Chapter 145: Are You Even Human?
[Monday]
[The Day of the SMD Assessment]
[Jason’s Apartment]
"Hey, babe, did you see where I put my black boots?"
Jason spoke with a frown on his face while holding his phone between his chin and shoulder. He looked around his room critically, but he just couldn’t find where he had put his shoes. On the other side of the phone, Gina laughed as she told him exactly where they were. Jason hummed and thanked her as he went to grab them.
Gina had gone home last night because she had to get some more clothes for both her and Riyala, so right now Jason was at home alone with Riyala. The dragon princess had become very comfortable in Jason’s house in the past day, and after she spent time with Gina yesterday, Jason could tell that both of them had gotten very close.
[Are you already heading out?]
Gina spoke up over the phone, and Jason hummed in confirmation while putting on his boots. He was going to the SMD building for the assessment today, and even before leaving, Jason could already tell that this was going to be a freaking long day. The number of calls and messages he had been getting from guilds had still not reduced in the least, and Jason was sure that there would be a lot of guild representatives waiting for him there.
Jason was still not interested in joining any guilds and he most likely wouldn’t join any since he didn’t need a guild to help him clear out a Gate, but he was still hiding his actual powers for now and he would have to just put up with them until they got tired of trying to recruit him.
"You’re on your way to work, right?"
Gina sighed over the phone and Jason laughed.
[Yeah, they said they were doing some promotion for our guild and they wanted all the big hitters there so we can put our best foot forward. I should be done in a few hours, so I’ll come to your place once it’s finished.]
"Alright, babe. Stay safe out there."
[You too. Love you.]
Jason grinned.
"Love you too."
Jason clicked off the phone once the conversation was done and he grabbed his wallet and began heading out of the room. Riyala was sitting on his couch with her legs drawn up to her chest. Her eyes were fixed on the television like it was a black hole drawing her in, and she was using both hands to gently stroke the heads of the large wolves that had become her personal bodyguards. There were three of them now and they had all taken to her like loyal puppies! Jason didn’t know what it was about her, but for some reason all Magical Beasts seemed to really like Riyala.
Jason looked over to the TV to see what she was watching and he just chuckled when he saw one of Gina’s soap operas playing there. The show was in Spanish and the subtitles were English, so Jason knew Riyala couldn’t understand a word of what was being said, but Jason could easily tell that she was fucking invested in it! She was watching it like she couldn’t bear to miss a single second!
Jason shook his head and began walking toward the kitchen while calling out.
"Riyala."
Riyala jolted suddenly once she heard her name and she turned around to see Jason giving her a curious look. Her face was still perfectly stoic, but the dragon scales around her cheek reddened slightly when she realized that she hadn’t even heard Jason coming in! She quickly took the remote and paused the TV like Gina had taught her before she turned to Jason.
"Y-Yes."
Riyala was still getting used to the fact that someone in this world could speak her language so fluently, but she cherished every conversation she had with Jason because of how much it reminded her of her home. Jason smiled at her before pointing to the kitchen.
"Are you hungry?"
Riyala’s eyes lit up happily and she nodded quickly! If there was one thing that Riyala really loved about this world, it was the food that Jason had been making for her! She didn’t know if it was something common in this world or if it was because Jason was just a very good cook, but the meals had been amazing!
Jason rolled up his sleeves with a smile and went to the kitchen. They had some meat today, so he decided he would make some burgers so she could eat them both this morning and later in the day. From what Jason heard, Gina might not be back till late in the afternoon, so Riyala would be alone at least till then.
As Jason worked in the kitchen, Riyala slowly got off the couch and walked barefoot toward the kitchen island. Riyala was now wearing a pair of Gina’s jeans and Gina’s t-shirt. But since Gina was so much more endowed than Riyala, the shirt was almost twice Riyala’s size! Riyala pulled on the shirt a little. It was the first time she would be wearing something like this so she was still not comfortable with it. Especially since she was showing off so much skin to a man.
She leaned against the countertop and watched Jason moving around the kitchen. There was a serious look on Jason’s face as he effortlessly made their breakfast and Riyala couldn’t help but admit that Jason was a very desirable male. If Jason had been a Dragonborn prince, then the marriage proposals from families around the kingdom would have come in nonstop!
Growl~!
Riyala’s stomach suddenly grumbled and Riyala blushed! Jason turned to her with a knowing smile and she tried her best to keep her prim and proper look on her face, although the blush dusting her cheeks completely ruined her effort.
"It’ll be done soon."
Jason chuckled as he said this and Riyala nodded calmly before she spoke up.
"Uhm... I wanted to ask you something."
"Yeah?"
Jason glanced at Riyala with a low deep hum and Riyala spoke skeptically.
"You... aren’t human, are you?"
Jason blinked in surprise before turning to give Riyala his full attention. How in the world did she manage to figure that out? Jason knew that they had never spoken about his origin before, so there was no way she would know that he wasn’t a human. And he knew that Gina would never reveal his secrets to someone else without first asking him, so there was no way Riyala heard it from her. So she had to have gotten it from something else.
Jason wasn’t worried that she knew since Jason wasn’t really trying to hide his origin from Riyala, so he just smiled curiously while wiping his hand on a towel.
"And what makes you think I’m not human?"
Jason spoke while walking towards Riyala and she stood up straight and glanced into his eyes for a second before turning away shyly when she couldn’t maintain the eye contact. She frowned slightly while speaking.
"Ever since I saw you, I felt like your power was different from what a human should feel like. Even if all the people in a world have different powers, there is an underlying similarity to the way their mana feels. In Radgan, we call it the Core Essence and it defines the general consciousness of a species. It usually allows you to know what species a person is just by feeling what their Core Essence is. The Dragonborn possess a different Core Essence from the Grigori race and the Grigori possess a different Core Essence from the Humans. Gina’s Core Essence is smooth and very malleable. It tells me that humans have a unified sense of adaptability to them. Like they can adapt and survive in any situation no matter how bad things get. But you... you are different."