Chapter 107- Protagonist Things (Part 1)

Chapter 107: Chapter 107- Protagonist Things (Part 1)

Chapter 107- Protagonist Things (Part 1)

Venera felt like she was utterly speechless. Rize’s words didn’t even sound like compliments, but rather more like straight facts. The way he looked at her with complete confidence and belief was something she had never experienced before. People knew her intelligence and talent, and she got endless compliments every single day, and yet, for some reason, Rize’s words felt different.

They hit her hard, harder than she could’ve imagined. Sucking in a deep breath, she smiled at him.

"Those are huge expectations, Rize."

"They aren’t, though?" Rize raised an eyebrow. "I know that for a fact."

"..."

"Why? Are you nervous, Venera? Are you thinking of failure?" Rize asked as he stared at the girl. He didn’t expect Venera, of all people, to be someone who thinks about failure, as she always exuded such an air of confidence and control that someone would think she would never fail.

Yet, ironically enough, Venera was perhaps the person who feared failure the most. She had done so much in her life and achieved so much, and yet her goal was still astronomically far. Every step she had to take must be perfect and weighed, and there was little to no room for error; otherwise, she could lose her life or the lives of the people she cared about.

"I’m not... that worried about failure." She said. "I am aware of my own capabilities, but it won’t be easy."

"Who said it will be easy?" Rize asked. "It will be quite hard, and I would dare say it will be extremely hard. But so what? You told me that you want to change this world, and if there is anyone who could change it, it’s you."

"..."

"Just focus on doing your best, and I’m sure you will achieve anything you want to achieve," Rize said with a soft smile on his face.

Venera’s lips pursed as she felt a rush of emotions. Knowing that Rize believed in her so much warmed her heart greatly.

"Thank you... I really mean it. Thank you for believing in me like this, even though my goal is a very far-fetched one." Venera said. "I won’t be able to do it without your help, so I must selfishly ask you to help me, Rize."

"Of course, you don’t need to ask," Rize said. "I was already planning to assist you."

"You know that a lot of people will call you crazy for playing into my own dreams, Rize."

"They can think whatever they want. Dreaming is free, and if we don’t dare and don’t try, then every dream will... well, remain a dream."

"You’re right. But you do have a lot of wisdom, don’t you?" Venera asked with a cheeky smile on her face.

"I’m wise beyond my years," Rize replied as he took another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"Is that cereal good?"

"It’s quite nice. Do you want some?"

"Hmm, do we have strawberry-flavored?"

"I think we do."

***

For the rest of the day, Rize and Venera decided to rest and recover their energy before the big day tomorrow. Even though Rize initially wanted to explore the city, he knew he would have plenty of time to do that later and even learn about this entire place in depth. There were many things he wanted to confirm and even more things he wanted to see with his own eyes since he had only read about them in the story.

Meanwhile, the city itself never ceased moving as more and more delegations arrived for the rest of the day. People were handed their keys to their dorm rooms along with all the necessities.

The night passed peacefully with no major events, and the sun started rising in the distance, announcing the start of a new day and the most important day of every single year.

Rize and Venera woke up very early and got ready, wearing the uniforms they had already been given beforehand.

"Mmm, I like the look of this uniform," Rize said as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. "Quite elegant. It was also embedded with several attributes, like cooling the body when it’s hot or warming it when it’s cold, and also the ability to fix itself if it gets torn and clean itself when it gets dirty."

Every single item in the world could be embedded with attributes, and people who could perform such abilities were called Weavers. They were a considerably rare breed of people, and they were highly sought after by every huge entity in the world.

’All these attributes are quite minor, and they probably won’t be useful in extreme situations, but they’re definitely better than nothing.’

With that, he turned around and left his room as he headed to Venera’s room. Knocking on the door, he called for her.

"Are you ready, Venera?" Rize asked.

"Yeah, I will be out in a second."

The boy nodded and walked to the living room as he stared outside through the huge windows. The city was very active that day, and Rize knew that even though the villa didn’t really overlook the rest of the city.

"The noises..." He muttered. "I could hear it from here..."

People were gathering at the designated place where the test would start. Dozens of millions of people in the same place; it was simply incomprehensible to imagine. Something like that didn’t even happen in the capital when Theodore gave his infamous speech.

It almost felt like the entire city was shaking beneath his feet, and it made him even more excited to witness it all with his own eyes.

’I really made it here. This is going to be so chaotic and fun.’ He licked his lips. "Let’s do it the way we know how to."

"I’m ready."

Rize heard Venera walk into the living room, and he turned to look at her, only for his breath to be taken away in a moment. Venera looked extremely gorgeous in her uniform. The red and white colors accentuated her unique beauty and made her stand out even more than she already did.

"What do you think?"

"It looks really nice on you," Rize said as he blinked. "Safe to say we won’t have a peaceful moment today, haha."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Nothing, nothing. Let’s go, or we’ll be late." Rize said as he walked to the door and opened it. "After you, my princess."

"You’re going to use your training just to tease me, aren’t you?" Venera asked as she rolled her eyes.

"Hahaha, I mean, I gotta use it somewhere, no? Or that effort will be wasted." He shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah, let’s go."

With that, the duo left their house and walked into the streets of the city. Their destination was the heart of the city.

There, the candidates had gathered since the early hours of dawn as the place grew more and more full of people. Even though it could hold millions of them, the numbers were still utterly ridiculous to the point where, from above, they would appear like a big dark spot that covered a huge chunk of the city.

Everyone was ready for the show to begin.