Unlimited Power 02 - The Ranger's Domain
Chapter 49 - Message

As if the world in that state wasn't dangerous enough for a kid, the girl also couldn't walk. Ryan looked to the sky for a moment and asked why everything was happening. Not even when his parents passed away, he asked why something like that had to happen to him.

Regardless, the girl had short blond hair, was wearing glasses, and she was pale like a ghost. Ryan didn't know why, but it looked like she didn't leave her house all that much. To confirm that, her limbs were thin, so thin that Ryan couldn't help but wonder if she had a decent meal in weeks. Her parents had a good house, and she was worried about them, so it was hard to believe that they mistreated her. Besides, she had some expensive toys. Speaking of toys, she only left the house carrying the clothes she was using, a laptop, and an exact copy of that remote-control car.

"My name is Ryan," Ryan said. "I guess I'm a former PE teacher. What is your name?"

"Zoe… I'm twelve years old," Zoe said, avoiding looking at Ryan in the eye.

"Sorry about the things that I said earlier…" Ryan sighed while he massaged his eyebrows. "Anyway, did you leave the message to your parents? I also think that you should carry with you some things more useful than that."

"I didn't leave the message because I don't know where you are taking me," Zoe said. "Besides, these can be useful. Even though you managed to avoid the monsters of the area, you didn't notice being followed by it."

Ryan frowned, he thought he felt weird because of the cameras, but it was because of those toys. Regardless, he didn't know how Zoe could use them considering the current state of the world. Still, if she could use her laptop and that remote-control car to investigate some areas without putting herself at risk, then those weren't totally useless.

"There is a dungeon a few kilometers away from here," Ryan explained. "A group of people who lived in Shreveport is currently taking refuge there… they are good people, so they can help you while you wait for your parents. There are monsters nearby, but they are strong enough to keep the monsters away from you."

"How can they protect me? How humans fight those monsters?" Zoe asked with some tears in her eyes. "If that were possible, my parents would have returned by now…"

"Well… it's complicated," Ryan scratched the back of his head since he didn't have any idea how to explain the system to a kid.

"Are they using those statuses and skills to fight monsters?" Zoe asked.

Ryan got caught off guard but soon recovered from the surprise. In the end, Zoe looked like a smart kid, so it wasn't that surprising that she could connect the dots. Besides, if he had done anything that could be recognized by the system, she probably learned a skill or two.

"We can talk while we move toward the camp…" Ryan said and then begun to push the wheelchair. "Just don't scream if we replace a monster, I can deal with them… probably. Anyway, did you learn any skill in the last two days?"

"Yes… I learned Craft and Blacksmith when I was creating this one," Zoe pointed at the remote-control car in her lap. "After that, building others became easier, and the skills also leveled up. Both Craft and Blacksmith are at level ten."

"Leven ten?" Ryan asked, shocked.

That was surprising. At some point, Ryan decided that he would learn those, but since he was too focused on getting his next class that he totally forgot about it. Regardless, Ryan couldn't understand how Zoe could have leveled up those skills up to level ten so fast. Based on his experience, skills leveled up faster by fighting against monsters while others were slower. Besides, it was just weird that she could learn Blacksmith by making a toy. However, soon Ryan understood the meaning behind it. It was because she did everything by herself… she even managed to make the circuits and made it work in a frequency that her laptop could control the toy.

"I didn't think kids learn this kind of thing at elementary schools nowadays…" Ryan frowned.

"… I didn't learn at school," Zoe said. "I learned by myself."

"I guess this is even more, impressing that you have time to learn this while going to school," Ryan said.

"… I don't go to school," Zoe said.

"Home-schooling, huh?" Ryan said. "I don't have much experience as a teacher, but… oh well, if you and your parents are fine with it. Who am I to question? Anyway, haven't you wondered how is frequently a school?"

"I… went to school, but then I stopped when I was nine," Zoe said.

"Why?" Ryan asked.

Ryan couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't a hypocrite. As of late, the last thing he wanted to involve himself with other people, so it wasn't his place to question that any further. However, even though he didn't have much experience, he learned that some social interactions were important, even more, when someone was as young as Zoe. One had to experience many things before deciding if that was good or bad, after all. Otherwise, kids could turn into adults that would hate things without a logical reason.

"I was bullied…" Zoe replied.

Ryan sighed. No wonder Zoe barely could look at him and the eye, and she had to make some long pauses between sentences. Since she didn't mention it, she probably was alone in that house and stayed like that for the whole day while her parents worked.

"Aren't you going to ask why?" Zoe asked.

"No… I already know why," Ryan said.

"It wasn't because of my legs…" Zoe said.

"I didn't think it was because of that," Ryan frowned. "I thought it was because you were a smart kid who liked to stay alone messing with your laptop instead of playing with other kids."

"… It was because of my eyes," Zoe said and then looked at Ryan for the first time.

Zoe had light blue eyes. It was a pretty tone, so Ryan couldn't understand why she would be bullied because of that, but then he noticed that her right eye was slightly pointing toward his ear instead of his eyes.