Is this really a Game?!

“You’re also from Earth, wait, the system has finally arrived, what do you mean by that, actually wait, didn’t they say you’ve been here for-” Wolf stops speaking as his eyes widened in shock as he looked at the middle-aged man who was smiling at him. His gray hair was neatly combed back while a short beard adorned his face.

A thin iron armor was present on his upper body while his limbs were dressed in a similar fashion. Two swords, one short and another of normal size were on his waist. The man’s face had a long scar that ran from the left side of his upper lip, all the way to his eye, which was somehow still there and functioned normally.

“Yes, just as you thought kid, I was here even before the system arrived at Earth, to be honest, I had no idea how long it would take before it happened, but I got transported here by mistake and oh well, I got no one back home anyway so why not stay after all.” The man said before taking out a drink from his spatial ring, “So tell me, how are things back at home?”

Wolf looked at the man in wonder before answering him, he told him about the game and what had happened, which in turn made the man constrict his eyes and show a heavy expression on his face.

“To think they would go through such measures, I don’t think any of us expected something like this to happen.”

“Any of you?” Wolf asked before sitting down on a nearby car. The planet he was on was one that had a similar technological level as Earth, of course, that was all gone as the planet had been integrated by the system a long time ago. The cars were different compared to the ones on Earth, they were round and ran on a special type of ore that could be found in abundance throughout the whole planet.

“My order, you see boy, once upon a time the planet had an abundance of mana, powerful beings could be found everywhere, why it all changed I don’t know, nobody does.” The man said before taking a gulp from his bottle.

“But some managed to find ancient manuscripts, proof that it was true, ever since then my order, alongside other orders that were present on the planet made sure to train, to feel mana that was present and use it to become more powerful.”

Upon seeing Wolf’s shocked face the old man chuckled a bit before continuing.

“Yes, mana was present for a long time, approximately 2 500 years ago mana had returned to the planet after being absent for god knows how long, the last couple of decades, however, the intensity of mana was increasing greatly, which made us all believe that it was only a matter of time before the world returned to how it used to be.”

“We didn’t know about the system however, that wasn’t mentioned, and neither was the whole universe that was filled with powerful people, with Gods.” The old man solemnly said.

“I had no idea that something like that would happen back on Earth, even if I or the others knew however, there was probably nothing that we could have done.”

“I-A-Um- wait, what order, what are you talking about?” Wolf waved his hands in front of his face as the man looked at him with a calm gaze.

“An order, there were multiple around the planet, each order was a group of people that studied the ancient documents, of course, there were multiple of them, some found those that contained arts that would allow them to increase the power of their bodies, some that would allow them to curse their targets to death, others, like the one my order had, focused more on sensing mana and using it to strengthen oneself or to use it in order to create spells.”

“You see, not all of the orders were on good terms with one another, there were fights, wars, and more. My order was one of those that stayed neutral most of the time, with the lead of our two leaders we were quite a powerful one, to be honest, both of those guys were pro fighters even before learning any of that and their strength was undeniable, I do wonder what those two are doing right now, maybe you’ve heard about them, both used to be quite famous after all, you see, their names are-” 𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘦𝑡

Wolf’s eyes further widened in shock after hearing the man’s words. His mind spun quickly as a memory suddenly appeared in front of him. It was the final time he had tried to get an answer from his father about the one failed mission. He still remembered it vividly, it was the only time that his father had ever told him something so confusing.

It was evening and the study of his father was already dim as the sun went down. The lights were on but for some reason, his father always preferred having them dimmed and barely lighting up the place. Perhaps it had to do with his father being an assassin for so long, the night was the best time to strike and most of them felt more at peace during nighttime than daytime.

A middle-aged man stood in front of Wolf, his long, blonde hair falling all the way down to his chest. His blue eyes were as calm as ever, if one were to stare at them for long they would get the feeling that they were stripped bare by the man, it was as if his eyes could see through a person.

Wolf’s father was 182cm ( about 6 feet ) tall, his body was not too muscular but not too thin as well as the man had an athletic build. Dressed in a simple white t-shirt and a pair of black pants, the man walked to his desk before taking a seat. He looked in front of him, staring straight at Wolf before opening his mouth.

“Adarlic,” The man said before picking up a pen from his desk, “Do you believe in magic?”

As the man asked Wolf the question he flicked the pen in the air, a second passed, then 2 seconds. No matter how much time passed the pen never fell back. Wolf thought nothing of it, back when he was a kid his father would show him all kinds of magic tricks, of course, those were all just a sleight of hand.

“Father?” Wolf asked the man with a confused expression before the man changed his expression a bit. He sighed before waving Wolf off.

“Nothing, you can take your leave now.”

Wolf simply looked at his father before turning around and opening the door. It was a weird feeling, Wolf and his father were having a discussion and it looked like his father was finally about to tell him about that night, only to ask him such a weird question.

But one thing that stuck with Wolf, was his father’s expression. The man looked like he was struggling with something as if he was debating whether or not he should tell Wolf something or not.

Upon hearing the names of the two leaders of the order, however, everything clicked. The pressure his father could sometimes exhibit unintentionally, the seemingly impossible assassinations he was able to perform, being able to vanish from a place in mere seconds, all of those things were impossible to be done, they simply were.

Wolf previously thought that there had to be an explanation as to how his father was able to do all of that, he believed that it was probably something that all top assassins had, but now he had a different theory. What if his father wasn’t just an assassin, the pressure Wolf would sometimes feel was something that he was able to feel multiple times after the game had started, it was the pressure a being could have with the help of mana.

Hearing the names made him absolutely certain of it, he now knew what the reason for his father failing his mission was. He also knew the reason why his father never wanted to tell him that, even the weird question his father asked him that one time, all of it made sense now.

“Anyway, those two guys are something else, just their physical prowess was incredible, I mean, they weren’t world champions for nothing after all. John had a stronger punch though, but he wasn’t as agile, in the end however those were all small differences and the two were quite equal in strength.” The middle-aged man continued talking, without even noticing Wolf’s expression.

“They were talented with sensing mana as well, that’s why they shot up from their position and became leaders after such a short period of time, man, all this talking made me start reminiscing.” The man smiled before finally looking at Wolf and spotting his expression.

“What’s wrong kid?”

“Hey, was there perhaps one person with you, in that order I mean,” Wolf said as he gazed at the man with a serious expression.