Death... and me

Kafan thought about which one he should talk about first. "Let's start with Soul Gem and me. Although I think it would be many times better for you to also call Soul Gem out. Don't worry, Soul Gem was already attached to the system back when we met after the extinction sphere's events. I know his soul is probably sleeping inside the Control Orb in order to recover."

"That would be difficulty," Roan answered. "He warned us that every time he awakes, his soul is damaged. Such damage then takes several years to heal before he can continue to restore it. If I wake him up now, he will probably get quite annoyed since it isn't any kind of emergency."

"Hmph!" Kafan just snorted after hearing that. "Don't worry, just wake this brat up. Tell him Kafan is ordering him to come out. Let me see how much anger he will have the courage to show before this old Death Spirit."

Roan heard the word 'brat' and couldn't help but wonder just how old Kafan really was. Kafan himself said that Soul Gem was an expert at his level back before the Extinction Sphere was destroyed. That means Soul Gem took who knows how many years to get that strong. Yet, Kafan still treated Soul Gem as a kid. 'Perhaps only Hyeoumu and Sister Orb are older than him...' Roan thought for a moment.

Right after, he contacted Sister Orb, who was the only one who could really wake Soul Gem up. 'You heard the guy, Sister Orb. Just wake him up and blame everything on Kafan if Soul Gem complains later.'

[Hehehe! Since that's the case, I'll make him appear in a moment. Let me go out first,] said Sister Orb before opening a passage to the outside world. One must remember that Soul Gem can only appear near the orb, so she had to come outside.

The Soul Gem System Orb quickly appeared outside, not surprising Kafan in the least. "It had been a while since I saw this thing."

A moment later, the projection of a small man floating above the orb appeared. Following that, he opened his eyes while touching his head, looking as if he was feeling some pain. "Sister Orb, why did you wake me up? Didn't I tell you that I needed to rest? It is better to be an emergency."

[Actually, someone just wanted to meet you,] Sister Orb answered without caring too much. [It will be good for you to reminisce about the old times.]

"Meet me? What kind of bullshit is that?" Sure enough, Soul Gem was angry to be awoken because of such a thing. "Who is it? Is this someone even worth my time?"

"Oh-ho..." Suddenly, a voice came from behind Soul Gem. "I see, I see... so little Pebble now thinks this old Death Spirit isn't even worth his time anymore. I see it, I see it..."

"Little..."

[Pebble...?]

Roan and Sister Orb were taken aback, looking at Soul Gem.

Soul Gem, on the other hand, had an expression of absolute fear as he quickly turned around. There, he saw the image of an old man who might as well have been the Demon King himself... or so was the feel he gave to Soul Gem. "K-K-K-K-Kafan!"

Kafan smiled brightly as he continued. "Oh, there is no need to say my name. As you said, I'm not worth your time. Why would you use your precious time to utter the name of the likes of me? It's definitely a waste."

If Soul Gem had a body, he would absolutely be sweating buckets of cold water right now. "H-Hehehe... How could th-that be? It is my absolute honor to be in the presence of senior Kafan. Yes, the luck of a lifetime to be able to meet you so soon again. I still haven't thanked you for the help when I brought the system to this side of the Universe."

Kafan nodded. "So does that mean I'm not a waste of time to talk to?"

Soul Gem's mouth twitched a little until...

*Thud!*

He kowtowed in front of Kafan while the fear on his face only increased. "This lowly one has misspoken. Senior Kafan, please forgive little Pebble."

Finally, Kafan nodded. "Hmph! At least you are sensible. Don't worry about the damage to your soul due to this awakening. I'll use the celestial laws later to speed up your recovery process a little. Your appearance this time will not be a hindrance to your plans."

Soul Gem's eyes lit up. "Really?! Thank you, senior Kafan. As expected of the oldest expert in the Universe after senior Hyeoumu. You are truly magnanimous."

Roan's group was even more surprised about it. After all, Sister Orb had her memories sealed, so she didn't know that either. 'To think Kafan was that old...'

Seeing that things turned out as he wanted, Kafan returned to his usual self. "Alright, I'll let bygones be bygones. Be more careful next time."

[Hey, hey, hey! Am I the only one curious here? Little Pebble? Why little Pebble? I want to know!] Sure enough, Sister Orb couldn't hold back. Well, Rean was just the same inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. It's just that he couldn't come out to ask it directly.

Soul Gem scratched the back of his head... which was a little weird since he was just a projection of his soul. "It is nothing that complicated..."

Kafan smiled. "His name is Soul Gem, isn't it? What is a Gem? Basically, it is a colored rock. That said, I simply decided to call this brat a Pebble instead."

"Was that some kind of nickname from your past?" Roan asked.

Soul Gem bitterly smiled. What nickname? No one would dare to call him like that... except Kafan, that is. "Ahem... that's just senior's Kafan show of appreciation for this little one. He was the only one to call me like that."

"I basically thought about it on the spot back then," Kafan added, not caring about Soul Gem's thoughts at all.

Soul Gem felt like crying. Was anyone going to show him any respect anymore after today? He didn't know.