"Mister Scythe, now that the exam is over, shall we take a short walk outside?" Tina Roxley lightly smiled at she asked.
Davis turned to gaze at her, feeling confused. What did this woman want from him? Was she inviting him to dinner? Do people here really interact with suspicious strangers like this? Especially a masked person like him? At least, he thought he wouldn’t if he were a woman.
Still, he said politely, "I don’t think it’s appropriate, no?"
"Y-Yes... No!" Tina was flustered for the first time as she stuttered.
Davis was amused and inwardly laughed at her antics. Wasn’t this woman composed as a majestic bird all the time? Like the Phoenix in the legends? He was amused at seeing her naive yet genuine reaction. From this, he assumed that she was not the one who probed him jus now.
He thought, ’Yeah, there’s no way this woman could be the culprit. I’ve given her far too credits...’
"Alright, let’s take a walk..." Davis said as he eased her flustered self. In any case, he was free as well and thought of knowing more about the Xuan Capital from her mouth.
Tina Roxley nodded as she relaxed and followed behind him. In truth, she was really flustered and didn’t know what to say at that moment. Hearing him say that it was inappropriate made her think entirely of something else.
As they came walking out in the sun’s rays, they continued to head towards a random direction.
While walking side by side, Tina Roxley glanced at him as she opened her mouth, "I haven’t introduced myself properly have I? My name is Tina Roxley and I belong to the 8th generation of the Roxley Family."
"What about you?" Tina asked with an expectant gaze.
Now that she was almost sure that he was the man she had been searching for, the only thing left to discover was who he is and where he came from. She was determined to figure it out since she was blindly sure that this concerns her future.
"Miss Roxley, I already told you that I am called Scythe. As for my family, there exists none for I am an orphan..." Davis replied casually, causing Tina to turn her head away in disappointment.
Obviously, her expression said that she knew that the other party was lying.
They gradually entered a plaza where there were only a few stalls selling items up to High-Level Earth Grade Items.
They didn’t talk much, only managing to exchange a few pleasantries and discuss the scenery they passed by in an honest light.
Davis opened his mouth, "I wonder for what purpose are we walking randomly like this..."
"Huh? Yes, I’d like to know too..." Tina subconsciously answered as she came out of her reverie. She had been thinking about what to say all this time since it had been awkward with him all this while.
They were together for more than half an hour, and Davis didn’t know what the purpose of this walk was. Initially, he thought she would request some kind of help from him, or blackmail him with the existence of Natalya.
Seeing that she didn’t say anything after all this while, he couldn’t take it anymore and asked.
"Excuse me, you’re the one who invited me for a walk, Miss Roxley. What’s wrong with you?" Davis shook his head as he asked.
Tina Roxley inwardly turned aghast, thinking that he developed a wrong impression of her.
"I... I just..." She stuttered and just when she was going to explain her plight, Davis’s eyes widened as he heard a shopkeeper shout in a loud voice, "Hurry up and buy! There are only a few books of Battle Into The Skies left! It costs only ten spirit stones!"
He instantly went in front of the shop and saw the book placed on the stall.
The shopkeeper shook and was suddenly humbled by the visit of a Mid-Level Sky Grade Alchemist.
"Welcome, esteemed alchemist." The shopkeeper said while Davis took the book up as he skimmed the pages.
The more he read, the more his eyes shimmered. He finally closed the book and asked the shopkeeper, "Who is this author named Plagiarism Plague?"
"Esteemed Alchemist, I don’t know who this author is but I do know that he has created a lot of work of literature like this."
"It’s true, I have this book in my home. Not only that, I have the author’s other work of literature too." Tina caught up to him and explained. Her face looked like she was happy to help.
"Other work of literature?" Davis asked, a little confused.
"Yes. His other works of literatures include titles like Cultivation Universe, Great Lord, Soul Ring Continent, I Shall Seal the Skies, Traitorous Immortal and many more."
"Hehe, this Miss is quite knowledgeable, but it is quite unfortunate that the author suddenly disappeared after selling out all his books for a period of time."
"Yes, that was like 10 years ago... If you want the other books, I could lend you mine..." Tina said as she glanced at him.
Davis shook his head and bought the book from the shopkeeper.
His gaze turned complicated as he thought to himself, ’There’s someone from the Third Layer in this place. A person from Planet Earth...’
"Miss Roxley, since there’s nothing else to discuss, I’ll take my leave..." Davis said and left with a complicated expression on his face.
There was actually someone else from the same place as him, and what’s more, they were of the same kind as him, needless to say.
Tina’s expression turned sour as she closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.
Only when he left could she relax and heave a sigh of relief. Upon calming down, she felt the changes in her emotions and finally left.
Today, the level of upheaval she felt in her heart was nothing but small.
...
After Davis came home, he sat down on his bed and took out the book as he started to read.
It was the same as the one in the Third Layer, except the characters were all fleshed out and well developed, making it seem better than the original.
Even the character names were different but the stories were almost the same.
As he read about it, he noticed the best part about the novel, was none other than the dual cultivation scenes which were not written in the original due to censor laws.
"Sigh, he clearly named himself a plagiarist and added upon his own ideas... Guess he was not just an outright plagiarist after all..."
Davis thought that this was the best fanfiction he ever read. He thought of reading the other titles but there were naturally other better things to do.