Free Web NovelChapter 23: Chapter23-Eden
I lowered my phone and leaned back in my seat.
So that’s how it all happened. That explained why there was only one continent in this world.
I’d been reading a geography article on my phone for the past few minutes, trying to fill in some gaps in my knowledge. The more I learned about this world’s history, the more I understood just how different everything was.
I turned off the screen and placed the phone on the seat beside me.
Right now, I was sitting in a flying car with Allen. We were traveling to Shortughal, one of the cities in the B-rank state.
The same city where Eden lived.
I sat in the backseat, watching the clouds drift past while Allen occupied the front passenger seat with his book. It was the same one he’d been reading yesterday, and his complete focus on it made me curious.
What could be so interesting that it held a Master ranker’s attention for hours on end?
Part of me wanted to ask, but I knew better. Allen didn’t like being interrupted when he was concentrating, and judging by the intensity of his expression, whatever he was reading was important.
So I left him alone and settled back into my seat.
Surprisingly, I felt pretty relaxed about meeting Eden now. Even a little excited. The anxiety that had kept me up half the night was completely gone, and I had the system to thank for that.
This morning, I’d woken up ready to cancel on Eden. Make up some excuse, anything to avoid that dinner. But then a desperate thought occurred to me. What if the system could help?
So I’d asked if it could hide my soul from Eden’s Sage Eyes. To my shock, it said yes. Apparently, if Eden discovered I wasn’t the real Michael, it would pose a threat to the system as well.
Self-preservation motivated it to help me, which worked out perfectly for both of us.
***
As I relaxed in my seat, my thoughts drifted to Eden himself. The hero of this story.
According to Michael’s memories, they’d first met three years ago in a hospital of all places. Not exactly the typical setting for the beginning of a friendship.
What happened was this: Michael had collapsed in one of the city’s most famous bars after drinking himself into oblivion.
Out of all the people partying that night, Eden was the only one who’d rushed to help. He’d called an ambulance and made sure Michael got to the hospital safely.
When Michael woke up confused in that hospital bed, the first thing he did was ask the nurse who’d brought him in.
Once he learned it was someone named Eden Garcia, he became obsessed with finding him. Not for any sinister reason, just to say thank you.
It took Michael’s sources only a few hours to track Eden down. Turned out he was living in a rundown apartment in one of the poorest cities in the E-rank state with his widowed mother and aunt.
Michael went there personally to thank him. As a reward for helping, he tried to gift Eden’s family an entire apartment building. But Eden and his family refused. They didn’t want anything from Michael, even after learning he was from the Frostburne family.
Their complete lack of greed moved Michael so deeply that he insisted on the friendship. He practically forced them to accept the apartment building, refusing to take no for an answer.
And that’s how their friendship began. A drunk collapse, a good Samaritan, and a stubbornly generous thank you gift.
After that day, Eden’s family situation improved dramatically. The apartment building provided steady rental income, lifting them out of poverty for the first time in years.
Michael made sure they had everything they needed, though he was careful not to overwhelm them with charity.
The friendship itself developed naturally. Eden turned out to be kind, laid-back, and surprisingly extroverted, matching Michael’s energy perfectly. They clicked immediately, like they’d known each other for years rather than days.
They started hanging out regularly. Michael would drag Eden to parties, exclusive clubs, high-end bars. Eden never drank, couldn’t stand the taste of alcohol, but he went anyway. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
He couldn’t bring himself to turn down Michael’s invitations, not when Michael looked so genuinely happy to have a real friend.
Michael noticed, of course. He saw how Eden would nurse the same glass of water all night just to keep him company. It meant more to him than Eden probably realized.
After years of fake friends who only wanted his money, Michael had finally found someone who actually cared about him as a person.
For his part, Eden constantly looked for ways to repay Michael’s kindness. The apartment building had changed his family’s entire future, and he felt like he owed a debt he could never repay.
Sometimes the guilt ate at him, made him feel like he was taking advantage of their friendship.
Michael would reassure him over and over that friendship wasn’t about keeping score, but Eden couldn’t shake the feeling of being a burden.
Then everything changed when Eden turned nineteen.
His potential awakened.
Then everything changed when Eden turned nineteen.
His potential awakened.
From what I understood, Eden’s awakening was completely unprecedented. Nothing like it had ever happened before in recorded history.
The specifics remained a mystery even now, but one thing was clear: the awakening had gifted him with Grandmaster potential.
The implications were staggering. No one in the entire history of Ambrosia had ever possessed Grandmaster potential.
Eden wasn’t just special; he was unique in a way that defied all understanding of how potential worked.
Overnight, he became the most famous person in the nation. News crews camped outside his apartment building twenty-four hours a day.
Reporters shoved microphones in his face whenever he stepped outside. His life turned into complete chaos.
The offers poured in immediately. Thousands of guilds competed for his attention, each one promising more than the last. Signing bonuses worth billions, guaranteed leadership positions, exclusive access to the rarest dungeons.
The most prestigious academies waived all requirements and offered full scholarships with additional benefits.
Even the government got involved, publicly discussing appointing him to a high-ranking position in the Hunter Association.
Eden rejected every single offer.
Instead, he chose to join Frostburn, the Frostburne family’s guild.
The decision shocked everyone, including Michael himself. According to these memories, Michael had spent hours trying to convince Eden not to waste such an incredible opportunity.
Frostburn was respectable but nowhere near the best. Why throw away offers from the top guilds for something so modest?
Eden wouldn’t budge. He joined Frostburn without hesitation. freēwēbnovel.com
His presence alone transformed the guild completely. They jumped from tenth place to third in the national rankings.
Their classification upgraded from SS rank to the coveted SSS rank. All because one nineteen-year-old chose friendship over fortune.
Michael never recovered from the guilt. According to these memories, he was convinced Eden had thrown away his future just to repay a debt that never existed.
The thought that his best friend had sacrificed everything out of some misguided sense of obligation ate at him constantly.
So Michael did what he always did when faced with emotional problems.
He threw money at it. He personally ensured that thirty percent of Frostburn’s entire resource pool went directly to Eden’s development.
Training materials, rare skill books, exclusive dungeon access, whatever Eden needed to grow stronger.
It was an insane allocation. Most guilds wouldn’t spend that much on their entire roster of hunters, let alone one person.
When word got out, the government actually doubled their original offer, promising to match or exceed whatever resources Eden was getting. He turned them down flat.
The guy had serious conviction, I had to give him that.
From that point on, Eden and Michael became inseparable. They weren’t just best friends anymore; they were brothers in everything but blood.
Eden trained relentlessly with the resources Michael provided, while Michael found purpose in supporting his friend’s growth. It worked for both of them.
Looking at it all laid out like this, though, something felt off. The whole story seemed way too convenient.
Eden just happened to be at the right bar when Michael collapsed. He just happened to awaken with unprecedented potential. He just happened to have a rich best friend willing to fund his entire development.
No wonder that reviewer Meelon had complained about the protagonist stumbling onto rewards everywhere. Eden’s entire rise to power was basically one lucky break after another.
It made me wonder how the hell the same person who created "Parallel World Vigilante" had written this.
That manga’s protagonist had to claw for every scrap of power, earning each victory through blood and sacrifice. But here?
Eden was practically being handed everything on a silver platter.
The author must have been drunk or something when they wrote this.
There was no other explanation for such a dramatic shift in storytelling quality.
Anyway, leaving that aside...
I pushed the thoughts from my mind and turned my attention to the car window.
City lights blurred past as we glided through the night sky.
I checked my watch.
***
Name: Michael Frostburne
Total Rules Broken: 0
Time: 10:11 PM
Date: 5th February
Year: 2130
***
Another twenty minutes before we reached their apartment building.
I settled back and watched the scenery passing outside.
***
While staring out the window, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Wait a minute...
Why hadn’t I considered this earlier? Would it even work though?
There is only one way to find out.
I reached out to the system in my mind.
’System, can you use your appraisal skill on humans? And does it show the same kind of information you gave me for that Goblin King?’
The response came almost instantly.
[Yes, Host. The appraisal skill functions on humans as well. However, the information displayed will differ from what you saw with the dungeon boss. Humans and monsters are separate species. The appraisal adapts based on what it’s analyzing.]
I took a moment to think about that.
’So the skill changes what it shows depending on the species?’
[That’s correct, Host.]
Fair enough.
’Understood.’
I thought about it for a second, then let it go and shifted my focus to Allen.
This was the real reason I’d asked about using appraisal on humans. I wanted to try it on him.
When I first learned about this ability yesterday, he’d been the first person who came to mind. But I hadn’t been certain it would work on people, and I’d been busy with the goblins anyway. I figured I could always check later.
Now felt like a good time.
I kept my gaze on Allen for a few moments, activating the appraisal skill.
A screen appeared in front of me, showing his details.
