Code Collector

"What in the hell are you doing here?" Allen asked Jake who was now in front of him in the wooden deck. "You Ascended? But when?"

"Right after you," Jake said. "You paved the way for me and Lin to meet. She gave me the Codes."

"But your uncle could've asked you for the favor," Allen said. "You even slapped that woman in front of everyone. They are going to talk, you know."

"Let them," Jake shrugged. "I saw that woman two weeks ago and she did the same thing to a poor victim. She wore a dress like that to show off and then when the man would glance at her for even the slightest, she would lie and tell everyone that she was being assaulted."

"Oh, she deserved that slap," Allen chuckled. "She deserved more than one too."

Jake just shrugged then looked at Howl who had been staring at him. "Is that a Code?"

"He is," Allen replied. "He's a pet Code and I don't know what to do about him."

"Feed him beast meat," Jake replied. "Cheshire."

An orb of light hovered above Jake before turning into a cat. The cat slolwy draped to his shoulders like a falling blanket, wrapping its long tail around Jake's neck like a scarf while it rested on his shoulder.

"This is Cheshire," Jake introduced. "It's a Grand Level 3 Pet Code and it can create illusions."

"Woah," Allen gasped. The cat looked at him and rolled its eyes before closing them. "And she's sassy. Wonder where she got that from."

"Me," Jake grinned. "Your pet is still Level 1 and you feed it a lot so it would level up and get stronger. What's it's grade?"

Allen wanted to lie but he figured out that it would be useless to do so. Lying to Jake would not benefit him anything. "Divine."

Jake almost choked on the cake he was eating. His eyes widened and he stared at Allen, shaking his head slowly. "No way."

"He was given to me by an Extraterrestrial," Allen said. "I bet you know what they are."

"Not exactly," Jake pursed his lips. "But I do know that they are humans from other planets. And much like us, they are sent to the Otherworlds but not where we are right now. I honestly quite don't get it."

"You seem to know everything," Allen said, his expression suddenly changing to seriousness. "Why did you choose me before? When you decided to make me your Code supplier, you could've taken anyone off the street, one that's powerful. Why me?"

Jake sighed and shook his head. "You have read through me."

For all the months that Allen worked for Jake, there was nothing but a question he had in mind. There were thousands of capable Hunters, more capable than him to help Jake. So why did the son of a conglomerate chose him?

That was until he got fully used to his intelligence attribute that he realized that there was much more than a curiosity and avoidance from his father. Jake didn't chose Allen because it was the best choice, he chose him because of something else.

Jake was about to stand when Jeremy and the others arrived. Allen paused and watch them sit on their booth, loudly talking about how fun it was outside.

"You should've been there," Selena said. "There were so many things that I had so much fun."

"You did?" Allen chuckled, trying to watch Jake who was smirking from the other side of the table. "We'll talk later."

–

Their conversation continued until it was nighttime. Kyle, Selena, and Irene were staying on their own units, so they left the group. Jeremy, Gwen, and Gary on the other hand wanted to watch the bonfire. Since Allen wasn't that interested in the bonfire, he stayed at the cafe with Jake.

"Tell me now," Allen said. "Why choose me?"

Jake stood and recalled his pet. "Come with me."

They walked out of the back exit of the cafe where Jake clapped his hands three times. A black hole appeared on the wall and Winston walked out, bowing when he saw them. "Good evening, young master, good evening Mr. Reed."

Allen was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Winston. He didn't know what to do so he just chuckled awkwardly. "Hello, good evening."

"Let's go discuss things in my office," Jake said. When he saw Allen hesitate, he smiled. "Don't worry. I'll just tell you things that are not safe to be discussed in public."

Allen had no other choice but to comply. He followed Jake though Winston's portal and they all arrived in Jake's office. The latter sat comfortably on his chair, taking his shot glass and smiled. "Sit. Let me talk to you about what I saw back when I first encountered you."

–

Jake arrived at the scene where Allen fell unconscious in the middle of a wrecked part of the forest. The trees were leaning to the side, some even uprooted and some torn in half.

"What in the hell happened here?" Jake asked himself as he slowly approached the sleeping boy. "I can't mend all of these things by myself! This is impossible!"

As Jake approached Allen's lifeless body, he saw the of the wounds from their fight get heal slolwy. He narrowed his eyes, asking himself how this was happening when he hasn't even cast a healing skill yet.

"His regeneration abilities is too great to be normal," Jake said to himself. "How could this be?"

He inspected closer, leaning further into Allen's body and used a skilk Code to look closely. His vision increased to up to thirty thousand times closer, his eyes widened after seeing this. 

Allen's skin was composed of millions of microscopic scales. The scales acted just like a human skin when its not zoomed in, but when looked closely, they are made up of soft scales.

The scales had the hair and even have pores, just like how the human skin was. The fascination made Jake stare at Allen even more, but that was before he woke up from his trance and helped Allen heal himself. Even when he could heal his wounds, Jake wasn't too sure if Allen wasn't free of venom or infection.

Based on the blood that was all over Allen's body and the ones that splattered on the ground, his wounds used to be huge and might even deep. There were just too much blood loss that it was a wonder how Allen did not die.

"Nature's Healing," Jake cast on Allen, clearing the boy with any infectious viruses that might invade his body.

Just when Jake was about to finish, he felt a boiling power inside of Allen. He narrowed his eyes and inspected Allen, the boy suddenly opening his eyes and unconsciously release a burst of dark aura with his eyes gold like a snake.

"What is this?" Jake gasped, seeing Allen sat up and raise his arms in the air. "Hello?"

"I am the Primordial Snake," Allen said in his sleep before falling back down again.

Jake, who was there, slowly crawled away, backing up as the bright light coming from Allen die down. "What in the hell…"

A couple of minutes after, a man arrived. Jake was there, standing beside Allen's body, staring at it. 

"Master Jake. I have been so worried about– Master, who is that?" Winston asked.

"Winston, take him," Jake said. "This boy might be the key to our goals."

–

Allen froze after what he heard from Jake. The man crossed his legs and leaned back to his chair, smiling. "I didn't choose you because of the reasons that I stated before. I chose you because I know you're the Primordial Snake Bearer."

Allen was still stunned. Everything felt like it was in slow motion as he saw Jake hold the cuff of his shirt. The man smiled before pulling the cuff up, revealing a tattoo of a snake.

But this one was different, it wasn't like the ones Genesis or the other members of the Snake Society had. While they have a black snake curled around a pole as it reached up, Jake had a snake coiling on a stone. The stone had a symbol on it that Allen couldn't quite describe.

"The Snake Society isn't the only one that's supporting the Snake, Dante," Jake said, still smiling. "My father hates me because I founded another group, one that actually wants to help the Snake and not just use it for their selfish goals."

"Jake…" Allen trailed off.

"I am the founder of Ophiuchus," Jake introduced. "And I'm here to be your servant."

Both Jake and Winston kneeled in front of Allen. A couple men entered the room and they too kneeled. "Primordial Snake Bearer, bless us with your might and use our flesh and blood."

There was a clear definition of how the two groups treated Allen. While the Snake Society served Allen as their king, Ophiuchus treated Allen like their god.

And Jake was there, smiling at at him. 

Allen shook his head, "No."