between them.
'Don't depend on your system too much,' Jack added. 'Now that we'll be facing people from outside of Kartonia, it only makes sense to not judge them by Kartonia's standards and means of measurement.'
While the others nodded in agreement, Jack thought to himself about what he could do. His system was everything to him, far more so than to the others in Kartonia. Jack was certain that he would need to find a skill to help him better evaluate and read opponents by the standards of the void and not Kartonia. With that in mind, Jack reopened his skill list and searched through Daruun's skills to no avail.