The Dawn of the New World Chapter 1481

"Hmm. Okay I understand, and you are right. We do need each other to survive, so to speak, so there is no reason to hide anymore. Why don't you reveal yourself and we can talk more about these hunters?"

Hao Xuan took a couple more steps back to give Ryuk some breathing room but it was a useless gesture because-

"I can't."

"Why not? You still don't trust me?"

"I don't," Ryuk gave a spirited headshake, "But that is not why. I have no control over it, we are born this way."

"You are born...invisible?"

"Not invisible, incorporeal. Us observers are born of the time energy, which is why we feed upon it. Without it, we would become weaker and weaker before ceasing to exist altogether."

"Huh, that's a new one. But then why can I see the rough shape of your body?"

Ryuk shrugged, "How would I know?"

But Hao Xuan already had a pretty good idea.

'It was probably because I received a small portion of Alexander's powers. The changes it made to my body must be allowing me to see things I previously couldn't. Should be easy to confirm-'

"How long have you been following me? Since I got to the city? Before that?"

Ryuk thought about it for a second before answering.

"I nearly lost you when you were eaten by the flowers but when you came out I could sense your presence again. When I tracked you down you were already in the city following after that smelly rat creature."

'That would be right after I entered the city. The only thing that changed after that was Alexander's appearance.'

Hao Xuan let out a sigh, "Fine, no matter. Tell me more, what abilities do you have? What can you do?"

Ryuk's body visibly shook, "I am no servant of yours, human! You will not order me around! My purpose is more noble than your existence!"

"Okay....and what is that?"

"To observe of course!" Ryuk proudly stated.

"So, you watch people? That's it?" even he couldn't help hide his disappointment.

"Y-YOU! How dare you! I do not 'WATCH' people, I observe! Everything and anything, all of existence! No one can see me, no one can stop me!"

"Hmm, an invisible spycam? That could be helpful I guess," Hao Xuan muttered under his breath.

"A WHAT?!" Ryuk jerked forward, his 'face' inches away from Hao Xuan's, "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"

"A spycam."

".....WHAT IS THAT?!"

"First of all, stop screaming. Secondly, it refers to a device that spies on people without their knowledge or consent...just like you."

"!!!!"

He could feel the anger rising through Ryuk's incorporeal form but that was about it. And instead of blowing up, somehow, Ryuk managed to hold it in.

"In all my years I have never been so disrespected," he muttered in a low, guttural voice that was not much different from Hao Xuan's.

But that only made him smile, "Really? Have you even talked to anyone before meeting me? How could anyone disrespect you when they don't even know you exist?"

"....Shut up! Disrespect is disrespect!"

'Where did he even hear about such a concept? Whatever, better not to push any more buttons.'

"You are right, my apologies," Hao Xuan quickly changed his tone, "It's just that I have never met a creature such as you so I don't know how to act."

Obviously that was not enough to placate Ryuk's ego but it was a good start.

"Hmph! You and the other you are both very disrespectful. You should rejoice that a supreme being such as myself has bestowed upon you the gift of my friendship!"

Hao Xuan had no problem pandering to his self-esteem, even though it sounded quite strange on paper.

"Yes, you are right. It is only because of my own limitations that I could not see what was right in front of my eyes," he said grimly.

"Of course! No one can see me!"

"That's not what I mea- never mind. Let's get back to the topic at hand. So apart from 'observing' people without alerting them, is there anything else at all?"

It was hard to read someone who was mostly invisible but even Hao Xuan could tell Ryuk was hesitating when he asked that question.

"No...nothing..." he meekly replied.

"Are you sure?" Hao Xuan asked again with a raised eyebrow, "If we are to be friends you really can't be keeping things from me, as I am sure you already know. Because that would be very...disrespectful, you know? Are you certain you did not forget anything?"

Hao Xuan gave him every chance to come clean and thankfully he did not forgo this opportunity.

"O-Oh, right! I almost forgot about that one!" Ryuk acted like he just remembered it, "For certain people, if they have a strong enough presence within the river, I can peer into their other lives. What they could have been had things turned out differently, that's it."

'!!!!'