Chef in the Apocalypse

"Ah. Sorry, I got lost in thought for a moment." Jayce was suddenly knocked out of his train of thought. This was most certainly not the time to go down the rabbit hole of the Rubick’s existence and his goals.

"The trick is... You need to abandon the system."

This time there was only silence in response to his words, almost as if he hadn’t said anything to begin with. The words were so outrageous that no one could string any words together to retort.

Abandon the system? The one thing that has allowed them to survive this damned new world, against all the strong monsters that had tried to kill them. Wouldn’t doing so doom them to die a tragic death, like all those before them?

"Y-You can’t be serious. How can we just abandon the system? Isn’t that a death sentence?"

Sophie was the first to raise her objections. Her words mirrored the mindset and doubts of majority of the crowd.

Yet there were others within the crowd who had different reactions. These were the supporters who had also been present in the last meeting when the World Quest was announced.

"Don’t rely on the system."

The words of Rubick echoed within their minds. They also remembered the words he had said at the start, saying that he had found a way to get stronger independently of the system. A power that they could properly rely on.

This meant that Jayce had probably already thrown away the system in favor of this new power. Suddenly, the gears began to turn in their heads as they pieced together the puzzle.

"Death sentence?" Jayce shook his head in response.

"What if I told you that I have already abandoned the system? Well except for the inventory, that’s actually quite useful."

"You? What?" Sophie didn’t know if this man was being serious or not. Yet judging by his expression, she felt that he was being truthful.

"Not only me, but most of my faction has abandoned their systems, in favor of this new power." Jayce said grandly, lifting his arms dramatically.

As he lifted his arms, the space within the Central Square began to vibrate, as if the pressure had increased many fold. From different parts of the square, there were auras which began to surge, similar to Jayce when he had first walked onto the stage.

Colin, Jackie, Amber, Lianna, Leah, Zane. One by one these people circulated their Inner Qi, showcasing their tremendous power to the others in attendance.

Everyone’s reaction was the same; shock, apprehension and fear. Suddenly being surrounded by such a show of strength was unsettling to say the least.

The middle-aged man who had been giving Jayce a hard time at the beginning of the Summit, felt a cold sweat run down his back. Inwardly he was thankful that he had not pushed the envelope too far.

A man sitting next to him frowned deeply, letting out a small curse, pulling his hood further over his face. "F*ck, how can they be so strong?"

When Jayce lowered his hands, the group retrieved their auras and the space returned to normal. It was almost like he was conducting a symphony, except instead of instruments it was power.

"Does this answer your question? Do you think that we would be in any more danger than any of you with your system? Jayce’s words sounded rather condescending, however she could not retort.

However, things started to make sense now in her mind. The fact that the bulky man Colin was so strong despite only being level 62 should have been a dead giveaway that he was not using conventional means of strength.

Unfortunately, Sophie did not have the information needed to make such assumptions. She was just as shocked as everyone else when they had heard his earlier words.

"Why should we abandon the system in the first place? Isn’t it possible to get stronger with it just as you have gotten stronger without it?"

The man in the hooded cloak who was Sophie and Dave’s leader stood up and asked his question. His gaze honed in on Jayce intently, gauging his reaction.

Jayce turned his attention to the man. He did not recognize him yet he could tell that he was strong, just by the way he carried himself.

"Let me ask you this. What would happen if the system suddenly disappeared overnight?"

Jayce let his words marinate, turning his attention to the others in the crowd. Some seemed thoughtful, while others turned pale.

"Why would you think this is a possibility?" The hooded man asked in response.

"Heh. What was your name?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. There was something about this man in the hood that he couldn’t put his finger on. Like the power he held was not something that he had ever come across.

Just by holding his gaze, he felt his blood pumping. Not like when one would see the woman they like, but more so if they were on a battlefield, moments before engaging with the enemy.

"Victor." The hooded man said simply, his expression remaining the same.

The two stared at each other for a while, allowing a long silence to drift between them.

Sophie looked between her leader and Jayce and started to feel nervous. ’L-Leader doesn’t want to fight this man does he?’

While she had a lot of faith in her leader, Jayce’s strength was unseen before. She could already tell that the fight would end in defeat for their side.

"I’ll ask again... What is your name?" Jayce finally broke the silence. While his words were not loud, they resounded through the crowd. The weaker people in attendance began to feel anxiety overcome them. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Victor did not move his gaze, nor did he back down. Yet a few seconds later he let out a chuckle and shrugged, as if the atmosphere wasn’t serious.

"My name truly is Victor, but I guess you mean my other name..." He paused for a moment, his next words were filled with pride and a hint of arrogance.

"It’s Voidwalker."

Jayce’s face did not change, however his mind felt as if a bomb exploded inside it. He retracted his gaze while trying to remain calm.