《The Extra of The Lunerra》


 Chapter 1: Volume I - Prologue

    1 Volume I - Prologue


    --Volume I: The Lands of The Lunerra--


    The dark clouds that heralded theing rain had long ago covered the sky, painting itpletely gray. Soon, however, it would bepletely dark, and the sun, which had leaked a little of its light through the clouds, was slowly setting.


    A cool breeze caressed my cheek, gently ruffling my almost long hair.


    I looked at the two tombstones in front of me, two ordinary tombstones bearing two names I had seen for the first time in my life... Compared to the other tombstones in this cemetery, they were neither too fancy nor too neglected.


    This was the resting ce of two people who left this world prematurely.


    "They said theirst regret before they died was that they didn''t pay enough attention to you. They will be happy to see you change now."


    I felt an ache in my heart, then clenched my fists. Because there was no scenario like they will be happy. I was sure they didn''t even want to see me, but being here was one of the things I had to do.


    "Can you leave me alone for a bit?"


    My sister looked at me for a short while. But then she stepped back and walked away from me, from the grave.


    After she walked away, I looked around briefly, made sure no one was near me and sighed deeply. I knelt down slightly and then spoke in a low voice.


    "I''m sorry."


    I apologized, sincerely. For being where I shouldn''t have been, for deceiving someone close to them.


    Then a stiff breeze hit me right in the face again, and I painfully smiled in response.


    I kept talking, at least aware of what I was doing. And then, after a while, the wind slowly died down.


    Maybe it was a random thing, a coincidence. Still, it was enough to put a slight smile on my face.


    "Thank you."


    I stood up and my sister approached me again. She looked at my face, then her lips curled slightly upward.


    "You''re crying."


    It was only then that I realized the tears that were streaming down my eyes, and with them, I felt a radiating deep longing and pain burning inside me.


    I couldn''t understand why I was crying, why I felt this way.


    I didn''t know if these feelings were brought to the surface by things in my past, or if they even belonged to me in the first ce. Still, crying didn''t make me feel so bad for some reason. On the contrary, it gave me peace. It was as if a dagger that had been stuck in my heart a long time ago had been pulled out...


    I raised my hands, I was going to wipe my tears, but hesitated because I heard a voice.


    I quickly turned in the direction of the sound and saw the source of the sound, a girl my age standing not far from me.


    She had short, dark brown hair that reached her shoulders. Besides that, her amethyst-colored eyes seemed to suffer from the same strange thing I felt inside. She was full of pain as if she was going through the same things as me.


    However, this awkward moment didn''t necessarilyst long.


    Because a small, metal thing that split the wind with a whistle suddenly passed over my head.


    Everything that followed was chaos.


    The prologue of each volume is the trailer for an event that will take ce. You can read or skip ordingly but read the epilogues. They are important.


    WindskyW

 Chapter 2: Volume I - 1: Wish

    <h4>Chapter 2: Volume I - Chapter 1: Wish</h4>


    On the surface, hidden from the light, avoiding the sun behind the clouds, a man in his mid-twenties with silvery hair stood in the midst of huge and countless craters, wearing light but high-quality armor and wielding an elegant ck-red sword.


    The atmosphere was gloomy. The man was sweating profusely and breathing rapidly, so much so that he looked extremely tired, as if all his energy had been drained.


    The man took a deep breath, then straightened up slightly and turned his expressionless face somewhere else.


    There was another man standing there, sweating profusely, just like him. Although the two men were in a simr condition, one was standing while the other was lying on the ground.


    In addition, the man lying on the ground looked more like a demon than a human being with his grayish skin and horns that rose from his forehead to form a crown.


    Despite this frightening and powerful appearance, the red blood emanating from his body slowly watered the earth. Then his eyes, which only a few seconds ago had been sparkling with light, slowly began to fade.


    The man, still standing unlike his opponent, involuntarily smiled and looked up at the sky. Then he felt a drop fall right in the center of his forehead.


    Seconds after the first drop, it started to rain heavily, but the man continued to smile, not caring about getting wet.


    The raindrops seeped into the armor, creating a feeling of difort, but he turned and looked far away from the battlefield, at the huge, smoking city. Then he raised his sword and shouted as loud as he could.


    "I did it!"


    The moment he shouted, the image slowly faded to ck, and a text appeared on the screen. As the man slowly disappeared from view, the credits slowly started to roll after the message ''Congrattions!''.


    "I wonder how long has it been..."


    I smiled at the credits that flowed in front of me and got up from my chair with the relief of a weight lifted from my shoulders. I stretched and looked at the clock right next to theputer.


    Seven hours huh...


    Leaving the credits running on theputer screen as they were, I headed to the kitchen and gulped down the water I had just taken out of the fridge.


    Obviously, I was relieved and at peace, because I hade across an unfamiliar ending of a game I had been ying for a long time, but unfortunately, the same could not be said for my body which had been in the same position for seven hours straight...


    I poured another ss of water down my throat and went back to my room and sat down in my chair. The credits were still rolling, the names of the producers and animatorsing up.


    I memorized these names a long time ago, I''ve seen this scene so many times that I know exactly when it will end: one minute and forty-seven seconds.


    Shortly after I sat down in the chair, I counted down from three and the credits ended just as I reached zero. The main screen of the game appeared and I was back in control. So I leaned forward slightly, went into the stats section of the main menu, and looked at my profile.


    <<------------------------------


    -Aerual Complex-


    -6132 Hours Total Game Time


    -5118 Hours of Solo y Time


    -1014 Hours of Online y Time


    -Total 132 Story Ends


    -Completed Achievements: %100


    -Preferred End: Karma Ending


    ------------------------------>>


    I finally managed to get the achievements up to one hundred percent... In just three years, after two hundred and fifty-six days of ying this game, not counting the intervals, I actually finished this game.


    This game, "The Lands of Lunerra", stole a huge amount of my time, but I did it...


    I smiled again as the memories began to sh through my mind.


    When the game first came out, I was seventeen years old, a normal high school senior, I didn''t have many friends and I had an ordinary life. I was nothing more than an orphaned kid just hanging out on my own, a simple person who spent all day studying for the university exam...


    When I finally passed the exam and was epted to a very good university with a schrship, I was introduced to this game thanks to an advertisement I came across while watching a video on the inte.


    After days of exam stress, I was quite surprised to see an advertisement for a game whose graphics were not based on realism but on ''fantastic animation''. I still remember my curiosity and excitement when I first saw the advertisement...


    I was excited to see such a good game, even though the graphics were in the style of fantasy animation. Because as an eighteen-year-old, fresh out of high school, I was hungry for entertainment.


    So after working during the summer vacation and buying myself a goodputer, I bought and downloaded the game without thinking too much about it.


    The game was exactly as advertised, so there was no rip-off. Of course, it was too early to make such a judgment since I still didn''t know the story or the quality of the game, but the ''Story Mode'' option that greeted me when I entered the main menu of this game, which managed to attract me with its name and graphics, made me smile involuntarily.


    In a time when online games have almostpletely taken over the industry, I never warmed up to the ''grind'' mechanics and the cycle ofpleting the same tasks and simr activities.


    That''s why I always found it more fun to y games that told me brand new stories and gave me pleasure as I ''lived'' these stories. I was one of those gamers, which is rare in our time...


    I already knew that The Lands of Lunerra had a story mode, but still, with the excitement of a child eating cake for the first time, I clicked the ''y'' button. Thus, I started a game that would take two hundred and fifty-six days out of my life in just three years.


    The game was set on a different. Different kingdoms, differentnds, and apletely different world... But on this, which is almost the same technologically advanced as our world, one day suddenly all living things fainted and fell asleep.


    As all the people fell asleep, idents gued the world, and when they woke up, they were greeted by great suffering, but it was nothing yet. Because they had encountered creatures they had never seen on Earth.


    Creatures that were thought to have appeared out of nowhere had caused great trouble for humanity. Countless people lost their lives because of them, but then people gained skills by acquiring a system simr to today''s games. Using this system, they fought the creatures and became stronger, and so on... The story briefly begins eighty years after the ''awakening'' of the.


    Our character was an orphan boy whose parents were killed by someone. It''s such a clich¨¦ when I think about it. A main character type that can be found in almost every fantasy-based entertainment source and a basic scenario that most people are probably tired of seeing...


    But that didn''t stop me from ying the game. Because I was drawn to the choices I could make by controlling the main character, the countless paths I could choose to walk with him, and the many endings I could get at the end of the story.


    As a result, I finished the game at least once with almost all the sses,pleted quests for all the side characters, realized again and again how detailed the game was, and each time I encountered something for the first time, I was even more excited. With each new ending I finally reached, I literally fell in love with the game.


    Being able tomunicate with almost all the NPCs in the game, befriending them, forming groups with them, and going on adventures with them was a great satisfaction for me, who didn''t have many friends in real life. But no matter how many times I finished the game, my stats always showed ny-eight percent of the achievements.


    So I got ambitious, and after almost a hundred and twenty-one hours of work, now, I''ve actually finished this game.


    I''m happy. I feel absolutely wonderful, but at the same time, I feel... empty? I think something like that.


    What drove me to y this game again and again and again was that every time I came back to it, it managed to show me something new, but now I''ve reached the absolute end...


    Now, what should I do with all this free time?


    What can I do?


    I really love the game, in fact, I doubt I could y anything better than this in my life, so what choice do I have but to ept it?


    I paused, closed my eyes, and forced myself to think like this as much as possible, but I couldn''t get rid of this dark, endless emptiness inside me.


    Finally, I opened my eyes again, frowned, and sighed deeply.


    Damn it, this was bound to happen eventually. After all, no game can generate new things forever, and it was pretty clear that I would end up finishing this game and having nothing left to do.


    I shouldn''t have gotten so attached to a game.


    With emptiness in my heart, I looked at the main menu of the game and closed the game with another sigh. Then I leaned back in my chair and watched the ceiling in silence.


    I forced myself tough, I tried to be happy, and I thought about what I could achieve for the rest of my life. Who knows, maybe I could even be famous for my achievements.


    I started to think about the future. And then suddenly, one by one, every single one of these thoughts was interrupted.


    My half-smile turned bleakly sour.


    Who am I kidding?


    I got into a really good university, and my future is bright, yes, but what else do I have? I have never had a ''real'' friend or a lover in my entire life. Have I ever tasted real ''happiness''? Even my parents ran away when I was very young, sending me to an orphanage.


    Even though I am only twenty-one, and still considered young by society, I have had a rough road. Looking back, most of the smiles I show people are fake. I was never really loved by anyone and that''s why I yed this game in the first ce.


    The best solution I could find was to cure thisck of love in me through interesting stories of two-dimensional characters, but now that''s over too.


    I stared at the ceiling for a while longer, then yawned slightly and realized that I was quite tired, so another annoying thought entered my mind.


    Ah, really... it''s Sunday. I have to go to ss again tomorrow.


    I don''t want to go to school... I already know what they are telling me, but I still have responsibilities.


    Iy down on my bed, closed my eyes and decided to go to sleep, but then I remembered that I had forgotten to turn off theputer. Sighing, I forced my aching joints and tried to turn off theputer without sitting in the chair.


    That''s when a notification on the screen caught my attention.


    My eyebrows raised curiously.


    I saw that the notification indicated that I had received an email. Then I saw the subject of the email and the sender andpletely froze in my tracks.


    Forgetting all my joint pains and fatigue, I quickly sat down in the chair and clicked on the notification.


    <<------------------------------


    -Sender:


    -Receiver:


    -Subject: Congrattions!


    Thank you for following us for three years and continuing to y our game! We can see from our system that you are the most frequent and consistent yer!


    Although this frequency is a bit daunting for your health, we would like to congratte you for being the first person to reach 100% achievements! Therefore, as the game''s productionpany, we would like to make you an offer. As long as it is within our power and not too extravagant, we would like to fulfill one of your wishes! Please take this email seriously, because if there is something we can do, we definitely want to help you!


    ------------------------------>>


    I stared at the email for a while, checking and rechecking the sender. But no matter how much I looked, it was definitely an email from the game''s productionpany.


    Well... I definitely wasn''t expecting this.


    I took a deep breath, leaned back in my chair, closed my eyes, and thought.


    My wish... They told me they would fulfill my wish, but what do I want from life?


    Even though I have an ordinary and monotonous life, I am studying at a prestigious university in a department where I can earn a lot of money in the future. So money is not a problem, and I am not a money-hungry person.


    I read the email a few more times and then clicked ''reply''. I thought for a long time about what to write, but when I realized that I couldn''t think of anything, I smiled involuntarily.


    Why am I thinking? If I think about it, will I really be able to convey my wish to them...? No, I don''t think so.


    W?th this thought in my mind, I stopped thinking and started writing down the first thoughts that came to me.


    I didn''t care if it was irrational or emotional, I just wrote what was in my heart at that moment and then sent my response.


    <<------------------------------


    I don''t want to be an ordinary person.


    ------------------------------>>


    I looked at what I had written, and kept looking, my eyes widening as the silence in the room reached a frightening level.


    I... What kind of response did I send to a giant gamepany?! How could I type these eight words and then hit ''send''...?!


    I could feel myself starting to blush with embarrassment, but then I saw a notification pop up at the bottom right of the screen.


    They replied to my email pretty quickly...


    W-wait a minute...


    They answered my email! They read what I sent!


    I felt the embarrassment more clearly than I had ever felt before in my entire life, I even started to sweat. But I still clicked on the email reply, I was curious.


    <<------------------------------


    It sounds like you''ve had a hard life... Yet we know a solution that will do you good! But for that, we need your approval, are you really tired of the mediocrity of this life?


    ------------------------------>>

 Chapter 3: Volume I - 2: A Familiar Place

    <h4>Chapter 3: Volume I - Chapter 2: A Familiar ce</h4>


    I just stared at the screen when thepany that made The Lands of The Lunerra answered my e-mail seriously, instead of mocking or making fun of me in various ways.


    The makers of the game that made me smile and feel sad so many times in my meaningless and ordinary life gave a serious answer to my ridiculous wish... did they?


    Am I... am I dreaming?


    The reason I got out of bed was that I forgot to turn off theputer, what if I really slept in that short time?


    I quickly pinched my arm and tapped my cheeks twice with my hands. Yet nothing changed, I was in reality.


    Ah, this is the ''reality''...


    It is really real.


    I turned back to theputer screen, looked at the email for a while, and sighed again.


    Maybe I''m being yed a joke, maybe they willugh at me after I reply, but still... I still want to take a chance.


    Even if this is the joke of the century, for the first time in my life I want to trust someone.


    To this end, my fingers met the keyboard again. I stopped thinking again and started typing the first thoughts that came to my mind.


    Am I going to write something embarrassing? So what?


    Will people make fun of me? I don''t care about any of that.


    I just... I want to do whates from my heart, I want to speak freely, without any restrictions.


    <<------------------------------


    I''m an orphan. I am not trying to pity myself, but I am a lonely person. All my life I have never had a friend, a loving family, or a lover. The only time I really had fun in my ordinary and monotonous life was when I was ying your game, The Lands of The Lunerra.


    I''m studying a good major at a good university, so I don''t have one foot in the grave. Nevertheless, I am sure there is nothing in this ordinary life that would make me happier than your game. Thank you for your attention, even if this was a joke, you helped me get it off my chest. At least I feel relieved.


    ------------------------------>>


    So I sent the email without a second thought.


    I read what I sent all the way through, then again and again. My facial expression didn''t change even a little bit, I didn''t really feel embarrassed this time.


    Honestly, I felt relieved. It felt strangely good to just express myself with my feelings, without thinking, without any barriers.


    I didn''t think it would be like this.


    ~ri-ring!


    Oh, thepany responded to my email again quite quickly.


    How do these guys read, evaluate and respond to emails so fast? They''re talking about granting a wish... This is serious, shouldn''t they have an assembly or something?


    Anyway, let''s see what response they sent.


    <<------------------------------


    Thank you for revealing your true feelings! Please click HERE for the help we would like to offer you!


    ------------------------------>>


    To be honest, I was expecting something like a greeting card.


    After reading the text on the screen again, an idea popped into my mind. I paused for a moment, then sighed deeply.


    I... I guess I haven''t even spoken to a human being. There''s a good chance that I''ve opened my heart to some artificial intelligence created by thepany. Because no human being, let alone apany, can answer an email like that so fast.


    Still... I will trust them, I will believe in the Land of Lunerra.


    That''s how I clicked on the link they sent, holding on to this tiny ray of hope inside me.


    After clicking the link, I waited for a while, holding my breath.


    The room fell silent, not a single sound came out. Second after second, then a few minutes passed. The silence in my room just continued, and after a while it even became scary. So I finally stopped holding my breath when nothing really happened.


    Myputer is one of those at the top end of the overall market. So ''slow'' is out of the question.


    In short... I got ripped off.


    I smiled slightly, looked at the ''here'' sign, and clicked on it again. Again and again, nothing happened.


    Nothing...


    My smile widened, and my anger rose inside me. I jumped to my feet, looking for the closest thing to me, and I found it. I grabbed my chair, and without even waiting a moment, I threw it against the wall.


    The chair broke into two, maybe three, pieces. A big ck stain appeared on the wall I had just painted. I looked at the chair for a while, then at the stain on the wall. I felt the emptiness inside me grow.


    What did I expect? I had been tricked by someone and frankly... my heart was broken.


    Furious, I threw myself on my bed, not caring to turn off theputer.


    Tears welled up in my eyes, and I put the piece of clothing in my sleeve to my face.


    I thought about my life, my childhood, and the days I spent in the orphanage. The friends I thought I had made, the people who followed me like leeches after my sesses.


    The people who approached me in every way not because of who I am, but because of what I have done at this age and what I can do in the future...


    A smile reappeared on my face, a wide smile without any hint of happiness. A smile that the arm I used to hide my eyes was not enough to hide.


    Just before going to sleep, I nervously nced at the bright screen of theputer onest time, with a small hope. What I saw was the same scene I had seen before I jumped up.


    A low, whisper-like voice echoed in the silence. My voice, the sound of myughter. And then... suddenly, as myughter was slowly intensifying, my vision suddenly blurred.


    "H-ha?"


    I felt nauseous before I even realized what had happened. Something bitter rose in my throat and I wanted to vomit. I jumped out of bed and tried to run to the bathroom, but with the first step I took into the room, I felt the weakness in my legs and found myself on the floor.


    Then I felt something else, the blood rushing through my veins, trying to leave my body as if it were pressurized water. An intense pain, centered in my chest, suddenly began to squeeze my heart. I put my hand over my heart, trying to separate the fingers that were holding it, squeezing it as if to burst it, but there was no such thing.


    With that, countless different thoughts sprouted in my mind, yet the most prominent one was clear.


    Am I... having what they call a heart attack? I''m only twenty-one and I''m having a heart attack... How many other ridiculous things can happen to me?


    Am I... am I going to die like this? Is this the absurdity of my ordinary, monotonous, and painful life?


    No...


    I... I don''t want to die


    I don''t want to die!


    "H-Hel-"


    My half-formed words froze in an instant. Because I had managed to see something with my already blurred vision.


    It was an image on myputer screen. It was the small notification of an e-mail that appeared at the bottom right of theputer screen.


    <<------------------------------


    :D


    ------------------------------>>


    Time stopped in an instant. My eyes widened as if to ignore the pain.


    And then... the whole world was plunged into darkness.


    ******


    I... I think I''m dead.


    Well, I say "I think" because I''m not sure.


    I''m just in the dark. I can''t feel my body, but at least it doesn''t hurt anymore.


    So I must be dead, right?


    I looked at the dense, endless darkness around me and waited for a while.


    Anyway, when people die, aren''t they supposed to go to heaven or hell? Although they might not be going to either of them... This dark void, for example, doesn''t look like either of them.


    Where am I?


    Actually... Am I not a bit too calm? Is it normal for someone who has died to react like this, and even more so for someone who has experienced a sudden and unexpected death like mine


    It''s strange, to think about it and yet not be afraid... It''s definitely strange, but I guess there''s nothing I can do about it.


    I looked around me for a while, but I couldn''t see any light source or any other being other than myself, so I realized something else.


    In fact, I couldn''t even see my own body, much less my surroundings, so I just sat down and waited. Although, I don''t even know if I actually sat down.


    It seems that the only thing I can do in this dark void where I am not even sure if I am alive, let alone sitting, is to wait and keep thinking for a long time...


    *******


    What is the reason why people are afraid of the dark?


    ording to an article I read, it is because of the unknown. As long as there is light, a person can see what is around them, but when they are in the dark, they have no idea what is there. So the first thing thates to mind is that there is some kind of danger.


    That''s why people are afraid of the dark. Because they don''t know what wille out of it.


    And I... just stood there in total darkness, with no senses at all, and for so long that I lost track of time.


    I couldn''t see anything, I couldn''t hear anything, I couldn''t feel my muscles, I couldn''t move my body. There was no smell or presence, no sensation of cold or heat, just pure and endless darkness surrounding me.


    I was not a person who was afraid of the dark, but I could still feel myself slowly going mad with the despair of the unknown.


    If I could feel my fingers, I would have probably started gnawing on them out of fear a long time ago. That smile I saw on theputer screen just before my presumed ''death'' and where I was now, prevented me from thinking clearly and scared the hell out of me, but there was nothing I could do. So as time went on, I became more and more afraid.


    If the producers of The Land of Lunerra are responsible for what happened to me, and it''s impossible for me to think of anything else after that smile I saw before I died, did they really think that something like this would make me happy by removing the mediocrity from my life?


    Are they crazy...? Although... how did they manage to do such a thing in the first ce?


    As my pointless thoughts wed at thest remaining fiber of my will, I began to feel my mind fading.


    If I spend a few more hours here, there will probably be no more ''me'' in the world.


    I will go mad, not just die, but go insane just standing here.


    Just then, as I was slowly disappearing into my thoughts, something happened.


    The endless darkness suddenly shimmered with an extremely intense light. It was so intense, so bright, that I closed my eyes, but it wasn''t enough, I had to shield my eyes with my arms.


    And then, I paused. I realized something, something that felt strange; something that shouldn''t have happened.


    I have... hands? I even have eyes?


    Slowly I moved my hands away from my eyes, so the first thing I saw was a white wall.


    I focused on the wall, and when I did, I realized that it was more of a ceiling than a wall. Excited to see a real ''thing'' after a long time, I sat up and looked where I was.


    I was in a strange room, quite in and small, but actually quite tidy, with monochromatic and smooth walls, a single, average-sized desk, a mirror, double-doored closet, and the bed I was currently lying on... all of this felt ''familiar'' to me for some reason.


    Why does this ce feel so familiar?


    I continued to look around curiously, but it wasn''t long before I was shocked by a sudden thought.


    When I confirmed my thoughts with the design of the room, I pped myself in disbelief, but I still didn''t wake up from the dream in any way.


    Thus, experiencing feelings of fear, surprise, shock, curiosity, and most importantly excitement all at the same time, I thought that I had really gone crazy and started to hallucinate while staying in that darkness.


    It took me a long time to realize that the fantastic animation-style graphics I had seen on theputer screen had now turned into realistic graphics, but I was sure.


    This room, with its design and all the other details that gave me a heavy sense of intimacy, was clearly the room where the second part of the story mode of the game The Lands of The Lunerra began.

 Chapter 4: Volume I - 3: A New Chance

    <h4>Chapter 4: Volume I - Chapter 3: A New Chance</h4>


    When I realized where the room I woke up in was, I froze for a few seconds.


    Minutes, no... Just seconds ago I thought I was dead and I was going to stay in that dark ce forever, but now...


    Now I was in a room inside the game I most enjoyed spending time in.


    Everything I touched screamed at me that this was ''real'', but how was I supposed to believe it?


    Trembling, I was looking at everything around me, trying to find traces that this was some kind of hallucination or dream when the mirror on the closet door not far from me caught my eye.


    I stared at it for a while, afraid because I didn''t have the courage to approach it.


    Literally everything about this ce reminded me of the room I had seen countless times. That''s why I was afraid of seeing my reflection in the mirror, afraid that the person who would appear before me would not be ''me''.


    Even though I felt like the walls were closing in on me, after a while I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. I was scared, but I couldn''t stand here forever.


    So I stood in front of the mirror, even if I was shaking, and looked at my reflection.


    The first thing I noticed was the coal-ck hair, not long but not short either. I was also greeted by gray, almost colorless eyes, rather ordinary facial features, and a skinny and short body that could be no more than one hundred and seventy centimeters long.


    I kept staring at my reflection in the mirror, because I didn''t look like my old self, nor like any of the characters of the game I knew... Even though my facial features were quite ordinary, no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn''t think of anyone with such an appearance.


    Who... Who am I? Although... Where am I really in the first ce? There''s no way I''m really in the game, right?


    I quickly looked around the room to see if there was a window and then I saw a wall covered with curtains.


    I approached the curtain with slow steps, quickly pulled it aside, and couldn''t help being dazzled by the sudden re of the sun. After squinting to block out the light as much as possible, I looked outside and for the first time since I woke up here, I literally couldn''t believe my eyes.


    I must have been between the seventh and ninth floors of a building, so I was quite high up, but that didn''t matter. Strange but familiar-looking modern buses easily visible through the ss, uniformed and non-uniformed people walking along the side of the roads, an academy campus that looked like a huge technology center...


    I was so mesmerized by thendscape, glistening magnificently in the refracted light of the sun... All those animations I had once seen were now realistically in front of me, and it was so beautiful that I continued to look out as if I were a child seeing the sea for the first time. I could not take my eyes off this modernndscape that I could only see by looking out the window.


    It was just... too beautiful.


    ~beep


    In my absent-mindedness, I jumped when suddenly a sound echoed in the room. Then I saw a phone with a glowing screen right next to the bed I had just woken up in.


    Curiosity got the better of me and I approached the very modern and simple-looking phone, but then something else caught my attention.


    Right next to the phone were a few boxes that looked like they had been thrown without care. The word written on them was ''cyanide''.


    When I saw that the boxes were almost empty, a horrible scenario came to my mind.


    Me... Or rather, had the ''former me''mitted suicide?


    The more I read the glowing inscription on the boxes, the more the idea struck me, but if so, how was I alive?


    I reflexively checked my body, but I seemed to be quite healthy. My theory was disproven as I realized that I had no pain or problems, but there could be no other exnation for the empty boxes.


    While I was lost in thought, the screen of the phone next to the boxes shed again and the ''beep'' sound echoed in the room.


    So when I picked up the phone, the first thing I looked at was the time and date.


    <<------------------------------


    11:56


    Monday, September 14, 2043


    Eight new messages from ra:


    Good morning! - 09:13


    Are you awake yet? - 10:22


    Are you ignoring me agai... - 10:58


    ------------------------------>>


    When I looked at the date, I was reassured that I was indeed in the second part of the story mode because the day, month, and year were exactly the same as in the game, but I had a more important problem... When I read the notifications in the middle of the screen, I had no idea what to do.


    ra?


    Who is ra? I''m almost, but not quite sure, that I''m not rted to this person by blood, because if she was a member of my family, her name would definitely be ''mom, sister'' or something like that.


    So is she my girlfriend or something? Although... I don''t even own the body in the first ce.


    I paused for a moment, reconsidered what had just gone through my mind, and the moment I did, my eyes widened. Because I realized again what kind of situation I was actually in.


    I''ve be someone I don''t even know who I am and I''m pretty sure it''s not a dream. In the same way, I''m in a game called The Lands of The Lunerra, but I''ve never met anyone who looks like this, neither my main character nor anyone else in the six thousand one hundred and thirty-two hours I''ve been ying the game.


    I... I somehow died and then I entered the body of an extra, an ''extra'' whomitted suicide, who has no ce in the story...


    I started to feel dizzy and nauseous. I couldn''t think straight because of a headache that was like a sharp dagger in the center of my forehead.


    I tried to calm down byying myself down on the bed, but the moment I closed my eyes, I remembered the dark ce where I had spent who knows how much time, and I felt even more nauseous. I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom.


    It took a while for me to find the bathroom, but as soon as I got in, I emptied my stomach into the toilet bowl, then went to the faucet to gargle a little because of the disgusting taste left in my mouth. After flushing the toilet, Iy back down on my bed, or rather on this body''s bed.


    Damn it...


    When I closed my eyes, I quickly opened them again for fear of remembering that dark ce, and this time I looked up at the ceiling.


    No matter how much I denied it, I knew for sure that this was not a dream. The conversation I had with the producers after finishing the game, the pain I felt afterward, and that smile emoji I saw before my eyes closed... The producers of Lunerra are definitely responsible for what happened to me.


    What am I supposed to do? First of all, what is the real identity and name of this body?


    Is it really possible that there''s a character I haven''t seen, even if he''s an extra in this damn game?!


    I started to feel crushed by these thoughts, but then I suddenly realized that there was a glow in front of the ceiling I was watching.


    Curiously I focused on the glow, how had I not noticed it in the first ce? Even if it wasn''t very bright, it certainly stood out...


    I sat up and tried to reach for the glow, but the moment I touched it, or rather the void, the glow expanded and opened a holographic window in front of me.


    I recognized the hovering window as soon as I saw it. This was Lunerra''s in-game system for essing all sorts of things like inventory, crafting tabs, and skills.


    When this world ''woke up'', it was this system that allowed people to be stronger. So, this system wasn''t exclusive to me, everyone in the world had ess to it.


    Although we used to have some privileges as the main character, but now, in this game that has be my reality, I have no idea what the system can do.


    I was strangely excited to see this holographic window floating in the air, but that excitement was dampened by a text that appeared in front of the window.


    <<------------------------------


    Hello there! We hope you enjoyed the privilege we offer you!


    ------------------------------>>


    I stared at the message for a long time, not having the slightest idea what to do or even what to think, and it didn''t take long for the rest of the message to follow.


    <<------------------------------


    Just as you suspected, we have transferred you into The Lands of The Lunerra! We hope that with this opportunity you will be able to change your previous life of boredom and mediocrity!


    ------------------------------>>


    My mouth opened, I wanted to curse whoever was talking to me, but I couldn''t say anything.


    <<------------------------------


    At first, we wanted to transfer you into the main character''s body... But as someone who has achieved 100% achievements in this game, we decided that being the main character would not add anything new to you, so we decided to open apletely different path for you!


    First of all, we have to say that unfortunately we couldn''t give you any privileges considering your deep knowledge of the game and the hours you have buried. In fact, you have more disadvantages than advantagespared to the people of this world, but we are sure that your ''ordinary'' life will change with the help of this body that will give you a brand-new experience with your vast knowledge and the ''talent'' we think you have!


    Also... Just like you guessed, your previous body is no longer alive but who cares, right? After all, you were bored with that life and you went so far as to tell us so. That''s why we believe that with the new experiences you will have in this new world, you will be able to relieve the difort caused by your painful past!


    And you don''t have to worry about the body you wake up in. Your body belongs to a weak person who chose tomit suicide, and if you hadn''t woken up in this body, his dead body would have rotted in this room for at least a week, considering that the previous owner of your body had no friends. He already hated his family so much that it would be a favor for him and for the world to rece him...


    Finally, we must say that this will be thest time we will be able tomunicate with each other. In other words, we will not be able to talk to you and you will not be able to talk to us. We hope you can heal the hole in your heart that has been there for a long time! Good luck and have fun!


    ------------------------------>>


    The long message was still floating in the air when it suddenly closed and the holographic window disappeared. I just continued to stare into the void.


    I stayed where I was for a while and then I went back to bed.


    Actually, what the producer said is technically correct. I don''t care about my previous life. After all, I had no loved ones or family there. When people who thought they were my friends find out that I''m dead, they will probably go on living as if nothing has changed in their lives.


    I continued to stare at the wall and thought for a long, long time.


    These thoughts were about what to do, and how to act.


    Then I paused again, something had urred to me.


    I sat up slightly from where I was lying, and then I imagined something like the holographic window I had just seen. Immediately after that, a window exactly like the one I had just seen opened right in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: Aiden


    Last Name: Tenebra


    Race: Human


    Age: 18


    --Statistics--


    General Level: F


    Strength: F-


    Agility: F-


    Vitality: F


    Endurance: F-


    Luck: E-


    Magic Power: F


    Mana Efficiency: F


    Charm: E-


    --Masteries--


    Swordsmanship(F)


    The most basic swordsmanship without style, without any predisposition or focus.


    ------------------------------>>


    As I was looking at my statistics window, I thought of the ''disadvantage'' that the producers said.


    I''m... I''m definitely the garbage of this world. I mean, I''m not at the bottom, but I''m certainly not in a good situation. All my stats are at the lowest possible level, one click above F-, and I have no skills.


    Well... I have one mastery, but it''s only F grade swordsmanship.


    I looked at my name with a bitter smile on my face.


    Aiden Tenebra...


    Is this child a character in the game that I''ve never met, or is he an entity that was specifically created when I was transferred to this world? Because no matter how much I think about it, I can''t think of such a character.


    Aiden Tenebra, huh...


    "In short, you''re saying that if you''re bored, here''s the real version of our game... I''ll finish the game again without being the main character, with a brand-new character as if I''ve installed a DLC, is that it...?"


    I smiled involuntarily. When I think about it, isn''t it everyone''s dream to enter a fantasy world? Fighting creatures, being able to use magic, and having the power to split mountains in two even though you are a human... Isn''t it something that one would really want to experience?


    "Aiden Tenebra... Aiden Tenebra..."


    I called out my new name a few times and then got up from my bed.


    Okay, I''ve decided. I''m getting rid of my old and boring life here!


    I may be trash, and my stats may be worse than everyone else''s, but that''s not a barrier to progress. And just like the producers said, I have a big trump card in my hand.


    I know the future by heart, the legendary items in the game, the hidden skills, and so on. If I progress properly, I can really turn this body into a legend.


    I quickly gathered the cyanide cans and threw them all in the trash, then came back to the window of my room and smiled warmly at the world of Lunerra, which had now be my reality: my new chance¡­

 Chapter 5: Volume I - 4: Changed Brother

    <h4>Chapter 5: Volume I - Chapter 4: Changed Brother</h4>


    I was lying on my bed thinking about what had just urred to me. On the other hand, my brow was furrowed, and I had a dull expression on my face.


    Yes, I may have a deep knowledge of this universe, but there''s one big thing I''m missing.


    In The Lands of The Lunerra, the main character we control has his own name, appearance, and past.


    Yes, these things ''exist'', but the yer actually determines the character''s true personality through the decisions they make. In other words, whether the character is apassionate fairy godmother or an evil man who destroys everything in his path depends on the person controlling him.


    Likewise, which weapon the character uses, and which stats they focus on ispletely up to the yer, and since I''m not the main character right now, I have literally zero information about him.


    Considering that I''m already in the second part of the story, he must have already made the decisions that will slightlyy the foundations of his personality and his development... He must have absorbed that annoying old man too. What I mean is if he''s heading toward the bad ending, there''s a good chance he''s going to throw the world into chaos.


    Honestly... I think it''s more likely that he''s a bad guy than a good guy, because as yers, even though people see the past of the character they y, they can''t empathize with him very much. They do whatever they want at that moment, whatever will satisfy them.


    The main character''s parents are murdered by someone. After his parents die, he falls on hard times, lives the life of a beggar, grows up being bullied by countless kids and even adults, and finally finds the remains of a very powerful person absorbed into his body due to a chance incident.


    Then he finds out that he canmunicate with this person and as if that wasn''t enough, this old man says that he can take him to the top of the world as long as he helps him get his revenge.


    Now, if I drop the fact that I''m the main character with all this and what I''ve been through in the past... My parents were murdered and I grew up being bullied until this age.


    As a human being who can really think, shouldn''t I hate the world for making me suffer? Could someone who actually experienced what happened to the main character be apassionate fairy godmother? I don''t think so, and neither would anyone who can think rationally.


    That''s exactly what worries me. If the main character is heading toward a bad ending, then it might be hard to stop him, even for me, who knows the game inside and out. Because as much as I know about this universe, that damned old man knows almost as much, if not more, and as long as he gets a new body, he''s not going to think much about what''s happening to the world.


    ~beep!


    I was deep in my thoughts, but then I looked up at the sound of a notification echoing around the room.


    Oh, really... I had an ''acquaintance'' texting me.


    I picked up my phone, which I had forgotten to put away, and then logged into the messaging app.


    Just like me, the boy named Aiden didn''t seem to have many friends. Because the messaging app was empty except for a person named ''ra''. Though it''s not impossible that he deleted everything beforemitting suicide.


    <<------------------------------


    ra: Don''t make mee to that damn academy!


    ------------------------------>>


    When I looked at ra''sst text message, I couldn''t help but sigh. If, as the producers say, the old Aiden was someone who hated his family and acquaintances, this girl must really love him to still be able to write to him...


    <<------------------------------


    ra: You finally looked at your phone! You''ve already been ignoring me, now you''re still going to act like a punk when you''ve left your sister all alone?


    ------------------------------>>


    When I looked at the word ''sister'', I raised my eyebrows involuntarily.


    This ''ra'' is my sister huh... And judging from the messages she sent, it seems like she really cares about me.


    So, this is what it means to be cared for...


    After the old me, the real ''me'' who lived in the real world, was sent to the orphanage by my parents, I never saw them again. I know neither their names nor their faces because I never wanted to meet the people who abandoned me.


    They never came to see me anyway, but I always envied those children when I saw them walking down the road holding their parents'' hands. So, it feels a bit strange to think that I have a sister now.


    As I continued to read ra''s incessant texts, I couldn''t help but swear at Aiden.


    You had a family but you treated them like assholes? Don''t worry punk... I''ll take good care of your body and your family.


    While ra was busy getting angry with me about why I didn''t write her anything, I briefly thought about what I should write to her and finally wrote her a reply.


    <<------------------------------


    You: Sorry, I was nauseous and had trouble waking up.


    ------------------------------>>


    For a few seconds after sending the message, the conversation did not progress at all. It was as if time had stopped, yet after a while ra started writing again.


    <<------------------------------


    ra: Did you just apologize?


    You: Yes?


    ra: Well... Um, anyway... You missed the first day of the academy, be nicer to your body.


    You: Okay, I''ll try.


    ------------------------------>>


    To think that the presence of someone who is worried about me would feel so good in a strange way... It''s like there are really many things in life that I haven''t experienced.


    <<------------------------------


    ra: Brother? Are you okay?


    ------------------------------>>


    Huh? Where did thise from... Did I do something wrong?


    <<------------------------------


    You: Yes? Is there a problem?


    ra: Why are you writing me back?


    ------------------------------>>


    I frowned when I got thatst text.


    Aiden... You really are an asshole... Even your own sister thinks there''s something wrong with you for texting her.


    <<------------------------------


    You: Let''s say I decided to be a better person.


    ra: Who the fuck are you?


    You: Aiden Tenebra, I''m eighteen and I''m going to CDA. I thought about it a lot and then decided that it''s stupid to ignore my sister, so you don''t need to text me in the hopes that you won''t get a reply anymore. I want to change, ra, and I will start by fixing the bad rtionship between us.


    ------------------------------>>


    ra didn''t write anything for a long time. I think she was reading what I had written over and over again, I could swear she was screaming in disbelief, but I couldn''t prove it.


    I had been waiting for her to reply for a while, but then, out of the blue, a notification appeared on the screen and the phone started vibrating.


    When I saw that ra was ''video'' calling me, I panicked a little at first, because I didn''t know what to do, but then I quickly pulled myself together.


    I couldn''t be a new ''Aiden'' by running away from my sister, so I answered the call with trembling fingers.


    The small notification box on the top of the phone expanded as I answered the call, covering the entire screen. My own face appeared first and then shrunk to the bottom left of the screen, giving way to a bewildered girl with a frown.


    As far as I could tell, ra had brown hair, not too long for a girl, but not short either. Her eyes, like mine, were a colorless gray. I could tell they were a little brighter, though, and she was about fifteen with a face that could definitely be called cute.


    After making sure that there was nothing wrong with my appearance, I forced myself to smile. Even though I gave ra a rather clumsy smile out of over-excitement, the shock on her face made it clear that I had never done that before.


    "I''m sorry for ignoring you, ra. Forget the old asshole you used to know; I will do what I have to do as a big brother from now on."


    This was the first time I had ever said anything long out loud and the change in my voice with my new body had a strange effect on me, but I tried to ignore it and focused on ra''s puzzled face.


    Even if I feel bad that I am not her real brother, I cannot say to her, "Hello! The world you lived in was a game and I was a yer, but I died and your brothermitted suicide, so now I''m living in his body!"


    Aiden is the one who chose to leave this world bymitting suicide in the first ce and I am the one who inhabited his body. So I have to take all his responsibilities on myself.


    Though, that might be a selfish excuse I made up, but I still wholeheartedly embrace it.


    "You... You''ve really changed."


    I smiled slightly, but ra was even more surprised to see it. Seriously... I guess Aiden never used to smile. Well, I can''t say anything to Aiden about that, after all, I wasn''t much of a smiler myself.


    "I don''t know if something happened to you, but if you''re fooling me and this is a joke, I will never talk to you again."


    It was a bit of a childish threat, but I nodded in agreement, so ra let out a deep sigh and then her expression turned serious.


    "Their death anniversary is next weekend, so if you''ve decided to change, at least visit them."


    I froze in ce with those words in my ears.


    Anniversaries of death...


    I felt a deep ache in my heart at the thought that Aiden''s parents were dead.


    So I don''t have a family here either. I am alone in this world too...


    Well, at least I have a sister. Who knows, maybe we have a rtive or something, but for some reason, I''m pretty sure there is no such thing.


    "Okay, I''ll be there."


    ra looked even more surprised than before at the expression I gave her. Even though I told her I was going to change, she must not have expected this.


    "All right! I''m sure they will be happy with the son they will see in seven years."


    And so my gloomy expression became even gloomier, even though I tried not to show it.


    You are wrong, ra. Unfortunately, I am not their son.


    If they can actually see and hear me when I visit them, then they will be nothing but angry at me for taking the ce of their real son, Aiden.


    Of course, even if they can''t hear me, I have to talk to them at least once, and one of my responsibilities as the new user of the body I will inhabit from now on is to apologize to the family of the person whose body I took, no matter how much of a jerk he was.


    "You will answer everything I write from now on, won''t you?"


    ra''s eyes sparkled and I smiled in response. As I thought, this girl was just like me, hungry for love.


    "Yes, and I''ll evene to visit you in your free time. We can go for a walk or something."


    ra was a bit petite. She could have been at least fifteen, maybe sixteen at the most, but she was as excited as an eight-year-old at what I said.


    "Don''t you dare forget this!"


    I couldn''t take her exaggerated reaction any longer and burst intoughter. ra was a little startled at first, but then a smile appeared on her face too.


    "That''s the first time I''ve ever seen youugh like that."


    ra had a smile on her face that showed she was really happy. She must be really fond of Aiden if just seeing her brotherugh made her so happy. I wonder why she was so obsessed with him...


    There''s a good chance that it''s because Aiden is the only family she has left, but that doesn''t mean that the smile she''s showing me right now is fake. So she really loves Aiden as her ''big brother'', not as her only remaining rtive.


    "I''m sorry... I''ll try to smile more from now on, but I have to go now. I have things to do."


    Actually, I want to talk to her more. I want to chat with my newfound sister, and I want to have fun joking with her, but I really have things to do.


    "Okay, take care of yourself."


    ra didn''t reject me, but she must have been thinking the same as me because her smile dropped a little.


    "Bye."


    And with that, the call ended. I was alone again in this quiet room surrounded by walls on all four sides.


    *(A/N: I''ll post chapters every day until the first volume is finished. I''ll think about what happens after that when that timees.)*

 Chapter 6: Volume I - 5: First Skills

    <h4>Chapter 6: Volume I - Chapter 5: First Skills</h4>


    *(A/N: I rewrote this chapter on 12.08.2023, so the paragraphments before that date have unfortunately been lost. For your information.)*


    I nced back at my statistics window floating in the air.


    I''m really weak... How did Aiden manage to get into this academy with these stats?


    I can only think of two options. Either the old Aiden had an incredible theoretical mind or he was favored.


    Even though I don''t know the condition of our family, judging by the clothes I saw on ra when I was talking to her and the phone I was using in this world where holographic technology is everywhere, we don''t seem to be doing too well.


    So Aiden must be pretty smart. Smart enough to get epted into the best academy in the kingdom, even with stats like that.


    Well, actually, I don''t have to worry too much about that. After all, in my previous life, I passed the university exam at the top of my ss and got a full schrship to a very difficult university, so I don''t want to brag, but I''m a bit smart too. I''m also very familiar with things like magic theories because I''m a ''fan'' of this game.


    I took another look at my stats with F''s in the holographic window, so my eyes lingered on the ''Magic Power'' and ''Mana Efficiency'' stats for a while.


    As in every fantasy universe, there is magic in this world too.


    Humans, normally beings who can only sense mana, cannot freely control it as they wish. At least that was the case until the awakening of the. When the system came along to help humanity with this, that''s when people started to be able to use the mana that they couldn''t use until then.


    Honestly, I''m very excited to try this.


    After sitting cross-legged on my bed, I closed my eyes and focused. Even though I was thinking about the dark ce I went to after I died, I resisted as much as I could because if I didn''t get over the trauma I might have severe sleep problems.


    It was a very strange feeling to feel my own mana. It was as if I was swimming in a pool but the pool was actually inside my body... In short, the concept and feeling of mana were exactly as described in the game.


    A smile appeared on my face and I continued to focus. After all, I would not stop at just ''feeling'' my mana.


    I thought that the mana flowing through me was moving ording to my thoughts, passing through certain points and being absorbed there. Then my muscles were suddenly filled with an unknown power.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You have learned the [Mana Boost(F)] skill. Your mana capacity has increased by a small amount because you learned it by experimenting on your own!


    ------------------------------>>


    Although my eyes were closed, I didn''t care about the message I could see because my work was still unfinished.


    I slowly moved the mana that strengthened my muscles toward my head, then focused it on my eyes, ears, and nose. Then the mana that I had focused on these ces spread over my whole body as if it was suddenly free and covered my skin with a thinyer. While this was happening, I started to hear a sound, a sound I couldn''t hear before. The sound of the wind blowing outside the window.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You have learned the [Sense Enhancement(F)] skill. Your mana capacity has increased by a small amount because you learned it by experimenting on your own!


    ------------------------------>>


    When I aplished what I really wanted to do, I opened my eyes and realized that I was drenched in sweat. Even though I didn''t feel much at the time because I was focused, I was really tired from the mana that had suddenly left my body.


    My Magic Power and Mana Efficiency stats, both F grades, were really giving me trouble, but I couldn''t keep the dirty grin off my face.


    I had just used a skill that was not directly taught to me by the system, and so the system had given it to me directly. So I had gotten two skills for free, which is the first and simplest step of development for anyone living in this world.


    So it wasn''t a big deal.


    Of course, if you learn two skills so easily, it can be called ''cheating'', but the skills that can be learned with this methode with the lowest skill level, F, and their number is very limited. This is because the number of skills that can be used without giving mana an attribute is very small and often inefficient, but for someone like me, who has almost no skills, this is a huge boon.


    With the buff, which will wear off very soon, I felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction as I squinted my eyes and was able to clearly read a piece of writing that I had not been able to read properly because it was far away.


    Feeling ''mana'', which was a brand-new sense for me, and using it to empower my body and my senses, just like in the stories, was so amazing that I felt like a ruler standing on top of humanity. Of course, unfortunately, this would only be true if I were in my old world...


    Before I went off to my daydreams, I went to the bathroom and took a short shower to get rid of the sweat and then changed into clean clothes from my closet. Afterward, I stood in front of the only mirror in the room again to see how I looked.


    My coal-ck hair, which I had just dried, was quite elegant. My gray eyes made me look like a ghost, but I couldn''tin that they added a nice touch to my otherwise ordinary features.


    Even though my charm statistic was an E- grade, I couldn''t deny that I was more handsome than in my old world.


    Well... Doesn''t that mean that in my previous life, I had, at best, F+ looks? I mean, two above the worst...


    Ah... Great, now I feel like I''m tantly calling my old body ugly. How wonderful...


    With a bitter smile, I took a deep breath, and then sat at the table.


    I actually wanted to go outside, breathe in some fresh air and take a good look around the academy, which had been transformed into something realistic.


    But... there was something I had to do first.


    I found some paper and a pen, looked at the pile of papers in front of me and sighed deeply.


    Here we go...


    *******


    When I put thest touch on thest of the full sheets of paper I had set aside, I tossed the pen aside without a care, my tired eyes drifting to the clock on the wall of the room.


    Six hours... I''ve been working on these papers for six hours, without stopping, without eating, without even going to the restroom.


    Haaa... but it was definitely worth it.


    I organized the thirteen photocopies I had set aside, ced them neatly in a folder I had managed to find by scanning the whole house, and... when everything was ready, a smile appeared on my face.


    Yes, it was a lot of work, but it would definitely help me to take my first step.


    I sshed cold water on my face to relieve my tiredness, then grabbed the file I had prepared and went outside.


    I was greeted by a long corridor with no one in it. The design was just like in the game, very modern and charming...


    Considering it was six in the afternoon, sses were already over. By now they must have been doing a seminar on life at the academy or something.


    In short, I hadpletely ditched my first day... but I didn''t really care.


    I knew that when I walked into the ssroom tomorrow, I would get nothing but a warning because it was the first time, so I could spend my first day in this world at ease.


    I took the elevator down from the eighth floor, watching the blinking buttons the whole time as an old habit, and then found myself in the lobby of the dormitory.


    The lobby was definitely more crowded than the floor where my room was located. There were receptionists, friends talking to each other, and my peers running around carrying books.


    There wasn''t more than one person from the first year. Because like I said, they were probably in the seminar right now.


    Even in the middle of the day, though, I wouldn''t meet many freshmen, because the life of a freshman is... not much different from high school.


    For first-year students, the academy individually tests and examines them. Academy advises them on the courses they will take from their second year onward and identifies their talents.


    Of course, I didn''t give a damn about that.


    When I saw the training weapons that some of the students carried on their backs and belts, I knew in my bones that I was inside Lunerra. My blood was boiling and so I began to walk toward my goal, studying these weapons with great interest.


    The Cevilian Development Academy, or CDA as the humans abbreviated it, was the most prestigious academy in the kingdom I was on. It not only offered its students a huge campus and good lectures but also trained them to be useful citizens of the kingdom, especially in the fields of magic and theory.


    It had its own special systempared to other academies, and I just mentioned it, but the campus was really huge... So much so that apart from the area where the dormitory buildings were located, there was a shopping mall where students could shop as they wished, a huge arena built for duels and entertainment, a multifunctional and huge training hall where all kinds of equipment could be found... All these and many more were just a part of this academy as if it was a small city in itself.


    I walked through the crowds to a walkway and smiled brightly. As the air entered my lungs, many times cleaner than in my old world, backed by mana, I realized again the difference between our worlds. Just breathing here made me feel in paradise.


    As I walked along the walkway, when I came to a certain building, I paused and widened the smile on my face.


    The building in front of me wasbeled ''Mana Research Laboratories'' and this was my first goal in this world, the ce that would solve my penniless me and my sister''s financial problems once and for all.

 Chapter 7: Volume I - 6: Theory

    <h4>Chapter 7: Volume I - Chapter 6: Theory</h4>


    *(A/N: I rewrote this chapter on 12.08.2023, so the paragraphments before that date have unfortunately been lost. For your information.)*


    I was excited in front of the majestic building. My heart was literally racing but I quickly entered through the entrance.


    People in scrubs were everywhere. They were in enough of a hurry to make me wonder what was happening to me, but I ignored them and so I approached the reception desk. I waited in a fairly short queue and when it was finally my turn, I was greeted by a very prettydy.


    "Hello, what are you here for?"


    "To prove a theory."


    The receptionist looked at me with one eyebrow raised at my words. Honestly, it was not difficult to understand what she was thinking. Judging by the strange clothes I was wearing¡­ I didn''t look like a smart person to ''prove a theory''.


    "What was the theory you were going to prove?"


    I smiled slightly at the question.


    Ah... I just realized that I''ve been smiling really often since I came to this world. Lunerra must really be where I belong.


    I slowly handed her the file I had been holding, then spoke calmly.


    "The processing of information into mana."


    As the words left my mouth, the receptionist looked at me and the file I handed her with widened eyes. This was exactly the reaction I was expecting.


    "Excuse me, are you aware of what you are saying?"


    "Yes."


    After studying me for a few seconds, the receptionist took the file in my hand and began to skim through it quickly.


    With every second that passed, her eyes narrowed and her expression became more serious. It took her five seconds to close the file after opening it. She gave me onest nce, then motioned for me to wait and went to the back of the lobby with my file.


    The staff had a short conversation among themselves and the employee who was to rece her had the same reaction when she heard what I hade to prove.


    Well, it''s quite normal for them to react like that. Because although the number of qualities that can be transferred to mana is quite diverse, what we call ''information'' is at a different point.


    For example, someone has given mana the quality of me. In this case, mana imitates the characteristics of a me and turns into it. In other words, the person has in a way reproduced the me by using mana; in a way copied it.


    So, what is ''information'' apart from this? Information is quite different from ''me'', which has certain characteristics. For example, the fact that me is hot is a characteristic of the attribute of me, but apart from that, if the knowledge of ''heat'' can be imprinted in mana, then whatever the mana imitates, it will be hot.


    In other words, instead of giving the mana certain properties, such as water, air, or me, one can directly imitate apletely unique attribute by imbuing it with properties that are determined by one''s own imagination.


    When you think of thebos you can do with it, the things you can do with it as long as you have enough mana capacity... It''s really quite fantastic.


    Of course, it''s really ''fantastic''. That''s, unfortunately, the case even here.


    "I want to warn you from the beginning, if you''re making a joke, it''s best to turn around."


    "No, I''m not joking."


    I kept my stance, and the woman hesitated for a brief moment. I think she thought I was crazy or something, but I didn''t really care.


    After a slight sigh, the employee told me to follow her because of some security measures. Together we went upstairs, through theplicated corridors.


    First of all, there was a significant decrease in the number of people around, and the people we saw now were wearing white coats and looked exactly like scientists. So, I couldn''t help feeling like I was heading toward a ce where I was forbidden to enter.


    But why was I grinning even though I felt this way? Because seeing this environment that I had seen in the game before, now in first person, felt so different, so exciting, that if I didn''t hold back, I might have shivered in a way that people could easily recognize.


    "Pleasee in and wait. Your documents have to go through a verification first. So, you have to wait a little bit."


    I only realized that the employee was addressing me after I had passed him a step or two.


    Seeing me absent-minded in a ce like this,ing here for such a purpose, made her look suspicious.


    Well, I can''t be unfair to her. If I were in her shoes, I would have found myself quite suspicious too.


    "Sorry, the building is so beautiful that I got distracted."


    After what I said, the employee looked at me even more strangely.


    I''m sorry but I don''t see things like that all the time... So please stop looking at me like that, I feel like a tourist.


    I ignored the employee''s stare and entered the room.


    It was a small room, but it was one that I would have no problem waiting in because it was small but very full, from a holographic television to a table with treats on it.


    So, imagining the hustle and bustle in the background and the chaos that was probably caused by me, I smiled and let myself fall into the armchair in the center of the room.


    *******


    An hour and a half... I waited for almost an hour and a half in this small room inside the building, and finally, especially when I saw the receptionist I had seen when I first entered the building, I knew it was time.


    "Your files are still under review, but Lab Management would like you to submit an oral defense with these files. Please follow me."


    Heh, I knew it. That''s what I was waiting for.


    "Sure."


    I got up from the couch, which was almost toofortable for me to leave, and followed the receptionist, just like when I first came here.


    We passed through the intricate corridors once more, and this time we arrived at the door of yet another room. But the door to this room was different from any door I had ever seen. It was more... technological, big. It clearly led somewhere important.


    We entered the room slowly.


    The room behind the door, was literally a huge lecture hall. The first things that caught my eye were a stage with a huge digital screen in front of the ever-increasing rows of desks, and adults excitedly settling into the seats as if they had just arrived.


    Each of them had their eyes on me, of course, but I didn''t pay much attention to them. At least not yet.


    But I could feel my blood boiling again at the same time because I was going to give a detailed talk in front of so many people about ''magic'', one of my favorite things in life. That''s why I repeated a few things in my head.


    Calm down Aiden, calm down... You have been here before in the game, even if it was for a different purpose. You''ve lived the same scene, even if it was on aputer screen. Calm down and let your knowledge speak, and then get rich.


    I walked as calmly as I could in front of the digital board and stood on the dais and waited.


    *******


    It didn''t take long for the lecture hall to fill up. As I waited, more and more adults came in, each of them frowning as they saw me and taking their seats with an uneasy expression.


    Of course, their uneasiness would onlyst until my presentation and theory were revealed. What would these scientists, who were trying to crush me with scorn, do with what I was about to tell them?


    About ten minutes after I entered the lecture hall, when almost all the desks seemed to be filled, the digital board, which had been closed until now, suddenly opened and lit up. Then I saw the employee nodding at me from behind the seats and I took a deep breath.


    A huge group of the most senior people in the building, no... on campus, are watching me right now. If I screw up here, there''s a chance I could even get kicked out of the academy, but I''m confident. After all, I didn''te up with this theory out of thin air, and what I''m about to tell these people will be known almost six months from now.


    "Ahem..."


    After I coughed to draw attention to myself, all the adults chatting among themselves fell silent, all the eyes in the lecture hall focused on me and I was now the center of the stage.


    "Dear seniors, I''m not very good at exining myself, so I''ll get straight to the point, assuming you''ve already heard why I am here."


    I don''t want to aggravate the atmosphere by messing up something I''m already not good at, so I approached the digital board directly and wrote two words on the screen first; Information and Attribute.


    "The attributes we can transfer to mana are quite a lot."


    I pulled down an arrow from the word qualities and wrote the most familiar attributes such as me, water, air, earth, and electricity.


    "All these attributes are things that already exist in nature, and we define them as ''attributes'' because of all the properties they contain. For example, me is an ''attribute'' that is hot, amorphous, can spread when the necessary conditions are met, and has tons of other chemical and physical properties."


    I took a step forward, cooled my gaze, and became calmer, because if I showed any weakness in front of these people, then they would try to exploit me. So I had to show them that I wasn''t just someone who could talk, but someone who was tough and grounded. That was the only way I could take my first steps toward the future.


    "Everyone already knows that when we use a skill through the system, the mana is actually processed and qualified by a rune created by the system."


    I minimized what was written on the digital board and then wrote ''rune'' in capital letters on the screen.


    "So, what are runes? How do they work so that mana can imitate any matter, form, or energy in the universe, with or without shape, by passing through these runes?"


    With my words, the eyes of everyone watching my presentation widened.


    The environment I had aimed to create at the very beginning was slowly emerging. The general topic of what I was going to talk about today might have been ''the processing of information into mana'', but there were actually a few other things I was nning to talk about, the most important of which were the runes.


    Maintaining my calmness andposure as much as possible, I started drawing patterns on the screen. Lines, connections, and symbols that looked like calligraphybined with each other to create a ''rune'' that no one has ever been able to decipher but everyone knows what it is.


    I pointed to the rune, which had taken me about six minutes to draw perfectly with the touch pen, and turned back to the crowd.


    "This is the rune of the me attribute that everyone knows. When it is engraved on an item, we transfer mana to it and the item catches fire, we engrave it on a campfire device and one can start a fire just by transferring mana from one''s body to it. So, what does this rune actually mean?"


    I drew an arrow from the rune to the side and this time I opened the connection points of the rune a little more and drew it wider.


    "This is a me rune, just like the one I just drew. Of course, it''s a bit inefficient because the connection points and the path of the mana are longer, but in the end, we can still use it as a me rune."


    I drew an arrow from the second rune I drew and redrew the same rune again, this time opening the connection points further.


    "This is also a me rune, but I doubt anyone in the world uses it. It is extremely inefficient, and no matter how much mana we pour into it, it will produce a very small amount of me, but I want you to pay attention to something else."


    I crossed out six of the connecting points of the rune I had drawn and then circled and highlighted the area between the points, then erased all the rest of the rune and made sure everyone paid attention to this motif.


    "It''s apletely meaningless motif on its own that you can''t see anywhere else... Right?"


    No one broke the silence, so I kept talking.


    "But let''s open up these intertwined lines a bit more."


    Without erasing the motif I had drawn, I made the lines a little more ''straight'' instead of meandering, so that now there was another motif on the board, abination of strange geometric shapes.


    "It seems pointless, you all think it''s useless. And you are right... As it is, no matter how much meaning you put into it, you will get exactly ''nothing''."


    I took a breath and looked at the people listening to my presentation. They were all looking at me and the board with great interest.


    "Let''s leave this here for now and move on to something else."


    I dragged the shape I had drawn with my finger to the edge of the board and started drawing the rune ''electricity'' this time.


    One by one, I applied each of the operations I had just applied to the me rune to this rune and the result was again a strange interweaving of geometric shapes.


    But unlikest time, when I did this, all eyes widened. Some of the adults, who had been sitting quietly until now, reflexively stood up. Because the part I had just circled and the part I had just removed from the electric rune were identical.


    "The me rune and the electricity rune both signify different attributes. They both transform mana into different energies and forms, but when we separate them with a method I have just discovered, a certain shape emerges."


    I turned my back to the adults withoutpromising my expression or demeanor. I continued as if I didn''t care about them at all.


    "Now, you may think that this simrity is a coincidence. You can say that he found something and that he is shaking it to make money. Because even if we find this simrity, we still don''t know what it means."


    Of course, ''they'' didn''t know... For me it was different and now I was going to prove it to them.


    "Well, let me tell you what this motif is. This motif indicates the state of matter that the mana will imitate: sma."


    The expressions became even more bewildered, the eyes even wider. I could feel it even with my back to them, but I continued.


    "Technically, it is anguage, and I discovered it, and I named it ''The Language of Mana'', which I think is quite aptly descriptive, but if you approach what I discovered as anguage, you would be making a mistake. Because thisnguage does not contain any letters, words or sentence structure."


    I paused a little to catch my breath.


    "We should take the intertwined images of these geometric shapes not as a letter but as a ''meaning''. For example, these two motifs on the board¡­ I just told you that these two mean ''sma''. But this ''sma'' is not abination of what we call ''letters'' in words. On the contrary, this motif itself is ''information'' in itself, which means ''sma''. You can think of it as a kind of filter."


    So I finished the first half of my presentation. I had more to say, but the topic of ''processing information into mana'' ended here. Because whatever ''information'' was, it could not be processed into mana on its own.


    I was sure that everyone here understood what I was saying because just a few minutes ago I had said that if you give this motif mana on its own, nothing will happen.


    "This is actually the end of the presentation, but I would like to continue with the runes."


    The silence in the room had already given me the approval I needed.

 Chapter 8: Volume I - 7: End of the Presentation

    <h4>Chapter 8: Volume I - Chapter 7: End of the Presentation</h4>


    *(A/N: I rewrote this chapter on 12.08.2023, so the paragraphments before that date have unfortunately been lost. For your information.)*


    "As I just said, the meaning of this motif is ''sma'', but on its own, it has no meaning when we transfer mana to it. Because there is no matter in the universe that has no properties other than ''sma'' alone."


    Frustration could be seen in the eyes of some, as they began to realize where the presentation was going.


    "Let''s take the me again. As I said at the very beginning of the presentation, the me attribute has a lot of chemical and physical properties of its own. It''s hot, it''s diffusive, it''s ''sma''... So in short, these runes that transform mana into quality actually add properties to mana with this ''filter'' and imitate the matter, energy or form in the universe that has this property when the necessary conditions are met."


    I paused, inhaled slightly, and continued.


    "So within the me rune, there are many different ''meanings'' that contain information like the ''sma'' I just showed you, and the sum of these meanings constitutes what we call me. So I''m sorry to say that it''s impossible to cast spells that limit us only to our imagination, as everyone used to imagine."


    A great disappointment was the expression that could be read on all of their faces.


    "Because when we cast spells, everything thates out using mana is something that already exists in this universe from the very beginning and is ''imitated''. So if you rece the meaning of ''hot'' in the me rune with the meaning of ''cold'', then what you get is nothing. The rune doesn''t work because there is no me in the universe that absorbs heat and cools its surroundings instead of radiating heat. Mana cannot imitate something that does not exist."


    So, I had nothing more to tell these adults. My presentation was over, and the only thing I could do now was to take questions.


    As silence descended on the stage, everyone knew that my presentation was over, and soon I saw a woman in her thirties with short blonde hair raising her hand from the seats. I then gave her my approval to speak.


    "What you have just told and presented us is truly the beginning of a new era in the world of magic..."


    She narrowed her eyes but didn''t focus on me. She wore an expression as if something was really bothering her.


    "But one thing I''m curious about is that you just told us that motifs such as the meaning of ''sma'' on the board are not made up of letters, but have a meaning of their own. So, even if we divide the runes into countless ''meanings'' with the method you used to break down the runes in the first ce, how do we know what these ''meanings'' really mean? If there are only ''meanings'' and not a letter in thenguage of mana, then how do we know what the rune we have really means?"


    Well, that was the biggest w in my theory. In short, we couldn''t know it, it was impossible because, as she said, thenguage of mana is notposed of letters. So we couldn''t define it.


    "Unfortunately, this is the only w of the theory. It is simply impossible to know. We can only discover it through certain simrities with other attributes, so there is no other way but trial and error."


    I was trying hard not to grin as I said this because I had learned so many ''meanings'' of thenguage from the game''s forum page that it was almost impossible to take an attribute apart and not be able to exin it.


    Actually, when you think about it, that might sound a bit like cheating too. I would like it to be, but unfortunately, it''s not. Because even if I know what the meanings are for, I don''t know how to connect them. The connection points are self-exnatory, but an attribute has so many meanings in itself that it''s really hard and time-consuming to connect them.


    And even if I manage to do that, the runes I just drew on the board are too primitive and simple. Even if I tried to start a small fire with them, it would be very inefficient and it would probably go out after a short time. So, unfortunately, I can''t use it as a cheat that easily.


    It''s a big loss...


    "Are there any other questions?"


    I said that looking at the whole conference hall. Of course, a few other people asked me questions.


    I took questions for another half an hour, and exined them in an exnatory way, with examples from the papers I had prepared.


    After thest question... that was really the end of the presentation, or rather the end of the ''oral defense''.


    "That concludes the presentation of this theory then. Thank you for listening to me."


    I bowed slightly to them, and after a short silence, there was a single apuse in the lecture hall. Then someone else joined in and soon the whole lecture hall was filled with loud ppings.


    As the apuse continued, my eyes stopped at a certain point and a slight smile appeared on my face. I had aplished what I had set out to do in this presentation with this little check, in fact, I seemed to have progressed so well that I could hardly keep my eyes from meeting his and grinning.


    "Thank you."


    I simply thanked them, sighed, and then, noticing a grouping toward me, my gaze returned to them from where it had just been fixed.


    "You''re a student of the Academy, right? I''m Liara Ther, a senior Mana Researcher."


    These people who had looked at me with disdain at the beginning of the presentation were nowmunicating with me using the suffix respect. This was exactly the effect I was expecting.


    "Aiden Tenebra, and yes, I am a student of the academy. I''m also a first-year."


    I introduced myself briefly, which brought a smile to Ms. Liara''s face as she asked the first question of the presentation.


    "Please don''t take this the wrong way, just to be sure, but you discovered this on your own, didn''t you?"


    "Yes, no matter how much you search, you won''t find anyone working on this theory. Though... Maybe there are some people who think like me, but I''m sure they haven''t gotten this far, because if they had, the world would have heard about it by now."


    I emphasized my words in a way that didn''t make the woman in front of me too ufortable. Even though I had other intentions, the smile on her face widened when she heard what I said.


    "Would you like to join our team, Mr. Tenebra? We would love to have geniuses like you among us."


    Yes, that was exactly what I expected to hear.


    "I''m sorry, but I can''t ept."


    I rejected the offer without a second thought, and the reason was simple.


    "Because my first priority is not theory, and unfortunately I don''t n to be a scientist or a researcher, although I would love to do that. Still, if I have theories like this one, I wouldn''t hesitate to present them to you."


    Technically, I wouldn''t be a scientist as my main profession, but if I ''discovered'' things, I would continue to make money using them.


    I could certainly make a lot of money from this, given what I had at my disposal. In fact, with the theory I''ve just presented, I''ll probably make enough money to support my seven generations or so. What I''ve just presented is no small thing, they''ll even want to put my name in history. Still, no one would say no to more money, right?


    "I understand... It''s a shame, but if you change your mind, our team is always open to you, Mr. Tenebra. Your presentation has just been recorded and will go directly to the kingdom''s magicmittee for approval. Of course, given the importance of the theory, we will keep your identity anonymous, but that won''t stop you from getting your money. I don''t think the Magic Committee will be idle with such an important theory."


    "Thanks for the information, I would like to remain anonymous too. So it was very good... Thank you again for listening to me, I would like to go to my room and rest for tomorrow."


    "Sure, our employee will escort you out of the building."


    I thanked her with a slight bow of my head and then, just as she had said, an employee came to me and led me out of the lecture hall. Thus, we went back through the same corridors we hade from.


    When we finally arrived at the lobby, the employee bowed respectfully and saw me off, and I left the building smiling.


    Yes, I was going to have more money than I could ever spend in my lifetime, as long as I decided to live a normal life, but this was only the first step. Because no matter how much money I had, I had no background and I was just an ordinary extra.


    Actually, I could have solved this background problem with the offer Ms. Liara just made, but if I did that I would have had to spend all my time in thatboratory.


    As I said, I''m not really interested in theories. What I want to do... What will allow me to fully enjoy this fantasy world is to be a strong person, as the main character is, of course. Isn''t that a clich¨¦ dream? Yet this is what I really want in my heart.


    With my dreams of the future in mind, I started walking along the walkway toward my room, happy as the fresh air I breathed in with the sweet breeze of the soft wind made me feel like I was in paradise.

 Chapter 9: Volume I - 8: First Connection

    <h4>Chapter 9: Volume I - Chapter 8: First Connection</h4>


    I sighed, looking at the man with short dark blue hair sitting at the small table in the small kitchen of my small dorm room.


    Well, I expected something like this but I didn''t think he would act so quickly, only a few hours after the presentation.


    "Coffee or tea?"


    I asked as carefully as I could.


    "I''ll have tea, please add half a teaspoon of salt."


    The man said, his sharp golden eyes fixed on me. Even his taste was the same as in the game.


    "Sure."


    Without questioning him, I quickly prepared two teas. After putting salt in one of them instead of sugar, I put it in front of him and sat down opposite him.


    "Can you guess why I came here?"


    He asked me after taking a small sip of his salty tea and making a satisfied expression.


    "I mean, I''d be lying if I said no."


    Of course I knew you wereing here, after all, I''m the one who ''borrowed'' the research you were working on.


    "So you admit you stole it?"


    He continued to sip his tea, not even breaking his posture as if what he said was normal.


    "Well, rather than stealing, it would not be wrong to say that Ipleted a research that you have not evenpleted forty percent of."


    The moment these words left my mouth, the atmosphere in the kitchen became heavy and I felt a slight chill.


    So this is what they call ''pressure'' in all these fantastic worlds... I would be lying if I said I wasn''t excited.


    "Mr. Tenebra, you know I can kill you in seconds, right?"


    "Yes, I do."


    "Then where does your couragee from?"


    He was still speaking calmly, but I could feel him getting angrier and angrier.


    Well, I would feel the same way if someone stole andpleted research that I would have spent monthspleting.


    "It''s quite simple, Professor Ulka."


    I took another sip of my tea and smiled. If I was afraid of him, then he would have no pity for me. This man, whose ce in the story was quite important, was the kind of man who hated the weak. So I shouldn''t show any sign of weakness in front of him.


    "I want to make a deal with you."


    His golden yellow eyes, with the coldness of a killer, were quite frightening. Still, I looked into his eyes, trying to ignore the feeling. I knew this man''s personality well, so as long as I didn''t do anything wrong, I had nothing to fear.


    "A deal, huh? Let''s hear it."


    Yes, this man was not the type tosh out without thinking when he was angry. He thought about his every move, and if he sensed something that could harm him in the future, he would eliminate it without mercy. Right now he was analyzing which category I belonged to.


    "As I said, it''s quite simple. I will go through all the theories you are currently researching and fill in the gaps. Of course, you will always be seen as the one doing the research. I''ll just do my part and get out of the way."


    The atmosphere in the room grew heavier. I grinned involuntarily when I saw Professor Ulka''s brow furrow.


    "Don''t get me wrong, I''m not calling you stupid. My only goal is to make money and find someone to back me up. I know that you do research not just for the money, but because you really love it. I was especially watching you when I presented this theory, and at that moment you were not angry, you had no intention of killing me. You were just happy because you were so excited to learn something you didn''t know."


    The pressure on me suddenly became more intense. It was so heavy that if I let go, I could have fallen to my knees, but I smiled anyway.


    Why? Because I was weak, and if I could withstand this pressure, it meant that Professor Ulka was not too hard on me. He was just trying to intimidate me.


    "You... That was your goal all along, wasn''t it?"


    A smile appeared on Ulka''s cold expression.


    Honestly, if I saw a man like that on the street, I think I would think he was crazy and run away without even looking back, but now I had a purpose.


    "Well, I think it''s a win-win situation for both of us. Like I just said, my only goal is to make money and find someone to back me up when I need it. And all you want is to relieve your boredom by learning things you don''t know. As a result of this deal, not only will I achieve my goal, but I will be able to keep my identity a secret, leaving you with the burden of the theories, and you can enjoy what you learn."


    "If I understand correctly, you have a lot of theories to offer, don''t you? No... It''s ridiculous to even ask. Otherwise you wouldn''t havee to me with such an offer in the first ce. I''m just curious... How many of the theories you n to present are mine and how did you ess them?"


    After his question, the pressure on my shoulders was suddenly relieved and the atmosphere in the room returned to normal.


    All right... I managed to get Ulka on my side, but that doesn''t mean I''m going to tell him my secrets.


    I put the index finger of my right hand to my lip to signal silence and smiled slightly.


    "Let this remain my trade secret."


    "I can get a report on everything you''ve dely with a single letter to the kingdom, are you really that confident?"


    "You can do anything you want Professor, like I said, it''s a trade secret."


    In the end, no matter how much he investigates, he won''t find anything about me not being of this world. Well, he can look into my past, but the only thing he''ll find is that I changed strangely overnight.


    "Okay, fine. I''ll take your deal, but I have two more questions. One is how much of a cut of the research you want. And secondly, can you at least tell me the subject of one of the theories you know about? You don''t have to open it, I just want to hear the title."


    "I''m thinking of taking thirty-five percent as a share, and I think that''s fine with you. As for a theory I know..."


    I went through all the theories that have not yet been revealed to this world one by one in my mind, but I wasn''t sure which one to choose...


    I don''t want to change the course of the story by revealing something now that will be discovered muchter, but on the other hand, I mustn''t prolong the thinking too long... Otherwise, this maniac might think I''m trying to make something up, that I''m fooling him.


    "How about The Source of Mana in the Atmosphere?"


    I smiled as I said this and looked Ulka in the eyes.


    Ulka looked at me nkly, trying not to show it, but I knew he wanted to jump with excitement because this was the kind of man he was, this character was nothing more than a psychopathic maniac hungry for knowledge.


    "Can you prove it?"


    "Yes, but I need time because there are some important things I need to be sure of."


    Well... If I tell him that I know everything in a sh, he will lose interest in me after he gets the knowledge he wants. So there has to be a certain amount of time between the theories I present to him.


    And that ''time'' will be either when my money starts to hit rock bottom or when I don''t have much time left to present something new as per our agreement.


    "Haha... HAHAHA!"


    Ulka startedughing hysterically and I watched this maniacughing.


    "Well, I assume you ept my deal then?"


    When I held out my hand for him to shake, Ulka stared at my skinny hand for a while. Then he smiled madly and his golden eyes sparkled.


    At first I didn''t understand what was happening, so I panicked for a split second, but then the holographic window appeared in front of me and I realized what was happening.


    <<------------------------------


    Ulka DeLaor would like to make a mana contract with you. The terms of the contract are:


    1-) Aiden Tenebra will receive 35% of the money from the research for each theory he helps Ulka DeLaor with.


    2-) Ulka DeLaor will support Aiden Tenebra to the best of his ability for the duration of the contract.


    3-) Aiden Tenebra will be duly punished if he deceives Ulka DeLaor or fails to honor the contract.


    4-) Ulka DeLaor will be punished appropriately if he vites the contract.


    ------------------------------>>


    Well, so he wants to make a contract.


    There doesn''t seem to be anything against me in the terms, and his only purpose must be to prevent me from escaping. So I have no reason to refuse.


    I imagined epting the contract and a small amount of mana was drained from my body. Then a checkmark appeared on the holographic screen and the contract wasplete.


    "Great... Great! I look forward to your theories, Aiden!"


    Ulka got up from the table and walked toward the door of the room. He was like a little boy who had discovered a new toy. So much so that he left the dormitory without a word and I was alone in my room again.


    I let out the breath I had been holding and grinned with joy.


    Ulka was a character I liked in the game. I always liked mad scientists, but talking to him face-to-face made my blood boil. There''s really so much I can experience in this world...


    With a grin still on my face, Iy down on my bed and closed my eyes.


    I''ve taken my first steps pretty well, the money problem is solved and I''ve got a solid background that I can use when I''m in trouble. Now all I have to do is rest until tomorrow and think about what I can do about my stats, apparently...

 Chapter 10: Volume I - 9: Characters in the Game

    <h4>Chapter 10: Volume I - Chapter 9: Characters in the Game</h4>


    ~bzzt! ~bzzt! ~bzzt!


    My eyes slowly opened.


    Yawning, I got up from my bed and then, out of habit, walked over to where myputer was supposed to be. However, my eyes widened as I realized that I was in a different ce from my ''room''. Immediately afterward, I started to remember what had happened.


    Ah... That''s right, I was dead.


    When I fell asleepst night, I had a feeling that I would wake up in my old room as if nothing had happened, that everything was just a dream. So I prepared myself for that, but I''m still here.


    I''m still Aiden Tenebra and... I have to go to the academy, or rather to sses.


    I checked the clock on the wall and sighed when I saw that it was still early in the morning. I headed to the kitchen, simply cracked myself some eggs, fried them, and started eating.


    As I was eating, I was thinking.


    What should I do now? How should I take my next step?


    I opened my status window and looked at the statistics full of F''s.


    What is the best thing I can do to improve these stats?


    I thought of the main character, who, with the help of that damn old man, probably already has all his stats at D- level. Of course, he''s also gained a few skills... And if he''s got two or three masteries, he''s in for a treat.


    I thought and thought and thought. Of course, the best way to get my stats up steadily was to exercise, but I''m not the kind of guy who can swing a sword for eight hours a day. Although... when ites to magic, maybe I can because it''s quite fun, but I don''t really like physical things.


    So what am I supposed to do?


    I thought of all the main and side missions at the Academy, I tried to remember the rewards for each one, and I thought about which ones I could use and which ones I was capable of doing in my current state.


    Honestly, I had a jumbled list in my mind. I knew more or less what I could do and I was excited about it, but there was a big problem: I was really, really weak, both physically and mentally.


    If I walk into a dungeon, there''s a good chance I won''t be able to deal with even a simple goblin at best.


    Well, you shouldn''t expect too much from someone who spent his former life away from danger. There is a huge difference between fighting creatures in the game and seeing them in real life. If I don''t freeze the moment I see the goblin, that in itself is an achievement for me.


    As I took thest bite in my mouth, lost in thought, a ''beep'' sound came from my phone. So I checked the notification and then smiled involuntarily.


    <<------------------------------


    ra: Are you awake?


    ------------------------------>>


    She didn''t write good morning or anything like that...


    I think she''s a little scared of me. Well, I can''t say anything about that. If my brother, who ignored me for years, had told me that he would change in a day, I would be a little scared of him too.


    <<------------------------------


    You: Yes, I''m awake. Good morning, ra.


    ------------------------------>>


    ra didn''t write me back for a while. I think she was trying to make sure she wasn''t dreaming.


    <<------------------------------


    ra: Good morning... Your ss is about to start, hurry up!


    ------------------------------>>


    So she went offline without writing anything else. She must be having problems with how to treat me, so all I can do for now is give her time.


    After I finished eating, I walked to my wardrobe.


    There was the CDA''s elegantly designed uniform, made exclusively for freshmen studying a different course of study. I was going to wear this uniform not as an outsider ying this game, but as a student of this academy, and I was so excited that it took me a minute to getpletely ready.


    I looked at myself in the mirror in my red tie uniform with blue patterns on white fabric. I might not be very handsome, but I didn''t have a bad appearance, I was ordinary.


    After examining myself in the mirror for a long time, when the time came, I went to the dormitory corridors and then outside without waiting long.


    There were a lot of students rushing to get to ss. Unlike yesterday, the eighth floor was very active. Of course, it was also a bit chaotic outside. Everyone was in a hurry as the first sses of the day would start soon.


    I paid special attention to everyone''s faces as I walked among the students. I could remember the faces of some of the extras I had asionally encountered in the y, and I even grinned when I saw a student who, at some point in the future, was going to disrespect one of the professors by lunging at him. Everything I saw reminded me again and again that this was Lunerra.


    I kept walking toward the main building, wondering what we were going to cover in ss, but then I paused.


    Ah... I''m really stupid. I walk and walk to the main building, but what ss am I in?


    There are twenty-five sses of twenty-five students each in this year''s first-year sses and I have no idea which ss I belong to.


    As I continued walking toward the main building, I pulled out my phone and checked the apps. There was no one but ra on the messaging app. It looked like Aiden had cleaned his email before hemitted suicide.


    With a bitter smile, I continued to rummage through my phone, hoping to find something, and then... something suddenly hit me and I fell to the ground.


    My phone flew out of my hand and was thrown about two meters away from me, it didn''t hurt much, but there was a slight pain in my chest.


    What I found in front of me was a man with long chestnut hair, slumped on the floor just like me. He had a slightly thin but well-built body, he obviously exercised regrly and he was definitely taller than me.


    The boy opened his ocean-blue eyes and looked at me, and my eyes widened when I saw them.


    I knew this student, even if I had a little trouble recognizing him because his appearance had gone from animated to real in an instant. The person in front of me was named Julian. Besides... he was not someone I wanted to deal with right now.


    "Ah... I''m sorry, I wasn''t paying attention."


    I apologized quickly, but I didn''t break my posture in front of him. I didn''t look like I was apologizing out of fear, but out of respect, which was my intention. Because if I showed this boy that I was scared, then there was a chance that I would be one of his targets.


    After I apologized to him in a simple way, I smiled slightly and looked at my phone, which had flown away.


    Ah... Great, the screen is cracked.


    "Damn it, be a little more careful! My uniform is ruined!"


    Julian stormed to his feet and looked at me with hostility.


    I hope I''m not on his cklist... Seriously, I can''t deal with this guy, I''m toozy.


    "I apologize again. As I said, it''s my fault for getting distracted by my phone. How about I buy you some lunch as an apology?"


    That''s the only way I can avoid being this guy''s target. And... Even if I don''t want to deal with him now, that doesn''t mean I won''t want to deal with him in the future. Julian is an important character, so it''s in my best interest to get close to him when the timees.


    Julian paused for a moment at my offer to him. He must have been surprised that I was someone who went against his mental model of a ''weak'' person. He recovered quickly, though.


    "Okay...? Then I can forgive you."


    Julian stood up quickly and looked at the stain on his uniform, then his brow furrowed in anger. Not at me, but at himself. Because what had happened to him was in a way his own fault for not paying attention to his surroundings.


    It didn''tst long though, his eyes turned back to me and he paused.


    "Uh... You... Is your name Aiden?"


    I raised my eyebrows in curiosity when I heard my name. I wasn''t expecting this, how did he know my name?


    "Yeah...? Do I know you?"


    Julian... Could he know the former owner of this body?


    "No, we don''t know each other. I recognize your face and name from the board because we were in the same ss."


    Okay...


    Well, I really didn''t expect that, because being in the same ss as him means that I''m in the same ss as the main character.


    And I''m pretty sure there was no Aiden in his ss before.


    Maybe it''s because the old Aidenmitted suicide before the first day of the academy, but I remember well that during the first ss of the game, there were twenty-five people in the ss, so that''s not the case.


    So you''re a being that was specifically created for me toe into this world huh, Aiden... You weren''t a part of this world from the beginning like me, I''d be lying if I said I didn''t feel bad for you.


    "I see... I was pretty sick yesterday so I couldn''te to ss, but I''m fine now."


    So I''m in ss 1-C... Good, at least now I know which ss I''m going to. And being in the same ss as the main character can help me to participate directly in the main tasks of the story. In this way, I can observe which ending he is heading toward.


    Actually, that''s pretty good.


    "Anyway... You''d better remember your promise to buy me a meal."


    So Julian left me here and made his way toward the main building. I let out a short sigh and followed him at a distance.


    After about ten minutes of walking, when I finally arrived in front of ssroom 1-C, I took a deep breath and walked in as calmly as I could.


    The ssroom was a lecture hall, just like the one I had presented my theory the other day, but a slightly smaller version. Theyout of which students sat where, even the location of the trash can was just as I remembered it. It made my blood boil to see it like this, but I didn''t care too much and looked toward the left corner of the ssroom.


    I swallowed involuntarily when I saw the boy in the center-left row, quietly watching the ss from the window.


    With his silvery hair and emerald-like green eyes, his charm statistic was at least a C+. He was built like Julian, but thinner for some reason.


    The main character I yed in The Lands of Lunerra, Adrian Caleo, was breathtakingly noble, even though he looked quite expressionless.

 Chapter 11: Volume I - 10: First Class

    <h4>Chapter 11: Volume I - Chapter 10: First ss</h4>


    I took an empty seat in the ssroom and tried to calm my racing heart. I was excited to be in all these ''characters'' in my ss, including the main character himself.


    I nced at Adrian out of the corner of my eye, he was still where he was, looking out the window.


    As he was, I had no idea where he was heading, but I didn''t expect to find out right away. If I really wanted to figure out his personality, then I would have to observe him at every opportunity and analyze his every move. In order to do that, I need to be around him, in short, I need to be his buddy, but I''m not sure how to get close to him.


    Because as I said before, I don''t have the slightest idea about his personality.


    I continued to watch him for a while and slowly all the students of the ss arrived. At exactly nine o''clock in the morning, a woman in a white coat with long dark green hair and brown eyes walked in.


    Except for the fact that the ssroom was shaped like a lecture hall, the current environment was not much different from a high school.


    The first year of the academy had been given such a system in order to establish and familiarize the students with the system of practical training, which was extra in the program, and also, as I said before, to examine the students for their careers. Even the lessons weremon to the first years, but this changed as soon as they entered the second year.


    At the end of the first year, all their achievements and everything they had done in the first year would be analyzed and a list of departments would be given to them and they would choose the department of their choice from that list. After that, it was the same as in universities, except for a few differences.


    The woman moved toward the lectern, stopped when she was right in front of the digital board, and looked at the ss. Her eyes swept over each student, and when she finally came to me, she paused briefly.


    "Your name?"


    The woman who asked me my name was the history teacher of the ss. Oh, and... Unnecessary information, but if the yer chooses to use a spear in the game, she bes the main character''s practicing instructor, but that''s not important right now.


    Because this professor, as well as being a history professor, is unfortunately the teacher who specifically analyzes our ss. I mean, she knows that I didn''te to ss yesterday, and of course, she knows my name too. But I think she''s trying to show her superiority by aggravating the atmosphere.


    "Aiden Tenebra."


    I said my name calmly and then the professor looked me in the eyes with a frown.


    What? Did you expect me to tremble or something? I may be speaking from the inside, but I''ve spent my whole school life with teachers and professors like you trying to bully me.


    "Why didn''t you attend ss yesterday?"


    She sounded authoritative, but I didn''t care too much.


    "I had a minor illness and unfortunately I couldn''t get out of bed. I''m fine now and I''ll make sure to attend the uing sses."


    I spoke respectfully because I didn''t want to get on bad terms with this professor.


    The professor looked at me for a while, then sighed a little and decided that it was pointless to bother me any further, so she turned toward the ss and began to speak.


    "Yes! Yesterday we started with the founding of the kingdom, didn''t we?"


    The professor clicked on the digital whiteboard to go into his own history, and after looking at thest thing she had drawn in this ss, she started teaching from where she had left off.


    To be honest, I was really focused on her at the beginning of the lecture, I tried, but it didn''t take long for my interest in the lecture to wane.


    It''s not because I don''t like history, on the contrary, I particrly like the history of Lunerra, but the problem is that as a maniac who loves this game, I have already memorized its entire history.


    The kingdom I live in now is called the Cevilian Kingdom. It''s actually a very developed kingdom, but it doesn''t have an extremely old history. It''s almost a hundred and fifty years old and the sixth king of the kingdom is currently on the throne.


    As to how a hundred-and-fifty-year-old kingdom can be so advanced... Actually, it''s because the sessive kings have done a really good job of governing.


    The wars they fought, the trade rtions they established with other kingdoms, and other things like that, I wouldn''t be lying if I said that the hundred-and-fifty-year-old kingdom has been living in a golden age for almost a hundred and thirty years.


    "As a result-"


    I was busy ying with my pencil when the professor suddenly stopped talking, so I absentmindedly kept doing that, but then I looked up, realizing that it was strangely quiet. That''s when I met the professor''s sharp eyes.


    How wonderful...


    "Please pay more attention in ss."


    I received a simple warning and then the professor went on. So I pretended to listen to the lecture and started thinking about more important things.


    For example, how should I approach Adrian?


    I looked at him out of the corner of my eye again, as I did when I first entered the ssroom, and I saw that he was listening to the professor with great concentration.


    So he''s a studious student... And even though his face is still expressionless, he seems to be interested in history, so I can start a conversation by talking to him about it.


    "Aiden Tenebra."


    I sighed as the voice echoed through the ssroom.


    I had only looked at Adrian for five seconds, if you had waited two more seconds I would have turned back to you, you know?


    "You look bored, how likely is it that you already know what I''m talking about?"


    You hit the nail on the head, professor. I don''t know if you will like my answer, but there is a good chance that I know more about your major, history, than you do...


    "I love history, professor, so I know the first ny years of the kingdom by heart."


    It would be an exaggeration to say that I knew the entire history of the kingdom, so I lowered the upper limit to ny years, which shouldn''t be too strange considering that old Aiden was already a smart guy.


    "Who ascended the throne in the eighty-sixth year of the kingdom?"


    So you''re testing me... No problem, I''m good with that.


    "Phloria Estelle Cevilian was the first woman to rule the kingdom in its entirety, surpassing all other princes of her time in every way. She ruled the kingdom for about twenty-six years, during which time she avoided wars and pursued a policy centered on trade."


    "How many children did she have and which son died at what age as a result of a fight for the throne?"


    "She had a daughter and two sons. Of the two sons who began to fight for the throne on his sickbed, Prince Henry died at the age of fifteen, poisoned at a dinner party by his younger brother."


    The professor frowned, not expecting me to know this.


    "If you know my next question, I''ll let you do whatever you want in my sses."


    Oh, that''s a very good offer.


    "What is the real cause of the explosion on the east coast twenty years ago?"


    So it''s a trick question...


    "Although at first it was seen as the crown prince who was branded guilty of treason, heter admitted that it was the kingdom we were at war with at the time that forced him to do it."


    A smile appeared on the professor''s face. She was about to say something, but I didn''t let her speak and continued.


    "Of course, this is information that everyone has learned the wrong way. Because the truth is that the other pretender to the throne, jealous of the crown prince, bound him to a contract and made it look like treason."


    After what I said, the professor''s mouth dropped open. Because I had told her that I knew the first ny years by heart, but I had answered a question from the one hundred and thirtieth year correctly. Of course, this was not the main reason for her astonishment.


    The real reason she was surprised was that unless this was really investigated, there was a ny percent chance that I had gotten it wrong the way I first said it.


    And how did I know that? Well, I wasn''t lying when I said I knew ''everything'' in the game by heart. The future aside, the past is also among the things I know quite well.


    After my answer, the professor was silent for a while. The students in my ss understood from the awkward silence that I had done something unexpected and I was now clearly the center of attention.


    I actually feel strangely satisfied... I didn''t realize it until now, but I might be a bit egotistical.


    When the professor looked into my eyes and realized that I was calm, she wobbled a little at first, but then she quickly recovered and kept her word, telling me that I could do whatever I wanted as long as I didn''t interrupt the ss. I, of course, dly epted this.


    As the professor''s voice continued to echo through the ssroom, I put my head down on the desk and tried to put things in order, but unfortunately, I didn''t have the chance to think for a long time. Because only three minutes after the Q&A with the professor, the ss was over and we were on break.


    Still, it wasn''t the break that really interrupted me.


    "Excuse me."


    I paused at the sound of his voice, and my heart started to race.


    I was excited because I knew that voice well.


    I looked up at the person who had called out, only to find a pair of emerald-like green eyes staring directly at me.


    His silver hair fluttered in the breeze blowing through the open window, giving him a more noble air than usual.


    The person in front of me was Adrian Caleo, the main character I controlled in the Lands of Lunerra.


    He was someone I connected with more than people in real life, perhaps.


    No... he was.


    He was who I wanted to be, who I pretended to be in the game, who I projected the ''me'' I couldn''t be in real life, and who I was with in everything I experienced in the Land of Lunerra.


    Whether it was a lie or not, whether he knew it or not... I had spent thest three yearspletely adventuring with him.


    Adrian Caleo was the one person in my life that I really envied. That''s why seeing him in the flesh like this left me at a loss for words.


    *(A/N: For the next three days, I will post two chapters every day. Then only one chapter every day until the first volume is finished. I''m not sure about the hours, I''ll think about it.)*

 Chapter 12: Volume I - 11: Second to Last

    <h4>Chapter 12: Volume I - Chapter 11: Second to Last</h4>


    I tried to pull myself together, I tried not to let my heart fall victim to the excitement, because if I wanted to know what kind of path Adrian was on, I would have to be friends with him sooner orter.


    Adrian... He was someone who really helped me a lot in my old life, just as a character in a game, yes, but there was also something I had to remember.


    The past is the past, and the Adrian standing in front of me now is someone I don''t know.


    So I shouldn''t act like an idiot, I shouldn''t get excited, I should treat this person who helped me more than anyone I''ve ever met in my life, even though he was just a game character I envied, as the person I finally decided to change into.


    "Yes?"


    I didn''t stutter... Nice, a good step.


    "You know history pretty well, don''t you?"


    With that, I hesitated for a moment.


    I just said I shouldn''t look like an idiot, but...


    History? What about history? Why did youe to me for that?


    I don''t understand...


    "Yes, I like history."


    I formed a slight smile on my face, trying to give him a good first impression, even if I didn''t understand exactly what it was.


    "So have you ever heard of anything or anyone important called ''Lithoa''?"


    When I heard the wordsing out of his mouth, everything suddenly clicked into ce.


    So this is what he was curious about. He wants to know the true identity of the old man inside him... Right, that annoying geezer should be with him right now.


    So I put my hand to my chin and started thinking, how can I give him an answer?


    I paused for a moment as I continued to think.


    Aha, I found it.


    An involuntary grin appeared on my face.


    Let''s tease Lithoa a bit.


    "Oh, yes. I know a geezer who goes by that name."


    Adrian''s eyes widened as I said this, and then he suddenly grabbed his head as if he had a headache. Lithoa must have screamed inside his head or something.


    "Sorry... A little headache... Anyway, are you sure this Lithoa is a geezer?"


    I mean, he may sound and look like a man in his forties, but he''s actually a hundred and sixty years old. That''s why I call him a geezer.


    He was almost in his eighties when the awakening happened, and then through clearing a dungeon, he gained a unique skill and became sort of immortal. Only to live about sixty more years and die tragically.


    Well, I''d say he got what he deserved. With a personality like that, he''s not worthy of my respect or love. Besides, it makes me feel good to call him a geezer, and given hisck of real-life influence, there''s nothing stopping me from talking about him behind his back.


    "Yes, I''m sure. This old man begged a king for a ridiculous item about thirty years ago, and then the king banished him to a dungeon. That''s all I know."


    Of course, this is not the cause of Lithoa''s death. It''s just one of the things he''s been through in his life, but I''m sure that proud bastard would have gone mad by just remembering it.


    And that''s what happened, Adrian held his head again after my words.


    Actually... I thought I could take out all the anger I couldn''t take out while ying the game.


    To think of that old man screaming his head off... It feels really great.


    Adrian... I''m sorry for the headaches you''re gonna get.


    "I see... That''s enough information, sorry to bother you."


    Adrian turned around and sat back in his own chair and buried his head directly in his arms and waited. He even trembled a few times, I could imagine that old man in his head looking at me and making threats.


    It was really an amazing feeling.


    *******


    After talking to Adrian, we continued with the lectures throughout the day.


    In some of the lectures, I was bored because I was being told things I already knew, but not everyone was as understanding as the history professor. So I pretended to focus on the lectures and thus, when we finished ourst lecture, our history professor entered the ssroom again. She gave us all a quick look, then looked at the door and told the janitors who were waiting outside toe in.


    When the janitors brought some boxes into the ssroom, I remembered what had happened: we were going to be given some special equipment.


    "Come to me on a first-name basis! First Adrian Caleo."


    The list in his hand was alphabetical, so at the professor''s call, Adrian stood up and walked over to the boxes.


    The professor opened one of the boxes and took out a watch, a name badge, and a tablet, then entered some numbers into them. Then Adrian''s name and arge number ''#1'' appeared on the name badge.


    "Adrian Caleo, you were ranked first out of all the freshmen."


    Suddenly a deep silence fell over the ssroom. Each of the students looked like a rabbit in headlights when they heard that Adrian was ranked first.


    I wasn''t too surprised, as I had already guessed that he would be at least in the top ten. Still, it''s not really a simple thing to be ranked first... Adrian must have practiced well beforeing to the academy.


    "It would be best for you to wear this watch on your wrist as long as you are in the academy. Once you''ve transferred the data from your phone, you can do everything you can do with your watch. Apart from the watch, we will use the tablet instead of books in ss and as long as you don''t damage it, you can still use it for personal things. Also, do not take this name badge off under any circumstances. It''s a rule of the academy, so make sure you follow it."


    "Got it. Thank you, professor."


    Adrian put the watch on his wrist, pinned his name badge to his uniform, and then returned to his seat, tablet in hand.


    Unlike before, the whole ss was now paying attention to him. Well, it must have been strange for them to have a first-ranked student in their ss.


    "Aiden Tenebra!"


    When the professor called my name, I sighed slightly so that no one would notice. As an extra, I came right after the main character... It was an interesting coincidence.


    I walked slowly and calmly to the professor, then stood in front of her, just like Adrian had done, and looked her in the eyes.


    "Aiden Tenebra..."


    She sounded disappointed for some reason... Is there a problem I wonder?


    "You were ranked six hundred and twenty-fourth out of all the freshmen."


    To be honest, I was genuinely surprised, so much so that if I were alone, I would have a huge grin on my face, but the reason I wanted tough was not because of my tragic result. It was more about the stats I had and the fact that with this body that had hardly ever exercised, it was funny to think that there could be someone worse than me.


    It''s not easy to increase statistics in this world. I''m not just saying that, once you get to D- grade, it''s really hard to go further. Because the limits of the human body, which is already quite developedpared to normal because of the mana that can be essed, start to be exceeded at this level.


    But even so, the road up to grade D is not too troublesome. Of course, it''s not easy. If a person doesn''t make an effort to get stronger, he or she will stay where he or she is. Still, the path from F- grade to D- grade is easier than the higher levels.


    For example, in a world where most people, with very rare exceptions, can gain ess to the system after the age of seventeen and start to be stronger for real, characters like Adrian and Julian, who are only eighteen, have already reached around E+ grade and are even about to go beyond.


    "The same thing I just said applies to you."


    "Got it, thanks."


    I put the watch on my right wrist and took a look at my name badge.


    <<------------------------------


    Aiden Tenebra


    #624


    1-C


    ------------------------------>>


    After attaching the card to my uniform, I picked up the tablet and walked toward my seat, but in the process, I felt something strange. Curious, I looked up and looked around, and it didn''t take me long to realize what was going on.


    My dear ssmates were looking at me with very ''nice'' expressions.


    I think I''ve already be the target of some troublesome people... I don''t care in the slightest what my ranking is, but this could be a bit of a problem.


    *******


    After I took my seat, the distribution of the devices continued, but there were only two people that the ss in general kept an eye on. One of them was Adrian, who was the target of many different emotions, especially jealousy as he was naturally in the first ce, and the other was unfortunately me for the opposite reasons.


    Still, I wasn''t really bothered, I didn''t care.


    "Everyone got their stuff, right?"


    Even though the list was finished, the professor checked everyone onest time and then told the staff to take the boxes back.


    "Okay! That''s all your theory lessons for today, so now go to the changing rooms to change and put on your training clothes. I will apany you as your guidance counselor, but once you have found your most suitable trainer, you will have nothing to do with me."


    With that, the professor led the entire ss in a straight line to the locker rooms.


    Along the corridors, I could see students gathering from other sses. Some I recognized, some I couldn''t quite remember, and many more, but as I kept moving forward I inevitably paused.


    My eyes widened as I saw a figure.


    I imagined all the two-dimensional games I''d yed, all the animated movies and anime I''d watched, and more, all of them with carefully drawn characters, almost none of them ugly.


    That''s exactly why after a while I had seen so many of them that no matter how handsome or beautiful a character was drawn, it started to seem normal to me. This was true even in real life.


    Well, I just disproved my own theory.


    Because this world, whose graphics are no longer limited to animations and certain lines, especially with the effect of the ''charm'' statistic, was showing me a view that I will never forget in my life in a way I never imagined.


    Golden blonde hair of average length for a girl, blood red eyes that almost seemed to glow, perfectly smooth skin, and wless features.


    From what I saw when I yed the game, this character was absolutely beautiful, I never denied that, but I never imagined that Lucia Quie could look like this in this world that had be reality...

 Chapter 13: Volume I - 12: Weapon Selection

    <h4>Chapter 13: Volume I - Chapter 12: Weapon Selection</h4>


    I could feel my impulses slowly stirring as a man while looking at Lucia.


    Is that how people... feel when they fall in love?


    No... What I feel is not love.


    I''ve never been in love, but this feels more like... I''ve been seduced. As I recall, Lucia''s charm statistic was something like an A+ from the beginning of the story.


    After barely taking my eyes off her, I looked around to confirm my thoughts, and yes... just like me, all the men who saw her in the hallway were falling over.


    I took a deep breath in and out as I kept walking.


    Calm down Aiden, calm down... You''re not the type to sumb to the charm statistic. You''ve spent twenty-one years of your life as a virgin, you can''t fall for a simple statistic...


    So, after about two minutes of walking, we arrived at the locker room area and were separated into girls and boys.


    Satisfied that Lucia was finally out of my sight, I started looking for the locker with my name on it. Shortly afterward, I used my fingerprint to open the locker containing my training suit, which was specially designed for my body size. I put my tablet in, changed, and went out again.


    Even though I was greeted with sarcastic nces everywhere I passed because of the number ''#624'' on my name badge, I walked to where my ss was lined up and waited for everyone to assemble after mingling with them.


    While I was waiting, I kept looking around to see if I could find anyone else I recognized, but then my eyes fell on that blonde hair again...


    So I set myself a priority, I have to find something to protect my mind as fast as possible.


    "Attention!"


    I quickly turned around and stood at attention as the voice of our history professor entered my ears. The professor nced at all of us, along with my ssmates who were doing the same.


    "Follow me!"


    Without saying anything else, she turned around and led us to an open area.


    This was where I could find almost every kind of weapon, as well as where we would choose our main weapon.


    I quickly looked for Adrian before looking for something for myself and saw him standing in front of a spear.


    I think he''s hesitating a bit. But with the look in his eyes, I''m pretty sure he''s going to pick it.


    If Adrian chooses the spear, the history professor will take him as her student when he shows his skills. So, now let''s think... What is the best weapon I can choose against the spear?


    I thought about the only mastery I see in my statistics window.


    Even if it''s level F, at least I have a swordsmanship mastery. So starting with that gives me an advantage. If I pick up another weapon, it will take me longer to get used to it than a sword...


    I mean... I might be a bit of a sword man, but... I mean swords, swords! What man would say no to a sword?


    So I quickly came to where the swords were.


    There were so many different swords in front of me, varying in length, width, and sharpness that I had no idea which one to choose.


    When I noticed that people around me were choosing their weapons quickly, I decided that I had to make a quick decision, so I picked out a in and ordinary-looking sword and simply swung it.


    My mastery must have been activated because I felt a strange affinity with the sword as I swung it. Even though this connection between me and the sword was too insignificant to be taken seriously, I definitely liked it.


    "1-C! Gather around me! Come on!"


    With the voice I heard, I quickly headed toward the sound with the sword I had chosen.


    When the professor saw me, she took a quick nce at the sword I was holding and then continued speaking, again pretending not to care about me.


    "Divide into groups ording to the weapons you have chosen."


    We dispersed as she said and after a while, everyone was in their ce.


    I looked at the people standing next to me, but then I locked eyes with Julian, whom I had bumped into this morning when I was trying to figure out which ss I was supposed to go to. I thought I had given him a good impression in our short dialog, but... His eyes were now almost filled with disgust, not looking at me, but at my name badge.


    Great...


    "Good! Now, the spear group should follow me. The other groups wait, a professor wille to get you in a moment."


    And so the professor moved off, dragging Adrian and all those who had chosen spears behind her, toward the arena in the far corner of the clearing.


    We in the sword group, on the other hand, had been waiting for about four minutes when I heard someone calling out to us.


    "Sword group 1-C, follow me."


    When I looked at the professor, almost a hundred and ny centimeters tall, with short ck hair and eyes as ck as his hair, an involuntary smile appeared on my face.


    In fact, this man is one of the reasons I chose the sword in the first ce. Needless to say, swords are my favorite weapon in the game, and this man, whose private student we can be while ying the game, is one of my favorite characters. The way he moves, the way he thinks, the tragic backstory, the secrets he hides... This guy was a character I really liked.


    The professor led us into an empty arena. Here we met with people from other sses who had chosen swords as their main weapon, and then he dispersed us around the perimeter of the arena and took a brief look at all of us in the space in the center.


    He must have been trying to pick out some people he didn''t recognize as we were a mix of all the first years.


    "Okay! Now you guys are going to have a duel with me and all the sword instructors sitting in the audience will watch us. Then they will put you in a line ording to their wishes and you will be assigned a special instructor ording to your ranks. So you better give it your all in the duel so I don''t kick your ass!"


    It was quite a vulgarnguage, considering the people in this academy, but I particrly liked it, because everyone on this campus was particrly respectful to the people they met. The first time I yed the game, when I first encountered this man whocked simplemon sense, it was enough to make me smile that no matter who he was in front of, he never dropped his smile and continued to make jokes, even if they were disgusting.


    Of course, the fact that he was a highly skilled sword instructor on top of that was definitely worth the effort to be his student when I yed the game as Adrian.


    "We will start ording to your overall ranking. Now, first... third ce, Lucia Quie!"


    My heart skipped a beat when I saw the blonde-haired beauty emerging from the crowd.


    Damn... I had forgotten that she also wielded a sword.


    All the men looked at her with great interest, creating a strange atmosphere, but Lucia ignored them and stood in front of the professor. With her sword in her hand, a person could be so beautiful even in a training outfit...


    Oh, damn it! Stop thinking about it, you have more important things to do.


    "Do your best, youngdy."


    At the professor''s words, Lucia took a deep breath and pointed her sword at him. The two looked at each other for a brief moment, it wasn''t long before the first move was made.


    Lucia, not caring that she was up against a professor, made the first attack with a speed that my eyes could hardly follow.


    When the metallic sound of the sh of swordsbined with their harmonic movements, I had the feeling that they were performing a strange but beautiful dance. Yet I did not watch them idly, I studied their every move, I memorized every detail of their duel.


    For almost two minutes they kept exchanging attacks without waiting for a second, at a speed that made it difficult for my eyes to follow them.


    Actually, they weren''t extremely fast, but since I didn''t know much about swords in the ''real'' sense, it was difficult for me to read their movements. So I couldn''t really understand what was happening, it was all happening so suddenly for me.


    Of course, this duel didn''tst forever. Just at the end of the second minute, Lucia''s movements started to slow down.


    Soon the professor suddenly stopped attacking. Lucia copsed in a sweat. It was adrenaline that had kept her going during the fight, but now that it had been cut off, she looked really tired.


    The professor helped Lucia up and congratted her, followed by a small round of apuse from the instructors watching the duel.


    Lucia didn''t seem to be very satisfied, even though she had continued to make equal exchanges with the professor for almost three minutes.


    Just like in the game, she was striving for the best of everything.


    "You''ve done very well Lucia, you can rest as long as you don''t stray too far from the area."


    Lucia disappeared into the crowd with a bad look on her face. Everyone was still staring at her, but Lucia didn''t seem to care. So after she disappeared from sight, the professor continued to call the students in turn.


    Among the swordsmen, there were only three who caught my attention. They were, in no particr order, Julian Virhen, Lucia Quie, and Celine Potenbea.


    Apart from Julian and Lucia, this was the first time I had seen Celine since I came to this world. Although she didn''t stand out as much as Lucia, she was certainly the center of attention for many, both because of her family''s reputation and the sharpness of her sword.


    Her hair was a dark shade of brown and only reached down to her shoulders. In addition to her hair, her violet amethyst eyes with their sharp gaze were undeniably pleasing to the eye, even if they could notpare to Lucia''s.


    "Six hundred and twenty-fourth ce, Aiden Tenebra!"


    It was the professor''s call to me that snapped me out of my reverie.


    Hearing my rank, the students looked at me with disdain, but I ignored them and faced the professor.


    "I won''t be too hard on you, buddy, but you better watch out."


    Instead of answering him, I nodded silently, narrowed my eyes, and focused on him without even taking my stance.


    For most of the people in the area, my current behavior was a sign that I didn''t care much since I had already lost the match.


    "Aren''t you going to take your stance?"


    The professor looked at me with a frown, he must have thought I wasn''t taking him seriously. The reality was very... different.


    I''m sorry, professor. I... I don''t know how to take a stance.


    "Don''t misunderstand, professor, let''s just start the duel."


    At first, he hesitated a little at what I said. Then a smile appeared on his face, I think I provoked him...


    Neither the professor nor I lifted a finger while the students were betting on each other on how many seconds the duel wouldst.


    Don''t worry... I''ll give you all your remarks back in a moment.


    I said... I said that, but immediately after that, the strange tension between me and the professor made my heart beat like crazy.


    I started to sweat, it felt like a heavy weight was on my shoulders and the only sound was the howling of the wind, making it difficult to focus on the professor.


    My eyes focused on the professor''s posture, primarily his feet, but unfortunately the calmness between the professor and me did notst long.


    The professor must have realized that I was not going to attack, because he attacked me as if he was shouting at me to "know your ce!" because of what I had just done. I couldn''t even see him, and yet the only thing I did was to take a slight step to the right and step aside.


    Following a vertical and straight line, the sword swung down to where I had just been standing, sliced through the air, and then the professor''s face turned nk.


    The crowd around us, including the instructors who had been watching us from afar, suddenly fell silent.


    "Holy shit! Look at this guy''s luck!"


    I heard someone in the crowd attributing what I had done to luck, but I didn''t pay attention, because the professor had quickly recovered and was on the move again, attacking me again.


    And this time his attack was a horizontal swing that would not allow me to dodge easily, but I managed to avoid his attack with two steps backward before he even made a move.


    As I dodged the sword a second time, the whole arena fell silent again.


    I sighed slightly when I saw the shock on the professor''s face. The swing was almost as hard and sharp as his attacks during the duel with Lucia, but Ipletely ignored it and spoke coldly, as if this was a child''s game.


    "Professor, what was that attack? Do you underestimate me?"


    I said, all the while trying to hide the sweat running down my forehead and the trembling of my whole body...

 Chapter 14: Volume I - 13: The Bet

    <h4>Chapter 14: Volume I - Chapter 13: The Bet</h4>


    "Professor, what was that attack? Do you underestimate me?"


    My cold words caused everyone''s already open mouths to drop even more. The professor''s expression of confusion suddenly gave way to a broad smile as he heard what I just said.


    Things are going to get difficult now...


    "Ahahah..."


    The professorughed and straightened his posture, more rxed as if we weren''t dueling, but I knew it was because he was taking me more seriously.


    "You... Did you hide your power?"


    Well, no... I just triggered a secret event that I knew everything about.


    "No professor, all my experience and statistics are what the report says."


    The professor frowned, but unfortunately, I was telling the truth.


    Well, it hurts me too, but there is nothing I can do about my statistics ''for now''.


    After myst words neither of us spoke. A silence fell over the arena, all eyes were focused on the two of us, eagerly waiting for what was about to happen next.


    The professor closed his eyes and rxed all his muscles. Normally someone would have taken this opportunity to pounce on him, but I wasn''t stupid enough to do it, especially against ''him''.


    "Why doesn''t he attack?"


    I started to receive criticism for still standing still, but I ignored them again because if I remember correctly, the professor was going to move exactly three seconds after that sentence was uttered.


    One second before his attack, I slowly stepped to the side and then the professor disappeared and appeared next to me.


    Of course, this time he was not surprised by what I had done and turned around and attacked me again, but nevertheless, I ducked quickly and then swung my sword at him in an extremely simple way.


    There was nothing special about my swing. It wasn''t very fast, it wasn''t very strong, and I didn''t seem to have activated any skills. But I swung my sword at such a moment that there was a huge opening in the center of the professor''s abdomen that I could have used.


    Of course, even if my timing was perfect, he was no simple man. Even if he limited himself for us, he was still a professor and a powerful one at that. That''s why he was able to dodge my attack by retreating.


    "You always move a second before I move."


    Oh? So you noticed, that''s a pity... I guess I won''t be able to keep this up for as long as I intended.


    "You''ve watched all the duels, haven''t you? You dodge all my attacks by guessing every inch of my stance."


    It is true that I have watched the duels and your movements, but you are so fast that it is impossible for me to analyze you at my current level.


    I have yed this game for six thousand hundred and thirty-two hours and I am the only person in the world who has finished the game with one hundred percent achievements. I have done every mission in the game, including all the secret missions and events that no one will ever hear of unless thirty-three or so different conditions are met at the same time.


    When fighting a boss in The Lands of The Lunerra, you can analyze its movements to determine its attack pattern. Of course, this attack pattern is randomized each time, so it''s not enough to just memorize it.


    You also need to watch every graphic pixel of the boss and know how its body moves before each attack. I, having fought this professor in this way almost eighty times because of a secret event with very good rewards, know literally ''everything'' about him.


    I mean, I know him well enough to know his little habits before each attack, how his mindset works, and what move he will make in which situation.


    For example, when he is going to make a vertical attack, he throws his left foot back slightly and moves his sword to the left by two to three centimeters. When he is going to make a horizontal or diagonal attack, he squints his eyes and tries to find the best angle, and positions his body in that direction, even if it is a split-second movement.


    "Ahahah! There really are monsters in the academy this year. It''s a shame that your stats are so low..."


    The professor squinted at me slightly.


    Ah... No, why are you looking at me like you pity me? I didn''t ask for my statistics to be like this, okay?


    "All power has a price, professor."


    At my words, the professor paused. His eyes widened and he looked pensive. The reason for this was quite simple. Because in the first ce, he was someone who had gained power at a cost.


    "I liked your attitude, young man."


    He murmured, then took a deep breath and looked coldly into my eyes.


    "Let''s see if you can analyze this too. If you can survive my next attacks unscathed, I will personally take you as my personal pupil."


    There! I had been waiting for this from the very beginning.


    "You better not go back on your word."


    I spoke confidently and answered his cold eyes with my calm.


    The professor threw his right foot back. He crossed his sword with both hands, positioned it facing the sky, and then took a deep breath.


    The atmosphere suddenly became heavy, the professor''s image became strangely blurred, and then the whole world went ck.


    The moment my world went ck, the first thing I did was a quick roll to the left. I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder as a gust of wind blew past me, but I knew he wouldn''t stop there.


    As soon as I rolled over, the world lit up again and I saw blood oozing from my shoulder, and I knew what had happened.


    I can remember every attack the professor will do from the event in the game, but my body can''t work at the same speed as my mind, which has memorized these moves. In short, I know how to dodge the attack, but the professor is so fast that I can''t keep up with him.


    Of course, while I was thinking this, time continued to pass and I found the professor standing right next to me. Then a sword was aimed directly at my chest.


    A slight step to the right...


    The sword left a deep scratch on my left arm.


    A little bit back...


    If I had been a millisecondte, the sword would have cut a deep gash in my chest, but I got away with a scratch.


    A kick from the ground followed by a horizontal attack...


    The soles of my shoes opened from the sudden attack, and when Inded again I couldn''t help feeling awkward because of the slight height difference.


    My muscles ached and blood oozed down my body from the countless scratches I had received. On top of that, I was sweating profusely and a sharp pain, which I could feel especially in my feet, spread throughout my body. Yet, I was still able to dodge the attacks by the skin of my teeth.


    All my focus was on the duel, I didn''t care about anything around me. Every scene I saw in the game, every moment I fought this person, spun in my mind. I had stopped thinking, thinking would slow me down, so I let my instincts and reflexes take over.


    Just as I expected, the order of the professor''s attack was exactly the same as I remembered. So I gritted my teeth and tried to ignore the pain.


    In this way, I avoided about thirteen attacks without sustaining any serious injuries, even though I received countless scratches. Then we finally came to the end of the show.


    After dodging the attack that left a diagonal scratch on my chest almost fifteen centimeters long, I gritted my teeth again and just let my sword float in the air so that the professor''s eyes suddenly focused on my sword floating in the air.


    Taking advantage of this opening, even if it was only a split second, I grasped the sword pointed at me with my hands.


    The sharp edge of the sword burned my palms as I gripped it tightly. I was trying hard not to copse and faint from the pain, but if I gave up here, all the pain I had endured so far would be for nothing.


    I didn''t want to take my first steps in this world and fall t on my face, so I tried my best, even though I was scared. Even though I hated the pain, I held on.


    I quickly used the Mana Boost skill I had learnedst time. The mana in my body was absorbed by my muscles and I was suddenly filled with power.


    The sword I grasped in my hands was pressed downward with instantaneous force, and the tip of the professor''s sword, whose fingers had been loosened by his earlier attack, made contact with the ground. I quickly put my foot on the sword and put all my weight on it.


    The professor looked at me in shock, then in one swift movement, he tried to punch me and seeded. The punchnded so hard on my face that I felt my teeth chattering, and my vision blurred, but I held on. The professor tried to throw another punch, but this time I was prepared. After dodging it by pulling my head a little to the side, I grabbed him by the cor, and with all my strength I smashed my head against his.


    The instructors watching jumped to their feet in surprise. The disdainful nces of the crowd surrounding us were reced by shock.


    Of course, even with my F grade stats and Mana Boost, all I managed to do was make the professor take a slight step back, but even that was too much.


    I let go of the professor''s cor and stepped back, the pain of all the wounds I''d received increasing exponentially as the adrenaline and the effect of the skill I''d just used slowly began to wear off. Despite this, I had a dirty grin on my face.


    It was fun. Being the main target of the stares of the people around me, seeing their shocked expressions... even feeling them.


    What happened? I thought you were betting on how many seconds it would take me to lose.


    Are you all speechless now?


    "I assume I won the bet... Professor?"


    The professor continued to look at me as if he hadn''t heard what I said.


    Well... I didn''t expect him to be so shocked, what should I do?


    "Y- yes... You won..."


    I guess I hurt him mentally, even if what just happened didn''t have a physical effect on him...


    Well, I''m sorry...?

 Chapter 15: Volume I - 14: Frightening Future

    <h4>Chapter 15: Volume I - Chapter 14: Frightening Future</h4>


    "Healers! What are you waiting for? Go help that boy!"


    A man''s heavy voice cut through the silence from where the trainers were watching us. With that, my vision, which had continued to blur, began to darken, and I spat bloody spit on the ground when I realized that one of my teeth had moved. The tooth came out of my mouth, followed by thick blood that filled my mouth with a metallic taste.


    I tried to sustain myself a little with mana and to be honest, I couldn''t say it didn''t work.


    When the healers came to me and sat me down on the floor, I took a deep breath and tried to keep myself calm, so the healers looked at my palms, then at the cuts that covered my whole body and began to heal me using a skill.


    My blood boiled as I saw my wounds closing quickly with green light enveloping my body. As my vision improved slightly and the wound in my mouth slowly closed, I couldn''t help admiring it.


    Magic really is a beautiful thing...


    "Professor, are you okay?"


    One of the healers asked the professor this question as he continued to heal my body.


    The professor looked at the healer and then back at me, fixing his gaze on me for a while. Then he took a deep breath, tried to calm himself, and turned toward the crowd.


    Wee back to the world, professor...


    "The test is over! The list of instructors who are willing to tutor you will be sent to your tablet and watch via the academy''s app in about half an hour. The names of instructors who have already filled the student quota will be in red, so you''d better choose quickly. That''s all for today, dismissed!"


    His authoritative voice at the beginning of the duel now sounded a little shaken. I think I need to give him some time... I apologize again, professor.


    The professor picked up his sword again and disappeared into the crowd. Some of the students began to disperse, while others stood where they were, staring at me.


    I nced at the crowd and was satisfied to see that the students'' looks of contempt had now turned to jealousy and slight fear.


    So I paused, and my eyes met two blood-red ones.


    Lucia and I locked eyes and I immediately began to sweat.


    There was no fear, no jealousy, no disdain on her face. The only thing I could infer from that expression was pure respect, and when I realized that, my heart skipped a beat.


    I restrained myself as much as I could and tried not to disturb my posture or my gaze.


    You are not someone to fall for a simple statistic! Lucia may be beautiful, she may be the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life, but that''s it!


    I tore my eyes away from her and focused on the healers, and the moment I did, the healers stopped healing me. One of them handed me a bottle and spoke with a sigh.


    "Drink this before you go to sleep at night. Your tooth will grow back and your wounds will get better. Your muscles will ache for a while, it will be rude, but you have seriously fucked up your body."


    I didn''t know whether to feel sorry or d that the healer was honest.


    "Go to your room and rest, you''ll be fine tomorrow after you take the medicine."


    I nodded and tried to stand up, but I stumbled.


    Ah... I''ll be able to walk, right? I hope I''m not crippled...


    When a healer offered his hand to help me, I dly epted it and finally managed to stand up.


    My legs hurt a bit, but I feel like I can walk. And all my superficial wounds have closed up without any problems. The healers did a really good job.


    "Thank you."


    I bowed slightly to the healers and thanked them sincerely, then took a quick look around.


    Unfortunately, Lucia was gone...


    Why am I looking for her, though? I have to get close to her when the timees because she''s an important character, but now I feel like a pervert.


    When I was ying the game, I didn''t think the charm statistic was very important, but now, aftering to this world, I''m slowly changing my mind.


    I really need something to solve this issue...


    Opening my stats window, I looked at my E- grade charm again and couldn''t help but sigh.


    Luck and charm were the hardest stats to increase in the game. Because neither of them is a thing that can be increased through hard work, they are both heavily influenced by gics and therefore difficult to improve.


    I guess my charm would be E+ at most unless I use something special. I started to get really jealous of Lucia.


    With these thoughts in mind, I started walking toward the dressing room and then took a deep breath.


    Who cares about charm? As long as I''m the strongest, people will squirm to stand next to me anyway. Yes... charm is pointless, it''s pointless...


    ~beep!


    I was startled by a sudden sound on my right wrist, and then I saw the screen of the watch I had been given glowing.


    <<------------------------------


    List of people who want to be your instructor, in order of their ranking:


    1-) Calvin dio - Click here for details.


    ------------------------------>>


    I guess no one else but the professor chose me because of our bet, anyway... I was aiming for the professor from the beginning, but I will look at these ''details''.


    <<------------------------------


    Name: Calvin


    Last Name: dio


    Age: 27


    General Level: C+


    Main Major (Rank): Sword Instructor (#7)


    The eldest son of the dio family, famous for their sword techniques. Even though he is despised by his family for being stuck at C+ overall, his skills as an instructor cannot be overlooked. The students he tutors are all good academy graduates, which proves his worth. He only takes a maximum of two students per year, so you can consider yourself lucky if you are selected.


    ------------------------------>>


    I sighed when I didn''t see anything I didn''t know. I thought maybe there would be something because there was no ''click for details'' option in the game, but I guess I was wrong.


    I looked at the general level of the professor on the watch screen. It was the same as in the game, C+. Of course, I knew something no one else knew.


    With an involuntary grin on my face, I turned off the screen and went into the locker room to change and put my training outfit back in my locker, not caring about the rips on it.


    Actually, I should have thrown it in the trash since it had a lot of scratches on it, but every training suit at the academy has a repair spell that canpletely rebuild itself in about eight hours. So as long as I don''t destroy half of the suit, I don''t have to worry about it wearing out.


    After stuffing the suit into the closet, I picked up the tablet I had put inside and started walking toward the dormitories.


    Along the way, I met some people who were unaware of what had just happened and gave me condescending looks because of my ranking, but I knew how they would react once the rumors spread, so I ignored them and went up to the eighth floor of my dormitory building, then went to my room, changed intofortable clothes and went to bed.


    These two days I spent here were quite fun for me. I was aware of things that had started to change in my life, for example, I was smiling more than before.


    I sincerely thanked the producers of the game.


    I didn''t know how they did it, but I didn''t care in the slightest. I was here, I was on Lunerra, I was Aiden Tenebra, and I was definitely going to change my old ordinary life.


    These dreams, which were enough to bring a smile to my face just thinking about them, kept me motivated. I felt like jumping for joy as I thought about the things I was aiming for in the future, but I knew I had to stay calm too. Because even though thesest two days had been quite calm and rxed, soon the main tasks that would befall Adrian, the whole of Lunerra, would begin.


    Things are going to escte...


    Of course, as someone who knows all this, I n to help him, but that''s not enough.


    The smile that had appeared on my face at the thought of what was toe fell.


    Right... I have to take this seriously.


    It''s good to dream, and it''s good to smile, but when I think about what''s going to happen to this world in the future...


    Hundreds of thousands, millions of people will lose their lives, and as someone who knows what the future holds, I can prevent it somehow. But... If I do, I will be an open target for the enemies of humanity.


    I looked up at my bedroom ceiling.


    When I was in the game, some characters were immortal because of the story, but I''m not in the game now... This world is my reality now. The future can change with the right or wrong steps I take, people who shouldn''t die can die because of me.


    Ah, damn it... I''m not a person who can take big responsibilities. Why did I think of such a thing now?


    Should I leave the story alone? Wouldn''t it be better to just prevent Adrian from going over to the bad side and let the rest unfold?


    ~beep!


    I looked at what was happening with the sounding out of my phone.


    <<------------------------------


    ra: How was your day?


    ------------------------------>>


    Oh, that''s right... I had a sister.


    Well, she wasn''t my sister, but still, the thought that someone was worried about me was enough for me to consider her my sister.


    I was about to enter the messaging app when I paused again.


    With the uing main missions, this world is going to be a living hell... Wouldn''t ra be in danger then?


    The possibility that my newfound sister might die in the future suddenly began to haunt me. I felt something rising inside me that I couldn''t make sense of. Suddenly everything I had just said seemed illogical, and unnecessary.


    I... I don''t want to lose the only person in the world who worries about me when I have finally found someone like that.


    I need to get stronger.


    Right, I need to get stronger if I want to protect the ones I love. Whether it''s Adrian, the creatures, the main missions that areing, or even the ''apocalypse''... I need to get stronger if I want to get through it all alive.


    Maybe I can save those who are going to die, but if I do that, I will be putting everyone I love in this world, and everyone I will love in the future, in danger with my own hands. And do I want that?


    I am not a hero. Sure, I''m not a viin, but I am, first and foremost, a selfish, greedy person who has spent his previous life in loneliness and grief.


    If other people''s deaths can protect the ones I love... then I can ignore them, even if in the future I will regret it enough to want to die for it.


    I came to this world to be happy, not to save millions of people I don''t even know who they are. So my goal should also be to be happy, right?


    I curled up on the bed and closed my eyes. I hadn''t opened the app yet, so I didn''t need to reply to ra just yet.


    I need to be alone for a while and think... I need to prepare myself for the things I n to do in the future, and the things I think I will experience...

 Chapter 16: Volume I - 15: To the Practical Class

    <h4>Chapter 16: Volume I - Chapter 15: To the Practical ss</h4>


    He lost his parents seven years ago, and his only living rtive is his sister, ra Tenebra, and he is not on good terms with her either.


    His statistics are good enough for me to describe him as ''trash'' and the only thing that stands out about him is his intelligence. He also bought cyanide a few days ago and probably tried tomit suicide.


    I looked and looked at this profile on the screen in front of me. No matter how much I researched, no matter how much I dug into the past, the only abnormal thing about this boy named ''Aiden'' was that since the night he took cyanide, his personality had undergone interesting changes.


    This boy, who normally has a perpetual frown on his face, slouches a little bit, and is one of those people you would say ''This is definitely a nerd'', after that night he can smile as if there is no problem, and has no problem talking to people?


    Did the suicide attempt change him?


    No, can peoplemit suicide and undergo such radical changes that I can instantly finish my research, which took me six months and I could onlyplete forty percent of it? It must be impossible. I cannot ept such a thing.


    I leaned back in my chair and nced at the boy''s profile again, then sighed deeply. There is something not normal about this boy, and I will find out whatever it takes to make it impossible for him to break our contract...


    I have to do everything I can to keep him by my side. If he can really deliver what he promises me, then he''s worth a lot.


    *******


    I looked with all my focus at what the professor in front of me was writing on the board.


    The lesson was mathematics, notably the most difficult of all the lessons I had ever seen. So I was intently watching the professor''s every move, taking notes on everything he wrote.


    Not only me, but almost everyone in the ss was like that. Math wasn''t just a difficult subject for me, it was for everyone.


    Except for one person.


    I nced over at Aiden Tenebra and saw him twirling his pencil and sighing. His eyes were on the board and the professor, but he was in another world. He seemed more preupied than he had ever been since this morning.


    It was as if something was messing with his mind.


    "Aiden Tenebra! Since you know the ss so well, why don''t you exin the Fourier Transform to me?"


    The professor asked something I didn''t even know what it was, but when Aiden scribbled something on his tablet and projected it on the board, the professor''s mouth fell open just like before.


    After that, the professor didn''t ask him any more questions and continued to teach the ss in a cold sweat. I, on the other hand, admiringly continued to watch Aiden, who had his head resting on the table in front of him and slight circles under his eyes.


    Lithoa called out to me from my mind at this very moment.


    ''What do you see in that brat?''


    He was spewing hatred at Aiden since what he said about him yesterday. But I didn''t really mind.


    ''Because he''s smart and there''s a rumor going around that he beat a professor in a duel.''


    It was obviously an excuse.


    When I entered this academy and was ranked first, I thought I wouldn''t find anyone stronger than me here. And that was true, but this guy, Aiden, answered every question that was asked to him correctly, no matter what it was, giving the impression that there was nothing in this world that he didn''t know.


    I couldn''t help feeling like I couldn''t reach him, even if I could reach out and grab him anytime I wanted.


    It was as if... he wasn''t in this world. It was a strange feeling, yet that''s what I felt.


    In this way, as the ss continued, Aiden buried his head in his arms and closed his eyes.


    *******


    Can I... Can I leave millions of people to die, when I have the chance to save their lives, when I have the possibility to keep their souls here, which will be erased from this world, can I really abandon them?


    The ones I love and will love or millions of people?


    Last night I couldn''t even sleep properly because of these thoughts. So much so that I am now afraid to act rashly.


    What if my actions create a butterfly effect and kill people who shouldn''t die? I don''t know... I don''t know what I can do about it, but if there''s one thing I know for sure, it''s that I definitely don''t want ra to die.


    I''m actually a bit too obsessed with her, to the point that even I find it strange. Still, I can''t call it irrational.


    I, who had spent my whole life alone, suddenly had someone who worried about me and texted me at least three or four times a day, and I inevitably felt a connection with her. So I didn''t want to be alone again with the thought that she might leave this world.


    When that momentes when I have to make a decision, what will I do? I have no idea... I know that I can protect ra to a certain extent with the contract I made with Professor Ulka, but that will only go so far. Because the enemies I can attract with my actions are in a different league, no matter how powerful Professor Ulka is... That''s exactly why I''m afraid to act.


    "Aiden! Since you know the ss so well, why don''t you exin the Fourier Transform to me?"


    The math professor, whose ss we were attending for the first time, must have noticed that I was distracted and asked me something from a subject we hadn''t covered yet.


    I wrote a form and an exnation on the tablet in front of me for about a minute, and the professor gave me a knowing look as if he thought I was talking nonsense or something, but the moment I projected what I had drawn on the digital board, his attitude turned one hundred and eighty degrees.


    The professor checked what I had written three times in a row, and each time his mouth got wider and wider.


    With that, I think I''ll be able to sleep through this ss too...


    "You... You... How did you know that?"


    I sighed lightly and then told him a lie about studying math equations for about two years.


    After that lie, I put my head in my arms and closed my eyes, just like I thought I would, and there were no problems. I kept thinking, thinking about what I could do in the future.


    So I spent half of the ss thinking and the other half sleeping because I fell asleep in the middle of thinking.


    What woke me from my sleep was a low voice I heard.


    "Hey..."


    I looked up to see who was calling me, and I saw Adrian standing in front of me with silver hair and emerald-like green eyes.


    He looked expressionless as usual, probably not showing much emotion because of his past experiences and I don''t know what to do about it... Childhood traumas are always the worst.


    "Practical sses are starting, how long are you going to sleep?"


    Huh? I seem to have slept more than I thought...


    "Thanks for waking me up."


    I got up and stretched, realizing that all my muscles were numb, and then I looked at Adrian, who was still standing in front of me. He was still standing where he was, as if he had something to say.


    "Don''t take this the wrong way, I''m just curious, but... are the rumors true?"


    I let out a sigh and then smiled slightly.


    So that''s why he approached me...


    "They exaggerate, all I did was see an opening and headbutt the professor."


    It''s best to be modest, if I want to be friends with him I shouldn''t alienate him.


    "So it''s true that you were able to counterattack... If you were able to counterattack, then the rumor that you dodged his attacks must also be true."


    Adrian pretended to think for a moment, then held out his hand to me and spoke again, expressionlessly.


    "My name is Adrian and I''m actually kind of a peasant... So I don''t know city life very well and I don''t have any friends who can help me in this regard. Could you please show me the academy?"


    When you say that in an expressionless way, it looks a bit... funny, to be honest. Still, I''m not going to pass up this opportunity, on the contrary, I''m going to take it dly.


    "Sure, I''ll help you. I''m bored anyway... how about we meet after practice ss?"


    When Adrian nodded his head in agreement, I couldn''t help feeling cheated.


    Wow, I really didn''t expect it to be that easy.


    I raised my arm and tapped twice on my watch, then a hologram appeared on it and I turned to Adrian, who was still standing in front of me.


    Adrian looked at me with a nk expression.


    "Your number?"


    Adrian''s expression suddenly changed.


    "Uh..."


    Then I finally got his number, added it to my contacts, and smiled.


    Just like the professor had said we could do, I transferred all the data from my phone to my watchst night and it was much morefortable to use than that old phone.


    "I''ll text you when the practical training is over and we''ll meet when we have some free time."


    "Thanks, really."


    "No problem, we still have some time. Why don''t we go along until we leave?"


    Adrian epted my offer, and so we left the ssroom and started walking together to the training buildings.


    Along the way, Adrian looked like he wanted to ask me something but I didn''t push him. If he was afraid to ask, it was better to leave it to him.


    "Well, this is going to sound weird, but... where did you learn all this stuff?"


    I couldn''t help but smile, because the question sounded childish.


    "My parents died seven years ago and I''ve lived with my sister until now, so I''ve worked hard to have a good future and now, here I am."


    It was the easiest lie for me to make up.


    "So you''re saying you''ve put in the effort."


    "Yes, but unfortunately my stats are at the bottom of the pile."


    After that, there was no further dialog between us. Because we had finally entered the training building and as soon as that happened, a few eyes immediately locked on us.


    It was normal, to be honest. The first and second tost in the ranking enter the training building side by side as if they were friends... It must have been a really strange sight from the outside.


    And that''s how I got to the point where I parted ways with Adrian.


    "Good luck. Our history professor... she''s a bit of a challenge."


    Adrian looked at me with raised eyebrows.


    "How do you know I chose her as my instructor?"


    "Because you''re first in the ranking, our history professor is a very good spear instructor and I''m pretty sure she has you in her sights."


    His eyebrows rose even higher this time, but he must have thought what I said made sense because he didn''t say anything.


    "You''re really smart..."


    Adrian looked at his watch, realized he waste, and looked at me briefly before leaving.


    "Thank you again."


    Then, without waiting for me to reply, he went to meet his instructor.


    I just stared after him as he slowly walked away.


    He looked like a warrior with his spear on his back, definitely living up to his main character stamp. Although it looks like I''m going to have to fix his personality a bit...


    Sighing slightly as Adrian disappeared down a corridor, I opened my watch and looked at thest text message Professor Calvin had sent me. Just like in the game, he had asked me to meet him in one of the training halls.


    I left the main building and walked toward the building where the training halls were located, and when I arrived in front of the huge building without incident, I calmly walked inside.


    It was crawling with students with weapons. Axes, spears, bows, and swords were everywhere, but that was not the main thing.


    Because first of all, I have an event to start here.


    I quickly looked to the front right and then I saw a middle-aged man with orange hair sitting in the seats of the lobby. So a smile appeared on my face.


    I''m sorry professor... I have a little business, I think I''m going to be a littlete.


    I walked over to the man and without saying anything to him, I took the seat opposite him. The man didn''t even look at me, he must have thought I was just a random person sitting here.


    "The seasons go by, don''t they?"


    The man looked at me with a frown, but I ignored him and continued talking.


    "Especially fall, but strangely the leaves haven''t fallen."


    "What do you think is the reason?"


    Good, he understood my point.


    "The calm before the storm."


    "The calm before what?"


    "Of global changes."


    The man smiled, then pulled something like a coin out of his jacket and handed it to me.


    "Three days from now, at noon. It''s rude, but may I ask which part you are from?"


    After taking the coin, I got up from the couch and straightened my cor and looked at him coldly.


    "Sorry, you don''t need to know."


    So I turned and walked away without looking at him again.


    The man stared after me but I didn''t pay him much attention, after all we were both at our work and I wouldn''t have to see him again.


    After putting the coin in my pocket, I approached the reception desk, then smiled at the woman who was staring at me and asked.


    "Where was room zero twelve?"


    The woman looked at the screen after what I said, typing something on the holographicputer in front of her, and then turned back to me.


    "Aiden Tenebra, right?"


    "Yes."


    I pointed to my name badge and showed it to the woman so she was sure of my identity.


    "Go down one floor, then go straight ahead and turn right down the second corridor and you''ll find it."


    "Thank you."


    After receiving my answer, I proceeded as instructed, past the intimidating students armed with weapons and after a while I was indeed in front of room zero twelve.


    Just ten seconds after I knocked, the door swung wide open and Professor Calvin stepped aside to let me in.

 Chapter 17: Volume I - 16: First Steps of Development

    <h4>Chapter 17: Volume I - Chapter 16: First Steps of Development</h4>


    I walked in without saying anything and the training room I had seen countless times was nostalgically in front of me.


    It looks exactly as I remembered it... A full rectangr space of almost one hundred and fifty square meters, a huge opening in the middle, and countless weapons on the sides. There is no difference...


    "You''rete."


    "I''m sorry, professor. I had a very small errand, but I was only three minuteste. I''ll try to be more attentive from now on."


    The professor frowned and looked at me. I nced at him, not averting my eyes, and then the professor gave up with a sigh.


    "Anyway... why didn''t you take your sword?"


    "Because I don''t have a sword of my own."


    The professor paused after I said this indifferently. Then his eyes widened as if he realized something.


    "Are you... or... Is that why you didn''t take a stance during the duel?"


    I smiled bitterly at these words that made me feel bad when they were said to my face.


    "Unfortunately, yes. I don''t know anything about the sword."


    "Ah..."


    The professor put his hand to his face and smiled, just like me.


    I think I''m the first person to appear before him with zero sword knowledge, but it''s really absurd given the current state of the world. So I can''t say anything.


    "Then I have to ask. How confident are you, Aiden?"


    The bitter smile on my face gave way to a determined and wider one.


    "My goal is toe out of the academy first. At worst, I n toe second."


    There was a short silence between us, and then I heard the professor muttering ''Crazy people always seem to find me''.


    If you''re going to mumble it in the first ce, why do you say it so I can hear it?


    "Anyway, take a sword from the side and stand in front of me."


    The professor moved to the opening in the center of the room and I stood in front of him as he said.


    "The report says you have swordsmanship even at an F grade, did ite from your awakening?"


    "Yes."


    I don''t really have the slightest idea, but I don''t think he''s going to look into it... Anyway, considering Aiden''s frail body, I''m sure he hasn''t trained, so I''m about eighty percent sure I''m not lying.


    "Then you must have some skill... Can you swing your sword vertically?"


    I raised my sword as I was told, but as soon as I did, the professor stopped me.


    "Swinging a sword standing up straight will do nothing but waste energy. Don''t stand too straight, rx. Also, spread your feet a little. Adjust your bnce so that you can swing your sword and take your stance as much as possible."


    Without questioning him, I did as he said. Then raised my sword again and swung it.


    "Again."


    The sword came down again.


    "Spread your feet a little wider, again."


    My sword sliced the air again.


    "You''re staggering, keep your bnce as steady as you can with the support of your feet."


    I don''t know why, but strangely my blood literally began to boil.


    "You''re holding the sword too tightly. You''ll lose your flexibility if you do that. Rx your grip, but don''t overdo it, or your swing will be weak."


    Every time I swung my sword incorrectly, the professor corrected my mistakes. Each time I came closer to swinging my sword correctly, I began to feel a strange excitement spreading through my body and I began to withdraw from the world.


    Swinging a sword... It seemed miraculously fun to me, but I was someone who hated physicalbor. Using a sword... Was it really that much fun?


    Correct your mistakes, raise the sword in the air, put your weight where you''re going to do the swing, and swing the sword vertically.


    I swung like this for at least fifteen minutes, guided by the professor, but then he suddenly stopped me.


    "You''re grinning, kid. Is sword swinging fun?"


    Am I grinning? I... I didn''t even realize it.


    The professor burst outughing at my surprise and a sour expression appeared on my face.


    What... Is it really that funny?


    "So you didn''t even realize it! It''s good that you like the sword, but you must stop now. Because your body is starting to strain."


    My eyebrows rose at what I heard.


    Indeed, my muscles ached strangely, but only now did I realize it.


    "Your body is so weak that fifteen minutes of swinging a sword did this to you. Your vitality was an F grade, right? And you''ve never exercised... That''s why you''re so weak."


    "Isn''t it good to push myself? That way my stamina will increase faster."


    "That''s true, but there are more efficient ways to improve your stamina than just swinging a sword. When you use a sword, Aiden, you use every muscle in your body. Your legs, buttocks, arms... In short, every muscle should be developed and unfortunately, yours are not. So I''m going to set you up with an exercise program and you''re going to stick to it every day."


    Without asking my opinion, the professor nodded slightly, as if approving himself, and then looked me up and down.


    "You are alsonky, so increase your meals in a ''healthy'' way."


    I nodded without saying anything because it made sense.


    This guy has been an instructor for years... what are the chances of something illogicaling out of his mouth?


    "Good if you understand. Now, since I don''t want to put any more strain on your body, let''s stop swinging the sword and switch to mana control. Don''t let go of the sword though."


    The professor sat cross-legged on the floor and told me to do the same. I quickly sat across from him.


    "Close your eyes, hold your sword tightly, and focus on your mana. Then visualize it moving into your hand and transfer your mana to your sword."


    Excited that I was about to learn a skill I wanted, I focused on the mana flowing through my body and then my mana began to flow slowly toward the sword, but what I had intended was not happening. Something seemed wrong, but I wasn''t sure what.


    "You are only transferring your mana to the sword, the mana itself is not going to do the aftermath. That''s why the mana just dissipates. Even when it leaves your body, try to control it, don''t stop imagining it going into the sword, but imagine it being absorbed there, making what it is absorbed into stronger and more powerful."


    As my mana slowly flowed into the sword and began to be absorbed by it, a holographic window appeared in front of my closed eyes.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You have learned the [Mana Transfer(F)] skill. Your mana capacity has increased slightly because you learned it by experimenting on your own.


    ------------------------------>>


    An involuntary smile appeared on my face, but it was not because of this skill I had learned. The reason for my smile was the notification that woulde next.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! The [Mana Boost(F)], [Mana Transfer(F)], and [Sense Enhancement(F)] skills have beenbined to create the [Mana Expert(F)] mastery!


    With the new mastery you have learned, your mana capacity has increased slightly.


    With the new mastery you have learned, your Mana Efficiency stat has increased to F+ grade!


    ------------------------------>>


    Finally!


    I had already tried to get the Mana Transfer skill that the professor had just taught me, but unfortunately, I had to give up after a while because I missed thest point. Still, I really wanted this skill! Because mastery is far more important and useful than skills.


    Skills use the mana drawn from the body to cast spells through the system. Masteries, on the other hand, work both actively and passively independently of skills and have much broader ethics than the singr function of skills.


    For example, Mana Expert.


    <<------------------------------


    Mana Expert(F)


    One can move their mana much more freely and fluidly than they normally would. Likewise, one can transfer mana to objects or living beings as one wishes to strengthen them, gain sensitivity to mana itself, and increase efficiency.


    ------------------------------>>


    Even though the only function of this mastery in the game was to increase mana efficiency, for me, in real life, it was a very important thing. Because Mana Expert was a very easy mastery to learn for every human in the world and was often seen as the first step of development.


    Not to mention the features thate with it as the grade increases.


    "You can open your eyes now."


    Excited by the professor''s words, I opened my eyes and the first thing I noticed was that the sword I was holding was glowing slightly.


    The mana had definitely given the sword a different look. The sword felt sharper than before, more pleasing to the eye.


    "You are learning quite fast, so let''s try one more thing before we finish training for today..."


    The professor stood up and then told me to stand up too.


    "Now I want you to spread your mana around your body."


    I immediately realized what he was trying to get me to do. I stood up and did as he said without losing any of my excitement.


    As the mana slowly left my body, I focused on it, but I didn''t stop there. I tried to feel the mana, even if it was outside my body. I put it in ce of my other sensory organs, and then the surroundings of my body suddenly unfolded before my eyes in three dimensions.


    For a moment I felt like I was going to lose my bnce, because I normally see with my two eyes at the front of my head, and to suddenly switch to a third-person point of view, even though I wasn''t really ''seeing'', it was so strange that I felt dizzy.


    My field of vision was a sphere barely a meter radius from my body, everything else was pitch ck, but it was still enough to make me feel nauseous.


    I tried to get used to the feeling, and I resisted it even though I felt nauseous, but then I was suddenly ovee by extreme fatigue. I gritted my teeth and tried to resist the fatigue, but only secondster, my three-hundred-and-sixty-degree field of vision suddenly went ck.


    My mana reserves had hit rock bottom.


    When I opened my eyes in frustration, I locked eyes with the professor again. For some reason, he had a dirty grin on his face.


    "You''re really great... If you can increase your stats properly, you can be a monster in the future, you know?"


    A monster?


    A slight smile appeared on my face.


    Just a monster? No, my goal is not to be a ''monster''.


    As a simple monster, I might be able to survive the big events that areing, but there is no guarantee that I can protect ra and my loved ones.


    What I need to do if I really want to achieve everything I have in mind is to be a being that surpassesmon sense.


    Being a ''monster'' is not enough.


    "Thank you for the motivation. See you tomorrow, professor!"


    So I went to put the sword back where I took it, but when the professor noticed this, he stopped me.


    "You said you don''t have a sword, you can keep the sword if you are going to work independently of practical training. Besides, thest thing I taught you is not something that is used very much. It seems to be very useful, but it has many disadvantages. So use it only in emergencies."


    "Ah... Thank you."


    An involuntary smile appeared on my face. I was already aware of hisst warning, but ignoring it, I couldn''t buy a sword for myself because I had no money, so it was a good thing I could keep it.


    "It''s okay, I expect really good things from you, Aiden."


    With the praise I received from the professor, I left the training hall with my sword around my waist and started walking toward my dorm room.


    When I left the building, I felt relieved by the sunlight hitting my skin... The weather was neither too hot nor too cold for September. On top of that, I had juste out of training which had exhausted me, I was really relieved.


    Smiling, I walked back to my room and in the meantime, I turned on my watch and sent a text message to Adrian, one of the three people in my contacts, telling him that I was avable right now.


    There was no response for a long time. I guess the history professor is giving him a hard time... I hope this won''t cause me any difficultiester on.


    So far, though, I haven''t sensed anything bad about Adrian''s personality, so I think there''s nothing wrong with his development for now... I hope so.


    After entering my dorm room without any trouble, I took a short shower and changed intofortable clothes. Then, as I always do, Iy on my bed and took a deep breath.


    Today, even though not much had changed in my body, I felt that I had improved... I knew that if I kept going steadily, I could eventually get stronger, even if the change was not even a speck in the grand scheme of things.


    Still, that''s not enough.


    No matter how hard I work, I can''t get stronger just by exercising. That''s why I need some tricks, and my next goal is to get exactly one of them.


    I took the coin from the orange-haired man in the training building out of my pocket and smiled slightly as I looked at it. This simple-looking coin was the thing that would help me get the cheat I wanted.


    ~beep


    When my watch beeped while I was looking at the coin, at first I thought Adrian had read my message and got back to me, but when I looked at the screen and didn''t see the name ''Adrian'' I knew that wasn''t the case.


    Frowning, I double-clicked on the screen so that I could switch to therger and morefortable holographic view of the watch to check what the notification was about. Then a nasty grin suddenly appeared on my face and no matter what I did, I couldn''t make it go away.


    Because what I was seeing on the screen was something that could really shock a normal person.


    <<------------------------------


    20,000,000W has been transferred to your bank ount.


    ------------------------------>>


    They finally sent me the money I earned from the theory I presented.


    Now I''m really, really rich.


    *(A/N: As I said before, I posted six chapters for three days, and the chapters after this one wille once a day. As for the hours... the time zone where I live is UTC+3 and ording to this time zone, I''m thinking of publishing at 19.00 (7.00 p.m.). I''m not sure how convenient this time is for publishing chapters on Webnovel, so it may change ording to the situation.)*

 Chapter 18: Volume I - 17: Birth of the Study Group

    <h4>Chapter 18: Volume I - Chapter 17: Birth of the Study Group</h4>


    I took a sip of the cold soda in front of me and then looked at the two boys sitting across from me.


    "So? What are you ordering?"


    Adrian and Julian hadn''t even ordered yet as they stood silently doing nothing, no different from a small child.


    I couldn''t help frowning when I saw them both just continuing to do what they were doing.


    I know, I didn''t use to be overly sociable either, but at least you could have answered...


    "If you don''t mind, I''ll order from the menu?"


    They both nodded without saying anything.


    Julian had given me a dirty look before my bet with the professor, but after that, he must have seen what happened in the duel and was docile.


    Still... Damn, I''ve got a lot of business with these guys.


    Since they didn''t talk, but at least I had their approval, I called a waiter and ordered a couple of menus. Then I looked at Julian, who was the main culprit. He was the reason we had gotten to this point, in a way.


    Only two minutes after I had gotten paid for the theory I had presented about an hour ago, Adrian texted me that he was avable. I had told him that we could meet immediately and we had chosen to meet at the single but huge caf¨¦ on the academy campus.


    Only five minutes after we had arranged the meeting point, I was packed and on my way, and I arrived at the caf¨¦ long before he did. I was waiting for him in silence, but then I ran into Julian.


    Honestly, I had forgotten that I had promised him a meal, but unfortunately, he hadn''t forgotten. As soon as he saw me, he sat down at my table without saying much and I couldn''t say anything because I had already forgotten my promise.


    As a result, a few minutes after Julian sat at the table, Adrian arrived and the situation was established. I was left standing in front of these two who looked like two sulking children.


    Since no one was talking, I felt like I had to do something... Because in at least seventy percent of the endings of the game''s story, these two be close friends and I would like this to happen in terms of their character development.


    But I''m pretty sure that in an atmosphere like this, they''re not going to have a very close rtionship and in fact, might drift away from each other.


    What should I do?


    I thought about it for a short while, and then suddenly I had a brilliant idea. Thanks to this idea, I was able to solve many problems at the same time. It could even be useful in the future when Imunicate with other students...


    "Neither of you had very good grades, did you?"


    They both just looked at me. I took a deep breath at this sight.


    I''m starting to get angry now...


    "Do you hate each other or something?"


    They both shook their heads, no and I had to restrain myself from losing my temper.


    Adrian is one thing, he may not have grown up in the right circumstances and developed muchmon sense because of his past, but Julian? Really? Are you seriously going to keep acting like a five-year-old?


    I took a deep breath and then I turned to Adrian, let''s start with him first. I''m also curious to see how Julian reacts.


    "Adrian, I know you didn''t grow up in the city like most people, and I get the impression that you have a bit of a confidence problem, but you lose face in society if you shy away from interacting with people, especially your peers. I think you came here to gain power. Physical strength is not the only way to gain power, your position in society and your rtionships with people can sometimes be a more powerful weapon than physical strength."


    Adrian fixed his gaze on the floor for a while.


    Because he knows I am telling the truth and he is aware that he is making a mistake. It''s just that he''s not sure how to approach people because of the people who bullied him in the past. Although... Then howe he spoke to me so easilyst time? It''s an interesting thing...


    "I''m sorry, you''re right."


    Adrian apologized with determination.


    I think I have seeded in impressing him. Now let''s talk about the other problem child.


    After scolding Adrian, I turned to Julian, who had a slight smirk on his face. When our eyes met, the smirk faded.


    "And you, Julian, why are you afraid of Adrian because he was ranked first in your first years? Aren''t you ranked fourth?"


    "You''re ranked six hundred and twenty-fourth... You know that, right?"


    So he''s standing up to me...


    What he doesn''t know is that I''m different from those weaklings he crushes, I dare you.


    "Then why don''t you try to crush me?"


    I said those words with a smile and squinted my eyes at Julian. When our eyes met, he suddenly had a look on his face, full of surprise but with a little fear behind it.


    Even if by any chance he hadn''t seen my duel with the professor, there was no way he couldn''t have heard it because he wasn''t looking at me with a disgusted expression. Likewise, since we were in the same ss, he knew I was good at my studies and saw that I didn''t shy away from him when we shed at the beginning.


    I didn''t fit his definition of ''weak'', so he had no problem with me.


    In fact, he avoided me a bit.


    "Anyway! Back to the main topic, I''m thinking of starting a study group, what do you think? You can both improve your grades and learn how tomunicate."


    Resting my chin on my raised left hand, I took another sip of my soda and waited for them to decide. Contrary to what I thought, it didn''t take them long to respond.


    "I ept."


    "I ept."


    They both spoke at the same time, then turned to each other and frowned at the same time. When I saw this, an involuntary smile appeared on my face. I had to hold myself back fromughing.


    "Look, you are verypatible. You don''t have to be wary of each other."


    Adrian sighed lightly and then extended his hand toward Julian.


    "Adrian Caleo."


    Julian hesitated at first. But then, startled when I gave him a piercing look, he took Adrian''s hand without thinking.


    I''m an F grade, but someone with an E at the bottom of his stats is scared of me... I''d be lying if I said it didn''t feel good.


    "Julian Virhen."


    So the two of them shook hands and I apuded them quite lightly. I didn''t care if I looked funny or awkward, the ''apuse'' wasn''t very loud and didn''tst long anyway.


    They took the first steps of their friendship with me. Well... hopefully. But still, how could I not be happy with this development?


    A few seconds after the introductions, the menus we had ordered arrived in front of us and I excitedly dived into the delicious meal.


    Adrian and Julian, unlike me, were eating more calmly. They were still acting strangely in each other''s presence, but I couldn''t be angry with them for that.


    They just met, they don''t know each other. So they''re getting used to it now.


    Well... I mean, at least I believe they are, so I''ll refrain a little bit from poking them any more unnecessarily.


    "Aiden... Are you rich?"


    I wasn''t expecting Julian to talk to me, so I was surprised. But after a while, I realized what was going on. I was toofortable around someone like him, and besides, I had paid for the menu entirely and the things on the table weren''t exactly cheap.


    "I''ve got enough money that a three-course lunch like this won''t give me any trouble."


    I didn''t tell him the truth, but I didn''t lie either. Even if I told him I had twenty million wels, he wouldn''t believe me unless I showed him, and there was no need to in the first ce.


    "Okay... got it."


    Julian continued eating his food without saying anything else.


    If you didn''t care so much, why did you ask? Or are you trying to make it seem like you don''t care...


    As much as I was tuned in to them when they behaved in such a childish way, Julian''s timid behavior was actually a bit pleasing to me, considering his personality in the game.


    This boy, who under normal circumstances wouldn''t even like to look a weak person in the face, now doesn''t disrespect me, the six hundred and twenty-fourth ranked person, just because I showed him a few things.


    Yeah... actually, now that I think about it, I definitely liked that.


    In this way, we ate our dinner quite calmly without any other problems between us. In fact, I wanted to chat more with them in order to get closer, but as soon as Julian finished eating, he got up from the table as if he was in a hurry.


    "Thanks for the meal, I''m off."


    I didn''t mind him leaving because we were going to meet again soon for the study group.


    "I''ll text you the details for the study group. Can I have your number?"


    Without waiting for him to answer, I double-tapped my watch and smiled.


    Sighing slightly, he gave me his number. I closed the watch with the good feeling of the fourth person I had saved in my contacts.


    "Okay! I''ll open a group for the three of us by tomorrow at worst, have a nice day."


    "Likewise..."


    I didn''t keep him here any longer and so Julian slowly disappeared into the crowd. Just after he left, Adrian finished his meal, but he didn''t get up from the table right away. Because I had specifically arranged today to show him around the campus.


    "I''ll pay the bill and then we''ll start our tour."


    Adrian nodded his head in agreement. I gave him an intense look and then he sighed, even though he didn''t want to.


    "Okay, I''ll wait."


    Hah, like this! Come to reason a little. What''s with the "I''m the quiet guy" with just a nod?


    I might be thest person to say that, given my past life. And you might have good reason to, given your past. But be sociable!


    So I went back to the cashier, paid for the whole menu and saw the wels taken out of my bill, smiled, and went back to Adrian.


    Wels, usually abbreviated to ''W'', was the universal currency of Lunerra. All kingdoms and states, no matter where they were located, used this currency. It was impossible to say much about its value because it varied from item to item.


    For example, I can buy a bottle of drinking water cheaper than in my old world, but if I try to buy a car, it will cost more. It''s a bit...plicated, but it''s not hard to get used to.


    Anyway, let''s get started.


    "So, let me tell you about the campus first."

 Chapter 19: Volume I - 18: First Steps of Friendship

    <h4>Chapter 19: Volume I - Chapter 18: First Steps of Friendship</h4>


    As Adrian and I walked side by side on the walkway, I turned on my watch, erged and erged the hologram that popped up in front of us, and then I entered a map of the campus and showed it to Adrian.


    "This way you can find your way around the campus without getting lost. The map is up to date and it''s not limited to the borders of the academy. It also has a navigation feature."


    Adrian must have seen this for the first time because he looked at the map with interest. He then tried the same things I had done with his watch so that he now had a holographic map in front of him as well.


    In this way, based on the map, I walked with Adrian around all the important points of the campus and constantly observed him without him noticing.


    I tried to make at least simple inferences about his personality and his thoughts.


    Truth be told, the situation was not very pleasant, just as I had expected.


    Adrian is definitely heavily influenced by his past. His facial expression doesn''t change at all, except for a frown, a slight lowering of his face and sometimes he looks surprised. So it''s almost certain that he''s suffering from PTSD, and that alone is quite enough to be the first steps in leading him down a bad path.


    I absolutely have to guide him. Because Adrian''s ce is crucial to the survival of humanity in the hellish future of this world. If he is not with us but against us, it is not hard to imagine what will happen then.


    With these thoughts in mind, as we reached the end of our trip, I looked at the time and frowned when I realized that it was already close to seven. I quickly looked at the position of the sun and then realized that it was setting. I was so engrossed in this tour that I lost track of time.


    Adrian spoke at this moment, expressionless as always.


    "Thank you, I learned a lot."


    Well, at least he seems more ''alive'' than before. Even if it was a small step, I think I managed to get closer to him as a friend.


    "You''re wee, I''ll set up the study group when I get home. Since all three of us are in the same ss anyway, our schedules will be simr, so we can get started quickly."


    Adrian didn''t say much when I brought up Julian and then squinted briefly at the setting sun. He looked like he had something he wanted to tell me, so I turned my attention to him.


    "Aiden, you''re mysterious. Do you know? Sometimes... you seem... soulless, sometimes you grin in the most annoying ways, and sometimes... you look and act like you know things about me that even I don''t know."


    Sighing slightly, I went to a bench that didn''t have many people around and sat down, then looked at the setting sun, as did Adrian. Adrian came over to me at this time, but he didn''t sit on the bench.


    There was a moment of silence between us, a short one.


    "There are probably differences in what we are going through, Adrian. Everyone has their own life, no one knows exactly who lives what."


    How can I go on from here?


    Actually... Isn''t this a perfect opportunity? Yes, it really is.


    It''s ridiculous to hesitate. It''s a bit irrelevant, but... I can get straight to the point. Because if Adrian can ask such a question to someone he met on his first day, then he''s really confused.


    "If there''s one thing I know, though, it''s that we''re a bit alike."


    Maybe I''m going to make things up and not tell the whole truth. It might not be very ethical to treat my new ''friend'' in this way. Still, if I can put him on the right path, I can''t say that I care much about these ''ethics''.


    "There''s only one thing I''m curious about... How can you smile?"


    Adrian sat down on the bench with me and then took a deep breath.


    Has it been two days since we met? Is he letting out what he''s been holding inside until now? Was he looking for someone to talk to, someone to confide in?


    If so, I have no problem talking to him.


    "I''m strong, I''m powerful, but I don''t know what I should use this power for. I''m alive, but at the same time, I don''t feel like I''m alive. When I see my peersughing and having fun around me, I want to be like them, but I can''t. So how can youugh? You may be wondering why I''m asking you this, it''s a bit childish, but you give me such a feeling that I feel like you''re not in this world. You said we''re simr, but there are so many differences between our lives and our current living conditions. So, I''m wondering, if we are alike, how can youugh?"


    Well... How am I supposed to answer that now?


    I thought for a short while, we hade to this point so quickly and suddenly that I didn''t have much in my mind. So I decided to speak in terms of myself.


    "Have you ever desired anything before, no matter what it was?"


    "I guess not."


    ''I guess'' huh... I mean, I guess it''s not a very good thing, since he desired something but he couldn''t tell me about it.


    "Then what you need to do is find yourself a desire, I think."


    Adrian looked at me with a frown, but I ignored him and kept talking.


    "You said you have power but you don''t know what to use it for. You said you were alive but you didn''t feel alive. I was once like you."


    Yes, I used to be like that too, even though there were significant differences between us.


    There were many people andpanies who tried to attract me because of my sesspared to my peers, but I could never decide what I should do because of the emptiness in my heart.


    When I realized my loneliness in life over and over again, there were times when I didn''t feel like I was living just like him.


    So I know what Adrian is trying to say.


    "So how can I smile now? The reason is simple. I realized that there are still things in this world that I desire. I was just like you, lonely, ordinary, powerless, and without a reason to move forward, but then I got an opportunity."


    Sighing slightly, I double-clicked my watch, went into my gallery, and opened the photo I had screenshotted thest time I was talking to ra and showed Adrian, my sister.


    "This is my sister, ra."


    Adrian looked at the hologram expressionlessly and then back at me. I smiled and looked at his face for the first time during our conversation.


    "She was the one who worried about me in this world and kept reaching out to me even when I didn''t care about her. I distanced myself from her my whole life and so there was a wall between us. And then I realized that I was an asshole and that I was still only eighteen, so I could still get better, it was still early in my life, and I could still fix my rtionship with her and be someone else. The desires that I found in myself in this way are to change this ordinary and monotonous life that I was living by experiencing things that I had never experienced before while being strong enough to protect the ones I love."


    Adrian''s face turned somber after my words.


    "I have no family."


    "I know, that''s exactly why I told you all this."


    I closed the photo of ra and then smiled, turning back to the sunset.


    "What you need to do is to find something, a goal, or someone in your life to value. It can be friendships, the desire to be the strongest in the world or even love. It may not even be a ''person'' you need to find in the first ce. You don''t necessarily have to set yourself a social goal. Things like the desire for power can also pave the way. If you open your eyes and take note of your surroundings and really try, instead of running away from yourself, then I believe you can find something that will make you feel alive. If you ask me, it is possible for anyone to change as long as they try hard enough."


    I turned my gaze back to Adrian and held out my hand to him and he looked at me with a puzzled look on his face.


    "You know, you''re the first person I''ve hung out with in my life and probably the first person I''ve talked to the longest at one time. With that in mind, I think the first opportunity for both of us to ''grow'' is right now, right in front of us."


    His eyes widened as if he understood what I meant. I continued to smile as I seemed to have achieved my goal.


    I knew instantly that he needed a stimulus from the question he asked me while looking at the sunset. The fact that he opened up even though we had just met, even though he didn''t know if he could trust me, and even though there was a possibility that I might make fun of him, clearly showed how desperate a situation he was in.


    Adrian needed someone who could truly guide him, unlike Lithoa, who helped him grow stronger.


    And I am willing to take that role.


    *(A/N: I''ve said it before, but I want to say it again. There is no BL in the story.)*


    Adrian looked at my hand and my smiling face for a long time. Seeing his indecision, I pulled my hand back slightly.


    "There''s nothing I can do if you don''t want to, after all, as I said, you have to work to change."


    "Uh- No! I... I want to change too..."


    Adrian quickly countered my words. I was a little startled by his sudden outburst since he had been so expressionless and silent until now.


    He quickly grabbed my hand, which I had only withdrawn about four centimeters, squeezed it, and then looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes, as if he was burning with the desire to change himself. This brought a smile back to my face.


    "So, let''s get properly reintroduced. I''m Aiden Tenebra and I''m eighteen. I don''t really know anyone besides my sister, so you''re technically my first friend in the world. Nice to meet you, Adrian."


    Adrian timidly forced himself to smile, but it was so awkward that I was beginning to wonder if it was really that hard to smile.


    "Adrian Caleo, nice to meet you too..."


    Under the sun that had already disappeared behind the horizon, I felt a wave of excitement spreading through me at the sight of Adrian, who was somehow smiling, even if it was forced.


    Today, I became friends with the person I have envied the most in my entire life; Adrian Caleo.


    However, to be honest, the smile on my face was not because I had sessfully taken the first step toward the goal of fixing him. Rather, it was that strange, pleasant feeling of experiencing something that I had never experienced before in my old life.


    It was the joy of making a friend.

 Chapter 20: Volume I - 19: Outside the Academy

    <h4>Chapter 20: Volume I - Chapter 19: Outside the Academy</h4>


    When I got home, I quickly got into the shower and stood under the hot water for almost forty-five minutes.


    This was a new record for me as someone who normally showers in ten minutes at the most, but I didn''t care too much because being friends with Adrian, or rather being friends with a human being for the first time, made me feel happy.


    It was a good feeling to have a ''real'' friend for the first time in my twenty-one years of life and I was quite relieved that I thought I had gotten Adrian back on the good track a little bit.


    Still, all that aside, I was tired, so after a long shower I went straight to bed.


    ~beep


    When I heard the notification on my watch, I didn''t want to look at it too much because I wanted to go to sleep quickly, but then my curiosity got the better of me and I saw the message ra had sent me.


    An involuntary smile appeared on my face, I skipped sleeping for now and started chatting with her.


    To be honest, we weren''t talking about anything spectacr. The things we told each other were quite ordinary, everyday things, but it was still quite refreshing and fun to talk to her as it felt like she was taking all the tiredness out of me.


    <<------------------------------


    ra: By the way... You''reing to visit on Sunday, aren''t you?


    You: Of course, meeting my family is one of the things I want to do.


    ra: Okay... But you know where the house is, right?


    ------------------------------>>


    Ah... She makes a very good point, but... What makes her think that I don''t know where my sister''s house is, even though I used to be someone who didn''t care about my surroundings?


    You wouldn''t be that far off, would you, Aiden? You at least know where your sister lives, don''t you...?


    <<------------------------------


    ra: Anyway... It''s normal that you don''t know where I moved to. I''ll send you the address.


    ------------------------------>>


    Ah! So she moved out... Okay, that''s totally understandable. There''s no way the old Aiden would be so reckless as to not know where she lives. I mean, I hope not...


    <<------------------------------


    You: Do you own the ce you live in or are you in a rented house?


    ra: I found a one-room apartment in a quite nice ce, and the rent is four hundred and twenty wels. It''s also very close to the school and the market. So it''s quite affordable and it''s good enough for me.


    ------------------------------>>


    So it''s a one-room rented house... Didn''t our family own a house? Although considering the fact that they died seven years ago, there''s a good chance we sold it for money...


    <<------------------------------


    You: Are you in a part-time job? How do you pay the rent?


    ra: Well, yes... I''ve got a few jobs and working. Don''t worry about me, you need money for your academic expenses too.


    ------------------------------>>


    In this message, I was particrly struck by the words ''a few jobs'' and let out a forced sigh.


    To say I am rich with the money I have now would be an understatement...


    I want my sister to grow up in a good environment and, given that she is only sixteen, I don''t want to prevent her from enjoying her youth by cutting back on her free time with part-time jobs.


    <<------------------------------


    You: Okay, but let''s leave it here. It''s gettingte.


    ra: Okay! Good night.


    You: Good night.


    ------------------------------>>


    I wanted to send her money right away, but I didn''t ask her directly about her bank ount because I was more interested in surprising her in person before the visit to the cemetery.


    After turning off the watch, I pulled the duvet over me and closed my eyes, but then I thought of something else.


    I forgot to set up the study group...


    Well, whatever. I can set it up tomorrow. I have plenty of time, I really need to sleep now.


    So I cleared my mind and let my body rx. It didn''t take me long to fall asleep after the long and tiring day I had.


    *******


    The next day, the first thing I did was to set up the study group and ask Julian and Adrian to give me a general, if not urate, schedule of what they were doing at what times.


    They answered my request quickly. So we decided to work every second day, starting on Monday next week, starting at thirty minutes past seven in the evening until we had to leave.


    Normally I expected Julian not to be very enthusiastic about this... because he is not the ''good'' type of person, but I also remember that his studies were really bad. So to be taught by me, who excels in all subjects, must have been too big an opportunity for him to refuse. So much so that he vites his own principles...


    Actually... Can''t I fix his personality a little bit like I''m going to do with Adrian?


    Adrian''sck ofmon sense helped me to deal with him quickly, but I might have some trouble with Julian... Still, it''s definitely worth it.


    After a short breakfast with such intense thoughts, I went to the first ss. The old condescending looks the ss used to give me turned to curiosity and jealousy when I was able to talk freely with both Julian and Adrian, aided by the other rumors that were spreading around, but I continued to ignore them.


    In this way I got through the day without any trouble, sleeping most of the time during sses and hanging out with Adrian or Julian during breaks, even if he was ufortable with my presence.


    Apart from that, when the sses were over and it was time for practical training, I went to the training hall with my sword and met Professor Calvin so that I could get a detailed diet, exercise, and improvement program.


    I also learned the hard way that Professor Calvin doesn''t hold his own in our training sessions... Thest time we dueled I managed to win the bet because he had equalized himself to our level and almost all his attacks were etched in my mind, but now it''s different.


    Right now I was trying to dodge his attacks, to counter them somehow, and frankly, I was having fun.


    But this was suddenly destroyed by a smile I saw on the professor''s face, followed by a sharp pain in my chest.


    I got down on my knees and held my chest, trying to ignore the pain, but no matter how hard I tried not to think about it, my ribs were definitely cracked...


    "Drink this, we''re just getting started."


    The professor put a red drink in front of me and I couldn''t stop myself from swallowing painfully.


    I know that he put everything into this training because of my low stats and that he pushed me especially hard and I respect that¡­ But cracking my ribs? Isn''t that a bit much¡­?


    I downed the red drink and then felt a warmth spreading through my whole body. The pain in my chest slowly disappeared. I rxed as if the cracks in my ribs were slowly closing, but the professor wouldn''t let me.


    "Take your stance again,e on!"


    These were words that I heard every time I stepped into this room and that I feared would slowly begin to traumatize me.


    *******


    ~Bzzt! ~Bzzt! ~Bzzt!


    I yawned and silenced the rm, then got out of bed tired. It was Saturday, there were no sses and I even had gotten permission from Professor Calvin to do a little work.


    So I could have spent the day resting, but I woke up early in the morning because I had something important to do today.


    I went to the bathroom to wash my face so that I could wake up properly and then frowned when I saw my reflection in the mirror with circles under my eyes.


    Professor Calvin is definitely one of my favorite characters in the game, but I''m afraid that I might start to hate him... I know what''s best for me, and I know that the professor is working hard for me, but...


    Damn... Why the fuck do I have to feel like I''m breaking or cracking a bone with every blow I take? I know I have an F grade endurance, but I''ve been hurt so much in thest three days that I''m starting to wonder what I did to deserve this...


    With a deep sigh, I washed my face and made myself a nice breakfast. Even though I had slept for about nine hours, I tried not to curse Professor Calvin, who was responsible for my sore muscles. Then I changed out of my pajamas intofortable clothes and headed to the mall at nine in the morning to get ready for what I had nned to do today.


    Since it was the first weekend of the academy, most of the students must have fallen asleep. Because it was pretty empty outside. Still, I can''tin as it felt nice to rx after the practical sses.


    I smiled when I finally found myself in front of a myriad of stores and immediately headed for a clothing store.


    I''m going somewhere important, and it''s in my best interest to change out of my old clothes. That''s exactly what I came here for.


    With this in mind, I quickly picked out a set of clothes with an employee who helped me when I entered the store.


    With a white T-shirt, a pair of jeans and a smart-looking cardigan, at least I now look more ''modern''. That''s enough for my objective. After all, we are going to wear a device that blurs our whole face and makes us anonymous, so my charm is not so important.


    So I bought the clothes, which were quite expensive despite their simple appearance, and then left the store and set off again.


    This time my target was one of the four main gates of the academy - east, west, north and south - and getting out of the academy was easier than I thought.


    All I had to do in front of the huge and modern-looking east gate, which majestically grew to almost six meters in height, was to wait in line. When I exined that I was going out to see my sister and that I would be back on Sunday evening, I was allowed to leave quite easily.


    As I looked around and saw some students meeting with their families, I paused for a moment. I didn''t move a muscle as my eyes swept over these families one by one. I squinted slightly and thought of my past.


    Then, in an attempt to push these thoughts aside, I stood up straight and sighed deeply.


    Why am I jealous of them? I got over it a long time ago. And I have a sister now... I''m even friends with Adrian. I''m not alone anymore, so I shouldn''t be thinking these things.


    Ignoring my surroundings, I hailed a quick taxi and told myself I was going to the nearest maic train station.


    The academy has a station quite close to it to make transportation easier, so it was only a short six-minute ride and I was inside the crowded station.


    There were people everywhere, and everyone was busy with their own problems, but I ignored them and curiously examined the nearest maic train, trying to suppress the excitement burning inside me.


    Even though it was quite in looking, this beast, which seemed to be flying on the rails with a maic force, could easily reach a speed of eight hundred kilometers per hour with the support of mana. The best thing is that these things are neither very expensive nor very hard to get. They are absolutely amazing, so much so that they are one of the things I want to see in this world.


    I reined in my excitement as much as I could and stood in line to buy a ticket. After about seven minutes of waiting, I was finally in front of an employee.


    I quickly bought a ticket to Wiathen City for half an hourter, and immediately after that, I heard a notification.


    <<------------------------------


    As a result of two tickets purchased at the station, 45.9W was deducted from your ount. Click here for the tickets.


    ------------------------------>>


    I liked the fact that the ticket was an electronic e-mail instead of a piece of paper and left the line.


    In the meantime, I went into the details of the ticket and looked at which train I was going to take.


    Train number four on tform three and seat number twenty-eight...


    I found the tform and then train number four. My ticket was checked and I was let in without any problems.


    When I found my seat about two carriages inside, I realized that it was on the left side of the train on the window side of a row of three people. With that, I quickly took my seat with the happiness of being by the window.


    The train was still five minutes away from departure. Therefore, I was quite rxed and I started to look at the news on my watch and see what was going on.


    It was a habit from my old world. I liked to keep up with the news, especially Lunerra''s current news... It had a lot of interesting things going on.


    The recent conflict between Elves and Dwarves, the attempted coup in the Elhair Republic, the strange abundance in the Annuma Desert... It was fun to see news like that, especially since I knew some of the things happening in the background.


    I must have been so engrossed in the news that I was startled when I felt a jolt from my right side. I nced out of the corner of my eye to see who was sitting next to me, and then... unexpectedly, my eyes widened.


    The person sitting next to me was one of thest people I expected to see. So much so that for a moment I was dumbfounded.


    Celine Potenbea, ranked seventh among the first years with short dark brown hair that didn''t even reach her shoulders and sharp, bright violet eyes that resembled an amethyst, and one of the characters who appeared actively in the game because of her ce in the story and the power of her family, was sitting in the seat right next to me without a care in the world.

 Chapter 21: Volume I - 20: Unexpected Interaction

    <h4>Chapter 21: Volume I - Chapter 20: Unexpected Interaction</h4>


    It had been about three minutes since the train had departed. Looking out of the window, I could easily understand how fast we were going with the rapidly changingndscape.


    The sight of trees, mountains, and houses passing by in an instant... Honestly, it looked quite nice.


    In addition, despite the high speed we were traveling at, there was no engine noise because the train waspletely maized. So this journey was supposed to be quitefortable and peaceful...


    Unfortunately, I couldn''t take advantage of this peace because of the girl next to me.


    When Celine sat next to me, I decided to spend my journey in peace, not caring much about her, just like she did to me and others around her. At least that''s what I thought, but things didn''t turn out the way I thought they would.


    Celine closed her eyes and fell asleep the moment the train started its journey.


    Honestly... From that point of view alone, it wasn''t a big problem, I would even have liked her to sleep. That way I wouldn''t have to have any interaction with her.


    That didn''t happen. Because a few seconds after she fell asleep, her head fell on my shoulder.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I looked to my side and then I saw her closed eyelids. She actually looked pretty cute with her dark brown hair sliding in front of her face, but why did she sleep if something like this was going to happen?


    If you''re going to sleep, why didn''t you position your head properly first and now you''re giving me a hard time?


    I need to wake her up, but I''m afraid of the consequences... Unless I exin the situation properly, I''m likely to be treated badly, but if she wakes up in this position and sees that I didn''t do anything, then things will be much worse.


    I took a deep breath without shaking my body too much and then thought about what I would say if I woke her up. Then I decided to forget about that and wake her up as quickly but gently as possible.


    At least I didn''t have to be too embarrassed. Because no one was sitting in the seat next to us. So I wouldn''t be the subject of strange rumors.


    I eased my shoulder, which Celine was leaning on like a pillow, and nudged her a little with my other arm. This jolted her a little, and then the eyelids that hid her violet eyes, like amethysts, slowly opened to reveal the treasure behind them.


    Even if her charm statistic wasn''t as high as Lucia''s, her bewildered appearance, having just woken up from her sleep, made me hesitate for a moment...


    I have to act fast before she misunderstands something.


    "Uh, I was wondering if you could move over a little bit."


    Celine stood still for a moment after hearing what I said. Then she realized that she was leaning on my shoulder and quickly backed away.


    She had a shocked expression on her face, her hair was disheveled and she looked strange, quite different from her usual calm self.


    "I- I apologize."


    She bowed her head slightly and apologized to me again. I didn''t want to make a big deal out of it, so I said it was okay and turned away, pretending not to care about her, and started to look out the window.


    I had no idea what Celine was doing since all my focus was outside, but she didn''t bother me during this time so I didn''t pay much attention to her.


    In the game, as Adrian, you can marry someone. Although it''s more of an engagement than a marriage, you can choose a partner in the game.


    Celine is one of those possible partners, and having done everything in the story, of course, I had a few rounds where I got engaged to her.


    As a result, I know her personal things, like her likes and dislikes, her weird habits, and so on.


    Looking back on it, she always frowned at people who were especially interested in her. And if someone ignored her, she would ignore that person in the same way and not pay much attention to them.


    So I thought it was best not to pay attention to her, and decided topletely ignore her for the whole trip.


    "You... Was your name Aiden?"


    Wait a minute...


    What?


    What the fuck?


    "Yes?"


    I confirmed her with a nk expression on my face, but I really had no idea what was going on.


    Why doesn''t she ignore me? Why does she have a look in her eyes that''s more disappointed than indifferent? What the fuck is going on?!


    "I apologize again, I just had something on my mind."


    After saying these words, Celine took her eyes off me and slid into seat number thirty. Then she opened a holographic screen in front of her and started to fiddle with it by herself.


    I had no idea what she was trying to do, or what the purpose of our brief conversation was. But when I realized that she waspletely focused on what was in front of her, I turned away with a sigh.


    I closed my eyes and then went into my own thoughts.


    Celine couldn''t have asked me my name out of the blue. I mean, she probably heard the rumors... Given her family''s general situation and future, did she think I was worth persuading to work for her guild?


    Although I look quite ordinary, my gray eyes make me stand out a bit. So it''s possible that she recognized me only after hearing a few things about my appearance... Given her personality and way of thinking, this is the most likely scenario.


    Now that I think about it, she had a passive skill of intuition... So when she saw me, contrary to rumors, she must have sensed that I was weak. That exins the disappointment I saw in her eyes just now.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I looked at her again and realized that she had fallen asleep again.


    When traveling by train in the game, the journey was simply skipped. So I have no idea what the characters are doing during this time, but why does she keep falling asleep? Does she have motion sickness or something?


    Honestly, I was intrigued by this for no reason. Because no matter how silly or simple it was, I had discovered a side of a character I knew inside and out that I had never known. So I started to watch her, not realizing what I was doing.


    With her chest rising and falling with her slow breaths, her short hair that she had just straightened, and her closed eyes, she looked like a painter''s masterpiece. The more I looked at her, the more I wanted to stare at her, mesmerized that the animation in the game had now be real, and I paused.


    Seriously... What am I doing right now? I''m stalking her like a pervert...


    Snap out of it, Aiden! This is not who you are!


    I quickly turned around and then set an rm on my watch and closed my eyes, all the while repeating two short sentences in my head.


    I didn''t sumb to the damn charm statistic... I was just excited to see something different, that''s all.


    *******


    When I slowly opened my eyes thanks to an announcement echoing through the train, almost everyone on the train was on their feet. We were almost at the destination.


    I stood up nervously, then my eyes automatically drifted to the side and met Celine''s back facing me.


    Celine seemed to simply ignore me, but as soon as I turned to her, she looked up, then turned back to look at me and frowned.


    Our eyes met and then I remembered her skill of intuition.


    The fact that she could recognize that I was watching her when I only gave her a nce... her skill seems to be working quite well.


    "What''s wrong? I''m just looking ahead."


    I frowned at her as she frowned at me, and then Celine''s expression turned momentarily confused.


    So what? Just because you''re strong, you have a good background and you''re a girl, did you think I wouldn''t be harsh with you? Sorry, I believe in gender equality.


    "I''m sorry..."


    Celine slowly turned away and I ignored her again, waiting for the train doors to open.


    I don''t mind being harsh with her for now, because I''ll inevitably get close to Celine now that I''m friends with Adrian and n to get involved in the main story, and then she''ll see that I''m not so hateable.


    And I''d rather her see me as such a person than someone weak. So that when we meet again, she won''t think unnecessary things about me. I mean... I hope not.


    "Dear passengers, we have arrived at our destination, the Second Wiathen Station. Please leave the train in ten minutes!"


    When this voice echoed through the train, all the doors opened with a ''hiss'' and the people inside started pouring out.


    Celine disappeared into the crowd without a care in the world, and I walked out with a sigh.


    I took a quick look around to see if I could see her, but when she was nowhere to be seen, I quickly gave up and opened my map. I typed ''Wiathen Auction Hall'' in the search box and found out that I could get there in ten minutes.


    *(A/N: Sorry forte update, I overslept.)*

 Chapter 22: Volume I - 21: Riala Bar

    <h4>Chapter 22: Volume I - Chapter 21: Ri Bar</h4>


    Honestly... If someone is watching me from outside right now, I''m sure I look like an idiot.


    The modern look of Wiathen City, the style of the streets, and the design of the cars looked so different and so beautiful from my old world... I didn''t expect it to be so... fascinating just because what I was seeing was real and not animated anymore. My mouth was literally hanging open, I couldn''t take my eyes off this modernndscape.


    "Excuse me... we have arrived."


    I was so mesmerized that I only realized we had reached our destination when the taxi driver informed me.


    "Oh, I''m sorry. How much was the fare?"


    "Twenty-three wels."


    After paying the fare I was told, I jumped straight out. The roads were crowded, but I didn''t mind, no... rather I couldn''t mind.


    Because it was a really wonderful experience to see with my own eyes what I had only ever seen from inside the game.


    I kept looking at the buildings whose tops seemed to touch the clouds and the modern cars that were one hundred percent eco-friendly and powered by mana. I felt like I had lost myself.


    After a while, though, I reluctantly stopped myself.


    Yes... the view could have been perfect, I wanted to see the whole city, but I hadn''te here for that.


    Taking a deep breath, I turned around, just across the road, and then looked up at the Wiathen Auction Hall, which, although lower than the other buildings, did notpromise on its appearance.


    I swallowed when I saw people flocking in.


    I really wanted to go inside... Even though I already knew the ce well, I wanted to experience the exhibits and the interior design of the building with my own eyes, but I restrained myself as much as possible.


    With a deep sigh, I started walking along the road, past the building, toward somewhere else. The reason for this was simple. Because my main goal was not here in the first ce.


    There will definitely be some good stuff for sale in this hall, but the ''cheat'' I really want is not here.


    I walked through the crowd for a while and then stopped in front of a building with the sign ''Ri Bar''. It looked just like I remembered it from the game and I felt a nice nostalgia.


    I stared at the sign for a while but then walked into the bar.


    It was quite crowded inside, but ignoring everyone, I approached a bartender and sat across from him without saying anything.


    "What can I get you?"


    The bartender greeted me with a smiling face, but without changing my expression, I took the coin I had received from the orange-haired man in the training hall earlier out of my pocket and handed it to him.


    When the man saw the coin, he didn''t change his demeanor even a little. He just examined the coin briefly, made sure it wasn''t fake, and then handed it back to me and pointed to the stairs going down on the side.


    I got up from where I was sitting, walked toward the stairs, and then the two guards came up and turned to me.


    "Please follow us."


    I nodded to them and so we kept walking until we entered what looked like a library.


    When we entered the library, the door closed behind us and one of the walls full of books suddenly began to slide open.


    Even though I had seen it open very quietly and smoothly many times before, I couldn''t help but be impressed. These guys had a really good system...


    One of the attendants took out a small ne from inside his jacket and handed it to me. I knew what it was so I didn''t even ask. If I had, there was a chance that they would have suspected me and maybe killed me without even blinking an eye.


    I put the ne around my neck and then transferred a small amount of mana to it. Then the ne glowed slightly and my vision turned white just like that.


    I knew it would be like this, but I still couldn''t help being startled by the sudden sh of light. Fortunately, the brightnesssted only for two seconds and then my vision returned to normal.


    The purpose of this ne was to conceal the identity of the wearer. As long as I wore the ne, people looking at me could not make out my clothes or my face. It had a very useful feature and was absolutely necessary for such illegal ces.


    Of course, something so valuable was only given to me temporarily.


    After the ne was activated, I looked at my body and then realized that there was a blurryyer of mana surrounding me.


    Although it felt strange to see the ne activated and feel the presence of thisyer of mana, I took a deep breath and headed for the stairs hidden behind the library walls.


    With each step I took, the shape of the stairs became smoother and more luxurious. Attractive motifs began to appear on the walls and after about a minute of descent, I emerged into a widening corridor.


    Lining the side of the corridor were scores of guards, each one specially trained and watching my every move.


    They are notpromising themselves at all...


    "Come closer, please."


    I approached what appeared to be the reception desk across the hall, and was met by a woman whose face and clothes I couldn''t make out properly, just like me.


    "I assume you know the prices?"


    The woman said this to me with a smile. I mean... I assume she was smiling at least by the tone of her voice.


    I felt a little confused by this strange situation, which I still can''t get used to, but then I opened my watch and sent her twenty thousand wels without a second thought.


    Normally only five thousand wels would have been enough, but the fee I paid indicated that I was here for a special purpose.


    When the woman received the fee, she sent an e-mail to my watch and then showed me the huge door just to the right of the hallway.


    Without saying anything, I walked to the door and then the guards opened it for me.


    The moment the door opened, the loud noise of people entered my ears. Hundreds of people in the hall with blurred images turned to me at the same time, but they quickly lost interest.


    Well, since I didn''t care much about them, I walked past them and entered one of the corridors connected to the hall, because the ce before was not an auction hall, but a party ce where a few rich people came to have fun. So I kept walking along the corridor and then arrived in front of another huge door.


    "Your ticket please."


    I couldn''t help feeling awkward again as the face of the security guard who asked me this was blurred like everyone else here, but I showed him the e-mail sent by the previous employee and handed him the coin.


    The man first checked the email, then took the coin and checked it too, just like the bartender before. Then he slipped it into his jacket and told me my number.


    "C-21."


    I nodded to him, and then the doors of the auction hall opened for me. I was greeted by a truly gigantic lecture hall.


    Although, to call it a lecture hall would be an insult. It was so spacious,fortable, and luxurious that just being here made me feel like a king.


    Even the seats were not like in a normal auction hall, each seat had its own table and unless someone sat next to you specifically, there was at least two meters between you and the closest person.


    Even though I couldn''t make out anyone''s clothes because of the ne, I knew that everyone here was important, so I made sure not tomunicate with anyone and looked for seat number ''C-21''.


    When I finally found the single table I was looking for, there was nothing else I could do but wait and watch the people around me.


    In the hall I was in, there were huge bosses of hugepanies and dozens of people like them. So I felt even more ufortable than I actually was. Still, I waited patiently and only about eighteen minutes after I took my seat, a man appeared on the stage at the front of the hall.


    "Dear guests, thank you all foring here!"


    Normally, when such a thing is said, everyone in the hall would have apuded, but no one attempted to do so.


    Everyone who was here were the people at the top of this world and it was not for them to apud. And the man on the stage hardly cared about that.


    "Today we are going to offer you about thirteen items, of course, as usual, from the least valuable to the most valuable, but you can be sure that there are some very special things today! Now, without waiting too long, let''s start the auction!"


    The man pped his hands and then they brought forward a table covered with a cloth from the side of the stage so that everyone could easily see him.


    The man walked over to the covered table and then began to exin.


    "Our first item is something that, frankly, we''re not sure of its value, so we decided to put it first. It refused all mana transfers no matter how hard we tried. We tried almost everything you can think of, but unfortunately, we couldn''t get anything out of it. We researched it for a long time, but in the end, we realized that no matter what we did, we wouldn''t get anything out of it. So we decided to offer it as an extra in case anyone is still interested, and here it is, a mysterious stone that no one knows what it is."


    The man lifted the veil and revealed a piece of ck stone, about the size of my fist, which looked quite shapeless but was instantly recognizable as special because of the teal-colored motifs on it and the clearly perceptible mana emanating from it.


    I didn''t think I would be very impressed as I had seen the stone many times before, but the mana emanating from it felt so mystical and mysterious that I was drawn to it.


    "One hundred thousand wels to start!"


    And so the bidding officially began, but a short silence fell over the hall.


    Obviously, everyone was hesitant. Because this was an illegal ce connected to the ck market. So no one doubted that they had tried literally ''everything'' they could try on that stone.


    If even the ck market couldn''t figure out what it was, then was there really a need to think about it, despite what it meant?


    "One hundred and ten thousand wels."


    Still, out of curiosity, someone wanted to buy this stone.


    "One hundred and twenty thousand wels."


    Someone else followed the man who had just bid, and then, with herd psychology, a few more people started bidding for the stone. All the while I waited, wondering how much the stone would sell for.

 Chapter 23: Volume I - 22: Auction

    <h4>Chapter 23: Volume I - Chapter 22: Auction</h4>


    In the end, the bidding for the stone stopped at a total of three hundred and twenty-five thousand wels, and after that, no one took a step.


    "Will anyone raise it? I''m starting the countdown! Three!"


    The man on the stage said, extending the number. I decided there was no need to hold back any longer and spoke nonchntly.


    "Two hundred thousand wels."


    All eyes turned to me in an instant. The bids for the stone had usually always gone up by around five thousand, but the fact that I had raised the bid by eighty thousand wels at once clearly surprised them.


    "C-21 seems to be interested in the stone! Any bidders?!"


    The announcer said excitedly. I thought that no one would ever touch it again, but unfortunately, it was not to be.


    "Two hundred and twenty-five thousand wels."


    Hmm?


    When I heard the offer from a table to my right, I involuntarily frowned and looked at the man.


    I couldn''t make out his face or his clothes because of the ne, but I could have sworn we locked eyes... Why did he bid?


    I don''t think anyone in this room cares much about the stone... I''m probably the only one here who knows what it does. So why is this man bidding on the stone?


    "Two hundred and fifty thousand wels."


    I raised the bid without hesitation, but the other man didn''t hold back.


    "Three hundred thousand wels."


    I still have a lot of money... That''s why I''m sure I''ll buy the stone, but why is whoever this is doing this? I really have no idea.


    "Four hundred thousand wels."


    As soon as I said that, the host started counting down, very excited. I don''t think he ever thought he would sell this simple stone for such a high price. Truth be told, I didn''t think I was going to bid that high either...


    At first, I was nning to buy the stone for almost three hundred thousand... But as I said, I have plenty of money and I can get more if I want to. Besides, considering the real value of the stone, I don''t mind paying four hundred thousand wels.


    If they had asked for a million, I would have dly given that too.


    As the countdown continued, I was actually waiting for my opponent to make one more move. I was almost certain that this person was ying with me and trying to make me spend money for nothing. But for some reason, the countdown ended without any problems, and the stone was sold to me.


    I looked out of the corner of my eye at the man who kept bidding against me and felt a strange feeling creeping through me like I was being watched... like I was being targeted by someone in particr. I''m sure I wasn''t pissing anyone off, but what is going on behind the scenes, I wonder?


    "The mysterious stone has been sold to C-21 for four hundred thousand wels!"


    And so the stone was taken out by the staff on the side of the stage and taken back to where it came from to be given to meter. Then the bidding continued and I continued to examine the items.


    The order of the items was exactly as I had remembered, but I didn''t try to buy any of the items. The reason is quite simple, there is nothing here for me.


    Maybe I could have bought the fruit that was sold as the third item to increase my stats, but unfortunately, it was sold for ten million.


    Even though I have a lot of money, I don''t want to waste it. Besides, I would rather increase my stats steadily but slowly than quickly. Because it''s better for both my body and my mind to get used to the new power I''m acquiring.


    In this way, the precious items and the millions of wels offered for them continued toe out of the mouths of the people in this hall as if they were nothing, and finally it was the turn of thest item of the auction.


    "I would like to introduce today''s real favorite and ourst item!"


    As usual, the staff came from the side of the stage with a covered table, but this time the table looked much more luxurious and nicer.


    Everyone''s eyes focused on the veiled object, then the host quickly lifted the veil. The object thus revealed was a cube the size of an average Rubik''s cube with different motifs on its six sides and emitting a very dense mana around it.


    The moment the cube appeared, everyone in the hall held their breath. Because everyone knew what it was.


    It was a skill cube.


    Skill cubes are one of the things that the system can reward people with after the awakening of the world. They basically contain a skill, and when a person uses the cube through the system, they get that skill.


    The cubes emit mana at different intensities depending on the level of the skill they contain, and this cube should be at least an S grade skill, considering that it can emit mana so intense that it can take the breath away from everyone here.


    "This skill cube was found by our hunters in an A grade dungeon. Our side suffered great losses in the battle with the guardian protecting the cube, but in the end, we managed to obtain it."


    The host smiled slyly.


    "The skill inside the cube is an SS grade active skill, Spatial Distortion! The starting bid is five million wels!"


    "Six million wels!"


    The host had barely finished his exnation when a woman''s voice echoed through the hall.


    "Ten million wels."


    "Sixteen million wels."


    The millions suddenly became tens of millions, and it wasn''t long before we were up to a hundred million. They had already quintupled my maximum, but the price was still rising.


    That was the effect of an SS grade skill, it was obvious what the person who got it could do. Nobody wanted to miss out on something like that, and they were right.


    Spatial Distortion is definitely worthy of being an SS grade skill. With it, you can do unimaginable things, such as opening rifts in space to allow physical attacks to hit that normally wouldn''t. So the skill is very versatile.


    And once Space Magic Mastery is somehow achieved, with enough practice and the right methods, you can do even more impressive things.


    Of course, unfortunately, what you can do with skills or mastery in the game is limited only by what is coded in it. So even if the yer got the skill and then the mastery, there was only so much they could do.


    But now neither I nor this world is limited by the game''s code. So the imagination of what can be done with this skill, frankly, excites even me.


    "Three hundred and fifteen million wels."


    We''ve already passed three hundred million... I wonder if it''s on its way to half a billion?


    Everyone kept raising the price little by little and it took about twenty minutes for the skill to be sold... In the end, the skill was sold for about four hundred million wels to someone who nobody knew was.


    Well, when someone who uses space magices to the fore, it will be revealed who bought the skill, but for now, I''m sure everyone is wondering who it went to.


    I turned my head toward the silhouette of thest bidder and studied him for a while. Even though it''s impossible to recognize because of the ne, I know who the person with the spatial skill in the game is. I mean... I know who the person who will ''buy'' itter is. I have no idea exactly who that person is.


    "This concludes the auction! Thank you everyone foring, our staff will be with you in a moment for those of you who have purchased items!"


    After saying this, the host bowed to all the guests and then left the stage with a happy smile on his face.


    Some of them stood up and left the hall, some tried to talk amongst themselves and some, like me, continued to sit alone at their tables for a while.


    About two minutes after the auction ended, I smiled when I saw an employee approaching me.


    "Please follow me, sir."


    The employee bowed and then looked at me. So I stood up and she led me out of the hall, through the corridors, and into another room.


    I was in front of a room that no one else entered, and to be honest, I didn''t know from the beginning where exactly I was going to get my hands on the stone since the items purchased in the game go straight into the inventory when you leave the auction.


    So this was the ce...

 Chapter 24: Volume I - 23: Acquired Cheat

    <h4>Chapter 24: Volume I - Chapter 23: Acquired Cheat</h4>


    The employee opened the door and revealed the dark room behind it.


    I was a bit scared, but then again, the ck market was a safe ce for such things. So I was pretty sure they wouldn''t do anything to me and I went in, leaving the employee outside without changing my expression at all.


    The moment I stepped inside, the door behind us closed noisily and the room suddenly lit up.


    It was actually not a very big room. I was in a ce that was about five meters long and about five meters wide, but even if the room was small, it was certainly luxurious.


    The paintings on the walls, the jewelry on the light fixtures, and the security guards on the sides gave the room an air that seemed to shout ''This is an important ce''.


    With a sigh, I turned to the covered table in the center of the room, only to find a woman sitting on the other side of the table, wearing a ne to avoid being recognized, just like everyone else here.


    Without saying anything, I approached the table, sat down across from her, and then spoke indifferently without changing my demeanor.


    "I thought the ck market didn''t question its customers?"


    Even though I couldn''t see her face, I''m sure she had a sly smile on her face after what I said.


    "We''re not going to do anything to you, we just want to know if you know anything about the stone. After all, no matter what we did, we couldn''t get any reaction from it."


    "I see..."


    So... what should I do now? Should I say I know something about the stone or should I hide?


    Hmm¡­


    "Honestly, there''s a method I''d like to try, but I''m not sure."


    And that''s what I ended up saying. I was wondering what else she was going to ask me, so I gave an open-ended answer.


    "With your permission, I would like to hear about the method you want to try."


    "I''m sorry but I can''t say. It''s not very ''pleasant'' after all."


    I spoke nonchntly and told a little lie because I didn''t want her to get the impression that I was a good person.


    I am in the ck market. There is no concept of ''good'' here. So instead of trying to be good, showing that I am someone who will not hesitate to do ''unpleasant'' things would cement my ce here. At least they won''t see me as an innocent person.


    The woman chuckled lightly. Thanks to the ne, I still felt awkward because her expression didn''t show, but I tried to ignore it as much as possible.


    "I see, then I won''t dig too deep."


    The woman pulled the tablecloth off the table and threw it aside, revealing the mysterious stone I had bought.


    For a brief moment, I felt as if I had been hypnotized. The stone was drawing me in with the mysticism of the mana it radiated around it. Still, I somehow pulled myself together and turned back to the woman with a sigh.


    "Can you give me a private ount that cannot be traced? It would also be nice if my watch could be adjusted ordingly."


    If I continue to use the watch that the academy gave me with its own hands and my own bank ount in this way, nothing good will happen to me. I need to get apletely private, untraceable bank ount and there is no better ce to do that than the ck market.


    At first, the woman was silent for a few seconds in response to my question, but then she nodded without saying anything.


    "This is going to cost you a bit."


    "No problem, I just need a special ount that the kingdom can''t trace."


    The woman nodded as if to acknowledge me, then made a quick call to someone on her wristwatch and told me to wait a few minutes.


    Exactly eight minutester, someone else walked in.


    "Please give him your watch, he will make the adjustments you need in about five minutes."


    The man was rtively thin and thanks to the ne, apart from the suit he wore, none of the details were visible.


    Actually, to an outsider, they looked rather suspicious. But the ck market was usually honest with its potential ''rich'' customers. So I handed him my watch without hesitation and then began to list my requests.


    "The watch is connected to the CDA."


    I don''t really need to hide the fact that I''m an academy student, they don''t know my face and they''re not going to question my identity.


    "So as long as I''m on the academy grounds, all my movements on the watch can be monitored and I don''t want that. My bank ount is also traceable to the kingdom or the academy, which is also undesirable. It would be good if these were organized in such a way that no one would notice and no one would be suspicious. Also, neen million wels from my main ount should be transferred to this ount without a trace, as if it never existed."


    The man nodded along with everything I said, opened the back of my watch, connected to it via a tiny cable, and fiddled with what looked like coding on his watch for about five minutes. After a short while, he disconnected the cable and put the back cover back on the watch as it was.


    "There is a second ount in the bank app. The wels received or sent from this ount cannot be traced in any way and you can change the username and password at any time. I transferred neen million wels to this ount, and I set the location tracking system, which the academy also uses for its own borders, to be programmable. You can control such things by telling the watch''s artificial intelligence. The cost of this service is one hundred thousand wels."


    Not only did he do what I said, but also he did more. Sure... it was really expensive to change a watch specifically set by the kingdom and create an untraceable ount. But as long as I paid for it, it was fine.


    That''s why I love the ck market.


    "Great."


    I took the watch from his hand and put it back on my wrist. I logged into my bank ount and essed the ''second'' ount.


    I went to the holographic screen, pressed transfer, and entered the total amount I had to pay on the screen in front of me. After that, I pushed the holographic window in front of the woman.


    She entered her own bank ount into the system and then sent the window back to me. I pressed my finger on the screen so that the holographic screen verified my identity with my fingerprint, and then my ount was debited with four hundred thousand wels at once.


    "Thank you for your purchase!"


    The woman took out what looked like a jacket button from inside her jacket. She then ced it on the mysterious stone, gently transferred mana into it and her hand glowed.


    The button-like thing became distorted, the mystical mana emitted by the mysterious stone slowly disappeared, and then the stone faded and vanished. And so, the woman handed the button to me.


    The thing about this little thing that looked like a jacket button was that it could store a one-time item inside it. You could put an item into it by channeling mana, and whenever the item was removed, no matter when, the ''button'' would turn to dust.


    Unlike dimensional inventory items, the one-time use seemed to be a disadvantage, but the fact that it was easy to produce, easy to ess, and not overly expensive neutralized this disadvantage considerably. It was also a perfect item for storing auction items and the like, so its use was widespread.


    I pocketed the button and stood up. I was done here after all, and I didn''t want to deal with the woman too much.


    I took onest look at the woman across the room before turning around and heading for the exit. When I realized she was just staring at a holographic screen in front of her, I sighed and walked out of the room, ignoring her.


    The first person to greet me in the hallway was an employee. He escorted me to a room with a long staircase leading upward. At the end of these stairs was a karaoke room belonging to Ri Bar.


    When I entered the karaoke room and closed the door, which was the only connection between the staircase and the room, I realized that it could not be opened from the outside and seemed to bepletely integrated into the wall.


    I ran my hand along the edges of the door, but the wall was perfectly smooth. Even when I knocked on it, it made a sound no different from a normal wall.


    It''s truly a good design...


    With a slight grin that I couldn''t keep off my face, I first removed the ne from around my neck, so that the thinyer of mana surrounding my body slowly dissipated into the air and my appearance was restored.


    Holding the ne in my hand, I headed outside, where I handed it back to one of the bartenders, as I had been strongly advised to do. Then we smiled and said goodbye to each other.


    I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief when I walked out of Ri Bar.


    To be honest, being in the ck market made me a bit nervous. That''s why I felt uneasy until I was outside, but now I was outside again and the better part was that I waspletely in one piece!


    I reached into my pocket, squeezed the button with the stone that cost me almost half a million and a smile appeared on my face again.


    Finally, in this world of spells, creatures, and levels, I too had a cheat-like thing.

 Chapter 25: Volume I - 24: A Cold House

    <h4>Chapter 25: Volume I - Chapter 24: A Cold House</h4>


    I looked at the address written on the holographic screen, and then at the apartment building about four meters in front of me.


    This was clearly the apartment building written in the address.


    I hadn''t expected her to be in Wiathen, but it''s good. At least I won''t have to change cities.


    After closing my watch, I took a deep breath and went inside. I looked for an elevator since I was going to the third floor, but then my mouth dropped open.


    There was no elevator in the building...


    I headed for the stairs with a frown.


    I was a little angry, furious that my sister was living in an apartment without an elevator in a world like this.


    Nevertheless, with each step I took up the stairs, the thoughts I had just been thinking slowly faded from my mind and were reced by excitement. As I got closer to my destination, I tensed and even trembled, but kept walking.


    When I arrived in front of apartment number thirty-four, my hand reached for the door slowly, but I couldn''t find the courage to knock. I was so excited that I was afraid I would do something wrong or stupid.


    Calm down Aiden... Calm down...


    I lowered my hands that were reaching for the door and rxed my body. Then I waited briefly to release my tension and reached for the door again. This time I knocked without a second thought.


    ~knock ~knock ~knock


    An instantaneous tension suddenly enveloped my body as I knock on the door. I felt as if there was a cliff in front of me and if I took one more step, I would fall off it.


    Not even three seconds after I knocked, the door slowly opened. A girl appeared from behind it. She had a height that reached my shoulders, colorless gray eyes just like mine, long to short brown hair that looked like she had just taken a shower, a cute face, and a petite body, just like I thought.


    All the excitement and nervousness I had felt up to now disappeared in an instant.


    Was it because of disappointment? No... On the contrary, I felt so peaceful and happy that all my negative thoughts left me the moment I saw ra. It was a strange, yet pleasant feeling.


    How long have I known her? Five days?


    Why am I so at peace when I know almost nothing about her? Was I really that hungry for a family?


    It''s... It doesn''t make sense, but it kind of does. I suppose it does.


    ra smiled slightly when she saw me and stepped aside slightly to let me in.


    As I took off my shoes and stepped inside, I tried to clear my mind of thoughts. I was thinking about unnecessary things.


    I smelled a nice, pleasant fragrance, and the fresh air of the house hit me in the face as soon as I entered. When I looked around the house, I saw that it was literally spotless. She had probably cleaned the house for my arrival...


    "Are you hungry?"


    She asked timidly, and that''s when I noticed another smelling from another part of the house; the smell of food that was probably quite delicious...


    To be honest, I wasn''t hungry. I had already had a snack when I left the Ri Bar. Nevertheless, I put a slight smile on my face.


    "Yes, what have you prepared?"


    A smile appeared on ra''s face, and then she headed excitedly toward what I assumed was the kitchen.


    "Go into the living room and wait."


    So I was left alone in the small hallway of this small house.


    When ra left, I let out a deep sigh. It was certainly a fleeting moment, but I wasn''tining. Because I wanted to look around the house and I could do that when ra wasn''t here.


    Like that, I began to examine the small house where she lived and realized that it was not as bad as I had thought.


    The house was small, but it looked ideal for one person to live in. The walls didn''t look old either. On top of that, ra had just cleaned almost the whole house, so the overall situation was good. But as I started to move forward, I realized the main issue.


    The house was quite cold.


    No... I didn''t realize it quickly because I had juste from outside, but the house was really cold. As if that wasn''t enough, if I focused properly, I could hear people whispering behind the walls.


    There''s a noticeableck of instion and although at first I didn''t think the house was too bad, it made me frown.


    It''s only September, and it''s not even evening but the house is this cold... What will it be like in winter then? Can ra even stay in a ce like this without getting sick?


    So my idea of moving her to a more decent home increased exponentially and I finally entered the living room.


    A simple corner sofa takes up most of the room, a small table right in front of the sofa, aptop on the table, which is hard to find in this era of holographic technology, and a heater in the corner of the room were the first things that caught my eye in an instant. Besides, the room was quite small, as was the house itself.


    I approached the heater, checked the model, and turned it on briefly to see how well it worked.


    After a few seconds, my face went nk.


    The heater was not of very good quality, it was a cheap one. Also, just as I had thought, it could only heat the area close to it, not the whole living room.


    "I''m back! Uh, why are you up?"


    ra put the tray on the table in front of the sofa. Then, pulling herptop away, she sat down on the sofa with a smile on her face.


    Seeing her smile, I shifted my focus from the heater to the tray with the food on it and couldn''t help but be surprised.


    A very nice-looking sd, a steaming red soup, some stew-like meats and a te lightly filled with rice were waiting for me on the tray.


    Frankly, I didn''t expect this.


    ra, still looking at me, must have realized that I was impressed and smiled happily. So I sat down on the sofa and took a small sip of the soup.


    She can cook this well... As someone who has spent twenty-one years living on pasta and simple soups, I am absolutely mesmerized...


    "How''s the academy?"


    As ra asked this question, she started to eat her food as I did.


    "It''s quite nice, they provide everything we need. I caught the attention of a professor and started to receive special training from him."


    ra''s eyes widened.


    It''s normal for her to be surprised that I didn''t mention this when I was texting her, but didn''t she overreact a bit?


    You don''t even trust your brother that much...


    "Really? What is he teaching you?"


    "Sword and basic mana techniques for now. Anyway, I''m not very important, how is your school? Is anyone giving you any trouble?"


    Even if this ce will turn into hell in the future, it wasn''t exactly a paradise before.


    High schools, universities, and academies are a ce where the strong often bully the weak, especially in this world where power is at the forefront. The reason is simple; as people be more powerful, they be able to do more and more, and after a while the desires they have been holding inside start to overflow.


    Then they realize that as long as they are strong enough, no matter what they do, no one can say anything to them. So they satisfy their desires by acting like a king in front of weaker people, and when no one stands up to them, they slowly go astray. And thenes the biggest problem that the youngsters of Lunerra face: bullying.


    With this in mind, when I nce at ra, I cannot help but worry about her. Given her age, she doesn''t have ess to the system yet, and we are a family struggling for money.


    "No... I''m doing fine."


    Her voice was a little hoarse with those words, trembling almost imperceptibly.


    Damn... Who''s giving my sister a hard time?


    "Okay then!"


    I suddenly shouted, startling ra. The heavy atmosphere of earlier had dissipated in an instant thanks to me and I smiled. Now it was time to fix some things... First of all, money.


    "Tell me your bank number. I can give you some financial relief."


    ra quickly straightened up against my words.


    "I''m fine, I don''t need money. You should think of yourself."


    For the first time since I came into this world, sheshed out at me, but I''m not one to give up easily. Especially after what I saw.


    "No objections, ra. I don''t want to be the big brother who ignores his sister, and even if you insist, at worst I''ll go to one of the ces where you work part-time and ask them to ount for your sry, so you can''t run away."


    ra opened her mouth and tried to say something, but then she was silent. She realized she couldn''t stand up to me.


    "Where did you make enough money to make me financiallyfortable?"


    "I recently presented a theory to the academy''s researchb and it was epted. As a result, I was awarded a good amount of money, so I wouldn''t put myself in a bad situation if I gave you some money."


    ra looked at me with a frown, then sighed deeply. She logged into her ount on her phone and handed it to me.


    Instead of looking at her ount number first, I looked at how much money she had in her ount.


    <<------------------------------


    1,132 Wels


    ------------------------------>>


    One thousand hundred and thirty-two wels...


    ording to thest movements of the ount, she received her sry recently.


    The rent for the house was four hundred and twenty wels, if I remember correctly. The sum of the money added to the ount over and over again is about a thousand wels. If I subtract the rent from that, I''m left with five hundred and eighty wels. And if I add food, electricity, water, and so on, the amount of money she can spend freely per month is much, much less than I thought.


    Her situation is not just bad, it''s literally close to terrible.

 Chapter 26: Volume I - 25: Apology

    <h4>Chapter 26: Volume I - Chapter 25: Apology</h4>


    I nced at ra out of the corner of my eye and see her eating her lunch with a slight smile.


    She is smiling again... As a young girl, she doesn''t even have a decent amount of money a month to spend freely, but she stands in front of me like she has nothing.


    I took a deep breath and turned on my watch. When the holographic screen appeared, ra looked with great interest at the screen floating in front of me.


    She seems to like technology, considering theptop she had just used. It''s pretty obvious, though, given the money she can spend per month and the fact that she has aptop.


    I logged into my bank ount, then registered ra''s bank ount number as ''ra'', transferred some money from my ount to hers, and turned off the watch.


    When it was all over, ra''s little phone received a notification. She quickly went to her phone, wondering how much allowance she had received.


    She looked at the screen for a while, then dropped the spoon she was holding in her other hand.


    She looked at me, looked at her phone again, and shoved it in front of her face.


    "What is this?"


    She showed me the phone with an iprehensible expression and stared at me with a puzzled look on her face. It was as if she couldn''t believe what she was seeing, and she was absolutely sure it was a bug, given that she was still acting calm, even though she was surprised.


    Where the phone screen had read one thousand one hundred and thirty-two wels a few seconds before, it now read apletely different number.


    <<------------------------------


    40.132 Wels


    ------------------------------>>


    I had only sent her forty thousand and that was obviously a reaction I expected, but I wonder how she would react if I showed her that I have more than eighteen million wels in my ount?


    Anyway... That''s not necessary for now. I don''t want her to lose heart.


    "Your allowance this month."


    I spoke nonchntly, continuing to eat my food without changing my expression in any way, and ra just stared at her phone again when she realized I wasn''t joking with her.


    "Is this for real? And... did you say this month?"


    "Yes, I transferred forty thousand because your situation is a bit bad, but I will send you fifteen thousand wels every month from now on. Or is that not enough? I can send you more if you want?"


    Fifteen thousand is almost nothingpared to the money in my ount, but it is more than enough for a student like ra to do whatever she wants.


    Even the children of the nobility would have almost that much money. Normal nobles, of course.


    I took thest spoonful of the food in front of me and then pushed the te slightly forward. I had finished my meal and I was full. ra was really good at cooking... I hadn''t eaten like this for a long time.


    "I... you... what? But... how?"


    She was trembling, she still couldn''t believe her eyes.


    I just smiled, reached out my hand to hers, and held it tightly.


    It''s time to put everything back on track.


    "I told you I would change, ra, and I have. That old asshole, weak and useless Aiden is gone. Instead, I''m here, I know what I have to do, and this is nothing you''ve seen yet. Quit your part-time jobs and leave everything to your stupid brother. I don''t want to see you waste yourself in jobs like this, you''re only sixteen and I want you to enjoy your youth."


    Her whole body trembled. I could easily feel it as I squeezed her hand.


    "I''m strong now, and I have even more money than you know. So you don''t have to worry anymore, you don''t have to work to support yourself, you don''t have to look strong just for me. I may not have treated you very well as your brother, but I''m different now. So if you have any problems, you can tell me about them. Maybe I can''t rece Mom and Dad, but you can lean on me whenever you want."


    Without saying anything, I slid next to her and hugged her tightly.


    When I entered this house... no, long before that. I''ve known since the first time I video chatted with ra on the day I came into this world for the first time. I know that she''s pretending, that she''s trying to be strong in front of me, that she''s acting like she''s fine. Because in the beginning, until a short time ago, I was just like her.


    Her parents had died seven years earlier, she was constantly ignored by her only blood rtive, and she took countless jobs to support herself while her peersughed and had fun.


    She never had much money and, despite her young age, she carried her own burden. She was desperate for love, so she tried to get close to her brother but was ignored by him. Yet she was so hopeless that she kept writing to him.


    She too was suffering, she too wanted to be happy, but she had so much on her shoulders that she started to deceive herself.


    No matter how bad she was, she would force herself to smile, saying in her mind ''Everything is fine'' andforting herself. Although our reasons were different, I know from having done it myself that none of those smiles were ''real''.


    Yes, maybe she had smiled sincerely in our previous video call, but that was it. All the rest of her attitude was fake and an attempt to make herself look good to me. Maybe she could fool herself and others, but never me, who had walked a simr path like her.


    ra just stood there and a heavy silence fell over the room. Then I felt the drops falling on my shoulder.


    ra hugged me as tightly as I hugged her. The tiny living room of this tiny house was filled with her sobs for the next few minutes.


    *******


    Almost an hour after what happened, around six fifteen in the afternoon, I drove under the autumn breezes that heralded winter and the clouds that looked as if it would soon rain.


    "Where are they?"


    I called out to the girl I was following, ra, just ahead of me as I continued walking.


    "We''re almost there, just over here."


    She pointed ahead, but I couldn''t see exactly where she was pointing. So I ignored it and kept following her, studying her all the while, even from behind.


    After crying for a long time, she looked much more alive, much better. After I told her that I was going to be a pir of strength for her, she had let go of all the burden she had been carrying on her shoulders, and for the first time in her whole life, she could breathe properly.


    So I was happy, it was a real relief to get her out of her troubles.


    And now, the ce we were approaching was the resting ce of the Tenebra family.


    "We''ve arrived."


    When ra stopped, I turned to the two graves she was gazing longingly at and looked at their names.


    Our father''s name was Aaron, who died at thirty-six, and our mother''s name was Aria, who died at thirty-four. Their date of death was September 19, 2036, exactly seven years ago.


    Today was the anniversary of their deaths.


    They had left this world prematurely, where people can easily reach the age of ny as long as they lead a quiet life, with living conditions that are not worsened by climate change and global problems like in my old world, but on the contrary, are improving even more with mana.


    "They said that theirst regret before they died was that they couldn''t give you enough attention. They will be happy to see you change now."


    ra said this sincerely, and I felt an ache in my heart.


    I clenched my fists, because there was no scenario like they will be happy. I was sure they didn''t even want to see me, but being here was one of the things I had to do.


    "ra, can you leave me alone for a bit?"


    ra looked at me for a short while. Then, seeing the determination in my eyes, she nodded without saying anything. She stepped back and walked away from me.


    I looked around slightly, and when I realized that no one was nearby and ra was too far away to hear me, I took a deep breath, knelt down slightly, and spoke in a low voice.


    "I apologize..."


    I truly, sincerely apologize.


    "I have taken the ce of your son... I have invaded his body and I am deceiving your daughter by pretending to be him... I apologize."


    A cold and harsh wind suddenly hit me right in the face. I smiled bitterly.


    It was a coincidence. I knew that. Yet it was a well-timed coincidence, almost good enough to think it was real.


    "I heard what Aiden was like, but whatever he did, I''m really sorry for stealing his life, even if he chose to end his own."


    I wonder... What would have been different if they hadn''t died? Would Aiden have treated his sister better? Would ra have grown up better?


    Would this family be happy? Or would another disaster befall them?


    "I didn''t want it to be like this, but there''s nothing I can do... So, at least as ''Aiden'', I''m going to take on the responsibilities he didn''t fulfill. I''m going to make ra live like a princess and help her... I may be doing it out of selfish desire as a person in need of love, but I''ll really do it as a ''big brother''."


    I turned my eyes to the other graves. There were thousands of people here, the dead loved by so many.


    It was not only this family who left this world early, but also those who left behind children full of pain. It was like that in my old world too, you never knew who was going to leave the world and when.


    So, is it right to grieve only for this family among thousands of others?


    Frankly, I don''t care. I just... I want my sister to be happy, so I''ll do my best.


    "I hope you can ept this as my apology."


    The harsh breeze that had just hit my face slowed down, giving way to a slightly slower, soothing one.


    Again, it was a coincidence, there was no way the dead could have done such a thing. Still, a smile appeared on my face.


    "Thank you."


    I stood up again and turned to ra, who was watching me from behind, so she smiled and came over to me.


    "Did it go well?"


    "I believe so."


    I tried to smile, but then I realized my lips weren''t curving upward. I simply couldn''t, as if something had locked them.


    "You''re crying."


    When ra said that to me as if it was the first time she had ever seen it, I realized that a tear had actually fallen from my eye, and then I felt a deep longing and pain suddenly spreading through me.


    "Huh?"


    I... why am I crying? Why do I feel like this?


    Is it because my body, which used to belong to Aiden, is now relieved that he''s facing his family, albeit through me?


    Is it a burst of emotion that my subconscious momentarily projected onto me because my old family abandoned me...?


    It could be for apletely different reason, but for some reason¡­ crying doesn''t make me feel so bad. On the contrary, I feel peaceful, as if a dagger that has been lodged in my heart for a long time has now been pulled out.


    I raised my hands. I was going to wipe my tears but hesitated because I heard a voice.


    I quickly turned in the direction of the sound and saw the source of it, a girl at my age standing not far from me.


    She had short, dark brown hair that reached her shoulders. Her violet eyes, resembling an amethyst, were slightly teary as if she was feeling the same things I was feeling inside me.


    She was suffering, longing, just like me.

 Chapter 27: Volume I - 26: An Alien Feeling

    <h4>Chapter 27: Volume I - Chapter 26: An Alien Feeling</h4>


    (Six hours ago.)


    I felt a nudge on my shoulder, and my eyelids slowly opened. The first thing that came into my field of vision was the skewed seats of a skewed train.


    Right... I had taken the train to Wiathenst time. But¡­ why did I wake up? And I''m sure I didn''t take a pillow with me.


    "Uh, I was wondering if you could move over a little bit."


    When I heard a voiceing from my pillow that shouldn''t exist, I just looked to the side and then locked eyes with a boy with ghostly gray eyes.


    Then I realized that my ''pillow'' was actually this boy''s shoulder.


    "I- I apologize..."


    I retreated from my seat in an instant, angry with myself.


    How did I get into this situation¡­?


    "No problem."


    After this short and t answer, which I never expected to receive, I couldn''t help but be dumbfounded. Because after these two words, the boy turned around and focused out the window.


    Normally when people see me, they stutter, get scared, or start apologizing for no reason. Thanks to my family and my power, I''m a bit of a celebrity, so I''m pretty sure he knows who I am.


    I studied him briefly to see if he was pretending, but I couldn''t find a tremor or any sign that he was really pretending. Then I remembered those colorless, gray eyes that I had seen right after I woke up, and suddenly recalled them.


    I had to leave the field after the duel, so I didn''t see it happen in person, but there were rumors about a boy who had been the talk of the first week at the academy.


    Rumors of a boy who was as knowledgeable as the professors in almost all the sses, strong enough to defeat a ''professor'' even though he had limited his power for the students, ordinary looking and with colorless gray eyes.


    His name was...


    "You... Was your name Aiden?"


    The boy turned to me with a look of utter confusion on his face, but I ignored it and looked him in the eye as I poured mana into my passive skill.


    Sixth Sense, which I had recently managed to raise to grade C, started to work to its full potential, especially when I poured mana into it, and I suddenly got the impression that the person in front of me was unnecessarily weak.


    "Yes?"


    He nodded, but disappointment was already written all over my face.


    If he was really like the rumors, then I thought it was definitely a good idea to try to convince him to join the guild, but he''s not even average...


    "I apologize again, I just had something on my mind."


    To avoid being in a situation like the one I had just been in, I slid into the already empty seat number thirty and turned on my watch to pass the time.


    Then I realized that my eyes were slowly closing on their own, and the deep sleep that had overtaken me whenever I boarded the maic trains was back.


    I turned off my watch when sleep started to creep in, then leaned my seat back very slightly, but before I gave myself over to sleep, I looked to the side for no reason.


    This boy, whose name was Aiden, had closed his eyes like me and seemed to be asleep as if nothing had just happened.


    Although he had a rather ordinary face, I felt strange when I remembered his gray eyes.


    I turned back in front of me, about to give myself over to sleep, but it didn''t take long for me to feel that something was¡­ different.


    Just as I closed my eyes, a strange sensation enveloped my whole body, and then I shivered involuntarily. All my sleep was shattered in an instant, and my eyes flew open.


    It wasing from the boy sleeping next to me.


    My skill, which I had possessed since childhood, was making me feel somethingpletely alien, something I had never encountered before in this world.


    I could not define the feeling as good or bad, safe or dangerous.


    I was confused as if I smelled something I had never smelled before, as if it did not belong to this world; as if I had encountered a color that I had never seen before in my life, not in the visible spectrum.


    This thing I felt... This boy is responsible, I am sure of it.


    Could it be that the source of his much-talked-about intelligence and power is something that does not belong to this world? Is that why I thought he was so weak at first?


    It''s the first time that my skill has made me feel something so clearly¡­ iprehensible. There is definitely something about him.


    This strange feeling I experienced for the first time was confusing me and preventing me from sleeping properly, but when I realized that I was getting a headache, I forcibly tried to stop my passive skill from working. That way, the feeling slowly disappeared and I felt rxed again.


    Everything was back to normal, but I still remembered that feeling that I would probably never forget.


    In these thoughts, my eyelids slowly began to close as the thing that was preventing me from sleeping disappeared. Sleep came again and I allowed myself to drift off to it, continuing to think about what secrets the boy who had just caused that strange feeling might have.


    Maybe... maybe he really is important enough that we should recruit him to our guild.


    *******


    My eyelids fluttered open at the announcement on the train, and I realized we had arrived at our destination.


    I yawned slightly, then slowly sat up.


    For a moment I remembered the feeling I had felt just before I fell asleep, curiosity gripped my whole body.


    I slowly turned around, looking at the source of the alien feeling. With that, our eyes met and I involuntarily frowned.


    "What''s wrong? I''m just looking ahead."


    I''ve never been scolded by anyone in my life, and no one has ever dared to frown at me, but now this boy is doing this...


    Is it possible that he doesn''t know me? Or... Does he know me and act like this even though he is so weak?


    That''s what I was thinking, but then it dawned on me... That alien feeling I had... Could it be that this boy is really strong? So much so that he can see me as nothing¡­?


    Then... maybe he might actually be useful.


    "I''m sorry..."


    I turned back in front of me and just three secondster, we received a notification that we had reached our destination.


    I actually wanted to talk to him. I wanted to check if he was really strong. I wanted to make sure he was someone we could use in the future. This curiosity gripped my whole body, but I restrained myself.


    Because I hade here for a purpose and it was already toote. I didn''t have time for him.


    I put the boy named Aiden out of my mind for the time being to investigate himter, and then quickly mingled with the crowd, grabbed a taxi, and headed for the Wiathen Auction Hall.


    Even though I was a bitte due to the city traffic, I arrived at my destination without any problems. Taking a deep breath, I walked toward the imposing building. After paying the entrance fee without any problem, I headed inside. My goal was to participate in today''s auction, which would start soon.


    But... something happened that I didn''t expect. That alien feeling, that thing that my skill made me feel on the train, suddenly came back.


    I turned around reflexively and looked in the direction of the feeling.


    I wanted to be sure, I tried to see the source of this feeling, and I did.


    I saw Aiden, the boy wearing the same clothes I saw on the train, walking into a bar not far from here.


    Why did he go in there? Is it an acquaintance''s ce or something? Then I''ll have to keep that in mind when I''m going to investigate him.


    I was lost in my own imagination. I was looking at the bar where Aiden had entered, but then someone standing behind me started yelling and I involuntarily came to my senses.


    I was standing in front of the line and the people behind me were waiting for me.


    "What are you waiting for, walk!"


    A woman shouted angrily at me and I turned back to her.


    I was going to apologize, but then I heard her muttering.


    "Tch, what stupid people here."


    Our eyes met after she said those words in a voice I could specifically hear.


    I am the one at fault for standing in the middle of the line... I realize that, and I was really going to apologize but¡­ I hate people like that the most.


    I narrowed my eyes, then looked hard and cold at the shouting woman. When she saw me, especially my face which was recognizable, her face fell and her eyes widened.


    "I... I apologize..."


    Yes, that''s how people reacted when they met me. It didn''t matter if they were rich, powerful, or indifferent... Almost everyone in this kingdom was afraid of my family.


    I looked back at the sign that said Ri Bar, then turned away with a sigh.


    What am I doing? Even if I wonder what that alien feeling is, I''m about to attend an important auction, I need to focus.


    "Pay a little more attention next time."


    With that, I cleared my mind, quickly entered the building, and participated in the auction that started only a few minutester.

 Chapter 28: Volume I - 27: Unexpected Encounter

    <h4>Chapter 28: Volume I - Chapter 27: Unexpected Encounter</h4>


    In the end, I spent a total of one million two hundred and fifty thousand wels to buy myself a good sword and a ring that slowly purifies any poison in my body, making me immune to it. During the process, I looked at the rest of the items. But unfortunately, no matter how beautiful they were, I was not very interested in the others.


    So when the auction was over, I had a perfunctory meeting with the children of a few important families. I didn''t like such things, so I kept my distance.


    "Oh, Celine! Here you are¡­"


    Still, a few of them approached me nonchntly. I chatted with them too for a short while, even though they were ufortable.


    So, after a few minutes, when I thought I could finally leave, I checked what time it was.


    It was approaching six o''clock, time had passed quickly.


    When I asked the nobles for permission to leave, no one refused me. They couldn''t refuse me.


    When I finally stepped out of that stifling ce, I breathed in the fresh air and cleared my mind for a while.


    Dealing with nobles... offering them a fake smile while epting theirs, was as exhausting as ever. It was even more frustrating for me.


    After rxing by keeping my eyes closed for two minutes, I got myself a taxi again. There was one more ce I had to go.


    "Where to?"


    The man spoke indifferently without even looking back.


    I didn''t care too much, as I didn''t want him to see me and suddenly change his behavior.


    "Wiathen Cemetery."


    The man drove off without saying anything. About five minutester, he dropped me off in front of Wiathen Cemetery.


    I got out of the car without paying any attention to him, even though he froze for a moment when he saw my face while paying the fee. I walked slowly into the cemetery.


    The cemetery was a normal, t cemetery when you first entered. But the further ind you went, the wider and more borate the graves became.


    It was unnecessary, at least to me. It was almost frustrating that even in death, whether a hero or a normal person, most people''s resting ce was shaped more by the money they had than by what they had done in life.


    I kept going until I came to a grave that looked almost like it was made of gold, and then stopped.


    Oswell Potenbea¡­ that was the name written on the grave I stood in front of.


    About two years ago, he sacrificed himself in a dungeon to save his team, and his body was never even found. So this was just a symbolic grave.


    I took a deep breath and squinted my eyes. I crouched down and looked up at the gray clouds in the sky.


    "I met an interesting guy today."


    That was the only thing on my mind, I couldn''t think of anything else.


    "Unlike the others, he was able to make eye contact with me and even scolded me for looking at him strangely. He also makes my skill to react in a strange way. I feel like he''s someone important, if not powerful... someone whose intelligence will definitely benefit our guild."


    I sighed lightly and then started talking about other things, about what happened this month, about my entrance into the academy, and all sorts of things...


    Time passed and passed, and I talked and talked. Finally, much faster than on previous asions, I realized that I had nothing more to say.


    I forced myself, looked for anything to say, but... nothing.


    "I''m sorry, I haven''t had a lot of important things to tell you this month."


    I felt bad, I had never told him anything so briefly before. Yet no matter what I did, I couldn''t really think of anything.


    "I hope you are at peace..."


    It looks like it will rain soon...


    "Anyway, I have nothing more to say. I won''t bother you. So... see you, brother."


    I looked at the gravestone onest time, and then stood up with the relief of talking to my brother, even if he hadn''t really heard me.


    I walked back the way I came, the grandeur of the graves diminishing as I went. This time I didn''t care too much, I started to think about what I could do back at the academy.


    Meanwhile, I kept moving forward for a while and then involuntarily paused.


    There was that feeling again... That strange feeling that didn''t belong to this world.


    It was confusing me, like a feeling I shouldn''t feel.


    For a moment I wondered if I should just ignore him and walk away. But curiosity got the better of me and I turned back. I wanted to at least see what he was doing here, maybe I would find something that would help me in the future.


    I soon found him standing in front of a grave, next to a girl with eyes the same color as his, probably his sister.


    The expression on his face... It was one of extreme pain, great longing, and meaningless peace all at the same time.


    I felt a pain in my heart, a pain that appeared for no reason. An agonizing pain that went deeper and deeper.


    My skill had been activated.


    The Sixth Sense was not a simple intuitive skill, it had many different functions.


    This was one of those many functions, an empathy so strong that I could experience the emotions of the other person almost as if I were that person.


    Each of the emotions I felt looking at this teary-eyed guy in front of me was so intense, so heavy, that I was shaking involuntarily.


    I didn''t know what to do, I just kept looking at the owner of these intense emotions, and then he slowly raised his head and turned to me.


    Our eyes met. My astonishment was multiplied when I realized how those painful emotions were reflected in his teary eyes.


    *******


    What is Celine doing here? Oh, well... right. She had a brother who died, she could havee to visit him and that would exin why she came to Wiathen in the first ce, but there''s something else I don''t understand...


    Why does she look at me like that? Why are her eyes like mine, full of longing and pain?


    For a while there was an intense silence in the space, no one said anything.


    This silence was broken by ra.


    "Hmm? Who is that?"


    When she realized that Celine and I were looking at each other, first her eyebrows went up. Then she saw the expression on her face, leaned in curiously, and whispered to me.


    "You made a girlfriend and didn''t tell me?"


    "No-"


    I didn''t want Celine to misunderstand me, so I tried to give ra a quick answer, but my words were interrupted before I could finish them.


    I felt a slight pain in my cheek, followed by a little warmth that spread from there through my body.


    I quickly moved my hand to my cheek, not even realizing what had happened, and then my eyes widened when I saw the red liquid on my hand.


    What... is... happening?


    "Watch out!"


    When Celine''s voice entered my ear, I reflexively ducked quickly.


    I had no idea what was happening, but the moment I ducked, something flew right over me, grazing my hair, and a metallic sound came from behind me.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I looked behind me, where the metallic sound came from, and my eyes widened when I saw the dagger embedded in my ''mother''s'' tombstone.


    Celine ran toward me and took out a dimensional button from her pocket. The button then began to turn to dust, and a long, thin blue sword appeared in her hand, looking quite simple but of high quality.


    After the appearance of the sword, I heard a sound like the tearing of wind and realized that a dagger was approaching, but it was toote. Because the moment I turned my head to the side, I found the exact same dagger that was stuck in the tombstone right in front of my nose.


    ~cling!


    Too fast for me to see, something that I could only recognize as blue blocked the dagger. Then I realized that Celine was standing in front of me.


    After that, I understood the situation instantly.


    Potenbea, a very big and powerful family, had as many enemies as it was big and powerful. In short, we were now in the middle of a nned assassination of Celine.


    "Don''t you have bodyguards?"


    I quickly assessed the situation and that was the first thing that came to my mind. Because I didn''t think it was possible for an important figure like Celine toe here alone.


    "They must be watching from a distance. I think there''s another group taking care of them."


    That was the moment when I started cursing inside. Immediately after the bad news, when three men dressed in ck suddenly appeared about ten meters in front of us, I couldn''t stop my body from involuntarily shaking.


    All three men had daggers in their hands, daggers pointed at us. It was clear they were going to attack us, but my brain refused to function properly.


    After twenty-one years of normal life, I suddenly found myself in such a situation that I couldn''t think straight.


    I''m scared... scared that the new chance I have will slip away, scared that I will die before I can enjoy this life.


    "B- brother?"


    ra grabbed my hand, trembling behind me. I saw her trembling eyes, and then my thoughts grew darker.


    If Celine was fighting them alone, maybe she would have a chance with her bodyguards back, but there is a big problem here.


    She is clearly trying to protect us now, and yet ra and I are nothing but a burden to her.

 Chapter 29: Volume I - 28: The Assassin

    <h4>Chapter 29: Volume I - Chapter 28: The Assassin</h4>


    I gulped, then took a deep breath.


    ra was shaking, scared. I was scared too.


    "Brother¡­ wh- what''s going on?"


    She held my hand tightly, then I realized how her body was actually shaking.


    My eyes widened, and my mind suddenly cleared.


    I... what am I doing?


    Just a few days ago I thought I could sacrifice the millions of people I could save in this world if it meant protecting her... and now look at the situation I''m in.


    I clenched my fist and teeth at the same time.


    No... I''m not going to die here, and I''m not going to get ra killed.


    I have to think of something. How do I get out of this situation? Where does this happen in the main story? How does Celine get out of this?


    I dwelled on thisst thought for a while and then suddenly realized another fact: this assassination was nowhere in the game.


    No matter how much I think about it, I can''t remember such a scene.


    Ah, there''s no such scene in the game! That''s right!


    "Calm down and don''t do anything unnecessary, ra. I''ll get you out of here no matter what... Don''t worry."


    I said these words even though I had never experienced such a moment in the game, even though I was shaking like crazy.


    I had an idea, and I was trusting myself.


    More than myself, though, I trust the girl standing fearlessly in front of me with her sword. Because the fact that this attack is happening now means that something like this is happening in the story of the game, even if I don''t know it.


    Based on this, if I think that in the future Celine appears at the academy without any problems, she should have gotten out of here alive. And also that the attack has already been exposed... They don''t need us anymore. So they probably won''t be interested in us any longer.


    "Don''t you have a weapon?"


    Celine asked me with a frown, but she kept her gaze on her opponents, her expression of pain from earlierpletely gone.


    "My only weapon is the sword I use for training and it''s at the academy."


    My voice was unintentionally shaky, and although I was determined, it was not easy to control my body.


    "Didn''t you ever buy a dimensional button?"


    "That was my next goal, but unfortunately, so far, no."


    Celine clicked her tongue. The situation was hopeless, at least from her point of view.


    "Can you fight?"


    The men began to walk slowly toward us, and Celine gripped the hilt of her sword tightly.


    "I would only be a burden to you."


    The girl''s expression darkened as she stood there fearlessly, she was about to say something to me, but then one of the men in ck disappeared.


    Celine swung her sword horizontally in a swift movement and a metallic sound echoed in my ears. The man in ck then appeared right in front of her, but he didn''t stop there.


    He took a short step backward, twirled the dagger in his hand, and swung it at Celine again. But this time Celine''s violet eyes shed with fury.


    There was a brief spark over her body, then a wave of electricity shot from her other hand, striking the assassin and knocking him backward.


    I grabbed ra''s hand tightly as the assassin was thrown back by the wave. As soon as I turned around, I started running and shouted.


    "I''m sorry! But believe me, you''ll fight better without us!"


    Celine looked at me for a moment.


    Honestly, I expected her to make an expression as if she was shouting ''coward'' at me, but on the contrary, she just nodded at me and focused on what was in front of her, as if that''s what she wanted from the beginning.


    Well, I don''t know if she trusts me or if she doesn''t care. But I''m not going to dwell on that too much because if we want to live, we really need to escape.


    "B- brother, it hurts..."


    I was holding ra''s hand so tightly that sheined to me, but I didn''t let go. I can''t hesitate now.


    It''s not hard to understand from the sounds of the battle behind us that the battle is still going on, so the assassins must be totally focused on Celine...


    Great!


    I kept running, dragging ra behind me, and then stopped when I came to a grave that looked like it was made of pure gold.


    Oswell Potenbea was inscribed on the gravestone... It was the same one I remembered from the game, and frankly, it was a bit too shy to be a tombstone, but I ignored it and focused back on where Celine and the assassins were fighting.


    Even though I was their first target, Celine was their main target. So even though they were trying to kill me, they weren''t going to follow us... Because for them, my purpose was just to be bait.


    Celine''s Sixth Sense skill gives her a great advantage in situations like this. So if they had attacked her first, it''s very likely that she wouldn''t have even gotten a scratch...


    But if someone standing in front of her was suddenly attacked and copsed in a pool of blood, she would be confused and distracted for even a moment. That''s what they were aiming for. That''s why they attacked me and not Celine, even though she was the obvious target.


    "''Wh- what''s going on¡­? Who are they?"


    I looked at ra and saw that she was pale, as if terrified.


    Well, I can''t question her... After all, it''s her first time experiencing something like this. And so was I until a few seconds ago...


    No, even now I was like that. Even now I was shaking with fear.


    I thought about how Celine hadn''t hesitated for a second during the assassination and I gritted my teeth again.


    She was used to such things. She had been the target of maybe dozens of assassination attempts since she was a little girl.


    But what about me? I am someone who has lived in a small room for twenty-one years and doesn''t even exercise. Neither my body nor my mind is strong.


    And like that, I realized something very important: I need to strengthen not only my physique and strength but also my mind.


    I had underestimated fantasy worlds, I hadughed in vain behind the backs of all those main characters who went into such worlds and shit their pants.


    This is no longer a game. This is reality and I had never thought about it from their point of view until now.


    I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself as I continued to check my surroundings.


    I actually feel bad for leaving Celine alone, but at the same time, I believe she will win. She might be a little bruised and battered, but I''m sure she will survive. After all, in the original game, Celine continues to appear in the future as if nothing happened. So she must be getting out of here.


    I have no choice but to trust that because I''m weak right now. There''s nothing I can do to help her at this point.


    I looked at ra, who was looking back and forth with anxiety. I was about to open my mouth tofort her a little, but then noticed a shadow standing behind her.


    I felt goosebumps all over my body, countless questions appeared and disappeared in my mind.


    Why did they follow us?


    Why are we still under attack?


    Are they... trying to eliminate witnesses? But why would they try something like that when their identities are already hidden?!


    Damn it!


    For a moment I was afraid to freeze. I was afraid that the shadow would attack ra and injure her, but contrary to my thoughts, my body moved even faster than I had imagined.


    I quickly used my mana to strengthen my senses and my body, then grabbed ra by the shoulder and pushed her aside, so she lost her bnce and copsed. That''s when I came face to face with the dagger that wasing right at me.


    The damn dagger was so fast that I couldn''t avoid it, but thanks to my mana-enhanced senses I could pick out the attack, even if it was blurry.


    This was a very good thing for me. Because the fact that I could see the attack meant that this guy underestimated me. So I have a chance, but...


    Fuck, this is going to hurt.


    In a swift motion, I moved my hand to the dagger, which was milliseconds away from reaching me, and it pierced through the center of my palm and out the back of it like a nail driven into a wall.


    I felt a sharp pain radiating from my left arm through my whole body. I felt nauseous, like my world was turning upside down, and it was hard not to faint.


    Deciding that gritting my teeth wasn''t enough, I bit my tongue, doing everything I could to resist the pain.


    The dagger was stuck in my hand and the man''s movements were now restricted. This was my first and only chance, I had to make the most of it and so I poured most of my mana into my right leg.


    The mana, almost all of it gathered in my leg, overflowed my still underdeveloped muscles and started to tear them apart. I was in pain as if my leg was being torn off, but I ignored it and kicked toward the man with my leg, which was overflowing with power.


    He tried to pull his dagger out of my palm to retreat, but I squeezed my palm where the dagger was lodged and gripped his arm tightly with my other hand.


    It hurt like hell. My vision blurred, but I knew I wouldn''t have another chance after that.


    My painful but determined shout filled the entire cemetery.


    "AAARRRGHHH!"


    After I had stopped the man from running away, I swung my kick exactly on his right thigh bone, with the very tip of my shoe on top of it, specifically to increase the pressure and the force of my attack.


    As my kick hit its target, the man''s foot twisted into a strange shape, and he groaned in pain.


    No matter how strong he was, he had let his guard down because he underestimated me, and I took advantage of the gap to specifically target the muscles on his thigh bone, which are more fragile and have more nerves.


    I also used the tip of my foot to reduce the surface area and increase the single-point damage, so I was able to deliver a kick that was both urate and solid.


    As the man groaned in pain, the hand holding the dagger loosened, and I pulled it out of my palm in one go.


    My palm was burning like crazy. I was sure it was going to get infected, but I poured all the mana I had left in my body into the dagger and attacked the man''s stomach without mercy.


    The man, in the pain of his broken leg, barely noticed the dagger approaching him, but he was no novice like me... Now he knew that I was no pushover and therefore he would not underestimate me.


    As the dagger was approaching the man''s abdomen, he broke a dimensional button from his pocket and pulled out a new dagger. So he met my attack and then lunged at me, trying to ignore his broken foot.


    That was the moment when everything became difficult for me. Because I could see the seriousness in his eyes, it was unlikely for me to survive this attack, but I still had a smile on my face.


    The man hesitated for a moment with my smile. He didn''t know why I was smiling and it couldn''t be a good sign if I was smiling in such a situation. So he paused, even for a second, and that''s how I achieved my goal.


    My sister, whom I had pushed aside at the beginning to dodge the attack, hit the man who hesitated to attack me on the head with arge stone.

 Chapter 30: Volume I - 29: Hospitalized

    <h4>Chapter 30: Volume I - Chapter 29: Hospitalized</h4>


    After ra hit him in the head with that rock, the man''s eyes rolled back. Then his whole body trembled and copsed. Soon blood began to ooze from his head.


    ra was even more horrified than she had been when she saw this scene.


    "I... I killed... a person..."


    I felt exhausted, having used up everyst ounce of my mana on top of the pain in my whole body, but I still held her hand tightly.


    "You didn''t kill him, he''s still alive and we have to be quick... or there will be more toe."


    ra was in a shock-like state, she didn''t seem to hear what I was saying.


    I clicked my tongue. She was a normal girl in the beginning, and this had hit her even harder than me.


    I straighten up quickly, shook her a little, and then ra looked at me with trembling eyes.


    "You didn''t kill him, ra, he''s still alive and even if you did, no one would me you because he was an assassin who made an attempt on your life. So get up, we need to get out of here!"


    Honestly, I have no idea if the man is alive or not... If he is alive, he will probably have a lot of headaches for the rest of his life, but I don''t care in the slightest.


    I forced ra to her feet and brought her head in front of me, cupping her cheeks in my hands, so that we were eye to eye and I looked resolutely into her eyes, which were shaking incessantly.


    "Please, we have to run."


    I shook her gently once more. ra then looked away from me and murmured in a low voice.


    "O- okay..."


    She seemed to have recovered a little more.


    A slight smile appeared on my face and I started running again, holding her hand with my uninjured hand.


    With each step I took, I felt my leg, which was having a hard time due to the mana overload, literally crying. My pierced palm was hurting more and more with each passing second, but I kept running for my life, even though I was limping. Then I saw a shadow on the road ahead.


    At first, I cursed my luck and tried to turn around and run in the other direction. But then I realized it wasn''t what I thought.


    Because there were two men in suits standing on the road in front of us, surrounded by about seven assassins on the ground.


    When we locked eyes with the men, they both appeared in front of me at once. I didn''t even realize when they had gotten there, but when I saw them up close, I realized who they were.


    "About one hundred and eighty meters northeast."


    At first, they looked at me nkly, but then they understood what I meant.


    "Be quick."


    That was all one of the men said, looking at the other. So the other man disappeared without waiting for a second.


    The man who stayed next to us first looked at my body a little. Then he put his hand on my shoulder and smiled slightly.


    "You did well, young man. I will take care of everything, now you can rest."


    With that, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.


    More than for myself, I was happy that ra had survived. And with that relief, I copsed to the floor, leaving my knees, which were now struggling to resist gravity, free.


    ra leaned over me worriedly, then said something I couldn''t understand. I just smiled at her.


    Seconds after, a drop fell on my forehead. Soon the gray clouds in the sky began to pour rain.


    I thought of the rain that fell thest time I finished the game.


    An involuntary smile formed on my face, but it hurt so much now that it was hard for me to stay conscious, so I closed my eyes, surrendering my pain-stricken body to unconsciousness.


    *******


    "-teresting..."


    I heard an iplete sentence that I couldn''t quite understand.


    "-em to be of this worl-"


    Is someone... having a conversation?


    "-e is suitable."


    No... not two, but at least three people are chatting.


    But what are they talking about? Where am I? Who''s talking? Why... can''t I open my eyes? Do I¡­ even have a body in the first ce?


    "-atching then."


    Who are you? Give me back my body!


    "-cepted."


    With thesest words, I suddenly felt pain all over my body.


    My eyes opened wide, I sat up with great speed because of the pain.


    The first thing I realized was that I was in a white room. But then the pain in my body became more pronounced.


    My heart was beating so fast that it felt like it was going to burst, my whole body was covered in sweat and my vision was a bit blurry. Considering the state I was in before I fainted, there was no general problem, but my head was hurting like crazy...


    And...


    Uh? What¡­?


    My eyes widened; I searched my memory to the end.


    For some reason... I couldn''t remember the conversations and voices I heard before I woke up.


    Was I dreaming? No... Although, it could have been...


    My head started throbbing, aching like crazy with my thoughts.


    Seriously... what''s going on?


    "Ah!"


    While my head was throbbing, I reflexively looked up at the sounding from across the room. Then I found someone who looked like a nurse in front of me.


    "Please wait!"


    After the nurse said that, she ran out of the room, probably to call the doctor.


    Ah! Really, my palm and foot are not crying out in pain as they should be... I guess they have already applied the treatment.


    I raised my left hand and looked at my palm where my opponent''s dagger had pierced it like it was nothing.


    There was arge scratch in the center of my hand, back and front, but apart from that I was still intact.


    When I squeezed the dagger so that the man couldn''t dodge my kick, I had widened the wound considerably, and apparently, that was why it had left a scar that wouldn''t go away easily even if it was healed...


    "Mr. Tenebra."


    As I examined my hand, I looked up again when I heard a voiceing from across the room and then found a blue-eyed doctor in a white coat, about forty years old, with graying brown hair.


    "How are you feeling?"


    "I don''t have any pain or difort... just a little throbbing in my head."


    The doctor approached me and put his hand on me. Then I felt a stream of mana entering my body, but I didn''t object to it, because I knew that what the doctor was doing was to control my body.


    The mana slowly spread throughout my body, then the doctor withdrew his hand and smiled slightly.


    "Your body is in good condition and you don''t seem to have any psychological problems. You will only have some scars on your palm and your right foot... If you want, I can start the discharge procedure and you will be discharged within an hour."


    So I have scars on my leg too? Although my fibers may have burst considering I loaded it with more mana than it can carry...


    At the time, I was able to resist the pain due to adrenaline and mana boosting, but that doesn''t change how serious the condition of my foot was at the time. I better be careful when using mana...


    "Let''s do that."


    When I nodded, the doctor smiled at me and wished me well. Then he left the room. And so, I was left here alone again and I leaned back on myfortable bed.


    To be honest, I don''t really care what kind of injuries I got.


    I''m trying to remember the conversations I had in the dream before I woke up, trying to identify the owners of the voices I heard, but no matter what I do, nothinges to mind.


    It''s... annoying. Why is this happening?


    "Brother?"


    Ah... I hear a lot of peopleing in and out of my room, but why do I never hear the damn door open? Am I too focused?


    "Are you okay?"


    I turned to my sister standing in the doorway, then smiled brightly.


    "Of course, I have a lot to do before I die."


    ra grimaced.


    "That''s not funny! I... I really thought you were dead."


    She came over and sat in the chair next to the bed. For a short while we didn''t talk much, we just waited.


    "What day is it?"


    "Sunday, around half past three in the afternoon."


    So I slept for a day... I didn''t get hurt that badly except for the dagger in my palm and the bacsh from consuming all my mana in one go, but I slept for a day...


    "I see..."


    So a silence fell over the ce. Out of the corner of my eye, I looked at ra''s face and I couldn''t help smiling, because all I could read on her face was that she seemed to be worried about me.


    Now I''m starting to wonder¡­


    Would things have been different if I had had a sister like that in my previous life?


    If I had someone who could spice up that boring and ordinary life... What would have changed in my previous life?


    I couldn''t help thinking this way, and then I sighed lightly.


    That life is over! I shouldn''t think about such things... I should just move on.


    "Get out of that rent and get a decent house. Also, quit your part-time jobs and transfer to a different high school. Start all over again and this time socialize with your peers. Enjoy your youth, ra."


    "You''re young too, you know? And I thought older brothers didn''t want their sisters to make friends."


    "As for the first question, yes, I''m young, but I''m already living my life. As for the second question, that applies to boyfriends."


    ra looked at me with raised eyebrows. I responded with a frown.


    "What? Just so you know, I''m only generalizing, I have no intention of interfering in your love life and ruining the youth I want you to enjoy. Unless, of course, you find someone unnecessary and a pain in the ass."


    "How thoughtful of you..."


    She said it in a teasing way and I involuntarily smiled. We looked at each other for a brief moment, then startedughing for no reason.


    It was a pleasant moment for both of us, who had not experienced many such moments in our lives.

 Chapter 31: Volume I - 30: The Stone

    <h4>Chapter 31: Volume I - Chapter 30: The Stone</h4>


    "By the way... who was that girl? Your girlfriend?"


    When I saw that ra asked this curiously with a sly smile on her face, I felt a bit relieved. At least she seems to have gotten over the incident...


    "No, she''s not, she''s just someone from the academy. And I''m surprised you don''t recognize her, she''s Celine Potenbea."


    ra''s eyes widened in surprise at what I said.


    "You mean that Potenbea family?"


    "Yes."


    ra trembled a little at first when I confirmed her. Then she raised her eyebrows and spoke.


    "She came to look at you for a few minutes in the room, even though she was badly injured, I thought you were close."


    "Excuse me?"


    I''m sure I didn''t do anything to get her attention... In fact, I ignored her a lot, so she should have ignored me too. That''s how it should have been¡­


    Then why?


    Did she feel guilty because she was the cause of the attack? That''s the only logical option I can think of.


    "Anyway... never mind, she probably felt responsible for the attack. Don''t get any silly ideas just yet."


    ra looked at my eyes skeptically for a while, but when she saw that I didn''t hesitate one bit, she sighed.


    "Fine... so be it."


    We talked about useless things for a long time after those words, but I must say I really enjoyed it.


    It was much more fun to spend time with her like this, side by side, than talking on the phone through texting. I could have gone on and on, but unfortunately, it had toe to an end.


    About an hour after we started talking, the doctor came back into the room and told me that I could be discharged whenever I wanted. So I finally got out of bed, jumped up two or three times, and realized that I was really healed.


    The technology of this world is really amazing!


    "By the way, what about the fees?"


    I asked the doctor after I had collected my general things like my watch. It was clear that I was not being treated normally.


    Normally, when someone goes to the hospital, unless they are in a terminal condition, they are just given a simple treatment. In my case, it is quite clear that at least they gave me a potion. Otherwise, it is impossible for my palm and leg, which were badly damaged, to heal so quickly.


    "The Potenbea family has paid all expenses as an apology for what happened to you. They also paid an additional twenty thousand wels, if I am not mistaken."


    Oh? So not only did she feel responsible and take care of me, but she also paid extra money?


    Well... She is certainly more generous than I remember.


    "I see."


    I sighed deeply and smiled brightly at ra, who was standing right behind me.


    "Let''s get out of here."


    *******


    The first thing we did when we left the hospital was to go to ra''s house. Together we looked at the ads for new houses, went shopping and went sightseeing to our heart''s content. The experience at the cemetery was hard to forget, but ra was handling it well, so I never brought it up.


    If she''s already getting over it, I''d rather leave it alone.


    "What shall we do now?"


    ra asked curiously as we walked out of the movie theater we had entered for a distraction. She had such a bright smile on her face that I couldn''t help thinking that I wished I didn''t sleep for a whole day.


    Curiously I checked the time and couldn''t help sighing when I saw that it waste, because I didn''t even have an hour left to get out of here.


    "I''ve already booked the train... So, now I have to go back."


    ra''s face fell a little, but she kept smiling.


    "Okay..."


    In this way, her face always remained a little sullen for the rest of the time after she heard I was leaving. Still, she didn''t leave my side and even apanied me to the train station when it was time for me to leave.


    It was actually a good feeling.


    It was the first time in my twenty-one years of life that I was sad to say goodbye to someone. I didn''t want to go to the academy, I wanted to stay with her, but I knew I couldn''t do that.


    "Don''t forget to tell me where you are going when you move. I''ll try to visit when I have free time."


    I hugged her onest time before finally getting on the train.


    Without even realizing it, I hade to think of her as my sister¡­ I had grown so attached to her. I didn''t even realize it would be like this, having a family... It was truly magical. Still, I separated her from me.


    "See you."


    Those were thest words out of my mouth before I got on the train. I smiled bitterly and waved at her.


    "See you..."


    Just three seconds after I heard ra''s farewell, the train door started to close and I took onest look at her. I memorized her sad gray eyes, and her hair blowing in the wind.


    Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down first and quickly looked for my own seat as the train would be leaving soon.


    When I found it, the first thing I noticed was that two middle-aged men were sitting next to me.


    Well... I won''t have to deal with anything like before, I guess.


    Sighing slightly, I took my seat, realizing for a moment that I had nothing to do. So I spent the whole journey shuffling my watch.


    *******


    When I closed the door to my room, the first thing I did was throw myself into the shower, then I threw on somefortable clothes and got into bed.


    Finally, I had some free time and that means I could finally use what I had bought.


    I took a deep breath, prepared myself, and took out of my pocket a dimensional button with a stone worth about half a million wels inside.


    I examined it briefly, but it looked no different from the normal ones. Yet there was something really valuable inside...


    When I felt I was ready, I broke it by simply transferring mana to it.


    The dimensional button shimmered as it turned to dust, and secondster a mysterious stone with strange patterns on it fell on the bed.


    I instantly felt dizzy with the mystical mana emanating from the stone, but I also knew I had to act fast before someone else felt it.


    I brought the knife I had just taken from the kitchen to my hand and then took a deep breath.


    They make it look like nothing in TV shows and stuff, but cutting myself is a really scary thing...


    The knife left a distinct scratch on my finger, and then blood started dripping from the cut. I put my dripping finger on the stone and then, without waiting for a second, I started to transfer mana to it.


    Of course, the ck market probably already tried this... But there is one thing they don''t know. It''s anguage that no one in this world knows yet...


    "Herata, priensa seniteory nahuktakasein itsanse..."


    Words came out of my mouth that anyone who heard me would recognize as gibberish, but with every movement of my lips, mana was sucked out of my body like a vacuum, and teal particles appeared in the room.


    Ignoring them, I continued to mutter and so the stone began to glow. I felt my muscles slowly begin to ache with the mana being sucked out of my body, I felt tired.


    My mana was nearing the bottom in an instant, but seconds before it waspletely gone, the transmission suddenly stopped and a smile appeared on my face.


    The blood flowing from my finger spread out, following the patterns on the stone, and with the words that came out of my mouth, the particles that had appeared around me suddenly began to be drawn into the stone.


    As the particles were sucked in, the stone glowed violently. So much so that after a while I couldn''t even look at it.


    It is good that the curtains absorb a lot of light... This way almost no light escapes.


    The stone continued to glow for a while, so fiercely that it was actually frightening. But then it slowly began to fade. It got less and less bright, and when it disappearedpletely, there was no longer a stone.


    Instead, there was a male spirit, about fifteen to twenty centimeters tall, floating in the air, with bright green eyes, light green hair, a green but traditional-looking ancient dress, and two pairs of wings, looking at me with raised eyebrows.

 Chapter 32: Volume I - 31: Spirit Contract

    <h4>Chapter 32: Volume I - Chapter 31: Spirit Contract</h4>


    The spirit raised his eyebrows in surprise, then slowly furrowed after he looked at me for a while.


    "Who the hell are you? And... what is this ce?"


    He had a childish voice, but he was authoritative as if he could put me in the ground whenever he wanted.


    I let out a deep sigh, then spoke calmly.


    "I am Aiden Tenebra and you are on Lunerra."


    The spirit''s eyes widened in surprise at myst word.


    "Lunerra? Really? Then... did I get through?"


    A momentary smile appeared on his face, but it didn''t take long for me to break his joy.


    "No, you didn''t. On the contrary, I pulled you out of there."


    The smile on the soul''s face fell in an instant. Then his eyes widened as if he realized something. He looked into my eyes in surprise, then sharpened his gaze and raised his hand.


    "Don''t you know a little too much? Who the fuck are you?"


    With his hand in the air, he looked like he was about to do something to me.


    I just watched him without saying anything because he was actually cute with his small stature and boyish face. Then the spirit finally realized that something was wrong.


    "Huh?"


    He put his hand down and looked at his tiny palms. Then he raised them up again, but again, nothing happened.


    "I... What''s happening? Why can''t I use my mana?"


    "Because you are not here physically, but spiritually, as your species is called. You cannot do anything on your own, you need an intermediary."


    The spirit frowned as if it understood what I meant.


    "How do you know so much?"


    "It doesn''t matter, I don''t know as much as you think I do."


    in lie... but it doesn''t really matter.


    "I think you''ve already understood my purpose. I simply want to make a contract with you."


    "I understand that... But I don''t see any reason to sign a contract with you? At worst I''ll go back to where I came from, why should I ept your offer?"


    He had a point... but only if he could actually do what he said.


    "You are wrong. You have to make a contract with me. Because without me you can''t do anything in this world. I am the only one who can see you in your current state, who canmunicate with you because you woke up with my blood and my mana."


    I paused for a moment, smiled slightly, and then continued.


    "Likewise, I am the only one you can make a contract with because you woke up with my blood and mana. Besides, you cannot leave this world. Because you have to pass through it again, and by the time you get there you will be destroyed by theck of mana. Don''t you realize that even now you are slowly disappearing?"


    When I pointed at it, the spirit looked at its own body and then realized that it was slowly fading away.


    His eyebrows suddenly furrowed. A sudden panic shed across his face and he shook violently.


    "Fuck... Aahh! Why is this happening to me?"


    You get yourself in trouble and youin about it yourself, huh? You''re just like I remember...


    "I want to start before you disappear... Believe me, you won''t regret it, it''s better than disappearing anyway."


    I focused on the spirit''s eyes with my words.


    He was still not epting the situation, but I ignored him and spoke thenguage I had just spoken.


    My mana, of which I already had bits left, was depleted with this and I felt a pain in my heart, but I didn''t stop.


    Speaking thisnguage is now eating up my life instead of my mana... But if I am not mistaken, a few weeks will be enough toplete the contract.


    What is living a few weeks less than normalpared to making a contract with him?


    As I continued to speak, the spirit''s eyes fixed on me.


    I think he wants to know how I know hisnguage... Well, I don''t need to answer. He won''t believe me if I tell him anyway, and I''m not in the mood to think about making something up right now. So I''ll take the silent option from the start, after all, he has secrets he''s ''keeping'' from me too.


    I think we are equal, right?


    <<------------------------------


    Spirit Contract


    Contractor: Aiden Tenebra


    Contracting Spirit: Sith


    Traditional contract rules will apply.


    ------------------------------>>


    When I continued speaking, the system disyed this message in front of me. I smiled, then stopped speaking. When I imagined that I had epted the contract, the body of the spirit named ''Sith'' standing in front of me and mine suddenly glowed.


    A white-colored chain formed between us, linking us together. Our bodies shimmered even more violently, and then an intense pain suddenly spread through my body with a force that shook my whole being.


    For a moment I seemed to lose my bnce, my vision blurred as the chain between the Sith and me tightened, and a darkness fell over me.


    I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore the pain as much as possible, trying my best not to faint as the process continued.


    After a short time, the white chain slowly faded, the glow surrounding our bodies slowly faded.


    A system notification appeared in front of me as the pain spreading through my body slowly disappeared with them.


    <<------------------------------


    You have signed a spirit contract with the Wind Spirit Sith!


    Congrattions! You have achieved [Spirit Magic: Wind Elementalist(F)] mastery!


    Congrattions! Your Magic Power stat has increased to F+!


    Congrattions! You''ve be the first spirit contractor in Lunerra, and as a reward you''ve received the [The One Who is Close to Spirits(A)] passive skill!


    Your mana capacity has increased significantly due to your achievements!


    ------------------------------>>


    An involuntary grin quickly appeared on my face as I opened my stats window and read the description of the new skill I had acquired.


    <<------------------------------


    [The One Who is Close to Spirits(A)]


    The user can see spirits,municate directly with them, and feel their presence to a certain degree. In addition, the user gains a number of buffs in the name of spirit spells:


    The amount of mana spent on spirit spells decreases.


    Spirit spells be more powerful and effective.


    ------------------------------>>


    This passive skill is something that will be really useful to me...


    Not only does it reduce mana usage for spells, but it also makes them more powerful. In addition, these values increase as the skill improves, so it''s something a spirit mage would treasure.


    Normally, you have to be very familiar with spirits to get this skill, but I was the first spirit contractor in the world, so I got it for free.


    In this world, the magical mastery and skills that people can acquire are directly dependent on the person themselves, and their power is based on runes.


    But spirit magic differs from that in a big way. Because when using spirit magic, the contracted spirit is used as a catalyst, not the runes as usual.


    Mana is again spent from the person himself. The person still thinks of the spell they want to cast, but instead of using the ''runes'' needed to cast the spell, they use the ''spirit'' as an intermediary.


    This is spirit magic in a nutshell, and I must say that it is more efficient and has more powerful effects regardless of the skills provided by the system. So I can easily say that between two attribute mastery of the same grade, spirit magic wille out on top.


    On top of that, I have the passive The One Who is Close to Spirits, which is an obvious cheat in a world that is not yet aware of the existence of spirits.


    "Now tell me, how do you know ournguage? How did you get me over the border? Your soul is not bound to this world... Just who are you?"


    Sith asked these questions while I was smiling excitedly.


    When I heard what he said, my excitement gave way to curiosity and my eyebrows instantly furrowed.


    I was already expecting him to ask me questions, but...


    My soul is not attached to this world? I mean, is it so obvious that my soul doesn''t belong in this body? Well, that''s interesting...


    "I have no idea how much you know about the state of Lunerra, or rather this side of the universe... If I''m not mistaken, you must have been asleep for thest hundred years."


    Spirits are beings directly connected to mana and the universe itself. That''s why they can be said to have a natural clock, that''s how he will confirm what I said.


    And that is why he can speak to me directly... He naturally understands me without the need for directnguage.


    So I might even use him as a trantor in the future.


    "Yes... I just have fallen asleep around that time, but how do you even know that? Start spilling."


    I sighed slightly and then looked into Sith''s eyes. It''s cute and sweet that he''s acting like this with his tiny body, but... It''s getting a little annoying.


    "First of all, we''re contractors now. So stop giving me orders. Second, don''t ask me what I know and why I know it, or believe me, it won''t be pleasant. Third, in return for the second point, I won''t ask you about your secrets, so we''ll be equal. Fourth, I don''t know exactly who you are, but one thing I do know is that you are strong and I am weak."


    "Oh... I just realized... you really are garbage."


    Sith said this with sincerity. So much so that despite my weakness, I couldn''t deny it, even though I was tuned in.


    "I know, but I don''t intend to stay like this for long. That''s exactly why I need your help."


    Sith sighed deeply, then closed his eyes and thought for a while.


    "Anyway... I had no intention of going back in the first ce, and the fact that you helped me... And considering that you won''t live long as a human, spending a century shouldn''t be too much of a problem. Besides, I wanted to visit these ces anyway... Yes... It certainly is good!"


    He quickly started making excuses and epting them himself. I sighed slightly at the sight.


    "Then let''s get along well. After all, a century is a long time for me."


    So Iid myself down on the bed, decided to leave Sith alone for now, and thought.


    Today has been a really long day... Considering that I have sses early tomorrow morning, I need to sleep.


    "I just got here and you''re already going to sleep? I wonder if I shouldn''t have epted the contract..."


    Sith whined a little, then realized I wasn''t going to answer him.


    After waiting and looking around for a while, he suddenly glowed, transformed into a ball-like energy form, and then floated into my body.


    So he''s not going to walk around while I''m asleep... Even if no one but me can see or hear him, it would be boring to walk around idly. I guess it''s normal that he chose to enter my soul and sleep.


    He is quick to adapt, he is notcking in the ability to think logically, even if he can be frustrating at times, and he is someone who will help me a lot in getting stronger... Sith is very important for my progress in this world.


    Of course, there''s also his original identity as ''Sith'', but... It''s not something I need to use unless it''s an extreme emergency. So I hope I don''t have to use it...


    Before going to sleep, I took a deep breath and thought about everything I had done so far.


    I became friends with Adrian, I made up with ra, I became a student of Professor Calvin, and everything I had nned so far had worked out perfectly.


    Just like I asked the producers, my boring life has be more exciting since I came to this world. I''d be lying heavily if I said that being here hasn''t been good for me, even if I asionally have dark thoughts.


    But... I also know that I won''t befortable here for a long time and that''s why I need to get stronger. The biggest example of that is the assassination attempt in the cemetery...


    I remembered my useless state at that moment and then frowned. I clenched my fist involuntarily because I was so pathetic at that moment that I had chosen to run away so as not to burden Celine.


    I have to get stronger.


    I really need to get stronger. Soon the first main mission of the second part of the story will start and I need to get as strong as I can before it starts.


    It seems like I need to step up my training with Professor Calvin a bit more... I also need to start building up my body. Of course, I also need to practice wind magic with Sith.


    I had so much to do, yet a smile appeared on my face. Because as much as I nned to do, there would be good things to experience and the idea excited me.


    So much so that I got lost in these thoughts. And just like that, my eyes slowly closed as my tired body surrendered to sleep.

 Chapter 33: Volume I - Epilogue

    <h4>Chapter 33: Volume I - Epilogue</h4>


    "How many candidates do we have in total?"


    A man with an authoritative voice, sitting in one of the armchairs of a round table in a dark room, where there were three of us, asked curiously.


    I gave him the answer.


    "Four at the moment... But if we look at their potential, only two stand out."


    The man pointed to the photographs of the two students that appeared on the holographic screens floating in the center of the table.


    "You mean these?"


    The boy in one of the images had white hair and emerald green eyes, while the other had coal-ck hair and gray, ghostly eyes.


    "Yes. One of them has an extraordinary power and his past is a bit dark. So he''s a great target for us and a very good candidate for the seat. As for the other one..."


    My eyes turned to the boy with gray eyes and coal-ck hair.


    "He changed so much after the night he tried tomit suicide that he caught the eye of our spies. His stats aren''t spectacr... but he has an amazing theoretical mind. His recent actions arepletely focused on his future and I must say, quite urate..."


    I sighed slightly, speaking too much in one breath.


    "Of course, there were a few actions that we didn''t understand, but considering that he didn''t hesitate when he did them, he seems to know something that even we don''t know. On top of that, he can adapt to situations extremely quickly and make rational decisions."


    I moved his hand slightly to the side so that the two images in the center of the table changed into a video.


    It showed the boy we were talking about and an assassin in ck fighting. Given the level difference between them, the assassin was supposed to win.


    But the winner was different.


    The winner was the one who took advantage of his opponent''s mistake, ignored the huge gap, and took a small gamble on his final move.


    "Keep a close eye on both of them, both of them are definitely up to the job."


    "Understood."


    So the man with the authoritative voice looked at the other person sitting at the table, the man with the prominent bushy hair, and spoke indifferently.


    "What about this human whomunicated with us?"


    "He said that the only thing he wanted was knowledge... However, having researched his background and personality, I think he is trustworthy."


    He took a deep breath, thinking.


    "Okay, then let''s do as he suggests."


    "Understood."


    So our work here was done. Before we left the table, all three of us had our eyes on the two boys on the holographic screens.


    Which one would be chosen was still unknown. On the one hand, there was Adrian Caleo, who overcame all obstacles as if they were nothing, and on the other, there was Aiden Tenebra, an unexpected gold who appeared out of nowhere...


    The bushy-haired man left the table first, then me. Before I left the room, though, I took onest look at the man still sitting at the table.


    He had a smile on his face, a frightening smile.


    --Volume I: The Lands of The Lunerra--


    --The End--


    *(A/N: The first and shortest volume of the novel ended with this. The other volumes, especially after the second volume, will be much longer than this. About 2.5 to 3 times as long. Anyway, I''ll post the prologue and the first chapters of the second volume tomorrow. The prologue will probablye a couple of hours earlier than the first chapter. Other than that, the schedule of the chapters will remain the same for the second volume. I am publishing this epilogue and the prologue of the second volume, which I will post tomorrow, separately from the regr chapters because they are shorter than them.)*

 Chapter 34: Volume II - Prologue

    <h4>Chapter 34: Volume II - Prologue</h4>


    --Volume II: The Half-End of Humanity--


    Lunerra... what kind of ce is it?


    A where mana, creatures, and dungeons have emerged and the bnce ispletely tilted around the ''strong''...


    I was rxed even though I knew the rules of this world. I thought that since I hadn''t done anything yet, I still had time to enjoy my new life.


    I was wrong.


    "Aiden... You... What do you think you''re doing?"


    I stared coldly into the emerald green eyes of the silver-haired boy standing in front of me in shock, then sighed.


    If I had been a little more careful at the beginning... If I had yed it safe initially, I wouldn''t be dealing with this now. I just... I didn''t think I would be targeted so quickly.


    "Hahah! Look at his face! I told you this would be too easy!"


    The students standing behind me made fun of Adrian for the look he gave us. But I ignored them and looked up at the fist-sized robotic eyes hovering above, watching our every move.


    So you want to y games with me, test me?


    That''s fine with me, I wouldn''t have refused you in the first ce.


    But you crossed a line you shouldn''t have... And now I will show you what it means to mess with me.


    "Why?!"


    Adrian yelled at me in anger and confusion, but I could still see a glimmer of hope in his eyes.


    He thought what he was going through was a lie, that I would never do such a thing, but I ignored him and gripped my sword tightly.


    Not yet... I have to wait a little longer for it to start working.


    I pointed my sword at Adrian and focused on my mana, which then began to swirl around me, creating a gust of wind that followed my sword.


    The students standing behind me with mischievous smiles drew their own weapons. Then, despite the intense shock on Adrian''s face, I spoke nonchntly.


    "Let''s begin."


    And so, the show began.

 Chapter 35: Volume II - 1: After One Month

    <h4>Chapter 35: Volume II - Chapter 1: After One Month</h4>


    When I became more aware of my weaknesses, I just decided to train even harder.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! As a result of your hard work, your Endurance statistic has improved to F grade!


    ------------------------------>>


    "Harder!"


    I made a mistake, I was scolded by the professor. At times my muscles cried out in pain, but I didn''t care.


    Well... I tried not to care.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! As a result of your hard work, your Strength statistic has improved to an F grade!


    ------------------------------>>


    "You''re directing the wind wrong. If you do that, the force decreases. Be gentler, and don''t harsh. Don''t bend it directly. Just guide it."


    I failed many times trying to learn magic from Sith, but I never doubted myself. I did my best to improve my mastery.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! As a result of your hard work, your mana capacity has increased slightly!


    ------------------------------>>


    So what happened in a month of this intense routine? What happened to my stats?


    Since I came to this world, my stamina, vitality, strength, mana efficiency and magic power stats have each increased by one grade as a result of my training. Even my general level is now F+.


    But how strong does that mean I am?


    Well... Even though my stats are still low, and I still don''t know how to use mana properly, my mana capacity has increased a lottely. Add to that my passive skill, and I think I can say that I''m at least an average F+ to E- grade mage. If someone at this level can be called a ''mage''.


    But as long as my opponent underestimates me for being weak and is not far stronger than me, I believe I have a chance to somehow win against them. And that''s enough for now for the uing main mission.


    I took a deep breath and stood up. My body was covered in sweat from the previous duel.


    "How am I doing, professor?"


    Professor Calvin was looking at me about three meters in front of me, sword in hand, and I must say he had a genuine smile on his face.


    "At first I thought you were one of those geniuses who learn fast, but your progress is not yetparable to theirs... When you realize your mistakes, you analyze them and make sure you don''t make them twice. So as long as you keep practicing, you will definitely improve. You might even be a swordsman of some renown as long as you realize all your mistakes, refine them, and keep practicing hard."


    Well... So I''m not a genius, but I felt happy to receive praise.


    After wiping my sweat with a towel, I sheathed my sword and smiled. I had been practicing for about three hours and my daily practice with the professor hade to an end.


    "See you tomorrow, professor."


    The professor smiled back at me, shouted after me to keep up with my exercises and I quickly left the training room as usual.


    In fact, given my schedule for the past month, I would normally be on my way to practice wind magic right now. But when I made my way straight to the dorms, a sh of teal suddenly appeared in front of me. Then Sith, with his green hair and eyes, appeared.


    ''Aren''t you going to practice magic?''


    He looked me in the eye with his arms crossed and his brows furrowed.


    "No, I''m meeting Adrian and Julian today."


    After all, today is one of the most important days for our study group to meet.


    ''Meh... Boring.''


    Unsatisfied with my answer, Sith hovered around me, watching the surroundings.


    Actually, thinking about it¡­ he adapted to me and the situation very quickly. I guess a century is really nothing for him.


    When I finally entered my dorm room, I quickly changed and stood in front of the mirror.


    I had the appearance of a rather ordinary young man in a rather ordinary ck long-sleeve, a pair of in trousers that were not too fancy, and a navy-blue cardigan.


    Of course, my old skinny body had gotten a little more toned as a result of the hard work I had done this month, although it still looked a little too thin.


    In short, I looked pretty good.


    ''I didn''t know you enjoyed watching yourself.''


    After Sith''sment, I finally let out a deep sigh.


    "I don''t enjoy it."


    Without waiting for him to reply, I took my tablet with me and quickly left the room.


    I ignored the young people around me as I entered the karaoke ce, which was our usual meeting point since we could have a room all to ourselves. I approached our regr meeting ce and knocked on the door. After a short while, Julian opened the door for me.


    "There you are."


    He had a very bored look on his face. Apparently, they had been waiting for me for a long time.


    Out of curiosity, I checked my watch and saw that I was about half an hourte.


    Well... I''m sorry.


    "Practice ran a little long. Sorry."


    I walked in to find Adrian sitting on the couch in the corner, looking at his tablet. Curious to see what he was looking at, I approached him and when I saw a math question on the screen, he turned to me curiously.


    "Do you know what the answer to that is?"


    He pointed his finger at a question rted to thest subject we had covered.


    I took the tablet from his hand and typed a few forms on the screen, then put the forms in a sequence and handed it back to him.


    Adrian looked at the tablet for a while, then ced the values given in the question into the forms and sighed slightly when he seeded after about half a minute of effort.


    "It looks so easy when you do it..."


    "Thest subject is all about using forms correctly, so as long as you memorize them, you should be fine."


    Adrian switched to another question on his tablet, this time focusing on it. So I turned back to Julian.


    "Let''s gather around and look at the subjects, the first exams start tomorrow. This will be ourst study before them."


    Julian obediently stood in front of Adrian and took out his own tablet. Then the two boys looked into my eyes at the same time.


    "Where shall we start?"


    "Physics."


    They both gave the same answer at the same time. So I smiled, and together we chose a subject in physics that they were struggling with and I started exining it to them.


    Honestly, for the past month, I''ve been on good terms with them. I''d gotten them used to me, to the point where they didn''t feel ufortable hanging out with me, and they had both improved considerably, both in their studies and in their behavior.


    The biggest improvement was definitely Julian. After a month of hanging out with him, I made him realize some things. The fact that I could stand up to him, even though I wasn''t physically strong, opened a new door in his mind.


    He still hangs out with his own group of bullies, but his behavior has gotten better. For example, instead of crushing all the weak people he sees, he just stares at them as if he is annoyed.


    He still doesn''t react much when his group beats some of them ''for no reason'', but I think it''s a big improvement that he doesn''t get involved personally anymore.


    He''ll eventually learn the right way to behave as time goes on.


    "Can you repeat that?"


    And he seems to really want to get good grades... Anyway, I don''t have much of a problem with what he does as long as he keeps on good terms with me and Adrian.


    That way, I lectured them for about three hours, answering their questions and preparing them for the exams, and I had fun, in a weird way, to be honest.


    So even studying is fun as long as you do it with your friends... I really learn something new every day.


    "Aiden, just wondering but... I''ve never seen you study. How do you keep all this stuff in your head?"


    Julian''s ocean-blue eyes were fixed on me right after I solved a really difficult question.


    Well, the sses here are not that different from the sses I took in my previous world. I would even say it''s simpler, after all, educational institutions value strength more than theoretical intelligence... No educational institution would want strong people to fall behind just because they did badly in the written exams.


    "I''m studying, you just don''t see because I''m doing it alone."


    Julian looked at me with raised eyebrows. I looked back at him without moving a muscle.


    He sighed, stood up, and stretched slightly.


    "It''ste, I''ll leave now, but onest question... How do you think we''re doing?"


    With that question, Adrian also fixed his gaze on me.


    I took a deep breath, thinking.


    "Well... I guess you can easily get into the first hundred. Of course, if you''ve studied seriously, top fifty shouldn''t be impossible."


    A smile appeared on Julian''s face and his eyes twinkled.


    "Top fifty..."


    He said it several times, so much so that I couldn''t help thinking he was going crazy.


    "Okay, thanks for the help."


    And with that, Julian was the first to leave the karaoke room with excitement clearly visible in his eyes, leaving me alone with Adrian.


    Seriously... I wonder why he is so obsessed with getting high grades.


    "I''ll go as well then..."


    Adrian stood up and headed for the door, but before he left he turned to me onest time. He tried to smile a little, then spoke sincerely.


    "Thank you, Aiden, not just for the lectures. For everything."


    He still hadn''t gotten used to smiling, so he had a strange look on his face.


    I giggled involuntarily at the sight.


    "No problem."


    After my answer, he nodded, left the room and I was left alone in this room just like always.


    Well... I wasn''t alone.


    ''I wonder why you put so much effort into these things. We should forget about them and go to the dungeons! We should fight creatures and make our blood boil! That way you can gain more experience and get stronger faster!''


    Sith flew around me excitedly while saying these things. He was always looking for fun, I could never satisfy him.


    "Don''t worry, you will have fun soon."


    Normally I would have ignored him. But this time when I answered like that, Sith suddenly paused.


    ''What? Soon? Really?!''


    Instead of answering, I simply nodded and headed for the door. Sith bombarded me with questions, but I told him that it would be more fun to watch a movie than to find out the ending right away.


    Well... First, he asked me what a movie was. So my n backfired a bit, but in the end, I managed to shut him up. Finally, I went to my house and got myself into bed.

 Chapter 36: Volume II - 2: First Difference

    <h4>Chapter 36: Volume II - Chapter 2: First Difference</h4>


    As I told Sith, the ''main mission'' ising up.


    Every new academic year, first-year students from all the universities and academies in the kingdom gather together topete.


    There are all sorts of categories. Auctions, duels, even chess... So there are really a lot ofpetitions, and of course, there is a preliminary for thosepetitions that are rted to general power. I mean, battle power.


    The ''preliminary'', which will take ce about a week after the uing exams, is the first main mission of the second part of the story.


    Of course, this ''preliminary'' is interrupted by some guys, and that''s exactly the point of the main mission. That''s why I have to prepare... because I have to participate in thepetition no matter what.


    The prizes, the connections I can make there... they are very important. Actually, more important than thepetition itself.


    I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, but then I got a notification on my watch. When I checked it, I saw ra''s name, just as I had expected, and a smile appeared on my face.


    It had taken her a long time to fully recover from the attack at the cemetery. Yet in that one month, she had already moved into a new house and changed schools. I expected her to squander the money a bit, but surprisingly she turned out to be quite thrifty.


    She used only twenty-five thousand of the forty thousand wels I sent her in the first month to take care of all her needs, debts I didn''t even know she had, and set aside the remaining fifteen thousand forter.


    I told her to buy new clothes, thetest smartwatches, and stuff, but she still bought slightly above-average stuff and said that was enough for her.


    Well, I won''t say much. At least now she looks much more ''rich'' and ''modern'' than before. That should be enough to make people with bad intentions hesitate to approach her.


    I talked to ra for about half an hour. Then we wished each other good night and closed the messaging app, but this time Sith''s voice echoed in my head.


    "Hey... When you said we''d have fun soon... you weren''t lying, were you?''


    "I never lied to you."


    Hmm... I mean, as long as he doesn''t know I''m lying, I''m not lying from his point of view. He couldn''t find out the truth if he tried anyway, so I don''t really care.


    Sith giggled excitedly inside my body and then fell silent. I let myself fall asleep, wondering how much longer I could enjoy my new life.


    *******


    I woke up to the sound of the rm, which I hated. But unlike normal, I got up quickly. After doing everything I could to wake up properly, I got ready and went to ss. After a while, it was finally time.


    The whole ss was present and no one was making a sound. Because we were starting the marathon.


    "You have half an hour for each exam and there will be a fifteen-minute break between each exam. You will take a total of seven exams and I don''t think I need to tell you about the rules and things like that. We start with math first..."


    After telling us this, our history professor handed out the exam papers to all of us.


    Everyone jumped at the questions with great excitement and enthusiasm. I, on the other hand, examined the whole paper before solving them and a smile appeared on my face.


    To be honest, the exam is exactly as I expected... The questions are definitely easier than in my old life and that means I can do quite well.


    And actually... I was expecting to get everything right and get full marks. But there were some questions that I wasn''t sure about because of some confusing things.


    I guess even if I knew everything, it was necessary to repeat it once in a while...


    We took exam after exam. I saw different expressions on the students'' faces, many of them simr to the ones I had seen in my old life. Still, I didn''t care about any of them.


    After seven exams in total, when we finished thest one, our professor collected all the papers in a file.


    "Your exams are over."


    After saying these four words, he left the ssroom with the files. As soon as this happened, the whole ss fell silent for a few seconds, and then an extremely intense noise filled the ss.


    Everyone started asking each other exam questions and makingments. I ignored them and looked at Adrian. As usual, he was standing in his corner.


    "How was it?"


    I went up to him and asked him specifically, smiling. I need to be around him all the time so he trusts me even more.


    "I think I''ll get around eighty in almost all of them... Maybe one or two subjects that fall below, but that''s it."


    Hmm... Not too bad for someone who has learned nothing but reading, writing, and four operations his whole life and only started studying in thest month. Apparently, his mind is working...


    "Then you will definitely get into the first hundred. As for the top fifty... I honestly don''t know. It depends on the majority of the students."


    Adrian nodded, then raised his eyebrows and looked at me. It wasn''t hard to understand what he meant.


    "I''m not sure about a few questions... It depends, but I''m definitely in the top five."


    Actually, I wanted to be first... But there are people who are especially talented at this kind of thing and it''s hard to even for me to beat them. After all, I''m not the only person in the world who is good at studies. There''s always someone higher than you...


    "Okay..."


    Adrian sighed.


    I don''t think so, but I hope he''s not jealous of me...


    "Hah, Aiden!"


    When I heard Julian calling me, I slowly turned around, but then, startled, quickly stepped back, because Julian was right under my nose.


    Julian didn''t give a damn about me and started counting all the questions he remembered and wasn''t sure of the oue one by one. He was so excited that he didn''t care how people looked at him.


    "Calm down..."


    First I calmed him down, then tried to answer all his questions as best as I could remember.


    "If thest one was-"


    I was answering thest question he asked me, but then the watches of the whole ss beeped at the same time and everyone looked at their wrists.


    When I saw the iing message, I was both amazed and smiled involuntarily, because even though the exam had ended only a few minutes ago, the results had already been sent.


    <<------------------------------


    Name: Aiden Tenebra


    ss: 1-C


    Overall Score: 98.7142/100


    Overall Rank: 3


    ss Rank: 1


    [Click here for details]


    ------------------------------>>


    So I came third at school... Surprisingly, it came better than I thought, but I am more curious about the overall ranking.


    <<------------------------------


    1-) Alexander Callidas


    2-) Lucia Quie


    3-) Aiden Tenebra


    ...


    ------------------------------>>


    As I predicted, Alexander and Lucia are in the top two.


    I haven''t seen Alexander since I came to this world, but he is a character I know well. Because he''s a person who is out of this world in terms of intelligence and he has his own side mission in the game.


    I remember that mission rewards were good, so maybe I''ll try to do it, but I''ll have to prepare for it separately. And with the main story right in front of us, I don''t have time for that right now.


    I turned to Julian and Adrian, curious. Julian was looking at his watch in disbelief.


    "I''m fucking forty-eighth! Forty-eight... Forty-eight!"


    He shrieked with joy without a care in the world, and I had a goodugh at this reaction.


    "You came third. Congrattions."


    Adrian spoke with a smile that he tried to keep on his face. I returned it sincerely.


    "Thanks."


    After Adrian, Julian was quick to congratte me, but apart from those two, no one else in my ss approached me. The way they looked at me was nothing but jealousy, they are such brats...


    I turned away, ignoring them, but my gaze returned to the digital board when I heard the sound of someone''s footsteps entering the ssroom. Then I found the history professor in front of the lectern.


    "Listen carefully!"


    Her booming voice echoed throughout the room and soon the noisy ssroom fell silent.


    I was just wondering when she wasing...


    While everyone else looked puzzled and curious, I listened to the professor''s words with a smile I couldn''t keep off my face.


    "There will be apetition between universities and academiester this year. We have ideas about most of thepetitions, but for the most prominent one, we need to see who has the most talent."


    At this point, everyone understood what was going on.


    "There will bepetitions in many categories, but of course, there is one very important one, and we will be holding a preliminary for it in exactly one week."


    Yes, here ites.


    "You''ll be dropped into one of the school''s dungeons, the Ashga Forests, and you''ll try to survive while eliminating each other."


    The smile on my face suddenly fell. My eyes widened in disbelief at what I had just heard.


    What?


    The ss started whispering amongst themselves. Some had anxiety on their faces, others excited.


    I didn''t care about any of them.


    Why is the preliminary different from the game? I didn''t do anything to directly affect the story... And even if I did, how could that change it?


    I thought so much, I put so much pressure on my own mind that I ended up with a headache.


    What the fuck is going on?!


    ~beep


    The professor continued to say something, and the ss continued to talk amongst themselves, but I ignored them again and looked at my watch with a nk stare.


    The moment I saw the message from an unknown person, my whole body trembled and goosebumps ran down my spine.


    The message in front of me was a smiling photo of ra, and more frighteningly, details of people hiding in the shadows. Underneath this photo was all her personal information, including where she lived, and a note...


    <<------------------------------


    Crush Adrian Caleo in the preliminary and don''t tell anyone about this message. Or who knows what will happen to your sister?


    ------------------------------>>

 Chapter 37: Volume II - 3: A Flower in the Library

    <h4>Chapter 37: Volume II - Chapter 3: A Flower in the Library</h4>


    Although there was a lot of noise in the ssroom, my whole world suddenly fell silent and I just stared at the message in front of me.


    ~beep


    <<------------------------------


    We see, watch and know your every move. Just focus on your mission and both sides will be happy.


    ------------------------------>>


    "Aiden? Are you okay?"


    Adrian looked worried, but I was not well enough to care about him.


    "I- I have a bit of a headache... I''m going back to my room."


    I don''t have any other sses to take since we have exams all day anyway. I have to practice with the professor though...


    Adrian called out to me from behind, but Ipletely ignored him. I kept moving forward and after sending a very short text to the professor about noting to practice today, I just walked into my dorm room.


    I closed the door hard, but I didn''t let myself fall on the bed like I always do. I continued to stand in the middle of the room. I read and reread the two messages sent to me.


    I need to calm down... I need to calm down if I don''t want to do anything wrong... I know that but...


    ''Hey, calm d-''


    "Shut up!"


    Sith fell silent in an instant. As for me, I clenched my fist and took a deep breath.


    Let''s think first... I got this message right after the preliminary was announced and we''re going to a different dungeon than the one we''re supposed to go to.


    The two are obviously connected.


    So whoever sent this message has a lot of control over the academy. And considering the viins of the main story...


    I know who they are, but why would they be interested in me? What could I have done to catch their eye?


    Damn it, I can''t think straight. I... I don''t think I''ve ever been this angry before.


    I opened my watch and reread the messages, and when I saw the details behind ra again, my anger multiplied.


    I wouldn''t have cared if you''d messed with me... I''d have been fine with it, but threatening me? With my newfound sister, the only person close to me?


    I... I underestimated this world and its people. I thought I still had time to enjoy my new life...


    I was wrong.


    I took another deep breath, sshed cold water on my face, and looked at my reflection in the mirror.


    My brow furrowed, my face soured and I clenched my fist.


    Do you want to y games with me?


    Fine...


    Okay, I''ll y with you, but I''ll show you in return... I''ll show you what it means to mess with me, to only ''think'' about hurting my sister.


    I''m gonna put you in a situation where you''ll remember me in hell.


    "Sith."


    Sith appeared and stood in front of me when I called, even though I had just scolded him.


    ''You''ve calmed down, haven''t you?


    "Yes. I need you for something. Can you help me?"


    Sith paused for a moment, then raised his eyebrows.


    ''I will, but... you sure you''re calm?''


    He looked a little worried, but truth be told, I don''t give a damn.


    "Yeah, don''t worry."


    I wiped my face with a towel and got out of the bathroom, then put on a simple jacket and headed outside.


    "I''ve never been so calm in my entire life."


    *******


    The first thing I did after leaving the dormitory was to go to the library. Because even though I had heard of the Ashga Forests before, in the game it was a dungeon that yers couldn''t enter. It just ''existed'' there. So my information is quite limited and I need it if I want to aplish the things I have nned.


    After about five minutes of walking, I stopped in front of the huge library.


    The library here was really, really big.


    I sighed lightly and entered the library, where I was greeted by a lobby clerk sitting at a table surrounded by several security guards.


    "Your name?"


    "Aiden Tenebra."


    The woman entered my name on the holographic screen in front of her, then smiled and pointed to the wide staircase.


    "If you want to borrow books, you have to put your name down, and if you are discovered stealing anything, you will be expelled from the academy without warning. Other than that, normal library rules apply, please be quiet."


    "Okay."


    I went upstairs without paying much attention to her and after a short search, I found the book I was looking for on the third floor.


    I looked for an empty table with the book ''Dungeons of the Cevilian Development Academy'' but strangely enough, the whole library was quite full.


    Do people like to read in this world? That''s an interesting fact...


    After a while, when I finally found an empty table and settled in, I looked for the title ''Ashga Forests''. When I finally found it, I just dived into the book and started reading the content.


    It was a huge forest areapletely controlled by the Academy. The trees were not overly tall and there were clearings in ces. In short, it was the perfect ce for the school to hold the preliminary process.


    I sighed deeply when I read the whole context of the book I was reading. The academy, no... the people who targeted Adrian and me have a clear goal.


    In the game, we used to enter apetition where we split into teams to hunt creatures, but now, just for us, they''ve set up apetition where we can fight each other directly.


    They''ve changed something that directly affects the academy, just to pit us against each other.


    Do they see me as an obstacle for Adrian to ovee? But I''ve shown them almost no signs of talent.


    The most likely scenarios are my duel with Professor Calvin, the assassin attack in the cemetery, and the fact that they know I''m a little bit ''smart'', but again, nothing that would stand out too much.


    I was deep in thought when suddenly my eyes widened and it dawned on me.


    There is something else. Something else that makes me a much more important person than these events.


    The theory I came up with for the money after I got here.


    I grinned slightly and let out a lowugh.


    Of course... I should have known.


    I''m really stupid, even though I''m the one who knows the rules of this world the best, I acted stupidly and now I''m paying for it.


    I let out a deep sigh and returned to my table after picking up a few more books to look up a few things I wanted to research.


    I was so engrossed in the books, minutes had passed without me realizing it, but then out of the corner of my eye, a silhouette suddenly caught my attention.


    I slowly raised my head and turned toward it. When I saw the figure standing in front of me, my heart skipped a beat.


    "May I sit down?"


    Lucia Quie, with her long blonde hair and blood-red eyes, was standing in front of me. In addition, the eyes of the entire library turned to us.


    Damn... really?


    Isn''t that... a bit too clich¨¦? Are you really doing this to me...


    I nced around briefly, then sighed.


    All the tables are full... So she couldn''t find an empty seat, but why did shee to me? Wasn''t there another girl she could sit next to?


    "Sure, go ahead."


    Lucia sat across from me and without saying a word she focused on the book in front of her.


    I looked at the cover out of the corner of my eye, wondering what she was reading.


    Is she reading a novel? I know she likes to read books, but I expected her to do research about the dungeon like me...


    "Why are you staring?"


    Her eyes suddenly fixed on me, catching me off guard.


    "The Back Side of Flowers, I''ve read it before. I was focused on it, sorry if I disturbed you."


    After what I said, I ignored her and focused on my book.


    I actually want to look at her, my instincts as a man keep nudging me. It''s frustrating, but I know I have to keep researching, I''m not in a position to care right now.


    "Have you read it?"


    "Excuse me?"


    I turned my eyes back to her curiously, not expecting her to talk to me.


    "Did you... read the book?"


    There was a strange surprise in her eyes. I guess she didn''t expect me to have read the book.


    Well, most of the books in the game are from my old world and I''m a person who has read a lot of books. So I know most of the books here, including the one she is reading now.


    "Yes, I''ve read it. The Back Side of Flowers... it focuses on the psychology and mental problems of good-looking people who are envied by society."


    I wanted to end the conversation quickly, so I gave a simple answer and focused on what was in front of me again.


    "Do you like... reading books?"


    I turned my eyes back to her and for a few seconds, my brain stopped working.


    Lucia''s red eyes were literally sparkling. It was like she was excited.


    Ah... Fuck, I forgot she was a book nerd.


    "Well, I had a lot of free time on my hands. So I read a lot of books. ''The Back Side of Flowers'' was one of them."


    Now if I say something like I don''t like books, it looks like I''m trying to push her away, and I don''t want to, for a number of reasons that are likely to annoy me.


    "What about The World of the Outsiders? Another book by the same author, have you read that one?"


    With each question she became more excited, her expression brighter and brighter. Her every gesture,bined with her A+ grade charm, had such an effect on me that I found it hard to resist.


    Damn statistics...


    "I read it."


    No¡­ I should have said I didn''t read it.


    Fuck, I can''t think straight.


    *******


    In the end, I talked to Lucia about the ssics for half an hour.


    Just because she''s found someone who loves books, she''s so carefree that her already extremely high charm statistic is pushed to the limit. This is going to end badly...


    "It''s been fun, but I have to get up now."


    That''s it... I''m afraid if I go any further, I''ll start doing things I''ll be ashamed of... Has her statistic already gone up to S- grade? Isn''t this a bit too much?


    "Oh..."


    Lucia''s face fell.


    Well, it''s not often she gets the chance to talk to someone. She must be really upset¡­


    Lucia''s charm statistic is extremely high from birth and continues to rise without slowing down.


    In fact, it wasn''t much of a problem until she reached a certain age, but when she entered her teenage years, that''s when the problems started to arise.


    Because of her beauty and the statistics to back her up, boys pursued her, and girls envied her. Even if no one directly insulted her because of her family position, Lucia wasn''t so stupid that she couldn''t understand what people around her were thinking. So she became more and more distant from society and, as a result, books became her source of entertainment.


    She read all the books she could find, no matter what they were, and filled the emptiness inside her with them.


    Now, even though it was obvious that her statistics were affecting me too, she was excited to meet me, who was trying to stay more to myself instead of getting close to her; to talk directly about books instead of awkward words of affection and love.


    She must think I''m different from the others.


    Well, I actually want to help her. Lucia is one of the important characters in this game who needs help. In fact, she''s one of the most crucial characters, but I really don''t have the time to deal with that at the moment.


    "Have a good day."


    I turned around and started moving forward.


    Good... I''m saved.


    "Wait a minute."


    Damn it, fuck!


    Why are you doing this to me...? Let go of me¡­ please!

 Chapter 38: Volume II - 4: Catching a Little Rat

    <h4>Chapter 38: Volume II - Chapter 4: Catching a Little Rat</h4>


    I turned back to Lucia. Then, I saw her smiling face.


    Even if only for a moment, her beauty caught me.


    The whole world seemed to disappear, except for her. My focus shiftedpletely to her and everything else faded from my sight.


    Damn charm... it must have gone up to S- for sure.


    "Lucia Quie, nice to meet you."


    Her lips curved upwards in a smile, the brightness of her red eyes, her beautiful face... Everything about her was so gorgeous.


    "Aiden Tenebra, nice to meet you too."


    Without anyone noticing, I clenched my fist and dug my nails into my palm.


    The pain slowly spread from my hand to my body. W?th that, my focus came back to me. So I turned around and walked toward the exit, but then I realized something else.


    The whole library, everyone was looking at me. The boys were looking at me with jealousy and hatred, the girls with contempt and pity.


    This is exactly what I didn''t want.


    "Haa..."


    I keep getting myself into trouble for sure...


    As I left the library, I looked at my watch and then realized that the sun had already set.


    Good, it''s time... Let''s see if it worked.


    ''Sith, did you find them?''


    *******


    The boy, Aiden, continued along the road in the darkness of the night. I continued to follow him, as I had for thest few days.


    I wonder why they are so obsessed with this kid. Apart from being a bit smart, I haven''t seen anything that stands out about him, he''s just an ordinary guy...


    I kept following him as he continued down the walkway, but then something strange happened.


    Aiden didn''t take the path he was supposed to take back to his dorm room and instead, he continued straight ahead into the small woods.


    I didn''t understand what his purpose was, but I continued to follow him, as was my duty, and eventually, Aiden disappeared into the trees.


    What''s his purpose? Is he going to meet someone?


    I followed him into the woods and I went on for a while, but I couldn''t find any trace of him. For a moment, a strange silence fell around me, and I couldn''t help but feel frightened.


    "-ou must."


    Suddenly I heard a low voice in the distance, and then a smile appeared on my face. Because the voice of the person speaking was clearly Aiden''s.


    He must be seeing someone.


    I moved closer to the voice so that I could better understand what he was saying.


    "-nt you to protect her."


    He¡­ wants protection for his sister?


    Hah, this guy doesn''t even realize who he''s dealing with... Who thought he was smart? He''s stupid...


    I approached the voice with a cynical expression because I would have liked to be in a ce where I could physically see him, but then I hesitated.


    Is there... a slight sizzle in the sound, or is it just me?


    Curious, I pushed aside the branches in front of me and looked where the sound wasing from.


    There should have been at most six or seven meters between us, so I should have been able to see him, but when I moved the branches aside, I couldn''t see anything of him.


    Then my eyes went down, to where the sound wasing from, and I just went rigid.


    About four meters in front of me, a clock with an open screen was lying on the ground. It was ying a voice recording.


    I reflexively turned around and quickly assumed a fighting stance, but before I could move, I was frozen in ce by the sensation of cold metal on my neck. Then I saw the figure staring at me from my side.


    His gray eyes, shimmering like a ghost in the darkness of the night, were piercing me. The frightening grin on his face resembled that of a serial killer who would slit my neck without hesitation, and despite the training I had received, the fear I was feeling now was so ingrained in me that I was shaking involuntarily.


    "Found you."


    After those two words that broke the silence, I felt a pain in the back of my neck. Then the whole world went ck.


    *******


    "Thanks, Sith."


    ''You''re wee.''


    I grinned at the student I had knocked out because I never thought it would be this easy.


    When I first got the messages, the men had told me I was being ''watched''. So there was a spy after me, but how could I find him or her?


    These guys control the academy enough to change important elections. So they''ve taken over the administration, but that doesn''t mean they''ve taken over the whole academy.


    So only a very small fraction of the professors, powerful instructors, etc. must be on their side. As a result, they can''t easily infiltrate spies into the campus. Or people like Professor Calvin would eventually catch them.


    Still, that doesn''t mean they can''t get spies inside. They can simply use a student to get information with zero hassle.


    So the person or people watching me had to be a student, I knew that, but the problem was how many people were watching me.


    If there were three of them after me, then I simply couldn''t get out of this. Still, I didn''t believe that their goal was to keep mepletely in my ce, so I took a chance and assigned Sith, whose vision was independent of mine, to watch the perimeter while I moved around.


    From the moment I left the dormitory until now, Sith has been watching everything and reporting anyone suspicious to me. As a result, I realized that only one person was after me.


    At first, I hesitated, but I walked into the woods anyway. When Sith told me that there was only one person who had entered the forest, I caught him as I had nned.


    When I looked at the boy with short orange hair and a short height, I let out a deep sigh.


    These guys... I think what they''re trying to do is what I guessed. Nevertheless, they underestimate me and I will show them that, even if it will be indirectly.


    I lifted the boy up, tied his hands and feet tightly, propped him up against a tree, and put my sword against his neck again. Once I was in a position where he couldn''t easily attack me, I took a deep breath and pped him.


    The boy was a little shaken by my p, then his brown eyes slowly opened and our eyes met.


    At first, his eyes widened, and he struggled a little. But I channeled mana into the ropes holding him, making them stronger, and pressed my sword against his neck.


    "Be quiet and do not move."


    I smiled as the boy suddenly stopped moving, blood seeping ever so slightly from his neck.


    "Don''t worry, buddy. I have no intention of harming you if you cooperate."


    His body was shaking but his eyes were still sharp. He didn''t say a word about it. So I opened my watch, logged into my bank ount, and showed it to him.


    When the boy looked at the eighteen million wels on the screen, the determination in his eyes disappeared and he froze in ce.


    I widened my smile.


    "How much did they promise? Ten thousand? Probably not more than twenty thousand... Do you want to make a lot more money than that?"


    The boy continued to stare at the numbers on the screen.


    "Fifty thousand."


    His eyes popped out of his head at what I said.


    "It''s not a lie, we can make a mana contract if you want. If you do what I say, I''ll give you fifty thousand."


    "How do I know you won''t... fail?"


    Iughed a little when the boy finally spoke, and then I told him a small part of my n.


    He was actually quite indifferent as he listened to what I was telling him, though asionally his eyes widened and finally, we locked eyes again.


    "What do you think? Well, I''d like to pay upfront to get you on my side, but those guys are probably checking your bank ount. So I can''t pay upfront, but as I said, I''m not lying."


    "What do you want from me?"


    Hah, finally.


    "It''s quite simple; you''re going to make false reports and report to me all the orders you receive from them, all the conversations you have with them. I will prepare your false reports, so you don''t have to think too much about it."


    The boy was silent for a moment, then turned back to me.


    "Are you sure it will work?"


    Without saying anything, I cut the ropes holding him with my sword and grinned.


    "Of course I''m sure. Who do you think you''re talking to?"


    *******


    I came out of the woods with a smile on my face while heading for my room.


    I''ve dealt with the spy issue and I''m no longer being watched, so now I can move freely.


    I turned on my watch and entered the contacts to call Professor Ulka. It took him only three seconds to pick up the call.


    "Hello?"


    His voice was as cold and calm as ever.


    "Professor, I need something from you."


    There was silence for a moment, but then I spoke again.


    "I will give you a theory in return."


    "What do you want?"


    This guy is really crazy...


    "My sister, ra Tenebra. I want her protected."


    Ulka was silent again for a moment


    "Has something happened?"


    "You could say that."


    He took a deep breath, so much so that his voice came to me through the watch.


    "Okay, I''ll set it up. But I want my theory as fast as possible."


    "I''m working on it, but I guess it will be finished next week."


    "Next week?"


    He sounded surprised for a moment, so I paused, and after a short silence, I spoke again.


    "I have things to deal with. So I won''t be able to spend much time on the theory. With a little calction, ites out next week."


    "Oh, I see."


    "Thanks, professor. There''s no urgency, I''ll arrange things myself for the first week. After that, you''ll take care of it."


    The professor said nothing more and the call went off. So I kept going down the walkway.


    Having done that... Now I want to go to my room and sleep.


    Even though I haven''t done much, I''m really tired... Mostly mentally.


    "-ey!"


    I stopped where I was, my eyebrows raised at the sharp voice I heard.


    "-n''t overdo it"


    Turning back to where the voice came from, I saw the gap between two buildings, and my eyebrows furrowed again.


    What is going on here?


    Curious, I approached the gap between the buildings and checked it out of the corner of my eye. Then I saw a group of four girls and three boys. In the middle was another girl. She looked a little worn out.


    Bullying, huh...


    Bullying is perhaps the biggest problem among Lunerra''s youth. So it''s not umon... It would be best for me to get away from here.


    Before I turned around and decided to leave, I took onest look at the bullied girl. Her jet-ck hair was at mid-back length, and her blue eyes were so dark they were almost navy blue. She had an ordinary face, neither too pretty nor too ugly.


    Ah, did we make eye contact?


    "Huh?"


    When the girl looked at me, the ones who had been bullying her also turned to where I was.


    "What is it? Do you want to join? Sorry, this is a personal matter. Get lost."


    The tallest of them, the red-haired male, refocused on the girl after he said that to me.


    "You will not insult him again. Do you understand?"


    The girl continued to look at me without saying a word, then refocused on the ground.


    At first, I thought she was asking me for help, but now, especially when I focused on her expression and her eyes, I understood.


    This girl is... strong. I don''t mean physically, I mean mentally because I know those eyes.


    Those eyes are the eyes of someone who is trying to fight alone. And the me that burns in them is not yet extinguished, it is still resisting.


    I felt something strange inside me, a strange feeling of... closeness.


    Ah, I see. She reminds me of my orphanage days.


    Anyway, I need to get out of here before I''m misunderstood.


    I really have to go if I don''t want to deal with these idiots.


    I gotta go...


    "Stop."


    Damn... I really can''t restrain myself sometimes.


    Is this the second clich¨¦ of today? What a nuisance...

 Chapter 39: Volume II - 5: Playing the Hero

    <h4>Chapter 39: Volume II - Chapter 5: ying the Hero</h4>


    "Stop."


    The group of four girls and three boys slowly turned to me. The tall boy with red hair, who I assumed was the leader, fixed his blue eyes, contrasting with his hair, on me and frowned.


    "What do you want? I hope you have no intention of ying the hero?"


    The boy shifted his eyes from me to my chest and looked at my name badge. Then he suddenly burst outughing.


    "You''re second tost and you''re going up against seven people? Do you really think I believe those stupid rumors, huh?"


    The boy approached me step by step, but I didn''t take my eyes off him.


    "Speak the fuck up! Are you frozen?!"


    The redhead raised his fist and swung at me, but it was so wasteful and aimless that I simply dodged it.


    He raised his eyebrows in surprise and I let out a deep sigh.


    Do you have any idea what hell I''ve been going through with Professor Calvin for a month? If you did, you would have pity on your face, not bewilderment.


    Ignoring his surprise, I pointed my finger at the girl they were bullying.


    "Ripped clothes and obvious bruises. From that alone, you can infer harassment, direct damage to personal property, and non-duel injury within the academy... On top of that, you attacked me when I did nothing to you."


    I tried to talk him out of bullying without getting into a fight, but things didn''t go the way I thought they would.


    "So what?!"


    The boy lunged at me again with a nasty smile on his face. Just like before, it was a rather slow attack ording to Professor Calvin, but this time I didn''t dodge his attack.


    His fistnded directly on my face, and all my teeth chattered, but I managed to resist the attack only by taking two steps backward.


    "You are weak! And you dare to threaten me!"


    The boy and his friends behind him kept smiling.


    "Believe me, you shouldn''t do that."


    Heughed again, thinking what I said was funny, and then he kicked me.


    Just like before, I didn''t defend the kick and took it directly on myself, so the boy kept shouting nonsense and hitting me.


    I could see themughing behind me, saying I was stupid or something, but I didn''t give a shit about them and when the redhead stopped hitting me, his friends started joking around.


    "He''s just a loser, let him go, Leo."


    One of the girls was even trying hard not tough.


    While they wereughing, I slowly stood up and shook myself off.


    "Huh? Can you still fucking stand up?"


    The redhead approached me sarcastically, but before he could attack me again, I opened my watch and showed him the holographic screen.


    "Recording... program?"


    The boy suddenly stepped back in fear. As for me, I spoke nonchntly.


    "Fights are not forbidden inside the Academy. Everyone knows that, but unprovoked fights are still forbidden. On top of that, it looks like you''ve been harassing, bullying, and doing all sorts of things. I just told you the exact same thing and instead of denying me, you attacked me and backed up these usations yourself."


    I closed the recording program and opened my bank ount, and the eighteen million wels in my ount wasid bare. Everyone who had been mocking me until just now froze in ce.


    "I think you can understand what would happen if I got a battery report and bribed a little bit. You don''t seem to have much of a background, but believe me, I have a pretty good backer. Do you think you can avoid expulsion? Even if what I say isn''t true and nothing more than a bluff, can you risk it?"


    I put my hand on his shoulder and ced my fingers specifically between his bones, using some of the mana in my body to strengthen my feet and arm.


    "This is my first andst warning."


    I put tremendous pressure on his shoulder with my hand and the boy suddenly knelt down.


    Who knows, he might be able to resist. But after what I showed him, I don''t think he would do it even if he wanted to.


    "Don''t ever show your face to me again."


    I withdrew my hand and then looked at the group, all of them trembling with fear. Because if I gave the recordings to the academy, they too could be punished as stooges of the boy Leo.


    "Get lost."


    "Hiik!"


    I used some more of my mana to create a strong gust of wind, and then they started to run away quickly because of the atmosphere.


    They were so scared that they were all running in different directions.


    I let out a deep sigh as I watched them from behind.


    If I fought, I could somehow take the redhead hostage for underestimating me and teach them all a lesson they would never forget, but then there is the possibility that a bigger fish wille after them. So having direct evidence in my possession to make sure they don''t even think about taking revenge on me is the best way to handle the situation.


    After his friends had already abandoned him, Leo took onest look at me and the girl he had bullied. For a moment his eyebrows furrowed in disgust, but after a stern look I gave him, he left like his friends.


    After taking a deep breath, I turned around and looked at the blue-eyed girl who had already stood up. She looked back at me, and then there was an awkward silence.


    There are a lot of characters in the game with blue eyes and ck hair, but I can''t remember anyone like her¡­


    My eyes automatically shifted to the name badge and I confirmed my thoughts.


    <<------------------------------


    Olivia Sue Gemma


    #578


    1-F


    ------------------------------>>


    Just as I predicted, this girl is one of the extras in the game... And not a powerful one, judging by her ranking.


    "Thank you."


    The girl bowed slightly in thanks. If her expression hadn''t changed, I might have thought she really appreciated me.


    "You''re wee."


    She straightened her posture after receiving my response. Without another word, she turned around and tried to walk away. I sighed and shouted, not letting her walk away.


    "I guess you don''t care too much about the rumors about you?"


    The girl stopped, raised her eyebrows, and turned to me. She doesn''t even realize how she looks...


    I pointed my finger at her. With that, she looked down at herself and saw that her clothes were a mess.


    "And it''s freezing, aren''t you cold?"


    It''s the night of September. It''s impossible for her not to be cold in the middle of fall with no jacket and torn clothes.


    I took off my jacket and threw it at her. She looked at it, then at me, but I turned away before she could hand it to me again.


    "Building four, number eight hundred and seventeen. Give it backter."


    Without waiting for her to say anything, I quickly left the area, taking onest look around once I was where no one could see me.


    The moment I stopped holding back, my breathing quickened, my lungs finally released the pressure and started to work quickly. My heart literally started to race.


    Since I wasn''t sure of their level when I first saw them, I consumed a lot of my mana very quickly... And since my mana had increased a lot since the first day, I didn''t expect to get so tired just from excessive mana consumption but¡­ I was wrong again.


    Well, the world wouldn''t be like this if everyone turned from trash into diamonds in just one month of practice. I should be grateful even for my current situation...


    I calmed my racing heart and slowly inhaled fresh air into my lungs. Then I realized something else.


    Because I came out from the other side of the building, I''m staying in the opposite direction of the dormitories. The air is really freezing, and I don''t have a jacket...


    *******


    When I finally entered my dorm room, I flopped down on my bed and took a deep breath.


    In a single day, I had caught the spy, talked to Lucia, and saved a girl from bullying. As a result, I was deadly tired and wanted to sleep quickly...


    I closed my eyes, not caring about the clothes I was wearing, but unfortunately, I was not allowed to sleep...


    ~beep


    Sighing, I opened my watch and looked at the notification. Then a smile appeared on my face.


    <<------------------------------


    Spy: I reported what you asked for.


    ------------------------------>>


    It looked a bit strange on the holographic screen because I had recorded the boy as ''Spy'' but I didn''t care too much about that.


    <<------------------------------


    You: Good, have you been given any orders?


    Spy: No, they told me to keep doing what I was doing.


    You: Then keep doing what you''re doing. If they give you any direct orders, let me know directly.


    ------------------------------>>


    I had nothing else to say, so I ignored the spy and closed my eyes again to sleep.


    ~beep


    Ah... What now?


    <<------------------------------


    -) Study Group (3)


    Adrian: Aiden, I couldn''t help worrying when you suddenly left the ssroom. You''re okay, right?


    ------------------------------>>


    Ah... your thoughtfulness brought tears to my eyes Adrian... But it was better not to ask me this at midnight, you could have waited for tomorrow.


    <<------------------------------


    Julian: Really! You''re not dead, are you?


    You: I''m fine, I just got a headache.


    Adrian: Are youing to school tomorrow?


    Julian: Are youing to school?


    Adrian: I can give you my notes if you can''te.


    Julian: I can give you my notes if you want.


    ------------------------------>>


    Hahah... They truly have the same mindset.


    <<------------------------------


    You: It''s a simple headache, nothing to stop me froming to school, but I would feel better if I slept.


    Adrian: Ah... Good night, get well soon.


    Julian: Good night.


    ------------------------------>>


    In this way, I closed my eyes again with a smile on my face.


    ~beep


    Shit... Who the fuck is it again?


    When I saw ra''s name on the messaging app, my anger vanished in an instant. An involuntary smile reappeared on my face, but it quickly faded again.


    Right... There are people surrounding her even now. I... I''d better take care of this, but I can''t do anything during the week. I''ll have to wait for the weekend.


    I talked to ra for about half an hour. After that, I actually managed to fall asleep.

 Chapter 40: Volume II - 6: Addictive Feeling

    <h4>Chapter 40: Volume II - Chapter 6: Addictive Feeling</h4>


    I woke up as usual, had breakfast, put on my uniform, and left my room.


    I walked into my ssroom, no different from the previous days. And again, as always, I was surrounded by people I wasn''t even sure who they were.


    "Hey, Celine! We''re going to karaoke tonight, wannae?"


    One of the girls spoke with a smile on her face. So I showed her a slight smile too.


    "Sorry, I have ns tonight."


    The girl''s smile slowly faded. She definitely looked upset but I could see right through her, she was just disappointed that she had let me slip away.


    I dealt with a few more annoying students like this but then the professor entered our ssroom. With that, they finally backed off.


    Even though I didn''t understand much from all the lessons until lunch break, I made sure not to fall asleep. So, finally, all the boring lessons were over and I stood up smiling.


    Finally, it was time for practical training. The preliminary for thepetition was next week, so I was incredibly excited about that.


    I quickly returned to my room, got ready, and rushed to the training hall that the professor had arranged.


    I knocked on the door. When the professor opened the door for me, she stepped back and weed me in. Then she closed the door and stood in front of me with a smile on her face.


    She was quite ordinary, with not very long brown hair and eyes as brown as her hair, but she was one of the most powerful people I had ever seen.


    "Yes! It''s been exactly one month since youst measured your stats. Can you tell me what you''ve improved? I need to record it."


    The woman opened her watch and looked at me.


    "Agility and Endurance became E+ two weeks ago. My Electric Elementalist mastery went from E- to E about three weeks ago."


    The professor nodded and took note of what I said, then smiled brightly again.


    "Good, now I''m going to show you a technique I want you to learn this week. But I''m not going to exin it like before, instead watch and try to understand it. Believe me, if you can learn it before the preliminary, even if you fight Adrian, who is currently in first ce, you might have a chance with a surprise attack."


    The moment I heard that, my eyes lit up. Because I had seen with my own eyes how strong the boy Adrian was. After all, we had taken the entrance exam at the same facility. He was¡­ literally a monster.


    The professor gripped her sword, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Then her eyes opened and suddenly, I felt a wave of mana emanating from her.


    The mana slowly made its way to her sword, but it wasn''t like normal mana boosts. The mana surrounded the sword like a wild creature trying to break free. Professor lifted it into the air, but this time the sword became a blur


    The sword, blurred as if its existence had been erased, was suddenly thrown downward and an explosive energy separated from it, slicing through the air.


    The professor turned back to me after performing the technique, but I couldn''t say anything to her because my mouth was hanging open.


    "I didn''t use the technique fully so that nothing would happen to the room, but I can show you a few more times if you want."


    I nodded excitedly, and just like that; I spent the next three hours practicing this techniquepletely.


    *******


    My mana surrounded my sword, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn''t turn it into a wild form like the professor.


    I gritted my teeth and poured more and more mana into it, even though I felt extremely tired, but then the mana flowing into the sword suddenly stopped.


    Ah... I ran out of mana.


    "Okay, enough."


    The professor pped her hands in satisfaction, but I was definitely not satisfied.


    "Don''t make that face Celine, believe me, you were quite good. The first day I tried to learn this I didn''t make any progress, but you are different. You already understand the basics, it''s just the execution you have problems with."


    How can I understand the basics and have trouble practicing? If I understand the basics, shouldn''t I be able to apply them...?


    "Thank you, professor."


    I kept what I wanted to say inside and bowed respectfully to the professor, then sheathed my sword and wiped the sweat from my forehead.


    I am tired because all my mana is exhausted... I really need to rest, it seems.


    "See you tomorrow, Celine."


    "See you, professor."


    I left the room with a fake smile on my face. then I took a deep breath and headed toward the dorms without a care in the world. I wanted to go to my room and go to bed quickly. I quickly wanted it to be tomorrow and wanted to practice again...


    So I quickened my pace, but just then, I overheard something.


    "Hey, they say Leo and his gang have disbanded!"


    The three girls were gossiping with each other.


    I thought it was something important...


    "What? Really?!"


    "Yes! And it''s not an internal fight, someone deliberately scattered them!"


    "There''s more!"


    The third one interjected excitedly.


    "A student caught them bullying, then beat all seven of them at once and made them run away trembling with fear!"


    Hmm? Such rumors are usually exaggerated... But there was a hero of justice in the academy who could take on all seven? Strange...


    "One of the people who saw the group scatter said it was someone with gray eyes who beat them up!"


    And when I heard that, I stopped moving.


    A boy with gray eyes... I could only think of one person.


    "How many people in the academy have gray eyes? Is it the smart guy from ss 1-C?"


    The girls continued to gossip amongst themselves, but soon they started talking about something else, so I stopped listening to them.


    Aiden... wasn''t he weak? Beating seven people to the point that they all fled in fear? And did he have such a sense of justice?


    I thought about the assassination attack at the cemetery.


    I still remembered his escape at that moment... Even though I didn''t oppose him because I knew it was the most logical option, inside I called him a coward at that moment.


    Later, when I heard that he had managed to outwit an assassin and was wounded, I guiltily left them twenty thousand wels and stayed in the hospital room for about half an hour, but that was it. I didn''t think I would ever meet him again after that. At least not without hearing and learning more about him.


    I thought about the strange feeling he gave me, it kept haunting me all the time. That alien feeling... it was the strangest thing I''ve ever encountered in my life. So I was sure he was special in some way.


    With these thoughts in mind, I slowly made my way to my dorm room.


    It was already dark, so I quickly made my way to the walkway, but I couldn''t help but be surprised that no one was around. Everyone was probably working for the preliminary.


    He''s probably working too. After all, he''s going to the preliminary too... Although, doesn''t that mean that even if it''s a fluke, we''ll have to fight if we face each other?


    I had a thousand and one things on my mind, my mind was getting tired along with my already tired body, but then I suddenly paused.


    A familiar feeling. A strange feeling that I hadn''t felt for a long time... suddenly enveloped my body.


    I looked around quickly, trying to find the source of the alien feeling.


    It was almost too faint for me to notice, but I could feel it. I could never forget this feeling, I couldn''t forget something so ''strange'' even if I wanted to.


    I looked all around. And when I find what I searched, I realized that there was a big difference between what I saw and what I expected.


    A dark-haired girl was walking toward the dormitories with a familiar jacket in her hand. It was the same jacket I had seen at the cemetery.


    He had a girlfriend? So... that''s something I didn''t expect.


    I looked at her back as she walked away.


    It''s not supposed to be my business. I''m not going to pry into anyone''s life, but this strange feeling I get because of my skill... It pulls me in so much, it makes my head spin...


    As a result, a few minutester I found myself slightly hidden in a ce with an easy view of room eight hundred and seventeen.


    I knew what I was doing was nonsense, but... I was just curious.


    When the girl came to the door, she hesitated for a moment. I used my mana, which had regenerated a small amount so far, to heighten my senses and focus on her.


    I... Why am I really doing this? I''m being ridiculous, I''m acting like a stupid gossipy girl...


    Aaahh... Just this once, I''m going to watch what happens as I try to figure out what this feeling is and see if I can learn something I can use in the future for recruiting him...


    The girl knocked on the door a few seconds after I had developed my senses.


    The faint feeling I had been able to get from the jacket until now was suddenly intensified when Aiden, dressed in quite normal clothes, opened the door and I was pped by the sudden change.


    At first, I couldn''t understand what it was, this strange thing was just ''strange''. But now, more than getting used to it, I realized that I wanted to experience the feeling even more.


    It was like a drug, like a cigarette that I couldn''t even understand why people smoke, and the moment I realized that my eyes widened.


    Am I... getting addicted to a feeling that I don''t even understand what it is?


    I quickly shook my head from side to side and suppressed my skill with my own will, so that the strange feeling slowly subsided, and once it was at a level I could resist, I focused back on the duo I was watching.


    When Aiden saw the girl, at first he was quite surprised. Then a slight smile appeared on his face.


    So she really was his girlfriend...


    She handed him the jacket and Aiden dly took it.


    "Thank you again."


    She bowed slightly, I was sure her eyes were fixed on the floor.


    "No problem, would you like something warm? Coffee, tea, or something else."


    "No, thanks. I just wanted to return the jacket."


    Return...


    "Well, have a good evening then."


    Aiden spoke respectfully and then stepped back slightly.


    "Good evening..."


    She spoke tly again and then Aiden slowly closed the door without saying anything else.


    I just stood there with a nk expression on my face.


    Why did they speak so formally and keep the conversation so short? Aren''t these two in a rtionship like that? Did I misunderstand?


    I refocused on the girl, but then I involuntarily frowned.


    Why doesn''t she leave the doorway?


    As I watched her, the girl took a deep breath. She lifted her head, looked at the door, and shook her head from side to side. Then she turned and walked away.


    That''s how I got to see her dark blue eyes, almost navy blue, but that''s not what surprised me.


    What surprised me was that what I sensed from those eyes, thanks to my intuition skill, was a sense of exhaustion and soullessness.


    It was almost... something wrong was happening. The world seemed to darken around her, it was disturbing.


    I stopped watching the corridor and leaned against the wall.


    I lowered my eyes down to the floor, then finally thought.


    So... that was it.


    I said it once and that was it. Other people''s business is none of my business.


    Taking a deep breath, I started going down the stairs. Deciding to forget everything I had seen.


    *******


    After I got my jacket back and closed the door, I realized that it was perfectly clean, and it smelled very nice.


    I don''t think the washing machines in the rooms could do such a thing... Had she washed it by hand then?


    After examining the jacket a little more, I looked through the peephole to see if she was still there, just out of curiosity. But then I saw the empty corridor and sighed.


    She must have left already...


    The jacket was already clean, so I hung it on the coat rack. Nothing important or different happened after that, to be honest. I just had a simple dinner and went back to bed.


    But I was not sleepy and didn''t know what to do...


    I raised my wrist, then saw that it wasn''t even nine o''clock in the evening.


    Well... Let''s practice at least. There''s nothing else I can do anyway...


    I changed into sports-appropriate clothes, strapped my sword to my waist, and jogged briskly toward the training building. When I entered the building, I quickly approached the reception desk.


    "Aiden Tenebra, I''m going into one of the public halls."


    Actually, I would have liked to go into the room I used with the professor... But those are specifically for professors'' use and students can''t go into those ces on their own. At least without permission from the professors, and I... haven''t gotten such permission yet.


    The attendant looked at the screen in front of him and checked my ID. Smiling, he pointed me to the corridor on the left side of the lobby.


    "You can follow the signs to hall number four."


    "Thanks."


    I gave him a smile back and walked as he described until I found room number four.


    When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was that although the room was quite big, it was empty.


    There were only a few people exercising... Apparently the other rooms werepletely full, so they sent me to where thest few people were.


    Sighing, I closed the door and then looked at the gym equipment.


    Let''s warm up first...


    "Aiden?"


    Suddenly startled, I jumped slightly from where I was, then turned around.


    "Julian?"


    I was surprised to see that it was really Julian calling me. I didn''t expect to find him here, but then I paused, an involuntary smile suddenly appearing on my face.


    I can build the basis for one of the preparations I want to make for the preliminary here.

 Chapter 41: Volume II - 7: Justin Malus

    <h4>Chapter 41: Volume II - Chapter 7: Justin Malus</h4>


    ~cling!


    The sound of metal on metal echoed in the training room, and I took a quick step back. Sweat dripped down my forehead, but I didn''t attempt to wipe it off because to do so would have given my opponent an advantage.


    "Are you sure you''ve only been learning to use a sword for a month?"


    Julian spoke with his eyebrows raised.


    "Yes..."


    We''ve been having a friendly duel for about fifteen minutes. And I haven''t been able to give him a single scratch... He hasn''t been able to give me one either, but he''s in much better condition than me, and he''s not so hard on me...


    What I mean is he can easily take me down if he wants to.


    "Let''s get some rest."


    I sheathed my sword, lowered myself to the ground, and regted my breathing.


    Even if these fifteen minutes were nothingpared to the time I spent with Professor Calvin, I was really tired.


    If Ipare Julian to Professor Calvin¡­ he''s certainly easier to fight, but he''s not to be underestimated. No wonder he''s ranked fourth in the academy...


    When Julian saw me panting on the floor, he tilted his head to the right and looked at me. Then he sighed, moved across, and sat down like me. He took a thermos out of his bag and poured it down his throat.


    There was a silence between us, a silence I had been waiting for from the beginning.


    Here we go.


    "Julian, let me ask you something."


    Julian lowered his thermos and looked at me with raised eyebrows.


    "Yes?"


    "Don''t take this the wrong way, not that it''s you¡­ but you know the bullies of the academy, right?"


    He must not have liked that because he frowned and narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "What do you need them for? Try to talk to anyone and you''re instantly their target. You don''t have an extremely rich family or a strong background, even I can''t save you from some of them."


    I wonder what you would do if you knew that I had a deal with Ulka and that I had eighteen million to use in any way I wanted...


    "I know, but I''d like to see someone about a personal matter."


    "Personal matter? Do you have a grudge against a student or something?"


    Uh... He misunderstood.


    "No, I''m not going to get someone beaten up. Do I look like that kind of person?"


    I made a little bit of an angry face, so Julian didn''t know what to say for a moment.


    "I just... need to see one of them. Can you put me in front of Justin Malus for once?"


    Julian froze for a moment.


    "Are you serious? You need to see that guy?"


    He looked around hurriedly. It was like he was afraid someone would hear him.


    "Don''t worry, I''m not going to screw up my life when I have a sister to take care of."


    I tried to reassure him, but it didn''t seem to work.


    "Look... I really appreciate you helping me with my studies, if it''s something I can help you with I really will, but you don''t seem to have the slightest idea what that guy is like."


    I clicked my tongue. He had no intention of giving up.


    "You''re wrong, Julian."


    It''s going to be hard to convince him... I have to try a little harder.


    I averted my eyes for a moment, squinted them slightly, tensed my muscles, and clenched my fist. Of course, Julian didn''t miss it.


    "I know him better than you, no... better than anyone."


    Well, it''s not a lie.


    I turned my eyes back to him, but this time I didn''t have my usual demeanor. I had a cold and straight face, so when our eyes met, Julian''s eyes widened slightly.


    "I have an issue with him and believe me, I know how to take advantage of him."


    I released my clenched fist and continued, smiling slightly.


    "You forget I am not stupid, I''m not one to fall into traps like that. I''ll talk to him, get the job done, and then walk out of there without a single trouble."


    I could see Julian hesitating after what I said. He trusted me, but he didn''t want to put me in danger with his own hands.


    That''s why I don''t like to be maniptive, even if I do it a little, but I have no choice.


    "Aiden... I wanted to ask you something too."


    Hmm? I thought he would hesitate a little more and say ''Okay''... This was unexpected.


    "Yeah?"


    "You disbanded a group of bulliesst time, right?"


    Ah, that rumor... I was sure no one was watching, I guess the saying ''walls have ears'' is true.


    "It''s exaggerated, but yes. All I did was ckmail them. I didn''t beat anyone up."


    Julian sighed deeply, then scratched his head.


    "You want to see him because of that girl?"


    Ah... I think I was a bit too misunderstood.


    "No... Believe me, you''re misunderstood."


    Julian smiled wickedly.


    "Well, I can put you in front of him for once. He owes me a favor, but it won''t be easy."


    "You really misunderstood..."


    Julian ignored me, pretended he didn''t hear me, and then his face turned slightly uneasy.


    "Are you sure you can leave there without any problems?"


    "Yes... But I think yo-"


    "Okay, when should I arrange to meet?"


    Damn it... I can''t tell him anything, can I?


    Anyway... At least he agreed.


    I lifted my wrist and saw that the time was approaching ten o''clock at night, so I couldn''t help but smile, I still had plenty of time.


    "Right now, if possible."


    *******


    I looked at the building Julian and I were standing in front of and couldn''t help but admire it, even though I had seen it before.


    The boy, Justin, had taken over almost the whole of dormitory number two, except for the first floor, which was the lobby.


    Of course, there were some people who were not in his group who lived here, and no one overly touched them unless they caused Justin trouble. But I would not be lying if I said that he controlled more than half of the building.


    And since he did all the illegal things he did in secret and left no evidence behind, the academy couldn''t find anything to charge him with and couldn''t stop him.


    After all, it wasn''t ''bad'' for a bunch of eighteen-year-olds to band together, no matter how big, as long as they couldn''t prove they had done anything bad.


    "Leave everything to me until you meet Justin, then you can do whatever you want with him."


    "All right."


    Julian walked calmly into the building and I followed him.


    The first thing we saw was a lobby that, although more crowded than the other buildings, was no different, but the real differences came when we tried to go upstairs.


    We couldn''t take the elevator up because it had a sign saying it was out of order.


    Well, it''s obvious why...


    We left the elevator and headed for the stairs, but then a ratherrge and bald ''student'' met us at the top of the stairs.


    "Your ID?"


    This was something they had arranged.


    If a student''s room is in this building, he gets an ID from Justin''s group and as long as he shows it to the ''students'' he can go to his room without any problem.


    In our case... we are not residents of this building, just guests.


    "I''m Julian Virhen, here to see Justin."


    The moment the burly student heard the name ''Justin'', he frowned and became rmed.


    "He owed me a favor. If you let him know, it won''t be a problem."


    With that, he shifted his gaze to Julian''s name badge and then, with a sigh, opened his watch.


    After almost a minute of waiting, he turned back to us and stepped aside.


    "Wait on the first floor and a boy with blond hair and orange eyes will show you the way."


    I was relieved to see that there was no problem, and Julian, already knowing that there would be no problem, started to go up to the first floor without waiting.


    I couldn''t help but admire the building again when we quickly followed him up to the first floor so as not to be left behind.


    The ''in'' design of the normal dormitory buildings had changed in this building. Most of the normally closed rooms had open doors and there were students in and out of every room, no matter where they were.


    In fact, at first nce, it looks like a bit of chaos. But when I watched what was happening, even for a few seconds, I could see that there was perfect order on the floor.


    As bad as Justin is, he definitely knows his stuff. It''s not easy to create such an order.


    "Follow me, please."


    I was surprised to hear the voiceing from our right and to find someone as described by the ''student'' below.


    Isn''tmunication a bit too fast?


    Julian nodded and acknowledged the boy. So the boy began to lead us up through the floors and as we ascended each floor, the number of students on guard on the stairs increased proportionately.


    There were students on guard everywhere as if they were protecting a mafia boss. It was like a whole other world inside the academy.


    When we finally arrived at thest floor, I saw that the entire corridor was filled with these ''sentries''. I was subjected to particrly crushing stares as I passed through them all, but I ignored each and every one of them, and so we came to the front of a room where four people, in particr, were standing in front of it.

 Chapter 42: Volume II - 8: Offer to Crush

    <h4>Chapter 42: Volume II - Chapter 8: Offer to Crush</h4>


    "The boss is waiting for you."


    A boy with long ck hair and brown eyes stepped back, opening the door for us. So we took our first step inside and strangely enough I saw that the room was much bigger than the normal ones.


    Ah... These maniacs had removed the walls with the help of an earth elementalist...


    That way, even if someone reports damage to academy property, they can say they fixed it and only get a tiny ''warning''.


    "Julian! You haven''t been around muchtely and I was beginning to think you were dead!"


    A boy with golden eyes and dark blue hair so long he could tie it behind his back smiled mischievously as he sat sprawled on an armchair at the far wall of the room.


    He had a handsome face, and even though he was sitting, you could tell he was tall. His carefully developed muscles were also evident.


    He looked like a ck panther, with golden eyes that gave him a dominant air.


    "Yes. It really had been a long time, Justin."


    "To what do I owe this visit?"


    At first nce, the two of them seemed to be friends. But from the tone of their voices and so on, it was clear that Justin was a little too rxed.


    If I took Justin as a wolf, we were likembs in a cave full of his pack. He had the upper hand.


    "I found something you can pay me back for."


    Julian stepped aside slightly and brought me forward.


    "This is a friend of mine, he wanted to see you. All you have to do to repay your debt is to meet him. It''s up to you to ept or reject his request."


    A smile appeared on Justin''s face.


    "So I don''t have to ept? I just have to listen?"


    Julian looked at me. I nodded my head up and down in agreement.


    "Yes."


    Justin''s smile widened and then he turned to me,pletely ignoring Julian. He was practically crushing me with his eyes.


    A boy who was only eighteen already had such a heavy presence¡­ It''s actually a bit frightening, but I have no intention of stepping back.


    "I would like to meet one-on-one."


    After these words, a silence fell over the room, and the two ''guards'' waiting inside stepped toward me.


    "Stop."


    If Justin hadn''t stopped them, I''m sure they would have grabbed me by the arm and made me kneel.


    Haha... I don''t feel like I''m in an academy at all...


    After stopping the guards, Justin shifted his eyes to my name badge. He studied it and then burst intoughter.


    "Everyone, get out of the room except Aiden."


    He was so sure of himself that he didn''t think I couldy a finger on him. And he was right...


    The two guards didn''t question him once and quickly left the room. Julian took onest look at me, then followed them out.


    So I was left alone with this boy named Justin.


    "So, what do you want, King of Rumors?"


    A bitter smile appeared on my face and Justin let out anotherugh.


    "A silly nickname, yes, but it suits you. There are so many conspiracy theories and rumors about you that I was beginning to think they were true."


    He has such a smile on his face that I''m sure he feels like he''s ying with me in his hands.


    "But it doesn''t matter! Tell me, what do you want?"


    I smiled slightly, then narrowed my eyes. I took a step forward, approached him, and spoke as calmly as I could.


    "Adrian Caleo."


    Justin''s eyebrows raised in curiosity.


    "He took first ce away from you and deprived you of ''second ce''."


    His face suddenly fell. His golden eyes, which had just shone with a sense of dominance, narrowed in anger and the atmosphere grew heavy.


    "You have as much courage as the rumors say."


    "Believe me, I have much more than you think."


    Despite the heavy atmosphere, I continued, smiling as if I had the upper hand.


    "He came from nowhere with zero background and suddenly he was in the first ce. He disrupted all your ns, and he disrupted mine as well."


    Justin was surprised by this, and for a moment he just stood there staring at me.


    "You... weren''t you his friend?"


    He looked genuinely surprised. It wasn''t easy to see him like that.


    "If you''re close to your enemy, you can get the information you never knew you had. Again, if you''re close to your enemy, you can hit him when he least expects it."


    Justin nodded his head up and down, briefly lost in thought.


    "I know what you mean, I''m just surprised I didn''t think you were like that. You disguised yourself well, congrattions."


    He was serious, and he really appreciated me, but that was it. He wasn''t going to suddenly start trusting me.


    "Still, even if you''re smart, how can you crush him? All the instructors have been focused on him since he got first ce. Even the professors treat him differently, despite the fact that he''s not extremely good at his studies. And then there''s that history professor who teaches him spears... In short, even without a background, you can''t attack him easily. If you could, I would have done it in the first ce."


    He''s right. Adrian has been practically adopted by the academy. It''s really hard to get to him, but that doesn''t mean there isn''t a way.


    "The preliminary is in a week."


    "What about it?"


    "The professors said we''ll ''eliminate'' each other and try to ''survive''. So it''s not forbidden for students to attack each other, and on top of that no one said grouping was forbidden."


    Justin''s eyes suddenly lit up.


    "We will gather the students and hunt him down... We will intercept him and teach him a lesson he will never forget..."


    He figured it out, but he missed one point.


    "But how are we going to find him in this huge dungeon?"


    Ah... He didn''t miss it, sorry.


    "Didn''t you say so yourself? I''m his friend."


    I smiled mischievously as I said this, and Justin waited a few seconds. Then he finally realized what I meant, chuckled a little and burst outughing.


    "Okay! I liked your attitude and ideas. I''m in, I''ll crush Adrian Caleo with you."


    Seeing that he had agreed, I offered him my hand and Justin dly shook it.


    The smile on my face involuntarily widened.


    This was the first of many things I had nned for the preliminary.


    *******


    When Julian and I walked out of the building, the first thing he asked me was if I had been sessful.


    "Yeah, it went really well."


    "So they''re not gonna bully that girl anymore?"


    Ah... This idiot still thinks that''s why I talked to Justin.


    "I''m telling yo-"


    I interrupted my own sentence because I could see his expression.


    "You don''t give a shit, do you? Fine... Think whatever you want to think."


    I said that, but then I remembered something.


    "Wait a minute... Does Justin have something to do with that girl? Why do you keep talking like those two are connected?"


    At my question, Julian paused and looked at me in surprise.


    "What? You really don''t know? Did you really talk to Justin because of something else?"


    Something I don''t know is going on here... Is this girl more important than I thought?


    "I don''t understand anything Julian, what''s going on? What are you talking about?"


    Julian was even more surprised to realize that I had no idea what I was talking about, but he didn''t hesitate to answer me.


    "That girl, I think her name was Sue, she''s Justin''s ex-girlfriend."


    I stopped walking, I just froze where I was.


    Justin''s girlfriend...


    That''s right, even if we never saw her in the game, we heard about her a few times from other people. The reason we never saw her was simply because she was dead, but she is alive ''now''... Is that so?


    "Aiden?"


    "Wait a minute!"


    When do we first hear about her existence in the game?


    Midway through the second part, there was a mission where the yer had a potential conflict with Justin, and in this mission, we learned that he had a ''dead'' ex-girlfriend.


    Of course, the date of her death was never given, so there were crazy conspiracy theories at the time. Like, is she the reason why Justin is such a ''bad'' guy, or is Justin directly responsible for her death?


    But now she''s alive and the mission that we know about her existence takes ce in the first quarter of the following year.


    So there''s at most four or five months until the death of the girl named Sue.


    I clicked my tongue and looked behind me at dormitory building number two.


    There it is... The moment when I could have prevented someone''s death has finally arrived. But if I try this... the only thing I''m going to get out of it is to stand out and be an open target.


    Dealing with Justin means that in the long run, there are worse things than death. Can I put myself and ra in danger just to save a girl?


    I clenched my fist involuntarily. I... What should I do? Should I listen to my emotions or my logic?


    *******


    I squirmed to avoid a blow to the head, trying to ignore the feeling in my arms, which were now numb from the kicks I had taken.


    There was no ''hero'' to save me likest time. I was alone, like always. Everyone who saw me ignored me, like always¡­


    What happenedst time... was just an exception. Just as I thought, nothing had changed¡­


    "Stop it now, girls. Or you''ll kill her."


    The three girls causing me to squirm suddenly stopped at the sound of a man''s voiceing from behind them. Then they stepped back.


    It''s over... right?


    "The boss called, there''s a meeting for something important. All members are asked toe."


    "Tch, what meeting in the middle of the night..."


    A girl said to herself, but she did not refuse the boy. She wouldn''t dare refuse him anyway.


    "What do we do with this?"


    The girl pointed at me, still writhing on the floor, and the boy fell silent for a moment.


    "Ignore her."


    And with that, the girls who had just a few seconds before kicked me mercilessly went after the boy as if nothing had happened. They left me alone.


    After making sure they were gone, I looked around and slowly stood up. But as soon as I did, I stumbled with a sharp pain in my left foot.


    I looked carefully at my foot and my face fell as I saw a big bruise there.


    They had sprained my foot...


    I took a deep breath and stood up again, but this time I was careful not to step on my left foot. So I started walking to my room slowly as if nothing had happened.


    At least my room is in building number six... so I won''t run into one of them.


    That way I managed to get into my room really smoothly, and I fell straight into my soft bed.


    I closed my eyes, turned over, pulled my knees to my chest, and hugged my duvet.


    What... should I do?


    Should I let my whole academic life go on like this? Should I continue to live like this even though I have done nothing wrong?


    Being bullied every day by people I don''t even know who they are, walking into my room every day with bruises and a sharp pain in my muscles...


    I snuggled deeper into the duvet, letting the warmth envelop my body, covering my wounds.


    I''m a little better now, but... won''t it be the same tomorrow?


    Is there any point... living like this?


    My eyes trembled, and the wounds that covered my body ached.


    I... I-


    What interrupted me was a sound that suddenly echoed in the room, causing me to flinch.


    The source of this sound was the watch on my wrist.


    I took a deep breath, sat up slightly, and leaned against the headboard.


    I looked at the name of the caller, even though I knew who it was. A pained expression appeared on my face, but I answered the call anyway.


    "Yes, Paul?"


    "Sis? You sound bad, is something wrong?"


    "No... I''m just a little sick."


    "Ah... I see, take care of yourself a little more. Look, if you only knew what happened today..."


    The conversation that started like this with my brother soon turned into everyday things. It went on for about fifteen minutes.


    I didn''t talk much. It was always my brother who was talking and rambling.


    "Sis¡­ you''re really okay, right?"


    "Hm? Oh, yes. I''m fine... I''m just sleepy, sorry."


    "I don''t like it when you do that. If you have a problem, you should say so. We''re siblings, you know."


    The bitter smile on my face widened. But I tried to keep it out of my voice.


    "Yeah, yeah... I know. I- I''m a bit sick, I feel tired, so I''m in a bad mood. I''m sorry Paul."


    Paul was silent for a while.


    "I understand, take care of yourself then, sister. Rest, I won''t keep you long."


    "Thanks... see you."


    "Bye."


    The call went off. Immediately after that, a heavy silence fell over the room again and I sighed deeply.


    I remembered the words I had heard when all this first started.


    You don''t want your brother to be next¡­ do you?


    Those were the words.


    I clenched my fists involuntarily.


    What did I do to deserve this?


    I remembered the people in the crowd who just looked at me and passed by, even when I was being bullied.


    Why doesn''t anyone help me? Why am I alone just because I am weak?


    I thought of my brother who is only two years younger than me. The fact that if I run away from what I am going through, he will go through it...


    I buried my face in the pillow to keep my voice quiet and gripped the duvet tightly on the bed again.


    "Please..."


    Tears started falling from my eyes, and my voice trembled.


    I just... I don''t want to hurt anymore... I want it to end...


    Why does the same thing happen every day...?


    "He- help me... Somebody¡­ P- Please..."

 Chapter 43: Volume II - 9: Market and Protection

    <h4>Chapter 43: Volume II - Chapter 9: Market and Protection</h4>


    I looked again at the name of the building in front of me. I knew I would have toe here again, but I didn''t think it would be this fast.


    With a deep sigh, I entered the ce with the sign ''Ri Bar''.


    Inside it was the same as always. Drunks, people ying cards, people hanging out, and so on... Of course, I was here for a different purpose.


    Ignoring them all, I approached the bartender and settled into the long-legged chair.


    "What would you like?"


    He wasn''t the same guy asst time, but he was sure to do the job.


    After a few cryptic words, they led me into the library in the same way asst time. They gave me the ne that disguised my appearance and five minutester I was finally in the hallway where I had to pay the entrance fee.


    "I assume you know the fees?"


    I approached the woman, but I didn''t pay her twenty-five thousand wels likest time. Rather, I sent her exactly twenty-two thousand eight hundred and five.


    This meant that I had a particrly ''illegal'' job, but she didn''t budge one bit.


    "What kind of service did you want?"


    "Market and protection."


    After what I said, a holographic screen suddenly appeared in front of the woman.


    She entered a few things on the screen that I didn''t know, and exactly one minuteter, two security guards came in through the door behind her.


    "Please follow them."


    So we walked with the guards through countless corridors until we came to a door that looked very grand. When we finally arrived, they weed me inside.


    It was actually quite nice inside. A table with chairs facing each other in the center and decorations... Everything was in a simple design that didn''t look overly fancy, and that''s the kind of thing I like.


    "Here, have a seat."


    With the sound echoing around the room, I realized that someone was sitting in the seat across the table.


    I wonder how I didn''t see him¡­


    I approached the table and sat down, and then I heard the door close behind me.


    Here we go...


    "You asked for protection and market services... Could you please borate?"


    "Sure."


    I took a deep breath and, as calm as I could be, entered the gallery from my watch. Then I showed the man a photograph.


    "ra Tenebra. She is sixteen and lives in this city."


    The man looked at the photo for a brief moment, and I kept talking.


    "I''ll give you about three hundred thousand."


    I was pretty sure the man was surprised, even though I couldn''t see it through the blur.


    "Half a year? Then we have good options-"


    "No."


    Even if I''m paying three hundred thousand, I won''t get what I want if I choose the half-year option. Because the price of the protections is calcted on a daily basis, and logically, the more money they get in a day, the better-quality protections I can ess.


    "I only want one week."


    The man stood where he was without saying anything.


    With my offer, they would get about forty thousand wels a day. That meant that there would be ''real'' professionals involved, who had put their all into this, not just anybody.


    The man opened a holographic screen in front of him. Then he entered a few things into it and scrolled the screen in front of me.


    "These are the bodyguards we have avable right now, there are single ones or groups of them. So choose wisely."


    I smiled as I looked at the screen in front of me, because the people I was looking for were right at the top of the screen.


    "Joez Group, they are avable right now, aren''t they?"


    The man must have been surprised to see that I was quick with my selection because he was silent for a while.


    "Yes, they are avable. If you add twenty thousand to the daily rate, you can give them additional missions."


    Well, that was my intention already.


    "I will pay. The guards will have two extra tasks. One, they won''t let the girl know she''s being guarded. And for the second one... There are assassins on her tail right now. Guards are not supposed to let them know, but they''re not supposed to let them out of the way right away. They will wait until the time is right, and I will signal them."


    The man wrote down everything I said, then rubbed his hand and spoke excitedly.


    "And with that, we close the protection business?"


    "Yes."


    "Then let''s get into the market business! What do you want to buy?"


    I smiled even though the man couldn''t see my face.


    "I need two things. The first is an old phone with an anonymous line that''s only open for one day."


    That wasn''t hard to get, but it was best to get that out of the way while he was here.


    "The second is... an illusion device with a one-time use of at least ten minutes, approximately six hundred and twenty-five squares, and at least a B grade."


    I could have sworn he was smiling as much as I was after what I said.


    *******


    Actually, I wanted to pay ra a quick visit before returning, but I didn''t. I couldn''t risk revealing my n by exposing myself to the assassins, so I just went back to the academy, as much as it hurt.


    Today was Saturday, so there were no sses. Therefore, I continued my preparations and now, in the woods inside the academy, I am texting a number on the anonymous phone I received today.


    <<------------------------------


    To: **97*76**9


    Message: There is a great danger in Monday''s preliminary, a danger that you will regret if you ignore it. I advise you to be ''extremely'' careful. The more the better. Keyword: starts with ''w'' and ends with ''a'', I guess you can understand.


    (45¡ã03''50.7 "N 34¡ã38''51.2 "W)


    -Send-


    ------------------------------>>


    I read and checked the message, then I pressed send and crushed the phone under my foot.


    I made sure that it was in pieces and as soon as I left the woods, I threw the pieces into different trash bins. Then I went back into my dorm room.


    Okay... That''s pretty much everything that I had nned. I just need to do a few more things and then all that''s left is to wait for the day.


    I approached my bed for a quick rest. I wanted to lie down, to rest, but then I hesitated.


    The day is far from over... Why am I resting?


    I put on my training clothes, strapped my sword around my waist, and then spent the whole day training¡­


    *******


    The next day I invited Adrian and Julian to have dinner with me to clear my head. Nothing much happened after that. I met Justin again and gave him more details about the n, we made our preparations and finally, the time came.


    Before the preliminary, we were given specially made in clothes in gray. We were also each given a dimensional button that could only hold a weapon, and nobody had anything else on them.


    Well, technically...


    It''s been almost four months since the so-called dimensional button was invented on Lunerra. So it''s still ''new'' to humanity and there are a lot of things that are not thought about, and even if they are thought about, they are not ''taken seriously'' because nothing has happened about it yet.


    The most important one is that what you put inside a dimensional button is determined by your imagination and other things thate into contact with it.


    So if I tape a dimensional button on my sword that already has another item in it, I can transfer the two of them into another dimensional button in contact with each other.


    Of course, the button will be a bit unstable because I''m creating another dimension inside a dimension that''s already been created, but that''s not something I need to worry about that much.


    That''s why I was a bit nervous when we were being searched, but it worked fine. Since I had taught Justin''s group this, the n was working perfectly for now.


    "Line up a single file and follow me."


    Everyone was nervous and excited but no one objected to the professor. We quietly formed a single file line and when everyone was in ce, the professor walked ahead of us and led us to the section with the wide staircase.


    All the corridors were full of students and everyone here was now going to the lower levels of the academy for the first time because it was forbidden.


    As we were walking down the wide stairs, I started to feel strange. At first, my body started to shake and then my vision started to blur, but after a few seconds, the feeling slowly subsided.


    I couldn''t understand why this was happening and panicked, but then I realized that everyone around me was suffering from the same thing. There were even some people who almost fainted.


    We were approaching the dungeon gates and so the mana around us was extremely concentrated... So we, who were still young and mana-poor, were inevitably affected.


    Professors helped the wobbling students. It didn''t take long for people to get back on their feet, so there was no problem. So after this descent, which took about two minutes, we came to a huge hall.


    The hall was sorge that it was supported by columns. The doors on the walls were so magnificent andrge that no one, including me, could take their eyes off them.

 Chapter 44: Volume II - 10: Start of the Preliminary

    <h4>Chapter 44: Volume II - Chapter 10: Start of the Preliminary</h4>


    "Line up starting from ss A!"


    In just a few seconds we lined up as we were told. The atmosphere was one of absolute dominance.


    "Now, all of you listen to me carefully!"


    The speaker was someone who stood out even among the famous professors lined up in front of us.


    His brown eyes were quite ordinary, but his long dark green hair gave him a strange air. Nearly two meters tall, he was a professor of mana theorem, one of the academy''s candidates for the next rector. He had such an air that he seemed like he could crush us with his words alone.


    "Soon you will enter through the gate in the door behind us, and you will step into apletely different world!"


    Everyone reflexively turned toward the door. Even though it was no different from any other door in the hall, the knowledge that we were now going to enter it glorified it in the eyes of some.


    "Injuries are allowed, except crippling. Other than that, once inside, you will begin with the sound of a bell echoing across the field."


    The man paused for breath.


    "Each of your training suits is specially made with a counter which advances when you are injured. When it reaches the upper limit, you are disqualified. Of course, if you manage to take your opponent''s watch, you automatically disqualify him or her. Your goal is to survive until thest five people are left and, needless to say, you''ll get a bonus for every person you eliminate."


    It was a very exnatory speech, but there was one thing that stuck in my mind.


    What happens if there are nost five for a long period of time? For example, let''s say that thest ones are strong and stubborn, so the preliminary are extended for two or even three days... What happens in such a situation?


    Well, I know it won''t happen but I just started to wonder now¡­


    "We have set the gate so that the moment someone passes through it, that person will be in a certain area, at a certain distance from you. Don''t worry, the boundaries of the area have been specifically defined and there will be no creatures inside. Also, since there are six hundred and twenty-five of you, the first few minutes will be a bit chaotic. What I mean is you would better be careful."


    The man smiled, then turned and signaled to those waiting outside the door.


    The door opened wide, revealing the huge blue gate that had been hiding behind it until now. When this happened, my whole body trembled and I felt dizzy, just like on the stairs back then.


    The amount of mana emanating from the gate was so enormous that it threw me off bnce for a moment.


    "We''ll give you about five minutes to regain consciousness, then one by one you''ll go through the gate and wait until you hear the bell. Now, let''s focus on recovering quickly."


    After these words, everyone became even tenser. Even though they were getting used to the heavy mana intensity, they were clearly sweating, their adrenaline levels were rising. I was not much different from them...


    "Good, now go quickly through the gate."


    With that, the students slowly started to walk towards the gate, first from ss A.


    They were hesitant at first, but then the line started to flow faster and faster, and finally, it came to us.


    When ss C, which I was in, approached the gate quickly, I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. Then I just let myself go into the gate.


    It was actually a strange feeling... A slight warmth, strange but not ufortable dizziness, and the extremely strange sensation of feeling as if I were moving and not moving at the same time...


    Just when I thought I would get used to it, the feeling suddenly disappeared and a brilliant light enveloped my body. So I shielded my eyes, waited for a while for the light to disappear, and as it happened slowly, I finally pulled my arms back. That''s when I realized I was in the trees.


    I slowly stood up and started looking around. Interestingly, I could hear the sound of a stream of watering from nearby.


    With the luck I had in my old life, I thought of teleporting to the worst location or something, but at least water should be easy to get...


    Although this time I seem to have had good luck, I couldn''t find anything else noteworthy except the water source¡­


    The professor told us not to move until we heard the bell and I am surrounded by trees... and I can''t observe my surroundings much. It seems that all I can do is just wait.


    I waited in this way for about seven minutes, each one tenser than thest, and then the waiting finally came to an end. I heard the sound of a bell, loud enough to ring in my ears, echoing through the forest.


    As soon as my ears got used to the sound, I quickly hid somewhere pretty cowardly.


    Getting a bonus by eliminating someone? I don''t want to eliminate myself by fighting someone. I''m way behind inbatpared to my peers and I don''t want to show off some of my skills right away.


    So I''ll hide first. And if there are people near me, which I''d prefer not to be, then at least I''ll have the advantage of a surprise attack.


    Now... One of the things I ca-


    My thoughts were instantly interrupted.


    I squinted my eyes, trying to figure out what the sound was and it didn''t take me long to realize it was someone''s footsteps.


    I was just wondering when my bad luck would show itself¡­ How great!


    I leaned over even more than I already was, got deeper into the bushes, and focusedpletely on the sound.


    The footsteps were slow and deliberate. They also sounded as if they were heading toward the sound of water, not me.


    I calmed myself down as much as I could and moved slowly toward the sound of footsteps. Then I found a rather ordinary-looking boy in front of a river.


    There was no one else around for now, but it was clear that anyone who heard the sound of water would soon be haunting this ce.


    While I was thinking about this, the boy I was watching bent down to drink from the river.


    I took a deep breath, stood up, and took out my sword from my dimensional button. I quickly pocketed the two-dimensional buttons I had taped over it and started to approach the boy.


    I don''t care about bonuses, yes, but I''m not stupid enough to pass up an opportunity to eliminate an opponent I can see in front of me.


    As I slowly approached the boy, I cast a wind spell to create a breeze, which further disguised my footsteps and when I thought I was close enough, I strengthened the breeze to blow in the opposite direction.


    The boy looked curiously in the direction the breeze was blowing, the opposite direction to me, and I took the opportunity to rush at him.


    I grabbed the boy by the cor and mmed him to the ground. Without letting him react, I pointed my sword at his chest and asked coldly.


    "Zero thirteen?"


    The boy looked at me with panic and confusion after what I said.


    When I saw the look on his face, I sighed and quickly reached for his watch, but the boy realized my purpose and started to struggle.


    I ced my sword on his shoulder and pressed down a little, and then something unexpected happened.


    The boy suddenly started crying.


    "Huh?"


    The reason I only stabbed the sword lightly was that I hesitated. It felt weird to injure someone who had nothing to do with me, so I didn''t just plunge the sword into his shoulder, but¡­ what is this?


    "I- I''m sorry... P- please don''t hurt me!"


    For a moment I just froze where I was, I didn''t really expect him to react like that, I was literally dumbfounded.


    After a while, I shook my head from side to side, sighed deeply, and without saying anything I reached for the watch on the boy''s arm.


    I pulled it off, and as I did so, red lines suddenly appeared on the boy''s clothes. The words ''you are disqualified'' appeared on his watch.


    After that, the boy, along with his watch, which I was holding in my hand, suddenly turned into particles and disappeared.


    They probably put the runes that work in low-level dungeons on our clothes... So we don''t really have to worry about injuries. Wherever we go after disqualification, there will be quite skilled healers waiting for us.


    I remembered the boy''s behavior before he turned into particles and I couldn''t help but feel bad.


    This world... I guess it''s a little bit scarier than I thought.


    Immediately after this thought passed through my mind, the front of my suit suddenly shimmered, and a rather ring number ''1'' appeared on it.


    I couldn''t help but be momentarily surprised by this, but I quickly regained myposure, quickly drank some water from the river, erased the image of the boy from my mind, and rushed back to the hiding ce I had just been hiding in.


    I have to do what I have to do. If I stray from the n I have in mind, there will be trouble.


    I made sure no one was around, confirmed that I was in a safe ce, and finally turned on my watch.


    Even though most of its functions are restricted to preliminary, I can still get information like the ''number of students remaining'' through it.


    Only four hundred and sixty people left in the first few minutes... It looks like there are some fierce battles going on.


    After I turned off the watch, I looked around, again making sure that no one was ambushing me, and this time I reached into my pocket.


    I picked up one of the dimensional buttons that I had pulled out of my sword when the preliminary first started, the green one, transferred mana to it, and pulled out what was inside.


    What came out of the button was a device the size of a music yer from my old world, with only a few buttons and a screen.


    When I pressed the buttons, dots suddenly appeared on its closed screen.


    The one representing Adrian was blue, while the dots representing Justin and his men were all green.


    The day before the preliminary, when I had dinner with Adrian and Julian, I had asked for Adrian''s watch, saying that it was out of date and that I wanted to update it. He was happy to give it to me, and so I had ced a transmitter on the watch that was almost impossible to see.


    I slowly stood up and, without anyone noticing, started to move toward the blue dot I had seen. I met a few students along the way, but I ignored them, both because I wanted to hide my full power as much as possible and because I didn''t believe I could defeat them all.


    In this way, when there were about five hundred meters between me and the blue dot, I saw a gathering of green dots. Justin and his men were gathering on my side, about three hundred meters away from Adrian.


    I quickly moved toward them, and as I got closer to where they were gathered, the trees were getting denser and my field of vision was getting narrower. I was a bit scared, but I kept going.

 Chapter 45: Volume II - 11: The Betrayal

    <h4>Chapter 45: Volume II - Chapter 11: The Betrayal</h4>


    When there were almost fifty meters between me and the green dots, three people suddenly jumped out in front of me and I almost jumped out of my skin.


    "Zero thirteen."


    When I spoke without giving them a chance to open their mouths, the three looked at each other, then nodded, stepped aside, and led me to where they were gathered.


    There were twenty-one people gathered in the field.


    Obviously, they gathered quite fast... I had expected there to be about ten of us.


    But that doesn''t really matter. What''s important is... why isn''t Justin here?


    "Where''s Justin?"


    A boy, who I think was the co-leader, made a face like he was angry with what I said.


    They don''t like me calling him Justin in a straightforward way.


    "We don''t know, there are three people left who are far away from here. He''s probably one of them."


    I took the device out of my pocket, examined it again, and then, with a sigh, showed it to the boy.


    The boy looked at the screen, then his eyes widened. He snatched it out of my hand and brought it closer to him, but he still couldn''t believe it.


    "Justin''s noting, he''s been eliminated."


    Everyone who heard what I said, including the boy I showed the device to, went into shock.


    "B- but how can that be? He''s... second-ranked!"


    One of them snapped. They saw no way Justin could lose to anyone.


    "Even if he''s in the top two, if he''s ambushed, he''s out. Of course, he also might have run into someone in the top five."


    So he couldn''t escape his fate, even if the preliminary changed...


    In the original story, Justin is eliminated by being caught between about seven creatures. If he was careful he could have defeated them, but because he waspletely ambushed, even if he reacted, he was badly injured by their first attack. So he couldn''t avoid elimination, but why was he eliminated this time? Not that I don''t wonder...


    "There''s nothing we can do, everyone else seems to have been eliminated. So I''m going to take over the leadership, any objections?"


    No one made a sound, after all, I was the one who came up with this n in the first ce.


    "Then get ready, we''re moving."


    They were all grim-faced, most of them panicked because Justin had been eliminated, but they stood up anyway, obeying me.


    With that, we headed toward the blue dot glowing on the device - Adrian.


    *******


    I leaned on my spear, breathing deeply into my lungs, which were constantly rising and falling.


    Meanwhile, the student kneeling in front of me with arge scratch on his chest dissolved into particles before my eyes.


    "Haaa... That was tough."


    I was tired. Because this time, I had to fight five students at the same time.


    "How many was that?"


    ''Thirty to be exact.''


    I raised my eyebrows involuntarily when Lithoa angrilyined. Then he suddenly started to shout at me.


    ''You''ve gotten so strong and you''ve only just eliminated thirty people, speed up Adrian!''


    Ah... So that''s why.


    "Okay..."


    He was right. After all, there was a huge difference between me and these kids. I couldn''t deny what he said.


    First I regted my breathing, then I started walking through the forest, slowly and without wasting any energy.


    For a few minutes, I couldn''t find anyone, as if there wasn''t a single living soul in this part of the forest except me. Yet I didn''t let myself rx just because of that but focused even more intently on my surroundings.


    Then a rustling sound entered my ears.


    Quickly grasping my spear, I took my stance and turned to where the sound wasing from.


    "Come out."


    I squinted my eyes as I saw the bushes moving, about ten meters away from me, but then, suddenly, my eyes widened. Because what I found in front of me was a familiar figure.


    "Aiden?"


    "Adrian?"


    He looked as surprised as I was.


    When I was sure that it was Aiden, I paused for a moment, my mind just went nk.


    Uh... what should I do?


    I didn''t expect to meet him here, I don''t want to fight with the first friend I''ve ever made... But the situation we''re in... I don''t have a choice, do I?


    I gripped my spear tightly and focusedpletely on him.


    "I''m sorry, Aiden, you shouldn''t have run into me."


    I don''t want to hurt him... I don''t even want to eliminate him. Would he reject me if I tried to take his watch directly? I might as well give him the opportunity to leave...


    "Hey, hey! Stop!"


    Aiden panicked and threw his hand in the air.


    "We''re not supposed to fight!"


    I couldn''t help but frown at his actions.


    Isn''t the point of preliminary for students to fight each other? What is he talking about?


    "Think logically Adrian. The professors told us that we would fight each other, but they didn''t say anything about grouping together."


    Ah... True, I didn''t hear anything like that either, but...


    "Don''t worry. Even now there are so many people in groups that it''s hard to find anyone traveling alone."


    Everything he said was an answer to the question I was thinking at the time as if he was reading my mind, and so I couldn''t help feeling awkward.


    "Okay... Fine."


    I don''t want to fight him anyway.


    Trusting him, I lowered my spear and let my body rx. To be honest, I was relieved to meet someone I knew, I felt calmer than before.


    "Wow, you''ve eliminated thirty people already? You didn''t get first ce for nothing."


    He smile wickedly while looking at the number written on my suit, then I looked at his.


    "You eliminated one person too."


    I tried to smile back, but I couldn''t tell if I managed it.


    Aiden looked at me and smiled again.


    "You''reparing one person to thirty? I just caught one person by surprise, that''s nothingpared to what you did."


    I opened my mouth again, but this time I couldn''t find anything to say. There was a short silence between us, which Aiden quickly broke.


    "Then let''s get moving, it''s not safe to stay in the same ce for too long."


    He turned in a random direction and walked slowly as if he was waiting for me.


    What he said made sense, so I didn''t argue with him.


    We walked for about five minutes, talking between us, and time passed so fast that I forgot we were at the preliminary.


    It was really fun to chat and spend time with him, I felt like I had the brother I never had. I could have even said that it was¡­ refreshing.


    When we entered a clearing with these thoughts in my mind, my eyebrows raised at first.


    Shouldn''t we have gone through the trees? I thought he valued stealth more... Does he trust me with this?


    No... He must know something. I shouldn''t question him. After all, he''s smart, he''s not one to make mistakes in such an important ce.


    On top of that... He''s my friend, my first friend, so I trust him.


    Aiden kept walking ahead of me, carefree as if he wasn''t afraid of anyone. But when we got to the center of the clearing, he suddenly stopped.


    "Hmm? What happened?"


    I asked curiously, but I didn''t get an answer.


    Aiden continued to stand where he was, nced briefly to his left and right, and then calmly bent down.


    I didn''t understand what he was doing.


    "Aiden?"


    Again, he didn''t give me any answer. After almost five seconds of him bending down, he slowly stood up, but he still wasn''t facing me.


    I was even more confused by the fact that he was suddenly acting strangely, so I approached him and tried to put my hand on his shoulder, but as I did so, he slowly turned away.


    I froze in my tracks.


    The smiling, affectionate face he had just been was gone in an instant. Instead, he was cold and calm. It was almost... scary.


    "I hope you don''t mind."


    With those three sentences, he looked at me in such a way that I wasn''t sure if he was really the ''Aiden'' I knew.


    I looked into his empty eyes and felt like my world was going ck.


    ''Do you want revenge?''


    It wasn''t Lithoa''s voice, I was imagining it... No... It wasn''t an imagination, it was one of the memories etched deep in my mind, never to leave.


    ''Then get stronger. And when you think you are strong enough to defeat me, find me.''


    The darkened world suddenly became a field of mes, and in the center of it I saw the person who had spoken those words to me, the person I hated so much, silhouetted just behind Aiden.


    The same eyes... The color may have been different, but what was hidden behind those eyes was exactly the same. Right now, Aiden looked like a cold-blooded killer capable of anything¡­ just like that man.


    "Wh- what''s going on, Aiden?"


    The look in his eyes suddenly turned to pitiful pity and I involuntarily took a step back.


    No... No, no, no... He looks like him, more and more like that man...


    I don''t want to... I don''t want to lose my only friend... I just... I don''t want to... Please... say something... say one thing...


    "Ahahahah!"


    I heard the voices of students echoing around me and my world, surrounded by mes, suddenly returned to normal.


    I barely noticed the almost twenty people surrounding me.


    "A- Aiden?"


    I called out to him, but neither the look in his eyes nor the expression on his face changed. He didn''t even hesitate or tremble, he just stood there with that look on his face.


    No... It''s a lie... I''m imagining it, Aiden wouldn''t do that. He''s a good person...


    I remembered the first day we met. The advice he gave me, the lectures he helped me with, the times I really had fun as friends...


    I looked at the boy standing in front of me again, but there was such a big difference between the way he was in my memories and the way he was now, it was like he was someone else.


    No... I''m definitely having a nightmare... He''s not Aiden... He''s not the ''Aiden'' I know.


    He''s a demon, he''s a cold-blooded demon, but...


    "Aiden... You... What do you think you''re doing?"

 Chapter 46 Volume II - 12: Counter Betrayal

    <h4>Chapter 46 Volume II - Chapter 12: Counter Betrayal</h4>


    "Hahaha! Look at his face! I told you this would be easy!"


    They made fun of me, and everything that happened made me copse even more, making me tremble, but there was still hope in me.


    I looked at Aiden, waiting for an exnation.


    He turned his gaze to the sky as if he didn''t give a single damn about me. There was a robotic, spherical, eye-like device floating in the air.


    It was one of the cameras used by academy officials to monitor the preliminary, and there were several of them in the area.


    Traces of hatred suddenly appeared in Aiden''s emotionless eyes, but after only a few seconds they vanished as if they had never existed.


    Aiden turned back to me. He didn''t look like he was going to give me an exnation.


    I clenched my fist, looking him in the eyes.


    "Why?!"


    I don''t understand what he''s doing. I''m slowly getting angry, but I don''t want to hate him.


    Maybe... Maybe it''s just a game? Just a... nightmare?


    My head started to throb, the world seemed to be closing in on me.


    Aiden unsheathed his sword and gripped it tightly. He was determined, and when I saw that, my world turned even more upside down.


    Why had he befriended me if his intention was to betray me in the first ce?


    Why give me hope when I was already broken enough?


    I thought about Julian and all the times he''d had fun smiling at me. He''d never looked like he was faking it, and he didn''t look like he was faking it now.


    So I realized.


    I was... betrayed... again...


    Aiden pointed his sword at me and I clenched my fist.


    Again I trusted someone and again I am betrayed.


    A breeze, centered on Aiden, suddenly swept through the area and flowed toward his sword, giving it a teal-colored glow.


    Why does this always happen to me? Isn''t it enough that I lost everything once? Why... Why can''t I trust anyone?


    Why am I alone?


    "Let''s start."


    The other students surrounding me drew their own weapons, but I didn''t care.


    Because the silhouette that until now had stood behind Aiden like a ghost was fading away and I was left standing there again.


    I... am not dreaming.


    Thest objections in my mind disappeared with this image. I felt the intense anger rising in my veins. I gripped my spear tightly and took a deep breath.


    If I have no right to be happy... then I will erase anyone who tries to take that right away from me.


    Friendship? Smile? Who cares...


    I was alone in this rotten world from the very beginning.


    I took the first stance of the spear style my instructor had been trying to teach me for thest month, and the moment I did, some of the people around me were surprised.


    The reason was simple. Almost everyone who trained at the academy was still trying to improve their basics, but I had already practiced them with Lithoa for almost seven months. So instead of teaching me the basics, my instructor started teaching me a proper spear style.


    I couldn''t use it for very long, since even the beginner level of the style was equivalent to a C level, and my limit was probably ny seconds.


    That was enough.


    Aiden and I locked eyes again and I prepared to lunge at him in a rage, pushing my muscles to the limit, but then, something unexpected happened and I paused.


    From just below Aiden, a wave of energy suddenly spread out and surrounded us in a transparent sphere.


    ''Hmm?''


    I heard Lithoa''s voice in my head, who had been silent until now. What I saw must have surprised even him, but then I realized something else.


    It wasn''t just me and Lithoa, but also the students surrounding me. Aiden was the only one whose expression didn''t change.


    What... is going on here?


    Aiden let out a deep sigh. Then he quickly swung his sword, which was glowing teal due to the intense wind quality, horizontally.


    In an instant, a wave of wind separated from his sword spun around, and hit the students close to him, knocking them all back.


    The students who were hit were knocked into trees by the force of the strong wind.


    Something is happening here, something I can''t understand...


    "What the fuck are you doing?!"


    The owner of the angry voiceing from my right side lunged at Aiden without a care in the world.


    The double-sided battle axe he held in his hand was rapidly approaching Aiden, but before it could reach him, it was blocked by a wall of wind and thrown back like the others.


    Aiden fixed his gaze on me again and this time, the emotionless expression on his face suddenly changed. It was no longer cold and calm... although it was definitely still calm, he was smiling bitterly.


    "I''m sorry Adrian, I''m going to exin everything and I know it''s not my right to ask, but... can you help me?"


    "He tricked us! Attack them both! Quickly!"


    The students surrounding me rushed at us both, but I still hadn''t recovered.


    First I was happy to have made a friend, then I was devastated to be betrayed, and now the same person I thought had betrayed me was apologizing in front of me.


    Aiden continued to smile, and then a gust of wind from his body pushed back all the students who had attacked him.


    "Why are you just standing there?! Use mana!"


    I heard a voice again and this time the students started attacking using the skills they had.


    "I''m really sorry, Adrian."


    Those were thest things Aiden said before he turned his back to me and then he took a basic stance as he had learned.


    ''Move, you idiot!''


    My world suddenly brightened with Lithoa''s voice echoing in my head. All of the thoughts that had been rattling around in my head until just a moment ago quickly faded and I calmed down.


    There were a few people who attacked me directly instead of Aiden, but I ignored them and thought.


    Why did Aiden do such a thing? Why did he have the same eyes as that man...


    I... I don''t know. I really don''t know, but one thing I do know is that he''s on my side right now.


    I don''t know if I can trust him after what happened, especially after I realized how much he looks like that guy, but...


    I guess... I''m happy.


    One of the students swung his spear at me with a war cry, but his stance, his grasp, was so full of holes that I took a deep breath, not even paying attention to him.


    The mana that had been hiding inside me until now suddenly exploded and spread throughout my body. Every part of my body, down to the cells, absorbed this mana and the world slowed down in my eyes.


    I raised my spear and, using the style I had learned, I quickly lunged at the students who were attacking Aiden. I ignored all of the students who were lunging at me and just walked right up to them and then swung my spear horizontally.


    The seven students targeting Aiden were thrown back by my attack as their screams filled the space.


    "Holy shit...! Watch out, he''s strong!"


    The students ignored Aiden after my attack and started attacking me.


    They realized who the real danger was. So one of them swung his sword at me, but I blocked him with the de of my spear and hit him hard in the face with the handle.


    I ducked quickly when I heard a crack from behind me and a fireball shot out of me, hitting two of them.


    About three people swung their weapons at me at the same time, but they were all knocked back as I spun my spear around my body.


    The fight had only been going on for half a minute, but they were already wary of me. They were now keeping their distance from me instead of attacking recklessly.


    I drove the shaft of my spear into the ground and looked at Aiden, who was watching the fight as if he had known this was going to happen all along.


    "I hope you make your exnation good."


    A smile appeared on his face and he gripped his sword.


    "You''ll agree with me."


    Those words were enough that I didn''t need to hear anymore.


    I turned my back to him again.


    I didn''t want him to see me crying because of the relief I felt, so I kept fighting.


    *******


    Honestly, I feel a bit bad... I was pretending to fight so as not to tire myself out, but shouldn''t I have let Adrian beat them all up?


    "Now, exin."


    Adrian looked at me sternly, sweat pouring down his face as he stabbed his spear into the ground as a habit.


    I could tell from one look that he was relieved, but I think he still had his doubts.


    Well, he has a point. I would have doubted myself too.


    "There was a group threatening me with my sister to crush you. So I had to pretend."


    I got the gist of it all in one go, and Adrian was stunned.


    "Crush me? Is someone targeting me?"


    "There''s a lot of people targeting you. Don''t take this the wrong way, but you''re really out of touch with life in this world."


    He doesn''t even know the simple things...


    "In this world, especially in a kingdom like ours, the nobility is very much in the forefront. So for someone like you, who has no noble blood, toe out of nowhere and not only break records like a nobody but alsoe in the first ce, not only gets on their nerves but also causes them a lot of trouble."


    "I... cause them problems?"


    He''s not stupid, but he''s so naive.


    "Very much so. So much so that they wanted to use me because I was your only friend. It''s my fault too... I shouldn''t have left my sister open like that."


    Adrian frowned with concern after myst sentence.


    "But you haven''t betrayed me now? Isn''t your sister in danger then?"


    "No, she''s not."


    I stepped aside and pointed to the spot where I had bent down when we first entered the clearing.


    At the exact spot where I bent down, a glowing device stuck in the ground stood out.


    "That fellow over there is an illusion device. I''ve prearranged everything so that anyone watching this area from the outside will think I''m fighting you along with those idiots we just beat up."


    Adrian raised his eyebrows like an enlightened schr.


    "And the students you deceived? Won''t theye to take revenge on you?"


    Instead of answering Adrian, I smiled slightly.


    Justin will definitelye after me when he finds out what happened, but I had already thought about that.


    "You''ve already thought of everything, haven''t you..."


    I widened my smile and again said nothing, so he knew that I approved of him.


    He looked around him, specifically at the transparent sphere created by the illusion device, and sighed.


    He was truly relieved. He was not full of anger or brain dead because he had let off steam after beating up the students.


    "What do we do now?"


    "It''s quite simple actually, we wait here until the device breaks down."


    "Excuse me?"


    "The device can stay on for fifteen minutes, but if we supplement it with our own mana it shouldst for twenty. It''s already been a long time during the battle and even if it breaks down after a few minutes, it''ll be all over for them anyway."


    Adrian looked at me nkly, but I just let myself fall to the ground.


    I was tired, even though I left almost everyone to Adrian and didn''t move a muscle.


    It''s not easy to pretend...


    Anyway, if I know the guy well enough, and I think I do in my six thousand hours in the game, I have nothing to worry about.


    The people threatening me won''t even have time to mess with me.

 Chapter 47 Volume II - 13: First Time to See a Creature

    <h4>Chapter 47 Volume II - Chapter 13: First Time to See a Creature</h4>


    I let out a deep sigh and rxed myself again, but then I saw that Adrian was still standing.


    "Why are you standing?"


    Adrian had turned his gaze away from me. He was just looking between the trees. The strange thing was that there was nothing but leaves.


    "Si-"


    My words were interrupted by a tremor that shook the ground like a violent earthquake, followed by an extremely violent explosion.


    I quickly looked in the direction of the sound, the spot Adrian had been looking at for some time, and then I saw smoke rising from it.


    "Wh- what?"


    I was so shocked that I had identally spoken out loud.


    Why is this happening?


    In the original story, students hunt creatures in groups for the preliminary. The group that told me to crush Adrian brought a few overpowered creatures to the preliminary to test him.


    In the end, even though Adrian is badly wounded, he manages to subdue the creatures with Julian, Celine, Lucia, and an archer girl named Alice, whose ce in the story is just as important as theirs.


    But now, when I''m already involved and they''re watching the illusion I''m showing them with the flying cameras, why are they acting on their own? It''s... just ridiculous.


    That''s what I was thinking, but then suddenly something urred to me.


    So, it''s really what I thought... They don''t see me as an obstacle in Adrian''s path but as another candidate with just as much potential.


    Damn... then they must have wanted to increase the difficulty of the test since there were two candidates in the first ce. Why didn''t I think about this even though I had my guesses...?


    We need to do something fast, or many important figures like Celine and Julian could die.


    "We have to go."


    I stood up quickly and turned to Adrian, a nk expression on his face.


    "Aren''t we going to get out of the illusion field by going there?"


    He''s right... but as I thought before, I don''t think those guys have time to mess with me. And just in case, I''ve already put guards on ra and let them move if they see any kind of activity.


    Adrian looked uncertain, so I smiled slightly at him and spoke again.


    "Please, can you help me one more time?"


    We have to be quick... because in the original story, Adrian was directly at the site of the explosion, whereas now he is here and with me. Without his help, we could suffer huge casualties...


    Adrian first looked at me with an emotionless expression, then he tried to smile and I must say he was much more skillful than the previous times.


    Seeing his smile, I widened mine.


    "Thank you, let''s go."


    I sheathed my sword and turned toward the site of the explosion, Adrian following behind me.


    I hope we won''t bete.


    *******


    We have been running at a brisk pace for quite some time now... I am not sure how long it will be before we arrive, but one thing I do know is that things are not pleasant there because of the screams I can hear.


    Another scream rose up ahead of us, but this one was much closer than the others. So I quickened my pace and only a few secondster, Adrian and I came out into a clearing.


    "What... is this?"


    Adrian froze in his tracks in astonishment.


    Students running here and there, creatures chasing them, other students desperately trying to fight the creatures, and blood... lots of blood.


    I''d seen blood before and I was expecting it, but I still couldn''t help feeling nauseous and averting my eyes.


    ''Not now, Aiden.''


    I took a deep breath as Sith''s voice echoed in my mind.


    He was right, this was not the time.


    I turned my eyes back to the scene in front of me and held myself as much as I could, looking at the most conspicuous ce in the area.


    About fifty meters ahead of us were three creatures easily over two to three meters tall.


    One was a well-built monkey with goat hooves and a snake tail, another was arge mammoth with scales, and thest was a bird of prey with all its feathers colored red.


    They were exactly the same as in the original story... The only difference was that they were no longer a game. They were real, and just by looking at them, I could feel that I was not their direct equivalent.


    Of course, these creatures weren''t just standing in the clearing.


    Celine, Julian, Lucia, and a girl with silver hair named Alice were fighting them, but at least none of them seemed seriously injured yet.


    I was d that my fears had note true.


    "Where are the professors? And... why aren''t the students eliminated and teleported even though they are injured?"


    Adrian couldn''t make sense of what he was seeing. And he was right, but he was missing something.


    "Look up there."


    I spoke indifferently. Adrian''s astonishment grew as he listened to me and turned his gaze upward.


    Almost directly above us, we could see a flying device that surrounded us with a transparent energy field, just like the one I had used a few minutes before. Of course, the purpose of this device was not illusion, but to create a barrier that was extremely difficult to break.


    So much so that even the professors couldn''t bring it down.


    "The stupid barrier not only separates us from the professors but also neutralizes the return rune on the suits."


    Adrian clicked his tongue after my exnation.


    "So no matter how badly we''re wounded, we can''t go back."


    "Yes."


    Adrian strangely didn''t question how I knew this. Gripping his spear tightly, he tried to help the students, but I quickly stopped him.


    Adrian looked at me in surprise, but I ignored him and let out a deep sigh.


    At least we still have hope... There are more than a hundred students still alive, and our enemies are barely fifty people apart from three huge creatures.


    We can get out of here with as few casualties as possible.


    I took a deep breath, poured mana into my vocal cords, and shouted at the top of my lungs.


    "Stop running or fighting without thinking, fools!"


    My mana-charged voice rang out so loudly that it was ear-splitting in the field. Even the students and the creatures turned to me in surprise.


    "Those with healing skills, gather together! The healers will be fronted by mages and archers capable of ranged attacks! And in front of them will be the close rangers with strong defenses who can protect everyone! And if your general level is E and above, help fight these three huge creatures! If you don''t stop running you will only die! I think you value your life... Have you never seen a fucking creature before?!"


    After what I said, everyone stayed where they were for a few seconds.


    "H- he''s right!"


    "He''s right! We are really going to die!"


    There were still some people running away in fear, but at least a significant number of students had listened to me.


    "Adrian, run to the three big beasts. I''ll help you after I take care of this ce."


    "But... is your general level even ''E''?"


    I smiled slightly in response to his question.


    "Don''t worry, I have a few things at my disposal."


    Adrian looked at me worriedly but sighed when he saw my determination.


    "Okay."


    He trusted me. Even though I had betrayed him a few minutes ago, he was still on my side and I couldn''t help but be happy.


    "Thank you."


    With that, Adrian gripped his spear tightly and charged at the monkey, which seemed to be the strongest of the creatures.


    After Adrian left my side, I took another deep breath and prepared to bark orders.


    ''Behind you! Watch out!


    At the sound of Sith''s voice, I threw myself to the side as fast as I could, but I felt arge burning sensation on my back.


    I unsheathed my sword and turned around to see a gray wolf with red eyes and strange patterns on its fur.


    There was blood on its front paws; my blood.


    I clicked my tongue and focused my mana on my back. I tried to look at it, to anticipate its next move, but in the process, I noticed something strange.


    Am I... shaking?


    Ah... It''s the first time I''m in front of a creature, I''m excited and involuntarily scared.


    Even though I''ve prepared myself for this a thousand times, I feel like my knees would give out if I let go.


    ''Snap out of it, idiot! Isn''t that exactly why you yelled at the students just now?


    I gritted my teeth, raised my sword, and looked the wolf in the eye.


    I... I''m not from this world, so I''m still not used to this kind of thing. But I know that in the future, I will always be at the edge of danger and will struggle to live.


    I know that well, but if I stay here like this... can I survive on Lunerra? No... I have to get used to these things.


    I gripped my sword even tighter and took my stance, sharpening my gaze.


    I can do this. So what if it''s a creature? I can defeat it...


    The wolf growled angrily at me. Then it charged at me in a rage, but I had already radiated the mana in my body even before it charged at me.


    A spherical area with a radius of two and a half meters centered on my body suddenly appeared before my eyes at an angle of three hundred and sixty degrees.


    The moment the wolf entered this area, I had a good enough view to count its hairs, so I had a general idea of where it was going to attack when it charged at me, and I stepped to the side.


    The wolf passed me with a slight look of surprise as its eyes slowly turned to mine. I ignored him though, twirled my sword in my hand, and drove it into the belly of the wolf that leaped past me.


    It all happened too fast. But still, the feeling of my sword slicing through flesh, the warmth I felt in my body as the wolf''s blood sttered on me... Everything rushed into my brain and I struggled not to vomit.


    I disconnected from the surrounding mana and my vision returned to normal. I tried to steady my breathing and looked at the wolf''s dying body.


    Soon it stopped moving, the light in its eyes slowly fading.


    "I did it..."


    I didn''t mean to speak out loud, but I didn''t care. I had killed a creature... a creature!


    When I saw the blood flowing from the wolf''s wound, I felt sick again. So I turned my eyes away from him.


    I knew I had to get used to the image, but now I had more important things to worry about than him. For example... the students gathered together in the way I had just told them.


    I took a deep breath when I saw what kind of situation they were in, and then I shouted loud enough to be heard clearly.


    "Frontline, close together, the creatures are sneaking in through you! Wizards, don''t spend all your mana at once! Split into groups of three and take turns casting spells. Archers, keep shooting until you run out of arrows! Healers, emphasize performance over speed! What good is fast healing if the person you heal is not fully healed?!"


    I kept barking orders and keeping them in order until I could see no major ws.


    Well, at least these guys were able to quickly do what I said without question.


    They didn''t care who was leading them in this chaos, they wanted to survive and what I said made sense.


    An involuntary smile appeared on my face. eptance was a great boost to my ego and now, even if I left them to their own ord, they could take care of these low-level creatures.

 Chapter 48 Volume II - 14: Changing the Tide

    <h4>Chapter 48 Volume II - Chapter 14: Changing the Tide</h4>


    I quickly turned to the creatures that were the real danger and surveyed the situation there.


    Celine and Julian are fighting against the scaly mammoth at the same time. The archer, whose name is Alice, and Lucia, who is normally a swordswoman but has a me attribute, are taking care of the red-feathered bird, while Adrian is fighting the monkey alone.


    I first looked at Celine and Julian and observed their movements, and then I saw Julian throwing ice spears he had formed in the air at the mammoth.


    "Julian! Use your ice magic on defense, not offense!"


    Julian was confused as I suddenly shouted at him, but he quickly understood what I meant.


    The mammoth''s scales have a durability above his level. So he can''t damage it with ice magic unless he makes an extreme move. Besides, the ice attribute is not something that has a lot of damage... It''s more of a restriction of movement and, as I said before, it can show its full potential when focused on defense.


    Unlike Julian, Celine seemed fine on her own, so I ignored her and looked at Lucia and Alice.


    They didn''t seem to have a problem either. They were just having a hard time hitting the arrows and spells because the bird was moving so much. On top of that, Lucia''s main skill was the sword, so she couldn''t show herself much unless the bird was diving to attack.


    Then... we came to Adrian.


    The monkey''s snake-headed tail hissed viciously and shot a green liquid at Adrian that looked quite acidic. Adrian dodged the acid and lunged at the monkey, but the monkey defended his attack with its ws.


    In fact, all three groups seem to be okay for now. But of course, the key word here is ''for now''... Because the creatures are much stronger than them and this is not something that is easy to overlook.


    Even if they are good at defending themselves, after a few minutes the advantage will slowly start to shift to the creatures.


    I have to take matters into my own hands...


    Ahh...! It''s going to hurt too much, but I can''t risk it.


    Damn it, I have no choice.


    I took a deep breath. After mentally preparing myself, I called out to the presence that had been silently watching the events from inside me until now.


    ''Sith, get ready.''


    Right after I thought that I heard a chuckle echoing in my head.


    ''Finally!''


    Despite my unwillingness, Sith reacted with great excitement. Because for the first time, we were going to do something together, technically ''he'' was going to fight too, and unlike me, he wouldn''t suffer at all, so he had nothing to worry about.


    I pulled myself behind the front line of students blocking the creatures. Then I closed my eyes and focusedpletely on the mana inside me.


    No lie... I am a statistical weakling. If I dueled someone without mana, it would take me less than a minute to get down, but as the only person in the world who is contracted to a spirit and has the passive skill [The One Who is Close to Spirits], there are a few things I can do, even if it puts a lot of strain on me.


    Sith is contracted to me as a spirit. So even if he can''t interact with anything in the world, I''m an exception, and so is my mana... What we''re about to do is based on that logic.


    I exhaled the breath I had just taken and immediately felt the mana in my body bubbling like boiling water, my whole body burning as if on fire, and a sharp pain in my heart.


    As Sith merged with the mana in my body, giving it direction, the barrier to our ess to his mana slowly disappeared. This meant... a near-limitless amount of mana.


    Nearly unlimited mana that I could only use for wind magic.


    I felt like I was in a furnace, and soon I tasted the metallic liquid in my mouth, but I swallowed it back before I vomited blood.


    I had even less time than I had thought.


    I opened my eyes and slowly raised my sword, and then the mana that had been bubbling in my body began to seep out.


    The teal glow that would normally form around my sword now enveloped my whole body. A crown of strange-looking tree branches appeared above my head and my mana began to spread wildly into the atmosphere.


    All eyes in the area suddenly turned to me. I had attracted their attention because of the mana concentrated in a single area, but I ignored them and poured all the mana boiling in my body into my sword.


    Of course, I didn''t push the mana so that it perfectly wrapped around my sword like I normally would, but rather left it unstable, open to interacting with the atmosphere, and my sword slowly blurred as the wild mana surrounded it.


    asionally I saw Celine''s eyes widen, but I didn''t have time to pay attention to her. I was using more mana than my body could handle in one go, and I was in great pain because of Sith who had be one with the mana.


    I took another deep breath to regain some focus, slowly exhaled it back, and quickly brought down my sword, which was trembling from the mana over-concentration.


    The teal-colored wild mana separated from the sword the moment I brought it down and flew with great splendor toward the monkey Adrian was fighting.


    When the monkey saw the attack, it did not retreat, but instead folded its arms in front of it, choosing to defend him directly.


    "Idiot."


    The moment my attack hit the monkey, it raised a huge cloud of dust. There was a loud roar and wailing in the area. Even the creatures stopped fighting and looked at the dust cloud.


    As the dust cloud began to dissipate, the monkey hiding behind it appeared.


    Its eyes were darting here and there. It looked mad and one of its arms was on the ground, not where it should have been. On top of that, there was a not-very-deep wound on the other arm.


    "What the... what the fuck did he do?"


    As the crown on my head slowly disappeared and the enormous amount of mana I could feel in my whole body was once again out of my control, I thought only one thing.


    Huh... I wonder what would you think if you knew I couldn''t even stand up...


    Still, I didn''t have time to say it out loud.


    "Adrian! Attack!"


    Adrian was frozen in ce in the shock of the situation, but when I called out to him, he realized his opportunity.


    He twirled his spear in his hand, then stretched it and threw it at the monkey with great force. The monkey, which was focusing frantically on me, did not even notice his attack.


    The spear entered the monkey''s chest and left its back. The creature roared in pain and looked around as if it wanted to attack something, but then the light slowly faded from its eyes. It took a few steps forward, almost refusing to die, but finally reached its limit. His body, stretching almost three meters, slowly copsed to the ground.


    "It''s dead!"


    "We have a chance! Come on!"


    The creature''s death was a great morale booster for the students. Adrian looked at me and smiled as he pulled his spear out of the monkey.


    "Take care of the bird first, Adrian."


    The mammoth doesn''t have much offensive powerpared to its defense. We can take him down anyway, but the bird is a bit troublesome.


    Adrian simply nodded, turned back to the bird covered in red feathers, and went to help Lucia and Alice.


    With Adrian helping them, the battle would probably be over in a few minutes. So I was rxed, but then, after an explosion that took my eye, I saw a shadow flying at me.


    I clicked my tongue and strained to catch it, and I even managed to catch it, but the impact knocked me off bnce and I copsed. As if that wasn''t enough, I hit my head on the ground.


    With the sharp pain in my head, I cursed inwardly and looked at the figure I had caught. Then my eyebrows rose.


    Because in my arms was a girl with wavy silver hair and coal-ck eyes.


    This girl was the archer who fought with Lucia against the bird, Alice...


    "Are you o-"


    The girl didn''t even listen to my words. She jumped up quickly,pletely ignoring me. Her eyes werepletely focused on the bird she had just fought.


    It was clearly the bird that had caused the explosion and Alice seemed to have lost her temper.


    Alice put her hand on her bow. Then a blue arrow slowly formed in her hand, growing erratically as Alice poured mana into it.


    I frowned as I watched this.


    "You shouldn''t do that, or you''ll hurt yourself."


    Even though I warned her, she paid me no mind.


    "Arrows made of mana give you a great arsenal, but if you make them unstable like that, the fingers that hold them will be damaged. Instead of dividing the same mana into one arrow, divide it into two or three. You''ll control them more easily and you won''t lower your damage."


    Alice turned her head to me and looked into my eyes.


    She was beautiful for a girl, even if not as beautiful as Lucia. Of course, there are other reasons for that, but...


    Whatever, I''m thinking nonsense again.


    "When overloading arrows with mana, put mana into your bow and fingers, not just the arrow. Draw the bow even more than you can draw it, and don''t just shoot the arrows. If you make them particrly unstable as they approach their target, your damage will increase several times over."


    Alice sighed lightly and turned back to the front.


    Adrian and Lucia were still trying to deal with the bird, and the bird was not even aware of Alice, so this was a good opportunity.


    Alice took a deep breath. Then the single arrow in her bow slowly split into three.


    She''s following my instructions, good.


    Of course, even if the bird didn''t notice her, I didn''t want to take any chances, so I approached her from behind, calling out to my mind in the process.


    ''Sith, that technique just now did a lot of damage to my body. I can''t feel my mana, but I''m sure I still have some left. Transfer it to the arrows to speed up the attack.''


    ''Are you sure?''


    He looked a little worried, but I was confident.


    ''Yes.''


    Sith sighed deeply at first. Then he nodded at me. So I smiled and put my hand on Alice''s back, but she, who had ignored me until now, reacted suddenly.


    "What are you doing?"


    Alice stepped forward and released her back from my hand, but I approached her again.


    "I''m supporting you, because I don''t want to take any chances, so keep doing what you''re doing, and don''t worry about me."


    She was silent for a while, but then she sighed and focused in front of her again. I put my hand on her back again, thinking I had permission.


    Alice strengthened her bow and her fingers, just as I had told her. She drew the arrows in a way that the bow could not normally handle and I felt the mana painfully leaving my body.


    My whole body was on fire, but I ignored it as much as possible, and then Alice let go of the bowstring holding the arrows.


    The three mana-charged arrows, which sounded as if they were slicing through the air, quickly approached the bird, and when they were only a few meters away from it, all three exploded in a sh of brilliance.


    The bird was too preupied with Adrian and Lucia to notice the arrows. It had taken a direct hit and when the dust cloud caused by the explosion dissipated, its riddled body was revealed.


    Everyone''s faces showed shock again. Even Alice, who had remained calm until now, was surprised by the power of the arrows.


    I tried to smile, but then I suddenly realized that my vision was blurred.


    Ah... How wonderful...


    The screams of thest few creatures and Adrian calling my name were thest things I heard before I copsed.

 Chapter 49 Volume II - 15: Unremembered Self

    <h4>Chapter 49 Volume II - Chapter 15: Unremembered Self</h4>


    "He- he broke it! He did it, I tell you!"


    I found myself in a very nostalgic hallway. In front of me was a child who couldn''t have been more than nine years old, his eyes red from crying.


    This ce...


    "¡ê$?#>&... Did you do this?"


    I froze in ce after what I heard.


    I was having the usual dreams, they were normal for me, but...


    "I''m asking you ?¡ê#''^%! Did you do it?"


    Why can''t I... remember my name?


    "He did it! He can''t say it! He''s guilty! I''m not!"


    "You bastard! Not only are you guilty, but you won''t admit it!"


    I felt a sharp pain in my cheek and my head turned to the side from the p.


    The woman had hit me so hard that my cheek was on fire. Still, I had no right to argue with her.


    "Yes, I did it. It was a mistake, but I apologize."


    I admitted my ''guilt'' and the boy who had been crying until just a moment ago smiled dirty. Then the image in front of me blurred and suddenly I found myself somewhere else.


    "Are you sure you don''t want to see your parents? I thought you would at least want to look at their faces."


    The person speaking was the same woman who had hit me in the previous image. The intervening years had aged her, but she was much more respectful now than before.


    Because I had gotten one of the top grades in the whole country in the academy exam I took, and they were scared of what I could achieve in the future.


    "They abandoned me and didn''t evene to see how I was doing. So theypletely ignore me. I''m probably a ''mistake'' and they''ve probably already left. I..."


    I paused, took a deep breath, and continued.


    "In short, no, I don''t want to see them, and they probably don''t want to see me too."


    After what I said, a look of pity appeared on the old woman''s face. She opened her mouth, and she was saying something again, but I couldn''t understand what she was saying because the image was changing again.


    This time I found myself on a rainy day.


    There were a lot of people around me. Couples under one umbre, parents holding their children''s hands and running to escape the rain, and so on...


    "Come on son, hurry up or we''ll get wet!"


    A mother walked past me, tugging on the arm of her son, who could have been no more than five years old.


    The boy was smiling, not paying any attention to her. Getting wet in the rain was fun for him, so much so that even though his mother scolded him, he was totally focused on his own fun.


    I closed my umbre and let the rain soak me. I stood there for a few seconds and then a bitter smile appeared on my face.


    I got under my umbre again and looked at my phone. There was a new message.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions #$#$¡ê?! You have been sessfully admitted to our university!


    ------------------------------>>


    The message was clear, except for one word.


    I looked where my name should be, even though it was strangely censored.


    Why... can''t I remember my name? Everything is clear... My experiences, every single day I spent in that world. It''s all clear in my mind, but...


    Suddenly my eyes widened.


    No...


    I... I can''t remember my face either.


    Who... Who am I?


    Ignoring my surroundings, I threw the umbre aside and lifted my hands, looking at my palms. I had the hands of a skinny teenager, with gray pencil marks on them from working too much, but they were normal hands.


    The question was, whose hand was this?


    "He''s waking up!"


    I heard a voice that shook the whole world, and everything came crashing down.


    Suddenly my head throbbed. The world turned strangely upside down and so I closed my eyes, but when I opened them again, I realized that my vision was blurred.


    Which memory will I go to this time?


    Is that thing in front of me... the ceiling or is it just me?


    "He''s awake."


    I turned in the direction of the voice, and with my slowly clearing vision, I could see a woman in her forties in a white coat.


    "Aiden? Are you okay?"


    The throbbing in my head intensified when I saw Adrian next to the woman who was obviously a doctor.


    Right... I''m on Lunerra, probably in the hospital inside the academy, but ''Aiden''?


    No... That''s not my name. That name belongs to some poor guy whomitted suicide whose body I took over.


    What was my... real name?


    "My head''s throbbing a little bit, but I''m okay, yeah."


    I have so many things on my mind... I can''t think straight.


    I put myself on the bed and closed my eyes again. I tried to remember my name or at least my face, but then I thought of something else.


    There are still things I still have to do.


    I had made all my ns for now, after the preliminary.


    Now, I can''t throw away everything I''ve prepared, important or not, just because I can''t remember my name.


    I won''t.


    Reluctantly, I pushed my thoughts aside for now and curiously looked around the room for the time. It was a little after noon.


    "How long have I been unconscious?"


    The doctor answered my question.


    "Four hours."


    "When can I be discharged?"


    "Well... All your hospital expenses have been paid through the ''special treatment'' option. So you can be discharged immediately."


    Now that''s interesting...


    "Who paid?"


    "Anonymous."


    Anonymous huh... I guess I have very secret fans.


    I slowly sat up and realized that there was nothing wrong with me except a numbness I could feel all over my body and extremely minor pain.


    I used something I shouldn''t have used before my general level was at least D- but I can be in this state with ''special treatment''...


    "Okay."


    With that, I got out of bed and stretched. The doctor had already given me the okay, I could leave the hospital as I wanted.


    "Aiden... are you sure you''re okay? I think you should get some more rest."


    I looked at Adrian''s worried face and sighed. The fact that he could still be worried about me after what I had done to him... This boy was hungry for happiness, even worse than the old me.


    "I have some really important things to take care of."


    At first, it looked like he was going to disagree with me again, but then he sighed as I did.


    He understood what I meant.


    "Well... okay. Take care of yourself, though."


    That''s how I managed to convince him and finally, I took him outside to change.


    The hospital had directly arranged for me to wear an extremely in ck sweater and jeans. They don''t look great, but they don''t look bad either.


    Once I was changed, I drew the curtains in the room and put on the watch they had taken off my wrist.


    I opened the contacts directory and sent a message to ''J1'', changed my tracking location on the AI on my watch, whose functions had already been adjusted thanks to the ck market so that I would appear in my room. So, I was ready.


    A slight smile appeared on my face as I thought about what I was going to do and walked out of the room, but then I unexpectedly saw Adrian waiting outside.


    "Are you sure there''s nothing I can help you with? Whatever it is you have to do, two of us can handle it more easily."


    Ah... So that was it.


    I actually wished he could help me... if he really could.


    "I''m sorry, Adrian, this is something I have to handle alone."


    If I have someone else with me, especially someone like Adrian, it''s going to get harder rather than easier. I have to do this alone, I''m not going to involve my friends.


    "Then I can''t say anything."


    His face fell a little, but then he smiled slightly.


    Is it me or is this boy smiling better and better by the day?


    "You can still call me if you need me. I will try toe as much as I can. Be careful, goodbye."


    "Bye..."


    Adrian took onest look at me, turned around, and headed for the dormitories. Looking at his back, all I could do was sigh.


    He has grown so much in personality in thest few months that I marvel at him. As a perfect example, his smile just now was so bright that I almost gaped in amazement.


    I let out a deep sigh and cleared my mind, and then I went on my way.


    The first thing I noticed as I passed through the corridors of the hospital was that there were students and parents everywhere. The sudden appearance of the creatures injured many students and even killed some of them...


    At least the attack started when there were two hundred people left and I was able to handle the situation quickly, so there were not too many casualties. I mean... I think so.


    "Ah!"


    Hmm?


    I turned my gaze from where I had been staring at the sound of a voice I had heard. Interestingly, Lucia and Celine were next to each other. And they seemed quite surprised to see me.


    "Can I have a second?"


    Lucia looked me straight in the eyes, but I didn''t focus on her too much, not wanting to get drawn into them likest time in the library.


    "Yes?"


    Lucia noticed that I was trying not to make eye contact with her, but she knew why. So she let it go and went on with whatever she was going to say.


    "I wanted to thank you. If you hadn''t led the students through that mess, we would have lost a lot. Maybe... we might not even be standing here right now, so I want to thank you especially."


    She bowed her head a little and showed her gratitude in the most sincere way she could.


    "You''re wee, I just did what I thought I had to do."


    Well... It''s not a lie. After all, they are characters in the story that I can''t let die. So I had to take charge.


    Following Lucia, Celine also bowed her head.


    "Thank you... too."


    The daughters of two of the most powerful families in the kingdom bowing their heads in front of me... I never thought I would experience something like this.


    Of course, I guess the other people didn''t either... because the whole corridor has either surprise or jealousy on their faces.


    "You''re wee again, but I have some really important things to do and I need to be quick."


    I don''t want to bear the heavy gaze any longer and I''m really in a hurry.


    I give Lucia and Celine a brief smile and then walk past them toward the exit.


    I heard someone swearing in a whisper behind me for leaving the girls like that, but I ignored him and kept walking and finally made it outside.


    First, I took a deep breath and inhaled the refreshing, fresh air. Then, determined and fast, I started running toward the west gate of the academy.


    Since the whole school was on vacation for a short time because of the attack, it was not difficult for me to get permission to leave.


    I quickly went to the station, bought a ticket to a ce only twenty minutes away, and threw myself onto the train. A few minutester, the train started moving and I just stared outside, dreaming and waiting for what I was going to do.

 Chapter 50 Volume II - 16: Larry Karz

    <h4>Chapter 50 Volume II - Chapter 16: Larry Karz</h4>


    It was about ten minutes before I reached the destination of the train. And now, after those ten minutes, there was a lush green in in front of me. I was outside the city.


    "Do you see three different kinds of trees lined up in a perfect equteral shape? The distance between the trees must be around four meters."


    I spoke without looking back. My answer came only a few secondster.


    "There is one on our right front diagonal, about seven hundred meters ahead, sir."


    "Hmm, then we''re going. Get ready now."


    "Understood."


    A smile appeared on my face. I started walking nonchntly in the direction I was told, and of course, the people behind me followed me without waiting.


    The three people behind me were members of the six-man Joez Group that I had hired to protect ra. When I offered them extra money and asked them to do my orders for the night, they readily agreed. I texted them the location I wanted them toe to and they arrived even before I did.


    I was only able to do this because the other group that had been giving me a hard time in the first ce had withdrawn the assassins who had been waiting around ra for some ''unknown'' reason, but I only called three of them to join me just in case. Considering that each of them had a general level of around A, they would be more than enough.


    When we reached the tree line, I let out a deep sigh and, once we were in the middle of it, I pointed my finger at the ground just below me.


    "There is a four-story metal door about three meters down. Can we reach it quietly?"


    "Of course, please wait about five minutes."


    One of the three men, who I knew to be an earth elementalist, stepped in front of us, bent down, and ced his hand on the ground. Just a few secondster, the earth suddenly buckled and copsed to the side, creating a three-meter-deep hole in the ground. This revealed the ''secret'' passage I had told them about.


    "Good, now let''s quietly open this one too."


    This time three of them approached the gray, four-story metal door at the bottom of the pit at the same time.


    The rings on their hands shed one after the other, and then suddenly weapons appeared in their hands.


    Although it was the first time I had seen dimensional rings in this world, I was not impressed, because I had expected it. No matter how famous they are among the bodyguards, no one knows their value as well as I do.


    The trio first cast a sound-blocking spell around them, then channeled mana into their weapons and stormed the door. I couldn''t hold back a smile as the four-story door slowly opened with noises that only I could hear.


    After about five minutes, they finally managed to open the four-story iron door with a hole big enough for us to walk through.


    In normal role-ying games, the yer usually does not go all the way back after entering a dungeon and ying the boss. There will be a secret passage in the boss room and the yer will use this secret passage to get out.


    I''m using one of these passages right now, only from the opposite direction, so I can avoid unnecessarybat.


    "Follow me from behind. Our job is quite simple anyway."


    I simply told them that they had to do, nothing too much. Just one to hold the door, one to hold our target in ce, and thest one to cover me from behind.


    When I finished exining, they nodded in agreement. I let out a deep sigh and looked at the dark corridor behind the gate.


    I had an inexplicable feeling. I was going to that bastard. I was no more than a hundred meters away from the bastard who had threatened me with my sister.


    With each step I took down the dark and shapeless corridor, I felt excitement rising inside me. Each second that passed felt like a lifetime, but all of these intense feelings vanished when we arrived in front of an old and rusty door as if it didn''t belong in this modern world. There was only one thought in my mind: go forward and do what you have to do.


    "Open the door, make sure you block out any noise."


    In the same way asst time, one of the guards approached the door and this time simply gave it a manaden kick.


    The door was twisted and thrown about two meters away. Despite this, thanks to their magic, not a sound was made.


    The room behind the door was twice the size of a normal living room. The only difference was that it was dimly lit and empty except for a table in front of us.


    On the table were holographic screens that looked like science fiction movies. In front of these screens were an armchair and a well-built man with short brown hair sitting in this armchair with his back to us.


    The man waspletely focused on the screens in front of him. On the screens, camera footage of the ''secret'' ce we were in was ying.


    Even though I couldn''t see his face, I knew he was worried.


    This wasn''t even the headquarters of the organization in the first ce. This was a ce where they had taken refuge to temporarily hide from someone who was ''hunting'' them.


    This ''hunter'' was probably in the footage on the cameras and that''s exactly why the man on the couch was worried, but I was so excited that I walked toward him, not caring to make a sound anymore.


    The sound of my footsteps echoed in the empty room, and then the man reflexively turned around and looked at me with eyes as brown as his hair.


    "Who the hell are you? How did you get in here?!"


    I didn''t answer his question, instead, I kept walking toward him and spoke nonchntly.


    "Take your ces as I told you."


    Only seconds after I said this, one of my bodyguards appeared in front of the door at the front of the room. Another continued to stand behind me, and thest one suddenly stood right next to the man and put his hand on his shoulder.


    "What ar-"


    The man could not finish his sentence because of the enormous pressure on his shoulders, he knelt down.


    It is clear from his face that he doesn''t understand what has happened, that he is shocked and angry. Some mana is even seeping out of his body, trying to break free of the guard''s grasp but failing.


    "Don''t touc-"


    "Shut the fuck up."


    My cold voice cut through his words as if they were nothing and the man froze in ce after looking at my face. His eyes fully focused on my face, he remembered.


    "You... Aiden Tenebra?"


    A smile appeared on my face when I saw his expression.


    "That''s right, Larry Karz."


    The man stiffened and then looked behind me. When he saw the gap in the wall, his eyes widened.


    "Secret pass-"


    "Stop talking like an idiot."


    I took a dimensional button out of my pocket and used it without thinking.


    My low-level sword appeared in my hand. I kept my eyes on Larry, who, even though he was an A grade guy, couldn''t do anything now because my bodyguard had his weapon to his neck. He couldn''t try a suicide attack on top of that because another bodyguard was standing right behind me with all his focus on me.


    "I know more than you know, Larry."


    Even though I was excited, I said the words with great calm, as if I had everything in the palm of my hand.


    That should have been enough to break Larry''s confidence.


    "I know who you are, what you are, and who gives you orders. I literally know everything."


    I smiled slightly and put my sword on his shoulder.


    I, who''s not even an E in general level, pointed my sword at an A grade person like it was nothing. I feel absolutely wonderful.


    Larry opened his mouth, he was going to say something, but before he could speak I silenced him by putting my finger to my lips.


    "Shh... You''re not allowed to talk, Larry. The moment you do, I''ll pack you in with those three who will do anything for money."


    After what I said, Larry focused on the floor for a moment. His hair fell in front of his face so I couldn''t see his expression, but then, when he raised his head again, he looked at me with such determination that I frowned.


    This bastard...


    "If you had wanted to test me in the first ce, I would have dlyplied."


    I''m not lying, because if it had been that way, I would have been morefortable with the future.


    Larry''s expression changed again after what I said, he looked puzzled again.


    "Do you know what the only mistake you made was?"


    I nced briefly at the bodyguard before acting as I had nned, so that he understood that he had to be particrly focused, and slowly, deliberately coldly, I leaned down to Larry''s ear.


    "That you decided to use my sister."


    I quickly twirled the sword in my hand, and then a scream of pain echoed through therge room.


    Larry looked down at his fallen arm and gritted his teeth.


    I watched the scene without even feeling sick, I didn''t care. The more I thought about his threat to me, the angrier I became.


    "I''ll tell you what happens now."


    I kicked Larry''s fallen arm hard and put my sword on his other shoulder.


    "I''m going to hunt you down, and then whoever you''re taking orders from, and everyone above that, one by one, no matter how long it takes."


    This has been my goal since the first day I came into this world. I do nothing but provoke him but...


    I looked at the expression on Larry''s face, his earlier surprise had disappeared again, he looked expressionless again, and it was making me incredibly angry.


    I brought my sword down hard and a scream echoed through the room again. Both of Larry''s arms were now gone, the floor was covered in his blood.


    Still, I wanted more, much more.


    My hatred for this person who threatened to take away the only family I had,bined with his senseless calm, was beyondprehension.


    I looked at Larry''s pathetic body, his eyes had the look of someone who had already epted his situation. I, on the other hand, could only click my tongue.


    This man... why did he give up so fast?


    The Larry I know is a man who would even pretend to be a dog for his goals. So why is he being submissive now? Why is there a difference between who he is now and who he was in the game?


    Anyway... he''s going to die soon.


    I turned my gaze back to Larry, his neck looking very inviting and the sword in my hand trembling. I knew what I had to do, I knew, but...


    I... I guess I''m still not ready for this.


    I smiled bitterly.


    No matter what I do, I am still me. Even if I''m trying to be ruthless, I still don''t have the mentality to kill a human being right now. Even though he''s not even human... He''s just human.


    But¡­ I will. In the future, next time, I''ll have this mindset and won''t hesitate, I promise myself. For now... I don''t want to upy my mind with that.


    "Get it done."


    In the end, those were the only words that came out of my mouth. Even if I''m not going to kill him with my own hands, I''m not going to let him live either. Technically, I''m still the one who killed him, but... It''s better for me for now, at least until I''m fully ustomed to this world.


    I turned my back to Larry, and waited. After a few seconds... I heard the sound of something falling to the ground.


    It''s over... All I have to do now is turn around and leave.


    Without looking at Larry''s body, I turned toward the dark space in the wall. What happened here was enough to send a message to everyone.

 Chapter 51 Volume II - 17: First Step to the End

    <h4>Chapter 51 Volume II - Chapter 17: First Step to the End</h4>


    "We''re leaving."


    With the sound of footsteps following behind me, I headed for the secret passage built to escape possible attacks.


    There is a strange emptiness inside me. I don''t know what to do now because I won''t have to deal with anyone for a long time.


    Should I visit ra while the academy is on break? Although there will definitely be an award ceremony after what we aplished in the preliminary.


    I was lost in thought, but then I slowed down my steps and stopped walking. The guards also paused, as did I.


    Something was... wrong.


    "Huh?"


    Before I knew what was happening, I suddenly felt a tremendous pressureing from behind me. I couldn''t move a muscle, I just froze in ce.


    The room suddenly felt cold, like I was standing in the middle of the poles. Every single one of my hairs stood up, one by one. I started to shiver.


    "Aahh!"


    I heard screamsing from behind me, but the only people standing behind me were the ''A'' grade bodyguards.


    I forced myself to turn around, momentarily relieved of the pressure, but then I stiffened again.


    The screaming had stopped and I could feel something warm seeping into my shoe. It wasn''t hard to figure out what it was.


    ''Aiden! You have to ru-''


    I heard Sith''s voice in my head, and a weary silence fell over the room. The slight darkness in the dimly lit room enveloped my body.


    Even though he had told me to run away, now not a single word came out of Sith. It was as if his entire existence had suddenly... vanished. It was as if there was a parasite blocking the connection between us.


    "Ai... den..."


    A strange, wheezing sound, almost unidentifiable, echoed through the room. Fear took root in me to such an extent that I could not even move a muscle, let alone think.


    Yet one of these thoughts suddenly became clear in my mind, a memory. I thought of something described in the game.


    Suddenly my eyes widened.


    No... No, no, no, no...!


    It... It shouldn''t be here! Impossible, not possible in the slightest!


    I forced my stiff body to move.


    I must get away from here no matter what... I can''t let that thinge near me, no matter what!


    I have to run... I have to run!


    I have to fucking move!


    "Teneb... ra?"


    Strange noises starteding from behind me. It was disgusting. It sounded like a slimy, leech thing moving.


    I forced all my senses, almost all my energy, to move my body, but then I felt a tremendous pain, right where my heart was.


    I stopped shaking, the world was silent for a moment. My eyes slowly shifted to my chest, denying reality. Then I saw something purplish, a sharp thing that looked like a mixture of liquid and solid, protruding from just above my heart.


    My vision blurred as blood began to seep from my chest onto my clothes, and then I stared nkly at the wall of the dark room.


    Am I... going to die here?


    I copsed weakly to my knees, vomiting blood.


    The whole world was spinning. I was hurting, and cold.


    "Ai... den?"


    I heard that ugly voice again, but this time it didn''te from behind me. It was like...


    ''Ai... den...''


    He was calling me from my mind.


    The purple-colored pointy thinging out of my chest slowly started to melt. Then it retreated back into my body, entering my wound.


    I watched with horrified eyes as this happened beyond my control.


    "Hah... A-ahahahah..."


    That''s it...


    I felt a warmth radiating from right where my heart was.


    I''m going to die, because of something that shouldn''t have happened.


    I felt a pain as if all my organs were being ripped out and put back in, and I vomited even more blood. With pain as if my throat had been torn open...


    How long have I been in this world? Thirty-seven days? Thirty-eight?


    Eventually, my knees lost their strength and I copsed on the floor. My vision was almostpletely gone, I could only make out a few things.


    I thought about the things I''d been through.


    Me and being smart huh... I was always an idiot.


    Even now I''m dying purely out of my own greed, just because I want to punish that man with my own hands...


    There''s no going back from where I am. The moment that thing entered me, my fate was sealed. I... will be erased from this world.


    More than erased, I''ll never be the old me again.


    I paused for a moment.


    My time was limited, yet I was thinking so fast that thousands of things went through my mind in a matter of seconds.


    I closed my eyes but I didn''t surrender myself immediately. I wanted to stay ''me'' at least until the end.


    A tear fell from my eye.


    I couldn''t change anything. I''m still pathetic, I''m still clinging to life and I''m alone even in death.


    I... guess I shouldn''t have existed at all...


    I thought and thought and thought. Seconds aside, in myst breaths as ''myself,'' I thought so much in mere seconds that my head was throbbing.


    Then memories slowly filled my mind, mostly memories from this life.


    I saw my sister, her smile. I saw the day Adrian and I talked, the day we became friends. I remembered the times I trained with Julian. I saw how I was drawn into Lucia''s eyes when I was talking to her in the library, the strange encounters with Celine...


    And then... myself.


    I was happy, I had a smile on my face in most of these memories.


    Ah... I''ve experienced more happiness in this one month alone than in my old life, right?


    So the memories I saw were all from this world...


    The world was still blurry, maybe I was even unconscious because the room was dark, but I clenched my fist.


    I... I''m not going to die.


    Not when I''ve changed so much in this world, not when I''m at the beginning of my journey.


    I clenched my fist even tighter and I don''t know if I did it, but I bit my tongue forcibly to maintain some semnce of consciousness.


    ''Sith...''


    I... I don''t want to die again.


    ''Sith... if you can hear me...''


    I have to think fast because I don''t have much time. But... I can think of a way that might work.


    ''Merge with my mana, like we did before, but this time you have to merge with my soul too.''


    My voice was getting hoarse... I was getting further and further away from this world.


    ''This thing is attacking my mana and my soul. It exploits it and transforms it, but it doesn''tst long. Once you have merged with my mana and my soul, you have to snatch the pieces you have from it. Whatever happens, don''t let it take them away from you, cut my soul in two if necessary, but do it.''


    Under normal circumstances, there is no escape from the situation I am in, but I am different.


    I have Sith. Sith with the greatest potential of all spirits.


    ''I believe in you Sith... You are my only chance... Please...''


    No odor or presence, no sensation of cold or heat, just pure and infinite darkness surrounding me...


    I''m not dead already, am I? My voice reaches Sith, doesn''t it?


    This feels like nothing but a wasted effort.


    Still... I want to live, I don''t want to leave this world.


    ''Help me...''


    After those words, I felt something.


    A warm feeling that spread through my whole body. No... I was burning as if I had been dropped intova, but I never screamed.


    On the contrary, I smiled and cried for the second time since the day I came into this world with hope blossoming inside me.


    *******


    It''s there, I can feel it.


    "Aahhh!"


    Thest of them died on my sword.


    They pushed a little, they even managed to leave a wound on me, but that was it. I am the victor, they are all dead and there is nothing in my way now.


    I looked at the big purple door a few meters in front of me and squinted.


    There, that disgusting thing is there.


    Even if it feels strangely stranger than it should... I''m certain of it.


    Without thinking twice, I smashed the door to pieces with my sword and slowly entered.


    It was a very dimly lit room. Except for the table in the center and the countless holographic screens on it, there was nothing else in the room, but then I realized something else.


    This ce... It stinks of blood.


    I quickly sharpened my senses and gripped my sword tightly. I walked forward with slow steps, trying to see where the holographic screens were blocking, and then my eyes widened.


    The three men in suits were dead instantly, with a hole right through their hearts. There was another corpse with a crumpled body and both arms cut off, but that was not the reason for my surprise.


    The real reason for my surprise was that there was something else in the room besides these bodies.


    A young man with ck hair, who I was sure was alive because his chest was rising and falling, was lying on the floor, his face hidden from my view. Looking at the state of his clothes, it was clear that his heart had been pierced just like those in suits.


    I took a step toward him without letting my guard down, but the moment I did, the young man''s body trembled slightly. After only two seconds, the shaking stopped and then, very slowly, the young man sat up from where he was lying.


    His back was still facing me. So I couldn''t see his face, but I had already pointed my sword at him.


    It felt stranger than it usually did, but he was one of them, one of the bastards who had made my life miserable.


    "I, the Guardian of Diligenc-"


    My words were interrupted when the young man turned to face me. I froze where I was.


    His eyes widened when he saw me, but it was not an expression of surprise. His big eyes,pletely focused on me with a smile on his face, reflected pure madness.


    Normally both eyes should be purple, but unlike his kind, this young man only had one purple eye. This alone was something I had never heard of in my entire life and something I was seeing for the first time, but none of this was the reason for my reaction right now.


    The real reason for such a reaction was that I knew the young man.


    "Professor... Calvin?"


    Aiden fixed his eyes on me, one a colorless gray and the other a bright purple, and widened the smile on his face.


    "Oh... hello!"

 Chapter 52 Volume II - 18: Just a C+

    <h4>Chapter 52 Volume II - Chapter 18: Just a C+</h4>


    "Oh... hello!"


    Aiden stood up, quite ted, and then stretched as if he had just woken up.


    I couldn''t move a muscle, I just stared at him, and finally, I forcefully gulped.


    "A- Aiden?"


    I can feel the chaotic energying from him, his expression tells me everything, but...


    How... can I ept this?


    Aiden narrowed his eyes and looked into mine. His devilish smile didn''t drop a bit, he was enjoying himself.


    I thought of his determined expression just a few days ago, yelling because he was hurting during practice but never backing down.


    He wasn''t my best student, not even a genius, but he never gave up. That''s why I liked teaching him something.


    For a person like him... to be in a situation like that...


    It''s...


    Without realizing it, I was lost in thought, and Aiden disappeared as if he had been waiting for this all along.


    A purple glow exploded where he had just stood. Caught off guard, I reflexively raised my hands and closed my eyes, which was one of the big mistakes I made because I had left myselfpletely defenseless.


    Before I had a chance to open my eyes, I felt a pain in my stomach and I was knocked off my feet. I was violently thrown backward and ended up pinned against a wall, and I could only stop when the wall filled with cracks.


    "I thought you would be stronger... I''m sorry."


    I gritted my teeth and pushed myself out of the cracked wall.


    Aiden...


    No, that''s not Aiden. I must not make that mistake.


    I gripped my sword tightly and looked back at Aiden. He had that evil smile on his face again. His eyes looked as if he saw me as a toy instead of an enemy.


    He''s... definitely not Aiden, it''s not possible for one person to act like that.


    As much as I don''t want to admit it, it''s toote.


    I drove the tip of my sword into the ground and shook myself out of my thoughts.


    I''m not here as a professor, I''m here as a guardian, I have to fulfill my purpose... I have to stop thinking emotionally.


    "I am Calvin dio, Guardian of Diligence."


    I introduced myself in the traditional way. Then I looked at my opponent''s left eye, which was glowing purple.


    Why aren''t both eyes purple? What makes him different from the others?


    I must find out.


    "Who are you?"


    Aiden sighed in response to my question. He looked around, ignoring me, and then smiled again when he saw a sword on the ground. He moved toward it and I couldn''t help but sigh.


    "Don''t you care even a little bit about me as an opponent?"


    I gripped my sword tightly and clicked my tongue, looking at Aiden, who hadn''t even turned to face me despite what I said.


    Not being taken seriously... frustrating as always.


    I focused on the energy inside me, something different from mana. It was much more subtle, much more pure, but just as powerful.


    A light blue glow slowly surrounded me. My body was filled with tremendous power.


    I''m going to finish this in one go.


    After I released my energy, Aiden paused. He looked like a mad demon.


    "Oh? Are we ying dirty? Fine by me!"


    These words were said and then a purple glow began to surround him as well.


    Unlike the energy I was using, this was much heavier, malevolent, and chaotic than mana.


    The purple glow surrounded Aiden''s whole body. Then it moved strangely toward his hand and concentrated there. In his hand was now an embodied, translucent sword, purple in color.


    Not only can he use it, he knows how to materialize it... This is not normal, is he a representative candidate?


    "I hope it won''t be boring like before!"


    Aiden widened the evil smile on his face, his body disappeared in an instant.


    I quickly defended myself with my sword, which was glowing with light blue energy, and then I found the purple sword just inches from my head.


    I managed to defend myself, I did, but he is... strong.


    He''s not using any technique, and his body is not overpowered. It''s just that he knows how to use that purple energy so well that it covers all his vulnerabilities. His control, his intuition... it''s really on par with a representative candidate.


    I have to take this seriously.


    I raised the sword slightly and then the purple sword slid to the ground under its own pressure. Taking advantage of this, I spun around and swung the sword at Aiden.


    As my sword approached his neck, a smile reappeared on his face and his eye, which had been glowing purple, became even brighter.


    In an instant, the purple glow spread like a flood from his body, filling the entire room.


    The walls that the energy physically touched began to erode. Breathing became difficult and I felt heavy, as if gravity had suddenly intensified.


    Of course, there were other things besides these. The voices kept ringing in my ears.


    "Cal, run!"


    I heard a woman''s voice, worried.


    "You must live, Cal."


    This time it was a younger voice. There was a lot ofpassion in her voice.


    "Bastard..."


    The purple-colored energy, with its chaotic quality, gave me hallucinations; it made me hear voices from nothingness.


    "Ah! Here we go!"


    Aiden jumped up and down excitedly. I focused deeper into my soul and then the light blue-colored energy wrapped thicker around my body. Not only that, I released it into the room as Aiden had done.


    I felt the excess gravity disappear, breathing became easier and the voices disappeared. While this was happening, two energies, purple and light blue in color, began to collide in the room.


    The ces that the purple energy had touched and eroded were slowly being renewed by the blue energy.


    The inside of the room was constantly being eroded and then constantly being renewed. It had entered a cycle, a cycle that was eye-catching to an outsider, with two different eye-catching colors spreading throughout the room...


    "What sin do you belong to?"


    I''m still not too hard on him, but it''s certainly an admirable achievement that he can still subdue my energy.


    I no longer have any doubt, he is a representative candidate, but what does or will he represent?


    "Was I supposed to say? I don''t give a damn about those stupid traditions."


    He twirled the purple sword in his hand like a toy. Then he disappeared again.


    It was clear he was attacking me, but this time I dodged him instead of defending.


    "Oh?"


    When I dodged the sword by stepping aside, Aiden deflected his attack with a nimble movement and attacked me again.


    He had redirected his sword so fast that I couldn''t avoid it, so I inevitably defended.


    So our swords shed. Because his sword was not metal, a strange, hollow sound echoed through the room, and then I noticed an opening.


    I grabbed him by the arm and mmed him to the floor.


    Without giving him a chance, I dragged his arm behind his back and pressed it down, put all my weight on it, and put my sword to the back of his neck.


    The best he could do to break free was to break his arm.


    There are things I don''t know, like why he only has one purple eye. I shouldn''t kill him.


    "But you forget one thing, professor."


    I was about to knock him out when he continued to smile as if he didn''t care about the situation he was in.


    "I''m not the ''Aiden'' you know."


    For a moment I didn''t know what he meant, but then, without a care in the world, he spun around and a cracking sound entered my ear.


    I saw Aiden''s strangely twisted arm and my eyes widened.


    Even though he had brutally broken his arm, his expression hadn''t changed in the slightest, and to my surprise, I barely saw the purple-colored kicking at me.


    The kicknded right in my face and I hit the ground with a loud thud.


    The floor cracked and a considerable amount of dust flew into the air.


    My jaw ached as if it had been dislocated, but it was still there. Aiden just stood there, looking at me with a pitiful expression.


    "Disappointing... I guess I shouldn''t have expected more than a C+, even if you are a Guardian of Virtue."


    He was unsatisfied, his expression clearly emphasizing that.


    "Anyway, see you soon!"


    Aiden smiled again, the sword in his hand vanished into thin air, and then he turned his back to me and started walking toward the exit.


    "Tch."


    The sound of me clicking my tongue echoed in the room. Aiden stopped walking.


    "C+... Is that so?"


    I need to stop him here, it''s my duty as a guardian and I''m going to do it anyway.


    "I wasn''t picking on you because you''re just a simple representative candidate, I was being soft. Congrattions! You pissed me off...!"


    That''s... enough.


    "C+, huh...? Come, I''ll show you that ''C+''. Let me show you why I am a ''guardian''."


    I took off the ring on my thumb and then the room lit up with a deep blue glow.


    The mocking expression on Aiden''s face disappeared.

 Chapter 53 Volume II - 19: Finding and Losing Himself

    <h4>Chapter 53 Volume II - Chapter 19: Finding and Losing Himself</h4>


    ~bzzt! ~bzzt! ~bzzt!


    The sound of an incessant rm caused me to slowly open my eyes and face the ceiling of my dimly lit room.


    I turned my head, then looked out the window.


    The beams of light from the just-rising sun streaming through my window were the only source of light entering the room, which is why it was dim inside.


    I sat up slowly, even though I had just woken up, my eyes weren''t blurry and I didn''t feel any burrs, so it felt quite strange, but I stood up anyway.


    As I walked to the bathroom, I thought.


    What were the sses today?


    I let out a deep sigh as I washed my face.


    Today will be another boring, ordinary day as usual...


    After sshing the cold water on my face for thest time, I turned off the faucet and looked in the mirror like any other person would.


    "Huh?!"


    My heart skipped a beat and I gasped for breath. An intense trembling enveloped my whole body,bined with the horrified silence in the bathroom. I tried to step back in fear, but I lost my bnce and fell to the floor.


    In the mirror... in my reflection... there was no ''face''.


    I brought my trembling hand to my face. I checked my nose, and my eyes, but when all I could feel was a smooth ''tness'', I stiffened.


    I felt nauseous, quickly leaned over the toilet bowl, and tried to vomit.


    I couldn''t, I didn''t have a mouth.


    I felt nauseous again. I leaned over the toilet to throw up again, but again, I just stood there.


    "Isn''t that weird?"


    Suddenly a voice echoed in the midst of the terrifying silence, and I shivered even more violently. I turned my head slowly, frightened.


    There was someone, a child, on my bed, only part of which could be seen through the bathroom sink.


    I gulped, slowly stood up, and despite my fear, stepped out of the bathroom and looked at the bed.


    "You don''t even know who you are, what you''ve been through, and why you''re here."


    In front of me was a boy who could have been no more than nine years old. He had long brown hair and green eyes that had lost the luster that a child should have.


    The boy looked into my eyes, or rather where my eyes should have been, and smiled bitterly.


    "Did you think you could run away?"


    He climbed down from the bed and approached me, but I couldn''t move a muscle. Instead, my knees buckled and I found myself kneeling on the floor.


    His words were going round and round in my head. My eyes wouldn''t leave the floor. My head ached.


    "Did you think you could change just because you had a new chance?"


    He put his hand on my shoulder and moved closer to my face so that there were only a few inches between us.


    "All the bullying, the running away, the attention seeking, the small and big betrayals, and the suicide attempts you didn''t dare. So much more..."


    His eyes were watery, he was crying.


    "Can you easily forget all that just because you have a new chance?"


    The boy sniffled, then took a deep breath and stepped back.


    I had nothing to say.


    "I haven''t forgotten, I can''t forget."


    There was determination in his eyes.


    "Neither could you. If you were ''you''."


    The room was suddenly enveloped in darkness. The boy disappeared in the same darkness.


    I trembled, more than ever. I tried to cry but I had no eyes.


    I was scared, more scared of this darkness now than I had ever been in my entire life. This pure, pitch-ck darkness that felt familiar was prating me and tearing me apart.


    "Who are you?"


    A voice echoed from everywhere in the darkness, the voice of the boy from earlier.


    "Aiden Tenebra..."


    I stood there, so still that my body stopped trembling and all memory of fear was erased from my mind.


    Because I started to remember.


    What happened, what I did, even Aiden Tenebra, and who he was.


    Most importantly, though, long before that.


    "''... or Ethan Subter?"


    I remembered myself, who I was.


    He was me.


    That boy, that boy who called out to me... it was me. It was Ethan. He was the owner of a name that meant strong and resilient, the only thing I was d my parents had given me.


    "Who are you?"


    "I''m..."


    I clenched my fist.


    ''Aiden'' is nothing more than a second identity I''ve created for myself and used to escape reality.


    I am Ethan, but I don''t want to let go of the ''Aiden'' persona I created for myself.


    The days I spent in my old body are unforgettable for me. I spent twenty-one years in that body, but I already have so much more in this body than when I was Ethan.


    I''m not a ''good'' person... I never have been. I''ve always strived for what was better for me. No matter what smile I put on my face, inside I was always the same person.


    "You haven''t changed. You just ran away."


    When I epted myself as ''Aiden'', I thought I had changed. I thought smiling and making friends with people would change me, but I''m still the same person...


    "You need to decide."


    His voice, my voice... echoed in my mind again.


    "Are you Aiden? Or Ethan? If you can''t decide, you won''t move forward."


    I am greedy and selfish.


    I don''t want to lose my old self as Ethan. I feel like if I do that I''ll deny who I am, but at the same time, I don''t want to stop being Aiden.


    I thought about the only person who has ever shown me love; ra.


    And the moment I did that, I paused.


    ra doesn''t love me for me. She thinks I''m her real brother Aiden. I... I''m fooling her as much as I''m fooling myself.


    I''m... just a weak person who wants to be happy. All I''ve ever done is convince myself that I''ve changed.


    I remembered all the things I thought about after what hit me in the chest before I fainted. As my life shed before my eyes, I saw and heard about the people I had met in this world.


    I smiled bitterly.


    I am a liar. Yet... even though I realize it, I am still afraid to tell the truth.


    I am a human being, not a perfect one. That is precisely why I will choose to be selfish and greedy, an imperfect human being.


    I stood up, ignoring the darkness that surrounded me.


    Ethan? Aiden? Who cares which one I am? If I want to be happy, I can''t choose one of these two personalities, but I can''t be in between either.


    If I want to change, I have to start by changing ''me'' directly, not by assigning myself a new personality or going back to my old self.


    "Don''t hide."


    The pitch darkness slowly began to change and beams of light surrounded everything.


    I found myself back in the dim room.


    There was a little boy sitting on the couch in front of theputer. His back was to me.


    "I''m an idiot."


    He had a childish voice, but he sounded fed up with life. Yet there was a glimmer of hope in his voice, he was determined.


    "Nine years old..."


    I sighed lightly.


    "I never grew up after that day, right?"


    The boy''s shoulders dropped. Then the room I was in twisted strangely, and I found myself in a corridor again.


    I was nine, it was one of my days in the orphanage, and I had a smile that I never took off my face. Today was the day this smile faded.


    I was walking down the hallway when I overheard the director of the orphanage talking to someone. They were talking about me being a troubled child; they thought there was something wrong with me. And then somehow it got to my parents.


    "What do you expect? He''s weird like his parents."


    "Like he has parents? Neither of them were even adult yet, yet they didn''t want him."


    "He''s a mistake, it''s normal for him to be stupid like his parents. You shouldn''t worry too much."


    They said other things, but the main theme was the same; they kept saying bad things about me, about my family. And I just kept standing in front of the door.


    That day my world copsed around me.


    I had never cared about people calling me stupid. I believed that one day my family woulde and take me away from here, but that dream was shattered that day.


    That was the day I realized that people are alone in the world and nothing wille directly to me unless I work for it myself.


    So I worked and I worked and I didn''t want people to talk bad about me.


    "You''re running away again."


    The boy spoke again, and a smile appeared on my face.


    How pathetic I am...


    I just didn''t want people to talk about my family behind my back. As a sessful person, I wanted other people to say behind my back, ''His family should be sessful too.'' Even if they abandoned me, I didn''t want to abandon them. I wanted to love them, to be loved by them.


    I refused to believe that I was abandoned.


    I thought that if I achieved something, maybe they woulde to me with a smile on their face and at least say ''well done''. That''s exactly why I never grew up after that day and no matter how much I try to change, I do nothing but run away.


    And now... Now I understand what I have to do, even if it''s painful.


    The boy turned in the chair and locked eyes with me. One of his eyes was now purple.


    "I have nothing to say."


    He got up from the chair and headed for the door, behind which there was only endless darkness. He took a step outside but paused onest time before disappearing into the darkness and turning back to me. His other eye was starting to turn purple too.


    "I was never happy, I was a fool, I just ran and ran, and now much, much worse awaits you."


    The boy paused, his voice a wheeze. Hisst remaining green eye was now all purple. It was as if he was turning into someone else.


    "I hope you will seed."


    He had a bitter smile on his face.


    "Thank you."


    My true self, the one I had left in that hallway of the orphanage that day, looked resolutely into the darkness behind the door. He sighed lightly, looked at my face onest time, and then, without a word, walked into the darkness and closed the door behind him.


    Bad days ahead for me, is that it...?


    Maybe, since the first day I came to Lunerra, I never thought that good things would happen forever.


    Still, I will do my best to avoid bad things, at least I will try.


    I turned my head and looked at the only source of light in the room, theputer screen. On it was the game I had yed for three years and six thousand hours, The Lands of The Lunerra.


    A smile reappeared on my face and I slowly moved to the chair. Although I was nervous because of the strange feeling of holding a mouse after a long time, I slowly moved the pointer over the ''y'' button, but I didn''t click on it right away.


    I slowly turned around and looked into my room.


    This small room was where I used to find myself. I had spent three years here and now there was another ce where I felt I belonged.


    I took a deep breath and turned back to my front. I pressed the ''y'' button, which looked quite sweet to my eyes, and then my world went ck in an instant.

 Chapter 54 Volume II - 20: Reawakening

    <h4>Chapter 54 Volume II - Chapter 20: Reawakening</h4>


    "So¡­you''re saying that he betrayed you?"


    The three guys bowed their heads, trembling with intense fear as they recalled what had happened and knew what would happen to them in the future.


    "Y- yes..."


    I took a deep breath, thinking what can I do. Then looked at their facial expressions.


    There is no way they can lie to me when they are so scared. I know they are telling the truth, but...


    "So there were ''twenty'' of you against only two people, one of whom was not even an E grade, a total trash, and you lost¡­ am I wrong?"


    A deep silence fell over the room. The tense atmosphere made them all tremble even more. But after a while, one of the boys finally broke down and stepped forward.


    "That boy must have been at least E+... His wind control wa-"


    My eyebrows furrowed as I clenched my fist unintentionally. I stopped suppressing the anger I was holding inside.


    "Shut the fuck up!"


    The boy jumped, reflexively stepped back, and lost his bnce. But his fear got the better of him, he quickly regained control and immediately kneeled to the ground.


    "S- sorry boss! He... He must have fooled us!"


    He started talking to himself, babbling nonsense out of fear.


    I clicked my tongue, got up from the couch, and approached him.


    With every step I took, he trembled even more. When I leaned down to his ear, the only thing keeping him from fainting was that he didn''t dare.


    "Stop shaking, or I''ll make you all hit the bottom."


    The trio suddenly went rigid.


    "Leave the group and stay out of my sight. If I even catch you out of the corner of my eye, you''ll be one of the new targets."


    Two of them nodded as they couldn''t handle the atmosphere and quickly left the room without saying any words. But one of them continued to stand in front of me, his eyes looking like he was begging me.


    "I... I''m in the same ss as yo-"


    I narrowed my eyes, looking coldly into his face.


    The boy suddenly stopped talking. He opened his mouth, and tried to say something again, but then went silent. The light in his eyes faded slightly, he turned around and slowly left the room.


    After the door closed, I took a deep breath and sat on the couch again.


    "Aiden Tenebra..."


    I thought about what the degenerate bastard said when he came here, about how we could crush Adrian under our feet.


    I thought we were alike¡­ that maybe he would be one of my aces rather than a pawn.


    "Fuck..."


    I clicked my tongue and took a deep breath.


    I''m already angry enough that I was ambushed by some asshole... On top of that, I got tricked by a... trash... about whom there was nothing but rumors.


    What could be worse than this?


    I closed my eyes, forced myself to calm down, and once again pondered.


    What can I do to him to ease my anger?


    He doesn''t seem to have a big background, to begin with. He''s a little bit smart, but he doesn''t seem talented, so he shouldn''t be hard to reach.


    I can make his whole academic life hell for him, but he should pay a heavier price for betraying me straight away. Not just for a few years, his whole life should be ruined for him. But first... I should get some information.


    A slight smile formed on my face. I looked at the person at the top of my contacts and started the call.


    The watch rang for a few seconds. Then the voice I''d grown ustomed to hearing, emotionless and deep, entered my ear.


    "Hello?"


    "It''s me, uncle."


    There''s the sound of machinery in the background. He was probably in the middle of something...


    "Oh, I was in the middle of a little research. What happened, Justin?"


    His focus clearly shifted to me.


    As much of a research freak as he was, after all, I was his only nephew. He never refused my requests. Even if he was in the middle of something very important, he would at least listen to what I had to say. There were times when I even favored him more than my parents.


    "A boy made a deal with me and then not only betrayed me but also did a lot of damage to my group. Can I ask you to investigate him? I''ll take care of the rest, I just want the information."


    There was silence for a while, the sounds of machinery in the background had stopped.


    "Who?"


    I widened the smile on my face, filled with joy as I imagined what I would do to him.


    "Aiden Tenebra."


    Suddenly there was an awkward silence.


    My uncle just waited, waited, and waited. When I didn''t hear anything from him for a long time, I frowned.


    Why was the man who normally said yes to everything I said now¡­ silent?


    "Don''t ask me anything about that boy, Justin."


    His words echoed in my ears as my eyes widened. I reflexively jumped to my feet, raising my voice.


    "Uncle¡­? What are you talking about?! He is second tost in the rankings! So what if he''s smart? So what if he was a good leader during that stupid incident? He''ll be forgotten after a while anyway!"


    Uncle sighed deeply as if he didn''t care about everything I heard.


    "You don''t understand, Justin."


    Why?! Just... why?!


    Why is this man, who always did anything I asked him to do, now backing down?


    Why is this man who doesn''t care about anything but his research, now afraid of an eighteen-year-old boy?


    I... I don''t understand...


    "Don''t ask me anything about that boy like I said, Justin. For your sake and mine. Or your uncle, whom you love so much, may not be able to help you anymore."


    With that, he ended the call and silence fell over the room again.


    I clenched my fist, staring nkly at the wall.


    I have no idea why my uncle is backing away... But he is not someone who is easily scared of anyone. That boy... something about him is wrong.


    I thought about it for a long time, unable to pull myself together, and then suddenly I had an idea.


    My uncle didn''t tell me to ignore him outright. On the contrary, he only told me not to ask him for help with anything concerning him.


    Does he want me to take care of him myself? Does he want me to do things on my own because I keep asking him for help? Or...


    I narrowed my eyes and kept thinking.


    No, there''s no way that an eighteen-year-old I''ve never heard of, second tost in line, could scare him. There must be another reason.


    I slowly went to the bathroom, washed my face, and looked at myself in the reflection.


    Whether Aiden is strong or not, he must have a weakness too. There is no wless person in this whole world. No matter what kind of secret he has, there must be a way I can corner him too.


    Ah! Right¡­ he saved a girlst time, didn''t he? I remember hearing a rumor like that... I didn''t pay much attention to it, but could it be that he has a thing for helping people in bad situations?


    Even if I find his family, it will be hard to reach them without my uncle''s support while I''m in the academy. So¡­ this might help.


    "Hey!"


    I shouted sternly. Just a few secondster a very well-built figure walked in.


    "List all the rumors about this Aiden and bring them to me quickly."


    "Understood."


    The boy walked out without saying anything else. After about ten minutes of waiting, I finally had a full sheet of paper in my hand.


    The list was full of unnecessary things because I wanted exactly everything. But I still couldn''t find any kind of lover or close friend.


    Julian is a close friend, but... I''m not going to poke him when our families are already on bad terms.


    My eyes scanned the whole list and then stopped somewhere near the bottom. There was that rumor that he rescued this girl from bullies.


    "Do you know what that girl''s name is?"


    I looked at the guy who had been standing right in front of me since he handed me the paper.


    "Olivia Sue Gemma."


    The moment the words hit my ears, I froze in ce, just staring nkly at his face.


    "Sue? Really?"


    "Yes, boss."


    The seriousness on his face tells me he''s not lying. He wouldn''t lie even if he wanted to, but... I wasn''t expecting this.


    "Sue huh..."


    I was lost in thought for a moment, but eventually, a smile appeared on my face.


    "What a nice coincidence."


    I can use this... of course, with a little bit of an addition.


    *******


    Before anything else, I felt a sharp pain that spread through my whole body.


    I wanted to scream, but no sound came out. I wanted to move, but the pain was so intense that it almost prevented me from controlling my body. It was almost like¡­ that my body was splitting in two while I was still alive.


    After a while, though, I felt a little calmed down as if the pain slowly faded into the background.


    It was still there. It was still the greatest pain of my life, but¡­ it suddenly became insignificant.


    Just a moment ago it felt like it was breaking through my mind, driving me to madness, but now¡­ it was just a simple pain, no matter how intense.


    As strange and abnormal as the situation was, I was happy. I was calm and I could think a little straighter.


    Like that, I looked around.


    I was in a factory, which looked pretty old. The sun was shining through the cracks of the roof.


    And... am I tied to a chair?


    "Oh? You''re finally awake."


    I couldn''t make out the sound because of my headache, but I was sure it wasing from behind me.


    "What... Where am I?"


    I quickly thought about thest things I had done.


    After I woke up in the hospital, I went to Larry''s bunker to kill the bastard. I used the secret passage backward to get into his room, caught him off guard, and cut off both his arms.


    And then? What happened after all this?


    "We have a lot to talk about..."


    After these words, I heard the sound of footsteps behind me, but I couldn''t focus on it. I realized something else.


    Both my hands and feet were bound by handcuffs, but the main thing was that they were preventing me from feeling my mana.


    "First, how about you tell me ''who'' you are?"


    When the owner of the voice finally stepped in front of me, I had to focus because I was still not used to the light.


    My eyes widened as I was able to make out this person.


    Contrary to my fears, there was no Larry or anyone from his group in front of me. On the contrary, there was someone I was even more afraid of¡­


    Professor Calvin.


    "I''m waiting."

 Chapter 55 Volume II - 21: Contract Loophole

    <h4>Chapter 55 Volume II - Chapter 21: Contract Loophole</h4>


    I was silent for a moment, kept thinking, and then things started to slowly flood my brain.


    I remembered, all of it.


    How I left that room after Larry died, how a creature that could simply hunt the Joez Group approached me from behind and then pierced my heart...


    I panicked for a moment and quickly looked at the spot where my heart was. My clothes were covered in blood, and the top where my heart had been was torn, but strangely¡­ there was no paining from there.


    At first, I was relieved by this thought, and then I remembered what happened after that. The purple thing entering my body and my helplessness...


    I started sweating all of a sudden, like the world was spinning upside down.


    I, no...


    Oh, no...


    I stared meaninglessly at the wall in front of me. I remembered that moment when I faced myself... when my younger self''s eyes slowly turned purple...


    At the time I couldn''t really dwell on it because my memory was still fuzzy, but now I remember everything clearly. I also have information about what happened to me, what was going to happen to me, and every single one of these...


    It''s terrifying.


    I''m... simply done...


    "Hey, I''m talking to you!"


    Professor Calvin grimaced and looked me in the eyes. The emotions I could read from him were hatred and, though hidden, sadness.


    He is sad because he thinks he has lost me, but unlike him, I don''t give a shit about him right now.


    My situation is so desperate and so disgusting that I...


    "Answer me!"


    The professor stomped his foot hard on the floor and the factory, whose foundations were already not very good, shook slightly.


    What... should I do now?


    I felt increasingly helpless, and terrified.


    Am I going crazy? Maybe I''ve already gone crazy, but I don''t realize it...


    And where is Sith? Normally he should be circling me by now... Could something have happened to him?


    I was thinking about so many things that my head felt like it was going to explode. My mind felt like it was going to break like it did the first time I woke up, but then, all of a sudden, these thoughts slowly started to fade. Just like it had happened a moment ago...


    I raised my head and looked at the professor. The smile he normally wore when I practiced with him had been reced by a serious, almost frightening expression.


    And yet... I was calm.


    "A contract..."


    That''s what finally came out of my mouth.


    I don''t know what I can do after what happened to me, but I can''t just give up.


    I made a promise to myself that I will at least try everything to prevent bad things from happening to me.


    I will do whatever it takes to survive.


    "Let''s make a contract, professor."


    The professor narrowed his eyes, paused for a moment, chuckled slightly, and then burst intoughter. I continued without losing myposure or expression.


    "I am serious, professor. I will simply exin my situation to you without lying. If I lie, I will die. If I tell the truth and you trust me, you will release me."


    The professor smiled wryly. Then a light blue glow appeared in his hand, his intentions clear.


    "You have nothing to lose. If you don''t trust me, you don''t need to release me. Just listen to me, professor."


    I''m calm, annoyingly calm. So much so that even I am ufortable with it. Still, I don''t have time for this.


    "I trusted one of you before and now I am the only living member of my family. Do you think I would make the same mistake again?"


    "All you can do is listen to me, Professor. And even if you do that, it''s not a mistake. I''m Aiden, your student Aiden, and believe me, I''m a victim, so I''m asking you to give me a chance."


    I closed my eyes and imagined it.


    Even if the handcuffs prevent me from using mana, they only prevent me from qualifying it, from controlling it directly. I can understand that, they are not top-level.


    That means that they must not be able to prevent me from using the system itself, which is independent of me, and therefore from setting up a mana contract.


    <<------------------------------


    Contractor 1: Aiden Tenebra


    Contractor 2: Calvin dio


    Terms of the Contract:


    1-) Aiden Tenebra cannot lie until he informs the other contractor that he has finished speaking. The speech willst for a maximum of half an hour, at the end of which the speech will automatically end.


    2-) Calvin dio must listen to Aiden Tenebra until he announces that he has finished speaking. During this time, he must not voluntarily attack or harm him.


    3-) Calvin dio will not kill Aiden Tenebra if he trusts him.


    4-) Aiden Tenebra will die instantly if he breaks the rules of the contract.


    5-) Calvin dio will be under theplete control of Aiden Tenebra for three minutes if he does not follow the rules of the contract. During this time Aiden Tenebra cannot make Calvin dio do anything ''bad'', he cannot kill him, cannot do anything to cause him to die, and if he makes him do anything bad in any way he will die.


    ------------------------------>>


    Good... it worked, just as I thought it would.


    The professor stared into the air for a while. He was reading the contents of his side of the contract.


    "I understand everything, but the control?"


    He doesn''t seem to have any intention of epting, it''s going to be a bit of a hassle...


    "If you attack me, I''ll simply walk out of here without doing anything. I''ve already added to the terms that I won''t do anything bad, so if you want to add anything, you can add it."


    He''s not very smart, this should be enough to satisfy him... it will be. But I''ll still give him onest push.


    I paused and smiled slightly, looking into his eyes.


    "I''m still Aiden, professor, not a bad guy. I don''t want you to die."


    The professor paused for a moment. His expression became puzzled and softened a little, but then he became serious again.


    He is thinking, checking if there is really something against him in the contract.


    All he has to do is not attack me, and that''s not hard to do. At worst, he will have to wait half an hour and then he can do whatever he wants to me.


    It''s a very favorable contract for him, what more is he hesitating?


    Or else...


    "Well, I''ll ept because I''m really curious to hear what you have to say, but you have no idea what I could do to you after that half hour if I realized you were nning something different."


    Ah... he can be really scary when he''s like that. I shivered for a moment...


    After the professor''s words, a small amount of mana was withdrawn from both my body and the professor''s body, and my half-hour time had already started.


    "Haa..."


    I took a deep breath and fixed my eyes on the professor''s ck eyes.


    Here we go... Time to gamble.


    "Professor... If I''m not mistaken, you are from the main branch of the dio Family, right?"


    The professor''s eyes narrowed. This was not what he expected to hear.


    "But you just told me that your family is dead?"


    This time his brow furrowed, as if he was angry with himself for what he had blurted out.


    "What do you mean?"


    "You''re not really from the main branch, are you? Even if you are despised because of your low talent, it''s actually because you are not a biological child of that family."


    His eyes began to flicker and he just stood there. It was impossible from his point of view for me to know what I was saying.


    "After your parents died, you were found by the leader of the dio Family, your talents were recognized and you were adopted by him. Because he couldn''t have children."


    "Bastard... That was your goa-"


    "Yet your mother hated you. She even poisoned you and stunted your development, causing you to fall out of favor with the family leader. And then the family''s first real son was born."


    The professor bit his lip, these were all things that society did not know. On top of that, things he didn''t want to remember... Even if he tried to keep his cool, everyone had their sensitivities.


    "Because you were poisoned, your development stalled, for a long time you were considered garbage. Yet you didn''t give up, you tried and tried and tried. And then... you found happiness."


    He drew his sword and pointed it at me, still hesitating. He was still aware of the contract he had made.


    "Just wait half an hour... I will kill you in such a way that you will regret you ever came into this world...!"


    He''s losing it, great.


    "You fell in love and even thought about getting engaged. Then, while spending time with that woman, by chance you were in the middle of an attack. It was an attack by someone using that purple energy."


    "Stop... Please stop..."


    His voice trembled, slowly breaking. I was reminding him of things he didn''t want to remember, unresponsive and without pause.


    "You were both on the verge of death."


    "Shut up..."


    "She wanted you to run away, and you already knew you couldn''t."


    I heard a crunching sound, the professor had clenched his teeth so hard that they were broken. Blood was dripping from his mouth.


    "In the end, thanks to your perseverance, you attracted the ordea to you. You used ordea for the first time that day, but precisely because of that, you couldn''t handle it. You lost consciousness."


    He lost even more control as the memories came back to him again and again, memories he had tried for so long to forget or ignore. His mana spread throughout the factory, causing a tremor. The light blue-colored energy, the ordea, covered his entire body.


    "When you regained consciousn-"


    Suddenly the image in front of me disappeared, and a slight smile appeared on my face.


    When the professor attacked me, I kicked the ground and knocked myself down, so that I fell to the ground, and the professor, who was at the peak of his anger, did not pay much attention to this. Just a few secondster he froze in ce.


    "You lost, professor, and now I have three minutes. Untie me first."


    The professor strained his muscles, and his body trembled, but the contract held him down.


    Slowly he approached me and untied the handcuffs I was tied behind my back. I stood up, relieved to feel the mana in my body again.


    "You did not see me when you entered that bunker. Instead, you encountered one of those purple creatures. Then you mowed it down and left before you could find any more evidence. You willpletely forget my involvement in that incident."


    "O- ok... oka-y..."


    His body is convulsing... He resists the contract with all his being, but no matter how much he wants to, he can''t do it.


    "You will faint when I tell you, and when you wake up exactly one hourter, you will remember that you came here because you wanted to rest for a short time because of a wound you received while fighting the creature."


    "O- okay..."


    "Sleep."


    The professor copsed after those words, and even though I had seen it with my own eyes, I still couldn''t breathe a sigh of relief.


    I got over the professor, but my problems don''t end there.


    Normally, once that purple thing is inside me, my ego is supposed to disappear. Another ''me'' with a copy of my memory should take my ce, but I am still myself.


    I am aware that I am not one of the copied consciousnesses I mentioned. I am aware because the new owners of the bodies that go through the same process as me are aware that they are not the original consciousness.


    And I am here... I am sure that my memories are mine, I don''t feel like a different person and most importantly I am calm. I am not someone who has nothing but chaos and destruction in my head.


    So Sith did what I told him to do, but...


    I thought about my childhood self that I confronted in my dream, his eyes turned purple as he walked out the door.


    So that thing managed to take part of my soul?


    Then... what happened to me? Who... am I now?


    "Sith..."


    I called inside my head, but I didn''t get any response.


    "Hey, Sith... Can you hear me? Are you there?"


    No matter how long I waited, I didn''t get a response. When Sith''s silence added to my situation, I started to worry.


    I took a deep breath and sank to the ground.


    What if something had happened to Sith? Could something have happened to him while he was trying to stop that thing inside me?


    I pulled my knees toward me and buried my head between them.


    On top of everything... am I even human anymore?


    "Ahahah..."


    I''ve ruined my new chance in this world because of my greed. I... what do I do now?


    I felt like I was going crazy again. My thoughts slowly started to eat away at my consciousness, but then, just like before, I rxed and calmed down again.


    When this happened for the first time a few minutes ago, I didn''t question it much, I couldn''t question it. Now that I am experiencing this thing again, I pause.


    Why do I keep calming down? This... is not normal.


    I quickly reconsidered the situation I was in, tried to empathize with myself, and then I frowned.


    I''m actually involved in something so bad that I should be crying, kicking the floor, and cursing my fate, but I''m sitting here thinking calmly.


    I got goosebumps all over me, trembling with terror. I started to get scared, I didn''t know what was happening to me, but then my mind cleared again and I calmed down.


    I... can''t even be scared...


    I quickly did the first thing that came to my mind, I thought about my statistics window and then a holographic window opened in front of me.


    And when I saw what was written in front of me, I just froze.


    "What... is this?"


    I closed and opened my eyes a couple of times, but the view in front of me didn''t change.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: Aiden (Ethan)


    Last Name: Tenebra (Subter)


    Race: Human/Wiera


    Age: 18


    --???--


    ???: %5,2


    --Statistics--


    General Level: E


    Strength: E-


    Agility: E+


    Vitality: E-


    Endurance: E-


    Luck: E


    Magic Power: E+


    Mana Efficiency: E


    Charm: E


    --Status Effects--


    Abnormal Status Effect: [Divided Soul] -- [Body Dissonance] -- [????]


    --Chaos--


    Devotion: Greed


    Status: Representative Candidate


    Grade: E+


    Control Tolerance: F+


    Limit: E


    Authority: [Chains of Sin(E+)]


    --Masteries--


    [Swordsmanship(E-)] -- [Mana Expert(E-)] -- [Spirit Magic: Wind Elementalist(E)]


    --Passive Skills--


    [The One Who is Close to Spirits(A)] -- [Absolute Mind(A-)]


    ------------------------------>>


    What... what happened to me?

 Chapter 56 Volume II - 22: Frightening Skill

    <h4>Chapter 56 Volume II - Chapter 22: Frightening Skill</h4>


    Ordea and caora... Two types of energy in the Lunerra universe that are different from mana. They also constitute the totality of events that take ce on Lunerra.


    Unlike mana, these two energies are not without attribute or color. Ordea represents ''order'' in its own right and has a tendency to bring ''order'' everything ites into contact with. It also has a rxing feeling.


    And caora, unlike ordea, represents chaos. It erodes and disrupts everything ites into contact with and has an ufortable feeling.


    Of course, these two energies are not something that humans can control easily. Especially caora is problematic in this respect because it has a chaotic nature. That''s why the people who can control it are not human. They are some kind of another race called ''wiera''.


    Wieras are, in a way, the demons of Lunerra. They arepletely intertwined with Caora, they live and grow together with it. So their bodies have changed ordingly. On top of that, they are unstable, even if their physical appearance is exactly the same as their parent race, be it human, dwarf, or elf, despite being a wiera. They have many psychologic problems because of their closeness with caora.


    So, how does someone be a wiera? There are several ways.


    The first is when one or both parents are wiera. It makes no difference whether the mother is human and the father is wiera or vice versa. No matter what, if even one of the parents is a wiera, their children are bound to be a wiera.


    The second way to be a wiera is to be transformed into one.


    Of course, even if someone bes a wiera in this way, the wiera side slowly overwhelms the human side and again, the person bes aplete wiera.


    That is why there is no such thing as half wiera or quarter wiera.


    Okay¡­ so, with this information, what actually am I?


    Each time I confirmed my thoughts by looking through the system window, I trembled and was terrified more and more.


    Not being a human anymore, thinking that I am one of the wieras, which is a very¡­ problematic race, and on top of that, being something that I''m not even sure what it is¡­ it just made me stand where I was, desperately looking for a solution.


    And still¡­ All these thoughts were disappearing in just a few seconds, I was calming down. And this was even more terrifying because I was literally in a loop.


    I was scared, stressed, and my head was throbbing, but then it was all fading away. When this happened all over again, I couldn''t help feeling that I was going crazy.


    I gulped, then nced at my status window again. And this time, I noticed something else. There was a skill that I hadn''t seen before in the passive skill section.


    <<------------------------------


    Absolute Mind(A-)


    The user is protected from all mental attacks and negative influences. This includes charm statistics, illusions, and so on.


    The person is also cleansed of all thoughts and emotions that can stress them out and negatively affect their mood, no matter how big or small the impact.


    ------------------------------>>


    Oh... So that''s why I kept calming down all the time, that''s what prevented even a feeling like fear...


    "I¡­ am not human¡­"


    The truth hit me like a p in the face.


    Even if my body is half human, can someone who cannot feel negative emotions call himself ''human''?


    No¡­


    A sensation of goosebumps seemed to spread throughout my body. The more I thought about it, the more darkness I found myself in, but then, after just a few seconds, I was calm again. My mind was quickly cleansed... just like the description of the skill says.


    I... have to stop thinking about bad things.


    That was what I finally decided. Because whenever I thought of something negative, my mind was cleared by the skill and I found myself in a loop.


    That''s why no matter how hard it is, I have to stop thinking bad things and using my skill to my own detriment.


    So what if I''m not human, and I''m in a horrible situation?


    This is Lunerra... There is always a way to make everything happen here. Be human again? Why not. There must be a way, even a way to get rid of this frightening skill.


    The reason why I think this may be because of the skill I have gained... Still, I really believe in it. I want to believe in it.


    I stood up, even though I was still shaking.


    Whatever happens, I can''t keep staying here. The professor will wake up in an hour, I have to clean this ce.


    I stumbled a bit as I walked, still thinking in a more idle way. My mind was full of countless thoughts, but with the help of the skill called Absolute Mind, I slowly recovered.


    When I finally managed to order everything inside the factory after about five minutes of work, I took a deep breath.


    The professor was still sleeping peacefully. And when he woke up, he wouldn''t remember anything about me. So now all I had to do was leave...


    I turned around and ran out of the factory, not even looking back. Then, swallowing hard, I called the person named ''J4'' from the watch still on my wrist.


    *******


    I looked at the door in front of me, braced myself and straightened up, then took a deep breath and knocked.


    "Come in."


    When a strong voice from behind the door gave me approval, I entered.


    The room wasfortably two or three times the size of the living room of a normal house. Decorations, paintings, especially patterned carpets, luxurious armchairs, and the table in front of these armchairs...


    On top of that, everything in the room was symmetrical and in perfect harmony.


    In the chair behind the table just opposite the door was a man. His blue eyes were piercingly prating. He was a true nobleman, with jet-ck hair and the nobility and sternness of his appearance and eyes.


    He was my father, even though we looked almost nothing alike.


    "You called for me, Father."


    I didn''t break my posture at all, he was a man who paid unnecessary attention to things like ethics.


    "Yes, Celine. When your academy took a break because of the preliminary, we finally had a chance to talk. I wanted to take advantage of it because I have something I want to ask of you."


    "I''m listening, Father."


    My father smiled slightly, yet there was something wrong with his smile.


    It wasn''t normal, he wasn''t really smiling. It didn''t have any sincerity.


    "Adrian Caleo and Aiden Tenebra are two prominent names in the academy right now. Adrian Caleo is first in the direct ranking and is making incredible progress. His general level has already reached D grade."


    Normally, I was nning to listen to him and leave the room, saying that I would fulfill his request as I always do, but thest thing he said made me stiffen.


    Raising stats to E+ is rtively not that difficult. With consistent and well-nned work, anyone can reach that level in a few short years, but the real problem lies in getting those stats to D- level and then improving them.


    E+ level stats represent the very limits of the human body, which is much more advanced in mana than it was eighty years ago. Therefore, every time someone tries to break through this level, they run into a very difficult wall.


    Nobodyins, though, because the rewards for breaking through this wall are enormous, but... To reach D grade at the age of eighteen? And not just one statistic, but the ''general level'', which is sort of an average of stats?


    I knew Adrian Caleo was strong, but has this ever happened before in history?


    "All the guilds are already making ns to get him on their side. So we need to act too."


    My father paused after those words, sighing slightly as if something had urred to him.


    "And then there is Aiden Tenebra..."


    He looked a little confused, as everyone who thought anything about that boy was confused.


    "The boy is smart, and as smart as he is, he has very good leadership skills."


    The things he did in the preliminary proved that enough already.


    Father tapped his watch and then a screen appeared between us. There was Aiden''s photo on the screen, or rather the photo of him during the preliminary when he used a strange skill...


    His gray eyes, which normally give the impression of looking at a ghost, had turned light green in this photograph. He had a strange-looking crown on his head. Meanwhile, the purity and the amount of mana emanating from him... It was tremendous, truly magnificent.


    It was clearly an ascension skill, but I had never seen anything like it before.


    "Still, it''s not normal for someone who ranks second tost statistically and in terms ofbat power to unleash that kind of power. That boy is hiding something, and he''s definitely worth something, if not as much as Adrian."


    His eyes sparkled, though he looked confused. He must have believed that with these two people, he could restore the guild, which despite its size was slowly losing its position.


    "Even better, these two people are friends with each other, and not only that, they have ties to Julian Virhen."


    Everyone at the academy knew this, the rumor that the three were close was no secret.


    "These three meet in one of the karaoke rooms of the academy on certain days of the week and they study there. They have formed a sort of study group. And what I want you to do is to join this group and make friends with them, Celine. You have to draw them to you. You have to manipte them if you have to, but you have to get at least one of them on our side. It''s a great opportunity for us that neither of them is connected to any family."


    I had already expected this from the way the conversation was going, yet even I was surprised by how excited he was.


    He sees these two as something of a gold mine.


    "I understand, Father."


    After my answer, he smiled brightly.


    "I have full faith that you will save our guild... You can go now, rest well during the break and stand proudly on that stage during the award ceremony."


    I bowed slightly at a perfect angle to pay my respects.


    "Thank you, Father..."


    I turned around and walked out of the room without another word.


    When I closed the door behind me, I stood in the hallway for a few seconds.


    Tricking people... It''s something I''ve done before for my father''s purposes. I''m used to it, but can I act the way I should in front of people like Adrian and Aiden? I don''t know...


    I am not weak. In fact, I have a talent far above my peers, I know that better than anyone, but those two... The more I see them, learn about them, and try to unravel the secrets they hide... the more they seem like ''monsters'' that I will never be able to reach.


    Still... My father once gave me an order, I must fulfill it.


    I took a deep breath, then headed toward the training rooms of the huge house as I wanted to distract myself with sword training.

 Chapter 57 Volume II - 23: The End of the Lie

    <h4>Chapter 57 Volume II - Chapter 23: The End of the Lie</h4>


    I lowered the car window, let the wind blow in my face, and closed my eyes.


    When I had specifically called the Joez Group toe with clean clothes, they only needed ten minutes to pick me up. Now we were heading in the direction I had told them.


    "Aren''t you going to be in trouble for losing them?"


    They didn''t react at all when I told them they had lost three people. So I can''t help being a bit scared.


    They won''t lure me to the side of the road and kill me, will they?


    "Their deaths are due to their own powerlessness. They did nothing but their duty, we took our money and did what we had to do."


    I was a little more relieved when the man said this in a very straightforward way, without stuttering, but this time something else began to eat at me.


    Unlike me, the concept of death ismonce for them, so much so that they didn''t hesitate to set fire to the entire bunker of the dead in order not to leave a trace.


    Can I get used to the mentality of the people here?


    I hope so...


    "I see..."


    I let out a deep sigh, leaned back, and looked out the window as I headed toward Wiathen City in this car that was too modern for my old world, but average for this one.


    I had eliminated all evidence that I had ever been there, and the professor should be awake right now, so from the outside, it was pretty good.


    From the inside... I don''t even know what state I''m in.


    Doubt, stress, and all the bad thoughts like these slowly crept into my mind. The moment I realized this, I focused the mana in my body on the passive skill called ''Absolute Mind''.


    In this world, passive skills are not just ''passive''. They can also be given extra effects by charging them with mana. Things like reducing their effects or, as I''m doing now, increasing the effectiveness of the skill...


    I know I shouldn''t think bad thoughts, so I have to use the skill, but at the same time, part of my problem is this very skill.


    Trying to solve my problems with the very thing that gives me these problems... When I thought about that, I couldn''t help sighing.


    I continued to look out as my mind was quickly cleared with the help of my mana-fueled skill. After a while, I was calm again, in a way that would be disturbing to others...


    "Do I have to paypensation for the death of employees?"


    "You invited them on a potentially ''dangerous'' mission for money and they epted. They are fully responsible, so no."


    I turned my eyes to the rearview mirror and looked at his sunsses.


    I couldn''t see a bit of his eyes hiding behind the dark-tinted sses, but I was sure they were just like mine, and he was as calm as I was. Even though three talented members of their group had died, he was unaffected.


    "When do you estimate we''ll arrive?"


    "Ten minutes."


    I leaned back and closed my eyes.


    There was no turning back now, I knew that, but I was still conscious of the decision I had made before that. No more running away or hiding behind someone else.


    We drove slowly into the city, we drove calmly through the traffic and after ten minutes we stopped in front of an apartment building, just like J4 had said.


    When I looked out of the window at the apartment building, I felt a little joy blossoming inside me. Compared to the old one, there was a building that had improved level after level before me.


    "Wait inside the car. Have J5 and J6 keep their distance."


    "Understood."


    After the monotonous answer I received, I got out of the car. First I took a breath of fresh air, and then I looked at the building in front of me again.


    It was a simpler apartment building than the one in my old world, but it looked as modern and luxurious as it was simple. Despite its size, there were only three ts on each floor and all the instion such as heating and sound was perfect. On top of that, it was perfectly located for things like schools, markets, and hospitals.


    I took slow steps toward the apartment building and after entering the door code, I went up to the third floor. When I arrived in front of apartment number seven, I realized that I was still hesitant.


    No... I had already made up my mind.


    ~knock ~knock ~knock


    I was nervous, but my nervousness was slowly extinguished by my skill. A few secondster, the door was opened by a sixteen-year-old girl with gray eyes just like mine.


    "Ah! You''re here!"


    ra stepped aside with a big smile on her face and weed me in.


    She had cut the ends of her hair. She was wearing a in white sweater and a brown skirt that reached a few inches below her knees, and her face was much brighter than before.


    "Why are you sote? I thought you''d be back fast when the academy gave you a break."


    Her excitement was reflected in her voice. She was happy to see me as if she had waited her whole life for this.


    "Something came up, I apologize."


    I walked in with a forced smile. As I hung my coat on the rack and walked down the hallway to the living room, I couldn''t help but admire it.


    I didn''t think that the interiors of apartments could change much even if the worlds were different, but I was wrong, this ce not only gives me a veryfortable feeling offort the moment I step inside, but it also gives me that modern feeling down to my bones.


    The hall was just like a corridor. It was much more spacious, simply furnished, andfortable than before.


    "You didn''t pack any clothes? Are you leaving fast?"


    ra dropped herself on the sofa without wiping the smile off her face. Her gray eyes were locked on me, waiting for an answer.


    Taking a deep breath, I faced her and smiled again.


    "ra... How do you think I''ve been doing for thest month? How much have I changed, how different am I from before?"


    The smile on her face deteriorated a little. Because even though I was smiling, there was a seriousness in the air.


    "I mean... you''ve changed."


    She looked a little thoughtful, her eyes shifted slightly upward.


    "If I think back, you have changed a lot, but definitely not for the worse. You said you regretted it, I can feel that you regretted it. I know that you tried to fix things and you seeded. So much so that sometimes I envy you, how you managed to change so much, but I''m happy because you''re my brother... you''re with me."


    She sighed deeply, her eyes focused on the carpet on the floor this time.


    "After my parents died, and on top of that when I waspletely alone and you were already ignoring me, I became depressed."


    She opens up to me and I listen with my eyes fixed on the floor, just like her...


    I''m pathetic... so fucking pathetic...


    "I went to a psychologist, he prescribed me six different pills. Antidepressants, severe headaches, anxiety, and lots of them..."


    Every word she said made me hate Aiden and myself more and more, but I kept listening.


    "I lived on these pills for seven years and then you changed and you know what? I''m only on two headache pills now, so you''re fine, you''re better than you''ve ever been. You helped me, you helped yourself and you have a purpose for the future, even if I don''t know what it is."


    She turned to face me. I could see it out of the corner of my eye, even though my eyes were still fixed on the floor.


    Still, I couldn''t find the courage to look at her, to make eye contact.


    "So you shouldn''t think about ''how am I doing, am I right or wrong, have I managed to change, is the path I am walking suitable for me?'' As your sister, whatever you choose, I will be there for you."


    I forced myself to look up.


    Her smile was so bright, her expression so peaceful.


    "I''m sorry..."


    That''s what finally came out of my mouth.


    I didn''t sound sad or sincere at all. I was calm, and even though I was suppressing my stupid skill, especially with mana, it was limiting even that.


    ra raised her eyebrows and looked at me, surprised.


    "I''m sorry ra... I''m really sorry... I apologize..."


    Her raised eyebrows furrowed and she made a meaningless face.


    "It''s ove-"


    "I''m not the ''brother'' you think I am."


    When she was interrupted, her expression turned back to confusion, then to anger. She was going to say something but I interrupted her again before she had a chance to speak.


    "Listen to me ra, I''m going to open up to you just like you opened up to me. Then you can get angry with me, yell at me, reject me, but just listen to me."


    Her anger faded as quickly as it hade, and this time there was hesitation in her eyes. Her whole body trembled slightly.


    "O- okay?"


    "I... am not the Aiden you know."


    I didn''t look at her, I couldn''t, I wouldn''t face her.


    I opened my watch and logged into the bank app,ying the purchase history in front of her without shifting my gaze an inch.


    On the screen was information about something that had been taken a long time ago: cyanide.


    "Wh- what is this...?"


    "I''m not Aiden, ra, I''m someone who was put in your brother''s body."


    I took a deep breath.


    Once I had started, now I just had to keep going.


    "Until a month and a half ago, I was a different person. My name was Ethan, I was a child born as a result of a mistake made by a young couple and abandoned by them. So I grew up in an orphanage."


    I don''t want to pity myself.


    No... That''s exactly what I''m trying to do, I''m trying to manipte her not to reject me, to pity me.


    How much more despicable can I be?


    "I was lonely, yet I somehow supported myself because I was smart. I made many mistakes, and many times I seeded. Yet I was not happy, I was an empty shell. I had no soul inside me..."


    I clenched my fist involuntarily, those were not good days for me.


    "And then, when I was twenty-one, I simply died, a heart attack or something."


    The atmosphere in the room continued to grow heavy. ra still hadn''t said a word.


    "I was in a dark void for I don''t know how long. None of my senses were working, I couldn''t even feel my own body. I could only think in that pitch ckness, but then, just when I thought I was going crazy, I woke up."


    I thought about the first day I came into this world, and I remembered my astonishment that day. How had I convinced myself that I had changed when I was only running away from myself and the other people around me?


    I was a coward, maybe even more than that...


    "I was a different person when I woke up. I wasn''t Ethan anymore, I was in this body, I was Aiden Tenebra, and there were empty cyanide canisters on the bedside table."


    I took a deep breath and leaned back, this time with my eyes fixed on the ceiling. I still wasn''t looking at ra.


    "At first I didn''t think about it deeply. I thought that the more I knew you, the more I made new friends with this body, and the more I was able to relieve the misery inside me, the more I felt liberated and on the right path. Then I realized that I hadn''t changed a bit. I was still me, Aiden Tenebra was just a shell I hid behind. I was deceiving those around me for my own happiness, especially you, who longed for your brother. I was using you, starved for love, care, and happiness, to satisfy my own misery."


    It was no longer difficult to speak, the words came out of my mouth on their own.


    "I am not the brother you think you have changed, ra. You must know that anything can happen in this world, if youpare Aiden before and me now, you can easily understand the difference between us. You''re a smart girl, you know I wouldn''t lie to you and you know I have no reason to."


    I lowered my eyes from the ceiling, ra''s face obscured by her hair. She was facing down, I couldn''t see her expression but...


    Maybe it''s better this way. I... might not be able to take it.


    "I''m sorry. I''m sorry for deceiving you, for giving you false hope, for using you as a cure for my own despair, for going to your dead parents'' grave and crying pretending to be Aiden, for everything."


    After that, I just stayed silent and waited.


    A deathly silence fell over the room. The atmosphere was depressing and ra was shaking.


    Seconds passed, then minutes...


    "Get out..."


    I smiled, no matter how forced it was, and stood up. I felt something soaring inside me, something that made my whole body tremble, but because of my skill, even that feeling faded in just a few seconds.


    Before I turned around and left the room, I looked back at ra, and the moment I saw the tears falling down her face, I felt a pain like a dagger had been driven into my heart.


    "I... I believed... in you..."


    No matter how much of an asshole old Aiden was, he was ra''s own brother. And I was nothing more than an asshole in his ce. It was understandable that he wouldn''t ept me, I expected it, because ra had spent seven years groveling after Aiden, no matter how bad he was.


    She loved him, not me.


    "Get out... Go... Get out!"


    My eyes shook but I couldn''t cry. I wanted to hug her but I couldn''t. I wished I could turn back time and not say those things but it was the right thing, it was what I had to do.


    "I''m sorry ra, I won''t even stand in front of you unless you want me to."


    I took slow steps out of the living room, took my coat off the rack, put it on, and reached for the handle to pull the door open.


    Just as I was about to pull it open, I heard a few sobs and froze in ce for a few seconds.


    I want to cry too.


    I want to feel pain too.


    I want to feel disappointed too, but...


    I raised my hands and looked at my palms.


    I wasn''t even shaking, there was nothing but this strange emptiness I felt in my heart. No matter what I thought, in a few seconds, all that was inside me was a big, ck void. My passive skill prevented even that because it could stress me out.


    I pulled the door slowly, but I didn''t go out of the apartment. I let myself down and leaned against the door. I took off my coat and let the cold seep into my skin. I wasn''t cold, though.


    Wieras could not feel the cold. Even when they traveled in the middle of the poles, they were at best cool. As a hybrid, I had the same body as them.


    I leaned my head against the door and looked up at the ceiling.


    I... I did the right thing. I couldn''t keep deceiving her, I couldn''t change if I did, and I would only continue to use her as a tool for myself.


    As my skill was clearing my mind again, I thought about what ra had told me a few minutes ago.


    She was probably going to have much greater depressive problems now, maybe six pills wouldn''t even be enough...


    And the reason for this was me.


    I closed my eyes and focused on the darkness inside me. As I looked at it, I felt as if I was being drawn into that darkness, as if I was bing one with it, that my mind and soul were taking shape ording to it.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %5,2 --> %5,8


    ------------------------------>>


    A system notification dropped in front of me.


    Something I didn''t know what it was had changed in a way I didn''t know why, but I couldn''t give a damn about it. I was thinking about something else, something I couldn''t ept, even though I was sure what the answer was.


    I... did the right thing, right¡­?

 Chapter 58 Volume II - 24: Finding a Few Answers

    <h4>Chapter 58 Volume II - Chapter 24: Finding a Few Answers</h4>


    I checked and rechecked everything in my luggage, making sure that everything was in order. Then I stood up with a smile on my face for the first time in a long time and stood in front of my mirror.


    I made sure that my bruises and scars were not showing and finally nodded my head up and down in approval.


    It was okay, all I had to do was walk to the station.


    I was going back to my brother for three days because the academy was on break, and I had a smile on my face that I couldn''t put down.


    Just being away from here, even for three days, was a blessing. How could I ignore it? Of course, I couldn''t.


    I quickly opened the door and took my first step outside with beautiful dreams, but then my expression instantly faded with what I saw in front of me. I stared nkly at the scene in front of me as if I was hallucinating, but no matter how long I waited, what I saw didn''t change.


    There was a boy leaning against the wall just opposite my door. His long dark blue hair was tied behind his head and he was looking at me with his golden, cold eyes.


    It had been almost three months since I hadst seen him, but he hadn''t changed, he was still the same. That''s exactly why I couldn''t move a muscle, I never thought he would see me again.


    I wanted to step back and close the door in his face, to get him out of my sight, but all I could do was swallow.


    He was silent because he knew what I was going to do and what I was thinking.


    "W- what do you want?"


    I wanted to speak calmly, but I stammered involuntarily. However, a smile appeared on his smooth face and his expression turned wry.


    "Would you like to rx a little, Sue?"


    He straightened up from where he was leaning and took a step toward me. Unlike him, I took a step back, gripping the door handle tightly to m it in his face if he made a move.


    "I haven''t forgotten what you did to me, Sue, I never forget those who betrayed me. That''s exactly why I need you. Help me and I can halve the number of people bullying you, and I can make sure you livefortably for a few weeks."


    At first, I looked at him nkly, not understanding what he meant.


    Then I reyed what he said in my mind, my eyes slowly widening as I questioned whether I had misunderstood him.


    It was five months... It had been five months since I started getting new wounds and bruises every day, over and over again. No one was talking to me, not a single person was trying to help me. I couldn''t even eat properly, I was afraid to go to the grocery store.


    All because of... It was all because of the boy in front of me. He especially made sure that no one would help me, he especially made everyone avoid me and bully me.


    And now he was in front of me showing me a way out as if he hadn''t caused any of this for these five months.


    A proud person might have started yelling at him, questioning how he could offer him this. Me... I didn''t give a damn.


    Pride? I had thrown it away a long time ago. The idea of getting out of this hell put everything else on the back burner.


    When I thought back, he hadn''t said he was going to stop bullyingpletely, just cut it in half... I still wasn''tpletely free of it, but... wasn''t it even that wonderful?


    I imagined a world where I didn''t have to put cream on my bruises every night, where I could take a step without getting hurt, where my wallet was expanding because of the money I spent on medication, and I swallowed.


    After I swallowed, Justin widened his smile.


    "Aiden Tenebra, the rumored guy. He made a deal with me and broke it. He needs to be punished for that, but he''s interestingly hard to reach. So you will be my bait, Sue."


    At first, I couldn''t remember who he was talking about, I had enough problems with myself that I hadn''t paid much attention to the rumors at the academy, but then suddenly I remembered.


    It was Aiden, the boy who had helped me a few days ago. He didn''t seem very strong, but he handled the bullies pretty well. He was also someone who saw me and chose to help me instead of walking past.


    I was grateful to him, I''d be lying if I said I wasn''t. The fact that someone helped me, even after a long time, the fact that he looked me in the face and spoke to me instead of ignoring me, unlike the others, made me happy that day, but that was it. I didn''t think I would ever meet him again, nor did I think I would ever need him again, so I erased that day from my mind.


    "Sue, you''re the only person he''s helped directly in the time he''s been here. I''d rather use you than pick someone at random and make it less likely that he''lle to me, he''s more likely toe to you. So help me and you''ll have a more peaceful life ahead of you. And of course..."


    He did not finish his sentence and smiled slightly.


    This smile had many meanings, but when I thought about what it meant here, I realized that my eyes, which had just widened, slowly returned to their original state.


    You have no choice anyway, he was telling me.


    He was doing nothing but ying games with me, he probably didn''t even need to use me... No, he could have forced me to follow him in the first ce, but he chose to talk.


    He was insulting me, telling me that he would use me and that I couldn''t do anything.


    And yet... What could I say anyway? Even if I really had a choice, I knew and he knew what I would choose.


    I... I don''t want to hurt other people. I don''t want to be involved in anything that involves Justin, even indirectly. It''s a disgusting, almost vomit-inducing thought, but...


    It''s not a good thing I''m doing.


    I know, but just for once... Don''t I have the right to be happy for once?


    Isn''t this world already rotten to the core?


    I, not even a tiny dot among billions of people, have done something bad to be happy... is that too much?


    "Will you... leave me alone?"


    Justin''s smile slowly widened. His expression became even more cynical than it already was, but he still gave a calm and short answer.


    "Yes, I will."


    Traces of a smile appeared on my face. It was the kind of smile I didn''t want to show him, it was pathetic. And the person I felt pity for was me, myself.


    I am a bad person... right? No matter how many excuses I make to myself, it doesn''t make what I''m about to do a ''good'' thing.


    Still... If I want to be happy, I shouldn''t pity other people.


    I''m not a hero, I''m just... a poor person trying to survive.


    Still, that doesn''t mean I trust himpletely.


    "Promise me... No, let''s make a contract."


    It was a momentary idea, the words came out of my mouth spontaneously. So by the time I realized my mistake, it was toote.


    Justin''s expression suddenly dropped. Before I knew what was happening, a gust of wind hit my body and I could hardly stop myself from being thrown backward.


    "First of all, I''m a man of my word, and it broke my heart that you didn''t trust me with this, Sue."


    His cold golden eyes shed angrily down the hallway, clicking his tongue in a disgusted expression as if he were looking at an ant.


    "The fact that you could still think of wanting to make a contract with me... That broke my heart even more. We were together for two years, I dated you for two whole years and you never got to know me?"


    The atmosphere suddenly became heavy as an icy cold prated my skin.


    I was shivering, cold and stiff. I was scared, he was not someone who was afraid of his actions. If he wanted to do something, he would do it as long as he wouldn''t be severely punished afterward, and even if he did something bad, with the support behind him, he would at most get a warning.


    Maybe he wouldn''t even get that...


    "Just do what I say and you''ll have an easier life, Sue. I could have easily forced you to do this, I could have even knocked you unconscious and kidnapped you, but I didn''t. Do you know why? Because I think you''ve had enough of your punishment and I''m offering you a chance. Every person deserves a chance, but it''s up to them how well they use it. So prove your worth to me and I will ease your suffering, and if you can''t..."


    He paused, unable to hide his grin for a moment as if to show that even he didn''t believe the bullshiting out of his mouth, but he recovered quickly, took a deep breath, and turned around.


    "We''ll worry about that then, now follow me."


    I continued to stand where I was with the echoing footsteps as Justin slowly made his way down the empty hallway.


    Finally, I lowered my head, fixed my eyes on the floor, and clenched my fist.


    ''I''m sorry...''


    For a moment I thought about the boy who helped me, but then I erased all these thoughts from my mind.


    If I want to survive in this world, if I want to live a decent life, I have to be ruthless. So what if he helped me? I don''t even know him.


    I looked down the hallway where Justin had disappeared. He hadn''t called out to me, he had just kept walking because he knew what was going to happen; he knew what choice I was going to make.


    I took my first step hesitantly, but the next steps, thinking that what I was doing was the ''right'' thing for me, came naturally and I entered the corridor where Justin had disappeared.


    I''m sorry Paul... Your sister will make you wait a bit.


    *******


    I was back inside the walls of the academy, back here, ''physically'' unharmed.


    That didn''t matter, though.


    What mattered was that I wasn''t the same person I had left thest time... I wasn''t even human...


    Nevertheless, thanks to my passive skill that allows a normal person, especially someone like me who is obsessed with being ''human'', to remain calm even in such a situation, I never broke down.


    In fact, since the skill doesn''t work ''instantly'', I could feel the bad thoughts even for a split second, so I wanted to rest a bit, to clear my head.


    Still, not everything was over, it was time to put things back on track, so here I was; in front of the building called ''Mana Research Laboratories''...


    I took a deep breath and paused as something urred to me before I went inside.


    Really... this is quite strange.


    I closed my eyes and focused on the energy flowing through me, the mana, trying to direct it, to imbue it with the attribute of ''wind''pletely on my own, without the help of the system, and then a gentle breeze swept through my body, just as I had imagined.


    I haven''t heard from Sith since I became a wiera, or rather a ''hybrid'', but I can still use ''spirit magic''. Moreover, given the movement of mana, I don''t understand what exactly is used as a ''catalyst''.


    Normally, when a spell is cast through the system, a rune containing that spell is drawn in a dimension created by the system just for that purpose, with the help of the system, and projected into the real world. In this case, the ''catalyst'' for the spell is the rune itself.


    In spirit magic, no runes are used. The catalyst is the soul''s own body, and that''s why soul magic is more advantageous than runes in many ways.


    So... What does it mean that when I use a wind spell like the one I just used, my mana spreads throughout my body before it starts to mimic the wind?


    Has my body itself be a catalyst for the characterization of mana? This is something that is not even seen in wieras.


    So when Sith merged with my soul, he rtively merged himself with my body?


    That was the thought that came to my mind, but I quickly erased it from my thoughts.


    The mana was not specifically interacting with my ''body''. Rather, it was spreading throughout my body without touching it and thening out in a characterized state.


    The catalyst, then, was not my body, but my soul itself. And the feeling it gave me was even stronger and purer than when I used Sith as a catalyst...


    However, having a ''human soul'' as a catalyst was also something I had never seen before and so I was hesitant.


    What if there are downsides to this? What if casting spells has side effects that could be bad for my future? What if, as a catalyst, my soul, as it interacts with mana, starts to exhaust itself and shorten my lifespan because of the burden it puts on itself?


    All sorts of thoughts slowly began to upy my mind, but then suddenly I felt all these thoughts fading away. I was calm again, and my mind was clear.


    Okay... I think I have it figured out and it''s not going to do me any good to think about it any deeper for now.


    Then let me think about Sith, what could have happened to him? I should be able to sense him because of our contract...


    I closed my eyes again and focused inward. This time I wasn''t looking for the movement of mana but for something specific. I was trying to find Sith by following the link between me and him, and I was quite sessful. I was following his trail, and I could feel it, but then, just when I thought I was getting close to him, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my head.


    Something seemed to be blocking the connection between us as I tried to get closer to Sith, but I wasn''t about to give up. So I kept moving forward, ignoring the headache, but then something unexpected happened again.


    My eyes suddenly opened on their own, all my focus was gone and I found myself on the ground with the whole world spinning.


    "Um... Are you okay?"


    I reflexively turned in the direction of the voice and saw a boy about my age offering me his hand.


    He looked quite ordinary, obviously no one important, but there was a little bit of concern in his eyes.


    He was a nice guy, most people would probably have ignored me.


    "Yeah, I''m a bit sleepy... I dozed off."


    I shook his hand and with his help, I stood up and shook myself off.


    "Thank you."


    I smiled slightly, the ordinary-looking boy smiled back and then went on his way.


    Honestly... truth be told, I didn''t give a damn. Because I had found something quiteforting.


    Sith was alive. He was sleeping or in a state like that, but he was alive... I could feel that before I was ''thrown'' into the real world, and so I was relieved.


    With that, I had answered a small part of the questions I had in my mind, even if notpletely, and now I could move on to the main event.

 Chapter 59 Volume II - 25: First and Last Warning

    <h4>Chapter 59 Volume II - Chapter 25: First and Last Warning</h4>


    Slowly and confidently, I entered the building called ''Mana Research Laboratories'' and was greeted at the reception desk by the same woman as the first time I came here, nostalgically.


    "What are you here for?"


    She didn''t recognize me...


    "I''m going to Professor Ulka''sboratory."


    The woman raised her eyebrows for a moment and looked at me.


    "Professor Ulka DeLaor?"


    It must have been surprising to meet someone wanting to see a maniac who had never had visitors before, who hadpletely locked himself in hisboratory and focused only on his research...


    "If you let him know, he''ll give his approval."


    The woman eyed me skeptically, typing something on the screen in front of her without taking her eyes off me. After a few seconds, her face became even more puzzled, like a rabbit in headlights.


    "W- wait a moment please..."


    "Sure."


    The woman continued to do some things on the screen in front of her. Then I noticed a team of four security guards approaching us.


    "Please follow them, we need to pay full attention to security, especially with the things that have happened recently..."


    I involuntarily rolled my eyes.


    It''s not that I think what they''re doing is ridiculous, but the irony... It''s almost funny.


    "Okay."


    The four-man team surrounded me at a distance, then coordinated their way to the wide staircase to our right.


    I went down a total of three floors with them, they specifically searched me and put me through three different scanners, and then, finally, I entered the floor where theboratories were.


    In a long corridor, almost gigantic, there wererge and seemingly solid locked doors with a considerable distance between them. Each of these rooms wereboratories reserved for special professors and I was about to enter one of them.


    We walked with the security guards for about half a minute and then stopped in front of a door marked ''Prof. Ulka DeLaor''.


    The guards were about to reach the door and press the button that would probably ring the doorbell, but before they could do so, the door opened and a man in a white coat with golden eyes and dark blue hair appeared in front of us.


    "You can go, he is my direct guest."


    The attendants nodded without questioning him one bit and the three of them, except for one, quietly left the corridor. The one who didn''t leave continued to stand here to keep mepany when I left theb.


    "Come in."


    The professor stepped aside and weed me in. I followed him and entered theb without breaking my posture in the slightest.


    Theb, just as I remembered it from the game, was a reallyrge ce, full of devices that I wasn''t quite sure what they were. Apart from that, there were some veryfortable-looking chairs to the left of us, and the professor had already settled into one of them without saying anything to me.


    "Aren''t you going to sit down?"


    "No, I don''t have much to say. I will leave early."


    After what I said I saw a sparkle in the professor''s eyes, he must have thought I was going to give him a theory; he was excited.


    "Professor... No, Ulka."


    The sparkle in the professor''s eyes faded as I changed the way I addressed him.


    "I didn''te to give you a theory today."


    There was a look of surprise, then curiosity on the face of this normally calm man, but after only a few seconds the room suddenly felt heavy.


    "So? What are you after then?"


    He wore a cold expression, though it was not his usual one. It was directed straight at me, it was meant to put pressure on me.


    I squinted, not avoiding his gaze, looking directly into his golden eyes, which reflected the light perfectly and seemed to glow slightly.


    "We made a deal, Ulka, whereby I would take a thirty-five percent share of every theory I gave you and you would keep my identity secret. If you broke the agreement, you would be punished."


    "You haven''t given me any theories yet, so I can''t do anything against the agreement even if I wanted to."


    "That''s exactly what I''m talking about."


    I took a step forward, keeping myposure.


    "Do you think I''m stupid, Ulka?"


    The atmosphere grew heavier, and Ulka was still quieter.


    "Did you think that just because we made that contract I would never think that you could do something behind my back?"


    "Loo-"


    He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off before he could speak.


    "The assassin in the cemetery."


    Ulka paused as if speechless, clearly not expecting those two words toe out of my mouth.


    "He followed my sister and me for no reason and tried to kill us. At first, I thought it was because he was trying to eliminate witnesses, but no... He deliberately missed the dagger that was thrown at the very beginning because he didn''t intend to kill me in the first ce."


    I thought back to that moment, how he couldn''t kill me in one move when I was still a weakling...


    I was so full of adrenaline to think that I had actually beaten him, I was stupid.


    "Now, when I think about it, not once during the whole fight did he target my lethal points. He only tried to seriously wound me so that when I was hospitalized you could heal me and strengthen our bond."


    It was pure spection, though Ulka''s expression, growing colder by the second, confirmed it.


    "Even if you had no direct connection to them, you knew they would target Celine Potenbea, so you paid them to give you an extra target. You were going to help me afterward, but the Potenbea family beat you to it. Ignoring that, you were also the one who paid for the special treatment after the preliminary. You were going to reveal itter and try to look humble."


    Silence.


    Ulka didn''t break it, he just continued to stand where he was and stare into my eyes.


    It made me hate him, but I knew I needed him.


    "Still, I ignored it because you were doing nothing but helping me, Ulka. You crossed the line by making a deal with those who threatened me with my sister."


    Ulka was close to those men, even if he was not directly involved with them. He must have given them information about me so that they could find me in a very straightforward way.


    Ulka finally broke his silence and spoke as if his infinite confidence had never been shaken.


    "So what, Aiden? Do you think I''m going to back down because you said those things?"


    Ulka didn''t stand up. Instead, his eyes filled with contempt and began to glow, as if he were standing on an ant that he could crush at any time.


    As the glow in his golden eyes increased, I felt a pressure slowly building up on me.


    It wasn''t a physical pressure. It was all about breaking my will¡­ and that was exactly why it was useless.


    I ignored the pressure like it was nothing, smiling wryly.


    "This will be my first andst warning to you, so listen carefully, Ulka."


    I put special emphasis on the word ''warning'', I wanted to imprint in his mind that if he ever nned anything against me again, I would not react in such a calm manner, I would take direct action.


    "I know everything about you, I know your secrets that even you don''t know. All the illegal things you''ve done, your ties to the Elhair Republic, your involvement with that organization that controls more than half of the academy, how you''ve been working with enemy guilds at the same time to extort money from them, and so much more..."


    It was from the game, of course, information that Ulka had always been sure that no one else knew...


    "I know ''everything'' you have done, down to thest detail, and that includes the Malus Family, including your nephew. Wouldn''t it be bad if all this stuff I know, along with the evidence, was one day published in the media?"


    Ulka''s glittering eyes suddenly dimmed, and the heavy atmosphere in the room quickly returned.


    The Absolute Mind... was certainly a frightening skill, it was entirely thanks to it that I was able to continue standing despite the pressure Ulka had just released.


    This skill... even I, as its owner, was afraid of it, but truth be told, it was also useful.


    "If you keep doing what I''m about to say, I''m going to pretend I didn''t see or hear any of this."


    I paused for a second and looked at Ulka''s expression, still calm but thoughtful, listening to me but not focused on me.


    This man, the embodiment of calmness and coldness, had be absent-minded in front of me. It was a sign that he was taking the situation seriously. Otherwise, he would just stare at me.


    "First of all, my share of the research will no longer be thirty-five percent, but sixty. Second, from now on you will devote as much of your resources as you can to protecting my sister, and do the best you can, and never take a cursory approach."


    That way I can stop worrying about ra, at least she will be safe to a certain extent.


    "Third andst, you will strongly warn your nephew not to mess with me or my sister. I know what he is like, if you simply tell him to stay away from me it will backfire. So you will do it sternly."


    He nodded with every word I said. He had already epted his situation, he was not stupid and knew what not to do as well as what to do.


    "If I catch you having a hand in anything, especially something involving my sister, then there won''t be a trace of the DeLaor or Malus family on the continent. I will erase them all with my own hands, even indirectly, and all you can do is watch from afar. I think you know the value of knowledge better than anyone, Ulka."


    With that, I turned away and headed for the door as if nothing had happened.


    "Cut all ties with that organization as well, or you may experience things in the future that are much worse than what I have told you, and I will not be the reason for it."


    I opened the door and was about to go out, but then I was interrupted by a notification from my watch.


    When I picked it up to see what it was, I stared at the screen nkly.


    <<------------------------------


    Hey, Aiden! Remember that girl you savedst time? I was thinking about how I should deal with you and I had a perfect idea! How about we give her and a couple of other weaklings a good beating, me it on you and rece all the rumors about you with bad ones? Really bad ones...


    Now, if you don''t want to deal with punishments far more severe than expulsion from the academy,e to the location I''ve given you. We have something to talk about.


    -Justin Malus


    ------------------------------>>


    When I saw the message, I turned around and looked at Ulka.


    He hadn''t changed his expression, he was just staring at the floor and thinking.


    Ah... Damn, so they already had a conversation...


    I took a deep breath and turned around again.


    Well, okay, fine. I''m not going to say anything about this, it would be better to intimidate Justin personally so that he doesn''t mess with me.


    I walked out of the room without saying anything and turned to the security guard who had been waiting for me outside until now.


    "I''ll be leaving."


    The guard simply nodded and turned in the direction we hade from. I simply followed him out and after a simple thank you, I breathed plenty of fresh air into my lungs.


    What a troublesome day this has been...

 Chapter 60 Volume II - 26: White Archer

    <h4>Chapter 60 Volume II - Chapter 26: White Archer</h4>


    It was cold, maybe I would have shivered if I wasn''t wearing a coat because of the approaching winter, but I refused the cold and took a deep breath.


    It felt good to catch my breath after the intense training, to feel refreshed by the cold breeze.


    Except for one thing...


    ''Adrian... You idiot! I''m telling you, you need to practice more and more!''


    I was getting sick of hearing this voice echoing in my head over and over again.


    "Will you please be quiet Lithoa? I just went out for a breath, I''ll be back."


    Lithoa sighed with a huff inside my head.


    ''Heh! So what if you have be civilized? You''ve just gottenzy... I was a broken-ass old man when I became immo-''


    "Please just stop talking... I''ll train harder than usual when I go back, okay?"


    He was talking so much, nagging me so much that even I was getting annoyed.


    Lithoa fell silent after what I said. And I finally breathed a sigh of relief and kept walking.


    My goal was to walk some more and really get back to the training. That''s what I was thinking as I walked through the other students, but then, a voice I didn''t expect to hear called out from behind me.


    "Uh? Adrian!"


    I turned toward the voice and found someone standing in front of me with a small luggage in his hand.


    "Julian? Didn''t you go back to your family?"


    Almost all the students were going back to their families for the Academy''s vacation. It was a good thing for them to take a little break after what had happened, to de-stress from their exams.


    For those like me who had no family... We were still here because we had nowhere to go.


    "No, I''m going back now."


    He lifted the luggage he was holding in his hand and showed it to me. Then he turned back to me.


    "What were you doing outside? It''s freezing..."


    "I just wanted to catch my breath after training."


    "Ah... I see."


    After those words, there was silence.


    Normally we always had Aiden with us and he was the one whomunicated with us, but now, he wasn''t here. So there was a distance between us.


    "If you''re just out, why don''t we walk to the gate together?"


    Julian smiled slightly and waited for an answer from me. I looked at him nkly.


    Even if it was Julian, it felt strange that someone other than Aiden was talking to me directly.


    Honestly... Have I ever considered Julian a friend?


    "Sure, okay."


    We started walking toward the south gate, at least side by side, if not talking like that.


    The silence was still lingering between us, I didn''t know what to do...


    "Have you seen Aiden since the preliminary?"


    "Last time he said he had something important to do and left the hospital. I think it''s been more than a day..."


    Julian''s eyebrows shot up, then he lifted his arm, opened his watch, and logged into his messaging app.


    "He still hasn''t seen our messages. Do you remember what that ''important'' job was?"


    "No, I didn''t ask, but when I offered to help, he said he had to do it alone or something."


    He looked thoughtful for a moment after what I said.


    "Hmm... I see, then he''ll be back soon."


    It was like he didn''t want to interfere in his business. I couldn''t tell if he respected him or if he had some other reason, but I didn''t press him too much, so we both stopped talking about Aiden.


    As we kept walking, the crowd around us grew, and after a while, we came to a very close-knit crowd of students returning home with their families.


    The south gate was just ahead of us, and this is where we parted ways.


    "Anyway, I''ll be back in a few days for the awards ceremony. Aiden should be done by then... See you!"


    Julian put a smile on his face and walked back, waving at me.


    I raised my hand, waved back, and smiled, but when I did Julian''s expression became so strange that I couldn''t help but wonder if I had done something wrong.


    "I didn''t think much of it when Aiden said it, but you really should smile more often Adrian, you''re wasting your potential."


    "What? What potential?"


    Julian smiled again before turning away.


    "Never mind, just smile more often. Bye!"


    "Bye...?"


    I didn''t understand what he meant, but in the end, all I did was sigh because I thought it was a good thing for me.


    ''Go back and start training again.''


    And that''s when I really lost my temper...


    "Seriously... Why are you so insistent? I don''t mind training or getting stronger, but you''re too obsessed with it. It''s not the end of the world, is it?"


    A little annoyed, I turned around and started to walk toward the training rooms, but then paused, realizing that Lithoa still hadn''t responded.


    "Hey...? The end of the world isn''t going to happen, right?"


    My eyebrows furrowed even more when Lithoa still didn''t answer me. I couldn''t understand why he was silent, but out of the corner of my eye, a whitish silhouette caught my attention.


    Someone was standing only about two meters in front of me, staring at me. She had long, white hair that stood out easily and her coal-ck eyes were fixed on me. Her face had an air of calmness mixed with meaninglessness.


    "He-"


    "Don''t worry, I won''t tell anyone you''re schizophrenic."


    I frowned and looked at her, so she reacted the same way and started to stare at me.


    She actually looked like she wanted to leave, but she was waiting for what I was going to say after I frowned.


    She would haveughed at me if I told her I had an old man in my head... right?


    But since when do I care what people think about me?


    I took a deep breath and looked at her face, I was about to say something but then I suddenly remembered who this girl was.


    This girl was with us in the preliminary, fighting the creatures. I was too focused on the battle at the time to pay much attention to the other people fighting with me, but this girl with her iconic white hair was definitely that archer.


    Thatst arrow she shot in the battle had seemed quite powerful, but I had never heard her name or her appearance in any rumors. How high was she ranked?


    With these thoughts in mind, my eyes drifted to her cor. Then I saw the number one hundred and forty-two there and couldn''t help being surprised.


    Had she disguised herself?


    "If you have nothing to say and you''re going to keep staring nkly, I''ll leave."


    "Uh..."


    Right... I forgot the topic.


    "You can think of talking to myself any way you want, I don''t care, but I''m not schizophrenic."


    She eyed me suspiciously for a brief moment, then sighed.


    "Fine."


    After that, she walked past me without saying anything else and didn''t turn around once until she disappeared into the crowd.


    Alice Liate huh...


    I kept watching her until she waspletely out of sight.


    She didn''t actually give me a very good impression. She was gruff, mysterious in her own way, and ufortably frank, but strangely intriguing.


    ''Go to fucking practice now! Are you going to start chasing girls now?!''


    "No, of course not, stop talking nons-"


    I paused, something had just urred to me.


    It was a few weeks ago, the day Aiden and I had spoken. That day he had given me advice I didn''t think I would forget for the rest of my life, he had made me feel for the first time that he was ''really'' my friend, and he had also talked about something else: love.


    Falling in love... What was it like?


    ''Idiot...''


    Lithoa''s echoing voice brought me out of my thoughts and back into the world.


    ''Okay... I''m going.''


    I didn''t want to get on Lithoa''s bad side anymore, so I took slow steps toward the training room, but the thoughts I had just had were still in my mind.


    *******


    "You can think of talking to myself any way you want, I don''t care, but I''m not schizophrenic."


    "You can think of talking to myself in any way you want, I don''t really care, but I''m not schizophrenic."


    I thought about how he had just spoken looking up into the air and I watched him suspiciously to see how his body would react.


    Despite what he had just said, he continued to stand there. He wasn''t shaking or sweating. It didn''t look like he was lying.


    "Fine."


    I was in a hurry already, and I had no reason to bother with him. So I quickly walked past him and went straight into the crowd.


    I finally exited the academy a moment after I had checked out through the south gate, and now all I had to do was wait.


    I stood where I was for about five minutes, and then I saw a woman with short ck hair and brown eyes, dressed in rather ordinary, everyday clothes, approaching me.


    "Ah, there you are, Alice!"


    The woman came up to me with a big smile on her face, looking at me with joy clearly visible in her eyes.


    I looked around, ignoring her behavior. The car she was driving every time was not in my line of sight.


    "Where is the car?"


    "It''s just over there, let''s go."


    Despite my attitude toward her, she kept a smile on her face and turned back the way she hade.


    I sighed, followed her and after only a minute of walking we came to a white car that looked quite normal and cheap.


    "Get in, we need to move fast."


    "Okay."


    I got in the back seat while she got into the driver''s seat.


    When I finally pulled the doors open, the whole atmosphere changed. It suddenly became heavy. The smile on the woman''s face disappeared.


    "Sir Laute would like to see you in person."


    The car started moving and I just stared out the window, not wanting to look at my watch because doing so in the car made me nauseous.


    "Understood."


    I continued to watch the scenery change out the window as we quickly turned onto the main road. It was going to be a quiet, ignored journey as usual.


    In fact, I was relieved to finally be in a quiet ce, where I could rx and not deal with silly, useless things.


    Yet this onlysted until I realized something.


    My eyes widened as my vision began to blur slightly, as the world began to shake as if it were shifting.


    The blurring of my vision suddenly intensified. The world that had started to spin slowly suddenly seemed to turn upside down.


    As my head began to ache with sharp pain, I felt the icy cold spreading throughout my body. I began to shiver uncontrobly, the level of cold increasing with each passing second.


    "H- he-"


    I tried to speak but I swallowed the words, my voice stuck in my throat.


    "Ah? Again?"


    The woman looked at me in the interior rearview mirror, yet her expression didn''t change one bit. She slowly pulled the car over as if she didn''t care about me in the slightest. She took her time when I was shivering non-stop from the tremendous cold, writhing in pain.


    After pulling the car to the side of the road, she took out a dimensional button from her pocket and took out an orange pill, almost the size of a child''s candy. Then she turned around and looked pitifully at me, leaning against the seat, breathing heavily.


    "Do you want it, Alice? No, Alysia?"


    She gently offered me the pill, but she was still far away from me, I couldn''t take it without reaching for her.


    "Come on, show me how much willpower you have."


    She continued to hold the pill in her hand and didn''t take her cold eyes off me for a second.


    I was in pain. The cold was prating my whole body, freezing me. As if that wasn''t enough, my blurred vision and dizziness made it hard to keep the pill in its proper ce, but I still tried to reach for it when I could.


    At first, I tried to lift my hand, but I couldn''t. Then I pushed myself harder and reached for the pill, but this time my arm was too short to reach it.


    The cold and the pain that came with it continued to intensify. Finally, it reached such a point that my arm weakened on its own and fell to the ground.


    I gritted my teeth and put everything I had back where the pill had been.


    "Meh, you''re so boring. I expected you to at least scream."


    The woman rolled her eyes and dropped the pill in the palm of my unsteady hand.


    Despite the pain and my shaking, I pulled my hand away so fast that I almost dropped the pill. Nevertheless, I sessfully popped it into my mouth and swallowed it, and then the cold inside me began to slowly retreat.


    First I felt aforting warmth, then the pain slowly subsided and my blurred vision began to return. The car was already in motion, and the woman didn''t mind one bit.


    "Sir Laute will give you a few more pills, but take them more regrly."


    "O- okay..."


    I gritted my teeth again without saying anything else. As the warm feeling that bnced the cold inside me continued to slowly spread through my body, I was at least at peace, but I was also sick of it.


    Why did I have such a disease? Why did I keep having seizures?


    I knew the answer to both of these questions, I knew, but I was getting fed up.


    It was all the fault of two people, two people who had brought me into the world in this state. It was because of them that I had this disease that would never kill me, thanks to my body, but would always make me suffer.


    I paused when I realized that my emotions were starting to surface, took a deep breath, then closed my eyes and calmed myself.


    It''s stupid to think emotionally, and foolish to be angry about things that have already happened.


    I need toe to my senses.


    I opened my eyes again and looked out the window for a while. I wanted to clear my head, to watch the world outside so I could think better.


    It didn''tst long though, and as I slowly closed my eyes again, little bits of curiosity began to creep in.


    What kind of thing will I do this time, what kind of mission will he give me this time...?


    *(A/N: Two chapters today :) )*

 Chapter 61 Volume II - 27: Madness

    <h4>Chapter 61 Volume II - Chapter 27: Madness</h4>


    When I took my first step into one of the wooded areas inside the academy, the silence was so perfect, the atmosphere was so fitting to the scenario I had envisioned that the world was literally screaming at me, ''There is something here, run!''.


    And yet, I kept walking.


    As I got closer to the location Justin had sent me, I came out into a slight clearing, and even though there were still trees all around, the distance between them was increasing.


    When I finally came to the center of this area, I paused, this was exactly the kind of ce he would want me to stop.


    "Ah, Aiden... you''re here!"


    I knew it...


    I turned toward the sounding from about five meters to my left and looked at the boy standing there, leaning against a tree.


    It was Justin, with his long navy blue hair tied back behind his head as usual, his golden eyes that seemed to sparkle in the middle of the night just like his uncle''s, and a mischievous smile on his face.


    "I wonder..."


    He approached me with slow steps. He was excited. His eyes looked like a child ying with a toy in his hand.


    "Why did you betray me, Aiden? Your thoughts, your wit... You really impressed me, I could have put you in a very lucrative position. Your future would have been brilliant..."


    After he said that, I started to hear a lot of rustling. About ten people came out of hiding, surrounding me.


    I couldn''t even notice them without Sith, but I wasn''t surprised since this was something I had expected.


    "So? Are you going to gather ten to fifteen people and beat me up? Or are you going to get mad at me for saying that, fight me one-on-one, and crush me like an ant?"


    Justin burst outughing after what I said. He was so rxed that he thought he had me in the palm of his hand.


    Don''t worry, I''ll y your game for a while... I just want to know what you''re going to do, what''s on your mind.


    What are you going to do when the game you thought you were controlling suddenly explodes in your hands?


    "No, of course not! That would take the fun out of it."


    Justin pped his hands three times, and then the two boys on my right came out, holding a girl and two boys between them.


    I didn''t recognize the boys, they were random, but this girl with ck hair and dark blue eyes was Olivia Sue Gemma, the girl I had rescued from the bullies a few days before.


    Her looks paled inparison to the likes of Lucia and Alice, who had high charm stats, but the bruises and cuts all over her body took away even her ordinary girl vibe.


    She seemed to have difficulty breathing. She might even have broken a few of her ribs, judging by the grimace on her face every time her chest rose and fell.


    Seeing her like that made me feel strange, and there were a few different reasons for that.


    First of all, I don''t know why, but looking at her made me think of my own past for some reason. This was because when I was younger I had been beaten a lot by the elders at the orphanage and was covered in simr bruises. So I could empathize with her, but that wasn''t the reason for the strange feeling.


    Absolute Mind was activated for no reason, and it was constantly clearing my mind. So even if I empathized with her, these feelings would suddenly disappear as if they were nothing, and a tremendous calmness that could even frighten me would slowly seep into me.


    Does remembering the past stress me out? Maybe, I guess...


    "Technology hase a long way, Aiden! What do you think would happen if we edited the videos of us beating her and a few other people up, made you look like a bully, and gave the footage to the academy board? Imagine... The ''hero'' himself bullies the girl he saved and a few other innocent students! Isn''t that great...?"


    He seemed amused. But I didn''t change my expression an inch thanks to my skill.


    "Not only that, if I post the video on the, you''ll be ostracized."


    He approached me, put his hand on my shoulder, and smiled wryly.


    "And you also had a sister..."


    The words I didn''t expect to hear from his mouth echoed in my mind, and silence suddenly filled the space.


    Suddenly, I was stiffened, as if the dark, infinite emptiness I felt inside because of my skill... had suddenly vanished.


    "I can''t find her name or where she lives, but I know she exists. Wouldn''t it be nice to get some gossip about her?"


    I felt something strange surging through me, I felt anger, just the mere mention of ra had caused it. Just that alone made me want to put Justin down for no reason at all.


    I actually had another way of dealing with him. I was going to use Ulka and his family to show him what I could do to him, and I was also going to publish a little something in the media to show him how serious I was, but now; that n had suddenlypletely disappeared from my mind.


    I wanted to put him in his ce, I suddenly felt the urge to tear him to pieces. And yet I was still where I was, just standing there.


    I just looked at Justin''s face; expressionless, cold, and calm. I was angry, yet calm, as the harsh, cold winds of November blew past us, and I felt a warmth radiating from my chest to my body.


    Justin smiled and looked into my eyes, but when he saw that I was still unresponsive, his smile slowly faded.


    "You don''t care about any of this?"


    I didn''t answer his question and continued to stand there.


    "It seems... you obviously underestimate me."


    Justin took a step back, and turned his back to me, but then suddenly his vision blurred.


    I didn''t defend myself as I watched the extremely ''sudden'' punching into my face. Itnded directly on my cheek.


    Yet I hadn''t even moved, the punch hadn''t even shaken me, I was still standing like an indestructible tower, and Justin was staring meaninglessly at his fist and then at my cheek.


    If this scene had happened a few days ago, I would have copsed to the ground. Now, as a half-wiera, all my stats had suddenly increased dramatically. So much so that my general level had jumped two grades at once.


    So physically there wasn''t much difference between me and Justin, and since he was the one who relied on his agility, my stamina and vitality stats might even have been higher than his.


    Of course, if we fought, he would beat me without exception. Because I was all about raw strength. Icked any technique, battle strategy, or experience, and unlike me, he had been training from a young age. He had honed his own abilities to the core and he was still doing it.


    "Justin..."


    I took a deep breath and fixed my cold eyes on him.


    "What do you think people''s roles are for other people?"


    I looked at Olivia, who looked rather battered, and our eyes met.


    She had an expression of being sick of life. I could also strangely read ''regret'' on her face.


    "No one knows most of the people in the world. Everyone is a stranger to one another, but there are people who know each other. These people can mean a lot to them. One can be a ''savior'' for another. Another can be a ''friend'' to that person, another can be someone really ''precious'' to them."


    Justin looked at me nkly, looking puzzled. He must have thought I was stupid or something, but I didn''t care.


    The heat radiating from my chest to my body was elerating, I was getting hotter and hotter. The only thing I could do, though, was to keep going.


    "My sister is everything to me. The savior of my past. My best friend who listens to my troubles and is the most valuable person in my life. And do you know what I am to her now?"


    I could feel it. I could feel the sadness, the grief, the regret, and the anger spreading through my soul.


    "I''m a fraud to her now, a liar and a bad brother who broke her heart."


    Again I felt an emotion surging through me, a familiar yet distant feeling.


    It was not simple anger, it was much moreplicated and deeper than that. For the first time, I felt so heavy and found it so hard to speak.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %5,8 --> %6,1


    ------------------------------>>


    That notification again... What was that? What did that percentage mean? What was this warmth I felt in my chest...?


    Why wasn''t the Absolute Mind working, though? Why wasn''t it fixing the emotional breakdown I was going through right now?


    I don''t know... I just feel like I need to keep going.


    "When I first helped her, she was like someone clinging to a branch of a tree to keep from falling off a bottomless cliff. So at first, I gave her hope, I helped her climb up that abyss, but then I took that hope away from her in such a way that she fell even deeper than where she used to stand on that abyss on her own."


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %6,1 --> %7,9


    ------------------------------>>


    My blood was boiling, my muscles were trembling energetically. I wanted to move, standing still felt like torture.


    I wanted to satisfy it all by tearing the person in front of me to pieces.


    "Do you think I would send her deeper and deeper into the abyss she still hasn''t reached the bottom of?"


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %7,9 --> %9,0


    ------------------------------>>


    Does the world look strangely purplish, or is it just me?


    "Of course not!"


    I feel the urge tough for no reason, I feel even stranger... as if... I can do anything.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %9,0 --> %9,4


    ------------------------------>>


    My vision blurred so that I could barely make out Justin''s body, but I kept talking.


    "The one thing you shouldn''t have done was threaten my sister..."


    The person talking... Is it me?


    I... Who am I? What am I doing here?


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %9,4 --> %9,9


    ------------------------------>>


    "I hope you don''t die..."


    Ah... Right... I remember now.


    All I have to do is punish everyone who targeted my sister... The rest is unimportant.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %9,9 --> %10,0


    ------------------------------>>


    All I have to do is...


    I paused before I could continue my thoughts.


    What was I supposed to do? I¡­ can''t remember.


    I... I feel so bored.


    I need to do something¡­ It hurts me to just stand there.


    I want to let out this strange energy I feel inside me, to relieve my boredom.


    "Ah, I found it!"


    My whole world has gone pitch ck. I waspletely cut off from the outside world. I was just in an endless void, but then a faint purplish glow caught my attention. Then a voice that sounded very simr to mine, but not quite mine, echoed through the void.


    "Let''s y a game!"


    That was thest thing I heard after the purple glow intensified enough to take my sight.

 Chapter 62 Volume II - 28: A Noble Plaything

    <h4>Chapter 62 Volume II - Chapter 28: A Noble ything</h4>


    "Ah, I found it!"


    Aiden''s body trembled with excitement, he looked like he couldn''t stand still.


    I realized that I had goosebumps and that I was suddenly standing upright and frozen in ce.


    Am I scared?


    Am I, Justin Malus, scared right now?


    Does this boy standing in front of me make me startled, frightened by him?


    I tried to move my body, I wanted to remove my daggers from my dimensional inventory, but I couldn''t, even though I needed to use my body to do so.


    Even my mind seemed to be under pressure. Everything I could do other than think seemed to be restricted.


    So, I finally experienced something I thought I would never experience.


    I started shaking involuntarily.


    Aiden looked at me with a crazy smile on his face. His left eye, which was slowly turning purple, hadpletely lost its old gray color. The same purple color was now slowly enveloping his body.


    Was there any purple energy in the world?


    None of the mana attributes I remembered were purple. It was the first time I had ever seen such a thing. I wasn''t supposed to know how to feel about it, how dangerous it was.


    Yet here I was, just looking at that purple energy made me feel uneasy. It was as if it was a creature hungry for destruction, wanting to destroy everything around it, wanting to tear it apart.


    "Let''s y a game!"


    Aiden raised his hands to his sides. His eyes were wide with excitement, the smile on his face growing more evil with every passing second.


    "A- atta..."


    I realized I was stammering, and I froze again.


    Did I really... stutter?


    Is this how I feel in front of a weaker boy of the same age as me?


    I gritted my teeth, narrowed my eyes, and forced myself to calm down.


    You are a nobleman, Justin Malus. You''re not a simple man, you''re not someone to flinch or be afraid of whatever is in front of you.


    You shouldn''t be afraid of him. Snap out of it!


    "Get your shit together!"


    I shouted fearlessly, calling out to all those who, like me, were frozen, and slowly some of them began toe to their senses. With that, I felt a little relief, realizing that I could finally move.


    It was just a momentary thing. I couldn''t think straight because I had seen something I had never seen in my life and Aiden was acting like a madman... That was it, he was still someone I would crush under my feet.


    I''m not going to let him fool me.


    I quickly focused on the two daggers in my dimensional inventory, then grasped the two blue lights that appeared in the air before they had finished materializing.


    Now that I had my daggers in my hands, I was calmer, my confidence had returned. So I looked at Aiden again.


    He still had the same expression. His raised hands were down and he looked like he was having fun.


    "Attack!"


    Aiden tilted his head slightly to the side, the smile on his face widening even more.


    "Are we fighting?"


    He brought his hands closer together and then the purple glow that surrounded his body suddenly began to recede quickly into the palms of his hands.


    "But I don''t like fighting so much... What should we do...?"


    Whatever he was doing, it wasn''t going to be pleasant. I could feel the heavy pressure from what was condensing between his palms. My mind was screaming at me ''That thing is dangerous'', so I wanted to stop him before he could do what he was going to do.


    I got into position with my daggers and charged at him quickly.


    The distance between us closed in an instant, it wasn''t much, to begin with. Still, with my speed, I was sure he wouldn''t react.


    I was sure that in the worst-case scenario, I would wound him, but then I realized that my daggers did not meet any force.


    My daggers entered Aiden''s body and passed through him as if they had cut through the air. Aiden''s body disintegrated as if it were a gas instead of a solid, and my eyes widened.


    "Ah, you shouldn''t focus on one ce while ying... Didn''t anyone teach you?"


    With those wordsing from behind me, the area was covered in a purple glow and a strange, spherical wave of purple-colored energy, which faded and disappeared as it moved away, suddenly expanded, spreading for meters.


    When the purple energy passed through my body, all my muscles trembled with pain.


    My vision suddenly blurred because of the intense pain, as if everything was burning and eroding at once.


    Screams, many screams of different people, echoed so loudly that my ears rang.


    I tried to move my body but I couldn''t do anything. The pain was so sharp, the fear so intense that the connection between me and my body waspletely severed.


    The truth suddenly hit me in the face and I stared into the void, unable to make the slightest sound despite the intense pain I felt.


    The fear I felt was real, not an illusion. Aiden was strong, my uncle had warned me, but I had not listened to him.


    Now I could feel it, I was still, as if death had enveloped my whole body.


    I was carefree, and now I was¡­ being punished.


    With these thoughts, I suddenly felt something pressing on my back. I hit the ground so hard, with such force that I had to bury my face in the dirt.


    I was being humiliated, humiliated as a nobleman from a ducal family, one of the Malus, something that only a few seconds ago I might not have been able to bear.


    Now... what I felt was neither disgust nor a desire for revenge.


    It was just pure fear, fear of the person who had stepped on me.


    And it wasn''t over yet, it was just beginning.


    "But the game ended so quickly? It can''t be..."


    Suddenly there was an intense burning sensation in my back, right where he pressed his foot. It was the same burning sensation that had spread throughout my body, only much stronger.


    As I felt my back burning like it was on fire, literally eroding, intense pain came with it, and my involuntary scream echoed through the field.


    "We will y more..."


    He grabbed my hair, raised my head, and made me see what was happening.


    The boys I had brought to beat him to death were all writhing in pain. They were struggling, gripping the grass so hard that their hands were bruised.


    They were in pain, so much pain that they couldn''t even faint.


    Yet, just as I was looking at them, the struggles of one of them grew weaker and weaker and weaker.


    When he finally stopped moving, I heard a chuckle.


    "He''s dead, the others will die soon... they''re all dying slowly, in pain, as their organs are eroded. Ah... Isn''t it marvelous?"


    My eyes widened when I realized what he meant.


    He was a psychopath. He was nothing but a sadist who enjoyed it.


    And his next target was me.


    My mind suddenly stopped working as I felt that burning, abrasive sensation on my back start to intensify.


    "S- stop! I apologize!"


    The only response I got was a chuckle that slowly turned intoughter. Tears welled up in my eyes as the pain in my back spread through my body like a parasite.


    "R- really... I really am sorry! I- I promise I won''t even mention your sister''s name! Stop... S- stop, please stop!"


    But he didn''t stop.


    I tried to struggle, I tried to get off his foot, but whatever the purple energy was doing was making Aiden even stronger than me. So all my efforts were in vain and after a short while, inevitably, my muscles stopped contracting on their own.


    I stopped struggling, my widened eyes slowly squinting.


    I... I''m going to die... I''m eighteen, I''m a noble, but I''m going to die...


    I thought about death, imagined myself disappearing from this world, and then paused.


    No... I... I don''t want to die.


    I felt an intense rage rising up from inside me, every cell of my body trembled as if it held a magnificent grudge against Aiden, and I forced myself to stand up.


    But then... something unexpected happened.


    The pressure on my back suddenly stopped and the feeling of eroding was reced by just pure pain. Right after that, I heard something hit the ground.


    Even though I couldn''t move properly because of the pain, I turned my head as far back as I could.


    I saw Aiden''s body slumped on the ground, and then the purple energy that had enveloped his body slowly disappeared into the atmosphere.


    Then I raised my gaze slightly.


    What I saw was perhaps thest thing I expected to see in all this.


    Sue, who had already taken a few steps back and was still walking away from us, her legs shaking violently, was holding arge stone in her hand. There was a tiny little blood stain on the stone.


    That was thest thing I heard after the purple glow intensified enough to take my sight.

 Chapter 63 Volume II - 29: Helping Hand

    <h4>Chapter 63 Volume II - Chapter 29: Helping Hand</h4>


    *(A/N: I realized that I had made a huge mistake. In the second volume, chapter eight, about 400 words were lost in the trantion... I realized it when a friend who read the novel asked me, "Why did you remove that scene in the English version?"


    Well... I didn''t remove it :''(


    There''s no need to go back and read, though. It simply says that the girl Ethan saves used to be Justin''s girlfriend with some extra things.


    Sure, you can look it up if you want.


    The scene starts with; When Julian and I walked out of the building, the first thing he asked me was if I had been sessful.)*


    *******


    When I saw Sue and the rock she was holding, an involuntary smile appeared on my face. Happiness mixed with amazement was reflected on my face at the same time.


    I had no idea how she was able to stand and not be affected like everyone else, but I was in no mood to think about it.


    I looked at Aiden''s body again, then I felt a wave of intense anger rise up inside me, the likes of which I had never felt before in my entire life.


    At first, I tried to stand up, but I had to let myself fall to the ground, groaning slightly as my whole body, especially my back, throbbed in great pain.


    If I didn''t hold myself, I would have fainted in a second. Maybe I need treatment fast, but I want to put that bastard in his ce!


    My eyes slowly shifted to Sue, she had moved far away from us and was now slumped on the floor. I couldn''t see her eyes because her hair had fallen in front of her, but she was looking down.


    I smiled, ignoring the pain as best I could.


    "Y- you''re amazing Sue..."


    I really praised her. Even though her whole body was shaking and she was looking at Aiden''s body on the floor with fear, she really had done something.


    "Come on... quickly call the academy..."


    This is the most deserted part of the academy, one of the deepest parts of the wooded area, and even if that purple glow was quite bright, the trees must have blocked them out.


    No one wille here unless we reveal ourselves.


    Of course, when we ask the academy for help, we''ll have to exin why we''re here, but that''s not a big deal. What''s important is that I get out of here and that Aiden is to me. And then I can use the power of my family to get him back.


    "Come on, Sue! What are you waiting for?"


    Sue looked up, her flickering eyes, visible through her hair, turned to me as I yelled at her.


    "Come on! Call the a- academy and let''s get out of here!"


    My back is burning like crazy... she has to hurry.


    Sue and I met eyes, her expression was filled with fear again as she turned to me, but then she looked surprised. And then the confusion slowly gave way to calmness.


    I smiled again when I saw her calm down.


    Aiden is finished, he''ll never get away with this. Sue can''t stand up to me either, it''s over...


    I heard a rustling sound, then another.


    I turned my eyes in the direction of the footsteps, to Sue.


    "What...?"


    When Sue had finished shuffling to her feet, she took a slow short step without answering me, her navy blue eyes no longer flickering. On the contrary, they were filled with determination.


    With each tiny step, she squeezed the stone in her hand tighter, her body stiffening even more.


    "H- hey?"


    My body wasn''t moving. What Aiden had done had done so much damage to my body that I couldn''t move a muscle, and I would have been an idiot not to realize what Sue would do.


    "S- stop..."


    She ignored me, as if she hadn''t even heard me, and kept walking toward me.


    Fear gripped my body again. As if Aiden wasn''t enough, now I was afraid of Sue.


    I gritted my teeth and red angrily at Sue.


    No... I''m not one to apologize.


    I''m Justin Malus. The Justin Malus whose name makes everyone who hears it tremble with fear! I''m not going to bow down to a truly ordinary girl like Sue.


    I will never beg her after what she did to me, after what she put me through in the past!


    "If yo-"


    I cursed inwardly, my body so messed up that I couldn''t speak properly.


    "If you do what you t- think... Neither you nor your brother will ever live a normal life... for the rest of your life, Sue..."


    I swallowed when I finished, I couldn''t see Sue''s face now that she was standing right in front of me, my head wasn''t lifting any higher.


    "Now call the a- academy and tell them toe here. I won''t touch you or your brother for the rest of your life."


    Sue didn''t move a muscle, she just stayed where she was.


    Even though I couldn''t see her face, I smiled slightly when I saw her legs start to tremble again.


    She was like that, there was always a doubt inside her. She could never be sure of herself, she was weak. That''s how I was able to hold her in the palm of my hand.


    Even now, no matter what situation I was in, she couldn''ty a hand on me. As long as I was pulling the strings, she could do nothing.


    I had no reason to be afraid, I was just paranoid.


    *******


    He''s in front of me...


    The person who made my life miserable is now in front of me.


    The person I once loved, loved so much, but now I don''t even know how much I hate, is lying unprotected right in front of me.


    His back looks deformed. His whole body is trembling from the pain. Of course, he can''t move, and that''s the important thing.


    "If you do what you t- think... Neither you nor your brother will ever live a normal life... for the rest of your life, Sue..."


    And yet he''s still so confident.


    He knows me so well that he knows instantly what I''m trying to do, yet he knows I don''t have the courage to put it into action.


    "Now call the a- academy and tell them toe here. I won''t touch you or your brother for the rest of your life."


    He is telling the truth. I know him as well as he knows me. He doesn''t go back on his promises, that''s the kind of personality he has and that''s my big chance.


    I can finally get out of this hell... Everything can end tonight.


    No more days of pain. I can go back to the way I was, right here, today.


    A look of disgust crossed Justin''s face, then he looked up at the sky, refusing to close his eyes.


    He must have been tired. He was in pain. Yet he was doing his best not to give in to the faintness.


    I took a step back, looked up at the stars in the sky, just like him, and then sighed deeply.


    I turned my eyes back to Justin on the ground, gripped the stone tightly in my hand, and bent down.


    I delivered the first blow with great determination.


    While the stone was still in the air, his eyes, looking up at the sky, quickly turned to it, but he couldn''t react much more than that.


    When the stonended on his head, his whole body convulsed, he shook violently and his eyes widened.


    He was in shock, blood seeping through his hair, his eyes staring meaninglessly at me.


    He opened his mouth to say something but I didn''t let him.


    The stonended once more on his head. The traces of blood on the stone were now very visible, and on his head, there was a swollen wound, but I continued to hit him not caring about anything.


    As I kept hitting him, my anxiety diminished. A great sense of relief and peace, of fulfillment enveloped my whole body and I... lost myself.


    How many times did I hit him? Who knows...


    How many minutes have I been hitting him? I have no idea...


    And yet it doesn''t matter.


    I forgot the concept of time. I kept hitting him until he was unrecognizable, with blood pouring from his head and his face constantly crushed.


    When I finally paused, I realized where I was.


    Justin, his body, the floor, the stone in my hand, and all my clothes... all covered in blood. Justin was lying there in front of me, the blood from his shattered head watering the ground, but inside I was still angry at him.


    How many hours of bullying did I endure every day, from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep?


    What kind of state was I in every day, talking and lying to my brother?


    Even when I went to a psychologist to at least get some psychological support, he didn''t give me any advice because of Justin. He just listened to me, told me to forget it, and threw me out.


    And it wasn''t just one time, it was four times in a row. That''s when I realized I waspletely alone.


    No one was going to help me. I was on my own.


    That''s why I tried to be strong, that''s why I resisted no matter what happened to me. Still, deep down inside I wanted someone to help me.


    And now I had literally lost myself.


    I was happy, to be honest. Hitting Justin gave me a great sense of satisfaction. All the days of pain I''d lived through had disappeared with every blow I struck him.


    And now?


    I looked at Justin''s blood-covered body and thought about our old days.


    Every day weughed and yed and traveled. We spent all our time together and I... enjoyed it.


    I loved him. I had always loved him. But ironically, he was the one who had made my life miserable.


    That''s why I should have been relieved, and I was, but...


    A wave of anger rose up inside me again. I grabbed the stone I had just put down again, I lifted it into the air, but then I felt something stop me.


    No matter how much strength I gave it, my hand wouldn''te down, something was holding my arm.


    "Calm down."


    A very cold yet calm andforting voice entered my ears. I felt the force holding my arm slowly move toward my palms. One by one, my fingers on the stone, which I gripped tightly, released.


    "Let me go..."


    I gripped the stone tightly again, furious, still not satisfied.


    "I''m going to smash him even more, let go of me!"


    I tried to get out of the grip of whoever was behind me, but it didn''t work. He was much stronger than me.


    "Do you want revenge?"


    I hesitated for a moment as his voice seemed to prate me through the silent night, but I answered confidently.


    "Yes... Now leave me alone."


    "Then why are you shaking? Why are you crying? Why are you hesitating?"


    Am I... crying?


    I let go of my body and focused on the feeling on my face. I noticed my vision blurred with water, I could feel the tears running down my cheeks.


    "I don''t know what you''ve been through, Olivia, but believe me, I can guess."


    His tone suddenly changed, his calmness slowly fading.


    "I was like you Olivia, I was bullied when I was little, I tried tomit suicide but I didn''t dare, I wanted to teach those who bullied me a lesson but my body wasn''t up to it, I was weak."


    Ah... Yes, I''m exactly the same...


    "Still, one day I poisoned their food and made them crawl with disease. I didn''t kill them, I thought about it but I couldn''t because I was afraid of the consequences."


    He took a deep breath, then continued.


    "You are different from me, I don''t know how physically strong you are, but psychologically you are much stronger than me."


    Is he praising me...?


    I''m strong?


    Huh... Ahahah...


    "Yet there''s nothing in life that you really like? Do you really want to rot your own life? Do you really want to go on and go crazy even if it gets in the way of memories you might be happy with in the future? Are you really sure you won''t regret itter?"


    My vision blurred even more, and it wasn''t because of pain or anything else. It was only my tears. Tears I shed as I came more and more to myself with every word I heard.


    He was right, I had a brother. Paul had always supported me, no matter what kind of person I was.


    Could I really leave him?


    "I don''t want to lie, it''s toote for Justin, but not for you Olivia. I know what a disgusting person he is, he deserves the worst punishment, but why should you be judged when he''s being punished?"


    I looked at Justin''s body, stared at him for a long time, and thought.


    "Tell me, what do you want to do?"


    "I..."


    What do I want...?


    Me, who has never been above average in anything, who ispletely powerless, what do I want?


    Ah... right.


    I had been thinking about it every day... I had forced myself to forget, to stop hoping, because it didn''t seem real anymore.


    But there was something that I wanted.


    "He-"


    I stammered, and for a moment my whole body felt weak.


    "He- help me... P- please..."


    I felt even weaker, almost copsing, but at that moment I felt him hugging me. I grabbed the arms around my body and held on to them so I wouldn''t fall.


    They were warm,forting, but most of all, strangely more reliable than anything I had ever seen or heard in my life.


    "Okay."


    All my muscles rxed.


    I buried my face in the arms that wrapped around me, strangely soft, like a pillow.


    "I''ll help you if that''s what you want."


    A great feeling, much bigger and more intense than the anger I had just felt at Justin, swept through my body.


    Someone had heard me.


    It didn''t matter who it was, just someone had listened to me and had chosen to help me.


    I was happy, this was a whole different level of happinesspared to the happiness I had just felt.


    After five months of hell, for the first time, someone hadn''t ignored me. For the first time, someone had reached out to me.


    "Now, get some rest."


    As my eyes sank into the darkness, I felt my body weaken, unable to hold on any longer.


    Still, I didn''t care.


    At least... I was safe now.

 Chapter 64 Volume II - 30: A Little Memory from the Past

    <h4>Chapter 64 Volume II - Chapter 30: A Little Memory from the Past</h4>


    I gently, calmly put Olivia down on a clean surface and then let out a deep sigh.


    How did I find myself in this situation...?


    When I opened my eyes a few minutes ago, the first thing I noticed was the brilliant stars peeking through the tree leaves. I didn''t even remember where I was, but the view in front of me was so spectacr that I swallowed involuntarily.


    I wanted topletely immerse myself in the view, but then I heard a sound. It sounded like someone breathing fast, hitting something, and crying.


    I slowly sat up from where I was lying. Then I felt a throbbing in my head, and when I put my hand to the throbbing part of my head and saw blood, my eyes widened. I was already starting to remember exactly what had happened after that.


    There was a big gap in my memory, but thest thing that happened was Justin and his group surrounding me. Then he said something about ra and... I had gone crazy.


    I paused with these thoughts. Then my eyes widened as a thought urred to me.


    Am I... going crazy just like the other wieras?


    That was the thought that sprouted in my mind in an instant, yet it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared in an instant.


    Absolute Mind quickly blocked out the bad thoughts.


    I squinted my eyes, sighing slightly, and this time something else crossed my mind.


    Why didn''t the Absolute Mind intervene at that moment?


    I had so many questions in my head. Every one of them I really wanted to know the answers, but I stood up before the Absolute Mind could sweep them away again.


    I could think about themter, now I needed to understand what had happened.


    For example, what happened after I lost consciousness?


    I looked around, and a few copsed students caught my eye, but then I saw something blood-curdling.


    A girl, Olivia, was holding a rock and she kept hitting someone on the head. The person whose head she had almost smashed in was Justin.


    She was hysterical. She didn''t seem to be thinking straight, and then all of a sudden she paused. Even though I couldn''t see her face, she seemed to be thinking about something, but after a while she suddenly put her hand up again, holding the stone.


    I don''t know why I did it, I just had a hunch at the time, but I quickly approached her and grabbed her hand holding the stone.


    "Calm down."


    I... Why did I stop her? I don''t remember.


    I turned my eyes to Justin, whose head was covered in blood. Normally, his dismembered face would have been enough to make me, everyone, vomit, but thanks to the Absolute Mind, I wasn''t too affected.


    I slowly began to untie Olivia''s fingers from the stone, and then something struck me.


    Was it because I was simr to her? I''d been bullied, I''d gotten bruises all over my body like her, and I''d wanted revenge like her.


    Of course, I didn''t dare.


    Well, what did I dare to do in my previous life? I was weak and Olivia was much stronger than me, but the longer she kept doing this, the more she would only regret it.


    I didn''t want someone like me to go through something much worse than I had. She had to have someone, just as I still had ra, even if she hated me.


    That''s why I was helping her, so she wouldn''t make a mistake that she would regret in the future.


    And what happened in the end?


    I felt relieved, that''s all. No more, no less, but at least I was happy. Even if I didn''t know her at all, I was happy to have helped someone like me and that was enough.


    I looked back at Justin, whose face was unrecognizable. I wasn''t sure about his condition before, but now that I looked at him...


    He''s definitely dead, his color has already started to wither.


    He didn''t have a ''good'' role in the story, but he was useful in some missions. Of course, he was also a nobleman, so he had an important position in the kingdom, but now he''s lying there with his face dismembered.


    I grimaced, my brow furrowed and I couldn''t help but take a deep breath. I hade here to avoid trouble, and now I had more of it than I ever wanted.


    How can I get out of this?


    Is there any way that both Olivia and I can get out of here with zero trouble?


    I was lost in thought, but then I paused.


    Oh, right... I forgot about the others. What if someone wakes up and runs away? Idiot... The first thing I had to do was check on them.


    Angry with myself, I left Justin''s body as it was for now and approached the others. I crouched down next to the first student I saw and then just froze.


    The first person I looked at, he wasn''t alive.


    Did... Did I... kill him?


    I quickly turned to another, then another...


    Second, third¡­ seventh¡­ fifteenth¡­ and so on...


    None of them were alive, they were all dead.


    I felt the whole world spinning. I didn''t shiver, but I stiffened as this reality hit me in the face.


    I looked down at my hands.


    They were clean, not a trace of dirt on them except for the faint traces of blood that had been transferred to me from Olivia''s clothes, but I knew.


    I... I killed people. Even if I wasn''t myself, I''d taken the lives of people who weren''t even twenty yet.


    And yet... why don''t I feel anything? Why... don''t I feel like a murderer?


    Those guys should all have dreams. Even though they''re the assholes who followed Justin, they''re youngsters. And I''m a murderer who took away their dreams, but... Why don''t I feel guilty?


    Is this an effect of the Absolute Mind? Or is it because my nature is chaos as a wiera?


    I took a deep breath and looked at the dead bodies of the dead.


    No matter how much I tried to feel, no matter how bad I knew it was, no matter how much I tried to deceive myself, to pretend to be human, there was not even the slightest bit of regret in me.


    "Haaa..."


    I took a deep breath and pushed these thoughts aside before Absolute Mind.


    I can''t leave this ce like this, I have to think rationally and do what I have to do first, whatever I have done, I have to ensure my own safety first.


    So I started to gather all the bodies together, including Justin''s body. It didn''t take very long because there were more than twenty bodies, but I did it.


    I looked at the pile of bodies in front of me and started to think.


    If I try to bury them all, it will take too long, I don''t have time. So how can I get rid of them?


    If only I could use fire or earth magic... It would be so easy.


    "Ah..."


    I paused after a very short thinking sequence.


    There is a way, I could erase their bodies as if they never existed, but... How confident am I? Honestly, not at all.


    I took a deep breath and imagined that my statistics window was in front of me. After ignoring everything in the window that opened in front of me, I stopped under the heading ''Chaos''.


    <<------------------------------


    --Chaos--


    Devotion: Greed


    Status: Representative Candidate


    Grade: E+


    Control Tolerance: F+


    Limit: E


    Authority: [Chains of Sin(E+)]


    ------------------------------>>


    What I really needed, the Control Tolerance statistic, was F+. The fact that my limit was E was a blessing in disguise.


    I guess it''s because I''m a representative candidate... In fact, since I''m not really a wiera, shouldn''t I be weak or something?


    Although... Can I even use caora in the first ce? Half of my body is still human, so that''s a risk, but...


    I have no other way, so I have no choice but to try... I guess.


    First of all, I took another deep breath, closed my statistics window, and then looked at the pile of corpses in front of me.


    I have to do it...


    I braced myself, then approached them, put my hand on the huddled corpses, and closed my eyes.


    Caora and ordea are not as simple to use as mana. It takes special training to use them, and even then, one cannot fully control them.


    They are reallyplex energies but what I need now is not control from the beginning.


    I just need to guide it a little bit. With the dialogs in the game and the information given during the training about the energies, I don''t need a trainer to do that. At least I think so.


    I focused on the darkness behind my eyelids and then I focused. Then I thought, I thought about my old memories, not the good ones, only the negative ones that caused me pain, and I imagined them as if I were reliving them.


    Grief, despair, loneliness, sadness, hatred, stress; I imagined all these kinds of feelings and thoughts and I frowned.


    These were memories I didn''t want to remember. Each of them left scars on me, but I didn''t stop. They had no effect on me anyway, thanks to the Absolute Mind.


    I spent a considerable amount of time remembering all my past hurts one by one, all the while constantly focusing on the caora, but I couldn''t help but pause when I realized that nothing had happened yet.


    These emotions are not enough...


    I slowly pushed my thoughts aside and focused on one of them: selfishness. In other words, greed.


    "Ethan..."


    Memories I didn''t want slowly began to surface, but I didn''t resist them.


    "Come on, you too!"


    And then I remembered. It was... one of the first memories I have of this matter.


    A boy about nine, just like me, with ck hair and brown eyes was smiling at me. He had a mischievous grin on his face, and behind him stood three other kids with the same expression.


    "This is wrong, Carl..."


    I was only eight at the time, still innocent, still trusting that my parents woulde and take me.


    "Come on, Ethan! We''re just getting dessert for ourselves! That old witch won''t give us anything, shouldn''t we take matters into our own hands?"


    By the old witch, he meant the orphanage director.


    Our orphanage was not a generous ce with money. In fact, we were quite poor and so things like ''sweets'' were a luxury. Even at lunchtime, anyone who ate their second te was beaten, maybe that''s why I used to be so skinny...


    "Still..."


    Seeing that I was persistent in my hesitation, Carl finally dropped the smirk from his face and let out a deep sigh.


    "Okay... Okay, Ethan. I don''t care if you don''t want dessert, but you can stille with us. It''ll be so easy! That witch has a stockpile for her own enjoyment, I saw it out of the corner of my eye the other day when I was carrying the trays into the kitchen. We''ll go in there, we''ll get them and we''ll get out! That''s it! There''s not even a camera, there won''t be any problems!"


    What can you expect from an eight-year-old? I couldn''t even remember thest time I had dessert and Carl''s n made sense to me when I thought about it.


    Of course, my mind was still childish because of my age. If I didn''t ept this offer, I would be ostracized. I knew that and of course, I didn''t want that.


    I already had a lot of kids making fun of me because I believed my parents woulde back. I was afraid that if this happened on top of that, they would ignore mepletely.


    "O- okay..."


    At around midnight the night after I epted Carl''s offer, we left the dormitory and headed for the kitchen.


    Everything was perfect. The idiot guard had already fallen asleep, and we had sessfully made it past the cameras. When we finally arrived in front of the dessert stock in the kitchen, our eyes literally lit up.


    We immediately took out the contents of the stock and started eating. We got sweets all over our mouths, hands, and everywhere, but we didn''t care.


    I still remember that those cheap sweets were so good for me that I couldn''t stop myself.


    That''s how impressive the dessert was for us, but of course, we knew we couldn''t stay here for long.


    "Let''s go now... We have stayed too long."


    One of the boys, whose name I don''t even remember, spoke anxiously. His eyes were darting back and forth in fear, afraid that we would get caught.


    Carl, the oldest of us, both in age and strength, put another piece of dessert in his mouth, licked his finger, and sighed.


    "Okay... Let''s go then."


    So we slowly cleaned up, shoved the spilled desserts on the floor under the cabs, and covered the stock.


    I actually had a strange feeling during this time. I don''t know how, but... I felt like something was wrong. I was missing something, but I wasn''t really focused on it because of the atmosphere.


    "We''re going to go back now, but be careful to be quiet. Okay?"


    The atmosphere was tense, but truth be told, at the time I was excited by the tension.


    It was the first time I had broken the rules, the first time I had hung out with my ''friends'' and it was really exciting.


    I was now a member of the group. I could now call myself one of them!


    This feeling was so satisfying for me as a child that I felt like I could do anything.


    The rules? Who cares if Carl and the others are with me!?


    The headmistress of the orphanage whom I tried to respect? She was now an old witch to me too!


    With these thoughts in mind, I didn''t focus too much on my surroundings and what I was seeing, I just followed Carl and my ''friends'' down the corridor with a slight smile that I couldn''t keep off my face.

 Chapter 65 Volume II - 31: Other Half

    <h4>Chapter 65 Volume II - Chapter 31: Other Half</h4>


    Just before he turned a corner with the other boys, Carl suddenly stopped and looked back anxiously.


    "Oh no! My bracelet... I can''t find my bracelet!"


    There was no one who didn''t know about Carl''s bracelet. Even if no one knew the story behind the bracelet he proudly wore on his arm, Carl always showed it off.


    "I think I dropped it while eating dessert!"


    "What do we do now, Carl... If the old witch finds your bracelet, she''ll know we ate the desserts!"


    A girl voiced her thoughts with concern.


    It was the first time I had ever seen Carl like this. At the time I thought it was because he was worried about his bracelet. Then¡­ I had an idea.


    What if I took the bracelet? If I did that... Wouldn''t I then be Carl''s best friend? Wouldn''t my ''friends'' glorify me if I managed to get that bracelet and save the day?


    As someone who had never been very much in theirpany or in their games, these selfish desires of mine had suddenly risen to the top. I wanted to have fun, I wanted to hang out with them, and I wanted to be ''one of them''.


    "I..."


    Suddenly everyone turned to me.


    "I''ll get it..."


    With a slight smile, Carl put his hand on my shoulder and started thanking me.


    This boy, two years older than me, who normally bossed everyone around, now looked like he would cry with joy in front of me. Even though this was very strange to me, I didn''t care because I was happy.


    "You''re the best, Ethan! We''re going back to the dormitory, it''s dangerous to stay here. You cane after us after you find my bracelet."


    My brow furrowed with worry for a moment when I realized I was going to be alone for a while, but I didn''t want to show them that I was scared, so I gave him a stuttering nod and then watched their backs until they turned the corner.


    As I turned around and headed for the kitchen, I was scared but excited at the same time. When I entered the kitchen again, I quickly looked around for the bracelet, but no matter how hard I looked, the garish bracelet was nowhere to be found.


    I came to the dessert stocks, wondering if he had dropped it in them.


    I was opening and looking at them when suddenly something caught my attention.


    The stocks were... too short.


    Even though we had perfectly cleaned up what we had eaten, it was very easy for someone opening the stock to realize that they were missing.


    "Hey! What are you doing there?!"


    I froze in my tracks as I heard the voice of the security guard, whose voice I knew quite well.


    "Are you eating the fucking desserts? What the hell are you doing!"


    "N- no-"


    The guard came rushing up to me, tugged on my arm, and pulled me out of the kitchen. No matter how much I tried to exin myself to him, he wouldn''t listen, and it didn''t take me long to realize that we were in the headmistress''s office.


    I remember begging security, I knew this wasn''t going to end with a simple beating, what we had done was technically theft. The punishment for this would be much, much greater.


    I was struggling with the fear of these thoughts, but then I stopped struggling when I saw something as I passed through one of the corridors.


    Carl was looking at me from around the corner with a smile on his face. On his arm was the bracelet he told me to look for.


    That''s when I knew... I was... a bait from the very beginning.


    Carl and the others wanted more dessert than they had originally nned. In doing so, it was clear that they would be exposed. After all, there would be a shortage of dessert packets, and when the headmistress found out, and on top of that, if no one took the me, each of the kids would be punished.


    So they needed a victim, they needed someone to take the me. And¡­ that person was me.


    I had spent a lot of time trying to forget the days when I slept in the cold basement for a month and got caned on my bare feet every night because of my own selfishness, and my own greed for friendship.


    I never spoke a word to Carl and his friends after that day, and they never paid any attention to me either.


    I think that was one of the first memories I had of greed, and remembering it all again helped a lot.


    The darkness behind my closed eyes was slowly covered with a purple glow after my recollection.


    I had achieved my goal and I opened my eyes with relief.


    Half of the world looked purple, or rather mixed with purple, but the moment I realized this, I frowned.


    It shouldn''t normally be like this.


    At first, I closed my left eye and the world returned to its original color. Then, when I opened my left eye and closed my right eye, the world turned a more purplish color.


    Does this... mean that only my left eye is purple? Is it because I''m half wiera?


    That''s really interesting...


    It was a really strange feeling toe across things I didn''t know about this world, but I couldn''t think about that right now. I had to do what I had to do.


    I opened both my eyes and imagined touching that warm feeling that surrounded me in the atmosphere. Still, I didn''t try to direct it like mana.


    Ordea and caora were not things that could be controlled like mana. Even if I could control mana as my own limb, just by imagining it, I could not do the same for caora or ordea.


    Controlling mana is like raising one''s arm. When one raises one''s arm, the body provides the energy for this work with the nutrients that are eaten spontaneously. Then the arm is lifted up by signals from the brain to the arm muscles through the nerves.


    The mana is exactly the same. The only difference is that the energy expendedes from one''s own mana reserves. The signals needed to move it are processed through the system.


    So when I imagine using mana, I simply use it. For ordea and caora, it''s not like that.


    In order to move my arm, I have to bring the food to it myself, I have to offer it to it personally. I have to carry it to my arm, saying ''please'', rather than waiting for the signals from my brain to go to my arm on their own.


    And even if I do that, my arm may not rise, meaning the caora may reject me. This is what caora and ordea are like.


    In short, I cannot mand'' these energies as I can with mana, I can only ''ask'' for them, and in doing so I have to provide them with the necessary food.


    As for food, I have to give them positive or negative emotions and thoughts, as their kind is predisposed to do, so the choices are many, but there are certain emotions and thoughts that I would call their ''favorite foods''.


    For the ordea they are simply chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience, and humility. For the caora, it''s the opposite: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, and pride.


    Well... the game has stolen directly from the seven cardinal sins and virtues instead of trying to work on them, but that''s not important right now.


    I have to focus on my work.


    As I thought, I fed the caora that started flowing in my body with negative emotions from my past and then it was time to ask for something...


    I wished for the caora, the caora in the atmosphere, to move to the corpses in front of me. I put almost all my will, and all my mental strength into it and ''wished'' for it.


    Yet, no matter how long I waited, the caora did not obey me, and did not move toward the corpses.


    With each passing second, I panicked. I thought I couldn''t do it, but then Absolute Mind took over. I calmed down. My mind cleared quickly.


    I have to focus more, what I am trying to do is not an easy thing in the first ce.


    I put all my willpower into the caora again. If I didn''t seed, there would be big problems for Olivia and for me afterward. So I ''had'' to do it and concentrated especially on this desire.


    And then something happened that I never expected, something I never even imagined could happen.


    I heard a voice.


    ''Hi!''


    Reflexively, I turned around, and when I saw the person standing in front of me, time seemed to freeze, and I stiffened hard.


    "H- how...?"


    Standing about three meters away from me was a person about my height.


    He had curly brown hair. He wasn''t handsome, he had what I would describe as an ''ordinary'' face and he was¡­ thin. Really thin, he looked like he would copse if I pushed him. It was a very hard body to see in this world. And on top of that, he had bright, violet eyes, but I didn''t care about any of that.


    Because the person in front of me was... me.


    Or rather, it was the same old me, except for the violet eyes, it was Ethan Subter. He looked like me right before I died. Yet he had such a smile on his face that even though he looked like me, he looked like everything but me.


    ''Oh? You''re trying something fun! Can I help you?


    He came running toward me. I couldn''t do anything but stand where I was. I couldn''t move a muscle.


    He grabbed the right one of my two arms that was resting on the bodies and widened his smile.


    ''You have to do it this way, not that way.''


    At his words, his evil eyes glowed even more fiercely and my hand began to burn as if I had put it inva.


    I screamed from the instant pain, pulled my left hand away from the pile of corpses, and squeezed my right hand as hard as I could, but it was useless.


    It was as if my hand was melting before my eyes. It wasn''t happening, of course, but it felt like it.


    Still, when I saw what happened next, I couldn''t even focus on the pain.


    The purple-colored caora, which came out of nowhere after gathering around my burning arm as if it was literally on fire, surrounded the corpses as if they were a crackling me.


    Not only that, it sttered all the excess things in the area like ''blood''. The next thing I knew, a notification I never wanted to see was in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %1,5 --> %1,8


    ------------------------------>>


    I remembered what I sawst time before I went crazy. I had seen this notification at that time and when I thought about it a little more, I started to guess what this notification could be.


    For a short while, I just froze where I was, but I quickly shook myself out of it, because the intensity of the caoraing out of my arm and the pain I was in was so intense that I was having trouble breathing.


    I was having difficulty standing as if the gravity had increased several times, but then the caoraing out of my hand suddenly stopped.


    I had exceeded my limit, and the pain that came with it was gone.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %1,8 --> %2,1


    ------------------------------>>


    ''Ethan'' stopped holding my arm, pulled back and I lost my bnce. Then I fell to the ground.


    I was trying to crawl away from the corpses that were literally ''melting'' in front of me, but more importantly, I was scared.


    For the first time since I had the Absolute Mind skill, I was so intensely terrified that I was trembling.


    The source of this fear was the person with a look of amusement on his face.


    "Wh- what are you? Who are you?"


    He tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at my words.


    ''Come on, Aiden, have you forgotten about me?''


    He took a step toward me and spread his hands to his sides.


    ''I''m you, Aiden!''


    His violet eyes glowed even more fiercely in the darkness of the night. The big smile on his face, which resembled a mad demon, widened even wider.


    ''Have you already forgotten your promise to me?


    As he said these words, what he was talking about came to the surface of my mind.


    I remembered the person I had faced in that dark ce, in the ce that had caused my body''s state.


    I remembered nine-year-old Ethan, and how his eyes turned purple before he went behind that door. And then¡­ I remembered the abnormal status effect I saw in my statistics window.


    ''You got that right!''


    His expression became mocking.


    ''I am the other half of your soul that you abandoned.''


    I felt like the world was closing in on me, I didn''t know what to do, or how to act.


    Why wasn''t the Absolute Mind working? Why wasn''t it clearing my mind and calming my fear as usual?


    It was wrong... something was wrong...


    ''Meh, I thought you would have a more drastic reaction.''


    He pouted and lowered his outstretched arms to the floor. Then I realized something, his body was slowly fading away.


    ''Well, I won''t be staying long anyway!


    His sullen expression gave way to a smile and he started waving at me. Of course, while this was happening, his body continued to dissolve into thin air and I could do nothing but watch him.


    ''See you next time...''


    When only his head remained, he narrowed his eyes again, then whispered.


    ''A-i-d-e-n.''


    Thest remnants of him faded away. Where he had just stood, now there was nothing.


    All I could do while all this was happening was just watch. Apart from that, almost all of the corpses in front of me had been eroded to dust and disappeared into the air.


    The purple caora slowly began to fade, and with his departure, a silence fell over the area so heavy that I felt like I was in an endless void.


    The most important thing, though, was that the Absolute Mind was now working and I was calming down. So that only one question was on my mind.


    What exactly have I... experienced...?

 Chapter 66 Volume II - 32: Abnormal Status Effects

    <h4>Chapter 66 Volume II - Chapter 32: Abnormal Status Effects</h4>


    I walked slowly in the darkness of the night, wearing a coat that hid the blood on my clothes. The girl I was carrying was also wearing a coat, but I was still not walking in the open.


    Even if it wasn''t extremely important, I was going through the blind spots of the cameras, through the bushes, and the ce I was approaching was the back of the dormitory buildings.


    When I finally reached the back of the dormitory building, unseen by anyone, I first looked up to the eighth floor, where my room was.


    If I remember correctly, I had left the balcony door wide open to let the room air out, which was enough to get in.


    I just... to be honest, I have doubts about what I''m about to do.


    I should theoretically be able to aplish what I think I can with my magical ability as a wiera, the boost I get from my passive skill, my increased magical power and mastery, but... Still, I''m not confident, I can''t be.


    What if something goes wrong?


    This thought gnawed at me and made me hesitate. Yet I was also aware that I couldn''t just stand still, my time was limited.


    "Haa..."


    I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I had to be fast. So I did the best thing I could think of.


    I poured mana into the Absolute Mind, tried to use it to its full potential, and then, something strange happened.


    Just like Celine''s Sixth Sense, passive skills can have more than one function. It is often up to the user to discover them. Someone can die with such skill and not even know that it has an extra function.


    For me... I think I discovered a new function of the Absolute Mind.


    When I poured mana into the skill, all my thoughts suddenly disappeared. My senses, the movement of my muscles, my thoughts... Literally ''everything'' was focused on this moment, on my purpose.


    At least I was still myself, I would be out of this the moment I stopped channeling mana into the skill, but why throw it away when I could use it?


    I exhaled deeply, fixed my eyes on the balcony above, and then focused on the mana inside me.


    Even though my passive skill drew a considerable amount of mana, I knew I had enough mana capacity for what I wanted to do.


    So when I refocused, the mana swirled around inside me, spread throughout my body, came out, and surrounded me like a tornado.


    A stiff, almost solid,yer of wind rose up around my body and I lost contact with the ground.


    It took me only ten seconds to reach the balcony on the eighth floor. And the moment I reached the level of the balcony, the wind, which was slowly losing its strength, pushed me inside and I stepped onto the balcony.


    Immediately after that, first, my thoughts returned to me one by one, and then the wind that had been carrying me dissipated as if it had never been there.


    Suddenly dizzy, I almost fell to the ground with Olivia in my arms, but I managed to lean against the wall before that happened and closed my eyes to regain consciousness.


    There is no extreme effect of someone running out of mana. However, this is not so true when the same person has spent almost all of their mana reserves in less than half a minute.


    Absolute Mind had already drained more than enough mana from me. On top of that, intensifying the wind to an almost solid force was too much, even for me, whose efficiency is especially good for wind magic.


    As I waited for the dizziness to slowly pass, I sighed deeply and looked at the girl I was still holding in my arms.


    Her eyes were red from crying, but she looked quite peaceful now. Compared to girls like Lucia, Alice, or Celine, her beauty was a bit dull, but she had her own charm.


    She was just an ordinary-looking girl. No more, no less...


    Ah, what are you thinking, idiot... Snap out of it.


    I took a deep breath and finally realized that the dizziness had subsided a little, so I walked through the door, which I had left wide open, just as I remembered.


    I gently ced Olivia on my bed, ignoring the blood stains, pulled the covers over her, and then took a bottle out of the closet in the room.


    I had bought a lot of potions before the preliminary, just in case, and I had even gone overboard and kept some at home for future use, and this was one of them.


    I was holding a bottle of the most potent potion in the house. It could heal a great many wounds, including broken ribs, in just an hour or two.


    I uncorked the potion and poured it gently into Olivia''s mouth without waking her. After she drank the whole bottle, the pained expression on her face seemed to rx a little. And so was I.


    After I finished with Olivia, I looked down at myself.


    I''d better take a shower... My clothes are just as bloody, if not more so, and I''m covered in dust from falling on the floor or whatever.


    With that, I hurried into the bathroom and took a rxing ten-minute shower. I changed inside the bathroom and then came out clean.


    After checking on Olivia again, I went into the small living room, the only room in the house beside the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom, and plopped myself on the couch.


    There were a lot of things that I hadn''t thought about much before because I wanted to be quick, but now that I had free time, I had a lot on my mind.


    That percentage statistic and its notification, the purple-eyed ''Ethan'' who appeared out of nowhere, the fight between me and ra, Justin''s sudden death, and Olivia who was lying in my bedroom...


    First, I opened my statistics window and looked at what I was curious about.


    <<------------------------------


    -???-


    ???: %2,1


    ------------------------------>>


    The statistic is still shrouded in question marks and the only value it shows doesn''t make much sense...


    What has increased this value so far?


    I remember it increasing when I was emotionally unstable and also when I had just used caora.


    I''m not sure if there is anything else that increases the statistic, but so far, I have only seen these two things affect it.


    Thest time the statistic reached ten percent, I lost myself.


    I don''t remember a bit after that, but I still remember how I couldn''t control myself, and how my thoughts changed one by one before I was plunged into darkness.


    This statistic is... absolutely frightening and if I don''t want it to increase, I have to avoid emotional moments and use as little caora as possible, or even almost none.


    Normally wieras don''t go mad only when they use caora. Madness is in their nature. Other than that, they are all normal thinkers, but they are just a little bit crazy, that''s all.


    Me, I''m something else because of this statistic.


    Is it because I''m half wiera? Could it be that my human side is still straight, so it contrasts with my wiera side and that''s why there''s such a ''ratio'' between them? As this ratio increases, it''s like my wiera side is slowly overpowering my human side...


    My eyes shifted to the ''Status Effects'' section on the holographic screen in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    -State Effects-


    Abnormal State Effect: [Divided Soul] -- [Body Dissonance] -- [????]


    ------------------------------>>


    There''s a question mark here too, but I don''t know anything about it, so I''ll ignore it.


    As for the body dissonance, I guess it''s because I''m half wiera and it supports my previous theory.


    As for the divided soul...


    I thought about the other me, the purple-eyed Ethan I met in the woods.


    He told me he was the other half of my soul. So Sith had managed to preserve my soul, but I had lost the other half in the process.


    The other half of my soul that I lost must have interacted with caora to form my wiera side, and it must have taken on the appearance of my old body, Ethan.


    So that Ethan is a personality representing my wiera side while I am the other personality representing my human side. The more I think about all these things, the more my theory makes sense...


    Of course, on the one hand, these are just my guesses, but I believe my margin of error is quite low.


    "Haaa..."


    I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. Thanks to the Absolute Mind, I was in pretty good condition when I should have been banging my head against the walls. At least I had noints about that.


    Nevertheless, I feel a little bit relieved, I think.


    I''ve identified most of my problems now, so I can think about other things.


    I sat up quickly from where I was leaning, and then I just remained as I was.


    Wait a minute...


    Absolute Mind didn''t fix my emotional breakdown when I encountered Justin. There are a few other situations where it didn''t affect me in the same way.


    Suddenly, with these thoughtsing to me out of the blue, my mind started spinning with all sorts of different ideas.


    Absolute Mind is a skill that clears me of any stressful thoughts and tries to keep my mind as it should be.


    So what if when my wiera side came to the fore, it didn''t fix me because that side of me was already inherently insane and chaotic and that was their ''normal''?


    I mean, the purpose of the skill is to keep my mind ''normal'' in the first ce, but wieras'' minds are not normal to begin with. That''s why it doesn''t interfere with me in such situations. This means that every moment that the Absolute Mind doesn''t step in, my wiera side slowly starts to overpower my human side...


    "Hah..."


    I kept my eyes fixed on the wall, as I felt my body trembling.


    No, nothing bad was happening to my body. I wasn''t sad or anything, I wasn''t stressed.


    Well... Maybe I was stressed, but the real reason I was shaking was because I wanted tough.


    "Hahah..."


    I wanted tough. I could hardly contain myself.


    It seemed funny to me for some reason to make a connection between everything, to put it all together to create the big picture. Even though I was the ''problem'' standing between these connections...


    It was funny. It was even tragic.


    I put my hand on my face and grinned, and then I took a deep breath and transferred a very little mana to the Absolute Mind to calm me down.


    Okay... I feel better now, just...


    I looked at the clock, then focused on the tiredness in my body and sighed deeply.


    I closed my eyes, wanting to rest at least for a little while, and it didn''t take long for me to fall asleep.

 Chapter 67 Volume II - 33: Two Similar People

    <h4>Chapter 67 Volume II - Chapter 33: Two Simr People</h4>


    As I slowly opened my eyes, at first, I couldn''t understand where I was. It felt strange to realize that I was on my couch and not in my bed, but it didn''t take me long to remember what had happened.


    I yawned slightly, then looked at the clock.


    An hour and a half...


    The sun would be up in a few hours, but I wasn''t very sleepy. I''d been through so muchtely, fainted and shocked, that I didn''t feel sleepy at all.


    I went to the bathroom, washed my face, and stood in front of the mirror.


    Being a wiera hadn''t changed me one bit. I was still the same as I used to be, an ordinary-looking guy with gray eyes as the only extra.


    Although¡­ If I think my charm statistic has gone up, there must be some slight differences.


    With this in mind, I looked at my facial features, the smoothness of my face, and so on.


    Now that I pay attention... I guess I can say that I have a little moreposed face than before...


    I waspletely focused on my face. I was examining my eyes and my hair, and I was looking for small differences, but then I suddenly stood upright.


    I heard a sound, a loud sound. It came from inside my room, my bedroom.


    I walked out of the bathroom with slow steps and approached the bedroom where the sound wasing from. When I opened the door, what I saw were two dark blue eyes staring at me.


    "Ah..."


    Well... Now, what should I do?


    The first thing I did was to put my hands up in the air, make sure she knew I wasn''t a threat, and take a short step toward her.


    Olivia quickly backed away from my tiny gesture. With a swift movement, she pulled a dimensional button out of her pocket and broke it, and then a staff appeared in her hand, one of the basic weapons issued by the academy.


    "W- will you calm down, please? I''m not going to hurt you. Don''t you remember what happened? I''m the one who saved you, I''m the one who brought you here."


    She pointed the tip of her staff at me and then became thoughtful. Her eyes lost focus for a moment, then they widened and her whole body trembled.


    A few secondster, the staff fell to the ground. This time there was a look of terror in her eyes.


    "I- I kill... ed..."


    I clicked my tongue and slowly approached her when she wasn''t looking at me. She didn''t react like before, she just stared into space as if she had forgotten me until I came in front of her and stopped.


    She started crying again. She was holding herself back but the tears were falling from her eyes, she was in such a state that she didn''t even care about me.


    "Calm down, Olivia."


    She continued shaking and muttering as if she didn''t hear what I said.


    Seeing her like that, I didn''t know whether to be sad or happy that I had the Absolute Mind. If it wasn''t for it, I would probably have been in the same situation. I would have been... human, like her.


    Whatever...


    Olivia pulled her legs to her and wrapped her arms around them, burying her head in her knees. Strangely, she hadn''t turned me down, but now I didn''t know what to do.


    What should I say? How can I calm her down? How can I... help her?


    I don''t know. I really want to help her, looking at her reminds me of my old self. In fact... she even reminds me of ra.


    Who knows, maybe that''s why I''m helping her. Maybe I think that by helping her I''m confronting ra. That may be how things are going on in my subconscious, but... it still doesn''t change the fact that I want to help her.


    I looked again at her trembling body.


    She looked like she was in pain. She couldn''t believe what she was going through, and neither could I a few days ago.


    "I''ve taken care of everything, Olivia, neither of us will get caught."


    That''s what finally came out of my mouth. I didn''t want to tell her ''I''m sorry, I apologize'', I knew it wouldn''t do any good.


    I took a deep breath and exhaled deeply again.


    Okay... Then, I''ll just do what I feel like doing.


    "I said I would help you, and I will. It''s up to you to question why, but in case you''re wondering, I can tell you that you are like me and my sister."


    I paused, realized my mistake, and smiled.


    "Okay... Let me stop lying, I have no idea why I helped you. It''s just that something told me to do it, I felt like I would regret it if I didn''t."


    I took a deep breath, took my eyes off her, and turned them to the floor.


    "I killed someone too... No... Not one, I killed almost twenty people. None of Justin''s men who were there are alive, and they died by my hand, even though I didn''t want to kill them."


    I don''t know if she''s listening to me, I don''t really care. I''m just... talking, pouring my heart out, and rxing. That''s it.


    "I''d be lying if I said I feel guilty. The weight of killing a human being is on me, but I can''t even feel remorse for the stupid situation I''m in."


    I didn''t think for a second about what I was saying, I just said what was on my mind.


    "It''s the same situation that made me lose myself. I apologize if I caused you any harm. It''s just... when it came to my sister, thest few straps in my head that were still intact snapped."


    I took a deep breath again. This was actually easier than I thought it would be, once I started, I could just keep going. Especially when someone really listened to me...


    "I have a sixteen-year-old sister."


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Olivia look up, she turned to me but I didn''t look at her.


    "I ignored her for many years, I was an idiot, and then when we lost our parents, wepletely lost touch."


    That was the old Aiden, I''d heard it from ra a couple of times. She thought I, Aiden, ''just wanted to be alone''.


    Who knows, maybe he really did.


    "Then I realized I was an idiot. I went back to her, I gave her strength to work through her troubles. I was happy, she was happy. Everything was resolved between us... And then I did something stupid again... I deceived her."


    Olivia stopped shaking. Now she just stared at me.


    I''m lying again... but there''s nothing else I can do here, I guess. The fact that I died and that I don''t really belong in this body, or this world... I will only tell this to the people closest to me.


    I will not take risks.


    "She didn''t even realize I deceived her, and when I started to regret it, I exined it to her. I told her how I deceived her, and now she hates me... she hates me even more than before."


    Dammit, it''s still hard to talk about it.


    "I still love her as her brother. I want to protect her, I want to spend time with her, I want us to be brother and sister again, but that doesn''t seem possible anymore."


    If it wasn''t for the Absolute Mind, I''m sure I''d be crying here. Stupid skill... it doesn''t even allow me to have an emotional moment.


    "Anyway... I came back from the dead recently, and then I got into such a stupid situation that I can''t even cry anymore. Because of a retarded passive skill I gained after I came back from the dead, any thought that might stress me out is instantly erased. Haa... I want to cry right now but I can''t even do that. Isn''t that funny?"


    I smiled again,ughing was all I could do with what I was saying.


    "What a disgusting brother I am, isn''t it? Such a punishment... as if it was specially prepared for me."


    I turned to the right side without lowering the bitter smile on my face.


    Our eyes met, her dark blue eyes looking strangely bright in the room.


    Maybe it''s because she''s been crying... I don''t know, but she looks appealing.


    "Go ahead, spill your heart out. Believe me, I feel relieved now, do the same. I''ll just listen as you did to me."


    Yes, that''s my n.


    How simple, right?


    But¡­ it worked.


    "I..."


    She didn''t want to talk. Maybe it was difficult, maybe there was some other special reason. Still, she wanted to rx. I could understand.


    "Two... Two and a half years ago."


    I smiled and looked at her face without saying anything. I just listened to her in the dark room, her dark blue eyes flickering as she recalled past memories, scared but determined.


    "Justin was being punished for something I don''t know what it was. As punishment, his mother decided to send him to a high school that no one had ever heard of and to finish his education there."


    Ah... Justin didn''t go to an ''elite'' high school with nobles?


    That must have been pretty hard on him. I wonder what he did to make his mother give him that kind of punishment.


    "That''s where we met. He only sat next to me in ss because my desk was empty, but he didn''t interact with anyone else in the ss. He spent the first week just listening to the lessons."


    She paused for a moment.


    "No... He didn''t even listen to the lessons, he refused to take lessons from our teachers because they were not ''qualified'' and he studied on his own. Still, he did well, he was not a weak student."


    As she spoke, her voice became easier, the words came out spontaneously. I knew it because I had just been through the same thing, she was rxing now.


    "Then I don''t know what happened... I was interested in him, so I asked him out as a young girl, and... he epted."


    Oh? Justin epted a proposal from amoner girl...?


    That''s really interesting...


    "I was surprised at first. I thought I was going to get rejected because he didn''t like mon folk''. So when I asked him why he epted the proposal, he simply told me that he wanted to try ''romance''. It was as if he was just going to leave me in the middle afterward. He didn''t care, he only saw me as a test object, but I persisted. I did everything I could to endear myself to him, observing his likes and dislikes, his tics, even the things he looked for in other girls, and I took on that persona."


    Her eyes were fixed on the floor, and her eyelids drooped. She fell silent for a moment, the air in the room getting heavier with each passing second.


    "He didn''t even care about me at first. We''d go out asionally, hang out and have dinner and stuff, but then... he started to change. The more I kept doing the things he liked, the closer I got to him, the closer he got to me. I think it was at the end of our first month, he smiled at me for the first time."


    Her lips curled upwards. She couldn''t help it, she grinned and giggled. And then, all of a sudden, she just froze.


    It was as if she had done something she didn''t want to do. She was even ufortable, but she took a deep breath and continued, keeping her eyes on the ceiling this time.


    "Over time we grew closer and closer. I was really starting to like him, and he was starting to like me, but at the end of our second year, his parents found out about us. They rejected me harshly, but Justin defended me. Then his mother framed me and set up some fake photos and videos. She disguised someone as Justin, tricked me with him, and took me out to dinner. And then she showed the footage to Justin. Of course, in the ''live'' video that Justin saw, the other person looked normal."


    I couldn''t think of anything to say, and I didn''t want to interrupt her, so I kept silent. I kept listening, and she kept talking.


    "Even though I noticed that the other person was acting strange during dinner, I didn''t go too hard on him, so I fell into his mother''s trap, and then¡­ Justin went crazy. He thought I was cheating on him and humiliated me in front of the whole high school. He followed my every move and made my life hell for me. When I went to see a psychologist, he even bribed them not to talk to me. No matter how much I pleaded with him, no matter how much I told him it was all fake, his mother had shown him so much and Justin trusted his mother to such an extent that hepletely ignored me."


    I didn''t expect this to go this deep...


    "Still, I resisted the bullying for months. I did everything I could for my brother Paul, to make sure he didn''t notice anything. I seeded, but every day I got more and more hurt. And then, a few days ago, Justin showed up outside my house."


    Her whole body shuddered and became uneasy, the mere memory of Justin''s presence made her suffer, but it was at that moment that something else urred to me.


    She... she said Paul, didn''t she?


    Well, whatever. I thought something unnecessary.


    "He said he was giving me an opportunity. We just had to conspire against you and he''d stop making my life miserable. Not... notpletely, only halving the bullying, but even that was a blessing."


    She shifted a little to the side, wary of me, and I didn''t react in any way.


    "I didn''t think straight... I didn''t care about other people. I epted his offer even though I knew what I was doing was wrong. Then he added a few other boys with me and made us all beat up. He even broke one of my ribs and took us to the woods."


    A tear flowed from her eye again and she took a deep breath.


    "I... I''m sorry... I''m really sorry... I just wanted to live a morefortable life... I... I''m a bad person, I only think of myself... I''m sorry..."


    "No."


    I hesitated at first, but I put my hand on her back, not really caring what I did if it made her feel better.


    "Don''t worry about other people, Olivia."


    I just... I want to help her, that''s all.


    "This world isn''t normal, and its people aren''t normal. If it hurts when you think about other people, then don''t. You haven''t done anything wrong. You just want to get out of the hell you''ve been living in for months."


    I don''t know if I had the right, but I pulled her to me and hugged her. Strangely, she didn''t reject me again.


    Silence fell over the room again.


    Neither of us knew each other, everything we knew about our past was limited to what we had just told, and we were both one of the ''extras'' of this world.


    I was someone who should not have existed in this world in the first ce, while she was someone who was not even mentioned in the game, even though she had an important ce in Justin''s story.


    We were actually simr to each other. We were both ordinary people, we both had siblings, and we both had our own problems. Maybe that''s why we could get along and open up even if we didn''t know each other.


    "I can help you, Olivia. I''m not doing this as a favor, I''m doing it because I feel like it, because I feel like I have to. Of course, if you don''t want, I can leave as if nothing happened. So I''ll ask you again, do you want my help?"


    I didn''t stop hugging her. On the contrary, she hugged me even tighter.


    "Please..."


    She was weak in terms of ''power'' in this world and I was strong, whereas she was mentally strong and I was weak.


    Nevertheless, sometimes one reaches a limit even in matters where one is strong. She was at that limit. To endure severe bullying for almost half a year was too much even for her, no matter how strong her will was.


    "Help me..."


    I smiled. Inside the dark room, her whole body trembled again, tears started to flow again.


    "Okay, I''ll help you."


    In this way, tonight, for the first time, I felt that I had truly ''helped'' someone in this world.


    For the first time, I felt that I was a ''hero'' in someone else''s eyes and what can I lie...


    It felt pretty good.

 Chapter 68 Volume II - 34: Laute Manor

    <h4>Chapter 68 Volume II - Chapter 34: Laute Manor</h4>


    I looked at the wide entrance door in front of me, and then my eyes traveled to the huge mansion behind it.


    It was breathtaking. The enormous garden, the buildings with different purposes scattered around the garden, and the main building in the center...


    Despite its simple appearance, even the smallest details of the mansion were finely crafted. Once one looked at it, one could not look anywhere else.


    Of course, I was used to it as someone who had seen it many times before.


    "Come along Alysia, the checks are over."


    A few meters in front of me, the woman, code name A-18, who was having the security guards check my identity, called out to me. Immediately afterward, the doors of the mansion opened for us and we slowly entered inside.


    When we entered the garden, the first people I met were naturally the gardeners, each of whom was careful not to make eye contact with me. This was not because they were afraid of me, but because they knew they would be penalized if they did so.


    We continued along the road, passing by some very nicely trimmed nts andrge-scale flower gardens, and after a maximum of two minutes, we finally arrived in front of the main building.


    A-18 took onest look at me before telling the guards in front of the mansion to open the gate.


    "Don''t forget your position."


    I didn''t say anything, didn''t react in any way, and A-18 nodded to the guard with a look of disgust on her face.


    The doors of the main building opened for us, at the same time a dim light and a warm breeze hit our faces.


    While it was almost minus Celsius degrees outside, the inside of the mansion was warm, evenforting. It was much more peaceful, especially for me.


    When A-18 took her first step inside, I shook off my thoughts and went inside with her.


    At the huge entrance of the mansion, we were simply greeted by two servants.


    "Master Laute is waiting for her in his room."


    She didn''t call me by my name, shepletely ignored me without even looking at my face and spoke to A-18.


    "Understood."


    Without another word, the servants turned and headed for the stairs leading to the upper floors. A-18, on the other hand, did not move from where she was, folded her arms across her chest, and sighed deeply.


    She was not allowed to go upstairs as the servants said he was only waiting for ''me'' in his room. That''s why we were separated here.


    Normally, no one who was not a member of the family could step directly into the main building. Except for the directly assigned servants and security, no one was allowed to roam freely here. In any case, they were people who were not likely to betray the family and who were especially attached to this ce with their lives.


    As I went up the stairs with the servants, the family paintings on the wall came into my field of vision.


    I grimaced, squinted, and frowned.


    Everyone had silver hair and either green or blue eyes. Silver hair and colorful eyes were in the family gics. Every child with the blood of this family, without exception, had silver hair and blue or green eyes.


    Except me.


    As I continued to go upstairs, I looked at all the paintings starting from my great-grandfather to my generation.


    Thest painting on the walls belonged to my grandfather. There was not a single painting with my father or my mother. Even I, as a ''grandchild'', was not in my grandfather''s family portrait.


    We did not belong to this family.


    I looked at the paintings for a while longer before they disappeared from my view, and then I focused again on what was in front of me.


    The servants and I went through a few more corridors and up another flight of stairs before we stopped in front of a room.


    The door to the room was the most ornate of all the doors in the entire main building. There were four guards just in front of the door and an extra six in the corridor behind it. After passing through all this security, I had to go through onest door and only then would I reach the family leader''s room.


    "Master Laute is waiting inside."


    I approached the door without reacting to the servant''s information. The guards checked me for any magic on me, took all my dimensional items, and opened the door after making sure of my identity.


    I made sure that my expression did not change even a little as I passed through the six guards standing in the corridor behind the door. Thest door I would pass through in this way opened slowly, silently.


    This room was colder than the rest of the mansion. It was dimly lit and full of paintings and luxury items.


    Apart from these, there was also arge, simple desk just opposite the door that weed everyone who entered. At the head of this desk stood an old man with silver-colored hair, just like me.


    "Come closer."


    His strong, full, and heavy voice echoed in the room. It was as if he was giving orders to my soul. If I even thought about not doing what he said, he would crush me under his feet.


    I calmly approached the table, though I didn''t get too close to him, making sure to keep a proper distance between us.


    "I have a mission for you, Alysia."


    I didn''t look at his face, I kept my head down.


    "Yes, sir."


    "There is a boy named Adrian Caleo at the academy you go to."


    As I guessed, a surveince mission.


    "You are going to kill him."


    A deep silence fell over the room. At first, I didn''t understand what he was saying, then my eyes widened and I stiffened.


    Kill him? Not surveince... ''kill''?


    "Observe him first, find his weaknesses. Seduce him if it is easy, but kill him before he reaches the age of twenty-one. You will have no further duties until you have fulfilled your purpose."


    I reflexively raised my head and then locked eyes with the man.


    His green, stern eyes, almost emerald-like, were on me. His pointed ears and the fact that he didn''t look too old despite his age of one hundred and thirty-two gave him the impression of being immortal.


    "I did not give you permission to look at me, Alysia."


    When I realized my mistake, my whole body trembled and I quickly lowered my head.


    "You have been rebellious since I have seen you, A-18 seems to be right."


    The man got up from his chair and approached me step by step, but I couldn''t move a muscle.


    "Never forget who you are, Alysia."


    He stopped when he was in front of me.


    "You were born as a result of my son''s stupidity. You were never a direct member of this family. You''re just someone to do the dirty work, don''t you ever forget that."


    "S- sorr-"


    Before I could finish the word, I suddenly found the floor in front of my eyes. I fell to the ground before I realized what had happened.


    My left arm hit the ground at a very bad angle due to the impact. I wanted to at least correct its position, but the enormous pressure on me did not allow even that.


    "I did not give you the right to speak, how quickly have you forgotten who you are?"


    Without saying anything, I clenched my fist, my teeth, and tried to ignore the pain in my arm.


    "Now..."


    The pressure suddenly stopped. A great burden was lifted from me and I quickly brought my left arm to a proper position.


    Meanwhile, the man, my grandfather, turned round and went back to his chair.


    "You have three years. You will kill that boy before you graduate from that academy. It doesn''t matter when you do it, just do it before he starts threatening us. Do you understand?"


    I slowly got up from the ground, but then I felt a great pain spreading from my left arm, which was slightly aching, to my whole body.


    My arm... is it broken?


    "Un- understood..."


    "Good, now go back to the academy. Stay out of my sight unless you are called back here orplete your mission."


    I stood up with difficulty, gritted my teeth, and headed toward the door of the room.


    I continued to hold my arm as I passed through the guards in the corridor, but I didn''t ask them for help.


    The only thing they would have done anyway would have been to stare at me.


    No, they probably wouldn''t even look at me.


    As I continued to walk, I made a great effort not to grimace and keep my eyes from twitching.


    I thought about what I had been through so far in this stupid mansion and I felt an anger rising inside me.


    I swear...


    One day I will make the people in this house look at me with fear.


    I swear...


    One day I will make you pay for everything you have done to me.


    As the anger continued to rise inside me, I took care to keep a straight face, but at the same time, I continued to swear.


    I will crush Adrian or whoever it is... The whole world will see that I am not a useless half-blood, but someone to be feared.


    I swear I will do whatever it takes to make that happen.


    *******


    I let myself fall into my armchair. I leaned my back against it and stared at the ceiling.


    At the same time, the sounds of watering from the bathroom entered my ears, but I ignored them as much as possible.


    I didn''t pay much attention to what I was doing when I was talking to Olivia. I didn''t take her away from me directly because she was crying a lot, but when it finally got too much, I told her she could use the bathroom.


    It''s questionable how appropriate it is for a girl to take a shower in a guy''s home, but I didn''t want her to be in that state. She was covered in blood, her skin didn''t look right from the dust, and I didn''t say it directly to her face, but she smelled pretty bad after what had happened in the woods. So she couldn''t refuse even if she wanted to.


    Of course, there was also a clothing problem.


    Since there was nothing much to do, I told her that I could give her my own clothes. Since my wardrobe was already quite poor, I had recently bought a lot of clothes for myself and there were some I had never worn.


    I paused for a moment and then sighed deeply.


    Okay... I guess I should be honest with myself.


    It''s the first time there''s a girl in my house and I''m excited. I mean, the Absolute Mind reduces my excitement a lot, almost eliminates it, but it doesn''t change the fact that there''s a girl in my house and I''m aware of it.


    What should I do when shees out of the bathroom? What would be the right thing to do?


    I was lost in thought, I hadn''t had proper contact with people, let alone girls, for twenty-one years and I was thinking about the best thing to do.


    Just then I heard a door open and a few secondster Olivia walked into the living room.


    She was wearing a loose-fitting dark green sweater and a in grey tracksuit. Her ck hair was slightly damp.

 Chapter 69 Volume II - 35: A Girl鈥檚 Hand

    <h4>Chapter 69 Volume II - Chapter 35: A Girl''s Hand</h4>


    I couldn''t help but sigh as I looked at Olivia.


    Well... it''s quite normal for her to be so shy, I guess. At least she seems a little more rxed than before.


    "Put your bloody clothes on a dimensional button, and when you get into your own room, wash them as much as you can. Don''t wear them, and don''t throw them away. In fact... it would be best if you just burn them to ashes."


    "O- okay..."


    After this brief exchange of words, silence fell over the room.


    "Okay... I''ll tell you what we''re going to do now, so listen carefully, Olivia."


    I cleared my throat with a slight cough and turned serious.


    "After Justin''s disappearance, they''ll logically check the CCTV footage to see where he wasst seen. So they might find that they went into the woods and there''s a good chance you''ll be seen with them."


    This was the only troubling part of it. It was clearly seen that everyone involved, including me, had gone into the woods.


    I need to get my hands on these records before Justin''s disappearance can be investigated, which will probably take until the day of the awards ceremony.


    The reason for this is that if Justin suddenly disappeared, there would be no one to look for him.


    No one would dare question where he disappeared to. And his parents aren''t the type to see him every day. They are both very busy and it cannot be said that they are very close to Justin.


    "I''m going to erase all the CCTV footage of Justin, not a hair of either of us will be seen in the footage, but they will stille to question you as someone who had a rtionship with him in the past. You have to tell them you knew nothing about it. In fact, you have to look extremely surprised and shocked. It is even okay to look a little nervous. Apart from that, tell them that you were at home all day long and that you were resting. Bring the CCTV footage as proof, I''ll take care of that too."


    Olivia listened to everything I said with great concentration. When I finished, silence fell over the room again.


    Olivia noticed the silence and bowed her head slightly. Then she spoke timidly.


    "I know you''ve already answered, but... why are you helping me so much? I''m... a murderer, a bad person... I''m just curious."


    I took a deep breath and leaned back in my seat.


    So that''s what she wondered, not how I could change the camera recordings of the most advanced academy in the kingdom...


    She still has her doubts, I guess.


    "I think the most urate thing I can say is that you resemble me and my sister. You resemble me with your past, and my sister... with your face and your behavior."


    I narrowed my eyes, and something logical came to my mind about why I might want to help her.


    "If you want, you can think that I''m using you to confront my sister or something, maybe I''m really doing it for that... I''m not sure, but something inside me tells me to help you, so I do; that''s it."


    I know I''m giving the same answer as before, but there''s really no other reason.


    "Okay..."


    She doesn''t seem very satisfied, but I''m not lying.


    "Anyway... ording to the CCTV footage I will arrange, you should be in your room right now. I will leave you in your room in the same way so that there are no eyewitnesses to contradict us."


    Her eyebrows raised after what I said.


    "In the same way?"


    Ah... That''s right, she was unconscious while I was ''flying''. I had forgotten.


    "I came in through the balcony to avoid being seen, so I''ll do the same with you. That''s all."


    "From the balcony?"


    "Yeah, from the balcony."


    Olivia curiously approached the window and looked down, in the next second her eyes widened in surprise and she quickly stepped back, pushing herself away from the window.


    I guess seeing that we were on the eighth floor was not good for her mind, which was already not in a very good condition...


    "Can you fly?!"


    Haven''t you lived in this world for eighteen years? Why are you so surprised?


    Although... Flying is not verymon in this world either, unless one has wind, gravity mastery or a skill directly rted to ''flying''...


    Gravity magic is not something that is easy to find, and if we are talking about wind magic, it takes a lot of work to be able to ''fly''.


    The reason why I can do it even half-assedly is because my magic power and mana reserves are high.


    Normally, to be able to fly with wind magic, one must have a D grade or higher mastery. Factors such as my ''The One Who is Close to Spirits'' skill and the fact that my soul acts as a catalyst for the processing of mana help me to ovee this limit, albeit just barely.


    "I mean, I''m kind of flying, but not quite. Never mind, put a coat on. I''ll drop you off in your room and I''ll take care of everything myself. I''ve got things to do at the academy anyway, so I''ll just let your business slide into the mix."


    Olivia looked thoughtful for a moment, then sighed.


    "Okay... Thank you."


    With that, I put a coat on myself and gave her a particrlyrge one, and opened the balcony door.


    "Hold my hand, we''re going tond a little hard."


    Thest time I tried to ''fly'' I used too much mana, so now I don''t want to ''fly'', I just want to slow our descent.


    Olivia took the hand I held out to her without saying anything. When I felt the tiny size and delicacy of her hand, I realized something.


    This is what a girl''s hand feels like, huh... Interesting.


    I shook my head from side to side, pushed unnecessary thoughts aside, and asked what I forgot to ask.


    "Which room are you living in?"


    "Building six, number one hundred and seven."


    So it''s on the first floor. And her balcony faces the back of the building, just like mine!


    Now that''s pretty nice.


    I approached the edge of the balcony with a smile on my face and looked down. Since we were on the eighth floor, we were ''quite'' high, but unlikest time, I was more confident this time.


    "Okay, let''s go."


    I checked on Olivia onest time before jumping down.


    She had her eyes closed and was shaking a little.


    Is she scared of heights? Although, considering how she was cowering away from the window a few minutes ago, it''s quite possible.


    Dammit... I was nning onnding a little hard to save mana.


    I rolled my eyes and refocused on what was in front of me, then slowly pulled Olivia to the edge of the balcony and counted down from three out loud so she could jump in synchronization with me.


    When I reached zero, she jumped down with me, albeit hesitantly. Then I quickly rotated my mana inside me.


    As we were rapidly falling down, ayer of wind surrounded us, pushing us upward and slowing us down in an instant. So much so that when we touched the ground among the trees and bushes, it was as if we had jumped onto a soft cushion only slightly above the ground.


    "You can open your eyes."


    Olivia slowly opened her eyes and looked around. Then she put her hand on her chest and sighed deeply.


    "You could have said you were afraid of heights."


    "Sorry..."


    "It''s not something you need to apologize for... If you had told me at the beginning, I would have told you what we were going to do and calmed you down a bit. At least you wouldn''t have been so agitated."


    "Ah... I see..."


    She looked away, unable to look at me. A slight smile appeared on my face.


    "Anyway, follow me."


    In this way, we walked through the bushes and trees until we came to the back of building number six. It wasn''t too difficult, to be honest, it wasn''t overly difficult to avoid the cameras. Of course, even if we were seen, it wouldn''t matter much.


    "Which balcony is yours?"


    Olivia pointed her finger at the balcony directly above us and a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.


    The balcony is low, directly on the first floor, as the number indicates. So I won''t have to go up much.


    "Close your eyes again if you want."


    I said with a smile on my face.


    Our ascent was no more than five meters above the ground. I was making fun of her, which she already realized.


    "That''s funn-"


    Before she could finish, she was suddenly swept off her feet and thrown upward.


    A scream echoed in my ears. So as soon as I stepped onto the balcony, I threw myself inside with her. It would have been a big problem if someone had seen us.


    "Fuck you!"


    Olivia looked at me, panting, wide-eyed and furious. I only reacted with a shortugh.


    "You were so moody, I wanted to lift your mood. me yourself."


    Olivia opened her mouth, wanted to say something to me, but then fell silent.


    "Okay, okay. I apologize. I''ll wash my face and then go anyway."


    The design of the room was the same as mine. So I knew where the bathroom was, so I stood up and went in to wash my face without waiting for an answer from Olivia.


    I wasn''t very sleepy, but I felt a little tired and wanted to freshen up, after all, I''d barely slept at all tonight, and I wasn''t going to be able to sleep this morning because I had a lot of work to do.


    So, after sshing cold water on my face a few times, I went back into the kitchen where the balcony was and looked at Olivia, who had plopped herself down on the chair.


    Well... I suppose I should invite her?


    "We have a study group. Would you like to join?"


    She shouldn''t have too many friends. I''m sure Justin wouldn''t let her. If I really wanted to help her, I''d have to lend a hand with that too.


    "Study group?"


    "Yeah."


    She stared off into space for a while, deep in thought.


    She was aware of why I had suddenly invited her to such a group. She knew it was a good thing, too. She was just thinking, maybe wanting to be sure.


    "How many of you are there?"


    "Just Adrian Caleo and Julian Virhen for now, but I''m guessing Celine Potenbea and Lucia Quie will be joining us next week."


    Olivia stiffened at the names I mentioned.


    Ah... I think she was hesitant because our group was made up of not so ''normal'' people... Should I not have told her who was in the group?


    "It''s just an offer, you don''t have to join, but I think it would be good for you. You can make real ''friends'' after all the things you live through."


    "Would they... Would they consider me a friend?"


    I paused after her hesitant words, realizing I had made a mistake.


    It wasn''t because she was ufortable with them. On the contrary, it was the fear of rejection.


    "No lie... Lucia and Celine are not in the group yet, but there is a ny percent chance they will join. And if I know them a little, which I think I do, I''m sure you''ll get close if you don''t stay too nerdy."


    Neither Celine nor Lucia, unlike Justin, have a problem with ''ordinary'' people.


    Well... Celine may be a bit like that, but that''s because people are always afraid of her. So if Olivia is friendly to her, there shouldn''t be a problem.


    "Anyway, let me know if you want to join. I''ll bet no one will turn you down."


    I smiled slightly and approached the balcony, thinking it was time for me to leave.


    The sun was slowly starting to rise, I had to be quick, but I still took onest look at Olivia before jumping down.


    Olivia had her eyes fixed on the floor. She was just standing there, and I frowned.


    "Olivia?"


    After I called out to her, she jumped a little and turned to me.


    "It''s nothing..."


    Nothing is it...?


    "Are you sure? You can tell me if something is bothering you."


    "No... There''s really nothing."


    I narrowed my eyes and looked at her face. The thoughtfulness that seemed to be bothering her had already disappeared.


    "Well... okay. See you then."


    I let out a deep sigh and headed for the balcony again. When I was sure that there was no one outside who could see me, I was just getting ready to jump when I paused at the sounding from behind me.


    "Sue..."


    When Olivia said her middle name, I turned to her curiously.


    "Excuse me?"


    "I don''t use the name Olivia much. It was the name my mother gave me when she left me and my brother."


    Ah...


    "Got it. See you then, Sue."


    "See you..."


    I smiled at her onest time before leaving, our eyes met and then we waved to each other. Then I jumped off the balcony with a strange feeling growing inside me.


    As I was walking through the bushes, I saw Sue''s figure in front of my eyes, and an involuntary smile formed on my face.


    Then, as I was quickly approaching my dormitory room, I remembered something.


    When I realized what I had forgotten, I put my hand on my face and sighed deeply.


    Great... I didn''t ask for her number, how do I contact her?

 Chapter 70 Volume II - 36: Lady of the Quie Family

    <h4>Chapter 70 Volume II - Chapter 36: Lady of the Quie Family</h4>


    Three hours had passed since I left Sue''s side. The sun had already risen and some of the students still in the academy were starting to go outside.


    I was out too, walking slowly toward the main campus, hiding my face with the hood I was wearing, and observing my surroundings.


    I could see groups of friends joking around with each other, people hanging out with their lovers, security guards on patrol, and everything else I would expect to see in a normal academy.


    Actually, when I look at this ce like this, I can''t help but feel like I''m not in Lunerra, but in my old world.


    There are really many differences between the two worlds, but that doesn''t change the fact that they are ''simr''. After all, both worlds are inhabited by a creature called ''human beings''.


    Just as there are those who are joking around right now, there are those who are being bullied right now. Just as there are those who hang out with their lovers now, there are also those who cheat on them and break up with them for ridiculous or logical reasons. Just as there are security patrols now, there are those who take bribes and ignore what is happening.


    My world has changed, but people are no different from before. And that''s how I''ll be able to do what I want to do.


    Finally, after entering the main campus, I went up to the fourth floor without looking at anyone. My goal was to go much higher than that, to the highest room, but students were not allowed to go beyond the fourth floor without permission. So it didn''t take long for a security guard to intercept me.


    "Where are you going?"


    "I wanted to meet the rector."


    The guard suddenly frowned.


    "Don''t be ridiculous, is the rector of the academy going to meet with you who didn''t even make an appointment?"


    "I don''t need an appointment if you tell her that red roses can only be different and magnificent among the whites, otherwise they are just a simple, ordinary red rose."


    "Get lost, boy! She has enough on her te as it is, she doesn''t need to listen to your nonsense!"


    The man was talking loudly, drawing attention to us.


    Fortunately, I was talking to him in a corner, especially so that our voices would not be overheard by others, it would not be good for me in the long run if someone was listening to our conversation.


    "If you tell her what I said, yes, she will listen. I''m here as an ambassador for a family I cannot name because I have an urgent message from the family I''m in the service of and it concerns almost the entire academy. By continuing to ignore me, you are earning the hatred of my family right now and of the academy in the future. Believe me, this won''t be a simple firing. Now, do you still want to stand in my way?"


    Taking advantage of the Absolute Mind, I added coldness to my coldness and calmness to my calmness.


    A bead of sweat trickled down the guard''s forehead, his expression became hesitant, but he still didn''t want to back down.


    "How do I know you''re not lying?"


    I narrowed my eyes and looked him straight in the eye without hesitation.


    The guard reflexively took a step back.


    "O -okay... I''ll get what you said to the Rector somehow, but it''ll take a long time, and remember that if what you said doesn''t turn out to be true, you can expect a lot of bad things for obstructing security and all sorts of other things..."


    The guard turned around, frightened but also furious, and gently lifted the bracelet on his left wrist.


    Immediately after he did so, a holographic screen opened in front of him.


    Above the screen were indicators simr to those of old-style walkie-talkies, only more modern.


    The man used his bracelet to contact someone and ry exactly what I had told him, then turned to me and told me that I could just wait.


    He told me that we would have to wait for about an hour to get any results and that the rector was really busy, but contrary to his estimation, only ten minutester I saw a man in a suit approaching us.


    "Please follow me."


    When the man said this from behind the security guard, the guard jumped in fright. Then he turned around angrily, but the moment he saw the man in the suit, he went rigid.


    "Sure."


    Ignoring the guard, I approached the man and spoke without turning around.


    "Good luck with your work."


    As I left him like that, the guard didn''t say a word behind me.


    Apparently, he was in shock...


    Whatever.


    The man in the suit and I went up to the fifth floor, ignoring everything else around us. They did a simple search on me and then we went to the sixth floor.


    When we finally got to the seventh floor of the building, there were only suits around. The environment had be more austere, yet luxurious. In addition, literally ''all'' eyes were on me in case I did something wrong.


    "You are going to meet the rector. This is no longer a normal event. So unless you have a really important reason to interrupt her, you will suffer the consequences."


    The man in the suit apanying me said these words as we stood in front of a door that was almost three meters high. I scowled back at him.


    "I know, I''m not that stupid. Or do I look that way from the outside?"


    I looked him in the eye, putting all my weight in my gaze. There was a brief moment of tension, but neither of us looked away.


    "Then you can go inside."


    The suit turned to the three men standing in front of the door and nodded to them. Then the huge three-meter door opened for me.


    The first thing I noticed when I entered the room was that it was exactly the same as in the game. Everything was exactly the same except that the graphics were more ''realistic''.


    The right side of the room, which was almost several times the size of a normal living room, was luxurious, designed to be a huge guest lounge. A few armchairs, arge table with short legs in the center, ss cups on the table, arge view of the academy campus that could be seen looking out from the seats, paintingsrge and small on the walls, a cab with ss doors containing countless trophies and so on...


    Other than that, the left side of the room was aplete mess. Paintings were taken down from the wall in one corner, photos of other executives lined up along the wall, and a few boxes of colons and technological devices that I didn''t even know what they were for.


    "First of all... Can you tell me where you heard that quote?"


    As I surveyed the room, a woman''s voice rose from across the room and my eyes reflexively turned in that direction.


    If I ignore the left and right sides of the room, the first and most obvious thing that greeted the person was arge table in front of me as soon as the door opened.


    The table was covered with holographic screens, but the important thing was the woman sitting across it.


    The woman sitting at the table had bright blonde hair and blue eyes. At first nce, she looked like someone in her early thirties, but she was actually forty-four. This was due to the conditions of life with mana and partly because this woman lived a really ''healthy'' life.


    "I would like to speak alone if possible."


    There are two suits behind me, watching me just in case, and what we are about to talk about is sensitive.


    I don''t want anyone, no matter how trustworthy, to listen to me. Especially in an academy that isrgely controlled by others.


    The rector fixed her blue eyes on me, we looked at each other for a while and then I began to feel a pressure.


    Something was attacking my mind directly, the air in the room was getting colder. I could feel it, but the only thing I did in spite of it was to sigh deeply.


    Attacking my mind? Try it with Absolute Mind.


    Cooling the atmosphere in the room? I don''t want you to know, but I''m half-wiera.


    Despite the rector''s efforts, I continued to stand there and calmly keep my eyes fixed on hers. The pressure on me was increasing by the second, even to the point that the suits behind me started to feel ufortable.


    Only a few seconds after even the suits started to feel ufortable, the pressure suddenly stopped.


    "Get out."


    The woman''s voice sounded much more authoritative than before. This was so that the suits would listen to her without question, and so they did.


    After hermand, they both bowed their heads slightly and left the room. That left only the rector and me inside.


    "It doesn''t really matter where I heard the word. I am here to make you an offer and I think you will like it very much."


    The woman''s eyebrows rose slightly at my words.


    The saying was a code word for anything to do with academy business. It didn''t matter much to me except that I had used it once.


    "So you are not an ambassador for a family?"


    "No, I''m not."


    This is where I stumbled and lost myposure.


    It was sudden, too fast for me to react, and this time the mana she was using to put pressure on me was prating directly into my body, not my mind.


    I couldn''t fight back, even if I wanted to, because there was a huge difference between me and the woman in front of me in terms of statistics alone.


    "Do you know what the punishment is foring here lying and keeping me busy?"


    "Yes..."


    I tried to get up from where I had stumbled, and after some effort, I managed and carefully straightened myself up.


    The pressure was still there, it had just weakened a little.


    "I know quite well, which is why I''m making my offer not to the rector of this academy, but to thedy of the Quie Family."


    "Oh?"


    The woman, Lucia''s mother, as I just said, folded her arms across her chest and looked at me curiously.


    "Now you have my attention. So tell me, what is this offer?"


    Okay... Here we go.


    "We can erase the Malus Family from the kingdom."


    The woman''s demeanor turned one hundred and eighty degrees the moment she heard that. The authoritative demeanor I had always maintained disappeared and she narrowed her eyes.


    "Excuse me?"


    "I''m talking about the Malus family, the Quie family''s greatest rival. We can wipe them out of Cevilian and the foundations have already beenid. Justin Malus is dead, I killed him myself."


    I don''t want to bring Sue into this.


    That aside... I expected her to be stunned and reflexively stand up after what I said, but she is strangely calm.


    "So you''re openly admitting that you killed a nobleman? And how can you, who is second tost in the ranking, kill Justin, who is directly in second ce? Do you expect me to believe that?"


    "I don''t expect you to believe me, you will inevitably believe me as the conversation goes on and, in the future, when news of Justin Malus'' disappearance spreads everywhere."


    She sighed deeply, quickly losing interest as if in a child''s game.


    "The Malus Family is not a family that will simply fall. Even if you killed their son, which I still don''t believe, they will not fall."


    "But what if we reveal the evidence of all the dirty work they''ve done?"


    "It won''t be hard for them to cover it up, you underestimate them too much and if this conversation continues, I''ll have to hand you over to the kingdom."


    "No, Miss Quie, I didn''t say that the only thing we''ll do is spill their secrets to the media, that''s just one of the things we''ll do. So much will be stacked against them that their downfall will be inevitable."


    I paused, realizing that she wasn''t going to be swayed like that. She had to see it directly, she had to understand.


    "Listen to me carefully..."


    That''s how I started talking. I told her a small part of my n in small detail, and the rector, interestingly, really listened to me.


    Not just listening, of course. As the words came out of my mouth, as I started to put things together, her face became serious again.


    When I finally finished exining some of the things in my head, she became thoughtful.


    Seconds passed, then a minute.


    "I see... I have no idea how you got this information, but if they are reliable, the Malus Family could indeed copse."


    "And when that happens, the Quie Family, oppressed by them, can finally start to climb higher."


    She took a deep breath, then slowly stood up from her seat.


    "Still, I''m not stupid enough to agree to this. Your n is good and logical, I can''t say anything, but this is a much bigger job than you think. So I''m sorry, but I have to hand you over to the kingdom because of the possibility of you killing a noble."


    She walked toward me, calm and rxed. She was aware of my power and her own, she knew I had no chance against her.


    I knew it too, and of course, I had expected her to react in such a way. I didn''t think I could convince her so easily, but I still wanted to take a chance.


    "I know that you are not inplete control of the academy."


    And with that, the rector''s body shuddered and she appeared at my feet, a sword in her hand.


    This time she was not calm, not thoughtful.


    She was not only cold but also careful.


    "You know too much."


    I looked at the sword threatening to pierce me through the throat as mana flowed into the Absolute Mind, but I did not avert my eyes.


    "The academy is under the control of people whom you don''t even know, and there is nothing you can do about it. You''ve tried fighting them several times but it''s been frustrating, you can''t even find out who the spies are and you''ve received a warning from them. I can solve your problem. Moreover..."


    I hesitated for a moment, slowly pushed the sword in front of me away with my index finger, and fixed my cold eyes back on her rigid blue ones.


    I wasn''t supposed to know what I was saying. The fact that I could say these things was so astonishing that she was stunned.


    "If you help me, I can solve Lucia''s statistics problem."


    Her eyes widened for the first time in the entire time I was in this room, her whole body trembled for the first time, and she showed a sign of weakness.


    "You..."


    "Her charm statistic has reached S- grade, hasn''t it?"


    Her sword slipped through her fingers and fell to the floor. A loud sound echoed around the room. The Rector could not even open her mouth, she just stared at the floor with her eyes still widened.


    "My guess is that the statistic won''t stop there, it will continue to grow, and you already know what she suffered because of that statistic."


    Lucia was someone who couldn''t go out freely because of her extremely high charm statistic. She was always restless because all eyes were on her wherever she went, she was getting so much attention that she was even tired of it and tried to be alone. This was taking its toll on her, affecting her psychology in a negative way.


    In this world, even a B+ degree of charm could be enough for a random person to be one of the most famous models in the world, but for someone to have an S- grade of charm was something divine. Moreover, this person would reach an S+ grade charm at the age of twenty-three.


    What would be the consequences? It''s scary to imagine and even I don''t know the answer to that.


    Because in the game, Lucia usually finds a solution when her charm reaches S grade.


    What I''m proposing to the rector is to do it earlier. And she doesn''t even know that this will happen in the future.


    Can she, as a mother, ignore it when she''s faced with the solution to her own daughter''s problems?


    "Are you... Are you sure you can do this?"


    Of course, she can''t.

 Chapter 71 Volume II - 37: After The Lie

    <h4>Chapter 71 Volume II - Chapter 37: After The Lie</h4>


    When I heard the rector''s words, a big smile appeared on my face.


    "Of course, I''m sure. We can make a contract if you want, but you have to be the intermediary."


    Contracts are things that are not bound by any limits, that are ''almost'' impossible to avoid the oue. So there is a limit in the system, people can only create a contract on their own once every thirty days.


    So if the rector has the right to create a contract, we can do it right now and there is no reason why I shouldn''t.


    "You say you''re going to solve my daughter''s problem... You say you''re going to eliminate the Malus family... You know the problems of the academy so well... And you talk about them as if they were nothing..."


    The rector narrowed her eyes and looked at me, ready to attack at any moment.


    "Who are you? How can I really trust you after all this?"


    I did nothing but smile.


    "My name is Aiden Tenebra, you can research my background if you want. I don''t give a shit and as for how you can trust me... it''s quite simple. The answer, as I just said, is with a contract."


    The Rector just stood there, lost in thought again.


    What I was offering her was literally perfect. She was sorting out her existing problems so well that I was like a shining miracle in her eyes. That''s why she had a hard time trusting me.


    Of course, with the existence of the contract, all this distrust could have disappeared, but she was still hesitant.


    Who wouldn''t be? I was a knot of impossibilities that suddenly ended in front of her.


    <<------------------------------


    Contractor 1: Aiden Tenebra


    Contractor 2: Mny Quie


    Terms of the Contract:


    1-) Aiden Tenebra must help Mny Quie in each of the following areas until he graduates from the academy:


    -A: Lucia Quie''s problems with her overly high charm statistic will be resolved.


    -B: The Malus Family will be eliminated once and for all.


    -C: The external forces inside the academy will be eliminated.


    2) If Aiden Tenebra fails to fulfill even one of the above-mentioned conditions within the specified period of time, he will be ced under the directmand of Mny Quie.


    3-) If Aiden Tenebra fulfills all of the above conditions, he will be rewarded as he wishes.


    4-) Mny Quie will fulfill one wish of Aiden Tenebra if she fails toply with her side of the contract.


    ------------------------------>>


    When I saw this notification pop up in front of me, it was hard not to grin.


    "Do you have anything to add?"


    She had already acknowledged me.


    "No, nothing."


    I thought in my mind that I had epted the contract, and the moment I did, a small amount of mana was sucked out of my body into the atmosphere.


    The contract was signed, now I just had to follow up on the steps I had taken.


    "Okay... Then let''s take the first step."


    After what I said, the rector fixed her curious eyes on me. I smiled and continued.


    "We need to organize some footage, and besides that, we need two potions."


    *******


    <<------------------------------


    "The disgrace of our kingdom''s most qualified academy holding preliminaries for inter-academypetitions! How can we sitfortably at home when our children are not even safe there?"


    ------------------------------>>


    The reporter''s voice echoed in the dark room.


    It wasing from a small holographic screen, a screen I didn''t want to look at.


    <<------------------------------


    "Nevertheless, this year''s students did not lose theirposure even in the face of this sudden abnormal situation! Six students in particr yed a major role in this event and will be directly rewarded by the kingdom at the ceremony tomorrow! These students are Adrian Caleo, Celine Potenbea, Julian Virhen, Alice Liate, Lucia Quie, andst but not least Aiden Tenebra, who unexpectedly shone like a star!"


    ------------------------------>>


    My eyes opened slightly under my duvet, involuntarily shifting to the holographic screen in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    "The Academy haspletely blocked us from interviewing them to give them a rest, but you can watch us at the ceremony tomorrow and listen to our interviews with them! Now... let''s get to know these heroes who saved dozens of lives!"


    ------------------------------>>


    The screen showed photographs of the students whose names had just been mentioned. Their families, strengths, grades, and school rankings were given in a simple and concise way, and finally, it was time for thest name.


    His photo on the screen showed gray eyes and a cold stare. This photo was taken when he first entered the academy.


    He was neither happy nor unhappy. The word "soulless" was actually quite appropriate for him. He was bored as if life was dull to him.


    <<------------------------------


    "Aiden Tenebra is ranked six hundred and twenty-fourth in the academy''s overall freshman ranking! His general level was F+ when he entered the academy. His only skill was his exceptional intelligence, which he demonstrated quite well in his studies. However..."


    ------------------------------>>


    An image appeared on the screen.


    A green glow enveloped his body. The ''mana density'' scale, which was specifically shown on the right side of the screen, was rising visibly as the camera turned to him.


    His attack with his sword immediately afterward yed a major role in bringing the whole thing to an end.


    Of course, there was also the scene where he helped the silver-haired archer girl. It was yed after this and the reporter came back on screen as the images receded into the corners of the screen in small frames.


    <<------------------------------


    "It seems this student is hiding his power! Stay tuned if you want to hear the results of the re-measurements, which will take ce just before the ceremony, as quickly as possible..."


    ------------------------------>>


    I pulled the duvet closer around me, my knees closer to my stomach.


    I turned off my watch and the room fell silent.


    "I''m not Aiden, ra."


    His words came back to me again and again.


    "I''m not the brother you think you''ve changed, ra. You must know that anything can happen in this world..."


    He was right, unimaginable things were happening in this world. Even if it was close to impossible for such a thing to happen, it wasn''t really ''impossible''.


    I thought about the message he wrote to me a month ago, on the first day the academy opened.


    It was the first time he had replied to me that day, after a long time. His message appeared for the first time in his message history, which was full of my messages, and I felt strange.


    Why didn''t he ignore me?


    That was the first thought in my mind. He said he had changed, and as we talked more and more, I realized that he was right.


    He had changed. The old, soulless Aiden was gone, reced by an Aiden who really cared about me and I... was happy. Even though I saw how much his personality had changed, I took it for granted, I thought he had changed for me.


    But he never changed.


    He evenmitted suicide and left me alone in this world.


    For a reason I don''t even know why, he ignored everyone for the rest of his life and made life miserable for those he loved.


    Still, he was my brother, thest member of our family who had the same blood as me. That''s why I never gave up on him. Even though I never got an answer, I wrote him messages every day, I told him I was angry.


    How could I have known that he had really ''changed''?


    How could I have known that my brother was dead, reced by someone who deceived the whole world?


    How could I have known that I was being exploited, that I was just a tool for him to cover up his wounds?


    No... I couldn''t. If he hadn''t stood in front of me and told me, I would never have known because I was blinded by happiness.


    Why did he tell me the truth? I could have been so much happier now if he had kept deceiving me...


    If he had continued to deceive me... I could have epted him. There was no way he could have been exposed, he could have hidden who he was until he died, but instead, he chose to tell me the truth.


    I knew the answer.


    Because he decided it was the right thing to do. Even if it hurt me, even if it hurt him as much as it hurt me, he did it because he knew it was the right thing to do.


    I remembered the bitter smile he gave me before he left the house.


    Even though he had only known me for thest month, he really loved me as his sister, it wasn''t difficult to understand, and the more I thought about it, the more the pain inside me grew.


    I... I don''t want to reject him.


    I don''t want to be unhappy again after what he showed me, after experiencing that happiness, even if he''s not my real brother...


    I want to ept him, but at the same time, I feel like I would be betraying my family, my loved ones.


    I opened my watch again and went into the gallery, then opened a photo taken nine years ago.


    There was a short, beautiful woman with gray eyes and ck hair and an ordinary man with brown eyes and brown hair. The woman was holding a little girl.


    I was seven years old at the time, smiling brightly, cheerful as a normal child.


    But this was not the case with the nine-year-old boy standing just to the right of my father. He wasn''t smiling, he wasn''t happy. All he must have done was stare soullessly at the camera while the photo was being taken, but I still loved this photo.


    Because not only was it the most urate memorial photo of our family, it was the one and only family photo in which he was with us.


    I kept looking at the photo, for seconds, minutes.


    Finally, as my eyes slowly blurred, a tear slowly slipped out.


    "I''m sorry..."


    I took my watch out of my sleeve, gripped it tightly, afraid it would slip out of my hands, and buried it in my arms.


    "I apologize... I''m sorry..."


    I... I can''t.


    "Please forgive me..."


    I can''t leave him when I''ve found happiness... when I finally have my life in order... when I''ve already reced him with my brother.


    I just... can''t...


    "I- I''m really sorry..."


    I closed the photo and buried my face in the pillow.


    My mind was spinning with countless thoughts. My head was tingling like crazy, and after a while, it started to ache like it was going to crack.


    I... I''d better go to sleep.


    I tried to sleep, ignoring my headache as much as possible. Then I felt something spreading from my head to my body.


    It was something strange, numb. It wasn''t hot or cold. It was just... that kind of feeling.


    It went from my head to my back first. It went down as if following my spinal cord, from there it slowly spread through my whole body and then the sensation of my whole body disappeared in an instant.


    As I lost the sensation of my body, my headache stopped.


    Even that strange sensation disappeared, reced byplete ''emptiness''.


    I tried to open my eyes. It was the only thing I thought I could do in this emptiness.


    But my eyes didn''t open. On the contrary, a bright glow suddenly spread everywhere, as if illuminating this whole void. Then it slowly, gently retreated.


    My eyes slowly opened, and when the light disappearedpletely, I could finally make out some things.


    I was in a room, a dark room. I was in bed, lying in bed, just like before, but there was a difference.


    I was... not at home.


    Curious, I got out of bed, or rather I tried to, but then I realized something else.


    Why... why am I so short? And not just ''short''... I''m really short, almost the height of a small child.


    I tried to pause as I stepped forward, but I couldn''t. I tried to go back to bed, but again, I couldn''t. I just kept moving toward the door.


    That''s when I realized something else, something frightening.


    I can''t control my body. On the contrary, my body moves on its own, as if I were watching a video.


    "Mom?"


    The person I was watching through her eyes, the child, spoke to herself and I froze.


    No way... This room, the door, the hallway behind it...


    I''m... I''m in our family home. In our old house, the house we lived in when no one had died yet.


    Then... This must be a dream, but... were dreams this clear?


    I focused on the image with all my focus and watched my little body walk out of the room, independent of my thoughts.


    She was shivering, she must have been scared in the dark corridor because she soon started crying.


    "Mom! Dad! I''m scawed... Whewe awe you...?"


    Am I five years old? That''s what my voice sounds like...


    Is this... the past? Or is it a random dream?


    I... I don''t understand, I really don''t understand, but still... in this dream, I can see my family for the first time in a long time.


    I can see them, even if they''ll only be an image, a voice.


    After a long time, I can remember them by looking at their faces.


    "Ha?"


    I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn''t realize what was happening when my child self suddenly reacted with surprise.


    A dim light was seeping out from a room at the side of the corridor and my little body was heading toward it.


    "Bwodher!"


    Ah... isn''t this... my brother''s room?


    "I''m scawed... help me!"


    My little body slowly approached my brother''s room. He opened the door and looked inside. Meanwhile, I was anticipating what was going to happen.


    My brother would probably look at me soullessly and scare my little body even more. He didn''t have the kind of demeanor that babies, or even his own sister, would like him.


    But then... something unexpected happened.


    My little body was looking around the room when suddenly a figure appeared in front of me.


    "Ah, ra... Are you awake?"


    My brother, Aiden, who could have been seven years old at most, approached my little body with a big smile on his face as if rejecting all reality, contrary to all the memories I had.


    "Bwodher! I was scawed..."


    My brother kept smiling and bowed. Then he hugged me. He calmed me, my five-year-old self, quite well, and then stepped back and took my hands.


    "It''s okay ra. Mom and dad are out on important business. That''s why they are not home. How about we sleep together? That way you won''t be scared."


    "Mhm..."


    Holding my brother''s hand, I continued to watch as he moved to his bed.


    Even though I wasn''t in control, I could feel it, all my fear had disappeared and I was even happy to be sleeping next to my brother.


    I couldn''t even think straight as Iy next to my brother, as if the whole experience was a lie, as he stroked my hair and sang a luby to help me sleep.


    Where is my soulless, emotionless brother?


    Who is this boy...? Is he really my brother?


    This is... a dream, right?

 Chapter 72 Volume II - 38: Statistics Measurement

    <h4>Chapter 72 Volume II - Chapter 38: Statistics Measurement</h4>


    I looked at my closet, which was open in front of me, nced at each outfit, and sighed deeply.


    Today is thest day of the academy''s break and there will be an award ceremony for those who yed a big role in the preliminary. Before the ceremony, they wanted to do a final assessment and now I''m going to the testing grounds.


    The only problem is... I have no idea what to wear.


    Why do I think about it so much, though? It''s not that big a deal. If I keep staring at the closet, I won''t be able to go out.


    So I put on a in navy blue sweater and a pair of in ck cks, and then a dark gray cardigan, which is thick enough to be considered thick even if it doesn''t make much sense since I''m a wiera.


    I took onest look in the mirror, smiled, and finally walked out of my room, satisfied.


    As soon as I opened the door, a security guard appeared in front of me.


    "I have been assigned to take you to the statistics measurement area, please follow me."


    So they sent someone, huh... How thoughtful.


    I nodded to the security guard and started to walk down the stairs with him.


    Students were giving me strange looks from all sides. Up until now, I hadn''t attracted this much attention because I had been pretty incognito in the academy and everyone had gone back to their families for the break, but now most of them were back.


    On top of that, I wasn''t hiding my face now, I was out in the open and everyone watching the news knew my face.


    It was not verymon to see someone who had saved the lives of dozens of students. They were jealous, curious, and admiring, but it didn''t change the fact that they were annoying.


    Ignoring each and every one of them, I followed the security in front of me to the training building, and when I entered, they didn''t keep me waiting and started down the stairs.


    Since we were heading to ces that were off-limits without permission from the academy, I was no longer surrounded by students staring at me. Of course, this was good for me, I was relieved.


    We went down a few floors in this way, then we entered a corridor with increased security and then we came out into a huge area.


    "Aiden! We''re here."


    There were other students standing just across the field, about seven or eight meters away from me.


    Adrian was the one who called out to me, and apart from him, the other four people involved were all there.


    Apparently, I was thest to arrive.


    "Go and wait with them, please."


    That''s what the guard said before leaving me and heading toward another door, leaving us alone.


    I took a deep breath, then went to the group.


    "Did you get your work donest time?"


    Adrian asked, trying to smile. It was still more awkward, but still sessful.


    It''s a good thing he was smiling, it means his psychology has improved a lot, but...


    "Yes... Yes, I got it done."


    After what I''ve been through, can I really say that I ''got things done''?


    I don''t know.


    No, I know.


    I messed up a lot, but I''m not going to make myself look ''troubled'' in in sight.


    So I smiled back at him.


    Just then, Julian nced at me from behind Adrian.


    It was the first time we had met since the battle at the preliminary, and now... he had a look on his face that I couldn''t quite put my finger on.


    Well... excited, I guess?


    "Why did you hide yourself? And... how did you manage?"


    When those words finally came out of his mouth, I understood.


    "Circumstances demanded it, let''s say."


    I smiled slightly and Julian responded in kind, yet he didn''t back down.


    "Then how strong are you really?"


    At this question, the three girls waiting behind them, Celine, Lucia, and Alice, turned to me curiously.


    "You''ll find out after the measurement."


    I couldn''t hide myself even if I wanted to, because the measurement of statistics is not a straight test. It''s a test that takes information directly from the system. That''s why it''s close to impossible to fool it.


    Not impossible, just ''close'' to it.


    Although, when thinking about it like this, there is a possibility that things like I''m a wiera mighte out, but since the only information received is the ''Statistics'' section and the ranks of the skills, I don''t need to worry too much.


    "Meh, you''re boring."


    Julian spoke with a pout, and I kept my smile.


    "On the contrary, I make it even more fun by piquing your curiosity."


    Julian fell silent without saying anything else. This time Adrian was about to say something behind him, but before he could, a man in a suit entered our field of vision.


    "Follow me."


    The time hade.


    So, without any further dialogue between us, the six of us started to follow the man. We walked to the far wall of the huge space and entered a room there, and that''s how we found ourselves in what seemed to be a very ''technological'' ce.


    In front of us were holographic screens with a lot of parameters, and changeable values. Behind these screens was a very thick ss and behind this ss was anotherrge room that seemed to be isted from the outside.


    The room behind the ss was huge, but empty except for the device in the center, which stood like a closet the size of a grown man.


    The room looked like one of those cube-shaped experimental rooms from the movies, and there were even two employees inb coats sitting on this side of the ss.


    "First of all, Adrian Caleo, go to the room behind the ss."


    One of the seeming researchers spoke nonchntly and pointed to the door on the left side of the room. Adrian did as he was told and headed for the door. Once inside, the door slowly closed on its own and after a few seconds, Adrian appeared in the room behind the thick ss.


    "Put your hand on the glowing gap in the center of the device and wait. Some mana will drain from your body and you will get a system notification, then you will know what to do."


    Adrian nodded and put his hand inside the device. Immediately afterward, something started to change on the holographic screens on our side of the ss.


    <<------------------------------


    General Level: D


    Strength: D+


    Agility: D


    Vitality: D-


    Endurance: D


    Luck: E


    Magic Power: D


    Mana Efficiency: D-


    Charm: B-


    Masteries: (D-), (E+), (C-)


    Active Skills: (C-)


    Passive Skills: (A), (B-), (E)


    ------------------------------>>


    When those numbers appeared on the screen, everyone in the room who had been watching what was happening just stood there stunned.


    Adrian''s stats were really tremendous for someone his age.


    It''s not very difficult to get the stats up to E+, but once a person bes a D-, it bes much more difficult.


    Because once someone reaches D-, they''re starting to exceed the limits of humanity, even with the passive support of mana. Naturally, every step they take has a bigger impact than before and it bes a lot harder.


    In Adrian''s case, there are four statistics that not only reached D- grade, but surpassed it. So much so that even his general level has risen to a D.


    Well, he''s not ranked first in the academy for nothing, but as students seeing each other''s stats for the first time, it''s a shocking fact for everyone except me.


    "Whoa..."


    Julian, for example, looks at the numbers with widened eyes, even though he expects Adrian to be strong.


    Unlike Julian, Celine and Lucia look surprised but don''t react to the numbers. Alice, on the other hand...


    I frowned when I saw Alice''s mouth slightly open, her eyes widening and her gaze frozen on the screen.


    She was not a character who cared much about her surroundings. In fact, she was always cold and calm as long as it didn''t concern her.


    Why did she react like this now?


    "O- okay, you can go upstairs..."


    The researcher in charge of the measurement stammered in surprise. Adrian gently removed his hand from the device and then came to us through the door on the left side of the room.


    The moment he entered the room, a strange, heavy silence fell over the room.


    If even the staff reacted this way despite knowing his previous statistics, then he must have gotten stronger since thest measurement...


    "Teach me, Adrian..."


    Julian grabbed Adrian''s cor as soon as he came up to us.


    "Teach me..."


    His eyes sparkled with excitement, and Adrian, annoyed by this reaction, took a step back.


    "I''m just training, nothing else."


    He said this so seriously that Julian''s brow furrowed.


    "You''re talented huh..."


    Adrian frowned in response, but before he could say anything, another voice echoed in the room.


    "Aiden Tenebra, you''re next."


    I guess they go in alphabetical order...


    I calmly made my way to the door Adrian had just left.


    "Good luck."


    Adrian said this with a smile on his face, followed by Julian absentmindedly saying the same thing and I smiled back.


    "Thanks."


    As we walked down the stairs I was struck by the intensity of the mana in the room.


    Was it the results of the measurement or something special because of Adrian''s high stats?


    Anyway...


    When I arrived in front of the device, I simply ced my hand inside the shimmering cavity. Then I felt a rapid drain of mana from my body and a notification appeared in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    An unknown source is trying to peek at some values in your statistics window directly through mana.


    Do you allow it?


    ------------------------------>>


    Here we go...


    *******


    After Aiden put his hand on the gap in the center of the device, I looked curiously at the holographic screen. Maybe I could get some information about the reason for the strange feeling he gave me.


    <<------------------------------


    General Level E


    Strength: E-


    Agility: E+


    Vitality: E-


    Endurance: E-


    Luck: E


    Magic Power: E+


    Mana Efficiency: E


    Charm: E


    Masteries: (E-), (E-), (E)


    Active Skills: -


    Passive Skills: (A), (A-)


    ------------------------------>>


    Three E grade mastery, no active skills, and two A grade passive skills.


    Other than that, statistically there wasn''t much difference between us, unless he was in a state of disguise.


    It was scary. If the previous statistic measurement was correct, he had a frightening pace of development. The sight made me understand even better why my father had equated him with Adrian Caleo.


    I swallowed and looked at the boy who had removed his hand from the device, he was calm with a slight smile on his face. It was hard to guess what he was thinking.


    When Aiden finally went upstairs, the others didn''t react to the results as much as they had with Adrian Caleo. After what he had shown in the preliminary, everyone expected something like this from him.


    In fact, we expected more than that. For example, I had predicted his general level to be E+, I was surprised that it was E. Still, it didn''t change the fact that his growth speed was frightening.


    "Next, Alice Liate."


    When the girl named Alice did her measurements, I saw that she had the lowest stats of all of us.


    It was normal, probably. If Aiden hadn''t supported her, she wouldn''t have made thatst shot in the preliminary. Still, she did a good job overall, so I wasn''t going to underestimate her.


    So it was my turn.


    "Next, Celine Potenbea."


    Just like the others, I went down and put my hand inside the device, and then, just like those watching from above, a screen appeared in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    General Level: E+


    Strength: E


    Agility: E+


    Vitality: E


    Endurance: E+


    Luck: D


    Magic Power: E


    Mana Efficiency: E


    Charm: B


    Masteries: (E), (E+), (E+)


    Active Skills: (C)


    Passive Skills: (C), (S)


    ------------------------------>>


    The fact that I had a passive skill of grade S was the most prominent thing here. That was the reason for the surprise, the curiosity on their faces when I went upstairs.


    And yet...


    I looked at Aiden. He was just staring at the screen, but he wasn''t focused on it. He didn''t even make a gesture, didn''t even raise his eyebrows. It was like he knew that from the beginning.


    I clicked my tongue and watched him through the next measurements.


    He was never surprised by anyone''s stats, he kept a straight face in all of them, and the more I saw this, the more puzzled I became.


    "You are all done with your measurements. The ceremony will start soon, you will go there now."


    Everyone nodded to the researcher, and then the man in the suit, who had been standing in the room until now, told us to follow him and led us out of the room.


    Our next destination was the academy''s conference building, which was really huge, but I didn''t focus too much on that.


    Because I was almost certain that Aiden had something to hide from us, from everyone. In my eyes, he seemed even more mysterious than Adrian.

 Chapter 73 Volume II - 39: Award Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 73 Volume II - Chapter 39: Award Ceremony</h4>


    The lecture hall was a ''gigantic'' version of the normal school lecture halls. That''s why it had its own ''building'' directly on the campus, which was the only ce where reporters could be present without permission, except directly from the students and their parents.


    It was also the only part of the academy that opened to the outside, apart from the entrance gates. This way, no reporter could enter the academy and disturb anyone.


    Therefore, as soon as we entered the building, we clearly understood what was going on inside.


    While the academy side of the building was peaceful and quiet, the moment I entered, I realized how big an event I was actually in. What I had done in the preliminary had brought me to the forefront more than I thought.


    We were surrounded by reporters who were taking us on live TV and pointing their cameras at us. I could hear a few of them chanting my name, ''Aiden''.


    It was actually... a bit scary. Fortunately, the security guards were keeping them away from us. No one was allowed to approach us except for one person who would be assigned to each of us individually after the ceremony.


    The academy handles reporters really well.


    As we approached the interior of the building, toward the area where the ceremony was going to take ce, instead of letting us into the normal audience, they pulled us to the back of the stage.


    We passed employees running from one ce to another. Some of them were in such a hurry that they didn''t even notice us. Nevertheless, as we got closer to the stage, the chaos diminished and a voice slowly came to the fore.


    We could hear the echoing, excited voice of a man.


    Apparently, the ceremony had already started... It was just not our turn.


    "Listen to me carefully..."


    I wasn''t focusing on my surroundings and I was startled to hear a woman talking. I turned slowly toward her.


    There was a very serious person in front of us. She was telling us how the ceremony was going to take ce. I think we were short on time because she was as urgent and excited as she was serious.


    "When your name is called, you will go up on stage, you will line up side by side, and then the rector of the academy will personally present you with a medal. Then the crown prince will personally present you with an award from the kingdom and after that, you will separate and give interviews to reporters. Then you wille back here and you can go to your rooms. Any questions?"


    Everyone nodded at her without moving a muscle.


    "Good, now focus on the host''s voice and wait for your name to be called."


    The woman quickly walked away from us, a little relieved. So we all focused on the host and I realized that I could easily understand what he was saying.


    "What happened in thispetition was a direct mistake on the part of our academy... However, we are now devoting a great deal of our resources to investigating this matter!"


    Hearing those words made me giggle involuntarily.


    You''re the one who nned it, and you''re investigating it?


    That''s pretty cool.


    "Nevertheless, in this sad event where some of our students unfortunately lost their lives; we have a few students who prevented us from having much greater losses, and they are the stars of this ceremony!"


    Okay, here we go.


    "Without them, instead of neen, we would have had many, many more casualties... Allow me to invite them to the stage for the ceremony. First of all, Adrian Caleo, who made a great contribution to the direct confrontation with the creatures and who was ranked first in the academy!"


    There was a round of apuse from the back of the stage.


    When I turned my gaze to Adrian, I saw that he was a little hesitant and sighed. I put my hand on his back and pushed him toward the entrance of the stage.


    He reflexively turned to me after I did that.


    "You might be excited, but don''t rub it in your face or the reporters might give you a hard time."


    I said these words with a sarcastic expression on my face, but Adrian looked at me the same way.


    "I know."


    With that, he took a deep breath, turned around, and narrowed his eyes.


    He braced himself and made his way to the stage.


    When Adrian stepped out of our line of sight, the apuse was even louder than before.


    After the host had said a few more words about Adrian and congratted him, Lucia, Julian, Celine, and Alice were called to the stage with exaggeratedments.


    So much so that even I couldn''t help feeling embarrassed. I kept thinking that he should say something nice about me and finally, it was my turn.


    "Finally, there is one person who yed a really big role in organizing the students, bringing them together and almost minimizing our casualties... This person also made sure that two of the ''D'' grade creatures took really heavy blows; Aiden Tenebra!"


    Well, that wasn''t so bad, I guess...


    I took a deep breath, straightened my outfit, and walked toward the stage, even transferring some mana to the Absolute Mind just in case.


    The apuse got louder as I walked on stage, just like the others, but I couldn''t help but be surprised when I saw the crowd in front of me, even though I managed brilliantly not to get anything in my face thanks to Absolute Mind.


    Were there this many people when I was ying the game?


    Although... I guess it might be because far fewer students diedpared to then.


    In the game, at best, sixty-six students died, at worst one hundred and twenty-seven, but since my involvement, there have only been neen casualties. So the number of mourners may be small.


    After taking my seat, right next to Alice, I sped my hands behind my back and nced at the crowd in front of me.


    When my eyes caught a camera pointed directly at me, I focused on it for a moment, but then I squinted as a thought urred to me.


    I wonder... Is ra watching this?


    She still hates me, doesn''t she? She''s probably disgusted by the fact that I''ve taken her brother''s ce.


    Immediately after these thoughts, I felt my mind refreshing and I took my eyes off the camera and sighed deeply.


    Whatever...


    "I now invite our esteemed academy rector Mny Quie to the stage for the medallion presentation!"


    There was another round of apuse from the building. Then, from the other side of the stage, Mny Quie, whom I had met just two days before, came on stage, followed by another woman carrying a tray with six medallions on it.


    Mny was wearing a navy blue suit. Her blonde hair and blue eyes matched her outfit. In short, she looked exactly what I think of when I think of a businesswoman. She was just a little more beautiful than she should have been.


    Mny slowly approached Adrian, who was first in line, and stood in front of him. Then she took a medallion from the tray next to her and put it around Adrian''s neck.


    "Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Adrian, for your help in this incident."


    There was another round of apuse from the crowd, and then Mny gave each of us a medallion in turn. When it was finally my turn, she followed the same procedure without changing her expression in the slightest.


    When the medallion was ced around my neck, I couldn''t help but feel awkward.


    In my past life, although I was quite talented, I didn''t use this talent much, so I never received anything like a medallion.


    Now, to have achieved something and to be rewarded for it, I had an involuntary strange feeling.


    It''s actually a good feeling in a way, should I do things like this more often?


    A wall full of medallions came to my mind''s eye. Then I quickly erased this thought from my mind.


    What am I thinking...


    "Thank you all again, and keep moving forward with pride, thinking of the lives you have saved. I am sure you will all achieve great heights in the future."


    Mny said this with her usual smile and after a small round of apuse, she retreated to a corner of the stage. After that, the host started to say something again, but I didn''t pay much attention to him.


    Now we had moved on to the next stage of the ceremony. The prince of the Cevilian Kingdom, in which we live, was going to hand out the awards himself.


    The academy, being the most advanced academy in the kingdom, is very close to the royalty. So it''s not umon for the royal family to be directly involved in things like this, but he is a prince after all.


    "I invite Lucas Cevilian, crown prince of our kingdom, to the stage to represent the royal family and present the awards!"


    This time the apuse was even louder than before.


    At this moment, a figure stepped onto the stage from the other corner of the stage.


    He was dressed in what I would expect from a modern aristocrat, a suit-like outfit with a prominent white color.


    I say suit-like because the gold jewelry and jewels are so prominent that it gives the outfit a strange look.


    Apart from that, the prince had coal-ck hair, just like mine, and very bright green eyes. His body made him look like he was in his early twenties.


    At least by the standards of my old world.


    "On behalf of the royal family directly, I would like to thank you for what you have aplished."


    His voice was soft. It didn''t have the authoritarian quality one would expect from someone bearing the title of the crown prince, but I knew quite well that he could make it sound that way if he wanted to.


    I just wondered why he was here when he was supposed to be practicing his recently acquired skill. I know the heir alwayses to represent the kingdom, but right now he''s supposed to be in some kind of closed-door training.


    I had wondered about this in the game, but I never knew the answer, so now, with the prince in front of me, I began to study him with all my focus.


    "After a little discussion between us, I think we have chosen a rather nice reward for you all."


    The prince waited with a smile on his face, and then someone from the sides of the stage handed out identical pieces of paper and a pen to each of us.


    Of course, I was still watching the prince, but I didn''t notice anything abnormal about him.


    "You can choose any of the things mentioned on these papers."


    When I took my eyes off the prince for a moment and read what was on the papers, I couldn''t help raising my eyebrows.


    Because the awards were exactly the same as in the game.

 Chapter 74 Volume II - 40: Interview

    <h4>Chapter 74 Volume II - Chapter 40: Interview</h4>


    I looked at the awards and sighed deeply.


    <<------------------------------


    1-) Active Skill: tform (C-->A)


    2-) Active Skill: Heavy Strike (D-->A)


    3-) Active Skill: Mana Barrier (E-->A)


    ------------------------------>>


    Instead of sixty-six to one hundred and twenty-seven students, I only get neen students to die, but the rewards stay the same huh...


    Anyway, let''s take a look at the skills.


    tform is a skill that allows me to sort of double jump. Basically, I can create a tform that flies through the air and only stays there for a few seconds. As the level of the skill increases, the number of tforms I can create in a row and the cooldown of the skill decreases.


    Heavy Strike is simply an attack skill. When I use this skill with my sword or any weapon in my hand, including my fist, the thing I am applying the skill to is not only manaden but also several times heavier. Of course, the user only feels a small part of this heaviness, which is the real plus of the skill.


    Mana Barrier, as the name suggests, allows me to create a barrier of mana. Even though I can control mana with the Mana Expert mastery, solidifying it is something else entirely, so this skill is quite a lifesaver.


    So... that''s the thing about the skills in a nutshell.


    I thought for a short while and then sighed deeply.


    I''m not weak offensively, so I should ignore Heavy Strike outright. After that, I''m left with Mana Barrier and tform.


    tform... Given my mastery of wind magic and the bonuses I get, I don''t really need it either. So, even though it''s a very nice skill, I''m going to discard it as well.


    If I think about it logically, I don''t really have any defensive skills, so it would be best for me to choose Mana Barrier.


    It''s a skill that can solidify mana, and even though the difficulty alone is next to impossible, it''s a skill that can help me unlock a new mastery on the Mana Expert side. It''s nice this way too.


    Okay, I''ve made my choice.


    "Write your name on the paper and circle the reward of your choice, and the academy will bring you your reward."


    Without a second thought, I wrote my name on the paper and marked the Mana Barrier, and then the attendant who handed out the papers took them back from us, along with the pens, and that was the end of that.


    The prince smiled and thanked us again after the prize distribution and then went over to where Rector Mny was waiting.


    I focused on them as the two of them suddenly started talking to each other, ignoring the ceremony and the noise.


    They were very much talking amongst themselves, so I couldn''t hear anything, but I didn''t mind too much. They were probably talking about something or other.


    After the prince presented us with the awards, the ceremony finally entered its final stage and we left the stage.


    Now it was time for the interviews, so we were all seated in separate chairs, and then one reporter, specially selected by the academy, was put in front of us.


    The reporter in front of me was a middle-aged man. He looked ordinary, but he had a curious air about him.


    "One question everyone is curious about is, did you disguise yourself in the first measurement the academy took? If so, how did you do it?"


    "I had no intention of disguising myself. There was an error in the machine that took the measurement, but it was a one-time thing. I didn''t mention it because it suited me, that''s all."


    After that first measurement, there must not have been any more measurements. So I amfortable with this, I can lie freely.


    "It was a one-time mistake... Are you saying that the academy''s devices are not working properly?"


    "No, the devices are working properly. There was a student-induced malfunction in thest measurement of the device that corresponded to me, but this malfunction was corrected after I took the measurement because the device emptied the mana in it."


    Anyone who knows how the device works know that this is quite possible if the cause of the malfunction is mana-rted.


    Even though the odds of it happening are as low as one in a million, it is very possible. After all, not everything is ''perfect''.


    "Well, then, that skill you showed at the preliminary... An ascension skill, I presume, what kind of skill exactly?"


    Ah, he means the fusion of Sith with my mana.


    I was already prepared for this question, I was prepared, but... When I remembered Sith, I suddenly felt a pang.


    Although I could still feel his presence inside me, I was worried that I wasn''t sure when he would wake up. Fortunately, the Absolute Mind came to my rescue quickly.


    I couldn''t help sighing deeply as my mind cleared and rxed.


    I... I''ve been using this skill too muchtely, relying on it too much. I hope I don''t get addicted to it.


    "It''s not very nice to be interested in people''s personal skills."


    The reporter smiled after hearing this.


    It''s not a matter of me being selfish. Anyone in my shoes would say the same thing, so it''s not like I''m hiding myself. After all, knowing one''s skills means knowing one''s weaknesses.


    "You''re right..."


    In this way, he asked me a few more questions.


    They were mostly about the incident, my leadership, myposure, and so on. So the interview didn''tst long. The reporter asked my permission to make the questions and answers public, and once I gave my permission, my work in this ceremony was over.


    Actually, it might be nicer not to make the information public, but then I might draw too much attention to myself. I already have enough eyes on me... I don''t want to add to them by hiding the interview from the public.


    Whatever...


    After the interviews were over, they gathered all six of us back together. Before leaving, they thanked us onest time for our cooperation and told us we could go back to our dorm rooms.


    And that''s exactly what we did. Even though we didn''t talk to each other much and the dormitory buildings were far apart, we walked side by side because they were in the same ce.


    When we finally reached the ce where we were to leave, I was standing in front of Adrian and Julian.


    Julian looked into my eyes with twinkling eyes.


    "sses start again tomorrow, so we''ll keep gathering to study, right?"


    Even though the previous summers are over, he still cares about his studies. A good thing, I guess.


    "I''m fine with it."


    Adrian was the first to answer, and then the two of them turned to me and I smiled.


    "Sure, we''ll get together."


    That was my goal anyway, to get together.


    And not only with them but also with other people.


    "We''ll keep in touch on the messenger group then... I''m so tired, I''m going to go to bed and sleep until morning. See you tomorrow in ss!"


    Julian smiled and turned towards his building. He took quick steps.


    As he disappeared, I turned to Adrian, who was still standing where he was.


    "What are you going to do?"


    "I... I think I''m going to train more."


    I''m seriously starting to wonder how many hours a day he spends in the training room.


    He probably doesn''t even train this much during the time jumps in the game. I wonder if Lithoa is pushing him too hard...


    I mean, I know he''s preparing for the future, but why keep pushing Adrian when his progress is already so scary?


    "You''re already D grade, you know that, right? You shouldn''t push yourself too hard."


    "I... I just like to train."


    He smiled slightly and averted his eyes.


    "Does that mean you like swinging spears expressionlessly?"


    He couldn''t say anything this time either, he thought for a while and finally gave up.


    "Well... I have nothing else to do and time goes fast when I''m training, that''s all."


    Okay... I didn''t expect him to just blurt out the truth about a crazy old man screaming in my head, but at least he''s not outright lying.


    "Very well... I''ll get to that sometime then."


    I said this in a whisper and Adrian didn''t understand what I was saying, he raised his eyebrows.


    "Excuse me?"


    I smiled slightly at his curious face and turned away.


    "Nothing, I''m tired so I''m going to go to my room. Bye!"


    This is not just an excuse. If I don''t count my passing outs, I wonder when was thest time I slept... I really can''t remember.


    I really want to sleep.


    "See you...?"


    Adrian waved slightly behind me, still trying to figure out what was going on.


    In this way, we both scattered in different directions. When I finally entered my room and let myself into my bed, I felt my whole body rx.


    I started thinking, going through the events of thest few days.


    It was crazy, hard to believe. And yet here I am, I''ve really lived it all and I''m lying in my bed.


    First I let some stupid jelly get inside me and became a wiera, I had to sacrifice Sith to save myself, even temporarily, I faced myself and lost half my soul in the process, I gained an idiot passive skill and lost part of my emotions because of it, I told the truth to ra and it broke us both, I went mad and killed more than twenty students, I met Sue and helped her, I talked to Mny Quie and signed a contract with her, even though I had the intention of talking to her anyway when the time came...


    And I did it all without sleeping in between, only passing out for a few hours.


    When I think about it now... a lot has really happened. And now, after all that, all I want is a long, rxing sleep.


    Without even changing my clothes, I closed my eyes and let myself fall into my soft, cozy bed.


    And then... I heard a knock on my door.


    Fuck...


    I got out of bed in a huff and went to the door.


    Who could havee to my room when I had just entered my house?


    I was nning not to open the door to whoever was at my door. Even if it was Adrian or Julian, I was going to tell them that I passed out as soon as Iid myself on the bed or something because I really want to sleep. But when I looked through the peephole at what was outside, I just stood there for a moment.


    Ah...


    The anger on my face gave way to a slight smile. I straightened the cor of my outfit and reached for the door handle.


    I was already expecting them toe, I just didn''t expect it to be so soon.

 Chapter 75 Volume II - 41: Two New Members

    <h4>Chapter 75 Volume II - Chapter 41: Two New Members</h4>


    "Why... are you following me?"


    I looked at the girl walking next to me.


    She had bright blonde hair and blood-red eyes. She had the most beautiful face I had ever seen on earth, and the slight smile she wore emphasized it.


    Moreover, her room was not where I was walking.


    "I''m not following you Celine, we''re just on the same path to where we want to go."


    Although I had spoken to her many times before, it was all during social activities. Apart from that, when we were in the hospital after what happened in the preliminary, we worked together to prevent a near sh between the families.


    A few of the students who died in that incident were noble, and because of that, a few families almost shed. We cooperated on behalf of our families to prevent that and that was it...


    Other than that, we hadn''t really talked much or been friends.


    "Well..."


    I took a deep breath and kept walking, focusing on the road ahead.


    When I finally arrived in front of the fourth dormitory building, I paused. Lucia paused with me, and then we turned into the building at the same time.


    "Well, can I ask where you were going?"


    "I was going to Aiden''s room."


    I didn''t expect her to say it outright...


    "Why?"


    Lucia didn''t hesitate to answer, again.


    "There''s a study group with Adrian Caleo, Julian Virhen, and him. I was wondering if I could join them."


    My eyebrows raised skeptically.


    "Aren''t your grades already excellent? You came second in thest written exam..."


    "Yeah, but it never hurts to make friends, right?"


    I couldn''t help but be surprised when she said this with a slight smile on her face.


    Did she have a goal like me...? Or does she really mean what she says?


    I opened my mouth again. I was going to say something but then I paused.


    I realized something, everyone in the lobby was looking at us, or rather at Lucia.


    I clicked my tongue and headed for the stairs, Lucia followed me and we avoided most of the stares.


    That girl''s stupid statistics attract a lot of attention...


    "I take it you''re going to his room too?"


    "Yes..."


    "Same goal?"


    "Y- yes..."


    "How were your grades?"


    "..."


    I kept walking without answering.


    Lucia raised her eyebrows and looked at my face, and I involuntarily retreated even further into my cynicism. Finally, Lucia chuckled lightly and turned away without pressing her question.


    Should I thank her?


    In the end, I didn''t. Without speaking again, we walked together to the front of room number eight hundred and seventeen and both of us reached for the door at the same time.


    "I''ll knock."


    I moved quickly and knocked on the door myself, and then we just waited.


    We waited... we kept waiting.


    Finally, a slight nervousness enveloped my body, and I couldn''t help raising my eyebrows.


    "It seems he''s not home."


    I sighed slightly at Lucia''sment.


    "Wher-"


    I paused, turning back to the door.


    "He''s home."


    Lucia looked at me curiously, then at the door. I ignored her.


    It was that feeling, that strange feeling that my skill reacted to when Aiden was near, and it was getting stronger and stronger.


    So Aiden was getting closer. And the door opened only a few seconds after I thought that.


    He hadn''t even changed his clothes. He even still had his cardigan on. His ck hair was a bit messy. He must have thrown himself on the bed as soon as he entered his room, everything about him screamed that. Apart from that, his usual cold expression had been reced by a slight smile.


    He didn''t look surprised at all. It was as if he had already predicted our arrival, he knew it from the beginning.


    When I think about it now, didn''t he always have this air about him?


    Thinking back over the few times I had spent with him, I realized that, apart from the incident at the cemetery, I had never really seen him surprised. Even at the preliminary, he knew what to do when he was leading the students, he never hesitated for a moment.


    "What are you here for?"


    "You have a study group, right?"


    Lucia beat me to it, so I took the opportunity to put all my focus on Aiden''s lips.


    After Lucia spoke, his lips curved a little higher, as if he was really expecting it. And with my passive skill, which is all about intuition, the probability of the thought in my mind bing true increased exponentially.


    He knows things in advance. I don''t know if he predicts, calctes, or has a skill for it, but he really knows the future to some extent.


    I imagined the things that came up on the screen during the measurement.


    If I remember correctly, he must have two passive skills, one A- grade and the other A grade.


    If that was the only thing I suspected, maybe I would have ignored it, but now that I think about it, there are really too many things ovepping.


    The strange feeling I got from him because of my passive skill, the calmness he always had, the know-it-all demeanor, and the strange development he suddenly showed.


    I paused with these thoughts and an idea sprouted in my mind.


    Could Aiden... be a new seer?


    There are only three seers in the world. One of them is in our kingdom, and the other two keep to themselves, but when there is something that concerns the world, they all unite at the same time to try and foretell a better future.


    Although there are still many, many skills still undiscovered, the only one known to be irvoyant is not really active; it''s passive.


    "You want to join... I see, we''ll be happy to ept. You could very well help us with things we don''t understand."


    After Aiden said that to Lucia, he turned to me.


    "What about you?"


    The first thing I did in response to the question was to shake off my thoughts.


    No, no. It''s too early to im such a thing, I need to be even more sure. I don''t even have any proper evidence.


    I need to investigate. If he really is one of the seers and he is hiding himself, then I really need to attract him to our guild.


    "I want to join the group too."


    "Oh, I see... How were your lessons?"


    "..."


    I didn''t answer and just stood there, and then Aiden grinned slightly, just like Lucia had just done.


    "Okay, you can join in. No problem."


    He lifted his wrist, opened his watch, and turned to us.


    "Give me your numbers and I''ll add you to the group."


    A few secondster, both Lucia''s and my watch received a notification at the same time.


    <<------------------------------


    You have been invited to the ''Study Group''!


    Do you ept the invitation?


    Yes / No


    ------------------------------>>


    I quickly pressed yes and then entered the group details.


    <<------------------------------


    Study Group - 3 Online


    Description: -


    Members: Aiden Tenebra (Administrator), Adrian Caleo, Celine Potenbea, Julian Virhen, Lucia Quie.


    ------------------------------>>


    Out of curiosity, I took a quick look at the message history and saw that it was mostly Adrian, Julian, and Aiden discussing amongst themselves or when they were going to get together. There were also a few fun, everyday messages.


    It was basically a pretty normal group of students studying. It served whatever its purpose was.


    "See you two at our next meeting then."


    Aiden stepped back without lowering the smile on his face and looked at the two of us onest time before closing the door.


    "See you..."


    That''s how he closed the door. I was alone in the hallway with Lucia.


    "Let''s go then?"


    Lucia turned around with a slight smile on her face but paused before she started walking.


    She was waiting for me.


    "What are you waiting for..."


    Together, we left the building with everyone looking at us, or rather at Lucia, everywhere we went.


    This time, though, I didn''t care.


    In my mind I was still weighing up what I had just thought, thinking of other possibilities.


    *******


    I continued to watch as my brother''s luby slowly lulled my little body to sleep with a big smile on his face.


    "Sweet dreams, ra."


    After a while, I couldn''t see anything because my body had closed its eyes, and then my brother''s childish voice stopped.


    I was in a dark void again, still unable to feel my body.


    I was getting scared now.


    Whatever I was seeing, wherever I was, and whatever was happening... I don''t understand.


    As I felt lost in my own thoughts, the darkness fluctuated again. A dazzling light enveloped everything again, blinding my eyes.


    I knew I was going to see something again, a memory or a dream, so the first thing I did was to quickly try to recognize my surroundings.


    As the light slowly faded, as I was trying to understand what was happening, I was stunned by what I saw. Everything in my mind, all my thoughts disappeared in an instant.


    My whole body trembled with fear and I vomited with a bitter taste rising in my throat.


    We weren''t in our family home, we were in another room, and standing in front of me was my brother, who couldn''t have been more than eleven years old.


    "Oh? ra..."


    His eyes, unlike in the previous image, were emotionless and soulless, just like in my memories. His expression was calm, cold, as it should be.


    He didn''t even bother to hide the bloody kitchen knife in his hand from me.


    "You woke up at a bad time, as usual."


    My brother took his eyes off me and looked somewhere I couldn''t see because of the half-closed door of the room.


    I could still make out that there were bloody human bodies there, only a small part of their bodies in my field of vision, but they were human.


    "Though... it doesn''t matter anymore."


    He threw the knife in his hand toward the bloody bodies and then took a step closer to me.


    "B- Brother-"


    My little self stepped back in fear, but nothing more came. She was so scared, so unable to make sense of the scene in front of her that she froze, just like me now.


    "Shh... ra..."


    My brother came up to me and bent down slightly to get to my height. He stroked my hair with his hand and then smiled brightly on his soulless face.


    "It''s over now. You won''t have to... suffer anymore."


    He stopped stroking my hair and hugged me, but I was not relieved in any way.


    On the contrary, my fear only multiplied.


    "Don''t worry... You won''t remember any of it, not even me. Now you can live as a normal girl, away from us, away from everything. That''s the least we owe you."


    I don''t understand...


    I don''t understand what''s happening...


    I''m... scared... why are these things happening?


    "See you, ra."


    He paused for a moment, then his smile turned bitter and he continued.


    "No... I hope not, that''s for the best."


    Those words were thest thing I heard before my vision darkened again.


    My head ached.


    My body, which I hadn''t been able to feel until now, had suddenly regained its sensation and I could feel the pain radiating from my back to my body.


    I had already jumped out of my bed screaming, thanks to this pain. Afterward, the pain I was feeling slowly started to fade away, but the tears didn''t stop.


    As I curled up even more in my bed, pulling my arms and knees closer to me, something I had never thought about before slowly entered my mind.


    How much do I... how much do I remember of the past? I haven''t thought much about it, but before the death of our parents is too... too blurry.


    Something...


    Something is not right...

 Chapter 76 Volume II - 42: Two Hours of Peace

    <h4>Chapter 76 Volume II - Chapter 42: Two Hours of Peace</h4>


    The sun was just rising when its rays entered my room through my window, hitting my face.


    My eyes slowly widened at the difort I felt and slid to the clock hanging on the wall.


    Fourteen hours...


    I got out of bed with a stretch, threw myself straight into the bathroom, and after a nice long shower, I put on my uniform.


    The Academy''s break was over today, sses were starting again. All the students were very ''excited'' and I could hear the noise from outside even from here.


    With a deep sigh, I took my tablet with me and walked out of my room.


    Anyway, today, with the realization of the missing person in the academy, everything is going to fall apart again when it was just settling down...


    I should at least start the day early with a morning walk, right?


    Since I had plenty of time, I took my time and took slow steps toward my ssroom, enjoying the sun and the peace.


    There were only a few people in the early morning ss, but I ignored them and their nces at me. I put myself where I always sit.


    All I had to do was act the way I always do and wait. I didn''t have to do anything extra, so that''s what I did.


    So after a while Adrian and Julian entered the ssroom chatting together and I couldn''t help but be surprised.


    Did these two get close while I was away?


    How nice...


    "Aiden, good morning!"


    Julian nced around the ssroom and was surprised to see me. It was clear he hadn''t expected me so early, but he didn''t question me too much.


    Then, unexpectedly, his face turned serious. He walked up to me and Adrian followed suit.


    "Who did you add to the study group?"


    "Ah... Celine and Lucia? They said they wanted to join and I epted."


    Julian looked at me skeptically and Adrian raised his eyebrows at the same time.


    "Why would I lie? If you don''t believe me, ask them yourself."


    "N- no, thanks..."


    "If you''re embarrassed to go up to them, why don''t you ask them directly the next time we meet?"


    "Why would I be embarrassed..."


    Julian stepped back slightly. And the moment I saw that, I smiled slightly.


    Do you think I''m going to run away or something?


    "You''re blushing, huh..."


    "You!"


    Julian rose quickly, but this time I ignored him and turned to the side.


    "What do you think, Adrian?"


    Adrian turned to me in surprise when I suddenly threw the ball at him.


    "Me?"


    "Yeah, you."


    Adrian couldn''t say anything. After a short while he felt like opening his mouth, but unfortunately, the academy came to his rescue.


    ~ding!


    "Take your seats!"


    Our math professor entered the ssroom just as the bell rang. Adrian took the opportunity to hurry to his seat, but Julian looked at me with a look that told me he was angry.


    Heh, you still have a long way to go.


    "Hurry up!"


    The professor shouted onest time, then turned to the ss holographic board to take attendance and paused for a moment.


    The watches on our wrists could synchronize with these boards. As long as we were in the ssroom, they sent information to the board, so the professor could take attendance without any effort.


    Now, there was one absentee in the ss.


    Well... there were actually three absentees, but two of them were among the neen students who died in the preliminary. So the ss size had already dropped from twenty-five to twenty-three, but there were now twenty-two on the ckboard.


    At first, the professor raised his eyebrows at this, but then he entered the attendance into the system and went on with his lecture.


    I narrowed my eyes, knowing who that person was.


    There was a very good chance that the person who had disappeared was one of the students Justin had taken with him.


    Someone who died because of me and no one will ever know what happened to him. Not his family, not his loved ones, if he had any.


    And here I am, trying to feel uneasy like nothing happened. I know I should feel remorse, but I can''t even if I want to. Like a robot trying to pretend to have feelings.


    Whatever... it''s better if I don''t let it all out. I shouldn''t behave differently than normal. Otherwise, I''ll be one of the first people to be a suspect.


    *******


    We went from ss to ss. Minutes turned into hours and it was time for the lunch break.


    I was having one of my usual ''normal'' days in this world, the only difference from before was the way people looked at me.


    However, when we reached lunch break, I did something that broke my daily routine.


    Instead of having lunch with Adrian and Julian, I told them I had a little errand to run. Although they raised an eyebrow at me at first, they didn''t say anything and I quickly made my way to ss 1-F.


    Last time I forgot to get Sue''s number, so even if I had invited her to the group, I couldn''t add her.


    This is my goal now, to actually add her to the group and help her expand her social circle...


    When I arrived in front of the 1-F ssroom with these thoughts in mind, I took a quick nce inside. Even though all eyes turned to me curiously the moment I entered the ssroom, I ignored them and quickly looked for Sue.


    She was not in the ssroom.


    I looked around the cafeteria and she isn''t here now either... So where did she go?


    I frowned and decided to go outside to think, but then someone called out to me.


    "Were you looking for someone?"


    The student who spoke was a girl from this ss. She was a little shy, but instead of whispering about me from a distance like the others, she came straight to me.


    "Yes, I''m looking for Olivia Sue Gemma."


    The girl stiffened as soon as she heard the name I said.


    "Uh... She, well..."


    When her demeanor suddenly turned one hundred and eighty degrees, I squinted and looked into her eyes.


    "What about her?"


    She''s probably scared of Justin. I understand perfectly well why she would react like that, but...


    I still got angry.


    "She''s probably in the woods on the other side of the academy... That''s where she eats her meals."


    "The woods where? There are so many woods in the academy."


    "The one on the s- southeast side..."


    She didn''t want to talk anymore. It was as if she was going to die if she continued, so I just clicked my tongue.


    "Okay, thanks for the info."


    Without saying anything else, I quickly left the ssroom and started walking back to where she said she was going, all the while sighing deeply.


    Sue isn''t just struggling with her own problems. Justin must have really made life hell for her, no matter how crazy he became. So much so that even her own ss is afraid to mention her name and Sue is eating her meals away from people.


    Isn''t this too much? I know this world isn''t normal as it is, but...


    Isn''t this really too much?


    I felt myself getting angry again and I clenched my fist. I even felt like congratting Sue for killing Justin.


    When Absolute Mind suddenly kicked in, my mind cleared, and I felt myself rxing. I let go of my clenched fist and took a deep breath.


    I finally came to the woods the girl had told me about, but... Where could Sue be?


    This wasn''t the woods where Justin had died, it was much smaller, but that didn''t mean it was easy to find someone here.


    So much so that I looked around for the next five minutes and she was nowhere to be found. So I paused.


    Okay... let''s think about it.


    If I wanted to be alone because I was surrounded by people who wanted to bully me, where would I go?


    I opened my watch, looked at the view from above of where I was, and then... something caught my attention. When everything was green because of the trees, there was a gray-colored ce... arge rock.


    A slight smile appeared on my face, I lowered my watch and made my way toward the rock. After a while, I passed a ce of broken branches and reached the rock.


    Slowly, silently, I made my way to the back of the rock and there I saw a girl leaning against it.


    "Hey-"


    I called out to her with a smile on my face, but then I realized something else and paused.


    Sue''s eyes were closed. She had fallen asleep and... was quite peaceful.


    "Haa..."


    I don''t feel like waking her up. I don''t want to disturb her when she''s so peaceful after what she''s been through, and when she''s sleeping so well.


    I sighed lightly and moved closer to her, and then I noticed something else.


    Something was smelling... a very good food.


    I looked in the direction of the smell, and I noticed the nket on Sue''s other side and the food on it.


    A beautifully cooked vegetable dish in a small bowl, a slightly steaming soup and bread in a bowl next to it, and a drink like homemade juice...


    I''d be lying if I said my mouth wasn''t watering. Was this thest time I had a meal like this when I visited ra?


    I remembered the first time I went to see ra. I remembered her cooking, then her smiling face.


    I clenched my fist, calmed myself even before the Absolute Mind, and took a deep breath in and out, looking up at the sky.


    As quietly as I could, I began to tidy up the food and the nket, put everything away, and prepared to leave when I was finished.


    I turned onest time to the sleeping figure of Sue. I wanted to look at her before I left, but then I paused as I realized something.


    I looked at the way Sue was leaning against the rock, the way her limbs were stretched out, and I realized that she was not in a veryfortable position.


    The rock was hard, her muscles would be numb when she woke up because of the position she had fallen asleep in, and her head looked like it could fall off at any moment.


    ~ding!


    The bell rang signaling the end of lunch break for first years.


    I have to go back. I have to get to ss but...


    I looked back at Sue, who was still sleeping.


    What should I do? Should I go?


    Although... who cares about the lessons? Don''t I already know everything they teach, except the little details?


    Yes, I do. So... what''s the big deal if I skip sses for a day?


    I took a deep breath, approached Sue, and sat down next to her. Without waking her, I gentlyid her body slightly on her side, positioning her head on my knee and letting her rx.


    Her expression became more peaceful the moment I did this, her body rxed as if in relief.


    I couldn''t help smiling as I watched her.


    Sue really does look like ra. I didn''t pay too much attention before and thought they were simply simr, but now, up close with her closed eyes, she really looks like her.


    My hands spontaneously reached for her ck hair, I lifted a lock of it without disturbing it and then a strange sensation swept through my whole body.


    Without realizing it, I started stroking her hair and tried to understand what this strange feeling was.


    It was a nostalgic feeling. It was as if I had done it many times, even though I had never stroked anyone''s hair before.


    I couldn''t help but wonder if there was a memory I didn''t know about, and as I continued to stroke Sue''s hair, a small sadness slowly made itself known alongside the feeling that had taken over me.


    Then I paused.


    I... what am I doing?


    I removed my hands from Sue''s hair, narrowed my eyes slightly, and frowned as this strange feeling slowly dissipated.


    I let out a deep sigh, and then, deciding not to think about anything else, I just waited.


    Seconds passed. Then minutes of doing nothing, while at the same time feeling like I was getting away from all my problems.


    I received several texts from Adrian and Julian about ''where I was, what I was doing''. I heard the bell ringing for breaks and sses for prep students one after the other, but I ignored them and continued to stand still.


    Finally, about two hours after the lunch break was over, Sue finally stirred slightly.


    First, her body tensed slightly, then her eyelids opened and her dark blue eyes turned meaninglessly to me.


    I smiled.


    "Good morning. Although, I guess it''s good afternoon?"


    Sue stared at me for a moment, then closed her eyes as if nothing had happened.


    She continued to keep her eyes closed and lean against me for a few seconds, and then suddenly sat up and looked at me again.


    "You are not a dream."


    She was so funny with her messy hair and serious expression on her face that I just stood there for a moment and then I couldn''t help but startughing.


    I didn''t hold back, I just burst outughing and Sue watched me with a surprised expression.


    "Yes, yes... I don''t know if it''s sad or something that serious, but unfortunately, I''m real."


    Sue continued to stare into my eyes for a few seconds.


    She squinted, then her squinted eyes widened. She mumbled something in shock that I couldn''t understand.


    "Excuse me?"


    "N- nothing... What are you doing here?"


    She tucked her hair behind her ear and averted her eyes. This was the third time I had ever seen her do this.


    I wonder if it''s a habit.


    "I invited you to the study group, but I forgot to add your number, so I was looking for you, but I couldn''t find you anywhere. Then I heard from a girl that you eat here, so I came here."


    "And then you sat next to me?"


    "You weren''t sleeping veryfortably. Your head felt like it was going to fall off and your whole body would be numb when you woke up, so I just straightened you up."


    Sue quickly lifted her wrist and looked at the clock. Then her eyes widened again.


    "It''s been two hours since lunch break! Have you been here the whole time?"


    Her cheeks flushed and she looked at me and her watch in shock.


    "I mean, I know most of what they tell me, so it''s not a big deal. I came third in the academy in thest written exams, just so you know."


    She opened her mouth, tried to say something, but then swallowed her words.


    I slowly stood up, keeping a smile on my face, and stretched like her.


    Maybe the regr sses are not important, but the time for practicals is approaching. I don''t want to get scolded by Professor Calvin.


    Speaking of Professor Calvin... It''s going to be pretty awkward meeting him again after what I''ve been through, but technically he doesn''t remember anything so it shouldn''t be a problem.


    "Anyway, give me your number and I''ll add you to the group. It''s not going to be pretty for me if I''mte for practice."


    Sue turned around quickly without saying anything. She stood there for a few seconds and then approached the food I had gathered.


    "You even put this together..."


    "It wouldn''t be nice if they stayed in the open air."


    There was silence, then Sue quickly called out a string of numbers.


    "Excuse me? Say that again, I missed it."


    I had entered the first three digits, but the rest was so abrupt I couldn''t make it out.


    Sue said her number a little more slowly this time. So first I registered her and then I invited her to the group.


    "Okay, I''ve invited you."


    I was about to say goodbye when I paused and remembered something I had forgotten, something important.


    I took out a dimensional button from my pocket, specially painted in red, handed it to her and lowered my smile, and spoke seriously.


    "If they do something like an interrogation, drink this beforehand, then even if you don''t tell the truth, things like lie detection spells won''t affect you."


    Sue nced absently at the dimensional button in my hand, but then said nothing and slipped it into her own pocket. I lowered my serious expression and smiled again.


    "Well, I''ll see youter, now that we''ve taken care of everything!"


    This time I didn''t wait for her to say anything and quickly made my way to the training rooms.


    As I was leaving, I heard Sue mumbling something again, but I didn''t slow down and kept going.


    I was happy, most of my momentary uneasiness had vanished.


    The two hours I had spent here had not been in vain.

 Chapter 77 Volume II - 43: Ambiguous Flow

    <h4>Chapter 77 Volume II - Chapter 43: Ambiguous Flow</h4>


    After leaving Sue''s side, I ran straight to the usual training room. And when I finally entered the room, Professor Calvin was looking at me, slightly annoyed.


    "You''rete! By seven minutes!"


    The first thing I did when I saw his attitude was to take a deep breath.


    As I had expected, it looks like it won''t be a problem...


    He doesn''t remember what happened.


    He seems a little more preupied than usual, though. And he doesn''t seem to have slept much... Maybe because of the incident?


    "I''m sorry... I had an urgent matter."


    "Urgent matter, huh? Like hiding how strong you are even from your personal instructor?"


    Uh... Right, there''s that matter, but I didn''t expect him to be so angry.


    "I didn''t hide it...? You didn''t ask, so I didn''t tell you."


    I didn''t really hide myself, but... Now the whole world thinks I did. So there''s nothing I can do. If I say I didn''t hide it, I''ll have to deal with much bigger problems because of the speed of my development.


    The professor made a disappointed face.


    "I am your instructor, Aiden... You can tell me anything without keeping secrets. My only goal is to make you stronger and for that, I need to prepare the most appropriate program... I don''t need to tell you what''s needed for that, do I? Up until now, I''ve been training you like you''re an F, but it turns out you''re an E."


    Ah... So that hell was for an ''F'' grade person... Is that so...?


    "So I''m going to intensify your training a bit and we''re going to pick a sword style for you."


    The first sentence was what I expected to hear but didn''t want to hear. The second sentence, on the contrary, was something I wanted to hear but didn''t expect because it was too early. Therefore, I was surprised.


    "Isn''t it too early for the sword style?"


    I''m serious about this. Even though sword styles are a lot of fun, I still feel like it''s too early.


    "Your basics are good enough. As I told you before, even if you don''t learn extremely fast, you''re still very thorough in correcting your mistakes and now is a good time to start learning a style. Especially considering you''re at ''E'' grade."


    "Ah..."


    I used to have the best of the worst general level, F grade... Of course, this was thanks to magic power and mana efficiency.


    When I first came to this world, my strength, agility, and endurance stats - in short, three of my four physical stats - were F-, the worst standard in this world.


    Of course, it is important to note that these grades are proportional to age. The strength of an adult''s F- grade is not the same as a child''s F- grade, but since even the ''normal'' of this world is F grade, I was really weak.


    So much so that in order to have worse statistics than this, I had to be physically disabled from birth or something, but with the developing technology, such things have disappeared...


    There are still people who get injured, but they are usually extreme cases and they don''t even show up in the stats... So I don''t even need to count them.


    Anyway... Basically, my body evolved after I became a wiera, or half wiera to be more precise, and my stats suddenly went up to a level that is almost close to the geniuses of this world.


    So from the academy''s point of view, I need to start learning a style.


    "I see..."


    "Then let''s talk about the styles you can use! I''ve watched your every move since we started training and made a diagram, but now I need to be sure again. So tell me what grade your swordsmanship and wind magic is."


    "My swordsmanship is E- grade and my wind magic is E grade."


    The professor raised his eyebrows skeptically.


    He doesn''t trust me... I guess it''s normal since he has a record of what I did in the preliminary.


    "In terms of mastery, my wind magic is really E grade. The ascension skill I have is only focused on wind magic, and I was able to make such an attack because I have a passive skill that directly boosts my wind magic."


    When the professor heard the word ''ascension'' from my mouth, he sighed deeply but did not make anyment.


    Ascension skills were such rare, powerful things.


    "I see, then look at this list and pick one."


    The professor tapped his watch and sent me a message. I quickly checked my own watch and looked at the message curiously.


    <<------------------------------


    1-) Uarin Style - Copy (E+-->B+)


    2-) Leiyin Style - Copy (E-->B+)


    3-) Silent Wind Style (E-->B)


    ------------------------------>>


    Despite what I saw, I could not help but be amazed.


    I was especially struck by the sword styles that the two swordsmen had created with their own hands.


    Uarin was a swordsman who is still alive today. His style was based on constant, non-stop, subtle attacks to force the opponent and expose his weaknesses.


    Unlike Uarin, Leiyin sadly did not live. His style was based on heavy attacks, but as fast as they were heavy. Because the attacks were heavy, there was a certain amount of time between them, but this time could be ignored by the speed of the attack and the damage it dealt.


    Of course, both of these styles are copies, not originals, and as such can only be improved to B+. Still, that doesn''t change the fact that they are great styles to start with.


    Silent Wind... that''s definitely a good style too. It''s very intertwined with wind magic and it really shines especially when used with it.


    It definitely suits me, but it''s not very morouspared to the other two styles. That''s why it''s inst ce, the professor must have put it there just because it suits me.


    "Which one do you choose? If you need to think about it, you can. It''s an important choice."


    He''s right, the academy only allows us to choose two styles while we study here.


    So I have to choose my starting style well.


    "Professor..."


    Nevertheless...


    "Have you chosen? Uarin or Leiyin?"


    His eyes sparkled with excitement, even more than mine.


    "Well... I''m not going to choose any of these."


    The professor raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked at me meaninglessly.


    "Excuse me?"


    "I''m not going to choose any of these."


    "These are the ones that the academy approved and put in front of you, you know?"


    He looks really puzzled. He might even think I''m stupid. After all, these are choices that were made by analyzing my ''everything''.


    "Yes, I know, but I''m still not going to choose these."


    "Then what will you choose?"


    "Nothing you can''t give me. I want a style called Ambiguous Flow."


    The professor looked at me in shock, his eyes widened in surprise.


    "What the fuck is that?"


    Well... It''s quite normal that he didn''t know, but being a sword freak, I guess it was a shock to him to be confronted with something he didn''t know.


    "If you look at the academy records you can see..."


    After what I said, the professor quickly entered his watch.


    Unlike ours, professors'' watches had direct ess to the academy archives. So the professor could look up what I said, and he did.


    "A style in which the image is refracted and distorted by the reverse intensification of the mana stream and projected onto the sword, allowing for ambiguous attacks. While theoretically quite functional, due to the difficulty of practicing the technique and theck of knowledge, it has been given a grade of F. However, due to the amount of mana spent and the weight of the style, it is estimated to have a maximum potential of level C, even with sufficient knowledge."


    As the professor read the description of the style, his expression fell a little more with each word.


    "Aiden, let''s ignore this style."


    "Professor..."


    "There are much better ones, I don''t want you to choose something obscure as your starting style."


    "I know what I''ve chosen, professor. Can you please trust me?"


    "Aiden... I can''t teach you a style I don''t know, and there''s no guide to ''learn'' it from. You will have made a futile choice."


    Why is he being so stubborn...


    I mean, I know he''s trying for me, but I wish he would give up more easily.


    "Professor, I don''t know how much you will believe me, but the potential of that style is not limited to a C grade. It''s almost an A, maybe even a little higher."


    I said this without losing any of my seriousness, keeping myposure, and the professor, instead of being surprised by what I said, became serious for the first time.


    "Do you know something about this style, Aiden?"


    "Yes, I do. That''s why I want you to trust me."


    We looked into each other''s eyes, both determined. I wanted the style, but the professor didn''t.


    But I wasn''t going to give up easily. I have to learn that style no matter what because what I just said... that''s a lie.


    A grade or slightly above? I can only describe the potential of that style as ''terrifying''.


    I''m not stupid enough to sit idly by while such a gift is freely avable to me.


    Although, Ambiguous Flow is like a copy of the style. It''scking in many points, but I can make up for that with what I know. Then, when I get my hands on the original style, I''ll already have the foundation.


    Why should I ignore such a cheat when I can get my hands on it for free?


    "Aiden... Are you sure? I want you to make a choice you won''t regret."


    "I will regret it if I don''t choose this, Professor. You and me, we''ll both regret it."


    The professor took a deep breath after my words and then nervously pressed a few keys on his watch.


    "You will get the style in our next training..."


    I smiled the best I could and bowed my head respectfully.


    "Thank you, professor."


    "Okay, okay! Raise your head... Now I''m going to put you in hell as punishment for beingte and lying to me."


    The smile on my face disappeared, reced by a twitching expression and I swallowed.


    Oh shit... I forgot.


    *******


    With all my muscles writhing in pain, I entered my room and, despite my sweaty state, I left myself on my bed without taking a shower. I was so tired that I couldn''t move a muscle.


    I take back all my thanks to you, professor.


    You''re a dishonorable person.


    ~beep!


    My thoughts were interrupted by the beeping of my watch. Sighing, I looked at the person who called me, and then I couldn''t help but be surprised because it was Professor Ulka.


    Ah... Because of what I sent him on the road?


    Before I went to Professor Calvin, I had sent him part of the theory that solved the five to twenty percent impurity in whatever potions were produced...


    It was revolutionary, so he might have been excited. It might even have raised my value in his eyes... but I can''t be sure of anything.


    Let''s see what he has to say.


    "Hello? What''s up, Ulka, you didn''t like the theory I sent you?"


    I entered the conversation as sarcastically and calmly as I could, it was one of the things I could do to make the difference between us clear after what had happenedst time.


    Ulka waited in silence for a while, then spoke with a deep sigh.


    "My nephew Justin, do you know where he is?"


    Oh... It seems they finally realized that Justin was missing. Justin''s mother must have contacted Ulka directly the moment she realized...


    I don''t know if he called someone else before me, but the fact that he called me shows that he suspects me even a little bit.


    Not that I need to worry. Mny and I have edited all the CCTV footage and they won''t find anything on me or Sue. So I don''t have to think about it too much.


    "No, I didn''t. Why do you ask?"


    I asked without stammering, adding a curious tone to my voice. I wanted him to think I was surprised and wondering what was going on.


    "Justin... disappeared. Ist heard him arguing with you, but it seems you don''t know anything."


    "Oh? So he disappeared... Now that''s interesting."


    I made my voice more distinct, I waited for a moment as if I was thinking, and then I sighed slightly, returning my voice to what it was before.


    "Anyway... I''m a bit curious, but I don''t really care. I hope you find him soon."


    Actually, I can tell him straight away that I killed him. Ulka... he wouldn''t do anything to me, he wouldn''t expose me. I''m pretty sure of that, but after what happenedst time, I don''t want to take even the slightest risk.


    "By the way, good luck solving the theory! Don''t forget to send me my money when the timees. In fact... my wallet has been at the bottom of the barreltely. Send me five million. You can cut my share when youplete the theories."


    I spoke not as if I wanted to, but as if I was giving orders. I didn''t care that he was senior to me, that he was older.


    Ulka didn''t care either.


    "I''ll send it soon."


    "Great! Well, good luck again."


    I didn''t wait a second, I closed the call directly, without receiving a response. Finally, I found myself back in the silence of my room and sighed deeply.


    I''m just going to watch what happens for a while, I''m going to keep moving from behind, and when the timees, I''m going to pop the balloon, that''s all.


    Yes... There is nothing else I can do.


    I closed my eyes with these thoughts. After all, I had to go back to school tomorrow and thanks to the professor, I was in a frenzy.


    So it wouldn''t be bad if I took a short nap...


    What would it matter if I slept until morning though?


    After all, there''s a lot more waiting for me, isn''t there?


    ~beep!


    Why the hell do they always find times like this?!


    Who the f-


    I swallowed my words along with the ones I saw on my watch. It was as if the world froze, time stopped flowing, and I was paralyzed where I was with it.


    ~beep!


    My watch kept ringing. The pleasant-sounding chime echoed and echoed in the room, but I couldn''t move a muscle.


    Am I dreaming...?


    I ruthlessly dug my fingernails into my arm, but when I felt the pain quite sharply, I realized I was still in the real world.


    At first, my whole body trembled.


    Excitement, nervousness, fear... These emotions swept through my whole body, but then they faded as slowly as they came.


    Absolute Mind was working as usual, but I didn''t even think about it.


    Because the person calling me was ra.

 Chapter 78 Volume II - Epilogue

    <h4>Chapter 78 Volume II - Epilogue</h4>


    "Still no news, S?"


    On a holographic screen, a man whose face was barely visible spoke to me.


    I carefully considered every word that was going toe out of my mouth.


    "No, sir... Last time he said a guardian was after him, so he fled to one of the secret bunkers, but he hasn''t answered anyone since he got there."


    There was silence for a brief moment.


    "What about the bunker?"


    "They haven''t responded to any of the messages we''ve sent."


    "Then it''s best to assume he''s dead. Larry, if I remember correctly, was A grade, right? And since he had two candidates, he was entrusted with the... thing."


    His difort was reflected in his voice, he had always been positive about Larry and trusted him. Now this incident was clearly getting on his nerves.


    "Any reports of a massacre in Cevilian, an unknown creature or a mad purple-eyed human being?"


    "We''re looking into it, sir... though so far we haven''t seen any such reports."


    "As soon as that thing finds a suitable body, it willtch onto it. There''s no way it could still be wandering around on its own after so long. Although it''s highly unlikely, there must be someone who managed to merge with that thing and not go mad."


    "Yes, sir... We believe the same thing."


    "Look at the people who have be extremely powerful recently. He or she must have jumped a few grades after bing a Wiera. Likewise, if you detect any unusual caora use, deal with it immediately."


    The man paused for a moment, then continued as if something had urred to him.


    "Who were the candidates for greed?"


    "Adrian Caleo and Aiden Tenebra."


    "How are they doing?"


    "They both seem to have survived what Larry prepared for them in the preliminary. In fact, not only that, they did so well that the crown prince rewarded them."


    "Oh? Well, which one do you think will work better?"


    I was silent on the question for a while, thinking.


    "We can''t say anything about either of them, sir... Adrian Caleo has great potential, no one can deny that, but... Aiden Tenebra is not without surprises, we must not act rashly."


    "I see. Then find the creature first, but keep an eye on the candidates. In fact... you take Larry''s ce, S."


    I tried hard not to smile, though I didn''t let it show, and knelt appropriately.


    Who would have thought that idiot Larry would be of any use?


    "Thank you, sir."


    "Good... The end of Greed is near, S. The organization is putting pressure on us, we can''t dy the nomination any longer. Don''t betray my trust in you, or the authority will pass to some random person and we will struggle."


    "I will give my all to the project, sir... Don''t worry."


    After I said these words confidently, the man must have been satisfied because he smiled.


    "I will be waiting for your good news."


    These words were thest sound that echoed in the room before the holographic screen closed.


    Finally, I stopped smiling, chuckled around the room, and let out a short burst ofughter.


    Larry... Oh, Larry...


    I never expected you to help me like this after making my life difficult in every possible way!


    With a big smile on my face, I turned around and headed outside.


    Even though his death hadplicated things a lot, I was now the one on top. Now I could put into practice what I had never been able to get that idiot to ept.


    *******


    ~beep!


    The sound of the call echoed in the room. The tension quickly enveloped my whole body.


    ~beep!


    Please... Open up now...


    ~bee-


    "H- hello?"


    When his voice entered my ears, I just stood there for a moment. Everything in my mind disappeared.


    "ra? Are you there...?"


    Hearing his familiar yet unfamiliar voice made me feel overwhelmed by emotions I couldn''t describe.


    "C- ra? Hey, did something happen?!"


    He stammered. His voice sounded different with each word.


    He was excited but also nervous and worried. I could understand that, and I knew it meant that he really cared about me.


    Wasn''t that all enough?


    "B-"


    Still, the words didn''te out.


    "Br-"


    I... I can''t, right?


    "Ethan..."


    After these words finally came out of my mouth, there was silence between the two of us.


    "It''s okay, ra. You can call me like that if you find it difficult. If you''re still not ready, if you want to rx a little more, you can hang up. I can alsoe to you right now if you need help. Who cares about the academy?"


    He really saw me as his sister, he really cared about me. I could tell just from those words.


    What had happened to him in the past that made him so attached to me even though there was no connection between us?


    This question suddenly popped into my mind.


    He said he grew up in an orphanage, but I don''t know much more than that...


    "I... I want to ask something..."


    "Go ahead, you can ask anything you want. I''ll tell you whatever you want to hear, there are no secrets between us."


    "Do you have memories of my brother... the real Aiden?"


    There was silence between us again.


    "No... I don''t."


    Ah... I... I called him because I thought I could learn something from him.


    Was it in vain?


    Now... should I hang up the call?


    I looked at the holographic screen in front of me, at the advancing seconds counter, then at the red button that would hang up the call if I pressed it.


    I didn''t do anything, I couldn''t raise my hand, that red button was there, but it wasn''t within my reach.


    I didn''t want to.


    "I''m sorry... If you''re wondering about Aiden, I don''t know anything about him. I died as Ethan and then I found myself in this body, that''s all."


    He''s not really guilty of anything, right...?


    The only thing he did was to deceive me, but he told me that even though it hurt him because he regretted it in the end.


    Unless he''s lying again, of course, but...


    "ra... I know, you''re going through a lot."


    He paused when his voice sounded hoarse, took a deep breath, and continued.


    "Your brother''s death, me taking his ce, what you went through before that, your loneliness after the death of your parents... Believe me, though, I''m going through hard times too."


    He paused again. This time remaining silent for a short while.


    As if he was waiting for something. Yet he again broke the silence he had created.


    "Before I spoke to you that day, I came back from the dead. There was a group targeting you because of something I had done. They threatened me with you and I couldn''t take it and I lost my temper. I killed the person who threatened you, but in doing so I almost died too."


    Everything he said sounded like a fantastic fantasy, but he wasn''t lying. He was so serious. His voice was so deep inside me that there was no way he could lie.


    "Then... my body changed. Half of my body is no longer human. That''s why I''ve suddenly be extremely powerfultely, and I don''t know exactly why, but after I came back from the dead, I got an extra passive skill called ''Absolute Mind''."


    Come to think of it... My brother was really scrawny and weak, but the footage in that video made me feel like I was watching a prodigy from a noble family.


    Was it really possible for someone to logically be that strong in such a short time?


    No, I knew it... everyone knew it.


    "The stupid skill... It erases from my mind any thought that would stress me out. It clears my mind and keeps me calm at all times, so I can''t even cry anymore... I can''t even get angry properly, my thoughts disappear in three to five seconds at most."


    I imagined that I was living, experiencing what he was saying.


    It was scary, having certain emotions taken away from a person against their will... it was frightening. Just the thought of it was enough to make my body tremble.


    "I''m not saying this to make you pity me, I just want you to know that I haven''t lived my life to the fullest either. I mean, I understand you well, I know what people want in such situations, so I won''t force you. If you want to be alone, fine, you can be alone, but if you want my help, then I''ll be with you before you know it."


    He was silent for a moment, took a breath, and continued.


    "You... maybe you don''t think of me as your brother, but I think of you as my sister. You''re the only family I''ve ever had, and that''s why I want to protect you, ra. As I said, if you hate me, I''ll never show up."


    "I... I''m having dreams."


    Ethan fell silent again, letting me speak.


    "Strange dreams... Dreams about the past, about my brother and my family as it was... In these dreams, my brother is not soulless. He smiles, he loves me. He even strokes my hair and sings me a luby, but then... something happens."


    I remembered those images, the bodies I had seen behind the kitchen door, and my whole body trembled with fear.


    "My brother... He kills someone, tells me to forget everything, and then the dream ends."


    "So that''s why you asked if I have his memories..."


    I didn''t answer, and I didn''t need to.


    "I don''t know the past, ra... I just said that, but that doesn''t mean there isn''t still a future ahead of us. What you said... I won''t forget it. I will investigate it. If there is something strange going on in the Tenebra Family''s past, it concerns both of us, I''m not going to let it go, but I don''t want you to be affected by it. I want you to live as a normal girl in the prime of her youth, away from danger."


    My eyes widened at hisst sentence.


    My brother had said the same thing to me in my dream. He had also told me that I could live as a ''normal girl''.


    "I will always be your big brother even if you don''t want me to, I will always protect you even if you reject me, I will always love you even if you hate me, you will always be my little sister. If you don''t want to see me... Okay, I just need to do things remotely, but I will never leave you alone. You are the only thing I care about in this world and I will never let your smile disappear."


    With tears in my eyes, I covered them with the sleeve of my dress, then I spoke in a low voice.


    "E- Ethan..."


    "Yes?"


    I didn''t want him to know that I was crying, that I was weeping, but I couldn''t help it, it was toote.


    "Would I be... would I be betraying my family?"


    I didn''t know what he was doing because we were on a voice call, but I could have sworn he was smiling.


    "No, ra."


    He sounded very sure of himself.


    "I think they would do whatever it takes to make you happy. So it doesn''t matter what you do if you will be happy in the end. Listen to your heart, and decide what you want. I think they will support you in whatever you do."


    "Then..."


    I paused, I listened to my heart, just like it told me. I tried to understand what I wanted, even though I already knew quite well what I wanted.


    My eyes teared up again, and I sobbed involuntarily, but this time I didn''t care.


    I let out the first thought that popped into my mind.


    "I''m sorry..."


    "You have nothing to apologize for, ra. The person who should apologize... is me."


    "S- sorry..."


    I sniffled, took my eyes off my arm, looked up at the ceiling, and took a deep breath.


    I tried to stop myself, but Ethan had other thoughts.


    "If you want to cry, you can cry. Crying will help you get it off your chest. I''m your brother, aren''t I? Didn''t I tell you long ago, even before the cemetery incident, that you can lean on me all you want? If you have problems, you can tell me and I will listen to you withoutment. You can cry your tears to me, it stays between us."


    I squinted as my eyes blurred, my face soured and this time I stopped holding back, I didn''t care if anyone heard me, I just cried out loud.


    Ethan¡­ he started mumbling something tofort me while I was crying.


    What he hummed... was the same luby my real brother sang to me in my dream.


    I could feel him stroking my hair, even if it was imaginary. I could see him standing next to me, smiling at me and it was soforting, so peaceful that I didn''t even ask him how he knew the melody.


    I just kept listening to him... and cried.


    --Volume II: The Half-End of Humanity--


    --The End--

 Chapter 79 Volume III - Prologue

    <h4>Chapter 79 Volume III - Prologue</h4>


    --Volume III: Games in the Dark--


    I''m... I''m not a hero.


    That was one of the first things I thought when I came into this world.


    I just want to change my ordinary life, I want to be happy.


    That was the first motivation I had in this world. That was what made me take the decisions that I would take, that made me care about what I would do for this cause, even if I hated myself.


    And yet, despite all this, I came back when things were already over for me, when I needed to rest, when it could all be over.


    My greed wouldn''t let me escape easily.


    And what happened as a result?


    I was out of breath. My whole body was writhing in pain, especially my ankles, but thanks to the Absolute Mind, at least I was calm.


    No... I could feel my calmness slowly diminishing, my Wiera side was slowlying out, and my emotions were getting mixed up again. I couldn''t stay calm even if I wanted to.


    I was angry.


    "Aaahhh!"


    A scream echoed through the space and I felt my anger rising inside me again. Then the owner of that scream slowly copsed to the ground.


    Her eyes, which moments before had been shining with determination, were closed and her body was in a terrible state. She had so many wounds that it was a mystery how she was still alive.


    I was the reason why she was like this.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %5,3 --> %5,9


    ------------------------------>>


    "We''ve only just started, but... You all faint after only a few minutes."


    A purple-eyed man stepped over the body of the girl who had just screamed, ignoring her, and approached me.


    ''You''re getting angry, aren''t you, Aiden? The people who had this happen to them because of your greed, you''re angry for them, aren''t you?


    A voice I didn''t want to hear echoed in my head, but this time I didn''t reject him.


    Instead, I embraced him.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %5,9 --> %6,5


    ------------------------------>>


    Just like the girl who had just screamed, there were many bodies in front of me. Some were dead, some had passed out long ago from the pain, but they all had one thing inmon.


    They were like this because of me. If I hadn''t tried to do things on my own, if I had been patient... none of this would have happened.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %6,5 --> %7,1


    ------------------------------>>


    "Ah... It was a lot of fun, but they had bad stamina, so what to do."


    I clenched my fist as I looked at his face, channeling my anger without suppressing it. I was full of hatred, yet it was my fuel.


    I shouldn''t run from it, I should use it.


    "Did you like the show? I tried so hard for you but now we have to go, I''m so curious to know what you are."


    I gritted my teeth, dug my nails into my palms and my vision blurred. The world was slowly darkening and my thoughts were slowly changing, but I didn''t resist the change in any way.


    I thought only one thing.


    I... will survive.


    ''You know what you want to do, Aiden, you want to take him down. You want to make him suffer the way he''s made people here suffer, you want to put holes in him. You want to kill him.''


    I... there''s so much more I want to do. I have new goals. So...


    I can''t die.


    That''s why I... must kill him no matter what.


    I clung to that thought with all my being.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %7,1 --> %8,8


    ------------------------------>>


    I felt my whole body slowly warming up, the pain receding from my body.


    I stood up slowly, and the man who had been smiling until now suddenly looked at me in surprise.


    "How are you standing? I was pretty sure I cut your tendons."


    His purple eyes were really filled with surprise, but I didn''t care.


    "Oh? Your eye is glowing more violently... You really are interesting."


    I felt bored, I wanted to move. It hurt me to stay still.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %8,8 --> %9,3


    ------------------------------>>


    I was forgetting everything, why I was here, who the man in front of me was... Only one goal was at the forefront of my mind: to kill this man to relieve my boredom.


    Yet I pushed myself harder because I knew it wouldn''t be enough. This man was strong. Too strong.


    ''You should hate him so much more, Aiden.''


    Yes, the more negative thoughts I fill my mind with, the bigger the feedback I get.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %9,3 --> %9,8


    ------------------------------>>


    My vision wentpletely ck, and I could feel almost nothing of the world, but I didn''t care. It was the only way to survive.


    ''Can you imagine what he would do to your other friends if he got out of here alive?''


    Suddenly, this sentence echoed in my mind, causing everything to freeze in an instant.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %9,8 --> %11,9


    ------------------------------>>


    My mind was suddenly flooded with images. Adrian, Julian, Celine, Lucia, Sue, and ra... Each of them was in front of my eyes, and behind them, the man with purple eyes was standing with an ugly smile on his face.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %11,9 --> %13,7


    ------------------------------>>


    "You..."


    I felt a zing me burning inside me like I was in a cauldron. The darkness in front of my eyes had turned to a purple glow.


    A simple word like anger was not enough to describe what I was experiencing in my mind.


    ''Hahah... You''re really stupid Aiden.''


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %13,7 --> %14,9


    ------------------------------>>


    "You..."


    The darkness glowed an even brighter purple, and then I heard a voice echoing in my mind, growing less and less intense.


    It was no longer me speaking, it was someone else in my body, and the next thing out of that person''s mouth was what the man standing in front of me had said to me a few minutes before I lost control of my body.


    "Do you want to... y a game?"


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %14,9 --> %15,0


    ------------------------------>>

 Chapter 80 Volume III - 1: The First Half of a Past

    <h4>Chapter 80 Volume III - Chapter 1: The First Half of a Past</h4>


    ?


    It was my mother''s voice that woke me up, as usual.


    "Adrian! Come on, get up, we''re going to start breakfast!"


    The sunlight gently hit my face through the window of my room. It disturbed my opening eyes, so I reluctantly sat up slowly.


    I must have kicked my duvet again while I was asleep, it was sticking out of the bed.


    Luckily it wasn''t winter, if it had been then I would have been sick for sure.


    "Coming!"


    I jumped out of bed with a big smile on my face, went to the bathroom, washed my hands, and flew to the kitchen.


    The scene that greeted me in the kitchen was the same as always. My father, with his silver hair and emerald green eyes, was calmly looking at the old-looking TV in front of him. He was expressionless as usual, but when he saw me walk in, he smiled ever so slightly.


    It seemed contrived, actually. Like he was forcing himself, but I got used to that a long time ago.


    "Good morning, Dad!"


    "Good morning Adrian, help your mom. Don''t let her set the table by herself."


    "Okay!"


    I quickly approached my mother who was at the stove and with a smile I took out tes and forks from the drawer. My mother, meanwhile, turned to me and smiled.


    She had ck hair that reached a little below her shoulders and pinkish eyes. She was not very tall, she looked quite young.


    She was a very beautiful woman. When I was a kid I used to say I was going to marry her.


    "Thank you, Adrian."


    I smiled again as the table slowly took shape, the different dishes side by side creating a delicious sight.


    I was happy.


    We lived in a wide clearing in a forest with very tall trees, almost in the middle of nowhere, with our own animals and a small field.


    I had no friends, no rtives, I had never seen another human being apart from my parents, except the ones I saw on TV, but... I was happy.


    My mom and dad loved me, they took care of me. When I was bored I would train with my dad, y games with my mom, or watch TV. Sometimes it was also fun to chase the chickens, spend time with the animals and y with them.


    In short, what I want to say is that I was happy with my life as a nine-year-old child.


    Of course, there were times when I questioned why we didn''t have a life like the people on TV, but I never brought it up to my mom or dad because I was already happy.


    When we finally set the table and had breakfast, we resumed our usual routine, our daily lives.


    I was ying games, having fun and running around my father and so on.


    Today was no different from any other day.


    At least it was until the clocks struck noon and the sun was at its peak.


    I was spinning around the house when suddenly I heard a sound that made me pause. All my attention quickly turned in the direction of the sound.


    Deep in the vast forest, in our house in the middle of nowhere, there was a knock on our door for the first time. So much so that even my parents stopped what they were doing and suddenly returned to the door of our house.


    "Sophia, take Adrian and go inside."


    It was the first time I had ever seen both my mother and father so serious. I had no idea what had happened, I wondered who hade to our door.


    My mother took me by the hand and led me toward my room, while I looked curiously at my father, who was heading toward the door.


    It was the first time I had really seen this normally expressionless man, who even when he smiled seemed to be forcing it, look so earnest.


    ~bzzt! ~bzzt! ~bzzt!


    The rhythmic sound I heard one after the other seemed to shake the world. Everything came together in an instant, my eyes flew open and I jumped out of my bed.


    Despite my rapidly beating heart, I put my hand on my chest and looked around in vain as sweat poured down my cheek.


    I was in my room, my room at the CDA.


    ''Did you have a nightmare?''


    My eyes widened at the voice echoing in my mind, then I took a deep breath, put my hand to my forehead, and bowed my head.


    "No... I mean, yes, but no... Half of it, let''s say."


    With the uneasiness of seeing my past, I went to the bathroom and washed my face. I clicked my tongue as I looked at my reflection in the mirror, took a short shower, and put on my uniform as if nothing had happened.


    As I passed by the kitchen, I nced at my small table with countless scattered tes on it.


    I squinted, felt a slight pain in my head, and finally turned my head away.


    I went straight outside and headed to my ssroom.


    Still, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn''t get the dream out of my mind.


    Now, nine whole yearster, my past is starting to affect me again...


    I don''t even need to think about why, I know the answer.


    During the preliminary, when those twenty boys surrounded me, Aiden''s cold eyes, his calm, emotionless gaze... literally everything about him reminds me of that day, of that man.


    Aiden is my friend, my first friend even, but his resemnce to that man... It scares me. Every time I look at him, I think of his face at the preliminary, and then I go back in time, and even if I try to stop it, I can''t.


    I take a deep breath, turn my gaze to the sky and squint my eyes as I keep walking.


    This... is slowly bing a problem.


    *******


    ~bzzt! ~bzzt! ~bzzt!


    I opened my eyes to the sound of the rm going off.


    It didn''t take me long to wake up, I sat up straight from my bed.


    I paused for a moment and took a quick look around my room.


    Nothing seemed different, my view of the world hadn''t changed.


    Still, I guess I could say I was happy.


    ra and I seem to have patched things up a bit, Celine and Lucia have joined the group of their own ord, I''ll get the sword style I want tonight, and the Justin thing hasn''t caused any problems so far.


    Of course, that doesn''t mean I don''t have any problems.


    Sith is still absent, half of my soul is a lunatic, it''s not enough that I belong to the wiera race who are seen as the ''viins'' of this world, the system sees me as a candidate for a representative, and I''mcking a few emotions because I''m cleansed of everything that can stress me out.


    When I remembered Sith, my mood dropped for a moment.


    I had really gotten used to him in the month I spent with him, and now that he''s suddenly gone... it still feels more strange.


    At least I know he''s alive, but...


    It''s weird.


    Whatever... I''d better not miss the lectures.


    I shook my head from side to side and quickly cleared my mind.


    Right, now is not the time to think about bad things. I just have to wait, and when the timees, everything will be taken care of. I trust myself and Sith.


    Thinking that this way nothing bad will happen, I quickly put on my uniform and threw myself outside.


    As I made my way to my ss, there was nothing different about the academy, except that some students, when they saw me, would turn to their friends and point their fingers at me. Of course, I didn''t care about any of them.


    Then I noticed a figure walking a little ahead of me. I smiled slightly.


    "Hey, Adrian!"


    Adrian, being absent-minded, didn''t hear me and kept walking. So I frowned, but I quickened my pace a bit and approached him, and when he still didn''t notice me, I raised my hand and put it firmly on his shoulder.


    "Ah!"


    Adrian quickly turned around, his fist approaching me at a speed I could barely see, and I instinctively tilted my head to the right.


    I looked at Adrian in surprise as the fist stopped a few millimeters from my left cheek.


    He was breathing rapidly, looking at me with widened eyes.


    "Aiden? Damn it, you scared me!"


    He looked angry, but I didn''t care about that, what I cared about was that he insulted me.


    Don''t get me wrong, I''m not angry with him.


    On the contrary, I want to admire him, he has finally matured enough to insult me.


    That''s a good sign.


    Well... I suppose it is.


    With a slight, wry smile on my face, I gently pushed Adrian''s fist, which was still in the air, away from me with my left hand.


    "It''s your fault you didn''t hear me when I called you."


    "You called out to me?"


    "Yes."


    His eyebrows raised in surprise, and he finally pulled back the fist I had pushed away, releasing his fingers.


    "Oh... I''m sorry, I was thinking about something..."


    Hmm? I wonder what he was thinking.


    "Well, then, why don''t you walk instead of standing where you are? We''re getting a lot of attention."


    With that Adrian finally took his gaze off me and looked around curiously.


    Just like I said, when he saw that almost everyone was watching us with interest, he let out a deep sigh and then continued walking slowly toward our ssroom. I followed behind him.


    "Still, you used a lot of power for a simple punch."


    I barely saw the punch, even with my E grade stats and my improved body from being a wiera...


    No, I couldn''t even see it, I just acted on instinct. If someone else had been in my ce, his fate would have been very different from mine.


    Although... since when did I have such instincts? Is it something to do with me being a wiera again...? Maybe, considering that wieras are very pro-war.


    I frowned involuntarily at these thoughts that reminded me again that I am not a human being, but then I was distracted from these thoughts by Adrian calling out to me.


    "That''s because I was distracted... Besides, you got through it pretty well. You were more than calm."


    "It was all instinct, and my calmness was..."


    At first, I couldn''t think of anything to say, I didn''t want to talk about the Absolute Mind to just anyone. I didn''t like that skill, and being a wiera was something else.


    "I don''t know, I guess I thought you wouldn''t hit me because you were you."


    Adrian frowned and eyed me suspiciously, but when he saw that I didn''t say anything else, he sighed and refocused.


    So we continued to move slowly but steadily toward the ssroom and then we arrived at our destination, only to be greeted by Julian the moment we entered the ssroom.


    He waspletely focused on me with a textbook in his hand and his eyes shining, it was clear what he wanted.


    I turned to Adrian, put my hand to my mouth, and spoke in a whisper.


    "Aren''t bullies supposed to hate studies?"


    Julian frowned because he couldn''t hear what I was saying, and Adrian didn''t react to what I said.


    He looks distracted again...


    What is he thinking about so much?


    "You said something bad about me, didn''t you?"


    I put my hand on Adrian''s shoulder, ignoring Julian''s words.


    "Adrian? Are you okay?"


    After what I said, Julian slowly turned to Adrian so that he too realized that something was wrong.


    "Adrian?"


    "Ah... I thought of something, nothing important."


    Adrian put a slight smile on his face and refocused on us.


    We kept talking like that but both Julian and I had noticed something.


    We didn''t know what it was... but something was different about Adrian.

 Chapter 81 Volume III - 2: Study Goup Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 81 Volume III - Chapter 2: Study Goup Meeting</h4>


    Darkness.


    An endless darkness where I can''t hear, see or even feel anything.


    How long have I been here? I should be able to feel time naturally, but I can''t even do that.


    And yet... frankly, it doesn''t really matter.


    I let things go a long time ago, I didn''t really care what happened to me since I ran away from my world, from my father.


    All I cared about was living freely as I wanted.


    I wonder... did I seed?


    Did I manage to save Aiden? I did exactly what he told me, but... I don''t know what happened.


    I tried to strain my memory and remember what happened.


    I didn''t even know it was possible if Aiden hadn''t told me, but somehow I managed to fuse with his soul. And then... it was chaos.


    Something was spreading through his soul, making him sick.


    If I had intervened from the beginning, maybe I could have prevented it, but almost half of the process was already over. So I did the first thing that came to mind.


    It was spreading through Aiden''s soul. So just like Aiden had said, if I split the soul in two, it was supposed to stop spreading.


    Of course, it was a total gamble, there was a chance that I could kill him with my own hands instead of saving him, but he was going to die anyway if I did nothing.


    So, in one fell swoop, I split Aiden''s soul in two.


    When I did this, the chaotic soul suddenly shook violently and began to dissipate.


    I tried to hold it together while it was fused with the soul. If it slipped away, Aiden''s body would be nothing but an empty shell. So I did my best to hold the soul together and sewed it back together like a tailor.


    It had worked.


    When it was all over, the soul had finally stopped spontaneously disintegrating and was more stable. So my focus shifted to the other half of Aiden''s soul.


    I had barely paid any attention to it during the process, so I was truly stunned by what I saw.


    The other half of the soul had sewn itself back together, just as I had just done. Not only that, it was in harmony with the part of Aiden''s soul I had saved.


    They were separate but they were supporting each other, standing together and still moving as one.


    The only problem was... as I looked at it, a shiver, a feeling of difort ran through me. On the outside, it was stable, in harmony with its other half, but inside it was very different.


    There was a war going on inside the soul itself, full of chaos. No, it was like chaos itself.


    It was inviting me in, trying to pull me in.


    I was so weak from trying to save Aiden''s soul, I had no energy left because I had given almost everything to the process and so I couldn''t resist it.


    So I did what I did before Aiden summoned me to this world. I put myself to sleep and put a protective barrier around me.


    As long as I slept, my energy would be replenished, and this energy would be used by the barrier and protect me from that chaos.


    And all the while, I would continue to umte a certain amount of energy, and when I was finally vigorous enough, I would wake myself up.


    That''s all I had to do.


    I just... had doubts about when I would wake up.


    What if it took me hundreds of years?


    Wouldn''t Aiden be dead by then?


    If he dies, can I wake up in the real world?


    I don''t know, but I don''t think I have a choice.


    Actually... I''m worried.


    Things seem to be going well here, but I don''t know what''s going on outside.


    Has Aiden stayed the same, has he changed, what happened to him while I was gone... I have no idea.


    At the same time, a different thought popped into my mind.


    How much time did we spend together? I... I was usually in the background, getting inside him and watching what he did.


    In fact, did I even know him in the first ce?


    I thought back to the first time we met, and my nonexistent brow furrowed.


    Aiden... He is very knowledgeable. He even knows thenguage of the spirits, how to sign a contract with them, and how to get me out of the border. It''s like he knows more about me than I do.


    He knows that much about me, but how much do I know about him? Are we really bound to each other, even though we have a contract?


    ''Then let''s get along well. After all, a century is a long time for me.''


    I suddenly remembered what he had said to me.


    A century... a really long time and I, if Aiden is still alive, will spend it with him.


    I... should keep a better rtionship with him, shouldn''t I?


    I should be there for him as someone who lives in his mind, as a source of some of his power.


    Until now I had underestimated this contract thing, I had seen it as a trivial thing, but the time I had spent here had helped me to realize some things.


    Determination flooded my whole body and I focused on the energy within me.


    How much more do I need? I can''t be sure...


    In this way, I put all my focus on the energy that I had umted inside me and watched it build up. One by one, I observed every bit of energy entering my body and tried to calcte whether it would be enough or not; when would be the soonest I could wake up.


    Until the time when I would wake up, I just focused on that.


    *******


    "I''ve emailed you the full content of the style you want, download it to your watch and you can start working without fear of losing it."


    Just as the professor said, I opened the email and downloaded the file, and an app appeared directly in the main menu of the watch.


    The content of this app was all about the ''only half found'' content of a style called ''Ambiguous Flow''.


    The professor was still hesitant because of the status of the style, I could see from his facial expression that he was not satisfied, but I was grateful to him.


    "Thank you for trusting me, professor. Believe me, you won''t regret it."


    Satisfied, I closed my watch and drew my sword, pointing it at the professor.


    Even though I had just gotten my hands on the style and wanted to study it, I wanted to raise the professor''s mood a bit, he looked really pensive.


    "We shouldn''t stand idle, right?"


    Fortunately, I got a positive result from what I was doing, a slight smile appeared on the professor''s face when he saw that I was eager to duel with him.


    "Yes... We shouldn''t wait idly."


    The professor drew his sword and pointed it at me, and then we just looked at each other around the room without doing anything.


    It was training without any skills, just using our swords.


    I was not allowed to use any mana, to strengthen myself in any way. That''s exactly why Professor Calvin''s training was painful, even though I couldn''t use mana, he didn''tpromise himself too much.


    It was difficult to fight with pure sword skill against someone so familiar with the sword, but it was also effective.


    Thanks to this, I had be quite advanced in swordsmanship in just a month and a half.


    First, we both took a deep breath, focused on each other and then the professor and our swords shed.


    I thought I was slowly getting to the point where I could stand up to him, but... I didn''t realize what was happening for a moment when I lost my bnce and staggered with the recoil I felt.


    I felt such a recoil that it was as if I had hit an indestructible wall.


    "What? Did you think we would always stay at the same pace? If so, how will you develop, get up!"


    The slight smile on the professor''s face widened. His earlier hesitation was gone, reced by a sadistic expression.


    Shit...


    *******


    When I walked out of the training building, there was only one thing on my mind.


    Professor Calvin is a demon.


    Wasn''t this man a guardian of virtue...?


    I don''t understand why he has such an... evil side.


    I took a deep breath despite my aching muscles, headed toward the dormitory building and after a while, I went to my room without incident. I let myself fall on my bed while continuing to hurl insults at the professor.


    I didn''t stay in bed for long though, instead, I went to the bathroom and took a quick shower.


    Normally I would take a shower either early in the morning, before going to bed, or if I was really pissed.


    The reason why I showered so early in the evening was that my whole body was covered in sweat thanks to the professor and I was going somewhere.


    Today was the first day we were going to meet with the new members of the ''Study Group''. I couldn''t go among them smelling of sweat.


    After my shower, I changed intofortable, ordinary clothes. Even though it didn''t make much sense anymore, after putting on my usual coat, I took my tablet with me and headed straight to the caf¨¦ where the karaoke rooms were.


    This way it only took me six minutes to get from my dorm room to the usual karaoke room.


    When I arrived in front of the room, I didn''t knock right away.


    Although I''m calm in most situations, I''m a little nervous right now.


    When I used to study with Adrian and Julian, there were only ''three'' of us, so I was more rxed, but this time... there will be six of us.


    It''s the first time I''m going to meet so many people at once, and besides, I''ve been quite a loner in the past. My experience for a situation like this is literally zero. That''s why I was nervous.


    I took a deep breath, poured a small amount of mana into the Absolute Mind, and felt rxed.


    Well... I guess I have to thank it for that.


    I calmly reached for the door, prepared to knock on it, but it suddenly opened before I could touch it.


    So I found two violet eyes looking directly at me.


    "Uh... Thank you?"


    Celine didn''t seem surprised to see me.


    How did she know I was here?


    "My instincts are good."


    Ah... True, her passive skill might have predicted that I was here, but if it''s going to react even to something as simple as this... it''s more frightening than I thought.


    Although I couldn''t help but hesitate at the answer, I slowly went inside without saying anything and Celine closed the door behind me so I could take a quick look inside.


    Adrian and Julian were sitting like puppies about a meter behind where they always sat, staring at me. In the spot they particrly avoided was Lucia, a blonde girl with a rather ordinary ck mask on her face.


    It''s possible to mitigate the effects of charm in this way, even in the game she wears the same mask for a while, but it''s a temporary solution.


    Because a simple mask cannot cover the effects of statistics so easily, it can only reduce them a little because it covers her face.


    I turned my eyes back to Adrian and Julian, and when I did we locked eyes and then I suddenly felt likeughing.


    Adrian was expressionless, but I could tell he was wary of Lucia.


    Julian, on the other hand...


    I swallowed myughter, ignored Julian''s silent ''cries for help'' and took off my coat once I was next to them.


    Thanks to the Absolute Mind, I didn''t feel so mesmerized, even though Lucia still looked more beautiful to me. I was calm and it served me well. Of course, that couldn''t be said for the others.


    I nced around the room again, aiming to look at Adrian and Julian andugh, but then my brow furrowed.


    Oh... Sue isn''t here?


    I quickly checked my watch, then the messaging app, and looked at the group details.


    Sue wasn''t in the group.


    Not that she had left the group or anything, but she still hadn''t joined the group even though I had invited her to join earlier.


    I thought she needed some time and then she would join the group on her own, but the group invitation was not indefinite. It expired yesterday.


    Should I nudge her a little bit toe?


    I want her to act independently of me though, she shouldn''t always be guided by me.


    Still, I''m upset that I couldn''t see her...


    Whatever.


    Celine and Lucia were talking to themselves, and Adrian and Julian were standing in the same spot they had been just a moment ago.


    No lie, the atmosphere was a bit tense.


    "Okay!"


    At my sudden shout, all eyes turned to me and I smiled slightly.


    "If everyone''s gathered then-"


    ~knock! ~knock! ~knock!


    My words were interrupted by a knock on the door of the room. I turned to the door with a puzzled expression.


    "I''ll check it."


    I quickly went to the door, opened it without waiting, and then I was greeted with the scene I had expected.


    An involuntary smile formed on my face.


    "Wee, Sue."


    I wanted to step aside and make way for her, that was my intention, but then I realized something else and paused.


    The slight smile on my face instantly disappeared when I saw the figure standing just behind Sue.


    My eyebrows raised meaninglessly, and my eyes widened. I just froze where I was.


    Alysia, with her waist-length silver hair and coal-ck eyes, was looking at me with her tablet in her hand.

 Chapter 82 Volume III - 3: Unexpected Member

    <h4>Chapter 82 Volume III - Chapter 3: Unexpected Member</h4>


    Alice Liate, real name Alysia Laute, is a really important person in terms of her position in the story, but unfortunately she... She''s not a good person in Lunerra.


    She is one of the viins of the story. Whether it''s her environment, her own personality, her physical and psychological problems, or her illnesses; she''s almost ''forced'' to be bad and there''s no way to bring her to the ''good'' side in the game.


    One of the reasons for this is that Alysiaes into the game quitete.


    By the time she''s active in the game, her traumas are already weighing her down and she''s already on her journey to the bad side. That''s why no one who ys the game is given such an ''option'' directly.


    If I remember correctly, Alysia appears a few times in the early stages of the game, but she really starts to appear about five or six months from now. The reason for her appearance is simply to observe Adrian because of the mission her grandfather gave her.


    And now... here she is this early, sitting in the same room with us.


    "So... you want to join the group because you think you can improve your grades?"


    "Yes."


    Her answer to me is quite simple, her facial expressions are usually static, so I can''t guess what she is thinking.


    It''s true that her grades are not extremely good, since she has focused all her attention on the tasks her grandfather gave her, on empowering herself and investigating other issues. Not bad, well above average, but could it be better? Of course, they can.


    I mean, there''s no loophole, but I know she wouldn''t havee here because of something so simple.


    Because of what I did, did his grandfather take action early?


    No... the reason he acted earlier was not to observe or eliminate Adrian just because he was strong. He had a different motive.


    He can''t realize that this early. He may have doubts in his mind, but he shouldn''t act yet.


    So, something must have changed in the story again because of my actions and something is happening that I don''t know about.


    "Well... Okay."


    Still, can''t I fix her, just like I did with Adrian?


    "Of course, you can join us."


    Isn''t this world my reality now, even if I''m not given a chance in the game?


    Likewise, won''t every force I bring to my side increase my chances of survival on Lunerra?


    Absolutely.


    So should I ignore someone''s potential just because they are ''bad'' in the game?


    Of course not.


    In fact, it might even be easier to do so than I thought, since Alysia has been brought into the current scenario earlier than usual.


    The more I thought about her, the more ideas started to sprout in my mind about how I could get her on my side.


    Of course, I won''t just pick one of them, I need to observe her first.


    What is her real purpose in joining the group? What is her current personality, and her psychological state? What about her congenital illness?


    I have to examine all of these and determine the route I will approach her ording to the results I will reach.


    With a smile on my face, I turned to the others in the room.


    There used to be three of us gathered in this karaoke room, but now there were seven people here with me, all of whom were important to the story of the game.


    As I was thinking this, I noticed two dark blue eyes looking at me.


    Okay... maybe ''everyone'' in the room is not important. Although I''m not in an important ce either...


    Yet.


    "Thank you."


    Alysia''s thanks for my approval was not sincere at all, but I ignored it and turned to Sue.


    These two came together, but they must have bumped into each other, right? I don''t think they were friends at all...


    "Wee to you, too."


    Sue responded with a simple nod. So I took a deep breath and shouted without lowering the smile on my face.


    "All right!"


    All eyes were already on me, but by suddenly shouting out like that, I brought the focus back to the distracted ones.


    Now everyone was literally looking at me.


    "Let''s do a little introductory sequence, you''re being too serious."


    So what? I hope they didn''t think I was just going to give them a lecture.


    No, I want to build a stronger bond between me and them. They shouldn''t see me as a friend who will simply tell them the lessons they don''t know and forget about me in the future.


    I should be a close friend who will be an important part of their lives.


    Of course, the look on their faces seems to say that this is childish, but it doesn''t really matter.


    "I''m Aiden Tenebra! I''m eighteen years old and I think I know most of what the academy tells me in terms of studies."


    There''s a lot more I could say, but there''s no need to overdo it, a simple introductory sequence is enough.


    This way I am setting an example for them, they don''t have to force themselves... They just have to tell me their name, their age, any additional information they want, and how they are doing in their studies.


    So I left my speech there and then turned my eyes to Adrian.


    It didn''t take him long to realize it was his turn.


    "Adrian Caleo... I turned eighteen about two months ago, I''m not doing very well in my studies."


    It was a very short introduction, but almost everything about him was already known.


    "Julian Virhen, I''m eighteen and I''m not very good at studies either."


    "Celine Potenbea, I''ll be neen in four months, I''m... well..."


    Celine kept her eyes on the floor, and then I noticed a slight smirk forming on Julian and Lucia''s faces.


    Well, no lie... she looks really funny, but I hope she doesn''t realize it and get angry.


    "Lucia Quie, I''m eighteen years old. I''m happy to exin anything you don''t understand."


    The mask on her face hid her appearance a little, but even her voice had an air that drew those around her to her. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Julian''s mouth drop open, but I ignored him with a slight grin on my face.


    "Alice Liate, I''m neen, and my grades are slightly above average."


    Again her face was expressionless and her voice emotionless. It was as if the others in the room were beginning to shy away from her.


    "Olivia Sue Gemma¡­"


    Sue sounded a little timid. As the weakest and most ''ordinary'' of us, it was natural for her to act that way, but at least she had made it here.


    I believed she could go on, and she did.


    "I am eighteen years old... My studies are not bad, they are average..."


    So, everyone in the room introduced themselves, even if it was in a simple sentence. I didn''t really like it because they were so simple, but at least we had taken the first step.


    "So now I want each of you to take notes on what you want to learn, what you think you are missing. Lucia and I will first exin themon problematic lessons, and then we will go over each subject with some sample questions that we will carefully make out. If, after themon subjects, you don''t understand something in particr, we can help you in our free time, but for now, this is how I want to proceed. Any objections?"


    No one objected to me. In fact, they quickly grabbed their tablets and started looking at the lesson subjects.


    Adrian, Julian, and I had already done this before, so we were just waiting on the sidelines. Julian kept looking at me like he was trying to say something, but he must have been shy because of the atmosphere.


    I didn''t pay much attention to him, if he wanted to talk to me he should take the step himself, I''m not always going to do it for them.


    In this way, about fifteen minutes passed. It was very quiet during this time, but I wouldn''t say it was boring as everyone was doing something.


    When everyone had made their own lists, they put their tablets on the table and I started going through them.


    There were only two subjects on Lucia''s list. One of them was something I knew about and the other one was something I also had problems with.


    The lists other than Lucia''s were...


    Alysia and Sue''s list was about the same size. I already knew what Adrian and Julian were stuck on, so I didn''t need to look at them, but then something caught my attention.


    Celine''s tablet only had a few lines written on it, which I was surprised to see.


    I knew very well that she was literally ''terrible'' in her studies, so I frowned, but then I suddenly paused.


    "Ah..."


    When I saw the ''note'' written on the tablet, I felt the need tough for no reason.


    The note said ''subjects I know''.


    "''Well... I got a general idea."


    I handed the tablets back to their owners, then stood up in the middle of the group and smiled slightly.


    "There seem to be a couple of issues that everyone seems to have inmon. First of all, I think the one we''ll be dealing with the most is mana theorems."


    Mana theorems was naturally one of the lessons that was not in my old world. The aim was for students to have a basic knowledge of ''mana''.


    The lesson was actually kind of like a sub-branch of mathematics, but it was seen as a separate one because it had practical training and so on.


    Well, this lesson was not very difficult in middle and high school. Therefore, students did not study this as much and saw it as ''easy''.


    Of course, since the situation was reversed in universities and private academies, students were technically driven to the wall.


    That''s why this was one of the most difficult subjects in the academy. In fact, the two subjects that Lucia could not understand were both in this ss.


    "I n to focus on mana theorems for now, but in order not to leave out other subjects, I will divide the days we meet into two. Half of the time we meet will be for mana theorems, and the other half will be focused on other subjects."


    As I was about to continue, I saw a hand raised in the air.


    It was Lucia, asking for permission to speak.


    "Not everyone has the same missing subjects, how do we bridge the gaps?"


    "I will exin the gaps that are notmon to everyone separately, or you can exin them if you are avable. Don''t worry, I will arrange things like the timing."


    "I see..."


    In this way, I continued to exin my ns for the meetings. Despite what I had said, none of them objected, on the contrary, they seemed to think it made sense, nodding their heads absentmindedly at times.


    "Yes! If I don''t make any changes in the future, this is my n, if anyone has any objections or has any ideas, please don''t hesitate to tell me."


    Despite my modesty, no one objected.


    "Okay then..."


    I lifted my wrist and looked at the time, it hadn''t even been an hour. We still had plenty of time.


    "The next round of written exams starts in three weeks if they are not postponed, and then there will bepetitions for a long time after that... So, if you are free, let''s start our first session right now."


    Again, no one objected to me.


    "Good..."


    So I put my tablet down on the floor in front of everybody and clicked on it a couple of times, and then my tablet switched from the digital screen to the holographic screen, and I made this holographic window the size of a fairlyrge ckboard, and I turned back to the people in front of me and smiled.


    Actually, I want to do some fun activities and so on, but it would be better to tire them out first and then pull them in that direction. That way they can participate more lively.


    "Then... Let''s start from the first subject again huh?"


    They all clutched the tablets in front of them and looked at me curiously. So I started with the basics of mana theorems, which are often difficult to understand.


    Although the beginning of the session was quite easy, there were some really ''difficult'' questions that could be asked even from the basics. Of course, I gave them these questions in a slightly modified order, so that they didn''t suddenly stop when it came to the difficult questions, and they didn''t hesitate to tell me if they couldn''t do something.


    The trio of Celine, Sue, and Lucia were even chatting about the questions among themselves without me, which was really nice to see.


    Celine kept getting frustrated because she couldn''t get the questions right and it was really funny, but apart from that, Lucia always helped her in a dignified way, while Sue still kept a certain distance from them. She didn''t chat with them much, but when they were solving questions together she was a bit more engrossed.


    Adrian and Julian were more on their own rather than with them.


    Of course, they weren''t very good at ''lessons'' so they had a lot of questions they didn''t understand, but I sent them over to where Celine, Lucia, and Sue were so they could mingle with the group a bit more.


    Alysia approached them a few minutes after she saw them go over there. She too seemed to be focused on the questions.


    In this way, throughout our study, I tried to bring them especially close to each other, helping them with every problem they had and never taking my smile off my face.


    In this way, three hours passed by before I even realized how it had happened.


    *******


    *(A/N: I think there is something wrong with the review section of Webnovel or directly with my novel. I recently noticed that about 1/3 of the reviews written for this novel are invisible. The person who wrote the review can see it, it also appears on their profile, but no one else can see the review except that person.


    There are currently 6 reviews in the novel, at least that''s how I see it. I encountered such a problem in 2 of them and wrote to the support team. They fixed the first one, the second one is still being fixed.


    So right now, if you are someone other than Blue_Pizza, ItzNeedless, Kukkapi, Ashborn1609, and Sai_Swami and you have written a review, I can''t see it. If you are not one of these five and you have written a review, or will write one, please let me know so that I can check your review.)*

 Chapter 83 Volume III - 4: Karaoke

    <h4>Chapter 83 Volume III - Chapter 4: Karaoke</h4>


    Actually, these three hours with Adrian, Julian, Celine, Lucia, Sue, and Alysia were much more productive than I thought.


    Towards the end, the group started talking to each other a bit more freely. I didn''t know how much they would progress from the first day, but I certainly didn''t expect them to make this much.


    Of course, unfortunately, our time was not unlimited. So there was an end to it.


    "Well! How do you think it was?"


    I looked at the six people in front of me, who were almost asleep, without taking the smile off my face. They had listened to what I was saying with a lot of focus, but of course, three hours of concentration had tired their minds a lot.


    "Thank you..."


    Celine took a deep breath, attempting to stand up, but I spoke before she did.


    "Are you bored?"


    Six pairs of eyes turned to me at the same time, a hint of curiosity in their tired eyes.


    "Don''t you think you deserve a reward after all that hard work? Why shouldn''t we have fun?"


    As I said these words, I looked each of them in the eye, while observing Alysia.


    Her expression was the same as always.


    It''s really impossible to understand what she was thinking, but if I don''t try, I won''t be able to get an idea. For now, I''m curious to see how she''s going to look at the idea of ''fun''.


    "Fun?"


    Sue asked in surprise, the others must have been thinking the same way as she was, their sense of wonder multiplied.


    "Yes, fun."


    I widened my smile, turned off the holographic screen we were using for the lesson, and then raised my hand to open another holographic screen.


    The lights inside the room suddenly dimmed, more colorful lights filled the surroundings, and a huge screen appeared on the wall in front of us.


    "Isn''t this the karaoke room? After what happened at the preliminary and after such a boring time, why don''t we have fun? Don''t we deserve to have a good time?"


    Yes, that was my n, even if it was cheap; to sing karaoke.


    As young people who are not even twenty years old yet, why can''t we sing karaoke?


    I hesitated for a moment.


    Well... I mean, even though my mind is twenty-one, my body is eighteen. I''m kind of an exception, I think.


    "I think it would be better if we rested..."


    Julian stood up, clearly ufortable. Then slowly, but with haste, which he tried to hide, he headed for the door.


    "Do you have a bad voice? Or are you ashamed... Oh, I see. I wouldn''t expect that from a nobleman."


    Julian paused for a moment.


    "There''s nothing you can do if you sing badly, but I really didn''t expect you to ''run away''... Julian Virhen, refusing a challenge cowardly... This will make good gossip."


    He''s a proud man. Whether it''s his personality or the fact that he was born and raised in the Virhen family, almost the highest nobility in the kingdom, a lot of factors have made this pride grow and grow since he was a baby.


    What does he do when he hears these words, especially in front of other people, people he is embarrassed by?


    "Run away..."


    He mumbled, but his voice was barely audible. I narrowed my eyes and continued with a slightly sad expression.


    "Anyway, there''s nothing to do-"


    "Alright..."


    Julian turned around, quickly approached the screen, and then scrolled down the list on the screen with his finger. Then he pressed something at random.


    The lights in the room suddenly swiveled to focus on him, a pleasant-sounding melody began to emanate from the walls, and then the lyrics appeared on the screen in front of Julian.


    All the while I smiled with the sweet satisfaction of victory, turned slightly, and looked at the others.


    For now, none of them seemed to have any intention of leaving, they all understood what I had done in this exchange between Julian and me, and they seemed to like it, grinning slightly.


    Good.


    I had a broad smile on my face. Then I turned back to Julian and then another voice joined the melody echoing in the room; Julian''s voice.


    The song was one of those fast, energetic songs. The melody was one of those that forced you to keep a rhythm, it sounded quite nice.


    Not to lie, Julian''s voice sounded good too, and it matched the rhythm. So that little tension in the atmosphere disappeared in an instant.


    Julian continued to sing the lyrics for about two or three minutes, then the music faded, and the room lights, which had been focused on him, scattered again.


    Julian slowly looked back and gave me a knowing look.


    I smiled, nodded in agreement, and started pping, followed by another round of apuse from behind me. Sue joined me, followed by the others with herd psychology.


    "Heheh..."


    When Julian saw the apuse, he stood still for a moment, scratched the back of his head with a grin he couldn''t keep off his face, and averted his eyes.


    The nervousness, the embarrassment of only a few minutes ago was gone.


    "Next then?"


    I turned around again and looked at the others, the apuse had suddenly stopped.


    The nervousness that had left the atmosphere seeped back into the air, no one made a sound. No one even made eye contact with me, let alone a sound. The only one who did was Alysia, but she was expressionless and I couldn''t understand what she was thinking.


    Shame is really their worst enemy...


    "Then let''s draw lots!"


    Seeing that no one was willing, I quickly essed something on my watch that could help us draw lots. I quickly typed everyone''s names into the program except Julian''s, and then without waiting, I drew the lots.


    The name that came up was Celine''s.


    I looked directly at her with a smile on my face and she realized the result. She insisted on not standing up, but in the end, I forced her to stand in front of the screen.


    When the first lyrics came in, her voice was a bit slurred, but then it rose on its own. She synchronized with the song as if she had forgotten about us, and when the song ended she had the same look on her face that Julian had just had on his; she was so proud of herself.


    In this way, although they were reluctant and hesitant at first, they slowly adjusted to the environment. The nervous expression on their faces gradually disappeared, they were just focusing on the songs and rxing.


    After Celine, the next draw was Sue, Adrian, myself, and Lucia.


    Sue was timid at first, just like Celine, but after I gave her a little push and encouragement, she went on. Her voice was neither good nor bad, it was just an average performance.


    When she finished, Sue didn''t say much, just a slight smile on her face and took her ce. There was still some distance between her and the others, but I believe she will get used to it eventually.


    After Sue, it was Adrian''s turn...


    Well, he was actually the only one in the group who seemed excited to go on stage, but I can''t say that his voice was... good.


    I can''tment on myself, but judging by the looks on people''s faces, I didn''t give a bad performance or an extremely good performance. I am not very important anyway. The main event will be the person who will perform after me, Lucia.


    Lucia confidently stepped in front of the screen, even if her facial expression could not be understood because of her mask.


    No one else knew much about her, but I did, so the mask couldn''t hide her emotions from me.


    She was someone who was hungry for real friends, someone who always wanted to have a ''fun'' time but could never do it. That''s why she was excited, whether she let it show on the outside or not, now she wanted to show herself.


    What she didn''t know, though, was that her statistics affected not only the way she looked and the way people looked at her but almost everything she put out.


    When her voice left her lips, when her lyrics echoed in the room, the fortable'' atmosphere dissipated in an instant.


    To call Lucia''s voice beautiful would be an insult. Even the most famous singers in the world could not be on the same level as her.


    It wasn''t only her voice that was perfect, her harmony with the song was also excellent. The slow but peaceful song, which aims to evoke a lot of emotions at the same time, jumped several levels at once when Lucia was the one singing it.


    That''s why everyone was hypnotized. Even Alysia''s eyes widened, she didn''t move a muscle and focused on the music.


    I, on the other hand, listened to the whole thing without being overly affected thanks to the Absolute Mind, even if the song was really perfect.


    I am aware of Lucia''s beauty and the charm of her voice, I could be as hypnotized by the song as they are if I let myself, but more is impossible unless I specifically ask for it. I don''t feel particrly drawn to her and I don''t feel my mind going fuzzy.


    Of course, I''m notining.


    So after three minutes, Lucia finished her song and turned around excitedly to look at us.


    When she saw people staring at her with open mouths without saying anything, she frowned, even though I couldn''t understand her emotions because of her mask.


    She understood that her statistics were at work, she knew that the people in front of her were looking at her because of the statistics. That''s why she was annoyed, but then she saw me looking directly at her.


    When our eyes met, I smiled slightly at her, then closed my fist and raised my thumb in the air as if to show that she had seeded.


    She was stunned when this happened, but I didn''t mind her too much. I whistled and pped a little louder to get the crowd back on their feet.


    The sound echoed around the room and everyone came to their senses. Then, absent-mindedly, they started pping along with me.


    "You should be a singer Lucia, you''ll make good money."


    Thisment was not mine. It was Celine who spoke.


    "E- Exactly..."


    This time Julian interjected, but his voice trailed off with each letter.


    The tension on Lucia''s face slowly faded as she heard them, and instead, her cheeks contracted, as if to show that she was smiling under her mask.


    "Thanks..."


    Lucia stepped back from the screen and rejoined us. She was relieved, I think I can say.


    So there was only one person left, Alysia, who didn''t go on stage.


    Alysia didn''t react much when she realized we were looking at her. She just sighed a little bit, came in front of the screen, and started singing a random song.


    I didn''t expect her to sing. I mean, at least given her personality, I could visualize her expressionless rejection.


    And now... she''s singing in front of us.


    And it''s not sloppy, she does it quite well. After Lucia, she might even have the best voice of all of us, she harmonizes well with the rhythm and gives emotions. Not as much as Lucia, but she can make everyone focus on her.


    Of course, not me.


    I narrowed my eyes and focused more on Alysia''s back facing us than on the song.


    She''s definitely trying to do something, I''m sure of it now.


    I''m not exactly sure what, but her grandfather must have given her a mission. Otherwise, she wouldn''t be doing something so contrary to herself.


    The only problem is... what kind of mission exactly? The same as in the game, or something different? Is she here just for Adrian or does she have any ns for me?


    I don''t know about this and this kind of thing, but I certainly should. For now... I''ll keep watching her.


    Alysia sang until it was over until the music slowly came to an end. When she finally finished singing she looked at us without saying anything.


    The group was really mesmerized, not as much as Lucia''s, but it was a great performance.


    "Okay!"


    I gave a small round of apuse. Then the group followed me and I looked at the clock.


    It was already midnight and we were still here.


    Actually, it would be nice to continue. I''d like to try duets or trios so that they get used to each other more, but I won''t bother them too much.


    "And so ends our first activity as a group! We studied together and then rxed by having fun... Thank you foring."


    With that, they stood up. They understood that we hade to the end.


    "When is the next gathering?"


    Adrian was the one who asked the question and his eyes looked a little brighter than usual.


    He had the excitement of a child eating sweets for the first time in his life. He wanted more.


    "We''ll meet again in two days, and then I wanted to meet again on the weekend, but I have a little business... If you guys want to study, go ahead. Lucia is already more knowledgeable than me, she will help you better."


    "I see..."


    "Good evening."


    Without another word, Alysia grabbed her tablet, threw her coat over herself, and hurried out of the room. Julian followed her, grabbing Adrian by the shoulders and tugging him toward the exit, but when I saw out of the corner of my eye that he was looking in Lucia''s direction, I had to suppress the urge tough.


    Well... it looks like I''m cheating because I''m not affected by the charm statistic, but it''s actually quite funny.


    "Aiden, are youing?"


    Adrian turned to me, standing in the doorway, waiting for me with Julian.


    "No. I''ve got a half-hour thing to take care of, I''m going somewhere other than the dorms."


    "I see... Goodbye, then."


    "Goodbye..."


    In this way, Adrian and Julian also went out. Then Celine and Lucia headed toward the door together, but before they went out they turned around onest time.


    They were both looking in one direction, in the direction of Sue, who was standing right next to me.


    Sue''s eyes were fixed on the floor. She had her tablet in her hand but she was just waiting. She hadn''t realized that Celine and Lucia were looking at her, so I took advantage of this and gave them a quick hand gesture.


    They both turned to me, I smiled and pointed at Sue and made a simple walking gesture with two fingers on my other hand.


    Sue had tried to get close to them when she was studying, but she always kept her distance from them. Celine usually didn''t like people who were afraid of her, but Sue was different.


    Sue wasn''t afraid of those two. She was used to the typical nobility after Justin.


    She was just afraid of not making ''friends'', of not being liked, of being ostracized again. This was a bit obvious in her behavior. That''s how Celine and Lucia understood what I meant. This nce sequence, whichsted only two seconds, was enough formunication between us.


    After this brief moment, Celine and Lucia looked at each other for a moment and then nodded slightly. Grateful, I slowly stepped back and gently pushed Sue forward.


    As Sue stumbled forward she looked up from her contemtive state, saw Celine and Lucia waiting for her, and then stood still for a few seconds.


    "Come, Olivia. Let''s go to the dorms together."


    When Lucia spoke, Sue stared at her for a moment longer. Then she walked slowly over to them, pausing before she left the room and looked at me.


    I could have sworn that her dark blue eyes were practically glowing. She looked happy as the nervous, pained expression I had seen so far slowly disappeared, reced by a big, bright smile, the first I had ever seen on her face.


    "Thank you."


    Her voice was almost silent, I could only guess from the way her lips moved that she had said that.


    I felt warm inside, I was happy, just like her.


    To receive a thank you from someone, to feel that I had really helped someone... it was really wonderful.


    I raised my hand and gave her a simple wave, then I put a smile on my face and watched Sue go out the door with Celine and Lucia.


    Neither Lucia nor Celine knows Sue in the slightest. Today was the first time they had seen her, but they understood her problem and helped her.


    I suppose I should thank them sometime.


    Anyway... Now, let me focus on the main event of the evening.


    I put my coat on and left the karaoke room. Then I started walking in the opposite direction of the dormitories.


    The ce I''m heading to is the ''Mana Research Laboratories'', which I''ve been to a few times since I''ve been here.


    Of course, I''m not here to talk to Ulka. I have another purpose.


    I''m going to meet Alexander Callidas, who was ranked first in thest written exams.


    Even though it''s midnight, I''m around the time when he''s most active, so it''s not so important.


    It''s just... I''m not sure if I''ll get along with him, he''s a bit difficult to convince...


    Of course, I have my own methods.

 Chapter 84 Volume III - 5: Dungeon Offer

    <h4>Chapter 84 Volume III - Chapter 5: Dungeon Offer</h4>


    I stopped walking when I came to the front of the usual building, the Mana Research Laboratories. I stared at the huge building for a few seconds. Its grandeur had always impressed me, but I was slowly getting used to it.


    With a deep sigh, I headed inside.


    Usually, when I enter here, I always go to the reception desk, but not this time. Instead, I turned left at the reception desk, went up the stairs, and after a few steps on the second floor, I reached the building''s cafeteria.


    After I took my first step into the cafeteria, I raised my arm and checked the time. It was exactly thirty-five past midnight, so it was right on time.


    I put my watch back and quickly checked the tables in the cafeteria. Since it was already midnight, there weren''t many people at the tables, but that didn''t mean that there was no one there.


    Among all the tables, someone was sitting at a table for four in the corner.


    He had short dark green hair that could be called curly and dark brown eyes. He was a little skinny, but he was almost a hundred and ny centimeters tall. Add to that the severe and sharp look on his face, and I couldn''t feel like I was in the presence of a weak person, even if I wanted to. He looked like an ordinary person, but he had a certain air about him.


    While I was studying him, he calmly reached for the te with a te full of oranges, popped a small piece into his mouth, and continued to stare coldly at the screen in front of him.


    There were so many slices of orange on the te that it gave me a strange feeling, but I didn''t find it strange at all.


    Even though I knew his eating habits at this time of the day, it wasn''t out of the realm of possibility that I wouldn''t run into him tonight. So I was happy to find him, Alexander Callidas, at this very moment.


    With a smile, I approached Alexander''s table, and as the distance between us decreased, he noticed me, because I was approaching him from right before him.


    "Hi."


    Alexander paused his hand reaching for the te of oranges and fixed his brown eyes on me. He raised his eyebrows, keeping a cold expression on his face.


    "Hi, do we know each other?"


    "No, this is the first time we''ve met face to face. May I sit down?"


    Alexander hesitated, but he shifted his chair slightly to the side and gave me his approval, so I took the chair directly opposite him.


    He was looking at me coldly and I was smiling politely, so there was a strange atmosphere.


    "What are you here for?"


    "I came for a job offer."


    Alexander''s brow furrowed slightly, small traces of disgust appearing on his face.


    "Isn''t that a bit sudden?"


    He looked as if he was about to dismiss me, but I didn''t budge. I reached for the te of oranges on the table and spoke nonchntly as I popped one of the slices into my mouth.


    "Red-tailed Lheal, I know a way to get it."


    The disgust on Alexander''s face disappeared in an instant. His cold expression gave way to a much sterner one.


    "What are you talking about?"


    He was so serious that was almost frightening.


    "There is a dungeon that the kingdom has not yet discovered, and inside this dungeon, there are a few things that I want. Of course, one of the nts that grow in this dungeon is the Red-tailed Lheal, which will be very useful to you."


    Alexander narrowed his eyes, paused for a moment as if something had urred to him, and studied me.


    "You... are the guy from the rumors. Aiden, right?"


    I widened my smile.


    "Yes, I''m that guy, but that''s not that important. The important thing is that I can get you the nt you''re looking for, Alexander."


    "Why would youe from nowhere to help me?"


    "Because I need you for what I want to take from that dungeon."


    Alexander''s brow furrowed even more.


    "I don''t understand."


    "It''s quite simple, there''s a locked door somewhere in the dungeon. The way to open it is...plicated, reallyplicated, and I can''t figure it out on my own."


    I swallowed the orange slice in my mouth, leaned back, and looked into his brown eyes, widening my smile.


    "Sure, you''re different."


    I pressed down on all three words that came out of my mouth. I wanted him to understand what I was talking about and... it worked.


    Alexander''s eyes widened, and then his whole body trembled slightly.


    This time he was really surprised.


    "You... How do you know?"


    "There are many things I know in this world, Alexander. Your skill is just one of them, and if you trust me, you will not only get the nt you want, but you will also get something even better."


    Alexander stood still for a few seconds after what I said to him. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. Then his stunned expression gave way to a serious one. His eyes were sharper now, daring.


    "If you have such detailed information about me, how do I know you''re not deceiving me? Lheal is a valuable nt, once I get my hands on it, you can kill me and leave like nothing happened. If we''re talking about a truly unexplored dungeon, you wouldn''t even leave a trace. As long as there really is a dungeon."


    Alexander calmly took another orange slice from the te in front of him and popped it into his mouth.


    "Too many nobles have a grudge against me. Not to mention the ones who are worried about my current and future positions and want to see the end of me just because I don''t have noble blood in my veins. How do I know one of them isn''t a hired killer?"


    "Simple."


    I widened my smile, and just like him, I popped another orange slice into my mouth.


    No lie, they taste really good.


    "You can''t know, and you can''t investigate because I don''t have any family behind me. Of course, you would interpret that as ''well hidden'' so it doesn''t really matter to either of us that you can''t find a family behind me."


    Now... I have to be a bit aggressive.


    "Of course, I don''t know how much longer your mother will be stable."


    It all happened in an instant. Alexander pulled a long, sharp needle out of the sleeve of his sweater and quickly aimed it at my arm.


    I didn''t move a muscle, and the needle stopped just a few millimeters above my right hand.


    Alexander''s anger was visibly reflected in his eyes, colder than ever. He would not hesitate if he had to.


    "Are you threatening me with my mother?"


    He held his body steady with great dexterity, the needle would go straight into my hand if he wanted to, and all it took was a tiny movement.


    He was almost like a cold-blooded killer.


    "I may be weak, I may not be ranked very high, but that doesn''t mean I can''t kill you."


    I felt something dripping from the tip of the needle onto my arm, a drop that sent the cold straight through my skin, but I kept the smile on my face.


    Alexander is not physically strong, just as he says himself. Because he is amoner and his family is poor, he has not been trained since he was young like other nobles, and he has no extreme skill in directbat. On top of that, only one of his stats is rated E- and that is agility. His other stats hover around F to F+, mostly F.


    Still, he has his own ways of fighting his way into the top two hundred.


    For example, he uses poisons topensate for his weakness by using his agility. The cost of these poisons and needles is a bit steep, though, so he only uses them on special asions.


    Still, he is skilled and knows how to use what he has at his disposal.


    "I''m not threatening you with anyone, Alexander."


    I slowly raised my hand and started to push the needle aside, but then Alexander gently pricked my hand with the needle. Then I felt my hand slowly going numb.


    That was it though, I knew there would be no more unless Alexander pushed the needle deeper.


    "I just need you to take care of my business. And to convince you, I''m offering you something you need, with more options. If I hadn''t used my contract privilege this month, I would have made you a contract, but unfortunately, I did... If you have, then we can make a contract right now."


    Contracts are really powerful things, but it''s also frustrating that I can only have one contract a month. And there''s nothing I can do, I hope Alexander has contract privilege.


    "I have... used it too."


    Great...


    "Then there''s nothing we can do."


    I pulled my numb arm back and slowly stood up, then put a small piece of paper with my number on it on the table.


    "I''ll say it again, I don''t want to harm anyone. I just want to take care of my own business and I''m offering what I can to convince you, that''s all. Again, you''ll take it as a threat, but we both know your mother doesn''t have much time, Alexander. Unless youe with me, think about the next time you will have the opportunity to find Lheal. The nt is really rare, so its market value is quite high. Red-tailed Lheal in particr are even more difficult to ess than the normal ones."


    Alexander looked thoughtful again. He pondered normally as if he hadn''t just injected poison into my hand.


    "I don''t want money from you, you won''t even owe me any favors when you get the nt. Juste with me, we''ll crack that cipher in the dungeon and we''ll both be happy at the end of this journey."


    With that, I took onest orange slice from the table and slowly left the table without saying anything else.


    From the look on Alexander''s face, I could tell that it would be better to give him some time since the weekend is still far away.


    Well, if he doesn''t agree, I have another idea, but I hope I won''t have to use it.


    I don''t want to poison myself.


    Anyway... I''d better go to sleep.


    *******


    After entering my dorm room and letting myself into my bed, I was sleeping almost soundly.


    So when I opened my eyes for the first time in a long time, not because of the sound of the rm going off, but because of something else, I couldn''t understand what was going on.


    I sat up from my bed and started to look around in vain when a loud sound slowly echoed inside.


    ~knock! ~knock! ~knock!


    Ah... there''s a knock at my door.


    And it''s not even eight o''clock in the morning, considering my rm hasn''t gone off yet...


    Why would anyonee to my door at this hour?


    After a quick ssh of water on my face from the bathroom, I ran to the door. By the time I arrived, there was another knock on the door, indicating that whoever was at my door was in a hurry.


    Seriously... what''s going on?


    As I approached the door, I looked out through the peephole, so I was momentarily disoriented when I saw three security guards and two men in suits standing in front of my door. It didn''t take long, though, before I finally realized what was happening.


    Right... I had forgotten.


    With that realization in mind, I first straightened my posture and then opened the door with a sleepy look on my face. I also put a puzzled expression on my face as I faced the five men standing in front of my door.


    "Yes?"


    One of the men in a suit stepped forward and began to speak in a monotonous tone.


    "We apologize for disturbing you so early in the morning, but the academy is investigating something very important and we need to be quick. So we''re going to ask you a few questions, and if we don''t find anything suspicious, we''ll leave."


    The surprise on my face gave way toplete ''shock'' and I blinked my eyes several times ''senselessly''.


    "Am I being used of something? What exactly is the case?"


    "It''s about the disappearance of several students of the noble ss. The name of one of them is Justin Malus and we have determined that you had some interaction with him. Due to the magnitude of the case and the speed with which it is being investigated, the Academy has suspended this week. So you won''t miss any sses, will you pleasee with us?"


    After the suit''s words, I quickly looked at my watch and saw that there was indeed a message that there would be no sses this week.


    "Sure, but let me change first."


    Obviously, I can''t go to testify in my pajamas. Of course, they don''t need to know, but there is also something else I have to do.


    "I''ll be back in five minutes tops."


    I left the door open so they wouldn''t suspect me, and I quickly went to my closet and took out some clothes. At the same time, I was thinking.


    So they''ve started investigating the Justin thing... Only the people there know about me betraying Justin in the preliminary, thanks to the illusion device. So they might find out that I betrayed Justin after a few interrogations, but they have no proof that I did anything to him directly.


    Mny and I have already changed the CCTV footage to show that on the night of Justin''s disappearance, after leaving the Mana Research Labs building, I went straight home and didn''t leave until the morning.


    We even took a look at the location tracking system of the clocks, which is only active within the academy. It shows that I waspletely in my room that night. And so was Sue, of course. So even if they use me, they can''t do anything because they have no evidence.


    They might question why I went to the Mana Research Labs that day, but I already have a solution for that, so it''s not a big deal.


    After I finished changing, I approached the drawer next to my bed. There was onest thing I had to do.

 Chapter 85 Volume III - 6: Testimony

    <h4>Chapter 85 Volume III - Chapter 6: Testimony</h4>


    I opened the drawer, took out a bottle with a gray liquid inside, and without a second thought I drank the whole bottle down my throat.


    A strange sensation suddenly appeared in my body. My whole body trembled slightly from head to toe. I felt my heart, its slowing down, in every cell of my body. Then the sensation began to disappear and by the end of the process, I felt even more ''normal'' than I usually do.


    After putting the empty bottle back in the drawer, I quickly made my way to the door and with five other people waiting for me outside the door, we moved off. We went to the building that was the headquarters of the security guards.


    In general, this building was no different from a normal police station, except that it was staffed by security guards, not police officers.


    There are six hundred and twenty-five people from each year at the academy, and since the academy is a four-year program, there are only two thousand five hundred students on campus.


    Considering that the academy is one of the best in the kingdom, the vast majority of these students are nobles. So things like fights between students are quitemon. Of course, the academy doesn''t hold back, and they pump more money into security and strengthen their influence over the academy.


    The academy is not perfect, though. Bribery and all sorts of things go on, and security guards are sometimes afraid to go up against very powerful families, but even so, without the investment in security, it would probably be much more chaotic here.


    "Keep following us."


    With these words spoken to me when we arrived in front of the building, we went inside and I must say that it was quite crowded.


    The first floor was rtively calm, but the second floor and above were quite chaotic. Staff members were running here and there, and noble family elders, some of whom I vaguely recognized, were talking to some of the staff members.


    Some of the nobles were calm, but some were crying and venting their anger at the staff.


    Well, security was trying tofort them as much as possible, but they were nobles after all. I would say they were trying their best.


    "You''re Aiden Tenebra, right?"


    I was walking when I heard a voiceing from my right side and I paused, reflexively turning in the direction of the voice.


    There was a woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties. She had short to long ck hair and golden yellow eyes. She was about the same height as me, but she could clearly show the ''difference'' between us just by looking at me.


    This woman was Jenny Malus. In other words, the person standing in front of me was Justin''s mother, and she was looking at me in such a way that I felt like she was going to attack me without caring about the people around her.


    "Yes, it''s me."


    I put a slight smile on my face and gave a perfect royal salute.


    "Did you want something, ma''am?"


    I don''t care how much pressure she puts on me, no matter how hard she tries. I have Absolute Mind, mental things have almost no effect on me.


    So I am very much at ease.


    Jenny Malus gritted her teeth slightly and narrowed her eyes after my noble bow.


    "I hope you don''t have a hand in this matter, young man."


    "If I knew what I was used of, I could give you an answer here, ma''am, but believe me, I don''t even know what it is yet. It seems you have a connection to the matter I''m about to testify about... I''ll help you with the case in any way I can."


    She raised one eyebrow and looked at me nkly. For a moment I could see the sharpness in her eyes diminish and that was enough for me.


    "You may continue."


    The suits, who had been waiting for Jenny Malus to give the go-ahead for her to finish speaking, moved again at her words.


    As we slowly left her behind and made our way up to the third floor, I was happy, even if I didn''t show it outwardly. I thought I had performed well in front of Jenny Malus.


    We made our way along the floor and finally got away from the crowd, into arge area where there was no one but the staff, and then I was led into an interrogation room.


    So I was seated in a chair on one side of arge table and waited.


    The room was basically ck walls, or rather one-way ss, arge brown table in front of me, a small device for projecting holographic screens on the table, and an empty chair on the other side of the table.


    I continued to examine the room, but it was very in and not at all different from what I remembered. Therefore, I quickly focused on what was in front of me. Eventually, the door of the interrogation room opened again and a woman walked in.


    She had short blond hair down to her neck and blue eyes. She was of average age and looked like a regr person.


    "We''re going to begin your testimony now. I''m just going to ask you a few questions and you''re going to answer as much as you can. Okay?"


    As she said this, she sat down in the empty chair opposite me and then activated the holographic device between us. This opened a window on the table.


    "Okay."


    The woman smiled slightly and then pressed a few buttons on the holographic screen. Suddenly there were about twenty photographs of students in front of us.


    "How many of these students do you know?"


    "I know only one of them directly, the others I have seen a few times, but I don''t really know them."


    "Which one do you know?"


    "Justin Malus."


    There was a short silence, so I quickly started to say what I was thinking.


    "Don''t get me wrong, we weren''t friends. We just worked together on a small job, that''s all. Of course, the oue of this deal was not good. We had a little argument, the deal ended and I went against our agreement, that''s all."


    "So you admit you had a quarrel with him?"


    Her blue eyes narrowed slightly, not breaking eye contact with me for even a second.


    "I don''t see any reason to deny it, and we only ''agreed'' with each other, there was no contract or written source to prevent us from disagreeing."


    "Okay, got it."


    The woman jotted down a few things on the screen in front of her.


    "The thing is, all the students I showed you a photo of disappeared after entering the wooded area of the academy a few days ago. The location data from their watches is not working, nor can we find any trace of them. They seem to have disappeared from this world and that''s why there''s such a massive investigation going on. Now, I''m going to ask you to answer my questions in order."


    I nodded in agreement.


    "First of all, are you responsible for the disappearance of these students, do you have any knowledge of their disappearance, where were you doing the night they disappeared and when was thest time you saw any of them."


    So... that''s how we do a question and answer. Okay, no problem. It''s already too easy.


    "First of all... Can I know when this happened?"


    This was the simplest of the traps in her questions. She didn''t give me the date of the incident, but she asked me what I was doing that night, which was almost clich¨¦d, frankly.


    When taking a statement from a guilty person, they are often under a lot of stress. That''s why their answers are often incoherent and they don''t pay much attention to the other person, or even if they do, they miss things because of the tension. I, on the other hand, because of Absolute Mind, am not under the slightest stress. On the contrary, I am quite rxed and studying the woman in front of me.


    So there is no way such simple things can influence me.


    "They entered the wooded forest on the night of October 30th."


    The woman still had that sharp expression on her face. Her eyes were actually on me, but I knew that wasn''t exactly the case. If I focused on her a bit, I could tell that what she was looking at was not me but the ''space'' between me and her.


    Of course, in this space, there was a system window that I could not see but she could.


    "On the night of October 30th..."


    I waited a few seconds as if thinking, but after a while, I continued.


    "If you look at the CCTV footage, you can easily see that I was in my room all night and never came out. And of course, I am not responsible for their disappearance. I have no connection to the case and I don''t know anything about it. As for when I saw them... I saw Justin a little before the preliminary, but we haven''t seen each other since then."


    "Even though you betrayed him, you weren''t afraid of him?"


    "Not that I wasn''t afraid of him, but I doubted that he would do anything to me because of my current position in the academy. After all, I''ve met with a few scientists, I did quite well in the preliminary, I saved many students'' lives, and with the grade I got in thest essays, I think I willpete at least once in the intelligence section in the inter-academypetitions."


    "Onest question then, what do you know about Justin''s former girlfriend Olivia Sue Gemma?"


    Oh... I didn''t expect that. Did the rumors about me saving her catch their attention?


    "I met her for the first time on the academy grounds a few days ago. She was being bullied by a group of people, and I didn''t want to be a bystander, so I helped her. Then I realized that she had a lot of psychological problems of her own, so I invited her to our study group with some of my friends to support her. Now we are just friends in the same study group, that''s all."


    "Can you name all the members of this study group of yours?"


    "Me, Adrian Caleo, Alice Liate, Celine Potenbea, Julian Virhen, Lucia Quie, and finally Olivia Sue Gemma."


    The woman looked at the space between us, genuinely puzzled by the names I had mentioned. This time she didn''t do it secretly, but quite openly, which is why I had a slightly curious expression on my face. Of course, when the woman realized this, she quickly tried topose herself and wrote something else on the holographic screen above the table. After a short while, a slight smile formed on her face.


    "Thank you for answering my questions honestly, Aiden, and of course we apologize for the inconvenience. Since the academies are on a break again due to the investigation, you can go to your room and rest."


    A smile formed on my face as well.


    "If I''ve helped the case even a little bit, no problem."


    With that, I stood up and headed for the door in a rxed manner.


    When the suits who had brought me here came out from behind the doors, I headed toward the dormitories as if nothing had happened.


    The testimony had gone well, I was sure that I was perfect and I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.


    Oh, right... I wonder if Sue has started to give her testimony.


    I had already sampled some of the trick questions for her and a few of them had already appeared in mine. Besides, she has the elixir that prevents lies from being discovered... I hope it goes smoothly and I won''t have to deal with this for a while.

 Chapter 86 Volume III - 7: First Phase of Ambiguous Flow

    <h4>Chapter 86 Volume III - Chapter 7: First Phase of Ambiguous Flow</h4>


    After giving my testimony, I headed to my room without any problems. Just as I was about to enter my door, a voice came from behind me.


    "Aiden Tenebra, isn''t it?"


    There was a man, probably in his forties, holding a small, well-wrapped package in his hand. He was an ordinary courier, but one of the academy''s specialized ones. He had a cold expression on his face.


    "Yes, it''s me?"


    "This package is for you."


    The man handed the package to me again coldly, matching the expression on his face.


    I was a bit annoyed with him for his attitude, but I took it without saying anything and looked at it. Then, I suddenly remembered.


    Really, the award I had chosen at the ceremony was due to arrive today.


    I put a big smile on my face, opened the door to my room, and took my first step inside.


    "Thank you."


    I closed the door without waiting for a reaction from the man, he didn''t seem to care anyway.


    I quickly got on my bed and started to open the package.


    After a while, there was a gray cube the size of my fist with blue runes engraved on it.


    This cube was a skill cube, and after transferring mana to it, I would be able to obtain the skill engraved in it.


    I quickly ced my hand on the cube and poured mana into it.


    <<------------------------------


    You are about to learn an active skill!


    Skill: Mana Barrier (E --> A) It allows one to create a protective wall that will be as durable and longsting as the amount of mana transferred. The shape of the wall can be changed minimally with imagination.


    The wall can be qualified as being made of solidified mana, but the amount of mana spent on it will increase.


    Do you ept to learn the skill?


    ------------------------------>>


    Without a second thought, I pressed yes and then I felt an intense flow of manaing from the cube toward me.


    Of course, I didn''t reject this mana. On the contrary, I epted it dly and so the mana from the cube slowly spread all over my body. Then it retreated to the center of my chest and after a while the runes on the cube stopped glowing. Then the cube turned to dust and dissolved into the air.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You have learned the [Mana Barrier(E)] skill!


    ------------------------------>>


    After the skill cube waspletely destroyed, I quickly opened my stats window and couldn''t help but grin when I saw Mana Barrier in the active skills section.


    Now I''m really ready to go to that dungeon. I just need Alexander with me. Then I will have a sword that willst me a long time and a second mastery of magic.


    Of course, there will also be the system''s rewards for entering an unexplored dungeon. And since the academy is taking this week off to investigate the Justin thing, I have more free time than usual, which means I don''t have to worry about time.


    Could there be a better time to go to a dungeon? I don''t think so.


    With a huge smile on my face, I threw the cargo box in the trash and went back to my room.


    Now that I had some free time... I could get started.


    I opened my watch and went to the app that had recently been added to the home page.


    I clicked on the style I had recently bought from the professor, ''Ambiguous Flow'', and arge holographic screen opened in front of me. On the screen was the style''s first guide catalog.


    It is usually better to practice styles in one of the training rooms, but this style is not a ''normal'' style.


    The styles are usually in pieces. These parts can be phases, movements, levels, or something else, depending on what kind of style it is. Ambiguous Flow is no different, it''s divided into parts called phases.


    In other words, each phase can exist in a cycle with traces of the previous phase.


    The difference is that, unlike most styles, I don''t need a sword to start practicing the first phase of Ambiguous Flow. The first phase, and to arge extent even the second phase, is all about mana control, so I can practice it at home without any problems.


    Of course, this is not a process that happens very quickly. The style is really challenging, it''s hard to learn, but the rewards are enormous. In short, I''m notining.


    I started reading the guide for the first phase, focusing on the details, but I couldn''t help but think about the game''s producers.


    There''s not much information about the styles the yer learns while ying the game. Only certain things are mentioned in certain scenes, so I can''t just practice every style I want.


    If there was more about the styles in the game other than the descriptions, I could have practiced more than one style at the same time...


    I let out a deep sigh, slightly annoyed when I thought about it again.


    Seriously, why did they just cover the styles with simple descriptions?


    It''s a big loss... a very big loss...


    "Whatever."


    I read through the first catalog of the guidebook a few more times, finally closing my watch.


    First I got myself into a proper andfortable position, and after I thought it would be okay, I closed my eyes and focused intently.


    My aim was to slowly gather the mana in my body toward my chest and rotate it there.


    I felt the random flow of mana through my body, interfering with its flow and pushing it in the direction I wanted it to go.


    It was easy to direct the mana toward certain areas, like the limbs. Because all I had to do was to draw a sketchy path for it, but it was difficult to push it to a specific point in such a way that it flowed smoothly.


    When my general level goes up, after a certain point, even if it''s a long time away, it will be much easier. Because then the mana will not have a ''random'' flow in my body, but for me, who is not even D- grade yet, this process is... quiteborious.


    I could feel myself struggling, there was an unreasonable pressure in my mind and body. The mana inside my body resisted my directing it specifically, but I didn''t give up. I kept collecting as much of the mana in my body as I could in a small spot on my chest.


    When I thought I had at least reached a sufficient amount for training, I finally put aside thisborious task and focused on the mana I had collected, trying to rotate it within me.


    I gradually increased the speed of the mana''s rotation with each passing second, all the while reducing the volume of the mana gathered in my chest.


    So I started to get a smaller and smaller amount of mana inside me, and the smaller it got, the faster it started spinning.


    However, I didn''t continue this for too long, the process was difficult and if I pushed myself too hard I could damage my body, so I stopped at the point where I was struggling too much, and this time I slowly pushed the mana toward my fingers.


    When the mana was in my chest, even though I was struggling, I didn''t feel like I was under an extremely heavy load. It felt controble... but when I moved this mana, which had be quite wild, that''s when I really felt the weight of the process.


    It was not easy to contain the mana that was running wild in the first ce. To move it while doing so was a different story.


    When I was only able to move it a few inches, I suddenly lost all control. The wild mana that had gathered together exploded and scattered all over my body.


    My whole body trembled in pain, and all my muscles suddenly contracted. I staggered to the bathroom with the urge to vomit, supported by the wall. But when I tried to vomit, what came out of my mouth was not what was in my stomach, but blood.


    I clicked my tongue, rinsed my mouth, and spat out all the blood. I washed my face for a while to calm down a bit, and then I went back to bed. Even though the pain in my body was still there, I wasn''t in a bad state. At least for now...


    Okay, this is really dangerous. I think I should go a little bit slower.


    Instead of moving the mana directly, I''m going to gather it in my chest and spin it as much as I can and make it as small as I can. First I''m going to learn to control this mana, and when I think I''ve mastered that well enough, then I''m going to move on to the next stage.


    Yes, that would be best. Anyway, since I''m just spinning the mana inside me, I''m not spending it, so I don''t have to worry about running out of mana.


    So I closed my eyes again, and even though my body continued to ache, I focused on the mana within me again.


    I kept practicing until I was too tired in my mind and unable to handle the constant pressure my mana was putting on my body.


    *******


    My eyes sparkled with excitement as a tall man in a suit approached me.


    "What happened? Tell me!"


    "The girl''s testimony was just taken, Ms. Jenny. She seemed a little nervous, but the lie detector didn''t pick up any lies from her. The camera data matches what she said. So we doubt she knows anything. The reason she is nervous is probably because she is testifying for the first time in her life."


    With these words, my excitement plummeted and the anticipation on my face quickly gave way to disappointment.


    "If that idiot doesn''t know anything, where did my son disappear to? Exin to me how such a thing can happen within the confines of the academy!"


    I shouted, making sure that everyone in the corridor heard me clearly.


    The nobles who heard what I said, though they calmed down when they saw who I was, rose up again. The noise filled the corridor and chaos reigned. The guards tried to quiet them down, but the nobles only got louder.


    "Calm down, please!"


    Suddenly a loud female voice echoed through the corridor. All those who had just risen to their feet fell silent, and for a brief moment, time literally stopped.


    "The Academy has decided to hold a meeting in a few hours with the families of the missing students to discuss this matter. So if you have anything to say, please save it for the meeting, and please don''t cause trouble here."


    Mny Quie hade here in person.


    "You will all receive a detailed email about the meeting, just wait. There is something very important going on right now and we are investigating it very seriously. I''ll say it again, please don''t cause any trouble."


    She was as authoritative as ever, her blue eyes cold and threatening. A few people had already taken a step back.


    "If you understand, good."


    With a slight smile on her face, Mny turned back the way she hade and walked calmly forward. The nobles and families she had warned said nothing; they just waited for the email, desperate for information about their children.


    And yet...


    I raised my arm, tapped the watch on my wrist and a holographic screen appeared in front of me. Then I went into the contacts app and dialed a number.


    ~beep ~beep


    "Yes, ma''am."


    "Go through everything Justin has done in thest month, his spending, the ces he''s been, the people he''s hung out with, literally everything. Make a report based solely on your own research, independent of anything the academy has made public, and present it to me."


    "Understood, ma''am."


    With those words, the call was closed. I felt a little relieved as I looked around again.


    The nobles had calmed down after Mny''s words, but the tension had not disappeared. After all, every family had a child, some had an heir, and some had their most precious possession whom they loved more than life itself.


    This was not going to go away so easily. I was not going to allow it.


    I was going to find my son, no matter what.

 Chapter 87 Volume III - 8: The Fear Itself

    <h4>Chapter 87 Volume III - Chapter 8: The Fear Itself</h4>


    Although it was impossible for my mana reserves to be depleted by the ''training'' I was doing, it didn''t mean that my body could handle it. So I had to stop practicing inevitably after a while, and now I was lying on my bed to get some rest.


    Practicing Ambiguous Flow was hard... much harder than I thought it would be.


    ~beep!


    Well... it seems Lunerra doesn''t want me to rest.


    When I looked at the notification from my watch, what I saw on the screen was a message sent to me by Mny.


    <<------------------------------


    Mny: I''ve taken care of the meeting and two of the three families you asked me to talk to have responded positively. The third one hasn''t written anything yet, but it looks like they''re going to ept. Talks with the royal family have also yielded a positive response.


    ------------------------------>>


    Reporting huh...


    <<------------------------------


    You: Well, if you have spoken to the royal family, the rest is not so important. They are things that will have an impact in the long run anyway, the third family will eventually respond. There is no chance they will refuse.


    Mny: How can you be so sure about everything?


    You: Because I know how much they hate the Malus Family, and that''s not the point, just go ahead with the n without hesitation. If there are any problems, let me know and we will try to solve them together. It will be enough if you don''t act alone, I will do my part.


    Mny: Then... may I ask how you n to help my daughter?


    ------------------------------>>


    I thought for a while before my hand went to the keyboard.


    As a mother, it is natural for her to be curious. After all, one side of the deal is important for her daughter''s future and I never told her how I was going to solve the statistics problem.


    <<------------------------------


    You: There is a time for everything, it is difficult for me to say anything right now because I don''t have a single thing in mind. I know more than one solution, but I''m not sure which one will be the best, so just wait, I''ll tell you when I find the most certain way. For now, good evening.


    Mny: Okay...


    ------------------------------>>


    So, without saying anything else, I closed my watch and buried my head in bed. The day wasn''t even half over yet, but that mana exercise had pushed me a bit too hard. I wanted to rest and leave the rest of the work for tomorrow, hence I closed my eyes.


    Silence descended on the room. I slowly let myself into the darkness behind my eyes.


    Just when I thought I was going to sleep, I paused and felt a chill that made my whole body tremble slightly.


    Something was wrong...


    My eyebrows furrowed and I twisted slightly behind my still-closed eyes.


    Normally this wouldn''t happen. I felt differently... uneasy.


    And just when I was thinking about it... I heard a voice.


    A voice that sent shivers down my spine and echoed in my mind.


    ''Aiden...''


    My eyes were wide open, I quickly got up from the bed and immediately grabbed my sword.


    I couldn''t see anything, there was no difference.


    I was alone in my room.


    But...


    ''Hehehe...''


    A slight pressure on my shoulder made me literally jump in my ce, and I reflexively swung my sword behind me.


    When I turned around, I was met by a pair of purple eyes.


    ''Hey, Aiden! How''s it going?


    My sword had cut the space. Even though I felt him touching me just now, even though his body was standing in front of me quite clearly, even though my sword was inside his ''body'', he was smiling and looking into my eyes as if nothing had happened.


    ''Come on... do you hate me that much?''


    My sword slipped out of my hands, my legs gave way.


    I was trembling. I was... scared, so scared that even though I had the Absolute Mind, the ''thing'' in front of me seemed like a frightening creature, impossible to kill or even avoid.


    He... was an exact copy of how I looked in my old life, except for his violet eyes.


    ''How ridiculous!''


    The thing in front of me turned his smile into a mocking one.


    I couldn''t take my eyes off him, I tried to find a point to escape but I couldn''t. I couldn''t turn my head, I was locked in. The world had stopped spinning, time had even stopped.


    ''Do you ever fear yourself?''


    He bent down, grabbed the cor of my clothes, and pulled me closer to him.


    His violet eyes were prating me. The madness in his expression was as if he was pulling me into himself. He was digging fear deep into my heart, I couldn''t think of anything else.


    It was as if... he was fear itself.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %2,1 --> 2,2


    ------------------------------>>


    ''We are one, Aiden. I am what you are; you are what I am. You should be as afraid of yourself as you are of me. So... there is no reason to be afraid of me. On the contrary, together we can have a lot of fun in this world.''


    He turned back to me, the madness in his eyes even wilder. His smile grew wider, almost reaching his ears.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %2,2 --> 2,3


    ------------------------------>>


    He sighed, realizing that I couldn''t answer him, that I was frozen in ce.


    He let go of my cor, turned around, and approached the curtain covering my window. He grabbed it hard, pulling it aside with a swift tug as if his intention was to tear it.


    Sunlight filled the room, and the fantastic world beyond the window unfolded before us.


    ''This is a different ce, we can do anything we want here. And you can''t stay like this forever, you''re smart enough to know what I mean.''


    My mouth finally opened. Meaningless words spilled out of my lips before I could think, before I could understand what was happening.


    "I... I-"


    There is no you, Aiden.''


    His smile faded, a serious expression settled on his face and he approached my face. With every detail of his violet eyes in my field of vision, he spoke calmly, slowly, and in a whisper, in contrast to the expression on his face.


    ''There is us, us.''


    ~knock! ~knock! ~knock!


    We both turned to the side at the sound that suddenly interrupted his speech. For a moment my eyes widened, they quickly turned back in front of me, but I remained frozen.


    There was an empty space in front of me.


    He was gone.


    Not only that, my curtain was closed as if nothing had happened. Everything was in its ce. Except for one thing, me.


    ~knock! ~knock! ~knock!


    I swallowed, forced my body to stand up, and quickly threw myself into the bathroom sink to wash my face.


    My body was still shaking, what had just happened was still in my mind. I could never forget that fear, that feeling, but I was already starting to calm down, my mind was clearing again. Absolute Mind, which had not been working until now, was activated again.


    Still...


    After another ssh of cold water on my face, I took a deep breath in and out. Then I went to the door and looked out through the peephole. When I saw the person standing in front of my door, I couldn''t help sighing.


    Was her timing good or bad...?


    I let out a deep, silent sigh.


    I don''t want to talk to anyone, I don''t want to see anyone. I just... I just want to be alone for a while, to rest.


    I''m... really scared.


    I put a smile on my face anyway, maybe the best smile I could do in this situation, and so I opened the door.


    "What did you want, Sue?"


    Sue waited for a few seconds when she first saw me, a slightly puzzled look on her face, but then it disappeared as her eyebrows furrowed slightly.


    "Are you okay?"


    "Excuse me?"


    "Your skin is pale, almost looks like you''re dead... Are you okay?"


    Ah...


    "Uh, well, I was practicing a mana-rted technique, and then things went a bit wrong. I guess my appearance is a side effect of that, it will get better soon."


    She looked me up and down, sighing deeply when I mmed my left fist into my chest twice while she did so.


    "Okay..."


    "Anyway, what are you here for?"


    "I''ve given my testimony and I don''t think they''re suspicious, it''s just... your advice on traps they might ask about was very useful. I ran into a few and if you hadn''t told me beforehand I might have gotten caught. I just wanted to say thank you."


    "Got it, no more problems then."


    So there was silence between us.


    "I... I also came for..."


    "For what?"


    Sue raised the hand she had been holding down until now and showed me her tablet.


    "You said before that if there was anything you didn''t know, we could do it one-to-one..."


    "Ah... true, I said that... but why did youe to me? It would have been better if you had gone to Lucia, to improve the rtionship between you two and so on. "


    I don''t want her to be dependent on me. She is too grateful to me, she is too exalting me in her own eyes and that''s not good. If she continues like this, she won''t be able to do much on her own, she won''t develop her social skills enough.


    "I''ve already spoken to her. She apologized a lot and told me she was busy. She won''t be avable for the next month or so, and she might not even be able toe to group meetings."


    What?


    My eyebrows furrowed involuntarily, I was lost in thought.


    Was there anything that happened around this time that would have kept Lucia busy? Hmm... I don''t remember. Did something change in the story again without my knowledge, or...


    "After her, you''re the one who knows the theorems of mana the best..."


    Sue''s voice pulled me out of my thoughts, refocusing me on what was in front of me for now.


    "Sure, no problem. I have the whole day off anyway and I don''t want to train today after that... mana technique."


    I stepped aside and weed Sue inside.


    Sue walked in slowly, then suddenly paused. This, of course, took me by surprise.


    "Is something wrong?"


    I closed the door behind her, slowly approaching her as she stood in the doorway of the room.


    "No, it''s just... I didn''t expect it to be so dark and I think something must have happened to your curtain?"


    Curtain?


    The curtain...?


    My eyes widened, time stopped flowing for a moment and I stiffened where I was. The walls seemed to be closing in on me... but even then, I slowly turned my eyes toward the curtain.


    There were marks on the curtain as if someone had squeezed it so hard that it almost shattered, and the marks were even red as if they had been bloodied.


    Even though Sue couldn''t see very well because of the darkness, I could.


    Ah... I didn''t realize it just now, but my right hand hurts too...


    I raised my hand and slowly looked down at my palm, fearful thoughts shing through my mind.


    My right palm was red and bleeding as if I had gripped something tightly with it, as if I had driven my fingernails hard into it.

 Chapter 88 Volume III - 9: Caretaker for the Day

    <h4>Chapter 88 Volume III - Chapter 9: Caretaker for the Day</h4>


    "Hey... Now that I look at it, is that... blood on the curtain?"


    Sue turned to me quickly, but I wasn''t paying much attention to her.


    I am what you are; you are what I am.


    The thing''s words echoed in my head. A burning sensation rose in my throat and without a moment''s hesitation, I ran to the bathroom.


    "Aiden?!"


    I heard Sue running after me but I continued to ignore her.


    That thing... it can control me.


    It can y with my thoughts, make me do things I don''t even remember.


    Can I say that I''m really in control of my body?


    I remembered the scene where he tugged at the curtain. And then the fact that it was actually my doing.


    I felt the need to vomit again, but this time the feeling went away as slowly as it came. Absolute Mind kicked in, I felt my mind start to clear and I felt a little bit calmer.


    I sshed my face full of cold water and finally took a deep breath.


    "Aiden... Wh- what happened? Can I... help you?"


    Ah...


    "No, it''s just-"


    I was going to make up something about the mana technique I had mentioned earlier, but I was interrupted by a sudden blurring of my vision.


    The world suddenly started spinning. All the colors and sounds and everything else seemed to blend into each other.


    I lost my bnce and just copsed on the floor, dizzy and without the slightest idea of what was happening. I felt my lungs straining against my rib cage, I tried to cough but I couldn''t.


    Finally, in the midst of all this confusion, in the midst of all the things that were interfering with each other, I vaguely heard something.


    ''What do you think you''re doing?!''


    I heard a child''s voice echoing in my head, it sounded angry. I could hear a little bit of emotion in the tone of his voice.


    My breathing became more difficult. I started to feel my heartbeat, it felt like it was going to jump out of my chest.


    ''She is only three years old! You...''


    A pain shot through my head as if it would crack my skull. It got worse and worse and worse. I wanted to bang my head against the walls, but I didn''t even know if I was awake.


    Strange images shed before my eyes, then changed and seemed to¡­ shatter.


    The images were all blurry, but when I could make out two figures in front of me, one short and thin, the other tall and slightly more built, I couldn''t help but focus on them.


    ''You are just crazy...''


    The image changed again, this time I found the same two people in another ce. In the midst of all this turmoil, the boy''s voice echoing in my head was not angry or worried this time.


    It was cold, calm.


    ''I''ll do what I have to do from now on, that''s... enough.''


    I thought the image would change, just like the ones before. This time, though, it didn''t happen.


    Time seemed to stop in an instant. I felt something hot coursing through my body, something that traveled almost to the depths of my soul and intensified.


    All those images and sounds that filled my head and made it feel like it was going to explode slowly began to fade. The warm feeling began to slowly devour each and every one of them.


    The darkness slowly descended on me and finally, my heartbeat began to calm down. The warmth I had felt also slowly faded away, though it did onest thing before it disappearedpletely.


    It consumed something else, something I wasn''t sure what it was, but I didn''t really care. When I found myself in the darkness, the things that could mix together had also disappeared. I didn''t see anything, I didn''t hear anything, so it didn''t matter.


    I was finally at peace again.


    *******


    I felt a shaking force on me.


    First, a great pain spread through my whole body, then the feeling returned to my limbs.


    The pitch ckness suddenly brightened and my eyes opened quickly. I sat up sharply because of the sudden pain and the light, then I noticed something falling from my forehead.


    I was confused for a moment, after waking up I had a hard time quickly grasping where I was, but when I looked around I understood.


    I was in my room, on my bed.


    It was already dark, and a slightly soaked towel had fallen from my forehead to the floor.


    "Ah! Aiden!"


    I saw a shadow approaching me from my right, and just as I turned to face it, I felt a hand on my forehead.


    It was Sue, with a worried look on her face.


    "Sue?"


    "After you threw up, you passed out and had a fever. Now... it seems to have finally subsided again."


    Sue let out a deep sigh, then let herself drop to the floor with a deep sigh. She looked exhausted.


    "I didn''t know what to do... I thought about calling academy security at first, but I didn''t want you to draw attention to yourself when you''d just testified. Still, with each passing hour, your fever got worse, your body shook more violently. I... I was just scared."


    She looked relieved, like a weight had really been lifted off her shoulders.


    I think I really scared her...


    "I''m sorry."


    "You scared the shit out of me, Aiden! Your fever got so high, you shivered so much, you mumbled so much that I thought you were going to die..."


    "Did I mumble? What did I hum?"


    I don''t have much to mumble when I''m sick, what could it be?


    "They were meaningless, or rather incoherent, so I didn''t pay much attention. I don''t remember..."


    Sue paused, her worried eyes back on me.


    "How are you now? If you want, I can get you some medicine or something, I can cook you dinner or something. You''ve been really bad."


    She doesn''t ask me any questions about why I''m like this...


    It''s not because she''s not curious, she doesn''t want to bombard me with questions. She wants to help me because I have helped her before.


    "I''m fine, at least for now... Don''t worry about me, you should focus on your own life while you''re still recovering."


    Sue sighed without saying anything, a slightly sad expression on her face. She must have been upset that I was avoiding her, but there was nothing I could do.


    I didn''t want to cause her any trouble when she already had enough problems and was just getting rid of them. Besides... what could she do if I told her there was a maniac in my head talking to me? It''s not like she''s going to miraculously heal me.


    "That mana technique thing gone wrong probably fucked up my body. I drank a few healing potions before you came, it should get better soon. Well... I guess."


    "Okay..."


    She didn''t believe me, I could see it on her face.


    I''m sorry... I don''t want to lie, but I have to do it.


    "If you''re sick, then rest as you should."


    Even though she knew I was lying to her, she jumped up and put a smile on her face that I had never seen before.


    She might have been an ordinary girl, she might not have been extremely beautiful like Lucia or Celine, but the smile suited her.


    "Is there anything you like to eat?"


    "I just need a little rest-"


    "I''m your caretaker for the day! Do you have one or not?"


    "Haa... I''m not picky, you''ll hardly find food I don''t like. Suit yourself."


    Sue didn''t say or ask anything else, she just turned her back and headed toward my kitchen. I buried my head back into the pillow, unable to argue with her. Finally, alone, I began to think.


    That thing, the other half of my soul or whatever it is, is not something simple. If I think about everything that has happened from the moment it first appeared until now...


    He can manipte my thoughts without me even realizing it, he can control my body to a certain extent, he has an inexplicable ability over caora, he is somehow connected to the ''???'' statistic that appears in my status window and he is a maniac obsessed with ''having fun''. A very scary maniac... So much so that when I see him, my body literally refuses to move, I can''t even speak because I''m shaking.


    So, if I think about all this...


    I don''t stand a chance against him. He can twist me around his finger as he wants but so far he has only been ''visible'' to me twice and twice he has taken full control of my body.


    So there is something restricting him. I''m not exactly sure what it is but he''s definitely not as ''free'' as I thought he was and that''s why I''m not hopeless.


    There is a solution for everything in this world. Nothing is really ''impossible'' no matter how difficult it is. So there must be a way for me to get rid of him.


    "Aiden! Don''t you have any spices?"


    And yet... I''m scared.


    "There should be some on the right side of the cab above the drawer with the spoons and forks, but I''m not sure if they''re what you want."


    Thest time he called out to me, I was caught off guard. He manipted me, toyed with me with his sweet tongue.


    "Okay, I found it."


    What if people close to me get hurt while he''s busy having fun? What if he uses my body to hurt my friends, to hurt ra? What can I... what can I do if that happens?

 Chapter 89 Volume III - 10: Seeking Ways to Counter Himself

    <h4>Chapter 89 Volume III - Chapter 10: Seeking Ways to Counter Himself</h4>


    While I was lost in my own thoughts, Sue re-entered the room where I was lying. Then she smiled slightly.


    "It''ll be ready in half an hour."


    The slight smile on her face changed a little when she came to me and put her hand on my forehead again.


    "How are you feeling now? Do you have a fever? Are you weak? Are there any aches?"


    "Calm down, I''m fine."


    For example... what if hees out of nowhere and attacks Sue with my body? Can I really stop him from doing that?


    "You seem to have a fever again..."


    Sue worries about someone like me, and if I kill her...


    "I''ve had a wet diaper on my forehead for who knows how many hours, it''s normal that it''s hot now."


    What should I do?


    "Whatever..."


    I pulled Sue''s hand away from my forehead, stood up, and smiled.


    "I''m fine, I''m fit as a fiddle. Go back to your room now, I can eat dinner myself."


    "But-"


    "It''s almost nine o''clock. It''ste and like I said, I''m fine."


    I widened my smile and raised my hand to create a very light current of wind, which I gently blew across her face, causing her hair to ruffle slightly.


    "My mana has been restored. I think my color is back too, so I''m fine, and I know when to turn off the stove."


    Sue insisted, but I continued in the same vein.


    In this way, I somehow managed to convince her, even if it was a bit of a struggle.


    "Careful..."


    "Okay, okay."


    Sue looked genuinely worried as she made her way to her dorm room, but I didn''t want to keep her with me.


    When she finally left my room, I breathed a sigh of relief as she disappeared down the hallways of the dorm building.


    I closed the door and threw myself back on my bed, thinking long and hard again, this time really alone.


    Instead of being scared when I see that thing, my wiera side, I should try not to listen and ignore him. He always catches me off guard, but what if hees when I''m prepared and I ignore him? I think if I resist him in some way, if I think about my every move instead of trembling in silence, I can somehow stop him from controlling me.


    After all, if he can control me however he wants, why would he have a conversation with me like ''we can have fun together''? Why would he only show up every now and then and try to manipte me and confuse me when he can take over my body and wreak havoc all he wants?


    He''s not as scary as I think he is, he''s trying to appear that way to me so that he can break me. That way it''s easier for him to get to me when my mind is shaken.


    Yes... it must be so, all I have to do is not be afraid of him; I have to resist him.


    Maybe it''s selfish, but I... I don''t want to get away from anyone, so I have to find a way to stop him, whatever it takes.


    *******


    "I''m here to visit my mom."


    The receptionist looked at me and smiled slightly.


    "Sure, can I have your name please?"


    "Alexander Callidas."


    The employee looked briefly at the screen in front of him.


    "You have already announced your arrival. Your mother is still resting in the same room, in fact, she should be taking her medication right now. You can go straight upstairs."


    "Thank you."


    I took quick steps up the stairs, turned right after a few flights, and when I arrived in front of room number one hundred and forty-two, I knocked gently on the door and entered.


    The room was a normal hospital room. Arge bed, a holographic television, medicines...


    "Mom, it''s me."


    Just as the employee in the lobby had said, a nurse was giving my mother her medication.


    Instantly, my eyebrows furrowed. The nurse taking care of my mother was special to her, I knew who she was. She was a smiling woman in her thirties with brown hair.


    The person in front of me... it wasn''t her.


    "What happened to the previous nurse?"


    The nurse in front of me was a blonde woman in her mid-twenties.


    "She took a leave of absence because she was sick, so I reced her this week."


    My brows furrowed even more at her monotone tone.


    "It''s just a change of staff, Alex, what''s with the face? Respect people!"


    My mother''s words echoed in the room.


    I returned my frown,pletely ignoring the nurse and cing a smile on my face.


    "Did you take your medication?"


    "She did."


    The nurse answered before my mother. She had an exasperated look on her face, as if she wanted to get out of the room as soon as possible, and she did. After putting the bag with the medicines in a drawer on the side, she quickly left the room.


    "Why do they make people like that hospital staff?"


    "Alex! I just told you to be respectful!"


    "I respect people who deserve respect, Mom, and that nurse is sulking in front of a patient."


    My mom kept pouting, but she didn''t say anything. She knew I was right.


    "Anyway, let''s forget about the nurse. How are you?"


    She put a smile on her face, lifted her skinny arm, and squeezed it like a weightlifter. Her dark green hair, graying in ces, fell over her shoulders and her brown eyes came alive for a moment.


    "Heh, I''m not so different from before. In other words, I''m fit as a fiddle! You have nothing to worry about, I just want you to focus on school."


    She was always like this. No matter how old and how sick she got, she was always smiling, always joking, and always thinking of me no matter what.


    "You came to visitst time, not long ago... did something happen?"


    "Nothing important. There was an incident at the academy and they canceled sses. So I wanted toe to you when I had some free time."


    "I see..."


    She became thoughtful again, and then she smiled.


    "Tell me then, son! How is the academy? Did you make friends, you didn''t talk to anyone before... I want you to at least socialize at the academy."


    "Yes... Yes, I have made friends and the academy is very good."


    The conversation that started like this went on and on, jumping from one topic to another, for about half an hour. As usual, I studied her during this half hour and tried to understand her condition.


    There seemed to be nothing wrong with her, her illness must have stabilized recently.


    I knew, though, that it wouldn''tst long, that the disease she had, if left untreated, would surely kill her. That''s why I kept trying and trying, trying to find that stupid nt everywhere.


    The Red-tailed Lheal was the most important ingredient for the cure for this disease, but it was as hard to find as it was important.


    It was this nt that made the cure so expensive.


    "I''m fine Alex, technology has improved a lot. I may be stuck in this bed, but this disease won''t kill me easily."


    She smiled again, she had never stopped smiling even though she was emaciated.


    I... I want her to keep smiling.


    Nothing else, just this...


    "I will cure you, no matter how impossible the doctors say it is, I will cure you."


    All I want is to go back to the old, happy days.


    I want to see her walking, smiling, and growing old on the couch at home, not in this hospital bed watching her get worse and worse.


    "You will get out of this bed and live in our house, we won''t even have to deal with other people. It''ll just be the two of us."


    "Alex!"


    "You''ll say the same things again, but this time I''m not desperate."


    This time, I have a clue.


    That boy... Aiden. He seemed to be trying to trick me just like the others, but he said things that made a lot more sense than the others. He even tried to make a mana contract with me.


    I don''t know how he did it, but he even knows my skill, and yet instead of threatening me, he came up with a fair deal.


    "I found a way to find that nt, just wait and see. In a week we will go home together."


    I didn''t say anything else, I turned around and walked toward the door.


    I heard my mother calling my name behind me, but I didn''t stop.


    "I''m sorry, just... wait a little longer, Mom."


    The next time I meet her, I will have that nt in my hand, she won''t be able to tell me to give up. On the contrary, she will thank me.


    When I left the room, I opened my watch and looked at the number I had saved beforeing here.


    I made up my mind.

 Chapter 90 Volume III - 11: Pseudo Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 90 Volume III - Chapter 11: Pseudo Meeting</h4>


    I was nervous.


    I was nervous because today we were going to see the first fruits of what we had been preparing for so long. We were going to execute the first of Aiden''s ns today and after all the preparation I couldn''t stop thinking, what if something goes wrong?


    But I kept my cool and didn''tpromise myself, all that preparation wasn''t for nothing. We had secured everything, we had thought of everything. Nothing was supposed to go wrong, and it wouldn''t.


    Today, something unprecedented was going to happen in this kingdom, something big.


    "Is everyone here?"


    I continued to scan the anxious people sitting at the table in front of me, there were certain people I was particrly observing.


    "Only one parent didn''t show up, Ms. Mny."


    "One person... Okay, let''s start. We''re already past the actual time we need to start."


    "Understood."


    With that, the employee left my side and took her ce behind me, and then I focused on the people in front of me again.


    "Ahem."


    I coughed slightly and all eyes turned to me.


    "Today, we are going to share with you the preliminary information we have gathered as part of our research and if you have any questions, I will answer them myself."


    A holographic screen appeared on the table after I simply touched my hand to the table and gently tugged it to the right.


    "On the night of October 30, the missing students enter a wooded area where the academy''s camera is not present."


    The holographic screen yed several boys entering the wooded area.


    Justin walked at the front, a smile evident on his face. The others followed curiously behind him into the woods and disappeared after a while.


    "No matter how many hours go by after they enter the forest, they don''t show up on any camera, and then there are reports of them missing."


    One of the parents, also a noble, roared at my words, rising to his feet in a huff.


    "We all know that!"


    His eyes were filled with rage, and at the same time, his body was trembling.


    "That is not what we want to hear! If you have gathered us here, tell us what we don''t know, not what we do know!"


    He was not very well known, but that didn''t change the fact that he was nervous and worried about his child. Everyone was nervous, I knew that, so I didn''t act offensively and spoke in a calming tone.


    "Could you please be a little more calm? We hav-"


    "You''re not the one whose child disappeared! How would you know our pain...?!"


    After the man, the other parents started whispering.


    "Do you have any idea how painful it is to wait all day for news about your child who has suddenly disappeared?!"


    A few other nobles started shouting along with him, but there was not much I could say about it.


    "Everything will be in order, calm down. I am giving you a detailed description from the beginning so that you don''t miss anything. If you allow me to continue, there are details I haven''t told you yet."


    The shouting nobleman narrowed his eyes in a mixture of anger and sadness. His body was still trembling, but at least he seemed to have decided to listen to what I had to say.


    "Tch, be quick."


    So he sat down again, but the atmosphere with the other parents was seriously tense.


    Yes, I agree with them. I would have been like them if Lucia had suddenly disappeared, but as I said, there''s a time for everything.


    "Good. Now... let''s get to why they went into the forest in the first ce."


    I slid my hand across the table again so that a photo of a certain boy appeared on the screen, Justin Malus.


    "This is Justin Malus, as most of you know him. He''s the second-ranking student at the academy and he has a really big influence on the students. He even has a grouping of about seventy people and all the missing students are in that group of seventy people."


    After my words, I felt a small pressure in the room, directed specifically at me. The pressure wasing, as I guessed, from Justin Malus''s mother, Jenny Malus.


    Her eyes were sharp with anger, like a tiger ready to pounce at any moment.


    "We questioned each and every one of the students who hadn''t disappeared out of the seventy, but they all gave us one answer: Justin doesn''t even tell the people he takes with him what to do, we usually find out what we''re doing while we''re doing it, and that''s what happened that night. Justin just walked in and said he needed twenty people, but he didn''t tell us what to do. When he got the people he wanted, he left the building with a smile on his face."


    Whispers began to circte around the room. In my previous ount, this grouping had sounded more like a sort of club, but now it became clear that this grouping was no different from a gang.


    Some of them were stunned as if it was the first time they had learned that their children were ''gang members'' of some kind, and almost all of them nced in Jenny Malus'' direction, but that was it.


    The Malus family was really powerful, they had nothing to gain by escting this issue now. There was even a chance that a few of them might take this opportunity to curry favor with her, but I ignored them and kept talking.


    "When we look at the CCTV footage, we can see that this is indeed what happened. Justin goes into the building where his group is, gathers twenty people without saying anything, and they leave the building and walk straight into the woods."


    The CCTV footage yed on the table showed exactly what I had said.


    "So we continued to investigate, we asked questions of everyone who saw Justin and the students he recruited that day, and we came to one conclusion. It turns out that Justin had a grudge against one of the students and he went into the woods that night to settle the matter between him and that student, but again, from the CCTV footage and the information we got from the eyewitnesses, it seems that no one else entered the woods that night."


    I paused for a moment, took a breath, and studied the parents. Some were frowning, some were starting to shake and get angry again, and a few had their eyes back on Jenny Malus.


    "That means either there was an internal conflict within the group, in which case we would have at least found their bodies, or there is a third party involved that we don''t know about."


    The atmosphere in the room continued to get tenser and tenser.


    All right...


    I took a deep breath and looked back at the nobles in front of me. Now, I was going to start acting the way Aiden had said.


    "As a result of all these events, I''m going to reveal something here today."


    I looked into the eyes of everyone in the room.


    "There is an organization inside the academy that is in control, including the governing council, the staff, the security, and even the parents of some of the students."


    "Wh- what are you saying?"


    Some of the nobles suddenly shouted.


    "How is such a thing possible!"


    "This organization has been entrenched in the academy for as long as I have been rector, almost four years, and what happened in the previous preliminaries was their doing."


    A few of the nobles stood up in a huff and turned to me in an aggressive manner.


    "We came here to find our children! You are still talking about this... Don''t be ridiculous-"


    "Of course, we think they had a hand in the disappearance of these students, and that''s why we''re here in the first ce."


    I saw a moment of surprise in the tense, angry expressions of the nobles, and when I confirmed who the surprised people were, I felt the urge to smile. Still, I held myself back. What Aiden had told me seemed to be true, the ones whose expressions were distorted were the ones he had specifically mentioned when he had examined the people who would be attending the meeting.


    I had no idea how he was able to find them, but there were times when he was looking at the photographs and he felt as if he was trying to remember something. Who knows, maybe he used to be part of that organization, but now things had changed. Aiden was on our side now, and if he was a former member of that organization, I didn''t care. After all, there was a mana contract between us, and he knew what would happen to him if he broke it.


    "Yesterday, I personally discussed this matter with the kingdom. The situation the academy is in, and the implications of this organization. We discussed everything and came to a decision. Now I will leave it to a superior official among the royal soldiers to speak."


    After my words, the door to the room opened, and arge, well-built man wearing a uniform obviously from the royal army entered and stopped in front of the table. He was in his forties, with ck hair and ck eyes.


    At his appearance, some of the nobles turned pale, their eyes darting to different parts of the room. The rest were looking at him curiously, wondering what he was going to say.


    "I am Captain Pierce of the royal army, and I am here to exin the decision that has been taken after much consultation between the royal family and the rectorate."


    The captain ran his hard, sharp eyes over the nobles. He was examining them one by one. The nobles held their breath, some of them so tense that they were sweating.


    "The decision is this: This very day, the roots of this organization will be torn out of this academy and all other institutions with which the organization has ties. And in the process, we need to detain the fourteen people who are in this room for this reason."


    The doors to the room suddenly opened. The security personnel poured in through the rapidly opening doors.


    The meeting room was suddenly in chaos. Some of the guards standing behind me quickly turned and ran toward the windows, and some of the nobles drew their weapons and pointed them at us, but their efforts were futile.


    These were no mere guards barging in, they were royal guards.


    "It is futile to try to resist, the entire academy has already been sealed off. Also royal soldiers, research teams... Almost everyone is searching the homes of people who work and have worked in this academy."


    If it wasn''t for Aiden, when would we have noticed that the organization was using wristbands formunication? No... Would we have noticed them in the first ce? The wristbands lookedpletely indistinguishable from normal, essory wristbands, but in fact, they were almost as functional as modern smartwatches.


    "From now on, it would be best for you to cooperate without causing trouble."


    The fourteen were neutralized before they could even move properly as he continued to speak. The royal soldiers had caught them so unprepared that not a single skill or mastery was activated in the room.


    Only a few of the innocent parents, convinced that their children had been kidnapped by an organization, started crying, throwing tantrums and some even fainted. So we needed the help of a few paramedics we had hired outside just in case, but apart from that we were fine.


    The chaos had ended as it had begun and I had a smile on my face.


    Today, we were going to lose arge part of this academy, but that was not going to stop us. On the contrary, we were going to resurrect the academy from the ashes and start anew.


    That was the first phase of the n.


    We were going to free the academy from the clutches of the organization.

 Chapter 91 Volume III - 12: Academy Cleanup

    <h4>Chapter 91 Volume III - Chapter 12: Academy Cleanup</h4>


    I stopped practicing and looked at my watch when I received a very loud notification on my watch, which was almost impossible not to notice.


    <<------------------------------


    CDA: Students within the boundaries of our academy are kindly requested to stay where they are. Your locations are monitored via your watches and if you move 100 meters away from your current location, you will face sanctions. Necessary exnations will be made in the following hours.


    ------------------------------>>


    Oh? So they''ve started... Mny acted fast.


    Right now, while I''m training in my training room, the royal soldiers outside must be searching everyone inside the academy, and if they''re using the system I''m thinking of, everyone''s location is clear as day.


    After all, the smartwatches provided by the academy have a feature that shows the location of everyone within the academy. The only problem is the location of the employees other than the students, but this can be solved simply by an update to the smartwatches or any other technological device used by the employees, to be introduced in advance by royal decree.


    In this way, those who are currently on the move will be able to send feedback to the system, allowing soldiers to catch them quickly. This will also minimize the number of people fleeing.


    From this point of view, they won''t go to those who are not moving, catching those who are moving should be a higher priority for them, but since we have identified a few people who are direct targets of the organization, and I am one of them, it shouldn''t take too long for them to arrive.


    With these thoughts in mind, I waited where I was, and while I waited, I kept repeating the first phase of the style I had been practicing so as not to sit idle. Sometime after I started practicing, a sound echoed around the room.


    ~knock! ~knock! ~knock!


    Ah, it seems like they''re here.


    I stood up, and headed for the door, opening it to find two tough-looking men holding what looked like modern rifles from my world.


    "Aiden Tenebra, right?"


    The man who had spoken had short brown hair, shaved to a number three, and brown eyes. The other man looked like a copy of him, but his eye color was blue, not brown.


    "Yes, it''s me. What did you want?"


    As I said this, I looked out of the corner of my eye.


    A lot of students, academy staff, and royal soldiers were spread out in the corridor where my room was, and I could also see people standing at the end of the corridor that led to my room. The students and academy staff were being searched by the royal soldiers, and some of them had a bracelet on their wrists that, if caught, they were immediately pped to the ground.


    It was a bracelet that the organization gave to its spies. It looked like a simple essory, but in fact, it was as functional as the watch on my wrist.


    Normally in the game, we would learn about the bracelet from a spy we captured on a mission, but I already knew the game inside and out.


    "Aah!"


    A student around my age was pinned to the ground like the others after the ck and red mixture on his wrist.


    Other people were panicking at the sight of this and simr scenes, but the royal soldiers seemed to have the situation well under control.


    Of course, this was in the corridor of the building, I''m not sure what it''s like outside, but it''s probably not much different from what I''m seeing now.


    "A major operation is taking ce inside the academy. We will do a small search on you, then you wille with us to your room and there will be a search there too. If youe up clean, you will have to stay in your room for a short period of time."


    "I understand."


    I have nothing to fear from them. I don''t have the wristband that those already in the organization have, so I have nothing to worry about.


    Without doing anything extra, I left the training room and closed the door, so they did a quick body search. They checked my pockets, especially my wrists, and said they found nothing important and would escort me to my dorm room.


    When I went outside I found the scene I expected, a certain amount of chaos, but the soldiers controlled it quite well. After all, they were royal soldiers, much more professional and efficient than the academy security.


    I was walking along, looking around, when suddenly there was the sound of an explosion, not very loud,ing from the right side.


    Okay... it''s normal for them to resist, but I didn''t expect an ''explosion''... it shouldn''t be a problem... right?


    "Hey... Is there an attack or something...? What''s going on?"


    I had put as much shock and fear into my voice as possible when the soldiers looked at me and then toward where the explosion sounded and frowned.


    "We will continue toward your room. Please don''t ask questions."


    Despite the look of horror on my face, the soldiers and I continued walking. They seemed distracted by the explosion, walking faster than before, and so when we reached my room, they stormed in and ced a device on the floor.


    When the device activated, it scanned the whole room, emitting an ever-expanding holographic wave around it. Then a green tick appeared on the device and the brown-eyed man spoke again.


    "Thank you for your cooperation, now... please listen carefully to what I have to say."


    I nodded curiously.


    "The activities of a terrorist group within the academy have been detected and the aim of the current operation is to put an end to these activities. You have attracted their attention with your actions so far. This means that you are very likely to be a target for the organization. Therefore, for your own safety, we ask you not to leave your room."


    I listened to what the man said without interrupting him, adjusting my facial expression ordingly.


    "Now, please just stay inside the room. That way there will be no problems."


    The dormitory buildings were all heavily guarded and the guards were all royal soldiers. It was almost impossible for the organization to somehow reach the students. We had caught them unprepared and too suddenly, there was no way they could respond quickly to what had happened.


    "I unde-"


    I was interrupted by a scratchy, low voiceing from one of the soldiers.


    "Clear- target- contr- begi-"


    At first, I didn''t understand what was happening. Even the other soldier was looking at his friend in confusion, but then the man who had just heard a noise pointed his gun at his friend.


    "What are you doing?"


    The blue-eyed man looked at his friend for a moment with a strange expression. It was as if he was hesitating, I could even say he was sad, but then the sound of the trigger being pulled echoed in the room.


    Everything had happened so fast. Neither I nor the man who was shot at was expecting it. So the bullets from the gun had literally riddled the man they were aimed at.


    "Br- Bryan..."


    The brown-eyed man said the name with a meaningless shock on his face. And then copsed.


    The man, whose name I learned was Bryan, pointed his gun at me after brutally killing his friend. Even though they were determined, I could see the pain in his eyes.


    All this had happened in just one second.


    "Put your hands in the air if you don''t want your end to be like his."


    *******


    With quick but timid steps I made my way through the silent and intimidating corridors. After a few quick security checks, I swallowed and knocked on therge door in front of me.


    "Come in."


    I swallowed again at the sound of an authoritative female voice from inside. Then I slowly entered.


    It was quite a big room. There were decorative ornaments, paintings, and furniture I had never seen used. Apart from these, at the far end of the room, behind countless holographic screens on a table in the center of the wall, a woman whose face I could barely make out was looking at me.


    "I''m... here for an urgent report."


    "Something''s going on at that academy, isn''t it? Some spies'' wristband has been disconnected one after another."


    When did she find out about those disconnections when she didn''t even need to do that? How many different things was she checking at the same time?


    "Y- ye-"


    "Don''t stammer, I hate people who stammer."


    "I apologize..."


    I straightened my posture and took a short breath. Even though I had a simple report to make, my life was on the line. Things had changed a lot on this side of the organization since the previous leader had changed, and even if we were afraid of the leader before, this one was... something else.


    "Although we don''t know how she did it yet, Mny Quie learned the identity of the spies and the existence of the wristbands they wore. On top of that, she colluded with the royal soldiers and now the academy is sealed off. All our spies are being hunted down one by one."


    She clicked her tongue and the holographic screens in front of her suddenly changed to show almost everything about the academy. For a moment I thought I saw desperation on her face for the first time, but then I realized I was wrong.


    A bright smile suddenly appeared on her face.


    "How long have you been working for the organization?"


    Huh? Why is she asking that...?


    I felt boiling water pouring down my head.


    "About six years..."


    "And how long did you work for the leader before me?"


    "About four years..."


    The woman kept her eyes on the holographic screen and continued to smile, tilting her head with her hand supporting her chin.


    "What do you think Larry, your former leader, would do in this situation?"


    I didn''t understand where she was going with this, but I didn''t have the luxury of not answering.


    "He would probably arrange for a quick withdrawal of all the spies."


    "Wouldn''t he?"


    The woman''s eyes turned from the screens to me.


    "But I''m different."


    She seemed amused, she lovedparing herself to Larry, our former leader.


    "We will not run, but rather attack while we have the chance. Pass an announcement to the spies and those in the organization, we will counterattack."


    Counterattack? This woman... is she tantly nning to have all her employees captured or sent directly to their deaths?


    "Hmm? Do you have a problem? If you have any objections or suggestions, let me know."


    H- huh? Is this... a trap or something?


    "Don''t be shy, I like to listen to the opinions of the people around me. Sometimes there are people with very interesting ideas."


    "I... I think a counter-attack would cost us a lot of casualties. Even if we send in reinforcements from the organization, won''t it be over by the time we get there?"


    The woman chuckled lightly and smiled.


    "So you are worried. I like the way you say it in front of me without stammering, but you have nothing to worry about."


    "But the royal soldiers..."


    "I have nothing to fear from them."


    The woman pushed one of the holographic screens in front of her in front of me. On the screen was a bird''s eye view of the academy and everyone involved in the organization had a red veil around them.


    My eyes widened as I looked at the red-veiled people.


    Even the headquarters of the organization had never attempted this before because it was too risky. The slightest mistake and the organization could be exposed, and that could ruin all the ns. And the image in front of me... showed that it was happening.


    Some of the people wearing the red veils were royal soldiers.


    When the woman saw me staring at the screen, her smile widened in anticipation. She looked like a child waiting for praise, but when I didn''t say anything for a while, she lowered her smile and frowned angrily.


    She grimaced like a little girl who didn''t get what she wanted and this time she put on a serious expression.


    "Stop staring, go and pass the announcement to the organization. Have our men mobilize for the gates to the academy."


    Gates? Since when do we have gates into the academy...?


    After only a few seconds of these thoughts, it dawned on me.


    The increased number of spies... The gates installed inside the academy and the recent events inside the organization...


    When I put it all together, doesn''t it look like the organization is preparing to take over somewhere soon?


    This madwoman has been nning a raid on the academy from the very beginning... Now she just needs to execute her n early.


    This woman... S Formida may be the bravest- no, the most reckless and frightening leader the organization has ever seen, even if she''s only leading a project right now...

 Chapter 92 Volume III - 13: Responsible for All the Chaos

    <h4>Chapter 92 Volume III - Chapter 13: Responsible for All the Chaos</h4>


    "Put your hands in the air if you don''t want your end to be like his."


    As soon as I heard the words of the man with the gun pointed at me, I threw my hands up in the air.


    It was unexpected. If it hadn''t been for the Absolute Mind, I might not have known what to do out of surprise and maybe I would have even made a wrong move. Now, however, I was fortunately calm and so... I thought.


    How did this happen? It is impossible for the organization to have spread even among the royal soldiers... In the original story, it never happens even once. And even if they did, if they tried to fight back, the casualties would be enormous. No matter how much I think about it, the most logical thing for them in this situation is to retreat.


    Then why am I in this situation?


    Did I make a mistake in preparing the n?


    I kept thinking and then I realized that I had done only one thing that could have caused this change; Larry''s death.


    Larry''s death didn''t normally happen this early. When it happened, as yers we had already cut the organization off from the kingdom, and now it happened much earlier. And as a result of that, the organization chose to be more active instead of being more passive...?


    Isn''t that... absurd without adequate preparation? Or did they really move fast enough to implement such a n in such a short time...


    No, it''s impossible that they had prior knowledge of the operation that''s going on now. Even the soldiers themselves found out exactly what was going on when they went inside the academy. It''s impossible that it could have happened so fast.


    So they were already nning something before this operation took ce. Now that things have happened like this, they must have chosen to speed things up, but what could they have nned?


    I could think of a few things, but they were all outrageous. Someone had to be crazy to think of these things.


    "Now you will walk in front of me without making a sound, don''t make any unnecessary movement or you will be riddled with holes."


    Okay... for now I''d better focus on what''s in front of me, I need to get out of here first.


    The guy''s general level should be somewhere between D and C. So in a fight, I''m unlikely to win, especially without knowing his skills and mastery. And the rifle in his hand is another threat...


    There is a reason why swords, spears, bows, etc. are used today despite the existence of firearms. This is because firearms are extremely costly and inefficient in terms of manapared to other weapons.


    For example, if someone tries to fire a mana-enhanced bullet with a normal weapon, the weapon will shatter under the force of the bullet. If someone tries to power up the weapon along with the bullet, they would have to pour mana into each of the different mechanisms inside the weapon, which would be a waste of mana. On top of that, if the weapon malfunctions, it will be extremely expensive to get it repairedpared to normal weapons.


    Then there''s the durability of the bullets, the material of the different mechanisms inside the weapon, theplexity of the mechanisms as the level of the firearm increases, and again the prices... especially theck of a ''style'' to use the mana appropriately with the weapon. There are many more things about firearms, but this does not mean that they are not used at all.


    Sniper rifles can be powerful enough topete with normal weapons if one has a skill or something that can be used effectively with firearms, but instead of going through such an ordeal, it makes more sense to turn to other weapons that are much cheaper and more efficient.


    Still, that doesn''t change the fact that they are a threat to a certain grade, say around D grade, and I''m not even D grade yet...


    "Come on, move!"


    I clicked my tongue slightly and looked at the nearest window.


    Can I use wind magic to reach the window in time for him to react?


    Impossible, considering he''s at least D grade... Then I need a distraction.


    As I slowly made my way back out of the room, I looked around, and then I saw the tablet sitting on my desk.


    As soon as I saw the tablet, I focused on my mana and sent a momentary gust of wind to where the tablet was.


    Under normal circumstances, the man should be able to sense the mana I was using, but I am not normal.


    My mana does not use a rune as a catalyst to create a wind spell. When I cast a wind spell, the catalyst is my own soul directly inside my body, so no mana leaks out of my body. This means that when I cast a wind spell, for someone to sense my mana, they need to pay attention to the flow of mana in my body, not the mana leakage.


    So the chances of the soldier noticing what I was doing were extremely low, and just as I thought, the soldier didn''t even notice the wind current I sent toward the tablet.


    As soon as the wind current reached the tablet, I amplified it many times over. The tablet was thrown noisily against the wall and shattered.


    The soldier reflexively turned quickly to the side, taking his attention away from me, if only for a second, and that was all I needed.


    I gritted my teeth and threw myself at the window with all my strength, but not only that, I backed myself up with wind magic and in just a second I was floating at the level of the eighth floor, ss shards shattering and ss scratches appearing on my body.


    It was actually a pretty good view if I could ignore the situation I was in. The sun shining through the clouds, the cool breeze blowing gently, and the small pieces of flying ss shimmering in the light...


    It was the perfect moment to feel like a main character, but I was not the main character.


    Immediately after that split-second thought, I elerated and started to fall to the ground. I quickly used wind magic again and reduced my speed to a level that wouldn''t take me out of the fall with too much damage.


    I held my breath as I got closer and closer to the ground and then I crashed into the concrete.


    I felt my feet throbbing, but I had to if I wanted to keep as much of my mana as possible. So I didn''t think too much about it, the Absolute Mind was already helping me to ignore the pain and so I focused on my surroundings.


    What I saw made me freeze in ce.


    "Wh- what?"


    The scene I had seen when I returned to my room with the soldiers, everything was under their control, everything was as it should be.


    What I was seeing now... was not what I expected to see.


    Everyone was fighting each other. Spies among the students, even among the janitors, were attacking random people. Even among the royal soldiers there were those attacking innocents.


    Powerless students screamed as they fell to the ground one by one, blood from corpses and wounded spilled onto the concrete, limbs flew everywhere, thrown spells created random explosions...


    Even if the spies had wristbands to identify them, the people who knew this information were limited to soldiers and high officials. So nobody knew who was the enemy, and the spies took advantage of this to make things even more confusing.


    The atmosphere could be described in one word.


    Chaos, pure chaos.


    "H- hel-"


    It was a student who shouted at me, just four meters away from me, lying on the ground. When he saw me, he didn''t think I was his enemy and called out.


    Yet what I saw only made me stiffen again where I was.


    The student was missing his left arm, half his face was burned and he was crying. He was interrupted by a spell that had exploded in his back.


    The student''s leg rolled in front of me with the explosion. I couldn''t even see where his lifeless body was thrown, so another reality hit me again, and for a moment I felt the whole world freeze.


    Is this... what is happening here... is it because of me? Why is the organization attacking instead of retreating? How did the soldiers lose control in the first ce...?


    As the thoughts permeated my brain, my eyes widened as I realized something.


    Among the spies were people wearing the ck light armor of the organization, people who should not be in the academy.


    How did they get here so fast? The operation started less than an hour ago!


    That''s when I noticed a blue light. There were shes from the roofs and windows of some buildings, from inside the woods, and so on, out of sight, and the people in ck wereing from the ces where these shes wereing from.


    Immediately I realized what was happening.


    There were gates inside the academy that led to the organization, and as soon as I realized that, all the crazy ideas I had been thinking about before entered my mind one by one.


    These guys were already preparing for a raid on the academy... They just had to postpone it because of the operation.


    So, it''s my fault.


    I''m to me for all this chaos.


    The fact that something like this could happen... never once urred to me.


    While I was thinking, there was another explosion right in front of my eyes. The mes surrounded the ce and engulfed everyone who was close to it, no matter who they were.


    All the deaths, the screams, the burning, the severed limbs... I am responsible for it all.


    More frightening still... I don''t actually feel anything inside.


    I can think about these things, but they don''te back to me as feelings. I know I am guilty, I even feel the guilt, but I can''t get stressed and upset about it.


    I can just think about it, ept it.


    That''s¡­ the only thing Absolute Mind allows me to do.

 Chapter 93 Volume III - 14: Attack on Academy

    <h4>Chapter 93 Volume III - Chapter 14: Attack on Academy</h4>


    "Aiden!"


    The moment I heard my name, I was snapped out of my thoughts. When I quickly turned around and looked in the direction of the voice, I found a girl, Celine, running toward me.


    Her hair was tangled. There were cuts and blood stains on some parts of her clothes. Her face was not as scared as the other students, but clearly terrified.


    Having been the target of countless assassinations since childhood, she had a certain tolerance for blood and brutality, but what had happened at the academy was too much, too sudden, even for her. She didn''t look too good, but she wasn''t bad either.


    At least she was alive.


    I paused for a moment, then clenched my teeth and my fist.


    This is all my fault, I know I''m guilty, but now is not the time to freeze.


    I should at least try to keep the survivors alive and not die myself. Isn''t that the best thing I can do in this situation?


    It''s probably the Absolute Mind that makes me think like this. I really don''t know whether to hate the skill or be grateful for it...


    "Aiden, duck!"


    At the sound of Celine''s shout, without thinking, I threw myself with all my strength to the right, quickly looking behind me.


    An arrow, obviously loaded with mana, had just shot out from exactly where my shoulder had been, but not only that. As soon as I threw myself to the ground, I found a student pointing his spear at me.


    The spear was aimed at my arm but not too fast, I could see iting at me and so I stepped slightly to the side and managed to catch it by the handle. I pulled the student to me with the spear and with my free hand I punched him in the face as hard as I could.


    The student was not very strong and that one punch was enough to send him to the ground, groaning.


    I realized something else with this. Even though I had learned the basics of swordsmanship, I had no idea how to fight unarmed. Not only had I not adjusted my strength properly, but my hand hurt.


    "Are you okay?"


    When Celine finally reached my side, she looked me over to see if I was alright, while constantly scanning her surroundings. Even though her skill gave her an excellent sense of danger, she was using it to its full potential by never letting her guard down.


    "For now, yes."


    She took a deep breath, seemingly relieved, but still with an anxiety she couldn''t hide. She was almost trembling. Her eyes darted back and forth in terror. She was having difficulty making sense of what was happening.


    I could understand her. Without the Absolute Mind, I would have been in a much worse situation than she was.


    "Do you have any idea what happened? About half an hour ago two royal soldiers came and searched my room, then they told me to stay there, but just then six more came in. I don''t know what happened but all of a sudden they attacked their own men, I barely managed to throw myself out, and now the whole academy is in an uproar."


    Even in the short time we were talking, a few members of the organization noticed us, it was a miracle that we hadn''t been noticed until now. We were standing almost in the middle of the chaos.


    "The ones with a red and ck wristband are the enemy but don''t rely on that alone. Also, those attacking us are not trying to kill but to neutralize us, at least that''s what I understand from what I''ve seen. Most of them have their eyes on us, they probably have a target list that includes us, and they have gates through which they can send men. So we''re going to run and not look back, but if someone appears in front of us, we may have to fight."


    I wanted to give a longer exnation, but I didn''t have time, the spies had spotted us and rushed at us.


    I took out my sword from the dimensional button in my pocket and gripped it tightly, and for a moment I felt a sense of relief. It was really bad to be unarmed, but I wasn''t going to stop just because I had my sword.


    "Run, Celine!"


    Professors, royal soldiers, even someone like Mny if wee across... We need to meet up with a group that is on our side. Otherwise, we will eventually be captured, and that is something we don''t want.


    *******


    ''Now Adrian.''


    At Lithoa''s instruction, I mmed the shaft of my spear hard into the face of a woman dressed in ck, who copsed with a groan, and I thrust my spear into her chest.


    She struggled for a moment, then her eyes slowly closed and blood began to spread from her body onto the concrete.


    She was the third attacker I had killed, but just dealing with these three was exhausting. And she wasn''t thest, either. A group of about thirteen or so students, a mix of staff, and ck-d people were staring at me with hostile eyes.


    "Julian! We can''t hold out on our own, there''s no end in sight. We need to meet someone on our side!"


    Julian used his mastery the moment he managed to grab the arm of the man he was fighting. The man let out a cry of pain and threw himself to the ground as he saw the cold ice particles spreading from his arm to his body.


    Julian ruthlessly stepped on the arm he had frozen and the ice shattered with the arm inside as if it were nothing. Then Julian swung his sword at the man''s chest, cutting arge and deep gash in it.


    "Die!"


    He didn''t hesitate in any way as he killed, even cursing recklessly.


    I had no hesitation either. I was used to seeing people die when I lived as a beggar, and yet Julian, unlike me, was just... savage.


    "Julian!"


    "But where are we supposed to meet who, Adrian? We have no idea who''s doing what and where!"


    I couldn''t help squinting my eyes when I noticed a group pouring in on us even as we were talking.


    "There are more and more of them, we have to run!"


    As the men fought, they were especially careful not to make lethal attacks on Julian and me. If they weren''t trying not to kill us, Julian and I would have been finished a long time ago. Even now we were almost out of mana, both of us with countless scratches.


    "Aahh!"


    My eyes widened as a child, only six meters away from me, was knocked down with a hole in his stomach by a man in ck armor, obviously our enemy.


    These men are killing young people who have done nothing. They are trying not to hurt us, but they don''t care about the others. In fact, because I was here, these students had to fight them.


    Someone dies because of me, just because I''m here.


    Haven''t I... decided to be a good person?


    Didn''t I be a good person after that conversation I had with Aiden when I met him... Haven''t I changed?


    Am I not strong?


    Didn''t I think I was strong until now, and even when I was so strong, wasn''t I hesitant because I didn''t know where I could use it?


    So why do I feel so... weak now?


    I''m ranked first in the academy, I train for hours every day, I''m learning one of the best spear styles for my age and myself, and I have an experienced instructor who I''ve never met anything she didn''t know, but I still can''t do anything while people around me are dying.


    Just like then, I am helpless.


    Why?


    What more do I need to do to be even stronger?


    What do I need to do to fight back instead of running away like I did that day?


    "Adrian! Run!"


    Julian tapped me hard on the shoulder as he passed me like a gust of wind.


    Ah... right, I should run.


    I started to run after Julian but this time another thought sprouted in my mind.


    I''m running again... I can''t do anything but run again... I stillck the strength not to run but...


    What can I do? Just because I''m angry doesn''t mean I have the power to beat them all. My stats aren''t going to miraculously jump a few grades.


    I involuntarily clenched my fist as I ran, so much so that after a while my palm was burning, and bleeding, but I didn''t stop. I just kept running, because I was desperate.


    ''Snap out of it, idiot! You''ll get depressedter, watch where you''re going! Or you''ll die!''


    I clenched my fist even more, after Lithoa''s warning I focused on the road ahead, even though I didn''t want to.


    Even if I don''t want to admit it, Lithoa is right, I don''t want to die yet. Even if I feel guilty, even if I''m as bad as the person I tried to change in the first ce, I shouldn''t die now. I can''t say goodbye to life without doing what I have to do.


    So I put it aside for now, at least until I manage to survive. Now... let''s think.


    We still have no idea where we are running to. On top of that, there are almost nine people chasing us and I can even sense a C or C+ grade among them.


    It would have been much easier to get caught if we hadn''t thrown ourselves directly into the chaos to escape, but fortunately, we are easy to miss between the explosions and other battles.


    ~beep!


    As I was running, a rather loud notification came on my watch, and I didn''t understand what it was at first, but then I realized that the same notification hade on Julian''s watch.


    <<------------------------------


    All academy students and staff, please run as fast as you can to one of the areas marked on the map. Stay away from anyone with a ck and red colored wristband and avoid fighting as much as possible.


    ------------------------------>>


    The content of the message was quite clear, they didn''t even bother to write anything formal because of the urgency, and the person who sent it was the academy itself.


    "Julian! We''re heading for the nearest point, let''s go faste-"


    I froze for a moment when I didn''t see Julian next to me.


    "Ju- Julian?"


    "I''m not a D grade, unlike you! I''m trying!"


    I felt a huge sense of relief when I quickly turned around and saw Julian a few steps behind me, only slightly behind because he was slower than me.


    I was really scared, even for a moment. I thought I had lost one of the two friends I had made in my life.


    "Tch."


    Julian clicked his tongue after yelling at me and looked back out of the corner of his eye. Then he saw a hand only a few inches away from him and cursed momentarily.


    The moment he cursed, I threw my spear with all my strength at the side of his head.


    The man who had caught up with Julian saw the spear and shielded himself with his hand, but he couldn''t stop the spear from piercing his arm.


    He was probably C grade, because the spear I threw with everything I had didn''t even do him any real damage, other than sticking in his arm, but it was enough to slow him down.


    When Julian saw that he was free, he hurled another short curse in his direction and forced himself to run even faster.


    Only half a minuteter, one of the marked ces, the academy''s huge canteen, came into view.

 Chapter 94 Volume III - 15: Purple-Eyed Man

    <h4>Chapter 94 Volume III - Chapter 15: Purple-Eyed Man</h4>


    When we received the message from the Academy, there were about two hundred meters between us and the nearest of the marked ces. As we were trying to escape our pursuers, we luckily ran right into it. We should have been happy, but...


    "Aiden, something is not right."


    I heard these words as an earthen spear flew past me and I started to sweat instantly. Not because of the spear but Celine''s words.


    It was said by Celine, Celine Potenbea, who had the Sixth Sense skill. If she felt that something was not right, then there was a big problem.


    "Like what? What do you feel? What do your instincts tell you to do?"


    Celine frowned, squinting her amethyst eyes.


    "I don''t know, just... something feels wrong. Like something bad could happen at any moment."


    I nced around, looking for something in particr to catch my eye, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn''t see anything abnormal. The battles were going on, explosions, spells, blood, guns, screams, and curses, but nothing else.


    "Hey! Come here!"


    I reflexively turned around when I suddenly heard someone shouting at us in a deep voice.


    The shouting man was in front of the security center, a marked ''safe'' spot. He was wearing the uniform of the security guards, and behind him stood a few others like him.


    "Get behind us and get inside the building. We''ll take care of the ones behind you!"


    When I saw the men pull out their guns and focus on those chasing us, I knew for sure that they were on our side.


    Still... what had triggered Celine''s skill? What was dangerous here? That''s what I wasn''t sure of.


    When we arrived in front of the building the man had told us about, the security headquarters, both Celine and I stopped running. We were almost out of mana, out of breath from running and our muscles were burning. But when I saw Celine turn to me and smile, I sighed and smiled back.


    "We did it, I suppose."


    It was exhausting going through all that chaos. The warm feeling of being alive wasforting.


    "I guess so... Do you still feel that weird thing?"


    Celine stopped smiling. She looked behind her, where the guards and members of the organization were fighting.


    "Yes, but it''s lessened a lot since we passed them."


    So the ''danger'' is behind us?


    I took a deep breath and turned to the closed door of the building.


    If we''re out of danger, there shouldn''t be a problem. On top of that... I''m really tired, I want to rest, to think.


    "Then le-"


    My words were interrupted by the sight of Celine suddenly flying off to the side. My mouth remained open and my eyes widened rapidly.


    "Celine!"


    I quickly turned in the direction she flew in, trying to figure out what had happened.


    She was about seven meters away from me. She must have bounced off the ground because she was covered in dust and her head was bleeding.


    I reflexively tried to run to her, but as I took my first step, someone suddenly appeared right in front of her.


    He had a big smile on his face. He must have been in his mid-twenties with his tall and skinny body, brown hair down to his neck, and stubble, but none of that mattered.


    What mattered were his eyes, eyes that glowed with the purple color of chaos.


    He was not a human, he was a wiera who knew how to use caora.


    "Hi!"


    The man bowed as if he didn''t care about me, lifted Celine''s body, and looked at the trees in the distance without even looking at my face.


    "And goodbye!"


    The man grabbed Celine and dashed into the trees, disappearing from sight in an instant. All I could do was watch.


    My eyes widened again as I froze in ce, barely able to process what had happened.


    I can''t lose Celine, she''s too important to the story. And besides... even though we''ve barely spoken, she''s a friend I smile at side by side. She is one of the first friends I made in my life.


    On top of that, all these events happened because of me. While so many people are suffering because of me, I cannot and will not leave someone close to me.


    If I try to ask someone for help, I will waste time, the enemy has gates that they can use directly. I... have to be quick.


    I clenched my fist, wiped away my hesitation, and dived quickly into the trees. Even though the man had long since disappeared from sight, the small traces he had left behind could be followed. That''s how I found my way, passing through the trees as fast as I could.


    Finally, when the trees suddenly became sparse, I realized I was about to emerge into a clearing. I slowed down, bent down, and observed what was in the clearing.


    The first thing that caught my eye was Celine''s unconscious body, though she was not the only one there.


    The floor was full of unconscious students. No matter how I looked at it, there were more than twenty students here and all of them were at least noble, if not noble, at least high in the ranks.


    So everyone here was a ''target''.


    When I looked for the device that would open the gate, I saw a small box lying on the floor not far from me. It was the device that would open the gate and it was closed, so I had time.


    I quickly turned on my watch, logged into the messaging app, and typed a quick message without using the holographic screen so that my location would not be obvious.


    I needed support as I couldn''t beat this guy on my own.


    As I finished typing the message and was about to mark the recipients, I heard a sound, and in my momentary distraction, I identally clicked on a different part of the screen.


    "Oh? Wee!"


    My eyes widened, I didn''t even have to look up to realize that the voice belonged to the man who had captured Celine.


    If it wasn''t for the Absolute Mind, I might have jumped out of my skin in the midst of this sudden situation, but I drew my sword and swung at him without thinking twice.


    The man dodged my sword with a slight step back as if it were nothing.


    I took advantage of the momentary gap to look at the screen of the watch on my wrist and saw that it was off.


    I typed the message, managed to select a few recipients I wasn''t sure who they were, but did I send it? I''m not sure, my hand slipped when the man suddenly appeared in front of me.


    I may have selected someone irrelevant, but more importantly, I hope I was able to send the message. After all, I don''t have anyone in my contacts who will do nothing in response to my message. They will definitely contact someone in charge, but if I couldn''t send the message... Then I''m facing a big problem.


    "I see we''re angry?"


    The man simply took a step toward me. The moment he did, I sent three wind des at him in quick session, but he dodged my attack again, and not only that. After dodging the wind des, he grabbed my clothes and threw me hard into the center of the clearing, not even letting his smile fade from his face.


    I had a hard time understanding what had happened when my world was suddenly turned upside down, and when I made contact with the ground and my whole body trembled in pain, I realized again how strong he really was.


    I tried to stand up with difficulty, and when I looked at him I saw that he was just standing there, and he still had that disgusting smile on his face.


    The bastard... he''s toying with me. Is there no way for me to win?


    "Uh, aren''t you the guy at the top of the target list? Hahaha, I didn''t expect you toe to me on your own two feet. My luck is pretty good today."


    I swung my sword at him again, but this time he caught it with his bare hand. Blood oozed from his palm, but he didn''t care and shook his hand hard, and then the sword broke into pieces in his hand.


    "Go to sleep now!"


    He clenched his fist, stretched it slightly, and swung it directly at my face.


    Although the preparation of the punch was reckless and slow, the punch itself was fast. So fast, in fact, that I almost couldn''t see it, and it was almost impossible to avoid it. The best I could do was to defend myself, but with the strength I felt earlier, how long could I defend myself?


    It was a gamble, I had no choice.


    I used my mana to protect my face, gritted my teeth, and poured additional mana into the Absolute Mind.


    The moment the punch hit me, my brain throbbed, and in an instant, a sharp pain shot through my head as if my entire skull was vibrating, and not only that, it spread throughout my body. The world was spinning, my vision was blurred, but the Absolute Mind, empowered by my mana, managed to absorb it all.


    I took a few steps back, my whole body was shaking from the shock, but I managed to stand up, and the man''s fist was right in front of me, he looked quite surprised.


    All this had happened in just one second, this was my opportunity.


    I drove my broken sword with all my strength into the man''s outstretched arm, and then, ignoring the blood sttering on my face and the screaming of my muscles, I pushed the sword through the man''s chest.


    The broken sword opened a wound almost twenty centimeters long from the man''s arm to the center of his chest, where even his bones were visible. There was so much blood pouring out of the wound that a normal person would have copsed from blood loss.


    The man in front of me just kept smiling.


    "Whoa, what the hell did you do?"


    My eyes widened when I saw the green glow above the wound and I involuntarily took a step back.


    Is his wound... healing?


    Wh- what is this monster? Or... does he have some skill rted to regeneration or healing...?


    "Wow! Even though you were able to do this because I allowed it, I''m intrigued."


    Allow...


    Did he say "allow"?


    What did he mean? Did he deliberately let me cut him open because he was curious to see what I could do?


    Despair swept through my body, and everything I had heard reyed over and over in my mind. Yet I didn''t want to believe it, I refused.


    I will not lose here, I will not give up so easily after the things I have been through.


    I quickly looked around to see if there was anything that could help me, but as soon as I did I felt a heavy pressure on me.


    "You look like you''re trying to find a way out of here by ignoring me. Like there''s a way to win even if you''re scared... No, there''s not even fear in those eyes. It''s strange... I haven''t met such determined eyes in a long time. And I was getting pretty bored, how about we y a game?"


    The smile on his face widened, then his body disappeared.


    The next second I felt a sudden, sharp paining from my feet, so sharp that I could hardly restrain myself from screaming.


    My feet were loosened, and I copsed to the ground, realizing that I was having difficulty standing on them. So when my eyes turned to the source of the pain in my feet, I felt dizzy for a moment.


    Blood was flowing violently from both of my ankles, watering the ground.


    He had cut my tendons and not only that, he had opened a deep wound. My feet were literally on fire.


    "You know... although you probably don''t know, it gives me pleasure to surprise people, to see them angry with me, to see them hate me... things like that."


    With each word, desperation slowly began to seep through the barrier of my mind, affecting my thoughts.


    How could I get out of here when I couldn''t even move except crawl?


    At first, my intention was to stall the man with the message I sent until backup arrived, but now... I was scared.


    I was scared of never seeing ra again, scared of losing my new life when I was finally free of my old one and happy.


    "But first... we need to make sure you don''t do anything bad during the show."


    He approached me, bent down, and took out a dagger from inside his jacket.


    The moment I saw the dagger, my eyes widened.


    I have to get out of here, I have to escape no matter what. If I stay here, this man will torture me to death... I-


    As my thoughts were racing, I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder, and I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming.


    He plunged the dagger into my shoulder, the purple glow in his eyes intensified and the smile on his face grew wider.


    "Did it hurt? Don''t worry... We''re just getting started!"

 Chapter 95 Volume III - 16: A Wicked Game

    <h4>Chapter 95 Volume III - Chapter 16: A Wicked Game</h4>


    Breathless, I asked with a deep sigh.


    "Did they give up on us?"


    Julian, no different from me, looked back out of the corner of his eye.


    Our pursuers had given up when the distance between us and the canteen had diminished. They were afraid of that ce.


    "I think they did."


    We stopped running, our steps slowly slowed down.


    We looked at each other and it was quiet for a moment. Then Julian''s face broke into a grin and I could only smile slightly.


    "I didn''t know you could run that fast."


    "I didn''t know you liked swearing so much."


    We were a little relieved that the danger seemed to have been averted, but the relief was inevitably marred by the sudden sound of the watch on my wrist.


    ~beep!


    My first thought when I heard the sudden notification was that the academy had made a new announcement, but then I realized something else: it hadn''te to Julian.


    I frowned, turned on the watch, and then looked at the iing message.


    I frowned even more when it was from Aiden, and as I read what he had written, I stiffened with each word.


    <<------------------------------


    Aiden: About twenty students targeted by the attackers are unconscious and hostages in the clearing at my location, and there''s a gate right next to them. There''s no one nearby for now but I need immediate backup, if anyonees I''ll try to hold them off as long as I can but I''m not sure how long I can hold them off.


    ------------------------------>>


    "Adrian? What old-"


    "Julian! I''m going to send you a location, go to the canteen and bring as many strong people as you can to the location I''m going to send you! Aiden is in danger!"


    Without waiting for him to say anything, I started running toward the location. I heard him calling me from behind, but I didn''t care.


    The location Aiden had sent me to was at the other end of the academy, which covered a huge area, but that only meant I had to be very fast.


    I... I didn''t want to lose someone close to me again.


    I wasn''t going to run away again.


    I wasn''t going to go through that pain again.


    *******


    The sensation of blood soaking my clothes seeped into my mind more and more with each passing second.


    The aches, the burning sensations, the pains, for which a dagger was solely responsible... they had reached such proportions that I don''t know if I would have been able to stay conscious without the Absolute Mind.


    Every time the dagger touched my skin, it opened a wound that was not extremely deep but hurt as much as it could hurt. The amount of blood I lost from all these wounds was so great that my head began to spin slightly.


    The little mana I had left in my body and the little regeneration with the stamina of being a wiera slowed the bleeding, but it wasn''t enough. There was a limit to my body and it was not far away.


    I was still calmer, though. With the Absolute Mind, my suffering didn''t matter much. Sooner orter this too would end.


    I could have resisted.


    "That''s enough so you can''t move, isn''t it?"


    The man sheathed the dagger covered in my blood and smiled brightly.


    When I realized he wasn''t going to do anything more to me, I stared at him like an idiot, unable toprehend what his purpose was.


    I saw a momentary change in his expression when he saw the look on my face, the glint in his eyes seemed to intensify, but that was it. He turned around, walked among the unconscious students, and paused when he came to one of them.


    It was a ck-haired boy, a skinny one.


    The man grabbed him by the arm without a care in the world, dragged him in front of me, and bent down. He pointed excitedly at his unconscious face, then looked at me.


    "Hey! Hey! Look, how sweet he sleeps?"


    Looking closely, I noticed the bump on the boy''s head. He must have been punched hard before he fainted, supporting the fact that he hadn''t woken up even when he was dragged.


    "S- So...?"


    I had to buy time, I couldn''t be sure if I had sent the message to someone or not, but there was nothing else I could do.


    "Look, the game we''re going to y is simple. I ask you a question and you answer. And for every question you answer wrong and choose to keep quiet, we will do something very fun with these friends. How''s that? How''s that? Isn''t that fun? Hahaha!"


    Is this guy... an adult or a child? I know that wieras are hungry for chaos and things like that, but... even they don''t have such sudden changes.


    "Aahh... You look so great, your fearless eyes are amazing! I want to take one out and keep it after the game... We were told not to hurt you, but I guess you''ll be fine if you''re missing an eye, right?"


    I felt a rising revulsion inside me.


    It disgusted me to think that I was even half the same kind of person as this man, to be aware that such a person was in front of me.


    "Ahem... Anyway! Let''s start quickly, say my first name with myst name."


    This guy...


    "Answer me! You have five seconds for each question! Five! Four¡­"


    He counted down from five, one by one, and then there was silence.


    "Haha! You didn''t know, that''s why the punishment ising!"


    He lifted the arm of the boy in front of him, and without even waiting a moment, he turned it backward with a simple gesture.


    "Aaaah!"


    The boy woke up screaming, his eyes still dazed from his unconsciousness, and he quickly turned to his arm. When he saw that his arm was upside down, he stood still for a moment, and then tears welled up in his eyes. He began to cry as if he had just realized the pain he was in.


    There was nothing I could do but watch and wait.


    I apologize...


    I didn''t express it outwardly, I thought what I thought inwardly because I knew he would enjoy it.


    "What is the name of the academy?"


    I didn''t know what to do with the question for a moment, I thought it was just a game he was ying, I was sure he wouldn''t ask questions I knew the answer to, but...


    This guy... he''s nning something again but...


    "Five, four..."


    At least I''ll try.


    I wanted to buy as much time as possible, so I waited until thest second and then answered the question.


    "Ce- Cevilian Development Academy."


    "Oh, really? That''s a nice name, but I call it the academy for the weak, so it''s wrong!"


    The sound of bone breaking echoed through the space. Even though I knew it would be like this, that he would do something stupid again, I wanted to take a chance, but... it was futile.


    "You didn''t answer again!"


    My eyes involuntarily narrowed and my head bowed weakly when I realized that the man had asked another question in the space between my thoughts.


    I... apologize...


    "Hey, hey! I know you''re awake! Keep your head up, look at us, and don''t miss the show! Or there will be worse."


    I gritted my teeth and forced my head up.


    The boy in front of me had changed, the one before had fainted from the pain.


    "Watch and see! The sound of bones crunching... isn''t that good?"


    Another scream echoed in the field, this time the truth prated my mind even more.


    It was because of me.


    This was happening because of the choices I made.


    These young people were being tortured because I came here.


    Wasn''t I the one who caused this attack in the first ce? If I had been infallible, if I hadn''t miscalcted, if I had thought of everything, this wouldn''t have happened... would it?


    Another scream echoed, and with it, I realized I could no longer hear properly.


    The amount of blood I was losing was forcing my consciousness to shut down. My sense organs were slowly ceasing to function. Screams, the madman''s words, students'' pleas for help, crackling sounds, blood, tears...


    As everything started to fall apart, I did only one thing, I apologized again and again.


    I was weak, maybe I only had a few seconds not to faint... My world continued to darken and the voices became meaningless, but then I heard a clear voice that seemed to cut through all this darkness.


    "Hey! Who told you that you can sleep?"


    A warmth spread throughout my body, and soon after I felt that it hurt less. The voices that I had been unable to make sense of just a moment before were bing understandable again. The blurred world became clearer and there was a hand pointing at me, glowing with a pale greenish color.


    My eyes widened when I saw the hand.


    I didn''t want to see anymore, I didn''t want to hear anymore, I just wanted to rest, I wanted to faint but... he was healing me.


    "Anyway... Ah! Oh, right, of course!"


    The man took his hand off me and quickly turned around, walking away from me again.


    I understood that he had gone to get someone new, and I was a little relieved when I realized that I could at least rest for a few seconds.


    But when he was in front of me again, time literally froze. I just stared at him, not moving a muscle, not shaking even if I wanted to.


    This time it wasn''t a random person he brought, it was Celine.


    "I forgot! You were with that girl when I caught her, was she your girlfriend?"


    Is this my... punishment?


    Is this the result of my overconfidence?


    Why am I not the one who suffers? Why... Just why does the result of my mistakes affect others and not me?


    Why do others suffer and not me?


    With the Absolute Mind, I wouldn''t care how much it tortured me. Maybe I would suffer, maybe I would even go crazy, but I had no doubt that I would eventually be okay again.


    Despite all this... the man in front of me was focused on other things as if he had known this all along.


    Thoughts started to run together in my mind again. I felt my body heat up, followed by a feeling that slowly enveloped my body.


    I gritted my teeth. I knew I was an idiot, and the more I admitted it, the stronger the feeling grew.

 Chapter 96 Volume III - 17: Madness as Hope

    <h4>Chapter 96 Volume III - Chapter 17: Madness as Hope</h4>


    I hated myself more and more, the feeling inside me was growing with each passing second. And then... the purple-eyed man suddenly stopped.


    "Hey?"


    He sounded shocked for the first time and I couldn''t understand what had happened.


    "You... why did your one eye turn purple?"


    What?


    "Very interesting... really strange... Wieras cannot be hybrids, a wiera is a wiera. But if you are a wiera, why are you in this academy?"


    The man paused for a moment as if he realized something. One moment his eyes widened as if he finally understood something he hadn''t been able to make sense of for a long time, and the next his face broke into a smile again.


    "That thing found you, didn''t it? I''ve been killing myself looking for where it is... You were unlucky enough to meet it, but lucky enough to bepatible. Still, it''s... strange that you''re a hybrid."


    He continued to say something, to mutter to himself, but this time I didn''t care. Just like him, I realized something, something very important.


    I''m feeling a negative emotion right now. Absolute Mind hasn''t kicked in, it''s not blocking anything that could stress me out. And as the man said, half of my world is a slightly purplish color.


    So...


    I clung to this feeling rising up inside me, growing stronger and stronger, enveloping my body, and then what I had predicted happened.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %2,3 --> %2,6


    ------------------------------>>


    This notification was frightening for me, especially after the encounter with my wiera side. Yet now, this same notification was like a glimmer of hope for me, appearing out of nowhere.


    Was there any other choice, even if it was risky and could end badly?


    No, it was the only thing I could try, but it wasn''t enough.


    I needed more, so I turned my eyes to the man.


    "Whatever it is! Let''s go on having fun, I never get a chance like this again."


    The man shook Celine slightly and she slowly opened her eyes.


    "W- what..."


    "Wake up, sweetheart! We''re ying a very fun game here."


    Celine didn''t even seem to understand what was happening, her eyes were staring at the floor in disbelief when he thrust his dagger into her hand and nailed her palm to the ground.


    Celine screamed, her eyes suddenly tearing up.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %2,6 --> %3,9


    ------------------------------>>


    My goal was to fuel the feeling that was growing inside me. So I watched without averting my eyes, and the man kept doing what he was doing.


    Celine''s fingers were broken one by one. Countless wounds opened on her body. I could hardly contain myself as I watched, but then I froze when I saw something I didn''t expect.


    After all those wounds, Celine''s eyes didn''t look like she was in pain, but rather determined. Daggers had been thrust into her limbs countless times, but Celine was struggling as if she didn''t want the man who had done this to her to enjoy himself.


    I could see it in her eyes, she refused to be his entertainment.


    No matter how many daggers went into her body, no matter how many times her bones were broken, she did not put on a despairing face. Tears flowed from her eyes, but she kept her pride to the end. Meanwhile, all I could do was watch; watch this girl who was so much stronger than me and hate myself even more.


    Still, she had a limit and so did I. And that limit was shattered after thest thing he did.


    "You''re too quiet... that''s not how it works."


    So he ced the dagger horizontally over her left arm and smiled.


    "Come on, scream a little."


    I couldn''t move a muscle as the dagger skinned its way along Celine''s arm. I could only watch powerlessly as the clearing filled with her screams, blood, and tears.


    "S- stop..."


    I begged. I begged earnestly, but the only response I got was Celine''s continued screams.


    "Stop it..."


    After her left arm, he moved to Celine''s right arm, doing the same thing, but even worse.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %3,9 --> %4,6


    ------------------------------>>


    At this point, she should have bled to death, but his healing power was so urate and effective that he was able to prevent Celine from dying without over-healing the wound.


    I felt another strap in my mind break, this time I started to curse, but he didn''t stop.


    He pulled out her fingernails and teeth and healed them.


    He plucked her hair and healed her again.


    He burned her limbs and healed her again.


    He kept healing her as if he had unlimited mana.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %4,6 --> %5,3


    ------------------------------>>


    "Do you want a scar on your face that you can be proud of?"


    She had cried so much that her eyes were swollen. The pain-heal cycle had worn her down so much that she couldn''t make a proper sound or keep crying, but when she saw the dagger on her cheek, tears came to her eyes again.


    "P- ple... Please-"


    She begged, but as if expecting it, he used his dagger to make a cut from just below her eye to her shoulder that was not too deep and even bled less than the others.


    Then heughed lightly and made the same cut in several other ces on his body.


    I had forgotten how to breathe as the blood oozing from the wounds soaked Celine''s clothes.


    As her eyes, which a few minutes before had been glowing with determination, now red from crying, slowly dulled, I felt thest leash holding my mind intact break.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %5,3 --> %5,6


    ------------------------------>>


    Hope?


    The will to survive?


    Punishment?


    I... I no longer cared about any of it.


    I just wanted to kill the man who made my friend suffer, to inflict on him multiples of the pain he inflicted on her. I was blinded by the rage, but I didn''t care.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %5,6 --> %6,1


    ------------------------------>>


    When the man saw Celine''s zed eyes, he sighed and put her down as if she were nothing.


    "We''ve only just started, but... You''re all gone in a few minutes."


    He put his hand on Celine and activated the healing skill he was ridiculously good at, but only to the point where she wouldn''t die.


    After he had finished healing her, he turned his head to look at me and smiled again as if he had found a new toy. Then he approached me, stepping over Celine''s body on the floor without a care in the world.


    ''You''re getting angry, aren''t you, Aiden? This is what happened to people because of your greed. Celine is near death and has suffered more pain than she will ever suffer in her life because of you, and you''re angry, aren''t you?


    A voice echoed in my head, but I didn''t reject it, I didn''t run away from it. I embraced it because it was the only way. I didn''t care what would happen to me.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %6,1 --> %6,8


    ------------------------------>>


    So I kept thinking about it over and over again, even if I was doing the same thing.


    She was like this because of me, everyone suffered because of me. None of this would have happened if I hadn''t made a mistake.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %6,8 --> %7,4


    ------------------------------>>


    "Ah... It was a lot of fun, but they have bad stamina, so what to do? Anyway, did you like the show? I tried so hard for you, but I''m afraid we have to go now. I wonder what the hell you are."


    I gritted my teeth, dug my nails into my palm and my vision blurred. The world was slowly going ck, and my thoughts were slowly spinning out of my control.


    ''You know what you want to do, Aiden. You want to take him down. You want to make him suffer the way he''s made people here suffer, you want to riddle him with holes. You want to kill him.''


    Yes, I do, and not just that, I want so much more.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %7,4 --> %8,6


    ------------------------------>>


    I felt my whole body slowly warming up, the pain slowly receding from my body. This warmth spread through my whole body, especially my legs, and I slowly stood up, so that the eyes of the man who had been smiling until now filled with astonishment.


    "How can you stand up? I''m pretty sure I cut your tendons and most of your muscl- Oh? The glow in your eye intensified."


    I felt bored, I wanted to move as if it hurt me to stay still.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %8,6 --> %9,1


    ------------------------------>>


    It still wasn''t enough. This man was strong, stronger than I could ever imagine. I needed so much more to simply make him waste time.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %9,1 --> %9,9


    ------------------------------>>


    ''Can you imagine what else he might do to your other friends, to Celine, if he gets out of here alive?''


    My mind was suddenly flooded with images. Adrian, Julian, Celine, Lucia, Sue, and ra... Each of them was in front of my eyes, and around them a purple me was rising, slowly engulfing them.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %9,9 --> %11,9


    ------------------------------>>


    All thoughts in my mind were erased, I only thought about what he said.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %11,9 --> %13,7


    ------------------------------>>


    "You..."


    I felt the purple mes I had seen leaping at me, I felt that they continued to burn and burn inside me, even growing bigger. It was as if I had been thrown into a furnace, the darkness in front of my eyes turned into a purple glow.


    A simple word like anger was not enough to describe what I was experiencing in my mind.


    ''Hahah... You really are stupid, Aiden.''


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %13,7 --> %14,9


    ------------------------------>>


    "You..."


    The darkness glowed an even brighter purple, and then I heard a voice echoing in my mind, growing less and less intense.


    It was no longer me speaking, it was someone else in my body.


    "Wanna y a game?"


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %14,9 --> %15,0


    ------------------------------>>


    The purple glow faded as quickly as it came. The unbearable heat enveloped my whole body and the connection between me and the world was literally severed after thisst notification.

 Chapter 97 Volume III - 18: The Game of Two Madmen

    <h4>Chapter 97 Volume III - Chapter 18: The Game of Two Madmen</h4>


    I tried to breathe in and out. The air was getting into my lungs, but every breath I took hurt, it was strange because I didn''t expect to wake up suddenly in such a state.


    I tried to move but my muscles wouldn''t let me. My whole body was literally writhing.


    Still... I''m alive, doesn''t the fact that I can feel pain mean that I''m alive?


    So I thought, how did I end up like this?


    Thest thing I remember is that Aiden and I were at one of the marked spots. After that... it''s a blur, I don''t remember anything.


    "W- what..."


    "Wake up, sweetheart! We''re ying a very fun game here."


    My vision suddenly changed, the sky that I had been seeing blurry suddenly turned dark. A tremendous pain from my right palm suddenly spread through my whole body, and tears flowed from my eyes.


    The pain was so sudden that I couldn''t even hold back my scream.


    To understand what had happened, I looked at the source of the pain, my right hand, and saw that it was nailed to the ground with a dagger.


    My eyes widened, and for a moment it felt like the whole world had been turned upside down. A feeling, a sense of danger, more intense than I had ever felt before in my life, began to scorch me at that very moment.


    I must escape...


    I must run...


    I have to run...!


    I tried to stand up, I struggled to remove the dagger that had nailed my hand to the ground, but just then I saw the figure in front of me.


    He had eyes of a shimmering violet color as if there was a flow in his eyes. It looked beautiful, radiant. Yet the person with those eyes was not as beautiful as those eyes.


    With his stubble and long hair, he was actually an ordinary man. Yet the disgusting smile on his face, the sinister expression... instantly altered the beauty in his eyes.


    When the man ignored me and broke one of the fingers on my left hand, a tremendous pain spread through my body again, but this time I was able to hold back my scream.


    So I understood, this man must have been among those who attacked the academy, but... why is he doing this?


    Why is he torturing me?


    Another finger was broken.


    The intensity of the pain prevented me from thinking, but that''s when I realized something else: I wasn''t the only one here. Around mey a pile of students'' bodies and they all had one thing inmon, they looked like they had been tortured just like me.


    My teary eyes looked around, and as soon as I did, I felt something familiar, something strangeing from right next to me.


    I knew this feeling, this confusing yet pleasant feeling that didn''t belong to this world, that I could never describe.


    Aiden was right next to me. I didn''t know if he was alive or unconscious like others, but I was sure he was there.


    So I gritted my teeth, and the helplessness I felt inside disappeared a little with the feeling that enveloped my body.


    I didn''t want to give this man what he wanted. He was making us suffer for his pleasure, we were like toys to him, so I refused to be his toy.


    No matter how much he hurt me, I bit my tongue if necessary and refused to cry or tremble.


    After a short time, I realized it had been a mistake. The only thing I had seeded in doing was to provoke him even more.


    mes burned my legs. My arms were skinned. My hair was plucked. I received countless cuts to my face, not too deep, but... no matter what, I didn''t die.


    I was healed, over and over. Just when I thought it was over, just when I thought maybe I could rest, the next one started.


    When I finally lost track of time, when I could see nothing but my tears and the earth, I no longer cared about my pride.


    I cried, more than I had ever cried in my life. I screamed and shouted as if my throat was torn.


    I wanted it to end, I even wanted to die if the pain would go away, it didn''t matter if I could survive. So I begged, not even making sure that my voice woulde out.


    The pain had reached such levels that I was disconnected from the world. I was so unsure of what was going on around me that I finally realized something.


    The pain was still there, yet... the man was no longer trying to hurt me.


    I tried to close my eyes, I wanted to give myself over to unconsciousness.


    Just then a warm sensation enveloped my whole body, the same warm sensation I had felt from the very beginning, over and over again, at the end of every cycle.


    When I realized that I was being healed, my eyes opened quickly. An intense fear filled me, the thought that the same cycle would start again wed at the already copsed barriers of my mind.


    Yet it was not what I expected. This time he had really let me go.


    It was finally over.


    I wanted to bury my head in my arms, but as soon as I did that, my arms started to burn so badly that I couldn''t even rest. It hurt so much that I couldn''t faint.


    My eyes watered again. I didn''t care about crying, I just wanted to relieve the pain.


    "You..."


    As I was thinking about how I couldmit suicide, I heard a voice that echoed in my ears like no other.


    For a moment, all the thoughts in my mind were cleared and I became rigid.


    That strange, otherworldly feeling enveloped my body again. It was so intense that it even slightly overpowered the pain. It was so rxing, so peaceful that it cleared my mind.


    I couldn''t move a muscle, but I still wanted to see it. I wanted to tell him to run away, but as soon as I managed to lift my head, I froze.


    This was not the sight I expected to see. I expected him to be injured, maybe dying. But Aiden was smilingpared to all the scenarios I had imagined in my mind. He was smiling in such a mischievous way that he looked creepy. There was such an ominous, disturbing air around him that if I approached him, my soul would be sucked out of my body.


    It was theplete opposite of theforting feeling that enveloped my body.


    Yet none of this mattered. What mattered was his left eye, his purple left eye that, like that man''s, shone with an ominous beauty.


    "Wanna y a game?"


    He didn''t seem to be who he was as an energy that seemed to be the same thing that gave his eye its color slowly wrapped around his body.


    Is he like him? Was Aiden someone like that man...?


    No...


    That thought quickly left my mind. He wasn''t like that. If he was, I would have sensed danger from him from the start. Even the slightest hint of it would have alerted me.


    He was not himself right now, that was the only exnation.


    "Hahaha! HAHAHA!"


    The man standing in front of him burst intoughter, his hands on his face as if tears wereing from his eyes.


    "So you went crazy... I''m really having fun today, I''d love to y with you more but we gotta go man, so I''m gonna end this real quick."


    The same purple glow that had surrounded Aiden now enveloped his body. It shimmered and shimmered, intensified, and then began to concentrate on his hands.


    Aiden had done nothing in response, the glow around him was the same.


    Already barely able to see them, my vision blurred for a moment, the voices fading slightly into each other. I realized I was about to faint.


    Fainting was actually too tempting. It was even a blessing to faint when my whole body was hurting more than I could ever imagine. Still, I wanted to stay awake for a few more seconds.


    My instincts, my skill that had almost never let me down, told me to stay awake. So I resisted, I fought my faintness and started to watch what was happening as best I could.


    "Don''t worry, we will take good care of you where you are going."


    After those words, the man disappeared from sight, suddenly appearing in front of Aiden. He was so fast that it was like he was vaporized in an instant, he must have been at least a B or B+ grade.


    Aiden couldn''t dodge it, and that''s what happened. The man''s fistnded right in his face.


    I expected him to be thrown back, to be thrown meters, but that didn''t happen. The punch caused him to take a step back, wiping out his smile. It caused a slight redness and swelling on his cheek, but nothing more than that on his body.


    The purple energy around his body was concentrated at the point of impact, almost solidified. There were cracks in it as if it had acted as a barrier.


    "You know how to solidify caora, what a gem you are!"


    Aiden rubbed his cheek where he had received the blow. He put a smile back on his face and spoke provocatively.


    "Can''t you? We''re ying a boring game then."


    The man forced his smile wider and attacked Aiden again, but this time more mercilessly.


    The purple energy that could solidify around Aiden shattered and reformed over and over again. In the process, Aiden was trying to dodge the attacks, but he was slow and his body was full of bumps and bruises. There was nothing he could do but barely defend himself. In fact, he couldn''t even do that.


    He was going to lose.


    I tried to breathe as the one-sided fight between the purple-eyed man and Aiden continued.


    I was hypnotized, as if all the pain in my body had disappeared. Their movements were so fast that I couldn''t see them, it was a fight like I had never seen in my life. They kept changing positions, fighting here and there, but the rhythm was broken in an instant, just like what was happening.


    Aiden took a hard punch right in the stomach and vomited a mouthful of blood. The attack was so strong that he waspletely off bnce and of course, the man didn''t let it go to waste.


    He grabbed Aiden''s hair and pulled his head down, driving his knee hard into his face. Aiden copsed before he could do anything.


    His nose was crooked, he was breathing fast and his smile was gone, again.


    When the man saw this, he smiled and pulled three daggers out of his jacket. The daggers slowly covered in a bright green glow as they were in the man''s hand and then the man threw them toward Aiden.


    The daggers plunged into the ground surrounding Aiden, and then a faint connection formed between the daggers, forming a triangle. When this happened, more red lines appeared on Aiden''s body than I could count.


    The blood oozing from the numerous cuts stained all his clothes red, and his muscles trembled as if refusing to move. But despite all this, his expression did not look as if he was in pain. His whole body was shaking, but he didn''t seem to feel pain, even though he seemed to be straining.


    "So? Is that it, Aiden? Apparently, you''re incapable of defeating me..."


    Without looking at his face, Aiden spat to the right. A tooth popped out of his mouth along with his blood, but even as he did so his body stiffened.


    "Come on! I''m waiting for you here, get up! We''re not done yet... You''ve really pissed me off!"


    Aiden took a deep breath, the purple energy around him slowly began to be drawn into his body.


    One by one, the purple energy covered all his wounds like a nket and turned into purple vein marks on top of the red spots. The moment this happened, his body stopped trembling. It was as if that purple energy was mimicking the damaged parts of his body.


    Aiden stood up like that.


    The intensity of the purple energy around him had noticeably decreased. He was using a lot of it to keep himself upright, but at least he could do what he wanted.


    When the man saw this, his smile widened, and without waiting for a second, he threw punch after punch at Aiden.


    Aiden took the first punch in the face, his head turned so suddenly that for a moment it looked like his neck was broken. But his expression didn''t change, he didn''t even take his eyes off the man.


    The second punch was in the stomach and sent him stumbling backward, causing him to vomit blood again. Yet he did not avert his eyes, as if he was carefully watching and analyzing the man''s every move.


    The third attack was not a punch, but a kick, aimed right at his thigh. Just like that, there was a crunching sound from Aiden''s leg. His leg was almost dislocated, but he managed to get through it with only a fracture using purple energy.


    After Aiden knelt down, the man waited before attacking again. He was looking at Aiden with a smile on his face, practically insulting him.


    The purple energy around Aiden moved toward his leg, forming a veined structure there too. Then, when he stood up again, the intensity of the energy around him had decreased a little more, although not that noticeably.


    After he got up, the man''s vision blurred again, he attacked again as Aiden stood up, but this time something unexpected happened.


    I heard the sound of bones crunching again, there was almost a rush of air from the attack and then I saw purple veins running along Aiden''s arm.


    Aiden had caught the man''s fist in mid-air, even though he had broken his arm.


    "It was impossible for you to see him."


    The man was really surprised, he meant it.


    "I didn''t see it."


    With a quick movement, Aiden tapped something on the back of his foot with his heel.


    So I saw something that I realized for the first time, a ck box.


    I couldn''t make out what the box was, it was a small ck box. Above the ce where Aiden hit it with his heel there was a button, which when pressed, a red sign appeared on the box that filled up quickly.


    It was a tiny gate device.

 Chapter 98 Volume III - 19: Crushed but Victorious

    <h4>Chapter 98 Volume III - Chapter 19: Crushed but Victorious</h4>


    The purple-eyed man frowned when he saw the tiny ck box, the gate device, that Aiden activated with his heel.


    "Are you stupid?"


    His voice was a little sarcastic, and without waiting for an answer, he started to move again, but just before that, the purple energy in Aiden''s arm suddenly began to change form.


    In a split second, purple chains shot out of his arm and wrapped around the man''s body.


    "You have an authority?!"


    Aiden did not answer. After the chains, the purple energy around him weakened even more. Blood oozed from his nose and lips at the same time. His body was shaking like crazy, even though he didn''t show it on his face. Whatever these chains were, they were putting too much strain on his body.


    ~beep!


    With the sound that followed the appearance of the chains, I saw the red marking on the top of the box fill up and change color to green. In this way, a blue glow suddenly appeared on top of it, and this blue glow slowly expanded to form a gate.


    After the box''s activation, Aiden smiled wryly and looked into the man''s eyes.


    "What? You still haven''t won against someone like me? Your reputation is going to be ruined."


    The man bit his lip and tried to break free of the chains, which actually wasn''t that hard. In the first second, cracks started to appear on the chains, and after the first one, it took only two seconds for the chains to shatter.


    "This has gone on too long!"


    The purple energy around the man exploded in an instant and a purple glow covered the area. The man disappeared from sight, ending in front of Aiden in an instant.


    At this point, it was clear who the victory belonged to. It was obvious that the man had put almost all his speed and strength into this attack. As the attack approached Aiden, it literally sent a small shockwave because of its speed and power, but again something unexpected happened.


    The man had aimed for Aiden''s chest but hit him in the left shoulder, and even though he missed his attack, he didn''t stop. He continued at the same speed as if he had lost his bnce and couldn''t control his speed.


    Where he had just passed, there was a thin, purple-colored stringy thing that he couldn''t see unless he focused on it, and he tripped over it.


    Even I was just now noticing it, I didn''t realize when Aiden had ced it there, even though I was watching the fight from the outside, but even so, the attack hadn''t lost any of its destructiveness.


    The attack dislocated Aiden''s shoulder, twisting his arm into an awkward shape, even bending it backward as the man didn''t stop. I could hear the crunching of bones, let alone the sound of splintering from here. It was obviously painful, anyone else would have fallen to the ground and started crying, but Aiden was unresponsive.


    Aiden tried to catch the man with his other hand, ignoring him without even trying to support his arm with purple energy, but he was too slow. He couldn''t catch the man who passed by him at an uncontrolled speed, he could only touch him lightly, but that was enough for him.


    Just like before, long chains, too many to count, came out of his hand and connected to the man like a rope where he touched him.


    With the second use of the chains, blood began to ooze out of his mouth like a slightly open fountain. Blood wasing from his nose too, and even his eyes and ears.


    By this time, the creation of the gate at the top of the box wasplete. Moreover, after it was opened, it began to ripple, and someone wasing through it.


    "Bye!"


    The moment Aiden tied the chains to the man, he nailed his feet to the ground, almost all the purple energy left around him went to his feet, pinning him to the ground, and he gripped the chains tightly with his remaining good hand.


    The man''s extreme speed almost sent him flying with him, dragging the earth with him for several meters even as his feet literally dug into the ground. His hand holding the chains was red as if burnt and melted, his already badly damaged feet were shaking like crazy, but he didn''t even think of stopping.


    If he stopped, he would be finished, the man in front of him was many times stronger than him and there was no way he could make him lose his bnce again.


    So he spun the chain around him, keeping his speed up and giving him even more momentum. After giving him one full revolution around him, he threw him with all his strength into the open passage.


    The few people who were about to emerge from the gate were instantly thrown back by the uncontrolled and excessive speed of the man, their bodies barely discernible.


    Aiden ran toward the box without waiting for a second after the men were thrown into the gate. Or rather, he tried to run.


    He couldn''t take a proper step because his legs were shaking, and his bnce was off because of the condition of his left arm. He was limping, but he managed to get to the box quickly and tried to crush it with his foot.


    Just then the gate rippled again. A hand, the hand of the man Aiden had thrown, suddenly shot out and grabbed him by the cor. He pulled him quickly toward him, but it was toote.


    Aiden crushed the box with his foot, shattering it. The gate closed quickly, losing the connection that had kept it open. The man''s hand remained on this side of the gate, separated from his body, and fell to the ground.


    And then¡­ a deep silence fell over the ce.


    Aiden''s breathing, and the man''s hand falling to the ground as the grip on his cor loosened, were the only things that broke that silence.


    It was over. Even if his wounds were too severe, at least he had won.


    It wasn''t really a win, actually. While the man didn''t have a single scratch except for the arm he lost because of the gate, Aiden''s situation was worse. He was literally crushed.


    Aiden let himself fall to the ground, sighing deeply. As he tried to catch his breath, he looked down at his body.


    His right hand, which had been holding the chain, waspletely worn out from the force. His left arm was both broken and dislocated. His right foot was perhaps the worst part of his entire body. He was bleeding from his nose, mouth, ears, and eyes. He was shaking, and his body was covered in bruises and contusions, but he had never shown any pain on his face during that battle.


    Now he was really tired and exhausted.


    He sighed again, lowered his hand, and raised his head. Then he turned in my direction and our eyes met.


    "Oh? Are you still alive?"


    The tired expression on his face gave way to a smile. The purple glow in his left eye intensified, as if he was excited. He stood up, even if he staggered. It took him a little effort to regain his bnce, but he did it. Then he started walking toward me.


    As he approached me, I stiffened when I realized a feeling had appeared inside me.


    This thing I was feeling, it was the danger.


    "After all you''ve seen... you can guess what''s going to happen, can''t you?"


    The purple glow in his left eye intensified and the smile on his face turned evil.


    "But a simple death would be bad... You know, I''ve used too much caora. I can''t control myself, madness permeates my mind. My brain is filled with so many thoughts that I can hardly contain myself. So... let''s not make it a simple death, don''t you think I deserve a little fun from all I''ve done?"


    The purple glow in his left eye intensified and the smile on his face turned evil.


    He looked like he wanted to tear me apart. He had the expression of a serial killer who literally butchered his victims to death just because they wanted to, just because they were having fun. On top of that, he walked so awkwardly because of his injuries that he looked like a monster.


    And that''s when I remembered.


    Aiden was like that man, he was ''crazy'' right now.


    "S- st... stop... D- don''t-"


    The pain in my body suddenly came back, all the things I had suppressed up until now hade to the surface again.


    "What shall we start with first? I''ll let you choose, don''t worry."


    Tears welled up in my eyes again, and everything that had happened yed in my mind again.


    I can''t... I can''t go through that pain again... I... don''t want to...


    Wh- why is this happening to me?


    Why am I still alive?


    Why am I still awake and not unconscious?


    "A- Aiden... wa- wake... up... p- please..."


    "Ahahah... That only happens in movies. It''s just the two of us here."


    Somebody...


    Somebody help me...


    "W- wait... Aiden! Don''t c-e near-"


    Please!


    "Not Aiden, it''s Eth-"


    His words were interrupted when his eyes suddenly focused behind me. I heard a voiceing from where his focus was.


    "A- Aiden?"


    I knew that voice.


    It was the voice of someone powerful, even if it was the first time I had ever heard him sound so terrified. Even if I couldn''t see him, I knew it was Adrian Caleo behind me, but I didn''t care anymore.


    I was tired... I was so tired that my world was slowly going ck. I just... wanted to rest now.


    "Ah..."


    Before my world wentpletely dark, I saw Aiden roll his eyes and click his tongue.


    "What is this? A drama movie?"


    *******


    I ran and ran and ran.


    I did my best to get to Aiden''s location quickly, terrified of losing anyone again.


    Nevertheless, I froze for a moment when I saw a purple glow in the trees I was approaching that almost lit up the sky.


    I remembered the radiance, the ominous and disturbing feeling it gave off.


    How could I forget it? Is it possible that I would not recognize it when I had lost everything to that purple glow?


    No...


    I quickly shook myself off and kept running determinedly toward the woods, now was not the time to freeze. Having that light there meant Aiden was in danger. I had to be faster.


    So I kept running to the light, but I couldn''t stop shaking. I was going to meet someone who was using that purple energy, someone who was on the side of the men who had ruined my life.


    I kept running anyway, but then I realized that the glow was fading fast.


    Oh no... I won''t bete, will I...?


    Without thinking, I dived into the woods, ran straight ahead without turning anywhere, ignored the tree branches scratching my skin, and finally came out into a clearing.


    I looked for Aiden, my friend who I was almost certain would be in a difficult situation. I was ready to jump out of my seat to help him.


    What I encountered, however, was thest thing I expected to see.


    No... I hadn''t even considered the possibility of what was reflected in my eyes, let alone expected to see it.


    My thoughts were suddenly jumbled together. I felt a pain in my head as if my world was spinning. Only one thought crossed my mind:


    This... can''t be real... shouldn''t be.


    I looked at Aiden, who was walking toward me, or rather toward a girl in a terrible state.


    He looked like he had juste out of a battle that had been extremely hard for him. His body was in such a state that he looked more like a zombie than a human being. His sinister expression and fiercely glowing left eye, along with the purple-colored, prominent vascr structures that surrounded his body, made him look like a real monster.


    When I saw Aiden, especially his purple-colored left eye that glowed like that man''s in my memories and the purple-colored veins around his body, I felt like my whole world froze.


    "A- Aiden?"


    Aiden stopped where he was after my words. The smile on his face slowly faded. Then he turned his face to me with an expression as if he was annoyed.


    "Ah..."


    No... Don''t... Don''t give me that look...


    Please...


    "What is this? A drama movie?"


    Memories suddenly prated my brain, my eyes widened.


    "H- how?"


    I had heard those exact words before. Nine years ago, I had been told the same thing when a silhouette I didn''t want to see slowly appeared behind Aiden.


    It was just like at the preliminaries, their images seemed to match each other.


    Aiden''s current calmness and that silhouette were identical.


    "Tch."


    Aiden clicked his tongue, then sighed.


    "What? Surprised?"


    His tone was different than usual. It sounded darker, more authoritative.


    It didn''tst long, though. After thest sentence, his expression suddenly distorted and his body began to tremble. He paused as if he had encountered something disgusting. Soon, however, a smile reappeared on his face.


    "You see, I''m a bit badly injured right now, so let''s y with you when the timees, okay?"


    y?


    y, did he say...?


    Does he... does he see this as a game?


    "Aide-"


    I took a single step toward him, opened my mouth, but before I could continue, the glint in Aiden''s left eye began to return. It slowly turned back to gray. The smile on his face disappeared, and his eyes twitched as if he had lost focus.


    Although blood had already oozed from his nose, even more blood spilled out for a brief moment, and then he copsed.


    Suddenly there was an intense silence. I didn''t know what to do, I couldn''t do anything but just stand there, with so many thoughts in my mind that I felt detached from the world.


    ''Adrian, can you hear my voice?''


    "L- Lithoa?"


    ''You remember what happened in the preliminaries before, don''t you?


    "Y- yes..."


    ''At the time, you thought that boy was your enemy, but then you realized there was a reason behind it. I advise you not to act fast for now. Wait and understand. As much as I dislike that boy, he is important for your development and he is different from the man you saw before. When someone of his kind uses that energy, no matter what, both of his eyes turn purple, whereas only his left eye was purple, which I''ve never seen or heard of before. I''m not certain, but there''s a good chance he wasn''t himself just now.''


    I clenched my fist, then looked at Aiden''s body on the ground.


    The thought that Aiden could be one of them scared me to death, and the thought that all the time I''d spent with him could have been a lie was burning me up inside. There were so many questions I wanted answers to, but that''s when I realized how bad he was.


    The purple, glowing structures and veins on his body had begun to retract. So I understood their purpose.


    They were like a patch, covering Aiden''s wounds. They acted as muscles to rece his torn, shredded muscles. They stopped his bleeding and held his broken bones in ce. It hadn''t healed him, but it had supported him, and now that support was gone, his whole body began to literally shake.


    "Aiden!"


    I ran toward him, not knowing what to do, the thought that he might die sprouted in my mind more intensely than ever, but just then I heard a voiceing from behind me.


    "Hey! Stay where you are!"


    I froze in ce, my eyes slowly turning in the direction of the voice, behind me, to look at the source of the voice.


    There was a soldier from the royal army in front of me, holding a gun in his hand.


    "He is not the enemy, calm down soldier."


    Behind the soldier in front of me, someone stepped out of the bushes into the clearing with slow steps. Everything from his posture to his facial expression emphasized that he was someone in authority.


    There were a few badges on his uniform, indicating his high rank, but they were not very highpared to the air he gave off. He must have been something like amander leading the troops.


    "It seems that everything is alrea-"


    I shouted without letting him finish, I didn''t care who he was.


    "H- help! He''s going to die!"


    We had to be fast, or I would never be able to ask Aiden what I wanted to know, nor would I ever see him alive again.

 Chapter 99 Volume III - 20: One Disaster Prevented by Another

    <h4>Chapter 99 Volume III - Chapter 20: One Disaster Prevented by Another</h4>


    "Ms. Mny! The enemy has begun to retreat! It looks like we managed to push them back!"


    I looked at the dozens of holographic screens in front of me in my room at the top of the Academy''s main building. I responded thoughtfully without turning to the guard who was talking to me.


    "Send me a detailed report as fast as you can."


    "Yes, ma''am!"


    The guard then quickly left the room. Secondster, a notification appeared on one of the holographic screens.


    It was a notification of the iing report, and the moment I opened it, which was updated every second, my eye twitched.


    There were already more than a hundred dead and about a thousand wounded. There were some attackers who were captured alive, but almost all of them had been seriously injured by a small explosion from a wristband on their arm. The minimum amount of money needed to restore the academy was very high, and all these figures were being updated every second. On top of all this, the situation had already leaked to the media.


    It was spreading fast, and messages of protest were already pouring in. The academy was losing reputation after reputation.


    "Tch."


    I closed the report and took a deep breath.


    What we had nned had happened. We had cleansed the academy of the organization ''for now'', but we had suffered much more damage than nned.


    I brought Aiden to my mind and sighed.


    He was right about most of what he had said, but the gates in the academy hade as a surprise to me and to him.


    A quick little search revealed that the gates had only been installed a week ago. So they were quite new. And the instation of all these gates had not even beenpleted yet.


    If we had waited a few more weeks, we could have suffered much, much greater damage. We could have handed over the mostpetent academy in the kingdom to an unknown organization before we even knew what was happening, but because of our sudden action, they had to act quickly.


    So even if I med Aiden, even if I was angry, I knew it was wrong. After all, even if there were things we didn''t take into ount, if we hadn''t acted, we would have suffered much worse, that boy had used a disaster to prevent a much bigger one.


    Still, after this incident, I decided to approach him more cautiously. Even though there was a mana contract between us, I began to question him, to wonder about his true identity.


    It was extremely unlikely, almost non-existent, but thoughts were swirling in my head that the organization might be trying to use him to take over the academy for good.


    I hadn''t thought about it at first because the reason he approached me in the first ce was that he was trying to save himself and that girl Olivia, but now the thought that this could all be a game was really bothering me.


    ~knock! ~knock! ~knock!


    "Come."


    A different attendant than the one before quickly walked in, bowed slightly, and spoke.


    "Ma''am, the royal family has requested a video call with you. Reporters are also sending interview requests."


    "Haaa..."


    I took a deep breath, lowered my head, and started rubbing my forehead with my hands. One annoying thing after another was happening.


    "Reject the reporters for now, I''ll handle the rest."


    "Understood."


    So he left the room as before, and I was alone again.


    I waited for a while, prepared myself as best I could. Then I turned to the holographic screens in front of me and dialed a specific name.


    The call echoed around the room for a while. Then a young man with coal-ck hair and bright green eyes appeared on the holographic screen in front of me.


    The crown prince had a tired expression on his face.


    "Mny... Let''s skip the formalities and get to the point, the nobles are angry. Very angry. Many want to withdraw their children from the academy, and those who have already lost them are spewing hatred in the media. At this rate, the best we can do is to close down the academy."


    "Closing the academy is not a solution... What we do is simple, we shift the me away from ourselves."


    The prince sighed.


    "I''ve thought about that, but I''m not sure if we can calm the nobles and the media with that."


    "We will expose the existence of the organization to the media, we will expose anyone who coborated with the organization. We will also... scapegoat the Malus Family."


    "Excuse me?"


    "Everyone knows that the Malus Family is involved in illegal things, they just don''t have the proof, but if we expose their involvement with the organization, whether it''s true or false, and then document all their illegal activities, it won''t be hard for the media to find them guilty. The Malus Family will be used of infiltrating the organization into the academy and the spotlight will be on them. They are already among the five most powerful families in the kingdom, so there will be no question about how they managed to do it. They are the perfect scapegoat."


    The prince''s green eyes were literally on fire, his brow furrowed in fury.


    "I cannot ept this!"


    I was even more frustrated when I saw the anger in his expression.


    "Pull yourself together, please."


    I know he is young, but has he learned nothing from the world in his twenty-three years?


    "You are the heir, the future ruler of this kingdom. If you want to continue down this path, you can''t be the kingdom''s ster saint. The Malus Family is already nothing more than a rotten force, and rotten is never a good thing, even if they are powerful and contribute to the kingdom. We will invent an extra lie just to put an end to them, and not only that, we will avoid the intense anger of the media and the nobility. And the academy will at least be spared closure."


    "It''s true that the Maluses are troublesome, but... still..."


    The prince looked thoughtful and I sighed.


    "The final decision is still yours, I only offered the most effective suggestion. Now... I assume you are aware of the spies among the royal soldiers."


    He shook his head absent-mindedly, he must have been confused by what had just happened, but there was nothing I could do.


    This is our best chance to take the pressure off and get rid of the Malus Family. Even if it''s very difficult to restore the reputation of the Academy, even if we have to start all over again, we can use this crisis as leverage.


    "I have no idea how they managed this... All the personnel of the royal army are handpicked, but somehow they managed to get past the security. This organization could be much more extensive than we think."


    He narrowed his eyes and focused away from the screen.


    "We''ll go through all the personnel one by one and try to find the spies, no problem there. As for your n with the Malus family."


    He bit his lip and waited a moment. Then he took a deep breath, even with difficulty.


    "Okay, you can do it."


    An involuntary smile formed on my face.


    "Thank you, Your Majesty. It will be very easy once we contact a few families who have fallen victim to the Malus Family and work with them."


    Of course, I had already spoken to these families. The third most important family that would provide us with evidence of the Malus Family''s downfall had recently agreed to cooperate. Everything was already in ce. Aiden''s n seemed to run smoothly, at least as far as bringing down the Malus Family was concerned.


    "Then I''ll ask you to meet again when something important happens. Now... I need to get some rest. I will be waiting for your good news."


    "I look forward to giving you that news too, Your Majesty. Until our next meeting, be well."


    The call ended and the image of the prince disappeared. I went back to the holograms with a smile on my face when there was another knock on my door.


    "Come in."


    The person who entered looked out of breath, obviously something important.


    I instantly became serious, I didn''t like what I saw one bit.


    "What happened?"


    "M- Ma''am! Adrian Caleo..."


    The moment I heard the name, the possibility that we had lost the best student in our academy shed through my mind.


    That... would be the biggest disaster we would ever face.


    "What happened to him?!"


    "He- he''s fine, ma''am!"


    "Then what the hell is going on? Hurry up!"


    I realized I was tensing up, sweat beading on my forehead, and the overall temperature of the room had risen.


    "He found Aiden Tenebra and Celine Potenbea when they were nearly dead!"


    For a moment it felt like time stopped, and the world turned upside down, it was another one of those worst-case scenarios that I didn''t expect to hear about.


    "Quickly tell me the details and take me to them!"


    *******


    Darkness.


    An endless nothingness where I can''t feel anything.


    It''s different from that split-second void you feel when you sleep.


    Here I can feel time passing, my perception is not very good, but I can think. I just... can''t feel anything, that''s all.


    I thought as I continued to float in the darkness.


    I wonder if it worked... If the asshole in me was able to stall that guy until backup arrived. Although... did I manage to send the message to anyone?


    As I continued to think about these and other things, I paused. Something had urred to me and fear filled my mind.


    That thing inside me was my wiera side. So he was crazy.


    What if he coborates with that man? What if I somehow hurt Celine? What if I attack them when reinforcements arrive? Who''s to say they won''t see me as part of the organization and kill me?


    What if... I never see ra again?


    For the first time in a long time, I felt truly scared. All other thoughts aside, the fear of never seeing my sister again began to eat at me. I felt as if I was drifting away from my own self.


    This dark, infinite nothingness seemed to be taking me with it. I could feel my consciousness slowly disintegrating.


    "ra..."


    For a moment I forgot where I was, who I was.


    "Where are you?!"


    The only thing on my mind was my sister. I was looking for her, looking this way and that way, even though I knew I wouldn''t find her.


    I had lost myself.


    "I... I''m sorry..."


    Why am I apologizing?


    What is happening...?


    "I can''t lose you again... I''m sorry."


    Who... is this? These thoughts... are they mine?

 Chapter 100 Volume III - 21: Returned Partner

    <h4>Chapter 100 Volume III - Chapter 21: Returned Partner</h4>


    I saw a faint, pale light in the endless nothingness as thoughts that I couldn''t even tell if they were mine yet raced through my mind. My eyes involuntarily shifted there instantly.


    This pale light, which seemed far away, much farther away than me, grew stronger and wider as I looked at it. Eventually, it grew sorge that it began to take my eyes.


    Of course, this didn''tst forever. After a while, the intensity of the light started to decrease and it went outpletely.


    When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in that dark nothingness, I found myself in a room.


    It was a very simple nursery. It didn''t have much decoration, but I could tell it belonged to a child.


    I was lying on a bed without moving a muscle when suddenly, slowly, I sat up.


    By this time I realized that my body was not under my control. I also realized that the body I had seen through his eyes could have been no more than ten years old, because it was too short.


    My body went through the door and out into the hallway of the house. Meanwhile, a melody caught my attention.


    It wasing from another room, not far from me, with the door slightly ajar.


    It was like a luby melody. There was both sadness and extreme peace in its rhythm. It was soforting and mncholic that I was hypnotized by it.


    Nevertheless, my body walked toward the room as if it was used to it. The melody kept getting louder as I approached the room and finally, my body looked inside.


    This room was like a real child''s roompared to mine. Everything in it was pink and looked like it had been carefully prepared for a little girl.


    So I focused on the most obvious thing in the room, the bed, and there I saw a girl sleeping peacefully.


    She had brown hair. She looked about seven years old and she had thrown off the quilt.


    I recognized her the moment I saw her. It was ra in bed.


    Then the one I''m watching through the eyes of now...


    Uh, wait a minute.


    I, uh...


    What?


    I tried to remember, I pushed myself with everything I had, but nothing came to mind except that the girl in front of me was named ra.


    Really... who am I? I know I don''t belong here, that I''m just an observer right now, but...


    "Don''t you ever get tired of it?"


    The childish andpassionate voice I hearding out of me made me feel awkward for a moment, but my head was full of meaningless questions. So I continued to watch, hoping to find out something.


    After what he had said, the boy came over to ra and pulled the quilt she had thrown over her back over her. He paused for a moment, looking at the still-working music box, and then sighed. Then he kissed ra on the forehead and let the melody y, murmuring as he left the room.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t get tired of it either."


    With that, the boy headed back to his own room, but when he was halfway down the hallway, he suddenly paused. He stood still for a few seconds, turning his head to the end of the hallway.


    There was a staircase going down, and light wasing from the end of it.


    The boy continued to stare at the stairs, then at his room, and then at ra''s room. After a while, without saying anything, he headed for the stairs.


    As I went down the stairs, I heard two people talking. The voices wereing from a room at the bottom of the house, which I think was the kitchen, and that was the source of the light on the stairs.


    The boy walked quietly to the door of the kitchen and when he was close enough, he leaned against the wall and listened.


    "No matter how hard we tried, we couldn''t get the result we wanted %%&#$... I don''t know what''s going to happen."


    I heard a woman''s voice and my head went spinning. As she said the name of the person in front of her, her voice sounded as if it wasing out of a static-filled broadcast.


    "We just have to keep going, there are millions of wels and a limitless skill at stake. We can''t give up."


    This voice was thicker, belonging to a man.


    Then the woman continued.


    "I know but... They support us just for the project, if it wasn''t for your brother they would have cut us off already. How long are we going to go on like this?"


    The woman sounded worried.


    "Simple... we just increase the dosage and the tests."


    His voice was determinedpared to hers.


    "What if he can''t take it? We realized toote that %^£¤/$ is ipatible, but even if she ispatible, she is still too young, can''t we wait for her to grow up a bit more?"


    Once again my brain throbbed and my body clenched its fists at these words.


    "She is our daughter, she has to hold on. She has to hold on. She has already crossed a certain point, we can''t stop now. All we have to do is get results. Repeating the same things every day in hope is not a solution."


    The child began to grit his teeth. Even though I didn''t know what he was thinking or who he was, I could feel his anger in my bones.


    "Okay..."


    After the woman''s approval, the boy stopped clenching his fist. He sighed lightly and silently rose from the wall he was leaning against and headed for the stairs.


    Every step, every movement, almost soundless, as if he had mastered it long ago.


    The boy paused again as he passed ra''s room. He went in, stood beside her, and stroked her hair, the melody still ying.


    "Don''t worry."


    The sad tone of the melody seemed to stand out more, to be deeper.


    "Your brother will always be with you."


    And so the image began to blur. The rhythm of the melodying out of the music box slowly broke down and I found myself in that dark nothingness again.


    Your brother will always be with you...


    I felt these words seeping into my mind.


    It''s over now.


    Suddenly the darkness began to close in on me. I felt dizzy, then it was hard to breathe. I was suffocating.


    I am sorry.


    I couldn''t help feeling like I was getting closer to death with every second that passed and I thought.


    So what?


    Am I going to die like this without even knowing who I am?


    No...


    I don''t want to die.


    Every second I couldn''t breathe, I felt my heart squeezing.


    Help... somebody help me!


    "Ai-"


    In the darkness that surrounded me, preventing me from breathing, a teal glow appeared unexpectedly. Then, I felt aforting warmth envelop my body.


    "Can- hear- voic-"


    The turquoise glow expanded and expanded. In this numb nothingness, the warm glow emitted by the glow was like something from heaven, until finally I could hear a word.


    "Snap out of it, Aiden!"


    The feeling that prevented me from breathing disappeared in an instant. Out of the turquoise glow emerged a small, twenty-centimeter-tall figure, shining like a star in the darkness, and I remembered.


    I remembered who I was, what had happened to me, and the spirit in front of me.


    "Sith? Is... Is that you?"


    Everything I had just seen came flooding back to me.


    I couldn''t make sense of it, I was confused, but at the same time, I wanted it to be real.


    "Of course it''s me! Do you think anyone else cane here but me?"


    He was being grumpy, but his eyes held a worry that he didn''t hide.


    Seeing him like this after so long... It made me feel a relief I don''t remember feeling before. It was as if a dagger in my heart had been removed after a long time...


    "N- no... I... I was just surprised. I didn''t expect to see you. I didn''t even think I''d ever see you again, but now that you''re in front of me..."


    I realized I was shaking with excitement and tried to calm myself.


    I wouldn''t say that I had an extreme bond with Sith, but he had always been there for me during our month together. I could talk to him instantly when I was bored, I had fun working on magic with him, so his absence had really affected me, especially with what I had been through.


    And now to see him in the flesh... it made me feel both inexplicably happy and guilty at the same time.


    "I''m sorry... It''s my fault..."


    How am I supposed to feel?


    What exactly am I feeling right now...?


    I think... I can simply say I''m happy, but I don''t think that''s enough to exin all the things I''m feeling.


    "I''d try to do something even if you didn''t, it''s okay."


    He grinned slightly, opened his palm, and quickly handed it to me.


    "So, are we alive?"


    I chuckled when I saw that he hadn''t changed even in this meeting in a somewhat gloomy atmosphere. I looked at his outstretched palm. Then gave his tiny hand a slow high five and smiled brightly.


    "Yes... Yes, we are alive."


    I even felt like crying for a moment. I was really... happy.

 Chapter 101 Volume III - 22: Waking Up Hospitalized

    <h4>Chapter 101 Volume III - Chapter 22: Waking Up Hospitalized</h4>


    "...ill soon wak-"


    I heard a faint sound that I couldn''t quite understand.


    My eyelids slowly opened.


    "Ah! He''s waking up!"


    I was in a veryfortable bed, lying on my back, and the ceiling in front of my eyes was... white, unlike the void in my dream.


    As the world slowly became clearer, I saw a silhouette in a white coat looming over me.


    "Hey? Can you hear me? You don''t have to speak, just nod your head yes or no."


    I nodded my head slightly up and down. Then, the silhouette in the white coat continued to ask me questions.


    The questions were general checks. Do I remember my name, do I remember what happened, do I know where I am, but my focus was never on him.


    I was here, in a hospital, and more importantly, I was alive, and I was not surrounded by soldiers or people ready to attack me at any moment.


    I hadn''t been caught or done anything bad when I wasn''t in control... when the wiera side of me was doing whatever it wanted with my body. Even if I had no idea what was happening, I had made it.


    I had survived.


    "Good... you don''t seem to have any cognitive problems."


    I slowly tried to sit up from where I was lying, but then a slight pain spread through my whole body. Suddenly all the strength in my muscles disappeared and I fell back on my bed. The doctor noticed this quickly.


    "Your body was in an extremely bad condition. All your internal organs were badly damaged. In total, you had two cardiac arrests and three near-death experiences. So even though you have been treated, it would be better if you don''t move for at least two days. After two days you can start walking with the help of a cane, but again you should not move your muscles too much. It will take nine to ten days to fully recover as long as you take the medication we will give you."


    Nine to ten days...


    I wonder what''s happened to my body this much...?


    Ah... wait a minute...


    My whole body shivered and my eyes widened as I suddenly remembered something. I wasn''t the only one injured in this way... there was someone else there.


    "Do-"


    I swallowed the words for a moment because of the dryness of my throat, the burning sensation in my throat added to the sharp pain in my whole body.


    "Ah, water will be here soon. It''s better not to talk now."


    I frowned involuntarily at the strange feeling of not being able to speak but nodded slightly.


    I had time, I could find out what had happened to her at any time, I just had to wait a little.


    The doctor smiled like that, then checked the devices connected to me. After a short while, he took care of everything, checked me onest time, and finally left the room.


    Just a few secondster a nurse entered the room.


    With the nurse''s help, I sat up extremely slowly, so I felt even more awkward.


    Is it really necessary to be so careful? I feel like they are exaggerating...


    "Have a drink."


    I took the ss of water the nurse handed me and downed it, feeling myself rxing with each sip. Finally, as I sat up, I took a look at my body.


    There is a ck medical wristband covering my left arm up to my shoulder, almost my whole body is covered with bandages, there is a soft excess under the bandage on my right palm, and a stick-like thing with a fracture at the joint is fixed to my legs in a way that does not prevent me from moving them. Other than that, there doesn''t seem to be anything visible.


    Well, something really bad seems to have happened to my body.


    I quickly turned to the nurse who put a tray of food next to me.


    "Excuse me."


    "Yes?"


    "There was a girl where I was, her name is Celine Potenbea. Do you know what happened to her?"


    "Uh..."


    The nurse averted her eyes, paused for a moment.


    Why is she averting her eyes? Why did she pause...?


    Has something happened to Celine?


    "Well... her condition was as serious as yours. So she was rushed to intensive care, but her father soon found out what had happened to her and went crazy. He spent millions buying the best potions and pills for her and the doctors used them in a controlled manner. Now she is probably even better than before, but..."


    "But what?"


    "She had psychological problems. She didn''t want to talk to anyone, couldn''t sleep, ate and drank too little, and didn''t want to see anyone''s face. They said that when she saw someone''s face, she was terrified and started screaming. The trauma of the incident affected her so much that even when her father, let alone the doctors, approached her, she would shake with fear."


    Her words echoed in my mind, and I clenched my fist even though every word hurt. I didn''t care if my hand started to ache.


    ''Calm down, Aiden.''


    With the voice echoing in my head, Sith appeared in front of me.


    ''I don''t know what happened, but calm down, your mana has started to spin inside you. If your mana flow is disrupted in your current state, it won''t be pleasant.''


    His expression was serious, more serious than ever. Still, I didn''t pay much attention to it.


    ''It''s okay, I have Absolute Mind.''


    Sith frowned at what he heard.


    ''What mind?''


    ''Never mind, I''ll tell you everythingter.''


    "Where is she now?"


    "Her father was going to take her somewhere else but they couldn''t move her. So she''s still in the hospital."


    "Is she on the bottom floor?"


    "Y- yes? How did you know?"


    Because all nobles, especially seriously injured nobles, are moved to the bottom floor for safety, something I know from the game.


    "Okay... got it, thanks for the information."


    The nurse gave me a strange look for a moment, but when she saw me close my eyes and lean back on the bed, she prepared my food and told me to eat it before it got cold and then left the room.


    Ah... I forgot to ask how many days have passed...


    I looked around my room for a calendar, but there was nothing.


    ''November 21st.''


    My eyebrows rose at Sith''s words, but then I remembered. Spirits were literally a natural living clock.


    So... five days had passed.


    It feels strange to have slept for five days, but maybe I would have slept for months if the facilities here weren''t at this level... I won''tin.


    ''Are you going to tell me what happened?''


    I looked at the hovering Sith and sighed.


    I can''t move anyway, and there seems to be nothing for me to do in this room...


    ''Where do I start?''


    ''Start from the day I started sleeping.''


    ''Okay...''


    I paused for a moment, thinking about what had happened. Finally, I let out a deep sigh and began to mentally tell Sith everything that had happened to me since that day, one by one.


    Sith was a good listener. He didn''t ask me anything, except for the asional change of facial expressions. When we finally came to the present, he lowered his head, averted his eyes. He gritted his teeth and said only two words.


    ''I''m sorry.''


    ''It''s okay.''


    Neither of us said anything else, and a deep silence fell between us, though it didn''t take long for it to be broken.


    ~knock! ~knock! ~knock!


    "You cane in."


    After my approval, I was expecting only one person toe through the door, but I was surprised to find six people in front of me. Then an involuntary smile appeared on my face.


    They were my friends.


    Adrian, Julian, Sue, Lucia, and even Alysia, although I don''t know why. And that wasn''t all, there was someone else among them.


    ra was here too.


    When I saw her, my mind went back to the dream I was having.


    No... it wasn''t a dream, it was a memory. I was sure of it, but I quickly restrained myself. After all, one thing at a time, thinking about it was not something I wanted to do right now.


    "Uh... hi?"


    ra kept her serious expression even though I spoke in a humorous way, waving slightly.


    "You''ve been hospitalized a total of three times in thest two months..."


    This is the first time we are face to face since I made things right with her. I can still feel that she is still avoiding me, she is still distant, but there is nothing I can do because I can understand her.


    She needs time, we all need time. And yet I can see the worry in her expression, the sweat running down her forehead, and the fact that she''s panting even though she''s trying not to show it. That''s the reason for the smile on my face.


    "Trouble likes me a lot, and when I don''t run away from it, it finds me everywhere. There seems to be nothing to do."


    I raised my right hand, the only hand I could use, and pursed my lips.


    Julian and Sue giggled, Lucia grinned slightly, and Adrian and Alice remained unresponsive.


    As I looked at Adrian, I noticed something strange.


    He was looking at me like I was someone he didn''t know, he was distant and his eyes were scrutinizing me, studying me.


    What''s wrong with him...?


    "So you''re saying you''re still going to be hospitalized?"


    Her worried expression gave way to sweet anger and I smiled again.


    "I''ll do my best not to."


    For a moment her body trembled, she moved closer to me but hesitated. Her gray eyes locked on mine for a while. She opened her mouth but closed it again without saying anything.


    Finally, she clicked his tongue, her eyes narrowed. She turned around and walked out of the room, muttering something I couldn''t understand as she passed through the crowd.


    I can''t be angry with her, and I don''t need to be. I don''t care what happens as long as she is happy, as long as she goes on with her life.

 Chapter 102 Volume III - 23: Trust Problems

    <h4>Chapter 102 Volume III - Chapter 23: Trust Problems</h4>


    After ra had left the room, Julian spoke slowly.


    "Well¡­ you and your sister are not on good terms, huh?"


    "It''splicated, but we''re not hostile."


    I paused for a moment.


    "I guess."


    Then Julian chuckled again.


    "You''re good at making jokes, and you''re making people worry."


    Slowly the others joined the conversation. It wasn''t long before the topic shifted from me to them, and I listened to what had happened to all of them during the attack. Our conversation went on and on.


    Lucia wasn''t even here when the attack happened. Mny must have sent her to their house for a short time, just in case. That exined why she hadn''t been able to help Sue with her lessons recently.


    Mny, who had been warned once before, quite severely, by the organization, wanted to y it safe and had made dozens of preparations to protect her own family before the operation.


    Alysia''s room was searched when the attack began, but because of the soldiers'' sudden need for backup, the searchers let her go after checking her wrist. Alice thought she would never leave her room, but a fireball hit her window and she was inevitably drawn into the battle. As far as I could see, she didn''t seem to be seriously injured except for some minor things.


    Sue was in her room during the attack, just like Alysia, but luckily nothing bad happened to her. She stayed safe in her room while everything was happening.


    Adrian and Julian were together during the attack. They fought together and escaped together. When they finally got to the safe zone, they suddenly got my message.


    When I heard that it was Adrian, I felt a sense of relief and looked at him out of the corner of my eye, but... his expression was still cold, distant.


    So I thought of something, a possibility.


    I was even more sure when I thought of Adrian''s look.


    Well... it''s not good to talk about it here, but I think I know what happened.


    "Have you seen Celine?"


    All smiles quickly disappeared with the sudden question that came in a moment of silence.


    "No."


    This time it was Lucia who spoke.


    "We asked the doctors if we could do anything, but for now they said to just give her time."


    "I see..."


    There was silence again.


    "So... did they catch that man?"


    My anger rose within me as I remembered that man''s face, but I calmed myself before the Absolute Mind.


    I need to get information first.


    "No, when Adrian and the soldiers got there, the only thing that belonged to the man was his arm, separated from his body by a perfectly good cut."


    Huh?


    What do you mean, a perfectly severed arm?


    My wiera side... is it strong enough to hurt that guy like that?


    That guy must be at least a B- grade equivalent with the caora. So... with my strength, it''s almost impossible to defeat that man. Notpletely, but very close to impossible.


    Then he ran away when he heard the soldiers wereing?


    But then how did he lose his arm...?


    Strange, absurd thoughts started to sprout in my mind, but I didn''t let them out.


    "Everyone thinks you cut off the guy''s arm because you were the only one in the field with scars like from a fight rather than from torture."


    I cut off that guy''s arm...?


    I mean... it wasn''t me, but how is that possible? Or... did he underestimate me, or rather my wiera side, too much?


    "I... I don''t remember anything at all. I was furious, but that guy must have been at least B- grade. I want to say it wasn''t me, but..."


    "There''s no evidence to the contrary, all the signs point to you, and it''s absurd for him to hide himself if someone else beat him."


    Lucia literally read my mind.


    "Yeah¡­"


    Again, everyone fell silent. The cheerful atmosphere in the room had practically disappeared at the mention of Celine.


    After a moment of silence, Lucia''s watch rang. She spoke for about ten seconds, at the end of which she looked around the room with a pensive expression.


    "I apologize, I would like to stay longer but I have to leave."


    Her brow was furrowed, there was something she didn''t like and I didn''t miss it. Still, I didn''t say anything different or ask what it was. No one did, so Lucia apologized again and left the room.


    After Lucia, Alice also left, saying she had work to do, without doing anything except telling what had happened to her.


    Then Julian said he was going to stay with his family for a while, wished me well, and left.


    Adrian and Sue looked at each other for a while after everyone left.


    They both seemed to insist on staying in the room, although this awkward moment didn''tst long. Just like with Lucia, Sue''s watch started to ring.


    It was her brother.


    "I''ll be backter, sorry. Get well soon..."


    And with that, she left the room. She had pulled the door.


    Now, it was just Adrian and me in the room.


    "Was it me?"


    I interjected before him and Adrian, after a short silence, opened his mouth for the first time in the whole time he was here.


    "Yes."


    "So you saw what I am."


    Adrian was silent again, a silence that confirmed me.


    "You don''t have to deny it, this is the first time you''ve been this distant and you were the first to find me. It''s not hard to put the pieces in ce."


    I clenched my fist, afraid of the answer to the question that woulde out of my mouth but... I have to know.


    "Did I hurt Celine?"


    Adrian raised his eyebrows in surprise, as if he expected me to say something else. He answered my question anyway.


    "I don''t know, but you were walking over to her when I came in, smiling."


    That hit me like a p in the face. I choked on my own words, unable to do anything but stand there.


    I... I didn''t do anything to her, right...?


    "Look, Aiden."


    Adrian hardened his expression again, putting the Celine thing aside for the moment. He was almost... furious.


    "The person who murdered my parents had both eyes purple and glowing. That person ruined my life. He forced me to live like a beggar for eight years and took everything from me. I can even say that my purpose in life now is to find that man, and you can imagine what I want to do when I find him."


    I already knew this, there was nothing I didn''t know about him... but I kept listening.


    "Can you imagine what I was thinking when I saw you there, with the purple left eye and the wide smile on your face?"


    Yes... I can.


    I''d better settle this matter first of all.


    "I may not be able to give you a satisfactory answer because I can''t deny what I am."


    Once he''s seen me, no matter what I say, if I try to run away I''ll be a liar in his eyes, so... I have to be honest, at least as honest as I can be.


    "That purple energy you saw is called caora. The fact that the eyes of the person who uses it turn purple is just an indication that caora is flowing in their body, a kind of reaction. Normal people cannot use this energy because it is extremely chaotic, destructive even. That''s why the body structure of those who can use caora is different from normal people, it''s like they are literally rebuilt ording to this energy, but their minds are still affected by the energy."


    I breathed, then continued quickly.


    "We cannot say that they arepletely crazy. They can think logically, from the outside they are no different from a normal person, but they are extremely prone to destruction and chaos. In a way, their minds are always creating chaos, they like it."


    Adrian didn''t interrupt me, he listened carefully to every word I said. As if there was not a single thing he wanted to miss.


    "I''m different from them, I''m neither fully human nor wiera, so my mind wasn''t fully affected by the energy. Rather, it was split into my human side and my wiera side. You can say that I have a dual personality if it''sfortable for you, but... I am in control. I''d have to be mentally shaken, weak, or extremely unstable for it to take over, but that''s a bit difficult. So... I''m kind of a half-wiera."


    After that, I was silent without saying anything. Adrian took a deep breath when he realized that was all I had to say.


    "Wiera, huh..."


    His eyes narrowed, his focus shifted away from me.


    "Do you have a connection with them?"


    "No, I don''t. They''ll only just find out I''m a hybrid thanks to that man over there. If I had any ties with them, I wouldn''t be here now, I''d be at their headquarters with a bunch of noble students and Celine, and considering I''vee back from the dead three times, they don''t like me."


    Adrian fell back into thought, his gaze on the ground.


    For a moment his whole body trembled. His face twitched and he spoke in a broken voice as if he was in pain.


    "Aiden... I can trust you, right? I thought so many things at that moment; I formed so many theories and ideas in my head..."


    He paused as if those thoughts were gnawing at him even now, his eyes shifting their focus to different parts of the room, but he could never look at me.


    "Even now, I''m thinking about the possibility that you''re deceiving me. As if I don''t have enough on my mind already, when I add this to it..."


    "I''m not saying trust me instantly, Adrian. Trust is not easily earned, especially in this world. If you want to doubt me, I can''t stop you, I can''t be angry with you."


    I smiled slightly, raised my finger, and pointed out the window.


    "To add value to my life by exploring this world, by seeing new things; to change my ordinary life. That was my first purpose in this world. I wouldn''t say I''ve lost it yet, but now I have people I love, people who are close to me. It may sound funny to you, but I want to bring this world to a happy ending where I can live andugh with them."


    I turned back to Adrian, still smiling.


    "That''s why I don''t want to lose a friend like you. The happy ending I want to reach should be you living in it, whether you hate me or not. Now... the choice is yours, but remember this."


    Adrian lifted his head from the floor, finally looking at me.


    "You are the first real friend I ever had. You''re the first friend I''ve ever trulyughed with."


    Adrian broke his serious expression for the first time since I woke up. His eyes teared up slightly for a brief moment, and for a moment he just stood there.


    Finally, he swallowed, brought the sleeve of his clothes to his face, and started wiping his eyes with a deep breath. While hiding his face from me, he murmured softly.


    "Thank you..."


    Suddenly he was his old, naive self. The nobility of his high-grade charm had been reced by a child.


    "It''s okay."


    "I... I should go now."


    He headed for the door without saying anything, but paused onest time before leaving.


    "Get well soon."


    And with that, without saying anything else, he quickly left the room, leaving me alone in the room.


    Although... I wasn''t alone.


    ''You''ve made some pretty good friends since I fell asleep, huh?


    After Sith''s words, a smile appeared on my face again.


    "Yeah."


    For the first time, the word ''friends'' felt so real and refreshing.

 Chapter 103 Volume III - 24: A Shaken Father

    <h4>Chapter 103 Volume III - Chapter 24: A Shaken Father</h4>


    After talking to Adrian, not much of importance happened in the past two days.


    I had a brief meeting with Mny and we talked about our future actions, and to my surprise, she didn''t explode at me. She was more cautious when talking to me, I could understand that, but she didn''t seem to hold me responsible.


    When I think about it, I can think of a couple of reasons. Probably the fact that we have averted a much bigger disaster with this one makes her less angry with me, but it doesn''t change the fact that we have a lot of problems ahead of us.


    We are going to have to tread very carefully now because we have lost a huge amount of credibility and all eyes are on us. Still, if things go a little bit smoothly from now on, we shouldn''t have too many problems.


    Apart from that, ra visited me a couple more times during these two days. This time she was a bit friendlier than before, I felt like I could talk to her again, like when I first came to this world. However, she had to go back to Wiathen City because she had school, so we didn''t spend much time together again.


    That''s not to say I didn''t have any other visitors.


    Although Lucia and Julian couldn''te because they had gone home, Adrian and Sue came to visit at least twice a day. So I wasn''t alone, and Sith was there too. It was hard for me to feel alone.


    Now I was being discharged. I wasn''t allowed to make any sudden movements, I wasn''t allowed to strain my muscles a bit and I could walk with the help of a cane, even though it hurt. For the first time since I woke up, I was wearing my everyday clothes.


    "Your procedures are all done, get well soon."


    When the nurse came to my room and informed me, I stepped out of my room for the first time with a smile on my face.


    The hospital was quieter than I thought. I had expected the corridors to be full of people after the incident, but apparently, I was wrong.


    I kept moving forward with the support of my cane. When I finally left the building, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of fresh air. I opened my eyes and looked up at the sky.


    The sun was high up, but it still couldn''t shine all the way to the surface. The clouds, the harbingers of rain, were slowly gathering, slowly covering the sun and directly the whole sky.


    I didn''t care though, I finally tore my eyes away from them and looked directly at the academy this time.


    The academy itself was just like the inside of the hospital. It was subjected to harsh media bacsh, criticism, and even people marching and blocking the gates of the academy, but... it was peaceful, at least it seemed that way.


    "Hey... Look, isn''t that Aiden Tenebra?"


    "Probably..."


    When a group of friends stared at me, thinking I couldn''t hear them, I sighed deeply and nced in their direction.


    They stood still for a moment, then went silent. Finally, they started moving, walking away from me.


    This is another oue of the events...


    After the students who were tortured by that man woke up, there was an extensive investigation. Then, with leaked information, the story was exaggerated and rumors started circting that I had ''beaten'' a B- grade man, and not only that, I had ''cut off his arm''.


    And because they used a lie detector when I testified and I wasn''t prepared this time, I had to say that I didn''t remember anything, so I can neither deny nor confirm these rumors and it''s... a bit frustrating.


    Of course, the technology in this world is much more advanced than in my old world, so based on a broken dimensional portal device that was there, it was decided that I somehow led the man to the portal and he lost his arm because the portal closed on him. So I didn''t beat him, but it wasn''t enough to quell the rumors.


    The exaggerations always took precedence over the truth.


    I don''t know how much of what I know is true because I don''t remember anything, but that doesn''t change the fact that I''m extremely famous now. I am now a legend in the media. I am seen as the star of the rotten academy, I keep getting invitations from other academies, universities, and... I am under even more intense stares than before.


    Aside from that, there is a group of people who argue that I am exaggerated, that everything that is being said is a lie, and that this is all being said in order to clean up the face of the academy a little bit, but... whatever.


    As I kept walking, suddenly a thought popped into my mind.


    Hmm... Thanks to Mny they''ve been pretty quiet so far, but when will the reporters try to contact me?


    ''Egotistical.''


    ''Excuse me?''


    ''Nothing.''


    I frowned at Sith but when I didn''t get a response, I sighed and ignored him.


    "Ah..."


    When I looked around, I realized I was too caught up in my imagination. I had walked too far without realizing it.


    "This ce..."


    When I saw the bench, which was rtively quiet and emptypared to the others, a smile appeared on my face.


    This was where Adrian and I first had a long talk, where we became friends. It felt a bit... nostalgic, even though not much time had passed.


    I slowly lowered myself onto the bench and sighed deeply. I could rest here for a while, I could think.


    Now... what am I supposed to do, what am I nning to do?


    I opened my watch and entered the note app, thought for a while, and finally started writing. When I finished, I had a total of five points in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    1-) Investigate the Tenebra Family.


    2-) Help Celine.


    3-) Find Alexander and organize the dungeon cleanup.


    4-) Talk to Ulka about the Malus Family and future research.


    5-) Delve a little deeper into the Alysia matter.


    ------------------------------>>


    For now, these were the most important issues on my mind. When I took a look at the list, the thing that caught my attention the most was, of course, number two.


    I want to help Celine. After what she went through, after the unbearable pain she suffered because of me, I...


    I paused for a moment, realizing I was angry again. I clenched my fist, but it didn''t take long to calm down. I knew that being angry for nothing was not going to help me, at least for now.


    "May I sit down?"


    Huh?


    "Sure."


    I reflexively nodded before I even looked at the person who had spoken. I turned around, looked at the person sitting on the bench, and froze instantly.


    However, this frozen statested only a few seconds. My astonishment was instantly reced by calmness. When I saw the loneliness and sorrow radiating from the man, I felt a pain inside me and turned away.


    The world was suddenly silent. It was as if the man''s loneliness was reflected in the world itself.


    "How old are you?"


    "I''ll be neen in about six months."


    "You''re two months younger."


    "Yes, sir."


    "If you don''t mind, can we have a chat? Would you listen to this old man?"


    "Of course."


    Silence fell again.


    "Do you know what happens when people get a power they''ve never had before?"


    I squinted and looked up at the dense, graying clouds in the sky.


    "The vast majority fall prey to this power."


    "And what if that power suddenly starts to diminish?"


    "They will do whatever they can to keep it."


    The man smiled, but it was not filled with any positive emotion, not the slightest bit of joy.


    On the contrary, his smile was full of pain.


    "When I was young, after my father died, I was left in charge of the guild. I was still young, I hadn''t even finished school, but I had to drop out because there was no one to run the guild."


    I didn''t say anything, I just kept watching the sky. Even though I knew this story well, I didn''t move a muscle.


    "When I was still a beginner, the people in charge of the guild went behind my back, using the excuse that I couldn''t aplish anything. They even tried to assassinate me because they wanted to take over the guild themselves, but they failed. They even formed a guild among themselves, threatening the workers unless they continued to oppose me."


    It was a typical guild story. If the guild was even a little bit high-level, if there was more than one person in charge, this kind of thing was quitemon. The difficult thing was to break through all this.


    "A couple of times I almost lost my position. Once I really lost it because of a misunderstanding. But at the end of it all, I was back where I belonged. The more they tried to bring me down, the more they started doing different things... the faster I rose. When I got strong enough, I finished off everyone who betrayed me. I fought, I killed, I imprisoned, I tortured, I went into the ck market, I did illegal things. I rose and rose and rose."


    He took a deep breath.


    If I had recorded what he was telling me, I might even have caused the downfall of his family. He was confessing everything, but he didn''t care, and neither did I.


    Like me, he turned his gaze to the cloudy sky.


    "One day, one morning... I woke up and suddenly I realized where I was. I had risen too high, too powerful. Before I knew it, I was at the top. I had even married without love, everything was for power, but when I realized I was at the top... Suddenly everything seemed meaningless. Politics, war, nobility, economy, the guild... I didn''t enjoy anything, I just did what I had to do, I became a machine."


    The clouds grew grayer, darker.


    For a moment I wondered why he was telling me all this, but it didn''t take me long to realize.


    He was tired, exhausted in the truest sense of the word. He was just regurgitating what had been building up inside him, he had stopped thinking rationally.


    "My enemies were no longer within the guild, I was going head to head with the big guilds in different countries. I was almost the only pir holding up the kingdom. No one tried to defy me, on the contrary, they were afraid of me because I was too ruthless, too merciless."


    A smile suddenly appeared on his face, his voice softened as if recalling sweet memories for what he would tell next.


    "And then I decided to pay more attention to my wife, I wanted to find out what my life meant, I couldn''t bring myself to be a machine, so the rtionship between us went from worse to bad to better. Love blossomed in the political marriage I had. I had a son and then a daughter. They were so sweet, so joyful that I found meaning in my life. My family became my everything, but then, just when everything was going perfectly, my son died in a dungeon."


    He paused, a wistful expression appeared on his face. Not only that, there was anger in that expression.


    "He was my pride. He was so much wiser than me, so much stronger than I was in my youth. I had great dreams for him. Even the father-son rtionship between us was too good for a man like me. There was one thing I didn''t like about him, though. He was too kind, too kind for this world."


    For a moment his voice seemed to tremble, he was clenching his fist. He was even more angry. The air around us, already cold, was getting colder. Even the winds were blowing harder.


    "His death was a self-determined sacrifice out of kindness. He left himself behind to save dozens of people and died heroically.


    He was the pride of our family, the disaster he averted was no simple disaster. He saved thousands of people, not just a handful."


    Mana began to condense around him, the world reacted as if it was sharing his anger. The atmosphere grew heavier, the air colder and colder. His presence alone was molding his surroundings.


    "To tell you the truth, I don''t care about the people he saved. Neither does my wife, my daughter. I''m proud of what he did, yes, but that''s just an excuse we hide behind. Both my wife and daughter cried for days after him, and all I could do was pat them on the back."


    Just a few seconds ago he was angry, now he was a grieving man. He was unstable, jumping from one mood to another.


    "My whole life changed from that point on. After my son''s death, my guild went downhill. We were at the top, everyone was afraid of us, and then suddenly... we hit rock bottom. We even came to the point of bankruptcy, but somehow I managed to recover from that. Still... there were a lot of people who approached me with bad intentions. There were assassination attempts on my daughter, my wife, and I realized something again."


    "Power means everything."


    A raindrop fell on my forehead.


    "Exactly... If I had power again, then I would never have to worry again. I would be able to live with my family without any problems, I just needed to get back on top, but in trying to do that I made the same mistake again, I became blind again. I ignored my wife, my friends, my daughter. I tried to use them to gain power. I found out that my son''s death was not a coincidence, but I gritted my teeth and let it happen. If I wanted revenge I had to get stronger. I became more and more blind. I consoled myself that everything was for a better future."


    This time the raindrops ovepped. Soon the rain began to fall slowly. Neither I nor the man attempted to get up from the bench, even though we were getting wet.


    "At least that''s what I believed. And now... Now I''ve almost lost another one of my children. I... I went mad. I med people, I med the academy and attacked it specifically, using the media. I found myself plotting to bring down the royal family, I realized I was looking for ways to ughter everyone in the academy''s administration. I was desperate, but then I realized... even if it was the academy''s fault... I wasn''t innocent either."


    He paused, waited a moment. He watched the raindrops, squinted.


    "Actually, even the academy was not much to me. The roots of this ''organization'' were everywhere, not just in this academy. They were too big for the academy to handle alone. ming them was like asking why a rabbit couldn''t escape from a fox. The biggest mistake... was mine."


    I don''t know how right it is for him to tell me this, even if I already know it... but just as he doesn''t care, I won''t either.


    At least... I can do that.


    "When I realized this, I spent all my money to cure my daughter, but when she woke up and I thought I could rx, my world came crashing down on me again."


    I turned my eyes to the man next to me, this time fully focusing on his expression, which I had only nced at out of the corner of my eye until now.


    The noble-looking ck hair I remembered was disheveled by the rain. The stern and fearless expression I remembered was gone. His bright blue, sharp eyes were reced by nk stares. Normally in his fifties, he looked like a man who had just turned thirty, but now his old age was reflected on his face. There was no trace of his emotionless, calm self.


    He was dejected, he looked in such a bad shape that he looked more like a poor passer-by than a nobleman.

 Chapter 104 Volume III - 25: A Broken Daughter

    <h4>Chapter 104 Volume III - Chapter 25: A Broken Daughter</h4>


    Before me stood the man who had once been the head of the best guild in the kingdom, the head of one of the most influential noble families in the kingdom, even if he was no longer in the same position, but to anyone looking at him now, he was just... broken.


    So broken that if I blew on him he would shatter into pieces.


    "She won''t eat, she barely drinks water, she refuses toe out of her room, she cries, and whoever she makes eye contact with is terrified and starts screaming. Do you know how I felt when I saw my daughter like that?"


    He clenched his fist again. He clenched it so hard that I saw red between his fingers. The blood mixed with the rain and slowly trickled down his hand.


    "Guilt."


    "Guilt. Guilt for not giving her a normal life. Guilt for creating a boss-employee rtionship between us rather than a father-daughter. Guilt for not giving her enough attention. Guilt for not being there for her..."


    His soulless eyes turned to me and a smile appeared on his face.


    His bitter smilecked the joy, the pleasant feeling of a normal smile. It was full of emotions he couldn''t hide: sorrow, longing, and regret.


    "Still... thank you. Thank you for protecting my daughter. Thank you for taking her into your group at the academy, for making her happy. I don''t give a damn who you are, what you stand for, Aiden Tenebra. Not as a guild or family leader, but as Ronald Potenbea, Celine''s ipetent father. At least for being there for her instead of me, for trying to be there for her, even if that wasn''t your goal."


    With a bitter smile on his face, he finally stretched slightly and stood up.


    Even this simple gesture of the man in whom I used to find grace and nobility in every little gesture was hobbled.


    "I just wanted to say, thank you for listening to this old man, Aiden. If you ever need help, don''t hesitate toe to me and I will do my best."


    Ronald Potenbea looked at me onest time. He opened his mouth almost imperceptibly, he was going to say something, but he was silent. His smile fell, and I could see something in his soulless eyes.


    I felt something stirring inside me, but I couldn''t think too much about it, because I was too busy cursing myself as the sorrowful man I had just spoken to walked slowly away from me with his limping steps.


    I... I wasn''t there for Celine, on the contrary, I walked up to her with a disgusting smile on my face. Adrian says he doesn''t know, but... I might have even hurt her.


    I don''t deserve any thanks. Celine is suffering in her room even now and all I do is loaf around. I''m the one who put her in this situation, and yet I''m not even having a hard time smiling.


    I''m an asshole, so I should at least try to deserve this ''thank you''.


    "Can I see her?"


    Ronald Potenbea paused. I quickly interjected.


    "You thanked me. You thanked me, but... I don''t deserve it. If I really deserved it, we wouldn''t be having this conversation at all. Celine wouldn''t be in this situation and neither would anyone else at the academy. That''s why I want to at least try, to see for myself the consequences of my mistake, to correct it if I can."


    He turned away, his soulless eyes fixed on mine. And then a smile appeared on his face again.


    That''s when I realized what I had just seen in him.


    He had asked for help. He hadn''t told me, hadn''t even thought about it, but in his eyes he had begged for help, unaware of himself. He was broken, unstable. Until now he had refused to ask for help, but it was inevitably reflected in his actions.


    His smile now was not as mournful as before. It was more sincere, and for a moment he looked at me as if I were his own son.


    He had epted my help.


    "You''re just like me, Aiden, more like me than I thought. You believe you''re going through this because you''re powerless, just like the old me."


    There was a sh of lightning, and then the rain got faster.


    "Follow me."


    So he started walking in the direction of the academy hospital without saying anything else.


    As I looked at this man walking away from me in the elerating rain, I realized once again how broken he really was.


    The person walking in front of me didn''t look like a legend. He had lost all the aura he had when he was in the game.


    I only hated myself more when I saw someone like that... fall like that.


    I''m not a hero, I''m not the one who can make everything right. The only thing I get out of every action I take is damaged people, I''m just a ma for disaster...


    I''ll do my best anyway.


    I clenched my fist and followed Ronald Potenbea, who kept walking away from me.


    *******


    We entered arge room through a wide corridor.


    Inside the room, there were countless holographic screens and a door on the side leading to the room where Celine was. In short, I was now in the control room.


    "You can push your luck a bit, but if you feel things are getting worse,e back quickly. There is a camera in there and it will stay on, but the voice recorder will be off. But don''t forget that we can still see the patient''s vital signs, stress levels, etc."


    This was a warning given to me by the doctor in front of me.


    They would not know what I was talking about inside. It''s a private thing, but since they were monitoring Celine''s behavior and vitals, it was easy for them to know if I was going to do something bad. What she was saying was basically, "Watch your behavior. We know what you''re doing."


    "Got it."


    "Good, now..."


    The Doctor looked at the holographic screens in front of her and clicked on some things, and then the door on the side opened slightly.


    "You can go."


    I nodded, took a deep breath, and opened the door fully.


    In front of me was a corridor, not very long.


    I took my first step slowly, and with each subsequent one, I only felt myself tense up even more. My steps were getting heavier, maybe I was scared.


    When I finally reached the door at the end of the corridor, I opened it slowly and was greeted by a very dimly lit room.


    The inside of the room was quite simple. On the right side was a bookcase full of books, a small table, and an armchair. On the left side, there was nothing but a door that I assumed led to the bathroom and a few peaceful paintings next to it.


    Apart from that, there was another closed door directly opposite me and it was not hard to guess what was behind it.


    I swallowed, took a deep breath, calmed myself, and stayed where I was for a short while. Finally, I made my way to that door.


    I knocked a few times, slowly. But no matter how long I waited, there was no response. So my hand wrapped around the doorknob and I felt my heartbeat quicken.


    Nervous, I encouraged myself and turned it a little.


    But... just at that moment, a voice came from inside.


    "Don''t open it."


    She used to always sound determined, even when she stammered she had a tone of voice that said she was a noble. But now... it was all gone, just like it had been with her father. Her voice was hoarse, as if she had been crying non-stop for a long time.


    "Celi-"


    "GET OUT OF HERE!"


    I stiffened where I was when she suddenly shouted so forcefully, so angrily that her throat almost ruptured, on top of her previous calm and low voice.


    The world crashed down on me for a moment, time just froze.


    I... I hadn''t imagined it like this.


    "LEAVE ME ALONE!"


    I felt her anger in every cell of my body, I realized how much I had underestimated what she had been through, I realized I was a fool.


    I could do nothing but stand there.


    *******


    After long darkness, a long silence... I woke up.


    My body was in an even better condition than before, as if nothing had happened, as if I had never suffered, as if I had just been born. I could feel it, yet there was nothing to think about as I stared at the white ceiling above me.


    I didn''t care who I was, where I was, what I was doing. And then... I remembered.


    At first, I thought it was all a dream, a nightmare. After all, if what I experienced there was real, I couldn''t be alive now, but at this moment reality hit me.


    I was in the hospital, it was too real to be a dream. Even if it didn''t hurt now, everything was in my mind as if I had just experienced it. I remembered the pain.


    The appearance, the voice, and the touch of the man with the purple eyes appeared in my mind. I felt again the torture-healing cycle I had suffered so often, I remembered the moments when I felt the warmth of my own blood all over my body.


    My eyes watered, I screamed, I called for help. Doctors and nurses rushed to my side, but the moment I saw their faces, fear filled my whole body.


    Their eye colors slowly turned purple, their voices changed. They murmured, their lips curled upward and slowly took the shape of a smile. Memories enveloped my body again.


    I thought I was having a nightmare, but as the doctors continued to walk over me with that expression, I felt something moving inside me.


    I was scared, I cried. I tore my throat, I ran away from anyone who came near me.


    Why?


    I could think of nothing but this simple question.


    Why?!


    I cried even harder, biting my nails.


    Why... why did he find me?!


    I got tired of the nightmares, the visions I saw every time I slept. I stopped sleeping out of fear.


    I ignored everyone, including my own father.


    WHY?!


    WHY?!


    WHY?!


    I didn''t even know how much time had passed since I woke up. All I did was hide under my covers all day long.


    But after a while... a strange feeling suddenly enveloped my body.


    I couldn''t understand what it was at first, but then... I remembered this alien feeling.


    I heard the door handle moving.


    "Don''t open it."


    Actually... when I think about it, isn''t it his fault?


    Wasn''t he talking to that man when he was torturing me to death?


    Isn''t he responsible for what happened to me?


    "Celi-"


    "GET OUT OF HERE!"


    Isn''t he the same as that guy?


    Didn''t he walk on me too?


    Didn''t he also want to make me suffer?


    That otherworldly sensation enveloped my body even more violently. I felt my head start to spin.


    "LEAVE ME ALONE!"


    If there was anyone I didn''t want to see, it was him in particr.


    If there was anyone I hated more than that man, it was him.


    "Celine, I wa-"


    "DO YOU KNOW WHAT I''VE BEEN THROUGH?!"


    I started to tear up, my whole body trembled as that strange feeling enveloped me. I wanted not to speak, but my lips parted on their own.


    "IT HURT! I WAS SCARED! I WANTED TO DIE!"


    Those moments I didn''t want to remember came back to me.


    "ALL I COULD DO WAS SCREAM AS I WAS BEING SKINNED ALIVE!"


    I don''t even have a scar on my arm now, but that pain was burned into my bones in a way I will never forget.


    "AS MY LEGS BURNED, ALL I COULD DO WAS WATCH THEM SLOWLY TURN TO CHARCOAL!"


    It''s all because of him, isn''t it?


    "BECAUSE OF YOU! BECAUSE... Because of you... all of it happened..."


    I stopped screaming because my throat started to hurt, but the tears didn''t stop. The feeling that enveloped my body became more intense. Strangely... I felt myself calming down.


    "I hate... I hate my father, the nobles, the humans, you... I hate everything, all of you..."


    I''m saying this, but...


    Why do I feel... peaceful?


    Why I don''t want him to go when I take my anger out on him...?


    So I realized.


    That strange, otherworldly feeling wasforting me as it enveloped my body.


    "Yes, it''s all because of me."


    His voice echoed in my ears when he finally had a chance to speak.


    "I''m sorry, everything is my fault. If... if it wasn''t for me, none of this would have happened. I''m sorry for bothering you Celine, if you don''t want me to, I''ll do my best to never appear in front of you again, but... at least I want you to know that I''ll heal you, I''ll find that man."


    My head started to spin, again. This time even more violently.


    The strange sensation that gave me peace was getting more intense. It enveloped my body even tighter, almost cleansing my thoughts.


    "I''m going to find that man and I''m going to make sure he suffers the maximum pain he can suffer. I''m not going to kill him, I''m going to throw him to the bottom of a hell he''ll never get out of. I will do whatever it takes to make you better, whether it takes three, five, or ten years. I will do it no matter how long it takes."


    So he was silent for a moment. I heard him turn around and take a step away from me. He was walking away from me, just the way I wanted him to.


    As this was happening, I realized something else.


    He... doesn''t sound strange when he talks to me, he doesn''t suddenly start mumbling strange things.


    "Goodbye."


    My eyes widened for a moment.


    His voice doesn''t change like the others, he doesn''t tell me what that man said.


    "Don''t go."


    Aiden paused.


    "Don''t go..."


    I don''t want... I don''t want the only person I can talk with to leave. I don''t want this feeling that envelops my body, thatforts me, to disappear.


    "D- don''t go..."


    I am angry with him, I hate him, I don''t want to see him, I hold him guilty even though I know he is not guilty. But... I want him to stay with me, I don''t want him to leave.


    I... what do I feel?


    What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to feel...?


    "If that''s what you want, okay."


    I heard him approaching me. I waited for the door to open, I was ready for it to open, but Aiden didn''t open the door. Instead, he leaned his back against the door and let himself fall to the floor.


    "If you want me to go, I''ll go. If you want me to stay, I''ll stay. If you hate me, I''ll never show my face again. I know what happened to you because of me. I watched the whole thing with my eyes open and I... I just... couldn''t do anything."


    His voice trembled for a moment, so he paused. He took a deep breath, then continued.


    "So, now I will do whatever I can for you. Whatever you want, don''t hesitate to tell me."


    I didn''t say anything, I couldn''t.


    Silence slowly filled the room.


    I finally sat up, got out from under the covers, letting the feeling envelop my body. I felt my thoughts clouding again, but... it was peaceful.


    No... I should be closer.


    When I tried to get out of bed, I realized that my legs hurt, that it was difficult for me to take a step. Still, I approached the door, and without thinking for a moment I put my hand on the handle. But then... I hesitated again.


    I can''t... I''m not ready yet. I''m... scared.


    I leaned my back against the door, just as he did, and slowly let myself fall to the floor.


    The target of my anger was the only person I could rx and talk to. Even though I med him, he didn''t yell at me, he just epted it. He didn''t hesitate to take my anger out on himself.


    There was only a door between us. If I focused hard enough, I could even hear his breathing, and the feeling emanating from him felt more real andforting than ever.


    Just standing next to me, even if it was a strange reaction caused by my skill, filled me with serenity.


    I pulled my legs to me, wrapped my arms around them, and put my head between my knees.


    For the first time since the day I woke up, I felt like I could sleep properly.

 Chapter 105 Volume III - 26: The Responsibility

    <h4>Chapter 105 Volume III - Chapter 26: The Responsibility</h4>


    I waited.


    For a long time, all I did was wait without moving a muscle, without making a sound. Still... I couldn''t say I cared much.


    I couldn''t think about anything after what Celine had said to me. I knew she was probably directing her anger at me, I knew that. That''s why I had let her, but that didn''t change the fact that there was some truth in what she had said.


    She was there because of me, she had suffered because of me, she was like this because of me. I was to me for everything, even if indirectly.


    "Celine?"


    I waited for a while, but there was no response.


    "If you''re awake, can you respond even a little?"


    Again, there was no response, and finally, I let out a deep sigh.


    I stood up slowly, opening the door just enough to leave a slight gap. Through that gap, I saw Celine leaning against the door, just like me, and I realized she was asleep.


    I couldn''t walk properly without my cane, but her bed was only a few steps away. So I leaned the cane against the wall and caught Celine without opening the door any further and letting her fall.


    Her hair, which used to fall down to her shoulders, was now so long that it would have touched the floor even if she stood up. Through her closed eyes, it was easy to see how much sleep she had lost and how much she had cried. She used to have a fit body but now she was emaciated. She was wearing that blue cloth that every patient wears.


    I picked her up, and although the medical wristband on my left arm and my body gave me a hard time, I ignored it and went to her bed. I''m not sure if it was a reflex or not, she tugged at my clothes with her weak hands and tried clumsily to rest her head on my chest, but she failed.


    It was as if she was trying to stay close to me, and the more she tried, the more peaceful her face became in a strange way.


    I squinted, I felt something stirring inside me, the fact that she was unconsciously making this gesture was a sign of how helpless she was.


    I hated myself even more, but I didn''t stop. I put her to bed, careful not to wake her, pulled the covers over her, and looked at her face onest time.


    She was at peace. At least... for now it seemed that way.


    "I''m sorry."


    I didn''t care that she didn''t hear me, I slowly turned around and headed toward the exit of the room.


    "I will make it up to you."


    I finally exited the room and entered the control room, the same ce I had entered here. As I did so, I saw Ronald Potenbea watching his daughter with widened eyes. One of the doctors started to circle me and ask me how I had managed to talk to Celine, but I didn''t pay much attention to him.


    The only reason he was excited was because Ronald had offered him to cure Celine. He was after the money, nothing else. I could tell by his eyes and demeanor that he wasn''t trying to hide it.


    Ronald, like me, ignored the doctor and turned his eyes toward me. For a moment, just a brief moment, there was a glimmer of light in his eyes. His stiff features rxed, and his lips curled slightly upward.


    I could deduce two simple things from his expression.


    The first was impotence. The helplessness he felt because he could not help his daughter himself, because he was dependent on someone else. And yet he was full of joy, and that was the second thing. The joy of a father seeing his daughter sleeping peacefully, the gratitude of seeing her a little bit better.


    "Thank you..."


    He didn''t say much, didn''t y with words. He simply said thank you, briefly. And yet, just those two words alone had dozens of others behind them. He couldn''t put into words what he was feeling, he wasn''t sure what to say.


    In the end, he told me not to hesitate toe to him if I needed help, that he would do his best to support me. Then he apologized and turned back to the image of his daughter sleeping peacefully.


    I decided to leave him as he was, that it might be better for him to be alone for a while. Then I took a deep breath and let it out.


    In this way, I also consulted with the doctor and got his permission toe here every day that I could. The doctor himself seemed to want to present the idea to me in the first ce. They couldn''tmunicate with Celine in any way, and I could help her get better by talking to her while I could provide thatmunication. After all, people need socialization, but she couldn''t talk to anyone but me because of her broken psychology.


    Although... why can she talk to me?


    Questions suddenly popped into my head, but I decided not to think too much about it.


    Before leaving the room, I took onest look at Celine''s sleeping figure on the screens.


    It was satisfying to be able to help a friend a little. But it was just as painful, no, far more painful, to be the one who had caused her to be the way she was.


    I narrowed my eyes as I left the room, mentally reminding myself over and over again.


    Remember, you are the cause of everything. The responsibility is on you. You are the one who will make up for your mistake. No one else, only you.


    So I finally went outside, clenching my fist as I breathed in the fresh air, swearing to myself once again that I would find that man.


    ''What do we do now?''


    When Sith appeared in front of me, he had his usual expression on his face. He had overheard my conversation with Celine, but he was trying to keep his thoughts out of his face as much as possible.


    I can understand him, he doesn''t want to emphasize the problems I have when I already have enough on my mind.


    ''I''ll get in touch with Alexander, he gave his approval for the dungeon thing, but after what happened we''ll have to postpone it.''


    ''You''re sure he didn''t die in the attack? And why didn''t you call him earlier?''


    ''He is not someone who dies easily. The reason I waited before I called him was because I wanted some time to pass. And I was resting.''


    Sith didn''t say anything else and that''s how I calmed myself down again. I''ve dealt with Celine ''for now'', I can''t dwell on her forever. I have other things to do.


    I tried to focus, but when I realized that I couldn''t, I transferred some mana to the Absolute Mind and cleared my mind in particr. After a while, I put a smile on my face, even if it was fake, and opened my watch to call Alexander.


    It took only two seconds for the call to go through.


    "Hello?"


    His voice came through uninterrupted. So he''s fine, how nice.


    "You sound good, I''m d you''re alive."


    "Unlike you, I didn''t fight someone many times stronger than myself, I must say I think what you did was stupid, I wouldn''t have cared about those guys if it had been me."


    "Your words give me great confidence that you won''t backstab me in the dungeon."


    Alexander said nothing and I gave a shortugh.


    "Just kidding, now... let''s get to the point. As you know, my body is not in the best shape. I can''t even walk properly without a cane, so I''d like to move our departure date to three weekster. Is that okay?"


    "No, no. It''s more convenient for me too."


    "Good..."


    I hesitated for a moment.


    "Is there a problem with your mother''s condition?"


    Alexander was silent for a while.


    "Since when did we get close enough for you to ask that?"


    "We haven''t, but that doesn''t mean we can''t get closer. Besides, your mother''s illness is the main basis for the deal we made, and I think I might want to know how she''s doing."


    Alexander took a deep breath.


    "She''s fine. For now."


    "For now?"


    "Her illness is in its final stages. She may not look sick at all and then suddenly have an unexpected seizure."


    His voice seemed to tremble for a moment, but he continued without hesitation.


    "That''s why ''for now''."


    "I understand... I''m sorry."


    "You have to be sorry."


    "Then how about moving the date up to two weeks instead of three?"


    "Sounds good to me."


    He was quite serious.


    "Okay, then. If you have nothing to say, see youter."


    Alexander didn''t answer, and the call hung up on me. Then Sith appeared in front of me again.


    ''He''s more... ''aggressive'' than I thought.''


    ''It can''t be helped, I''ll try to make things a little better between us in the dungeon. He''s loyal to his people and really useful. If I can get him on my side, it''ll help.''


    The Sith raised his eyebrows.


    ''I wonder how you know that.''


    I nced sideways in his direction and smiled.


    ''Trade secret.''


    Sith puffed out his cheeks and I couldn''t helpughing.


    ''You really get on my nerves sometimes. Anyway, are we going to rest now?''


    I raised my arm and looked at the clock.


    It was approaching seven o''clock, so we still had time.


    ''No, we''re going to Ulka.''


    ''You mean that crazy scientist?''


    ''Yes.''


    ''The guy whose family you''re nning to destroy?''


    ''Exactly.''


    ''What are you going to do going to him?''


    I turned in the direction of the research building and started walking.


    ''Simple, I''m going to hire him.''

 Chapter 106 Volume III - 27: The Second Part of a Past

    <h4>Chapter 106 Volume III - Chapter 27: The Second Part of a Past</h4>


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! As a result of your hard work, your Endurance statistic has improved to D+!


    Your body has reached a sufficient level for your General Level to increase!


    As your General Level increases to D+, your body will go through some changes. Your muscles will be stronger, your blood will be cleansed, and much more. Please stay calm during the process!


    ------------------------------>>


    Suddenly a pain shot through my whole body. The pain wasn''t much, but it was very ufortable as it enveloped all my muscles. Still, I waited and waited. Finally, after a while, the pain slowly started to subside.


    When the pain waspletely gone, my whole body felt different than before. No matter how many times I experienced it, I could not get used to this sudden change in my body.


    Sighing, I opened my statistics window.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: Adrian


    Last Name: Caleo(?)


    Race: Human(?)


    Age: 18


    --Statistics--


    General Level: D+


    Strength: D+


    Agility: D


    Vitality: D


    Endurance: D+


    Luck: E


    Magic Power: D


    Mana Efficiency: D+


    Charm: B


    --Status Effects--


    Abnormal Status Effect: [Sealed]


    --Masteries--


    [Spear Mastery(D)] -- [Mana Expert(D+)] -- [Qilsak Spear Mastery(C-)]


    --Active Skills--


    [Mana Ascension(C)] -- [tform(C)]


    --Passive Skills--


    [Difficulty Lover(A)] -- [Friend of Mana(B)] -- [Poison Immunity(E)]


    ------------------------------>>


    I smiled slightly, satisfied, but then my eyes drifted to the ''status effects''.


    I felt something warm in my chest, my hand went to my pendant and involuntarily squeezed it. Finally, different thoughts sprouted in my mind, thoughts about the past and the future.


    ''You just raised your general level, Adrian. You spent the whole night studying. Get some sleep, and don''t think too much. Otherwise, you won''t sleep well.''


    Lithoa''s voice echoed in my mind as if he had emphasized them. I stopped squeezing my pendant, sighed deeply, and looked at the clock.


    There is an hour before sunrise...


    "You''re right."


    So I let myself go to bed.


    Actually, I had a lot of things on my mind. Most of them were not things that I could easily ignore, but... I was really tired after working all night. As Lithoa said, I needed a rest.


    So I tried to clear my mind as much as possible, closed my eyes, and sleep quickly enveloped me,bined with the extreme tiredness of working for a long time and my body having just passed a new grade. The already quiet environment became even quieter, the darkness even more dominant.


    This didn''tst long, though.


    Suddenly the darkness rippled, blurred beams of light made themselves known. Strange sounds intermingled, and then they became clearer.


    The pitch ckness before my eyes changed in an instant. Slowly it became a ce deep in my memories and in all this confusion I heard a sound.


    A slow knock on a door, three times, and then the voice of a familiar figure echoing in my mind.


    Oh... This is... a continuation of my previous dream, of the past...


    "Sophia, take Adrian and go inside."


    Sophia, my mother, took me by the hand and led me into a room. She didn''t even think or question what had happened, she quickly closed the door and waited.


    I was scared. I was scared both because my father''s usually expressionless face had suddenly be too serious and because of my mother''s impetuous behavior.


    "Mom...? What''s going on? Who is here?"


    My mother smiled brightly at my innocent questions. I could see worry in her pink eyes, but she was doing her best not to show it to me.


    "It''s okay, honey, it''s probably someone your father knows. Daddy will take care of everything soon."


    These words were not an answer to my question, so the thought of what my father would take care of sprouted in my mind this time, and then I heard his steps.


    My father approached the outer door of the house with slow steps, turned the handle and our door opened with a creaky sound.


    My mother was leaning her ear against the wall during this time. While I could easily hear what was happening downstairs, she had to focus, after all, unlike me, she was fully human.


    Even though she was aware of this, she didn''t cover my ears, forgetting that I could hear much better than she could.


    "What did youe for?"


    When I heard my father''s deep voice, I focused too, even though I wasn''t leaning my ear against the wall.


    "I thought I''d drop by, am I disturbing you?"


    It was a man who came to our house, I could tell by his voice, but... I was also ufortable. There was a rity, a calmness in his voice that I had never heard before.


    "To tell you the truth, yes, you disturbed me."


    "You''re straightforward."


    "Because I have an idea of what you''re here for."


    "Oh?"


    The man feigned surprise, but his tone did not change.


    "It seems I''m not the first person toe here."


    "That''s right."


    "And by the look in your eyes, you''re trying to tell me I won''t be thest?"


    "You can read the atmosphere."


    The man sighed slightly.


    "If you know why I''m here, what''s your answer?"


    "I''m not going back there."


    A moment of silence enveloped the room with the sharpness and weight of my father''s words. Then, as if the awkward ''banter'' between the man and my father was over, the calm question came again.


    "Are you sure?"


    My father did not answer and the man paused without saying anything. For a moment I heard a voice, the man seemed about to say a word, but paused. His words were cut off as if he had realized something.


    "Oh? I guess you''re not the only one here?"


    Suddenly my whole body began to tremble. An intense cold, which was the source of this shivering, filled the house as it was.


    Mom quickly stopped listening at the door, hugged me tightly as if to protect me from the cold, and closed her eyes. Yet she said nothing, remaining silent as if she was afraid she would be noticed.


    "Besides... Ah, are you angry?"


    The man''spletely emotionless voice suddenly became heavy.


    "Did you make the same mistake as before? I understand why your family dislikes you, but... unlike my predecessors, I will give you a choice."


    "What choice?"


    The atmosphere grew heavier, and I realized I was having trouble breathing.


    "We can hide this little mistake of yours. All you have to do ise with me and no one will even know you are here."


    "And if I refuse?"


    "Then it will be a pity for those ins-"


    The man''s voice was suddenly interrupted, the sound of the air splitting filled my ears and a shockwave spread around. Immediately afterward I heard a distant sound, the sound of trees splintering.


    My father must have thrown the man into the forest with great force.


    "-ou''re going to -"


    I had to really focus to understand his voice, but I still couldn''t make out what he was saying. He was too far away.


    "This is thest game you will ever y."


    After my father''s words, there was no further dialog between them. The sound of metal hitting metal echoed through the forest. Explosions rang in my ears. A purple glow seeped through the window, catching my eye, and my mother hugged me even tighter.


    "Don''t be scared, Mommy''s here, okay?"


    She was telling me not to be afraid, but her whole body was shaking violently. Her eyes were closed, hiding the pink eyes I had always been fascinated by.


    So I hugged her, both because I was scared too and because I wanted tofort her a little. Immediately after that, the purple glow seeping into the room through the window suddenly became so intense that I couldn''t understand what was happening.


    "Sophia! Watch out!"


    My father''s worried voice echoed throughout the area. Without a moment''s hesitation, my mother covered me with her body. As if a new sun was rising right next to our house, the explosion, apanied by a brilliant light, suddenly filled my entire field of vision.


    My eyes flew open, the cold seeped into my skin and I jumped out of bed, gasping for breath, realizing that the reason I was cold was because my window was open and I was sweaty.


    A shiver ran through my body as if the explosion had not only happened in my dream, but had happened again right next to my body.


    Remembering the past... it was definitely not a good experience.


    ''Again?''


    I heard Lithoa''s voice in my head but I didn''t answer him. I quickly went to the sink and sshed cold water on my face several times, trying to rx.


    ''Are you okay?


    ''Yes... Yes, I''m fine. It''s just my dream, no... the memory of it was too real.''


    I looked at myself in the mirror.


    My white hair was all messed up and my green eyes were burred because I had just woken up from sleep.


    Other than that, I was fine, but then... suddenly I noticed something I hadn''t noticed before. My eyebrows lifted for a moment, and I just stared at my image in the mirror.


    "I look like my father, huh?"


    I hadn''t noticed it until now, but I had inherited both my hair color, eye color, and facial structure from my father. The only thing I had inherited from my mother was that my hair was a bit messier than my father''s, but other than that... I looked like a copy of my father.


    "Haaa... I''d better catch my breath."


    I sshed water on my face once more. At first, my intention was to go to the window, but then the idea of taking a walk outside suddenly appealed to me.


    I put on a coat and went outside.


    The sun was already out but not yet overhead. Gray clouds were covering it and it looked like it was going to rain.


    While for most people this weather would be considered gloomy, for me it was refreshing. The chill in the air, the dim light, the wind on my face, and the coolness... these things made me feel rxed.


    So I kept walking. Even though the academy was quiet, I wanted to be alone. So I went into the woods and as I went deeper and deeper, I found a big rock.


    The rock was three to four meters long, and on top of that, it was a wide one. It looked as if it had been carefully ced there, there were not many trees around it. It was an object that nature had emphasized.


    I wanted to get on top of it, so I jumped onto the tree closest to the rock and then jumped onto the rock. In a short time, I was already at the level of the trees. It was a strange feeling, being higher than I normally am and being able to see the surroundings like this... it was peaceful.

 Chapter 107 Volume III - 28: Realizing and Accepting

    <h4>Chapter 107 Volume III - Chapter 28: Realizing and epting </h4>


    I let myself down on the rock, stood there for a while, then sighed deeply,y on my back, and turned my eyes to the gray sky.


    The clouds were getting grayer and grayer, clearly indicating that it would rain soon. If I stood here I would get wet, but I didn''t care.


    I was alone, and that''s what I wanted.


    "Lithoa."


    ''What is it, Adrian?''


    "Do you... do you think I''m strong?"


    ''If youpare yourself to your peers, you might be at the top, but you''re not where I want you to be.''


    I paused.


    Until now Lithoa''s obsession with power had always frustrated me, I could never quite understand why he wanted me to get stronger when I was so far ahead of my peers, buttely, I had been contradicting myself.


    I thought of the boy I saw during the attack.


    A hole had been punched in his stomach right in front of my eyes. I could see him crying his eyes out for help, but I had to leave him there.


    And it wasn''t just the boy who was screaming for help. There were many others, everyone had suffered unimaginable pain in the brutality of the attack, but I could only watch.


    I had decided to change. After my conversation with Aiden... I told myself that I would try to be a good person, I had set myself a goal. I... I wanted to be like him.


    Maybe Lithoa didn''t want me to get stronger so I could follow my dreams, but especially after this... I couldn''t find myself getting angry with him.


    I narrowed my eyes, clenched my fists, and grimaced.


    The truth is... I''m not strong.


    When people were dying in front of me, I didn''t lend a helping hand to a single one of them.


    I involuntarily clenched my fist even more, realizing that what I had been thinking was hurting me. Admitting that I wasn''t strong... it hurt me more than I thought it would.


    I stood there for a moment, my fist loosening, my face slowly returning to its original shape. This time my lips curled slightly upward.


    I really am pathetic, aren''t I...?


    I...


    "What are you doing there?"


    My eyes widened for a moment at the sudden echoing voice, and I quickly turned in the direction of the voice.


    I was too absorbed in my thoughts, so I was surprised to suddenly hear someone calling me, but when I saw the person in front of me, my surprise was multiplied several times over.


    "Alice?"


    Her long, white hair was practically glowing. In contrast to her bright hair, her ck eyes were like a ck hole in the night. There was no emotion in her expression, she was just looking at me.


    I felt something moving inside me, a strange, unnamable sensation enveloped my body. It was really strange. As if this girl in front of me... was someone I knew.


    I hadn''t paid much attention to her the first time we met, but now I felt as if I had met her long before.


    "You look like a pervert."


    I recovered from her words and let out a deep sigh.


    "You''re straightforward."


    "I said what I saw."


    "I''m sorry if I disturbed you."


    "Yes, you did."


    There was an awkward silence between us.


    "Instead of apologizing all the time, let''s say you owe me."


    "Owe...?"


    I was confused.


    "You''ll do something I want and I''ll ept your apology."


    What...?


    "Huh? W- well, okay?"


    "So, how about you tell me what you''re thinking about now?"


    I was really surprised looking at the girl whose face was still expressionless.


    The Alice I knew was someone who didn''t talk much, who only gathered with us to study. She never tried to be ''friends'' with us, really, she just joined us when we gathered and fit in, as if her only purpose was to study.


    So... why is she acting like this now?


    Has she finally decided to get closer to us?


    "You''re looking like a pervert again."


    A look of disgust crossed her face, followed by a sigh.


    "I''m leaving if you''re not going to talk."


    "No! I''m just... a little surprised. You know, you were hardly interested in us at all."


    It was strange, but at the same time, my brain started working on its own, as if I had been waiting for this moment until now.


    "I was... just thinking."


    She just raised her left eyebrow as if I had piqued her interest.


    "What are you thinking about, then?"


    She waspletely ignoringmon sense, not even bothering to invade my personal space.


    Yet this didn''t bother me. On the contrary, it made me feel relieved. It felt good to see that she wasn''t afraid of me, that someone could act so recklessly toward someone like me... naive and pathetic.


    "I saw a lot of students during the attack."


    I didn''t want to speak, I didn''t want to rey those moments in my head, but the words came out of my mouth on their own.


    "Their cries for help, the limbs they lost, the deep wounds, even holes in their bodies... Their eyes, their words asking for help... Their expressions when they saw me, practically begging me to help them... When I think of the attackers taking care not to kill me and a few others, but ignoring the innocents as if they were nothing and killing them mercilessly and painfully, thoughtse to my mind."


    I felt a few raindrops falling on me, and then a question popped into my mind.


    Why am I telling all this?


    I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, her expression still unchanged. She was even focused on me. She was listening to me.


    I... whatever. I''ll go on.


    "Am I not to me for this? Aren''t they killing others because they''re targeting me? Hundreds of people suffered because I was powerless, so powerless that I couldn''t save a single person. I was so busy running away that I couldn''t help a single person out of all those people. I was trying to change, but... I couldn''t. That''s what I think."


    Of course, it would be absurd to say that it was all because of me, but I couldn''t help ming myself.


    "If... if I was stronger, if I could help everyone, then I could really change; maybe I could be a good person."


    The rain intensified and I slowly started to get wet, but I didn''t care, I kept my eyes on the ground. Even if I was sick, one pill would have cured me in a few hours.


    "I''m sorry... I''m rambling. You probably expected to hear something more rational-"


    "Yeah, I think you''re being ridiculous."


    Her expression was still the same. Cold, emotionless, but still bright, as if there was nothing else in the world but her.


    "But I don''t like that you act as if you are at the center of everything."


    The words of this shining person suddenly hit me like a p in the face.


    "You can never, ever save ''everyone''. No matter how hard you try, there will always be casualties. You can never have a perfect victory in such evolving environments. No matter who you are, it is impossible unless you are God himself. If your goal is to save everyone you see, to make sure that no one suffers or dies because of you, you better give up. I''ve never heard anything so unreal."


    I felt every word of it touching me, tearing me apart.


    "So as long as you keep believing that, you wille out of everyrge-scale war you fight broken like this. Because ''you can''t'', as long as you are a human being, how do you n to save people you can''t see?"


    I wanted to reject her, but my mouth refused to open. What would I have said if it had opened anyway? What could I say to these words?


    "They may seem harsh to you, but they are the truth. You said that you are trying to be a good person, that you feel sorry for the people you can''t help, but it seems to me that this is just an excuse you are hiding behind to convince yourself to change. If this is the goal you have set for yourself to change, to be a good person, I suggest you give up now. Otherwise, you will be disappointed every day."


    "Then what should I do?"


    I clenched my fist.


    "Ignore people who are suffering? Stop getting stronger because I''ll never be able to save everyone? Stop chasing my dream because it''s unattainable, that I shouldn''t try to ''change''?"


    "You don''t have to save everyone to ''change''. Chasing the impossible to be a good person is just a pipe dream. You... seem to have misunderstood the idea of being a good person."


    She rolled her eyes for a moment, but she didn''t stop and continued.


    "Don''t focus on saving everyone, focus on saving as many as you can. I''m not saying don''t get stronger to save more, get stronger and make it your goal to save more and more people each time. Instead of being upset and broken for those you couldn''t save, keep moving forward with those you managed to save and strive for more and more."


    There was a sh of lightning, the rain got heavier and my eyes widened.


    "I don''t think there''s a more ridiculous and unnecessary thought in the world than ''I''m going to save everyone''. It''s so selfish that it makes you feel like you''re the center of the world, that everything revolves around you. You said you feel inadequate, right? Getting stronger is one of the things you can do to solve this, but it would also be helpful to realize that you can get help from other people rather than selfishly thinking only for yourself."


    Alice turned around and took a deep breath.


    "Anyway, the rain is getting heavier. I suggest you go back to your room if you don''t want to get sick."


    She made it to the edge of the rock but paused onest time before jumping down. She turned to me, her ck eyes fixed on mine.


    "By the way, I don''t count this as a debt. After all, I didn''t force you, you spoke of your own ord."


    Without saying anything else, she sighed once more and looked up at the sky in the pouring rain. Her expression turned for a moment as if she was annoyed with something, she muttered something I couldn''t hear, and then she jumped off the rock and disappeared from sight.


    And I just stared after her.


    I was hurt. What she said really touched me. When she emphasized that no matter what, I can''t save everyone-


    No... I''m still fooling myself. I was angry because she said I couldn''t change like that.


    Because she made me realize that behind the word ''change'' I was pretending that I cared about people, that I was not sad to see them die, but that I was just angry with myself for not being able to change.


    Alice... She''spletely right...


    I gritted my teeth, I didn''t want to admit it, but I couldn''t deny the fact that she was right.


    "Okay..."


    I can''t say I''m relieved, but thanks to Alice, I realized something.


    I really am no different from a child. I believe that I am the chosen one who can save the whole world like in fairy tales... I believe that I am the hero of this world, that I can do everything on my own just because I decided to be a good person...


    Alice is really right.


    If I keep ming myself for every person I see I can''t save, how long will I be able to stand under this burden?


    I stood up, gritting my teeth even harder.


    "Okay!"


    I shouted.


    It really hurt me to realize how much I had misunderstood the word ''change''.


    I epted it anyway. Realizing that otherwise, I wouldn''t be able to move forward, I wouldn''t be able to do anything but spin around; in short, I would be stuck where I was.

 Chapter 108 Volume III - 29: The Choice of Virhen Family

    <h4>Chapter 108 Volume III - Chapter 29: The Choice of Virhen Family</h4>


    "Bwother!"


    I quickly turned toward the source of the sound, but unlike my turn, I started to run slowly toward the tree in the middle of the garden. While this was happening, a tiny figure passed by me as fast as it could and jumped into the tree I was running toward.


    "I got here first! Me first!"


    "Ah! You''re pretty fast, huh, squirrel?"


    I widened my smile, stopped being slow, and appeared next to him in an instant. My little brother puffed out his cheeks, his face suddenly pouting.


    After saying goodbye to Aiden and Adrian, I left the academy and returned to my home, Virhen Manor. And now... it was up to me to take care of my little brother.


    "I''m not a squirrel! I''m all grown up!"


    I stroked his hair, messed it up, andughed.


    "Six years old is unfortunately old enough for you to be a squirrel."


    "But I''m faster than you!"


    I smiled again, then in one swift movement I grabbed my brother by the armpits and threw him into the air.


    His scream echoed around the garden, but he was not scared, on the contrary, he had a big smile on his face that showed he was enjoying himself, so I quickly caught him before he hit the ground, spun him around four times, and stopped him in his tracks.


    That''s how Nico, my brother, lost his bnce and copsed. He was obviously dizzy, but he had a big smile on his face.


    "One more! One more!"


    I picked him up again, but this time I didn''t do anything more.


    "That''s enough, we''ve been ying for a while. Let''s go inside."


    "But..."


    I wanted to tug Nico''s cheeks as he pouted, he was too cute, but just then I saw a maid approaching us.


    "Your father and mother are calling you for lunch, sir."


    "Okay, we''ll be right there."


    The maid bowed slightly and then, without another word, headed into the manor.


    With those words, Nico had no more excuses, his face was still grim, but he epted it. I picked him up and then made my way to the dining room, not forgetting to tug at his chubby cheeks.


    Heined angrily that I tugged his cheek, but he quickly forgot about it and started talking about his own things. I listened to him the whole way, his inability to pronounce some words, his over-excited way of talking about even simple things was so sweet that I lost track of time until we reached the front of the room.


    "This is where we get off."


    I gently set Nico down and smiled as I smoothed his clothes and opened the door.


    The dining room was quite spacious. Decorative things, paintings, miniature sculptures... The table in the center of the room was also big for the number of us and as far as I could see the whole family was at the table. My sister wasn''t supposed to be here, but even she was present. Nico and I were thest ones at the table.


    "Come, sit down."


    It was my mom who spoke, with her short light brown hair and ocean blue eyes.


    "Okay, Mom!"


    Nico scurried over and quickly settled into his own chair. Then, with the spoon he was holding awkwardly, he began to drink the soup in front of him without waiting.


    "You sit down too, Julian."


    I smiled at my father''s authoritative but friendly voice, then took my own seat.


    He had blond hair and eyes as yellow as his hair. Although he was in histe forties, he didn''t have any wrinkles. He had a serious expression, but it was a little less serious when he was among our family.


    After my father, I turned to my sister, whom I hadn''t seen face to face for a long time, and she was looking at Nico with a smile on her face.


    "Wee, sister."


    Her hair was short, just like my mother''s, but she had the same hair and eye color as my father, yellow. She was two years older than me, twenty, and when I called her, she turned to me and widened her smile.


    "Wee, Julian."


    "Did you go somewhere not too rough, like you didn''t get hurt this time?"


    Knowing I was joking, she took a bite from her te and smiled slightly.


    "Well, you can say so. I was almost in a B grade dungeon, so it''s not even close!"


    "Oh, I thought you went to one of the D grade ones again."


    "But you wouldn''t have survived ten minutes in that D dungeon you despise, would you?"


    I opened my mouth, I was about to say something when my father''s voice echoed in the room.


    "Enough."


    Silence filled the room for a moment.


    "It''s okay to talk while you eat, but don''t bring your own life into it."


    "Speaking of talking... Last time you were trying to get the rights to one of the dungeons in Neutral, what''s thetest?"


    My father''s eyes narrowed, an almost imperceptibly ugly expression appeared on his face for a moment, and he sighed deeply.


    "They bid too high. If I can lower it a little, I''ll take it, but it seems difficult for now."


    "I see..."


    "Why are you talking business at the table?"


    My mother interrupted my father and me with her bright smile. Then she started asking me a lot of questions about my life at the academy.


    Friends, things I was going through, my sses, and even whether I had a girlfriend.


    I''d be lying if I said I didn''t enjoy spending time in the dining room like this. It felt really refreshing to be able to eat with the whole family chatting like this, especially aftering out of that... chaos.


    So my sister was the first to get up from the table. She had finished eating a while ago, but she left, saying she had to work. After her, a silence fell over the table.


    My father looked at my mother in silence. With a simple shake of her head, my mother took Nico in her arms, and then she left the room.


    So it was just me and my father in the room, just like he wanted.


    "Julian, listen to me carefully."


    He was going to say something serious, I could tell.


    "I''m listening, Father."


    "Do you still want to go to that academy?"


    I narrowed my eyes and fixed them on the table, and my father, realizing this, didn''t wait for me, he quickly interrupted.


    "You realize the state of the media, the nobility, and the academy, don''t you Julian? This is such a huge thing that the reputation of the academy has literally been destroyed. Many nobles have already pulled their children out of the academy and moved them elsewhere. Likewise, theuded staff of the academy have started to leave. The media is reacting openly, the academy is being subjected to a massive lynching because of the deaths, and it is likely to be shut down as a result of all this. But I don''t think the royals are going to close it down easily, they''re going to keep it going somehow."


    My father took a sip from the steaming ss in front of him and stared at me.


    "I''ve left everything up to you to decide your own life up until now. I''ve let you do things as long as you didn''t overdo them because I thought it was a mistake to restrict you since you are a freedom-loving person, but now I want you to be aware of the implications of the choice you''re going to make."


    He took another sip of his tea, finished it, then sighed a little.


    Your attendance at that academy will show that we, the Virhen Family, are on the side of the academy. We will be on the radar of the media and our position will determine the movement of many nobles. In the same way, if you leave the academy, it will show that we are on the side of the media. Let me give you my opinion on this: You should leave that academy."


    "I don''t want to."


    I gave a short answer, but it was enough for my father to give me an ufortable look.


    "Why?"


    "I... Well, you probably already know, but I was a bully all through middle school and high school."


    He didn''t look away even for a moment, but I could see his eyebrows raise slightly. Of course he knew everything I did, it would be absurd to think he didn''t, but he must have been surprised that I was bringing it up now.


    "I hated the weak, I loathed them, thinking that they were ipetent, that they had no qualifications for society, and this grew to such an extent that I liked to crush them on sight."


    "So?"


    My father was not the type to yell at me for telling him this. He was not a very moral person, even if he was a bit nicer in our family, and who knows what he had done behind the scenes that nobody knew about.


    "But I''m different now... well... not exactly different. I still don''t like the weak, they''re annoying to me. The way they ept what happens to them instead of trying to work for themselves makes me want to teach them a lesson, but now I restrain myself. I''vee to the conclusion that it''s ridiculous to oppress them, all I get out of it is their hatred. Nothing more."


    I took a deep breath, my eyes fixed firmly on his this time.


    "It was the friends I made that made me realize this. They didn''t approach me because I was noble, because my family name was Virhen. They epted me for who I was, and we really had fun together, we smiled and studied and spent time together."


    "So you don''t want to leave them?"


    "Yes. I didn''t go to the academy for my future anyway, we both know that. I know that my sister refuses to be the head of the family, and even if I stop studying, I will still be the head of the family, and as long as I prove myself, no one will care whether I study or not, about my past, or whether I study in a discredited academy. So I want to stay in the academy."


    My father was silent for a while, then sighed again.


    The intense atmosphere in the room, the deep silence made me tense for a moment. Yet I waited until the end, not moving a muscle, not interrupting my father in any way while he was thinking, deciding what to do.


    Finally, after a few seconds that felt like minutes to me, he put a slight smile on his face.


    "As I said, you are the one who will decide your own life, Julian. If you want to stay at the academy, fine, you can stay."


    I let out the breath I had been holding, feeling relieved, and a smile appeared on my face too.


    "Thanks, Father."


    "But remember, as I said before, your choice reflects the choice of our family. If you continue to go there, it will show that we are on the side of the academy and we will get a media bacsh."


    I replied without even blinking.


    "I know."


    He stood up and looked me in the eyes again.


    "Alright, then we don''t need to bring this up again. Now... you seem to be interested in the family business. So do you want to stay by my side, help me, at least until you go back to the academy?"


    I stood up too, nodded in agreement as I put a smile back on my face and spoke with the relief of having taken care of this matter.


    "Yes, I''d be happy to."

 Chapter 109 Volume III - 30: Everything is a Game?

    <h4>Chapter 109 Volume III - Chapter 30: Everything is a Game?</h4>


    I was silent as I walked toward the research building. There was hardly anyone outside because of the light rain and more recent events, but the few people who saw me kept their eyes on me for a while.


    My name was much moremon now than it used to be, I was the center of attention and it wasn''t something I didn''t like, but... I wasn''t in a position to be happy about it right now. On top of that, it was much more ufortable than I thought it would be.


    I took a deep breath and shook my head slightly from side to side.


    After I talk to Ulka, all my short-term work will be done. All I have to do is talk to him, and then I will go to bed and rest for a long time...


    Ye-


    "Heh, she got what she deserved."


    I hesitated for a moment, stood where I was for a short while, and finally turned toward where the voice I had heard hade from, a shadowy alley of buildings with no one around.


    My eyebrows furrowed, and my eyes squinted slightly. I moved slightly closer to the voice, eavesdropping.


    "That whore thought she was something. Whenever she walked by someone, she put on a cold face, as if she were the queen herself, and ignored everyone. Like she was the princess of the kingdom!"


    A group of three people were talking among themselves. There were two boys and a girl. It was this girl who spoke these words. The makeup on her face, the nail polish on her nails, the way she was dressed... everything about her resembled that gossipy, popr girl in every school.


    "You heard what she went through though, right?"


    One of the boys asked with a slight tension in his voice, and the girl responded without changing her tone even a little; on the contrary, she responded even more fiercely.


    "Games, man, they are games! How do you think this got into the media so fast? Simple! Because they want people to pity her, so they can attract as many people as they can and try to improve their reputation."


    She was confident, yet the boy who asked her this question was not satisfied.


    "I''m not saying you''re wrong, but have you read the leaked information? They were saying that her legs were burned, that her arms were skinned. There are even people who say she was raped."


    Wait a minute... the person they are talking about...


    "Meh, it''s all exaggerated, but if any of it is true, she got what he deserved. She needed a lesson, she was too cocky."


    My eyes widened, and my whole body trembled for a moment. I clenched my fist, my teeth gritted from clenching them too tightly.


    "Heh, that wh-"


    I couldn''t take it any longer. I mmed my cane down, and a loud thud echoed through the building.


    Those who had been talking suddenly fell silent, instantly turning toward me with the sound echoing in their ears. They stared at me for a moment and then one of them spoke, his eyes widening.


    "Ah?"


    He recognized me, and immediately after him, two of his friends had a simr reaction. After all, I was a kind of media celebrity right now, most people had seen my face at least once.


    "What? Are you angry?"


    The girl who had spoken about the rumors recovered quickly, looked at my cane with a frown, andughed.


    "Are you angry because I speak the truth? You are no different from that girl! I don''t believe you defeated someone many times stronger than you, it''s just a rumor spread to protect the reputation of the academy. I''m sure all those bandages and the cane are a hoax!"


    She took a step toward me, and this time she started shouting without holding back.


    "And aren''t you like us? You''re not noble! Why are you ying into their game?! Don''t you know what we''ve been through? You must know what we''ve been through just because we pissed off a noble! That girl was just like them! She didn''t give us a single nce, she ignored us as if we didn''t even exist! That wh-"


    My face twitched, I clicked my tongue and interrupted her.


    She was getting on my nerves more and more with each passing second. Each passing second she was going further and further.


    "One more time-"


    "What happens?"


    A big smile appeared on her face. Without hesitation, without caring, she walked toward me.


    "Are you going to beat me? If you have as many scars as the media says you have and you can''t walk without a cane, I doubt you can do it. Are you going to report me? Are you going to lecture me like those nobles just because I speak the truth?"


    I bit my lip, because she was right, even if I didn''t want to admit it.


    I was weak, I couldn''t even use my mana properly in my current state, my body was a mess. There was nothing I could do.


    But am I going to let them insult Celine so freely? Am I going to ignore it just because I''m weak? Am I going to let someone talk back to her like that after what she''s been through?


    ''What choice do you have?''


    I heard a voice echoing in my head, and it wasn''t Sith''s.


    ''What can you do? You''re weak, helpless, you can''t even walk like a human without a cane. You can''t even use mana properly, let alone walk.''


    I bit my lip so hard that a metallic taste came into my mouth. I clenched my fist so hard that my fingernails scarred my palm. I was angry, angry at my own powerlessness, and by this time the smile was gone from her face, reced by disgust.


    "I hate the nobles, I hate the powerful. When the rumors first broke during the preliminaries, I was happy that one of our own was starting to show himself, but you''ve been blinded too. You are all the same! Once you have power, you rot! You and that maniac called Adrian and that witch who pretends to be sick to make herself feel sorry for herself!"


    My vision blurred slightly, I clenched my teeth even more and mmed my cane down hard again. As the sound echoed through the building, I turned to the duo behind the girl.


    One of the two was rtively short in stature, looking like a thin guy. He had brown hair and orange eyes. In contrast, the other was tall and well-built. He had dark hair and blue eyes.


    The one who had just asked her about the rumors was the one who seemed short and thin. At least he thought she was exaggerating... right? He didn''t agree with her, this girl was a lunatic who lived all this inside herself... right?


    He must be...


    "Do you think like her?"


    No matter how many seconds passed, neither of them answered my question. Nevertheless, their facial expressions were a substitute for an answer, and they were different from what I imagined, from what I wanted.


    I became even more annoyed.


    If these people thought this way, then they couldn''t be the only ones who thought this way. There had to be more people, people who didn''t have the slightest idea what was going on, people who talked, people who thought they were something...


    Why can''t I do anything? There is someone in front of my eyes insulting an emaciated girl who has difficulty talking to people, let alone looking them in the face, but... I just stand there.


    Ah... just like she said, I want to beat her up. I want to pounce on her, I want to beat her to the ground. I want to pay her back for every one of the things she said, every one of her insults, but... I can''t do anything because of my body.


    Hahahah...


    That''s... funny, isn''t it?


    "So... you''re saying that everything in the media is a lie, that I didn''t fight someone from whom I got these wounds. Celine wasn''t tortured and she''s not even in the hospital, she''s fit as a fiddle. And I''m fooling everyone in the same way. It''s all about making people feel sorry for us and keeping the reputation of the academy alive a little bit¡­ Everything is a game, you say?"


    I have to stay calm... I have to stay calm... I have to stay calm...


    There''s nothing I can do now, but in the future, I can take those insults and put them back in their mouths.


    "That''s right! I had a confrontation with that girl who was supposedly hospitalized and you know what happened? I asked her for help and she ignored me! She looked at me like I was an ant! She treated me like I was pathetic! She pretended I didn''t exist and just kept on walking! So I don''t understand why people pity her! If she was really tortured, that witch got what she deserved!"


    I need to calm down... Now is not the time, what I need to do now is to be patient so that I can make them regret it in the future... I need to focus on other things... For example, the buildings, how modern they arepared to my old world; they look nice, don''t they?


    "I don''t care what you had with her in the past."


    Yes, I''m calm. Calmer than I''ve ever been...


    I''m really calm!


    "But if you call her a whore or a witch or something like that one more time..."


    "If you attack me, you will only prove that the rumors are lies. And if the rumors are true, you can''t do anything to me in your current situation! I will not be punished for calling a witch a witch!"


    Fuck calmness.

 Chapter 110 Volume III - 31: A Little Lesson

    <h4>Chapter 110 Volume III - Chapter 31: A Little Lesson</h4>


    I let go of my clenched fist and teeth, squinted my eyes, and looked at the girl shouting insults.


    "You''re right."


    I felt something stirring inside me, as if a string had snapped, releasing all the thoughts I had been suppressing.


    "I''m so badly injured that I can''t even walk properly without a cane. You''re right, my body is so messed up that I can''t use mana properly. You''re right, I''m helpless right now, powerless. A skinny kid could beat me with a little effort."


    I couldn''t suppress the anger rising inside me, all the thoughts I had been holding inside started to leak out. I fixed my cold eyes on hers and immediately saw her eyes widen slightly as if she had seen something horrifying.


    "But there''s something you haven''t taken into ount. My body may be weak, it may not be able to handle the mana. If I push myself, I might even die."


    I took a simple, short step.


    "What makes you think I care about my body condition after all?"


    The sound of my footsteps echoed through the building.


    "So what if my recovery takes longer? So what if I''m in more pain? So what if my wounds open? As long as I don''t die, there is no problem. I know when to stop, I know my limits, and I know that I shouldn''t hesitate when people like you get mouthy, or I''ll give you more material. Then I don''t see a problem with using mana as a one-time exception. There''s nothing stopping me from teaching you a little lesson."


    A teal glow surrounded my body. Transferring mana to the Absolute Mind didn''t cause me any problems as the system drew the mana directly from my body, but the mastery and active skills were different. To use them, the mana had to move, but it hurt to move the mana, literally weighing my body down. Even the simple movement of the mana was difficult for me. Still, I resisted and suddenly a strong wind blew toward them.


    All three of them staggered under the force of the wind. The well-built one of them resisted the wind and tried to take a step toward me, but as soon as he did, I fixed my eyes on him. Our eyes met, and then the boy suddenly started sweating.


    "I don''t care about my body if I have to deal with the likes of you."


    "Wh- what are you standing there Mateo,e on! Don''t tell me you''re afraid of someone with a cane!"


    At her words, the built boy still hesitated, but he gritted his teeth, tensed slightly, and then started running toward me.


    "HAAAAA!"


    His shout was so loud that it almost made my ears ring. Beads of sweat were running down his forehead, his eyes were looking at me with fear, but he kept running.


    "Pity."


    I raised my hand and simply drew a line in the air, directing the mana I was pushing through my body with force and pain.


    The wave of wind from the line I drew staggered the boy the moment it hit him, and I had only drawn one line when I felt a warmth in my nose, it was bleeding. My body was in such a terrible state that it couldn''t handle my mana.


    "Oh? You didn''t fly away?"


    I drew another line. The amount of blooding from my nose increased, the weakness seemed to hit my body for a moment, but I ignored it again.


    The boy took another step back, but he didn''t copse again.


    "Hahaha! You''re pretty tough, huh?!"


    I drew three more lines and in the meantime, I felt blood rising from my throat as well as my nose. I felt a pain in my stomach, my breathing became irregr and my heartbeat quickened. I had only a smile on my face as the blood trickled down my lips.


    The waves of wind that came out of the lines I drew were not sharp. Rather, they were like a blow, applying a simple force where they hit, rather than cutting into the boy.


    Of course, the force I applied was not a ''simple force''.


    "Come on, withstand this!"


    Instead of using only my index finger, I opened all four fingers.


    Because of the efficiency effect of my passive skill, the wind spell consumed less mana than usual and was stronger than it should have been. On top of that, my mana capacity was also quite high. So my wind magic was quite powerful even though I used less mana, but this time I didn''t bother to spend it efficiently. I used most of my mana in one go.


    The world started spinning, my vision blurred for a moment, but it was different from normal blurs. This time it was red, blood was evening out of my eyes. My legs were shaking, and my bnce was off, but I kept standing with the support of my cane.


    My body was literally crying blood. Perhaps my recovery would take much longer than usual because of what I had done, but in direct proportion to that, my attack was stronger than ever.


    The four waves of wind that shot out from the four lines I had drawn with my fingers hit the boy I was aiming at specifically to knock him off bnce so hard that he was thrown upside down and thrown even further back than his friends, as if he had been hit by a truck.


    When he hit the ground, he hit his head on the floor and instantly fainted. The skinny boy and the girl who remained standing looked at their friends and at me in horror.


    I was like a zombie, I was shaking, my wounds were open. It hurt a lot and leaning on my cane was getting harder every second, but it was so... satisfying!


    "Are you afraid of me?"


    The smile on my face widened involuntarily. A sharp pain shot through my whole body, my body couldn''t take any more mana, but I ignored it and approached them.


    The girl tried to take a step back, but her whole body suddenly began to tremble. Her eyes staring into mine trembled like her body, as if she had seen a ghost, and she tried desperately to look around, but she couldn''t take her eyes off me. She was scared, so scared that her body refused to move the way she wanted it to.


    It was a nice feeling.


    I liked it.


    So... I wanted more.


    "It''s a pity he fainted. Let''s continue with you then, shall we?"


    It''s fun... Seeing them terrified, seeing them afraid of me, seeing them unable to control their bodies...


    "M- mo- monster!"


    "Z- zombie!"


    This... is amazing!


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %3,0 --> %3,2


    ------------------------------>>


    I paused for a moment as a system notification appeared in front of my eyes. Silence suddenly descended on the building, even more intense than before. The pain in my body became more pronounced, and my smile disappeared.


    I heard a voice in my head, as if I had just noticed someone who had been shouting at me from a distance.


    ''COME TO YOUR SENSES AIDEN!''


    My eyes widened as Sith''s voice echoed in my mind, loud enough to ring in my ears, and I realized.


    I... what am I doing?


    I stepped back and looked at the duo in front of me, trembling with fear. The skinny boy had a wet spot on his pants, he had peed his pants in fear.


    The only time the Absolute Mind had no effect was when my wiera side started toe forward. I was so out of it that I had forgotten even that, hadn''t realized it.


    I was...


    No.


    I turned around, I left the building as fast as my body would let me. Every step I took sent such a bacsh through my whole body that my organs were shaking like a building under a load it couldn''t carry.


    My vision was darkening, I was bing more and more numb, but I resisted. I threw myself into a wooded area. When I reached a ce where no one could see or hear me, I dropped to the ground and held my breath.


    I quickly pulled a dimensional button out of my pocket and opened it, I poured the vial containing the potion the doctors had given me as medicine down my throat and tried to calm myself down. Still, the world wasn''t going ck, my consciousness was slipping away from me with every passing second.


    I bit my lip and poured another potion down my throat.


    Even though I was a hybrid, as a wiera my body was already more resilient than normal and healed fast. With the two potions I drank on top of that, I had high confidence that I would be able to recover without the need to go to the hospital, even if it would be painful and not short. Of course, my recovery time would be longer, but no matter what I did, I couldn''t stop myself from losing consciousness.


    No... I''ll be fine, I''m not going to die just because I used some mana. I''ll just pass out and when I wake up I''ll have recovered a bit from the potions I drank, I''m sure...


    I closed my eyes, the faintness was slowly taking over my mind, but then I remembered that moment again. What I had done, the look on the girl''s face, the scream...


    Just then a thought came to me that made me feel as if the whole world had stopped.


    I... am I bing more and more like it?


    ''You understand now, don''t you?''


    My head reflexively jerked up at the sound, and I saw a silhouette standing in front of me.


    It wasn''t hard to make out who it was, with its dark brown, unkempt hair, violet eyes, and a slight smile on its face.


    ''This is not something I do on purpose. As time goes by, you go crazy yourself.''


    He could have been lying. In fact, he had no reason to tell me the truth, but my brain automatically rejected what he said as false.


    I felt my thoughts getting more and more tangled.


    I...


    ''With or without me, you''ll be hurting people before you know it.''


    He kept the smile on his face and narrowed his eyes.


    ''How long are you going to keep ying this game?''


    He grinned as if he was having fun. Meanwhile, my muscles were losing strength, my vision was getting blurrier and blurrier. The connection between me and the world was slipping away.


    ''Remember, Aiden. We are not separate entities. I am you and you are me.''


    And with that, his body started to fade into thin air, practically vaporizing. As he slowly disappeared from my sight, it was as if he was insulting me with the smile on his face.


    When he waspletely out of sight and everything around me started to blur together, I heard another voice echoing in my mind.


    ''Aiden! Can you hear me? Aiden! Shit... not again!''


    I didn''t care though.


    ''Aiden! Hey, Aiden!''


    My world wentpletely dark, my eyes closed, but all the while I could think of only one thing.


    Am I... a monster?

 Chapter 111 Volume III - 32: Cycle of Thinking and Not Thinking

    <h4>Chapter 111 Volume III - Chapter 32: Cycle of Thinking and Not Thinking</h4>


    I looked at the man in his mid-twenties with brown hair, brown eyes, and stubble sitting in front of me as if I wasn''t his leader. I thought about what he had said, and then my brow furrowed.


    "So you''re saying Aiden Tenebra is a wiera?"


    He was sprawled out in his seat. He was quitefortable in front of me, but there was both anger and seriousness in his face.


    "Yes, and a hybrid."


    His eyebrows furrowed for a moment, and an ugly expression appeared on his face, showing that he was even more annoyed.


    "I can ept that he''s a wiera, as hard as that is to believe, but do you really think that makes sense, Marcus?"


    "Do I look like someone who would lie, sister? Not both eyes, just his left eye turned purple. In fact, that''s why the caora split him into two personalities instead of changing who he was. I saw it with my own eyes, and he knew how to solidify the caora and patch it to his body. And he used the chains of sin, even though it took a lot out of him. You know what that means, don''t you?"


    I didn''t even have to think about it.


    "That thing that was temporarily given to Larry was passed on to him..."


    "Exactly."


    I leaned back in my chair and an involuntary smile appeared on my face.


    Coincidence? Chance? Or an opportunity given to us?


    "It was rumored that the dead representative was experimenting on himself, maybe that''s why he was a hybrid, but it''s still ridiculous. If he''s a hybrid, logically he should be weaker than normal wieras, but it doesn''t seem that way from the report you gave me."


    "The previous representative was really seriously insane. I could use caora for ten hours straight and still not get as high as him. Aiden had a caora limit almost as high as mine, that maniac definitely did something the organization didn''t even know about."


    Marcus looked thoughtful and I sighed.


    "At least we won''t have to look for that thing, but the fact that it''s Aiden Tenebra... If what you say is true, it won''t take long for it to be exposed, we need to get him on our side before the virtue guardians find him, but thanks to what you''ve done, that won''t be easy."


    Marcus rolled his eyes.


    "I was bored, you wouldn''t let me do anything. I''m using so much caora but I can''t satisfy my hunger, what did you expect?"


    He waited a moment, then a smile appeared on his face.


    "No lie, it was quite fun. I gave a good blow to all the nobles who were tortured there, especially Potenbea''s daughter, who will probably never go out properly again. I don''t regret what I did. And we don''t necessarily need to get Aiden Tenebra on our side. He''s a hybrid, which means half of his body is still human. Just think..."


    The smile on his face widened.


    "If half of his body is human and he has no problem using caora, the other half of his body is wiera and he can use ordea. It''s not him we need, it''s his DNA."


    My eyes widened as I realized what he was saying.


    "If we use his blood to make a clone of him with that jewel and teach it to use ordea, the caora will drive it mad while the ordea will fix it. Then we''ll have a super weapon that is not negatively affected by caora in any way, and can even use two opposite energies at the same time! You''re a genius, Marcus!"


    After what he''s been through, getting Aiden into the organization is next to impossible. We either have to threaten him or brainwash him, but both options are risky¡­ But that''s as long as we need him! Actually, we don''t even need him¡­ We just need to take blood from him, a lot of blood.


    I paused.


    "All the mysteries of that jewel have been solved, right? We shouldn''t go into something we''re not sure of the oue."


    "I''m the one who found the jewel, identified it, and studied it. I''m not sure if there''s anything extra about it, but do you think I would have suggested the idea in the first ce if I wasn''t sure it would at least work?"


    "Good... Very good!"


    "By the way..."


    I gave Marcus a sharp look when he interrupted me.


    "Since I came up with the idea, I deserve a reward, don''t I? Leave that boy to me when the timees, my fun with him was cut short... I crushed him badly, but in the end, he almost humiliated me."


    He clenched his fist, gritted his teeth.


    "When I catch him, I won''t simply kill him, I''ll go through every single one of his cells to understand how he managed to be a hybrid, and I''ll do experiments that even the previous representative wouldn''t have thought of... He''ll learn what it means to y with me."


    He daydreamed and a broad smile appeared on his face. He resembled a serial killer. He already was...


    "For that, we need to take care of the jewel thing first, after that you can do whatever you want, but..."


    I paused again.


    How do we approach Aiden? The academy will protect him, very much so. It will be difficult for us to reach him directly at this point...


    "Ah..."


    A smile appeared on my face again and I remembered someone who had been catching my eye a lottely.


    That''s right! We can use that boy!


    *******


    When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by the darkness of the night seen through the tree leaves. As I slowly sat up, with pain radiating throughout my body, I remembered what had happened.


    Most of the internal damage to my body had been prevented with the help of the potions, but just as I had expected, I was now finding it more difficult to even take a step. Moreover, there was a general aching in my body, it was not hard to realize that I had fucked up my body again.


    I stayed where I was for a while, just... thinking.


    When I finally, with difficulty, managed to stand up, I didn''t go to Ulka. I simply went back to my room, went to the bathroom, and looked at myself in the mirror, not bothering to change my bloody clothes or take a shower.


    I looked normal, no different from an ordinary person. At least... that''s how it looked on the outside.


    I squinted, looking into the gray eyes of my reflection in the mirror.


    To be someone I wasn''t, to go crazy without even realizing that it was a strange thing, to enjoy terrorizing someone...


    I clenched my fist. The thought of punching the mirror sprouted in my mind, but these thoughts were soon driven away by the influence of the Absolute Mind.


    I do not even have proper control over my own emotions... I have turned into a monster without even realizing it.


    I sshed cold water on my face several times and threw myself on my bed.


    I''m scared, scared of hurting someone without even realizing I''ve done something wrong, scared of ''going crazy'' in front of ra, in front of my friends. I''m... scared of myself.


    Should I get away from them?


    Isn''t it better not to see anyone until I find a solution to this problem?


    Absolute Mind was activated again. Then, with a deep sigh, I started thinking.


    I kept thinking and thinking, and after this whole sequence of thoughts, it was as if the world stopped moving. Everything started to seem meaningless and a slight smile appeared on my face in this meaninglessness. In the silent room, first there was a chuckle, and then I started tough.


    I thought it was funny. It annoyed me that my goal was to protect my loved ones, but on the contrary, I had the potential to harm them, and that the probability of this happening was not at all low.


    "Hahaha... It''s really funny, isn''t it?"


    ''Aid-''


    "No need, Sith. Really, there''s no need. I don''t want to fool myself, I know what I am and what I can do, I just... I need some time. I''d better get some sleep. Don''t disturb me. Just... please, okay?"


    ''O- okay...''


    I closed my eyes. I didn''t want to think anymore, thinking was tiring and gave me a headache. So I poured mana into the Absolute Mind and tried to sleep with all my thoughts purified.


    The more the thoughts flooded my mind, the more mana I poured into the Absolute Mind. Eventually, I got into a cycle. Absolute Mind was an addictive thing. It was so rxing not to think, not to have anything in my mind, that after a while I would automatically give myself over to this feeling.


    So I slowly surrendered myself to sleep. The meaninglessness I had just felt was reced by nothingness. My world went ck, I felt peaceful, I realized that I wanted to stay like this forever.


    But... my peace was disturbed by a sound that echoed in the nothingness I was in.


    It was the voice of a child. A voice that became clearer and clearer in the nothingness, a voice that felt... familiar to me.


    ''Are you hurt?''


    There was tenderness and a soullessness, a seriousness in his voice at the same time.


    ''N- no, not at all!''


    The voice of the person who gave him this answer sounded like a little girl. She was not as soulless as the first child, her emotions were evident in her tone.


    ''Are you sure? It doesn''t hurt at all what they did to you? Are you really okay?


    She was lying, it wasn''t hard to understand. And yet... she continued.


    ''I''m... fine!''


    ''Why are you lying?''


    ''B- but I... I''m not lying...''


    ''I am your brother, ra. You don''t need to hide anything from me. Siblings always listen to each other and share each other''s secrets.''


    ''I- I...''


    ''It''s okay. You don''t have to pretend. You can be yourself around me.''


    An intense silence...


    What broke the silence was a small sob.


    ''He-''


    For a moment I felt as if time had stopped. I felt a heat enveloping my whole body, warming me.


    ''Help me...''


    My eyes slowly opened. My vision cleared and what I saw next was not ''nothingness''. It was simply the smooth white ceiling of my room.


    I put my hand on my chest, listening to my heart.


    It was fast, faster and more real than I had ever felt. It was the source of the warmth spreading through my body.


    "ra..."


    I felt the heat intensify and my mind was suddenly filled with images of my sister. I heard her voice, I saw herughing, I saw her crying, begging for help, I saw her writhing on the bed in pain, pulling so hard on the duvet that she tore the fabric. She was crying so loud that her throat seemed to tear.


    "ra..."


    Suddenly the images disappeared as if they had never existed and I realized that tears were streaming from my eyes.


    I got out of bed, I looked around, I looked for her but I couldn''t find her, I wanted to see her, I wanted to hear her voice, the heat was burning my body. I couldn''t stand it.


    I quickly opened my watch, I pressed the wrong button a few times because my hand was shaking, but I finally managed to make a video call. Every second that passed was like torture. Every cell, every part of me was focused on the call on the watch. Every second that went unanswered was agonizing.


    Eventually... the call was picked up.

 Chapter 112 Volume III - 33: Step by Step into Darkness

    <h4>Chapter 112 Volume III - Chapter 33: Step by Step into Darkness</h4>


    ra''s image appeared on the holographic screen in front of me as she picked up the call.


    Her light brown hair was a bit disheveled, her gray eyes looked as if she was sleepy. Still, she had answered the call, she was in front of me.


    A sense of relief enveloped my body as soon as I saw her face. The heat inside me slowly subsided and I calmed down.


    When she saw me, her eyebrows raised for a moment, then a worried expression appeared on her face.


    "Did something happen? A-"


    She paused, waited a moment. Then she let out a deep sigh.


    "Are you okay...?"


    I felt at peace. Every sound that came out of her mouth made me feel like I had found something I had longed for so long. It was as if everything that had happened to me was unimportant, unnecessary. ra''s presence was enough for me.


    I thought about everything that had happened to me so far.


    First I betrayed Adrian, my first friend, and even though I made amendster, I left deep wounds in him.


    I pushed myself to the limit because I wanted to satisfy myself, I lost my humanity. As if that wasn''t enough, I lost a huge part of my emotions because of an idiot skill.


    I made things bad between me and ra by telling her the truth about me.


    I killed more than twenty young person without even realizing it. Then I tried to cover it up as if nothing had happened.


    I found out that a madman lived inside me and was trying to make me mad too.


    I saw dozens, hundreds of people die because of me. My friend was tortured in front of my eyes. I went crazy and almost¡­ almost hurt the friend I was trying to save myself.


    Without even realizing it, I turned into someone who enjoys hurting people...


    I felt the Absolute Mind working. I could feel my mind clearing, the skill was doing its best to keep me calm.


    But this time, I didn''t calm down. Instead, I became even more frustrated.


    My feelings, my thoughts, my experiences... As the Absolute Mind kept its best to try to calm me, I felt like a puppet... as if none of these things were really under my control.


    For a moment I just stared nkly at the image of ra, and then... I paused again.


    I felt as if everything had suddenly piled on top of me, yet the idiot skill wouldn''t even let me shed a tear. It was still in control, still trying to stabilize me.


    So I did the only thing I could do, the only thing I was allowed to do.


    I smiled.


    I just smiled.


    *******


    (A few minutes ago)


    I refocused on the question in front of me, trying to figure out what I had done wrong, but... to no avail. Finally I gave up, looked at the clock, and sighed, realizing that I had been struggling with the same question for almost ten minutes.


    The questions were difficult, at least they were for me, but with my written examsing up, I had no choice. And now... I was bored, so bored that it didn''t feel like I was getting anything out of studying.


    So I closed the book, leaned my head on my arms and closed my eyes. I just wanted to rest a little bit, I just wanted to close my eyes a little bit and I heard a sound.


    Something... crackling?


    Suddenly my eyes opened, I jumped up quickly.


    I forgot the food!


    I rushed into the kitchen and saw the thickyer of steaming out of the pot on the stove. I turned off the stove as fast as I could and looked into the pot out of the corner of my eye.


    Crap... I burned it.


    I was furious. I dumped the burnt food in the trash and put some water in the pot and left it on the counter.


    I went to my room and flung myself on my bed, then sighed again.


    How many times had I burned foodtely? Normally I never burn food...


    Am I getting too little sleep from studying for exams or is there something else?


    I looked in the mirror across the room, saw my disheveled light brown hair, and looked into my gray eyes, slightly red fromck of sleep.


    I clicked my tongue and closed my eyes.


    I had already studied enough, I should sleep. Starting tomorrow on a good note should always be my priority.


    ~beeep!


    ~beeep!


    ~beeep!


    I had just closed my eyes when my eyebrows furrowed as my watch rang. But when I saw the caller, I was stunned for a moment.


    It was him... my brother...


    No, it was Ethan.


    Why was he calling in the middle of the night?


    I hesitated for a moment, I had an intense desire to sleep, but then I sighed and answered the call.


    He was probably calling to check in, it was like a daily routine now. I was used to it, but when I saw his face on the holographic screen in front of me, I felt a sense of dread.


    He looked like he had copsed, and even if his eyes sparkled a little when he saw me, it was strange. He was full of longing, as if we hadn''t seen each other for years and this was the first time we had met.


    My fear quickly turned to shock and curiosity. What could have caused him to suddenly be like this, when just a day ago he was smiling and looking fit as a fiddle?


    No matter how many times I spoke to him, he didn''t even give me a simple answer, he just continued to stare into my eyes and then became pensive. He thought for a while, and then a smile appeared on his face.


    It was not a smile of happiness in the slightest. It was more pained, like a reflection of regret.


    Something must have happened to him.


    "Do you have a problem?"


    "ra..."


    Desperation washed over him, his voice sounded so pathetic that for a moment I doubted whether he was really the person in my memories. Even he hesitated for a moment, but then all he did was widen his smile even more.


    "I... Wh- what should I do?"


    His smile became even more bitter, he tried to cover his face with his hands, to hide it.


    "I... no matter how hard I try, something always happens... Every time I try to be happy, something happens to me."


    His voice trembled, this time he averted his eyes between his fingers.


    "Every time I think I have things sorted out somehow, another problem appears in front of me..."


    His eyes looked at me again, as if pathetically begging for help, but I couldn''t move a muscle.


    "I just wanted to be happy... I thought things would be better when I came into this world, but now..."


    The hands that clumsily tried to hide his face came down weakly. His expression became even more sour and twitchy. It took on the mournful expression of someone who seemed to be copsing more and more with each passing second.


    Finally, he looked away again, fixing his eyes on the floor. He bit his lip as if there was something he could not ept.


    "The only thing I''ve managed to achieve now is to be a disaster ma! Whoever is next to me breaks, hurts... I... just hate myself. I hate who I am."


    He paused, just stood there for a moment. It was as if his mind had gone nk for a moment, as if it had stopped working. Then... he painfully smiled again.


    "I''m... going crazy."


    I knew what his skill was. He was talking about going crazy, but he couldn''t even do that because of his skill. And that made him more and more hurt, more and more mad.


    "I like to see blood. It gives me pleasure to scare people, to terrorize them. I turn from a human being into a monster, I try to make things right and I make it worse... Hahahah... Step by step I... descend into darkness..."


    He was angry, but he didn''t feel he had the right to be, nor did his skill allow him to be. Yet the hatred he directed at himself was so intense that his voice was crushed and crushed under it, lower and lower.


    Yet there was a limit to him too. There was a limit to his skill. After all, no skill was not perfect, and so, atst, he shouted at the top of his lungs.


    "I''m sick of it! I''m scared... I want to get away... I want to go somewhere where I won''t hurt anyone... I... what should I do?!"


    The sudden burst of emotion fizzled out as quickly as it hade and tears welled up in his eyes. Then his shaky, hoarse voice echoed in my ears.


    "Help me..."


    I felt the desperation in his voice as if I had experienced it myself.


    "I can''t do it anymore... I can''t stand it..."


    He buried his head in his arms, his whole body trembled.


    How long has he been bottling up his thoughts, his emotions, to explode like this, to make even his skill dysfunctional? How long has he been suffering like this? How long has he been trying to lend a helping hand to everyone else, when in fact he himself is looking for help from someone else...?


    As I looked at him, I felt something stirring inside me.


    He is not my real brother. Even though I''ve epted him before, I still hesitate to call him brother, my voice sounds forced. Even if I''m worried about him, I can''t do more. I know he''s a good person, I know how hard he''s trying, but I can''t get too close to him.


    Yet the person he is asking for help now is the same person who has been avoiding him until now - me.


    He really cared about me. He did his best to fill my brother''s shoes, he risked everything to make me happy. And I doubted him, I hesitated.


    I gritted my teeth and looked at him, who was still trembling.


    I don''t know what happened to him, but what can I do in this situation? What can I do tofort him? What can I do to help him?


    I kept thinking and thinking but nothing came to my mind. So I let out a deep sigh¡­ and stopped thinking.


    "I''m sorry."


    That''s what finally came out of my mouth.


    "I was selfish, I tried to avoid you... I''m sorry. But I get it now. I''m with you, I''m here. You told me you''d be a pir I could lean on when I had problems. This time I will be the pir you can lean on."


    He didn''t stop shaking, but I continued.


    "You always try to ignore yourself and help others, but you need help too. You always try to do things alone, let people help you. You can''t do everything alone in this world, you will end up in a dead end. So let us get you out of this predicament."


    I took a deep breath.


    "Brother, don''t you need help?"


    He lifted his head, fixed his eyes, red from crying, on mine, and sniffled.


    "It''s okay."


    I put my hand on the holographic screen and smiled, even though I couldn''t touch him because he was far away.


    "Let yourself rx and rest. Let us help you."


    He moved his hand from the holographic screen to mine and buried his head in his arms again.


    He didn''t say anything and neither did I.


    Then what broke the silence were these two simple words.


    "T- thank you..."

 Chapter 113 Volume III - 34: The Strangeness of The Tenebras

    <h4>Chapter 113 Volume III - Chapter 34: The Strangeness of The Tenebras</h4>


    My eyes slowly opened.


    When I saw the beams of sunlight clearly illuminating my room and heard the refreshing sounding from outside, I felt... strange.


    I slowly sat up, waited for a moment, and finally closed my eyes slowly with a deep sigh.


    When was thest time I woke up in the morning feeling so... peaceful?


    I opened my eyes again, this time without thinking about anything extra, I went to the bathroom and sshed cold water on my face, one after the other. I looked at my face in the mirror, thought about the conversation I had with my sister yesterday, and smiled awkwardly.


    I''m pathetic.


    I''m really pathetic.


    I feel a little better though, I guess. Like I pulled out a dagger stuck in my chest after I exploded like that yesterday.


    I took a deep breath and this time I got into the shower.


    As ra said, I didn''t think about anything. I stayed under the hot water for almost an hour and a half and all I did was rx.


    I didn''t think about my future actions or anything, my goal today was just to rest. Nothing more or less, simply resting.


    After I finished showering, I threw myself back on my bed.


    For the first time in a long time, I have some real free time. And now... I have no idea what to do.


    Great...


    ''Haayh... Good morning.''


    Sith suddenly appeared in front of me, yawning. I couldn''t help but smile.


    "Good morning."


    Sith was there at the... thing yesterday. He kept quiet because he didn''t want toe between me and ra, but I''m sure he was there. Now he pretends not to know, he doesn''t question me even though I use phrases like ''when I came into this world''.


    He''s really worried about me.


    My smile widened even wider, though I took a deep breath, finally letting it go, because I had a big problem...


    I''m bored. I can''t find anything to do and... like I said, I''m bored.


    Should I look at the media? I haven''t looked at what''s going on for a long time... it might be nice.


    So I turned on my watch and the first thing I did was to go to a news website.


    <<------------------------------


    Mny Quie and the Royal Family Speak Out After the Attack at the Civilian Development Academy!


    Nearly a week after the incident, the academy board, which has been silent for a long time, finally responded to the media!


    Click to see the rest of the news!


    ------------------------------>>


    When I looked at the text below, my eyebrows went up for a moment.


    No way... is it here too?


    I pressed ''continue'' and stared at the page loading in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    Cevilian Development Academy Management Speaks to the Press Together with the Royal Family!


    Crown Prince Lucas Cevilian and the Rector of the Academy, Mny Quie, made a statement yesterday afternoon. It was a statement that shook the bnce among the royals!


    Click to see the rest of the news!


    ------------------------------>>


    A grin appeared on my face, and then I burst outughing. Iughed so hard that I had tears in my eyes, and Sith was looking at me like I was crazy.


    ''H- hey? You''re okay, aren''t you, Aiden?''


    ''Yeah, yeah. I am.''


    "Pfft."


    I let out another shortugh and wiped the tears from my eyes. Then I looked at the news again.


    It was funny to see the same kind of news that the news sites in my previous world always did, the ones that kept going on and on and on. Seeing how simr the two worlds actually were made me feel strangely relieved and happy.


    I left the news site, and even though I had a goodugh, I really wanted to know what was going on, so when I went to a more decent site and saw a news article with a more detailed exnation, I opened it without waiting.


    <<------------------------------


    In a speech yesterday afternoon, Crown Prince Lucas Cevilian and Rector Mny Quie used several noble families of coborating with this ''secret'' organization. Among them was the Malus family, one of the only pirs on which the kingdom has depended since its ascension only eleven years ago.


    The Malus Family has yet to respond to the usations.


    ------------------------------>>


    The article went on and on, but what I read was enough for me to grasp the situation.


    After learning about the general situation, I decided to go on social media out of curiosity. And then I thought of something else.


    Even though I follow the media asionally, I haven''t used any social media apps since I came to Lunerra. I guess it was normal since I wasn''t a social media person in my previous life either.


    Although...


    I know Aiden''s e-mail, but what''s the password to his social media ount? First of all... does he have a social media ount...?


    I quickly switched to a popr social media tform, entered the email, typed in a random password, and hit ''login''.


    <<------------------------------


    You entered your password incorrectly!


    If you have forgotten your password, please press here.


    ------------------------------>>


    Oh? So he has an ount...


    I quickly went into recovery and set myself a new password from the password reset that came to my email address.


    When I finally logged into the ount, the first thing I noticed was... the ount didn''t have a profile photo. There was also not a single post, video, photo, or story. It was just Aiden Tenebra in the name and...


    When I saw the number three in the followers section, my eyebrows raised for a moment. Curious, I quickly went to the followers section and looked at them.


    <<------------------------------


    Aaron Tenebra


    Aria Tenebra


    ra Tenebra


    ------------------------------>>


    Oh... all three of them are members of Aiden''s family. It feels a little... weird that two of them are dead.


    I wonder if they have a post.


    I quickly went to my ''dad''s'' profile and started looking through it.


    Aaron Tenebra had more followers than me. They were probably high school, academy friends or something, but I didn''t care much about them. After all, the tform didn''t allow anyone to see who the followers were except the person himself.


    What I cared about was that there was only one post on the ount.


    It was a family photo of Aaron, Aria, ra, and Aiden.


    Aaron, the father of the Tenebra Family, had an ordinary appearance just like mine. He had short dark brown hair and dark brown eyes like his hair. He was a little taller than average and his body was not overly built, but not skinny either.


    Next to her stood a short woman with the same coal-ck hair and gray eyes as mine. Her body looked quite thin, almost as if she had a disease. This was Aria Tenebra. In contrast to Aaron''s ordinary appearance, Aria was a beautiful woman. Her looks were above the norm and her smile was bright.


    ra looked no more than seven years old. She had a smile on her face simr to Aria''s. She looked happy, she had the joy of a child.


    So my eyes shifted to thest person in the photo, Aiden.


    Aiden had the emotionless expression I expected from him. While the whole family was smiling, he didn''t have a smile on his face. It was as if he had been forced into the photo, he was soulless. All the joy in the photo seemed to disappear the moment I looked at him.


    How could a nine-year-old child be so soulless?


    I sighed and looked to see if there was ament on the post, but I didn''t even see a like on the post, much less ament. Then I saw that the photo wasbeled ''private'', visible only to family members.


    I sighed deeply and checked Aria''s ount in the hope of finding another post, but there were no other posts on her ount either, except for the same photo.


    I stood there for a moment, disappointed that I hadn''t found anything worthwhile, but then I paused. Suddenly something urred to me and my brow furrowed.


    The Tenebra Family seems like a happy family, at least on the surface, even if the memories I''ve seen make it seem a little different. And the three of them, except Aiden, are smiling in a very natural way.


    So why is there only one photo of this ''happy'' family?


    Even though I can''t check who they are, both Aaron and Aria have several followers... So they have friends, acquaintances. So there must be other photos they have taken. So why is there nothing else on their ounts apart from this private post?


    Confused, I looked at ra''s ount.


    At least her ount looked full. She had a few posts, but not many. A few photos of her and her friends and stuff like that... and she had the same family photo.


    Yet there was nothing but this one photo with neither his mother nor his father in it.


    My brow furrowed even more. This time I took my focus off the holographic screen and tried to recall the memories I had seen earlier. I kept moving them around in my head, hoping to find something, anything, but then I realized that there were some missing things in what I remembered.


    I can remember the memories, but... they are extremely foggy as if they were really just dreams.


    I pushed my memory, I could see Aaron and Aria talking about something in the kitchen, but I couldn''t remember what they were talking about.


    I got frustrated. Because I felt like I was getting close to something, but I couldn''t quite see it.


    It seems that I need to investigate this...


    I paused, and when I realized I had been staring at the nk wall and thinking for a few minutes, I took a deep breath and closed the app.


    I''ve been thinking too much.


    I''m going to rest today... I''m going to research the Tenebra family anyway, and I''ll do it straight away when I go to talk to Ulka, but not today.


    Although, isn''t talking to Ulka the only thing I need to take care of right now? After talking to him, I can rest until I''m fully recovered, after all...


    No. I had to rest...


    I put my head on the pillow and closed my eyes.


    Not today...

 Chapter 114 Volume III - 35: Business Offer

    <h4>Chapter 114 Volume III - Chapter 35: Business Offer</h4>


    "Haaa... Damn it."


    I looked at the building in front of me and sighed, while Sith squinted at me and the building in front of me with one eyebrow raised.


    ''You rested pretty well.''


    ''I will do nothing but rest until I''m healed after talking to Ulka.''


    I quickly entered the building and headed for the reception desk as usual. Since I had already gotten special permission from Ulka to go to him, this time the process was faster and after only two minutes I was in front of his door.


    I pressed the button next to the door and a few secondster the door opened by itself.


    Sighing, I walked in, closed the door, and looked around the room, focusing on what he was doing when I saw a tall man who looked to be in his early thirties with golden eyes and short dark blue hair standing behind the ss at the other end of the room.


    Ulka seemed to be very focused, trying to prepare a potion by checking the parameters on the device in front of him.


    He pressed a few more buttons. The device vibrated slightly, then he poured a few liquids into a vial that was clearly visible inside and began to spin it. A few more liquids went through simr processes and then Ulka stopped ying with the parameters and opened the lid of the device. He took out the potion and sniffed it.


    "Tch."


    He clicked his tongue, poured the potion into a tube, put it into another device where he was working, and then pressed another button.


    The device literally sucked the tube in, a slowly filling sign appeared on the screen above it, and with a deep sigh, Ulka looked at me through the ss.


    When our eyes met, I quickly straightened my posture, smiled, and waved at him. The medical bracelet that covered my entire left arm was still there, so my movement was a little awkward, but I didn''t care.


    Ulka came out of the ss-partitioned room, gestured to the armchairs on the side of the room and we both took them.


    Not to lie, he looked a little tired.


    "What are you working on?"


    "A potion that provides immunity to a special poison for one of the guilds I contract with."


    He sounded rxed, he didn''t normally like talking to anyone, but he didn''t hesitate to talk to me.


    "Things don''t seem to be going so well, huh?"


    "The limit they want is at least half an hour, but the poison is strong, so I have to cut it down to make it work."


    Oh? I remember that.


    "For the new dungeon discovered on the Neutral?"


    Ulka nodded at me.


    ''Neutral'' is a continent in the southernmost part of the world where no kingdom has nd''. The reason for this is that after the event eighty years ago, arge number of the creatures hunted by humans fled there.


    It is a paradise and hell at the same time. There are countless unexplored creatures, dungeons, and all sorts of things. And there are also beings like dragons that are extremely powerfulpared to humans. So it''s very dangerous and that''s why it''s a hell.


    It''s a ''paradise'' for exactly the same reasons. Nobles, guilds, and countries send hunters there to clear the dungeons and make money. Theypete for the title deeds of the discovered dungeons, and even the economy is almost shaped ording to that region. The amount of money spent in that part is astronomical.


    "I see..."


    After me, Ulka looked at me and lifted one of his brows expressionlessly.


    "Are you going to tell me what made you visit me in this state of your body?"


    His gaze shifted to the ssed-in room where he had just been working. He wanted to continue his work, but I was preventing him to do it.


    I sighed slightly, then proceed to talk as I was in a hurry as well.


    "This time it will be more of an offer than a simple conversation."


    Ulka suddenly shifted his focus away from his work and turned to me, this time curiously.


    "An offer?"


    "Yes, an offer."


    "Exin."


    He seemed quite interested.


    "You know what happened after the attack on the academy, don''t you?"


    His face suddenly soured, the current state of the academy and the issue with the Malus had touched him too.


    "Yes?"


    "Since your sister is the daughter-inw of the Malus, they will do a search for you, maybe they already have."


    "They did, they found nothing."


    A smile appeared on my face.


    "So you''re saying I hid myself well?"


    Ulka was silent and I turned my smile into a grin.


    "Anyway, I don''t really care. My business is with you. We both know that the Maluses are going to lose their unlimited source of money now that all activity has been suspended and most family members have been arrested. The DeLaor family has already been in decline for a long time, and you won''t have any ie there either. Right now you have only your own fortune and your only source of ie is your research and the sry the academy pays you."


    "So? What are you trying to say?"


    "Simple, leave the academy and work with me, Ulka."


    There was silence between us.


    "You are not a noble and you don''t even have your ownpany."


    "That doesn''t mean I can''t create apany and be a noble in the future."


    Ulka frowned, but I didn''t let him speak.


    "I''m thinking of opening a few research centers simr to those in academy and creating an informationwork. The research centers will work on theories, create potions and present them to the kingdom and the guilds. On the informationwork side, I''m thinking of setting up arge intelligence agency. It might seem like an empty investment at first, but once we have enough contacts and information, we''ll get a return. And for you..."


    I widened my smile.


    "I''m sure your fortune is at least enough to open apany and a research center for it. That''s why I came to you."


    "Besides investing my money, you want me to be your business partner..."


    "Exactly. Let me tell you upfront that you are going to be the head of the research center. From the outside it may seem like a dream that everyone has but never achieves, but I''m different. I don''t have dreams, I have a goal, and I have enough knowledge to feel confident that I can achieve it. Think about the theories I have presented to you so far, think about what I should not know but I do. There is so much more waiting in the background."


    Ulka remained silent, thinking. But I continued.


    "Let''s be honest, you don''t give a damn about the Malus Family, not your niece, not your sister, not the reputation of that family... You have no ties with them, in fact you can count on your fingers the times you have seen your sister''s husband. For you, these are all resources that you used and now you have lost them. You are still widely known and you continue to work in the academy, but the current state of the academy is obvious. Soon your sry and funding will start to drop. You probably already have a lot of job offers. The world is full of opportunists, and I am one of them, and I can offer you much more than they can."


    He was still hesitating, thinking quietly.


    I clicked my tongue and grimaced. I wanted to finish quickly and leave, but he was hesitant.


    I need to push him a little.


    "Do you know why the source of mana in the atmosphere has not been found so far? Because what we call mana is not produced by a ''source'', people are trying to look for something that doesn''t exist. Do you know why we haven''t heard from the King of Piarlin for two months? Because he''s already dead and the kingdom is trying to hide it because it doesn''t have an heir. Do you know why the elves have be more involved in trade and political affairstely? Because what they fear ising true, dark elves areing out of their midst and they are looking for help."


    Ulka didn''t even try to hide his surprise at what I said. He was genuinely shocked.


    "You wonder how I know all this, you probably think I''m imagining things, but no, Ulka. If you don''t believe me now, in the future you will find out, even if you don''t want to, that it''s all true, and when it happens, our partnership will ''never'' be the same as it is now."


    I emphasized thest part.


    "Now, this is my first andst offer to you. Together we can shake not only this kingdom but the world."


    I narrowed my eyes, widened my smile, and held out my hand to him.


    "Are you in or out?"

 Chapter 115 Volume III - 36: Old Seer

    <h4>Chapter 115 Volume III - Chapter 36: Old Seer</h4>


    The wind, carrying the cold of the approaching winter, blew in my face through the window of my wooden hut. I took a sip of my steaming tea and sighed.


    Old age was now hitting my body. I was about to turn one hundred and thirty-five, and if the incident of eighty years ago had not happened, I would probably have passed away long ago, but now... here I was.


    I took another sip of my tea but realized the cup was empty.


    I sat up from my chair, even though it was hard on my body.


    I''d had too much tea, I knew I''d had enough, so I was going to put my cup aside to clean it, but then, all of a sudden, a pain shot through my head.


    I knew what pain was, I had experienced it many times, so I knew it was something important.


    The ss fell from my hand, and I dragged myself to my bed as the headache continued to grow. The world suddenly became brighter, the voices started to blend together. When I finally let myself fall into my bed, I breathed a sigh of relief.


    First I calmed myself down, focused on the world changing before my eyes, and poured mana into my skill.


    The change of the world elerated in an instant. The image of my small hut blurred together and one after another images began to appear before my eyes.


    First I found myself in a huge hall full of young people, the boys in suits and the girls in carefully selected dresses. The ce resembled a ball. Everyone seemed to be having fun, nothing was wrong.


    Just then, a notification fell in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    A change in the timeline has been detected.


    ------------------------------>>


    The image suddenly flickered. The view of the hall suddenly changed and mes surrounded the ce. Gunshots echoed in my ears. I heard young people screaming for help, the glow of the spells preventing me from keeping my eyes open too long.


    Even though what I saw was frightening, I didn''t panic. I focused on memorizing everything in every detail and that''s when I saw another notification.


    <<------------------------------


    A change in the timeline has been detected.


    ------------------------------>>


    The image flickered again, and a dark-haired boy suddenly appeared in front of my eyes. I couldn''t see his face because his back was to me, but he was skinny. He didn''t look very old either, around high school age. He seemed to be talking to someone.


    I quickly tried to see who he was talking to, but then I realized that there was nothing where he was talking. I frowned, dumbfounded.


    This little boy with ck hair... is he talking to the void?


    No... it can''t be.


    I poured extra mana into my ability, I focused all my senses, everything I had on that void. I did everything I could in the hope of finding something, and then, as if someone had noticed my efforts, a message notification appeared in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! Your [irvoyance(A+)] skill has been upgraded to [S-]!


    Your mana capacity has increased significantly!


    ------------------------------>>


    The void suddenly began to change. I focused even more, hoping to understand what was happening, but then... the change suddenly stopped.


    Where there had been a void before, there was now someone who seemed to be censored. His clothes, his hair color, his facial expression... Everything was blurry, I couldn''t understand anything.


    For the first time in a long, long time I was in shock.


    I hadn''t even heard that irvoyance could be elevated to S- grade, I was very likely to be the first person in the world to experience it, but even that made me only see this person in the image as a... blur.


    So an idea popped into my mind.


    Could this person be the cause of all the strange things that have been happeningtely? Is this person the reason why the skill has gotten out of hand?


    I poured even more mana into the skill, an amount of mana that would normally never be seen by the rest of humanity, reaching its limit. I could feel my reserve running out, the vision would soon end, but I didn''t care.


    I focused, I tried to understand at least a few features of the censored person, but the moment I tried to do so, the blur suddenly moved, independent of me. Although I couldn''t see it because of the censorship, something he was holding stabbed the ck-haired boy in the chest.


    The ck-haired boy''s whole body trembled as blood trickled down his body. His lips curled slightly upward for a moment as if he was smiling, but that was it.


    A notification fell in front of me again.


    <<------------------------------


    An excess in the flow of time has been detected.


    Sessive changes in the timeline have been detected.


    ------------------------------>>


    My head suddenly ached like never before. The image in front of my eyes cracked as if I had been looking at it through a screen.


    I suddenly found myself in my hut.


    <<------------------------------


    Your Mana Efficiency stat has increased to [S]!


    Your mana capacity has increased drastically!


    ------------------------------>>


    I didn''t wait a second, I poured the water next to my bed down my throat. I had encountered two very important developments today, but neither of them was important.


    The censorship I had seen could be the exnation for why our visions of the future kept changing and why things we had foreseen suddenly started to change.


    Excited, I quickly took the phone out of my pocket.


    I was going to call the others, tell them about this important information I had discovered, and then... something unexpected happened.


    The door to my hut opened slowly but distinctly.


    My brow furrowed, beads of sweat slowly appearing on my forehead as my eyes turned to the rapidly opening door.


    I must have been the only one here, not a single person in the world knew I lived here. The opening of my door... was not a good omen.


    So the person who opened the door entered step by step.


    She had a big smile on her face. Her short dark green hair was slightly wavy. In contrast, she was a young and short woman with dark red eyes. She looked excited, and on her back was a double-edged axe, which was obviously quite heavy, even though she looked quite thin.


    When she saw me, her expression turned puzzled, she came quickly to me and shouted in a worried voice.


    "Oh my! Are you okay, Auntie? Do you want me to help you? You look so pale!"


    I opened my mouth, but as soon as I did, she put her index finger to my lips, preventing me from speaking.


    "Shh! You look sick, auntie. You shouldn''t talk!"


    She took a bottle out of her pocket and handed it to me. The transparent liquid inside, resembling water, was so thick that it was easy to see that it was not water.


    "Come on, drink this, you''ll be as fit as a fiddle!"


    She uncapped the bottle and threw it aside, and without waiting for a second, she brought it to my mouth.


    I quickly pulled my mouth aside, but there was no point in pulling back, I was powerless, all I could do was... question.


    "Who are you?! How did you get here?!"


    The woman pursed her lips.


    "B- but I''m trying to help you... and you''re yelling at me! You''re so hurtful, Auntie!"


    Her eyes watered, her pursed lips pursed even more; she started to cry.


    Who is this woman...? Was she really worried about me? How did she find this ce in the first ce?


    In the midst of my thoughts, I suddenly felt a warmth in my stomach.


    It was very sudden, and when I turned my head down, what I saw in my stomach was... a dagger.


    My eyes widened, and blood rose in my throat as my body trembled. I pushed her arm away from me, but my muscles contracted so much that I fell off the bed the moment I did.


    "Ahahahah! You really believed it for a moment, Auntie."


    I couldn''t look up, all I could see was her feet right next to me.


    "Your reaction was spectacr, I give you nine out of ten."


    Suddenly the handle of the axended next to her foot and the wooden floor of the hut trembled with the force of the axe.


    "You''ll have to excuse us, the seers are giving us a lot of trouble... We''re afraid you might ruin our business. You understand, right?"


    I vomited blood, tried to crawl as my whole body trembled, but my old body wouldn''t let me.


    "You were seeing things before I came, weren''t you? Your eye was glowing blue and blue."


    There was excitement in her voice, and by this time the world was spinning and my vision was blurring.


    "I wonder what you saw, can you tell me?"


    I coughed, and the voices began to blur together as the world went dark.


    I felt regret.


    "Ah, it''s like you can''t tell me because you''re going to die... I''ve always wondered what it would be like to see the future, but it seems I''ll never know."


    The handle of the axe lifted and the woman''s feet moved into position to steady herself.


    "Anyway, you''ve already lived too long. In case you''re wondering, I''m the Representative Candidate of Envy, although I guess it doesn''t really matter anymore... Anyway, goodbye, Auntie!"


    I saw her move and felt an unimaginable pain where my stomach had been before my world wentpletely dark.


    Yet I did not cry or scream.


    I was not afraid of death or pain. I knew I was going to die in pain, I knew I was going to die with an axe. I was confused by what I saw at first, but now I remembered.


    There was no way out of here. I had prepared myself for this a long time ago.


    The only thing I felt was regret, regret that I had failed to warn even one person.


    And hope, the hope I feel about the one who wille in my ce...


    *(A/N: I want to try something with this chapter, and I also wonder how many people will respond to it. If the novel gets 20 power stones within 24 hours after the chapter is published, I will publish two chapters the next day. I can apply this kind of system every day if there is an increase as I think. For now... let''s see what happens.)*

 Chapter 116 Volume III - 37: The Most Hated Character

    <h4>Chapter 116 Volume III - Chapter 37: The Most Hated Character</h4>


    As I walked back from the research building to my room, I had a smile on my face and I was tired.


    The reason for my smile was that Ulka had epted my proposal. I had made a mana contract with him after he had epted my offer to remove all his doubts, and he had agreed without much question to do a detailed investigation into the Tenebra family. With my answer of ''family matters'' and the assurance of the contract, he didn''t press me.


    As for my exhaustion... I have to pretend to be a mysterious person in Ulka''s eyes, that''s the only way I can use him. He has to believe that I''m not a normal person, that I have secrets I can''t reveal, and that I''m very influential behind the scenes, even if I don''t look like it on the outside.


    Otherwise, even if there''s a contract between us, he''ll believe that I''m someone who just makes things up, and there are a few other reasons.


    So when I talk to him, I act like I already have the whole world in the palm of my hand and it''s... exhausting.


    "Whatever!"


    I put a smile on my face and headed to my room.


    After all, I had finished my work with this and now all I had to do was to rest and rx until I was healed enough. Two weeks away from the power, away from ns, away from training... Yeah, I''m definitely going to enjoy it.


    ''Hey... Isn''t that one of your friends over there?''


    Hmm? One of my friends?


    I looked at the spot Sith was pointing at during my daydreams as we walked, then raised my eyebrows when I saw two blue eyes staring at me.


    "Aiden?"


    "Sue?"


    She had her ck hair in a ponytail and was dressed in a more casual outfit.


    A smile appeared on Sue''s face and she came over to me without saying anything. She was about to say something when she paused. She looked first at the ck medical bracelet covering my entire left arm, then at my cane, and her smile slowly faded.


    "Don''t you need to rest?"


    "Well... I''m on my way to my room right now."


    "Why did you leave your room? Go open your window if you want to catch your breath, you can''t even walk without a cane..."


    She quickly took my arm, making it easier for me to keep my bnce, and then sighed.


    "A patient needs to be careful, and you don''t give a damn..."


    I simply smiled when I saw her concern. I was happy to hear such words from someone, but then... something else came to mind.


    "Thank you, but what are you doing here? Weren''t you going somewhere with your brother?"


    "I was, but when he wasing, he said something important came up and he postponed his arrival. I was on my way to meet him now, he said he''d be back in like half an hour."


    "Ah... I''m sorry then."


    "No problem, we were supposed to meet at the caf¨¦ anyway. It''s on the way."


    I didn''t say anything. We started walking slowly, step by step, in the silence between us.


    "Do you love your brother?"


    I didn''t like the silence, so I asked the first thing that came to my mind. Sue was not surprised. On the contrary, she smiled.


    "After my father died and my mother left us, it was just the two of us. Our family issues affected him in a much bigger way than they affected me. So I tried very hard to make him smile and one day... he suddenly came out of his gloomy mood. Since then we''ve been on good terms, we talk almost every evening."


    Suddenly one day he stopped being moody, huh...?


    That''s... a bit strange.


    "I see."


    "What about you?"


    "I, huh..."


    I paused.


    I just wanted to break the silence, I didn''t think the question woulde back to me, but I didn''t want to give Sue an evasive answer. So a smile like hers appeared on my face.


    "My sister..."


    Her image came back to me. Her smile, her voice, her cuteness...


    "Until recently, I was deceiving her topensate for my ownck of love. I pretended to be someone I wasn''t, I used her."


    I felt like I was ruining the good atmosphere, but I didn''t really care.


    "You remember the day I woke up in the hospital and she behaved like she was angry with me, right? That was because of that. I confessed that I deceived her because I felt remorse. She avoided me for a while. And now... I think I can say that things are much better between us."


    Sue sighed.


    "I thought you were going to end it badly."


    "So did I."


    "Excuse me?"


    "Never mind, we''re here."


    When I pointed to the right and pointed to the caf¨¦, Sue turned there first, saw that we had indeed reached our destination, and we both stopped.


    "Thanks for helping me. I''m going back to my room anyway, you meet your brother."


    Sue looked at me with raised eyebrows but didn''t say anything when I quickly freed myself from her arm. There was a look of unease on her face.


    "Aid-"


    "Ah! Sis, I''m here!"


    When Sue''s voice was interrupted by the person who was obviously her brother, I felt something strange inside me for a moment. It was a feeling I couldn''t make sense of. Like... something was wrong. Like I had heard something familiar.


    Sue turned in the direction of the voice, smiling. I turned back in the same way, frowning slightly at this strange feeling inside me.


    When I saw Sue''s brother, that''s when I realized what that strange feeling was.


    The world suddenly stopped spinning, everything became meaningless. All sounds faded, I felt like I was in an eternal silence.


    My eyes widened as I froze in ce, shivering as I looked at the sixteen-year-old boy approaching us.


    He had ck hair that was neither long nor short, and eyes that were somewhere between yellow and brown. He had a childish face, even his smile was that of a child. He seemed innocent and shy.


    "Paul, you didn''t tell me you were already here!"


    My eyes widened even more when I heard his name. My suspicions, which I didn''t want to be confirmed, were confirmed one after the other, while my memories reminded me again and again who this person was.


    H- how could it be...?


    "I wanted to surprise you, hehe..."


    The boy noticed me after these words.


    I saw a moment of surprise on his face, but it disappeared as quickly as it came and was reced by a smile.


    "You must be... Aiden."


    He held out his hand to me. But I just stared at his face.


    "My sister told me about you."


    His innocent smile widened as if he was excited.


    "I''m Paul Demens, nice to meet you."


    *******


    Throughout the script of a story, novel, myth, movie, or y, one is often fascinated by the characters one sees. They find some characters close to them, some they get too attached to, some they just like, some they are neutral toward, some they don''t like, and some they... just hate.


    In The Lands of The Lunerra, there were many characters that I loved, connected with, and hated.


    However, there was one character in particr.


    This was a person who made me feel reallyplicated emotions while ying the game. He was the person whose purpose I wondered about the most, the person who I couldn''t really understand why he did what he did.


    And he was also the person I hated the most.


    "Will you stay for dinner before you go?"


    Seeing this person in the flesh in front of my eyes now, seeing him smile at me, finding out that he was the brother of a friend I cared about... It made me not have the slightest idea what to do.


    "Hey, are you okay?"


    Paul''s face suddenly showed concern, and Sue looked equally worried.


    "Aiden? Are you okay?"


    I swallowed, not knowing what to do.


    Right, I need to calm down...


    I transferred mana to the Absolute Mind, which had already started working, to boost it.


    "Yes... Yes, I''m fine. Just a little dizzy, sorry... I''m not going to eat, I already ate before I left the house."


    A look of disappointment appeared on Paul''s face.


    "Oh, I see. Get well soon. Next time then, I really wanted to meet you."


    He seemed genuinely upset, hurt that he couldn''t talk to me. There was not the slightest ulterior motive, not the slightest awkwardness in his movements.


    "Aiden?"


    Sue took my hand and looked at me. I could feel the worry in her blue eyes even in my cells, but I quickly withdrew my hand.


    "I''m sorry... Enjoy your lunch."


    I turned around and headed for my room without saying anything. I didn''t care what was said behind my back, how they looked at me, I just walked and walked and walked.


    Paul is not a normal person.


    He''s a lunatic.


    He''s aplete maniac.


    He''s even more psychotic than wieras, even though he''s not one of them.


    I was acting rxed because it was still time for him toe out, but...


    I must keep him away from Sue. I must keep him away from everyone I know, everyone I care about. I mustn''t let him exchange even a single word with them.


    Should I kill him?


    I paused, then a thought came to me.


    What if Sue''s death is the reason Paul became that kind of character?


    Then, since Sue didn''t die in the current Lunerra, didn''t Paul be a bad person too?


    In the midst of these thoughts, I suddenly remembered what I had talked about with Sue.


    Paul was to her what ra was to me. What would change in her life if Paul suddenly disappeared?


    I turned around and looked into the caf¨¦.


    Sue and Paul were just moving to a new table. Sue''s face was still a little grim, but Paul hadn''t lost a bit of his cheerfulness.


    No... he''s a two-faced person. In fact, two faces are too few for him.


    There''s a good chance that he''s putting on an act around Sue. Maybe he cares about her because she''s his older sister, but the possibility that he could be someone she''s ''close'' to seems strange to me, almost frightening.


    Still, I can''t just leave him alone like that...


    I clenched my fist and looked at Sue again. Her lips were curled up a little, she was happy. I could see that, her happiness should have made me, who was trying for her, happy too, but what I was feeling right now was... worry and fear.


    "Tch."


    I turned around and headed back to my room. I thought about the smile I had seen and grimaced, even involuntarily.


    For now... Just for now, I won''t do anything.


    If Paul had any intention of hurting Sue, he would have done it a long time ago. Either he sees no point in hurting her and has nothing to gain from it, or he genuinely cares for her as a sister.


    I think back to the times I met him in the game. His behavior, his psychopathy, his actions.


    I just froze.


    No... I''m not taking any chances with Sue.


    I picked up my watch and dialed a number. It took a while for the call to be answered, but I didn''t care.


    "Ulka, I have a favor to ask you."


    *(A/N: Well... I didn''t expect it, but you guys really gave 20 power stones, I believe it''s even 24. That''s why I''ll publish two chapters as promised, the other one will be uploaded in 10 minutes. And I will also continue to use this system, but for tomorrow the threshold will be 25 power stones, not 20.)*

 Chapter 117 Volume III - 38: Paul Demens

    <h4>Chapter 117 Volume III - Chapter 38: Paul Demens</h4>


    The sun had set and after minutes of waiting in my room, my watch finally rang. I was so nervous that I was sweating, I quickly answered the call.


    "He looks normal."


    I stood still as Ulka''s voice entered my ears.


    I guess I could say I was relieved, but I''m not sure if this feeling was relief or not.


    "You are sure, right? His past, the things he''s done and ns to do, his rtionships, his psychologist and hospital recor-"


    "Yes, I''ve looked at everything you''ve said and everything you''re going to say. I can send you the file."


    "Send it, I want it."


    After a few more words I hung up the call, and soon after a message came through on my watch.


    <<------------------------------


    Paul_Demens.rcd


    ------------------------------>>


    I quickly entered the file and started to examine it.


    Normally, I would have been able to do it in a second with the help of artificial intelligence to see if there was anything wrong, but I didn''t care.


    His family, his background, his hobbies... I literally read everything. The file was endless, but I wanted to make sure I didn''t miss any details. I read page after page of words and when I finally finished reading the file cover to cover, I found myself staring into space.


    Did Sue''s death really make him the way he was?


    Paul was innocent. At least that''s what all the details in the report, which was dozens of pages long, said.


    Paul was clean. That seemed to be the truth, even if I wanted to believe it but couldn''t.


    I leaned back and took a deep breath.


    Am I overthinking it? Could Paul Demens... could he really be a good person?


    ~knock ~knock ~knock


    Huh?


    I raised my eyebrows involuntarily.


    Who could it be?


    I grabbed my cane and walked to the door, peering suspiciously through the peephole.


    Suddenly, I felt as if the world had frozen again.


    ~knock ~knock ~knock


    I just stood there for a few seconds. Then I calmed myself down and transferred a little bit of mana into the Absolute Mind.


    I was in shock, yes. I never thought I could see the view I saw through the peephole, but I was curious at the same time.


    So I went to the door again, took a deep breath, and opened the door.


    The person behind the door had turned his back, he was walking away, but at the sound of the door opening, he turned back toward me. He fixed his yellow eyes on me.


    It was Paul who came to my door.


    "Am I disturbing you?"


    He had that innocent smile on his face again.


    I felt the influence of the Absolute Mind intensifying, but I ignored it.


    "No, I lost my bnce for a moment on my way to the door."


    I gestured with my eye to the cane in my hand and Paul''s smile instantly fell.


    "Oh... I''m sorry."


    "It''s okay, what did youe for? Weren''t you going home with Sue?"


    "We couldn''t find an open train ticket, and the only one we could find was a bit expensive. So we bought tickets for tomorrow, she''s sleeping in her room."


    "And why are you here?"


    A smile appeared on his face again, but it was not as joyful as the one I had seen before.


    "Do you mind if Ie in?"


    What exactly is the purpose of this?


    "Yes."


    I stepped aside, letting him in.


    I don''t really have a reason to do this. Who knows, maybe he''s here to kill me, but I''m not sure if he''s really a good guy or a bad guy, and even if I''m powerless, he''s not much different from me.


    Paul is weak, at least for the moment. He has a chronic... actually more than one chronic illness and so it''s not easy for him to do anything to me unless I let my guard down.


    As soon as I stepped aside, Paul went inside, quickly found himself a seat in the hall, and then I stood across from him, all the while continuing to channel mana into the Absolute Mind. My focus was on him.


    "I wanted to talk to you about something."


    "Go ahead."


    He sighed deeply, the smile fading slightly, but he continued.


    "I... I want to thank you in person."


    My eyes widened and again, I just froze. I had no idea that what he was going to say would be a ''thank you''.


    "I don''t know how much you know about my sister and me, but I heard that you were the one who helped her. My sister... I know she was bullied, even though she tried so hard not to show me any of it. I know what she went through, but not being able to help her was something that really bothered me."


    He raised his emaciated arm and took a deep breath.


    "I have osteoporosis, asthma, and anemia. I''m weak and... I don''t have a lot of money."


    He lowered his arm back and made a face of helplessness.


    "That''s why I couldn''t help my sister when she was suffering, even though it was very hard for me, all I could do was watch her wear herself out. That''s why I''ve had so many nightmares, but recently I didn''t know what to do when I suddenly heard joy in my sister''s voice. She shares most of her secrets with me, there are no secrets between us. In fact, the only problem I didn''t know about was the bullying problem I mentioned earlier, but when she solved it, she opened up to me herself. She told me that she was better now and not to worry. Then, as time went on, she sometimes told me about you, and that''s how I found out that you were the one who helped her."


    He bowed his head and closed his eyes. His body trembled, a reaction so natural that it seemed impossible to fake.


    "I really thank you. I can''t thank you enough for supporting my sister instead of me. I just wanted to say that, and thank you again for listening to me."


    He put a smile back on his face and stood up. Then he held out his hand to me.


    "If you don''t mind, I would like to get to know you more, please consider this another way of saying thank you."


    I looked at the hand he held out to me.


    His gestures, his demeanor, his facial expression... Everything about him made him seem like a really nice guy. I could feel his affection for Sue, no... He was expressing it in such a way that I could literally see it.


    I took a deep breath and thought.


    I thought and thought, I spent seconds just staring at Paul''s hand, and finally... I sighed.


    Okay.


    I took his hand and put a slight smile on my face. Then, the smile on Paul''s face widened.


    "Let me introduce myself again, I''m Paul Demens."


    For now, I''ll let it slide.


    "Aiden Tenebra."


    But... that doesn''t mean I''m going to ignore you.


    I look into Paul''s yellow eyes, I squint slightly.


    I''ll still keep an eye on him.


    *******


    After Paul left, there was really nothing left for me to do.


    A holiday until I recovered, a period of rest... whatever it was called, had officially begun. That night, just like the night before, I slept soundly andfortably.


    When I woke up in the morning, I found myself reflexively thinking of things I could do, and then I went to have breakfast with a deep sigh.


    It was at this point that I received a notification on my watch.


    <<------------------------------


    10:34 Thursday, November 26, 2043


    One new message from ra:


    Good morning! - 08:33


    ---


    27 new messages from the Study Group:


    Julian: Good morning! - 08:56


    Adrian: Good morning. - 09:03


    ...


    ------------------------------>>


    A smile formed on my face as I looked at the messages that had umted under the name Study Group, and I thought of my days as ''Ethan''.


    When I woke up in the morning back then, there was no one texting me like this, the only messages I received were the ones I saw in the ss groups. And now... I realized that this was really pleasing.


    I talked to everyone in the group like this all morning long. And after a long time, I had a smile of happiness on my face rather than a fake, self-deceived smile.


    So I spent the whole time until noon ''resting'', not thinking for a minute about ns or work or anything else. I surfed the media and evenughed at people on the inte doing strange gestures and begging for money, and at noon I went to the hospital to see Celine.


    When I looked at the other side of the room, which was divided in half, I saw that the door was closed. I leaned myself against the door, just likest time.


    "Celine, I''m back."

 Chapter 118 Volume III - 39: Revealing Some Truths

    <h4>Chapter 118 Volume III - Chapter 39: Revealing Some Truths</h4>


    I heard a stirring from the other side of the door. Celine approached me slowly, but she didn''t open the door likest time. Quietly, softly, she too leaned against the door.


    "I''m sorry I couldn''te yesterday, I was a bit... confused, I had to pull myself together."


    I didn''t get an answer, but I continued anyway.


    "You know, I realized something important about myself recently."


    I took a deep breath and smiled.


    "I am weak, powerless. I don''t mean in terms of fighting strength. I am... a coward, and what I am afraid of is me."


    I closed my eyes and let my body rx. I had thought a lot since thest time about what I could talk to her, but nothing came to mind. I didn''t want to tell her things like ''you''ll be fine'', I didn''t want to emphasize her condition every time. I wanted to talk to her like a normal person.


    So I decided to open myself up to her. I thought that as a friend I could tell her some of my secrets. I also wanted her to see that I was imperfect too. Of course, there was also a desire to talk about it and get it off my chest, but I didn''t really care.


    "About three weeks, a month ago, I had a near-death experience. I went to kill the ringleader of a group who had threatened me and my sister to eliminate Adrian in the preliminaries of thepetitions in the Kingdom, and I did it. Although I didn''t personally kill the person who threatened me, I was the one who made sure he died, but things didn''t go as easily as I thought. A creature attacked me. It infiltrated my body as if it were a virus, it changed my body. And not only that, it left me a skill."


    I kept talking. I told her about the Absolute Mind, how much I hated it but how dependent I was on it. I told her about the bond between me and that... man. I told her what a wiera is, what caora is. I told her about the other personality inside me, that I was crazy. I told her what I did to those three students the other day, how I lost myself.


    Every word that came out of my mouth made me speak more freely, made me feel better. Time flew by and Celine didn''t say a word during the whole session. I talked and she listened. I spoke for so long, without expecting anything in return, that at some point my throat started to hurt and my voice became hoarse.


    When I realized this, I stopped talking and sighed deeply.


    "I''m sorry... I babbled a lot."


    I felt Celine move again and I was silent for a while, feeling like she was going to say something. But after that slight stirring, nothing happened. So, I smiled again.


    "It doesn''t matter that you don''t speak, that you don''t answer, Celine. It''s enough for me that you don''t kick me out of the room, that you listen to my nonsense. Thank you. Thank you for not rejecting me despite my stupidity, despite my mistake, and for listening to my ws."


    I stood up from where I was leaning but paused before heading for the exit of the room.


    "I''lle back tomorrow, but I have to go now. Take care, okay?"


    After making sure I didn''t and wouldn''t get an answer, I took a deep breath and slowly walked toward the exit of the room, clenching my fist.


    Then... something unexpected happened.


    "Aiden."


    My next step was interrupted, and I paused.


    "Yes, Celine?"


    "Give me... give me some time..."


    A question appeared in my mind.


    "For what?"


    She was silent for a while, and then she said a single sentence.


    "J- just give..."


    I narrowed my eyes, looked at the door, and as I continued to look at the door, an involuntary smile appeared on my face. I understood what she meant.


    "Sure, I''ll wait as long as you want."


    Celine didn''t say another word after that. So I stayed in the room for a while longer and then went to the control room. When I looked at the clock... I realized that I had been there for almost two hours.


    A smile appeared on my face again, I started to think about what I should tell her when Ie back here again, but then the doctor suddenly appeared in front of me.


    His movements were a bit excited, just like thest time. It made me a little nervous, but I gave him all the information I had seen, or rather noticed, about Celine, her tone of voice, her movements, and her behavior.


    The doctor wrote it all down and told me I could leave. He didn''t even look at me, as if I was no longer important after receiving this information.


    Sighing, I slowly made my way to my room, and it urred to me that I had never seen Ronald Potenbea in the room.


    Although I was surprised not to see him, I didn''t dwell on it too much, I understood the situation. He was an extremely busy man and had already been watching Celine every hour of every day since I first stepped in here. He had already neglected his work too much, so much so that he had toe back even if he didn''t want to anymore. Otherwise, things would have gotten worse than they already were. As doting as he had be for his daughter, he was a man with responsibilities.


    He was not a ''normal'' person, even though he seemed like a normal person, a suffering father these days. Even though his guild had fallen many times in the past, he had always ensured that the Potenbea Family was one of the pirs of the kingdom.


    To the people, he was like a legend, towering above the top of a mountain they could never climb. Anyone who saw him on the road would not even believe they had met him. They would ignore it, thinking they had seen someone like him.


    In short, he was not as ordinary as he appeared to me in hisst days. He was really busy.


    Of course, I''m sure he came here every evening, but it''s a bit difficult for our hours to coincide from now on...


    In the midst of these thoughts, I realized that I had reached my room. I pushed all these thoughts out of my mind and just let myself go to bed.


    From then on, my day was quite calmpared to what it has beentely. Sith and I watched movies, TV series, etc. from my room, I met Adrian for a short walk, I read a book... In short, I did all kinds of activities to keep me busy, except ''training'' of course.


    Yet, interestingly, on the night of the same day, I encountered something unexpected.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! As a result of your hardships, your Vitality stat has increased to E!


    ------------------------------>>


    When I saw the system notification, I had a grin on my face, but I was not that happy. Because the reason I received this notification was that I was still alive and recovering despite the many severe injuries my body had sustained.


    In short, I had screwed up my body so badly that the ''vitality'' statistic had jumped up a notch even though I hadn''t tried to improve it.


    "Haa... Everyone was rubbing it in my face, and now the system itself is rubbing it in my nose..."


    ''Then how about taking a little more care of your body?''


    "You think I don''t? Just so you know, I''m not trying to get myself killed."


    ''It doesn''t look that way to me.''


    "Tch, just because I do what I have to do doesn''t mean I enjoy hurting myself."


    Sith smirked slightly at this. He didn''t seem to care what I said, so it annoyed me a little, and I said a few more things. But then I paused, realizing that I was basically having a child fight with him, and a grin appeared on my face as well.


    "Okay, fine, I''m a masochist who enjoys suffering, that''s your defense, isn''t it?"


    ''Of course.''


    "Well, think what you like."


    Sith looked up at me with a victorious look of triumph. He looked proud. The smile on my face widened even wider and then I let out augh.


    I let myself fall back on my bed, sighed deeply, and looked up at the ceiling of my room.


    Sith... he has be a closer ''friend'' to me than I thought, hasn''t he?


    "Sith."


    ''What?.''


    "I''m not really Aiden Tenebra."


    There was silence between us.


    ''I know.''


    I smiled slightly.


    "I don''t belong in this world either."


    ''Well, I didn''t know that.''


    I let out augh and turned my eyes to Sith, who had a slight smile on his face. He was softening the atmosphere.


    "Like you, Ie from another world, after dying in my previous body, I found myself in this body thatmitted suicide."


    ''Is that why you had a problem with your sister?''


    "Yes, I told her the truth. And then things went bad between us, but we seem to be okay now, don''t you think?"


    ''You have an eleven out of ten brother-sister rtionship.''


    Iughed again, looked at Sith, who was floating in the air, smiling just like me, and then I closed my eyes. I didn''t lower my smile again.


    "I used to be alone, a child abandoned by my parents. I wasn''t happy, I had aplished a lot, but none of it satisfied me. When I woke up here... the first thing I thought was that I could start over. I thought I could start a whole new life as Aiden Tenebra, running away from my old self. And then the incident where I became a wiera happened, and now I''m starting to doubt whether my thoughts are even my own."


    Sith started to say something, but I didn''t let him, I continued.


    "I wanted to thank you. I know I keep saying thank you for nothing, but this time I mean it. Thank you for being there for me, for trying to keep me cheerful without once arguing with me."


    I opened my eyes and looked back at the hovering Sith, his green eyes tilted a little. The smile he had just shown me had shrunk a little, but it was still there.


    I smiled, opened my hand, and held it out to him. Sith turned his eyes to my hand.


    "Let''s not give up. If I ever stray from my goal, if I ever feel like giving up, p me and bring me back to myself. I was unhappy in my previous life and you were unhappy in your world. So let us both live this life to the fullest."


    Sith''s smile, which had fallen a little, widened after these words. He flew quickly to my hand and gave me a high five with his tiny hand.


    ''Got it.''


    And just like that, I had ended the day without a hitch. From today onward, the next two weeks or so would be all about rest, and I''d be lying if I said I wasn''t excited about what was toe.

 Chapter 119 Volume III - 40: A Few Comfortable Days

    <h4>Chapter 119 Volume III - Chapter 40: A Few Comfortable Days</h4>


    On November 27th, I woke up to something I never expected.


    The Malus Family had finally made a statement, logically defending themselves against the royal family. They were iming that the documents presented were forged, but it was precisely at this point that the unexpected thing happened.


    Every single person who had ever been silenced by the Malus Family, every single person Justin had bullied, every noble who had taken a heavy blow from them, and so on, suddenly began to confess in the media. The kingdom was shaken by the confessions of these people who were suddenly emboldened by the support of the royal family. Immediately after this, with the documents released by three influential noble families, some of the illegal activities of the Malus family suddenly became public.


    Drugs, smuggled weapons, the ve trade which was banned worldwide, and much more were suddenly exposed. And with the effect of these, the Malus Family was lynched and dragged into such a copse that everyone forgot what had happened to the academy.


    The academy was now a ''victim'', and even though it would be quite difficult for it to recover its reputation, people''s eyes shifted from them to the Maluses. And that was a pretty good thing for the academy.


    As I continued to follow the development of events with the media throughout the day, I did not forget to pay another visit to Celine. I stayed a little less than the day before this time, but we had a much more productive time. Celine was not silent during the whole conversation, she said a few words, albeit quite short and simple. Seeing this, the doctor decided to enter the room to see if there was any progress.


    I was actually against it, I knew Celine wasn''t ready yet, but the doctor said I didn''t need to worry and stepped into the room.


    The moment that happened, all hell broke loose. Celine screamed at the doctor at the top of her lungs, bursting into tears and screams.


    I had a long talk with the doctor after I barely calmed Celine down. I told him how I could ruin his life and that I had connections with Ronald Potenbea, Mny Quie and Ulka DeLaor.


    Heshed out at me about who I was to tell him this. He knew how much money he could get out of this and he didn''t want to back down. Eventually, he saw the audio recording I had made of the whole conversation, and when I told him I was going to pass it on to Celine''s father, he just went silent.


    He tried to attack me, but for someone who had never tried to get stronger in his life and was totally focused on his career, he was weaker than me, who was not even 19 years old.


    In this way, Friday, November 27th came to an end, albeit with a bit of action.


    The day immediately following that, Saturday, November 28, was much more monotonous. I sent a message to Ronald Potenbea and sent him the audio recording, and I had a little talk with Mny to get the doctor relieved of his duties.


    The only incident worth mentioning, apart from the talk with Celine, is that Adrian and I had a bet in which he almost got a very strong disciplinary sanction for knocking down seven of the trees on the academy''s property.


    Honestly, I had a really goodugh, it was worth seeing.


    So the date turned to Sunday, November 29th, and today, as I was following the media, I stumbled upon something remarkable. After the confessions of the victims of bullying by the Maluses in the past few days, people were really fired up and started organizing. People who were bullied were gathering together, forming groups, and criticizing one of the main problems of the kingdom: bullying. And I have to say that even though they didn''t have much influence for now, they gathered a good amount of supporters in a short period of time.


    It was hard to predict their future for the time being because these things can often be momentary surges that happen on a whim and then fizzle out after a while.


    Still, I was really interested.


    Apart from that, I continued to see Celine and talk to her, it had be a routine for me, and it was a relief to tell Celine how my day had gone every evening. Celine had noints, so I kept going and I could feel that she was talking more and more, even if it was just a little bit each day. The change was really small, I only noticed something like that because I was talking to her every day and I was paying special attention to her condition, but even that made me breathe a sigh of relief.


    So a few more days passed. It became clear that the academy was not going to be closed and when sses would resume, the academy announced that we would resume sses on Monday, December 14th. The reason for putting the date so far away was for the restoration of the academy. The academy had indeed suffered great losses, and not only financial losses.


    First of all, out of a total of two thousand five hundred students divided over four years, only nine hundred and fifty-three remained. The Academy had lost more than half of its students, and these were not the only losses. There was also a considerable loss of staff. Professors, employees, and some senior officials had left the academy. The academy had lost its status as the best academy in the kingdom and had fallen to the bottom, but neither Mny nor I cared much about that. We were already making ns to restore the academy''s reputation.


    On December 1st, I finally got rid of the medical bracelet that was covering my entire left arm and restricting most of its movement. Of course, I still needed a cane, but the feeling of freedom of being able to use my left arm freely again was quite good. In addition to that, the date Alexander and I had agreed on was slowly approaching, so today I went online to the ck market.


    I would normally do all the preparations on the day of my meeting with Alexander, but there were a few important things I was going to use in that dungeon and the ck market was the best ce to buy them. Since I had already made a few purchases there, I was a privileged customer in the system, so it wasn''t difficult to find what I was looking for.


    So on December 4th, when I arrived in front of Celine''s room as usual, I found something I wasn''t expecting.


    The door in the center of the double-sided room where Celine''s room was was open. Celine was nowhere to be seen, but I wasn''t so stupid as not to realize that the door had been left open on purpose. After all, I had seen the door closed on the cameras in the control room.


    Considering Celine''s skill, it wasn''t hard for her to realize that someone hade to her room. She must have left the door open, knowing that I was the only visitor to her room.


    I swallowed, felt my heartbeat quicken, and approached the door. With slow and timid steps I entered and turned my gaze to the bed.


    Celine was sitting on the bed. She had a quilt covering her whole body except her head and her eyes were looking at the floor. I could see her hesitation.


    "Celine?"


    When I called her, she looked up and for the first time in a long, long time I made eye contact with her amethyst eyes.


    Celine just stared at me for a while. She didn''t move a muscle, she didn''t make a sound.


    She just kept looking at me and I smiled awkwardly.


    "Hi?"


    Until now she was always afraid to talk to me face to face, she was afraid of me. Neither of us knew if my face would change, even though he could talk to me. There was also the fact that I had almost hurt her myself...


    Both she and I knew she needed time to process all this, and now she had gathered her confidence and attempted it.


    When I saw that her eyes were tearing up rather than screaming straight out, I knew there was no problem, so I cautiously took a step toward her.


    "You''re okay, right?"


    Her eyes watered even more, her expression turned tearful and she covered her face with her hands. I kept getting closer until I was right up to her. I stayed where I was for a few seconds, then I let out a deep sigh. I wrapped my arms around her, hugged her, and pulled her fragile body toward me, stroking the back of her head.


    "I''m sorry, I''m here."


    We didn''t say anything that day. I just held Celine until she fell asleep, not moving a bit, and when she did, I gently put her to bed. Seeing her at peace made me feel at peace too.


    In the days that followed, when I came to visit Celine, instead of talking behind the door, we would face each other and if there was one thing I noticed, it was that she never smiled once.


    She was reacting to me, talking to me, sometimes even showing emotion, but never once smiling. As much as this worried me, I knew that she still needed more time, so I kept it to myself and kept being cheerful around her.


    So time kept passing. Day after day after day. On December 6th, I started walking without a cane, and on top of that, the things I had ordered from the ck market arrived. After making sure there was nothing missing, I put them in a safe ce and breathed a sigh of relief.


    Two dayster, on December 8th, I had a good portion of my former strength. I would have needed a few more days of rest under normal circumstances, especially since I had pushed my body too hard when it had not yet healed, but the doctors had made this calction based on the fact that I was a human being. But I was a wiera, even if I was a hybrid, so my recovery time was shorter than usual.


    Of course, I was still not fully recovered, I still needed two more days of medication to regain my full strength, but I was in pretty good shape now. In fact, my endurance and vitality stats had improved considerably due to my body''s conditioning in thest few days.


    In this way, when I woke up in the early morning hours of December 9th with my rm for the first time in a long time, I felt more awkward than usual. It felt a bit bad to wake up after a long time with an rm and not on my own.


    Taking a deep breath, I got out of bed and took a short shower. I had a nice breakfast, more varied than usual. Meanwhile, I was looking at the inte as usual.


    The anti-bullying group seemed to be growing day by day instead of losing its influence. Even though it had been about two weeks since they had formed, they were strangely stable, even if they didn''t have much of a noticeable impact. In addition, the Malus Family had officially copsed. They had done their best to pull themselves together in the process. They appeared on the news channels, defended themselves, and stood firmly on their innocence.


    Of course, the amount of documents and confessions used against them was so great that the case was concluded without even going to court. There was no longer a noble family in the kingdom bearing the name Malus. Nevertheless, the effects of the incident still swept thend. The Maluses were now the most talked about topic in the kingdom.


    I let out a deep sigh and turned off my watch. It had been a long time since I had finished breakfast, so I quickly cleared the table. I put on some new clothes that wouldn''t interfere with my movement. Then I turned on my watch again and dialed a number.


    "Aiden?"


    He sounded like he had just woken up.


    "Sorry if I woke you."


    Alexander yawned slightly, waited a moment, and then sighed.


    "No, I forgot to set my rm."


    He and forgetting to set the rm huh...


    "Now that you''ve called for the first time in a long time, shall we go?"


    Alexander''s voice suddenly became serious. He sounded like he had been waiting for this for a long time.


    "Yes, I n to make preparations today and be at the dungeon by the evening."


    "sses start in five days. Will we make it?"


    Dungeons are not simple, small ces. Of course, there are small ones, but the average dungeon takes about a week to clean for the first time, even with a team built for that dungeon. Sometimes it can take even longer because of mapping, creature detection, and so on. Even if we don''t have that problem, there are only two of us. So it''s normal for him to be worried, probably.


    "Time works differently in the dungeon we''re going to enter, three days there is like two days outside. So we''ll have at least seven days, not five, and I think we''ll have more than one more day, rather than not making it."


    Alexander was silent for a while. I could tell from the background noises that he was moving.


    "Okay. Where and when do we meet?"


    "Two hourster, at the east gate of the academy. We need to get potions and armor before we go to the dungeon, we can''t just barge in there. Oh, and by the way, all the clothes you wear and take with you must be white."


    "White?"


    "Yes, white."


    Alexander was silent for a while, then sighed.


    "Alright... I''ll be at the east gate in two hours."


    "All right, see you then."


    Alexander hung up the call without answering me and I let out a sigh as I looked at my watch.


    He sometimes criticizes me when he talks to me, but he never says ''hi, see you, hello''. That''s the way he is, I know that, but I expected him to be at least a little sincere...


    Whatever.


    After putting my watch down, I packed a bag full of colorful dimensional buttons with numbers glued to them and took a deep breath after making sure once again that I had done everything I could do, at least inside the academy.


    I could meet Alexander right now actually, but there is a reason why I don''t. I need to make a visit first.

 Chapter 120 Volume III - 41: Before The Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 120 Volume III - Chapter 41: Before The Dungeon</h4>


    I walked through the control room and into the hallway, and when I entered the room split in two, I slowly opened thest door and looked inside.


    "Celine?"


    When I didn''t get an answer, I raised my eyebrows involuntarily, looked toward the bed, and then I saw Celine sleeping with her back turned. A slight smile appeared on my face, I stared at her for a few seconds, and then I walked over to her. I moved quietly without waking her up, and when I was next to her, I looked at her hair for a while.


    Her hair was long, which felt strange because I had seen her with short hair throughout the whole game. She was like a different character, a different person.


    I poked her lightly. She didn''t react at first, but when I poked her a second time, this time her face slowly turned toward me. Her purple, sleepy eyes fixed on mine and stayed there for a while.


    "Sorry to wake you."


    After I spoke, her eyes opened a little wider and she buried her head a little deeper into the duvet.


    "It''s okay..."


    Her eyes shifted to the clock on the other side of the room, and then her eyebrows rose slightly.


    "Yes, I''m a little earlier than usual."


    Celine slowly got up from her bed, not even bothering to straighten her messy hair, and looked back at me. I could read many emotions in her eyes at the same time: anxiety, fear, and a little sadness. It was as if she understood what I was going to say, as if she felt it.


    Is it because of her skill...?


    I lowered my eyes and sighed deeply.


    "I won''t be able toe for the next five days or so, I have something very important to do."


    "F- five days?"


    "Yes."


    Five days wasn''t a long time, but even that made her expression clouded with fear.


    "Do you have to...?"


    "Yes, if I want to be stronger."


    I smiled.


    "Why are we talking like we''re saying farewell? I''m not going somewhere extremely dangerous, I''ll be back."


    I widened my smile.


    "Don''t worry, like I said, I''m not going anywhere dangerous."


    Celine tilted her head, not showing her face to me.


    "You''re lying."


    The words were suddenly on my lips, I couldn''t find anything to say.


    She can even sense this... Am I underestimating the Sixth Sense too much?


    "I''m sorry, I lied because I didn''t want to worry you, but I''m not someone who dies easily. Besides, I''m not really going anywhere too dangerous for me, and... don''t you trust me?"


    There was silence between us. Celine was the one who broke it.


    "Come faster."


    A smile reappeared on my face.


    "I haven''t healed you yet, I won''t let anything happen to me until I make up for my mistake."


    Celine didn''t say anything. She just buried herself deeper into herself and so I stood up again.


    "Since it''s still early in the day, I don''t have anything to tell you, so I''ll leave now, but in five days I''ll tell you everything that happened to me."


    "Okay..."


    "See you, Celine."


    "See you..."


    She clutched the duvet tightly, buried her head in her pillow as if asleep. She looked at me again and I hesitated for a moment.


    Still, I kept smiling and slowly walked out, waving my hand, while Celine continued to stare at me.


    When I finally left the room and closed the door, the smile on my face disappeared instantly. A deep silence surrounded me. All I could hear was the clicking of the analog clock in the room.


    I... I didn''t think it would be this hard.


    I''m the reason why Celine is the way she is, so I feel a responsibility toward her. I don''t want to go against her, I want to avoid things that might upset her, but after what I said... she''s definitely upset.


    Even though she didn''t give me any difficulty, her look, the feeling of her expression was so heavy that I found myself not wanting to leave the room, let alone go to the dungeon.


    I took a deep breath, narrowed my eyes, and sighed to myself.


    You will heal her.


    I slowly made my way to the control room, but before I left, I took onest look at the closed door. I hadn''t thought that leaving Celine alone would hurt me this much. Thest two weeks of spending time with her had affected me more than I thought.


    Still, I clenched my fist and headed for the exit.


    To heal her, I needed to get stronger.


    That''s why I didn''t hesitate as I left the room and went to get ready for the dungeon.


    *******


    When I arrived at the east gate, I rechecked what I had prepared. The bag with the dimensional buttons where I would store the potions and the items in the dungeon was here and it was full. I also had a change of clothes and a jacket. Water, food, etc. were also here.


    Everything was ready except for what Alexander and I would buyter.


    I sighed and looked at the clock, it was still half an hour before our appointed time.


    I''m a bit early... I might as well wait.


    I looked up, focused on my surroundings, and started to watch the students. The east gate was not very active, there were quite a few people because the academy was still on a break, but it was notpletely empty.


    I looked around at a few of these students and wondered if I''d run into anyone I''d seen in the game before. This was one of the main things I did when I was really bored. Every once in a while I would run into an extra character I had seen in the game inside the academy and try to remember who they were.


    Sometimes it was really fun.


    Like... Oh?


    As I was observing the people around me, I saw someone approaching me, and when I looked to see who it was, my eyes went back to my watch. Because it was Alexander, and it was still twenty-seven minutes to the appointed time.


    "We''re both early, huh?"


    After I said those words, a suggestive expression appeared on Alexander''s face.


    "I''m always early."


    He wasn''t. Alexander was punctual, it was not his habit to go anywhere early.


    I put a smile on my face.


    "Anyway, if we''re both here, there''s no need to wait. You''re all set, right?"


    "I wouldn''t havee here if it wasn''t ready."


    "Okay, then let''s step outside first."


    I pointed to the gate guard and he nodded. At least he was being obedient.


    So we approached the guard, identified our reason for leaving the academy as to meet our family, and after only a few minutes we were outside the academy.


    "Where is the dungeon?"


    There was a hint of curiosity in his expression.


    "Let''s finish our preparations first, we don''t even have armor. Even if we''re going to avoid fighting creatures, we can''t enter a dungeon without armor or potions."


    "I already know that, I''m not stupid. You haven''t given me a single piece of information about the dungeon until now. I only know that there is somethingplicated at the end, that''s all. What is its atmosphere, what is its type, what kind of creatures are inside... You expect me to follow you without any information."


    Hmm... he''s actually right.


    "It''s a cold ce with a cold atmosphere, it''s an E-D grade Recta, the creatures inside are a bit varied but I''d say they''re the kind you''d see at the poles. Any other questions?"


    "Recta..."


    Alexander was both depressed and relieved to hear this.


    The dungeons within Lunerra were divided into four categories. They were Recta, Aen, Alius, and Salvos, respectively.


    Recta was a type of dungeon where you progressed by killing creatures, and eventually, youpleted the dungeon by taking down a boss.


    Aen was a dungeon with very few, if any, creatures, maybe none at all if you cleaned properly, and focused more on traps and puzzles than anything else.


    Alius was the mostplex of the dungeons. These dungeons could be very different from each other, but they all had one thing inmon, they would take the person who entered them into a special world and put them on a quest chain. The person was free to leave at any time while fulfilling this chain of quests, and the vastness of the worlds within these dungeons could sometimes even affect the economy of the whole of Lunerra thanks to what they contained.


    Salvos was the most frightening, the most dangerous of them all. The number of people who could enter a Salvos-type dungeon was limited and the entrance would close about three minutes after someone entered. The people inside could not get out until they had killed ''all'' of the creatures inside the dungeon, and the creatures were usually drawn toward the people who entered. In other words, one had to stay alert inside, ready to engage in a bloody battle at any moment.


    There were sometimes dungeons where these things were intertwined, but they were very rare.


    Alexander was relieved because it was not a Salvos-type dungeon, and a little bit pessimistic because he was facing a Recta-type dungeon rather than an Aen. If we were going into an Aen, it wouldn''t be too difficult. It would have been more suitable for a group like us.


    "I am F grade, and you are E grade as far as I know. For an expedition to enter an E-D grade Recta for the first time, at least nine E grades are required... Why are you so confident?"


    "I''m not so much confident as I''mfortable that we won''t fight the creatures too much, and if you had doubts, why did you ept my offer in the first ce?"


    Alexander frowned, ignoring myst question.


    "We won''t fight?"


    I let out a deep sigh.


    "I wouldn''t say we''re not going to fight at all, we''re just going to avoid them and make our way to the end of the dungeon as stealthily as possible. I told you it''s a cold, snowy ce, why do you think I told you to wear white even though it''s not really suitable for the cold? Even if the atmosphere is freezing, we''ll take care of the heat problem. So don''t worry."


    Alexander paused for a moment, his face still showing a look of dissatisfaction.


    "It would be one thing if the dungeon was discovered, but you said it was unexplored, so we don''t have a map. How far are we going to sneak when we don''t even know where to go?"


    "What makes you think we don''t have a map?"


    Alexander looked at me puzzled. I smiled and pointed my finger at my head.


    "The map is right here."


    His expression became even uglier than before and I let out augh.


    Alexander''s face turned sourer and sourer, looking like he was starting to regreting here.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll answer if you have more questions, but let''s get going."


    *******


    After the east gate, we took the maic train to one of the most well-known cities in the kingdom, Efenyl City.


    Efenyl City was almost entirely centered on hunting. It was the main center of many guilds, but it was also overflowing with quality and well-known stores. If someone was looking for things like armor, weapons, and potions to enter a dungeon, Efenyl City was the best ce to go.


    When we arrived in the city with the help of the maic train and got off the train and stepped into the city, I was not very impressed, but I knew that this was not the ce to be impressed. The ce that really knocked my socks off was the streets of hunting stores that Alexander and I reached when we entered the city center.


    It was really exciting to see stores selling potions in a modern world, skyscrapers belonging to guilds, and all sorts of fantastic things. Even though I knew the city almost by heart because it''s an open world in the game, seeing it with my own eyes in a realistic way, not animated, and experiencing the atmosphere... was even more amazing.

 Chapter 121 Volume III - 42: Dungeon Preparations

    <h4>Chapter 121 Volume III - Chapter 42: Dungeon Preparations</h4>


    My eyes widened when I saw a group of people moving among the people of Efenyl. Because this group consisted entirely of dwarves.


    Humans were not the only race on Lunerra. Eighty years ago, after the event that caused the spread of mana and dungeons across the world, different races began to step into Lunerra from dungeons. They came to Lunerra from others of their own, and they came here because things were not so good on their home.


    Having lost their homes, these races built their civilizations on the lostnds of humans, whose influence was shrinking in a world under intense attack by creatures. Of course, once humans began to use mana, these races could not spread as far.


    Of the ten countries in Lunerra, four belonged to humans, one to elves, two to dwarves, two to hannyas, and the remaining one to the faes. Humans normally did not get on very well with other races. They were not enemies, but they were not friends either.


    However, with the slow development and strengthening of human technology, they slowly began to blend in with the other races. Currently, there is no clear distinction between the races, but rather diplomatic rtions between countries, but there are exceptions.


    For example, elves, who are very intertwined with mana and have pretty good control and power over it, usually see themselves as superior to other races.


    Dwarves are generally looked down upon. They are actually quite affectionate when they get used to someone and get close, but the process until they reach this stage can be a bit troublesome due to prejudices.


    In addition, hannyas are feared. They have horns, they can feel the emotions of other beings, and they are a race that resembles the demons in appearance, although they have nothing to do with the demons. The fact that they can feel emotions and feed on them makes other races a little bit afraid of them, but I wouldn''t say that they are very malevolent.


    Faes... They are the most powerful of all the races in terms of fighting power. They live close to nature and despite their fairy-like appearance, they have no wings. In addition, they are neither friends nor enemies with any race. They keep to themselves and don''t engage in any political activities other than trade.


    I''ve seen them many times in the game, I know everything about them, but now to see one of these races, the dwarves, in the flesh like this... I was literally drooling.


    "Where are we going?"


    Alexander''s question brought me back to myself, I remembered where I was and swallowed.


    Right... I have no time to get carried away.


    I took my eyes off the dwarves with difficulty and turned to Alexander.


    "Let''s look for armor and weapons first. We need better equipment and we don''t have any armor."


    Alexander nodded at me, but he seemed skeptical.


    "Which store do we go to? Do you know a good one?"


    I looked with my eyes for thest time at the dwarves who were getting farther and farther away from us, I couldn''t see them properly anymore.


    I sighed deeply, a little disappointed.


    "Yes, I know, just follow me."


    Regretting that I couldn''t observe the dwarves more, I dragged Alexander along the street, and a few minutester I stopped in front of a store with the sign Hall Armor.


    "We will buy armor here first."


    Without waiting for Alexander to answer, I went inside. The smell of leather and metal was heavy, just as the game described. It was just like a clothing store, but of course, it was a bit different from a normal clothing store.


    "Wee! What are you looking for?"


    I smiled when I noticed the woman in her early twenties standing in front of me as I looked around. The employee was the same person as in the game.


    "We''re looking for two sets of high-quality light armor in white, suitable for cold climates, concealment in the snow, and an E-D grade dungeon."


    "Sure! What was your budget?"


    I looked at Alexander out of the corner of my eye. He spread out two fingers of his right hand and held them up a little, emphasizing the number ''two''.


    An average light armor of E grade, not excessive quality would be around 1,500-1,700 wels.


    I smiled and turned away.


    "10,000 wels per armor, but it can go a bit higher if the quality increase is worth the money."


    "Got it, please follow me!"


    The woman turned around and started walking towards the other end of the store and I followed her, but just then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Alexander looking at me with eyes that were practically glowing with anger, and then he started to whisper angrily at me.


    "What the fuck are you doing! Can''t you fucking count? The most I''ll pay for an armor is 2,000 wels!"


    "Who said you would pay?"


    Alexander''s face showed a look of surprise and he paused. His face was ugly again.


    "Are you rich?"


    When I saw his face, I could hardly stop myself fromughing.


    I mean... considering I have over ten million wels in my bank ount, I am rich, very rich.


    "Well, sort of. You don''t have to worry. I''ll pay for it, I just wanted to know what your answer would be."


    Alexander was silent for a moment, then a skeptical look returned to his eyes.


    "Are you trying to make me owe you money? If so, I don''t care, I''m not the ''I always pay my debts'' type."


    "I don''t remember saying I wanted anything in return."


    I sighed lightly.


    "If you die in the dungeon, it would be a problem for me. And as you just said, I''m rich. All the expenses I''m going to incur today won''t burden me too much, and we''ll evene out of the dungeon with a surplus."


    Alexander opened his mouth, he was about to say something, but the woman we were following stopped and turned to us. There was a screen to the right of where she was standing, and above the screen was a camouge light armor that had changed from brown to white after a small modification she had made.


    The armor consisted of a torso, arms, and legs. The raw material was not the skin of an original creature, but an artificial material. It was of the kind of quality and sophistication that the modern world permitted. Moreover, the armor had a special design to keep the heat in. With a few small runes embedded in it, the heat problem was eliminated. Moreover, the armor was not too heavy, the whole armor weighed about six and a half kilograms.


    "Who is the creator of the armor?"


    "The armor is our store''s own product."


    "Oh? And what is the rating it is ced in?"


    "It is an armor that can be worn up to D grade without much trouble. For the heat problem, you can use the rune list that you can add many more features to."


    "How much is the t price of the two armors without any runes?"


    "About 21,560 wels."


    "Can we look at the list of runes we can choose from?"


    "Sure."


    The woman clicked on a few things on the screen and then a rather long list appeared in front of us. There were many things on the list, but some in particr were highlighted in blue, these were the most popr runes that the store rmended.


    When I sorted the list by these colors, I was intrigued by a few of the features that appeared at the top of the list.


    "How much do the two armors cost with the runes for the color change, weight reduction, and temperature control?"


    The woman tapped a few buttons on the screen and then a number appeared in front of us.


    <<------------------------------


    28.600W


    ------------------------------>>


    When I saw the number, a smile appeared on my face. It was a strange feeling to pay only 30,000 wels for two pieces of armor after having spent millions so far. Although 30,000 wels is not a small amount of money.


    "We''ll buy them."


    The smile on her face widened when she heard what I said.


    "Sure."


    That''s how we got our armor after a while, but Alexander looked at me the whole time and it looked like he wasn''t going to pay me a penny for it. Well, I didn''t have a problem with that.


    After buying the armor I went into a weapon store and bought myself a sword that would take me to D grade without any problems, just like the armor we bought. The main problem we faced when buying weapons was Alexander''s weapons.


    Alexander didn''t have one weapon, he had many weapons. Because he used poison as his main weapon, he had a lot of little bits and pieces of equipment. Needles, a little crossbow on his wrist, a dagger, several different poisons... The list went on and on. But I paid for everything out of my own pocket, so we didn''t have too many problems.


    Thest ce we stopped to prepare was a potion store. I bought healing, cold resistance, stamina, mana potions, and a few others that I thought would be useful.


    After a while, all the preparations wereplete.


    "You remember what I told you, right?"


    "Yes. You won''t give me a penny, and you don''t owe me one either. That''s fine, but I''d at least be happy with a thank you."


    A look of disgust appeared on Alexander''s face. As soon as the idea of giving someone a serious thank you crossed his mind, his temper red. If it was the first time we had me, if I didn''t already know him like this, he would probably give me a fake thank you, but it wasn''t the first time.


    "Anyway, it''s not a big deal. We''re going to the dungeon now, you''re ready, right?"


    Seeing that I was getting serious, Alexander removed the disgusted expression from his face.


    "Yes."


    "Have you ever been to a dungeon before?"


    "No, I haven''t, but I''ve seen a lot of documentaries."


    "Documentaries try to make everything as real as possible, but what you experience in reality may not be the same as what you see in them. We are not going to an Aen, we are going to a Recta. There will be wild creatures there, and even though we try to avoid them, we will have to fight some of them. And we might have to deal with some unpleasant situations. Are you ready for all that?"


    Alexander hesitated for a moment, thought for a very short time, and then looked at me resolutely.


    "If that''s what I have to do to heal my mother, then yes."


    I smiled, tapped him on the shoulder with my hand, and started walking toward the maic train.


    "Then let''s go."


    With that, Alexander started to follow behind me.


    As we kept walking, I put my hand on my chest and listened to my heartbeat.


    It was elerating, I was excited to enter a ''real'' dungeon for the first time. Even though the reasons for entering this dungeon were quite serious on my part, as a man who was officially in love with this world, it made me feel like my heart was going to burst with excitement.


    If I am like this already, how will I be when I enter the dungeon?


    I thought of the question I had just asked Alexander.


    I asked him if he was ready, but am I ready?


    My heartbeat got even faster. It felt like it was going to burst and a smile appeared on my face.


    And I''m asking...

 Chapter 122 Volume III - 43: A World Painted White

    <h4>Chapter 122 Volume III - Chapter 43: A World Painted White</h4>


    "You said we''d be there in five minutes."


    I paused and looked around, trying to find the ce in my memory, while Alexander was whining at me.


    "So?"


    "It''s been thirteen minutes since you said that."


    I clicked my tongue and continued to look around.


    "The dungeon is in a cave, and I remember the area around the cave, it should be somewhere near here, but I couldn''t find it."


    "So we got lost?"


    "No, of cou- Aha!"


    I smiled as a group of trees and rocks caught my eye.


    "I found it!"


    I walked through the trees and rocks, put my back against a rock, and then started walking fast. About six minutester Alexander frowned again, he was about to say something but I ran and started to walk around the side of a hill we hade to.


    Seeing me speeding up, Alexander picked up his pace and we ran to the other side of the hill. Then we slowly reached a section of rocks.


    "There! This is the cave."


    When we came to the front of the rocks, we came across a cave that led into the hill.


    The cave seemed to go deeper. The cave itself, its surroundings, its uncanny appearance, its darkness that seemed to go on forever... It was exactly as I remembered it from the game.


    I lowered the backpack on my back, took out a shlight, and turned to Alexander.


    "I ask you again, are you ready?"


    Alexander nodded at me without saying anything with a determined look in his eyes. I took antern out of his own bag and returned to the cave with a smile on my face. We had already equipped our armor and weapons when we first entered the area, all we had to do was move forward.


    "Here we go, then."


    I slowly took a step into the cave, Alexander followed behind me, and by the light of our shlights, we made our way deeper into the cave.


    One thing I realized as we went deeper into the cave was how... in it was.


    There was almost no moss in it, no trace of life. I hadn''t noticed this much in the game, but now, looking at it through the sses of reality, it feltpletely unnatural. It was just rocks and us, nothing but the sound of our footsteps, breathing, and the straight rocks stretching out as we walked.


    "We''ve been walking for almost five minutes."


    I frowned at Alexander''sment behind my back. In the game, it didn''t take this long to enter the dungeon. And nothing had changed in the cave so far.


    "Let''s walk a litt-"


    <<------------------------------ You are about to enter an unexplored dungeon!


    Dungeon Type: Recta Dungeon Grade: E-D


    Attention! You are below the qualification for the dungeon! ------------------------------>>


    "Did ite to you?"


    Alexander''s voice echoed through the cave after my question.


    "Yes."


    I shone the shlight toward the end of the cave, but all I could see was darkness stretching into infinity. There was a limit to the light of the shlight.


    "Let''s keep walking."


    We kept walking like that, and after a while every step I took started to make me nervous. I found it strange that the moment we passed quickly in the game was so slow and intense in reality. Moreover, the unnatural appearance of the cave added to this tension.


    When I didn''t hear Alexander''s voice for a long time, I turned around, and when I saw him behind me, I breathed a sigh of relief and refocused on what was in front of me, and at that very moment, a beam of light suddenly entered the darkness of the cave.


    The light wasing from the endless darkness of the cave.


    I quickened my pace and walked toward the light. The cave became brighter and brighter, the air, colder than even in the northern hemisphere of Lunerra, where it was winter, began to hit my face, and then I stepped outside.


    <<------------------------------


    You have entered an E-D grade Recta-type dungeon!


    Congrattions, you have discovered a dungeon! You are the first person to enter this dungeon! The reward for sessfully clearing the dungeon has increased!


    ------------------------------>>


    It was snowing, I could even say there was a light blizzard, but it didn''t matter.


    In front of me was a world that was almost gigantic. Trees hiding under the snow, a huge in, a valley that stretched on and on, and ruins...


    It was as if I had stepped into a world that hade to an end because of the ice age. In the game I wasn''t so impressed by this image, I wasn''t so focused on it because it was a game world, but what I was seeing with my eyes now really mesmerized me.


    I didn''t think it would be so... beautiful.


    <<------------------------------


    It has been discovered that you entered the dungeon in a group! Do you agree to form a party?


    ------------------------------>>


    I answered ''yes'' to the notification that appeared in front of me, but I couldn''t focus on it. I couldn''t take my eyes off the view in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    You have formed a party with Alexander Callidas! After clearing the dungeon, the rewards you receive will be distributed ording to your share.


    Since your party is smaller than the rmended team for the dungeon, the rewards you receive from the dungeon will increase!


    ------------------------------>>


    "It''s colder than I thought."


    Alexander came over to me and tightened the armor a little bit, and then he activated the heat runes by lightly transferring mana to it. The moment I saw him do this, I noticed the cold too.


    I activated the heat runes as he did, and then I felt aforting warmth spreading through my body. It was a nice feeling, even if I couldn''t really feel the cold because I was a wiera.


    "Ah..."


    I became too loose... I am in a dungeon right now.


    I was so mesmerized that even the Absolute Mind worked spontaneously to clear my mind, I was too distracted.


    "We will start moving forward now. We will take turns keeping watch at night and move as stealthily as possible. If you see a creature, tell me immediately and stay alert at all times. If wee across a group we will flee, if wee across some lone creatures we can fight them if we can, but our goal is to get out of here as fast as possible. So we won''t rest much. The conditions may be a bit harsh for you, but I don''t think you''llin anyway."


    Alexander didn''t say a word, the determination in his eyes said everything he wanted to say.


    I smiled and took a deep breath, looking at the vast, cold world in front of me.


    "The real thing begins now..."


    *******


    We had been in the dungeon for quite some time. We were moving through the trees as much as possible, approaching every corner with caution. Thanks to the color-changing properties of the armor and the camouge design, I was pretty sure we wouldn''t have much of a problem with stealth, but there was another problem.


    My watch told me that we had been walking for about two hours. And the problem was that we hadn''te across a single creature during that time.


    That was strange. It was so strange that I couldn''t help wondering if I was taking the wrong route.


    No... I know this dungeon by heart, there can''t be a problem with my memory. It just feels strange to me because there is a difference between reality and the game.


    I focused on my surroundings and tried to figure out where I was.


    For example, there will be a frozenke somewhere ahead, we should be close to it.


    Just as I thought, after a three-minute walk we came across a veryrgeke.


    It waspletely frozen over, and if it hadn''t been snowing and the trees weren''t swaying slightly because of the wind, I would have thought that time had frozen just by looking at thiske.


    It was too calm, too quiet.


    "Hey, it''s on the right."


    The moment I heard Alexander''s low voice, I looked to the right.


    I felt my heartbeat quicken, my blood began to boil. It was the first time I had ever seen a creature in this world outside the preliminaries, but there was not the slightest shred of fear in my mind.


    I was calm, thanks to the Absolute Mind. I couldn''t easily feel a negative emotion like fear.


    The creature resembled a troll. It had white fur, was almost two meters tall, and had long arms. Its face was ugly, its ears wide. Its pupils didn''t glow red in the way I was familiar with from video games, but they felt their own weight as a creature''s eyes.


    This creature was an E grade ice troll.


    It had an enviable healing speed as a troll. It was quite strong but was also a slow creature. So someone with enough speed and heavy attacks would have little trouble dealing with it.


    "It''s not aware of us, we''ll keep moving through the trees. We need to go around theke."


    Alexander nodded, keeping his eyes on the troll. He looked pensive, his usual ego had lost a little of its power. He was a little more timid, nervous, and excited. After all, it was perhaps the first time in his life that he had seen a creature with his own eyes.

 Chapter 123 Volume III - 44: First Battle with Creatures

    <h4>Chapter 123 Volume III - Chapter 44: First Battle with Creatures</h4>


    I kept my eyes on the ice troll like Alexander and slowly turned in the opposite direction, to the left, making sure not to make a sound. Alexander followed behind me.


    We saw a few more trolls along the way, but they didn''t cause much trouble because they were usually alone and not too close to us.


    Of course, we couldn''t go on like this forever, we would have to be one of the luckiest people of the century for such a thing to happen. And, unfortunately, we weren''t.


    As we continued to move forward in silence, an unnatural rustling sound suddenly caught my attention and my eyes widened. I quickly threw myself backward, unbncing Alexander and throwing us both to the ground.


    Out of the corner of my eye I could just make out a small silhouette, even smaller than us, hurtling toward where I had just been.


    Because I had been thrown back, the silhouette had missed its attack and had fallen to the ground just like us, giving us a chance to examine it.


    The creature was really small. It was maybe a meter and twenty centimeters tall at most. Its legs were short, its arms were very thin and too long. It looked emaciated, it had an oblique scar on its face that had obviously been there before, and it had four fingers with sharp ws on both hands, which had a veryrge surface area. Moreover, he was quite ugly. His nose was disproportionatelyrge, his ears pointed and long, resembling an elf. Its eye color was a reddish brown, but it gave off a feeling that it belonged to a creature.


    The creature resembled a much more frightening, evolved version of a goblin. If I remember correctly, its name in the game was apin, and it was a kind of creature that lived only in cold climates.


    Moreover, apins did not travel alone, they usually hunted in groups of three.


    "Get up quickly! There may be more, but there are at least three of them. They are nothing extra except they are fast, and as long as you don''t lose focus and can dodge their attacks, they won''t be a problem!"


    I quickly stood up, unsheathed the sword hanging at my waist, and gripped it with both hands. Alexander took up his guard, a dagger in his right hand and a couple of needles with poison on the end in his left.


    He tried not to show it, but he was afraid. His eyes had lost their usual hardness and were filled with worry.


    I clicked my tongue and focused ahead.


    This was his first real battle, and he didn''t have a skill like mine to clear his mind and erase negative emotions. So it was inevitable that this would happen. He would have gotten used to such battles after a few times, he was a quick adaptor, but it seemed that I would have to nudge him a bit at the beginning.


    "Give me your back."


    We leaned our backs against each other and that''s when I noticed he was shaking. I gritted my teeth and looked at the creature that had stood up at the same time as us.


    It was staring at us, drool dripping from its mouth. It looked like it had seen food for the first time in a long time.


    I gripped my sword even tighter, poured mana into my body to strengthen myself a little, and waited for the apin to attack. If I rushed forward with Alexander trembling behind me, I would leave him alone, and that was something I didn''t want.


    Fortunately, the apin was so blindsided that it rushed at me. It had almost tremendous speed, nimble like a stray cat running away from a dog chasing it.


    Of course, this was from the point of view of normal people. I wasn''t taken by surprise as before, so all my focus was on the creature and there wasn''t much of a difference in terms of speed between us.


    The moment the creature lunged at me, I raised my tightly gripped sword and took guard. I defended myself against the creature''s fierce ws and swung my sword swiftly, apanied by the strange sound of metal meeting the apin''s ws.


    Apin was a fast creature, perhaps even a match for me if I faced someone a little stronger, but that was all it relied on. With hisck of muscle mass and his small size, he was weak, so I was able to thrust my sword, which had collided with him in a defensive position before he could fight back.


    My sword sliced through the apin''s ws andnded in its torso.


    The sensation of the flesh splitting spread throughout my body, some of the blood from my sword sttered on me from therge wound I had made, and the apin was thrown back with a cry of pain.


    Just then I felt Alexander, who was leaning on my back, move, I quickly turned around and saw two apins rushing at him. They were attacking him at the same time.


    "Throw a needle at the one on the left, I have the one on the right!"


    With my shout, Alexander threw one of the needles from his other hand at the apin on the left, just as I had told him. But, unfortunately, he missed it. Then he clicked his tongue and squinted his eyes, stepping aside to face the apin that had been lunged at him.


    The apin''s sharp ws scratched the shoulder of Alexander''s armor but did not reach underneath. So Alexander reversed the dagger in his hand and plunged it into the apin''s back.


    Meanwhile, I was dealing with my own opponent.


    The creature in front of me, unlike the others, had not attacked me directly when I had guarded against it. Instead, it stopped suddenly, grabbed snow from the ground with its wide ws, and threw it right in my face.


    What it did was so unexpected for me that I could not react properly. The snowball hit me directly in the face, suddenly blocking all my vision, and the apin took advantage of this to pounce on me.


    I barely managed to raise my sword and somehow defend myself from the apin''s attack, but this time I felt a throbbing in my hands. My wrist was at a bad angle, so it was unintentionally strained while defending myself.


    Irritated, I wiped the snow from my eyes with my hand, took the sword in my right hand, opened two fingers of my left hand, and drew two lines toward the apin.


    From the lines I drew, two sharp waves of wind shot toward the apin and I ran after them.


    The apin nimbly dodged the waves I sent at it and prepared to pounce on me again. By this time, however, his focus had shifted and he was unable to react to meing right after the waves.


    I cut a huge gash in his chest with my sword, and apin copsed as the vigor in his eyes quickly faded as his blood trickled down through the snow and watered the ground.


    I quickly regained my guard. I looked around to see if there was anyone else, but I couldn''t see any other apin attacking us. They were a group of three, just like in the game.


    I took a deep breath, let myself rx a little, and looked at Alexander.


    He was turned toward a tree, holding his stomach. The apin he had stabbed with his dagger had a wound that went from his back down to his waist, and it was so deep that I could almost see the creature''s organs. Alexander was doing his best not to vomit, and in fact... he was doing a good job.


    I walked up to him and put my hand on his back, trying tofort him by patting him lightly, but as soon as I did so he turned to me with eyes that were literally on fire.


    "I''m just a little nauseous! I''ll get used to it soon."


    "Okaay."


    I didn''t say anything, even though I was a little annoyed that he was being harsh with me.


    He was a man with an ego and the reason he was here was to cure his mother''s illness, which was his greatest wish in life. So he refused to see such weakness in himself, he was almost disgusted with himself.


    "This is the first time you have faced a creature. Most people would normally vomit instantly, or even not think straight out of fear. But you didn''t vomit and you kept your fear to yourself, reminding yourself that you were here for a purpose. You''re really good on average, Alexander, I''m not going to say anything to you."


    Alexander stared at me. His eyes, which had almost burst into mes a moment ago, were now slightly back to normal.


    "Haaaa..."


    He took a deep breath and stood up. He turned his eyes to the apin he had killed and a look of disgust crossed his face.


    "Okay."


    I smiled and, without sheathing my sword, turned around and walked through the bushes.


    "Come on, we have to be quick before the smell of blood attracts other creatures. We have a long way to go."


    Alexander took onest look at the corpse of the apins before following me. He swallowed almost imperceptibly and then followed me without saying anything. He seemed a little more determined now than before.


    Of course, this was a very important thing for us. After all, even if this was our first battle, it wouldn''t be ourst. I was pretty sure of that, even if I would rather not fight another creature.

 Chapter 124 Volume III - 45: First Hunt

    <h4>Chapter 124 Volume III - Chapter 45: First Hunt</h4>


    Night had fallen and the air had grown colder as we continued to make our way through the dungeon.


    It had been a few hours since our first encounter with the apins. We encountered a few more as we walked around theke, but they hadn''t given us much trouble.


    And now, we were inside a cave we had found. It took us a while to close the entrance, but somehow we managed to do that with some trees and rocks. We had just finished eating and now... we needed to get some rest.


    "I''ll take the first watch, you go to sleep."


    Alexander took a deep breath and got into the sleeping bag he had taken out of his backpack. He didn''t protest me one bit, he didn''t make a fuss, even though he normally has an ego. He just sighed a little as he got into the sleeping bag and made an expression of relief.


    "Don''t forget to take the pill."


    He stood up from the sleeping bag after taking a deep breath again. Then he took out a pill from his bag, which we had bought from the potion store before we came here, and swallowed it.


    This pill increased the efficiency of sleep. It could give a person the vigor as if they had slept for six to seven hours, even though they had only slept for two to three hours. It was a bit expensive and caused problems with repeated use, which made those who wanted to take it think twice, but for those who entered the dungeon, it was a blessing in every sense of the word.


    Of course, I had to pay for that too.


    After swallowing the pill, Alexander crawled back into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, his breathing slowed and his face became more rxed, as if he was asleep.


    I sighed and went to my watch, which of course had no inte connection as we were cut off from the world, but it still performed certain functions.


    I set an rm on my watch that would vibrate and alert me in an hour and a half, and then, reassured that Alexander was asleep, I walked back to the entrance to the cave that we had blocked off and stepped outside.


    When the cold air hit my face, I breathed deeply and after making sure that the entrance to the cave was well secured, I took a potion out of my bag and scattered it at the entrance. This potion was to make sure that the creatures would not be able to smell the smells of food, people, etc.ing from inside and would not find this ce.


    "Alright... Let''s go for a walk then."


    ''I still say what you''re about to do isn''t logical.''


    ''I need to get stronger, Sith, and to get stronger I need experience. And there are a few things I need to do if I want to clear this dungeon the way I nned.''


    ''Suit yourself... I know arguing with you will lead nowhere, so I give up.''


    I smiled, unsheathed my sword, and turned toward theke behind us.


    "It would be sweet if you tried a little harder. But don''t worry, I''ll walk around for an hour or so and then be back."


    With that, I started walking toward the frozenke. I didn''t need to check behind me because the Sith was watching my back, so I could focus on what was in front of me. After a few minutes, I reached the frozenke.


    There was no one around. Either they were hiding well or I was alone, but with Sith watching my back I was sure I could escape as long as I had mana.


    I came out of my hiding ce, closer to the frozenke, and as I walked slowly, I turned my gaze to the sky, a sky not unlike the one on Lunerra and my old world. I couldn''t help feeling like I was in the middle of the poles. The only thing missing was the northern lights, but the view was breathtaking even without them.


    ''Aiden.''


    I lowered my eyes from the sky and looked in front of me, not too far away from me, a very small red area caught my attention. When I got a little closer and focused my eyes on it, what I saw was a troll standing with its back to me in the midst of eaten pig-like creatures, torn apart in various ways.


    The troll hadn''t had enough of the pigs around it and was busy disemboweling a new one with its ws.


    A slight smile appeared on my face.


    ''No, Aiden. Trolls are troublesome creatures.''


    "And they''re pretty good fighters."


    ''That''s what I''m talking about! It''s fine if you can find a few apins or creatures of that level, but trolls are a challenge!''


    "Look, you say it yourself. They''ll ''challenge'' me, but they won''t crush me."


    Sith snorted angrily. He was about to say something to me, but I ignored him and kept walking toward the troll.


    ''Damn it... you''re crazy, Aiden!''


    "Thanks for reminding me."


    Sith was suddenly speechless. Meanwhile, the troll had stopped tearing the pig apart.


    ''I- I didn''t mean it like that...''


    "I know, but I think it''s better if we focus on what''s in front of us instead of talking about it. Because our big friend noticed us."


    Since I hadn''t tried to sneak up on him, the troll had heard my footsteps and turned to me. His face and hands were covered in blood as he was busy tearing apart and eating the creature he had killed. His already ugly face was even uglier because of this. Moreover, it started growling at me in a disturbing way.


    "Calm down big guy, it''s just the two of us here."


    I gripped my sword with both hands, making my breathing steady.


    "Ah... right, there are three of us."


    Sith said nothing, and I began to spin my mana inside me.


    This was the first phase of Ambiguous Flow, and it offered a more efficient way of using mana than just using it straight. Of course, since this part was missing from the style''s manual, people who studied it learned it incorrectly, and even if they could apply the method, they wasted their mana like water.


    As for me, I know this style like the back of my hand.


    My mana began to tremble slowly as it spun faster and faster inside my body. As soon as this happened, I carefully, slowly spread it over my body. As the flickering mana spread over my body, it felt a little ufortable, almost painful, because I still hadn''t mastered it.


    The return wasn''t bad though, I could feel my body filling with power.


    All the while, the troll stopped growling and roared, and then it started running toward me. Like a gori, it was using its hands, not very agile, but certainly not slow.


    I took my stance, gripped my sword tighter, and kept my eyes fixed on it. I saw my exhaled breath vaporize in the air, time seemed to slow down. I was calm, and focused, even though a dangerous creature was running at me.


    As time slowed down, the troll came up to me and swung its huge arm at me. The flow of time suddenly returned to its normal speed.


    I took two steps back from the onught like a sledgehammer, nted my foot hard on the ground, and prepared to swing my sword, but then I realized that the troll had already swung its other arm at me.


    I clicked my tongue and ducked, I felt the troll''s sharp ws touch my hair and a chill ran through my body. The troll kept attacking me like this, like a madman, but I avoided its every move.


    It wasn''t actually too difficult. It was quite easy to focus on its attacks, especially with the help of the Absolute Mind. Nevertheless, his attacks were so random that I had difficulty reading some of them and avoided them by the skin of my teeth. There was no room for mistakes, and my inexperience was clearly showing itself.


    When the troll realized that it was useless to attack like this, it stopped attacking one after the other. He sped his hands together like a sledgehammer, raised them, and brought them down on me swiftly.


    I threw my body to the side and managed to dodge the attack, but it was so strong that the ground shook, the lightyer of snow scattered and some of it got into my eyes, causing me to lose my bnce.


    For a moment I felt like I was going to fall, but I managed to pull myself together by grasping a tuft of fur on the troll''s arm. Not only that, I took the opportunity to climb onto the troll''s arm, which was still recovering from its attack.


    The troll roared with rage, swinging its body to knock me off it, trying to grab me with its hands, but I quickly rose up onto its shoulders and put my sword to its throat, forcibly directing the mana swirling in my body at it.


    The image of my sword blurred for a moment, trembling slightly as if its very existence was being disrupted. This was the first and most basic step in the use of Ambiguous Flow with the sword, forcibly holding the brutalized mana in the sword.


    There is actually a technique in the world that is directly based on this. But this style builds directly on it and is quite effective.


    My sword, normally unsure whether it could inflict heavy damage on the troll, sliced the troll''s throat when enhanced with the technique of Ambiguous Flow, even with difficulty. Blood gushed out of the troll''s throat like a waterfall.


    The troll''s movements seemed to slow down for a moment, weakened, but it did not give up. It should have died instantly, but not only had I failed to open the wound properly, but also the troll''s regenerative ability was working as it should, healing the wound almost visibly.


    This was the most troubling thing about trolls. Even though they were low-ranked creaturespared to the general, they had superhuman healing speed.


    The troll tried to roar, but with its throat cut, it could not. Instead, he felt the pain more intensely and his whole body trembled. This made him even angrier and he quickly waved his hand at me as if he was trying to swat a fly.


    I had to jump off the troll inevitably, and Inded on the ground.


    The troll looked at me with intense anger as its throat healed by the second. As if it didn''t care what it was doing, the moment our eyes met, it charged toward me. It attacked me in a frenzy, even crazier than before.


    His movements were faster now, with more power in them, but they were also more understandable than before. This was the most dangerous thing about raging during a battle, but it was also the thing that would win me this fight.


    "Let''s make this quick before we attract more creatures, shall we?"


    I dodged another attack and threw myself back about two to three meters. I took a deep breath and then raised my sword.


    "Sith, help me please."


    I didn''t get an answer from Sith, but I felt the flow of mana inside me change and warm up, and the troll lunged at me again.


    A smile appeared on my face, my sword was covered in a teal glow and I drew it down.


    The teal glow on the sword separated from the sword as I swung it and shot out at the troll in a sharp gust of wind. It was so fast that the troll could not even react properly. The wind wave made a ratherrge gash in its chest.


    Of course, the troll soon began to heal it, but its movements slowed even more. I seized the opportunity to pounce on it and swung my sword swiftly at its throat. The troll''s throat, which had only just healed, opened again.


    I didn''t stop, I spun my sword around with the strength from my previous attack and swung it again at the same spot. The wound was erged by this move, but it still wasn''t enough.


    I swung my sword again, again and again. Finally, the troll''s head separated from its body, and its whole body trembled violently. Its blood oozed from its throat and soaked its whole body, and when it fell to the ground it mixed with the blood of the pigs it had eaten earlier and watered the ground.


    The troll struggled for a short time. Because its superior healing abilities kept it alive, even for a very short time, I could see all the pain in its eyes as it looked at me through its disembodied head.


    It stopped struggling and looked at me onest time. Then the slight glow in his eyes slowly disappeared.


    "Tch... As if we hadn''t fought to the death..."


    I sighed deeply and looked at the time, erasing the image of the troll from my mind as much as possible.


    The battle hadsted almost four minutes... I had to get out of here quickly or I would soon be prey to many creatures.


    I opened one of the dimensional buttons in my bag and poured a mana potion from it over my head. Although it didn''t look like much of a struggle from the outside, I had used up a lot of my mana, especially since myst attack had drained my reserves a bit.


    With my mana quickly replenished by the potion I drank, I left the troll''s corpse lying there and headed into the bushes. It was at this point that I finally noticed a very slight ache spreading throughout my body.


    I guess using a style that I still haven''t mastered, especially a dangerous one like trying to control the mana going wild, had tired my body more than I thought...


    Anyway, it''s not important for now.


    "Look, I told you, didn''t I? I''m not even hurt."


    ''If even one of the attacks you narrowly avoided had hit you with its tip, we''d be discussing very different things, maybe we wouldn''t be discussing them at all.''


    Despite what Sith said, I grinned as I dived into the bushes.


    "You''re so boring, you weren''t like this before. You kept saying we should go on adventures."


    Sith sighed deeply.


    ''That was then.''


    I let out a lowugh and looked around in an excited search as I continued to sneak forward.


    To be honest, it was fun to fight. Because of the Absolute Mind, the brutality doesn''t affect me so I can just look at my progress and have fun. As for the pain in my body... Maybe if I continue this for a long time it might be a problem, but as long as I pay attention I don''t think it will be a problem.


    "The night is not over yet, I want to fight a few more creatures."


    My blood boils for more... I want to fight more.


    So I started to sneak deeper into the forest, but in the meantime, another thought popped into my mind.


    I won''t get addicted... right? It would be a bit... ridiculous and funny to get addicted to something like that for me, I guess.


    *(A/N: This is a bit important for me and you guys, so I will write directly instead of cutting it short.


    I am currently going through one of the most difficult periods of my life both financially and spiritually in many ways. On top of that, the economic situation of the country I live in is also a bit... troubled. So, in short, I need money. Even the little pocket money I get helps me in every way.


    So even though when I first started writing the novel, I told you that I was very attached to it, that I didn''t want to give my rights over story, and that I wouldn''t sign a contract... I thought about it for two days and finally decided to sign it, even though it was difficult for me.


    I apologize for breaking my promise. I don''t know when the contract will be done, but the chapters will be locked when I sign the contract if I can make it. I just wanted to let you know, and I apologize again.)*

 Chapter 125 Volume III - 46: Divisions in Academy

    <h4>Chapter 125 Volume III - Chapter 46: Divisions in Academy</h4>


    ~ting! ~ti- ting! ~ting!


    The sound of metal on metal echoed throughout the room. I deflected an attack and attempted a counterattack by quickly spinning my spear.


    My spear went past the shoulder of the professor I was dueling with, and the moment that happened, my world turned upside down. I felt a pain in my back, my eyes closed reflexively and when I opened them again, what I saw was... the white ceiling.


    "Interesting... You used to have a frightening rate of development, now you have an even more frightening one, Adrian."


    I took a deep breath and sat up, looking at my spear instructor, our history professor. Her green hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her eyes were sharp.


    "Let''s duel again."


    "No, that''s enough for today."


    The professor gestured to the clock across the room.


    "We''ve been training for three hours, and while it''s not a bad thing to push yourself, it''s better not to overdo it."


    I clicked my tongue, but I didn''t protest. It hurt to remember what had happened thest time I had argued with her.


    "How far have you progressed in the Qilsak Style? I couldn''t feel it much because we practiced straight."


    "I''m about to master the second movement, I estimate it will take me a week."


    The professor''s eyebrows rose in surprise.


    "You''re already there? It''s been two and a half months since you started learning the style... You''re really improving at an astonishing rate, you make me jealous."


    "Yet I still find myself on the floor when you''re even remotely serious."


    "The difference in grades between us is quiterge, it''s absurd that you want to beat me, but... I don''t want to say much, considering the speed of your growth."


    The professor smiled, then picked up her spear and walked to the other side of the room.


    "You can go to your room, as I said, that''s all for today."


    After her words, I stood up without saying anything and quickly went to the bathroom.


    I stared at the mirror for a moment, focusing on my own reflection, my hair wet with sweat, my eyes a little sunken fromck of sleep.


    My face soured, and I clicked my tongue slightly.


    It''s not enough... I need more strength, I need to try harder, even if my body can''t take it.


    I paused for a moment, sshed cold water on my face again, grabbed a towel, threw my spear into a dimensional button, and walked toward the exit of the room.


    "Thanks for the training, professor!"


    "See you, Adrian!"


    The professor took onest look at me, turned around, and started rummaging through her bag. I headed outside. I had nothing else to do anyway, I could have stayed at home and practiced mana. Worst case scenario, I could have actually gone to sleep...


    Of course, this was what I had nned. I was on my way home with ideas in my head when something unexpected happened.


    "H- hey..."


    My eyebrows rose at the sudden timid sounding from my left side, and I turned to where the voice wasing from.


    The person calling me was a man about my age. His hair was very short, auburn colored and his eyes were yellow. He was also skinny. He didn''t look very strong and the clothes he was wearing didn''t look very expensive.


    So he wasn''t a noble...


    "Yes?"


    The boy opened his mouth, he was going to say something, but then he stopped. He waited a moment, took a deep breath, and straightened his posture.


    "Hello, I''m Benjamin... I''m a first-year student like you and I have a request, or rather... we have a request."


    He seemed a little timid at first, but now he was more confident. Actually, he was still timid, but at least he had pulled himself together.


    Was I a scary person...?


    "I''m listening."


    The boy smiled slightly at my words, looking relieved. He must have thought I would refuse and kick him out.


    "Can we go somewhere a little quieter?"


    After saying this, the boy started to look around. He seemed very suspicious for a moment, but he didn''t seem to have any ulterior motives toward me.


    I don''t understand what is going on, but this... intrigued me a bit.


    "Sure."


    The boy looked even more rxed than before, and then he turned around and walked toward an area of trees.


    "Follow me, please."


    When he dived into the trees, I walked after him, although I waited a little because I had my doubts.


    He walked like this until he got to a ce where people couldn''t hear us, almost couldn''t see us. Finally, he paused again. Turning to me, he looked around again, made sure no one was around, and then fixed his eyes on me.


    "We, or rather the non-nobles, need your help with something."


    I was even more intrigued that he was not speaking for himself but for an entire group. I nodded and gave him the go-ahead to continue.


    "After thest incident at the academy, those who were previously despised by the nobility began to rise to the top as the number of nobles dwindled. The nobles with money were able to pull their children out and send them to other academies, but themoners couldn''t. So while the student majority used to be noble, that proportion has changed slightly. And now, the non-noble students have formed a group among themselves."


    He spoke so fast that he paused and took a breath. He seemed excited, but he suppressed this excitement and continued.


    "Everything was quite good at first. The group was helping and supporting each other, but then whatever happened, that slowly started to change... This group, whose aim was to support each other by gathering non-noble students, is now terrorizing each other, just like the nobles used to do."


    Oh...? I didn''t know there was such a thing... I had beenpletely absorbed in trainingtely, so I didn''t really care about things like the state of the academy.


    "You''ve probably heard about it for the first time because when this group was first formed, they stayed away from most of the people at the top of the ranks. Even if you''re a non-noble like them, you''re still favored by the academy, so they look at you in the same way as the nobles. Andtely... things have been getting out of control. As I said, the people at the top of the group used to give everyone a helping hand, but now they act in their own interests. They have a n to create a single authoritarian power inside the academy."


    "So what you''re saying is that they''re slowly inviting people at the top of the academy rankings to join them."


    "Exactly! They use force against those who refuse, or simply ignore them if they are too powerful to touch. Their next target is..."


    "Me."


    The boy lowered his eyes and shook his head.


    "You''re not noble, you don''t have a family backing you. So if you don''t ept their offer when theye to you, they probably won''t hesitate to strike. And I... no, we want to help you by informing you before this happens. What started out as a beautiful dream is slowly bing our worst nightmare. No, it has already... Our own friends have turned against us. They despise the nobles who bullied them, and now they are bullying them."


    "How many people think like you?"


    "Not many, there are only about twenty of us because we are afraid that someone will expose us, but I remember how you looked after the incident at the academy. You had a guilty conscience and now everyone is aware of the time you spent in the training room. That''s why we chose to trust you, believing that you''re not like them. We need your help to make sure that our first year at the academy doesn''t turn into a living hell..."


    His breathing quickened for a moment and his eyes darted here and there. He still didn''t make eye contact with me.


    "I- I know it''s a lot toe out of the blue and ask for a lot, and I don''t expect you to answer in the affirmative, and maybe you think what I''m saying is a- absurd, but-"


    "It''s okay."


    The boy suddenly raised his head and looked at me with a puzzled expression. I smiled.


    "It''s okay, I''ll help you."


    I put my hand on his shoulder and widened my smile.


    "I understand what you are going through, and whatever I can do to help, I will do my best."


    The boy continued to look at me nkly. He opened his mouth to say something but then stopped.


    "Thank you..."


    All his facial muscles rxed and he exhaled deeply. He looked like he hade out of hell.


    I withdrew my hand and turned back the way we came without lowering my smile.


    "So, where are we going now, and what are we going to do?"


    "First of all, I''m going to tell you all about what''s going on at the academy, you don''t seem to know much about it..."


    "Sure, that would be nice."


    In this way, the boy began to tell me everything that had happened at the academy after the incident, one by one, in detail.


    And I listened to him with all my focus.


    When I have the opportunity to help someone, I cannot refuse, especially when this person is sincerely asking for my help. I couldn''t save a single person in the incident, at least this way I can help some people.


    Yes, at least this way I will be able to get rid of the phrase ''I couldn''t help anyone''. At least this way... I will take a step to change.

 Chapter 126 Volume III - 47: Blocked Past

    <h4>Chapter 126 Volume III - Chapter 47: Blocked Past</h4>


    ~beep! ~beep! ~beep!


    "H- huh?!"


    I suddenly jumped out of my spot, drew my sword, and then I saw that there was nothing around me.


    I turned my eyes to my arm, and when I saw that the rm I had set on my watch was ringing, I calmed down and let out a deep sigh.


    ''Ahahaha... You jumped pretty cool.''


    I was so focused that I didn''t realize...


    "Shut up, it just got me out of space."


    ''That doesn''t change the fact that it looks funny. Anyway, are we going back?''


    I looked at the clock again.


    ''Yeah. That''s enough.''


    Since I came out of the cave, I fought a total of... four trolls and eight apins? That''s how I remember it.


    Theter ones were much more difficult than the first trolls I faced. On top of that, the technique I use at the end of each battle puts more strain on my body, so my whole body throbs as if I''ve been training with Professor Calvin for three hours...


    It''s not a pleasant experience, but I don''t really care because I think I''ve improved in every way.


    So I turned toward the cave and started walking carefully.


    I''m not too sure where the cave is, but as long as I find the frozenke, the cave is easy to find. The frozenke is even easier to find because it is very big.


    So it took me only four minutes to find theke and nine minutes to reach the cave. Not only did I not encounter any creatures, but I had gotten quite far without realizing it...


    When I saw that Alexander was still asleep, I breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall of the cave.


    There''s still an hour and a half left of my shift and I can''t fight outside any longer... As much as I want to, I''m tired and I don''t want to leave Alexander alone for too long.


    So what can I do in this hour and a half?


    "Hmm..."


    I shall continue practicing the Ambiguous Flow then.


    I closed my eyes and spun my mana inside me, which had recovered with the help of the potions I had drunk over time, and let it run wild freely. As my mana continued to swirl inside me, I could feel it slowly getting out of hand, but I did my best to keep it under control and continued the process.


    After a while, the mana I was spinning inside me got out of control, it suddenly spread violently through my body and I felt all my muscles contracting as a bacsh. A sharp pain spread through my body,bined with my previous pains, I felt like I was stumbling a bit, but I took a deep breath and rxed myself.


    I have been through this many times so far... I know that as long as I continue like this I will improve.


    So I closed my eyes again and started the process again, even though I knew it would be painful.


    I lost control of my mana many times over the next hour and a half, my muscles contracted in pain many times, and as much as I was used to it, I couldn''t help having difficulty reducing my reaction because the pain was so sudden.


    The help of the Absolute Mind in such matters cannot be underestimated.


    I''m not a person who likes to suffer, I''m not a masochist as I believe. So using the Absolute Mind to stabilize my mind was quite helpful, even if it was a bit of a drain on my extra mana. So I ignored the pain and kept working, and just as I was about to start the process over for the thirteenth time... my watch vibrated.


    Oh... my shift is already over.


    I silenced my watch and sat up from where I was leaning. I stretched slightly and after taking my own sleeping bag out of my bag andying it aside, I approached Alexander, who was sleeping soundly.


    Hmm... What would happen if I scared him?


    A slight smile appeared on my face. Even though doing something like that would make him angry with me, I think it would be an effective step to heal things between us.


    Still, after thinking about it for a while, I decided against it. Maybe it would be better if we became a bit more ''friendly''.


    "Alexander."


    I nudged him lightly and he didn''t even move, as if my gesture meant nothing.


    "Hey, Alexander!"


    I poked him a second time, a little harder, and his body slowly moved. His eyes opened, he looked at me with eyes he couldn''t quite open, and then he sighed.


    "Is it time for my shift...?"


    "Yes, as much as I didn''t want to wake you, I need to rest too."


    Alexander sighed and got out of his overalls and stood up. He took a bottle of water out of his bag, poured some into his hand, and sshed it on his face, then took a few sips and rubbed his eyes.


    "The pills are working, I feel like I''ve had a normal night''s sleep, even if I was a bit light-headed at first."


    I feel like he''s getting morefortable talking to me as time goes on... good.


    "Of course they work, I paid that much for them."


    I slowly climbed into my own sleeping bag, took one of the sleep-enhancing pills, just like he did before going to sleep, and closed my eyes.


    I heard Alexander sigh and mutter something, but truth be told, I didn''t really care. As I was slowly drifting out of my world, falling asleep, the only thing on my mind was to get some rest so I could get going tomorrow.


    *******


    I did not wake up as if time had passed in a sh after my world was plunged into darkness, as it would be in a normal sleep. On the contrary, I just waited in the darkness I was in.


    Questions slowly began to appear in my mind.


    Who am I? And what am I doing here?


    I am in the middle of nowhere, this is not hard to understand, but... why?


    The more questions I asked, the more mysterious this endless darkness became.


    And finally... this darkness slowly began to lighten. So I found myself in a room.


    It was clear, the sun was shining in through the window and I was at a table. I was not in control of my body, it was moving on its own. I was just a spectator, nothing more, nothing less.


    My eyes shifted to the three other people sitting at the table with me, then to a little girl sitting right across from me.


    I didn''t want to take my eyes off her, I had a strange feeling I couldn''t make sense of, but then my head automatically turned to the side. The person next to the girl was a woman who looked quite simr to her, except for her hair color. It was probably her mother.


    "Mom."


    The woman turned to me curiously as my body called out to her.


    "Yes, dear?"


    "I''m going to drop out of school."


    A deep silence suddenly fell on the table.


    "What do you mean you''re going to drop out of school?"


    This time the voice of the person who spoke was not in front of me, but from my left side. It was a rather ordinary-looking man... and it had to be my father. His brow was furrowed.


    "I know everything they teach, the teachers are stupid and my peers chat and y about useless things. I don''t feel like I belong there, and you know that going to school won''t do me much good. I''m going there just to go. I''d rather help you instead because dropping out won''t change anything in my life. It''s easy for you to show that I''ve had special training in theb, and it''s not illegal."


    My father''s eyebrows furrowed further the moment my body said that.


    "Help us?"


    "Yes."


    My father took a deep breath, and my mother''s brow furrowed as well. The little girl at the table was looking at me nkly.


    My father took a bite from the te in front of him, the silencested for a few seconds and then my mother interjected.


    "I thought you hated it."


    "I do."


    Before she could say anything, my father turned angrily to me.


    "Then why do you want to help us?"


    The boy I had been watching through his eyes smiled, then turned to the little girl at the table who didn''t seem to understand much of the conversation. It felt so strange to know that I was ''smiling''. It was as if I hadn''t smiled for years.


    "I don''t want to help you, don''t get me wrong."


    The little girl smiled brightly when she saw her brother smiling at her. She looked cheerful.


    "I want to help her."


    The lighting in through the window was suddenly cut off. The room trembled as if an extremely violent earthquake was happening. Everything snapped together and my eyes widened.


    What I saw next, was the darkness of the cave I was in. The watch on my wrist was vibrating.


    I took a deep breath, put my hand to my head, sat up, and frowned. The moment I tried to think about thest dream I had, I realized that I remembered very little about it and that the memories of this dream were quickly fading from my mind.


    The content of the dream was fading into darkness, as if it had never existed. No... not the dream itself, but the conversation between Aaron and Aria Tenebra and Aiden was quickly fading from my mind.


    I still remembered being at the table, the attitudes of the family, but... what was said had already disappeared.


    Why does this happen every time?


    I forced myself to bring the table, the image of the room, and the bright light of the sun into my mind. I tried to remember, to connect the blurred images and sounds, and the moment I tried to do that, something happened.


    All those images and sounds suddenly became more blurred and blurred. I felt the connection between them weaken as if a frosted ss had been put between them.


    My eyes widened suddenly, and I realized something.


    My memories of my dreams have not been erased, lost, or forgotten by me. There is something blocking them.


    Absolute Mind started working, I slowly calmed down, then I paused, closed my eyes again, and took a deep breath.


    Is it something the producers of the game did? Is there something else going on? Is it my Wiera side doing something? Or is there something bigger going on that I don''t know, that I can''t think about...?


    What am I supposed to do? Why am I having these dreams in the first ce? Why were they absent before and why have they started to appear recently?


    My brow furrowed and my nerves frayed at these and many other questions that suddenly began to gue my mind, but since there was nothing I could do by just sitting there, I could only sigh.


    I''m in an important ce for my future, and I can''t answer any of my questions here. So I have no choice but to leave it all for after I leave the dungeon.


    When I get back, I will press Ulka a bit on this, but I also have other options, which I will also consider.


    "Are you awake?"


    Alexander''s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.


    Yes, it would be best to leave that for after the dungeon.


    "Yes, I slept pretty well, we can move on."


    I stretched and stood up. I sshed some water on my face and sipped some to sober up. Then I quickly packed my sleeping bag and turned to Alexander. He had already packed everything and was waiting for me.


    "Since we have nothing else to do, let''s not waste time and keep moving forward."


    I made my way to the entrance to the cave that we had blocked off, where the sun was shining through. I opened a space big enough for us to pass through and stepped out.


    The sun was shining in the dungeon, and the environment looked much livelier than at night.


    "After all, we still have a long way to go."

 Chapter 127 Volume III - 48: Victims Turned Bullies

    <h4>Chapter 127 Volume III - Chapter 48: Victims Turned Bullies</h4>


    "It''s this building, Adrian."


    Benjamin and I walked up the stairs through a dormitory building that we had entered. In the process, I reviewed everything I had heard from him.


    In short, after the incident, when the nobles started pulling their children out of the academy, the ''powerful'' bullies lost many of their members. As a result, themoners who had stayed at the academy were suddenly emboldened and formed a group, and since the other students who had the power to stop them, like Julian and Lucia, were with their families, the academy was left to... this group.


    The group was primarily a benevolent one, a group whose purpose was to support others, but with the change of a few people who could be called the head of this group, this purpose slowly began to change.


    As the group continued to grow on its own, a few people suddenly expressed a desire to take a role in the leadership of the group, which the group leaders did not take kindly to. Even if their sole purpose was to help people, these people they were talking to gave them a sense of extreme ulterior motives. So the leaders were wary of them, but what happened was only three days after the leaders had rejected their offer.


    The guys who wanted to be part of the leadership of the group had secretly recruited a lot of students to their side within the group. Their method of doing this was simply to get the students fired up. They were also very good liars. They managed to convince a few of the students that the leaders had gone astray by showing them false evidence, and so an internal conflict broke out among the group. The winner of this internal conflict was the group that had started it in the first ce. And the leader of this group was James, the illegitimate son of a noble family.


    After this sessful rebellion, this grouping of ordinary people suddenly began to change. The students who supported each other pushed the weaker ones away as a burden and started to behave like the tyrant nobles they had previously hated. It was easy for them to suffer from power poisoning, along with their weak mentality.


    Now, one by one, this boy named James and his gang were hunting down the nobles who had made a name for themselves at the academy. They didn''t harm them much, in fact, they did their work so cleanly and instilled fear in the people they encountered so effectively that none of the nobles they had harmed had ever been able to stand up to them. James'' reputation within the academy continued to grow.


    Their next target, ording to Benjamin, was me.


    While I was thinking about this, Benjamin suddenly stopped walking when we reached the fifth floor and I paused. Benjamin then turned around timidly.


    "Well... Our group might treat you with some contempt, I hope you don''t mind. We have some trust issues..."


    "No problem."


    He smiled sheepishly again and moved along the corridor of the fifth floor. When we reached the room almost at the end of the corridor, he simply knocked on the door. About ten secondster the door slowly opened.


    The person who opened the door was a girl my age, with dark hair that was fading to purple and light blue eyes. When she turned to me, she suddenly became serious.


    "So, can we assume that you have epted the offer, Adrian Caleo?"


    "Yes."


    The girl exhaled a deep breath. She looked relieved and stepped aside so that we could go inside.


    "Come in, please, so we can talk more freely."


    Benjamin went in first, followed by me.


    It was very tidy inside. In fact, it was one of the most organized rooms I had ever seen. The shoe rack, the coat rack, the tops of the drawers, the order of things, the atmosphere of the room, and so on... So much so that I couldn''t help but admire it.


    So we finally went to the part where the living room was, and when we did, I saw that there were three other people in there besides us.


    Two of them were boys and one was a girl. They looked quite ordinary.


    The girl who opened the door, who looked like a leader, pointed to an empty single seat and I quietly took it. The other girl and Benjamin followed me and found a seat too. Then, the purple-haired girl turned her eyes back to me and began to speak.


    "My name is Risa. You''ve already met Benjamin. The others are Prim, Cato, and Cecil. There are actually a few other people who think like us, but we don''t meet very actively."


    Risa took a deep breath. Thinking that Benjamin had told me most of it, she started to tell me more recent things.


    "James is nning to ckmail all the nobles one by one, but he still needs more power, he''s not strong enough to go head to head with all the nobles. That''s why he''s started meeting with people like you. He will probably make you an offer soon. ''Join me and we''ll live like kings in the academy'' or something like that, but there are too many people who will crawl while he lives like a king. And he''s not a very friendly guy, he''ll probably stab you in the back after using you for a while. He already ckmailed a noble or two."


    "So, what exactly do you want from me?"


    As if expecting this question, she lowered her eyes slightly and continued speaking without waiting.


    "You''re ranked first in the academy, you''re extremely powerful, and you''re friends with most of the people at the top of the ranks. Lucia Quie is one of them, there''s also Julian Virhen, who used to be a bully, but he doesn''t give anyone any troubletely. Aiden Tenebra, who I''m sure will be in the top ten, even though he''s not ranked yet... You are the only people in the Academy who can stand up to James. That''s why we need you to help us before he makes things worse."


    She paused for a moment.


    "No... You won''t just be helping us, you''ll be helping almost the whole academy."


    She stared at me again, her expression pleading.


    "Can you convince them and stop James?"


    Not only her, but everyone in the room was looking at me. They were making me feel a bit pressured.


    I realize they weren''t doing it consciously, so I didn''t mind. Besides... I had already made up my mind before I came here.


    "Sure."


    I put a smile on my face.


    "You don''t need to be afraid of me, I would like to help you. The peace of mind of the students at the academy is a matter of concern to me as the first in the ranking, but there is only one problem."


    Risa''s eyebrows raised in concern when I said these words.


    "Neither Aiden, Julian, Lucia nor Celine are in a position to help me right now. Aiden went out of the academy saying it was a very important matter for him and he will be back in five days. Julian and Lucia are with their families and will only be back when sses start again. You already know Celine''s situation... So I''m on my own."


    Risa''s expression suddenly darkened.


    "James will meet you tomorrow night at worst, and if he doesn''t get an answer, he will wait three days at most to prepare something for you..."


    She put her hand to her lip and pinched her lower lip between her index finger and thumb. She continued to think broodingly. With each passing second, her expression grew more and more desperate.


    "Why didn''t you present this to the academy before, I am asking out of curiosity."


    "It''s not that we don''t. We''ve asked the academy to help with bullying by nobles before, but because they are nobles, they couldn''t do much. Also, usually these things don''t even reach the academy administration. Now... thest time we went to someone to report it, they ignored us, they have so much to deal with after thest incident that they ignore ''minor'' arguments between students. Thest time James found out we were doing this kind of thing, it wasn''t very nice. So we... don''t dare..."


    Her body trembled for a very brief moment, her expression turned ugly and I frowned when I saw it.


    Whoever this James was, I didn''t like the way he was acting toward people who had nothing to do with him.


    "Don''t worry, James can''t do anything to me."


    Risa frowned.


    "I know you''re confident, I know how strong you are, but don''t underestimate him. He may not be very strong, but he''s ranked somewhere around forty. On top of that, he has a literal army behind him. And even if they can''t beat you, they can ckmail you."


    "As I said, you have nothing to worry about. I can take care of myself. Besides... I won''t be alone."


    Risa quickly shook her head from side to side, thinking I was talking about them.


    "I suggest you don''t expect too much from us, that would be the biggest mistake you could make."


    "I don''t expect anything from you. I mean... Don''t get me wrong, I don''t mean to offend you. It''s just that there is someone who is still at the academy and who I believe will help me in some way, even if I''m not sure if she will help me."


    Risa fixed her eyes on the floor, thought for a moment, and then turned to me in resignation. She tried to understand who I was talking about, but she couldn''t. I just smiled and opened my watch and started texting someone.


    If everything turns out the way I think it will, I can do this in one night- No... I would be too hasty if I did that.


    Tomorrow night I think I can put an end to this little dictatorship that James has set up.

 Chapter 128 Volume III - 49: Smart but Stupid Spiders

    <h4>Chapter 128 Volume III - Chapter 49: Smart but Stupid Spiders</h4>


    "Aid-"


    My eyes slowly widened at first at the sound I heard. And when I focused on what the half-heard whispered voice was trying to say, this time I understood itpletely.


    "Aiden, if you''re awake, don''t move."


    Don''t move...? What don''t move?


    "Al... Alex?"


    "There''s something at the entrance to the cave. Sorry, ''somethings''. They''ve even infiltrated the darkness around us a bit."


    "Oh..."


    The cave we chose to rest in was a bit big and there were many small rocks around it. So it was not difficult for someone to sneak in.


    From the moment I thought about it, I didn''t move a muscle in my body. I even closed my eyes again, but I kept my hand close to where my sword was.


    "How many are there?"


    "I''m not sure, but minimum ten, maximum twenty."


    There are quite a lot of them...


    "They must not be very big to have infiltrated the cave. Most likely apins, but let''s be careful. I''ll count down from three, then send a wind de toward what I think is a creature. If we''re lucky, I''ll take out two. Then we fight. Your crossbow and needles are within your reach, right?"


    "I need to reach around my waist for my needles. My crossbow is closed on my arm, but it won''t take long to open it."


    I took a deep breath and slowly reached my hand under the duvet towards the entrance of the cave.


    "Good, now wait for my move."


    As Alex stood at the ready waiting for me, I called out to my mind.


    ''Sith, wake up. I need you.''


    I heard a slight yawn echoing in my mind first, and then Sith''s tiny body appeared in front of me. He looked sleepy, but when he looked around a little and looked at my face, his sleepiness was quickly reced by surprise.


    ''I know it''s sudden, but we''re surrounded, I need your help.''


    Sith continued to look at me with the same confusion. He turned his head and looked around us. Then he sighed and began to dazzle his eyes.


    ''I''m sorry, but we need to move fast. Can you see where they are and help me aim?''


    Sith nodded quickly, even if he was sleepy. Then he flew past me into the darkness of the cave. After moving a little from where he was, he suddenly stopped.


    ''These are spiders. And they''re quite big, almost the size of cats.''


    Spiders...


    There is only one type of spider that size in this dungeon and they are not nice creatures. They''re too smart for their own good.


    ''How many are there? Can you tell me where they are?''


    Sith quickly began to circle around us. Meanwhile, he counted every spider he saw, pointing to them with his finger.


    ''Two... four... seven... thirteen... seventeen... There are seventeen of them, but I saw one more heading outward, and they look like they''re about to attack, be quick.''


    It must have gone out to call its friends... but seventeen, huh...


    ''All right,e back and help me. I will send two wind des, they are not close to each other.''


    Sith quickly turned to me. He started directing my mana with me. Then I pointed the fingers of my right hand toward one of the spiders and the fingers of my left hand toward the other one.


    Of course, I did all this secretly from under the covers.


    "Here we go, Alex."


    Alex did not answer but nodded slightly, afraid that the spiders might hear him.


    "Three."


    He raised his arm slightly and positioned himself so that he could activate the mini crossbow resting closed on his wrist.


    "Two."


    Meanwhile, he slowly moved his other hand to his waist and stood at the ready to draw his needles.


    "One."


    I took a deep breath, readjusted my aim, rxed myself to make it easier for Sith to direct my mana, and exhaled.


    "Zero!"


    Both of my fingers shimmered with a teal-colored glow. The glow then turned into a de of wind that pierced through the quilt as it formed and shot out to either side of me.


    The cave filled with a sea-green color. The mini crossbow on Alex''s wrist opened and three needles appeared in his other hand. Since the cave was illuminated, a few spiders had been spotted and Alex attacked them.


    One of the wind des found its target. A high-pitched, strange sound echoed through the cave, like a hiss and a scream at the same time. The other wind de had cut its target''s legs, but not its main body. Inparison, Alex''s attacks were quite urate. He missed only one target.


    In just a few seconds we had killed five and seriously injured two of the seventeen spiders that surrounded us, but the spiders had also realized that we had noticed them.


    The spiders suddenly tensed. The strange sound that could be heard from those who had just been hit suddenly echoed throughout the cave as the spiders began to scream at the same time. Their screams echoed off the walls, grew louder and louder, and reached our ears.


    The sound the spiders made together was so high-pitched, so loud that my head instantly started to throb. The inside of the cave seemed to shake, but I was the one shaking, and I knew it.


    I gritted my teeth, my ears hurt like they were tearing, but I managed to protect myself a little by closing them quickly. Alex was in a worse situation than me. He had reflexively covered his ears as soon as he heard the sounds, but blood was oozing from his right ear and I could see from his expression that he was in a lot of pain.


    The voices stopped as suddenly as they came and the moment I realized this I grabbed my sword. The spiders turned toward us at the same time and took a strange position. I couldn''t understand what was happening at first, but when I saw the white webs flying at us from the air, I quickly went to Alex and activated my Mana Barrier skill to protect us both.


    A transparent, spherical barrier materialized around us, protecting us, and the spiders'' webs got caught in it. With the barrier active, I quickly put our bags inside a dimensional button, and then, without wasting time, I quickly expanded the barrier, shattering it, and the web fell to the ground around us.


    I hadn''t even taken a proper breath when I saw the spiders charging at us.


    "Damn it, hold on!"


    I concentrated my mana in my lower body, felt my legs fill with power and I grabbed Alex by his clothes and threw him forward with me.


    I watched a spider pass over me. Its eyes, glowing red, were focused on me as I passed beneath it, I was sure of it, even if I couldn''t quite understand it, but I didn''t have time to think too much about it.


    The moment I made contact with the ground, I pulled myself and Alex to my feet and shouted.


    "Run!"


    Alex nodded, albeit holding his right ear, and started running toward the exit.


    The spiders were smart. They didn''t all pounce on us at once, instead only a few of them attacked. The others had stayed behind to give us a quick chase in case we escaped. So as soon as wended, I let Alex run away and turned around myself.


    Just as I had predicted, the moment I turned my eyes behind me, I found almost ten spiders charging at me. Their saliva was dripping from their mouths, their red eyes glowing with excitement.


    "Not today, you little rats."


    I turned my hand toward them, directing it outward as the mana in my body swirled inside me and I imagined a strong gust of wind blowing.


    A strong wall of wind came out of my hand and blew rapidly toward the spiders. The spiders in the air were instantly thrown back, while those on the ground clung to the ground to keep their bnce. Knowing that this would slow them down enough, I moved with a smile on my face in the direction Alex had run.


    I was thinking of meeting him outside, killing our enemies back to back like the previous times, and then running away.


    But after moving along the short corridor of the cave... I was forced to pause, even if I didn''t want to.


    It wasn''t because I was tired or injured.


    I expected to meet Alex outside, but I found him standing in the middle of the corridor. The exit of the cave was only a few steps away, but he wasn''t moving.


    He wasn''t waiting for me, he couldn''t go on if he wanted to and that''s why he was just standing there.


    The exit waspletely covered with spider webs. And behind the webs, at least twenty spiders were waiting for us.


    I opened my mouth, tried to say something, but I couldn''t speak, my mouth just stayed open. My eye twitched and the shock and the nerves that came with it took over my whole body. I clenched my fist and shouted.


    "STUPID SPIDERS!"

 Chapter 129 Volume III - 50: Surrounded by Hunters

    <h4>Chapter 129 Volume III - Chapter 50: Surrounded by Hunters</h4>


    The disgusting sounds from behind us entered my ears. My anger disappeared as quickly as it hade, reced by a profound calm.


    I saw Alex next to me, looking back and forth with widened eyes, looking for something to help him get out of here.


    ''Aiden? What do we do?''


    Sith''s voice echoed in my head, but I didn''t answer him. The spiders I had slowed down behind us had reached us, but they weren''t attacking yet. We were surrounded in front and behind, and the walls of the cave covered us on the left and right.


    When I saw that the spiders had not jumped on us, I let out a deep sigh.


    They can''t be ying games with us, right? They''re smart, yes, but they can''t just corner their prey and watch what they''re going to do, right...?


    "Haaa..."


    I closed my eyes and waited for a while. For a moment I didn''t hear anything, there was only silence around me.


    "A- Aiden! There seems to be no way out, what do we do?!"


    When I heard Alex''s voice, I opened my eyes and looked at him. He had stopped holding his bleeding ear and his face showed only traces of his fear of spiders and his concern for our situation.


    Did I see him like that even once in the game? I don''t remember. He was never in such a situation, and if he was, he usually came up with a n.


    He was a few years older in the game than he is now, though. Of course, the fear of death in the presence of his sick mother must also have been on his mind, but it''s still strange...


    "Just wait."


    Ignoring him, I looked back at the spiders, who were watching us from where they stood. They were ugly, disgusting. Their bodies were misshapen as if mutated, and their eyes were locked on me.


    I took a deep breath again.


    Why was I angry? They may have been smart, they may have cornered us for a moment, but that''s it. I''m not going to die here. I especially don''t want to die being made into a toy like this.


    ''Sith, watch my back. Try to protect me from attacks I can''t defend myself against. And be ready to use my mana.''


    "O- okay?


    "Alex, we''re gonna have to fight a little bit. Be careful not to die, little things are smart. Be ready."


    Alex looked at me nkly. Without saying anything, I reached into one of the pockets of the light armor I was wearing and pulled out something small, made of cold metal.


    When the spiders saw my gesture, they suddenly straightened up. It was enough for them too, they were preparing to pounce on us.


    "A lighter?"


    Alex''s eyes lit up when he saw what I had in my hand.


    I uncapped the lighter, lit it quickly, and then held it up to the webs in front of us. When the web caught fire, I dropped the it at the bottom of the.


    The ces where the lighter touched the web slowly caught fire. Step by step the mes spread along the web, but not very fast.


    As soon as the spiders saw the mes, they started screaming again, and the ones behind us quickly jumped on us.


    I created a Mana Barrier, but instead of surrounding myself with it, I ced it in front of some of the spiders and swung my sword in the other direction.


    One of the spiders quickly died on my sword, and the attacks of two others were blocked by my barrier, but I couldn''t do anything about thest one. Its forelegs, like sharp des, entered my arm. My expression tightened, I gritted my teeth and tried to punch the spider. The spider saw the attack and jumped, but this time it stayed in the air and I shed it with my sword.


    I slid the barrier aside without even a moment''s hesitation, and I kept my hand on the spiders blocked by the barrier, sending two small wind des at them.


    I heard a shrill sounding from behind me. I quickly turned around and swung my sword in the direction of the sound, killing another spider. Immediately afterward, a shadow fell over me and I saw small but numerous webs approaching me. I blocked them with my barrier and without waiting, I ran in the direction of the webs, toward the remaining spiders.


    Thest seven were in front of me. Four of them came fearlessly toward me as I approached them, while the three in the back prepared to throw webs at me again.


    When I got to the bottom of the spiders, two of them swung in different directions and leaped at me. I shed one of them with my sword, getting body fluids all over me, but I didn''t care. The other one jumped at me from the opposite side, so I couldn''t use my sword. Instead, I clenched my fist, turned it behind my back, and hit the spider with its side.


    When the spider''s soft, oily, and disgusting body came into contact with my fist, I tried not to pay too much attention, even though disgust ran through my body, but just then I felt a sharp pain in my right leg.


    Two of the four spiders attacked me from above, while the other two continued from the ground. While one was on my leg, the other was seconds away from reaching me.


    When I saw the spider gnawing on my leg, I tried to drive my sword into its body and crush the other one with it, but the spider dodged the attack. It prepared to sink its fangs and forelegs into my body, but at that moment I felt my mana being drained and the spider''s body was thrown back as if it had been hit by a bullet made of wind. There was a hole in the center of its body.


    ''Thanks, Sith.''


    So we cleared the spiders from this side of the web blocking the exit to the cave.


    I dismantled the barrier and turned my eyes to Alex.


    He has a few bite marks on his body, but he seems fine. He keeps up with the needles he throws at the spiders and the mini crossbow on his wrist.


    I tear my eyes away from him and look at my leg.


    Bite marks... I remember these spiders were poisonous, but I bought an antidote before I entered the dungeon, so it shouldn''t be a problem.


    I turned back to the still burning webs. The spiders outside were afraid of the fire, so they couldn''t approach. The mes were rapidly melting the web.


    Even if they can''t attack us now, we have to get out of here... or they''ll call their friends. In all... there are eighteen of them. And I still have more mana.


    I looked back at Alex, he shot an arrow with his crossbow into the body of thest spider and it was pinned to the ground.


    He was done fighting too.


    "Alex. Back me up from behind. We have to kill the ones outside, or they''ll bring the whole forest after us."


    Alex nodded at me, even though he was panting. He took a deep breath, straightened up, and looked at the spiders outside. I could read the disgust in his eyes.


    This is the ''Alexander Callidas'' I know. He seems to have gotten used to it a bit.


    "Haaa..."


    I took out two red-colored potions from the dimensional buttons and, after some searching, the antidote needed for the poison and handed one to him.


    "Healing potion and antidote, we need to drink it."


    He looked at them briefly, took them, and without much question, gulped them down. I did the same, and a warmth spread through my body. The pain from my wounds subsided a little.


    Like Alex, I took a deep breath, gripped my sword tightly, approached the webs, and peered at the spiders behind them.


    The mes widened and widened the hole in the center of the. After a while, they would form a hole big enough for us to jump out of.


    I closed my eyes for a moment and poured mana into my passive skill, Absolute Mind.


    I felt the thoughts in my mind slowly fading away. A warmfort enveloped my whole body, I opened my eyes and looked at the spiders again.


    I had nothing on my mind, I was just focused on killing them, I wasn''t thinking about anything else.


    I went through the hole quickly, the mes burned my skin a little, but I ignored them.


    The moment I stepped out, the spiders started screaming. Even though I covered my ears with my hand, this time I felt a warmth in my ear. The sounds faded and when I looked at my palm I saw that my ear was bleeding.


    Of course, the spiders were not idle. Almost half of them jumped on me and the other half threw webs at me.


    They do exactly the same formation as before... They attack from above and below at the same time and throw webs as an extra. I guess there''s a limit to their intelligence...


    I poured even more mana into the Absolute Mind, focusing on nothing but what was in front of me and giving everything of my mind to this task.


    My mana was spent some more, and a translucent barrier formed in front of me. I felt my mana being sucked away even more, and a strong wind swept around my body, around my sword, and thest bits of my mana swirled inside my body, spreading throughout my body.


    A sharp pain spread through my body as if following my mana, but I ignored it and swung my sword at the spidersing from above. An arrow flew past my head and struck one of the spiders in the air. I shed two spiders at once with my sword.


    Their body fluids, their blood sttered everywhere. I felt time slow down, even if only for a moment.


    I quickly brought my sword down, killing one of the spiders attacking from below. Another warmth spread through my body, this time notforting. It was more like it was boiling my blood, like it would burn me if I didn''t move.


    I raised the mana barrier toward the webs that shot at me, but I couldn''t block them all. One of themtched onto my right shoulder and it felt like it was on fire. Realizing this, the spiders suddenly concentrated on my right side. My movement was restricted by the web, and I shed at one more spider, but two of them dodged and attacked my arm.


    At the same time, the spiders behind me continued to throw webs at me, but Absolute Mind was more than enough to help me avoid the webs while fighting back.


    I kicked one of the spiders hard, but the other one jumped over my leg and sank its fangs into my arm.


    The wind that had been swirling around my body suddenly focused on it beyond my control and the spider was thrown backward not a second after it had bitten my arm.


    I sliced it in half before it even touched the ground, and then I realized that my vision was slightly blurred. I wasn''t sure if it was because of the spiders'' venom or because of this strange sensation I was feeling in my body, but I kept killing the spiders anyway.


    I got more and more excited as I killed each one, and I started to enjoy killing each one in a different way, making their already mutated bodies even more differently shaped... it was fun.


    It was like taking apart something I had built with LEGO bricks.

 Chapter 130 Volume III - 51: Hunters Before, Now Toys

    <h4>Chapter 130 Volume III - Chapter 51: Hunters Before, Now Toys</h4>


    In the midst of themotion, I saw two thin needles flying past me, piercing the heads of two of the spiders behind me.


    On my leg, which had already been bitten, I felt a pain simr to the one in my arm and I quickly shook my leg. The spider that had wounded my foot jumped forward, and without waiting for it to get up, I crushed it with my bitten foot.


    I realized that my foot was literally burning, that it was difficult to step on the ground properly, but I didn''t have time to think about it.


    The area on my back rippled slightly from the wind around me. I swung my sword behind me, even though I hadn''t heard anything, and another one of the spiders split in two. I quickly pulled the barrier over me and a few more of the thrown webs got caught in it. With that, I realized how worn the barrier was.


    Even though I hadn''t been coy about the mana I poured into it, it could withstand a few more attacks at most.


    "Aiden!"


    At the sound of Alex''s voice, I saw the rest of the spiders all rush at me at the same time.


    They''re all like fearless robots, really... They don''t care about dying, but somehow I don''t feel a shred of anxiety.


    On the contrary, I feel strangely... happy.


    I released theyer of wind that surrounded me. A wave centered on my body spread in all directions, and the spiders thrown at me were thrown backward before they could fight the wind. Some were killed by the force of the impact, others somehow survived, but Alex threw arrows and needles at them without letting them get up.


    Despite all this, thest three spiders survived. My smile grew wider.


    I quickly lunged at one and the spider fearlessly swung its forelegs at me, but slowly.


    I grabbed its foot, not caring how disgusting the spider was, and then I pulled its leg hard to the side, separating it from its body. The spider prepared to scream at my feet, but without letting it, I plunged my sword into its body.


    I slowly turned to the other spiders.


    They couldn''t move, and the reason they couldn''t attack me was simple. Their legs were damaged when they were thrown backward, crushed even. They could only crawl, that was all they could do. Just like... like a pathetic weakling.


    I approached them, leaned over them as they crawled, defenseless, and smiled.


    "Were you going to kill me? You were hunters, right?"


    I remembered how, when I came to the cave''s blocked entrance, they had been waiting, seeing me as a toy.


    "Now you are my toy, aren''t you?"


    My heart racing, I grabbed the spider''s intact foot and pulled it hard away from its body.


    The spider made a sound like a moan, but it didn''t seem to be in pain.


    Now that I think about it... why are they so fearless from the beginning?


    Anyway, it doesn''t really matter. It''s just... it annoys me when spiders don''t react.


    I grabbed another leg of the spider, but just then a voice echoed in my mind.


    ''Aiden, snap out of it.''


    My mind, my vision suddenly became clear. I looked at the spider''s foot I was holding and quickly backed away.


    "Ah... wait..."


    Damn it...


    I turned around and looked over to where Alex was. He didn''t seem to notice what I was doing, he was looking at the corpse of a spider with a big smile on his face.


    No... he is ''trying'' to do it rather than looking at it. There is a certain disgust, revulsion on his face, but he forces himself to look at them anyway.


    "Hahah..."


    Alex startedughing not long after I turned to him.


    "We did it!"


    He was busy with the joy of victory. But I was not so happy, although I was d to be alive.


    "Sith, if I do something like this again, please ask me if I''m conscious."


    Sith epted my request without asking me anything.


    ''Okay.''


    I took a deep breath, calmed myself down, and turned back to Alex, who had stoppedughing but was still smiling.


    I took a step toward him but then paused because there was a sharp pain in my body.


    I clicked my tongue and poured another healing potion down my throat. Even if the pain didn''t go awaypletely, at least it subsided to the point where I could walk with the help of the Absolute Mind.


    "Ale-"


    "Kiiieeek!"


    My eyes widened at the sudden scream, no, the screams.


    I saw Alex''s shocked expression, his smile instantly fading, and then two pieces of web and two spiders flying at him from the bushes.


    One of the webs stuck right on Alex''s chest, the other on his waist.


    Both of the spiders that had been thrown at him attacked his legs and immediately sank their fangs into him.


    "Aaaaaahh!"


    Alex copsed screaming before he could even react properly. The spiders tried to damage Alex''s leg with their forelegs, their fangs, anything they had that could hurt him.


    "Hang on!"


    I rushed at him, attacking the spiders on his feet with my sword.


    It wasn''t hard to cut them down, they acted as if their only purpose was to gnaw on Alex''s leg, but I didn''t care. As soon as I was sure I had killed them both, I turned back to Alex.


    "Are you okay?!"


    I shook him slightly but he didn''t react. He just kept his eyes closed and then his body just let itself go, he had passed out.


    At least his chest was rising and falling, he was still breathing. He was alive... I think, for now.


    I clicked my tongue again and put him on my back. There were screams from the forest again, it wasn''t hard to realize that an army of spiders was approaching. So I put Alex on my back and started running in the opposite direction to the sounds.


    My mana was about to hit rock bottom and every muscle in my body ached like hell. I couldn''t even call what I was doing running. I was limping and stumbling as I ran, but I kept running as long as I could for our lives.


    Meanwhile, the sun was slowly rising in the dungeon.


    *******


    Iid Alex gently on the ground, on one of the spare sleeping bags I had taken out, forced one of the healing potions into his mouth, and then breathed a sigh of relief.


    Our new hiding ce was a small cavity I found in a ratherrge mountain. It was the perfect ce as the entrance was small and easy for me to close.


    Of course, I didn''t let my guard down. I was especially careful after thest incident. Still, we seem to be okay for now...


    I think I can rx a little, I''ve already done everything I can to make sure we''re not found.


    I sighed deeply and looked at my wounds. The potions were starting to work. The wounds were already scabbed over and they seemed to be healing.


    I had really too many wounds, my whole body was aching like crazy. Even though the spiders were easy to kill, there were so many of them that they almost killed us. Still... I didn''t have any wounds that wouldn''t heal.


    Other than that... I was a bit hungry.


    I put my bag next to me, took out one of the buttons with the bread in it, broke it, and started to eat the bread that came out. It was quite tasteless, it was just ordinary bread, but it had aforting effect because it was soft.


    As I ate my bread I also looked at my watch. It was early morning, at least for this ce.


    We have no problem with time, but this... incident is going to slow us down a bit.


    I took a deep breath, thinking about what had just happened, the thought that I had enjoyed tormenting the spiders even for a moment filled my mind, but I stopped myself from thinking about it.


    Now is not the time. Whatever happens to me, there are one or two things I can do after this dungeon... The only thing I need to focus on right now ispleting the dungeon, anything else I think about will only confuse me.


    Yeah... what I need to think about is how to move forward in the dungeon.


    I took another bite of my bread. Silence, an ufortable one, seemed to fill the cavity for a moment.


    Just then a voice, a voice that didn''t belong to Alex, echoed through the cavity as if to recognize and break the ufortable silence. It didn''te from my mind, it sounded like someone was standing right in front of me.


    "Is it good?"


    I swallowed, fear gripped my body but I tried to suppress it, slowly turning my head in the direction of the voice.


    His violet eyes were fixed on me. ''Ethan'', my wiera side, with his brown hair and skinny body was in front of me. Yet I didn''t feel an intense, irrepressible fear like the previous times.


    "Hmm? You''re not scared this time."


    Was it because I was already overtired? Because of the Absolute Mind? Or is there some other reason? It''s just... he''s not as scary as he used to be. I don''t know.


    I tore my eyes away from him, slowly turned around, and took another bite of my bread.


    "Oh? You prefer not to be afraid of me anymore, to ignore me? Even when I''m standing here in front of you and you can hear my voice with your ears, not your mind?"


    I thought for a moment of his previous appearance. At that time... it hadn''t been pleasant, I had learned that he could control my body.


    Yes, I have a genuine fear of him. I don''t want to look at him, but it''s not a reaction like before. Like my body is programmed for it.


    Have I gotten used to caora''s presence?


    Although... do I really need to worry about him right now? He can''t do anything to me for now anyway.


    Not just to me, but to Alex too. Because if Alex dies, I die here.


    It''s not that I don''t have a chance of surviving, I might even be able to fulfill my purpose in the dungeon, but the chances are really slim.


    If I don''t exist, he doesn''t exist. So he can''t take that risk.


    "Heh, you''re not wrong."


    He straightened up from where he was leaning. He had his usual smile on his face, but this time without the madness. He looked no different from a human being right now, but I wasn''t going to let myself get caught up in it.


    "Why did youe?"


    "I''m bored. And why shouldn''t Ie when I can?"


    "So you can''te whenever you want?"


    He didn''t lower his smile, but he also didn''t give me an answer.


    "So I''m r-"


    "You are talking too much."


    He straightened up from where he was leaning, his violet eyes sparkled and the cavity was filled with a purple glow. He raised his hand, opened his palm, and then a small purple marble made of caora appeared in his hand.


    "You''re very weak, you know that, Ethan? or Aiden? Whatever you want to call yourself."


    The marble shrank, hovering over his finger, but even so, the glow intensified.


    "You can''t even trust yourself, you doubt, you''re afraid."


    He began to twirl his finger, and the purple marble followed his finger.


    "It almost makes me sad to think that you are me. I can''t imagine that I could be so weak."


    I felt the need to respond, not thinking about the consequences, but just wanting to do it.


    "I may be weak, but I''m getting stronger. I''m sure I''m in better condition than most of my peers."


    "Hah, that''s funny."


    The marble spinning on his finger suddenly flew into my face.


    I didn''t expect something like that, I reflexively raised my arm and closed my eyes. Then... the marble hit my arm.


    "Huh? AAahh...!"


    I felt my arm burning with tremendous pain. All my muscles contracted, I fell to the ground and it was hard not to scream. I gritted my teeth so hard that if I pushed any harder I would have broken a few of them.


    "You''re weak, Aiden."


    He leaned down, closer to me. The smile was gone from his face, his expression cold.


    "You need to exceed expectations, not meet them or fall short."


    I couldn''t think much because of the pain, but a question echoed in my mind.


    What expectation? Expectations of who?


    My vision blurred a little more. I dug my fingernails into the wall of the cavity. I could feel them breaking, but it felt better to focus on that instead of the pain in my arm.


    Thest thing I saw before my vision wentpletely ck was my wiera side starting to smile again.

 Chapter 131 Volume III - 52: An Invitation to Dictatorship

    <h4>Chapter 131 Volume III - Chapter 52: An Invitation to Dictatorship</h4>


    As I walked back to my room with a smile on my face, I thought.


    I will help people. I will save someone. Finally... I will be able to walk a little on the path I decided.


    An even bigger smile appeared on my face.


    For the first time since the day I met Aiden and talked to him on that bench, I''m going to be able to do something I really want. I''m really going to be useful. This time people won''t suffer because of me, they''ll thank me. I still haven''t received a reply to the text message I sent, but I have a good feeling.


    Just the thought of it makes me so excited that I can''t sit still.


    ''Adrian, you''re too distracted. Pay more attention to your surroundings.''


    With those words echoing in my head, I suddenly paused, because Lithoa would never say anything to me for nothing.


    I turned around and looked around, silently just waiting.


    No one is around... at least at first nce.


    "Oh? Did you notice?"


    When a skinny boy came out from behind a tree on the right side of the path I was walking, I calmly turned to him. I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn''t realize that someone was watching me.


    "Who are you? Do you have something to do with me?"


    The boy who came out from behind the tree had very light brown hair and gray eyes.


    I was a little surprised when I saw his eyes, my eyebrows raised. Although the boy''s eyes were not as intense, heavy gray as Aiden''s eyes, they were still gray. I wasn''t getting that ghostly aura from this boy that I felt when I looked into Aiden''s eyes, but... It was just a strange feeling.


    "Calm down, man. I''m just here to talk to you."


    "You don''t bring ten or so people with you when you talk to someone."


    "Oh..."


    The smile on the boy''s face widened. Then, about ten students hiding around me slowly came out of their hiding ces. They might have attracted a lot of attention if it was a normal day, but it was evening time. And there was hardly anyone outside.


    "I didn''t expect you to notice that either, you''re doing justice to your ranking."


    I sharpened my eyes and looked into the boy''s gray eyes. He didn''t avoid making eye contact with me, and despite being skinny, he kept his posture quite well.


    "First of all, let me introduce myself. I''m James, James Laher. I don''t know if you''ve been paying attention, but I''m thirty-ninth in the ranking. And my purpose ining to you is simple. We are changing this academy, Adrian Caleo. We have decided that we will no longer tolerate the bullying and humiliation that the nobles keep inflicting on us, so we have gathered together to protect ourselves and teach a lesson to the ones who darey a hand on us."


    He paused for a moment, smoothed a wrinkle in his clothing, and then sped his hands behind his back.


    "You are like us. Everyone knows you are not a noble, even if you are the first rank among the students. I''m sure you''ve met a noble who didn''t recognize you and didn''t know your ce. So you can understand us, right? Even though some of your friends are the ones who have caused us trouble in the past, our intentions are not evil. We are in the same boat, even if our power level is different, we are both in the same boat. We are both above the stratum we belong to, and we are both responsible for that stratum. So, I ask you to help me on this path."


    "Can I ask you a question?"


    "Sure."


    "If you have no malicious intent, why are there ten people surrounding me when you talk to me?"


    "Oh, I''m sorry if this makes you ufortable. But you know that your friends Julian Virhen, Lucia Quie, and Celine Potenbea are nobles. So I wanted to take precautions in case you disagree with what I said and attack me. Again, I apologize if I offended you, but I hope you understand. You know, we have to be careful in these times."


    All the while, he kept his smile on his face.


    "So, what''s your answer... Adrian?"


    I frowned, a little annoyed by his rxed demeanor.


    "What if I refuse?"


    James hesitated for a moment. Then he narrowed his eyes and his smile widened.


    "Then it looks like we''d be enemies. After all, you''re at the top of the rankings and you''re a friend of the nobles who have a problem with us. So... you are in our way."


    "Even though I would never do you any harm?"


    James rolled his eyes and sighed.


    "Imagine there''s a thorn in the middle of the corridor you''re going to walk down every time. Every time you walk down this corridor, and every time you''re careful not to step on it. But you still have to be aware every time, and if you don''t pay attention for once and step on that thorn, you''re going to get hurt. But what if you pick it up and throw it away? Then you never have to worry about it again. But what if you can get this thorn on your side? Then you can block anyone who tries to cross the road. Do you understand now?"


    He narrowed his gray eyes and looked over himself again. Once more, after he''d fixed one more wrinkle in his clothes, he turned to me and continued.


    "So? What''s your answer? Are you going to help us or are you going to get in our way?"


    At his words, a few of the students who had surrounded me stirred. They looked ready to move at any moment.


    ''Lithoa. Exactly how many students are there and what are their levels?


    ''I won''t tell you. You always consult me. Learn to take care of yourself. Besides, I''m a bit sleepy... I''m going to sleep, just don''t wake up and find myself facing the hospital walls.''


    With that, I felt Lithoa''s presence disappear from my mind.


    He was really gone, he had left me alone, but I could do nothing but sigh.


    He''s right, I made it a habit to ask him for help whenever I was struggling.


    "If you really want to help people like you who used to be bullied, yes, I am on your side, but..."


    My hand went slightly to my waist. Seeing this, others did the same with me.


    "From what I''ve observed, rather than helping them, you''ve be their new ''noble''."


    James''s expression turned ugly.


    "Those idiots talked to you, didn''t they? I left those bugs to their own ord because they couldn''t do anything, but it seems they''re a thorn in my side that I didn''t realize."


    One of the boys drew the sword at his waist, but as soon as that happened James raised his hand. All the boys in the field straightened up and removed their hands from their weapons.


    "We can live like kings together in this academy, Adrian. You are not a noble and you are extremely strong, exactly what I am looking for. We could practically rule this academy. Are you really going to pass up this opportunity?"


    "Rule the academy?"


    My expression turned ugly.


    "You''re crazy. I''d rather be a normal person that the students respect than a dictator."


    I tore my eyes away from James and turned to the students, each of them tensing the moment they locked eyes with me.


    "Why are you with him? You knew to hate the nobles when you were bullied, but you liked it when you were on the other side of the bullying?"


    I got no response from any of them.


    "Tch, you''re no different."


    I turned back to James and gave a firm and decisive answer.


    "No, if your goal is really to satisfy yourself by disturbing the peace of the students, then I''m against it. If I see with my own eyes that you are harming the students, I will take matters into my own hands. I''m giving you an opportunity today, James, give it up. Let''s both save each other the trouble."


    At my words, James paused for a moment and then burst intoughter.


    "Hahahah! An opportunity? You''re giving me an opportunity? Hahah...! You''re so good..."


    Heughed so hard that he almost had tears in his eyes. When he realized this, he took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his eyes.


    "I wonder what you trust, and if it''s the academy, I advise you not to even think about it because you will be ignored. The academy turns a blind eye to what is going on inside it unless it can confirm that visible harm has been done directly to it or its students. Of course, they have different priorities after recent events."


    James chuckled again, then turned to the boys around me.


    "Put your weapons back in their holsters, we''re leaving."


    I got a puzzled look on my face and stared nkly at James, who sighed.


    "As I said, I''m just here to talk, Adrian Caleo. Even if we were to be enemies, I''m not going to try anything here."


    As the boys around me moved toward him, James turned around and started walking in the opposite direction to me as he raised his hand and waved it slightly.


    "But I wonder what will happen the next time we meet."


    I narrowed my eyes and continued to study him as he walked away.


    Should I take him down now? It doesn''t matter if there are ten of them, I can handle it, but...


    No, he might use it against me if I attack first. He doesn''t seem like the kind of guy who would mindlesslye at me, he''s probably set something up in case I attack.


    I clicked my tongue and watched James and the boys with him until they were out of sight. Then, with a deep sigh, I too headed back to my room.


    I was initially thinking of going straight to him and making him kneel down to settle the matter, but now I''m not so sure... I don''t want to move fast and pull the wool over my eyes.


    How am I supposed to take James down? If it was Aiden, I''m sure he''de up with something quickly...


    I lowered my eyes and kept thinking as I walked. Then I paused.


    Everything I think about is centered on violence... Why can''t I think about something else?


    ~beep!


    Huh?


    When I picked up my watch and saw who the message was from, I hesitated for a moment but a smile appeared on my face.


    <<------------------------------


    Alice: What do I get out of this?


    ------------------------------>>


    My smile slowly faded with the message I saw on the screen.


    True, Alice is someone who puts her own gain before others. I don''t me her for that, but... I thought she would help me. What am I going to do now? What can I say that will satisfy her?


    <<------------------------------


    You: So... If we leave the academy as it is, won''t that affect you too?


    Alice: There are almost forty, fifty people in the group you''re talking about. Isn''t it obvious that if we fail, we will be the main target for all of them?


    You: But if we fail, our life in the academy will be more difficult! And not just our life, everyone''s life will be harder!


    Alice: I don''t care about others. I can take care of myself. Tell me what I can gain personally and I will help you.


    ------------------------------>>


    I stood there nkly staring at the screen, doing nothing for a while, thinking about what I could write, but nothing came to mind.


    <<------------------------------


    Alice: It seems you have nothing to say. Then I can''t help you.


    ------------------------------>>


    I gritted my teeth. I was frustrated, even though I knew deep down inside that something like this was going to happen, the fact that it was actually happening pissed me off.


    I couldn''t me her though. I was already aware that this was the way of the world.


    And then something came to me. It was absurd, there was no basis for it, but I wanted to try it.


    <<------------------------------


    You: The debt.


    Alice: What debt? You''re the one who owes me, not me.


    You: I already know that.


    Alice: So?


    You: How about making that debt two? I''ll owe you not once, but twice, and twice I''ll do whatever you want.


    ------------------------------>>


    I couldn''t think of anything else. I knew I was being ridiculous, but I had no choice.


    I put my watch down and looked up at the sky. There was no notification from the watch, I kept watching the stars. This fleeting moment seemed like minutes long. Then, my watch beeped.


    I was afraid to pick it up, afraid to see the answer I received. I had no hope. Still, I lifted the watch and looked at the message.


    <<------------------------------


    Alice: Well, fine.


    ------------------------------>>


    I bumped into someone in the middle of the road, and he yelled at me and said something, but then his voice went quiet. Then I heard him click his tongue and walk away.


    I didn''t care though, I just kept looking at the screen and smiling.

 Chapter 132 Volume III - 53: First Hint of the Past

    <h4>Chapter 132 Volume III - Chapter 53: First Hint of the Past</h4>


    First, my eyes opened, and then a soft voice entered my ear.


    "Aiden."


    I reflexively turned in the direction of the voice.


    What I saw was a young-looking woman with brown hair and two gray eyes looking at me withpassion. Yet I felt something strange inside me as I looked into those eyes.


    Is the feeling I get from those eyes reallypassion? It feels like it, but...


    My head suddenly began to ache, and then the delicate voice of the woman who owned those eyes entered my ears again.


    "Come. We have to go."


    Her voice wasforting, reassuring even. But at the same time, it felt unusually strange. It was as if she was showing me affection and at the same time trying to avoid me. This contradiction was what gave me a headache.


    "Okay..."


    My voice sounded like a child''s, and for a moment I was confused.


    It wasn''t me talking, my body was moving on its own.


    I don''t know why, but this... feels familiar. It''s like I''ve had an experience like this before.


    Although... Who am I in the first ce? Who is the person whose eyes I''m seeing the world through?


    Ah... this feeling is familiar too. As if I''ve had this moment before... As if I''ve already experienced this strange feeling...


    "I''ming."


    And with that, the boy slowly began to follow his mother. Then my vision suddenly darkened. I found myself in a darkness that stretched into infinity. I had a bad feeling that if I didn''t do something I would be trapped here, that I would turn into the darkness itself and disappear.


    It was as if the darkness was trying to get closer to me, but there was something blocking it. And after only a few seconds, fortunately, the darkness began to brighten.


    When I could see things again, I was in a hospital or something like that.


    I was in a big room, I was on a chair that didn''t fit my small size but was quitefortable. I had what looked like a hat on my head. And on my arm was a serum that was connected to my wrist and then to a machine.


    "Aiden, does it hurt when you''re standing there?"


    My eyes turned in the direction of the voice, just like before, and there I saw a man. It was someone I didn''t recognize, and even though I didn''t know anything as ''me'' here, my body didn''t seem to recognize this man either. Because he was uneasy, I could feel it.


    He answered him anyway.


    "Yes, it hurts, but my mom said I shouldn''t cry. Otherwise, my sister will be sad."


    My sister? Oh... that''s right, I have a sister. Her name was... ra.


    If I know that, does that mean that the body I''m watching through his eyes is really ''me''?


    I''ve got another headache. So I decided to think about itter and focus on what was in front of me, and that''s when the man responded to my answer.


    "I see..."


    The man kept his eyes on the floor. He was thinking about something and I took the opportunity to study him in detail.


    The man was old, but he didn''t look his age. He must have been in his early fifties. His hair, though graying in ces, was a dark reddish brown. He had a goatee and mustache. He was tall but not skinny or built. He was wearing a whiteb coat and normal clothes. He had a name badge on his apron and the name on it was... Jared Huffab.


    The name... really doesn''t sound familiar.


    "Have you ever... seen some visions before? The ones that are like dreams but don''t really feel like dreams. Visions that haven''t happened yet but feel like they might happen soon."


    "Hmm? No, I haven''t."


    "And have you seen colors floating in the air? Colors that no one else can see, that only you can see."


    My body moved a little. He seemed ufortable, not wanting to talk to the man.


    Before answering, he shifted his eyes away from the man, focused on the clock next to him, and spoke.


    "No."


    "You don''t need to be afraid of me. Think of me as a doctor, the questions I ask are for your well-being in the future."


    My body showed no sign of rxation despite what he said.


    "O- Okay..."


    "Then thest question, it''s important that you answer it properly."


    "Okay..."


    "Do you ever feel like you know something you shouldn''t?"


    My body again waited a moment before answering. He was ufortable again and this time his eyes shifted to the man''s shoes.


    "No..."


    The man clicked his tongue, walked out of the room without saying anything else to me, with disappointment and slight anger visible on his face, and then the machine attached to my arm started working.


    When my body realized this, he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and then waited. He waited patiently until the fluid from the serum entered his body, and then I felt a sharp pain throughout his body, along with him.


    The world went ck again after that. I thought about what I had just seen, the darkness was the same, but thanks to my thoughts it didn''t feel as bad as before. Moreover, like before, there would be light again. It had toe, I felt it... and so it did.


    After a while, the darkness started to lighten again. I tried to think what I was going to see this time, but when my eyes opened again, I found myself in an unexpected ce.


    I was in a dark, damp little cavity and I had no idea where I was.


    This cavity... where am I?


    I tried to straighten myself up, but as soon as I did, I felt a sudden pain in my right arm. It wasn''t a pain that made me scream, though. It didn''t even hurt that much. The pain was already gone.


    Reflexively, I looked at the ce where it had just hurt, and when I saw a burn mark on my arm. I just stared at it and questions popped up in my head.


    What is this? Where am I... I-


    As I was trying to figure out the strange situation I was facing, I suddenly felt a slight pain in my head and my memories slowly entered my head. My eyes widened and I looked again at the burn mark on my arm in more detail.


    The burn was not veryrge, about the size of three fingers lying side by side, but it looked quite serious. That is, if it didn''t look like it had happened years ago.


    If I drink one of the expensive potions, it will probably get better, so I hope it will...


    Once I was sure there was nothing wrong with the wound, I let out a deep sigh and leaned back against the wall of the cavity. And then I realized something else quite shocking.


    I can remember my dream, one of those dreams I''d forgotten so much about before. I remember Aiden, a little boy, maybe five years old at most, and the man he was talking to. I remember the questions he asked, even his features.


    Jared Huffab...


    I quickly opened my watch and saved the name in the note app, just in case.


    I must not forget this name. I must definitely look it up when I get out of the dungeon...


    Once I had the name down like that, I started thinking about other things. Like the questions the guy asked Aiden and the ce where Aiden was. The serum that was connected to him... I think they did some kind of study or experiment or whatever on Aiden and the Tenebra family was particrly supportive of it.


    I closed my eyes and focused on the dream.


    The first thing that came to my mind was the flying colors the man asked about.


    What could these ''colors'' be? Mana is a colorless energy and there is no such thing as ''me mana'' in the world. So the only option is that the man asked Aiden if he had seen the ''sleeping'' caora and ordea that are spread throughout the universe. Maybe there''s something else I don''t know, but that''s the only possible exnation within the scope of what I know... Moreover, Aiden''s reaction was quite strange from my point of view when the man asked this question. So it''s very possible that he lied to him.


    As for the images that are dreamlike but don''t feel dreamlike... Actually, they are quite consistent with what ra described to me and what I''ve been seeingtely. It''s only thest part, the "visions that haven''t happened yet but feel like they might happen soon" part that''s troubling.


    I feel like there is a lot I need to know, a lot I need to learn.


    And then there''s thest question, "things you shouldn''t know but you feel like you do"... I have no idea what that means, but like with flying colors, it seemed like Aiden lied to the guy.


    I really have no idea about that... So I have to skip it.


    Another thing I''m wondering... If Aiden lied to the guy about the floating colors and things that he shouldn''t have known but he did, why didn''t I experience any of that? I''m in the body that''s being experimented on, after all...


    There are things that don''t fit and they bother me.


    Among the things that bother me is also what my wiera side told me before I saw these things.


    This ''expectation'' for example...


    "Haaa..."


    There are a lot of questions that I really want answers to, but if I want answers to most of them, I have to get out of this dungeon and find this guy Jared.


    Yeah... I have to put everything aside, just like I did when I first came here. After the dungeon I''ll be free for quite a long time, I can do most of the things I want to do in the meantime.


    I poured some mana into the Absolute Mind, cleared my mind. After a while, I was feeling better. Most of the confusing thoughts were gone, and so I turned to Alex, who was still unconscious.


    With the potions I gave him, most of his wounds seemed to be in better shape than before. Maybe there would be some pain, but... After another potion or two and a little more rest, it shouldn''t give us too much trouble moving forward. The same is true for my wounds.


    "Hey, Alex."


    I kept poking him, calling his name, and I didn''t get a response on the second or the third. On the fourth, he finally moved a little. And on the fifth, his eyes widened, and then he suddenly turned to me.


    Or rather he tried to turn. Because as soon as he opened his eyes and turned his head, his face twitched, soured and he moaned slightly.


    "That''s what happens when you move so suddenly. You haven''t fully recovered yet, slow down."


    "What... W- where are we?"


    "In a small cavity that I found in a mountain. We''ve probably survived the spiders, I didn''t hear any screams from outside, but let''s stay here until our wounds are healed enough that they won''t give us any trouble. We can rest for a few more hours and then set off again."


    Alex was startled when he heard this, he had reacted when he heard the word ''spiders''.


    I hope thest thing he went through won''t leave him mentally scarred...


    Startled, Alex rxed his body again and stared at the wall of the cavity for a while. I didn''t say anything for a while to help him regain hisposure. There was a silence in the cavity. But as time passed, I saw Alex rx a little.


    He recovered faster than I thought he would. His normal expression returned after a while, but he continued to stare at the wall. At first, I attributed this to fatigue and let my body rx as he did, but then the silence was broken by him.


    "You said you needed my skill, and you know some things about it. It keeps bugging me... How did you find out about it?"

 Chapter 133 Volume III - 54: Meeting at the Caf茅

    <h4>Chapter 133 Volume III - Chapter 54: Meeting at the Caf¨¦</h4>


    Alex sounded a little hesitant with the question of where I had found out about his skill. And I decided to pose a question to him in the same way.


    "Do you still doubt me?"


    "Not really. I''m just... curious. Not only do you know about my skill, but you know you''ll need it at the end of the dungeon. You''ve even memorized the map of the dungeon, but this is the first time we''ve entered it. There are so many things that don''t connect, contradict, don''t make sense... That''s why I''m curious."


    There was silence between us again.


    "You can''t make the connections despite using the skill, huh... If even that skill doesn''t work, I must be more mysterious than I thought."


    Of course, it''s obvious that the skill won''t work. If I had any doubt that it would work and that Alex would be able to get information about me, I wouldn''t have even approached him in the first ce.


    "Yes, I''m afraid there''s not much I''ve been able to learn using it, but you''re not answering my question."


    I sighed and then smiled when I saw his stubbornness.


    "There are some things I can''t say, Alex, and your questions rte to them. So there''s nothing I can do but apologize."


    Alex took his eyes off the wall and turned them back to me.


    "I kind of trusted you, but that trust has waned a bit. Still, I think I understand you, so I won''t say anything."


    I grinned despite the brown eyes staring back at me.


    "You know I know your skill. I can tell you something to give you confidence in me, I know the nature of your skill as well as the skill itself."


    Alex didn''t react to what I said as much as I thought he would.


    "If you know the skill, it''s only natural that you know that too."


    "So, yes. I think the fact that I''ve had plenty of opportunities to kill you and take your skill for myself, and I haven''t done it until now, is a simple reason for you to trust me."


    I didn''t continue, just pulled two potion bottles out of the bag next to me and handed one to Alex. Then I put mine to my mouth and stretched slightly, lying down on the hard rock.


    "I''m going to sleep. When we wake up, we''ll be well enough and we can continue the journey. So you rest well too."


    "Alright."


    Alex drank the potion and closed his eyes after lying down, just like me. Still, his lips moved onest time before he fell asleep.


    "Lheal... You''re sure the nt is here, right?"


    His voice sounded strained, but since his mother''s life was at stake, there wasn''t much I could say.


    "Yes. As I said before, I can sign a mana contract anytime you want, but unfortunately, it''s a bitte for that now... Still, you have to trust me, because at least for now there is no other way forward."


    Alex clicked his tongue, but he didn''t look particrly annoyed. It was more like a casual gesture.


    "You''re right... Sleep well."


    I was stunned for a moment when I heard him tell me to sleep well, I hadn''t expected that from him yet.


    I couldn''t help a slow smile forming on my face, because atst this Alexander Callidas really started to see me as his ''friend''...


    "You too, as well..."


    Adrian, Julian, Sue, Celine, Lucia, Alysia even though I can''t yet and maybe never call her my ''friend'', and now Alex...


    I had forgotten that it feels good to make a new friend, to have someone you consider a friend also consider you a friend.


    I closed my eyes and tried to lower my grin, but I couldn''t stop myself. It was just... a good feeling.


    *******


    I straightened my clothes onest time and slowly stood in front of my mirror. I was wearing a blue long-sleeved sweater with a slight pattern on it and my jeans looked good. On my face, I wore makeup that was almost imperceptible but I thought it was effective.


    My appearance was good. I always made sure I looked good.


    Still, when I saw my image in the mirror, I couldn''t help feeling annoyed.


    Why am I doing this? Do I have to go to the trouble of trying to look nice to try to kill someone? I shouldn''t be doing this. This is ridiculous...


    "Tch."


    I clicked my tongue, turned around, headed outside, and looked at my watch.


    <<------------------------------


    12:51 Friday, December 11, 2043


    One new message from Adrian Caleo:


    Can we meet, Alice? You agreed to help me but we never talked about what to do. - 11:58


    ------------------------------>>


    It had been almost twenty minutes since I saw the message. However, I hadn''t clicked on it yet.


    <<------------------------------


    You: I''ll be at the academy cafe in half an hour.


    ------------------------------>>


    I sent the message, and it took me only seconds to receive a reply.


    <<------------------------------


    Adrian Caleo: All rigth.


    ------------------------------>>


    I frowned when I saw the typo, feeling even more ufortable, but I ignored it and headed for the caf¨¦.


    I started thinking, thinking about my purpose, about what I was told I had to do.


    Adrian Caleo owes me two debts. Isn''t it easy for me to take care of him with these? I just have to make sure that the academy doesn''t suspect... Then I can''t show that he had any connection with me. At least hisst moments shouldn''t be spent with me when he''s discovered dead.


    Should I use poison? No...


    Should I call him outside the academy and kill him where no one can see him? But there''s a huge statistical gap between us... I don''t know how fast he''ll react. If something unexpected happens, I''ll throw away my whole future.


    Then do both? Take him outside and poison him? Of course, I still have to make sure the academy can''t find me...


    "Alice! I''m here."


    What woke me up from my thoughts was the sound of the voice that made me realize that I had already arrived at the caf¨¦. Adrian Caleo was shouting at me from the table where he was sitting, with a huge and stupid smile on his face and his shouting was attracting all the attention.


    I sighed and walked over to him. I saw some of the people I passed whispering and looking at Adrian, but I didn''t care. I sat across from him with my usual expression and looked him straight in the eye. I didn''t say anything and Adrian spoke without lowering his smile.


    "You said half an hour, but you''re early."


    "I''m early everywhere I go."


    "Oh... Okay. Do you want something to drink?"


    I waited without answering and Adrian continued to stare nkly at me.


    Can''t he get straight to the point? I''m wasting time...


    "I''ll pay, don''t worry."


    "Anything hot will do."


    "Coffee?


    "Sure, but it''s even better if we get to the point quickly."


    Adrian nodded quickly, looked at the waiters circling between the tables of the caf¨¦, and raised his hand in the air. The moment he did so, one of the waiters ended up right next to us. It was as if he had been waiting for this moment.


    Adrian quickly ordered two coffees at above-average prices and then turned back to me.


    "So let me start from the beginning, it will be better for you to understand."


    I nodded. Then Adrian told me about the boy James, themoners who had gathered together, and the group they had formed. Slowly he moved on to our current problem and how he met them yesterday.


    Even though we were talking about all this at a table in the corner of the caf¨¦, he was very quiet, almost inaudible from outside the table. And even when he was paying attention to me, one of his eyes seemed to be scanning his surroundings, looking for anyone who might be trying to listen to him.


    He adjusts his voice to avoid being overheard, but it seems natural. He pretends to be focused on me, but he is always watching his surroundings... I may have underestimated him a bit.


    "... basically, I need to stop this group and James."


    I took a sip of my coffee, which had already arrived by the end of his narration.


    "So, you''ve decided to be a hero again?"


    I put my coffee back on the table and looked directly into his eyes. Adrian''s expression dropped a little but remained as much the same as possible.


    "I want to help these people because they are the people that I can reach out to. I don''t think I''m trying to make myself a hero by doing this. Maybe I''m trying to satisfy myself inside, I don''t know... But it doesn''t change the fact that I can help people who have a problem right now."


    Oh... He actually seems a bit better since thest time I saw him. He must have taken what I said seriously, and if that''s the case, he must see me as closer to him, as I thought. It''s a good thing I followed him that day.


    Still, I don''t want to give him too much face. It annoys me that he always smiles and wants to help people.


    "It''s up to you. It''s your life, your choices, but it''s hard to think about others. I hope you''re taking that into consideration."


    "Of course, I do."


    I was even more frustrated when I saw how determined he was and how proud he seemed to be of it.


    "Even if you''re confident, you can''t wage direct war on a group that already has more or less influence in the academy. I hope you have a n that gives you that confidence?"


    Adrian opened his mouth, he was about to say something, but then he stopped, put his hand to the back of his head, and smiled.


    "That''s kind of what I need help with..."


    Ah... Right. If he could do it with strength, he wouldn''t need any help. I can''t think straight because he annoys me with everything...


    Would it make me feel good to kill him? No... I''m ignoring the fact that he''s so strong, I''m lost in my thoughts again.


    "Then let me find out how strong you are first."


    "My general level is D+, but you can consider me a C-."


    He didn''t move up a grade, but... I''m sure he''s stronger than before.


    I took a deep breath.


    How can I kill this monster? I need to catch him when he''s vulnerable...


    I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, but even now he was on guard. He was acting rxed, but since thest incident, it really felt like he had eyes even behind his back.


    "You said James was smart, right?"


    "Yes."


    "He adjusted his clothes twice while he was talking to you?"


    "Yes."


    He''s obsessed with keeping himself clean and he''s the illegitimate son of a noble family... He must have developed this obsession to prove himself, to look good all the time.


    I sat back and started to think.


    Even if the group they''ve formed is misguided, if we simply stop James, they''ll rebel and put someone else in charge... We have to finish James off in such a way that they can''t even think of such an attempt.


    The best option is to get him kicked out of the academy somehow, especially in a public way. It would be quite a good intimidation to show that we can get him kicked out of the academy.


    Of course, that''s my first thought, and if Ie up with better ideas, I can use that as n B.


    Ah...


    I paused with an idea that came to me out of the blue.


    Actually... Do I really need to solve this problem?


    Can''t I just kill him and me it on those idiots?


    Why didn''t I think of that before...?


    "Did you find something?"


    "No... Actually... Yes, I kind of did."


    Adrian''s eyes suddenly sparkled.


    "Do you think we can handle it ourselves?"


    His excitement skyrocketed and everyone around us turned to us. I was instantly pissed off.


    "Sit down, you look like an idiot."


    Adrian paused, put his hand to his mouth, coughed slightly, and sat back down softly.


    "Can we?"


    With the scenario starting to take shape in my mind, I realized how simple I could make this job done. It might be a bit of work, but it''s not that hard...


    I raised my hand, rested my head against it, and fixed my eyes on the table.


    "Yes, I think we can."

 Chapter 134 Volume III - 55: Leaving the Forest of Spiders Behind

    <h4>Chapter 134 Volume III - Chapter 55: Leaving the Forest of Spiders Behind</h4>


    I reopened the cavity, which I had closed without too much difficulty, but I didn''t go out immediately. I waited a while first. I looked around, made sure there was no threat around us, and so I took my first step outside.


    Sword in hand, Sith behind me, eyes everywhere an enemy could hide, I was alert.


    "It''s clear, I think..."


    Even though I didn''t let my guard down, I rxed my stance a little. Still, I didn''t want to take any chances.


    ''Sith, let''s be careful just in case. You and me both.''


    ''I was going to say the same thing.''


    "The spiders have probably stopped looking for us, but this is their territory, so if we run into any of them, they''re sure to call their friends. Let''s be careful and try to get out of the area quickly."


    I took onest look around and then turned back into the forest.


    "Let''s move."


    Alex nodded at me, and we entered the forest again.


    We took every step carefully, trying our best to avoid dealing with those stupid spiders again, and we actually seeded. Being suspicious of the slightest sound we heard along the way and moving away from them worked better than I thought it would. We only saw two groups of spiders and none of them noticed us.


    Of course, it was not easy to be so stealthy, and we were extremely slow. But after a few hours, we noticed that the trees were getting thinner. We were crossing the forest and slowly emerging from it. When I thought that this cursed forest full of spiders was behind us, I was never so happy to be out of there.


    I''m not afraid of spiders or insects but... they are annoying. Especially the cat-sized ones and the ones that try especially hard to eat me... Alex must have felt the same way.


    I turned to him and looked at his face, and I saw more surprise than happiness. He was looking beyond where we hade out of the forest.


    "We survived the forest, but this ce..."


    I looked ahead with him.


    The trees in front of us were much sparser than in the forest. I would even say they were almost non-existent. It was as if we were on a in in the middle of an ice age, with a tndscape in front of us and a high mountain not far ahead. There seemed to be a valley in the middle, but that was not the important thing.


    Toward the end of our field of vision, a few buildings stood out. These were the stones with strange patterns on them that we had seen when we first entered the dungeon. Ahead of us was a in of ruins.


    "We have no choice but to move forward, and since the level of the dungeon isn''t very high, I don''t think we''ll encounter anyone tougher than those spiders, unless we encounter extreme creatures..."


    Alex didn''t seem to rx after what I had said, but he continued on with me. As we got closer to the ruins that we could only see in the distance and began to see them and the ruins beyond them, I couldn''t help but hold my breath, even though I knew this ce.


    It had a wonderful feeling as if we were passing through the ruins of an ancient civilization that had been destroyed long ago. Archaeologists would go crazy with happiness if they saw this ce. The motifs on the stones, the structures that looked like they used to belong to a building, the weapons and creature bones that could be seen even though they were covered with snow...


    "They''re quite beautiful, aren''t they?"


    I couldn''t find the expression on Alex''s face that I expected.


    "I think they''re tragic."


    His face was quite straight even though he said that. He saw that I noticed that and replied.


    "They have nothing to do with me, so I don''t care about them. I don''t even know if they''re real because we''re in a dungeon, but still, to think that this might be the end of a civilization... is tragic."


    I opened my mouth but didn''t say anything. I turned away and sighed. There really wasn''t the slightest sadness on his face, but he was right.


    Whether it was true or not, it was tragic that a city could be alive and active¡­ but then fall into this state... to be erased and forgotten from history.


    "Let''s move on. We mustn''t let our guard down."


    Alex nodded without saying anything. We continued walking through the ruins.


    The ruins just kept moving forward and eventually opened up into the in that we could see ahead. And as we moved further into this in, we were approaching the mountain with a huge valley in the middle.


    Our surroundings changed more and more every minute. The most obvious change was that the ruins became more frequent, but that was not the most important thing. The important thing was... the corpses of creatures began to appear around us. Not ancient bones, but fresh corpses.


    As we continued to move forward, particrly alert, we suddenly paused. As quickly as we could, we moved behind a ruin and looked at whaty in our path.


    Before us was a very primitive apin settlement.


    I don''t know how urate it is to call it a settlement though... There are only three of what look like tents and not many apins. The rest are probably out hunting.


    "They''re right in the middle of our path, but I don''t think we need to fight, we''ve wasted enough time after what happened with the spiders."


    Besides, I don''t want to get into group battles for a little while after them, and Alex seems to agree with me.


    "Okay."


    We carefully walked past them, avoiding the apins. Fortunately, none of them noticed us and we sessfully evaded them.


    So we continued to approach the mountain, which seemed to be literally split in two by the valley, while the amount of ruins around us continued to increase.


    Of course, the ruins were not the only thing that increased in number, the creatures also increased from this point on as if we had entered their habitat. But we did our best to avoid them.


    A few times we had to fight the creatures, a few times we ran further into the valley, a few times we destroyed them like assassins before they even realized what was happening, a few times we passed by them without even their souls hearing us...


    Now there was another obstacle in front of us. An obstacle that we could not cross or fight our way through... a cliff.


    "How do we get across?"


    Alex looked around for a long time. There used to be a bridge over this cliff, but now it was at the bottom of it. It was so deep and foggy that I couldn''t even see the remains of the bridge.


    The same was true on the other side of the cliff.


    "I can''t even see the other end, I would have used the wind to get us across, but I''m not sure if my mana is enough."


    I had to use my mana a few times before I came here and I didn''t drink the potions because I didn''t want to waste them. I''ll need themter and flying using the wind really consumes a lot of mana...


    I turned my head to the right. There were about forty meters between us and the wall of the valley we were in, which was covered with a thickyer of ice. It looked just as I remembered it.


    I walked toward the wall and Alex followed behind me. When we reached the wall and he saw what was there, his eyes widened with fear.


    "No way..."


    There was a road at the point where the cliff intersected the rocky wall of the valley, but it was so narrow that at most one person could barely pass over it at a time. Moreover, unlike modern roads, there was no guardrail. So, one wrong step would send us to our death.


    "We have to cross here?!"


    "Do you see another way?"


    Alex swallowed, not even trying to hide his almost pale face from me.


    I know, of course, the reason for such a reaction: he has a fear of heights. And a pretty bad one at that.


    "Don''t worry, this is one of the reasons I bought the mountaineering equipment. We''re not going to walk straight up. I''m not that stupid."


    I slid my pack off my back, pulled out a couple of dimensional buttons, and opened them, revealing four picks for stabbing into the ice, a spiked sole for our shoes, and so on.


    Alex swallowed once more when he saw them.


    "I mean, it''s obvious that you''re afraid of heights, but even if it''s not a cliff, we''ll have to climb another mountain in the near future. So you''d better prepare yourself, and I''ll catch you if you fall. Don''t worry."


    Well... I can catch him, I hope.

 Chapter 135 Volume III - 56: Deadly Paths

    <h4>Chapter 135 Volume III - Chapter 56: Deadly Paths</h4>


    Alex didn''t seem convinced, even after I told him I could catch him, but there was nothing I could do.


    There''s no other way through here. And maybe this will help him face his fears a little.


    "Come on, let''s not waste time."


    With that, even though Alex gave me a bit of a hard time, I somehow managed to get him to put on all the gear, and once I was ready, I walked slowly down the small road and turned back to Alex.


    "I''ll take the lead. Watch the steps I take, where I stick the pickaxe in my hand."


    "O- okay..."


    Alex kept his eyes on the cliff. Unlike his normal self, he was extremely preupied, he looked almost stupid, and I sighed at that. I turned around, took a step and then suddenly turned back to him and shouted.


    "Boo!"


    Alex suddenly jumped in ce, shouted a little, albeit hoarsely, and looked at me in horror.


    "Get a hold of yourself. If you step in there like that, you''ll be at the bottom in less than two minutes. Have some confidence, take this as an opportunity to ovee your fear. And also trust me a little. I can help you, yes, but there are things even I can''t do if you''re this distracted."


    Alex waited a moment, then put his hand to his chest and sighed, trying tofort himself.


    Did I exaggerate when I scared him?


    "I''ll try."


    He lowered his hand from over his heart, took a deep breath, made sure not to look at the bottom of the cliff, and turned to me. I smiled back and turned back to the narrow road.


    "Let''s go..."


    I put my foot with the spiked sole on the path, stabbed my pick hard into the thickyer of ice, and took another step. Like that, I started moving along the path as fast as I could, even if it was a bit slow, and as I took my third step, I heard a noise behind me. I turned my head to see Alex stabbing his pick into the ice and a smile appeared on my face again.


    We still have a long way to go, but I don''t think there will be much of a problem if we keep going like this.


    The sound of the picks being driven into the ice echoed off the cliff, but it wasn''t very loud, and so, just as I thought, we had no problems as we continued along the path for so long that after a while, I stopped counting.


    And now we could see the other side of the cliff.


    Both Alex and I were relieved when we could see the other side. The fact that there was a deep cliff a little bit behind our feet was a bit frightening, even though I''m not afraid of heights. That''s why I was eager to get to the other side and we were getting pretty close, but just then... I paused involuntarily when a sound echoed in my ears.


    ~cr-


    It was a sound I didn''t want to hear.


    ~crack!


    "Eh?"


    I heard a sudden sounding from behind me and the cracking sounds became more intense. I quickly turned around and saw cracks on the piece of the piece above the one Alex had stepped on.


    "Quick! Step back!"


    He couldn''te forward because I was in front of him, the only thing we could do was for him to go backward and for me to go forward, but everything happened so fast.


    The cracks widened, and Alex swallowed, looking into my eyes. Then... he suddenly started to fall.


    "Shit!"


    I threw the pickaxe in one hand into the abyss and threw myself down. I used the spikes on the bottom of my shoe to anchor myself to the ice for a bit, and I drove the pickaxe in my other hand into the ice as hard as I could. Meanwhile, I held my other hand out toward Alex and mentally shouted to the Sith to use my mana to lift Alex up a bit.


    A teal glow quickly enveloped Alex''s falling body and sent him hurtling upward. I managed to grab a piece of his armor, but I couldn''t catch him, it was slipping out of my hand.


    "Take my hand, Alex!"


    Alex couldn''t even lift his eyes which were wide with fear and shock. He just stared at the bottom of the cliff.


    Did he fucking pass out?


    "Come on Alex, your armor is slipping... take my hand!"


    I can''t let go of him because my other hand is on the handle of the pickaxe. The only way out of here is for Alex toe to his senses.


    "Come on, you idiot! Are you going to die here?! You want me to tell your mom you''re dead or something?!"


    Alex finally looked up after I said this and looked me in the eyes. Meanwhile, my hand was slipping even more.


    "Come on now, you idiot! Sith, use more mana!"


    ''I''m trying!''


    Again, a gust of wind supported Alex''s body, but it was already a bit windy in the valley, so we were trying to create a countercurrent. This was not easy, so I could not lift Alex up, even though I could hold him in the air for a while.


    Alex swallowed, closed his eyes, and grabbed my hand, dropping the pickaxe in his right hand onto the cliff below. At least he wasn''t sliding down anymore.


    "Good! I''ll throw you up, use the pickaxe in your other hand and the nails on the bottom of your shoe to get back on track! I will also support you with my mana."


    Alex nodded slightly and I asked Sith for help once more.


    "Three..."


    I waved the hand holding Alex back and forth slightly, needing to elerate him as I threw him upward.


    "Two... One!"


    I felt arge part of my mana being sucked away. And my wind, which had so far struggled against the breeze in the valley itself, blew much stronger this time and threw Alex upward.


    Alex quickly jumped up, managed tond on the road above me, and quickly drove his pickaxe into the wall, but his foot did notnd firmly on the ground.


    A few chunks of freezing and hard ice fell on my face, scratching my cheek and causing blood to ooze from it, but I didn''t care. Alex''s foot slipped, almost going over his back, and I wasn''t sure if I could hold him this time. Fortunately, he managed to stabilize himself with the help of the pickaxe he had stuck in the wall.


    So I could finally let out a sigh of relief.


    "Just watch your step, I''ll climb up and be right behind you."


    Without answering me, Alex slowly made his way to the edge of the cliff. When the path above me opened up, I took a deep breath and stretched slightly, pulling myself upward with support from where I was holding my pickaxe. I quickly grabbed the edge of the path and then pulled myself up again. Soon I was back on the path and after stabilizing myself with my pickaxe, I turned my eyes to the cliff.


    The bottom is still invisible even though the fog has cleared a bit, it''s really deep.


    I swallowed, just like Alex. Who knows what would have happened if I had fallen from there...?


    I took my eyes off the cliff and looked at Alex. He was already across, looking at me.


    I sighed slightly and made my way over to him, finally letting out another sigh of relief as I threw myself over the other side of the cliff.


    "I hope you will act a little faster from now on instead of freezing, please remember that we are in a dungeon."


    Alex did nothing but bow his head slightly. This boy who had been egotistical with me only an hour ago was now suddenly bowing his head.


    Fear really does a lot of things to a person...


    "Whatever¡­ Put the pickaxe in your bag. Let''s rest a bit and then move on. I don''t think any creature is going toe near the cliff."


    Alex stood still for only two or three seconds and then let himself drop to the ground. His breathing suddenly became rapid and irregr.


    I knelt down next to him, took out a dimensional button from my bag, and handed him a piece of bread. Alex did nothing but stare at the bread I handed him.


    "It has meat in it. It has to be hot, so you''d better eat it quickly. We won''t stop for long. We still have a long way to go."


    When I saw that he didn''t take the bread I handed him, I sighed and handed it to him even more, shoving it in front of his eyes. So he took it but waited a little longer before eating it. I took out a piece of bread for myself, started to munch, and turned my face to the sky.


    I hope we can get out of here without any problems... I have a bad feeling.

 Chapter 136 Volume III - 57: A Bigger Spider

    <h4>Chapter 136 Volume III - Chapter 57: A Bigger Spider</h4>


    ?


    We continued to walk through the ruins for a while after we escaped from the cliff, and we had to fight the apins in groups a few times, but there were some that we managed to sneak past.


    And then there were the trolls... They gave us a lot of trouble because if we tried to fight even one of them, its roar would draw the attention of every creature in the ruins.


    And now, in front of us, there was a broken structure that looked like a huge entrance gate, half of which had broken off and copsed on the ground. It felt like we were entering a huge garden.


    "Look, they opened the entrance for us in advance. Well, we could have ignored it and walked past it, but... courtesy is courtesy."


    With a smile on my face, I approached the huge door, empty in the middle because it was broken. Alex was cautious, peering around every corner.


    "This is no time for jokes."


    "If we''re always serious, we''ll be old men, Alex! Keep your inner child on the surface for a while."


    "But we''re in a dungeon where we could die!"


    "Meh, that''s exactly why you shouldn''t be too seri-"


    I paused and stepped back, grabbing Alex by the chest and pushing him quickly to the side. Once I was pinned against the wall myself, I ducked behind some rubble.


    "What''s going on?"


    "I heard a noise."


    It sounded like someone slurping their food... and I didn''t like it one bit.


    "Well, we can get a little serious here."


    Turning to Alex, I put my index finger to my lips, and when Alex nodded slightly in agreement, I moved slightly in the direction of the sound, behind another piece of rubble, and out of the corner of my eye I looked at the space between the ruins.


    Alex, in his own way, managed to see exactly what I saw.


    "What the hell is that..."


    "Uh... a giant spider?"


    There was a huge spider in front of us, just a little bit shorter than a full-grown human being and almost two meters long. It was sideways to us, so we could see exactly what it was doing, and what it was doing was... ruthlessly eating a troll.


    The flesh, the bone, the blood... literally all the body parts of the troll were all over the ce. The sight was quite frightening and the smell was so strong that I could almost smell it here.


    The spider, on the other hand, had a very ugly appearance. It was missing the second of its eight legs from the right back as if it had lost it in a battle in the past, and its head was crooked as if it had been crushed. It had tworge eyes and three pairs of small eyes that surrounded therge eyes, making a total of eight. Its whole body was hairy and shiny as if it had ayer of oil on it.


    "A- Are we going to fight it?"


    "Of course not. Even if we manage to defeat it, it would slow down our progress too much."


    I studied the spider a little more.


    It looks just like the mini-boss in the dungeon, although some of the details look a bit different, so the reward for defeating it would be good, but like I said, we don''t need it.


    "Be careful not to make a sound. We''ll move away and go around it."


    Normally, when we''re in the game, it can spot us no matter what because of the system. But we''re not in the game right now, we''re in the real world. So, we need to be able to get past him unseen, just like we do with other creatures.


    Alex looked hesitant, but he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and nodded decisively. So I smiled back, at least he wasn''t acting as timid as before.


    "Let''s go back a bit first."


    I took onest look at the spider and then stepped back with a sigh, making sure not to make a sound in the direction we came from, and when we were about ten meters away from our previous position, I went behind a stone again and pointed Alex to the stones on our left. That was where we were going, it was easier to hide there as there were more ruined stones and it was right behind the spider.


    That''s how we got behind the first stone. Then when we got to the second, third, and fourth. The spider''s voice started toe back to us. It still hadn''t finished the troll it was eating. The saliva was still flying out of its mouth and the slurping sounds were still echoing.


    I couldn''t help swallowing for a moment.


    This spider is a real ''predator'', a real threat to us. The way it recklessly eats its food in the open, when it is defenseless, shows how much it despises its surroundings, and how superior a creature it is.


    It''s just frightening...


    I swallowed again and moved behind the next rock, slowly, without making a sound, and Alex followed me nervously. After a while, we were directly behind the spider. It hadn''t even noticed us so far, too busy with its meal, but soon it would stop eating the troll. So we had to be quick.


    I walked quickly but quietly toward the next rock, and the moment I was behind it I leaned over and looked back at the spider. It still hadn''t noticed us.


    I turned around to look at Alex and when I saw that he was right behind me, I sighed slightly and turned back in front of us.


    I took another step toward the next rock, and then... I paused.


    I hadn''t made a sound and neither had Alex, who hadn''t moved a muscle. We had done nothing noticeable, yet there was a reason for the pause.


    The slurping sounds the spider had been making up to now... had suddenly disappeared.


    An intense silence descended throughout the area as if even the wind refused to make the slightest hum.


    I turned my head a little to the side and looked in the direction of the spider, and there... I saw eight red dots glowing like death itself.


    It was looking at me, not even moving, as if the whole world had frozen.


    It was definitely looking at me. It waspletely focused on me.


    "Run, Alex! Run!"


    After I made contact with the spider''s eyes, I stood up without even looking back and started running at a speed I didn''t think it could keep up with me. I could hear Alex following me. His voice sounded bad, but at least he could keep up with me, so I kept my eyes on the road ahead and kept running.


    A high-pitched hissing sound, as if scratching our ears, raged around us. The calm before the storm was suddenly broken. Animals and birds in the trees began to scatter in fear, and then the sound of steps echoed as if someone was beating a drum, one after the other.


    I didn''t need to look behind me, because the spider was ''running'' just like us.


    "Don''t look back Alex, just run!"


    I didn''t hear a reply from Alex, but I didn''t say anything because I could hear himing from behind me. His voice became a little more erratic, but he still didn''tg behind.


    So, I kept running.


    The disgusting sounds of the spidering from behind us distracted me and put strange thoughts in my head. At least the Absolute Mind was doing a pretty good job of pushing them away, but that didn''t change the fact that there was a scary spider chasing us.


    As I realized that the rubble of the ruins was beginning to dwindle in number, something else caught my eye, a group of apins wandering along our path, albeit a bit far away.


    "Run toward the apins!"


    I quickly turned in their direction and threw my hands in the air and shouted at the top of my lungs.


    "LOOK OVER HERE!"


    Even though I was quite far away from them, a few of the apins turned their heads in surprise and started to look around.


    "OVER HERE YOU IDIOTS!"


    I shouted once more and this time a few of them turned exactly in my direction. For a moment I saw the bloodlust in their eyes, they saw me as prey, but that bloodlust was quickly reced by fear.


    They had seen the spider behind us and as soon as that happened, the whole of them stopped what they were doing and started running into the forest. As soon as I saw this, I looked at their backs, which were empty and moving away from us.


    I thought these idiots were going to fight the spider!


    Shit... That''s right, I''m not in the game. The algorithms of the creatures in the game tend to attack everything they see, but this is reality!


    The spider''s ugly voice echoed in my ears again. Like a centipede, I felt its steps speeding up with the constant sound. All the ruins, all the creatures, literally everything was trembling from the sounds of the spider.


    Damn... Damn... Damn... What should I do? The spider is getting closer... Alexander will soon get tired and so will I.


    The spider roared again, I felt it getting closer to us, and that''s when I realized that Alex''s footsteps had slowed down.


    Damn it!


    The feeling of helplessness enveloped my body with each passing second. Gradually, as Alex''s footsteps began to fall behind me, I found myself in an even bigger predicament, but then... I paused.


    I can think straight a little thanks to the Absolute Mind. There is no way I can fight that stupid spider, and if we keep running, the only oue is to be its food. So I have to take a risk...


    Pausing where I was, I quickly turned around and looked at thendscape. Alex looked at me with a look of confusion on his face at my action and fear at the situation. His speed had dropped considerablypared to when he first started running. The spider wasing toward us in an ecstatic state and looking at him like that made him look even more ugly and scary.


    "Stop, Alex."


    Alex hesitated for a moment, but as soon as he did, a look of fear came back on his face and he sped up again. He must have thought I had given up on living or something.


    "Hold on tight."


    "What?!"


    Without letting him speak any further, I grabbed him by the shoulder, then took a deep breath and swirled my mana around inside me.


    ''Sith, I need to jump almost four meters above the spider. And we''re not only going to jump but dive forward. The breeze will be behind us so I don''t need to spend a lot of mana, but I need to focus to get up. We need to save as much mana as we can.''


    Sith didn''t answer me but I sighed as a faint teal glow surrounded my body.


    Running away is not an option. Even if I can''t fight the spider, I have to kill it somehow. And even if I can''t kill it, I have to defeat it.


    With that, I jumped into the air with Alex.

 Chapter 137 Volume III - 58: Mutant Spider鈥檚 Chase

    <h4>Chapter 137 Volume III - Chapter 58: Mutant Spider''s Chase</h4>


    *(A/N: Sorry, I published this chapter identally. That''s why there will be 1 chapter at the normal update time, not 2.)*


    "Kieeeek!"


    As Alex and I flew over it, the giant spider let out a loud angry scream and opened its mouth slightly. Then it opened its mouth so wide that both Alex''s and my eyes widened. A huge, really huge, green liquid shot out of the creature''s mouth toward us.


    The liquid, acid, or whatever it was, was so fast that I had no time to avoid it. So I did the first thing that came to my mind and tried to create a Mana Barrier to surround us.


    My mana was quickly withdrawn from my body. I imagined the skill in my mind and suddenly there was a colorless, transparent, and spherical structure surrounding me.


    The green liquid hit the barrier and then began to fall back down to the ground, literally covering us. It was so strong, though, that the barrier couldn''t hold out for long and quickly melted away, followed by the green liquid.


    "Kiiieeeeeeek!!!"


    The spider screamed once more and started running at us again. Meanwhile, we kept falling and finally made contact with the ground, but of course, we had no time to stop.


    "Run Alex! Don''t stop!"


    We started going back the way we came, seeing the same trees, the samendscape. We kept feeling the same breath of the spider, the same presence of the forest that was afraid of it. Meanwhile, I checked my mana.


    Since the wind was blowing fiercely right behind us, with the help of Sith, I had used only thirty percent of my mana. So I have seventy percent left... I think it will be enough.


    I started spinning almost all of my mana inside of me.


    "How... the he- hell... i- is it so... fast!"


    Alex was out of breath as he ran, but he still expressed his hatred. And I answered him without thinking.


    "How the fuck should I know! Just keep running!"


    "KIIIEEEEEEEEEKK!!!"


    After that roar, the forest trembled all over, as if it was afraid of the spider as a whole. Then I heard running stepsing from my left side and my brain stopped working for a moment.


    Wasn''t Alex on my right side?


    My eyes quickly darted to my left and the shock almost caused me to stumble. Next to us was an apin, who, like us, had fled to avoid bing a target for the spider.


    An apin that only a few hours before had been trying to kill us with its kin, was now fleeing from amon enemy.


    The apin looked at me for a moment. There was not a trace of hunger or hostility in its eyes. There was only fear, fear of being eaten alive. Fear of bing prey when it was a hunter. It was such a fear that it could make such an expression in front of those it considered its prey.


    As I ran, never losing my speed, I swung hard into the apin''s face. I felt its teeth shatter in my fist, I had hit it really hard that the apin suddenly stumbled. Its eyes zed over as if it had fainted and its body was thrown back by the force of my attack. It flew straight at the huge spider, but the spider didn''t even take it seriously.


    "KIIIIIIEEEKK!"


    As if apin was a fly, the spider''s body literally tore him apart. The spider didn''t even slow down a bit, in fact, it suddenly sped up as if it was a bit angry.


    I had hoped it would be distracted by the apin or something, but this maniac is obsessed with us!


    So, I kept running a little bit more. And after some time, I could finally see the cliff that we had crossed a while ago.


    "We can''t run any further, Aiden!"


    "I know!"


    "What? What do you mean you know?!"


    "Trust me! You don''t have a choice anyway!"


    I could have sworn Alex''s face fell, but I didn''t have time to think, I had to be fast.


    When we approached the cliff like this, there were no more than six meters between us and the spider. I only had seconds, even milliseconds to do what I wanted to do.


    Alex shouted at me. I heard words I couldn''t understand, but I didn''t care and pushed him with all my strength.


    Alex was thrown back a few meters. He even flipped in the air, but hended on the ground without much damage to himself.


    Wasting no time, I turned back to the spider. I activated the Mana Barrier first, and a transparent, colorless barrier materialized in front of me. Then I broke a few of the dimensional buttons that held my spare swords and several swords appeared in the air.


    I quickly grabbed two of them and filled them with the mana that I had been swirling around inside me. The wild mana moved toward the swords, and the swords began to tremble as they could no longer handle the excessive wild mana that was building up in my hands. Then I threw them right at the spider''s legs.


    There were only three meters between us when this happened, and a green liquid wasing toward me with only one meter between me and it, maybe even less.


    I held the barrier I had created in front of me. The green liquid hit it and dissolved it instantly, but it also lost all its strength. So, it fell to the ground in front of me and began to bubble and sink into the snow.


    The swords flew at the spider with tremendous speed, but I didn''t wait for them to reach it. I grabbed two more of the swords that were still in the air, that hadn''t fallen to the ground, and I did the same and threw them at the spider.


    The first swords I threw reached the spider. The spider simply smashed them with its forelegs, but as it did so, the wild mana inside the swords exploded.


    The wild mana that was suddenly released covered the spider''s body. The spider screamed in pain and tried to stop itself, but just then the other swords I threw reached it.


    Since the spider could not defend itself, these swords went straight through its body and the spider roared. Its skin looked a little burnt from the mana explosion that had just happened, adding to its disgustingness and obviously affecting it, but that was it. My action had done no more than slow it down, maybe injure it a little, and leave a mark on its skin. But that was it.


    The spider was angry, very angry, and kepting at me.


    The distance between us dropped to two meters. I grabbed the other two swords as they were about to fall to the ground and attacked the spider with the sword in my left hand.


    The spider drooled all over me. Its ws swung at me with great fury. I had no time to dodge it, it was too fast. That''s why I attacked it. I had no choice but to use the attack as a defense.


    My sword and the spider''s front leg, which looked like a sharp knife, collided. I felt a tremendous force bearing down on me, the sword cracked, the mana inside leaking out. The force was so sudden that I felt like my arm was broken, but I smiled.


    The ugly face of the spider was right in front of me, not even a meter between us, and I let myself fall off the cliff.


    The spider hadn''t stopped itself when it had just lunged at me. So its shadow passed over me as I began to float down the cliff.


    Without waiting, I threw the cracked sword in my hand under the spider, stabbed the sword in my other hand into the ice chunks next to me, and put my feet against the wall to slow my fall.


    It wasn''t hard to stop, and I hadn''t been falling for long when I quickly turned back to the spider.


    The sword I threw at it went straight through its abdomen at that very moment, and the spider screamed furiously. Its head turned up and down, but just then its voice suddenly stopped. It stopped moving for a moment, as if it had just realized where it was, that it was no longer connected to the ground, and there was silence as its voice echoed across the cliff.


    Then the spider''s body was suddenly bathed in a brilliant light, and a sound even louder than its roar pierced my ears.


    The sword, extremely ferocious, filled with mana that I had charged almost thirty percent of the mana in my body with, exploded in the spider''s abdomen. Its fragments scattered like fireworks.


    It was a sight that would have made someone like me, who did not possess the Absolute Mind, vomit, but I didn''t care.


    I noticed a piece flying through the air, moving away from me.


    It was one of the spider''s eyes, looking at me. It didn''t matter if it was alive or not, that eye seemed to be following me specifically, even though it was separated from its body, and I swallowed.


    The spider''s eye, along with its other parts, fell down along the cliff. I stared at it until they disappeared and it stared back at me. It looked as if it could pierce me with its gaze, but after it disappeared, I slowly erased that thought from my mind.


    There was no reason for me to be afraid of a dead creature... at least not right now.


    A few secondster, there was a loud sound that echoed across the cliff. Followed by a final, slowly fading scream.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You killed the Mutant Frost Spider, a mini-boss, without even taking damage!


    Your reward will be added to the rewards you will receive forpleting the dungeon.


    ------------------------------>>


    With the screen suddenly appearing in front of me, I was sure that the spider was dead, and I waspletely reassured.


    "Haa..."


    I took a deep breath, rxed myself, and prepared to go to the top, but the moment I moved my body, a sharp pain shot through my whole body. It was such a strain on my body to instantly expel all that wild mana out of my body that I started to feel dizzy from the pain. I almost let go of the sword on the wall, unable to hold it properly, but with the help of the Absolute Mind, I forced myself to do so.


    Ignoring the notification message, I turned around and slowly started to climb upward. It was not easy because of the pain I felt in my body, I even felt like falling a few times, but I managed to stay on the wall and, finally, I was close to the top.


    Then I realized that a head was looking down from the slope above me, looking toward me.


    "Aiden! Come a little closer, I can''t reach you."


    I gritted my teeth and lifted myself up a little higher, then let go of my hand and quickly tried to grab Alex''s hand. I seeded.


    The sword fell out of my hand when I couldn''t grasp it in my other hand, but with Alex''s help, I managed to climb up. The moment I did that, I let myself drop onto the heavy snow.


    Although I couldn''t feel cold because I was a wiera, the chill prated my body, but I didn''t care. In fact, I was d it happened because it felt like the pain was lessening.


    It was aforting coolness.


    "A- Alex... Find a safe ce..."


    After those words I managed to utter, my eyes closed by themselves and thest thing I heard was Alex''s anxious ''okay''.

 Chapter 138 Volume III - 59: A Boy Who Knows About Maths

    <h4>Chapter 138 Volume III - Chapter 59: A Boy Who Knows About Maths</h4>


    ~ding! ~ding! ~ding! ~ding!


    The sound of the bell filled the corridors and then the ssroom. The math teacher took onest look at us and gave us the questions he wanted us to solve in the next ss, then left the ssroom without saying a word.


    It was lunchtime, so every single one of the students who wanted to get their lunch early literally flew out. So, there were only a few people left in the ssroom. One of them, of course, was me.


    "ra, shall we eat together?"


    I smiled when I saw one of my ssmates next to me.


    "Sorry, I have to go to the library. I already have my own food."


    I showed her the lunch box I had taken out of my bag and she sighed slightly. But didn''t seem upset at all and went off to ask someone else the same question. She didn''t even look back at me.


    At least you should have looked a little upset...


    That''s why I don''t like it here so much, I at least had real friends at my old school. But here... they only care about their own interests. I should have spat on my brother and gone to a normal school instead of a private school where only people with a lot of money or nobles can go.


    Anyway... at least the library is unnecessarily big.


    With that, I took my lunch box with me and made my way to the library. It didn''t take me long to get there.


    "Hello."


    "I''ll stay until lunch break is over, ra Tenebra."


    The librarian typed my name on the screen in front of her, then smiled and a green light appeared above the library''s open door, which looked like it was made for giants. I passed smoothly through what would normally be an invisible wall.


    I made my way to a ce in the corner of the huge library with huge bookcases and tables everywhere, and as soon as I found an empty table, I opened my food. Then I took a small device out of my pocket and put it in front of me. The light on the device suddenly lit up and a holographic screen rose above it.


    When it reached the size of aputer screen, the device stopped and a smile appeared on my face. I started to look at things rted to my studies while eating my food.


    This was how I spent my day at school, just studying because the exams the school gave were... extremely difficult.


    I''m not as smart as my brother, as both of them, but I used to get good grades. At this school... I''m either average or below average. I want to go to my brother with good results when he''s doing so much for me, but... that''s all I can do.


    So, I spend my time studying.


    I took a bite of the bread I had prepared at home and started to chew it, while I continued to read what was written on the screen. I read, solved, read, got stuck, learned, solved, and continued...


    I finished my lunch, and more than half of the hour-and-a-half lunch break was over, but I didn''t stop. And then... I got stuck on a question again.


    No matter what I did, I couldn''t find the answer. It was obvious that I had made a mistake somewhere, but... where? That was the important question.


    I frowned and tilted my head a little and focused on the question.


    I''ve skipped enough questions today. I don''t want to skip any more. I must have made a very simple mistake somewhere... I certainly did.


    "You got the angle wrong."


    My focus suddenly broke. I reflexively turned around and looked at the person speaking to me.


    He had ck hair and eyes that looked somewhere between yellow and brown. He was taller than me but shorter than his peers. He had an idiot''s smile, an innocent one even, on his face and he was looking not at me but at the screen in front of me.


    "You should take the angle as thirty-two, not twenty-two. There was a processing error."


    I didn''t check the uracy of his question, I just kept looking at him and so he finally turned to me.


    "Ah... Am I disturbing you? I just wanted to help you. I just solved the same question."


    Without saying anything, I turned away, checked the question, and realized that he was indeed right.


    I had really made a needless mistake...


    "Thank you."


    I waited for the boy to leave and moved on to the next question. This time, the boy spoke again.


    "It seems you couldn''t do the previous question either, the part between the purity of the mana and its efficiency is reversed."


    I checked the question. What I found was that he was right again...


    "Thank you."


    "You make too many processing errors. If you have something on your mind, you might need some rest."


    I turned around again and looked at the boy.


    He had the same smile on his face and was looking at the screen as I was looking at him. When he realized I was looking at him, he turned back to me just like before and put his hand behind his head.


    "Ah... Sorry, I seem to have disturbed you again. I apologize, I''ll leave."


    He started to turn around and looked at the clock on his arm.


    "Wait."


    He paused and his eyes turned back to me.


    "Are you good at math?"


    His smile became a little awkward and he suddenly became timid.


    "Hahaha... Well, sort of?"


    "What did you get in thest exam?"


    "Ny-seven."


    The feeling he gives me is good, he doesn''t act like he has any ulterior motives. He was even embarrassed when he told me his grade, so he doesn''t like to praise himself.


    In short, he''s the first person I''ve seen at this school who acts like himself, but the important thing is... he''s good at math.


    So, he can help me, he actually seems like a nice guy. I don''t mind if I get extra help. Besides... I don''t really have any friends. It wouldn''t hurt to make one through studying.


    "You like solving problems, don''t you?"


    "Yes. When I see something wrong, I want to fix it."


    "And do you have free time?"


    He was surprised for a moment.


    "I''m free right now?"


    "Then can you help me?"


    He waited for a moment. Then his surprise quickly gave way to a smile and excitement. He suddenly became a confident person.


    "Yes! I like to help people."


    "Okay, then sit next to me. I have some questions."


    I pulled the chair next to the desk toward me and the boy waited for a while, then sat down and turned back to the screen, not even looking at me.


    He must really like solving questions...


    "Ah, I''m ra. What was your name again?"


    The boy continued to stare at the screen for a short while, then turned back to me. His smile widened for a moment, then he spoke with the same excitement.


    "Paul, Paul Demens."


    *******


    "We don''t have to wait for tomorrow. Let''s try to track down someone from James'' group. Actually... if he figures out who told you all this, he''ll target them, so it''ll be easier. Call one of them, find out where they are, and let''s go to them."


    I was excited to be able to finish the Adrian thing quickly. The ''study group'' I had joined because I could observe him was already getting on my nerves.


    After getting rid of Adrian, I could get out of that group and continue my life as if nothing had happened.


    "Done!"


    Adrian picked up his watch and quickly dialed a number. It took a very short time for the call to be answered.


    "It''s me, Adrian. Where are you right now, Risa? James might be targeting you. He knows you spoke to mest time."


    Adrian''s face turned strange a moment after he said that.


    "So... where are you?"


    What could he have heard that would make him react like that...?


    "Okay, a friend of mine and I are on our way there."


    When Adrian lowered his watch, his face was still strange and he looked surprised.


    "What happened?"


    "The first impression I got from her was that she was like a leader, precise and logical. Even her voice was usually calm. But the moment I said James might be targeting her, she started stuttering. It just felt... strange. I didn''t know they were so scared of him."


    Was someone we''d never even heard of really terrorizing the academy that much? This James guy... He kept himself and his group pretty well hidden.


    "I see, where was he?"


    "He was on his way to his room, so we''re going to the dorms."


    He''s going to the dorms... If James is a nner, he''s not going to miss this opportunity.


    "Let''s make it quick."


    With that, I turned toward the dorms without waiting for Adrian, and I didn''t need to adjust myself to him since he was already following behind me.


    "We''re trying to catch James'' people, right?"


    "Yes."


    "What are we going to do with them?"


    "We''re going to see if James already has any ns to visit somewhere and his current location. Then we''re going to set up a conspiracy and spread rumors about him, and the rumors have to be weighty and with evidence, but the students have to know that we''re the ones who started the rumors. If the rumors about James pass a certain stage, with evidence, the academy will take action. It will also serve as a warning to anyone who might try to take his ce."


    "That seems... too simple. Are you sure it will work?"


    "No."


    "Excuse me?"


    "You don''t really need to understand, just do as I say."


    "W- well, okay..."


    With that, we moved quickly toward the dormitories, and that''s when I realized that the students on the road were looking in our direction.


    No, they weren''t looking at me. They were looking at Adrian. The number of people looking at me was therefore quite small, but it was still disturbing.


    I paused, saw someone looking in our direction, and frowned.


    "What is it? Is it that interesting to see a passerby?"


    The boy realized I was looking at him and averted his eyes. Then he changed the direction he was going without saying anything.


    "Tch."


    I continued to move forward, even more ufortable.


    "What did the bo-"


    "He made me ufortable, and he doesn''t need to do anything else."


    I quickened my pace and focusedpletely in front of me. The dormitory buildings finally came into view, and the number of students around became fewer and fewer as we moved away from the caf¨¦ area. So, I started looking around at the few groups of students I could see.

 Chapter 139 Volume III - 60: A Bunch of Amateurs

    <h4>Chapter 139 Volume III - Chapter 60: A Bunch of Amateurs</h4>


    I saw a couple of two people as I looked for someone from James'' group. But when I saw that they were a couple who were hugging, I sighed and turned to another group. Then I whispered to Adrian.


    "Look through the groups, look for someone who looks like they''re following someone. Look for one of your friends if you can find one. Basically, we''re trying to find someone from James'' group."


    "All right, Alice!"


    Adrian quickly got into the mood and started looking everywhere, even faster than me.


    For a while we looked at every group we passed and every group we saw, finding nothing. After a few minutes, we came to a dormitory building and Adrian suddenly paused.


    "This is the building. She must have gone upstairs already."


    "Then we''re going upstairs too. Let me meet your friend."


    Adrian nodded obediently and we quickly entered the building.


    We didn''t take the elevator. We went up the stairs and I looked in every corridor.


    There was no one on the first floor. Neither was the second floor, nor the third.


    I rolled my eyes and sighed deeply.


    Amateurs...


    "It was on this floor, that room."


    Adrian walked quickly in front of the room, but he didn''t knock. He waited until I arrived.


    After a few seconds, the door opened.


    "Hah, Ris-"


    Adrian had spoken excitedly, yet he choked on his words.


    There was not the purple-haired girl he had described to me. Instead, there was a huge student standing in front of us, almost two meters tall.


    The only thing that identified him as a student was the card on his badge. Anyone who saw him without recognizing him could swear he was not a student.


    "You weren''t here before, are you one of the people who couldn''te?"


    The giant of a student said nothing and simply stepped aside to let us pass.


    "Thanks?"


    Adrian said with a little doubt in his voice and went inside.


    One side is amateur, the other side is stupid.


    With a sigh, I went inside too. After we went in, the giant behind us closed the door but didn''t move forward with us. He continued to stand in front of the door and when he realized I was looking at him, he gestured toward the living room.


    Adrian made a face as if he realized something was wrong. Nevertheless, he walked confidently into the living room and I followed behind him and finally went in.


    There were six people standing in the room and only one person sitting on the sofa. This person had light brown hair and gray eyes. The cup in his hand was steaming, probably tea. His outfit had an order and harmony that was not easily seen. There was not a single wrinkle on him, he looked like he was wearing a suit without a jacket.


    The boy took a sip from the cup in his hand, then turned to Adrian with a slight, well-adjusted smile on his face.


    "You''re here atst. You kept me waiting so long, Adrian."


    With those words, his eyes turned back to me. His expression didn''t change a bit, but he seemed to be thinking.


    "You brought a friend with you, how nice. Alice, if I''m not mistaken, right?"


    Does he know my name...? The whole award ceremony thing after the preliminaries apparently made me more stand out than I thought... I drew a lot of attention to myself because of that stupid thing.


    "Yeah, you must be James."


    James made a friendly face and gestured to the seat opposite him.


    "You seem a lot friendlier than your friend next to you. Why don''t you tell him to stay put?"


    I only had to look at my side once to realize what he was saying. I didn''t even need to look. It was impossible not to feel the waves of mana emanating from Adrian''s body.


    "Do as he says, Adrian. Calm down and sit down."


    Adrian didn''t say anything but sat with me, clenching his fist. James took another sip from his cup without breaking his posture in the slightest.


    "Would you like something to drink?"


    "No."


    "Come on, it''s not like I''m going to poison you."


    "We had a drink before we came, so there''s no need."


    James handed his cup to a student standing next to him.


    "It''s a shame, I''ve already had it made."


    The student took the cup without a word and left the room. James leaned back with his hands sped in front of him. Adrian spoke at this moment.


    "Where are the owners of the room?"


    "It''s right in front of you, this room belongs to me now."


    Adrian started to move, but I put my hand in front of him and stopped him, so he backed off again.


    "The former owners, where are they?"


    "Ah? You mean them... The girl Risa is sleeping in the other room, don''t worry."


    "Sleeping?"


    "Yes, she has a bump on her head, unfortunately. She seemed to have a headache, so we moved her to the other room. She''s resting now."


    Before Adrian could do anything, I interjected myself.


    "Are you giving us onest chance?"


    James opened his sped hands and spoke excitedly.


    "Yes! You really are easy tomunicate with, unlike some people."


    It''s not so bad, even though he''s an amateur. He''s putting us in a ce we can''t escape from and asking us to reconsider his offer.


    "And what makes you think we won''t betray you?"


    "A contract, of course. After all, I have a lot of ''friends''. They wouldn''t refuse if I asked one of them to exercise their right to a monthly contract, would they, friends?"


    Each of the students around us nodded at the same time. This gave James a satisfied look on his face.


    "So, what do you think, are you going to reject my offer here and be my target right now... or are you going to throw away thest chance I''ve given you?"


    Adrian responded to James'' offer with a huff, not giving me a chance to speak.


    "We decline."


    "Hmm? I must have misheard."


    Adrian continued without waiting for me again.


    "Unfortunately, you heard right."


    James sighed slightly, disappointment on his face.


    "It''s a pity, I could have made good use of you, but now... you will suffer the same fate as the others."


    Adrian took up a position ready to pounce at any moment, and the others, realizing this, prepared themselves.


    "The others?"


    James smiled.


    "Are you sure you want to know? That pure heart of yours that wants to help everyone might not stand for it."


    As soon as James finished, Adrian stopped holding back. He leaped out of his seat and jumped at James. He moved so suddenly and quickly that several objects in the room were thrown out of their ces. But James didn''t move a muscle, just stood where he was and smiled. Just then a moan sounded from next to us, it was full of pain and Adrian paused as he heard it.


    There were only a few inches between James'' neck and his hand.


    "Our friend Risa''s head seems to be throbbing even more, look at her voiceing all the way here."


    Adrian''s eyes widened. And not because of surprise, the veins in his eyes were almost visible. It was easy to see that he was angry. His face was uncharacteristically ugly.


    He turned slightly toward me. He narrowed his eyes as if pleading, silently shouting ''do something''.


    "I have a hostage, Adrian Caleo, it''s a real weakness to think about people who have nothing to do with you. And now you are losing to me because of that weakness. I don''t need to lift a finger to take you down, even a few random students passing by will do. Even if you beat me, someone else will take over my group and they will attack those who are closer to you. Besides, your dear ''friend'' that you want to save is in the next room, can you beat me before she gets hurt? We don''t want that to happen, do we?"


    James gave a small gesture from his seat. Adrian turned around, there was someone behind him, but he paused at James'' words.


    "Don''t move, you''ll be responsible for the consequences."


    Adrian didn''t dare move and continued to stare at me. He made silent cries for help, he felt so helpless that I could feel his desperation from where I was.


    I still didn''t help him, I just watched him. I didn''t reach out my hand or change my expression. For a moment, a very powerful wave of mana emanated from Adrian''s body. It was really strong, so strong that a few students lost their bnce just because of it, but that was it.


    The mana wave soon disappeared. Adrian looked at his hands in confusion, as if he could not control his own body. Then his eyes slowly closed and he copsed to the ground.


    The student who had just stood behind him had a syringe in his hand.


    "Now that we''ve settled this... What do you think, Alice Liate?"


    I remained silent and slowly looked at Adrian''s body.


    He''s really stupid... if it wasn''t for one hostage, he could probably take down everyone in the room, including me, but he hesitates for a reason like this.


    He has one of the highest potentials anyone can have in this day and age, but one of the greatest weaknesses anyone can have.


    I almost feel sorry for him.


    "Alice, your expression hasn''t changed at all during all this. You must be someone like me, you must know the benefits of working together."


    "Sorry, I don''t like working with others."


    "You may not like it. The important question is... do you have a choice?"


    "Of course, I do."


    James paused. Then his eyebrows raised in surprise, he looked curious.


    "Interesting... very interesting. What is this choice? How do you n to get out of this situation you''re in? What miraculous power can save you?"


    "Save me? Why would I need to be saved? You''re a bunch of amateurs, you think you''ve got me surrounded."


    I kept a straight face, not even a smile. The smug look on James''s face changed instantly.


    "Let me guess, you''ve been trying to curry favor with your noble parents since you were little, haven''t you? You''ve probably practiced every day. I guess you''ve even threatened your stepsiblings. And you''ve done your best to keep them down. But have you ever thought about what real nobles do?"


    James said nothing, just looked at me coldly, his eyes narrowed.


    "You think you understand some things. You think you''ve seen all the dirty things in your lifetime. But what intrigues, what assassinations, what spies, what nder, what lies beneath the surface of that iceberg that you think you understand all about... Do you know what''s going on underneath the water?"


    James''s face turned even uglier.


    "You''re trying to buy time. Who did you call? The authorities?"


    He finally started to get on my nerves. I frowned, narrowed my eyes, and grimaced as I looked directly into his eyes.


    "Why would I try to buy time in front of a bunch of amateurs?"


    I raised my hands, brought them to my neck and spoke coldly.


    "Let me show you what I''m talking about."

 Chapter 140 Volume III - 61: Daughter of the Feared Family

    <h4>Chapter 140 Volume III - Chapter 61: Daughter of the Feared Family</h4>


    "Let me show you what I''m talking about."


    I put my hand to my neck, and as soon as I did that, James and all the students around prepared to pounce on me, but I didn''t care.


    I took a ne off my neck, and the little jewel on the ne sparkled for a moment, and then the sparkle faded. I felt mana being drawn into my body, and then this mana suddenly burst out, and the students surrounding me were pushed backward by the momentary outflow of mana. I felt my body start to heat up, especially in my ears.


    That was it, nothing had happened other than the momentary outburst of mana and James continued to stare at me nkly. Then, when he saw that nothing had happened, a crooked smile appeared on his face.


    "Huh, so what? That''s it?"


    I raised my hand and held out my finger, James waspletely focused on it. So I put my finger to my ear.


    James''s eyes slowly widened, then he jumped up.


    "W- what? H- how could it be?!"


    With real horror in his eyes, he froze, staring at something he could not believe he was seeing.


    "You were an elf?!"


    I lowered my finger, not changing my expression.


    "Couldn''t I be?"


    James took a step back, then paused as if something had urred to him. His eyes were focused on me, mumbling.


    "Liate... Liate! Laute Family!"


    When he guessed my family from myst name, the others heard the name too. So, their eyes also widened in horror.


    "You were asking what miraculous power can save me, weren''t you?"


    He couldn''t say a word. He was in such shock that he couldn''t think straight.


    "Anyway, it doesn''t matter. I don''t care what you do at the academy, as long as it doesn''t touch me. Although... since you know my identity, I might as well kill you, right?"


    "S- sorry..."


    James stepped back again. This time as fast as he could. His arms just hung down the sides of his body as if his muscles were not listening to him.


    He looked helpless. The boy who had terrorized the academy had kneeled so easily.


    Someplexes can be really hard to ovee.


    I ignored James and turned to the other boys.


    "If you don''t want to die, make a contract with each other, I''ll tell you what it''s about. Call the students from the other rooms. Don''t miss a single one. And wake up that girl and bring her here."


    I can''t kill them even if I wanted to. We''re inside the academy and there are cameras everywhere. If we''re seen entering the room together, I''m a suspect. Even though I''m using my family now, they''re not really going to help me.


    That''s how they made the girl and everyone in the next roome here. The students in the other rooms didn''t understand what was going on when they first came in, but when they read the situation and saw James copsed, they shied away from me. Then they started to pay a little attention to me and their behavior changed in the same way as the others.


    Not a single one of them opposed me, they didn''t even try to give me a hard time. The Laute Family''s notoriety was so strong that even though there was definitely someone among them who was stronger than me, they could not make eye contact with me.


    It wasn''t hard for them to realize what I was. They were so afraid of what might happen as a result of any action they might take after hearing about my family... it was almostical.


    Ignoring them, I looked at the unconscious girl, a bruised bump on her forehead, just like James had said.


    "Wake her up."


    The boys quickly shook her. She started to moan as she fluttered her eyes from the headache, but it wasn''t long before she finally opened her eyes and focused on her surroundings. Looking at the students around her, she was momentarily stunned to see that they were all like obedient dogs, waiting for my orders. When her eyes caught sight of James, she rxed so much that it was as if she had passed from hell to heaven.


    Then she finally turned to me. She paused for a moment, then her eyes shifted to the side of my head and she was as shocked as the others.


    Well... It was surprising to see an elf in a human academy in a human country.


    "Please don''t get any silly ideas about me being your savior. You will have the same contract as the others, only yours will be a bit special."


    The girl didn''t seem to understand what I was saying, but I ignored her.


    "See if you have enough contracts."


    As soon as those words left my mouth, the boys in front of me started fighting.


    "W- Who has a contract?!"


    "I do! Come here!"


    "N- no! I don''t have a contract! Somebody help me!"


    The room was suddenly chaotic. The students started shouting at each other, while the girl in the middle kept looking around in confusion. She couldn''t make sense of what was happening, but she didn''t need to.


    After all, she would forget everything.


    Once everyone was gathered, I began to arrange the contents of the contract they would sign, the most important use being that if they left this room in any way, they would forget thest day. They would remember neither me, nor what they hade here for, nor who they had seen.


    They would go straight to their rooms, go to sleep and forget everything. The girl will sleep in her room as she went to bed and wake up with her memory changed.


    Of course, if there is someone out there who knows what happened here, they have to make them sign the same contract before they go to sleep and forget everything. With their lives on the line, it''s impossible for them to do anything wrong.


    The students hesitated when they heard the contract terms, but without much ado, they started signing contracts with each other.


    Since most of them had already kept their contract rights, there was no such thing as someone being left out.


    Since they included me in the contracts, I verified the content of each of them and allowed everyone who had signed a contract toe out.


    Then they quickly rushed out of the room. James''s authority was gone.


    "You''re staying, James. And..."


    I couldn''t remember her name, so I looked at her and motioned for her toe to me.


    "Come here."


    James paused and slowly turned around to look at me. There was fear on his face, an expression he probably hadn''t made in a long time.


    She was just like him. She understood that I was not his friend.


    Adrian was still lying on the floor and there were only the four of us left in the room, thest person to leave had closed the door and James and the girl were looking at me nervously.


    I took a deep breath and stood up. I went to the girl first, then I hit her hard on the head. She couldn''t even resist. The swelling on her head got a little bigger and she fainted.


    James looked at her in horror. He was terrified even though I had only hit her.


    I picked her unconscious body up and went to her room, put her on her bed in a cursory manner, closed the door, and went back to Adrian and James.


    This time I turned to James and started to walk toward him. The fear in his eyes intensified.


    "W- what do you want?"


    "Ah... Nothing, actually."


    I just need a scapegoat.


    I put my ne back on, which I took off, and the mana in the air was drawn into my body. And then, just like before, a warmth spread through my whole body, especially my ears, and that was the end of it.


    I put my finger to my ears, confirmed that they were just like a normal people, and then I turned to James.


    I sighed when I saw that he was still scared to death. I walked over to him and hit him hard on the head like I had just done to the girl. James was suddenly pinned against the wall, but he didn''t faint. His eyes were fixed on me in fear.


    "I''m sorry! I swear I won''t even let you see me!"


    I didn''t say anything, I moved closer to him and hit him once more on the head. He didn''t faint again.


    He wasn''t fainting because of the difference in strength between us, but he couldn''t react to me as if he was dizzy. So, I hit him onest time, this time a little harder, so he finally managed to faint, and before his eyes closed, he looked for onest way out, but it was futile. Even though he was stronger than me, he couldn''t fight back because he knew myst name.


    "Haaa..."


    I took a deep breath, then looked at Adrian lying on the floor.


    He waspletely defenseless. The one person I could me for my act was unconscious just off to the side. The memories of all those who went out would be erased tomorrow, and those who wouldn''t be erased would take care of themselves.


    All I have to do is kill Adrian and injure myself in a way that makes it look like I came out of a fight and passed out. And then it would be easy... I could finish this today.


    I pulled three dimensional buttons out of my pocket, two of them containing fingerprint-proof gloves, the other a small but very sharp dagger.


    I looked again at Adrian''s defenseless body, slipped the gloves over my hands, gripped the dagger tightly, and walked up to him, crouched down on top of him.


    I looked into his closed eyes again, then sighed deeply and slowly raised my dagger.


    I prepared myself, then lowered the dagger.

 Chapter 141 Volume III - 62: True Identity

    <h4>Chapter 141 Volume III - Chapter 62: True Identity</h4>


    I pulled the dagger down.


    Adrian Caleo would die here today by my hands. My mission would end here and then I would be free, at least for a little while, until I took on a new one.


    At least that''s what I thought. The reality, however, had other ns, for it was only a matter of time before I stopped the dagger. My eyes focused on Adrian, or rather his neck. There, visible through his clothes, was a chain. A chain the color of gold but shining silver, a familiar chain.


    My hand holding the dagger suddenly stopped. My curiosity and astonishment overpowered me so much that my hands practically weakened of their own ord. Trembling, I reached for the chain, pulled it up, and revealed the ne hidden under the cloth.


    It was a very simple ne, but as beautiful as it was simple. In the center was a jewel, a green-colored one. It looked like an emerald, but it wasn''t, I knew it wasn''t. It was much more special, I knew it... because I had the same jewel in my ne.


    The dagger fell from my hand, it made a metallic sound for a split second and my eyes widened.


    I quickly untied the ne and took it off. Mana gathered around me, condensed, and entered Adrian''s body. Then it spread back the way it came, pushing me back, but I stayed where I was and looked at Adrian.


    His skin color lightened, then his facial features sharpened. He began to exude a strange aura around him as if his charm statistic had gone through the roof, attracting living beings. Not only them but even mana. The most important change was in his ears, they became pointed. Just like what had just happened to me...


    I tried senselessly to process, to think about the scene unfolding in front of me, but I couldn''t. The idea that any other ''elf'' than me could be here seemed so absurd, so impossible, that my brain stopped working.


    Did... did my grandfather know this and therefore wanted to kill him?


    Still, why would an elf be here? Especially at the risk of getting first ce at the academy... Wouldn''t that make it easier for him to be exposed?


    Nonsense. It''s ridiculous... it doesn''t make sense. I... I don''t understand.


    My eyes shifted back to Adrian, then to his silver hair.


    For a moment a crazy idea came to me, an idea that I never would have thought possible, and yet it sprouted in my mind.


    Impossible.


    I quickly pulled a dimensional button out of my pocket and broke it, revealing a small device, not even the size of my fingernail.


    Transferring mana to the device, I quickly opened it, a holographic screen rose in front of me and I pressed the first button I saw.


    A call sounded in the room. It rang once, twice, three times.


    I became more and more nervous with each sounding from the device, but I kept waiting. After a while, a woman''s voice came from the device.


    "Yes?"


    "It- It''s me, Alysia Laute."


    I could almost see the other person''s face crumpling as I gave my name.


    "What happened? We told you not to call if you run out of your medicine, just text and go to the specified location."


    "No! I still have my medicine. I just... want to report on my mission."


    The other person''s voice trailed off for a moment, and when she spoke again, she was a little more serious than before.


    "Speak."


    "I discovered that my target, Adrian Caleo, is an elf. I even found the ne he used to disguise himself. He is unconscious in front of me, and the moment I removed the ne, he became an elf. He has white hair and green eyes."


    There was silence.


    "Take a picture."


    I quickly pulled the screen in front of me to the right, switched to the camera from a menu that appeared in front of me, and took a high-resolution photo of Adrian. Then sent it.


    "Stay on the line, don''t hang up."


    There was no sound from the other side for a while. I waited, kept repeating to myself that the thought in my mind was impossible, and waited for the decision.


    She will tell me to kill him, she will tell me that my thoughts are wrong. She will even get angry, saying that I am keeping her busy unnecessarily, maybe she will give me less than usual to make me suffer when I take my next stock of medicines.


    Still, I want to know.


    "Retreat. Your mission will be updated soon."


    The holographic screen went nk as these two sentences suddenly cut through the silence... and I froze.


    There was an intense silence. I couldn''t make a sound and just waited. My hands were shaking and my eyes were focused on one spot. I couldn''t focus anywhere else.


    She can''t be serious... can she?


    *******


    "Alex! Jump to the ground!"


    An intense heat filled the air, and a howl echoed as if it would make our ears bleed. I realized I was being thrown backward, but I managed to activate my barrier.


    mes covered my barrier, I could feel it literally melting, but I had no choice but to trust it.


    This was thest struggles of the creature in front of me. It would die even if I didn''t touch it. It just wanted to make onest move before it died and... it did.


    The mes managed to break through my barrier and I felt the heat prate directly into my skin, even if only for a split second, it was enough to take my breath away. The momentary mes that covered my vision scared the hell out of me, for a moment I even thought that this was the end. It hurt. But the mes died as quickly as they came, and the heat was quickly retracted by the coldness of the dungeon.


    For a moment I was stunned, not understanding what had happened, but then I came to my senses, quickly checked my body, and was relieved to see that I was not seriously burned.


    "Are you okay?"


    I let out a deep sigh as the voice came from not too far away, no more than six meters to my right. Alex was looking at me curiously, not a trace of worry on his face.


    "Yes, I''m fine, the barrier held just barely. I only have minor burns. They will heal after I drink the potion."


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You have killed the ming Ice Wolf, a mini-boss!


    Your reward will be added to the rewards you will receive forpleting the dungeon.


    ------------------------------>>


    I sighed again as the notification appeared in front of me.


    I thought the wolf would be much easier to defeat, but the stupid creature turned out to be much tougher than I thought.


    "Anyway, that was thest creature we had to kill before the main boss."


    I turned my eyes behind me and raised my head up toward the structure on top of the mountain, which literally had no top.


    The wolf was the guardian of the structure. Or rather, the cave he lived in was next to the entrance to the structure, so he was sort of guarding it.


    Normally we could have waited for him to fall asleep so we could get inside without messing with him, but... I simply wanted to kill him for the extra reward. And I seeded. Or rather, we did. Still, I didn''t think it would take this much effort.


    "Are we going in?"


    Alex pointed to the structure on the mountain.


    It looked like a pce literally buried in the mountain. And where we were was the ruins of an ancient city. The ruins here were much better preserved than the first ones we had seen, most of the buildings were still standing, albeit partially destroyed.


    The pce, on the other hand, was in even better condition than the buildings, except that it looked worn and a few of its columns had copsed. Still, it had the feel of an ancient ruin really well.


    "Yes, thest ''tough'' creature we have to kill in the dungeon is waiting for us inside."


    Alex clenched his fist and looked at the entrance to the building. There was arge door there, half closed and the other half copsed on the ground.


    "Don''t worry, the nt you want is inside."


    "Let''s go."


    Alex slowly made his way to the door. I took onest look at the corpse of the wolf we had killed, sighed a little, then quickly followed him.


    When we walked through the door, the first thing that greeted us was a long, long corridor covered in ice with bones that looked almost fossilized.


    The corridor was so big that a normal-sized apartment building could fit inside without touching the sides of the corridor.


    "There won''t be any creatures ahead of us, at least not for a while. Don''t let your guard down, but you can rx a bit. There''s a safe zone before the boss room, we''ll rest there."


    Alex nodded, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. Getting closer to his goal had made him focus on it much more intensely than usual.


    I would normally distract him by doing something unnecessary, but since we were in a safe ce, I didn''t push it.


    I''ll take care of it before I fight the boss.


    The corridor split left and right in some ces, and in what looked like the main courtyard there were huge staircases that allowed us to go down instead of up, which was our goal, but since I know the whole pce by heart, I know that there were only creatures and useless things there.


    It would be a waste of time to deal with them when we are so close to the end, we have to finish the job quickly.


    As I walked up the huge stairs I couldn''t help but admire the structure of this dungeon over and over again.


    If all the dungeons I''m going to enter are going to be like this, I really want to go to them, despite the dangers inside. I know what each one looks like, but... this is something else.


    With these thoughts, we finally reached the end of the stairs, so my focus shifted back in front of me. There was a corridor in front of us again, simr to the one downstairs, but this time with the end in sight. There was a door there too, almost identical to the one below. The only difference was that this door waspletely closed, whereas the one downstairs was half broken open.


    "Is this it?"


    "Yes, the main boss is behind this door, but we''ll rest on the edge for a couple of hours first. No creatures wille here, the boss scares them, but it doesn''t hurt to be careful. Keep looking around."


    "Okay."


    Alex took one more look at the door, then took a deep breath and we let ourselves down. We drank our potions and started eating our food.

 Chapter 142 Volume III - 63: The Boss Room

    <h4>Chapter 142 Volume III - Chapter 63: The Boss Room</h4>


    As Alex and I continued to eat our meal of bread, the silence in the atmosphere began to bother me. So, I smiled. After all, it was the perfect time to chat.


    "You had a good scream climbing the mountain the day after the cliff."


    Alex suddenly started coughing, his food stuck in his throat. After a brief moment of relief, he turned to me with sharp eyes.


    "Shut up. I can''t help having a phobia."


    "This is your chance to ovee it."


    I took another bite of my bread but we didn''t continue talking, at least Alex wasn''t too inclined to talk.


    "What do you n to do when you cure your mother?"


    Alex stopped chewing his bread and waited a short while. Then he swallowed and sighed but didn''t give me any answer.


    "Everything you''ve done so far has been for her recovery. What are you going to do when she gets better? What do you have in your mind? You can''t just sit around. You have the highest grades in the academy after all. There must be offersing from everywhere."


    "And threats, the threats they make when they realize they can''t use me."


    I didn''t know what to say for a moment, but then I took a deep breath.


    "Once I get what I want, once I''m out of the dungeon and strong enough to fulfill my goals, I''m going to open a research facility."


    Alex looked at me with raised eyebrows, but I ignored him and continued.


    "I''ve already convinced Ulka DeLaor to work for me."


    He looked genuinely surprised when I said that. Most people knew what Ulka was like, after all.


    "Ulka DeLaor? Did you really manage to convince that lunatic?"


    I smiled proudly.


    "I have more influence than you think at some points. Anyway, what I''m trying to say is that once you heal your mother and graduate from the academy, you can work in my research facility. I might even take you on as an intern next year, considering it''s only our first year."


    Alex waited for a while, deep in thought.


    "I''ll pay well."


    His eyes didn''t move from where he was looking.


    "I can even give you a nice house."


    This time his eyes returned to me, but he looked skeptical.


    "I can even arrange protection."


    "For my mom?"


    "Sure."


    "Deal."


    He held out his hand without hesitation. I smiled and shook his hand.


    "I''ll start with the bodyguard first, for the others you''ll have to prove your worth. Even though I''m sure of you... I think a week''s work should be enough."


    "I can do it in two days."


    He was suddenly full of confidence when it came to working. When these words came out of his mouth, he unintentionally managed to get on my nerves.


    Dealing with people with big egos can be frustrating sometimes...


    "Then I''ll wait when the timees."


    So, I buried myself in my bread again, and after a while, we finished eating and got into our sleeping bags for onest sleep. Alex seemed even more motivated after ourst conversation, which made me feel that I could sleepfortably too.


    I closed my eyes, released my body, and after a few seconds, all my vision plunged into darkness.


    *******


    First, my hearing came back. Then my eyes slowly opened and I realized that I had thrown off my duvet. As a wiera, even if I wasn''t cold, sleeping without a duvet was... strange. Especially since I knew it was ''cold''.


    Yawning, I sat up, wrapped myself in the duvet I had thrown off while sleeping, and looked at Alex who was sleeping. He didn''t seem to have a problem.


    I took a deep breath and realized that for the first time in a long time, I was getting a good night''s sleep. I hadn''t slept well in the past few days because we''d been changing shifts, and we''d been raided a couple of times, so my sleep was interrupted a lot. Even though we were taking a sleep-enhancing pill, I have been affected by this negatively in thest few days.


    Now I didn''t dream, didn''t get raided, didn''t have to wake up early... It was a perfect sleep.


    I lifted my arm and looked at my watch, we had slept a total of nine hours.


    "Alex, wake up."


    Alex must have slept well too because his eyes blinked without me having to call him again. In just a few seconds he sat up and looked at me.


    "We''re going to eat and get moving, we need to be done by tomorrow at worst."


    Alex sighed without saying anything to me and reached into his bag. A few secondster when he pulled out the bread, he handed one to me and we started eating again, the only thing we had eaten since we arrived in the dungeon.


    For a while, we just ate without talking, and then Alex took another bite of the bread, which was still quite small... and spoke.


    "By the way, our food is all gone. There are no more dimensional buttons in the food pocket."


    "Oh... I was thinking we could have one more meal."


    "If we''re done by tomorrow, it''s no big deal."


    Silence filled the air.


    "Whatever... I''m already sick of eating bread."


    I popped thest piece of bread into my mouth, gathered up the duvet, and stood up, and Alex did the same. We didn''t have to talk. We just did what we had been doing for days. We made the resting area as good as new and took a deep breath before moving on.


    Alex turned to the door.


    "How do we open this?"


    "We don''t need to open it. Just... be careful."


    Alex looked at me nkly, but I didn''t say anything to him, I just smiled and approached the door. Then I put my hand on the huge door and closed my eyes. I poured some mana into the door, and as soon as I did, the mana in my body was suddenly drawn toward the door.


    The door didn''t consider the mana I was transferring to it to be enough and tried for more. My mana was forcibly pulled out of my body, but something strange happened in the process.


    Cracks suddenly appeared on the door. The mana, which had been transferred to the door and trapped there for who knows how long, suddenly shot out through these cracks, and the whole corridor was suddenly illuminated.


    At first, a sound echoed along the corridor. I was thrown backward and that''s how I realized what the sound was.


    The door exploded loudly and majestically. I quickly crouched down to protect myself, I heard the shattered pieces of the door fall to the floor and then the bright light that had blocked all vision along the corridor slowly began to fade.


    When it was all over, Alex was lying on the floor, pale as a sheet. He was fine, and I knew he wasn''t going to get hurt. He was in the safe zone. But the light, dust, and shockwave of the explosion had reached him.


    I shook myself off and went to him, then smiled and held out my hand.


    "See, I told you."


    Alex looked at my hand and then at the shattered door. For a moment I could read anger in his face, but it faded as quickly as it came and Alex sighed deeply.


    "You''re an asshole."


    "Thank you for thepliment."


    He took my hand and stood up. I was actually surprised he wasn''t angry, I guess I could say he was getting used to it.


    After I picked Alex up, I looked at the exploded door. It was almostpletely destroyed and behind it was total darkness. A darkness that felt infinite, with no way to see what was inside.


    "Do you have everything ready? Make sure your potions are within reach, as well as your needles and arrows. We''re in for a tough fight."


    "I have everything ready."


    Alex approved of me with great determination. I smiled back and returned to the darkness with the same determination.


    "Then let''s go."


    We started walking together. As soon as we passed the level of the door, the darkness enveloped us. The dim light from the corridor behind us disappeared and we found ourselves in a ce where we couldn''t see anything.


    "You''re behind me, right?"


    "Yes."


    "Good. Follow my footsteps and don''t turn on the shlight. Just do as I say."


    "Okay."


    Alex didn''t even question me. He trusted mepletely, he was used to it.


    I couldn''t help being happy, but I had other things to consider.


    We kept walking in the darkness. I listened to the sound of Alex''s and my footsteps echoing through the darkness. And after a while, a light appeared at the end of the dark corridor.


    We walked toward it, the light spread quickly as we walked toward it and eventually, we realized that it wasing from a ratherrge room.


    The closer we got to the room, the more its shape became visible. It waspletely covered in ice. The walls, the floor, and everything... Everything was like ice.


    The room resembled a throne room, majestic as befits the splendor of the pce. The source of the light in the dark corridor we passed through was the open top of the room. Snowkes slowly drifted down through gaps,rge and small, in the ceiling. In some ces, there were frozen corpses, even things that seemed to be trapped in the ice.


    I say things because they look like people, but they are not very human. They look more like... giants. Giants who, for all their ancient ''civilized'' appearance, look quite barbaric.


    "So that''s why the pce is so big."


    "Yes, this is a ce for giants."


    "And the thing on the throne must be the boss."


    At Alex''s words, I finally stopped examining the room and focused on the throne in the distance.


    There was someone on the throne. Someone almost five meters tall, maybe six if he grew a little taller. Someone wearing armor that was far more eye-catching than that of the frozen knights. A giant with a crown on his head, his eyes closed, his hands sped on the huge sword he had thrust into the ground in front of him.


    The king of this ce, thest creature of the dungeon.

 Chapter 143 Volume III - 64: Last Giant, Last King

    <h4>Chapter 143 Volume III - Chapter 64: Last Giant, Last King</h4>


    One of the boring bosses in the game, but one of the majestic ones, the king of the giants who once lived here, was in front of us.


    "I was going to ask if you were ready again, but never mind."


    Alex didn''t say anything, but instead opened the mini crossbow on his arm and pulled out the needles.


    "I''m counting on you for the creatures that will fight alongside the Boss, and you can help me with the big one."


    Even though we had already had this conversation, Alex asked hesitantly.


    "To defeat something like this, you need a team of three people stronger than us. You''re sure we can get out of here alive, right?"


    "Of course, I am. I wouldn''t be here if I wasn''t. Just trust me and take care of the creatures other than the boss. Don''t be afraid to use your remaining potions, use all your tricks, use your skill, and don''t die. We probably won''t be able to help each other, so we''ll fight alone."


    Alex hesitated for a moment but nodded. His eyes were on the giant sitting on the throne. His fear was more for the boss than for the enemies he would fight.


    I actually sympathize with him. The armored giant sitting on the throne, also a king, looks intimidating to someone seeing him for the first time. The thought that one is standing in front of a dangerous being, the possibility of dying here, and so on... Such thoughts are stressful, stressful thoughts for anyone.


    For someone without a stupid skill like me, who is facing a boss for the first time, it''s really challenging.


    I turned toward Alex and nodded my head to indicate that I was ready to start, and he nodded back that he was ready. So, I looked back at the giant on the throne. I took a deep breath, tightened my grip on the sword I already had in my hand, and walked toward him.


    My every step echoed in the huge throne room, louder and louder as I got closer to the giant. The snowkes stopped drifting from above, and the giant''s closed eyes stirred.


    I stopped walking, about five meters between me and the giant.


    The giant''s eyes opened wide. His eyes, blue like his skin, first looked around the room. He waspletely ignoring me, but not for long. Finally, his icy blue eyes turned to me and stayed on me for a while. Then his brows furrowed, his face turned angry and he rose from his throne.


    He raised the ''double-handed sword'' that seemed to be stuck in the ground in front of him with one hand and his blue eyes shed.


    The giant tensed and roared. His voice made the entire pce tremble, the snow drifts on the ceiling fell to the ground, and creatures such as birds that were close by began to screech in fear and flee. The giant''s roar alone was so majestic, so mighty, that it could affect the mind of an unfocused person.


    I took another deep breath and raised my sword. The giant stopped roaring, didn''t wait any longer, and lunged forward, swinging his two-handed sword at me without waiting.


    The sword was so big and the giant so strong that the wind pressure hit me in the face before the sword did. The huge sword wasing at me through the wind, I couldn''t defend it. If I was stupid and tried, I would die instantly. Thus, I jumped.


    The giant sword moved as if it had just cut in half where I was standing, but I was on top of it. I put my feet on the moving sword, jumped again quickly without trying to regain my bnce, and swung my sword at the giant''s eye.


    The giant, boss, or king... whatever he was, swung his free hand as if he saw me like a fly. The attack was so sudden that I had to act without thinking, quickly pulling myself to my feet and using the giant''s arm to spring back.


    The giant narrowed his eyes before attacking again, then tensed and roared again with all his might.


    This time the roar didn''t attack my mind as much as before, but its purpose was different in the first ce.


    The roar echoed so loudly in the throne room that the ice of the frozen corpses all around crackled, then brokepletely. So the corpses in the ice fell to the ground, but they did not stay there.


    It didn''t take long for the armored corpses to stand up, their whole bodies trembling. They were just like the ''king'' in front of us, but they were about three meters tall, and they looked much weaker than the king.


    Yet they were not weaker than us.


    "Alex, fight by running away all the time! Even if you don''t kill them, harass them! The fewer of them bother me, the better."


    Before Alex had a chance to answer me, the frozen knights attacked him. The king, who had stopped roaring, raised his huge sword in the air and brought it down, even though it was out of my reach. I quickly started to move away from him, and the moment the swordnded on the ground, the ground crackled. The cracks widened, a bluish color appeared in the endless darkness beneath them, and ice spurted out of the cracks.


    This was a skill I knew, as I knew Boss''s every move, every attack.


    The crack created by the sword continued to approach me and I threw myself to the side, but it was futile because the cracks suddenly changed direction and turned back toward me. It was moving like a creature following me.


    I started to run, clicking my tongue, circling the throne room to get back in front of the king, but as soon as I started running, I was blocked by a frozen knight who ignored Alex and aimed directly at me.


    The knight had an axe in his hand and was approaching me with it aimed directly at my neck.


    My mana spun inside me, a warm feeling enveloped my body and I raised my hand.


    A strong gust of wind flew out of my hand, hitting the axe directly and slowing it down, if not stopping it, slowing it down enough for even a child to avoid it. It also knocked the knight off bnce, not knocking him down, but enough to make him stagger.


    I swung my sword and the knight raised his arm, realizing that he could not defend himself with his axe.


    My sword entered the knight''s arm, cut it, though with some difficulty, and the knight''s arm fell to the ground. The knight''s expression didn''t change, he didn''t seem to feel any pain, but I didn''t care. The knight turned around for a moment to try to catch me, but as soon as he did, the ice from the crack that came after me literally riddled the knight with holes.


    I kept running, only to realize after a few seconds that the spikes of ice behind me had slowed down and I prepared to turn back, but as I turned around, I saw a hand only half a meter away from me.


    My eyebrows rose in shock and I tried to move my body. But I didn''t have enough time.


    The king''s hand hit me like a p, I felt my ribs crack and I was knocked off my feet.


    I jumped up, the p was so strong that it took me a second or two to hit the wall of the room and the wall reacted with the same force.


    I felt my ribs strain even more as I hit the wall, even my organs could have been damaged.


    "Aiden!"


    I heard Alex''s voice but he didn''t follow up, he was surrounded by several knights. He had obvious cut wounds on him, but he kept his distance. His eyes glowed silvery instead of the old brown, indicating that his skill was active. He had already killed one of the knights he was fighting, the knighty lifeless on the ground with three arrows piercing his heart.


    The arrows had allnded exactly on top of each other.


    Alex dodged the knights and tried to run to me, but as soon as he tried, one of the knights almost caught him. Alex narrowly avoided him by diving to the side, the silvery glint in his eyes intensifying.


    "Tch."


    I clicked my tongue, tried to get to my feet, and that''s when I heard a sound, a heavy sound, that made me unable to focus on anything but it. The friction of an armor made of metal as it moves.


    I turned my head in the direction of the sound. The king was walking slowly toward me, a faint smile on his face.


    I gritted my teeth.


    Mock, go on.


    My ribs dug into my flesh, and blood came out of my mouth, but I managed to stand up. The king was still approaching me, but slowly, he wanted to put the weak people who dared to step on his throne in their ce. So, he would humiliate them, us, first.


    ''You seem to be in a difficult position, Aiden.''


    I heard a voice in my mind that sounded like my own.


    ''Things don''t seem to be going well.''


    It was tempting, I wouldn''t regret it for a while if I gave in to him, but I resisted.


    No, I will do this on my own, I will not surrender my mindset to madness, I will win this battle by being ''me''.


    I closed my eyes and focused, I transferred mana to the Absolute Mind, and I felt my mind clearing.


    I also withdrew the mana that strengthened my body and gave it to the Absolute Mind. Slowly, the pain in my chest began to subside. Still, I was not getting any better, only the pain was diminishing. So, I had to be careful.


    With the help of the Absolute Mind and the potion, the pain lessened and I opened my eyes.


    As I continued to channel mana into the Absolute Mind, I purged all my thoughts to focus on this moment alone. A vast emptiness enveloped all my thoughts, trapping all but a few within itself.


    Everything was temporarily erased from my mind except Alex''s situation and what I needed to know to defeat the boss in front of me. I had this amazing focus thanks to the Absolute Mind.


    "I''m fine, Alex. Keep defending yourself."


    My voice sounded soulless. My emotions were so dull as all my thoughts were erased.


    I cut off the mana I was transmitting to the Absolute Mind and called hoarsely into the void.


    "Sith, wake up."


    A yawn echoed in my mind. A short silence followed and I heard another voice ringing in my ears.


    ''I told you to wake me up!''


    ''I''m sorry, I wanted to finish the job without disturbing you, but it''s urgent. We need to do what we did in the preliminaries.''


    Sith was silent for a moment.


    ''Okay... but don''t act on your own again. You''ll make me hesitate to go to sleep.''


    ''I apologize.''


    I smiled awkwardly and at that moment my mana seemed to bubble up inside me. I felt like I was being stung in a furnace... like my mana was rejecting me as it merged with Sith. On top of that, my already damaged organs strained my body even more.


    A metallic taste appeared in my mouth, but I swallowed it back before vomiting blood.


    The teal-colored glow that normally enveloped my sword enveloped my body this time, just as it had during the preliminaries. The glow intensified at certain points and turned into a halo of light. When the dazzling glow of these halos began to fade, a crown that seemed to be made of tree branches appeared above my head.


    I put down my sword because it could not withstand the amount of mana in my body. I narrowed my eyes, then looked coldly and emotionlessly into the king''s icy blue eyes.

 Chapter 144 Volume III - 65: Ten Seconds

    <h4>Chapter 144 Volume III - Chapter 65: Ten Seconds</h4>


    My mana began to spread wildly into the atmosphere. My ess to the Sith''s vast reserves of mana was unblocked, and not only that, Sith intentionally purified and concentrated the mana in my own body.


    My mana refused to stay in my body because I had used this technique when I was not yet powerful enough. Even though Sith was supporting me with the mana that he could not use on his own, my time was limited.


    The King had not finished me off quickly to show his overwhelming power just now, but when he realized the amount and purity of the mana emanating from me, the smile on his face disappeared as quickly as it hade. Without waiting, he lunged at me, realizing the danger, and his huge sword wasing straight at me.


    I raised my hand and pulled it to the side in the direction of the sword.


    Suddenly, a strong gust of wind caused the king''s sword to deflect. The huge swordnded not on me, but next to me, prating the ground and sending a shockwave around it. However, the shockwave was not enough to knock me down as I supported myself with the winds.


    The king did not bother to pick up his sword, it was a waste of time for him to remove it from the ground and so he let it go, clenched his fist, and charged at me with a fury.


    This was what I expected. This was his second phase in the game and each time he would throw the same sequence of punches. I thought it would be the same here, in my reality, because when I first came to Lunerra, Professor Calvin had the same attack sequence.


    In the small moment before his attack, our eyes met. He had a look in his icy blue eyes as if he really saw me as a danger.


    What he doesn''t know is that I''m not such an extreme danger to him. I can stay in this form for fifteen seconds at most and that''s... not enough to kill him. The reason he''s so afraid of me is because of the pure mana that my body can''t handle.


    My eyes went specifically to his right hand and what I expected happened. The king threw his left foot back, took support from it, and swung his right fist at me.


    It was exactly the same as in the game.


    I easily avoided the attack and all his subsequent attacks were just like in my memories. It was hard to pick out his attacks, but everything was just like in my memory.


    The King kept swinging his fists at me, and I just dodged. In just five seconds, we had elerated so much that I could no longer follow his movements even with Absolute Mind.


    I kept his focus on me, using my mana and doing things to attract his attention.


    Ten seconds.


    The king''s fist almost smashed my head like a watermelon, but I managed to dodge it.


    Nine seconds.


    The king didn''t punch me this time. The blue glow in his eyes intensified and the ground trembled.


    The ground beneath the king''s feet began to freeze, and the ice rose up as if out of thin air and shot at me in thin spears.


    I created a Mana Barrier with my remaining mana and all of these attacks were blocked by my transparent barrier floating in the air. The barrier shattered after blocking this attack, the attacks were indeed powerful.


    Eight seconds.


    The metallic taste came to my mouth again, but this time I couldn''t even bother to swallow.


    As I dealt with the king''s punches along with his thin ice attacks, I was pushed back and back. Finally, my back touched the wall. The king was so focused on me that he kept punching me as if he didn''t notice, and this time I didn''t avoid him straight.


    Seven.


    I bent down and closed my eyes, focusing on the mana left in my body. The teal glow surrounding my body intensified, so much so that I could see it even through my closed eyes, and a strong wind blew across me.


    I strengthened the wind created by the king''s fist, giving his attack much more force than usual, and the fist suddenly elerated. It was so sudden for the king that he couldn''t control himself... and his fist smashed the wall.


    The snow that had been falling outside the crumbling wall began toe in and the air suddenly became cold and the king hesitated. Only now did he realize that we had reached the wall of the throne room.


    Six.


    The king looked angrily at me, bent over. He realized I was trapped and an ugly smile formed on his face.


    I quickly pulled another button out of my pocket, this one a different color than the others. I had prepared different colored dimensional buttons for food, potions, and stews, but this one was ck. It was the only ck one among the others.


    I broke the button and out came a potion that had cost me a lot of money.


    The king didn''t notice this.


    Five.


    The king attacked me at this very moment. This time it wasn''t a punch, he tried to catch me and he was extremely fast.


    I tried to avoid it, I even tried to make it easier by using my mana, but at this moment... my whole body shook.


    Even though I could have stayed in the form I was in for another five seconds, my body started to overstrain, and that led to something unpleasant.


    The king managed to catch me with his hands. I felt his cold skin touching me and his huge fingers closed. He couldn''t fully encircle my body, but he was big and strong enough to prevent me from moving my arms.


    I struggled, I tried to break free, but I couldn''t do anything because he was too strong. The king made an expression of amusement. A block of ice rose up from under his feet, began to taper, and move closer to my chest.


    Four.


    It was clear that struggling was useless. There seemed to be no way out.


    I took a deep breath, stopped struggling, and let myself go. When the king realized that I had given up, he slowed down the ice spike that would lead me to my death, as if he was not done with me, as if he enjoyed it. The smile on his face widened.


    I gripped the potion in my hand tightly and closed my eyes.


    Three.


    I focused on all the mana left in my body and dropped the potion on the ground.


    A gust of wind, powered by my mana, lifted it up, preventing it from falling to the ground. The sharpened ice was right in front of my heart.


    Two.


    My eyes opened and I looked directly into the king''s eyes. As our eyes met, the first thing I saw in his shimmering icy blue eyes was my own pale reflection. My eyes were not gray, they were a shimmering teal.


    The king was surprised for a moment, the smile fell from his face and he realized something was wrong... but it was toote.


    The first thing I did was to open the spikes on the bottom of my shoes, which we used to use to cross a cliff andter to climb a mountain, with a simple gesture. The nails came out from under my foot and with it, I kicked the king hard in the stomach.


    The king groaned in pain as his grip momentarily loosened.


    One.


    I quickly freed myself from him, pulled onest dimensional button from my pocket, broke it, and a dagger appeared in the air.


    I snatched it from the air as it formed, the teal glow around my body enveloped the dagger and I swung it horizontally into the king''s mouth without waiting.


    Cracks instantly appeared on the dagger, powered by wild, pure mana, but they did not prevent me from finishing the job.


    The king''s mouth opened wide in an instant. The blood ran down his neck, then down his chest, soaking his armor, and the king roared in rage, mingled with a scream.


    He quickly tried to grab me, but I quickly got behind him, put my fingers in his eyes, and blinded him.


    Zero.


    I felt my strength slowly leaving my body, but I didn''t feel the slightest bit of adrenaline.


    I have to hold on a little longer...


    Thanks to the Absolute Mind I felt no tension, no urgency, no despair. I was calm, unnecessarily calm. I was all in my battle with the king.


    The king struggled even more with the pain he felt and the fact that he was blind. A huge sheet of ice suddenly expanded on the ground beneath his feet and random thorns started shooting up.


    Some of them actually found me, my movements were slowed by the two thorns that pierced my shoulder and leg, but if I stopped, I was certain to die.


    The dagger in my hand trembled for a moment as if it might explode and without taking any risk, I plunged it into the side of the king''s stomach.


    I quickly pulled out what was probably myst remaining weapon, another dagger, and grabbed it in midair, widening the wound in the king''s mouth even more, so much so that he could never close his mouth, and probably could not even make a proper sound.


    The wind, using my mana to hold the potion I had just brewed in the air, carried it swiftly to the king''s mouth, which was unable to close, and threw it into it.


    I pushed the king against the copsed wall before throwing myself backward, and as my form began to return to normal, the king staggered and crashed into the wall, making strange noises as he struggled in pain, causing it to break.


    I suddenly felt extremely weakened, the teal glow around me fadedpletely and I involuntarily fell to my knees.


    The dagger in the king''s belly exploded at this moment, unable to withstand the mana inside. With the impact of the explosion, a small but abnormal gap appeared in the right half of the king''s body. With an even more agonized scream, he staggered toward the break in the wall and lost his bnce.


    Our eyes met for thest time. He looked at me with intense anger. He was so angry at me, the source of his pain, that he didn''t seem to care about the hole in the right side of his stomach and his mouth hanging out of ce. He tried to approach me... but it was toote.


    A faint light suddenly appeared in the king''s abdomen. His expression just froze. He wanted to moan but he couldn''t even do that, his eyes shifted upward to show his whites and there was a muffled ''boom''.


    The pale light in the king''s abdomen ceased. Smoke and blood came from his mouth. He took a step backward, trying to keep his bnce but his strength gave out as his life slipped from his hands before he fell down from the pce.


    With the end of my mana, the influence of the Absolute Mind disappeared. My thoughts entered my head again. At the same time, pain enveloped my whole body.


    A notification appeared in front of me, but I couldn''t read it, and I didn''t need to, it was obvious what the notification was.


    My body lost even more strength... and I copsed.


    I turned my head to look at Alex and thest thing I saw was him, bruised and battered, fighting against onest knight.


    The silvery glint in his eyes was still there, but at the same time, blood wasing out of them. His skill was straining his eyes so much that there were even bulging veins next to his eyes. Still, Alex couldn''t seem to stop.


    I hope... that you win, Alex. Otherwise, it won''t end well for us...


    And just like that, the world went dark.

 Chapter 145 Volume III - 66: Familiar Necklace

    <h4>Chapter 145 Volume III - Chapter 66: Familiar Ne</h4>


    ''Wake up, idiot.''


    As I heard an old man''s voice echoing in my mind, my eyes snapped open and I jumped out of bed.


    "James!"


    My eyes quickly searched for my enemy, I couldn''t stop myself from grabbing him and beating him, but then... I paused.


    This... This isn''t Risa''s room. This is another room.


    "You''re finally awake, Adrian."


    I looked in the direction of the voice, across the couch where I was lying, and saw someone there, someone with long white hair and coal-ck eyes.


    "Alice? James... What happened?"


    Alice didn''t answer. She just stared at me for a while. It seemed like she was angry with me, so much so that I couldn''t help wondering if I had done something wrong, but then she sighed.


    "I handed James''s phone over to the academy, and he will probably be expelled from the academy, along with the correspondence on it. Especially since I did it in front of all the students, as I said before, it will be an intimidation to the others. That''s why the academy will never deal with someone like him again, at least not in our generation."


    She did everything on her own? But... how did she get out of that room? How did she manage to get away from James?


    I paused for a moment.


    No, even if she''s not stronger than me, she''s a lot smarter. She may have found her way out somehow, so that''s not important.


    The important thing is...


    I... once again I was in someone''s way, I couldn''t do anything. I was so confident in my own power that I fell into a trap like a fool. And I did it even though I said I''d never make a mistake again.


    "Don''t get depressed, and if you do, don''t do it in front of me. Now that you''re awake, get up and go back to your room, we''re done."


    "Is this... your room?"


    "Yes, and since we don''t have anything else to do with each other for now, you don''t need to stay here."


    I felt for a moment that Alice was ufortable with me.


    She probably doesn''t like having someone else in her room...


    "I apologize..."


    I sat up quickly from the couch.


    "I was stupidly under-confident, I made you work for it, I''m s-"


    "Apologizing doesn''t change anything, what''s past is past. The important thing is, are you going or not?"


    She''s angry with me... She''s definitely angry with me. It must be because I''m an idiot, right?


    I smiled, sighed deeply, and turned around.


    "I''m going."


    I have nothing to say, I''mpletely in the wrong.


    I''m an idiot, just like Lithoa said... an idiot who never wises up.


    I took my first step, headed for the door, and thought.


    The James thing... was it really that easy to handle? No... Alice must have used a trick.


    Honestly, I don''t really care how she beat him, but... what do I do next? What should I do if I''m ever faced with someone like James again? Should I work harder? After all, there''s no way I can get smarter. But if I get stronger, I won''t be in this situation again, right?


    I smiled. But it was not because of joy.


    Hah... That''s all I know anyway. Work, get stronger, get defeated, apologize, work, get stronger, get defeated, and repeat...


    Will I never be able to win?


    I clenched my fist involuntarily.


    I need to find something, something that won''t let me down, something that, even if it can''t make me never make a mistake again, will make that possibility much less likely.


    With these thoughts in mind, when I finally arrived at the door, I paused.


    "Thank you, Alice. I won''t forget my debt."


    I didn''t get a response, but I didn''t need one, I didn''t expect one. Alice wasn''t like that. I knew that.


    I reached for the door and opened it, I took a step to go out, but just then I paused again.


    For a moment I was silent, not moving, and then I slowly turned around, frowning.


    Did I hear something or was it just me?


    I didn''t move a muscle and I focused, I even used some mana to hear better, and as I did so I heard a sound, a muffled sound. The sound of someone... moaning.


    "Alice?"


    I turned quickly and ran back into the living room. I didn''t find Alice where she was standing before. Rather, she was on the floor.


    Her whole body was shaking. Her face was red as if she had been deliberately restraining herself, trying to reach out with her hand to a coffee table a little distance away from her.


    "Alice!"


    I quickly bent down beside her, trying to lift her upright, and as I held her, I noticed something strange.


    Her body was extremely cold, almost freezing.


    Alice barely looked at me. Then her eyes shifted to the coffee table she had just been reaching for.


    The coffee table!


    I immediately looked at it. There was a small box on it.


    I grabbed the box and took out one of the orange orb-shaped pills. Then dropped it into Alice''s mouth without waiting, not even thinking about what it was.


    Alice chewed the pill, swallowed, and then coughed. She seemed to have something stuck in her throat, so I patted her on the back a few times.


    "Are you okay? Alice?"


    "Le-"


    She was interrupted by another cough.


    "Yes?"


    I was silent as I noticed her eyes tearing up slightly, waiting for her to answer, but something else caught my attention. Her body temperature was rapidly returning to normal.


    "Let me go."


    "Ah..."


    I quickly let her go and stood up.


    "I''ll get some water, wait."


    I went to the kitchen, got a ss of water, and returned to Alice. She was on the floor, leaning against the sofa, breathing deeply. Her eyes were closed.


    "Here, you should drink."


    Alice opened her eyes and looked at the ss. She waited for a moment and then sighed. She took the ss and raised it to her throat. She put the ss on the armchair and sighed again.


    She closed her eyes and waited. The redness in her face slowly returned to its normal color and after a short while, she opened her eyes. She turned to me and frowned as if she hadn''t expected me to be here.


    "What are you waiting for? You helped and it''s over, you can go."


    "It''s just..."


    "What? Are you worried about me? I have a disease, that''s all. I wouldn''t have died even if you hadn''t helped me, but if it''s thanks you want to hear, thank you. You can go now."


    I opened my mouth, but I couldn''t find anything to say.


    She used to be distant, but... definitely not like this. Something must have happened while I was unconscious, but what?


    I thought and thought, but I couldn''t find anything, and then I paused as I realized something.


    I... am looking for an answer to everything.


    Alice doesn''t want to see me and if that''s really the case, there''s nothing I can do. So be it. I can''t force her to be my friend. That would be... just selfish.


    "I''m sorry, I''m leaving."


    I turned around and headed for the door like I had just done. This time there was nothing holding me back. Not a feeling, not a sound, not a thought.


    I put on my shoes and went out into the hallway, which was empty.


    I took onest look inside before closing the door. Only Alice''s legs were visible, still in the same position.


    "Haaa..."


    I prepared to pull the door. I was going to leave, that was my intention. But... I didn''t. I didn''t go on. I couldn''t.


    I looked back again and watched inside.


    I felt a twinge of bitterness for a moment, I started to regret that I had just walked out that door.


    Because... Alice is not well. I could tell just by her facial expression, but I left her there without even a little bit of persistence.


    Is that how I''m going to save people? Is that how I''m going to fix my mistakes? Just running away without even trying a little bit?


    No... that''s not who I want to be. I couldn''t even beat James and I couldn''t do anything but push everything to Alice. Even though I asked her for help and she epted, I was unconscious when it all happened.


    I keep owing Alice so much. I have to help her, even if she doesn''t count what I do as repayment... even if I don''t get anything in return.


    I took a deep breath and took off my shoes. I went back inside, closed the door, and went into the living room to Alice.


    Alice was where I had left her, she hadn''t even moved. Her eyes were slightly teary and closed, her chest was rising and falling slightly, indicating that she was asleep.


    No... as soon as I left the room, she must have stopped holding herself and fainted.


    A thought urred to me for a moment.


    Is that why she wanted me to leave...? Because she didn''t want me to see her crying? Was she that hurt...?


    I reached for my ne. I remembered how my father used to pick me up every time I cried and tuck me into bed, telling me action-packed stories. Back then... my life was good. These might be the happiest memories I have from my childhood.


    I put down my ne, bent down, and picked Alice up. Since almost every dorm room was the same, I knew where her bed was, so I headed there.


    Alice stirred but did not open her eyes. She went back to sleep and didn''t do anything until I put her on her bed and covered her up.


    Once she was in bed, she turned on her side, pulling her legs and hands toward her. Her expression rxed for a moment.


    A smile appeared on my face.


    She might wake up in her bed and realize that I did this and get angry, maybe there will be even more distance between us, but... it felt good to see her rx.


    Alice stirred again for a moment. She tried to turn over again but couldn''t. So she stopped trying to turn. But... just then, something around her neck slowly fell down.


    "Ha?"


    I focused on what had fallen, and then I realized it was a ne hanging from Alice''s neck.


    It looked like a ne made of gold, but shining like silver. It was small, and in the middle of it... was a familiar green-colored jewel.


    "Wh- what?"


    The moment I saw the ne, everything suddenly made no sense, my eyes widened. I felt like the world stopped, nothing was processed in my brain and I just froze.


    "H- how?!"


    The ne continued to hang around Alice''s neck as if denying reality. No matter how many times I blinked, no matter how long I waited, it didn''t disappear.


    In fact, it was the same ne that belonged to my father, the one that helped me hide my identity.


    Not only that, the nes were exactly the same.


    There was not the slightest difference between them, as if they were made at the same exact location.

 Chapter 146 Volume III - 67: After the Boss

    <h4>Chapter 146 Volume III - Chapter 67: After the Boss</h4>


    I took an involuntary step back, away from Alice, no, away from the ne. Dozens of questions popped up in my mind.


    Was Alice... an elf? And if so, how could she have the exact same ne as mine? Why does an elf remain a ''student'' here, in the kingdom of humans...?


    I have my own reasons, I''m not even a full elf and so I didn''t grow up in elven culture. But if Alice is an elf, why would she go to an academy in a human kingdom?


    I paused for a moment when I realized that I was starting to overstrain my brain.


    Actually... why am I thinking about this so much? I''m overthinking again... She must have her own reasons too, right?


    Yes, exactly. I... will pretend I didn''t see that.


    I looked at Alice who was sleepingfortably in her bed, my eyes drifted back to the ne hanging from her neck and I sighed.


    "I''m sorry."


    I bowed my head and walked out of the room as if nothing had happened, closing the door slowly and quietly.


    There''s nothing else I can do, is there?


    My eyes scanned the room, but there was nothing in the room that I could really ''fix''. There wasn''t even any decoration, there was only furniture in the room, like a sofa and a table. That and everything else seemed to be in absolute order.


    I took a deep breath and, after making sure again that there was nothing I could do, I headed outside, this time to leave for real.


    This time I pulled the outer door open without hesitation. This time I had no regrets, just seeing Alice relieved made me happy and I smiled, thinking that I had helped someone.


    When I finally walked out of the dormitory, I was walking with a smile, and I was walking toward the training building.


    For a moment, I remembered what I had said to Alice after the attack at the academy, and I clenched my fist involuntarily.


    I have to train and train and train until I''m so strong that people like James wouldn''t dare touch me.


    No... not just train. If I really want to help people in the best way I can, I have to find other things.


    I will get stronger, but I will also concentrate on different things.


    Alice''s words echoed in my mind.


    Unless I be God himself, my dream will remain just a dream?


    Then I will be even stronger than them so that even they can''t stop me.


    I clenched my fist tighter, my fingernails trembling from the pressure, but I didn''t care.


    ''Lithoa.''


    I called out to the old man for the first time in a long, long time, with desire.


    He must have understood that because his voice instantly echoed in my mind.


    ''What is it?


    ''You said that you could make me much stronger, didn''t you?


    I could have sworn the old man was grinning in my mind.


    ''Of course, brat. You just weren''t cut out for that sort of thing. But now...''


    Lithoa paused, augh echoed in my mind, and without even trying to calm himself, he spoke as if he was quite amused.


    ''It seems you have found what you really wanted, your purpose in life. That''s what you were missing, Adrian. You were getting stronger, you were growing, but your life had no meaning. And now... you have a good motivation not to give up in the face of what I have in store for you.''


    Motivation, huh...


    Maybe he''s right. I didn''t really have a purpose until now.


    Now... I want to change, I want to be like Aiden, I want to protect people, I want to do everything I can to get stronger, whereas before I used to think it was unnecessary as the training time got longer and longer.


    I took a deep breath when I realized I was finally in front of the training building.


    I made up my mind.


    *******


    "Aid..."


    I heard a sound, then an intense pain enveloped my whole body.


    I felt the need to moan, but immediately afterward, I was involuntarily halted by a warm, tasteless liquid entering my mouth.


    Only seconds after the liquid had passed down my throat, the pain subsided slightly, if notpletely disappeared. At least they became more tolerable.


    "Aiden? Are you okay?"


    My eyes opened, but the surroundings were so blurry that I couldn''t make out anything.


    "Alex... is that you?"


    "Yeah, it''s me, but don''t worry about it. How are you feeling?"


    "You''re wrong to even ask... I feel extremely bad."


    I took a deep breath and sat up.


    My whole body is in pain, but I think I can move. I''m hoping that after transferring mana to the Absolute Mind and nting a particrly high-level potion in my head, which must be the one Alex gave me, I''ll be able to walk...


    Fortunately, the world has not disappointed me.


    After doing what I thought I could do, I was able to walk slowly, with slight pain, even if I couldn''t run.


    Depending on the potion''s effect and how long the mana potions willst, I think I''llst quite a while. Of course, when it''s all over and I''m back at the academy, I might be bedridden for a few days... but I don''t mind being bedridden for a few days in the face of what I''m going to gain.


    Now, first of all...


    ''Sith, you''re there, right?''


    ''Yes, I''m here. You''re fine, luckily this time you didn''t have to sleep for a few days like you did in the preliminaries. And I could be wrong, but... you might have even improved a few stats.''


    What? Really?


    I suddenly forgot all my pain and quickly opened my statistics window.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: Aiden (Ethan)


    Last Name: Tenebra (Subter)


    Race: Human/Wiera


    Age: 18


    --???--


    ???: %3,2


    --Statistics--


    General Level: E+


    Strength: E


    Agility: E+


    Vitality: E+


    Endurance: E-


    Luck: E


    Magic Power: E+


    Mana Efficiency: E+


    Charm: E


    --State Effects--


    Abnormal Status Effect: [Divided Soul] -- [Body Dissonance] -- [???]


    --Chaos--


    Devotion: Greed


    Status: Representative Candidate


    Grade: E+


    Control Tolerance: F+


    Limit: E


    Authority: [Chains of Sin(E+)]


    --Masteries--


    [Swordsmanship(E-)] -- [Mana Expert(E)] -- [Spirit Magic: Wind Elementalist(E+)]


    --Active Skills--


    [Mana Barrier(E)]


    --Passive Skills--


    [The One Who is Close to Spirits(A)] -- [Absolute Mind(A-)]


    ------------------------------>>


    Whoa...


    Yes, I''ve been training for a while and it''s been quite some time since I got an increase in my stats, but I really didn''t expect so many things to improve in a row. Besides strength, vitality, and mana efficiency, even my mana expert and wind spell mastery have improved...


    Well, I wouldn''t say I don''t deserve it... right?


    ''Egotistical.''


    Come on, Sith...


    Sith didn''t answer, but I was pretty sure he was smiling. I was smiling too.


    Joking aside, this increase in my stats is really good. I expected something like this, I just didn''t expect so many things to increase at the same time.


    Yeah... that''s definitely good.


    "What do we do now? We killed the Boss. We can get out when we enter the treasure room behind the throne."


    Alex''s voice woke me from my thoughts.


    That''s right, I was distracted when I saw my stats going up... Let''s get the job done first, I need to celebrateter.


    "Forget the treasure room."


    Alex''s brow suddenly furrowed.


    "Excuse me?"


    "We have nothing to do with the treasure room, our business is elsewhere."


    Alex looked at me without saying anything, even more confused. I smiled, turned around, and walked toward the wall where the boss had died. Where there was a huge fracture.


    Alex followed me, curious. When I stopped in front of the fracture, his expression became even more meaningless.


    "What are we doing here?"


    "Simple, we''re going to jump down."


    Alex''s eyes suddenly widened with fear. The fear of heights had suddenly overtaken him.


    "Hahaha... Don''t be scared, we''re not really going to jump. We''ll just go down. It''s not directly below us, but it should be a little to the right... We''ll enter the pce again through a window there."


    Alex swallowed.


    "And what is that ce?"


    "That''s where we''ll actually need your skill."


    Alex said nothing about that, he was still curious about something else. Something that he feared to hear...


    "And how do we get down there?"


    "With mountaineering gear, of course."


    Alex''s expression shifted into shapes that I would probably never see unless something about heights was going on.


    "Pfft... Hahahahahah- Ah!"


    Iughed so hard that for a moment a sharp pain spread throughout my body from my wounds. Alex narrowed his eyes and looked at me coldly.


    "I guess this is what they call divine justice."


    "S- sorry... I won''tugh again."


    I waited for a moment for the pain to subside before speaking again and then pointed to a pir behind Alex. Alex quickly turned to it.


    "We''ll tie a rope to that pir over there and climb down. It''s not too hard, it should be no more than two meters to the right and three meters below us if I remember correctly."


    Alex didn''t look relieved at all.


    "O- okay..."

 Chapter 147 Volume III - 68: Toward the End of the Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 147 Volume III - Chapter 68: Toward the End of the Dungeon</h4>


    "Alex! The rope''s breaking!"


    "Wh- what?! H- Hel... Huh?"


    Alex stopped when he saw me smiling and about tough. Then he turned around without saying anything. Then... with a quick movement, he took out a needle and brought it to the rope I was tied to.


    "Okay, okay! I''m sorry, I''m really sorry! It''s just... you were so open that I couldn''t help myself."


    "Tch."


    Alex put the needle back in and I smiled.


    There was a huge, open window just below us.


    "We''re going in. We''ll probably be fine, but be careful."


    And with that we went further down and went in through the ss. As we entered, we were greeted by a truly enormous room, but that wasn''t the main thing.


    The important thing was that the room was literally covered with runes. The walls, the floor, the ceiling and a door at the other end of the room that was the entire length of the wall... Everything was covered in runes.


    "This..."


    Alex admired the runes more than the room itself. The previous thought of heights seemed to havepletely slipped his mind.


    "What is this ce...?"


    "The room with the door that leads to the heart of the dungeon."


    Alex approached the door along the wall covered with runes and ced his hand on it.


    "The heart of the dungeon..."


    He paused for a moment.


    "No wonder you need my skill. These runes... They''re soplicated, so intertwined that you can hardly understand anything. There are ones that are just there to confuse, ones where you have to solve one stage before you can solve another, and more..."


    Without even blinking his eyes, he looked around like a little boy who had found a new toy. Smiling, I put my back to the wall and let myself fall to the floor.


    "Good luck then, you take it from here."


    Alex waited in silence for a while.


    "Lheal... That nt is behind this door, right?"


    "Yes."


    He clenched his fist and focused resolutely on the door.


    "Okay, just sit and wait."


    He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. For a moment, I felt that the mana in the room was strange.


    It wasn''t like the mana was concentrating on him, it wasn''t increasing in purity or anything. It was just... a strange feeling.


    It was as if the world, in which we had been traveling like a grain of dust until now, had suddenly shifted its focus to us. The mana in the atmosphere was suddenly still, looking at Alex. No... it was waiting for him.


    Alex slowly opened his eyes.


    His eyes, normally brown, were now silvery. He used to have ordinary, if sharp, eyes, but now... it was like he was someone else. Those eyes felt like eyes a human shouldn''t have.


    It was as if he wasn''t looking at me with those eyes, but into me, into the depths of my soul. They were clear, calm and cold, as if there was nothing I could hide from them.


    This is the greatest power Alex holds. A power that it is impossible for anyone who knows the details to envy him.


    Alex''s skill not only allows him to see things he can''t normally see with his eyes, it allows him to slowly acquire the knowledge he wants about everything he sees with his eyes, as long as he has the mana to do so.


    For the simplest example, when he wonders how hot the weather is, he can get this information by activating his skill. When he sees someone who is sick, he can find out what their illness is. He can pinpoint someone''s age and even get a glimpse of their skills.


    There are limits to this skill, though. He can only learn objective things, he can''t glimpse any of the subjective things, and on top of that, the skill has some taboos. Things like looking into the future, knowing when someone is going to die.


    Of course, it needs an enormous amount of mana to do the things it can do, and the skill has some major ws. ws like, for example, that when the owner dies, the skill can be taken over by the person who killed them. It''s quite obvious what people who know about it would do to get it.


    And then there is a much, much bigger w, and that is precisely why, even if I really admit that I am jealous of the skill, I could never take it for myself. Taking it would mean that even if it doesn''t affect me now, in the future my actions would be severely restricted. Having that ability in my possession would ruin all the ns I have made and will make for the future.


    Anyway...


    "How many hours do you think it will take?"


    Alex spoke, his eyes shimmering with a silvery color as he looked back and forth between the runes, never losing focus on them.


    "I''m not sure, but I''ll probably run through my mana a few times... at least... let''s say six times. I''m guessing it will take me about five hours minimum."


    "Five hours..."


    "Exactly- Aha!"


    Alex focused even more on the runes, as if he suddenly understood something.


    "So that''s how it was..."


    "Have you solved the first stage?"


    "No, of course not. If I could do it that fast, it would have been done in an hour at most. I only figured out the meaning of a few runes, especially some of the runes that will get me started. For example..."


    Alex raised his hand and held it out toward one of the runes by the door. The mana flew out of his hand and into the rune, and he activated it. In an instant, all the runes in the room lit up, and in a short moment they went out. Then, like a heartbeat, they shed a few more times and suddenly patterns began to fly around the room.


    They swirled and swirled around the room, literally bursting from the runes all around. Alex studied each of the motifs carefully. His eyes were like ruffles, spinning everywhere at a fast pace, and some of them would stop a little longer than usual and then move closer to him as he transmitted mana to them. Alex was making new runes from the motifs he collected, connecting them like a circuit and incorporating them into the rhythm of the heartbeat in the room.


    It was a truly spectacr sight. It was quite a show and I could have sat and watched it all day long.


    Although... there''s nothing else I can do anyway, so I''ll do what I said I would do.


    Alex continued the process. Minutes passed, hours passed, but he didn''t even rest. He drank who knows how many mana potions, and I started to wonder if he would vomit them up after a while, but he didn''t. As time passed, the room became more magical and mystical. The motifs became more and more varied, spun and spun, and the mana spread throughout the room.


    Mana took shape after shape. The inside of the room became a riot of colors, different motifs paired with each other to form runes, which slowly formed into a gigantic formation inside the room. Some of the runes shimmered on the walls, others, already glowing, faded.


    It was marvelous just to watch. But no matter what, everything had an end.


    Almost six hours passed. Alex drank mana potions continuously to keep his mana in bnce, he might even have exhausted the supply because it had been a while since hest drank a potion.


    His eyes were bloodshot. Literally bloody. The first blood came from his eyes half an hour after he started the procedure, and it intensified several times as time passed.


    Nevertheless, Alex continued without rest. Even if I tried to stop him, I didn''t touch him, knowing that he wouldn''t stop, no matter what, with the nt that would save his mother behind the barrier in front of him.


    "Alex, will your eyes and mana hold out?"


    In spite of these words I said at the sixth hour, Alex did not respond. He just continued to do his work and I decided not to disturb him. I leaned back and closed my eyes, focusing on the general aching in my body and trying to get used to it.


    At this moment, the riot of colors in the room suddenly intensified and I reflexively opened my eyes. Alex had his hands raised, looking like a conductor leading an orchestra. The silvery gleam in his eyes slowly began to fade, sweat beaded on his forehead and his eyes began to tremble.


    An intense excitement suddenly made me forget my aches and pains. Alex was finally finishing the job.


    Some of the motifs floated and swirled in the air. Then, they suddenly disappeared like dust. The flying colors began to recede into the formation of runes and the mana in the atmosphere was drawn into the room.


    Outside, the snowfall suddenly intensified, thunders echoed, and were apanied by the roar of monsters.


    Alex seemed to be struggling even more as he bit his lip, the veins bulging around his eyes.


    As Alex continued, I sat up from where I was leaning and approached the open window through which we had entered the room and looked out. Nothing could be seen because of the blizzard.


    Considering the rity of this ce just five minutes ago... this formation is something that affects the whole dungeon. But it''s also strange how effective it is.


    I turned around again and continued to watch the process.


    All the color in the room had been absorbed by the formation. The formation itself was almost the size of the entire room.


    Only a few secondster Alex suddenly started coughing. He released his hands, which he had used to channel the mana more easily, and fell to his knees. The silvery glow above his eyes gave way to its original color of brown, and his eyes teared rapidly, a sign of the pain he was in.


    Wiping away the tears that mingled with the blood, Alex copsed. His eyes were closed, breathing rapidly.


    "Are you oka-"


    My words were interrupted by the sudden shing of almost half of the runes in the room, followed by an earthquake-like tremor. I quickly crouched down on the floor, just in case, and waited until the tremor subsided. Outside, the storm became even more violent and the thunders echoed one after the other.


    The runes lit up again, blinking a few times rhythmically like a heartbeat, and then suddenly burst into mes.


    The door, the only obstacle between us and our target, shuddered with a heavy frictional sound as the runes began to burn, and began to retreat, first backward and then to the right.


    An involuntary smile formed on my face.


    "You did it, huh¡­"


    "Of course, I did."

 Chapter 148 Volume III - 69: Heart of the Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 148 Volume III - Chapter 69: Heart of the Dungeon</h4>


    As the whole atmosphere of the room within the dungeon changed, I smiled involuntarily.


    "You did it, huh¡­"


    "Of course, I did."


    Alex responded to me without opening his eyes. Or rather, it seemed like he couldn''t open them even if he wanted to. His skill had really put a strain on his eyes and his mind.


    "When can you open your eyes?"


    "Probably in a few minutes, but I''m pretty sure I won''t be able to see properly. And I''ll probably be in severe pain for a few days, but..."


    "Worth it, you say?"


    Alex smiled confidently.


    "Yes, worth it."


    Widening my smile, I approached him, lifted him off the ground, put my arm around his shoulders, and supported him.


    "Come on, lean on me. We''re leaving this damned dungeon."


    Alex did not answer but nodded. Meanwhile, he was trying to open his eyes but he couldn''t. He seemed to be focused on it.


    "Don''t force yourself. If you''re sure you''ll open them soon, you''ll open them. I''m not going to rip you off. I''m not giving you a fake by calling it Lheal."


    This time he grinned as if he was teasing me.


    "I know."


    I felt a small urge tough when Ipared the way he acted and behaved when we first met. Now... he was much more approachable.


    "I''m d you know."


    I turned to the door, which was now fully open, and beyond it a dark, dusty, broken staircase led down. There was no end in sight, as usual.


    "There''s a staircase ahead, it looks a bit troublesome. Be careful where you step, control your footing."


    "Okay."


    After Alex''s confirmation, I prepared to move forward, but then I paused.


    "Ah... Take off your armor and sweater, because we''re going somewhere really hot. I forgot to tell you."


    "Hot? In this dungeon?"


    I left Alex for a moment and quickly took off the armor and sweater that I had been wearing for who knows how many days, leaving only my undershirt and sweatpants that allowed me to move freely.


    "Yes, trust me."


    Alex hesitated for a while. The idea that there was a ''hot'' ce in this cold dungeon with snow everywhere was so absurd that I too couldn''t believe it myself if I were in his shoes.


    It didn''t take Alex long to shake off his hesitation, though. He let out a deep sigh and somehow did as I asked with eyes that he couldn''t open from the pain. We put the armor inside the dimensional buttons to save space, and just like that... we were ready.


    I moved to Alex''s side to support him again and put my arm around his shoulder.


    "We''re really going this time."


    I didn''t wait for Alex to answer because I knew what I was going to hear. Together, we started to move toward the dark void.


    I took the first step on the staircase and Alex followed me, supported by me, and so we made our way down. Even though the staircase looked broken, it didn''t feel like it would cause much trouble. The main problem was the darkness, which I solved with a shlight.


    We went down and down, walking for minutes. We passed so many steps that after a while it was clear that we were even below the ground outside. Yet, just as I had said before we entered, a fact that shocked Alex slowly began to emerge: the heat.


    The further down we went, the hotter it got, much, much hotter than it should have been. It was so hot that it was ridiculously oppressive, who knows how far underground one would have to go to go to mines in the world with temperatures like that...


    We had only been going down for about twenty minutes when we paused. Because there were no more steps below us, just t ground.


    "Are we there?"


    Alex said, hot, sweaty, and out of breath. I answered in almost the same state as him.


    "We have to walk a little further, the end of the corridor is in sight."


    I''m not lying, there is a closed door at the end of the corridor and as I remember from the game, it is not closed or locked.


    We continued along the corridor and when we got to the door, I simply pushed it with my foot.


    I didn''t touch it with my hand. Because if I did, I would probably burn the skin of my hand.


    As I pushed it open hard, the door suddenly opened wide, revealing the huge ''hell'' behind it.


    Behind the door was a cave. A huge one. Everything inside was on fire, small andrge mes were everywhere. In some of the ces that weren''t burning, there were half-melted te armors. Some of them had meltedpletely over time so that theyy in ayer on the floor.


    If there used to be someone inside the armor, it must have been a long time since the bones, which were not very durable, melted away.


    Apart from all this, there was a small open building, resembling a temple, supported by pirs, situated in the center of the cave. The inside of the building could be easily seen because it was not covered by walls.


    In the center of the temple was a sphere. A sphere with red and yellow patterns intertwined with each other and a ck sword hanging horizontally in front of it.


    The surroundings were not in either. A few nts, the only signs of life in this ming cave beside us, grew around this orb. They were few in number, but they all looked ripe. They were red, tall, with a flower on them, with thorns and extensions as if they had a tail.


    These were the Red-tailed Lheal Alex was looking for.


    Alex, who had opened his eyes when he wasing down the stairs, squinted them and looked toward the temple.


    "I can''t see it, but there''s something there."


    "There are the nts you''re looking for."


    Alex froze in ce as his eyes widened. His whole body trembled with excitement.


    "Come on then! What are we waiting for?"


    I gave a shortugh at his reaction.


    "I want to say I wish you were always like this, but never mind. Let''s go get our rewards."


    We quickly made our way through the mes to the temple. The heat increased the further we went into the temple, or rather the closer we got to the red orb. It was really unbearable. If we stayed here just ten more minutes we would probably die, but we didn''t need ten minutes for what we were going to do anyway.


    Five minutes would have been more than enough.


    "These..."


    When we finally arrived in front of the temple, Alex stopped looking to me for support and walked quickly to the Lheals. He bent down, cut a nt with a small dagger from his pocket, and examined it without picking it up.


    "This... is indeed the Red-tailed Lheal..."


    His voice trembled again and again with his body toward the end of his sentence.


    "It''s really it... It- It''s not a dream..."


    A smile appeared on my face as I approached him and put my hand on his shoulder.


    "I told you, didn''t I?"


    Alex didn''t answer, but I didn''t need him to.


    "If you have anything you want to say, tell me when we get out of the dungeon. I have things I need to pick up too."


    With that, I took my hand off Alex''s shoulder, said nothing to let himpose himself, and turned back to where the ck sword and the red orb were.


    I moved closer to them so that I could study them even better.


    This red orb... was the reason why this dungeon was extremely cold.


    It was hot because it absorbed all the heat around it. Its range was so great that it cooled almost the entire dungeon. It took years... Many, many years for it to take effect, but in the end, it made this whole realm freezing cold.


    The only reason we could get close to it, even though it had been absorbing the heat from this whole dungeon for years, was the transparent box that surrounded it like a barrier. Without this box... we would probably have turned to ashes as soon as we stepped into this cave.


    There was also a barely visible, slightly faded writing on the transparent barrier. I couldn''t read it because I had no idea what thenguage of this realm was, and the system wasn''t going to be of any help. It was probably a myth about how this orb was obtained and how it led this whole realm into the ice age...


    Other than that, there was not much splendor in the appearance of the sphere.


    It was a perfectly shaped sphere floating in the air. The orange-colored patterns on it looked a bit strange, but there was nothing else interesting about it.


    The sword hanging in front of the orb was much more interesting in my eyes.


    The sword was dark purple on ck. The hilt looked like it was covered in leather, but it wasn''t, it too seemed to be made of some strange dark purple material. The de of the sword was quite shortpared to normal swords, but it was not absent at all.


    One part of the hilt was curved downward and the other part was curved upward. The de of the sword looked even more special. It had dark purple runes on it and only one side of the de was sharp. The de of the sword had an extremely slight curve toward the tip and resembled a katana de. I wouldn''t say it was exactly like that, but... it was like that. And the length of the sword with the hilt was maybe eighty centimeters, maybe ny centimeters if I pushed it a little bit.

 Chapter 149 Volume III - 70: Dungeon Rewards

    <h4>Chapter 149 Volume III - Chapter 70: Dungeon Rewards</h4>


    The ck sword in front of me was beautiful, really beautiful. It looked nice and it was really the perfect weapon for me.


    In fact, it was one of the two reasons why I went into the dungeon. I really wanted a weapon that was suitable for me, that I could use other than the training weapons.


    And now... now that I had such a weapon, I didn''t need to keep buying myself new weapons all the time.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You have cleared an E-D grade Recta-type dungeon!


    Your achievements are being listed...


    You killed two mini-bosses, one of which you killed without taking any damage!


    You have killed a higher-ranked main boss than yourself!


    You sessfullypleted the dungeon without meeting the main requirements!


    You are the first person toplete this dungeon!


    You skipped the treasure room and went straight to the heart of the dungeon, gaining ess to special rewards!


    ¡­


    ------------------------------>>


    I couldn''t help sighing as the number of creatures I had killed, one by one, and all the things I had aplished were listed in front of me.


    Truth be told, I am proud of myself.


    When the system finished counting my achievements, a blue glow surrounded the sword and orb in front of me. Then, they disappeared into thin air. Instead, another notification appeared in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    Alexander Callidas has approved sending you the unallocated portion of the rewards.


    ------------------------------>>


    We had already talked about this before, so of course I was not surprised. Instead, I was curious about the rewards I had won.


    <<------------------------------


    For your outstanding achievements in the dungeon, you have earned extraordinary rewards!


    --Rewards--


    Items: [Runic Obsidian Sword] -- [Skill Enhancer]x2 -- [me Elementalist(D-) Mastery Orb] -- [Phoenix''s Soul Orb]


    Stats: [Magic Power (+1)] -- [Luck (+1)]


    Active Skills: [Ice Thorns(E+)]


    You can summon your rewards at any time!


    ------------------------------>>


    Well... I expected this.


    After all, we were the first to clear the dungeon, and we did it with two people below the rmended grade of the dungeon, and on top of that we did some things that a normal team wouldn''t have done.


    Still, I didn''t expect to add a grade to the ''luck'' statistic.


    Charm and Luck are statistics that are highly gic and extremely difficult to improve, apart from other statistics. So, to improve one of them as a reward is a really big thing.


    On top of that, I got one of the main boss''s skills and two skill enhancers.


    The Phoenix''s Soul Orb is the orb in the temple. I was expecting that, but still...


    I hit the jackpot, just as I expected. I really did.


    While I was thinking about this, a two-meter crack suddenly appeared in front of us. The crack appeared so suddenly that it scared us for a moment, but it was not difficult to understand what it was.


    Immediately after its appearance, the crack widened and turned into a gate. The gate we needed to get home.


    With a smile on my face, I turned off all the system notifications in front of me and looked at Alex. He had already transferred all of the Lheal nts to the dimensional buttons he had prepared, ready and waiting.


    "We''re going back."


    Alex had a smile on his face too.


    "Let''s go, I can''t wait."


    "Heh, you really are much easier to deal with now."


    With those words, I headed toward the gate and Alex followed behind me, unperturbed in any way, and we went through the gate.


    I felt exactly the same as I did when I went through the gate during the preliminaries, much morefortable than in that cave. I waited, feeling a slight warmth, and a slight dizziness.


    After a while, a brilliant light suddenly filled my vision. I reflexively closed my eyes with my arms and opened my eyes again when I realized that the light had disappeared. I was in a green ce, in a forest with sparse trees, and right behind me was a huge gate, almost four meters tall.


    When I looked around for Alex, I saw that he was some distance away from me, dazzling me.


    "Let''s go, Alex. We need to get away from here. The mana will be too concentrated here because of the gate, and the kingdom will soone to investigate. We need to leave before that happens. And don''t turn on your watch. No one must know we''re here, that we cleaned the dungeon."


    Alex nodded with a serious expression.


    "I understand, but how will we know where we are without opening our watch?"


    "Don''t worry, I know where this ce is and I know exactly how to get back to the academy. We just need to get to the highway and the rest will fall into ce."


    "You know this ce, huh..."


    I know most of the details of Lunerra''s map, and this is one of the ces that has stuck in my mind, especially because it is the forest where this dungeon was formed. As long as I can find certain things, like a river or a cliff, I can find the way.


    "Anyway, I won''t question it, just... take me to the academy, I want to give my mom the good news."


    I smiled and pointed my finger at my shirt. Alex looked at my finger for a moment as if he didn''t understand what I was saying, but then he realized what I meant.


    "We are standing with the undershirt..."


    "Exactly! First, let''s change into clean clothes. And before we enter the academy, we have to wash somewhere. Remember, it''s important that we don''t attract attention. Then we''ll go home quickly."


    Alex waited for a while without answering. His impatience, nervousness, and excitement were affecting him in such a way that he was like apletely different person. Still, he knew what I was saying was true, so he didn''t question it.


    In this way, we first changed our clothes, then tried to find the highway for a long time, and when we did, we asked for help from passers-by.


    Interestingly, not many cars passed by on the road. On top of that, humanity has be such that only the eleventh car we hitchhiked with stopped at the side of the road and waited to pick us up. The driver of the car, which looked a bit outdated by this world''s standards, was an old man.


    Most of the helpful people are old people for some reason...


    When we found out that the old man was going to a city where we could go to the academy, we dly got into his car. He turned out to be a really nice guy. He had what I would call amusing conversations with me along the way.


    He talked about how the recent state of the kingdom was bothering him, how much better the old king was than the current one, and how the golden age of the kingdom, which had not ended since its foundation, wasing to an end.


    He is not right, but he is not wrong either. This period of the kingdom... is a veryplicated one. The kingdom has had many troubled years with many problems, but at the same time, it is filled with people who are more powerful than ever before.


    So it''s hard to say whether this is the end of the kingdom''s golden age or not.


    Of course, this old man is in no position to know...


    We continued chatting with the old man, or rather I did. Because Alex had fallen asleep as soon as he got into the car, saying he wanted to rest, leaving me alone with this man.


    The journeysted almost an hour and a half. We were back in the city, where we had bought all our supplies before going to the dungeon, and Efenyl City was ahead of us.


    I woke Alex myself when we entered the city and we parted ways with the old man quite close to the maic train.


    We washed and changed into new clothes. As we had discussed before going to the academy, we wasted no time and jumped on the train, which took only about ten to fifteen minutes, and finally, after a long and tiring adventure, we came back.


    Back to our academy, back to our home. And with a lot of things that we had gained.

 Chapter 150 Volume III - 71: Back to the Academy

    <h4>Chapter 150 Volume III - Chapter 71: Back to the Academy</h4>


    We entered the academy through the south gate as if nothing had happened to us.


    We didn''t look like we came out of a dungeon, we werepletely clean and we didn''t have any visible injuries, so there were no problems. It was just... the gate was a bit crowded.


    Everyone wasing back to the academy, especially today, because the break announced by the academy ends exactly tomorrow. That''s why the gates were all packed.


    After passing through the gate, we moved a little further to a ce where there were fewer people and we were now at the ce where we were going to leave.


    Alex bowed his head in gratitude before leaving.


    "I... cannot express myself with a simple thank you. In the future, when you open that research facility you mentioned, contact me directly and I will join without any problem."


    I smiled and put my hand on his shoulder.


    "It was just an offer, if you think you can find a better job, that''s entirely up to you. For now..."


    I hesitated for a moment. Because a sudden thought urred to me...


    Should I invite Alexander to this group of ours?


    I thought for a very short time and then sighed.


    No... as much as it would help me to get him involved with the others, he probably won''t even have time toe to our meetings. I''ll put that aside for now.


    "You don''t have to do anything. Go to your mother, I know you still haven''t informed her to surprise her. Spend time with her, start her treatment. And then we''ll talk about what to do afterward when you''re really free."


    Alex opened his mouth again but couldn''t say anything. He fixed his brown eyes on the floor and bowed his head.


    "Thank you... Thank you really, I won''t forget this."


    With that, I lowered my hand and turned around.


    "You''re wee. Then... goodbye until next time, Alex."


    So I took my first step and started to move forward, though I could tell Alex hadn''t moved. Other people''s voices wereing from everywhere, but... I could tell.


    I paused, turned around, and saw that Alex was still facing me, bowing slightly.


    I smiled as Alex straightened up. He was looking in my direction, but he wasn''t exactly focused on me. It could be that he couldn''t see me and was only doing it symbolically because his vision was extremely blurry as a bacsh of his skill. And it was going to stay that way for a while.


    A smile like mine appeared on his face and then, without a word, he turned away and disappeared into the crowd.


    I took a deep breath, then sighed.


    ''Looks like he really epted you, huh?''


    Sith appeared in front of me again after a long time. He was looking at the spot where Alex had disappeared.


    "Yeah, I guess so."


    I kept my smile on my face and turned away from the crowd.


    The first thing I want to do is of course to go to my room. Even though I have washed and put on clean clothes, I definitely need to rest. Because quite literally my whole body is aching. I''m still pouring mana into the Absolute Mind to suppress the pain and thest potion I drank is wearing off.


    Even though I can walk, I might lose my bnce and fall if I try to run... I better be fast.


    *******


    The first thing I did when I got back to my room was to lie on my bed and just ''sleep'' for about five hours. It was a sound, dreamless,fortable, and beautiful sleep. When I woke up, even though my body was still aching, I felt a little better than before.


    As I got up, with my refreshed mana, I again used the Absolute Mind to suppress my pain. I opened my watch, went into the contacts, and made a video call to a number without thinking.


    The call kept ringing and ringing. I frowned for a moment, since it was the weekend, it should have been a holiday for her too...


    Why isn''t she answering the call?


    Just then, the holographic screen on the watch expanded and the camera turned on. A girl with light brown hair appeared in the image. She had gray eyes like mine and a surprised expression was written on her face.


    I smiled.


    "Hi, ra. Well... I''m back."


    "When did you get back?"


    "Not long ago, I was asleep for a couple of hours because I was tired. But I called you as soon as I woke up."


    ra paused for a while. She seemed to be talking to someone but I couldn''t hear the other person clearly.


    "Hold on, I''m talking to my brother."


    I heard the other person respond to what ra said, but I couldn''t make out anything in the other person''s voice.


    "Was that your friend?"


    "I mean... sort of."


    My eyebrows suddenly furrowed.


    "What do you mean ''sort of''?"


    "He helps me with my studies."


    My brows furrowed even more when I hear her saying ''he''.


    "A boy, you mean?"


    ra''s face suddenly turned ugly.


    "Really?"


    "What? It''s every brother''s basic right to be curious about his sister''s rtionship status!"


    ra sighed deeply.


    "There''s nothing like that between us."


    My hand involuntarily went to my chin and I focused on emptiness.


    "Homm..."


    ra looked uneasy.


    "There is nothing between us, you say... so it''s one-sided then?"


    Even though I said it, I said it in a whisper, so ra didn''t understand, but her uneasiness increased.


    "What did you say? I don''t understand... What do you really think?"


    "Nothing, nothing important."


    I took my hand off my chin and put a smile on my face.


    "I''d still like to meet all your friends sometime."


    "Suit yourself..."


    ra immediately moved on to something else in an attempt to change the subject at hand. I realized that, but decided to ignore it. That much teasing was enough.


    "Did you get what you wanted?"


    I reced the smile on my face with a proud one.


    "Of course, I did. Do you think there''s a way I didn''t get what I wanted?"


    ra sighed, but her lips curled upward.


    "It''s good to see you''re still the same person."


    There was a brief silence between us for a moment.


    "How are you settling into your new school? You''ve made friends, but... If there''s anyone who annoys you, just let me know."


    I lowered my smile, took a serious stance, and narrowed my eyes.


    "I''ll make them regret they were ever born."


    "We just changed the subject..."


    I corrected my statement as quickly as possible and smiled again.


    "Then it looks like we don''t have a problem for now."


    "It''s scary how fast you change your attitude..."


    I talked to her for about five more minutes, joking and sometimes asking serious questions.


    It felt good to hear her voice after a long time, in the real world.


    "Got it... I''ll hang up then, I have a few more things to do before the day is over."


    "Okay."


    I raised my hand, waved it toward the holographic screen, and smiled.


    "If you run into any problems, you can call me and I''ll be right with you. Goodbye, for now.."


    "Okay, okay..."


    ra waved her hand in the same way. With that, the call ended. Silence fell over the room once again.


    I took a deep breath and opened the notes app on my watch.


    <<------------------------------


    1-) Investigate the Tenebra Family.


    a. Find out why you keep forgetting the images you see.


    b. Find the researcher named Jared Huffab.


    2-) Heal Celine.


    3-) Find Alexander and arrange a trip to the dungeon.


    4-) Talk to Ulka about the Maluses and future research.


    5-) Delve a little deeper into the Alice matter.


    6-) Keep an eye on Paul Demens.


    7-) Find a way to suppress the Wiera side.


    ------------------------------>>


    Of the things I''ve already bought and added, I''ve already taken care of numbers three and four... Of the remaining five, the best thing I can do now is... to visit Celine. After all, I promised her I''de back safe and sound.


    I''ll do something else first, though...


    With a brief thought, I thought of dungeon rewards and a tab opened in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    Rewards earned from all the dungeons you have entered so far, not yet materialized in the world:


    Items: [Runic Obsidian Sword] -- [Skill Enhancer] x2 -- [me Elementalist (D-) Mastery Orb] -- [Phoenix''s Soul Orb]


    The items you earn are stored in the system''s inventory for the first time only. You can materialize any of them in your world at any time, but once you do so, you will not be able to bring that item back into the system''s reward inventory.


    ------------------------------>>


    As I read the list, I closed my eyes and imagined one of the items materializing, then a brief white light filled the room.

 Chapter 151 Volume III - 72: Miniature Fireworks

    <h4>Chapter 151 Volume III - Chapter 72: Miniature Fireworks</h4>


    I showed my ID and was let in without any problem, just like the previous times. I found out that Celine''s room hadn''t been moved and went there quickly. When I went in, I was greeted by a different doctor than before, a woman.


    Ronald seems to have taken care of the doctor issue... Good.


    "I apologize for the sudden visit, I came unannounced."


    I extended my hand toward the doctor and smiled.


    "I''m Aiden Tenebra, Celine''s friend."


    The woman smiled back, epted my hand, and shook it. She was a young, short woman with ck hair and brown eyes. She looked, frankly, ordinary.


    Well... I don''t really care as long as she is being the doctor she is supposed to be.


    "I''m Margaret Lays. Nice to meet you, Mr. Aiden."


    After we shook hands, my eyes went straight to the screens showing Celine''s room and I saw her lying on her bed as usual. Her hair was as long as when I''d left her. And she still looked thin, skinny even.


    "Any progress?"


    The doctor sighed when she realized I was looking at the screens.


    "Not really... I''ve gone through all the records from before I was transferred here, but she doesn''t look much differentpared to them. Still... after much effort, at least we can talk to her now. Although she still can''t look someone directly in the face."


    So, it''s not like there''s no progress...


    "I get it, it''s good that she can even talk to someone other than me."


    But that''s only the beginning. We still have a long way to go.


    "Can I go in? I want to talk to her."


    "Sure, you can go."


    After receiving her approval, I finished my conversation and slowly made my way to Celine''s room without waiting. The first door opened, I passed through the corridor and the second door opened. When I entered the usual room and opened thest door, I was finally in the dark room.


    Celine suddenly stirred and turned around with a single step, even though I didn''t make a sound toward her.


    "Aiden...?"


    Her amethyst eyes scanned the room briefly, then focused on me. She stood still for a moment, saying nothing. She just... looked relieved. Her fear the day I told her I was leaving was now reced by relief.


    "Yes, it''s me and I''m back in one piece, as promised."


    I smiled, moved closer to her bed, and sat down next to her. Celine showed no reaction. She just shifted slightly to make room for me and then closed her eyes, resting her head on my shoulder. She was at peace. She was waiting for me to speak.


    "I went to a dungeon, a dungeon no one knows about."


    Celine nodded.


    "There was snow everywhere. I felt like I was in the ice age, and I found myself in an ancient civilization that had copsed as I went further. Of course, it was extremely cold, but the armor I bought kept me warm, thanks to the fact that I was a bit rich, although not as rich as you."


    Of course, there''s also the fact that I''m a wiera and they can''t get cold, so I don''t actually need the armor for cold protection.


    "Oh, and I wasn''t alone, I had apanion. He was a bit annoying at first, but he finally started to treat me like a human being toward the end of our adventure."


    I told her about the dungeon, the view, and how beautiful it was. I told her about the trolls, the pains, and the spiders... About the challenges we faced, how we didn''t give up and kept going. Celine already knew I was a hybrid wiera and that there was a madman inside me. That''s why I didn''t leave anything out. If I did and she sensed something through her sixth sense, I wouldn''t know what to say, so everything I''d been through came out one by one.


    Celine did nothing but nod her head as she listened to the whole story. Her eyes were always closed and she kept using my shoulder as a pillow.


    So, we finally got to the present, how I ended up in this room.


    "I mean... Yeah, I''ve been in a lot of danger, but I''m alive in the end and have won some amazing prizes."


    I paused and looked at the clock, not knowing what more I could say. Half an hour had passed and I told her everything I could... What more can I say?


    A deep silence fell over the room. Neither Celine nor I said anything and I started to dislike it as time passed. I looked at Celine out of the corner of my eye, she was still leaning against my shoulder with her eyes closed.


    I put my free hand to my heart, listened to its beating, looked at Celine''s face again, and felt a pain in the center of my chest.


    It was the pain of my responsibility, of my weakness.


    I reminded myself again and again.


    Celine went through this because of me, because I was powerless. That''s why I''m the one who has to fix everything, it has to be me. And since I''ve taken care of the dungeon... I should start slowly with that, shouldn''t I?


    "Celine... I know you''ve suffered a lot."


    The words caught in my throat for a moment and I felt like pausing, but I took a deep breath and forced myself to continue.


    "You''ve been through something terrible, but... I think you should try a little too."


    Celine fidgeted. Her eyes were still closed, but I could tell she was ufortable. With her head still resting on my shoulder, her hand grasped mine and held it tightly.


    Of course, I didn''t refuse her. I would dly hold her hand if it would make her feel better.


    "I have no right to say this... I promised to cure you, but... If I don''t find anything, if I can''t cure you, will you be locked in this room forever?"


    Celine opened her eyes and gripped my hand even tighter. Her eyes were still staring into space.


    "Don''t get me wrong, I haven''t given up on my goal. You can try, you can give up, you can do whatever you want. I''ll do my best to make you better, but... do you really want to get better? Do you want toe to group meetings with Lucia, Sue, Adrian, Julian, Alice and me like before? If you do... I only want one thing from you."


    I squeezed her hand.


    "Just... Don''t give up, please. We can get through this. And we will. I believe that. I really believe that. Still... "


    I smiled slightly as Celine looked at me.


    "If you don''t want to try, if you''re scared... I can''t tell you anything, I don''t have the right to do anyway. So, it''s entirely your choice."


    Her gaze never left me. She just kept looking at me. I couldn''t understand what she was thinking. And then... I sensed something strange.


    "I think I dropped the mood a bit... I''m sorry, but I think I can make it up to you."


    I raised my free right hand and Celine''s eyes suddenly focused on it. I closed my hand, leaving only my index finger open. Then my mana flowed to my index finger and a small spark lit up the dark room.


    After the spark, a small me began to burn on my finger. Of course, I didn''t stop there.


    I opened all the fingers of my hand and pulled them to the side. My control over the mes was still very clumsy, so my efficiency was low. Still, my mana was not going to run out soon, so I kept going.


    Many small balls of me formed in the direction I had withdrawn my hand. Celine looked at them all with the same, soulless expression. She must have been a bit intrigued, though, because she focused on them.


    I smiled and released a few of the idle fireballs with a snap of my fingers.


    The released fireballs suddenly began to rise slowly toward the ceiling, but they never touched it. Because I disintegrated them like fireworks before they even reached it.


    One by one, all the balls shot up into the air. Miniature fireworks filled the whole room, one after another, and I saw Celine''s expression change for the first time.


    She seemed mesmerized. She was especially focused on them.


    I smiled when I saw that my little trick had worked.


    "I made them with the me mastery I gained from the dungeon. They''re miniatures and don''t look very fancy, but... even they are quite beautiful in a ce like this, aren''t they?"


    Celine put her head on my shoulder again, fascinated. She squeezed my hand even tighter.


    Her expression didn''t change, so I didn''t understand much, but... she looked happy.


    I smiled.


    For now... Just for now, that''s enough for me. Just the sight of her looking happy might take some of the weight off my shoulders.


    I created even more miniature fireworks, and Celine and I continued to watch them, barely speaking. Finally, when my mana supply was halfway up, I reluctantly stopped making fireworks. After all, the Absolute Mind needs mana to suppress my pain.


    Only a few seconds after I stopped creating fireworks... Celine finally spoke.


    "Aiden."


    It was the second time she had spoken since I had entered the room, the first time in almost forty minutes that she sounded like she was going to continue instead of just addressing me. So I answered her earnestly.


    "What?"


    "Why... can I only look at your face?"


    I paused at the sudden question. But I didn''t make her wait too long.


    I can''t lie to her... I don''t want to.


    "I don''t know."


    Celine was silent, and then she broke the silence herself.


    "I feel like you''vee from another world."


    The whole world stopped spinning, and time stopped. Celine''s words echoed in my mind as my eyes widened.


    What¡­ did she just say?

 Chapter 152 Volume III - 73: Incomprehensible Feelings

    <h4>Chapter 152 Volume III - Chapter 73: Iprehensible Feelings</h4>


    "Whenever... Whenever youe near me, the Sixth Sense does something strange. You give me a feeling that makes me feel at peace. Something I''ve never felt before, like you''re not of this... world."


    Ah... So that''s it.


    The Sixth Sense understands that I''m in a body that doesn''t belong to me, but it can''tmunicate it to Celine properly.


    Is my soul so... alien to this world?


    Still, it''s good that it gives Celine peace, isn''t it?


    "W- Why do I feel this way when you''re close? What is my skill trying to tell me...? I... don''t understand..."


    She squeezed my hand tighter, but this time, refusing to lean on my shoulder, she straightened up and turned to me.


    Only a few inches separated me from her thin, emaciated face. Her eyes were flickering, even tearing up a little.


    I swallowed for a moment, I didn''t know what to do, I hadn''t expected anything like this.


    "A lot... I''ve thought a lot, Aiden. When you were here, when you were gone, when you were alone, when you were with the doctors. Have I... fallen in love with you? Is that why my skill makes me feel this way?"


    My head started to spin as I realized again that there were only a few centimeters between me and Celine''s face.


    "I-"


    But at this very moment, all this confusion suddenly vanished into nothingness. My head stopped spinning, my focus returned... and I paused.


    I...


    Ah, the Absolute Mind.


    I suddenly became able to think things straight. My skill kicked in as soon as I was confronted with an issue that challenged my mind.


    "I... I don''t understand anymore."


    Celine buried her head in my chest. She didn''t do anything, she just waited and closed her eyes.


    "Still... it feels good to be near you."


    What should I do?


    What Celine feels has nothing to do with love. It''s just the fact that my soul is from another world that causes her skill to react strangely. What makes her believe this is that she must be confused because I am always there for her, supporting her through all this. The gratitude she feels must be clouding her emotions.


    Still... if I exin it to her, will she ept it?


    How will she react if... I tell her that this ''love'' she thinks she feels is fake? When she is already so sensitive... I... what should I do?


    What should I say?


    "I..."


    Whateveres out of my mouth will give me the best result? I... I have never been in such a situation...


    When I finally realized that I had filled my mind with a thousand different thoughts, I paused, took a deep breath and let it out.


    I really hate overthinking... I''m just going to do what makes the most sense to me.


    I don''t want to lie, I''m afraid that if she senses it with her skill, she''ll think she can''t trust me. But I don''t want her to get depressed or anything, thinking that what she felt after I told her that I''m not really from this world is fake.


    Her skill is not yet strong enough to sense and distinguish ''everything'', but the chances are not zero...


    Still... there''s nothing else I can do, right? I... I don''t want her to be sad anymore, not even a little bit.


    I hope she doesn''t feel anything... Please, just don''t.


    "I don''t know exactly what it is you''re feeling, I''m not sure."


    I hope it''s the best choice... It has to be.


    "I''m not very familiar with these... romance things. So I don''t think I can give you a satisfactory answer."


    I lifted Celine by the shoulder and made her look at me. She didn''t look away, she just kept making eye contact with me.


    "You shouldn''t be so quick to judge how you feel. In the same way... I have a lot more to do. And if you really think what you feel is love and you want a response from me... I''m sorry, I can''t give you that response ''now''."


    Still, I put a smile on my face.


    "Recognize your feelings first and I''ll... do what I have to do. I don''t think the idea of a rtionship is appropriate for either of us at the moment. It would be much better to think about it in the future. But don''t think I''m going to stop visiting you just because we had this conversation. Let''s just... pretend this moment ''didn''t happen'' for a while."


    It was not hard to see that Celine was disappointed. She even looked a little ufortable.


    Maybe she really sensed with her skill that something was wrong, that I wasn''t telling the whole truth. I don''t know, but she doesn''t look bad, at least she seems to think that what I said made sense.


    "Okay."


    I stared nkly for a moment after Celine''s dull reply.


    Oh... Well, it was easier than I thought? I''m sure if we had this conversation before I left, she would have cried under the emotional burden...


    She''s really made some progress while I was gone, hasn''t she?


    "Just... stay with me until I fall asleep."


    Well, progress is progress.


    I smiled, and when Celine saw that, she let herself go and buried her head in her pillow. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.


    "Okay."


    After my approval, Celine slowly drifted off to sleep and I let out a deep sigh, feeling like a weight had really been lifted off my shoulders.


    I think... I just dodged something big.


    *******


    The first thing I did after visiting Celine was to go to the ck market and put Phoenix''s Soul Orb up for auction. There were almost no problems, the VIP membership was quite nice.


    By the time I was done with that, it was getting close to seven in the evening and there wasn''t much left for me to do for the day. So I went back to the academy, my intention was to go to my dorm room and surf the inte all day long, but while I was in the academy grounds... something suddenly urred to me.


    Adrian is probably in the training room... Should I pay him a visit? Julian ising tonight anyway, at least that''s what he wrote to the group. So yeah... I can go.


    It''s a good opportunity to find out what happened at the academy while I was away.


    With that, I changed my direction and headed toward the training building. After a short while, I indicated to the reception that I wanted to visit a room and I was directed to Adrian''s room without any problem.


    Even if I closed my eyes and focused in front of the door, I couldn''t hear a sound... The instion was pretty good...


    I took a deep breath and pressed the little screen on the side of the door where the bell picture was, then waited.


    It didn''t take long for the door to open and Adrian appeared in front of me, panting. We stared at each other for a moment, silence fell between us and then Adrian''s eyes suddenly widened.


    I rolled my eyes and ignored his reaction.


    "You stink of sweat Adrian... How many hours have you been practicing?"


    "Uh? Oh... Well, I''m sorry..."


    Adrian put his hand behind his head, smiled, and stepped aside. He seemed to have ovee his bewilderment a little.


    "Are youing inside?"


    "I will."


    There''s a filter in there, so it can''t smell that easily. That''s why it will better for both of us, and I don''t really care.


    With that, I sat down in one of the soft, rxing armchairs at the edge of the room and sighed deeply. Adrian sat across from me in the same way, and he was the first to speak.


    "When did you arrive?"


    "This morning. I reached out to my sister and stuff first, and then I visited Celine, and I had a few other errands to run. That''s all I had time for."


    Adrian fixed his eyes on the floor after what I said.


    "I see, no problem."


    He waited a moment, opening and closing his mouth. He couldn''t say anything, but then he sighed and finally spoke.


    "Celine... How is she?"


    There was silence between us again. I stared at the floor for a short while, but I wasn''t going to answer him.


    "She''s made progress, but I wouldn''t say she''s doing very well."


    Adrian''s eyes narrowed.


    "Do you think she''ll be okay? I... I saw her, Aiden. She looked really bad. Do you think she can get over that trauma?"


    "We have no choice but to believe so. I''ll do what I can, and so will the people who want her to get better. That''s why I think we''ll make progress, albeit slowly."


    Adrian took a deep breath.


    "So, you''re saying it''s not impossible."


    "Exactly."


    Adrian''s lips curled upward, barely visible, and he looked a little relieved.

 Chapter 153 Volume III - 74: Summary of What Happened in Academy

    <h4>Chapter 153 Volume III - Chapter 74: Summary of What Happened in Academy</h4>


    *(A/N: This chapter was incorrectly uploaded as an epilogue, so I edited it and that''s exactly the reason for the extra chapter.)*


    After seeing that I was hopeful that Celine would recover, Adrian decided to change the subject.


    "Anyway, I apologize for lowering the mood a bit by talking about Celine. How did your thing go, did you get everything you wanted?"


    "Of course, I did, but you and my sister... It breaks my heart that you guys doubt me."


    Adrian grinned and turned his eyes from the floor to me.


    "I don''t know if it''s good or bad that you''re so confident."


    "Heh, just kidding."


    I thought about what he''d said, then remembered what I''d been through and put a bitter smile on my face.


    "There are so many bad things that wouldn''t have happened in the first ce if I had the ability to trust myself."


    The atmosphere seemed to worsen for a moment, but I quickly spoke again to fix it.


    "Did anything important happen at the academy while I was away? Let''s gossip a little if you have the material."


    Adrian must have realized my intentions because he didn''t pursue what I had just said.


    "Things that happened while you were away, huh... Actually, yes. There''s something important."


    Oh?


    "After you left, I found out there was a group at the academy, and the group was... Well, let''s start from the beginning."


    Adrian told me little by little what happened. The girl Risa, the night James approached him, and all sorts of things.


    I have to admit, I was really surprised. It seemed really strange to me that a boy named James would do something so daring. It was something I hadn''t expected, and the more Adrian told me, the more I wondered if it had been solved.


    What I really didn''t expect, though, was that someone else was involved.


    Alice, no... Alysia Laute.


    I was really shocked when Adrian mentioned her.


    "Did she really help you?"


    Adrian just sighed at my reaction.


    "No, she refused at first. I could hardly convince her when I told her I was going to owe her a debt."


    Oh... I wonder if this ''debt'' will be a problem in the future.


    I''m still not entirely sure why Alysia approached us in the first ce. I''m already cautious since her appearance was earlier than usual, but thisplicates things a bit...


    If he realizes Adrian''s true identity while he''s trying to observe him or to achieve whatever his goal is, we could be in serious trouble... To find the Laute Family against us so early could be the end of us. To be unprepared against that family... would be nothing but suicide.


    I think I should move the Alysia thing up a bit.


    "Go ahead."


    With my nod of approval, Adrian continued to tell me what had happened. How James cornered them, how he fainted, and what happened next. Near the end, though, he became a little thoughtful, even a little unfocused.


    "What do you think?"


    Adrian suddenly lifted his head and looked at me. But then paused, his face looked strange and he smiled.


    "Uh... Did I drift off? Sorry, it''s nothing important."


    What did he have to think about? And he''s brushing it off...


    Heh, is there something he doesn''t want to tell me?


    I felt like joking about it for a moment, but then I hesitated.


    I alone have things that I keep from him... If he really doesn''t want to tell me, it must be private and not something very important that he needs to tell me.


    I''d better not dig into this.


    "Well, never mind. Basically, Alice took care of everything while I was unconscious, I don''t know how she did it, she just... somehow."


    She blew her cover, of course. Those idiots must have trembled in fear of the Laute Family, but I''m surprised she didn''t kill them. Did she find another way to silence them? Maybe she made them sign a mana contract?


    Whatever... I think too much.


    "So, the problem is solved."


    Adrian''s eyes dropped and a forced expression appeared on his face.


    "It''s over before I can do anything again."


    Ah... I don''t like this.


    I folded my arms across my chest and sighed deeply.


    "Did you even have to do anything?"


    Adrian looked at me with a frown.


    "Of course, I did! I..."


    "You, what?"


    Adrian hesitated for a moment, unable to say anything.


    "You wanted to save those who were suffering because of James, didn''t you?"


    "Yes..."


    "Your effort is admirable, Adrian, and even something to be proud of, but you shouldn''t jump in front of the enemy to ''save people''. I think you should take this experience as a lesson for yourself. There are so many things in life that you can make mistakes in, what you need to do is to think about those mistakes and not make them again or prepare yourself for the next one. That''s what youck the most, experience. So don''t get depressed and me yourself when you make mistakes."


    "I..."


    Adrian started to say something but then closed his mouth.


    "Okay..."


    I smiled back.


    At least he agreed. That''s progress too, right?


    "Whatever."


    I smiled and decided that this time I was the one who should tell him something.


    "Do you know where I went?"


    Adrian suddenly became curious, as if he had quickly forgotten what had just happened, and I widened my smile. I held up my hand, pointed my finger upward, and then I imagined that I had started a fire there. My mana activated, traveled up to my finger, and so a tiny ball of me formed above my finger.


    "This..."


    Adrian looked mesmerized. "I got the me Mastery from where I went, and I have a nice sword of my own now, but I can''t show it now, it''s better to keep it in the system''s reward inventory.


    "Reward inventory?"


    Adrian''s eyebrows shot up and a look of obvious surprise appeared on his face.


    "You went to a dungeon?"


    I quickly pulled my hand back and squeezed the small ball of me in the air, a small puff of smoke seeping up through my fingers, and then I leaned back again.


    "Yeah, it turned out pretty good, as you can see."


    Adrian''s face suddenly showed a slight look of disappointment.


    "What? Are you angry that I didn''t take you?"


    He didn''t answer and just stared at me.


    "Pfft, hahahahahah... I mean, that was good, but it''s not like I didn''t take you because I didn''t want you with me. It wouldn''t have been appropriate because I had to go to the dungeon with someone who wasn''t very good with other people, he had a very important role. There are also the benefits of having fewer people. We''ll go to the next one together."


    I widened my smile.


    "In fact, your first dungeon experience will be with me. Don''t worry."


    I put a hand on Adrian''s shoulder and gave him a pat or two, then stood up.


    "Well, it''s slowly getting evening... I want to go to my room and sleep all day, I''m tired. See you in ss tomorrow."


    Adrian got up to walk me to the door, which he did. However, he didn''t leave the room with me.


    "You''re not leaving?"


    "No, I''m going to practice my spear style until I fall asleep."


    "Oh... Suit yourself, but don''t be too hard on yourself."


    I smiled and walked out, before leaving the building I simply waved and Adrian did the same.


    With that, the door closed. I was left alone in the hallway, then I involuntarily sighed.


    I actually want to talk to Ulka too, but... I really need to sleep at this point.


    I headed to my room without thinking about Ulka. But I thought about something else.


    I guess nothing important will happen until the kingdom tournament... I will have a lot of free time after the things I need to talk to Ulka about.


    What would be the best way to utilize all this time?


    I thought about it for a while and then decided on something.


    I need to make a roadmap, I need to list the things I need to do in order of importance, and I need to use this free time toplete this list, and in the meantime, I need to train and get stronger. For example, I definitely need to get my overall level up to at least D grade by the tournament.


    And I have to go to the Hr continent, of course... That''s also something that requires me to get at least D- grade.


    "Haaaa..."


    I took a deep breath and sighed again.


    Actually... when I think about it, there is so much to do.


    Still, I put a smile on my face, because I also have a lot of time and I will do my best to be prepared for anything that might happen this time.


    I continued walking to my room, imagined the first stages of the roadmap I wanted to set up, and made a promise to myself.


    No matter what happens, I will seed.


    Just like I dreamed of when I first came into this world.


    I will do my best to ovee all obstacles. I will be the strongest and build a happy life for myself in Lunerra, in this world.

 Chapter 154 Volume III - Epilogue

    <h4>Chapter 154 Volume III - Epilogue</h4>


    Sometime after I left the academy and Aiden, when I finally arrived in front of the hospital, I realized that my whole body was shaking.


    Am I nervous? Yeah... I definitely am. I''m even... a little excited.


    I want to run to my mom''s room, I want to hug her, I want to show her the nt and shout ''You''ll be fine''.


    I''m going to be calm though, everything has to be fine and in order. Today should be so wonderful that I shouldn''t ruin this moment with unnecessary excitement.


    I took a deep breath, tapped my cheeks once or twice with my hands, and calmly entered the hospital.


    When I entered the hospital, everything I had just been thinking about suddenly went out of my head. I felt as if... I had suddenly be someone else.


    Calmness? Ruining the moment?


    Hahah... When will I ever be this happy again? Shouldn''t I just enjoy the moment for once?


    Spending a week with Aiden seems to have made me start thinking like him... but I''m not going toin about that.


    I would normally go to the reception to inform them about the visit, but I didn''t care this time.


    Ignoring the reception desk, I went up the stairs, each step making me more and more insensitive to my surroundings and thinking of nothing but my mother''s beautiful face until I was in front of her room.


    When I got to the door, I paused. There was a feeling inside me that I couldn''t make sense of, a feeling I hadn''t tried to feel for a long time...


    I took another deep breath, took the dimension button containing the nt that would be my mother''s medicine out of my pocket, broke it, took the nt in my hand, and put a wide smile on my face that felt real for the first time in a long time.


    I knocked on the door. Then started to wait.


    My body trembled even more. My excitement enveloped my whole body and I felt as if the world had stopped.


    Seconds passed, but I waited.


    Sounds disappeared from my world, I focused only on the door in front of me and the sound that would follow.


    I kept waiting.


    But, even after a minute... there was no answer.


    I paused for a moment.


    Is she asleep?


    I knocked again.


    My mother had always taught me to knock before entering a ce and to enter when I got a confirmation. If I didn''t get an answer, I could go in after the second knock to check.


    Again, there was no response.


    "Mom? Are you asleep?"


    I knocked even harder this time, but I didn''t wait for a response this time. I opened the door and went in.


    "Mom-"


    I stopped.


    No, I didn''t stop. I just... stood perfectly still.


    My mother was in bed, really asleep.


    I raised my hands, but my muscles refused to let them up.


    "M- Mom?"


    My voice trembled. The hand I had raised, the hand that was reaching for my mother, freed itself and just hung there.


    Just now I felt as if the world had frozen, now... it felt as if the whole world was closing in on me. Just now I felt as if I couldn''t hear all the voices, now the voices were blurred together.


    My mom had a look on her face that I had never seen before. One of her hands was hanging out of the bed and the other was on her stomach.


    There was a red stain on the sheet under her hand.


    The world stoppeding at me, the sounds stopped making sense.


    My whole body trembled again, but this time not from excitement.


    Dream...


    It must be a dream. No... it must be a nightmare.


    I put a smile on my face and tried to take a short step toward her.


    I failed, stumbled, and fell to the ground. The nt that was to be my mother''s medicine also fell to the ground, but I didn''t care.


    "Mom...?"


    I got up and walked to her again.


    The world didn''t spin, voices didn''t blend, time didn''t stop.


    "M... Mom?"


    I walked up to her and took her dangling hand. It was cold, pale.


    My mana began to recede, my skill activated, and I examined my mother.


    A single word appeared in my mind. A word I didn''t want to hear, a word I didn''t want to see.


    "Ahahah..."


    I smiled. Iughed sincerely.


    Nightmare. It has to be...


    And yet the world, time, voices... Everything continued to move normally, as it should, as it does in reality.


    "Ahahah... It''s funny, even my skill is telling me nonsense... Mom? You hear me, right?"


    A breeze from the window hit my face and I looked outside.


    Birds kept flying. People kept walking. The clouds kept moving. The city, kept on living.


    "Pfft... Ahahahahah!"


    I wiped my teary eyes with the sleeve of my sweater and activated my skill again. I thought about the information I wanted to get, looked at my mother''s body and the same word reappeared in my mind.


    <<------------------------------


    Dead.


    ------------------------------>>


    "Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!! Do you see, Mom? Can you believe...? My skill calls you dead, you... YOU!"


    Why doesn''t the world stop? Why does time keep moving forward?


    I''m having a nightmare. But... I didn''t know nightmares were so real...


    I put my head on my mother''s nket. Tears kepting out of my eyes, my nose ran, and I just waited. I didn''t think anything, I didn''t listen to anything, I didn''t want to see anything.


    I just waited. Detached from the world, denying that this was reality.


    And yet, as if mocking me, everything continued to exist as it should, as it normally does.


    "Dead... Dead... Dead... Dead... Dead... Dead... Dead... Dead... Dead... Dead... Dead... Dead... Dead..."


    I mumbled, I hupped, but I didn''t lift my head. I tried to raise my arms, but to no avail, I tried to raise them again. Again... again... and again... Until I did what I wanted.


    I hugged my mother, her cold and pale body.


    The tears in my eyes let themselves go, soaked my mother''s nket and I sobbed again. I sniffled but they kept flowing.


    And I waited, just waited.


    I waited to wake up, even though I would never wake up.


    I waited for my mom to get up, even though she never would.


    I waited for a miracle, even though that miracle would nevere.


    I kept waiting... until I realized there was no point in waiting.


    --Volume III: Games in the Dark--


    --The End--

 Chapter 155 Volume IV - Prologue

    <h4>Chapter 155 Volume IV - Prologue</h4>


    --Volume IV: War of the Dwarves--


    When I came here, to this continent... No, even before that¡­ I knew more or less what was going to happen to me.


    I knew that not all my ns would work out the way I wanted and that I would never get a ''perfect'' result.


    Because I was aware. I was aware that I was stepping into a battlefield, and that anything could happen to me.


    In fact, at the very beginning of everything, on the day I first woke up in this world rather than on this continent, I knew that things would go wrong. Just as this ce I was in now was a battlefield, this whole world was a doomed world that was sure to be plunged into an apocalypse, a world that was as full of disgusting and dark aspects as it was full of beauty.


    Blood, destruction, the ughter of innocents who had done nothing wrong, incontinent toilets, and much more... I had experienced it as I expected. I even lost a member of my group, even though I didn''t know him too much.


    But... how could I have known that there would be much more than I thought, that I would experience much more, that I would find myself in much worse situations?


    I had anticipated that some of my ns would backfire, but... how could I have known from the beginning that not a single one of them would work properly?


    How could I have known that everything I nned would blow up in my face from day one?


    What happened at the preliminaries, what happened when I went to kill Larry, ra hating me, the Justin incident, the attack at the academy, my inability to do anything before the attack on the city, what happened in the depths of the bunker...


    Now, again, I had a lot of ns in my mind, albeit different ones. Again, I had created a to-do list in my mind by thinking of things.


    Even though Dorhud had left me, I still trusted him because he had done so out of necessity, and even when he left, he had left traces for me to escape.


    I would meet him again, return to the North, and continue with the ns I had made before, albeit in a different way.


    What could possibly go wrong?


    And now... I was near the end, at least for this bunker. I don''t know how I did it, but somehow I managed to get away from my pursuers by following the tracks left behind.


    I finally breathed a sigh of relief as my enemies pounded on the sealed door with a battering ram, one after the other. The exit door was in front of my eyes, I would continue with my ns. All I had to do was to move forward, to get out of this hellish bunker underground.


    However, even before I took my first step, all the shadows in the room suddenly fluctuated. A woman stepped into the room, appearing out of nowhere in the slowly fluctuating shadows. Even then, a smile appeared on my face. The rattling sounds of the metallic door being pushed open echoed in my ears, signaling that we didn''t have much time.


    "You survived."


    The woman raised her eyes and waited for a short time without saying anything. Then she spoke indifferently.


    "Yes, I was following right behind you."


    Huh, she''s been following me behind my back until now... is that it? I''ve never felt any presence behind me. She certainly hasn''t told us everything about her ability, she''s hiding something. But... it doesn''t seem to matter much at the moment.


    We need to focus on surviving.


    "Then let''s go, we have to be quick."


    My footsteps were the only thing that echoed in the huge room, breaking the silence. There was nothing but the sound of the sealed door behind us being forced with a battering ram.


    The first step, then the second¡­ and the third one. Then, again, a metallic and harsh sound that shook the whole room.


    ''Aiden¡­''


    I paused involuntarily as Sith called my name within my mind, realizing that something strange had happened. That something... was wrong.


    I saw the woman emerging from the shadows, standing where she was, her eyes fixed on me. She hadn''t moved an inch. Then... my brow furrowed.


    "Why are you standing there? We have to go."


    But she didn''t give me the answer I wanted. She just sighed deeply, raised her hand, and the ring on her right middle finger sparkled. A dagger slowly appeared in front of her.


    This was another moment that did not go as I had nned. It felt like the world was doing its best to thwart me, as it always and always and always did.


    The metallic door rattled once more, this time much more violently than before.


    "Sorry. You¡­ have to die."


    I frowned and squinted my eyes, not sumbing to my confusion. I wanted at least an answer.


    "But why?"


    And when I heard her exnation... I really couldn''t believe what I was hearing, I thought I was dreaming.


    I clenched my teeth, my fists, and all I could do was... deny reality as I stared at the dagger pointed at me by the woman who until a few minutes ago had been my ally.


    It was one mistake. The reason I was here, in this situation, was because I made one mistake in order to survive... It was almost funny, almost like a dream.


    But I was also aware that it was not a dream, it waspletely real.


    The person in front of me was perhaps many times stronger than me. My chances of winning were very close to zero.


    But I refused, I refused the idea that I could be so unlucky, that my life could slip away because of one tiny mistake I made.


    So, I decided to give it my all.


    When a teal glow shimmered, mingling with the purple color that represented chaos; I rushed toward my ''enemy'' to survive.


    But... again, nothing went as I had nned.


    After all... what had gone right so far?

 Chapter 156 Volume IV - 1: The Hiding Silhouette

    <h4>Chapter 156 Volume IV - Chapter 1: The Hiding Silhouette</h4>


    ~ting!


    The sound of metal on metal echoed around the room. I saw my own sweat falling to the floor in front of my eyes. The pain in my muscles made my whole body ache.


    Yet they were not unbearable.


    ~ting!


    After another sh, my fingers could no longer hold my sword and my grip weakened. Still, I did my best to keep the sword in my hand, which was the purpose of the training.


    I will push my limits so that I can improve and ovee them.


    I saw a sword descending on me with tremendous speed, thin and small but like a mountain. It wasing at my head, which was exactly its target, so fast that time seemed to slow down.


    I gritted my teeth and forced myself to turn. The sword came down, grazing my shoulder. After my close call, my eyes quickly focused on my opponent, Professor Calvin. His movements, the way he held his sword, his footwork.


    I wrote down his every move in my mind, tried to anticipate his next move, and managed to see what he was going to do next.


    I dodged to the right. The professor''s kicknded in the gap and I attacked him without waiting.


    The result was not what I had hoped it would be.


    The professor saw my attack as easily as if it was the move he wanted me to make in the first ce. He dropped his own sword and grabbed my arm, where I had swung my sword, and pulled it toward him. The sword flew out of my hand, followed by an intense and momentary pain in my stomach and the urge to vomit.


    I slumped to the ground, one hand on my stomach, coughing and gritting my teeth against the pain.


    "You don''t have to be so harsh, professor...!"


    Professor Calvin grinned with an annoyed expression on his face. He opened and closed the fingers on his right hand several times, then spoke.


    "How are you going to learn if we''re not going to be tough?"


    He picked up his sword from the floor and threw it over his shoulder, grabbed a towel, and wiped his face.


    "It''s gettingte... Let''s leave it here."


    I let out a deep sigh and stood up, even if I had to force my knees. I still had to rely on my sword for support because the moment the adrenaline left my body, my legs started to give out.


    "O- Okay, professor..."


    Professor?


    No... devil.


    No teacher who cares about his students would put them through this... They shouldn''t.


    "We''ll continue the usual routine tomorrow. Now... see you, Aiden!"


    Suddenly I felt goosebumps all over me.


    "G- goodbye..."


    Professor Calvin continued smiling like that and walked out of the room without saying anything else, leaving me alone inside. The moment he pulled the door shut, I immediately stopped thinking and let myself fall to the floor, focusing on my rapid breaths that were literally burning my throat and keeping myself connected to ''life''.


    How many times has this happened, how many days has my so-called training gone this far...? I''m not even sure anymore... I''m pushing myself so hard under the guise of ''training'' that even though the wounds I received after the dungeon have already healed, I feel like I''ve received even worse ones.


    I paused for a moment.


    Really... It''s been almost three weeks since we dealt with the dungeon, hasn''t it? But... Alex still hasn''t contacted me.


    Did he go on vacation with his mom or something? Probably...


    A slight smile appeared on my face and I released my body.


    Anyway, it''s not like he''s going to run away from me, he''ll get to me when the timees. I just have to wait.


    I took a deep breath and straightened up, then I stood up and stretched. Or rather I tried to stretch because the moment I tried to do the movement, all my muscles ached like they were locked.


    Still, I kept standing, got myself cleaned up, and finally came out into the light of day.


    The academy was the same as always. Students hanging out with each other, staff going here and there, and so on.


    It''s strange to think that just a month and a half to two months ago this ce was a battlefield...


    I sighed deeply and kept walking. My destination was the research building.


    *******


    Ulka has been out of town for a week and a half, so I haven''t had time to talk to him. I was waiting for the day he woulde, really excited. Because I needed answers from him.


    As soon as I arrived in front of the research building, I went inside and did the necessary things to get to Ulka. After only five minutes I was in front of his door.


    The moment I knocked, Ulka opened the door as if he was waiting for me.


    We looked at each other, neither of us spoke, and I walked in. I would normally just plop myself down on one of the couches, but this time I just stood. Ulka closed the door and sighed when he saw that I hadn''t sat down.


    "No, nothing."


    My face twitched as I clicked my tongue.


    "How could it be?"


    It doesn''t make sense...


    "How can we not find him in the whole kingdom, no... directly on the?"


    "I''ve looked everywhere, Aiden. There is no researcher, no scientist with the name Jared Huffab. There are people with the same name, of course, but even when I looked at each one of them specifically, there was no one who looked like the person you told me about."


    "Nonsense... So the name is fake, then?"


    "Most likely."


    Frustrated, I clicked my tongue again.


    "Okay, fine."


    My expression involuntarily turned ugly and I thought about what had really struck metely.


    There is nothing strange about the Tenebra Family... They died in a normal car ident. A researcher named Jared Huffab never existed, there is no one who even looks like him.


    "Haaaah..."


    There is no way that these things are true. It seems I will have to dig much deeper.


    My focus shifted back to Ulka, who was waiting where he was, but not looking at me. He seemed to be thinking about something.


    "Ulka, how are the theories and research I gave you drafts of?"


    "I finished one, the one about the purity of potions. The reaction was so exaggerated that they said they''d put my name in history."


    Heh... At least we have some good news.


    "Good. As we agreed before, half of the money is mine."


    Ulka nodded without any problem.


    He doesn''t really care about money. All he wants is to work on brand-new theories.


    "All right. Now... I have one more favor to ask of you. You remember that research facility we talked about earlier, right?"


    Ulka nodded again, this time a bit more intrigued.


    "Good, I''ll get started on that, but we need a few more employees first. I''ve already found the perfect assistant for you and I''ve already got him on my side, but I have a few more in mind."


    Halfway through my sentence, Ulka''s expression suddenly turned ugly. More specifically, he reacted to the word ''assistant'' and I involuntarily smiled.


    "Forget about holding you back, he''s probably someone who can help you with most things. I''m talking about Alexander Callidas."


    Even when I told him who the assistant was, he didn''t seem pleased.


    "You shouldn''t underestimate him, you only need to watch him perform for two days when I send him to you, but he''s a bit busy at the moment. I''m not sure when he''ll be back, I''ll let you know when I''ll send him to you."


    "Fine..."


    "Good, let''s talk about the other people I want to bring with us..."


    I opened my watch and sent a list to Ulka''s number. Ulka waited patiently for me, and when the list finally came to him, he studied it.


    "I''ve heard of a few of them, but there are some I don''t know at all."


    "The ones with names in bold font are the most important. It may be difficult to hire them, but if we do, they will be a great asset to us. The others are important too, but when we show them the contract, they will want to take the job with their eyes closed."


    Ulka once again nodded. It was as if he no longer thought about the ''assistant'' issue from earlier.


    "For the deal, set the same amount for all of them at first, make it clear that the amount they will be paid will increase ording to their performance, and put it in the contract as a use. It would be nice if you could set the hiring price in a way that makes sure we don''t go rogue."


    I smiled as Ulka went through the list one by one.


    "That''s all I have to say for now. For Jared Huffab and the Tenebra Family... Dig a little deeper if you can, but it''s okay even if you can''t find anything."


    With that, I said everything I wanted to say and headed for the door. Before I went out, I spoke without turning around. Ulka, on the other hand, just plopped himself down in his chair as if he had noints. He was still looking at the file I had sent him.


    "Good luck with your work, Ulka."


    He silently nodded.


    I pulled the door open, took a deep breath, and walked out the same way I came in as if nothing had happened.


    ''I don''t understand how you can trust that man.''


    I simply smiled as Sith appeared in front of me, a meaningless expression on his face.


    ''Of course, I do.''


    When Sith heard my answer, he became even more uneasy.


    ''I don''t like that guy. I feel like he''s going to run off with all your money one day.


    ''Well, that''s one of the things that''s never going to happen.''


    ''Why?''


    ''That''s because he''s crazy. As long as I keep throwing theories at his head, he''ll keep doing everything I say.''


    Sith opened his mouth, unsatisfied, and was about to say something, but then his eyes drifted away from me and turned to his side. I was surprised for a moment, but then I realized something was up and turned in the same direction he was looking.


    There, in the bushes right next to the road, was a hiding silhouette.

 Chapter 157 Volume IV - 2: Captured Spy

    <h4>Chapter 157 Volume IV - Chapter 2: Captured Spy</h4>


    I couldn''t tell who the silhouette was because of the darkness of the night. But considering his built and height, it must be a male student.


    "Hey-"


    I tried to call out to him, but at that moment the silhouette suddenly moved and dived into the bushes. The moment this happened, my eyes widened.


    A spy?


    "Sith! Fly and follow him from above!"


    Without waiting, Sith flew up, and I ran with all my might, using my mana, toward the spot where the silhouette had disappeared. I looked for footsteps as I passed, but they were very sparse. I followed them anyway, thinking that I would be able to find him with the Sith''s guidance.


    And I did, sort of.


    Shortly after Sith flew into the air, he started flying in a certain direction and I followed him from below. The chase went on for about two minutes and I finally could see the silhouette. I had closed the gap between us a lot... and I was still closing it.


    So I finally closed as much distance as I wanted. I raised my hand and sent a gust of wind at the silhouette.


    The gust of wind blew in the direction I raised my arm and hit the silhouette so hard that he lost his bnce and fell to the ground.


    I pulled out the sword I had used in the training room and held it to his neck. I quickly lit a me with my other hand, using the mastery I had gained in the dungeon, and brought it menacingly close to his face.


    The person I caught was indeed a male student. He was wearing a hoodie and looked like an ordinary person. It''s just that... his eyes were strange like he couldn''t focus.


    "Who are you?"


    I brought the me closer to the boy''s face and he still didn''t react, just staring into space. Immediately after that, his eyes suddenly focused on me, the brightness returned and the boy looked at me for a moment without understanding.


    "W- what?"


    Huh? What kind of reaction is that?


    "W- who are you?"


    Oh...


    I hit the boy hard on the head with the hilt of my sword. He fainted instantly, his body released itself. With that, I was the only one in the darkness.


    ''What happened?''


    More precisely, Sith and me...


    "Someone has been watching me, using him as a puppet. Well, maybe not exactly watching me. It''s possible that we''ve bumped into each other, but I have a strong feeling that it''s me he''s watching."


    Sith''s brow furrowed as he continued to float in the air and looked around. I felt mana being drained from my body, a slight gust of wind blew through the area, and then Sith spoke again.


    ''There doesn''t seem to be anyone else.''


    With Sith checking the surroundings, I turned back to the boy.


    He looks genuinely ordinary, and I don''t think his earlier demeanor was an act. The look in his eyes was that of someone who really couldn''t make sense of what was happening.


    Still, why would someone be watching me?


    Well, it wouldn''t be surprising if a few of the organization''s spies remained inside the academy. After all, there''s always something that gets missed, but I doubt the rest would do anything. They''re too small a minority to take action.


    After the cleanup we''ve done, what would be the maximum number? And it hasn''t been that long since the incident.


    Was there someone in the game who made puppets of people like this?


    The moment I thought that, I paused.


    Ah... there was.


    Leaving the boy unconscious on the floor, I stood up.


    Yes, there was such a person. And I met him only recently... before I went to the dungeon.


    I smiled, put my hand to my face, and grinned.


    Right... It was stupid to trust him in the first ce, it was a mistake to trust someone like that, even for a moment, and he finally takes action... right?


    I let out a smallugh and tugged at the boy''s sleeve, exposing his skin. There was a small round symbol right there. It was like a moving tattoo. A round, spinning chain with a dagger in the center that seemed to ripple.


    The tattoo was slowly erasing itself, but that didn''t matter. Because I had seen it once and confirmed my thoughts.


    "Hahahaha¡­"


    You got caught.


    You may be clever and good at hiding yourself, but how do you know that I know all your talents, all your future?


    *******


    I sighed as the doctor admitted the unconscious boy I had brought with me to the infirmary.


    "Where did you find him?"


    "I went into the woods to rx, and I found him there. I''m not sure what happened to him..."


    The doctor looked at me and then at the student. Then he let out a deep sigh.


    He certainly was suspicious, but he didn''t press the issue. If he detected a problem, he could always find me inside the academy.


    "Fine, you can leave. I''ll take care of the rest."


    "Thank you, doctor."


    Before I turned around, the doctor gave me a nod of approval and I went out again. Meanwhile, I thought, I pondered what ''his'' purpose might be.


    Is he independent of the organization? Or is he working with them? If he''s working for them, it''s possible that he''s watching me...


    Back on the roads of the academy, I looked up at the sky as usual as I continued to think. It was unusually clear for a winter month. The stars were easy to see.


    They are beautiful, much more distinct, and spectacr than in my previous world. That''s why I can''t get enough of looking at them. It feels strange to look at these stars and think how far away each one of them is from me.


    As I continued walking with these thoughts, a thought crossed my mind.


    I wonder if my world is in one of these stars... I mean, if Lunerra is real, which it must be considering I am here now, are they in the same universe? Did no one use mana in my old world because the ''awakening'' hadn''t happened yet?


    Or are they in another universe that has nothing to do with each other...?


    I had never thought about this since I came here, because I was always busy with other things, but now, watching the sky and the stars like this, this thought suddenly enveloped me.


    The two energies that keep most things in the universe in bnce, ordea an caora.


    What''s the origin of all this? It''s something that was never mentioned in the game, and even the Lords, who are the gods of this universe, can''t be associated with ordea and caora because they don''t exactly fit the definition of ''all-pervasive'' and they use mana instead of these energies.


    I really thought about this for a moment, and I missed the old days. I always enjoyed thinking and theorizing about the world of Lunerra. Few things gave me as much pleasure as discussing it on forums.


    Still, this thinking didn''tst long.


    "Aiden? Is that you?"


    My eyes slowly drifted down from the sky and fell on the girling out of the convenience store on the side of the road.


    Sue was standing in the middle of the road with about five bags full of groceries that she was holding, or rather, unable to hold. She was wearing casual clothes.


    Today... things are happening a bit on top of each other. I didn''t expect to run into Sue.


    My eyes shifted to the bags in Sue''s hands, my brow furrowed.


    "What could you possibly be doing with all this stuff?"


    I walked over to her and held out my hand for her to give me some of the bags.


    Sue smiled and replied as she happily handed me three of the bags.


    "It had to be like this."


    My frown slowly returned. I couldn''t think of anything to say.


    It had to be like this, huh...


    "Fine."


    She had no money and she had just gotten it together, most likely.


    "Thank you."


    I''m not sure if I got this thank you for the bags or for not pressing my question. Maybe both...


    "Is there anything else you need? If there are things you didn''t buy because you can''t carry them, let''s buy them."


    "No, no, this is all."


    "Okay then, let''s go."


    That''s how we started walking toward the dormitory buildings. Of course, we were not silent along the way, the first one to speak was Sue, who walked with her eyes fixed on the floor.


    "I''m going to bring up a bad topic right away, I apologize, but... How is Celine?"


    Ah... Right. Celine is one of the first friends Sue made. Even though they didn''t spend a lot of time together, at least they got on well.


    "Celine..."


    Just as I promised her, I go to visit her almost every day. I feel a little awkward about the conversation we had three weeks ago, but that seems to have been resolved. And now...


    "It''s a bitplicated, but she''s good. At least for now."


    Sue sighed deeply.


    "I see."


    There was silence between us again for a moment and I feltpelled to speak.


    "How is your brother, Paul?"


    Sue raised her eyebrows at my sudden mention of her brother. But she answered anyway.


    "He''s fine. He got a schrship at a schoolst month, so he switched schools."


    "Oh? Which school?"


    "James William College."


    I paused as soon as I heard the name. I paused so suddenly that Sue stopped too and turned to me quickly.


    "Aiden? Are you okay?"


    "Ah... No. I mean... Yeah, I''m fine. I''m just surprised. My sister also studies there."


    "Oh?"


    Sue smiled as I started walking again.


    "Wouldn''t it be funny if they met by chance?"


    "Hahaha... Well... Yeah, it would be funny."


    I remembered the conversation I had with ra a few weeks ago. Even though the probability was extremely low, the thought suddenly began to gnaw at my mind. Nevertheless, my mind was cleared with the intervention of the Absolute Mind.


    "Anyway, we''ve arrived."


    Sue sighed as I pointed to the building just ahead of us.


    "We got here fast."


    "Yeah."


    I carried the bags up to Sue''s room.


    "Will you stay for dinner?"


    Her dark blue eyes sparkled, if only for a brief moment.


    "Sorry, I have something I have to take care of."


    The twinkle in her eyes quickly faded. She looked disappointed but quickly smiled again.


    "I see. Then... why don''t we go do something afterward?"


    I paused.


    "Excuse me?"


    "Well, like walking around. This weekend, for example. "


    The words just came out of my mouth.


    "Okay?"


    I had agreed without giving it much thought when I paused again.


    Oh...


    "How nice! I''ll let you know. See you, Aiden!"


    "See you¡­?"


    With nothing else to do, I took a step backward and Sue happily closed the door without taking her smile off her face.


    Even though I had just stepped back to leave, I stayed where I was, doing nothing.


    Did I misunderstand?


    As soon as that thought crossed my mind, a small green spirit appeared in front of me. He had a mocking expression on his face that showed he was amused.


    ''No, she simply asked you on a date and you epted.''


    Oh...

 Chapter 158 Volume IV - 3: Thought of a Romantic Relationship

    <h4>Chapter 158 Volume IV - Chapter 3: Thought of a Romantic Rtionship</h4>


    "I told you to protect my sister. There are guards watching her, right?"


    Ulka sighed deeply from the other side of the call.


    "Yes, there are."


    "How many?"


    "Six. Three D+, two C, and thest one B grade. They are affiliated with apany, so they can also call for backup if there is an emergency."


    I leaned back, feeling a little relieved.


    "I see."


    But Ulka was confused.


    "If you want me to increase the protection, I will."


    Actually... that would be good.


    "Yeah, but make sure my sister doesn''t realize it, I want her to live a normal life.""


    "Okay."


    I smiled slightly at Ulka''s answer. At least this thing seemed to be okay.


    "See you then, Ulka."


    After my words, the call went off and silence quickly filled the room.


    Looking up at the ceiling, I sighed and thought about what had happened about twenty minutes ago.


    "A date, huh?"


    "You seemed to be trying to stay away from this kind of thing when you were dealing with Celine, what''s gotten into you now?


    "There''s a big difference, Sith."


    I turned around in my bed and looked at Sith standing next to me with his hands on his waist.


    "Celine is a different matter. If I start a rtionship with her, it will be because I want to help her, because I don''t want to do anything to hurt her. So... it won''t be ''serious, real'', at least from my point of view. If I''m going to have a rtionship, it shouldn''t be fake, I shouldn''t deceive the other person."


    Sith raised one eyebrow, looking a little surprised.


    ''I never thought you had such ideas about romance.''


    My eyebrows furrowed quickly inparison, and I tapped Sith on the head with my index finger. Sith jumped back quickly at my sudden movement. My flick, therefore, had only nudged him lightly.


    "What do you mean you didn''t think?"


    Sith spoke, this time looking at my index finger with a slight hesitation in his eyes.


    "Because you seem like the kind of person who has no interest in romance, who would reject someone who tried to approach you like that.


    Each word prated my heart, I felt a growing unease inside me. And... I didn''t like it.


    "Really?"


    ''Yes.''


    I sighed deeply, banished the bad feeling inside me, and thought.


    I''ve never been negative about the idea of a romantic rtionship. What I strive for here on Lunerra is to try to be happy. I''m trying to experience things that I didn''t experience in my previous life, including whether I have a girlfriend or not. It''s just... I''m not sure if it''s normal for me to be in a rtionship with someone.


    I mean... there''s only three years difference between my body and my mind. My real age is not a problem, at least I think like that. But... I''m not a human being at the very beginning, at least not half a human being. If I marry someone in the future, if I have children, will they also not be human?


    If only one of the parents is wiera, it is enough for their children to be wiera. Does that also apply to me, a hybrid?


    So, another thought sprouted in my mind.


    Can I restore my body to its original state? I already know the answer... Yes, I can, but it would be extremely difficult.


    But do I want to do it? Of course, I want to. One of my goals is to be fully human again, which is not impossible.


    So as long as my partner knows and epts this information, there shouldn''t be a problem, right? In the end, if I can do the things I have nned, even if it will take a while, I think there is a good chance that I will be human again.


    When I felt that my mind is clearing, I suddenly paused.


    Do I get excited and make excuses to myself...? There is no reason for Absolute Mind to clear my mind...


    Would it have cleaned it up?


    It would, now that I think about it...


    ''I think you should sleep, Aiden.''


    So, a rtionship is okay for me right now?


    Although... what if I misunderstood Sue?


    I paused again.


    Seriously... I didn''t think this much about Celine, I had my reasons, but why am I thinking this much about Sue?


    Could it be that I liked her?


    ''Aiden...''


    Sue... is actually an ordinary girl. She''s a background character in a backstory that doesn''t have much of a ce in the game except Justin''s backstory. That''s why I was excited when I met her for the first time. I liked dealing with an issue; a person that I didn''t see in the game.


    Is that why I''m thinking like this now?


    ''You fucking idiot, can''t you hear me?''


    Hm- Huh?


    When I turned to Sith, I noticed that his little eyebrows were furrowed and shaking. He had a look on his face that showed his anger.


    ''Sleep, don''t think too much. Just sleep. Or you''ll blow your brain out.''


    "Isn''t that technically impossible? I have Absol-"


    ''Sleep.''


    His words echoed in my head, and my own words caught in my throat as I swallowed.


    "O- okay, I''m sorry. It''s just... I got a little excited. I''ve never been in a rtionship or been on a date in my past life."


    ''I can understand that much.''


    Sith sighed lightly at this. Then took the shape of a green, glowing orb and entered my body. He needed to sleep too, as everyone did.


    I took a deep breath and stopped thinking. I closed my eyes.


    Still, a few more thoughts went through my head before I fell asleep.


    It can''t hurt to try, right?


    *******


    One day passed, then it became three days... and the weekend came.


    Almost nothing important happened during these days. I trained, practiced, met with others for the study group. The thing that sticks in my mind the most was the inter-ss ser tournament that the academy organized.


    To be honest, I''m not very talented at ser and it showed in the game, so I tried to y mostly passively, just passing and holding the ball. Adrian didn''t y extremely well until he learned the game, but then he got used to it and he definitely performed above normal.


    Julian, on the other hand, has been a monster. He scored six goals on his own in a single game and yed like a toy with the students in the opposite ss toward the end. In fact, when we went up against a ss, the ss purposely backed off because of Julian''s presence alone.


    Still... that was it. As much fun as I had, there was no more. I wasn''t too focused on ser because I''m not that good at it.


    What I was focused on was today.


    The clock read noon for the time avable. The academy was rtively quiet, there was a chilling breeze outside, indicating that it was winter.


    Inside my room, I looked at myself in the mirror and studied my appearance.


    I was dressed quite neatly. I was wearing a cardigan, a simple light-colored sweater, and jeans, which didn''t seem like the best choice for winter, but which I didn''t need as a wiera and yet kept me quite warm.


    Although I wasn''t particrly handsome, I didn''t look bad, and my gray eyes yed a big part in that. Still, I knew it wasn''t healthy toment on myself.


    "Sith, do you think I''m okay?"


    ''You should increase your charm, there is a limit to good preparation. You''re not bad, you''re not ugly, but you could be a lot better.''


    I clicked my tongue.


    "I''ll increase it... I''ll increase it so much that Lucia will be like candlelight next to me."


    I hesitated for a moment, I was joking with the Sith to make a joke, but then... an idea struck me.


    Actually... I could really increase my charm. It would be hard, and it would take me a lot of work, but...


    ''I feel like you''re heading down a bad path.''


    I paused in my thoughts, sighed, and spoke calmly as I stepped away from the mirror.


    "You feel nothing."


    I don''t need to do anything else, I''m fine, I guess. I just... got excited.


    So I finally walked out of my room, went downstairs, and headed off to my destination.


    The sky was covered with clouds, it could rain in the evening. Nevertheless, it was the weekend and there were more students than usual outside. There was a quiet crowd outside, it was a bit strange but I was already used to it.


    The only thing I couldn''t get used to was that some passers-by would stare at me in particr. It seemed that my fame, which I thought was temporary, was still going on.


    With this, something came to my mind again and I squinted my eyes.


    ''Sith, please tell me if you see anyone doing strange things. There might be others following me after the other guy.''


    ''Okay, take your time.''


    Now, that''s settled too... I guess I should really try to make the most of my day.


    I turned my eyes in front of me, and then I stopped.


    Ah, here I am.


    When I saw the caf¨¦ next to me, not far away, I smiled and approached.


    But my face twitched instantly because there was no empty table in front of me. Students enjoying their weekend were literally crowding the caf¨¦.


    I felt uneasy for a moment.


    What if I can''t find a table?


    I waited for a while, and then my nerves started to fray when I realized that the never-ending noise was literally echoing in my ears.


    Should I find a quieter ce? It seems like it would be ufortable to eat something with all this noise...


    The idea clicked with me. I thought about where else we could eat besides here, and that''s when someone caught my attention.


    Sue appeared to me out of the corner of her eye from a distance. She smiled as she noticed me and started to approach me.


    She was wearing jeans and a sweater just like mine. The only difference between us was that she was wearing a thicker cardigan. I could confirm that she wore light makeup on her face, but it was rather faint. Other than that, her long ck hair wasbed and quite pretty.


    Yes, Sue might have been an ordinary girl, but I couldn''t say she wasn''t pretty at all.


    "You''re early."


    Oh, I got distracted.


    "No, I haven''t been here long. I was looking for a table but..."


    I tore my eyes away from Sue and looked around the tables again, but I still couldn''t see a single empty table. Everyone was where they were, and we weren''t the only ones standing. There were a lot of people waiting to be seated at a table they found empty.


    "Never mind then."


    When I heard Sue''s careless voice, I turned to her again, this time with a look of confusion clearly on my face.


    "Excuse me?"


    "We don''t need to eat here. It''s early anyway."


    She walked briskly out of the caf¨¦, not giving a damn about not getting a table or not being able to eat, leaving me standing there, confused.


    "H- hey! Stop, wait!"


    I ran after her and once we were out of the crowd, I could easily find her again. She was never out of my line of sight anyway. She was at a distance where I could easily follow her.


    "Haaah... Don''t move so suddenly, give me a chance to think."


    Sue chuckled lightly.


    "I apologize."


    Sue continued to smile, turned around again, and pointed to an end of the academy that was invisible to us.


    If I remember correctly, there is the academy''s shopping mall.


    "There''s an entertainment center near the mall, and there''s a caf¨¦ there too. Let''s go there!"


    Ah... Right, there is not only one cafe in the academy... Why didn''t I think of that?


    Am I bing stupid?


    "Okay, let''s go."


    With that, I quickly joined Sue and we started walking along the busy but spacious roads of the academy.

 Chapter 159 Volume IV - 4: Date

    <h4>Chapter 159 Volume IV - Chapter 4: Date</h4>


    To be honest, just walking was refreshing. It felt good to just walk with Sue, not caring about the students, my surroundings, or anything.


    As we walked side by side, I looked at Sue out of the corner of my eye and saw that she was happily smiling.


    When was thest time I saw her like this? Maybe when she met her brother...


    My eyes slowly drifted to the floor.


    With his brother.


    With Paul Demens.


    "Aiden?"


    Sue, a little surprised at my absent-mindedness, quickly turned away. It was only then that I noticed the building next to us.


    "We''re here."


    "Oh... we''re already here."


    The building was really huge... and aesthetically designed, with terraces on each floor opening in different directions at different angles, and decorated with lights and holographic screens. This huge building was the shopping mall of the academy. The lower floor of the building was almost entirely about food and entertainment. There was even a tiny amusement park a little further on.


    Although I don''t know how ''tiny'' I can call it... Although the area it covers is a bit smallpared to normal amusement parks, I know that the machines there are really... scary machines.


    So, it lives up to its name as an amusement park.


    "What are we going to eat?"


    At the same time as my words, my eyes shifted to the lower floors of the mall. When I saw a whole row of different ces lined up there, I was suddenly at a loss as to which one to choose.


    "I don''t know, I''ll have to ask you."


    I sighed when Sue threw me the ball.


    I''m not good at making decisions... I''m usually torn between two options too much.


    Still, a ce that serves meat is the best option. I don''t want to eat pizza or hamburgers or something... it wouldn''t be appropriate anyway... I guess, I''m not sure.


    "There''s a nice ce up ahead that serves meat dishes, I''ve eaten there a couple of times, what do you think?"


    After looking where I pointed, Sue smiled.


    "Sure."


    "All right."


    And with that, we entered the ce. Fortunately, there were a few empty tables and it wasn''t hard to find a seat. We quickly settled ourselves across from each other and then ordered our food.


    After ordering, there was a brief silence between us. Sue didn''t seem bothered at all, though, and kept smiling.


    "Sue."


    "Aiden."


    "Ah, go ahead."


    When I gave her a chance to speak, Sue dly epted it.


    "Do you have any ns for after we eat?"


    "Well, pretty much. I can''t say exactly at this time or that time, but I know a couple of ces we can have fun, so there won''t be a moment of idleness."


    Sue spoke without breaking her smile.


    "Like what?"


    I thought about the n I had been mulling overst night and smiled.


    "The coin-operated machines at the leisure center, the virtual zoo, the aquarium, one of the lecture halls where the theory students present their projects, maybe the theater, the amusement park, and so on. There are so many things we could do."


    And then there''s something I left at the end that I think would be quite nice, but I''m not going to say it out loud, because it would be better in the moment.


    Sue paused for a while after I told her what I had said. Then she fixed her eyes on the table.


    A strange feeling came over me, and then my mind cleared quickly.


    Had I done something wrong?


    "There are so many things we can do... What do you think about life at the academy?"


    Huh?


    I was stunned by the question, at least the strange feeling had disappeared.


    Where did this questione from all of a sudden...? I thought I was doing something wrong.


    "I mean, I think it''s good. If I think about my life before the academy, it''s definitely better."


    For Sue... her life now must be a blessing. It hurts just thinking about what Justin did to her.


    One shouldn''t be so hard on someone. Constant and repeated bullying can have really severe consequences.


    I remember the look in Sue''s eyes when I first met her... the look of a soulless person who didn''t care about anything anymore.


    My eyes shifted slightly to Sue and Ipared the way she was then to the way she is now.


    Now... she''s apletely different person and I think that''s a good change.


    "I think life at the academy is terrible."


    My eyebrows furrowed as the waiter brought our orders at that very moment. The food was ced in front of us on fancy tes and after the drinks, the waiter left the table.


    Sue picked up a knife and fork. Then she put the first bite in her mouth. She spoke calmly as if what she was saying was normal.


    "The academy is an opportunity for many people, but if you don''t have someone to back you up a little and your strength is even if slightly below average, what looks like paradise to everyone else can turn into hell in an instant."


    I stood still for a few seconds, not knowing what to say, because... I knew that she was right.


    Unless you have someone like Adrian, who''s extremely talented and strong... Unless you have a family like Justin behind you who can do whatever you want... Unless you have a brilliant theoretical mind like Alexander and Lucia, it''s really hard to thrive in this world.


    My eyes shifted to Sue and I saw her focusing on an empty spot on the table.


    Could it be that her past has left her with a much deeper wound than I thought? A wound that''s impossible to heal, for example.


    "You got me out of this hell, Aiden. I''ve never thanked you properly, sincerely. Not only did you save me from Justin, you invited me into a group of friends and helped me socialize. I just... no matter what I do, I don''t think I can thank you the way I want to."


    Finally, a smile reappeared on her face and she looked at me again. Her head tilted slightly, almost imperceptibly. A tiny sparkle appeared in her navy-blue eyes again.


    "I just wanted to say thank you again, even if it doesn''t mean what I want it to mean and even if it doesn''t satisfy me, I want to at least do that."


    She waited for a moment. I too waited without saying a word, though my mouth remained slightly open.


    "Thank you, for everything. Again."


    I closed my mouth first, and then a slight, involuntary smile appeared on my face. I took a fork of the food in front of me.


    "No problem."


    That''s how we continued to eat from that point on. We didn''t say anything else for a few minutes and then the conversation moved on to other things. Some gossip at school, my unexpectedck of ser skills, which I have no idea where Sue heard about, fun stuff floating around on the inte, and so on...


    The conversation continued until the end of our meal and I must say that even I, who normally can''t help sighing at any moment, didn''t sigh once.


    It was fun. But... that was just the beginning.


    *******


    When we finished eating, we left the ce and went to the amusement center, just like we had talked about, and we went into an indoor ce with machines that worked with tokens. Then we bought a lot of tokens and yed different things with each machine.


    I''m talking about things like table hockey and Sue unexpectedly turned out to be even more skilled at it than I was.


    I realized this when I lost seven to two at table hockey. In fact, one of the scores I got was pure luck... So, I actually lost eight to one. At the end of the game, Sue had this smug look on her face, she was so proud of herself.


    "I yed a lot of these when I was little."


    We yed a few more rounds of the same game.


    I didn''t win once. Not even once.


    Still, I didn''t lose confidence in myself, I was confident that I could do well in another game.


    The result? Simple, failure.


    I was lucky to score points against her a couple of times in a few games, yes, but not once in a match result.


    I was ttered, I couldn''t help feeling like a talentless brat. I didn''t give up though, these defeats made me even more excited. It made me more ambitious and I gave it my all.


    And the same thing happened again. And then again, and again...


    I was... literally crushed, ttened.


    As I left the entertainment center, tired and weary of life, I had only one thought in my mind.


    A note to myself, if I go to the entertainment center with Sue one more time... I will stop ying before my whole self copses in on itself... Stubbornness only leads to an even worse downfall.


    "Then let''s go to the next ce!"


    "O- okay..."


    My lips curled up involuntarily.


    I could finally stop swallowing my pride even more.


    *******


    Our next destination was a ce where we could connect to a machine and watch all kinds of animals and fish and all kinds of things in a virtual world. There were some really exotic, beautiful-looking animals and creatures. So that was quite fun too.


    After a bit of sightseeing in the building where different ideas were being carried out, where students were presenting their projects to people, and a theater that I had never heard of before, about a policeman and a thief meeting and the funny things that happen together, we headed toward the amusement park.


    As we were heading toward our destination, we had a warming snack in our hands on cold winter days, corn.


    "How are you with amusement parks?"


    Sue thought a little at my sudden question.


    "I''ve been a few times before, but I''ve never been on the dangerous rides. I was terrified that something would happen to my brother, but I''ve been with Justin..."


    When Sue sighed toward the end of her sentence, I quickly spoke again.


    "Is there anything you''re afraid to ride?"


    Sue smiled and turned to me slyly.


    "Me? Why would I be afraid?"


    After those words, the possibility of an incident simr to the one at the entertainment center suddenly flooded my brain.


    This girl... What if she kept dragging me into nauseating, dizzying, ridiculous contraptions?


    Ah... But then again, why am I worried? I''m not a normal person.


    Well, I''am not talking about being a wiera. It has its advantages of course, but it''s just that... as a human living in this world, how scary can rides in amusement parks be? I have mana, after all.


    Exactly... What''s the most that can happen?


    *******


    With an ugly expression on my face, I thought about what I had been thinking a few minutes ago.


    Hahahah...


    Iughed augh that no one could hear, and it was a bitterugh. Then I started to curse myself.


    During one of these swearing sequences... I suddenly turned upside down, everything happened so suddenly that I didn''t even have a chance to react.


    Sue wasughing right next to me in a way that was actually quite refreshing, quite blissful... with happiness, excitement, and adrenaline.


    And me... when I started spinning upside down at full speed, I closed my eyes and felt nauseous. I cursed the designers of this amusement park with an ugly expression.

 Chapter 160 Volume IV - 5: Rector Melany鈥檚 Office

    <h4>Chapter 160 Volume IV - Chapter 5: Rector Mny''s Office</h4>


    Fuck, I want to stick my head in the ground like an ostrich. I''m... an idiot.


    How was I supposed to know that the Academy designed the machines in the amusement park specifically for people who know how to use mana?


    Idiot! Of course, you could have known, this isn''t the previous world after all... If it was, why would people who can use manae to the amusement park?!


    Damn it...


    "Aiden, look! You can see the whole academy."


    When I was on a Ferris wheel that only opened once a day for every day, my preupation wasn''t with looking outside, but with what sins I might havemitted in my lifetime.


    Amusement parks... shouldn''t be so scary.


    Finally, I let out a deep sigh, and the huge contraption stopped spinning, indicating that we had reached the top of the Ferris wheel. I looked over at Sue, who was staring outside, mesmerized. My eyes turned to where she was looking.


    The height of the Ferris wheel was admirable. We could easily see from one end of the academy to the other, and the way all the students looked so tiny, the way the huge buildings felt like I could hold them in the palm of my hand... I have to admit, it was really beautiful. It was a strange, alluring sight with the lights turning off and on in ces.


    This Ferris wheel might have been the only ride in the amusement park that I really enjoyed.


    So, I replied to Sue.


    "It''s nice, yes, but I know a much better ce than this."


    Sue suddenly turned to me.


    "Where?"


    Her eyes were sparkling, curiosity all over her face.


    I smiled and put my index finger to my mouth.


    "It would spoil the surprise if I told you. Let''s go down first, that''s our next destination anyway."


    Sue pouted but said nothing. We continued to take in the view of the entire academy. The Ferris wheel started going down again, took one more turn and our time was up.


    "So? Where to?"


    I smiled as questions started to fill my head as we came down.


    "Follow me."


    I walked quickly toward the exit of the amusement park and Sue followed behind me, looking everywhere along the way. She did her best to guess our direction.


    When we finally pulled up in front of the main building, she frowned.


    "The main building?"


    "Just follow."


    We went inside, walked straight to the stairs, and started going up. When we reached thest floor where the students were, and Sue realized that I was still going up, she started to get nervous, even if she didn''t stop following me.


    "Isn''t it forbidden for students from here, especially at night...?"


    "Don''t worry."


    I kept walking confidently, a few guards nced at me from the corner of their eyes, but no one said anything until I was close to the border. So, when I approached the stairs leading to the top floor, one of them approached us.


    "Aiden Tenebra, I have permission."


    The man stopped abruptly when I said my name. He raised his arm, checked his watch, and then went back to his ce without a word.


    Sue continued to stare at me with her mouth open.


    "Y- I knew you were talented, but are you allowed to do something like this...?"


    "Well, since the Academy owes me a bit and will continue to do so, let''s just say I have different privileges than normal students."


    Neither of us said anything else, though there was a look of obvious surprise on Sue''s face.


    It wasn''t something I hadn''t expected, after all, she was seeing a side of me she had never seen. And... I liked it a little bit.


    We kept going up the floors in this way, and with each floor, we continued to go up. Sue became more and more agitated, she looked ufortable. She moved closer to me, but she didn''t make a sound. When I entered a ce that normal students would almost never dream of entering, Sue truly froze this time.


    "This is the rector''s office..."


    "It''s not a ce I''m not allowed to enter. Just keep it a secret."


    The first thing I did when I entered Mny''s room was to ignore everything in the room and go into another room next to the office.


    Sue slowly followed me into this room too. Her restlessness was at an all-time high and she was looking around nervously.


    The room we entered waspletely ck. There was no light source, even the light reflected in through the door did not illuminate the room as if it was being absorbed. That''s why we couldn''t tell how big the room was.


    "Aiden..."


    "Shh."


    I raised my hand and pulled slightly to the side. The moment I did, the door mmed shut, darkness surrounded us both and Sue let out a soft scream.


    "A- Aiden? W- What''s going on?"


    "Didn''t I tell you to be quiet?"


    I ignored her and after a deep sigh, I spoke out loud.


    "User, Mny Quie."


    I followed it up with a jumbled password of about twenty digits, and then... the room suddenly lit up. The jet-ck walls were suddenly painted white, revealing the enormous size of the room, but that didn''t matter.


    "Holographic link, the highest peak in the Portan Mountains."


    Different colors suddenly began to swirl on the white walls. They stirred, then slowly it became clear what they were and a gentle breeze hit us in the face.


    The walls were actually screens. One of the highest-level screens in the kingdom. This room was actually used for meetings, to see what was going on in the whole academy, tomunicate quickly with anywhere in the kingdom, and all sorts of things like that.


    The image, the simtion, the hologram... whatever it was called was so realistic that I couldn''t tell if I was actually where I was watching or not. There was even an artificial wind blowing, even the ridges in the floor were simted.


    "W- Whoah..."


    Sue finally realized where we were.


    We were on one of the highest mountains in the kingdom, with an easy view of the academy and the nearest city. The sky was normally cloudy, but the clouds had been ignored in the simtion. If they hadn''t been ignored, we would probably be able to touch them right now.


    Still, it wasn''t the clouds that mattered, but the view below us.


    Just like I said, both the academy and the nearest city were perfectly visible. The lights of the cars driving on the highways, the lights that flickered on and off in the city, the civilization, and thends it had yet to reach...


    Everything was perfect.


    "Look up."


    Sue swallowed and looked up. The moment she did, her eyes once again widened. Thanks to the cloudless sky and the benefit of being away from the city, the whole sky was practically naked. We could see one of the spiral arms of the gxy we were in, the stars, the moon, and even some nebe.


    It was truly breathtaking, perfect. The sky was so mystical, so mesmerizing that it was impossible to take eyes off it.


    Sue just stared up. Slowly lowering herself to the ground, she swallowed and put her hands on her chest. She was listening to her heartbeat.


    I smiled andy down next to her, keeping my eyes on the sky, just like her.


    "I told you I knew a better ce."


    Sue didn''t say a word, and I continued.


    "No matter how many differentndscapes I look at around the world, I always find the sky more mesmerizing."


    Even though it was a hologram, a simtion, it was nothing like the real thing. The technology here... It was really tremendous.


    So, we didn''t say anything until it was time for us to leave the room, we just kept lying there looking up. And I have to say, if there was one thing that I would really remember today, it would be this moment.


    *******


    When we arrived in front of the dormitory buildings, Sue put a big, satisfied smile on her face.


    "Thanks, I had a lot of fun."


    I smiled back.


    "Me too."


    "Will we meet again?"


    "If we can, why not."


    Sue nodded slightly, even more satisfied, looking triumphant. It was a bit funny, to be honest.


    When it was finally time to actually leave, Sue paused for a moment. She took a deep breath, the smile on her face bing awkward.


    "Aiden..."


    She opened her mouth and I waited, not knowing what she was going to say, but she closed her mouth without saying anything. She smiled again with a slightly disappointed expression and sighed.


    "Never mind, it was nothing important anyway."


    Well... okay?


    "Okay... Bye, then."


    I waved, keeping the smile on my face, and finally turned around and made my way to my own room at a normal walking pace.


    I hesitated for a moment, unable to help myself, I turned around again and saw that Sue was still looking at me.


    Again, a smile appeared on both our faces.


    "See you, Sue."


    "See you."


    And with that, she too turned away. She still had that look of disappointment on her face when she left.


    Well... It was a little scary.


    Did I do something wrong? I don''t understand...


    It must be something to do with her, I hope. I mean, she said she had fun, didn''t she? I had fun too, so it''s all good!


    ''Aiden.''


    I paused as Sith''s serious voice echoed in my ears.


    The fun I''d had today, the strange feeling of having just left Sue''s side, was instantly gone. My smile faded, my mind cleared itself, giving way to calmness, and I continued walking slowly.


    ''Where is he hiding?''


    ''He''s too far behind us, I don''t think we can catch him even if we chase him this time.''


    I clicked my tongue.


    He learned his lesson already, he learns fast.


    ''He''s just watching, he doesn''t look like he''s going to do anything stupid.''


    Of course not. He has no purpose other than gathering information.


    ''Okay, we ignore it. If he gets close enough that you think we can catch him, let us know.''


    When Sith nodded, I faked a sneeze to make my hesitation make sense, then kept walking as if nothing had happened. The boy who had been following me followed me to my room.


    The fact that someone was following me back to my room was a bit scary, actually. Knowing that I was being watched and let it happen... Fortunately, by the time I entered my room, he had returned. Sith was floating in front of me with a monotonous expression on his face.


    ''You know who''s after you, don''t you?''


    I let out a deep sigh as Iy back on my bed.


    ''Yes. I don''t think he''s going to do anything harmful for now. Maybe he''s not even as bad as I think he is, but he has potential. Don''t worry, I will never make the mistake of underestimating someone again.''


    I narrowed my eyes, a new item had been added to the list of things I had to deal with.


    I closed my eyespletely, let myself sink into the warmth of my bed, and let out a deep sigh.


    It seems I will never bepletely free...


    My body slowly surrendered itself to sleep. Darkness enveloped my vision, sounds stopped, the feeling between me and my bed disappeared and my mind cleared.


    This continued for a few minutes. However, after a short time... something different happened.


    They came back, every one of these sensations. Space bent reality as if it was breaking. Time seemed to flow backward.


    I found myself in a field full of flowers. I was lying on the ground in the middle of a in that looked like I was in paradise. With a little girl next to me, lying on the ground just like me.

 Chapter 161 Volume IV - 6: The Brother Who Talks to Himself

    <h4>Chapter 161 Volume IV - Chapter 6: The Brother Who Talks to Himself</h4>


    Sitting in myfortable chair with dozens of holographic images in front of me in a room surrounded by state-of-the-art technology a few meters below the ground, where the sunlight does not reach, I sped my hands together, leaned my forehead on them, bowed my head, and bit my lips.


    How had ite to this...?


    "Lucas Cevilian. As crown prince, you realize how serious this is, don''t you?"


    I didn''t answer, I couldn''t.


    What could I say? How can I react to something like this?


    What am I supposed to do?


    "A seer was murdered, Prince Lucas! A seer in the service of our kingdom, and who knows how long it will be before we find out!"


    I quickly separated one of my joined hands and mmed it down hard on my desk. The sound echoed throughout the room, the people in front of the hologram heard it too, and all of them fell silent in an instant.


    An intense silence enveloped the room, making my nervousness even more tense than it should have been, and I sighed deeply.


    "I realize... Of course, I realize, Duke Laehera. I am already thinking about what we should do. And if the others here have any other ideas, I am happy to listen."


    This death must be kept secret. It must not leak out in public under any circumstances, but the person or group or whatever that killed her has that information.


    The fact that a seer is dead, one of only three seers in the world, especially one of the greatest in the service of our kingdom... Something like this is too big a deal to go public. The fact that one of our biggest trump cards is gone will bring down our kingdom even more than it already has.


    "Haaaa..."


    It''s exhausting... It''s too exhausting and frustrating.


    Why did she want to live on her own and note under the protection of the kingdom in the first ce? The kingdom tolerated her because she was a seer, but... But now, when we tried to reach her because we couldn''tmunicate, she was found cut in half in what she described as a safer ce than even with you!


    Nonsense.


    Bullshit!


    "If we don''t publicize this, those who killed him will use it against us, and if we do, it will blow back on us."


    What should we do? What''s the most logical option?


    Saying we can''t reach the seer would be the same as saying she''s dead. So... should we say she''s on leave? Although... the seer was already old, so we could say she died because of old age.


    Actually... isn''t that the most logical choice? If the people who killed her say that ''we killed her'', and that the kingdom is lying, we can deny it. The seer''s age is already known to everyone.


    After thinking for a while longer, I sighed deeply and looked at the nobles in front of me, who were discussing the matter independently of me.


    "We will say nothing about the seer. If someonees out and says that ''we killed her'', we will say that she died of natural causes and that we are keeping quiet because we don''t want to panic the people and we don''t want that information to get out of the kingdom. Even if they have proof, we can deny it. We have no choice either way. The reputation of the kingdom has already suffered a lot because of what has been happeningtely, everything is piling up."


    I paused for a moment and looked at the nobles, one by one, a few nodding in agreement, a few thinking.


    "If anyone disagrees, or has a different idea, or thinks we need to think a little more, please vote."


    With that, a window opened in front of everyone. In the window were the three options I had just listed, and next to them were bars with percentages.


    Just ten seconds after I put forward my idea, everyone had voted and the results came out.


    There were thirteen people, including me, and eleven people who thought we should do what I had suggested.


    When I saw the numbers, I let out a deep sigh.


    "Then it is decided. We will wait until the appropriate time to make the seer''s case public. If someone spreads rumors that the seer is actually dead in the meantime, we will deal with it."


    I forced a smile on my face and put my hand over the option to end the meeting.


    "Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting. Now that we have settled this matter... unless anyone has anything else to say, I would like to say goodbye."


    No one attempted to say anything. I widened my smile and ended the meeting.


    In an instant, the images in front of me closed in a fast and fluid animation and a deep silence fell over the room.


    The smile on my face disappeared as quickly as it hade and I buried my face in my arms on the table in front of me.


    Really... did this much happen to the kingdom all the time or was it just me? I don''t understand...


    I was bored, I wanted to rx, even though I had so much to do, and I started thinking about what I could do.


    I thought for a while, what could I do to cheer myself up a bit?


    I paused for a moment as an idea came to me.


    I''ve had enough of dealing with old nobles... Should I see what the new generation is doing? I could also look at the promising young people. Isn''t it good to understand what kind of life they lead, to get to know the people of my future kingdom?


    As I thought about the idea, a more genuine and sincere smile appeared on my face than before.


    Yes, this could be fun.


    *******


    In the middle of the paradise-like space, I just stared at the girl next to me with her eyes closed, so much so that I stopped even thinking. My hand went to her hair, stroked it. Finally... I let out a deep sigh.


    "When? How much longer?"


    With those words, my hands left her hair and my body slowly returned to the clouds above.


    Then, I suddenly realized that something was wrong.


    I am in a dream, that is not hard to understand. I''m a child, that''s not hard to understand, but why... Why doesn''t my voice sound like a child''s? Not joyful, excited, childlike, but soulless, emotionless, as if... bored to death?


    "Eight years..."


    The boy''s eyes narrowed.


    "I only have to wait eight years, is that it?"


    The boy continued to stare at the clouds, and after a while, he spoke to himself again.


    "Will you keep your promise?"


    The boy waited a moment, then closed his eyes, sighing again. But this time... he seemed to rx a little.


    "Good."


    There was no change in his voice, his expression was the same, but I could feel it. He was definitely relieved, but not for long. Soon the boy suddenly paused. Thefort he had just felt waspletely gone. He seemed frustrated. I could feel that too.


    The boy... he was so emotionless, so expressionless that it would have been impossible for anyone else to understand it.


    "A blessing? You call this a blessing? I''m lucky, you think?"


    He curled his lips up slightly as if he had encountered something funny, and I couldn''t help feeling strange. The smile of this soulless, emotionless boy was strange, even if I couldn''t see it. It was lonely, mncholy, even painful.


    "It is not a blessing, only a curse. It will always be so, no matter who gets it."


    The boy sat up, then he looked at his sister.


    "You don''t understand, and you never will. So, stopining."


    The boy''s eyes left his sister and looked a little away from where they were, where there was a car. There were two people there, they looked like the children''s mother and father. They were talking about something between them.


    The boy narrowed his eyes.


    "I have to do it tomorrow."


    Then he paused again, looking confident.


    "No, it won''t affect anything."


    He made a face as if he had added more soullessness to his soullessness, callousness to his callousness.


    "Do you think I can''t do it?"


    He was about to say something again, but then he paused, turned his gaze back to his side, and met his sister''s beautiful eyes.


    The little girl with the gray eyes smiled. She looked in perfect harmony with the flowers behind her and looked as if she was enjoying herself.


    "Brother! You''re talking to yourself again."


    The soullessness, the emotionlessness, the expressionlessness of a moment ago disappeared instantly. The boy smiled tenderly and ran his hand through his sister''s hair again. The girl recoiled the moment he did so.


    "Brother! Don''t do that!"


    "Sorry, I''ll fix it now."


    "Aiden! ra! Come on, we''re going to eat!"


    When a woman''s voice echoed in the distance, the little girl, ra, smiled as if she had forgotten what had just happened and started running toward the car as if she didn''t care about her hair.


    Aiden just stood where he was. His gaze locked on the trio of mother, father, and daughter. He looked at ra''s smiling face, then saw her turn to him and call him.


    From a distance, they were a happy family. The source of this happiness, the joy of this family, seemed to be the little girl there.


    Aiden, however, did not respond to this happiness in the same way. His eyes narrowed, and the smiling expression on his face copsed. He stood up slowly, walking toward his family as if the world seemed darker with every step he took.


    His squinted eyes seemed to flicker for a moment. In the ck darkness of his soullessness, behind his eyes, a tiny glimmer appeared for a moment. A flickering, frightened glimmer. In the meantime, he murmured so that no one could hear him.


    "I''m sorry."

 Chapter 162 Volume IV - 7: Thinking the Cause of the Dreams

    <h4>Chapter 162 Volume IV - Chapter 7: Thinking the Cause of the Dreams</h4>


    "I don''t understand... I just don''t understand!"


    I just smiled at the girl next to me, her body almost trembling with anger at the question.


    "You''recking, you don''t understand the logic. That''s why you don''t understand."


    The girl fixed her gray eyes angrily on mine.


    "Paul."


    "Yes, ra."


    "Sometimes... you act like my brother."


    The smile on my face became awkward.


    "Excuse me?"


    "He keeps smiling and trying to help me with everything."


    "Doesn''t that make him a good brother?"


    ra narrowed her eyes and pouted.


    "I guess it does."


    "Then I''d like to meet him."


    At my words, she sat up quickly and smiled.


    "But I don''t think you''d really want to meet him."


    She looked as if she was talking about a difficult task.


    "Why not?"


    "His mood can change very quickly and if he misunderstands you, he might go off on you."


    My eyebrows furrowed. I gave her a slight smile that showed I wasn''t afraid of her challenge.


    "What kind of misunderstanding?"


    ra was suddenly silent. She sighed deeply and leaned back, then a cold expression appeared on her face.


    "You''re not funny, believe me. It''s not that you don''t understand what I''m talking about, you just annoy me."


    I narrowed my eyes and tilted my head slightly to the side, resting my chin on my arm.


    "So, what if he misunderstood?"


    ra stared at me for a moment, then put her right hand to her forehead, and shook her head while sighing.


    "You''re too daring, I don''t think you can pick up girls like that."


    I changed my expression to one of confusion and suddenly I was back to the way I was before.


    "What? Why is that?"


    "Because you''re missing very important issues. If you treat someone you''ve only known for a few days like that, you''ll alienate them."


    "You''re alienated from me?"


    "No, because you''re trying to piss me off. And I don''t think you see me that way."


    "Why is that?"


    "Because I would understand."


    "Understand? Really?"


    ra smiled proudly.


    "You shouldn''t underestimate girls, Paul."


    "Hah, nonsense."


    ra was about to say something else, but then she must have thought what she was about to say was ridiculous or unnecessary, so she stopped.


    "Anyway, it''s getting dark. I''m leaving, take care. And thank you for studying with me."


    ra quickly packed up her holographicputer and stood up with a bright smile on her face.


    "See you tomorrow!"


    "Bye."


    She waved at me as she left the table. I watched her until she disappeared from sight.


    She was beautiful, especially her eyes, so beautiful that everyone around was looking at her. The world seemed to shimmer around her.


    I did not care.


    I just stayed at the table, smiled and waved to her as she left, and lowered my hand when she was out of my sight.


    The smile faded from my face. I sighed deeply, stood up, and made my way outside.


    Some students looked at me strangely but I didn''t care. I opened my phone and dialed a number.


    The number answered instantly.


    "Master Paul...?"


    I didn''t react to the other person''s hoarse voice, as if he hadn''t slept for days.


    "Yesterday''s report?"


    "He went on a date with your sister... Then... Nothing happened... and he went into his room... The lights... Turned off fast... He must have fallen asleep..."


    The dys between his words were strange, yet that was something I was used to.


    "Hmm, then keep watching with the others."


    "Under... stood..."


    As some students rushed past me for some reason I didn''t understand, I kept walking in the opposite direction and looked up at the cloud-covered sky.


    It was going to rain, and since it was December, the first month of winter, snow must be imminent.


    I tore my thoughts away from them and sighed deeply.


    Aiden Tenebra, a boy who got close to my sister and solved her bullying problem.


    I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small object, half the size of my phone. The object was transparently packaged. Behind the transparency of the package, a beautiful jewel stood out.


    The jewel was white in color and didn''t seem to have any other characteristics except that it wasrge.


    As I continued to examine the jewelry in my hand, I thought about what happenedst time.


    I didn''t expect him to catch the guy I brainwashed... Aiden is not a simple guy, that''s for sure. I have to be more careful from now on, I have to keep gathering information.


    I pocketed the jewel and looked around with a deep sigh. I sat on the first bench I saw that was clean and closed my eyes.


    "Hah."


    I smiled involuntarily and a low, almost mumbling chuckle escaped my mouth. Then I continued.


    "Hahahah..."


    Fun, really fun.


    I raised my hand and held it up to the sunlight seeping through the clouds. A sprinkle of rain fell first on my finger, then on my knee, but I didn''t care.


    I wonder what his expression will be like.


    The helplessness he will feel when he learns the truth. When he realizes he can do nothing¡­


    Ah.


    I can''t wait.


    I have to wait... But...


    I swallowed lightly. The raindrops elerated.


    It''s just that I''ve been hungry for fun for a long time.


    *******


    My eyes slowly opened and the white ceiling weed me. I took a deep breath as I sat up from my bed.


    I saw Aiden''s memories... again.


    I went to the bathroom, sshed water on my face, and looked at the mirror that reflected me perfectly.


    Is something changing in my body? I feel like as time goes on, not only am I seeing more of these memories, but I''m remembering more of them.


    I mean... I don''t remember much about this time. I only remember Aiden looking toward his family and apologizing to ra. The rest of the memory... It''s blurry.


    It doesn''t seem like I''ve made much progress, but if I ignore the memories of thest two times, the only thing I remember about the others is that I ''saw'' them. That''s it. Nothing more, nothing less. And that''s why I get confused.


    The only thing that has changed from before I started having these memories is that half of my body is wiera and that I got Absolute Mind. Nothing else.


    So, those must be why I''m seeing the memories. But what''s the reason I can remember more about the memories? Why are these things happening when I''ve been a wiera for so long?


    That''s what I don''t know.


    As I continued to think, I headed to my kitchen to eat breakfast.


    Jared Huffab, I need to find this guy. If I can find this man, I will be able to get answers to most of my questions.


    I just need to find this man... And yet I mustn''t rush. I must act decisively, there must be no room for error.


    I paused for a moment as I started to prepare my breakfast.


    Anyway, I shouldn''t think about it when I can''t even confirm the man''s existence. I should focus on other things.


    Like... Should I visit ra while it''s Sunday? That sounds like it might be good.


    I turned on my watch and dialed ra from the holographic screen that appeared in front of me. It didn''t take long for the phone to pick up.


    "Brother?"


    The moment I heard ra''s, my sister''s voice, an involuntary smile appeared on my face.


    "Good morning, ra."


    It wasn''t a video call, but I''m sure she was smiling too.


    "Good morning, brother."


    "Did you just wake up? You sound a little sleepy."


    "Ah... Yeah, sorry."


    "No problem. How''s it going?"


    "Fine, just studying and stuff..."


    My eyebrows furrowed slightly as I turned the omelet over.


    "Whenever I ask you how you''re doing, you say you''re studying. Seriously, don''t you ever make friends, y games or rx, or are you embarrassed?"


    "No, no! It''s just... that''s when you always call me. I''m meeting one of my friends today anyway!"


    I suddenly became intrigued as the corners of my lips curled upward.


    "Oho? Which friend is that?"


    "The one we talked tost time."


    I squinted slightly and stopped flipping the omelet.


    "The male one?"


    "Y- yes? Your voice got hoarse. You''re there, right?"


    "Yes, I''m here. Where are you meeting?"


    "Inside the school, the school is huge anyway... There''s not much need to go outside."


    "Will there be others?"


    I turned off the omelet, thinking it was fried enough.


    "No?"


    Isn''t this... a date?


    "We''re meeting to study."


    "Just study?"


    "Yes?"


    "Don''t you have somewhere to go?"


    "I guess we could have a meal, but no."


    Hmm...


    "Well, I wanted to visit since it''s the weekend, but I won''t bother you then."


    I heard ra exhale in relief on the other end of the call and a smile appeared on my face.


    "If you have any problems, don''t hesitate to tell me, okay?"


    "You say the same thing every time... Okay."


    "Then make yourself some breakfast and start your day well. See you, ra."


    "Bye, brother."


    And with that, the call ended.

 Chapter 163 Volume IV - 8: Getting Slapped with Words

    <h4>Chapter 163 Volume IV - Chapter 8: Getting pped with Words</h4>


    The call with ra went off. I put the prepared omelet on a te and sat down at my small table. Meanwhile, I sighed deeply.


    ra is a young girl, so it is inevitable that she will be in a rtionship with someone. I''m not going to prevent it, but if she meets someone troublesome, I''ll take matters into my own hands.


    I decided to think about something different while I was eating and I thought long and hard about what I could do today. In the end, I decided to go out for a walk and rx a bit.


    I''ve been doing that a lottely... Ever since I came back from the dungeon, almost every weekend I''ve been going out into the woods for about two to three hours just to rx. On top of that huge rock where I found Sue before, I think it''s a really nice ce to rx. And it''s nice when wee across it once in a while.


    So I changed into more decent clothes and headed for the rock, which I now consider to be my own ce.


    As usual, most of the students were outside, hanging out with each other. It was livelier, more beautiful than my university in my old world.


    A smile appeared on my face. I kept moving toward my destination.


    It was a normal day, like I said before, the usual.


    At least that''s how it was until I had walked halfway.


    As I was approaching my destination, something caught my attention and I paused.


    Something was strange, not threatening me or anything. It was just... the crowd was looking in one ce.


    My eyes quickly turned in the direction where the people were looking and there a sh caught my eye. I saw a girl sitting on a gazebo in the distance, among the students.


    The reason she caught my attention was her radiance, and the reason she shone was her silver hair, which literally reflected the sun.


    Alice, or rather Alysia, was sitting in that gazebo on the side of the road, looking at something on the holographic screen in front of her. It was also easy to see that most of the people passing by were looking at her.


    Her silver hair and beauty, even if not as beautiful as Lucia''s, easily attracted the attention of many, but her cold air prevented anyone from approaching her.


    Something suddenly started to sprout in my mind.


    In fact, it''s in my ns to find out what she''s really up to, and it''s clear that I''m still not very far along.


    Isn''t this an opportunity? I think it certainly is.


    I put a slight smile on my face and slowly turned my head in her direction.


    After a while, a few people who were looking at Alysia noticed that I was approaching her in particr and a funny expression appeared on their faces.


    "Someone else is trying their luck."


    "How will this one be rejected?"


    Speak, I don''t care. My purpose is not what you think it is anyway.


    When I arrived in front of the gazebo, there were many people looking at me in particr. Alysia was just staring at the screen in front of her. When I got closer, I had the opportunity to understand a little bit about what she was looking at from behind the holographic screen.


    She was examining a creature and I couldn''t help widening my smile when I saw that.


    Alysia, as a character, is someone who loves to investigate things. She has a general hunger for knowledge, and when shees across things she doesn''t know, she really tries to learn them. So, there are probably things she doesn''t know about the creature she''s studying. And the creature she''s studying is a creature that I know a lot of good things about. Likewise, she might be studying this creature for her illness. After all, it''s not a simple creature, it''s a very dangerous and powerful creature.


    A phoenix.


    "Hello."


    Alysia lifted her eyes to me, soullessly, despite my words. Her expression didn''t change an ounce, she just looked at me.


    Even if she is not at the forefront of the group meetings, shees to most of them. So there''s no way she wouldn''t remember me. And given that she was technically a spy for her family, there''s no way she wouldn''t have investigated someone like me, about whom there were all kinds of rumors.


    "Go away."


    Alysia shifted her eyes back to the screen in front of her and ignored me as if she had nothing to do with me, as if she was meeting me for the first time.


    "Oh? Are you pretending you don''t know me? I know you stayed in the background during our group meetings, but I didn''t know you never paid attention to your surroundings."


    Alysia turned to me again with a deep sigh.


    "What do you want?"


    "I want to know why you''re so quiet in the group meetings. After all, you joined voluntarily but you don''tmunicate with anyone. By the way... Can I sit down?"


    "No, you can''t."


    Heh, I knew it.


    "And I don''t think it''s any of your business as it''s my choice to remain silent. Now, please leave me alone."


    With that, Alysia turned back to her front and pressed a button on the screen. The legendary bird''s exterior was suddenly reced by a transparent figure and the bird''s known circtory system was revealed.


    No one had ever had the opportunity to look inside a phoenix, so with some skills and knowledge gained through the system, an extremely simple figure was created.


    Alysia frowned as she continued to study the image.


    "There''s a mistake, isn''t there?"


    "Are you still here?"


    "The blood cirction doesn''t seem to be evenly distributed throughout the body, and there are some ces where it''s impossible for blood to reach and others where it''s too much. At least on the figure, you''re looking for the cause, aren''t you?"


    "I just told you to leave, but you are being too stubborn."


    Alysia stood up to leave the gazebo but I quickly interjected again.


    "Phoenixes have a total of three hearts. You know those ces where the blood seems to collect too much, ce a heart there. They also have a mana heart because they are high-level creatures, and inside this heart is a mana core. Because their bodies reach extremely high temperatures, their body fluids need to be kept under constant control by the mana in this core. This mana core is also the reason why phoenixes are immortal. As long as phoenixes have a mana heart, they can be reborn, and this is because their mana heart has evolved, especially with a lot of interaction with their blood."


    Alysia stayed where she was. Her eyes squinted, looking at me in an overwhelming way. Even... She seemed to see me as an ant.


    "You''re knowledgeable, but it''s none of my business."


    "Is it?"


    I widened my smile.


    "Why don''t you test it?"


    Alysia''s brow furrowed.


    "Test what?"


    "Whether it''s any of your business. After all, that''s not the only thing I know about, there are many things I can help you with. If there''s something you want to know, something you can''t find, you can ask."


    "Why do humans exist?"


    "Hm- what?"


    "Why did the systeme into existence? What purpose does it serve? Why did the world ''awaken''?"


    I blinked my eyes meaninglessly and just stared at Alysia''s face.


    "See? You don''t interest me."


    These... These are not things I don''t know, but they are not things I can exin right now, in public!


    With that, Alysia closed the screen in front of her and started to leave the gazebo. There were dormitory buildings in the direction she was going.


    I didn''t expect... something like this.


    Alysia noticed that I was following her, but she didn''t care.


    "All I want to know is why you don''tmunicate with the group. You may think I''m ttering myself, but I have personally helped most of the people in the group with some things, and I still do. After all, I''m the one who created the group. So if you have a problem, I can help you."


    "I don''t have a problem, stop following me."


    "I think notmunicating with people, being expressionless is a problem."


    "Not if the person does it on purpose, it''s a matter of preference."


    "Being alone may be a matter of preference in the short term, but in the long term, it brings big problems. You must know what happens to people who deliberately avoid people and don''t want tomunicate with them in the long run. After all, you are very knowledgeable."


    "I know and I don''t care."


    "Come on Alice, I''m trying to help you."


    "I know, I see it and I''m telling you it''s useless. Why are you trying to help someone who doesn''t want help, don''t you realize it''s ridiculous?"


    Alysia stopped and turned around. Her jet-ck eyes were cold, and she had the same expression as before, as if she saw me as an ant.


    "Just like your friend, Adrian, you chase after ridiculous things. You may be different from other people, but that doesn''t mean you can see everyone as a tool that needs your help. I''m not the one who needs help, you are, Aiden Tenebra. You can''t force me to do something I don''t want to do, and if you go any further I will report you to the academy, so leave me alone."


    Alysia turned back toward the dormitory buildings and started walking away, ignoring me.


    I couldn''t say anything, I couldn''t move a muscle and just stared after her. I stood there until Alysia was out of sight. Everything seemed to freeze.


    What broke it was an annoying voice echoing in my mind, trying hard not tough.


    ''She is a tough girl, she pped you with her words, didn''t she, Aiden?''

 Chapter 164 Volume IV - 9: Noble in Disguise

    <h4>Chapter 164 Volume IV - Chapter 9: Noble in Disguise</h4>


    As I walked through the students, I had an ugly expression on my face and a thought in my mind that got on my nerves the more I thought about it.


    ''The more I think about it, the funnier it gets, Aiden. She literally pped you with her words and you couldn''t do anything. Pfft...''


    Sithughed lightly and my face soured even more.


    ''Shut up, Sith. It''s not even funny. That girl is dangerous. That''s why I was trying to stop her from doing something by bringing her closer to the group, but-''


    ''Not only did she not care about you, she said you were the problem, not her.''


    I was even more frustrated when Sith finished my sentence himself.


    I quickened my pace and headed toward the training building. I wanted to work because I wanted to release my anger, but I also thought of other things to get closer to Alysia.


    I definitely need to find out about her. I definitely need to get her closer to the group or somehow find a way to make her trust me. I still don''t know what her goal is. She''s... She''s dangerous, she''s an annoying and talented person who will stand in your way whether you y the good side of the game or the bad side.


    That''s why I have to get her on our side somehow, in whatever way I can. I have to stop her from getting in my way in the worst possible scenario, by killing her if necessary.


    When I arrived in front of the East Gate and it became even more crowded, I became even more frustrated. I always hated the crowd, so I moved away from it and kept walking.


    Should I try to handle the situation gently for a while and then try the hard way?


    "-ou help me?"


    My thoughts were interrupted by a particr voice in my ears. I paused to look in the direction of the voice. Then I saw a blond-haired, green-eyed person somewhere far away from me, smiling and asking some students something with his hands behind his head.


    The real reason for my pause was not because I heard this voice. All the students were talking, the academy was crowded after all. Students'' voices were everywhere...


    Still, this voice sounded familiar to me. That''s what caught my attention.


    "Well, I just transferred, I don''t know the academy at all..."


    The people the young man asked first looked at each other, then turned to him with a deep sigh.


    "I''m sorry, we have important business. If you find someone else, I''m sure they will help you."


    The blond-haired boy took a deep breath in response. He looked disappointed.


    "Got it, have a good day."


    So, the boys, not wanting to deal with him, quickly left the area.


    The blond-haired boy started to look around once again. He asked the same question to a few more people, but everyone strangely rejected him. No one wanted to deal with him. They all left in a hurry as if they were businessmen on their way to a meeting.


    The boy was getting more and more frustrated with each person he talked to. But just then... he looked at me and our eyes met.


    The boy smiled. Even though there was quite a distance between us, he quickly came up to me, leaned slightly, and opened his mouth to make a speech just like before. But I interrupted him even before he could start talking.


    "I heard what you were talking about, and I''ll help you. But... I didn''t know the academy was taking transfers."


    I''m serious about this. The academy is called an ''academy'' because, unlike other universities, it has its own special education system. That''s why it doesn''t usually take transfer students. Because it''s hard for students to get used to it.


    So, the boy in front of me must be someone important. At least noble... Maybe the son of a duke?


    I focused a little more on his appearance, but I couldn''t remember anyone like that among the dukes.


    So... is he in disguise? Or is he the son of a duke who was never mentioned in the game? With the academy''s reputation in shambles, they might not care about that anymore and send him here... It''s a small possibility, but not one to be ignored.


    "Did you go to your dorm room?"


    "No..."


    "Then let''s go there first."


    "Okay!"


    With that, I frowned and headed toward the dormitory buildings. Meanwhile, I kept studying the boy, because he really looked familiar from somewhere...


    "Where do youe from?"


    He looked surprised for a moment at my question but then smiled.


    "I''m from the capital."


    The capital...


    "And you?"


    "Wiathen."


    Blond hair and green eyes, studying at the academy. There''s really no one thates to my mind...


    "How old are you?"


    "T-"


    Before he could even begin the word, he paused and suddenly sneezed.


    "Bless you."


    "Thank you... Hehehe, I''m neen."


    Neen, you say... but you started your sentence with a ''t'' before you sneezed? It was for a brief moment, yes, but I''m sure I heard it right. Is he hiding his age then?


    With this thought, I paused for a moment.


    Lightning suddenly shed in my mind. My eyes widened and my mouth fell open.


    Of course... Now I understood why his voice sounded so familiar.


    "What happened? Why did we stop?"


    I quickly recovered myself against the boy, or rather this person who was hiding his identity.


    Am I too lucky these days or is it just me?


    Ah, that''s right. I am not the lucky one, this person is.


    After all, this person has one of the highest luck statistics on the in the future. And yet, even now, his luck statistic is quite good.


    "I''m sorry, I just thought of something. It was nothing important, we can continue."


    The boy raised his eyebrows curiously but didn''t pursue the matter further.


    And so we went on our way, we simply walked around. I showed him almost everywhere in the academy, we even had lunch together, we had obviously be close fast.


    After taking thest bite from the te in front of him, ud, as he called himself, sighed deeply and smiled.


    "It was fun, thank you. Let''s call it a day."


    We got up from the table together. I usually smiled today but this time I had a more serious expression on my face.


    "Sure, we''ll go to the dormitory buildings then."


    ud paused for a moment as if he noticed the difference in my behavior. Still, he didn''t press it. So, we headed for the dormitory buildings.


    I had fun. I can''t lie about that. I also think I made a good impression on him. But... I can''t stop there.


    What I want is not a simple impression, what I want is an important connection that can be useful in the future.


    So, I have to be a bit daring too.


    "I want to guess something."


    ud raised his eyebrows curiously.


    "Yes?"


    "You wanted to see what your people do, how they live. Didn''t you?"


    ud froze in his tracks.


    "Wh- what? Excuse me?"


    "There is no necessity for concealment, Prince Lucas. I was aware of your identity from the beginning."


    ud, or rather Prince Lucas, took a step back, shock mixed with fear covering almost his entire face.


    "How...?"


    "It''s simple when you know the academy''s system. If the academy gets a transfer, it has to be someone really important, but no noble I know of has a son like ''ud''. Also, when I asked you your age, you dropped the letter ''t''. Even in disguise... You chose an image reminiscent of your real body. It wasn''t difficult to put it all together."


    The prince was genuinely surprised, so much so that it took him a while topose himself. But when he did, there was more admiration than surprise on his face.


    "O- oh... Well... I didn''t expect to be recognized so soon."


    He smiled awkwardly, looking a little disappointed. When he turned back to me, though, there was a little bit of awe on his face.


    "Still, I guess I can say that you really are as good as people talk about you. The rumors about you are not as exaggerated as I thought, apparently."


    Prince Lucas shook off his surprise and started walking again after saying these words. This time he put a small distance between himself and me, but he seemed a little more rxed.


    The disguise, pretending to be someone he wasn''t, must have tired him a bit.


    "If you knew all along, why didn''t you tell me at the beginning?"


    "Due to your apparent enjoyment."


    The prince put a big smile on his face this time.


    "You''re a good person, but you don''t need to speak to me officially. It looks awkward for outsiders and I''m ufortable in this form."


    "Got it, then."


    Prince Lucas was surprised again, this time.


    "You''re so quick to ept? People often insist on being formal with me.


    "I don''t belong to the ''general''."


    I curled my lips up as I said this and turned to the prince next to me.


    "Besides, it''s not everyone''s chance to speak normally with a prince."


    Lucas wasn''t even surprised this time. Only his smile suddenly widened and he startedughing, hiding his eyes with his hand.


    "Pfft, ahahah! You''re really an interesting person, Aiden."


    I looked at the building in front of us, then sighed.


    "Thanks for thepliment, but it looks like we''ve reached the end of our trip."


    After all, the building in front of me was one of the dormitory buildings.

 Chapter 165 Volume IV - 10: Blood Filled Streets of the City

    <h4>Chapter 165 Volume IV - Chapter 10: Blood Filled Streets of the City</h4>


    Lucas''s expression changed again when he too saw the dormitory buildings in front of us. A disappointed expression appeared on his face.


    "How long do you n to stay at this academy?"


    "I''m leaving tomorrow night. Because I''m extremely busy and there are a few other academies I want to visit. But I still n toe here periodically, it''s just that... the atmosphere is a bit different. And it''s an academy that is directly under my responsibility."


    "I see..."


    I narrowed my eyes slightly and sighed lightly, which Lucas noticed immediately, but this time he didn''t let it go without pressing the issue, as he had the previous times.


    "What happened?"


    And that was exactly what I wanted.


    "It''s just... I''m going to ask you again, but you came here to find out how the people you''re going to rule in the future live, what their situation is, right? I don''t think you''re here just to have fun. Of course, seeing the new generation of nobles might be one of your goals, but that''s the true case, isn''t it?"


    "Yes?"


    "If it''s thest thing I said, you''re in the right ce, but if you''re here for the first thing..."


    I raised my eyes and met Lucas''s. He had a curious expression on his face. And a slight hesitation in his eyes, mixed with a slight fear.


    "Then you''re in the wrong ce."


    "W- why?"


    "Because this is an academy. It''s an academy that the kingdom specifically favors, and it''s full of extremely talented people. Of course, it''s not perfect. Nowhere on this continent, nowhere in the world is perfect. Still, if you really want to know the condition of your people, this is not the ce toe. This is... a ce that ispletely illusory to anyone who doesn''t know the facts."


    "The facts?"


    "Yes, the facts."


    Lucas unconsciously took a slight step back. The hesitation and slight fear in his eyes intensified, yet the curiosity behind these feelings was slowlying to the surface too.


    "What facts?"


    I sighed deeply at his question.


    This is exactly why the kingdom is ending its golden age at this time.


    Before and after Lucas took over, the government was not aware of anything. They were unaware of the dangers that were growing in their blind spots, in the areas of the kingdom that were rotting while they were unaware of anything.


    Since the day the kingdom was founded, it was in such a state of peace and power that it forgot to control itself. It did not recognize the cancer cells growing inside it. This eventually led to the people revolting and the kingdom slowly copsing.


    I can''t me Lucas too much for that, though. Yes, he certainly has a part in it, but he was raised from the very beginning not to see such things.


    I''m not saying he''s a bad manager, it''s just... he wasn''t raised to be a ''crown prince''. Even giving him a role in the government is something the king decided only recently. So Lucas, although he really worked hard for his responsibility, was inexperienced, toopassionate, and not ''ready''.


    And on top of that, his father''s early death left him in a bad situation.


    I will try to change that, to show him what he really needs to see, and that will be one of the best ''first'' steps I can take to save this kingdom.


    "You said you were leaving tomorrow night. Then I will show you tomorrow why this kingdom, no... directly why this world is a rotten ce. Be prepared Lucas, rest well, and clear your mind. You will not like what you see tomorrow, especially as crown prince. Come to the east gate by ten tomorrow morning."


    He was thinking, confused. Lucas, crown prince of the Cevilian Kingdom, didn''t say a word as I was leaving him. And I just headed for the building where my room was located.


    *******


    ~thud!


    The sound of garbage falling to the ground and the person hitting it echoed through the street. Sweat quickly poured down the forehead of the man who had dropped the garbage in his haste. But he quickly recovered and started running again.


    Out of breath, he kept running, not even looking back.


    "Aagghh! H- help! Pl- please-"


    The sound of the wind being cut by a sharp object filled my ears. A knife, apletely ck one, entered the leg of the fleeing man. It pierced the flesh, lodged in the bone, and stuck there.


    "AAAARRGGGGGHHH!"


    Screaming, the man tried to keep running, but the moment he stepped on the leg pierced by the knife, he lost his bnce and copsed. His reddened eyes, filled with pain and tears, went to the dark knife in his leg and his pupils shrunk with the horror.


    "Ah- Aaahhhhhhhhh!"


    He screamed once again, literally tearing at his throat, with the hope that someone wille to save him.


    But no one heard him. There was no one, to begin with.


    "H- HELP!!!"


    He begged desperately, but not a single soul paid attention to him. His eyes, like a madman''s, scanned the direction he was running in. Each nce was full of fear, and terror.


    A smile appeared on my face as I left the darkness and moved to a ce where he could see.


    The man could finally see the person he was running from again. He saw me, the one who had stabbed him in the leg, and his eyes began to roll with desperation. He turned around quickly, trying to crawl away. The blood oozing from his body left a red stain on the floor as he crawled.


    It was cute, and peaceful at the same time.


    Another dark de formed in my hand. Controlling it, I stretched it in the air and threw it once more at the man.


    Only a second after the short whistling sound reached both of our ears, the man trembled and looked at his hand. When he saw that his hand had been nailed to the floor by the thrown knife, he stopped crawling helplessly.


    His eyes filled with more tears and his expression turned grim. He screamed at the top of his lungs. He buried his head helplessly in his arm, his body trembling.


    "Wh- Why... WHY... WHY ME!"


    My footsteps echoed in the street. The man must have heard them too, because his voice became even more desperate.


    "I- I- I have two daughters... Please-"


    His free arm, in which he had buried his head, suddenly disappeared as if it had never existed before. Blood poured like a waterfall out of his shoulder, which seemed to have been perfectly cut, and his whole body trembled with utter pain.


    He could no longer endure it. He didn''t even have the strength to scream.


    The smile on my face widened involuntarily, I leaned in front of him and lifted his chin up with my hand to make eye contact.


    The light of life in the man''s eyes had faded, almost as if it hadpletely disappeared. He had cried so much that the white of his eyes had turnedpletely red.


    ''Kill...''


    A faint whisper echoed in my mind. But I paid no attention to it.


    "Scream."


    The man tried to open his mouth, but he had screamed so much that his vocal cords were not healthy anymore, and he didn''t have the strength to do so.


    I frowned, tilted my head slightly to the right, and gripped his chin a little harder.


    The man groaned in pain at the sudden force on his jaw, but again... he did not scream.


    ''Torture...''


    I felt my nerves starting to break down.


    "Scream."


    The man''s eyes suddenly shifted upward and then his whole body trembled again. Then all his muscles rxed, his head fell to the floor and thest gleam in his eyes disappearedpletely.


    "Boring."


    I didn''t care about the man. I turned around and went back the way I hade, the way I had chased him.


    Along the way, I came across a lot of dead bodies, the bodies of other people I had met.


    "Oh, this is the one whose fingernails I ripped out in front of his lover."


    A smile reappeared on my face as I remembered that moment. The sound of blood streaming, the feeling of flesh being cut by the sharp darkness, the crunching of bones, the desperate screams, the calls for help, and so on... All of it was like a chaotic orchestra.


    It was perfect.


    It was wless.


    It was marvelous.


    Just then, another body caught my attention, a woman''s body with no legs.


    ''Blood, scream... We want... You want...''


    "Hmm. Should I take this with me? It might be a nice souvenir."


    I approached her. But then paused.


    "Whatever."


    I quickly left her and continued on my way.


    I thought about it all the while.


    Why didn''t I... Why didn''t I do this before?


    If I had known I could get away with my boring, useless life just by listening to whispers... I would have done it in the first ce. It''s a pity, it''s truly a pity.


    I shouldn''t have taken my mother''s words seriously... I should have discovered this fun much earlier. To think that people''s pain is so pleasurable...


    Does Hannyas always feel this way? If so, I wish I was a hannya...


    Hmm... If I hunt someone and rece their parts with my own, will I be a hannya?


    No... Hannyas feed on emotions with their horns.


    Ah, then I''ll have to make myself a horn. I need a hannya.


    Although... I''d have to go to where they live first.


    Oh, well. I can wait, no problem... After all, I''ve always waited, all the time. I can wait longer.


    I smiled again as the moonlight broke through the clouds and suddenly hit my face. It was a full moon today, what perfect timing...


    ''Not enough... more...''


    I paused once again, raised my hands, and looked at my palms.


    I realized I was shaking.


    No, it wasn''t fear. It was excitement. It was my body''s reaction to not having as much fun as it wanted.


    Yes... The whispers are right, this is not enough. I must go on until I''m satisfied... I have to keep going until I''m saturated with people''s screams and pain... The rest is unimportant.


    I climbed up to the nearest building and looked around. When I saw something moving in the distance, again in the darkness, my eyes lit up and an involuntary smile appeared on my face.


    There was a mother and a boy who looked like a high school student standing in the street, standing in the darkness and arguing.


    Excitement gripped my whole body as I jumped down.


    As their screams filled the street, as my darkness enveloped them and their weak, lifeless, and gorgeous bodies copsed, a deep pleasure spread through my veins.


    ''ughter...''


    I need more, I need much more.


    I can''t stop.

 Chapter 166 Volume IV - 11: A Disheartening Trip

    <h4>Chapter 166 Volume IV - Chapter 11: A Disheartening Trip</h4>


    Unexpectedly, I slept soundly. Even though I hadn''t set an rm in the morning, my body was used to waking up early for sses, so I woke up at exactly the time I thought I would. And as I ate my breakfast, I thought.


    Since the day I came to this world, I have indeed always seen the bright side of it. No, rather, I have forced myself to see the bright side. I have always avoided the other scary side because I thought that if I saw it, it would diminish my enjoyment of this world.


    I already know the ce I''m going to show the prince today because of the game, but seeing it with my own eyes... I''m not sure how it will affect me. I''d rather not go there at all, but it''s time.


    I can''t keep running away like I used to.


    As soon as I finished my breakfast, I changed my clothes and surfed social media until it was time. Sith and Iughed and spent time looking at things we found weird.


    I was actually preparing myself... because I couldn''t be hesitant around the prince.


    So, after a while, the time finally came when I was told that I was going to meet him. And with that, I went out.


    It was a normal day, except that there were fewer students outside than usual.


    Well, after all, there are sses going on now. So, it''s normal. Most of the people outside are upperssmen who have already finished the first grade, which is a preparation. Their sses run differently from ours.


    Ah... I forgot to ask permission.


    I quickly picked up my watch and dialed a number. The response came quickly.


    "Aiden?"


    "Good morning, Mny. I have something important for today. I need to leave the academy for just one day. Can you arrange a pass so I don''t run into security when I go through the gate?"


    Mny sighed, sounding very busy.


    "I thought it was something important when you called me directly... Okay, but text me for stuff like this, I''m a busy person."


    "Okay."


    The call ended as she sighed, then I turned away with a slight smile on my face.


    It feels really good to have connections, I can get permission to go out of school at the touch of a button.


    As I continued to move forward with these thoughts, I mentally paused.


    Hmm... Thinking about it, I suddenly feel like a snobby kid from a rich family. I have money, I have good connections... I can do most of the things I want with just one phone call... and so on.


    Oh... I guess instead of feeling like that, I''m actually slowly turning into that kind of a person... Shit, I didn''t realize that.


    "Aiden?"


    When I turned in the direction of the voice that had pulled me out of my thoughts, I saw the blond-haired boy with a strange, slightly uneasy expression on his face.


    Ah... I didn''t even realize I was at the east door.


    "Yeah."


    Lucas slightly averted his eyes when I approached him. Or rather, he couldn''t look at me. He had rings under his eyes that were hard to see.


    "I''m sorry, Aiden, I can be a little distracted. I just... slept a little."


    "You''re nervous, or rather scared... right?"


    "Yes."


    All I could do was sigh at Lucas''s honesty.


    It''s strange to think that someone like that could behave like that with someone four years his junior, someone he''d met for the first time... someone who not only belonged to the noblest family in the kingdom but was also the crown prince.


    "I''m not going to tell you to lift your spirits. You wanted to see the state of your people, and I''m going to show you what you really need to see. So, no promises. Just follow me."


    I turned slowly toward the east door, but Lucas spoke again.


    "By the way... Don''t you have sses? And can you just walk out of the academy like that?"


    "I have permission, no problem."


    So, there was nothing more Lucas could say. Mny must have done it quickly because the gate guards let me through as soon as they checked my ID. As for Lucas, he already had a permit. Since he was leaving tonight anyway, he already had it.


    Once we were through the gate without any problems and I was heading toward the maic train station, Lucas must not have liked the silence because he spoke once again.


    "Where are we going?"


    "We''re going to Wiathen. It''s the best ce to see what I want to show you."


    "I still don''t understand what you want to show me..."


    "You''ll understand when we arrive."


    Lucas became even more uneasy, but I didn''t really care at this point. We boarded one of the maic trains to Wiathen, finished the journey almost without speaking, and arrived in the city.


    The city was more crowded than usual. People were everywhere, busy, on their way to work or just hanging out.


    The city was alive, as it always is, and as it is reflected on the screens.


    "Follow me."


    Lucas obediently walked behind me. We passed through streets and avenues. We saw luxury houses, buildings, cars, and much more. These were the symbols of the Cevilian Kingdom. Technological sophistication and prosperity...


    We changed neighborhoods, and the height of the buildings gradually decreased as we kept walking for a long time. In the same way, cars were slowly reced by older and older models. Likewise, the height of the ground slowly began to decrease. It was as if we were going down slowly but steadily.


    People were no longer wearing thetest fashions.


    We had walked almost to the other end of the city. No... we were already past it, representatively. However, Lucas started to slow down a little. It wasn''t that he was tired or anything, he just started to look around more carefully.


    "This is the poorer part of the city... Is this where you wanted to bring me?"


    "Sort of, but no."


    Lucas''s eyebrows raised curiously. With a sigh, I pointed further down the path we were walking.


    "We keep walking."


    Lucas nodded nervously, his eyes still scanning his surroundings.


    So, we walked for so long that we forgot how long we had been walking. At the same time, yes, the buildings were getting older and older; they were getting worse and worse.


    And not only that but also other things...


    "Cough!"


    A woman who was walking past us coughed, then suddenly copsed on the ground.


    "Ma''am!"


    Lucas quickly bent down to help her, reaching out his hand, but the response he got was very different from what he had expected.


    "Get away from me!"


    The woman screamed in anger, in hatred, pushing his hand away. Her eyes suddenly turned to Lucas. They were literally burning with fire, with hatred.


    Without saying anything, the woman stood up and continued walking, ignoring us.


    "Fucking nobles..."


    As she was leaving, she didn''t forget to hum something we could hear. And that made Lucas''s eyes widen.


    "That''s..."


    "This is just the beginning, Lucas. This is nothingpared to what you''ll see today."


    Lucas opened his mouth, but just then a passing boy bumped into him.


    "Ah! H- hey, watch ou-"


    Without letting him finish, I grabbed the boy by the arm, lifted him into the air, and looked coldly into his eyes, not caring if he was in pain or not.


    Lucas went crazy with that.


    "Aiden! What the hell are you doing!"


    "Give it back."


    The boy clicked his tongue, and the hand he''d been holding behind his back until now came out. He held it out to Lucas.


    In his palm was something shiny, a ring.


    All of Lucas''s anger suddenly turned to surprise. He raised his right hand and looked at the dimensional inventory ring that was no longer on his finger. He didn''t know what to say, he just stiffened and I sighed. As soon as I put the boy down, I snatched the ring from his hand and gave him a gentle push to make him go away.


    The boy ran away without even looking back. From a distance, he looked no more than nine years old.


    "Ah..."


    Lucas stood where he was, pensive and wide-eyed.


    I turned around, started walking along the road again, and spoke.


    "Come on, let''s keep going. You didn''t see anything¡­ yet."

 Chapter 167 Volume IV - 12: An Ignored Side of the World

    <h4>Chapter 167 Volume IV - Chapter 12: An Ignored Side of the World</h4>


    Most cities in the kingdom, at least except for a few in the east, are luxurious, developed, and modern.


    People live in spaciousness, prosperity is high. Even if not everyone is rich, even if not everyone ispletely fashionable, they never fall below the starvation line. They live an ordinary life as ordinary people. When you look outside, tall, eye-pleasing buildings fill your field of vision. And when you turn your eyes to the roads, you can find cars that every man dreams of driving everywhere.


    At least, this is the case when a certain fact is ignored.


    In fact, while every city has such a modern, spacious side, there is a part of it that caters to the poor, if not starving, people I just mentioned. Buildings, cars, and clothes are old there. It''s not impossible to live there, the only thing you see from the outside is like looking at a city from the old times.


    I mean, that''s what the people observe and that''s what they are told, that''s what it looks like from the outside.


    Nobody really knows what happens deeper into those parts of the city. Because those who are already rich, who have ess to social media every day don''t want to go there. They are afraid of it, even disgusted by it. They ignore it and continue their lives on the bright, happy side of the city. Without even a nce at the darkness, without listening to the voicesing from there, disgusted.


    That''s why the golden age of this kingdom is long over, and the sad end is actually very different from what everyone thinks; it''s much closer.


    Because the people who are ignored in this poor, dark, and even ancient region are ignored by everyone... They are persecuted to the point of not even being considered human, they live a life full of suffering.


    What about now? What do I see when I look around me?


    Dirty, drooling dogs on the sidewalks. Houses that are slowly decaying due to rain andck of maintenance. Rats crawling from hole to hole, their bellies full of who knows what. Two brothers fighting over a loaf of bread right in front of us. A young woman entering a house wearing tattered pajamas, her intentions clear. And much, much more.


    It is theplete opposite of everything I have ever seen in this world. The value of human life, which is always held in high esteem, is cheaper than water in this dark ce. It is not even considered part of the city in the first ce, and many services, including the police, ignore it. That''s why ces like this are also centers of illegal activities.


    Drug and human trafficking, prostitution, organ mafias... All of these eventually end up here or start here.


    Why don''t the locals flee despite all this? It is because they can''t move forck of money. They don''t even dare to think about it because their lives are in constant danger, because they are threatened.


    For those who manage to escape... The way of life they are used to here, thenguage they speak, the differences in culture, almost everything is different from modern people. That''s why the glittering people of the outside world, the way of life, despise and exclude them. It is made clear to them, easily or forcefully, that they do not belong to this world, and that they arepletely different from each other.


    So, they either go back to where they came from or they are forced to disappear, to die.


    The former is usually preferred.


    I clenched my teeth and my fist.


    I... I could havee here sooner. I got too caught up in my new life, I showed myself only the beauty of this world. I ignored this kingdom that I wanted to fix, that I wanted to turn into a paradise as if I were one of those people I loathed.


    I simply, as usual, ran away.


    Absolute Mind took over. All these negative thoughts, emotions in my mind... Each one of them slowly faded away into the darkness. Leaving behind a void, a ck void.


    Yes... This is me... I am a being whose negative emotions are restricted, who is not easily stressed, but who bears all this burden.


    Even if I am not physically a human being, independent of these emotions... I am not even mentally a human being, right?


    So much so that now I''m telling myself that I''m going to fix this ce, but until I can start doing something about this ce, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, too many people to count will continue to suffer.


    I... I don''t even think about them in the first ce. The real reason I want to fix this ce is to create a beautiful world for my loved ones.


    I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, waited a while, and then opened them again, this time more calmly, coldly. Then I spoke to Lucas, who had been standing next to me until now.


    "This is what I wanted to show you."


    And there in the middle of one of these rotten, dark, and smelly streets stood two people, Prince Lucas Cevilian and me, shining in their clean clothes.


    "I..."


    Lucas took a few more steps, looking around with wide-eyed horror, as he had been doing since we arrived, and he never stopped shaking.


    "I didn''t imagine it like this... I knew... I knew that part of the city was made up of poor people and that those photos that were everywhere were just the tip of the iceberg, but... This is too much."


    His eyes fell on a boy standing on the side of the road next to cars that looked almost too old to start. He saw how she was shivering on the cold pavement in the winter, wearing thin clothes, and he made a face as if his heart had been ripped out.


    He started to take off his jacket. He meant to give it to her, but I stopped him.


    "I... I want to help him."


    He was so dazed, so distracted that he didn''t even realize what he was doing. He wasn''t acting like himself, or rather, he couldn''t act like himself. He was confused.


    "The only thing you''re going to do here by giving him that fancy jacket is to make that boy an open target. At the same time, if you do it in the middle of the street, you will also make yourself a target by drawing everyone''s attention. Don''t let your emotions get in the way of your logic."


    I tapped him twice lightly on the shoulder and then, without waiting for Lucas to say anything, I approached the boy. I looked around first, making sure no one was around. Then I leaned down and shook him gently.


    "Hey, are you okay?"


    The boy opened his eyes trembling. He looked like he was dead, no more than ten years old.


    "You can see me, right? Just nod your head, don''t worry. I won''t do anything bad to you."


    The boy nodded his head up and down slightly, but his eyes were suddenly filled with fear and all kinds of it. He was afraid of me, or rather of people. And rightly so.


    I smiled slightly. I looked up and looked around again, making sure that no one was around. Still, in a way that no one would ever notice, I took something out of my pocket and tucked it under the sleeve of the boy''s thin sweater.


    "I tucked two hundred wels under your arm, but don''t spend it all at once or you''ll attract attention. Spend it slowly, I''m sure you''re a smart boy. I''m sure you understand what I''m saying."


    As soon as the boy heard the words two hundred wels, he looked like a rabbit in headlights. Fearing that he didn''t understand everything I was saying, I repeated it back to him and he could only nod his head. So, when I stood up, he grasped the money I had slipped into his sleeve and put it in a safer ce for him. Then he smiled weakly, looking a little happy.


    "Take care of yourself, and remember what I said. Little by little, not all at once."


    The boy nodded gratefully, looked around briefly, and theny back down as if nothing had happened. I returned to Lucas and then calmly started walking forward. Lucas continued to follow quietly behind me.


    "You know a lot about this ce... Did you live here before?"


    "No, but if you spend a lot of time outside, if you don''t have a mind like other people, and if you have a little courage, it''s not that hard to get information about this ce."


    I squinted as I looked around at this poor old ce. As we kept walking, we saw something else.


    Toward the end of the street we were walking down, a man threw arge stone at the window of a house. The ss shattered in an instant, and the sound was followed by a low rumble from inside the house. The man jumped into the house, and it took only a few seconds for him toe out with a few loaves of bread.


    Some of the loaves were ck, even moldy. But the man ran at full speed with a sparkle in his eyes, holding them as if they were the most important things in his life.


    One of the inhabitants of the house, an emaciated man, appeared in the broken window. He looked at the back of the fleeing man but did not even bother to chase him. He just sighed slightly and disappeared back into the house with indifference in his eyes, as if he was used to something like this.


    We also saw another man dragging a dead dog. The dog was so weak that its bones could be counted, but the man dragging it had a look of triumph on his face.


    On another corner of the street, we saw a man and a woman holding hands. Their clothes were in tatters, they were holding hands and leaning against each other. Flies were flying over them, and their skin color had shifted to gray. Their eyes were closed, but the traces of dried tears were still on their faces. The woman''s belly was slightly distended, and in front of them, wedged between the stones, was a note that looked as if it had just been put there.


    The writing on it was so strange that it was clearly written by someone who could not read or write, someone who was just learning to do so. I had to work especially hard to read it because the tears that had fallen in ces made the writing so faint. So, I read the sentences by transforming them in such a way that they became clear to me.


    "I only just realized you were dead. I''m sorry, Dad, Mom. I wanted to live a good life, but our dreams were too far away toe true. I''m also sorry that I was too poor to leave you a grave. I''ve heard of writing on tombstones, and even if this paper can''t rece them and will probably be gone in a few hours... I wanted at least something symbolic. I guess you won''t be with me on my eleventh birthday... my brother died before he was born too, it seems. But it''s better that he wasn''t born into this world, I guess. But don''t worry! I''m not going to die, I''ll live. I''m going to get out of here... grow up and get a job. Just watch me and see... For now, I hope dying really did take you to heaven. See you there in a few years... or maybe in a few months. Days...?"


    I sighed deeply and turned to Lucas, whose eyes were trembling, looking sorrowfully at the two corpses. Then I spoke in a whisper.


    "The kingdom, the nobles, the rich... Sometimes I feel like they''re literally ignoring this ce on purpose. I know, though, I''m sure they don''t even know these people are here, let alone ignore it on purpose. Although probably even if they did, they wouldn''t do much, and they can''t do much anymore. It''s not just this city. Every city in the kingdom is kind of like this, and if they want to fix it, they''re going to have to go through a really long process and spend tons of wels. I mean... it''s not impossible, but I don''t think the current king would go for it."

 Chapter 168 Volume IV - 13: The Terrifying Voice

    <h4>Chapter 168 Volume IV - Chapter 13: The Terrifying Voice</h4>


    Lucas tensed, his eyes squinting slightly. He realized what I had specifically emphasized among the things I had told him and sighed.


    "The current king, you say..."


    Lucas quickly deduced the meaning behind what I said. Then he looked around, but this time the look in his eyes was slightly different. His previous nk, shocked look had given way to a slightly more sober one. He hade to his senses, so much so that I was sure he wouldn''t do anything as reckless as he had just done. After all, he was a smart person.


    "I''m going to fix this... No, I''m going to fix all the ces that look like this."


    He was also determined and pursued his goals, like Adrian. At least like the current Adrian.


    I said nothing and turned away again, but Lucas didn''t finish his speech.


    "Thank you, Aiden. I... I really needed that. I didn''t even realize my kingdom was the way it was. I thought I was a good prince, I thought I was admired by my people, I thought I was sessful, but... All I did was look at the world through blinders. I just followed what I was told, I disguised myself to watch my people, but the only ces I thought to visit were the academies and the streets of the developed cities. I''m... I''m stupid, and you showed me that. Thank you again."


    Well, it had more of an impact than I thought it would. That''s a good thing. I mean... I hope so. Knowing him, I''m almost certain he wouldn''t do something like that, but I hope he doesn''t do something unnecessary and drive himself to his own end.


    "I would like to show you the deeper parts. Because even this is not ''everything''. But I think you get the point. And it can be dangerous."


    After all, our clothes are too clean for this ce.


    Lucas didn''t react much to the phrase ''deeper''. He had already guessed that.


    "Are we going back?"


    "Yes."


    Lucas nodded without saying anything. And I looked at him for a while, reluctantly.


    Lucas is a genuinely good person. Even if bad things are happening to him in the future... I have the knowledge to stop it, to support Lucas. And I will have the power in the future.


    I''m going to save this kingdom, I''m going to fix it, I''m going to rebuild it if I have to. I''m going to create a paradise for my sister, for those I love and those I will love, and when it''s all over... I''ll have a good life, ''we'' will.


    "You smiled for the first time since you came here."


    Huh? Ah... I was smiling, huh...? Thinking about the dark atmosphere here and what happened in the game... I was a bit pessimistic. Did I look that soulless from the outside?


    "I was just ima-"


    ~whoosh!


    The sound of the wind twisted unnaturally as I heard a voice in my mind.


    ''Aiden, duck!''


    I didn''t question what it was, I didn''t have time. I quickly bent down, and not only that, I pushed Lucas to the ground. With that, the sound of the wind passed over us.


    It was not the sound of the wind being sliced by a knife. It was like a big object went straight through us, and it was fast. Really fast.


    "Lucas, we''re under attack."


    Lucas had a nk look on his face when he was suddenly pushed to the ground by me. However, as soon as I said what I said to him, his expression calmed down and he nodded and quickly jumped to his feet with me.


    We both looked at what had been thrown at us for a moment. Then both of our faces turned pale and our eyes widened. What had been thrown at us... was a person... or rather the body of a woman.


    Lucas was the prince of this kingdom. The crown prince. No matter how many years he had lived in the pce, no matter how many times in his life he had been provided with the highest security, he had been subjected to assassination and trained for it. I, on the other hand... have a ridiculous passive skill. Still, we were both shocked by the sight before us.


    ''Sith, scan the area.''


    Quickly, Lucas and I were back-to-back, our eyes separated from the corpse that had been thrown at us. We couldn''t focus on it in a situation like this.


    Both of our eyes began to look around, paying attention to every detail, and Sith closed his eyes, flying slightly upward.


    A light breeze began to swirl around us.


    "It disappeared."


    Lucas spoke in a low voice. It was close to impossible for anyone outside to hear us, but it was at a level I could easily hear.


    "He must be hiding, we''re not sure how many there are. It could be a trap. Let''s move slowly toward the city, we don''t have to fight."


    Lucas''s next sentence sounded a little surprised.


    "You made a quick decision. I didn''t expect that."


    What? Did you think I was too scared to move or something?


    "Let''s just say I have my own experience."


    No other dialog passed between us. We started to step slowly and cautiously toward the city.


    There were no more people on the street, if there had been any before. They had fled quickly as fights were normal in such ces. After all, no one wanted to get caught up in a fight.


    As we continued walking slowly, Sith''s voice echoed in my mind.


    ''Building at two o''clock, second floor, the third window on the left.''


    ''Are there any others?''


    ''None for now.''


    Even though I had received information, my eyes did not shift to that building. I slowly continued to look around. And without looking at that building, I told Lucas in a whisper where the enemy was.


    Lucas didn''t react, but I knew he heard me so I didn''t say anything.


    After a short while, I began to think that we were safe because their first move had failed. Such assassins usually retreated after failing.


    Of course, what I thought did not happen.


    Just when I started to think that I was no longer under the helicopter... the sky suddenly darkened, the ground trembled. Before I knew what was happening, a dark substance began to ooze from the ground. This substance quickly rose into the sky and took the shape of a dome.


    My eyes widened as I began to scan my surroundings even faster, but no matter where I looked, all I could see was darkness.


    "This..."


    I heard Lucas''s confused voice, but I couldn''t think too much about it.


    ''The wind is... too strange inside the sphere. I can''t control it, I might not be able to detect the enemy, Aiden.''


    ''It''s okay.''


    I opened my mouth to speak to Lucas, but a voice suddenly echoed through the sphere.


    "You should try a little harder to disguise yourself, how can youe here dressed like that?"


    I paused when I heard the voice. When it echoed in my mind, I realized that it was a familiar one... It was a frighteningly familiar one at that.


    One of the most desperate, most terrifying moments in the game... that uncaring, even joyful voice echoing as an entire city was plunged into true darkness, as people''s screams rose from everywhere, as the sky itself seemed to be literally copsing... how could I forget that?


    This person hadn''te for Lucas, I knew that for sure. His voice was familiar to me, with an unmistakable pleasure in it. It brought old memories to the surface of my mind.


    Memories from the game. Memories involving one character in particr. A symbol representing a future catastrophe, foretelling doom for the hearer.


    "I''ve never listened to the cries of nobles before, though I''ve only just started..."


    The darkness and the pleasure in the tone of voice... it was the voice of someone who, if I had known his real identity, his name, if he had appeared in only one scene in the game, in a book, a text, a speech, or any other source of information, I would have done everything I could to eradicate him the first day I came into this world.


    "What melody will you offer me?"


    The darkness around us suddenly began to tremble, as if it was growing impatient. My eyes should have gotten used to the darkness by now, but there was still the same, deep darkness in front of me. It was as if the darkness was like a ck hole, pulling and trapping the light around it, preventing me from seeing.


    So, in the middle of the darkness, in the middle of this nothingness, the sound of footsteps began to echo. Both Lucas and I turned in the direction of the sound at the same time.


    In the darkness, the silhouette of a man dressed almost entirely in ck appeared before us, making it even more difficult to see. He looked more like a young man with his build. He must have been between Lucas'' and my age. He was also not wearing a mask or anything to hide his face. Still, I couldn''t make out his face because of the darkness.


    Despite all this, even in the darkness, I could see a big smile on his face. Then the darkness, which had been trembling as if excited, suddenly returned to its previous calm and stillness.


    "I''m sorry, I got excited."


    In this way, the person who would shake the whole world in the future was in front of me. He was a walking catastrophe that in the future, even more than dungeons or wierras, would make humanity despair.


    Such a catastrophe that he was afraid to be named, so he was referred to throughout history as ''that man''.


    "Please entertain me... with your pain and suffering."


    And now¡­ as we heard his voice, we were doomed too¡­ just like any other creature in the world.

 Chapter 169 Volume IV - 14: The True Apocalypse

    <h4>Chapter 169 Volume IV - Chapter 14: The True Apocalypse</h4>


    He appeared thirteen times.


    Only thirteen times, and from the first to thest, he was seen as the demon who brought about the apocalypse. He appeared only thirteen times, each time at least two million people died. He wore a mask, so no one saw his face. There was no clue who he was, except for his voice. And his voice was useless.


    Each time he came as if from nothing, ughtered, and then left. Not once was he defeated, not once was he seriously wounded. There was no one who could fight him alone. The only thing the strongest people on the field could do was to evacuate as many civilians as they could.


    Wherever he set foot, the ce was devastated as if a nuclear bomb had fallen.


    Dungeons? Creatures? Those who used their skills to abuse the system? Terrorist organizations? Large-scale wars and the like?


    None was as great a catastrophe for the world as he was. He was the true apocalypse of this world.


    Yet after his thirteenth appearance, he went silent. No one knew what happened to him. Some thought he was dead, some thought he might have gotten bored.


    Yet no one has forgotten his mark on history. If he ever showed up again, there was no telling what he would do this time. And so, all the citizens of Lunerra, except perhaps one race, continued to live in fear.


    These were all... things that happened in the game. And now¡­


    My feet trembled, my body released itself and I just stared at the silhouette in front of me.


    The voice is the same, I''m sure.


    Dozens of thoughts began to bloom in my mind, then fade.


    His first appearance is still a long way off, a year and a half if I''m not mistaken. So, he shouldn''t be too strong yet...


    I swallowed with these thoughts.


    It must not be that strong but... why are my knees weak? Why can''t I speak? Why can''t I move? Why... the thought that I can fight him doesn''t even cross my mind?


    Am I... am I afraid?


    In spite of the Absolute Mind, despite that stupid skill, am I afraid?


    Does this person, who may be no more than two years older than me, scare me even more than my wiera side?


    As the thoughts raced through my mind, I realized something was wrong. My vision blurred for a moment and I felt dizzy. Then suddenly my mouth opened and I realized that I was gasping for breath.


    Did I... forget how to breathe?


    "Let''s get started. Come on, ru-"


    I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder, but I didn''t dare to turn around. I couldn''t take my eyes off the silhouette. But then, something unexpected happened.


    A strange wave spread around us, as if... it was refracting the light in the air. Cracks appeared in the air, they expanded to form fractures, and then these fractures suddenly enveloped our whole body in intense light.


    Thest thing I saw just before this happened was a slight look of disappointment on the face of the silhouette that had just stood in front of us. And then, at the tip of my nose, a dark dagger.


    I didn''t have a chance to react, I couldn''t move a muscle. It was only when I noticed the dagger that I realized my fate. Perhaps for the first time, I was this close to death, time literally froze. I couldn''t even see my reflection on it, because it was just... dark.


    Yet the dagger didn''t pierce my face or stab into it. Instead, I found myself... floating.


    No, not floating in the air. Floating... in the vacuum of space, with millions of stars in front of me. No, I''m not even floating at all. I''m moving, but it''s... a weird movement. It''s nauseating, I feel like I''m passing bys in the vacuum of space at the speed of light.


    And yet... It''s beautiful, spectacr even. The view of space, especially for a sightseer like me, is like the simtion that Sue and I watched about two days ago...


    It''s an image that makes me forget that only a few seconds ago I was literally in the face of death.


    I... I can''t take my eyes off them.


    Despite these thoughts, this image suddenly fogged up. I don''t know what happened, suddenly cracks appeared in front of me, just like before. As if repeating the same process for the second time, the cracks opened again, enveloped my whole body and I suddenly found myself in the air.


    No, not in outer space. This time I was truly in the air.


    "Huh?"


    With the strange sound that came out of my mouth, I mmed to the ground.


    I... what happened?


    I looked up, I was in a dark room of a building, and in front of me... was Lucas.


    I slowly sat up when I noticed him.


    "What... What happened-"


    My voice trailed off as I saw the look on Lucas''s face.


    His face was pale. Too pale even for a corpse. His nose was bleeding, and his whole body was trembling. His eyes slowly returned to mine and his lips moved weakly.


    "C- Contact... some... one..."


    The moment those words left his lips, blood literally poured out of his nose and his eyes slid back to show the whites of his eyes as he dropped his body to the floor.


    Reality prated my mind in an instant. I remembered what happened at thatst moment, and then I understood.


    Of course... Lucas is the one who acquired the ability of spatial distortion that was sold when I bought Sith''s orb a long time ago. Or rather, his father gave it to him. He must have teleported us somewhere.


    I was so scared when that... thing showed up that I forgot all about it. Still, Lucas still hasn''t gotten used to his ability, which is why it backfired so badly.


    I took a deep breath, then opened my watch and quickly dialed a number. It didn''t take long to get my answer.


    "Hello?"


    I took a deep breath. Absolute Mind was active again and I could think quite clearly and calmly.


    "Ulka, I need your help."


    *******


    As I sat with my arms crossed, lifting my left ankle and resting it on my right knee, I began to feel bored.


    Not because I wanted to. On the contrary... I''m under surveince. When we left the city in a car, thanks to Ulka, and returned to the academy, and I was informed that Prince Lucas had fainted in my presence, the guards suddenly jumped on me.


    I wanted to ask them where they were before, but they were probably already there. It was only when they were about to move that they encountered an obstacle. The dark dome that surrounded us was already formed.


    He already has the power to create a dome that can block the prince''s bodyguards...


    I started to think, not caring that I was in custody.


    Stopping him, killing him with the best option, would be one of the greatest favors I could do this world. There''s no way I can draw him to me like I thought I could with Alysia. He... already crossed that line. Maybe he never had that line in the first ce, I don''t know.


    He was one of the disasters I wanted to prevent in the future, but if he''s already so strong... How can I even stop him?


    It''s ridiculous that he is so powerful in the first ce. How can someone so young be a being that no one in the world can stand up to properly?


    I''ve thought about this a long time ago, but it doesn''t make sense.


    Is the only thing I can do is to save my life by avoiding the thirteen regions he will destroy in the future?


    My brow furrowed at this thought, and frankly, I was frustrated.


    It bothers me that there is nothing I can do.


    I don''t want to disregard my destiny, the destiny of this world, and the lives of the forty million people who are going to die. I may have said that I would think of myself rather than others, but this catastrophe... There must be a way for me to stop it.


    A year and a half... There''s no way I have done anything to change it. I haven''t really done anything to impress him, to interest him, to make him change his mind. So that should be it.


    Although... There''s today''s issue, but he won''t be able to act early just because of that. Because he''s not that strong yet.


    Yes, he''s really powerful, but he''s not powerful enough to just walk into a city, kill anyone who tries to stop him, or doesn''t try to stop him, whether they''re women, children, or old people, and just wave goodbye when he''s done.


    His previous rate of development was already terrifying, there''s no way he can develop even faster just because Lucas and I managed to escape his grasp.


    He may be crazy, but he''s not stupid, and he won''t show up until he''s strong enough.


    "Aiden Tenebra."


    I looked up at the sound of a deep voice in front of me. There was a man in front of me who looked a little older, and he was dressed in what could be called civilian but looked good. He was one of the prince''s bodyguards.


    "With the prince''s testimony, your innocence has been proven. We apologize for the inconvenience."


    I stood up, walked to the door with a sigh, and spoke.


    "Is the Prince all right?"


    "Yes, he just used more mana than he should have and more skill than he should have."


    I guessed that much.


    "Got it, thanks."


    I bowed slightly, the man did the same, and with that, I finally left the room.


    The cold wind blew in my face, which I didn''t mind as I couldn''t feel cold even if I wanted to. I started walking straight ahead. The rain was drizzling very lightly. Soon it would pick up speed. A thickyer of clouds covered the sky, hiding the stars. It was a dark night, just like when I was under that dome.


    I gritted my teeth, although I didn''t head for my room or some random spot in the woods where I rested my head. It was straight to the training building.


    Even if there''s a ss, I don''t really care because I have a day off.


    I know that I''ve been obsessing about it a lottely, I even think about it every day, but... I need to get stronger.


    Every time I start trying harder and harder to get stronger, somethinges up that requires me to get stronger and stronger. I need to speed up my ns, or I''m afraid I''ll fall behind.


    I clenched my fist and quickened my pace. I didn''t care about anything, I didn''t even think about visiting the prince, which they wouldn''t have allowed anyway. I just kept moving toward my destination and grabbed a sword as soon as I entered the room.

 Chapter 170 Volume IV - 15: Ranked Up General Level

    <h4>Chapter 170 Volume IV - Chapter 15: Ranked Up General Level</h4>


    I picked up my sword and moved to the center of the room. I regted my breathing and started swinging my sword directly.


    These swings were not random, they had an order and a goal. The mana swirling inside me apanied my movements and turned into a rhythm with my movements.


    I started practicing the first phase of the only sword style I had at my disposal, the Ambiguous Flow. I was advanced enough in the first stage of the first phase of the style. I hade far enough in controlling the wild mana that was constantly spinning. Now I could start to go further.


    So, the wild mana started to spread around the room. It was seeping through my sword, and every time I swung it, my sword trembled. My wrist was taking its share of it, but I didn''t let go of the hilt of my sword.


    One minute, then a few more.


    I didn''t think about anything, I used the Absolute Mind to block out everything but the training and repeated the first phase of the style.


    An hour, maybe a couple of hours... I''m not sure.


    I paused, I was out of mana, even if I had used a minimal amount for training.


    I put the sword aside and sat cross-legged, closing my eyes. I focused on the mana that was slowly being drawn into my body from the atmosphere, incorporating it into the gentle flow I was creating in my body. I incorporated every bit of mana that entered my body into this flow, moving my mana through my body as smoothly and fluently as possible.


    Even if I ran out of mana, I didn''t have to stop practicing after all.


    A minute passed, then an hour, then a few hours again.


    When my mana was replenished, I kept swinging the sword, and when I ran out of mana again, I sat cross-legged again. This was the training pattern I would repeat for some time. It was tiring, it pushed my body more than necessary because I never paused.


    Such a training method might have been dangerous in my previous world, it might have resulted in injury rather than development, but here... it was different. The human body is much more resilient and heals much faster. I didn''t need to worry about things like that.


    Somewhere in between, the prince sent me a message saying that he was fine, thanking me for what I had shown him on that visit. Luckily, he sent it just as I was running out of mana, so I had a chance to see it.


    He also said that he was looking for the man who cornered us, but I personally don''t think he will be able to find him. Even if he has just started his killing spree... he is already a monster.


    Anyway, there is nothing I can do about it ''for now''.


    The hours passed again. Eventually, I fell asleep from exhaustion. After that, I went to the lectures as usual, but to be serious, I didn''t listen to a single one. I continued to practice my mana, since in most of the lectures I had already obtained permission to sleep through my own abilities.


    In this way, days followed days. I continued to keep in touch with my friends through our study group meetings, chatting with them and ra from time to time. I didn''t stop visiting Celine, and I also started talking to Sue more and more. I kept swinging swords, improving my mana control, and dueling with the professor. I did my best to improve, to get stronger, and to start putting my ns into practice.


    During this time, the only thing on my mind was Alex''s disappearance, but when I asked Mny about it, I found out that he had taken a month and a half leave from the academy. When I asked why, I was told that it was a private matter and that Alex had deliberately wanted to keep it a secret from people. Of course, Mny would tell me why if I asked her, but if Alex wanted it that way, he must have known something. So, I didn''t pursue it.


    Most of my days have been uneventful, I haven''t had a lot of time like this since I came to Lunerra. So, I did my best to make the most of it.


    The days¡­ slowly turned into weeks.


    One day, on a normal Thursday evening, shortly after our training session with the professor had ended... I was still swinging the sword, despite being told to rest, when I involuntarily paused.


    The sword fell from my hand, or rather I let go of it, and it made a metallic sound as it hit the ground. My eyes widened. I felt my whole body rxing and warming up as if I had been immersed in a hot spring.


    I closed my rapidly widening eyes, sat cross-legged on the ground, and focused on this sensation. My mana reserves were already full, under normal circumstances they should not have been able to hold more, but despite this, the mana in the atmosphere slowly began to enter my body.


    There was also a strange sensation enveloping my body, which became more pronounced as the free-flowing mana suddenly followed this sensation.


    The mana slowly seeped into my muscles, flowed with the blood in my veins, entered my bones, and continued on its way. Every cell of my body absorbed this mana as if it were slowly vacuuming it up. After ten minutes, the feeling offort in my body began to give way to pain.


    I kept my body in as rxed a position as possible, gritting my teeth against the pain that was not only slowly turning into agony but increasing exponentially, but I let the mana move freely inside my body and continue to perform the process.


    Fifteen minutes...


    When the pain became unbearable, my first thought was to activate my ability, but I didn''t touch it, fearing that if I used it my mana flow would be disrupted. It was already passively doing what it could on its own. And yet every minute that passed was slowly turning into torture.


    Twenty minutes passed, and then I suddenly stopped breathing. The flow of mana in my body was suddenly disrupted. I felt something hot rising from my throat, I had to bend forward to cough, and the blood came out of my mouth with it. My sweat had spread across the floor, beyond what my clothes could hold. I looked like I hade back from the dead, but I didn''t care.


    Because what happened was the opposite of ''death'', it was the beginning of a rebirth.


    A notification fell in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You have reached D- grade. Your body has now begun to exceed the limit that humanity has reached passively with the help of mana! Your development will be even more difficult from now on!


    You withstood the excess mana released during the ascension for nine minutes and fifty-seven seconds!


    Your stamina stat has increased by one rank! In addition, the side effects of the new increase in your general level willst for a shorter period of time and your body will be able to get closer to the mana more easily!


    Congrattions! Your [Mana Expert(E+)] mastery has increased to D-!


    ------------------------------>>


    Notifications didn''t stop.


    <<------------------------------


    You have received special rewards for having a contract with a spirit!


    It has been discovered that the spirit you have contracted is of a special lineage and that you also possess the [The One Who is Close to Spirits(A)] skill! Your development and achievements will change ordingly!


    Congrattions! Your [The One Who is Close to Spirits(A)] skill has been improved to A+ grade! Congrattions! Your [Spirit Magic: Wind Elementalist(E+)] mastery has increased to D-! Congrattions! You have learned the [Spiritual Ascension(C+)] skill!


    ------------------------------>>


    After reading the notifications, I quickly imagined my status window and another blue-colored window appeared in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information


    Name: Aiden (Ethan)


    Last Name: Tenebra (Subter)


    Race: Human/Wiera


    Age: 18


    --???-- ???: %3,2


    --Statistics--


    General Level: D-


    Strength: E+


    Agility: E+


    Vitality: D-


    Endurance: E


    Luck: E+


    Magic Power: D-


    Mana Efficiency: E+


    Charm: E


    --Status Effects--


    Abnormal Status Effect: [Divided Soul] -- [Body Dissonance] -- [???]


    --Chaos--


    Devotion: Greed


    Status: Representative Candidate


    Grade: D-


    Control Tolerance: E-


    Limit E+


    Authority: [Chains of Sin(D-)]


    --Masteries--


    [Swordsmanship(E+)] -- [Mana Expert(D-)] -- [Spirit Magic: Wind Elementalist(D-)] -- [me Elementalist(D-)]


    --Active Skills--


    [Mana Barrier(E)] -- [Ice Thorns(E+)] -- [Spiritual Ascension(C+)]


    --Passive Skills--


    [The One Who is Close to Spirits(A+)] -- [Absolute Mind(A-)]


    ------------------------------>>


    A grin appeared on my face. I just let myself fall to the floor and looked up at the ceiling. Then my grin slowly widened.


    "Ahahaha! I did it, I finally reached D- grade!"


    Normally I shouldn''t have reached this now because my body wasn''t quite ready for it. That was because only two of my stats were D- grade yet.


    The more stats someone has, the easier it is for that person''s general level to rise to that grade. Normally, when someone raises three of their other stats, except for charm and luck, to the required level, they start to expect an increase in their general level. At four, this probability increases even more, and so on. Usually with four stats the general level increases and that''s what really improves the body.


    With only two stats, and considering that both of them have recently reached D- grade, it''s really rare for the general level to go up a grade, and I''ve achieved that. Not only that, I''ve achieved a lot more than a normal person would have achieved because of what I''ve done in the past.


    And now that I''m finally a D- rank, I can use the Sith''s fusion with my mana for a while without any bacsh! The Spiritual Ascension skill is the thing that happens, I was only able to use it on my own because I knew this information beforehand.


    Ascension skills are really powerful, rare skills and I now officially have one of them!


    However, no matter how much I tried to calm myself down, I couldn''t keep the grin off my face. I paused, though, as an idea urred to me.


    In order to raise one''s general level, one''s body has to be adapted to it. It slowly improves through hardships, battles won or lost, and so on.


    So... is it because I''m a wiera and because of what I''ve been through so far that I was able to raise my general level early?


    I clicked my tongue and the smirk I had just shown was slowly reced by a puckered expression.


    Yes, I''m happy that my general level has gone up, but... when I think about why it went up this early, I can''t focus too much on that happiness for some reason. Doesn''t this thing that happened... show that I''ve suffered too much physically?


    And... the grades on the chaos tab have also gone up. So, I''ve be stronger not only as a human but also as a wiera, which determines my proximity to caora.


    ''What are you thinking about again?''


    "It''s just... I thought of something useless. Never mind, it doesn''t matter."


    Sith floated down andnded on my head. Then just waited there silently.


    I let out a deep sigh.


    "I was just a little annoyed when I realized that the reason I increased my general level early was because I suffered more than normal humans and I''m not even fully human. And that''s not the only thing that went up, things under the Chaos tab went up too. It''s... even more frustrating, it''s like it''s emphasizing to me that half of my body is not human."


    ''Hmm, I have nothing to say to that.''


    "I thought you were going to give a motivational speech."


    ''Do you need me to?''


    Sith smiled slightly, then continued.


    ''You know more than most people I''ve seen in my lifetime, Aiden. To a degree that I cannot fathom. I might be able to motivate you, yes, but I don''t think it''s going to make any difference. Aside from the fact that you''re in more pain than normal people, I''m sure you already have many solutions for what''s wrong with your body. I''m sure of it.''


    He''s not wrong, actually. I do indeed have more than one idea in my head to be ''human'' again. But all of them... they require me to be extremely strong. It could and will take me years to get to that point. Maybe I''ll never even get there, I don''t know.


    But it''s not impossible, and even if the odds are one in a million, I definitely want to hold on to it.


    "You''re right, but I think a motivational speech would make me happier."


    ''I''m sorry, I''m not sure how to motivate you when I don''t even know what''s going on in your head. I don''t really like the "you can do it, you''ll do it" kind of talk.


    We have something inmon, huh...


    "Anyway, thanks."


    I quickly stood up from the floor, and as I did so, Sith quickly took to the air, this time settling on my shoulder.


    "At least I''m closer to my goals now."


    I can slowly start some of the things I have nned. This increase in my general level has definitely helped me a lot.


    Although... I''d better take a shower first. I stink of sweat.

 Chapter 171 Volume IV - 16: Coughing up Blood

    <h4>Chapter 171 Volume IV - Chapter 16: Coughing up Blood</h4>


    After a hot, rxing shower, I got on my bed as usual, closed my eyes, and thought.


    I need to take action. I need to keep moving forward now that I have managed to raise my general level.


    First of all... Let me look again at what I need to do.


    I need to investigate the Tenebra Family, heal Celine, understand Alysia''s purpose and get her on my side, find a way to suppress my wiera side, find a solution for Lucia''s attraction statistic as Mny and I agreed, slowly build the research facility and information agency I want to set up, and also go south to the continent where the dwarves live now that I''m D- grade and can use Spiritual Ascension without bacsh.


    Huh, I really have a lot of things to do... And the tournament ising up, even though it''s almost four months away because of the events in the kingdom. So, I should at least do thest of what I said in the meantime.


    I should go to one of the dwarven countries, the North Hr, that should be my next step. This may be the most significant step since I made the deal with the Sith in my early days on Lunerra. Maybe it already is.


    With the connections I''ve made, even if the dwarves are going through a tough time, I can use my connections to get a clearance to fly.


    As for the academy hassle... Of course, there will be cons for me, maybe I will have to go through all the lessons I skipped again, but it is definitely worth it. Anyway, I don''t think it will be too much trouble, Mny will take care of it somehow.


    So... I don''t really have that many obstacles in front of me. It''s just going to take a little bit of eff-


    Huh?


    I paused, put my hand to my head, and waited. A slight headache, rising slowly from deep inside, was the reason why I suddenly stopped thinking.


    I took a deep breath, put my head on my pillow, and closed my eyes.


    I don''t like to think too much, my head has been hurting a lottely. I think I should rest-


    The pain in my head suddenly intensified. My whole body trembled violently. I felt a tightness in my chest.


    It was momentary, yet I was out of breath. At the same time, I froze with a strange, warm sensationing from my nose.


    I put my hand to my nose, looked at my palm, and saw blood.


    ''Aiden?''


    Then I felt something rising in my throat and my eyes widened. I quickly turned to the edge of the bed and felt a pain as if my throat was being torn open. A metallic taste, blood, came out with each cough.


    I tried to stop coughing, but it didn''t work. I coughed and coughed. The blood kept shooting out of my mouth. Each time my throat hurt worse¡­ my heart squeezed worse.


    ''Aiden! Aiden what''s happening?!''


    Finally, when I stopped coughing, my hand, my clothes, and the floor were soiled with my saliva and blood.


    ''Are you okay?!''


    Sith jumped in front of me, looking directly at my pale face. He was scared.


    I wiped my mouth with my sleeve, took a deep breath, and leaned back.


    "I''m fine, I guess?"


    I looked at my right hand, which I had covered my mouth with when I coughed, my fresh blood dripping from it onto the floor.


    Thanks to the Absolute Mind, this did not make me fearful or terrified about my life. I was calm, though that didn''t stop me from thinking about myself.


    What happened? Why exactly did this happen?


    Was I poisoned? No, that''s impossible. Everything I''ve eatentely hase from my own kitchen. Sure, Sue often gives me food she''s made herself, but there''s no way she could have done anything.


    Or is there?


    Ah, no. What am I thinking? Of course, it''s impossible. It''s been almost a week since Ist ate a meal she made. I can''t believe I''m suspicious about her...


    Then, it''s because I''ve just raised my general level to D-? This... It''s not a ''normal'' thing, but it''s quite possible. It could be that my body is trying to adapt to its new state, having already begun to exceed the limits of humanity.


    It''s not something that doesn''t happen, it''s just a rare urrence when the body has a hard time adapting.


    Why else would it be like this?


    I''ll... get some rest. I think that would be best.


    *******


    ''Hey, idiot.''


    I waited a moment before answering. I was used to such insults by now, especially when they echoed in my mind.


    ''Yes, Lithoa?''


    ''Stop swinging that spear.''


    My spear sliced the throat of a holographic enemy. Then it went right through the heart of another enemy behind me, piercing it.


    I paused, turned quickly to face another hologram trying to attack me from my blind spot, kicked it in the stomach, and plunged my spear into its chest.


    ''Why?''


    ''Because we''re going to talk about important things.''


    I sighed slightly, pulling my hand slightly to the left and lowering it down to draw a circle, and each of the holograms faded away. The battlefield around me slowly gave way to white walls, I stepped off the contraption that moved with me under my feet and stretched.


    This was a training room the academy had given me exclusively. As a reward for my first ce in the ranking, I could train in better conditions.


    I wiped my sweat with a towel, then hung it around my neck and crouched down. A white beam of light appeared in front of me. The beam was like a normal marble. Yet, as usual, it began to vibrate as if it were speaking, with a voice echoing in my mind.


    ''Just improving your spear style won''t do you any good at this point, Adrian. Of course, you can get stronger by continuing to do so, but unless you do something new, all you can do is swing your spear and learn to use your mana more effectively. That''s the ''normal'' way for someone to grow stronger, and we don''t want that because I, and you, want you to grow much stronger than normal.''


    He was making sense, as always. Lithoa always made sense, only asionally rambling when something annoyed him, that''s all.


    "So? What should I do?"


    ''You need to acquire one or more skills or mastery. The ones you have now are of course functional, especially Mana Ascension, which gives you an enormous burst of power. Friend of Mana and Difficulty Lover also give you a lot of advantages in battles, but they are insufficient. At least that''s what I think.''


    "Skills are hard toe by... It''s even harder for the Masteries. You talk in such a way that it''s easy for me to get them."


    ''It''s not easy, you''ll have to work for it, but it''s not impossible.''


    New skills and mastery, is that it...?


    "If that''s what I need to do to be stronger, I''ll do it, no problem."


    That was my goal in the first ce, to get stronger. Yet Lithoa''s next words made me frown, giving him a meaningless look.


    ''Good, then first we need to get out of this academy for a while.''


    "Excuse me?"


    ''Your progress at the academy is good, but as I said, what you''re doing here is a repetition of what you''ve done before. That professor you train with is talented, I can''t deny that. She''s also a good trainer, but as I said, if you want to get much, much stronger, you can''t go the ''normal'' way. First of all... we need some high-level stuff. You need to get a special spear for example, then you need to get functional skills or masteries.''


    "So, we''re back to the spear again..."


    ''I''m just saying you need to find a weapon more suited to you. That''s the main goal, yes, but we''ll get skills while we''re at it.''


    I narrowed my eyes and then started to think.


    Getting out of the academy for a while... Will I not be able to see my friends for a while?


    I paused for a moment at the thought and frowned again, this time for a different reason. I pped my cheeks twice with my hands, straightened myself up, and repeated a few words in my head.


    You want to get stronger. You are trying to get stronger, not to y house. So, what if you leave for a while? It''s not like you''re noting back or ending your friendships.


    "About taking a leave of absence from the academy... I think I can work it out somehow. I have something in mind, but I''m not sure if it will work, maybe not, but I''ll try my best. Still, how do we know where to go after we do that?"


    ''I have a ce in mind, don''t worry.''


    "Ah, good then."


    Lithoa sighed slightly, still serious.


    ''You better get ready, Adrian. I know you want to participate in the Kingdom''s tournament, and that''s what I want you to do too. It''s a good opportunity for many things, including observation. So, we will be back here in four months, therefore the sooner we leave the better.''


    I stood up quickly, leaving the training room as it was going to be cleaned anyway, and headed for my room without hesitation.


    "Okay, let''s do it."


    Getting stronger is the top thing I want to do right now. And I''m going to do it.


    I''m going to get stronger... stronger than anyone could ever imagine.


    If I have to leave the academy, leave my friends for a while, then so be it. It''s not even a price to pay.

 Chapter 172 Volume IV - 17: A Returned Father

    <h4>Chapter 172 Volume IV - Chapter 17: A Returned Father</h4>


    Silence, the silence of the quiet library.


    Even if there are people around me and they are all looking at me, the relief that I can just read the book I want to read without caring about any of them. And the fascination of the book I''m reading, at least for me.


    A smile formed on my face, under my mask, and I couldn''t stop thinking.


    I wish every day could be like this. Quiet, calm, peaceful. How nice would it be to spend a day without having to interact with anyone?


    "H- hey, hi... Lucia, right?"


    This is exactly what I was talking about...


    My eyes drifted up from the paragraphs of my book. A boy came into my view, a handsome boy with blond hair and blue eyes. He couldn''t make eye contact with me. He was that shy and had a forced smile on his face.


    Sighing slightly, I pulled my mask up a little, hiding my face even more.


    "If you''re going to be like this, you shouldn''t have tried in the first ce, please don''t bother me."


    The boy stepped back. He didn''t look scared, but really surprised. So much so that his eyes were focused on my face, his cheeks flushed.


    "Y- you mean I have a chance if I behave properly?"


    I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes.


    "No."


    I tore my eyes away from the boy and went back to my book. I heard him saying a few more things, but I didn''t care, I ignored him, and after a while he gave up, realizing that I wasn''t taking him seriously. Once again, a peaceful silence enveloped my body.


    No one bothered me until I finished my book, and I happily closed it.


    Satisfied with the time that had passed, I got up from the table and went to hand the book back to the librarian. When I went outside, I sighed and imagined a screen opening in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: Lucia


    Last Name: Quie


    Race: Human


    Age: 18


    --Statistics--


    General Level: E+


    Strength: E


    Agility: D-


    Vitality: E


    Endurance: E-


    Luck: C+


    Magic Power: D-


    Mana Efficiency: E+


    Charm: S-


    --Masteries--


    [Swordsmanship(E+)] -- [Mana Expert(D-)] -- [me Elementalist(E+)] -- [Quie Family Slender Swordsmanship(D+)]


    --Active Skills--


    [umted Speed(C-)] -- [Mana Barrier(E)]


    --Passive Skills


    [Temperature Stabilization(B+)] -- [Initial Damage Protection(C)]


    ------------------------------>>


    My eye went straight to my charm statistic. The statistic, which is now S- grade, even though one would logically think that it should be an advantage to have it high, wasn''t really like that at all.


    Yes, in the hands of a maniptive person it can indeed be a ''blessing'', but I don''t need it, I don''t think I will ever need it. Even if I did... I''m not like that, I don''t want to be like that.


    This statistic is nothing but a curse, at least for me, even if some people are seriously jealous of it.


    I remembered the times when the statistic, even if it was still high, was still only in the A grades. Yes, I had people approaching me then too. There were people who looked at me with strange expressions. They were everywhere. Still... I was at least happier back then. I didn''t have to walk around with a ck mask on my face all day.


    ~beep! ~beep! ~beep!


    I woke up from my daydream, realized I was almost in front of the dorm buildings, and sighed.


    ~beep! ~beep! ~beep!


    Ah...


    I quickly looked at my watch. I pressed the small button on the screen and turned around again, heading back to my room.


    "Mom?"


    "Lucia, are you free?"


    "Yes, I''m in front of my dorm building."


    "Good, I have good news for you."


    I raised my eyebrows in curiosity. Because my mom was not the kind of person who called me for everything good.


    "What happened?"


    "Your father came back, he also said he has a present for you."


    I stopped walking, the curiosity on my face slowly giving way to confusion and at the same time meaninglessness.


    "Dad''s back?"


    He... couldn''t be back, he wasn''t supposed toe back for at least two months.


    After all, he went to that dungeon. A dungeon whose rewards are as immense as its difficulties are great, but at the same time a very dangerous dungeon, a dungeon where one has to tread carefully.


    If my father came back, it must mean that he cleaned the dungeon, right?


    I paused, took a deep breath, and smiled slightly.


    "I''m d..."


    I may not be putting it into words, but I''m really d. I was really worried about my father. The danger of the dungeon he was in was obvious. Even though he ''had'' to go there.


    I... I had even prepared myself for the bad news.


    The smile on my face, and the joy that came with it, remained, but then it was reced by curiosity as another thought urred to me.


    "Oh, wait a minute. Did you say a gift?"


    My mother chuckled lightly from the other side of the call.


    "Yes, he found it in the dungeon."


    "So, I''ll have toe there then? Tomorrow is Friday, so I-"


    "You don''t need to leave the academy."


    "Why not?"


    My mother opened her mouth, and was about to speak, but paused. She waited for a moment, then I heard her sigh and the call abruptly ended.


    I continued to stare at the screen nkly. And then, at that very moment, a deep voice echoed through the area.


    "Because I''m already here."


    I looked behind me, in the direction of the voice.


    There was a literal giant with short, shiny golden hair and blood-red eyes just like mine. He was dressed casually and thinly as if to ignore the cold winter. He was over two meters tall, but also molded and broad-shouldered. He deserved almost all the nicknames that were given to him about his ''gigantism''.


    He also had a huge smile on his face. His blood-red eyes sparkled with excitement and impatience.


    "Ah, Dad?"


    My astonishment suddenly turned to shock. Still, I didn''t do anything unnecessary or ridiculous. I restrained myself, calmed myself down quickly, and then put a slight smile on my face.


    "Wee, Dad."


    He grinned, and he looked strange when he did that with his height of over two meters. He was aware of that too, but he didn''t care. He never cared about anything anyway.


    "Heh, it''s times like these that daughters are supposed to run and hug their fathers."


    "I''m not a little girl."


    "Before I went to the dungeon-"


    Memories suddenly flooded my mind... and most of them were embarrassing.


    "That was almost a year and a half ago!"


    He quickly closed the distance between us and tried to put his hand on my head, but I stepped back.


    "Dad! Don''t do that!"


    His wide smile suddenly gave way to a huge disappointment at my words. His face quickly soured and he even looked like he was in some pain. Yet he didn''t stop there. He put his hand exaggeratedly on his chest and turned to the sky.


    "I haven''t seen my daughter for a year and a half... and when we meet again finally, she refuses to even hug me! It seems I have not done my duty as a father well..."


    He turned around, took a slight step, and then suddenly a long, huge sword appeared in his hand. It was a blood-red sword, just like our eyes, simple looking but majestic. And my father, holding this sword, was still looking up at the sky.


    "I will kill myself!"


    The sword went to his neck. It continued until there were a few centimeters between them. It moved slowly, yet I didn''t say a word. I put my hand on my waist and didn''t answer, narrowing my eyes at the same time.


    The sword finally stopped. Then my father turned to me again.


    "Thest time I did this, you cried and hugged me!"


    "I was nine then!"


    He clicked his tongue. Then the sword in his hand slowly disappeared into the atmosphere.


    "All I wanted was a hug..."


    "Then you should have said it properly."


    This time I didn''t say anything to protest. With the small distance between us, I came to him in just three steps and wrapped my arms around him. My father bent down quickly so that his two-meter height wouldn''t be a problem.


    For a while, nothing happened. Not a sound, not a disturbing breeze, not anything to interrupt us. I just hugged my father, as I had done at his farewell a year and a half ago, without saying a word.


    This time, though, I was different. I wasn''t someone who got caught up in the moment, I wasn''t someone who couldn''t speak just because I was in an emotional moment.


    "Wee back, Dad."


    He hugged me even tighter. I knew that he missed me, that even with all the work he had umted for me sinceing back from the dungeon, and even though he could have caused a fuss in the whole kingdom just by being here right now, he had ignored it ande straight to me.


    In the same way, he knew that I missed him, no matter how I reacted. That''s why he was gentle, soft, and smiling, even if he did exaggerated things.


    "Wee, Lucia."

 Chapter 173 Volume IV - 18: A Literal Giant Blocking the Way

    <h4>Chapter 173 Volume IV - Chapter 18: A Literal Giant Blocking the Way</h4>


    I woke up in the morning feeling better after the little incident that had happened during the night. I took some fresh air in the window as I always did, and then while I was having breakfast, I started scrolling through social media.


    The current events were summarized as if I was watching a news channel, not unlike what I used to do in my old world. I liked to follow the agenda.


    So, I paused when a news item caught my eye. It wasn''t that hard to see, because it suddenly appeared on the screen as breaking news.


    In short, this news was important.


    <<------------------------------


    Leonard Quie and his team managed to clear the Alius-type dungeon that appeared in the Piarlin Kingdom a year and a half ago! They were reported to havee back out of the gate around noon yesterday, with only two people missing.


    Leonard Quie and his team quickly left the scene and did not say a word to reporters, so we will have to wait for further details! Please stay tuned.


    ------------------------------>>


    Oh... It was around this time, right... I''ve been so caught up in my own affairs that I''ve lost track of some of the things that have been happening all over the.


    Like the one I''m seeing on the news right now. The clearing of a dungeon that appeared near the Piarlin Kingdom.


    Clearing a dungeon is not something that would be such big news, but things change when the dungeon here is an ''Alius'' type dungeon. Because these dungeons are different from the others. They literally give ess to others and even dimensions. They connect two worlds, and in some rare cases, they can even be gateways forpletely different races like dwarves and elves.


    That''s how races other than humans came to Lunerra. When Lunerra first awoke, they crossed from their own dimension through dungeons tonds lost to monstrous invasion and settled in this world, which they saw as a new ''source''.


    Well, it wasn''t long before humans were able to repel the monsters, so they couldn''t spread too far. Then there were interracial agreements, nations started helping each other, and history goes on.


    So Alius-type dungeons are really both a blessing and a curse for Lunerra. The value of the dungeon, how it contributes or detracts from the world, depends entirely on the situation inside it.


    For example, if a hostile, intelligent species emerges and deres war on Lunerra, it could easily be a global problem. In the same way, viruses, diseases, and much more from different dimensions can cause world-threatening problems...


    In short, these dungeons can be really dangerous.


    So far only eight Alius-type dungeons have been uncovered, counting the one that has just been cleared and is now open to the world.


    Historically, four of these eight dungeons have weed dwarves, elves, hannyas, and faes to Lunerra... Two of them contained no humanoid or highly intelligent life forms... And one was problematic because of its toxic environment and a disease that spread from it to the world, but that was resolved rtively quickly.


    Thest remaining dungeon, the one that was ''cleared'' by Leonard Quie and his team, has not yet been made public. Of course, I know what will happen, I know how that dungeon will affect the whole of Lunerra, and what kind of big changes it will create here.


    When I read the rest of the article, I saw that it was not allowed to enter the dungeon without being informed about the world behind it and without a security facility. Everything was as it is in the game.


    I have to prepare for that... The world behind that dungeon is really important. And that''s why I need to meet Leonard Quie, who is at the center of all this.


    He wille to me when he finds out that I have signed an agreement with his wife and that one of its uses concerns his daughter. There''s no way that someone of his stature could not stop seeing me at least once when he finds out these things. He needs to see first-hand whether I am a threat to his family or not.


    As I continued to scroll the screen with these thoughts in mind, another not-so-front-page news item caught my attention. My eyebrows slowly rose with curiosity.


    This news was something I hadn''t seen in the game. It wasn''t something I was likely to see anyway. Because the appearance of this news in the first ce was indirectly dependent on ''me''.


    The news was about someone with blond hair and purple eyes. After the events at the academy and the revtions about the several nobles bullying the people, starting with the Malus Family, people started to take action against it.


    It was like an advanced version of the group on social media that I had seen before. And there was even someone who seemed to be their ''leader'', which was the man in the news report.


    He was thin, he looked like someone who had never eaten much or exercised even once in his life. Yet he had a handsome face. His blond hair and violet eyes gave him an attractive nobility. He looked as if he had posed for this particr moment, even though it was easy to see in the news report that it was actually a photo of him edited from an image. He had a natural charisma.


    Darrel Gavefrihet. That was his name, and he was a representative of the people who were slowly beginning to react to the tyranny they were receiving from the nobility. Just like... James Laher, who had started to act while I was away but had already been stopped.


    However, I doubt that this Darrel guy would have done such a thing so tantly. After all, he represents not a small group of students, but amunity of gigantic proportions.


    Interesting... I don''t remember such a character in the game, I wonder if he will be important in the future. I don''t even know how far this ''rebellion'' that the people started at the beginning will go.


    Still, I have a feeling that if he meets Prince Lucas, he might get along well with him. If he really has the characteristics of the group he represents... he might support the prince with the people behind him.


    Maybe, very unlikely, but still a possibility, he could be an enemy of the kingdom. One should not underestimate the hatred of themon people for the nobles.


    "Haaa..."


    I took a deep breath and realized that I had finished my breakfast as my fork hit the te hard.


    Enough with the news... I have to get to ss.


    *******


    It was a normal day. Just like when I had my breakfast, nothing was different.


    Calm, quiet, peaceful. Even though we were in January, in the middle of winter, the weather was strangely good. The academy wasing alive, students were rushing to their sses.


    In the midst of it all, I had a smile on my face as I walked nonchntly toward my ss. Because when I stepped out into thismunity, I started to feel special.


    Among so many students, I was one of the few who had reached D- grade. Of course, as time progresses, this will not be such a big thing, but it is still really... satisfying for the current moment.


    After all, who doesn''t want to feel special? Right?


    ''No.''


    I kept walking with my smile intact, my expression not the least bit distorted.


    ''You don''t talk, Sith.''


    ''Heh, so now you ignore things that annoy you?''


    ''No-''


    My smile slowly faded. I paused, and Sith paused too. We had both noticed something, someone standing in our way. A... literal giant that seems to be blocking the sun.


    Was I surprised? Of course not, that''s not what I felt because I knew something like this would happen.


    Did I expect it, as I thought when we had breakfast, yes, but did I expect it to happen so early? Well, the answer to that is no.


    This... happened faster than I thought it would.


    "Are you Aiden Tenebra?"


    I sighed slightly. I quickly bowed my neck, kept my left foot where it was, and put my right foot slightly behind it. Then I put my right hand on my chest, opened my left hand slightly, and bowed myself only a few inches.


    This was a noble salute in the kingdom. It was mostly used in important meetings, usually to people of ducal status or directly to the royal family.


    It didn''t have an extreme ce in everyday life, it was traditional. Nevertheless, for the situation I was in, especially for me, it was kind of necessary.


    Although... I suppose I should have done it in front of Mny and Prince Lucas, but I didn''t. The circumstances were not favorable, I suppose I could say...?


    Anyway.


    "Yes, it''s me."


    Around us, the students, the staff, and much more slowly began to see the scene unfolding. And every single person who did so froze in ce.


    A few of them raised their watches, tried to take photos or videos, but the watches were suddenly turned off. As if the academy didn''t want this moment to be recorded, it disabled its system.


    I knew quite well who was the only one who could do it.


    "Let''s have a talk then, young man, shall we?"


    Dropping my bow, I assumed my normal posture and looked directly at the person in front of me.


    His golden blond hair fluttered in the winter winds. Blood-red eyes locked on my gray ones. His eyes,bined with his height of over two meters, made him look even more intimidating than he was. However, the uncanny, dirty smile on his face supported this image quite well.


    It was easy to read this in the faces of the people around us.


    For me, however, what this image made me feel was very different.


    Despite all this, I had a smile on my face, just like this man''s face.


    "Sure."

 Chapter 174 Volume IV - 19: Leonard Quie

    <h4>Chapter 174 Volume IV - Chapter 19: Leonard Quie</h4>


    On the top floor of a building, more specifically the training building, to which students have no ess, I, a student, stood in the middle of the room. The door to the room closed, even slowly, breaking the silence.


    The atmosphere was tense, at least for a normal person.


    In front of me was a man about two meters tall, built like he had just stepped out of a ten-year bodybuilding program. He was literally a giant and I couldn''t help sighing as I became more aware of this.


    I mean, I''m not a person who judges or treats people based on their looks, but I can''t imagine how the most attractive, most beautiful person on the coulde out of a giant like that...


    I mean, even if Lucia''s statistic is ''abnormal'', I think so... and it feels strange.


    I certainly don''t mean it in a bad way.


    "I apologize for interrupting your ss."


    He made his entrance in a way not expected from a giant. With that, I widened the smile on my face.


    "No problem. I think our meeting is more important than the current sses, which won''t change anything in my life whether I see them or not."


    "Oh?"


    Leonard Quie curled his lips up slightly. Yet there was also a trace of hostility on his face.


    "Then I''ll get straight to the point, young man. I have the details of the contract you signed with my wife... and I haven''t seen anything suspicious."


    So, he already knows everything... It would make my job easier.


    "Taking down the Malus Family and cleaning up the organization behind the academy, a lot has happened while I was gone and you''re at the center of it all. And you say you''re going to help my daughter. You came out of nowhere¡­ Do I need to tell you my disbelief that a normal person could do such things out of nowhere?"


    Leonard''s red eyes sparkled for a moment. The room got hot, and I would have sweated if I hadn''t started using my mana.


    "If I had such a goal, how do you exin my inaction when I had so many opportunities to act?"


    Yes, at first it might seem absurd to speak so confidently and insinuatingly in front of a giant. It''s a bit scary to think that my head might turn to mash, but I have to act like this.


    In their eyes, in the eyes of the Quie Family, I am not a simple person, and I can''t do otherwise if I want to keep the idea of keeping my secrets to myself.


    So, what if I have the head of the biggest family after the royal family in front of me? With what I know, I''m more important than the seers, and I have to make him, them... everyone feel that.


    "Let''s be honest, Leonard Quie, both of us."


    I sat in the seat opposite him, my posture unyielding.


    "I find this meeting really important, so let''s not hide anything."


    Underlying every word I said was the influence of the Absolute Mind. I was giving it a constant flow of mana, keeping myself calm, and being especially careful not topromise.


    Thanks to my exceptionality in using mana, Leonard Quie could not feel this flow of mana. So, my job was even easier.


    "I am not hurting anyone, at least not those who get along with me. If I really had ulterior motives, as I just said, there were plenty of opportunities for me to do so."


    I folded my hands in front of me, narrowed my eyes ever so slightly, and smiled.


    "I have a purpose, yes, but it is not something I can tell you. Likewise, it''s not something I need to tell you. I am helping you and you are helping me. As for solving your daughter''s problem... Obviously, I put it forward to make it easier to convince your wife, I can''t lie, but the other thing I can''t lie about is that I can actually do it, and not even in the very distant future, before thepetitions within the kingdom."


    "So, you expect me to believe you?"


    Leonard seemed ready for anything. To attack me, to avoid a possible surprise attack, and so on. Even though his eyes were focused on me, he dominated the whole room.


    "Should I trust someone who has the looks of an eighteen-year-old who wouldn''t stand a hair in front of me, Leonard Quie? You know who I am and yet you can speak to me with such fearlessness, with such insane courage. How can I trust you?"


    "Insane courage? Pfft!"


    I have to pretend. I have to pretend so that he''s afraid to stand in front of me. I have to pretend so that instead of me taking his side... the opposite happens.


    Maybe it''s a risk I''m putting my life on the line, but it''s not something I don''t think I can handle.


    "Ahahahah!"


    I covered my eyes with my hands, bowed my head, andughed out loud, then raised my hand and waved it up and down my wrist.


    "Not only are you one of the few ducal families in the Cevilian Kingdom, but you are also the current family leader of the Quie Family, which has been standing right next to the royal family as its sole protector since the founding of the kingdom, right? Why... exactly should I be afraid of you?"


    For the first time, I saw Leonard''s expression falter, a falter so momentary that it was a miracle I even noticed it, yet it happened. It was also a sign that I was on the right track.


    Although, it could also have been a harbinger of a sad end for me. But... let''s just don''t think that.


    "I know too much, Leonard. About this kingdom, this continent, this, and even things beyond. I know things you can''t even imagine, so let me share a few with you so you can better understand our situation here."


    The only thing that kept Leonard from attacking me was his momentary hesitation and curiosity. Nevertheless, the temperature in the room continued to rise. I continued to hold myself as if I were unaffected by it. The slightest sign of weakness could lead to unpleasant things.


    "Do you know why your daughter''s charm statistic is so high?"


    Leonard''s eyes widened. He didn''t expect me to start here, but I continued without giving him any chance.


    "Charm and luck are heavily influenced by gics. Don''t take this as an insult, but do you think it''s possible that Lucia''s stats are ''natural'' from a mother and father like you? C+ grade luck with an S- grade for charm... You must have definitely thought about that, Leonard."


    The flow of mana to the Absolute Mind suddenly multiplied. Because I was starting to struggle, the pressure Leonard was putting on me, whether intentionally or unintentionally, was increasing. Absolute Mind was the only thing protecting me.


    This whole gamble was on it.


    "You are not wrong! Your daughter is not as ''normal'' as you think. Her fate was sealed the day she was born, no, while still in her mother''s womb. Your daughter, Lucia Quie, is a weapon the Lords want to use when the timees. A trump card, an apostle, even if one that has not yet been revealed and will not be for some time toe."


    The heaviness in the air suddenly intensified exponentially, I realized I was starting to sweat, but I tried as hard as I could to keep my voice from shaking. Instead... I kept going.


    "And if you want proof, you can simply test it, after all, as an apostle whose fate is sealed, she has a bond with the Lords and you know how things happen around those who have a bond with them. The behavior of mana around them, the disposition of animals and nature toward them, the differences in their systems, and so on."


    Leonard opened his mouth, he was going to say something, but I raised my index finger and waved it left and right.


    "Shh, no Leonard. I''m not done talking, please don''t interrupt me."


    Not even half a second had passed when a sound, something like a whistling, echoed through the room, but I didn''t look back. I felt a liquid slowly running down my cheek, then something shimmering next to me.


    And then... a warm feeling on my cheek, with a slight wetness from something dense... like blood.

 Chapter 175 Volume IV - 20: World Shaking Punch

    <h4>Chapter 175 Volume IV - Chapter 20: World Shaking Punch</h4>


    I narrowed my eyes, tilted my head slightly to the side, and spoke coldly.


    "It seems you underestimate me."


    As for Leonard... he looked like he was angry.


    "You couldn''t even react."


    "Just because I''m not physically strong doesn''t mean I''m not ''strong'', Leonard. There are many kinds of strength, and mine is one of the ones you should be most afraid of. It''s also one of the ones you need most."


    His brow furrowed, he clenched his fist and squinted slightly.


    "You''re going to need physical strength at this very moment-"


    "The Alius-type dungeon you have entered contains a whole new world in which humanity can gather resources. Unfortunately, it contains no intelligent life, at least that''s the case with what you''ve discovered."


    Leonard stopped abruptly. His whole posture was suddenly disrupted. Of course, he hadn''t expected something like this, a truth, toe out of my mouth.


    "Your mission to clear the dungeon was to exterminate a dangerous species with individuals ranging from A- to A+ degrees. That''s why you were sote. Also, you lost not two but three people in the meantime, because one of the dead was pregnant."


    His eyes, which until now had remained calm, even seeing me as an ant that could crush me, suddenly changed. First his posture, which felt unshakable, changedpletely, and then his eyes widened.


    "Apart from that, you are currently on the edge of surpassing the S+ grade, and with your achievements there you have acquired a new mastery and a new passive skill. The mastery is S- grade and the passive skill is B grade. There is also a gift you intend to give your daughter, an artifact. Its grade is B+ and its effect is to make the wearer grow stronger faster."


    Leonard''s eyes widened again and again with each word I said, his expression bing more twisted. He started to tremble. He genuinely didn''t expect this.


    "You were supposed to have another child before Lucia was born, but Mny miscarried and the child was never born. No one knows this except you and a few senior nobles. At the same time, the rtionship between the Republic of Elhair and the Kingdom of Cevilian has been escting, and even though you''ve just returned from the dungeon, you''ve been called to duty, but you''ve been putting it off because you''re afraid to be separated from your daughter again."


    "S- stop-"


    "Oh, I can go into your personal habits if you want. For example... you hate aubergine, the sight of bell peppers makes you want to vomit. You get seasick pretty easily, and you learned to swim when you were twenty-nine. Of course, I also know a few things you don''t want the public to hear. For ex-"


    "SHUT UP!"


    Leonard roared, jumping to his feet. His hand, balled into a fist, suddenly appeared in front of my face, but I didn''t even flinch. My vision was greatly reduced by the size of the fist and its proximity to me. It was like a mountain, a mountain that literally fell on me. It was so majestic and powerful that even though it had not yet reached me, it had already shaken my entire being.


    It was as if the whole world trembled with fear at this punch.


    Yet... the fist had not reached me. Before I could even realize what had happened, it had stopped right under my nose, and the immense pressure it was carrying had hit me in the face. My hair was flying, and the pressure of the punch itself was so strong that if I hadn''t kept myself on the ground at thest moment I would have been thrown backward.


    Nevertheless, I continued to stare at his fist, then I tilted my head to the side with a sigh and looked past it at Leonard.


    He was literally shaking, there was fear and shock on his face at the same time.


    He had restrained himself. I was still alive and I had managed not to move a muscle because he was scared, he was afraid. Afraid that with all that I knew... that I could be someone really important, afraid of what might happen to him if he hurt me.


    That''s what I call risk...


    Damn, I almost died, didn''t I? I should value my life a little more...


    "Who... Who are you?"


    I pushed my inner thoughts aside, put a smile on my face as if nothing had happened, and leaned back in my armchair.


    "Someone who offers help in exchange for help, someone who knows more than enough and is not afraid to use that knowledge in a way that is necessary to help. Likewise, someone who will be useful in the future for a lot of things with what I know. You probably won''t fully trust me no matter what I do now, but the mana contract I signed with Mny is still active, as you know, and if I go back on my word, I will be Mny''s literal ve."


    Leonard finally realized that I would never tell him the full ''truth'' about me, and at the same time that I was right. He withdrew his fist, took a deep breath in the face of my unwavering stance, and sat back in his seat.


    "What do you want..."


    He seemed much calmer. Yet I could see in his eyes that he was a little afraid of me, that I, as a being who knew things he shouldn''t know, was frightening.


    That was the power of knowledge, a man in one of the highest positions in the kingdom was afraid of me right now just because of it.


    I was someone important, someone who, with my ''knowledge'', would be very useful in the future, so I was also a trump card that could not be let go.


    Leonard was smart enough to understand that. He was also smart enough to realize that someone like me would not be ''normal''.


    Partnering with me was a gamble, a sweet and tempting gamble. And... he decided to take it.


    "It''s not much. I just need a little supportive force behind me in this world, and of course, there will be things I will ask of you in the future, but they won''t be things that will hurt you. In return, I will help you with your problems, and I n to start with Lucia''s problem."


    Leonard paused for a moment at the mention of his daughter''s name again.


    "Lucia... did you mean what you said about her?"


    The smile on my face widened slightly, but I restrained myself.


    That''s it, I thought to myself.


    He had entered my palm of his own ord, just like his wife. Lucia was just too precious to them after what happened to their unborn baby.


    "I didn''t say anything you can''t confirm. I mean, maybe you can''t confirm it exactly, but you can easily see enough to make it stick in your mind... Nevertheless!"


    I quickly raised my voice and drew his attention back to me.


    "You can confirm what I said, but don''t say anything to Lucia about it, now is not the time. As I said, her fate has already been decided and she must not know the truth for a while before we can change it. So don''t tell her anything, don''t ever do that. Otherwise, you may never see your daughter again, and I will not be responsible or to me for that, and believe me, you will regret it."


    Leonard could not say a word. He was like a child being scolded for misbehaving. The only difference was that he was a giant human being, a literal bear, two meters tall.


    Whatever...


    "I will solve Lucia''s problem before thepetitions as I said I would, and you will do what I ask you to do. Of course, I don''t want anything to put you in a difficult situation. Well, maybe a few times, but nothing that ''threatens'' you and your family. So, don''t worry."


    "My daughter... I don''t care what you do as long as you solve her problem."


    I was actually nning to mention a few more things, but with what I heard... I paused. A smile involuntarily appeared on my face.


    It was fun. Being the one pulling the strings, being the one in control. It felt good. As always, it was satisfying.


    "Since I stated in the mana contract that I would do this, we don''t have a problem."


    I stood up and headed for the door without looking at Leonard again. He didn''t say a word, just continued to stare at me with his head bowed.


    "Then... let''s get along well from now on."


    I stepped outside, and the door closed. The whole corridor was full of security, they seemed prepared for anything and they were all looking at me.


    I didn''tpromise my stance. I didn''t change my expression at all. I ignored all of them and started walking toward the stairs. I could feel each one of them literally piercing me with their gaze as I passed them, but I couldn''t stop yet.


    The main hall of the building, outside, and even the hallway of the dormitory building. I could never shake the feeling of being watched, so I kept pretending I was fine, and when the door to my room finally closed, leaving me truly alone, that''s when the flow of mana in my body stopped.


    My body began to sweat as if I had spent the whole day exercising in the sun and with the thoughts flooding my mind. Along with exhaustion, I copsed. I didn''t care about the hardness of the floor, I just closed my eyes and slowly surrendered myself to sleep.


    That was what I needed most right now.

 Chapter 176 Volume IV - 21: The End of a Hidden Family

    <h4>Chapter 176 Volume IV - Chapter 21: The End of a Hidden Family</h4>


    I heard a voice, a loud voice, directed straight at us, not caring about anything in its path.


    "Sophia! Adrian! Watc-"


    My father''s worried voice echoed in my ears. Then an intense light followed the sound and covered everything. My mother crouched over me, protecting my tiny body, while a shockwave spread around.


    I felt nothing except a slight warmth and the floor rattling. My mother''s body was on top of me, protecting me.


    After a short while, the light slowly receded and my vision returned.


    "M- Mom?"


    When I saw that my mother was still breathing above me, a wave of joy rose inside me.


    "Mom!"


    "Ad... -rian..."


    Although I was worried when I heard my mother''s weak voice, I was convinced that she was all right. I quickly tried to get to grips with it, and I did. However, what I expected to happen next... did not happen.


    Mum copsed to the floor, exposing her back. Herpletely burnt clothes revealed her back, which was alsopletely burnt and deformed. If it had been worn a little more, perhaps her bones would have been visible.


    The sight made my blood run cold.


    No words came out of my mouth. I just stared at my mother''s deformed back, at her face, which was obviously in incredible pain.


    Something moved inside me, something I had never even realized existed before. Emotions, different emotions that I had never felt before.


    Meanwhile, other explosions and the sounds of the ongoing conflict continued to echo. My father continued to fight the man who hade to our house. Trees were falling, and the charred remains of our house were slowly disappearing around us.


    My memories, my past was slowly being erased from the face of the earth.


    And yet... I didn''t care.


    "Mom?"


    I just looked at my mother,pletely frozen.


    "Mom..."


    I took a small step, approached her, and bent down.


    "Mom!"


    I shook her weak body, waiting for her to respond... but apart from her irregr breathing, I got no answer. In response to my desperate cries, my mother finally turned her head slightly to look at me.


    She smiled, and even though her eyes were ck and blue underneath and she looked like she was already dead from pallor, she did not shed a single tear.


    She opened her mouth and mumbled something, but I couldn''t hear her. The noise of the battle, my own desperation, and my tearful voice made it impossible for me to hear my mother, who was already unable to speak properly.


    Still, I could make out a single word in between.


    After my mother''s effort to speak, a single word rang in my ears.


    "... run."


    Then another smile... and another word, or rather three words, that I managed to understand.


    "... I love you."


    Just five minutes ago... Everything was as it always was just five minutes ago.


    Another explosion echoed and light spread everywhere.


    Why? Why did this happen?


    With my child''s mind, tears slowly welled up in my eyes.


    I started to cry even more. I was beginning to think that this was a nightmare, that my usual happy life couldn''t end like this. Something so absurd could not be real.


    Then a purple light covered the whole area. mes of the same color suddenly rose upward and literally roared majestically. My eyes shifted to the point where the mes were rising. I saw two people there.


    One of them was standing, and he was also the source of the purple mes. He had a soulless, emotionless look.


    Purple eyes that resembled emptiness and smoke-colored, shoulder-length messy hair. The more I looked at him, the more I felt like I was looking into the void, like he was someone who shouldn''t be in this world.


    The other person was leaning against a tree. His emerald-like green eyes were focused on the sky, which had begun to lose focus with the red liquid oozing from between his lips. He looked lonely, but also regretful. There was a red stain on the abdomen of his clothes, growing bigger by the second.


    And that person... was my father.


    I cried even more. I kept thinking that this was a nightmare and adrenaline ran through my body. I stood up and ran over to him so that our eyes met. Unlike all those moments when I had seen him, when he was resisting despite the ''emptiness'' in his expression, at this particr moment I really felt myself looking into that emptiness.


    As if all my senses had suddenly disappeared, as if the connection between my body and my soul had been lost and both had fallen to the bottom of a deep well.


    It didn''tst long, though.


    "Oh... Are you nine?"


    The darkness dissipated in an instant. I found myself kneeling in front of him, clenching my teeth, trying to lunge at him, but my body wouldn''t let me.


    The best way to wake up from a nightmare was always to jump off a cliff, to die.


    I couldn''t do that by running away.


    I had to wake up, no matter what. After all, this was just a nightmare, a bad one at that.


    "Do you want revenge?"


    No... I was doing nothing but trying to die to wake up from my nightmare.


    "I did what I was told, nothing was said about you... What should I do?"


    The man put his hand on his chin and began to think. Meanwhile, I was trying to move in a fit of anger, but my body was failing me again.


    "Then let''s y a game between us."


    Without changing his expression in the slightest, the man bent down next to my father and then pulled something from his neck. I heard a very low, metallic sound, but I couldn''t think too much about it, because it was remarkable how my father''s body changed after this procedure, especially the fact that he became even more handsome than before. He looked slender and his ears became pointed.


    I already knew, after all, I had pointed ears too, but it was almost the first time I had seen him like this.


    "Take this."


    The man threw the ne in front of me and my vision shifted to it. I remembered again what had happened, a wave of great anger swept through my body again, but this man didn''t care in the slightest.


    "Get stronger and then find me, maybe then you can give my life some meaning. Sure, it might be a bit of fun."


    A very small smile appeared on the man''s face. It was really momentary, it was surprising that I even noticed it, but behind that soulless, emotionless expression I saw a glimpse of anticipation, of excitement. It was like a smile that was contrary to the man''s existence, like something that shouldn''t be there.


    "Whatever."


    The man sighed deeply and closed his eyes as if nothing had happened.


    When he opened his eyes again, his eye color was no longer purple. They were dark brown and, frankly, he looked a little ordinary. Yet he retained the same emotionlessness, that emptiness that felt counter to being.


    "I''ll be waiting for you, so don''t disappoint me."


    The man turned and walked off into the trees, leaving this ce, my mother, my father, our house... everything.


    I tried to follow him, but I failed, I couldn''t. I copsed, buried my head in my arms, and screamed, my voice echoing through the lonely, silent forest. My whole body shivered, chilled by a momentary breeze.


    I kept shouting.


    My vision suddenly darkened, and a voice echoed in my mind. The light slowly filled my field of vision and I jumped up, tripping over myforter,nding face down on the floor, a sharp pain spreading from my jaw to my whole body.


    A gentle breeze passed right next to me, touching my face through my slightly open window, and my eyes opened wide. My breathing was so irregr that I could practically feel my lungs straining against my rib cage.


    I was sweaty, my world was spinning and even the mana inside me began to stir. My passive skill was working, the mana around me was apanying my emotions as if they were its own.


    ''Calm down Adrian, or you''ll blow up the room.''


    Lithoa''s voice echoed in my mind, a voice whose wisdom I could never deny, no matter how annoying it was.


    I closed my eyes first, then I checked my jaw, the source of the pain in my body, and it didn''t seem to have a problem. In contrast, my mana and passive skill had already begun to calm down.


    My breathing was also improving.


    ''You''ve been doing this a lottely.''


    I took a deep breath and let myself fall on my back, clutching my ne tightly as I looked up at the ceiling of my room.


    "It''s not something I can help."


    ''You''re too affected by your dreams or nightmares, whatever they are.''


    I gripped my ne even tighter.


    "As I said, it''s not something I can help."


    I sat up, ignoring Lithoa. Everything on my bed had been thrown aside and all of it needed to be washed because of the sweat on it.


    "Haaa..."


    I stood up, went to the bathroom, washed up, and looked at myself in the mirror, something I hadn''t done in a long time.


    My mind suddenly filled with images of my father... wounded, leaning against that tree, and I felt something rising in my stomach.


    Yet I restrained myself, swallowed, and sighed again.


    Revenge... How strong can I be to take revenge?


    It is impossible unless you are God himself.


    I remembered Alice''s words and waited for a while.


    God... a being above everything. Everyone knows about the Lords, but is there a being above them too? Yes, they are all beings of unimaginable power, capable of manipting thews of the universe, and there are even worshippers, but none of them is the true, supreme, and creator of everything.


    I let go of my ne and opened my eyes.


    I stood up again and quickly changed my clothes, and ran outside. I didn''t care about the sses. I just kept running.


    I must be much stronger. No one must stop me. I must never go through the tragedy of that day again. I will never feel the helplessness that I have been feelingtely.


    If I have to leave for that, fine.


    I will leave.

 Chapter 177 Volume IV - 22: Taking a Leave of Absence

    <h4>Chapter 177 Volume IV - Chapter 22: Taking a Leave of Absence</h4>


    One by one, the lights of the academy came on. The darkness of the night was quickly illuminated by the moon, stars, and artificial lights. Then... a voice filled my ears.


    "So, you are asking the academy for permission to go on a ''trip'', perhaps for a few months?"


    Mny''s voice echoed across the room and I nodded, even though she couldn''t see me.


    "Exactly."


    Mny took a tired, deep breath.


    "Haaa... Even I can''t really do that, you know? A week or so could be somewhat okay... but a couple of months off probably? It''s one thing if you''re in your second year or something, but you''re only in your first year, Aiden."


    "I''m sorry, but I ''have'' to do this. And while I''m on this ''trip'', I''m going to find a solution to Lucia''s problem."


    Mny paused as if she had heard something wrong.


    "Excuse me?"


    "I mean Lucia, your daughter. I''m also going to solve her problem."


    Mny was silent for a while. Then she spoke in a low voice.


    "Where are you going?"


    "To the North Hr."


    A shattering sound came from the other side of the call as if something made of ss had fallen.


    "Wh- what? Not only are you going out of the kingdom, you''re going to a ce where there''s a bloodbath?!"


    "I need to go to the dwarves'' continent for what I want, Mny. You must have also understood when I told you where I was going, the solution I had in mind for Lucia."


    Mny was silent for a while. Yes, I maybe couldn''t see her... yet I could imagine her standing in front of me now, even her eyes widening.


    "An artifact..."


    A smile appeared on my face.


    "Exactly. We have no way to suppress Lucia''s statistic directly, but we can reduce or even nullify it by using an artifact. If we set it in a non-intrusive way, like a ring, ne, or bracelet, it won''t interfere with her daily life. Of course, if we want a solution beyond that, we''d better give it up in the first ce."


    Mny remained silent. She had thought about it before. But she hadn''t put it into practice, nor could she.


    "Will the dwarves agree to make such an artifact for you? How are you going to convince them to make it for you in the first ce, especially when they think of nothing else but this war, a war of extreme importance to them...? We''re talking about an artifact that will constantly lower a statistic, especially one of the innate ones, by a few grades, not something Lucia can only use for two hours a day."


    "I know, and the answer, at least for me, is simple. I will help them and they will help me in return. Think of it like the contract between you and me."


    Mny took a deep breath. She sounded as if she was tired of listening to me and had let herself go.


    "It makes so much sense and so much sense at the same time... It seems impossible. How can you go to a continent at war? The dwarves of the North Hr don''t take mercenaries... They only take reinforcements from some kingdoms or let people they trust a lot fight alongside them. Other than that, it is quite difficult to get anyone into the country at the moment... Only business negotiations are allowed."


    "You are thedy of one of the top three families in the Cevilian Kingdom, Mny. What I''m asking is not impossible for you. And don''t forget that we can solve Lucia''s problem with this. Besides, there is still an active airport in the North Hr and the upper part of the kingdom is still essible, albeit only to a few cities. Of course, I need a separate authorization for that, but as I said, it''s nothing you can''t handle if you really want to. Especially now that your husband is back. On top of that, Ronald Potenbea can support you."


    She suddenly interrupted me and asked, surprised.


    "Ronald Potenbea? I knew you knew each other because you were close to his daughter, but can he really help you with this?"


    Of course, he can. He told me after my first meeting with Celine that if I ever needed help with anything, not to hesitate to tell him. And this is a very appropriate thing to ask her to help me with.


    Quie and the Potenbea family, working together, could not only get me a flight to the North Hr, they could even get me into a city near the war. Even one of them could do it, although the two of them together would be much more effective.


    "You don''t have to worry about that, and as I said, we have to do this regardless of whether he helps or not. For Lucia''s sake and for my ns."


    There was a sound as if Mny was leaning against something on the other end of the call. Then she took a deep breath and finally opened her mouth in an exhausted voice once again.


    "You''re exhausting... Even with Potenbea''s help, I can only get you in as a short-term passenger, I''m talking about a maximum of a week''s leave, let alone a few months. Once you go beyond that, if your departure from the country is not confirmed, they''lle after you."


    "That''s not important, what''s important is that you send me there. And I still haven''t gotten my answer."


    "You won''t listen, will you?"


    I simply smiled without answering and Mny sighed slightly.


    "Fine, I''ll try to adjust it. But don''t forget that there will still be cons, I can''t just let you off for a few months."


    "I am well aware. These are not important things as I said."


    With that, the smile on my face widened even more.


    "If that''s sorted... I''ll see you then, Mny."


    The call ended abruptly. Mny seemed a little annoyed with me, but I didn''t care. Closing my eyes, I leaned back and started to think.


    I need a passport to leave the kingdom, but Mny will take care of that. The problem is that I''m going to North Hr, where a different race lives.


    Dwarves and humans don''t get on so badly... not outright, but it''s still hard to gain their trust. They have a lot of prejudice because they are always looked down upon, and rightly so.


    And as Mny mentioned, there is a big war going on there right now. That''s why entry and exit into the country is under strict control.


    I continued to think for a while and then paused.


    Anyway... This is all taken care of. Since I''m leaving in a week, I''d better inform my friends. If I tell them at thest minute... It might not be nice.


    First of all...


    Uh, sure. The hospital is not far away.


    *******


    I crossed the dimly lit corridor. I was going to open the door without knocking, but I hesitated. With my hand on the door handle, I just waited. I had a strange feeling inside me, a feeling I couldn''t describe.


    I pulled my hand back, then looked at my palms. They were normal, only that they were slowly getting hard from spending so much time with my swordtely, but that was it. They were the hands of a normal person.


    I lowered my hands and took a deep breath.


    Why did I hesitate in the first ce? What was that strange feeling I had inside me? I should be used to visiting Celine... No, I am used to it. I always enter without knocking, like I''m about to do.


    One more thing to think about...


    I sighed lightly and walked through the door.


    "Celi-"


    I was interrupted, my pupils shrunk.


    A shiver ran through my body as if to tell me that if I moved a muscle, terrible things might happen. And then... I saw it. I saw a pair of shimmering violet eyes looking at me, and a smile apanying them.


    He was there, in front of Celine''s bed. Celine was sleeping, while the wiera was smiling. He had a sword in her hand, the sword I use when I train, and on this sword... there was blood.


    The same blood was on Celine''s bed. It had stained the duvet red, right over Celine''s body.

 Chapter 178 Volume IV - 23: Visit Before Leaving

    <h4>Chapter 178 Volume IV - Chapter 23: Visit Before Leaving</h4>


    My mouth opened, I would normally have stepped back, but I didn''t care. I walked over to Celine, ignoring the purple-eyed Ethan.


    I looked at Celine''s pale body, my mouth opened again but I swallowed the words again. A purple glow filled the room, and the wiera''s smile widened. I felt his hand on my shoulder, then, without a word, he slowly began to turn to dust.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %3,2 --> %4,1


    ------------------------------>>


    A scene came to mind. A scene from a long time ago when my wiera side pulled a curtain in front of me and I realized that it was actually me pulling the curtain.


    With a trembling hand, I slid Celine''s hair aside and put my hand on her cheek. It was cold, colder than ever.


    I felt a momentary emptiness in my mind, which was constantly being cleaned and purified. My emotions began to seep out of this momentary space and filled me.


    Anger, sadness, nervous breakdown, shock, fear, helplessness...


    All the negative emotions, thoughts that were always suppressed... Every single one of them poured into it, even if it was a pinhole they found after a long time.


    "Aiden?"


    A single blink, just a single blink, and the image in front of me changedpletely.


    The room was suddenly its usual self. Celine looked at me with puzzled eyes. The tear that fell from my eye hit her hand outside the duvet, and my whole body trembled again. Celine looked at my hand, this time on her cheek.


    I didn''t think anything, I leaned down slowly. I just waited while my whole body continued to tremble. Then I felt something in my hair. It was a hand, Celine''s hand. She started stroking my hair. Gently, slowly,fortingly.


    "It''s okay."


    I was scared, really scared. Afraid that something would happen to Celine again, especially that I would be the one to do it. I was scared to be the one who took her life while talking about healing her. And now... I am being calmed by the person I thought I had killed.


    "It''s okay."


    Seconds passed, then minutes. I finally managed to calm down, fully realizing that what I had seen was only... an illusion.


    What had Ie here for?


    Ah, that''s right... I was going to tell Celine that I''m going away again, this time for a much longer time than before... for a few months, probably.


    That''s why I hesitated, isn''t it?


    I hesitated to tell her this. I wanted to avoid telling her the truth because I was afraid of lying to her, and that thing inside me, the other me, took advantage of my hesitation.


    I keep talking about how I need to be strong... and look what happened to me.


    "I''m sorry, it''s just... I had a bad nightmare, a hallucination, it got to me a little too much."


    Celine was silent, and then I realized that what I was saying didn''t mean much, especially to her. She... She''s probably seen a lot worse than this, right?


    Do I have the right to say these words in front of her?


    I... I''d better get to the point.


    "I''ll go again."


    Celine stopped stroking my hair. I still didn''t raise my head, which was bent down, because I was scared, again. I didn''t want to see her like that again, covered in blood, even though my wiera side was long gone.


    "This time for a few months."


    Celine said nothing, the deep silence in the room continued.


    "I''m sorry, I said I''d be with you, but I always have to go somewhere."


    I took a deep breath and finally looked up, but not only that, I stood up and didn''t look at Celine.


    "Sti-"


    "I will."


    My eyes instantly turned to her and met her violet eyes.


    They were not the same as a wiera''s. Wiera''s always sparkled and contained madness. Celine''s eyes were much more beautiful inparison, they made you feel like you were looking at an amethyst. They were radiant.


    Yet when I saw those eyes, that''s not what came to my mind. Those lifeless eyes, which a long time ago seemed soulless, as if they belonged to someone who was not alive, now looked much more alive and determined. That was the thing that caught my attention.


    "I will be much better when youe back. You told me to try, I will try, so make sure youe back too. Nothing else matters."


    I smiled. I really smiled, because I was, once again, scared. I was scared of stressing Celine, of how hard it would be for her in the few months she would spend alone since I was the only person she couldmunicate with.


    And now, seeing her so determined... I felt the heaviness inside me disappear.


    I let myself fall to the floor, leaning against the side of the bed with my back to Celine. It was a little cold and hard, even though there was carpet on the floor, but I didn''t care.


    "I''m going to North Hr."


    Celine''s voice came a few secondster.


    "The republic where the dwarves live?"


    It felt strange that she was talking, asking questions instead of listening to me silently as usual. Still, with the words she had just spoken, all I could do was smile even wider and continue.


    "Yes, I have things to do there. To-"


    "To get stronger."


    Uh... this is really weird.


    "Yes, to get stronger."


    For months all I could do was to see Celine listening to me helplessly but still trying to support her, and now tomunicate like this... it''s really nice.


    "Ah, and to solve Lucia''s problem."


    Celine remained silent this time, just like in the old times. The mention of Lucia, a friend of hers, gave her pause.


    "You know, she''s having problems with her charm. I have a contract with her mother, so I''ve been helping her with some things to help me. Lucia''s problem was among them. So, I thought I might as well get that out of the way while I''m going to Hr, which will be good for Lucia too."


    I turned my head slightly to look at Celine, her eyes focused on the floor and a slightly curious expression on her face.


    "Are you curious?"


    She turned her eyes to me.


    "Your friends, what they do, how they are?"


    She waited again for a moment, then tilted her head slightly and spoke in a low voice.


    "Yes..."


    I smiled. Celine had given me an answer, even if it was in a low voice and with a slight retreat. So one by one, starting with Lucia, I told her what everyone had been through, that they were worried about her, and that they had actually wanted to visit her after the incident but couldn''t because they were worried about her trauma.


    The only thing I didn''t tell her was about our meeting with Sue. I didn''t want to put a barrier in front of her when she was finally striving for something, because I''m almost sure that she doesn''t really ''love'' me.


    Because I''m the only person in her life right now, the only person she canmunicate with. Celine would feel this way no matter who was in my ce. Even if I don''t count the fact that she feels that I am from another world and that this has aforting effect on her, she would eventually feel this way. That''s why I''m hesitant.


    As my thoughts continued to swirl in my head, I kept talking. Absolute Mind''s ability to divide my mind was very useful in situations like this. I was able to think about two different things while seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours.


    Finally, as usual, Celine fell asleep. And I covered her up as always.


    I took onest look at her face before I left.


    She looked much better than the first time I saw her. A slight smile appeared on my face, then I went out without doing anything else.


    She promised me that she would be better when I came back. Therefore, I will stop worrying about her, I have to think about the ''trip''.


    So, when I went outside, the first thing I looked at was what time it was.


    It was already past midnight. The rain clouds were slowly gathering, and the cold breeze meant that tomorrow would be stormy.


    One week.


    As I walked toward my dorm room, I looked up at the sky covered with clouds.


    One weekter I will be leaving, again to apletely different ce, to ''get stronger'' again. The only difference is that this time... I will be gone for a much longer time.


    In North Hr, in the republic of the dwarves, I must do such things that my name will spread like never before.


    No, it will.


    I have to stand out now. The support of Potenbea, Quie families, and Ulka is not enough. My ambitions for the future are much bigger than that.


    I alone must be an icon in this kingdom, no, an icon in the eyes of the world.


    I must be a noble, and then, whether I am a noble or not, I must be someone much more influential than that. I must start to really make a ''step''.

 Chapter 179 Volume IV - 24: Uneventful Days

    <h4>Chapter 179 Volume IV - Chapter 24: Uneventful Days</h4>


    A week passed, almost in the blink of an eye, at least for me. To be honest, it was a normal week as usual. The only difference was that I had to prepare for where I was going. And, of course, my goodbyes.


    ra... When I told her that she wouldn''t hear from me for a while, she epted it normally without saying anything. It was a bit scary, to be honest, the way she epted it so quietly and meekly... I don''t know.


    Sue was a little upset. She asked me where I was going, how long I was staying, and if there was any danger. In the end, though, she wished me a good trip.


    Lucia and Julian were both surprised to hear I was going. They asked how I was going to get permission from the Academy, where I was going. Of course, I gave them evasive answers and didn''t tell them the truth.


    Adrian... Honestly, he was the most surprised of all. He asked me where I was going, but I gave him the same evasive answers. I could tell he wasn''t satisfied, but he didn''t say anything. I hung out with him and Julian, we spent time together, we dueled, and we even had a running race. Honestly... they both destroyed me. Adrian left us both in the dust and I couldn''t keep up with Julian.


    It was fun though, at least I didn''t feel humiliated as I did in the arcade by Sue.


    Apart from my friends, Professor Calvin gave me a program that he said I had to follow no matter what. The program was... It was a hell of a thing, so I read it through once and then tucked it away somewhere. I don''t remember half of the contents now. I''ll look it up when I can.


    Finally, I told Ulka onest time to take his time in his preparations for the research facility, to try to recruit everyone on the list I had given him recently, and to try to speed things up a little bit, not a lot. I also gave him one or two extra draft theories.


    The only problem with this whole process was that I couldn''t reach Alex in any way. I was going to inform him that I would be away, but he never returned my calls.


    If Ie back and I still can''t reach him, then I''m going to search for him for real. This is... I''m starting to get a little bit worried about it.


    So, on thest day, after calling everyone one by one to say see you again, I was at the west gate of the academy on the Saturday of the weekend, January 23, 2044. I had my passport, my ne ticket, everything ready. Ronald had agreed to my request, even if he had questioned it a little when I had asked him, but in the end, he and Mny had worked together to arrange my trip.


    They even arranged for a private car to take me to the airport.


    On the journey to the airport, I wasn''t too bored as the news was quite full.


    The return of Leonard Quie and the information they were trying to get about the dungeon they had cleaned, the rumor that the crown prince had been attacked, the people slowly rising up against the nobility and tyranny, and a guy named Darrel at their head...


    The media has been really buzzingtely.


    However, as I got out of the car, with the cold and pouring rain on my face, I realized something. It was the middle of January and Cevilian was one of the kingdoms that clearly experienced the four seasons.


    Why hasn''t it snowed this year?


    When I got out of the rain at the airport, I checked the weather forecast on my watch.


    It was supposed to snow in one to two weeks,te this year.


    A slight, bitter smile appeared on my face.


    I love snow, watching those white kes falling from above, painting the surrounding white and all sorts of things. That''s why I can''t help feeling sad, because I''m going to the south of the, where it''s winter here and summer there...


    So, there''s nothing I can do, I won''t see snow this year.


    I quickly checked my watch and looked at the ne ticket Mny had sent me, then I looked at the screen showing the flights, and when I found my flight, I checked everything again.


    All my documents were ready, everything was in order. All I had to do was walk toward the ne and wait for the flight.


    I sighed lightly. Things would be easier once I reached the Hr, or rather the North Hr, thend ruled by the dwarves.


    I paused for a moment, thinking about what I had just said, and then the ce where I was going shed in my mind.


    No, it will not be easy.


    The things I have to do there... I will have to prepare for them. Because I''m not going there to sit around, I''m going there to fight, I''m going there to... kill.


    I''ve never killed anybody outright. I didn''t give Larry thest blow, I wasn''t even myself with Justin.


    Yes, I''ve hurt people, but I''ve never actually taken a ''human'' life.


    Still, I can''t say I''m hesitant, I see this as an opportunity. A very big opportunity.


    The ce I''m going to is in the middle of the ongoing war that started a few years ago when the Kingdom of Hr, formerly founded by dwarves in this world, was split into two after a rebellion broke out.


    Normally, this war is never seen directly in the game. Or rather, it is not directly experienced by the yer. Because the war will be over in about two years and until that happens, we have nothing to do there.


    And then... The South Hr, even though it''s a small continent, conquers the entire territory they live on and withdraws from world trade. The advanced technology of the dwarves, and the things that they provide on Lunerra are cut off, and trade all over the is disrupted, and then a whole different thing happens.


    This is what I want to prevent. Because this is one of the first of many disasters that will befall Lunerra.


    I have to help the North Hr win the war.


    Even though the war never appears in the game, there was a lot of written material about it. I must use this information to win the war or make it easily winnable in a short time, about four months.


    And there''s also something I want there, something that will help me a lot to get stronger. I would normally want to prepare a little bit more to go there, but if I really want that thing, I have to be fast. Otherwise... the original owner in the game will get it. So, I can''t wait any longer.


    In this way, after a short period of time, there was an announcement at the airport. The ne I was about to board would be leaving soon.


    After going through procedures that were quite simr to those in my old world, I made my way to the ne, so that I could finally see the ne.


    The ne I was going to board was of normal size. In fact, it looked exactly like the ones in my old world. Even the interior was almost the same, so I tried to find my seat without thinking too much about such things.


    In the meantime, I swallowed, realizing something else.


    There were not only humans on this ne, there were many more ''dwarves'' on board.


    I tried to keep my excitement to myself, taking care not to make eye contact with them, so I restrained myself and focused on the road ahead as soon as I found my seat.


    I''m going to see a lot of dwarves where I''m going anyway. I might be misunderstood if I stare at them now and that''s thest thing I want.


    The announcement about the seat belts was made and the flight attendants did the checks. As the ne was getting ready to take off, I closed my eyes and started thinking, repeating over and over where I was going, what I was going to do. I tried to prepare myself as much as possible.


    Because none of it was... pleasant. I had to be as ready as I could be, even if I had a few more days ahead of me.


    In this way, the ne finally took off, and frankly, it was not a troublesome journey. It was even fast and short.


    I arrived at my first destination, the only active airport in the North Hr. I stepped off the ne, the first time I had set foot onnd outside Cevilian, apart from the two dungeons I had entered on Lunerra.

 Chapter 180 Volume IV - 25: The City That Will Drown in Chaos

    <h4>Chapter 180 Volume IV - Chapter 25: The City That Will Drown in Chaos</h4>


    I had to go straight to the hotel that had already been arranged for me, there was no need to wait here in this city.


    I couldn''t care about that though. As if I had forgotten everything I had been thinking about until I got here and focused on somethingpletely different: my surroundings.


    This is... an airport, yes, but also very different from the normal ones.


    Dwarves are not a very strong race. Their body''s rtionship with mana is even worse than that of humans, but that is not much of a weakness for them. Because dwarves are one, no... maybe two ages ahead of the rest of the world in technology.


    They are true geniuses. Architecture, medicine, software, general technology... They have advanced in everything. They''re responsible for more than half of the technology on Lunerra. That''s why their airport is so different from the airports I''m used to.


    In the game, after the South Hr won the war, they shut down the airport as well as the trade. That''s why I never got to see this ce, the airport, and the extremely advanced technology that dwarves use in their daily life, except for weapons and war technology, even at the edges.


    Now, however, to see this airport with my real eyes, freely, without any restrictions... To watch robots designed for different missions swiftly circling around the airport, to be directly aware of the extreme technology around...


    I felt breathless, I couldn''t take my eyes off them. As a twenty-first-century human being, this excited me more than most things I had ever seen in my life.


    I was in a paradise, a technological paradise.


    As I looked around with my mouth open, I realized something else.


    I was literally surrounded by dwarves... molded individuals ranging from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty centimeters in height. Almost ny-nine percent of the airport was dwarves.


    That alone made me feel like I was in another world.


    ''Aiden, you there?''


    Sith''s voice made me jump in my seat. I suddenly remembered where I was, and then I sighed. I quickly pulled myself together.


    ''Sorry, I got distracted.''


    I didn''te here to stare at technology like an idiot. I have a goal. I mustn''t forget it.


    ''Where are we going?''


    ''We will first leave the airport and then the city. If I go straight into recruitment, they won''t take me. They won''t trust me for reasons like I''m human. So, first of all... I have to find a high-ranking person who will trust me.''


    ''So?''


    Sighing slightly, I started walking again. Even though I was still interested in the technology and the different races around me, I had a direction to go.


    ''We will be near these people just before the battle starts. Then... we will fight with them.''


    Sith stood still for a moment. I walked past him as he hovered, not caring what he was doing, and then a low voice came from behind me that only I could hear.


    ''We''re going to fight, you say...''


    He flew quickly in front of me, his face showing mild shock and anger at the same time.


    ''You''re going to fight in a real war, where you''ll probably be in the presence of people much stronger than yourself... Sounds like you''re nning to get yourself killed.''


    ''No, of course not. If I wanted to die, there are much easier ways to do it, especially for me. So leave it to me. We''re just going to a city that will soon be attacked.''


    Sith opened his mouth but then closed it before he could say anything.


    ''Sometimes I really think you have a problem in your head.''


    ''I feel the same way, don''t worry.''


    ''And you admit...''


    "Why shouldn''t I?''


    Sith didn''t say anything else and a smile formed on my face. Then I tapped the maps on my watch and started heading toward the nearest maic train station.


    This was where I would use the first of the information I knew from the game. I was going to enter a city that was going to be attacked unexpectedly.


    So, without leaving the airport, I boarded the station connected to it. Even though it was full of writing in thenguage of the dwarves, as a heavy fan of this game, of course, I knew thenguage. It was a great feeling when I yed the game to be able to understand people speaking differentnguages without subtitles, so I learned most of thenguages at least to some degree.


    Of course, despite that, I''m sure I would have had difficulty with dialog. Because I only know how to understand thenguage. Speaking fluently with someone or reading sentences fast... I need to work on that.


    Still, my existing knowledge didn''t cause me any problems in understanding what''s what. Where I had difficulties, I asked Sith, a natural flying trantor, for help and I was able to find a maic train to the city I wanted.


    As the city I was going to be one of the closest to the war, it was fully guarded and covered by a kind of barrier that was very difficult for dwarves to break through, but it required a little file checking, which Mny and Ronald had already taken care of. So, I had a smooth journey, the only problem was that it took two hours.


    When I finally, sessfully reached my true destination, not much was going through my mind. Because, as always, I was once again mesmerized. Even their city was amazing, like the technology of the dwarves, like a utopia from the future.


    Despite all this, the fact that this city would be destroyed in just two days was a bit... sad.


    No, it''s too sad.


    ''Aiden.''


    "Ahem..."


    I quickly pulled myself together and started looking for a hotel. And I found a suitable one soon.


    The room I got had a view and was twenty floors above the ground.


    The view was peaceful, beautiful, and more... like I was in a dream. Yet, as every dream has an end, the end of this city was near.


    I stopped for a moment, I found myself in the deep silence in the room. It was like I was in a vacuum.


    There will be a massacre here in two days... Why am I so calm?


    I am prone to destruction and chaos as a wiera. The influence of the Absolute Mind is always on me, yes, but this... It feels like I''ve be apletely different person.


    I don''t feel any real sorrow for the millions of people who will die here in two days.


    Is it because they''re dwarves? Am I having trouble empathizing with them?


    The silence that had fallen over the room became more pronounced, the feeling of emptiness more pronounced. A strange, ominous sensation pervaded my body. Then I raised my hands and looked at my palms, my eyes squinting.


    "You''re here, aren''t you?"


    I didn''t take my gaze off my palms, and I didn''t need to.


    He was behind me, he was here. The other me, the wiera side of me.


    No... he was always here. Watching everything I did, only showing up at the most critical moments.


    "You should be happy."


    I finally tore my gaze away from my palms, but I still didn''t turn away. Instead, I continued to look out over the busy city, no one knowing what was going to happen in two days.


    "The things you love so much will happen in two days."


    I clenched my fist, the bloody image of Celine on the bed came to mind. I took a quick deep breath in and out, turned around, and faced a void.


    He wasn''t here.


    I sighed, then threw myself on my bed and closed my eyes.


    Two days...


    I''d better rest today. I can continue with my ns tomorrow.


    However, just as I was heading for my bed... something unexpected happened. I froze in ce for a moment, while my eyes widened.


    The whole room was suddenly filled with a purple glow. Then, I heard a low chuckle, and I felt the purple color of the room flood over me.


    Before I realized what was happening, my vision went ck and my consciousness slipped through my fingers.

 Chapter 181 Volume IV - 26: Silver-Colored Rageful Eyes

    <h4>Chapter 181 Volume IV - Chapter 26: Silver-Colored Rageful Eyes</h4>


    "Haaaa..."


    I sighed deeply, then looked at the holographic screen on my desk with a big smile on my face.


    My investment had finally paid off, I was finally making money. I could finally move up, I had blood on my hands, but I had made it.


    When the thought of blood on my hands crossed my mind, I paused for a moment, then shook my head rapidly and took a deep breath.


    So what? This world is rotten enough, so what if I did something like this to rise up?


    All I did was end the suffering of someone who was already on her deathbed, in fact, I did her a favor. That woman had no chance of living.


    Yes, I did her a favor.


    "Briana! Come here."


    A few secondster the door to my office opened and a beautiful blonde woman in her mid-twenties walked in. She had her usual slight smile on her face and was wearing her usual outfit.


    "Yes?"


    "Tell everyone who works in the office that no one is workingte today. Everyone can go home early."


    I was in a good mood today, and making such a gesture to my employees would increase my prestige.


    The widening smile on the face of my secretary, Briana, showed that I was doing the right thing.


    "Thank you, sir."


    With that, I leaned back, unbuttoned one of the buttons on my shirt forfort, and looked back at Briana.


    "And congrattions, you did a good job."


    Briana nodded, not a bit of regret on her face.


    "It wasn''t hard to kill a sick person, we just put her out of her misery. That woman... it was bad to see her smiling even though she looked so dead in bed."


    She was thinking the same as me, what was so bad about doing something like that to get higher?


    There was silence for a while, then I nodded my head in agreement and Briana walked out of the office, she was going to tell them that they could leave early today.


    I leaned back in my chair with a smile on my face, waiting for cheerful voices, waiting for my staff to enter my office and thank me.


    The ticking of the clock echoed in the room. Seconds passed, then a few more... And yet... nothing happened. The silence continued as it was.


    "Huh?"


    I sat up slightly, listening. Was it me, or did Briana not say anything to anyone...?


    I kept waiting, the only thing I could hear was the clicking of the clock inside the room.


    "Briana? Are you there?"


    There was no answer, so I found myself in an even more awkward situation.


    I got up from my chair, approached the door, and just as I reached for the handle, it opened slightly.


    "Finally! What happe-"


    I was interrupted when I saw who entered the room.


    Two bright, soulless silver eyes shimmering...


    It was like they were looking inside me. As if they were reading my soul, my life. They were overwhelming, like something divine. They were so dominant that I couldn''t focus on this person''s hair color, face... or anything else.


    "W- Who are yo-"


    "Edmund Raiser."


    When I heard my name, I couldn''t help but be surprised. I took a step back, and for a moment, just for a moment, I was able to take my eyes off those silver irises and see what was behind the door.


    My office was directly connected to the main office, and the moment one stepped out of the door, one could see almost everything in this workce that belonged to me.


    Now, what was behind this door caused time to stop for me in an instant.


    My employees were not at work, no one was smiling, and no one was happy to go home early today. Instead, they were all on the floor, they all looked lifeless. The huge office had suddenly turned into an empty ce.


    And then there was Briana, writhing on the floor just behind the man at my door. Her eyes were widening and narrowing, her whole body was shaking.


    "W- Who are you?!"


    I stepped back again, but this time I couldn''t put my foot t on the floor and fell, but I didn''t stop. I crawled backward until my back hit the desk.


    The man with the silver eyes, now that I focused more on him, was a boy with dark green hair. He was tall, extremely thin. His lips were t, his eyes held no emotion. They were empty, aimless.


    No, they were not aimless. They were not emotionless.


    They were angry, they carried a silent rage. The boy wasn''t shouting, he wasn''t crying with anger, he wasn''t agitated. It was a calm anger, a controlled one. It was quiet, it was hidden. And yet, more importantly, it was frightening.


    This silent rage was more violent than the rage of anyone I have ever seen throw a tantrum in my life. It was worse, more searing, more dangerous. It prated me, gripped my heart, and shook my soul.


    The boy finally took a step and approached me. I couldn''t say a word, I realized I couldn''t move a single hair on my body.


    The boy sat down in one of the visitor''s chairs in front of my office, then finally took his eyes off me and spoke calmly, coldly, without any emotion.


    "I wonder... Are you happy, Edmund?"


    I felt my throat tighten at the question, and the boy''s shimmering silver irises turned back to me.


    "You have finally achieved what you wanted most, are you happy?"


    My eyes caught something out of the corner of my eye, Briana, still struggling. I had forgotten she was there, and now that I saw her again... I felt something breaking inside me.


    Briana was struggling madly, trying to scream but she couldn''t. Her arms were around her throat, her eyes were bloodshot. Blood was oozing from her lip and ear. She was in pain.


    My blood ran cold.


    "Oh, you can ignore her. I only injected a poison. Her life is not in danger. But she will spend the rest of her life in pain every second after she passes out."


    The boy''s eyes narrowed, and he took something out of his pocket. It was a needle, one of those longer and thicker than the normal ones. It was the kind of needle used as a weapon.


    "Just like my mom."


    My eyes widened.


    "Y- you..."


    "Yes, I am the son of the one you killed."


    The hand holding the needle suddenly tensed slightly, and then the needle flew at me and lodged in my shoulder.


    "Aagrh!"


    I quickly pulled the needle out and held my bleeding shoulder. It didn''t matter though, because at this very moment, the world suddenly started to spin. And after that... I found myself in hell. A literal hell, but quite different from the one that I always imagined.


    Although there was no fire, my whole body was burning, although nothing happened to my body, it felt as if my whole body was being yed.


    And then my eyes welled up with tears as I screamed, as loud as I could.


    "Who told you to kill my mom?"


    I felt pain in my shoulder again, again a needle had gone into my shoulder. This time, though, the pain retreated as quickly as it hade.


    "I- I don''t know-"


    The pain came back in an instant, and my whole body was once again on fire. Then it retreated again. This time, however, the boy did not repeat his question, but the pain came again. Then it went away again and came back again.


    Countless times, as if time didn''t matter to this boy. For minutes and minutes...


    "Who?"


    The pain finally stopped again.


    "S- stop... N- no more... I- it was Co- Count Herun-"


    The boy tilted his head slightly to the right, then put his hand on my shoulder, and I felt the quiet fury in his eyes suddenly burst out. His silver eyes sparkled even more fiercely.


    "No lie, well done."


    And with that, he finally got up from his seat, never looking at me again. He just headed for the office door and left as he came.


    He didn''t even look at Briana, who was still fluttering, he just passed over her like she was a worthless fly.


    I found myself in silence again, except for the sound of Briana''s fluttering.


    And then, the hell pounced on me once more.

 Chapter 182 Volume IV - 27: A City in the Embrace of War

    <h4>Chapter 182 Volume IV - Chapter 27: A City in the Embrace of War</h4>


    "This is thest time, and if this doesn''t work... you don''t have toe back here. Do you understand, Aiden?"


    I nodded meekly, a little nervous to be honest.


    I held my breath, closed my eyes, and then waited.


    Seconds passed, yet I couldn''t help feeling like minutes had passed because of the tension. Silence surrounded me. Then a tremor and finally a sound, the sound of a machine working. I felt something warming from the devices attached to my arm, injecting a liquid into my vein.


    I gritted my teeth as the warm liquid slowly spread throughout my body.


    It was actually rxing, certainly not something a first-timer would grit their teeth about. At least¡­ it was until the liquid coursing through my veins began to literally burn my body from the inside.


    My eyes opened wide. I tried to struggle away, but nothing worked. I screamed as if it wasn''t my body that was melting, but my mind itself.


    It wasn''t always like this, I thought to myself as tears came to my eyes.


    This was much worse. It felt like they were taking out my brain, like all my skin was being yed off. Even touching something caused intense pain.


    It didn''t alwaysst this long, I thought again as I kept struggling.


    Shouldn''t it be over by now? Why is it still going on? Why doesn''t my pain end?


    No matter what I did, it was futile. As my vision blurred, the voices I heard blended together and I saw people inb coats looking at me, their expressions not changing one bit. I could only think of one thing.


    No, these were... not my thoughts. I had realized toote the situation I was in, and yet these thoughts were still prating me.


    They were just four simple words, yet I clung to them with all my being. Maybe thinking these four words were the reason I was still sober.


    I want to die.


    *******


    ~Boom!


    I heard a loud noise and my eyes flew open. I didn''t jump out of my seat, but I almost did. I was covered in sweat, and I wasn''t in my bed... I was on the floor.


    I couldn''t understand what was happening at first, but then something caught my attention, something different from the day before.


    The sound of a siren.


    My eyes widened and my mind was suddenly filled with meaningless thoughts.


    "No... No!"


    I didn''t wait a second, I ran straight to the window and looked at the ''view'' I saw when I first arrived here.


    It was the city that looked like a technological paradise just before my wiera side knocked me out, and now it was a city with flying things everywhere, shadows everywhere, buildings copsing, and something huge somewhere in the distance...


    The invisible barrier protecting the city was now easily visible. It was broken, slowly turning to dust. The city, on the other hand...


    "Destruction..."


    That was all I could say about what was happening in the city. So much so that I involuntarily said it out loud and swallowed.


    But it didn''t matter. The important thing was... that the war had started before I could do anything I had nned.


    I had to go to the center of the city, I had to meet someone. At least I needed to be with that person when the war started. And now... because of the asshole in me, I slept for two days, unable to do anything I had in mind.


    I clenched my teeth, my fists, but before I even had time to vent my anger, something else caught my attention.


    It was clearly far away from here, obviously there only for a show of force, but it was still an apparition that struck fear into hearts. It was a dark, ghostly monster, ready to attack at any moment, standing there like a child watching ants die.


    It seemed to cover the whole sky, it seemed to control the whole city. It saw everything, I couldn''t help feeling that I was being watched.


    It was a huge, really huge flying ship. The Caleuche, as it was called, was the South Hr''s trump card. It was a truly gigantic warship, one of the most dangerous and frightening things I have ever seen in this world and this world has ever seen.


    I heard an explosion just below the hotel I was in and that''s what brought me to my senses. I swallowed quickly and rushed to my room.


    As the explosions echoed outside, I changed as fast as I could, put my shoes on, opened the window, and let the air in.


    Of course, it wasn''t fresh air that came in. It was ash, dust, the smell of burning, and much more. And this was on the twentieth floor of the building, it must have been much worse down there.


    ''Damn it, I shouldn''t have let you convince me.''


    Sith appeared beside me, his face showing a readily visible uneasiness.


    "I... I never imagined the damn thing inside me would do something like this."


    All my ns were turned upside down... Sith, realizing this, is worried.


    This is one of the worst scenarios I can face... but there''s nothing I can do about it, is there?


    I poured mana into the Absolute Mind and calmed myself down. Because no matter how angry and desperate I was, I had to be fast.


    "Let''s go, I mustn''t waste time. We need to find that dwarf urgently."


    Sith sighed deeply and said nothing. I took onest look over the city, finally admitting to myself that there was really nothing I could do. Cursing my wiera side, I stretched and jumped out the window.


    As the wind raged through my body, I took another deep breath as I fell toward the center of the destruction.


    As I neared the ground, my mana kicked in and a strong gust of wind lifted me up. It slowed my fall, then helped mend on the ground, hard enough not to harm me, but hard enough to hurt.


    With the wind supporting me, the dust lifted, and something suddenly passed by me. It was very fast, probably a bullet.


    I don''t know why, but... when I should normally be desperate... an involuntary smile appeared on my face. I felt my body warming up, and I quickly looked around.


    I was on the street right in front of the hotel. When I first came here, this street was a ce where I couldn''t easily see the sky without looking up, it was also a ce where it was difficult to take a step due to the crowd of dwarves.


    Now, most of the buildings on this street had been demolished, grayed by Caleuche''s presence, and the clouds, reflecting the war, were easily visible. The crowd of dwarves was actually still here. The only difference from yesterday was that... no one was alive.


    There were countless corpses in the street. Bodies without limbs, bodies that had pissed themselves, bodies with exposed organs, a corpse with its head open...


    Just then I heard a groan, and when I quickly turned my head in that direction, I saw someone under the rubble just across the street. Just like the bodies in the middle of the street, he was a dwarf. Sure, he was alive, but he was coughing up blood.


    Right next to him.... was another man, literally ttened by the rocks that had fallen on him. His eyes were blown out, there was a huge gash in his head. Likewise, his lower body was missing. He looked like the man under the rubble, maybe a rtive or family member.


    The smile on my face suddenly fell. I remembered where I was, I remembered what my purpose was. More importantly, I remembered who I was and what I was doing.


    Damn... I almost lost myself again without even realizing it.


    I started running, ignoring the dwarf.


    Not far from me, there was a huge explosion, and I saw countless dwarves thrown around with tears and severed limbs. Every one of them ran, and a robot chasing them mowed them down, refusing to let them escape.


    I gritted my teeth, looked away, and searched for a ce of safety, a ce where there was no rubble around that could copse, a ce where I could survive the first phase of the battle.


    This was the first challenge I faced. Fortunately, there wasn''t much nearby that could be a danger to me. Even if there was, they were usually not very interested in me. At least for now, I seemed to be lucky.


    The moment this thought crossed my mind was the moment I cursed my luck. As I turned a corner in arge alley, among the ruined buildings, something appeared in front of me, something I had to look up at this time, after two days of lowering my head to look at the dwarves. A robot, one that was almost two meters long. And inside was a dwarf.


    Another explosion shook the ground, the light from it illuminated the surroundings and my huge shadow fell directly onto the building behind me.


    So the dwarf and I met eyes. Just a second ago I was running away and the dwarf was shooting at someone, but in this strange space between us, we both turned to each other.


    Nothing happened, at least for the first second. The next second, the robot''s fist came down on me out of nowhere.


    I charged my hands with mana, pushed them forward quickly, and the moment I did, I was thrown back by the wind I had created.


    The robot''s fistnded where I had just been, but it didn''t stop there. Something rose up over its arm, a redser appeared on my forehead and then began to spin slightly.


    "Fuck... really?"

 Chapter 183 Volume IV - 28: In the Midst of Destruction

    <h4>Chapter 183 Volume IV - Chapter 28: In the Midst of Destruction</h4>


    I threw myself with all my strength behind the building closest to me. The bullets from the gun in the robot''s arm suddenly started riddling the ce where I had just been standing and turned toward the building. They shattered the ss and even pierced the concrete.


    My eyes widened when I saw this.


    If a single one of those bullets grazed me, it would definitely take the ce it touched with it...


    I quickly got up and started running in the opposite direction. I came across a group of soldiers who were clearly hostile, they opened fire on me as soon as they saw me.


    I used the Mana Barrier and quickly ran behind some more rubble and then something caught my eye, something good.


    Mana traveled through my body, I felt my muscles fill with power and I jumped. I grabbed onto the side balcony of a tall skyscraper that waspletely on its side and went inside. I hid myself and looked at the city again.


    What had happened was literally a one-sided massacre. What I saw on the streets was nothing, the real thing was happening in the heart of the city. Bodies and severed limbs were everywhere, there was almost nowhere to step. Bullets were flying through the air, some even hitting each other. The soldiers charged with protecting the city were fighting for their lives, waiting for reinforcements.


    When I saw them struggling, I couldn''t help feeling a little sad, but it was only a thought. A minimal concern, at most.


    Because no matter how hard they try, they will not seed. Caleuche is waiting where it is, even if it''s far away. Even if it does nothing, even if it just stands there, it''s here, and that''s enough. That alone could be enough force to dominate all of Lunerra, and maybe it really is...


    Except for a few things.


    There are a couple of reasons why the South Hr would not try to take over the North Hr right now, let alone Lunerra, with such a ship.


    First, the Caleuche can''t stay aloft for long periods of time, so if theyunch arge-scale attack and the ship has tond, they will lose.


    Second, they are afraid of another weapon in the hands of the North Hr. It is not known whether the weapon is fully ready.


    Thirdly, apart from the war, the South Hr is directly going through a civil war. The people are not very happy with this war that they are fighting as Southerners with the Northerners. Because the South Hr is ruled by a kind of dictatorship. Yes, there is a president, but this person is a bit... troublesome.


    The fourth reason is that the barriers in almost all the cities of the North Hr are really strong. Even Caleuche can''t get through that barrier for as long as it can stay in the air, so they take over the cities one by one and n a big offensive at the end.


    And they seed, at least in the game. And what I am trying to do... is change that.


    I asked Sith about the situation outside and the answer was not encouraging. The situation was bad, retaking the city was next to impossible because even if reinforcements arrived, the city had already fallen.


    The Northerners were already retreating. I would be trapped inside the city at this rate, and with the dwarves'' technology, it would only be a matter of time before I was captured.


    I need to act, I need to find someone, someone who is in this city now, someone who has a more optimistic view of those outside his race. A general, a general who I think will be of great help to me in this war.


    ''Sith, we''ll be heading out soon. In the meantime, I want you to look for a dwarf, he should be wearing armor that looks more technological than the others, he is also a general. His eyes are blue, his hair brown. He''s a bit bigger than the other dwarves. As soon as you see him, he will catch your eye.''


    Sith nodded quickly and I took a deep breath. I braced myself and imagined first of all a sword, a ck sword with purple runes on it.


    It was the sword I had gotten from the dungeon I cleared with Alex.


    Immediately after my thought, a white glow appeared in front of me. The glow distorted around it, slowly taking the shape of a stick, and then details began to form. The tip of the stick tapered, became thinner and a little longer, and slowly a hilt began to form.


    After the stick took the shape of a sword, the glow slowly disappeared and a sword fell into my hands.


    I quickly poured mana into it, my mana traveled through the sword and the runes on it suddenly glowed. The shape of the sword trembled, it grew a little longer and the hilt changed to fit my hand. Then the runes faded again and I received a notification.


    <<------------------------------


    You have bound yourself an artifact!


    Name: Runic Obsidian Sword Type:


    Weapon Grade: C


    A sword shunned by its creator, seen as a failure for not fulfilling its purpose as intended. It did not get a name because it fell far short of its potential, yet it is still much better quality and sharper than the average sword.


    Thanks to the runes on it, it uses the mana transferred to it much more efficiently and effectively.


    ------------------------------>>


    I gripped tightly the first sword in the world that belonged to me and me alone.


    The weight, the bnce, the length... everything was perfect for me.


    I took a deep breath again, started channeling mana into the Absolute Mind and my mind cleared slowly but steadily. Then I looked outside with this mind.


    What was happening around me suddenly came into my mind much clearer, much more real than before. Dwarves dying in the distance, soldiers ughtering them. The desperate Northerners trying to resist, and the Southerners advancing against this resistance as if it were nothing...


    I gripped the hilt of my sword tightly and started running in the opposite direction to the huge ship Caleuche.


    As I said, the city had already fallen. The Northerners were aware of this and had begun to retreat, so I was more likely to find the person I was looking for there.


    Luck did not smile at me this time, though.


    I met a group of soldiers, they were looking directly at me, and our eyes met.


    I suddenly felt time stop, and with that, the barrels turned toward me.


    I held my breath, cursed, and activated the Mana Barrier so that the first bullets hit the barrier, causing it to crack.


    After cursing a few more times inwardly, I turned around, but this time I was facing another group of soldiers. As their barrels once again turned toward me, their faces emotionless, I felt like I was the only one in the whole world.


    Nevertheless, I didn''t give up. I sped my hands together and swung them quickly to the sides, and a gust of wind pushed me upward. The barrier below me broke, I saw the momentary surprise of the soldiers, they hadn''t expected me to be thrown into the air at once. Yet they didn''t stay still.


    Since I was in a moment when I had to think about every detail, instead of thinking about the spells, I cast them with simple movements, directing my mana with my hands.


    I quickly pushed my hands in front of me, and the wave of wind that had lifted me into the air blew in front of me this time, and I was thrown backward,nded on a building, and quickly entered it.


    Some of the soldiers were entering the building. I don''t know why, but they were specifically targeting me.


    I gritted my teeth and looked for a way out of the building without being noticed.


    There was one, but as soon as I approached one of these gaps, a huge shadow suddenly fell over the area. A huge, ck blotch that blocked out the sun. A machine approaching here, scanning the entire area.


    Caleuche.


    I involuntarily grimaced.


    Is it already exceeding its flight limit? No, the war hasn''t started long ago. Most of the city had already fallen, so they didn''t want to waste too much energy?


    I shook my head quickly because I was thinking nonsense.


    I have to run, I have to be fast, every second that ship gets closer to me, the risk of getting caught increases.


    So, I prepared to step outside, and just then I paused again. A footstep sounded behind me, and then¡­ the room lit up for a split second. Something, a bullet, grazed my arm and lodged in the wall I was facing. Immediately afterward, a mocking voice echoed in my ears.


    "Turn around slowly."


    Haaa¡­ I guess they''ll never leave me alone.

 Chapter 184 Volume IV - 29: Taking a Life for the First Time

    <h4>Chapter 184 Volume IV - Chapter 29: Taking a Life for the First Time</h4>


    "Turn around slowly."


    ''Sith.''


    After a quick thought, I slowly turned around. There was a human being, a mercenary on the side of the Southerners.


    He had a smile on his face. He reached for a device on hispel and then a green light came on.


    "Come here, I found him."


    The light on the device went out and the man opened his mouth again without stopping smiling.


    "They told me to get you, but you won''t mind if I tell them you resisted, will you?"


    His finger on the trigger, he slowly lowered the barrel toward my leg.


    "I''m so bored, this war is no fun. Make it a little fun for m-"


    Sith entered my body and as soon as that happened, mana suddenly started to condense around me.


    Spiritual Ascension activated, which I had gained full ess to after I reached D- grade, giving me much more power and possibilities than before.


    The expression of the man in front of me changed in an instant, I saw him pull the trigger as a green crown appeared above my head. Yet, Sith was faster, with full unrestricted ess to both my mana reserves and his own, which he had not had ess to until now.


    A sudden gust of wind, almost like a hurricane, swept the ground in front of mepletely. The man literally disappeared into thin air from where he had been.


    He was so rxed, so unleashed by the weapon in his hand and the situation, that he was swept off his feet and mmed against the wall. I heard all his bones breaking, I witnessed the lifelessness of his eyes as blood poured from his mouth and eyes.


    For the first time, I killed someone when I was fully conscious.


    Yet even though I had killed someone, I felt nothing, just as I knew I would.


    With a deep emptiness inside me, I took onest look at the man''s corpse, then turned away, ignoring him.


    Yes, now that I''m D- grade, it doesn''t hurt me to use this form even for a limited time, but I still have to be fast.


    I was getting ready to jump down and run away when I suddenly paused.


    Actually... I can use this.


    This form, now that Sith and I have full ess to it, gives me power far beyond my own general level. Although I will only be able to use it for a few minutes, the near-limitless amount of mana is just one of the things this ascension skill provides.


    Can''t I use this skill to attract attention? Of course, I can.


    I doubt I''ll be able to find the man I want to find... I''mte. I didn''t think the war would start before I could make any preparations and that it would be lost so quickly. So¡­ I just need to find someone of high rank, someone who will see my power.


    I jumped down quickly,nding softly on the battlefield with the enormous amounts of mana my form gave me. All eyes were on me at once because of the intense amount of mana I was spreading around me.


    I ignored everyone and looked around. The battle was still going on, those who hadn''t noticed me were still doing what they had been doing.


    The North Hr was already retreating, yes, but something important was happening very close to me. Two men were fighting. No, they were leading this side of the battle directly.


    They were the ones being fired upon. They were the ones scattering destruction. One side was constantly looking for a way to escape, the other side would never let him.


    I focused on my mana, which felt close to unlimited, and although I could only use this extra amount for the wind magic, I had my own mana on the side that I could use for other things.


    I raised my hands with the mana from my form, and a rather strong and intense wind began to blow around me, then swirl. All the while I focused on the mana in my body, almost all of it was drained at once. Then the mes rose with it, apanying the swirling wind.


    Some people who saw what I was doing opened fire on me with a look of horror on their faces as they looked at the whirlwind I had created, but it was useless. Bullets, balls of energy, spells... All were caught in the breeze that swirled around me and slowly turned into a tornado.


    I felt a warmth in my nose and couldn''t help being surprised.


    Even though I''ve reached D- grade, I think using such a significant amount of mana in this form still puts a strain on me... I have to be fast.


    I lowered my hands, then turned to one of the two who had been particrly conspicuous in the middle of the battle. It was a robot, or rather the pilot inside it.


    The robot was almost three meters long, yet it was extremely fast. He was fighting someone, someone I didn''t recognize, but clearly someone important in the forces of the North Hr. He was not inside a huge robot, but he was wearing armor like something out of a science fiction movie.


    Neither of them noticed me. They were so focused on the battle between themselves that they were not aware of anything.


    I raised the index finger of my lowered right hand and with that, the ming tornado that was swirling around me suddenly trembled. Mana suddenly wrapped around this tornado like a shell and began to suppress it. The whirlwind literally roared, continuing to destabilize as it was slowly shrunk by the pressure toward the tip of my finger.


    So the fighting duo paused, and both of them turned to me. First, they noticed the tornado, then its slow condensation into an orange ball at the tip of my finger.


    I turned my finger toward the fighting duo and a smile formed on my face. I don''t know why, I was excited. The marble on the tip of my finger was bing more and more unstable, trying to break through the shell that confined it to a tiny space. In fact, it was doing so... It was only a matter of time before the marble exploded on the tip of my finger.


    I kept smiling and waved at them with my left hand. They continued to look at me nkly, but suddenly their expressions turned serious. They prepared to lunge at me, neither of them knowing which side I was on.


    Funny, I thought to myself. Then, without waiting for them, I tucked my right index finger under my thumb.


    I gave a light flick toward the marble.


    Suddenly a brilliant, intense light descended on the field, the source of which was the marble in front of me. Then there was the sound of an explosion, and with my flick, the immense power emanating from the marble suddenly enveloped the three-meter robot, and not only that, it advanced behind it.


    The light and power generated by the trapped wind and me were so tremendous that the three-meter robot''s condition was revealed as its effects began to unfold.


    The pilot had managed to activate his robot''s energy barrier at thest moment. Still, my attack prated it and reached him. Of course, it was insufficient to kill someone of his high rank. Still, the robot''s legs were damaged, while the body part protecting the cockpit was slightly opened.


    The pilot was not badly injured, with a slight trickle of blood from his head, but that was it. He was only slightly restricted in movement as a result of the attack and had lost the shield protecting him.


    Nevertheless, this was a perfect opportunity for his opponent.


    The armored dwarf realized the situation, even if he was still dumbfounded. Without a moment''s hesitation, he lunged at the pilot and drove his sword through the gap in the cockpit and into his torso.


    The pilot did not even look at him, already knowing his fate. As thest glimmer of hope faded from his eyes, his gaze was on me. With hate, and spite. And at the same time questioning, for example, who and why I was here.


    These two were, after all, important forces considering the war in the city as a whole. Both sides knew most of the forces on each other''s side, and the pilot was seeing me for the first time. Hence his reaction.


    He and everyone else on the battlefield held their breath, looking at me with anger and some fear.


    I put my hand down with the blood dripping from my nose. It was a bit funny, to be honest... to see someone looking at me like that.


    I took care to stay standing, turned my gaze to the person who had killed the pilot, and smiled.


    The crown on my head slowly turned to dust and began to disappear.


    The dwarf''s eyes widened for a moment, then he suddenly appeared beside me. He was fast, so fast that I began to wonder why he had just lost to the robot. How could he not have the upper hand when he was so fast?


    With these thoughts in my mind, my vision suddenly blurred and I paused.


    Ah, great... Even though I''ve reached a D- grade, I still haven''t changed at all.


    My lip curled upward again.


    Even though my attack had ended the battle between the two, if I was fighting that robot directly, I didn''t stand much of a chance... right?


    Before my vision waspletely blocked, I saw the sky moving. At least I knew where I was going, so I could rx.


    Then, as if in response to my thoughts, a much brighter glow filled the whole area. A glow that rose to the sky, illuminating even the clouds. And then a shock wave and an explosion that shook my whole being.

 Chapter 185 Volume IV - 30: Shattered Sphere in Nothingness

    <h4>Chapter 185 Volume IV - Chapter 30: Shattered Sphere in Nothingness</h4>


    When I turned off the bright light of my deskmp, the whole room was suddenly plunged into darkness.


    With a deep sigh, I sat up, stretched, and then turned on the light. After packing my books and my bag, I looked at the clock.


    It was already night, time for me to go to bed. At least I had to go to bed now if I didn''t want to fall asleep at school.


    Without thinking too much, I let myself fall into my bed. So I closed my eyes, turned over, and tried to fall asleep. Minutes passed in silence, and with my consciousness refusing to close, my eyes opened again.


    "I can''t sleep..."


    I raised my arm, opened my watch, which I had bought with the money my brother had given me when my phone had recently broken, and a holographic screen opened in front of me.


    I was still not used to it, but it was much better and faster than my previous phones. So I was doing my best to get used to it.


    While examining the holographic screen, I saw a message on the screen, a message that was sent about half an hour ago.


    <<------------------------------


    Paul: Sorry for writing sote ra, can we meet tomorrow after sses? It would be best to finish the project paper quickly.


    ------------------------------>>


    A smile appeared on my face, then I typed a response on the keyboard that appeared on the holographic screen.


    <<------------------------------


    You: Sure, I want to finish it quickly too.


    ------------------------------>>


    It didn''t take long to get a response as if he had been expecting it all along.


    <<------------------------------


    Paul: Good, I''ll meet you at the usual table in the library. You: Okay. Paul: Good night then, go to sleep quickly or you''ll have your head in your arms halfway through the lectures.


    ------------------------------>>


    The smile on my face faded slightly.


    <<------------------------------


    You: Shut up, that''s not why I sleep in ss.


    Paul: Are you sure? If you print out your sleep patterns for a week, I can show you more easily why you sleep in ss.


    You: Whatever!


    Paul: And now you''re running away...


    You: No, I''m not running away!


    ------------------------------>>


    It was fun, talking to Paul. Honestly, he was one of the few people I could really call my friend, so it was fun to spend time with him directly. Whereas all the other kids at school were opportunistic and put on a fake face to show themselves, Paul... He was more optimistic, natural, and pure.


    He was also one of the few people I could text at night, apart from my brother and one or two friends I had made early on. So he was going to be my biggest help during the few months when my brother would not be able tomunicate with me. I was sure of that, and even now our conversations would go on and on, moving from one topic to another.


    Eventually, though, Paul exited the messaging app after onest goodnight message, saying that I really needed to sleep.


    I sighed, staring at the screen.


    That''s actually why I liken him to my brother, who usually does what''s best for me without giving me a chance to say anything, just like Paul does.


    I closed the holographic screen and then my eyes with a smile on my face. Unlike the previous time, sleep hade to visit this time.


    I didn''t think anything, I just waited as I slowly surrendered to sleep.


    However, when my body sumbed to sleep... something different than the previous times happened.


    I didn''t ck out, I didn''t suddenly find myself in the next morning. On the contrary, I was in apletely different ce, a ce where I could never move my body. It was as if I had a stroke, where I couldn''t move a single muscle no matter what I did.


    And yet the top of my neck was working perfectly well.


    So my eyes opened, and they showed me where I was. I was in the middle of a very dimly lit room, kneeling, unable to move because I was still paralyzed.


    Then I noticed someone else in the room with me. My gaze immediately turned in the direction of the voice, and then I saw a boy there, my brother, or rather my real brother.


    He was sitting on a chair with his hands sped together. His long ck hair was tangled. His clothes were bloody, especially his hands were red. And his usual soulless, emotionless eyes were on me.


    No, he wasn''t looking at me. He was focused, immersed. His cold, gray eyes, which made me feel like I was looking at a ghost, were not looking at me but behind me.


    The moment I realized this, our eyes met. With a deep sigh, he got up from his seat and approached me.


    I wanted to struggle as he approached me, dressed in bloody clothes and looking like a murderer, but nothing happened. He mumbled something, his eyes suddenly shifted to the floor in front of me and I saw something else I hadn''t noticed before.


    Writing that seemed strange, in anguage I didn''t understand. A circle was drawn around me, written in blood.


    He mumbled again, but I couldn''t understand what he was saying. His voice was blocked by something.


    The room suddenly lit up. The image flickered, as if being blocked just like my brother''s voice.


    My brother smiled slightly, and in his eyes, I saw a glimpse of emotion, something I would probably never see again.


    Then the room, which was shimmering despite the absence of any light source, was paintedpletely white by the same light as if it wanted me not to see this image.


    I felt something spinning inside me, in my body, and then I realized that it was something like a me that was zing right where my heart was... as if it wanted to burn it and everything else.


    I opened my mouth, unable to close it again. Yet no sound came out, nothing echoed in the silence. I couldn''t even feel any tears, as if they disappeared instantly under the intense heat inside my body and the dazzling glow that surrounded me.


    I struggled, or at least I tried to, as the me that scorched my heart spread throughout my body, slowly traveling through my entire body, almost as if it had melted every single cell. My silent screams continued, and I couldn''t even faint. I could only wish for the mes to go away, for the pain to stop, and I did.


    After a short while, as if my wish had been granted, when the me finally reached my neck and then my head, suddenly all the pain stopped. So I felt something inside me snapping, breaking.


    No... It was more like a crack than a break.


    The glow disappeared in an instant, tears welled up in my eyes and my screams of pain spread through all this eternity. I put my hands over my heart, where I felt the pain most intensely.


    Yes, the pain was gone, but it was still in my memories. Just thinking about it made me feel like I was being burned alive again by the same mes. However, when I finally looked where I was with tears in my eyes, I saw something strange.


    In front of me, floating in the air, was a gray sphere with a cracked top. It seemed out of ce in the infinite. It was something that shouldn''t be, against the ''nothingness'' here. It was a cracked,rge sphere with strange writing on it that I had just seen on the floor, written with my brother''s blood.


    No light leaked through the cracks, nor could I see what was behind them. Behind them was a deep, gloomy darkness.


    Still, I kept looking at the sphere, with great interest. Everything in my mind was suddenly erased, and I approached it as if this gray orb was the most important thing I had ever seen in my life. Involuntarily, but also with a strange fear that I couldn''t quite understand.


    I put my hand on the orb, felt the strange writing and cracks on it, and my fingers moved slowly but steadily toward the darkness visible through the cracks.


    Then the whole infinity trembled.


    As if the intense, painful glow from earlier was returning, all this infinity suddenly lit up. The cracks on the gray sphere in front of me widened and the light shook the whole infinity again... as if angry at this.


    Intense pain began to burn my heart again. My eyes, already open, strangely opened a second time.


    I jumped up, fell off my bed onto the floor, and vomited. The pain disappeared again as if it had never existed. It left me alone in my room where the sunlight had just entered. As I continued to cough, all I could think about was what had happened.


    But... there was no one to answer me.

 Chapter 186 Volume IV - 31: Toward Neutral

    <h4>Chapter 186 Volume IV - Chapter 31: Toward Neutral</h4>


    As I walked out of the east gate of the academy, my backpack full of spare clothes on my back, I took a deep breath and looked behind me.


    I looked at the majestic walls and buildings of the academy, remembering that... marvelous feeling I had when I first came here.


    The academy was definitely one of the most magnificent things I had ever seen in my life, even spectacr. So much so that I wanted to look at them to my heart''s content.


    ''The longer you wait to leave, the harder it is to leave, Adrian.''


    I sighed deeply, and with difficulty, I turned my back to the magnificent academy. What I experienced here... It''s really precious, I have a connection with this ce. That''s why it hurts even more to leave.


    Still, I turned my back once, so I have to move on.


    Lithoa was right, the more I look into the academy, the more I am haunted by it.


    I shove my hands in my coat pockets despite the cold weather and slowly make my way toward the maic train station, all the while thinking about what happened just a few minutes ago.


    A while ago, when I asked for a few months'' leave of absence from the academy, I was almost given a penalty... Lucia''s mother, Mny Quie, the rector of the academy, almost had a heart attack when she heard I wanted to leave the school... But somehow, in my own way, I managed to convince her, albeit with difficulty.


    She actually wanted to have a special car prepared for me, but I refused. Not out of courtesy, of course. I can''t do that with Lithoa by my side.


    He specifically stressed that no one should apany me on my journey, so I didn''t ask for or ept anything extra, except permission from the academy.


    And now... I have no idea where to go.


    ''Lithoa... Um, where do I go?''


    Lithoa appeared next to me, as usual, a marble of light.


    Now that I think about it... he never shows his real body, I have no idea what he looks like.


    He doesn''t or he can''t? I''m not sure about that either, I never asked...


    ''We will first go to the ce where I used to live.''


    The unnecessary questions in my mind disappeared as quickly as they came. My eyes widened, and then I quickly turned them to the marble of light.


    ''Really? I didn''t expect this... Where did you live before?''


    ''In a cave in the Neutral.''


    That made me both even more curious and frown at the same time.


    First of all... considering Lithoa died about thirty years ago, Neutral was a very scary, deadly ce back then. At least that''s what the historical records say.


    With this information... How powerful was Lithoa in his time? How powerful does it have to be to have lived in the Neutral... especially in the past?


    Could Lithoa be... a much more frightening being than I thought?


    With these thoughts, suddenly different things started to sprout in my mind.


    Lithoa is not mentioned even once in historical records. Is this because a frightening figure like him is hidden by the people who control these records?


    ''Lithoa... I''m just wondering, how strong were you before you died?''


    Lithoa''s figure suddenly paused very slightly, and then... I could have sworn he was grinning.


    ''I was stronger than you can imagine, brat, you wouldn''t understand even if I told you. So don''t question it too much, just know that in my time I had countless very important people after me and that I was capable of surpassing the limits of humanity.''


    I let out a deep sigh, as usual, he doesn''t exin anything properly...


    My eyes twitched a bit, but I didn''t say anything, there was nothing I could do.


    ''I see, are we going to Neutral then?''


    ''That''s right, we''re going to stop by my old house first. There are a few things I want you to pick up there. Of course, the journey can be a bit dangerous. In fact, the journey to my house alone will be quite a challenge for you. And after we''re done there... I don''t know how much the Neutral has changed, but there are a few things that I''m pretty sure remain unchanged. ordingly, I will give you some tasks and you willplete them. When you''vepleted them...''


    Lithoa was silent for a moment, then continued with a palpable excitement in his voice.


    ''You will be much stronger, you will have much more potential for your future. Just trust me and focus on surviving the journey.''


    When I saw that even the white-colored marble of life was flickering, I kept walking without taking my eyes off him.


    ''Okay...''


    In this way, with a thought that urred to me, I suddenly paused.


    I can go to the Neutral, yes, but... I don''t have a special license to go there, so I will have to pay arge sum of money for that.


    The four-month stipend I get from the Academy should cover that, right?


    It should cover it, in fact, I should have a lot of money left over... right?


    *******


    A circr area with a diameter of about two kilometers,pletely surrounded by the buildings of modern life, with maximum security measures...


    The area was green, the nts looked much more alive here. And even the air itself was much cleaner, purer, and more energized than usual.


    In the middle of this area, surrounded by a very thick metal alloy, and within it, a blue glow, the length of a skyscraper, a gateway could be seen.


    It was a beautiful sight, but I was annoyed by the price I was paying to see it.


    The four months of schrship and financial support that the Academy had paid me... It was the only way for me, who had no permission to go to the Neutral, to set foot here. If I hadn''t received the fourth month''s payment, the money wouldn''t have been enough.


    If I had a permit, I could go there for the cost of a ne ticket. Why does it have to be so expensive? Everyone knows it''s a dangerous ce, but...


    I stayed where I was while the officials checked my permit, which consisted of several different documents and cost me a lot of money, while I continued to watch the huge gate from the window of the building.


    Every minute, every second, someone was passing through. At the front of the gate, there were several lines for those who were moving forward, and on the other side, there was a simr system for thoseing from the other side.


    There wasn''t much congestion because the crossing was really huge. The queues flowed quickly and were constantly renewed. In addition, there was a constant surge, and the passage was majestic, really spectacr.


    "Your documents are ready."


    My eyes quickly turned to the employee through the ss that showed me the spectacr view. In front of me were a few documents and something small, the size of a coin, handed to me.


    The documents were the ones I would show to the guards as I stood in line for the gate, and the coin-sized thing was a small device with an encrypted rune that the gate would read so that it would know which gate in Neutral would take me to.


    "Please follow the signs to the gate area."


    I nodded and stepped out of the line, my eyes quickly scanning my surroundings. I looked for an indicator pointing to the gate area, and I found it.


    After following the sign for a while, I found the huge hall leading to the gate area. My documents were checked a few more times before I stepped out of the hall. In this way, when everything was ready, I was ushered into the parade line.


    As time passed and the line moved forward, I got closer and closer to the gate. However, I realized something else.


    I thought of the little gate that we had entered during the preliminaries. The strange feeling I had as I approached it... Here the feeling was much more real, much more aggressive. The extremely intense mana concentrated in the passage was spreading into the atmosphere, creating serious pressure in the area. Even though we were already in winter, the temperature seemed to have dropped below normal. It was also difficult to breathe.


    Still, it wasn''t something I couldn''t bear. On the contrary, I was quickly getting used to the sensation, which should have gotten heavier as I continued to move forward, but as I walked, it seemed to be less effective on me. In fact, after a short while, the feeling became rxing, some of the mana that permeated the atmosphere was being drawn to me.


    A smile formed on my face. The time until I reached the gate felt shorter than it should have been.


    In the end, with only twenty meters between me and the huge gate, the only thing separating me and the gate was a barrier and a device I wasn''t quite sure what it was for. The officials were also checking my documents for thest time, for real this time.


    Frankly, I didn''t care in the slightest. I couldn''t focus on anything else but the gate, the different shades of blue constantly ying on the surface, the ripples, and the way reality felt like it was breaking around the gate.


    It was amazing.


    "Your documents have been checked, please proceed when your name is called and the barrier turns green. Then proceed to the gate with the guidance device in your hand."


    After a while, the barrier turned green, and all the indicators on the device in front of me disyed a tick mark. My name appeared on the next indicator.


    I took a deep breath, gripped the coin-sized device tightly in my hand, and walked toward the portal. I passed through the device first, but nothing happened. The only thing I noticed was the drop in temperature.


    When I was directly in front of the gate, I swallowed. It looked majestic from a distance, but now... the glorious gate was now a bit scary.


    But I didn''t step back. First my hands, which I held out in front of me, slowly passed through the passage, then my right foot, and then my whole body.


    The cold I had just felt vanished in an instant. Neither hot nor cold sensation enveloped my whole body. I walked through a blue-colored space,pletely mesmerized by the sight.


    It was indeed a blue space, very... strange, yet beautiful. It was so beautiful that I didn''t even know what to think, so I just kept walking.


    Unfortunately, it was only when I took my seventh step that this image began to change. The temperature cooled down again, and then I saw what looked like an open door in front of me. I hesitated a bit, but I went through it anyway, so the first thing that hit me in the face was a sh of light.


    More precisely, moonlight.


    Not the sun, but moonlight. It was now nighttime in Neutral, which is quite a distance away from Cevilian.


    Still, the scene around me was not much different from the one on the side I had entered the gateway. The same style of buildings, guards, and barriers.


    Yet this was not Cevilian, not even the continent where Cevilian was.


    This was apletely different ce. It was the most dangerous continent in all of Lunerra, the onlynd that no one imed, thend that was Lunerra''s greatest economic resource.


    This was the Neutral. It was where I would face constant hardship for the next three months, perhaps even death, but where I would undoubtedly grow stronger.

 Chapter 187 Volume IV - 32: Inside the Bunker

    <h4>Chapter 187 Volume IV - Chapter 32: Inside the Bunker</h4>


    First, my body trembled violently. Then my eyes flew open. I jumped up from the hard, cold ground I was lying on.


    Unlike the bright light I had seen before I fainted, now I was in darkness, but with a faint, dim light that allowed me to see more or less around me.


    I was in a cube-shaped room, not very big, I guess. It looked a bit like an old ce.


    No, I was definitely in an old ce.


    I squinted for a moment, then looked at my clothes.


    They were the same, I was still wearing the same dirty and bloody clothes I had worn in the city. I couldn''t dwell on it, though, because just then the lights in the room suddenly switched on as wide as they would go, followed by the sound of the door opening.


    Dazzled, I quickly stepped back and looked in the direction of the sound, trying with my hands to block the light source that had suddenly descended into the room.


    There was someone, right in front of me. He was a little... small. In short, a dwarf.


    "You''re... awake, I guess...?"


    I waited for a moment at the strange words that came out of the other person''s mouth, and then I sighed in realization. He didn''t know much of the humannguage, or rather Lunar, one of the twonguages that humans use.


    "I know yournguage. You don''t have to force yourself."


    After these words in Khral, thenguage of the dwarves, my eyes finally adjusted to the light and I was able to better examine the figure in front of me.


    There was a dwarf before me with long, bushy, brown hair, an equally bushy beard, and brown eyes like his hair. He was dressed in what could be considered the daily attire of a dwarf. Yet it was dirty, just like the one I was wearing. It was covered in blood. Apart from that, there was a look of surprise on his face, which was quite obvious. I suppose it was natural for him to react this way when he saw me speaking hisnguage.


    Apart from that, there was another dwarf in the room, whose presence I barely noticed.


    This person looked familiar, even if I couldn''t remember him exactly.


    Hmm... Ha, ah! I remembered.


    That armored dwarf I met before I fainted. Except he''s not wearing his armor now...


    "Knowin'' our tongue''ll make our job easier. Still, for yourfort, let''s talk in Lunar."


    Ah... Of course, the way the dwarves speak... Right, it''s a bit rude from our point of view.


    It didn''t sound so strange in the game, but listening to it directly... It''s definitely strange. Whatever...


    "Sure, that''s fine with me."


    I focused on Dorhud''s appearance. He was blue-eyed, with long, bushy brown hair, just like the other dwarf. He also had a beard and it was long and bushy, just like his hair. He didn''t look very old, but considering the age and appearance of the dwarves... he was at least over forty. He was short and built like all dwarves.


    "I''m a go then... Gotta look after the other one too."


    The dwarf I had helped in the battle nodded to his friend, and then it was just the two of us in the room.


    I took a deep breath, leaned my back against the head of my bed, and looked into the dwarf''s eyes. He did the same. He was looking at me with hard, piercing eyes.


    "Let''s start with the easy stuff, human boy."


    Damn... I feel like I''m talking to a peasant from my old world.


    Should I convince him to speak in theirnguage?


    "I am Dorhud, Dorhud Gen''dai. I be a captain in the North Hr Army. And... who be ye?"


    Anyway, putting aside unnecessary things... I have no reason to hide myself. I''ll tell it like it is.


    "Aiden Tenebra, I''m eighteen and I came to Hr for a job. I was only going to stay in the city for two days and then I was going to leave, but then the attack happened... I tried to escape but I had to fight. And then, I saw you. I thought I could create an opportunity for both of us to escape if I could create a gap and... it seems to have worked, at least we''re alive. I''m not sure if there is any way for you to confirm the truth of the events during the war, but my name and papers should be in the republic''s system."


    The dwarf, or rather Dorhud, narrowed his eyes slightly and took a deep breath.


    "If we could''ve essed the system, we wouldn''t be havin'' this talk from the start."


    Huh? What do you mean, if we could''ve essed the ''system''?


    Although... Why am I in such a shabby ce in the first ce? Didn''t the dwarves have some seriously overdeveloped technology?


    "Even though ya lent us a hand durin'' the retreat, we couldn''t manage to escapepletely. Caleuche let out a partin'' shot aforendin'' down, blockin'' our path. That''s why we parted ways. We''re beneath the ground, in a bunker."


    His strange speech confuses me a lot... Still, if I understand correctly, we are not in a safe ce... it seems."


    "Are we in a safe ce?"


    "Sort of... depends on the situation. It hinges on whether they can find this ce."


    Ah...


    I gave myself to the hard wall, then my lips curled upward.


    Hahahah...


    This is my first time in this war, and things are already going wrong...? Am I stuck here at the very beginning of everything?


    I paused, took a deep breath, and focused.


    I''m starting to ramble too fast. I need to calm down.


    "Anyway, let''s stop this empty chattering. You aided me in battle, not only saving my life but also disying a mighty strength. From this point onward, it''s up to you what you''ll do. Even if we can''t escape from here anytime soon, when our food runs out, we''ll have to try something."


    "So you''re asking whether to fight or hide?"


    Dorhud simply nodded.


    "You know the ''system'' humans use, right?"


    Dorhud nodded, momentarily taken aback by my sudden question.


    Of course, he knew. How the different races used mana and how they were empowered by it was something he had been taught in childhood, if not an extreme secret.


    For example, other races don''t have the ''system'' that humans use. This ''guide'' that we control by thinking is something unique to us humans and also to human hybrids.


    The ''grade'' system of the other races also differs from one another. Especially dwarves... They are not a race that can do superhuman things only with their bodies because they cannot even feel mana properly, let alone use it freely.


    They use their own artifacts, technology, weapons equipped with runes, advanced robots, armor, and many other things in battle. In short, a dwarf''s fighting power depends entirely on what they have at their disposal. That''s why they use a system called threat level.


    "My general level is D-, although I can increase my raw strength to D+ with factors such as my ascension skill, which you saw in battle."


    Dorhud smiled slightly at my words.


    "So, what yer tellin'' me is that I''m not gonna hide, in fact, I''m all set to fight outright."


    I offered my smile back to the hulking dwarf.


    "Exactly."


    Dorhud put his hand firmly on my shoulder. His smile widened even wider.


    "I took a likin'' to ya. Still... we ain''t in the best of shape, we''re just four folks includin'' the doctor ya just saw. So, don''t let yer guard down."


    I nodded slightly and Dorhud turned to the door, satisfied.


    "Rest up till evenin'', then we''ll talk about what we''re gonna do along with the other two."


    With that, he left the room and I was all alone inside. A silence fell over the room and I couldn''t help feeling like I was in a vacuum.


    ''Sith, are you awake?''


    There was no sound for a while, but I felt a slight ripple inside me, inside my mana.


    ''Sith?''


    Sith appeared in front of me, emerging from my chest with a faint glow. His eyes were dazzling, he looked sleepy.


    ''What happened...? Ah, you''re awake.''


    ''Exactly, do you know exactly where we are?''


    He waited a moment, yawned slightly, and then put a hand to his chin.


    ''After helping that armored dwarf, he quickly grabbed you and ran away. Then that huge ship in the sky opened fire. Then... I don''t remember exactly. I think the dwarf carrying you got behind something. When things calmed down a bit, he started moving again. But I was so sleepy I couldn''t take it anymore, so I fell asleep. And now... here we are.''


    When Sith summarized what had happened, I let out a deep sigh, leaned back against the hard wall, and squinted my eyes slightly.


    ''I''m sorry Aiden, I... I feel so tired. I need to get some more sleep.


    ''No problem.''


    And with that, he took the form of a marble of light again and entered my chest. An ufortable, unsettling silence fell over the room again. So, I closed my eyes, and then started to think.


    I''m trapped in a bunker, in a situation where I''m not sure how I''m going to end up, and even if the enemy isn''t looking for us specifically, if they somehowe across us, we''re going to meet our end directly.


    We need to escape before that happens, or at least I do. If Caleuche opened fire before wended, it can''t be far away, so we''re right on the enemy''s doorstep.


    I squinted, thinking about the uncertain future made no difference. It only tired my mind.


    For now... I must rest, as Dorhud said.

 Chapter 188 Volume IV - 33: Two Days in Neutral

    <h4>Chapter 188 Volume IV - Chapter 33: Two Days in Neutral</h4>


    An unustomed hot breeze hit me in the face.


    It was strange, the fact that the wind was warm. Especially for someone who only a few days ago had experienced the winter cold.


    Still, it wasn''t impossible to get used to. In fact, I was already getting used to it. The only problem... was that I had to fight all the time in this heat.


    I twirled my spear, swinging it at a wide angle in front of me. A tiger, much bigger than it should have been, with ck patterns on it and drooling from its mouth, retreated in the face of my attack.


    I quickly reversed my spear, positioned my feet, stood firmly on the ground, and held the tip of my spear, gripped tightly with both hands, toward the tiger.


    The tiger roared as if it understood this as a challenge. There was anger in his voice, like I was doing something I shouldn''t have done as a ''prey''. Still, I didn''t care too much.


    I closed my eyes slightly, tightened my grip on my spear, and when I opened them again, there were only a few inches between me and the tiger''s ws. I could see the saliva in its mouth, the pieces of meat from the animals it had already eaten.


    My right foot, which was resting sideways behind my left foot, suddenly exerted an intense force. I applied as much force as I could to my spear and quickly spun around, then stepped aside. The tiger''s w pierced the air where I had been standing only seconds before. Of course, the tiger realized this, picked up speed, and tried to turn back to me.


    With the momentum I had gained by turning around and the force I had applied to the spear just before, my spear swung in an instant.


    Fast, hard, and brutal... the spear opened a huge gash in the tiger''s torso, but I didn''t stop. I avoided the ws aimed directly at my throat again, quickly spun the spear in my hand, and swung it again from the opposite angle. The gash in the tiger''s torso opened even wider with this attack.


    Again... I did not stop. I quickly drew my spear back and thrust it where the tiger''s heart should have been.


    The time, which felt like it had stopped, began to flow again. Blood poured like a waterfall from the slit I had made with my spear and spilled onto the ground, soiling my shoes. The tiger, whose heart had been pierced, suddenly copsed on the ground. Its eyes, still in shock, as if it hadn''t even realized what had happened, focused on me as it quickly lost its vitality.


    It had all happened so fast. A life had ended in mere seconds.


    I took a deep breath, drove my spear into the earth, and leaned against it. Breathless, I closed my eyes, just wanting to rest for a while. All the while, I thought about the time since I arrived here.


    I managed to get into Neutral. They made me sign a document about what would happen if I died. There were a few more checks and inspections. Then I was allowed to leave the center.


    And now, here I am... somewhere far away from the center.


    "What do you think you''re doing?


    Lithoa''s voice echoed in my mind, yet I didn''t answer him.


    ''No rest Adrian, you have to move forward. It''s only been two days since you left the center.''


    I opened my eyes and looked up at the sky, the sun was slowly setting. Soon it would be dark.


    ''You may have struggled a bit but that is nothing. Fight now while you can. The deeper we go, the more we will encounter creatures we cannot fight, and then you will have to run. So make the most of this time when you can fight.''


    "How far... how far do we have to go more or less?


    ''If you mean where I used to live... Hmm, it should be around six hundred to seven hundred kilometers. If nothing much has changed in the thirty years of my absence.''


    A slight grin appeared on my face.


    Six hundred and fifty kilometers on average...


    I picked up my watch, then looked at the map that had been uploaded to it with my permission from the center. The map was a bit iplete. I don''t know if they left it like that on purpose or if there were really ces that hadn''t been fully explored, but it wasn''t soplicated that I couldn''t find my way around.


    My eyes quickly shifted to the distance between me and the center.


    Only forty kilometers in two days... I wonder how far I would have gone if I had moved at a brisk pace without a fight. It''s a pipe dream with the number of creatures around and Lithoa telling me to fight, but... I''d be a lot closer to my main goal, wouldn''t I?


    Anyway, I''m overthinking it, it doesn''t matter how fast I progress as long as I manage to get there. I just have to go back to the academy in four months, that''s all. So I have plenty of time.


    Still... there''s a question in my mind that I can''t get rid of.


    ''How can you be sure that the ce where you live hasn''t already been looted by someone?''


    ''Because someone can''t find the entrance to it. Even if they do, they can''t get in, and even if they manage to get in, they''ll soon be dead.''


    Lithoa... did he used to live at the bottom of hell or something?


    ''Where does your belief that I will manage to get theree from in spite of all this?


    Lithoa waited for a while without answering.


    ''Are you hesitant? Is that what you mean?''


    I didn''t answer, a slight smile appeared on my face.


    I pulled my spear out of the earth, slung it over my back, took a deep breath, and looked up at the setting sun. It was only the second time I had seen it here, yet I felt like I was already used to it.


    Thinking that I had rested enough in the midst of all themotion, I set off again, looking for a safe ce to spend the night.


    I plunged into the forest with the countless corpses of creatures I had left lined up behind me.


    Hesitation? Of course not... If I believe that I cannot achieve something, then I cannot do it.


    I''ll believe in myself first, and then I''ll look to the future.


    Besides... I have no choice but to do it here. The moment I left the center, it was clear I wasn''ting back.


    So, no matter what obstacles stand in my way, I will go to where Lithoa used to live. I will grow stronger. I will continue to grow.


    On my way I saw another tiger, looking almost the same as the one before. It hadn''t noticed me.


    I gripped my spear tightly, and when I got close to the tiger I slowed down. Despite that, I didn''t even try to hide myself at all. I faced it directly.


    "Hey, look here."


    Suddenly the tiger turned to me, bared its sharp, bloody fangs, and slightly shifted into position.


    "Great."


    I pointed the tip of my spear at him, then smiled.


    I will do my best, for my goals.


    I will do whatever it takes to get revenge on the man who stole my life from me.


    Meanwhile, I will be the person I want to be, a good person who saves lives instead of taking them.


    No matter what happens, I will aplish these things.


    As if the tiger knew what I was thinking from the expression on my face, he suddenly growled, his eyes narrowed. It stretched as if it saw me as an annoying fly, then roared with all its might.


    Its voice echoed through the forests throughout this region of the Neutral, striking fear into the hearts of some creatures and attracting the attention of many others. As if the battle itself wasn''t going to be hard enough, my time was limited by the creatures that would be heading here.


    But I still kept a smile on my face. If anything, the challenge made me even more excited and fired up.


    When the tiger saw this, it finally stopped holding back. Then, in turn, it lunged at me. And so began my final battle for the day.

 Chapter 189 Volume IV - 34: Desperate Situation in the Bunker

    <h4>Chapter 189 Volume IV - Chapter 34: Desperate Situation in the Bunker</h4>


    My eyes, once again opened. It was because the door to my room had opened, but also because of the light that came into the room after that.


    Someone had entered my room again.


    I quickly sat up, wiped my dazzled eyes, and looked at my visitor. As I expected, it was Dorhud.


    "It''s been two hours, but... how''re ye feelin''?"


    "Fine, I can walk."


    I raised my hand and looked at my palm, opening and closing my fingers. Then swung my legs front and back. There didn''t seem to be anything wrong.


    "I''ve recovered enough, more than enough."


    With that, I tried to stand up and seeded.


    As soon as my foot made contact with the floor, my whole leg tingled. It was the downside of sleeping on a hard floor for too long, but it wasn''t much.


    I stretched like this, realizing that my body was indeed not in too bad shape. In fact, I was rtively fine.


    I turned to Dorhud and nodded to him, and then I noticed something else... Something that I hadn''t noticed much until now, lying in bed. There really is quite a height difference between me and him...


    I''ve grown a bit tallertely with all the things I''ve been doing, when I first found myself in this body I was one hundred and sixty-five centimeters. Now... I should be around one hundred and seventy-one centimeters, I think.


    Aside from my height, Dorhud... he barely reaches up to my chest, if at all.


    "Them other two in the bunker got themselves healed up well enough. That''s why I''vee to wake ye, and seein'' as ye''re awake, we can start discussin'' what we''re gonna do next."


    I tapped the tip of my foot lightly on the floor twice, the tingling had finally gone. I was feeling more better.


    "Got it, we can go."


    Dorhud nodded, then walked out of the room. With a deep sigh, I followed him, and for the first time I stepped out of my ''sick room''. What I saw was, frankly, exactly what I expected.


    Old, rotten walls and the warmth signaled that we were several meters below the ground.


    This ce is literally ancient, at least it feels like that. It''s probably a bunker that people used during the awakening eighty years ago and nobody has ever touched it again.


    Also, I don''t remember a ce like this in the game, so it''s new to me.


    "We ain''t gonna be walkin'' too far, right around the corner."


    When Dorhud saw that he was right behind me, he started moving through the old corridors. The further we went, the more I noticed the structure of the bunker, which looked like it was about to copse.


    Can a ce look like this just because it hasn''t been touched for eighty years? It''s... a bit strange. It feels like something in particr has worn it down.


    The corridor widened as we went along. Eventually, it led to arge door. It was half open and beyond it was the ''meeting room'' Dorhud had spoken of.


    Dorhud walked through the door without hesitation and the first thing that caught my eye was that this was not a ''meeting room'' at all.


    It was a warehouse, that much was clear. That''s exactly why this side of the bunker was sorge and sheltered.


    In the center of the warehouse, or the meeting room, there was something they used as a table. It was a shabby thing, but it looked sturdypared to the rest of the bunker.


    There were two people sitting around this table, facing each other. One of them was the dwarf I had seen when I first woke up, and the other was someone I never expected to see here.


    No, I didn''t recognize the woman in her twenties, I don''t know her. It was just... she was a hannya.


    With a single horn curving up from the right side of her forehead, jet-ck hair like mine and brown eyes tinged with red, she looked like a demonic being, even if she wasn''t.


    Add to that the fact that she can read emotions and feed on them, and the situation only gets moreplicated. No wonder people call the whole race the demons...


    "Dorhud, ye finally arrived!"


    The second dwarf sitting at the table put a big smile on his face.


    "Heh, I woke up thed."


    With that, both the dwarf and the hannya suddenly focused on me. I didn''t show any sign of backing away, though, and I sat down in thest avable seat while Dorhud took his own.


    It was the first time the four of us in this bunker would speak together, and Dorhud was the first to speak.


    "First off, let''s get to know each other again. I''m Dorhud, Dorhud Gen''dai."


    The second dwarf spoke immediately after him.


    "Hardil Dhur''a."


    Hannya looked briefly at the three of us, then sighed.


    "Ezareth Mansaar."


    So I was the only one who had not introduced myself.


    "Aiden Tenebra."


    That way everyone had introduced themselves. Dorhud spoke again without waiting for anyone, as if to show that he was the leader of the group. He turned to face Ezareth.


    "How much food do we got left?"


    Ezareth''s expression fell a little and she spoke fluently in the dwarves''nguage.


    "About two days. I have that much food in my ring."


    Oh? Ring?


    Dorhud folded his hands across his chest and grimaced.


    "If I only hadn''t lost my own in the war... We could''vested at least a week."


    As the two engaged in a short dialog, I focused more on the word ''ring''.


    Do these two have... dimensional inventory items? Dorhud is one thing, but I didn''t expect this from hannya... I guess I''m dealing with someone rich.


    "So we need to be movin'' within two days..."


    Ezareth, like Dorhud, was not happy with the situation.


    "Yes."


    Dorhud sighed deeply at the answer he got. He looked a little frustrated. No, all three of the three people in front of me were. They were a bit depressive, even.


    Who wouldn''t be? They had seen with their own eyes the destruction that Caleuche had caused, they had fled from it, they had been forced to enter this bunker, who knows how many meters underground, and now they were going to be short of food.


    Who could maintain perfectposure in such a situation?


    Well... except me, thanks to the Absolute Mind.


    "Is Caleuche still on the ground?"


    In response to my question, the focus of the trio suddenly shifted to me. Dorhud replied, maintaining an ugly expression on his face.


    "Aye, I ain''t expectin'' it''ll be takin'' off anytime soon."


    "Do we have any maps?"


    At my question, all three looked at each other, nobody did anything for a while, and then Dorhud stepped on the bracelet on his wrist. A huge holographic map suddenly appeared on the table.


    We were not far from the city, a kilometer or less.


    "Where is Caleuche?"


    Dorhud looked at the map briefly, then pointed to a spot on the map.


    A faint smile suddenly appeared on my face, while Ezareth and Haldir, who had been ignorant of this information until now, stared at the map with zed eyes.


    "Damn it."


    Haldir cursed his luck and Ezareth uttered a few curses in Demanil, thenguage of the hannyas. Dorhud sighed expressionlessly because he knew this would happen. That''s why he had kept it hidden until thest moment.


    As for me, I felt as if I had fallen into despair for the second time since I woke up here.


    There were only six hundred meters between us and Caleuche.


    The moment we stepped outside, we would be picked up on his radar, and when that happened, escape was next to impossible.


    *******


    "ra..."


    I kept looking where I was focused as I gently twirled the pencil with the top between my lips, there was a question in front of me. Yet I wasn''t reading the question, I was thinking about something.


    "ra, are you there?"


    "Huh? Ah, yes. I got distracted for a moment. Sorry..."


    Paul raised his eyebrows and squinted slightly, fixing his yellowish-brown eyes on me.


    "Are you sure? Did something happen, you never used to be this absent-minded."


    "I just didn''t sleep muchst night, that''s all. Nothing extreme."


    I don''t feel like telling him what I saw... The me that burned my heart, the brilliant glow that triggered the me, the gray sphere covered with cracks in that nothingness...


    Everything is like a dream... like I''m imagining it, but I know. Those things weren''t a dream, they were real. That''s why they confuse me, especially my real brother.


    He''s probably responsible for my memory loss, for the death of our family, and for everything in my past.


    We weren''t a normal family, I''ve epted that. Even though it was hard... I did.


    But I''m still preupied with it all the time. I don''t understand, because I can''t remember a single scene from those times... I get confused, it feels like they''re not real.


    I stopped twirling the pen over my lip and leaned back with a deep sigh. Paul folded his hands across his chest and sighed.


    "I told you to go to bed early."


    "Shut up."


    "You know I''m telling the truth. You always tell me to shut up when I say something true."


    I clicked my tongue.


    "That''s enough for tonight... We''ve already finished the project homework. I want to go home and sleep."


    Paul didn''t look satisfied, his yellowish eyes full of doubt. After a short while, though, he managed a slight smile.


    "Sure, whatever you want."


    I stood up, picked up my bag, and threw it on my back. Paul was simrly ready. We were going in different directions as he was staying in a dorm room. So, he smiled onest time and then spoke.


    "Shall we meet again tomorrow?"


    "For what?"


    "I''m bored, to be honest. I don''t really have any friends other than you. You are somehow popr again, so there are a lot of people who approach you, but..."


    "Except for some, almost all of them are just smiling, I don''t even consider them friends. Poprity is not as beautiful as you think."


    Paul paused for a moment.


    "I wasn''t talking about that, but... okay. Basically, I''d like to make use of tomorrow as it''s the weekend."


    "Got it."


    I thought about it briefly, it was actually a good idea.


    "Sure, we can meet. Now... I really want to go home and sleep, we''ll talk tomorrow."


    "Okay, bye."


    "Bye."

 Chapter 190 Volume IV - 35: Flawed Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 190 Volume IV - Chapter 35: wed Awakening</h4>


    I quickly headed for the other exit of the library and Paul headed in the opposite direction. He turned around and waved to me before turning the corner, then we parted ways.


    As I always do, after leaving school, I only walked half an hour and reached home.


    It was an ordinary day, except that I was really tired... both physically and mentally. So, as soon as I changed my clothes, I went to bed. My mind went back to what I had seen before I woke up this morning, and my eye twitched for a moment.


    "I don''t understand..."


    I raised my hand and held it up to the light, looking at the rays of themp''s light shining through my fingers.


    The more I try to figure things out, the more meaningless things emerge... The more I try to let things go, the more things insert themselves into my life.


    I took a deep breath, lowered my hand and closed my eyes, turning off the light in the room.


    I really need to sleep... At least let me sleep properly today.


    Seconds passed, minutes, without moving a bit and without making a sound. Finally, my eyes slowly opened, once again... and I sighed, looking at the ceiling in the dark room.


    I went to the kitchen, poured cold water from the fridge over my head. Then I sat in the chair in front of the table and waited again.


    I can''t sleep... I just can''t.


    I put my hands under my eyes, they were slightly puffy. So I opened my watch and looked at myself in the camera app.


    My eyes were red, the swelling I had just felt under my eyes was even more visible on the camera. The image made me realize how little sleep I had gotten in thest few days.


    I turned off the camera and focused on the silence in the room, I tried to think but I wasn''t sure what to think about.


    Well... what do I know that I can even think about, in the beginning...


    With this thought, everything suddenly seemed meaningless.


    What am I doing? I''m not looking at my watch or anything... I''m just waiting in silence.


    Why is that?


    If I talk to my brother, will he give me some advice?


    Oh, he was away somewhere... right. And he told me not to text him for two weeks. So, I can''t do something like that.


    Still... I hope he''s okay.


    I leaned back in the chair, closed my eyes again. I tried to concentrate, tried to focus on the tiredness that was over me.


    I feel so tired... then why can''t I sleep?


    I opened my eyes again, and this time I didn''t just stand there or get up.


    Instead, when I opened my eyes, what I saw made my eyes widen and I froze in ce.


    There was something blue in front of me. Something I was used to seeing, but different from anything I had ever seen.


    <<------------------------------


    The mana in your body is awakening!


    ------------------------------>>


    What the hell is this?


    Is this... what they call system? B- but I''m not seventeen yet... W- what''s going on?


    I jumped up quickly, reaching for this strange notification in front of me, but my hand went right through it. Yet the holographic screen and the message on it remained intact, not even slightly changed when I withdrew my hand.


    As if it had been waiting for this moment, the notification suddenly disappeared, and then another one appeared in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    Your awakening has been interrupted for an unknown reason!


    ------------------------------>>


    What...?


    <<------------------------------


    Your awakening has been interrupted for an unknown reason!


    ------------------------------>>


    First my vision blurred slightly, then my world spun wildly. I felt something strange swirling inside me, something slowly spreading through my whole body... Then I heard voices, as if... thousands of different notifications were surrounding me all at once.


    <<------------------------------


    Your awakening has been interrupted for an unknown reason!


    Your awakening has been interrupted for an unknown reason!


    Your awakening has been interrupted for an unknown reason!


    ------------------------------>>


    More blue-colored system notifications kepting out, more than I could count, and I covered my ears. The sounds were loud enough to make my ears ring, maybe even burst my eardrums. It was also frightening, my head was spinning like crazy and I could feel the heating from my nose.


    Yet in the midst of all this chaos, all this meaninglessness, suddenly something else caught my attention.


    A sound, a sound different from the sound of hundreds of notifications popping up. A... cracking, breaking sound.


    Then another and another and another.


    When I opened my eyes, I found myself not in my room, but in the nothingness where I had beenst time in my dream... in front of the gray sphere with cracks all over it.


    The cracks on it had widened and spread. On top of that, the darkness visible through the cracks... was now more pronounced, more frightening.


    I reflexively put my hand on the sphere, just likest time, but this time something different happened. I felt something being pulled out of my body, something I had felt before in the atmosphere, in my surroundings, but could never use...


    Mana.


    My mana flowed from my body into the sphere, some of the runes that surrounded it with dark cracks faded. They vanished into thin air, though not all of it was gone. Only about a quarter of it was erased. Nevertheless, the cracks on the sphere trembled. It was as if the sphere was trying to contain the darkness it hid behind it.


    Yet, it failed.


    As some of the writing supporting the cracks disappeared, darkness began to seep through them. Like smoke, like fog, it covered the whole ce.


    And then a notification appeared in front of me again.


    <<------------------------------


    Your awakening continues!


    ------------------------------>>


    The notifications did not stop here.


    <<------------------------------


    You have been identified as having a special condition.


    Analyzing the situation... 11%...39%...67%...98%...100%


    Analysispleted.


    The situation has been assessed.


    Awakening cannot be performed.


    ------------------------------>>


    The darkness that was seeping through the cracks at the time this notification came out suddenly paused, stopped spreading and suddenly surrounded my whole body.


    I stepped back in fear, trying to escape the intense darkness, but I couldn''t. The darkness entered my body, literally absorbed by it.


    At the same time, an intense pain suddenly enveloped my whole body, I could not make any sound as my vocal cords refused to work because of the pain. My vision wentpletely ck, and then my world went silent.


    Still, I did not find peace. It hurt, I felt like I was melting as if the blood was being removed from my body and reced with new one. The me that burned in my heart was always there. It never stopped.


    I woke up, I suffered, I fainted.


    I woke up, I suffered, I fainted.


    Again and again, without stopping.


    I scraped my fingernails on the floor, I struggled, but nothing worked. My screams echoed inside myself, I couldn''t see anything because of the tears in my eyes.


    Minutes passed, maybe hours. I tried to crawl toward the bathroom, hoping that going under the water would ease the pain a little. Just then the pain began to recede slowly, not as suddenly as it hade... Slowly, as if trying to leave a mark on me.


    I paused, finally able to focus my thoughts on something other than the pain.


    The first thing that crossed my mind was something simple.


    Why?


    My whole body trembled violently, the pain continued to diminish slowly, but it was still so intense that I couldn''t stop struggling.


    Why is this happening?


    I banged my head on the floor, trying to pass out so I wouldn''t wake up.


    It too didn''t work.


    I did everything I could to faint, I even bit my tongue, but nothing was working.


    Stop it already...


    After a while, the pain finally subsided to a level I could bear. Still, I didn''t get up, I just closed my eyes, which had dried up, but I didn''t lose consciousness, and another series of notifications fell in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You have sessfullypleted your awakening.


    You can now see your status window and start exceeding your limits.


    With the help of the system, you can now sign Mana Contracts with other people.


    Your mind has been connected to the rune dimension of the system, now you can freely use your skills and mastery.


    ------------------------------>>


    Notifications did not stop.


    <<------------------------------


    Based on your life experiences, your way of thinking, your experiences and your personality, you have obtained a suitable active skill, [Memory Travel(A-)].


    Thanks to the unexpected situation that urred during your awakening, you received a passive skill, [irvoyance(A)].


    Xaevirea''s Blood has awakened.


    ------------------------------>>


    A few more notifications shed in front of my eyes, but I couldn''t make out what they were, they said something about statistics.


    My vision quickly darkened. Then the connection between me and the world was really lost this time.

 Chapter 191 Volume IV - 36: Discussion in the Warehouse

    <h4>Chapter 191 Volume IV - Chapter 36: Discussion in the Warehouse</h4>


    I looked again at the map of the surface.


    With the size of Caleuche, they could really see us in an instant. No matter how I look at it, it seems impossible to get out of here.


    I twitched slightly, then took a deep breath and sighed.


    No, no, no. I can''t give up, this is not what I came here for. I will get out no matter what, even if I''m the only one to get out of here.


    I will not die here.


    "You were too positive for a situation like this Dorhud, do you have a n?"


    Ezareth and Hardil turned to Dorhud at the same time as I said this, though the darkness on their faces was still there.


    "More like a hope than a n, I''d say."


    The map on the table disappeared, Dorhud sighed deeply and fixed his determined eyes on the three of us.


    "There''s a path inside the bunker. I don''t know where it leads but it seems to go toward the other side of this mountain we''re in right now. Maybe it''s connected to another exit, I''m not sure, but that''s the only chance. I''m betting all on it."


    Dorhud narrowed his eyes, looking for once too serious. He always exuded a positive air around him, but now it was different. He was determined, in the best way I could describe it.


    "Surviving that battle itself is a miracle, we''re lucky we didn''t die when Caleucheunched its final attack. Now, even managin'' to gather in this hideout is a stroke of luck. So, you better put yourselves into this with everything you got."


    He was basically saying that... We are already dead, we were lucky to be alive at all, so we had to try everything at our disposal. Waiting here was no different from being dead.


    And he was right, with so little distance between us and Caleuche and with the citypletely in the hands of the Southerners, escape was impossible.


    I narrowed my eyes and looked briefly at each of the three. No one spoke during this brief moment, for what Dorhud had said was not a simple thing.


    "How strong are you?"


    These were the words that finally came out of my mouth.


    The trio slowly turned to me, and I leaned back and crossed my arms.


    "We need to know each other''s abilities, even if it''s cursory. There are only four of us and if we don''t take advantage of it, it will only be a disadvantage for each of us. We don''t know what''s deep inside the bunker, anything can happen at the bottom of a ce that has been in this state for probably eighty years or more. So, we have to be prepared."


    I started with myself.


    "ording to the system my race uses, I am D- grade, but I can push myself to D+. I can use wind and me elemental, with wind magic being stronger."


    That''s all I''m going to talk about, I''m not going to reveal anything more.


    I''ll keep my immunity to mental effects, my Ice Thorns ability, and Mana Barrier for now. We may be stuck here together but... I won''t trust anyone too much. I won''t make a mistake like that. Neither will they.


    In the brief pause before the next person, Dorhud, spoke, my eyes shifted to the hannya, Ezareth. More specifically, her horn and her facial expression.


    Hannyas are beings that can sense emotions, and even feed on them, thanks to their horns. So, she has to be in control of most of the things that happen in the environment. Who is tense, who is calm, who is guessing, who is hiding something, and much more¡­


    I have to be careful, especially around her. I must not act recklessly myself. Even though the Absolute Mind will prevent her to a great extent, I must control my emotions.


    "Lost my ring so I ain''t got much with me, like I lost my sword but my armor''s with me. Of course, it''s a bit banged up. Can''t fight at my full potential, but I''m still in good shape, near the third level."


    The power system of the dwarves is based on this ''threat level''. It is slightly different from the ssification system ''the system'' offers to humans.


    They started to use the threat level they used for enemies for themselves as they developed their technology and became stronger. So the ''level'' of strength they are at is constantly changing ording to the artifacts, runes, and weapons they have on them.


    If I remember correctly... the third level is something between C and B grades. If he can fight ''close'' to that, he can fight at the strength of a C grade.


    His armor is really badly damaged but not too bad.


    "I- I was just a doctor..."


    My face fell a little at Hardil''s words. Because if he didn''t know how to fight, he would clearly get in the way.


    Still, if he''s a doctor, he might be useful to us, maybe, there''s a small chance... I''m not sure.


    With that, all eyes turned to Ezareth. Hannya looked thoughtful, her eyes narrowed and her arms folded across her chest.


    "My stigmas are on stealth. I have two of them."


    Two stigmas... well, that was exactly the answer I was expecting.


    To cast spells, the hannyas channel the mana in their bodies into tattoo-like stigmas they create on their own bodies. The stigmas work like runes, except that they are a little different, even though they work in much the same way.


    Marks work faster and more urately than runes. They are also more limited in what they do than runes, which can be constantly modified. So a track cannot be changed again, but they are definitely more powerful and more functional than runes. They''re also more efficient and more... weird.


    Marks are more limited than runes, yes, but some of them can be much moreplex and effective than runes. In fact, most of them are... That''s why they are good tools for using magic.


    And then there are the types of them... Howplex, powerful, and functional the stigma is depends on which type it belongs to. It''s like grades in our system, so they are also important.


    Oh, also... no one can use these ''marks'' except the hannyas. Because the stigmas work with a certain flow of mana, and this flow of mana is something that only the hannyas have, so this ''mark'' technique is exclusive to their race.


    "The first one hides my mana and allows me to be camouged, the darker the better."


    She didn''t say the type of stigma, and for a stigma to be so singr, it would have to belong to one of the very low-level types. She doesn''t fully trust us, just like me.


    "The second is a conditional one. It gives me a general increase in power as long as I''m hiding, shedding blood, that sort of thing."


    Again, it''s all very vague... but I understood the basics.


    So basically we have an assassin who can turn invisible, a near B grade dwarf whose main thing is damaged armor, and another dwarf who is useless for anything other than being a doctor...


    Great, exactly what I need to get out of here, really!


    "Our food wouldst for two more days, wouldn''t it?"


    Ezareth nodded and I sighed deeply.


    "Then I suggest we go deeper into the bunker right now."


    Hardil suddenly trembled at this.


    "B- but... you ain''t fully h- healed... yet..."


    "We can''t let every second go by just because we haven''t recovered fully. We must move fast."


    Dorhud nodded at my suggestion, then continued to support me.


    "I''m thinkin'' the same. We¡­ ain''t have time to kill."


    I turned to Ezareth, who squinted and made eye contact with me for a very short time without saying anything. Her horn seemed a little more prominent than before. There was no difference, but... it certainly stood out more.


    She was reading, literally feeling emotions... the ones in the air, whose sources are us...


    I transferred mana to the Absolute Mind, suppressed my emotions, and looked at her coldly.


    Ezareth raised her eyebrows in surprise for a moment, then her eyes widened as if she was confronted with something she had never seen in her life.


    This was short-lived, though, and soon after she nodded her head as if to indicate her approval.


    So, it was decided, we would soon proceed to the unknown depths of the bunker.

 Chapter 192 Volume IV - 37: Depths of the Bunker

    <h4>Chapter 192 Volume IV - Chapter 37: Depths of the Bunker</h4>


    "Be everyone ready?"


    Dorhud, as the leader of our group, looked briefly at the three of us in front of therge door leading deeper into the bunker.


    We were all ready. My ck obsidian sword was in the dimensional button in my pocket and I could unleash it at any moment. My mana reserves were full and I was mostly healed.


    Ezareth, too, was more alert than ever. Her weapons were presumably inside her dimensional ring, waiting to materialize in this world. She was wearing normal clothes until now, but now she was in a set of light armor.


    Hardil¡­ Well, he had no armor or weapon. So he only had a simple, straight dagger that Ezareth had given him.


    "Then let''s go."


    Dorhud took a deep breath, ced his hand on the great door, and pushed it gently. The door not only lifted the dust from the floor but also crumbled slightly, revealing the darkness behind it as it opened wide.


    There were stairs leading downward, and no light sources were visible ahead of us. It was pitch ck, in short.


    "I''ll be goin'' ahead. Follow behind me in the order of Aiden, Hardil, and Ezareth."


    Hardil was the weakest, so he put him in the middle.


    Wait, doesn''t that mean he thinks I''m weak, too? Although... Ezareth is definitely stronger than me, I guess.


    I''m just a little upset...


    "Let''s go."


    With that, we started moving forward with our own light source in the order Dorhud had told us to. My watch and Dorhud''s bracelet were two perfectly adequate light sources.


    As we moved into the pitch ckness, I focused on my surroundings, especially the smells and sounds.


    The staircase seemed to crumble with each step we took, the years had not been kind to this ce. This became more and more evident as we moved forward. Likewise, there was a strange smell in the air, a smell that grew stronger as we descended, a smell I couldn''t quite identify...


    Ah, isn''t this... rust?


    "It smells of rust."


    If the group did not stop walking at my words, they were lost in thought for a moment.


    "The end of the stairs is in sight, we''ll learn soon."


    I squinted at Dorhud''s words and looked into the darkness.


    Indeed, the stairs led to a room ahead.


    "Get yerselves ready."


    Hardil trembled and clutched a dagger Ezareth had given him, his eyes darting back and forth. Ezareth was focused in front with a short sword in her right hand and a dagger in her left, her horned figure in the darkness looking a little... hostile, but nothing to be done.


    I, on the other hand, had drawn my ck sword and was right behind Dorhud, gripping the hilt with both hands.


    That''s how we finally entered the room, so the first thing we noticed was why the stairs smelled of rust.


    "A- are these... iron?"


    Hardil was visibly extremely tense, easily visible.


    "Yes, a lot of iron at that... all rusted to the roots..."


    They looked like the rebar collected in front of construction sites in my old world, except that the whole room seemed to be full of it. And as I said, they were all rusted to the point that there was not a pinhole in them.


    "This is not normal."


    Ezareth''s voice was calm, yet she too was hesitant. With the two weapons in her hands, she was ready for anything.


    "Exactly, it''s impossible for the iron to rust that much in a ce like this, even after eighty years. Especially in this room, whose door was closed before we arrived-"


    "Humidity and oxygen..."


    Hardil''s eyes sparkled.


    "This connects to the outside!"


    Our eyes all turned to what appeared at the end of the room, a door. An open door, to be more precise.


    It was impossible to notice it unless one paid particr attention to it, yet there was a breeze filling the room... And the air was a little stifling, I only just noticed it, but the room was indeed damp.


    I turned my eyes to Dorhud, and the dwarf''s face, despite this information, was not very pleasant. In fact, his normally positive demeanor waspletely absent this time.


    "Let''s continue."


    With that, our group made our way through the rebars in the room to the open door on the other side, where we found something different from the first room.


    The room waspletely empty, there was not a single thing inside and it was quite big. Nevertheless, when we shone the light, we could see another door about twenty meters away, this time closed. And it didn''t look like a door that would open easily, that had weakened with the passage of time.


    But that was not the important thing. What was noticeable was that there were some easily visible holes in the walls, especially where the breeze came from, and they were right next to the door across the room. And they were big enough for us to pass through. They looked like holes that had been forced open from the other side of the room... as if something had ripped them open.


    Even if we couldn''t really see it in the pitch darkness... The door and wall might have been the strongest thing in this whole bunker. So... whatever made these holes was definitely not a nice thing.


    "Sealed, it seems."


    I nodded when Dorhud made his firstment.


    "That door wasn''t meant to be opened, but those holes... a bit suspicious."


    These two short sentences between us caused Hardil to start shaking like crazy again.


    "W- what do we do?"


    "We will go into the room."


    Ezareth''s cursory answer brought a smile to the dwarf doctor''s face. Not a smile of joy, but a smile of... pain.


    "W- what if there be somethin'' inside?"


    "If it is an enemy... we simply kill it, eighty years ago none of the humans could fight creatures. So they ran away even from simple creatures. I mean, I don''t think there''s a chance that there''s something extremely dangerous and powerful behind the door. In fact, if there is something there, it''s probably dead. If there was something really powerful, that door wouldn''t be like this."


    Dorhud nodded his head in agreement, but he still had the same serious expression on his face. With that, he took a step towards- the door.


    "Then let''s-"


    ~crunch!


    The room was suddenly deathly silent. Everyone looked at the ground beneath Dorhud''s feet at the same time. Everyone could see the femur, split in two, lying there.


    Hardil''s eyes widened as Dorhud and Ezareth remained expressionless.


    "A human bone-"


    But he couldn''t finish his sentence... because an unexpected scream suddenly echoed through the room, interrupting him.


    "AAAAARRRRRGGHHHH!"


    Hardil''s ear-splitting scream caused everyone to instantly assume battle stances. Ezareth had taken a stance so abruptly and professionally, without any deficit, that I was surprised.


    But what really caught my eye was the change in Dorhud.


    Dorhud''s clothes rippled the moment Hardil''s scream began, and the metal bumps that had appeared out of nowhere all over his body moved as if they were a liquid substance, forming an armor. I wanted to look at the armor as it quickly detailed, but I didn''t have time for that. No one did¡­


    "I SAW IT! I SAW IT! I SAW A GLINTIN'' RED THING IN ONE O'' THEM HOLES BY THE DOOR!"


    "Quiet, Hardil!"


    Dorhud''s overwhelming voice made Hardil fall silent at once. Yet he did not seem angry with him, his eyes and focus werepletely on the sealed door.


    Hardil continued to mutter even though he lowered his voice.


    "There is somethin'' there! I swear I saw it...!"


    I swallowed involuntarily, simply turning my eyes to the holes near the door.


    Unlike the weak dwarf, no matter how hard I looked, I couldn''t see anything there, the darkness had already obscured my vision to a great extent.


    And that''s why I turned around to look at Hardil and Ezareth, just out of curiosity.


    Then... the deep, deathly silence that enveloped the room suddenly hit me more clearly than ever. I stiffened as if the darkness was closing in on me, my blood literally froze.


    There was something in the pitch ck. Something standing right behind us, right behind Hardil, only a small part of it visible, the source of the deathly silence and the blood-curdling air in the room.


    Two pairs of red eyes that literally piercing the darkness... and a big smile filled from ear to ear with irregr, yellow-colored fangs.

 Chapter 193 Volume IV - 38: The Smiling Creature

    <h4>Chapter 193 Volume IV - Chapter 38: The Smiling Creature</h4>


    I wanted to open my mouth but realized I had no time to do so. Absolute Mind kicked in as fast as it could, and my sense of fear disappeared in an instant. I channeled mana into my obsidian sword, mes surrounded it and I swung it swiftly behind Hardil.


    "Hrrgghaar!"


    The yellow fangs that seemed to be smiling suddenly opened, apanied by a snarl, and the creature moved, dodging the mes, but it did not stop there.


    Even though enveloped in mes, it caught the sword I swung at it with its countless fangs and tried to break it.


    I realized that the sword in my hand was trembling and tried to pull it back, but the creature''s jaws were too strong.


    Just then I saw something darting out of my side, something small and shimmering with the glow of the me from my sword.


    Dorhud swung his armor-d fist right into the creature''s face. The creature had to retreat before it could break my sword, or at least take it from me. The mes didn''t seem to have done him much harm, and more importantly, it was precisely because of the mes that we could now see its whole body.


    It was a slender creature with two long, really long legs that looked as if they had two knees. His arms were long too, and he seemed to have two elbows, just like his legs. It also had ws that were disproportionatelyrge in proportion to its body, long and extremely sharp. Its face resembled an ugly person, and its whole body was dark. The smile was still on its face as if it was mocking us.


    As someone who hadpleted one hundred percent of the game, I knew this creature, of course.


    "That thing is an umbanth!"


    I couldn''t say anything more than that, because Dorhud rushed at the creature, and without even a moment''s hesitation, he started swinging his clenched fists at it.


    The creature quickly avoided the punches, even avoided Dorhud himself. It dodged past him. Its long, jointed legs and arms seeming to be able to move as it pleased. And so it did.


    So, the umbanth ended up in front of Ezareth in an instant.


    I only saw out of the corner of my eye, so I didn''t understand what was happening, but as I was looking at them, something strange and dark suddenly enveloped Ezareth''s body. It was like she was in the shadows. Her whole body disappeared in an instant as if she had vanished into thin air.


    Her first stigma ability, camouge, was even more effective than I thought it would be. Of course, I had to learn it the hard way, because the creature had chosen me as its new target after losing sight of Ezareth.


    I quickly raised my hand, formed a big circle of me, and attacked the creature with it.


    When umbanth saw the oing attack, it put on an expression of annoyance and stepped aside. The circle of me had left a burn stigma on the wall just behind it.


    "Use every light source at your disposal!"


    The umbanth is not a creature about which much is known. It is a very rare species, so I am the most knowledgeable person around.


    The more light we have around, the easier it is to fight.


    The creature retreated with a snarl, the smile on its face reced by an angry expression. Its eyes were on me, it had seen that I could use magic, especially of the me attribute, and since this was its weakness, it had to get rid of me first.


    Dorhud realized this and appeared in front of me, small in stature but trustworthy more than enough.


    I quickly scanned the room for a brief moment so that I could see the hannya who had just used her stigma to hide. She wasn''t hiding now. She was standing in front of Hardil.


    She nodded as if she understood what I meant by the brief nce I gave her, and I wasted no time in turning around.


    "The two of us will hold him off, Ezareth will hide and attack it."


    Dorhud couldn''t give me a nod, because the creature rushed at us. With its limbs with extra points of artiction, it had a lot of room to move.


    Dorhud quickly took up a defensive position to protect himself, but also me. I quickly formed a circle of me and lifted it up so that everything in the room was in full view, every movement of the creature was visible to us.


    Dorhud caught the creature''s w in mid-air and twisted it hard, the creature let out a cry of pain and at that moment I swung my sword, filled with my mana, at the limb Dorhud had grabbed.


    The creature opened its ugly mouth as wide as it could, filled with countless teeth, and tried to bite Dorhud. Knowing that he could not dodge it where he stood, Dorhud had to let go of the creature''s arm and the umbanth quickly retreated before my sword could reach it.


    The pupils of its red eyes, the vertical lines of anger in them, were even smaller than they had been a moment before, and its huge mouth, which had been smiling at first, was now shriveled up and drooling.


    I immediately checked on Ezareth in that brief moment. She was no longer in front of Hardil. She had left Hardil alone, trembling where he was, unable to move, looking scared shitless.


    Frankly, I didn''t give a damn. I just wanted to see Ezareth hiding in the shadows again, and I''ve seen it.


    "We will be bait."


    Dorhud nodded, and then we both took a short breath and lunged at the creature at the same time.


    Not expecting us to attack, umbanth was surprised for a moment, but responded quickly. It avoided Dorhud''s hard, crushing fist and parried my sword with its w. Yet neither Dorhud nor I stopped, we both turned back to it at the same time, and Dorhud, with his tremendous reflexes, managed to grab the umbanth by the shoulder and pin him to the ground.


    I quickly brought my sword down on the creature''s chest, aiming to stop it from moving. With that, a heavy darkness suddenly fell over the area.


    Right next to my sword, above the creature, a shadow appeared out of nowhere. The shroud of darkness around Ezareth''s body slowly disappeared as her daggers were aimed directly at the creature''s neck.


    She and the creature looked into each other''s eyes. One with fear, the other with determination.


    It was an excellent opportunity. In fact, the best opportunity we could have had. Umbanth had underestimated us, that''s why it was in this situation.


    But... we had underestimated it too. Our struggle was far from enough to defeat it enough to allow it to escape, let alone kill it.


    The creature twisted its neck at such an angle, as if there were a few extra joints even there, that it managed to hold Ezareth''s dagger aloft with its fangs. At the same time, it twisted its right foot in the same way, kicking my sword and causing me to fall backward.


    Then it twisted its whole body again, and as if it didn''t have a bone in its body, it slipped out of Dorhud''s grasp and flew in the opposite direction.


    "It''s runnin-"


    I was interrupted, my eyes widened and what I was about to say was erased from my mind.


    The creature was not running away. No, it had a target.


    "Watch out!"


    Dorhud''s voice echoed in the room as I tried to run toward Hardil, even though I was on the ground, as we were facing the worst possible scenario.


    That creature must not consume ''human'' blood under any circumstances. I will not allow it!


    Hardil just stared at the creature with shrunken pupils and pants that he had obviously wet himself. I saw his lips quiver and curl upward a little, as if this was all a joke.


    Then the creature suddenly appeared in front of him. For a moment time stopped, for both of us. Then I saw a mouth with countless fangs open in a way that no living creature could ever open, and then I saw the same mouthpletely epass Hardil''s head in its entirety.


    I paused as I saw the creature swallow and a lump descends down its throat.


    I smiled, then clenched my fist with difficulty and sighed heavily. Because the worst possible scenario... had now turned into the deadliest possible scenario.


    "Fuck."

 Chapter 194 Volume IV - 39: Horror in the Darkness

    <h4>Chapter 194 Volume IV - Chapter 39: Horror in the Darkness</h4>


    Hardil''s headless body fell to the ground. As the blood from his neck watered the ground, Dorhud, Ezareth and I stared in desperation at the creature responsible for his death.


    The creature, the umbanth, trembled as it swallowed Hardil''s head whole. Its whole body shook as if it were having a seizure and I gritted my teeth. We didn''t have even a second to waste.


    "Attack at the same time!"


    I gripped my sword tightly, sent a simple thought to Sith, and then Spiritual Ascension activated. I swung my sword at the creature, filling it with the mana I had ess to as a natural, asymmetrical crown appeared above my head, neither toorge nor too small, seemingly made of tree branches.


    Ezareth''s eyes suddenly turned red, just like the creature''s, and a strange energy of the same red color enveloped her body and then her dagger. A faint glow appeared under the clothing of her left arm, revealing that her stigma was there. She lunged at the creature as I did.


    Dorhud pulled back some of his armor, which could move as if it were liquid, and directed it at his arm, a strange energy wrapped around his fist as he joined Ezareth and me.


    The creature turned its left arm and swung its w at a wide angle at all three of us at once. In that small moment, I saw, if only for a moment, the red glow in its eyes increase, its vertical pupils, like those of a wild animal, almost obscured by the re, its ear-to-ear smile, with its crooked and pointed teeth, returning.


    The air around him was much more deadly. Because umbanths were creatures who, when they drank blood, not only healed their wounds but grew stronger. And if this was a humanoid race, human, dwarf, elf, or any other one of them... it was a blessing for them.


    That''s why the situation was dire and we had to kill it immediately. Unless we killed it, the chances of getting out of here alive were close to zero. We had to stop it before it fully digested the blood, before it became fully powerful.


    So, as the creature''s w reached Ezareth and was approaching Dorhud, I realized that Spiritual Ascension would not be enough. Then, knowing I had no other choice, I focused.


    I touched the desire that was always burning inside me, the greed, one of the seven favorite foods of the caora.


    Then I begged, I asked the caora to give me strength in return for the feast I offered him, sincerely indeed. I had no intention of dying here.


    The vision in my left eye suddenly turned purple, and I felt something strange, something warm rising up inside me. The purple energy, representing chaos, surrounded me. Caora granted my wish, epting the feast I offered it.


    The creature''s w had already knocked Ezareth back and was nowing to slice Dorhud''s chest.


    I threw myself in front of it in the slowing world and tried to block the attack with my sword.


    The creature, unaffected by my speed, caught my sword in its w and threw it hard aside¡­ as ifpletely ignoring my tight grasp on it. Then I saw its countless crooked fangs, stained red with Hardil''s blood, just before my eyes.


    This time, I shielded myself with my hand, poured as much mana and caora as I could into my arm, and then the creature''s countless fangs entered my arm.


    An intense pain enveloped my arm, the caora I reflexively channeled supported the wound in my arm, preventing it from splitting in two. I screamed at the top of my lungs... but gritted my teeth and grabbed the creature''s head with my free hand.


    The room lit up with a purple glow, the caora, trying to erode everything around it, concentrated on my knee and I drove the creature''s head into it with my hand.


    I didn''t stop. Using my mana, I let go of the creature''s head and wrapped my fist in mes... then punched the creature as hard as I could. Not only that, I wrapped my fist in countless little wind des.


    When my fist made contact with its face, countless wind des made countless cuts on its face. The mes and caora concentrated especially on these cuts, burning its face.


    Umbanth screamed in pain. It covered its face with its left paw and looked at me through its fingers. Its eyes, which had been shining with pleasure, now locked on mine with fear, and I smiled.


    It was a sincere smile, perhaps simr to the one the creature had shown me earlier.


    Was it because I was using Caora? I don''t know, but it was funny even though I was supposed to take it seriously.


    I actually wanted to smile even more, but I restrained myself. I was still conscious, so I suppressed these feelings as much as possible and focused on the creature. As the wind, me, and caora swirled around my body at the same time, I took a deep breath and held out my hand in front of me.


    A purple sword slowly formed in front of me, the mana that had taken the form of me and wind slowly surrounded this sword made of caora, and the creature roared once again, then lunged at me fiercely.


    The smile on my face widened, and instead of swinging the sword at the creature, I shielded myself and lowered my head, looking directly into those red eyes, and whispered quietly but clearly in a tone it could hear.


    "Idiot."


    The creature hesitated even for a moment, its wnded on the caora sword I had shielded myself with, forcing me to step back, but I resisted. Then Ezareth and Dorhud rushed at the creature.


    It was suddenly pinned to the ground, struggling to break free. Its body, made of countless joints, twisted, flexed, and sprang aside. It roared, then swung its left w backward at Ezareth.


    Ezareth tried to defend herself, but she was slow. The w sliced through her clothing and reached her chest, where it made a deep gash.


    I heard Ezareth moan in a low voice, momentarily in pain. Yet she was strong, she held herself and gritted her teeth. She raised her dagger and fixed her eyes on the creature, glowing with rage at the wound. That strange, red energy enveloped her body again, this time much stronger. Then Ezareth brought her dagger down on the creature''s w, pinning it to the ground.


    The creature screamed, tried to reach Ezareth with its other hand, and just then Dorhud grabbed its arm. Like a wrestler, he too pinned it to the ground and held it tight.


    The umbanth tried to raise its head, opened its mouth wide, and tried to bite Dorhud, whose body was exposed. But I beat it to it, and ced my foot on its head. Caora and mana flowed into my leg at the same time and I pressed down with all my strength.


    The umbanth''s head snapped to the ground, and I kept its head down as hard as I could with my foot. Then I brought my sword, made of caora and surrounded by a teal and red blend, down on its neck.


    When the sword made contact with the creature''s neck, I quickly pulled it to the side, slicing it in half. A pool of blood spattered across the floor, apanied by a snarling, agonized scream. The creature looked at me with two eyes on the left side of its face. The glow had faded slightly, but it was still full of rage. It tried to struggle, and I saw the wound on its neck begin to heal.


    I raised the sword again. The purple color became much more pronounced and the glow around it shimmered more brightly. Then, without waiting a moment, I swung it again.


    My sword separated the creature''s head from its terrifying body and rolled it to the side. The umbanth''s body suddenly convulsed violently, then Ezareth and Dorhud quickly backed away from it.


    The creature jumped to its feet, its headless body iling its ws here and there. Then it slowed, staggering as blood spurted across the room from the gap where its head should have been. It paused, and then slowly copsed.


    Its body continued to convulse on the floor, the bruise in my vision slowly faded and the crown on my head slowly turned to dust. The sword I had formed from the caora faded and disappeared. The wounds on my arm, still intact only because I supported it with caora, suddenly began to literally burn.


    The creature''s body stopped convulsing at this moment. The glow of the four eyes on its head, which had been separated from its body, quickly faded. Even in itsst moments, it was looking at me.


    I channeled mana into the Absolute Mind, ignored the pain in my arm, then lowered myself to the ground and repeated internally.


    I am not going to faint, this much pain is not too much with the help of the Absolute Mind and I am not in an extremely bad condition.


    The burning sensation in my arm started to burn even more.


    Only my arm is in a bit of distress. The creature really sunk its teeth in. And yet, thanks to caora, it couldn''t tear it out. So, it was not a life-threatening situation.


    Moreover... the statistic that represents the boundary between my wiera side and my own self never went up even though I used caora. It was an even better scenario than I had hoped for...

 Chapter 195 Volume IV - 40: Newly Awakened Seer

    <h4>Chapter 195 Volume IV - Chapter 40: Newly Awakened Seer</h4>


    My eyes flickered, and as the rhythmic ticking of a clock echoed in my ears, I noticed a source of light hitting my face and tried to turn my face away from the light.


    However, I paused when I realized the hardness of the ground I was lying on, then opened my eyes and realized I was really on the floor.


    "Ah..."


    Memories suddenly filled my mind. The pain, the me that burned my heart, the sphere with cracks in it, and... notifications.


    I slowly sat up and looked at the clock.


    My ss would be in the fourth lesson in a few minutes.


    I sighed deeply, stood up, and saw that I was not in any pain whatsoever. In fact, I felt even better than before, as if I had been reborn.


    I stood in front of the mirror, my clothes were stained with sweat stains and they smelled. My hair was disheveled and my eyes were... the same. It didn''t look like much had changed.


    I threw myself down on my couch, closed my eyes, and thought.


    Did I... Did I awaken?


    I thought about all the things I''d seen on the inte about this. How did they do it? By thinking?


    I simply imagined a holographic window opening in front of me, and then a blue light that only I could see hit my face.


    "By thinking..."


    While confirming my thought, I examined the window in front of me. My hand could pass through it, it was blue and... strange.


    I didn''t focus too much on that though and looked at what was written.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: ra


    Last Name: Tenebra


    Race: Human (Xavir)


    Age: 16


    --Statistics--


    General Level: F+


    Strength: F


    Agility: F


    Vitality: F+


    Endurance: F+


    Luck: D


    Magic Power: D-


    Mana Efficiency: A


    Charm: D+


    --Status Effects--


    Abnormal Status Effect: [Restricted Mana] -- [Differentiated Blood] -- [????]


    --Xaevirea''s Lineage--


    Seal: 3/4


    Aera Purity: C


    Abilities: [Aera Maniption]


    --Active Skills--


    [Memory Travel(A-)]


    --Passive Skills--


    [irvoyance(A)]


    ------------------------------>>


    I blinked my eyes a few times, meaninglessly rereading what was written a few more times, yet what was in front of me didn''t change. It was... real. Like, really real.


    There was something called ''Xavir'' where my race was written, most of my stats were normal, but two stats, mana efficiency in particr, were strangely higher than they should be. There were three ''abnormal'' effects under the name of status effects, there was a title I had never heard of anywhere before called Xaevirea''s Lineage, and...


    I had a passive skill, a passive skill that only seers have.


    My eyes suddenly widened. Everything in my mind was suddenly erased and only the name of the skill echoed in my mind. I swallowed, unable to take my eyes off the skill.


    Did I... be a seer?


    A... seer?


    The truth hit me again and again, and I just kept staring at the name of the skill as all my thoughts were jumbled together.


    "Whoa... It can''t be real... right?"


    There are only three seers in the world... Am I the fourth?


    It''s not a dream, is it?


    I took a deep breath, then focused on the skill, and another notification popped up in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    irvoyance(A)


    The user can see the near or distant future in the form of meaningful or meaningless images and sounds rted to events and people that are important to him or her, to those with whom he or she is connected by fate, or to his or her environment.


    If the user is particrly focused, they may see a random image from the near future, but at a price.


    ------------------------------>>


    "Hahaha... Ahahah!"


    Myughter filled the room and I repeated inwardly.


    I am a seer... a seer!


    A big, involuntary smile formed on my face. I didn''t really care about the strange things that were appearing in my status window. Maybe it was something thates with being a seer, maybe it had something to do with the visions I was having about my past. But I was still a seer! Was there a higher position than that in this world?


    There are only three seers in the world!


    I looked excitedly at the second skill I had acquired, Memory Travel, and opened its description.


    <<------------------------------


    Memory Travel(A-)


    If at least one of certain conditions is met, the user can see, navigate and examine the memories of the person in focus. However, user cannot change them.


    The conditions are:


    1-) If you have the person''s permission, you can look directly into their memories.


    2-) If the person is mentally weak, you can look directly into their memories.


    3-) If you establish a certain amount of contact with the person, spend time with them, and build a bond of trust, you can look at their memories.


    ------------------------------>>


    This is also a good skill... I can look into the future, and with this skill, I can indirectly look into the past too.


    I closed all the system windows in front of me, then sat back and thought about my future.


    As a seer, I can be really important to this kingdom. I can be swimming in as much money as I want. I can even be one of the top people in this kingdom. I could be a noble...


    I paused even for a moment while my dreams were decorating my mind, and then this pausested longer and longer. The smile on my face slowly fell and all those thoughts in my mind were reced by a few questions.


    What should I do now?


    If I say I''m a seer, will really good things happen to me? And I awakened before I turned seventeen... Should I reveal something so serious at my age?


    I don''t even know what this Xaevirea''s Lineage and aera are... What if it''s something that will cause trouble for me, for my brother?


    I frowned, sighed deeply, and looked up at the ceiling.


    Should I wait for my brother toe back? He''ll know what to do, right? After all, he''s a smart guy, he''s also well-connected... Can I trust anyone else but him on this?


    I thought about it, but I couldn''t think of anything else.


    No... right?


    Finally, I put my hands together and repeated it to myself again and again.


    I don''t know exactly when my brother will be back, but... I have to wait for him on this matter. As long as I don''t tell this to anyone, for now, it won''t cause me any trouble. I guess, at least.


    I quickly stood up, put a smile on my face and with that, an idea came to me.


    I now have ess to the mana in my body... right? How... does it feel to control mana?


    My curiosity suddenly overcame all my desires. I wanted to experience it. After all, it was the first time I had awakened and the first time I had real ess to mana.


    So I focused on this strange energy inside me, and suddenly a strange sensation enveloped my body. It was as if I was swimming in a big pool... Or rather, this feeling was in my body, this feeling itself was my mana.


    My smile widened, I tried to distribute this mana throughout my body. However... just at this moment, something unexpected happened.


    The mana I was trying to control suddenly started to move beyond my control. And with that, my reserves of mana suddenly started to run out... at an almost frightening rate.


    My eyes widened, and the smile on my face quickly faded. I panicked, looking this way and that, trying to understand why my mana was being drained, while the image in front of my eyes suddenly flickered. Reality seemed to distort, the light bent, and what I saw blurred. Slowly it changed, and then I found myself in a strange ce. In a dark ce. At the same time... cold.


    At the same time, a fleeting thought, a possibility passed through my mind and I understood.


    It was a vision, the first time the irvoyance was working.


    I didn''t know it spent so much... mana. Is that why my mana efficiency statistic is so high?


    Once I realized what was happening, I rxed, even though I found it strange, and tried to focus on the image changing in front of my eyes.


    As the image changed, it first blurred, then darkened and darkened, and finally became clearer. It was a ce I had never seen before, a... a battlefield. Or rather, it was a spot not far from a dead city left behind by a battle that had taken ce.


    The image began to rotate, moving towards what looked like a dark pce. Then it went inside this pce, which felt like a haunted house, and continued further and further into the ground. Finally, it stopped in front of a room. It was a dungeon for prisoners... and a specific room within this dungeon.


    The door opened, revealing the dense darkness hiding behind it. There was someone, logically. Only... it was not clear if this person was a human being.


    The body of the prisoner was faint, blurred. It looked like a dark... ghost, and at the same time, there was a tiny me inside, purple in color. His head was bowed, his left hand was tied to a broken chain, while his right hand was tied to another chain that was still intact.


    The prisoner raised his head as if he recognized my presence. Then I saw what he looked like and my insides trembled.


    He really did resemble a ghost. No... not a ghost, but someone who shouldn''t exist. That''s why it was like a ghost. Someone who didn''t belong to this world, someone this world rejected.


    And he was angry. Cold, frightening even.


    The prisoner raised his unchained left hand and brought it toward me.


    I stepped back in fear, and then the tiny me that burned inside his body suddenly expanded and engulfed his whole body, as if it had been roasted. It traveled to his raised arm and the whole room was suddenly illuminated with a purple glow.


    My eyes dazzled, I closed them reflexively, and the strange cold I had felt since I began to see the meaningless, strange image receded.


    I opened my eyes again, a little timidly, and found myself in my room.


    My knees went weak, I copsed on the floor and put my hand over my heart.


    I breathed in and out so deeply that it felt like I had been out of breath for minutes. I felt a little dizzy, but I didn''t care.


    I yed the image over and over in my mind, especially the image of the prisoner.


    The person I had seen...


    Who was he?

 Chapter 196 Volume IV - 41: Getting Out of the Bunker

    <h4>Chapter 196 Volume IV - Chapter 41: Getting Out of the Bunker</h4>


    While I was busy regting my breathing and ignoring the pain, a hand reached out in front of me. She was holding a small bottle with a green liquid inside.


    "Take and drink it, it''s one of the best healing potions I have."


    I took the potion Ezareth handed me and, without waiting, I poured it over my head. It looked exactly like the high-end hannya-made potions I had seen in the game, so I had no hesitation.


    I let out a deep sigh as the green liquid passed down my throat, spreading aforting warmth I wasn''t used to. Even though it was high-end, I would have to wait at least an hour or two for it to heal my arm.


    The wound on his chest still looked fresh, his face a little pale, but like me, he had drunk the potion and was in good shape.


    Still... she was a little strange. Her eyes, fixed on mine, were not looking at me as expressionlessly as before.


    She... what does she feel? Is it suspicion? Like she''s not happy about something...


    Whatever, the battle with the creature must have made her ponder.


    My eyes then shifted to Hardil''s lifeless body from the neck up.


    Dorhud was right next to him, his hand on his chest, murmuring something. It was a kind of prayer that dwarves mutter over their dead.


    I sighed deeply at him, then turned to Ezareth once again.


    She and I wrapped our wounds with disinfected cloths. Her expression was still the same and she was a little distant from me. I didn''t mind her too much, though, and when we finished, I walked over to Dorhud.


    Dorhud had already finished the ''prayer'' he was muttering. Yet the only emotion that came to my mind when I saw him like this was simply regret. He was remorseful.


    "There is nothing we can do for the dead. Many more have died in the city."


    Dorhud stood up slowly after what I had said and turned to me.


    I had expected him to be a little emotional when I saw him doing that behind Hardil''s back, but... those eyes were the same as before. Not the positive, energetic kind. He had that expression that had been serious since we entered this side of the bunker.


    "I know, I was just followin'' the tradition."


    My eyes shifted back to Hardil''s body. Some of his jaw was still visible because the creature hadn''t quite bitten off his head.


    To be honest... it was a disgusting sight. Yet I ignored it and leaned down, ced my hand on his chest, just as Dorhud had done, then sighed and spoke, focusing on my mana.


    "Rest in peace."


    I stood up again as the red mes radiating from my hand enveloped Hardil''s body and slowly reduced him to ash.


    Yes, he could have been useless. I could have killed him with my own hands if I needed to, but if I could, I''d rather not leave a corpse behind. Even if I don''t bury him, I won''t leave him like this. It''s the least I can do for him.


    "Let''s move forward."


    So our group of four was reduced to three.


    I left Hardil''s burning corpse behind me, Dorhud and Ezareth did too.


    We slowly approached the holes in the sides, which were probably made by the umbanth, as Hardil''s body continued to turn into ash.


    The holes were big enough for me to get behind easily. They were literally cut into a thick wall. I couldn''t help wondering how long the creature had taken to make these holes.


    Just then, another thought sprouted in my mind.


    Why did the creature make so many holes?


    "There is another room behind them."


    A few things came to mind, though none of them seemed to please me.


    I lit a small me with my hand, then sent it forward to provide light.


    Ezareth and Dorhud were looking into the room through other holes. In this way, what the three of us saw was literally blood-curdling.


    It was not empty. It was arge room. On top of that, there were countless bodies and bones all over the room.


    They were all umbanths... and they were all dead.


    I felt nothing inside as I looked at the bodies in front of me, though the same was not true for Ezareth and Dorhud.


    "What... what happened here?"


    Ezareth was the one who spoke. And I was the one who answered his question.


    "Simple... the struggle for survival."


    Now it was clear how umbanth had survived despite being trapped here. Its parents had died after giving birth to countless umbanths, and the siblings had fed on each other to survive after being sealed away.


    They had killed each other, they had eaten the flesh of their own kind to survive, even if it had rotted.


    The umbanth that we killed just now had probably survived all these years by mating with one of its siblings and continuing to eat its offspring. It was the king of this ce, the most powerful being.


    Now, though, it was dead.


    "How many bodies are there here...?"


    "Dozens, too many. We don''t need to count. What''s done is done, that thing must have eaten all its cubs and siblings. We don''t know where the other umbanth it mated with is, so let''s be careful. Let''s keep moving forward."


    We walked through the holes into the room, not bothering to open the door. I doubt we would have been able to open that sealed door anyway.


    We kept walking to the opposite side of the room, past the countless corpses of umbanths, and finally, we managed to reach the other side of the room.


    In front of us was a locked door, a sealed door just like the one we had just encountered. On top of that, on the sides of this door, there were countless attempts at holes.


    I say attempts because they did not reach the other side. The wall here was too thick and strong even for the umbanth.


    So where did the oxygen, the cool air,e from? Simple...


    This was a ventted room. Even though the vents were really small and I wasn''t sure where they were, it was impossible to doubt their existence. They were probably sealed ducts, like the doors here, so that no one could get to the bunker.


    I used my mana to create a me that I brought closer to the door, and then I found a corpse just below it.


    A human corpse, already a skeleton. It was as if he had tried to reach the door during his death. But what was important was that his body had shifted to the left side.


    My eyes turned to where his feet were stretched out, where he seemed to be almost running away. Then I saw another body there, though that was not that of a human being... on the contrary, it was the body of an umbanth.


    It was fresher than any other corpse in the room, the glow in its eyes had not long since faded.


    It was the umbanth that the one we killed had mated with.


    Ignoring the umbanth, Ezareth reached over to the human corpse on the floor, slipped her hand into its worn clothing, and pulled something out.


    It was a key. It was worn, rusted like almost everything else here.


    "Will this be workin''?"


    Ezareth sighed deeply at Dorhud''s question, then brought the key closer to the sealed door and looked for a hole. And she found it.


    "We will try."


    Ezareth slowly inserted the key into the hole. She struggled at first, the key didn''t go all the way into the hole, but when she fortified it with mana and pushed a little harder, she seeded. Then she took a deep breath, braced himself, and turned the key.


    The sounds of the mechanism filled the room. The locking mechanism from behind the door, who knows how dusty, worked. It rattled a few times, sounded like it was going to break, and we held our breath.


    Still, the process went smoothly, Ezareth gave the key another turn and with that, the pressurized lock released itself, letting out the air it had been holding in for years.


    The door opened with a small click. Then Ezareth slowly opened the door and the first thing we saw... was darkness.


    No... I wouldn''t say darkness. Because in the distance, especially at the end of the slope, which was quite steep as if to remind me how far below the ground we were, there was lighting from behind a corner.


    It was sunlight.


    We were at the bottom of what seemed like a long, really long cave, and the only way out was around the corner at the end.


    "The exit... We made it."


    Ezareth... I don''t think she really expected that. Because she sounded like she couldn''t believe what she was seeing.


    "Somewhat..."


    Dorhud brought back the positive expression he had put on his face before we started this little journey and moved toward the sunlight.


    "Let''s get outta here."


    We began to make our way through the cave, taking each step carefully, approaching the exit, and finallying to the corner, the only barrier between us and the sunlight.


    Dorhud had told us that the bunker was in a mountain. So we woulde out on the opposite side of the mountain, out of Caleuche''s sight. That''s why I was hopeful, I was finally getting out of this ce where my safety was always under threat.


    So, we turned the corner.


    What I found around the corner was really outside. The sunlight on my face, the breeze against my body. Yet... these were not the only things I found.


    Another thing I found was a myriad of bewildered dwarves looking directly at me.


    On their uniforms was the g of the South Hr.

 Chapter 197 Volume IV - 42: Running for Survival

    <h4>Chapter 197 Volume IV - Chapter 42: Running for Survival</h4>


    I just stared at the armored group of dwarves in front of me while sun was shining behind them, dazzling my eyes. And they also stared at Dorhud, Ezareth, and me nkly¡­ clearly not expecting us.


    Then, suddenly, as if they finally managed to understand the situation, the barrels turned on us. It all happened so suddenly that I found myself the target of a hail of bullets in an instant.


    ''Watch out Aiden!''


    Sith literally screamed in my mind, and I tried to throw myself back around the corner we had just passed, but I couldn''t move as fast as I needed to. Dorhud was the one who saved my life.


    When he grabbed me by the shoulder and threw us both back, the bullets flew past me. Even then¡­ two of them, I think, went through my left shoulder and began to burn intensely there.


    "Run, boy!"


    My eyes widened, then time finally began to flow as it does.


    "Ah..."


    I turned the way we hade in an instant, ignoring the pain in my shoulder. Ezareth was already gone, she had activated her camouge stigma and I had no idea where she was.


    I started running, with Dorhud at my side.


    ''Sith, you can use all my mana. Block iing projectiles.''


    I didn''t stop there, I also activated the Mana Barrier, which I would normally keep hidden.


    Sith and the Mana Barrier deflected most of the bulletsing at me. The ones that weren''t likely to hit me in the first ce didn''t seem to bother me at all as they passed me by, causing me to inevitably tense up.


    I heard the people behind me start running around, saying something about support, which was an added bonus.


    I cursed my luck, again and again. As the bullets whizzed past me, I thought about the Mana Barrier, rebuilding it over and over again because it had been broken several times.


    I have to stay calm, if I don''t¡­ then I won''t achieve anything, I shouldn''t act like an idiot.


    What is the sensible thing to do in this situation? What should I do?


    Nothing came to my mind, I kept running. Finally, before I knew it, we reached the part where umbanth corpses were everywhere. The wide-open door was right in front of us.


    A bullet grazed my hair, the Mana Barrier broke again and I quickly rebuilt it.


    I would have closed the door if we had time, even tried to lock it back, but we didn''t have that much time. The men were right behind us and I wasn''t sure if the locking mechanism would ever work again.


    So we burst in, past the body of the umbanth we had killed and back in through the holes he had made.


    There was still no sign of Ezareth. Dorhud was only running a little ahead of me. His armor was all around him again, strengthening him.


    "What do we do?!"


    In response to my question, Dorhud spoke without taking his eyes off me.


    "We''ll be he-"


    But he couldn''t finish his sentence.


    Something suddenly came between us and cooled the whole sound. My eyes widened as I realized what it was.


    It... was a fucking rocket.


    "Wa-"


    The rocket suddenly exploded. I felt somethingforting surrounding me, a different barrier. It was created by the Sith.


    The mes enveloped my body, trying to break through the barrier of wind but failing. At least not to a certain degree.


    The mes slightly burned my skin, discolored my clothing and even charred it in some ces. Still, I did not suffer any extremely serious injuries.


    Finally, when the explosion ended, I was on the ground, Dorhud crouched down like a turtle and positioned his armor to shield himself from the st. Yet he did not stop. He kept moving forward during the explosion, he didn''t stay where he was like me. His armor looked even more damaged than before.


    That''s why there was a considerable distance between Dorhud and me.


    My eyes slowly shifted behind me to see the state of the corridor. It had literally exploded, and the soldiers had caught up with us.


    Dorhud wrapped his armor around his body again. Then he stood up and ran with all his might. In the meantime, he gave me a brief look.


    That look said too many things at once.


    I can''t save you, I''m sorry... and much more.


    If he tried to lift me up, he would lose too much time. He wouldn''t have attempted it.


    Still, he didn''t leave me herepletely. I could see a gleam in his eyes telling me to hurry up, screaming at me to run.


    I gritted my teeth and poured all my mana into my body, swirling it around inside me. My mana bubbled as if it was boiling. I forced myself, stood up, and started running.


    Dorhud had already disappeared. He had turned one of the corners of the corridor and I couldn''t see where he was, so I followed the trail through the crumbling dust particles of the bunker. I ran, bullets continued to be fired behind me, but almost none of them were aiming at my head or torso anymore.


    They were aiming at my limbs. They were shooting at my shoulder, at my non-vital organs. So I was a little more rxed, but still, Sith and I continued to do what we could to block the shots.


    I turned a corner to the right, then to the left, and kept running, jumping over a few short steps, and then I came to a door, Dorhud had entered this room. I could see his footprints.


    The door was an electronic door and it was open. Dorhud probably left it open for me. He had gone ahead, but he really wanted me to survive.


    As soon as I entered, I looked at both sides of the door and noticed a button on the right side. One that should normally be hidden, embedded in the wall, but was now exposed, with a lock mark on it.


    I pressed the button and a slight noise suddenly echoed. Then the door mmed shut. Countless clicks filled the room and after only two seconds it waspletely locked, eve sealed.


    I drew my sword, filled it with mana, and thrust it as hard as I could into the switch. Sparks flew out of the button and spread around, and I repeated the same thing twice more, finally, after making sure that the mechanism hadpletely screwed, I waited briefly and focused.


    It must have been well insted because I couldn''t hear any footsteps or bullets behind it.


    I sighed deeply, turned around and quickly looked around the room.


    It was a big, spacious room. There was nothing inside, not even the door, which under normal circumstances should have been camouged by the rocks that made up the walls of the room. Over the years, this mechanism had also worn out and the door was barely visible, if noticeable.


    Apart from that, there was another door on the opposite side of the room, just like the one on this side, left slightly open.


    ''I think we survived.''


    A smile appeared on my face at the Sith''s words.


    No, I wasn''t, there was probably a life waiting for me outside this door where I would have to hide for a while. I would have to slip away from Caleuche and the countless soldiers who hade with it, to meet Dorhud again, to reach the North Hr.


    Still, these were things I would have to think aboutter.


    When I felt a little relieved, I noticed the pain in my shoulder, which was throbbing slightly from the bullets.


    I didn''t have time to deal with it though. It wouldn''t be too much of a problem as long as I supported it with mana.


    When the throbbing in my shoulder subsided, I walked toward the door, just as clicks echoed around the room again.


    I looked back at the door, sparks flew on the button where I had inserted my sword, and the clicking was suddenly interrupted by an intense noise. There was a sound like something snapping, followed by what sounded like some metal falling to the floor.


    The mechanism waspletely broken.


    Still, the other side had no intention of giving up. I heard a loud knock on the door, the door suddenly rattled and I squinted.


    I don''t know how much time they have, but I''d better be quick.

 Chapter 198 Volume IV - 43: One Tiny Little Mistake

    <h4>Chapter 198 Volume IV - Chapter 43: One Tiny Little Mistake</h4>


    I turned back to the door, confident that I was going to go out, but I didn''t do it, or rather I couldn''t.


    As I turned back to the door, a figure slowly materialized in front of my eyes, literally out of the shadows. I saw brown eyes fading to red, followed by ck hair as coal-ck as mine. Then a worn-out light armor.


    "Ezareth."


    Another smile appeared on my face, and the door behind me rattled again. This time more violently than before.


    "You survived."


    She raised her eyes and waited for a short time without saying anything. Then she spoke indifferently.


    "Yes, I was following right behind you."


    Huh, she''s been following me behind my back until now... is that it? Yet I had never felt the presence of something passing through the door... Her stigma ability is definitely more than simple stealth.


    But... it doesn''t seem to matter much at the moment. We need to focus on surviving.


    "Then let''s go, we have to be quick."


    My footsteps were the only thing that echoed in the huge room, breaking the silence. There was nothing but the sound of the sealed door behind us being forced with a battering ram.


    The first step, then the second¡­ and the third one. Then, again, a metallic and harsh sound that shook the whole room.


    ''Aiden...''


    I paused at the sound of the Sith''s voice. As the silence hung eerily around the room, I noticed something strange.


    Something... Something is not right.


    I looked up at Ezareth, her eyes lingering where they were on me. I narrowed my eyes slightly and met hers.


    "Why are you standing there? We have to go."


    Ezareth let out a deep sigh, then raised her hand so that the ring on her finger suddenly caught my attention. It was on the middle finger of her right hand, and it looked in. Yet it had strange inscriptions and runes on it.


    It was a dimensional inventory ring.


    The runes on the ring glowed, then slowly an object appeared in front of Ezareth, a dagger. My eyes twitched, my brows furrowed, and I gripped the obsidian sword tightly in my right hand.


    "What does this mean?"


    This time not only the door behind us rattled, but literally the whole room. Ezareth, her cold eyes fixed on me, pointed her dagger at me as if nothing abnormal was happening.


    "Sorry. You¡­ have to die."


    I frowned once again, not sumbing to my confusion. I wanted at least an answer.


    "But why?"


    She replied with a sigh.


    "You don''t stand a chance against me. You are weak against me... So don''t make it difficult, wiera."


    My frown suddenly rose in surprise. My narrowed eyes suddenly widened. Her words, or rather thest one, echoed again and again in my mind.


    Does she... know about wieras?


    But how?


    "There may be very few who know your kind and your nature, and I am one of them. Let me introduce myself to you once again, as tradition suggests."


    Ezareth''s cold, crimson eyes suddenly shed light blue, and my eyes widened once again.


    "I am Ezareth Mansaar, one of the Guardian Candidates of Patience, first in line."


    All the pieces fell into ce in my mind one by one as ordea, the energy of order, slowly made itself known in the room, coating Ezareth''s dagger.


    Once... I had used the caora against someone on purpose just once to survive.


    My whole body trembled. I was furious, I clenched my fist and teeth as hard as I could.


    How could it be?!


    "Present yourself."


    I clenched my teeth even harder, gripping my obsidian sword tightly as my nails made the palm of my left hand bleed. The throbbing in my shoulder intensified, yet I ignored it and repeated to myself.


    I will live.


    Sith took shape in front of me without saying anything, gave me a very brief look, and shook his head. We didn''t need words.


    Seeing that I had no intention of doing what she said, Ezareth sighed. Then she rushed at me.


    She had only her dagger in her hand, not the other short sword she had used to fight the umbanth.


    The mana inside me suddenly warmed. As an asymmetrical but majestic crown appeared on my head, teal in color, studded with jewels and seemingly made of tree branches, I begged the caora, once more.


    I... will live no matter what.


    The left side of my vision turned purple and the caora spread throughout my body. The throbbing in my shoulder disappeared, if notpletely. My body filled with strength and with it, I used the wind to defend myself.


    Ezareth''s daggernded on my sword, though she did not continue when she realized she was being targeted by the wind. She dodged the wind des aimed at her by sliding her dagger over my sword and spinning around, and without even waiting a moment, she aimed for my stomach.


    She was very fast, and if she had fought against the umbanth at that speed, maybe it would have been enough for her alone. I could not see her clearly even in my ascension form.


    I tried to step back, but I was still slow. A strange burning sensation spread through my whole body as the dagger made a not-so-deep gash in my abdomen.


    I bit my lip, not caring about making it bleed. I focused even more, feeding the caora with even more emotions. Absolute Mind was not automatically suppressing my emotions, the skill was practically deactivated because I was using the caora.


    So I heard a voice behind me, in my mind, a familiar voice whispering quietly and sarcastically.


    ''You''re going to die, Aiden.''


    Ezareth moved again without wasting a second, our eyes met for a moment as the bruising in my vision increased. Then I saw a huge look of surprise appear on her face.


    She was looking at my right eye, the one that hadn''t turned purple even though I had used caora.


    This made her hesitate a little. Then I positioned my foot, supported myself, and swung my sword diagonally, swiftly at her. Ezareth deftly dodged my attack without much difficulty and stepped back, the surprise still on her face.


    "Why do you have only one purple eye?"


    I ignored her, spreading more and more caora over my body, while I felt something strange inside me, a slight... pain.


    Caora, the energy of chaos, which represents destruction, was burning me.


    I gritted my teeth, ignored the blooding out of my mouth, and attacked Ezareth.


    She skillfully dodged each of my attacks. Even my wind spell, strengthened by the Spiritual Ascension, did not work. It was as if she was seeing the spell before I cast it.


    She shattered all the Mana Barriers I had created in a single attack. Finally, when I swung my sword vertically at her, she stepped aside as usual and pressed her dagger against my sword. Preventing me from lifting it, she approached me and looked me in the face.


    "Your mana flow is also strange, interesting..."


    ''She doesn''t even take you seriously.''


    I raised my hand, loaded it with as much mana as I could, and sent waves of harsh wind that almost filled the entire room.


    Ezareth''s body disappeared into the shadows, out of my sight. For a brief moment, the only sound in the room was the door behind us being forced by something. Then another sound came from behind me.


    "Are you a hybrid? No... that''s not possible. What are you? Are you one of the subjects who escaped from Saligia?"


    Her dagger suddenly entered my shoulder, the very shoulder that had been hit by the bullets. I struggled not to groan as the sharp metal, powered by ordea and mana at the same time, slowly sank deep into my flesh, even touching the bullets inside it.


    I didn''t know how to use caora, I only had a limit as someone who knew how to manipte it. But, then... something came to my mind.


    Ah...


    One... Except one.


    ''So that''s it? How weak you are...''


    I spread a wave of me around me, so that Ezareth was forced to retreat whether she wanted to or not.


    I shouted and ignored my teeth, which were chattering as if they were about to break because I had clenched them too hard.


    In this short fight between Ezareth and me, I used everything I had learned from Professor Calvin. I swung my sword as best I could. I used the wind, the me, and the caora all at the same time. Blood came from my nose, from my mouth. My vision blurred, my body couldn''t take the pressure.


    I was kicked, struck in the face. A few of my fingers were broken after my power struggle with Ezareth. Her eyes were always on me, her dagger piercing my flesh countless times but never killing me. She studied me, trying to figure out what I was.


    Then, after a while, after a short period of time spent literally toying with me, she finally gave up.


    "Anyway, time is limited. So, I have to finish this."


    Ezareth lunged at me for onest attack.

 Chapter 199 Volume IV - 44: Last Moments of Light

    <h4>Chapter 199 Volume IV - Chapter 44: Last Moments of Light</h4>


    When Ezareth disappeared with tremendous speed, literally teleporting, I did everything I could to see her attack. Because I knew that this was herst attack, that she would make it count, and therefore she would never expect me to strike back.


    It was perhaps the only chance I had.


    I gave everything I had to this moment. My eyes bled, more blood poured out of my mouth and nose. I felt a moment of intense strength flooding my body, my muscles.


    But then... in the middle of it all... I felt something else. Something I never wanted to happen, something I never expected.


    I felt my power slowly draining from my body. My eyes widened as I realized that I could no longer feel the presence of that energy swirling inside my body as the crown on my head and the teal glow surrounding my body slowly disappeared.


    Basically¡­ I ran out of mana.


    "N- No...!"


    I bite my tongue, using the metallic taste and the pain as a guide to stay standing.


    I will not give up, even if my mana is gone, I... I will not die here.


    I shouted again as I watched slow motion Ezareth''s sharp dagger slowly making its way toward my heart.


    I put down my sword carelessly and met the dagger approaching my heart with the palm of my hand. I saw Ezareth''s eyes widen for a moment as the sharp metal pierced through my hand like a nail and exited behind it


    I quickly grabbed her shoulder with my free hand, and a sheet of ice quickly covered the ground beneath my feet. I pulled Ezareth downward as the thorns suddenly spiked upward.


    Ezareth was momentarily impressed by what I had done. However, she reacted quickly.


    "Nice try."


    She disappeared again, literally into the shadows. Her presence, her body, everything slipped through my hands¡­ and disappeared. Thorns of ice pierced the ce where she had just stood. Time stopped in an instant as this opportunity I had gotten by pushing myself to my limits turned into nothing in front of my eyes.


    I felt a warmth in my stomach, a burning sensation. Then¡­ a slight pain.


    My bloodshot, blurred eyes slowly slid down. I saw a metal, a sharp piece of metal that pierced my body, my organs, stained red with my own blood.


    "A- ah..."


    Really?


    My mouth filled with sweet metallic blood. The metal piercing my stomach slowly slid backward and I fell to my knees, coughing.


    Is that what it''s like?


    No... I must survive. I must not die.


    I... I made a promise... I made more than one promise...


    I felt tears welling up in my eyes, and even more blood came out of my mouth. I put my hands on my stomach, on my dirty clothes, which were quickly dyed red. Then I saw Ezareth looking at me with piercing eyes.


    She turned back, and I watched her walk out of the door that opened outside, without looking at me once after our eyes met. In that brief moment, those few seconds I spent looking at Ezareth''s back, a thousand other thoughts went through my mind.


    Why...?


    Then, a whispering voice answered me.


    ''Because you''re stupid.''


    How long has it been since I got my new life? Four months?


    The room rattled, I had already forgotten that as I tried to resist Ezareth. I didn''t care though, I kept thinking.


    One mistake, really? One tiny little mistake is all it took to cost me my life?


    ''Yeah, I didn''t call you an idiot for nothing.''


    Am I... am I going to die here, in this dark room, with the exit right in front of me... like this?


    Celine... Will I not be able to heal her? Will I not be able to fulfill perhaps my greatest responsibility in this life?


    Sue... I... I dreamed of a future with her, I wanted her by my side in the future I wanted to achieve. I... I liked her. Was it an impossible dream?


    Adrian, Alexander, Julian and so many others...


    Was it all for nothing?


    ra...


    As her image shed before my eyes and her voice echoed in my ears, I felt something inside me, something trying to surface from the depths, out of reach of anyone. With this feeling, I felt myselfing alive, even if a little...


    No, it shouldn''t end like this...


    It was a false hope. Even if it was real, it was not enough to save me. Because despite this strange thing I was feeling, my vision was blurring even more, the sounds I was hearing were bing iprehensible.


    It was cold, I was cold. Me, as a wiera, as someone who cannot feel cold, I was cold.


    My eyes watered even more. I clung to that strange feeling that suddenly emerged from the depths of my soul.


    No... I don''t want to die¡­


    And yet... I hesitated for a moment, and then that feeling I had clung to... that glimmer of hope... vanished in an instant, as if it never existed at all.


    Am I going to die?


    It was a moment of hesitation, just a moment.


    No... I mustn''t die here.


    In the midst of all this blur and cold, someone appeared in front of me. Someone standing as if nothing had happened, his violet eyes fixed on me. The crazy smile on his face was gone, he was serious.


    Myself, the second me, my wiera side. The owner of the whispered voice who answered my thoughts.


    ''Did you always think you would win?''


    But what I felt when I saw him was not helplessness or fear. On the contrary, another ray of hope appeared in front of me.


    Yes... he can help me. He may be crazy, he may want to hurt those around me, but he can help me!


    He crouched down next to me and sat down. His eyes focused on the bloody wound on my stomach. He knew what I was thinking, he tilted his head slightly to the side with an indifferent expression. Then... he leaned slowly toward me, and whispered in my ear once more.


    ''No, I don''t want to.''


    "H- h...a?"


    I looked at his expression, I couldn''t make out anything because of the blood and the blurriness, but I saw his lips curl up a little, then slowly widen, like the smile of an umbanth.


    ''I''m not going to help you, if you made a mistake you have to pay for it, Aiden.


    Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?


    Weren''t you always helping me in the most difficult times? Weren''t you always trying to drive me crazy to take over my body?


    Why don''t you do something now? Why are you letting this happen? Why don''t you take over my body again and ughter everyone?


    Why... Just why are you taking my life away from me?


    With that, his image began to fade away, slowly turning to dust. He gave a shortugh, keeping a smile on his face.


    ''Did you think of me as a double-edged sword, a tool, a dog that you can use at will? Hah, you are so funny that I want to die.''


    I kept thinking, I thought of countless things.


    Meanwhile, my wiera side put his hand on my forehead. He started stroking my hair, like a father does to his son.


    ''No, Aiden. It''s you who is a double-edged sword, a tool, and a dog.''


    Then... he turned to dustpletely. Leaving me in the fading world, in thest moments of light I could see.


    That''s how the sketchy voice of Sith started to enter my mind again. I heard him crying, I saw him hugging me over my body, he didn''t say anything, he just kept crying.


    Images began to sh before my eyes, images of my old world as Ethan.


    The orphanage, the friends I thought I had made, the fake smiles, the people trying to curry favor with me for my achievements, then university and The Lands of The Lunerra.


    I saw the day I finished the game, the email I received, and the dark void I stayed in for who knows how long.


    Then my awakening in Aiden''s body. My sister, my friends, the time I spent with them... all this time. Everything, every single moment that brought me to this moment.


    My coughs echoed in the room as I wheezed through my shattered lungs. I tried to raise my hand; I tried as the images slowly faded, the voices dulled and the world slowly faded into darkness.


    I tried to reach out to ra, I tried to touch her smile. That feeling deep in my soul returned, warm and bright. It was soothing.


    Yet it was toote.


    My eyelids slowly closed, and even though I resisted, I couldn''t help it. I felt the room tremble again, this time much, much more violently. I could make out a few figures in myst moments as my vision darkened.


    With that, a deep silence and absolute darkness enveloped my body with a sweet sensation. The warm and bright feeling I had felt inside me, deep in my soul,pletely disappeared.

 Chapter 200 Volume IV - 45: Unusual Feelings

    <h4>Chapter 200 Volume IV - Chapter 45: Unusual Feelings</h4>


    I kept running, and I looked at the Caleuche as I did so, the huge machine of destruction that was now on the ground.


    The majestic, dark ughter ship was right in front of us. It was massive, covering a really big area, and it was busy recovering the energy it had used to fly. Apart from that, its front was facing me at a diagonal angle.


    I was being watched, everyone on that ship was looking at me right now.


    I directed my armor to my legs. Then a certain amount of the armor, which slid over my skin and clothes like a liquid, concentrated below my waist and I started to run even faster.


    As long as I get to the other side of the mountain I''m running on, as long as I step into the North Hr, I''ll be safe. I have to be fast.


    I can''t be caught by them. I definitely can''t be caught...


    As I was running, I suddenly thought of something. I thought for a moment about the boy I''d left behind.


    I left the doors open so he could escape... I hope he made it.


    I owe him my life. I would have died in the war in the city in the first ce if it was not for him, so even though I ran for my life after that rocket explosion, I gave him a way out.


    From what I saw, he was smart and strong-willed... He won''t die there, he shouldn''t. He just needs a little push.


    Meanwhile, as I continued to run, a figure slowly took shape from the shadows beside me. I didn''t stop running or hesitate because I had seen it while fighting Umbanth. Instead, I asked in a calm voice.


    "Ezareth... where is the boy?"


    Ezaredh looked expressionlessly ahead of her as she continued to run beside me.


    "He is dead."


    I clicked my tongue, then looked back at Caleuche, the ughter machine.


    With my own hands, I left behind the person to whom I owed my life, to save my own life, even if I left traces behind me so that he could escape... I left him there and now he is no longer in this world...


    I clicked my tongue again. I was frustrated, a little angry, but there was nothing I could do.


    "We must go on as survivors."


    Ezareth was far too calm. It was as if she was in this situation every day.


    I didn''t care too much about it though, after all, I had more important matters.


    So, I simply nodded my head in response to what she said.


    First of all... we need to survive, we need to escape from the southerners. We have to be fast, very fast. There must be soldiers on our tail already.


    *******


    I looked down from the tree I was leaning against. Three huge, wed, gori-like apes walked slowly, searching around. I let out a deep but silent sigh as their eyes darted this way and that.


    ''Don''t you dare fight them, Adrian.''


    ''I''m aware of that.''


    I was in a jungle, a jungle with extremely dense vegetation, withrge trees that were too tall. There were too many things here that could simply kill me if I wasn''t careful, so I waspletely guided by Lithoa.


    I stayed where I was until the monkeys were out of sight and a certain amount of time had passed, during which time I did not move a muscle, but thought.


    How many days has it been? How many kilometers have I walked?


    I opened my watch, and what I saw on the small holographic screen did not please me.


    I am slow, really slow. It seems impossible for me to reach Lithoa''s house as nned. I will be at least two weekste at this rate.


    Finally, when the monkeys were out of sight, I waited a while longer and jumped down from the tree, whose height easily exceeded the size of a four-story apartment building. Inded silently, my foot making no sound except a very low rustling as it made contact with the ground.


    After the sessfulnding, I started moving in the same direction I always move in, again in silence.


    Even though the ground was full of leaves and branches, I had learned the hard way how to walk silently. Lithoa had helped me, of course, but once I got the hang of it, it wasn''t too hard to do. It was one of the essential qualities one had to have here.


    As I was walking through a patch of vines, I paused for a moment, I felt something, even for a moment it felt like there was something behind me.


    I quickly got into position and looked behind me, nning to run into something and jump into the trees and hide. Just like I had just done...


    Yet what I found in front of me was ''nothing''.


    Nothing was wrong, everything was as it should be. The trees were in ce and the bushes swayed gently in the wind, showing that there was no anomaly. There were no marks on the ground either.


    ''Don''t stop, keep going.''


    ''What? You didn''t feel it?''


    ''What are you talking about, brat? You turned around all of a sudden, out of nowhere.''


    What? I... I was sure. There had to be something behind me...


    Even though I broke my stance, I kept looking behind me, into the bushes. There was indeed nothing.


    I sighed lightly, then turned back in front of me. I was wrong, I shouldn''t stop like Lithoa said... I''m already slow enough, I need to speed up. I need to get back to Cevilian in time and improve.


    Until now Aiden has always been indifferent to how strong I am... This time I must surprise even him.


    As I started walking again, I imagined the look on his face, his eyes wide and his mouth open. And then Julian and everyone else.


    A smile appeared on my face, it was nice to imagine. And then I realized something.


    I miss my friends.


    It hasn''t even been a week, but I miss my life at the academy.


    The smile on my face widened slightly, I couldn''t help myself and I thought about my past. I thought about the days when I did everything for my life in parts of the city that weren''t even ''the city''. I didn''t trust anyone and no one trusted me. Now... I had ''friends'', let alone trust.


    I''ve really changed, haven''t I?


    I stopped walking and picked up speed, running briskly through the forest with its huge trees.


    I want to go back quickly... I have to hurry.


    *******


    I had a dream.


    It was a dream where I could go out, talk to people, look them in the face, and smile. I was... happy.


    Still, it was a dream. Like every dream, it had an end.


    I waited for a while as my eyes slowly opened and met the dark ceiling. I got up from my bed, then looked at the clock.


    Noon... I overslept.


    I leaned back, pulled the duvet over me and part of my hair fell forward.


    I gathered my dark brown hair with my hand, threw it back, and thought about the way my hair used to be.


    It used toe to my shoulders... right? Now it''s even past my waist.


    I let go of my hair, got out of bed, and went to wash my face. When I went inside, the mirror caught my attention.


    When was thest time I looked at myself? How I looked, what I looked like...


    I avoided that mirror because I was afraid to see my violet eyes, I was afraid to even go to the bathroom.


    I took a deep breath in and out, then closed my eyes.


    I promised Aiden I''d be in much better shape when he came, I have to try, I can''t just stand still.


    I stood in front of the mirror and a strange feeling came over me. I didn''t want to open my eyes.


    Still, I forced myself and slowly opened my closed eyes.


    My emaciated face greeted me. I didn''t think my long hair would make me feel so strange when I saw it in the mirror. But my eyes...


    I focused on them, looked into my amethyst purple eyes. I remembered what happened that day and involuntarily pulled my right arm back. Even the color purple was disgusting to me.


    Then, all of a sudden, I felt someone touch my shoulder.


    My eyes widened, I quickly jumped to the side and looked behind me. I was about to scream, but I paused when I saw an empty space.


    "Haaaah..."


    Relieved, I looked over the edge again at the mirror and the image of the wall reflected in it.


    I walked past it without looking at it andy back down on my bed.


    I can''t... I can''t look at someone''s face, especially not in my own eyes.


    Still... I have to try.


    Then, just staring at the ceiling, I made a decision.


    I''m going to do this every day, even if it''s scary, even if I have to scream, I''ll get used to it, I''ll get better.


    With that I sat up again, I was going to go to the bathroom again, but I paused.


    Suddenly a bad, unpleasant feeling came over me. My eyes widened, I looked at the wall of the room. I wanted to look past it, the wall was blocking me, but I still didn''t look away.


    Something happened...


    I swallowed, I tried to think of good things as the same feelingpletely enveloped my whole body. The Sixth Sense was particrly responsive.


    I don''t know what happened, but... something very bad happened.


    At that moment, I suddenly remembered this feeling. I had felt something like that before.


    The day my brother died¡­ I felt the same way.


    It wasn''t the same, there was a difference. But still... it was very simr.

 Chapter 201 Volume IV - 46: Walking in the Campus

    <h4>Chapter 201 Volume IV - Chapter 46: Walking in the Campus</h4>


    I kept thinking about the vision I had seen over and over again.


    A dark ghost, held captive in a pce, imprisoned, with a tiny purple me burning inside...


    I know that the visions that seers see can be meaningful or meaningless, that''s what it says in the description of the gift, but... What does that mean?


    "Why didn''t youe to ss yesterday?"


    I tried to push the vision out of my mind, then turned to Paul.


    "I was sick, I overslept."


    Paul paused, looking thoughtful for a brief moment.


    "You didn''t look very sick before you left..."


    "I just had a headache, it was bad, so I slept."


    Paul was not satisfied. He sighed slightly and leaned back. Then he closed the tablet in front of him and looked directly at me.


    "Do you want to go for a walk? You don''t look like you feel like studying."


    Actually... I might. The fresh air might help me think more clearly.


    "Sure."


    I closed my tablet, put it in my hand, and stood up.


    Paul and I left the library, walked out onto the campus. I took a deep breath as we continued our walk.


    I repeated the same thing to myself.


    I have to wait until my brother returns... I just have to wait for him. This irvoyance thing, the vision I saw, the strange thing written in the status window... He will know what I have to do.


    "You''re too preupied."


    I shook my thoughts to myself, then smiled slightly.


    "I''m sorry. I was just... thinking."


    Paul continued to walk beside me without looking at me.


    "If there''s anything on your mind, you can tell me. You''ve been really strangetely, ra, and if you want my opinion, it''s not because of an illness."


    My smile faded slightly, but we didn''t stop, we kept walking.


    "If it''s something private, it''s okay, ra, believe me, it doesn''t matter. But if it''s something you can talk to me about, don''t keep it inside. Some things are better to tell than to hide them and suffer for it."


    I bowed my head, involuntarily tensing up as I couldn''t think of anything to say.


    What am I supposed to say? That I woke up? That I''m a seer? That I''m not a normal person? That I don''t even know my... past?


    How can I... say these things?


    "I''m sorry."


    I couldn''t look at him. I really wanted to tell him, but I restrained myself. These were not things I could say so easily.


    Paul didn''t say anything and we walked for a while without saying anything. Finally, I looked up when I realized that Paul and I were walking down a staircase together.


    We hade to a ce that the campus had set up for students to have pics and spend time together. There weren''t many people around, which was normal, I guess, as the weather had indicated that it was going to rain.


    "Paul, yeah. I wasn''t sick or anything, but these are... private matters for me, just like you said. These are matters that concern my brother, my future. I''m sorry, it''s not something I can easily tell everyone."


    Paul kept walking and I looked at him out of the corner of my eye.


    He looked thoughtful, his yellow eyes staring at the floor. His hands were in the pockets of his cardigan. He paused for a moment, his eyes seemed to widen. Then he quickly returned to normal, thoughtful again.


    What is he... thinking? It''s the first time I have seen him like this...


    In this way, we kept walking until we reached a certain point in this area.


    After a while I started to get restless, and when I looked around, there was quite a distance between me and the nearest person I could see.


    Finally, Paul paused, and so did I, and I looked at his face again.


    This time he looked serious. Slowly he turned to me, his lips curled upward. For a moment, just for a moment, I was startled. He looked strange, not who he was.


    "You know, ra, I don''t want to be ''everyone''."


    Huh? Does he wonder so much what''s bothering me...?


    "Don''t get me wrong, I''m not after whatever it is that''s bothering you. If it''s something important that concerns your family, I have no right to talk about it or to know what it is."


    "Then why-"


    "I feel sad, ra. It literally hurts."


    I stepped back, put on a nk expression and frowned slightly.


    "I don''t understand."


    He nced at me.


    "You''ve lost weight, ra. You''ve lost weight in just a few days. It''s like you haven''t even eaten for thest week. We used to talk for a couple of hours every night, now you barely stop for half an hour and go straight to sleep. Although... I doubt you''re even asleep. You used to listen to the lectures, at least try to understand what was being said, even if you were always busy with something else because you usually found it boring. Now you don''t even do that, it''s like you''re in another world."


    His smile warped a little, then his eyes left me and turned to the smallke in front of us. His voice started to tremble a little, he really looked like he had been hurt.


    "I want to help, not to know the truth. I want to cheer you up, but you don''t even listen to me properly when I talk. I''m... sick of it."


    He paused again, his eyes back on me. More seriously this time, with a determination I couldn''t quite understand.


    "I love you, ra, that''s why I want to help you."


    My eyes widened once again. I couldn''t help feeling as if time had stopped for a moment. I repeated everything he said, every single word, one by one, in my mind. Paul took my hands, looked into my eyes and repeated it.


    "Just... give me a chance. Let me help you, at least... stand by you. You''re literally melting in front of me and seeing this... it''s too much for me."


    What? What... should I do?


    I panicked, I looked around, but there was no one. So, I hesitated for a moment.


    No... no. I must think straight... I mustn''t act like an idiot.


    I thought. So many different things filled my mind all at once.


    For example... The time I spent with him, almost all of it was fun. I loved Paul as a friend, he was a dear friend to me.


    But romantically?


    Did I... Did I ever think of him in that way? We joked about it a couple of times, but... it was just a joke. I never thought about anything more than friendship.


    Those memories, and much more yed over and over in my mind.


    Paul is a good person, someone like my brother who is always worried about me. I know that. He''s someone I liken to my brother, or rather ''Ethan Subter''.


    A rtionship... A romantic rtionship, with Paul.


    Do I want that?


    Can this... can it really be good for me?


    And so other questions formed in my mind, and then answers.


    Can I really ignore all this until my brotheres back? Can I really ignore something so important, something that concerns my life...


    I lowered my eyes and looked down at my body.


    I''ve really lost weight. My hands look thinner than usual. Am I... am I really melting as Paul said?


    Then... wouldn''t that be good for me?


    I looked at Paul, who was still looking at me with determination, but also... with a look I couldn''tpletely understand. It was a look I''d never seen before.


    I looked away, back into my own thoughts.


    A few seconds passed, then a few more. Feeling more and more awkward because of the silence, I finally took a deep breath.


    "Well..."


    Paul tilted his head slightly, his lips curled slightly upward.


    "What?"


    "Okay!"


    I shouted, then turned away quickly, not wanting to look at him, not wanting to be face to face with him as I said what I had to say.


    "Okay, I ept..."


    "ept what?"


    I gritted my teeth, then quickly turned around, this time with the look I always gave him. I couldn''t meet his eyes though, so I averted mine.


    "Aren''t you asking me out? I say yes... I will."


    His lips curled even higher, then he leaned closer.


    "Really?"


    His face came closer to mine, and I saw his eyes sparkle for a moment. It was strange, yet they quickly returned to normal. Then he squinted slightly and I realized I was stuttering as I spoke again.


    "R- really..."


    I didn''t retreat, I understood what had happened and what was going to happen, but I didn''t run away. For some reason, I felt relieved, like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I was at peace. So, as Paul was approaching me, I let myself go.


    It felt good, in a way I didn''t expect.


    Still... it was a bit strange.


    Is this what a kiss is supposed to feel like?


    I... I don''t know...

 Chapter 202 Volume IV - 47: Enemy Captive

    <h4>Chapter 202 Volume IV - Chapter 47: Enemy Captive</h4>


    Darkness.


    An endless darkness.


    One I''ve never seen before, never felt before.


    No... I remember... I remember this feeling. I found myself in such darkness before, long before. It was a void where I couldn''t feel my body, I couldn''t feel time, I couldn''t see or hear anything.


    When I came here before, I was scared. I was afraid I would go crazy, I was afraid I would lose my own self.


    And now...


    Nothing.


    What I feel inside me is literally nothing. Sadness, happiness, anger, all kinds of things... Nothing.


    Is that... normal?


    With these thoughts, time moved forward.


    Or not.


    Finally, in all this darkness, I realized something.


    A voice, a low voice. As if someone was humming.


    The voice became more distinct as time passed. Because it was the only thing I could focus on, I didn''t think about anything else, so after a certain amount of time... I could understand what it was.


    It was a melody. It was a sad, gloomy but peaceful melody. It sounded familiar, like I had heard it many times before, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not ce it in my mind.


    As the melody slowly became easier to understand, I listened to itpletely. The more I listened, the more peaceful I felt, and the more I listened, the more I realized that in this nothingness where I could feel nothing, there was a strange feeling sprouting inside me.


    It was a feeling that was slowly trying to reach the surface from the depths of my soul. It was warm,forting even. It seemed to move rhythmically with the melody. It was spreading slowly but steadily, as if controlled by it.


    Eventually, the feeling became more pronounced. It was trying to seep into me... pulling me toward it. However, after a while... it suddenly paused. And with its pause, I noticed something else in the darkness, something that existed outside this melody. A light, a light that was slowly expanding and getting brighter and brighter.


    I turned toward the light, without thinking... not even realizing that it was a strange thing in this strange space that I could turn toward it.


    It was right in front of me, the source of the light. It was the only thing other than me that existed in this endless darkness. It was as if it was resisting the darkness, the silence, the ''nothingness'' of this ce.


    I reached out my hand to it, I touched it.


    Then, it also touched me.


    The endless darkness suddenly lit up with a dazzling radiance.


    *******


    I want to die.


    I want to die.


    I want to die...


    I didn''t think about anything else as the liquid spread through my veins, literally dissolving my whole body slowly.


    With tears in my eyes, unable to think straight, I looked at the people inb coats standing in front of me.


    One of them was looking directly at me. Even in all the chaos I was going through, I could pick him out, maybe the person I hated the most here.


    Jared, Jared Huffab.


    No... I don''t know this person. How can I hate him when I don''t know him?


    I don''t understand... What''s happening?


    It didn''t take me long to forget my thoughts, though. I couldn''t think of anything but him as the pain enveloped my whole body.


    Slowly I felt myself changing. Slowly, but steadily, I felt myself bing someone else.


    *******


    Finally, after a while, something different happened.


    I felt as if the liquid was touching my heart. Its mes seized it, then it was drawn through my whole body and directed toward it.


    It was happening for the first time.


    Although... What was happening before so that I knew it was the ''first time''?


    It''s... pointless... strange...


    Who am I?


    I couldn''t think of an answer to my question. With every second that passed, the pain was getting worse and worse, dulling my sense of self.


    I kept struggling, I wanted to get up from the chair where my hands were tied and suffocate myself. Yet, I couldn''t. I just waited, screaming as the liquid burned my heart, changing it.


    So I felt that I had lost something, that everything inside me that made me who I was was slowly slipping away.


    *******


    This time the liquid changed targets again. And this was also the first time. This time... the target was my brain.


    I felt something strange, something I had never felt before, a void, a void that slowly spread through me and swallowed everything in sight.


    I lost count of the number of times I fainted and woke up as the liquid burned my brain, just like it did my heart. Maybe my throat had been torn apart by my screams because I couldn''t scream anymore, but I kept going.


    Even though my throat was torn, I kept screaming because there was nothing else I could do. Then... I felt something new, something strange sprouting inside me, things filling my mind that I had never known before. Things I shouldn''t know.


    The liquid spread all over my body again. Its presence became indistinct as if it had finished with my brain, as if it was slowly disappearing. But, after a short period of time, I understood.


    The liquid was not disappearing, its presence was not bing indistinct.


    It had chosen another target, something non-physical.


    *******


    I felt my soul slipping away, like my heart, like my brain, it burned slowly but painfully.


    The pain I had suffered before was nothingpared to this. I always thought I was used to pain, every time I came here I thought how much more I could suffer this time.


    This was different.


    This was very different.


    I felt myself separating from my body as my soul was on fire. I felt myself dying and resurrecting over and over again as my soul was slowly disappearing. I felt the emptiness inside me growing wider and wider as my soul was slowly changing.


    Eventually, the pain became meaningless. Maybe I was tired, maybe I was numb, maybe I was still screaming but I didn''t realize it.


    The me that enveloped my soul, that changed it, slowly began to recede. This time the pain really did fade away. I was still awake, I had not fainted.


    I raised my head and looked at the people who had been standing in front of me the whole time.


    Then I felt something strange inside me again.


    Or rather, I realized I couldn''t feel it.


    There was no anger.


    There was no fear.


    No sadness.


    There was no joy, too.


    There was nothing. I was just looking at the people in front of me, my eyes open, not shaking, just waiting where I was, not feeling anything inside me. As if I didn''t feel anything except the emptiness that filled me after I disappeared with that me.


    Then something happened.


    I understood.


    I understood everything.


    Or rather, I realized that I understood.


    And with that, I heard a voice, a dull voice whispering in my mind. A different voice that sounded as if it was echoing, as if it was made up of more than one person speaking at the same time.


    ''You are awake, human child.''


    *******


    I found myself in the darkness again, thinking about the things I had seen as the light I had touched was slowly disappearing.


    Then I realized that everything about them was slowly fading from my mind, the things I had seen, the things I had heard... There was nothing I could do but wait as each one was slowly being dragged behind something, locked away.


    The light in front of me disappearedpletely, most of the dream I was having was gone. All that remained were vague images.


    Endless darkness surrounded me again in this void where nothing existed.


    Minutes passed.


    Hours.


    Days?


    Or weeks?


    Months...?


    In the darkness, suddenly, there was something again. Again, a light.


    But it wasn''t like before. It was not so attractive, not so bright. It wasn''t something I could touch. It was also a dim light.


    As my eyes slowly opened, as my vision slowly became clearer, I realized that I could feel my body again. I focused on the dim light I saw in the darkness, and then I realized what it was.


    It was amp. It was behind a transparent panel on the ceiling.


    I tried to move.


    "Ugh..."


    The moment I tried to try this, intense pain shot through my whole body and I moaned hoarsely, then I realized that my whole body felt too weak.


    "W- what''s happening..."


    As my eyes finally adjusted to the dim light, I looked around and suddenly I was frozen in ce.


    I was in a small room with gray walls. There was nothing inside. No door, no furniture, no living being other than me... The only thing different was the light behind the translucent panel on the ceiling.


    I looked at myself, I was wearing a gray outfit like the walls of the room. It looked like orange prisoner''s clothes, only instead of orange it was a dull gray.


    As I was slowly getting used to the general pain in my body, I closed my eyes and thought. Then, slowly, what happened entered my mind.


    I stood with my back to the wall, trying to digest what had happened.


    Ezareth...


    I clenched my fist and clenched my teeth, getting angrier as her image came into my mind.


    I will definitely find you, no matter what... I will make you pay for what you did to me.


    I took a deep breath in and out, then looked around again, thinking.


    I''m not dead... I was pretty sure I was going to die, but I''m somewhat alive.


    Now... this is both a good and a bad sign.


    The good thing, of course, is that I''m not dead. The bad thing is that I have a pretty good idea of where I am. I vaguely remember the door opening and the Southerners entering the room before my vision went ck.


    So... I''m a prisoner now, and most likely... I''m inside the Caleuche.


    I threw my head back and hit the wall, not caring too much about the pain, and looked at my right wrist.


    Just as I had predicted, there was a device on my wrist that seemed unlikely toe off. It was connected directly to my flesh, to my veins. Even if I tried to touch it with my other hand, it seemed to be one with my skin, I couldn''t even feel any roughness. It restricted my mana, which was also the reason why I felt weaker than usual.


    I lowered my hand and sighed.


    Can I get out of here? Can I escape this machine of destruction with the most advanced technology on Lunerra?


    It seems... impossible.


    Am I going to be kept here for the rest of my life?


    So I paused for a moment.


    Why have they taken me prisoner in the beginning? The people held in Caleuche are usually important people, normal prisoners are sent straight to the South Hr.


    Or am I already there...?


    Then, at this very moment, I felt a pain radiating from my wrist to my whole body.


    I quickly grabbed the bracelet on my right wrist, focused on the pain, and then I felt something spreading from where the bracelet was to my whole body. At first, I couldn''t understand what it was, and then suddenly my whole body went stiff.


    A much more intense version of the ''weakness'' I felt enveloped my whole body, and then I copsed, paralyzed.


    I did not faint, but I was still unable to move my muscles.


    At the same time, there was a sound in the room that I couldn''t even understand properly. It sounded like something... sliding. Simultaneously, the room was suddenly lit up so that it waspletely white.


    I squinted against the light, and then I saw a door appear in the middle of one of the gray walls of the room. In front of this door were three people. Three dwarves in uniform.


    They said nothing. They came to me and lifted me up, they took me out of my room, not even caring that I was being dragged, and I went out into the corridor.


    The liquid that spread over my body suddenly overwhelmed me. My vision blurred, and before I realized what was happening, darkness descended on me again.

 Chapter 203 Volume IV - 48: Torture Chamber

    <h4>Chapter 203 Volume IV - Chapter 48: Torture Chamber</h4>


    "Wake up."


    My eyelids slowly opened, then I lifted my head slightly as my vision slowly became clearer.


    Again, I was in a room, another room with gray walls. The only difference... This room was more spacious. And in front of me was a table, or rather a metal thing that looked like a table.


    I was in a chair, my hands were tied behind my back with handcuffs.


    I looked across the table and saw someone sitting there, just like me. He was a dwarf, except he was not bound or restrained like me. He was looking at the holographic screens in front of him.


    "Aiden Tenebra, eighteen years old and only an E+ grade."


    The dwarf stared at me. The holographic screens suddenly turned to me, then an image began to y.


    It was an image of the city under attack. I was in the center, with a crown on my head that looked like it was made of tree branches. I could also see two bracelets on my wrists that also looked like this. Around me was a teal-colored glow, with my gray eyes shining with the same teal color.


    As I looked at the image, I noticed a few differences. I had changed differently from the way I had changed before, before I had even acquired Spiritual Ascension, when I was only using it with the logic behind it.


    The crown on my head looked more like a ''crown''. I now had bracelets on my arms that looked exactly like my crown. The glow around me was much more intense than before.


    After a while, there was a big whirlwind of wind and me centered on me. The whirlwind grew bigger, more violent, and then suddenly smaller. It shrank to the size of a marble on the tip of my finger, and then I flicked it and a huge explosion shook the area.


    The holographic screen shut down. The dwarf looked at me, hard and cold.


    "Tell me, what''s this? How in the deep earth can an E+ grade human muster such power? This ain''t like them Ascension skills y''use, this here''s something we ain''t never seen before. How''d ye get this power?"


    I said nothing, just continued to stare at his face in silence. Then the dwarf smiled slightly.


    "I knew ye''d be doin'' it this way."


    I suddenly felt a force grabbing my head. My head was quickly pulled back so that I could see another dwarf grasping my head with both hands.


    The dwarf wore a strange device on his head. Wires wereing out of it and running into his hands where he was holding my head. He had a glove on his hands, and I could feel them, even though I couldn''t see them clearly.


    At that moment the dwarf closed his eyes. Then my vision blurred and I felt a fluctuation in my mind. Something, a force, was trying to enter my mind. It was moving deep into my soul, trying to break through the barrier protecting my memories.


    However, this did notst long. Absolute Mind, which works passively even when my mana is restricted, suddenly kicked in. It literally kicked the force out of my mind and the disturbing feeling receded.


    Apart from me, the dwarf holding my head suddenly trembled. His eyes opened rapidly, revealing his shrunken pupils. He stepped back quickly and vomited.


    The dwarf across the table had a puzzled look on his face and looked at the vomiting dwarf,pletely ignoring me.


    "What happened?"


    "I... can''t be gettin'' into his mind."


    "Oh?"


    The dwarf in front of me sped his hands together, then looked directly into my eyes.


    "An interestin'' fe you are."


    With that, an intense pain enveloped my body. Then my vision, once again; suddenly darkened.


    *******


    When I opened my eyes again, this time I found myself on a bed. The bed was not soft in any way. In fact, I was on something metal.


    I was tied up, and above me was arge device that covered my head.


    Lights came on over the device. Then things started spinning around my head. I tried to struggle, but I couldn''t get free. At the same time, I felt a slight headache.


    The headache intensified after a while. It turned into a pain as if my head was cracking. Just like before I woke up, I felt a force, one trying to enter my mind.


    Yet the Absolute Mind did not allow even that. The passive skill resisted even this device. Nevertheless, the process did not stop. The device spun even faster, my headache became more intense. And the Absolute Mind did not give up. It blocked any force that tried to enter my mind, no matter how violent. It continued to stand there like a solid wall.


    Yet it did not stop the pain in my head, which was worse than torture.


    Minutes passed. Maybe hours, it had been a long time since my headache took the form of intense pain that never stopped. My head was cracking. I was in pain like a balloon about to burst.


    I did my best to resist as my screams filled the room and my headache turned into an agony.


    Finally, when the device stopped spinning, the pain retreated. My consciousness, still not shut down by the pain, surrendered itself to nothingness, supported by the presence of the liquid spreading from my wrist to my body.


    *******


    Suddenly a sharp pain spread through my body. My head throbbed with the same pain as if I had hit something and my eyes opened.


    I found myself again in a colorless room, again tied to something.


    My hands were spread out to my sides. I was on a tilted table and my feet were tied.


    A little... cold? As if I had no clothes on...


    I focused in front of me with my still unclear vision. Again, there was nothing in front of me. Just a gray wall...


    And behind me... I could hear a sound behind me, the sound of metal on metal.


    "Well, hi."


    My eyes widened as a voice I didn''t know who it belonged to echoed through the room.


    I realized where I was.


    "Now, I heard you were a bit of a problem. That''s why they sent you to me."


    The friction sounds echoed behind me again.


    "We''re going to have some fun with you."


    This is... a torture chamber.


    My mouth opened, then I closed it back.


    If I tell them about the spirits...


    No, I can''t. I can''t lie either... they certainly had something that made them understand it.


    If they learn the truth about spirits this early, even faster than they should have when the timees... then...


    I can''t do that...


    I can''t say it.


    If I do, if not now, then in the future, when everyone can sign contracts with spirits, they will have an advantage they should never have had.


    I... I can''t do that.


    With these thoughts, something slowly took shape, out of nowhere, except for the only thing I could see, the gray wall.


    I found myself in front of me. The old me, my old body. The only difference was that his eyes were not a pale green but a bright purple.


    I felt like I was really looking at ''myself'' when I looked at him. He was serious, his lips were straight. His expression, his posture... Everything about him was exactly ''me'', except for his eyes.


    ''You won''t tell, Aiden.''


    He was giving orders. He was looking at me, into my eyes, without moving a muscle.


    No... he wasn''t looking at me. He was looking at something else.


    ''You won''t say, you won''t say anything. You will not open your mouth about anything, no matter what they ask you, no matter what they do to you.''


    I felt something moving inside me, it wasn''t physical, it wasn''t something. It was something slowly existing in the depths of my mind, settling there. It was independent of me, yet ''I'' was connected to it.


    ''Otherwise, you will experience much worse things.''


    After these words, as his body slowly turned to dust, someone, someone else, slowly moved to where he was, as if not even aware of his presence.


    He was a dwarf, like everyone else here. Yet... he was different. He was wearing a white, bloody apron. Unlike the other dwarves I had seen, he had no bushy hair or beard. His ck eyes were slightly squinted on the right side and he had a slight smile on his face.


    He was holding what looked like pliers.


    "We''ll be startin'' with simple things."


    He looked at my right hand, then coughed slightly and continued, keeping his smile.


    "Are ye gonna spill it?"


    Suddenly I felt something pressing down on me.. It was as if it had mped my lips together, preventing my vocal cords from moving.


    I tilted my head nkly as I remembered what my wiera side had said.


    Is this it?


    "I guess not."


    Here, am I really in this situation?


    I felt a sharp paining from the index finger of my right hand, and it was hard not to scream as the pliers squeezed my finger between them, breaking the tip of my finger like it was nothing. I blinked back tears, and silence fell over the room.


    Another intense pain shook my being, apanied by the cracking soundsing from my middle finger.


    Then the ring finger.


    It hurt, it really hurt. Maybe I wasn''t screaming, yes, but it hurt. I was holding myself back, yes, but it was the first time in my life I was experiencing something like this.


    It hurt.


    It hurt so much.


    And yet there was not the slightest desire in me to do what was being asked of me. Whatever my wiera side was doing was working.


    "Well, ye be a bit tougher against pain. At least more than most folks... So let''s move on to something easier. Did ye intentionally help Dorhud Gen''dai?"


    Not a word came out of my mouth, couldn''te out.


    I tried to think of other things, I tried to ignore the pain.


    For example, why is he asking me about Dorhud?


    He''s not even a character I remember from the game, he doesn''t even exist... He must have died in the battle in the city.


    Was he someone important? Did I attract attention by helping someone important without even realizing it?


    The dwarf widened his smile as he looked into my eyes.


    Then... he continued.


    I just waited as all my fingers and toes broke one by one, along with my fingernails. I could only look ahead as my nails tore into my broken fingers. I didn''t scream, I tried not to cry, even if tears came to my eyes.


    Instead, I gritted my teeth, trying to endure the pain with the help of the Absolute Mind.


    After all, he wasn''t going to go on like this all night long. After a while, when he realized that he wasn''t going to get what he wanted, at least when he was tired, he would leave me alone.


    He should have...


    "Looks like we''re stayin'' here for the night... Thanks, I can try other things."

 Chapter 204 Volume IV - 49: Wishing to Die

    <h4>Chapter 204 Volume IV - Chapter 49: Wishing to Die</h4>


    Breaking was not the only thing that happened to my fingers.


    Slowly, one by one, starting from the outermost part, he tore off all my fingers. He peeled off their skin, and as my cries echoed in the room, I never gave him what he wanted.


    Not that I didn''t, I couldn''t.


    How long has it been since I stopped holding back my tears? How long since I started screaming from the pain?


    I didn''t know, yet I tried to at least keep my consciousness in one piece while it was happening. It was one thing, at least the thought that made me keep resisting it.


    The same thing happened to Celine.


    It was this thought that made me endure this pain a little bit, that made me at least remain ''myself'' even if I screamed.


    At least at first.


    The dwarf asked me different questions as I let go of one finger and moved on to the other. I couldn''t answer any of them, even though I wanted to, I couldn''t. As the level of pain increased with each finger, countless thoughts ran through my mind.


    When will he let go?


    Can I bear the pain?


    This is just the beginning... What will happen next?


    There was one more thing that kept me going, or at least trying; Absolute Mind.


    As each of my bad, meaningless, or unnecessary thoughts was slowly cleared from my mind, I experienced something I hadn''t experienced in a long time. I entered a cycle.


    As the Absolute Mind tried to erase my negative emotions and thoughts, new ones were added on top of new ones.


    My mind cleared, and the world became meaningless for a moment. Then I felt the pain, the thoughts flooded my mind again and I repeated.


    When the dwarf finished with myst finger, he poured a potion over me again, and the metal thing I was attached to glowed with a faint shimmer. I felt some relief, especially with a warmth enveloping my fingers.


    I was being healed.


    The dwarf pulled up a chair across from me. Then he picked up a steaming cup and looked me in the eye.


    "You''re quite an interestin'' fe. Normally, for over ny percent of those whoe here, this would''ve been enough. They''d start chirpin'' right away."


    He took a sip from his ss. But after a slight grimace of dissatisfaction, he put his ss aside and turned back to me.


    "Couldn''t quite figure out what sort of person you are. Sometimes you ponder on somethin'', then you go all soulless. You scream and shed tears from pain, then back you go into your thoughts and go soulless again."


    As the pain in my fingers slowly faded, the light behind me began to fade.


    Then the pain returned unexpectedly.


    My fingers had not healed. Each one looked misshapen, and the pain was all the sharper because the healing process had been interrupted.


    I held myself back from moaning, the presence of the Absolute Mind was still there.


    "Anyway..."


    The dwarf stood up, then walked back behind me.


    When I was alone with the gray wall in front of me, more voices came from behind me.


    The torturing dwarf was deliberately making noises with his tools, this time trying to choose what to do. It was making me more nervous. He was scaring me even more.


    That was his intention. I knew it, and frankly, it was sessful.


    "Aha, I found it."


    This time the sound was not a sound of friction. It was the sound of something churning. It was a liquid.


    The dwarf came in front of me and then, with a smile on his face, showed me what he was holding in his hand.


    It was a white stic bottle. Inside was a yellow liquid.


    "Ever been hooked on somethin'' before?"


    Ah...


    "This thing''s really somethin'', ye know..."


    He took the cap off the stic bottle and then, without even waiting a moment, he poured the whole bottle into my mouth.


    I tried not to swallow, I tried to spit it out, but he held my jaw still with his hand. I swallowed almost half of the bottle, then the dwarf threw the finished bottle aside.


    Soon my vision began to blur and the world began to spin. I heard the dwarf saying something, though I couldn''t understand it. The gray walls suddenly began to bend and open like the petals of a flower. And behind them, a sky appeared, a beautiful blue sky.


    Yet it was all very short-lived. I felt something inside my head, inside my mind, a literal wall.


    The drug was really strong, so it took a long time for the Absolute Mind to react. Eventually, it was activated, though. So the lush green grass that had just begun to sprout on the metallic ground withered away. The deep blue sky gave way to gray walls again. Then the body of the torturing dwarf slowly materialized in front of me.


    For a moment we just looked at each other. Then the dwarf frowned, finally realizing that something was not right.


    "Hmm? Why are ye here?"


    I didn''t answer, just stared nkly into his eyes, and the dwarf approached me.


    "Yer eyes were supposed to be unfocused. Interesting... That thing guardin'' yer mind, is it workin'' even for this?"


    He looked disappointed, really. Muttering, he moved back to the floor behind me.


    "I''ll have to try the others if this ain''t workin''... This was the best one, but ain''t nothin'' to be done."


    When he came in front of me again, this time he made me drink another liquid. It didn''t cloud my mind. It didn''t seem to have any ill effects on it. I wasn''t sure what it was, but I didn''t want to know.


    After giving me the drug, the dwarf went behind me again.


    When he came back, this time he was holding a whip covered with sharp thorns.


    *******


    I gritted my teeth against the new wound in my chest, trying to think of other things as my hot blood trickled down my body, my mind dulled by thirst.


    How long have I been here, for example?


    No... no. I need to think about something else.


    It shouldn''t be about this ce.


    When will he give me that medicine? I feel like I''m dying... I need it.


    No, no, no... Not that either.


    Something else... Something else...


    I had an image in my mind, a figure.


    What is ra doing now? She''s probably going to school... being a normal, ordinary girl. That''s the way it should be.


    I felt another wound, this time near my shoulder. I groaned again, not trying to hold it in, just trying to think of something other than the pain.


    "Are ye gonna tell now? Ah, and by the way, if ye try lyin'', I''ll know. So don''t even bother with that."


    I opened my mouth, and then my mouth closed by itself and I smiled slightly.


    I can''t tell even if I want to...


    Isn''t that... Isn''t that unfair?


    "So ye need toe round a bit more, it seems."


    The dwarf nced behind me, then sighed.


    "Anyway, it''s been a while."


    He came close to me again and looked at my body for a while. Then he tensed and punched me hard in the head.


    *******


    I realized I was being made to drink something.


    Despite my dry throat, despite my stomach that felt like it was on fire, I let myself drink the liquid without thinking whether it was water or not.


    I couldn''t recognize what it was at first, but then I remembered where I was and my eyes widened as never before. I tried to cough, rejecting what passed down my throat, but I had already swallowed arge amount of it.


    Coughing, I turned my blurred eyes in front of me, trying to see who it was.


    There was someone different from the dwarf from before. His ocean-blue eyes made me feel for a moment that I was looking at Julian. However, with his short stature and broad shoulders, this thought instantly left my mind.


    Without saying a word, the dwarf moved behind me to where the different tools were and left me in the unknown again. Then I felt a momentary pain in my neck, brief, but enough for me to realize what it was.


    It was a syringe.


    After a while, I felt myself getting warmer, I stood still and gasped for breath. The copious amounts of sweat that came with it were an added bonus.


    My body temperature continued to rise and sweat continued to pour out of me. And then the dwarf from before was in front of me again. He smiled slightly, raised his hand, and touched my stomach with his index finger.


    He just touched it. With the tip of his finger, briefly. Yet it suddenly made me shiver. Then, suddenly, an extremely intense pain shot through my whole body and I screamed involuntarily.


    I felt the ce where the dwarf had touched me being scorched, the organs under my skin being grabbed and torn apart. Not only my body trembled, but also my vision. Sounds blended together, even my own screams became meaningless.


    Was it possible for any living thing in the world to suffer this much pain?


    "Heheh."


    Happy, he pulled his finger back and touched my shoulder this time. And this time, on top of the previous pain, my shoulder started to burn and ache. I felt like I was being split into atoms, I lost track of how many times I fainted and woke up in a short period of time before I realized that this ''pain'' was the only link between me and the world.


    It was only a few seconds, only a few seconds.


    The dwarf quickly withdrew his hand. Then he smiled broadly and moved quickly behind me again.


    Something suddenly shed in front of me and my tear-soaked eyes widened. Slowly I looked down at my stomach.


    There were many scars on my body from the passage of time. Yet I didn''t care much about them. The moment I saw the gaping wound on my stomach, I experienced something I had never experienced before.


    My whole body trembled with a pain I never thought I would feel in my entire life. I screamed, the pain was so intense that I couldn''t even scream, but I didn''t care. Absolute Mind had stopped working, it had reached its limit and was no longer trying to keep me calm.


    So the pain was much more intense.


    "Tell me, tell me,e on?"


    I wanted to.


    I really wanted to.


    I wanted with all my heart to give him what he wanted.


    And yet, the moment I opened my mouth, I felt as if a hand was covering my mouth, blocking me, and then the owner of the hand covering my mouth was standing right behind me.


    I heard a low chuckle, almost inaudible, and its owner was not the dwarf in front of me.


    As my tears spilled onto the floor, never able to escape the pain, I wished for something I never thought I would wish for in this life.


    I wished to die.

 Chapter 205 Volume IV - 50: Unacceptable Offer

    <h4>Chapter 205 Volume IV - Chapter 50: Uneptable Offer</h4>


    Over and over again.


    Every minute, every hour, every day.


    In different ways, in different methods.


    Yet that wasn''t the worst of it.


    The worst was the addiction.


    They made me take it thrice a day at first, but now I could take it once every two days.


    During the first period, my whole body would start shaking. Then I would start to suffer from thirst. I would feel like my organs were being squeezed. Then I would feel my stomach start to burn, and drinking anything other than the drug would never take away that burning sensation.


    After that, the pain would continue to increase. My body would writhe for it, yet they would never give it to me until I was at my worst.


    Of all the tortures, this was the worst.


    After a while, when I realized that I was bing extremely weak from hunger and bad conditions, I felt something inside me change.


    The day I saw the amount of dried blood that belonged to me pooling on the floor, I stopped thinking about how to get out of here.


    I bit my tongue and tried tomit suicide.


    Only to be thwarted again and again by another ''me''.


    *******


    I had a dream.


    A dream filled with my desires.


    It was a dream of the family I wanted to have in the future.


    I had friends.


    There was Sue.


    There was ra.


    I was in myte twenties. I had a detached house on a green in.


    I had my children.


    I was... I was happy.


    Is that why it was a dream?


    When I woke up, when I saw the gray wall in front of me and a dwarf came into my field of vision, I smiled for no reason.


    Why can''t I just die?


    *******


    As the sound of footsteps echoed behind me, I raised my head and looked up at the ceiling as my new torturer tried to choose what to do to me.


    I felt the Absolute Mind trying to calm me down, trying to make it easier for me to ignore the pain.


    It was the same as always. First, my mind slowly cleared, then the pain returned and after a while, the limit of the skill was exceeded again.


    As the poisonous, burning needles were inserted into my skin, into every part of my exposed skin, a question arose in my mind.


    Before I came here... what was I doing?


    *******


    "I''m tellin'' ye, that one''s no good anymore. Not a reaction from him. Hard to believe, but he has grown ustomed."


    I closed my eyes as the dwarf spoke in front of me with his bracelet on his arm.


    No pain... none.


    Strange...


    How long has it been? How long have I been here?


    I pushed my mind, I thought about what I was doing before I came here.


    Oh, right...


    How could I forget?


    Ezareth, and Dorhud... south and north¡­? battlefield. Caleuche¡­


    A few weeks?


    A couple months? No, it couldn''t have happened that long...


    "Understood."


    When the dwarf finished talking to his bracelet, he looked at my face and sighed with a slight smile.


    "It was fun."


    Then his hard, curved fistnded on my face again. My teeth chattered and the world went dark... as always.


    *******


    The gray clouds continued to move slowly, peacefully.


    Under the overcast sky, the rain was pouring down, soaking my clothes.


    I didn''t care much, though.


    It felt foreign. Everything I saw with my eyes was strange.


    I squinted my eyes as I continued to look at the sky. I found this silence, this peace... I found it disturbing. It wasn''t this, I was supposed to be somewhere else.


    I shouldn''t be here.


    ''Tenebra, have you made your choice?''


    "Do I have another choice?"


    When I heard my own voice, I noticed something strange.


    It didn''t seem to belong to me. It was also a foreign voice.


    It was also soulless, without emotion. It was like an empty shell.


    It was wrong, like me being ''here''.


    Even as my lips curved slightly upward... my smile was devoid of emotion.


    "I hope you won''t be sorry."


    The clouds stopped moving. The lights of the city, which seemed to be constantly blinking, suddenly stopped. The colors, the colors of the world, faded and grayed one by one.


    Time seemed frozen. And yet I could still move.


    ''What does this mean, Tenebra?''


    I stood up without saying anything.


    Until now I had been sitting on the terrace of a huge building.


    A terrace in the heart of the city. Now it was cut off from the flow of time.


    "It''s nothing."


    The voices, so many voices, different from each other but feeling the same, came out even louder and harsher than they already were, as if in anger.


    ''Tenebra, don''t you dare make a stupid mistake. You are blessed with knowledge, you should know what a mistake means.''


    I looked at the sun, faintly visible behind the clouds, not even it was moving.


    It was as if time had stopped, not in this city, but in the entire universe.


    "Of course, I know."


    I stopped myself and sighed lightly before the smile on my face widened even more.


    "There is one point where I disagree with you, though."


    I turned away, heading toward the door of the terrace as the flow of time slowly returned to normal.


    "This is not a blessing."


    My eyes fell to the floor. I felt a pain in my heart as my voice, which felt like it wasing out of a hollow shell, left me even more soulless than it was.


    It was not a physical pain. Yet it was literally different from any other.


    It felt like it was draining my soul. Dulling my mind.


    "It''s just a curse."


    *******


    My eyes opened with a sharp, painful throbbing I felt when I was thrown to the ground and hit my head against the wall.


    I tried to move my wrists reflexively, but something instantly pressed my hands against the wall, preventing me from moving them and binding something to them.


    As my vision cleared, I saw what had happened to my hands. They were chained.


    This gave me the opportunity to finally see the person in front of me. As usual, it was a dwarf.


    After chaining my hands, the dwarf stepped back and looked at me briefly. Then, without a word, he took a deep breath and walked out of my new room.


    With that, he slowly closed the door to the room. The amount of lighting in was greatly reduced and I realized where I was.


    I was in a dungeon, a dark one, with so little light that almost nothing could be seen.


    After a while, a sound caught my attention.


    A hissing and crawling sound. At the same time, a pair of eyes in the darkness looked up at me.


    "Ha- cough...! Ahahaha..."


    I ignored the eyes that seemed to be moving toward me and hit my head back against the wall.


    Is this it?


    More voices followed as the thing crawled closer to me.


    First, I saw a few more pairs of glowing eyes, then another sound, and with my eyes getting used to the darkness I saw another creature... It was a centipede.


    *******


    I felt dizzy. I kept throwing up from the venom of snakes and centipedes. It wasn''t long before I realized that these animals were trained. Because they never poisoned me to death or tore my flesh.


    I survived every time, even though I wished to die over and over again, with infected wounds all over my body, drinking poison every day instead of water, being offered the dead bodies of these poisonous animals instead of food, but I always survived.


    I had no contact with any person. Apart from snakes and centipedes, I never saw a single moving being separate from myself.


    The only thing that kept me connected to reality was the dreams I had.


    Whether they were dreams of my desired, dreams of my past, or dreams as Aiden. Even if I couldn''t remember any of thest one properly, there was a lot more of it that stayed with me now than before.


    Aiden talking to himself against the void, for example. I couldn''t remember who he was talking to, or the voice of the person he was talking to. Maybe he was schizophrenic, I don''t know, but details like that connected me to reality and to being alive.


    So I kept reminding myself who I was.


    Once again... the days passed.


    Maybe it hasn''t...


    "H- h¡­ ey¡­"


    My eyes fell on one of the snakes on the floor.


    "Can you... not bite s- so much... today?"


    The snake didn''t care and opened its mouth, sinking its fangs into my foot. I smiled and coughed several times as I felt a small amount of its venom enter my body and enter my bloodstream.


    Did I go crazy?


    No... I couldn''t think like that if I was crazy, could I? Absolute Mind wouldn''t allow it anyway...


    Or will it?


    It hasn''t been working properly for a while... It''s active and inactive.


    I don''t know...


    With these thoughts, a strange one slowly surfaced.


    Why am I being tortured?


    Just because of the existence of the Spiritual Ascension and my help to Dorhud?


    No... Impossible... I can''t go through so much just because of these two things.


    Are they having fun? Are they doing it on purpose?


    I don''t understand...


    Why?


    It''s ridiculou-


    My thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the long-closed door of my room. A dwarf entered, a cold looking dwarf with his hands behind his back.


    The snakes and centipedes in the room shuffled out of the way and disappeared into the darkness, as if in deference to him. Then the dwarf slowly looked me up and down. Meanwhile, I also looked at him.


    There were countless insignia on his uniform. Each one symbolizing how high his rank was in the army.


    Maybe I would have known who he was if my memory hadn''t gone haywire, but I didn''t even try.


    "Aiden Tenebra."


    He didn''t speak in a strange ent like the rest of the dwarves. He was also fluent in Lunar, one of the twonguages used by humans. At least the two words he said made me feel that way.


    "I havee to make you an offer."


    He approached me, ignoring the state of my body. He ignored the filth in the room and looked sternly into my eyes.


    "How would you like to fight for the South Hr? People as tough as you are hard to find."


    My lips curled upward. It hurt because they were dry and cracked, but I didn''t care and smiled broadly.


    "Hahahahahah... HAHAH...!"


    After all you''ve done to me?


    "This offer is a chance for you to get out of here, Aiden. I suggest you don''t underestimate it."


    No way...


    There''s no getting out of here.


    Even if I join the army, they won''t let me go free. Besides... the thing inside me won''t allow it, it will never let me get out of here.


    What happens if the word ''okay''es out of my mouth? It can''t, but what if it does?


    I... No, I won''t think.


    I remained silent and the dwarf continued to stare into my eyes. After a short silence between us, he sighed, his eyes narrowed.


    "I think your answer is negative."


    Again, I did not answer him. Then, frustrated, he turned to the door, without looking at me again, not even once.


    "So be it, Aiden Tenebra. Rot in this hole forever. When the timees, I''ll make sure you see your friends and your sister firsthand when we step foot where they are."


    I couldn''t say anything as the dwarf walked out. I could only hear him say something to someone outside before the door to the room literally mmed shut, something that made me frozen in ce.


    "Make it heavier."

 Chapter 206 Volume IV - 51: White Furred Tiger

    <h4>Chapter 206 Volume IV - Chapter 51: White Furred Tiger</h4>


    I held my breath, didn''t move a muscle, and just stood where I was.


    The ground shook like an earthquake. An intense, suffocating pressure spread through the atmosphere. I narrowed my eyes and hid my mana, my being. I didn''te out from behind the stone I was hiding behind, I didn''t even take my eyes off where I was looking.


    ''Wait a little longer, Adrian.''


    If I hadn''t restrained myself, I would have started shaking from breathlessness, from stress. Still, when my life is at stake... There was nothing else I could do.


    And so the ground continued to shake. Seconds passed, then minutes. Finally, when the amount of shaking had significantly decreased, I heard a voice in my mind.


    ''You cane out now, but don''t stop paying attention.''


    I took a quiet but deep breath, rose slightly from my hiding ce, looked into the distance, and focused on one thing in particr.


    A neck the length of a long apartment building and above that neck the neck of a creature I had never seen before in my life. I couldn''t see its face, but I didn''t need to. I could still feel the ground shaking from its steps.


    It was strong, so strong that even if it had noticed me, it probably wouldn''t have cared about me.


    For a brief moment, as I looked at the creature, I wondered how I was still alive. It didn''tst long, though, and I quickly started moving in the opposite direction from where the creature hade from.


    How long has it been?


    I looked at my watch, and the date told me that I had been here for a couple of weeks.


    More precisely, I had just finished the third week and was about to enter the fourth.


    I put my watch down and kept moving forward, hiding. After weeks of moving forward, where I was now was a ''rocky'' ce. There were not many trees around, but there were indeed a lot of ''stones'', big and small.


    There were such huge stones that one could almost see entire hills made of a single stone. The ground was already made of stones that resembled pebbles. At the same time, I had moved so deep into the Neutral that every creature I encountered was stronger than me.


    The only beings I could fight were weak, powerless hatchlings.


    Without Lithoa''s guidance, I would have been dead from the start. He... He knew this ce, the creatures, what was dangerous and what was safe, like the back of his hand.


    ''Do you see the hill in front of you?''


    It was hard not to see what he was talking about. Because it was the most prominent thing in the area. Arge, wide, and huge hill that started to rise with a slight slope and increased in slope as it rose... Like a mountain range, it stretched for quite a long distance in a way that prevented me from seeing behind it.


    I think it would be more urate to call them ''mountains'' rather than hills...


    ''After you cross that hill, you wille to a hugeke. The opposite side of theke will be snowy, at least it should be if the climate hasn''t changed. You will head toward that snowy side, but before you enter that area, you will head northeast toward another hill you can barely see out of the corner of your eye.''


    I don''t know why, but this time his voice sounded different from the previous times. It was more... definite.


    ''Are we close?''


    ''Yes, almost. My house is in that hill you can see out of the corner of your eye.''


    I swallowed slightly, took a deep breath, and looked up at the sky for a brief moment.


    Lithoa''s house was close. I was really close to my goal.


    All I had to do was hang on for a few more days and most of my work would be done.


    I picked up my pace a little, my steps quicker. I was impatient because I was curious about what I would encounter in the ce where Lithoa used to live, what I would learn, and what abilities I would acquire.


    Nevertheless, it didn''t take me long to stop after I quickened my pace.


    I paused, and for a moment the silence of death surrounded me. The wind, the insects, the birds, the branches of the trees... Everything had stopped moving.


    I could understand why nothing moved. Because I was in the same situation.


    My muscles refused to work. I felt a strange, frightening sensation all over my body that prevented me from moving a muscle.


    I wanted to look around to see what was causing this feeling, but I couldn''t even do that. It was as if my body was under someone else''s control, not obeying me.


    Then I heard a growling sound, and my eyes widened as the sound of footsteps on the stones,rge and small, filled my ears. I looked here and there with my eyes, the only organ I could move, looking for something.


    I still couldn''t find it.


    ''Lithoa!''


    ''What Lithoa, brat! Run!


    My heart elerated, and adrenaline spread throughout my body. My muscles suddenly released at Lithoa''smand. Mana joined the natural flow coursing through me, forcing it to flow even more violently, and I looked behind me, craning my neck against the pressure, albeit forcefully.


    A huge, white-colored fur greeted me. I was locked in ice blue eyes that seemed to look down on me, on everything here. The vertical pupils that found a ce in these eyes pierced my soul.


    A tiger, a gigantic tiger. All four limbs were swollen, ready to react at any moment. Pouncing on me was one of these ''reactions''.


    Each moment I gazed into its vertical pupils, I felt more and more intense pressure.


    I should have listened to Lithoa, why did I look back? I should have run, I should have used Mana Ascension and gotten away with everything I had.


    Why didn''t I do it?


    Am I going to die?


    How many times have I alreadye back from death... I can survive this too, right?


    In this way, in the midst of all this tension and all these thoughts, suddenly something happened.


    I heard a voice, a voice echoing in my mind.


    Augh.


    ''Pft, ahahaha!''


    Lithoa suddenly startedughing for no reason.


    I couldn''t understand what had happened. The expression on my face changed, and then Lithoa''s voice echoed in my mind again.


    ''Don''t tremble, stand up straight. Keep your gaze cold. The tiger you see in front of you is named Kari. Command her by name.''


    Ah...


    No way...


    I did as he said. The huge tiger hesitated for a moment as my gaze cooled on her. Then I spoke sternly, just as it had been described to me.


    "Kari, please stay where you are..."


    The tiger suddenly trembled. I saw her vertical pupils dte into a circle, and then I saw her white fur slowly fall down.


    "Introduce yourself, tell her that I am your master.


    "My name is Adrian Caleo, I am Lithoa''s student, I am here to find his home."


    The huge tiger looked me up and down with her vertical eyes. She looked hesitant, yet her hostility was gone.


    ''You can say that my soul is with you, tell her about the deal you made with me. She will trust you more if she knows I am alive.''


    As I told the tiger everything I knew about Lithoa, what had happened the day I met him, the tiger sat quietly and listened. She understood me. She couldn''t speak maybe but she certainly understood. Maybe she could also speak but she preferred to remain silent.


    It was frightening, actually. To have a creature standing in front of me that could probably kill me with one swipe of its w... It was really scary. Yet strangely, I realized that the more I talked, the morefortable I became in front of her.


    She didn''t have that strange aura that the creatures had. The more I told her about Lithoa, the more I told her that he was alive and connected to me... the more friendly she seemed.


    Finally, when I asked her briefly if she could help me, there was a short silence between us.


    The silence made me swallow involuntarily, even though the air around her was fine for the moment.


    When the tiger suddenly got up on all fours, I almost jumped out of ce, but when I saw that she was still standing where she was and that her pupils were still round, I took a deep breath.


    The tiger just looked at me for a moment. I also kept looking at her and then I started sweating. It was strange. I didn''t know what she was trying to tell me, what her purpose was.


    ''She''s waiting for you to get on.''


    She''s waiting for me to get on...


    Wait, what?


    I nced briefly at the tiger. She looked like an honorable creature, noble. Is she letting me sit on her?


    Lithoa is not fooling me, right...?


    ''Kari is a good friend, you can stroke her fur if you want. You''ll like her, she''s not as honorable or stubborn as she looks. In fact, she''s kind of a smarmy thing.''


    I nced at the tiger who was still standing where he was.


    Smarmy? This tiger here...?


    No... I''m not going to try.


    I swallowed, and that''s how I approached her. Although I was still a little scared, I gently put my hand on her and then the tiger leaned slightly.


    My heart skipped a beat as I climbed on top of her in one swift movement. I expected her to throw me off her back and show her fangs, but she didn''t do anything wrong.


    In fact, she seemed content,pletely contrary to her presence. As the tiger started to move, I realized that this was the first time I had ever done this in my entire life.


    I had never ridden on any animal in my life, let alone such a powerful creature, so... it was even stranger for me than it already was.


    The tiger moved slowly at first. It seemed to wait for me to get used to her as if she realized I wasn''t veryfortable. Nevertheless, she slowly increased her speed. After a while, though, I gave myself over to her, jumping here and there as she quickly climbed up the mountain Lithoa wanted me to ovee.


    I smiled involuntarily as I held on to her thick fur, the wind hitting my face with a pleasant sensation. I had never imagined it would be like this. However, what I was feeling now was excitement.


    It was fun.


    Yet there was something else that made me feel excited.


    Lithoa''s house, my target, was now closer to me than ever.

 Chapter 207 Volume IV - 52: Becoming an Ugly Person

    <h4>Chapter 207 Volume IV - Chapter 52: Bing an Ugly Person</h4>


    I tried to make out my surroundings as I reconnected to the metal thing I hadn''t seen in a long time. I involuntarily squinted as I stared at the usual gray wall. Then, when everything was ready, a new torturer I had never seen before came in front of me, pulling a knife from behind my back.


    "Hello."


    It was a in-looking dwarf with a smiling face, a woman.


    The smiling faces were the worst.


    When she raised my head, bringing the knife close to my chin, she looked me in the eyes. Her smile widened, then she pulled a syringe from her pocket and hit me on the neck.


    It was the same as before, so I knew what I was up against. I tried to prepare myself, or at least I did.


    However, the dwarf, after pulling the syringe from my neck and throwing it aside, brought the knife to my hand. She ced the knife on my finger as if she were cutting a fruit and turned back to me.


    She stood there for a moment, her smile widening.


    My finger?


    Finger...


    Ah...


    My eyes widened. The dwarf widened her smile in response. Then, without even waiting a moment, she brought the jagged knife down on the ring finger of my right hand.


    The pain from the syringe waspounded when the de sliced my finger open. And I screamed from the top of my lungs.


    My throat was burning, saliva smeared on my chin, but I didn''t care.


    I looked at my finger out of the corner of my eyes and felt sick to my stomach when I saw it dangling, clinging to my hand with only my skin. Absolute Mind stepped in, as it always does, and calmed me down for a brief moment. Still, when I saw my finger again, I felt nauseous again.


    When the dwarf grabbed my dangling finger and pulled it away, a much more intense pain enveloped my body. As I watched my blood run down my finger and fall to the floor, I vomited as I realized that I could no longer feel it as I saw that there was a void where my finger should have been.


    "Come on,e on... I''m really curious, unlike the others."


    I couldn''t say a word as a hand, which she couldn''t see but I could feel with every fiber of my being, covered my mouth.


    After a while, she gave me more of the drug that had increased the pain. She approached my left hand, and with the same dull knife, she struck hard on my pinky finger.


    As my screams filled the room and my tears flowed unceasingly, I felt the Absolute Mind overstepping its limits again and again, losing its effect and thening back again after a while.


    My thoughts became confused, and when my pinky finger waspletely detached from my left hand, I vomited again over the fact that I had lost another finger.


    Then the dwarf lifted the finger she had separated from my body and looked me in the eye.


    Sje just stared at me for a while as I moaned, clenched my teeth, and tried not to vomit. Even though I couldn''t see her properly because of my tears, I saw her lips curl up and she threw my pinky backward, rolling it on the floor like it was nothing.


    "You have beautiful eyes, gray irises are notmon."


    He slowly brought the knife closer to my right eye, then smiled again.


    "If one of ''em were to be mine, no harm done, right? I''m collectin'', ye see."


    "N- no..."


    I turned my head to the side but she stabilized it with her left hand. I tried with all my strength to turn my head, ignoring the pain in my fingers when she held the knife in front of me.


    "N- no!"


    Then the cold metal entered my eye.


    The right side of my vision turned red and then dark, apanied by intense pain.


    My screams filled the room once again.


    *******


    I was thrown into the dungeon... again. The only thing that kept me from passing out was the pain as my hands were chained again.


    My hands felt like they were on fire because of the three missing fingers. The other fingers that had been skinned again were not healed this time, they were still bleeding. They would get infected and hurt even more.


    My right eye was burning too.


    I never imagined that I would lose parts of my body to torture. I never thought they would go this far.


    It was hard to ept being injured, but not impossible.


    But to lose a part of my body? To feel that it was no longer there... To know and see that my finger, which I used to be able to move without any problems, was gone.


    This was just the beginning. Little by little they were going to go further, little by little they were going to take parts of me. I knew it, it wasn''t hard to understand.


    A question slowly appeared in my mind. It was the usual one, yet more intense than the previous ones.


    Why?


    Again, thoughts began to fill my mind. I thought I had gotten over it, I thought I was used to it. Now, the Absolute Mind was kicking in again, but I didn''t care.


    I sobbed, cried again. Snakes, centipedes, and spiders tried to get close to me, but I kicked them away. Some tried to sink their teeth into me, some seeded. Some of them tore a few pieces of my flesh from me, like my missing fingers and my right eye. Then they chewed them and retreated back into the darkness.


    "W... w- why?"


    Why?


    Why am I in this state?


    I... I don''t understand.


    Why should I suffer?


    Why should I be tortured?


    Why should I be ''punished''?


    Why... just why?


    I...


    "I..."


    I don''t understand...


    What did I do? What did I do to deserve this...?


    "Hick- H- Help..."


    Why am I alone again?


    "Please... eugh!- Pl... ea... se..."


    I don''t want to...


    I don''t want to anymore...


    I tried to bite my tongue, but I didn''t even have to be restrained. My jaw, my weak body,cked the necessary strength.


    Why... Why can''t I just die?


    As my vision slowly darkened, I felt the connection between me and my world fading away. Yet I didn''t resist, I let myself go.


    Fainting was good. It would take away some of the pain.


    At least... At least it was when I wasn''t dreaming.


    *******


    As I stood on the lush green grass, I looked meaninglessly at the sky. The deep blue sky, covered with clouds in ces, gave me peace with the sun beating down on my face.


    I turned around, looked around, and found a few people standing side by side.


    In front of me was everyone I had met in this world. My friends, people I had only spoken to once, people I had threatened, and so on. They were smiling, standing where they were, but they were there.


    I took a step toward them, involuntarily. Then... they all disappeared in an instant.


    I paused, a cold feeling came over me and I shivered. I ran to where they were, I darted from ce to ce, I looked for them, I looked for where they were, but I couldn''t find a single one of them.


    Finally, somewhere far away, I saw two people.


    A sudden smile appeared on my face and I started running towards them. As I got closer, I saw who they were, Sue and ra.


    They were both looking at me, smiling, just like the others.


    I tried to go to them, I tried to stand next to them, even if I was in a dream, even if it wasn''t real, I wanted to be with them.


    Yet as soon as I tried, the expression on both their faces turned sour.


    "H- ha?"


    I didn''t understand, I paused and tried toprehend what they were looking at.


    Finally, I saw my own body, my torso covered in all kinds of scars, my missing fingers. As the right side of my vision faded into darkness, as I was literally shortened by my weakness, they both turned their backs to me and started to walk away.


    "N- no,e back...e back!"


    I ran after them. They were walking slowly, yet they seemed to be several times faster than me. As they moved away from me, disappearing behind a hill that blocked my view of them, all I could do was struggle and watch them go.


    Finally, when I was the only one left on this huge field, the grass surrounding it suddenly turned yellow. They started to burn, because of me; I was the center of the me.


    I knelt down, punching the ground as tears fell.


    "C-e back...e back... please..."


    My vision was blurred by my tears. I punched the ground again as the mes enveloped the whole area, painting the sky red.


    The red that surrounded me slowly distorted. The darkness slowly enveloped me and the blurred vision began to fade.


    When my eyes opened and I found myself in a dark room, in my own hell, my mouth dropped open. For a moment, I felt nothing inside me, I didn''t want to do anything as an emptiness, like nothing I had ever felt before, enveloped my body.


    My mouth closed on its own, and despite my infected wounds and my body copsed from the poison, I continued to look ahead for a few hours. A few hours of staring nkly, meaninglessly ahead.


    Or was it day...?


    I thought nothing, forced my mind to think nothing, ignored the pain, ignored the trained animals prowling around the room, and waited.


    There were no questions. No thoughts. There was no pain. There was nothing, I was alone, alone with my own loneliness, and strangely... It didn''t feel bad.


    It didn''t feel good, either. Maybe that''s why I was just standing there doing nothing. It didn''t feel good, yes, but it didn''t feel bad.


    There was just... nothing. And it was good.


    So I just kept going, even if I kept getting poisoned, even if I kept getting bitten, I just kept looking ahead and waiting.

 Chapter 208 Volume IV - 53: A Dark Hand Offering Hope

    <h4>Chapter 208 Volume IV - Chapter 53: A Dark Hand Offering Hope</h4>


    A light, not very bright, but one I had seen for a long time, caught my eye. The door opened slowly. Then a dwarf came in.


    It was the same dwarf, the same person who had visited me before. His hands were behind his back, he had that cold look on his face. His beard was shaved this time, and for the first time, I noticed his pale green eyes.


    "I want to tell you something, Aiden Tenebra."


    The dwarf narrowed his eyes. Something seemed to be bothering him.


    "Why are you so stubborn? Is the secret you''re hiding really that big? Are you even willing to die for it?"


    He bent down, knelt, and put his hand on my shoulder.


    "I get reports about you every day. You''re scared, crying, screaming, but you keep quiet. You don''t even try to lie, you just shut up. Why?"


    He curled her lips upward and smiled.


    "Let me tell you something."


    He waited a while, looked back. He sighed and closed the door, which allowed light into the room. Darkness enveloped the room again and he leaned against the door as if he didn''t care.


    "You''re more important than you realize, Aiden Tenebra."


    I don''t know if he was manipting me to his will or if he really thought I was important, but I was strangely intrigued, so I involuntarily listened to him in the middle of the nothingness I felt.


    "What I want from you is not what you used in that battle. What I want from you is not why you helped Dorhud Gen''dai, not how you knew him. I want you to tell me the story of your life, Aiden. I want to hear everything you remember from the day you were born, everything you''ve been through to this point."


    He paused, and for the first time, I saw emotion in his expressionless face. It was impatience, a little excitement.


    "If you do what I say, Aiden, we will not only win this war. If you tell me what I want to hear, we can rule this world in the future, and you... You can have a steady job in a huge mansion earning millions of wels while all this happens."


    He stretched, even if slightly, and continued solemnly.


    "I swear on my honor as a dwarf, on my name, Kahdun Sou''hard, all you have to do is give me what I want and you will be free of this hell. Once the South Hr rule the whole Lunerra, you can live a decent life, even with your family and friends. You don''t have to fight, you don''t have to struggle. A happy life with them."


    A smile appeared on his face again. He stood up from the door he was leaning against and approached me. Then he looked at me with hope and expectation.


    "End this stubbornness and live a happy life for the rest of your life."


    I took my eye off him and turned it to the wall.


    A decent life...


    I can forget this ce. I can get out of here. I don''t even have to work to get stronger. I can live a peaceful life for the rest of my life with what will be given to me. With my family. With ra, maybe Sue.


    I paused, and an image shed through my mind. An image of me sitting in a small room in a mansion. I had a smile on my face, I was at peace.


    I opened my mouth, and the hope on Kahdun''s face became clearer. His lips curled higher than ever.


    Then something appeared in my vision. A pair of glowing, purple eyes.


    My mouth, which I had opened, just stayed open. I stiffened in an instant.


    Kahdun Sou''hard continued to stare at me for a while. He gripped my shoulder tightly, waiting for an answer.


    Seconds passed. Maybe a few minutes... We both just waited.


    Kahdun said nothing, he finally stood up and headed out without looking back once. Before he left, though, he spoke in a particrly harsh, precise tone.


    "I will find your family, Aiden. I''m putting it at the top of my to-do list. I''m going to organize a group for your sister and your friends right now. You will have no choice but to give me what you want... When you have nothing left to lose, you will have no choice, I won''t even let you die."


    After the door closed, after the darkness enveloped my body again, my mouth closed. I swallowed involuntarily despite the pain in my dry throat. I cried silently as tears welled up in my eyes again, as thoughts flooded my mind again.


    Adrian, Julian, Alexander, Lucia, Celine, Sue, ra...


    I... I put everyone in danger.


    They''ll all get caught because of me.


    They''ll all die because of me.


    Because of me.


    Because of me...


    Because of me...


    I...


    I paused.


    Why am I still alive? Why am I still hurting the people I love? Here, all I do is keep quiet, but why do my friends get hurt again and again because of me?


    Why...?


    Something happened. I felt something breaking inside me, and right after that, I felt something sprouting in my mind, deep inside.


    No, it wasn''t sprouting. It was like a flower blooming. It was the blossoming of something that had already sprouted. It was something strange blooming in the midst of all this darkness, all this pain.


    Then, suddenly, a voice whispered in my ear, as if it had been waiting for this all this time...


    ''Do you want to escape, Aiden?''


    I heard a voice, my old voice, whispering but also echoing throughout the whole room.


    ''Answer me, Aiden. Do you want to survive? Do you want to get revenge?''


    Do I want to get out...?


    Can I... can I get out of here?


    No... it''s impossible. Even if I do, only worse things will happen to me, to others.


    I paused, then another thought came to me.


    Shouldn''t I... just die?


    ''Aiden, I''m asking you.''


    In front of me, in this room where there was nothing but dirt and darkness, something materialized. Someone with purple eyes and dark brown hair. He was serious, not smiling. He was also determined.


    ''Aid- No, Ethan Subter.''


    Ethan... that was my name, wasn''t it?


    I... I had forgotten it again, in this hell... I had forgotten my name again, trying not to think about anything.


    "What did youe to this world for?"


    For what...


    I came here to be happy, didn''t I?


    Happy?


    Hahaha... That''s... kind of funny.


    ''I guess you don''t care about yourself. But are you sure you don''t care about your sister? Or the girl you love, are you going to ignore her too? And your friends? Celine?''


    I paused, feeling the thing that had been brewing in my mind slowly spreading through my body.


    ''Now, do you want to get out of here, not for yourself, but for them? For a better future, in the end, to be happy with them when it''s all over.''


    I...


    I want to.


    I want to get out of here...


    I want to escape this hell.


    I don''t want to suffer.


    I don''t want to die.


    My friends, Sue, ra, Celine... I don''t want anyone to get hurt.


    I... I want to leave this cursed ce.


    With that, my wiera side reached out his hand to me. This time with a slight smile on his face. And I, looking at his smile, epted his offer.


    A purple glow slowly appeared in the dark room. I felt a warmth inside me, right in my chest, and then this warmth slowly spread all over my body, moving toward my hand. My vision slowly turned purple, the caora spread from the heat in my chest, enveloped my whole body, and then gathered in my right arm.


    When the chains melted and released my right hand, my emaciated hand, missing the ring finger, fell to the ground.


    It was hard, my whole body was on the verge of copse. My infected wounds were hurting me. But I tried anyway. I forced my arm up, and then extended my hand toward him.


    Caora, meanwhile, wrapped the bracelet that seemed to have merged with my skin. It melted it as if it were nothing. As the mana began to flow through my body again, I felt my weakened body regain some strength. Then one notification after another appeared in front of me.


    Notifications that I should have seen before but couldn''t because my mana was restricted.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! Your Endurance statistic has increased to D- due to your willpower in the face of pain!


    Congrattions! Your Vitality statistic has increased to D thanks to your sess in holding on to life despite your condition!


    Congrattions! Your Stamina statistic has increased to D for resisting despite the amount of poison you were exposed to!


    Congrattions! Your Vitality statistic has increased to D+ thanks to your sess in clinging on to life despite your condition!


    ...


    ------------------------------>>


    Wiera side of me grasped my hand tightly without waiting. The smile on his face suddenly, for no reason at all, grew wider than ever.


    "Well done, Aiden."


    He looked happy, like he had achieved his goal.


    In the midst of all these notifications, after that strange feeling in my mind; a new notification appeared.


    I looked at the notification with a strange emptiness inside me as the whole room was covered in a purple glow, as the caora enveloped my whole body and spread throughout the room, corroding everything in its path.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! Your [Absolute Mind(A-)] skill has improved to A grade due to the countless times you have pushed it even beyond its limits by exceeding its limit so many times!


    ------------------------------>>

 Chapter 209 Volume IV - 54: An Escaped Captive

    <h4>Chapter 209 Volume IV - Chapter 54: An Escaped Captive</h4>


    I slowly and calmly entered my room, the room where, as the highest-ranking person in Caleuche, I could control everything.


    It was arge room. Inside, my assistants and a few staff members were tinkering with the ship''s control mechanisms and giving instructions. They could control most things on the holographic screens in front of them, and they could do it just by thinking. They didn''t even need to move their bodies in any way.


    Seeing me enter, one of the assistants bowed slightly.


    "General Kahdun, wee sir."


    At his words, everyone else in the room stopped what they were doing for a moment and turned to me. They bowed their heads in the same way.


    I raised my hand and nodded in acknowledgment of their respect for me, and everyone went back to their work.


    I took a deep breath, moved towards my seat, and let myself sink into it. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore all the noises around me.


    I was thinking, and what I was thinking about, or rather who I was thinking about, was of course Aiden Tenebra.


    He was supposed to be a nobody. He was above average for the battlefield and had mysterious powers, but he was not someone who stood out. He was one of those surprise eggs that pop up in every battle. Yet he had been captured and was now a captive.


    He wasn''t someone I should take seriously, and his background didn''t seem mysterious.


    I frowned, remembering what happened when his name came out of my mouth. I could never forget what happened then.


    How could I forget one of those rare moments when I trembled with fear, despite my rank, despite my position on this ship, despite my authority?


    "Aiden... Tenebra? Tenebra, you say?"


    I involuntarily reyed that moment in my mind, remembered it again, heard that voice again, remembered that smile, that feeling that made my whole being tremble, and I shook my head from side to side.


    I think about useless things, I just have to fulfill the task I have been given. As long as I break the boy even more, as long as I ruin his sanity, I can get everything I want from him.


    So I took a deep breath, focused on the countless reports in front of me, and randomly clicked on one of them.


    I started reading the report, it was one of the usual simple reports.


    I didn''t get a chance to continue with the report, though... The report was blocked by another window that simultaneously appeared on the screen in front of me as it grewrger.


    "Hmm?"


    Surprised, I squinted through my furrowed brows and focused on the window.


    Suddenly an ear-splittingly loud rm went off throughout the entire ship.


    "What''s going on?!"


    I quickly turned around, looking at the other dwarves working behind my room. Their eyes were wide, they all looked shocked.


    "I''M TALKING TO YOU!"


    Soon one of them spoke, without taking his eyes off the screen in front of him.


    "A- a captive... A captive escaped from the d- dungeon!"


    Everyone looked at me at once, waiting for orders with a meaningless expression in their eyes. The sound of the rm was still echoing, a sound I did not expect to hear on this huge ship.


    Yet what I heard was something I would never have expected to hear, let alone thought possible.


    "Someone... escaped?"


    Thousands of thoughts instantly went through my mind.


    Everyone in the dungeon is weak, powerless. Even their mana must be restricted.


    Even if one of them managed to get out of the dungeon, what could they have done to set off the loudest rm on the ship, to shock the crew?


    "Transfer the camera footage to my screen."


    Without waiting for them, I turned around, and an image instantly appeared in front of me.


    A long, wide corridor with white walls appeared on the screen. It was a simple corridor, like the general design of the ship, but even for the general design, this ce was too simple.


    It was done that way on purpose. The inside of the dungeons, even the torture chambers, were left like this intentionally. Restrained colors, few visible objects... Everything was an attack on the psychology of the prisoner held inside.


    Yet now another ''color'' was added to this monotonous design. The whole corridor glowed with a purple glow.


    In the center of the screen was a captive''s room with a door that looked as if it had melted. Just in front of this door stood a thin, really thin man.


    His right hand, with a purple artificial finger where his ring finger should have been, rested on the head of the worker who was bringing him food. The purple glow that spread throughout the room, especially from his hand, was moving toward the man''s head.


    The man opened his mouth and mumbled something. Just then, with his one remaining eye, Aiden Tenebra looked up at the camera as if he could see me directly, even though I was looking at him through the screen, even though we were not face to face.


    His left eye, once gray, now shone with a fierce, violet glow. His exhausted, devastated look had been reced by a cold person whose thoughts could not be read in any way. He looked like someone, a man with soulless eyes that made me shiver every time I saw him.


    No, it was not a simple resemnce. What I felt when I looked at him was exactly the same as what I felt when I looked at ''that'' man. I was startled.


    With his one remaining eye, Aiden Tenebra pointed his left hand, also with artificial ring and pinkie fingers, at the camera.


    With that, a purple glow filled the entire field of view of the camera and the image disappeared in an instant.


    Time began to flow again, the breath I had been struggling to hold in finally came out, and I put my hand on my chest to try to make my breathing more regr.


    I reyed what I had seen over and over again in my mind''s eye, my mouth agape. A young man who only a few hours ago I had seen on the verge of insanity, who was supposed to be emaciated and extremely thin, was now causing something like this.


    But that wasn''t the main thing that caused me to be surprised, that made me freeze. Apart from the fact that he looked like that man, it was the fact that he had something that few people had inmon among the few people whose existence in this life I feared, who managed to make me tremble inside.


    "Everyone..."


    It was the purple energy, caora as those beings called it, so Aiden Tenebra was a wiera just like them.


    "Direct everyone to where the captive is! Neutralize him now, you can kill him; I don''t care what you do... Hurry!"


    Soon the room was inplete chaos. Beads of sweat gathered on my forehead for no reason, but I didn''t bother to wipe them off. I put aside the tension that had enveloped my body and quickly moved from camera to camera, trying to find Aiden Tenebra. After a while, I realized that all the cameras that were heading in one direction had lost their signal one by one.


    Tenebra''s target was a specific room, which was easily visible on the ship''s map.


    "He''s heading to where the prisoners'' belongings are stored."


    The people working behind me paused for a moment at what I said, and then went on with whatever they were doing.


    All the prisoners'' belongings are put in a big warehouse near the dungeon and there are not that many people there. There are a few guards with no knowledge of warfare who are there to check the things inside... There is also security, but they are few.


    If he gets there unhindered... he will have countless useful and useless artifacts, items, and weapons at his disposal. It''s impossible for him to know where the room is, but... He might have gotten it from the dwarf he killed. If he has his card, he can get into the warehouse without any trouble, but that''s not important.


    We... we can''t let him in there.


    I let go of the interrupting camera images and activated the setting on the map that showed the location of the soldiers. Soon, with that, blue dots began to appear on the screen in front of me. Each of them were armed soldiers on their way to kill Aiden Tenebra.


    When Aiden arrived in front of the warehouse - a red dot, as can be seen on the map - the dots on the screen paused.


    Then, in just a few seconds, almost all of them disappeared¡­ as if they had never existed to begin with.

 Chapter 210 Volume IV - 55: A Purple That Reflects Fear

    <h4>Chapter 210 Volume IV - Chapter 55: A Purple That Reflects Fear</h4>


    My eyes twitched as I stared nkly at the screen. I blinked a few times but what I saw in front of me didn''t change, the blue dots were no longer visible on the screen. Only the red dot remained.


    "What? What happened?!"


    I knew the answer, yet I didn''t want to ept the truth.


    "G- General Kahdun, the first unit that encountered the escaped captive... we lost contact."


    I mmed my fist on the table, yet I took a deep breath in and out, knowing I had to keep myposure. I closed and opened my eyes, then entered the camera of the warehouse before it was quickly destroyed.


    The entrance to the huge warehouse appeared in front of me.


    Immediately after the entrance, which was open for several meters, the warehouse was divided into aisles by several intermediate shelves. Each of the shelves was long, each was wide and contained countless cabs and drawers. Some were locked, others were easily essible.


    Following the structure of the warehouse, I first noticed the dwarves trembling with fear inside. They were standing just in front of the partition divided into aisles with intermediate shelves. The employees, who had littlebat training, were all gathered in one spot, with a total of four guards in front of them. They were looking at the door of the warehouse with electric batons in their hands.


    There was an unmistakable tremor in their eyes.


    Soon the door opened and brightly colored purple energy quickly seeped into the room. Then Aiden Tenebra; with one eye and purple vein-like structures covering his whole body; entered. As the guards stood trembling and staring at him, hepletely ignored them and turned his head upward, directly toward the camera. Then, just like the previous ones, this camera''s signal went dead.


    The other cameras in the room had also gone down, all of them at the same time.


    I clicked my tongue.


    "When will the main force get there?"


    "I- In no more than a minute, general."


    "He went into the warehouse, Marnul, who knows how many artifacts are in that warehouse and he has them all right now... Send everyone on the ship there, everyone, do you understand? Not a single person will be interested in anything but him"


    The attendant nodded and quickly turned to the screen in front of him.


    "Give me an image from the closest person there."


    In just a few seconds a window opened on the screen in front of me. It was an image moving along a corridor, he could not be seen because he was strapped to the soldier''s chest, but I was sure of what I would see if he turned around, because the countless footsteps echoing along the corridor were transmitted to me through the image.


    Soon the soldier reached the front of the warehouse. What he saw caused everyone to freeze for a moment.


    The door had melted, as if fused to the wall in a million degrees of heat. It was impossible for the mechanism to work.


    "What are you waiting for? Break the door, open it somehow!"


    There is no other entrance to the warehouse, the only entrance is the sealed door in front of the soldiers. So they have no choice but to open this door.


    Still, we''re not too hopeless. Because on the bright side, Tenebra can''t get out of that room either. I''d say we''ve got him cornered.


    "We''ll be needin'' a few minutes for the door to be open, sir..."


    It was hard not to m my fist on the table.


    A few minutes was enough time for Tenebra to find something useful from the artifacts inside.


    I watched as the second contingent arrived at the front of the warehouse, pushed through the crowd, approached the door and one of them pulled out a strange-looking rifle-like weapon.


    The soldier ced the weapon against the edge of the door and then pulled the trigger. With that, a red glow appeared at the end of the gun''s barrel. Then the soldier slowly pulled the gun upward.


    The points where the red light touched melted, separating the wall and the door. Still, the soldier was slow. I wanted him to be fast, but he couldn''t help it. It was difficult for theser to melt the material used to make the ship.


    So the seconds passed one after the other. One after another, the troops formed an orderly line in the corridor in front of the warehouse door. And it didn''t stop there. Other holes were being drilled above, below, and through the walls on the other side of the warehouse.


    Tenebra waspletely surrounded, and in a short time, a fullplement of soldiers would burst into the warehouse.


    As the seconds turned into minutes, I started biting my lip. I was nervous, there was a little bit of doubt in me. As the holes continued to be drilled, I was thinking.


    If Tenebra could do this in the first ce, why had he been willing to be tortured so much?


    If he had such power, why hadn''t he tried to escape before?


    For another thing, ''that'' man seemed to know a little bit about him. Did he not know that? Or did he know but deliberately ignored it...


    "Sir, the door is open."


    I put my thoughts aside, then returned to the footage. The soldier who opened the door with theser finished his work at this very moment. When thest connection between the door and the wall was broken, he leaned back slightly and then fell to the floor with a loud thud. At the same time, other sounds echoed through the warehouse, other holes had been opened.


    Ignoring them, I focused inside, trying to see what had happened.


    Most of the shelves of the warehouse had copsed on the floor, obviously rummaged through. There were weapons, artifacts, armor, swords, and many other things on the floor.


    There was definitely something missing, Tenebra must have taken a lot of stuff with him if the warehouse had been rummaged through like this. Apart from that, the lights on the ceiling flickered on and off, giving the warehouse an overall eerie atmosphere.


    And the bodies I saw before the room''s camera was broken... They were all on the floor. Some parts of their bodies had been crushed, as if they had been hit by something hard, and much of their skin was burned; it looked like it had been abraded. They had met a painful death.


    "Split int'' groups ''n search every single spot in the room! He must be here somewhere!"


    At the orders of the person in charge, they approached the shelves. As the warehouse was really big, there were tons of ces that no one could see in its current state, and the shelves had been shuffled and overturned, which was an extra challenge.


    So as the countless dwarves began to walk, covering the holes that had been made all over the room and moving deeper into the warehouse, suddenly a sound echoed through the room.


    It was a sound that was hard to make out, yet not impossible to hear in the tense atmosphere. It was someone moaning.


    The man who had provided the footage quickly turned around, and the next thing he saw was the puzzled expression on the face of the person checking the bodies lying on the floor.


    The moaning sound hade from there, from the body on the ground.


    When the other troops realized this and turned back in front of them, I quickly shifted the view to the dwarf controlling the moaner. First, they separated him from the group and led him outside. Then they gave him support and made him drink a potion. The dwarf coughed a few times after drinking the potion and then opened his eyes slightly.


    He was a blue-eyed dwarf, and from the way he was dressed, he was not a security guard but an employee in charge of sorting things.


    "Straighten up brother, be wary. Tell us quiet ''n slow what''s happened."


    The dwarf coughed again, this time coughing blood out of his mouth. Still, he forced himself, and then his lips parted.


    Suddenly he paused, for a moment he seemed to stare into space. His meaningless gaze seemed as if he was trying to grasp something by looking at the wall. But it didn''tst long. Because the dwarf put his hand to his head and blocked his vision. He stood like that again for a while, as if he had a headache.


    "Are ye all right? Can ye hear me?"


    As those around him tried to help him, I scanned the images of the other soldiers. They had scanned almost every inch of the warehouse and were still scanning.


    There was no one inside. Tenebra was nowhere to be seen, as if his presence had been erased from the world. That purple energy, not even a glow was in the room.


    I closed my eyes and thought.


    Where could he have escaped to? There is no other hole in the room... Even if I thought he could melt the walls, there is no such ''melted'' hole in the room. How did he get out of the room? Could one of the artifacts he found in that short time have given him teleportation?


    How unlikely is it that among all those artifacts he found something that could do that? It''s impossible for him to find something like that in just a few minutes, but... what if he did?


    What if... What if he found an artifact other than teleportation? Invisibility, maybe.


    Disguise, illusion, all sorts of things.


    I hesitated for a moment, then my eyes widened.


    Disguise. Oh...


    "Hey."


    As soon as I spoke out loud, the employee behind me turned to me.


    "That employee... the one who survived."


    "Yes, sir?"


    "Surround him without letting him know."


    The employee''s eyes widened.


    I''m not sure... It''s just a delusion, maybe I''m thinking in vain right now, but... It''s worth a try.


    The employee stood still for a while, but nodded quickly, then started giving orders to the soldiers.


    Just as I had told him, many of the soldiers moved slightly toward him, without making a sound and never making eye contact with the dwarf. They surrounded him, and the dwarf''s eyes continued to stare nkly at the ground, as if he had gone mad.


    The paramedics tried tomunicate with him, but in vain. The dwarf seemed cut off from the world.


    After a while, one of the soldiers approached him out of nowhere, put his shoulder to the medic''s hand, and whispered something to him. The medic stood up nervously with a pale face and stepped back.


    After the medic had moved away, the soldier approached the dwarf, who was barely conscious. He drew a gun from his waist, then put it to the dwarf''s forehead.


    "Stop pretendin''."


    The dwarf shifted his eyes from the wall to the gun on his forehead and then to the man''s eyes. Yet his expression had not changed, he was still staring nkly, as if he had a mental disability. It was as if he was trying to make sense of something, to grasp something, but he was failing.


    "I''ll be pullin'' the trigger."


    The soldier put his finger on the trigger, then pulled back slightly. On the other side, the dwarf''s eyes were still the same.


    After a moment he paused. A deep silence fell over the entire warehouse, and then the dwarf''s eyes widened.


    The soldier with the gun to his head stepped back, if only momentarily, in response to the dwarf''s reaction.


    A white light filled the entire image. The image was cut off in an instant. Immediately afterward, the ground, or rather almost the entire ship, trembled as if a violent earthquake had struck.


    "What happened?!"


    I knew the answer, yet I quickly turned around and one of the staff shakily answered my question.


    "G- general, something exploded inside the warehouse..."


    I clenched my fist, mmed it involuntarily on the table. This time I didn''t hold back, my hand hurt, but I didn''t care.


    "All entrances and exits to the ship will remain closed... All personnel will be double-checked right now. Report for damage, injuries, and deaths, I don''t want a single person on the ship to slip through the cracks. Every single point of the entire ship will be checked, no matter if it happens more than once. Do you understand?!"

 Chapter 211 Volume IV - 56: Chaos on the Ghost Ship

    <h4>Chapter 211 Volume IV - Chapter 56: Chaos on the Ghost Ship</h4>


    "Is an escape of a captive somethin'' that needs this much fuss?"


    "Are ya dumb, Bulgar? Of course, it''s a bloody big deal."


    I let out a deep sigh, leaned back, and raised my eyes to the ceiling. Then I waited briefly.


    After the explosion that shook the entire ship half an hour ago, it was impossible to step inside or outside. Almost everyone working was after a single captive who had escaped from the dungeon, and it was hard to make sense of it, at least for me.


    Shouldn''t someone held captive in a dungeon be weak? I didn''t understand how he could cause trouble even for those in authority.


    Still, an order was an order, and as a soldier, I could not go against it.


    And I was hungry...


    "Anyways,e on, let''s grab a bite-"


    I stiffened as I saw the widened eyes of my friend, almost the only person I had ever met on this ship, the only person I had ever known.


    "What th-"


    My eyes widened as my gaze shifted to the red stain that appeared slowly and without reason on my friend''s stomach.


    I drew my gun, pointed it at my friend''s back, and just then a force came down on my gun.


    The barrel of the gun suddenly slid down, and then with another force, it flew out of my hand and across the room.


    My friend''s body fell to the floor, and in the shock of losing my gun, I involuntarily stepped back. I turned around, or rather I tried to turn around.


    As the space in front of my eyes slowly twisted to reveal something there, I could finally make out what it was.


    Still, when I was confronted with a glowing violet eye, instead of seeing the brightness and vibrancy of a living person''s eyes, I realized that knowing who was in front of me was useless when I found a void in front of me.


    "S- st-"


    My knees gave way, I fell to the ground and my head bowed.


    I was sweating, shivering as the purple energy emanating from the body of the person in front of me passed me by, caressing my skin.


    I didn''t dare to look in front of me, I couldn''t. Yet when a hand gently reached for my chin and lifted my head up, I met that violet eye again. Then a voice that made my whole being tremble echoed quietly in my ears.


    "Where is the garage?"


    My eyes involuntarily shifted to my friend''s body, and I swallowed, staring at his lifeless body as the blood oozing from his wound slowly spread across the floor.


    Only a few seconds ago we were chatting...


    What can I... what can I do?


    I closed my eyes, I epted death. There was no way out of here, I didn''t even think I could speak out of fear.


    The hand holding my chin withdrew, and for some reason, I felt a moment of relief. Yet when the same handnded on my head, my eyes opened wide. When I met the same purple eye again, that purple-colored void where I couldn''t even see my own reflection, this time a reality hit me.


    I am going to die.


    There is nothing I can do and I, an ordinary soldier, will die.


    I don''t want to...


    I don''t want to die...


    I wanted to turn around and run away, but my muscles wouldn''t respond to me.


    It wasn''t happening, I couldn''t do it.


    My lips curled upward for no reason as I felt the heat enveloping my head.


    I can''t...


    I waited. There was nothing else I could do.


    Yet it was not death that came, nor was it a sudden darkness.


    I felt a headache as the purple energy surrounded my head, turning my vision purple like it. My expression involuntarily distorted as my thoughts left my mind one after the other.


    I tried to think but to no avail. I tried to understand what had happened to me, I tried to remember, but everything in my mind was getting mixed up. My memories were bing meaningless, the more I tried to understand what had happened, the more... I found myself in chaos.


    "Where is the garage?"


    I looked up and saw a single violet-colored eye looking back at me.


    Who was that?


    Who was... me?


    The garage... where was that?


    Where was I?


    "Just give me one straight answer, where is the garage on the ship? After that, everything will be back to normal."


    Back to normal...


    As my headache was getting worse, I found myself wanting to give the other person an answer.


    Garage...


    The confusion in my mind seemed to dissolve for a moment, a single word surfaced out of the confusion and I involuntarily focused on it.


    North...


    "N- north..."


    "Well done."


    When the hand on my head withdrew, I looked up, feeling relieved.


    Yet I was confused again when I realized that I couldn''t think anything about what I was seeing. I tried to make sense of it, to grasp where I was and what had happened to me, but to no avail... No matter how hard I tried, all I got was intense ligament pain.


    Was I not going to get better?


    No... did he say that?


    Wait a minute... Who said that?


    Finally, as I looked around, thest thing I saw was a purple figure slowly disappearing into the nothingness.


    *******


    A warning notification.


    That''s what saved me from my momentary dozing off.


    I sat up quickly, shook the burr out of my eyes, and focused on the notification on the screen. As I did so, my eyes widened, and then a smile appeared on my face.


    "In the garage, Tenebra is in the garage. I want backup there now!"


    Without waiting for an answer, I went into one of the cameras in the garage.


    What I found was a one-eyed person standing in front of hundreds of guns.


    His left eye was still lit by that purple glow, his face was calm. He was looking at the hundreds of guns pointed at him as if they were nothing. He had no fear, what he was doing even looked stupid from the outside.


    And so, finally, for the first time in a long time, I heard his voice. His lips parted, then he turned his gaze away from the armed soldiers and straight into one of the cameras.


    "General Kahdun."


    My lips curled upward involuntarily, and Tenebra continued as if speaking directly to me.


    "You have a magnificent ship, but... its security is a bit shaky."


    As he finished, the ground shook. The soldiers suddenly panicked and reached for the triggers of their weapons, but none of them pulled it. At the same time, other warning notifications appeared on my screen.


    Explosions had urred on either side of me.


    "Let''s get on with the main event, shall we?"


    I didn''t know what he was blowing up the ship with, I didn''t know how he had nted them without anyone noticing, but I didn''t care. The explosions were not extremely damaging to the ship, they only caused damage where it was, which was a rtively small area. It wasn''t something that took an inordinate amount of time to fix, nor was it a matter of urgency.


    When the order to fire was given, hundreds of weapons aimed at Tenebra fired simultaneously.


    Tenebra''s body was riddled with bullets. The blood from his body watered his clothes and spread across the floor.


    However, as I continued to watch, I realized something was wrong.


    "Stop!"


    The shots stopped. Tenebra''s riddled body copsed to the floor. A slight silence fell over the room, tension enveloped everyone''s body. Meanwhile, a faint light enveloped Tenebra''s body, and then his body slowly began to turn to dust.


    I gritted my teeth, identally biting my tongue.


    "At least three people on each vehicle in the garage! And send someone to check out those explosions!"


    "G- General, we''ve located Tenebra''s location!"


    "Where?!"


    The person I turned to had a nk expression on his face.


    "East, west, and south, sir..."


    For a moment I just remained where I was.


    How could he be in three ces at once?


    Yet, remembering how his body had turned to dust, it wasn''t hard for me to understand that he could manifest himself in more than one ce at once.


    I opened the map of the ship in front of me, then looked at my troops.


    I distributed all the troops ording to their squadrons, cing a certain number of soldiers at each of the important points. In the garage, I made sure that there were always soldiers, even those who were much stronger than the soldiers. Of course, I did not neglect the huge area where the passageways were located.


    In this way, the inside of the ship became a locked box from which no normal person could escape in the slightest. Still, Tenebra was not a normal person, and I knew it, so I acted deliberately.


    "The clone from the east''s been taken care of!"


    Soon I heard that the one in the south was also dealt with, so my focus shifted to Tenebra in the west.


    He was fleeing and fighting at the same time. He was mowing down the soldiers in front of him with a ck sword, dodging bullets as best he could. I could see that his body was bleeding, yet it was clear that this too was a clone. Tenebra couldn''t expose himself in such an open ce on his own. He would have been caught sooner orter.


    Then where was he? What could he be doing?


    What''s his real purpose? Is it really a distraction? Or do those clones have a special purpose?

 Chapter 212 Volume IV - 57: An Insulting Escape

    <h4>Chapter 212 Volume IV - Chapter 57: An Insulting Escape</h4>


    It didn''t take me long to finally get an answer as I continued to try to understand Tenebra''s, his clone''s purpose.


    "Sir! There''s a concentration o'' mana in a small area in the spots where the clones died!"


    Mana... Why would he concentrate mana in tiny spots all over the ship?


    What can he do with this mana?


    "Try to disperse the concentrated mana."


    "Understood!"


    Just then there was another explosion. When I checked on the map, I saw that it was near the center of the ship, much smaller than the other explosions.


    What was he nning?


    I brought the map in front of me again and erged the scale. I looked at where the explosions had urred so far, and then where the clones had been detected and killed.


    New clones and new explosions kept happening. They were in random ces, they made no sense. There was no need to keep out of sight, no ce they were particrly close to or avoided.


    Just then, as I was studying the map, something urred to me.


    I connected the dots in my mind, focused on the lines, and stared at the screen for a moment when the first thing I saw was a hexagon forming the outeryer. Then I stiffened where I was.


    "Shut down all power sources!"


    Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead and my eyes widened. What was in front of my eyes... was something I never expected to see.


    It was a giant rune.


    There was a huge rune in front of my eyes.


    It was simple, short, and meaningless. Yet that is precisely why it was dangerous. Even without meaning, an unstable rune would often end in disaster. Such a huge rune could not possibly be stable.


    Tenebra''s only problem was that he had to find a source of mana to support it. Yet this was also one of the least of his worries. Because the ship itself was already a huge source of mana. After all, the ship was running entirely on mana.


    "General, if we do this, we''ll lose all our ele-"


    "Shut up and do as I say if you don''t want to get blown up!"


    In this way, as the huge rune continued to be drawn across the map, suddenly the lights went out all over the ship. Corridors, storerooms, rooms, cameras, and security systems.


    Everything went offline and the map in front of me disappeared. A deep and tense silence suddenly enveloped the whole room.


    I was in the darkness, clenching my fists in the silence.


    I inhaled and exhaled rapidly as the staff illuminated the room with their personal devices while trying tomunicate with the same devices.


    My heart was pounding, my head ached.


    Tenebra now had a great advantage. The ship was pitch ck and no systems were working.


    *******


    I scattered the idle soldiers throughout the corridors of the ship.


    Minutes had passed since the whole ship was plunged into darkness and silence. Yet Tenebra was nowhere to be seen.


    No matter how long it took, he was never seen by anyone. There wasn''t even one group that lost contact. There hadn''t been a single casualty since the power went out and there seemed to be no problems on board.


    It was as if Tenebra was specifically waiting for the power to return.


    Is it possible he died in a corner?


    No... he must be doing it on purpose. He must want me to think that.


    He must be nning, he must be standing somewhere, thinking about how to get off the ship.


    When the minutes gave way to a full hour and still nothing came out, I realized I was about to lose my mind.


    First I tried to calm myself down, then I checked to see if anything had happened since the ship lost power.


    There wasn''t.


    There was nothing.


    No matter how much I looked, or how many times I read every single detail, there was nothing.


    "Where are you..."


    He cut off all power to the ship... What could be his next goal?


    I have to think, if I think, I can find out... Just like that rune he tried to draw, I can find out what he is trying to do this time and what he is going to do.


    I just have to think...


    "G- General..."


    I paused momentarily, then slowly turned to the person who had called me.


    He had a shocked look on his face.


    I felt something inside me that suddenly began to rise to the surface. As I looked at the expression of the dwarf in front of me, I felt this feeling growing stronger, slowly enveloping my whole body.


    It was fear.


    Why was he making such an expression?


    "What happened?"


    The dwarf took a deep breath, swallowed, and bowed his head. Then I saw what happened as a holographic screen appeared in front of me with a light from his wristband.


    I froze in ce for a few seconds, staring nkly at the image in front of me, while a thousand different thoughts passed through my mind, but they were insignificant.


    My lips involuntarily curled upward.


    It wasn''t happiness, it wasn''t excitement.


    It was anger, real anger.


    It was an anger of humiliation.


    Because what I saw on the screen in front of me was something I never expected from Tenebra.


    On the holographic screen in front of me was an image of a room, one of the rooms almost at the very outer edge of the ship. It was also a room in the first ce where Tenebra had caused all this mess.


    It was a room from the dungeons, the room where the tortures took ce.


    However, there was a hole in the wall of the room.


    It was a hole that seemed to open into infinity, a hole that progressed as it went on, a hole that a human could only pass through.


    It was a hole that seemed to have been created by melting. Outside, in the darkness of the night, some of the light from the stars reaching Lunerra could be seen at the end of the hole.


    When the ship lost power, the barrier went down, so when he melted the exoskeleton and came out, he didn''t have the problem of getting caught in the barrier.


    The whole time we were looking for him on the ship, he was drilling this hole. While I was thinking about what he was nning, he was getting closer and closer to the outside and now when I found his trail for the first time, he had already escaped, he was no longer on this ship.


    I felt like he was tantly swearing at me, and what I was seeing in front of my eyes was an insult to all the time I had spent and every move I thought Tenebra was capable of.


    Was it really that simple?


    Tenebra could just melt a hole in Caleuche and get out? All he had to do was cut the power?


    "The troops outside the ship... they didn''t see anything?"


    "Our reason for findin'' the hole be them, sir..."


    "Reactivate the reactors and start a quick search with the vehicles in the garage."


    The outside of the ship was not empty of course, there was a camp outside as well as some of the army inside the ship.


    Still, the camp outside was not overly difficult to bypass. After all, the security and many of the systems that this camp relied on were directly connected to the ship.


    When the ship was powered down, so was the camp.


    Considering, that Tenebra could turn invisible... He was probably long gone by now.


    Finally, after a while, I stopped holding back and startedughing.


    The dwarf in front of me looked at me with confusion mixed with fear, but I didn''t care.


    "HAHAHAHAHAAH...!"


    I felt cheated.


    I hadn''t expected this.


    I didn''t expect that boy to run away from me like that. I didn''t even think he could escape, let alone run away like that.


    Why didn''t I think he could do something like that... Why didn''t I think he could use such a straight, simple method?


    He had to get off the ship as fast as he could with his weakened, possibly dying body... And the best way he could do that was to go straight out with brute force.


    Why didn''t I think of that?


    Why didn''t it ur to me at the beginning, when I saw the room where he was being held captive, the door to the warehouse, and the ''melted'' walls and doors like that, that he could do that too?


    "Haa..."


    When I finally stoppedughing, I took a deep breath and turned my gaze to the floor. Then I clenched my fist and teeth at the same time. I stopped trying to keep my wrinkled features in check as I smiled crookedly.


    "Damn... fuck..."

 Chapter 213 Volume IV - 58: A Comforting Blue

    <h4>Chapter 213 Volume IV - Chapter 58: A Comforting Blue</h4>


    Pain.


    It''s something I''m used to.


    Ah...


    I think... no, I can''t say I''m used to it.


    There was never a moment when I didn''t think about it, even when I was suffering non-stop, day in and day out. Pain was one of the things that kept me away from the edge of madness, but it was also one of the things that kept me connected to reality.


    It hurts even now, as it always has. I can feel my whole body, especially my right eye, writhing and doing everything it can to hold on to life.


    The purple color in my vision is slowly fading, and the ''pain'' that keeps me connected to reality is slowly bing more intense.


    I looked around, weakly. I was in a forest, the trees were not too dense but not too sparse either. It was night, the stars illuminated the dark sky. The moon was nowhere to be seen.


    I was in a vehicle, moving through these sparse trees, a small car-like vehicle that I had narrowly missed from the camp outside Caleuche, even with all its power cut off.


    It was on autopilot, and the dwarf who had put it in that mode was dead in a corner not far from me.


    For a moment my whole body trembled, an unreasonable tremor.


    I turned around and raised my eyes to the sky again, to the stars.


    I''m going to die, I think.


    I escaped from that ship, from the Caleuche. I even threatened a dwarf and confused him with caora to put the vehicle on autopilot. Now I''m heading toward the North Hr as fast as the terrain allows, but...


    Will I make it?


    Death is so close to me... I know it, I can feel it. However... I can''t even move a muscle. All I can do is try to survive, crawl for my life.


    I felt something rising in my throat. I quickly turned to the side, and then the metallic taste left its mark on my tongue and came out with my coughs, soaking the window of the car in blood.


    I looked at the blood on the window, the blood that continued to leak between my lips and spill onto the floor.


    I wiped my mouth, kept trying not to faint, and looked ahead. At least I tried.


    Soon, the purple glow that kept fading every second waspletely extinguished.


    The purple color in front of my eyes disappearedpletely. Caora left my body.


    My whole body trembled with the loss of the most important support that had kept me alive, the warmth it had provided was reced by the cold that was slowly bing apparent.


    I tried to reach out to it again, I poured all my will to live into it, I offered it everything it wanted. Yet my silent cries found no response. Caora rejected me.


    My lips curled upward, I gritted my teeth, unable to even lift my head.


    I focused on the ring on my right hand, then pulled out one of the syringes I''d scrounged from the torture chamber and injected myself with it before starting to open the hole in the ship.


    I can''t die...


    I can''t die yet...


    What was in the syringe quickly spread through my body, bringing with it heat. And then pain.


    It was one of the main things the dwarves used in torture. It was used to heal wounds, to keep the person alive as best they could. Of course, in doing so, it brought tremendous pain.


    But it doesn''t do the healing workpletely. It doesn''tpletely close the wounds, it doesn''tpletely keep the person alive. It leaves it on the edge, so it''s not a perfect healing potion.


    The question is... is it enough for me?


    It should be...


    I have four more syringes.


    I have to replenish my mana until the syringes run out, and I have to try tomunicate with the caora again and again.


    So, I continued to resist.


    Minutes, maybe hours passed.


    A few times I felt like fainting, but I didn''t give up.


    Still, it didn''t matter much.


    Eventually, I ran out of syringes.


    My mana was replenished, so I tried to support myself with it, even if it wasn''t very effective, and so I finally made it out of the forest.


    The vehicle emerged from the forest into a clearing, revealing a distant city.


    It was ahead of me, not far away, if not close.


    I kept begging caora, asking for some help, even a little, even a tiny bit.


    And yet, I received no response.


    I thought and thought and thought, trying to keep my mind upied.


    I tried to think of good things, I thought of my future, I thought of things I could do, things I wanted to do.


    I refused to die. I wanted to live, no matter what. No matter how hopeless the situation seemed, no matter how much I felt like today would be myst day... I refused.


    In the middle of nothingness, thinking over and over and over, even though caora was not responding to me... I felt a warmth inside my body that slowly began to emerge.


    I held on to that warmth, as there was nothing else I could do.


    The more I thought, the hotter it got. It wasforting, peaceful even.


    Meanwhile, I kept getting closer to the city. However, as I realized something with my one blurry eye, I involuntarily paused.


    The city... No, directly outside the vehicle... does it look a bit blue?


    It was, a slight blueness had enveloped my vision. I didn''t have much time to focus on it, though.


    Because, through the windshield of the car, I saw a glimpse of a sh in the city. It was momentary, I only saw it by chance. The impact was as instantaneous as it seemed.


    The car suddenly turned to the left with a strange whispering sound. Then it rolled to the side with me in it.


    *******


    I grabbed my gun and took a deep breath.


    I''m nervous... and also a little scared.


    After all, I am on my first mission as a soldier.


    I shook my head quickly from side to side, then took a deep breath once again.


    I shouldn''t let myself get caught up in this feeling. I chose to be a soldier, I chose to help my country in any way I could, unlike many others. So even if I''m nervous, I shouldn''t stay behind like a coward.


    While I was busy with these thoughts, the vehicle finally stopped.


    All six soldiers in the vehicle with me stood up, we formed a line and the door at the back of the vehicle opened.


    We stepped out, quickly lined up side by side and the corporal in charge stepped in front of us.


    "We''ll be investigatin'' a vehicle from the south, no threat be expected but stay on alert nheless."


    That was it, he turned around and then looked at the vehicle not far from us.


    There were only a few hundred meters between us. It was on its side. It had blown a tire, leaving a trail on the road where it had drifted.


    It hadn''t caught fire or exploded, there wasn''t even smokeing out of it. It was just lying there on its side.


    How long had it been like that? I think ten minutes at the most...


    "Here we go."


    And so we started moving forward, approaching the vehicle with our weapons aimed at it.


    When there were only twenty meters between us and the vehicle, the corporal stopped.


    He raised his hand and briefly made a circle with his hand.


    We surrounded the vehicle, checking for any abnormalities.


    My position had the best view of everyone, especially the windshield. Maybe that''s why something caught my eye that the others had trouble seeing.


    A strange bluish light was reflecting out of the windshield.


    Because it was broken and dirty, and because of the faint blue glow reflecting off it, it was not very clear what was behind the ss. Still, I could vaguely make out something there.


    "Sir, there is someone inside the vehicle."


    The corporal hesitated a little, but finally gave his approval for us to approach the vehicle.


    He chose me to be the one to go in the front.


    I gripped my gun even tighter, aimed it at the vague silhouette in the windshield, and approached the vehicle.


    As the distance between us decreased, I held my breath, trying to keep all my senses at the highest level.


    The closer I got, the more distinct the silhouette became, and at the same time, the nervousness and fear that had gripped my body became more pronounced.


    Yet that didn''t stop me from noticing something else. The person inside the vehicle was not a dwarf, but a human being.


    I couldn''t help thinking, what is a human being doing here?


    Then, finally, I came up to the vehicle. What was behind the windshield was now quite easily visible to me, but I had something else on my mind.


    Wasn''t I nervous? Wasn''t I... Wasn''t I scared just now?


    Why do I feel... strange now? What... is this feeling?


    I shook my head, focused inside.


    There was indeed a person inside the overturned car. He looked young, maybe neen to twenty at most. He was injured, missing three of his fingers, and the dirty, bloody clothes he was wearing were in such a state that they looked like they were about to crumble.


    Still, it didn''t matter.


    I had found the source of the blue light I saw as I approached the vehicle. It was the person in front of me, emitting that light.


    The faint glow surrounded the boy as if he were a living me. It was protecting him.


    It was not mana. Mana was colorless and only became colored when it was qualified. This was not a qualified mana¡­ Mana did not make the dwarves feel anything. However, this did.


    My eyes widened momentarily, because I understood what it was.


    It was the cause of the strange feeling inside me, all over my body.


    It was not going to hurt, it was good. It even had aforting feeling. So much so that I involuntarily wanted to get closer to it, this blue glow that seemed to be about to fade... It was pulling me toward it.


    It didn''t take me long toe to my senses, though.


    Because the boy opened his eyes, as if he realized my presence. Or rather, he opened his only remaining left eye.


    Reality hit me when his gray eye met mine and the boy coughed with blood oozing from his mouth.


    "S- sir, there is a human inside!"

 Chapter 214 Volume IV - 59: House Full of Treasures

    <h4>Chapter 214 Volume IV - Chapter 59: House Full of Treasures</h4>


    Kari, the giant white-furred tiger.


    Honestly... I was a bit scared of her at first, even though Lithoa told me otherwise. But that changed drastically on the short journey that began once I got on her.


    As Kari raced through the wildnds of the Neutral, leaping freely, moving swiftly and fluidly, never stopping, I literally felt like I was flying. The feeling of soaring through the air as the wind rushed in my face, as the ground rose and fell...


    It was a good feeling, something I could do forever. It made me feel like I was not connected to the ground, to gravity. In a way, that''s why it was perfect.


    It was short-lived, though.


    Because with Kari''s speed, it took us only a few minutes to cross the hugeke, enter the snow-covered area, and approach the big hill.


    Kari stopped in front of a wall on the slope of the hill.


    When I realized that we were not moving forward, I couldn''t help looking around, I couldn''t see any kind of... structure, anything that looked like a house or a secret passage... not even a cave, there was nothing around.


    Kari leaned down slightly, as if she wanted me to get off.


    ''Lithoa... What''s happening?''


    I swallowed involuntarily as I climbed off Kari.


    Lithoa called out to me in my mind with an expression that I was sure was a grin.


    ''We are in front of my house and Kari is testing you.''


    I paused, looked around again, but nothing that could be a house caught my eye.


    Finally, I turned back to the mountain, or rather to the wall in front of me.


    ''Test?''


    ''You said you were my student, but she can''t be sure of that. That''s why she''s testing to see if you can find the entrance.''


    ''And... what if I can''t?''


    ''She''ll probably eat you alive.''


    My whole body trembled involuntarily, I turned back to the white-furred tiger and looked at her face.


    She tilted her head slightly to the side and looked at me expectantly.


    She''ll... eat me alive, huh...


    I''d better not... imagine it.


    I tore my eyes away from the white-furred tiger and turned them to the thing closest to me: the wall.


    ''This has something to do with the wall, doesn''t it?''


    ''You found it faster than I thought. Not unexpected, though, I suppose, since the only thing near you was a suspicious wall.''


    ''Lithoa... Can you just tell me how to get beyond the wall before your pet tiger eats me?


    Lithoa gave a shortugh.


    ''Approach the wall and transfer your mana to it. At first, you won''t feel anything. But do this three times at three-second intervals. Then a puzzle-like system will appear in front of you. Again, direct your mana to bypass the puzzles and go straight ahead as if they didn''t exist. You have to do this for a while.''


    Puzzles... If I don''t need to solve them, why are they there?


    Is it there to confuse people? If so, it''s... Actually, it seems like exactly what Lithoa would do.


    I put my hand on the wall, and Kari''s eyes sharpened when I did. It was like I could feel her on the back of my neck, that''s how she would know if I was deceiving her. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and channeled my mana.


    When the mana from my fingers, from the palm of my hand, began to move forward, reaching behind the wall, something strange happened.


    All the sounds I could hear outside, in nature, suddenly disappeared. Still, I didn''t open my eyes and I kept moving my mana forward, just as Lithoa had said, three times in three-second intervals.


    Everything became even stranger. The silence that was already there suddenly became heavy, the faint presence of light that I could see behind my eyes disappeared, but I didn''t stop.


    I could feel it, my mana was not in a physical space. Neither was I, or rather my mind, which was still in control of it.


    This dark ce was a specially created dimension and it seemed to go on forever. I had to move forward...


    I went on for I''m not sure how long. Finally, something slowly began to appear in this dark space.


    It was a rock. No... it was a huge rock.


    It had some things on it, things that looked like runes, but not quite runes.


    They were pale in color, there were about nine of them. The second one and the fifth one were glowing.


    I actually wondered what would happen if I directed my mana at it, but I didn''t do it. If it was really Lithoa who made this... Then the moment I reach for that puzzle, my ability to move forward could be taken away.


    It''s a deception, I must remember that.


    So Ipletely ignored that rock and kept moving in the direction I was going, not focusing on anything, just moving forward.


    On the way, I saw something else this time, a pool.


    There were fish swimming in it, making circles. In the center of the circle was an object that looked like a medallion, and on the medallion this time there was really a rune.


    It looked like one of the runes I had seen before, but I couldn''t remember exactly what it was.


    So I just ignored that and kept going.


    I kept going for a long time. A really long time this time...


    And then something happened.


    In the darkness, this time something else happened.


    A voice rang in my ears.


    "Well done, brat!"


    It sounded like Lithoa''s voice.


    "You''vee this far, well done! You wanted to get into my house, didn''t you? Follow me and I''ll lead you to the entrance."


    A beam of light appeared in front of me, then slowly started moving in one direction.


    "What are you waiting for,e on!"


    I took my eyes off it, then started moving forward. Not in the direction the beam of light was going, but in the direction I was heading in the first ce.


    The beam of light stopped moving.


    "Where are you going? The entrance is not there."


    I ignored him, I kept going.


    The beam of light just stayed where it was, not saying a word.


    It looked disappointed. Still, I was sure this was what I had to do.


    I didn''t hear Lithoa''s voice again. I just kept going.


    And so, after a long time had passed again, the darkness I had been in brightened. My eyes opened of their own ord. Then... I found a wall in front of me. A trembling wall.


    ''Well done, you managed to listen to me.''


    I heard Lithoa''s voice again, this time in my mind.


    I turned around and saw the huge expanse stretching to the horizon, thend of the Neutral, and next to it a white-furred tiger, Kari.


    The tiger had what I would call a smile on her face. She wasn''t really smiling, but... she looked like it. The former look in her eyes had been reced by a slight respect.


    I turned around and looked at the trembling wall. Or rather... the ''wall'' that was no longer there.


    There was a cave in front of me.


    *******


    ''Move forward.''


    Swallowing, I stepped into the cave, which was lit only by the light from outside until I made this move. But then it suddenly lit up, dazzling me.


    When I squinted and focused, themps on the sides of the cave caught my attention.


    I looked at themps in surprise, because this was definitely not what I expected. I was expecting torches or something...


    I sighed lightly and looked at the end of themp-lit road.


    There was a door there, a big door. It was at least three meters long and there were no knobs or handles of any kind.


    I walked toward the door and Kari followed behind me. As I got closer, the details of the door became clearer and clearer.


    It was a metal door and it wasn''t really a ''single'' door, it was a double door that opened to both sides. There was indeed no locking mechanism on it.


    ''Simply push it.''


    I put my hand on the door and then pushed it with all my strength.


    The door was heavy, really heavy. So much so that I had to reflexively use my mana, but even with that I could only push it a little bit.


    Still, it was enough. Gradually the door opened, finally there was enough space for me to pass through and I stopped pushing it, panting. I passed through the gap with a sigh and then looked inside.


    It was different from what I expected. Like... really different. I had not expected such a... ''modern'' looking ce from someone like Lithoa.


    The inside of the mountain was carved into a vertical cylinder. It had two floors and was quiterge.


    At least it was almost thirty meters from one end to the other, and not only that, there were several doors on each floor, positioned so that they were on the sides of the cylinder.


    ''Heh, wee to my home, brat.''


    I was now on the second floor and in front of me there was a staircase going down. As I was going down this staircase, I looked around.


    The first floor, the floor I was slowly descending to, resembled a hall. No... It was more like a training room than a hall.


    There was an opening in the center and it had the marks of the training that had taken ce there before. The only thing in this opening was an armchair, which was ced parallel to the curved wall.


    Other than that, there was nothing else in this space.


    ''Turn left after you go downstairs and enter the room through the door directly opposite.''


    As I did so, I kept an eye on the marks on the floor and walls. Burns, crushed walls, a few swollen spots, and scratches... lots and lots of scratches.


    What was Lithoa doing here that left so many marks?


    With this thought in my mind, I realized that I was in front of the door. I finally took my eyes off the scratches and let out a deep sigh.


    I turned to the door in front of me, pushed it just like I did the first door, and realized that it was almost as heavy as the first door.


    Is everything here... so heavy?


    I managed to open the door with difficulty, and when I stepped inside, I was faced with a room stretching across the width of the room.


    On the sides of the room were drawers, cupboards, and what looked like chests¡­ but also shelves¡­ Each with rings, bracelets, nes, weapons, armor, and more...


    It was a sight I expected to see, yet one that made me hold my breath.


    ''Oh... It''s been a long time since I''ve seen this ce but... has it changed a bit?''


    I couldn''t help but be surprised as his words echoed in my mind.


    ''What do you mean changed?''


    Someone... entered here before me?


    Is there something missing?


    ''This ce... has be fuller.''


    I just stared nkly at the room in front of me as I suddenly paused.


    ''Fuller?''


    Just then I felt something right behind me.


    I quickly turned around, and what I found in front of me was... nothing.


    At least until I heard a mewling and looked down.


    "What?"


    Is that... Kari?


    In front of me... there was a cat with blue eyes and white fur.


    ''Oh, she''s learned to change her body shape.''


    Lithoa praised Kari in a voice full of pride, though he fell silent for a brief moment as he finished.


    ''Ah, I see.''


    Kari, in her shrunken form, entered the room. She hopped onto one of the shelves andy down there.


    ''This little fellow has brought here everything she found during the twenty-seven years of my absence. She seems to have been quite sessful... There are a few high-grade things I don''t remember cing here.''


    My eyes went back to the white cat with blue eyes lying on the shelf.


    Kari...


    This cat, the tiger... She suddenly became more frightening in my eyes.

 Chapter 215 Volume IV - 60: A Familiar Dwarf

    <h4>Chapter 215 Volume IV - Chapter 60: A Familiar Dwarf</h4>


    "Remember, Mr. Aaron, you are here because of your brother."


    The woman hesitated for a moment, looked sharply at the woman I was hiding behind, and then at me.


    There were many things that could be seen in her expression. She didn''t like us, maybe she didn''t like where she was, maybe she wasn''t in the mood.


    I tugged at the dress of the woman I was hiding behind, the woman in front of us was ufortable. I didn''t want to stand here.


    Yet I couldn''t voice it.


    "Go ahead, don''t forget what I said."


    So the woman moved out of the way, making way for us.


    No matter how hard I tried, I couldn''t convince anyone to turn back and we entered the building, went down the elevator and further down, and stepped into a room with white walls.


    That was my first step into hell.


    At that time, I forgot and threw away all the negative thoughts that were going through my mind and looked at this ''hell'' in front of my eyes with great admiration.


    Those were the innocent nces I cast at this hidden hell, which I had not yet realized existed and which I thought was paradise.


    Later I realized that this ce was not what I thought it was.


    Because right behind the countless emotionless nces I had experienced after my first entrance into that room, I had directly met the terrified eyes of my mother and father. I saw them shouting at the people in front of them, going crazy.


    My mother was looking at me with eyes full of worry and fear. My father was pointing his finger at me and arguing angrily with men with emotionless looks, an expression I had never seen on the face of a man like him before.


    And yet this was hell, the worst hell.


    Because even when I got out of there and we went home, I had to go there again and again and again.


    So, slowly but painfully, I witnessed the disappearance of those horrified looks. Day after day, I watched the regret I could see in my parents'' eyes fade, and I experienced my parents putting on those white coats and approaching me like those men.


    Maybe that was what hurt my little body more than anything else.


    The way my family slowly began to lose themselves in this hell, and then turned their eyes on someone other than me.


    *******


    First, my whole body trembled violently. Then the pain that caused it slowly spread through my body.


    I tried to open my eyes, but I realized I couldn''t. I tried to move my body, but it was futile.


    Finally, I decided to focus on my surroundings, trying to ignore my body.


    So the first thing I realized was that someone was talking. I focused even more and tried to listen to what they were saying.


    This didn''tst long though.


    Because before I could evenprehend what was happening, my whole body became even weaker than it already was, my consciousness slowly shut down and the darkness enveloped me once again.


    *******


    The gentle breeze blew past me, caressing my hair. As the setting sun painted the sky an orangish color, I stood where I was, doing nothing.


    And why?


    This question popped up in my mind, though it was not a difficult question to answer.


    Because I was looking at someone.


    I was looking at a girl, a girl with brown hair, gray eyes, and a shorter stature than her peers. I was studying the sweet, yet fake smile she offered to the friends she walked with on either side of her in her school uniform.


    An uneasiness arose in me. It was an uneasiness that appeared as I looked at the fake smile on the girl''s face. At the same time, it was a faint feeling that I hadn''t realized until now, but it was a deep emptiness inside me.


    I continued, watching her from where I was, on the roof of a building, until she stepped into a street and all she needed was a few steps to get out of my line of sight.


    "Tempo."


    The colors of the world slowly faded. Cars, birds flying in the sky, people moving through the streets... Everything slowed down and then stoppedpletely.


    I continued to stare at the girl through the stopped time, not caring how long I kept doing it, not caring how long I kept doing it because seeing that smile, even if it was fake, made the soullessness in me lessen a little and the endless darkness in my heart light up, if only with a candle.


    At the end, I narrowed my eyes.


    "Thank you."


    And that was it.


    The colors of the world slowly returned, and then time continued to flow as before.


    The girl turned down the street and out of my sight.


    I let out a deep sigh and turned my eyes to the sky, covered in the orange color of the setting sun.


    It was beautiful.


    ''Why do you always act like it''s yourst time?''


    I didn''t react to the voice echoing in my mind, as if more than one person was speaking at the same time.


    Still, I was aware that I couldn''t always remain so unresponsive.


    "Because thest time wille, no matter what."


    There was silence between us for a while. It was a silence I wasn''tining about, watching the stars slowly appear after the setting sun filled me with a little peace.


    ''You''re hiding something.''


    I didn''t react, I didn''t open my mouth. The silence between us grew heavier, my breathing becamebored as if the atmosphere was condensing on me.


    ''What are you nning?''


    Finally, I closed my eyes against the dark emptiness inside me that came again with this voice that broke all the peace I felt.


    "The future, it''s nothing important."


    With that I turned away, heading for the fire escapes, and the voices didn''t bother me again as I made my way downstairs.


    I wasn''tining, of course. I also wasn''t stupid enough not to realize that they were unsatisfied.


    *******


    After a fragmented dream, the details of which were already fading from my mind, I woke up again, slowly.


    This time it hurt less. I felt a little more in control of my body.


    Still, my eyes didn''t open.


    No... they opened, or rather only one of them did.


    I paused, realizing that while my left eye was slowly opening, my right eye was not.


    No... It''s not that it doesn''t open, it can''t.


    So, I gave up trying and tried to get a grasp of where I was.


    My left eye, which seemed to have been closed for quite some time, was still blurry. That''s why it was difficult to make out what was around me, but besides that, my senses were pretty good.


    I was on a bed, a big soft bed.


    I tried to move my body so that it felt like something was moving. Something... attached to my limbs?


    For a moment I felt a sense of terror. That feeling of being ''tied'' suddenly permeated my mind and brought countless memories to the surface.


    I remembered what had happened and what I had done.


    So, without thinking about what happened, I tried to sit up. And I seeded.


    I sat up with my back against the head of the bed and quickly looked at my limbs.


    There are no chains... My limbs are not attached to anything.


    No... They are attached to something, a machine. Each of the cables with a colorless liquid that I can see running through them are attached to my limbs.


    Yet they don''t seem to be there to ''hold'' me in ce. Rather... they are for medical purposes.


    As the vision in my left eye slowly returns, I finally look up, and find a pair of eyes.


    A dwarf. He was looking at me in amazement.


    "Easy there, young man, ye almost scared me half to death."


    A seed of hatred welled up inside me, the idea that I had failed to survive was the first thought that popped into my mind, but it was very fleeting.


    Because the dwarf in front of me was not from the South, he was from the North. It wasn''t hard to tell from the clothes he was wearing.


    More importantly, he was one of the people in my memory.


    "Dor..."


    His name did not appear in my mind for a moment, though that was not the main reason for my hesitation.


    My throat was dry, too dry.


    The dwarf sighed slightly, smiled, and picked up a ss from beside my bed. Then he handed it to me.


    I didn''t really care what it was. I took the ss in my hand and raised it to my head. I felt a little relief as the dryness in my throat went away.


    I turned back to the dwarf once again and he acknowledged me with a smile on his face.


    "Yes, it''s me. I''m Dorhud."

 Chapter 216 Volume IV - 61: More Absolute Mind

    <h4>Chapter 216 Volume IV - Chapter 61: More Absolute Mind</h4>


    After confirming his identity, Dorhud sighed deeply and pulled up a chair that was the right size for his height.


    "Ezareth told me ye were dead, so I marked ye down as deceased in the records, but fixin'' that''s an easy matter. The real important thing is..."


    Dorhud stared at me, or rather at my right eye, which I could not open.


    "I won''t be remindin'' ye of the hardships ye went through. Just... I hope ye will get well soon, that''s all."


    I put my hand to my right eye, so I understood why I couldn''t open it even if I wanted to.


    There was something over my eye, probably a bandage.


    I lowered my hand, but just then I paused.


    My left eye locked onto my lowered hand as it slowly widened.


    In the space where my missing fingers had been, I now saw new ''fingers''.


    "W- what?"


    Their color was slightly different from the color of my skin, a little lighter. Yet I could neither believe what I was seeing nor make sense of it.


    "After all, ye saved my life before, so I thought I''d lend a hand to ye as well."


    After what I heard, my hand involuntarily went to the bandage on my eye and different thoughts appeared in my mind.


    Is that healed too? Is it bandaged now because it was a short-term abnormality like the color of my fingers?


    I looked at Dorhud, and then at the questions in my mind.


    The reconstruction of missing body parts...


    Of course, only three fingers and an eye instead of a big piece like a whole arm, but... It still has to be expensive. It must be really expensive.


    I shifted my gaze to Dorhud, so that when our eyes met, Dorhud smiled slightly.


    It''s really not easy to get a potion or treatment that can do that.


    "Heh, I was joking. Quick to catch that, ye are. North, as a country, did lend a hand to ya. Still... even if they hadn''t, I''d have pitched in definitely."


    North Hr... helped me?


    In the midst of a few thoughts forming in my mind, Dorhud''s voice echoed in the room.


    "Ye need to take a bit of rest, get yerself back to walkin'' shape at least."


    Unlike his previous words, this one was a bit more serious, so I involuntarily pulled myself away from my thoughts and looked at him.


    Indeed, he had a more serious expression on his face. He was confirming my guesses. Still, I wanted to confirm it onest time.


    "You talk as if this is an obligation."


    "Cause it is."


    I took a deep breath, slowly let myself fall back onto the bed. The bed... For a moment it felt harder than it was.


    "I''m going to be interrogated, or rather I''m going to talk to important people... right?"


    Dorhud said nothing, so I was sure.


    "How much is known?"


    "That they be lookin'' for ye everywhere ''cause ye wrecked Caleuche and got them Southerners too riled up."


    So I can''t just heal my wounds and walk out of here. North Hr will ask me for information, and keep me here for a while.


    This was not a ''good'' thing in many ways, but... Still, a smile appeared on my face.


    Why should I be unhappy? This is exactly what I want, after all.


    Ezareth... South Hr... Kahdun...


    I will have my revenge on them all.


    To do two of these things, I need to be fully involved in this war. Likewise, it''s a requirement for the things I''ve already nned. So I''m not going toin about that.


    Even if they wanted to release me, I would have found a way back here.


    "Ye don''t be lookin'' unhappy."


    "Because that''s exactly what I want."


    Dorhud sighed deeply. It was not what he wanted to hear. I could see it in his face. Yet he did not attempt to give me any ''advice''. On the contrary, he respected my decision.


    "Just like I said, take a good rest. I''m a busy man, so I gotta be on my way now. But I''lle visit again, don''t ye worry."


    "Wait a second."


    Dorhud had just turned away when he paused, his eyes back on mine, and waited for me to speak.


    "Ezareth..."


    Just repeating her name made me involuntarily clench my fist, my eyebrows furrowed in a trembling frown. Still, I restrained myself and continued.


    "What happened to her?"


    Dorhud responded to my reaction with a meaningless look, his brow furrowing.


    "Did somethin'' happen?"


    I took a deep breath and let go of my clenched fist.


    "No... No, just answer me please."


    There was a brief moment of silence between us. A few seconds passed in silence, Dorhud studied me during this short time. He seemed to have something on his mind.


    Yet he did not avoid my question.


    "She left the country directly after we survived."


    "I see..."


    It was an answer I was expecting... I''m not surprised. After all, she, Ezareth, has nothing to do with this war.


    "Thank you."


    Dorhud continued to look at me suspiciously for a moment. Of course, he couldn''t keep it up even if he wanted to. When the device on his wrist beeped twice in a row, he apologized hurriedly, though his expression did not change, and then quickly left the room.


    When the door closed and I was alone in the room again, the silence, as usual, brought with it a sensation that enveloped my whole body.


    Just for a moment, I felt empty and that was enough for me to realize something.


    I gritted my teeth, raised my hands, and looked at my palms.


    I had been calm until now, but... Now, especially when I am alone, in the middle of this silence, when I think, I realize.


    It''s not a dream... I survived. I got out of there alive, somehow.


    And yet... Why do I still have this feeling?


    When it''s all over, I can go back home, I can go back to my sister and my friends.


    Why don''t I feel happy then?


    Why don''t I feel tears of joy?


    I continued to stare at my palms for a while, and then I lowered my hands.


    A blue window opened in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: Aiden (Ethan)


    Last Name: Tenebra (Subter)


    Race: Human/Wiera


    Age: 18


    --???--


    ???: %7,7


    --Statistics--


    General Level: D-


    Strength: E+


    Agility: E+


    Vitality: D+


    Endurance: D


    Luck: E+


    Magic Power: D-


    Mana Efficiency: E+


    Charm: E


    --Status Effects--


    Abnormal Status Effect: [Divided Soul] -- [Body Dissonance] -- [???]


    --Chaos--


    Devotion: Greed


    Status: Representative Candidate


    Grade: D-


    Control Tolerance: D+


    Limit: C-


    Authority: [Chains of Sin(D)] -- [Mind Confusion(C-)]


    --Masteries--


    [Swordsmanship(E+)] -- [Mana Expert(D)] -- [Spirit Magic: Wind Elementalist(D-)] -- [me Elementalist(D-)]


    --Active Skills--


    [Mana Barrier(E)] -- [Ice Spikes(E+)] -- [Spiritual Ascension(C+)]


    --Passive Skills--


    [The One Who is Close to Spirits(A+)] -- [Absolute Mind(A)] -- [Poison Immunity(C-)]


    ------------------------------>>


    Not much has changed.


    I got a passive skill called Poison Immunity, which makes sense, and my stamina and vitality stats jumped two degrees each, which also makes sense...


    My eyes drifted to two tabs, ??? and Chaos...


    This is the first time I''ve been able to keep my calm when the ??? statistic is this high, it''s interesting. Also, the ranks under the Chaos tab have increased and I''ve gained a new authority.


    It''s an ability to scramble the minds of living beings using caora. I used it a lot in Caleuche thanks to my wiera side. And now... it''s an authority.


    It was actually an important issue, but I didn''t dwell on it too much and I moved my eyes further down to the Passive Skills tab.


    Absolute Mind...


    It is the source of certain problems, but it is perhaps the only thing that allows me to still be able to walk the path I want to walk... It is just waiting in the middle of my skills, ranked up.


    Is that why?


    Is it only because this skill has ranked up a grade that I am able to maintain my calmness to this degree, have I changed after what I went through, or is there something else involved...?


    I felt a headacheing from nowhere, getting worse and worse slowly. It came on for no reason, maybe not as ''for no reason'' as I thought... But it was definitely enough for me to see it as a warning, for whatever reason.


    "Haaaa..."


    I shook my head from side to side, closed my eyes, and stopped thinking.


    I wanted to get away, I wanted to leave my mind alone with its emptiness for a while. I decided to use the time I was given, at least I thought I deserved it.


    So, without thinking about anything, I just let myself fall into the darkness I saw when I closed my eyes.


    And so I fell into my dreams again.


    This time they were not dreams that didn''t even belong to me, but dreams of a happy future...

 Chapter 217 Volume IV - 62: An Idea to Counter Other Self

    <h4>Chapter 217 Volume IV - Chapter 62: An Idea to Counter Other Self</h4>


    A long and sound sleep...


    I had no idea how many hours I had slept, but... I had slept so long that I didn''t feel like getting out of bed, so I wanted to sleep more. I didn''t want to lift my head from the pillow, I didn''t want to keep my eyes open.


    Still, I forced my eyes open, slowly sat up, and put my back against the headboard.


    Because there was something I needed to do, something I could do now when my mind was in a better state and there was nothing restricting my mana.


    I focused, then called out to my mind.


    ''Sith.''


    As usual, there was no response the first time, and the second time I called his name, I first heard a shaky sound echoing in my mind, and then I was aware of the deep silence that had suddenly fallen.


    A green glow appeared in the space in front of me, then the glow slowly took shape, taking the form of a tiny spirit.


    Sith... he didn''t look sleepy at all. His eyes were on the ground, not on me. He was expressionless, silent. He was so... different from the person he used to be.


    I couldn''t find anything to say.


    After all, even if I couldn''t hear him, even if I couldn''t see him, he could do these things. If I think that he didn''t have a skill like Absolute Mind...


    ''I... I know.''


    When he finally spoke, I put my thoughts aside and listened to him.


    ''It wasn''t my fault. And yet... was there really nothing I could do, Aiden?


    Sith squinted up at me, his green eyes, which had once sparkled brightly but were now devoid of that light, seemed lost to me for the first time.


    ''I feel useless, Aiden. Every time you use caora, the connection between us disappears, every time the other side of you emerges, I''m pushed into the background. When you need help, when we need to do something... I...''


    He paused for a moment, trying to choose the right word.


    ''I can''t help feeling like an... extra. Why is it that all I can do is watch, listen, sleep, and move on?''


    He looked hurt, perhaps as much as I was, by everything that had happened during that time.


    But there was nothing I could say against him. He was right, at least from his point of view, there was nothing I could say.


    ''I don''t want to, Aiden. I know you''re going to continue on this journey, what you''ve been through won''t stop you, but can I go on, in this useless state, the answer to that is clear, at least to me.


    I took a deep breath, then let it out slowly in the same way, and Sith slowly raised her eyes to mine. There was a silence between us, a silence I had expected.


    ''You ara-''


    ''You know exactly what I''m talking about.''


    I paused, opened my mouth to say something again, but this time my mouth remained like that without saying a single word.


    I realized something, I realized that I was trying to make an excuse.


    And so, in the middle of this silent room, first the corner of my lips slowly curled upward. Then Sith, realizing that I was smiling involuntarily, frowned.


    ''It''s not funny. I''m serious, Aiden.''


    I wasn''tughing because it was funny, but because I wasughing at myself, trying to find an excuse, trying to fool Sith. But also because I thought he was like me.


    Yes, we were alike, very much so. The only difference between us was that I knew enough to solve these problems when I encountered them.


    ''Yes, you''re useless, Sith.''


    Sith seemed to tremble for a moment, and then a smile appeared on his face as well. As if that was what he wanted to hear.


    ''But it doesn''t mean you always will be.''


    Strangely, he was also not surprised to hear that. His smile didn''t falter, his eyes didn''t widen.


    After all, he knew me. In fact, he was the person in the world who knew me best. He knew my secrets. He knew my past. He knew me, he knew ''Ethan''.


    ''So, you''re saying that there''s a solution to this too¡­''


    That''s why he brought it up in the first ce. He knew that I would give him an answer, that I would show him a way, that I would at least try.


    ''You could say that. Of course, what I have in mind doesn''t necessarily work, it''s just a theory. Still, there are things you have to ept in addition to that.''


    His expression suddenly filled with hope. He would dly ept whatever I said. At least it seemed that way.


    ''You will have to wait.''


    ''How long? ''


    ''A few months? Maybe a year or two? I don''t know that, Sith, it''s up to you. But whatever it is, it will be long. That''s for sure.''


    He didn''t like what I said very much. His smiling face fell slightly. Still, he didn''tin. I think he expected something like this, even though he didn''t want it.


    ''What do I have to do?''


    ''Well... you have to be a prince.''


    That was what Sith didn''t really expect to hear from me, even a child could have guessed it from the look on his face.


    "Well... I shouldn''t be surprised to hear that, considering you know everything. But... it''s really strange that you know literally everything.


    I smiled, then continued.


    ''If you be a prince, your mere existence can help you resist higher energies like caora and ordea. Even if you can''t resist thempletely, you might find or create a special opening for yourself.''


    I suddenly paused.


    Wait a minute¡­ Now that I think about this¡­


    As I continued my words, an idea from nothingness suddenly sprouted in my mind.


    Oh¡­ this...


    If Sith is indeed able to counter the energies of order and chaos when he bes a prince... then wouldn''t that solve the problem caused by my wiera side? If Sith can truly subdue him, then I won''t have to worry about that bastard suddenly appearing in front of me.


    I... why didn''t I think of that before?


    ''A year or two...''


    Sith murmured, oblivious to my momentary realization within myself.


    ''Haa... You want me to be what I ran away from in the first ce.''


    He sighed deeply, then turned his eyes to the void and stared at it for a while.


    ''The reason I wanted toe to this world, the reason I went to the border, is because I don''t like responsibility.''


    For a ''spirit'' to be a prince is a bit like a human ranking up a grade. Of course, bing a prince is a much bigger deal than simply ranking up general levels.


    It''s a process thates with responsibility at the very beginning. It''s basically a process that ascends the direct existence of a spirit.


    ''But I''ve already crossed the border, I''m in Lunerra, so... it shouldn''t be a problem.''


    It will be a problem... Not in the short term, but in the long term it will definitely be a problem.


    But until that point, I think we will be in a position to solve the problems that will start to emerge in this regard. Even if we''re not... I have my ways. So I''m going to ignore this, for now.


    Sith tore his eyes away from the empty space, then smiled.


    ''I understand, I need to prepare. I''ll be a bit... busy, just give me a shout if anything happens from now on.''


    ''Alright, you can do as you please.''


    Sith nodded in agreement, looking much better than when he first appeared. It made me smile a little, but Sith didn''t notice. His tiny body transformed into a green glow that entered my body through my chest and then disappearedpletely.


    So, I was alone again in this silent room.


    In the solitude, I thought over and over again what I had thought a few seconds ago. It really made sense. If Sith became a ''prince'' as a spirit, then I could suppress my wiera side with her help.


    Sith as a prince would definitely do us more good than harm.


    However, after thinking about it for a while, I took a deep breath and put my thoughts aside for now.


    I am here to rest anyway... Why bother thinking?


    So I let myself fall back on my bed, stopped thinking, and closed my eyes. Sleep came to me faster than I expected.

 Chapter 218 Volume IV - 63: An Important Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 218 Volume IV - Chapter 63: An Important Meeting</h4>


    Two days passed almost in the blink of an eye.


    It was fast because there was nothing I could do and all my requests were quickly fulfilled so that I had nothing to do.


    Doctors, nurses, staff... They were always there for me as if I was an extremely important person.


    Of course, like all good things, I was aware that this woulde to an end and so I did not give myself over to thisfort.


    And that''s what happened. At the end of two days, almost all of which I spent resting, a doctor entered my room. What was not normal was that he was apanied by two dwarves who looked like security guards.


    "Aiden Tenebra, how are ye feeling?"


    I looked at the two dwarves behind the doctor, their eyes on me and on the corners of the room. They were examining everything they could see as suspicious.


    They still don''t fully trust me...


    "I''m fine, I think I''ll be able to walk without any problems in a few days at most, but for now... I wouldn''t mind a little support, I guess."


    The doctor nodded in understanding, turned around, and said something I couldn''t quite make out through the door, and then a new dwarf came in. A nurse pushing a wheelchair with her hands.


    They are in a hurry, but it''s not that I don''t understand them.


    I sighed involuntarily. Because I wanted to rest even more, but that didn''t seem possible.


    "Right now?"


    "Yes."


    I sighed again after the doctor''s fast reply, though I was not going to cause any difficulties.


    "I see, let''s go then."


    The doctor smiled and nodded, stepping aside. The nurse brought the wheelchair to the bedside so that I could hold on to the bed and get back on my two feet after thest few days.


    Of course, it was a brief moment as I was directly in the wheelchair, but it was enough to make me feel awkward.


    So, once I was properly settled in the wheelchair, I walked out of the room for the first time since I woke up here.


    What I expected to see was a hospital corridor or something like that, but... it wasn''t.


    Rather than a hospital, I was confronted with a small corridor and that was enough to surprise me a little.


    When we finally came out into arger opening and I saw something familiar to me, my eyes widened and I realized that the care I was being given was greater than I had thought.


    This was not a hospital.


    I was directly under the huge government building in the center of the North Hr.


    *******


    At first, I thought it was absurd, that they would put me directly in the most important ce in this huge country, even though they suspected me...


    But as I kept moving forward, as I slowly made my way up from this ce under the ground, what I saw made me realize that I was wrong.


    This is not the worst ce they can hold me, on the contrary, it''s the best ce.


    There are cameras, sensors, and much more everywhere. There are dwarves everywhere, keeping an eye on me. Once someone is in, it''s next to impossible to get out.


    Even if I''m not tied down, even if I''m not locked in a room... I don''t feel free.


    I closed my eyes and rxed myself as much as I could as I kept moving forward.


    I had expected the journey in the wheelchair to be a bit long, but I had much, much less time than I thought. I stayed like this for a while, thinking about what was going toe out of my mouth, because I couldn''t afford any imperfections.


    So, when I finally opened my eyes again, I saw that we were in a fairlyrge, courtyard-like space.


    "We just need to run a few quick checks, Mr. Aiden."


    I nodded in response to the doctor''s words, looking at therge door in front of us and the ''control device'', about five meters long, ced just in front of it.


    All we had to do was walk slowly through this device, which looked like a corridor with walls made of a ss-like material.


    The nurse who had brought me here so far stepped aside, then the doctor, who I now thought was someone important, took my wheelchair, and we made our way to the device together.


    As we started to walk through the ss corridor, my whole body trembled slightly, I felt the mana surrounding my body.


    It was an ufortable feeling. It was as if the mana used for scanning was not only surrounding my body but also examining my body itself.


    As I was approaching the big door, thanks to this feeling, I never felt at ease.


    In this way, when we finally reached the end of the ss corridor and the guards on both sides of the door nodded in approval, the big door slowly opened in front of us.


    The doctor moved forward with my wheelchair so that we were behind the opened door. Then... the whole room was in front of my eyes.


    Honestly... I wasn''t surprised.


    I had seen this ce before, even if it was in rubble... It was exactly as I had imagined it.


    ck walls, arge table in the center, and around it a row of important people, each of them studying me in particr.


    After the silence, the door through which I entered closed noisily and slowly behind me, as if it had been done on purpose.


    I studied the dwarves inside.


    A few of them were familiar, a few I had never seen before, but one caught my eye.


    The dwarf I was looking for in the first ce, when the city where I was staying was attacked. Now, here he was, in front of me... If everything had gone as I had nned that day, maybe things would have been different.


    Meanwhile, as I was immersed in these thoughts, a deep voice echoed in my ears.


    "Aiden Tenebra,e; approach the table."


    My eyes shifted to the person speaking, a dwarf sitting directly across the table.


    He was wearing a in suit. His brown hair with asional gray and his beard was not too long, his green eyes were sharp and locked directly on mine.


    He had two scars on his face, one long and one short, the long one starting from his neck and almost reaching his right eye, but not quite there. The short one was on his left cheek, a scratch.


    He was taller than most of the dwarves here, maybe even one of the tallest dwarves in history. I could see it even from where he was sitting.


    His hands were folded on the table in front of him, his posture alone emphasized his importance. There was not a single w, he just stood where he was, making one shiver involuntarily.


    It had to be that way, though. After all, this man was not really a simple man.


    He was Houdhin Gargel, the current President of the North Hr. He had been through so much to get where he was. He had ovee so much, eliminated countless rivals, and risen from the ashes.


    He was like a legend. No... he already was.


    He was intimidating, he lived up to everything they said about him. And he wasn''t afraid to let it show on the outside.


    I nodded, and the doctor behind me pushed my wheelchair so that it pushed me closer to the table.


    The sound of the wheels on the floor was the only sound echoing in the room. Every second I spent here I was copsing in on myself, that''s how it felt.


    Still, I made it to the front of the table without any problems. The doctor let go of the wheelchair and stepped back slightly. He was going to stay in the room, after all, I hadn''t fully recovered.


    Of course, I''m sure the dwarves had temporarily deafened him in some way. Just like almost all the guards in this room. That way there won''t be any ''spying'' problems.


    "How do you feel?"


    When President Houdhin''s deep, stern voice echoed in my ears, I agreed even more with everything that had been said about him.


    Even the man''s voice seemed to make the others tremble.


    "I am quite well, sir, thank you."


    I''ll be careful not to be disrespectful.


    "Good, we apologize for dragging you here while you were still recovering. I hope you realize the situation we''re in."


    He apologizes like this, but... his facial expression doesn''t change a bit. His voice is always the same tone. He shows his superiority without even using his words.


    "I am aware, sir, that''s why I''m here."


    Houdhin nodded slightly, then leaned back a little. He seemed a little more rxed when he saw my cooperative approach to the situation.


    "Well then... You can start by telling us your story. How did you get into Caleuche, what did you experience, what did you do, how did you escape and how did you make such a mess of the South?"


    He got to the point quickly, not lingering on anything unnecessary. Maybe it wasn''t the most effective way to open past wounds in a situation like this, but he had already hinted at the very beginning of our conversation that this would be the case.


    I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and waited for a while.


    I didn''t need to make any requests for this, they wouldn''t hesitate to give me a short time to talk about the past.


    Of course, I will use this time to think, not to prepare myself.


    How can I make the whole scenario work for me without lying?


    I''ve already given this a lot of thought while I was resting, but there''s no harm in going over everything again...


    Seconds passed in this way, and when it approached a minute, it wasn''t hard to realize that the people at the table were getting impatient.


    I opened my eyes but left them slightly squinted, I nced briefly around the table and saw that they were all looking at me with great curiosity. So I took my eyes off them and shifted them slightly to the floor.


    "In the bunker... I fainted because of the amount of blood I lost from the wounds I received while trying to escape."


    That''s how I started, telling what ''happened'' in the past. I made sure that there was not a single lie in my words. and, of course, making sure that they didn''t tell the whole truth.


    I told them that I woke up a prisoner in Caleuche, that they were trying to get information from me about Dorhud.


    This was easy to tell, there was no need for me to distort the truth. The important parts were the period when I was tortured and afterward.


    I didn''t describe what I went through in excessive detail, I went through it quickly in a cursory way, but... when I reached the point where I was taken back to my prison room, that''s when the real thing started.

 Chapter 219 Volume IV - 64: Demands for Information

    <h4>Chapter 219 Volume IV - Chapter 64: Demands for Information</h4>


    I waited a short while, took advantage of the silence that followed my words, and continued.


    I told my first ''lie'' that wasn''t a lie.


    "Sometime after they put me back in my prison room... Someone looking like a human suddenly appeared in my room. He looked at me, then he offered his hand, and asked if I wanted to escape."


    At my words, all the dwarves at the table suddenly paused as if they had heard something impossible. They looked at each other sideways with questioning expressions.


    Of course, they would, after all, what I had said was miraculous. Still, it didn''t mean I was lying and they knew it. They had already surpassed the technological capacity to understand that. That''s why they reacted the way they did.


    "Do you know this person''s name, who he is?"


    I took a deep breath and shook my head.


    "I don''t know his name, as for who he is¡­ I just know that he is a ''prisoner'' like me."


    Yes, he was a prisoner too. A prisoner inside my body... Certain conditions had to arise for him to appear. As long as these conditions were not met, he was a ''prisoner'' inside me.


    I was going to keep talking but suddenly I paused, my ears suddenly stopped receiving sound, as if they were being blocked by something. Then I saw the dwarves at the table talking among themselves.


    I tried to read their lips, but... it was strange, that too was being blocked.


    It was just one of the systems they used to block spies. Not only did it take away my senses, but it also prevented me from understanding the conversation between them in any way.


    They were ying directly with my senses.


    After a short while of this strange situation, my hearing suddenly returned. Then one of the dwarves at the table turned to me.


    "What was his purpose, why did he lend a hand to ye?"


    "His purpose was the same as mine, to escape. At least that''s what I think. As for why he helped me... That''s a simple question. He used me to escape."


    "This fellow seems to be a strong one, young man. Why would he make use of ye?"


    "Because no matter how strong he was, he couldn''t escape on his own. So he had to use ''me''."


    "As a distraction?"


    I didn''t answer, as if the question made me ufortable... with the humiliation of being used. And everyone at the table understood this and the answer I wanted to give.


    "Go on."


    When Houdhin''s voice echoed, I continued my story with a big smile that I kept inside myself.


    I told how I took down the dwarf who was in charge of bringing me food, how I used him to find the warehouse, and the items I got from there.


    I didn''t give any details about caora, and for the rest of the story, I connected everything that happened to the items I took from the warehouse and to the man who miraculously helped me. Without ''lying'' of course.


    Talking about this ''man'', obviously my wiera side, actually isn''t a good option. Because he does not exist ''physically'' and if they find out, I''m literally finished.


    The only reason I can tell it this way is because I am sure that the Southerners will try to hide as much information as possible about what happened. Of course, I also know quite well that they will not tell anyone about the ''purple energy''. Because they know what this energy is, at least the higher-ups like Kahdun knows.


    They cannot put themselves at risk. After all, even they have people to fear. So I can use it with confidence.


    And so, I went on to exin how I had wreaked havoc in Caleuche, how I had escaped, how I had smuggled a vehicle out of the camp, and how, hourster, I had reached the borders of the North Hr.


    When I finished my story, a deep silence fell over the huge room again.


    In some eyes I saw sadness for what I had been through, in others respect for what I had achieved and all kinds of emotions.


    It wasn''t all positive emotions, of course. I also saw people who had negative thoughts about me, but in general, I was pleased with what I saw.


    Again, I smiled inwardly, without expressing it in any way.


    I seeded.


    *******


    My ears stopped picking up sound. I couldn''t help rxing a little as I watched the dwarves arguing calmly in front of my eyes again.


    Still, it would be a mistake to rx too much. I have only seeded in making them believe my story. What I want from them is not finished, nor is what they want from me.


    As the dwarves continued to talk to each other, I took turns observing them, trying to identify those who believed me and those who still doubted me.


    I need to know who I can count on for support and who I can suspect if something bad happens in the future.


    As I was examining each of the dwarves one by one, I locked eyes with someone, or rather I realized that someone was looking at me and turned to him, President Houdhin.


    He was more focused on me than on what was being discussed at the table, his sharp green eyes were directly on me.


    I didn''t look away, no matter how intimidating he looked, I kept going, letting him know that I was determined and that I would stand by whatever I had to say for the rest of this meeting.


    With that, Houdhin tore his eyes away from me, turned to the other dwarves at the table, said a few sentences, and then everyone stopped talking.


    The barrier in my ears lifted, and then a dwarf I had never heard of spoke.


    "Aiden Tenebra, durin'' yer time in Caleuche, did yee across any knowledge they Southerners be keepin'' hidden from the outside, somethin'' they wouldn''t want leakin''?"


    The room fell silent at these words, everyone at the table was looking at me with a particrly fixed expression.


    They are trying to make me feel oppressed... Hah, they don''t know that I have a skill that prevents exactly that.


    I took a deep breath, straightened myself a little, and sharpened my eyes slightly.


    Being under pressure? I took a stance as if to show that I had nothing to do with it in the slightest.


    "Yes."


    And that was it, the moment when everyone at the table showed their seriousness in this particr way.


    "Where did ye acquire these ''information''?"


    "From the archive rooms."


    Immediately after I said that, everyone''s eyes widened, so much so that even the legendary president''s eyebrows furrowed slightly.


    This was a big thing. The fact that I had broken into the archive rooms, or rather that a clone of me had broken into the archive rooms, was so important to the North Hr who were at war with the South Hr that I could clearly see my value in their eyes multiplied who knows how many times in an instant.


    That''s what I wanted, exactly. Getting to this point was the first thing I aimed for. And what I''m going to do now is actually going to be the most important part of this meeting for me.


    Of course, it was going to be a challenge. They didn''t trust me, there would certainly be people who would be very much against what I had to say. But I was prepared, I was going to get what I wanted no matter what.


    Here we go¡­


    "But..."


    After my words, a deep silence suddenly fell over the room. All the dwarves at the table were surprised and... suddenly nervous, as they had certainly not expected a ''but'' from me.


    It was a different kind of silence than before, so much so that even the security guards scattered around the room, rather than those at the table, knew something was wrong.


    Because it wasn''t me who felt nervous. On the contrary, it was them.


    They were curious to hear what woulde out of my mouth, but at the same time they couldn''t help the slight fear that had arisen in them.


    Then... I continued calmly, coldly.


    "There are things I want to demand for these."

 Chapter 220 Volume IV - 65: President Houdhin Gargel

    <h4>Chapter 220 Volume IV - Chapter 65: President Houdhin Gargel</h4>


    One of the dwarves, breaking the silence, quickly interjected to protest against my ''request''.


    "Ye were saved, yer life preserved, and now when we ask for yer help and yee forth with a demand? Ain''t that a bit disrespectful?"


    I narrowed my eyes and turned to the dwarf who had spoken so quickly.


    He was a middle-aged dwarf, maybe forty at most. He had long hair gathered behind his head and ck eyes. He was big, even for a dwarf. Still, he wasn''t someone who would make me back down, especially after what I''d been through.


    It was time to get a little tough.


    "Disrespect?"


    I looked directly into the dwarf''s eyes, putting the same kind of pressure on him that they were trying to put on me.


    "I am asking you, sir. If you had experienced what I have just described in this room, where would you be now?"


    The dwarf''s eyes twitched, but he still didn''t seem to understand what I was trying to say. So I went further, I started to spread my mana slightly, but I did it with care, I made my mana behave like the unconscious mana of someone who is angry.


    And my special condition of being a catalyst for the use of mana, that is, my direct soul, made it very easy for me to do this.


    The dwarf who hadshed out at me could not feel my mana directly because of his race, but he felt its effect quite clearly. He suddenly shivered and looked around momentarily.


    "I doubt you can even stand here like this, and here I am, answering your questions after all. After almost seven weeks of what I have been through, here I am, for the first time ever, making a request. And what you want to do is reject it before you''ve even heard it?"


    I withdrew the respect I had shown them so far, making sure that the only emotion that could be felt from my statement was disgust.


    Houdhin, who had been silent until this moment, narrowed his eyes when he saw the expression on my face.


    "Mr. Brgh, please do not interrupt our guest."


    Dwarf named Brgh froze in ce the moment he heard Houdhin''s voice.


    I tore my eyes away from him, for the moment I didn''t care. For me, he was someone I no longer wanted to deal with, someone I detested, and I reflected that in my behavior.


    I made sure to impress on their minds what would happen if anything else happened to make me ufortable. I showed them that I was not someone who would ept everything they asked me to do with a smiling face just because they helped me.


    After all, I am the best blessing they can find for them... no, directly for the North Hr. They ''have'' to be nice to me.


    "What do you want?"


    Houdhin did not mince words after this little incident.


    "You see, I hate the South Hr for what they did to me. Not a single dwarf I met there treated me well, and the best I got was simply being ignored."


    My eyebrows furrowed involuntarily and I clenched my fist. It was not a deliberate gesture. I really hate them to the bone.


    "So... I want to take part in the war as a soldier in the ranks of the North Hr."


    What I said must have been unexpected by no one at the table, because I saw them all looking at each other as if they had just been fooled.


    "Is that all you want?"


    "Yes, sir. Not only do I hate them, but I want to turn this war into an opportunity for my future."


    "You want to gain experience?"


    "That''s right."


    Houdhin waited for a while without saying anything, thinking.


    Apparently, he had expected something more extreme, just like all the other dwarves at the table.


    "Is there anything else you want?"


    "I want to get back the things that were taken from me when you found me."


    No one made a sound at this. They didn''t even seem surprisedpared to my previous request.


    They probably checked everything inside the dimensional ring I had stolen from the warehouse. They must not have found anything suspicious, because there is literally nothing.


    "The artifacts you used were badly damaged, so even if you take most of it, you can''t use it. Nevertheless, we will fulfill both of your requests."


    Houdhin turned his head slightly to his right and his eyes fell on someone sitting at the table, someone I knew.


    The dwarf I looked for in the war but could not find.


    "Darbal, test how skilled a warrior our guest is and ce him in a suitable regiment."


    The dwarf named Darbal nodded his head in agreement and looked me over briefly, maintaining the slight smile he had always kept on his face.


    He was a well-built dwarf with ck hair and brown eyes. His ck hair was long and a bit tangled, but it suited him. His eyes were full of life, as befits someone who is always smiling.


    He could have been the brightest person in the room. Yet he was wearing a soldier''s uniform, which made it clear how high his rank was.


    He was a general.


    If only I could have found him in the war... things would have been really different.


    "Understood."


    With the answer he got, Houdhin turned to me again.


    "If you don''t have anything else. We would be happy for you to tell us what you know."


    I smiled and nodded my head in agreement.


    Then I began to tell him most of what I knew, in a limited way of course.


    Obviously, I can''t tell them everything I know. Because I can''t exin it.


    If I tell everything I know, I will be seen as a seer, rather than someone who is simply supposed to have read a few archives.


    I don''t want that, and I don''t want the war to end too quickly. At least for now.


    So, I won''t tell anything except a few cities that the South Hr n to attack in the future, one or two of their secret bases, and a few other details.


    *******


    For a little less than ten minutes I told a lot of things to the top officials of the North Hr, pretending that what I knew from the game I had seen in the ''archives''.


    In this way, when it seemed that I had finished, I fell silent and silence fell on the table.


    "Make copies of everything that has been recorded and ssify the files with the highest level of authority, then we will create a n and a program for all of this."


    "Ahem..."


    Everyone at the table turned to me at once, I had interrupted them just as they were about to nod in response to Houdhin''s words.


    "I have onest thing to say, and it''s really, very important, sir."


    Houdhin frowned, not liking the atmosphere I had created. So did everyone else at the table.


    "So much so that I would prefer no one else to hear what I have to say except the two of us."


    A dwarf pounded his fist on the table.


    Another immediately interjected, disagreeing with what I had said.


    Someone else tried to quiet the suddenly heated table, but in vain.


    The whole table was suddenly at odds, the noise filled the room, but it didn''t matter to Houdhin.


    "Be quiet."


    With those two words, which cut through all the noise and echoed in the ears of everyone at the table, the dwarves fell silent as if time had stopped for them. Those who were standing took their seats, those who seemed angry forced themselves to calm down.


    I would be lying if I said I wasn''t impressed. It must be one of those things thate with being legendary and frightening.


    Houdhin tapped something on the table, and I saw the eyes of the dwarves in charge in the room twitch.


    "No one will hear what you say, say it."


    I nodded obediently, then took a deep breath and made direct eye contact with Houdhin.


    I hope he doesn''t order my death or something...


    "South... They know about the ''weapon'' you are preparing, or rather trying to prepare, for Caleuche."


    For the first time in all my time in this room, I saw Houdhin''s eyes widen. The legendary dwarf suddenly lost all his legendariness and for a moment he looked like a truly bewildered old man.


    The other dwarves at the table were stunned. Even though they hadn''t heard what I said, it was the first time they had seen the legendary president make such an expression, so they understood the seriousness of the situation.


    "And do ''you'' know about this?"


    Houdhin was only justing to, he looked like he had been hit by a car. But he pulled himself together as fast as he could.


    If he was going to order my death, it would be after I said this...


    "Yes, sir, I know about Project Durandal and what you''re trying to do."


    Houdhin sighed deeply, for the first time breaking his unchanging posture and looking more serious than ever.


    Hah, he won''t kill me. Hooray...


    "How much do they know?"


    "They know you haven''t been able toplete the project, so they are more aggressive than they have beentely. They''re scared."


    He took his eyes off me and narrowed them, like he realized something and was thinking. Yet he was still unaware that I still had more to say.


    "Not only that, they know what youck toplete the project. That''s why they are trying to prevent it. Likewise, I also know."


    How many times can a man be surprised in his lifetime? That aside, a man like Houdhin Gargel, who is always serious and has been through so much...


    I got the answer to that with the question I asked.


    Houdhin froze where he was, he looked at me with widened eyes again, and he was literally struck by lightning.


    The man was changing from shape to shape, probably for the first time in his life.


    "Tell me, then..."


    I nodded, then continued.


    "You need virgonium. As much virgonium as possible. The materials you are using are not sufficient enough."


    Virgonium is one of the rarest materials avable on Lunerra. It is also the metal that interacts most efficiently with mana. Its durability is also very good... That''s why it''s even more valuable than diamonds in this world.


    And even though it is hard to find, it is not a material that a country like the North Hr cannot obtain after a long struggle.


    "Of course, there are also the runes you use. You need something moreplex. Instead of trying to improve your runes, try to develop a new one that fits the system. Finally, you need to try to change the nature of the sword directly, instead of adding to it like you try to do with runes. This is the most important part. Just because you''re using a legendary sword, you shouldn''t be afraid to work on it."


    Houdhin nodded at everything I said, then finally sighed and leaned back slightly.


    "You didn''t lie... I''m going to trust you and pass on what you said to the people working on the project."


    I smiled, if what I said made even the slightest change in the minds of those genius dwarves, they could solve the problem with the project.


    "I understand, sir, and I will keep my mouth shut about the project. I think you already understand how much I hate the South Hr."


    Houdhin nodded at me, then touched something on the table, as he did when he was deafening everyone, and quickly interjected himself before anyone else could speak.


    "This concludes our meeting with our guest Aiden Tenebra. He will continue to recover under our care and will join the army when he is well enough. Any objections?"


    No one spoke up, what Houdhin was doing was a so-called vote. No one dared to challenge him anyway.


    So, the decision was made. The doctor, who had been waiting behind me, deafened by now, took charge of my wheelchair again. He turned me around and led me out through the door we had entered in the first ce.


    On the way back to my patient room, I smiled, happy that I had gotten everything I wanted for now, and left myself alone. When I was put back in bed with the help of the nurses, I closed my eyes, not caring about anything.


    Everything went well today... I want to get some rest.


    And I need to recover as fast as possible if I want to fight.

 Chapter 221 Volume IV - 66: Brand New Skills

    <h4>Chapter 221 Volume IV - Chapter 66: Brand New Skills</h4>


    I gripped tightly the first weapon of my life, the first weapon of my own.


    It was a strange feeling to hold the handle of the spear that fit perfectly in my hand. The weight was also close to what I wanted, even if not perfect, and everything else.


    I smiled, thinking about what I had done all day.


    Lithoa''s house was full of treasure. I mean, really full... That''s why I had a hard time choosing something suitable for me. Because I wanted to know what almost everything was for and choose ordingly.


    That''s how I started to read the descriptions and features of everything I could get my hands on throughout the whole treasure trove.


    It was full of useless artifacts, or rather, low-level artifacts that wouldn''t be of much use to me. So this ''search'' took quite a long time. About two hours...


    Still, I was happy with the result, the selection of artifacts was finished.


    A normal-looking bracelet that provides a dimensional inventory that no one but me has ess to was at the top of my choices. Constantly using dimensional buttons was annoying and having a single dimensional inventory artifact was a blessing.


    Apart from the bracelet, there were a total of three artifacts I bought for myself.


    I couldn''t choose too many as Lithoa had allowed me to take a maximum of three, he had told me that relying too much on things other than myself would not yield good results.


    I trusted him and it made sense, so I did as he said.


    The three artifacts I took with me were a ring that allowed me to store mana and then use it, earrings that could sense danger and emit light if I wanted to, and a ne that allowed me to use my mana more effectively.


    Apart from that, choosing a spear was easier than choosing an artifact. I chose two spears, one of which was to be used only in emergencies. It didn''t make much sense to use an extremely high-grade weapon in front of everyone, after all.


    So, when we got to the present, what I did was look at the spear I was going to use for a long time and couldn''t help but grin.


    The metal of the spear, with a double-edged de at the end, was made of particrly hard and magically sensitive metal, while the handle was just the right size to fit my hand and was made of wood rather than metal. Of course, using a fairly good material.


    The spear was also gray with red embroidery, and a short piece of cloth dangled from the sharp point, connecting it to the handle. It was a nice detail on the spear, even if it didn''t do much.


    I widened my smile and focused on the bracelet on my right arm, and in a moment the spear in my hand disappeared into nothingness with a blue glow.


    When I focused, I realized that I could see the spear lying in the bracelet as if it were right in front of me. It would re-materialize in front of me if I wanted it to.


    ''Stop grinning like an idiot and finish your work in the room.''


    I ignored Lithoa''s insult, but I did as he said.


    I know what I came here for.


    ''How many skills can I get? Do you have any suggestions for that, like the artifacts?''


    I don''t know how many skills he has collected in his lifetime. I''m sure there are at least a few he hasn''t used, right?


    ''I didn''t have many skill cubes, I only had two, and you can use them both.''


    Hearing this made me feel a little sad. It wasn''t difficult to understand though.


    Skill cubes... they''re very rare, and usually it''s even harder than usual to find things with useful skills.


    So even if I was a little disappointed... I couldn''t say anything.


    ''There''s a leather case to the right of the door, I told you to ignore it while you examine the artifacts. The cubes are in it.''


    I nodded quickly, then walked over to the leather case as soon as I saw it.


    When Lithoa told me not to touch it in the first ce, I knew there was something important inside. So there were skill cubes in it...


    The first time I touched the leather bag, excitement swept through my whole body. However, I suppressed this excitement as much as possible and opened the bag after tilting it on its side.


    Inside were two ck-colored cubes with shimmering patterns, the size of intelligence cubes. From the mana they emitted, it was clear that the one on the left contained a higher-grade skill.


    I swallowed, then reached out to the cube on the right and touched it.


    <<------------------------------


    You are about to learn an active skill!


    Skill: Wrath of the Vines (C)


    The user can cause vines to grow out of any object for a short period of time, attacking targets around it.


    The size and number of vines depends on the amount of mana allocated to the skill.


    Vines can only be controlled to a certain extent using this skill.


    Do you ept learning the skill?


    ------------------------------>>


    This is... exactly the kind of skill I need. It''s easy to imagine tons of scenarios where it coulde in handy. However... I''d better be careful when using this skill. I don''t like thatst paragraph and the ''wrath'' in the name of it...


    I imagined that I was confirming the question.


    First, I felt a flow of manaing from the cube into my body. I closed my eyes and focused, letting the flow of mana enter my body, then move closer to my chest and from there slowly spread throughout my body.


    So, after a while, this feeling slowly started to disappear and I opened my eyes.


    What I saw was that first the glow on the cube began to fade, and then the cube itself began to turn to dust.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You have learned the [Wrath of the Vines(C)] skill!


    ------------------------------>>


    I smiled, then quickly turned to the other earring and touched it too.


    <<------------------------------


    You are about to learn an active skill!


    Skill: Guardian Radiance (A)


    Creates ayer of light that envelops the body of the user or the person the user is focusing on. Thisyer allows the person whose body it envelops to feel less pain, to be protected and gently healed.


    Do you ept learning the skill?


    ------------------------------>>


    When I finished reading the skill, my eyes widened and I just froze in ce.


    It was the most useful skill I had ever seen in my entire life. It provided both protection and healing... And on top of that, it reduced pain.


    Will I ever find a skill like this again in my lifetime?


    At the very beginning... Why didn''t Lithoa use this cube on himself?


    "L- Lithoa... Why didn''t you take this skill for yourself?"


    ''I could do almost exactly what this one does with my other skills and masteries, so I didn''t see the need.''


    I found myself imagining what kind of monster Lithoa had been in the past. Powerful enough to ignore such a skill...


    I shook my head from side to side, stopped daydreaming.


    I read the description of the skill again, and then, without thinking, I epted to acquire it. I couldn''t help feeling that it would slip away from me...


    So, the same thing happened again as when I learned the previous skill, except that a more intense flow of mana was absorbed by my body for a longer period of time.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You have learned the [Guardian Radiance(A)] skill!


    ------------------------------>>


    I opened my eyes with a smile, watched the talent cube dusting, and finally clenched my fist.


    It was worth it toe this far... It was definitely worth it.


    ''You''re done with this room, now... We''ll start your training.''


    This is what I wanted. I wanted to try out my newfound skills, and my spear, so I quickly stood up, closed the leather bag, and put it back. Then I took onest look around the room.


    How many hours have I been here... I was even starting to embrace the room.


    I let out a deep sigh and went outside.


    Kari, the white-furred tiger, or rather the white-furred cat as it is now, was waiting for me right outside.


    When I closed the door to the room, she realized that I was done and came over to me. Then she started rubbing lightly against my leg.


    Actually... she''s a scary creature, but she''s quite friendly on the other hand.


    I leaned over and started petting it, and Kari, much to my delight, spun around on the floor.


    "And you''re supposed to be a giant tiger... No one would believe the real you if they saw you like this."


    Kari meowed in a nonchnt tone. She really didn''t care.


    ''Heh, you''re close now, but we''ll cut it short. Because I want to start your training right away.''


    I stopped petting Kari and stood up, imagining the size of the crimson spear inside my bracelet, and it slowly appeared in my hand.


    Kari just stood there, obviously not happy that I had stopped loving her.


    "What do I do?"


    A short silence followed this question, and then I felt a slight chill run through my body.


    "L- Lithoa?"


    ''First of all... I will teach you the basics of a spear style that I think will suit you.''


    The intensity of the coldness increased with each passing second and I finally found the source of this sensation.


    The white cat I had just petted, rolling on the floor... was now looking directly at me and... smiling broadly.


    ''Then Kari will beat the shit out of you and prepare you for the tasks I will give you.''


    "O- oh..."


    I couldn''t help swallowing.


    Somehow it felt as if Kari could speak directly to Lithoa. A worse scenario was... that this tiger''s way of thinking was the same as Lithoa''s.


    If thetter was the case...


    I felt goosebumps all over my body, fear gripped my body as I faced the ''smile'' the cat offered me.


    ''Don''t worry, you won''t die. I mean... hopefully.''

 Chapter 222 Volume IV - 67: A Person Without a Purpose

    <h4>Chapter 222 Volume IV - Chapter 67: A Person Without a Purpose</h4>


    "Hey, hey, hey! Get back, get back! Don''t go near the mes!"


    As the voices from outside echoed like a whisper in the huge bedroom, I slowly moved to the single armchair, slowly.


    I pulled a long needle from my waist and started twirling it in my hand, just as a shaky voice echoed through the room. Then I sat calmly on the couch, ignoring my surroundings.


    "W- What do you want?!"


    I lifted my eyes up and looked where the voice came from, at the big bed in the center of the room.


    A man was there, naked, with the duvet covering his lower back. He was sweating, his eyes darting here and there, looking for a way out.


    I whispered in a low voice,pletely oblivious to his futile efforts.


    "Guess."


    The man looked fearfully at the woman lying next to him, just like him. The only difference was that her eyes were closed and she was lying down.


    He tried to wake her up, sought her out. But she never opened her eyes.


    "She''s already dead, don''t bother with her."


    This time the man trembled violently. For a moment he just stood there. He slowly moved his trembling hand to her neck and checked her pulse. His head lowered with each passing second so that his hair fell in front of him.


    "What did you..."


    His voice was suddenly hoarse, weak.


    "I poisoned her, it''s not a big thing-"


    "What the fuck did you do to my wife?!"


    The guy jumped out of the bed at me. However, he failed miserably. The moment he got out of bed he fell down, he had tripped.


    But he didn''t stop, he tried to get up again. And yet, it too was futile. He fell down once again. As if his muscles were failing him every time he tried.


    "What''s the matter? Is your anger only this much, Count?"


    Hearing this, the Count mmed his fist into the floor. His whole body trembled again as the floor shattered with the impact.


    He started to cry.


    "I- If only I wasn''t sick... If only I wasn''t in a weaken-"


    "Oh, that? My poison seems to have affected you more than I thought."


    The Count froze in ce, raised his head, and looked at me with pitiful eyes, and then tied it all together.


    His expression first distorted, then trembled. His head returned to the floor. This time, though, he didn''t stop there. He dug his nails into the floor, then began to crawl.


    "Die... I- I''ll kill you..."


    He threw his other hand forward, dragging his body toward me.


    "My... My children, my w- wife... all of them..."


    "Yes, Count. I killed them all. The question is... what can you do?"


    The count dragged his body toward me again.


    "You were a count, even if you were one of the weakest counts in the kingdom. And look at you now."


    I punched the mirror on my left side and when it shattered into pieces, I pulled out arge piece and threw it in front of me.


    The mirror shardnded right in front of the count, under his hair, which fell to the floor. The count faced his own face and paused.


    He saw his tear-stained eyes, the drool dripping from his mouth, and his disheveled hair.


    "You were an A grade spear wielder, and now you crawl in front of an E grade person... Poisons are truly miraculous, aren''t they?"


    Sighing slightly, I stood up, approached the count, who could barely take a step, and ced my foot on his head.


    "Do you know who I am?"


    The count didn''t answer, just staring at himself in the piece of mirror beneath him.


    "Alexander Callidas. The weak guy whose mother you decided to kill just because he might cause you trouble in the future, just as a warning, just so that he would fall into decadence."


    When the Count didn''t react again, I pulled my foot back, squinting in disgust.


    "You''ve gone mad, haven''t you?"


    I bent down, gently pricked the count''s hand with the tip of the needle I had been holding in my hand, and then stood up again.


    "It was an honor to meet you in yourst moments, Count Herun. I hope you suffer greatly."


    With that, I turned away, and thest thing I heard before I left the bedroom and went into the mes was the pitiful sound of the Count screaming and crying.


    *******


    I pulled my hoodie over my head, threw the changed clothes in a corner of my room, and went outside.


    Even though it was March, it was quite cold and I even felt the need to put on a winter coat. I didn''t go back though, I walked through the city and approached one of Cevilian''s hugekes.


    I found a bench, sat down, breathed in the fresh air, and closed my eyes in the darkness of the night.


    I thought of the past, of the time I spent with my mother before she was sick in bed.


    I took my revenge, one by one I killed everyone who was behind my mother''s death.


    I''m at peace. But... why am I not happy?


    No, it''s not that I''m not happy... I''m just... purposeless.


    For thest month and a half, I''ve been totally dedicated to avenging my mother''s death. Every night, every day I''ve worked for it and I''ve achieved my goal. I gave them all a painful death... And now, I have nothing to do.


    I never imagined, never wanted to imagine, a future without my mother. And now I am in such a world...


    I opened my eyes and looked at the still surface of the hugeke that seemed to stretch to the horizon like a sea, reflecting the lights.


    Should Imit suicide? Would I meet my mother if I did that?


    I imagined my mother''s face, the beautiful face I had seen only a few months ago.


    I narrowed my eyes.


    No... My mother wouldn''t like that.


    So I started thinking about something else.


    Aiden... He helped me heal my mom. I''m grateful to him, even if the oue wasn''t what I wanted. I could have served him for the rest of my life if the stupid nobles hadn''t done something stupid, as usual.


    I paused, then smiled.


    Now that I have no purpose in life... The least I can do is help him. Even if he didn''t do me any favors for nothing, he truly considered me his friend during our time together. He didn''t ask for anything for the nt that would cure my mother, he even offered me more.


    He is a good person... not like me.


    When I''ve already gotten my hands dirty, when I already have nothing to do in this world... At least I can be of use to him.


    I stood up and started walking back toward my hotel room.


    Yes, there is nothing I can do but return the favor.


    *******


    After returning to my hotel room, I went straight back to the academy. Since there was still time for my permit to expire, I went in without any problem and stepped into my dormitory room, where I hadst set foot almost two months ago, for the first time in a long time.


    It felt a bit nostalgic, like it was a long time ago, even though it hadn''t been years.


    I let out a deep sigh, then opened my watch, which I hadn''t touched for who knows how long. The first thing I did was to find Aiden''s name and text him.


    <<------------------------------


    You: Please text me back when you can.


    ------------------------------>>


    I put my head on the pillow, knowing that if I got a text message I would wake up to the notification sound, so I wanted to get some rest. When I closed my eyes, it didn''t take long for darkness to descend on me and I lost touch with the outside world.


    It was a sound sleep, without dreams. Still, it didn''t take long for my eyes to open again.


    It was midnight when I woke up, having slept only a few hours because of my ruined sleep patterns.


    I opened my watch, checked to see if Aiden had written me a reply, but then I realized that the message hadn''t been sent... let alone read.


    I frowned. Even though it was midnight, I called Aiden.


    "The person you have called ca-."


    I turned off the watch, and for a moment I just stood there.


    It didn''tst long though, as soon as I got out of bed, I threw on some clothes and left my dorm room, heading straight for the research building.


    I still remember the offer Aiden made me, he told me that Ulka DeLaor was working under him. That crazy man is definitely in hisb, even at this time of night.


    By talking to him, I could get a head start on the ''job'' Aiden had told me about, and I could also get some information about him.


    I entered the building a few minutester, and when I approached the reception desk I was greeted by a friendly receptionist.


    "Alexander Callidas, I''m here to see Ulka DeLaor."


    The receptionist''s smiling face instantly fell slightly at this.


    "Professor Ulka said that no one should disturb him..."


    So he''s really here... I knew it.


    "Tell him I''m here for a job offer and my name. He''ll let me in."


    The receptionist grunted slightly this time, clearly not wanting to deal with that maniac Ulka DeLaor. Nevertheless, he did as I said and called the professor.


    He expected me to be rejected, I could see it in his expression, but when his eyes widened during the call, it wasn''t hard to guess the answer he got on the other end.


    "P- Professor Ulka is waiting for you..."


    I nodded, and after finding out where the professor''sb was, it took me three minutes to get to his doorstep.


    As soon as I reached the door, I pressed the screen next to it and waited.


    After only three seconds, the door opened wide and a pair of golden eyes greeted me.


    "Come in."


    I walked in without waiting, while Professor Ulka closed the door directly and gestured to the seats immediately to our left.


    I took the seat. Then he sat opposite me and looked at me, surveying theb.


    It was a simpleb, at least the entrance was.


    "Job offer, Aiden offered it to you, didn''t he?"


    I could tell by his dull tone that he already knew the subject, but he wasn''t happy about it.


    "Yes, he said I should normally wait a year for it, but I wanted to start early."


    Ulka didn''t change his posture one bit.


    "Do you want money?"


    "No, I want to work for Aiden."


    "So you want to be his dog?"


    It might have been ufortable if it had been someone else.


    "I have nothing left to lose in my life, professor. I don''t even have a reason to live, I took revenge for my family and that''s it. It''s all over for me. So, for the rest of my life, I will return the favor."


    Ulka raised his eyebrows in surprise, then sighed slightly, keeping the same coldness in his expression.


    "Well, if you really want to, you can start by helping me with my projects."


    I nodded in agreement, though I didn''t let him get up from the couch right away.


    "By the way... Aiden is at the academy, right?"


    This time Ulka froze in ce. It was quite momentary, though.


    "Oh, right... It''s normal that you don''t know."


    My eyebrows furrowed, it was clear that something was going on that I didn''t know about and I didn''t like it.


    "It''s normal not to know what?"


    "He''s dead."


    Time stopped in an instant, the professor''s words echoed one after another in my mind.


    "W- What?"

 Chapter 223 Volume IV - 68: Yellow-Eyed Black Snake

    <h4>Chapter 223 Volume IV - Chapter 68: Yellow-Eyed ck Snake</h4>


    "W- What? What did you just say...? He... is dead?"


    Professor Ulka was looking at me with his usual cold expression... as if he was waiting for me to say something. As if what he was saying was something very normal.


    Ah... Waiting for me to say something?


    Something''s wrong with this.


    If Aiden''s dead... Why didn''t he tell me that in the first ce?


    I frowned, then asked, trying to keep myposure.


    "Why did you lie?"


    "It wasn''t a lie, at least not in the hidden records."


    Ulka put his hand in the pocket of his white coat.


    "I''m only saying this because you''re going to work with me and Aiden. Aiden was registered as dead about a month and a half ago, but the rector denied and concealed those records. There are no more than ten people who know that Aiden should have been registered dead."


    "Why did the rector deny the records?"


    "Probably because she, like me, has a mana contract with Aiden and, like me, she is aware that nothing has changed in that mana contract."


    Ah... I get it now... That makes sense.


    "Aiden... Where is he?"


    "Somewhere on the Hr continent. He said he wouldn''t be heard from for a while, so he probably did it on purpose."


    Hr... The continent of the dwarves... It''s a continent at war right now.


    I didn''t expect this... I thought at least he was still in Cevilian, but it''s good to know he''s still alive.


    If it is him, he will return eventually. I''ll trust him, just like he trusted me once.


    "Okay, thanks."


    With that, Ulka sighed again.


    "Start helping me now if you want, go rest if you want, ande backter. I don''t care if it''ste at night."


    That''s what he said... but his tone and expression didn''t support what he said at all.


    "I''m not sleepy, professor."


    "Then read the files on the table over there and give me your thoughts. I''ll tell you what to do based on what you say."


    I looked at the desk he showed me, then at the pile of files on it...


    A big smile appeared on my face.


    Do you want me to read files all night because you don''t want to deal with me?


    "Okay."


    The professor turned around and started walking away.


    I quickly poured mana into my skill, the skill that was the reason Aiden had approached me in the first ce.


    I looked at the files as the world in front of me quickly lit up, and then I grabbed all the information I could about them.


    The professor took a few more steps. I digested each one as fast as I could as all the information in the file quickly flooded into my mind.


    Finally, Professor Ulka was just leaving the room we were in when the skill was deactivated.


    "Increased efficiency and quality inplex rune formations that provide dimensional inventory... Amon problem that researchers are working on, but one that many are afraid to reach out to."


    Ulka paused, then slowly turned to me and raised his eyebrows curiously.


    "Since the field of dimensional inventory has advanced so much, people don''t want to dwell on it anymore, believing that everything is too perfect."


    The professor nodded in agreement, so I continued.


    "Still, the rune formations that provide these inventories are tooplex. The connection points could be adjusted, or a few additional runes could be added and some removed to try to find a more suitable formation. I can think of a few other methods, would you like me to exin them with examples?"


    Professor Ulka grinned for the first time since I first met him. Then he turned around and started moving again toward where he had been trying to go in the first ce.


    "Follow me."


    I grinned back and followed him, taking the first steps toward getting closer to the professor.


    Realizing, of course, that he had a lot to teach me. After all, he''s a professor, and once I''ve earned his trust, it won''t be a problem to use his knowledge for myself.


    I will do everything I can for Aiden.


    I''ll be his dog if I have to.


    *******


    As the first rays of morning light began to shine through my window and hit my face, my eyes slowly opened as a sound echoed in my ears simultaneously.


    It was a melody, one of the ssic rm tunes.


    I sat up slowly, then stared for a few seconds at my own image in the mirror opposite me.


    I looked at my disheveled brown hair, my burred gray eyes and then yawned slightly.


    School...


    Ah, right. The weekend... I forgot to turn off the rm.


    I threw myself back on my bed, closed my eyes again, and waited for a while.


    Seconds passed... Maybe even two minutes.


    "Huff..."


    I got straight out of bed, sshed cold water hard on my face, not caring about myck of sleep, and went to the kitchen.


    It was a day like any other, a start like any other. While I was eating my breakfast, I was looking at the messaging app, checking thest message I sent to my brother.


    <<------------------------------


    You: Brother, I hope you are well... Can you tell me when you cane back when you see my message?


    ------------------------------>>


    Still unseen, eleven days after the message.


    I let out a deep sigh.


    I know he said I wouldn''t be able to reach him for a few months before he left, but... The things I''ve seen since I got the irvoyance skill always make something inside me feel ufortable.


    Especially what I saw about two weeks ago.


    A shadow weeping blood, almost disappearing under the scorching sun, then trying to climb a deadly mountain filled with thousands of obstacles, but just as it reaches the top, the stone it thought was the strongest breaks and it falls down the mountain...


    It was a dream, and yet I know it was no simple dream.


    I don''t know what my skill is trying to tell me. I''ve never heard of any prophecies showing the future directly, they''re always... symbolic.


    This one must be too, but I have no idea what it means, and that''s exactly why it makes me feel uneasy.


    I wonder if there are things I need to learn for this... seer thing. Like lessons at school, for example.


    ~beep!


    At the sound of the notification, I stared at the wall for a moment, then checked the notification with a deep sigh.


    A smile appeared on my face.


    <<------------------------------


    Paul: Good morning ^^


    ------------------------------>>


    I put the fork down on my te, erged the screen to be holographic, and responded in the same way.


    <<------------------------------


    You: Good morning.


    Paul: Come on... you are so cold.


    ------------------------------>>


    My smile widened, I leaned back in my chair and pulled my left leg toward me.


    <<------------------------------


    You: You want me to send you a heart emoji or something?


    Paul: It would at least make me feel like we''ve been dating for a month and a half.


    ------------------------------>>


    For a moment my fingers didn''t go to the keyboard.


    A month and a half... Has it been that long? I didn''t even realize how fast time was moving...


    In this way, our conversation went on and on. When my food was already cold, Paul suddenly strayed from the topic.


    <<------------------------------


    Paul: By the way, I''m sorry. I told you we would meet, but something important came up.


    ------------------------------>>


    The smile on my face suddenly fell.


    <<------------------------------


    You: Is there a problem?


    Paul: It''s about my sister, it''s not a big deal, but I have to go to her.


    You: I see...


    ------------------------------>>


    I was excited when he said he wanted to take me somewhere. It was in vain...


    There''s nothing to do.


    <<------------------------------


    Paul: Next time, sorry. I love you. I have to go.


    ------------------------------>>


    After answering in the same way, Paul went offline and I turned off the holographic screen.


    I looked at the unfinished food on the table in front of me, I had lost my appetite. It was already cold.


    With a deep sigh, I cleaned up the table and went back to bed.


    I didn''t think I''d ever get this close to Paul, to think that my mood had dropped just because I couldn''t be with him.


    I didn''t trust myself to make this rtionship work. At least having someone to lean on when my brother wasn''t here was enough for me. That''s what I thought, and now every day Paul is more and more a part of my life.


    I smiled slightly, thinking it would be good to sleep, even if only for a little while.


    I could never say no to a little extra sleep, and it felt good to rx at the weekend.


    But... what I thought didn''t happen. Instead...


    ~hisssss...


    My closed eyes suddenly opened.


    I looked around, around every corner, but I couldn''t understand where the sound wasing from.


    ~hisssss...


    "W- what''s going on?"


    I stood up on the bed, grabbed my pillow.


    I looked in every corner of the room, but I still couldn''t see anything.


    When I realized that I was starting to shake, I gripped the pillow even tighter.


    Finally, I felt something liquid fall just above my head.


    My whole body stiffened, and I slowly raised my eyes upward.


    A pair of eyes. A pair of yellow eyes that seemed to glow in the midst of endless darkness, even though the room was brightly lit... And the jet-ck scales that seemed to be the cause of this darkness...


    "Hi- Hi! AAAAH!"


    I screamed from the top of my lungs. I threw the pillow at the snake, I felt that I had hit it, so I jumped off the bed, throwing the pillow to the far corner of the room.


    When I looked back again to try to figure out where the snake was, what I saw this time was its red mouth covering almost all my vision, its fangs dripping with a greenish liquid.


    My eyes snapped open. As I jumped out of bed, I identally fell to the floor and hit my head, but I didn''t care.


    I crawled quickly across the floor into the kitchen, and as I did so, I closed the door and found myself alone in the room.


    My lungs felt like they were going to burst, my chest hurt. My eyes were flickering, almost teary.


    It was a dream, no... It was a nightmare.


    When this reality hit me in the face, I stood still for a moment, and then tears came to my eyes, I pulled my knees to me and buried my head in them.


    I wanted my brother, Paul, anyone.


    Then I realized I had identally broken my watch.


    I was alone...

 Chapter 224 Volume IV - 69: Recovered Enough to Fight

    <h4>Chapter 224 Volume IV - Chapter 69: Recovered Enough to Fight</h4>


    Five days.


    It took five days of rest to recover almostpletely.


    Thebination of the dwarves'' advanced medical techniques and my body''s rapid recovery as a wiera meant that at the end of five days I was able to stand up, do what I wantedpletely on my own without fatigue and, most importantly, I could now use my right eye without any problems.


    So I could fight.


    Indeed, my doctor agreed with me. I didn''t have to convince him that I was fine, he could see with his own eyes that I was even better than before.


    "Congrats, Mr. Tenebra. Ye be free t'' go now."


    After hearing this from my own doctor, everything happened quite quickly.


    First, I was finally given normal clothes, I got rid of my sick clothes.


    Then my belongings were returned to me. Foremost was the ring that provided me with a dimensional inventory.


    When I put it on the index finger of my right hand, I couldn''t help grinning involuntarily. Finally, I wasn''t limited to dimensional buttons. I had an inventory of my own.


    Of course, with a lot of artifacts...


    Inside the Caleuche, I hadn''t had much time to examine exactly what each artifact was for. So I had a lot of useless artifacts as well as useful ones, but I could always sell them, so I wasn''t unhappy.


    I didn''t empty the ring right away as I would have preferred to be in a ce where no one could watch me check everything inside the ring, but that was forter.


    And so, finally... After a long time, I saw Dorhud again.


    I was all packed up in my patient room and ready to leave when he suddenly walked in. When he saw me, he smiled.


    "Quickly ready ye be, I see."


    I smiled back at him.


    "Of course, I am. I have been waiting for this moment for five days."


    When Dorhud saw my impatience, he lowered his expression slightly. So my smile was involuntarily distorted.


    Well... I didn''t expect him to make that face right away.


    "Well, I didn''t reckon ye''d be fancyin'' to join the battlefields, but I''ll still be respectin'' yer decision."


    When Dorhud smiled again, even if it was forced, I stood still for a moment.


    I was thinking what to say, expecting him to advise me not to go to war. But even though he''s worried about me, he really respects my decision.


    Dorhud... he''s really a nice person.


    "Anyway, I suppose ye''ve got an idea why I''m here."


    I smiled again, pushing the unnecessary thoughts aside for now.


    "Yes, after all, President Houdhin said so himself. That you guys are going to test my capabilities before we go to war."


    With that, Dorhud turned around, opened the door to my sick room wide, and looked at me again.


    He had no intention of waiting, and neither did I.


    "Well then,e on, let''s be off. I''ll be tellin'' ye on the way what''ll happen."


    I smiled and nodded, so I stepped out of my room for the first time, carrying an average-sized bag and wearing normal clothes.


    "Follow me."


    And with that, we started walking, through the same corridors I had passed through in a wheelchair five days before... Dorhud soon started talking.


    In short, we were going to an arena not far from here, and when we got there, I was going to have duels with a few people so that they could assess my fighting strength as a soldier. Of course, ording to the result, I would be assigned to a unit.


    I don''t have anything wrong with this. In fact, it''s exactly the kind of ''test'' I want. Because I don''t n to hold back.


    I want to push myself as hard as I can in this war and that''s exactly why I need to show everyone how strong I am. That''s the only way I can be on the front lines and be on the real battlefield where the real action is.


    It''s just... I just need to wait a little longer.


    Just a little bit longer...


    *******


    Half an hour, that''s how long it took us in a private vehicle to get to the facility Dorhud was talking about.


    It was a vehicle that was... above the ground. It didn''t fly, it just hovered above the ground. And it wasn''t something extremely luxurious. Someone living in Hr would have to pay more than the average car to get one, yes, but it wasn''t outrageous.


    That alone was enough to show how high-tech the dwarves were.


    "Here."


    I did the same as Dorhud stepped out of the door on his side of the vehicle.


    I stood still for a moment as air from the atmosphere entered my lungs for the first time.


    Since I had gotten into the car in the garage of the government building, this was the first time in almost two months that I had been outdoors in the morning. So I found myself involuntarily looking at the sun, then grinning like an idiot.


    "What are ye waitin'' for, follow me from behind."


    I nodded slightly but didn''t take my eyes off the sun right away. I wanted to enjoy it for a while, so I walked more slowly than usual.


    Dorhud was about to call out to me again, but when he saw me looking at the sun, he let out a deep sigh, turned back in front of him, and kept walking.


    So when we entered the gates of the facility, I was finally able to stop myself.


    I''m not satisfied, I want more, but I know I don''t have the time.


    "We''ve arrived."


    At the sound of Dorhud''s voice, I really focused in front of me and looked where we hade to.


    It looked like an indoor stadium. It even had bleachers.


    "This is..."


    "It''s a fightin'' arena, and I must say quite a famous one. It''s beenpletely cleared out today just for you."


    "Oh... You''ve done a lot of work."


    I focused on the memories in my mind, wondering if I had ever seen this ce after it was razed to the ground.


    The answer was yes.


    I remember this stadium copsed, its roof had fallen in the middle of the arena.


    I smiled with the strange happiness of seeing this ce intact and approached the huge arena.


    After throwing my bag into one of the stands, however, I suddenly paused. Because there were other people in this arena besides me, standing in the stands right in front of me.


    There were three of them, two of them looked like bodyguards, while the one in front... was important.


    He was the one the President had assigned for me during the meeting, and even now he had that big smile on his face.


    "Hello!"


    General Darbal started waving at me. Then Dorhud appeared behind me.


    "Ye seem to have met my brother, heh?"


    I looked nkly in the general''s direction for a moment, and when I processed what Dorhud had said in my head, I first froze in ce, then my eyes widened. I almost got a stiff neck as I turned my head toward him.


    "B- brother? General Darbal is your brother?"


    Dorhud nodded with a proud smile on his face.


    "Well, I can say he is my stepbrother. In reality, he is my cousin. When my family passed away when I was a weed, I started livin'' with ''em."


    I didn''t know what to say to this sudden information. Even though Darbal kept smiling in every frame he appeared in, he was always surrounded by someone with a gloomy air, contrary to his smile.


    In the original scenario... Could Dorhud have actually died in that city?


    Of course, his gloomy mood could be because his country was destroyed, but...


    Well... Either way, it was information I didn''t expect to learn.


    "Let''s go over there if yer done bein'' surprised."


    I could do nothing but nod, walking behind Dorhud to the general, who continued to smile brightly at us. I''d better pull myself together... I didn''t learn anything bad.


    So, when we finally got to them, Dorhud gave a perfect soldier''s salute. Of course, I did the same.


    General Darbal, on the other hand, only widened his smile.


    "Take it easy, especially you youngd. Fer today, let''s ignore the formalities." The general held out his hand to me.


    This seemed strange because of his small stature. To stand in front of him like a giant when the person in front of me was a general... it was... really strange.


    I shook the general''s hand, so when we pulled our hands back, the general shifted his eyes to the arena.


    "Actually, I wanted to have a little chat with ya, but I''m afraid we ain''t got much time. And ya don''t seem too keen on waiting either. How ''bout we head straight down to the arena?"


    I responded with a smile, and then quickly started to make my way down to the arena.


    General Darbal didn''t say much when he saw this, he just turned around and headed toward a ratherrge-looking booth.


    I normally wouldn''t have even noticed the booth if they hadn''t been headed there specifically. It was ced in an easily overlooked ce, out of anyone''s sight.


    Still, when I focused, I could see what was inside. Several dwarves were looking at the arena on screens in front of them. They were the ones who would observe me, the ones who would judge my strength.


    When I finallynded in the arena, a voice echoed throughout the huge arena.


    "We''ll be startin'' the tests right away."

 Chapter 225 Volume IV - 70: Tests to Determine Strength

    <h4>Chapter 225 Volume IV - Chapter 70: Tests to Determine Strength</h4>


    With those words, a door slowly opened directly across the arena and my eyes quickly shifted to it.


    No... It wasn''t a door. It was a vertically moving passage. Emerging from it was a dwarf wearing nano armor, the most iconic weapon of war of the dwarves.


    "Ye''ll be tryin'' to dodge the attacks o'' this soldier for a minute. Got it?"


    I smiled, craned my neck, and looked at the dwarf in front of me.


    He looked like an ordinary dwarf. At the same time, his expression seemed to belittle me.


    "Roger that."


    "Alright, when ye hear me say zero, ye''ll start. Three..."


    I called out to my mind, to Sith, so that the spirit of the wind, which asked me not to disturb him unless I needed him, materialized in front of my eyes with a green glow.


    "Two..."


    ''Sith, we are now in the testing phase before we go to war. All I have to do is avoid attacks, but we will do the best we can. So try to back me up from behind.''


    "One..."


    Sith quickly grasped the situation.


    ''Got it. Leave the flow of mana in your bodypletely to me and just focus on the front.''


    As soon as he finished, the mana in my body began to swirl inside me, it spread throughout my body and the world was suddenly illuminated.


    "Zero...!"


    Of course, just that was not enough.


    I poured mana into the Absolute Mind myself and made sure that my mind focused on nothing else but the dwarf in front of me.


    Just as I did so, the nano-armored dwarf sprang into action, leaping out of nowhere and lunging at me.


    He was fast, at least for someone like me. Still, with the help of Absolute Mind''s focus, it wasn''t impossible for me to see his attack.


    It was a left hook aimed directly at my jaw.


    Yet that was not the main thing that caught my attention. The main thing was... It was that the dwarf who attacked me wore an expression as if he was being held here by force as if he wanted to finish me off quickly and get out of here.


    He didn''t take me seriously. For him, this ''duel'' had started and ended here. So, his attack was simple, unthinking, and direct.


    The amount of mana released into my muscles increased under the guidance of Sith who shared my thoughts and I felt my whole body contract.


    I tried to dodge the punch to my jaw by tilting my head to the left, but I didn''t stop there.


    Raising my left hand, I grabbed the dwarf''s arm, nting one foot firmly on the ground and the other slightly apart, just in front of the dwarf''s foot.


    Of course, all this happened in just a second.


    My body was burning like crazy from being forced to move like this for the first time in a long time, but I had to show my skills here. That''s why I was going to ignore the minor side effects.


    I pushed myself even harder, calcting everything in my mind, thinking of something that would give this dwarf a taste of darkness before he even knew what it was.


    After sessfully dodging the hook, I tripped the dwarf with my specially ced foot.


    Using my left hand, which had caught his arm, I pulled him down and allowed him to gain momentum toward the ground.


    I didn''t stop there. I pushed my limits even further.


    I put my free right hand on the back of the falling dwarf and spun him with all my strength.


    The dwarf did countless flips in the air in an instant after I guided him by supporting his own speed with my own strength. He clung to the ground with a violence that made the floor tremble and even lifted up the little dust in the arena.


    A deep silence fell over the arena as the dwarfy face down motionless on the ground. I turned my head toward the booth at the top of the stands and smiled slightly.


    "Is that it?"


    *******


    A perfect counterattack.


    A tremendous move, using his opponent''s own speed to counter his bluntness...


    Of course, the dwarf had limited himself, but to see such a ''show'' when he thought he''d have a hard time throwing attacks...


    I was stunned, literally stunned.


    So was everyone else in the booth.


    "Well, my opponent fainted... What do I do now, General?"


    The person standing in the arena, Aiden Tenebra, directly looked into my eyes.


    This sentence brought everyone in the booth to their senses.


    Even the nurses, who were waiting for something to happen to Aiden Tenebra, were so shocked that we had to personally instruct them to carry the fainted dwarf on a stretcher.


    Then we had to bring another dwarf to face him. In the little time we had to prepare for this, I turned to one of the observers.


    "Ye recorded what he did, right?"


    "Y- Yes, general..."


    "Keep an eye on the mana flow in his body at all times."


    "Understood..."


    When Aiden Tenebra''s new opponent stepped into the arena, an involuntary smile appeared on my face.


    It wasn''t one of those stupid smiles I usually have. It wasn''t fake, it wasn''t something I did on purpose. It was a pure smile... It was the reflection of the excitement on my face, of my heart speeding up for the first time in a long time.


    "Zero...!"


    It was only when the new ''duel'' started that I was able to get out of my own thoughts, but this time I didn''t fix my eyes on the screen reflecting them.


    On the contrary, I connected a piece of the nano-armor hidden under my uniform to my eyes to see what was happening in the duel.


    I wanted to experience this duel myself, not through a screen. Then... I saw what was happening as the two engaged each other.


    Punches, kicks, uppercut attempts, hooks and more. Aiden''s current opponent wasn''t holding back or underestimating him like the previous one.


    Yet Aiden was able to avoid all the attacks. All his focus was on his opponent, but he didn''t seem to be having much difficulty.


    So his opponent increased the tempo with each passing second. With each passing second Aiden got into a more difficult situation.


    The attacks got faster and faster. Aiden''s movements seemed to begging behind his opponent as time passed, but... he was calm, so calm that it was strange, unnatural.


    "Stop!"


    Uh... A minute went by.


    I clenched my fist when I realized my body was tingling.


    I want to see more.


    The moment that thought crossed my mind, I paused.


    It''s a waste of time to give this young man such pointless tests... He said he was a D grade, didn''t he?


    "Don''t be rushin'' to the next test."


    I saw everyone in the cabin turn to me, even my brother Dorhud. Then a momentary uneasiness, a momentary fear on all their faces.


    I started unbuttoning my uniform, which did nothing but make me ufortable.


    "General... No, what''re ye doin'', brother?"


    "Isn''t it obvious?"


    When I had unbuttoned all the buttons on my uniform, I threw it into a corner of the booth and stepped out, looking into the center of the arena.


    Aiden... That boy was looking directly at me as if he had been waiting for this all along.


    "Ahahah...That was yer goal right from the start, ain''t it?"


    *******


    When I saw General Darbal slowly descend from the stands into the arena without any effort on his part, the dwarf, who had been my opponent until a moment ago, leaned at exactly a ny-degree angle.


    However, General Darbal didn''t even look at him.


    "At ease, soldier. Ye can go back to your seat."


    The dwarf, without any disrespect, turned and walked back the way he hade. Then, Darbal looked at me with a grin, a different grin than usual.


    "Do you know why nobody listens to what I say without showing the slightest negative emotion, let alone disrespect, young man?"


    Oh... he dropped the dwarf ent.


    "They are afraid of me. All of them, every one of them. They''re scared to death of me. Do you know why?"


    I smiled slightly.


    "I know, general."


    "Then why aren''t you afraid?"


    "Because I know why you came down to the arena."


    Darbal narrowed his brown eyes. Even if the smile on his face remained the same... he looked different now, and he was. If before he had a bright smile that spread joy around him, now he had a... frightening smile.


    "Take out your sword then, Aiden. I want you to use everything, literally everything. Use everything you want in any way you want. Satisfy me and I will take you where you want to go, to the bloodiest ce in the war."


    As Darbal said this, the liquid metal that made up his nano-armor oozed from his wrist, elongated, and took the shape of a sword.


    The sword was short, simple, but with blue lights shining on it, it looked like a technological weapon from a science fiction movie.


    I sighed lightly, focusing inside my ring and pulling out the obsidian runic sword I had somehow managed to find in the warehouse when I escaped from Caleuche.


    I gripped the ck sword with purple iys in both hands, and Darbal, in stark contrast to his short stature, pointed his sword at me.


    He did not take any stance. He did nothing but hold the short sword gripped with one hand. It wasn''t that he was belittling me. He was adjusting himself to my level, just like he said.


    "It doesn''t matter if you win, or if you lose, or how long youst. Just convince me to take you with me."


    I widened my smile and nodded at him.


    ''Sith, we are putting everything on the line.''


    As I felt the mana warming inside me, I gave all my focus, all my everything, to this man alone.


    A green glow enveloped my body as a crown, seemingly made of tree branches, slowly appeared above my head.


    Yet this ascension was different from the previous ones.


    Because after the crown, when the bracelets on my two arms also formed, something that normally does not happen happened.


    This time, as if there was no point in my body where mana could be found, the excess mana was leaving my body in particles and entering the atmosphere.


    They looked like small pieces floating over a me, except that they were a darker shade of teal.


    "Ready when you are!"


    "Yes, general."


    The moment those words left my mouth, the nano-armor surrounding the general''s body rippled, covering everything except his head, and then a blurry image appeared where his body had been.


    At the same time, the strongest wind I had ever seen blow during my time on Lunerra caused the stands to tremble slightly.


    When the general''s sword made contact with my ck sword surrounded by teal-colored mana, the entire arena shook with a loud shockwave.

 Chapter 226 Volume IV - 71: Against the General Darbal

    <h4>Chapter 226 Volume IV - Chapter 71: Against the General Darbal</h4>


    The strong wind blowing behind me reduced my speed. I had to do somersaults in the air, supported by the same wind, to regain my bnce, and when I tried to slow myself down by pressing my sword and my feet hard against the ground, I was close to leaving the arena. Yet, somehow, I was still standing.


    I turned my eyes to my opponent, General Darbal. There was a reason I did not avoid his attack. And the reason was... my curiosity.


    If I use everything I have, except the caora, can I resist his attack?


    With this question running through my mind, I did not dodge the sword, I blocked it with my own sword and mana.


    The result... as it turned out, was not encouraging.


    Didn''t this man say he would bring himself down to my level? Am I misremembering? Then why did I literally... fly?


    When the general''s sword and my sword collided, I was under tremendous pressure, and I was going to retreat quickly to avoid being crushed under the pressure, but... the general saw this and when I drew my sword back, he attacked again without letting his sword swing into the space.


    Since I had already stepped back, I lost my bnce and had to defend myself again. In the end, the general''s sword knocked me back several meters.


    Fortunately, Sith used the winds to slow me down. Otherwise, I might even have broken a few bones.


    "Your ascension skill seems different from anything I''ve ever seen. It seems stronger, at least I thought it was, but I didn''t think you''d be so weak."


    I smiled, quickly straightened up, regained my bnce, and narrowed my eyes slightly.


    "I apologize, general, I just wanted to test something."


    Well... Now, let''s think.


    If I prolong the duel, I lose.


    If I y for endurance, I lose.


    If I engage in a power struggle, I lose...


    This duel should onlyst a few seconds, so I should give him no time and do something he won''t expect.


    I narrowed my eyes as a scenario shed through my mind.


    Okay, that seems like a good one... I have no choice but to try it anyway.


    After taking a deep breath, I put all my focus on the duel.


    I formed five spears of mes above me, then, with the help of Sith, I empowered them with wind mana and quickly threw them at the general.


    The general met these spears head-on. However, there was something he did not know.


    As soon as there was less than a meter between the spears and the general, the wind mana that hadpressed them all suddenly loosened and scattered them all over the ce.


    The general had to protect himself and close his eyes at the same time, and that was my chance. Filled with the mana of Sith, I lunged at the general at the same time I swung the fingers of my left hand at him.


    I concentrated on the first phase of the Ambiguous Flow behind the des of wind that emerged from my fingers, wasting no time in swinging as the unstable mana swirled around the sword.


    Even though the General''s vision was restricted, he detected the wind des and dodged them thanks to the mana detection feature of his nano armor. He then parried my unbnced manaden sword with a slight tilt of his own sword, and my sword literally slid off him.


    Not only that, with his eyes closed, he quickly drew his sword and tried to stab me directly in the chest. I created threeyers of Mana Barrier and positioned them on my chest.


    The firstyer was instantly pulverized, while the second and thirdyers only seeded in slowing the general down a little. Still, it was enough for me.


    I twisted my body to the side, dodging the sword that was about to impale my chest, then spun around quickly and kicked the general. At the same time, Ipressed the air around my kick, adding explosive force to it.


    Thanks to this explosive force, the general could not avoid my kick where he was. He had to step back. Otherwise, he would take damage.


    So, he stepped back and then pulled himself back even further. Just then, his eyes widened.


    What awaited him behind him was not an empty space, but countless sharp ice spikes rising from the ground.


    Still, he could avoid it, and even if he couldn''t, I wasn''t taking any chances.


    So even if my kick didn''t reach him, I released all the air I had trapped around him, and the released wind forced the general toward the spikes.


    I used all my mana, together with Sith, to create a stream of air inside the arena that reached tremendous speeds, and I directed it all at the general.


    The duel was over. At least... I thought so until I saw something.


    The general was... simply smiling.


    When I saw that smile appear on his face, I felt as if time had slowed down.


    A burst of light appeared in front of me, and then the general''s figure disappeared into thin air.


    The ice spikes, the trapped wind I released from my kick, and the tremendous current of air I swirled around the entire arena... Each of them encountered a void instead of the general and went into each other.


    Panic leaped into my mind and I reflexively swung my sword behind me. However, I cut the void. Because the general... was in the air.


    First, he stepped on the sword I swung and took support from it, throwing me off bnce. Then he threw his hand over my shoulder, grabbed my clothes, quickly moved behind me, pulled me by the clothes he grabbed, and mmed me to the ground.


    The next thing I saw was the glint of the sword pointed at the center of my forehead.


    I... lost.


    *******


    The sword under my nose rippled... then lost its color and liquefied. It was drawn into the general''s arm and became part of his armor again.


    The general held out his hand to me immediately after this happened and I took a deep breath.


    Spiritual Ascension quickly deactivated, the crown on my head disappeared, the particles emanating from my body ceased, and Sith appeared on my shoulder.


    ''I think we did well.''


    Withoutmenting to Sith, I took the general''s hand, stood up again with his help, and then looked around the arena. It was a little damaged by what had happened, but mostly intact.


    Still...


    "I lost, huh..."


    "You did pretty good, don''t worry. Especially yourst move... You hid your trump cards well."


    I looked at the general out of the corner of my eye, a little nervous.


    "So?"


    I''m really nervous... Have I seeded or failed? Will I go to the front lines, where I want to fight, or to a quieter area?


    It all depends on what the dwarf in front of me, the general, has to say...


    Oh, my heart is beating. I can feel it.


    "You have met and exceeded my expectations. I am a man of my word."


    "Ah... Ahahah..."


    I felt a great weight lifted off me, all the tension and difficulty I felt in the duel... I forgot all that, I didn''t care.


    I was going to the front lines, where the battle was the bloodiest and hottest.


    That''s exactly why it was a mistake to rx, but... I thought I could rx a little because this was what I wanted and I had achieved my goal for now.


    "You can make a great contribution to the army, but we also need to see your experience on the battlefield. That''s why I will assign you to Dorhud''s unit, and what you aplish there will determine your future."


    I quickly straightened my posture and smiled gratefully, even as I swallowed my joy.


    "Thank you, general."


    General Darbal smiled, turned around, and then made his way to the cabin where hended in the arena.


    ''I guess there''s nothing left for me. I''ll get back to my work then.''


    ''Okay, I''ll give you a shout if I need you again.


    With that, Sith transformed into his usual marble of light and entered my body through my chest.


    I followed the general, and in this way, we met the dwarves in the cabin, who were watching a rey of the duel between the general and me.


    They were watching the slowed-down recording as if hypnotized. Even Dorhud was like that.


    The general ignored everyone in the cabin and picked up his uniform, which he had thrown in a corner, and put it on.


    "Dorhud, I want to assign Aiden to yer unit. Take him to yer toon, we were set to head out this evening anyhow."


    Dorhud tore his eyes away from the duel rey and bowed slightly, looking at the general.


    "Of course, ya can leave it to me."


    With that, General Darbal took onest look at everyone in the cabin, then took the bodyguards he hade with at the beginning and headed toward the exit of the arena.


    By the time he was out of sight, the dwarves in the cabin had finished watching the rey and were analyzing the duel. Dorhud was the only one looking directly at me.


    "That was a fine show. Ya got what ya wanted too. Nowe with me, seems we''re gonna be together for quite a while."


    I smiled and nodded, then Dorhud sighed lightly and headed toward the car we hade to the arena in. I followed behind him.


    Halfway there, something suddenly urred to me.


    "Now that I''m going to be in the army. I should call you captain, shouldn''t I?"


    Dorhud grinned wickedly.


    "Is this just dawnin'' on ye now? Discipline''s everythin'' in the army! Don''t ya dare forget that, Aiden."


    The smile fell from his face for a moment, and his expression became a little more serious.


    "Jokin'' aside, even if I ain''t too bothered ''bout it, pay attention to this in the army. Ya wouldn''t wanna go through an unpleasant incident."


    I nodded my head in understanding.


    I already knew what he was saying. Dwarves are particrly famous for their discipline, after all. I just wanted to lighten the mood by making fun of him a bit.


    Anyway...


    When we finally stepped outside like this, the sunlight hit my face just like thest time.


    I savored it again and again as we were moving toward the hovering vehicle a little above the ground. Then we got into it.


    Our destination this time was the facility where Dorhud''s unit rested before going to war again.


    So... I''m going to meet my soldier friends, in a way.

 Chapter 227 Volume IV - 72: Sword Style鈥檚 Mastery

    <h4>Chapter 227 Volume IV - Chapter 72: Sword Style¡¯s Mastery</h4>


    It wasn''t what I thought.


    The facility where Dorhud and his troops were resting looked like a hotel. The only difference was that it was under government control.


    So when Dorhud and I arrived at the facility, I expected to see soldiers in the lobby, anywhere we passed.


    Well... Here''s the part that wasn''t what I thought. Before I could see a single soldier, Dorhud handed me over to the hotel staff who suddenly appeared in front of us.


    Not that I have much toin about. I''d rather keep to myself and not bother with the other dwarves, but it would have been nice to see who I''d be with... At least I could see the troublesome people, and it would certainly be useful to know what kind of people I would be fighting.


    "Tomorrow we''ll be right in the middle of the battle, so ya better rest up good and get ready."


    That was the reason why he sent me straight to my ''room''. I couldn''t find anything to say, so I had no choice but to be taken to my room, which was quite close to the entrance.


    And now I am in that room...


    It''s a nice one, to be honest. First of all, it''s spacious, it has a bathtub for the bathroom and the bed is quitefortable.


    What more could I want from a room?


    I let out a deep sigh and let myself fall into my bed.


    It''s not nighttime yet, the sun hasn''t even set yet. So I have plenty of time...


    I looked at the ring on my right hand and a big smile appeared on my face.


    Should I take a look at the artifacts I stole from Caleuche?


    As I focused on the inventory inside my ring, images of a pile of artifacts shed through my mind.


    When I imagined all of them materializing in the real world, my bed turned into a feast of light. One after another, the artifacts materialized and fell onto the bed, and when the process was over, my bed was filled with artifacts.


    In the game, I could only see the artifacts in my inventory. Now, seeing them in a pile like this...


    Ahahah, I feel like I''ve opened a treasure chest.


    I quickly started to check them all. What they are for and in what situation they can be used.


    Of course, the first thing I checked was the two artifacts I used to escape from Caleuche.


    Just as the president said, the artifacts that gave me invisibility and the ability to create clones were badly damaged.


    The invisibility artifact is a silverpass-like charm with a red jewel in the center that can be worn directly anywhere on my clothing. There are cracks on it that show the damage it has taken.


    The artifact that allows me to create clones is a simple thing that looks like an armband. Compared to an armband, it''s not very stic and it''s ufortable, but it has pretty good camouge so these little things can be overlooked. Its damage is not as pronounced as with the invisibility amulet, but it can be felt.


    In short, both artifacts are still usable, but they are likely to break the moment I use them. So they are not things I would use much except in emergencies.


    Aside from them, I have a lot of useful and useless artifacts at my disposal. I should examine them too...


    *******


    It took me a total of two hours to finish going through everything, categorizing them ording to their function and what to do with them.


    I have to say... At the end of those two hours, I was definitely satisfied. A few artifacts would be very useful for me at some point, especially in the future.


    For example, an earring that allows me to stay underwater longer and move better.


    Then another charm that allows me to replenish my mana reserves faster.


    Even a bracelet that allows me to tell if someone is lying, which might be one of the best artifacts I''ve ever acquired.


    Of course, there are also simple artifacts whose only function is to glow slightly, and their usefulness is highly questionable.


    In this way, I have finished sorting out the ones I will sell as they are of little use to me, the ones I won''t always use as they are useful in certain situations but will continue to keep in my ring, and the ones I will keep on me no matter what.


    After a second burst of light above my bed, all the artifacts I had specifically set aside went back into my ring and the room was silent for a moment.


    I sighed deeply, pulled the curtains, and looked out the window.


    The sun is setting and I have nothing to do again...


    After closing the curtain, I let myself fall back on my bed, put my head on my pillow, and started to think.


    What are they doing now, I wonder...


    Adrian must be trying to get stronger. I can imagine him swinging his spear and getting scolded by Lithoa.


    Julian... He''s probably studying and hanging out with Adrian. At least I''m sure he''s not being a punk anymore.


    And Alex...


    I didn''t hear from him when I left Cevilian... I hope he''s okay... I need to keep in touch with him when I get back, no matter what. I''m worried something might happen to him.


    I''m sure Lucia is reading in her room, lying on her bed, and trying to finish several books in a row next to her. She''s probably in her own room, so she has to be unmasked and rxed.


    Celine...


    My face fell for a moment when I thought of her, and the silence filled the room, more intense and pronounced than before.


    She''s trying, isn''t she? She said she''d be much better when I came back. She promised... so she must be good, at least she must be trying to be. She''s not someone who makes empty promises. I trust her.


    So instead of dwelling on it, I want to see how far she''se directly when I get back. It''ll be better that way.


    Sue... Hmm... I actually have no idea what she might be doing. Just having an ordinary day, I guess.


    Now that I think about it, I don''t know anything about what exactly she likes to do or doesn''t.


    When I thought about that for a while, a smile appeared on my face.


    That''s why I like her, I guess. The fact that she is close to me in this world where I know all the important characters and at the same time she makes me feel ''different''pared to the rest of the world.


    The fact that she looks like an ordinary person, and she really is, but she resisted all the things she went through until she met me...


    I will spend more time with her when I go back.


    Of course, I''ll spend more time with ra too. I haven''t heard her voice, let alone seen her face for so long... I miss her as much as I miss everyone.


    I paused for a moment and then sighed deeply.


    No, I miss her more than anyone else. She''s the first family I''ve ever had, my only sister. I don''t have anything more precious than her. At least not yet.


    Ah... I should have asked for amunicator for myself, Ipletely forgot.


    I looked at the wall, I kept looking, and finally, I closed my eyes.


    Actually... Is it better if I don''t talk to them at all for the time being?


    I''m going to war. I have to remember that. If I talk to any of them, I''ll want to do it all the time, expecting to get out at any moment and talk to them again while I''m at war.


    It''s best to get away from things that will distract me.


    I sat up, cross-legged, and opened my eyes.


    If there is still a long time until nightfall... then I can work on my sword style.


    I was going to start swirling my mana inside my body, I was going to start, but then I thought of something.


    First, I waited for a while, and then I started to swirl my mana as I had nned to do.


    But I didn''t stop there, I analyzed what was happening, I wanted to see how much progress I had madepared to before.


    My mana gathered in my chest and spun, then became more and more unstable, and with it, under my control, it spread to my limbs.


    I didn''t stop there. I gathered the mana that was spreading through my body in my right arm and then directed it to my index finger.


    My index finger now looked blurry because of the immense amount of mana flowing violently in reverse.


    This was much more dangerous than usual, one wrong move and I could have lost my finger, but thanks to my consistent practice of the technique and my increased mana control, this was not too difficult.


    So, I went even further in order to fully practice the technique. I swung and swung my blurred finger while controlling that mana inside.


    Even though my control over the mana became more difficult, I skillfully kept it in ce, steady. When I did this for a few more seconds... what I was waiting for happened.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You have acquired a sword style mastery, which is [Sword Style: Ambiguous Flow(D-)]!


    As you continue to learn the style, your mastery grade will increase!


    ------------------------------>>


    I took a deep breath and stopped spinning my mana, and the blur on my finger disappeared.


    I have mastered the first phase of the Ambiguous Flow sufficiently, even exceeding the limit normally required, and just now... I showed it to the system and finally achieved mastery of the style.


    Now I should slowly move on to the second phase, there is no reason to wait any longer now that my general level is at grade D-.


    With that, I stood up, took out my sword from my ring, and gripped it with both hands.


    Analyzing my copy of Ambiguous Flow, it is clear that the style is based on the refraction and blurring of the sword''s image by the intensifying and constantly swirling unstable mana. Of course, as the sword is fueled by wild mana, the amount of destructive power is greatly increased.


    Now I can go further.


    The only problem is that it is precisely here that the shorings of the style arergely exposed. The copy''s guide is insufficient to go fully to this phase and beyond.


    I will fill this gap with the information in my mind until I get my hands on the original.


    Now... The second phase of the style is about controlling the breakage of the sword''s image after it has been refracted. This requires tremendous mana control, just like the first phase.


    I must match the unstable mana surrounding the sword with its surroundings. I have to move it so that it flows with the mana in the atmosphere.


    By applying the sword movements shown in the second phase to the situation, I can match my mana with the mana that is always in a state of flow, albeit slow. In this way, while controlling the mana in my sword, I can also have partial control over the mana in the atmosphere.


    I need to use this partial control to spread the refraction on the sword into the environment, and then train until I can control this refraction.


    In this way, the only thing that bes indistinct is not my sword, but my immediate surroundings.


    With this technique, I can even create tiny illusions, even if they are limited.


    Yes... It''s easy to exin, but it will probably take me a few months to perform it properly, just like the first phase. Mastering it will take more than just a few months, maybe even a year.


    Still, no giving up! As usual, I will train until I am exhausted to death.


    I put a smile on my face and after I started spinning my mana, I directed it toward my sword.


    When the image of my sword broke and blurred, I closed my eyes and focused on the mana in the room. I tried to feel it, which was easy, and then I tried to see the tiny flow it always had, which was difficult.


    When I could feel the millions, billions of mana particles flying around the room, I started to move the mana in my sword. I tried to match it, just like in theory.


    The result was... frustration.


    Well, it wasn''t like I could do it on my first try. Why did I get such an idea? I''m not a sword/mana genius or anything...


    I quickly rewound back to the beginning, again and again... never stopping.


    So much so that I kept doing it until midnight.


    What finally stopped me was that I ran out of mana and fell asleep from exhaustion as soon as I fell on my bed, let aloney down on it.

 Chapter 228 Volume IV - 73: First Step into the Army

    <h4>Chapter 228 Volume IV - Chapter 73: First Step into the Army</h4>


    I woke up early in the morning, the sun had only been up for about an hour. I could tell by the clock right in front of me.


    And the reason I woke up was not natural...


    A few more knocks on the door of my room and I yawned, got up from my bed, and went to the door. The moment I turned the handle, the door suddenly opened violently toward me.


    In my half-awake state, my eyes widened when I saw the rapidly opening door right under my nose. I barely stepped back and somehow dodged the door, then turned to the dwarf standing in front of my room in shock.


    "Are you trying to kill me...?"


    Dorhud grinned, stood as tall as he could with his short stature, and looked me up and down.


    "In the army, such a state ain''t eptable, Aiden!"


    I sighed deeply as I brought my hand to my face.


    "I wanted to sleep well on thest day, the moment wend on the battlefield you will hardly find a more respectful soldier than me."


    As if my words were going in one ear and out the other, Dorhud reached for the door, took onest look at my face, and became serious.


    "Get ready, I''ve arranged an outfit in your closet before you came here. Put it on ande straight down."


    Without waiting for me to answer him, Dorhud pulled the door closed and left me standing in my room, staring nkly ahead.


    Was this it? I was expecting a slightly calmer morning.


    I quickly turned my head from side to side, went to the bathroom, and sshed as much cold water as I could on my face. Then I opened the only cupboard in the room.


    Just as Dorhud had said, there was a uniform in it. A soldier''s uniform that was just my size and looked quitefortable.


    The soldiers of the North Hr had a in uniform, dark green in color, with slight details ording to their rank. This uniform had exactly the same features.


    I stared at the uniform for a few seconds, trying to figure out my rank by looking at the details.


    "Corporal..."


    I''m not in the ranks of an officer, but I''m not a normal soldier either... Well, it''s not like I want anything more. As long as I''m going to be in the war, other things are secondary for me.


    So I looked at the uniform for a while, then when I felt ready, I put it on and stood in front of my mirror.


    The dark green uniform looked good on me. The red double stripes on either side of me, indicating that I was a corporal, went down to my elbow, and there were singr stars between the dashed lines.


    Details aside, the uniform was much morefortable than it looked. I could move as if I wasn''t wearing them.


    "Well..."


    When I finished examining the uniform, I turned back to the mirror and looked into my gray eyes.


    "You are ready. You will go into that battle and when it''s over, when youe back, you will stand on top of everyone on your level."


    It wasn''t my style to speak out loud, I was the kind of person who liked to live and think everything inwardly. Yet I deliberately spoke these words outwardly, I wanted to engrave them in my mind, I wanted not to forget a word.


    So I nodded and threw almost every item in my room into my ring, I was truly ready.


    As I headed for the door, I took onest look around my room.


    Although I had only spent one night in it, I had never been in a room as cozy and peaceful as this one.


    Our time together was short, but I''m really going to miss this ce...


    *******


    I wasing down the stairs in my uniform when I met some dwarvesing down with me.


    They were also wearing military uniforms, most probably in the same toon.


    The only problem... they all stare at me with a surprised expression as they see me.


    I have to get used to it... I''m either the only human in the army or one of the few.


    So when I got to the bottom I saw a group gathered just outside the lobby, everyone in military uniform was there and the others wereing slowly.


    Everyone in this building is a soldier anyway, except for the staff... This is not a normal hotel, I forgot it.


    Sighing lightly, I stepped out of the lobby, and as soon as I stepped out into the clearing, everyone in the area turned toward me.


    Almost a hundred dwarves were looking at me, all of them with expressionless faces, all of them staring at me like the ones on the stairs.


    I couldn''t tell whether I was wee or unwee.


    "Line up!"


    Suddenly there was a stern voice. Everyone stopped what they were doing and began to line up in four rows.


    The atmosphere had changed so fast that I was left standing where I was for a moment. Still, I didn''t want to look bad on my first day, so I quickly managed to get into the fourth row from the back.


    When I finally finished getting in line, I realized two things.


    This area... ispletely empty, as if it waspletely t for quite a distance, not even a car. And I can''t see anybody except the soldiers.


    What exactly is the deal with this hotel? I know it''s not a normal ce, but does the government really devote so much time, space, and money to its soldiers? I still don''t understand...


    The second thing I noticed was... I stand out like an adult among children. Well, everyone here is a dwarf and I''m the only human among them.


    I''ll have to get used to everyone being shorter than me...


    "Get ready!"


    As all the soldiers stood at attention, a loud voice echoed across the field, and then a familiar face caught my eye at the front of the line of four.


    Dorhud appeared, looking very solemn in his uniform, with the badge and detailing indicating his higher-than-normal rank, as he looked at the soldiers lined up in a rather serious manner.


    I stood like a skyscraper among the dwarves, so of course his gaze shifted to me a few times, but he still didn''t keep his focus on me.


    "At ease!"


    Dorhud finally finished examining everyone and spoke seriously with his hands behind his back.


    "Ye''ve been restin'' fer three days, now it''s time to get back int'' the battlefield!"


    No sound came from the soldiers. I only saw a few of them smiling and excited, a few with ugly expressions, and some with no reaction.


    "In a wee bit, yer airship''ll be arrivin''. Ye''ll don yer armor, strap on yer weapons, get briefed about th'' battle zone, and head straight down to th'' fightin'' grounds!"


    Huh?


    I was processing what I heard in my mind when I suddenly paused.


    What do you mean, directly? Without going to the military base, without any waiting or strategizing, just with preliminary information?


    This is absurd...pletely absurd!


    Aren''t we normal soldiers? What exactly am I part of a regiment that serves what purpose...?


    Different thoughts swirled around and around in my mind as I tried to find an answer to my questions.


    I looked at Dorhud''s face, our eyes met and he smiled slightly after seeing the expression on my face.


    The moment Dorhud smiled at me, I heard a sound, or rather, I became aware of the sound.


    It was a sound that was getting louder and louder. It was a sound I had heard before, a sound I knew what it was.


    My eyes darted upward in surprise, and then a shadow descended upon me. No... not only me, but most of the area we were standing on suddenly went ck.


    Over the hotel where I was sleeping, a huge airne - well, not really an airne - flew swiftly through the air, made a U-turn, and descended to the huge, empty in behind Dorhud.


    Trying to cover my gaping mouth, I just stared at the... aircraft, the ship, thatnded in front of us.


    I recognized the craft as I saw it. Of course, I did.


    In the game, after the destruction of the North Hr, what was left of it was revealed by this ship in the middle of the game when all of Lunerra was on the brink of copse.


    By talking to the crew of this ship, we could get information about the past, like what this vehicle used to be used for.


    It was used to transport the troops of the most important regiment that the North Hr used in the war. The purpose of the regiment was to go to the areas where the fighting was particrly intense as support and to help the front lines.


    This regiment''s units did not rest easily. They were constantly moving from one battle to another and trying to control the battlefield.


    I slowly looked at Dorhud with the dots connecting in my mind.


    Dorhud... Hemands a toon of these advance support troops, I understand now, and I was assigned to one of these toons...


    I clenched my fist, finally closed my open mouth and this time tried to suppress an involuntary grin.


    This is even better than I thought. I thought I would be sent as a normal soldier somewhere on the front lines, but this... This is much better than what I wanted.


    The next time I meet General Darbal, I will thank him as much as he will ever tire of me...


    As I continued to smile like some of the other soldiers in the line, I looked at the airship that hadndedpletely on the ground.


    It wasn''t as big as the Caleuche, it couldn''t possibly be that big. The Caleuche was like a city that could fly on its own. This ship was big enough to provide only weapons, armor, and shelter for a group of a hundred soldiers. However, even if it was a babypared to the Caleuche, it was also quite big.


    Not long after it made contact with the ground, the door on the side of the ship opened wide sideways, then a ramp slowly lowered to the ground for those of us below the entrance.


    "Get in, don yer gear, and be fully prepped fer battle! Get everythin'' ye need and be ready to dive int'' the battlefield!"


    "Understood, captain!"


    And so the soldiers of the unit I was in marched in a line into the ship. When it was my turn, I didn''t know what to do, but I went inside the ship ording to the order.


    I knew what it was like inside, although now... it had a very different look and feel than in the game.


    After all, the future destruction had not yet happened, this ship had not yet been emptied to be fit for that time...

 Chapter 229 Volume IV - 74: One Kilometer Away from War

    <h4>Chapter 229 Volume IV - Chapter 74: One Kilometer Away from War</h4>


    We went through a long and quite wide corridor inside the ship, and then the center room at the end of this corridor came into view. The soldiers all moved toward the center room, so I followed them.


    When we entered this room, no... literally a courtyard, my eyes once again widened.


    This huge hall... used to be an empty ce in the game, not too full because this vehicle was used only for transportation and as a kind of base. But now... It''s literally filled with weapons, armor, and all kinds of implements of war...


    Even someone with nano-armor would be happy to pick up a suit of armor here, so that they can use their armor for more functional purposes.


    This is like a heaven for a soldier...


    Ah, I just realized that every table has a name on it. Is this equipment customized...? Then my job is easy.


    I looked around quickly. All the dwarves in my toon were busy putting on their armor. Some were looking at their weapons and some were talking among themselves.


    For the moment, though, I didn''t care. I was looking for the table with my name on it and soon I found it.


    ''Aiden Tenebra'' was written in thenguage of the dwarves on a table that no one was standing in front of.


    I took a deep breath and approached the table, then looked at what was on it.


    The second most prominent thing in the middle of the table was a few pieces of state-of-the-art armor that would expand slightly when I put it on and cover my whole body. Of course, it wasn''t a nano armor.


    Unlike the dwarves, I didn''t need it as I could use mana freely, and my rank in the army was still insufficient for me to have ess to one.


    Apart from that, the table was full of military equipment such as an ammunition pouch that I would wear over my armor, several different types of grenades, and a tinymunicator that I would wear in my ear formunication.


    Of course, there was also something that immediately caught my attention when I looked at the table; a long and heavy rifle that looked like something out of a science fiction movie.


    When I focused on the rifle, I realized that I remembered it from the game.


    This rifle was not a rifle that expended normal bullets. Each bullet was created with a short reload using mana, and the longer one reloaded before pulling the trigger, the higher the firepower.


    It was not an overly easy weapon to use on the battlefield, but in the right position and situation, it certainly could be more than useful.


    I smiled slightly and started to put on the armor pieces first.


    Just as I thought, each piece of armor moved as I slipped them over my uniform, expanding its outer surface and increasing the surface area it protected.


    As I continued to put the armor on piece by piece, the visible part of my uniform decreased. Finally, it got to the point where no parts were visible except my cor.


    When I finished putting on the armor, I moved my arms, took a step forward and back.


    The armor flexed perfectly, moving in ordance with my movements. I wouldn''t say it waspletelyfortable, but it was certainly several tens of times morefortable than medieval armor. I would only have to get used to its presence for a short time, like putting on a piece of clothing for the first time.


    So I looked at thest piece of armor left on the table, the helmet. It didn''t look like much, just a in helmet.


    Sighing slightly, I put it on my head.


    I almost jumped out of my seat when suddenly something started spinning in front of my eyes, but my curiosity overcame my bewilderment and I focused on this spinning thing.


    Is this... a loading indicator or something?


    The moment that thought crossed my mind, the indicator shrunk and disappeared, and then a floating window appeared in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    Communication with the brain has been established,


    There are no problem with the connection to the nerves,


    Lag values are at an appropriate level,


    ...


    ------------------------------>>


    Many such sentences continued to flow in the window in front of me, and then everything disappeared for a brief moment and was reced by something else.


    <<------------------------------


    Corporal Aiden Tenebra,


    With the system in your helmet, you have ess to the army system, as well as many features specially tuned forbat.


    ------------------------------>>


    Immediately after this notification, a list came into my field of vision, a list of things I could do with this ''system'' I was given...


    The list was quite detailed.


    For example, I could receive urgent orders during the battle, instantly check the damage to my body and my health status, quickly identify important allies and enemies in my vicinity, and have instant ess to a detailed map...


    These were just a few of the numerous advantages of this system, AVRES, or Augmented Virtual Reality System, as the dwarves call it, and as it appears as a watermark at the bottom right of every window.


    I quickly imagined a report on my current situation and a new window opened.


    <<------------------------------


    Corporal Aiden Tenebra


    Vanguard Support Regiment, Seventh toon


    Current Battlefield: Laronir District, Western Front


    Mission: To push the enemy back as far as possible and secure the two hills, which are important to win the battle.


    ...


    ------------------------------>>


    The information in front of me went on and on. The status of the allied troops, the enemy''s situation, the areas under control, the current mutual strategies, the enemy soldiers who needed to be eliminated urgently, and so on...


    On the battlefield, I had easy ess to all the information my rank allowed me.


    Even though I knew the technology of the dwarves, I couldn''t help appreciating them again after experiencing AVRES.


    I only had to put a helmet on my head and suddenly I had a kind of... ''system'' that only I could see. There were no wires or chips imnted in my brain, just a simple helmet. It was no easy task, no matter what anyone said.


    I smiled, reminding myself again that I shouldn''t be surprised by the dwarves and their technology. Then I looked at the mass of information describing the battlefield in detail.


    I will ignore it until I am fully equipped.


    My vision cleared quickly as I imagined the ''window'' in front of me disappearing. So I slowly started to equip everything else that was left on my desk. Finally, I picked up my rifle and aimed it, holding it as straight as possible.


    The AVRES instantly matched the rifle''s sights and changed my vision to support me, showing lines where it could go depending on how much I loaded the rifle.


    I happily lowered the rifle, so that when the support system disappeared I sent it into my ring. There was no rule preventing me from doing so. The rifle had not been given to me as my main weapon in the first ce, the army was aware that I used my sword and mana as weapons.


    This rifle was for emergencies and I wasn''t going to use it unless I specifically needed it.


    I had just finished preparing in this way when a voice echoed through the ship.


    "Heed t'' th'' garage! We''ll be on th'' battlefield in five minutes!"


    I stared for a moment as the soldiers who had finished getting ready headed in the opposite direction from where they hade.


    Had we already taken off? Well, I didn''t even realize it... The ship doesn''t really make the people on board feel anything.


    While I was busy with my own thoughts, holographic arrows suddenly appeared in my field of vision. When I looked to see where they were trying to take me, I saw that they were following where the soldiers were heading and a smile appeared on my face again.


    Calm down... I''m still getting ready, what''s the rush?


    Nevertheless, I followed the queue of soldiers and we went through the same wide corridor as before and came out again in a huge room.


    Unlike the ce before, it was a bit darker, exactly like the ce in the movies where parachuting soldiers wait before jumping. Only... it was bigger.


    Once I had a proper ce in the garage, I focused on the emptiness and imagined the map of the battlefield. So a detailed three-dimensional map of a huge area appeared in front of me and I quickly began to analyze what I saw.


    Toward the southeast is a city, which is not very big. The city was evacuated a long time ago and has been badly damaged after the devastating battles that took ce in the area. So this area is mostly rubble, there are no solid buildings.


    There used to be ake above the city, but now theke haspletely dried up, and what was there is now a huge pit. It''s a ce to stay away from as anyone in between would lose the height advantagepletely.


    Outside of these two areas, the rest is generally open. There are two big hills and controlling the hills helps a lot in controlling the battle.


    So our main goal is to try to capture these two hills. Then push the enemies back, basically kill them.


    The enemy troops and reinforcements are mainlying from the southwest, so their temporary bases should be there somewhere. So if we can somehow get there, we can change the course of the war much more effectively than just capturing those two hills.


    Of course, this is a very risky optionpared to the mission we were given, and it wasn''t even considered in the mission.


    The people at the top probably dismissed this possibility as too risky, and they were right.


    <<------------------------------


    Landing a kilometer behind the battlefield, the garage door will open in thirty seconds.


    ------------------------------>>


    Ah... we are already here.


    I took a deep breath, focused inside my ring, pulled out my main weapon, the Runic Obsidian Sword, and gripped it tightly.


    Each of the soldiers in the garage, like me, had their weapons in their hands and were looking toward the garage door.


    So a countdown appeared in front of me.


    Twenty seconds...


    Ten seconds...


    Five seconds...


    One second...


    When the countdown reached zero, the garage door moved slightly, then a dim light filled the garage and the door opened as a ramp until it touched the floor.


    The first thing I saw outside, the gray sky, was the first thing to make me feel the heavy air of the battlefield.


    The sight I saw next made my heart skip a beat, even if only for a moment, and made me stand still, even though I thought I was fully prepared for the ''war''.

 Chapter 230 Volume IV - 75: Slaughtering Normal Soldiers

    <h4>Chapter 230 Volume IV - Chapter 75: ughtering Normal Soldiers</h4>


    This... This was exactly what I expected, but...


    I swallowed, gripping my sword tighter as I looked at the scene before my eyes.


    Ash and dust were raining down on the area. The grayness in the sky didn''t belong to the clouds, it was the color of this dust and ash.


    That aside, it was all the more frightening because I had a wide view of the battlefield, even though it was quite far away from us.


    Real people were dying there, dwarves who could think like humans. The explosions, one after another, therge-scale runic attacks using mana, looked from a distance like parts of a whole.


    It was beautiful, spectacr even. And that is precisely why it was frightening. To know what these ''morous'' spells, these explosions were actually causing... this contrast, this contradiction...


    I swallowed again, letting the Absolute Mind put my thoughts in ce as much as possible.


    <<------------------------------


    You have received an emergency support notification.


    Situation: A trapped allied unit is requesting assistance for the enemy surrounding them.


    Location: 980 meters southeast.


    ------------------------------>>


    Lines like those of a navigation app appeared in front of my eyes, moving toward the location of the ''task'' I had been given.


    "Let''s hoist a beer when we return!"


    A dwarf, who had been standing next to me until now, stretched after saying these words, then suddenly started running into the battlefield.


    After him, other dwarves began to scatter in different directions, mocking the first dwarf to run, as if they didn''t care about this war.


    There were those who looked bored and those who looked for excitement. There were those who looked disgusted just to be here, and those who ran expressionlessly toward their assigned task.


    So... this was it?


    ''Come on, you''ve been waiting for this. You''re not going to hesitate now, Aiden.''


    Sith appeared on my shoulder with a teal glow, sat on it as if it were a chair, and smiled.


    ''You must remember our purpose.''


    I tore my eyes away from him, took a deep breath, and looked at the lines that were still showing me my direction.


    He''s right... That''s enough, I have to act.


    I focused on my mana, spinning it inside me and my armor rippled slightly in response.


    I also allocated mana to the Absolute Mind and poured itpletely into it. Thus, thatst shred of hesitation inside me disappearedpletely, reced by the infinite darkness that my skill had created inside me.


    I started running, following the lines.


    The more I ran into the battlefield, the more noise I heard, the explosions were now taking ce close to me.


    The amount of dust, rubble, and ash on the ground was also increasing.


    The deeper I went, the better I could see: the body parts of countless dwarves, countless disassembled machines, and just as many corpses.


    And that was not all. Blood was literally everywhere. So much blood had been spilled and was still being spilled that it had formed ayer of its own on the ground.


    The further I went, the more disgusting what I saw became. I saw bodies being torn apart in front of my eyes, soldiers being shot, and yet I was careful not to care, to ignore them.


    After all, the Absolute Mind was at work as always, I didn''t need to worry.


    So, I was finally noticed.


    In the distance, a few of the enemies fighting with the allies saw me. Then a small window that did not obstruct my field of vision appeared in the upper left of my vision.


    It was a map, showing where I was. On top of that, in front of my eyes, a lot of enemies turned red and the allies turned bluish.


    As soon as this happened, I was fired upon. I didn''t need AVRES to see the bullets, the energy cannonsing at me.


    As I kept running, I quickly changed my position. I also created severalyers of Mana Barrier on me, and I looked at how many meters to my target.


    Two hundred meters...


    The bulletsnded on my barriers, slowly cracking them, weakening them. I didn''t care about them, though. They weren''t something I needed to pay attention to. So I looked ahead, at my target.


    There was a small hill blocking my view in the direction of the lines, whatever was happening was happening behind that hill.


    As I was approaching my target, one of my barriers suddenly broke.


    I expected it, after all, they can''tst forever.


    What I didn''t expect was that right after that, my right shoulder was pushed back with great force, apanied by a sound that echoed faintly in my ear.


    My eyes widened as I looked at where the bullet hade from. There was a gap in a small spot between my barriers. The bullet had passed through this gap, which would only take a few seconds to close.


    Fortunately, my armor was pretty good, so I was okay.


    I quickly regained my bnce, this time focusing on the direction of the fire.


    Not far from me, there was a dwarf, lying in a trench with a sniper rifle in his hand. Around him were a few soldiers guarding him. They were looking at me, I was their target.


    I clicked my tongue. There was still distance between me and my target and they were not going to leave me alone.


    Even if I ignored them and rushed to my target, a sniper was an important unit. It was much more efficient to neutralize him than to ignore him.


    So I turned to them, I was going to run at them, but then something happened that made me freeze in my tracks.


    A tiny sh appeared right above the sniper''s position, and an explosion went off right in the middle of them.


    The ground shook slightly, smoke filled the air and dust flew up in such a way that I couldn''t see what was there.


    Yet I knew, I didn''t need to see what was behind that cloud of dust to understand what had happened.


    There was nothing left of them anymore. It was simply impossible...


    I took a deep breath, shook my head from side to side, and started running again toward my goal.


    As I got to the top of the hill, thendscape behind it slowly came into view. So when I could finally see everything, I understood why support was needed here.


    This was a wooded area, not very big. Most of the allied soldiers had to take shelter behind these trees, behind rocks big and small.


    The reason was simple, they were surrounded by the enemy and they were under constant fire. Bombs and many more were being thrown, and a random person in the woods could be no longer in this world in just a few seconds.


    I narrowed my eyes, gripped my sword tightly, and called out to my mind.


    ''Sith, here we go.''


    A teal aura slowly enveloped my body as heat radiated from my chest to my entire body, while darker and darker colored mana particles began to seep out of my body and into the atmosphere. I walked slowly and calmly down the hill.


    As white bracelets of tree branches with engravings slowly formed on my wrists, I turned my left hand to a ce where enemy soldiers were concentrated and focused.


    The shooting suddenly stopped, I saw the eyes turning to me and then the panic in those same eyes.


    The guns aimed at the tree line were aimed at me, but they didn''t have time to pull the trigger.


    I quickly moved my hand to the right, and a gust of wind, like a hurricane suddenly descending on the field, swept the area I had been focusing on.


    As the bodies of the soldiers were thrown back meters, I saw the limbs of a few of them twisted into strange shapes in the air. The instantaneous pressure on them was so great that their bones were breaking.


    Yet this, of course, was not enough.


    There were easily over two hundred soldiers in front of me. I couldn''t take them all at once.


    Each of the guns pointed at me fired simultaneously, and hundreds of bullets poured into me.


    It was futile. The barriers I had created and the air currents Sith had created to protect me prevented every single bullet from reaching me.


    The chances of normal bullets harming me were not even low, simply non-existent, thanks to these two obstacles. They couldn''t even scratch me.


    I concentrated my mana in all my muscles and kept walking slowly toward the soldiers.


    When they realized that the bullets were useless, a few of them picked up the grenades they had just thrown into the trees and threw them at me.


    This was exactly what I wanted.


    A strong gust of wind blew right behind me, blowing all the grenades thrown at me back the way they came.


    The enemy took onest look at me as they watched with widened eyes as the grenades they had thrown returned to them.


    Then dozens of explosions rose between them. A dense cloud of dust rose up and came between me and the soldiers.


    I saw a piece of arm flying toward me, but like the bullets, it deflected before it reached me and fell to the ground.


    As the dust cloud slowly dissipated after the explosions, I closed my eyes, inhaled a deep breath, and exhaled it back the same way.


    I opened my eyes, gripped my sword tightly, and quickly dived into the dust cloud.


    When I emerged from the cloud, the first thing I saw were the guns of the enemies surrounding the woods, pointed at me.


    I ignored them, however, and rushed at the soldier closest to me.


    I was already at the helpless dwarf''s feet when the bullets deflected off the gun and into me.


    I swung my sword, and with it, a sharp de of wind flew at the other soldiers.


    "AAAGHHRHRRHHH!"


    The scream of the dwarf who made direct contact with my sword echoed in my ears, growing louder and louder as his body split in two. His eyes stared into mine as his blood sttered on my sword and on me. He was in tears.


    I didn''t stop, ignoring the dwarf, I quickly maintained my momentum and charged at the nearest living enemy.


    Their bullets were useless. Their only chance was explosives, which could do no more than explode on themselves.


    So all they could do was watch or run as I mowed each one down, limb after limb falling off.


    Even though I wasn''t overpowered, I was one of the worst enemies they, normal soldiers with nothing extra, could face and since there was no one among them with powerful equipment to face me directly, it was like squashing ants.


    Only they weren''t ants.


    They had blood, limbs, even organs, and heads. With each attack I made, their body parts were thrown all over the ce.


    However, I didn''t feel a single shred of emotion. Perhaps I was grateful that for the first time in all my time on Lunerra, I couldn''t really feel negative emotions, I couldn''t feel sad. So I kept on ughtering and ughtering beings who could think like me, dwarves who had a life.


    Yet one of them refused to spend hisst moments like this.

 Chapter 231 Volume IV - 76: The Mocking Enemy

    <h4>Chapter 231 Volume IV - Chapter 76: The Mocking Enemy</h4>


    When the next soldier I was to y caught my eye, I rushed at him, and what I saw next caused my eyes to widen.


    As my sword reflexively sliced the dwarf in two, I saw the hate and hatred in his eyes, then the things he held in his hands.


    Almost ten grenades ready to explode.


    ''Watch out!''


    I shielded myself with my hands and quickly dragged the barriers around me in front of me, and then the world went white, a ringing sound echoing in my ears.


    I tried to ignore the pain as I was thrown backward, and when I realized I was still alive, I quickly regained my bnce andnded on both feet, but even on the ground, I couldn''t stop being dragged for about a meter.


    My whole body ached from the contraction. Even though my armor had protected me from the impact of the explosion, the pressure would have left marks on my body.


    I was still in the cloud of dust raised by the explosion, but that didn''t mean my vision waspletely blocked.


    I looked over to where the suicidal dwarf had been, now nothing but a giant pit.


    The maniac... He really refused to die for nothing. Yet he couldn''t change anything, he died for nothing...


    I narrowed my eyes, sighed deeply, and turned to the dwarves who were looking at me like I was a monster.


    They understood now. They realized the hard way that they could not stand against me, not a single bullet was being fired at me.


    I narrowed my eyes and continued what I had just done.


    I wasn''t alone this time, the allies in the woods had opened support fire on me when they realized that the enemies were not focused on them.


    So it was even easier than before to mow down the entire enemy. Soon the remaining enemies began to flee.


    I was about to kill another dwarf when I noticed the fleeing ones and paused, looking at them.


    Should I follow them?


    No, I''d better check on the soldiers I came to support.


    "U- ugh, aaahhrgh!"


    Oh, right... I didn''t kill thest one.


    I turned my gaze to the dwarf on the ground, his already wet eyes watering even more when we locked eyes. He buried his head in the dirt, nothing but blood and bits of flesh, and fell at my feet.


    "P- ple-"


    Still, he could not finish. When a bullet pierced his head, his body copsed and his lifeless bodyy there.


    I turned back to where the bullet had been fired, and there was an allied dwarf looking at me. He spoke in confusion.


    "T- thanks...?"


    He was probably surprised that I was human. He looked like he didn''t know what to say.


    I''d rather not deal with normal soldiers.


    I nodded silently, not wanting to disturb him too much, and for a moment he looked at me in surprise again, but I ignored him. I returned to the distant battlefield.


    When I imagined a new task in my mind, AVRES quickly gave me what I wanted.


    <<------------------------------


    New Task: Defend the road leading to Headquarters.


    Situation: A unit with soldiers of the fourth and third danger level in its ranks is slowly advancing along the front line. Urgent support is required.


    Location: 1,700 meters, west.


    ------------------------------>>


    When the navigation lines reappeared in my field of vision, I quickly turned to follow them, not caring about the allied soldiers behind me.


    Along the way, I encountered many enemy soldiers, killing them one by one, looking into their eyes full of hatred and regret.


    But I didn''t stop, I knew that this was a fact of ''war'', where I could either kill and live, or die and no one would ever look back.


    So no matter how many disgusting things I saw, how many deaths I faced, how many people I killed with my own hands... I never stopped.


    I even deliberately approached my target from the side where the enemy soldiers were concentrated, not from our side where the allies were. That''s why I was facing so many enemies, and I wasn''tining.


    *******


    As I approached my target, I immediately understood why the situation was bad.


    The road leading to the headquarters in the Laronir District was a battlefield in its own right.


    Blood was everywhere again, perhaps the only thingmon to almost every battlefield. The blood of both enemies and allies spilled and mingled on the ground throughout the area. In between, bits of metal, weapons, and mechanical parts were added to the picture.


    Almost the entire area was filled with enemies using two-meter exoskeleton-like robots and a mass of soldiers following behind them. They were pushing back the soldiers defending the road along the line and advancing, albeit slowly.


    I could also see a few members of the advance support unit, trying to stand against the advancing enemy, but the two-meter robots were blocking their way.


    I squinted, thinking about the best thing I could do.


    Should I stand up to one of the robots too, or should I try to scatter the soldiers behind them?


    Can I fight the robots? They seem strong, much more dangerous than the soldiers I just crushed like ants.


    I shook my head quickly after a short while of thinking.


    I can''t wait any longer, I have to help.


    So I started running toward the nearest robot. I didn''t know if I could stand up to one, but I had a lot of faith that I could retreat if something went wrong.


    Hadn''t Ie to this war to push my limits, to improve, after all? So why was I hesitating? I shouldn''t have.


    I qualified my sword with wind and me at the same time. Orangish red and teal colors surrounded the sword in harmony as I swung it at a robot in front of a dwarf in the samepany as me.


    Both the dwarf and himself were surprised when the riot of colors that left the swordnded on the robot like a wave.


    Upon contact with my swing, the robot''s automatic shields kicked in and absorbed all the mana from my attack. Still, it didn''t stop the robot from being pushed back slightly, its shoulder trembling.


    I smiled. My attacks were working. I could fight robots.


    "Let''s attack together and help the other sides!"


    When I shouted to the dwarf in the samepany as me, he grasped the situation quickly, he didn''t think or hesitate in any way. He just jumped on the robot like me.


    The situation had changed so abruptly that I expected the pilot inside the robot to panic, but... he didn''t. On the contrary, I saw him frowning and narrowing his eyes.


    He wasn''t helpless, he didn''t think he was at a disadvantage. He was going to do something, and it wasn''t going to be pleasant.


    I charged my sword with the mana I had swirling inside me, then activated my Ice Thorns skill.


    With my next step, a thinyer of ice suddenly covered the ground, moving quickly to the robot''s feet, where countless sharp spikes appeared.


    I swung my sword to strike the robot at the same time as the spikes, and the dwarf next to me used his nano-armor to strike the robot''s head with his right fist, which he had quintupled in size.


    The pilot, meanwhile, looked at the countless screens that suddenly appeared in front of him and an ominous, wide smile appeared on his face.


    His robot was surrounded by a blue glow, and then a shockwave centered on him spread out, taking the blue glow with it.


    When the shockwave hit my body, it not only knocked me off bnce but also caused my vision to flicker and static. Then I felt swept off my feet by a sharp pain right at my lower back.


    ''Aiden!''


    I heard Sith''s voice echoing in my head, but I couldn''t even focus on him. My vision was mostly gone, so I could neither keep my bnce nor perceive the distance between me and the ground.


    I was thrown backward for meters, only that was for sure.


    When I finally touched the ground, my whole body trembled with pain, but even then, I couldn''t stop and kept drifting.


    The only thing that made me stop was that the corpses of several soldiers were lying together and I hit them.


    I tried to get up even though my whole body was literally on fire, I wouldn''t dare let my guard down or stay still in a ce like this.


    As I coughed up blood, I realized that my vision still hadn''t recovered, and it didn''t look like it would anytime soon. Still, there was one method I thought might work.


    I took off my helmet and tossed it aside, and just as I had predicted, my vision suddenly cleared, only to be met with the terrified eyes of a pale dwarf lying on the ground.


    "Ugh..."


    No... I''m looking at the floor now, it''s a corpse. This dwarf... has just died, the fear and terror in his eyes are still there.


    ''Are you okay?''


    I took my eyes off the face of the lifeless dwarf.


    ''Yeah, I think...''


    I forced myself to get up as fast as I could, and I did. Even though I had taken a heavy blow, my armor had blocked most of the damage. Even though my whole body was sore and aching, I could walk.


    However, I had to recover quickly, it was a miracle that no enemy was still shooting at me.


    That''s what I was thinking... but then, suddenly, I felt a bullet graze my cheek and I just stood there.


    Oh, well... I thought it was because Sith was deflecting them.


    I quickly looked back to where I had just attacked the robot, and what I saw next made me freeze.


    The robot that a few seconds ago seemed almost certain to fall had now thrust its arm with a ded weapon into the body of the dwarf who had attacked with me.


    The dwarf ced his trembling hands on the robot arm that had pierced his abdomen, trying to damage it with his eyes, whose light was fading with each passing second. Yet his movements were so slow and weak that he could not even remove the arm that had pierced him, let alone harm it.

 Chapter 232 Volume IV - 77: In the Battlefield

    <h4>Chapter 232 Volume IV - Chapter 77: In the Battlefield</h4>


    I saw the mocking smile on the robot''s pilot''s face, and then I heard him muttering something to the soldier he was killing.


    I couldn''t hear what he was saying because I was too far away, but when I saw the eyes of the dwarf with a hole in his body widen, I knew that what he was saying was not good.


    I clicked my tongue, gritted my teeth, and started running toward the enemy.


    The pilot, in the meantime, pulled his arm out of the dwarf''s body, then kicked his fallen body like it was nothing, sending him flying back meters. Then he saw me and smiled once again.


    I gripped my sword, blurred by the first phase of the Ambiguous Flow, with both hands, while sending a tiny ball of mes at him.


    When the tiny ball suddenly expanded in front of the pilot''s eyes, creating a sh, I swung my sword at it.


    Nevertheless, the pilot shielded his arm as if he was not the least bit affected by the tiny ball of me I had used as a sh. My sword met a shield that appeared on this arm... then bounced back.


    The robot''s other arm seized the opportunity and moved quickly. He tried to pierce a hole in my chest, just like he had just done to the dwarf.


    My bnce was thrown off by my sword bouncing backward. My movement was limited and if I did nothing, my fate would be the same as the dwarf lying a few meters away with a hole in his chest.


    Time seemed to slow down. The world literally stopped spinning. Yet the sharp, jagged thorn-like weapon approaching me didn''t seem to be affected.


    He was fast.


    So fast that I understood why the dwarf earlier had struggled against him. If I fought him normally, I would never stand a chance. That''s exactly why I had to stop thinking. I had to act on my reflexes, my instincts.


    Because if my thinking went beyond a few seconds, a few milliseconds, it would be toote.


    Even now I was in the face of death.


    So, just like I said, I stopped thinking and wentpletely with the flow. I did the first thing that came to my mind without hesitating a bit.


    I strained all my muscles and bent down as fast as I could, so fast that even I didn''t realize how suddenly I was bending down.


    It worked, though. The spiky pointed arm slid over me and through my hair, practically stroking it. If I had moved just a few secondster, I would now have a hole in my head, not in my chest.


    Yet here I was, barely alive.


    So I did the first thing that came to my mind once again. I released my left hand holding the sword from its hilt and ced my palm against the robot''s belly.


    A strong gust of wind, reminiscent of a hurricane, suddenly wrapped around my hand and unleashed its full pressure on the robot, knocking it off its feet.


    I used Ice Thorns, raising countless thorns from behind the enemy as it was going over its back, just like before.


    I didn''t stop, I created pirs of me rising from all sides and supported them with my wind.


    The pirs all converged right above the robot and poured down on it. The winds that supported them also put enormous pressure on it. The ice spikes also entered the robot''s back, they couldn''t reach too deep because they were blocked by the robot''s armor. Nevertheless, they pinned it to the ground.


    The pilot panicked at what had happened in seconds, trying to quickly get his downed exoskeleton-like robot back on its feet, but the mes and winds prevented him from doing so. The ice spikes fixed on his back were another problem.


    I let go of my sword, and as it turned to dust with a blue glow in the air, another glow appeared on my other side and turned into something long: a rifle.


    I gripped the rifle, pressed the barrel against the cockpit window, and squeezed the trigger as the mes broke each of the shields protecting the pilot, one by one, with the support of the winds.


    A blue sphere-shaped thing began to form in the cavity of the rifle''s body, and as I held down the trigger it grew... and grew and grew.


    When thest shield protecting the cockpit was broken by the mes and pressure, I met the eyes of the dwarf, who was struggling desperately to move the robot.


    He stopped struggling. His eyes widened as if he had seen a demon, terrified. He realized that the only thing between him and the barrel of the rifle pointed at him was the cockpit window, and he stiffened.


    I smiled, squinted my eyes, and whispered.


    "Bye."


    I pulled the trigger.


    The blue sphere in the barrel of the rifle was suddenly sucked into the barrel as if vacuumed. Then aser-like line, almost ten centimeters wide, shot into the cockpit.


    The ss shattered instantly. The bullet of pure energy pierced the dwarf''s brain. Not only that, it pierced the back of the cockpit and exited the back of the robot, dampening into the ground.


    The dwarf now had a huge hole in his head. He had died so fast that he didn''t even have time to scream.


    Stepping on the robot''s chest, I threw myself backward, standing on two legs a few meters away from it.


    The columns of mes dissolved into the atmosphere, and the winds that had prevented the robot from standing up were cut off. The systems holding the robot up shut down and the huge piece of metal just fell noisily to the ground.


    I won. I... I did it.


    My celebration didn''tst long, though. The sky suddenly turned blue, followed by an extremely loud noise that echoed through the area, and thick bolts of lightning exploded a few hundred meters away from me.


    The northern army had begun to resort to dangerous runes when they realized they were having difficulty defending the road.


    Yet this was not the thought that suddenly came to me.


    The battle was still raging.


    What I had achieved was so small in the grand scheme of things that it could easily be overlooked.


    I looked at the soldiers fighting around me, they didn''t even see me. When they were fighting the robot, they hadpletely ignored us because they didn''t want to be caught between us. Now they were so focused on their own lives, on their own goals, that they didn''t even realize who the victor was.


    I took a deep breath and looked up at the gray sky.


    I could feel it, the Spiritual Ascension was at its limits. My mana wasn''t too low, but if I kept fighting like this, it wouldn''t be long before it was exhausted. There wasn''t a spot on my body that didn''t ache.


    I looked at the grenades I had on me, the rifle I had been given.


    I hadn''t used any of them yet, up to this point I had wanted to fight with my own means and I had done so. Now, maybe it was a better idea to use them.


    I narrowed my eyes, pushed the Spiritual Ascension a little harder so that Sith could continue to protect me, and ran toward the ranks of the allied soldiers.


    No, I didn''t run, I was just changing positions so that I could use my rifle and other equipment in a more efficient way.


    Still, I made sure to kill all the enemy soldiers I saw on the way.


    In this way, as I approached our ranks, which were still being pushed back, the amount of fire on me was greatly reduced. When I entered one of the trenches, each of the dwarves on either side of me turned to me in surprise.


    I ignored all of them. I was here to take a wide view of the area and pick my next target.


    Soon enough, I spotted one.


    A soldier and a robotic-looking enemy were shing, both seemingly damaged. The only difference was that this dwarf was not overly oriented toward physical blows like him. On the contrary, shes of lightning were constantly appearing on his metal body and he was performing different attacks. Like unleashing lightning bolts on his opponent that shot out of him.


    I leaned my rifle on the trench, put his back against my shoulder, and looked down the sights.


    I didn''t have ess to the AVRES because I didn''t have the helmet, so I didn''t have sight support. Everything waspletely up to me.


    I took a deep breath, watched every movement of the constantly shifting robot, and focused.


    Sounds diminished, and other things in my field of vision became insignificant. The robot''s presence became more distinct, its movements even clearer.


    I pressed the trigger.


    As the rifle slowly charged, I watched every movement of both the robot and the allied soldier, trying to anticipate their next move.


    Finally, when the robot pressed its right foot to the ground and extended its left arm to the dwarf, I pulled the trigger.


    The barrel of the rifle rose up, and just like before, a thick beam shot out of the end of the rifle and flew at the robot.


    In all the confusion, the energy beam hit the robot''s left shoulder and pierced through it.


    Both the robot''s pilot and the dwarf stood dumbfounded while the robot''s arm fell to the ground, dangling from the main body.


    The dwarf, though surprised, was no fool. He quickly used this opportunity to his advantage. He drew two bombs from his waist, ced them just inside the robot''s opened left shoulder, and leaped backward.


    The robot exploded noisily only two secondster. The dwarf nced briefly where I was, then shook his head slightly and looked for a new target. I did the same.


    Seconds passed in this way, seconds each time I found a new target and killed it with my rifle... then minutes. We kept getting pushed back until, finally, we had to change cover, because the enemy was getting too close to us.


    This was where the real trouble started.


    With only a few meters between us and our new trenches, the ground suddenly shook violently. A white light covered the whole area as if a new sun was rising on my left. At the same time, a noise echoed from behind me, ringing in my ears as if it was shaking the whole world, and I reflexively looked behind me.


    I saw a dwarf, a dwarf walking slowly through the enemy ranks. ck armor covered his body, a broad smile was on his face, and his left hand was pointing toward my left side.


    All thismotion was caused by a huge, white energy beam emanating from his left palm, on which were severalplex runes with strange symbols.


    A death ray that widened as it advanced, reaching almost four meters wide by the time it reached our ranks, and it went on and on.

 Chapter 233 Volume IV - 78: Black Armored Dwarf

    <h4>Chapter 233 Volume IV - Chapter 78: ck Armored Dwarf</h4>


    The whiteness that had descended on the field slowly faded, the tremor slowly ceased, and the dwarf in ck armor lowered his hand as the runes covering his arm disappeared.


    He looked down into the pit formed by the beam that widened and widened in front of him, instantly vaporizing anyone unlucky enough to be in the line, and nodded proudly.


    The area that had been dominated by constant noise had now fallen silent. Everyone, literally everyone, was silent, staring in horror at the effects of this ''ultimate'' power in their eyes.


    Yet it did not take long for the silence to be broken.


    The enemy soldiers lost all fear as they realized that this destructive force descending on the battlefield was on their side. With their new allies in their ranks, they attacked even more fiercely.


    The fear of our soldiers on their side only multiplied, they were trembling even.


    No one could me them. That man was strong, very strong indeed, whatever the armor he wore gave him. What could they do against such a force?


    Nothing. They could do nothing.


    They would be crushed now, just like the soldiers I had ughtered as ants when I firstnded on this battlefield. Every one of them knew it.


    Despair, hopelessness, and fear... All these emotions were rapidly spreading through our ranks and there was no stopping it.


    "Young man."


    I was startled by a voice from behind me, I turned quickly toward it and found a dwarf in the same toon as me.


    He had short hair, I could tell even though he was wearing a helmet. Unlike his hair, his beard was bushy. He had brown eyes, just like his hair, and they were not on me, but on the dwarf in ck armor in the enemy ranks.


    "I dunno who ya are, but I seen ya on the ship, and I ain''t sure ''bout how skilled ya are, but ya don''t seem like no weakling either."


    What does he mean...?


    "Seems like ya lost yer helmet. I got a mission notification just a bit ago, and most likely everyone out in the field did too."


    Ah... Now I get it.


    "We''ll stall him, that man in ck armor..."


    The dwarf nodded.


    "Even though yer in the same toon as us, yer just a human, and ya''ve been in this war for too long. Do ya wanna take a break?"


    I narrowed my eyes, dropped my rifle in the air, and ced it in my ring. Then I took out my sword, and with it, I activated Spiritual Ascension.


    It had been a while since I had used it, so it was okay to use it again now.


    I looked sternly at the dwarf, not holding back even when he made eye contact with me and made an oppressive expression.


    The dwarf sighed deeply as the crown from my spiritual transformation slowly took shape on my head, as particles of mana in dark shades of teal began to diffuse into the atmosphere.


    "Then back us up as much as ya can. A few more o'' our pals''ll be showin'' up soon. One group''s gonna stand their ground against the robots, while the other takes care o'' the ck armor."


    "Understood."


    We didn''t exchange any more words, nor did we need to. We just waited, because, with only two of us, we didn''t stand a chance. Moreover, we had a good position that gave us the opportunity for a surprise attack.


    One second, five seconds, ten seconds, thirty seconds...


    Our allies kept dying, we kept waiting, which was the only thing we could do.


    The dwarf in ck armor surveyed the area with a smile as we waited, rxed as if he didn''t care that he was standing in the middle of a battle.


    "Charge in five seconds."


    I nodded my head in agreement, the reinforcement had apparently arrived.


    I narrowed my eyes, gripped my sword tightly as I counted down inwardly, and finally the five seconds were up.


    The dwarf next to me suddenly charged, and with him, five or so dwarves from all over rushed at the ck armor.


    I went after them, keeping my distance, my goal was to see a possible gap while they were attacking and take advantage of it.


    No matter how strong he was, he had to show at least some weakness against six people charging at him at once...


    But what I thought did not happen.


    When the ck armor saw us attacking him, instead of panicking, he widened his smile. Then a red glow began to seep through his armor and several runes appeared on him.


    For a brief moment, reality rippled as if the colors of the world had been turned upside down as the dwarves drove right into it. Then the ck armor disappeared as if it had never existed.


    No, it didn''t disappear.


    Where he had just stood there was now someone else, one of the dwarves who had attacked him. And he was now where the dwarf he had disced had been.


    The disparate attacks of the five dwarves fell upon their helpless ally, and a momentarily audible muffled scream echoed across the field.


    The ally the ck armor had disced died quickly at the hands of his own friends. He, meanwhile, still emitting red glows, turned his hand on the nearest dwarf.


    There was no time, the allied dwarves needed at least a second to regroup. I was already on the move, so I had a chance.


    I spread my mana throughout my body, using Sith''s mana to speed up my own movement.


    With explosive speed, I sprang from my position at the dwarf with the ck armored man''s outstretched hand. Using the air currents, I grabbed the dwarf''s shoulder as if he were weightless and pulled him back, not caring if he was damaged or not.


    When the dwarf was thrown back by my force, the ck armored man''s hand was this time facing me. A sharp, thorn-like piece of metal rose from the center of his palm, threatening to pierce my right shoulder.


    I tilted myself to the side, aided by the air currents, but I could notpletely avoid the barbed weapon.


    The sharp metal grazed my shoulder deeply enough to make an open wound, if notpletely. However, I didn''t care, and when I locked eyes with the dwarves who had gathered themselves, they were already on the move.


    A wordlessmunication took ce between us, we understood, if notpletely, what we had to do.


    I grabbed the ck armored man''s arm with my free left hand, then thrust the sword in my right into his stomach, ignoring the pain in my shoulder.


    Still, I didn''t use excessive force on him, it was fast but controlled.


    Just like that, what I expected, what we all expected, happened.


    The body of the ck armored man disappeared in an instant, only to be reced by the body of another.


    I stopped my sword instantly, and the allied dwarves stood where they were and searched for the ck armored man.


    It did not take them long to realize that he had not switched ces with anyone from this group. The person in front of my sword now was not one of us, he was a random normal soldier.


    "Watc-"


    My eyes widened before I finished as I pushed the soldier away without a care in the world.


    A beam of light shot out from right behind one of the dwarves in the vanguard.


    The same beam of light engulfed the entire body of the dwarf, who was alone and unable to understand what was happening, before we had even noticed him for a second, and moved off into the void, not caring what was in its path.


    I couldn''t even see how the dwarf reacted. His death was so sudden that he was literally erased from existence. Fortunately, no one else was hit by this death ray. But that didn''t change the fact that we were facing a big problem.


    In the beginning, there were seven of us, now there were five.


    Four dwarves and I, one human, turned in the direction of the death ray as it slowly disappeared. Then we met the dwarf in ck armor with his palm facing us.


    "You northerners be too simple."


    He turned his palm to his side, pointing at us, and then the metal that flowed like liquid from his armor slowly took the shape of a spear that matched his stature.


    Not only that, the ground beneath his feet rippled slightly as the glow on his armor intensified.


    "Why don''t ye leave the base to us and go home?"


    No one answered him, no one was stupid enough to respond to his provocations.


    Still, it was good for us, after all, all we had to do was distract him, and that''s what he was doing to himself now.


    "The mana in his armor flows into the earth, there must be a rune in his armor that allows him to control the earth."


    I whispered and the other four dwarves nodded. One of them spoke up.


    "We''ve been tryin'' to defeat him, but it''s impossible."


    Another sighed deeply.


    "Three of us will attack, but we won''t try to damage him, and the remaining two won''t try anything at all but will try to protect us and restrain him."


    It made sense, no one objected. We didn''t have enough time to make a more proper n anyway.


    "Understood."


    We got into position quickly, we could move more carefully now that we knew three of his abilities, and it was easier to hold him off. At least that''s what we thought. We had to believe in ourselves.


    ''Sith, I know you''ve been quiet so that I can focus and grow stronger, you haven''t interfered too much with my mana flow. Don''t leave everything to me this time, move in sync with me. We''re going to need your help.''


    ''Alright.''


    When all three of the dwarves charged at the ck armor, the remaining dwarf and I kept our distance as agreed, just watching their movements and only acting when necessary.


    Countless sounds of metal echoed through the area for the next while. The ck armored dwarf deftly dodged the different physical and runic attacks of the three men as if he had been fighting this kind of battle every minute.


    But we were also unscathed. We kept dodging his attacks, just like him, and kept surviving.


    Every time he switched ces with one of them, the dwarf next to me and I intervened, trying to prevent him from doing anything extreme. Every time he was about to damage one of the three he was fighting, we personally countered his attack.

 Chapter 234 Volume IV - 79: Famous in a Bad Way

    <h4>Chapter 234 Volume IV - Chapter 79: Famous in a Bad Way</h4>


    It was nothing short of a miracle that for two minutes we had avoided the attacks of the ck armored dwarf non-stop, keeping him upied and suffering no casualties


    But... at the end of those two minutes, it was not difficult to understand that he had decided to put an end to it as if he had grasped our purpose


    The ck-armored dwarf smiled afterpletely dampening a lightning attack aimed at him with a shield around him. He quickly nced around and without wasting time, he stamped his foot hard on the ground


    Realizing he was going to do something, I moved quickly, spotted the dwarf he was looking at, and rushed to protect him, but something unexpected happened.


    I was always in his blind spot, always keeping my distance, so he couldn''t focus on me with three people attacking him all the time.


    Nevertheless, as I was approaching him again from his blind spot, his eyes suddenly turned to me, and a slight disgust appeared on his face as if he had seen an annoying fly hovering in the air. Then the ground trembled violently.


    The earth beneath my feet suddenly split open, and I had no choice but to block the stgmite that rose with tremendous speed through the rift with the winds created by Sith using my mana and my sword. In the same way, other stgmites appeared in front of the others.


    This brief moment was enough for him. When the ck armor ensured that no one could interfere with him, he quickly lunged at his main target, the dwarf.


    "Die!"


    The dwarf didn''t even have a chance to move.


    No, he had... He managed to dodge the ck armored man''s spear before it entered his heart, but he was too slowpared to his opponent.


    The ck armor simply dropped his spear into the air and grabbed the shoulder of the dwarf, who quickly dodged his attack.


    As the spear liquefied in the air and became part of his armor again, he ced his free hand on the chest of the dwarf he was sure could not move.


    As his hand sliced through the dwarf''s chest as if he were wearing no armor at all, he did not stop and reached for the dwarf''s heart. Then he ripped it out.


    No one cared as the dwarf''s lifeless body fell to the ground and they attacked again. They deliberately ignored him. They didn''t have the arrogance to do so. The slightest slowness would have caused a sudden death here and now.


    The dwarf assigned to my side moved to support them this time. They were aware that they had to attack the ck armor with a minimum of three men. However, it was also clear that someone still had to stay outside.


    So, as the one on the outside, I was the first to realize what would happen next.


    "Stop! Stand back!"


    They heard me, and they stopped immediately. Still, it was not something they could have prepared for, they could not have avoided it on their own.


    "Follow the flow!"


    While they were still trying to understand what was happening, I thought quickly, I didn''t even try to use mana, I just thought in such a way that these thoughts would instantly reach Sith, who were far more skillful than I was.


    Sith executed everything in my mind simultaneously and created a stream of air that helped the dwarves. They understood it and tried to move along it.


    It was toote for everything, though.


    Four robots, about two and a half meters tall, were on top of them in an instant.


    The air currents I created worked for them, but they couldn''t save them. It only caused them to suffer wounds that caused them immense pain instead of instant death.


    Their bodies were ripped apart, the sharp and pointed weapons of the robots either taking a piece of them or inflicting massive wounds on their bodies.


    I could do nothing but stare at them, my eyes widening, as each of them copsed to the ground, screaming in pain.


    "I''m wonderin'', why are ya on the northern side?"


    The dwarf in ck armor spoke casually, approaching me with slow steps as the opponents he had just fought all groaned in pain on the ground.


    I gritted my teeth. It wasn''t hard for him to understand that I was alone now and what kind of situation I had gotten myself into.


    "South pays them mercenaries a wee sum, so why are ya fightin'' for the northerners? Especially when they don''t trust anyone but themselves."


    I didn''t answer, I looked around for a quick inspection and that''s when I realized what had happened.


    How had we not realized this? Had the battlefield really changed so fast?


    We... had already been overtaken.


    We were so focused on the dwarf in ck armor that we didn''t notice that the enemy kept advancing, slowly passing us. While we had been fighting where we were, our soldiers had been pushed back so that we were gradually caught between the enemy.


    Now there was no one left to help us. From the sounds of the battle going on behind me, I could tell that many of the vanguard support units were in the field, but they were of no use because they couldn''t get close to us.


    I was among the enemy, again.


    South Hr soldiers were all around me, again.


    I was alone and there was no one to help me, again.


    ''Calm down and think, Aiden. Leave your back to me, we can''t be helpless likest time.''


    At Sith''s words, I gritted my teeth even more, squinted my eyes, and looked at the ck armor.


    Neither he nor the other robots seem to be attacking me.


    I can still buy more time.


    "Because I don''t bring carnage wherever I go, unlike you."


    I gripped my sword tightly, trying to plot a course so that I could escape as fast as possible in case of any movement.


    "Ahaha- Hmm, oh?"


    Just as he was about tough, he paused and looked at the space in front of him as if he was reading something. His face became more and more puzzled with each passing second.


    "Aiden, eh? Well, I didn''t know it was ya causin'' us all this trouble."


    I smiled slightly, squinting my eyes.


    "So I''m famous, though not in a good way, I guess."


    He looked me over slowly, grinning, a slight look of disappointment on his face.


    "And yet... Ye look feeble."


    "Take off the armor and let''s test it, shall we?"


    "No, I''ll be passin''."


    With that, he stepped back slightly on his left foot. Then, suddenly, I got goosebumps all over my body.


    "Why? Are you so insecure, afraid of what will happen to you without your precious armor? I''m here, waiting."


    I tried to prolong the conversation a little longer. I didn''t get an answer, on the contrary, I saw my opponent disappear from where he was.


    I shielded myself with my sword and quickly took a step to the right.


    My opponent''s hand, which was outstretched to tear me apart, shot toward where my left shoulder had just been, but he quickly braked himself and attacked with his other hand.


    This time he met my sword, which I had previously shielded, and tried to catch it, but just then the image of the sword broke and blurred.


    There was a visible look of confusion on his face, he didn''t know where to grasp the sword in order to catch it.


    ''We have to run, Aiden! Don''t even think of fighting him!''


    ''I know!''


    I quickly used the opportunity I had created, quickly built a wall of me between us, blocking his view, and then, with Sith''s help, I tried to fly back at tremendous speed.


    My feet left the ground, I was about to fly at full speed toward our retreating ranks. Yet just when I thought I had escaped, I paused involuntarily, felt a force pulling at my feet, and then saw a single arm emerging from the wall of me I had created.


    When the arm covered in ck armor pulled my foot back with great force, neither my strength nor Sith''s mana was enough for me to escape.


    My whole world turned upside down in an instant. Whereas a few seconds before I had been looking up at the sky, this time the ground covered in blood and dust was in front of my eyes.


    I didn''t even have a chance to close my eyes. I mmed into the ground so hard that the sound of my bones crunching echoed in my ears. The pain that enveloped my whole body from head to toe was so intense that I couldn''t even scream.


    "Where are ye runnin'' off to? The fun''s just begun."


    The word ''fun'' started spinning in my mind, and a momentary fear gripped me. Memories from the past reflected in my eyes.


    The crown on my head slowly dissolved into the atmosphere and the dark teal particles emanating from my body disappeared. Sith''s body appeared in front of me.


    ''Just a little more patience Aiden, please...''


    I heard Sith''s voice but I didn''t care. I tried to stand up but my broken bones wouldn''t let me. Reflexively I tried to crawl, but as I was about to do so, the spear pierced my shoulder and the pain that spread throughout my body was multiplied as I was pinned to the ground.


    ''A little more... A little more... Come on, damn it!''


    Sith began to curse, and I saw his hovering body look in one direction and remain still. Like he was waiting for something.


    "Are youing with us-"


    "Ah, sorry to interrupt... He''sin'' with me."


    My head slowly lifted up as a single, dull voice suddenly interrupted every sound in the world.


    ''Finally!''


    I saw a dwarf, gliding through the air with his hands behind his back,nding slowly on the field.


    He was looking toward us, toward me. I couldn''t make out his face because my vision was blurred, but I was sure.


    "Who are ye?"


    The dwarf with ck armor asked in a serious tone, taking a battle stance in an instant. The dwarf floating in the air answered him calmly.


    "You''ll learn."


    The dwarf raised his right hand behind his back and slowly moved it to his left, and then the whole area lit up as if a new sun had risen.


    A huge round rune, almost fifty meters in diameter, appeared in the sky.


    Then the dwarf gently withdrew his hand to the right.


    All the sounds I could hear up to that moment disappeared, drowned out by an extremely loud ringing sound.


    Immediately after that, the whole world suddenly turned white.

 Chapter 235 Volume IV - 80: After the First Battle

    <h4>Chapter 235 Volume IV - Chapter 80: After the First Battle</h4>


    I found myself staring into the darkness. In an endless void, unable to take my eyes off it.


    My mind was empty, I didn''t even care to move my body.


    The darkness was pulling me in. It was looking at me as I was looking at it. It was even moving, approaching me slowly... without speeding up, patiently.


    Suddenly I had a feeling, a sweet feeling that I couldn''t resist, that I didn''t want to resist. A warmth, afort that spread throughout my body.


    I slowly, forcibly lifted my arm, which was trembling all the time. I didn''t even understand why I was trembling, I just wanted to follow that feeling.


    I took a tiny, little step, and the endless darkness rippled with my movement. It was happy, and it too reached out its hands to me.


    Thousands, hundreds of thousands, billions of hands.


    However, at this very moment, a voice echoed in this dark eternity in which nothing should exist.


    "I advise you not to do that."


    Everything froze in an instant. The darkness, those ck hands... they all froze where they were. They didn''t even move, as if they were afraid.


    I swallowed, even I was frozen. My body refused to move.


    However, I still tried. And, after a while, I somehow managed to take my eyes away from the endless darkness and turned in the direction of the sound.


    I saw someone, short, thin, and weak, standing like me. He looked weak, like if I blew on him, he would fall over backward. And yet, he was also strange. Something about him... wasn''t as it should be.


    His image was blurry as if something was trying to prevent me from seeing him. Even his voice was unintelligible, in fact, I couldn''t even tell if it was a man or a woman. But somehow, he felt like a man.


    Did he not belong here?


    Maybe that was why this ce was rejecting him, trying to kick him out. Maybe that was why the darkness was so afraid of him.


    He didn''t belong here.


    However, after a short time, I realized how wrong I was.


    "You shouldn''te here. It''s not time yet."


    He lifted his hand, then pulled it slightly to the side.


    All this eternity, the darkness, the countless dark hands that froze in ce... all at once literally ripped apart as if in absolute obedience to his movement. And the tears this basic movement created, like everything else, sucked me in.


    That''s how I understood.


    My eyes widened slightly as I felt like I was falling through the tear into another infinity.


    This person, whose face I couldn''t make out for some reason, was not the ''extra'' here.


    He belonged here. He was a resident of this dark eternity.


    No...


    He was the darkness itself, its embodiment.


    The real extra here, in this infinity that shouldn''t have anything in it... was me.


    *******


    As my eyes slowly opened, a white ceiling was the first thing I could see through the blur.


    Immediately afterward, a slight pain that spread throughout my whole body quickly made itself known.


    "Agh..."


    I tried to sit up in bed, but my whole body trembled as I did so. I did it anyway. After cing the pillow behind me to support my back, I was no longer lying down.


    As I tried to rx by taking a deep breath in and out, I looked around and realized that I was in a hospital room, which wasn''t very big.


    I remembered what I had seen before I fainted, and then squinted.


    That huge rune and then the white glow that enveloped my entire vision...


    I quickly checked my body.


    I am not wrapped in bandages or anything, not even a single one. If I ignore the slight pain everywhere, I can even walk.


    I think it''s best to wait at least for the pain to subside, so I''ll stay in bed for now.


    I slowly fixed my eyes on the floor, this time a different thought popped into my mind.


    Did we win the battle?


    I''m sure I''m not in the hands of the South. Otherwise, I wouldn''t be in this situation. So whether the battle was won or not, I''m safe, that''s for sure.


    Then...


    The door to my room slowly opened and my focus quickly shifted there.


    A smiling doctor walked in.


    "d to see ya woke up. Any issue with yer body?"


    He waited for an answer as he quickly examined my body.


    "No, nothing. I just have a slight pain all over my body, which I think is normal, I can walk right now if I want to."


    The doctor nodded his head in agreement with everything I said, he was satisfied.


    "Ya won''t be feelin'' a thing if ya take that painkiller I''m givin'' ya. After that, ya can be discharged right away.


    That''s what he says, but... I was sure that a few bones in my body were broken. Those crunching sounds can''te from anything else.


    "How many days has it been?"


    "Not many, just one day."


    One day... Haa, it''s strange but I guess it''s normal for me to be this better with the medical sophistication of the dwarves.


    "So, what about the battle?"


    "Oh, ya don''t gotta worry ''bout that. General Darbal cleared the whole path with his own crew once hended on the battlefield."


    So it was the general who saved me? He looked like him in build, maybe. I owe him again, I guess.


    "If ye ain''t got any problems or other questions, I''ll be askin'' ya to rest for ''nother hour or so, and then ye can return to yer toon."


    When I nodded my head in agreement, the doctor put a big smile on his face again. So he left the room and this time two nurses came in.


    They gave me a ss of water for the dryness in my throat and then a painkiller to drink. Then they too went out, closed the door, and after a short time, I was alone in my room once again.


    I let out a deep sigh, then slowlyy down on my bed.


    My first battle... I''m not sure if it was good or bad.


    If every battle I fight will be like this, I am sure I will improve a lot as long as I continue. I have lost count of how far I pushed myself beyond my limits in this battle alone.


    Another question though, if I keep fighting like this, will I always be lucky enough to survive like this?


    I thought about how the dwarf in ck armor got information about me instantly.


    They know about me. They know I''m in this war and they want me. If theye at me in future battles, will I have a general to save me every time? Probably not.


    ~knock ~knock ~knock


    My thoughts left my mind. I slowly turned toward the door, which was first knocked and then opened.


    The face I saw belonged to a person I had been waiting for. So I couldn''t help smiling slightly.


    "Hello, Dorhud."


    Dorhud smiled slightly.


    "It''s good to see ye''re well, Aiden."


    "Heh, I''m not going to die so easily."


    Dorhud widened his smile, then sped his hands behind his back.


    "Ye''ve done good, that''s all I''ll say. Can''t linger much, gotta head back to the toon. When ye return there, ye''ll naturally get to know the others, then ye can tell what''s urred. I only came to check how ye were farin''."


    Now that I think about it... even though Dorhud is a captain, even though he is busy, he helps me a lot... he gives his time.


    He''s a really good person.


    "Sure, I''ll tell the story. I will be with you guys in one to two hours. I''m not badly hurt."


    Dorhud kept his smile and looked at the clock hanging on the wall of the room, then back at me.


    "I''ll see ye in the toon, then, Aiden."


    "See you."


    And with that, Dorhud left the room.


    He had only been here for a minute, but it was enough to lift my mood.


    Sighing lightly, I decided not to think about anything this time and closed my eyes.


    I wanted to digest what I had seen in the battle, to get some real rest, and... I simply wanted time to pass quickly.


    After all, what was the harm in sleeping for another hour?

 Chapter 236 Volume IV - 81: The Partial Story of an Old Man

    <h4>Chapter 236 Volume IV - Chapter 81: The Partial Story of an Old Man</h4>


    "S- stop it!"


    I gritted my teeth when I realized that my consciousness was slipping, slowly shutting down.


    "Kari, o- okay enough...!"


    The pressure that caused me to kneel down, to shake my whole body like crazy, and to support myself with my hands in order not to fall to the ground slowly began to disappear.


    My lungs, which were struggling to get air into them, suddenly rxed, and the sweat drops suddenly drained off me as I took deep breaths.


    I tried to stand up, to at least lean against the wall and drag myself to the nearest seat, but it was futile. My muscles insisted on not listening to me.


    ''Hmm, yousted twenty-three seconds this time. Well fucking done, you''re making progress.''


    "T- twenty... three seconds...?"


    It was hard trying to talk while I was out of breath, yet what felt like minutes to me was only twenty-three seconds...


    I looked at the sweat dripping from my hair onto the floor, feeling my organs, which were literally intertwined from the pressure, rx, and I turned my eyes to Kari in her tiger form.


    She was the one who made me this way. I was in this state despite the fact that she had done nothing more than simply concentrate the mana in her body on me...


    I''m really improving though. It''s not just a feeling, I''m actually seeing it. For example, when I first started this ''training'' I onlysted neen seconds.


    The only problem is... this is just one of the ''trainings'' I''ve done. Just... just one...


    ''Now rest for about half an hour and tell Kari you''re going to rest. Then I have somewhere I want you to go and something I want you to do.''


    I finally gave up trying to get up andy down on the cold floor, resigned to my fate.


    "Where do I go, then...?"


    ''Oh, it''s simple. You''ll get your own food from now on. And I''ll show you how to do it.''


    I didn''t say anything, I just slowly turned my eyes to Kari, who had already shifted into her cat form.


    At the beginning of my journey, I had been eating from my stockpile, and after that, I had survived by consuming nts that Lithoa had introduced to me as edible. And since the day I arrived here, I had been eating meat from the creatures Kari went out and hunted.


    Now... he says I''m going to make my own food.


    "Will you starve me if I fail?"


    "Of course."


    As my body finally began to recover, the pain slowly subsided. Thinking it would be okay, I tried to stand up again, and this time I seeded.


    So I looked at the white cat, whose ice-blue eyes were fixed on me.


    I told her what Lithoa had said and Kari nodded her head in agreement. Then she stretched, yawned as if she was tired from dealing with some annoying matter, and curled up on the floor.


    When Kari closed her eyes, my eyes twitched and a bitter smile appeared on my face at the thought that it was this white, frail-looking little ''cat'' that had caused me so much pain.


    I plopped myself down on the hard seat at the far end of the huge space.


    As silence quickly descended on the training area, I felt inexplicably peaceful. A strange, unexpectedfort washed over me. Yet it was understandable.


    Had it been five days? Or had it been a week...?


    I had spent all this time training constantly, never stopping, going from one session to the next...


    Lithoa said sleep was important, so except for the six-hour sleep break I had, all the time was spent in training. Lots and lots of training, each one more challenging than the other.


    I took a deep breath, then opened my eyes and imagined a screen opening in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: Adrian


    Last Name: Caleo(?)


    Race: Human(?)


    Age: 18


    --Statistics--


    General Level: D+


    Strength: C-


    Agility: D


    Vitality: D+


    Endurance: D+


    Luck: E


    Magic Power: D+


    Mana Efficiency: D+


    Charm: B


    --Status Effects--


    Abnormal Status Effect: [Sealed]


    --Masteries--


    [Spear Mastery(D+)] -- [Mana Specialist(D+)] -- [Qilsak Spear Mastery(C)]


    --Active Skills--


    [Mana Ascension(D-)] -- [tform(C+)] -- [Wrath of the Vines(C)] -- [Guardian Radiance(A)]


    --Passive Skills--


    [Difficulty Lover(A)] -- [Friend of Mana(B)] -- [Poison Immunity(D-)]


    ------------------------------>>


    I''ve really improvedpared to how I was before I started this journey. Experience, battle techniques, spear use, mana use, stats, and so many things... I''ve improved in all of them, I''ve gotten stronger, I can feel it, I know it.


    I looked at my stats, full of D and D+ grades.


    And yet... why is it so hard to get to C-?


    I know that from D- grade onward things be extremely difficult, I''m experiencing it directly, but...


    This time there is something else. There is a wall that prevents me from going directly to that grade. A wall that I can''t get over no matter how many times I get my stats to D+.


    I started thinking about the future for no reason.


    This is only C- grade... I''m not even close to B-, which will be apletely different experience for mepared to other people. I can''t even remotely look at A- grade, where my body will slowly be inadequate and I will have to cultivate other things.


    And there is beyond that. And here I sit, struggling to get to C- grade.


    I narrowed my eyes, closed my statistics window, and sighed again.


    This time a question popped into my mind, a question that came to me suddenly.


    "Lithoa, you were eighty years old when Lunerra Awakened... right?"


    ''Yes.''


    I fixed my eyes on the floor, even though I knew what kind of answer I would get before I continued.


    "You told me you were strong enough to stand on top of the world when you were alive. Don''t get me wrong, I''m not belittling you, but how did you do it when you were eighty?"


    Again, an intense silence surrounded me.


    Lithoa was silent and so did I. So much so that after a while it started to feel ufortable.


    Yet Lithoa''s sigh in my mind broke the silence in an instant.


    ''Let me tell you what happened back then, so you can get to know me better.''


    My eyes widened, then I reflexively straightened up in an instant and just stared at the wall.


    Did I hear wrong?


    ''Listen to me carefully, I won''t tell you this again.''


    As his words echoed in my mind, I realized that I was indeed not imagining things.


    It was so... strange that Lithoa was talking about the past, let alone saying anything annoying.


    Still, I recovered quickly and focused on him, not wanting to miss a single word he had to say.


    ''I was a weak, feeble old man when Lunerra, as the elves call it, had the Awakening.''


    He paused for a moment, as if remembering the past. Yet he continued.


    ''With dungeons and creatures everywhere, there was no chance for an old man like me to survive. There was nothing I could do anyway, I was just someone who had difficulty even lifting his arm. I couldn''t even run away from the creatures, let alone fight them.''


    Not only him, but everyone was like that at that time. There was no system, other races that could help people had not yete to Lunerra, and people who had nothing but the knowledge of the existence of mana werepletely helpless.


    That''s exactly why I''m curious. How did Lithoa survive such a time?


    ''Then the most absurd thing you can imagine happened, I was at home epting my death when a dungeon opened before my eyes. Before I knew what was happening, it expanded to engulf the whole house, swallowed me, and sent me to the world inside.''


    Lithoa let out a hoarseugh. It sounded like he was amused by what he was describing, something out of the ordinary.


    And it actually was.


    ''It was an Aen-type dungeon, full of deadly traps, frightening creatures,plex puzzles, and endlessbyrinths. I don''t know what grade it was because no one had the system at the time, but it must have been at least A grade. I wouldn''t be surprised if it was higher.''


    I swallowed, not even thinking about the difficulty of the dungeon made me flinch.


    Aen-type dungeons were the leastbat-intensive of the four dungeon types. Still, that didn''t mean they weren''t deadly.


    I mean, if Lithoa had actually entered an A grade dungeon and survived... and at the age of eighty years old and unable to use mana... It''s such an absurd, impossible feat that it''s frightening.


    ''Anyway, some...''


    He paused abruptly at the beginning of his sentence.


    ''Uhm... some things happened and I decided to live. In a long, long time I not onlypleted the dungeon, I went down into its heart. I didn''t stop there, I identally destroyed the dungeon, not knowing what I was doing.''


    He said this as if it was something so simple that I couldn''t react until I thought it over.


    Then my eyes widened.


    ''The rest is simple. I gained a skill that allowed me to be immortal. I managed to get out of the dungeon and then the system came into being. When the world was on the verge of copse, with the help of the system, everyone became stronger. And I, with my rejuvenated body, my immortality, for years...''


    He paused again.


    ''Hmm... well, for some reason I did everything I could to get stronger. I spent years, almost forty years, trying to get to the top of the world. And in the end, I did it.''


    What... that''s it?


    ''In short, I didn''t get to the top of the world in ten years. While most people reach the top in twenty years, I was always behind. It wasn''t easy for me to fully empower myself, even in those times when it wasn''t even safe where I slept. I want you to understand that.''


    A marble of light slowly floated out from my chest. It slightly took the shape of a tiny sphere, then stabilized and flew right in front of my face. It was Lithoa, of course.


    ''It took me that long to rise even when I was always facing difficulties. You work the same way. Just like... like me before, you have a goal. You are trying to grow stronger to achieve that goal and you are already at D+.''


    The marble of light, not too different from an energy form, trembled as if jealous.


    ''It''s only been a little over a year and a half since you gained ess to the system and could really start to grow stronger. So you are extremely fast, frighteningly fast. So don''tpare yourself to me.''


    Ah... I get it now.


    When he finished his story like that, I thought he didn''t even take it seriously, but no... He told me that even though he was really talking about his past, he was not as perfect as I thought he was.


    He understood that I was ufortable with my progress, that I was hungry for more. By adding a piece of his own past, he made me give myselfpletely to him, to his story, so that I could think and understand.


    ''Anyway, I was a bit bored. Remembering the past like this...''


    Her voice trailed off for a moment, but she recovered quickly.


    ''It was kind of nice, I guess.''


    Before I could say anything, I looked at him, at the marble of light form.


    His reactions just now, his behavior...


    Some things are different from what he says. He deliberately hides things about the past; about himself. I''m not very smart, but I''m not so naive that I can''t see that.


    Lithoa... it seems he''s been through things too.


    He''s a human being like me too, after all.


    ''Anyway, enough fooling around! Get up, we''re going out!''


    Suddenly he moved, his spherical form quickly entered my chest, and then his voice echoed throughout my body.


    ''We''re going to hunt some dinosaurs...!''


    "Huh...?"


    I found myself staring into space for a moment.


    "Sorry, what are we going to...?"


    Lithoa took on a yful tone, as if he enjoyed my reaction, as if he wanted to make fun of me even more.


    ''We''re going to hunt dinosaurs, or rather you are.''


    "Dinosaur...?"


    ''That''s right.''


    I tilted my head slightly to the side.


    "What is that...? Is it a powerful creature?"


    ''...''


    A deep deathly silence fell over the room. Lithoa apanied this silence as if all his excitement and fun had disappeared.

 Chapter 237 Volume IV - 82: Smiling Soldiers

    <h4>Chapter 237 Volume IV - Chapter 82: Smiling Soldiers</h4>


    After resting for about two hours, I got up immediately, and when I saw that there was nothing wrong with my body, the nurses checked me onest time and finally discharged me.


    Thus, I learned that my toon was resting on the third floor, and I realized that the ''hospital'' where I rested and the ce where my toon did so were actually the same building.


    As I made my way through the corridors to the third floor, I realized how simr it was to the hotel-like ce where I had stayed before the war.


    Only the interior design was slightly different, but otherwise, the atmosphere was exactly the same. There was no one in the building except the staff and soldiers.


    ''Hey, Aiden.''


    I involuntarily paused when I heard Sith''s voice just as I stepped onto the third floor.


    His voice was serious.


    ''What''s wrong?''


    ''You are being watched, but not by someone. In fact, there is no one around, but...''


    What? Someone is watching me...?


    ''Then let''s pretend that no-''


    ''No, it''s not someone we can catch. Just don''t move.''


    Not someone we can catch, huh...


    A teal glow slowly took shape in front of me, so that Sith began to look around with a furrowed brow.


    After a brief moment, he paused once again.


    ''Ah, the flow of mana... The flow of mana in the atmosphere is different.''


    He turned to my right, looking at a small window just across the corridor.


    ''Look toward that window, be confident.''


    I squinted my eyes, put a calm expression on my face, and turned coldly toward the window.


    The moment I did this, something strange happened.


    The world behind the window seemed to fluctuate for a moment, reality trembled as if bent. It was as if until that moment the window had not been looking out but into a different reality.


    ''It''s gone.''


    Even though the world behind the window returned to normal, I didn''t take my eyes off it, on the contrary, my face turned sour.


    Who could it be?


    He doesn''t want to be caught... especially considering that he is stalking me in such a way.


    So, what will happen now that I''ve caught it?


    ''Keep walking if you want, I''ll tell you if something simr happens. I don''t think it will be back anytime soon.''


    I don''t like this. Someone who watches me like this can''t have a good motive.


    Can it be a spy from the south?


    Maybe, but would anyone put themselves at risk like that here, especially in a hotel with a whole toon?


    I think I''d better tell Dorhud about this.


    ''Thanks, Sith.''


    Although ufortable, I finally shook off my thoughts, sighed lightly, and looked around.


    After taking the stairs to the third floor, the corridor split into two, extending to the right and left, then taking a sharp turn and encircling the entire floor.


    The center of the floor was separated by the wall of these corridors and was arge single room in its own right. It was where my toon was now, where it was resting. The door to this room was right in front of me.


    Without thinking too much, I reached for the door and turned the handle.


    As the door slowly opened, a noise that I couldn''t hear until then made itself known. The soundproofing was so perfect that I couldn''t even hear it until now. Still, I didn''t think too much about it.


    Because, just then, a warm st of air hit me in the face, and the huge room that almost the entire floor was dedicated to came into my field of vision.


    My eyebrows shot up, and I stared in amazement at the sight as everything I had thought about soundproofing was instantly erased from my mind.


    Well... I was expecting a bunch of dwarves spread out on a few tables, hanging out amongst themselves, not taking me seriously, too tired to bother, or ignoring me because I was human.


    In short, I was expecting a ce where soldiers, tired after the war, could rx in peace and quiet.


    Not a crowd gathered in a circle, watching two dwarves wrestling in the middle of the room, with bottles of alcohol, let alone sses, nted on their heads.


    And the moment I opened the door, all the noise stopped, even the wrestling dwarves paused and turned to me, and most of the crowd smiled...


    That was... thest thing I expected.


    "Oh, look who''se!"


    There was a shout from among them and suddenly they were all on me as if they didn''t care about the wrestling they were watching. It was as if even the wrestlers had forgotten they were wrestling.


    "E- eh...?"


    Before I realized what was happening, the door behind me suddenly closed and I was quickly surrounded.


    This time a different noise than before filled the air, questions and praise went in one ear and out the other, and I found myself in the middle of a meaningless mess.


    "Ya fought well, eh?"


    "Care for a wrestle with me?"


    "Yer sword style was fuckin'' weird!"


    A half-assed, awkward smile slowly formed on my face.


    "W- well, why don''t you just calm down an-"


    "Hey, how were ye deflectin'' them bulletsin'' at ye?"


    They wouldn''t let me speak, and I couldn''t understand anything because they were all talking at the same time. On top of that, they were all shorter than me, so I felt like I was in the middle of a crowd of curious children, which only made things more difficult.


    Fortunately, someone came to my rescue after a while.


    "Easy now, idiots! Give thed some space to catch his breath."


    When Dorhud''s loud, authoritative voice echoed through the room, all the noise stopped. All confusion instantly ceased and the dwarves all turned to Dorhud, who was now sitting at a table, his sharp eyes scanning the room.


    "All you do is gape, don''t ya?"


    The dwarves looked at each other. Then, with a smile on their faces, they slowly stepped back and gave me some space.


    So I finally felt a little bit relieved.


    I gave Dorhud a look that told him I thanked him, and then a big smile appeared on his face too.


    "All o'' them thought ye, bein'' a young humand, didn''t take this war serious, and thought ye''d end up dyin''. But ye surprised ''em all. That''s why they''re curious, includin'' meself. Why don''t ye share yer experiences with us, Aiden?"


    "Exactly!"


    "The captain is right as always!"


    As most of the dwarves slowly made their way to Dorhud, I couldn''t really understand what was happening anymore, I just watched with my mouth open.


    ''Are these... adult dwarves now?''


    I was thinking exactly what Sith was thinking, I couldn''t agree with him more.


    These dwarves are like children...


    Is it because they are dwarves? Is it because their mentality, upbringing, and culture are so different from ours?


    I thought of the dwarves I had seen in the war, and then I realized how contrary their behavior was to what I was witnessing now, and I became even more confused.


    As I slowly approached the table where Dorhud was sitting, I examined almost every dwarf.


    Not all of them were like this, of course, there were some who stood in the corners of the room and gave me sharp looks, but the vast majority of them behaved like children.


    "Take a seat,d. Yesterday''s star ye were, and today''s star ye''ll be, that''s for sure."


    I stood right across the table from him as Dorhud had said, and as I did so, a bottle came out of nowhere and stopped right in front of me.


    It was a bottle of alcohol.


    "Ah, I don''t drink."


    As I pushed the bottle away with the back of my hand, the dwarves raised objections. This time, however, their silence did notst long and Dorhud was not needed.


    Whether I was a ''man'' or not was less important than the story they wanted to hear.


    "Introduce yerself first. There''re plenty o'' dwarves ''ere who don''t know a thing ''bout who ye be."


    A slight smile appeared on my face.


    Introducing myself, huh... This feels a bit awkward.


    It actually reminds me of the first day of the ''study group'', when I forced everyone to introduce themselves...


    It''s kind of ironic now.


    "Aiden Tenebra, I''m eighteen."


    "Eighteen, huh?"


    One of the dwarves suddenly spoke, and another one of them pped him hard on the back of the neck, instantly silencing him.


    "I mean, there''s not much to tell, really. I was studying at an academy in Cevilian, I came here for a job and then I ended up in the war."


    I don''t really know what else I can say, I don''t have that much to say about myself. But that seems to be enough for the dwarves, I think. Because no one made a sour face.


    "What was the first thing ye did when ye set foot on the battlefield?"


    I just froze for a moment when I heard the question.


    It was a random dwarf, Dorhud had given him a quick nce and the dwarf had stepped back involuntarily.


    However, I narrowed my eyes, took a deep breath, and looked at a certain spot on the table.


    I must not run away from this question, questions like this.


    I will be contradicting my purpose in the first ce if I run away from the war. I know what happened there, I know what I did, and if I avoid it... it will only affect my future in a bad way.


    "I went to rescue a group that had been ambushed, and when I got there... it was nothing difficult, to be honest. It was even easier than I thought it would be. The normal soldiers were no threat to me, so I simply crushed them all... like they were ants."


    The dwarves were silent for a moment, though the silence was short-lived. Soon they began to make their voices again.


    After all, this was normal for them, they killed hundreds every time they went to war.


    For me to react in such a way made no sense to them in the first ce. It was not difficult for them to understand that I was a novice.


    "Be this yer first time takin'' someone''s life?"


    "No, I''m not pure as the driven snow. It was just my first time in the war itself."


    Larry, the twenty kids who hung out with Justin, a few more who were tortured and died because of me, even if I didn''t kill them with my own hands, the man I killed in that destroyed building when I first found myself in the war...


    My hands are already stained with blood, I am not innocent. And yet, as I said, I am not going to run away from it.


    Seconds and minutes passed like this. Questions came one after another, and I answered each one without hesitation.


    It was ideal to pass the time, to rx a little bit. Whether it was answering questions like that in a weird way, or watching the dwarves bickering amongst themselves and even wrestling in the back because of something stupid...


    It was fun, I guess.


    Of course, there were some people who got caught up in the moment and came up with ridiculous questions and invaded my personal life.


    "Do ye have a girlfriend or somethin'', eh?"


    "Why ye askin'', ya nosy git? Ain''t none o'' yer business... Wait... or..."


    "Shut yer gob, ya daft!"


    When they started to go at each other again, I couldn''t help but let out augh, widened my smile, and squinted my eyes.


    I thought about Sue, about the things I wanted to do when I got back.


    "No, I guess. It''s a bitplicated for now."


    In this way, with each passing minute, I found myself more and more involved with them. I didn''t care how the time passed as I told them about my experiences in the war, about my life at the academy.


    After a while, I was no longer the only one answering questions.


    The people who listened to everything I said, who didn''t think a single word out of my mouth was a lie, started to speak themselves this time.


    "I remember me first battle, I reckon I wet meself, aye... When I think ''bout it now, yer doin'' pretty darn good."


    Another dwarf quickly entered the conversation, casting a sighing nce at the previous one.


    "Heh... I wish it stopped at wetting meself... When I offed me first one, I plumb forgot where I was and nearly offed meself."


    This time, like that, I started listening to their stories. The topic had strayed from me.


    As I witnessed each of them recounting different memories, experiences that would drive a normal person crazy, with a smile on their faces... I finally began to understand something. I realized that I was actually wrong about them, in literally every little aspect.


    None of them were cold-blooded war maniacs. They were not adults thinking like children. The reason why they behaved this way was very different from what I thought.


    They were all aware that they were together at the vanguard. They all knew that they could die the next day. And that''s exactly why they were so carefree, they were actually having fun. They would rather spend theirst days like this than stand in a corner and wait nervously.


    Maybe that''s why, as I continued to sit at this table, I began to get closer to them, to listen to some of them with great excitement.


    "By the way, I''m Raghnir!"


    Because they... actually were like me. No... because I was like them.


    "And I am Hamnar."


    These dwarves... these soldiers, they were no different from normal people trying tofort themselves.


    "Heh, I am Gurdas the Glorious!"


    Tomorrow, when the time of battlees again, I will be in the same field, and maybe I will not meet them again.


    That''s why I treasured their stories all night long, why I paid special attention to them, why I worked so hard to memorize their faces and names until the next time I went to battle.


    I wanted to do at least that for them.

 Chapter 238 Volume IV - 83: Two Days on the Battlefield

    <h4>Chapter 238 Volume IV - Chapter 83: Two Days on the Battlefield</h4>


    "Aiden! Get yerself over a hundred fifty meters northwest! You''re the closest one!"


    I squinted my eyes at the voice echoing in my skull, quickly turned to my left, and started running.


    Our eyes met on the road with a soldier, his muzzle turned toward me, but he didn''t have time to pull the trigger.


    My sword first sliced his weapon in two, then his head separated from his torso, keeping the shocked expression on his face.


    I didn''t stop, I ignored him as his body was just beginning to fall to the ground, and I kept running toward my target.


    Countless bullets rained down on me, as usual, and again, as usual, they were blocked by the winds created by Sith.


    It was normal, I was getting used to it. After all, for thest two days, I had been in and out of this battlefield.


    Finally, my target, a dwarf wearing armor like ours, came into my line of sight and I saw him aiming at a trench in our ranks.


    His rifle was heavily loaded, he could pull the trigger at any moment. I had no time to reach him.


    I drew my sword back, then swiftly swung it to him as a sh of teal and a warm, orange glow slowly surrounded it.


    The two colors separated from my sword in a sh as it flew at the dwarf, right into his rifle. It sliced it smoothly in two. The dwarf pulled the trigger at that very moment.


    The energy charged in the rifle expanded and exploded, raising a huge plume of dust around it.


    With the help of AVRES, I made sure that the dwarf was dead despite the dust cloud, and then I immediately noticed another group not far from me.


    This group of several soldiers was slowly moving across the battlefield, protecting an almost three-meter-long robot standing in the middle of them.


    When I saw the group, I didn''t even think about it, I quickly ran toward them, all the while activating Spiritual Ascension, which I hadn''t used until now.


    I had a feeling that this robot and its pilot would not be easy to defeat. Learning to trust my intuition was something that definitely helped me in thest two days.


    The group didn''t even notice me as I approached them at full speed, and it was only when the distance between us was reduced to a few meters that the robot started to turn toward me.


    I ignored the robot, it had already spotted me and was about to open its barriers. The opportunity for a surprise attack was already gone. So I focused on the regr soldiers, who would be annoying during the actual battle.


    I sliced the first soldier in half and then, without losing momentum, moved on to the next one, bursting another one into mes and killing another one with an ice spike that shot out of the ground just as he was about to fire his weapon.


    Half of the group died in just a second, and the other half, realizing they could do nothing, pissed off their pants and ran away.


    Now it was just me and the robot.


    "Oh...! A- Aiden Denebra!"


    The robot raised its hand in the air.


    I squinted my eyes as the countless runes that suddenly surrounded me in a dome suddenly swirled and shimmered in the air.


    The runes all discharged at the same time, beams of energy aimed at me.


    I jumped with the mana provided by Spiritual Ascension, pushed myself into the robot''s cockpit with the wind, and brought my sword into a position to pierce its barrier.


    "Eheheh!"


    The pilot''s chuckle echoed in my ears, sounding like he was having fun, which was annoying, but I ignored it and plunged my sword into the barrier.


    The barrier shattered instantly, but I couldn''t finish it. I jumped over the cockpit, dodged the fingers that were about to grab my foot, got behind the robot, and wasted no time in using the enormous amount of mana to create a wind de that would damage the mechanism behind it.


    If I could, I would be done with this robot and its pilot. He was not one to go down so easily, however, as a bright rune suddenly appeared on his back.


    I clicked my tongue, quickly withdrew the mana I would have used to create the wind de, and instead threw myself as far back as I could.


    The rune that had formed on the robot''s back exploded just then, sending a wave of mes around it.


    When I regained my bnce and stood on my two feet, I didn''t attack it this time, but instead let out a deep sigh. If I had been only a secondte, I would have been engulfed in those waves of mes. And now... was not the time to attack.


    "Eheheh... I''ll kill you, no one but I...!"


    When the pilot''s voice echoed through the area again, I finally frowned and tilted my head slightly to the side.


    I focused on his face, but nothing wasing back in my memory.


    "Have we met?"


    "O'' course... O'' course we''re! Ya took me arm, I''ll take yer life! Ehehehe!"


    I focused on the cockpit window, so I could see that the pilot''s left arm was indeed missing from the elbow. He was controlling the robot with his right hand and his mind.


    "Sorry, I don''t remember."


    I tried to tease him, all the while slowly getting into position to counter any of his attacks.


    "O'' course ya wouldn''t remember... o'' course! Just die, with the greatest pain ya can bear!"


    He lost himselfpletely, a blue glow appearing on his robot as he swung at me with ws that reced his fingers.


    He was unstable, and that was why he was actually predictable. He was... like an oldputer that could only execute simplemands.


    Calmly, I dodged the first w with a small step to the right, and as the second came at me, I ducked, my hair slipping between his pointed fingers as I drew my sword back slightly and thrust it into his belly.


    A barrier quickly took shape where I had aimed, yet I did not stop.


    The teal-colored mana surrounding my sword, like a bullet that separated from it and shot forward, touched the barrier and made a hole in it.


    I thrust my sword through this hole, then stabbed it hard into the robot''s belly, and the ear-splitting sound of metal entered my ears.


    I quickly drew my sword back, knowing that the pilot would attack again, so I turned sideways and passed between his legs.


    From behind me, I felt the ground tremble, I heard the sound of something stabbing into the ground. He was doing exactly what I had expected him to do, like a simple children''s book to read.


    Without thinking, I twirled my sword and swung it behind me.


    I didn''t stop there, I raised the Ice Thorns from where I had just been standing and directed it right into the hole I had made in its belly.


    As my sword sliced through the robot''s back, I felt it graze the pilot''s soft flesh. Ice Thorns prated through the hole I had already made, adding to the damage.


    When my sword was finally detached from the robot''s back, I quickly drew it back, this time trying to thrust it into the gash I had made, pushing it into the ce where I felt the pilot''s body.


    My sword pierced through the pilot''s body, made a hole in his torso, and came out the other side.


    "Ehghe... Eheghegh..."


    He chuckled again in a growling voice, and as I withdrew my sword, the robot he was controlling slowly fell face down on the ground.


    The pilot closed his eyes, hisst words a madugh.


    I squinted, looked at the bloody battlefield behind me, and let out a deep sigh.


    It was probably when I was running away from Caleuche. All I was doing at the time was mowing down anyone who came my way. It''s not easy to lose an arm on a battlefield like that and live... That''s why it must have happened this way.


    Anyway, no more unnecessary thoughts. I''m on the battlefield, and he''s the enemy. I shouldn''t pity anyone, I shouldn''t stop.


    So I spotted another enemy, gripped my sword tightly, and started running toward them.


    That''s how I spent thest two days. Fighting soldiers non-stop, taking tasks from AVRES or themunication line, anding back for a short rest.


    Hanging out with the dwarves in mypany was my only source of entertainment, and talking to Sith before going to sleep helped me recover before the next battle.


    And now, I was still in the middle of it.


    What I had to do was keep fighting, and most importantly, keep improving myself, honing my techniques and instincts.


    In short, I had to keep killing.


    Non-stop, until I was ordered to go back.

 Chapter 239 Volume IV - 84: North鈥檚 Dark Side

    <h4>Chapter 239 Volume IV - Chapter 84: North''s Dark Side</h4>


    Looking at the medium-sized room with two bunk beds in front of me, I slowly turned to the three dwarves standing next to me.


    When they saw my expression, one of them smiled wryly.


    "That''s how it goes on the wars,d. Ain''t nothin'' else to it but gettin'' used to it."


    Two of the dwarves I was going to share a room with hurried to choose a bunk for themselves, and as if they had done it many times before, they threw their things on the bed on the left without even a little discussion.


    I realized I had been misunderstood.


    "No, I''m notining. It''s just..."


    I looked around the room, took another quick nce at the state of things, and couldn''t help wondering if I was seeing things wrong.


    "I expected worse than this, I guess."


    When I was told that I would be staying in a room for four people for the next week, and maybe more, I was definitely expecting something... worse, even terrible. Not a ce that looked so clean, so freshly painted and that practically screamed at me, ''I''m a hotel room for rich people''...


    North Hr really cares about its soldiers, it seems...


    "Heh, well, ain''t no problem then. You wanna sleep on top or bottom?"


    "It makes no difference to me."


    When the dwarf heard that, he quickly threw the bag he was holding at the bottom of the bunk bed on the right side of the room, and by the time he had done so, the other two dwarves had finished getting settled. They looked at us as silence fell over the room.


    "Hey, we ain''t just gonna sit around all day, are we?"


    The dwarf who had chosen the top of the right bunk, Gurdas if I remember correctly, jumped down and stretched after saying those words. Then a big smile appeared on his face and he turned to me.


    His shoulder-length hair was light brown, almost blond, and his eyes, in contrast to his hair, were a shade of brown that I would almost call ck. His face was slightly wrinkled, showing that he was aging slowly. Still, he had a good build, thinner than the average dwarf, but well-built.


    "Are ye up for wrestlin'',d?"


    "Uh, no... no thanks."


    I mean... even if I wrestled with him, it would be too hard for me to lose. After all, dwarves can''t use mana, so they can''t build up their bodies very much. And I''m a D- grade human...


    Aside from any injuries, as I said, it''s impossible for him to take me down on his own strength alone.


    "Meh, ye be pretty dull."


    He hesitated for a moment, and I thought he was going to ignore me and go back to the other dwarves, so I headed for my own bed, but then I realized he was still staring at me.


    "Well, if ye ain''t up fer wrestlin''... how ''bout we y a game betwixt us?"


    My eyebrows went up and Gurdas smiled again as the other two dwarves in the room sighed slightly, as if they knew what wasing.


    "Fer example, do ye know how t'' y chess?"


    Oh, chess?


    "It''s been years since I yed, but I remember the rules."


    Gurdas thus widened his smile, clicked on the bracelet on his right arm, and a holographic chessboard formed in front of him in an instant.


    "Then let''s y, I don''t want t'' just sit here an'' do nothin''."


    Chess... is not something I''m extremely skilled at. I learned it when I was a kid and yed a little bit for a while, but I was not overly interested in it, so I never really went into it.


    Still, I know the basics, so at least I''m sure I won''t perform badly.


    Besides... this could be actually good for rxing.


    I crouched down in front of Gurdas, looked at the chessboard, and then saw a dice icon on it.


    Gurdas reached for the dice, clicked on it, and then the colors on the pieces on the chessboard suddenly started to change. Finally, when the pieces on my side were ck and the pieces on Gurdas'' side were white, it stopped.


    Meanwhile, the other two dwarves in the room had turned to the board between us, wondering what was going to happen.


    "Then let us begin!"


    Gurdas made the first move quickly, positioning the pawn in front of his king in the center.


    I moved the pawn in front of my bishop on the ck square.


    Then the knights were yed, and Gurdas asked for an exchange with his pawn in front of his king. I agreed, wanting to respond to his aggressive y in the same way, but Gurdas preferred to stand there and y his other knight when we both lost our pawns.


    For a while, neither he nor I attacked, taking care to y the position of our pieces as urately as possible.


    Eventually, there was friction again, stalemates were taken and we started trading.


    It was fun, honestly. Especially when I thought about my move, it refreshed my mind. And Gurdas was an even better yer than I had imagined.


    My hand went to the bishop on the white square, I wanted to y it, but while I was looking at the board, I suddenly paused and my hand stayed in the air. I realized something I hadn''t seen until that moment.


    I stared nkly at the board, even though it was already my turn and my hand was right above the elephant.


    "Ya''re better than I thought, Aiden."


    A smile appeared on my face, I moved my hand away from my bishop and finally moved my king, which I hadn''t touched since the beginning of the game.


    "You were already ahead of me, all you did was y games with me. All I can do now is avoid getting checkmated, let alone winning."


    The game didn''t make much sense. Gurdas had arranged his pieces in such a way that I could see that even if I avoided the king now, it would get stuck againter.


    "You remind me of my son."


    I had to sacrifice a queen, trying to see if I could at least draw the game, but... it was difficult.


    "In what sense?"


    "He never gave up while ying with me, even if he knew he was going to lose, he would try for a draw."


    A smile appeared on his face, his eyes narrowed slightly, though he was still looking at the board.


    "I''d actually want him to be someone like you when he grows up."


    Like me? What...? Who wants their child to go to war?


    "Like me in what way?"


    I noticed his hand trembling slightly as he picked up one of myst remaining pieces with his bishop, I think he could guess what I was thinking even though I had asked a question.


    "Heh, of course not the way you''re thinkin''."


    His face turned serious, and I realized that there was almost no move left for me to make on the board, so I finally turned fully to him.


    "I''ll do me best to make sure there be no link between him and the war."


    He took a deep breath, smiled widely again, and simply pushed a pawn forward.


    It was thest move on the board, the match was over.


    "I lost, huh..."


    One of the dwarves who had been watching the match so far, Rulhan, quickly interjected.


    "Don''t fret, ye did fine. I''ve scarcely seen anyone stand up to Gurdas like ye did."


    His ck eyes were sharp. His hair was either shaved or bald, I wasn''t sure which, but either way he looked like a tough guy with a slightly long beard.


    "I was ying a match with a chess robot and didn''t know it, it seems..."


    Short but heartyughter filled the room, and I slowly turned to Gurdas with a grin on my face.


    When our eyes met, he realized there was something I wanted to say and listened to me.


    "I believe you have the right not to join the army if you have a family, why are you here?"


    It was a question I was really curious about.


    Gurdas was a cheerful person, he even introduced himself as Gurdas the Glorious when we met for the first time a few days ago.


    If he had a kid on top of that, why would he risk himself in this war?


    "That matter... it be a bit tangled, ye see."


    Gurdas narrowed his eyes and bowed his head slightly while maintaining his smile.


    As he did so, the expression on the other two''s faces contracted, and the cheerful atmosphere... suddenly disappeared.


    "Let me share a secret with ye,d."


    Rulhan suddenly turned serious, frowned, and jumped to his feet in a booming voice that matched his stern appearance.


    "Gurdas!"


    "He''s fightin'' alongside us, Rulhan, spillin'' blood for the North while he ain''t even seen twenty winters."


    Rulhan opened his mouth, wanted to say something, but then he couldn''t think of anything to say. He gritted his teeth, kept his expression, and turned to me.


    For the first time, he looked uneasily at me, who had been watching the two of them without realizing what was going on, and sat back down. He wasn''t as angry as before, he just looked ufortable now.


    "What''ve ye been thinkin'' ''bout the North since ye came here,d?"


    I couldn''t help swallowing at what had happened, at the sudden changes in the room.


    What exactly is going on here...?


    "I... frankly, I thought of it as a technological paradise, and the more I saw... the more I realized that, apart from the war of course, the North Hr was a good ce to live. There was a lot of happiness and spaciousness."


    Gurdas nodded at each of my words, and yet with each word he became more serious.


    "This ce,d, it''s just as ye''ve been thinkin''. Truly spacious and everyone''s happy, of course... ''cept for a few matters."


    Rulhan clicked his tongue at this point. Durvan, the other dwarf in the room, remained silent. However, Gurdas continued.


    "Most o'' the citizens in North Hr are, in a manner o'' speakin'', property o'' the country. So if the government asks somethin'' from ye, ye gotta do it. If it tells ye to be a soldier and fight at the very front... well, there ain''t much choice but to fight."


    What...?


    Country''s... property? Living, sentient, ''thinking'' dwarves?


    "Our history ain''t as pure as ye might think, Aiden. Both in technology, in prosperity, and many more, we had to make great sacrifices to get where we are today."


    He clenched his fist as if remembering the past, his voice cracked and his brow furrowed. Yet he recovered quickly, clearly ufortable, but continued.


    "Most dwarves past a certain age... they''ve truly endured great pains. When I think about the things of the past... the situation we''re in now, it''s just a small price we''ve paid for prosperity and happiness."


    The past...


    What exactly happened in the Dwarves'' past?


    In the game, the North Hr is destroyed before the yer even gets out of Cevilian, the South Hr wins the war and ruins all of Lunerra. They hide everything about themselves, they don''t want anyone to know about them.


    And of course, the North Hr, when it was still in existence, was at the very center of trade in Lunerra, so it didn''t reveal things about the past.


    So the biggest gap in the history books, ignoring the faes, has always been the dwarves themselves.


    My mind was filled with jumbled thoughts, intrigued by the fact that here and now I was confronted with information I could not have had in the game even if I had wanted it.


    A country whose people are literally its own property.


    What could they have lived through in the past so that the people had not rebelled until now?


    Well, the older generation may see it as a really small price to pay for whatever they went through, but what about the new generation? Is it really not that important for them either? If it was important, wouldn''t I have seen it myself in the first ce?


    Or is this ''past'' that Gurdas talks about not so distant?


    "North Hr''s a right fine country, Aiden. Dun''t want ye to gettin'' the wrong idea from what I''ve been sayin''. Besides, who or what in this world ain''t got some blemish, huh? Jus'' like everyone and everythin''''s got a downside, the ce we live''s got its own, that''s all."


    I took a deep breath and let it out, I definitely wanted to explore this issue in the future when I was strong enough, but right now another question was on my mind.


    How many people in the army are fighting against their will? Even if the number is high, how many people are actually acting out, being tantlycent?


    I squinted my eyes and thought again about this ce that until now had seemed like a paradise. Then Lunerra, the things I saw in the game.


    Gurdas is right, there is nothing or no one in this world without a dark side.


    "Anyway, as I said, keep it hush-hush, jes'' hold it to yer own self."


    Gurdas again put a big smile on his face, this time turning to Rulhan and Durvan who had been very quiet so far.


    "Come on, we''re headin'' to battle soon as we wake up tomorrow. Let''s get a bit of cheer goin''! Look here, I''ll tell ya somethin''..."


    Gurdas pressed the bracelet on his arm again, the chessboard disappeared, and this time a video appeared, sort of visualizing what wasing out of his mouth.


    He was describing a funny incident from the past when he was still a university student. As his words were visualized on the holographic screen in the center of the room, we were watching how he was a womanizer who was always chasing girls, and how he even got in trouble for it.


    It was fun, there were times when I really couldn''t stop smiling.


    And that was not the only thing.


    After Gurdas, Rulhan and Darvun also started telling their memories.


    The dark things were quickly pushed aside, even Rulhan returned to his normal self and immersed himself in the conversation.


    We listened to what they had to say until midnight, digging into junk food, andughing together. Until it finally stopped, until we inevitably went to our beds to sleep because it was time for war the next morning.


    As I closed my eyes, the thought in my mind was simple.


    For the first time... for the first time in my time here, I realized that I was not just fighting to better myself, but that I was actually fighting on behalf of people like me.


    This reality, even though I had the skill named Absolute Mind, was slowly but surely beginning to settle in my mind in a way that would manifest itself over a long period of time.

 Chapter 240 Volume IV - 85: Beginning of the Actual Training

    <h4>Chapter 240 Volume IV - Chapter 85: Beginning of the Actual Training</h4>


    I slowly emerged from the bushes where I was hiding. It didn''t matter anyway. It had already spotted me.


    Gripping my spear tightly, I thought as I approached the field, toward my target.


    Dinosaurs... predators that lived on Lunerra millions of years ago.


    When Lithoa told me about them, I didn''t even know Lunerra had existed for millions of years, let alone have the slightest idea why a species that had gone extinct in the past was here.


    Still, if Lithoa suggested that I hunt them, I figured that if they had be extinct once in the past, they wouldn''t be too challenging...


    "Rhooaaargh!"


    My hands were shaking as a four-meter-tall ''dinosaur'' with two big feet and two tiny hands for its size roared furiously in front of me, looking up toward the sky.


    How many times is this?


    It must have been the second day without a single mouthful... It''s been two days since my first battle with this one dinosaur, hasn''t it?


    Hunger is hitting me in the head...


    I''ve been fighting the same dinosaur for two days, I can wound it, but I can''t kill it. My spear can cut through its body, but it can''t go deep. When I try to make a surprise attack, it instantly knows where I am as if someone was whispering in its ear. Each time I have to fight for a bit and then run away.


    What''s worse, it''s just a cub. Not a baby, but not yet an adult. At least ording to Lithoa.


    When the four-meter cub finished roaring, it lowered its head and looked at me as if the countless fresh cuts on its body were getting on its nerves. It tensed slightly, then ran at me, its big feet pounding the ground.


    With each step the ground trembled and the trees around us shook.


    I bent the tip of my spear slightly, took the basic stance of the first movement of the Qilsak Style and my mana spread throughout my body.


    I nted my feet firmly on the ground, making sure I wouldn''t be thrown anywhere no matter what, and let go of the breath I was holding when the dinosaur opened its huge mouth and lunged to tear me apart.


    The tip of my spear rose quickly, the mana from my body glowing as it flowed into it, and a tremendous weight suddenly fell on it.


    I withdrew the force of my feet pressing hard against the ground and quickly pushed myself to the left.


    I spun around, supported by the weight on my spear, and when the dinosaur realized that it was in a position where it could not bite me, it tried to crush me with the side of its head, but I did not let it.


    I quickly aimed my spinning spear at its weakest point, its eye, and pushed it away.


    It was the first opportunity I''d had in days, and it must have gotten fed up with me because it was in more of a hurry than usual.


    I was not one to miss this opportunity.


    I red at the dinosaur''s pupils as my spear, propelled by the momentum its weight gave it, ended up right in front of its eyes. I watched the spear race past it, yet I felt it didn''t go very deep.


    The dinosaur roared in pain, but it didn''t stop the head it was using to crush me. On the contrary, it tried to attack even more fiercely.


    I pulled my spear out of its eye, quickly plunged it into the ground, shielded myself and put my weight behind it. Then I used the skill I still hadn''t gotten used to using, the Wrath of the Vines.


    The vines rose quickly from where I had stuck my spear and attacked the first living thing they saw: the dinosaur.


    The dinosaur''s head hit my spear, I felt a tremendous force, but I gritted my teeth.


    Even though I had stuck my spear in the ground, it tried to drag and throw me along with the same ground, but the force was cut off as the vines began to wrap around its body.


    I knew it wouldn''t be enough though, it would soon tear the vines apart, just as it had done for two days.


    I pulled my spear out of the ground and used the short time I had to attack his leg muscles one after the other.


    Moving in ordance with the style I had learned, I put more weight into my attacks, attacking as hard as I could, while using the second movement of the style to neutralize my own weight and increase my speed.


    In the space of just two seconds, I unleashed four different attacks, each one building on the wounds I had inflicted over the days, creating even deeper ones.


    I couldn''t help but be surprised when the dinosaur''s blood sttered on my spear, my clothes, and my face as it struggled to break free from the vines.


    It was the first time its blood had flowed so violently and clearly. Attacking the same spots over and over again was finally paying off.


    The dinosaur finally got rid of the vines, tore them off like they were nothing, and roared again, trying to bite me. It staggered because of the wound on its foot, but it didn''t lose its bnce.


    I jumped up, tried to get above its head, and seeded. I quickly went for its remaining eye, which was still intact, but before I could move my spear, it shook violently.


    I lost my bnce, slipped, and found myself in mid-air. Before I could regain myposure, a blur descended over me and I found the dinosaur''s huge foot on top of me.


    I gritted my teeth, then used Guardian Radiance and Wrath of the Vines at the same time.


    Countless vines burst out of the ground and attacked the foot that was about to crush me, and I tried to scramble to my feet as the glow that enveloped my body reduced my pain and healed me.


    The vines wrapped around and around the dinosaur''s foot, I had poured so much mana into it that they had managed to stop it, not just slow it down.


    At the same time, they were not normal vines, they were angry and aggressive, as the name of the skill suggests.


    The vines first unbnced the dinosaur, then caused it to go over the edge.


    The dinosaur roared and tried to struggle, to get rid of the vines wrapped around its body, but it couldn''t. On the contrary, the vines became even more fierce and moved toward the dinosaur''s head. They widened the countless wounds on its body.


    A cry of agony echoed through the area. I drew onest mana from my almost depleted reserves and spread it throughout my body, finally standing up and lunging at the dinosaur''s neck.


    I gripped my spear tightly in both hands, clenched my teeth as hard as I could, and attacked.


    It was a horizontal attack, it made a cut on the neck of the dinosaur as it tried to get up, but it didn''t go very deep.


    I didn''t stop my spear, letting everything else go as my movements dragged it into a steady flow, adding weight to the weight of mana that was steadily umting on it. I put as much as I could into the first movement of Qilsak Style.


    One after another, each attack heavier and more powerful than thest, steadily widening the cut in the dinosaur''s neck.


    Blood sttered on me, the dinosaur struggled more violently each time, but it was futile. The vines became even more aggressive with the blood sshing on them. Together with me, they attacked the wound on the dinosaur''s neck.


    Seconds passed, and painful roars turned to weak growls. The trembling that shook the ground slowly subsided, and finally my spear reached the jugr vein.


    Liters of blood poured out of the wound in an instant and sshed into the air. It watered my clothes, the vines, and the soil.


    Finally, I stopped swinging my spear, came to my senses, and looked at the dinosaur.


    A few faint growls came out of its split neck, but that was it. Soon the growling stopped, its body no longer moved and thest gleam in its eye faded away.


    The vines began to shrivel up as their target died, as if rotting, and finally, my eyes widened.


    I won... I... I did it!


    I put my hand on my chest, felt my heartbeat, my throat burning from breathing so fast, my lungs straining against my rib cage. I was also out of mana.


    It hurt, my body was literally on fire. And yet I had done it, I had finally hunted a creature, even if it was just a cub, I had survived in the depths of the Neutral, and I had even obtained my own food.


    ''Well done, you fought well. Now... every day from now on I will show you a new creature and you will try to hunt it.''


    Ah...


    Of course, this is just the beginning.


    ''And from now on you won''t fight the creatures straight. There are things I want you to learn from them. You will concentrate on them and only try to kill your target when I see fit.''


    So, my training is just beginning, actually...


    I leaned on my spear and looked down at the creature I had killed, then a gentle meow echoed across the field. Kari, in her snow-white fur, appeared above the dinosaur''s lifeless body.


    She looked at me with pride, as if I were a baby learning to walk for the first time.


    I smiled when I saw her, finally feeling a weight lifted from me, and I stopped holding back, not caring what happened.


    As my vision faded into darkness, as I fell to the ground, I had no worries because Kari was with me.

 Chapter 241 Volume IV - 86: Getting Used to War

    <h4>Chapter 241 Volume IV - Chapter 86: Getting Used to War</h4>


    I put my finger on the trigger of my rifle, concealed myself even more, and stood at the ready.


    Gurdas and Durvan were ughtering the enemy soldiers while I waited patiently.


    Dozens were dying. Even the few forces that tried toe to support them could notst long against the duo of Gurdas and Rulhan.


    They were like a killing machine.


    In fact, for some reason, it had always been like thistely. The enemy was strangely weak. Even I felt the weakness of the enemy force, but I wasn''tining.


    Of course, this being the case, we were no longer on the defending side, and after three days of defense without proper sleep, we had a different mission this time.


    To attack with the army, to draw special attention to us, and to kill a specific target.


    I narrowed my eyes, slowed my breathing as much as possible, and focused.


    Despite the chaos on the battlefield, I was patient, waiting for the right moment with my rifle. It was difficult, but I held myself together.


    So, in the end, this waiting paid off.


    Something very fast, caught on AVRES''s radar, appeared on the game-like mini-map in the upper left of my vision.


    I focused even more, even poured mana into the Absolute Mind, and started pressing the trigger.


    As the usual blue orb of energy slowly expanded in the center of the rifle, the ''thing'' on my radar suddenly appeared between Gurdas and Durvan.


    I couldn''t see his face because the dark red armor covered every part of his body, yet he was short, even for a dwarf. Nevertheless, the speed with which hended on the field and the two daggers he held in his hands were deadly. And he proved it quickly.


    Gurdas was about to activate a rune that created an explosion over arge area when the dwarf in red armor finished next to him. When the dwarf swung his daggers at him with great speed, he inevitably had to interrupt the rune activation.


    He shielded himself with his one-handed axe and tried to take a step back. Just then, Durvan grabbed one of the dwarf''s daggers with one w-like hand and tried to smash his chest with the other.


    The dwarf''s armor shed, a momentary rune appeared on it, and then the unexpected happened.


    Durvan''s w went through the dwarf''s body. Before we knew what had happened, the dwarf kicked Durvan hard and turned to Gurdas.


    Gurdas had recovered himself, so he was able to react quickly. When he saw the dwarf looking at him, he didn''t waste any time and attacked him.


    I kept waiting, my rifle already maxed out as Gurdas and Durvan fought the dwarf, but I knew I couldn''t pull the trigger.


    This dwarf, our target, was strong. Gurdas and Durvan could barely stand against him. And somehow he could make objects pass through his body. His daggers were a threat, fierce enough to shatter the armor of his opponents and fast enough to be hard to track.


    I held my breath and, with AVRES''s help, tried to keep the aim on the dwarf at all times.


    I gritted my teeth when the shoulder of Gurdas'' armor was sliced open by the dagger blow, and I held my ground even when Durvan narrowly avoided an attack that almost cost him his head.


    So I let out the breath I had been holding when the dwarf suddenly kicked Durvan, threw his daggers at Gurdas, and raised his palm to his face.


    When a few runes appeared on the dwarf''s arm, he stood still, sure that Durvan would not disturb him. He was immobile because he believed he could keep Gurdas still with his thrown daggers.


    This was my chance.


    I aimed for the dwarf''s head, sure he would not be able to use his strange ability as a beam of light appeared in his palms.


    I pulled the trigger.


    The blue orb in the center of the max-loaded rifle was sucked into the barrel like a vacuum. Then, with the recoil I felt, it separated from the rifle at great speed.


    The dwarf''s head suddenly turned toward me, I imagined its eyes widening behind its closed helmet and grinned.


    The shot, with arge diameter,pletely engulfed the dwarf''s small head. Ignoring him as if he were nothing, it continued on its way and finally fizzled out when it reached the ground.


    The dwarf''s headless body trembled for a moment, the runes and the beam of light that had appeared on his arm faded, and then he copsed.


    "You are amazin'', Aiden!"


    Gurdas'' voice echoed in my helmet as I came out of hiding, knowing he could not avoid the daggers but simply blocking them with his axe, knowing the threat would be gone.


    Putting my rifle in my ring, I drew my sword and ran toward them.


    "We''ve taken out thest dwarf guarding the line, let''s infiltrate forward and scatter the troops. Let''s finish this quickly before reinforcements arrive."


    Gurdas and Durvan had already pulled themselves together and moved forward before I said anything.


    There was no need for any furthermunication, but I still had a question.


    "Also... Where is Rulhan?"


    The absence of the middle-aged dwarf made itself felt.


    "He was dealin'' with someone in the back. He is probably protectin'' the soldiers. Won''t be joinin'' us."


    Oh...


    "I see..."


    So, after a while, we infiltrated further into the enemy soldiers.


    What happened next... was basically a ughter.


    *******


    It''s exhausting.


    Jumping from war to war with only one night''s rest, often with no rest at all, is really tiring.


    That''s one of the first things I realized on this battlefield.


    It''s also a bit scary because I''m a wiera. And this is the second thing I realized.


    As I was trying to use the five hours I was given to rest to sleep, I tossed and turned in my bed. I thought about the battlefield and myself in the middle of it.


    Sometimes I find myself suddenly smiling, even though I could kill someone in one swift movement, I have a feeling that I will kill them slowly, leaving one painful wound and moving on to the next.


    I''ve gotten used to it though, I guess. Going through it day after day after day... it helped me learn to restrain myself a little bit.


    Perhaps as a wiera, my hunger for chaos is satiated enough by the war itself that it is easier to control.


    Still, I am happy that I am making progress in this regard.


    Another improvement I''ve noticed, though I''m not sure if I''d call it an improvement, is that I literally lose myself in the middle of battle.


    It''s as if my consciousness shuts down, I just try to fulfill the task given to me like a robot without thinking about what I''m doing. When Ie back to myself, I''m not in the same ce and time as I remembered before, it''s a bit... strange feeling.


    Not because I''m wiera, but because I think I''m getting used to the war. Killing people, avoiding attacks or things like that... they are slowly bing a set of reflexes rather than actions that I think about.


    That''s why I''m not sure whether this is a development or not.


    Given Lunerra, it must be an improvement, right?


    So... when I''ve lost my humanity and getting it back is already a goal of mine, but to start distancing myself from my remaining humanity? Is that an improvement for me?


    This was just one of the things I started to question as I was slowly letting myself fall asleep.


    *******


    Gurdas, Durvan, Rulhan, and I were busy ying a board game when a soldier suddenly entered our room and said that Dorhud wanted to see us.


    The soldier seemed to be in a hurry, it was obviously an emergency. So we left the board game as it was and rushed to Dorhud''s room.


    After a while, we passed through the door marked Captain Dorhud Gen''dai and found Dorhud with a very serious face, frowning and thinking at his desk.


    I hadn''t seen Dorhud for quite a while, he was already difficult to see, mostly because he was busy, buttely, he had be impossible to meet directly.


    And now... I could tell he was tired, that nothing good had happened to himtely.


    "Close the door, we''ve got somethin'' important to talk."


    The door closed behind us, and the four of us lined up in a row, side by side. Then Dorhud spoke without waiting even for a second.


    "Ye got a mission, a special mission. We''ve specially chosen ye guys."

 Chapter 242 Volume IV - 87: Operation

    <h4>Chapter 242 Volume IV - Chapter 87: Operation</h4>


    When I heard that we were chosen for a ''special mission'', I couldn''t help but be surprised. Well, I wasn''t expecting this.


    "We already knew there was an enemy base not far from us, and now we got an opportunity to smash it to bits. Ye will sneak into this here base, blow it sky high, ande on back."


    My eyes widened. I processed Dorhud''s words over and over in my mind, and then I tried to hide the sudden wave of joy that came over me.


    Finally!


    I had been waiting for something like this for a long time, I was getting scared as my time was getting shorter and shorter, but finally!


    With this, I can not only bring the end of this war even sooner, but I can finally take action to get what I most want to get on the Hr continent, or even in this world!


    Of course... I hope that woman doesn''t beat me to it or hasn''t already.


    I don''t know exactly when she got what I wanted in the original game. That''s why I''m a bit scared.


    "Ye ain''t headin'' to the battlefield tomorrow, rest up a bit. In two days, we''ll kick off this operation. I''ll send ya all the info ya need, now head on back to yer room."


    "Understood!"


    All four of us turned around at the same time, walked out of the room with slow steps, and headed to our room as we were told.


    None of us made a sound on the way, but when we entered our room and closed the door, the silence was broken.


    The device on everyone''s wrist, which was also given to me a few days ago, received a notification.


    "Let''s look together."


    The three dwarves nodded simultaneously. We crouched down, ignoring the board game we had been ying, and then I opened arge holographic screen in front of us and clicked on the notification.


    There was a more detailed version of what Dorhud had told us.


    The enemy base was underground. It was not known what kind of rooms it consisted of or exactly how big it was, but close estimates were made.


    We were to infiltrate the dwarves, who would go into battle at night and return to the base.


    I was a problem for this operation because I was human, but it was also a perfect opportunity for me to infiltrate.


    Most soldiers traveled through an artificial gate inside the base to reach the battlefield. However, this gate had been troublesometely and the arrival of enemy reinforcements had actually slowed down.


    On top of that, a dwarf on the base had died trying to repair it, and his recement was a human. And this human wasing on foot because the gate was problematic.


    Gurdas and Durvan were to pose as enemy soldiers returning to the base from battle. Rulhan and I were to secretly kill the human who was about toe to this base and disguise ourselves as him.


    While I was pretending to repair the gate, I would nt a bomb there, and the three dwarves who infiltrated with me would do the same at different points. Then we would leave the base with a device that allowed us to create a short-term gate.


    That was the simplest summary of the operation. There were a lot of little details, but that was it in a nutshell.


    "This be a tough one, it will."


    I looked at Rulhan''s frowning expression, then back at the screen.


    "All the details seem to have been worked out, we don''t even need to think extra as long as we do what we''re told."


    This time Durvan interjected after I had spoken confidently.


    Aye, ''tis true, but still dangerous. Things don''t always go as nned, Aiden. Even with a good n, there be plenty of troubles that cane up."


    I opened my mouth to speak, but this time I just stood there.


    I closed my mouth again, I waited in silence, because Durvan was right.


    Wasn''t the reason I became a wiera in the first ce because of a ''problem'' that wasn''t included in the n I had in my head...?


    I let my excitement override my thoughts, even for a moment. I''m not supposed to do that.


    "We''ve got ''bout thirty hours ahead of us. Let''s read through the n from start to finish. Likewise, let''s ponder and chat ''bout what we can do if problems crop up. We gotta make the best use of our time."


    As I was getting ready to leave, I realized again that we were about to go on a really important operation.


    I have to take this as seriously as they do...


    *******


    For almost the first time since I entered the war between the North and the South, I slept for more than eight hours, and until the time came for the operation, I was constantly, without a minute''s pause,mitting the details to memory.


    Thirty hours passed before I realized what had happened.


    Even as I left the headquarters and drove to the mission site in an off-road vehicle, I was thinking in my head about what was going to happen.


    When I finally set foot on the ground again, not far from the road line that the enemy thought was hidden, I was finally able to take my mind off it.


    I shouldn''t have been distracted, after all. Even though my thoughts were always about the mission, the details were already seared into my mind. If I kept myself preupied with it all the time, I wouldn''t be able to focus on the present.


    After dropping Rulhan and me off in the field, the off-road vehicle started to turn back the way it hade, and I stared after it.


    As it slowly moved away, it was emphasizing that we would be alone in this area from now on.


    "Come on, Aiden, let''s take our ces. We need to be quick."


    I sighed deeply as the vehicle disappeared from sight, turned to Rulhan standing next to me, dressed like an enemy soldier, and nodded.


    In the darkness of the night, we drove through the tree-covered forest, without much difficulty, quickly making our way to the point where the convoy would pass in a few minutes and waiting for the right moment.


    I felt myself getting more and more nervous with every second, but I quickly released this tension with Absolute Mind. I should not hesitate. Nor was I supposed to do anything unnecessary.


    So, just as we had predicted, after about five minutes had passed, a light appeared through the trees.


    As the light grew stronger and stronger, we began to hear a sound, the sound of a vehicle moving very slowly.


    There were only three vehicles moving toward the enemy base. Surrounding these vehicles were a small number of soldiers on other motorcycle-like vehicles.


    They were moving slowly because of the difficult terrain here. And because they were almost certain that this road was secret, there were few soldiers and they were extremely careless.


    "Get ready."


    Rulhan''s whispered voice echoed in my ears. I knew we were going to move, so I took a deep breath.


    I removed the silver charm from my ring that would give me invisibility and ced it over the gray outfit I was wearing.


    This was the artifact I used to escape from Caleuche. It was of a quite high level and quality as it even concealed my mana.


    I wasn''t sure how much I could use it because it was damaged, but it was almost a necessity for this mission.


    "I will release the creatures."


    I focused on the vehicle in the center, waiting patiently as they slowly passed us.


    Rulhan reached for the device on his wrist, pressed it with a slight sigh without saying anything extra, and only a few secondster something happened that the convoy would never have expected.


    A howl, a very distinct and loud howl, echoed through the area. With it, all the vehicles had to stop.


    This was the first stage. We were to release the restrained creatures that had been ced in the area before us and unleash them on the convoy. Rulhan and I would take advantage of the confusion and move in.


    "Formation!"


    I saw one of the guards shout, quickly get off his motorcycle, and grab a gun.


    Everyone else did the same and tried to surround the vehicle in the center, which they did.


    With the formation in ce, everyone ready and waiting for orders, another howl came from almost next to them.


    Three wild wolves, almost a meter and a half tall, slowly emerged from the trees and looked at their prey.


    The soldiers were relieved to see the three wolves in front of them, they would not have to deal with this matter too much.


    It was at this moment, when the dwarf, who seemed to be the leader of the guards, raised his hand and was about to give the order to fire, that their worst fears came true.


    A total of six wolves appeared from different directions, surrounding them in a circle and snarling at the soldiers.


    And so, the operation began in earnest.

 Chapter 243 Volume IV - 88: Surviving The Wolves

    <h4>Chapter 243 Volume IV - Chapter 88: Surviving The Wolves</h4>


    "O- Open fire!"


    The frightened soldiers grabbed their weapons, the triggers were pulled. Countless bullets rained down on the wolves surrounding them.


    The wolves were not extremely strong, the bullets could affect them. So they had to move fast.


    Several wolves entered the circle formed by the soldier dwarves and rushed at the same soldiers, trying to avoid the bullets raining down on them.


    It didn''t take long for the area to descend intoplete chaos. Although at first the soldiers were able to form a formation and move as a group, this did notst long. When the wolves came among them, they were forced to move away from their off-road vehicles, away from themselves, and scatter. Of course, their numbers began to dwindle with it.


    When they finally managed to kill one wolf, two of their own had already died.


    I frowned when I saw the wolves overpowering the soldiers.


    "Rulhan... aren''t there a bit too many wolves?"


    "It''s us who''ll be takin'' ''em down, and remember, not everyone''s joinin'' the fight."


    Rulhan gestured to the field with his eyebrows, and when I followed him back to the field, I saw that everyone who had been standing in the SUVs had jumped out. With that, the number of soldiers had almost doubled in an instant.


    This was now a life-and-death battle, they had to put everything on the line. Even the drivers, even those who didn''t know how to fight properly.


    And this was our real chance.


    Rulhan stretched slightly in armor of the same design as those fighting in front of us and called out to me onest time.


    "We''re movin'', let''s go."


    Immediately after that, without waiting for me, he rushed out onto the field, and while everyone else was busy fighting for their lives, he quickly merged with the soldiers and started fighting as if nothing had happened. It was so perfect, he entered the field with such perfect timing that no one even noticed him.


    I sighed deeply, then poured mana into the charm on my chest, and as soon as I did, my torso faded slightly. It looked like a transparent thing to me, as if my cells were made of ss. However, for everyone else, there was only a void where I stood.


    It quickly became apparent that the charm was damaged, I noticed that the flow of mana through my body was not as it should be and that it was a little strained, but I didn''t focus on it too much. It wasn''t something to worry about, at least not yet.


    I came out of my hiding ce slowly, taking care not to make a sound, and walked carefully through the wolves toward the centernder, while at the same time checking what was happening on the battlefield.


    The three wolves had died quickly after Rulhan had infiltrated their midst. The soldiers were so busy saving their lives that they didn''t even realize what had happened. Of course, it wasn''t that important to them. After all, they were all trying to save their own lives.


    "Hrrr...!"


    My steps stopped, I slowly turned to the right.


    A wolf was growling in my direction, making a meaningless expression.


    Its eyes darted this way and that, not sure where I was, but it was agitated, even if my mana was hidden. Now that it was particrly focused, there was a chance it might hear my footsteps, I couldn''t move.


    I stood silently where I was, even holding my breath. The wolf continued to stare at where I was for a few seconds, and then it looked in my direction for thest time, though it was still uneasy.


    We locked eyes, at least for me. For a moment I felt like the whole world was crashing down on me, I was afraid that the wolf had realized that I was standing there. I even felt a bead of sweat slowly trickling down my forehead, my heart racing and pounding against my rib cage, but what I thought didn''t happen.


    The wolf looked at where I was for a while longer, then turned around and joined its friends, probably thinking that it had worried for nothing.


    I let out the breath I was holding, trying to calm my racing heart.


    I hadn''t expected this... really. The thought that a wolf might be disturbed by my presence despite my invisibility had never crossed my mind.


    Was it because the charm was damaged? It could be...


    Anyway, I have to be fast, I can''t waste time just standing where I am.


    I tried to ignore the wolves for the time being, I just walked past a soldier who was busy fighting and approached my goal, the off-road vehicle in the middle.


    When I reached the back door of the vehicle without any problems, I took onest look behind me to check how the chaos was going.


    There were only three of the wolves left and five of the soldiers. This ''battle'' would soon be over, there was really no time.


    I quickly walked around to the other side of the vehicle, made sure no one saw me, and opened the door.


    As the door opened, I heard a sudden rustling sounding from inside, and when the door opened all the way, the scene inside was revealed to me.


    There was a man inside, he looked about the same height as me, but he was thinner than me. He also had short brown hair with asional gray, and his green eyes were pale. The wrinkles on his face suggested that he was at least well past his fifties, except that he had a strange face that reminded me of the teachers I had annoyed in high school.


    He actually looked like my previous self, Ethan. He looked like a slightly older and slightly different version of me.


    "W- what''s going on?!"


    The man looked at the suddenly opened door with great fear, he couldn''t see me of course.


    I looked into his frightened, agitated eyes, and studied his body, which began to tremble. Finally, I sighed lightly, stepped inside, and lunged at him.


    My hands were at his throat, squeezing him as if I wanted to break it, but the weak, powerless man didn''t have the slightest chance. He was leaning against the door, unable to sit up or reach my fingers around his throat because of the force I was putting on him.


    Finally, tears came to his eyes, he looked into the ''void'' that would lead to his death and mumbled a few meaningless words.


    "My d- no..."


    He could neither finish his sentence nor turn his words into something meaningful. A cracking sound echoed inside after hisst words. The man''s neck suddenly twisted and tilted sideways as if all the force holding him steady had been removed.


    A deep silence fell over the room for a moment. An eternal silence that prated me. What broke this silence was... a sinister whisper.


    ''How was it, Aiden?''


    It echoed in my mind, overriding everything else.


    ''It was different from anything you''ve ever ughtered with your sword, wasn''t it? How do you think it felt, strangling someone with your own hands?


    "Shut up."


    I didn''t even bother with him, with my wiera side. Even though what he said was right, I knew what I was. I knew what I did. I was aware of it all.


    I''m a murderer, someone whose hands are already stained with blood. Whether I cut someone down with my sword or ttened them with strong winds or burned them with my mes or strangled them to death... None of it matters.


    The important thing is to keep moving forward.


    I pulled my hands back, nced briefly at the man''s lifeless body, but I didn''t have time to linger any longer.


    I quickly removed my charm from my chest, put everything I was wearing into my ring as fast as I could, and threw one of the devices, one of the three things I hadn''t hidden, at the man.


    The device, the size of a small coin, stuck to the man''s clothing, emitted a few waves of blue light that spread across his body as if scanning him, and then it suddenly flew back at me.


    The one-time-use rune inside activated as fast as it could, and suddenly, as if appearing out of nowhere, a white cloth wrapped around me and took the form of an outfit.


    Not only that, it also formed ayer over my face. It wasn''t just my face, it was rapidly spreading all over my skin. It took the shape of an old man''s wrinkled skin, reaching even into my hair, copying the man I had strangled to death with everything.


    Before the process was over, I threw the second device at the front of the vehicle, which connected to its system and began to destroy all evidence. The third and final device absorbed the man''s lifeless body as if it were an object, sucking in his entire body until there was nothing left of him, and then it fell onto the seat.


    At the same time, the device connected to the vehicle finished its job, so both devices quickly began the process of self-destruction and disappeared into thin air.


    In just ten seconds everything was finished. There was no evidence, not even a trace of me, but in the ce of the man who was supposed to be there was someone else... Me.


    The car door flew open, and then a dwarf with blood pouring out of him looked at me through it. He looked me up and down as he tried to recover his breath.


    Of course, as he did so, my face, my fake face, showed traces of fear without end.


    "Danger''s over, sir. Do ye have any trouble?"


    "I- Is it over...? You are sure, aren''t you? They''re all dead, right?!"


    I tried to ignore my suddenly changed voice as much as possible, thinking instead about the man''s personality.


    He''s basically a coward, that''s just one of the many things I know about him. And I''m sure I know enough, more than enough, to be able to imitate him perfectly.


    "Haaah, yes. They''re all dead, sir, no need to worry."


    I looked out the window with an unsatisfied expression.


    Three of thest four surviving soldiers were busy cleaning the blood off themselves. Nine wolves, all dead, and the bodies of the soldiers who had lost their lives were watering the ground with their blood.


    I quickly averted my gaze, as if disgusted by them and startled at the same time. I even closed my eyes, leaning back in myfortable armchair, trying to think of something other than them.


    The dwarf sighed deeply, as if frustrated by my behavior, and jumped into the driver''s seat.


    "With yer permission, the other three surviving friends o'' mine will join us in this vehicle, and we''ll leave the other two here. We''re not far from our destination anyway."


    "W- whatever you do... I don''t care. Just get me out of here safely, please..."


    The dwarf sighed again, looked out of the open window, called out to his friends, and said that we should keep going.


    A few secondster all four surviving dwarves were in the car. The driver and one dwarf were in the front, and the other two dwarves were on my left and right sides.


    I was surrounded on all sides. They were very careful to protect me.


    Although I wasn''t sure which one was Rulhan, I couldn''t help marveling at how easy it actually was. Sure, there were problems, like the wolf who almost noticed me, but... it wasn''t too difficult.


    That was how the first phase of the operation waspleted. We were in disguise, we hadn''t been caught, and if we behaved as we should, no one would even notice anything was wrong.


    At least we hoped so.

 Chapter 244 Volume IV - 89: Among the Enemy

    <h4>Chapter 244 Volume IV - Chapter 89: Among the Enemy</h4>


    Along the way, I kept ncing out of the window as if something was going to happen. The dwarves on either side of me were annoyed by my movements, but I didn''t care. They didn''t seem to mind as they seemed to be a bit used to it anyway.


    Some things seemed unnecessary, but the better I acted, the fewer problems I would encounter.


    So, after a short while, I turned my eyes to the windshield, and as I did so, the car suddenly swerved off the road.


    "W- what''s happening?!"


    I shouted, but none of the dwarves inside the car reacted to the situation. On the contrary, they seemed rxed.


    "We''re goin'' t'' the base, sir."


    "O- oh..."


    The vehicle continued to drive through the trees, and the road behind us, although crushed by the tires, was quickly straightening out, so that it was next to impossible to detect a vehicle turning here.


    We kept moving forward, through the forest for about three minutes and finally slowed down as we were about to pass over a hill that curved slightly upward.


    Once over this hill, the vehicle came to a halt. The dwarf who was driving pressed a button on the screen in the front console and suddenly the ground in front of the car began to rise.


    The ground sloped and rose higher and higher, finally reaching the height of the vehicle, and after continuing to rise for a while, it stopped. Suddenly the earth began to fall away, revealing that what was rising was not the ground at all, but a garage door.


    The door opened downward, revealing a really long corridor behind it, and once it was open enough for the vehicle to pass through, we started moving again.


    It was simr to the tunnels in the traffic, of course, much wider than those, but... it looked like them. Especially the fact that it was so long,bined with the dim lighting of themps along this ''tunnel'' we were traveling through, made me feel like I was on a long journey in my previous world.


    However, this thought did notst long. Because as we were approaching the end of the tunnel, the environment started to change. The tunnel widened even more, slowly opening up into a huge space that... looked like aboratory from a science fiction movie.


    All the walls were white, it was like a huge parking lot. Inside there were countless armed guards and a lot of employees who I''m not sure what they were doing. In addition, there were a lot of dwarves on the ground a little higher than the floor, looking specifically toward our vehicle.


    Half of the people waiting were wearing long whiteb coats. The other half... I could easily tell that they were high-ranking people in the military.


    Our vehicle came closer and closer toward them, finally slowed down, and came to a calm halt just in front of them.


    "We''ve arrived."


    With that short sentence, the driver opened the door and got out, followed by the other dwarves, leaving the door open so that I, on my right side, could get out.


    I stepped out with a nervous expression, shook off theb coat I was wearing, and looked at my ''colleagues'' standing on the railing above me.


    They were offering me both fake smiles and visible respect. No matter how much of a coward I was or how bad a personality I had, they took into ount my achievements, at least the achievements and status of this body.


    My bodyguards got out of the vehicle and moved toward them, so I had to follow them up the short stairs. Then I reached the same height as those waiting for me.


    "Professor Frederick Owell! Wee to our base, sir."


    One of the military-d dwarves standing in the front row approached me with a big smile on his face and extended his hand.


    He had almost invisibly short hair, probably ck, but I couldn''t tell what color it was because it was so short. His beard was also very short. His eyes were blue, a beautiful shade. The only extra thing was that I could tell that he was quite advanced in age.


    He must have been at least sixty. Considering that the life span of dwarves, even with their technology, maxes out at ny... he''s already two-thirds of the way through.


    I shook the old dwarf''s hand in my usual nervous manner, but I also tried to remain calm, not wanting topromise myself too much in front of him. The dwarf must have sensed this as he nodded, then his eyes shifted behind me and finally his brows furrowed.


    "It seems ye''ve run into some unpleasant situations."


    I suddenly frowned and grimaced, as if remembering what had happened just now.


    "Those damn wolves! There were creatures in the forest, even if they weren''t very strong! Oh, how annoying!"


    Frederick was a coward as well as a man with anger problems. When he knew he was safe, he would think about the past, get angry, and not think much about what he said. He was even known to be abusive. He had a very... contrasting personality.


    "Oh, I see... We did a clean sweep in the forest not too long ago, but it seems a few stragglers got away. We apologize for the inconvenience ye''ve faced..."


    The old dwarf put his smile back on and turned to the soldiers behind me.


    "I be wantin'' a report on what happened, and I be needin'' it urgently."


    "Understood!"


    "Good, now... Come with me if ye like, Professor, ye must be weary from yer journey... Ye have a right to rest this night."


    All the other dwarves waiting behind him were actually there to be there. Maybe there were some who wanted to see me, but they were not allowed to speak, and even if they were, they had nothing to do with me.


    It suits me, of course. The fewer people I have tomunicate with, the better for me. After all, even if I am acting well, I am ''acting''.


    "Exactly!"


    I ignored all the other dwarves in the back, giving the old dwarf an expression as if I wanted us to be quick.


    And so began my walk through the corridors of this enemy base, with a high-ranking person whose name I had no idea what it was...


    *******


    "This here be the room assigned to ye. Please enjoy yer stay."


    After almost half an hour of touring the base and seeing the important ces, I was now in front of my ''room''. In that half hour, I learned that this dwarf named Houdran, a major, and I was finally parting ways. At least for a short time.


    I smiled broadly, squared my shoulders, and turned to the major.


    "Thank you, Major Houdran! I''ll be sure to start solving your problem as soon as I get some sleep."


    The major''s smile widened and he bowed his head slightly, pleased with my demeanor. He looked as if he really wanted the problem to be solved.


    "Then I be wishin'' ye a fine night''s rest, Professor."


    With that, he straightened himself up again, calmly turned around, and began to walk away. I quickly entered my ''room'' withoutpromising myself at all. Frankly, I didn''t give a damn about the old dwarf.


    The room I was given was arge one. It was surrounded by white walls, almost like the whole base. It contained a bathroom, a desk, an average-sized armchair, a closet with what I assumed to be clothes in my size, and a bed that looked quitefortable.


    I threw myself on the bed, not caring about anything else.


    I may be being watched, but I don''t care about that either. It''s not like what I''m doing is contrary to who I''m pretending to be. I just want to clear my head a bit, to think about what I have done so far and what I am going to do from now on, without any other thoughts in my mind.


    We started the operation, I''vee this far. Now all I have to do is simply nt a bomb there when I go to fix the gate. And since I''m the only one who should know about the gates, no one will be able to understand exactly what I''m doing.


    Of course, I know about the condition of the gate, and I have at least learned the things I need to check to look like I''m actually doing my job. So I can say that even if I can''t fix it, I can at least identify what the problem is and make ''preparations'' ordingly. That way I will save even more time.


    After I finish my side of things, we will meet with Rulhan and the others. Then we will leave with the device on him, and the operation will bepleted.


    That''s all I have to do. Of course, that''s all for this operation only.


    There''s another thing I personally need to do, which is to go into the archive room of this base and get ''information''. The things that happened during this period in the game are so unclear that even though I have a cursory idea of what happened, I don''t want to act randomly. So I really need to go into that archive room...


    It doesn''t seem like such a difficult thing to do when you put it in words like that, but... I''m sure I will have difficulties. Just like Durvan said, there is always a problem and I have to be prepared for it.


    Nevertheless...


    "Haaaah..."


    I took a deep breath in and out, then closed my eyes and tried to surrender myself to a short sleep.


    I really should rest before we start the real thing, right? That''s what the guy I was imitating would do anyway... so it shouldn''t be a problem.

 Chapter 245 Volume IV - 90: Malfunctioning Gate

    <h4>Chapter 245 Volume IV - Chapter 90: Malfunctioning Gate</h4>


    I made my way through the white-colored walls, acting the way a paranoid person would act when trying to appear calm and strong, and made my way through the damaged gate with my ''assistants'' inb coats walking beside me.


    I got enough rest. I slept for about three hours in the room I was given, which was quite enough for me. I probably won''t even need to sleep again until the operation is over.


    "What kind of problems have you encountered so far?"


    I asked, putting a hand to my chin as we continued to move forward, which was one of Frederick''s habits. One of my ''assistants'' answered me.


    "The gate draws the mana it needs. Initially, it be functionin'' properly, but then it bes unstable all of a sudden. The amount of mana stays the same, but the intensity spikes for no reason, and then the gate goes outta control."


    "Oh..."


    This... actually sounds familiar.


    "Do you have any idea, professor?"


    "Of course, I do. But I can''tment without checking."


    "Ah, we''ve arrived already."


    One of the dwarves walking next to me suddenly interjected and I turned in the direction he was looking.


    Further down the corridor led to a clearing, a huge space.


    I couldn''t help but be impressed inwardly.


    The ce was really big. It fit the theme of the base, so there was nothing special about it, but the gate that grew too big with it was a different story.


    The device that made up the gate stood in the center of the huge room. It had the length of an average bus and the size of a three-story apartment building. It could certainly move a whole toon from one point to another in a very short time. Aside from that, there should normally be an active gate in the middle of the arms opening to both sides, but since the device was closed, there was only a gap there.


    It was actually quite simr to the devices in science fiction movies. In fact, it was almost an exact copy. It was technological and nice looking to fit in with this whole base. It was very tempting, at least for me who had only been in this world for half a year.


    Of course, it was nowhere near the gates that allowed transportation between countries and continents. They werepletely different structures. Those things... they were so marvelous that they didn''t seem to belong to this world. Still, that didn''t stop this gate from being dangerous now.


    After seeing it myself, I was sure why they were so worried.


    The destabilization of such a gate would not only prevent reinforcements froming here, but it could even endanger this whole base. So it was understandable that they were in such a hurry, trying to rush this scientist named Frederick here without even arranging for proper security... I guess.


    "Oh, have you cleared the area already?"


    The first thing I noticed was that there was nobody in this huge space.


    "The gate be dangerous, sir, no one be darin'' to get close to it."


    "Oh... I see."


    I walked toward the gate as if I didn''t care about the warning I had just heard.


    Frederick may have been a coward, he may have been paranoid, but he didn''t back down when he had to do his job. He was a man who did his job well, and even if he didn''t look trustworthy from the outside, he was more than capable.


    "Are you scared?"


    I couldn''t help sighing as I approached the device and saw that the two dwarves who were supposed to be my assistants were not moving.


    "Suit yourself."


    I don''t care. In fact... If they''re really scared, it''s good for me. At least they won''t stick their noses into something stupid.


    Even though it felt strange to be one of three people in such a huge space, I walked to the bottom of the gate, made my way to the control mechanism and when I reached it, I looked at the screen.


    The points where the gate was to be opened were shown on the control panel in front of me. Each point on this screen was a base for the Southern Hr, and this information alone was actually quite important for the North.


    I didn''t try to memorize the location of each point immediately. I already had plenty of time, it wouldn''t be too difficult to do that while trying to ''fix'' the gate.


    "I need to see what''s happening, I''ll open the gate quickly and close it if there''s a problem."


    The dwarves didn''t answer, they were still waiting further away. Watching what I was going to do.


    I took a deep breath, decided to really ignore them this time, and focusedpletely on what was in front of me.


    I chose one of the locations specifically chosen for testing as a target point, then briefly pressed a few buttons on the screen, confirmed the action, and watched to see what would happen.


    The area suddenly went quiet. In the midst of this silence, a slight hum slowly made itself known and began to intensify. First, a small blue dot appeared in the center of the huge gate device. Then this dot began to expand along with the humming it brought with it.


    It was an awe-inspiring sight to watch it grow, following the arms on either side of the huge device. The patterns on the slowly forming gate made me feel like I was looking into a blue-colored space. Still, I knew I shouldn''t get carried away.


    I narrowed my eyes, focusing on what was about to happen.


    The gate continued to grow steadily in front of my eyes, as it should. Twenty seconds after I had started the process at the very beginning, which was also half a minute away frompletion, suddenly something happened.


    The humming sound that I could hear suddenly became thinner and more like a ringing. The growth rate of the gate suddenly multiplied, and the ground seemed to tremble.


    I hurried back to the readings on the screen.


    Everything was indeed normal. Mana values and many other parameters... everything is as it should be.


    Except for one thing, the mana density in the gate.


    "Oh..."


    I pressed the rectangr red button in the center of the screen.


    The ringing sound suddenly faded and disappeared. The uncontrobly growing portal that had begun to form suddenly stopped and began to shrink, as if time was rewinding.


    It took twenty seconds for the gate to start destabilizing and five seconds for it to closepletely.


    "Have ye discovered what happened, sir?"


    The dwarves, who had been silent until now, called out in concern, but I didn''t turn to them, concentrating on the task in front of me.


    "No, I just got an idea."


    I can experience something like this at any time, so I can guess what it is, even if I am not an expert on the gates.


    Spiritual Ascension... whenever I use it I gain ess to the mana pool that Sith originally possessed, an amount so immense that sometimes I feel dizzy, I find myself literally swimming in all that pure and dense mana.


    I involuntarily want to use it, I want to pour as much mana as I can into all the wind spells I cast.


    It''s a simr situation here. The only problem is... I have no idea what exactly is the enormous source of energy that the portal esses.


    Not that I need to.


    I ignored the control panel, approached the device itself, moved to the point where the energy flows, where most things are connected, and opened the hatch, which is almost the size of a car, wide open.


    Before me was a technological feast. Cables, screens, hundreds of chip-like structures, and jumbled runes that I had no idea what they were for...


    "Let''s start..."


    To sabotage, of course...


    *******


    I reached for a cable, looked at the dwarven writing on it to see what it was, and saw that it was the cable that powered the rune that stabilized the mana in the gate.


    I focused on the penknife-like tool in my hand, imagined its tip changing, and the moment I did, the tip of this nano-tech tool took on a shape that allowed me to cut the cable.


    Two hours...


    I''ve been fiddling with things for two hours, changing things, disconnecting cables. I disconnect runes and reconnect them by changing the connection points and moving them around, and then I go to the control panel and do a test.


    So, that''s what I''ve been doing for thest two hours.


    Of course, what I do is not random. I''m putting into practice everything I''ve learned in the thirty hours I was given before I came here, and even if it''s all basic, at least it keeps me from looking like I''m just randomly going through the motions.


    Because every time I take a new test, something that could blow up the base doesn''t happen instantly. Rather, it''s either the same thing that happened before or something different. That''s why nobody dares to disturb me, they don''t want to interrupt me when I am ''focused'' on my work.


    Even the dwarfs who came here to be my assistants left an hour ago. So... I''ve actually been alone in this huge ce for quite a long time.


    It''s been half an hour since I nted the bombs I was supposed to nt... I was sure I was being watched, so I tried to fit it into my ''work'' as much as possible, and I think it worked. Otherwise, they would have suspected me of sabotaging the gate and jumped on me long ago.


    I wiped the sweat from my forehead, made sure that thest change I had made would not cause any extreme problems, and nodded, smiling slightly.


    I went back to the control panel and started another test.


    This time,pared to the previous ones, something very different happened.


    Normally the gate would be stable for a period of fifteen to twenty-five seconds and then be unstable.


    This time when I reached that time limit... there was no destabilization.


    I felt a gravitational pull as if the gate was pulling me like a ck hole. It was quite weak, however, it intensified as the portal got closer to opening. Yet there was no instability.


    At least until the fortieth second.


    When I reached the fortieth second, the usual instability reappeared and I had to end the test with a sigh.


    I checked my watch, realized that the time was slowly approaching, and stretched slightly.


    "Hey, is anyone there?"


    As soon as I said this, the door to the huge room opened and I realized that the time was slowly approaching. I stretched slightly, hiding my smile. Meanwhile, a staff member looked at me with raised eyebrows and a slight smile.


    "Do you need somethin'', sir?"


    "Yes! I''ve been working for two hours, I''ve made a lot of progress, and now I''d like to rest for a little while... maybe... have a meal."


    The staff member smiled and nodded.


    "Pleasee with me."


    I smiled back.


    Although the operation was still a few hours away, I had finished most of my own work, so... now I had to find a way to get into that archive room.


    As I walked away from the gate, following the dwarf behind him, I was happy to be out of this huge and suffocating space.


    This happiness did notst long, though. I frowned with uneasiness as I realized that after moving forward for a certain amount of time, I was not heading to my room, but to a different ce.


    We turned left down a corridor when we should have turned right.


    I became even more confused, and even though I tried not to show it on the outside, I started to worry on the inside.


    Where is this person taking me?

 Chapter 246 Volume IV - 91: Forgotten Emotion

    <h4>Chapter 246 Volume IV - Chapter 91: Forgotten Emotion</h4>


    I have to be calm...


    Absolutely, no matter what, I must not do anything wrong.


    If I make a single un-Frederick-like move, really bad things will happen to me here...


    I timidly picked up a fork from the te in front of me, taking care not to look up as I chewed.


    "How''s your gate work going?"


    The words echoed in my head, causing me to stand still for a brief moment. Still, I recovered myself quickly, reluctantly lifted my head, and looked at the person speaking.


    It was a young dwarf in a dark green uniform. His ck hair was long and his body was the thinnest of any dwarf I had ever seen. Yet I could tell from his exposed skin that this body was well built.


    He was thin, but his muscles were bulging, his genes were the cause of his build. His golden eyes were cold, as if he didn''t care about the world. Even though he was talking to me, his eyes were on his food.


    This young dwarf was a general. He was Pulvar Sou''hard, the youngest of the South Hr dictator''s sons.


    "I- It''s going well, general. I have reduced the destabilization of the gate''s fifty-second opening time from twenty to f- forty seconds..."


    Again, he didn''t care. He nodded his head in agreement and popped thest spoon from his te into his mouth.


    "Hm."


    He grabbed a napkin, wiped his mouth, and then sighed lightly. His golden eyes slowly rose from his empty te and fixed on mine.


    I quickly averted mine and returned to my te.


    "Professor Frederick, right?"


    What... Didn''t you know my name...?


    "Y- yes, general."


    Pulvar narrowed his eyes, pushed his te aside, and folded his hands on the table.


    "There''s something I''m curious about."


    I was reaching for thest bite left on my te. Yet these words, echoing in my ears, made me stand still. I slowly lowered my fork, looked up again, and stared into those golden eyes.


    They were beautiful, yet as frightening as they were beautiful. They were brighter than Ulka and Justin''s eyes, much more noble. They were also many times colder. They made me shiver inside and made me afraid for no reason.


    If it hadn''t been for the Absolute Mind, maybe I would have kneeled down and begged it for no reason. It was that strange and impressive and frightening.


    "Y- yes?"


    His next question was one I would never have expected, no matter what.


    "You had a daughter, didn''t you?"


    A daughter?


    Ah... Frederick''s daughter.


    I paused, just stared into space, and the world literally stopped spinning in spite of the emptiness I realized in my mind.


    No... There was no such information about this man. Frederick Owell had a daughter?


    Suddenly I felt a chill run through my body, and the tension suddenly enveloped my whole body.


    Oh no... this is a problem. This... this is a big problem.


    Is he testing me, or does this Frederick guy really have a daughter? And if he does, why is this ssified information? Or why exactly is this dwarf in front of me suspicious of me and testing me?


    Think, Aiden... think.


    I paused again, realizing I was making a mistake.


    No, I can''t think too long. I have to answer quickly, or I''ll attract even more suspicion.


    Gamble... I have no choice but to take a gamble. If I give an evasive answer, he might try to dig into the details... It''s riskier.


    "Y- yes..."


    A silence fell over the room. Pulvar raised his eyebrows and a look of pity appeared on his face.


    The cold in the room prated even deeper into me, beads of sweat formed in my hair and trickled down the left side of my head and onto my cheek.


    Did I... did I choose the wrong option? Why the fuck does he pity me?


    "Why do you love your daughter so much that you would sacrifice yourself to the country you hate for her... I wonder about that."


    I processed his every word in my mind, his words echoed and repeated several times in my head.


    Ah...


    In the end, I understood, even though a seed of doubt was nted in me.


    The gamble, I won the gamble. I said the right thing, but... Is this man Frederick not who we thought he was?


    A man who''dmit himself to a country he ''hates'' for his daughter?


    Maybe this dwarf named Pulvar is ying a game with me. Maybe I have lost the gamble but he is bored and is having fun with me?


    If that is really his intention, his question bes meaningless...


    Aahh, I gotta stop thinking.


    I''m on a path, there''s no chance to put it in reverse now. I gotta keep going.


    "B- because she''s my family, general. She''s the only family I have left... the only thing that keeps me connected to this world. I... died a long time ago, my purpose in life is none other than my daughter."


    I looked at Pulvar''s expression, cold and deep in thought. The expression on his face was almost unreadable.


    Did I seed? Was that the answer he wanted, or was he thinking about something else?


    Come on... answer me!


    "It seems I''m the only one who doesn''t understand this family stuff. I thought maybe talking to you would give me some insight, but... it doesn''t seem to have changed much."


    Pulvar took a deep breath, then continued.


    "Still, I admire your attitude, professor. It''s not hard to understand why you are cowardly and paranoid in a country you hate so much, but... It''s amazing that you can give such clear answers in front of me. Your interest in your daughter exceeds my expectations. Personally, I thought you''d wet your pants in fear."


    Oh... did I make a mistake?


    No, I should attribute it to my ''interest in my daughter''. I should turn my mistake into an opportunity.


    "These things can be hard to understand unless you have someone to connect with. You are right, general. I hate the South Hr, it would be strange not to hate and resent a country that stole everything from me, but I am here because I have something that allows me to move forward."


    "Something that allows you to move forward, huh."


    Pulvar continued to think for a while, clearly thinking about what I had said. Then... something happened that I did not expect.


    A slight smile suddenly appeared on Pulvar''s face as if he had thought of something amusing. It was a look I certainly did not expect to see on the face of the young dwarf, who looked bored with everything that had ever existed.


    "Do you want me to tell you a secret, professor?"


    For the first time in all the time we had been sitting at this table, his face took on an interested expression. For the first time, he looked into my eyes, not coldly, but expectantly, and his eyes squinted with pleasure.


    "When was thest time you saw your daughter?"


    My brow furrowed, I gave the young general in front of me a meaningless look and answered in an agitated tone.


    "It must have been years."


    "Years... Your daughter would be thirteen now if I''m not mistaken."


    Where is this conversation going...?


    "Yes, general."


    "Do you really believe your daughter is alive?"


    A deep silence fell over the room. The atmosphere suddenly became heavy after these sounds came out of Pulvar''s mouth.


    I stood frozen in ce as the smile on the young dwarf''s face literally reached his ears.


    Seconds passed, seconds in which neither of us moved a muscle. All I could hear was the ''click'' of the minute hand of the analog clock in the room.


    I thought about these eight words that came out of his mouth.


    Some things that I could not understand before suddenly connected together in my mind. Frederick Owell''s movements, his contradictory behavior, and some strange things.


    All of this and much more was suddenly rified in my mind.


    I felt a causeless, meaningless feeling rising up inside me, a feeling I hadn''t felt in a long time, a feeling I couldn''t feel even if I wanted to. It had been so long that I was confused, I couldn''t figure out what this thing I was feeling was.


    Frederick.


    Do I feel this way because I strangled that poor man with my own hands?


    Now that I think about it... Everyone I''ve ever deliberately killed was or would have been an attempt on my life in one way or another. Even soldiers in battle, I had no doubt they would put a bullet in my head if given the chance.


    Frederick Owell... he died by my hands, even though he had done me no harm. I strangled him, I broke his neck. Just to fulfill the mission I was given.


    Ah...


    Indeed, hisst words were meaningless, but even among those meaningless words he said something... My daughter, the first three letters of these words...


    Am I... feeling sorry for him?


    Is this... anger...?


    Ah, no.


    I see, now I remember.


    This feeling... It''s remorse.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %7,7 --> %7,8


    ------------------------------>>


    I am feeling remorseful.


    I am remorseful for killing the man named Frederick.


    <<------------------------------


    ???: %7,8 --> %7,9


    ------------------------------>>


    I looked at the notification that appeared in front of my eyes, and at the end, I realized what I was doing. I realized that I was hesitating, that I was scared.


    No... I have toe to my senses. I''m on a mission, an important mission. I can''t let unnecessary emotions seep into me.


    I channeled mana into the Absolute Mind, I felt my mind calming down a little. I could finally think straight as that painful feeling I hadn''t felt in a long time slowly receded from me.


    First I widened my eyes, then I quickly shook my head from side to side andpletely discarded the cowardly way of acting.


    I narrowed my eyes, not with unease, but with a conviction and anger that I was sure would be easily felt from me.


    "This is not a pleasant joke, general."


    Pulvar... I understand what kind of person you are.


    "Joking, you believe I''m joking... is that it?"


    So... I''ll use you the best way I can.


    "Then prove it, general."


    I clenched my fist, making sure he saw it.


    I saw his expression tremble. It wasn''t pity or sadness, it was pleasure.


    The more I suffered, the more I broke down, the happier he would be.


    "Oh? What proof do you want?"


    I''ll give him an imaginary show, a fake scenario where he can have fun, see me suffer, and this psychopathic dwarf, being the fun-hungry devil that he is, will follow me as I am.


    "The archives..."


    I tried to ''stop'' my face twitching, as if I was holding myself back but couldn''t manage it.


    "Everything is registered there, right? It''s impossible to fake documentation there. So... let me look there and prove what you say."


    Pulvar spread his sped hands on the table, straightened up in his chair, and leaned forward to face me.


    He was aware that he was being ufortable, especially this way.


    "If you see I''m not joking... what will you do then?"


    My nails dug into my palms. Blood trickled through my clenched fingers and dripped onto the table, and Pulvar saw it quite clearly.


    I opened my mouth, but Pulvar quickly put his hands to my lips and prevented me from speaking.


    "No, shut up. I will see for myself..."


    He backed away quickly, got up from his chair as he was, and headed for the door, ignoring me. When he finally opened it, he stepped out into the hallway with great excitement and looked at me expectantly.


    "Follow me, Professor Frederick."


    Hah... you took the bait.


    Now... just wait and see. I''m gonna wipe that smile off your face in such a way that you''ll never be able to smile again.

 Chapter 247 Volume IV - 92: Frederick Owell

    <h4>Chapter 247 Volume IV - Chapter 92: Frederick Owell</h4>


    I passed through the white-colored corridors again with Pulvar. I entered the corridors that I normally would not have been able to enter without being checked by security without any problems. Even when I stepped into ces where I was not allowed, no one questioned where we were going. The dwarves who saw us in the corridor all stood aside, bowed their heads, and waited for us to pass.


    The presence of a general, no matter how young, was frightening for anyone. This was especially true for Pulvar, who did not have a good reputation.


    "Here we are."


    Pulvar stopped in front of a door almost two meters wide and three meters tall. The two nervous guards standing in front of the door looked at him, almost sweating.


    Were they supposed to do their job, or were they supposed to ignore Pulvar''s nonchnt demeanor and give way to him? They were confused.


    "G- General Pulvar... This is-"


    "Yes, yes. I know, the archive room. Now get out of the way."


    The guards almost jumped out of their skin at this answer as they looked into Pulvar''s golden eyes.


    They realized what they had to do. It had been a mistake to question him in the first ce.


    They quietly stepped aside, even opened the door for us, and bowed their heads in respect mixed with fear.


    All the upper walls were white. But the walls behind the double doors that hid the archive room... They were not white but a depressing gray.


    The archive room was twice the size of the living room in a normal apartment. It didn''t have much - in fact, nothing - except a screen that covered the entire wall opposite us. Yet it had a strange air about it as if it had been designed in such a way that it was a forbidden ce. It made one feel uneasy.


    Of course, it wasn''t as if there were no staff here. On the contrary, two regr dwarves and three security guards were staring at us in confusion as we just walked in.


    "Get out."


    Pulvar''s cold voice echoed inside.


    Both staff members swallowed at the same time and, unlike the previous guards, did as they were told without a moment''s hesitation and ran outside. The three guards assigned to guard the inside were hesitating, just like the ones outside.


    "General Pulvar... Can we be knowin'' yer reason fer steppin'' into the archive room?"


    Pulvar squinted at the dwarf who had spoken, staring into the guard''s eyes with a disgust that was easy to read in his expression. Then he took a simple, short step toward him.


    All three guards stepped back involuntarily as the sound of that simple step echoed through the room, their fear overriding their thoughts, if only for a moment.


    "Do you think you have the right to question me? Either youe out now or I will make sure you spend the rest of your life in a ce you will not like."


    The two guards did not wait any longer after the threat against their friend. They threw themselves out of the room. However, the dwarf who had spoken at the beginning was frozen.


    "What are you waiting for? Go ahead."


    Pulvar''s two words were what brought him back to earth. The guard hurried out, sweat beading on his forehead and his eyes widening.


    After thest dwarf had left the room, Pulvar''s expression was back on his face, a slight smile on his face as if nothing had happened, and the door to the room slowly closed behind us.


    When we were finally alone again, Pulvar folded his arms across his chest. He looked at me with a broad smile and calmly pointed at the screen.


    "Go on, check it."


    I clenched my fist when I saw his confidence. He was getting on my nerves more and more, but I held back.


    I swallowed, as if afraid. I shook my hands, even my steps were nervous, and I turned toward the screen. When there was only a meter between me and it, finally something different happened. A holographic keyboard suddenly appeared in front of me.


    I looked at the keyboard, then slowly turned around and met Pulvar''s eyes.


    He was still smiling. His eyes, smaller than mine but with a hint of superiority, were waiting for me with great anticipation. He was getting even more excited thinking about what was about to happen.


    I was important, maybe not the only one who could fix the gate at their base, but I was still important. He didn''t care though, his own entertainment was more important to him.


    I really wonder... He may be a general, but after what he did just now, will he really get no punishment? At least the dictator of the South Hr, his father, won''t do anything to him?


    I guess not, since he''s so rxed.


    I swallowed again, turned in front of me with shaky hands, and typed simply ''Frederick Owell'' on the keyboard.


    <<------------------------------


    Name: Frederick


    Last Name: Owell


    Age: 52


    Authority: Major Level


    Position: Scientist


    Specializations: Gates, Holographic Technology, Control Runes...


    ...


    ------------------------------>>


    The information that instantly poured onto the screen went on and on. There was really a lot written about Frederick, but my eye was drawn first to the summary of his life. I was curious, I wanted to know what I didn''t know about him. So... I started reading.


    Frederick Owell was a forty-four-year-old scientist who was captured after an attack on a North Hr city. His wife was killed outright by soldiers in the hotel room where they were staying. In fact, he and his daughter were also going to be killed there, but a corporal in the room realized that he was a scientist and prevented him from being killed.


    Afterward, Frederick Owell and his daughter were taken prisoner. They didn''t do anything to his daughter because she was still very young, but Frederick Owell was tortured just like I was. Through this method and the research they did on him, they found out who he was, what he could do, almost everything, and they threatened him with his daughter to use what he knew on behalf of the South.


    Her daughter''s name was Isabe Owell. She was supposed to be thirteen this year, as Pulvar had told her.


    Of course, she would have been thirteen if she had lived.


    Pulvar was telling the truth. Frederick Owell''s daughter was indeed dead. About three years ago, when Isabe was only ten years old, a drunken captain had killed her. The South Hr hadn''t cared much about that, the girl didn''t matter anyway. What mattered was that Frederick Owell continued to work for them. So whether she was alive or not was just an extra. They had no reason not to lie to Frederick.


    "Ah..."


    I widened my eyes. I stared at the paragraphs that said she was dead. I didn''t move a muscle. I even stopped shaking, I was locked to the screen as if time had stopped for me.


    It was all an act.


    "I told you, didn''t I?"


    Pulvar''s footsteps echoed in the room, he was approaching me, but I didn''t turn around, I just kept looking ahead.


    "Oh, by the way... The captain who killed your daughter was a friend of mine. He was bored, he couldn''t go to war. So when he saw his daughter on a base, he had an idea."


    He kepting closer to me, right up to my feet.


    I knelt down, weakly, as if I couldn''t find the strength to stand. So Pulvar, despite his short stature, was able to put his hand on my shoulder.


    His body trembled slightly, as if he had imagined such a scene from the beginning, and I could feel it in his cold hand on my shoulder.


    "He fired two shots into her shoulder, listening to her cry out in pain and satiating his hunger for war. When he was finally satisfied, he let her go and she bled to death."


    I clenched my fist, clenched my teeth so hard that I felt a metallic taste in my mouth.


    Finally, I turned around and punched him in the face.


    Pulvar easily parried my punch, probably with his armor supporting him from under his suit.


    "AAAAGGRHHH!"


    I didn''t stop, I punched him again and again with weak punches, slow punches that never reached him, punches without any force.


    "Are you angry?"


    I didn''t answer, I kept attacking him like a madman, and Pulvar kept circling around me like he was ying with a child.


    "Come on, you can do it. You can hit me, professor."


    I looked into his eyes, his eyes overflowing with pleasure.


    He was having fun with me. Just like the captain in the story he told me. He was bored too, just like that man. However, this time it was Frederick Owell who was being used as a toy... not his daughter. Her daughter''s fate had now befallen him.


    At least... that''s what would have happened if I hadn''t been in his ce.

 Chapter 248 Volume IV - 93: Archive Room

    <h4>Chapter 248 Volume IV - Chapter 93: Archive Room</h4>


    I swung my next punch with ridiculous momentum as if I didn''t know how to punch, so I ''lost my bnce'' and copsed.


    "Pfft, ahahahahah! You''re human, you belong to a race that can use mana and train their bodies to a level we can''t imagine without our armor, but you''re even weaker than me... It''s a pity, isn''t it, professor? You don''t even know how to throw a punch."


    I trembled my whole body as if I was forcing myself, stood up again, and looked at Pulvar''s expression of pleasure.


    He wasn''t even paying attention to me, he didn''t care about my attacks and my movements. He believed he could simply parry each one.


    All right... Everything is perfect, I can do it now.


    I clenched my teeth and, ovee with anger, I punched him again.


    Pulvar tried to dodge my punch by simply stepping aside. He was expecting one of my usual weak, meaningless punches. This time he was even going to trip me, he had adjusted his leg position ordingly.


    However... this time something unexpected happened.


    I quickly spread my mana throughout my body, stopped my weak punch abruptly, opened my fingers, and grabbed Pulvar''s cor.


    For a moment Pulvar looked at my hand on his cor in surprise. It was clear that he had not expected such a move from the weak, powerless Frederick. Until now he had assumed that I was someone who had no idea how to fight.


    Now he was going to get his punishment.


    I cupped his face with my other hand, and without wasting a second, I quickly focused on my mana and a crimson glow appeared on my pale hand.


    The mes suddenly shot out of my palm in a rage and engulfed Pulvar''s entire head, who hadn''t even realized what had happened yet.


    "AAAAAAGGRRRRRRHHH!"


    His agonized scream echoed through the room, he didn''t even have a chance to react.


    I saw his armor flying at his face, it would have protected him from the mes, but I didn''t let it. I let go of his cor and quickly grabbed the piece of metal covering his face. Then I gave all my strength and pulled it down.


    The helmet, which was trying to close, was twisted by the force I applied to it before it couldplete its formation. The mes prated Pulvar''s skin onest time.


    I finally cut off the mana I was pouring into him. The orange light reflected from the mes on the walls slowly faded as the mes themselves slowly disappeared into the atmosphere.


    Still, it wasn''t enough, so I didn''t stop. I clenched my right fist and mmed it into Pulvar''s burnt face.


    Pulvar''s body was thrown back. His screams of pain turned into a wheezing moan as the mes reached his throat and damaged his tongue and vocal cords.


    "You were enjoying it, weren''t you?"


    I crouched over her, grabbed her cor again, and pulled her close to me.


    "Frederick''s daughter, you were with her when she died, weren''t you?"


    Maybe what I felt was momentary remorse. Maybe I couldn''t feel that sadness now, I was just desperately trying to imitate it, but that didn''t change my hatred for the South Hr, for this dwarf.


    None of them are anything but cruel creatures. They all deserve a painful death. Even I, who cannot easily feel negative emotions like sadness and remorse, am not such a... viin.


    "I would have liked to spend more time with you, I would have liked to spend a few minutes with you that you would have enjoyed, but... consider yourself lucky, I have things to do."


    I clenched my fist again, tensed up, and punched him as hard as I could without breaking his skull.


    Pulvar''s head tilted abruptly to the left with the force of my punch, all movement ceased from his unrecognizable face and his moans faded into silence.


    He was unconscious, or dead. I didn''t care what happened.


    I stood up, gave him onest look, and narrowed my eyes.


    "I hope you survive and remember this moment every day."


    I prefer not to leave behind people who would want to take revenge on me, but... creatures like this deserve it. So I wish it again, sincerely.


    I am sure you will die. It is almost impossible for a dwarf without mana to survive with those wounds, but... I hope you survive and never forget the pain you suffered here, Pulvar Sou''hard.


    Finally, I let him go, cleared my thoughts, turned around, and looked at the huge screen in front of me.


    Now that I''m done with Pulvar, I need to focus on why I came here in the first ce.


    I doubt the room is soundproof, and I''m pretty sure the people outside have no idea what''s going on inside. After all, this is an archive room, a ce that holds ssified information. Still, it won''t take them long to figure out what''s going on here, I have to be quick.


    From the keyboard that appeared in front of me, I simply typed ''Virgonium mines on the Hr continent'' into the screen and quickly scrolled through each of the results as they were listed in front of me. Not only that, I projected all these results onto a map and tried to find what I was looking for.


    I activated a filter setting on the keyboard and simply typed ''ancient creature'' into the filter.


    The whole list in front of me changed. From a list of about nine virgonium mines, suddenly there was only one result.


    Mount Doruan is home to an ancient, very powerful, and intelligent creature that emerged from a dungeon after The Awakening eighty years ago and made its home on this mountain.


    What the creature was that nested in the mountain is unknown, the knowledge is in the past and no one can know what is there unless they go directly into the mountain. The South Hr keeps this information secret, but they cannot make a direct operation on the mountain because the creature is still alive. They are afraid of it. No matter how technologically advanced they are, they are afraid that the creature can wipe them off the face of Lunerra. So they don''t mess with it at all.


    I smiled, this was exactly the result I wanted. This secret knowledge was going to help me take one of my biggest steps for the future.


    I went back and went through all nine virgonium sources again,mitting each one to memory as they were also important, and reached for the keyboard, this time to search for something else.


    Just then, suddenly, there was a noise behind me. The door to the archive room flew wide open and the sound of footsteps echoed in my ears.


    I clicked my tongue, I didn''t expect them to be so fast. I thought I had a little more time... I could have gotten a lot more information.


    Damn it, I don''t have time.


    I surrounded myself with mes, made sure no one could see me and quickly put on my finger the ring I had kept in my pocket until now.


    I took two things out of the ring: the silver charm that made me invisible and the armband that allowed me to create clones of myself.


    I quickly created severalyers of Mana Barrier in front of me when I heard the sound of some guns firing behind the mes, just as the guns fired.


    Amidst the rising mes, bullets hit the firstyer of the barrier one after the other, creating cracks in it.


    Wasting no time, I ced the charm on mypel and put the armband on my left arm.


    The barrier finally sumbed to the bullets and broke, there were now threeyers between me and the bullets.


    I activated invisibility, made sure that all my presence was erased, and this time I poured mana into my armband.


    The armband glowed, a blue colored gas spread on both sides of me and they quickly started to take the shape of a person.


    The secondyer also broke while the gases from the armband solidified, forming a copy of me.


    Finally, the thirdyer broke, and that was the end of the formation of the clones.


    I didn''t wait for the fourth and finalyer to break. The moment the clones finished forming, I brought down the mes that were rapidly draining a veryrge portion of my mana.


    Nearly nine dwarves stood at the door of the room with their weapons trained on me, facing my two clones in the dissipating mes. A few of them were reloading their weapons, while those who could still shoot were surprised when the mes suddenly came down. They were clearly panicked as my two clones, their clothes not even torn, looked at them expressionlessly, emotionless.


    I gave the clones a simple order, to attack the dwarves in this room and hold out as long as they could, despite the support that woulde.

 Chapter 249 Volume IV - 94: Leaving the Enemy Base

    <h4>Chapter 249 Volume IV - Chapter 94: Leaving the Enemy Base</h4>


    The expressionless clones quickly rushed at the dwarves after I gave them the order. I ignored them, fearless because I was invisible, but in a hurry, I ran at the dwarves and rushed through them to the open door.


    When I stepped out into the corridor, the sight I saw was one I had expected. On both sides, countless soldiers were pointing their weapons at the door of the archive room. Whoever came out of there would be showered with bullets.


    I sighed deeply, thinking what a useful artifact the charm on mypel had been, and was deeply disappointed when I remembered again that it was damaged.


    I quickly started rushing toward our predetermined point of departure from this base, a warehouse in the area of the gate I was supposed to repair in the first ce.


    It was still about an hour away from the time we were supposed to meet, but I don''t think it was hard for Gurdas, Durvan, and Rulhan to figure out what was going on with all themotion.


    Even though we''re leaving a little early, I''ve captured a lot more than we were aiming for, so I don''t see any problem in changing the operation a little bit.


    All I need to do now is get to that warehouse safely and then leave as a team.


    *******


    I knew where the gate was, so it wasn''t too difficult to get there. Thanks to my invisibility, I made my way through with almost no problems, the artifact concealing even my mana made it almost impossible to detect me.


    The only thing that might have been a problem was that the two clones I created in the archive room had already fallen.


    A man who suddenly disappeared, clones and me mastery... They must have already identified me.


    "Emergency! Emergency! This is an announcement to all soldiers on the base..."


    There were announcements all the time. Frederick Owell''s name kept being mentioned, and I kept running into armed soldiers in the corridors.


    In short, I''d better hurry. Even though I can turn invisible, my mana is not unlimited and the charm is already damaged enough.


    I started looking for the warehouse, the meeting point. I had memorized most of the ces I had visited in the area, but I wasn''t sure where the warehouse was. I mean, it had to be in one of the spots I didn''t have memorized.


    So I was moving from corridor to corridor, past countless soldiers without any problem, when a single dwarf caught my eye.


    I couldn''t see his face because he was wearing a helmet, but he was different from the soldiers on the base.


    Unlike all the dwarves I had seen so far, he was alone, running in a different direction and his body structure was familiar.


    He must have been either Durvan or Rulhan.


    I quickly followed him, and even though he didn''t notice me, I followed behind him. Even though I had guesses as to who he was, I didn''t risk it, I passed through the corridors he passed through without breaking my invisibility.


    When he finally turned right down a corridor and slowed down as he approached the door to a room in a secluded corner, I slowed down with him.


    The dwarf showed something like a card on a screen next to the door, opened it, and looked around onest time before entering. He made sure no one saw him, then stepped into the room.


    I quickly went in with him before the door closed, so that I could see another dwarf waiting in the slightly darkened room, which was obviously a warehouse.


    The two dwarves gripped their weapons as soon as they saw each other. Yet they did not pull the trigger. After two seconds of silence, they spoke at the same time.


    "Durvan?"


    "Rulhan?"


    When they spoke at the same time, they had no doubts. They lowered their weapons, then they took off their helmets and looked at each other. Then a smile appeared on both of their faces.


    Rulhan spoke first, he was the one waiting in the room. The one I followed was Durvan.


    "Did ye set the bombs?"


    "O'' course, ye doubtin'' me or somethin''?"


    Durvan looked around after saying these words. His smiling face suddenly turned serious, and his eyebrows furrowed.


    "Where are Gurdas and Aiden?"


    "They haven''t arrived yet-"


    Before Rulhan could finish the word, the door to the warehouse opened again, and a dwarf rushed in. Then, without waiting for the door to close on its own, he quickly shut it. Gasping for breath, he slowly turned around and saw the two dwarves looking at him with a puzzled expression.


    "What be it? I had to kill someone chasin'' me, so I''m in a right hurry."


    Gurdas... made a rather unexpected entrance.


    "Where''s Aiden? I reckoned he''d be the first toe here after causin'' all this ruckus."


    "Oh, I''m here."


    My voice suddenly echoed around the room, causing all three dwarves to jump in their seats and look around, gripping their weapons.


    I burst outughing, stopped transferring mana to the charm on my cor, andughed uncontrobly as my invisibility slowly faded.


    My body became visible again, and the trio stared at me in shock as I appeared out of nowhere. The surprise didn''tst long though. As I continued tough, the three of them smiled back.


    "Good, we''re all here. Let''s make it snappy. They must''ve already caught wind of three suspicious dwarves sneakin'' into a warehouse."


    Having said that, Rulhan reached into a small bag at his waist and pulled out a device almost the size of a fist. Without waiting a second, he pressed the button on it, then threw it carelessly in front of us.


    For the first two seconds nothing happened. After the silence of these two seconds, though, the intensity and flow of mana in the room suddenly changed. A small gate, dark blue in color, barely a meter and a half tall, slowly took shape above the device.


    "Go, go, go! Fast, it will be open for fifteen seconds at most!"


    The gate was unstable. In fact, it was already a miracle that it was able to open with such a simple mechanism. That''s why it was able to create a very small gate for a very short time, and on top of that, it was only for single use.


    Rulhan was the first to enter. After him, Durvan and Gurdas jumped in without waiting because they had fifteen seconds. I also entered the gate in thest seconds.


    A warm sensation enveloped my whole body. My vision went white for a moment and then my eyes were suddenly dazzled.


    I closed my eyes and tried to look around as the warm sensation slowly faded and the dazzling light slowly faded.


    A breeze was the first thing to hit my face. Then I noticed the light of the setting sun, greeting me warmly through the tree leaves.


    "Aiden?"


    At the sound of Gurdas'' voice, I finally tore my eyes away from the sun to see the three dwarves who had fallen to the ground.


    Now, safe, if only for a short time, they were all watching me. I didn''t even have to wait for them to open their mouths to know what they meant.


    "I broke into the archive room, got some important information, and while I was doing it, I put Pulvar Sou''hard in a ming bath."


    I think they were expecting me to have done something big, they were prepared, but when they heard myst sentence, all three of them froze in ce.


    "Wh- what did you say you did?!"


    "Pulvar Sou''hard... You killed that maniac of a general...?!"


    I stered a smile on my face, puffed out my chest, and squinted my eyes. Their reaction was certainly enough to make me feel proud, even for a brief moment.


    One thing we had to remember though, the operation was still notplete. So I ignored their questions and spoke with a serious expression.


    "We are tired but we need to move. We need to leave."


    They were curious. They were eager to hear the details, it was not hard to see it in their expressions. Yet they were experienced soldiers, they knew they were still on a mission.


    "When we''re back, I''ll be hearin'' ''bout what ye done in all the juicy details!"


    Saying this, Gurdas stood up. Durvan and Rulhan followed him.


    "Aye, looks like ye had yerself quite the action, unlike us."


    I smiled and nodded in agreement.


    "Sure, that''s my intention, but... which way do we go now?"


    At my question, Rulhan quickly tapped on the device on his wrist. Then a small square holographic screen opened in front of him.


    There was a small arrow on the screen. It pointed in the northwest direction.


    "We''re headin'' in there. A vehicle''ll be waitin'' for us at the spot we''re goin'' ''bout half an hour from now."

 Chapter 250 Volume IV - 95: Upoming Big Changes

    <h4>Chapter 250 Volume IV - Chapter 95: Upoming Big Changes</h4>


    When we reached the meeting point, it was still ten minutes before the vehicle would arrive. There was nothing we could do but wait, hiding in this spot where the trees were sparse. Yet we were not letting ourselves go, we were alert, as we should always be.


    The sun had already set. The darkness of night was slowly descending on the area, nothing could be heard except the wind blowing gently.


    It was in the middle of this silence that Rulhan suddenly stirred.


    We quickly turned to him. Breaking the silence, especially by one of us, was not something we expected.


    "What happened?"


    Gurdas asked, raising his eyebrows, but Rulhan didn''t even look at him. His brow furrowed as he narrowed his eyes and focused straight ahead.


    "I received a notification from AVRES. The vehicle''ll be here soon, but..."


    Tension settled over the space, a restlessness slowly spreading through my body. Rulhan''s demeanor was not his usual.


    "But what?"


    Rulhan sighed deeply, then stood up from where he had crouched and his uniform, that of an enemy soldier, rippled. The armor he had kept hidden to avoid detection wrapped around his body under his clothes, preparing him for battle.


    "The notification used the fake code, not the one we set for the operation."


    "Oh..."


    That''s a problem... a really big one.


    AVRES is a system that''s always under control, so I don''t think it''s likely they''ve hacked into it, which means... the vehicle that came to pick us up was probably ambushed, and the people in it are no longer allies... they''re enemies.


    That also means that the enemy has a rough estimate of where we are. In short, it''s not just that vehicle that''s on its way here.


    "Can you ess the system?"


    "Yes, there ain''t no issue with AVRES, and I''ve already filed a report. Just waitin'' for a response, but get ready, we might have to fight."


    I couldn''t help sighing deeply.


    It was strange in itself that this operation was so easy... I wondered when something like this would happen. My luck must be showing itself at this point...


    "What do we do?"


    With Gurdas in armor under his clothes, the three dwarves were now fully prepared to fight.


    "A n, a well-rounded one. There are three things the people in the vehicle can do, and we must act ordingly."


    All three dwarves turned their heads to me at the same time, I quickly realized what they meant and continued.


    "First, they can approach us as if nothing has happened. We get in the vehicle and they take us straight into a trap. Secondly, when they arrive, they can wait for us to rx and try to kill or eliminate us directly. Thirdly, and this is what I personally think they will do, they will move slowly and attack with reinforcements and try to take us by surprise."


    I paused, took a short breath, and looked the three in the eyes in turn.


    "What we can do is also simple. We can fight, but we don''t know when reinforcements will arrive, so it would be dangerous. We can try to sneak in among them, just like we did at the very beginning of the operation, which I think is even more dangerous. Finally, we can run away without saying a word, which is what I suggest, as we are likely to hold out until help arrives."


    There was silence between us for a short while. We thought and thought as time continued to pass, and then Rulhan suddenly interjected.


    "I received another notification."


    He stared at the space in front of him, his eyes moving as if he was reading something, the expression on his face growing less and less with each passing second. When he finished reading, his eyes narrowed, and he looked greatly dissatisfied.


    "We gotta get to a ce about twenty kilometers away. Seems there''s a massive toon tailing us. While they''re chasin'' us, we''ll lead ''em right into our little trap."


    So, we''ll be decoys to ambush them...


    I took another deep breath and slowly looked up at the dark sky, at the beautiful stars twinkling there. They were just now bing visible after the sun had set a short while ago, yet they were always so much brighter in Lunerra''s world than they had been in my old world. It was as if we were much closer to them.


    I finally tore my eyes away from them, clenched my fist involuntarily, remembering the scene Sue and I had watched in Mny''s room.


    How long ago was that? I think it was December... If I think it''s March now, it''s been almost three months.


    The whole time I''ve been here I''ve tried not to think about my friends, Sue, my sister... but now for some reason, they just came to my mind again...


    I chuckled lightly, which turned into a low, shortugh.


    It looks like I''m not going to have an uneventful day. I guess trouble follows me wherever I go, but... well, so be it.


    I focused on my ring, pulled out my sword, and as the ck long sword with purple runes appeared in front of me, I gripped it tightly and turned to my group, widening my smile.


    "Let''s go, let''s not waste time."


    Gurdas, Durvan, and Rulhan smiled at the same time. Even though we were in trouble again, we had no doubts. We were confident that whatever we had to do, we could do it.


    If we were going to be bait, we were going to be bait, as long as we survived, the rest didn''t matter, and we were determined to survive.


    At least I was.


    *******


    "Could you say that again, please, Mr. Chazon?"


    The old man, barely able to walk with his cane and well over a hundred years old, narrowed his eyes at me. His short hair had long sincepletely grayed. Even his eyes, which used to be brown, had faded slightly with age. His skin was pale, without a single wrinkle.


    His lips opened with difficulty, letting out the old man''s weak voice.


    "A new seer has awakened, Prince Lucas. And this seer is not far away."


    His voice left the screen in front of me and echoed in my ears. Not just in my ears, but in the ears of everyone who witnessed this meeting.


    The nobles of the Cevilian Kingdom, normally quick to engage in heated debate on important matters, were silent this time.


    "That is not all I want to say, Prince Lucas."


    The old man narrowed his discolored eyes even more, and his fingers on his cane trembled.


    Everyone who saw him swallowed involuntarily, the tension they felt intensifying.


    "You need to prepare, as best you can. Ms. Dalia and I shared a prophecy."


    For a moment he trembled as fear gripped his body, an eastern and reactionary indication that whatever he had seen was not good.


    "What did you see...?"


    "We saw a darkness rising within us, and then a tiny piece of me breaking out of that darkness."


    He paused for a moment, just stood there. Soon a tear fell from his eye and his expression turned sad. It was as if he was in pain, as if he was hurting in the depths of his soul.


    "It was because of us... It was our fault. This world will change, something big... no, big ''things'' areing, Prince Lucas. We are entering a time that could be even more critical than what happened eighty years ago. So you must be well prepared. Especially that tiny, dark me..."


    His voice trailed off, he quickly turned aside and coughed three times in quick session. Finally, he managed to pull himself together and continued.


    "He stands at the center of everything. He seems like an insignificant part, but everything is ultimately connected to him. It must be someone from the new generation. So study every one of them, hold them in high esteem. We must not make the mistake we see ourselves making, prince... Not even the Lords can save us."


    He started coughing again, yet he forced himself to speak. Eventually, the words that came out of his mouth became gibberish, more and more confused.


    "Darkness... light... chaos... order... dragon... phoenix... nothingness... death... Ah, right... an unavoidable death..."


    His eyes twitched, his expression dulled.


    "That''s why you have to be careful. Very much... I... I''m not feeling well, I''m sorry, prince."


    He brought his hand to his face, and then his vision flickered. A woman''s low voice echoed in the background and the image of the old oracle vanished.


    A deep silence fell over all the nobles again. No one said a word, they all stared silently ahead of them, thinking about what they had just heard.


    Darkness, light, chaos, order, dragon, phoenix, nothingness, and an unavoidable death... Everything that came out of the old seer''s mouth held great significance.


    "Seer Chazon said that the dark me in the prophecy he saw with Lady Dalia is among the new generation. I think we must first determine who this person is."


    The person who spoke, with his blond hair, eyes as yellow as his hair, and tall stature, was Duke Patrick Virhen, leader of the Virhen Family, one of the pirs of the kingdom.


    He looked calm. But underneath his calmness, I could see that he was thinking a lot.


    "We must think long and hard about this. If the time we are about to enter is even more critical than what happened eighty years ago, then it concerns not only us but all of Lunerra."


    Ronald Potenbea spoke this time. He had been pretty downtely because of what had happened to his daughter, but now he seemed a little more himself.


    I took a deep breath, sped my hands together, and focused on the table.


    "Duke Virhen, Duke Potenbea, Duke Quie, Duchess Ade, Duke Laehera and Duke Bistra."


    All the nobles I had named, the leaders of the six most important pir families of the Cevilian Kingdom, turned to me at the same time.


    "This doesn''t seem like something we can talk about in a setting like this."


    They are not the only ones in thework we are meeting now, along with almost all the counts of the kingdom.


    If we need to think about something that concerns the future of the kingdom, perhaps the future of the world, this is not the ce. We need to talk about it with other countries.


    "In about three hours I will start another session on a privatework, and not only we will be here, but my father, King Henry Cevilian, will be with us. So I ask you to attend."


    The five nodded in unison, they had noints. In fact, they must have been thinking the same way as me, for they seemed to be reassured.


    "Understood, Your Majesty."


    "Good, then... let''s end this session for now."


    There was another important matter we needed to discuss. Like the dungeon that Leonard Quie and his team had cleared, but what the seer had said... is now more important than that dungeon.


    "I''ll postpone what we''re going to do about the new dungeon, the corruption in the kingdom, and the foreign trade issues until the next meeting. Thank you for your participation."


    I didn''t wait, I quickly exited the meeting. The holographic screen in front of me disappeared into thin air, thus extinguishing the only source of light in the already dark room. Darkness quickly enveloped my body.


    I was silent for a while, just staring ahead with my eyes squinted. I thought, for a long time. Finally, I let out a deep sigh.


    A dark me...


    Is that who we met where we went with Aiden Tenebra? The seer said it was our fault, that whatever happens will happen because of us.


    What could they have seen? What could we have done to cause a tiny me to grow and eventually spread to everyone? If it was really who we met there, what can we do about it?


    And what about the words he said one after the other? We have to pay attention to those too... especially the one they emphasize at the end, an unavoidable death.


    Who''s going to die?


    And the new seer...?


    Questions... So many unanswered questions.


    "Big change, huh..."


    I closed my eyes, leaned further back in my chair, and rxed myself.


    The new generation...


    Adrian Caleo, Aiden Tenebra, Zayden Aetern and so many other young people with incredible talents.


    I was wondering why there are so many of them, especially in this time, and now I understand better...


    Really big things are going to happen.

 Chapter 251 Volume IV - 96: An Ultimate Move

    <h4>Chapter 251 Volume IV - Chapter 96: An Ultimate Move</h4>


    Gurdas'' curses echoed in my ears. Countless beams of light tried to find us through the trees.


    How many minutes had it been, five or ten...?


    After we decided to flee, it didn''t take us long to realize that we were being chased. They had reached us faster than we thought, and now we were doing the only thing we could do: we were running.


    We were being pursued by an army of its own through the trees that were getting denser and denser. Even stopping for a second could end badly.


    "How far to go, Rulhan?!"


    "Fifteen kilometers more!"


    Fifteen kilometers... If we keep running at this pace, we have almost twenty more minutes.


    I clicked my tongue, running at the fastest speed we could for twenty or fewer minutes wasn''t really a big deal, but avoiding those behind us while doing it was the hard part.


    "Durv-"


    My words were abruptly interrupted when the beams of lighting from behind us suddenly intensified unexpectedly.


    My eyes widened, and without waiting a second, I called out to Sith in my mind and jumped into the air, all the while shouting.


    "Watch out!"


    I was swept off my feet, a momentary gust of wind supported me from beneath my body and I leaped into the air.


    Gurdas, Rulhan, and Durvan threw themselves to the sides; they quickly took cover. Immediately afterward, a loud sound echoed through the forest, and then, for just a moment, an intense silence enveloped the entire forest. The mes that had appeared at the spot where we had just run broke the silence noisily, kicking up dust in a small mushroom cloud.


    The sound of the explosion rang in my ears, and the dust and light made me want to close my eyes, but I couldn''t riskpletely obscuring my vision.


    I activated Spiritual Ascension, and Sith reacted quickly. My usual teal crown and bracelets appeared, while darker particles began to leak from my body into the atmosphere. I now had ess to enormous amounts of Sith''s mana.


    ''Sith, you have the defense.''


    ''Leave it to me.''


    First I slowed my fall with the current I created around my body, then I raised my hands in the midst of all this light and dust and directed the wind again.


    The dust that was blown up by the explosion followed the wind current I had created. With it, it spread much more effectively than it normally would and dispersed at a slower rate, in order to slow down the enemy troops'' approach to us a little. Meanwhile, the brilliant light began to fade rapidly.


    I hurried down. The first thing I checked was the three dwarves who had fled with me.


    Gurdas seemed to be fine, busy getting to his feet as I looked at him. However, Rulhan and Durvan were not so lucky. They hadn''tpletely avoided the explosion, their clothes were full of burns and they were having difficulty standing up for the time being. Still, they did not appear to be badly injured. Their armor had protected them.


    ''Aiden!''


    With the warning echoing in my mind, I gripped my sword tightly, quickly turned around, and found a figure in front of me.


    It was fast, but not so much that I couldn''t react.


    I shielded myself with my sword, while the wind currents generated by Sith supported me and blocked the attack.


    When our swords touched, I felt a tremendous force on my wrists, a force I never expected, especially when Spiritual Ascension was active. Therefore I stepped back involuntarily, losing my bnce even for a moment.


    I gritted my teeth, and as my opponent took advantage of the opportunity and threatened to slice me in half, I used my Ice Thorns skill, and ayer of ice quickly spread from the bottom of my foot to the ground. Countless thorns shot out of the ground in an instant and aimed at my target.


    I saw his eyes squint through his helmet and heard him click his tongue. His sword stopped for a moment, he slowed down and stepped back to avoid the ice thorns.


    A few seconds toote and I would have been staring at a sword that had sliced through my shoulder, maybe killed instantly. Now, thanks to the Ice Thorns, I was fine, I had regained my bnce.


    I looked at the person in front of me, and there stood the tallest and most well-built dwarf I was ever likely to see.


    He was easily over one meter and sixty centimeters tall. His broad frame was reminiscent of someone who had been working out, especially to build muscle. If it weren''t for his face, which made him look slightly older, I might have mistaken him for an athlete who had just started high school.


    So that''s why he was able to put so much strength into his sword... I''m not sure how much difference there is between us in terms of overall fighting capability, but he can certainly deliver heavier attacks than I can.


    The built dwarf took a short step, pointing his sword at me. With that, the other dwarves, who were approaching us from behind, came into my field of vision.


    I clicked my tongue and spoke in a low voice, keeping my eyes on the built dwarf.


    "Gurdas, Rulhan, Durvan... let''s split up. We will move forward in hiding and meet at the point we have been told. We make it easier for the enemy to search for us by moving together. Don''t worry about me, I''m quite confident of escaping with my artifacts."


    We had to hurry, all three of them were aware that they had no time to object to what I was saying. So, as much as they didn''t want to, they got up and started running in different directions.


    The first thing I did was to try to build a wall of me around me, just like I had done in the archive room.


    The dwarf in front of me didn''t stand still while this was happening. He stretched, and when the mes were just beginning to surround my body, he rushed at me.


    This is what I wanted, I had to finish this quickly. Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before I was surrounded.


    I squinted my eyes, held out my hands to him through the mes, and focused. I called out to Sith, but we had nomunication, our minds were connected, so he knew instantly what I wanted to do and acted on it.


    At first, I imagined a small field surrounding the dwarf who was about to plunge his sword into my chest. However... Sith did the opposite. He imagined anotherrger field surrounding the small field I had imagined.


    A huge amount of mana was suddenly drained from the huge pool of mana that Spiritual Ascension had provided me. I felt my vision blur for a moment, then a metallic taste appeared in my mouth. It was hard on my body to use suchrge quantities of mana in one go, but I gritted my teeth and then clenched my fist, which I had extended to the dwarf to support what I had imagined.


    The dwarf''s eyes, which were only halfway to me, first focused on my fist and then widened. His vision blurred for a moment, and then his body suddenly shrank. It literally contracted, copsing in on itself as if under tremendous pressure.


    As if the atmosphere itself had copsed on him for a moment, a harsh sound echoed through the space, followed by a strong gust of wind, which was released where it had been.


    He didn''t even have time to scream, there was no way he could be alive.


    The requirements for the wind to form were simple. An area of high pressure and an area of low pressure. The high pressure would create a force toward the low pressure, creating the wind.


    Wind magic, on the other hand, did not follow this rule; the winds created using mana were the force itself. However, if one had at least D- rank mastery on wind magic, they could have a small amount of control over pressure fields.


    Factors such as Spiritual Ascension, the One Who is Close to Spirits, the direct use of my soul as a catalyst for the processing of mana, and the fact that I was assisted by Sith who, unlike me, had much greater control over wind magic, allowed me to bypass this small ''control'' by using enormous amounts of mana.


    Now, with this knowledge, what would happen if I could, simultaneously with Sith, maximize the pressure difference between a small area enclosing an object or person and arger area surrounding it from the outside?


    The result was before my eyes. It was a sess, even though I had used mana that would have exceeded even the amount that Spiritual Ascension provided. The atmosphere literally copsed on the man, just as I had imagined. The winds created tremendous pressure from all sides, forcing him to squeeze into a small spot and killing him quickly.


    I had been thinking about this for a long time as a kind of ultimate move, but I doubted I would be able to put it into practice. Now I had seeded, even if I had pushed my body too hard.


    I smiled, happy to be able to do what I had in mind.


    I finally deactivated Spiritual Ascension andpleted the construction of the wall of mes. After bing invisible in the mes using the charm as usual, I ran into the forest without looking back.

 Chapter 252 Volume IV - 97: Running Away from Soldiers

    <h4>Chapter 252 Volume IV - Chapter 97: Running Away from Soldiers</h4>


    I kept running, invisible, not expecting to run into any more trouble, but it didn''t take me long to realize I was wrong.


    It had only been three minutes since I had swiftly killed that dwarf, I was nowhere near the meeting point, but something I never wanted to happen happened.


    The cracks in the artifact that made me invisible, the charm on my chest, suddenly widened. The amount of mana it absorbed from me almost doubledpared to before because of the widening cracks.


    Wasting no time, I quickly broke my invisibility. I could not afford to lose the artifact, even though it would be my greatest aid in making it to the meeting point.


    So, even though I was aware that I was now visible to the enemy, I decided not to use the charm until I could somehow repair it. I still didn''t put it in my ring, because if I faced a life-threatening problem, I would have to use it, no matter what the consequences.


    I had only been deactivating the charm for a minute when suddenly, from behind me, there were lights projected on me. Then enemy soldiers suddenly appeared from the bushes in front of me, trying to stop me.


    And they weren''t the only ones. There were many attempts like this over the course of time.


    Some of them I killed, others I simply wounded and passed by to save time, others I simply ignored and flew over them with wind magic.


    Yet with every passing second their numbers seemed to increase. There was no end to the people trying to block my way and the ones following me from behind.


    And as if that wasn''t enough... I was not wearing my armor because of the operation, so I had no protection other than Sith.


    Sharp weapons cut into my flesh, and although Sith blocked almost all of them, I had to shield my limbs to avoid a few bullets.


    "Come here!"


    I heard a voice approaching me from behind and quickly stopped myself. Clenched my fist, I turned around and swung it in the direction of the voice.


    The timing was perfect. My fistnded right in the face of a dwarf soldier who managed to catch me with his armor. His helmet protected him, though, and he held what looked like a small pistol against my head.


    My eyes widened in an instant. I formed severalyers of Mana Barriers in front of me as fast as I could, and the dwarf pulled the trigger of the pistol.


    One after another the barriers broke, but the time they gave me was enough to avoid the bullet.


    I threw myself backward, poured mana into my sword, and the moment my foot touched the ground again I rushed at the dwarf without losing a second.


    He had to die. He was fast enough to catch me again if I tried to run away.


    It should be about a minute before the other soldiers catch up with me, so I have time.


    The dwarf smiled, pointed his pistol at me again, and fired several shots. Spending most of my mana, I raised pirs of me from the ground, dived between them, and used the wind to ze them at the dwarf.


    When the dwarf was engulfed in mes, he strapped his pistol to his waist and clenched his fists. Then his armor shed with fury.


    I was preparing to swing my sword at him when the atmosphere suddenly turned cold. My mes, standing in arge halo formed by the dwarf''s armor, suddenly shrank as if water had been poured on them, revealing my location.


    As soon as the dwarf realized where I was, he rushed at me, grabbing the sword that was about tond on him with one hand, and with the other he swung a punch at me.


    He was fast, so fast that it was almost impossible for me to react. How he was able to catch up with me was suddenly easy to understand with what I saw.


    His fistnded on my face. My head turned to the side with such force that I almost broke my neck as a sharp pain shot through my brain.


    The world spun, and my vision blurred. I felt blood seeping through my gums, pieces of my teeth breaking off.


    ''Aiden!''


    Sith''s voice echoed in my ears, and then a gust of wind swept over me, pushing me backward.


    Sith merged with my mana and forcibly activated Spiritual Ascension, creating an almost solid wall between me and the dwarf with the mana he could finally use, preventing him from approaching me, even for a few seconds.


    I tried to pull myself together, to stop the world from spinning by channeling mana into the Absolute Mind, and to ignore the sharp pain in my head. I spat out the pieces of my broken teeth along with the blood that mixed with my saliva.


    ''I will help you. We must be quick.''


    At Sith''s determined voice, I gritted my teeth, gripped my sword as tightly as I could, and looked up into the smiling face of the dwarf, who finally broke through the wall of wind between us and lunged at me again.


    I can''t make the same move I used to kill the previous dwarf, I need to focus on it and he''s so fast that he won''t let me. He also has a rune in his armor that allows him to extinguish the mes I create, so the me spell ispletely useless.


    What should I do, then?


    I dodged the punch to my face with the help of Sith''s crosswinds and had to step back to avoid the other hand grabbing my neck. This time the dwarf tried to kick me with his free foot, but I managed to block him a little with the barriers I had created, and just then a gap opened up.


    Even though the me spell didn''t do much, I formed a small ball of me in the palm of my hand, squeezed it as tightly as I could, and threw it into the air.


    The small ball, about the size of a marble, exploded in an instant before the dwarf could extinguish it. The area was momentarily brilliantly illuminated by the light emanating from it and I dived into the bushes.


    I focused on the artifact in my arm, quickly forming a clone, but it took at least four seconds for a clone to fully form. The brilliant light had already disappeared, the dwarf had already moved in the direction I had fled and would find me in the process of forming the clone.


    I used as much of the mana that the Spiritual Ascension had given me as I could, though I did not aim to attack the dwarf. Instead, I targeted all the dust particles that had ever umted on the floor of this wooded area, lifting each one into the air.


    All the dust in a huge area was up in an instant, and the dwarf''s vision was limited, even though nothing had gotten into his eyes thanks to his helmet. That was enough to make him hesitate. He went into defense mode, thinking I was going to do something.


    The formation of the clone wasplete, a smile appeared on my face. I deactivated Spiritual Ascension and sent the clone to the dwarf.


    A smile also appeared on the dwarf''s face as the clone appeared out of nowhere in the dust, and he quickly threw a punch at him.


    The clone began to take blow after blow. It was only natural that he would find himself in such a situation when even I was struggling against the dwarf. I ignored him though, all I needed was a few seconds.


    I pulled out my rifle from my ring, and the dwarf, unaware that the person he was fighting was a clone, was so focused on him that he didn''t notice the little light the rifle emitted as it materialized.


    I took aim, squeezed the trigger, and the usual orb began to grow in the center of the rifle.


    Just then the clone took another blow to the head, knocking him off bnce. The dwarf seized the opportunity and clenched his other fist. His armor shimmered violently for a moment, then his clenched fist drove into the clone''s stomach at a speed I could not see.


    His fist ripped through the clone''s stomach, so strong and fast that it came out of the clone''s back. The clone''s fake blood stained his whole arm red.


    He smiled, thinking he had won, and prepared to pull his hand back, but that smile quickly faded as he realized something.


    The clone''s skin began to fade rapidly. Almost everything that belonged to him, including his blood, slowly turned gray, and then began to turn to dust.


    I hadn''t fully loaded the rifle yet, but knowing that I didn''t have time, I aimed at the dwarf standing still and pulled the trigger.


    The energy bullet burst out of the bushes and hit the dwarf in the chest as he was still trying to understand what had happened. It caused him to take a step back, but he did not fall back.


    He screamed, his high-pitched, full voice echoing in my ears. He expressed his pain openly.


    It was not a powerful shot, for I had not fully loaded the rifle. The chest of the dwarf''s armor waspletely destroyed, a nasty burn mark could be seen on his flesh, but that was it. It hadn''t killed him, only left a heavy wound.


    I had to finish the job properly.

 Chapter 253 Volume IV - 98: The End of the Operation

    <h4>Chapter 253 Volume IV - Chapter 98: The End of the Operation</h4>


    I wrapped my fist in mes and sharp gusts of wind, wasting no time in lunging at the dwarf as my rifle slipped into my ring.


    The dwarf noticed me, gritted his teeth despite the pain, and prepared to meet my attack, but again something unexpected happened. The dying arms of my pollinating clone gripped him tightly and held him in ce. That momentary gap was enough to decide the winner of this fight.


    My fistnded directly into the gap in his armor, the opening in his chest. The hot mes burned his skin even more, and the sharp winds only made his wound worse.


    The dwarf''s eyes twitched, unable to bear the immense pain any longer, and as he stood there he lost consciousness. My clone vanished into thin air as his body copsed to the ground.


    Gasping for breath, but knowing that to stay where I was would be tantamount to death, I quickly surveyed my surroundings and saw the other dwarves surrounding me, all ready to pounce on me and unload the bullets from their weapons. The soldiers had already caught up with me.


    I clicked my tongue. Our fight with the dwarf hadn''t evensted a minute, but they were already all around me.


    If I wanted to get out of here, I had no choice but to use my artifact, even if I didn''t want to. So, pouring mana into my charm, I used thest bits of my mana to create severalyers of barrier around me to protect me from the bullets that rained down on me as my body faded. The bulletsnded on my barrier one after the other, shattering them as if they were nothing.


    Just as the cloaking process was finished, a system notification appeared in front of me, though I didn''t even check what it was. Even though I waspletely out of sight, the attacks continued and I had to be fast. I didn''t have a single second to waste.


    I managed to find a gap, somehow slip out of the way, and with only scraps of my mana left, with no idea how long I could maintain invisibility, I kept moving toward the rendezvous point.


    *******


    When I finally approached the meeting point, the thing I feared happened.


    The cracks on the charm on my chest suddenly widened even more. As I quickly tried to deactivate it, the flow of mana I had been pouring into it was suddenly interrupted.


    The charm emitted a small amount of light around it, and then particles that looked like blue-colored dust, indicating that the rune it contained had been destroyed, disappeared into the atmosphere through these cracks. The charm split in half and fell from me to the ground.


    I couldn''t help twitching my face and staring at it as my invisibility was broken.


    Invisibility... it was one of the greatest blessings avable in this world. And I wasn''t sure if I would ever find an artifact as effective as that charm again in my lifetime, but now... the artifact was gone.


    I clicked my tongue and kept moving forward, even though my invisibility was broken. My loss was great, but I couldn''t stop.


    Finally, only a few minutes after my charm was broken, I emerged into what appeared to be a clearing. Three dwarves, Gurdas, Rulhan, and Durvan, were waiting for me in the center of the clearing. They were all panting, yet when they saw me their eyes widened, their faces filled with a momentary look of concern.


    It was understandable. After all, I was covered in blood, my clothes were torn. They weren''t in the best condition either, Durvan was limping as if he couldn''t step on his left foot, but at least we were here; we were alive.


    "Aiden! Hurry up!"


    Gurdas shouted in a huff, the worry on his face this timeing from another thought: the enemy soldiers approaching us.


    I ran to them without waiting for a second. I would have preferred to be together and have someone to lean on than to stand here.


    As soon as I was with them, I turned directly to Rulhan, as he was sort of our leader in the operation.


    "What''s the situation?"


    "Reinforcements wil-"


    His words were interrupted when he momentarily tilted his head to the side. Simultaneously, a line passed through the spot where his head had just stopped and lodged in one of the trees behind us. It was a bullet.


    Countless soldiers entered the clearing from all directions as this happened, kneeling with their weapons pointed at us, ready to react at any moment.


    I couldn''t help squinting my eyes as the soldiers were stilling, one after the other, with new weapons pointed at us.


    However, I was looking somewhere, in the direction of an old dwarf among the soldiers with his hands behind his back.


    His graying hair showed his age, and his body was too thin for a soldier. Yet there was a certain authority about him, he was clearly of high rank. His dark brown hair and ocean-blue eyes, together with his sharp gaze, added to the authoritative air he exuded.


    Behind the old dwarf came several more armored dwarves. Together with him, there were seven of them, each as strong as us, if not more.


    "Did you really think you could escape?"


    The old dwarf looked at us with disgust, his ocean-blue eyes staring at each of us, clearly showing that he was a little bit angry. The soldiers behind him remained silent.


    "How sad... Your operation failed because of the youngest of you all, Aiden Tenebra, who ain''t even a dwarf, and now you''re surrounded, about to be captured. What a shame, ain''t it?"


    "I feel like you''re ndering me,e on..."


    I spoke mockingly. As if ignoring my wounds and my mana, of which I had almost no shreds left. I wasn''t even wearing armor. A singlemand from the old dwarf and I would die a painful and sudden death in a hail of bullets.


    I didn''t care, though, and that must have made the old dwarf even more angry, for his brow furrowed.


    "Aiden Tenebra... you''re quite the famous one. I thought what I heard about you was exaggerated, but your arrogance is just as they say it is."


    "Ah, yes, it''s true that I''m famous, but... what makes you think I''m arrogant? Shame on you."


    "I suppose you don''t care what happens to you when you are captured again?"


    The dwarf was confident. We were cornered, there were only four of us wounded, and there was literally an entire army surrounding us. To him, my behavior right now was just nonsense, a way to buy time so that I could escape.


    And it was. I really wanted to buy time by talking to him. Because the moment he orders his troops to attack, we''re all dead.


    I opened my mouth again, I had decided what I was going to say next, but in the meantime I saw Rulhan distracted for a moment, his body rxing for no apparent reason.


    I threw away all the scenarios I had thought of in my mind and smiled as the weight lifted from my shoulders.


    "Oh, no... You seem to have misunderstood the situation."


    The old dwarf''s brow furrowed even more when he saw the smile on my face. I continued nonchntly.


    "Who said I would be captured?"


    I raised my finger and pointed to the sky behind the old dwarf.


    The dwarf stared at my finger for a moment. Not even a secondter, his eyes widened and he reflexively turned quickly in the direction I pointed.


    As he did so, a brilliant light illuminated the entire forest and the sky, as if a new sun had risen over the world. The light was immediately followed by a shockwave and the apanying noise, the ground shook violently.


    The shockwave was so violent that even the kneeling soldiers were thrown off bnce and thrown backward. It was not just dust or soldiers that were swept away by the shockwave, even trees with weak roots were thrown up into the air. Even the strongest men on the field, the old dwarf and the six behind him, had to throw themselves to the ground to avoid damage.


    It was as if an atomic bomb had exploded, as if a meteor had fallen. A huge mushroom cloud was rising into the sky where a new sun had just risen, where the enemy base we had been in not long before had been.


    The eyes of the old dwarf, who had already secured himself on the ground, widened even more furiously when he saw this mushroom cloud.


    "A- Attack! Fas-"


    Still reeling from the st, he suddenly froze. He couldn''t believe what he was seeing, his authoritative air of a few seconds before had been reced by that of an idiot.


    In the clearing where we had been standing, just four of us, we were now surrounded by dozens of soldiers in North Hr uniforms. Each of the enemy soldiers was being neutralized by the soldiers who had appeared out of nowhere before they had even recovered from the explosion.


    Even armored enemies didn''t stand a chance. The North had sent almost twenty high-ranking soldiers to the area as if to show that they were perfectly prepared for the situation. This was what the old dwarf saw.


    "You said the operation failed because of me, didn''t you...?"


    I widened my smile as I made sure he heard my voice.


    "You might want to reconsider that."

 Chapter 254 Volume IV - 99: Three Fast-Paced Weeks

    <h4>Chapter 254 Volume IV - Chapter 99: Three Fast-Paced Weeks</h4>


    Every single one of the South Hr soldiers was neutralized and taken as prisoners. They were in a huge mess because the enemy''s headquarters on this front had exploded, so there was no extra problem.


    While all this was going on, Gurdas, Rulhan, Durvan and I were being brought back to the Northern Hr in a veryrge aircraft.


    We were given first aid along the way to make sure that we didn''t have any life-threatening problems, and we were even put in a room with quitefortable-looking armchairs to rest, even if only for a short time.


    Honestly, the whole journey, the thought that something else was going to happen to us was running through my mind. A rocket sent by the South, the fact that they knew about this ambush, that they were leading us into a trap even in this way, and many other scenarios... I worried about all sorts of different things. The thought that my luck in this world could leave me alone was something I could not yet ept.


    Yet, to my relief, I realized that I was wrong because nothing happened. We entered the territory of the North Hr, and since we had no vital problems, we were dropped off at the headquarters to report directly.


    Also... that''s when I checked the notification I had ignored while running away from the enemy. The Mana Barrier had finally jumped a grade due to my constant use of it. This, of course, made me happy because it was one of the skills that I really used quite a lot.


    From that point on, nothing much happened, to be honest. I was only asked questions like why I had gone against the n and moved about an hour earlier than usual.


    I didn''t tell any lies, I told them exactly what I had experienced. Of course, I didn''t state my main purpose for entering the archive room, but I wasn''t lying when I said I wanted to know even more about the enemy, so even though they had trouble believing me at first, they eventually had to congratte me, knowing that I wasn''t lying.


    The fact that I managed to kill Pulvar Sou''hard in the first ce was a great achievement in itself. On top of that, they had gained positions from which they could obtain the virgonium they needed to create the weapon they would use against Caleuche, and in doing so, strike a blow against the South Hr.


    What more could they ask for? Not only had Ipleted the operation, I had achieved more than they could have hoped for, and instead of blowing up everyone on the base, we had captured high-ranking enemies who could be interrogated.


    This operation had aplished much more than it was simply nned for.


    After I had been asked all the questions I was going to be asked, after I had been assured that there would be no further problems, we were finally given permission to rest. So we did as we were told. We rested, we healed our wounds, I met Dorhud and General Darbal as an extra, I was congratted for my achievements, and I continued to hang out with my three dwarf friends.


    Aside from that, our group of four became slightly famous in the following days. We were more prominent than the other soldiers, we were more sessful and we attracted attention.


    After our sess in the operation, the war on that front was finally over. The South had been forced to retreat because their headquarters on that side had been blown up, and we were standing in the middle of that sess.


    And so, the days went on day after day.


    With all of us recovering, the period of rest was over. We were needed on the battlefield again. Soldiers were always in high demand. So, after a while, we were back to our old routine, even more intense.


    For some reason, the war seemed to have escted after our sessful operation. It was as if the southerners were more aggressive and the northerners weaker. Still, it only made us more work on the battlefield, not that I wasining. What I wanted was to fight from the beginning.


    We defended, sometimes for two to three days without sleeping. Even when we rested, we listened to the bombs exploding and the sounds of the battlefield in our ears.


    We attacked, killing countless soldiers and opening gaps in the front line. We took down important targets and rescued important people who needed to be rescued, and whatever our mission on the front was, we did it the way we were supposed to do it.


    Three weeks passed quite quickly in this way. Three weeks of fighting non-stop, of taking wounds but never backing down.


    I was trying harder than ever to prove myself, to get stronger. Because I had a goal. After thinking long and hard about the virgonium locations I had obtained from the archive room, the North Hr had finally decided tounch an attack on these locations and capture as many virgoniums as they could.


    Of course, since these attacks were of vital importance, the soldiers assigned to these missions had to be carefully selected. The mountain where the thing I wanted was located was one of these mission points.


    I specifically told Dorhud and General Darbal that I wanted to be part of that mission, and they said they would consider it, but that I might have to prove myself more if I wanted to secure my ce. So as hard as I had pushed myself during my time here, this time I was pushing myself several times harder.


    For example, I was going among the soldiers more fearlessly than before, I wasn''t afraid to fight two armored dwarves at the same time. I was standing up to robots that were clearly stronger than me.


    When I did such extreme things, the bacsh I received was also heavy.


    For one thing, the time I was given to rest was often no longer enough. I went into battle with a generalized pain that spread throughout my body and scars that had begun to etch themselves into my skin.


    Yet these difficulties did not make me back down, on the contrary, they made me push myself even harder and strive even harder.


    I came close to death many times, yet these were only the steps I had to ovee in order to improve. My reflexes, my skills, my stats, and my fighting ability continued to improve. I never stopped gaining experience, which was my goal from the very beginning.


    At one point, I realized that there was even talk about me among the North Hr soldiers.


    Some called me fearless, reckless even. Some said I was one of the bravest people they had ever seen in their lives. Every battle, the extreme things I tried and did only added to my reputation.


    Of course, such good things were not the only things that were said about me.


    Some people thought I had lost my mind and attributed my recklessness to madness. Some said they saw me smiling as I ughtered bloodied enemy soldiers, that they saw me be savage as if I enjoyed ughtering them.


    They were not wrong. Sometimes I did such things without realizing it, my wiera side''s hunger for chaos was something that could easily be unleashed in such battles. Still, I was slowly learning to suppress it, so I didn''t care about such rumors.


    So, having juste out of a war, a notice was finally issued for those to be appointed. I found out that our group was part of the team that was going to go exactly where I wanted.


    When I received the news, an involuntary smile appeared on my face, I was happy that all the hard work I had put in for three weeks had paid off.


    However, I didn''t let myself get caught up in this feeling, this excitement. After I found out that I had been selected for that mission, there was only one thought that haunted my mind.


    I wondered if I was toote.


    Has that woman already got it, or is she getting it right now?


    Well, what will I do if I meet her there?


    These and other questions gued me. Nevertheless, I put them all aside and made sure to prepare myself for my mission, or rather my actual ''mission''.


    After all, what I had decided to do was perhaps one of the biggest challenges I would face since the day I came into this world.

 Chapter 255 Volume IV - 100: A Relaxing Conversation

    <h4>Chapter 255 Volume IV - Chapter 100: A Rxing Conversation</h4>


    We were given all the details about the mission.


    What we were going to do was simple. As a team of eleven people, we were going to go near the mountain, get information, and if we could, try to get inside the mountain. Of course, it would be a bit of a challenge as there would be soldiers around the mountain blocking anyone who tried to approach it, but that was the least of our worries.


    So where did the North Hr get the courage to go to that mountain that even the South Hr were afraid to approach?


    Of course, it was because they knew something about that mountain that even the South Hr did not know. More precisely, they had some guesses, not about the mountain, but about the ancient creature that had made its nest in it. And if their guesses, their knowledge from the past, were correct, then this mission would be much easier than they thought.


    So another day passed. The day before we were to start the mission, we were not sent to any battlefield, we were allowed to rest. I was nning to spend a whole day resting, just like I was told, but... it didn''t work out the way I thought, I couldn''t do it.


    I had pushed myself so hard over thest three weeks to participate in this mission that it had be my daily routine to always be busy, to push myself to my limits. Every second I spent without training... it was as if something was igniting inside me, forcing me to move.


    So, in the middle of the night, when everyone else was asleep in their rooms, I was in one of the training rooms where most dwarves train to keep their bodies healthy.


    I had my sword in my hand, I was standing upright, my eyes were closed and my focus was entirely on the mana in my body. What I was practicing this time was the second phase of the Ambiguous Flow.


    As I always do, I felt the mana in the atmosphere, I tried to observe its flow, its intensity, its speed, and so on and so forth... I tried to calcte everything, to put it in my head.


    Finally, I applied the first phase of the style to my sword. As its image blurred, as the wild mana surrounded it, I tried to match this mana with the mana in the atmosphere that I had analyzed everything about.


    Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead, and even though my focus could be lost at any moment, I focused myselfpletely on this and tried to make the twopletely different manas match.


    For a moment, just for a brief moment, the wild mana that was constantly spinning trembled. The mana in its natural flow in the atmosphere reacted to this vibration, its direction changed slightly.


    I quickly opened my closed eyes, looked at the tip of my sword, and saw the blur on the de spreading slightly around it.


    The blur disappeared instantly as all my focus was lost, and the sword returned to its original shape. It was interrupted. I had to start over. But still... the corners of my lips curled upward.


    I had seeded, even if only for a fleeting moment, even if only for a tiny effect, I had somehow managed to match the wild mana with the mana in the atmosphere.


    Now all I had to do was to keep practicing it over and over again, to get it to a level where I could use it much more effectively in the middle of a battle. By the time I had mastered this technique, I would have a useful illusion skill at my disposal. With this, I would be able to continue to progress in the style called Ambiguous Flow and be even more powerful.


    As I kept a smile on my face, a voice echoed in my ears, breaking the silence in the huge room. I quickly turned back to the source of the sound and found a familiar dwarf.


    "Aiden, I clearly remember tellin'' you to rest."


    It was Gurdas who entered the training room. He looked a little sleepy, but he was still up.


    I lowered my sword, sighing slightly.


    "I know... but I still don''t feel like I need to rest. I feel like I need to train, to get stronger. If I don''t train when I feel like I need to train, when will I do it? When I''m not in the mood?"


    Gurdas stretched slightly where he was, then sank to the ground.


    "Nearly twenty years ago, I was in the same mindset as ye. I was constantly tryin'' to get stronger. I won''t tell ye not to do what yer doin''; jus'' keep in mind when t'' stop."


    He put a smile on his face, then pressed the bracelet on his left arm and spoke.


    "Two sodas."


    A small blue dot appeared on the bracelet. Then, as if Gurdas had used a dimensional inventory item, two soda bottles materialized in front of him.


    I put a smile on my face, sheathed my sword at my waist, and sat down opposite Gurdas.


    I snatched the soda from his hand, and then we both simultaneously stood over them and rxed with the soda down our throats.


    For a moment there was an awkward silence between us. It was a silence I didn''t like, so I tried to think of something to break it.


    "When did you start working in the army?"


    That''s what I finally came up with.


    It was a question that I really wanted to know the answer to. Still, I thought that the answer would be quite simple and that Gurdas would make us smile by telling a story from the past in his usual humorous way.


    However, Gurdas did not smile as I thought. He paused for a moment when he heard the question and froze for a brief moment with the soda bottle in his hand.


    When his expression turned serious for a moment and his eyes narrowed slightly, I realized I had made a mistake. I was going to be angry with myself, but Gurdas didn''t stay silent for long.


    "I made a load o'' blunders in me youth, Aiden. The reason I joined the army ain''t ''cause I was a patriot, but ''cause I was a criminal."


    A criminal...?


    Ah, hemitted a crime and paid for it by working in the army? Well... I didn''t expect that.


    "I was a young brat, thought the whole world revolved ''round me. It was ''round your age when reality smacked me in the face. That past we bbered ''bout earlier... in that past, I was someone who stood against this country. When my parents made the decision that sealed their fate, I got roped into it. That''s why when we got nabbed, instead o'' killin'' me, they gave me a choice."


    He was silent again for a moment, his body trembling slightly in a way that a normal person would not have noticed. Yet it hadn''t escaped my notice.


    Whatever had happened in his past, it was not pleasant. It doesn''t take a genius to figure that out. So I think it''s best not to dig too deep, I won''t question it.


    I have unpleasant things in my past too, after all. And I know that if I were in his shoes, I would be reluctant to share them with other people. I already do, actually... The number of people who know something about my past is... quite small.


    "Still..."


    Gurdas forced himself to smile. His serious expression disappeared in an instant, he took another big sip of his soda and fixed his eyes on mine.


    "But I ain''t got no regrets, mate. Where I stand today''s shaped by those past ordeals. I have a wife and ad I cherish. I have friends like Rulhan, Durvan, and you. So... even if I had different notions afore, now I''m thankful, and I''d hope the same for you."


    He quickly finished his soda bottle, set it aside, and jumped to his feet. As if bursting with energy, as if the sleepy state he had just been in had suddenly vanished, he gently assumed a fighting stance.


    "Don''t be seein'' yer past as pure cmity. Aye, some of ''em might''ve been sour, but bear in mind, they''ve guided ye to this very day. Long as ye be breathin'' and got someone ye hold dear, ye be always lucky. So, keep yer eyes on survivin'' and protectin'' them."


    I took onest sip from my soda bottle, put it aside, just like Gurdas, and slowly stood up.


    I smiled, clenched my fists into a fighting stance, and looked Gurdas in the eye.


    "Well... What can I say? Thanks for the advice."


    Gurdas widened his smile, then spoke onest time before swinging his fist at me.


    "Ye''re wee."

 Chapter 256 Volume IV - 101: Sky Piercing Mountain

    <h4>Chapter 256 Volume IV - Chapter 101: Sky Piercing Mountain</h4>


    The day before the mission, our team of eleven met in arge hall to discuss the mission and get to know each other.


    The person chosen as the mission leader was a first sergeant. His name was Harhan, he had light brown hair and jet-ck eyes. He was in his thirties, yet he had a stern old face as if life had taken much from him. He had no beard, a rarity for a dwarf.


    The others... frankly, they are not very important, at least not to me.


    The mission we are going on is of no importance to me. It won''t make any difference to me whether I seed or not. Of course, if I fail, my reputation will suffer a little bit, but... that''s it.


    What matters is my own ''mission'' in my own mind.


    And no matter how safe and risk-free this mission might be for the North Hr, it''s not for me. Because I am different from the others on this mission.


    I am the only one here who belongs to a different race than the ''dwarves''. They don''t have ess to mana with their own bodies, but I do. That is why this mission is so much more dangerous and important for me than for them.


    Of course, I am the only one who knows this.


    Nevertheless, I tried to suppress my excitement and nervousness and focused on what was ahead.


    Everyone in the eleven-person team introduced themselves, this part was quite short. Then came the really important stuff - what exactly we were going to do on the mission in detail.


    The South Hr were so afraid of the creature they believed lived inside this mountain that they wouldn''t let anyone get close to it. So there were always soldiers patrolling around the mountain, and if some fool decided to approach it, they would either drive them away or kill them outright.


    Of course, also because of the threat of this mountain, the soldiers there were not strong or numerous. A base had been set up not far from the mountain, though, just for the purpose of conducting these patrols.


    This was one of the two ''risky'' parts of the mission.


    We were to be divided into two teams of seven and four. The first team, the seven-man team, was to attack this base. Their aim was to make it look as if this was arge-scale attack on the base, to attract the attention of most, if not all, of the soldiers around the mountain, and to reduce security.


    Meanwhile, the team of four, including myself, would secretly infiltrate a cave known to run deep into the mountain.


    That was the mission in a nutshell.


    "Any questions?"


    First Sergeant Harhan looked at the ten people lined up in front of him, one by one. Yet not a single sound came from anyone, an intense silence filled the hall. Finally, Harhan let out a deep sigh.


    "Good, now let''s go over the n again."


    With that, he again opened the holographic map he had used to exin the n to us. This time he began to exin the n in more detail and in a more descriptive way.


    Although I hadn''t paid much attention before, this time I focused on him. Having information about the mission wasn''t a bad thing, after all.


    *******


    When I was in the aircraft that would take us to our mission, I didn''t think much. I was rxed and calm as we were heading toward our destination.


    And yet... that was when I realized something.


    I thought about what I''ve been going throughtely, and I realized how... sudden, and fast the events of thest month have happenedpared to what I''ve been going through so far.


    Before I know it, it''s the end of the day and the beginning of the next day. It''s been almost three days since it was announced that I was going on this mission, but... it''s as if I experienced it just a few hours ago.


    Am I getting used to my situation, to my environment? Has my perception of time been distorted by going from ce to ce as a soldier, constantly being in and out of battles...?


    I let out a deep sigh and shook my head slightly from side to side.


    I will make sure that this war ends soon, at least two months, if possible one month. In that time this war must end... will end.


    In the meantime, I will do my best to ensure the dwarves are in my debt.


    "We''re approachin'' the mountain, get ready!"


    First Sergeant Harhan''s voice echoed through the room, and everyone stood up. I stood up too, even if I was a little slowpared to them.


    Everyone checked their armor onest time, put on their helmets, and made sure there was nothing wrong with the system. I did the same thing. The only difference was that I had a rifle in addition to the one I checked.


    I picked up my rifle, and no matter how many times I had checked to make sure there were no problems with the energy flow, I looked again, just in case. It was at this moment that I heard a voice from behind me.


    "Hey, Aiden."


    I saw a familiar face.


    "Ah, Gurdas? Is something wrong?"


    Gurdas looked at me with Durvan behind him. Then he smiled, put his hand on my shoulder, and patted it hard.


    "Ye seem a bit more distracted than usual. Buck up and gather yerself."


    Distracted?


    I hesitated for a moment, my eyebrows raised, but then I realized.


    I am distracted... and I don''t even realize it. I didn''t... expect this.


    Have I not prepared myself as well as I thought for this mission, for my own ''mission''?


    No, that''s not the problem.


    I''m trying not to be nervous, not to get excited, maybe I''m stepping into a ce where I''m going toe closest to death after Ezareth left me to die, so I need to make sure that everything is going as it should and... so I do.


    Is there a problem because I''m pushing myself so much?


    I closed my eyes briefly, took a deep breath into my lungs, and let it out slowly. I tried to think of other things for a moment, like what I would do when I got back to Cevilian...


    I had good ns for the future. There was a lot I wanted to do, especially after I finished my work here.


    After only a few seconds, I opened my eyes, finally sighed deeply, and smiled slightly at Gurdas and Durvan.


    "I''m sorry, I just had something on my mind. Thanks for the warning."


    Gurdas took his hand off my shoulder, finally stepped back, and hung his one-handed axe around his waist as he kept a smile on his face.


    "We''re on the same team, we''re going into that mountain together. I don''t want ye bein'' this scattered in there neither."


    I slipped my rifle into my ring and widened my smile as I looked at Gurdas'' worried face.


    "Okay."


    I paused for a moment, thinking about Gurdas and Durvaning directly to me, warning me in a worried way and smiling like that.


    I realized something else, I took another deep breath in and out again, unable to keep the smile off my face.


    Sometimes I realize I am not alone. I find people who are trying to help me. And these moments... they feel good.


    If I didn''t have Gurdas, Durvan, and Rulhan... if I didn''t have people like them to talk to, tomiserate with, to try to help me every time I leave the battlefield... where would I be as a soldier right now?


    I don''t think I want to know the answer to that.


    *******


    A few minutes after the checks, everyone was finally ready. The aircraft continued to approach its target without pause.


    Finally, after a while, it reached the ce where it wouldnd us. As wended, First Sergeant Harhan put us back in line. Under his leadership, with all our weapons and armor on, the aircraft suddenly stopped moving. The door of the aircraft, which led to the outside, slowly opened.


    First the sunlight poured in, and then the autumn winds hit us in the face, even though it was April because we were in the southern part of the.


    Like much of the Hr continent, we were in a hilly area, forested and elevated. The trees were much taller and denser where wended than elsewhere. Yet the aircraft didn''t seem to care much. It had damaged the environment, knocked down a few trees, but it had sessfully gotten us to our destination.


    I squinted slightly, looking between the beams of light at the majestic mountain, the most prominent of the high peaks in the distance, but to us, it seemed the furthest away.


    The mountain covered quite arge area ofnd, although it had extremely steep slopes. At the same time, it was almost two kilometers tall rtive to sea level. It was not one of the tallest mountains on the continent. In fact, it was quite short, but it was certainly one of the most majestic. Its pointed top, which seemed to be reaching for the clouds, with the sky behind it, was a breathtaking sight.


    An ancient creature had made a nest in it, and it also contained a great deal of virgonium in its depths. On top of all that... what I wanted was there. Not just me, but something that everyone in this world would want to have if they knew it existed.


    I took onest look at the spectacr mountain, then turned with a sigh and looked back, this time at the aircraft that had dropped us here.


    Its camouge system was still working, surrounded by a strangeyer of mana. Thisyer prevented it from being seen by anyone and detected by any system. Even though I had just stepped out of it, when I looked back at it, what I saw was simply emptiness.


    The only reason I knew it was there was because the open door allowed me to see through it.


    "As we''ve already decided, we be dividin'' into teams right here!"


    I narrowed my eyes as First Sergeant Harhan''s booming voice echoed in my ears, finally tearing them away from the aircraft behind me and turning them in front of me.


    The time hade...


    Harhan divided everyone into two teams of seven and four, as predetermined. The group of four included me, Gurdas, and two dwarves I did not recognize. Rulhan and Durvan were in the group of seven, who would be a distraction while we explored the mountain.


    "Here we go. Move slowly, gettin'' closer to the mountain. Do yer business while we draw attention to ourselves."


    The ten men in front of First Sergeant Harhan shouted at the same time with great determination.


    "Understood!"


    So our group of four dived into the trees, while the other group moved off to create chaos. This is how we started to get closer and closer toward the gigantic mountain.

 Chapter 257 Volume IV - 102: A Momentary Chill

    <h4>Chapter 257 Volume IV - Chapter 102: A Momentary Chill</h4>


    As we continued through the trees, I looked at the time disy at the top left of my vision.


    Half an hour had passed, they should start soon... there was not much distance between us and the mountain.


    "Stop, duck!"


    I didn''t even think about what had happened when Gurdas, who was in front of us, suddenly said this in a low voice. I quickly crouched down, hiding myself behind the trees, and the other two dwarves did the same.


    A moment of silence fell between us, we didn''t move a muscle, and then, in the midst of this silence, something slowly caught my attention.


    It was the sound of footsteps, and there was more than one. And not just more than one, there were many. It was as if a small toon was moving in one direction at the same time.


    I slowed my breathing and sank down a little more. The footsteps kept getting closer until finally so close that there were only a few meters between us. Yet what we feared did not happen. The footsteps, almost certainly those of enemy soldiers, did note at us.


    Just when I thought we were going to be discovered, the footsteps passed us by, one after the other, heading away from the mountain without a care in the world.


    No... they were not moving away from the mountain, they had a direction.


    They were going where our team of seven, whose job it was to create a diversion, had gone, toward their own base.


    We waited where we were until we could hardly hear their footsteps. The first to move was Gurdas, who stopped holding his breath.


    The other two dwarves, seeing him like this, likewise stopped holding their breath and copsed to the ground, panting.


    "That was close."


    "Yeah, very much so."


    I looked away from the two dwarves and looked around.


    "We must be close to the cave, it''s not normal to have so many soldiers moving at once."


    Gurdas narrowed his eyes, confirming what I had said from the system in his helmet.


    "Aye, we have to walf for about six more minutes."


    "Six minu-"


    What I was trying to say was suddenly interrupted. Because something unexpected happened just as I was speaking.


    The birds, which had been silent until now, suddenly flew away. For a moment I saw a sh in the distance, and then a loud noise echoed through the forest with an intensity that made it clear that it hade from far away.


    The four of us quickly turned to the ce where the explosion had urred. We all had the same thought.


    I narrowed my eyes and spoke in a low, cold voice.


    "It looks like things are escting, explosions have started. Let''s go faster."


    Neither Gurdas nor the other two dwarves objected to this. They just nodded, then swallowed slightly.


    So we started moving again, encountering a few more enemy soldiers along the way, but only one managed to spot us. She died directly at the hands of Gurdas.


    The n was working perfectly, at least for now. The soldiers were getting fewer and fewer, whatever was going on on the other side, they needed constant reinforcements, which of course worked in our favor.


    Finally, after a few minutes had passed, when we were almost on the slopes of the mountain, Gurdas suddenly paused.


    "It''s here."


    He raised his finger, pointing to the clearing in front of him.


    The clearing was not exactly a ''clearing''. Compared to normal, the trees were a little sparser here and there were no bushes, that was all.


    Nevertheless, this clearing had a big differencepared to other ones.


    It was under a slope of almost ten meters. There was arge gap in the wall connecting the opening to this slope, and in front of this gap, the entrance to the cave, there were about five soldiers waiting.


    So far everything had gone perfectly. Once inside the cave, we would enter the forbidden zone of the South Hr, so we would not encounter any soldiers. All we had to do was to get past these soldiers and then we would have an easy task ahead of us, just as the North Hr had predicted.


    "They don''t look that strong."


    I made myment quickly, because they didn''t really look like anyone important. They looked like a group formed to prevent civilians. There were only two people wearing armor.


    In fact, this was the case all around the mountain... that''s why only seven people could create such chaos and only four could infiltrate so easily.


    "Yes, we can give ''em a quick finish."


    After Gurdas'' confirmation, I looked back at the soldiers.


    They didn''t seem to be aware that we were watching them. They were talking among themselves, asionallyughing. Their guard was almostpletely down.


    They were aware that even if an attack was taking ce on their base, anyone who would approach this mountain would be a fool, and so they considered their arrival here as a vacation. At least that was my guess.


    "We''ll pounce on ''em once I''m done countin''. It''ll be a cakewalk anyway."


    He counted down from three as we prepared our weapons. We each picked a target, a few words between us were enough to decide who would attack whom. Finally, Gurdas finished counting, and we rushed out of the bushes at the soldiers.


    Gurdas and I attacked the two with armor, while the other two dwarves attacked the other three soldiers.


    Our eyes met with the one I had my eye on, but he still didn''t have time to understand what was happening. With the wild mana surrounding it, I thrust my sword into his chest without a second''s hesitation.


    He raised his arm, reflexively trying to defend himself, but it was toote. My sword pierced the armor on his chest, reaching the flesh it was protecting.


    I made arge wound in the dwarf''s chest, but not asrge as I would have liked thanks to his armor. That''s why I didn''t stop. After thrusting the sword all the way through, I kept my momentum, adjusted my bnce, and kicked him as hard as I could with my right foot.


    The dwarf was thrown back by the force of my kick. Even though the only sound he could make was a groan, it was not difficult to understand the pain and confusion he was feeling with the expression on his face and the widening of his eyes.


    In this way the dwarf came to a stop, crashing into a tree. He tried to get up quickly, to get his guard up, but he couldn''t because of the wound on his chest. He looked weakly into my eyes as his blood seeped out of the scratch on his chest.


    I slowly approached him, exuding my mana into the atmosphere, putting pressure on him, and speaking coldly.


    "Do you want a quick death, or do you want me to do something to slightly heal you so you can live a little longer and leave you here slowly, in pain?"


    His breathing became erratic, and for a moment his whole body trembled. Death was close to him, and he knew it.


    "If you know what''s inside the cave, if you know if there are any troops, tell me."


    That''s why I didn''t kill him quickly, I didn''t want to risk my job, even though I was pretty sure that the cave waspletely empty. But I also wanted to rule out the possibility that there was something inside the cave that I didn''t know about.


    Sure, I''m aware of the possibility that he might lie to me, but... I have an artifact that lets me know when I''m being lied to, even though I''ve never felt the need to use it until now. It''s a bracelet I found among the artifacts I smuggled out of Caleuche.


    It was definitely one of the best I found when I was studying the artifacts after I got back to my room. No... apart from the charm and the armband, which were high-level artifacts, it was directly the best.


    "Don''t try to lie, because I can tell."


    The dwarf narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth even wider to breathe as if his world was slowly blurring.


    "N- no..."


    In the end, he could only say these things, and my bracelet showed no reaction.


    "There are no soldiers inside and you don''t know exactly what''s there?"


    The soldier nodded. I bent down and took off his helmet.


    He wasn''t very old, but he wasn''t young either. He had brown hair and light brown eyes with a slight beard.


    Sighing slightly, I slowly brought my sword to his neck.


    "Answer out loud."


    "I- I don''t know..."


    "Good."


    I tensed my sword slightly, then looked at the dwarf''s neck, unprotected by his armor.


    I swung my sword swiftly, cleanly, and sighed again when his head separated from his body and fell to the ground, rolling a little. I gave him a quick death, as I had promised, no need to think about the rest.


    I turned around to see what the situation was.


    Gurdas had killed his opponent quickly. He was looking at me. The other two dwarves had an even simpler job than ours, they were done faster than I thought.


    "It seems there''s no problem."


    It didn''t even take half a minute. Now moving forward was what we had to do.


    I turned back to the entrance of the cave, then looked at its path, which seemed to go on forever in pitch darkness.


    For a moment, a chill ran through me. I felt somethinging from deep inside the cave, something that no one else seemed to have felt except me.


    I swallowed involuntarily, remembering again what this ''risk-free'' mission meant to me.


    "Let''s go."


    Gurdas and the other two dwarves started walking into the cave, while I just stood where I was. As they walked into the pitch darkness of the cave, I slowly turned my eyes to the visible top of the mountain.


    Even for a moment, this mountain seemed much more imposing than it actually was. Even if it was only for a moment, danger bells rang in my mind, and I realized I was sweating like I was stepping into a ce I shouldn''t be.


    "Aiden? Is somethin'' wrong?"


    Gurdas turned to me when he saw that I hadn''t moved, his eyes squinting at me. He was worried, trying to understand why I was reacting like this.


    I swallowed again, shook my head from side to side, and finally took my eyes off the mountain. I looked at Gurdas, then at the darkness of the cave.


    I''m... not making a mistake, right?


    "N- no... I thought I saw something but... I was wrong."

 Chapter 258 Volume IV - 103: Virgonium Filled Cave

    <h4>Chapter 258 Volume IV - Chapter 103: Virgonium Filled Cave</h4>


    Minutes had passed since we entered the cave. The daylight had long since disappeared due to the cave''s sinuous structure, and the only illumination was the lights on the armor of the three dwarves beside me and a tiny me in my left hand.


    These lights were quite sufficient, in fact, there was hardly a spot in the cave that we couldn''t see, but... I kept having this strange feeling.


    It felt like we couldn''t see everything. At the same time, the strangeness of the little me in my hand...


    Even if my mastery of me magic was low, it shouldn''t have been difficult to control a me this small. Nevertheless, with every step I took, the me in my palms flickered, as if it was being pulled somewhere. It seemed to want to get out from under my control.


    "How long has it been?"


    After my question, Gurdas spoke without taking his eyes from the depths of the cave.


    "It''s only been ten minutes. Is there a problem?"


    "Ten minutes..."


    This time Gurdas paused, turned his head slightly, and looked at me with his left eye. All I could do in response to his questioning expression was to sigh slightly and show him the me in my left hand.


    Gurdas, of course, did not understand what I meant as he looked at the me I showed him.


    "My me is bing unstable as if it is trying to get out of my control. Whatever is in the depths of this cave... we are getting closer."


    The two dwarves behind Gurdas clutched their weapons for a moment, fearful expressions on their faces.


    "Is yer me... reactin'' to somethin'' inside the mountain?"


    "Exactly."


    "T- The ancient creature... can it still be alive?!"


    One of the dwarves literally jumped at the thought, and the other had a simr reaction. Gurdas rubbed his forehead with his hand, took a deep breath and exhaled.


    "We keep movin'' forward, don''t let yer fear take hold. Ye already know, if trouble finds us, we can skedaddle outta here in a blink."


    He was right. We had a gate device that would stay open for about ten seconds, just in case, and would take us close to our ship.


    The dwarves rxed a little at these words, but they remained cautious.


    Slowly but surely we made our way deeper into the cave, my me growing more and more out of control, as if it were rejecting me as its user. Nevertheless, I did not extinguish it, because I was curious to see what would happen in the end.


    Would it extinguish on its own? Or would it fly out of my control in one direction or another? It could have been something else entirely.


    In the midst of these thoughts, Gurdas suddenly paused and our group turned to him, tense.


    "This..."


    Gurdas stared at the space in front of him, frozen in ce. It was clear that he was looking at a holographic screen that he could see through his helmet. What mattered was what he saw there.


    "Gurdas...?"


    "They were right... This ce is full of virgonium. My sensors are beepin'' like crazy."


    Gurdas suddenly quickened his pace, and there was nothing we could do but follow him.


    With each step, my me became more unstable, and then, in the pitch ckness of the cave, there were traces of a light source outside of us. As the narrow corridor of the cave slowly began to widen, a dim, purplish light faintly caught my attention.


    Atst, Gurdas stopped running, staring open-mouthed at the sight before him. It was no different for the other two dwarves. At what seemed to be the end of the cave, what we saw was literally mesmerizing.


    The cave had grown into a huge space. We didn''t even need ournterns and my me for light. The purple-colored mineral, virgonium, which covered arge part of the cave walls, allowed us to see most everything in the cave with its own purple light.


    It was like a crystal, it was everywhere. It was so... beautiful, dizzying with the amount of mana it trapped, channeled, and concentrated within itself. It was also too much, which is part of what made it so mesmerizing.


    "This... is even more than we thought."


    One of the dwarves approached the crystal closest to him and held out his hand to it, his eyes wide.


    "Is that mana...? I have a really... strange feelin'' in my body."


    Dwarves could not use or feel mana. But at this point, when the mana was extremely dense, it was impossible even for them not to feel its effects.


    I was no different, in fact... even worse than them.


    My head was spinning. The enormous amount of mana filling the cave was affecting the mana within me. My me was more unstable than ever. It was also changing color, trying to shift into shades of blue.


    "Idiot! Don''t touch it!"


    Gurdas'' words caused the dwarf, who had almost touched the virgonium, to jump in ce. His eyes turned to Gurdas in fear, then looked at him nkly.


    "We ain''t sure if it''ll do anythin'' to ya or not. We''ll scoop it up like we were told, and then we''ll high-tail it outta here."


    Gurdas was not immersed in the magical nature of the virgonium, his mission was the only thing on his mind.


    "U- understood..."


    The dwarves swallowed, then moved slightly away from the virgoniums. This time they took out a device from their dimensional inventory, a device they would use to cut and collect the virgonium.


    All the while, I was still staring at my me, struggling to hold it together, trying to keep its color normal.


    When Gurdas had finished with the dwarves, he turned to me. He looked at the me in my hand and then at me.


    "Aiden, I will ask again... Is something wrong?"


    His voice trembled slightly toward the end.


    No... it didn''t. There was nothing wrong with him, I was dizzy.


    It wasn''t just the mana in this huge cave that was affecting me, it was something else, something different...


    ''Aiden... you can hear me, right?''


    I swallowed, deciding to try something I wasn''t sure what the oue would be, but at the same time, I had confidence.


    ''Sith, don''t do anything to me from this point on, no matter what. We''re probably going to lose contact, but don''t panic. I have something I need to do and this is... there.''


    Sith hesitated for a while... but finally gave in and gave his answer quickly.


    ''I trust you. Do what you need to do and then let''s get out of here. This ce... it doesn''t give me a good feeling. Just be quick.''


    I smiled at Sith''s response, this time saying only two words to Gurdas.


    "Don''t worry."


    I focused on that strange feeling I had felt since the moment we entered this cave.


    I closed my eyes, letting myself go with the flow of mana.


    "Aide... n..."


    Gurdas''s voice suddenly began to dissipate. I couldn''t hear the rest of his sentence. The purple light I could see behind my eyelids slowly gave way to darkness.


    I took a slow step, the me in my palm and the mana filling the entire cave were the only things I could feel.


    The mana circting in the cave fluctuated for a moment. The color of my me became bluer and bluer, and its vibration intensified.


    I took another step, and this time I felt the mana in the cave slowly moving toward me.


    My me was begging me to let go of my control, it felt like a child I was holding by the hand. So, before I took my next step, I decided to do something: I stopped controlling my me.


    Thest remaining orange parts of the me quickly turned blue, then met the mana inside the cave.


    I felt the flow of mana moving toward me suddenly change. My me slowly moved to a point as it reacted with this mana. And all that mana inside the cave followed it.


    All this mana that was moving toward me slowly changed to another direction. It forced me to follow it with a force as if it was pushing me.


    I didn''t resist it, I quickened my pace, following the mana that was guiding me.


    It didn''t take me long to realize that the density of mana in the cave was increasing, and the temperature was rising with every step I took. The blue me, which was no longer under my control, did not seem to be bothered by these changes, on the contrary, it seemed to rejoice.


    I kept moving forward, trying to ignore the increasing heat and mana density, and when I started to feel like I was nearing the end of my walk, something else happened.


    My whole perception was suddenly turned upside down. I felt a pressure as if the whole world was copsing on me, I even stopped breathing.


    And then... I looked at what had caused it.


    Something that perhaps no human being should ever see.

 Chapter 259 Volume IV - 104: An Ancient Voice

    <h4>Chapter 259 Volume IV - Chapter 104: An Ancient Voice</h4>


    It was beautiful. Maybe one of the most beautiful things I''ve ever seen in my life.


    The paths of mana that stretched through the whole cave, mana that had a certain flow in these paths... mana that seemed to be like water. This whole system, the enormous amount of mana it contains, the way it exists in the world with such harmony...


    But as beautiful as it was... it was crushing me. The view in front of me was not something I could look at. It was far beyond myprehension. So even if I was just... getting close to it, even if I was actually looking at it from a great distance, it gave me headache. Just feeling it made my whole being tremble.


    The amount of mana gathered in what was in front of me was not a simple density¡­ it was in quantities that I had never felt before. And the source of this intensity, thisplex system was... huge, enormous. Even with my eyes closed, it was something so majestic that it was shaking my being, trying to tear me apart from the inside, as if it was trying to absorb the mana inside my body.


    When the blue me came in front of this extremely concentrated mana, it stopped. For a moment all its instability disappeared as if it was bowing in respect. The mana that had guided me this far joined the condensed mana.


    As my eyes slowly opened, I realized that the blue me was being absorbed by this condensed mana, and as my vision came back to me, I saw the source of all that condensed mana.


    I was still inside the cave, I had only walked for I don''t know how long. The amount of virgonium covering the walls seemed to have multiplied several times over, there was hardly a spot without purple crystals. It was so dizzying that I didn''t want to look at it, despite its beauty. Its purple lights reminded me of caora, the energy of chaos, but this was very different.


    This purple was much purer than the color of chaos. It was much more noble, much more morous.


    Yet all this was unimportant... because there was something else in front of my eyes, something that could make me ignore it all.


    Something almost ten meters tall and almost four meters wide... an egg.


    "A- Aid¡­ Aiden!"


    Gurdas'' voice entered my ears and I slowly turned my head back.


    Gurdas was crouched on the ground about ten meters away from me, barely breathing. His left eye was closed and his right eye was barely holding itself open.


    "C-e back! Quickly!"


    I smiled, shaking my head from side to side.


    "I''m sorry, Gurdas. There''s something I need to do here."


    I turned back to the egg in front of me.


    "Go back, collect virgonium with the others, andplete your mission. I... I am not sure when I will be able to finish my work here, don''t wait for me."


    I inhaled and exhaled deeply, focusing on Gurdas'' heavy breathing as I prepared myself to let the inviting mana flow again.


    "Please Gurdas... just trust me."


    He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to his feet. I heard his armor shaking, but I still didn''t turn around.


    For a moment there was only silence around me. Even with my back turned, I could see him clenching his fist, squinting at me, waiting for me to turn back.


    But at the same time... he trusted me.


    "S- So be it..."


    He threw something in my direction, and even though I didn''t see it, I could guess what it was.


    It was probably the device that would open a portal to a safe spot in case of an emergency.


    He took a step after throwing the device, barely forcing himself to continue.


    "I''m goin'' to trust you, Aiden. We''ll... be waitin'' for you."


    I didn''t lower my smile. On the contrary, I widened it, happy that Gurdas believed in me.


    "Thank you."


    I closed my eyes and focused on the mana that kept trying to push me away.


    As Gurdas continued to walk away from me, I slowly raised my hand and took a step toward the egg. The mana concentrated around me was so heavy that it was physically crushing me, yet I kept walking.


    It was literally rejecting me. It was trying to crush me under its presence, to prevent me. But despite all this, finally, my hand touched something hard: the giant egg.


    The mana that was aching to get out of my body suddenly flooded into the egg. A burning sensation covered my whole body. Especially the hand that touched the egg caught fire, as if I had put it into hotva.


    My skin was melting, I could feel the bones in my right hand trembling; even they were slowly melting. But... I resisted.


    I heard a voice, a voice that echoed in the whole cave... no, in my whole mind.


    "Oh..."


    It was an ancient voice, it had the tone of a seasoned old man, but it was much more than that.


    "You..."


    The cave trembled with each word, each letter that came out of his mouth. Mana stopped moving as if in respect for him.


    "So a tiny human hase to disturb my peace... is that it?"


    I felt something reaching out to me from the egg, yet I did not reject it.


    "You are a carrier of chaos, it seems. Oh, wait..."


    The warmth and mana seeping out of the egg suddenly violently enveloped my body. It tried to reach not only my body, but my soul.


    "You are so much more."


    As my body continued to melt away, the thought that I was going to die gripped my mind for a moment. Fear was the only emotion I could feel in my mind for a moment, but I gritted my teeth.


    "You inherited the knowledge... Then how did you be so strong?"


    He was silent for a few seconds, as if confused. The mana reaching into my soul tried to create a bridge between it and him, but just then something unexpected happened.


    The other half of my soul, my wiera side, suddenly moved. It tore down the bridge that was trying to touch my soul, expelled it out of my body as if it were nothing.


    "I was wrong again... you are not the one who inherited the knowledge. Ah, I see..."


    Behind my closed eyes, in the darkness, I saw two blue-colored lights, two gigantic lights that resembled an eye... A pair of eyes with the vertical pupils of a predator, with mes dancing inside.


    It was looking at me as if it didn''t care about my pain.


    "All right, fine."


    All the pain I had suffered disappeared in an instant. I found myself in an infinite darkness, a darkness without my body. But those two huge blue eyes were still in front of me.


    "How nice that you managed not to die. However, you still need to be tested."


    The mes dancing inside the eyes suddenly red up, and the splendor emanating from them multiplied. The endless darkness was suddenly filled with the blue light emanating from those eyes.


    "Tell me, little puppet. What is it that you are trying to achieve bying here, what is your purpose?"


    What am I trying to get...?


    Power, right? Yes, that''s what it''s supposed to be.


    The two eyes that hovered in front of me looked more frightening than they looked to me for a moment.


    Why... Why do I feel like this is not the answer?


    Why do I feel like if the word ''power''es out of my mouth, all my efforts will be in vain, and my life here will be over...?


    What I want to achieve is...


    I thought, I thought about all the things I have done since I came into this world. I looked for an answer to this question, a proper answer.


    What did I... what did Ie to this world for in the first ce?


    Ah... I remember now... I was trying to get out of my mediocrity, to be happy. That was my first purpose, but then... different things slowly became my purpose.


    Fear of losing my sister, being a wiera, fear of losing my friends, Celine''s responsibility, loving Sue...


    I want power, yes. But the reason why I want this power... what I want to get is this ''reason''. Power is something that will make it easier for me to get what I want.


    The real thing I want to get is...


    "I..."


    I looked into the vertical pupils between the blue-colored mes.


    "I want to reach the happy end of this world, of myself, and what I will get here... is one of the things that will help me do that."


    There was no change in the blue eyes. The infinite darkness did not flicker, nor did the mes dancing inside the eyes. They were the same now as they were a few seconds ago.


    "You want a happy ending before you even know what the end of this world is. An unexpected answer from a puppet."


    Puppet... Why is he calling me a puppet?


    "I like your answer, though."


    After those five words, suddenly, all the darkness was filled with a brilliant light.


    "Show me what you can do, little puppet. And I''ll help you get what you want."


    Those were thest words I heard before a dense darkness descended on me again after the brilliant light.

 Chapter 260 Volume IV - 105: First Test

    <h4>Chapter 260 Volume IV - Chapter 105: First Test</h4>


    Silence...


    A silence that makes me question whether I really exist.


    Darkness...


    A deep darkness that seeps into me, a darkness that feels familiar, yet alien and deep.


    And then... after a period of time that I could hardly perceive, a difference.


    The silence was noisily broken. The endless darkness I was in was suddenly filled with a white light. My eyes were dazzled, my ears ringing with the intensity of the sound, but I resisted. For a short while, both the loud sound and the intense light faded as suddenly as they hade.


    Before I realized what was happening, I found myself in a world covered in gray clouds, barely able to stand. I was wearing a shattered, gray armor. It was supposed to protect me, but the broken pieces were digging into my flesh, hurting me.


    "Why are you doing this...?"


    My whole body was writhing in pain when I heard a voice, a voiceing from right in front of me. My head lifted up slowly, weakly. My eyes finally left the blood-drenched soil and presented me with a better view of where I was.


    I was in a huge field, a huge field of corpses and disassembled machines. There was so much blood, bodies, rubble, and machine parts that I couldn''t see the ground. It was obviously a long battle, but it was also near the end.


    No... it had already reached the end. In the distance, a few people were still fighting, but they were so tired and exhausted that their movements were slow. Apart from that, one side was mercilessly killing the soldiers of the other side.


    Yet all this was in the background. For me, this battle was not very meaningful. Because what my eyes were focused on was the man standing in front of me.


    He waspletely different from me, we were like two sides of the same coin. Like me, his whole body was covered in blood, perhaps that was the only simrity between us. Yet even in this... there was a contrast.


    The blood on the man was not his. His armor was still intact, and it looked like it would stay that way. He had killed who knows how many people with his spear, which was clearly a weapon of quality.


    With his tall stature, his shining armor, and his mighty weapon... he was magnificent.


    "Why is a normal, weak soldier like you... on his deathbed... standing before me? Why are you here when you know you''re dying?"


    What''s going on? I don''t know... I don''t understand. Who am I? Why am I here...?


    I need to focus on these questions, I know that, but... now, when I hear these words from this man, why do I feel like I need to give him an answer?


    Why does this burning desire inside me override even my logic, and make me feel as if my whole existence depends on it?


    If so... no, even if not... I will.


    I thought briefly about what I should say, then realized that thinking was pointless. I reached for the first thoughts that appeared in my mind, words born directly from my desires.


    "Is death... something I should be afraid of?"


    I smiled, looking into the eyes of the man in front of me.


    "You are strong. You have a solid armor and a sword. In this battl-"


    For a moment I felt something rising in my throat, then I coughed painfully. Blood trickled from my mouth, slowly running down the sides of my lips and down to my neck. Yet I continued, all too aware that my death was imminent.


    "You have killed hundreds, maybe thousands, maybe many more in this war... For what?"


    The man frowned, a blue glint this time in his eyes, the color of which I could not quite make out.


    "I may be weak, perhaps frail, but..."


    Memories shed through my mind, memories that I wasn''t sure were mine.


    A woman and a man, a small child standing in the middle... They were waving, their eyes looking into mine. With longing, sadness, and... regret.


    At first, I thought I was walking away from them, but... no.


    They were the ones walking away. They were leaving, while I was staying behind.


    They may have regretted it, but I didn''t.


    "At least I have a purpose. I have a purpose for being here. So what if I die? So what if I survive...? Isn''t dying as much a blessing as surviving, at least as long as I leave no regrets behind..."


    The man sighed deeply and pointed his spear at me.


    "You say you''re not afraid of death, huh."


    His eyes grew cold, his gaze serious. He mumbled something I couldn''t hear, did nothing for a few seconds, as if waiting for my reaction.


    He was wrong, he misunderstood me. I... was afraid of dying. Dying was perhaps one of the things I feared most in this world. Because dying also meant that I would walk away from the precious things in my life. It meant that I would leave them behind, that I would never see them again.


    But at the same time, without them, there was no meaning in dying. It was just like an eternal sleep, it didn''t matter. If I was dying for those I left behind, if I was stepping into this eternal sleep for them... then dying was just an eternal peace."


    So that''s how I gave my answer.


    "As long as I have no reason to be afraid, as long as I leave nothing behind... my answer is no."


    I smiled and turned my eyes to the sky. He answered me with the same indifference, sighing.


    "So be it."


    The sky turned upside down, and as the whole world spun, I watched first my own body, then the foot of the man on the ground in front of me, and then his back turned as he moved forward.


    The world slowly faded into darkness.


    *******


    The darkness lightened again, slowly this time.


    I tried to move my body, but something was blocking me. I tried even harder, this time with more force on my arms... It still didn''t work.


    So I stopped trying to move and focused on my surroundings.


    As my eyes slowly became clearer, a few sounds finally entered my ears. Someone was crying, a few people were shouting, and someone was talking incessantly in a raised voice.


    Since I still couldn''t make sense of the voices, I looked at the world as it became clearer and clearer, at least trying to grasp something.


    The sky was cloudless, blue. The sun was right above me, beating its heat on my hair and the back of my neck. No... it was hitting my whole body, I was not wearing any clothes. It was... ufortable.


    I was on high ground, because I could only see the ground if I tilted my head a lot, and there was a considerable distance between me and it. Apart from that, there were dozens, maybe hundreds of people surrounding me. Some were looking at me with disgust, some with sadness, some with anger.


    It was at this point that I began to hear the man speaking in a loud voice.


    "Today, here, we will burn this devil!"


    His words were followed by shouts from the crowd that had gathered around me.


    "Burn him!"


    "Devil!"


    "Die, asshole!"


    Yet, apart from those who insulted me, there were also those who wept. Their lips did not open, maybe they were afraid of the crowd around them, but the expression on their faces was enough for me to understand what they were feeling.


    That''s when I realized why I couldn''t move my body, I was tied, bound tightly with a rope to a piece of wood.


    "Anyst words, devil?"


    The bearded old man standing at the front of the crowd, just below the spot where I was tied, fixed his cold eyes on me.


    All his hair was gray, he was so old that he even had a slight hunchback. Yet his stern gaze and booming voice emphasized that his age didn''t matter.


    "Are you going to keep quiet?"


    I took my eyes off the old man and turned them to the sky.


    What could I say? I had no idea who I was, I didn''t know why I was here.


    I was just a... nobody who opened his eyes here.


    "See you in hell, then."


    The old man held his hand out to the side. Then someone in the crowd handed him a burning torch.


    "Burn! Return to the mes where you belong and continue your eternal torment in hell!"


    The crowd shouted something I couldn''t make out behind him, a religious affirmation perhaps.


    Then the old man threw the torch down at my feet.


    The blue sky was suddenly filled with smoke, a mixture of gray and ck. The first thing I felt was the heat in my feet as the mes slowly rose up from the ground.


    The only sound I could hear from the crowd was insults, waiting for my death for no reason... yet I was calm. I should have been afraid of the mes, I should have been afraid of death, but... I was calm.


    "Burn! Burn more, demon!"


    The old man''s voice echoed again, and the mes, which had been slowly rising until now, suddenly burst into mes.


    The deep blue sky suddenly turned red. The slight warmth I could feel in my feet suddenly spread throughout my body.


    Still... the mes were not scary.


    Am I really a demon?


    The mes hurt, they are hotter than I can imagine, but... why don''t I scream? Why don''t these mes that will take my life from me seem like an ''end''?


    Could I really be... a demon, as this whole crowd is calling me?


    I let myself go into the mes while my skin and eyes were melting.


    The melting of my body while I was still alive caused tremendous pain. Yet this pain was what was keeping me alive now.


    The mes were not scary, yes, but... after those few seconds, another thought sprouted in my mind.


    The thought of death, of my impending ''end'' filled my mind for a moment.


    Thinking, knowing that I was going to die... made me tremble a little.


    What did I leave behind?


    Did I have any regrets? Had I achieved my purpose during my lifetime?


    If I knew who I was here, what I was... would I feel happiness or sadness when I die now...?


    The more the unknown wrapped around my mind, the more I doubted, and all this doubt raised death as an even more frightening presence in my mind.


    It was at this moment that I heard a voice echoing in my mind; a child''s voice.


    ''Dying... is it not really the end?''


    This time I heard augh, and then I felt as if I was stroking the child''s hair.


    ''Of course, death is an end.''


    This time the boy sounded confused, he tried to speak again, but the other voice beat him to it.


    ''Remember what I said. Death is an end, but it is also a beginning, my little friend.''


    The mes took my eyes from mepletely, my world was plunged into darkness. Yet I was alive, the voices I heard echoing in my head.


    ''Do not be afraid of death. Don''t shy away from life, of course. Move forward to the point where death is inevitable. When the timees, ept it. Step into the beginning behind the end, then you will understand it much better.''


    Afort I couldn''t make sense of suddenly enveloped my whole body.


    Maybe it''s bullshit, but... I''ll believe it.


    The point where death was inevitable...


    There''s nothing I can do now, is there...?


    Then... I have to surrender myself to it and start a new beginning...


    For a moment, I felt a sense of relief, a senseless peace enveloped my whole body.


    Death was no longer painful or thought-provoking.


    After all, the same death had brought with it these sweet feelings. It was not an end. It was apanying me as I was moving toward my end; as I was approaching a new beginning.


    It was a guide.


    Maybe that''s why, even though I died... I could hear a new light appearing, another door opening in eternity.

 Chapter 261 Volume IV - 106: Death and Flame

    <h4>Chapter 261 Volume IV - Chapter 106: Death and me</h4>


    "me, what is it?"


    This question confused me for a moment before I realized what it was.


    Her face was hidden by a veil, but the wrinkles near her eyes and her graying hair showed it. She was wearing a traditional red dress.


    "The visible part of the fire, right?"


    The woman took a deep breath, looked me in the eye.


    "Do you really think you can be a priest by saying something like that?"


    The old woman, who I assumed was a priestess, continued with stern eyes.


    "You are not wrong, but as a priest, you need more if you want to gain understanding over the me."


    She opened her hands, brought her palm in front of me where I could easily see it, and formed a me.


    It looked like a normal me. It seemed to be fluttering here and there, trying to rise. It wasplex and unstable.


    "A me is normally unstable and uncontrolled. This is the case when you simply define it as the visible part of the fire. Of course, it is up to you to change that."


    The tiny me changed in an instant. It stopped rising and copsed in on itself. It took the shape of a marble.


    "It is you who will transform it, who will unleash its true potential and use it."


    With an enormous amount of control, the priestess lifted the ball of me into the air on the palm of her hand and moved it around the room.


    Then, suddenly, she threw it at me. The ball of me hit me in the chest, so I involuntarily stepped back in fear, but then I realized something.


    The me hadn''t hurt me.


    "You are the one who will make it destructive or regenerative, painful orforting, and so much more. That''s why it was a mistake to look for a general answer to the question."


    She raised her finger, pointing at me.


    "You are the one who will determine what the me is, as I said."


    Her eyes narrowed, she asked me a question again.


    "Now, tell me. What is the me?"


    I stared at the priestess''s finger. This time I thought and thought and thought. The priestess waited patiently for me. For minutes she didn''t make a sound.


    The me... it is I who will determine what it is. It will take shape ording to my desires, and unless I control it, it will be unstable and chaotic.


    "The me... is not just a fire we see from the outside. I understand that..."


    The priestess nodded her head in approval. She motioned for me to continue.


    "And yet, can I answer for the rest of my life what it is? If the me is shaped by my desires, my passions, my thoughts... then won''t what it is be determined with me? As I grow, it will grow... As I learn, it will also learn. It will constantly change... it will never stay the same. So the answer will also always change."


    The priestess smiled.


    "Don''t stop, go on."


    My eyes narrowed, and for a moment I just stood where I was.


    "The me... Is my me a reflection of me, then?"


    A simple question of ''what is a me'' suddenly seemed much deeper to me than it was. The priestess widened her smile after hearing what I had said.


    "Let''s leave it here for today."


    She stood up, this time looking happy.


    "ept the answer you have found, identify it as the answer to the question of what your own ''me'' is. If you see it as a reflection of you, then study it and discover your own potential through it. Let the me be your guide."


    He turned around, left the room without saying anything else, and left me alone.


    I raised my hand, formed a me in my palm, just as he had done before, and watched it. For seconds, minutes...


    "My me... a guide..."


    The more I looked at this tiny me that kept burning in the center of my palm, the more I felt I was losing myself in it.


    This little red thing... it was so much more than it really was.


    The priestess was right.


    *******


    I felt the burning heat of the me on my face.


    It rose almost to the sky, no less than a gigantic monster. At the same time, it was everywhere. If I turned my head to the right I saw a burning hut, if I turned my head to the left there was a fire too far away for my eyes to see. In front of me was a clearing, surrounded by mes that made escape impossible.


    And behind me...


    "You are still alive...?"


    I slowly turned my head back, fixing my eyes on the spot where the voice came from. An intense fear, a strange feeling mixed with hatred that came at the same time with this fear, enveloped my whole body.


    There was a man in front of me. His whole body was on fire, but he didn''t seem to be in pain. His eyes glowed with the orange glow of the mes and his face was cold, but curious as well as cold. His long silver hair waved in harmony with the mes surrounding his body.


    As I focused on his appearance, I felt my eyes fix on his, and then... I saw something different about him, his pupils caught my attention. Vertical pupils that looked more like a creature''s than a human''s.


    I don''t know why, I clenched my fist. As I stared into the vertical pupils of the man in front of me, fear gripped my body like never before, my instincts begging me to run. Jumping into the mes was much safer than standing where I was.


    But... I didn''t... I couldn''t. I gritted my teeth as emotions I couldn''t make sense of took control of my body. Finally... I screamed.


    "Why are you here?! Why... just why?! Why did you destroy everything!"


    The creature, human... whatever he was... didn''t change his expression even a little. He only sighed slightly as he looked at me with a cold expression.


    He didn''t give me any answer. He just raised his right hand, then slightly moved it to the left. Then... all the mes around us became even more alive, as if they had been ignited all at once.


    "If you can reach me, you will get your answer."


    Everything I could see was covered only by the orange light of the mes. The heat soaked directly into my skin, literally melting me.


    I had no doubt that my life would end here, I was weak, so... at least I wanted an answer.


    When I took my first step I realized how weak my legs were, the mes were so hot that they took all my energy. It was hard to even take a proper step when my muscles were literally melting.


    But... I resisted.


    I took my second step as fast as I could. Even though I staggered, even though the pain almost made me fall on my face, I did everything I could.


    My eyes melted, and my vision disappeared. My toes melted, and each step became more difficult. I couldn''t feel my arms or my body, and as the me burned my body along with mine, I clung to thest desire inside me.


    After onest step, I finally couldn''t hold on. It wasn''t hard to realize that I had fallen to the ground with the pain I felt in my face, in my whole body. And with that... a frustrated voice echoed in my ears amidst the roar of the mes.


    "Is that it? What a pity..."


    I heard him turn around, I realized he was going to start walking away.


    But that''s not the only thing I noticed. He was close... too close. He was no more than two, maybe three steps away.


    I gritted my teeth again. I pushed forward my hand, almost without flesh, my fingers unable to move, and dragged myself along the ground. I pressed my chin to the ground, pulled myself toward the creature. I crawled...


    But that''s when my head hit something, something moving away, a foot.


    "Oh?"


    In the darkness, where I could see nothing because my eyes had melted, the thing I hit my head against hesitated for a moment. I heard him turn around, I felt his eyes looking at me almost in my whole being.


    As the whole world was slowly sinking into silence, into an eternal darkness like never before... I heard a single voice, the proud voice of the silver-haired creature.


    "Fate... Little puppet. Fate it is."


    *******


    Instead of the eternal darkness where I thought I was lost... my eyes opened somewhere else.


    First I saw the sky, cloudless and clear. Then the sun shining overhead. As soon as I turned my head around a little... I saw that I was lying in the middle of a lush green clearing.


    The fresh air entered my lungs and the sunlight, which was not too oppressive due to the cool air, was peaceful this time.


    I thought about the four different visions I had seen, the decisions I had made, and the things I had said.


    This time I knew who I was, I knew why I was here. I understood that the previous things... were simply tests.


    The decisions I had made, the things I had said, the way I looked at death and the me. And now... it was time for another.


    "What are you going to do this time?"


    I asked looking up at the blue sky, squinting my eyes.


    For a few seconds nothing happened, I justy there on the lush green grass.


    And then... the blue sky suddenly came together, copsing in on itself as if it were breaking. It shrank and shrank until it became two dots. It darkened in color, turning into a harsher, more authoritative blue. Then vertical pupils appeared in the center of these two blue circles that appeared in the sky.


    "What do you think, little puppet?"


    I didn''t know why he called me a puppet, but knowing that now was not the time to ask, I sighed and answered his question.


    "You showed me four visions. In the first one you tried to understand what I thought about death, in the second one you told me something about death and measured my reaction, in the third one you tried to understand what I thought about the me, and in the fourth one... well, I''m not sure about that, you simply tested me... I think. But in each of them, you wanted me to understand something in addition."


    I took a deep breath.


    "The first test was a philosophical one. It wasn''t fatal... or it would have been if I had given answers that didn''t satisfy you. Now that I''m here talking to you like this, I seeded, didn''t I?"


    The eyes in the sky narrowed.


    "You have not seeded, but you have not failed either. Still, you have indeed satisfied me and that is enough."


    I smiled. It was good to know that at least I had earned the right to pass the next test.


    "So, what''s next?"


    Just as the sky broke and copsed in on itself, so it did for the whole world this time. Everything came crashing down, there were ruptures everywhere.


    As everything was plunged into darkness, the ancient creature said only three words that echoed in my mind.


    ''Wait, and see.''

 Chapter 262 Volume IV - 107: Second Test

    <h4>Chapter 262 Volume IV - Chapter 107: Second Test</h4>


    The sky cracked and cracked, both eyes of the ancient creature disappeared. Finally, when it all came together, I found myself, as usual, in a pitch-ck space.


    My time there was not long, though. After only a few seconds, the darkness grew brighter and brighter, another world unfolded before my eyes and my vision became clear again.


    I was in a literally huge... hall, lined with walls that seemed to be in ruins. It felt like I was in the middle of an ancient temple, with pirs with motifs all around and cracks, big and small, everywhere I could see.


    I looked around, but I couldn''t see anywhere I could get out of here. Finally, I examined the ceiling and the floor, and the result was again nothing.


    I took a deep breath, this time with my memories intact, and checked my dimensional inventory. However, just as I thought, I had nothing with me except my clothes.


    ''Sith, are you there?''


    I waited for a few seconds, getting no response.


    I involuntarily squinted. My dimensional inventory was fine, but not having ess to Sith was a big problem. I couldn''t use my ascension skill without him, after all, and it doesn''t look like I have ess to the system... that''s a big obstacle to using other skills of mine.


    So... what choice do I have but to move on? Where am I supposed to go, though...?


    I looked around again.


    There were really no exits inside the huge hall. So, there was no ''ce'' to move forward, except to wander around...


    I took my first step slowly, then stood still for a few seconds, trying to see if anything had changed.


    It wasn''t long before I took my second step and then the third. Slowly but surely, I moved toward the center of the hall, but even when I reached that point, nothing happened.


    My eyes narrowed even more. The feeling of not knowing what to do made me a little nervous.


    "Hey?"


    The word echoed and echoed in the hall, repeated several times in my ears as if to emphasize that there was no way out of here.


    Again, nothing happened.


    I frowned, not knowing what to do was starting to get on my nerves, but I didn''t give up.


    I focused on one of the things that caught my eye the most during my time in this hall, namely the pirs with cracks and motifs on them.


    There were a total of four columns in the room, four gigantic columns, all of them well over my height...


    I moved toward the one closest to me, all the while focusing on the motifs on it. They looked like runes, and yet... they were moreplex. They were more intertwined, longer than normal runes. They were more like a whole, rather than points of connection. Just like...


    I had an idea, I looked at the pir and then at my right palm.


    I let out a deep sigh, and when I finally reached the bottom of the column, I paused.


    I put my hand on the pir, or rather on the motif on it. Then I focused on my mana, imagining a me forming in my palm.


    The orange color of the me covered my hand. I felt itsforting warmth, and then what I expected happened.


    The motifs on the pir suddenly lit up. The me in my right palm was suddenly absorbed by the motifs, and finally a smile appeared on my face.


    I poured more and more mana into the me in my palm. I fed and fed it before the pirpletely absorbed it.


    The absorbed me moved further and further along the motifs. Slowly the hall began to tremble, glimmers appearing in the cracks that covered it all. Finally, when the entire pir was filled with orange me that followed the motifs on it, the absorbed me spread to the other pirs, and the same process took ce with them.


    The whole room shook and the pirs all turned orange. And then... suddenly they changed color. The warm orange of the me was suddenly reced by a blue that seemed much more intense and deeper than it was. The shimmering and flickering intensified, seeping through the cracks in the hall.


    Finally, everything went white, and all I could hear was the ringing in my ears.


    *******


    The whiteness slowly faded and the ringing in my ears stopped just as slowly.


    When I could see my surroundings again, the ce where I found myself was a vast in, as if I was standing on clouds.


    The sky was blue and the clouds below the huge tform I was standing on were motionless. In fact, they looked more like... fog than clouds.


    I looked around, and the clouds, or rather the fog, had no end in sight. And the tform I was standing on didn''t have any motifs or anything like them that I could use likest time.


    It was at this moment that a small glow appeared in the deep blue sky. A glow reminiscent of the sun, but smaller. The glow first widened, then lengthened. It broke into several pieces, forming an inscription.


    "How many different things are you ready to sacrifice..."


    What am I willing to sacrifice...?


    For my cause? For the happy ending I mentioned, or for this test...?


    I finally took a deep breath.


    If the result would help me grow and help my goals... Then I don''t care what I sacrifice.


    "All of them."


    With that one word, the writing in the sky began to change rapidly.


    "How much..."


    I paused, I didn''t think I would have to answer something like that, but it didn''t take me long.


    "Enough to push my limits to the end... and beyond."


    The writings in the sky stayed the same for a while before changing this time, they didn''t show any reaction, as if they were thinking.


    Just when I started to wonder if something was wrong, suddenly the whole world went dark. I soon realized that I couldn''t hear and I had lost my sense of smell. Not only that, I couldn''t feel my body. I couldn''t even tell if I had fallen or if I was standing.


    So, I did the only thing I could do, I thought.


    Enough to push my limits, I said, but... how long will I stay in this state?


    No, that''s not the question... The question is how long I have to stay like this if I want to pass this test.


    A week? A month? Or for a longer period of time?


    Maybe there''s something else I need to do?


    I''m used to staying in dark ces where I can''t feel anything... At least I think I am, but what if I forget my own existence here?


    I can think, yes, but I don''t even have the concept of time... if I stop thinking after a while, even for a short while, how likely is it that I won''t forget myself then?


    I have never gotten out of such a situation on my own so far... I have always survived thanks to an external factor, but now, if such a situation doesn''t happen...


    Then that means... I''m going to die here.


    *******


    I have to keep thinking...


    How many days has it been, for example? It might not have been at all, maybe...


    It is also questionable whether these questions are of any importance...


    I will not stop thinking. Is there anything I can do to guarantee that I will not forget my own existence anyway?


    For a long time, I thought, I kept my mind busy, I didn''t pause for a second, I repeated words and sentences in my mind if I had to, but I didn''t stop.


    After a while... I realized that it didn''t actually make much sense.


    *******


    Time continued to pass and I started to get tired of thinking.


    I didn''t have much to think about. Sooner orter, I would end up going back to where I started, or I would find myself repeating the same things, which was a problem, contrary to what I thought.


    Instead of keeping my mind open, it makes me get caught up in it.


    I can''t stay conscious if I get into a loop, I have to be constantly aware of what I''m doing so that I don''t lose myself, but if I keep repeating the same thing over and over again... no.


    I have to think of other things, different things.


    Let me think about the previous test, for example... That ''test'' in which I had four different dreams.


    Death... not an end, but a beginning... The me is not just the visible part of the fire, but a presence that will grow with me and be my guide...


    I have thought before about what these things mean; I chose these words specifically when I answered, yes, but have I really thought about it intensively...?


    No... I haven''t done that. This is something I can do here, I can think about it. I can also evaluate my situation.


    Until now the thought of death has always frightened me, and I would say it still does. Just like in the first and second dream, as long as I die with no regrets, there is no problem, but... what if it doesn''t happen?


    I''m not immortal, I won''t have an eternal life. I''m human and as fragile as they are, I could die here, even now...


    When I die here... there is so much I leave behind. Promises I made, people I love, and people close to me... so much more.


    What about the me?


    Actually, now that I think about it, how can the ''me'' guide me if it ispletely under my control...? How can I be guided by a me that I control entirely through the system, that I create with runes, and whose existence is meaningless unless I control it?


    There are so many things that I just ept but don''t question...

 Chapter 263 Volume IV - 108: Embracing the End in Nothingness

    <h4>Chapter 263 Volume IV - Chapter 108: Embracing the End in Nothingness</h4>


    Come to your senses... Don''t lose yourself... Think about who you are...


    Aiden Tenebra, that''s who you are.


    Uh, no... No. You''re not Aiden Tenebra.


    Ethan, Ethan Subter. That''s your actual, real name.


    *******


    I know very well that people in simr situations to mine have a slower perception of time than normal. Most of the time it feels like a day has passed, but it''s actually several days.


    So how long have I been here...?


    A few days? Then it must have been much longer in reality, right?


    I feel like I''m losing my ability to think and that''s... definitely not a good thing.


    What was I thinking aboutst time? Oh... I remember. I was thinking about what I saw in the first test.


    Death and me... death and me...


    Forget the me, there''s not even the slightest thing about it here. When I can''t even control my mana, there''s nothing to be gained by thinking about the me.


    Then... death.


    As much as death is an end, it''s also a beginning...


    I don''t know why, but I keep getting stuck on this phrase. I can think of other things, but I alwayse back to this one in the end.


    An ending... but also a beginning...


    Don''t shy away from life, of course. Move forward to the point where death is inevitable. When the timees, ept it. Step into the beginning behind the end...


    Oh, I misspoke... there was something else.


    What was it?


    From death... uh... I can''t remember the rest.


    Escape death?


    Or... something different? Like...


    Don''t be afraid of death?


    *******


    Dark... Dark... Very dark...


    Hot... Cold... No, neither...


    Is someone grinding their teeth...?


    Am I imagining it, I shouldn''t be able to hear anything like that...


    Think... Think... Think... Think...


    I paused for a moment, all the voices in my mind suddenly disappeared and I felt like I was literally in the middle of nowhere.


    Ah... no, I shouldn''t have paused.


    What was I... what was I thinking?


    *******


    In the middle of the darkness, with no sound, no sensation... I suddenly came to myself. I remembered what I was doing and where I was. And the moment I did, an intense anxiety and fear enveloped my whole being.


    No... I''m losing myself, forgetting my own existence, as I feared.


    I''m being dragged into something that I tried so hard not to be in the first ce.


    This is... a big problem.


    *******


    Death... me... Death... me... Death... me...


    The end... The beginning... The end... The beginning...


    Think... Think... Think... Think...


    Don''t stop... Never stop... Don''t lose yourself...


    *******


    The seconds continued to pass in silence. I was forcing myself to think and think... and I was getting tired.


    When will it end? When will I get out of here...?


    I''m... getting scared. What if I really die?


    Wasing here... really a mistake?


    *******


    I looked into the darkness and it kept looking at me. I tried to whisper to it, to keep myself together. But it didn''t give me any answer.


    For a moment, as so often happenstely, I lost myself.


    As the seconds turned into minutes, into hours, I didn''t think anything... I couldn''t think. I was so tired that I couldn''t think anymore. I had thought so much that even thinking had be a reflex rather than something I did deliberately. So... it was useless.


    But... one of the times when I somehow came to my senses again, I finally thought of something different.


    No matter how long I waited, there was no change. The darkness was as it was, I was as I was, everything was always the same.


    So... when I thought about it differently, even if only for a short time, suddenly I understood.


    When death is inevitable, ept it...


    There''s no way out of here, is there?


    That''s what he wants... isn''t it?


    He wants me to ept... he wants me to end my existence here, to step into a new beginning...


    It has to be, doesn''t it?


    But... what if I''m wrong?


    What if I think I''ve found the right answer and I''m really going to step into my ''end''...?


    I have to hold on until the end, then...


    I must not walk away from life willingly. I must give myself to death when it is inevitable.


    I must go as far as I can, no matter how long it takes.


    But can I do it on my own? How far can I go in nothingness, just thinking on my own?


    Even now I''m losing myself, I find myself suddenly doing nothing.


    I need something. Something that can help me, no matter what it is.


    Like... a me?


    I imagined a tiny me swaying this way and that.


    A small me in the middle of the darkness, right next to me. I didn''t know what its source was, I didn''t even care how it could shine in this darkness and where its light reached.


    I just imagined it, the way it burned in apletely random way, its orange color, its warmth.


    I found myself watching it when it only existed in my imagination. I wondered how it could still burn while I struggled to maintain my existence here...


    It was absurd to question the existence of something that existed only in my imagination, but... it was one of the things that kept my mind still open.


    I continued to watch and think about it as it continued to burn at my side, like a guide to show me the way.


    *******


    I am not afraid...


    No, I''m not afraid of death...


    Or am I?


    I don''t feel like I can take it anymore... I''m tired of losing myself over and over again, and then thinking over and over again; imagining.


    ''Don''t shy away from life, of course.''


    I paused with the voice echoing in my mind.


    ''The point where death is inevitable...''


    I looked at the me that had perhaps gotten me this far, the me that still burned in my imagination. I wasn''t sure if even that was a dream anymore, sometimes... it felt like more than a simple dream.


    I paused for a moment, silence filled my mind more and more. And then... I remembered something.


    That hall I stood in before I came here... I didn''t have my inventory ring, I didn''t have Sith with me, I didn''t have ess to the system.


    Then... how did I create me in the palm of my hand?


    Humans can neither control nor channel mana without the help of the system... they can only feel it.


    Then how did I use that me, how did I feed it that motif on the pir?


    Ah... that me... was it already mine?


    Then...


    I looked at the me, which I never questioned how I could feel its warmth in this nothingness, how I could see its orange color.


    I felt myself getting closer to it, getting warmer the closer I got, and then I paused again.


    Yes, I am afraid.


    I am really afraid of death.


    That''s why I''m here, isn''t it?


    That''s why I didn''t do well in the previous ''test'', he said, but I satisfied him. Because he knew that I didn''t fully believe in my answers myself.


    Here, he arranged such a ''test'' to make me cling even tighter to those answers.


    When death is inevitable, ept it... let the me be your guide...


    The me, the guide that will lead me to the beginning behind the end.


    I moved closer and closer to the me next to me, and as I did so, it slowly began to grow. The closer I got to it, the hotter it got, the bigger it got. It didn''t stop until itpletely surrounded my body, and I didn''t stop.


    It wasn''t painful. It should have been... but it wasn''t. On the contrary, it had aforting sensation. Like when I was in the body of the executed man in the second dream I had.


    I gave myself over to it, letting the heat work its way into me, its light shining brighter and brighter with each passing second, at the same time adding more and more darkness to the darkness I was in.


    My thoughts slowly faded. My self slowly withered.


    Death enveloped my body, more real than ever.


    Then... I reached the end, or rather my own end.


    The doors of a new beginning opened before my eyes. Endless darkness, nothingness; suddenly covered with blue mes.

 Chapter 264 Volume IV - Chapter 109: In the Depths of the Soul

    264 Volume IV - Chapter 109: In the Depths of the Soul


    As my eyes slowly opened, as I saw the blue sky and felt the grass I was lying on, not much went through my mind. I just took a deep breath, closed my eyes and continued to lie there.


    I didn''t feel like doing anything. The only thing I wanted was... to rest a little bit and that''s what I did.


    Seconds chased minutes. Who knows... maybe for hours all I did was lie there. Finally, though, I sighed deeply again and spoke without opening my eyes.


    "How close was it?"


    Just like thest time, the whole in shook first. Even with my eyes closed, I could imagine the sky breaking, taking the shape of two blue eyes.


    "Ten minutes. If you had gone another ten minutes without realizing what you had to do, we wouldn''t be having this conversation."


    Ten minutes...


    "I''m surprised, frankly. I didn''t think anyone could stay in that nothingness for forty days with all their senses turned off."


    So I spent forty days there... forty whole days. Ten minutes seems so smallpared to that.


    "Am I really dead?"


    It was a question I thought I knew the answer to, yet my curiosity got the better of me.


    "No, of course not. But whether your death will be the end depends on you and your future actions. Just as you did in that nothingness, you can make your death a new beginning rather than an end in the real world, even if that moment was faked."


    I opened my eyes and looked up at the two blue eyes in the sky. They were just as I remembered them, with blue mes shooting out of them.


    "You have already given me part of your ''legacy''. No... lent it to me, at least part of it for a short time. Didn''t you?"


    The ancient creature remained silent, and this time I got up from where I was lying and squinted my eyes.


    "There''s one more test, isn''t there?"


    "Yes."


    "Then what are you waiting for? Put me into it."


    The creature waited with both eyes as they were, nothing happened. It stayed where it was, as if it had never heard me. My brow furrowed and I felt myself tense.


    "What happened?"


    "I''m thinking about the possibilities because I think the next test might be a problem for you."


    A... problem?


    "What kind of problem?"


    "A problem with your soul. As you know, your soul is divided into your self and your other self, which represents chaos, and the next test will be whether your soul can handle my legacy."


    "Oh... So, you''re saying that I probably won''t be alone in that test."


    The creature didn''t react, and I let out a deep sigh.


    "It doesn''t matter, put me to the test."


    The creature remained silent for a while, as if it was thinking. Then he broke the silence he had created himself.


    "If you want it that way, so be it."


    After his words, what I expected happened. All of reality broke and copsed on top of each other at the same time. Darkness covered my field of vision. An intense sound echoed in my head, ringing in my ears.


    I closed my eyes, letting myself feel as if I was changing dimensions, as changes were taking ce around me. Soon an intense light appeared behind my closed eyes, but it faded as quickly as it came.


    The process quickly came to an end, and then the sound that had been ringing in my ears disappeared.


    I realized that I could still feel my body, and it was not difficult for me to realize that I was standing. So, I slowly opened my eyes, trying to grasp where I was.


    What I saw... was a huge me in a dark field that seemed to burn forever in front of me. It was blue in color, it looked at least several times my size. It also had a warmth I had never experienced before in my life. If I got close to it, let alone touched it, I felt as if my whole being could burst into mes and burn.


    Yet I was not the only one in this area, just as the ancient creature had said.


    Just to the side of the me was someone smiling at it. Someone with brown hair, short, skinny and with shimmering violet eyes that didn''t even try to hide what he was.


    After a short moment, he paused, as if he recognized my presence, and turned slowly toward me. For a moment he feigned surprise, but it was so contrived that even he didn''t bother to follow it up, he just gave a shortugh and widened his smile.


    "Death is as much a new beginning as it is an end, huh... what nonsense."


    He took a short step toward me, looking into my eyes.


    "You don''t believe in this bullshit, do you? If you die... you will die. There will be no new life, no new beginning."


    I narrowed my eyes and spoke as calmly as I could.


    "Didn''t Ie into this world by dying? Besides... absurd or not, if I want to get what I want out of this ce, I have to ''believe'' it."


    I took my eyes off him and looked around.


    This ce looked like the endless nothingness I had always been in, but it had a different feel to it than the creature had made me feel during his tests.


    Maybe I could see almost nothing because of the darkness, yes, but... I also felt like I could if I wanted to. This ce... it felt more familiar and closer than ever.


    "Am I in a test or not?"


    "Oh... don''t worry, that overgrown bird will never know what happened here."


    His eyes shifted for a moment to the huge blue me beside him.


    "At least it won''t know what''s happening except the result."


    "So, I''m in the test..."


    I sighed deeply, staring at the blue me, just like him.


    "I need to touch that thing."


    My wiera side widened his smile slightly at what I said.


    "And how do you n to do that while I''m here?"


    "Are you going to prevent me?"


    I narrowed my eyes even more, my gaze serious.


    "Wouldn''t it be better for you if I got stronger? Isn''t that what you want, to break me, to take over my body somehow? Even if that''s not your main goal, you obviously want to have fun somehow and you want to do it by spreading chaos around you, won''t it be easier for you to do that if I get stronger?"


    He took another step toward me, and then another... and finally came right up to me, though it didn''t try to attack me or anything. He just looked me in the eye, his eyes shimmering purple, not sparing me his madness.


    "Two yeses and two noes."


    Did he... answer my questions...?


    "It''s up to you to find out which answer belongs to which question."


    The gleam in his eyes suddenly intensified and he held out his hand to me. I took a step backward, avoiding his hand, but my wiera side didn''t stop. Not only that, he narrowed his eyes and the glow in his eyes suddenly became even more intense.


    At that very moment, countless purple-colored chains shot out of the darkness toward me. When I realized what their purpose was, I tried to avoid them too, but... it was useless. The chains wrapped around my arms and legs. They pinned me in ce.


    "W- what are you trying to...?"


    I tried to get out of the chains but it didn''t take me long to realize I couldn''t do it. So I looked at my wiera side, at his left hand, which was reaching toward my chest.


    He didn''t even bother to answer my question. His palm touched my chest, and then a warm sensation enveloped my whole body. For a moment the whole darkness was filled with a purple glow.


    Then... a different color suddenly joined the chaos.


    Along with the purple color of caora, a bright and soothing blue appeared out of nowhere. Purple and blue intertwined and intertwined in the middle of endless nothingness.


    My wiera side closed his eyes, his smile almost reaching his ears.


    "This... is my test for you."


    Caora and ordea continued to intertwine, and suddenly everything froze in ce, as if time had stopped. Then the whole of nothingness trembled, and the two opposing energies, as if they had found a new andmon target, slowly moved in one direction: toward me.


    "Don''t worry, it''s not going to be a big test. I''ll just... give you a few seconds of something."


    As he said this, he slowly turned to dust and disappeared, the purple chains that bound my body retreating back into the darkness from whence they came. Caora and ordea rushed into my body. It didn''t take a second for me to lose consciousness.

 Chapter 265 Volume IV - Chapter 110: Other Selfs Test

    265 Volume IV - Chapter 110: Other Self''s Test


    The only thing illuminating the darkness of the night was the small night light in the room. I was on a bed, squinting at the white ceiling.


    It had only been a few hours since I started hearing voices in my head. It was the first time I was going to sleep and... the voices echoing in my head were talking among themselves without paying any attention to me.


    Maybe I wasn''t the person I saw in his eyes, but his memories... at least his thoughts, were as clear and crisp as if they were me.


    ''Can he bear it?''


    To the voice that sounded as if hundreds of people were talking at the same time, another voice, the same but more feminine, answered.


    ''We''ll see.''


    My eyes closed slowly, as if I didn''t care about these voices. I took a deep breath as my body slowly surrendered itself to sleep, preparing myself for something I didn''t even know what it was.


    Eventually everything went dark, even the little sounds I could hear stopped. But I did not have a dream, nor did I suddenly open my eyes to the next morning, as is often the case. Instead... I found myself in a dark ce.


    At first, I didn''t understand anything, I tried to use my newly acquired ''ability'' to understand where I was, but when no information flowed into my mind... I just stood there.


    I slowly turned around, looking around in the hope of finding something... I involuntarily paused when I saw what was right in front of my eyes.


    It was a lonely figure, white but not giving off any light, standing in the dark nothingness as if it shouldn''t belong here. It resembled a human being, but it was much more than that, I could tell just by looking at it.


    But that was not the main thing. The important thing was... that even though it waspletely white, even though I could see nothing but this color, I knew that it was looking at me. He may not have had eyes, but he was looking at me, and it was hard, even impossible, not to tremble in the face of my whole being.


    "Oh... is it you this time?"


    His voice sounded like one of those voices I had heard in my mind that sounded as if it was made up of hundreds of people. Yet it was much deeper, much calmer, and... emotionless.


    "Do you know why you are here, child?"


    I barely nodded my head from side to side, while the ''being'' in front of me continued in the same monotone.


    "Then I''ll tell you."


    For the first time he did something other than stand still. He slowly raised his hand upward and then pointed it at me.


    "You are here to survive."


    With those five words, all the darkness seemed to lighten in an instant. The body of the being in front of me suddenly scattered in every direction I could and could not see and surrounded me.


    ''You have to do this every night, every second you sleep. Otherwise, your body cannot handle the ''ability'' you have gained.''


    Instead of hearing his words directly with my ears, this time I heard them in my whole mind, just like the other beings like him... But I didn''t have a second to focus on it.


    My mind suddenly released all the thoughts and... knowledge it had suppressed until now. I couldn''t even scream as my head felt like a balloon inting and bursting while I was still alive. An external force suppressed it from the outside, as if it was not allowing this balloon to grow and burst.


    The pain spread from my head to my whole body in an instant. I saw different colors appearing around me, and even though the tears in my eyes were blocking me, they were so clear and crisp that it was impossible not to see them.


    One was transparent, colorless. It didn''t seem to have a shape, it was hard for me to even see it, but among the other colors it was both visible and strangely... felt.


    Next to it were two colors that seemed to be in harmony with each other. One was a bright purple and the other an equally bright blue. They seemed to be opposing each other, trying to outdo each other, but at the same time they were in harmony.


    One of thest two colors was yellow. Independent of the other colors, it flowed here and there, never stopping, speeding up, or slowing down. It resembled a river, a stream, each particle of water flowing at the same speed. A gigantic current...


    Thest color was a shade of gray. It looked like smoke, in fact, it looked like a... fog. It was almost non-existent, but it was there, I could see it.


    Even as the colors became visible to me, my vision quickly blurred and darkened because of the pain in my body.


    ''Don''t, or you will die.''


    His voice echoed in my mind more clearly than ever. All I could do was grit my teeth and bite my tongue as the pain intensified with each passing second and my mind was flooded with knowledge I couldn''t even distinguish properly.


    I actually thought about giving up, I would rather die if I was really going to go through this every time I slept like that white being said. But I held on to life, I embraced it as hard as I could.


    or a ce to be on.


    03:57


    Standing where I was, panting and sweating, I involuntarily put my hand to my heart. I felt it pushing Because there was someone I didn''t want to leave alone. There was someone in this world that I would never see again and the thought of it was frightening.


    And that''s when something different happened. I felt as if some of the whiteness that surrounded me had entered my body, and in addition to the pain that coursed through my whole body, there was a searing heat.


    I felt that something was leaving me, that I was losing something but at the same time gaining something else, apanied by the burning heat.


    Finally, an intense sensation shook my whole being, as if a strap stretched to its limit had snapped. The pain only intensified.


    Then... I started to see things. Things I should never have seen as a human being.


    The first one- or the most important one, was the countless chains... some broken, some intact... that encircled the whole world, the universe... they were entangled with each other, they existed with each other.


    And just looking at them made my pain many times worse.


    *******


    My eyes flew open, I felt like I was going to jump out of my ce, but I didn''t have a bed to jump out of or a ce to be on.


    Standing where I was, panting and sweating, I involuntarily put my hand to my heart. I felt it pushing against my rib cage, almost as if it was trying to leave my body along with my lungs.


    The dream or memory, whatever it was, was over, but the pain I felt... it was in my mind. It was impossible to forget. It was a level of pain that I thought I would never feel in my life, there was no way I would ever experience something like that again.


    I swallowed, I took deep breaths to calm myself down, not caring where I was or what my situation was.


    It went on like this for a while. For who knows how many minutes in absolute silence and darkness, all I could do was calm myself down. Finally, when I thought I had calmed down enough, I let out a deep sigh for thest time.


    I looked around, I couldn''t see anything, and when I looked behind me, I finally realized where I was.


    Right behind me, not far from me, there was a huge blue me. I was where I was before I had that strange dream, that memory, and my wiera side was nowhere to be seen.


    I squinted, clicked my tongue.


    There is so much in the background that I don''t know, so much I need to investigate... Every time new memories appear but I can''t make out what they mean, the past seems more and more strange and mysterious.


    I stood up slowly, my eyes fixed on the huge blue me. Then I remembered something else.


    The test... that''s right, I was here for a test, I have to take care of this first.


    I pushed the thoughts aside, as I always did whenever I came across something rted to the Tenebra Family''s past.


    Yet I was also aware that I couldn''t ignore it all the time.

 Chapter 266 Volume IV - Chapter 113: An Eternal Sleep for An Eternal

    266 Volume IV - Chapter 113: An Eternal Sleep for An Eternal Creature


    A light caught my attention at first. Yet this was not what surprised me.


    How long had I been in the darkness that the light appeared so abruptly? I hadn''t even realized it...


    Had I fallen asleep before I even realized how it happened?


    So I focused on the light, and then I realized that it wasing from a very small ce... a crack.


    I reached out with my hand to this light, and I realized that this crack was actually not that far away from me.


    And with that, I realized something else.


    My body... feels different. When I wake up from sleep my whole body should be numb, even for a short time, but it''s not. On the contrary, I''m strangely full of strength.


    But rather the strangest thing is... my body feels alien to me. As if I am not in my own body but in a different one.


    I looked again at the crack through which the light was seeping, and this time I tried to move my body, but it did nothing but make me realize that what I was in was actually quite small. I couldn''t move as if I was trapped in a small space.


    I focused on the only limb I could move freely, my right arm. I closed my fingers, clenched and stretched my fist, and without a second thought, I swung it into the crack.


    My fist smashed through whatever was wrapped around my body quite easily, without even a little difficulty. A strange, sudden coolness quickly enveloped my entire right hand.


    Ignoring the cold, I opened my fist back up, widening and widening the crack I had created.


    As I did so, I noticed that the light seeping in from the outside was purple, a faint and familiar feeling purple, but I didn''t stop. I widened the crack even more, finally managing topletely shatter the top of whatever was pinning me down and toss it aside.


    The first thing I did was stand up quickly and look around. The first thing, or rather things, that caught my eye were the purple-colored crystals that were everywhere. There was also a strange feeling that for some reason my height made me feel a little... tall.


    That''s when I remembered what these purple crystals were.


    "Ah... these are virgonium."


    I pushed my mind a little more, and eventually, memories started flooding into my mind. For a brief moment, my eyes widened.


    Memories flooded my mind in an instant. Why I was here, what happened...


    I did the first thing that came to my mind, I turned around quickly. I looked at that huge egg I saw when I first came here and then... I just froze in ce.


    "You''re finally awake... how nice."


    The egg was cracked, it even looked like it had been broken a long time ago. And the former glory of the phoenix that was supposed to be inside, the mes, the bright colors... everything was gone. His eyes were squinting, almost weak.


    He certainly didn''t look like a newly hatched, newly-born phoenix. On the contrary, he was... dying.


    "Ah... is it because of me?"


    The phoenix said nothing, his silence was his answer to me.


    "Although I have not spent much time in this world, I have lived too long, puppet. Dying, at least literally dying... doesn''t mean much to me. It''s more of a new beginning than an end, as we always say. A simple step into a sleep, but this time... an eternal sleep."


    So¡­ because I wanted more, he gave me more. This is not hard to understand... I wonder if is that why I experienced something that''s not mentioned in the game.


    It''s impossible for the yer to get these blue mes normally because this power is in the hands of another woman... But even with what she told the yer in the game, I experienced something foreign. Normally, the only thing I should have gotten was mastery of the blue mes.


    After realizing the situation, I said nothing. I could only sigh deeply.


    I didn''t know much about this gigantic creature, this phoenix, and frankly... to be honest, I didn''t really care. I had gotten what I wanted. He had given me what I wanted. And the reason I felt a little guilty was that he was going to die in spite of that, because he had directly fulfilled my wish.


    "You took not only my legacy, my blue mes, but so much more. You took a piece of me for yourself, you made the most of your ''death''. Well done, a move worthy of a phoenix."


    Ah... is that why I feel taller? Did I really rebuild my body after I ''died'' there?


    I raised my hands, looked at my palms, and examined my body.


    I was definitely taller and more built than I used to be, though strangely not like the giant people who work out every day. As built as I was, I was also strangely... slender.


    I actually have a body that fits the descriptions of phoenixes quite well. Strong, but elegant...


    Ah... Now that I think about it... has my charm stat gone up?


    "In your veins now flows not only the blood and desire of a human, but also that of a phoenix. So live ordingly and use my mes properly. That is enough for me."


    The phoenix sighed lightly as if he had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Then he closed his eyes, which he had kept open until now, their glow extinguished.


    "I realize you don''t feel much for me, nor should you. Now... whatever your goal is, keep moving toward it."


    He took onest deep breath, his body shimmering slightly.


    "I wish you well in your life, little puppet. I hope that when the timees you will be free of the chains that bind you."


    I sighed again as I realized that his body was turning to dust, or rather ''ashes''. I prepared to give him a proper goodbye, but then... I paused quickly, and my eyes widened.


    An intense panic swept over me as I remembered something important, very important.


    "N- no! Wait, I waited until this moment on purpose... I put all my questions on hold because I was in the middle of the tests... You can''t leave now!"


    I ran toward him in a panic, still shouting. It wasn''t hard to realize that I didn''t have time.


    "Why are you calling me a puppet, what chains... I haven''t asked you anything yet and you haven''t answered me!"


    The phoenix sighed again as he turned to ash, giving me a short and non-answer as if dealing with a small child.


    "It is up to you to find them."


    I frowned, clenching my teeth.


    "No,e here! Don''t go anywhere until you answer my questions!"


    I raised my hands, focusing on my mana.


    Intense, blue-colored mes suddenly enveloped my body. They were not burning or destructive, they wereforting. They were created for another purpose, not destruction.


    The blue mes first flowed into my right hand, then moved toward the phoenix. Their purpose was to feed him.


    The phoenix, however, did nothing in return, just let out another deep sigh.


    The blue mes were extinguished before they could reach him. They swung back at me, throwing me backward, as if under the control of someone much stronger than me.


    "As I said, it''s up to you to find the answers to your questions. Now... don''t disrespect me as I move on to my eternal sleep. I left you my legacy and much more because I trusted you... because I believed you could carry on my lineage as one of thest surviving members of the phoenixes, do not disappoint me."


    Thest parts of the phoenix that were still alive turned to ash after those words. His words echoed through the cave even as he disappeared. There was nothing of him anymore as the ashes of his body spread around.


    "Damn it!"


    I quickly jumped up again, looking at the closest thing to me.


    Absolute Mind took over, trying to suppress my anger, but I didn''t care. I strained my foot, and kicked the shell of the ''egg'' I was sleeping in.


    The shell shattered into pieces but I didn''t care, I didn''t even look back at it. I took deep breaths in and out, clenching my fist tightly.


    I was postponing my questions, saying it was not the time yet... Is this what I get in the end? Nothing...?


    I clicked my tongue and looked at the ashes left by the phoenix. Hisst words echoed in my mind for a moment.


    Finally, I felt my anger calming down a little, Absolute Mind working as efficiently as it could, and I was giving it mana.


    Okay... I''m calm now.


    What I got is not nothing. I may have new questions to answer, but... I got what I wanted to get from this ce, so I shouldn''t be angry.


    The phoenix is dead, and he left his legacy and his lineage to me. So... there''s nothing more I can do about it.


    I took another deep breath, finally managed to push it aside, and then I called out to my mind.


    ''Sith, wake up. I''m back.''


    Before I knew what was happening, a teal glow appeared before my eyes. Sith appeared instantly, despite his sleepy eyes.


    ''Finall- Wait... Is it just me or did you grow taller?''


    ''It''s a long story, I''ll tell youter. First of all... how many days has it been since we got here? What is today''s date?''


    Sith waited a short while, then answered.


    ''It should be the fourteenth of April. At noon.''


    Oh... so I''ve been here for a week. Time in that dimension seems to flow differently than outside, but the point is...


    Aiden''s birthday was April 13th. I don''t know if it was a coincidence, but my birthday as Ethan was the same. In short... I missed both my neenth birthday in this body and my twenty-second birthday mentally by only one day.


    Thanks for reading :)

 Chapter 267 Volume IV - Chapter 114: Phoenix鈥檚 Lineage

    267 Volume IV - Chapter 114: Phoenix¡¯s Lineage


    ''Well¡­ if you got what you wanted, let''s get out of here fast. There''s an extremely intense battle going on out there.''


    I squinted, staring meaninglessly at Sith.


    "Battle? What battle?


    Sith sighed deeply, then quickly summarized the situation for me.


    Things had escted outside while I was here dealing with the tests. Sith didn''t know exactly what had happened, but the South Hr had sent a toon here. Then North Hr had sent their own troops to respond. Within days, the mountain had be a battlefield, and the battle was still raging... more fiercely than ever before.


    ''I think I understand what happened.''


    After all the turmoil at this ce, the South Hr probably thought that if there really was an ancient creature living inside the mountain, it would not be so silent.


    In short, they decided that this creature did not exist and did not want to leave this mountain to the North Hr. However, North Hr also did not want to give up this mountain where they could collect more virgonium than they would ever find in their lives.


    As a result, this must have happened, and a new battlefield emerged.


    ''Actually... we could join the battle. What do you say, Sith?''


    Sith hesitated for a moment, frowning.


    ''Aren''t you tired? You''ve grown taller and certainly stronger, but is it okay to go into battle now?''


    I answered him with a smile.


    ''No, I am not tired. On the contrary, I am even better than before. Besides, if we join this battle directly, we can directly bring the end of the actual war much earlier. This ce is literally crawling with virgonium.''


    ''If you say so...''


    Sith shook his head indifferently, then raised one eyebrow and smiled slightly.


    ''By the way... what have you gained? A phoenix is dead on your back and you feel even less human.''


    ''That''s what I have also been wondering.''


    Before Sith could understand what I was saying, I imagined the system window opening in my mind, and then I opened my statistics window.


    The window that opened in front of me was indeed different from the one before.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: Aiden (Ethan)


    Last Name: Tenebra (Subter)


    Race: Human/Wiera


    Age: 19


    --???--


    ???: %7,9


    --Statistics--


    General Level: D+


    Strength: D-


    Agility: D


    Vitality: D+


    Endurance: D+


    Luck: E+


    Magic Power: D+


    Mana Efficiency: D-


    Charm: D-


    --Status Effects--


    Abnormal Status Effect: [Divided Soul] -- [Body Dissonance] -- [???]


    --Chaos--


    Devotion: Greed


    Status: Representative Candidate


    Grade: C-


    Control Tolerance: C-


    Limit: C


    Authority: [Chains of Sin(D)] -- [Mind Confusion(C-)]


    --Lineage--


    Ancestor: Lumignis


    Type: Phoenix


    Sub-Type: Soul


    Grade: C+ (Downgraded)


    Lineage Abilities: [Blue mes of Lumignis(D+)] -- [Phoenix''s Ascension(C+)] -- [Phoenix''s Regeneration(B-)] -- [A New Beginning(S)]


    --Masteries--


    [Swordsmanship(E+)] -- [Mana Expert(D)] -- [Spirit Magic: Wind Elementalist(D-)] -- [Sword Style: Ambiguous Flow(D-)]


    --Active Skills--


    [Mana Barrier(D-)] -- [Ice Spikes(E+)] -- [Spiritual Ascension(C+)]


    --Passive Skills--


    [The One Who is Close to Spirits(A+)] -- [Absolute Mind(A)] -- [Poison Immunity(C+)]


    ------------------------------>>


    With every word I read, I couldn''t contain myself and let out a loudugh, while Sith stood there with his mouth agape, staring at my system window, which he could also see.


    The only problem was that the grade of my lineage was downgraded, but that was probably because I had not yet done what I should do in the future when I reach B- grade. As I got stronger, the limits of my lineage would be lifted one by one. So, I didn''t even care about that, I couldn''t keep the smile off my face.


    My general level was now D+. Not only that, most things had moved up a grade, even my charm had gone up to D-.


    Still, these things were of little importance in my eyes. What really mattered was the new addition to my status window, ''Lineage''. The skills I had acquired were grouped in this section because they were things I could do directly with my own body, without the help of the system or anything connected to it.


    Actually, the contract I made with Sith was also independent of the system. But the spirits and the system were not so far apart that they were assumed to go together.


    After a quick nce at the names of the skills, I didn''t even wait, I quickly started looking at the descriptions of them.


    <<------------------------------


    Blue mes of Lumignis(D+)


    The user can control the blue mes of Lumignis, a well-known phoenix, at will.


    The blue me is stronger and hotter than normal mes. It can reach not only tangible things but also intangible things. It is not only caustic and destructive but also healing and constructive.


    ------------------------------>>


    I used to concentrate on my wind magic because it was so much stronger than my mes. I used to use my mes only as a distraction. Now... I can also use them effectively in battle. And not only that, I can attack non-physical things with it.


    That''s... quite good, I''m definitely satisfied.


    <<------------------------------


    Phoenix''s Ascension(C+)


    The user can awaken the sleeping phoenix blood flowing through their veins.


    Awakening the sleeping phoenix''s blood will allow the user to use mana much more effectively, their mes will be noticeably stronger and parts of their body will change.


    ------------------------------>>


    I now have another ascension ability besides Spiritual Ascension... Of course, I can''t even use Spiritual Ascension for too long at the moment, and if I use both of them together, it probably won''t do much good to my body, but... just the existence of this gives me a lot of leverage.


    <<------------------------------


    Phoenix''s Regeneration(B-)


    The phoenix blood flowing in the user''s blood constantly heals them with blue mes and protects them from harmful elements entering their body.


    ------------------------------>>


    A passive regeneration ability... I would say what more could I ask for but it also offers an enhanced version of poison immunity. It''s more useful than I could have imagined.


    Now... thest skill that the system gives a grade of S.


    <<------------------------------


    A New Beginning(S)


    The user constantly feeds this ability by killing creatures with their blue mes. Once the feeding reaches a certain level, the user can return from the dead as long as they are willing to do so.


    However,ing back from the deades with a number of sacrifices.


    ------------------------------>>


    Hah, I guessed it from the name... What makes a phoenix a phoenix is that it can be reborn after all, so it wasn''t something I didn''t expect. It''s just... feeding the ability is going to take longer than I thought.


    But if I can somehow fully nurture this ability... then I can y a game that my future enemies will never anticipate.


    The only problem... the description of the ability says thating back from the deades with some sacrifices. The name of the ability, ''a new beginning'', makes me think of something, but...


    Anyway, I''d rather stay in a situation where I''ll never use this ability. But it''s certainly satisfying to have it.


    I took a deep breath in and out, then turned to Sith, who was still floating in the air, still looking at the abilities. He looked funny, actually, his eyes still slightly widened.


    After looking at him, I turned my eyes to my finger.


    I wasn''t wearing any clothes, naturally, given that my whole body had changed, but it didn''t matter. My ring was still on my finger, untouched by anything, and I had everything I needed to go into battle, including a spare suit of armor.


    I changed into afortable outfit, put on my armor, picked up my sword, put on my other artifacts, and then prepared to call out to Sith, but... just then something caught my attention.


    Something small, not too far away from me.


    "Oh..."


    Isn''t this... the gate device Gurdas left me?


    He said it would take me to a safe spot, but now that I''m on a huge battlefield that includes the mountain... it''s most likely going to send me either directly into a battle or not too far away.


    A smile appeared on my face again, and this time I called out to Sith as I approached the device.


    "Are you ready? We''re leaving."


    Sith took a deep breath, finallying out of his shock.


    ''I was just a little... too surprised. I never thought you would get a phoenix''s lineage, but I''m always ready.''


    "Good."


    I approached the gate device, pressed the little button on it and a blue glow appeared on the device. A small gate slowly expanded and took shape before my eyes and I gripped my sword tightly.


    "Then let''s go."


    I took a short but confident step toward the gate and the whole world turned white.

 Chapter 268 Volume IV - Chapter 115: A More Violent Battle

    Chapter 268 Volume IV - Chapter 115: A More Violent Battle


    The first few seconds after passing through the gate were peaceful and calm. It was as if the whiteness and silence that covered my entire vision was almost begging me to rx my body for a moment.


    Nevertheless, I held my sword tightly in my hand. I did not let my guard down. So, after these few seconds of calm... the first thing that caught my attention was a very loud noise.


    Something exploded right next to me. My world, which was just beginning to lose all its brightness, suddenly turned white again.


    I formed a Mana Barrier as fast as I could, surrounding myself in twoyers. The impact of the explosion was mostly absorbed thanks to it. The firstyer broke, but the second one held. So, I took a quick look around behind thest remainingyer.


    Sith was right. The battle was raging in all its fury and horror. The gate seemed to have opened right in the center of the battlefield. What had exploded next to me was a random rocket or something, but that didn''t matter.


    Soldiers were everywhere. It wasn''t hard to tell who was fighting for the South and who was fighting for the North, thanks to the armor and the gs, but it didn''t matter much who was attacking whom.


    Screams filled my ears. War cries echoed and echoed across the battlefield. I saw one dwarf''s chest pierced, another''s arms blown off, another''s head severed from his body, and another sliced straight in half.


    It was chaotic. The battlefield was more chaotic than ever here. In no other area I had ever set foot in before had there been such... such savagery, such bloodshed.


    That''s how important it was for both sides to take control of this mountain and its surroundings.


    ''Sith, we do as we always do. Watch my back, attack with my mana if necessary.''


    Sith gave me a quick nod, and I activated Spiritual Ascension. The crown of tree branches appeared on my head and the usual bracelets formed on my wrists. I took a deep breath amidst the dark teal particles that began to seep out of my body.


    I feel stronger than before, it''s a strange feeling that almost all my stats have ranked up and it happened so suddenly... but it''s not something I need to focus on.


    With the Spiritual Ascension, the vast mana reserves of Sith became avable to me, and not only that, they became detectable by the dwarves, and all eyes in my vicinity instantly turned on me. Thebatants stopped fighting, and the normal soldiers, whose armor offered little protection, just froze.


    I calmly exhaled a deep breath, squinted my eyes, reached for a huge amount from the Sith''s mana pool, and calmly pulled my hand to the side.


    In an instant, a fierce current, reminiscent of hurricane winds, struck the huge space in front of me. With Sith''s immense control, I used a force that was as gentle as possible on the soldiers of the North, but hellish on the soldiers of the South.


    My side of the battlefield seemed to slow down for a moment. But I was not the only ''strong'' one on the field.


    ''Coming from behind!''


    Threeyers of Mana Barrier instantly surrounded me, and I swung my sword behind me in that millisecond.


    The first and secondyers broke instantly, and the thirdyer slowed down the attack as much as possible. My sword made contact with the weapon of my opponent.


    I found a dwarf in red armor in front of me. He had swung his spear at me, but when he made contact with my sword, he was unable to follow up his attack. My physical strength was superior to his.


    I raised my free hand and aimed it at the dwarf''s face.


    A blue glow quickly enveloped my palm. Before the dwarf knew what was happening, the mes poured down on him like a waterfall.


    The dwarf''s screamssted only a few seconds, his voice blending so quickly into the mes that I was perhaps the only one who could hear it.


    Still, I didn''t dwell on the dwarf, didn''t even take a second look at his burnt corpse. I looked around as fast as I could, choosing my next ''strong'' target.


    Not far from me was a two-handed axe wielder who looked at me with wide eyes. When our eyes met, he quickly regained hisposure, realized what I was going to do, shook off his confusion, and regained his fighting stance as fast as he could.


    The weak soldiers, who wanted nothing to do with me, finally remembered that they were on the battlefield and went about their business. A few higher-ranking soldiers, who had caught sight of me, realized I was a threat and prepared to pounce on me.


    I didn''t wait for them to attack. I moved first and flew at the axe user I had my eye on.


    The dwarf raised his axe and tried to defend himself. He was aware of my speed and knew he could not dodge. So he chose to block my attack and that was hisst mistake.


    My sword was about to make contact with his axe when it was suddenly clouded with the wild mana I had imbued it with. The dwarf was stunned, having lost sight of my weapon due to the first phase of the Ambiguous Flow, and I skillfully swung my sword around his axe, striking him in the neck.


    The dwarf experienced a quick death as he tried to pick out my sword, his eyes blurred senselessly. I pulled my sword away from his neck, kicked his body away from me so that I could move more freely, and turned to the other dwarves who were about to attack me from behind.


    I didn''t care if I saw them or not, I didn''t bother to defend myself because I trusted Sith. He could read every movement in my mind, like two minds fighting in one body.


    A powerful spherical stream of wind, centered on my body, quickly left my body. It hit the dwarves that were charging at me, either knocking them off bnce or slowing down their direct attacks. And that was enough for me.


    I spotted the dwarf closest to me, holding what looked like a shotgun in his hand, pointing it at me, but his aim was off because of the wind. Still, he was dangerous because he was holding what looked like a shotgun and he was the closest dwarf to me. So I didn''t even think twice before attacking him.


    I swiftly swung my sword at his rifle, and the weapon, whose grip had been loosened by the wind, was both damaged by my attack and flung from the dwarf''s hand. Not content with that, I drew my sword and thrust it straight through his heart.


    When his heart was pierced, the dwarf gritted his teeth instead of standing still and epting his death as before. He raised his hands, gripped the sword that had pierced his heart as tightly as he could, and tried to hold me in ce. Meanwhile, his friends attacked me from both sides.


    I kicked the dwarf holding my sword, and he could do nothing but drop it, unable to hold on for long because of the hole in his heart and the wild mana that covered the sword. I turned my free hand to my left side and swung my sword to my right, imbuing it with Sith''s mana.


    Huge, blue-colored mes rose meters from my left palm like an angry, raging dragon. The wave of wind from my sword grew and grew with the huge amount of mana I poured into it, reaching a tremendous sharpness.


    The screams of the dwarves were thest thing I heard before Inded. They couldn''t even put up a proper fight against me. It was clear to everyone present that the person who was supposed to face me had to be someone stronger.


    I deactivated Spiritual Ascension, thinking that I had done enough intimidation. I chose not to waste any more mana and continued doing what I was doing.


    And so... the battle continued. I kept picking new targets and fighting them, as I usually do.


    I tried to turn at least my side of the battlefield in the North''s favor as much as possible.


    My efforts were soon noticed. Both by my allies and by the enemy. I was swarmed by even more powerful men, but there were also Northern soldiers who came to fight alongside me.


    In this way, minute after minute passed. Dozens of dwarves died fighting with me or against me, and even more died before I realized what was happening.


    Finally, someone who knew me and had direct orders about me managed toe to me.


    "Corporal, pleasee with us!"


    Considering that I had been missing for a long time, about a week, it made sense that they wanted to take me back to their base as soon as they saw me. So I didn''t insist on fighting.


    I just looked around the battlefield onest time, watching the dwarves being brutally killed. The fact that they looked like useless trash to be thrown away rather than lives that seemed to have any value... made me disgusted with war all over again.


    *******


    Outside the battlefield, in an armored vehicle, on my way to the North''s base in this area, I didn''t do much. I didn''t feel like talking to anyone I knew, so I just looked out the window.


    I watched the light from the explosions reflecting on the clouds, I thought about how many lives were being lost every second. I thought about the people who were forced to fight, who should not be here but were.


    The war seemed even uglier to me. Yet I could only sigh, knowing that I could do nothing.


    This war was a necessary one. The takeover of this mountain was of enormous importance to both sides.


    So, if I want to end this war... I had to be fast.

 Chapter 269 Volume IV - Chapter 116: Time to Get Serious

    Chapter 269 Volume IV - Chapter 116: Time to Get Serious


    "Aiden Tenebra..."


    With my hands behind my back and my head held high, I gave the military salute. On the one hand, I held myself perfectly.


    "Corporal Aiden Tenebra, yes, sir!"


    The dwarf in front of me let out a deep sigh and brought his hand to his face. Then he narrowed his eyes.


    "Ya reckon ya got a sense of humor, huh...?"


    A slight grin appeared on my serious face for a moment, and then I let out a shortugh. I dropped my salute and looked directly at the face of the dwarf in front of me.


    "You''re the one who told me to be formal on the battlefield, Dorhud."


    The dwarf, whom I had seen for the first time in a long time, sighed again.


    "We''re by ourselves here, ain''t no fuss about it."


    He lowered his hand from his face, and this time his expression turned inquisitive.


    "When Staff Sergeant Gurdas told me about what happened, I reckoned you were cashing in your chips for real this time. It''s a relief to know I was off the mark, but... what exactly did you do there?


    I widened my smile, then spoke calmly.


    "When I went there, I heard the call of the ancient creature on the mountain, I followed the feeling, feeling the intensity and fluctuation in the mana, and then... I obtained his legacy, that''s it, actually."


    I raised my palm, lit a blue me, and showed it to Dorhud.


    Dorhud looked at my me calmly. It was clear that he had expected this, he was not even surprised. But it was also clear that he expected something more, for his eyebrows were slightly raised.


    "That is all?"


    I trust Dorhud, he is perhaps one of the four people I trust the most on the Hr continent, but I am also certain that I am not alone in this room right now.


    The North Hr are listening to this conversation right now. They can''t possibly not be listening. That''s why I''m not going to go into detail and I''ll leave it here, even though I''ve already said that I have a ''legacy'', I''m sure it will remain confidential.


    "Yeah."


    "And the creature?"


    "He''s dead, I saw him die with my own eyes. I didn''t kill him myself, by the way."


    Dorhud sighed again.


    "I see... I see, good."


    He looked relieved. I guess the ancient creature thing was something that had been bothering him for a long time.


    "Oh, and..."


    As the words came out of my mouth, Dorhud suddenly paused and turned to me quickly.


    "And?"


    I narrowed my eyes, lowered my smile, and became serious.


    "I want to continue to take part in the battle here. My previous squad is probably here too, and I want to continue fighting alongside them."


    "It''s not a problem, Aiden. It''s just... I ain''t rightly sure what North Hr''s gonna decide ''bout you anymore. With every battle you fight, you''re gettin'' more attention, bin'' more powerful, and everyone sees that. That''s why they''re more likely to send you to a location they want, regardless of your desires."


    "It doesn''t matter, there is no reason why they can''t ept what I want. Besides..."


    Dorhud raised his eyebrows again as I emphasized thest word.


    "It''s time for me to get serious, Dorhud. Until now I''ve been fighting as a simple soldier, just doing my duties, because there are things I want to gain, like experience and a mindset for war. I still want to continue to gain these things, but..."


    I fixed my eyes on the ground, clenched my fist, and continued.


    "This war has gone on too long. I thought I would get used to the casualties as time went on, but that hasn''t happened. On the contrary, each time the war... it makes me more and more frustrated. On top of that, I want to go back home, back to my friends."


    I raised my head, my expression even more serious and cold than before.


    "Two days. I will end the battle here in two days and the real war in two weeks."


    Dorhud''s eyes widened as he looked at me like I was crazy.


    "I trust you, Aiden, don''t get me wrong, but... you''re talkin'' a load of gobbledegook right now. You ain''t banged your head somewhere, right?"


    "No, I didn''t hit my head anywhere. I told you I had the legacy of that ancient creature, didn''t I? That legacy was not the only thing I took from him."


    Dorhud''s curiosity was piqued even more, his ears especially perked up so he wouldn''t miss what I was saying, and I continued.


    "A rune, we will draw a huge rune on the battlefield. Normally it would take an enormous amount of mana to support such arge rune, and we probably don''t have anything to pay for it, but... there is much, much more mana under the ground than we will ever need. The massive mana from the ancient creature still lies in that cave, as does the mana stored in the virgoniums."


    I paused for a moment, but continued.


    "Half of the virgoniums will probably be useless, but if we get a quarter, let alone half, of all the virgoniums in that cave, we can end this war in less than a month. I also have ns in terms of battle strategy. I noticed something among the South soldiers when I was fighting and I had an idea. But the main point is this ''rune''."


    Dorhud''s face soured. He was well aware that the amount of virgonium that woulde out of that cave was really huge, but... he just wasn''t sure about the n.


    "A huge rune... How are we goin'' to draw it?"


    "It will take me a day toplete a sketch of the rune. Applying it to the battlefield and arranging a team for it will take another day, only they have to be hidden and inconspicuous."


    "But..."


    "Trust me Dorhud, just trust me. Tell me one time when I have let you down and I will give it up myself. If I had any idea that it wouldn''t work, I wouldn''t have offered it to you in the first ce."


    Dorhud remained silent, finally closing his eyes and just waiting. He thought and thought and thought. I waited patiently as his answer became more and more uncertain with each passing second.


    "I need to... talk to the higher-ups."


    "Aren''t they already listening to us?"


    Dorhud suddenly went silent and I sighed as I looked at a random corner of the room.


    It was really the perfect angle to put a hidden camera, it had a very clear view of the whole room. So I was pretty sure there was something there.


    "As I said, I will prepare the rune myself and exin everything. You know the Language of Mana, which has been on the rise in rune theoriestely and has new meanings every day? You must also know that it was discovered and presented by a human. That human is me. I presented the theory myself."


    I took the most calm but confident posture I could.


    "I will exin the rune I will draw to you with all its meanings. I have also seen that the enemies in the war put a lot of emphasis on this ce, and I have an idea that we can use it to our advantage. If you are satisfied, you can continue with the n, if not, you can suspend it or shelve it outright. What do you say?"


    The device on Dorhud''s wrist beeped, then a screen opened in front of him and expanded. Finally, an image of an old, elderly dwarf in a military uniform appeared on the screen.


    "Show us your drawing and then we will decide ordingly."


    A smile formed on my face, but I didn''t let myself go too far. I gave the military salute and bowed respectfully.


    "Thank you, general."


    The old dwarf on the screen nodded in acknowledgment, and then the image closed as abruptly as it hade.


    Dorhud took a deep breath, and I kept smiling.


    "Then... I''d like to reunite with my old squad first, is that all right?"


    Dorhud put his hand to his face and rested his head on the table as if all his life energy had been drained.


    "Do whatever you want..."

 Chapter 270 Volume IV - Chapter 117: A Conversation With an Old General

    Chapter 270 Volume IV - Chapter 117: A Conversation With an Old General


    I waited a short while before opening the door I was standing in front of. It didn''t take long though, and soon I reached for the door, sighing slightly.


    The door opened and the first thing that hit my face was a cool breeze.


    Two bunk beds on the sides of the room came into my field of vision, followed by the three dwarves sitting between them, who turned to me as I opened the door and looked at me in surprise.


    "Aiden?"


    I smiled, waving slightly.


    "Well, hi."


    Gurdas, Rulhan, and Durvan jumped to their feet at the same time.


    "Hold on... did ye grow taller?"


    "Haha... Well, I guess."


    There were traces of surprise on all three of their faces, but it was soon reced by smiles again.


    "I hope you didn''t have too much difficulty while I was away."


    With these joking words, I came over to them and sat on the bunk closest to me. Durvan replied with a grin.


    "Heh, ye''re one to talk."


    When our group of four reunited, I was first asked about what had happened. I didn''t tell them anything different from what I had told Dorhud, but personally, I was more curious about their situation, so the conversation quickly turned to them.


    To be honest, not much had happened while I was away. Apart from the mountain and its surroundings bing a new battlefield, they had continued to participate in battles and fulfill their duties. There were no additional developments.


    "The legacy of an ancient creature, huh..."


    "Exactly."


    I raised my hand, created a blue me, and moved it around the room like a flying marble.


    The three dwarves watched the blue marble with great interest. The me was truly mesmerizing, with its blue color and perfect shape. Still, we didn''t dwell on it too much.


    Minutes turned into more minutes as we chatted about what had happened, what we were going to do, or random things. It was good to be reunited and have someone to talk to, but it had toe to an end.


    Soon I had to leave them again, because, as I told the old general when I was with Dorhud, I needed to sketch out the rune that I was nning to apply to the battlefield. On top of that, I was going to propose a battle strategy that would win them this war.


    The time hade.


    So, after almost two hours with them, I left the room and went deeper into the base with a soldier who was waiting for me just outside.


    *******


    The room I was taken to was a simple room, the size of a normal apartment living room, where I was allowed to work as I wished. In the center of the room was a table with holographic technology that allowed me to do everything.


    As soon as I sat down at the table, what I expected happened. Arge screen opened in front of me and a figure, the same old dwarf as in Dorhud''s room, appeared on it. This time his eyes were much sharper, though he didn''t try to hide the fact that he had questions.


    The old general spoke quickly, without any formality.


    "I understand about the runes, Corporal Tenebra. But I''d like you to tell me about the battle strategy."


    I wasn''t even surprised as I knew this would happen. On the contrary, I smiled and looked into the old general''s ck eyes.


    "First of all, let me tell you that even if we win on this battlefield, we will have a maximum of two, maybe three days to enjoy all the benefits of this ce. You realize that, right?"


    It would be strange if they didn''t realize it. This was one of the battlefields where the South Hr were now putting a lot of emphasis and troops, after all. They knew how important that mountain was. So the moment the war started to go badly for them, they would y their trump card.


    They would drive the battleship, the Caleuche, here. Who knows, maybe they had already started to move it.


    "Of course we are aware."


    I nodded my head in satisfaction.


    "Good, then I''ll get straight to what''s on my mind without wasting time."


    The general squinted his eyes and gave me permission to continue, so I began to tell him everything I knew and everything that was on my mind.


    "The rune I want to install on the battlefield will have two simple features. The first is to destroy the enemy''s entire intelligence and technologywork, at least in this region. We all know that the southern soldiers, like us, have a system simr to AVRES. Of course, you have tried to hack it before and failed. Rather than interfere directly with the system, I intend to target the system''s information flow, and I will do this by intercepting the runes that allow the enemy to connect to it."


    The General raised one eyebrow in interest.


    "And how are you going to do that?"


    "I know what kind of runes the enemy uses in their system, so I can draw the most suitable runes to counter them. All I have to do is draw a rune that will have the opposite effect to these runes and then the enemy will be deprived of their artificial intelligence. Their armor will lose most of its functions and everything will be much simpler for us."


    "Hmm... Go on."


    "The second feature of the rune is that it will not only jam the system, but it will also redirect the signals that try to travel through it to our system so that they can be read directly. Of course, for this feature, we will need to use another device to get information from the rune, but that is not difficult. That''s the purpose of the runes."


    The General smiled slightly, pleased with what he had heard.


    "And what about the battle strategy you speak of?"


    "Well, that connects to what we were talking about in the first seconds of our conversation. As we know, the course of the battle here will bring Caleuche here. There is no doubt about that. Tomorrow, while the rune I propose is being engraved on the battlefield, I suggest we withdraw our troops slowly as if we are losing."


    This time the general''s brow furrowed, as if he was going to object to my idea of withdrawing the troops.


    "We need to drag the enemy further into this when we have a big trump card in our hand, they must think they are winning. We can even draw them back to a point close to the base, and if they see that we''re struggling, they''ll believe that they''re actually going to win the battle, and Caleuche might stoping here and turn to another battlefield. That would give us more time to overpower the enemy much faster and to collect the virgonium."


    The general looked up, expecting me to stop, but then he locked eyes with me and remained still.


    I squinted, my expression cold. I was no longer smiling, my lips were straight. When the general saw this, he stuttered for a brief moment and I continued.


    "Isn''t winning the war what we want, general? As a more convincing way of doing thisst point, I would like to suggest that we allow the enemy to reallye at us, even if only for a moment. There will be casualties, I am sure of that, but I think the gains will far outweigh the losses. You can mine enough virgonium in that mountain to produce several of the swords you n to use against Caleuche. That would allow us to end the actual war in a month, maybe two weeks. We could end this war that has been going on for years in two weeks."


    The general paused, as if thinking, and his eyes narrowed; his gaze also grew cold.


    "You''re right, Corporal Tenebra. If we allow them to advance and secretly surround them, we could indeed be victorious on this battlefield in a matter of days. But... what if we fail? Do you think our losses will be such that we can make up for them if we fail?"


    "We will not fail, general. That''s not an option, and you know it. Besides... do you think casualties are that important? I think it''s a risk worth taking for the chance of sess."


    I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.


    "I don''t want casualties either. I find this war disgusting in the first ce. The thought of thousands, tens of thousands, and more dying for nothing just gets on my nerves. But if we have to do it for the sake of victory..."


    I opened my eyes and gave the general the coldest look I could muster as I transferred mana to the Absolute Mind.


    "Neither of us should care about this."


    The old general let out a deep, really deep sigh.


    "So be it, Aiden Tenebra. So be it... we will put your n into action. The next time we meet, this battle will be over, one side will be victorious, and if that side is not us..."


    He raised his hand and pointed at me with his index finger.


    "Know that you will suffer the consequences of this as much as I will."


    "I was the one who said we had to take a risk, general. If I have to take a punishment, I will dly ept it."


    "Then start designing your rune, I''ll leave it up to you how to install it on the battlefield. You can use our soldiers any way you want. I hope that in two days there will be no Southern soldiers left on this battlefield."


    "Don''t worry... I, we will eradicate them all."


    The call went off, the general''s image disappeared and the screen faded back down to the table.

 Chapter 271 Volume IV - 118: Wise Words of a Not-So-Wise Man

    <h4>Chapter 271 Volume IV - Chapter 118: Wise Words of a Not-So-Wise Man</h4>


    After the General''s image disappeared, a deep silence filled the room, broken only by the voice echoing in my mind.


    ''Aiden... are you sure you want to do this?''


    I looked at the tiny figure of Sith floating in front of me, then sighed.


    ''I''m not, Sith, I''m not. Sending someone to their death for my cause is not something I would do if I had no choice. But... this war has gone on too long, and if we don''t end it soon, there will be many more casualties. So... I have to do it.''


    Sith looked at me worriedly and I smiled slightly.


    ''Let''s do what we have to do for now, we will regret itter. We have already started down this path.''


    I leaned over the table, opened a holographic window in front of me, and turned it into a nk page where I could draw.


    ''Let me draw this rune first. I''ll probably spend all night on it, so the sooner I start the better.''


    Sith floated over and sat on my shoulder.


    ''Fine, just don''t push yourself too hard.''


    I smiled again, for thest time, and then I transferred mana to the Absolute Mind, put all my focus on this drawing, and started to remember, to draw thatplex rune I had seen in the game.


    Yes, this rune was not my own creation at the beginning. It was aplicated rune that appearedter in the game, inter quests. I couldn''t remember exactly how it was, but... I was sure what meanings I had to connect and in what ways.


    All I had to do was to draw the rune so that it would work, and as I said, even if I had to spend all night trying to perfect it, it would be totally worth it.


    *******


    In the middle of the battlefield, I took aim at an enemy I had my eye on.


    I didn''t waste much time. When the pilot, controlling a robot almost three meters in size, hesitated only for a fleeting moment, I pulled the trigger.


    As soon as the bullet of pure energy from my rifle reached the robot''s cockpit window, it popped like a balloon. The three-meter-tall robot exploded into the air.


    I instantly ced my rifle in my ring, drew my sword, looked behind me, certain that my position had been revealed, and what I found was not a dwarf charging at me, but a bullet that had almost pierced my helmet.


    Threeyers of Mana Barriers appeared at once, and the wind blowing in my opposite direction forced the bullet, which had a physical form, to slow down. The firstyer broke quickly, the secondyer followed, but the bullet could not prate the third one.


    I looked for the dwarf who had shot at me, and I found him. He was not far from me, in the sparse bushes. He had found a good ce for himself, but the fact that he was standing where the bullet hade from made him easy to find, especially when he was being searched for.


    I flew at him, which wasn''t hard to do with the wind magic. When he realized I was closing in on him, he tried to run away, but he was slow. The next second, his head separated from his body and fell to the ground.


    While the battle was going on in all its violence and brutality... there were other things happening in the background.


    In spite of the number of our soldiers, which certainly seemed to have decreased, though not by much,pared to yesterday, the enemy had increased in numbers and today they were dominant. They were slowly closing in on us, growing more and more convinced that they would win this battle.


    While they were thinking this, the allies were digging one by one on the spot where we would fight tomorrow. Their work required so much caution and concentration that sometimes there was a problem and they had to contact me.


    Still, we were in a good position, the enemy had not yet realized what was happening. They thought they had won the war and we wanted them to keep thinking that way.


    "Aiden an'' Rulhan, they''re gettin'' crowded here. If they keep goin'', there''ll be trouble. Can yee help?"


    Rulhan and I answered Gurdas'' call for help at the same time.


    "We areing."


    The fighting continued in the same way today. Having not slept all night, I continued to hold myself together and fight as many as I could.


    *******


    When night time came, instead of turning back and resting as usual, this time we were on alert a little behind the battlefield.


    Just as we had nned, we were being pushed back, the Southern soldiers had been slightly overpowering us since midday, and as soon as they realized this, they began to attack more fiercely.


    Worried that we might actually lose the war if we turned too much of a blind eye, the authorities had decided that most of the men would not sleep tonight.


    Everyone had been given potions and pills to keep them from being overly affected by theck of sleep, but it could still be exhausting after a while.


    Especially for me, for whom this was the second night without sleep.


    Still, I didn''t let myself go, I tried to make the most of thest five minutes outside the battlefield, more alert than ever.


    Tomorrow was thest day of this battlefield, after all... At least that''s what I was nning and hoping for.


    I let out a deep sigh, then turned my eyes back to the sky.


    No stars were visible, it was a dark sky because it was filled with smoke rising from the battlefields. On top of that there were a lot of clouds and as a result... the sky was ck. Not even the moon was visible, I couldn''t even tell where it was.


    "Ye really like lookin'' at the sky at night, huh?"


    I lowered my eyes from the dark sky and turned in the direction of the voice.


    A slight smile appeared on my face, I shifted to the side.


    "I like watching the stars, but... it doesn''t look like they''ll be visible today."


    Gurdas sat down on the spot that opened up when I moved to the side. Without saying anything, he turned his eyes to where I had just been looking.


    "Ye look up every evenin'', sometimes I wonder why ye really love the stars so much..."


    "I mean... they''re beautiful, I guess there''s not much I can exin."


    I narrowed my eyes, sighed a little, and continued.


    "It''s just... sometimes I realize how small and insignificant I really am, and when I look at the stars, that feeling only increases. Thinking that there are things like them, even if they are far away, makes me feel even smaller than I am."


    I paused for a moment, then continued.


    "But at the same time it helps me see how big and magnificent they are. They are beautiful, they are impressive, and when most of them are visible in the dark sky... they are just eye-catching."


    "You feel small and insignificant, huh..."


    Gurdas lowered his eyes, widened his smile, and turned to me.


    "Indeed, we are. When I imagine all the things that happen in the world, all the things that happen in the background... we are like an ant."


    I raised an eyebrow, looking at him puzzled.


    "I thought you were going to say something about don''t underestimate yourself or something, that you were going to give me a wise lesson."


    Gurdas widened his smile, thenughed.


    "Of course, I don''t want ya to underestimate yerself. But that doesn''t mean there''s no truth in what ya say. Besides... I ain''t a wise man."


    Gurdas opened his mouth to speak again, but just then a holographic screen appeared in front of us, interrupting his speech.


    It said that all troops should be ready for defense, adding that Southern troops would be arriving here soon.


    Gurdas got up from his seat when he saw the notification.


    "Carry on just like yer doin''. Eventually, ye''lle to see that even if the world atrge be as ye say, at least ye hold an important spot in yer own story. That''s what I think, at least."


    I sighed deeply and stood up as he did.


    "Well... so be it."


    I stretched, tossing my head left and right, my body slightly numb, but it didn''t matter.


    "I''d rather focus on the battle for now, but thank you for your ''wise'' words."


    Gurdas smiled again. I ignored him and looked at the soldiers where I stood.


    Every one of them was on their feet, readying their weapons. Some of them had worry on their faces, some had fear on their faces, some had just... a t expression.


    It was a sight I was used to seeing, everyone was like this before every battle. This evening, however, these soldiers and their expressions were more prominent in my eyes.


    Tomorrow, because of my decision, most of the soldiers here will probably die... Because we will be fighting so close to our base, the North will mass all its soldiers here, and the South''s attack also will be more precise and fierce than ever.


    There will be a lot more casualties than usual, many people will die. All because of my desire to end this war early.


    Maybe that''s why these soldiers seem more... real to me now. Because I''m the one to end their story... Maybe because I feel a little guilty, just like with Frederick.


    Who knows...?


    But... the important thing is to win. I shouldn''t get caught up in these things.

 Chapter 272 Volume IV - 119: Seconds Before the Victory

    <h4>Chapter 272 Volume IV - Chapter 119: Seconds Before the Victory</h4>


    It was much worse.


    It was a hell of a lot worse than I thought it would be.


    When the call to battle camest night, when I was with Gurdas, I knew that we would hardly be able to defend, I knew that many people would die, but... I didn''t expect this.


    The defense started before the sun had risen and continued until noon of the next day. And it was still going on.


    Robots, soldiers, rockets, spells, bullets, and all sorts of things wereing from all sides. The screams echoed in my ears more clearly than ever.


    With each passing second we were being pushed back more and more, with each passing second the enemy wasing at us more and more.


    Of course, as in every battle... there were some who targeted me specifically. Some of the Southern soldiers would asionally pounce on me, either trying to kill me outright or to damage me without killing me. If they had some kind of prioritized target list, I was sure I was high up on it.


    Still, the battle was going well so far.


    There seemed to be more casualties than we had nned, but other than that, everything was as it should be. At the point where we were pushed back, a huge rune was waiting to engulf the entire enemy, and countless troops were hiding somewhere above the clouds or on the ground, ready to attack at any moment.


    I was doing what I had to do in this battle where I saw more blood and heard more screams than I had ever seen in my life.


    Every minute I was retreating backward, letting the enemye at me, but trying to keep their numbers within a certain range.


    I didn''t worry too much about running out of mana. Because normally dwarf soldiers don''t worry about that, the North Hr also didn''t, but when they realized that when I ran out of mana I had to leave the battle whether I wanted to or not, they prepared some special mana potions for me.


    So, as long as I wasn''t injured, I could fight non-stop in short breaks, and I did.


    Today alone I had used Spiritual Ascension perhaps more than I had used it since I had it, and my ability named Phoenix''s Regeneration could quickly deal with minor injuries.


    It was actually the first time I saw this ability active today and it was quite... strange.


    As soon as any wound appeared on my body, tiny blue mes would shoot out of the same wound, and then the mes would get smaller and smaller, healing the wound. Finally, when there was nothing left, the blue mes would go back into my body.


    It was a strange feeling, but perhaps one of the best abilities I had.


    "Aiden, we''re starting slowly."


    With that voice echoing in my skull, I took a deep breath and looked around the battlefield again for a brief moment, this time focusing on where we were rather than on things like enemies or spells being thrown at me.


    The base of the North Hr was visible in the distance. It wasn''t a gigantic structure, of course, just something carved into a hill, but it was still clearly a base.


    The time had indeede. The whole area was littered with corpses and rubble, from the original battlefield all the way here, but it woulde to an end...


    "All right."


    The southern soldiers became even more aggressive when they realized that we were starting to retreat slightly toward the base. I saw smiles on some of their faces, relief on others as they realized that this battle wasing to an end.


    They didn''t know anything.


    A notification appeared in front of me, visible only to the Northern soldiers thanks to their helmets.


    <<------------------------------


    Last 30 seconds until the rune is activated.


    ------------------------------>>


    Immediately after the notification, a voice echoed in my ears again.


    "Get ready fer a counterattack! Reinforcements''ll be joinin'' the battlefield as soon as that rune in the field lights up! Most of the Southern soldiers are right on that rune, make sure ye carve ''em up good! Let''s win this battle!"


    It was Dorhud, I recognized his voice. I couldn''t think too much about it though, because suddenly I noticed someone charging at me.


    I was in the shadow of a dwarf who was obviously holding a spear.


    I created a barrier just in case, then threw myself to the side, activated Spiritual Ascension as fast as I could, and looked at my opponent.


    In front of me was a well-built dwarf with red-colored armor. He was still shorter than me, even though he was taller than dwarves in general, but I was sure that he was ahead of me in physical strength with the help of his armor.


    The dwarf spun his spear as if he had noticed my barrier. Instead of reducing its force by mming it into the barrier, he maintained his momentum and attempted something no one had ever tried to do before.


    He stepped on my barrier, bounced off it, tried to get behind me, and... seeded.


    My eyes widened when I saw what the dwarf had done, I had never imagined that something like this could happen. I was unprepared and in a bad position as Spiritual Ascension was not yet fully activated.


    The spear swung at me again, this time behind my back, out of my sight.


    I tried to escape by throwing myself forward, but in vain. The dwarf had taken advantage of this as quickly as possible.


    I felt intense pain in my back, followed by warmth. I gritted my teeth and transferred mana to the Absolute Mind to bear the pain, but the wound was so deep that even my organs could have been damaged.


    The dwarf did not want to be satisfied with a single swing. After the first swing he attacked a second time, maintaining his momentum, but this time I was able to react.


    I quickly formed a wall of blue mes between us, using the winds to lift myself upward as my crown finally formed above my head and dark teal particles began to spread from my body into the atmosphere.


    Aforting warmth enveloped the wound on my back, the Phoenix''s Regeneration had kicked in but I wasn''t sure how fast it could heal the wound.


    The dwarf in red armor looked at me over the wall of blue mes. He could see me because I was levitating, and so our eyes met.


    I clicked my tongue, the wound on my back still healing, and looked at the notification in front of me.


    Ten seconds... only ten seconds until the activation of the rune.


    The armored dwarf stretched, pointing his spear at me again. That''s how I realized he also had the ability to fly because no one in their right mind would give an advantage to someone who could hover.


    The dwarf jumped over the wall of mes and flew toward me. At that moment a pair of teal wings appeared on his back. They resembled the wings of a fly.


    The dwarf''s attack with his wings was even faster than before. He literally shot out of the ground like a bullet. Yet there was something else that was different from before.


    Spiritual Ascension was active, and Sith was with me.


    I didn''t even think to react. Sith used most of his mana, knowing what he had to do. He focused our ''ultimate move'', which we had practiced several times, on the spot where the dwarf would be in a moment, right in front of me.


    As the pressure points in the atmosphere suddenly shifted, the dwarf tried to pause for a moment, as if realizing this, but he was so fast that he could not control himself. Finally realizing that he was going to take damage no matter what, he gripped his spear tighter.


    There was a split-second sh on his armor, and then severalyers of barriers instantly surrounded him.


    With only a meter between me and his spear, the atmosphere in the space he was in suddenly copsed on him. Everything around him pressed down on him, trying to squeeze him, as if he were at the center of a vacuum.


    The first barrier broke instantly, and the second and third suffered the same fate. Though, I wasn''t sure if the fourth barrier would also break. That''s why I decided not to take any chances.

 Chapter 273 Volume IV - 120: The Changing Course of Battle

    <h4>Chapter 273 Volume IV - Chapter 120: The Changing Course of Battle</h4>


    When I realized that the dwarf could withstand the enormous pressure with a small chance with his fourth barrier, with only a few centimeters between us, I tilted my head to the left against the spear and pulled my left hand to the right.


    Just like the vacuum that formed on it, another vacuum formed, this time on my right side. The tip of the spear deflected and turned toward the second vacuum. The dwarf''s eyes met mine just as hisst remaining barrier was about to break.


    Still, I took no chances. I focused on my own mana rather than the limitless mana of Sith and narrowed my eyes.


    A blue glow added to the teal glow on the dwarf. Blue mes from nothingness surrounded him in an instant. When thest barrier was broken, it rushed at the dwarf with the vacuum.


    The dwarf had lost all his speed because of the vacuum. So he was suspended in mid-air, as if floating, despite his great speed. Even the force of his attack was absorbed by the vacuum, not even a breeze hit my face.


    Meanwhile, blue mes entered his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. As I literally burned him from the inside, the dwarf''s screams were again lost in my vacuum and he died silently.


    When the blue mes became the thing that killed him, I felt a warmth inside me that slowly faded away. It was what A New Beginning made me feel every time it was ''fed'' something.


    I let out a deep sigh, and when the vacuum finally disappeared, I slowly floated to the ground as the dwarf''s burnt corpse fell to the ground.


    I saw the enemy soldiers looking at me and the corpse in horror, and I noticed that the allies were grinning. I didn''t pay much attention to them, though.


    When I finallynded on the ground... everything was much worse than it had been.


    The Southern soldiers were almost several times the number of Northern soldiers on the ground. Countless allies were being mercilessly ughtered, screams filled my ears everywhere. Yet I did nothing. I just waited where I was, knowing that not a second was left.


    Finally, indeed not a secondter, something happened that one side of the field had been waiting for with all its being, and the other side could never have predicted.


    The entire battlefield suddenly went rigid, as if time had frozen. The reason for this was that the mana density on the battlefield suddenly increased several times over.


    Enemies'' eyes widened, allies smiled, having been waiting for this since the previous night.


    Suddenly the ground began to tremble, a light blue glow shimmered across the entire field and soared high into the sky.


    As if a second sun had risen over the area, everything was illuminated with a magnificent glow, dazzling many.


    Countless pir-like structures suddenly emerged from the ground, and not only that, they shot up into the air. These pirs spread over the whole area and suddenly connected with each other. Countless lines joined with each other, forming a shape like a jigsaw puzzle.


    "Wh- what?! What''s happenin''!"


    There were voices of surprise among the enemies, literally frozen in ce as they tried to understand what had happened. As far as they knew, nothing like this was supposed to happen, which meant that the North Hr was up to something.


    The huge rune rose higher and higher, all the mana in the area concentrated and concentrated on the rune, and after a while, it reached such a level that some could not contain themselves and began to vomit. Some even copsed on the ground.


    Meanwhile, the mountain, which was the goal of both sides, kept transferring and transferring mana to the rune.


    A few of the southerners finally came to their senses, realized what was happening, and tried to run away or kill someone. For example, a dwarf not far from me chose thetter. Instead of running away, he chose to continue doing his job while everyone froze.


    What he encountered was my sword. Confused by the amount of mana on the battlefield, he died before he even realized I was behind him. His eyes widened as his head left his body.


    Soon after, the glow emanating from his rays suddenly increased many times over. All eyes were dazzled, and everyone was briefly blinded. A wave of energy that made my whole body tremble spread from the rune throughout the entire area. Yet it did nothing but make my body tremble, after all, I didn''t have what it was aiming for.


    What the rune was targeting were the specific runes that the Southerners used in their artificial intelligence system, as I had already told the old general. So when this wave of energy from the rune spread, that''s when the real change on the battlefield happened.


    All the armor of the southern soldiers trembled with sparks. Their screams of agony echoed across the field. Their armor, equipped with technology and runes, was the hardest hit by the wave. Yet the sparks were not enough to kill them, only a momentary shock.


    What happened next changed the course of the war even more drastically.


    The northern troops, waiting in aircraft above the clouds, fell like meteorites to the ground. All the units that had been hiding here and there sprang into motion, attacking the stunned soldiers, all their technology turned upside down.


    Chaos once again dominated the whole area. The only difference... this time the dominant side had changed dramatically.


    It was no longer the northerners who were being mercilessly ughtered, but the southerners.


    A smile appeared on my face. I joined the northerners, attacking every soldier I saw.


    Again and again, my sword was soaked in blood. Heads were severed from bodies, countless people tasted death before they realized what had happened.


    The smile never left my face. When I started killing weaklings who couldn''t even move, rather than fighting a battle... I felt strange.


    It was fun, much more fun than fighting.


    At some point I seemed to hear a voice, a familiar voice echoing in my mind... but it quickly faded into the background, I couldn''t even make out what it was saying.


    The Southerners slowly began to wake up from their shock. It didn''t take them long to realize that their AI and armor were not working, but they still chose not to stay where they were when they saw everyone around them being killed.


    Now that the runes in their armor had stopped working, they were just normal dwarves with pieces of metal on them, no different from the humans in my old world, and that was... much more fun.


    They were trying, struggling to survive. Yet the helplessness and terror they felt when they realized their powerlessness... was much more satisfying than killing people who were shocked and unresponsive.


    "S- stop!"


    I didn''t stop, I walked up to a dwarf I had spotted and tore his left arm from his body. His scream echoed in the field, he held his left shoulder, which was bleeding constantly, with his right hand and looked at me with his old eyes.


    I felt an even more intense warmth inside me, and I tore his other arm from his body.


    He fell to the ground, stomping. He tried to crawl away from me, still refusing to die.


    Even so, it wasn''t long before he passed out from blood loss, so I moved on to a new dwarf without even checking that he was dead.


    I moved deeper and deeper into the battlefield, killing and killing.


    I kept hearing a shouting voice echoing in my mind, but I ignored it as much as possible because it was annoying.


    Finally, I approached an area where the trees were slightly thicker.


    I spotted another dwarf, a dwarf lying on the ground, his chest rising and falling.


    My smile widened wider than ever. I slowly approached the dwarf on the ground. I didn''t even care if he was an enemy or an ally, I didn''t care. He was just... down, injured, weak, and helpless.


    He was exactly the target I was looking for.


    I got right up to him, and when I saw the huge burn mark on his chest, I had a funny idea.


    I raised my sword, pointed it at his shoulder, and with my other hand I created a blue me, I liked the idea that what he experienced before he died was what made him so helpless.


    At the sound of the blue me, the dwarf, his head turned to the side, slowly turned his eyes toward me.


    Before he knew what was happening, I had drawn my sword to shock him, preparing to cut off his right arm, but just then... the whole world froze.


    All sounds suddenly stopped, and an intense silence enveloped my body. My smile gradually faded from my face, and my eyes slowly widened.


    My sword trembled in my hand, slipped through my fingers, and fell to the ground. All my muscles rxed at once, and the blue me in my other hand disappeared into the atmosphere.


    "Oh... Aiden..."


    The wounded dwarf finally spoke, his familiar voice entering my ears.


    He looked at me with his slightly faded eyes. Those eyes, which before seemed to be a really dark shade of brown, were now slightly gray, losing focus.


    His eyes slowly left my face and turned weakly toward the blue sky.


    "Fuck... Ain''t even night yet. I can''t see the stars... Though, the sun was also a star... right...?"

 Chapter 274 Volume IV - 121: The Price of Victory

    <h4>Chapter 274 Volume IV - Chapter 121: The Price of Victory</h4>


    "No... No, no, no..."


    I knelt down, forgetting all the madness that had taken over my mind minutes ago. I ced my hand on Gurdas''s chest, focusing without a second thought on the blue mes.


    Blue mes whose only function was not only to burn but also to heal.


    ''Aiden...''


    My palm was covered in blue mes, and not only that, it slowly covered the huge burn mark on Gurdas'' chest.


    The wound was so bad and so deep that it was a miracle he had survived at all. Whatever had hit him, whatever had burned him, had been so powerful that it had almost burned his organs.


    And yet, when blue mes came on top of this burn, Gurdas did not moan or scream. On the contrary, a look of relief appeared on his face, if only for a moment. So I was sure that the mes were doing what I wanted them to do: healing him, keeping him alive.


    Yet next to this expression of relief, another one appeared. One that was as much an expression of difort as it was of relief.


    "Heh."


    Gurdas smiled, though even that was sloppy. His lips could not curl much.


    "Don''t w-"


    "No... No I''m not wasting my time, shut up and just wait. Don''t waste your energy... don''t waste it."


    Beads of sweat appeared on my forehead, I could barely keep my palm on Gurdas'' chest as my whole body continued to tremble.


    The glow in Gurdas'' eyes dimmed even more, his breathing slowed even more.


    My vision too blurred. I felt like everything was falling apart, yet I didn''t give up. I refused to give up.


    I gave the blue mes even more mana, I didn''t keep a single bit of it inside me, I spent it all.


    Gurdas smiled again, finally tore his dark brown eyes away from the sky, and looked at me again.


    He tried to say something but I didn''t let him, I silenced him, I didn''t want him to waste his energy.


    Nevertheless, with each passing second Gurdas'' condition continued to deteriorate, and even though I was healing him, it seemed to have no effect, except for the relief on his face.


    The blue mes... aren''t they enough to keep him alive?


    No, they should be. If they are insufficient... then it is not their insufficiency, but mine.


    These mes allow the living to be reborn. They can''t save a dying man? Bullshit...


    I gritted my teeth, I didn''t ept the fact that the mes were insufficient. I couldn''t ept such a thing.


    I didn''t reach out to the system, but to something other than it, something independent of it, something that belonged to me... the blood inside me.


    As my whole body suddenly began to heat up, as I felt the blood coursing through my veins be excited... the phoenix blood in my body slowly began to awaken, the Phoenix''s Ascension slowly activated.


    The whole world turned blue in an instant. Blue mes rose from my body, spreading all around.


    My eyes sharpened, and I realized I could see my surroundings more clearly. My hair became wavy, slightly longer. Under my eyes, I saw my skin shimmering with a golden glow. As the blood in my veins continued to awaken... I felt myself changing.


    ''Are these... runes?''


    I heard Sith mutter, his confusion reflected in his words, but I didn''t care.


    My body was suddenly overflowing with power. My mana reserves, normally depleted, were suddenly full. The whole world shimmered, a slightly translucent color became visible to my eyes, circting in the atmosphere for no reason.


    Not only that, some of the bodies lying on the ground glowed with a blue glow. Some were dim, others still brighter.


    Yet all this was unimportant. None of this was of any use to me right now.


    What mattered was that I was overflowing with mana and that my blue mes were suddenly multiplied many times stronger.


    The mes that had been concentrated around Gurdas suddenly expanded as if they were burning even more fiercely than before as they tried to heal Gurdas.


    The smile on Gurdas''s face seemed to flicker. He opened his mouth again, tried to say something, but this time he failed to say what he wanted without me having to silence him.


    Our eyes met, and for a moment I saw his pale eyes sparkle.


    Happiness, pride, sadness, maybe regret, but definitely much more...


    Thest change in Gurdas'' expression became more definitive when he barely managed to put his hand on my shoulder. He said nothing, just kept smiling as the blue mes tried to keep him alive as best they could.


    The glint in his eyes flickered, this time with pure desire. Gurdas... practically begged me. He... begged me to stop.


    The blue mes that I had poured all my mana into to keep him alive suddenly paused as if they had lost their target. They just remained, as if what they were going to do had suddenly slipped from their grasp. They were already surrounding Gurdas, entering his body and trying to heal the wound, but... now they were doing nothing.


    "No, no, no!"


    I shouted, aiming at the mes that had stopped moving for no reason.


    Why are they just standing there? I imagine them healing Gurdas, I want them to bring him back to life, but... why are they doing nothing?


    Gurdas''s hand slipped from my shoulder, fell to the ground, and made a loud thud. Thest gleam in his eyes faded as his chest stopped rising and falling.


    Despite all this, the smile on his face did not fade.


    "Huh...?"


    My voice trembled, and I stood still for a moment.


    ''Aiden...''


    My eyes widened, everything seemed clearer to me now... and then... suddenly they blurred again.


    My hair waved, the golden glow under my eyes faded slightly. The mana that flooded my whole body receded as if it had nevere, and the blue mes disappeared before they could do anything about it.


    "Gur... das?"


    Sith appeared before my eyes. Although he had a sad expression on his face, his eyes were sharp, looking at me with concern.


    He didn''t move, he just remained where he was.


    "Say something... move... Why are you just standing where you are? I won''t silence you this time... Please... I- I... P- Please..."


    ''He''s dead, Aiden.''


    My eyes widened even wider, my hands trembled even more.


    Sith''s words echoed in my mind, and Gurdas'' lifeless body continued to lie in front of me.


    I looked at the smile on his face, the smile that would not break for no reason.


    Just then a notification appeared in front of me, a notification from AVRES.


    It told me that we had won the war.


    *******


    What was I fighting for...?


    To gain experience, right? It was to get stronger...


    In short, to win, am I right?


    We won.


    The Battle of Mount Doruan is won.


    I have always been fighting to win, and now... we have won a battle, not the big one, but a small one that will help us a lot to win the actual war.


    With the n and strategy I proposed, in a single day, the North Hr were indeed the victors. They went down to the virgonium mine deep in the mountain and dug for almost two days non-stop for virgonium.


    And in return for what?


    We won in exchange for many, many lives.


    And one of those lives... was one of the people I was closest to on this battlefield. Maybe that''s why, after he died, time seemed to lose its meaning for me.


    After he died... I couldn''t really focus on anything, it was like everything was happening so fast, I was moving on to the next day without realizing what was happening.


    Gurdas''s body was sent to his family after a short ceremony, as was the custom for all dwarves. But... that was all that was done for him.


    My name was now faintly spoken among the army. And in many ways...


    There were those who saw me as a war maniac, there were those who said I ughtered dwarves on the battlefield like a madman, there were those who said I crushed everyone in my path, there were those who said I had strange powers...


    There was much more talk. Even though I was one of the least talked about in the general army gossip, once it started, there was more toe.


    And it... only annoyed me even more.

 Chapter 275 Volume IV - 122: For the End of War

    <h4>Chapter 275 Volume IV - Chapter 122: For the End of War</h4>


    A lot had actually happened in the two days after the battle. And yet... I never found myselfpletely immersed in it, it felt as if it had all happened in a matter of seconds.


    Every moment, every second, the image of Gurdas was in my mind. The glow in his eyes that faded every second, the huge burn on his chest, the way he just smiled in hisst moments without saying anything...


    Maybe he just smiled at me at that moment, but he also said a lot of things to me with that smile.


    He thanked me, he was worried about me, he was sad¡­ but... he was also a little relieved that he was finally dying.


    In the army, he was always smiling, maybe one of the most cheerful soldiers. At the same time, I was among those who knew that he didn''t want to be here.


    He wanted to see his son, he was being forced to fight as a soldier and it was exhausting for him... after all the years he had lived. So maybe that''s why he looked at me like he was begging, he wanted to at least beforted by letting him die.


    Still, all that didn''t matter, I didn''t care.


    Gurdas was dead because of me. He was no longer in this world because of me. Because of me, he would never see his son again.


    It was because of me.


    Because of a decision I made when I was trying to leave this fucking continent sooner.


    "Aiden..."


    Lost in my thoughts, I heard a low voiceing from behind me, a familiar voice.


    "You need toe to your senses."


    It was Rulhan, and standing behind him was Durvan. Both of them had a depressed look on their faces. They were sad, just like me.


    "They''ll be sendin'' us to another battlefield tomorrow... If ye stay like this, we''re in for another loss."


    Rulhan took a step toward me in the dimly lit room, approached the bed I was lying on, and came close to me.


    Because I was lying on the bed, he was higher than me, even though he was a dwarf.


    "The three of us... we''ve known each other for ''bout seven years. We''ve been workin'' and fightin'' in the army for much longer. Gurdas... he''s been on the battlefield longer than any of us. Now... it was his time to rest."


    I fixed my eyes on his ck ones, squinting involuntarily.


    "Was he supposed to rest by dying?"


    Rulhan paused, sighing deeply, but I didn''t let him continue.


    "He could have left the battlefield. Maybe he would have fought for a few more years, but... he could have left. He could live a happy life with his son, and maybe see his grandchildren. He was always smiling, never letting his face fall. He was... thest person who deserved to die here, but he died because of me."


    Rulhan frowned, but I didn''t let him again.


    "I''m the one who drew the rune to end this battle early, I''m the one who proposed the strategy that we lost so much in order to use it sessfully. No matter what happened to him... I was the reason why we were under such intense enemy fire that day. That... there is no one who doesn''t know that now."


    I sat up from my bunk, narrowed my eyes even more, and my face involuntarily soured.


    "Still... I know what you mean, don''t worry. I really do... I know what Gurdas wants and what he doesn''t want, so... I''m not going to stay like this."


    I clenched my fist, looked him in the eyes again.


    "I will keep fighting, I will finish this war as I promised. So... you don''t have to worry."


    The hard expression on Rulhan''s face softened for the first time in a long time. Rather than worry or sadness, it was an expression I had not expected to see.


    He was regretful, but at the same time... it was as if he pitied me.


    We didn''t speak another word that day. When night came, we went to sleep, not a word passed between us.


    Even on the way to the next battlefield, we were silent.


    *******


    I killed... I killed... I killed...


    I was wounded, I healed. I was wounded even more, yet I still healed.


    After Gurdas'' death... I became even more aggressive in battles, I took many more risks.


    Instead of keeping my wiera side as far away from my own self as possible, sometimes I let myself be carried away by his whispers. It was more convenient for me to walk through the enemy without thinking about anything, to kill as many as I could.


    I didn''t stop there, I also contacted the people in charge on the battlefield I reached after Mount Doruan, and made them proposals simr to the one I made to the old general, suggesting strategies for which I took full responsibility.


    After all, this time I knew what was happening on the battlefield I was on. In the game, among the battles that took ce on the Hr continent, the one I fought this time was one of the battles that was described and whose oue was known.


    I knew what the enemy would do, what they would use, what kind of strategy they would use to win.


    Thanks to these things, it didn''t take us long to leave the battlefield victorious. We still suffered losses, but the North Hr were so relieved to have closed another battlefield, at least for a while, by predicting all the enemy''s moves, that they began to put me in the forefront. Instead of being a direct soldier, I was authorized to help themanders on the battlefield as a strategist.


    One day led to another. I went from one battlefield to another, constantly fighting and advising.


    Even the passage of time became unimportant. All I cared about was winning battlefields.


    And I didn''t even stop there.


    One day, for the first time in a long time, I found myself next to General Darbal, who had given me the opportunity to fight at the very beginning. Dorhud was next to him, the two of them were sitting together at a table facing each other, and I was next to this table.


    I was here for a reason, I had practically begged Dorhud to arrange this meeting.


    Because I was getting sick of it. I thought that after all the virgonium and resources they would be able to finish the sword, but... they still hadn''t done it. The end of the war was still not near.


    That''s why I decided to take matters into my own hands.


    "So... you''re saying you want to take part in Project Durandal... is that it?"


    I acknowledged General Darbal''s question with a nod. The general sighed deeply, and it was Dorhud who interjected.


    "Everyone is aware o'' yer feats on the battlefield, Aiden... but I ain''t thinkin'' we can do this."


    "I willplete the project in a week."


    The two in front of me were silent, staring at each other for a moment. I narrowed my eyes and continued calmly.


    "I''m not saying I can, I will."


    "How can you be so sure of yourself...? That project is the biggest and most important project in the North, Aiden. Do you think they would let a ''human'' like you in there so easily?"


    "I realize my race causes me problems, but that''s not an option, as far as I''m concerned."


    I looked at the holograms on the table that had remained silent until now. There were about six people in these holograms. Each of them was one of the highest officials in the country, including President Houdhin.


    I clearly remembered their faces. They were present at the meeting that took ce after my escape from Caleuche. As far as I remember, only two of them were negative about what I said that day.


    So, I could convince them.


    "I entered the Cevilian Development Academy not because of my talents, but because of my theoretical intelligence. I''m pretty sure you''ve done your research on me. I am also the author and presenter of the theory of the Language of Mana. I think you have heard that recently there has been a poprization of a theory that solves the problem of impurities in potions no matter what, the author is Ulka DeLaor. I co-created this theory with him. I am quite sure that I am not theoretically deficient."


    I poured mana lightly into the Absolute Mind, adding calm to my calm, coldness to my coldness.


    "Do you really want this war to drag on? Do you really want to continue taking casualties? Trust me and I willplete this project in a week, I have a reason for my confidence. Once we''ve destroyed Caleuche, everything will be a piece of cake. The main troops of the country will be able to disperse to the battlefields instead of concentrating all the time on its side, and victory will be inevitable."


    President Houdhin looked me in the eye, his image in the hologram.


    Our eyes met, and for a few seconds, not a sound echoed in the room. Finally... a deep sigh came.


    "Anyints?"


    Only two hands went up among the six. Both of them had a stern expression on their faces, clearly not trusting me. But... the other four were unsure of their decision.


    I kept talking, I talked about some of the things that could be used in the project, and a little bit about what I was nning to do.


    When I finished... there was only one hand left rejecting my participation in the project.


    I bowed respectfully when the decision was made, giving my military salute in the most perfect way possible.


    "Thank you."


    It didn''t take long for the holograms to close, and General Darbal and Dorhud just stared at me.


    "And thank you for arranging this meeting. Now... excuse me."


    I turned around and left the room without saying a word.

 Chapter 276 Volume IV - 123: The Legendary Sword

    <h4>Chapter 276 Volume IV - Chapter 123: The Legendary Sword</h4>


    I couldn''t tell the North Hr everything I knew about Project Durandal directly, they would ask me where I got such secret information and they would suspect me.


    So I had to hear everything about the project from them first. That''s why I wanted to be involved in the project. Only in this way could I reveal everything I learned from the game.


    And it worked out the way I wanted. After I joined the project, they told me everything they had done so far, and I learned as much as possible about the project. Even the things I already knew, I had to relearn as if I didn''t know. Even if what they knew about it was much less than I did, I wanted to at least check.


    The Durandal was a legendary sword that the dwarves had possessed since time immemorial. It was crafted by an unknown magic, so ancient that there is not even a single legend about its history. All that was known about it was that it could cut anything, tangible or intangible. And I mean literally everything...


    But no one had been able to use it for a very long time. It was not known why, but the sword could not be used in any way. Almost no one could even touch it, let alone use its properties. The sword rejected anyone who touched it and would literally burn the skin if contact was prolonged.


    Project Durandal was based on modifying this legendary sword. Whatever prevented it from being used would be removed, its effect would be strengthened and improved as much as possible.


    But so far, the North Hr has made almost no progress on this project. There had been much research and experimentation into what made it what it was known for, but nothing had been found. Because the sword did not make use of the ''runes'' that form the basis of dwarven technology.


    After studying the project for a long time, one by one, I told them everything I knew. Even though they didn''t know most of it, after all, I did.


    What surprised them the most was the knowledge that the sword did not make use of a rune, but of a consciousness that had been sleeping inside it for centuries. They asked me how I knew this. I inevitably had to give an evasive answer.


    When I cited the phoenix on Mount Doruan as a source, no one had anything to say. Then I exined how they could control this consciousness.


    Even though the sword doesn''t make use of runes, it doesn''t mean that it can''t be affected by them. So, I presented the rune I remembered from the game to them as if I had created it myself.


    Of course, I went to the sword a few times during this whole process. I also had the opportunity to examine it closely.


    The sword... strangely enough, had such a simple appearance that it didn''t look like a ''legendary'' sword at all.


    The de of the sword was not too long for me, which makes sense, considering that the person who used to wield it was a dwarf. It was a little shorter than sixty centimeters. With the hilt, it reached a total length of around seventy centimeters.


    The cross-guard of the sword, which connects the de to the hilt, looked worn. It looked like it was made of leather, but it wasn''t.


    Durandal looked like apletely normal sword, whether I was looking at it from a distance or up close. In fact, because it was old, it gave it an air of being unusable. It looked like it would break in the first battle.


    It was like that for a reason, of course. The story behind this sword... was not a simple or happy one. It was a tragedy in the truest sense of the word. But what happened in the past was in the past, and I couldn''t afford to care.


    So I didn''t pay much attention to the sword, I focused entirely on the rune I was working on, and in the end... I seeded. I had filled a room almost two times the size of a normal hall with runes, but I had seeded.


    A time was set for the rune to be activated, and while everything was being prepared, all I did was wait for it. Because... I knew what would happen when the rune was activated.


    Finally, the time came.


    *******


    I peered through severalyers of one of the world''s most durable ss into a huge room covered with runes, with not a single person in it.


    "Three, two, one... zero."


    When the countdown wasplete, the rune was activated. The room filled with mana, and the glow of the virgoniums, the source of this mana, faded with each passing second. Not only that. They also slowly began to literally rot and disintegrate. It didn''t matter for me though.


    The runes in the room flickered like a heartbeat, and the whole floor trembled with the movement.


    First a muffled sound prated our ears through the windows, which under normal circumstances should be soundproof. Then... a brilliant sh of light suddenly caught everyone''s eyes.


    Some dwarves recoiled in fear, others made meaningless noises. But me... I just stood where I was.


    "AAAGHHHHHHH!"


    I saw some of them run to the control panel to deactivate the rune, as if everything was descending into chaos as an ear-splitting, echoing man''s voice rang out. But I didn''t let them.


    With my wind magic, I created a wall between the dwarves and the panel. Countless dwarves turned to me as soon as they realized it was me.


    "Aiden Tenebra! What th'' fuck are ya doin''?!"


    "Hurry! Deactivate the rune!"


    I sighed deeply.


    "Just be quiet for a minute, will you?"


    I saw the meaninglessness in their eyes, I saw those who looked at me as if I had betrayed them, but... I ignored every one of them no matter what they said to me.


    My time was limited, after all.


    I stared at the sword, surrounded by countless rotten virgonium, with shimmering motifs swirling around it.


    Just then, the echoing voice that had just been screaming suddenly began to utter a single word.


    "Durandal... DURANDAL...!"


    His voice calmed down for a moment, this time he started to say something else.


    "I''m sorry... I''m sorry... I''m sorry..."


    He continued to mutter different, meaningless words. Finally, after about forty seconds, the glow from the runes slowly faded.


    I approached the ss, took a deep breath, and spoke calmly, ignoring the dwarves trembling with terror around me.


    "Your mission is over, Durandal is long dead."


    This time the voice cried out angrily.


    "Wha'' d''ya mean by dead?! Who the hell''re ye?"


    "A human who knows your story, nothing more. As I said, your mission is over. Durandal is dead, and so are his wife and children. But not because of a tragedy, they died happily of old age. They chose to rest. So... as Durandal''s brother, shouldn''t you rest too?"


    Silence enveloped the room for a moment. When I realized that the virgoniums were rotting even more, I continued, clicking my tongue.


    "Your war is over, ours is still going on. Long ago you averted a tragedy, brought peace to the dwarves. Now... you can do the same again. All you need to do is rest."


    "Rest... huh?"


    The voice paused for a moment, then fell silent again.


    "Oh... can I... rest...?"


    "Of course. All you have to do is surrender to what is causing you pain right now. The pain will disappear and you will find yourself in eternal peace."


    "I can... rest..."


    His voice grew hoarser and hoarser, for a moment reflecting an intense tone of peace.


    "Then... I must rest..."


    Just like I said, he gave himself over to the effect the runes had on him. He didn''t think too much about it.


    Well, not that he could. Not only were the runes putting intense pressure on him, but the mere thought of his brother seeding gave him happiness after all the tragedy he had been through. And after years of use... the thought of being able to rest must have really given him peace.


    So, he didn''t question what I said. He let the runes do what they did. And the runes... slowly tore him apart.


    A minuteter, all the runes went out, just like that. The glow disappeared.


    When it was all over... the sword named Durandal glowed with a faint glow.


    The consciousness inside had disappeared, but the remnants of it remained. That was the purpose of the rune in the first ce, to put him into a deeper sleep than he was... to kill him, in a way, but to keep his remnants inside the sword. That way the sword would retain its magic and properties.


    For a moment, a bad feeling swept through my body because I had lied to the consciousness inside the sword, to the dwarf named ''Durandal''. I squinted, but of course, I did not give in to this feeling. After all, not everything I said was a lie.


    What I said about him finding eternal peace, for example, was not a lie. After all, after using the sword, there will be no trace of it. It will literally disappear from this world.


    So... he''s really going to die. He won''t have to endure anymore.


    *******


    Well... I got a little punishment for what I did. After all, I had broken the wall of wind I had created after the runes disappeared, so I had countless dwarves ganging up on me at once.


    It was only when I exined that what I had done was to help them rather than betray them, and they confirmed it themselves, that I was free once again.


    Of course, they wanted me to tell them other things. Like what I said to Durandal''s brother when I spoke to him. But I didn''t tell them what happened, and since I was able to dodge most of it when I told them that what I knew was about the phoenix, I used that again, and that was the end of it, even if they weren''t very satisfied.


    After I got my hands on Project Durandal, things happened quickly.


    When they finally saw that the sword stopped rejecting them, the dwarves started modifying it. A few dwarves, enlightened by what I had suggested to them about what they needed to do, quickly got to work.


    As for me, I told them that I would withdraw from the project unless they specifically asked me for help, because I wanted to get back to the battlefield, and so I did.


    I kept fighting, I kept killing, I kept gaining experience.


    The rumors about me spread even more.


    Weeks slowly followed more weeks.

 Chapter 277 Volume IV - 124: Project Completed

    <h4>Chapter 277 Volume IV - Chapter 124: Project Completed</h4>


    After fighting non-stop for a long time... I finally left the battlefield and returned to my room, as usual.


    Time was really moving faster than ever. I didn''t care so much about anything except seeding that I could barely keep track of what was happening anymore. I was in and out of battle, the day started and ended at the same time, things were happening too fast...


    Still, at least when I came out of the battle, I could rx, even if only for a brief moment. The only time I took time to rest was when I slept for a few short hours one night after fighting for hours or even days... Seeing Rulhan and Durvan also helped me to recover a little.


    Now was one of those times. I was going to get at least three hours of sleep so that I could perform better in battle, and that was all I deserved.


    I opened the door to my room and walked in. What I found was... different from previous times.


    Normally the light was on in the room, but now it was almost pitch ck. Rulhan and Durvan would usually be talking to each other. Now... there didn''t seem to be anyone inside.


    I raised my eyebrows meaninglessly and turned on the room light from the switch right next to the door.


    Immediately... I saw two dwarves lying in the center of the room.


    Their eyes were closed, their chests slowly rising and falling. They looked tired, and there were countless bottles lined up next to them. They looked like bottles of alcohol. And they looked like they''d been drinking for a while.


    I let out a deep sigh. After closing the door, I sat cross-legged on the floor next to the two lying across from each other. I squinted my eyes as I rested my head on the arm on my chin. Then I leaked my mana out of the room and into their bodies.


    "Hey, what did you do here while I was gone."


    With my words and the sudden mana that entered their bodies, the duo jumped out of their seats. They jumped so suddenly that I was afraid they might identally bump into each other. But what I thought did not happen.


    Rulhan and Durvan first looked at each other in surprise. Then they both turned toward me at the same time.


    "We are going to battle again tomorrow... Why did you drink so much alcohol that you got drunk? It''s not good even if it''s been a long time."


    They waited a moment at my question. Then Durvan''s lips curled upward slightly.


    "We jus'' wanna rx a bit... It''s nothin''. Where''ve ye been anyway? Las'' time ye said ye were gonna take care o'' somethin'' an'' disappeared fer days... Now ye''ve disappeared once again!"


    Because I was busy with the Durandal Project again yesterday... And then I went straight to the battlefield, so I didn''t have time to rest with Durvan and Rulhan.


    What I mean is normal soldiers like Durvan and Rulhan knew nothing about the project. So that I know and working about it is a secret too. Even from them.


    "I am interested in secret government business, of course! But don''t tell anyone... I don''t want to be silenced in my sleep one night, and I don''t want you to go through the same thing."


    They bothughed at what I said. Then... the night continued as usual with our conversations. They were still very sleepy, though, so they soon went to bed.


    Even though the missing person among us made us feel his absence more than enough, there was nothing else we could do. We had no choice but to carry on. So... after a short while of entertaining ourselves, we went to sleep.


    *******


    In the middle of the battle, for a moment, I felt as if everything was frozen. I didn''t move a muscle. Bullets, fireballs, and all sorts of things passed by me, but... I just stood there.


    A question popped up in my mind. followed by several others.


    Fight... fight... fight... fight... fight...


    How long will I fight? When will this damn project end...?


    I want to go back... I don''t want to fight anymore...


    I''m tired of war... I''m tired of seeing blood... I''m tired of seeing someone dying all the time...


    I want to go home. I want to go back to ra, Sue, my friends...


    I paused again for a moment, I felt the Absolute Mind clearing my mind, but that was not the reason for my pause.


    It was another question that popped into my mind.


    Had Gurdas always felt this way? And for years and years and years...


    The difference between us is... that he didn''t have a chance like me, he didn''t make it. This world, the North Hr, me... we didn''t let him.


    I... I don''t have the right to think about that, right? As the one who took his dreams away from him, I don''t have the right to think about it, at least not until this war is over.


    When this war is over... only then can I rx.


    I gripped my sword tighter than ever.


    I just need to keep fighting...


    I moved again, spotted a group of soldiers, and sighed.


    It will end, it has to be...


    *******


    "Project Durandal isplete, Aiden."


    I was surprised when Dorhud suddenly summoned me to his room, but when I finally processed his words in my mind, my eyes widened.


    "Completed... So the sword is ready? Is it finished? Can we use it?"


    Dorhud smiled.


    "Yes, we n t'' take on the final battle in two days. We''re headin'' straight fer Caleuche''s hideout. As the most vital figure in this project, North Hr will do everythin'' fer ye once the actual war''s over."


    That was my goal in the first ce. To gain the dwarves'' trust, to get to a point where I could ask them for something.


    I had done it, and I was perhaps one of the only people who directly helped end this war, because of my contribution on the battlefields and because I was the one who got them to finish the project in the first ce, so I had achieved what I wanted.


    But I didn''t care too much about that.


    "Two dayster, huh...?"


    My whole body trembled with excitement, I just stood there. To think that this war would finally be over... was something much bigger for me than anything I had achieved.


    I would finally be able to go back, the burden would finally be lifted from my shoulders.


    An involuntary smile appeared on my face. I looked at Dorhud and saw him breathing deeply, as if relieved.


    "It''s good to see you smiling. You haven''t made that face in a long time."


    "Of course it makes me smile to know that the war can finally be over. I''ve been working on it for weeks... months even."


    I clenched my fist, yet I suddenly paused, something had urred to me.


    "Have you chosen the person who will wield the sword, is the armor ready?"


    As extremely powerful as the modified version of the sword is, it is a single-use sword, and it is also a burden on the wielder because its power output has been increased so much that the mana it concentrates is enough to wipe any living being directly out of existence.


    That''s why I suggested that the wielder wear a customized suit of armor for it, with the design and runes I designed.


    Even so, the wielder will most likely take permanent damage, so the wielder needs to be specially selected.


    "Yes. Both the armor is ready and the person who will wield the sword is ready. You may have heard of him, the chosen one is Colonel Vulnar."


    Just like Dorhud said, I had heard of this person.


    I knew him both from the rumors in the army and from the game.


    He was a legend in the army. He was perhaps the best warrior among the dwarves, rumored to be promoted to general soon.


    Even though he was a dwarf, his reaction time, his body structure, his strength, his harmony with his armor... everything set him apart from a dwarf. That''s what made him a superhuman performer in every battle he fought.


    I never saw him face to face because he normally fought on the battlefields where Caleuche was, but in the game... it was different.


    Colonel Vulnar was a legend in the game as well as in the army.


    "If it''s him... Then I don''t think it will be much of a problem, but did he really agree to take permanent damage to his body? Or..."


    Dorhud knew immediately what I was talking about. After all, the North Hr was a country that used its citizens by force, even though it looked like a paradise from the outside.


    "No, he chose to use the sword himself. At least that''s what I know, and when I saw him face to face, he didn''t look forced. Anyway, the damage is minimal thanks to the armor. Nothing that would prevent him from fighting in the future."


    It''s still a bit strange... Looks like he''s very patriotic. So much so that he doesn''t hesitate to harm his own body in order to win this war.


    "I see..."


    Dorhud smiled again, pping his hands together, causing a noise to echo in the room and bringing me back to my senses.


    "Now... head t'' yer room, Aiden. Get some rest durin'' this day, brace yerself fer the real battle. Fer the end o'' this war."


    I quickly shook my head from side to side.


    "No, I will keep fighting. Resting now will take me away from the battle, Dorhud, believe me, it is better for me. And don''t worry, I won''t force myself, you know I''m a cockroach who doesn''t like to die."


    "I''m in favor of you resting, Aiden. It''s okay to get away from the battle, it''ll give your mind a rest."


    I shook my head, squinted my eyes, and spoke in a firm voice.


    "I don''t want to. I lost Gurdas, Dorhud. There are thousands... many more who died because of my decisions. I cannot repay them by resting. Besides... a lot of people will keep fighting. And if I sit on the sidelines and rest... I''ll never be able to face anyone again. At least not until this war is over, I can''t do that."


    Dorhud sighed deeply. His eyes dropped, and his expression contracted slightly. His eyes narrowed, and finally he sighed again.


    I know he''s worried about me. I can see it in everything, but I stand by what I said.


    I... I promised myself that after all the people who died because of me, after Gurdas... I can''t do anything like rest.


    I will fight till the end. The time to rest... wille only when this war ispletely over.


    "So be it... fine. But ye can always head back t'' yer room if yer thoughts change, keep that in mind."


    I bowed my head slightly in respect, a slight smile forming on my face.


    "Thank you."

 Chapter 278 Volume IV - 125: The Last Battle

    <h4>Chapter 278 Volume IV - Chapter 125: The Last Battle</h4>


    The day before the big battle, I went back to my room to sleep, at least for an hour or two.


    Inside the unlit room... this time there was really no one.


    ''They are dead.''


    Gurdas'' death came to my mind for a moment. My mind was filled with thoughts. And then... I felt a force on my shoulder as if someone had put a hand on it.


    "They''re dead too, Aiden."


    It was a familiar voice, a voice I''d heard whispering in my mind almost every time I''d been in battle, a voice I''d gotten... used to.


    "Shut up."


    I ignored my thoughts, ignored him, and let myself fall directly onto the bunk bed in the quadruple room.


    I remembered the days when this ce was full. I used to y chess with Gurdas and lose every now and then, Rulhan and I sometimes fought but it didn''t take long for things to get better between us, and Durvan usually just watched what we were doing with simple facial expressions and reactions and didn''t interfere too much. As he himself said, he was not very sociable.


    And now... Gurdas is gone. Durvan and Rulhan were on a night mission, at least as far as I know.


    This room of four, where someone was talking every minute, was now silent... with the presence of only one person.


    I closed my eyes and gave myself over to sleep.


    Tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow... this war would enter its final phase. Caleuche would be destroyed, and within the next few days, the South Hr would copsepletely.


    *******


    Durvan and Rulhan didn''te back all night.


    But I didn''t think about it, I didn''t want to think about it. Instead, as soon as I had slept for two hours, I jumped up and jumped into one of the aircraft that had been sent to the area where Caleuche was.


    It was exined what would happen in the war.


    Caleuche was now attacking one of the most important cities in the border regions of the North. Not far from this city was the main battlefield.


    We were going to stall the troops as long as we could. We would try to prevent the city from being taken until Colonel Vulnar, with the modified Durandal, was ready on the battlefield.


    It was a simple n, maybe not even a n... But if we seeded, the South would no longer have a mobile base, a ghost ship, a ughter machine that could dominate entire battlefields.


    With the Caleuche alone ounting for almost half of their military strength, losing it would be tantamount to losing the war.


    So, although the battlefield I am about to step onto was not thest battle, technically it was.


    *******


    Later that night, when the sun had not yet risen, we arrived at our destination, Buraun City.


    The city had been evacuated long ago. The streets were empty, no lights were on in any of the buildings even though it was night. It was literally a ghost town.


    Aside from the city, the battlefield could be seen from the area where wended from the aircraft. It was so huge that everywhere as far as the eye could see was a ck blur. Soldiers, robots... literally fighting all the way to the horizon and even beyond.


    Although we were quite far away from the battlefield, even the ground trembled from time to time, and distant echoing sounds gently caressed our ears.


    Caleuche was also visible. Even farther away from the battlefield, in the sky, almost at the level of the clouds, it was a gigantic shadow. It was constantly glowing, raining bullets and rockets down on the battlefield. Not only that, it was casting spells with the help of runes, but it was also constantly dropping new soldiers and robots onto the battlefield from within.


    I swallowed, even shivering for no reason.


    Was I excited? Maybe...


    Was I scared? The chances of us losing were not zero...


    It could have been something else, of course.


    I gripped the sword at my waist tightly, not unsheathing it, but just holding it gave me a slight sense of security, so I contented myself with that.


    Meanwhile, Dorhud looked at us lined up in front of the aircraft. He narrowed his eyes and shouted loudly.


    "We''ll bendin'' right onto the battlefield in a moment! Ye all know the drill, fight and give those scoundrels a good wallop! We''ll stretch this battle for as long as we can, and then..."


    We will prolong this battle as long as we can, and then..."


    "We''re fixin'' to shred that colossal ship to bits, and win!"


    Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of soldiers lined up side by side shouted at the same time.


    "Understood!"


    Dorhud normally smiled when he saw his soldiers so alive, but this time his expression did not move an inch. On the contrary, he turned around and looked at the battlefield.


    "Let''s go!"


    The whole city shook again, with every soldier in it.


    "Roger that!"


    With thatst shout, our troops quickly began to descend from the city toward the battlefield.


    *******


    It was no different from a normal battlefield, actually...


    The scale was much bigger, much more brutal, much more casualties, of course, but... I was doing nothing different from what I was doing before.


    My main task was to kill every enemy I saw. If I saw someone too strong for me to deal with, I would report them to AVRES and have someone sent to fight them, and the dwarves at my level... I fought almost all of them.


    How many minutes had passed?


    I hadn''t paid attention, I hadn''t cared, but now... for some reason I wondered.


    Another dwarf died in my hands, another dwarf lost his head to the sharp winds, another dwarf burned to death in the blue mes...


    Everything became abstract for a moment. My feelings, my thoughts, my actions...


    I was on another side of the battlefield when I realized what had happened. I had lost consciousness for a moment, I had fought for a few minutes purely instinctively, and the moment I realized this, I transferred mana to the Absolute Mind.


    I''m not even supposed to blink...


    The moment I thought that, I heard a voice echoing in my mind.


    ''It''sing from behind you, too fast!''


    I threw myself forward, though it wasn''t hard to realize that I was hurt by the sudden pain I felt in my leg.


    Blue mes shed over the wound in my leg. I ignored the pain and lunged at the dwarf attacking me.


    When I realized that the mana was concentrated not far from me, I formed severalyers of barrier, and then a bolt of lightning struck me.


    It didn''t take me long to kill the dwarf attacking from behind. The dwarf who had struck me with lightning tried to escape, but he was killed by blue mes.


    For a moment the whole battlefield seemed to tremble. The huge blur in the sky, Caleuche, glowed for a few seconds.


    Then... a huge beam, almost the size of ake, shot out of it andnded on the battlefield.


    It didn''t even care about its own soldiers, it was just determined to wipe the enemy''s most concentrated area off the map, and... it did.


    The gigantic beam from the ghost ship had indeed wiped the targeted spot off the map, along with everything in it... And so, thest battle continued.


    *******


    I kept fighting for hours, I kept doing what I had to do without blinking an eye.


    My enemies didn''t blink either. At least... that''s what I thought.


    I was wrong.


    There were those who blinked. Both among the soldiers of the South and among the soldiers of the North.


    There were those who hated this war, those who were forced to be here.


    I realized that every single one of the soldiers I killed looked at me with absolute hatred.


    Yet... some of their hatred was not against me. It was directly against this war. And yet, as the one who ended their lives, theirst gaze was inevitably on me.


    It was a burden, not easy, knowing that most of them were innocent. But I had gotten used to it a long time ago. So I went on without a care, I couldn''t and wouldn''t hesitate.


    I paused for a moment, and my gaze involuntarily drifted back to the ck blur in the sky.


    It really was a ship built for war... So many things were happening on it at the same time, so many things were leaving it andnding on the battlefield that it almost seemed unreal. It was like the embodiment of fear for those in front of it.


    At this moment a voice echoed in my head, a familiar voice.


    "Aiden, there''s a high-level armored enemy on Captain Dorhud''s side. Can ye handle him with your rifle?"


    Hearing Durvan''s voice for the first time in a few days, I smiled, even involuntarily.


    I didn''t wait for him to continue, and he didn''t. I turned quickly to the east, ignoring the huge ship above me.


    Then I saw an armored dwarf somewhere in the distance. I could see him smiling, almost as if he was... enjoying crushing my allies as he fought. He was giving Dorhud, whom I saw fighting for the first time in a long time, a hard time.


    My sword disappeared into the atmosphere, and in its ce, the rifle entrusted to me appeared in my hand. I drew severalyers of barriers around me, just in case, then took aim at a spot where I could be safe, at least for a few seconds.


    I waited and waited, with the bullet growing in the center of the rifle, and then... I pulled the trigger.


    The bullet, which looked like a blue beam, entered the dwarf''s chest before he realized what was happening. The dwarf''s face, with a huge hole under his neck, was that of someone who still hadn''t grasped what had happened. He fell to the ground, dying instantly.


    Dorhud looked up at me, shook his head slightly up and down, and focused again in front of him.


    The battle... continued.

 Chapter 279 Volume IV - 126: The Sword and The Ship

    <h4>Chapter 279 Volume IV - Chapter 126: The Sword and The Ship</h4>


    As I kept fighting and fighting, after a while... I heard a whisper in my mind. A sly, yet cynical voice.


    "Go ahead, Aiden."


    It didn''te from my head, there was no notification from AVRES. It came out of nowhere. Just like always.


    "You like it, don''t you?"


    I swallowed, held my breath, and saw something approaching me, a... rocket.


    The barriers I always kept around me shattered. I avoided serious damage and moved on to the next enemy.


    I ignored the whisper in my mind, I didn''t take it seriously. But... he continued.


    "Come on... Admit it. I know... You''re secretly enjoying it. You''re only fooling yourself. You think you feel sorry for those you kill and those you see die, but you''re just faking the feeling. To act like a human being. All you have inside you is an intense emptiness, isn''t it? And the feeling that fills that emptiness, the one you''re trying to block... Look how you''re smiling."


    I was dealing with a dwarf with an axe when I realized my lips were curling upward.


    His axe descended on my shoulder, but I quickly stepped aside and dodged it. My swordnded on the shoulder holding the axe. It severed it from his body. Blue mes surrounded him as his scream filled my ears.


    Actually... he was right.


    The reason I could fight without running out of energy... maybe it was because I really enjoyed it. It was hard to find any other exnation for the fact that I could fight for hours without stopping, without getting tired. I always had the feeling that I was born for it.


    And yet I ignored him, even though I knew the truth. Because I didn''t want to give myself to him here, in such an important space. Thest time something like this happened, bad things happened. So I didn''t let myself go.


    And even so... it wasn''t enough. Not just me, but all of us. How could anyone be ''enough'' against the ghost ship in the sky?


    The enemy troops multiplied and multiplied. The gigantic ughter ship continued to terrorize the battlefield. The explosions were especially intense on my side, and the enemy continued to press on.


    The northern soldiers were hopeful about this battle, but... even though everyone had been trying for hours, there was still no progress, on the contrary, they seemed to be losing. This caused demoralization among the soldiers.


    Things were worse than ever.


    And that''s when what everyone was waiting for happened.


    Suddenly a voice came out of my headgear, Dorhud''s voice.


    "All troops! Fall back! We are startin''!"


    The eyes of all the Northern soldiers suddenly lit up. The hope they had been slowly losing was suddenly restored.


    Everyone stopped fighting and began to retreat. The soldiers of the South stared nkly after their fleeing enemies, not understanding what was happening.


    There were a fewughs among them. They thought that their enemies had realized that they were going to lose and started running away, but some of them were hesitant. It would not have been so strange if a few people had been scared away, but the number of retreating men was not small...


    Everyone was retreating. Literally every Northern soldier. Including me, of course.


    I ran and ran, never looking back. After all, Sith would have warned me of an attack and used my mana to protect me.


    "Chase them!"


    "They''re runnin''!"


    The voices of the southern soldiers echoed in my ears. Then the sound of running footsteps suddenly doubled... our enemies wereing after us.


    The chasested several minutes. The Southerners were relieved when they realized that nothing had happened yet, their goal was only to kill as many as they could.


    The war was already over for them.


    And... just at that moment, something unexpected happened.


    Not far from where I was, on a hilltop... there was a sh of light.


    A dwarf, taller than the other dwarves, stepped slowly up the hill. He was wearing armor unlike any I had ever seen. Aside from the nano-armor that dwarves have, this really looked like something out of a science fiction movie. It had swirling parts, lines of blue light emitting from it.


    Still, the armor was not in perfect condition. This dwarf had fought just like his soldiers. It was easy to see this in the cracks, almost gouges, in his armor.


    As he climbed higher up the hill, not only this was revealed, but also his short sword, the source of the glow around him.


    The legendary sword, the Durandal, waspletely changed from before. Its ancient and old metal was no longer even visible, surrounded by a dark purpleyer made of Virgonium. It was covered in runes, fragments that looked as if they could be separated.


    The dwarf, Colonel Vulnar, stood straight and raised his blue eyes. Everyone stared at him but he smiled, ignoring the stares. His brown hair fluttered in the wind as he looked up at Caleuche, the giant shadow in the sky.


    For some reason, everyone in the area stopped moving. Everyone, North or South, looked at Colonel Vulnar without moving a muscle.


    The smile on Colonel Vulnar''s face widened. He gripped the sword even more tightly in his hand, then slowly raised it upward.


    As he did so, the glow emanating from the sword suddenly intensified, almost to the point of blinding, but I watched him without caring.


    First, the countless runes on the sword were activated, and then the pieces of Virgonium began to detach from the sword. Yet they floated and grew as if their connection to the sword had not been severed. They exploited the glow, the energy the sword radiated. They kept it under control and... directed it.


    Mana in quantities more intense than I had ever felt before, even more powerful than that in the phoenix''s cave, spread like a tsunami across the huge battlefield.


    Then the sword was raised fully into the air. There was a momentary gleam in Colonel Vulnar''s eyes, he squinted and looked at his target, the ughter machine.


    The eyes of the Southern soldiers finally widened as the sword shone brighter and brighter, almost like a new sun. They trembled with fear as if they had received a notification, as if they all understood what had happened. Fear filled their eyes.


    They tensed, ready to pounce on the man who threatened their absolute victory.


    "All troops, protect Colonel Vulnar!"


    The voice echoed in my skull and everyone sprang into action. The Northerners rushed to protect the colonel while the Southerners rushed to kill him at any cost.


    Some tried to fight, and some threw themselves in front of the guns aimed at the colonel, not caring what happened.


    The sacrifice was the battle itself, after all.


    The fragments of the sword the Colonel held aloft finally began to take shape from the energy emanating from it. They began to embody perhaps the most concentrated point of mana in the world.


    The figure of the sword grew and grew, bing gigantic with the energy it absorbed. It grew so much that it seemed to reach almost to the sky, never stopping growing like a skyscraper.


    Some people fainted because of the mana intensity in the area, others barely held on through gritted teeth. Even the colonel''s nose oozed blood and his eyes turned red. Yet the smile never left his face.


    While not a single person could move because of the mana density, this time the whole ground trembled... Rather than the Colonel''s sword, something else began to emit an extremely dense amount of mana.


    A glow also appeared in front of the ghost ship Caleuche in the sky. Like the sword, which grewrger and longer with each passing second, as if reaching for the clouds, it too was preparing for a massive attack.


    Again, everyone stopped moving, both because of the mana density in the area and because of the grandeur of the scene before them. No one tried to kill each other anymore.


    It was no longer a question of who was dead and who was left, after all... it was a question of which side would be faster.


    I was just like these people, standing where I was, watching with clenched fists what was going to happen. With the look on everyone''s faces, with hope.


    *******


    The Colonel''s sword, Durandal, was still growing, and Caleuche was still preparing his final attack when a powerful shockwave suddenly spread across the field.


    The mana concentrated in the area had reached such proportions that it could no longer stay in the same spot, inevitably spreading its fragments around like a heartbeat.


    Normally, there were some people who could barely withstand the intensity of the mana, but with these shock waves, thest of them copsed one by one.


    Even I was beginning to struggle, my legs were shaking, but with the Sith supporting my body by directing my mana appropriately, I resisted. As someone who practiced the Ambiguous Flow, who had two ascension skills, and who had stepped into a phoenix''s nest, I was used to concentrated mana. So I gritted my teeth and stared unblinkingly at the Colonel and then at Caleuche.


    For a moment the Colonel seemed to tremble, for a moment his legs gave way and he almost fell. As the person at the center of this intense mana, he was the one most affected by it. The armor he was wearing was simply not enough, even if it was specifically designed to protect him from it.


    I saw the Colonel bite his tongue, I saw his feet press hard into the ground, still gathering energy, preparing to finally swing his sword, he was going to make his attack before Caleuche.


    The hope on the faces of the Northerners, who could only watch from far away, slowly turned into smiles. The eyes of the Southerners widened as never before.


    The oue of the battle was decided the moment the Colonel decided to swing Durandal. The winner of this battle was the North.


    At least... that was what was supposed to happen.

 Chapter 280 Volume IV - 127: The Sword That Pierced The Sky

    <h4>Chapter 280 Volume IV - Chapter 127: The Sword That Pierced The Sky</h4>


    As soon as Colonel Vulnar finished readying the sword... a shadow appeared behind him.


    Time stopped in an instant, my heartbeat quickened, and it was the only thing I could hear.


    The shadow was a soldier wearing the g of the North Hr. He was a high-ranking soldier, a lieutenant colonel. Blood was oozing from his eyes, his nose, his ears, even from the gaps in his skin... from everywhere. His eyes were so red that I couldn''t make out the pupils.


    With difficulty, this shadow put the pistol he was holding against the Colonel''s back. When all sound had disappeared, when the world had stopped spinning... the sound of a shot echoed across the field.


    The lieutenant colonel behind the colonel copsed to the ground, the pistol in his hand falling down the hill he was standing on andnding in front of me. The colonel''s eyes widened, and blood oozed from his mouth as he vomited blood.


    He tried to stand, but he couldn''t. This time his legs really gave way, he lost his bnce and fell to the ground. The sword in his hand began to fall with him.


    Everything happened in an instant. I didn''t even think about what would happen, what would happen to me.


    Losing this war meant that I would be crushed under the burden of tons of people dying because of me.


    Losing this war meant that I could never go back to my friends and ra.


    Losing this war meant that my chances in this world werepletely over.


    Losing this battle meant that I could not stop Lunerra from taking the first step toward its apocalyptic future.


    Losing this war... meant losing everything for me.


    So... I gave myselfpletely to my instincts, I didn''t even think. The millisecond the Colonel was knocked off his feet, the moment the Durandal''s hilt separated from his fingers... my entire body was flooded with mana like never before.


    Spiritual Ascension activated within seconds. My crown appeared on my head.


    Phoenix''s Ascension followed close behind. My hair waved, my eyes sharpened, and a blue glow enveloped my body as I saw a golden light under my eyes.


    My feet left the ground and I found myself on top of the hill in an instant, in front of Colonel Vulnar, who had not even fallen to the ground yet.


    Our eyes met, and within seconds we understood each other, even if we hadn''t said anything. The colonel''s face showed gratitude and respect. As for me, I only looked at the Durandal''s hilt, which was only a few millimeters out of ce.


    I reached out my hand and gripped Durandal tightly.


    Intense mana, which a normal person could only withstand with armor specially designed for it, entered my body, coursing through it savagely.


    "You fool! What do you think you''re doing?!"


    For the first time, literally the first time, I heard my wiera side speaking in such a tone. He was angry, worried, and... desperate.


    For the first time he was not manipting me, he was actually spewing anger at me.


    "You idiot! Quickly put down that stupid sword!"


    I didn''t let go, on the contrary, I gripped it even tighter.


    Sith supported me with the mana he gained ess to through the Spiritual Ascension. Phoenix''s Ascension contributed to my resistance to mana.


    However... none of it was enough. Not even half a secondter, my whole body trembled more violently than ever before. I felt the metallic taste of blood in my mouth, the mana was so thick in my body that even my inhales and exhales bore its traces.


    My body literally began to disintegrate alive. I felt the mana literally tearing my body apart from the inside, especially my hand holding the sword.


    My wiera side cursed me in my mind, but he didn''t stop there.


    For no reason, suddenly the left side of my vision turned purple. Caora forced the pieces of me that the mana had torn apart to hold together, like stitches. It reced the pieces I had already lost as if it were a patchwork.


    For a moment I felt like stumbling, and when the mana started to tear my feet apart, I almost lost my bnce and fell down like Colonel Vulnar.


    Countless thoughts shed through my mind.


    No... no, I can''t.


    I gritted my teeth even more, biting my tongue just like the colonel.


    Hold on... hold on... hold on...


    All you have to do is swing the sword at the shadow in the sky, that''s all you have to do.


    My vision suddenly blurred, and all the sounds blurred together.


    But I could still make out the shadow in the sky and the glow was still intensifying. It didn''t matter that my vision was blurred, the only thing that mattered was that it didn''t go ck.


    I thought of what I could do if I got out of this battle. If I threw the sword aside as I swung it, I would only be in contact with it for a second, I had faith that the dwarves could heal me.


    Actually... I didn''t need to believe in anything.


    If I hadn''t done this, I wouldn''t have had a future anyway. I would have been captured again by the South, tortured again, enved again. It was as good as death. So... I decided not to care what was going to happen.


    I just focused. I just focused on the state of my body and whether I was going to swing the sword or not.


    As I watched all my muscles tear, as I watched my skin tear, and as I watched the veins on my hand holding the sword expand, burst, and cken as if they were turning to ash in a me... I felt something else.


    The mana touched something else than my body. It was so intense that it searched for something else to travel through and... it found it. It found my soul.


    In the first few seconds it felt like my body was falling apart, but when mana touched my soul... it felt like hotva was flowing through my veins instead of blood.


    I stumbled again, this time reflexively trying to direct the mana in my body to my leg.


    Durandal''s wild mana traveled down along the right side of my body and reached my leg. Even though my intention was to support myself, the result was worse as I felt a sensation in my leg simr to the one I felt in my right hand.


    Caora glowed more violently than ever. It sshed on my hand and leg, focusing on the right side of my body.


    The blue color of Durandal flickered for a moment as if something had seeped into it. And then the huge sword reaching for the sky suddenly blended with a bright purple. The battlefield was suddenly covered in the purple glow of the huge purple sword reaching for the sky.


    I gave everything I had, I focused all my desires on being able to swing the sword just once... and then... something else happened.


    Just as the left side of my vision turned purple, something flickered on the right side. A bright, pure blue filled my right vision as if to counter the purple on my left.


    Not only that, it sshed over Durandal like caora. Two colors that seemed to be in conflict with each other and at the same time in harmony, purple and blue... suddenly rose into the sky along the sword.


    A sensation entered my body this time as if something was healing me, as if something was recing the parts of my body that had been torn away.


    My body was filled with a power I had never felt before.


    No... I had felt it. I had felt something like that long before when I escaped from Caleuche for the first time and the Northerners, suspicious of me, opened fire on the vehicle I was in... I remembered that it was this blue thing that responded to my desire to live at that time.


    So I took a deep breath, and the flow of time suddenly elerated. A single second was enough for me when my whole body was overflowing with power.


    I gripped Durandal even tighter, ignored the numbness in my hand, and swung it at Caleuche.


    The sword, soaring into the sky, turned sideways in an instant. I drew a diagonal line against the ghost ship, but I didn''t stop. I gritted my teeth even more, twisted the sword in my hand, and drew another diagonal line at an angle.


    The sword did not reach the shadow in the sky.


    But it didn''t need to. The specialty of this sword was that it could cut through anything. It was a feature that responded to its wielder''s desire.


    Cracks appeared in the air as if the atmosphere had been shattered. A strange tremor, reminiscent of an earthquake, shook the entire ground.


    The ck in the sky flushed for a moment, and two orange lines appeared on it, forming a cross. Then the ughter machine at the level of the clouds exploded with a great noise and shock wave.


    Thest thing I saw as I fell to the ground was the reflection in my eyes of the purple and blue sky above the clouds.

 Chapter 281 Volume IV - Epilogue

    <h4>Chapter 281 Volume IV - Epilogue</h4>


    The day I came back to the Academy... I expected to see Aiden here.


    I had spent almost three months in Neutral, so I figured he''d be back before me. That''s why I was surprised when I couldn''t find him anywhere, but... I didn''t think much of it.


    His work must have been prolonged. What else could it have been? He was smart, but he was also strong. I had yet to see him not get what he wanted.


    So, I decided to wait for him. Then, shortly after I entered the academy, rector Mny called me to her office.


    She asked, of course, what I was doing, how much I had improved... And when she received her answer, her mouth was agape. She asked countless questions, but my answers to most of them were cursory since I could not reveal Lithoa''s existence. When she finally realized that she wasn''t going to get a straight answer from me, she gave up and... I was released.


    I first met with my study group.


    Julian was weing my return with excitement. Lucia and Sue were their usual selves, happy to be my friends in the same group, even if they didn''t talk to me much.


    Alice... her expression didn''t change when she saw me. In fact, she ignored me as if she was annoyed. I didn''t expect her to still be like that after the James thing, but I didn''t say anything.


    Celine was the only one missing from our group besides Aiden. Still, no one questioned her presence. After all, everyone knew where she was.


    Besides the study group, I also met with my spear instructor.


    Her mouth hung open, just like Rector Mny''s, when she saw how strong I had be despite my age.


    Then, like that¡­ the days went by. Then weeks... weeks without Aiden returning. Still, I kept waiting, trusting him.


    As word slowly spread among the students about how powerful I had be... I learned that I had be one of the new legends of the academy. Being the subject of rumors, being talked about, and the stares I received... ufortable at first, but I got used to them.


    After all, I had been receiving much harsher stares over the years.


    So, a month after I returned to the academy... I woke up in the morning and what I saw made me freeze in my tracks.


    The news said that the war on the Hr continent was over. The North Hr had won the war, the South Hr had been defeated and the continent was now one united country.


    But that was not the important thing. As thetest images from the war leaked out, as thest information became avable to the world... it was not the war, but something else that made the news.


    A student who took part in the dwarves'' war, and even helped bring it to an end. A young man, not yet twenty, with ck hair and gray eyes: Aiden Tenebra.


    I couldn''t help grinning as his achievements were listed one by one on the screen. I knew he woulde back with something big this time, but I didn''t think he would make himself famous all over the world. I was happy and my desire to be stronger increased exponentially, as I saw myself as his friend and at the same time his rival.


    But as the news continued to tell the story, a sacrifice was revealed to the world. The news that Aiden was in aa suddenly swept the media.


    It was criticized as to how the North Hr could bring someone not even twenty years old into the war as a soldier. It was wondered how someone so young, studying at the CDA academy was able to step into the Hr continent. How this person achieved these sesses was another question altogether.


    But... none of that mattered to me.


    "Aiden... in aa...?"


    In the first seconds I saw the news, the mere thought of it made no sense to me. Aiden couldn''t fail, he was someone who always got what he wanted. He always gave me that vibe.


    And now... there was no chance of him waking up, he was bedridden, and in aa...?


    I didn''t believe it.


    I clenched my fist so hard that blood was dripping from my palms. It was Lithoa who calmed me down as my emotions became harder to control with each passing second.


    Hours passed, and the news of Aiden''s actions continued to spread. The information that he was in aa was confirmed. The whole world was awash with his name.


    "Aiden Tenebra, neen years old, a citizen of the Cevilian Kingdom, and a CDA student..."


    "The Hero of the Hr has been deredatose!"


    "How did a neen-year-old find himself a soldier on the Hr continent?"


    "Aiden Tenebra''s experiences, his story..."


    I finally turned off the news, took a deep breath, and leaned back. I closed my eyes, letting myself go into the silence and darkness for a moment.


    I opened my eyes again and just stared at the white ceiling.


    I hadn''t imagined it like this... that something like this could happen... it had never even crossed my mind.


    When I came back after getting stronger in the Neutral, I thought that Aiden and I would enter that tournament that was postponed all the time and that we would meet in the finals.


    When he saw how much stronger I had gotten, he would be stunned, he would just freeze...


    No... this wasn''t it. It wasn''t supposed to be like this...


    I squinted, clenched my fist even more. I was silent for a while longer, thinking nothing.


    Finally... I spoke in a low voice. I called out to the person who I knew had the answer to everything, who had always and forever helped me.


    "Lithoa... is there any way to heal him?"


    I was aware of how advanced the technology of the dwarves was. There was a good chance they could have healed Aiden. But if they could do that... Why didn''t they give a proper response to the information that he was in aa in the first ce?


    It was bothering me. It was like... it was like they weren''t sure if he was going to wake up. That''s exactly why I wanted to try my own luck.


    Lithoa remained silent as if he had not heard my question. I knew he was thinking, so I didn''t say anything, I just waited.


    My answer came a few secondster.


    ''There is.''


    --Volume IV: War of the Dwarves--


    --The End--

 Chapter 282 Volume V - Prologue

    <h4>Chapter 282 Volume V - Prologue</h4>


    --Volume V: The Breaking Seals--


    When I first heard the word ''festival'' and found out what it was... I thought it would be something beautiful.


    Everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun in the series I saw on our TV in that hidden forest with my family. So... I was looking forward to the day when I could join one of them.


    But... then, that happened. A man with long smoke-colored hair and glowing purple eyes visited our house and made my whole life a living hell.


    In my life spent in the dark corners of the streets, in the sewers, and in all sorts of dirty ces, stealing from passers-by, trying to kill someone, or begging, I had forgotten the word ''festival'' even existed.


    So... when I heard the words ''Foundation Festival'', celebrating the founding of the kingdom, my old memories came back and I couldn''t help but get a little... excited.


    It bothered me that Aiden wasn''t going to be there, that he couldn''t join us at this festival, but... I thought that at least this way I could rx a bit. Spending time with my friends would be good for me.


    And it did. The festival started off lively and enthusiastic. There were different events celebrating the founding of the kingdom, and I spent time with my friends, just as I had imagined. And in the end, the festival was over. Everyone had a lot of fun. When the festival was over, everyone had a smile on their face, a sweet smile from the fun time they had had.


    But... there was someone else waiting for this festival- No... waiting for me.


    An organization that had just announced itself to the whole world, and with that announcement and the changes that came with it, they had managed to sow fear in the hearts of almost everyone, no matter who they were.


    Aren''t festivals supposed to be fun? Then why is the whole ce... in ruins?


    Aren''t festivals supposed to bring people together...? Then why is everyone running away...?


    Isn''t this festival supposed to give me peace of mind, to rx me? Why do I... why do I find myself again aplishing nothing? Just a few minutes ago I was walking calmly with Julian, Sue, and Lucia... How did I end up in chaos in just a few minutes...?


    Why is there blood all over my body? Why is it hard for me to even take a step? Why do I feel like all my bones are broken? Why... just why?


    My lungs contracted with difficulty, coughing up blood as I painfully expelled the air inside.


    Gasping for breath, my whole body writhing in pain, I clenched my fist. I slowly raised my head upward.


    With people''s screams echoing everywhere in the me-engulfed area, I tried, with difficulty, to focus my blurred eyes on one ce.


    I tried to take a stance to defend myself, looking for my spear that had flown who knows how far away from me. But... just then, someone''s voice echoed in my ears from far away. In a calm, cold tone. As if... he didn''t care about anything around him.


    "Do you have the strength to fight yet, Adrian Caleo?"


    I narrowed my eyes even more, clenching my teeth so hard that I gritted them involuntarily, my nails digging into my palms. The pain brought another sensation with it.


    My fault, as always. This is happening because I''m here...


    "Apparently not... then let''s end it here."


    I''m sick of it... literally... I''m fed up.


    I''ve had enough.


    I pushed my body one more time, as I had been doing for minutes. I staggered backward, trying to stand up with difficulty, almost falling once more, but... I managed to keep myself together.


    "Oh, do you still have willpower?"


    I couldn''t make out the man, his image was obscured by the blur of my eyes. But his voice and silhouette were clear.


    After the blood and sweat dripping from my forehead, I took a very deep breath, maybe the deepest breath I had ever taken in my life, and the exhtion was just as heavy. But... it gave me some relief.


    "Then-"


    "Pft..."


    The man''s step toward me and the word on his tongue were suddenly interrupted. An intense silence descended on the area. The gleam in his violet eyes, somehow evident even in my blurred vision, squinted for a moment.


    "Are you...ughing?"


    I finally stopped holding back, myughter echoing through the space. Tears followed, along with blood from my eyes.


    "Ahahahahahahahahah!"


    In the midst of myughter, the man who was my opponent reacted with surprise to my momentaryughter. When the only thing we could both hear was the echoing sound ofughtering out of my mouth, I finally slowly calmed down. I spoke with a smile as I slowly ended myughter.


    "I get it... I get it now."


    I narrowed my eyes, released my clenched fist, and looked directly into the shining, violet eyes of the man in front of me. Without any hesitation.


    "I was sick of it, you know? Every time I decided to be a good person and I ran into an obstacle, every time I couldn''t save anyone... I med myself over and over again. I was sick of it, I was sick of being powerless..."


    The man''s expressionless face tilted slightly to the side.


    "So?"


    "So... I was right!"


    I slowly raised my hand, the blurred silhouette of the middle-aged wiera in front of me suddenly solidified his stance, and I slowly reached for something under my shirt as he tried toprehend what I was doing.


    "I''m saying... it''s my fault. It always has been, even now..."


    I clutched my ne tightly. As my lips curled upward, finally grasping what I had to do... I felt unreasonably happy.


    "So... I''m going to stop making mistakes."


    As I watched thest thing I had left of my family, my ne, warm up, officially responding to my feelings, something else slowly happened.


    First, the mana in the atmosphere fluctuated, then it began to heat up, just like my ne. A faint blue glow slowly began to surround my body, followed by something else, colorless, but distinct in its intensity.


    "I won''t hold back anymore, I won''t care about the consequences, I''ll just... do what I want."


    All the mana in the atmosphere slowly awoke. As I reached out and reacted to my emotions, to my desires... I reached out to it. I reached out not only to the mana in this area but to so much more.


    I pulled my ne, took it off my neck.


    The mana in which we stood, and which reached much farther, listened to my desire. I finally ttened my lips and squinted my eyes as the apanying blue glow slowly intensified on me along with the mana.


    "So... try not to die. For I have a lot of questions for you."


    With a violent shockwave, reminiscent of a heartbeat, the whole world lit up with an intense glow. For the first time, I saw the monotonous, serious expression on the face of the man in front of me change.

 Chapter 283 Volume V - 1: Toward the End of First Year

    <h4>Chapter 283 Volume V - Chapter 1: Toward the End of First Year</h4>


    The sun''s rays were brighter and hotter than ever with theing summer. The blue sky was cloudless, taking away the shadows where people could cool off in the already too-high temperatures. At least that was the case a few hours ago... before I entered the building I was in.


    I was standing in my training room with my eyes closed, my spear firmly in my hand. I didn''t move a muscle in any way. I just... waited.


    Finally, when I felt a movement in the area to my left, my hands moved spontaneously.


    I raised the hand that was holding my spear and used my other hand to support it.


    ~ting!


    The sound of metal hitting metal echoed in my ears, I sessfully blocked the attack and focused on my opponent''s next move while taking a quick but deep breath in and out.


    Instead of retreating after the attack I blocked, she was circling around, preparing for a second attack.


    The sounds, the wind, the smell, the movement of light that I could faintly make out through my closed eyes... everything was entering my mind, synchronizing with my mana, and spreading through my body as the next attack appeared in my mind.


    With my eyes closed, I raised my spear again, this time aiming the shaft toward my left side. I didn''t try to block the attack but rather pushed the shaft of my spear forward with all the sensations and instincts coursing through my body.


    My opponent hesitated, even if only momentarily, I felt the pressure of the wind on my face and an intense silence filled the space.


    "Oh?"


    The voice of a middle-aged woman broke the silence. Then I slowly opened my eyes.


    Immediately to my left, just a few centimeters in front of my cheek, stood the metal tip of a spear. The two slender hands holding this spear belonged to a woman. Her dark green hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her brown eyes were full of surprise. She was a beautiful woman, but the wrinkles that had begun to appear on her face showed that she was getting older. She was wearing ordinary grey training clothes.


    "I didn''t expect this..."


    She took her brown eyes off me, slowly focusing on the shaft of my spear, which was only a few millimeters in front of her forehead.


    Just like before, she had expected me to block her attack. Not a counterattack like this.


    "Have you already mastered the third movement, Adrian...?"


    She stepped back, away from the shaft of my spear, and looked at me with eyes full of surprise.


    "Didn''t you say it''s only been two months since you mastered the second movement? You used to have a rate of development that terrified people, but this makes no sense whatsoever!"


    My history professor, who was also my spear instructor, looked at me with eyes full of real awe. But I could also see the pride and excitement behind that awe.


    I stepped back, a little afraid of her reaction.


    "Thank you?"


    The professor realized her overreaction. She stepped back in the same way, coughed slightly, and straightened her posture.


    "I... might have been a little too surprised. Anyway, let''s forget about it."


    She nodded her head up and down in agreement, and then a smile appeared on her face. She pressed her spear lightly against the ground, leaning against it.


    "You know today is thest day, right?"


    I paused for a moment, then it suddenly dawned on me.


    Right... I had forgotten.


    The academy is going on summer vacation for about two and a half months. And tomorrow... is thest day of sses. And they are going to have an end-of-year ceremony...


    "You can continue to train in the room if you want. Contact me if you want, and if I''m avable that day, I''ll be happy to help you again."


    The Professor released her spear into the air. But before it hit the ground, the spear was enveloped in a blue light, turned to dust, disappeared, and entered the professor''s dimensional inventory.


    "Rest for now. You''ll have to do a lot of standing at tomorrow''s ceremony as the top-ranked student among the first years. Oh, also... you''ve made your specialty selections, right?"


    Specialty selections...


    The first year of the academy was, ording to most of the students, no different from high school even if it has a few sides of its own.


    I didn''t go to high school, so I didn''t know what it was like. But almost all the students said that the academy really started in the second year. Because students in the second, third, and fourth years were no longer restricted from interacting with first years. In addition, special courses were now avable based on the specializations chosen and the person was moving directly into a university-style education rather than a high school-like education.


    There were many choices among the specializations. As far as I remember, there were theoretical specializations such as Runic Research, Mana Theories, and Dungeon Studies, as well as specializations such as Guarding, Hunting, and Military, which emphasized more on individual power. Of course, these also have their own sub-specialties...


    From these and more, one to three could be selected as main specializations.


    "Yes, I did. I n to concentrate on Hunting and Military."


    The professor nodded in agreement and stretched slightly, a smile appearing on her face.


    "Good, you have made the best choices for yourself."


    With that, she turned and headed toward the exit of the training room.


    "Goodbye then!"


    "Goodbye..."


    I was alone in the room within seconds. An intense silence enveloped me for a moment, my eyes squinted.


    I raised my hands, opened and closed my palms, and then clenched my fists.


    I''ve grown stronger. That hellish training Lithoa put me through has been more effective than I thought. Among my peers... I''m not sure if there''s anyone who canpete with me, or even if several of them could beat me if they jumped on me at the same time.


    And yet, why is it always like this? Every time I think I''m getting even stronger than necessary... I actually feel like I''m falling behind.


    During the preliminaries, during the ident at the academy, among the A and S ranked creatures in Neutral, and now when I think about what Aiden has aplished and what I need to do to heal him... I feel like I''m not as strong as I should be.


    "Haaa..."


    Finally, I took a deep breath, wiped my sweat with my towel, sshed cold water on my face, put on my everyday clothes, and left the training building.


    The moment I stepped outside the training building, I felt countless eyes on me. They were much more intense than before, but it had been a long time since I was used to it. So, I continued on my way without changing my facial expression, without focusing on them even a little.


    The intense stares continued until I finally stepped into my room, but once inside I could breathe freely. The first thing I did... was to let myself fall into the armchair and stare at the white wall.


    The ceremony... After that, the first year of the academy will be over and I''ll have about two months to do whatever I want. And in that time, I need to get what I need to help Aiden recover.


    "Lithoa... you''re sure what you''re talking about will work, right?"


    ''Of course it will, brat! Do you think I''d keep something in my storage that I know won''t work?''


    I raised my left arm, focusing on the bracelet I was using as my dimensional inventory item. Soon a blue glow appeared in front of me, and an object appeared out of nothing in front of me.


    This object was a disc the size of my palm. It was as thick as a book of several hundred pages, yellowish brown in color, and covered with many motifs. Aside from that, one of the most distinctive features of the disc was a great hole in the center.


    I snatched the disc from the air and examined it again and again.


    About half of the motifs on it were glowing, but the other half was so faint, let alone glowing, that I could barely tell that there was a motif there.


    "I still can''t use it yet... Are you sure I''ll be able to make it work in a month?"


    ''Trust me and keep transferring mana to that thing. As it continues to charge on its own, and you keep pouring mana into it, you will soon be able to activate it. So just do what you have to do.''


    With a deep sigh, I looked at the disc again. I began to do what I had been doing every evening for thest week, ever since Aiden''s experiences had hit the news.


    I slowly pushed my mana into the hole in the center of the disc, guiding it along the barely visible motifs, while the disc suddenly began to absorb the mana hovering over it.


    The glow of the shimmering motifs slowly began to seep into the faint ones, so slowly that it was barely noticeable, almost invisible to the eye. However, the disc''s mana absorption was so high that I was only able to keep it going for a minute or two, after which my mana reserves slowly bottomed out and I inevitably stopped transferring mana to the disc.


    The number of shimmering motifs had indeed increased, but they didn''t seem to be any different from before. The change was that insignificant.


    I clicked my tongue, ced the disc back into my bracelet, and closed my eyes, not even bothering to get up from the couch with my depleted mana reserves. As I slowly surrendered myself to sleep, I repeated to myself what I repeated every day.


    I will do it.


    I''ll do it before the end of the summer, no matter how long it takes.


    When we start our second year at the Academy... Aiden will be awake with us.


    *(A/N: My first year at university is about to begin, unlike Adrian... So I''m going to be a lot busier than I used to be. I''ve been publishing two chapters a day for about two months now, but with sses and other things going on, I probably won''t have much time to write anymore. So I''ve decided to reduce the number of chapters per day to one like I used to back then.


    Of course, since writing is my hobby, it has be a habit for me. So there will probably be days when I write several chapters a day. When that happens, I will post two chapters a day. If I''m not as busy as I think I am, maybe I won''t even need to do one chapter a day and continue to publish two chapters. The number of chapters per week will probably range between 7 and 14. I''m sorry, but unfortunately, this is the situation. As for the chapter schedule... it will most probably stay the same. You can expect a new chapter every day at 00.00 for UTC+8.


    Also, I will add this note after publishing the chapter. So the chapter price will not increase, don''t worry.)*

 Chapter 284 Volume V - 2: The End of Year Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 284 Volume V - Chapter 2: The End of Year Ceremony</h4>


    When I slowly opened my eyes on my couch, the sunlight was shining directly on my face, dazzling my barely open eyes even more.


    I yawned, stretched slightly, and my eyes went straight to the clock on the wall.


    Seven... the ceremony was supposed to start at ten o''clock. In short, I have three hours.


    I went into the bathroom and took a shower. I didn''t put on the ssic school uniform. I didn''t need it anyway since the first year was over. Instead, I put on a white shirt with long sleeves that I rolled up into short ones and a pair of navy blue cks.


    I stood in front of the mirror and looked at how I looked.


    My white hair had grown a lot longer after my time at the Neutral, but I had cut it when I went back to the academy, so it was back to its original length. Compared tost year, I was only slightly taller, with a more well-built body. However, the effect of the elven blood circting in my veins would probably prevent me from having a more built body than I have now.


    It was actually impossible for an elf to be even this built. Elves... were not a race that could be physically too strong. And I, who had half their blood, was greatly influenced by their traits.


    I looked into my eyes, my emerald green irises, a copy of my father''s. Then I let out a deep sigh.


    I look fine. Why did I stand in front of the mirror in the first ce...?


    I took my eyes off my reflection and stepped outside without even having breakfast.


    *******


    For the three hours I was free, most of what I did was wait. Finally, as the time approached and the whole academy was gathering in one of the open areas of the huge campus, I was pulled toward the back of the stage that had been set up the previous day by some of the staff.


    They were telling me what I was going to do. They handed me a sample text. Then told me to analyze it and deliver my speech in a simr way, but I didn''t look at it even once.


    Instead, my eyes were focused on the other seven students gathered there, just like me, with the voice of the emcee talking in the background.


    They were the top students of the academy. The people who had ranked first in power and academic rankings each year were lined up just like me. They too were handed a text.


    Ignoring the fourth, third, and second-year rankers, I looked at the academic ranker of my peers.


    His name badge bore the name Alexander Callidas. He was dressed like me, in a shirt and cks, but the colors were darker. He wore a dark green shirt to match his hair and ck pants. He was taller than me but rather skinny. He was not a strong person, but his eyes were so sharp and the atmosphere around him so... strange that I couldn''t help feeling otherwise.


    He resembled my spear instructor with his brown eyes, but the thought that they might be rted by blood never once crossed my mind. It was just that... although they resembled each other, they were just as distant from each other.


    Alexander Callidas turned in my direction as if he sensed that I was looking at him. There was no change in his indifferent face, and after a short while, he turned back to his front with a slight sigh.


    I didn''t understand what he was thinking, but I didn''t have time to figure it out. Suddenly, the voice of the emcee, who until now had not been very loud in the background, echoed in my ears, clearer than ever.


    "... and now I would like to invite to the stage the eight students who have been ranked first in power and academic performance at our academy for the school years 2043-2044. Adrian Caleo and Alexander Callidas from the first year! Maeve Bistra and Jack Laehera from the second year! Damian White and Cassandra Bealy from the third year! Allison Vinc and Harry Laehera from the fourth year!"


    The eight of us put down our texts at the same time and slowly made our way to the stage in the order in which we were called. As the first person to step on stage, I was the first to hear the apuse loudest and clearest.


    I made my way in front of the huge crowd of all the students and staff of the academy, and when I reached the end of the stage, I paused and turned toward the crowd. The other seven people finished lining up next to me, and the crowd again erupted in loud apuse.


    The emcee who had been speaking so far, a woman I didn''t recognize who was in charge of the academy, slowly stepped aside. She gave way to Mny Quie.


    Rector Mny approached the crowd with a smile on her face. She began her speech.


    "In this academic year... our academy has faced many misfortunes."


    The enthusiastic mood of the crowd paused for a moment, remembering what had happened, but Mny Quie ignored it and continued.


    "The preliminaries we held for this year''s tournament, which was nned but eventually canceled, the attack that followed, and all sorts of things... Most recently, as you all know, the case of Aiden Tenebra, a student at this academy."


    The crowd shrank even more. Whispers rose slightly among them. It was clear that they had not expected such a speech. They had thought today would be a more cheerful day.


    "But I can assure you that we have and will ovee all these misfortunes somehow. We have already begun work to revitalize the academy for the new academic year, a year in which we will be remembered for our sesses rather than our misfortunes. Next year, the academy will adopt a new educational system. While I cannot reveal it now, I am sure you will all like what we are working on."


    Mny Quie widened her smile slightly.


    "Likewise, as the rector of our academy, I would like to congratte you all on your graduation and wish you all the best for your summer vacation. Aside from the new things you will see next year, I thank you all again. Now... let''s give the medals and the floor to the top students of our academy, shall we?"


    She kept her speech short. She may have lowered the mood at first, but then she excited her listeners with her announcement about the academy''s new system.


    She came in front of all of us with a tray held by an employee standing next to her. One by one, she hung a medal around each of our necks. But all I could do was squint my eyes as I looked at the medal around my neck. I didn''t feel happy or proud.


    There was a huge round of apuse and whistles from the crowd. And then... Mny Quie gave the floor to us.


    "First of all, I would like to address the fourth-year top rankers who are graduating this year."


    When she finished handing out the medals, she stepped aside, making way for us. That''s how Harry Laehera and Allison Vinc stepped forward.


    Allison Vinc was a girl with shoulder-length ck hair and red eyes reminiscent of Lucia''s. She was tall and had a slim figure. But the most important thing... was definitely the feeling she gave off.


    She was the strongest of all the students, ranking first in the power rankings among the fourth year students. Although she was only twenty-two years old, she had already reached B- grade. Not only had she broken through the D- grade wall, the first great wall that humans faced, but she had even ovee a much more formidable obstacle, the B- grade, before she even graduated from the academy.


    And all this from the family of a Count, rather than a Duke or a Marquis. It was clear that her future was bright.


    Allison Vinc gave her speech with a smile and, like Mny Quie, kept it short. She exined what she had done and how she had done it, congratted all the students who had graduated like her, and wished the first three years, who were still students, well.


    Harry Laehera gave a formal speech, belonging to one of the five Duke families in the kingdom. With his short blond hair and blue eyes, he was a sight for sore eyes.


    The third and second-year first rankers followed Allison Vinc and Harry Laehera. Finally, it was the turn of Alexander Callidas and me.


    We both took a short step forward. The first to speak was me, first in the power rankings.


    I took a deep breath, even though I hadn''t even nced at the sample text I had been given. I squinted my eyes and looked at the crowd in front of me.


    "Most of you... know that I am not a noble."


    The eyebrows of the crowd raised in curiosity, but I continued.


    "But what most of you probably don''t know... is that technically I''m not even amoner."


    I narrowed my eyes even more, knowing that most of the things that had been said about me would probably get worse after this speech. It didn''t really make sense to talk about my past. Maybe there would even be people who would try to get me kicked out of the academy by arguing that my entry into this academy was by patronage, but... I wanted to continue.


    "Unlike most of you, I didn''t go to elementary school, middle school, or high school. I grew up in filthy streets, slept in sewers, and begged for a living."


    I saw disgust in the eyes of some, confusion in others, pity in some more. There were those who thought I was lying, those who didn''t understand what I was trying to talk about and tried to figure it out.


    I saw an employee at the back of the crowd crossing his arms at me, trying to exin to me that it would not be good for me to make such a speech, but... I didn''t care.


    "Do you know what pushed me, a beggar, a rotten street kid, to get stronger? I had a purpose, a purpose I wanted to fulfill, a purpose I wasmitted to, and for that purpose I spent maybe all day training, using sticks I found on the street as spears. With that me burning inside me, I did everything I could to improve. Some of you may think that I am so strong because of talent, some of you may think that I was lucky, some of you may think that I found a very talented master and trained with him... None of you are wrong."


    I saw Mny Quie looking at me, giving me silent signals to stop. The other first years in the same row as me were looking at me meaninglessly.


    But why should I stop when I hade so far?


    "Many things have made it possible for me to stand here today and give this speech. I''m a strong person, perhaps one of the strongest people of my age ording to many around me. I deserve to be standing here in the end ording to most people. To be able to rise to this point with my background is not something that most people can achieve."


    I paused, my eyes clearly sweeping over the entire crowd, making eye contact with some, but not dwelling on anyone too much.


    "But despite all this effort, I don''t think I am ''first'' among my peers as a student at this academy."


    Mny Quie sighed deeply as she realized where this conversation was going. Most of the people listening to me were eager to hear what I had to say next.


    "You have all seen on the news the person who really deserves to stand here. You have heard his name on every corner for thest week. Many of you have even watched the short documentary about his achievements and his life."


    I took off the medal hanging around my neck, gripped it tightly, and put it on the floor.


    "I mean no disrespect to the Academy, and I understand their decision, but I do not want to ept this medal."


    I stood up again and walked toward the crowd. When I reached the edge of the stage, I let out a deep sigh.


    "Among the first-years, I would like to leave the first ce, even in representation, to Aiden Tenebra, my best friend, whose achievements are much more important than mine... who directly ended a war that had been going on for years with his own hands."


    I jumped down from the stage, and as I made my way through the crowd, I saw everyone moving away from me, making way for me. I finally stopped moving and faced the stage calmly.


    "I think most of you will respect and approve of my decision."


    I didn''t say anything else. I didn''t move my lips or a single hair, I just waited where I was.


    An intense silence filled the whole space at first. Nothing could be heard except the chirping of birds, and the rustling of tree leaves gently caressed by the wind. Then... amidst all this silence, a single p echoed.


    Immediately it was joined by another, and then another. The entire crowd attending this end-of-year ceremony began to apud, even with herd psychology. There was no whistling, no screaming. The only reaction to my speech was the apuse, which continued for almost half a minute.


    After my speech, the ceremony continued in a strange way, with a very different atmosphere than before. Alexander Callidas kept his speech the shortest. He just said that he thought I was right, wished all the years luck, and went back to his spot.


    Not much was said about this matter, but Mny Quie also said that she would respect my decision and agreed with me.


    The Academy''s 2043-2044 academic year officially ended about ten minutes after I gave my speech.

 Chapter 285 Volume V - 3: The First Day of Summer

    <h4>Chapter 285 Volume V - Chapter 3: The First Day of Summer</h4>


    The first day of summer vacation... was not what I expected.


    All the students at the academy were excited as summer vacation approached, eagerly awaiting the end of sses and the end-of-year ceremony. But... what''s the difference from before?


    I don''t have to go to sses for two months, that''s all... What''s so exciting about that? I''m going to keep practicing every day, I''m going to keep transferring mana to this disk, and nothing else... I can''t understand what''s the difference between this and before.


    Bored, I opened my watch and started looking at the media while sitting in my room.


    The news was finally starting to move away from Aiden a little bit. Sure, I could still see tons of news headlines with his name in them, but they were rtively few in number. Instead, I could see new things, or things that had started, things that were old and now were starting to resurface.


    For example, the rise of anti-bullying activists after the fall of the Malus Family. The man who represents them, Darrel Gavefrihet... He really looks like a nobleman with his purple eyes and golden hair. He appears on the news and gives speeches. Every time he''s on camera, he gathers more followers.


    But... for some reason I don''t get a good feeling when I look at him, so I skipped his story and looked at another one.


    The news of a possible war between the Cevilian Kingdom and the Elhair Republic was the first thing that caught my eye.


    A war... Aiden was a soldier on the battlefield. If this war actually happens, will I be a soldier like him? After all, one of the two specializations I chose is Military... It''s a possibility.


    I decided to keep looking at the news. At least that''s what I was thinking towards noon of the first day. I involuntarily let out an involuntary sigh when my watch rang and I saw Julian''s smiling photo on the screen.


    "Julian?"


    "How''s it going?"


    "Fine... I guess. I''m sitting in my room and n to go to the training rooms in a few minutes."


    Julian didn''t react much, as if he expected this from me, but he couldn''t help the awkwardness in his voice. Nevertheless, he continued as if nothing had happened.


    "I was going to go shopping for the summer festival and stuff, and I''m going to hang out for a bit. Do you want toe?"


    My eyes drifted to the clock hanging on the wall.


    Actually... it wouldn''t be a big deal if I cut back on my training time for today.


    "When do we go?"


    Julian changed his tone as if he was smiling, even though I couldn''t see his face.


    "Half an hour if you''re free. I''ll meet you at the caf¨¦ at the academy."


    "Okay."


    We talked for another minute or so and then the call went off.


    After taking a deep breath, I went to my closet and changed into casual clothes. I didn''t think too much about how I looked and headed toward the caf¨¦. After almost twenty minutes, I found Julian waving at me.


    He was wearing a simple white T-shirt and capris that came down to just below his knees. His hair was tied back behind his head as usual. When I saw him, he smiled.


    We didn''t stay where we were for long. The first ce Julian headed for was a store full of expensive clothes. The store employees greeted him with respect. As Julian tried on one outfit after another, he turned to me, confused about what to buy and what not to buy.


    "What do you think?"


    "They all look good actually..."


    Julian looked at me for a moment, seeing that I was really thinking about it. Then a grin appeared on his face.


    "You''re right, they were all good. So... I''ll buy them all!"


    Julian paid for all the clothes with a card from his wallet while the store employee sweated like he had hit the jackpot. Finally, Julian put everything into his dimensional inventory and walked out of the store, satisfied, his eyes darting back and forth.


    "We should eat something... My stomach is growling."


    As I drifted from ce to ce with him, never staying anywhere in the academy for more than ten minutes... I was actually having fun. Spending time with a friend was enjoyable, as it should be. There was nothing wrong with that.


    But every time I noticed my lips curving upward, every time I found myself smiling... I always thought of Aiden. That he''s in aa, that maybe he''ll never wake up. The fact that I can be here having fun with Julian while he sleeps unconscious... It bothered me.


    I looked at Julian''s face as he made his way to a pizza ce he had his eye on.


    What does he think about this? He has a smile on his face that he hasn''t taken off all day, he doesn''t care much about his surroundings and how people look at him.


    Is it abnormal for me to think this way?


    "Oh?"


    Julian''s eyes suddenly shifted to a point ahead and I involuntarily turned in that direction, only to find two pairs of eyes staring back at us, two blood red, the other two dark blue.


    "Lucia, Sue!"


    Although I was a little surprised to see two people from our study group, I didn''t find it too strange. On the contrary, like Julian, a slight smile appeared on my face.


    Lucia was wearing a white blouse over straight jeans, her ck mask on her face as usual. Sue was wearing a light blue T-shirt with a skirt that came down to her knees.


    "What are you doing?"


    Julian moved quickly toward them. And I followed behind him.


    "We were hanging out, nothing much... What about you?"


    " Same. We did some shopping, had lunch, and now... here we are."


    Julian and Lucia continued to talk amongst themselves. I turned my eyes to Sue, who remained silent.


    Her eyes had lost some of their former brightness. Her face, which usually held a hint of a smile, was now t.


    I knew why, of course. Sue... She was one of the closest people to Aiden in the group, after all.


    "How about together, then?"


    "Sure."


    Julian and Lucia finished their conversation and turned toward us. I gave them a smile of approval and Sue curled her lips up slightly in the same way.


    Being together again, apart from Aiden, Celine, and Alice, felt like a group reunion.


    And that feeling was... nice, to be honest.


    So, this meeting that we started with Julian continued with Lucia and Sue. We went to the leisure centers of the academy, we visited ces I had never been to before, like the aquarium. And there... I learned that Julian was a bit afraid of fish. I don''t know why but he looked at them with a frown and kept his distance.


    After the aquarium, we went to the amusement park. I saw and experienced things I had never seen before. I really enjoyed myself as the hours went by one after the other.


    But... the ce that left my mouth open the most was definitely the amusement center which had several games.


    What we experienced there was... humiliation in the truest sense of the word. Sue, to no one''s surprise, yed games like table hockey so wlessly that it seemed impossible to really see myself as the strongest of my peers.


    What''s more frightening was that she did all that absent-mindedly. All her movements were reflexive rather than thoughtful, sometimes not even focusing on the games. And yet... shepletely crushed everyone who yed with her. Not only that, but she managed to attract the attention of the people watching us, and got game offers from random people.


    She beat everybody. There wasn''t a single yer she didn''t crush. One after the other, she was putting everyone she came up against to the ground in a way that made them never y table hockey again.


    After a while, Julian realized that things were getting too big and took Sue away from table hockey. We left the yground, although a few people followed us through the crowd.


    As it was approaching dusk, what we did was walk calmly through arge central square. This was the most crowded part of the academy. Not just people, but holographic screens and all sorts of things were everywhere.


    "That was fun, huh?"


    Lucia nodded at Julian''s words, and Sue sighed softly, in a way that no one could hear but I couldn''t miss.


    "It was."


    There wasn''t much more we could do about today. We were nearing the end of our day, and the direction we were heading was toward the dormitory buildings, even though no one had specifically mentioned it.


    "We should do these things more often. It''s a great stress reliever, but let''s not go into the amusement center again, if possible."


    At Julian''s words, Sue raised one eyebrow and looked at him. Julian continued without holding back.


    "It''s okay to crush us, but it''s not okay to crowd us around like that... Actually, now that I think about it, it''s also not okay to crush us that much. You could have pitied us..."


    Lucia grinned, and Julian returned the same grin since he had intended to make fun of her all along. Sue let out a deep sigh.


    "I''m sorry. I was just... a little distracted, that''s all."


    She struggled a little, as if she couldn''t choose the right word, but eventually gave up. Julian and Lucia said nothing more as if they had more or less understood what she was talking about.


    As they approached further into the center of the square, Julian suddenly let out a deep sigh. His eyes narrowed slightly and his lips ttened.


    "Aid-"


    He was going to say something. He was probably going to try tofort her. Whether he would seed or not was unknown.


    But... what he was trying to say at the very beginning was suddenly interrupted before his lips could move. The next second, the whole crowd froze as if time had stopped.


    All the noise disappeared. Then... out of nowhere, the whole world suddenly turned purple.

 Chapter 286 Volume V - 4: A Simple Introductions

    <h4>Chapter 286 Volume V - Chapter 4: A Simple Introductions</h4>


    At first, a faint glow appeared in the clear blue sky. It covered the entire sky in an instant, purple in color, and even if slowly, it grew stronger and stronger, catching the eye quite easily.


    The crowd in the square had suddenly stopped, the noise abruptly cut off by the realization of this difference in the sky. What Julian was trying to say was among them.


    Now, there was confusion on everyone''s faces. Including Lucia, Sue, Julian, and me.


    "Huh?"


    "Is the sky... purple?"


    I squinted my eyes as many different voices spoke in whispers, trying toprehend what was happening as I looked up at the sky. I thought it was going to be an ordinary day, but by this point, I had a bad feeling.


    Just then, the countless holographic screens in the square suddenly flickered and all eyes turned from the purple light covering the entire sky to these screens. The screens distorted and tingled as if a virus had entered them.


    "What the...?"


    "This is getting scary..."


    When the crowd started whispering again, I didn''t like the ominous atmosphere and called out to my friends without turning around.


    "Let''s stay close to each other."


    No one questioned me. Julian, Lucia, and Sue approached me at the same time.


    For a brief moment, as if in answer to the crowd''s myriad questions, each of the broken screens was suddenly fixed. A snow-white image appeared on the tingling screens, then slowly faded away to be reced by another image.


    Slowly, the face of an old man in a suit appeared on the screens. He was a man I had never seen before.


    He had jet-ck hair and golden eyes. His hair was gray in ces and his face had a few wrinkles. But his golden eyes shone with such a sparkle, his expression was so stern, and his body so well built for an old man that he did not look old at all.


    On the contrary, he looked dangerous. That was the feeling he gave me, even though he was only on the screen for a second. Even though he wasn''t next to me, just an image on the screen... it made me tremble inside, if only for a moment.


    I slowly focused on the other details on the screens, and then I realized that this man was not the only one on the screen.


    There were others sitting at the same table with him. Together with him, there were eight of them in total. In a dimly lit room, all of them with their hands together on the table.


    "Hello, everyone."


    The old man''s full, strong voice echoed around the world, as if it were noting from the screens. It was as if the bruise in the sky, directly reality itself, had vibrated.


    However, it was at this moment that I realized something else and the whole world seemed to freeze. My eyes widened, and all sound stopped. My mind literally stopped working.


    It was the man sitting right next to the old man. He had a soulless look. Smoke-colored hair down to his shoulders. He didn''t have a beard. He was also middle-aged. He had dark brown eyes, eyes without any emotion.


    "My name is Xander, Xander Sol."


    The old man on the screen kept talking, but... I didn''t care.


    Because the man next to him was ''him''. The man who appeared in my every nightmare, the man who took my childhood, and my family from me. He was sitting at that table, as if nothing had happened... expressionless.


    "I am the third leader of the Saligia, which most of you don''t even know exists."


    When the old man said these words, a flicker appeared in his golden eyes. A purple hue appeared in his shimmering irises, then fully exploited the golden yellow color and dyed them purple. The man''s already glowing eyes shimmered even more violently, this time with purple.


    "I am a wiera, which can be considered a race."


    I clenched my fist, confirming what I had suspected from the moment I saw that man at that table, confirming that he was the man in my mind.


    I didn''t care about the old man on the screen. All my focus was on the smoke-haired man next to him.


    "What is a wiera, you may ask, of course. We are among you, all over the world... and we feed on chaos. We have purple eyes that represent chaos, a power of the same color. More... you will learn as time goes on."


    The man''s shimmering violet eyes squinted slightly. It was as if he was looking directly into my eyes, trying to shake my presence.


    Just the pressure of looking through the screens was enough to make me involuntarily shift my eyes to him.


    "But you don''t need to fear us, yet. Because we are not the ones you should be afraid of... in your current situation."


    The man tensed slightly. The glow in his eyes suddenly intensified, and the purple glow that filled the sky intensified with it.


    "This is a simple introduction. It is also a milestone, marking the beginning of what we will experience from now on. Of course, in honor of this, we have a gift for everyone, be they human, elf, dwarf, hannya, or fae."


    On the man''s expressionless face, his lips curled up slightly for a moment.


    "I imagine that in a few hours'' time, it will be clear to you what our gift is. For now..."


    After his words, there was silence for a short while. Suddenly, the bruising in the sky became more intense and spectacr than ever.


    Suddenly, the crowd, unable to move, let alone speak, became noisy again. So many voices, simultaneously expressing fear, surprise, confusion, and much more. So many different voices that it was impossible to understand who was saying what.


    But it didn''t stop there... The ground suddenly trembled as if affected by the noise from the crowd. A moderate earthquake shook everyone.


    As Julian tried to stay close to Lucia and Sue, I saw the iprehension in their eyes. Like me, they had no idea what was going on, they were as bewildered and confused as the rest of the crowd.


    But then what happened next made even me dizzy, and even for a moment I was taken off my feet.


    For no reason, the intensity of the mana in the space suddenly increased. It just gathered around us as if something was pushing it, squeezing it, gathering it into a single point.


    This change in mana was so sudden that most of the students in the area were stunned and dumbfounded. Some were holding their heads while others were trying hard not to vomit. Chaos had suddenly taken over the area again.


    "I hope you like our gifts..."


    The image of the man on the screens flickered, all the screens tingled again. The purple color in the sky began to recede slightly, giving way to the blue of the old sky. The earthquake also calmed down.


    Everything seemed to go back to the way it was a few seconds ago.


    However, the mana that continued to gather in the area did not stop. On the contrary, it began to intensify at a much faster rate. As if the mana in the atmosphere was not enough, it began to draw mana from the things around it... nts, even the students standing in the field.


    "Until next time, I suggest you remember the name Saligia. If you survive, of course..."


    The screens werepletely filled with tingling, and the whole image disappeared.


    The sky was its old color again, the shaking had stopped. The abnormal flow of mana was quickly returning, it had done what it had to do.


    With all this, the crowd that had descended into chaos calmed down again... but not because everything went back to the way it was.


    Everyone was quiet, the noise had disappeared again... because everyone''s eyes were in a different ce, as if they could not look away. To the point where the mana was constantlypressed, intensified...


    The ring on my finger, the artifact capable of forewarning me of danger, suddenly filled me with an intense, uneasy feeling.


    "That... That thing..."


    One of the students swallowed. His eyes widening with each passing second, he raised his trembling hands toward the sky, pointing to the ce where the mana had been concentrated until a few seconds ago.


    Although everything had calmed down... something had happened that no one had expected, something that left everyone frozen in ce.


    Above therge fountain in the center of the square, right in the middle of the tingling screens, there was arge dark blue thing with cracks all around it that seemed to reflect the sky.


    Something unstable, whose dark blue color was slowly turning orange... It was decaying so fast that soon tons of creatures would pour out of it, right in the middle of the academy...


    "A fucking dungeon!"


    Not only that, but the amount of mana it emitted around it, the feeling it gave, and the way my ring was almost shouting at me to run away from where I was, it was definitely not a normal one...

 Chapter 287 Volume V - 5: A Dungeon in Academy

    <h4>Chapter 287 Volume V - Chapter 5: A Dungeon in Academy</h4>


    "A- A dungeon!"


    One of the students suddenly shouted. With that, the students, who had not yet recovered from the shock of the event, became aware of the situation again.


    And that was not the only thing they realized. They were also aware of how quickly the blue-colored gate shifted to orange, indicating how close it was to the breaking point.


    So they began to realize that this area would soon be filled with creatures. And that brought... only chaos.


    A more violent noise filled the area than ever before. The students tried to run backward, screaming and shouting to get away from the gate. But they were so close to each other and so unconcerned about what they were doing that they tripped over each other, literally crushing one another.


    "G- Get out of the way!"


    "We''re going to die... We''re going to die!"


    While everyone was running for their lives... while no one was able to get away from the area properly, thest blue dot on the gate turned orange.


    The break was happening so fast that even though I had tried to think calmly until now, my eyes widened and I realized the danger again.


    "Watch out!"


    But... it was toote.


    The immense mana that the portal had concentrated within itself during its formation suddenly burst out. Knowing that something like this would happen, I was able to stand against the wave, even if I staggered, but when I quickly looked around and saw the other students, I felt despair slowly creeping in.


    The mana wave that represented the breaking of the dungeon had literally blown away the unprepared students who were blinded by fear. While everyone was trying to avoid the area a few seconds ago, now most of them were on the ground, blocking each other''s paths and preventing everyone from escaping, even if they didn''t want to.


    For a moment, just a fleeting moment... an intense silence descended on the area. Everyone''s eyes reflexively shifted toward the broken dungeon, including mine.


    The portal, which had turned orange a second ago, was now an intense red. It seemed to have suddenly expanded several times in size and height. But what was important was what happened at the very moment when everyone was looking at it.


    The red and smooth surface of the gate rippled for a moment, and then something slowly stepped out of the ripple into the world.


    Almost its entire body was gray. It was a quadrupedal creature with short hind legs and strangely long forelegs that resembled ws. Its jaw was wide, with misshapen, pointed teeth. Its eyes werepletely ck. It was the size of an adult, with a limb on its back that resembled a tail, with a sharp piece of bone at the end.


    For a moment it just remained where it was. With the silence in the atmosphere, it did not move an inch. It was impossible to tell where it was looking because of its jet-ck, reflective eyes.


    But... then, suddenly, its whole body tensed. As the red surface from which he had emerged rippled again, signaling that others wereing after it, it disappeared. It left behind a roar that seemed to echo across the sky.


    I imagined my spear in my bracelet, and while the blue glow was just appearing beside me, while my spear was not fully materialized, I grasped it and, ignoring the warnings of my ring, darted to my right.


    The creature was fast, yes, but not so fast that I couldn''t see it. So I could see its target, the person closest to it, a girl knocked to the ground by the mana wave back then.


    Its w was about to slice her in half when it was suddenly stopped by the force it felt. I had reached it, I had managed to stop it, even at thest moment.


    And not only me, there was another person next to me blocking the same w. A well-built person with white hair and ocean blue eyes, holding a battle staff that looked like it was made of wood.


    And this was not the first time I had seen him. The person who blocked the creature''s attack with me was someone who had been on stage with me at the end-of-year ceremony a few days earlier. It was Damian White, who had just finished his third year and was about to start his fourth.


    Our eyes met, but neither of us said anything. Instead, our eyes separated, we turned toward the creature we had blocked and attacked at the same time.


    Damian White swung his staff at the creature at an angle that I could barely see with my eyes. I twirled my spear in my hand and thrust the tip directly into the creature''s skull.


    Before the creature could react, the battle staffnded hard on its shoulder. The attack, though quite small, was enough to create a shockwave, literally shattering the creature''s shoulder and dislocating it. But before the creature had time to scream, my spear reached its skull and pierced its brain, leaving its mouth open.


    The ckness in the creature''s eyes flickered for a moment, then slowly turnedpletely white, as if receding back into its body. But I didn''t even have time to watch what was going to happen next.


    As I drew back my spear, I nced at Damian White, who was standing next to me and pointed to the left. He nodded his head in agreement, then turned to the right.


    The creatures suddenly burst out of the gate, and at that very moment, they poured down on us and the crowd in a torrent.


    "Run! Don''t even look back!"


    My shout and the presence of the creatures rushing at them caused those who had fallen to their feet to jump up screaming and run backward, not caring about stepping on others.


    There were a few people who, like Damian and me, chose to fight rather than run. Julian and Lucia, for example, were among them.


    The roar of countless creatures echoed across the area, lunging at the countless targets they saw... and then being blocked.


    On the one hand, a huge, icy wall fell on them, literally crushing them all. On another, a me-covered arrow exploded, raining down on them. In another, Damian White simply swung his staff at them, causing the concrete on the floor to tremble and literally ripple.


    I saw three creatures dashing at me, identical to the first, but I didn''t care.


    I activated Guardian Radiance, a white, pale glow that surrounded my body, providing me with both protection and regeneration, while spreading my mana throughout my body.


    I didn''t stop there, I used the Wrath of the Vines, and in an instant countless vines came out of the ground where I had stepped, breaking through the concrete and falling on the creatures.


    Two of the creatures got caught in the vines, the other one broke free and opened its jaws, trying to tear my shoulderpletely off. But what it encountered was not my shoulder, but emptiness.


    I ducked, slid underneath the creature, and drove my spear into its belly. I jumped up quickly, pulled my spear forward without pulling it out of the creature, and with the huge gash in its belly, I made it fall to the ground as it was.


    I didn''t turn around, I lunged at the other creature caught in the vines and thrust my spear into its eye, but the other one threw its tail-like extension from its back at me through the vines.


    I felt a sharp pain in my right shoulder but grasped the tail, which seemed to have almost pierced it and resembled a thorn, tightly with my left hand.


    The creature''s ck eyes widened for a moment, but without waiting for it to react, I pulled it toward me as hard as I could.


    As the vines held it in ce, the creature''s tail literally snapped off with my pull. Its cry of agony echoed through the area, but the vines didn''t let go, wrapping around itpletely and strangling it like a snake.


    I tore my eyes away from it, saw another creature running through the crowd and dodging the fighting students, and without thinking I rushed at it.


    The creature swung the extension on its back toward the fleeing students. My eyes widened as I followed the extension, which was about to slice through the students in front of me, and I realized I couldn''t stop it.


    It was not possible. Using my ascension skill was the only way I could save those students. But... I couldn''t.


    If I used my ability here, among so many students and the academy''s cameras, it would expose me for what I really am. So... I gritted my teeth, tensed my spear, charged it with mana, and threw it at the creature with all my might.


    My spear flew at the creature with a whistle that seemed to pierce the air itself. The sharp extension of its back was about to slice through most of the fleeing students when my spear nailed the creature to the ground, cracking the concrete with it.


    I managed to save the students, but... it wasn''t for free.


    With my spear well away from me, I suddenly found about four creatures lunging at me.


    I clicked my tongue and narrowed my eyes.


    I poured even more mana into Guardian Radiance, making me more resilient and regenerating my body faster. Leaving a few seeds for the Wrath of the Vines where I stepped, I leaped into the air, using tform to create a floor that only I could step on.


    I dodged two of the creatures'' tails this way, but the other two were prepared and attacked after their unsessful counterparts.


    I managed to dodge the first tail easily, but I barely noticed that the other one was only a few inches away from my stomach.


    I used both hands to try to stop the tail, gritting my teeth as its sharp, jagged tip tore into my hands. I pulled it forcefully toward me and threw myself at it, using another tform I had created.


    The creature''s feet were knocked off the ground by the force of my pull on its tail. It tried to curl up in the air as I straightened at it, but failed.


    I grabbed its arms and used all my strength to rip them from its body. When I stepped on it and pinned it to the ground, I crushed its head with my foot without waiting.


    The wound on my right shoulder suddenly ached much more violently, I felt the hot blood seeping through my clothes. One creature tried to pull me toward it by my shoulder, which it wed and grabbed, while the other two attacked me from the front.


    I gritted my teeth even harder,pletely ignoring the pain in my right shoulder.


    I didn''t want to use it, I wanted to keep most of what I had gained in the Neutral as a trump card for myself, but... apparently that was not possible.


    As the three creatures surrounded me, intent on leading me to my death... I focused on only two things in my mind. One was a passive skill that had been with me for a long time, the other was a mastery I had not long ago acquired...


    Then, despite all the chaos in the area... suddenly everything calmed down. A momentary, deep silence enveloped the ce.

 Chapter 288 Volume V - 6: Flames Dissipating Chaos

    <h4>Chapter 288 Volume V - Chapter 6: mes Dissipating Chaos</h4>


    My eyes sharpened as if the world had suddenly be many times clearer. A colorless energy, but distinct because of its intensity, mana, enveloped my whole body.


    I raised my hand, directing the mana in my body with my movements to make it easier to do what I wanted to do in my mind.


    When the two creatures in front of me were about to tear my whole body apart with their ws and tails, and the creature attacking me from behind was nning to bite me with its huge jaws... I quickly brought my hand down, using my passive skill, Friend of Mana, to the fullest.


    The mana around me suddenly calmed down. The sounds stopped as if time slowed down. The mana that had been flowing calmly in the atmosphere until now, sleeping, suddenly woke up. It copsed as if it had gained weight many times over. And it pinned the creatures to the ground with it.


    I tried to get back among them, to kill a few more, but I knew that would not be enough, I needed to take down many more.


    I took a single step toward them, prepared to redirect my mana, but... just then, countless roars filled my ears.


    My eyes quickly turned to the red-colored portal, then the flood of creatures pouring out of it, and my eyes widened.


    There were too many of them. There really were too many, there was no way we could withstand this much. It had been barely a minute and yet the number of creatures was growing exponentially with each passing second.


    Despair and hopelessness enveloped my whole body in an instant.


    I could have saved myself here, but what I wanted was to prevent anyone from dying or getting hurt. But when I saw the number of creatures multiplying... it felt like a dream.


    Not just for me, but for everyone who was running and fighting in the area.


    Still, I clenched my teeth, my fists. I was going to do my best, that was my goal in the first ce. If I ran away, if I walked away again... then I would continue to deceive myself.


    So, I took another step, a short but firm step toward the torrent of creatures. It was at this moment, in the midst of all this desperation... that I paused, even involuntarily. I seemed to lose my bnce as if something had pped me hard.


    I felt a surge of mana, more intense than I had ever felt before, one that felt dangerous. That''s why I hesitated, why I lost my bnce even for a moment. Not only me but even the creatures that had attacked me staggered as if they had been pped, unable to continue their attacks.


    I quickly turned my head back, toward the center of the mana wave. At the point where countless students were fleeing, I noticed a figure with her hands simply raised in the air.


    She had blond hair and blue eyes that sparkled with fury. She was wearing one of her usual suits, always maintaining the appearance of a businesswoman. It was the same now. But... this time she was a little different than usual. This time she was not calm. She was angry. She had a fierce look, a furrowed brow as if she was pissed off.


    Her eyes squinted for a moment. While all the creatures in the area stopped moving and looked at her, he, Rector Mny, gave each of them only brief nces. Her eyes shifted for a moment to the red gate, through which creatures continued to pour every second. Then... she squeezed the hand she had raised toward them.


    In an instant, an orangish glow rose from the field into the sky. A spark appeared above each of the gray-skinned, four-legged creatures. Then mes rose from these sparks and engulfed them one by one.


    As the creatures'' screams of agony continued to echo in everyone''s ears, Mny kept her eyes on the gate. Her blue eyes shed with rage again for a moment, the mana leaking from her body expanding as if to cover the entire field. Then a huge wall of mes closed in on her, centering on the red portal in the center of the square.


    Amidst the screams of the creatures, as they emerged from the gate and faced the wall of mes, Mny Quie slowly made her way through the students who stared at her. No one made a sound, all eyes were on her.


    All the chaos in the field had suddenly calmed down. Despair and helplessness disappeared, reced by surprise and the slight happiness thates with it. After all, everything was under the control of the person in front of our eyes.


    Everyone who had survived had been saved. They didn''t need to run anymore.


    "Those who don''t have a problem, help the injured. We will take care of the rest. Also..."


    Her eyes slowly shifted to her right for a moment, focusing on someone not far from me. Damian White made eye contact with her, his battle staff in hand, and he smiled slightly and waved his hand. With a sigh, Mny tore her eyes away from him, ncing briefly at each of the men fighting the creatures one by one.


    Eventually, she looked at me, her expression not changing one bit as her gaze lingered on me for a few seconds. Then she sighed once again and paused when she finally reached the front of the dungeon, surrounded by mes.


    "Those of you who fought the creatures, thank you for preventing this from escting."


    With those words, the wall of me in front of the gate split in two, revealing a pile of corpses of creatures that had burned to death. Mny Quie walked through them as if nothing had happened and entered the dungeon without looking back once more.


    As soon as the rector entered the dungeon, all the mes in the area were slowly extinguished. Then, in the brief silence that followed, the academy staff began to pour into the area.


    I couldn''t help swallowing as my clenched fist slowly loosened. While most of the people around me were finally breathing a sigh of relief, some crying with joy, I... just stood there.


    She was strong. Mny Quie was strong. From the surge of mana around her, from the immense control she had over her mes, it wasn''t hard for me in particr to understand. Aside from the strength of her mes, she had tremendous control over her power.


    Is this what it''s like to be an S- grade person?


    "Hey, are you okay?"


    I was startled for a moment by a voice from behind me, then remembering where I was, I slowly turned toward the voice. There was a healer in front of me, looking at me with urgent eyes, waiting for my answer.


    "Oh, I''m fine. I don''t have any serious injuries except the one on my shoulder, I''d appreciate it if you prioritized the others."


    The healer nodded, though he made sure to send a notification to a team toe to me through the device on his wrist.


    In the end, what I did was to let myself fall to the ground with a deep sigh. I smiled involuntarily as I watched the ground, my eyes slightly squinted.


    I protected someone. I prevented someone from dying. I did it.


    Moreover... I saw with my own eyes how strong someone of S- grade was.


    As my smile widened slightly, imagining that one day I could be as strong as Mny Quie, it wasn''t long before I was approached again by a couple of healers. Like most people in the area, I was taken to the hospital.


    *******


    I didn''t spend much time in the hospital as I didn''t have any serious injuries apart from my punctured shoulder, which had already healed somewhat thanks to the Guardian Radiance. After a simple bandage and a low-level potion, I was free.


    The first thing I did was to check on Julian, Lucia, and Sue. I knew that no one had died thanks to students like Damian White who had helped most of them escape. But... that didn''t change the fact that there were some seriously injured people.


    Lucia was not badly hurt except for a few grazes, and Sue was among the first to leave the area and was able to get away quickly. But Julian... well, he was a bit worse off.


    One of the creatures had bitten his arm while he was trying to save someone. If he hadn''t formed ayer of ice over his arm at thest moment, it might have been separated from his body, but thanks to his reflexes, he only broke his arm. But that was not the only wound he received.


    The creatures had taken advantage of his emptiness to attack him, sticking their sharp tails into the left side of his abdomen. So when he was taken to the hospital, he was immediately given special attention.


    Of course, even though he was badly injured... he didn''t die. In fact, he didn''t even care that he was injured.


    "Julian... I still think you should stay in bed."


    His ocean blue eyes narrowed, his difort reflected on his face, while he pouted as if to show that he was bored.


    "But I am bored... Just ''resting'' in bed is too boring. I don''t know how Aiden could do that. Besides... if it was you, you''d already be at the training center."


    I opened my mouth, wanting to retort, but then I paused as I realized he was right.


    "Whatever."


    I leaned back in my chair in the hospital room, right across from Julian''s bed. For a short while nothing was said between us, and I couldn''t help but sigh deeply.


    "Have you checked the news?"


    In response to my question, Julian leaned back on his bed, his eyes fixed on the wall.


    "Yes, I have. But I don''t understand how they could do something like this."


    I couldn''t understand it either, no one could. After all... Lunerra was now facing one of the greatest catastrophes it had ever seen.


    The ''introductions'' we had directly experienced in the square had indeed been broadcast live to almost all of Lunerra. But that was not the important thing. What was important was what the ''gift'' they were talking about was.


    The gift was dungeons. Lots of dungeons, hundreds of dungeons that appeared out of nowhere and varied in grade. And all these dungeons had been broken in just a few seconds.


    So through the gates, as in the square, creatures poured into Lunerra. Just as it happened eighty years ago when the first awakened.


    "Wiera said, didn''t he? He said they feed on chaos... What do you think it means?"


    For a moment I just remained frozen, no words came out of my mouth.


    What could I say? I knew what wieras were, but it was not something that could be easily exined. Our best friend was a wiera in the first ce, even if he was only half one.


    So... for now, I decided to lie.


    "I don''t know."


    But as soon as those words left my mouth, I realized another truth.


    That huge sword that Aiden had used in the battle... he had also used that purple energy that the wieras used.


    Suddenly my eyes widened, my mouth slightly open.


    Julian quickly noticed the change in me. His brow furrowed, he looked at me nkly.


    "Adrian-"


    "Wait, wait..."


    If wieras are slowly revealed to the world for what they are... then because of that video, everyone will know that Aiden is a wiera. Won''t that make him a bad person in everyone''s eyes? He was dered a hero... but what if people care more about what he is?


    Big things are happening on Lunerra, or at least they''ve started to happen, and bigger things areing. I''m sure of that.


    But these events will affect us more than I thought they would, and more than I thought they would affect my best friend in the first ce...


    It''s a small chance... but if it happens that the whole Lunerra has designated Aiden as the enemy... what will I do then?

 Chapter 289 Volume V - 7: Reponsibility of Cevilians

    <h4>Chapter 289 Volume V - Chapter 7: Reponsibility of Cevilians</h4>


    It gets on my nerves... It gets on my nerves a lot...


    This damn thing, no... things are getting on my nerves. I feel like everything that happens in a row seems like it''s there specifically to make my life more difficult.


    But I don''t have a choice... and sometimes that makes it even more frustrating.


    Yes, knowing that it''s my duty at least eases that feeling a little. Especially knowing that the future of my kingdom is in my hands, knowing that after what Aiden has shown me, there is so much more I need to do, helps me to focus on my work.


    Even if I find it hard to ept it... somehow, I do it, but... what should I do now?


    This is no longer just about me, nor about Cevilian... the kingdom that I will rule in the future as the crown prince.


    "Saligia, wiera, the gift... This is a terrorist organization, apparently arge-scale one. We must take this seriously and act quickly, these men are not a simple threat."


    The Queen of Piarlin looked everyone in the room straight in the eye, her sunken green eyes betraying herck of sleep and recent difficulties. Her hair, in shades of pink and gray, was not as vibrant and lush as it appeared in her past photographs. It was easy to see that she had been very tiredtely, both physically and mentally.


    Even for a moment, no one spoke. An intense silence enveloped everyone and I couldn''t help holding my breath.


    I was nervous, for the first time in my life I was so nervous. After all, in front of me were the leaders of every country on Lunerra. Except for at least two of them.


    These two countries were the South Hr Republic and Akael. One was almost on the brink of copse, constantly negotiating to unite with the country that defeated it. The other... was just so powerful that they didn''t care about what was happening in Lunerra. They were ignoring even this incident.


    "The speed at which the gates are opening has increased dramatically. There are not as many instant breaks as there were in the first few minutes, but there are still a lot of them, and even if they have started to diminish, almost all of Lunerra is covered with dungeons at this point. It is impossible to clear them all quickly... We will fall behind, most of the dungeons will break just as they did eighty years ago, and all of Lunerra will copse again."


    The President of the Synath Federation, also a hannya, spoke the truth again. With his graying ck hair, eyes of the same color, slightly pale skin, and short horns on either side of his head, he truly resembled a demon. Add to that his well-built body and he really did look like a viin from a fairy tale.


    "What do the seers say?"


    At the words of Houdhin Gargel, President of the North Hr, all eyes suddenly turned in my direction. More precisely, to the person standing on my left diagonal... my father.


    My father, also the current king of the Cevilian Kingdom, sighed deeply as his illness and his body made it impossible for him to even stand.


    There wasn''t a single spot in his hair that wasn''t grey. The wrinkles on his face were so many that I felt I was looking at a man in thest stages of his life. Even his eyes, normally a vibrant shade of green, were pale.


    He was only in his fifties. The average age of all human beings was in the nies and hundreds, yet he looked like this at fifty. He was showing the world the absolute fate of the entire Cevilian Family.


    He opened his mouth slowly. Although he hesitated for a moment because of his weak body, he continued in a weak voice.


    "They say catastrophes areing."


    A deep silence once again enveloped everyone''s bodies. But it did not take long for it to be broken.


    "Catastrophes... So, what should we do to prevent them?"


    My father narrowed his eyes and shook his head from side to side.


    "Nothing. We can do nothing. At least ording to them... Because we are not the ones who can prevent these catastrophes in the first ce."


    "What do you mean-"


    My father didn''t let him continue.


    "A new prophecy has been revealed. The dark me we talked about a few months ago, now a poem about what happens and what will happen in the future. The two seers both heard it whispered to them in their dreams."


    He took a deep breath without letting anyone else speak, his discolored eyes briefly taking in everyone one by one. He continued, apanied by the atmosphere he had made tense with his own hands.


    "The time of impending doom draws near,


    Catastrophes loom, and the end seems clear.


    No one but six can halt the relentless plight,


    Only slow its march, against endless night.


    Six alone bear the world''s desperate plea,


    To avert the abyss, to set mankind free.


    The First, in silver''s glow, purity''s embrace,


    Strength and virtue, in this soul''s grace.


    The Second, a crafted weapon, beauty''s bloom,


    Amidst destruction, elegance in gloom.


    The Third, a gray light, peering into reality''s core,


    Master of the present, and future, rewriting lore.


    The Fourth, a demigod, keeper of all worldly knowledge amassed,


    Yet devoid of power, wisdom''s price firmly sped.


    The Fifth, akin to death, yet a bearer of the rainbow''s grace,


    Controls over its hues, in this perilous chase.


    The Last, outcast, disavowed, the world''s oddity,


    Binding the five together, a fatefulmodity.


    Among them, thest holds the ultimate key,


    Preventing destruction, or letting it be."


    With the end of the poem, or rather the prophecy, some faces turned sour, others contemtive. There were other reactions, of course.


    It was understandable. After all, this was one of the first ''big'' prophecies to emerge in years. It spoke directly to the fate of the world.


    "The prophecy speaks of six people. Our primary goal must be to find them."


    When Houdhin Gargel broke the silence with his words, a heated discussion broke out again among the leaders of Lunerra.


    Again, a different idea wasing out of each mouth. They were evaluating all these ideas, trying to decide what the best approach would be.


    But all the while, my father, Henry Cevilian, just watched from a distance, not getting involved in the discussion. While everyone was still arguing, after making sure that no one could hear him, he slowly turned his head toward me.


    In his discolored eyes, there was a glimpse of something akin to sadness.


    "I''m sorry, Lucas."


    I knew what he was talking about, so my response was quick.


    "You have nothing to apologize for, Father."


    "No, there''s even more than you realize..."


    He took a deep breath in and out. His expression twitched for a moment, even as he did so, but he ignored it and continued.


    "Let alone being a bad father... I was a bad ruler, Lucas. I was forced to sit on the throne of this kingdom when I wasn''t even heir, and I didn''t have the chance to refuse because I knew I had a responsibility. And now... I leave you a kingdom even more decadent than it was thirty years ago."


    Indeed, he was. As the youngest of the three princes of his time, he had never coveted the throne. But when both his older brothers had died in the drama thirty years earlier, he had inherited the throne. Although he did his best, he was not a ruler. Maybe that''s why he worked harder than anyone else, but he still didn''t achieve much.


    Everyone spoke of him as the worst king of Cevilian, but he still tried. But... these were things I already knew.


    More importantly... we''d had this exact conversation before. More than once.


    I stared at the fragile figure of my father.


    When I was a child, he was a man with an upright posture. He was strong, he looked young for his age. Yes, he couldn''t have cared much for me because he was a king, but he was my role model.


    Now he was like... a literal walking dead. He had aged and declined even faster than the humans before Lunerra''s awakening. Just like all members of the Cevilian royal family.


    But... despite this, he persevered. Even though he was walking toward his grave in front of everyone''s eyes.


    And I was the cause of it.


    "I have to leave it in your hands, even if I don''t want to, to turn this kingdom back into what it once was, maybe even better. I''m sorry... especially for making you heir to the throne at such aplicated time in Lunerra, when you, like me, had no eyes on the throne."


    I narrowed my eyes and took a deep breath.


    He was trying even harder than he should have because of me. He didn''t want me to take the throne so soon, he wanted me to gain more experience and see more things. That''s why he was still persistent, even on the brink of death.


    With these thoughts in mind, I attempted to give him my usual answer... just like the times he had already forgotten. But then, I paused.


    The previous times we had this conversation... I had always given him only one answer.


    I was angry with him, angry that he thought this way, that he was giving me a hard time, that he was not a good father, because... he deserved so much better. He may not have been a good king or a good father, but I wanted to reject what he said because I knew there was a reason for it all.


    And so far, I had done so.


    But... now, when I think about it now and again... I realized that I was wrong.


    Responsibility...


    Ah, responsibility...


    I don''t know why, a smile appeared on my face. I don''t know how many times we had this conversation... but for the first time, I realized that there might actually be a purpose to it.


    Was he waiting for me to give the right answer? Was he deliberately forgetting our previous conversations... not because of his old age?


    Okay... so be it.


    I''ll ept it. I''ll ept my responsibility, his responsibility, for real this time.


    "Just as you felt a responsibility when you took the throne, so do I."


    Yes, most things are frustrating.


    Yes, I really have a lot of things to fix when I take over from my father.


    Yes... I don''t really want to be the heir or anything.


    But none of these excuses and many more are reasons to throw away the burden I have to shoulder. I may not want to deal with it... but I cannot shirk my responsibilities when the future of this kingdom, and the future of its citizens, depends on me.


    I already knew that, perhaps not fully, but I epted it.


    But... did he want me to ''understand'' and ept it as such, rather than to know it?


    Maybe...


    "After all, we are Cevilian, a royal family. The lives of millions of people hang on a thread we have strung. So... you don''t have to worry."


    I caught a glimpse of a sparkle in my father''s pale eyes, his lips curled up slightly, a look of relief on his face. For the first time in a long time, he seemed to feel that the burden on his shoulders was a little lighter.


    This was indeed the answer he was looking for.


    "Thank you, son. I... thank you. I hope you don''t make the same mistakes I did..."


    In this way, we both refocused on the meeting ahead. After all, we were dealing with a matter that concerned the whole of Lunerra, so we listened for hours, interjecting when necessary.


    Many decisions were made. Some of them had little impact on Lunerra, while others were important decisions that affected every living being on this.


    In the end, however, this meeting came to an end. The date was set for the announcement of the decisions to all of Lunerra and the meeting was adjourned until the next session.


    The next day... another organization, which no one knew existed, showed itself. Not openly, as Saligia had done, but only to the leaders of Lunerra. Not with a purple light in their eyes like they did, but with a blue radiance that feltforting.

 Chapter 290 Volume V - 8: Upcoming Festival

    <h4>Chapter 290 Volume V - Chapter 8: Uing Festival</h4>


    When I had finished transferring almost half of my mana to the strange disk in my hand, I let out a deep sigh, ced it in my bracelet, and took a deep breath.


    ''Why did you stop halfway? You would normally go all the way to the end.''


    ''I''m just... thinking, Lithoa.''


    It had been three days since the dungeon gate at the academy had opened and two days since it had been cleaned. Mny Quie, the rector of the CDA, had single-handedly cleared the dungeon in less than a day. This allowed the gate to be safely contained and transferred.


    And now... almost everything was as it had been. At least that''s how it looked from the outside. But almost all of Lunerra had in fact changed in a single night.


    I sighed deeply as I leaned back in my chair, my eyes fixed on the ceiling, thinking about the news that had been broadcast to all of Lunerrast night.


    A new era was indeed beginning. Because... after this summer vacation, it was going to be very different, especially for the academy students. They were going to help clear the dungeons that had been opened all over Lunerra. Because the number of people avable was insufficient to prevent dungeons.


    So Lunerra found the solution by providing internships for young people at E+ grade and above. There were other measures taken, but this was the biggest change that concerns us.


    The organization called Saligia was still silent... they introduced themselves, left a ''gift'' to the world, and disappeared.


    "Haaaa..."


    I closed my eyes and let myself sink into thefort of my armchair.


    I thought of just sleeping there, even for a short while. I didn''t feel like training. But... just as I was about to surrender myself to sleep, the watch on my wrist began to vibrate and ring, shattering all my sleep.


    There was a familiar name on the screen. So I answered the call without thinking too much.


    "Julian?"


    "Ah, were you asleep? You sounded tired."


    "I was just about to fall asleep, it''s no big deal."


    "Oh, I see..."


    Sighing slightly, I straightened myself up, then Julian continued.


    "Anyway. You know the Foundation Festival is a month away, right?"


    I remained stunned for a moment, staring meaninglessly at the wall in front of me.


    "Founding Festival?"


    Julian sighed slightly in response to my question.


    "I knew it, you have no idea... Every year in July there is a one-day festival celebrating the founding of the kingdom. Even though this year was a bit of a bummer... it''s kind of a tradition now, so they''re going to do it anyway. I guess they want people to blow off some steam or something. So the festival is happening again this year."


    Festival, huh...


    I heard about them a few times when I lived with my parents. I''ve seen something simr on the only TV in our house, but I don''t think I''ve ever experienced it...


    When I escaped from that jungle and lived like a beggar in the nearest city, I didn''t have time to deal with festivals. And now...


    A festival...


    "Oh... You said a monthter, didn''t you?"


    "Yeah, in exactly twenty days."


    "Got it. Thanks for letting me know."


    Julian was silent for a moment. Just as I was about to hang up the call, he suddenly interjected again.


    "By the way... I''ve noticed a rumortely. You probably know about it since you''re always going to the training building."


    My finger hovered over the hang-up button. My eyebrows raised in curiosity.


    "What rumor?"


    "They''ve been seeing a mysterious person in the girls'' sectiontely. No one could recognize her because she was wearing a hoodie, but recently someone said she had purple eyes."


    Purple eyes...? But what does that hav- Wait...


    "Celine...?"


    "Yeah. I''m not sure if it''s her, like I said, it''s just a rumor. Do you know anything?"


    "No, I''ve never seen the person you''re talking about."


    Julian sighed.


    "Then it''s probably made-up stuff. Anyway... see you, Adrian."


    "See you..."


    The call went off. An intense and heavy silence enveloped my whole body. I squinted as I stared at the white wall of my room.


    Celine... Is it possible that she''s the girl in the rumors Julian was talking about? It''s been months since Ist saw her, I haven''t seen her from a distance, let alone her face since that incident, but Aiden said a few months ago that her treatment was getting better.


    Could she really be on the mend?


    I closed my eyes once more as I let myself sink back into myfortable chair.


    Like Julian said, it''s probably just a rumor, but... I hope it''s true.


    *******


    Six people...


    The first is a silver symbol of strength and purity. The second is the most beautiful weapon ever created on Lunerra. The third is a gray light that can touch reality. The fourth is a powerless demigod who holds all the knowledge that exists. The fifth is a symbol of death that can control the rainbow. The sixth is someone the world rejects, someone who shouldn''t exist, but who holds the ultimate key.


    It has been four days since I heard the poem with this meaning in my dream. And a few months since I woke up with the irvoyance.


    It can''t be a coincidence that I received this prophecy on the very day this Saligia organization appeared, can it?


    I sighed deeply and opened my statistics window.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: ra


    Last Name: Tenebra


    Race: Human (Xavir)


    Age: 17


    --Statistics--


    General Level: F+


    Strength: F


    Agility: F


    Vitality: F+


    Endurance: F+


    Luck: D


    Magic Power: D


    Mana Efficiency: A+


    Charm: D+


    --Status Effects--


    Abnormal Status Effect: [Restricted Mana] -- [Differentiated Blood] -- [????]


    --Xaevirea''s Lineage--


    Seal: 3/4


    Aera Purity: C


    Abilities: [Aera Maniption]


    --Active Skills--


    [Memory Travel(A-)]


    --Passive Skills--


    [irvoyance(A)]


    ------------------------------>>


    I turned seventeen... So, officially, I have to be awakened within a year in the records. That means I have to send a form to the kingdom saying that I awakened within a year. If I don''t, they will do it themselves a few days after I turn eighteen.


    I wanted to settle this with my brother when he came back... But now he''s in aa, not knowing whether he''ll wake up or not.


    I paused for a moment, remembering how North Hr had given me the news in advance. As his sister... they had also reached out to me. Maybe they hadn''t allowed me to go to him, but they had informed me of his condition specifically.


    It didn''t take me long to get over it, and I have my own reasons for that... The important thing is what I should do in theing year.


    Should I go and announce myself that I am a seer, or should I keep it as secret as I can?


    My eye is fixed on the Xaevirea''s Lineage tab in the statistics window.


    Do the other seers have such a tab? I think this shouldn''t normally be there... What if this gives me a problem?


    I can''t decide... Damn it.


    "Haaa..."


    Oh yeah, summer vacation is here... I have nothing to do. Literally nothing... Nothing happens in my life except Paul and the meaningless things that irvoyance shows me all the time.


    I thought about everything I''ve seen and heard so far with the skill, most of it was meaningless and symbolic. In short, they were things that I had to figure out for myself, to put together.


    I wonder if there is any education for that...? If I say that I am a seer, do they give me lessons to understand better what I see? Probably not...


    I have to interpret what I see on my own. That''s the only way I can improve as a seer... at least I think that way.


    I took a deep breath and let it out. I remembered one of my visions, a vision of the future that could bring me out of my recent depression.


    And there was that blurry figure, which I was almost sure who it was, that was in most of the visions that I had seen.


    But... in thest visions, he was less blurry, he looked clearer. He used to look as if the world was rejecting him, as if it was trying to erase his presence but failing. However... it looked like the world was slowly beginning to ept him. Or he had done something and was making his presence known to the ''world''.


    I squinted. Mana began to drain from my body as I imagined the vision. irvoyance activated once again, showing me the vision I wanted to see, just as it had been in the first moment.


    There was arge coffin, standing still where it was in a dark infinity. It seemed to trap all the light that came on it, darkness surrounded it. The lid of the coffin was not closed properly. It was lying crookedly on its side, revealing the person inside.


    He was a dark blur again. The purple me burning inside was there as always, but this time it was apanied by something different. The purple me sometimes glowed blue around it. Something would asionally appear as if trying to infiltrate it, but then... it would disappear as quickly as it hade. It tried to interact with the me but failed because it was weak.


    This kept repeating and repeating... and repeating. Finally, after a short time had passed... the darkness surrounding the coffin suddenly intensified. The darkness brought with it an infinity that I had never seen before. Then, slowly... hands appeared reaching out from this infinity. First dozens, then thousands, millions even... From all sides, slowly crawling toward the coffin.


    When they managed to get to the bottom of the coffin, all the hands trembled as if they were excited. Their fingers opened and closed, they elerated. They touched the figure inside the coffin and began to wrap it.


    First his legs werepletely covered, then his arms and head. And when the dark hands slowly began to reach for the purple me burning in his chest and the blue glow trying to envelop it... they suddenly stopped.


    In the silent, dense, and endless darkness... a bright light suddenly appeared. A silvery light, in the form of a man, approached the coffin. With every step, the dark hands trembled with fear, but they did not want to let go of the coffin.


    Yet their efforts were in vain. When the silver silhouette arrived in front of the coffin, its glow was so bright that it did not even allow the darkness to exist. He bowed his head and looked at the figure in the coffin. Then... he held out his hand. A drop of water slowly slid down his index finger andnded on the coffin. And then... the light it emitted suddenly filled everything.


    My eyes slowly opened as I found myself back in my room. I took a deep breath as my mana was sucked back into my body.


    If I am to trust what I see... then, at least for now, I don''t have much to worry about...


    I just have to wait. And then... everything will be fine. It should.

 Chapter 291 Volume V - 9: Comatose Student

    <h4>Chapter 291 Volume V - Chapter 9: Comatose Student</h4>


    The color of the snow-white corridors was so simple, the space I was walking in so... empty in this all-pervasive color, that a strange feeling of difort overcame me. Still, I didn''t let myself get too carried away by this feeling, instead, I decided to be patient.


    I sighed lightly, turning my eyes this way and that, wondering if I would see anything different in the corridors we had walked so far, and this time I looked at the two people walking slowly in front of me, the dwarves.


    The first was a built dwarf. He had ck hair that looked like it was starting to gray slightly and brown eyes with a strange sparkle in them. He looked... different from normal dwarves. He had his own presence. He didn''t feel weak, even though he belonged to a race that couldn''t use mana. His name was... Darbal Gen''dai, if I remember correctly.


    Right next to him... was another dwarf I never thought I would see face to face in my life. He was tall for the average of his race, perhaps the tallest dwarf I had ever met. With two scars on his face, his eyes were so hard that there was a strange... tension in the people who looked at him.


    This was Houdhin Gargel, the President of the North Hr, or rather of the Hr Republic, which now imed the whole continent.


    But no matter how important these people were... there was no reason for me to feel nervous. At the same time, there was no reason to be afraid.


    We continued walking for another minute and a half or so, passing many dwarves inb coats, and the corridor, though rather in, was busy. And so... we finally reached our destination, arge door at the end of the white corridor, darkened by the whiteness of the walls to a gray color.


    The armored guards on both sides of the almost three-meter-wide door bowed respectfully as they saw us.


    General Darbal spoke to them.


    "General Darbal Gen''dai, President Houdhin Gargel, and... Calvin dio."


    The two sides of the door slowly opened into the wall as the armored guards checked our identification. It revealed therge room behind it.


    It was as I had expected. A huge room indeed. Just like the corridor we had passed through on the way here, it was white in color, but not as simple as before as it was filled with different screens and devices.


    The dwarves inb coats that we had asionally passed in the corridors were here in abundance. Some of them were walking around with files in their hands, some were checking the parameters on the screens in front of them, others were tending to the devices in the center of the room.


    On the wall at the end of the room was thergest screen in the room. It showed a ce beyond this room, a room that almost no one was allowed to enter... including me.


    On the screen was arge, gray bed. On this bed, a human being, his whole body wrapped in different cables,y quietly with overly white skin and closed eyes.


    His jet-ck hair and what I felt when I looked at his face... it was the same. If I had ignored everything and just focused on his face, I might even have thought he was just sleeping, he looked peaceful.


    But... it was very different from that. Because the moment I took my eyes off his face and turned them to his body, it was clear that he was not in a normal sleep at all.


    The right half of his body, especially his arm, was ck as if charred. His body was not weak due to constant nourishment, but the same could not be said for the charred parts.


    His right hand and right foot were emaciated, with prominent veins that looked as if something other than blood was flowing through them. These veins were not only in his limbs. They extended up to his chest as if trying to cover his entire body, revealing veins that should not normally be visible in a purple-ck mixture of colors.


    It seemed to be the result of ovepping mana overload, with the caora trying to patch it together and the ordea trying to heal the same ce. And then there was the work of that legendary sword.


    When I thought about it, it was a miracle that he was alive. His chest was rising and falling so slowly that if I hadn''t seen the parameters on the screen, his heartbeat, and other things, I would have thought he was dead. But... he was alive.


    I paused for a moment, my eyes squinting. I lost track of why I was here, if only for a few seconds. I recalled memories from not so long ago, just a few months ago.


    The day of the weapon selection... I remembered his demeanor the day he bet with me. He didn''t even know how to take a stance during our first training session. He couldn''t even hold a sword properly... he was weak. He was just... a little bit smart and he analyzed his mistakes well, that''s all.


    But he developed so fast that it was shocking. In just a few months this young man, who knew nothing about fighting, had survived a real war. Not only that, he had made a name for himself, he had even be a war hero.


    It didn''t feel real. It was all just... like a dream. It was hard to think that the person in front of my eyes was really Aiden Tenebra, my private student.


    But... it was him. Without a doubt, the person I saw on the screen was Aiden. Aiden, who was not only my student but also a wiera... someone who, strangely enough, was also chosen by the ordea.


    While I was lost in my thoughts, President Houdhin slowly stepped forward and approached the big screen. The sound of his footsteps was what brought me back to earth. And as he looked at my face, I remembered again why I was here.


    For a brief moment, there was an emotion in his eyes that I couldn''t make sense of, but it wasn''t long before he turned his gaze back to the screens. As his harsh voice slowly left his lips, I was at his side again, General Darbal right behind us.


    "How is he? Tell us, don''t leave out any details."


    One of the dwarves working here waited, bowing slightly at first. Then he answered the president''s question while one of his eyes involuntarily shifted to me.


    "Durandal''s mana never left his body, it even seeped into his veins. That be why his life was in constant danger. His mana was stabilizin'' day by day, but since it was far beyond the limits o'' his body... we didn''t expect him to live. We reckon the only thing that kept ''im alive was them purple and blue energies he was usin''. Now he''s out o'' the early stages. His mana has calmed down, so his weakened body has regained a bit o'' its shape. But his body ain''t fully recovered from the trauma, so it''s still unlikely he''ll wake up."


    After the employee''s brief summary, this time General Darbal spoke. He had adjusted his ent when he was among the dwarves, but this time he ignored it and spoke in Lunar, which I could understand easily.


    "And is there nothing that can wake him up?"


    The dwarf shook his head from side to side.


    "For now... no. We can only search, wait. We do what we can."


    And with that, the eyes turned back to me. President Houdhin, his hands behind his back, this time directed his question to me, without a trace of emotion in his voice.


    "Mr. Calvin dio, what do you think?"


    I had expected him to be more skeptical, more uneasy... After all, we had only known each other for three days. That''s how long it had been since we had told them, including all the Lunerra leaders, what ordea and caora were, the wieras and Saligia, but also what we were and our purpose.


    We were stepping into a new era, a new era with Aiden at the center of it all... It was serious.


    But... there was nothing. Not a sign of trust, not a trace of fear that couldn''t be hidden, not any other emotion. Despite the situation he was in, he was impossible to read. He lived up to his nickname of a legendary leader.


    I sighed lightly, reminding myself again why I was here, this time in a confident tone.


    "Caora is a destructive energy due to its nature. Therefore, it cannot be used for healing, but it can be used in a special way to create a temporary patch. I guess before his body was torn apart by Durandal''s mana, he used caora to hold his body together. But... it''s not enough, it can''t be enough."


    So far, everything made sense. But... then the straps snapped.


    "When caora alone wasn''t enough, he used ordea... or ordea responded to his desires. It could also be something else entirely. In short, caora held his body together while ordea healed him. But using both energies together put too much strain on his body. Because of this burden, the mana circting in his body became even more violent and the following situation urred. At least... that''s my guess."


    I sighed deeply again as the dwarf waiting next to us took note of everything I said, and I continued.


    "But that''s the strange thing. People who can use caora are called wiera. And a wiera... cannot use ordea. So this is something we have never encountered before either. Saligia might have something to do with it, but we can''t speak until we know for sure. That''s why we''re asking you to let us check his body... but you won''t agree to it."


    The President nodded without changing his expression one iota.


    "And we will continue to refuse. The agreement between us is not only temporary, but neither side trusts the other. The fact that you can even set foot here is a risk we are taking."


    "And because we understand that, we don''t say anything, as long as you follow this ''temporary'' agreement to the letter, we will too. That... is fine for now. As the Guardian of Diligence, I was the one who came up with the idea of the agreement in the first ce."


    He nodded his head once more in agreement. What followed was a brief silence. The dwarf, who had been listening from the sidelines until now, broke this silence by asking a question with curious eyes.


    "We don''t got a way to help ''im recover... But..."


    I replied quickly.


    "The honest answer is no."


    I saw General Darbal and President Houdhin''s eyebrows twitch for a moment. Maybe they expected me toe up with a solution... but what they got was nothing.


    But I did not stop.


    "The reason I came here was to verify his identity, but also to see his condition up close and get information... Even we don''t have anything, unfortunately, that can wake him up. At least nothing beyond what you have tried. But working together, we will find a way, at least that is our goal."


    My eyes shifted back to Aiden''s body, lingering on it for a while.


    "To wake him up... and to help him, apart from the answers we want to get. Or to find out if he''s an enemy to us, but also to you."


    Again, silence fell over the area. This time no one broke the silence for a while and I had time to think. So... I decided to make the most of this time, taking a deep breath as I looked at his face on the screen.


    It was like a dream... but no matter how I looked at it, it was real. My student, whom I had taught to wield sword and mana with my own hands, was a bearer of ''chaos''.


    Had it happened in the war, or had he been hiding himself all along? Maybe he had other secrets, but none of them would be revealed because he was in aa... for now.


    I clenched my fist, narrowed my eyes.


    No... he will wake up. I''ll wake him up myself if I have to.


    I''ll find out if he''s been deceiving me all along, if he''s just another Aiden impersonating my student, or if there''s something else at work.

 Chapter 292 Volume V - 10: Different Yet the Same

    <h4>Chapter 292 Volume V - Chapter 10: Different Yet the Same</h4>


    ''Why?''


    This question echoed in my whole being. In the endless darkness, unable to understand anything... it suddenly appeared.


    But... it was not directed at me. It was also a strangely familiar voice.


    ''Why...?''


    I heard the same voice once more. It reached me through the darkness, this time much more emphatically. Not just in my presence... this time echoing everywhere.


    Then, another voice answered it. A voice much deeper, much more ancient.


    ''You already know the answer.''


    It had the sound of tens or hundreds of different people speaking at the same time. But the questioner did not find it strange in any way.


    ''Just because I know doesn''t mean I understand. Just... why?''


    ''You have no choice but to understand.''


    I didn''t hear another voice, no one spoke. And I, again, fell silent for a long time.


    The darkness seemed to fluctuate again from time to time, even trying to get closer to me, sometimes... but at the same time it seemed to be afraid. As if something was holding it back, as if it was just waiting, seeking the right moment.


    I don''t know why, I swallowed. The pressure of the darkness was so heavy that it forced me, maybe that was why. But... as I swallowed, I realized something else. I realized that I really ''existed'' in this... strange ce where I could only see the darkness wherever I turned my head.


    With the fact that I could swallow, I realized that I could try something that for some reason I had never tried before.


    I tried to speak. I called out to the infinite darkness that surrounded me, all too aware that there was nothing else but it...


    "Where... where am I?"


    But as soon as those words were out of my mouth... the infinite darkness surged more violently than ever as if it had been waiting for this moment all along. Before I could understand what was happening, the darkness that had avoided me as if it was afraid of me until now... suddenly descended upon me.


    Everything fell into an eternal silence again. Everything... disappeared into the darkness, taking me with it. Countless hands enveloped my whole body so fast that I found myself disappearing into them.


    It was like I was being dragged toward the end...


    However... I did not ''disappear'' into the darkness with it. Instead, an emotionless voice echoed again from nothingness, as if breaking through the silence. Someone... sighed as if annoyed.


    The whole darkness, my body, everything... suddenly trembled with fear. Time seemed to stop, and a feeling of heaviness came over me that was even more breathtaking than before.


    The countless dark hands wrapped around my body shook madly as they fled backward, releasing me, literally disappearing in an instant. They took with them not only themselves but also the endless darkness from which they had emerged in the first ce.


    Just a few seconds ago I was in a darkness where I couldn''t feel anything... but the next second, I found myself lying on my back, looking up at the blue sky that suddenly appeared, unable to move a muscle.


    At least... I couldn''t until someone''s shadow fell on me.


    *******


    My eyes flew open, I saved my head from falling down at thest moment.


    When the tiredness ofck of sleep hit me once more... I realized that I had almost fallen asleep. My eyes had closed on their own, and the support I had been trying to keep upright had disappeared.


    I squinted. First I sat up in my chair again, then I wiped the burrs from my eyes with my hands. The darkness of my room encouraged me to sleep even more, so I turned on the lights and looked at the table I had just sat at.


    Several holographic screens floated above it. Some had my research on them, some had Adrian on them, some had a few notes I had taken.


    My eyes fixed on the screen with Adrian''s photo for a moment. The shine of his silver hair caught my attention, followed by his green eyes that sparkled like emeralds. The only contrast to the idea in my mind was the slight smile on his face.


    I remembered the moment I saw his ne. How he had turned into an elf... or rather a half-elf, right before my eyes, when I was so close to killing him.


    He was the same as me. He was a hybrid. He had the blood of an elf and the blood of a human. He had the same hair as me.


    But... although he was the same as me, he was also very different. It was impossible to tell that he was a half-breed, except that his ears were slightly different from a normal elf''s. If he had blended in with the elves, unlike me... he wouldn''t have even been recognized as a half-breed for a long time.


    He didn''t have my disease. In fact... he was strong. Too strong. He didn''t have ck eyes like mine, he had one of the signature looks of elves, light-colored eyes. He was making his own path rather than being used as a... tool like me.


    I clenched my fist as my eyes twitched. I hated him again and again and again as my face grew ugly and I realized again how... unfair the world had been.


    Why did I get all the bad parts of being a hybrid and he got all the good parts? Why am I so weak when I try so hard and he is so... strong? Why am I being used as a ve and he is free?


    I don''t care what happened in his past. I... why is he at least in charge of his own life while I... didn''t have the slightest freedom from the very beginning? What have I... done...? What was my crime that he lived a different life while I was abandoned among demons with the family name Laute...?


    My eye twitched even more, my face became even uglier.


    I paused for a moment, not thinking about anything. I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself, but I didn''t give myself over to sleep.


    I''m stupid... why am I thinking about empty things? The past is the past, what has happened has happened. Why am I doing this when I have nothing to gain by standing where I am andining?


    I went to my kitchen, took a pill for my illness, and made a hot coffee. As I sat back down at my desk, I thought about the things I should be doing instead of thinking about nonsense.


    For example... I''ve been idletely since no one from Laute has given me any orders, and I''ve been making the most of it in my own way, of course.


    Finding a cure for my weakness and illness was foremost among them. But... I also had to find a way to break the chains that bound me to my family.


    I turned my gaze to one of the screens on my desk, a photograph of a huge bird with red-colored feathers...


    It was a phoenix. These ancient creatures were something that could fix the chaotic system in my body, something that could remove the obstacle to getting stronger.


    Or rather... something that these ancient creatures left behind with each rebirth.


    I brought the screen in front of me, all the recent news about ''phoenixes''. But... at this very moment, something different happened.


    Something small on the other edge of the table, a dot almost the size of my fingernail, suddenly began to sh with a blue light.


    I paused for a moment, trying to stop my hands from shaking, then I took a deep breath. First, I turned off all the screens on the table, then calmly clicked on the little blinking light.


    Because... I had been waiting for this for a long time.


    The next second, all the screens on the table that had just been turned off were reced by another one. The person on the screen, clearly an elf by the ears, looked at me with zed eyes.


    His face twitched for a moment, but it was so fleeting that I might have seen it wrong, but... I had no doubt it was right. Because all elves loathed me. Without exception, every one of them found my presence... unnecessary.


    Even the servants. But... as so often, I ignored it this time, focusing only on what he was going to say to me.


    "Alysia Laute, yes?"


    "Alysia, you have a new task."


    I couldn''t help squinting my eyes slightly when I heard what I was expecting, but I didn''t do anything else, not even sigh.


    "Adrian Caleo''s identity has been confirmed. Your new mission is not to kill him but to help us get to him. Two months from now, inte August, we will carry out an operation to bring Adrian Caleo to the manor. In the meantime, you''ll be updated and your goal will be to get close to him and build a bond of trust between the two of you. Learn as much as you can about him, research all his habits, and more. Be his... friend. You have no further duties until further notice."


    He said exactly what I expected to hear. I didn''t want to hear those words... but he said exactly what was on my mind.


    He confirmed what I had no doubt was true.


    "Understood..."


    The elf on the screen sighed lightly as he grimaced again and ended the call without saying anything else.


    As a deep silence descended into my room like never before, all I could do was let out the deep breath I had been holding inside me.


    At the same time... I couldn''t help a smile forming on my face.


    Identity confirmed, huh? It''s... clear what that means.


    I knew it.


    Hahahah...


    I knew it that day, from the moment his elven appearance was revealed.


    As different as you are from me... you really are the same as me, Adrian Caleo.


    We both carry the blood of the dirtiest, most disgusting family on this.

 Chapter 293 Volume V - 11: A Familiar Figure

    <h4>Chapter 293 Volume V - Chapter 11: A Familiar Figure</h4>


    The festival is just one week away...


    Almost everyone around me, people I know and don''t know, became strangely excited as the day of the festival drew closer.


    It wasn''t hard to understand why. The fact that an annual event was happening again, especially after the recent events, was a chance for many to let loose.


    It was like that for me too, actually. I was looking forward to this ''festival'' day with curiosity and excitement. After all, it was the first time in my life that I was going to attend one.


    Yet, unlike most people around me, I didn''t let my excitement stop me from doing what I needed to do. I continued my training every day, I continued to transfer mana to the disk that would help me heal Aiden.


    But... at the same time, that was really all I was doing. My life had be a routine. Train yourself in the ways Lithoa showed me, study a little bit, practice a little bit of mana, think about how you can use your skills in different ways, and repeat it day after day...


    Julian wasn''t at the academy so I also didn''t have any friends to spend time with. I mean... Sue and, as far as I know, Alice were still at the academy, but to be honest, I wasn''t on good enough terms with either of them that I could simply call them up and invite them to go for a walk around the academy and hang out.


    So... after a long time, if I ignored the times when it was impossible to see someone like in the Neutral, I was alone, and this loneliness made me fall into a daily cycle because I had nothing better to do.


    The same cycle for almost two weeks.


    However... this cycle was broken today, when the festival was only a week away.


    When I woke up in the morning, everything was as it should be. The only difference from yesterday was that the date had moved forward by one day. I had breakfast, talked to Julian for a few minutes, and then headed to the training building, no different from the previous days.


    The time I spent practicing was also ordinary. I practiced Qilsak Style, worked on my newfound mastery, which I was slowly getting used to using, and transferred mana to disk.


    I was done with the training within a few hours. My mana was near the bottom and I was tired. Of course, the approach of lunchtime was also a factor in me taking a break from training.


    For all these reasons and more, after a short shower, I left the room and headed to one of the nearest cafes.


    All the while... Lithoa was nagging me.


    ''It''s strange... really strange. I feel like your growth rate has slowed down.''


    I paused involuntarily for a moment, my eyebrows twitching slightly as I squinted.


    ''What do you mean slowed down? Isn''t that normal considering my general level has increased?


    ''No, this is not that kind of slowdown. What you''re talking about is something that should be happening anyway. It should be getting harder and harder every time you go further and further beyond your body''s limits. But... what I''m talking about is a slowing down in your improvement rather than growing stronger.''


    I sighed lightly as I became even more confused.


    ''Isn''t that the same thing?''


    Lithoa quickly countered what I had said, with a hint of anger in his voice.


    ''Of course not! At least not for what I mean. Anyway... I feel like it''s probably because you''ve settled into a routine and haven''t had anything to challenge youtely. Don''t worry about it too much, at least not until I think we should think about it.''


    All I could do was roll my eyes. Lithoa must have been even more annoyed by my nonchnt attitude because he opened his mouth to say something, at least I heard the first letter of his word.


    ''S-''


    But... he couldn''t go on.


    Because I had paused suddenly, unexpectedly.


    ''Huh? What happened?''


    I didn''t answer him, but instead focused on what I saw as I squinted slightly.


    Because just when Lithoa was about to get angry with me, I saw someone. I was still in one of the corridors of the training building when a silhouette out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.


    It was someone wearing a hoodie. I couldn''t really see the face or the body because of the hood, but with the body build the figure looked like a girl. She was also shorter than me. Her steps were slow, she was in no hurry. But she also looked like she was trying to hide herself.


    As soon as I saw her, I thought of only one thing. The question Julian asked me when I was talking to him about two weeks ago... He had asked me if I had seen someone in a hoodie in the training building, and he had also told me a rumor about this hoodie.


    Is it possible?


    This question really filled my mind for a moment, and I took a few steps toward the hooded silhouette, curious. But I didn''t go up to her, I started to follow her quietly.


    ''What are you doing?''


    ''I just want to confirm something. Please wait a moment.''


    Lithoa didn''t say anything else after that, he decided to stop as I asked him to. And I... continued to walk stealthily behind the person I was following.


    When we left the training building, she turned left without a moment''s hesitation. I saw some of the students looking at her curiously, and then I saw the same students turning their eyes to me, each with a different expression on their faces.


    But I ignored every one of them, keeping my distance and continuing to walk along the roads of the campus. I tried to perceive where she was going, but I failed.


    If she wanted to go to a caf¨¦, we had already passed one on the way. The dormitory buildings were on the other side of the campus. The only thing we walked toward was the park used for students to spend time.


    Is she going to meet someone then? I can''t think of anything else she could do in that big park...


    So we kept walking, but... when the park came into view, that''s when she finally changed direction.


    When I suddenly saw her turn left off the road and enter a wooded area, my brows furrowed and I couldn''t help but pause involuntarily.


    Was she really going to meet someone?


    I squinted my eyes and moved further into the woods. I followed the broken branches and trampled grass as I made my way toward the borders of the campus. My field of vision continued to slowly narrow as the trees tried to thicken. I continued to move forward without caring.


    But... just as I was passing by a tree, I reflexively paused. My eyes widened as the ring on my finger, the danger-sensing artifact, suddenly sent a strange sensation throughout my body.


    I raised my hand, shielding myself as I spread my mana throughout my body as fast as I could. The next second... a sh caught my eye, the reflection of sunlight shining off a cold, polished metal and onto my face. The next second I found the same cold metal in front of me, approaching my face between my shielded hands.


    But... it wasn''t very fast. I would even say it was slow. It was really nothingpared to the creatures in the Neutral. It was just... I was caught off guard for a moment.


    With the back of my left hand, I pushed aside the knife that was only a few centimeters away from my face, then I grabbed the arm holding the dagger-like weapon with my right hand and pulled it toward me. Not only that, I put my right foot forward slightly and gave the person I was pulling a quick trip.


    A not-so-loud thud sounded in my ear, and then the dagger that had been swung at me flew off to the side.


    "Ah!"


    The person I grabbed by the arm groaned slightly from the momentary blow and I found her on the ground. Her hood had opened slightly as I threw her, exposing half of her face.


    Her brown hair fell in tufts in front of her face and her eyebrows were slightly furrowed. She was looking at me with both eyes through her hair that had fallen in front of her, and she was grimacing because she was slightly hurt. At the same time... she seemed a little surprised to see me. It seemed only now that she realized that I was the one who had been following her.


    But... none of that mattered.


    The person in front of me was indeed someone I recognized. With her long hair and thin figure, she did indeed look different than before. But even though I hadn''t seen her for almost half a year, it wasn''t hard to recognize her. Who else had those violet eyes that resembled an amethyst?


    But despite all that, I still found it hard to believe that she was really the person in the rumors.


    "C- Celine?"


    "Damn, let go of my arm! You''re hurting me."


    I froze in ce for a moment as her voice echoed in my ears again. As my grip on her arm loosened, she quickly released herself from my grasp and patted her arm with her other hand as if I had indeed hurt her.


    As her violet eyes fixed on mine, or rather focused on my face, she first paused to my surprise. Then she sighed with a slight smile on her face.


    "Well... I didn''t want to meet again like this, but yes, it''s me."

 Chapter 294 Volume V - 12: Just Like Half a Year Ago

    <h4>Chapter 294 Volume V - Chapter 12: Just Like Half a Year Ago</h4>


    I may have been stunned for a brief moment... but I recovered quickly, my eyes widening involuntarily at Celine''s confirmation.


    "Wait... was it really you in the rumors?"


    Celine finally let go of the wrist she was rubbing. Sighing again, she stood up, this time with her hoodpletely undone.


    Her brown hair was longer than before, past her shoulder des, though it didn''t reach her waist. Whereas she used to have a fit body, now... she seemed a little thinner. But what really surprised me was the strange glint in her eyes.


    Before, when I used to talk to Aiden, he would asionally mention Celine. And from what I heard from him... she was literally exhausted, broken. Aiden often said that Celine''s eyescked the color they should normally have. He said she looked soulless, had lost her sparkle.


    The sight before me now... was the exact opposite. If I ignored the slight differences in her appearance, she was just like the old ''Celine''.


    "Ah, yes. Someone somehow managed to notice my eye color... I guess. And then there was this weird rumor..."


    There was a brief silence between us. No words were spoken as we looked at each other.


    It was normal, of course. Because Celine... like Lucia and Sue, was one of the people in the group with whom I didn''t have much contact. So... we didn''t have much to say to each other.


    But that didn''t mean I didn''t have questions to ask her.


    "If you recovered... even if a little, why didn''t you reach out to us?"


    That was my first question, because it was one that I really wanted to know the answer to. Why was she hiding herself in the first ce? Even that was strange...


    Celine hesitated for a moment, then sighed.


    "It''s about hiding myself. If I show up to even just one of the meetings, it''s instantly obvious who I am. Imagine, someone in a hoodie and rumored to be me meeting with a group that almost everyone knows I''m in... It''s too easy to connect the dots."


    "But why are you hiding yourself?"


    "Because I''m really weak right now."


    She narrowed her eyes, fixed them on the floor, then continued with a hint of... irritation in her voice.


    "It''s been almost half a year, Adrian. Half a year of me doing almost nothing. That''s why I''m so far behind you guys, or others, the ''strong'' people of my age. That shouldn''t normally be much of a problem, but in my case it is. Because I am a noble, a noble with thest name Potenbea. I am toozy to tell you how many enemies my family has."


    My brow furrowed as the connections quickly formed in my mind.


    "Basically, you''re going to hide yourself until you reach a certain level of strength, I get it... But you could have told us you were okay now. You could have at least let us know... Even though we don''t know each other well enough to say we''re ''friends'', there''s Sue and Lucia. I can understand not trusting me and Julian too much, but at least you were close to them."


    She finally averted her eyes and took a deep breath.


    "That''s... a bit my fault. Well... I still have a bit of trouble with how to approach people socially."


    Ah, so she can''t exactly say she''s ''recovered''... is that it? That''s a more understandable answer.


    "Well, then, if you want, I can let them know. At least you don''t seem to have much trouble talking to me."


    "Is that how I look from the outside?"


    I waited meaninglessly for a moment in response to her question.


    What do you mean, ''is that how I look''?


    I thought about this question briefly, it only took a few seconds. But... then I paused, realizing something I had been missing for a few minutes.


    Celine never looked me in the eye the whole time I was talking to her. Not even once.


    Yes, she looked at my face, but... we never made eye contact. Even when we looked at each other, it was my face that she focused on, not my eyes.


    "Whatever. I mean, I''ll be happy if you tell them. I''ll give you my new phone number too, I had to change it because the old one was a bit of a pain, invite me back to the group chat."


    "I can''t... the only administrator in the group is Aiden himself."


    Celine paused at the mention of Aiden''s name. It was such a sudden pause that I couldn''t miss it. But... I couldn''t say anything.


    Because Celine was definitely among the people most affected by Aiden''s situation. Maybe even the most affected one. Because she had spent thest half a year onlymunicating with him. In a way, it was Aiden himself who started to heal her.


    That''s why his disappearance, perhaps entering a state where he would never open his eyes again, must have shaken her more than anyone else.


    But these thoughts brought with them another contradiction and I frowned involuntarily.


    Now that I think about it... If the rumors came out recently, she couldn''t have been going back and forth to the training building for too long. So she must have started ''getting stronger'' again after Aiden''s news.


    She''s so prone to depression... but instead she''s trying to get stronger?


    That''s... weird. Is she having thoughts of waking him up like me or something else...?


    "I- I forgot... right-"


    She paused again after realizing she had stuttered. But... then she shook her head slightly from side to side and sighed deeply. When she turned her head toward me, her lips curled up slightly.


    "If you think I have thoughts of waking Aiden... No, I''m not crazy. I''m not going to pursue something I know I can''t do anything about, when it''s impossible for me to even reach him, when even dwarves with such advanced technology aren''t sure if they can wake him up. I just... believe that he will wake up. I trust him, as he trusts me. At least... that''s how I feel."


    I found myself widening my eyes slightly at her words, my face taking on an expression of meaninglessness.


    Depressed, going crazy?


    I... how wrong I had been. Aside from her condition worsening, she seems to have taken the biggest step toward recovery with Aiden''sa...


    On top of that... she trusts him. She believes that Aiden will wake up, so instead of dedicating herself to waking him up, she prepares herself entirely for after he wakes up.


    It''s... I certainly didn''t expect it, it never crossed my mind in the slightest, let alone expected it.


    Celine didn''t talk about it anymore. Although we talked about a few other things, this conversation didn''tst long either. After giving me her new number, she said she didn''t have time and put her hood back on, then smiled at me for thest time.


    "See youter."


    "See you..."


    Then she left the wooded area, leaving me alone in the middle.


    A few minutes after her departure, I also headed toward my room, but... I couldn''t stop thinking.


    I thought about it along the way, I thought about it as I entered my room, I thought about it even as I let myself sink into myfortable armchair.


    I... unlike Celine, from the second I found out that Aiden was in aa, I... never believed him.


    I wanted to help him as soon as I found out, I waspletely dedicated to it. I didn''t even think about how I could reach him when the dwarves were probably hiding him in one of the safest ces in the world, I just... believed that he needed my help.


    I clenched my fist and closed my eyes, my face grimacing.


    Yes, unlike the others, I could really heal him. Lithoa told me it is possible, that''s why I keep transferring mana to the disk in my bracelet every day, so there''s no reason for me to stop.


    But... why didn''t I ever trust him? Until now, he has always been surrounded by sess. Even though his every move sometimes hurt him too, it always worked out in his favor in the end. He always got what he wanted, even if he faced difficulties and some consequences he didn''t want...


    Why did I think he needed help this time?


    Was it because the thought of helping people, of ''changing'', overrode my logic? Because in the end I had a better chance of helping him than he had of helping me?


    Hah... I''m changing, yes, but... I''m still always standing still, not so much taking a step, but taking a half step back while pretending to take a step.


    I opened my eyes, did nothing as I stared at the white ceiling of my room and just... waited. Finally I raised my hand, spread my fingers and looked at them.


    I''m really so naive, stupid... right?


    But... I won''t... I won''t stop. I''ll just... believe in him now, like Celine did.


    Waking him will still be my goal, but from now on... I will trust him.


    I thought about it for a few more seconds, and then a smile appeared on my face, and after I put an end to that, since Aiden was the only admin in the old group, I opened a new group with the same name and invited Celine to join it, along with everyone else.


    <<------------------------------


    6 people have been invited to "Study Group 2"!


    Olivia Sue Gemma epted the invitation!


    ------------------------------>>


    Sue was the first to write to the new group.


    <<------------------------------


    Sue: Adrian? Why did you open a new group?


    Julian: ????


    ------------------------------>>


    But instead of answering their questions, I just waited. Lucia also went online and joined Julian and Sue, but I kept waiting. And in the end... what I was waiting for happened.


    <<------------------------------


    Celine Potenbea has epted the invitation!


    Sue: ...?


    ------------------------------>>


    For a few seconds, nothing was written in the group. However... this silence was broken with Celine''s ''writing'' status.


    <<------------------------------


    Celine: Uh... hello?


    ------------------------------>>


    Julian, Lucia, and Sue didn''t write anything after they saw Celine writing something.


    However, after only a few seconds... the conversation started to flow so fast, so many questions were being asked that everything turned into chaos. But... despite all this chaos, and despite feeling a bit sorry for Celine as I watched her struggle to deal with three people, I couldn''t keep the smile off my face.


    Because... even though everyone seemed curious, they seemed happy again... after finally getting their answers and finding out that Celine was getting better, that she could even talk to them. It was like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders to finally know that something was going well after Aiden''s incident.


    The group chat looked just like it did half a year ago.


    The only thing missing now... was Aiden himself.

 Chapter 295 Volume V - 13: Toward the Festival

    <h4>Chapter 295 Volume V - Chapter 13: Toward the Festival</h4>


    The grass I was lying on... was even morefortable than it should have been. So much so that it made me think that I couldn''t move a muscle because they were sofortable, rather than what I was experiencing in that dark infinity a few seconds ago...


    And not only that. Although there was strangely no ''sun'' in the deep blue, endless sky just above me, the warmth, the light I didn''t even know where it wasing from and so much more... literally everything was perfect.


    So, I didn''t do anything, I just... waited, letting the sky and this rxing feeling take over my body, not thinking about anything. Questions like who I was, what I was doing here, and more, were unimportant. I didn''t care...


    Until... a shadow fell on me.


    It came slowly. It didn''t suddenly descend on me, nor did it appear from thin air. It was like... the shadow of someone walking slowly toward me. And with this shadow, I became ufortable and moved involuntarily. I turned my head toward it, just to my left, diagonally behind me.


    And the person I found in front of me was... strangely familiar. It was me, the person in front of me.


    And by me, I mean... not me as Ethan. He didn''t have brown hair and green eyes like him. Instead... he had coal-ck, disheveled hair and dull gray eyes that resembled those of a ghost. He was thin, though not as thin as Ethan, and his face was even more emotionless, expressionless.


    The person who was Ethan was me. I wasn''t Aiden Tenebra, I was here as Ethan Subter himself, the one with the brown hair and the green eyes.


    No words were spoken between us. Neither of our mouths opened. After a short time, he approached me and leaned over, squatting on the grass.


    As we both watched the sunless but strangely blue sky... it was I who broke the silence.


    "You knew, didn''t you?"


    The person sitting next to me... answered me without changing his expression in any way, continuing to watch the sky.


    "Depending on what you''re talking about, that question has a different answer."


    "I''m talking about everything. Everything."


    "Then the answer is no."


    As I squinted, I confirmed some things in my head, and at the same time... I only made more questions pop up in my mind.


    "Am I dead?"


    "No."


    "Then... am I in aa or something?"


    "Sort of."


    I sighed lightly, finally tearing my eyes away from the deep blue sky, slowly turning them to my side.


    His ck hair fluttered gently in the breeze of the nonexistent winds, while his gray eyes looked up at the sky with a strange... emptiness.


    "Then... why am I here?"


    His eyes narrowed at this question, his expression slowly leaving the sky and returning to the ground. He turned his gray eyes to me, making eye contact with me without hesitation.


    He was really emotionless. No... emotionless was not enough to describe him. However, his answer to my question was not at all like that of an emotionless person. On the contrary, it was something an angry person would say.


    Perhaps that''s why the emotion of what he said was much more... pronounced than that of an angry person. His soullessness made the words that came out of his mouth that much more frightening.


    "For screwing up the n."


    *******


    In the early hours of the morning, I woke up to the sound of the rm ringing incessantly right next to me.


    What I normally did to wake up to a new day was to take a short shower, followed by breakfast. Today was no different.


    What was different was after I hadpleted this routine.


    I changed into some nice clothes. I normallybed my hair briefly without caring too much about it, but this time I paid a little more attention.


    When I stood in front of the mirror... I looked good, I was wearing a gray T-shirt. Underneath I was wearing a pair of cloth pants in a slightly darker shade of gray.


    I could have looked much better... but it was the best I could do and it was enough for me.


    So, I finally stepped out, and as I did so, a figure suddenly appeared at my doorstep, as if it had been waiting for this moment for minutes, and I couldn''t help being startled.


    "Thank God! We''re fuckingte!"


    Julian, with a slight frown and a slightly excited expression, grabbed me by the shoulder and gently dragged me toward our destination.


    "Come on,e on! Most of the buses are about to leave!"


    I couldn''t say anything, all I could do was sigh and push the hand on my shoulder aside, elerating slightly with him.


    We werete, huh... I didn''t even spend much time in my room.


    "The festival starts at noon, right?"


    "Yes! That''s why we have to be fast!"


    After a few short minutes of fast walking, what finally came into view was a row of buses lined up. They were all white and long, and students were boarding them in lines. A little bit further behind these buses was the South Gate of the academy.


    I heard that the academy used to prepare for the festival on its own. But because of recent events, they didn''t have time for that. That''s why the students and staff, at least those who wanted to participate in the festival, were going to Wiathen City. We were going to attend one of the festivals there.


    When we entered the area, I saw a lot of eyes locked on us, but I ignored them and searched for a few figures.


    Lucia was... much easier to spot than I thought. After all, there was a spot that almost everyone in the area involuntarily turned their eyes to, a spot that was hard to distinguish. And there stood Lucia, wearing her usual ck mask.


    She was wearing a blue skirt that went below her knees. On top of that was a white blouse. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her blood-red eyes were even brighter than usual for some reason.


    Standing right next to her was Sue. She was simultaneously very conspicuous and... inconspicuous. Conspicuous, of course, because anyone who tried to look at Lucia would see her. The reason why she was inconspicuous was... because she was invisiblepared to Lucia''s attractiveness statistic.


    She was wearing a dark blue skirt to match her eyes, shorter than Lucia''s. And a T-shirt that looked ck but was strangely lighter. The only word to describe her would be... I think it would be ordinary.


    They were taking a different bus than the one we were on, so we would only be able to meet at the festival site.


    I tore my eyes away from the duo, this time, for no reason, and even though I knew she wouldn''t be here, I looked at someone else.


    No, it wasn''t Celine. I was sure she wouldn''t even set foot in the festival after all that talk about hiding herself. The person I was looking for... was someone with silver hair like mine.


    No matter how hard I looked, I couldn''t see Alice around, but that didn''t stop me from continuing to look for her. I looked in all the bus rows, but she was nowhere to be found. Just... as I had expected.


    With a feeling simr to disappointment, I turned around, and Julian and I kept moving forward in the line until we got on the bus. Finally, after a short while, we got to our seats. Julian rebelled a little when I sat by the window, but he knew I couldn''t get up because the bus was crowded. So he sat next to me.


    With only a few seconds left before the buses were due to leave, I looked outside, at the academy I was about to leave again, albeit for a much shorter time than before. As always... it looked fascinating.


    With its staff moving from ce to ce, never stopping, and with the sun in the sky on its right diagonal for me... it was beautiful. It was too beautiful.


    But... I paused involuntarily when something else caught my attention amidst all this beauty, amongst the staff.


    Among thest few students to board the bus, I saw a person who had obviouslye here at a brisk pace. She seemed to be trying to catch her breath, and at the same time, with squinted eyes, she seemed to be angry with herself.


    She was wearing jeans and a gray blouse. It was a simple outfit, but the simplicity was spoiled by her long silver hair. The darkness in her eyes added to her appearance.


    I couldn''t help my eyes widen as she was one of the people I didn''t expect to see here. Her eyes, like the darkness of night, were fixed first on the floor and then on the bus as she seemed to be looking for someone, but she gave up when the academy staff next to the bus told her to hurry up.


    She got on the bus and settled into a seat in front of us, not far from us. She didn''t turn her head back once, even though it looked like she was looking for someone before she got on the bus.


    Alice wasing to a festival that I would never have expected her to attend... on the same bus with us.


    *******


    The trip wasn''t supposed to take very long, but for some reason, it felt longer than ever.


    Because I was looking at a figure not too far away from us, trying to find answers to countless questions in my mind.


    Did she just want to blow off some steam like almost everyone else? Or was she here for apletely different reason... I had no idea, but... it was definitely strange. That''s why I couldn''t take my eyes off her.


    When Julian saw Alice where I was looking along the road, he too had a puzzled look on his face. Apparently, he hadn''t expected to see her here either.


    The trip... continued like this.


    When we entered Wiathen City, a notice went out all over the bus that we would be getting off soon. That''s what brought me back to Lunerra.


    Whatever, why do I care so much about her being here? Whatever her purpose in attending the festival, I don''t need to question it. We didn''t get on so well after the James thing anyway, so there''s no point in pushing it now.


    If she wants to spend time with us, she''lle herself, I can''t force her. And if she doesn''t want to... again, I can''t force her.


    Rxing myself is all I need to do today, no thinking, no unnecessary questions. I will just... clear my head, my only goal will be to ''have fun'' with my friends at this festival.


    So, I finally stopped paying attention to her, and not too long after that, we reached our destination.

 Chapter 296 Volume V - 14: Start of the Festival

    <h4>Chapter 296 Volume V - Chapter 14: Start of the Festival</h4>


    When the buses stopped, Alice got off without looking back once more. She disappeared into the crowd and I couldn''t see where she was going, but I didn''t think anything about her, as I had decided on the bus.


    Everyone on the buses got off and got into a random line. Meanwhile, I looked around.


    We were in a big area, a really big area. Apart from us, I could see many other buses belonging to other academies and universities. People I didn''t know were getting off and lining up like us.


    Students, workers... in other words, almost everyone who wanted to participate in this festival gathered here. The actual site of the festival... was another huge area not far from us. No... it was like a small town by itself.


    It didn''t have the tall skyscrapers and buildings that I had seen since I joined the CDA. It was surrounded by simpler, shorter buildings. None of them resembled any kind of apartment or house. Instead, they all looked like they were built for something in particr. ygrounds, cinemas, theaters, and more.


    It was a ce that had been created just for the festival or had been used for that purpose for a long time and... it was exciting.


    Even though I was really curious about this thing called ''the festival''... it wasn''t really a big thing in my eyes. But now, what I was seeing in front of my eyes was showing me how ''big'' what I was about to be a part of was. On top of that, there was the noise of maybe thousands of people gathered in the area.


    A small town set up just for the festival... and all these people in this town just having fun...


    I couldn''t keep the smile off my face, I was studying the buildings on the festival grounds, trying to figure out what they were, when suddenly a handnded on my shoulder. Julian looked at the smile on my face and then a grin appeared on his face as well.


    "Heh, it''s the first time you''ve seen it so it''s normal. Just wait and see what we''ll do there."


    Just seconds after Julian said those words, the noise of the crowd suddenly stopped. But... no one had stopped talking. Strangely, everyone was silent, even if their mouths were moving. Which was quickly noticed.


    Like me, I saw people who were surprised, trying to understand what had happened. But there were others who were calm, and on the contrary, their smiles widened.


    It was at this point that a loud voice... or rather three voices as if someone was tapping on the microphone, drew everyone''s attention to where this voice wasing from.


    Because I was in the crowd I couldn''t see exactly where it wasing from, but being a little taller, I could see a man in a ck suit right where everyone was looking.


    He looked like an ordinary man with brown hair, the same color eyes, and a middle-aged appearance. He had a slight smile on his face.


    "Don''t worry about your voice, it''s just a spell to help you hear what I''m saying. You will be back to normal when I am done speaking."


    Ah... so that was it.


    "The festival will officially start in five minutes and the mini-town will open for everyone. You can have fun and spend money as you wish. That''s what the festival is all about! However! I must point out that there are some rules when entering and inside."


    The smile on the man''s face faded slightly as his expression turned serious.


    "First of all, fighting is forbidden inside the town. Willing or unwilling, it doesn''t matter. Any duels or disputes are unwee at the festival. And when they are detected, you will of course be appropriately disciplined."


    As he continued to exin the rules, everyone listened, whether they wanted to or not. The level ofmunication had been greatly reduced by the spell that had silenced us.


    But it didn''t take long for the man to finish speaking. After he had exined the obvious, and logical, rules, the smile that preceded his speech returned to his face.


    "I hope you will take what I say seriously because there will be no overlooking just because there is a festival. Anyway! The gates of the town will open in two minutes, enter in a line, without making a fuss, and then... have fun as you wish!"


    Immediately after these words, the spell was lifted from the crowd and everyone''s voices could be heard again. There was a slight apuse, and then almost everyone waited patiently for the doors to open.


    After only half a minute, the expected happened. The gates of the festival grounds opened and everyone, as they were told, rushed inside in a line.


    *******


    Everything was fine until we managed to step inside... But once we were inside the gates of the town, the noise and chaos... drew me in like never before.


    I didn''t expect it to be so chaotic here... especially after the speech of the man in the suit... But I was relieved when Julian dragged me further away, away from the chaos.


    Apparently, the chaos was caused by the fact that everyone who stepped into the festival grounds was looking for their friends and waiting there for a while... Because at the point where we were standing everything was much more understandable, even if it was still noisy and crowded.


    "Let''s meet Lucia and Sue, then we''ll start wandering."


    All I could do was shake my head as I looked at the countless people lining the roads, the buildings they entered, and what was written on them. The excitement I was already feeling enveloped my whole body.


    *******


    Julian reached Sue on his watch. He then told her where we were and asked for their location. We were not far from each other, so we headed toward a five-story building that could be seen from almost everywhere in the area.


    As we approached the building, I saw that this was the building where they served food, snacks, and more. There were small sweet shops all over the area, but this building was the central point for all of this.


    After a short while, we managed to meet Lucia and Sue, and thanks to Lucia, it wasn''t hard to find them...


    We tried to ignore the fact that we had be the focus of a veryrge part of the crowd... at least me and Julian did. Sue didn''t react much, as if she was already too used to it. In fact, as if she wasn''t even aware of all the stares, she asked a simple question.


    "What do we do first?"


    Julian, the one who usually dragged our group around, stepped forward again and spoke with a smile on his face.


    "We can go to the entertainment center as long as Sue doesn''t y too many games on one machine. The building with the theaters and cinemas is not far away. Also, I saw something like an amusement park on the way here, but it must be at the other end of the field. We can go to one of the streets where they sell things like sweets and ice cream, we can participate in any of the activities. There is so much to do..."


    "What do we choose first then?"


    He paused for a moment at Lucia''s words, realizing that the choice was entirely up to him, and then, widening his smile, he turned around and pointed to a building not far from us.


    "The theater, with snacks, of course. That''s the closest ce to us. Then we can join the activities, they do really cool stuff. Everything from eating to reflexpetitions. And then... we''ll see about that then."


    Nobody objected. Julian had more experience than any of us in having fun, after all.


    So the theater district became our first destination. The number of people in front of the three-story building made me wonder when it would be our turn, but it didn''t take long. Since the building also extended underground, it had many more halls than I thought.


    So we spent almost twenty minutes buying tickets, identifying our hall, and waiting for it to empty...


    While the tickets were being bought, someone who clearly didn''t know what he was doing tried to approach Lucia, but the smile he received raised his hopes and the rejection he received immediately afterward left him frozen as if his whole life had been turned upside down. It was a funny sight... but I couldn''t help feeling sorry for him.


    Julian bought a soda and popcorn for everyone. And then we finally managed to get settled in the theater.


    So... the first y started, with the eyes of everyone in the theater on us as usual.


    In connection with the reason for the festival, it was a y about a hundred and fifty years ago. The awakening had not taken ce, the guide called the system had not appeared. Mana was still present and its existence was known, but it was not a threat to anyone, and so it was used only as a source of energy. There were no elves, dwarves, faes, hannyas.


    The y was about a fiasco that took ce close to the founding of Cevilian. As the royal family was preparing toy the foundations of the kingdom that had not yet been established, one of them betrayed them in a funny but strangely... impressive way.


    It was fun to watch a story I had no idea about, mixed withedy. However... one thing that surprised me was that a creature I had never heard of before in my life was also mentioned and this creature was projected with the help of a hologram.


    It looked like one of the creatures from The Neutral. I was intrigued by its ck coloring with white speckles and the fact that it looked like a strangely powerful creature despite its fat appearance. And... it also had a pink appendage hanging from between its hind legs, fat like itself but short.


    ''It''s called a cow.''


    I didn''t find it strange that Lithoa had suddenly appeared in my mind, on the contrary, it raised even more questions.


    ''Cow?''


    ''It is one of the species that fell into the category of what you would call ''animals'' before the creatures appeared. After the Awakening, it became the prey of most creatures and became extinct. The milk you drink used to be produced from that animal. Nowadays, a subspecies of this cow-like creature you encountered in the Neutral is used for production.''


    With another piece of information I had never learned, my interest in the y grew even more. I waspletely focused on watching the y, whichsted more than half an hour.


    And... it was really fun. It was a good time that fulfilled the purpose I hade here for, to distract myself, but it made me forget even that. Besides... this was just the beginning.

 Chapter 297 Volume V - 15: A Beautiful Day

    <h4>Chapter 297 Volume V - Chapter 15: A Beautiful Day</h4>


    After a protracted war, the wealthy Cevilian Family has been helping the rulers of a kingdom on the brink of copse.


    But... The king of the old kingdom died by poison. The person who poisoned him was a member of the Cevilian Family. She was one of the most trusted people.


    With the king dead, instead of the royal family of the old kingdom uniting to put a new king on the throne... they scattered. Left with a kingdom on the brink of copse. However, Cevilian Family stood their ground.


    And strangely... they won. In battle after battle, with the courage of the people who supported them and the sacrifices made, they somehow built a new kingdom from the ashes.


    This kingdom was the Cevilian Kingdom, which had been standing for one hundred and fifty years.


    The y performed in the theater summed it all up. Immediately following it was another y about another event that happened in the early days of the new kingdom.


    I watched both ys without blinking an eye, but we left without watching anymore and went out after the second y. We had a long day ahead of us, after all, and it would have been a waste to spend it all watching ys.


    So... time flew by so fast that I didn''t even understand what was happening.


    After the theater, we were wandering around one of the streets of the mini-town with a few snacks in our hands when we came across a few of the events that Julian had mentioned earlier. There was an archery event, an eating contest as he had mentioned, an arm-wrestling event, and much more.


    First, we watched how the events were organized and after almost ten minutes, Julian walked over to the arm wrestling with a big smile on his face and a lot of excitement. He said he was going topete, put his name down, and waited for his turn.


    There was not a trace of nervousness or any other emotion on his face.


    "You seem confident?"


    He turned to me with twinkling eyes, his smile turning into a grin as he pointed to the staff member who was writing down names.


    "Of course I''m confident! You can try to shake that confidence if you want."


    I looked at the staff member and then at Julian. I didn''t normally like this kind of thing, but... for some reason, a smile appeared on my face.


    "Fine."


    The smile on Julian''s face suddenly dropped.


    *******


    Apparently Julian thought that when he asked me to participate in the event, I would politely decline... Because every time it was my turn and I beat someone easily, which wasn''t too difficult since my opponents were my peers, his expression became even more depressed.


    Maybe his purpose in participating in the event was different... I don''t know, but it was definitely fun to watch his reactions.


    We made it to the semi-finals without any trouble. When it came down to thest four of our peers, the two remainingpetitors looked pretty good. The one I was up against, for example, was really... built. He had muscles everywhere and he was almost two meters tall. His eyebrows and facial features gave the impression that he was angry all the time. And the fact that he didn''t say anything only gave more ideas about him.


    When we faced each other and grasped each other''s wrists... I felt something different.


    Is this man... sweating?


    "Go!"


    He applied force to my wrist so abruptly that if it had been someone else, he would definitely have lost. He didn''t give the other person time to understand what was happening. But there was no ''normal'' person, there was me.


    It was forbidden to use mana. For people of the same rank, the muscr strength he possessed could certainly have pushed him to the top. But my body itself was stronger than it should have been. I felt the difference between us the moment our wrists touched.


    Two grades lower than me? Or three...? I can''t be sure.


    I started to see the sweat on his forehead that I could feel on my opponent''s wrist a few seconds ago. His eyes were squinting, looking only at his hand and not at my face. Because... he could only move my hand a few centimeters and even if he tried harder, he couldn''t manage to do more.


    Anyway...


    It only took a few seconds for the man in front of me to lose when I squeezed my hand and put particr force on my wrist. The look of surprise on his face as I got up from the table was definitely worth seeing, but it also made me a little bit sad...


    He looked utterly defeated.


    *******


    The arm-wrestlingpetition ended for us when I beat Julian in the final. He seemed really upset that he didn''t get thememorative medal I got as a gift, but it didn''t take him long to forget that.


    We participated in a few more events. For example, Lucia and Sue joined the archery event after us. Lucia had an average result and Sue was behind her. But the person who came first in their group was someone we didn''t know from another academy.


    So... time continued to pass. I couldn''t help but smile involuntarily as I drifted around the mini-town, learning stories about the Founding Period, encountering strange things and... really having fun.


    And... it wasn''t just me, even Sue, who hadn''t looked like herself for a long time, was smiling, she seemed to be having fun too.


    This was especially evident when a grin appeared on her face as we passed by the entertainment center.


    "Let''s y table hockey."


    The grin on Lucia''s face suddenly faded. Julian was frozen in ce. As for me... I just let out a quietugh.


    "T- table hockey...?"


    "Yeah, I want to blow off some steam."


    She usually didn''t ask for anything, she just went with us wherever we went. But now, when she wanted to do something in particr, no one had anything to say.


    Lucia and Julian didn''t want to y because they knew what their fate was. But I wanted to try my luck again, the taste of defeat from the first day of summer vacation still fresh in my mouth.


    So we faced each other, and then we started the game.


    *******


    I''m much stronger than Sue. both in speed and strength and reflexes. There''s supposed to be a real gap between us... she''s not even supposed to be able to see my movements.


    It has to be like that...


    As the disk slid across the table, bouncing in three different ces, I tried to calcte where it would end up, and I seeded. I somehow managed to meet the disk and send it back to Sue, and I did it at such an angle that the disk elerated so much. It should have been impossible for a normal person to even see.


    But somehow Sue managed to see it... or guessed it... or took a chance. I don''t know which is the right option, or if what she did was something else entirely, but when the disk bounced almost four times into the ''goal'' I was trying to protect, I could do nothing but stare nkly ahead.


    Immediately after that, two rapid chimes echoed in my ears, the sound that told me the game was over... It was also the sound that told me I had lost.


    I looked at the holographic screen floating above the table. It said "7-2".


    "Okay... I give up."


    Sue stretched slightly with a smile on her face, then looked out at the crowd around us, who were watching the match between the two of us with their mouths agape.


    "Anyone else want to y?"


    And those... were thest words she spoke before her name was added to the list of unwritten legends.


    *******


    After half an hour of non-stop ying, even Sue herself was tired. Hardly anyone wanted to y with her anymore, she had literally trampled almost everyone underfoot.


    And... she seemed content. She seemed more herself, even, her eyes seemed more open than before. And theck of self-confidence she had caused Lucia and Julian at table hockey was reced by relief. So no one made a sound and we continued walking around the town.


    It was almost an hour before sunset. There was still a lot to do at the festival, but... we were tired. Going from ce to ce and ''having fun'' was really tiring when done for a long time.


    So... all we did was walk slowly. We wanted to check out the part of town we hadn''t been to and then go to the five-story food building and eat.


    "It''s been six hours, huh..."


    After Julian''s words, I couldn''t help but sigh.


    Six hours... it feels like only minutes to me... Time has really flown by.


    "Six hours worth every minute, at least."


    Following Lucia''s words, Sue nodded her head in agreement.


    "Exactly."


    I smiled again as I thought about what we had done for six hours.


    Festivals... they were really fun. I came here to rx but I got so much more out of it, so... as Lucia said, it was definitely worth it. So much so that I even started to wonder about next year''s festival.


    After all, when that time came, Aiden would be with us, maybe Celine too. Who knows, maybe even Alice would have mingled with us somehow.


    I couldn''t help but pause involuntarily.


    Really... Alice had alsoe to the festival. I was so engrossed and focused on having fun that I forgot that she was here too. The fact that I didn''t see her even once helped me forget her presence.


    Anyway, I decided not to think about her. If she wants to get close to us, she''lle to us.


    "Oh..."


    Julian paused, curious, and I snapped out of my thoughts, my eyes quickly turning in the direction he was looking. And then... a hugeke stretching out of the town immediately caught my attention.


    "Interesting... looks like they''ve renovated theke."


    Julian made his way toward theke and our group automatically headed in that direction. Lucia and Sue were also curiously looking at theke.


    So, we arrived in front of theke. Even though we couldn''t get any closer to it because of the railings, we were definitely close enough to understand its fascination.


    The water of theke was extremely clear. I could see every stone, moss, and fish at the bottom. Theke had decorations too. Some special stones and things that looked like paintings had been left in it to make it look more beautiful. On top of that, the trees around it, even the strange trees that sometimes rose up from the bottom of theke, gave it a very different look.


    "This ce used to be very dirty... it even looked like a swamp. Now... it lookspletely different."


    From a ce that looked like a swamp to a hugeke of this sort of scenery, huh...


    As I stood watching theke, I focused on the fish in it. The noiseing from inside the town, theughter of the people, the sky I could see in the reflection, and more... It drew me in so much that I just stood there for a moment.


    Today was a really beautiful day, a day I will never forget. And with every passing second, it was bing more and more.

 Chapter 298 Volume V - 16: Festival in Flames

    <h4>Chapter 298 Volume V - Chapter 16: Festival in mes</h4>


    I continued to watch theke, locked in the image in front of me, as if I had forgotten the presence of Julian, Lucia, and Sue. It was in such a strange... harmony with the sounds of the festival that theke itself and its contents were almost mesmerizing.


    But... it was also because of this that I was able to notice something early on that I normally would not have been able to.


    I suddenly caught a glimpse of something changing in the reflection of theke. Something that appeared in the midst of all this beauty, independent of theke itself and the festival... A tiny little light in the sky.


    Lights were everywhere, in fact. There were even fireworks from time to time because of the celebration. Everything was already shining... But what I saw this time was different.


    The tiny glow in the sky was something impossible to see unless one turned their head upward. Why would such a choice be made when the purpose of everything at the festival is to attract attention and entertain people?


    Moreover... what really caught my attention, what made me feel uneasy, was the color of this glow and the fact that it was in one ce.


    It was purple, this glow. And it was a purple that felt very familiar.


    I paused for a moment, I felt as if time had stopped, and then... my eyes widened.


    A few more of the purple glow in the sky suddenly appeared. There were eight in total, appearing almost everywhere in the mini-town. They didn''t appear only above us as if they were deliberately ignoring the spot where we were.


    Only a split second after they had multiplied, all of them suddenly descended toward the ground with tremendous speed, while we were standing at a small point in the sky.


    All the noise that filled the town suddenly stopped, and all the lights disappeared. The reason for this cessation... was that a much louder sound and a brilliant sh of light drowned out almost everything else.


    Everything turned white in an instant. My mind was jolted by a high-pitched burst of sound that made my ears ring.


    ''Adrian! Guard yourself!''


    Lithoa''s voice filled my mind. He was telling me to do something when I didn''t even understand what was happening... but I trusted him, what was I supposed to do if I didn''t?


    I threw my arms in the air, trying to protect myself. When neither my sight nor my hearing had returned, I suddenly felt a tremendous force bearing down on me, a force that would have been enough to break my bones if I hadn''t concentrated my mana on my arms.


    I felt my feet knocked off the ground, the whole world turned upside down and I was thrown backward violently. The only thing that stopped me was scraping the ground and hitting a building.


    When my hearing finally started to slowly return, the first thing I could hear was... the crackling of something and a few screams. And... the sound of mes.


    As my vision was slowly returning, I quickly tried to stand up, imagining taking my spear out of my bracelet. But just then the ring on my finger trembled, and even though I didn''t want to, I couldn''t grasp my spear, whose materialization was iplete. Instead, I quickly activated Guardian Radiance, whereupon I used the tform tounch myself into the air.


    A wave of wind hit my body, but I managed to leap into the air before the attack that caused it could reach me. As I created a few more tforms and rose even higher, the first thing I saw was... red and orange mixed with other colors.


    There were spots in the mini-town engulfed in mes, the smoke rising up into the sky. Some people were running here and there, others were just lying on the ground. Chaos reigned in the mini-town, but not the sweet chaos of the festival... it was the real chaos.


    My eyes darted down quickly, looking at the spot where I had just leaped into the air. The person who attacked me was not going to stop where he was, after all... he must have been preparing to attack me. He could have been attacking already.


    But... what I saw was someone just standing where he was.


    He was wearing ck pants and a gray shirt. The jacket on him was a thin, long one. He also had ck gloves on his hands.


    He looked like a middle-aged man with short ck hair. He did not have any wrinkles on his face. But... the important thing was definitely his eyes.


    This person had purple eyes. Shimmering, that familiar purple color that I was kind of getting used to seeing.


    And it was obvious that he was the one who had attacked me. Because he had just pulled his fist out of the wall of the building I was in front of... But he didn''t try to attack me again. Instead... he was looking at me. Calmly, coldly, ufortably even.


    Can''t he reach me?


    This question crossed my mind, while the man continued to stand where he was without doing anything... sighing simply.


    I only took my eyes off him for a second, I wanted to verify the situation of my location, of my friends, and I did.


    The purple glows in the sky must have exploded like some kind of bomb in the ces just below them. That must have been the cause of the fires in the mini-town. But... as far as I remember, even though there were no purple shes near us, this ce had also exploded. It was also in mes, although not as much as the other parts. People were also running here and there, trying to get to safety.


    But... there was a difference herepared to the other sides.


    There was no security here. I had seen a few people from the festival security at other ces where there were explosions, but... there was no one here. It was as if... they were ignoring this ce.


    I didn''t pay much attention to it though. My eyes quickly searched for my friends and I looked toward theke we were standing in front of.


    Julian was on the ground. His chest was rising and falling, he looked alive, but his clothes were in a terrible state. He was covered in dust, and there were rips all over his clothes. He had a few burns as if he had jumped into the middle of a fire.


    Next to him stood Sue, looking like she was trying to wake him up. She too was covered in dust, but... she didn''t seem to have any injuries. Maybe Julian had protected her.


    And Lucia... she was looking at me. Her mask was nowhere to be seen as if it had disappeared, her face and her beauty were exposed. Her hair was slightly disheveled in a ponytail and her red eyes shone with the mana that was in them. Her sword, as red as her eyes, was in her hand.


    For some reason, her charm seemed to work even better in this situation... It was even trying to attract me to her. It was a strange feeling.


    But just then Lucia took her eyes off me. The moment she did so, someone appeared in front of her. It was the man who had just looked at me and sighed.


    Lucia raised her sword, shielded herself, but the man''s simply clenched fistnded so hard on her sword that the ground beneath her feet crackled slightly. I could only widen my eyes as her figure was suddenly thrown into theke, overwhelmed by the force she was trying to block.


    He was fast. The man in front of me... he really was extremely fast. He was also strong. Even though he wasn''t using any weapon, the force of his fist alone was frightening.


    I couldn''t even pay attention to Lucia as she disappeared from sight. I stretched my legs and lunged at the man, clenching my fist.


    I tried to pounce on him without giving him a chance to attack Sue and Julian, and at that moment he turned his head to me,pletely ignoring them both. He twisted his clenched left hand back at me.


    I couldn''t even defend myself. His fist had turned on me so suddenly and hard that I never had a chance to react. But... strangely, it was not aimed at my face or any vital part of me.


    The back of his fistnded with tremendous force just below my left shoulder. Immediately, I felt the bones in my arm crunch, but also an extremely intense pain spread throughout my body. Once again, I was thrown backward, and again, the whole world turned upside down.


    I could only stop by crashing into a building, but even though the building itself helped me to stop, I was hit by another blow. I had just hit my back, my spine, against the hard wall of the building... and it shook my whole body harder than ever.


    If it wasn''t for the Guardian Radiance and the mana I was spinning all over my body, my arm would definitely have been broken, my body would have been in a much worse condition... But, somehow, I managed to withstand the enormous strength of the man in front of me.


    I tried to stand up with difficulty. At the same time, I was trying to pay attention to my surroundings because I was expecting another attack... but it never came. Even when I somehow managed to stand up, even when I sessfully materialized my spear, I did not face any attack.


    So, with blood seeping through my hair and into my face, I fixed my pain-blurred eyes on the spot where the man had just stood.


    There he was, just standing there... just as he had been at the beginning. Only this time, he didn''t move and neither did I. This time... the man spoke calmly, coldly, and ufortably, just like the first time.


    "Aren''t you going to attack?"


    I paused for a moment, feeling as if time and the world had stopped... the man''s voice echoed in my ear again and... a thought appeared in my mind.


    A thought I didn''t want to believe.


    "Then... I will."


    I gripped my spear tightly as the man tensed slightly, clenching his fists and preparing to attack again. The next second, when the man suddenly vanished from where he was and stood in front of me, I didn''t find his fist in front of my eyes. Instead, he aimed for my stomach, a spot where even my organs wouldn''t be too damaged. This time he didn''t even apply such extreme force.


    As my whole body spasmed, involuntarily losing the strength in my legs and copsing to the ground, the elbow blow to my back confirmed what I didn''t want to believe.


    I understood the purpose of the man in front of me.


    It wasn''t the festival, it wasn''t Julian or Lucia, it wasn''t to kill or harm people.


    His target was... me, he wanted me. Not even to kill me, he was just trying to take me alive...

 Chapter 299 Volume V - 17: First Seal to Break

    <h4>Chapter 299 Volume V - Chapter 17: First Seal to Break</h4>


    With an elbow in the back, my whole body contracted violently once more. The connection between me and the world seemed to be severed for a moment. Everything went haywire, all sounds became iprehensible.


    I leaned on my spear once more as the Guardian Radiance tried to keep my body upright. I spat blood but forced myself to stand up as the mana inside me spun and spun, supporting my body like an exoskeleton.


    My eyes widened in an instant at that very moment.


    I tried to defend myself, knowing very well that there was nothing I could do against the ck fist I found right in front of my body, but it didn''t reach me.


    The man twisted his attack right in front of my eyes in a way I couldn''t even imagine. He straightened his hand as he spread his fingers and struck the spear in my hand hard with the side of his hand.


    He spun around briefly in a simple motion as my spear slipped from my grasp and flew aside. Then his kicknded right on the left side of my stomach.


    Again, the whole world turned upside down.


    Again, I found myself being thrown backward.


    Again... I could do nothing but copse weakly to the ground.


    Everything was blurry, nothing was visible. Every sound became meaningless, echoing only in my mind.


    I clenched my fist, not even trying to stand up anymore because I had lost my spear and there was nothing left to hold on to... I could do nothing but think.


    How could I react? How could I do something back to someone so fast, so strong? It''s... impossible. It''s simply, basically impossible. The person in front of me is simply stronger than me.


    So, even for a moment... I paused.


    Stronger than me...


    Am I... am I weak again? Am I incapable again?


    This festival was supposed to rx me, to give me a rest... Why do I find myself face-to-face with my own powerlessness again? Just a few minutes ago I was walking with my friends smiling... why am I in this state now?


    Why is my whole body covered in blood? Why is it so hard to even stand up? Why do I feel like all my bones are broken?


    After all the time I spent in the Neutral, after getting so strong with Lithoa and Kari... why?


    Is this... a dream?


    ''No, of course not. Snap out of it, idiot.''


    Lithoa''s voice echoed in my head and I paused, remembering again that I was in reality.


    Then... I gritted my teeth, dug my nails into my palms.


    My lungs barely contracted. I coughed up blood as every breath I inhaled was simply painful, but I took a deep breath anyway and lifted my head up.


    Again, I heard the screams of people, people who were just trying to have fun but something like this had happened to them because of me, full of pain and terror... They were running away from me, or more precisely from the man in front of me in the mes... even if he didn''t care about them in the slightest.


    I saw an old man. He was running with a small child in his arms even though his own body was clearly giving him a hard time. I saw two of my peers, jumping into the mes, trying to make their way in the opposite direction. I saw a woman crouched over a man lying on the ground, covered in burns.


    They were not close to me, but they were not far away. But if there was one thing they managed to do... it was to remind me again and again of what was happening right now.


    Still, I got up on my knees, somehow managing to stand up with my whole body trembling, even if with difficulty. I looked around for my spear, which had been thrown who knows how far away from me, but I could not see straight in front of me and the chances of finding it were close to zero.


    Just then... a voice echoed in my ears. The same calm, cold, and... disturbing voice.


    "Do you still have the strength to fight, Adrian Caleo?"


    I clenched my teeth even harder. I pierced my palm even harder, not caring about the blood seeping between my fingers.


    I''m... I''m sick of this. I''m really tired of this.


    Again, because of my weakness, someone is dying... suffering. My weakness aside, they''re in the mes at a festival they should be enjoying because I''m here among them...


    "Apparently not... Then let''s end it here."


    I''m sick of it... literally sick of it.


    I''ve had enough.


    I pushed my whole body once more, as I had been doing all along. I staggered backward, trying to stand up with difficulty, almost falling once more, but... I caught myself.


    "Oh, do you still have willpower?"


    I couldn''t make out the man, his image was obscured by the blur of my eyes. But his voice and silhouette were clear.


    After the blood and sweat dripping from my forehead, I took another deep breath. It was the deepest breath I had ever taken in my life, and the exhtion was just as heavy. But... it gave me some sense of rxation.


    With that breath, even for a moment... the world seemed much simpler than it was. I don''t know why, but everything seemed... clearer.


    And then... I understood.


    "Well, then-"


    "Pfft..."


    The man''s short step toward me and the word on his tongue were suddenly interrupted. The purple glow in his eyes, easily recognizable even in his blurred image, dimmed slightly. Everything became insignificant except the shouts of people and the crackling of the me around us.


    "Are you...ughing?"


    I finally stopped holding back, myughter echoing across the field. Tears followed, along with blood from my eyes.


    "Ahahahahahahahahah!"


    In the midst of myughter, the man who was my opponent reacted with surprise to this momentary event. When all we could both hear was the sound of myughter echoing in the area, I finally slowly calmed down. As I slowly ended myughter, I spoke without lowering the smile on my face.


    "I get it... I get it now."


    I narrowed my eyes, released my clenched fist, and looked directly into the shining, purple eyes of the man in front of me... without any hesitation.


    "I was fed up, you know? Every time I decided to be a good person and ran into an obstacle, or couldn''t save anyone, or was directly responsible for what happened... I med myself over and over again. I was fed up. I was sick of being powerless."


    The man''s expressionless face tilted slightly to the side.


    "So?"


    "So... I was right!"


    I slowly raised my hand as the blurred silhouette of the middle-aged wiera in front of me suddenly solidified his stance. I slowly reached for something under my shirt as he tried toprehend what I was doing.


    "I''m saying... it''s my fault. It always has been, even now..."


    I gripped my ne tightly, my lips curling higher and higher as I finally grasped what I had to do. And this... strangely enough, brought with it a sense of relief. I felt happy.


    With the burden of constantly worrying that I should avoid being exposed lifted from my shoulders, I felt more... rxed than ever.


    "So... I''m going to stop making mistakes."


    As I felt thest thing I had left of my family, my ne, warming up, officially responding to my emotions, something else slowly happened.


    First, the mana in the atmosphere fluctuated, then it began to heat up, just like my ne. The mana, which was colorless but made itself known through its intensity, began to envelop my body. But... then something happened that I didn''t know. The mana was followed by a faint,forting blue glow. But I didn''t care.


    "I won''t hold back anymore, I won''t care about the consequences, I will just... do what I want, what I have to do."


    I reached out to the mana in the atmosphere, with my thoughts and desires, as if I were reaching out to a friend. So, as I was reaching out to it... it reached out to me. It responded to my feelings, to my desires. And not only that, it reached out for so much more.


    I gripped my ne tighter than ever, pulling it off my neck.


    The mana in the space we were in, in this whole mini-town, even much further away... listened to my desires. However, it was not the only one who epted my request... A blue glow apanied it, slowly intensifying on me.


    I felt my body slowly warming up. My ears were burning, I seemed to be growing taller... my skin felt strange. But I didn''t care. I just squinted my eyes, smoothed my lips, and kept myself as calm as I could... as the smile disappeared from my face.


    "Try not to die."


    <>


    With a violent shockwave, like a heartbeat, the whole world was illuminated with an intense glow. The blurring of my vision disappeared, the sounds, and everything else became much clearer. And then the face of the man, which until now I had only seen as a blur, was revealed to me.


    It was different this time. It was still cold, calm, but... not disturbing. On the contrary, he was serious. More serious than ever.


    And this seriousness... was also a sign that he was beginning to see me as a threat.


    "Let''s fight again, shall we?"

 Chapter 300 Volume V - 18: Purple Flames and Pure Mana

    <h4>Chapter 300 Volume V - Chapter 18: Purple mes and Pure Mana</h4>


    In the midst of the mes, I saw a few people looking toward me. They seemed to be trying to perceive what was happening.


    It was the same for Sue, not far from me. Her eyes were wide, her focuspletely off Julian. Even Lucia, who looked like she had juste out of theke, her clothes wet, was in the same state.


    But... I didn''t care about any of it, not even the fact that the man in front of me was getting serious for the first few seconds. Because... I felt strange.


    How long has it been since I lifted the seal on purpose...? I''ve always been in my human form since the day I met Lithoa, never once taking off my ne... right? Now, after all these years, it feels strange not to hold myself back.


    Mana is closer than ever and my body feels different. I can feel the second heart inside me again for the first time in a very long time, the world looks very different... And I can see the mana.


    And then there is this pale, blue-colored thing... It doesn''t feel like mana, but ever since it became visible, the world seems clearer, I also don''t feel the pain in my body as much.


    This is the first time this has happened... It has nothing to do with lifting the seal.


    Ah... right. First, I have to deal with the man in front of me. I''ll get used to the lifting of the seal soon, and I''ll figure out what this blue glow ister.


    I refocused my eyes on the spot in front of me, I put all my focus on the spot where the man had just stood, and then... I saw that there was nothing there.


    The mana in the atmosphere suddenly rippled, twisted in front of my eyes and condensed on me. The non-existent winds suddenly elerated¡­ a strange but strong breeze aimed at me.


    Ah, is that why he was so fast...? Wind magic, huh... He reminds me of Aiden.


    I raised my hand, squinting my eyes, directing the mana that followed my every move, aiming for the wind that was seconds away from reaching me. Then, I simply pulled my hand slightly to the left and stripped it of all the mana it possessed.


    A tightly clenched fist appeared in front of my eyes, but it had lost its speed so abruptly that it literally contracted in ce. The mana had left the man''s body so fast that he was off bnce when the only energy he could control was that purple... caora. The surprise was even on his face. For the first time, there was real shock on his calm face.


    "Wh- what?"


    I didn''t bother answering, I aimed all the mana above us this time, concentrating all the sleeping atmospheric mana in the mini-town on this spot.


    All the sound in the area suddenly disappeared. The color of the sky suddenly blurred, became strange, as if something was causing the light to refract. When I lowered my hand, all this mess came down to the ground.


    The man disappeared again, vanished as if vaporized. The fist in front of my eyes was no more.


    A split secondter, the ground shook slightly, I felt cracks forming under my feet. As the mana was flowing from everywhere right in front of me, solidifying... I slowly lowered my gaze.


    I saw a figure right in front of my feet. He was face down on the ground, the center of the cracks in the concrete. His clenched fist was only inches from my toes. His whole body was convulsing as if he was trying to stand up but under extreme pressure.


    "Is that it...?"


    Of course, it wasn''t... It couldn''t be. Just because I stopped him from using mana, he couldn''t suddenly be nothing.


    The contraction in his body suddenly stopped. He didn''t move a single muscle as if time had stopped. I raised my foot and aimed to crush his shoulder without letting him do anything, but within a split second, my whole body stiffened.


    The whole world was suddenly covered in a purple glow. With the ring on my finger vibrating, I not only pulled my foot back but also threw myself backward quickly while shielding myself with my arms. The color of all the mes around us suddenly turned purple as the mana solidified to form a barrier in front of me.


    The next second, every single one of them descended on me. So much so that I could see nothing but purple.


    I gathered all the mana in the atmosphere around me, wrapping my whole bodyyer byyer. As I gritted my teeth, I saw the purple mesing into contact with the first of theseyers.


    My whole body suddenly became hot. Even though there wereyers of solidified mana between me and the mes, I could clearly understand how hot they were.


    I formed several tforms under my feet and quickly ascended into the air. I could see nothing but purple mes, but I didn''t want to be attacked suddenly, and I had a belief that I could get rid of them by ascending into the air.


    As the first of theyers surrounding my body literally melted away, as if being eroded by the purple mes, I continued to ascent into the air. When I finally broke free of the mes in this way, I didn''t stop, I went higher and higher, all the while looking down.


    The mes that were descending on me didn''t cover a veryrge area. If I had taken five or six steps instead of going up, I would have been saved. But if I had done so, I would have been an open target.


    My eyes quickly left the purple mes and I looked for the man.


    He was where he had just been, standing and... expressionlessly shaking off the dust.


    When he felt me looking at him, he paused, slowly lifted his head, and looked up at me. His eyes, glowing purple, suddenly sharpened.


    "Is there more you are hiding, Adrian Caleo? I really didn''t expect you to stop me from using mana. It seems that I still can''t use it."


    "Depends on what you do next. I may have more to hide, or I may have none at all."


    The man was silent for about two seconds, and the awkward silence made me frown.


    "Then let''s finish our business quickly..."


    The moment he said these words, the purple glow in his eyes intensified several times. All the purple-colored mes in the area quickly moved toward him, concentrating on his clenched fist and covering it more and more.


    I didn''t only watch what he was doing. As his fist was covered in a strange me that grew brighter and brighter purple with each passing second, I quickly reached for something that had been in my bracelet for months, a spear. It was the very weapon I had chosen for future use when I was at Lithoa''s house.


    I quickly grasped the long shaft of the spear as it materialized to my right, took a deep breath without waiting for it toplete... and then slowly took my stance. As I did so, the spear had finished materializing.


    It was a crimson spear. The long shaft was a dark color with a lot of runic writing on it. At the end of the shaft, there was a small excess, resembling a small mallet.


    The part connecting the handle to the double-edged de of the spear was ck as if made of a different metal on its own. Almost all of the runic writing on the spear seemed to be connected here.


    The double-edged de of the spear was a lighter shade of red. It looked sharper than anything I had ever seen in my life.


    As soon as I transferred my mana to the spear, all the pale runic writing on it glowed furiously. As a strange, denseyer appeared around the spear, I focused on the fourth and final move of the Qilsak Style I had been practicing for so long.


    The first move of the Qilsak Style was to manipte the weight of the spear to deliver heavy and devastating attacks.


    The second movement was aimed at lightening the weight of the body and increasing speed, rather than the spear.


    The third movement was to anticipate theing attacks by feeling the force and weight of the opponent and everything in the environment, really everything. It was actually quite different from the first two movements of the style.


    The fourth move was simr to the first and second, but much more difficult and... different. Rather than manipting or directing things that already have weight, such as weapons and the body, the purpose of this move was to give weight to the attributeless, pure mana itself and to use it.


    It was not a movement I had mastered. I hadn''t even practiced it much... but with the barrier between me and mana removed, it was not impossible to use it.


    I moved my spear gently, lightly, shifting with my footsteps, never stopping where I was. An outsider might even think I was dancing... but the mana I was constantly transferring to my spear, the strange aura that surrounded it, was intensifying as I turned it over and over in strange ways.


    As I was nearing the end, something strange happened.


    The pale blue glow that I could see, that I could feel was helping me, suddenly intensified... As the man was preparing to deliver his threatening, purple me-covered attack, tensing his fist, the pale blue around me became even more pronounced as if it was reacting to it, even excited by it. But I decided not to care as I felt stronger while this was happening.


    I decided to attack the man first rather than letting him make the first move.


    When I thought I could perform the fourth move, I stretched my legs on the tform I was standing on and threw myself to the ground.


    The man narrowed his eyes, which glowed with a purple glow, the heat in his clenched fist evident every second I approached him, and his feet hit the ground harder than ever, causing cracks to appear in the concrete.


    As I spun my spear in the air, adding momentum to its momentum, I also reached for the mana in the atmosphere once more. Cracks appeared between the man and me as if the atmosphere itself was breaking, everything blurred as if the light had lost its way.


    As purple mes exploded everywhere, the enormous amounts of mana gathered at the tip of my spear met the man''s fist with the tons of weight it had suddenly gained.

 Chapter 301 Volume V - 19: Revealed Identity

    <h4>Chapter 301 Volume V - Chapter 19: Revealed Identity</h4>


    *(A/N: I will probably rewrite this chapter in the future because I had to write it in a hurry and I''m not happy with it. If you are not satisfied with the quality, this is why. But the content of the chapter will be the same no matter what, so if I change the chapter in the future, you won''t have to read it again, there won''t be a problem. I apologize...)*


    The first thing I did in the morning when I woke up to the sound of my rm as the sunlight hit my face and cool air filled my room through the window I had left open was to take a deep breath and yawn.


    Then, when I pushed the duvet aside, sat up, and looked at the clock, my eyes widened.


    It wasn''t the first time my rm had gone off... At least that''s what the screen in front of my eyes told me. And this... was something that should never have happened, especially today.


    As I was changing quickly and fixing my silver-colored hair, I kept getting angry with myself over and over again.


    I was going to use the festival as a means to get closer to Adrian, and the first thing I had to do was... get to him faster than his friends. But I hadn''t woken up to the damn rm... And if that wasn''t enough, I was runningte.


    I quickly adjusted everything and rushed outside somehow after standing briefly in front of the mirror to make sure there was nothing wrong with my appearance. As I quickly made my way to the buses leaving the academy, I couldn''t stop thinking about how I hadn''t woken up to a simple rm.


    Was it because I found out about our blood rtion? Was I distracted? Or did I simply not wake up...?


    With questions like these swirling around in my head, I finally made it to the buses, and without even bothering to look for which bus Adrian was on, I got in line for the nearest one.


    However... it didn''t take me long to realize that I was on the same bus with him. After all, as soon as I looked into the bus in case I was lucky, I realized that he was looking at me through the window with widened eyes...


    I ignored him, didn''t dwell on him, as if I hadn''t seen him, as if he wasn''t the person I was looking for. When I sat down calmly, I never turned around, even when I was calming myself down because I was out of breath.


    The day had started with such a fiasco. But... the real fiasco was the rest of the day.


    I was going to pretend to bump into Adrian and join him... but I couldn''t even do that. Not once was Adrian alone, nor strangely... when he was with his friends, I couldn''t step into theirpany.


    I couldn''t help squinting my eyes as I followed them not too far away. I looked at the four walking side by side and I thought with a sigh.


    Why...?


    It was true that feelings like friendship made me feel sick. I was even disgusted by the way theyughed andughed in each other''s presence. But why couldn''t I try to be part of this group even once, when there was almost nothing I hadn''t done in my life in the name of ''missions''?


    When Adrian, Julian, Lucia and Sue stepped into an amusement park-like area, I paused.


    No... I had no problem being in the group before. I had even sung in that karaoke room on the first date... It wasn''t because they were a social group and I didn''t want to be part of that sociality that prevented me from acting.


    Was I wary of Adrian himself then? Was I afraid to approach him... after confirming the truth about him?


    No, not after confirming his identity... I hadn''tmunicated with him once since the night I thought our father might be the same person.


    Even when the group of four arrived in front of a hugeke, I was still watching them from a distance... I was still far away. Again, instead of walking up to them, I was just looking at what they were doing.


    Why am I behaving like this?


    This thought reappeared in my mind. Again and again, I thought about it, trying to grasp what was wrong.


    Why does my body shake when I look at his hair, which is exactly the same color as mine? Why is it that every time I see his green eyes... I feel so strange, even bad?


    No matter how much time passed, I couldn''t find an answer to my questions. For the first time in my life, I couldn''t find a reason for something that upied my mind so much. And that... frustrated me even more.


    But... I couldn''t keep thinking about it.


    Because while Adrian and the others were standing in front of the hugeke, as if under its spell, saying nothing... suddenly, the whole world turned white.


    The festival was in mes. In just a few seconds, theughter had turned into screams. But... none of it mattered. Because even though I knew I had to secure myself in the midst of the chaos, I also noticed something strange.


    People around me were strangely ignoring the ce where I was. More than ignoring this ce... it was like they couldn''t really see this ce at all.


    But I couldn''t even think too much about this strangeness even if I wanted to, because... a fight was taking ce in front of my eyes that I would never, ever dare to intervene in. Adrian was being literally... beaten... by someone.


    I was stunned, I literally couldn''t move a muscle, I could only watch, unable to do anything as Adrian fell to the ground covered in blood.


    Even when he said something I couldn''t understand because of the distance between us and took off his ne. Even when he was disying a show of strength I couldn''t even imagine. Even when the moment came that would decide the oue of the fight between the two, and a strange,forting blue seeped into Adrian''s emerald-green eyes.


    Even when Adrian made his final attack on the man and the man swung his fist at him, covered in purple mes... all I could do was close my eyes because of the blinding light.


    *******


    The light blocking my view slowly began to lift. There was a strange silence as the shock wave that would have sent me flying back a few meters if I hadn''t held on to the bench next to me wore off.


    I could still hear the screams in the distance, the mes had not disappeared and were still everywhere... Chaos continued to dominate the festival grounds. But in our immediate surroundings, every single one of the people fleeing could do nothing but stand where they were. There was surprise on their faces as if they had seen something they had never seen before... and a little curiosity.


    I quickly wiped my eyes, brushed aside the dust that had gotten in my eyes, and even though my vision was a bit blurry, I looked at the area where thest attack had taken ce.


    There was a considerable amount of dust in the air, making my already blurred vision even more difficult. But, even then, I still managed to see something.


    First, I saw someone standing. Then another lying on the ground in front of him. As the dust continued to settle, it slowly became clear who these people were.


    The person lying on the ground... was obviously the man from the terrorist organization. His eyes were closed, all his clothes were torn and covered in dust. His fist, which a few seconds ago was covered in purple mes, was... unrecognizable. It was torn to shreds. His right hand was in such a state that I could hardly call it ''a hand''.


    The other person who was standing, leaning on his spear, was Adrian. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, it was clear that he could barely stand. The strange pale blue glow that had surrounded him had disappeared. The mana in the atmosphere still felt more directed toward him, though it was much calmer than in the fight. But... the important thing was that he still looked like an elf.


    And everyone around could see him. In the midst of the mes, at the center of the shockwave, and the blinding light, he stood out more than ever.


    "A- an elf...?"


    Someone in the crowd finally spoke up, breaking the awkward silence in the area. But he could not continue his sentence, nor could anyone else speak. Because as soon as the bloodied figure of Adrian appeared, the silence was broken.


    One, no... a lot of ckness suddenly appeared in the area. The festival security which, until now, had been ignoring this area as if they couldn''t see what was happening, now suddenly appeared.


    Dozens of healers and security moved toward the people in the area, trying to help them, while one of them slowly moved toward Adrian''s spot.


    I remembered who he was, the man who had exined the rules just before the festival started, limiting everyone''s voices. He was wearing the same ck suit, but his expression was... more serious than ever.


    Adrian slowly turned his eyes toward the man as he leaned on his spear, barely able to stand. It was at this moment that the man spoke.


    "Adrian Caleo... right?"


    Adrian could only nod his head slightly without saying anything. After his response, the man in front of him nced at the other man on the ground and then sighed deeply.


    "You need toe with us... you understand, right?"


    Adrian nodded once more in affirmation. He seemed very aware of what he had done. It was even as if... he had deliberately revealed himself and his identity. But he didn''t seem to care about this even slightly and asked the man something else in a low, forced voice that betrayed his pain.


    "Is the situation... u- under control?"


    The man nodded his head up and down. Then, Adrian''s face broke into a wide smile, as if he had aplished something for the first time in his life.


    "Uh... w- well... I''m not in a g- good state, you see... So..."


    Before he could continue, though, he paused, his eyes widening slightly as he turned in my direction. His expression showed surprise and he just stayed where he was. But he didn''t continue to do this. He just... smiled again.


    His eyes lost focus before he could say what he was trying to say. As his spear slipped through his fingers and fell to the ground, his body leaned forward as if he was going to copse. But the man in the suit in front of him caught him in mid-air.


    I had no idea what to do or what to think as several festival security guards rushed to his side andid him on a stretcher. I could only... stand where I was, like almost everyone else in the area.


    What... What exactly did I experience today?

 Chapter 302 Volume V - 20: A Story from the Past

    <h4>Chapter 302 Volume V - Chapter 20: A Story from the Past</h4>


    When I copsed because of my injuries... I expected to wake up in a hospital, covered in bruises.


    But... instead of waking up directly, after a really long time... I had a dream.


    It wasn''t hard to realize that it was a dream. After all, all my memories were still there and I was not in my own body, I was a child. I was in the old times... at home with my family.


    Normally, I would try to savor such dreams, as long as they weren''t a nightmare. I would try to live the childhood I didn''t have, to spend time with my parents, to scrape their faces into my memory that I was beginning to forget.


    But... this time was different. It was neither a sweet dream nor a nightmare.


    The darkness of night had fallen on our house in the middle of tall trees. The crescent moon was overhead, and through the window of my room, I could see its faint glow and itself, strangely beautiful among the clouds.


    I was in my bed, covered with a nket. I had pulled it up to my neck against the cold winter and pulled my legs and hands toward myself to keep warm under it.


    Apart from all that... there was also someone sitting across from me. He was sitting on a wooden chair, a man with silver hair just like mine. His eyes were also the same as mine. No... we were directly the same, I was like a copy of him.


    But the difference between us was also quite obvious. My father was a man who did not smile easily. No matter how much tenderness and love he had for me... he was that kind of man. He was the same now. His eyes were slightly squinted as always, and he didn''t make a sound as he waited for me to fall asleep.


    "Dad."


    He paused for a moment. His emerald green eyes returned to mine, his lips curving upward slightly as he smiled in the simplest way he could.


    "Yes, Adrian?"


    "My mom always told me stories... Why don''t you tell me some?"


    It was a childish request. But... I was indeed a child. It wasn''t an overly strange request, considering I was about seven years old. I had already been sleeping without a bedtime story for several nights, especially since my mother was sick, and the prospect of hearing one from my father was exciting.


    My father was silent about my request for a while. For some reason, in my childish mind, I thought he would refuse me, maybe even get angry... But he took a deep breath, leaned back even more in his chair, and did something different from all the scenarios in my mind.


    "Listen well, then. Because this story is an important story. But as soon as it''s over, you must go straight to sleep."


    My eyes were wide open. I nodded as fast as I could as all my sleep disappeared and my father smiled strangely, almost painfully, at my excitement and began to tell his story.


    Just like my mother, he started with the ssic introduction of every fairy tale.


    "Once upon a time... There was a family that was very rich, and powerful like a royal family, and recognized by the whole world. The whole world was afraid of this family, this family was that rich and powerful. But... this family also had a problem. After the first child, the family never had another one."


    I quickly interrupted my father with a curious thought that suddenly appeared in my mind.


    "Why couldn''t they have children?"


    "Because the mother of the family fell into a sleep from which she never woke up after giving birth to her son. The father of the family was also very..."


    My father paused for a moment, his eyes shifting slightly toward the ceiling, and after a brief pause, he continued.


    "Sad. He couldn''t have another child because he was sad."


    It seemed too strange that someone couldn''t have children because they were too upset... but I didn''t think too much about it. I was curious to know the rest of the story. It seemed to be a little... different from what my mother always told me.


    "Anyway. The child of this family was trained in the best ways because he was to rece his father in the future. He grew stronger and stronger, older and older. He became his father''s pride and joy, even exceeding his expectations."


    He paused to catch his breath, then continued without pause.


    "In the end, he became a big man, the only son of this family. He became a real sess. But as he grew older, he was slowly confronted with a request from his father."


    "What did his father want?"


    "His father wanted him to get married. He even made a list of girls who could be his wife. He asked him to meet one of the girls on the list. The young man agreed, even though he didn''t really want to. There was nothing better he could do... so he started seeing a few of them."


    It really was a different story. That''s why it was so much more exciting and intriguing for me. All my focus was on my father, I didn''t want to miss a word.


    "But he couldn''t make a connection with any of the girls. His father was even angry with him because he couldn''t find anyone to marry for a very long time, and they even fought. Finally... the young man decided to run away from home for a short time to clear his head. He went away and hid his identity because his family was known to everyone."


    As he continued speaking, I saw his hand move. It went to his chest, his fingers closed as if he was grasping something there.


    "And on one of these nights... he came across a dungeon gate."


    The moment I heard the word "dungeon", my interest in the story grew exponentially. This young man was definitely going to fight someone, I was sure of it.


    "The dungeon was actually a low-level one. However, there was a team that came to investigate it. This team included researchers and a few other people. And yet... unexpectedly, the dungeon broke and creatures came out of it! Almost all the people who came to investigate the dungeon... died."


    I was speechless. What kind of creatures were there that everyone had died? What was the young man going to do?


    "The young man, being a strong man, cleaned the dungeon himself, full of creatures that looked like giant cats. He stopped its breaking, and then he met the only survivor among the humans."


    For a moment his expression softened, his lips curled up slightly.


    "The survivor was a young woman among the researchers. She had jet-ck hair like the night itself, ck eyes of the same color, and... she was very dedicated to her research. So much so that even after the young man tried to help her, she kept asking him questions about the dungeon. She was also very cold, not even interested in the young man himself, except for the dungeon."


    My father paused to check if I was asleep and looked at me for a moment. When he saw that I was looking at him with eyes that were practically sparkling, he sighed and continued.


    "The young woman was injured, so the young man not only helped her with her research but also helped her recover. She asked him to meet her againter to learn more about the dungeon. And the young man agreed. Then they went their separate ways, and after a short time they met again and started talking to each other."


    "And what about the father of the scary family? Was he ever angry with his son for running away?"


    "Of course, he was very angry! But this was the first time it had happened and he forgave him because of their quarrel. He postponed the marriage for his son''s sake and made up with him. However, his son continued to meet the woman he had met without his knowledge. As time passed, the two became closer. They started to meet more often. They got to know each other better."


    His eyes narrowed, his smile reappeared on his face and this time, it was wider than ever. He was lost in thought, as if he had forgotten that he had told this story to me, his own son.


    "Then... the young man told the woman he met who he really was. She was horrified, of course... she even avoided him for a while. But as time passed, she epted him. They confessed to each other that they loved each other. The young man... was afraid of his father, so he never told him about this woman. He thought that because she was ''different'' from them, he might resent him more than ever. And... he was right."


    The smile fell from his face. His eyes narrowed even more as he slowly steadied himself on the floor. He tightened his grip on his chest. Something that could be seen around his neck, something that looked like a chain, swayed slightly with his movement.


    "When his father found out about this woman, he was so angry that he ordered his soldiers to separate her from his son. When the son found out, he packed all his belongings and ran away from home for real this time. He went to the woman he loved and told her that his father''s soldiers were after them. And then... the two of them ran away together. They traveled far away, to ces where the young man''s father would never find him. After a while... this young man and woman had a child."


    He opened his mouth again, but for a moment it just stayed open. He just stood there, frozen... But... even then, he continued.


    "Yet the young man''s father found the two of them... He decided that his son was no longer the son he had raised, that he was someone else, and he decided to kill both the woman and his own son. Father and son fought over this. It was such a fierce battle that itsted for minutes. Both father and son were badly wounded. But... in the end, there was a winner. And that winner... was the father."


    His hair fell in front of his head, which was constantly bowing, hiding his face. He continued his story. This time without stopping, as if not even realizing that what he was telling was a sad story rather than an epic tale.


    However... my childish self at the time had sumbed to sleep and I was unable to listen to the rest of the story. My dream ended at this point. I could never hear the rest of it again.


    *******


    As my eyes slowly opened with a sh of light on my face, I couldn''t help thinking about the dream I had just had. When a doctor entered my field of vision and was checking my condition at the head of the bed where I was lying... I realized something along with the strange feeling of remembering this story again that I had forgotten so long ago.


    "Adrian Caleo, how are you feeling?"


    That story... my father was talking about himself in that story. He was the young man. Even if I didn''t realize it as a child, now, when I see this memory again... I''m sure.


    But this tale... or story... is strange. Because the woman and child he''s talking about are clearly not me and my mother. They are definitely different people.


    "Adrian Caleo... can you hear me?"


    So, this story goes back before my father and my mother met? Did my father have another wife or even a child before my mother...?


    Fuck... there''s something going on here I don''t know about. Where did this dreame from...?

 Chapter 303 Volume V - 21: Before the Rector, the Professor and the Prince

    <h4>Chapter 303 Volume V - Chapter 21: Before the Rector, the Professor and the Prince</h4>


    "Adrian Caleo!"


    The doctor shouted louder this time, and for a moment I just stared at him. Shaking myself out of my thoughts, out of the dream I was having, I looked up at the man who had been standing next to me since I woke up.


    As we made eye contact, he too finally paused, the urgency and slight worry in his eyes disappearing.


    "Ah... Well, I apologize. I got lost in my thoughts..."


    The doctor turned away with a sigh. He called out to a few people waiting outside the room and asked them to bring something. Then he focused on me again.


    "Do you feel anything wrong with your body?"


    "No, I feel pretty good."


    The nurse next to her quickly started taking notes on the tablet-like device in her hand.


    "So... how is the mana flow in your body?"


    Oh, is he talking about me being a half-blood?


    Right... I''ll have to deal with that.


    "I have had my mana system since birth. Since then, it''s been functioning as it should, which is to say normally. It doesn''t seem to have any problems at the moment."


    The Doctor opened his mouth as if to ask a few more questions, he even looked a little excited... but before he could, the door suddenly opened and three guards entered.


    The Doctor closed his mouth as he saw them enter and stepped back slightly, making way for them. He looked like he was dying to ask me some questions, but instantly restrained himself.


    The security guards who entered were not simple people. And that was clear just by looking at them.


    They were not like normal hospital security. They were wearing uniforms simr to those worn by policemen, but they were different from them too. Perhaps the most important difference was the royal seal on theirpels.


    The man at the front spoke solemnly, his eyes narrowed.


    "Adrian Caleo... I guess you can more or less guess what will happen from now on."


    I nodded, smiling slightly.


    "Pretty much."


    "Then... you also know that you have toe with us."


    I nodded once more, and after the doctor assured me that there was no problem and I could be discharged... they put handcuffs on my hands. I had only been awake for a few minutes and before I could find out anything about my friends or the general situation, they took me to the police station.


    Though it wasn''t a police station... It was just a ce that looked like one, but it was obviously a much more important ce.


    Because... we had to go several floors underground.


    *******


    It looked like a room in the movies, a few floors below the ground, where I sat doing nothing.


    It was a simple room with gray walls on three sides, the wall to my right was a ck ss wall with no visible back, and a simple table and chairs in the middle. It was just... a bit big. And by a bit big I mean really big.


    The handcuffs on my hands were removed. But I couldn''t feel the flow of mana through my body because of the... bracelet or something that they had put on my arm. Of course, because of this, mymunication with Lithoa had also disappeared.


    In short, I waspletely alone. The only thing they told me was to wait and that''s what I was doing. Of course, there was nothing to stop me from thinking.


    I revealed my identity. Even now I''m not in my human appearance, I''m in my original form, and my friends saw that I''m not really human at all. But most importantly... almost everyone in that ce saw it.


    Of course, I''ve gotten into a lot of trouble for hiding it, and that''s why I''m here. For example, the documents I submitted when I enrolled in the academy were stamped as fake because my true identity was exposed. There is also the fact that I am in an academy where only ''humans'' are allowed to enroll.


    In short, ording to thews of the kingdom, I am now a criminal.


    But do I have a problem...? Not so much, actually. Because a long time ago, I spent days and weeks thinking about what I would do if my identity was revealed. Even though I''m not a very smart person, after thinking about it so much, I know it''s going to be a bit of a headache, but I know I can get away with it.


    Power is everything, after all. And I''m so powerful now, given my age, that I don''t think they''d want to lose me, especially after what''s been happeningtely.


    Power is the most important thing the kingdom needs right now. With dungeons all over the world, an emerging terrorist organization, and the fact that I''m still a Cevilian citizen even though I''m half-elf, I''m more than useful to them.


    It had been about ten minutes since I was left alone in the room when the door finally opened again. When I looked at the peopleing in... for a moment I just froze in my tracks.


    The first person toe in was one of the people who had brought me here. He still had that serious and monotonous expression on his face.


    The person who came in right after him was Mny Quie, the CDA Rector, as I expected. But the next two people who came in behind her were the ones who surprised me.


    The first was Crown Prince Lucas. I didn''t think he woulde to see me in person, even though I knew that blowing my cover was no small matter.


    Thest person to enter the room... was one of the people I didn''t expect to see here. It was a professor from the CDA. He was also Aiden''s sword instructor, as I recall. His name was... I think it was Calvin.


    The reason I was surprised was because he had nothing to do with me. We were supposed to have met each other maybe twice at most, but here he was.


    Mny Quie, Prince Lucas, and Professor Calvin immediately pulled up a chair opposite me and settled themselves. The first person to enter the room, a security guard, employee, soldier... whatever, moved next to me, but instead of sitting in a chair, he stood.


    Normally, the police or people like them would be asking questions, questioning the person they were arresting, but... Rector Mny was the first to speak.


    "You know why you''re here, right?"


    I finally tore my eyes away from Prince Lucas and Professor Calvin. Then nodded in agreement.


    "Because I''m half-elf."


    "That''s one reason, but there are a few others."


    There are a few more reasons...?


    "So... Can I know them?"


    "For the moment, except for one, yes. The spear you used on the festival grounds, for example, is the second of the three reasons you are here. We''ll get to the third reason in due course. For now... let''s talk about who you really are."


    The Rector sighed slightly, folded her arms, and looked at me sharply.


    "Why did you hide yourself? I hope you realize how much suspicion you are attracting now that this hase out."


    Do they think I''m a secret agent or something?


    "I already told most of my past before I enrolled at the academy. I came here from the very bottom of Wiathen, and I''ve been wearing my ne the whole time because I don''t think I need to exin what might happen to me there if it turned out I was half-elf."


    Mny nodded in agreement, telling me to continue.


    "That''s why I decided to hide the fact that I was a half-blood, at least until I reached a certain level of strength, and I kept it up to get into the Academy, and that was it. It is a fact that the CDA does not ept any race other than human as students."


    "Why didn''t you ever think of going to Eshaware? You could have gotten an academic education there and continued to grow stronger. Besides, you''re almost indistinguishable from elves, and without a blood test, it''s almost impossible to tell you''re a half-blood."


    "I had a teacher I met before I joined the Academy, he was the one who suggested I stay in Cevilian. At the same time... I didn''t have the money to go to Eshaware."


    Mny sighed once again.


    "And do you know who your parents were?"


    "I was living with them before they were both killed, and I ended up living on the streets of Wiathen. But I was about ten years old when it happened and my father hardly ever talked about his past. So I don''t know anything except their names."


    "What are their names?"


    "My mother''s name is Sophia Caleo and my father''s name is... Ethil Caleo. He was my elven parent."


    Mny was silent for a while and even seemed to be in a thoughtful mood.


    I had given the names of my parents out of curiosity to see if I could get any information about them, which was not normally my intention. The rector''s thoughtfulness also gave me some hope. But in the end, she sighed and didn''t say anything about this matter.


    "To be honest, Adrian... your identity is of little importance. At least the fact that you have elven blood. Because CDA doesn''t just ept ''human'' students, it epts Cevilian citizens regardless of race. This has been the case for at least three years. So it''s not that you can''t continue studying at the academy just because you''re an elf. I only asked these questions to confirm something, and thank you for not lying."


    I was disappointed that she didn''t say anything about my family. But I didn''t dwell on it, because after herst words... Mny Quie became serious again. As if, as she said, the fact that I was a half-elf and half-human hybrid was the least important issue here.


    "Let''s talk about that red spear you have... Where did you get that spear? Depending on your answer to that question, your whole future can change in an instant, so be careful not to lie."

 Chapter 304 Volume V - 22: Difference in Status Window

    <h4>Chapter 304 Volume V - Chapter 22: Difference in Status Window</h4>


    When I saw how serious the Rector was when speaking about the red spear, and how even Prince Lucas focused on me, especially when the topic came to this point, I couldn''t help but wonder myself.


    Is there something about this spear...? I mean, it''s a really high-end weapon, but it''s not the best spear in the whole world. It shouldn''t have been such a big deal...


    Should I tell the truth? I don''t have the luxury of lying from the very beginning, though...


    "It''s just a spear I picked up while I was on leave from the academy. I found it in a cave in the Neutral. I wasn''t nning on using it until I got to a certain level of strength, but I had to use it because I had to give my all in the mini-town."


    Mny waited a few seconds as if waiting for something before opening her mouth again.


    "In the Neutral, in a cave... you say. And do you know who this spear belongs to? Also, what kind of cave was the cave where you found it?"


    Oh, no... she''s trying to dig deeper, pulling me to a ce where I can''t deflect the truth.


    How should I answer this? Lithoa has been telling me since the first day I met him that my connection with him must not be revealed in any way, but if there are more difficult questions like this, it will be a problem...


    "It must have belonged to someone called Lithoa, after all, his name is written on the spear. But I know almost nothing about its past, and the cave... it looked like a house that had been used a long time ago."


    Mny''s eyes narrowed. This time, she didn''t even wait a second before speaking again.


    "And do you know the current state of the Lithoa you mentioned?"


    It''s... there''s no way I can lie about it...


    "He''s alive, I think. I''m not sure... he might not exactly be ''alive''."


    Prince Lucas clicked his tongue. Mny''s color paled as if she had just received the worst news of her life. Professor Calvin was the most unresponsive of them all.


    "This is a problem. A really big problem."


    Prince Lucas fixed his eyes on the floor. He fell into brooding thoughts. Mny was no better... but she kept talking to me.


    "He is one of the most dangerous people in the entire history of Lunerra, Adrian. At least... he once was. And the spear you used is a weapon linked to this person. I''m sorry about that, but we need to keep the spear."


    The moment I heard that my spear was going to be taken away from me, I frowned, my expression souring.


    "That spear is a blood-bonded weapon... and I''ve already bound it to myself. Even if you want to use it yourself, you can''t. You know that, right?"


    Mny sighed deeply. Her expression was even more distorted as if she had been confronted with a frustrating situation, butpared to a few seconds ago, she looked more... calm.


    "It''s not that we don''t want you to use the spear, Adrian. We are already aware of what you said. The problem is that if anyone else sees you using this spear, rather than us, they won''t be as polite as we are. You understand what I''m saying, right?"


    She leaned back slightly in her seat, straightening up. The serious expression on her face dissipated a little.


    "We''re not trying to incriminate you in any way. We have our suspicions, of course, but what we are trying to do is to dispel those suspicions. Our primary goal is to try to help you, so if you think we''re going to put you in jail, get that idea out of your head."


    My eyebrows furrowed again. Even though what she had said was meant to reassure me, it had the opposite effect.


    Okay, I might be strong. Yes, my potential might be really high, but... Not high enough to make them want to help me so much.


    There''s something going on here that I don''t quite understand...


    "Oh, I think I gave you more doubts in trying to clear your doubts... So let''s clear those doubts first. The reason we''re trying to help you rather than treat you like a criminal is rted to the third reason for you being here. We''ve solved the other two reasons cursorily, if notpletely. So let''s move on to that now..."


    After speaking as if she had read my mind, she finally took her eyes off me and turned them to her left.


    Professor Calvin, who had been standing where he was until now, listening to everything, straightened up with a sigh when he realized that Rector Mny had turned to him. For the first time since he entered this room, he made real eye contact with me.


    For a moment, I felt as if time had slowed down. I don''t know why, but looking into his dark eyes... I felt strange goosebumps all over me. But... then I noticed a glint in those jet-ck eyes. It was a pale blue glow. It spread through the darkness of his eyes like paint poured into a ss of water.


    But most importantly... this strange blue glow feltforting and familiar in a way I couldn''t understand.


    "Give me your hand, and at the same time keep your ears to me."


    I found myself involuntarily raising my hand as I stared at the strange,forting blue sparkle in his eyes, my whole body rxing as if I were lying on the mostfortable bed in the world, even though I was just standing where I was.


    It didn''t take me long to realize that what was happening was making my head feel fuzzy. But strangely, I couldn''t pull my hand back.


    Professor Calvin looked directly into my eyes as he took my outstretched hand. All the darkness in his eyes was reced by a bright blue, and he spoke in such a soothing voice that my already clouded thoughts became even more clouded.


    "Does this feeling, thisfort, and peace you are feeling right now, is it familiar to you?"


    I swallowed, unable to do anything but nod my head in agreement.


    "Look into my eyes, don''t even blink. And focus at the same time. Can you feel something flowing from my hand into yours?"


    I followed his words to the letter. I didn''t look away from his eyes, which shone with a deep blue glow, not even for a split second. However... the hand I held out to him began to tremble involuntarily.


    It wasn''t out of fear or anything like that. On the contrary... it was a strange sensation as if warm water was being poured over it, slowly spreading along my arm, all over my body.


    When I nodded my head up and down again, Professor Calvin narrowed his eyes slightly this time.


    "Feel this flow, Adrian. What you are experiencing now is usually different for most people, so I cannot give you a specific example, but allow yourself to feel what you can perceive and what feels familiar. Focus on the blue in my eyes, match that blue with what you are feeling."


    Feel it, he was telling me, but... there was nothing I could do better than feel it right now. How could I not ''feel'' this strange thing that enveloped my whole body in ayer, that made me feel like I was taking a shower with perfectly warm water?


    Feeling its flow... and pairing that flow with theforting and familiar sensation in my body...


    As I involuntarily swallowed again, I found myself repeating these words over and over in my mind without even realizing or understanding what I was doing.


    The color of the world became strange for a moment. It became more... bluish. But it didn''t stop there. I found myself in a meaningless emptiness as I began to feel as if something was reaching out toward my body, desiring something from it.


    What is it desiring? What does it want from me...?


    Even though I had only run my questions through my mind, Professor Calvin answered them as if he had been in my mind all along.


    "It wants emotions, Adrian. Good, positive emotions. Don''t be afraid, you have nothing to be afraid of. Just do as I say, offer your feelings to thisforting sensation."


    I offer my feelings... positive, good ones...


    I don''t know how I did it or on what basis I thought I could do it... I don''t understand anything anyway. But I still tried to do what he said.


    When this rxing sensation enveloped my whole body and reached out to my emotions with all the positive memories passing through my mind... that''s when the whole world changed again.


    Until now, it had only turned slightly blue, but this time a pale blue glow filled my entire field of vision.


    "Good, now ask this feeling to move gently up your arm. Don''t try to control it, don''t even try to guide it. Just desire it, want it, and project it onto what you feel."


    The soothing blue, warm like a shower and somehow paler than Professor Calvin''s, responded to my desire as I reached for it. As I imagined it moving toward my arm, or rather, as I wanted it to go... it epted my request in a strange way as if it had a consciousness of its own.


    For a moment, a slight smile appeared on Professor Calvin''s calm face. He stopped holding my hand and leaned back in his chair. He seemed strangely... satisfied as the blue glow in his eyes gave way to its original darkness.


    It was at this moment that I reflexively looked down at my right arm, saw the faint blue glow that surrounded it, and then... realized that the slight pain I had been experiencing because my body hadn''t actually healedpletely had entirely disappeared from my arm.


    Not only that... this strange, blue-colored... thing was even touching the bracelet-like thing itself, which was limiting my mana, and not only that, it seemed to deactivate it.


    My eyes widened slightly. As I began to feel the flow of mana through my body again, a notification suddenly appeared in front of my eyes.


    <>


    Immediately after that, another system window opened in front of me, independent of myself. It was not a notification, but my status window. Moreover... it contained a new tab that I had never seen before.


    <>

 Chapter 305 Volume V - 23: Explanation about the Situation

    <h4>Chapter 305 Volume V - Chapter 23: Exnation about the Situation</h4>


    I did nothing as I stared at my statistics window. My eyebrows were slightly raised, the mouth I had opened a few seconds ago to speak remained like that.


    My strength has improved by a small grade... but that''s not the point. There''s a new tab in my window, titled Order. And I have no idea what it is.


    "Order? Status, purity tolerance, limit... What is all this...?"


    Professor Calvin continued to smile faintly as the blue glow that enveloped my body began to fade slightly. As soon as I stopped focusing on it, it seemed to disappear as if it had never existed. However... the pain in my body didn''te back. It had indeed healed me.


    "Tell me what you can see in order from top to bottom."


    I''m confused, curious even and I still have my doubts about what this thing is... But they must know something, right?


    "It shows the grade as D. Status is rookie, purity tolerance is C and limit is C- grade. At least that''s what it looks like here... Are you going to tell me what this is all about?"


    The professor''s eyebrows rose in surprise for a moment, his eyes widened ever so slightly.


    "C grade tolerance and C- grade limit? Now this is interesting..."


    He leaned back in his chair, his expression thoughtful this time. But he also answered my question.


    "There is much more energy in the universe than mana, Adrian. Some of it is forgotten, and some of it is so ancient that no one can feel or use it. Others are just the unknown. Each of these energieses together to make up the universe itself and make everything work as it should."


    Mny and Prince Lucas focused on Professor Calvin for a moment as if their attention had been drawn in that direction. I... just stared nkly at his face and listened to what he was saying.


    "Think of mana, for example. It''s a colorless, featureless energy. But it can mimic and create everything in the universe in different ways. Since you didn''t go to high school, you must not have studied chemistry... but you must have seen the periodic table a few times."


    Ah... he''s talking about that weird table of elements.


    "Almost all the elements you see there are known to be produced in stars by fusion reactions, but that''s not the only thing that makes them. Mana also ys a very big role in the formation and distribution of these elements throughout the universe. In fact, without it, the universe would probably have taken several tens of times longer to get to this point."


    I''ve never heard any of this stuff in my life, is it really taught in high school? Mny and Prince Lucas look like they''re saying no with expressions on their faces.


    "But mana alone is not enough. As I said, there are other energies besides it, and mana is the weakest and most ineffective of them all. Because mana cannot act without other factors and remains as it is. This is where other energiese into y. For example, the two conflicting but coexisting energies that provide chaos and chaos in the universe... caora and ordea."


    Ah, caora... Didn''t Aiden say something simr to that? After the attack at the academy, he talked about caora being very destructive and chaotic. So... caora represents chaos and ordea represents order?


    "Caora represents chaos, ordea represents order. Not many people on Lunerra know of their existence, but they are energies like mana."


    Professor Calvin paused for a moment, then sighed.


    "We don''t need to go into such deep history... I think you understand what I mean in a nutshell. The recently revealed organization that calls itself Saligia is made up of people who can use caora and are called wiera. You can say that those who use ordea, or rather those who are chosen by it, also have their ownmunity. And I am one of the top members of thatmunity. But instead of revealing ourselves directly as they do, we still prefer to remain hidden and onlymunicate with the leaders of the countries."


    A slight anxiety crept over me, and I couldn''t help tensing up.


    "Why are you telling me this if you prefer to remain secret...?"


    The professor paused again. Only this time his lips curled upward and he let out a shortugh. I... just continued to stare at him.


    "We''re not going to kill you for learning these things. As the rector said, our goal is to help you. And I''m telling you this so that you can understand the situation a little bit. Besides... you are someone who can use ordea like us, you were chosen by it. So it''s okay for you to know these things."


    I thought about everything he said for a moment. And then the pieces started to fall into ce a little bit.


    I... am someone who can use this ordea and the ''order'' tab in my statistics window shows that, I guess. Then that pale blue glow just now must have been the ''energy of order'' he was talking about.


    "And now, wee to where we are now. In short, you are quite powerful even without ordea and you are one of the few ordea users in the world. That makes you more valuable than you''ve ever been. Do you understand?"


    I nodded slightly. Most things were now ''more'' understandable in my head. It also made sense why they were treating me in such a helpful way.


    "You said that in order to use ordea, one must first be chosen by it. Is this not the case with caora?"


    The professor shook his head from side to side as he sighed.


    "No. You have to be a wiera to use caora and that is the only requirement. But bing a wiera is not easy... at least not if neither of your parents is one of them. And I don''t think there are many people who would choose to be wiera. Because most of them are chaos-prone, and even if their bodies are built to withstand caora, the energy of chaos, they''re not fully built. So their lifespan is usually short. Their mental health is also quite questionable."


    I couldn''t help swallowing. I really went back and forth many times between asking the question I had in mind or not. The three people in front of me must have noticed this because their expressions changed, but they didn''t say anything. It was like they didn''t want to push me.


    So, finally... I decided to ask what was on my mind.


    "What about... Aiden, then? Aiden Tenebra, I mean. Almost everyone saw the color of the sword he swung in the leaked footage from the war on the Hr continent. So... just because he''s one of these ''wieras'' you mentioned, does that make him an enemy?"


    Professor Calvin''s eye twitched for a moment. His expression fell slightly. Mny and Lucas were the same way.


    "Aiden... is a different case. But... did you know he was a wiera? You don''t seem surprised at all, you seemed sure he was a wiera when you asked the question."


    Oh, I slipped up... damn it. Can I make something up without getting caught? They''ll get more suspicious with every second that passes...


    What happens if I tell the truth? For example, if I say that he''s half a wiera, not a full one... what would they do? They still don''t seem to have decided what to see him as. I wonder if I can straighten out this confused view a bit.


    Which one should I choose...?


    "Adrian?"


    For a moment, I felt like I had lost the world, but... then I came back to my senses and swallowed again.


    "Y- Yes...? I mean, yes. I knew because he told me something about it. We had a conversation after the attack at the academy... I found him smiling in front of our friend Celine Potenbea with one purple eye, so he had to tell me about it."


    Professor Calvin''s eyes widened. Mny leaned slightly forward in her chair, where she had been leaning until now, and focused everything on me as she squinted. Prince Lucas, on the other hand... hadn''t overreacted, but his curiosity and interest in the subject seemed to have suddenly multiplied.


    Their demeanor had changed so quickly that for a moment I literally started to sweat where I was.


    "What has he told you? The importance of this conversation between us has multiplied many times over with this, Adrian. Aiden is, as I said, aplicated case. We need to find out everything we can. For you, for us, and for him."


    "He didn''t mention ordea, but he did say something about caora. He said it was a destructive and chaotic energy, so the people who could use it were those who had been changed to withstand it. And... that they were crazy, of course. But he also said that he was not a full wiera, that he was a hybrid. So... his consciousness was split into his own self and his wiera side."


    The professor nodded slightly. His eyes lost focus for a brief moment as he began to mumble something to himself.


    I suddenly felt an intense pressure on me. It wasn''ting from the trio in front of me, it was a pressure I was exerting on myself. Because... I was nervous.


    I never thought that they would suddenly be so serious and that just mentioning Aiden would bring it to this point. What if instead of bringing things about him into the light, as I had intended, I made things worse?


    I... I have to be more careful.

 Chapter 306 Volume V - 24: A Knot of Trouble

    <h4>Chapter 306 Volume V - Chapter 24: A Knot of Trouble</h4>


    "In short... he told you nothing more than that he was a half wiera and that''s how he was able to maintain his own consciousness."


    I nodded my head in agreement, trying to hide my nervousness, but I wasn''t sure how sessful I was. Still... I was also telling the truth.


    Aiden didn''t continue after telling me briefly about his condition. I also didn''t ask... So that''s really all I know.


    "Yes..."


    Professor Calvin leaned back in his chair again. When he turned his head slightly to where Mny was, she simply nodded her head up and down. Then the Professor sighed slightly.


    "I understand. What you said was really important, Adrian, at least if Aiden didn''t lie to you. Besides... for the moment no one sees him as an enemy, the dwarves won''t let anyone even get close to him anyway. It''s just a case of not being sure what to do about him."


    "And his recovery? Are you trying to heal him?"


    "Like I said, the dwarves won''t let anyone even get close to him. I''ve only had a chance to see him through a screen, but they''re doing their best to wake him up. For now..."


    The professor narrowed his eyes slightly. His expression was much more...plicated than when he first entered the room. Like that, it was Rector Mny who continued the conversation, not him.


    "You must have realized that you were the target of the attack at the festival. I think you also realized who attacked you, so... from this point on, try to stay in the academy as much as possible. And if you really need to leave, always let me know. At least until you reach a certain level."


    I couldn''t do anything but nod. I had no reason to leave the academy anyway... there was nothing the academy prevented me from doing, at least for now.


    "We will keep your spear as we told you. You can ask me for it back at any time, but we will choose whether to give it to you or not depending on your condition at the time. There is no problem with that, right?"


    I nodded again. With this, finally, Rector Mny slowly stood up. Then Professor Calvin and the Prince also stood up.


    "Regarding your training... You will continue to train with your current spear instructor, Professor Mirva. But you will also learn more about ordea with Professor Calvin. When the timees... we also n for you to visit theirmunity directly."


    "Will my training with Professor Calvin be secret from the other students...?"


    "Oh, no. Although the Professor is a sword instructor, his mana control is tremendous. On top of that, he usually takes two private students a year and the second position is still vacant. So there is no problem."


    Mny finally smiled slightly. She spoke for thest time before slowly turning around and heading for the door.


    "This is the end of this talk. Oh, and you don''t have to hide your elven appearance anymore. If you feel morefortable, the opposite is also fine. You will be escorted back to the academy by security after a few minutes and, needless to say, this talk will remain a secret between us."


    She turned toward the guard, who had until now remained silent, even as if he was not listening to us or could not listen to us. After a slight nod of her head, the guard responded in the same way.


    With that, Rector Mny walked out of the room as slowly and quietly as she had entered it. Professor Calvin followed close behind. But before Prince Lucas took hisst step out of the door, he suddenly paused and turned toward me.


    His bright green eyes sparkled for a moment in a way I couldn''t quite make sense of. But then his lips curved upward. He smiled at me and before I knew what was happening, he was out the door.


    When I was alone in the room again... or rather with the security guard right next to the desk, I don''t know why, but a heaviness came over me. And it was a little... ufortable one.


    Shouldn''t they have asked more questions? I didn''t think it would be so short, I had prepared myself for much tougher questions. I feel like... there''s a lot that they left out.


    If that''s really the case... why? They said they were trying to help me instead of putting me in jail, yes, but did they really clear my suspicions so easily? I don''t think so... especially with Aiden and the spear. And... they asked almost nothing about the period when I left the academy.


    I frowned for a moment. I couldn''t shake the uneasiness as a much heavier difort settled over me.


    Something is going on here that I can''t understand... They are hiding something from me.


    *******


    I couldn''t help but sigh as I walked down one of the corridors, strangely devoid of any employees.


    I looked at the two people walking next to me. One was a middle-aged woman with blond hair. The other was a crown prince with ck hair. They both noticed my sigh and turned toward me.


    "Adrian didn''t tell the whole truth."


    Rector Mny replied to me in a dull voice, as if the smile of a few seconds ago had never existed.


    "It was quite clear. That''s why I kept the interview short. Otherwise, we would have been in that room for at least another hour. "


    This time, Prince Lucas, who was usually silent, interjected.


    "He needs to trust us more. At the same time... we need to trust him. His connection with Lithoa Laergas is still uncertain."


    Lithoa Laergas... even though I was only a child when his death was announced, his impact on the world was unquestionable. He was someone to be feared not only by normal people but even by Saligia or the Order itself. After all, their paths had crossed at some point in the past... and it hadn''t ended well for anyone but the man called Lithoa.


    A man who could wield neither ordea nor caora, but he was the embodiment of power and was so feared that he was even tried to be erased from history itself. Which was normal, given what he had done and what he had caused in the past.


    But the problem was... even though he was announced dead, it was never confirmed that he was really dead. And that was something that could cause anyone on Lunerra who knew the past to shudder involuntarily.


    And now... Adrian Caleo had appeared using his spear. The very spear that had been searched for thirty years, searched everywhere, but never found.


    "If there really is a connection between him and that man, it doesn''t matter what kind of potential he has. It doesn''t matter how much he can help us in the future."


    Prince Lucas said this while keeping his eyes narrowed and sharp. He continued in the same way.


    "If we confirm that there is a bond between them, we must first understand what kind of bond it is. And if it is what we think it is, then we can do nothing but kill him."


    He looked cold-blooded. He even looked as if he would not hesitate to do what he said with his own hands. It was like... he had changed a little bit.


    I thought back to every time I''d ever seen him on screen, if not in person, then at ceremonies or events like this.


    Prince Lucas was definitely not like this before. Before... he was a softer person, but now he looked like someone who would not hesitate to do what he had to do if it was necessary.


    "We''ll see... For now, I''ll observe him while I train him. If he is as skilled with ordea as he is with mana, then new paths open up. But there is one other matter that puzzles me..."


    Rector Mny and the Prince turned back to me. I could only frown.


    "Silver hair, emerald green eyes. His appearance is too specific, even for an elf."


    Rector Mny sighed as she continued walking. Her eyes filled with suspicion for a moment, but she was also thinking just like me.


    "I don''t think there''s any connection between him and the Laute family. Rian Laute killed his own son, daughter-inw, and grandchild without blinking an eye when he found out about his son''s scandal. Besides... Adrian''s age doesn''t match the incident twenty years ago. He''s about ten months younger than he should be. But this is also something we shouldn''t jump to conclusions about."


    Prince Lucas took a very deep breath. His green eyes, not as bright as Adrian''s but with an air of their own, fixed on the ceiling.


    "There''s the possibility that he''s connected to every single one of the worst things that could happen... He has a talent unseen in history, but he''s someone who could be killed before he can manifest it. And then there''s Aiden Tenebra, and the whole prophecy thing... He''s like a knot of trouble. It''s like he came into the world specifically this way."


    It really was... It was as if the universe had sent him specifically in the middle of this particr era. He was connected to so many things and full of mysteries, just like Aiden himself.


    "Anyway... Let''s let him rest for a few days. Then... we''ll see what to do. For now, both he and we need some rest."


    Neither the rector nor the prince objected to what I said. They were both tired after the festival. One bad incident after another was giving them a headache as people in high positions of authority, and they were getting their share of it.


    In this way, we finally left the building. As the three of us went our separate ways, I decided to stop thinking about Adrian Caleo for now.

 Chapter 307 Volume V - Chapter 25: Three People in the Same Body

    307 Volume V - Chapter 25: Three People in the Same Body


    For screwing up the n.


    That was the answer to the question of why I was here on this sunless sky and rxing grass. But... it wasn''t any answer at the same time.


    With his emotionlessness, with the emptiness behind his gray eyes, I felt the need to avert my eyes for no reason. Yet I didn''t give in to the feeling, I didn''t want to miss a single thing.


    I swallowed, tried to release the tension in my body, tried to let myself rx into thefort of the grass I was lying on, and it worked. So, I asked a question again.


    "What n?"


    The person next to me, lying on the grass just like me, sighed slightly. His eyes left me again and turned to the sunless sky.


    "Ethan. Do you really still think that youring into this world was simply a ''reward''?"


    No, I didn''t. I had my doubts since the day I started seeing the memories of the person whose body I was controlling. With each passing day, these doubts only grew more and more. During the war on the Hr continent, I hadn''t had a chance to think about it much, so I had kind of forgotten about it, but the phoenix calling me a puppet had only refreshed the thought in my mind in recent weeks.


    Could it be that this world... wasn''t a ''game'' from the very beginning? Could my days as Ethan, my identity, have been a lie?


    No matter how much I thought about it, the answer to this question was no. Because the days I spent on Earth were too real. The thought of them being fake was absurd in itself.


    But... there was one more possibility. And that possibility, as absurd as it was, could be real.


    "The people who brought me here to Lunerra... the people who spoke to me as the producers of the game The Lands of The Lunerra... the Lords, right?"


    Aiden Tenebra continued to stare at the sky instead of answering my question. And I... my brow finally furrowed, and my eyes twitched.


    "You were the one who told them or suggested they do this, weren''t you?"


    Again, he didn''t answer me. In the silence that fell between us... I finally let out a deep sigh.


    "I used to forget most of the dreams I used to have, though they were more memories than dreams... But you know, now I remember them all. Every single one of them, down to thest detail. I even remember the ones I forgot from beginning to end, even the ones I had but didn''t even realize I had them because I had forgotten every single detail."


    I sat up from where I was lying, squinted my eyes, and turned them to the real Aiden Tenebra lying next to me.


    "I remember your childhood. I remember what you went through in thatb. I remember how you changed every day, why you grew so ''emotionless''. I remember why you were so attached to ra and loved her so much. I remember how you murdered your family. I also remember... how you had different thoughtspared to the Lords."


    Aiden Tenebra quickly turned his face toward me as he straightened up, just like me. He spoke in the same soulless tone, his t lips and empty eyes literally staring into my soul.


    "And that doesn''t mean anything, Ethan. Because what you don''t know is still so much more than what you think you know."


    I couldn''t help clenching my fist, my teeth. Getting more and more frustrated with each passing second, I finally stood up.


    "And I''m well aware of that. But... what I''m curious about has nothing to do with that."


    I thought about the first day I arrived in Lunerra, how stupid I was, how I couldn''t stop smiling every second. But... that wasn''t the only thing I thought about.


    I didn''t think much about it because I attributed it to my loneliness and my need for a family, but now that I was in this situation and I thought back to those times, it was clear what had happened.


    "You were the reason I was so attached to ra in the first ce. Larry carrying the authority of greed was something that was not in my memory, you erased it from my mind or made it not exist in the game I yed in the beginning. You also made me feel extreme anger toward him so that I would be a wiera."


    Now that I think about it... there''s some weirdness even after that.


    "The wiera part of me wasn''t even acting normal... not like a normal wiera, and that''s because of you. How much did you manipte me for your own n? How much of the things I think, the actions I take, do you have a hand in?"


    He opened his mouth and started to say something, but I didn''t let him, I kept going, getting more and more frustrated with each passing second. My body was shaking more violently, tensing up.


    "At first, I saw your memories as a third person, like someone watching a movie... But as I continued to witness these memories, slowly but surely this began to change. I... slowly I started to not recognize myself as a third person. I slowly became Aiden Tenebra himself, you, who was actually experiencing these events... not Ethan, who was witnessing the events from the outside."


    As each of those memories reyed in my mind, I focused on how real and... how much they felt like my memories.


    "I experienced everything with you, from the pain you suffered to the emotions you felt. Even my personality slowly started to change. Why... Why are you trying to turn me into who you are?"


    Aiden Tenebra waited where he was for a few seconds to see if there was anything else to say. When he realized that he should be the one to break the silence between us, not me, he stood up.


    "Because no one who belongs to this world can prevent the end of this world, Ethan. But no one who does not carry a piece of this world can also prevent theing end. The enemy you fought in thest part of the game you yed is only one of the possible endings of this world. There are many more threats. Some closer than ever, some farther away than anyone even realizes."


    I just stood there listening to what he said. But with thest sentence... I couldn''t help my lips curling upwards involuntarily and I couldn''t help smiling.


    Because... it was funny in a way.


    "So... are you trying to say that losing my own identity is what I have to do to save a world I shouldn''t even exist in?"


    I clenched my fist tighter, feeling the heat seeping between my fingernails as my teeth gritted involuntarily, but I didn''t care. The expressionlessness, the soullessness of his face on top of what he was saying... it was just more annoying.


    "I... I was just trying to get out of mediocrity, I wanted something different in my life, I wanted to get out of my loneliness and unhappiness, not be a puppet in some big secret n that I don''t even know what it is!"


    As I looked at the expressionless face of the person in front of me, Aiden Tenebra, my anger red even more. Finally, I stopped holding back, tensed my fist, and swung it at him.


    But... I didn''t have even one percent of the strength I had as Aiden Tenebra. Ethan Subter was weaker than Aiden Tenebra, who was one of the most ordinary people in the Lunerra. Yet he wasn''t the one who stopped my punch, he didn''t even try to avoid it. Instead... a third person suddenly appeared between us. He caught my fist in mid-air and then gripped it so tightly that I couldn''t move a muscle.


    I quickly turned to the person between me and Aiden. And what I found in front of me... made me stand still for a moment.


    This person had bright, purple eyes. And... he looked like me, Ethan Subter. He was like a twin of mine... except that he had purple eyes and was many times stronger than me. He was my wiera side, this person.


    But... he was also different than ever. He didn''t have his usual smile on his face. It didn''t look like he was trying to make me suffer. He was calm... too calm.


    "You... what...?"


    He returned my clenched fist back to me without saying anything. I staggered back a few steps off bnce and fell to the ground, staring meaninglessly at the pair of them. It was at this point that Aiden talked again.


    "And that''s one of the things I''m trying to prevent, Ethan. I''m trying to stop you from bing a puppet. I''m trying to stop you from bing someone you shouldn''t have been in the first ce. I''m trying to stop the end of this world. Now... let''s start from the beginning. At least as far back as I can tell."


    He took a few short steps toward me. When he was in front of me, he held out his hand toward me, leaning slightly as if he wanted me to stand up with him.


    I squinted my eyes as I looked at his hand and then at his face, and with his help, I stood up again. Aiden simply looked into my eyes without any expression on his face. My wiera side, meanwhile... just folded his arms together and sighed.


    Aiden, looking at this awkwardness between us, must have decided to clear this mess first because he looked at me and pointed to the purple-eyed wiera next to him.


    "First of all... he is not a simple person, as you might have guessed. Let''s clear this up first. The person in front of you has changed a lot because he carries your consciousness, but he is the former representative of greed. He is ric Wisderm."


    H- ha...? Did¡­ Did I hear wrong?


    "ric Wisderm? Wait, wait... the most insane of all the wieras, ric Wisderm?"


    Aiden nodded slightly. I... just kept my eyes fixed on my wiera side, and he turned to me. For a moment, an emotion I couldn''t quite put my finger on appeared in his bright purple eyes. I felt as if the world had indeed frozen as his lips curled slightly upward in the way I remembered and he opened his mouth to say something.


    "Exactly. I''d say it''s nice to meet you, but it''s been a while. At least for me. I have your whole memories, you see... Oh, and also... I''m not going to apologize for what I''ve done in the past, just so you know." Thanks for reading :)

 Chapter 308 Volume V - Chapter 26: To Change the Future

    308 Volume V - Chapter 26: To Change the Future


    ric Wisderm is a character in The Lands of The Lunerra who never once appears to the yer. Of course he couldn''t... because he was dead.


    He was a mad scientist. Of all the wieras that ever existed, he was the closest to chaos and madness.


    And yet, why did he be a scientist instead of ughtering everything around him and driving everything into chaos...? Because being prone to chaos and being one of the closest to madness did not change the fact that he was intelligent. He was capable of logical thinking. He was able to suppress his own urges. Even if it was a bit... difficult.


    But his death was also due to the fact that he eventually lost his sanity. During his life, he had carried out countless experiments that were really important, but the failure of one of them led to his death. Then the seat of greed became vacant and Saligia, the organization of the wieras, was looking for someone new.


    That is why they were interested in Adrian. They were looking for someone powerful for the seat of greed, and they wanted someone who was more manipble than an experienced wiera.


    In the Lunerra I was in, though, things were a bit different... For example, Adrian was not the only candidate, I was one of the chosen candidates. Saligia had lost the authority of greed and I was the one who identally took it over.


    Now, on top of that... is ric Wisderm actually alive? And was I in the same body as him without even realizing it...?


    A few of his experiments were recorded and avable in the game. So I know how ruthless, horrible, and insane he really is.


    I looked at the purple-eyed man standing in front of me, who looked exactly the same as me, Ethan Subter, except for his eyes. Then I quickly turned my head to the side, to the gray eyes of Aiden Tenebra, who was still looking at me expressionlessly.


    "No way..."


    "But it is."


    Aiden turned his eyes toward my wiera side, or rather ric Wisderm.


    "By nature, he''s one of the people who will help me, and you, the most, no matter how much trouble he causes you. So get used to it."


    No... No, I can''t. I just can''t...


    How can I get along with someone who does unthinkable things just out of curiosity? It''s simply impossible...


    "Don''t worry much, he is quite different from who he is supposed to be. As a wiera, he carries your memories as well, so you could call him a mix of you and ric Wisderm. That''s why he seems so much more sane than he used to be... And that''s also why-"


    "You''re asking the impossible from me."


    ric Wisderm widened his smile slightly as Aiden sighed. That crazy smile was slowly forming on his face.


    "You don''t have to get along with me, Ethan."


    I frowned again. But before I had a chance to speak, Aiden interjected again.


    "Even though you screwed up the n and got here much earlier than you should have... as long as we change things, we can continue to do what we need to do as if nothing happened. And what you need to do is learn from ric how to use caora and suppress yourself as a wiera. As he says, you 16:13


    don''t have to get along."


    And I just stood there for a moment with dozens, hundreds of different questions and thoughts in my mind, and finally... my mind became so chaotic that I wasn''t even sure what to think.


    Why are they just standing there in front of me as if nothing had happened...? As if... what they''re saying is very simple, not very important.


    Turning back to the duo and looking at their expressions, all I could do was curl my lips upward for no reason.


    "I don''t understand... I don''t fucking understand anything."


    I clenched my fist again. I thought about everything I had experienced since the day I came into this world. And when I looked at these thoughts... most of them were full of pain. Yes, there were moments when I was happy and enjoyed my life. But most of my memories... were nothing but tragedy.


    Now... isn''t it all because of the two people in front of me...? One of them is the one who nned everything from the beginning, at least it seems that way, and the other one is a madman who has been tormenting me for almost a year...


    Now, they''re standing in front of me and just asking me to do something where they are as if none of this happened...?


    I... don''t get it anymore... I don''t know what to do. I don''t even know which of my thoughts to focus on...


    In the midst of all this chaos, on the endless grass and under the sunless sky... something touched my forehead.


    My eyes snapped up as I saw the hand reaching out to me. And then the owner of that hand.


    Aiden Tenebra, his dull gray eyes staring nkly into my soul, spoke in a voice that somehow sounded like a whisper.


    "This is going to hurt a little."


    I opened my mouth, tempted to ask what would hurt, but not even a few secondster, everything froze.


    The lush green grass stopped moving in the gentle breeze. Suddenly, all the colors began to flow downward, as if someone was cleaning the paint off a window. As everything turned gray, the figure of Aiden and ric, smiling just behind him, disappeared into the chaos.


    While all this was happening... my whole body suddenly went rigid. Where Aiden had touched me, on my forehead... I suddenly felt a slight warmth, followed by a strange sensation that felt like it was seeping into my brain, and a sudden pain that felt like it was ripping my brain apart while I was still alive.


    I didn''t even have time to scream or make any sound. Everything was suddenly plunged into darkness, an eternal darkness... All my senses disappeared. But the pain did not disappear. It continued to exist with me, even more intensely.


    If I could, I would have smashed my own head into pieces, I would have destroyed my soul, never to be reunited again, but... these were things I could not do in the infinite darkness. The only thing that existed was me, and the pain... I didn''t even have thoughts or memories.


    But, in the midst of this... a light appeared. A tiny, faint light. Immediately afterward, strange, unidentifiable things emanated from this little light into infinity... Colors, images, and sounds.


    *******


    When I opened my eyes... what I found was the white ceiling of my room. It was still not morning because a small night light illuminated my room, just as it had done just before I went to sleep.


    But... this time, something was different. I knew it because I felt like my thoughts were different.


    ''He held on...''


    ''He woke up...''


    ''Can we do it this time?''


    The voices were still here, though. They hadn''t changed... and they didn''t seem to realize that I could still hear them. But... I didn''t care in any way.


    What I experienced after I fell asleep... After all that pain... why am I... still alive...?


    The time just before I started to suffer endlessly in the endless darkness was not much in my mind, I could only vaguely remember it. But... one thing was clear.


    Just like the people I could hear now, there was someone there whose voice sounded as if dozens of people were speaking at the same time. He was white, he didn''t even have a face. But... he spoke to me.


    You are here to survive.


    That was the reason why I found myself in that endless darkness when I fell asleep. At least that''s what the white being said.


    You have to do this every night, every second you sleep. Otherwise, your body cannot handle the ''ability'' you have gained.


    Every night... Do I have to suffer like this every night? For an ability that I don''t even fully understand what it is?


    These thoughts, the pain... were things that would prevent a normal person, especially a child like me, from even thinking normally. The fact that I had to go through this every day would make most peoplemit suicide on the spot.


    If it was me a few days ago, maybe he would have chosen suicide too. But... I was different. I was still the same person, but I was also like apletely different person from who I used to be.


    I am Aiden Tenebra, son of Aaron and Aria Tenebra, brother of ra Tenebra.


    These were the first things I repeated in my mind, and it felt like something I had to do to remind myself who I was.


    I know my name, I know where I am, but... who am I, what am I...?


    That was the second question that crossed my mind. But... as if the answer to it had been engraved in my mind a long time ago, it suddenly appeared in my mind.


    The keeper of knowledge.


    That was what appeared in my mind.


    After the answer, I didn''t do anything for a while. I had a feeling that whatever I asked myself, the answer would appear in my mind. And this thought... it scared me involuntarily.


    No, it wasn''t fear, it was just... for some reason, I was hesitant to even think about anything.


    Thinking, though, was not something that could bepletely avoided. And so... the answer to my next question suddenly appeared in my mind, even though it was only a simple thought.


    Why can''t I be scared?


    I thought about it reflexively. I didn''t even realize I was thinking it... but that didn''t stop me from getting the answer.


    One of the prices of knowledge.


    The... price of knowledge?


    Oh, no... don''t think. Don''t think...


    But it was not possible... So I kept thinking, even if I didn''t want to. And so... the answers kept appearing in my mind one after another.


    It didn''t take long for me to lose myself. My thoughts became chaotic as new questions appeared in my mind with each answer. After a while... it literally started to hurt. And the more time passed, the worse it got.


    After I don''t know how long, what brought me back to myself was... the door to my room opening. The sudden change in my vision caught my attention, even with my confused mind, and I turned my head in that direction.


    The person who came in was... a little person. A child. A girl with light brown hair that fell to her shoulders and gray eyes with a strange sleepy glint in them.


    "Bwother...?"


    Ah, ra... Right. She was the one who kept me alive in the first ce.


    Do I have to act like a child...? Will she be wary of me when she sees that I''ve changed? Maybe... scared of me?


    No... I don''t want that.


    "ra... what happened?"


    I put a smile on my face, a fake smile maybe, just so the child in front of me wouldn''t be upset. That''s why it felt strange, like something that shouldn''t have happened.


    I''m fooling her. I''m fooling her by faking a ''smile''.


    Does that... make me a bad person?


    Again, I reflexively thought of a question. But... this time no answer appeared in my mind. Just like the questions I repeated in my mind when I first saw her. But I couldn''t think much about it.


    "Mum and Dad are gone... where are they?"


    Ah, did they go to theb again?


    "I guess they had to go to work early... How about sleeping with me?"


    ra quickly nodded her head up and down. I saw her lips curl up a little as she snuggled into my bed. She looked happy as she closed her already sleepy eyes and surrendered herself to sleep again.


    For a moment, I thought nothing as I looked at her cute face. Seconds passed, minutes passed. Yet all I did was keep looking at her face.


    Why are we doing this to her...? I didn''t realize it before, but now, when I''m no longer a normal child, I can think about it.


    Why are we... we who were just an ordinary family before, going through this?


    This time, I got an answer to my question.


    To change the future.


    To... change the future?


    And when I thought about it, this time, instead of getting an answer, I saw so much more. I really, literally saw.


    I saw the future that awaits this world. I saw who are the people who had the voice as if dozens of people were speaking at the same time. I saw what role we y in this future.


    It was like a dream... I had seen it, time passed quickly and it was over in an instant. I was back in my room, lying next to my sister, but... I just froze where I was.


    For this? Is this why we endure so much pain...? Is this why we go fromb tob when we should be living a happy life?


    I was frustrated. No... I wasn''t just frustrated. I... I hated... I hated the Lords, I hated Lunerra, I hated this universe, I hated everything.


    Why did my father and mother have to lose themselves when they should have lived an ordinary life after retirement?


    Why was my sister forced to carry a burden she shouldn''t when she should have been a sessful architect and built a happy family?


    I looked at my sister''s face at that moment. Her sleeping, cute, and tiny face. When I thought about what the future held for this girl who didn''t even know anything, and when I realized that I could do nothing to prevent that future... I hated everything.


    In the same way, that''s why I made a decision.


    If I can''t change the path to the future... then I will change the future itself.


    So, that same night... rather than waiting for the Lords to call out to me, I called out to them.


    This was the beginning of it all. There were a lot of things that happened afterward, of course, there were also a lot of things that happened in the past... But this was the moment when I decided to change the future.

 Chapter 309 Volume V - 27: The Dark Hands

    <h4>Chapter 309 Volume V - Chapter 27: The Dark Hands </h4>


    ?*(A/N: Uh... hi? I''m back, something like that, I guess. This note is going to be really long, so I apologize in advance... but I need to write it.


    First of all, I am sorry. I haven''t posted a chapter in three months. There are a lot of reasons for that, actually... I''ve really been through a lot in these three months. And these months have also made me realize a lot of things.


    Now... let''s put my life aside and talk about Lunerra (that''s how I shorten the name of the novel). It''s not that I didn''t write any chapters for Lunerra in these three months. In fact, I actually wrote quite a few chapters. But most of these chapters are not avable now. Because I deleted them, changed them, rewrote them, they turned into something else, and so on. And that''s how I realized something (or somethings) about Lunerra.


    Even though I really like Lunerra and it''s my first novel, it''s a novel with a lot of mistakes and inexperience. There are a lot of plot holes, some of the characters and their actions are really simply stupid, there are a lot of things that don''t make sense, a lot of imbnces, and so on. And the more I saw these things, the more they annoyed me. So I kept changing the plot and the events of theter volumes of the novel, trying to make it somehow better and logical.


    I think the most logical thing would be to rewrite Lunerra from scratch. But... we''vee too far. 350 chapters are not too little, and I don''t have unlimited time. Of course, I also have a contract with Webnovel... In short, I''m a bit toote to correct any mistakes or inexperience in the earlier parts of Lunerra.


    Continuing the note like this might have given the impression that I am going to drop Lunerra. This is not the case. Whatever happens, Lunerra is the first novel I''ve written. It is quite literally my childhood dream, and it seems that there are as many people who still enjoy reading it as there are those who don''t like it. I''m being harassed by quite a few people on Discord about the situation xD.


    In short, I''ll continue writing Lunerra even though I took a long break. Of course, it won''t be as fast as before... Maybe not even 1 chapter a day. 3-5 chapters a week? I guess that''s how it will be. I''m not sure.


    But it''s not just my personal life that has brought such a change to Lunerra. I''ve solved most of the problems with it. It''s just... I have other novels I''m working on. And while I continue writing Lunerra, I want to start another one, mostly for the WSA contest. I''ll probably post the first chapter of that soon.


    Anyway... I''ve talked too much. The note was really long. But that''s the way it is. Thank you all for waiting for the novel until now. I apologize again for everything.)*


    The sky was covered in the darkness of the night. But... there were no stars. The clouds, after all, were everywhere... cutting off the sky from Lunerra. The whole city was covered in white. And soon, it seemed, there would be more of it.


    It was cold. I felt really cold under the cover of night. It was natural, of course, since it was the middle of winter.


    But... none of that mattered much. What mattered was what I was about to do.


    "I can hear you."


    The voices in my head suddenly stopped talking. I could only sigh deeply as the sound of passing cars in the distance and the whispery hum of the cold night were the only sounds I could hear.


    "I can hear you from the very beginning."


    A few more seconds passed as if they were trying to understand what I was saying. They didn''t even seem to believe it... but finally, one of them, usually the one who spoke the most, opened his mouth again.


    ''This is unexpected...''


    ''Did he hear everything...?''


    "I heard, but that''s not the important thing... right?"


    I had indeed heard things I shouldn''t have... but as I said, they were unimportant.


    "I''m aware of the deal you made because of your previous failure, and I''m aware that''s why you''re trying to reach out to other dimensions."


    I narrowed my eyes and continued calmly and yet coldly as I looked up at the sky.


    "I will help you, I know how to reach another universe, after all. That was your goal all along... But..."


    There was a momentary glimmer in the dark sky. It was as if a tinymp had flickered on and off.


    "In return, you will fulfill a few things I ask of you."


    ''If you know who we are, what makes you think we will ept this offer?''


    He said it in a threatening voice. It was almost as if he had backed me into a corner and was telling me to either submit or die... But the situation was very, very different from that.


    It wasn''t me who was backed into a corner.


    "Why are you starting over for the seventh time, why are you asking me for ''help'', if you are that omnipotent? Have the powerful Lords forgotten to swallow their pride when faced with a problem they cannot solve?"


    The moment thest word left my mouth, the whole world stopped. All the colors faded, turned gray. Everything became... still. Immediately afterward, the ground beneath my feet began to shake violently as if a violent earthquake was urring. The sky itself trembled as if it were copsing.


    A tremendous pressure was concentrated on me for a moment. It forced me to kneel, and it seeded. My weak body was too weak to resist such a thing. But... I didn''t need to.


    The pain didn''t matter. Kneeling didn''t matter. Pride didn''t matter. Everything else didn''t matter except the oue.


    ''Do you think we can''t try any harder, Vessel of Knowledge?


    "Yes, given that every time you try you only make things worse. Your next attempt will also end in failure. And the one after that. And so will the next one. And then... there won''t be another ''try''."


    I heard another voice in my head, as if trying to say something, but I ignored it and continued.


    "Lord of Time, Tempo is not among you? Fate must be here too. Their silence exins much, even now. Will you continue to act like the blind and deaf? You can do it once more, you can do it a second time... But the third time you try to repeat the same thing, there will be no more ''future''."


    A sound that seemed to burst my eardrums suddenly echoed throughout the, let alone my body. My body trembled so violently that my organs felt as if they had contracted. The metallic taste of blood reached my tongue.


    ''Silence! How dare you!''


    Yet I restrained myself.


    "I''m not like the ones before."


    I tried not to care about the blood between my lips. I did my best to hold myself against the stupidity of the ''divine'' beings in front of me.


    "I will notmit suicide, even if it takes days, months, years. There will be no new vessel after me, I will not allow it. Even if you send your apostles to hunt me down... none of them will kill me. On the contrary..."


    For a moment, it felt as if the bones in my arms and legs were breaking because of the enormous pressure. The amount of blood that came to my mouth suddenly increased. But I swallowed it all back and left my bones to their fate.


    I narrowed my eyes even more. With the thick, red blood running down my neck, I spoke as precisely as I could.


    "You know that Xavirs are not immortal. Wasn''t it the death of Knowledge that started it all? It''s not certain that the same thing can''t happen again, and it''s also not certain who can do it..."


    The next time I blinked, I found a recolored world in front of me, as if nothing had happened a few seconds before. The sky wasn''t copsing, the wasn''t trembling as if it was going to fall apart.


    The sounds of cars, crowds, and the living city... were all I could hear.


    However, in the midst of all this ''normality''... another voice echoed in my head, and for a moment I couldn''t help feeling as if the whole world had stopped again.


    ''Run, run as far as you can... fake Xavir.''


    For seconds, nothing else happened as if I was hallucinating, as if everything I saw and heard was a lie. Minutes passed, but still nothing happened.


    I looked up at the cloud-covered sky as I immersed myself in the cold, white snow.


    Is this how the eighth loop will end? Just because of the pride of a few divine beings that they couldn''t swallow...? Hah, if I could feel my emotions, I would haveughed at that non-stop for a few minutes.


    I closed my eyes, letting the cold seep into my body, and just... thought.


    Twenty years... Twenty years from now the ninth loop will begin. I have a minimum of twenty years and a maximum of sixty.


    I''ll sacrifice the eighth. If they don''t change their minds by the ninth... then I''ll try to take things into my own hands.


    If that also fails... On the tenth, neither they nor I will have a choice. And if we fail once again at that...


    No. There is no such thing as failure. There will be no failure.


    My whole body ached, my bones felt like they were on the verge of cracking.


    I must already have a few of the apostles after me... I have to survive them first. I have to make sure that in the future, there will be no other vessel but me. I have to end this loop with my own hand before it''s over.


    So... I have to be the viin of this loop.


    I knew more or less what I was going to do, I just needed to think more about it, calcte more things, and bring more possibilities into it. But... in the end, it was obvious what I had to do.


    That''s how the first loop started, at least for me. I thought it wouldn''t be too difficult. But... it was also a loop in which dozens of things happened that I could not have predicted.


    *******


    Darkness...


    Why can I never get used to it? Whenever I faint, sleep, or lose consciousness, I find myself in this darkness. Without exception, every time.


    Sometimes I forget, that''s why I think I''ve never been here, but no... I''m always here, dragged here every second I''m disconnected from the world.


    But why does this still feel strange to me? Why does this feel like a ce I shouldn''t be? Like... like I don''t belong here. Like... I''m not allowed to be here and I''m breaking the rules.


    This time, these feelings are much more overwhelming, much more pronounced. Is it because, unlike most times, this time my memories are still with me?


    I looked around, I searched everywhere, hoping to see something, but... nothing. What I encountered was literally nothing. I could only... float... in this endless darkness that I was in. That was it.


    Memories of Aiden shed before my eyes. The ce where he had to suffer every night to survive... was very simr to this ce. And as someone in his body, there was a good chance that I was in that ce.


    If I''m really there... then I have a few guesses about what will happen in a few minutes.


    I took a deep breath and tried to prepare myself, but strangely there was an uneasiness inside me that I couldn''t shake. Still... I decided to ignore it and did what I had nned to do.


    "Is anyone there...?"


    For a moment, nothing happened. The endless darkness remained as it was and nothing changed. However, the next second, what I expected happened.


    The infinite darkness suddenly rippled as if it had just realized I was here. Everything that had been still a few seconds before suddenly began to slowly stir. The infinite darkness stretched in a strange way as if it were a living and conscious being rather than nothingness.


    For a brief moment, everything was still again. It was such a stillness that it added to my tension that I couldn''t help swallowing and reflexively taking a step back. But the moment I took that step back... the darkness suddenly rippled again. This time much more violently than before, even... excitedly.


    Dozens, hundreds of hands of pure darkness appeared before my eyes. More human hands than I could count, their palms turned toward me, their fingers seemingly aching to hold onto me. They were slow, unlike the darkness that rippled fiercely. They were more frightening than ever, with fingers that kept moving and moving and movements that grew stranger every second.


    Seconds passed. The dark hands kept approaching me, literally from everywhere. There was really nowhere for me to run.


    I waited. I just waited patiently. Two meters stood between me and the closest hand, then one meter, then half a meter...


    Nothing happened. Aiden didn''t appear out of nowhere, nor did that white figure I had seen in his dreams, one of the Lords, appear out of nowhere.


    I felt myself sweating, and for a moment the hand that was only a few seconds away from touching my chest, its fingers opening and closing and grabbing me like a madman, seemed bigger and more dangerous than ever. And I... took another step back involuntarily.


    Something touched my back. It was perhaps one of the coldest things I had ever touched in my life. The way it kept rubbing against my clothes, against my body, made all my brain cells freeze.


    When only the tip of a finger of one of the dark hands touched my back, everything froze again. Silence enveloped my body, I felt the darkness creeping into me, and I looked at the hand just a few centimeters away from my eyes, not moving a millimeter, as if it was truly frozen in ce.


    All the hands rushed at me at the same time, as if they had been waiting for this specific moment.

 Chapter 310 Volume V - 28: Everything in Order

    <h4>Chapter 310 Volume V - Chapter 28: Everything in Order </h4>


    ?I heard voices. Tens, hundreds of voices. They were whispers, mostly meaningless. But... most importantly, they were getting louder and louder.


    Sometimes, rarely, I could understand what a few of them were saying.


    It hurts, one of them said.


    Come closer, said another.


    Please... die.


    Will it end?


    Disappear...


    Finally...!


    Break apart...


    Stop resisting.


    I''m scared...


    Have mercy...


    End our suffering...


    The voices kept whispering. Behind me, in front of me, under me, on my sides... everywhere.


    But that wasn''t the only thing that happened in the endless darkness.


    There were hands, dark and excited hands. Hands that encircled my whole body, grasping every part of me so that not a single space was left.


    The hands that gripped my shoulders tried to dig their nails into my flesh as if they were trying to tear it apart. Then others grabbed my arms, then my legs... even my neck.


    All I could do as my body was torn apart was... watch, feel, and suffer. I could only let out silent screams as the darkness tore everything apart and... tried to take my ce.


    Watching was all I was allowed to do, even as they reached for something else rather than my body.


    In the endless darkness, with my eyes already gouged out by countless fingers... I saw... or felt... a radiance.


    It shimmered in the darkness with a tiny glow. As the dark hands tried to reach out toward it, I also moved closer to it.


    Finally, when I got a certain amount closer to it... I saw that it was actually not one glow but two glows orbiting each other.


    One was a pure white. It looked like a semicircle with jagged edges, and it wasn''t even clear if it had corners. Blue stripes seeped through the white color. Like veins, they seemed to be trying to reach toward the center of this pure white thing. They seemed to be advancing, albeit slowly, as time passed.


    The other... was a bright purple. It kept changing, it never stayed the same. It was literally... chaotic. At times it was trying to reach out to the pure white half it was spinning with, but it was failing.


    Together, they seemed to be in... harmony.


    But they were under the non-existent gaze of those who aimed to disrupt this harmony. Dark hands kept approaching them, just like me.


    As time passed, the dark hands, instead of approaching these two glows from all directions... began to merge. Hundreds, even millions of them came together to form a single, gigantic hand. And in the center of the palm of this gigantic hand... stood these two harmonious glows that had no idea what was happening.


    The dark hand paused for a moment. I suddenly stopped moving toward them. The next second... the gigantic hand, with the glows still in the palm of its hand, suddenly closed its fingers fiercely.


    The glow of the sparkles disappeared between the closed fingers as if they had never existed. Dozens of times what I had felt as my body was being torn to pieces suddenly overwhelmed me. My whole being, let alone my body, felt like it was being crushed. I felt myself copsing in on myself as if I were the thing inside the clenched fist of the dark hand.


    But it was so short-lived that I didn''t even realize whether I could actually feel it or not... Because what really mattered was what permeated my mind after that moment.


    It was something much more painful than the crushing of my being. There were so many images ying in my mind at the same time, so many sounds that I couldn''t stand it. Yet some images were particrly prominent in my mind.


    In one image, I saw two people sitting side by side on the shore of a sea that seemed to stretch into infinity. Their faces, their appearance... everything was blurred. Only... it was clear that they looked like people. And... the feeling they gave me was strangely distinct, even if I couldn''t distinguish them.


    The person on the left felt much calmer, dignified. He was like a bright light. The one on the right... was like the opposite. He was dark, but this darkness didn''t feel strangely evil. It was just... like someone who was restless, excited. Yes, he was really excited.


    The image changed. This time, I saw these two people in a closed room. The bright one was sitting at a desk, writing something. The dark one... again, he was not still. He was circling around the bright one, asionally moving to a point and swinging something like a sword in his hand. They seemed to be having a conversation with each other. And... they seemed to be having fun despite their contrasts.


    I saw the same duo at the top of a staircase reaching up to the sky. Both of their bodies were covered in blood. Their clothes were in tatters. Both of them had their hands on each other''s shoulders, supporting each other. So, in this way, these two people slowly started climbing the stairs to the sky, one by one.


    I saw the same two together again, the glow of the bright one much more pronounced now, the darkness of the other just as... deep. They were side by side as in the first image. But this time, they were not on a seashore... but in the sky itself. The bright one was looking sadly down from the sky. The dark one was right next to him, as if trying to... console him.


    The next second, the two disappeared. In the middle of nowhere, in a desert-like ce... the bright one suddenly appeared before my eyes. He was staggering, even exhausted. There was a sword in his chest, a sword that seemed to pierce where his heart was.


    And then, there was the sky. Dozens of people who seemed to be standing on clouds, many... beings who seemed to represent different colors.


    The bright one stopped for a moment. He slowly turned his head back, the white glow on his body brighter than ever, fading with every second. And then... he saw darkness. Darkness that seemed to reach out to the whole world. He was so angry that it was as if he couldn''t hold the darkness in his body. It was draining all the light, making everything around it look like it.


    Suddenly, chains descended from the sky. They wrapped around the darkness, tangling and tangling until there was not a single spot of it that could be seen.


    In the final image... the bright was nowhere to be seen. The darkness wasn''t supposed to be there either, really. But... every now and then a fragment of it would leak out through the chains, spreading out toward the world and beyond.


    And those in the sky... instead of trying to stop it, at first they ignored itpletely. After a while... they tried to run away from it, as if there was nothing they could do. Only when they realized there was nowhere to run did they try to stand against it.


    The image froze at this moment. Nothing moved, even the pain stopped. Even the sounds I heard disappeared.


    Darkness, light, presence... literally everything slowly disappeared as if pulled by a vacuum. After a short silence and nothingness, something reached out to my non-existent body and pulled me out of the darkness.


    *******


    My eyes flew open. I found myself literally bathing in sweat. My whole body was aching in pain.


    The sky above me was sunless but blue. It was devoid of any clouds. It even resembled an overly calm sea with no waves. This... gave it a special, pleasant air.


    I stood for a moment doing nothing as my eyes widened. After a short while, though, I just swallowed, and after I had prepared myself... I finally spoke.


    "W- what did you show me?"


    My answer came shortly after, right next to me. In an emotionless, soulless voice.


    "Everything I can show you for now."


    I quickly turned my head in the direction of the voice. As I straightened up, ignoring the pain in my body, I looked at the figure not far from me.


    One of his legs was slightly extended and the other was bent upward at the knee. His right hand was on his bent knee, his left hand on the grass. His gray eyes were as empty as ever, and his expression was no better. His ck hair swayed gently in the non-existent winds.


    Everything he can show...?


    He didn''t show me anything I could understand properly! He only confirmed my thoughts, that''s all!


    "Well, okay... I can more or less understand your part of it. Lunerra goes through a loop with each ''failure'', and you not only have these memories as a result of the experiments, but also... be the vessel of Knowledge. Thank you for confirming my thoughts! I more or less understand that this is the tenth and final loop, but there are still tons of things you haven''t answered! For example, thest images..."


    Aiden turned slowly toward me without saying anything. His gray eyes, looking ahead into infinity, locked on me this time. They really seemed to be staring into my soul.


    "Everything in order, Ethan. There are tons of things in this universe you don''t need to learn, and even more things that if you do, you''ll be doomed before you know it. Why do you think I have to deal with you and tons of other things when I can finish everything myself?"


    His eyes narrowed for a moment, something in his emotionless expression that I couldn''t quite put my finger on.


    "Knowledge is not a blessing, it''s a curse. It has been so from the beginning and will remain so until the end. The saying ''ignorance is bliss'' is more true than you think, and also iplete. Ignorance is not only happiness, it is also the thing that removes obstacles."


    Just behind him, at this very moment, a figure appeared out of nowhere. The purple-eyed me, Ethan, or rather... ric. With a serious expression on his face, he said only one thing.


    "Aiden."


    But Aiden didn''t even take him seriously.


    "This is the foundation, the continuity, and the end of the universe. Everything runs on knowledge. This universe itself is based on knowledge. But that''s why the more you know, the closer you get to the truth, the more it limits you. The more you have ess to, the more weight you have on you, and the more this weight holds you in ce. That''s why we need someone who doesn''t belong to this universe, but that''s also why we need someone who has a piece of this universe."


    "That''s really enough."


    Aiden slowly turned to ric. His expression was so nk, his emotionlessness so evident, that ric stiffened for a moment. He stepped back involuntarily. And Aiden said nothing more to him. He ignored him again and turned toward me.


    "You will learn only as much as you can, each time. If you don''t want to be constrained by this universe itself, if you don''t want to be stuck where you are for that reason alone when you crave power, you will do everything in order. Do you understand?"


    Do you understand...


    It was a question directed at me. But at the same time... it felt like a threat. His empty eyes seemed to peer into my soul, his expression made me feel like he could get rid of me in a second if he had to... everything about him emphasized it.


    So much so that I found myself silently moving my lips without even realizing what was happening.


    "I- I understand..."


    There was silence between us for a few seconds. ric just stood where he was, staring at Aiden, while I... I could only swallow.


    Finally, Aiden nodded his head in satisfaction as he continued to stare into my eyes. ric simply sighed when he saw that. As for me... I could only scribble something brief but important in my mind.


    Well, it seems that Aiden is someone who shouldn''t be pissed off...

 Chapter 311 Volume V - 29: With Appearance No Longer Hidden

    <h4>Chapter 311 Volume V - Chapter 29: With Appearance No Longer Hidden </h4>


    ?After Aiden nodded his head in satisfaction and ric sighed slightly, there was silence between us again.


    Everything in order... Okay, I don''t have a problem with that. I''m patient, I can wait. But that doesn''t mean that I want to be a puppet, that I want to do everything they say.


    "You said you are trying to make me not be a puppet. How are you going to do that, then...?"


    "By following a n other than the n of those who want you to be a puppet. Because if we follow their n, the person you end up bing is not someone who can help us, but someone who will stand against us."


    Oh, so it doesn''t really matter what I am... If what he said wasn''t going to happen, would he let me be a puppet?


    I''m not sure whether I should trust him or not.


    "Since this is your consciousness, there''s not much you can do even if you wanted to. Learning how to use caora wille after you wake up. It won''t take you long to wake up anyway, at least for us. Just... do what you''ve been doing, Ethan. Even though you''re walking a path created by others, you can choose the steps you take and how you walk it. That''s what I''m asking you to do."


    He paused for a moment and I frowned slightly, deciding to ask a small question that had been on my mind.


    "Did they shape the twenty-one years of my life as Ethan, on Earth? Is it because of them that I never made a single friend? Is it because of them that my family abandoned me? Did I... Did I live those twenty-one years as a preparation for this world?"


    Aiden didn''t give any answer.


    And he was aware that his silence was an answer, as I was too.


    I looked up at the sky, then closed my eyes, and let out a deep... really deep sigh.


    Why didn''t I ever think of this...? When I came into this world, making friends was even easier than it should have been. I was not a person with bad social skills... But in my previous life, I never had a single ''real'' friend. Not even one.


    People talked to me,municated with me, yes, but... No matter what my achievements were, no matter how hard I tried, I had never been able to connect with anyone socially. I had lost myself in this strangeness because I had lived like this for twenty-one years, and when I came to this world, I didn''t realize it because I was hiding behind my new identity.


    But this was the reality.


    A puppet... No matter how much Aiden says he''s trying to make me not be a puppet, I am still one. I''ve been a puppet since the beginning. Since the day I was born. Even now, I have to learn everything in an ''order''. No matter how I choose to walk the path that has been prepared for me, I cannot change the path itself.


    Are my friendships in this world also prepared? Forget friendships, what about the person I consider my own sister? Aiden himself is the reason I''m so attached to her... Does that make our bond a fake one then?


    I sighed again as I shook my head slightly from side to side.


    No... I''ve already told her who I really am. No matter how fake our bond is, it doesn''t change the fact that I see her as my sister. I can''t throw away everything that''s already happened when she''s starting to see me as her brother too.


    Like this, in the middle of this endless field of grass... I finally opened my eyes again.


    I will not trust them.


    Not Aiden, not the Lords, not anyone involved in this. I will not trust anyone except those who are truly close to me.


    Future threats... Even with a total of two loops involving Aiden, they couldn''t save Lunerra. If I ignore Aiden, there have already been a total of nine loops... With this fact, I will not blindly believe that I can defeat them on my own.


    Just as they can use me to achieve their goals... I can use them to achieve mine. That''s what I''m going to do.


    My own purpose foring into this world was to have a happy ending. In this happy ending, to live a peaceful life with the people I am close to, to build a beautiful future. My purpose hasn''t changed. I just... learned some unpleasant truths, that''s all.


    So, I''m going to keep doing what I''ve been doing from the very beginning. I''m going to get stronger, I''m going to rise to the top of this world.


    Of course, first, I have to wake up from thea I''m in... But since Aiden said I''ll wake up soon, that shouldn''t be a problem either. For now... all I can do is wait, like he said.


    *******


    The first thing I did... was to prepare myself by taking a deep breath. Inside the car, which had just stopped moving, I was a little nervous.


    After all, it was the first time I was actually going to go out in public without disguising myself. Even though my ne was still around my neck, my ears were still pointed and my appearance was closer to that of an elf.


    Still, I couldn''t wait in the car forever. Knowing this... I finally opened the door and got out.


    The sunlight was the first thing to hit my face. The summer breeze that followed was something I had been waiting for. The huge south gate of the Academy was as imposing as ever. The buildings and the academy itself, more or less visible behind it, were even more mesmerizing.


    But that was not the only thing in front of me. There were people everywhere. The academy''s security guards, students, staff, and more... Although I didn''t attract much attention the first time I got out of the car, as I stood where I was, some people started to notice my presence.


    The first person I saw noticing me was a student. He looked like an ordinary person. He was a little older than me. But the moment he saw me, he went rigid for a brief moment. Immediately after him... others slowly saw me.


    I saw a few people whispering among themselves. I saw eyes with many different emotions and thoughts behind them.


    I sighed lightly and took the first step toward the south gate.


    You were under the same gazes before... Only this time, there are more of them and I am in a different situation. The only thing different from before is my appearance, that''s all. There is no need to be so tense...


    I heard the car that took me to the academy leave. And right after that, I heard someone whispering to another.


    "It''s true..."


    It was only two words. But those two words made me realize what he was talking about easily.


    Are there already rumors about me...? Only a few people had seen me at the festival, so I thought the academy would try to keep it a bit under wraps... But it seems I was wrong.


    When I arrived in front of the south gate, I looked toward the security guard who was going to check my ID.


    The guard was just like the others. There was a slight curiosity in his eyes, jealousy, and more. Still, he was a security guard and he hadn''t forgotten his duty.


    He took my student card that I handed to him and checked it. When the system verified my identity, the south gate of the academy opened for me.


    The inside was no different from the outside. Students, staff, and more... Again, everyone was looking in my direction. Nevertheless, I kept walking toward the dormitories, trying not to pay attention to any of them.


    I entered the dormitory building. I watched a student on the elevator going up with me, sweating, afraid to make eye contact, just standing there with his head bowed. Finally, when I entered my room... I just let myself fall to the floor.


    No... it''s not like before. Before, it was only jealousy or admiration. Now... now it''spletely different. The way everyone goes silent the moment I enter a ce, the way literally every single person in that ce locks their gaze on me, it feels so different and... heavypared to the previous times.


    I forced myself to stand up and threw myself straight onto my bed without turning anywhere else. I wanted to get some rest... but I didn''t do that. Instead, I opened my watch, the new one I had been given because the previous one had broken, and checked the news.


    Just as I had predicted, one of the main topics on the news across the kingdom was... me.


    <>


    Just as I was looking at the news, the news was suddenly updated. A new headline was suddenly uploaded to the breaking news tab.


    <>


    Huh...? Wh- what? That fast?


    I quickly clicked on the news and then on the video at the top.


    It was really me. Everything from the moment I got out of the car to the moment I walked through the south gate was on the video. It looked like someone in the crowd had taken the video.


    I was... definitely not expecting this.


    As I closed the holographic screen in front of me with a sigh, I let the silence in my room fall for a moment. It wasn''t hard to imagine what I would wake up to tomorrow. First of all, Julian and the others would probably try to contact me directly...


    So, I closed my eyes as I let myself sink into thefort of my bed. I wanted to get a good night''s sleep.

 Chapter 312 Volume V - 30: Two Meetings

    <h4>Chapter 312 Volume V - Chapter 30: Two Meetings </h4>


    ?I sighed slightly as I facepalmed myself. Immediately after, a curious and rather raised voice entered my ears.


    "So... they let you stay at the academy even though you''re an elf?!"


    Julian spoke with a somewhat disbelieving expression on his face as his eyes were examining my body, especially my ears. Sue interjected soon after.


    "Is that what you''re wondering when it''s strange that he wasn''t thrown in jail in the first ce?"


    Julian took his eyes off me and turned them to Sue, who was sitting calmly across from him.


    "You don''t seem surprised that he''s an elf for some reason... Did you know it from the beginning?"


    Sue ignored Julian''s narrowed eyes.


    "First of all, he''s not an elf, he''s a half-elf. Second... no, I didn''t know, but I''ve been witnessing too many thingstely to be surprised something like this anymore."


    As the two of them continued to bicker, I nced at Lucia sitting in the chair to my right out of the corner of my eye. When she saw me looking at her, she simply turned toward Julian and Sue.


    "Stop it, you two... You are forgetting why we are here in the first ce."


    The two paused for a moment. A brief silence fell over the room as they both slowly turned to Lucia. So, I turned back to my ''group of friends'' who had so far refused to let me speak.


    "They''ve already said most of it on the news... If you''ve looked at even one of them, there''s not much left for me to add. I just wanted to contact you first because you are the closest people to me."


    To be honest, I was quite nervous before I told them that we could meet...


    What if they think I''ve deceived them, and they move away from me? What if they don''t want to see me as their friend anymore? What if they''re disappointed that I didn''t tell them my secret...?


    After the day I entered the academy, when I woke up the next morning, my chat app was full of six hundred message notifications from the study group... I was scared to read them. In the end, I invited them to meet me in my room, saying that whatever would happen would happen face to face.


    But... it was a very different atmosphere than I had expected.


    Even though the academy was on summer vacation, Julian had returned here for a short time from his family as soon as he heard the news about me. When I called them to meet him, he was also the first one toe to my room.


    When I opened the door and found him in the hallway, his arms crossed and his brow furrowed, I couldn''t help but think for a moment that what I had feared was happening. My fear was intensified when he quietly walked in and plopped down on one of my couches.


    Sue arrived a few minutester, followed by Lucia. Celine had written something from the study group but couldn''te to the meeting because of her situation. And Alice... there was basically no sign of her.


    So that set the mood. It was only when we actually started talking... that I realized how wrong I had been.


    Yes, Julian seemed a little angry with me. But he didn''t express it in an aggressive way. In fact, he hardly expressed it at all... He just looked puzzled, that''s all. Sue looked strangely confused, but she quickly epted it. Meanwhile, Lucia seemed thoughtful.


    Still, it wasn''t like they were yelling at me or trying to end our friendship. On the contrary... they were curious aboutpletely different things. They even started arguing about what I was going to do in the future without even giving me a chance to talk about it.


    They were more worried about me being half an elf than what might happen to me at the academy because of it. Which... was something I simply didn''t expect.


    "So... I... I''m sorry. If you think I didn''t trus-"


    "Oh, is that why you''re sweating where you sit?"


    Julian sighed lightly after not letting me continue.


    "No one among us is angry with you for not telling your secret... A secret is a secret. I have secrets of my own. Lucia has hers. So does Sue. And you must have a lot of secrets you haven''t told yet. Secrets are not something to be told and used as a test of trust, Adrian. What I''m angry about... is that you act as if we''re going to alienate you in spite of that."


    Lucia continued as Sue nodded slightly.


    "It makes no difference to me that you''re an elf, or a half one. I don''t think it will for Julian, Sue, Celine or Aiden. What we''re discussing here now... is how we should move forward in the academy with this reality."


    She reached for her ck mask for a moment. She tossed her hair back as she straightened it slightly, then fixed her blood red eyes on me.


    "In the past, most of the students didn''t mess with you because you were strong, regardless of your background. But now it''s different. Right now, your background is aplete mess. Everyone thought you were someone who rose from the streets, but now that you''ve been revealed as an elf in disguise, there will be many who will think that background is a lie."


    She paused for a moment. She seemed to think for a moment as if something had suddenly urred to her, but then she continued.


    "Even if it turns out that you are telling the truth about this... you could face racism. Even though the academy regtions only require you to be a Cevilian citizen to be a student here, you are the only person of a different race in the academy. So... the students will no longer see you as you were before."


    I didn''t change my expression one bit as I involuntarily tilted my head slightly to the side.


    "Why is that a big deal...? Even if people''s gaze feels different, it''s nothing I can''t get used to."


    Lucia sighed deeply once again.


    "Even if it''s not important for you, it''s important for your professional life, Adrian. People will criticize you no matter how strong you are. And that will affect your reputation. And the worse your reputation gets, the less you will be able to do in the future and the more problems you will face."


    Oh... I''ve never looked at it like that. When I use that perspective of what might happen, it makes being an elf seem like a bigger problem than it really is.


    "I kind of get it... So what should I do about it?"


    This time Sue quickly jumped into the conversation.


    "You have to change the way people look at you, basically. You need to work harder than you used to and put your achievements and the fact that you are a citizen of this kingdom on the stage more than the fact that you are an elf. Then people won''t care that you''re an elf anymore, at least I hope and think that way."


    Julian nodded in agreement. He started to say something of his own. But... it was at this point that something struck me. So I interrupted him.


    "If my reputation goes down... won''t it affect your reputation as well?"


    Julian quickly shook his head from side to side.


    "On the contrary, people''s opinion of you will improve when they see that you remain friends with us. We are nobles, Adrian. Lucia and I bothe from the pir families of the kingdom. There may be a few inconveniences for Sue... but they will probably be far outweighed by the effects that Lucia and I will cause."


    Immediately after that, Lucia confirmed that Sue would not be affected, along with her own thoughts. Sue was... frankly,rgely indifferent to the talk about her.


    In this way, Julian and Lucia moved on to another rather long conversation between themselves. They were talking about improving my reputation and making sure that Sue would not be affected... but this meeting, which I had nned to simply exin the situation, took a very different turn.


    Aside from the fact that what I feared had happened, it was a great relief to see that what I had hoped would happen had happened. As I watched my friends arguing amongst themselves... I felt happy again to have met these people.


    At the same time... I felt even more grateful to Aiden, who had been instrumental in my meeting these people. I found myself even more excited and wanting to try to heal him.


    And so... time flew by.


    *******


    "Calvin. Begin talking."


    I looked at the old man squinting at the holographic screen just above the table where I was sitting.


    There was not a single hair on his head that had not grayed. With the wrinkles on his face and the copsed appearance of his body, he looked like a man at the end of his life. He was definitely one of the oldest ''humans'' in the world.


    However... this old age was by no means a hindrance to him. On the contrary, it made him look even more frightening than he already was.


    Besides the old man, there were five other people who appeared on the screen with him. And so, I started talking.


    "Adrian Caleo... has indeed been chosen by the ordea. And even though his status is shown as a rookie, he has a C grade tolerance and a C- grade limit. He has really high potential. Besides that... even without ordea, he seems to be quite strong. Maybe I''m exaggerating, but... I think he can be as strong as Lithoa Laergas."


    The old man''s eyes twitched. He waited for a brief moment as past memories shed before his eyes.


    Of course it would be like that... After all, he had met this man, Lithoa Laergas, face to face long ago. That aside, he had suffered a bitter defeat against him.


    "Are you sure, Calvin? The man you''re talking about is on apletely different scale. Are you sure that someone who hasn''t even turned twenty can be as powerful as him?"


    When I nodded my head in agreement without hesitation, this time everyone on the screen couldn''t help frowning slightly.


    "Even though he''s a half-blood, there''s no imbnce in his body. Everything is... perfect. He is literally the embodiment of perfection as if he was created to be especially strong. As a half-elf, he has a mana heart and circtory system. On top of that, he has human blood, so he has ess to the system. And his talent... I don''t think I even need to mention it."


    After my words, one of the people on the screen opened his mouth to speak. He was the most gigantic of us all, bald with his eyes closed. With a slightly darker skin color and a single horn on the left side of his head, he looked like a real demon.


    "If what you say is true... it is a miracle that Saligia has kept him alive so far. We should change our minds and start training him now."


    I answered him quickly, shaking my head from side to side.


    "No, I don''t think that would be a good method."


    The huge and bald hannya immediately frowned.


    "Why is that?"


    "Because as perfect as I say he is, his mind is not fully developed. Adrian Caleo is naive. He still has much to live and learn. If we take him to the Valley right now, he will be stronger without changing or developing this mindset. I think it makes more sense for him to... experience things first. I will continue to teach him how to use the ordea, as agreed with the leaders of Lunerra, to give him a good foundation."


    One of the six, a woman with pointed ears, tried to interject quickly, but the old man did not let her. He had a serious expression on his face, he was really thinking carefully. But... he didn''t seem to want to move quickly.


    "If that''s what you think... I trust you, at least for now, Calvin. We will not go back on our decision and will proceed in the same way. When the timees, we''ll deal with him ording to where he is. If he really is what you say he is... then he will take the ce of one of us in the future anyway."


    There were certainly those who were not happy about the decision. It was easy to see it in the way they looked. The elven woman who was not allowed to speak was one of them. Yet no one said anything.


    "Keep watching him. Guide him appropriately, Calvin. This meeting is over."


    Before anyone could object or say anything, the meeting ended abruptly. I found myself alone in the darkness of my room. And all I could do was... sigh deeply.


    I wonder what will happen in the future... First Aiden, now Adrian... I can hardly keep track of what''s happening anymore.

 Chapter 313 Volume V - 31: A Strange Morning

    <h4>Chapter 313 Volume V - Chapter 31: A Strange Morning </h4>


    ?I turned the stove down slightly and slowly flipped the cracked eggs in the pan. I chopped a few slices of cheddar and added some sausage. After adding a few spices... the smell of the breakfast I had prepared started to tickle my nose and I couldn''t help smiling.


    I ced the pan in the center of a rather big tray, then chopped a sd, toasted some bread, and added some different things. Finally, I picked up the tray and walked into the living room. The moment I walked in... the person sitting on my couch caught my attention. He must have smelled the breakfast because his nose wiggled slightly for a moment, then his eyes slowly turned in my direction.


    A slight smile appeared on his face. His ck hair was a little longer than I was used to. His brown eyes, tinged with yellow, were filled with curiosity as he looked at the tray in my hand.


    "I only came once... you overdid it, ra. If you keep this up, I''ll want toe here every morning."


    I put my hands on my waist and smiled sincerely as I ced the tray on the table in front of the armchairs.


    "What makes you think that''s not my intention, Paul?"


    I sat down on the sofa without saying anything else. Paul, his expression full of curiosity, reached for one of the toasts and dipped it into the fried egg in the pan. When he looked satisfied, I couldn''t help smiling again.


    Since her sister hadn''t returned yet, there was nothing for him to do during his summer vacation. So he hade to my house about half an hour ago, and after breakfast, we were going out for a walk. It was going to be a normal day...


    I took some of the sd and looked at Paul''s face.


    His lips were curled upward, his eyes were on the table. But... in a strange way, he also wasn''t focused on it at all. Maybe a normal person wouldn''t have noticed, but I wasn''t a ''normal person''. It wasn''t hard to see that something wasn''t quite right.


    "Are you okay?"


    Paul paused at my sudden question. His eyes left the table with his fork in the air and fixed on mine.


    "About what?"


    I replied as I briefly raised and lowered my hands.


    "Anything... You haven''t looked well for almost a month. Ever since the news about my brother spread. At first, I thought you were worried about me... But even though I''ve more or less recovered now, you''re still the same. It''s like... something''s always keeping you busy. Like there''s always one or more thoughts you can''t get out of your head."


    Paul finally put the fork he had been holding in the air back in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed the thing in his mouth a few times, sighing slightly.


    "It''s something to do with my sister, actually. I... I''m sorry. It''s not something I can talk about because it''s her private matter. Well... to tell you the truth, I also have a bit of a headache. I apologize again if I''m too obvious."


    Oh...


    "If you have a headache, you should tell me in advance! Let''s cancel today''s ns and go out tomorrow."


    If it''s something to do with her sister... it''s not something I can delve into. If he doesn''t want to or can''t tell me, there''s nothing I can do.


    After all... I hide a lot of things from him too, even though we have a romantic rtionship.


    "Actually... it would be good. I don''t want to be out and look soulless when I''m not feeling very well."


    With that, he ate his breakfast andy down on the couch in the living room. After taking a painkiller and clearing the table together, he closed his eyes. A slightly relieved expression appeared on his face as he let himself sink into thefort of the couch.


    Sitting in the other armchair next to him... I looked up at his sleepy face for a moment and waited... doing nothing as I rested my head in my hand.


    Paul... he was cute. He wasn''t handsome. He wasn''t ugly, of course. But he wasn''t like anybody else, either. He had a special, strange air about him. It had felt that way since the first day I met him. Now, with his eyes closed as he slept, his face was even cuter.


    How long has it been? It must have been almost half a year... We''ve done a lot of things in those half a year, and the rtionship between us has been getting better and better. But there are still things I''m keeping from him. That''s why sometimes I wonder if I''m doing the right thing.


    Is what I''m doing... the right thing? Is it the right thing to do to hide the truth from him when he is the only person in my life who is as close to me as my brother, maybe even more so at this point? I''m really struggling to make a decision... Part of me still tells me not to tell him, to wait for my brother to wake up first. But another part... tells me that every second I don''t tell him the truth, I betray his trust and our rtionship.


    I sighed lightly. I hadn''t even blinked my eyes once when I paused for a moment at a change in his expression.


    Paul... his expression remained unchanged as he stood still for a moment. The corners of his lips curled up slightly as if he had encountered something exciting. The fingers of his left hand tried to close as if trying to grasp something, but... there was nothing to grasp, so he couldn''t achieve anything.


    Is he dreaming? What kind of thing is he seeing...?


    I found myself just focusing on his body movements. But... when I saw that he wasn''t doing anything different, I lost interest a little bit.


    Anyway... I''ll keep waiting for my brother to wake up, for now. In any case... he''ll understand me when the timees. And now, I don''t want to disturb him.


    In the end, having chosen, as usual, to continue hiding the truth from him, I thought I would go to my room and surf the inte.


    So I stretched slightly and then stood up. I made my way to the door, but before I left the living room, I wanted to take onest look at Paul.


    First, I turned my head slightly back, and then... the first thing I saw was not his body lying on the couch... but a shadow right in front of my face, standing just behind me.


    Before I could even realize what was happening, I was frozen in ce. I hadn''t finished turning my head back, and I couldn''t stop myself from seeing it out of the corner of my eye... but I couldn''t scream either.


    As my eyes reflexively closed, I threw my hand behind my back for the same reason. It was at this moment, just before my eyes closed... that I met the pale eyes of the shadow.


    They were yellow. They weren''t exactly yellow, they looked that way because they were a quite light shade of brown. But... the important thing was that they felt familiar.


    My eyes closed. My hand passed through the void without tripping over anything. Even my knee, which I also reflexively raised, did not hit any object. When I realized this... my eyes slowly opened, and what I found in front of me was... nothing. It was really nothing. There was no shadow in front of me, and Paul was still lying there with the same expression.


    I stared at him nkly, the silence of the room enveloping my body, the ticking of the analog clock in and out of my ears.


    What happened...? That shadow... that was Paul. I... I''m sure.


    Did the irvoyance activate? But even if it was activated... what was it trying to show me, to tell me?


    I just locked onto Paul''s expression. After a while, the ticking became even annoying, but I still didn''t move a muscle.


    My eyebrows furrowed. I shook my head from side to side as I sighed.


    Was it my imagination? Was I tired...? Why did I suspect Paul?


    No... it would have been absurd if I hadn''t thought that for a moment after the eyes of the shadow. Then...


    Oh, no... I''m being stupid. What am I thinking...? I''ve known him for almost six years.


    As I started to get angry with myself, I finally turned around again. This time, I entered my room without hesitation, trying to clear my mind and rx myself as I made my way to my bed.


    But... before I let myself fall on my bed, I just stayed where I was for a moment. I don''t know why, my whole body stiffened again. I felt beads of sweat forming on my forehead and realized that my fingers were trembling.


    My eyes involuntarily shifted to the floor, fixed on the tips of my feet. As the silence surrounded me again in an unsettling way... this time, my eyes began to drift to the right. First, I followed the patterns of the carpet, then the tiles of the floor. Finally, I reached the legs of my closet, then its door. Then... the bottom of the mirror on the same closet door.


    I forced myself for a moment. Instead of going up slowly, I gathered my courage, suddenly turned my eyes upward, and looked at the entire mirror.


    There was nothing there. What was in the mirror was a reflection of me and my room. Nothing was wrong or strange.


    Finally, I let out a deep, really deep sigh... I just let myself fall back on my bed... I attributed this strange moment... to my imagination and fatigue... I simply didn''t want to think otherwise... and then... I gave myself over to sleep.

 Chapter 314 Volume V - 32: A Meaningless Unease

    <h4>Chapter 314 Volume V - Chapter 32: A Meaningless Unease </h4>


    ?It''s the same thing again... Again and again and again... I don''t know how to approach Adrian Caleo. I feel like my brain has stopped working...


    There shouldn''t be a problem. Sometimes he even smiles at me when we''re in the same space. I don''t think it backfires when I try to approach him as a friend, but... why is this happening?


    There''s something wrong with me. I''m afraid to approach him myself. Am I... scared? No, it''s not fear. There is nothing to be scared of.


    Then... what exactly do I feel?


    Lying on my bed, I continued to stare at the ceiling, as I had been doing. Seconds passed by with me doing nothing. Then minutes...


    Bring Adrian Caleo to the manor without killing him. This is my current mission. But... it''s way more difficult than killing him.


    Why did I stop my dagger when I saw that ne and called the manor? Why didn''t I just ignore it and simply kill him? Just because he was an elf didn''t change the fact that it was my mission to kill him.


    When did I... when did I be so loyal to the Laute Family in the first ce? Why did I feel the need to tell them such a detail instead of just doing what they told me and leaving?


    I took a deep breath, held it in for a while. Then I let it out slowly and long.


    Silver hair, emerald green eyes. His appearance was reminiscent of a Laute in itself. I had seen it myself, but I refused to believe it. I just thought it was a simple coincidence. So... did I want to confirm it after seeing that ne?


    Eventually... I stopped staring at the ceiling, and as I slowly rose from where I was lying and stood up, I looked in the mirror.


    There was no difference. My ck eyes were the same, my expression was the same, my gaze was the same... But there was also this strange, foreign feeling inside me that I couldn''t shake. No matter how ''the same'' I looked when I looked at myself in the mirror, when I ignored this reflection and looked at myself, I was just as... different. There was an uneasiness inside me that I couldn''t make sense of.


    I took my eyes off the mirror, raised my hands, and looked at them this time. Then I closed my fingers and clenched my fists slightly.


    I''m not acting like myself. If I keep doing this... they''ll eventually think I''m ignoring my mission and reduce the amount of medicine they send me to tell me toe to my senses. If I want to go on with my life, at least for now, without real suffering... I have to do what they say.


    I have toe to my senses. Even if I can''t... I have to pretend to be.


    So, I turned on my watch, opened a holographic screen in front of me, and opened the chat application. There were dozens and dozens of academy groups with dozens and dozens of people in front of me.


    One by one, I went into each group and started searching for the name ''Adrian''. Since there wasn''t a single person in the academy whose name was Adrian, I coulde across things I had no business searching for. However, when I did the same search again in the third group I entered, the message that appeared at the top of the results was the message I was looking for.


    It was a message sent about seven minutes ago. A girl, who had misspelled a few letters as if excited, had seen Adrianing out of the training building in a sweat. Not content with that, she had taken a picture of him and sent it to the group. Just below it was another one saying how handsome he was. In between, someone wrote that he had gone into one of the woods. And just below that... someone else had appeared out of nowhere to say how dishonest he was.


    The two sides were soon engaged in a dispute. But the side arguing that he was dishonest outweighed the other side. The dispute soon progressed to the point that he should be expelled from the academy.


    Ever since Adrian revealed that he was an elf, the academy had been split in two. This dispute was a consequence of that split.


    Sighing, I turned off the holographic screen and my watch.


    The wooded area, huh... I can guess where he is, so what I have to do is ''identally'' run into him...


    As I walked out of my room, I started heading toward the wooded area where I had been a few times, while... I said something simple to myself in my mind.


    That''s enough. I have to start being myself.


    *******


    I walked through the branches, ignoring the bushes that I stepped on and disfigured. Finally, after a short while, as the trees began to thin out, I came out into a clearing. It was quite close to the boundaries of the academy, and I could see the tall walls not far from me. But the most noticeable thing in the area, instead of the high and thick walls that marked the boundaries of the academy, was the huge boulder in the middle of the area.


    It was not easy to find such a boulder in the academy. It even looked as if it had been ced in this particr spot. It was also a boulder that I visited at least once every few days to rx.


    The sun was slowly setting and soon it would start to get dark. And when it got dark... the stars would appear. That was the view that was what I was looking for. The bonus ofing here when the sun was setting was that I could watch not only the stars but also this sunset. It was a really good spot to rx.


    I jumped on a tree, climbed up another one and from there, Inded on the boulder. After two more steps on it... I just let myself fall on the hard surface.


    The sun was approaching the main building, the tallest building in the academy, right next to a mountain that didn''t look too close but wasn''t far away either. It had colored the sky orange, and its brightness had diminished enough that I could look at it without squinting. With the clouds around it, as always... it was breathtaking.


    My lips curled upward. I watched the sunset peacefully, undisturbed by anything except the rustling of the trees and the sound of a few birds.


    ''Lithoa, are you awake?''


    I asked in my mind and received an answer from my mind again.


    ''Yes, what happened?''


    When I heard the calmness in his voice and the simplicity in his words... it reminded me of the first time I met him. He was always angry with me, always yelling at me. He was always emphasizing my need to get stronger, but sometimes he wouldn''t even let me speak. He was like that even when I started at the academy, actually.


    But, especiallytely... he was different. He sounded calm, not angry or impatient. Instead of shouting and swearing at me like before, he spoke more clearly.


    I really wondered what had caused this change, but I decided to keep it to myself. Instead, I asked the first question that came to my mind, again in my mind. I had been a bit hesitant before, but... it was time to ask.


    ''A few days ago, the day they asked me questions, they asked me a few things about you because of the red spear I took from your house.''


    He had no idea what had happened that day, since I had lost contact with him when they restricted my mana. Strangely... he didn''t ask anything. He didn''t even talk about it. He was just... quiet these days. Yes, Lithoa has been strangely really quiettely.


    ''They said you were the most dangerous man in the world. They were almost obsessed with whether I had a connection with you. What exactly did you do... to make them so wary of you?''


    Lithoa was silent for a moment. But the silence he had created was broken by a sudden and loudugh that made me jump in my ce for a moment. I had not expected this sudden change...


    ''It''s quite simple, actually. At that time... You can say that I was an angry person, and I took it out on people who were not on good terms with me, and when a few of them turned out to be important people... the whole of Lunerra dered me a terrorist. And when a few cities were destroyed trying to catch me, something like this happened.''


    Oh, that... certainly didn''t sound as ''simple'' as he said it was. But something else stuck in my mind this time.


    In my early days at the Academy, I asked Aiden a question about Lithoa. Then he told me that... Lithoa was exiled by a king into a dungeon because he asked for an important item from him.


    Does the exile take ce before the years when he was called a terrorist...? But if Lithoa was as powerful as feared, why didn''t he make a fuss about this exile...?


    ''Wait a minute, there are things I don''t understand... Aiden told me befo-''


    But I could notplete the question in my mind. Rather... instead of the chirping of birds and the rustling of trees, apletely different sound suddenly entered my ears. It was as if... someone was walking toward me through the bushes.


    I didn''t go into shock. I also didn''t jump to my feet. After all, if I could find this ce, it wasn''t like anyone else couldn''t. That''s why I just slowly straightened up and turned in the direction of the sound.


    But the figure slowly emerging from the trees was no random person. Instead... it was someone I did not expect to see here. With her dark brown hair down her back and purple eyes like an amethyst, it was Celine.

 Chapter 315 Volume V - 33: Visitor Abundant Boulder

    <h4>Chapter 315 Volume V - Chapter 33: Visitor Abundant Boulder </h4>


    ?"Celine...?"


    "Adrian?"


    We both paused for a moment as we spoke at the same time. Celine, first thinking that there might be someone else in the area, quickly pulled her hair up and put her hood back over her head. She looked around briefly. Then, with a sigh, she turned her eyes back upward, toward me.


    "You''re here to rx a bit, I suppose?"


    "Ah, yeah... There''s been a lot going ontely. Even though it''s a bit hard to lie down, it''s also rxing to watch the sky or the sunset."


    Her eyes, half-hidden just under her hoodie, focused for a moment on my face, or rather on the sides of my face. It was as if... she was looking at my ears.


    I sighed and pointed with my hand to the tip of my right ear.


    "That''s also one of the things that happenedtely, of course."


    "I see..."


    She finally took her eyes off my ears. She didn''t seem to have much of a problem with me being an elf. If she did, she wouldn''t have spoken to me in the same tone as before.


    That aside... I noticed how she was studying the rock as she began to look at it, as if she had stumbled upon it for the first time by chance, rather thaning here from time to time.


    "You don''t seem to be here for the same reason, were you looking for something?"


    She nodded her head while still studying the boulder.


    "Yes. And I found what I was looking for... It was the boulder you are standing on currently. It wasn''t easy to find, though, since it was my first time in the forest here."


    "I have some snacks in my bracelet, do you want to climb up?"


    Celine hesitated for a moment. She lifted her arm and looked at her watch, then sighed slightly. She shook her head from side to side before turning back to me.


    "I don''t have time right now... sorry. I just wanted to find out where the rock was and see what it was like... I guess I''lle backter."


    With that, she gave me onest look and then waved. I waved back in the same way.


    "See you."


    After receiving the same answer from me, Celine turned around, looking around carefully. At that very moment, I looked at her back, focusing my mana into my eyes, while I poured a small amount of mana into the Friend of Mana.


    Streams appeared in front of my eyes, moving through the air like a liquid. The trees, the grass, the ground, the air... it surrounded everything and even moved through it. It was moving inside Celine, too. Of course, what looked like liquid was mana.


    As I examined the mana in Celine''s body, I couldn''t help being slightly surprised, but without letting me examine the mana in her body too much, Celine disappeared into the bushes from the direction she came from.


    Sighing slightly, I stopped the mana I was focusing on my eyes and my passive skill and stared in the direction she had gone.


    Just like when we met a few days ago, she didn''t look me in the eye even once. It will be hard for her to improve in this regard, I think... But she seems to be getting stronger strangely fast. The flow of mana in her body feels more evenly distributed, dense, and pure than that of an E+ grade. But not as much as that of a D- grade person.


    A month? Or two? It looks like she''ll reach D- grade in that time. She''ll start the second year ahead of her peers again.


    I paused for a moment with this thought, and then a question that I wasn''t sure of the answer suddenly appeared in my mind.


    Now that I think about it... She spent almost half a year not attending any sses. Her theoretical sses weren''t very good either, at least that''s how it felt in the study group... So will she repeat the first year? Or will she go straight into the second year?


    And what about Aiden? Although they''ll probably let him go to the second year because he''s pretty well at studying... But I''m not sure what Celine will do.


    "Haaaa..."


    Every day, instead of finding answers to my questions, more and more questions are popping up in my mind... I started to get frustrated.


    I turned my gaze between the main building of the academy and the mountains in the distance. The sun had already set and the eastern part of the sky was already darkening. The sky, which had gone from blue to shades of orange, was now slowly turning ck. Soon, the stars would appear.


    With a slight smile on my face, I lowered myself back onto the hard surface of the big rock, squinting my eyes slightly as I watched the night slowly dominate the day. But... only a few seconds had passed when a figure came between my eyes and the sky.


    It was so sudden and unexpected that I almost jumped out of my ce and sent a manaden punch upward. But... I stopped my fist in mid-air before it reached the figure.


    I felt the soft, silvery hair falling over my fist tickle my skin. Immediately afterward, wrinkles appeared on the forehead of the person with the hair. Her dark eyes squinted as the sky behind her slowly took on the color of her eyes.


    "Is the first thing you do when you see someone now is to swing a fist at them?"


    She slowly moved her hand over my fist, then gently pushed it aside as she smoothed her loose hair.


    She took a step back as the wrinkles on her forehead disappeared.


    I straightened up and turned around, looking at the figure beside me. It was indeed... Alice.


    I hadn''t opened my mouth yet when Alice''s eyebrows raised curiously.


    "You seem to have changed your preferences since our conversation after the attack."


    For a moment, I couldn''t think of anything, as if my brain had stopped working, but then I remembered what she was talking about, and I couldn''t help my eyes widening slightly.


    That''s right... Alice was the one who drove me away from my unattainable dreams. She had also done it right where we were now. I had forgotten that such an event had even happened.


    "Ah, no! It''s your fault for appearing in front of me out of nowhere!"


    Really, she climbed up on the rock with not a sound of a footstep. She didn''t step on a single branch? No, where did all that rustling sound go when there were bushes everywhere? She did the same thing a few months ago... How does she do it?


    Alice frowned one eyebrow and raised the other slightly at my words.


    "I thought that you would notice when I thought you were much stronger than me. It seems that I was wrong, then."


    Wait a minute... now she''s telling me I''m weak?


    I couldn''t help squinting my eyes as I took a deep breath in and out.


    "You do it on purpose, don''t you?"


    Alice shrugged her shoulders without saying anything. But when I saw what she had done before I could speak again, I stood where I was for a moment, unable to do anything.


    Alice slowly turned her head to the side before I could open my mouth. Normally, such a movement wouldn''t have mattered. But the direction she turned her head... was where Celine had disappeared only two minutes before.


    "That''s up to me to answer... but I didn''t expect to see something like that."


    She saw... She clearly saw Celine.


    When I opened the ''new group'' that Celine was in, I didn''t send the invitation to Alice. Not because I didn''t trust her, not because I didn''t see her as one of the group. But... it was because I had no idea what Celine''s opinion of her was.


    Even if Alice is present in our study group, she does nothing more than ''being present''. Shees to most of the meetings and actually studies. And if someone asks her a question, she doesn''t hesitate to answer it. But... that''s it. She is not active on the chat app, and she probably doesn''t even have a single message. I don''t think that she''s in the upper positions for anyone when ites to being a ''friend''.


    That''s why I didn''t send Alice the group invitation, as I didn''t want Celine to feel ufortable. Now, what happens when she finds out on her own?


    Alice is not the kind of person to announce it publicly. She will probably keep it to herself, again, as a secret. But... will her view of our group change because of this?


    I looked into her eyes, studying her expression directly in the silence that fell between us, and Alice... after a brief moment, her eyes narrowed slightly and she simply sighed.


    "Anyway, it doesn''t really matter."


    Oh, she doesn''t care? Well... that was one of the possibilities, I guess. I''m not too surprised...


    Although, now that I think about it... Why is she here? Does shee here sometimes, given our encounter a few months ago?


    While I was lost in my own thoughts, Alice slowly lowered herself to the floor and sat down not far from me. Since I didn''t expect her to do something like that... I found myself unable to think of anything again.


    What exactly is her purpose...?


    Alice spoke nonchntly as she tilted her head slightly to the side, as if reading my thoughts.


    "Since you don''t own the rock... I don''t think there''s anything wrong with me sitting down, is there?"


    She''s not wrong, but...


    "If I''m bothering you, just say so."


    After these words, she turned her face away from me without saying anything else. She let herself fall on the hard surface of the big rock, just as I had done a minute or so before, leaving me alone with my questions.


    I... can''t reallyprehend what is happening and what I should do in a situation like this...

 Chapter 316 Volume V - 34: Silent and Alone

    <h4>Chapter 316 Volume V - Chapter 34: Silent and Alone </h4>


    ?She told me to say it if I''m bothering you, but... I don''t feel like saying it.


    I mean... my purpose ining here was to watch the sky for half an hour, alone, in silence. Yes, I''m in a very quiet environment now... But I''m not alone.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I nced to my side. But no matter how many times I repeated the same thing, Alice was lying not far away from me, looking up at the sky. It didn''t look like she had any intention of getting up anytime soon.


    So... what if I try talking to her?


    "Are you okay with me being half-elf?"


    Ah, why did I ask such a thing? It was obvious from her actions what the answer was...


    "Since it makes no difference to my life what your race is..."


    She paused for a moment, her eyes squinting at the stars. She sighed as if she had said something she didn''t mean and continued.


    "No, I don''t have a problem."


    Was that a yes or a no...? I don''t know why, but it felt like me being a half-elf had actually changed something in her life...


    So, once again, silence descended on us. Seconds passed, then minutes. Minutes I spent without saying anything, without even moving.


    I had aimed for silence and solitude, yes... But now, when I wasn''t alone, this ''silence'' I was looking for started to feel bad instead of good for some reason.


    I wanted to talk, actually. Being silent when someone was next to me left me with a nagging desire to remain silent. But... strangely enough, it wasn''t me who broke the silence. On the contrary, it was Alice.


    "You said you grew up on the streets, right?"


    Oh, she''s starting the conversation? That... certainly doesn''t feel like something she would do. But I''m also feeling like I had to answer her question.


    "Sort of... at least after I was eight. Before that, I was living with my parents."


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alice''s eyebrows twitch, but without any further reaction, she asked another question.


    "Do you... remember your parents?"


    Why is she asking such questions? And it feels like her usual calm demeanor has changed a bit...


    Has something happened to her? Has something changed in her life so that she can''t act like herself?


    "More or less. Sometimes I feel like I''m going to forget their faces, their voices... But whenever I feel like that, I force myself to remember them. And when I force myself too much, they appear in my dreams. I can refresh my memory with them."


    I paused for a moment, squinting and focusing on one of the stars in the sky for no reason.


    "Though... sometimes they are more nightmares than dreams."


    Alice didn''t say anything. However, after a short while, as if she did not want to end our short conversation, she asked me a question again.


    "Do you think your family... was a good one? Your father, for example?"


    My lips curled upward slightly as I began to y back in my mind everything I remembered about my father.


    "My father... was generally an expressionless man. He didn''t like to show his emotions, he didn''t smile much. Any change in his facial expression usually felt... fake. Like he had forgotten how to smile sincerely and was trying to imitate something from memory. But I knew he wasn''t really like that, so I didn''t care much."


    A memory came back to me. I was ying with some of the chickens in our garden when one of them ran off into the forest... and because I was chasing it, I got lost. Maybe I spent hours looking for my house and couldn''t find it. Finally, when I leaned against a tree and started crying... it was my father who found me.


    He didn''t get angry or mad at me. He didn''t even give me a lecture. When he took me in his arms, I felt the sweat on his clothes, the beating of his heart. He was just... happy to have found me. He didn''t say it, I couldn''t see his expression, but... he was happy.


    But then, right after this memory, I remembered the dream I had recently. I remembered the ''story'' he told me, and that he was probably the hero of this story.


    "He was a good person, I think. He had probably been through something in his past. That was probably the reason for hisck of expression and difficulty in showing his emotions. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn''t good. But... he was a good father."


    After a few short seconds where I didn''t know what more to say, I finally decided to finish my own words by mentioning the simrities between us.


    "Also... I told you that sometimes I forget how they look, but I guess that''s not so true for my father. Because... we''re like carbon copies of each other. The closer I get to his age, the more I look like him."


    Alice did nothing but stay where she was, not moving a muscle. But... these seconds she spent like a statue didn''tst long either. Eventually, she slowly turned her dark eyes, which she could not tear away from the sky, toward me.


    She began to study my face. It was as if... she was trying to picture in her mind what my father was like after I told her he looked like me.


    "And your family?"


    She didn''t answer, she just kept studying my face.


    "Alice...?"


    Only when I said her name once more did she pause. Her eyes focused on mine, then she sighed deeply. Her brow furrowed as if she was angry with herself, then she turned her face back to the sky.


    "I... don''t have... a family."


    When I felt the space between her words, the difficulty... I couldn''t help sighing slightly.


    No, this person in front of me is nothing like the old Alice.


    She looks the same, her expression is the same, but... she acts like a different person. She asks questions she wouldn''t normally ask, she makes me feel like she''s lost under her emotions for the first time.


    Like... like she has a problem.


    "Do you have a problem?"


    When I think of the old Alice, she was the kind of person who would answer such a question as none of your business. She would have even gotten angry at me for asking a question about her. But, for some reason... this time she didn''t give any of these reactions to my question. She just... moved her lips without changing her expression even slightly.


    "Something like that."


    Something like that, huh...


    Even though she gives such an answer, she doesn''t continue, she doesn''t even try to exin her problem.


    Is she waiting for me to ask, or does she want to keep it to herself? Maybe she is angry with herself for giving such an answer. I... simply can''t understand anything from her facial expression.


    The only thing I feel when I look at her... is that she''s lonely. No more, no less, that''s exactly it. Not once have I seen her hanging out with a ''friend'', not even once have I seen her talking to anyone properly. That''s the only thing I really know about her, that she''s lonely.


    And now... this loneliness is much more pronounced. It makes me want to help her somehow.


    But I don''t want to give in to that feeling and act without thinking. If she really has a problem, if she really wants toe here for help... I don''t want to force her to exin herself.


    If she wants help, then she can ask for it. She is a rational, intelligent person. I don''t think she would be embarrassed just because of something like that. I mean, if she''s not telling her problem herself... I don''t think it''s a good thing to try to dig it up, at least for now.


    I''m just gonna ask her to take a step, that''s all.


    "You helped me. Not once, but twice. You had no reason to do it. And now... you''re the one in a difficult situation, I guess. You''re smarter than me, you think more than me. So I don''t know if it''s right for me to say anything... But some things, at least sometimes, are impossible to get through alone."


    I took a deep breath as my lips curled upward for no reason.


    "If this time it''s you who needs help rather than others... and you realize that it''s not possible to handle it on your own... then don''t hesitate to seek a helping hand from others, I think."


    I didn''t say anything else, nor did I intend to. From that point on, everything was in her hands. Instead of interfering in her affairs in a way she didn''t like, I had given her a choice, which, at least for me, was the right one.


    Minutes passed without either of us saying anything again. Watching the countless stars in the sky, the arm of the gxy that looked like a rift in space... I felt peaceful for some reason.


    Maybe solitude and silence were what I was looking for... But strangely, having someone lying next to me like this, sharing this ''silence'' with me, felt better than I thought it would.


    *******


    Alice got up after almost half an hour without saying a word. Only after walking to the edge of the big rock, before leaving in the same silence, did she turn to me.


    With her dark eyes on her expressionless face, which felt indistinguishable from the darkness of the night just behind her, she uttered a simple sentence.


    "See youter, Adrian."


    But... that sentence felt contrary to everything I thought I knew about her until now.


    See youter? I never thought I would hear such a thing from her. But... that wasn''t what made me stare nkly after her back.


    Adrian, she said. Is this the first time? I don''t remember if she said it before, but it''s definitely the first time I''ve heard her say my name in that kind of tone...


    Alice... is she really starting to change? Or is it just that she''s acting weird because of some problem or problems she''s been havingtely?

 Chapter 317 Volume V - 35: Confirmed Suspicion

    <h4>Chapter 317 Volume V - Chapter 35: Confirmed Suspicion </h4>


    ?Two weeks.


    That''s how long it''s been since I ran into Celine and Alice on that rock. And I must say... these weeks were not very eventful. My ''training'' with Professor Calvin was to start this weekend, perhaps the most important thing in front of me at the moment.


    Sitting in my room, on my couch, doing nothing, I sighed lightly and turned my eyes toward what I held in my hand.


    There was a disk in my hand. The disk that Lithoa said could heal Aiden, of course. Moreover... almost all of the motifs on it were now glowing. If I poured a little more mana into it, it would be ready for what I wanted. I could use it, and I could heal Aiden.


    But I purposely didn''t transfer thosest bits of mana to the disk and ced it back into my bracelet.


    It was not the time. Considering what the disk was going to do... I had to prepare first. And now, with so many eyes on me, I had to find an exnation for being able to disappear, even for a short time.


    So, as much as I wanted to use the disk right now, I couldn''t.


    So, in the boredom of finding nothing to do... I started to watch the ceiling, but that also didn''tst long.


    "Lithoa."


    The old man whose soul remains in my body, the main person who got me to this point... must have been asleep, because he didn''t answer when I called out to him.


    "Hey, Lithoa. Are you asleep?"


    I felt a flicker of movement in my mind, which was soon reced by the hoarse voice of an old man.


    ''H- Ha...? What happened again?


    His voice was indeed that of a man who had just woken up from sleep. But unlike most of the time, he was not angry with me for waking him up from his ''sweet'' sleep.


    "It''s been a while since I visited your house, you know... And you haven''t given me anything to do since I returned to the Academy. Isn''t there more you can do to help me? I... I feel like I can''t get stronger like I used to."


    After a very short silence, Lithoa sighed inside my mind.


    ''Of course, there is. But I postponed my ns because of your training with that professor. Because learning to use ordea will really help you in the future, more than you think.''


    As much as I want to, I can''t take what they call ordea too seriously... I don''t think I can take it without experiencing it firsthand.


    "Okay. But wouldn''t it be better to increase my own strength rather than ordea? I don''t want to interfere with my own development while I''m learning to use ordea."


    Lithoa was silent again for a short time. It was as if... he was thinking.


    ''If you want it that much... we can go to the next step, of course. I don''t think it will be too much trouble, but you''ll have to leave the academy again, and there have been a lot of eyes on youtely. So... you need to get permission to leave the academy somehow.''


    Ah, that''s... a bit of a problem.


    Even though it had been two weeks, the rector had told me not to leave the academy. And that''s still valid to this day...


    "Do we have to go somewhere for a long time again...? If so, what you''re saying is a bit impossible."


    ''No, you only need a single day. You will go to Wiathen City to look for something, that''s all. If you go to the city in the morning, it will be over by the evening of the same day.''


    One day leave... I should be able to do that. What''s the problem if I tell her I will go to a city for a day? Well... She''ll probably send someone to watch me, but I don''t think that''s going to be a problem.


    "I''ll try to get permission... But I''m curious, what exactly are we going after?"


    ''We''re going to visit a family. They''ll probably try to kill you, but if you manage to survive and exin who you are, they''ll give you something pretty cool that you can use in the future.''


    Well... what more absurd could I expect anyway...?


    ''Oh, and... don''t say my name when you meet them. Don''t even say it in your mind, don''t even think anything about me. As much as they''re a special family, they''re also a bit angry with me, you know...''


    Great... I''ll never open my mouth again.


    *******


    With my chin resting on my hands and my elbows on my desk, I didn''t blink once. Instead... I looked at the person sitting directly across from me. And when I kept this up for a short while... the person I was looking at finally took his eyes off the TV, raised his eyebrows, and turned to me.


    "ra? Is something wrong?"


    I couldn''t help but sigh as Paul slowly put the biscuit back on the te from which he had taken it.


    It had been two weeks. Two weeks since that strange morning, but nothing else strange has happened since then.


    Paul is... the same. He continues to behave as he should. We smile and spend time together and have fun. But... all the while, for some reason, I keep remembering that morning. That strange shadow with eyes the same color as his, I can''t get it out of my mind even once.


    I''m a seer. So... even if I don''t know exactly how to use this skill of mine, it doesn''t change the fact that I am a seer. Which means everything I see, everything I hear, everything I feel must mean something in a way.


    And this means that there''s a connection between the shadow and Paul.


    I decided to ignore it at first, but when I think about it a little, when I remind myself of exactly ''who'' I am, and... when I recall another simr incident in the past, I can''t help but be suspicious again.


    A few months ago, I saw a snake, although not in the form of a ''shadow''. It appeared out of nowhere in my house, hissed, and lunged at me. But... it wasn''t real either. The important thing was that it, too, was ck in color and had yellow eyes.


    It''s been a really long time since I forgot that. It was only after the incident two weeks ago that I remembered it again. And now... I can never calm down because of these two very simr incidents.


    "It''s not a big deal... I got distracted, I''m sorry."


    Paul narrowed his eyes and studied my face for a moment, then grinned.


    "Am I suddenly handsome or something? What''s up?"


    I rolled my eyes and took one of the biscuits from the biscuits on the table. When I finally tore my eyes away from him and turned them back to the TV, I ignored what he said and asked him another question.


    "Like I said, it''s nothing important... But there''s something I''m curious about."


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Paul''s eyebrows raised in curiosity again.


    "Yes?"


    "Do you remember about two weeks ago when we didn''t go out because you had a headache and you were resting at home?"


    Paul paused for a moment, as if frozen in ce. His eyebrows, raised in curiosity, didn''t lower, and for some reason, I don''t know why... he suddenly became more serious.


    As if... as if my mention of that day made him ufortable.


    "What happened that day?"


    I narrowed my eyes and straightened my posture slightly as I looked into his eyes.


    "Why did you get so serious...? I wanted to ask you if you remember the name of the movie we saw that day. We only saw the end of it and then we decided to watch it, but I can''t remember what it was called."


    Paul straightened himself up in his chair and cracked one of the fingers on his right hand. Immediately afterward, he smiled again. "Did I get serious? I thought something happened because you suddenly jumped into the topic like that, I''m sorry. As for the name of the movie... I can''t remember it either, sorry."


    "I see..."


    And that was the end of our conversation. Paul didn''t seem to have any intention of taking the talk any further. So we focused back on the TV in my kitchen.


    But... I had something else on my mind.


    I can swear that I''m one of the people in the world who knows Paul best. After his sister, at least. But that doesn''t change the fact that I know a lot about his habits.


    For example, he is someone who pays a lot of attention to facial expressions when he talks to people. Likewise, although it may not look like it, he actually chooses each of his words with a great deal of care.


    Aside from that, when he gets nervous, he gets serious. This seriousness is usually so minimal that it''s almost impossible for a normal person to notice, but I''m not a ''normal person''. Also... the cracking of his finger is also a habit. He usually does this when he is studying and solving a difficult problem. He also applies it to his real life.


    As Paul reached for one of the biscuits on the table again, I did the same. I couldn''t help squinting my eyes slightly... while focusing on what the program on TV was saying.


    Now, I am sure of it. Paul is hiding something from me and he doesn''t seem to want it toe out.

 Chapter 318 Volume V - 36: Old Looking Library

    <h4>Chapter 318 Volume V - Chapter 36: Old Looking Library </h4>


    ?For a moment, the inside of theboratory was bathed in the brightest light I had ever seen. Not only that, a high-pitched sound that strained my eardrums echoed painfully in my ears.


    However, not even a second after this happened, the inside of the sameboratory suddenly froze. The light that dazzled my eyes and the sound that made my ears feel like they were about to explode disappeared as quickly as they hade.


    I slowly opened my eyes, which I had reflexively closed, and removed my hands from my face. But I looked neither in the direction from which the light and sound hade nor at the person who had made them disappear. Instead, I focused on the readings on a screen not far from me.


    "Seventy percent... it failed again."


    Immediately after my words, the icy feeling that had enveloped theb began to recede. Then someone spoke calmly, without changing his expression in any way.


    "We will get the perfect result in a few days."


    He approached the table that was the source of the light and sound. He clicked a few of the buttons on a device the size of aputer case in the center of this table. From the top of the device, smoke quickly rose into the air, then a lid opened in the same ce, and a vial of potion slowly rose from it.


    Professor Ulka, with his dark blue hair and golden eyes, took the vial from the device, not caring about the smoke-like gas around it, and handed it to me.


    "Check as before and update the report. Then we will continue. For now... we can rest for lunch, Alexander."


    I took the bottle that was handed to me, carefully cing it on my desk, sighing slightly as I looked at the professor, who was stretching where he was, cing himself on one of the armchairs in the corner of theb. We had ordered food a few minutes ago, it would be here soon. But... there was one thing I was really curious about before starting to record the results of this time''s attempt.


    "This is thest of Aiden''s theories, right?"


    Professor Ulka nodded his head slightly without turning his golden eyes to me.


    "Yes, almost every one of the theories he provided is done. Once we havepleted this one and presented it to the board, we will move on to dealing with thepanies'' requests."


    A brief silence fell between us. But I broke it again as I sat down at my desk.


    "The names in the file Aiden left before he left... more than half of them are waiting for us to open thepany. But there are a few names that are getting more and more impatient every day. Soon they''ll start to think we''re fooling them."


    Everything was ready, all that remained was to buy aboratory and an office and officially open thepany. But... Professor Ulka was deliberately not opening it.


    I can understand why. He doesn''t want to rush because he doesn''t have any theories, funding, or resources from Aiden. But... with us and the names we signed the contract with, I''m not sure if they are really needed.


    The professor turned toward me indifferently after these thoughts. He did not change his expression one bit and spoke with his usual calmness.


    "It doesn''t matter. We''ll open thepany and theb when Aiden wakes up. If anyone leaves in the meantime... it''s their loss. It''s written in the contract that it could take a few months for thepany to open."


    "You''re pretty sure Aiden will wake up."


    But just then, a ringing echoed through theb. After I stood up, opened the door of theboratory, and ced our food on the table in front of the professor, he again broke the silence.


    "He is not a normal person."


    He didn''t say anything else, just took his own food from the table in front of him, and slowly began to unwrap it.


    As I looked at him, I remembered that until a few weeks ago, he had thought the same way as me. But what changed his thoughts in an instant... was the news we had heard in theb at the time.


    It turned out that the King of Piarlin was dead. Not only that, it had been leaked to the world that he had been dead for months. Also, the trade agreements that the elves had strangely signed were big news that same day.


    Watching all this, Ulka simply sighed without saying anything. After that day, for some reason I don''t understand, he simply stopped looking at Aiden only as a mysterious human being.


    I don''t really care, of course. I trust Aiden too, but it seems strange that a man like Professor Ulka would start to doubt that he''s even a simple human anymore, let alone trust him.


    I grabbed my own food from the table and went to my desk. I only said a short word before theb fell silent again.


    "I think so too..."


    As strange as it sounds... I can''t help but agree with Professor Ulka.


    Aiden... after thinking about what he''s aplished, what he''s done, the theories he presented to the professor, and a few things he ns to do in the future... it makes me feel like he''s not human either.


    He''ll probably wake up soon. And when he does... I feel like we''re going to be stepping into a very different future.


    *******


    "It''s only half a day, I can''t let you stay out of the academy for longer than that."


    This was the answer I got after begging Mny Quie. Since no one knew yet that I wanted to go to Wiathen, she had given me permission, thinking that no one would have time to attack me in the meantime.


    She didn''t say anything about someone following me. But since she didn''t hesitate too much to give me permission, it was as if she had prepared in advance that I might ask for such a thing.


    This meeting took ce almost an hour ago. And now... at the maic train station, I was buying a ticket for a train that was about to leave for the city. But on the other hand, I had my doubts.


    ''Are you sure it''s okay for someone to follow me...?''


    To this question I asked my mind, I received an answer from my mind again.


    ''No. When they see where you''re going, they''ll have a few new suspicions about you, but at least all their suspicions about your connection with me will be removed. That''s why it''s even useful for you. It''s better for them to think something else than to suspect that you have a connection with me.''


    That''s what he had said, but even as I sat in my seat on the train, as I set off for Wiathen and watched the scenery change outside, I still felt uneasy.


    First of all... I hadn''t been able to detect anyone following me, not once I left the academy, I got to the station, and not even after I got on the train.


    Maybe I could have found this person by looking at the mana currents since I had removed my seal. But I didn''t want to try because the moment I tried to do that I might increase their suspicion of me.


    Of course, there was also the possibility that there was no one watching me... But it was so unlikely that I didn''t even think to take it seriously.


    More than that, the other thing that made me uneasy was the ce we were going and the ''family'' Lithoa had mentioned. He had not given me a single piece of information about this family. He had only given me the address of a library and from that point on, he hadn''t said a word.


    Never say my name, not even in your mind. Try not to think anything about me.


    As these words seeped into my thoughts, inevitably this ''library'' where I would spend only half a day started to scare me a little. However, once I had started out, I had no intention of going back.


    So... I simply sat in one of the window seats of the train and continued to look out. Soon, the city of Wiathen came into view.


    *******


    When I got off the train, left the station, and stepped into the city... a strange sensation enveloped my body.


    I knew what it was. I also knew why I felt this way, so I tried not to pay too much attention to it and started walking toward the library Lithoa had told me to go to. It wasn''t far anyway, I only had to walk about a kilometer and a half.


    But... as much as I tried to ignore this feeling inside me, I could never get rid of it, because the more I saw the skyscrapers reaching up to the sky, the huge buildings, the traffic full of thetest cars, and the people wearing fancy clothes, the more it grew.


    This part of Wiathen City was very different from the other part of it that I knew and spent seven years in. As different as it was, it also felt... fake. It was like a mask, a beautiful mask hiding an ugly face behind it.


    It was a city where everyone did their best not to drop the mask, butpletely ignored or even forgot about the ugliness behind it.


    So when Ipared what was happening here with the smelly and dirty streets of the other side of Wiathen, it only made me angry. To think of those who gave their lives and those who took their lives just clinging to life, let alone looking for food or water, and to think that I had once been among them... it pained me.


    Still, I kept walking, through streets that felt cleaner, brighter, and more modern than ever. I tried to push this feeling deep inside my heart and reminded myself of my purpose.


    I will get stronger. That is my purpose, to get stronger. I need to be strong if I want to expose the ugliness hiding behind this fake mask and help it heal.


    With these thoughts, seconds passed, then minutes. After a short time... I found myself in front of one of Wiathen''s massive buildings. The seven-story building covered a huge area, each floor the size of at least a football field. It had an old feel to it, rather than the modern feel that pervades the city in general. The architecture, the look, and everything about it made it look as if it had been built several centuries ago.


    The first thing I did when I looked at the building was to take a deep breath. I tried to put everything about Lithoa in the back of my mind, to ignore it. The only thing he told me was toe here and I had done that, he had no other instructions. So I didn''t need to think about him anyway. But I prepared myself anyway.


    With no idea what to do, I squinted my eyes slightly, reminded myself onest time why I was here, and slowly made my way toward the library.


    When I entered through the main door, I was greeted by a sight I had not expected. This library had a different design from the interior architecture of most buildings. It really looked like it had been built over several centuries, even though I had only made an analogy beforehand. But that aside, the inside was strangely fascinating.


    Just after the main door was the lobby of a normal library, with a few employees, a book lending area, a reception desk, a corner where people could rx, a small caf¨¦, and so on. But what was behind this lobby was what was really important.


    Each of the seven floors of the building could be seen from the lobby. Each floor had a balcony, and all of these balconies faced toward the main door. The stairs to the upper floors were in the middle of these balconies. It rose upward in a spiral. Each floor was filled with shelves of books. But what really gave the feeling of fascination were the materials and colors.


    I wasn''t sure if it was the real one, but the inside of the building looked like it was made entirely of wood. On top of that, the colors, shades of brown, ck, and white, were strangely harmonious.


    It made me feel like... I was inside a mystical tree.


    "Wee to our library, how can I help you?"


    The person who called out to me was one of the staff who saw me standing there doing nothing. And it was only thanks to this person that I was finally able to take my eyes off the design of the library and start thinking again.


    I have toe to my senses... no matter how strange and beautiful the library looks, I came here for a purpose.


    But in the midst of these thoughts, I suddenly stopped where I was, my mind stopped working for a moment, and my thoughtspletely stilled.


    Yes, I came to this library to get stronger. But... what am I supposed to do now? I... I don''t know what to do, where to go after entering the building...

 Chapter 319 Volume V - 37: Overly Stagnant Mana Flow

    <h4>Chapter 319 Volume V - Chapter 37: Overly Stagnant Mana Flow </h4>


    ?When I looked at the staff standing in front of me, waiting to hear what I was going to say, I came to my senses.


    I may not know what to do, but there''s no need to look suspicious.


    "Oh, I was lost in my thoughts... sorry. I''ll just go upstairs and look at some books."


    He bowed his head slightly without changing the smile on his face. Then he turned around and headed toward another person he saw.


    As he left, I slowly made my way up the spiral staircase to the first floor and began to wander through the shelves, looking at the titles of the books and what they were about.


    And so the minutes began to pass. After fifteen or twenty minutes of wandering around the library for no apparent reason... I had taken at least a brief look at almost every shelf on the first floor.


    I couldn''t help frowning slightly as I went up to the second floor without giving it much thought.


    Am I doing the right thing? Is looking at shelves and books like this on every one of the floors really what I should be doing? I can''t think of anything else... but it doesn''t feel like continuing to do this will lead to anything.


    Even though I thought like that, again, one by one, I began to look at all the shelves on the second floor. There were literally countless different books in the library. From mathematical theories to history, from novels to poetry, from research at the bottom of the ocean to articles about space, from where the system originated and what the ''awakening'' of the means, and on and on¡­


    Obviously, there were a few books that interested me. I wanted to pick some of them up, look at the content, examine what they were about. But this feeling was not overwhelming. I had more than ten hours and I wanted to at least look at all seven floors of the library.


    So the second floor was finished. And then the third and the fourth... By the time I got to the fifth floor and spent a few minutes there, I was getting a little uneasy. But I kept going.


    So, when I reached the sixth floor... I felt something strange.


    First, I looked around, but there was no one watching me. Aside from that, this floor of the library was just the same as the others. There were a few people moving between the shelves full of books, and a few library staff constantly cleaning the floor and organizing the books on the shelves. There were no problems with anything I can see.


    After a short time, though, I realized what this strangeness was. I had been under the influence of the seal for a really long time, so I hadn''t gotten used to feeling the mana so clearly andfortably. That''s why I could confuse it with other things. But now, when I focused on it a little bit... it was clear that the strangeness I was feeling was rted to the mana around me.


    I lifted my head up, looked at the colorless but dense stream flowing over the shelves, and then... I knew instantly what was happening.


    Mana often moved randomly. Sometimes it would be drawn to something and gravitate toward it, sure. For example, the mana around my body would often move toward me, surrounding me. Not only that, sometimes it would be attracted to me and do things that it wouldn''t normally do. It would react to my emotions, for example.


    Lucia also had this in a way I couldn''t make sense of. The charm statistic determined how much the beings in the universe, whether living or non-living, were attracted to, sympathized with, and interacted with a person. But Lucia''s situation was strange even with an extremely high charm.


    Well, the strangeness on this floor of this library was... something else entirely. The mana here was not moving. It wasn''t flowing in a random direction. It was meaninglessly... stagnant.


    I mean, it was moving, but it was so slow that it was extremely strange. And because of this slowness, the mana flowing toward this point started to umte, joining this ''stagnant flow''. As a result... between the shelves, above them... this whole floor was literally filled with tons of tons of mana.


    Another strangeness was that this mana, so dense, was barely perceptible. Maybe a normal person wouldn''t even notice it. There was enough mana here that if it were a little denser, it would have felt like liquid, but... it felt like it wasn''t there.


    I focused on this mana slightly. However... the moment I did so, I couldn''t help feeling dizzy due to its extreme intensity. Soon, a sharp pain shot through my head, to the point of losing my bnce. Before, I could hardly even feel its presence, but the moment I focused on it, it seemed to appear out of nowhere.


    I gritted my teeth, struggled against my blurred eyes, and while I was forcing myself to stand, I pushed the Friend of Mana to its limit and reached out to this stagnant mana. My headache slowly subsided, and the sharp pain I felt faded slightly. I focused on this mana again as I regained my bnce.


    As I said, this mana had a flow, even if it was extremely slow. And when I looked at it specifically... I could see where it was flowing. It wasn''t moving in a random direction like a normal flow of mana. On the contrary... all this mana on this floor was flowing continuously to a single point.


    Slowly, step by step, not letting myself get dizzy again from the intensity of the mana around me, I moved through the shelves, past a few people looking at books without the slightest idea of what was going on.


    In the space between one row of shelves and the next, I saw an employee standing where he was, staring at me. I couldn''t make out his body because I had trouble focusing on anything other than mana, but... his eyes seemed to be squinting.


    I ignored him. As I continued to follow the flow of mana, I finally reached... a normal wall at the end of a row of shelves.


    The mana went into the wall and disappeared there. The wall was clearly not normal.


    Reflexively, I raised my hand and put it against the wall, but... nothing happened as if it was indeed a normal wall. Then I focused on the mana around me, slowing down the mana in my body as much as it was slowing down, using the Friend of Mana to match it to myself. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath in and out, reaching out to this static mana, and as it responded to me in the same way... I let myself fall into its arms.


    For a moment, the wall against which I rested my hand dissolved as if it had disappeared. I felt like I lost my bnce for a moment as I had put my weight on my hand, but I quickly recovered myself. I didn''t open my eyes, but I didn''t stop either. I took a step toward where the mana was directing me, then another. I started walking. At the same time... I couldn''t stop thinking.


    It was normally cool inside the library. In the middle of an ordinary summer day, every one of the air conditioners was working. But here, behind that wall... it was as if there was no concept of temperature. It was neither too cold nor too hot. It was the perfect middle of the two.


    Of course, my perceptions could have been blurred because all the intense mana from that whole floor flowed into a small corridor here. But... thanks to the Friend of Mana, it didn''t affect me too much. So I doubted that this was the case.


    That aside, even with my eyes closed, I could more or less perceive the intensity of the light behind my eyelids. And behind my eyes... it was pure light. It was as if I was in apletely white ce.


    The strangeness was not limited to these, there was onest thing. And what really confused me... was this strangeness.


    I don''t know why, but... the mana here felt strange. Different from the mana that sleeps in the atmosphere, different from the mana that just goes with the flow without a purpose. The mana here... seemed to have a purpose. It was as if it was under someone''smand, even. As someone with the Friend of Mana skill, I could feel it.


    Despite all this strangeness, I kept walking, because unlike thest hour and a half I had spent in the library, here I felt like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. At least... I felt like I was on the right path.


    So, I kept moving forward, but when I took onest step and the extremely stagnant flow of mana began to flow normally, as if freed from the hands of the slowed down time, that''s when the extremely dense mana that had been umting behind me suddenly regained its normal speed and came at me with all its intensity.


    It felt like someone had hit me with a sledgehammer, like the mana that had been gently guiding me had suddenly pushed me from behind. It was as if it had be an enemy when it should normally be a ''friend'' to me. With that, I lost my bnce and found myself stuck to the ground. My body had been subjected to such a sudden and intense flow of mana that I was writhing in pain, shaking involuntarily.


    I even had a metallic taste in my mouth for a moment. But I did my best to swallow back the blood and gritted my teeth.


    If I had been in the previous library, I would never have tried what I''m going to do now because I was in public, but... I wasn''t even sure I was in that library at the moment, and there was nothing else I could do.


    So... I focused on one of my skills, the one I''dst used months ago, the one I only used when it was most necessary.


    Mana Ascension activated. I felt all the mana enveloping my body, anchoring me to the ground, flowing through me with tremendous intensity and speed. I simply inhaled into my lungs as my hair rippled and my whole body was filled with tremendous power.


    Finally... I stood up without much difficulty. The trembling of my body had not gone away, on the contrary, it was even worse than before. The sharp pain that spread through every cell in my body was even sharper. It was the price I paid for using my skill, which is why I didn''t like using it so much, but... I didn''t care too much about it.


    I reached out to the mana around me as I slowly opened my eyes. Only this time I didn''t give myself over to it, I didn''t let it guide me in any way or gently direct it myself. Rather... I simplymanded it.


    "Stop."


    For a moment, my body was enveloped in a golden glow. I felt my hair falling over my shoulders and ignored the strange and meaningless patterns that covered every part of my body.


    Instead... I looked in front of me, and as all the mana around me suddenly stopped moving and froze in ce, as I hadmanded it to do, I saw that I was indeed in a white corridor... and then... arge, hall-like room from which this corridor led.


    Inside this room, I saw three children looking at me with a mixture of curiosity and fear, and two women, one of them elderly, and a stern-looking man standing behind them...

 Chapter 320 Volume V - 38: Unmet Conditions

    <h4>Chapter 320 Volume V - Chapter 38: Unmet Conditions </h4>


    ?As I looked at the six people standing not far away from me, I felt something strange inside me, as if... the people in front of me were not simply ''humans''. I couldn''t make sense of it, but for some reason, it felt like these people were out of my reach, even though they were standing right in front of me.


    The children standing behind the adults, with the exception of the eldest, who looked like a high schooler, ran backward.


    In the awkward silence of the hallway, I tried to focus on their appearance, but my eyes suddenly locked with those of the man with the stern look. I don''t know why, but... I couldn''t take my eyes off him. He had really beautiful ocean-blue eyes, but it wasn''t simply because they looked ''beautiful'' that I couldn''t take my eyes off him.


    It was like... he had truly ''magical'' eyes.


    I frowned for a moment. As I looked into the eyes of the man in front of me... I felt like my thoughts were slipping away, and I didn''t like it.


    I took a short step toward them, but they didn''t do anything, they just continued to watch me. With my second step, I saw the man''s eyebrows raise slightly, as if... surprised. He had a look as if he didn''t expect me to be able to take a step again. But again, there was no other reaction. Even on my third and fourth steps, nothing happened.


    When there were only about two meters between us... the man''s magical eyes seemed to sparkle for a moment. It was only then that my eyes were forcibly separated from his. With my vision momentarily blurred and a wave of pain spreading throughout my body, I lost my bnce and fell to my knees.


    A metallic taste reappeared in my mouth. But this time, I didn''t even have time to swallow it back. As blood oozed from between my lips, I deactivated Mana Ascension as fast as I could. The golden glow surrounding my body slowly faded, and the patterns on my skin began to fade as my shoulder-length hair receded.


    I could feel the tremendous flow of manaing from behind me again, and they began to move slightly as if mymand to them was losing its effect. After only a second or two... a massive amount of mana that could have killed me on the spot would pile on me again.


    However, this did not happen. Instead, the man, whose feet I could only see, slowly approached me. As I forced my head up, I saw with my blurred eyes that he raised his hand and held it behind me. His ocean-blue eyes shed even more fiercely, and then... as if someone had built a wall behind me, the flow of mana that was about to pin me to the ground suddenly stopped.


    But that didn''t stop my consciousness from slipping through my hands. Onest voice I could hear and the whole world went dark.


    "ire, put him on the couch."


    *******


    So... should I try or not?


    I took a deep breath, staring nkly at the wall, trying to decide which made more sense in the midst of my thoughts.


    My house was silent. I didn''t have the TV on, I didn''t have anything to do and Paul was... simply sleeping. He was sick, as he often was. He was always sick because his body was too weak. But... that wasn''t the important thing right now.


    Last night, after I was sure that he was hiding something from me, I thought of something I could do, but how right it was to do it... that''s what I wasn''t sure about.


    Paul is hiding things from me, yes. But I''m hiding something from him too. Can I do what I think I can do if I''m so suspicious of him just because I realize there''s something he doesn''t want me to know?


    I did what I''d been doing for hours, I opened my status window, then lowered my eyes and focused on the only skill I had besides irvoyance.


    <<------------------------------


    Memory Travel(A-)


    If at least one of certain conditions is met, the user can see, examine, and navigate through the memories of the person in focus. However, the user cannot change them.


    The conditions are:


    1-) If you have the person''s permission, you can directly look at their memories.


    2-) If the person is mentally weak, you can look directly into their memories.


    3-) If you have established a certain bond of trust with the person, you can look at their memories without their permission.


    ------------------------------>>


    Should I use my skill or not?


    I took a deep breath again, and then I thought about it once more from the beginning.


    Isn''t it natural for people to keep secrets from each other? Even best friends don''t know things about each other, even spouses who have dedicated their lives to each other. When I look at it from this point of view... I don''t want to look at all of his memories just because he is hiding something from me.


    Just because we are romantically involved doesn''t mean that I need to know literally everything that he is hiding from me. Because what I can learn from looking at his memories could be other people''s private stuff. What he''s hiding from me might not even be about me in the first ce.


    If that''s the case... I would be so ashamed of myself that I might never look at him again. Not to mention that I would be doing something morally wrong.


    But even though I think that way, there''s another side to it.


    Don''t the things I see as a seer mean that there is a problem? Why would I have seen the snake and the shadow if what Paul was hiding from me had nothing to do with me... And doesn''t the fact that they both frighten me, that they are aggressive, clearly indicate that something dangerous is going on?


    I''ve been thinking about this so much sincest night that I couldn''t even sleep properly. My eyes keep closing by themselves, I''m really sleepy. But... even in this state, I still can''t sleep.


    Seconds started to pass, then minutes. Just staring at the wall of my room... I finally stood up.


    I''ll do it. Even if I find out I was wrong... it''s better than not being able to sleep and thinking about it all the time. I''ll look into Paul''s memories. I''ll find out what it is he''s been hiding from me.


    I nodded, finally tearing my eyes away from the white wall, and walking slowly toward the room where Paul slept. I kept as quiet as I could so as not to wake him, and then I pushed open his door, which was already open.


    I gave him the room I had prepared in case I had guests staying at my house. It was a simple room with a wardrobe, a mirror, a few drawers, and a bed. Paul was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, his mouth slightly open, and a thin sheet over him, his chest rising and falling extremely slowly, indicating that he was indeed asleep.


    I stepped in front of him without making a sound, I couldn''t help looking at him briefly.


    I swallowed, tension wrapped around my body. It was already hard for me to stay where I was because of the tiredness fromck of sleep, and now with this tension on top of it... I was afraid of making a mistake.


    What will I do if I wake him up? Maybe I can make something up, but what if he wakes up while I''m using my skill? How can I exin the situation then?


    After a brief moment, I paused, closed my eyes, and sighed lightly, calming myself as much as I could.


    No, I shouldn''t think about such things. I''d rather regret it in the future than spend every second thinking about it. I''ve already made up my mind.


    I opened my eyes, looked at Paul''s sleeping face again, and he didn''t look very peaceful. His illness and the state of his body must have been taking its toll. But... for the moment, it didn''t matter.


    I slowly moved my hand above his head, then focused on the only active skill I had, thinking of Paul as the target as my mana moved through my body, activating my skill.


    I quickly closed my eyes and a beam of light appeared in front of me. As I felt the mana passing through my arm, which I was pointing towards Paul, I felt it leaving me, slowly moving towards Paul. When my mana actually touched Paul... that''s when the bright glow behind my eyelids became more intense.


    I could no longer feel my feet on the ground, even my perception of heat and cold slowly disappeared as if my surroundings were changing. Throughout the process... I simply thought about one thing, what Paul was hiding from me and that I wanted to see it.


    After a short time, just as I was about to open my eyes, expecting to find myself in Paul''s memories... something strange happened as if time stopped. My perception of cold and heat returned to me in an instant. The dazzling radiance behind my eyelids quickly disappeared. Even my mana left Paul and returned to me.


    Before I knew what had happened, I opened my eyes and found myself back in my guest room, my hand on Paul with no problem. He didn''t seem to be awake. His eyes were still closed and his chest was rising and falling slowly, just like before.


    The only difference... there was a notification window in front of me. And when I read what it said, my mouth dropped open and I found myself literally unable to think of anything.


    "Ha...?"


    <<------------------------------


    The conditions for traveling through the memories of the target have not been met!


    ------------------------------>>


    Silence enveloped my body and I stood where I was, unable to focus on anything but the notification in front of me.


    What? Are the conditions not met...?

 Chapter 321 Volume V - 39: A Hall Full of Mana

    <h4>Chapter 321 Volume V - Chapter 39: A Hall Full of Mana </h4>


    ?I looked at the notification in front of me and at Paul''s face, still asleep. Time seemed to literally stand still, I couldn''t hear anything, but... eventually, I involuntarily stepped back and away from Paul.


    I almost lost my bnce and fell to the floor, but at thest moment, I managed to regain my bnce and quickly threw myself out of the room.


    No matter how fast I was, I still did it quietly. Even as I closed the door to the room where Paul was sleeping again, I managed not to make a sound despite my surprise. So... I found myself standing in the middle of my living room.


    I didn''t think about anything for a while, but... then I opened my status window again and looked at the description of the Memory Travel.


    I only needed to meet one of the conditions to be able to use the skill. In other words, I only needed one condition and I was sure that there would be no problem.


    The first condition required the permission of the person whose memories I was going to visit. I didn''t have Paul''s permission, he didn''t even know I had such a skill. So this condition was eliminated outright.


    The second condition required the target to be mentally weak. And Paul''s mental state was not bad. So this condition was not met from the beginning either.


    The third condition was the reason why I believed that I could use the skill, and why I didn''t even think that there would be a situation where I couldn''t use it.


    This condition required a bond of trust between me and the target. That I had spent a certain amount of time with that person, that we were close.


    I read through each of the conditions many times, but when I saw that the notification in front of me never changed... finally, all I could do was close it with trembling hands. I sank back into my chair as my legs gave way.


    Paul... doesn''t trust me? He... doesn''t see me as someone close to him?


    Half a year. Half a year together. After half a year of staying in constant contact every day, spending time together,ughing and having fun together, he doesn''t trust me?


    No... no way. I may have suspected him, yes... but I never imagined anything like this. This is somethingpletely different, much bigger than what I feared.


    Is the skill lying to me?


    No, there''s no way such a thing could happen. It''s absurd that the system, a ''skill'' that works directly with the runes, would lie. They''re not even things that have a consciousness of their own.


    So... Paul must not see me as someone close to him. That''s the only exnation for what happened in that room. But... how can I ept that?


    No, it''s bullshit. After everything we''ve been through, everything we''ve done together...


    Am I dreaming then? Am I not in the real world, or am I hallucinating because of myck of sleep?


    In the end, all I could do in the middle of my living room was to weakly let myself sink into the pillow of my couch. I surrendered myself to sleep on purpose.


    I will sleep, and then I will wake up, and when I get the chance, I will try using my skill again, this time with a clear head.


    I... I refuse to believe it. I... I just don''t want to believe it.


    *******


    First, I saw a faint light, a white light behind my eyelids, hitting my face. Immediately afterward, I could feel a slight pain spreading through my body.


    My hearing wasing back slowly, but there were no sound sources around me. So... I finally started to open my eyes and straighten up from where I realized I was lying.


    The first thing I realized... was that I was in arge hall. In the middle of this hall, I was on a gray sofa, surrounded by other sofas, a table in front of me, and behind this table was a television. The rest of the hall wasrgely empty and in. But the walls were full of children''s paintings as if they had used the walls of the living room as a canvas. Some of them were beautiful, others... simply childish.


    "Hello."


    I paused for a moment at the first voice I could hear, my eyes focused on the seat in front of me rather than the design of the hall. So I could also see the man sitting in this seat.


    He looked like a middle-aged man. He was wearing a ck t-shirt and pants of the same color. His hair was auburn, it hadn''t started to gray yet. But with the hardness in his face and the heavy expression in his gaze, he looked older than he should.


    He was the man with the ocean blue eyes I had seen before I fainted. But... his appearance and other things were unimportant.


    I had never once noticed this man until he called out to me. It was as if... he had appeared out of nothing.


    "I am not your enemy, at least not unless you want me to be."


    If he hadn''t said those words, I would have already pulled my spear from my bracelet, but for some reason there was a... charm in his words that I couldn''t understand. I felt that what he was saying was true, that I wanted to trust this man.


    But I was also aware of how strange it was, and that made me even more confused.


    Should I pull out my weapon or listen to him? I''m not sure what to do...


    "First of all, how about telling me your name?"


    Ah, I want to say my name... My mind automatically wants me to do what the man says. But, at least for now, it is not so strong that I cannot resist. If he asks me something I don''t want to answer, I can resist the feeling.


    "Adrian Caleo. But... who are you? I just followed the mana flow in the library..."


    The ocean-blue eyes of the man in front of me squinted slightly. He leaned back slightly in his seat as he folded his arms in front of him.


    "So you could feel the flow of mana?"


    Was I not supposed to be able to feel...? Why does he look surprised?


    "At first no, when I focused, yes. But you still haven''t answered my question."


    The man, despite my frown and skeptical attitude, looked surprised again. His eyebrows raised slightly and a curious expression appeared on his face.


    "Let me put it this way, young man. You are the one who broke into my house. So it''s only natural that I should be the one asking the questions, not you."


    House... What house? I mean, it looks like a house, yes, but why would the entrance to this house be on the sixth floor of a library with a strange flow of mana?


    "It''s clear from your face what you''re thinking. But I don''t need to answer that. For now... just answer the questions I ask. I need to know if you are dangerous, after all."


    I don''t know why, as I continued to stare at his face nkly, I began to feel... under pressure, not a psychological pressure, but that strange pressure thates with possible danger. But strangely, the ring on my finger, which should be able to sense danger, did not show any reaction.


    I... what kind of ce have I entered, who is this man in front of me?


    "Why did youe to the library, Adrian?"


    The strange sensation I had felt a few seconds ago seeped into me much more violently with this question. So much so that I answered his question before I even realized what it was.


    "I... wanted to get stronger."


    Oh, no... no.


    What connection is there between wanting to get stronger and the library? He''s only gonna get more suspicious! I have to restrain myself...


    "So you came to a random library to get stronger? You realize how weird that is, right? Adrian... did you enter the library aware of our presence?"


    I have to wait, I have to wait... I have to think first and then answer. I can resist this strange feeling inside me.


    "No, I... I came to Wiathen to get stronger, I only went in because I realized that something was different in this library."


    "And was it the strange mana you noticed on the sixth floor?"


    "Yes."


    "When you noticed this weirdness, you went inside, spent an hour and a half going through all the floors one by one, and then you came to the sixth floor and followed the mana...?"


    "Y- Yes. But... I don''t understand what is happening right now. I am not a thief and I have no intention of harming anyone. I just... want answers. Where am I? Where is this ce? Who are you...?"


    The man in front of me paused for a moment. His eyes had beenpletely focused on me until now, but after thest things I said, he stopped looking at me. He seemed to be thinking about something.


    "Then... you will get the answers you want, Adrian. But before that, there is one small thing I want you to do. I''m going to decide what I''m going to do with you after that."


    I don''t know why, but I couldn''t help swallowing slightly. These words... strangely enough, made the pressure I felt on me increase exponentially.


    "Y- Yes...?"


    "Just try to endure."


    Just try to... endure?


    What the hell does that mean?


    "Endure wha-"


    The ocean-blue eyes of the man in front of me suddenly began to glow, and the ring on my finger suddenly began to vibrate harder than I had ever felt before. Only a split secondter, the strange pressure I had felt on me was released as if a wall that had been holding it back until now had disappeared.


    It was in that second that I understood something I hadn''t understood until that moment. This hall... was surrounded by an even more intense amount of mana than in that corridor. It was filled with so much mana that a normal person could lose their life just by being here. No... they would die outright.


    But... until now, I couldn''t even feel this mana. It was only after the eyes of the man in front of me glowed that I could feel the presence of this mana. In short... it was the man in front of me who controlled all of this mana.


    I couldn''t think too much about it though, because with the removal of the only wall between me and the mana in the hall, my body was literally torn apart by all this mana. The only thing I could feel, see, and hear was... literal pain.

 Chapter 322 Volume V - 40: Laergas

    <h4>Chapter 322 Volume V - Chapter 40: Laergas </h4>


    ?I felt like I was at the bottom of an ocean, literally at the bottom, where the pressure was a thousand times greater. That''s what I felt when the wall between me and all that mana in the hall was lifted.


    It was surrounding me so intensely that I didn''t feel like I could move my body. It was seeping in through every part of my body, even trying to force its way into my own mana flow. Not only that, it was reaching even further inside. It was making its way into my organs, into my blood vessels, and more.


    It was like... it was trying to tear my body apart from the inside.


    It was so painful that my thoughts were muddled. My senses were confused, disconnected from the world. Even if I wanted to use my ascension skill, like I did in the corridor back then... I was under such intense pain and my thoughts were so intertwined that I couldn''t.


    I looked down at my arm, my vision blurred with pain, unable to perceive anything but myself because of the intense mana around me.


    My arm... it was practically glowing. There was a strange glow around it, inside it, even through the extremely dense mana that had seeped into the blood vessels and another system deeper inside. My veins, normally visible in a faint color, were now easy to see because they were filled with a much more intense version of the same glow.


    There were seconds. Only seconds until I was dead... maybe I didn''t even have that much time.


    Try to endure? Bullshit... there''s not a single person in the world who could stand it!


    Ah, no... the man in front of me is not only enduring it, he''s controlling it. At the same time... Aiden endured it too. The moment he picked up that sword, his body was overwhelmed by an even more intense amount of mana. His body started to crack, he was literally burned.


    But... he endured it.


    I gritted my teeth. I tried to lift myself up with my arms in the mana that surrounded me, but before I could even try, I knew I would fail.


    Difficulty Lover was working at its limits, Friend of Mana was trying to help me as much as possible, but neither was enough. I needed something different, something very different... I needed to channel the mana in my body. And there was... actually a way to do that.


    I didn''t even think about it. I just focused on the inside of my body, ignoring my bones and veins and focusing on something else I had at the same time.


    Inside my heart, there was another organ that beat non-stop, just like it. It connected to other vessels other than my blood vessels, it was a system in itself that enveloped my whole body. It was pumping somethingpletely different from my heart.


    The difference between an elf and a human was that elves were born in the true sense of mana. Mana only circted randomly in the human body. Sometimes it would have its own flow, thanks to the flow of blood in the blood vessels. But in general, it was randomly distributed.


    That''s why it was necessary to bring order to this randomness in order to reach B-grade and beyond. No matter how strong a human was, he could not reach B- grade without doing this. While it is mana itself that strengthens the body, that enables it to exceed its limits, it was simply impossible to step further without learning to use it systematically.


    So, with the guidance of the system, when humans tried to reach B- grade, they would build a system into their own bodies that was found in the elves'' bodies. Thanks to this mana cirction system they imitated, the mana in their bodies would be freed from randomness and would have a regr flow, just like blood itself. So they could go on exceeding their limits again.


    I... as a half-elf, had this circtory system since the day I was born. Elven hybrids usually couldn''t get much stronger and were weak because this extra system in their bodies was broken, irregr, andplicated. But... I was different, I had a smooth mana cirction system.


    The only problem was... this system had been deactivated since I was young to hide the fact that I was an elf. When I activated the feature of my ne, not only did my appearance match that of a normal human, but this extra system I had became useless.


    That''s why I came to this age without being able to focus on it. Now, even if I unsealed and had ess to this system again... I didn''t know how to use it. But I had no choice either.


    I focused on the second heart that I had since the day I was born, which was hidden inside my original heart. I tried to feel all the veins of mana that radiated from this heart into my body. And the moment I tried to do that... I realized that the same mana that had enveloped my body had seeped into this system.


    It wasn''t something I didn''t expect. So I didn''t think too much about it. I focused on this system and the foreign mana that was coursing through it, when I was only seconds away from being cut off from the world. I forced my second heart to work deliberately, consciously. I forced it to beat faster than it ever had before, with my own hands.


    I failed.


    But I didn''t give up, I tried again, and again and again. I tried and tried, with my vision going ck and my senses shutting down.


    Finally, I think on my fourth attempt... I felt a surge in my body. The steady beating of my second heart suddenly elerated. That''s why I felt that surge in my body.


    I pushed it even harder. Not only that, I also reached out to my mana veins that were spread throughout my body through it. I specifically collected the foreign mana that was trying to tear me apart from within through this system itself.


    When this mana entered my second heart, my whole body trembled violently. The metallic taste reached my mouth again, my heart felt like it was squeezing, but I didn''t give up.


    I made my second heart work even faster, giving direction to the foreign mana that had infiltrated it. This direction was... outside my body.


    When the mana, so dense that it felt like a solid object, moved from my second heart back into the mana vessels, I felt as if someone was carving a dagger through my body. Yet when some of this foreign mana was expelled from my body, then... a strange relief came.


    I beat my heart even faster. I spread more and more of this foreign mana into my mana veins, and then I pushed it out. More and more mana was entering my body, but I was pushing more and more out.


    I had already crossed the timeline where I thought I would die under normal circumstances, but... I was alive. Still, that didn''t mean I had to stop. One more mistake could still lead me to my death.


    So I didn''t stop. I kept doing what I was doing with total focus, and the more I kept doing it... the more I began to understand the second circtory system I had forgotten to use.


    It was like an extra limb that I had forgotten existed. But as I kept using it, pushing it, I slowly remembered it.


    When I was near death, trying to hold on to life with all my focus... I had even forgotten how time flowed.


    However, it was at this moment that something unexpected happened. All the mana that had invaded my body slowly began to leave me. Even theyer that surrounded me, that made me feel like I was at the bottom of the ocean, slowly retreated. It was as if... the wall between me and it had been rebuilt.


    When the pressure I had been feeling all the time finally receded, I felt more... alive than I had ever felt before. I was truly relieved, but that didn''t mean that the pain and ache that had spread throughout my body had disappeared.


    I involuntarily closed my eyes, face down on the floor. Fainting may not have been the best option in the face of the person who had caused this incident in the first ce... But I was in no condition to move a muscle.


    However, before all my senses were plunged into darkness again... a light slowly overtook this darkness.


    At first, I didn''t understand what was happening. I thought I had fainted, that I was dreaming, but that wasn''t the case. I could still feel the pain and the ache. The only strange thing was... it felt like both were slowly starting to subside.


    My eyelids slowly opened and my eyes began to regain their focus. I couldn''t figure out what was happening, even though all my senses were getting almost even better than before.


    "That should be enough, ire."


    With those words echoing in my ears... for a moment, I couldn''t understand anything again. But then I looked at the metallic surface of one of the seats in front of me and saw a young girl standing behind me. She was holding her hand over me, a golden glow enveloping her palms. The same light... was leaving her hands and enveloping my whole body.


    But as soon as I saw her, she nodded her head approvingly and withdrew her hand. The golden glow left both her and my body. And then... I realized that I was well enough to stand up without any problems.


    Reflexively, I supported myself with my arms, then got up on my knees and slowly stood up. For a moment, I lost my bnce and almost fell, but I quickly recovered myself.


    My eyes shifted first to the girl behind me, whom I could see through the metal part of the seat. She was standing not far from me.


    She was one of the children I had seen before I came here. She would have been... seventeen at the most. Like the man sitting on the couch, she had auburn-colored, wavy hair. She wore it simply braided. Her eyes were different from that man''s. They were not ocean blue, but simply... golden yellow. Her expression didn''t say much, she seemed calm and a bit cold.


    The next second, I paused for a moment as something came into my mind, and then I quickly turned around.


    The man with the ocean-blue eyes... was still sitting on the couch. There was a slight smirk on his stern expression. Shortly after our eyes met, he spoke again.


    "I thought I still had a few years to go, but apparently, you are much closer to us than I thought, Adrian Caleo. One of the paintings on the wall behind me has a very nice-looking picture, do you see it?"


    I reflexively looked where he was pointing and quickly recognized the painting he was talking about.


    There was another hall in the painting that looked just like this hall. Maybe it was even this hall itself. But that was not what was strange, it was the other details in the painting.


    Someone was standing at the entrance of the hall. Behind him was a blurred, glittering corridor. It was like... the corridor I had entered before I came here, overflowing with intense mana. But that was not what caused my eyes to widen.


    What really caught my attention was the person standing in front of this corridor. He had shoulder-length silver hair and emerald-green eyes. There was a golden glow around him, strange patterns running across his skin.


    It was... me.


    "Ah, I just remembered that you won the bet between us. Before I tell you where you are, as promised, let me introduce myself, Adrian."


    My eyes shifted back to the man on the couch. Then... I saw his lips curve even higher.


    "My name is Chris, Chris Laergas. This is my house, like I said. All the people you see are my family."


    Wait... did he say Laergas...?


    "Wee to my home, Adrian Caleo. But... there''s something I''m curious about."


    Laergas... Thatst name...


    "I wonder why you have my great-grandfather''s imprint on your soul? I''m not on good terms with him, you know."

 Chapter 323 Volume V - 41: Threat or Suggestion...?

    <h4>Chapter 323 Volume V - Chapter 41: Threat or Suggestion...? </h4>


    ?As Chris Laergas, with his magical ocean-blue eyes and slightly upturned lips, looked into my eyes, I reyed in my mind the question he had asked me.


    The trace of his great-grandfather... Laergas... The connection is really easy to make.


    But ''he'' told me not to let his name even cross my mind. So... I can''t make a single mistake.


    Now... I have to think.


    The man before me, Chris Laergas, doesn''t seem to be able to read my thoughts or tell if I''m lying. If he could, he wouldn''t have let mee all this way to talk about the library. He would have killed me... that''s for sure.


    But with that glint in his eyes and that strange magical feeling, he forces me to give the right answer. He may not be able to read my thoughts, but he can manipte them in a strange way.


    Even now this ability is active. In fact, I think this is the moment when it is most active.


    I want to tell the truth, the right answer appears directly in my mind. It''s as if my lips would part on their own if I let go... But it''s not something I can''t resist.


    At first, I pretended to think a little, like I was trying to grasp what he was saying. And then... I just stared at the man''s face in front of me in a meaningless way.


    "Your great-grandfather...? I don''t know who you''re talking about, but if I carry his trace in my soul... isn''t that something important for me too?"


    Chris Laergas raised his eyebrows curiously and sped his hands in front of him.


    "Yes, yes. It''s as important to you as it is to me, Adrian. It''s not like you''re lying, but I still want to check it out for myself, and if that goes well... then we can talk about other things. Like the connection between you and that painting."


    He quickly separated his joined hands, then slowly brought his right hand toward me.


    "Rx yourself. I have no intention of hurting you, I''m just going to take a closer look at the trace in your soul, that''s all."


    Oh... isn''t that a problem? If he realizes that this trace is indeed a ''consciousness'', haven''t I failed?


    Can I stop him from doing what he''s going to do? The man in front of me is clearly many times stronger than me. One suspicious move on my part, and he could raise the wall between me and the mana in the hall again and kill me without lifting a finger.


    But... at the very beginning, ''he'' didn''t say anything except that I should keep his name and not say it even in my mind. He only said that no one should find out that there was a direct connection between him and me.


    This connection is still not known, but if the man in front of me was able to detect the ''trace'' in my soul even without digging into the details, isn''t what ''he'' told me something impossible to achieve from the very beginning?


    Then... he must have guessed it, right? He may not be an extremely intelligent person, but he''s certainly not stupid. On top of that, he has managed to be the most powerful person in the world... Is it really possible for him to make such a mistake?


    While I was lost in my thoughts, I felt the man''s fingertips on my forehead, but... after thinking for a while longer, I decided not to block him.


    If it was really what I thought, he wouldn''t have sent me here in the first ce. Besides... he hasn''t called me once since we talked about this. He must be asleep right now.


    It won''t be a problem... will it?


    I unintentionally tensed slightly, expecting a flow of mana into my body, but... it never came. On the contrary, Chris Laergas suddenly withdrew his hand. As I stared at his face nkly, his lips curled even higher than they already were.


    So, that''s it? Is that it...? Is it over?


    "Adrian, did you ever have an incident when you were young where a foreign thing entered your body?"


    Did he find the truth? Why is he asking such a question?


    I have to think...


    "Y- yes? I used to live on the outskirts of the city. One day, when I was looking for food, I saw two men fighting each other to the death. When they both killed each other, I looked over them to see if I could steal anything, but all I found was a tube of water, so I drank it and... that was it."


    Oh, no! I shouldn''t have said it, I should have thought it! I blurted it out! Fuck...


    "I see. You don''t have to worry about that right now. My great-grandfather was a bit special, but also very powerful. So there were a few experiments in his time to try to get a little bit of his power. Apparently... you drank one of the products of these experiments. That must be the cause of the trace in your soul. You''re not in any danger, don''t worry."


    In short, he hasn''t found the truth... Moreover, he believes in something he misunderstands. Unless he''s fooling me.


    But... wouldn''t that work for me? I don''t feel like I have a choice anyway...


    "So... what now?"


    Chris Laergas waited a moment, then a wry expression appeared on his face, as if he was amused, and he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms in front of him again.


    "My middle son drew the picture behind me about two years ago. He''s a bit... special, just like my great-grandfather, even if in a different direction. What I mean is that I was expecting someone like you to show up. It''s just that, as I said before, you got here much earlier than I expected. But that doesn''t really matter."


    When his tone suddenly became serious, for some reason, I found myself bing serious too. His eyes were still shining slightly, so his strange ability was still active.


    "The important thing is that you hide what you discovered on the sixth floor of the library. And don''t tell anyone you meet about me, my family, and myst name. And then there''s the fact that you''re the person in the picture and... you want to get stronger."


    When I heard hisst words, I got excited for a moment.


    The situation I was in was actually quite absurd. A man I had only known for a few minutes had tried to kill me twice and now he was talking to me calmly as if nothing had happened between us. And I... I was listening to him, not finding it strange.


    Maybe it was his strange ability, maybe it was because I hade here to get stronger in the first ce, maybe it was something else... but I didn''t really care.


    The man in front of me could stand in the middle of a hall filled with an unfathomable amount of mana that I couldn''t even imagine, and he could even control it. In short... he was powerful. He could definitely help me.


    "I can see in your face what you are thinking... But not yet."


    Thesest three words made me stand still for a moment.


    Huh...? How not yet?


    "Because I still don''t trust you, and you shouldn''t trust me either. If it wasn''t for the picture behind me, your life would have ended the moment I saw you, Adrian. You''re still breathing for a reason, and I''m not the kind of person who would help someone I don''t trust out of nothing. So, whether you are the person in the picture or not, you need to earn my trust first."


    Sighing slightly, he stood up, separated his arms from each other, and stretched a little. Then he cracked his neck, and the sounds he made as he did so, I don''t know why, but... they echoed quite distinctly in my ears.


    "You were a student at the CDA, right? I heard something about second-years also getting internships this year. When the timees, instead of making a choice for the internship, talk directly to your rector and give her my name. Then I will determine whether I can trust you."


    He stepped aside. Then he raised his left arm and pointed to the corridor I had passed through before entering the hall.


    "Now... go back where you came from. And like I said, don''t tell anyone about me, my family, or my family name. This is not for the privacy or security of this ce, but for your own safety. Do you understand?"


    "O- okay...?"


    As I listened to what he was saying, only one word came to me. I couldn''t say anything else.


    "Then... you can get out of here now. See you when it''s time for your internship, Adrian Caleo. I hope you turn out to be someone I can trust and that you take what I say seriously."


    I wasn''t sure if it was... a threat or a genuine suggestion... but there was nothing else I could say, nothing else I could do.


    So, I returned to the corridor, empty-handed and at the same time still not quite sure what had happened, unlike what I had been told before I came here. After a few steps, I found myself again on the sixth floor of the library, in front of that strange wall.


    Neither in the corridor nor on the sixth floor did the immense mana give me any difficulty this time.


    Well... I couldn''t really understand if I got what I wanted or not. No... I couldn''tprehend anything, let alone this.


    I turned around, looked toward the wall I was standing in front of, and then... I could only sigh.


    What an absurd day...


    *******


    I watched Adrian Caleo as he made his way down the corridor connecting my house and the library. When he finally disappeared from sight, I made a brief adjustment to make sure he could never enter my house again, and then... I could only sigh.


    The next second, a girl''s voice echoed through the living room.


    "Is something wrong, Dad?"


    I turned around, in the direction of the voice, and ire was still standing where she had been, quiet and calm. Her golden eyes, which she had inherited from her mother, were bright, yet cold.


    "Yes... something really happened, ire."


    I let out a deep, really deep sigh, wondering if I had done the right thing as I looked again at the ce where Adrian Caleo had disappeared.


    "The person in the picture Tom drew is Adrian Caleo, I''m sure of it. That''s why I know we have to help him, but..."


    I paused for a moment. I remembered something I had seen many years ago, when I was a teenager.


    It was the image of an old man standing in the middle of my house, a blood-red spear in his hand... and a middle-aged man with ocean-blue eyes with this spear stabbed through his heart.


    I clenched my fist involuntarily, my eyes squinting, and my face grimacing.


    "There is not only a trace of your great-great-grandfather in his soul, there is a sleeping consciousness. And that... even though he doesn''t seem to realize it yet, as you well know, is a big problem."

 Chapter 324 Volume V - 42: Painter of Time

    <h4>Chapter 324 Volume V - Chapter 42: Painter of Time </h4>


    ?I passed through a hallway lined with white walls, just like the rest of my house. But with every step I took, I couldn''t stop looking at the countless paintings on the walls.


    I had seen each of these paintings thousands of times. I had studied them all, memorized almost all of them. Some of the paintings were bad ones that children could only draw half-assedly. But when I looked at another, I could see that the person who drew the paintings had improved. The paintings were getting more and more detailed, bigger and bigger, and more... beautiful.


    The gradual evolution of the paintings... literally... made me mesmerized no matter how many times I saw them. It was a different feeling, especially knowing that it was my own son who had painted them.


    So, I was looking at each of the paintings again and again, taking slow steps. I was in no hurry. I was enjoying the colorful corridor with a smile on my face.


    But after a while, I inevitably paused and took my eyes off the paintings. I didn''t lower the smile on my face, on the contrary, I widened it even more. Then I knocked on the door on one side of the corridor, which was the reason for my pause.


    At first, there was no answer. But with the second knock, I heard a movement behind the door, followed by the sweet and naive voice of a child.


    "You cane in!"


    I opened the door slowly, carefully, because sometimes, there would be things behind it that could break or spill. But this time, that was not the case and I opened the door wide.


    Most of my house, apart from the countless paintings, was simply white. The rooms were supposed to be the same way. But the room in front of me... could not be described by a simple color like white. It was like a rainbow, literally every color on the walls.


    Not only the walls but even the ceiling was a work of art. It was not made up of intertwined patterns and paintings. It was a single, gigantic painting. But... having seen it many times, I didn''t pay much attention to it.


    My eyes quickly shifted to the little boy sitting cross-legged in the center of the room. His ocean-blue eyes, which he had taken from me, looked curious, and his lips were slightly curled upward. He had curly brown hair. His cheeks were losing their plumpness with each passing day, but they still had a fullness to them. He had only been ten for a few days.


    "Dad, did something happen?"


    I grimaced, sighing as I walked over to him.


    "Does something have to happen for me to visit my son?"


    My middle child, Tom by name, threw his hands, covered in dried paint, behind his head and smiled awkwardly.


    "I''m sorry... but you looked at what I was doing just an hour ago. So I thought something had happened..."


    I put a smile back on my face, bent down, and ruffled my son''s hair on purpose. But he didn''t avoid it, on the contrary, he smiled even more.


    "Did the white-haired brother go away?"


    I nodded my head in agreement, while Tom looked a little disappointed.


    "I... thought maybe we could talk."


    It wasn''t just words. His face fell, his eyes squinted slightly, really. After all... he was one of the people in this house who had been waiting for this day the most. This ''white-haired brother'', Adrian Caleo, whose name he did not know, whom he had never seen even once in his life, was present in most of his paintings.


    "For now, it won''t happen. Maybeter... but not now. And you know why."


    Tom didn''t say anything else. Instead, he just closed his eyes and sighed. He shook his head slightly from side to side and then smiled again.


    "We''ll meet when the timees, then!"


    I hope you meet him without any trouble, I thought involuntarily.


    Yes, I might not trust Adrian Caleo, I might have discovered a trace of my great-grandfather in his soul, but that... didn''t change the fact that I wanted a good oue.


    Adrian Caleo was important. For this family, for the future of this world, and for so much more. I knew this much better than my ten-year-old son, who could not yetprehend what he was drawing.


    But... the doubt would always remain in me. And I couldn''t do anything without removing those doubts.


    "Forget about that brother for now, as you said, you will meet him when the timees. But... there''s something I''m curious about, Tom."


    Tom raised his eyebrows for a moment. I smiled again as his expression took on the sweetness of a curious child.


    "Thest time you tried to draw a picture of your great-great-


    grandfather, you couldn''t, right?"


    Tom quickly realized where the conversation was going. The curious expression on his face quickly disappeared.


    "Yes...?"


    "Can you try to draw him again? But this time, instead of trying to draw him as a person... try to draw him as a spirit. Is that okay?"


    Tom looked away nervously. But he nodded his head.


    "I''ll try... but I don''t like trying to draw him..."


    "I know, Tom. But you''re the only one I can ask. You''re my son, you''re the one I trust the most in this world. But... don''t worry. If you can''t draw him this time, I won''t push you for a long time, okay?"


    Tom took a deep breath and nodded again. He spoke in a mumbling voice.


    "Okay..."


    When I saw how fast his mood changed... I couldn''t help being angry with myself. I didn''t want to force him either, it was hard for me to force him to do something he didn''t want to do. But... like I said, he was the only person in the world I could ask.


    As I curled my lips upward, I quickly moved my fingers to his stomach. Without a second''s hesitation, I started tickling him. Tom, despite his low mood, quickly tried to avoid me, but he couldn''t. He burst outughing right afterward, hisughter echoing in my ears.


    I stood up and stretched slightly, then took my eyes off my son, whose chest was rising and falling rapidly, and looked behind him for the first time since I had entered the room.


    It was clear he had been working on something before I entered the room. I wondered if it was a normal picture this time, or a special one as usual, but... I paused for a moment when I saw a spot in the picture that wasrgely obscured by his small figure.


    In the space between his arm and his stomach, on the ground just behind him... I could see a figure... someone with his back turned. He had white hair, as is often the case... I wasn''t too surprised. But the important thing was... the condition of the figure.


    "What did you draw again?"


    I spoke in a tone that didn''t worry my son too much, despite what I had seen. However, my smile fell from my face and I became serious, even if I didn''t want to be. Without realizing it, Tom suddenly became excited and answered my question as he stepped back.


    "I didn''t draw this one, my friend did! How is it, how is it?"


    His question echoed in my mind, his excited words entered my ears and reached my brain, but... I just froze in ce.


    It was a different painting than any other painting my son had drawn that I had ever seen. In contrast to the excitement of the person who drew it... it was a terrifying picture.


    The background was a very familiar city. It was a random street in Wiathen City, but it was a street I knew. I had passed this ce several times.


    It was something I wouldn''t have been surprised to see on its own. But... everything else made me stiffen where I was.


    A young man with white hair, Adrian Caleo, stood in the center of the picture with his back turned. In his hand was a spear, surrounded by a strange, colorless glow.


    To one side of him was the figure of a young woman with bright blond hair. In her left hand, she held a thin sword, and in her right, a tiny me burned. On the other side was another young woman with long, ck hair. She had nothing in her hands and even looked a little scared. She had taken a few steps back from the duo standing to her left.


    There were a few people around them, trying to escape, watching what was happening on the ground with pale skin, as if their blood had frozen. I could feel the fear in their faces.


    The first of the two most important details in the picture... was the other background of the picture outside the street. Except for this street that I recognized, there was no other background in the picture. There was only... pure darkness. There was no sky, no sun, or stars. Just... nothing.


    And this darkness seemed to be slowly closing in on Adrian Caleo, or rather on the area where he was.


    The second detail... was another person standing in front of the three young people in the painting. Another young man wearing a ck mask, who also looked young... but even though his face was not visible, just looking at him, he had an air of... fear.


    He seemed to be the darkness itself.

 Chapter 325 Volume V - 43: A New Problem

    <h4>Chapter 325 Volume V - Chapter 43: A New Problem </h4>


    ?After I left the library... I didn''t have much to do, to be honest.


    Lithoa had told me that I would probably meet a family that would try to kill me, and I did. But... he also said that they would give me something, and it hadn''t happened.


    When I think back over the events of the past few hours, I can''t tell if I failed or seeded, and trying to think about it is bing exhausting.


    I sighed lightly, focused my eyes in front of me, and looked at the busy city. Traffic was moving fast, people were everywhere. The skyscrapers and buildings were stunning. But after seeing it several times and experiencing the same feeling several times, it didn''t make much sense anymore.


    I sighed again, this time looking around. And after finding a park, I walked a little bit further and then I left myself on an empty bench.


    It was only around four in the afternoon. I had four hours at least, considering the permission I''d gotten. I could go back without waiting for eight, which was what I had in mind. But I didn''t alwayse to this city, at least this part of it, and if there was something I could do, I wanted to do it.


    Still... no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn''te up with anything. After about twenty minutes, I gave up and decided to go back to the academy. I didn''t think much as I made my way back to the maic train station.


    Actually... I guess I could try to wake Lithoa up. I''m already out of that library, so it shouldn''t be a problem anymore. I could talk to him about what I''ve been through and try to get an idea.


    So, when I was already inside the station, approaching the ticket point, I called out to my mind.


    ''Lit-''


    But... I couldn''t help but pause, even though it had only just begun. At the end of the slowly moving ticket line, I squinted, focusing on the bright yellow thing I saw out of the corner of my eye.


    In the crowd of people, at some distance from me... something was visible, making no effort to hide itself. It seemed to shine through the pale color of the people and their clothes in general.


    It was a young woman with hair in a ponytail and a color reminiscent of the sun. Behind her was another young woman with long, ck hair. They easily attracted attention as people around couldn''t help but look in their direction, but the duo didn''t seem to care too much.


    My eyebrows raised slightly as I watched the duo heading toward the exit of the station. I couldn''t help but be surprised.


    I mean, I wasn''t expecting this... But considering I didn''t want to leave the city in the first ce, couldn''t I use this? I wanted to spend some time anyway...


    I finally nodded my head as I convinced myself again, and then I got out of the ticket line and started heading back to the city. I was moving a little bit faster than usual so that I could catch up with my targets. And it didn''t take me long to catch up with the duo I saw. I could already tell where they were by the movements of the crowd.


    Just at the exit of the station, the duo paused. The dark-haired one lifted her watch and unfolded a holographic map of the city in front of her. Then, they looked at it side by side. I approached them from behind. Soon, I could hear what they were saying.


    "-hat store over there was good."


    A familiar voice entered my ear, followed by another nodding in agreement.


    "Yeah, I also went there once."


    I stopped walking when I was right behind them, a slight smile on my face, and then I touched both of their shoulders briefly.


    Lucia suddenly turned around. Sue followed her friend again, though a little slower. Finally, when our eyes met, there was a brief silence between us. But then Sue''s eyebrows rose slightly.


    "Adrian?"


    I widened my smile.


    "Yeah, I had a little errand in town. I was on my way back to the academy when I saw you."


    "Oh, I see..."


    Following Sue, Lucia pointed to a spot on the still-open holographic screen, smiling, even if it was barely noticeable under her usual ck mask.


    "We''re going to a clothing store. Do you want toe?"


    I looked at the store on the screen as I nodded my head to indicate that I was happy to ept the offer. It was one of themon stores I see in almost every city. But... for some reason, the space it upied looked a bit bigger on the map than a normal store.


    "Then let''s go!"


    As they started to walk toward the store, I followed them, and we were not silent the whole way. After a short while of small talk, Lucia became serious for a moment when there was a short silence between us.


    She seemed to have something on her mind, but she chose not to keep it to herself.


    "You''re preparing for second year, right?"


    All I could do in response to her words was to look at her face nkly.


    Why did she say that so seriously? As if... something different was going to happen. I mean, something different was definitely going to happen... especially the internship thing, which sometimes made me wonder about the future. A lot of things were going to be elerated because the increasing number of dungeons around the world was a big problem.


    But... we''ve already talked about this before. It was not a question she needed to repeat now, at this very moment, with such a serious expression.


    "Preparing for what...?"


    Lucia continued quickly, without any reaction.


    "I''m talking about who you''re going to support, who you''re going to join, or whether you''re going to form your own faction. Have you done any research on the upper sses?"


    What is she talking about...? I don''t understand...


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about."


    Lucia just looked at me after what I said. After looking at my expression, which made it clear that I really didn''t understand anything, she let out a deep sigh. However... she didn''t seem too surprised. It was as if she had expected something like this.


    "You already know that the first year is very different from the other three years. The sses were taught in the style of high school, and since we were still learning most of the material, they were kind of preparing us for the next years. It''s not just the sses or the attitude of the school toward the students that distinguishes the first year from the others."


    My eyebrows furrowed as I focusedpletely on what Lucia was saying. She seemed to be talking about something really important. And... things I didn''t know.


    "Have you ever noticed that during your first year, rather than seeing upper years in the garden or around the campus, you never interacted with them, and they also never even bothered to do so?"


    I paused involuntarily for a moment, thinking about what she had said and the half year I had spent at the academy... and I realized that she was actually right.


    I never spoke to a single person from the upper years properly. I mean, there were a few among Risa and her friends when I was dealing with James, but even they were usually too hesitant to talk to me.


    It was really strange, considering that three quarters of the academy is made up of upperssmen.


    "This is because the academy specifically warns the upper years not to have any interaction with the first years. This rule was put in ce a few years ago because there used to be a lot of cases of students who didn''t know how the academy worked being tricked by upperssmen."


    My eyes widened slightly as I realized where the conversation was going. Sue sighed at this point, as if something had annoyed her.


    "Now that we''re going into second year, this wall between us will bepletely removed. In short, we will be interacting with powerful people in the upper sses; we will also interact with the factions formed by the children of guild leaders and pir families. They will invite us to their factions and guilds, and they will naturally try to eliminate those who do not ept as they will see them as enemies of their factions. The people who will be most affected are those at the top of the ranks, and especially you, Adrian."


    Because I''m not a noble, my background doesn''t bind me to anybody or anymunity... on top of that, I''m first among the first years.


    Now I understand what she''s talking about. And this... is something that could reallye back to me as a problem.


    "I... I didn''t have the slightest idea about that. Thank you for telling me."


    Another addition to my problems... perfect.


    "But you also mentioned something about forming my own faction. Wouldn''t I be a bigger target if I tried something like that...?"


    Lucia nodded her head in agreement.


    "Of course, you would. But you can also try to grow by choosing to resist them. Being one of the people in control of a faction has more advantages than you think. If you can get a few of the upper sses on your side, I don''t think it would be too difficult topete with the other factions. In fact... I think this is actually one of the things Aiden had nned for the future when he formed our study group."


    Herst sentence caused me to stop where I was for a moment, and then my eyes widened involuntarily. Not only me, but also Sue, who had been walking quietly beside us until now, paused and reacted in a simr way to me.


    Even when I thought about it, Lucia was... absolutely right.


    I was the first in the ranking... Lucia, Julian, and Celine, who came from the pir families and were third, fourth, and seventh in the rankings respectively... There were exceptions like Alice and Sue, but in general, our group consisted of people at the top of the rankings.


    "I don''t think he formed the group just for that purpose. He was really good at fostering the friendship between us and he approached us all in a friendly way. To think that he had ulterior motives or that he brought us together with that in mind... it seems absurd. But I''m sure he had the future in the back of his mind. It would be absurd for someone like him otherwise."


    She paused briefly after her words. Then sighed as her expression fell slightly.


    "Of course, his current situation is a bit... troubling right now. The start of the second year is less than two months away. I have no idea if he''ll be able toe back during that time, or what will happen if he does. Most of the upperssmen must also be taking his presence seriously. So, if he manages toe back, they might try to prevent him from forming his own faction. So... he''s apletely unpredictable variable right now."


    Finally, Lucia turned her gaze to a street not far from us and pointed to a signpost.


    "Anyway, we''ll talk about this in more detailter. For now... let''s just do what we came here to do. The store is just over there."

 Chapter 326 Volume V - 44: Like a Natural Disaster

    <h4>Chapter 326 Volume V - Chapter 44: Like a Natural Disaster </h4>


    ?The things Lucia had told me felt like things I should have dwelled on more. It made me feel like I should think more, like I should be faster.


    But as she had said, we were here to have some fun, not to talk about the future and make ns. So, I put that on the back burner. When Lucia, Sue, and I finally entered the store, I shopped with them for a while.


    But... I also soon realized something.


    There was something I had heard several times since the day I arrived at the Academy. I mean, I could actually count it on my fingers... it wasn''t something I thought about much. But today, I learned again how true this thing I had heard was.


    Women... For some reason that I don''t really understand, they spend hours shopping. Literally hours.


    When I think of a shopping process for myself, I would find what I wanted, then I would buy it and leave the store. Usually, it would take a few minutes. But Lucia and Sue... they were constantly seeing, turning, and looking for at least a few minutes. And it didn''t help in any way that the store was truly gigantic.


    As I handed the shopping bag full of clothes to the cashier, the man first looked at the pile of things that was literally forming a mountain, then turned to me and to Lucia and Sue, who were standing right behind me. When our eyes met, I don''t know why, but he gave me a look of pity.


    I couldn''t say anything. At least I wasn''t paying for everything in that... mountain. Most of it was out of Lucia''s pocket, except for what I bought myself.


    Finally, the payments were made. Our purchases went into our dimensional inventories and we managed to step out of the store. The wind on my face, the pale glow of the sun never felt so... refreshing. Yet, when I lowered my eyes and looked at my watch, a bitter smile reappeared on my face.


    Two hours... we''ve been in this store for two whole hours. This definitely shouldn''t have gone on this long. We''ve been here longer than we should have...


    I took my eyes off my watch and turned my gaze to the two girls walking next to me. They had a more rxed smile on their faces than mine, they were chatting among themselves about something.


    At least they looked like they had fun... I don''t know what to console myself with.


    "Let''s go somewhere for dinner. Then we''ll go back to the academy, any other suggestions?"


    Neither I nor Sue objected to Lucia''s suggestion. So we started moving through the streets of the city again. We were looking for a good ce to eat on the holographic map in front of us.


    "I remember that ce over there makes good pizzas. But if we want to eat something juicy, the restaurant half a kilometer away is pretty good."


    Sue knew the city like the back of her hand. She was often the one who made rmendations about ces to visit. When we were looking for a ce to eat, she didn''t hold back on what she knew.


    We chose the restaurant half a kilometer away. We would have to walk a bit, but the three of us, especially me, were tired. We wanted to eat something good and filling.


    Lucia and Sue started chatting amongst themselves again. I turned my eyes to the sun, which would soon be setting. It was already painting its part of the sky orange. It was right next to a skyscraper, and soon it would pass behind it and disappear.


    I don''t know why, I thought of the disk in the dimensional inventory on my bracelet. After almost two months of transferring mana non-stop, I had finally been able to use it. But... I still couldn''t use it. It wasn''t that I couldn''t use it, actually. It was that I wasn''t using it. I was trying to find the right time, but I couldn''t.


    What the disk was going to do required preparation and some time. Preparation was not something I could easily do right now, and time was something I didn''t have much of. On top of that, with so many eyes and suspicions on me... it was hard to know if I could use this disk this summer.


    I paused for a moment, took my eyes off the sun, and turned them to the crowd moving down the street. Usually, most people were walking past us, heads bowed and focused on the holographic screens. But most of the other people didn''t usually stop to stare at our group for at least a few seconds. Lucia''s charm and my elven appearance drew a lot of attention to us.


    Still, that wasn''t what I was focused on.


    I know there are a few eyes and suspicions on me, yes... There must be someone following me right now, watching me all the time. But I wonder, if I can''t find these people no matter how hard I try... how powerful they are? Or am I worrying for nothing and no one is really after me?


    No, it''s so unlikely that the very thought is absurd.


    With these thoughts in mind, I nced again at the duo walking beside me.


    What will happen to the people I consider my friends if those who are watching me decide not to risk their suspicions about me? Will they also be on the list of suspects because they have a friendship with me, or will they be ignored...? Lucia is a noble, so maybe nothing will happen to her, but Sue is different.


    I took a deep breath and then shook my head from side to side.


    I shouldn''t think, it''s too early for such things. I have other things to focus on for now, I can''t burden myself with such worries.


    So, we stopped in front of a traffic light, it was green for cars, we had to wait to cross and we did.


    I don''t know why, but during this time, I looked up at the sky again. I used to like to look up when I was bored, when I was waiting for something short, or when I didn''t know what to do. It felt good to see the clouds, the sky, and the buildings reaching up to them.


    But when I looked up, it was not the clouds or the sun that caught my attention. On the contrary... the first thing I noticed was a figure who looked like a man standing on the building on the opposite side of the road. He was just standing there, as if... staring at me.


    I frowned for a moment. I narrowed my eyes, focused on the figure.


    The mana around him... it was the strangest moving mana I had ever seen.


    Mana was involuntarily drawn to someone if they were strong or if their charm stat was high. The difference between the two was usually obvious. The mana around a powerful person would be heavy, it would even feel like it was being pulled toward that person by force. But the pull caused by the charm was gentler. It was as if the mana had a consciousness and was trying to get close to this person.


    But what was in front of me was different. It was as if... mana was naturally around this figure. It wasn''t pulling toward him, it wasn''t trying to get close to him. It was simply... just with him. It was as if he himself was a natural source of mana. But this was not the only strangeness of the mana around him.


    Pure mana was without attributes. Colorless and formless. But the mana around this person seemed to... acquire color. It seemed to be darker, even infinite. And yet it was not like something artificial or unnatural.


    On the contrary, it was like nature itself.


    "Do you see that person over there?"


    At my words, Lucia and Sue first stopped their conversation and turned to me. Then they looked in the direction I was looking. They must have seen the figure too, because they paused for a moment. Lucia''s eyebrows furrowed in irritation.


    "It''s... what is-"


    But she could not finish. The dark figure standing on the roof of the building opposite us disappeared at that very moment. Immediately afterward, I felt a vibration in the ring on my finger and my eyes widened.


    I quickly spread my mana around me, not wanting to risk anything, but... it was toote when suddenly there was a ripple inside this sphere I had centered myself in.


    The silhouette of a young man in a ck mask appeared in front of me... literally from nothing. The people around us paused, looking at me and the person in front of me. They too realized that something strange was happening.


    But... I didn''t care about any of that. I... couldn''t.


    Because the moment this person appeared in front of me, I literally froze. From a distance, I had thought that the mana around him was just strange. But now, with only a meter between us... what I felt was very, very different.


    It was as if there was an unstoppable force in front of me. An earthquake, a tsunami, the eruption of a volcano... I felt like I was facing a disaster of nature itself. It didn''t help that my ring, which had only been trembling slightly before, was now intensifying as if it was trying to break my finger.


    "W- who are you? What... do you... want...?"


    I didn''t get any answer to my question for a few seconds, but then he tilted his head slightly to the side, his dark eyes visible despite his mask, and his tone of voice... he said only one thing.


    "Blood."


    And then... the natural, dark, and infinite mana around him suddenly enveloped the whole street.

 Chapter 327 Volume V - 45: All-Consuming Darkness

    <h4>Chapter 327 Volume V - Chapter 45: All-Consuming Darkness </h4>


    ?The darkness just came over me. No... it enveloped the whole street, trapped it in itself.


    But I didn''t stand still while it was happening. Yes, I might have been stiff. I might have been too strong to fight back. But that didn''t mean that I would dly give my life to someone.


    I quickly took out my spear from my bracelet. Before it had even finished materializing, I grabbed it with my right hand and swung it at the figure in front of me. But... something happened that I had never seen or encountered before.


    The darkness literally materialized. It stretched like a dough, then hardened and formed a shield, protecting the person in front of me from my spear.


    The masked man tilted his head slightly to the side again. Then he simply raised his hand in the air, pulling it gently to the side.


    Suddenly, all the darkness that covered the street rippled. It churned as if... enraged.


    People''s screams entered my ears. They had been silent until this moment, but the jolt, like an earthquake, brought them to their senses.


    I gritted my teeth and attacked the figure again as the darkness descended further on us, but as soon as I tried to do so, I felt its eyes on me. It was as if it was several times faster than me... No, it was directly so.


    This time my spear did not encounter any shields or obstacles. But... it didn''t reach the masked man either. Instead, the man''s figure was suddenly enveloped in total darkness, then melted away as if it were a liquid. My spear thus cut the air.


    I quickly looked around in case of any attack, to my sides, behind me, above me, and even below me... literally everywhere, but no attack came. On the contrary... a scream once again echoed not far away from me.


    I quickly turned toward the scream, readying my spear to strike, but I was frozen in ce again.


    There was a woman where I was looking. She was right next to the darkness that covered the street. She was punching the dark wall that prevented her from escaping. What she didn''t know... was another darkness rising behind her.


    Two dark tentacles, like the arms of an octopus, suddenly grabbed her around the waist. Before I could prepare to save her, they squeezed her delicate body like a python snake. I heard the sound of bones crunching, I watched the woman''s cries for help quickly fade and disappear in every possible sign of fear.


    My hands, my whole body trembled. For the first time in my life, I truly felt so... powerless.


    When was thest time someone had instilled such fear in me just by looking at what they were causing? When was thest time I found myself in such a situation? Yes, I had met many strong people and watched them fight, but this... this was different.


    Another scream echoed behind me. But this time I couldn''t turn around quickly. I turned my head slowly, in fear. My eyes widened again as my grasp on my spear weakened.


    I saw ck liquid pouring out of an old man''s eyes, nose, mouth... out of every pore in his body. His whole body was shaking in pain, it had only taken a few seconds for him to lose his life. Even as his lifeless body slumped to the ground, that ck liquid was constantlying out of his body. Then it evaporated and merged with the darkness itself.


    Why is no one stilling...? Isn''t this a street in the middle of the city? Where are the police, the soldiers? Is this shell of darkness that surrounds us... is it really so strong that they can''t breach it?


    That aside... the masked man can do things like this without me even feeling his presence while constantly supporting such a shell?


    Bullshit... Bullshit... Bullshit!


    "Adrian,e to your senses... please."


    The soothing, almost mesmerizing voice in my ears made me feel as if time had stopped for a moment.


    Right, I... I had forgotten. But I had my friends with me. Lucia and Sue... I hadpletely forgotten their existence.


    "This is no time to despair. We need to do something before it''s our turn."


    I slowly turned around. Lucia was looking around, holding a tiny ball of me in her right hand, which she used to light up the darkness. And Sue, right behind her... she was literally shaking with fear.


    Ah... I... why am I so caught up in fear?


    I gripped my spear tightly again as I quickly shook my head from side to side.


    This is not like me. I may feel helpless, I may be weak, I may realize how much stronger the other person is than me. But... this is not the first time I have been in such situations. Why then did I experience these feelings so intensely?


    It must have something to do with the darkness, I thought. Then I looked at the me burning in the palm of Lucia''s hand.


    "Do you think you can make the darkness disappear?"


    Lucia quickly grasped what I was talking about and shook her head from side to side just as quickly.


    "My me mastery is not very high. Besides... the person in front of us is far too powerful."


    Just then, someone in the crowd started screaming again. Tiny little needles of darkness flew through the air, wrapping around his body and gradually tearing him to pieces.


    I gritted my teeth, trying not to look at him.


    Whoever was in front of us seemed to enjoy ying games with us. He was doing it slowly, terrorizing the crowd. He would attack only one person at a time and let the others follow him. Like he was carving in everyone''s mind the question of whether I would be next.


    I paused for a moment, because I realized something else strange.


    Why are these people... why aren''t they as fearful as they should be? I mean, of course they are, but in a situation like this, with so many people, there should be nothing but chaos. So... why is there no one screaming except those who are being attacked?


    The darkness that surrounds us... not only confuses us, it can even y with our emotions... is that it?


    This... is bing even more dangerous than I thought.


    "Lucia, throw the biggest fireball you can upward. Don''t question, just do it."


    Lucia nodded her head, then raised her right hand with the tiny me and closed her eyes. Without waiting for her, I focused on myself, my mana, and the system, and then... I activated the only ascension skill I had, even if I didn''t want to use it again on the very same day.


    I felt my hair ripple and fall over my shoulders as the air around me suddenly became warmer. The mana in my body became strange for a moment, even docile. My mind became clear as if to prove that the darkness around us was indeed ying tricks with our emotions and behavior. I took a deep breath as slowly branching patterns appeared on my skin.


    Each of the people on the street, frightened, not knowing what to do, turned to me with an expression as if they had forgotten what they were doing and where they were. Not only them but Lucia and Sue seemed surprised too... even shocked.


    The darkness around us and the masked man must have felt the same way because he still hadn''t chosen a new victim.


    Just then, the tiny me in Lucia''s right hand suddenly began to expand. A few seconds ago, I could feel the atmosphere heating up, but this time, it was literally suffocating.


    Still, I didn''t care too much about it. I reached out into the street, into the mana that had be strange and darkened by that masked man. I murmured coldly to it, just as I had done in that library a few hours ago.


    "Be the me... Be supportive, grow, and burn as much as you can!"


    The whole street trembled. The mana in the atmosphere was the cause of this vibration. The reason was... it was literally caught between two choices.


    It was the first time I had ever encountered such a thing. It was the first time that the sleeping mana in the atmosphere didn''t listen to me when my ascension skill was active. Or rather... it seemed unsure whether it would listen or not. It was a little out of my control because of the masked man''s influence, but it wasn''tpletely not listening to me. So... it was unsure of what to do.


    I frowned, raised my hands, and the golden motifs spread across my skin began to glow, and then the same glow slowly enveloped my body and traveled up my arm.


    "Light, burn as I said!"


    With my secondmand... everything stilled for a brief moment as if time had frozen. But then, the huge ball of me, long out of Lucia''s control, suddenly glowed more orange than ever.


    The mana in the darkness was suddenly directed toward the fireball. In this strange dome-shaped structure, where everywhere I looked I could only see darkness, a brilliant glow appeared as if a new sun had risen.


    I felt a sudden sensation rising in my throat, and for a moment, my whole body trembled violently in pain. Blood rose to my throat, filling my mouth with a metallic taste.


    "Adrian?!"


    At Lucia''s worried voice, I deactivated my ascension skill as fast as I could. I felt a little relief as my hair, the golden patterns on my skin, and the glow of the same color receded. Lucia tried to help me from behind, but instead of focusing on her, I looked at the new sun that had risen above us.


    That should have been enough to pierce the darkness. After all, I had empowered it with all the atmospheric mana in this area. But... what I saw was different from what I expected it to be.


    My eyes widened, and this time... I really froze in ce.


    "Well, that was interesting... This could be fun!"


    The darkness around us suddenly became even more... intense. Everything stirred, ck veins appeared even in the air itself. In front of the new sun that was preparing to break through the darkness, a figure appeared, connected to all this darkness itself.


    The masked man raised his hand, and with it, all the surrounding darkness descended upon him. It concentrated on his arm without entering his body, and then the masked man calmly held out his hand to what appeared to be no more than a star.


    The darkness simply... swallowed the sun. It took less than a second. It only took that long for countless octopus arms, seemingly made of darkness, to envelop ityer byyer. Soon, the dark alley where a new sun had risen... was plunged back into darkness.


    The masked man sighed lightly and slowly turned around. Ignoring every single person, he only looked in my direction.


    I don''t know why, I felt him smile, and even though I couldn''t see his face, I could have sworn his lips curved upward... in a strange way.


    "You seem interesting. Adrian Caleo, right? I''ve seen you on the news a couple of times. Can you... entertain me?"

 Chapter 328 Volume V - 46: From the Claws of Darkness and Death

    <h4>Chapter 328 Volume V - Chapter 46: From the ws of Darkness and Death </h4>


    ?No...


    That was the only thing that crossed my mind. I couldn''t do anything else as an intense silence descended upon us, as the huge ball of me that I had literally spent everything to strengthen was swallowed up by the darkness in mere seconds.


    "What are you waiting for...? Attack me."


    The masked man paused for a moment. He looked at my frozen expression, at the blood still oozing from between my lips. He nced briefly at Sue and Lucia, who were standing behind me, not unlike me. Finally... all he did was sigh deeply.


    "Are you broken already? No way... I thought we were going to have a fun fight. I thought you''d be able to push me since you''re so visible on the news... But you''re just too scared to move."


    He shook his head from side to side, his disappointment evident with each word that left his lips. But soon, his tone changed again.


    "Ah, I found it... If we can''t fight, why don''t I just... break you even more?"


    His whole body went dark for a moment. Even the ordinary white mask on his face disappeared. It melted away as if it had turned back into a liquid, literally disappearing into the atmosphere.


    A few secondster... there was another scream from the crowd. And then another... and another.


    ''It''s because of you.''


    I heard a voice in my mind, a whispered voice, like my own. It seemed to... ripple with the darkness around me.


    ''You''re weak again, Adrian Caleo.''


    I felt the darkness around me ripple again, the voices faded, everything slowly faded into darkness. But... the people screaming and dying mercilessly remained.


    N- no... I''m not...


    ''Didn''t you decide to help people? Why don''t you do anything but sit where you are?''


    It''s not that I don''t, I can''t...


    What can I... What can I do in the face of such a... thing?


    ''Excuses, excuses...''


    One by one, I listened to the agonized screams of the people I could do nothing to help. I watched as they cried, as they were swallowed by the darkness or torn to pieces.


    My body trembled, more violently than ever before.


    ''Since when did you stop trying just because you can''t? Pity, pity...''


    No, shut up... shut up...


    Just fucking shut up!


    I...


    ''You, what?''


    I...


    I paused for a moment. As my eyes widened, I realized something in this dark, death-filled street.


    There was no more screaming.


    I tried to focus my blurred eyes for a moment, looked in front of me, and what I saw was... nothing.


    There were dozens of bodies on the ground. Some had died so brutally that they were unrecognizable, others had been killed so cleanly that they reflected more than ever the fear they had felt seconds before they died.


    The important thing was... they were all dead.


    There was not a single person left alive.


    ''Hahahah... freeze with fear, go on, just like you always do!''


    My eyes widened as the voice seemed to disappear, never to return. In deep fear, I slowly looked behind me, but... what I feared hadn''t happened.


    Lucia and Sue were not dead. Behind me, they seemed to be bound again by ropes of darkness. Their mouths were closed, and even if they tried to struggle, they were unable to do so. That''s why they hadn''t been able to make a sound or move for minutes.


    But... the fact that they were alive didn''t give me any peace of mind. Because I saw someone behind them, someone with his hands behind his back, a white mask on his face, just standing there looking at me.


    "These were your friends, weren''t they? I saved them forst on purpose. I really want to see the copse of someone famous, like you... So don''t disappoint me... okay?"


    He took a step, just one short step. But the moment he did so, he paused.


    "Oh, how rude of me... one wants to know the other person, right? Even if you''re going to die, at least I can do you this favor."


    His hands went to his mask, he simply took it off and showed me his face directly. He didn''t even hesitate.


    He had really ck eyes. They were as ck as Alice''s eyes, even darker, although I don''t know how it was possible. They were also... empty and infinite. Just as when I looked into Alice''s eyes I thought of midnight, when I looked into these eyes... the only thing that came to my mind was... infinity.


    His hair was as ck as his eyes. They were like the pitch ckness that surrounded us, like the darkness itself.


    He could have been a few years older than me at most. His facial features showed that he was still quite young. All that aside, he was smiling. He had the most sincere, amused smile I have ever seen on a human being.


    "My name is Revon. And myst name is Scs."


    He opened his mouth again as if to continue, but then paused for some reason. His smile faded as his eyes shifted slightly upward.


    "Hmm... I thought it would be more fun. It''s nothing like I imagined. It''s weird."


    But then, as if remembering my presence, his eyes quickly turned back to me. That strange, seemingly sincere but impossible smile reappeared on his face.


    "Anyway. Let''s continue... shall we?"


    He raised his hand in the air. A dark substance slowly appeared out of nowhere between his fingers, taking the shape of a long kitchen knife. This... demon... who introduced himself as Revon Scs... started twirling the kitchen knife in his hand, while his eyes moved behind Lucia, whose eyes were constantly on me.


    Lucia kept looking at me. Not moving a muscle... but strangely calm.


    Revon, or the devil incarnate, swung the kitchen knife at Lucia. It was in that second that I truly realized what was happening, the fact that one of my friends was dying in front of my eyes, because of my powerlessness, hit me like a p in the face, harder than ever.


    My lips opened, I wanted to scream, but... I just froze and my eyes widened again the next second.


    Just as the kitchen knife of darkness was about to touch Lucia''s neck, something strange happened.


    There was a ripple in the darkness, or rather in the mana itself. Revon''s eyebrows rose slightly and a tiny burst of light appeared in front of my eyes. Still, I didn''t close my eyes, I watched everything as it happened.


    The mana around Lucia seemed to calm down as if it was suddenlypletely under her control. Then... it was drawn into her body. Even the dark ropes that surrounded her, which prevented her from moving and speaking, were drained and the mana entered her body.


    I had no idea how she did it. But... she had managed to take action against someone for whom it felt impossible to move, let alone win.


    Lucia jumped to her feet. The knife in Revon''s hand plunged into her ponytail of hair and sliced away a piece of it. But it could go no deeper. Instead, Lucia spun around quickly, away from the knife, and, maintaining her momentum, delivered a solid kick to the stomach of Revon, who was right behind her.


    Revon was thrown back, but Lucia didn''t even look at him. Instead, she just got down on her knees, put her hands on my cheeks, and looked into my eyes.


    "Get a hold of yourself, Adrian. This... this is not you. I know the darkness around us is ying with your emotions, I know you''re scared, but you have toe to your senses. Every second counts if we want to get out of here alive. Please."


    Instead of finishing her words, she quickly removed her hands from my face, turned around, and formed a ball of me in each palm. She quickly threw them behind her. But two dark hands instantly caught the mes and swallowed them whole.


    "Ah, it seems that one of the girls was a bit extraord-"


    Lucia didn''t wait for him to finish. Instead, she created a wall of mes and sent it back to Revon. The dark figure of his burst into mes.


    Lucia looked at me again out of the corner of her eye. Her desperation was clearer than ever. She wanted to live, that desire was certainly evident in her eyes. The only problem was... she didn''t have the strength to do it. Her demeanor, her movements, her attempts to bring me to my senses... everything screamed that she didn''t have enough strength to get out of here alive.


    That''s why she was literally... begging for me... her only chance.


    And just as I realized this... a voice echoed from behind me, hoarse, but as hoarse as it was brutal.


    "This game was not what I expected... let''s end it here."


    The ring on my finger trembled so violently that I felt it crack. This sensation was thest thing that truly brought me to the world. My vision became clear again, just as it had been when I used my ascension skill, and voices became more distinct.


    I took a single, brief look at Lucia, and there was a glimmer of hope in her desperate, pleading eyes. She said nothing. She only turned around and swung a long spear of unstable mes at my back. Not content with that, she threw herself in the same direction.


    I did the only thing I hadn''t thought of so far, but which I thought might work. I reached for the vast inventory on the inside of my bracelet, then focused on a single thing inside.


    A blue glow appeared in front of me, then something slowly began to materialize.


    Just then, Lucia flew past me. The glow of her spear, which she had never bothered to control so that it would be unstable,pletely pure, andposed of destructive power, suddenly faded. As if... swallowed by darkness. But this was not the end.


    Lucia severed thest string holding her spear of mes together. mes literally exploded in every direction. I could see nothing but orange. My ears were ringing so loudly that my eardrums might have burst already. It was so hot that my skin was scorching.


    But Lucia suddenly appeared in front of me in the middle of it all. She used a skill I had seen Aiden use several times. Severalyers of Mana Barrier surrounded us and protected us from the mes, including Sue, who couldn''t move a millimeter out of fear and weakness. I didn''t even know if she was awake.


    The materialization of what I had pulled out of my bracelet wasplete. Lucia''s eyes quickly focused on this object. Her eyebrows lifted slightly, and she had the expression of someone who couldn''t understand what she was seeing.


    But I ignored her. I threw one hand over Sue''s and grasped Lucia''s arm tightly with the other. In front of me, I poured mana into the disk that I had been pouring mana into for months onest time.


    A tiny pale-colored dot on the motifs on the disk, I didn''t know where was it, suddenly glowed with this action. Everything froze as if someone had flipped a switch.


    Just behind theyers of Mana Barrier, in the midst of the mes exploding in all directions... the figure of the demon named Revon reappeared. He had dark limbs extending from his back like the legs of a spider, and with them, he struck the firstyer of the barriers with tremendous force, shattering it to pieces.


    Each of the motifs on the disk began to glow momentarily. The disk started spinning in front of me and rose into the air as if something was lifting it up.


    The secondyer of barriers crumbled to dust. Every spark, light... the whole existence of the mes around us... was once again swallowed up by the darkness and pitch ckness descended upon us.


    I closed my eyes, as Lithoa had told me before, and although I did not reach out toward the disk, I directed my mana toward it. As soon as I did so, the mana inside the disk spread out, but not only that, it moved rapidly toward a point... to me.


    Once more, I heard a crackling sound, then a breaking sound, the sound of thest barrier Lucia had created. In other words... there was no longer any barrier between me and the devil himself.


    But without waiting for him to act, I made a mental wish with a dual purpose.


    To get out of here, away from Revon Scs... and the reason why I transferred mana to this disk in the first ce.


    The back of my eyelids, the street of death, which normally should have beenpletely dark, was suddenly filled with a brilliant glow that burned my eyes. All sounds disappeared, and my senses apanied my other senses, which quickly disappeared.


    Thest thing I felt before a system notification appeared in front of me... was something strangely warm, sshing against my chest.


    <>


    Then, everything went dark again. Aforting darkness, rather than one that was so frightening and felt like nothing but death.

 Chapter 329 Volume V - 47: Pecaful-looking Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 329 Volume V - Chapter 47: Pecaful-looking Dungeon </h4>


    ?My eyes were stung by a faint light hitting my face, faint but intense enough to disturb me, even if only just barely.


    I slowly opened my eyes as a blurry light reced the darkness behind my eyelids, and the first thing I saw was... a green sky.


    I stared at this... green sky for a while with my barely recovered sight. Strangely enough, there was no sun. I didn''t know where this green light wasing from.


    The question of where am I echoed in my mind. As I forced myself to sit up, I realized that I couldn''t put enough strength in my arms, and I realized that there was a small pain that was spreading throughout my body.


    However, this pain was not something that would bother me excessively. So I ignored it. Finally, I managed to sit up and looked around.


    I was in the middle of a truly vast in, covered in lush green grass. Different trees, a waterfall I could see in the distance followed by a river, and beyond that a few mountain ranges that seemed to reach into the sky were the first things that caught my eye.


    In the sky that didn''t have a sun, most everything was greenish because of the strange green light that had reced it. It made the already strange situation even stranger, but it was nothing I couldn''t get used to.


    Besides... there was something else in front of me that was more important and much more noticeable. And that was something that did not belong to this environment, something special to me.


    <<------------------------------


    It has been discovered that you entered the dungeon in a group! Do you agree to form a party?


    ------------------------------>>


    I felt really stupid for a moment as I stared at the system notification just sitting there. But when I focused on the word ''dungeon''... my memories slowly began to flood back into my mind.


    That masked demon, Revon... The dark street, the dead people...


    Ah, Lucia and Sue!


    I turned around with a quick movement. I clearly remembered touching them before I used the disk, so they must have been dragged here with me.


    And so they had.


    Sue was on the floor not far from me, with her eyes closed. She didn''t seem to be awake yet. Lucia was a little further away from her. Her body couldn''t be seen much because it was in some tall grass, but I could tell it was her from her outfit.


    The moment I saw the two of them, I felt a sense of relief. If they hadn''te with me... they had no chance of surviving in the hands of that demon. Not even me, how could they?


    But I had seeded. I had managed to save our lives... at least for a little while.


    Remembering the notification I saw before I passed out and was dragged into the dungeon, all I could do was bow my head, squint my eyes, and start brooding.


    We''re in a B grade dungeon... is it possible to clear it on our own? My general power is C grade, I don''t know how strong Lucia is, but I''m guessing she must be at D grade. And Sue is... just an ordinary human.


    Did I cause us to jump into a different version of death while running away from it in the first ce...?


    No, I shouldn''t think like that. We wouldn''t have survived if we''d stayed in there. I''m sure of it. The fact that my ring was vibrating to the point of cracking and I couldn''t think straight at that moment easily exins it.


    I paused for a moment, thinking about my strange state of mind in that dark street.


    Now that I can think more clearly... Lucia was right. That dark street, that demon named Revon... he was definitely preventing me from thinking straight and ying with my emotions. Now, freed from his influence, I feel much more refreshed.


    I took a deep breath and looked around again.


    This is a Recta-type dungeon, which means it''s a standard dungeon. Which also means that it''s quite possible that there are creatures around.


    But... I can''t see a single creature in this in where we are literally in the middle of it and doing nothing. Not even in the distance. I can''t see or feel any threat to our lives, and my ring is not reacting to anything.


    I expected a B grade dungeon to be full of deadly things, and now... this strange but peaceful world is the opposite of what I imagined.


    Frowning and squinting, I slowly stood up, then made a mental note of one thing.


    No matter what I see, no matter how I feel, this is a B grade dungeon. I must act ordingly. Even if we don''t encounter anything deadly now, there''s no guarantee that we won''t in the future.


    So, the first thing I did was to walk toward Sue, and when I was in front of her, I leaned down.


    "Hey, Sue. Wake up."


    I shook her a few times as I said this. Immediately afterward, her eyes slowly opened. Her dark blue eyes focused first on my face and then on the sunless green sky behind me.


    A puzzled expression appeared on her face. But then it turned to something in front of her that I couldn''t see. And then... her expression became that of someone who had no idea what it was.


    "Dungeon? Party...?"


    "Uh, well... I had to drag us into a dungeon to escape that... demon. That''s the situation in a nutshell. I''ll tell you the detailster, but first, we need to wake Lucia up and find a safe ce."


    Sue stiffened for a moment as if she was just remembering what had just happened. The color drained from her face and she looked at me with fear in her eyes.


    I spoke again quickly.


    "Don''t be afraid, at least for now. We''re not on that street anymore, we have other problems and that''s why we have to move fast. Like I said, I''ll give you a more detailed exnation once we''re in a safe ce, okay?"


    Sue nodded slightly, but the expression on her face did not disappear. The brutality she had seen, the fear of death she had experienced was really too much for someone as... ordinary as her. But she was still listening, and that was enough for now.


    "O- okay."


    I smiled slightly, helped her to her feet, and then pointed to Lucia. Together, we made our way through the grass, which was almost up to our knees, and reached Lucia''s side.


    But... the moment I did, my eyes widened. Sue froze beside me.


    I could only see part of her body because the grass hid most of it, but when I got to her and looked at her again, it was different.


    Lucia was not unconscious. None of her limbs were moving, but her face, her breathing, and the palms pressed to her chest were on the verge of unconsciousness. The ce she covered with her hands was red, the blood that watered her clothes was also slowly watering the soil beneath her. The wrinkles on her face, the trembling of her fingers, and her expression showed the pain she was suffering.


    I remembered the warmth I had felt just before the disk took us into the dungeon, the warmth that spread over me. The person in front of me at that moment was... Lucia. So... one of those spider-like limbs that came out of the back of the demon named Revon had actually reached Lucia.


    My eyes drifted down to my chest, to my clothes. When I saw the blood stains on me, without thinking any further, I quickly bent down and put my hand on Lucia.


    I quickly activated the Guardian Radiance. But I focused it on Lucia, not on me. Lucia''s expression seemed to rx for a moment as a yellow glow slowly enveloped her body. But it wasn''t enough.


    Sue quickly crouched down beside me. A thin cardigan appeared in front of her as she broke a dimensional button she pulled out of her pocket. Then she tore it off, gathered it up, and looked at me.


    Without waiting for her to say anything, I understood what she meant. I took out one of the disinfectants that I always kept in my dimensional inventory just in case and gave it to Sue. Then I put my full focus on Lucia.


    I slowly transferred my mana to her body, trying to understand how severe her wound was. I slowly closed my eyes as Sue pressed the disinfectant-soaked part of her cardigan over Lucia''s wound.


    What I saw... while not heartwarming, was not despairing. The attack had missed her heart. Moreover... Lucia''s wound was already beginning to close. It must have been slowly healing even before I used the Guardian Radiance. Even now, it was healing steadily, her body trying to close the wound in an abnormal way. Maybe it was one of her skills, maybe it was something else, but I didn''t care.


    I continued to support her with my mana, and Sue did her best to stop the bleeding, discarding the soiled pieces of her cardigan and reapplying disinfectant, pressing it against the wound again, and so on. Lucia''s expression got better with each passing minute, thanks to the Guardian Radiance and that abnormal healing she had.


    The minutes chased each other. Lucia''s wound continued to close and heal. Finally, after about fifteen minutes... Lucia''s eyes stopped flickering. Her expression was more rxed than ever.


    At first, I was scared... but then I realized she was still breathing and looked at Sue.


    Sue pulled back the piece of cloth she had pressed tightly and we looked at the wound.


    The bleeding had stopped. What was left of the wound was a scar that still showed signs of not yet fully healed, but looked good for someone who had just received it. In short, Lucia was still alive.

 Chapter 330 Volume V - 48: A Safe Pit

    <h4>Chapter 330 Volume V - Chapter 48: A Safe Pit </h4>


    ?I felt shaken, but it was not a violent shaking. It was gentle, slow.


    Soon, I realized the cause, or a possible one. There was a strange pain in my body, especially in my chest, that I couldn''t make sense of. Whenever the shaking of my body intensified, even slightly, this pain was also amplified.


    I focused on this sensation, trying to grasp what it was, and when I tried to do so, I realized that... someone was carrying me.


    I tried to open my eyes but I couldn''t. My body was so exhausted that my muscles weren''t even listening to me. So, I stopped trying to open my eyes. I didn''t want to try harder when it hurt me to even try to move in the first ce.


    Instead, I leaned heavily against the person who was carrying me, trying to ignore the pain. As the pain in my muscles became less and less, I felt myself rxing.


    All my sensations disappeared again, just like before I fainted. But as it happened, without any dream, I woke up once again. I was being carried by the same person again. I couldn''t see, I couldn''t hear, but it wasn''t too hard to understand.


    This time, I pricked up my ears, tried to listen.


    The first thing I heard was the rustling of the grass. There was the person carrying me and... someone else. They were heading somewhere. And when I realized that, only one thought crossed my mind.


    Are they Adrian and Sue? Then... Adrian must have been the one carrying me.


    What had happened? I vaguely remember Adrian pulling out what looked like a disk. Then... we were sucked into a dungeon. We were teleported directly into a dungeon without any gate.


    After that... it''s very fuzzy. Did I get a wound? Did I get it inside the dungeon or before...?


    "-ian, look here!"


    I paused for a moment at the faint, echoing voice I heard. I focused on my ears again.


    "-ave?"


    A... cave?


    "-t''s go!"


    Ah, they are looking for a ce to hide...


    I couldn''t focus anymore. Reality slipped through my fingers again, all my senses went dark again.


    And this time... I had a dream, or rather just a tiny, small memory.


    I was ten years old. My birthday was only a few weeks ago. I was strangely excited and sad to finally reach the double-digit age.


    I was sad because I realized that I was growing up. Growing up... was something I didn''t really want to experience when I saw how busy my parents were.


    The reason for my excitement was the strange feeling of growing up in the opposite way. I had turned ten, after all. Ten years old... slowly, but surely, I was allowed to do more and more things.


    But... for the first time, I realized a problem about myself at this age.


    People always told me I was beautiful. Most of the time, I took it as simple praise. There was nothing else I could think of with my young mind.


    It was only when I was ten years old and a girl told me that she hated me because I was so beautiful that I realized for the first time that it was actually something important.


    It was the first time at this age that I saw my peers looking at me with jealousy rather than to y with me.


    It was also at this age that I learned for the first time that most kids don''t really want to y with me, but they force themselves because their parents tell them to. Maybe that''s why I was no longer simply looking at the people around me, but analyzing them.


    And because of that... everything got worse.


    Because... there was not a single person. Not a single person, apart from my family, who approached me for who I was, who wanted to y games or talk to me regardless of who I was, who simply... loved me regardless of myst name or my beauty.


    I did what I could, I really tried. I tried to improve my social rtionships, I looked for people who could really look at me as a ''friend''.


    But... there was no one.


    As if it wasn''t enough that I realized this at the age of ten... a bigger problem slowly began to manifest itself. My beauty... which they always praised... suddenly became more and more noticeable for no apparent reason.


    So, three years after my tenth birthday... it was the first time I had ever seen someone look at me lustfully.


    It was a servant in our mansion. He was perfectly normal until that moment. He had been told to bring me my dinner and he had done so.


    But he didn''t leave my room. Instead... for no reason at all, he just stared at me, frozen. If it hadn''t been for another maid who was in charge of cleaning the corridors... perhaps that evening would have been the evening I would have hated the most.


    My dream was this very evening. He put my dinner on my table, just like six years ago. When I thanked him with a smile, his eyes widened and he stiffened. It was as if he was not himself, as if something had prevented him from thinking rationally.


    And when I asked him if something had happened... for no reason at all, he jumped at me.


    But the dream didn''t continue. Instead... everything went dark again. For a while, I couldn''t even understand what was happening. But then the same darkness was covered by a faint light with great speed. A strange cold enveloped my body, I felt like shivering, but I held myself back.


    An intense pain appeared right above my chest. But I tried to ignore it, because... I felt that I could finally open my eyes.


    As my eyelids slowly opened, the first thing I saw was... a stone wall. And there was no one carrying me anymore. I was on cold and hard ground.


    I tried to sit up, supporting myself with my arms. It hurt a little and my muscles still wouldn''t listen to me, but I managed. Slowly, so it wouldn''t hurt, I looked behind me.


    The first thing I realized... was how dark and small this ce really was. There was maybe a meter and a half between the stone wall I had seen when I woke up and the other wall of this... pit... that I was in. And the faint light that illuminated the darkness inside was something the size of a marble floating in the air.


    But these were not the important things. Rather, it was a pair of dark blue eyes staring back at me.


    "L- Lucia? You''re awake!"


    Sue, seeing that I was indeed woken up, tried to hug me for a moment. But then she stopped herself quickly. She looked angry with herself for a moment, but then she refocused on me.


    "I''m sorry, how are you feeling now? How''s the wound on your chest?"


    The wound on my chest...?


    I forced my mind to think again as I lowered my head slightly at what I heard. And the moment I did it... I remembered.


    Just before I was pulled into the dungeon, I tried to protect Adrian, and that''s when I got this wound. And then, as I was pulled into this dungeon, I did my best to stay alive.


    I could only sigh deeply as I looked at the scar just above my heart.


    It looks like it will heal in a short time... But I''d better not push myself.


    "I''m fine, don''t worry. If I rest for a day or so, I''ll be back to normal. But..."


    I nced back at the little pit we were in and then focused on Sue''s back. Adrian had his back against the wall and his eyes closed. I couldn''t see him at first because he was right behind Sue.


    "What''s your situation?"


    Sue looked in the direction I was looking, at Adrian. Then she let out a deep sigh.


    "We... we just walked a long way to find a safe ce, so we''re a bit tired. Adrian and I are both fine."


    I nodded my head slightly.


    "I see..."


    But I didn''t stop and continued.


    "So... what is this ce? I saw a notification that I had entered a dungeon, but I didn''t look at the description... What''s the type? What''s the grade? And... did Adrian say anything about how he got us in here?"


    Sue thought briefly about my questions. She looked back at Adrian again and continued.


    "All I know is that we were in a Recta. I was unconscious before we were pulled here, so I didn''t see the notification, but we didn''t encounter any creatures until we got here, and we must have walked at least two kilometers... so we must be in a low-


    grade dungeon. For now, all we can do is wait for Adrian."


    I took a deep breath and let myself fall back against the stone wall behind me, just like Adrian.


    "Are you sure it''s safe here...?"


    Sue nodded, this time firmly and without hesitation.


    "Yes. We are in a small pit inside a small cave we found. We''ve sealed off the entrance to both the cave and the pit. Adrian also did something to hide our scent. The chances of a creature finding us... are very low."


    I didn''t ask any more questions after my answer. Instead, I said that we should rest until Adrian woke up, and Sue agreed. After sheid herself down on the floor and closed her eyes, I looked up at the sealed ceiling of the pit.


    I closed my eyes, trying to focus on the mana in the atmosphere, and the moment I did so... a bitter smile formed on my face.


    This... this is not a low-level dungeon.


    Haaa... did we jump into death while running away from it in the first ce...?

 Chapter 331 Volume V - 49: Finally... Everyone is Awake

    <h4>Chapter 331 Volume V - Chapter 49: Finally... Everyone is Awake </h4>


    ?My eyes slowly opened. Strangely cold air caressed my skin and I saw the stone wall not far from me.


    I didn''t move, I didn''t make any sound. I just let my eyes wander into the pit we had barely found.


    Sue was lying on the floor with her back to me. She seemed to be asleep. And Lucia... she woke up before me, apparently. Because her back was against the wall behind her, just like mine. I remembered clearly that she was on the floor like Sue before I fell asleep.


    My eyes reflexively went to the wound on her chest. Just above her heart, there was a scar that had torn through the white t-shirt she was wearing. Although... it was no longer possible to call the t-shirt white. It waspletely covered with the blood of the person who wore it.


    The wound looked fine, actually. I had no idea how long I had slept, but if Lucia''s wound had belonged to a normal person... it would have taken at least two weeks to heal naturally. Lucia had a skill for healing so fast that I couldn''t understand it.


    Lucia paused for a moment while I examined her wound. She moved slightly. Her head, resting against the stone, fell slightly to the left. The tear in the chest of her t-shirt widened slightly as her body moved slightly. It revealed a little more of Lucia''s smooth skin and chest.


    I quickly tore my gaze away from her, and then all I could do was... sigh.


    Lucia''s mask is still on her face. That''s why her charm is not as effective as it should be. But... even covered in blood like this, with her hair asymmetrical because part of it has been cut off, looking as if she had just escaped death in a battle, she is still mesmerizing.


    So mesmerizing that... sometimes it even affects me. Whenever I think I''m getting used to her charm, I find myself thinking nonsense. It''s as if... no matter how much time passes, she keeps getting more beautiful, more captivating, and more attractive.


    It''s not hard to suppress these thoughts, though. Lucia can be mesmerizing and extremely beautiful, yes... But when I think of her as my friend, when I see the way she looks at those who have sumbed to her charm with a look of... depression, I can easily ignore it.


    But that doesn''t mean I''m going to stare at someone with part of their skin showing... I have my own... principles.


    Oh, I''m being ridiculous again. Get your head together, and think of something decent...


    Oh, actually...


    ''Lithoa, are you awake?''


    Unlike most times, this time I didn''t have to wait for him to wake up. On the contrary, I got a quick answer as if he had been waiting for this moment in particr.


    ''What?''


    ''I used the disk, it sent me to a dungeon as you said, and you can also see that... But why am I in a B grade dungeon? Didn''t you say that I would be sent to a dungeon that matches my strength?


    Lithoa waited for a short while. It was as if he was thinking.


    ''You may not be able to get what you want in any of the dungeons suitable for your grade. It could also be the case that you were thinking about a ce that would be safe, at least for a certain period of time, or something like that, when you used the disk. You haven''t faced a single danger since you entered the dungeon, have you? You''ve been given plenty of time to rest, to recover a little bit.''


    This... makes sense. But then another question pops into my mind. For example, why is this dungeon, which is ssified as B grade, so... safe?


    ''No matter what happens... you can''t get out of here without killing the dungeon boss. The dungeon boss should be B or B+ grade, in line with the difficulty of the dungeon. You may not be able to kill it with your current strength,ck of preparation, and condition.''


    Sue is an ordinary person, Lucia is injured and although she seems to be recovering, she is weaker than me in terms of strength. And I... am only C grade on my own. Although, since I''ve removed my seal, I guess I can consider myself in the final stages of C+.


    On top of that, if I use my ascension skill... do I really not stand a chance against a B grade enemy? Well, B+ might be a bit impossible... But if I push my ascension skill a little bit instead of using it with restraint as usual, why would it be impossible?


    ''I can guess what you''re thinking, Adrian. And as much as what you''re thinking is possible... no. As big a difference as there is between E and D grades, there is a much bigger difference between C+ and B- grades.''


    Lithoa sighed slightly. He continued, this time in a more serious tone.


    ''The D- grade represents the full potential of the human body, which has already developed a bit with mana, without ever using mana again. B- represents the limit where people''s bodies are slowly reaching their actual limit, and to reach it, they need something they don''t have naturally, a mana heart and a circtory system for it.''


    I already know what he is talking about... I even know the rest.


    For example, A- grade represents the point where the human soul can no longer keep up with the body. So it''s no longer enough just to develop the body. S- represents the potential of a normal human soul, it has to be literally recreated from scratch.


    It has to go beyond that. There has to be something special beyond S grade. But beyond that point is hidden from all Lunerra, and to find out how to go further, you have to reach that point first.


    If I ask Lithoa, he''ll tell me, won''t he? Although... why did they hide it from the rest of the world in the first ce? That''s weird, too...


    ''Listen to me, I''m telling you something.''


    I quickly snapped out of my thoughts. Lithoa had sounded slightly angry, after all. And I really didn''t want to deal with his anger right now.


    ''Whether or not what I''m describing applies to the creatures, if their ssification category is B- grade, it would be the biggest mistake you could make to simply see them as slightly more dangerous than C+ grade. Don''t forget what you experienced in the Neutral.''


    My experience in the Neutral, huh...


    Past a certain point, the lowest-grade creatures I encountered were the offspring of normal creatures. And even those were at least C grade.


    I''ve seen Kari hunt B grade and above creatures a few times, but... I''ve never been able to feel their true power myself, as she kills them without much difficulty.


    If Lithoa is so serious about this... there''s nothing else I can do.


    ''So what am I supposed to do? How can I get out of this dungeon?''


    Lithoa paused. Even if he had been expecting this question, he waited for a few seconds as if he had not thought about it for some reason.


    ''You can try to reach C+ and master your ascension skill. But that would... take too long. If possible, I would prefer you to return to Lunerra before the end of the summer. But we don''t know how fast or slow time moves here. So... we have to get back as fast as we can, which means...''


    When Lithoa stopped again, I frowned. I waited to see what he would say, and with the answer I got... for a moment, my whole body trembled.


    ''I''m going to give you a taste of hell for a short time so that you have even a one percent chance against a B grade creature.''


    H- hell...?


    ''I''m going to think about what might give you a short burst of power with what you have, so don''t bother me for the next few hours. Just... try not to die.''


    And just like that, without saying anything else, his presence in my mind disappeared. He left me alone as I was. After a short while, though, I was frowning again.


    Why did I overreact like that? Hell, he said... In short, he''s going to beat the shit out of me like he always does. Why did my whole body tremble...?


    Was it a reflex...?


    But in the midst of all these thoughts... I suddenly heard a sound and quickly came to my senses. I looked in the opposite direction.


    Lucia slowly lifted her head, which had fallen asleep, and looked at the floor with blood-red eyes behind slightly parted eyelids. After a short while, though, her eyes refocused and looked up at me.


    For a brief moment, neither of us said anything and I allowed her to do so without making a sound while Lucia waited for the side effects of the new awakening to wear off.


    So, after a short while, she noticed her hair falling in front of her.


    Her hair, which she normally wore in a ponytail, was now disheveled because she had dropped the hair clip somewhere. And when she realized this, she pulled her hair back in front of her face. But when she noticed the asymmetry in her hair, she couldn''t help but sigh.


    When I saw here to her senses, I asked her in a low voice, curiously.


    "Are you feeling a little better? How''s the wound?"


    Lucia turned her blood-red eyes back to mine.


    For a moment, I felt the urge to avert my eyes. Her eyes were certainly one of the most... beautiful eyes I had ever seen. Maybe directly the most beautiful. But I knew she would be ufortable if I did that, so I restrained myself.


    "I''m fine, you don''t have to worry about my wound. I''ll be as good as new in a day... I think."


    Her healing skill... is it really good enough topletely heal a wound like that in a day?


    When I think of Guardian Radiance... even if it probably can''t heal the woundpletely, I can get the person back to the fighting condition in a short time. But I can never heal a woundpletely, and most healing skills in the world cannot pletely'' heal any wound.


    The difference is that Guardian Radiance is an active skill that consumes a lot of mana. Hers is... a ''passive'' skill that can heal a wound so severe topletely healed in a single day.


    How many people in Lunerra have such an effective passive skill?


    "I see... I''m d you''re okay."


    After myst words, silence fell between us again. Second after second, we just waited, saying nothing.


    What broke the silence... was that the person between us, Sue, started to move, just like Lucia had a few minutes before.


    Soon, she sat up slowly. She looked at Lucia and then at me.


    After that dark street and... that demon... all three of us were finally awake at the same time. And we could finally talk in detail about the situation we were in.

 Chapter 332 Volume V - 50: Out of the Cave

    <h4>Chapter 332 Volume V - Chapter 50: Out of the Cave </h4>


    ?"In short... I dragged us into a B grade dungeon, I think we all can agree on that."


    Sue''s eyes widened. But Lucia... although she too looked surprised, her expression waspletely different from Sue''s.


    "B... grade...?"


    Sue looked at me and Lucia with genuine horror on her face. As an ordinary person, it was only natural for her to react like that.


    But it wasn''t her that I was concerned about, it was Lucia.


    "You don''t seem surprised? No, you are surprised, but... in a good way."


    Lucia nodded her head in agreement.


    "I thought we were in a much higher-grade dungeon because of the amount of mana in it. At least... A grade, maybe A-S, but definitely not B."


    She paused after finishing her sentence, then sighed slightly.


    "Of course, that doesn''t change the fact that we are still in the grips of death. Just... a more optimistic death, that''s all."


    Sue looked at her like she was literally looking at a lunatic. Then she turned to me with a fury.


    "You do realize you''re talking about a B grade dungeon... don''t you?"


    Both Lucia and I turned to her at the same time. Sue only smiled slightly.


    "You''re... too calm. You know a way out, don''t you? Otherwise... it would be ridiculous for you guys to be so calm."


    Her eyes sparkled with great hope. The will to survive was easily felt. To die here... was something she definitely didn''t want.


    "Calm down, Sue. Yes, I may have dragged us into a B grade dungeon, but in that street... against that man, our chances of survival were even lower than they are now. You were unconscious so you didn''t see what happened, but that man... he must have been at least S grade. Maybe even stronger, but definitely not weaker. Lucia will confirm me."


    I gave her a small look and Lucia nodded her head once again. But Sue... instead of calming down, she only widened her smile.


    "You mean... we were going to die all along?"


    Lucia frowned. She quickly interjected.


    "No, none of us seems to have any intention of dying. Besides... Adrian seems to know a way out, as you just said. So I am calm rather than epting my situation."


    As she said this, she looked at me again. It was like she wanted me to confirm her. There was hope in her eyes too. Of course, this hope was more grounded than the hope Sue had.


    Finally, sighing slightly, I answered her silent question to me.


    "I don''t know a way out... at least not right now. But it''s not impossible to find one, and that''s the hope I''m clinging to. I''m C grade right now, and the dungeon boss is supposed to be B grade. Even though there is a huge difference in grades between us... you already know I''m not a normal person."


    I pointed to my pointed ears and put a smile on my face.


    "I have an ascension skill, and I can confirm that it is an unusually strong one. On top of that, because I''m half-elf, all my abilities with mana - sensing it, controlling it, and more - are better than they should be. So if I get a little stronger inside the dungeon... I might have a chance against the boss."


    Sue didn''t seem satisfied at all. And Lucia... could only nod as she thought along with what I was saying.


    "What do you think your chances are?"


    I answered quickly and with certainty.


    "If everything goes my way... forty percent? Maybe thirty. Something in between, I guess. Unless, of course, you have a skill that can make me stronger."


    Lucia shook her head from side to side. I looked past her to Sue, but she didn''t seem... okay.


    "Sue? Are you okay?"


    She lifted her head slightly and looked into my eyes. And her eyes... they seemed a little emptier than they should have been.


    I couldn''t help frowning and the amount of anxiety that kept building up inside me.


    Sue... she hasn''t lost faith that she can survive, has she? That... that would be... one of the worst things she could do here.


    "Su-"


    But just as I called out to her again, she lowered her head and took a deep, really deep breath.


    This time, my furrowed eyebrows rose in surprise. Sue... after a few seconds of not moving a muscle, slowly raised her head.


    When her eyes met mine again... this time she had a different look. Rather than someone who had epted death, given up hope, or looking for it... she seemed a little calmer. The emptiness in her eyes had been reced by a light that I couldn''t quite put my finger on. But the emptiness was also notpletely gone.


    Ah, I understand now...


    It''s not that she has regained hope... It''s not that she haspletely discarded the thought of dying. She just... trusts us, she wants to trust us. She knows that she''s just an ordinary person, that she can''t do much. She is fully aware that her life... is literally in our hands.


    That''s why she hasn''tpletely removed herself from the idea that she''s going to die. She doesn''t want to deceive herself if she''s faced with a situation where she''s actually going to die, but she doesn''t want to lose the hope that she can hold on to.


    "I have a power-up skill. But it''s not extreme and it depends on the person I''m empowering."


    Before repeating what she said in my mind... I couldn''t help feeling guilty, thinking that I was the reason she was in such a state of mind.


    If I hadn''t seen that demon on the roof, or if I hadn''t seen them at the station in the first ce... this wouldn''t have happened, right? Not only that, Lucia is here because of me too. She even got that wound in her chest trying to protect me.


    Then... I have to take responsibility for getting her and Lucia out of here. I... have to make sure they survive no matter what.


    After a brief moment of thought, I sighed lightly, calming myself down again, but not throwing my thoughts away.


    "What are the details of your skill?"


    Sue was quick to exin.


    "Like I said, it''s not a high-grade skill. So don''t expect much. But... in short, it increases the mana efficiency and magic power of the person I use it on. It does this... depending on how ambitious the person is at the time."


    It''s a conditional skill... but conditional skills usually provide better buffs than normal ones.


    "What''s the rating of the skill?"


    "D- grade, that''s why I told you not to expect much... Even though it''s a conditional skill, it won''t have much effect."


    I shook my head quickly from side to side.


    "No, the more help I can get, the better. Even a small boost you can give me will increase our chances of leaving here alive. But... we''ll figure out what to do if we make it to the boss room. For now, let''s just try to survive. And our first goal should be... to figure out exactly why this ce is a B grade."


    Lucia and Sue gestured curiously for me to continue, without saying anything.


    "I''d like to go outside in a few minutes. I''m going to take a look around, try to get a rough map of this... ins-like ce we''re in, and you guys wait here for me in the meantime. Oh, also... let''s form a party tomunicate."


    Both of their eyebrows furrowed at my words. Lucia quickly interjected.


    "Are you sure you''ll be all right out there on your own? You may not have encountered any creatures during the distance you carried me here, but... I don''t believe a B grade dungeon ispletely safe. We''re not even in an Aen, we''re in a Recta. Which makes it even stranger."


    As I curled my lips upward, I remembered my experience in the Neutral.


    A B grade dungeon, huh... I had a lot more dangers to hide from in forests full of A and S grade creatures. I don''t trust myself blindly, of course. Anything can happen inside a dungeon... But I have about two months of experience in hiding from creatures much stronger than myself.


    "Don''t worry, I spent two months hiding from creatures much stronger than B grade ones. I have experience, I know more or less what to do and what not to do."


    Neither of them seemed overly satisfied. But... eventually, they had to agree. Sue was an ordinary person and Lucia was in no condition to go out. So... I was the only one who could do what I said.


    And even if I wasn''t, at least in a situation like this, I would have been, even if it was by force.


    Seconds and minutes passed. While I was preparing myself to go out, we also organized a dungeon party as we had discussed.


    <<------------------------------


    You have formed a party with Lucia Quie and Olivia Sue Gemma! After clearing the dungeon, the rewards you receive will be distributed ording to your share. Since your party is smaller than the rmended team for the dungeon, the rewards you receive from the dungeon will increase!


    ------------------------------>>


    About five minutes after we had formed the party... I was finally ready to go outside.


    The entrance to the pit, which I had blocked with my own hands, was at the end of a small tunnel that twisted about two meters above us and then continued its path, bing more and more horizontal.


    I took onest look at Lucia and Sue before I stepped out into this tunnel, out of Lucia''s and Sue''s sight. They were both looking at me with a mixture of concern and hope.


    I smiled and waved in their direction.


    "I''ll be back in half or an hour. If you have any problems, contact me on party chat."


    Lucia nodded slightly, and Sue did the same. I took a deep breath and turned around.


    "Bye, at least for now..."


    Then... I made my way out through the tunnel and pushed open the entrance, which I had blocked with stones, bushes, and a few pieces of wood, and the first thing that hit me was theforting warm air of the dungeon.


    The cave where we found the pit was not arge one. It went about three meters deeper, and the entrance to our pit was in one wall of the cave. If I had been a bit taller, my head would have hit the ceiling of the cave. And the width was... just wide enough for me to barely pass through with Lucia in my arms. There were almost five meters between me and the connection to the outside.


    The first thing I did after I got myselfpletely out of the pit was to reseal the entrance with the things I had scattered. Once I had done that, this time I started to open things at the entrance of the cave.


    The entrance to the cave was smaller than the inside. It was less than a meter long and shorter in width than it was tall. That''s why I was already able to close it. It wasn''t too difficult after forcibly knocking down one of the trees close to me and using the soil.


    Before throwing myself out, I checked my surroundings, the sunless sky was still greener. It was still morning in the dungeon, or this part of it.


    Maybe it''s never night here...? Possibly, since I couldn''t see the sun anywhere.


    Sighing slightly, I put my thoughts aside. Once outside, I sealed the entrance to the cave as I did the entrance to the pit, and finally felt a sense of relief.


    Well, now I don''t have to worry too much about Lucia and Sue... they can contact me if anything happens.


    I turned my back to the hidden entrance of the cave and looked out over the huge in and the mountain range behind it. Normally, I would have smiled at such a sight, but... with the fact that this was all part of a B grade dungeon, I didn''t have the luxury of enjoying the view. All I could do was focus on the dangers, never letting my guard down.


    I took a deep breath, squinted my eyes, and stretched slightly as I pulled my spear from my bracelet.


    Now... let''s start exploring this dungeon.

 Chapter 333 Volume V - 51: Dungeon Exploration

    <h4>Chapter 333 Volume V - Chapter 51: Dungeon Exploration </h4>


    ?The dungeon resembled a world where there were no living beings other than nts. There was nothing that could move like me, nothing other than a nt. And the further I walked into the in, the more logical this thought became.


    Honestly... there are two possibilities I can think of. Either this is really a ce where there are no living things other than nts, or all the creatures are... hiding.


    I''m pretty sure there are more than just nts in a B grade dungeon. So... the second possibility makes more sense.


    The question is, where and why are these creatures hiding? Of course, they might not be hiding... It could simply be that this part of the dungeon, just this in, is a safe ce.


    I stopped thinking when my head started to ache. Finally, I paused and checked the time.


    Ten minutes had passed...


    I turned around and looked back at the spot where the cave had been. A considerable distance had opened up between me and the cave. If I went any further, I might bete if I had to go back urgently, so I decided to make a circle around the cave rather than go any further.


    All the while, of course, the mapping mode of my watch was on. Since it used mana rather than electricity to run, there was no danger of it running out of charge. And even though there was no inte connection here, many of its functions were still working.


    One of them allowed me to create a rough map by scanning five meters around me with every step I took. Of course, this function consumed a lot of mana, so I couldn''t keep it on for long, but for an exploration that would take almost an hour, there was no problem keeping it on.


    So I kept moving forward. I saw some oddly shaped trees, but nothing dangerous. The tall grass-like nts up to my knees were quite sparsepared to where we first woke up. After a while more... though, I saw the river that I had seen here when I first woke up.


    The waterfall-like structure that I had seen where we woke up was not very close, but it must have been behind us. So... this river was quite long. And it seemed to be flowing fast.


    So, it must be drinkable... right?


    With that in mind, I started moving toward the river. I didn''t see anything different from what I had been seeing for minutes. It was only when I reached the river that I realized that this was... not a normal river at all.


    First of all... the river was quite wide. It was as deep as my waist if I got in it. And it had to be... at least twenty meters wide. And, yes. It was flowing really fast. So if it was clean, it should be drinkable. But the problem was... the color.


    The river was not colorless. On the contrary, it was strangely... bluish. I mean, from the outside, most rivers and seas look blue... yes. But the water flowing from this river, or whatever it was called, was notpletely colorless, but had a slight blue tint to it.


    Is it... really drinkable? The color doesn''t say that at all...


    I looked at the watch on my wrist and couldn''t help sighing.


    If I had one of the watches used by the guilds rather than the ones given by the academy, I could check if the water was clean... They were going to change our watches when we started the second year, though. I could get a watch with more functions now that the internship thing is in y.


    But... it''s useless to think about it now.


    So I decided to get away from the river rather than gamble. The idea that a river that was already inside a B-degree dungeon, so exposed, could be clean... didn''t make much sense.


    In the first ce, no creatures came to drink from the river. Wherever they were, water was a necessity for every living thing. The fact that I couldn''t see a single creature in this in without much elevation, no matter where the river ran... made it even more suspicious than it already was.


    For half an hour after the river, all I did was make a big circle around the cave where I had left Lucia and Sue. I noted every detail of our surroundings on my watch, trying to grasp what the point of this dungeon was. When I realized I was back where I started... I couldn''t do anything but take a deep breath.


    Well, I guess this in is really safe... even when we were carrying Lucia,pletely covered in blood, for two kilometers, we didn''t encounter a single creature attack. Now, no matter how much I walk around, I still don''t encounter anything.


    So... I guess the best option is to try to survive until Lucia is fully recovered. We also need to find a way to get food and water. Then, when Lithoaes back, we can start moving.


    Now, I should get back... It''s already been an hour.


    I turned my head to the sky onest time before I left. It was a strange feeling to see a bright but sunless sky. The fact that it was green made it even stranger... But I was getting used to it.


    So, looking up at the sky, I started to make my way toward our cave, enjoying the view, even if only for a short while. However, after only a minute... I couldn''t help but pause.


    I stopped walking, I didn''t move a muscle. I heard the low hum of the wind, and the grass and nts around me made rustling sounds in time with it.


    My eyebrows suddenly furrowed. I looked around me, everywhere, my spear gripped tightly, my full attention on my surroundings to react to any attack. But... there was nothing.


    My brow furrowed even more. Although I could not see any danger, I became even more cautious.


    Why do I feel this way? What is the reason for this change?


    I looked behind me, to my sides, and even on the ground, but... I soon realized that the problem was something I could not see with my eyes.


    Mana, the problem was mana. There was something strange about the mana in the atmosphere of the dungeon. Until a moment ago, it was behaving and moving as it should, but now... it was different.


    The mana in the atmosphere was usually dormant. It could not be used by humans or any creature, it required sharper senses than normal to be perceived. It would only drift here and there or find its way in a random flow.


    But the mana in this dungeon was... slowly awakening. It was bing qualifiable, bing what was swirling around inside a person, ready to be used.


    I gripped my spear tighter when I realized that the ring on my finger was vibrating slightly.


    I was wrong,pletely wrong. This in was... not safe. This was a B grade dungeon, after all. To think that a ce like this could be safe was... a huge mistake.


    But what was the danger? That was the important question.


    I paused with a sudden, slight change in my vision. My eyes quickly shifted to the sky. Because there was the change I had seen out of the corner of my eye.


    That green light in the sky... a small spot in the distance had faded a little for some reason. But it wasn''t just this spot.


    The moment I looked up, countless parts of all that green light covering the sky began to fade randomly. As my eyes widened, the bright and green sky began to give way to darkness in a rapid transformation.


    While this was happening, all the nts around me moved at the same time. They all crept abnormally, as if something wasing for them. A few bent down toward the ground. Some of them went straight into the soil. The river that I could see in the distance, with a faint blue in its color... began to shimmer strangely.


    In just a few seconds, the huge in that had been bursting with greenery turned into an empty t in where all the nts were hiding from the darkness.


    I felt my grip on the spear loosen as I reflexively shook my head from side to side. With my ring vibrating more and more with each passing second, I finally swallowed and just started running, not even looking back.


    The ground trembled. It certainly didn''t feel like a strong earthquake. But... I didn''t care.


    I ran, and I kept running, full speed ahead toward our cave.


    Halfway there, the earthquake stopped. The brightness of the river behind me reached such a level that my shadow fell in front of me, surrounded by a blue light. Then... a sound echoed throughout the dungeon.


    ~Awoooooo!


    It was the howl of a wolf. It was strong, majestic. It tried to instill fear in me with its echo alone. As if... as if by magic. And it seeded.


    But... the really scary thing happened after that.


    After that majestic, powerful howl... I heard other howls, less resonant and less powerful, but with apletely different kind of fear.


    They were in all directions. They were everywhere. Far away, near, under the ground, in the sky... They reached the whole dungeon from everywhere, as if they needed nothing tangible to resonate.


    Tens, hundreds, even thousands... each one seemed to say one thing. They were going to hunt. And one of the things they were going to hunt was... me.

 Chapter 334 Volume V - 52: Night of the Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 334 Volume V - Chapter 52: Night of the Dungeon </h4>


    ?Thest green dot in the sky disappeared. The blue glow emitted by the strange and long river seemed to provide the light of the moon that did not exist in the sky. It was rising into the sky, like the auroras, creating a sight that would make anyone who looked at it feel mesmerized.


    But it didn''t matter. I didn''t have time to care, to turn my head to the sky and appreciate the beauty of the dungeon again and again.


    I just ran. I ran without stopping, without looking back. The howling of the wolves echoed incessantly throughout the dungeon, distracting me. It was as if they were trying to throw me off bnce and make me fall, even for a moment.


    But I didn''t stop, I took each step as firmly as I could, the vibration in my ring increasing every second. Instead of running away from the danger... it was like I was running into it.


    But I didn''t have the luxury to stop, to run in the opposite direction, and test my theory.


    I pushed myself, even if I was out of breath, I did my best to keep running.


    In the middle of the deste in that had lost almost all its greenery as if it had never existed, not far from me... a pair of reds suddenly appeared. It was beyond the cave where Lucia and Sue were, on top of a small hill with a very slight rise.


    Only a secondter... dozens of them appeared around it. Their red-colored eyes were the only ones that were visible, but their silhouettes slowly emerged.


    They resembled normal wolves. They weren''t extremely tall, barely reaching my chest. Their fur was... ck. It was as if they were made to be invisible in the middle of the night.


    The moment I saw them, each one turned its head to the sky. The number of howls echoing through the dungeon suddenly increased exponentially.


    My head started to spin. The voices started to blend together. The howling of wolves echoed in my ears, in my brain. Then... the number of red eyes suddenly grew to hundreds, thousands. They were all looking at me, each one locked on me.


    The only thing I could see as the world fell apart was the red eyes glowing like death. Then... they all disappeared in an instant as if they had never existed.


    The trembling in my ring suddenly multiplied. As my eyes widened, I quickly formed a tform and leaped onto it, then another... and another.


    I ascended into the sky as if I were climbing a staircase, never looking back. Finally, when I was sure I was at least thirty meters above the ground, I paused. Ignoring the sweat dripping down my forehead, ignoring my heart beating like crazy inside my chest, I looked down.


    What I saw were... hundreds of pairs of red eyes. They were waiting just below me. Their bodies were lost in the darkness of the night, but their glowing eyes were focused on me. Each of them was at least C grade. There were even some that were C+.


    I held my breath, not focusing on anything but them. I wanted to be alert if even one of them tried to leap toward me or throw anything. But the wolves did nothing. Instead, they just continued to stare at me, not moving a hair.


    Even when a tiny bead of sweat dripped down my face and fell between them, nothing happened. Seconds passed, then minutes... The only thing I could hear again was the gentle howling of the wind.


    But even this silence was broken after a while. I was at a loss for what to do when I saw a blue glow appear between me and the wolves, I almost forgot to restore the tform under my feet intact. I thought the wolves had attacked me... But that was not the case.


    The blue glow that appeared in front of me quickly expanded to form a window, a system window. It was telling me that there was a new message in the party chat.


    But... I didn''t even have time to get into the party chat. When the notification window came between me and the eyes of the wolves, that''s when everything went haywire.


    A sound loud enough to tear my eardrums echoed in my brain. My ears rang, my head spun. For a moment, I felt like I was going to fall off the tform I was standing on.


    The wolves below me had started howling in synchronization the moment I broke eye contact with them. It was so loud, so... intense that I couldn''t stop my vision from going ck. I lost my bnce and staggered, bordering on unconsciousness. I tried to create a new tform and hold myself up with it, but I couldn''t form the tform at a proper angle with my distorted senses.


    My eyes widened when I realized that my feet were not touching anything. I found myself falling to the ground, the tform I had just been standing on in front of me.


    The wolves had stopped howling. My senses were slowly returning. But... a few of the wolves on the ground had already leaped toward me.


    I gritted my teeth, let go of my spear, and returned it to my bracelet. With only a few meters between me and the nearest wolf, I closed my eyes... focusing on the only ascension skill I had.


    But... at this very moment, something I never expected happened.


    In the atmosphere, mana would normally be dormant. But right now, in the night of this dungeon... that was not the case. The mana around me, everywhere... was awake. And my ascension skill was a skill that was focused entirely on mana in the first ce.


    In short... the moment I activated Mana Ascension, all my senses suddenly became a jumbled mess. Everything was clear, too clear. The mana that I would normally have a hard time channeling was...pletely different here. I could even feel the flow of mana kilometers away.


    But the most important thing was... I could feel the mana itself.


    It was like it had been waiting from the very beginning to be controlled, to be qualified. It had been forcibly brought out of its sleeping state, awakened. But it was still unqualified, still not controlled by anyone. It didn''t want to stay in ce.


    And now... it had found a target. Someone appeared who could interact with it, me.


    I fell to the ground. My whole body shook as if I had been pped hard. Mana wanted to enter my body and it was seeding.


    For a moment, I wondered where the wolves had gone. I was sure I had seen a few of them darting toward me, that''s why I had used my skill in the first ce. But... even as I fell to the ground, there was still no one attacking me.


    I quickly pushed it to the back of my mind. I had to be fast if I didn''t want to be crushed by all the mana awakened in the atmosphere.


    Before I could even stand up, I focused on my surroundings, said one word in my mind, and put everything into it.


    Stop.


    The mana flowing into my body suddenly paused. All that mana around me stopped with a single thought.


    I forced myself to stand up. My hair fell in front of me because it had grown slightly, but I didn''t care about it. I looked around with my eyes that I could barely open. What I saw... were hundreds of red eyes circling around me.


    They were standing far away from me. As if they were... afraid of me.


    I raised my hand, even with difficulty. The golden motifs along my arm shimmered as I did so. The wolves quickly dodged away from the direction I raised my hand. Hundreds of wolves, not a single one of which I could make out properly, moved out of my way to make way for me.


    A sharp pain shot through my head. The amount of mana I could feel, everything... it was too much. On top of that, it was extremely difficult to maintain my skill.


    Still, I gritted my teeth and walked slowly along the path the wolves had made. A few of them growled at me, a few even looked like they were ready to attack. But... they did nothing in the end. They didn''t even follow me, as if... they couldn''t.


    So, slowly but surely, I moved away from them. Their red eyes were always on my back, I could feel their piercing gaze, but as long as Mana Ascension was active, they would not approach me.


    With each step, I felt like I was going to fall over. My head was spinning even more, sometimes I felt like I was going to fall again. But I held myself together.


    When I got close to the cave where Lucia and Sue were... there was nothing around. The red eyes of the wolves were gone. It was pitch ck except for a little light from what looked like auroras in the sky.


    But I knew. There were other creatures besides those wolves. They were hiding now, afraid of me, just like the wolves before. But... they were there. Because the mana coursing through each of their bodies was in my mind. And the moment I deactivated my ascension skill, they would prepare to attack.


    I raised my hand, even though almost the whole world was blurred and my head was spinning non-stop. The mana was still around me, still listening to mymand to ''stop''. But... this time, I didn''t stop it. This time, I redirected it, as a warning, so that they wouldn''t stop being afraid of me.


    I piled all the mana around me in front of me, as much as I could, I manipted it all. The ground began to shake slightly, a tiny earthquake shook the area I was in. I squinted, I looked at each of the hiding creatures even though I couldn''t see them. I knew they were watching me. I knew they were looking at me. And I also knew we were making eye contact.


    Each creature I looked in the direction of its hiding ce trembled. A few were underground, some were simply... invisible. The methods they used to hide varied, but I could see each one.


    I shook the ground onest time, this time much more violently. Then I curled my lips up slightly, narrowed my eyes even more, and stopped channeling the mana.


    I turned around, and without doing anything else, I entered the cave where I had made a small gap in the entrance. I literally dragged myself inside, but... when I reached the entrance to the pit that I had closed, my knees gave out. As the world gave way to darkness, I felt the power that had enveloped my body disappear.


    As I copsed on the ground... I could only pray.

 Chapter 335 Volume V - 53: With a Hope Still Not Lost

    <h4>Chapter 335 Volume V - Chapter 53: With a Hope Still Not Lost </h4>


    ?"-e''ll wake up, right?"


    Huh...? Is someone... talking?


    "Yes."


    There were indeed two people talking, whose voices I could hear more and more clearly as time passed.


    "He wasn''t even hurt, he just... used his mana too much and too fast, that''s all. He is an elf, even if only half, so I think he''ll be fine... hopefully."


    Lucia... it was Lucia talking. Then it must have been Sue who she was talking to.


    So... I made it. I survived the night.


    Opening my eyes as well as my ears, I tried to sit up, but... realizing the fatigue and pain in my body, I inevitably paused.


    I felt fatigue and pain every time I used my ascension skill, which... at least for me, was quite normal. After all, even though it belonged to me, it provided a power that my body couldn''t handle. Mana Ascension was a skill that took something from me every time I used it.


    That''s why I only used it when it was most necessary. In fact, because I had been sealed for years, I had hardly ever used it and was afraid to do so.


    Now, even though I had decided not to care too much about such things anymore, I would only use and deactivate it for a few seconds to minimize the damage to my body.


    But this time, I used it for more than a minute. Which is probably why the side effects are more severe than they should be... probably.


    "Look, he''s awake."


    Ah, right... I got lost in my thoughts.


    I opened and closed my eyes a few times, and when I could see my surroundings more clearly, I looked at the two girls in front of me.


    We were in the pit where I had left them. They must have carried me in after I copsed.


    Sue looked a little worried. Her dark blue eyes were looking at me skeptically. As if... as if I might copse again at any moment. But unlike her, Lucia was calm, as always.


    Really, now that I think about it... I''ve never once seen herpletely frightened. Lucia is someone who always keeps her cool. I realize it now, but... it''s interesting. Even in that dark street, she was the one who brought me to my senses.


    "How do you feel? I think... something happened outside."


    I sighed deeply at Lucia''s words, pushed my thoughts aside again, and answered her question.


    "Well, I''m fine, but... I think I need some rest. I pushed myself too hard. And yes, something indeed happened..."


    When I remembered what had happenedst night... I couldn''t help swallowing. Now, when I thought about it rationally, it was absurd that there were thousands of wolves surrounding me. It was probably because of their howling and my dizziness that I saw them several times more numerous than they actually were. But even if that was the case... they were scary.


    Dozens, maybe over a hundred, of at least C grade creatures that never show themselves... All of them moving in unison, never one of them acting on its own. Despite their numbers, they try topletely neutralize their prey before attacking it, and by showing only their eyes, they literally try to instill fear in them...


    I''ve never seen anything like it, not even in all my time on the Neutral. The creatures here... they''re on a whole other level.


    "How long has it been since I passed out?"


    "About three hours, not long. You woke up pretty fast."


    Three hours, huh... Then we should still have time. I''d better be quick.


    Without waiting for them to ask, I started to tell them what had happened, how I had walked away from the cave, the strange bluish color of the river, how I had circled around and found nothing.


    Only with all this, of course, they didn''t understand what had happened. After all, how could I ''push myself too hard'' when there was no danger around? So they continued to listen to me without asking anything.


    Their eyes squinted as I described how the green sky surrendered itself to the darkness, how the river rose into it like an aurora. And when I described the howls, the red-eyed wolves, and what happened next... they werepletely silent.


    When I finished telling them what had happened... the first thing I did was to look at Sue. I had expected the little hope I could see in her to fade awaypletely, and it had... but only imperceptibly.


    Sue hadn''t lost hope yet. Yes, her hope that we could survive had certainly dropped... but she hadn''t given up. She still wanted to believe in us, in me. She wanted to survive.


    Even though I was surprised, I didn''t want to make it worse by saying anything, so I took my eyes off her and turned them to Lucia.


    Lucia... was thinking with her eyes fixed on the floor. Shortly after I looked at her, she decided to speak again.


    Oh... she had also changed her clothes. So I didn''t find it hard to look at her this time, at least... not as hard as before.


    Where did she find new clothes, though...? Ah, right... we were shopping before we were dragged here.


    "In short, the day-night cycle is all the danger in the dungeon. It should be safe to walk around outside as long as it''s daytime... at least for this in. When it''s night, though, sleeping and hiding creaturese out into the open. So... they get hurt when they go out during the day? That must be why they didn''t jump you even when you were apletely open target."


    She paused for a moment, thinking again.


    "We need to find out how many hours are divided into day and night. Then, maybe, even if it''s a long shot, we can ignore all the creatures in the dungeon and head straight for the boss. But if the boss room is somewhere the green radiance in the sky can''t reach... like a cave, a castle, or the inside of a mountain... then we''ll have a hard time here."


    I let her think even more without saying anything, and Sue did the same. It was already clear that Lucia was the smartest of us all.


    "You don''t see anything else out there, do you?"


    I tensed for a moment when Lucia suddenly turned to me, but then I shook my head from side to side.


    "No. I told you everything I saw."


    I may have left out a little bit about how I managed to survive the creatures... but other than that, I really told her everything.


    "Hmm..."


    Lucia thought a little longer and finally sighed. Her blood-red eyes were fixed on mine again.


    "How much rest do you need? Will you be fully fit to fight tomorrow or in two days?"


    "I''m not sure about a day, but in two days, yes."


    "Then we will rest for two days without fighting. If the creatures are even a little scared of you, they will keep watching before they get close to here. But they''ll be on us before long. I don''t think they have much patience, and I don''t think we want to take any risks."


    Both Sue and I found ourselves nodding involuntarily. Lucia... had a strange air about her when she spoke. I don''t know if it was her charm, but she was... logical and pleasant to listen to.


    "So, let''s leave here before night falls again, and find a new ce to hide. We will never spend a day in the same ce. At the end of each night, we will move out and look for the dungeon boss. And when we find it..."


    This time, her eyes looked at me with great hope. As if... as if she was leaving everything to me. Yet she didn''t speak individually, she continued for all of us.


    "I hope we will be strong enough to kill it."


    She didn''t follow up, she didn''t say anything else. But she didn''t need to. Everything that needed to be said had been said, at least for today.


    So... the first thing we did after this conversation was to eat. Sue had brought two sandwiches just in case. She thought she was going to be alone with Lucia, so that was all she had for a snack. So we split the sandwiches.


    If there was one thing I learned from eating these sandwiches... it was that Sue is a really good cook. I don''t know why, but even a simple sandwich tasted pretty good. Maybe it was because we were in a dungeon where there wasn''t much distance between us and death. Maybe the sandwiches were really delicious in a meaningless way... I don''t know, but I wasn''t going toin.


    After we had eaten our fill, we got ready to go outside to find a new hiding ce, as we had decided. It didn''t take long. After making sure we had left nothing behind, I went out first, followed by Lucia and Sue.


    Lucia often grimaced because of the asymmetry of her hair as she climbed up through the pit, constantly straightening her hair. But there was nothing she could do.


    Eventually, we came out of the cave too. The lush green sky greeted us. It was as if nothing had happened here yesterday... the dungeon was quite calm. The greenery, the trees, all the nts... everything was in its ce. This huge in had be a paradise once again.


    "Haaa..."


    When Lucia let out a deep sigh, I raised my eyebrows and turned around. Then I noticed the blue glow shimmering just in front of her and was even more surprised.


    Lucia lifted the sword from her dimensional inventory and brought it to the back of her head. Then, without giving it much thought, she cut her hair in a single stroke.


    I was genuinely surprised as I looked at her hair as it slowly fell to the ground. Lucia... always made me feel like someone who cared about her hair in general. Or I might have assumed that she took care of her hair because she was always too beautiful... but I was really surprised to see her cut her hair without hesitation.


    Lucia nced at her hair, which had fallen to the floor, and sighed again. But... I couldn''t even focus on what she was doing. Her hair was still a bit asymmetrical because she hadn''t cut it properly, yes, but it only fell down to her shoulders in its new state, and... it felt very strange.


    The hairstyle suited her, of course... It didn''t look abnormal at all. Lucia was still stunningly beautiful. But that didn''t change the fact that I had seen her with long hair for months.


    "Come on, let''s go."


    I shook my head from side to side, angry with myself, tearing my eyes away from the tufts of hair on the ground.


    She was right. We had to be fast. Thest thing we wanted was to be left in the middle of the in when night fell.


    "Yeah, let''s go."


    And so... for the first time in the dungeon, the three of us made our way side by side.


    One of us with a tiny bit of hope clinging desperately, one of us with a will to survive that was hard to miss in her eyes despite theposure she maintained no matter what, and me... with both the desire to get out of here and my first goal, to find a way to heal Aiden.

 Chapter 336 Volume V - 54: Plain Reminiscent of Paradise

    <h4>Chapter 336 Volume V - Chapter 54: in Reminiscent of Paradise </h4>


    ?*(A/N: I edited the chapter, you can read now.)*


    The dungeon that could have been my grave, or rather our grave, was... like a real paradise. At least during the daytime, it was very much so.


    The otherworldly trees and nts, the lush green sky, the distant mountain ranges, the river that seemed to stretch into infinity... Everything was too beautiful. It was even mesmerizing.


    But at night, it was the opposite of paradise, even if I hadn''t yet experienced it as Adrian had and preferred not to.


    I looked at the two walking ahead of me, Sue and Adrian, both with their backs turned. It was hard to guess what they were thinking because of that. But... it was also easy.


    Sue, in particr, was very different from who she normally was. But I couldn''t expect her not to be.


    Because even though I pretended to keep my cool, I was scared too. I was keeping it to myself, putting hope ahead of fear, so as not to make the situation worse. But that fear hadn''tpletely disappeared.


    Sighing, I checked the time.


    We had been walking for an hour, but we hadn''t yet found a suitable hiding ce. It was difficult to find a cave at such a low elevation.


    Still, we didn''t stop. Considering how long daylightsted the day we arrived here... we should have had at least three more hours. So we didn''t give up, we kept going toward the mountain range where we thought the boss might be.


    Finally, after another hour or so... Sue broke the silence she had maintained for hours.


    "Over there, in the distance, the elevated area looks rocky."


    Adrian and I both turned quickly to the spot she pointed to. Sue was... right. There was what looked like a rocky outcrop, not on our way, but somewhere we could reach in about twenty minutes if we walked fast enough.


    "We don''t have much time, let''s go. We might find another cave if we''re lucky."


    Or their of a creature hiding from the light of the sky, I wanted to add. But I didn''t. I kept the bad thoughts to myself.


    After about ten minutes, we started to get a better view of what the elevation of rocks actually looked like.


    The ground was not made of a single rock. But... many rocks hade together to fill a huge pit, a crater even. And neither the rocks nor the crater that they had filled didn''t seem to have formed naturally.


    A meteor, maybe... But it would be optimistic to think that it was a meteor that created this crater. How so much rock had gotten into the crater, how it had filled it, was another question... but that was not the point, at least for the moment.


    "Is it possible for a C or B grade creature... to do something like this?"


    I could only shake my head from side to side at Sue''s question.


    "No, any creature that could create a crater this big would have to be at least A grade..."


    The crater filled with rocks was at least two hundred meters wide. In fact, a B+ grade creature could also create such a crater under favorable conditions, but it would not be easy.


    The crater was at least two hundred meters wide. It was difficult to understand how deep it was because of the rocks, but I could guess. The force that could cause such a thing... could simply wipe a vige off the face of the Lunerra.


    So... something or someone capable of doing that would have to be at least A grade.


    "Still, we don''t have to worry... do we? We''re in a grade B dungeon, after all."


    Adrian asked, hoping he was right.


    And he was actually right.


    "Whatever happened here is none of our business, something may have happened in the past, but I''m pretty sure we won''t run into what caused it."


    I couldn''t help smiling at the two who seemed slightly relieved, obviously genuinely scared, if only for a moment.


    However, I quickly dropped my smile and started walking again.


    "Let''s hurry and find a ce to hide."


    And so we did. At least... we tried.


    As soon as we reached the crater, we climbed on top of the hundreds of boulders that filled it and started looking for a suitable ce to spend the night.


    But... when we realized that we had spent almost half an hour in this ce, where we hade expecting to find a suitable ce, the fear that had been overshadowed by our hope slowly began to manifest itself.


    At first, we were looking for a wide gap, a pit, or a cave where we could spend the night, jumping from rock to rock. But even as the minutes ticked by, even as we looked in every direction... we found no such ce.


    After a while, we decided to split up and walk around the whole crater separately, which took fifteen minutes. We looked in every ce, in every hole, but... no, there was literally not a single cave in this huge crater.


    The biggest hiding ce I could find, if it could even be called a hiding ce, was a tiny gap that we could barely fit three of us squatting down if we wanted to try. It was between two big boulders, but maybe not even three people could fit... it was that small a gap. I could only hope that the others had found something.


    But when we gathered together again and discussed what we had found... all three of us had downcast, worried expressions on our faces. No, there really wasn''t a single cave or a pit in this whole area.


    The night was approaching. We didn''t know how much more time we had, but... certainly not much. We had to be fast, much faster. But... even if we were fast, could we make it at this point?


    Adrian looked at me and then at Sue. He spoke quickly, trying to smile slightly.


    "I can move the rocks. It might take a while, but at least I can make a pit like bef-"


    But he could not finish. Suddenly, he paused, his eyes quickly turned to the sky. Then... he stiffened and his eyes widened.


    It didn''t take a genius to understand what was happening. But... right after that, I too felt the change in the dungeon. The mana in the atmosphere... was indeed awakening.


    "Fuck... Fuck!"


    Adrian quickly looked around as he cursed. He seemed to be looking for something... and he must have found it because without waiting for us, he turned around and started running in a certain direction.


    Sue followed behind him with a terror in her eyes that I had never seen before. She knew what wasing.


    But I... I wasn''t as fast as they were. At first I was, but only for a short time.


    I couldn''t really feel it in that small pit, there wereyers andyers of rock between me and the outside. But here... everything was much clearer here.


    I was dizzy, the amount of mana surrounding me had multiplied several times over. Because of my high charm, the amount of mana that was always drawn toward me was so much that it made my head hurt.


    As the mana in the atmosphere continued to awaken, it became more and more aware of my presence. It descended on me even more heavily. The whole world came together step by step. What I saw, what I heard... everything blurred.


    When all my bnce was turned upside down, the thing I feared happened... I fell. I only understood this when I found one of the gray rocks in front of my blurred eyes.


    But even my feelings were confused. Even the pain I should have felt when I fell felt strange.


    "-ian, wa... -cia -ell!"


    Sue''s words, which I couldn''t make sense of, entered my ear. But there was no follow-up. Instead... I felt myself being lifted off the ground, and then a strange... warmth.


    Adrian had picked me up and was carrying me. It wasn''t hard to understand. But... was Adrian''s body always this warm? Strange... he had carried me for two kilometers before we found that pit and I had woken up a few times, but I had never felt like this.


    I pushed myself, I tried to get used to the mana that was directed specifically at me because of my charm statistic. I tried to bnce the mana that was constantly flowing into my body. And I seeded... at least a little.


    The voices got a little better. The blurring of my vision lessened a bit and my head stopped spinning even slightly.


    When I refocused, what I saw was... Adrian dropping me down. I was surprised, for a moment, I even thought he had left me behind. At this moment... I was a burden after all. If they wanted to make sure of their survival, leaving me behind... was the natural thing to do. I couldn''t even be angry with them.


    But that wasn''t the case. I didn''t fall on the hard ground, I didn''t suddenly lose consciousness. Instead... someone else caught me. Gently, but as fast as possible, put me down. Pulling my legs to my chest and making me take up less space.


    Ah, I see... we ran toward that tiny gap where the three of us could barely fit. Right, it was the sensible thing to do...


    But this tiny gap is wide open. What difference does it make if we hide here... than if we don''t? Are we leaving everything to chance...?


    I looked up with blurry eyes, the lush green sky slowly darkening. Just as Adrian had described, it would continue to darken until there was not a single green dot above.


    But I couldn''t help squinting slightly when suddenly a figure came between me and the sky. It was Adrian, right above us. But... he wasn''t jumping down next to us.


    I could barely make out his lips moving. I focused, trying to catch what he was saying.


    Wait... for me...? He says wait for me...


    After I could understand what he was saying and the sky was almostpletely dark, Adrian suddenly disappeared from my sight. Howls grew louder, filling the air. My head started to spin even more. As if... as if they were enchanted.


    I saw a blue glow rising into the sky, but... before I could realize what it was, everything was suddenly plunged into darkness once again. And then... a loud sound echoed in my ears.


    My eyes widened slightly as I stared at the rock that had closed in on us.


    The howling outside continued. They were hard to understand because of the rock that was closing in on us, but not impossible. But... all that was unimportant. The important thing... was that there were only two of us in this tiny gap, not three.


    Adrian... did he just... stay out on purpose...?

 Chapter 337 Volume V - 55: Second Night

    <h4>Chapter 337 Volume V - Chapter 55: Second Night </h4>


    ?The howling of the wolves continued. A brilliant blue glow came in through the holes that the rock covering us couldn''t quite close, then slowly faded, as if its source was moving away from us.


    Compared to the noises outside... the space I was trapped in was remarkably quiet. Sue said nothing, didn''t even look in my direction. Her eyes were on the rock that was closed on us.


    As I got used to the mana that surrounded me, my senses slowly returned. I was returning to normal as I deliberately directed the flow, so... I finally managed to part my lips.


    "S- Sue...?"


    I spoke in a whisper, maybe she couldn''t even hear me. The noises from outside were... too much. Still, she turned her eyes toward me, she looked at my face.


    There was not much distance between us. The space we were in was so small that if we got a little closer, our faces would have touched.


    But... as a third person, Adrian could fit in here too. Yes, we would have been too cramped and we would have been in an ufortable situation for hours. But... he could fit.


    If he hadn''te back to pick me up, if I had tried to protect myself from the mana around me in the first ce... he wouldn''t have stayed out.


    Sue opened her mouth slightly, she was going to say something... but she couldn''t put her words together. Just as she was about to speak, the ground suddenly shook violently. Hundreds of rocks,rge and small, on which we were standing, almost shifted. Maybe a few of them did.


    That was not the only thing that happened. Along with this tremor, a sound so loud that my ears were ringing echoed. It sounded like... an explosion.


    Both Sue''s and my eyes were drawn to the rock above us. She looked at a hole on her side and I looked at a hole on my side. I don''t know if she could see, but... I saw something.


    I had a very limited view. Adrian had chosen a nice rock to cover us. If we stayed here quietly, we could really spend the night, but... I didn''t care too much about that.


    Because what I could see with my limited vision was a figure hurtling upward. Or rather... someone ascending into the sky as if he was climbing a staircase. But it was so fast that I thought it had shot up.


    It was Adrian, this person. He was using the skill he had chosen at the awards ceremony almost a year ago, tform.


    But he was not the only person, or figure, to ascend. A wolf passed right after him, as if it was trying to leap up and reach for him. Immediately after him, another wolf appeared, then another... and more.


    Adrian stopped ascending, if only briefly, when he realized that one of the wolves was getting too close to him. He twirled the spear he held in his hand, and with a simple thrust, swung it at the neck of the wolf only half a meter below him.


    But the wolf did not stay still. It dodged the spear with its head tilted slightly to the side, receiving only a small cut. Then it opened its mouth and tried to bite Adrian''s foot.


    Adrian''s emerald green eyes sparkled slightly. A blur, I couldn''t quite make out what it was, surrounded his foot, and then this blur... seemed to solidify.


    He put the foot he was protecting, or strengthening, into the wolf''s mouth, aiming to bite it off as it was.


    The wolf quickly closed its jaws. Countless cracks appeared on the solid blur that enveloped Adrian''s foot. But Adrian, without waiting for it to disappear, took support from a tform he had created beneath him, stretched as if he were kicking a ball, and pulled his foot hard enough to separate a normal wolf''s jaw from its head.


    But... he couldn''t do what he wanted. This wolf was not a normal one, after all. The wolf''s jaws buckled as if dislocated, yes, but he couldn''t tear itpletely apart. Still, it was enough for him. As the wolf whose jaws he had dislocated fell down, he realized that another wolf was right below him.


    Without waiting a second, he rose a few meters higher. Soon, he was out of my limited sight. But there was no end to the wolves leaping after him.


    I tried to see Adrian, I looked elsewhere in the small space where I could see out, but there was no angle from which I could see higher up.


    I wanted to watch even more, I wanted to see with my own eyes that he had survived, that''s why I watched with bated breath. But... I had no choice now but to hope for the best.


    I paused for a moment, reying thest thing I had thought.


    Now... I used that word, but before that, what choice did I have but to ''hope for the best''? Since the moment I stepped into this dungeon, no... since that demon appeared in that dark street, the only thing I could do was trust Adrian.


    All my life, I was considered the most talented person my age. Everyone said I would be the strongest of my generation, at least after Justin Malus. But... all I could do here was watch. There was nothing I could do but pray while someone my own age, who no one knew until a year ago, was out there fighting.


    Do I... do I deserve all the praise I''ve been given?


    This question suddenly appeared in my mind. But I didn''t have the chance to answer it, because the moment I did, something unexpected happened.


    First, I heard the slight howling of the wind, as if something... was moving fast. I couldn''t make out what it was, but in less than a second, I realized that it was actuallying toward us and my eyes widened.


    "Su-"


    I was going to tell her to be careful... But I couldn''t even do that. The moment I opened my mouth, the whole ground shook again as if something from the sky had fallen right on our edge. The dust from outside came in through the gaps in the rock above us.


    Still, I had managed to protect myself, I was unhurt, so the first thing I did was check on Sue.


    Sue had hit her head on the wall behind her from the concussion. She was holding her head with her left hand, which she could barely move because of the cramped position she was in. Her eyes were also slightly squinted. She seemed fine, though. Nothing serious... at least that''s how she looked to me.


    The next second, both Sue and I were stunned by a sounding from just below the rock above us.


    Whatever it was that shot out of the sky... it was a living thing. Because it was slowly getting up, we could hear it, and on top of that... it was right next to us. The only thing between us was the rock above us.


    I didn''t even look at what came out of the hole in the rock. because I was sure it wasn''t Adrian, because if it was him, the wolves would have already pounced on him. So... what was next to us was a creature.


    That thought was quickly confirmed by the growling sound we could clearly hear.


    Moving slowly, the wolf began to move toward the point where Adrian had ascended. I could tell by the sound of its steps getting slightly farther away.


    It hadn''t noticed us. It didn''t know we were here...


    As I let out the breath I was holding, slowly, almost silently, I slowly looked out into the gap that was the only link between me and the outside. I could see the wolf moving away from us.


    The wolf was... literally ck. Some of its old wounds were still visible on it. But even these wounds were barely noticeable because of the ckness of its fur. It was about a meter and a half in height, just as Adrian had described it. There was only about two meters between us.


    The wolf lifted its head upward, growling even more frighteningly toward the sky. It stretched, prepared to join its friends.


    But... instead of doing what it was prepared to do, it suddenly stopped in its tracks for no apparent reason.


    My eyes widened, I quickly ducked my head and tried to hide, because thest thing I could see was... the wolf turning its head in our direction.


    Dozens of thoughts ran through my mind at once, each one ying out in my mind one by one.


    Why did it turn toward us? Did it smell us...? No, could it really focus on us in this chaos? Maybe there was a very small distance between us, yes, but... if it could smell us, wouldn''t it have tried to find us a long time ago?


    There must be something, there must be a reason why it came back here...


    With that in mind, I looked around our hiding ce, looking for something that might attract the wolf, but... there was nothing like that. It was just Sue and me here.


    But then... my eyes focused on Sue, or rather on her head, which she was still holding in her hand... in her hair.


    And there, just between her fingers, there was something tiny. A red mark. A trail of blood.


    I held my breath. Sue took her hands out of her hair when she realized I was looking in her direction. Her eyes widened when she saw the blood already drying between her fingers.


    When she hit her head, she had gotten a small wound. It was so small that the amount of blood that came out of it was not even worth taking seriously... But this was a dungeon full of wolves.


    The growl of the wolf outside turned toward us. It was looking at us, I could feel it, but I just waited, fingers over my lips, eyes closed in prayer. I listened to the sounds the wolf made as it slowly approached us, literally trembling with fear at the thought of our death approaching us with each passing second.


    The chill of death seeped deeper into my skin, the wolf''s growl came closer. It was right above me, not even a meter between us.


    It had found us.

 Chapter 338 Volume V - 56: Almost... Divine

    <h4>Chapter 338 Volume V - Chapter 56: Almost... Divine </h4>


    ?I have to do something.


    That was the first thought that went through my mind. The wolf was right in front of us. Even if it couldn''t see us with its own eyes, it was aware that there was something where we were. It had found us and if I waited a little longer, it would really know we existed.


    But... what could I do? This wolf was a C grade creature and I was only D grade, and on top of that, I had to keep part of my focus on the mana around me at all times. The mana that was dormant in the atmosphere and the mana that was awakened here... was very different. As if that wasn''t enough, my movement was so limited that even if I wanted to do something, I would be very slow.


    I gritted my teeth and ced my hand in the gap facing the wolf.


    There was no time, I couldn''t wait any longer.


    The wolf outside must have seen my hand because it suddenly growled louder. It even charged toward the rock above us. So I had to be even faster.


    For a brief moment, I stopped channeling the mana swirling around my body. The mana rushed at me from all directions. But I didn''t care. I focused the mana swirling around my body into my hand, which I was pointing at the wolf outside, and formed a ball of me in my palm.


    I quickly shrunk it, squeezed it as tightly as I could, and kept pouring mana into the... marble of me, strengthening it.


    Then, without waiting another second, I threw it through the gap toward the wolf.


    First, a red streak flew out of my palm, making no sound. But... as it did so, the growling sound from outside turned into a momentary moan. The wolf''s attack did not reach the rock, did not shatter it... nor did it expose us. Instead, I heard it back away as if it had encountered something disturbing. It also... sounded a little bit like it was in pain.


    Before I gave in to my rapidly blurring senses, I looked out through the gap. The wolf had taken a few steps back, its head down. Blood was dripping down its face. The fireball, or marble, that I had thrown outside had hit it in the eye.


    The wolf raised its head slightly. But this time, I didn''t have the opportunity to retreat as quickly as before, the mana around me had already caused my muscle movements to be strange. So... I locked eyes with the wolf.


    Yes, just as I had predicted, one of its eyes was damaged. But the other eye was still intact. His right eye, glowing blood red, was staring at me, angry. I could tell.


    I tried to prepare another fireball, even though I knew it wouldn''t hurt the wolf much. It was going to attack again, that was obvious. And there was nothing else I could do.


    But... just before the wolf lunged at me... something unexpected happened.


    I heard a howl, a split-second howl, of an object splitting the air. But... it wasing toward us.


    I hadn''t yet realized what was happening... when the body of the wolf in front of me suddenly twisted unnaturally. The second ball of me that started to form in my palm dissipated before it wasplete. I stared straight ahead, the only thing I could do was to widen my eyes.


    A small shockwave spread around the wolf, apanied by a wave of dust hitting my face. The wolf was clinging so hard to the ground that it trembled slightly, but only briefly.


    On the wolf''s twisted body in front of me was a spear, the cloth at the end of the shaft swaying in the gentle breeze. There was a blurry halo around it, but it was not the mana of a person. The spear, seemingly amplified by the mana itself in the atmosphere... had nailed the wolf to the ground.


    The wolf''s glowing red eye focused on me again. But this time, it neither growled nor moaned. It only looked at me. As the glow in its one remaining eye slowly faded... it just died before my eyes.


    I swallowed involuntarily, trying to shield my body from the mana in the atmosphere again, and focused my trembling eyes upward, on someone I couldn''t see, but knew was there.


    The next second, I felt a... difference there.


    No, it was like that before. I had difficulty feeling it only because it was too far away and because of the danger at our feet, but now... especially when I focused there, I could feel it.


    The mana in the atmosphere was different. The unimed but awakened mana was not running wild as it should. But... it seemed to be under the control of something. It was constantly being pulled toward a point and concentrated there.


    After a short time, a difference appeared in my vision. Standing on a tform he had created in the sky, Adrian entered my field of vision with slow steps with other tforms he had created in the form of a staircase.


    His hair was slightly longer. His emerald green eyes sparkled with a fierceness I had never seen before. His skin was covered in runes that shimmered with a golden glow. His ears were a little more pointed and longer than they should have been.


    The mana in the atmosphere was being drawn toward him. It was entering his body,ing under his control. No... it didn''t need to enter his body. He could control it directly. He was staring coldly down at a spot beneath him where there were probably dozens of wolves.


    I swallowed again, I could only stare at his figure, overflowing with mana. Again, unanswered questions arose in my mind.


    Adrian... since when was he so powerful? He is not a C grade person, it''s impossible. What I feel when I look at him, the intensity of his mana, the purity... everything is much more powerful than a simple C grade. On top of that, he can control the mana itself in the atmosphere...


    What is this nonsense?


    But just then, I saw what was dripping from his lips, a red liquid, and my eyes widened again.


    Adrian just narrowed his eyes. He didn''t care about the blood oozing from his lip as he continued to descend and simply raised his hand. The atmosphere itself trembled for a moment, the ground shook. And... that''s when I realized exactly what was actually happening.


    No, Adrian wasn''t really that strong. It was because the mana in this dungeon was awakened that he was so... overwhelming, even divine. If he had the dormant mana at his disposal, he wouldn''t have been so powerful, he would have been limited in what he could do with it. But right now... he was surrounded by an enormous amount of awakened mana. It was because of this special situation that he was able to show such a disy of power.


    But his body didn''t match the power he had. I could tell just by looking at him. It was as if... his whole being was slowly disintegrating. All the mana that he could control, all the mana that entered his body, was tearing him apart from the inside.


    Adrian was soon out of my sight again. He was on the ground again, maybe even among the wolves. But I couldn''t see what he was doing.


    "Lucia...? What''s going on out there?"


    I quickly raised my finger at Sue''s whispered voice, signaling her to be quiet. She probably couldn''t see Adrian. It wasn''t as if she could fully perceive what was going on because she was an ordinary person.


    "Wait, just wait."


    Sue frowned at my words. But she didn''t say anything, she just waited as I told her to. She wanted to know what was going on, I could understand that, but... I was in no position to tell her what was going on.


    And if I tried to, I would have been interrupted. Because shortly after I opened my mouth, the ground shook violently again. It was sudden and more like a shock wave than an earthquake.


    Soon there was another tremor. And then another... and another. It happened at regr intervals, like a heartbeat. Mana apanied these waves, making my head spin even more than it already was.


    My curiosity soon reached such a level that I focused on the ne around my neck. Without caring too much about what was happening, I pulled my sword out of my dimensional inventory, then positioned it so that it lifted the rock above us slightly and gave it a thrust. And I seeded. The sword lifted the rock slightly, if notpletely. It widened the gap through which I could look out.


    With my field of vision suddenly widened, I lifted my head up, looked down to the spot where Adrian hade down, and what I saw there... made me stiffen once again.


    Almost a hundred wolves were gathered around a single point, forming a circle. But they weren''t attacking, they weren''t even moving. They were just... watching. Their bodies were straight as if they were especially focused on the center of the circle they had formed.


    And... they were. Because in the center of this circle, there was a fight going on... if I can call it a fight.


    There was a wolf here, two meters in heightpared to the other wolves. The glint in its eyes was much sharper and brighter, its fur much more... beautiful. It looked like the leader of the wolves.


    But despite that, its condition was far from good. It was covered in bruises. Not simple cuts, but wounds from crushing blows. Its legs were trembling, it could barely stand. The sharp glow in its eyes was slowly fading. It was clear he was in no condition to move.


    Facing the wolf was Adrian. The golden runes that covered his body were much more prominent, almost covering his entire body in a golden glow. Around this golden glow was another light blue glow that apanied it.


    Blood was dripping from his right fist. It trickled between his fingers and fell to the ground. His eyes were on the half-dead wolf in front of him.


    He clenched his fist, the blood seeping between his fingers stopped for a moment. The golden yellow and light blue glow around him intensified. All the mana around him was drawn into his fist, wrapped around it.


    Adrian tensed his strengthened fist and swung it hard at the wolf in front of him. All the mana that had enveloped his fist spread out in an instant, the ground shook again. The punchnded right in the wolf''s face.


    The wolf''s head turned to the side so suddenly that its neck might have been broken. The force of the punch was so strong that his body stopped trembling and let itself go. As the wolf''s body slumped to the ground... a deep silence fell over the in for a moment.


    But it didn''tst long. Soon, all the wolves around him raised their heads, all howling at the same time. But this time, their howls were not as magical, as dizzying as before. This time... it was like a beautiful melody.


    The golden glow around Adrian slowly faded as the wolves howled. All the runic writing on his skin began to disappear. His slightly long hair receded, the glow in his eyes faded. All the mana that had surrounded him came out from under him. It began to spread randomly and wildly, as it should.


    But that light blue glow was still around him. Faint, maybe not very visible... but it was there.


    Adrian turned toward us. He probably couldn''t see me, but our eyes met. He took a slow step forward. The wolves in his path stopped howling and stepped aside, making way for him. They even bowed their heads, as if he was their king.


    He kepting toward us, with the others howling and all the wolves in his path making way for him. Finally, when he was in front of us, he paused. He bowed slightly, got down on one knee, even though I could only see his feet. Then the rock above us began to tremble and move.


    Adrian simply pushed the rock over us to the side. As he did so, the night, which we could not see because of the rock, came into view.


    The blue glowing up from the river really resembled an aurora. Together with the stars, it was so spectacr that I couldn''t take my eyes off the sky.


    But the sky was not the only thing we could see anymore. Adrian was right in front of us, looking in our direction. He had a slight smile on his face. Soon, he parted his lips.


    "I''m... sorry."


    He didn''t say anything else. The light blue glow around his body fadedpletely with hisst words. Then his whole body trembled... he just copsed.


    The howling of the wolves stopped with it. When I looked for them, fearing they would attack us... they were nowhere to be seen. They had disappeared into the night again.

 Chapter 339 Volume V - 57: An Abnormal Place

    <h4>Chapter 339 Volume V - Chapter 57: An Abnormal ce </h4>


    ?This time... I died, didn''t I?


    Using Mana Ascension for so long, trying to control an atmosphere full of mana must have absolutely killed me.


    But... I can think, doesn''t that mean I''m not actually dead?


    What happenedst time? I need to think...


    I remember seeing the wolf where Lucia and Sue were hiding, I activated my mastery and my ascension skill. Then I threw my spear toward the wolf. And then... I interacted with all the mana in the atmosphere, I tried to wipe all the wolves off the face of the, and I would have seeded... but one of them stopped me.


    The leader of the wolves, right? It must have been their leader to be that big, to give off an aura so much more frightening than the others.


    But... not only that. That wolf was not simply their ''leader''. Because that wolfmunicated with me. No, it didn''t talk to me, but... it simplymunicated. When I looked into its glowing eyes, it seemed to... speak to my mind.


    It was a creature that could think, no matter how primitive. All the wolves it led were like that. They had realized that with the power I had gained through my skill and the awakening of mana in the atmosphere, I could actually kill each of them, so it had proposed a duel.


    If it would kill me, it would win. Or I would kill it and win.


    And then we fought. It wasn''t a very hard fight. With all that atmospheric mana at my disposal, it was really easy. I would even say it was one-sided.


    And then what happened? I remember the wolves making way for me, I remember going to Lucia and Sue. I was sure the wolves wouldn''t hurt us, would even protect us, so I lifted the rock over them.


    Then... darkness, nothing.


    But... if I''m dead, what is this ce? And if I''m not dead... again, where is this ce?


    I tried to look around, and I seeded. Strangely enough, I had a body, and it wasn''t a spiritual body. I could feel, I had arms and legs. I could walk.


    It was a ck ce where I was, there was nothing but me.


    My eyebrows furrowed, a feeling of uneasiness came over me.


    This is not a normal situation. Something is wrong... absolutely wrong. I shouldn''t be here.


    Reflexively, I walked slowly toward the void, took a few steps, but once again... nothing happened. My footsteps made no sound, it was as if I was walking on a floor that never made a sound.


    It took me a minute of walking without doing anything to realize that I was going nowhere. There was literally nothing here, just me and... darkness.


    Finally, I closed my eyes. I put my senses in the background one by one, I wanted to make sure that there was really nothing but myself in this huge space, so I put all my focus on somethingpletely different from my five senses, on mana.


    My heartbeat slowed down, apanied by my second heart. The flow of mana in my body calmed down. Then... I shifted my focus outward from my own mana.


    There was not only darkness here. Just as I had predicted, there was also mana. And... it had a flow. An abnormal flow. It was not random, as it should normally be. On the contrary... it had a pattern. None of the streams of mana twisted and collided with each other, did not scatter. On the contrary... they were in harmony with each other, in perfect order. As if... as if there was something controlling them, even.


    The moment thatst sentence crossed my mind, I don''t know why... a strange silence fell over me. It was so strange that I identally lost focus, all my senses came back to me quickly and... I realized what had happened.


    My eyes slowly opened of their own ord and I looked out into the darkness. It was no different from before, just endless darkness. But... it was also different from a few minutes ago.


    There is something. Something in the direction I was looking. It was a fleeting moment, yes, but I felt it. Something... and something definitely not normal... looked in my direction. I''m sure of it.


    Maybe I shouldn''t be doing this. It might not make sense to call out to something that I can only feel and that doesn''t make me feel good when I feel it, when it''s silently watching me...


    But is there anything else I can do?


    "Hello...?"


    My voice echoed and echoed and echoed through the darkness. I heard this one word so many times that for a moment I thought it would go on forever, but eventually, after a while, it stopped.


    "I... I know you''re there."


    I continued to stare at a single point, never taking my eyes off it, never moving a muscle, just waiting.


    After about ten seconds of silence, which felt like an eternity... a tiny white dot appeared where I was looking out of nowhere.


    At first, I was surprised. Of all the things I expected to happen, the appearance of a simple, tiny white dot was definitely not one of them. But then I noticed something different. The white dot was... growing. It was slow, a little hard to notice, but it was definitely growing.


    When I squinted slightly and focused on the dot... my eyes suddenly widened.


    No, the dot is not growing... it''s getting closer to me!


    And the moment I realized this fact... I felt that presence again, I felt it looking toward me again. But... it was very different from the previous split second of awareness.


    Everything froze except for the white dot that continued to approach me. I couldn''t move a muscle, I couldn''t even move my eyes, I couldn''t even breathe, as if an unstoppable force had me in the palm of its hand.


    It was overwhelming, powerful. It was... much stronger than me. Just feeling its presence made me dizzy.


    I tried to open my mouth, to say something, but no sound came out, my lips refused to part. The only sound I could make was something strange that sounded iprehensible.


    The white dot kept growing, kept getting closer to me. My eyes were on it, I couldn''t look at anything else. But... after a short time, I calmed down a little bit, even if I didn''t want to.


    Because the white dot, or rather an orb... came up to me and stopped. It wasn''t too big, it didn''t look like it was going to crush me. It was just... a white orb the size of my fist.


    Shortly after it stopped in front of me, the orb trembled. The absolute white it emitted began to fade slightly, and a motif appeared on it. It was a familiar motif, as if... I had seen it before.


    Soon, the motif around the orb shimmered with a golden glow, beams of light appeared on it and rose upward. But it did not stretch into infinity. Rather, it kept rising about a meter from where it was. The beams of light began to merge where they stopped, forming a shape... or rather a sentence.


    An inscription appeared in front of me, just like the motifs on the orb. I had no idea what it said, what it meant... it waspletely unknown. But as I continued to look at the writing, a strange feeling came over me.


    It was a feeling I couldn''t make sense of. It was literally... strange. But I wanted to give myself over to this feeling, it was also a magical feeling.


    So... I did as I felt... I gave myself to this feeling that was growing inside me, I didn''t think about anything, there was nothing else I could do.


    But the moment I did so... I also felt the power growing inside me. My eyes widened as I felt my normally not very long hair fall over my shoulders and saw the golden runes running along my skin.


    I tried to deactivate my skill. Using it one more time... this time it could actually lead to my death. I couldn''t risk it, but... I couldn''t do anything, as if my control over it had beenpletely taken away.


    But after a while, I realized to myself that I didn''t need to.


    I didn''t have that ufortable feeling whenever I used my skill. It didn''t feel like someone was squeezing my heart in the palm of their hand. My body... it wasn''t tearing itself apart.


    No, nothing was happening to my body. I was... I waspletely free to use my skill.


    But I couldn''t think too much about it. Because the golden runic writing on my arms caught my attention again. And my eyes widened once again.


    The motifs on the orb... that''s why they felt familiar. They were very simr, if not identical, to the motifs that surrounded me when I used my ascension skill.


    Actually, it wasn''t just that. Now when I pushed my memory a little, when I made the simrity between the two things... I remembered another simrity.


    The disk I took from Lithoa''s house that brought me to this dungeon... the motifs on it were just like these.


    I swallowed involuntarily, turning my eyes back to the writing on the white orb. When I focused on them... this time they didn''t feel as foreign as before. On the contrary, they were quite familiar. It was as if I had been seeing them for years.


    But more importantly... even though I still couldn''t read them, I could understand what they were saying.


    Find me, it said. And it wasn''t a normal ''find me''. The words were intricate, the curves were hard, as if they were written by someone who couldn''t hold a pen properly. As if... as if the person who wrote it was in unimaginable pain.


    Soon after I understood what the writing was saying and realized this fact, the writing turned to dust and disappeared, and a new one appeared in its ce.


    Come toward the mountains, this one said.


    But no more writing appeared after that. On the contrary, this whole dark ce... suddenly trembled violently. Everything came crashing together before I realized what was happening. All my senses went dark again, my consciousness slipped through my fingers.

 Chapter 340 Volume V - 58: Rest Decision

    <h4>Chapter 340 Volume V - Chapter 58: Rest Decision </h4>


    ?First, my consciousness slowly returned. Then, even more slowly, my senses.


    The first thing I noticed was the green blur behind my eyelids. Then the sensation that screamed that I was lying on a hard surface, and finally the gentle howl of the gently blowing wind.


    I opened my eyelids slightly, but the movement quickly dazzled my eyes, the re in the direction I was looking was... a bit too much.


    Nevertheless, I got used to it quickly. Soon, I pulled back the arm I was holding in front of my eyes and slowly sat up from where I was lying.


    Green sky, rocks everywhere, a huge in... Dungeon? Oh, right...


    My memories came rushing back. Both the memories before I copsed and that... strange experience.


    However, I quickly put those thoughts on the back burner and looked around. Soon, I found what I was looking for, or rather, who I was looking for.


    Lucia and Sue were looking at me with curious eyes. They must have been talking to each other before I woke up because they were sitting on the floor facing each other. But now all their focus was on me.


    I smiled slightly.


    "Wel-"


    But I couldn''t even finish the first word that came out of my mouth, let alone my sentence.


    As soon as I moved my lips, a pain I hadn''t been aware of until now spread violently throughout my entire body. All my muscles contracted at once, and I had to hold myself back from letting out a sudden scream in pain.


    I gritted my teeth, narrowed my eyes slightly, and soon a voice, different from the howling of the wind, filled with anxiety, entered my ears.


    "Adrian!"


    Sue came quickly in front of me, got down on her knees, and put her hand on my back. With her supporting my body, my muscles rxed a little. But the pain didn''t go away, it was still there.


    Just behind Sue, Lucia approached me, and I saw that she was holding a stic bottle full of water. But she didn''t give it to me. Rather, she just showed it to me, then asked me politely.


    "Want some water?"


    I gave a quick nod of approval. Lucia sighed and uncapped the bottle. I waited for her to hand it to me, but she didn''t. Instead, she brought it to my lips with her own hand.


    "Don''t move much, just drink."


    I didn''tin, and I didn''t really feel likeining anyway. With my first sip, the pain spreading through my body again increased a little, but it wasn''t unbearable. With my second sip, the dryness in my throat went away. The rest was just...forting.


    Finally, Lucia separated the bottle from my lips and it disappeared in a sh of blue, turning to dust.


    "We''re still above the crater full of rocks. It''s a little over a day since you passed out. And we''re... okay, I guess. At least for now."


    She quickly answered almost everything I wanted to know the answer to. I had not expected this, so it took me a little longer than usual to process what she said. Only after a while was I able to nod my head in understanding.


    If I''ve been here for a day, at least another night must have passed while I was unconscious. But we are still alive.


    The wolves didn''t go back on their word, huh...? They must have protected me, Lucia, and Sue¡­


    Then can we finally call this in safe for us?


    This and a few other questions swirled in my mind. But Lucia wasn''t finished talking.


    "How are you feeling? Is there anything wrong with your body besides the pain? With all the mess your body is in... I didn''t expect you to wake up in a day."


    I waited a short while before answering, then spoke slowly so that my muscles would not contract again and the pain would be minimal.


    "I''m not very well... I think I''ll be fine if I rest for a few days, maybe even a week or more. It wasn''t a wise idea to push my body too hard, I''m just paying for it."


    Lucia let out a deep sigh and continued without letting me speak.


    "Yes, it cretainly wasn''t. But... we are alive because of it. The wolves are no longer aggressive. On the contrary, they are quite... friendly."


    Her eyes focused behind me. Then she pointed to the same spot with her finger and I turned curiously to where she was pointing.


    What I saw... made me stiffen where I was, unable to perceive what was happening.


    Because what was behind me... were pieces of meat piled on top of each other.


    "The night you fainted, they disappeared without a trace. Only a few minutester three wolves emerged from the darkness. Honestly, I thought they were going to kill us when they came back. But instead, they left these on the ground and disappeared back into the darkness. Apparently they knew we were hungry. So... they really see you as their new leader."


    My mouth hung open. I looked at the pile of meat in front of me and at Lucia.


    The wolves... They not only kept their word but did more than that.


    I was really surprised because I hadn''t expected anything like this, but... realizing that there was nothing extremely abnormal about it, I eventually put it on the back burner, just like the rest of my thoughts.


    I let out a deep sigh as my lips ttened again and my eyes squinted slightly.


    "If the wolves are protecting us, not attacking us... Then we can rest here until we are fully recovered, I guess? A week or two. Maybe it will take a while... but I don''t think it makes sense to throw away a good opportunity when we have it."


    I turned my eyes back to Lucia. Normally, I would look at her briefly and then look away, but this time I focused on her.


    It seemed that she was not interested in cutting her blonde hair more neatly. Her shoulder-length hair was still a bit asymmetrical. But at least it didn''t seem to bother her too much.


    On her face was another mask than before, obviously new. She probably always carried a few extra with her. And her blood-red eyes were... thoughtful. Strangely thoughtful. As if something was upying her mind.


    That''s exactly why I kept my eyes on her this time.


    "But these are my opinions. And we don''t need to deny the fact that you are smarter than me, that you think more. So... what are your thoughts? Do you see a problem with what I have in mind? Do you think it would be appropriate for us to continue resting here?"


    Lucia looked directly into my eyes. It was perhaps the first time we had made such a long eye contact and she also seemed to realize it.


    For a brief moment, the thoughtfulness in her eyes disappeared, reced by her old coolposure. This time, she was not thinking about what was bothering her, but about our situation.


    "If the wolves are truly loyal to you... then resting here is the best option. But if the way to be leader of the wolves is to defeat the current leader in a duel, then there''s no telling if one of them will be your rival sooner orter."


    Here''s one of the things I didn''t think about...


    "You may have overwhelmingly defeated the previous leader... but they saw what you became as a result. So they might take advantage of your current situation and bring a new wolf against you as soon as they see you awake."


    She paused for a moment. Her eyes turned back to me, this time with a tiny curiosity in them.


    "You are C grade right now, right? The wolves seem to be at about the same power level as you. Do you think you could beat the wolves in a one-on-one duel? Not in good form, but in your current form. That is the important question."


    I can only straighten myself without difort with Sue supporting me... So even standing up would be too painful right now.


    What if I try to push my body again? Last time, I was sure I was going to die, but I didn''t. On top of that, if I push my limits again... can I survive?


    Will my body fail me, or can I fight?


    "We don''t have any potions with us, do we?"


    Lucia quickly shook her head from side to side at my question. I... could only sigh.


    "How many hours do we have until nightfall?"


    "The daysst about seven hours. The nights are about four hours. There''s a day and night cycle of almost eleven hours. Right now... we should have a little less than six hsecond


    "The best I can do with six hours of rest is just fight for a few seconds. Which is not the best thing¡­ But I can fight them, I think. They don''t know exactly what I can do, but I know most of the things they can do. If I catch them off guard for a night, maybe two, I can end a duel in a few seconds."


    The thing about duels was that they onlysted a few seconds. When opponents of the same power level faced each other, all either side had to do to prevail was to find an opening and exploit it. Some duelssted longer because both sides found it difficult to find an opening or a mistake in each other.


    But these wolves had a weakness. And that was that they were not very strong as individuals.


    Yes, they could have been C grade¡­ But they didn''t have any abilities to strengthen their bodies or increase their speed in a duel. Their howls were disorienting, their camouge allowed them to hide, and their red eyes had a hypnotic effect¡­ but nothing more.


    These creatures were animals that specialized in hunting in groups. So they didn''t really have the physical strength of a C grade.


    I took a deep breath, breaking the silence between the three of us.


    "Let''s rest. I''m not sure we''re in any condition to move. I don''t even know if we can find a ce to hide. I can make it through tonight, and I guess the next night. And getting through this is enough. I can instill enough fear in the wolves not to challenge me to a duel... at least I believe that.


    Lucia... approved me, preferring to respect my decision. She looked worried, yes. It wasn''t something that could be overlooked. Sue was just like her. But... there was nothing better we could do.


    So, we decided to spend our days inside this crater full of rocks. Lucia went outside the crater and collected wood to build a fire. Sue... was in charge of turning the meat we had into something edible.


    Me... I was just going to rest, that''s all. And while I was doing that, I had plenty of time to think.


    For example... the dream I had before I woke up. The writing that appeared on that white orb...


    I turned my eyes slightly to my right, and just where I was looking, in the distance... mountain ranges could be seen. These were the mountains I had been told toe to, the mountains we had chosen to travel toward at the beginning of our journey here.


    I had deliberately not told Lucia and Sue about the dream, because I didn''t want them to be nervous or scared. But now, looking at this mountain range that was our target... I realized again that this dungeon was not a normal dungeon.


    The strange state of mana, that river, the green colored sky, that... suffering being in the dream I had.


    Something is wrong here. And... wrong in a not good way.

 Chapter 341 Volume V - 59: Duel for Leadership

    <h4>Chapter 341 Volume V - Chapter 59: Duel for Leadership </h4>


    ?I turned my eyes toward the lush green sky, looking for any spots that were starting to darken. But there weren''t any, and wouldn''t be for a while. At least not until a few minutester.


    I sighed lightly, lowered my eyes again, and this time looked at the fire in front of me. Thanks to my mastery, it was easy to start a fire. All I needed was wood, and there was plenty of it in the in.


    The fire was warm, almostforting. Even more so considering how many days I had been deprived of heat. Not that it mattered much, given one of the skills I had... but the presence of fire was still moreforting than nothing.


    But I didn''t dwell too long on this fire, I turned my eyes to those standing behind it.


    Sue had her eyes narrowed. She was looking at the pieces of bone burning on the fire, thoughtful.


    Adrian''s eyes were on the sky. Every now and then, he would look at the mountain ranges in the distance, think about something for a while, and then turn back to the front.


    He didn''t do that before. It was something he started doing after he woke up. As if... something had happened while he was unconscious.


    But I didn''t question it, I didn''t think it was necessary. Because if it was really important, he would have shared it with us. He knew that for us to survive, we had to share everything about this dungeon with each other.


    So it was not something that upied my mind too much. On the contrary, I was thinking about something else entirely. Or rather... I found myself thinking about it.


    Adrian is literally doing everything he can to keep not only himself but all of us alive. But me and Sue... I don''t feel like we are doing anything.


    Yes, Sue''s really good at cooking, and she''s noticed a few things that we haven''t noticed. And me... I usually decide what we''re going to do, I kind of lead our group.


    But Adrian could have survived without those things. Maybe he would be in a very different ce now. There are definitely some things that we made it easier for him. But... wouldn''t he actually be morefortable without us?


    He''s constantly pushing his limits to keep us alive, I can see it with my own eyes. The flow of mana through his body is so... chaotic that he must be suffering for that alone. He keeps his face mostly expressionless, yes, but I can see he''s holding back.


    If we hadn''t been there... would it have been different? If we hadn''t met at that station in the first ce, if we hadn''t spent so much time at the mall or chosen that restaurant... we wouldn''t have to deal with all this, or rather he wouldn''t have to... would he?


    That''s what frustrates me. I... feel like more of a ''burden'' than I''ve ever felt in my life. I can''t even participate in fights where I can at least do something, even if I''m not as strong as him. At night, I''m useless because of my insanely high charm stat and the awakened mana.


    I... I feel like I''m more of a hindrance than a help.


    And how does Sue feel? She''s an ordinary person, someone who didn''t have much to do here in the first ce. She must be feeling it much more acutely than I am, right?


    Minutes passed with these thoughts, time continued to pass.


    After a while... one of the green dots in the sky suddenly went ck. The ground trembled violently, as it always did. The distant river began to shimmer with a dazzling light. One by one, the mana in the atmosphere awoke.


    As night fell on the dungeon again, this time we were in no hurry. We didn''t even have a sense of panic, we just... watched the in transform. We just waited as the glow of the river slowly took its ce in the sky. I additionally protected myself from the mana around my body, creating a special flow in my body to avoid copsing in pain.


    Soon after, the first howls came. The wolves slowly began to wake up as night fell on the dungeon.


    But they didn''t make our heads spin and our ears ring like they used to. On the contrary... they were like a beautiful melody. I could even say they were rxing.


    "Here we go, huh..."


    Immediately after Adrian''s words... the darkness seemed to ripple. More red dots than I could count suddenly appeared everywhere. ck blurs enveloped the whole ce.


    The wolves formed a circle around us. Countless creatures, each with at least C grade, surrounded us with their frightening appearance. They weren''t even interested in camouge, every one of their bodies was visible. Not a single one of them was looking in my direction or Sue''s. They all had their eyes on one person, Adrian, who was lying on a rock.


    A smile appeared on Adrian''s face. The wolves in front of him retreated in a coordinated fashion, clearing a path. And from this path... a single wolf slowly approached him with slow steps.


    It had more scars on its fur than the other wolves, its red eyes seemed to glow with more fury. But it was calm, cold. They were looking directly at Adrian.


    "As you guessed, it wants a duel."


    After his words, I asked him in a whisper as I nced at the wolves that surrounded us on all sides, leaving us nowhere to run.


    "And if you don''t ept...?"


    I don''t want him to fight if he can, I... I don''t want him to push himself any harder. But looking around me, looking at the wolves... it seems as far away as I want it to be.


    And indeed, Adrian''s lips curled even higher. He answered my question in a way that contrasted with the situation he was in.


    "Isn''t it obvious?"


    I clenched my teeth, my fist, but... there was nothing I could do.


    It took great concentration to constantly protect my body from the awakened mana in the atmosphere. So... I literally had no way to fight. Once my concentration wavered, I would get dizzy, my vision would blur and my bnce would slip.


    Adrian took his usual spear from his bracelet and leaned on it, trying with difficulty to stand up. His body trembled with every movement of his muscles. He was in pain, but he did his best not to show it on the outside.


    "Are you... sure you can fight?"


    Adrian was barely standing, leaning on his spear, and he didn''t even look at me. He just kept looking at the wolf who wanted to duel him. The smile hadn''t disappeared from his face, but his eyes twitched involuntarily sometimes.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t die.


    He paused for a moment, then spoke again.


    "Just... trust me."


    He approached the wolf, using his spear as a longer-than-normal walking stick, never breaking eye contact. He kept getting closer until they were only a few inches apart, and then he widened his smile.


    "I ept the duel."


    At his words, all the wolves raised their heads upward. They all howled at the same time, in unison, toward the sky. Then each of them retreated back for meters. They opened up a huge space for Adrian and the wolf.


    "But not here, I have friends."


    At his words, the wolves waited a moment. Only when the wolf in front of him squinted his eyes and nced briefly at the other wolves did each of them start moving again, forming a huge arena.


    They shifted so that we were outside the circle. They did this to keep us out of the arena. But... so that we were inside the wolves forming the outside of the circle.


    There were no wolves in front of us. But on either side of us, behind us... they were everywhere. The wolf closest to me was only a few centimeters away. If I moved a little bit, I could identally touch its paw.


    And yet the wolves didn''t really care about us, they acted as if we didn''t exist. I hadn''t made eye contact with a single one of them.


    Adrian briefly tore his eyes away from the wolf in front of him. He looked at Sue and me, but it was brief. He did nothing more than nce at us, his entire focus back on the wolf in front of him.


    The wolf and Adrian turned their backs to each other and moved some distance away. When they were a few meters apart, they both stopped and turned back to each other.


    The wolf suddenly tensed. Tilting his head slightly, he pressed his front paws into the earth, his back paws the same. He opened his mouth, bared his teeth at Adrian, and growled.


    Adrian simply let out a deep sigh. He simply pointed his spear at his front paws into the earth, his back paws the same. He opened his mouth, bared his teeth at Adrian, and growled.


    the wolf in front of him, and then... he closed his eyes.


    I squinted, I focused on the mana swirling around his body, I wanted to see what he would do, what would happen.


    What I saw... was that all the chaos in his body had gotten worse.


    The unstable mana swirling inside him became even more unstable. But... as it happened, it stopped. Adrian''s face went sour for a moment as he was forcibly ordering the mana in his body. But he didn''t stop there.


    The mana in his body reached toward his spear, at the same time, lightly enveloping his body. Not only that, it spread around him. Even to the wolf.


    I saw blood oozing from his lips and nose. It was impossible not to see his hands trembling as they held the spear.


    I clenched my fist again. I felt useless once again.


    He''s pushing himself even harder... he''s doing what he''s been doing since the day we got here. He knows he''s in mortal danger, he knows he might even be crippled. But... he does it anyway.


    Why, then?


    Okay, we may be friends... but we don''t really know each other that well. We''re not as close to him as he is to Julian and Aiden. To Sue and me, Adrian... he''s just a friend in a group.


    I know he''s someone who cares about the lives of those around him. He''s shown his desire to help those in distress many times. But... are we really worth dragging him to his death?


    Why is he trying to keep us alive when his own life is at stake?


    During these thoughts... out of the corner of my eye, I saw a change in the center of the circle.


    The tip of Adrian''s spear began to glow slightly. And seeing this glow, his opponent didn''t stand still any longer and moved. But it didn''t attack him directly, on the contrary... it disappeared into the darkness itself. Its whole body quickly disappeared, except for its red eyes. Soon, its eyes were camouged too.


    Adrian still hadn''t opened his eyes. He hadn''t even changed where he was pointing his spear. He just... stood where he was, like a statue.


    Only a secondter, the air behind him rippled. A ck w, aimed at his back, cut through the darkness of the night. But Adrian, again, did not move.


    The w came closer and closer. I watched it all in slow motion. I tried never to lose hope.


    When there were only a few inches between the w and Adrian... I felt the urge to jump up and run toward him. But I didn''t. To do something like that... it was just ridiculous. No matter what, if Adrian was going to lose this duel, we were going to die here. Me trying to protect him would have no effect.


    Besides... he said to trust me before the duel. Now that I think about it... Did he say that on purpose?


    I kept my eyes on him, holding my breath, watching what was happening. I... trusted him. I chose to wait. And the moment I chose that... Adrian finally moved.


    His body moved so abruptly that it was as if I had literally blinked. He moved his foot to the side, twirled his spear in his hand, and changed the direction the tip was pointing, all the while dodging the wolf''s w in a truly millimetric way.


    The wolf''s w only touched part of his clothing. Adrian''s spear, however, was heading toward its torso, as if he had known from the beginning where it was going to strike. The glow at the tip of the spear intensified.


    Time, which felt as if it had slowed down... suddenly sped up before my eyes.


    The wolf didn''t even have time to dodge the attack. In an instant, Adrian''s spear prated its body, which was not even out of camouge. But that wasn''t the only thing that happened.


    Adrian swung the spear behind him and turned it again at a strange angle. The wolf''s ck body followed the spear that stabbed into it and flew through the air.


    Adrian lifted his spear into the air, then swung it in that direction, putting all his weight on one foot. The body of the wolf impaled on his spear hit the ground so hard with this movement that the ground shook for a moment. Cracks even appeared under its lifeless body, which instantly met its death.


    The next second, after looking at his body again... I stopped holding back.


    I jumped to my feet and ran toward him. I reached him just as his spear slipped through his fingers and fell to the ground, just as his knees gave way. I quickly put my arm around his shoulder, supporting him to stand.


    That''s how I felt how his whole body was actually shaking. The amount of blooding from his mouth and nose was so much that it was like a faucet that hadn''t been turned offpletely.


    Adrian could only mumble one thing in his half-consciousness.


    "W- wolves... will go... D- don''t worry..."


    Immediately after his words, he becamepletely unconscious. All his weight fell on me.


    Each of the wolves that surrounded us howled into the sky again, just as they had at the beginning of the duel. Then each of them disappeared into the darkness, into the night itself, as they hade.


    A few of them appeared in front of us and disappeared again, taking the body of the dead wolf with them.


    The crater filled with rocks... fell into absolute silence in just a second.

 Chapter 342 Volume V - 60: A Different Way to Get Stronger

    <h4>Chapter 342 Volume V - Chapter 60: A Different Way to Get Stronger </h4>


    ?What can I do?


    I thought about this question again, just as I have been doing since the moment I arrived in this dungeon.


    But... I hit the same wall again, there was nothing I could do.


    I looked at Adrian, his eyes closed, lying unconscious on the hard floor. It had barely been half an hour since the duel he had won and he hadn''t woken up yet.


    The events of the duel were still fresh in my mind. I had not only seen but directly felt how bad Adrian was, despite his pretense of being fine. And being aware of this made me feel even more helpless, powerless.


    So I fell back into my thoughts.


    If Adrian doesn''t wake up in the next hours, the wolves won''te for another duel. Yes, they take advantage of his weakened state, but they don''t try to attack him when he''s unconscious. That''s how Sue and I were able to survive two nights without him.


    He''d better not wake up, he mustn''t regain consciousness for the next eleven hours.


    But what if he wakes up? What if he opens his eyes before nightfall or in the middle of the night and the wolves are right there with us again? That''s what I''m afraid of.


    He said trust me, I know, but... if he keeps fighting every time he wakes up when it''s a miracle he''s still alive, he''ll never recover. He''s just... walking toward his own death at this point. The wolves will never wait for him to recover. It''s a miracle that we even had this opportunity in the first ce.


    But this miracle is not one without end.


    I narrowed my eyes, this time looking away as I tore them away from Adrian. Lost in my thoughts, I soon did something I hadn''t done in a long time, I opened my statistics window.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: Lucia


    Last Name: Quie


    Race: Human


    Age: 18


    --Statistics--


    General Level: D


    Strength: D-


    Agility: D+


    Vitality: D+


    Endurance: D


    Luck: C+


    Magic Power: D+


    Mana Efficiency: D


    Charm: S-


    --Masteries--


    [Swordsmanship(D+)] -- [Mana Expert(D)] -- [me Elementalist(D+)] -- [Quie Family Slender Swordsmanship(C-)]


    --Active Skills--


    [umted Speed(C)] -- [Mana Barrier(E)]


    --Passive Abilities--


    [Temperature Stabilization(B+)] -- [Initial Damage Protection(C)] -- [Regeneration(S-)]


    ------------------------------>>


    That''s all I have...


    I might be able to take out one of those wolves by taking advantage of Initial Damage Protection, but I can''t do much more than that with this skill. Although it has saved my life many times, its main purpose is torgely neutralize the initial damage I take. It gives me no advantage in subsequent attacks.


    Using my family''s swordsmanship, I might be able to take down one more wolf, even if barely. Two, maybe, if I''m really lucky... But that''s where my mastery ends. And... I will once again be defenseless in the midst of the dozens of wolves that will attack me.


    With a deep sigh, I closed the system window and turned my eyes to the sky. No matter how hard it was to ept, no matter how ufortable the situation made me feel... I just wished Adrian wouldn''t wake up for a while longer.


    I wanted him to at least get some rest. And the hours... began to pass quickly again.


    Sue and I were both very nervous, but we waited. We had no choice.


    Time just kept ticking away.


    Fortunately... Adrian didn''t wake up. And when night fell, the wolves did note to visit us, as if they were watching from afar. There were only asional echoing howls. They were hunting other creatures we had not yet had a chance to see. At the same time, they were protecting us in a way.


    Sue was so sleep deprived that she couldn''t help herself, and after a while, she involuntarily fell asleep. She didn''t have time to rest because she was busy with the food and checking on Adrian all the time. She was always busy with something. So I let her sleep quietly, I didn''t disturb her.


    But, on the contrary, I stayed awake all night, deliberately keeping my eyes open in case Adrian woke up. Sue had fallen asleep in the first hour of the night, so I had three hours ahead of me. Three hours in which I had to do nothing but wait.


    What can I do in these three hours except wait? I shouldn''t be idle, I should at least try something...


    I turned my eyes to the sky again, this time, not the lush green of before, but the dark sky, covered with stars and the blue glow of the river.


    I hesitated for a moment, just stood there for a few seconds, and then... I found something I could do.


    The mana awakened by the night was being drawn to my body, as it always is. And I was trying to protect it from myself, it was bing like a reflex at this point. I was doing this by directing the mana that was being drawn into my body inside myself. And also by creating a thin filteringyer just above my skin.


    So... what happens if I try to familiarize myself with this even more? Awakened mana, I mean. Can''t I use my charm statistic to my advantage instead of just trying to protect myself from it? The constant redirection of the mana that is gradually being drawn to me is already training in itself... but what if I take it a step further?


    I closed my eyes, focused.


    I could feel a great deal of the mana around me. The mana that had been awakened from its dormant state by force was quite fierce. It was also... pure. And because my charm statistic was extremely high, every particle of mana that reached close to me was drawn to me.


    The first thing I did with this knowledge was to slowly begin to remove theyer that surrounded my body and acted as a filter.


    As soon as one of the barriers between me and the awakened mana began to lift slightly, I felt its effect. My body trembled, I felt the wild mana seeping into me.


    But I didn''t stop. After a while, I stopped further thinning the filter that wrapped around my skin and tried to control the mana that was constantly entering my body.


    I first tried to incorporate it into my own mana flow, but... it was much more difficult than I thought.


    The minimal amount of mana that I couldn''t filter was easy to control, yes, and that''s how I had survived until this moment, but the amount of awakened mana entering my body was too much. On top of that, I didn''t have a mana heart and veins, so there was no regr flow in my body from the beginning.


    Still, I didn''t give up. I used the mana that was mine, I incorporated it into the awakened mana. It was already drawn to me because of my unnatural charm, it literally wanted to be under my... control.


    The trembling in my body intensified. I felt a warmth in my nose, it wasn''t hard to guess that it was bleeding. But I didn''t care.


    Little by little, step by step, I imagined all the mana that was entering my body as a helper that woulde into my being, rather than as a foreign thing that would harm me. What it wanted was me, or my charm stat... That''s why I stopped resisting it. On the contrary, I helped it.


    Because I was constantly protecting myself from external mana, my mana reserves were depleted every night. So, for a long time, I hadn''t been able to replenish my mana reservespletely.


    But now with what I did... I began to regain the lost mana at a much greater rate. The trembling in my body subsided slightly, but it didn''t disappear. The slight pain was still there. I was still doing something that didn''t make much sense.


    But I didn''t stop, on the contrary, I did even more.


    The awakened mana would soon fill my reserves. And when it did, it would begin to overflow from my body.


    And I began to channel it before my reserves were full. Over and over and over, never stopping. I put it into my body, into my muscles. Again and again, I strengthened my body, while doing different things with the remaining awakened mana.


    With some of it, I tried to make the flow in my body more bnced, with some of it I used skills for no reason, with some of it... I simply let it out of my body because it was simply too much.


    Afort I hadn''t felt in a long time enveloped my body.


    Yes, I was in pain now. Yes, my body was shaking all the time. I was doing something that was actually harmful to me, something I shouldn''t be doing...


    But I was also getting stronger. My body, which had been weak all the time, which hadn''t been in its normal shape for days, was slowly regaining its strength.


    On top of that... it was changing. I could feel a difference. Mana was being drawn to me even more.


    If I continued... maybe I could not only regain my strength but even go beyond it.


    And that was what I wanted, that was what I desired.


    So... I kept going without thinking about what was happening, over and over.


    It didn''t take long for my sense of time to disappear. I literally lost myself in this huge atmospheric mana.


    What made me stop after a long time of ''training'' was not really that my body started to copse or that I realized I was close to death. Rather... it was that the awakened mana that had allowed me to do such training in the first ce began to disappear.


    My sense of time and senses quickly returned as I felt the gentle breeze on my face.


    When I opened my eyes... the night was ending. The darkness in the sky was slowly being reced by dots of green, and the glow of the river was receding.


    But more importantly... there was a notification in front of me. A notification I hated every time I saw it, a notification I never wanted to see again. And that''s how I understood the reason for the change I felt in my body.


    <<----------------------------


    Congrattions! Your Charm statistic has risen to S grade!


    ---------------------------->>

 Chapter 343 Volume V - 61: A Miraculaus Way to Survive

    <h4>Chapter 343 Volume V - Chapter 61: A Miracus Way to Survive </h4>


    ?I just stared at the notification in front of me. I couldn''t think of anything, I just stared at it.


    After a while... my lips involuntarily curled upward. My eye twitched slightly and I tried hard not tough.


    If this had happened before, I would have gotten angry and begged the stat to stop rising all the time. Now that I knew I would have even more problems, I would have hated it even more, isted myself even more.


    Not that I didn''t feel them, of course. I would have preferred my other stats to go up. Charm was still thest thing I wanted to rise up.


    But... it wasn''t actually such a bad thing. Especially here, in this very dungeon.


    Because the new way I found to get stronger didn''t just raise the charm statistic, it also strengthened my body. And in doing so, it was benefiting from the effect of the charm in the first ce. And a higher statistic meant I could do it more effectively.


    In fact, now that I will have a stronger connection with mana, my efficiency and the purity of the mana I can use will also increase.


    I took a deep breath in and out as I turned my eyes to the green sky. I took off my mask. Even if only for a short time, I wanted the wind to blow directly on my face, even though it didn''t make much difference.


    I smiled and stayed like that for a while.


    This dungeon... is a first for me for many things. I never thought in my whole life that I would be happy that my charm stat had risen up. And that I would feel powerless, useless like this.


    I kept smiling as I looked at the point where the mountain range met the green sky. Then... a single thought crossed my mind.


    We... I hope we can survive. I want that now even more than before.


    My eyes involuntarily shifted to Adrian, who was sleeping on the hard and cold ground. I saw that his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, his muscles were contracted, as if... in pain.


    The smile on my face dropped slightly.


    What am I going to do about it, then?


    Should I really trust him, or should I just... watch, knowing that he''s killing himself step by step?


    Can''t we just run away now that it''s morning and look for a new hiding ce? We spent the first night, all three of us, sleeping in the pit of that cave, and neither of the creatures did find us.


    Wouldn''t it be better if we could find something like that again and wait for Adrian to really recover?


    I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and thought about a lot of things. I went through every single thing that could be done in this situation.


    But then I realized... there wasn''t.


    It was literally impossible to get out of this in unless we found a ce that could truly hide us from the wolves. That''s why I chose to trust Adrian in the first ce. I knew that was the case in the very beginning.


    Adrian had so much confidence in himself that I believed his n had the best chance of sess. But now... nothing had changed. The moment we decided to leave, our chances of survival were lower than ever.


    Because we had to ''find'' a shelter. The three of us didn''t have earth magic, which is a necessity in normal dungeon teams for this very reason. We couldn''t create our own shelter, and on top of that, unless we got rid of the wolves or Adrian was fully recovered, it was absurd to even consider other possibilities.


    And that means... I had to trust him again. I had to watch him walk to his death on purpose again. Again... I could do nothing but hide behind him while hoping that he won''t die.


    My eyes squinted, my face twitched.


    I don''t want to be in a situation like this again, to see a friend of miney down his life so that we can survive... I don''t want that.


    So... I have to start taking this ''getting stronger'' thing seriously while I have a chance. I have to start living up to the name Lucia Quie, the genius that everyone talks about as ''one of the most talented children of her generation''.


    *******


    My eyes widened, dazzled by the bright green of the sky.


    But it didn''tst long. I got used to the light quickly. What I couldn''t get used to was... suddenly my whole body contracted violently. I ached everywhere, this time... really badly.


    I didn''t moan though, I didn''t make any noise, I just... looked silently at the sky, trying to ignore my body that felt like it was going to fall apart.


    I wasn''t very good at it, though. It really hurt. Just waking up, just standing where I was, made my limbs feel like they were going to fall off. But I kept quiet, even though I couldn''t ignore the pain.


    Trust me, I told Lucia. But... I didn''t think my body would rebound so violently. My body had taken more damage than I thought. And so, I realized a truth again.


    I... if I continue, I''m really going to die. At best, I''ll be crippled, which also means dying in this dungeon.


    If I have five or six hours, maybe I can fight tonight. But even if I win... my body may never recover.


    No, not maybe. It simply won''t be able to recover again. With my body the way it is, even if I finish the duel in one move again, there is simply no chance that I will survive afterward.


    The only reason I survived the night before is because the wolves have only one duel each night. Only one duel, they don''t directly allow more.


    But this rule they have set among themselves will not save me again.


    I have to find a way to heal, notpletely, just a little bit. I just have to find a way to heal even if slightly.


    But we don''t have any potions. I can''t use Guardian Radiance either because I can''t use mana directly. And I don''t think there is a way to use Lucia''s passive¡­ probably regeneration skill on others.


    A smile appeared on my face. Not one of excitement or happiness, but the opposite...


    My hand is really empty, isn''t it? Lithoa still hasn''t shown up too. I... at this point, I''m just waiting for the moment when I die, helpless, unable to do anything.


    I wanted to clench my teeth, my fist, but my muscles contracted with such pain that for a moment I thought they would tear apart.


    After a short while, I closed my eyes and started to think again.


    Would the wolves understand if I pretended to be asleep? Or if I was really go to sleep and pretend to still hadn''t woken up from my unconsciousness...?


    I doubt they would understand... It''s not like they can track us in the daytime. They literally disappear from the face of the dungeon, they really ''hide''.


    That''s why all our problems would be solved if we could find a good shelter. But we can''t do that either. I can''t even stand up... If we want to move anywhere, I''m simply a burden. And without me, Lucia and Sue can''t survive here.


    There must be a way... there absolutely must be. From what Lithoa told me, the disk couldn''t have dragged me to a ce where I would die no matter what. There must be a way for me to survive, I just can''t find it.


    So... I kept thinking, for minutes, maybe even for more than an hour. Most of the time, I ended up back where I started, I wasn''t a very intelligent person, but I kept going, pushing the limits of my mind as far as I could.


    And after a while... I opened my eyes again. I looked up at the green sky again, this time with an involuntary smile on my face.


    There is a way. Maybe it won''t work out the way I thought it would, maybe I might even fail.


    But there really is something that can work. It''s just a possibility, but... I''m willing to cling to this tiny possibility when I have nothing else.


    At least I''m going to try.


    And so, the first thing I did was to call out to my mind.


    ''Lithoa, wake up. There''s something I need to ask you.''


    He just said ''don''t awake me''. But when it''s a matter of life and death... I don''t think he''ll say anything.


    I have simply no choice.


    ''Lithoa, I know you''re there, I know you told me not to call you, but I need your help, otherwise... I''ll simply die.''


    And after these words... Lithoa did indeed appear. With a voice in my mind, of course.


    ''So what, you can''t even survive fo-''


    He paused¡­ as if he had seen something wrong.


    ''You idiot... What the fuck did you do when I was trying to find a way for you to get out of the dungeon?!''


    His voice was really high, I could tell he was angry.


    But I didn''t care.


    ''I had no choice, I''m sorry. Let me tell you what happened first.''


    Even though he was extremely angry, he didn''t say anything. And so I told him what had happened from day one. It was short because I knew I didn''t have much time.


    And after I was done exining the situation¡­ he was even more angry than before.


    ''Well done, well done! What''s the miraculous thing that could get you out of this situation ''with a small chance'', huh?


    I answered quickly, without waiting a second.


    ''Ordea.''


    And after that answer... Lithoa fell silent as if he had forgotten all his anger in an instant.


    Five seconds passed, then some more...


    But eventually, he opened his mouth, which he had kept closed.


    ''So you can really make your brain work sometimes, huh?''


    A wide smile appeared on my face that I couldn''t hold back no matter how much it hurt. Because Lithoa''s reaction... showed that there really was hope.


    Maybe¡­ Maybe we really could get out of this situation alive.

 Chapter 344 Volume V - 62: The Energy of Order

    <h4>Chapter 344 Volume V - Chapter 62: The Energy of Order </h4>


    ?''I don''t know much about ordea or caora, but I''ve heard that caora is destructive and ordea is constructive. I''ve seen the effect of caora, and if ordea is the opposite, it could help me heal... right?


    Lithoa was silent for a while longer. But the silence did notst long.


    ''Ordea can indeed heal you to some extent. It won''t be as effective as you think, because you''ve never trained and you don''t know how to use ordea. So... you probably won''t be able to use even a twentieth of its actual power. But you are right, it''ll definitely help.''


    I would have smiled again when I heard that we really had a chance, but this time I didn''t bother.


    I didn''t have time.


    ''Then let''s make it fast, I don''t think we have much time, every second I can heal is important.''


    Lithoa sighed deeply in my mind.


    ''First of all, let me tell you, I don''t know how to use ordea either, it''s limited to a few things I''ve learned on my own. So a lot depends on you.''


    ''It''s not a problem, it''s enough to know that I have a chance. If I fail... then there was no way out of here in the first ce.''


    I had the feeling that Lithoa was smiling. But I didn''t focus too much on that, because, just like me, he knew we were in a hurry, and he went straight to telling me what I had to do.


    ''Close your eyes, try to discard your senses.''


    I did exactly what he said. I focused all my senses only on his voice echoing in my mind. And Lithoa continued.


    ''Ordea is an energy in the atmosphere, just like mana. But you cannot control it or draw it into your body like mana. You have to reach for it, and you have to do it with your desires. Focus on your desire to survive, to get your friends out of here. Think good thoughts all the time. Add your thoughts to your desires and feed the ordea with these feelings.''


    It was easy to say... but much more difficult to do. Lithoa knew this too, so he exined everything in detail.


    ''You have used ordea before, even if notpletely. You remember the pale blue glow around your body, right? Think about the things you think about in these moments. Ask for help, beg if necessary. Put your pride asidepletely. Ordea is a conscious energy, even a primitive one, so you have to make it respond to you.''


    I thought good thoughts, just like he told me. I imagined happy moments with my family, I filled my mind with them. I remembered the days when I met Aiden, when I hung out with Julian. I went over and over every single moment I spent with my friends.


    I felt a tiny little warmth filling me, but I didn''t stop, I didn''t lose focus.


    I channeled this warmth, this good feeling, the happiness that my good memories brought with them... or rather, I tried to channel it.


    I imagined the blue-colored energy circting in the atmosphere, the one responsible for the order of the universe. It was hard to imagine something I couldn''t see, something I had never felt in my life. But still, I tried.


    I offered all the warmth, all the good feelings... everything I had umted inside me to this imaginary energy, as if I were making a sacrifice to a... god. I begged in my mind as if in prayer. As Lithoa said... I didn''t care about my pride.


    I focused on what I wanted most right now. To survive, to keep my friends alive... to get out of here. To keep moving forward. And at the same time... to find something that could heal Aiden, whatever that might be.


    That tiny, small warmth I felt inside me kept growing. But it was slow, so small and ineffective that it could easily be ignored.


    I gritted my teeth, focusing even harder. Even this small movement caused all my muscles to spasm with pain, a sharp ache spreading through my limbs. But I kept going.


    I begged, wished, and desired. I offered every one of my good feelings, not leaving a single one for myself.


    ''Please...''


    But... there was no answer.


    Still, I didn''t stop.


    ''You helped me in my worst moments ever. Even if it was faint, even if the effect was hard to feel... you did it. If you chose me of your own free will, as Professor Calvin said, please help me one more time.''


    I lost touch with the outside world. The gentle breezes of the wind I could feel slowly disappeared, the feeling of warmth vanished. The only thing that remained... was the pain my body was suffering.


    ''Please. I... I beg... I don''t want to die, I don''t want my friends to die because of me, I don''t want to... fail again... so... please...''


    But... nothing happened. There was nothing except the presence of that warmth growing inside me.


    Still, I didn''t give up.


    So what if there was a chance that my pleas would go unanswered? So what if there was a chance that we might actually die here?


    What I clung to in the beginning was just a tiny hope, just... myst struggles, so I didn''t care about anything. Pride, pain, or more... I''m ready to give everything.


    ''If you can really hear me, if you really have a consciousness, if you really are the provider of ''order'' and its energy... if you really chose me... answer me.''


    I waited for a while, I felt that even the sensation of pain in my body began to disappear. I was literally cut off from the world.


    The only thing I knew existed was myself, the situation I was in... and what I had to do. And that little warmth inside me.


    Lithoa said I had to convince it, right? I had to make it answer me...


    Ah, I... I guess I understand something. The things I''m doing... they are not enough.


    It''s just like a child, then. No, not like a child... like a selfish but blind person.


    If I want it to help me, if I want it to respond to my desires... I have to offer something more. I have to offer something that will satisfy it, that will make it want to help me.


    Not just my desires, not just the good feelings I have... I need something else. Something to encourage ordea to help me.


    ''Respond to me, and I will show you what I can do. I''ll show you how I can help in the name of the order you are trying to protect. Just grant me this wish, heal me a little... and see how much desire I have. And then... decide. Is this person you have chosen worthy of your help or not?''


    I didn''t stop, after preparing myself briefly and focusing onest time on that warmth inside me... I made a bet.


    ''If I fail, don''t reach out to me again. But if I seed... then never leave my side. How''s that? Do you want to... make a bet with me?''


    And... it finally worked. Ordea actually responded to me. It... epted the bet.


    The warmth inside me suddenly grew so great that I didn''t know what was happening. The pain in my body was returning, I could feel the wind and the heat again, and my eyes opened slowly of their own ord.


    Aforting feeling enveloped my body, and then... the world turned slightly blue. It was as if I was looking through blue-


    colored sses. But it was still pale, not too intense.


    I saw the pale blue surrounding me, then slowly bing brighter and brighter. The warmth that spread through my body... was suddenly drawn to this blue. It was absorbed by it. 19:56


    But it didn''t disappearpletely. Because... it was slowly reced by another warmth.


    I felt the pain diminish in my body. As the world turned bluer and bluer, an involuntary smile appeared on my face, and I just looked up at the sky. But it was not the sky that was my target. Rather, it was something that coexisted with it but... something I couldn''t see.


    ''Thank you.''


    I said it sincerely, really gratefully. And with that, theforting blue that enveloped my body became even more intense, even more warm.


    "H- ha? Adrian?"


    I heard Sue''s voice for a moment, then I heard her approaching me.


    "Don''t get too close, Sue. I think... something good is happening."


    Lucia must have stopped her because her footsteps stopped, but the concern in her voice was not gone.


    "What do you mean ''I think''?"


    Lucia sighed slightly at Sue''s question.


    "It''s happened before. Although... it was quite a pale color then. So don''t worry. Trust me, didn''t he say? He must be doing something like this consciously."


    I really wanted to listen to what they were saying, but after a while, I shifted my focus away from them, to theforting feeling around me and... the ordea.


    I could feel it much more clearly than on previous asions. It was a bit like mana, but also much different.


    Mana was an attributeless energy, so it was just as strange to feel it. It was like seeing something without color, smelling something without smell. But ordea... it was different.


    Ordea filled me with peace. Just feeling its presence made me feel as if I was getting stronger. It was everywhere, there was literally not a single spot where it was not present. It was also very organized, instead of flowing in random ces like mana.


    It was also... ''constructive'' just like I had heard so many times. Because I could feel myself getting better. Certainly not as fast as I expected. At this rate, it would take me about... two hours to fully recover. It was clear that I still couldn''t use the ordea fully just like Lithoa had said.


    But I didn''t need a full recovery. I just needed to be able to stand up, I didn''t need anything more. Once I was healed to that point, I could continue to heal gradually.


    And so, time continued to pass slowly.


    All my focus was on ordea, trying to perceive how it worked, the differences and simrities with mana, and at the same time... I was healing. Slowly, maybe, but steadily.


    After half an hour, for example... I was back to the way I was before the previous duel. Fifteen minutes after that, it took less pain and energy to move my body. And another fifteen minutes after that...


    My eyes, which I had kept closed, opened again. My lips curled upward as I gazed again at the lush green sky.


    I slowly stood up from the floor, well aware of the pain I had suffered before and actually expecting it.


    But I had no such difficulty. First, I lifted my upper back, then I tried to stand up with the support of my hands. And I seeded.


    The world was still bluish, my body was still covered in a blue glow. Lucia and Sue were looking at me, a little worried, a little curious, but also with an expression as if they could jump in at any moment to help me.


    But... it didn''t matter.


    I was able to stand up, my muscles felt like a part of me again, rather than separate parts trying to force themselves to fit in.


    I had recovered a bit, my body was where I wanted it to be.


    On top of that... at this very moment, a difference began to happen in the dungeon.


    The ground trembled before ordea had left me, and a dark spot appeared among the green lights in the sky. The river in the distance shimmered violently, as it had always done since the moment we arrived here.


    The night was falling again.

 Chapter 345 Volume V - 63: Brutal Victory

    <h4>Chapter 345 Volume V - Chapter 63: Brutal Victory </h4>


    ?I just took a deep breath as the dungeon slowly began to change. Then I calmly turned toward Lucia and Sue.


    "A- Adrian? You''re... okay, right?"


    I just smiled. I raised my arm in the air, clenched my fist a few times, and let it go.


    "I''m fine, for now."


    That wasn''t enough, of course. I could see the worry in her eyes, but also the curiosity.


    "Let''s get through tonight first. We can save the talking forter."


    Sue opened her mouth again, but this time it was Lucia who stopped her. When she put her hand on his shoulder, Sue reflexively turned to her, and so did I. But while Sue was busy listening to what he was telling her, I... for apletely different reason... couldn''t take my eyes off him for a while.


    She was the same, I wouldn''t say her looks had changed since thest time I saw her, but... she was also strangely different. She was more noticeable, more beautiful even. She had gone through a much bigger change than the one I had always felt.


    But then... the howling of wolves echoed. My eyes, which I had been unable to tear away from her, suddenly flickered, as if the things holding them in ce had disappeared.


    I didn''t even look at Lucia again, I didn''t want to fall for her charms again. Instead, I focused on what had gotten me out of this situation in the first ce: the howls.


    The glow of the river took its ce in the sky, thest green dot in the sky faded. Then... the howling of the wolves suddenly intensified.


    Red dots appeared far away, near, everywhere. They formed a circle around me, just like the night before. But this time, they were different. Before, they always looked at me with a calm, cold expression. I didn''t even think they had feelings. This time... they were strange. They were hesitant, as if... as if they wanted to stay away from me.


    A smile appeared on my face.


    Ipletely ignored my mana, I didn''t even care about my skills. I just reached out to ordea, which still hadn''t left my body, and gently asked it to strengthen me, just as I had just done.


    The ordea that was constantly trying to heal me rippled and was absorbed into my body. Then... I felt my muscles fill with a strength I had never felt before.


    No, I was definitely not in my strongest form. In fact, if I had used mana, I would have gotten even more strength than I do now, but... the strengthening that the ordea provided was very different from that provided by mana. It seemed to strengthen so many more things than that. Not just speed and strength and stamina, but other things as well.


    But I couldn''t use mana even if it would help me more than ordea in my current situation, because I had a bet to prove my worth. And to do that... I had to show what I could do.


    I didn''t even bother to take out my spear, I simply stepped forward. The wolves that surrounded me stepped back nervously for a moment. Even though I was weaker than before, ordea strangely frightened them. And I had noints.


    "Which one of you will face me?"


    I asked sarcastically, deliberately provoking them. But they didn''t react much to it. They just... simply opened a space in front of me, a path for the wolf that was going to face me. And so, I saw my opponent for tonight.


    The wolf that would be my opponent this time... was different. It was not normal like the wolf I had facedst time, but rather... it was just like the leader I had killed the first time. It was bigger than the other wolves, its eyes were sharper. Its fur... I don''t know how it was possible, but it was darker than it should have been. Its teeth and ws reflected the light slightly as if they were metal.


    They are determined to kill me this time, huh...?


    I widened my smile, threw my left foot slightly behind me, raised my fists, and pointed them at the wolf in front of me.


    "I ept the duel."


    Each of the wolves raised its head to the sky, howling at the same time. The wolf that was my opponent stretched, growling as it bared its teeth at me. Its red eyes were all on me.


    When the wolves stopped howling... the duel began.


    The wolf suddenly disappeared, it had used its camouge. But instead of blindly attacking me like the previous wolf... it was really hiding this time. It really concealed its presence. On top of that, I didn''t want to use mana, so it was hard for me to understand where it was.


    But I still didn''t need mana. Because even if I still couldn''t use ordea fully, there was one thing it did better than mana. And that was, interestingly, to enhance my senses.


    Everything was so much clearer than before, sounds and smells... everything was so much sharper and understandable. The warmth, the gentle breeze that was hard to even feel... it was like it was right in front of my eyes.


    And a certain extra that was constantly circling around me.


    I decided to make my move before they let the wolf attack. My opponent was one of the best wolves of them all, so if I could overwhelmingly defeat this one too... then they would be even more afraid of me.


    There was also a primal energy I had to satisfy.


    The wolf, whose presence I could barely feel, was surprised to see me lunging toward it, despite the camouge it was still actively using, and stopped in its tracks for a moment. But it reacted quickly to my attack.


    Its camouge quickly broke down as if it realized that it would be useless against me. Then, instead of trying to defend itself, it attacked me. Its teeth aimed to bite through my fist, which I swung at it, and its ws aimed at my chest.


    If I had been using mana, I would have been able to see its movements much more clearly, but the wolf was by no means slow. On the contrary, it was quite fast, even faster than the previous leader I had killed. But... not so fast that I couldn''t follow it. On top of that, its attack had a force that was inferior to that of the previous leader.


    I want to defeat it, I thought. I want to crush this wolf into the ground, I thought again. I directed my desires ordingly, and in doing so... I fed the energy coursing through my body with positive emotions. The belief that I could get out of here, the hope that followed that belief, the things I wanted to do when I returned... and so much more.


    Ordea spun through my body faster and faster, shining brighter and brighter. For a moment, it felt as if its effect had strengthened, as if... I could use it more easily.


    At the same time, my body was suddenly more peaceful than ever, I was rxed. I was aware that the wounds were still there, but the peace in my body was so overwhelming that it almostpletely neutralized the pain.


    With the wolf''s red eyes on the fisting toward it and its teeth ready to tear it apart... I elerated explosively with the ordea. Instead of swinging my fist at the wolf, I pulled back, spun around so that I wouldn''t lose the momentum I had gained, then aimed directly at the wolf''s jaw with my elbow.


    I saw the wolf''s red eyes widen, it certainly didn''t expect me to move so fast, it was surprised. But it was not helpless, it was not panicked as if it could get out of this situation easily.


    And so it did. The wolf did not make a sudden turn, did not stop itself, or turn back. On the contrary... its whole body rippled in an instant. Its fur, its eyes, its body... everything disappeared 19:57


    into the darkness of the night as if its physical form was leaving an instant. Its fur, its eyes, its body... everything disappeared into the darkness of the night as if its physical form was leaving the world. My elbow to its chin hit the empty space. Then there was another ripple just behind me.


    I nted my feet on the ground as hard as I could, jumped up quickly, didn''t even wait a second.


    I saw the wolf''s head taking physical form again, and its fangs that looked like they would have torn my shoulder apart if I hadn''t jumped up.


    As soon as the wolf realized I was in the air, it lunged toward me again. It knew I couldn''t move, it obviously thought it was a mistake that I had jumped into the air.


    But I didn''t care. I simply ced my arms in front of me, defending myself, and that''s when the wolf''s fangs touched my arms. First, I felt the saliva that was all over its mouth, then the tip of its fangs. The next second... its fangs were in my arm.


    It closed its jaws so violently that it could have literally torn my arm off. Even the peace I could feel in every part of my body was not enough to drown out the pain this time. It genuinely hurt. Still, ordea managed to hold my arm together.


    I tried to lift my knee and put it through the wolf''s belly, but the wolf, as if it had known this was going to happen, just let go of my arm and disappeared back into the darkness. At least... he tried to do so.


    My lips curled upward as its body started to turn into smoke again, and Ipletely ignored the pain in my arm.


    I reached for the ordea that enveloped my whole body, then... I asked it to stop strengthening me.


    This time, the ordea responded quickly to my desires. The ordea that had always supported, healed, and strengthened my body slowly left me. All the suppressed pain returned. For a moment, I felt as if my muscles would spontaneously contract.


    But I resisted, because there was a reason why I separated the ordea from myself.


    Ordea was the energy of order. It was constructive and healing. And it didn''t have the limitation that I could only use it on myself. So... I didn''t need to use it only on myself.


    Ordea left my body as I asked it to do, and moved toward the wolf who was trying to disappear into the darkness. And then... it surrounded him in an instant.


    As the energy that controls order, what I wanted from it was to drag the wolf, whose presence, whose body had be disorganized, back into the physical world. It could heal anything, rebuild anything. Why couldn''t it do the same with the wolf?


    And... it did.


    The wolf''s body suddenly appeared in the air. It waspletely exposed, with dark dust and smoke billowing from its fur. It was not where it had expected to find itself. It had been forced back into the physical world. And this was my opportunity.


    Ignoring the wolf''s surprise, I didn''t even give it a chance to think. Quickly pulling the ordea back into my body, I grabbed the wolf''s tail, then swung its body hard as if I were shaking a sandbag on the ground, not caring how much force I applied to it.


    The wolf''s bodynded so hard on the ground that the rocks trembled and there was even a slight shock and a wave of dust. The groaning sound it made reflected its pain to the fullest.


    But I did not stop.


    I gripped the wolf''s tail tightly, lifted it up into the air again... and this time I swung its body to the other side. And then the other way again, and again.


    Every time I swung the wolf to the ground, a trail of blood appeared on the rocks. It was literally beaten to a pulp, the sounds it made diminishing with each swing of its body.


    But I didn''t care.


    I spun it around twice, then, maintaining my momentum, I used all the strength my body and the ordea allowed me.


    The wolf''s bodynded once more on the rocks, but this time... it didn''t stay in one piece. Its tail was torn from its body. It had hit the ground so hard that several parts of its body had exploded from the inside. Blood watered the rocks, traveling deeper into the crater. Several of its organs were exposed, and one of its eyes had popped out of its socket.


    I only had one wound. My arm, which I had let the wolf bite. It was slightly bruised around the teeth marks, probably getting infected as I looked at it. Blood kept dripping from between my fingers onto the floor.


    I squinted and looked around,pletely ignoring the wolf on the floor,pletely beaten to a pulp. I studied the other wolves.


    Unlike the previous time, they were not howling to signal my victory. They were all staring at the lifeless body of my opponent, shocked.


    When they realized I was looking at them, they all stepped back in fear. They were much more nervous now, genuinely afraid of me. The red eyes that used to look at me fearlessly now... had lost their sparkle.


    But they didn''t stay like that forever. Soon, each of them raised their heads to the sky once more. They howled half-heartedly, though not as loudly as before. Then, one by one, they disappeared into the darkness. Taking the body of my beaten opponent with them, of course.

 Chapter 346 Volume V - 64: The Ticket Out of The Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 346 Volume V - Chapter 64: The Ticket Out of The Dungeon </h4>


    ?I stared after the disappearing wolves, unable to stop my lips from curling upward once again.


    I had managed to defeat my opponent unscathed. I had also found a way to heal myself. That aside... Now I had a much better grasp of what ordea was really like.


    If I could learn to use it properly and fully, it would be a much greater help to me than mana. Before, I had a hard time perceiving how effective it was, but now... it was different. I had seeded, and it was all thanks to it.


    I turned to the sky, and without lowering my smile, I spoke mentally into the empty space.


    ''Are you satisfied?''


    I didn''t use mana, I just literally overwhelmed my opponent with ordea. I must have won the bet, right?


    I felt the blue glow around me ripple for a moment, then, contrary to my thoughts, slowly fade.


    I frowned involuntarily as ordea began to leave my body again. I didn''t get any response, whether it was a sign, a sound, or a movement.


    Soon, the world returned to its original colors and thest blue glow surrounding my body disappeared.


    The pain was back, my body was notpletely healed after all. But I was in much, much better shape now than I had been a few hours ago. It wasn''t something I could ignore.


    Still, I had other concerns and questions than my body.


    Was ordea satisfied or not? Did I win the bet or lose...? How will I know which is the answer?


    If I lost the bet, I shouldn''t be able to use ordea again, at least not if it is really as conscious as they say it is. So... when I want to use ordea, I guess I''ll get the answer to my question, but why doesn''t it give even a small sign?


    Is it because it has a primitive consciousness?


    I finally took a deep breath and simply let myself fall to the ground. There was someone I could get answers from after all.


    ''Lith-''


    But before I could finish the word in my mind, I paused at the gentle, beautiful voice echoing in my ears. A figure appeared in front of most of my thoughts.


    "Adrian...?"


    Oh... it wasn''t just the air around her that had changed. Even her voice sounds more... beautiful and delicate.


    Now... should I look at her or not?


    It''s not hard to restrain myself. Not for people passing by on the street anyway... Even though charm is indeed a mesmerizing, almost hypnotic statistic, as long as you keep your consciousness clear and your logic intact, you don''t do stupid things. What happens is usually because people stop controlling themselves.


    What I don''t want to do is that when she sees that I''m hesitant of her, I''ll inadvertently make her feel ufortable. I don''t want her to feel bad when she''s already in a bad situation.


    But it will be worse if I don''t answer her question...


    "Are you okay? There''s nothing wrong with your body, right?"


    I finally sighed again, pushed my thoughts aside, and turned my eyes toward her.


    "I''m fine, I guess. Besides... didn''t I tell you to trust me? What''s the rush?"


    I put a smile on my face, speaking sarcastically on purpose. I wanted to show that I was good enough to talk like that, but when the reaction I got was a smile... I couldn''t help feeling as if the world had frozen for a moment.


    Just imagining her smiling face, despite the mask on her face, made me lose my focus for a moment.


    "Good, and what makes you think I don''t trust you? I''m still standing here because I trust you."


    "Y- Yeah..."


    When I looked away from her, even briefly, a silence fell over us both. Then, when I turned back to her again, there was concern in her eyes. Sue was right behind her.


    "You''re not fully recovered."


    Huh? Oh, did she think I was momentarily hurt? That... that actually works for me.


    "Yes, I''m notpletely healed, but I''m sure I can take down almost all the wolves one-on-one even if I use mana now. A little strain on my body won''t hurt me any more. It''s just... I won''t be able to fight at full strength, that''s all. I need more time."


    I hesitated for a moment, then sighed lightly and turned around. Right toward the mountain range. The shimmer of the long river in the sky was hitting the slopes of the mountains. It was a beautiful sight.


    "But now, we can move again. We''re not in danger during the day, and we won''t be in danger at night as long as I continue to beat the wolves. So as long as we take a break every few hours, we can start moving forward."


    Sue''s eyes shifted slightly to the distant mountains. To be honest... she didn''t seem to want to go there. But the hope in her eyes had be a little clearer. It was clear she wanted to get out of this dungeon.


    "I think it would be better if we rested for one more day."


    But Lucia quickly interjected and our focus shifted back to her again. She continued.


    "It would be better for you to fully recover before we move, Adrian. Just because we have only encountered wolves so far doesn''t mean they are the only ones here. Our target, the mountains... they are far away. I doubt the wolves will follow us there. The protection we have is not absolute."


    But this time, instead of trusting her words, I had different thoughts. And Lucia noticed it too. Her blood-red eyes met mine as she squinted slightly.


    "Then let''s go to the point where the wolves can''t follow us and if I''m still not recovered when we reach that point, we can rest. We don''t know how differently time works here and on Lunerra, Lucia. Even though we''ve spent a few days here, it could be weeks out there. I don''t want to slow down even more when we can finally have a chance to move forward."


    "You sound like you''re in a hurry¡­ I think it''s more important to make sure we survive."


    I continued, nodding my head in agreement.


    "I''m in a hurry, we''re all in a hurry. But it''s not a rush to throw away our chances of survival. As I said, we can only go so far before the wolves can''t follow us. That''s what I''m thinking."


    We both looked at each other for a while. No words were spoken, a deep silence fell. In the end, it wasn''t either of us who broke the silence, but Sue.


    "Doesn''t what Adrian said make more sense¡­?"


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    Both Lucia and I quickly turned to her. Sue continued.


    "Lucia''s idea is safer, of course, and I think it actually makes more sense. But¡­ I also think we need to move forward. If Adrian is really sure that he''s going to win every duel with the wolves, aren''t we safe as long as we don''t leave their territory? They even bring us food from time to time¡­"


    In the end, all Lucia could do was let out a deep sigh. She looked around for a while without looking at either of us. As if she was looking for wolves or other creatures. But then she turned her eyes to the mountains.


    "If you both want it that way¡­ there''s nothing I can do."


    I thought she was a bit angry by the tone and gesture of her words. She definitely wanted to follow a guaranteed n. But then she closed her eyes, turned back to me and¡­ smiled slightly.


    "I''ll trust you again, and if Sue trusts you the same way¡­ As long as you don''t break that trust, nothing else matters."


    For a moment, I felt locked in her blood-red eyes. I couldn''t say anything, I just lost focus for a single moment and¡­ I was literally hypnotized.


    I dug my fingernails into my palms. With the help of the pain, I finally tore my eyes away from hers and smiled.


    "Yes, yes¡­ Don''t worry."


    I swallowed in a way that no one notice. Lucia¡­ she was bing¡­ scary at this point. I had to be careful talking to her, looking at her, even listening to her.


    But I decided not to think too much about it, at least for now, because we had to survive and move forward first. So I stood up, stretched, ignoring the general aching in my body, and looked at the ce where we had been staying for a few days.


    We were finally leaving the crater full of rocks. I hadn''t consciously spent much time here like Lucia or Sue, but considering how long we had been here and what we had been through... it was a stepping stone of sorts.


    "So we''re off then, huh?"


    Lucia and Sue nodded quickly. They didn''t have a lot of stuff, but they started to do a final check of where we were resting so as not to leave anything behind. Meanwhile, I turned my back to them and simply called out to my mind.


    ''Lithoa. You''re there, aren''t you?''


    I had just been interrupted by Lucia when I called out to him, but that didn''t mean I had forgotten what I needed to ask him.


    ''I''m here.''


    There was no yawn, he also didn''t sound angry. Apparently, he was also waiting for me to call him.


    And so, I told him what had happened. My bet with ordea, that I wasn''t sure if I had satisfied it, and more. I was sure that if anyone coulde to an answer in this ce, it was him. But at the same time, I didn''t expect aplete answer.


    Because he himself had said that he didn''t know much about ordea. He was someone who could use the energy of neither order nor chaos in his life. As a matter of fact, his answer was what I expected to hear.


    ''I don''t know. Ordea and caora are primordial energies, their consciousness doesn''t work like a full consciousness Adrian. So I don''t have an answer for you. As you said yourself, the next time you test whether you can use ordea, you will probably get your answer.''


    He hesitated for a moment and I could only sigh, but then Lithoa continued, unexpectedly.


    ''But regardless of that... if you can keep using ordea, you can use it to defeat the dungeon boss. If you keep practicing and learn how to use it even half-assedly, then you will be able to make it stronger. That''s what I''ve been thinking for thest few hours.''


    Oh... so our ticket out of here could be ordea, huh?


    ''Got it. I''ll talk to you first thing at our next rest point. Then... we''ll see what we can do.''


    Lithoa didn''t say anything else. His presence slowly disappeared from my mind. Either he had gone to sleep or he was going to do something, but I didn''t pay much attention to him. When I turned around again, Lucia and Sue were ready.


    We were ready to move forward again, and so we would.

 Chapter 347 Volume V - 65: Slowly Forward

    <h4>Chapter 347 Volume V - Chapter 65: Slowly Forward </h4>


    ?After a couple of hours, we decided to take a break again. Even though we still had a long way to go to get out of the in, we had made much progress. I even thought we would take a break earlier. But there was also an important side to this break.


    The night was approaching again. We had almost two hours to go. And I... I wanted to concentrate on what could be our ticket out of here.


    The ce we chose to rest was nothing special. We simply copsed where we were. Lucia and Sue stood off to one side, while I sat cross-legged in a spot slightly away from them and closed my eyes.


    First, I called out to my mind.


    ''Lithoa, I''m going to try using ordea.''


    A being whose presence and absence in my mind were one and the same suddenly surfaced. An old voice I was used to hearing echoed.


    ''Go ahead, don''t pay much attention to me. I''ll just observe.''


    I nodded, thenpletely absorbed in what was in my mind.


    First, I slowed down my breathing, rhythmically regting it. Then I began to dull my senses. The howling of the wind, which I could only hear in fragments, slowly ceased, and the slight warmth against my skin began to fade.


    I didn''t do anything different from before, I was just... more concentrated this time. Again, I imagined good things, I offered them to the energy of the order called ordea, and then I asked for it gently.


    My body slowly began to warm up. A rxing feeling came over me. Then the world behind my eyelids simply turned slightly blue. Ordea was enveloping my body.


    I couldn''t help frowning slightly, because, despite the peace I felt, I couldn''t help being surprised.


    Thest time it had been quite a challenge... I had to make a im for it to even answer my simple wish. Why is it so... simple now?


    I focused on the ordea, the blue-colored energy. I had given my all to healing the previous time, so I hadn''t had a chance to examine this new power, this new energy that I was able to use. But it was different this time.


    And so the first thing I realized was that the ordea, as easy as it was to use, was a bit... weaker than before.


    Is that why I could reach it more easily this time? Or was it because I won the bet with it...? After all, I told it never to leave my side if I won the bet.


    Well, I think the answer is both...


    I quickly regained my focus and asked the ordea to slowly spread throughout my body, to start healing me, and theforting warmth and peace I could feel suddenly increased. The world behind my eyelids became bluer.


    As my body was slowly healing, step by step, I continued to study the ordea with great curiosity. For example, I focused on how it healed me. And what can I say...


    the energy of order... it really deserved its name.


    It wasn''t healing, what it was doing. I mean, from the outside, it looked like that indeed... but when I looked specifically at what it was doing, what I saw and felt was very different. Ordea... was literally reconstructing damaged areas.


    I recall that what is called ''healing'' is basically divided into three categories, or at least that''s how it''s supposed to be, as I remember from the academy.


    Simple healing works directly by abnormally increasing the rate at which cells regenerate. This causes the healed person to get hungry and tired more quickly. However, since it is based on simple cell regeneration, things like healing broken bones or regenerating severed limbs with this method are just dreams.


    In advanced healing, mana is involved rather than elerating cell regeneration. Mana is an energy that can mimic anything, and advanced healing techniques take advantage of this feature. With this method, broken bones can be healed, and wounds that would normally leave scars can be removed as if they never existed. But it is still not a cure for severed limbs.


    Thest category of healing is called straightforward Regeneration. In this method, cell regeneration ispletely irrelevant. Flesh, bone, blood... they are formed directly under the person''s own control. In this way, even severed limbs can be regenerated. But there are very few people who can heal at this level. Like the girl I met when I went to Lithoa''s family. Her name was... ire? The healing method she used was regeneration.


    But ordea... it''s something else. It doesn''t heal me. It''s like... it puts my body back into the form it was originally meant to be in. It''s not just copying my flesh and blood from existing ones, it''s... redesigning and rebuilding them from nothing.


    It makes my body conform to the order.


    And so, time continued to pass. And ordea continued to do its work, even though it felt much weaker than before. I studied it further, but this time, I found nothing different that interested me. It was simply... a mysterious energy.


    *******


    The green of the sky slowly gave way to darkness. As always, the ground trembled, the mana in the atmosphere slowly awakened.


    It was something I was getting used to. So I didn''t pay much attention, I did what I always do. I protected myself from the dizzying effect of the awakened mana and looked at the person sitting cross-legged not far from me.


    There was that blue glow around his body again. A glow that wasforting but at the same time... strange.


    Adrian''s eyes were closed, but it was clear that he was not asleep but wide awake. His features were sharp, not rxed. It was only as night began to fall after he had been standing still for almost two hours, that he finally stirred.


    First, his emerald green eyes, which he had kept closed, opened, and then he turned them up to the sky, which was giving way to darkness. Slowly rising from the floor, he finally took a deep breath and turned toward Sue and me. He moved his lips without giving us a chance to speak.


    "There''s nothing to worry about, I''m fine. I can fight. In fact... we don''t even have to be afraid of wolves anymore, I guess. Unless they choose to abandon their ''traditions'' and descend upon us, of course."


    Sue swallowed behind me, and I could only nod in agreement as I studied his body.


    It didn''t look any better than before, actually. If he really had found a way to heal himself, I could tell that he hadn''t noticeably recovered from the two hours he''d spent today just sitting cross-legged. But... he looked more rxed than he ever had before.


    So... he must be fine, right? If he''s really that confident... I hope he knows what he''s doing.


    I curled my lips up slightly and gave a thumbs up.


    "We trust you."


    Adrian smiled back, then his expression turned slightly serious and he took his eyes off us. The wolves started howling, one by one, at this very moment. Then they surrounded us as they had done on previous asions.


    I couldn''t help sighing deeply when I realized that I wasn''t as filled with fear as before, that I was looking at the wolves as if they were ordinary creatures.


    Adrian will win, I trust him, so when I think that the wolves won''t attack us... I seem to be gettingfortable with them.


    I closed my eyes, and let myself fall to the ground. Sue didn''t move, she just kept watching. Adrian started walking in front of the wolves. I could hear his footsteps.


    I didn''t care, instead, I slowly detached myself from the outside world, turning off my senses one by one. I continued to strengthen my body using the awakened mana as I had done for many nights, nothing different would happen today.


    Adrian will win, I will recover, I will support and strengthen myself with mana throughout the night, then the night will end and we will do what we have been doing. That''s how our days will go until we get out of this in... at least that''s what I imagine.


    And... that''s what happened.


    Adrian must have really recovered, because this time, he simply defeated the wolf he was facing. Then the wolves disappeared again into the darkness. I spent the first half of the night training, slept the other half, and when I woke up the next morning, we kept moving forward.


    Another day-night cycle ended as it was.


    And then another.


    And another one...


    Adrian kept tending to that blue, soothing energy he was just now able to use. I continued to heal, to get stronger, and Sue... as always, followed us. She took care of things like the food, and our general condition.


    Sue was definitely the one I thought about and worried about the most. But... she seemed to be okay for now. She was just doing her best to survive. It didn''t look like she had any serious problems yet. So I didn''t do much more than watch her.


    So... time just kept going.

 Chapter 348 Volume V - 66: Emotions Before Reason

    <h4>Chapter 348 Volume V - Chapter 66: Emotions Before Reason </h4>


    ?I read the report in front of me again, and then again. And then once more.


    In the silence that descended on my office, I moved my hand aside, and as it did, the holographic report slid to the side. My eyes slowly rose, looking up at the man standing across the office.


    "They just disappeared, is that so?"


    The man swallowed, seemed to avert his eyes for a moment, but was able to keep looking at me.


    "Y- yes, Ms. Mny..."


    I looked at his face for a while, into his eyes, and as he was sweating with nervousness with each passing second, I finally closed my eyes and took a deep breath.


    "You can leave."


    The man didn''t say anything. He just turned around, walked out of the office, and closed the door back. A deep silence fell over my office again.


    I leaned back in my chair, threw my head back, and as my eyes slowly opened, all I could see was the ceiling.


    "I... I can''t understand anything anymore."


    I brought the report in front of me again, and then I watched the videos of the incident.


    A maniac who could control the ''darkness''... a dome that covered the whole street and that no one could break no matter what... and then the destruction of this dome and the death of everyone in it except three people...


    One of those three is my own daughter, Lucia.


    I should be worried, shouldn''t I? I should be looking for her everywhere, worrying...


    No, it''s not that I''m not worried. It''s not like I haven''t been looking for her. After all, I ordered everyone working under me to stop what they were doing and look for her.


    So why... why do I feel so... so unresponsive? Am I bing numb? Or... do I not want to think about the thought of something happening to Lucia? Am I waiting for a miracle like with Aiden?


    "Haaaaaaaah..."


    Adrian and a girl named Olivia, two other people who disappeared along with my daughter. Why did these three just disappear instead of being found dead like all the other bodies? This... murderer... whatever his motive was, someone who deliberately left traces behind. If he really killed them, wouldn''t he have left their bodies too?


    Hah, look at what I''m desperately hoping for...


    I was jumping from one thought to another when suddenly apletely different screen appeared in front of me. There was a name on it, and underneath... a text that implied that someone was calling me.


    I quickly straightened myself up, trying to calm my inner feelings as I answered the call, but... I wasn''t having much sess.


    "Prince Lucas? What happened? Did you find a trace?"


    The prince sighed lightly. And the moment I heard that, all my anticipation and excitement quickly vanished.


    "Calm down. We found a trace, yes, but it''s not what you think it is."


    Oh, they actually found something!


    "I''m listening."


    "Aiden and I were attacked a few months ago, remember? We suspect the same person is behind this."


    He paused for a moment, then sighed again.


    "No... I''m sure of it. That dark dome is exactly the same as before. At least in look and feel. So the two events are the work of the same person. But other than that, we don''t know any details about his identity yet."


    That''s... useless?


    "Ms. Mny, don''t misunderstand. I know that one of the lives in question belongs to your own daughter, but... there is another issue here. And this is the most obvious difference between the two cases."


    I didn''t say anything, I just waited for him to continue. Maybe... maybe he could say something useful.


    "This man... has gotten stronger. He has a rate of development that would leave behind Adrian, Aiden, or Zayden, some of the highest potential people the kingdom has ever seen, let alone normal. The amount of mana that dome radiates around it, the depth of the darkness, the way there is never any unnecessary release or absorption, as if everything is in perfect harmony... Not only that, but this man is most likely responsible for the unexined murders of recent months."


    I could imagine him clenching his fist on the other end of the call, his voice cracking slightly as he said thest sentence.


    "This man could be dangerous. No, every second we don''t find him makes him even more dangerous. At this rate of development, he could be one of the most powerful people in the kingdom in just a year or two. So... finding this man and killing him as quickly as possible is now a necessity for this kingdom."


    A brief silence fell over the room, and I couldn''t help squinting when I realized he had no intention of continuing.


    "So... you''re saying this is the man who caused my daughter''s disappearance?"


    The prince sighed deeply. The formality in his voice suddenly disappeared, and instead, he spoke to me directly.


    "What I am saying is that not only you are looking for this man, but the whole kingdom is now. I don''t think Adrian or Lucia, or the other girl, are dead. For them to disappear like this... it''s not like this man. This is a man who leaves the people he kills in the open like a joke. So don''t lose hope."


    I didn''t say anything, I just waited, and the Prince spoke again after a short time.


    "I will update you again if there are any further developments. For now..."


    He paused as if something had suddenly urred to him. But then he continued.


    "Don''t let your emotions get in the way of your reason."


    He hung up the call and the room fell silent again. Hisst words echoed in my mind.


    Don''t let your emotions get in the way of your reason, huh...?


    "Hah... Hahaha..."


    These... are the words I said to him a few months ago, aren''t they? The words I used to persuade him when we were dealing with the Malus Family.


    After calming down for a short while, I straightened up in my chair and pulled one of the screens I had pushed aside on my desk in front of me. There in front of me was a different and more detailed version of the report on the incident.


    I read it all over again, from start to finish, over and over. Minutes passed, and after a while, I lost track of time. Not even realizing how many times I had finished the report, I raised my eyes upwards. I just... stared at the wall.


    Finally... only two words coulde out of my lips.


    "Damn it..."


    Don''t let your emotions get in the way of your reason...


    I know, I know that too! But...


    My lips trembled, I clenched my teeth, and I looked up at the ceiling again, my whole body trembling slightly, and the wetness in my eyes.


    "Damn it!"


    *******


    "Terror in the streets of Wiathen!"


    ~click!


    "The unbelievable incident in Wiathen..."


    ~click!


    "The mysterious killer who may have killed over a hundred people!"


    ~click!


    "Haaaaa..."


    After turning off the TV, I threw the remote control aside. Darkness fell over me as the only source of light in the room disappeared. But... that wasn''t important.


    I let them get away from me. Three people who saw my face somehow got away from me.


    ''You failed, Revon... You failed...''


    It''s not certain that they survived... but what if they''re really alive and theye back? Then... my face will be known to everyone. It will be revealed that I''m the one whomitted the murders.


    I made a mistake, a big mistake.


    ''Mistake...''


    Sighing, I stood up. The darkness around me rippled for a moment, then settled again. I approached the only window of my room, pulled the curtains aside, and looked out. I could see cars passing by, people walking on the sidewalks. They were oblivious to everything.


    "Hmm..."


    I stood there for a moment watching the outside, thinking.


    Is it really important to know my identity?


    Actually... no. It''s not hard to hide my face, and I can dye my hair. It''s not hard to wear contact lenses. It''s not like I''ve been seen on any device, only three people can more or less describe my face.


    Besides... now that I think about it, wouldn''t that be more fun? The possibility of getting caught, having to hide...


    I''ve always hidden myself until now, never leaving any evidence of myself behind. I killed, I had fun, and I hid. There was no fear or tension. And now... they will look for me everywhere.


    ''Keep... killing...?''


    Ah, people will now be able to foresee what happens when they see me... The terror on their faces...


    Maybe letting my face be known isn''t as bad as I thought?


    Besides... I''m getting stronger and stronger. I''m constantly getting stronger. After a while, there won''t be anyone who can beat me, will there?


    I paused for a moment, my face soured.


    Wouldn''t that be... as boring as it would be fun? If there''s no one left to beat me... nothing would be fun. People lose hope, and when hope is gone... they be numb.


    I lowered my eyes slightly, and then a blue glow appeared in the nothingness. Then a floating window opened in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    --Per??n?l In?or?at??n--


    Nam?: R?von


    La?? N?me: Sc?l?s


    R?ce: Hu??n/Fa?


    A?e: 20


    --S??tis??c?--


    Ge??ra? Le?el: A-


    ?tr??gt?: A+


    Ag?l?ty: A-


    ?italit?: A-


    E??ur?nce: A-


    L?ck: B


    Ma??c Pow??: A+


    ?ana E??icie?cy: A+


    C??rm: A-


    --A??stle of D???ness--


    ???


    --A??ive Sk??ls--


    ???


    --?a?sive S?ill?--


    ???


    ------------------------------>>


    How long has it been since I reached A-? A couple of weeks? I feel like I''m already close to A... Once I get to S or beyond, the number of people I''ll be able to meet will be lower than ever. Then everything will be easier... Unnecessarily easy...


    ''We''re hungry... You''re hungry...''


    After a deep sigh, I let myself fall back into my seat.


    "Nothing will change. I can keep doing what I''m doing. But..."


    The image of the trio came back to me. One is an unnecessarily beautiful blonde girl, the other... an ordinary girl, and thest is a guy with silver hair and emerald-green eyes.


    How could I have made such a mistake? I''d better be more careful now. There is no room for more mistakes. I will make up for my mistake.


    I visualized the trio again. I memorized the way they looked, the way they called each other. The guy''s name... Adrian. The blonde''s name was Lucia. They didn''t say the other girl''s name, but I can find her somehow.


    Their names, hair color, eye color, height, who they were... I went over it all over and over in my mind and then sighed.


    If you show up again... I''ll find you. I''ll also find that duo that got away from me a few months ago. I''ll tie up my loose ends.


    The fact that someone can get away from me...


    "Annoying."

 Chapter 349 Volume V - 67: Fear and Respect of Wolves

    <h4>Chapter 349 Volume V - Chapter 67: Fear and Respect of Wolves</h4>


    ?The green radiance of the sky fell on my face, the gentle breezes of the in caressed my clothes gently. Everything was normal, there were hardly any creatures around... as usual.


    But there was another problem. And that was... it had already been quite a while since daytime had started.


    I stopped walking for a moment, checked my watch.


    As I had guessed... it is almost nightfall.


    "Lucia, we''ve been walking for almost two hours. It''s almost nightfall, let''s rest."


    I turned around with those words, but I didn''t look at the face of the person I was talking to. Instead, I looked at the person next to her, Sue. The reason for that was simple... Lucia didn''t have any masks left, so she no longer hid her face.


    Lucia and Sue paused at my words. Then Lucia checked her watch, then turned back to her front, and looked away. Finally, she sighed lightly.


    "We are very close to leaving the in. After resting... we will probably enter a new area."


    She was right. We were very close to our destination, the mountain range, and even the vegetation around us was beginning to change slightly. We would eventually leave this huge in that seemed to stretch on forever.


    But not today.


    *******


    We didn''t do anything extra to rest. We simply crouched where we were, waiting for the sky to go dark, and after about half an hour, it did. The sky, shimmering with a lush green glow, slowly gave way to darkness, and the glow of the river, which seemed to wind its way through almost the entire dungeon, rose into the sky.


    I stretched where I was, stood up, and waited for the wolves as I rxed and contracted my muscles slightly.


    It had been almost weeks since I entered this dungeon, and the wolves were still the same. Every night, they woulde, present me with an opponent, and then disappear. Lately, though, their previous stubbornness had begun to fade... not every wolf I encountered was the strongest of them all. Nor were they eager. It was like... they were getting tired of dealing with us.


    And it was scary as much as it seemed like a good thing. Because the only reason we were still alive was because of their ''tradition'' or ''culture'' or whatever it was. It was a miracle that they had been doing this for so long, and it was not a small possibility that they would suddenly throw away this ''duel'' and pounce on us.


    That''s why we had to get out of this dungeon as fast as we could. But... we were not strong enough to do that, so we had to move slowly. It was a gamble. We had won so far, but there was no guarantee that we would win again.


    Nevertheless, hope was not yet lost, and we did not stand idle during the days of steady progress. Lucia and I had both recovered, for example. Thanks to ordea, I felt even better than before. Even if mastering it was much more difficult than I thought it would be... at least I had managed to heal my body to a degree.


    Lucia, on the other hand... had gotten stronger as well as better. Every night, she would get into a meditative posture and draw in the mana around her.


    I didn''t understand exactly what she was doing, but every time she felt... stronger. She had found a way to empower herself and she was using it to the fullest.


    It wasn''t something weined about. But... it wasn''t something that ever gave us any problems. More specifically... to me.


    Lucia was not only getting stronger, she was getting prettier. The change may have been subtle, not so easy on the eyes... but it was there. It was impossible for me not to notice when we were together for so long. Especially when she could no longer wear a mask.


    I paused for a moment, sighed deeply, and shook my head from side to side.


    Look at what I''m thinking... Dammit, I don''t like this at all. We need to get out of here really fast.


    I took my spear out of my bracelet and held it in my hand, leaning on it I looked away, and then... suddenly... I realized something.


    My brow furrowed, my eyes squinted slightly. I was leaningfortably on my spear when suddenly I straightened up and looked up at the sky.


    Night had fallen, the sleeping mana had awakened. The dungeon was illuminated by the glow of the river, reminiscent of the auroras. But... the wolves still hadn''t appeared. They hadn''t even howled, let alone appeared.


    "Hey, can you see wolves anywhere?"


    Lucia and Sue turned to me at once, and then their expressions took a simr shape. Both of them approached me as they stood up and looked around. Lucia spoke first, then Sue.


    "No."


    "No..."


    I gripped my spear tightly, running through my mind the thoughts I had just seconds before.


    Did we... Did we lose the gamble in the end? Will they attack without caring about the duel? Or is there something else involved?


    I narrowed my eyes even more, transferred my mana to my eyes, and looked around, focusing only on my surroundings with all my senses. And... I saw.


    "Ah..."


    Lucia and Sue suddenly turned to me, but I ignored them. I just... looked at the darkness. And... the darkness that was not illuminated by the glow of the river rising into the sky... slowly moved.


    The wolves slowly emerged, moving from the shadows where they had been hiding into the light. Dozens, even hundreds... But this was different from the previous ones. There was no howling, no show of strength, no excitement of the hunt... just... walking.


    "W- what''s going on?"


    I heard Sue''s voice, followed by a swallow. But I couldn''t take my eyes off the wolves. I couldn''t open my mouth.


    Not all the wolves used toe out. There were always some hiding in the dark, always some out of sight.


    This time it was different. There was no end to the wolvesing out of the darkness. Each one approached us in absolute silence, like the calm before a storm.


    Finally... the foremost wolf suddenly stopped. And the ones behind him did too. And also those behind them. It was as if... they were right in front of an invisible wall. And they just sat there.


    Hundreds of wolves, in a line, all on the ground at the same time. Their red eyes focused on us, silent. But... they didn''t look like they were going to attack.


    "Adrian...?"


    Lucia''s sweet, almost soothing voice echoed in my ears. Gritting my teeth, I gripped my spear even tighter.


    "I... I don''t know. They''re just looking at us, but they''re so different from the previous times. It''s like-"


    I paused for a moment, everything became quieter. I looked into the red eyes of the wolves, the eyes that just stared at us. And then...


    "Ah..."


    No. These wolves... they''re not looking at us. Not a single one of them is looking at us.


    My eyes widened slightly, my fingers loosened their grip on my spear, and I turned around. Right... toward the mountain range.


    The wolves were looking at the mountains. Not with a single howl, as they always did, but inplete silence, often most of them hiding, now all of them out in the open, always frightening, but now... strangely docile and calm.


    "They are looking at the mountains. Are they... afraid of it? No, not just afraid... respectful?"


    Lucia sighed lightly, finally letting go a little of her surprise.


    "That means the mountains will be much more dangerous than this in. And we won''t have the protection of the wolves anymore..."


    I clicked my tongue and looked back toward the wolves. They were in the same ce, still looking toward the mountains. Indeed, they didn''t move a millimeter, as if there was an invisible wall in front of them. They had no intention of moving further into the mountains.


    I paused for a moment, something urred to me.


    These wolves... why are they here? I mean... if they fear the mountains, or respect whatever is there, why are they still standing here? There are more wolves in front of us than I''ve ever seen before, so they must all be here... Why aren''t they hunting and just waiting here?


    Are they waiting for us... to leave? Then why are their eyes on the mountains and not on us?


    Even though I left my fighting stance, I didn''t put my spear back into my inventory. On the contrary, I turned around again, toward the mountains.


    It was extremely dark because of the night. The glow of the river was a source of light, but not enough to illuminate the entire dungeon. The mountains were no exception. It was hard to make out any details except the silhouette between us and the sky.


    I frowned, supplemented my vision with mana as I had just done, and looked toward the mountains. The awakened mana was much more active in the mountains, perhaps the easiest thing to understand. But... other than that, there was no other difference. No matter how much I looked, no matter how much I studied it, it was just... a simple mountain.


    "Haaah..."


    Finally, I withdrew my mana and let myself fall back to the ground.


    "The wolves have no intention of attacking. They would have done it already if they wanted to. I''ll take the first watch, let''s go back to rest. When the night is over... we will finally enter the mountains. We should rest well."


    They didn''t seem too satisfied, and I was just like them. There was no guarantee that the wolves wouldn''t attack us. Still... we had no choice. Just like before, it was a gamble.


    So, Lucia and Sue fell asleep after a few minutes on my watch. I... simply waited. The wolves continued to wait in the same way.


    The mountains were... silent, there was no movement.


    *(A/N: No chapter tomorrow, probably. Maybe if by some miracle...)*

 Chapter 350 Volume V - 69: A New Dream

    <h4>Chapter 350 Volume V - Chapter 69: A New Dream</h4>


    ?I had a dream. It was different from normal dreams, much simpler, but... very important.


    I was back in the dark ce I had seen in the first days of the dungeon. The snow-white orb was directly in front of me this time, with barely scribbled words spinning on it. Mana Ascension was active, but there was no bacsh even so. And again, even though I didn''t know whatnguage they belonged to, I could read the strange letters projected on the orb.


    Find the cave, it said this time. Nothing more, nothing less.


    Although it was simply writing, without any emotion... I felt a sense of surprise at the text that was automatically tranted into my mind, as if... it had not expected me to survive.


    Another thing was... that it had a much paler image than before. As if it was difficult for it to even enter my dream.


    But that was it, it was a really short dream. Because... it didn''t take me long to wake up.


    "-rian."


    My eyes opened slowly, and the lush green sky greeted me. And then...


    "Wake up,e on."


    The blurred silhouette of a girl with blonde hair and blood-red eyes appeared in front of me.


    "Ah, is it morning already...?"


    I didn''t focus on her face as I thought about the dream. I simply sat up and stretched.


    The first thing I did was to put the dream on the back burner and look toward where the wolves had stood in the night. And... of course, they were no longer there. Lucia answered me at that very moment.


    "Yes, two minutes ago. We should start moving forward again."


    I paused for a moment before answering, thinking about the dream again, reying in my mind not only the one this time but also the previous one.


    There is an entitymunicating with me. It is most likely... imprisoned or something, because it is obviously in pain.


    But this is not a normal being. It''s an unnecessarily powerful being. That orb I saw, the writing, the feeling it gives... it''s far superior to me in everything. But it still needs my help, I think.


    The disk sent me to a dungeon where I could find a way to heal Aiden. And with Aiden''s condition... the dungeon is obviously not normal. So... I can''t simply brush it aside.


    Should I continue to trust what I''ve seen, or should I trust my own judgment...


    "I see..."


    I stood up, still thinking and trying to shake off the tiredness of having just woken up from sleep.


    Sue was already awake, looking in our direction. Lucia had been awake for a long time as she was thest one on watch.


    I sighed lightly, this time turning my eyes toward the mountains, which really did look like normal mountains. But the wolves'' reactionst night, the dream I had... made it impossible to see these mountains as normal.


    Finally, I let out a deep sigh.


    All right, then. At least I have a goal now, rather than nothing I can do. I''ll keep going toward the mountains, I''ll enter a cave... Okay, I can do that. After that... I have no choice but to think about it when the timees.


    "Give me a minute or two to recover. Then we''ll continue."


    Lucia nodded in agreement, moving to Sue''s side. They just waited while I stretched to sober up.


    *******


    It didn''t take us long to get moving. Shortly after waking up, we started heading towards the mountains, albeit a little hesitantly.


    We would walk for five hours and then spend the remaining two hours looking for a ce to spend the night. If we found such a ce in advance, we would settle in directly, of course. But for now, that was not important.


    The important thing was... that we had actually left the in. And with that, our surroundings were changing.


    At the very beginning, the ground started to slope. We were ascending higher and higher as if to let us know that we were climbing a ''mountain''. The ground was hardening, the air was getting colder, the winds were getting stronger. But we still hadn''t encountered a creature yet, and we had nothing toin about, of course...


    So, we kept going, and when I looked back after about three hours of walking... I had most of the in in front of me, if not all of it.


    It was beautiful. The view of the in from above was really beautiful. But we didn''t have time to dwell on it, to be absorbed in it, so... we kept walking. But the silence that hadsted throughout our walk disappeared toward the beginning of the fourth hour.


    "Adrian, Lucia..."


    Sue''s voice brought our group to a quick pause. Lucia and I both turned to her curiously. Sue... was looking to our right. Soon, she raised her hand and pointed to a spot.


    "There''s something over there, it looks like a cave entrance."


    The word ''cave'' immediately caught my attention, then the dream I had just a few hours before... I quickly turned to the spot she was pointing to.


    Sue was right. Even though she could barely make it out, when I looked using my mana, there was indeed a cave entrance where she pointed. It was not rocky. It led into the earth at a point where the slope suddenly increased.


    Is this... the cave mentioned in my dream? I didn''t expect to find one so fast... What if it''s not?


    I slowly turned to Lucia and she looked at me the same way. Then, I remembered that, dream aside, there were other things we had to watch out for.


    Wolves were noting to the mountains. Their behaviorst night had made that quite clear. This meant that not only did we no longer have to deal with them, but also that we were now unprotected at night. That''s why it was important to find a ce to hide.


    But there could also be creatures inside the cave.


    "Come behind me, let''s check."


    Lucia and Sue nodded and quickly moved behind me. Although Sue didn''t have any weapon with her, Lucia had her sword ready, preferring to stay alert.


    We moved in silence, ready for anything. But nothing happened until we reached the front of the cave, and likewise when we arrived.


    With my spear and all my senses ready, I walked along the edge toward the entrance, looking inside the cave.


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    Thanks to the light from outside, you could see most of the entrance. It was a big cave. There were almost four meters between the ceiling and the floor, wide enough for us to easily walk side by side and even escape in case of an emergency. No creatures were visible, but that was not all the cave was... It stretched forward, with a slight slope downward, which the light outside was not enough to illuminate.


    I poured mana into my eyes and checked again and again, and when I was finally sure that there really were no creatures, at least as far as we could see, I let out a sigh.


    "Looks like it''s clear inside for now."


    The two of them came up to me and looked into the darkness of the cave with me. Sue was the first to speak.


    "This ce... seems to be going pretty far."


    Lucia nodded.


    "It''s not very noticeable, but our voices echo, and there''s air flowing forward. The entrance to the cave is wide, too. It probably goes quite deep."


    After she said this, instead of going into the darkness like Sue and me, she took a few steps back and looked toward the mountain.


    She didn''t say anything, while I... thought.


    I have to tell them about the dream. I wasn''t sure about anything until now, and I kept it to myself so as not to make them more nervous, but... we can''t keep anything from each other at this point. Especially in such an important matter.


    "Lucia, Sue. Listen carefully, I have something important to tell you."


    The two suddenly turned toward me. Their eyebrows were slightly raised, clearly curious.


    I took a deep breath, fixed my eyes on the ground, and then quickly summarized my previous dream and this morning''s.


    It didn''t take me long to finish telling them everything. In the end, however, Lucia simply sighed, although Sue didn''t say anything.


    "It makes a lot of difference. If your dreams are real..."


    She turned back to the cave, her eyes squinting slightly.


    "We should go deeper instead of using this ce as a shelter."


    She paused for a moment, her eyes shifting back to the mountains. She stared at them for a while, then sighed lightly.


    "Since this is the only clue we have, I don''t think there''s anything else we can do. Besides... it''s too dangerous to go out at night. But going deeper into a cave?"


    This time, Sue spoke quickly.


    "Ah... It will be safer inside the cave as the creatures that can''te out during the daye out at night."


    Lucia nodded in agreement. She looked first at the cave and then at her watch.


    "There seems to be plenty of hiding ces in the cave. If not, we can try and make a hole ourselves, there are still two hours to go."


    Finally, we decided to do as she said. We went a little further into the cave, but we didn''t go too deep, and as we did so... I simply kept thinking, but this time not about the dream. Instead... it was about Lucia and Sue.


    Not once did they question the ''dream'' I had told them. They believed me straight away, they didn''t even think I could lie. Maybe they thought I didn''t need to lie to them in the situation we were in, maybe they had other reasons... I don''t know.


    But one thing I know is... that they trust me. Because they have to, because they are my friends, because I am their only hope... It doesn''t matter why.


    But I... I really don''t want to break that trust.

 Chapter 351 Volume V - 69: Deep into the Cave

    <h4>Chapter 351 Volume V - Chapter 69: Deep into the Cave</h4>


    ?It didn''t take me long to dig a hole with my spear where all three of us could hide. It was easy to break rocks and widen cracks... especially when I didn''t have to be careful.


    In about... six minutes, I managed to make a very convenient ce, and we only had to use one of the rocks inside the cave to block the entrance. Once we had done that, we werepletely cut off from the outside.


    It was also not too far from the outside. But not too close to it either. If we crawled out, we could easily go deeper without anything outside noticing us.


    "Good, we can hide here."


    That was Lucia''s reaction to the hole I had made. Sue, as usual, was... silent.


    The two of them entered the hole, made room for themselves, and got intofortable positions. I entered behind them, then ced the rock just in front of the entrance so that itrgely, if notpletely, blocked the entrance.


    So... we were ready, we were going to rest until nightfall, which was about an hour''s sleep. Then I would close the entrance to the cavepletely and, once we decided it was safe to go outside, we would start moving deeper into the cave.


    That was the n. And it worked without a hitch.


    *******


    In thest minute before nightfall, all three of us were very nervous. I hadpletely blocked the entrance, not a single ray of light wasing in. We were just waiting in the pitch darkness. Then... the floor began to tremble slightly.


    The mana around us woke up as night descended on the dungeon once more. We continued to wait, not moving a muscle.


    So... the ground trembled once more. This time, however, it was not something natural due to the fall of night. Rather... it wasing from deep inside the cave.


    Lucia and Sue held their breath at the same time, and I joined them. Closing my eyes, I focused on the flow of mana outside, then... I felt something that was enough to overwhelm all my senses.


    The ground trembled once more, as if... a gigantic creature was walking. And it was, and it wasn''t just huge. There was so much mana concentrated in its body, around it... that it seemed like it could easily overpower me.


    The creature advanced slowly, moving outward, shaking the cave with each step. It was attracting all the awakened mana around it, almost... sucking it.


    I couldn''t even swallow, I couldn''t make a sound. I just waited, as if time had frozen.


    But... this gigantic one was not the only creature that passed by.


    After it passed, another one came out, and then another... and another. Each one was strong, really strong. They were all at least B- grade, and that reminded me again what kind of dungeon we were in.


    We hadn''t encountered overpowered creatures so far, we had wolves guarding us on the in, and apart from that, we had had pretty good luck.


    But this was a B grade dungeon, a dungeon that at least a few B grade people had to clear as a team. In contrast to that, I was a C, Lucia was a D, and Sue was... a normal person.


    It was a miracle we even made it this far, really. And now... as if to rub it in our faces, different creatures wereing out of the cave where we were hiding.


    I wonder... what will happen if I meet one of these creatures?


    This question popped into my mind for a moment. What if I have to fight a grade B creature... or more than one?


    My eyes shifted to Lucia and Sue.


    Sue had her head buried between her knees, which she was pulling toward her, as if... scared and waiting for it all to be over. I couldn''t see her expression, but I didn''t need to.


    Lucia was... Lucia. She was calm as always, her eyes fixed on the floor. She was thoughtful, but I couldn''t understand what she was thinking.


    I let out a deep but silent sigh.


    No, we''ll get out of here.


    I pushed the bad thoughts out of my mind, refocused, and tried to perceive how many creatures were passing or ''not passing'' in front of us.


    And so... time continued to pass.


    About half an hour after nightfall, finally, not a creature was passing by. The cave had been quiet for a long time.


    Lucia looked at me and I looked at her. We both nodded at the same time. Lucia reached toward Sue, nudged her. I... pushed the rock blocking the entrance to the hole we were hiding in as quietly as I could.


    There was a faint glowing in from outside the cave, probably the glow of the river rising into the sky. It allowed me to see more or less in front of me.


    I looked around, no creatures were visible. The cave waspletely deserted, silent.


    I pushed the rock a little more, I went further out, but... there were still no creatures.


    Sue had raised her head and was looking toward Lucia and me.


    Without opening my mouth, I gestured with my hand for them toe out while looking steadily toward the entrance of the cave.


    No creatures were visible outside, but that didn''t mean that there wasn''t something there. The creatures that left the cave at night would not necessarily return during the day, they might return early to continue resting afterpleting their work. That''s why I was on my guard.


    But... that didn''t happen. Lucia and Sue quickly came out of the cave, keeping silent, until finally all three of us were outside.


    We looked at each other again, this time everything happened much faster. Lucia lit a tiny me in her right hand that would be our light source and moved to my left. I moved to the right side to make room for Sue while she settled in the center. Then, without waiting, we moved deeper into the cave. We couldn''t afford to waste time. The night was only four hours long and we had already spent half an hour.


    I used my mana constantly as we moved forward, never stopping to check our surroundings for possible dangers. I also made sure to examine the cave itself.


    The cave was... really deep. Instead of shrinking, showing signs as if we were approaching the end, it was doing the opposite. The path we were on was widening as if what we had seen so far was nothing.


    Which was a good sign. If the dreams I was having were not nonsense... we were on the right path, on our way out of this dungeon.


    It wasn''t long after we had started moving forward... Lucia suddenly paused. Sue and I stopped as quickly as she did, both of our eyes darting around. But we couldn''t see anything.


    "Lucia, what happened?"


    I asked in a whisper, and Lucia pointed ahead with the sword in her left hand. I narrowed my eyes and looked where she was pointing.


    There was... something there. Not a living thing, no... but something else that belonged to a living thing.


    "Is this... where one of the creatures sleeps?"


    It looked like it, because the floor was slightly sunken and there were hundreds of hairs on it... as if something extremely hairy, weighing tons, had curled up and slept here.


    "Probably so."


    For a while, we just stared at where the creature slept. Finally, I let out a deep sigh.


    "Let''s move on."


    We found a few more such spots during our progress, spots where the creatures spent the day sleeping... But each one was empty, with only traces of what had gone before.


    asionally, traces of a battle could be seen on the cave walls, traces of dried blood. The creatures were apparently fighting a lot among themselves, but we had not yete across a corpse. Until... twenty minutester.


    Before us was a skeleton almost two meters tall. It must have been dead a really long time, because it didn''t even have any rotten bits of flesh. There was only... a pool of blood underneath that, though already dried up, covered arge area. Whatever had killed this creature... had not hesitated to eat it.


    Nevertheless, we kept moving forward. It started to get warmer inside the cave than usual, but it wasn''t a change worth paying attention to. It was just... an indicator to remind us how far we hade.


    So, we had been walking for almost forty minutes when...


    ~crack!


    A sound echoed through the cave. A sound that didn''t belong to us.

 Chapter 352 Volume V - 70: Uneasiness

    <h4>Chapter 352 Volume V - Chapter 70: Uneasiness</h4>


    I narrowed my eyes as I gripped my spear tightly, and Lucia next to me did the same with her sword.


    The cracking sound we heard didn''t bode well in a cave like this, after all.


    "Let''s go slowly."


    Lucia nodded in agreement, extinguishing the me in her right hand.


    We moved slowly and silently, impossible to see in the pitch darkness, but we didn''t need to. We could sense the movements of the awakened mana and know if something was about to attack us. Both Lucia and I had a high level of mana perception.


    After a short while, as we were getting closer to the crackling sounds we were hearing, I motioned for Lucia and Sue to stop. I could feel concentrated mana just ahead of us, where we would encounter it if we turned slightly to the right.


    I closed my eyes briefly, discarded all my senses, and concentrated entirely on my mana perception.


    Good, I can''t sense any other creature, so... it must be one. And the mana concentrated around it is pretty lowpared to what we''ve encountered so far.


    I''ll try to finish it off in one attack, and then we''ll move on.


    I opened my eyes, my senses came back one by one.


    "Stay behind me."


    I didn''t say anything else. I moved slowly, knowing exactly where the creature was. I reached the point where we would turn in a few seconds... and then I gripped my spear tightly.


    "Huuu..."


    I didn''t use my mana, I wanted this to be a surprise attack, and it was.


    As soon as I turned the corner, I lunged at the creature where the mana was concentrated. Even though I couldn''t see anything because of the darkness, I didn''t care, I let my senses and instincts take over.


    But I didn''t stop there, I charged my muscles and spear with a huge amount of mana at thest moment.


    It wouldn''t be very effective since I started the attack without mana, but even a slight increase in power was enough.


    First, I felt the tip of the spear touch something, something hard. A squeal echoed through the cave, but I didn''t stop. I pushed the spear further, this time without hesitation to use mana.


    The hardness I could feel at the tip of the spear suddenly softened. It pierced the creature''s body, then pierced some more.


    But I still didn''t stop. I let go of my spear, took a single step back, and inhaled a quick breath. I clenched my fist, tensed, and spread mana throughout my body. Then I let go of everything I was holding and threw a punch at the creature.


    Theforting feel of fur met my fist. Immediately followed by the softness of skin and flesh, then the hardness of bones crunching and crumbling.


    I heard a momentary groan... but nothing more. The creature''s body crumpled with my fist, mming so hard against the wall next to it that the cave trembled a little. But... that was it.


    A deep silence fell over the cave. Then, it was quickly broken by a low voiceing from right behind me.


    "Is it over?"


    "Yes."


    Immediately after my answer, the cave was illuminated with an orange light. Lucia and Sue looked at me and the creature, and with the help of the light, I pulled my spear out of the creature''s body. Then I looked at what it looked like.


    "Is it... a cub?"


    It looked like one. It had red fur and a small bodypared to most of the creatures in the dungeon.


    Actually, now that I think about it... doesn''t it look like... a mole? No, it''s something different than that, but for some reason... the first thing I thought when I looked at the creature was a mole.


    "It''s a big possibility. But even then, it was a C at worst, the skin felt pretty tough for a moment."


    Lucia didn''t say anything, her eyes were still on the creature. She looked thoughtful.


    "Let''s move on, we don''t have time to waste."


    Again, no one said anything. But, it wasn''t long before we were back in the old order and moving forward again. We didn''t dwell too much on the cub we had killed.


    It took another twenty minutes of walking before we came across another creature. This one was different, it was not a cub... But it was also not one that could pose a danger to us.


    Why...? Because it was sleeping. And so, it was quite easy to kill it quietly.


    We moved on, and a few minutes after killing the sleeping creature...


    "Hey, is it just me, or... is the cave expanding?"


    I paused at Sue''s words, my eyebrows raised slightly as I looked behind us, then back in front of me.


    Sue... was actually right. There wasn''t much of a difference, but the cave was indeed expanding.


    Although, what does it mean if the cave is expanding...?


    "We can get out into a big area."


    I finally understood what the problem was with Lucia''s words.


    In the cave, which until now had been a sort of crooked corridor, the most likely ce for the creatures to gather would of course be a high and wide area.


    So... if we were really going to enter such an area, we had to be ready to face the creatures. Probably a lot of them at the same time.


    "That''s... a bit of a problem."


    We''ve been lucky so far. Really lucky. The first creature we encountered was a cub and the second one was sleeping.


    But this... was dangerous.


    "Should we go forward? We can go back, of course. Or I can dig another hole into the wall to hide in. We''vee a long way."


    I saw the hesitation on their faces for a moment. They weren''t sure what we were going to do, what we should do.


    But then, Lucia finally opened her mouth.


    "How are you feeling now?"


    "I''m fine, I''m not tired and my mana reserves are rather full."


    Lucia thought for a short while. Then... she simply sighed.


    "Then let''s keep moving forward. If there really is an area full of creatures ahead of us, there will be no difference between now and in a few hours or days."


    She was not wrong. I was well aware of what she was saying, I just... I wasn''t sure about them. They might prefer to rest, they might be tired. If I could understand anything from their faces, that was what I could. But... it seemed that they also wanted to see the end of this journey quickly.


    *******


    If we were going out into a really big area, full of creatures, it didn''t make much sense to give away our position with a light. That''s why Lucia had extinguished the me in her right hand that had so far illuminated our path.


    Just as we had done when we approached the creature cub, we moved silently and carefully through the pitch darkness, and the cave continued to expand, just as we had expected. But that was not the only thing that changed.


    Soon after we started walking... we noticed something quite surprising.


    "Is that... a breeze?"


    Yes, it is. There''s a breezeing from up ahead, hitting us in the face. It''s weak, so much so that under normal circumstances, it would be quite difficult to notice... But after walking for more than an hour in a cave like this, it''s a change that can be felt quickly.


    "In this cave...?"


    I squinted at Sue''s surprised voice.


    This... changes a lot. But now, we have to deal with another problem. A breeze means either that there''s something abnormal ahead of us, or that we''re heading somewhere with a connection to the outside.


    "Should we keep going?"


    I turned back toward Lucia and saw her nod without saying anything.


    "We keep going, then..."


    Sue didn''t react or say anything as if she was getting a little agitated. But when Lucia and I started walking again, she followed us.


    After a few more minutes... the cool breeze in our faces was no longer the only change we could notice.


    There was also a source of light.


    The cave was faintly illuminated by a bluish light as we continued to move forward.


    For a brief moment, I wondered if we were really going outside. But... it was impossible. Because since we entered the cave, we were going underground. And... we were inside a mountain covering a veryrge area.


    It was impossible for us to get out...


    So, even though Lucia and I started to hesitate too... we still continued.


    And after a while...


    "Oh..."


    "This..."


    Atst, we reached the ce where the breeze and the light came from.


    And yes, just as we had expected, the dark corridors of the cave had led us to arge area. Really wide... But at the same time, there was a view we had never expected.


    There were no creatures, first of all... At least not visible. They could have been hiding, and it would have been best to remain vignt.


    We would have to walk about thirty meters on average to get to the other end of this huge... room? Or something like that. It was really that big of a space. But it was definitely not the size that stood out. It was the ceiling and the floor.


    The ceiling was where the pale light and cool breeze came from. Although, how urate was it to call something that wasn''t there a ''ceiling''? After all... above us was an empty space. A huge hole reaching all the way to the surface, connecting to who knows where on the mountain...


    The floor... was also an empty space, just like the ceiling. There was plenty of room to walk around the edges of the room, but in the middle... it was a dark abyss with no bottom. Even the light seeping through the hole in the ceiling was not enough to illuminate itpletely, it was frightening to imagine how deep it went.


    And... that was it. The cave continued on the other side of the room, splitting into two paths, but that was really it. There was no danger whatsoever. On the contrary, it had a look that echoed what I had felt since I came to this dungeon.


    It was beautiful. It was supposed to be dangerous and who knows, maybe it was... we just didn''t know it yet. But it was still beautiful.


    Quietly, I turned around and looked back at the two girls who were following me. They must have felt the same as I did, because they were just looking this way and that across the room.


    "What do we do now? There are two ways we can go."


    The two paused and turned toward me at the same time. Then, their eyes shifted to the two paths on the other side of the room and hesitation appeared on their faces once again.


    Right or left... We had to decide.


    "Let''s cross the cliff first... take a closer look at both roads and then decide."


    I nodded in agreement, tore my eyes away from the duo, and turned back to the road ahead. There was no need to question, maybe we would actually catch a clue and find our way... who knows?


    And with that in mind, I took my first step, a step that for some reason felt like it echoed throughout the room, even though I was being very careful...


    I frowned. For some reason, I felt... uneasy. An unpleasant uneasiness. So much so that I couldn''t help grasping my spear tightly, my eyes scanning every corner of the room.


    My uneasiness increased when I started to feel a slight tremor from the ring I never took off my finger. I spoke in my usual whisper to warn the duo behind me.


    "Let''s be careful, don''t let your guard down. Something... seems wrong here."


    And as soon as I finished, as if waiting for that toe out of my mouth all along... a sh of light from across the room caught my eye. Just a second, no... in a split second, my eyes widened as a shadow appeared in front of me.


    I didn''t even have time to react. The blurry shadow, which I couldn''t even make out, just passed by me, right behind me... toward Lucia and Sue. My eyes widened in an instant.


    *(A/N: I started uploading chapters to the new novel, "The Path of Ruin". You can read it whenever you want. Also, sorry for the dy once again... I was preparing for that novel, that''s why I neglected writing chapters for thest three days. Though it''s all okay now, thanks for reading and your understanding as always...)*

 Chapter 353 Volume V - 71: One-Eyed Creature

    <h4>Chapter 353 Volume V - Chapter 71: One-Eyed Creature</h4>


    I still had my spear in my hand, I was frozen in ce... I had not expected such an attack. Where had ite from in the first ce? How had it managed to be so... silent and escape all my senses?


    But I couldn''t keep thinking. I put everything I had into turning around quickly... and as I did so, something unexpected happened.


    The whole cave turned orange, and I felt my skin, which had no protection, suddenly be tremendously hot.


    The first thing I felt was fear. The thought that Lucia and Sue would be engulfed by the mes filled my mind. But then... something else crossed my mind.


    These... were Lucia''s mes, not the creature''s!


    I gripped my spear tightly, activated Guardian Radiance as fast as I could, and dived into the mes.


    I didn''t care about my vision, I didn''t care that the Guardian Radiance wasn''t fully activated, my senses were dulled by the heat and the mes themselves, but I immersed myselfpletely in the mana.


    When I saw a tiny, minuscule condensation in front of me... I quickly swung my spear toward it.


    But as soon as I did so, the owner of the condensed mana stepped back, dodged the spear in a way that I couldn''t see exactly how it did it, and leaped into the air as it flew away.


    The best option would have been to follow it, not wasting a second, andunch a surprise attack through the mes, but I didn''t even attempt it. As soon as I was sure the creature had moved away from us, I pushed on, emerging from the sea of mes that covered quite arge area.


    Sue was a few steps back from where she had just been standing, staring at the mes and Lucia with widened eyes. Lucia... with beads of sweat running down her forehead and discolored skin, her right arm raised, was supporting the mes. But then she saw me, stopped the mana she was pouring into the mes, and stepped back, just like Sue.


    As the wall of mes slowly dissipated in front of us, she came up to me and raised her sword so that Sue was behind us. She recovered a littlete because everything had happened so suddenly, but she looked fine.


    So, the mes dissipatedpletely, and the cave was back to the way it was before. Only this time... it was not as empty as before. About six meters away from us, something humanoid was standing.


    It had brown-colored, hairy legs that resembled the hoofed legs of goats. It was naked from the waist up, with skin that looked gray, slender but well-built. Each hand had four fingers with sharp ws on the end, and they looked more dangerous than most weapons I have ever seen. It also had a single shimmering, dark green eye and hair like a lion''s mane.


    I frowned as I looked at the creature, because... I knew what it was.


    It was not a creature I had ever seen before. I hadn''t encountered it myself, of course... But it was a creature known to humanity, encountered before in different dungeons, and I had seen a few things about it.


    The name... I can''t remember it. But it''s not supposed to have any magical powers. However, physically, it''s more than strong enough. If I remember correctly, their general level ranges from B- to B+.


    I narrowed my eyes, focusing all my attention on the creature, and instead of standing next to Lucia, I took a step forward and took her behind me, just in case.


    This is... not good. This creature is... dangerous.


    *******


    The creature continued to stare at us with its only eye, its sharp ws waiting to pounce on us at the slightest movement.


    But it did not stay still for long. Only a moment after our eyes met, its image seemed to flicker for a moment, and then... it was gone.


    I couldn''t help my eyes widening and instinctively swung my spear at a wide angle to our left while pressing my foot firmly into the ground.


    A tremendous force suddenly met my spear, and my hands and fingers trembled so much that it started to hurt. But I stood my ground, clenching my teeth as hard as I could, trying not only to block the creature... but also to push it back. With the support of my mana, I quickly transferred all the force I could get from my feet to my hands and then to my spear.


    The force on the spear seemed to ease for a moment, then disappearedpletely. The creature had retreated again, this time even farther than before... but I had no intention of waiting for it.


    "Lucia, protect Sue."


    This creature... is B- grade at worst, which means it''s much stronger than Sue and Lucia. Can I protect them...? I''m not sure, the longer they stay away from us the better.


    But... I also need to finish this fast. The creatures that went out coulde back at any moment, we could be dealing with one at a time and end up in a swarm.


    So, I narrowed my eyes again, took a deep breath in and out... and focused on my skills in turn.


    The first was Guardian Radiance. I hadn''t actually turned it off even after activating it in the mes, but I poured even more mana into it. The second one... as much as I didn''t want to use it, was Mana Ascension. I was really determined to finish this fast, so I didn''t hold back.


    As usual, my tremendous perceptual ability returned, each time making me realize how little of the mana around me I could actually perceive. My hair fell over my shoulders as each of my muscles, one by one, filled with awakened mana. I took a deep breath in and out as my body was covered in a golden glow.


    The creature, of course, did not stay still. It took me two seconds to activate my ascension skill if I really wanted to be fast. And the creature lunged at me, trying to use as much of those two seconds as it could.


    But the Guardian Radiance and my ascension skill were not the only things at my disposal. I had two other things, two things I had no hesitation in using.


    I called out to ordea, poured my desires into it. My desire to defeat this creature, my desire to protect my friends hiding just behind me... And I was answered. I smiled as a faint blue was added to the golden glow that covered my body, and finally... I concentrated on the first and second movements of the Qilsak Style.


    My spear, meeting not only my own mana but all the mana around me, trembled as if the weight of it had multiplied. In contrast, my body suddenly became as light as it could be.


    The silhouette of the creature suddenly appeared before my eyes. Its pupils were on me, its right arm was outstretched as if preparing to pierce my chest. In a few seconds, it would be in front of me.


    It was fast, it really was... But not so fast that I couldn''t react, at least not with the strength I had now.


    I twisted my body to the left as I started twirling my spear in my hand, and the next second... the creature''s w was right where my chest had just been.


    I focused on the mana around me, each and every one of them. One by one, I ordered each of them to copse to the spot where I was, and they did. The creature''s movements slowed, as if the air had cooled, as if gravity had momentarily strengthened. Ordea, enveloping my whole body in this moment, added to my strength.


    I slowed down my already spinning spear for a moment, holding my breath as I bent the tip in the creature''s direction. Then... I let everything go.


    Weighed down by the Qilsak Style, the tip of the spear descended toward the creature''s shoulder... aiming to slice it in half through the chest.


    When I saw the creature''s frozen body, its eye unable to follow the spear, I felt a sense of relief. This creature... was not as big a threat as I had thought. Sure, I had used almost everything at my disposal... but I was at least able to finish it off quickly.


    The spear finally made contact with the creature, but when it did, it went on its way without any difficulty... as if it were slicing through a piece of paper. Soon after, it met the ground. The whole cave shuddered, the floor simply cracked and a light cloud of dust rose into the air.


    Ordea and mana slowly left my body. As my ascension skill deactivated, I realized I was gasping for breath, my fingers holding my spear trembling.


    "Huh..."


    How long...? I used everything I had for three seconds, four seconds at most. And that alone was enough to push my body this hard?


    Was this creature... was it stronger than I thought and I didn''t know it?


    My eyes then shifted to my spear stuck in the ground, and I squinted as the dust cloud slowly dissipated. Then...


    "H- huh...?"


    The body of the creature that should have been under the spear... was not there. There were traces of fresh blood over arge area, the spear had certainly inflicted a heavy wound on the creature. But...


    "Ah..."


    It was reflex, I was just spreading my mana around slightly, just to be sure... but I saw something I didn''t want to see. My expression froze. I threw everything aside, including my spear, and quickly turned around.


    The creature... was in front of me with its back turned. Its left arm was hanging out of its control and there was a wide gash from its shoulder to the center of its chest, but... it was alive. And that was the important thing.


    I wouldn''t have cared if it had run somewhere else... But it ran from where we hade, toward the entrance of the cave.


    And Lucia and Sue were in that exact spot, looking toward the creature that wasing toward them.


    "No!"

 Chapter 354 Volume V - 72: Like a Lifeless Doll

    <h4>Chapter 354 Volume V - Chapter 72: Like a Lifeless Doll</h4>


    Everything happened too fast. My senses were disoriented because of the momentary, strange exhaustion that came over me after I had used almost everything I had, but I could see, I could run... yet, even then, I couldn''t do anything.


    I watched the creature approach Lucia and Sue with its left paw spread wide. I wished for a moment of speed, to appear in front of the creature... to be faster than it.


    But the creature reached the duo before me. And the one it had its eye on... was Sue.


    Lucia had realized what was happening. Her eyes were looking somewhere between the creature and Sue, her blood-red eyes glowing with mana as she swung the sword in her left hand toward it.


    But she was slow. The creature in front of him, though wounded, was probably a B grade. How could she react to it? The fact that she had noticed its purpose, that she had acted, was good... but it was not enough.


    And the creature, just like that, unstopped by anything... swung its w at Sue. But it wasn''t a normal swing, in fact... it was an attack from a distance as if it had some other purpose, even though it was powerful enough to easily rip her in two.


    I saw the three red lines on Sue''s chest, her eyes still in the cloud of dust that had not yetpletely dissipated. She couldn''t even understand what was happening, couldn''tprehend it. But that was not the only thing that happened.


    The creature''s w just missed Sue. Or rather, grazed her... and not only that. As if following the creature''s attack, all the air currents in the cave suddenly shifted, heading toward the creature''s position with great force. It was so strong that it knocked Lucia off bnce and almost threw her backward.


    But it was not over. The creature swung its w again, backward as it was. This time, without actually touching anyone, missing... But that was its aim in the first ce.


    All the airflow that had been concentrated on the creature''s attack suddenly dissipated, instantly reversed, even more forcefully than before. An explosion filled my ears, even though there was no such thing, and everything became a blur.


    The pressure of the attack pushed my body back, and if it hadn''t been for the wall behind me, I might have been thrown back several meters... But I crashed into the wall and my body sank into the rocks, shaking the whole cave.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lucia''s feet knocked off and sent flying into a wall, while Sue... the one most affected by the air currents... was suddenly thrown into the air as if she were... a lifeless doll.


    As soon as my body made contact with the wall and stopped, I tried to pull myself together, but my muscles refused to listen. My legs trembled as I tried to stand up, as if they were trying to keep me where I was... But I couldn''t stop, I couldn''t do it...


    I stretched my legs, prepared to dive into the huge pit in the center of this big cave. And as soon as I did, a sharp wave of pain spread through my whole body, and all my muscles stiffened at once. Before I could even take my first step, I fell t on my face.


    I barely lifted my head, I was going to try to leap forward again... But then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I suddenly froze in ce.


    No... It can''t be, right?


    I saw Sue''s body, barely able to stop as she crashed through the hole in the ceiling that resembled a window to the sky. Her eyes were closed, blood seeping from the wound in her chest, adding a new color to her clothes, which were almostpletely changed from dust and dirt a long time ago.


    "N- no, no..."


    But... it didn''t stop with that, I could only watch, unable to do anything, as what I had done everything I could to move my body to prevent from the very beginning happened.


    "Stop..."


    Her body just separated from the wall. Lacking any strength, she unconsciously bent forward... Then, she started to fall.


    "NO!"


    I forgot all my pain, all sensations in my body stopped for a moment. A faint blue glow covered my body as I did everything I could to stand up. Then, I threw myself into the air, ignoring everything.


    I saw Sue''s closed eyes seem to open for a moment, and as I moved closer to her with every millisecond, I reached out my hands towards her... to catch her, to save her. A single thought ran through my mind.


    I can make it!


    But it didn''t stay in my mind for a second as it was, it quickly turned into something else.


    I will make it!


    There were two meters or less between us, she seemed to be between my fingers... I could see her dark blue irises between her eyelids, which I couldn''t tell whether they were open or closed.


    Then... she just fell.


    All the sounds stopped, everything stopped moving in an instant.


    But Sue''s body kept falling.


    Just like that, with not even two meters between us... she fell into the depths of a huge pit with no bottom in front of my eyes, even though she seemed to be right at my fingertips.


    And I... couldn''t do anything.


    *******


    My back hit something hard, but it was not a normal impact. I was thrown backward by a tremendous force, such a force that I found myself in the air as soon as my feet left the ground.


    But I didn''t take any heavy damage, in fact, almost no damage at all... Initial Damage Protection, the C grade skill I had, was all about that, after all... Neutralizing the first major damage I would take in an hour''s cooldown, whether it was physical or not, as best it could.


    And that''s what it did. I didn''t feel any sharp pain in any part of my body, no muscles were strained... the skill had worked wlessly. However, it still took me a while to recover from the shock, to move. The air currents from the creature''s attack were so strong that the cave was a mess. The effects were just beginning to wear off.


    That''s when I heard something, a single word echoing quite loudly... a strong, yet feeble voice of someone familiar.


    "NO!"


    No...?


    That... sounds like Adrian''s voice. What''s going on?


    He was kneeling, his left side facing me. He was at the edge of the bottomless pit in the center of the room, his right hand extended forward, but he was just waiting. His eyes and body were trembling all the time. It was as if he was frozen, as if... all connection between him and the world had been severed.


    I squinted, unable to understand what was happening. I looked for the creature. I quickly looked back to where we had just stood, and what I saw was... simply emptiness.


    There are blood trails leading back to where we came from, presumably from the creature... but nothing else.


    Did it escape? I guess... it did... It would have attacked someone by now, right?


    So, I continued to cast my eyes around as I slowly made my way toward Adrian. This time I was looking for someone else, someone I thought I would find quite easily.


    But Sue was nowhere to be found. There was no sign of her hitting anything. It was like... she just disappeared.


    Where is she?


    Though, wait...


    My steps slowed down, then stoppedpletely. My eyes were darting from here to there, but now... I just focused on a single point.


    Adrian''s shout, that pit, his posture...


    Ah, it... can''t be...


    I felt my body tremble as my lips curled slightly upward. I continued my steps weakly, and when I came to Adrian''s side, I finally stopped for real.


    He was still the same. Now, when I was looking at him closely, he was shaking much more violently. His fingers were trying to open and close, even though it was hard to see. As if... as if he was trying to grasp something, to catch something.


    I looked down into the dark pit with no bottom, which seemed to stretch into infinity.


    It was silent, just like everything else. It was dark, like the first time I saw it.


    My eyes moved upward, to the hole in the ceiling, that long hole through which the darkness of the sky could be seen. And somewhere in this hole, right where I was looking... there was a sunken area.


    For a moment, I really felt as if time had frozen. I just stood there, doing nothing... maybe not even breathing. It was like... like a dream. She was just here... just a few minutes ago, we were walking side by side.


    And now...


    I felt my eyes watering, then I paused, sniffling slightly as I looked to my side, toward Adrian.


    "Ad... rian?"


    All his trembling suddenly stopped as he slowly turned toward me, his eyes widening even more. His emerald green eyes seemed to water for a moment, then... he just focused on the floor.


    "I- I... I..."


    He pulled back the arm he had held in the air until now, taking both palms in front of him, this time looking at them.


    "She was in front of me... She was at my fingertips, I could catch her... I was going to catch her..."


    His palms began to tremble again, a tear fell slowly onto his left hand.


    "T- then... she fell... just like that, as if time had frozen and o- only she could move... she fell... she j- just fell... in... in front of my eyes..."


    He said nothing else, his hair fell in front of him as he lowered his head, hiding his face.


    I... I didn''t know what to do, how to react. I wasn''t even sure what to think, so I just stood there for seconds.


    Is that how it is? Trying so hard to get out of here, to survive?


    Did... Sue really died?


    With my thoughts racing, with everything jumbled... I slowly leaned toward Adrian, taking his body in my arms as I crouched down, just like him.


    I didn''t say anything, I didn''t do anything else. I just, simply, embraced him, the way my mother and father embraced me when I was a child. Tofort him and... myself even for a moment.


    But it didn''t work. When I could feel how Adrian was trembling, this time with my own body... I started trembling too. I couldn''t stop the tears froming to my eyes.


    *(A/N: No chapter tomorrow, sorry. But I''ll upload another one the day after tomorrow.)*

 Chapter 355 Volume V - Chapter 73: Awareness of Weakness

    355 Volume V - Chapter 73: Awareness of Weakness


    The first thing I felt when I saw the one-eyed creature was... fear. Just like... like I''ve felt throughout this whole dungeon. An unfathomable fear that kept growing and growing inside me.


    And yet, hope hadn''t gone out of me. Because I... I wanted to live. No matter how bad it was, no matter how impossible it seemed that we could survive... I wanted to live.


    I wanted to see Paul, I wanted to see Aiden. To be separated from them like this... wasn''t that... unfair?


    Although... life had never been fair. I had experienced it myself, more than once.


    Still, I believed I would survive. The reason was simple... It was Adrian. The words he said over and over from day one.


    Trust me.


    And I did.


    That trust was reaffirmed many times as he managed to kill one creature after another, somehow managing to keep us alive.


    So, even though we faced a creature as powerful as ever, even though I was trembling with fear, I continued to trust him.


    And he did not disappoint that trust. Even though I couldn''t see anything because the cave was covered with clouds of dust, his attack was so powerful that I didn''t even think that the creature could have survived.


    And so I rxed a bit, just a little... until I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Lucia was trying to get in front of me.


    Why, the thought crossed my mind. My eyes were still on the clouds of dust, and I was about to turn my gaze to Lucia when, suddenly, everything changed.


    A split second ago, there was nothing in front of me, but the next time I blinked... there was a w pointed at me. And the next second, Adrian was sprinting towards me.


    The whole world froze for a moment.


    Ah...


    But it didn''tst long.


    My feet were suddenly knocked off the ground, the air around me seemed to solidify, and I was thrown into a spot I didn''t know where.


    I was just beginning to understand what had happened when I felt an extremely sharp pain in my back, and then the pain spread throughout my body. It was like... like I had hit a wall extremely hard. So hard that I copsed a little bit into the same wall.


    My eyes were briefly torn between closing and opening, tearing up from the excruciating pain. Yet, I couldn''t make a sound, except for the agonized moan that escaped between my lips.


    When it felt impossible for me to control my body, first, my head was separated from the wall. Then my back, my arms...


    I waited to fall to the floor, not caring if my consciousness slipped away... just to get some rest.


    But... when I finallypletely separated from the wall I was in, what I saw was not the floor. Instead... it was endless darkness.


    I had no fear of heights. But what I felt when I was looking at this endless darkness... was something else.


    And I started to fall, into the same endless darkness.


    I saw Adrian. He was trying to get closer to me. He had his hand out... as if he was trying to catch me. His eyes were full of hope and determination.


    But the next second... he was gone. He just stayed up there, unable to reach me... and I kept falling. Then... I finally realized what was really happening.


    The creature, Adrian, the pit...


    I am... falling into that huge pit.


    I tried to turn my head to look up, but my body and the wind in my face wouldn''t let me.


    I don''t know why, for a brief moment... I didn''t think anything. I don''t know if I didn''t want to think, if I was tired, or if I didn''t feel like thinking... But I didn''t think.


    But it was really only for a brief moment. Because after that ''brief'' moment, my mind was suddenly filled with one thought after another.


    I''m going to die, huh...


    This was the first thing that popped into my mind as I fell at full speed toward the bottom of the pit.


    I am weak, I have no advantages over the likes of Adrian and Lucia. It was a miracle that I even made it this far... Why did I believe so much that I would survive?


    That was the second one.


    For someone as ordinary, as powerless as me... it''s a convenient death, actually. By the time I realized what was happening, I was already falling to my death... I was so powerless that it took me too long to realize my fate.


    Third...


    Was my... life worth anything?


    What have I aplished in life, besides being a powerless coward?


    How many people will be sorry for me?


    The questions became meaningless after a while, so many one after the other that my mind could hardly process them all at once.


    And yet... even though I had epted my death so much... even though in just a few seconds, who knows, maybe a split second, I would turn into a mash...


    I... I still wanted to live.


    I felt my eyes tearing up, my whole body convulsing.


    There were so many things I wanted to do...


    I wanted to spend more time with my new friends, I wanted to see my brother grow up and graduate, I dreamed of finally having a happy life after everything I had been through. I dreamed of Aiden waking up, of us getting older and... getting married.


    Now... was it all for nothing?


    I wanted to think more, actually. I wanted to rebel, to scream at the unfairness of life... however pointless it was.


    But I didn''t have time to think anymore. Because... in the end, the inevitable happened, my fall ended.


    A momentary, very fleeting pain spread through my whole body. Finally, I saw a tiny little light shining in the darkness behind my eyes, and then... everything went dark.


    *******


    "Adrian¡­"


    A voice I knew, too well, entered my ears.


    "Adrian...?"


    It was beautiful, as always. It felt delicate. Even more delicate than usual. And... fragile. Like a flower that hadn''t been tended for days, ready to copse at any moment.


    On top of that, the fact that she was holding me, that I was in her arms... that I could feel her trembling... It emphasized it so much more.


    But I didn''t care anymore. The fact that she was beautiful, that she was delicate, that she felt like she was going to blow my mind... No, her charm really couldn''t reach me the way it used to.


    "Adrian... w- we need to move forward..."


    Her words echoed in my mind. It was the first time in my life that I had heard Lucia stutter. It was clear that she was as affected as I was.


    But...


    Even then...


    "Please..."


    She took my face in her hands, turning me toward her.


    His red eyes were teary. Tears were running down her cheek and down her chin. But... despite this, she still had a determined expression. Sad, yes... but also determined.


    "Let''s at least get to a ce where we can hide, where we can clear our heads..."


    Ah, right... n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    We... we were trying to survive, weren''t we? That''s why we came here...


    We were trying to get out of here...


    "Adrian, please! Pull yourself together, please... I... I''m sad too, I''m crying too... I can''t ept it either! B- but... But..."


    Lucia''s eyes twitched as mine widened slightly. Biting her lip... she literally forced herself to continue.


    "Do you want us to follow Sue?"


    Right...


    I... I said I would protect them both...


    I failed. I... I messed up again. I failed to prevent someone from dying, again. No, not only failed to prevent...


    I literally let her die.


    If I had been cooler when we first met that creature, if I had been sure I had killed it in the first ce, if I had grasped its true purpose when it lunged at Sue and Lucia, if I had pushed myself and been faster afterward instead of taking so much time to get up... If I had done just one of those things, we would have been fine.


    And yet... what did I do?


    I... I let Sue get thrown by that creature, I let her fall and... I let her die.


    It''s my fault, which means...


    "P- please..."


    But...


    But I still have someone to protect, right?


    Maybe not as much as Sue, but... Lucia is weak too. She''s counting on me, relying on me to get her out of here. Just like... like Sue.


    I... I didn''t live up to her expectations, I betrayed her trust.


    I failed.


    But it''s not over. We''re still here, still in this hell...


    "I... am sorry..."


    I pushed Lucia''s hands away from my face, stretched a little, and then tried to stand up with difficulty. My whole body was trembling, so much so that the moment I stood up, I felt like I would copse again. But I managed to stand up anyway.


    My eyes drifted to the pit for a moment, to its endless darkness... I thought of Sue''s fall. The way she slipped through my fingers right in front of my eyes.


    It took me two minutes to make a hole in the wall, just like the one I made when we first entered the cave. Lucia was silent the whole time, not saying a word. Only when I called her again did she stand up and enter the hole.


    10:21


    I clenched my fist, wiped my eyes on my clothes, and didn''t look in the pit again. I looked for my spear, and found it... Then I approached a random wall.


    Lucia was still where she was. Maybe she was watching me, maybe her eyes were in the pit... I don''t know. But I didn''t want to look at her, I didn''t want to make eye contact.


    "I''m sorry, I... I lost myself, I forgot where we were for a moment."


    I transferred my mana carelessly to my spear and my muscles, then attacked the wall. Cracks appeared on it, some pieces of rock rolled to the ground.


    "Let''s... rest a little, like you said."


    It took me two minutes to make a hole in the wall, just like the one I made when we first entered the cave. Lucia was silent the whole time, not saying a word. Only when I called her again did she stand up and enter the hole.


    We blocked the entrance with big rocks, just as we had donest time, and pitch darkness fell over us.


    We didn''t speak a word. Minutes passed, then hours... Hours of absolute silence.


    The dungeon awoke to a new day, the creatures returned one by one. Each one of them was strong, maybe even stronger than that one-eyed one... but none of them tried to dig into our hiding ce, none of them noticed us.


    Hours went by without us making a sound. And I kept thinking, ming myself...


    Yes, I have someone else to protect...


    Yes, we are still struggling to survive...


    Yes, our primary goal of getting out of this dungeon has not changed...


    But... surviving doesn''t mean that much anymore. I... I just... want to get out of here.


    I don''t want to lose Lucia the way I lost Sue. I don''t want to get her killed. All I want is... to get out of here somehow.


    Because... I know I''m incapable. For this dungeon, for the creatures in it... I''m not capable enough on my own. I''m... simply powerless. I thought it was different, I believed before that I could really do this on my own... but no, I can''t.


    So... I want to get out of here as fast as I can.


    Because... if what I''m afraid of happens again, if Lucia dies in front of my eyes... like Sue... I don''t know what will happen to me, what I''ll do. Thanks for reading :)


    WindskyW

 Chapter 356 Volume V - 74: Beauty Itself

    <h4>Chapter 356 Volume V - Chapter 74: Beauty Itself</h4>


    A warmth I couldn''t quite make sense of enveloped my body... and my eyes blinked with it.


    As soon as my eyes opened slightly and my body started to regain sensation, an excruciating pain spread through all of me.


    It was so intense that I couldn''t even scream, I couldn''t even let out a simple moan. I could only... wait. I couldn''t even resist.


    Seconds passed, then minutes.


    The pain didn''t lessen, on the contrary... it increased. As if in response to my silent screams, as if it wanted to hurt me even more... non-stop.


    I fainted, but before I could even be sure if I had really fainted, the pain returned once more.


    *******


    Hours passed, maybe more... or less?


    I started to get used to the pain, slowly... still feeling it all the time.


    I kept fainting, I kept waking up. I wished to die, I wished to be saved... But no matter how much I suffered, my soul refused to leave my body. And... I kept getting used to the pain.


    Finally, after some time, I''m not sure how long, I managed to get used to it enough to regain some of my senses.


    And... the first thing I realized was that I was on a hard but cold floor. And... wet?


    Ah, that''s why it''s cold...


    I tried to lift my head, but an intense pain, iparable to any I had experienced before, suddenly shot through my neck... and everything went ck.


    *******


    I tried to lift my head again, more slowly this time.


    My blurred eyes couldn''t make out anything at first. I could only see... bright dots floating in the air, slowly falling to the ground, delicately... like a feather.


    The pain intervened again. But, this time, I tried to resist, tearing my eyes away from the bright dots and looking elsewhere.


    But... I couldn''t see anything.


    There was only darkness.


    Soon... the bright spots disappeared too.


    *******


    Who... was I?


    For some reason, I never asked that question, the pain was the only thing on my mind. As I got used to it, as I slowly regained my senses, things like... where was I was more important.


    But this time, these were the questions on my mind.


    What was my name? How old was I? Who was I? Why was I here?


    I forced myself, I did my best to remember.


    For a moment, my mind seemed to break free from the chains of pain. For a very brief moment, a name appeared in my mind. But... it fluctuated as if there was a wall between me and the name, it became something iprehensible... and then, it was gone.


    No matter how hard I tried, I could never get an answer to my questions. The wall of pain was an obstacle I could not ovee.


    *******


    My ears started to regain their ability to function. So... I started to hear something, like... the sound of water drops falling from above.


    I remembered the ground, the wetness, and the cold.


    The sounds I was hearing were indeed drops of water falling where I was. How else would the ground be wet?


    Although... it wasn''t a big deal. Why was I so focused on it?


    This time, I closed my eyes before plunging into the darkness again. I gave myself to the darkness before it took me.


    I was getting... tired.


    *******


    This time, I didn''t try to do anything.


    I just waited, just like I did at the beginning. The only difference... this time, the pain was insignificant. It was insufficient to take my mind away, to get in the way of my thoughts. Or maybe I was having trouble feeling it anymore... who knows?


    In short, it didn''t matter anymore. Sometimes, I even forgot it was there.


    But I still couldn''t remember who I was, why I was here.


    So... I gave up.


    I didn''t care.


    I just... wanted to sink into the darkness.


    *******


    I found myself looking up.


    Before, I was face down on the floor, and now... I had managed to turn a little bit.


    But just as there was nothing on the ground... there was nothing up there.


    The blue dots were still floating, yes... But where they came from, like everywhere else, was dark.


    ''Strange'', I couldn''t help but think of this word.


    I didn''t remember how I got here, I didn''t remember who I was... But it was still strange. What could I havee here to do? After all, there was nothing but darkness... What could my purpose be?


    I paused for a moment, another thought popped into my mind.


    Maybe... I didn''t want toe here... but I had no choice?


    It made sense. Because it didn''t seem like there was anything I could achieve here.


    Still... I didn''t think about it any more. I felt sleepy again. And I went back into the darkness.


    *******


    When I woke up again... my vision was better than ever. So much so that I could now see what the blue dots were floating from above.


    They were not solid, but rather... each one was a marble-sized ball of light. The drops of water were separate from them. They were like rain, actually. But their number was too small to be a rain. And for some reason, they slowed down as they approached the ground. It wasn''t hard to recognize them as they asionally fell on my face.


    But, even though I could distinguish them now, the darkness over me was the same. No matter how clearly I could see, there was nothing there. Just... endless darkness.


    I didn''t pay much attention to it, though. Because... I started to wonder... where I was, what it was like... and more. Waiting where I was, sleeping and waking up constantly became pointless after a while.


    So... I tried to sit up, but it felt impossible when I was on my back. So, I turned onto my stomach again, even if I could barely do it. My goal was to get up with the support of my arms.


    And the moment I tried... I realized what the problem was. Not only why I could get up, but why I had such a hard time moving in the first ce. After all, the answer was right in front of my eyes.


    My right arm was strangely inverted at the elbow. My left arm was the same... and so was my right leg and my left leg.


    My bones were broken, almost every one of them... I didn''t realize it because I was used to the pain at this point, but there was not a single ce in my body that was unbroken.


    Still, I didn''t care.


    So what if my body was like this? Did I care about the pain...? No, I couldn''t even feel it. All my pain receptors were dead, probably. I didn''t know how, but I was alive, and that was what mattered.


    So, I ignored everything and started to look around again, even if it was just by turning myself left and right on the floor.


    I was in a big ce, a really big ce... So big that it didn''t seem to have walls. Beyond a certain point, just like the endless darkness above me, it was not possible to see. But that didn''t mean that the whole ce was plunged into darkness.


    It was... strangely bright here. Okay, maybe not much... but enough that I could more or less make out something. And that light was provided by these blue marbles of lights.


    And, so, I continued to look around.


    The first thing I noticed... was a chain. A chaining out of the darkness, passing just to my left. When I paid more attention, I realized that it was not the only chain here.


    Two, three, four, seven, eleven, twenty... The numbers didn''t seem to have an end. But they all had one thing inmon. And that was... they were moving toward a single point of this huge ce.


    I used my chin and my right elbow to turn myself in the direction of where the chains had gone, and when I could finally see it out of the corner of my eye... I just stood there.


    No, I wasn''t shocked... Okay... maybe a little shocked, but it wasn''t shock that caused me to freeze. I was really frozen in ce, my body... not moving. It was like my brain had stopped listening to me.


    Because... what I saw was... beautiful.


    Very beautiful.


    Too beautiful.


    No... the word ''beautiful'' was not enough for her.


    How could there be such a person in the world?


    Just looking at her made me lose my mind, just seeing what she looked like out of the corner of my eye made everything fall apart.


    The existence of such a person... should not have been possible.


    But it was.


    After all, she was right in front of my eyes.


    It was easy to see what she was like as all the marbles of light in the area were slowly drawn toward her. Although... did she need them? Her very existence was bright, she didn''t need a light source to be seen.


    But that was not all. She was also gigantic, really big. She was tens of meters long. A little longer and she would have reached into the infinite darkness above...


    Both of her arms were lifted by the chains, just hanging in the air. But she was not simply ''chained''. The chains were cruelly embedded in some parts of her body, wrapped so tightly around some parts that I could see the marks. Most of her body was not even visible because of this.


    She was kneeling, not in afortable position. But... what didfort matter? After a certain point, the pain became insignificant, so it was nothing to worry about.


    Her head was bowed. Part of her face was visible through the silver hair that fell in front of her, but even that was enough to blow my mind. She had no clothes on, so every part of her was exposed where the chains could not hide. Even ces that would be inconvenient for most people were in in sight.


    But even these were unimportant.


    All that mattered was her face, no... her very existence.


    This woman... was the embodiment of beauty.


    No, it was insufficient to think that she was simply the ''embodiment'' of beauty.


    She was beauty itself.


    Just looking at her made me feel like I wasmitting a crime. I wanted to look away, to close my eyes, but... I didn''t want to at the same time.


    A deep silence enveloped my body, and for a while, I couldn''t do anything or think. I just kept looking, kept being mesmerized. With every new detail I noticed, I was drawn to her even more, as if I was losing myself...


    But that didn''tst long either.


    Because... after a short time, her motionless body finally moved.


    The chains wrapped around her body jiggled. The sounds of ttering filled the whole space and echoed in my ears.


    Her closed eyes, hidden by her hair, opened slowly, gradually. They revealed the rainbow-like jewels they hid.


    Then her head lifted slightly, her eyes, which seemed to contain every possible color, slowly turned towards me. Her closed lips separated.


    Just like the way she looked and felt, her voice was one of the most beautiful things I had ever encountered. It was delicate, elegant... a voice I shouldn''t have heard, a voice that would have gotten me executed if I had.


    And... I don''t know why, but... it was strange.


    It was as if it wasn''t just her opening his mouth, but several people talking at the same time.


    And... it was painful. It was like she could barely speak. So much so that I wanted to find the people who had done this to her and strangle them with my hands.


    But that didn''t matter either. Because... the words that came out of her mouth were stranger than anything I had ever experienced.


    It was as if... she had been waiting for this moment for a long time.


    "Finally..."


    As my eyes widened slightly, I realized the mistake I had made.


    No, not this moment...


    "Did it really take you that long to get used to the pain?"


    She was waiting especially for me.


    "Don''t make me wait any longer, human."


    She waited for me toe here, to get used to the pain, to talk to her...


    "Break these chains."

 Chapter 357 Volume V - 75: An Offer from Beauty Itself

    <h4>Chapter 357 Volume V - Chapter 75: An Offer from Beauty Itself </h4>


    For a moment, everything was silent. I looked with a nk expression towards the woman who was chained, no matter how charming or beautiful she was.


    Break the chains?


    With this body?


    After a short time, the woman must have realized this too, because she opened her mouth again. Her voice was equally beautiful, but... strange.


    "Ah, you are a weak person... you cannot move."


    What...?


    Yes, I am a weak person, maybe...


    Yes, I can''t move...


    But is there really someone or something that can move even if almost all of their bones are broken in some way...?


    "Pity..."


    This time, her voice echoed not in my ears, but in almost the entire space, and my eyes widened.


    The woman''s rainbow-like eyes twinkled slightly after her words, looking directly at me.


    No, not at me... she looked into my eyes, into my body... into my soul.


    A pain spread through my body that was very different from any pain I had ever felt. As if... as if I had been thrown into a zing me.


    But I still didn''t scream. I didn''t care.


    What if it was a different pain...? In essence, it was still the same... and equally unimportant. But, then, the chained woman''s lips parted again.


    "Oh, you''re more... different than I thought."


    Different...? Different how?


    "Interesting... how did you escape the webs of fate? You should be dead."


    The webs of fate? I don''t remember escaping anything like that... I don''t even remember who I am!


    But, well... she''s right that I should be dead, I guess.


    Though... I don''t know why, but I feel as if it''s not this situation she''s talking about. As if... this is not what I should have died of, but something else.


    "I see, I see... Oh, that''s even more interesting."


    The sparkle in her eyes faded as her eyebrows rose slightly. Yet, she remained just as beautiful.


    Although... why am I thinking like this now, when just a few seconds ago I waspletely mesmerized? I could have evenmitted suicide for this woman without even realizing it...


    "Because I let you."


    Oh...


    So she can read minds, too?


    "Such questions are trivial."


    For a moment, I didn''t think anything, I just looked at her. Then, I don''t know why... I felt likeughing.


    Of course, it''s trivial... does anything matter at all...?


    "I didn''t think you had a connection with that man... that''s really surprising."


    That man...? Which man? Who is she talking about?


    "Then... let me ask you a question."


    All my focus shifted on her. My eyes, my ears... all my senses focused only on what she was going to say next.


    "Do you want to remember who you are?"


    I paused for a moment. This time, I didn''t really think about anything. Everything in my mind just reset. Then, from the depths... one thing slowly surfaced.


    Can... Can I really remember?


    "With a small favor you can do me, yes. You can remember."


    Who I am, why I''m here, what I''m doing...?


    "And more. And not only will you remember..."


    Even though she was quite far away, I saw her lips curve slightly upwards. Her eyes, which resembled a rainbow, were narrowed a little.


    "I am intrigued, human. At first, I was thinking of using that half-elf, although the weapon he would have brought with him would have been useful too... But you... You are different. So not only will I make you remember, I will free you from the ''mediocrity'' you have hated all your life."


    Thest sentence reyed in my mind. I didn''t really care about the rest of what she said, I had no idea what half-elf or weapon she was talking about. But... getting out of the mediocrity... for some reason, it stirred something inside me.


    "All you have to do is reach out to me. Then, you will remember, you will no longer be ''ordinary''. Once you wake up, you''ll break my chains... and I''ll get you, and your friends, out of here. What do you say?"


    I thought about it for a while, reying what she said over and over in my mind, over and over again.


    To be able to remember who I am... that''s something I desire.


    And I''m not going to be ordinary anymore, which I''ve actually hated all my life, is that it?


    Maybe... Just maybe, that''s why I came here in the first ce?


    As I thought about these and other things, I became aware of the desire growing inside me.


    I want... I really want to listen to her words and move toward her... And, yet, there is a hesitation in me. A tiny doubt that I can''t make sense of.


    There''s something wrong, something I''m missing...


    What could it be?


    I looked at the woman again. Her eyes were on me, but she didn''t look like she was going to say anything. She was just... watching. Silently, expressionlessly...


    I looked at her face, I studied her body... and then... I stopped on something... on one of the chains wrapped around her body.


    Really, now that I think about it... why is this woman chained here?


    "Your questions are pointless, human. I''ve had enemies like everyone else, of course. Are you too stupid to think that?"


    Well, she''s not wrong...


    But why can''t I get rid of this uneasiness inside me?


    Am I... am I really going to do the right thing?


    "My patience is wearing thin. I''m the only reason you''re still alive, human, despite the condition of your body. And you are not my only choice. If I wait a little longer, there are others who will get here... You''re nothing special, you''ve just managed to attract my attention and that''s why I''m giving you a choice. Make your decision quickly."


    If I could, I would have clenched my fist and teeth. It was hard to fight against the hesitation inside me. No matter what the woman said, no matter what she did, I couldn''t get rid of it. On the contrary... it seemed to grow bigger.


    But...


    Yet...


    I...


    I''ve finally made up my mind.


    So what if I''m hesitating...? So what if there''s an uneasiness inside me that I can''t shake?


    I''vee this far, I''ve evene back from the dead... at least in a different way. I don''t even remember who I am!


    Even if she''s deceiving me, even if it won''t end well for me... does it matter?


    Worst case scenario... I die, like I should have in the first ce.


    Right?


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her lips curve upwards, but I didn''t care, because it wasn''t a smile with any emotion. It wasn''t sly, it wasn''t really happy... it was just a simple smile.


    And so... I threw my right elbow forward, pushed my chin slightly ahead, and then used the two to pull my body toward her.


    The pain radiating through my body multiplied, I even... actually felt some of it.


    But I didn''t care, I dragged myself further and further. Again, and again... and again.


    The seconds ticked by. Minutes turned into more minutes.


    Step by step, inch by inch, I kept getting closer to her.


    She didn''t say anything, nor did I think anything. All I could hear in this space at the bottom of the endless darkness was the sound of water drops falling from above and the sound of my crawling, but I kept going.


    The closer I got to the woman, the more light fell on me, and with it... heat. I felt a sense of relief as the cold that had been steadily seeping into my body slowly receded, it would have been nice to get some rest...


    But no, I didn''t stop. I kept going. I crawled and crawled... for my memories, for my ''desire'', which I didn''t even know why I desired it.


    As I got closer and closer to the woman... this time, I started to feel something different.


    It was a kind of pain I had never felt before, different even from the burning sensation I had just felt. It was like... something was trying to stop me. No, her ''presence'' was so superior that I was forbidden to even be around her... It was as if the world was refusing me to be here and to approach this woman. It was as if it was slowly tearing me apart, punishing me for every inch I got closer to her...


    But I didn''t stop.


    And, finally... maybe after hours of effort... I managed to reach her.


    She was truly gigantic. I could see that even more easily when I was this close to her. After all... only her toes were as big as my head. I would have had to bend my head abnormally to see her face.


    But I didn''t need to. Because I could still hear her voice.


    "Touch me, you don''t have to do anything else."


    I didn''t bother to nod. I just stretched my right elbow, the one I had been using to drag myself up until now, as far as I could, then... I touched the tip of her big toe.


    For a while, nothing happened, literally nothing... Silence enveloped my body again, the uneasiness inside me grew greater than ever.


    Just when I was wondering if I had made a mistake... my eyes widened and my mouth hung open.


    Memories flooded my mind one after another. My childhood, my experiences, my name, why I was here... Adrian and Lucia, that one-eyed creature, the bottomless pit...


    "Ah..."


    In the end, that was the first and only word that came out of my mouth in this whole time that I''ve been in this ce.


    And then... everything suddenly became bright. First, the woman''s body, and then this whole ce...


    "Well done, human."


    The thinyer of water covering the ground rippled, as if it was being pulled toward me. The moss-like nts here and there stirred. They approached me like... vines.


    "You managed to reach me. Now, I have to keep my promise... right?"


    Each of the water droplets gathered around me, enveloping and enveloping my body as if forming a gigantic water droplet... The vines reached me at this very moment. They surrounded the water droplet, moved under my body, and lifted me into the air...


    "It won''t take long, don''t worry... I''ll see you again in a few hours."


    My vision darkened, the water went into my nose and mouth as the vines wrapped around me like a cocoon.


    "For now, sleep well..."

 Chapter 358 Volume V - 76: The Last Hurdle of the Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 358 Volume V - Chapter 76: The Last Hurdle of the Dungeon</h4>


    The soothing blue energy he had been using so oftentely enveloped his body once more. It was quickly drawn into his right fist, concentrated.


    Soon, the mana joined it.


    He didn''t care to be noticed, he didn''t care to be pounced upon by the creature in the darkness.


    He just... clenched his fist, tensed it, and waited.


    A few meters stood between him and the creature.


    And, still, he waited.


    A few inches between the creature''s w and his face.


    And, finally, he stopped waiting.


    The breath he had been holding was released. Without changing the position of his feet, he twisted his body, causing the creature''s attack to meet the void. But he did not stop. He grabbed its arm with his left hand, pulling it downward.


    The creature tried to take advantage of this. Its jaws, full of sharp teeth, opened wide, ready to take a huge bite out of his stomach... but at that very moment, he swung the fist he had clenched so far at its face.


    I watched as its teeth shattered, I saw its skull fracture, and even though I wasn''t the one punching it, I could feel its brain disintegrating in my own fist.


    Yet, Adrian was not satisfied with just that. He opened all his clenched fingers, grasped the creature''s head, which was disfigured by the shattered skull. Then, he mmed it into the ground as hard as he could.


    A slight cloud of dust rose into the air, obscuring my vision. A final crash echoed through the cave, or rather... a punch. Then, a deep silence fell.


    Adrian emerged from the dust cloud, his fist bloodied. His dull eyes turned to mine, not seeming to care about the dripping blood from his fist.


    "That was thest of the creatures."


    At his words, the dust cloud dispersed enough to expose the entire corridor, revealing the carnage that happened there.


    There were four creatures of the same species on the floor, two of them parents and two offspring.


    One of the cubs had a huge hole in its chest, killed by a single, sudden attack.


    The other cub''s body was split into three pieces. Its death also seemed to have been quick.


    One of the parents had one of its arms brutally severed from its body, killed by a spear through its skull into its torso.


    Thest creature was... punched to death, just seconds ago.


    Each of these creatures was C+ grade. The hatchlings were C, though, yes... But...


    Adrian expressionlessly removed his spear from the creature he had impaled in the skull as I watched him. Then, he turned back to me.


    "Let''s continue."


    I couldn''t say anything, I could only nod, keeping my eyes fixed on the floor.


    "Okay..."


    And Adrian turned around, moving slowly down the cave corridors.


    He had been like this ever since he lost Sue. It had been almost a week since it had happened, but... he couldn''t get over it. So much so... that he had be ruthless, more violent than he normally was.


    If we spotted a powerful creature, we would hide and wait for it to sleep or get away from us. That''s how we got this far...


    But what we fought was different. Adrian made sure that every single creature he had to fight was dead in the end, not a single one of them was allowed to make onest attempt with a heavy wound. He was scared, terrified that they would try to escape, just like that one-eyed creature had done. It wasn''t hard to understand.


    I looked at his back as I walked behind him, and I couldn''t stop my eyes from narrowing.


    I''m sorry too. I also wish things hadn''t turned out like this.


    But it''s toote, the past is the past.


    There''s... There''s nothing we can do.


    Especially in a ce like this, in a dungeon where our lives are in danger at any moment, we have to try to survive before we can mourn.


    Only after we get back to Lunerra can we truly grieve. I... I''m sure that''s what Sue would want, too.


    It''s not that Adrian doesn''t realize it.


    But... he doesn''t care. And I... I don''t really know what to do about it.


    Should I let him continue like this? Should I try to talk to him somehow?


    What if... what if I make the situation worse?


    I let out a deep sigh, refocused.


    We''re okay for now, I guess... But I''ve made up my mind. If this continues for a while, I''ll talk to him, I won''t put it off any longer.


    I nodded my head in agreement.


    The next time we go for a rest, I''ll discuss this a little more. For now... it''s better not to disturb him.


    So, I cleared my mind of these thoughts, slightly widened the me I was using to light our path, and focused on our path rather than Adrian.


    The cave... had changed a lot during this one week.


    The corridors were much wider now. And... it was also much warmer inside.


    Thanks to the Temperature Stabilization, it wasn''t much of a problem for me. But it was hard to ignore because Adrian was constantly sweating. I could tell it was ufortable just by looking at his face.


    So why had the cave gotten so hot? The reason was simple... because we kept going further and further underground. During this one week, the corridors had a constant downward slope. Sometimes it was almost like a downhill slide.


    We went so deep that, if I am not mistaken, we must have been one and a half to two kilometers below the in.


    With that thought, something else urred to me, and I couldn''t help frowning slightly.


    This cave... how much deeper will it go?


    Are we really on the right track? I... can''t be sure at this point.


    But still-!


    My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the thing I bumped into. I raised my sword in self-defense as I looked around, but what I saw... was only Adrian''s back. That''s what I bumped into.


    "Adrian...?"


    I took a few steps back, rxed a little, although I didn''t lower my sword. Then, I called his name again as I turned my eyes in front of us.


    "Adrian, hey?"


    But then... I paused too, my eyes fixed on a single point, a deep silence enveloping the cave.


    "This..."


    The slope of the cave had finallye to an end, there was a truly straight corridor ahead of us.


    But that was not the important thing. Because... this straight corridor was blocked by something.


    "A huge door...?"


    Yes, what was in front of us was... literally a huge door. But it was not a simple ''door''.


    It was a door with countless skeletons in front of it. Truly innumerable skeletons... So much so that after a few steps, the floor was no longer visible. It was only full of bones that were dusted or about to be dusted.


    "It''s not just a giant door, Lucia."


    My eyes widened at Adrian''s words, the gears in my head finally clicked into ce and my mouth fell open. Surprised, a little scared, but mostly... after so long, finally, truly hopeful.


    "It''s the door of the Boss room."


    *******


    I couldn''t help clenching my fist as I looked at the door in front of me.


    We had made it. We had finally made it to the boss room. The end of this dungeon was indeed near.


    But... Sue wasn''t with us.


    There were two of us, not three.


    And not only that.


    Normally, boss rooms are guarded by mini-bosses. It was amon feature of every Recta-type dungeon. The countless skeletons in front of the door were proof of this.


    However... there was no mini-boss in sight.


    This dungeon, which was different from normal dungeons in every single aspect, was also different here.


    The mini-boss was already dead, somewhere in this endless pile of bones. I was sure.


    So... as long as I entered the boss room alone, it was impossible for us to suffer any casualties. At this point, once Lucia and Sue were inside, they would simply have to hide and it would all be over.


    So... Sue was dead because of one simple, little mistake on my part.


    And the more I thought about it... the more frustrated I got.


    "Adrian..."


    When Lucia''s voice echoed in my ears, I snapped out of my thoughts and turned slightly around. Lucia... opened her mouth again, her red eyes showing traces of concern.


    "How about we get some rest? We''d better make the best of the boss room, right?"


    She was right. This moment was... probably the most important moment in this whole dungeon. What was going to happen in the boss room was really important.


    But... did I want to wait any longer?


    My mana reserves were almost full, and I hadn''t used a single bit of my mana storing ring. My body wasn''t aching or anything. It hadn''t been long since thest time we rested, after all.


    "No, let''s go straight to the boss room. My body is fine and my mana reserves are full. We''ll only waste time."


    I took a deep breath and looked into her eyes.


    "Don''t you want to get out of here as fast as possible?"


    Lucia couldn''t say anything. She could only bow her head and let out a deep sigh like me.


    "I..."


    It was as if even she was unsure of what she was going to say. But, finally, she clenched her fist and answered honestly.


    "Yes, I do."


    "Then..."


    I turned back to the door of the boss room and approached it with slow but confident steps. When I was right in front of it, I waited for a while.


    I inhaled a deep, really deep breath, then slowly exhaled it. I braced myself onest time, then ced both my hands on the door.


    "Let''s go."


    I pushed the door with all my strength. The whole cave started to tremble slightly, the dust on the door fell one by one to the floor... and it started to open with a loud noise.


    It was really heavy, it was straining my muscles... But I didn''t stop, I didn''t even rest. I pushed and pushed until I got the opening we needed to pass through... When I finally got the opening I wanted, I paused, stepped back slightly, and looked behind the door.


    What I saw was... endless darkness.


    There was a tiny light ahead, but it was so small that it seemed to be at least half a kilometer away.


    Thest hurdle of this dungeon was right in front of my eyes.


    It was waiting for us.


    *(A/N: I wanted to do a little mass release as the end of this volume is near. I will probably upload three chapters again tomorrow, but I''m not sure about the day after that. Though, this volume will probably end in two or three days. We will talk again in the epilogue. For now... thanks for reading as always.)*

 Chapter 359 Volume V - 77: The Boss Room

    <h4>Chapter 359 Volume V - Chapter 77: The Boss Room</h4>


    The boss room... was really big. In fact, it was the biggest I''ve ever been in in my life.


    Although... was it right to simply call it a ''room''? It was more like... an extremely big ce.


    As I passed through the opening in the door, I continued to examine inside.


    Everything was pitch ck. My vision... was limited to three or four meters, beyond which it seemed to disappear into infinity.


    Yet there was one thing I could see quite clearly. Somewhere up ahead, really far ahead... there were lights that kept moving.


    I narrowed my eyes, trying to focus on the only bright spot in the room, but then paused. My eyes moved slightly down to my feet.


    The floor was... wet. And the moment I realized that, I felt the drop that fell on my hair.


    This time, I turned my eyes upward. I tried to perceive where the drops of water wereing from, but... the only thing above was endless darkness.


    I gripped my spear tightly. I don''t know why, but... something didn''t feel right here. I had an ominous feeling.


    "Lucia,e with distance between us. And, needless to say... be careful."


    I didn''t receive any reply, but I didn''t feel the need to check her with the sound of footsteps behind me.


    My focus turned again toward the bright field in the distance. This time, I looked at it with a little mana in my eyes.


    "Huh...?"


    I couldn''t help but make that sound, so much so that Lucia became slightly agitated. But I didn''t care, or rather... couldn''t care.


    Because... all I could see when I looked there was arge, abnormal blur.


    Slightly confused, I examined it more generally.


    I can see a lot of chains, literally a lot. Chains from all sides, moving toward the center of this ce and meeting there.


    And the things that seem to be moving are like tiny balls of light floating down from above. They are also... being drawn toward a point.


    But... I can see neither where the chains nor the balls of light are gathering, it''s just... blurry.


    An unnatural blur for sure.


    My brows furrowed, the fingers holding my spear tightened. Yet... despite all this strangeness, I began to move forward slowly.


    Each step was slow but careful.


    I was ready for attacks from anywhere, even in a position to grab Lucia and run away if the need arose.


    Nevertheless, I kept moving forward, getting closer to that abnormal blur.


    Lucia was following me from behind. Just as I had told her, she had put a slight distance between us, but not too far. Even if I didn''t turn around and look at her face, I was sure that she was checking here and there, that she was nervous even if she tried to look calm.


    And, so, the distance between me and the blur went from half a kilometer to four hundred meters.


    Still, nothing had happened, everything was quiet. Too quiet, in fact... All we could hear was the sound of our own footsteps.


    And... it also felt like it was getting colder. I had been struggling with the ufortable heat for days because we were who knows how deep underground, but here... it was getting cooler as we moved forward.


    Finally... the abnormal blur that we were approaching was getting bigger and bigger. It wasn''t really getting bigger, of course... it seemed that way because of the distance between us. But it was getting truly gigantic.


    If I had to take a guess... I would say it was somewhere between twenty and thirty meters long.


    And so, we went on for another hundred meters. Again, there was no change except that the air was getting cooler and cooler...


    But then... I realized that the sound of footsteps behind me had slowed down, or even stoppedpletely.


    I turned around slowly, a little scared... but Lucia was still in front of me. There was no danger in the surroundings.


    "Luc-"


    I paused when I saw the expression on her face. She looked surprised, even too surprised... almost shocked. Her eyes were on the floor, looking slightly to our left.


    I slowly turned toward the same ce, looking down.


    What I saw... was the first different thing in this huge ce where there was nothing but darkness and water.


    It was blood. A lot of blood.


    It was mixed with the thinyer of water on the floor and... it was spread over quite arge area. It was scattered in such a way that... whoever it belonged to must have stuck to the floor like a fly.


    But that wasn''t the only thing about it.


    The owner of this blood had either survived or had been dragged... by something. Because the blood, which was scattered randomly around, became a straight line at one point and continued on. And where it was moving... was where the abnormal blur was.


    I swallowed involuntarily, tore my eyes away from the blood trail, and turned them back toward the blur. No matter how much I examined it, no matter how hard I tried, it was the same. I could never grasp or perceive what it was.


    "Let''s keep moving forward."


    Lucia finally took her eyes off the bloodstains and looked at me. I don''t know why, but... she seemed distracted. As if she had something on her mind.


    She waited a short while without answering me. When her eyes finally left me, they drifted upward, toward the ceiling. More precisely into the endless darkness... and she looked there for a while. But, then, she sighed lightly, closed her eyes, and shook her head from side to side.


    "Okay..."


    When she opened her eyes again, she seemed more determined.


    For a moment, I wondered what she was thinking. I couldn''t understand what was going through her mind. But I didn''t dwell on it too much. After all, we had to move on. And so we did.


    We kept approaching the blur, just like the trail of blood right next to us. Another hundred meters, then another...


    Finally, when there were only about ten to fifteen meters between us... some things could be seen more clearly.


    The water here seemed to have receded a bit, first of all. The drops of water falling from above were not absent, nor had they diminished in number... But for some reason, the ground was not as wet as before. And the blur had be... very strange. Even though we were almost standing right next to it, we still couldn''t make out anything. It was just tall, with chains and balls of light being pulled toward it, and... huge. And that was it. Nothing more, nothing less.


    But, strange as it was, there was now something even more noticeable than that at this point.


    The trail of blood had continued uninterrupted up to here. So much so that I had begun to question how its owner could have so much blood. It seemed almost impossible... it was absurd even for gigantic creatures to have so much blood.


    But the truth was right in front of my eyes. And these tracks finally stopped when they came in front of the gigantic blur. On top of that... it was no longer simply a ''trail''.


    "What... is this...?"


    Lucia''s voice echoed in my ears. She was more agitated than usual, but at the same time careful. It was understandable. But I was as bewildered as she was.


    "I... don''t know..."


    In front of us was a... sphere that looked like it was made of vines. No, it was wrong to call it a sphere exactly... it was shaped like an egg, ''ellipsoid'' would probably be a better word, as I remember from the academy.


    It stood slightly above the ground, like a blur, pulling some of the balls of light around it toward itself. Vines were attached to it on all sides, just like... blood vessels.


    It was like a cocoon. A cocoon made only of... vines.


    Without letting my guard down, I took my eyes off the mass of vines and looked around. There didn''t seem to be any danger, it was as if we were alone in this huge ce. Even when I spread my mana around me, there was no reaction or movement.


    Narrowing my eyes, I looked at the trail of blood, how it had been cut just below the cocoon of vines. When I looked again... I was now sure.


    Whoever the owner of these bloodstains was... inside those vines.


    "But... aren''t we in a boss room?"


    The only sign of any living thing was the cocoon in front of us.


    And we were in a boss room.


    So... the most likely option was quite obvious.


    "Maybe the boss is inside this?"


    I pointed my spear at the cocoon, but waited before acting immediately.


    Lucia didn''t say anything, she was silent. But that didn''tst long either.


    "What about this... blur?"


    "We can''t even perceive what it is... doesn''t it make more sense to try the more likely option first? I''m pretty sure that something capable of bleeding to this degree in a B grade dungeon is dangerous."


    Lucia said nothing more. She couldn''t. But, even then... she was worried a little.


    "You''re sure you can kill it, right? I... I don''t know why, but I have a bad feeling


    about this."


    I contracted the fingers holding my spear, I started to swirl my mana inside me. That was my answer to Lucia, rather than any words... and she understood it as she started to back away. At the same time, I began to approach the cocoon.


    The mana continued to gather in my body, in my spear. But I didn''t stop there, I also reached for the ordea, as I always do. And as always, it responded to my desires.


    Eventually, there was only one meter between me and the cocoon.


    I positioned myself for Qilsak''s first movement. With a single, lethal attack, I was going to kill the thing inside the cocoon before it had a chance to react, so I poured most of what I had into this moment, even if I wasn''t using everything I had because I was still uneasy with the blur.


    I didn''t see any reaction from the cocoon until this moment, it just stayed where it was. But, after a short time, as if realizing the mana I had concentrated on myself... the surface of the vines suddenly rippled.


    I spun my spear in a slow motion, continuing to gather strength for my attack. The vines began to recede, the shell of the cocoon slowly opening. A liquid that looked like water flowed out of it.


    But such things were unimportant.


    Because I was going to kill it before it even realized what was happening.


    I let go of the breath I was holding, and with the amount of mana I had gathered, I swung my spear, which weighed tons thanks to my style, at the cocoon with one intention... to kill it.


    However...


    "H- huh?!"


    The balls of light that had been hovering around us suddenly stopped, then just as quickly retreated in front of the vine. The huge room in darkness was suddenly illuminated with a brilliant light, the source of which was... the cocoon in front of me.


    I gritted my teeth, I put even more weight on my spear than I already had. I didn''t give up.


    And, in the midst of all this chaos, the spear met the vines.


    No, rather... it didn''t.


    Instead of the vines, it met the wall of light gathering just in front of them.


    My eyes widened. My spear, despite the enormous force I had put into it, slipped through my fingers as if... it had bounced off an overly durable stic material.


    "I- imposs-!"


    I didn''t even have time to finish my sentence. As the spear bounced back, my body was subjected to the same force, and my feet were suddenly knocked off the ground.


    An ear-splitting explosion echoed through the room, the brilliant light grew brighter... and then everything went ck.

 Chapter 360 Volume V - 78: The Body in the Cocoon

    <h4>Chapter 360 Volume V - Chapter 78: The Body in the Cocoon</h4>


    "Ugh¡­"


    A slight tremor spread through my body, apanied by a slight ache.


    It wasn''t bad, though. It wasn''t even something I should take seriously.


    I opened and closed my eyes several times to rify them, trying to sit up from where I was lying.


    The first thing I saw was... darkness. Darkness with no end in sight.


    Immediately after that, something fell on my face... a drop of cold water.


    For a moment, my whole body froze, my eyes widened. I remembered where I was, why I was in this situation.


    I stood up as fast as I could, turned to the cocoon of vines, and took a defensive position.


    There were about twenty-five meters between me and the cocoon. It hadpletely disintegrated, the ground was covered with a strange liquid that looked like water. A body was barely visible among the fallen vines. It was lying on the ground. Part of its body was covered with vines, so I couldn''t tell what it was, but... it looked like a woman.


    I swallowed, kept my position, and checked my surroundings.


    Lucia was not far away. She must have been thrown backward like me, but she was closer to the cocoon. She must have woken up at almost the same time as me because she was holding her head.


    I approached her with slow, careful steps. But my eyes were always on the body emerging from the cocoon. I would react at the slightest movement.


    So, I reached Lucia and spoke in a low voice.


    "Are you okay?"


    Lucia''s whole body froze in an instant. She looked at me and then at the cocoon with widened eyes. It took her a short time to calm down, though. She slowly stood up, although the worry and uneasiness on her face did notpletely disappear.


    "I... I''m fine. You?"


    "I''m not injured."


    I tore my eyes away from the body in the cocoon for a brief moment and turned them to the blur not far away from it. It was still the same, impossible to perceive what it was.


    "Did you see where my spear flew?"


    Lucia shook her head from side to side as I sighed slightly.


    "Then... I will approach the cocoon again, we need to understand what happened, stay behind me."


    She opened her mouth for a moment as if to protest, her eyes had left the cocoon and turned to me. But then she paused, closed her mouth again.


    "Okay..."


    And both our focus returned to the body in the vines.


    We moved slowly at first, quietly at the same time. Because whatever it was... we didn''t want it to wake up. It was best if we could sneak up to it without it noticing anything.


    And so we continued, the distance between us decreasing and decreasing, more and more details emerging.


    First of all... the body was definitely that of a woman. She was naked except for the vines that vaguely covered her. She seemed to have long ck hair that stuck to her body and the ground because it was wet, but it was impossible to see her face. She looked to be in her early twenties.


    And... she lookedpletely human. She didn''t have any features that resembled a creature. She was just... a simple human being.


    I couldn''t help frowning as I continued to approach her.


    Am I under an illusion or is there something else involved...


    What''s a human being doing here?


    I wouldn''t be so surprised if we were in an Alius-type dungeon, but... this was a Recta. The only things found inside Rectas were creatures. There might be some that resembled humans, of course... but a real ''human''? I''d never heard of such a thing in my life.


    And that made me even more alert than I usually was.


    "Huh?"


    I paused when I heard Lucia''s voiceing from just behind me. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye and saw her eyes widen. She was staring at the body with dted eyes.


    My brow furrowed even more.


    "What happened-"


    But she didn''t even wait for me to finish, she didn''t even focus on me. She took a slow step forward, then another.


    "Lucia, don''t get ahead of me. You have to stay behind me. Tell me what happened."


    She didn''t listen to me, she elerated her steps even more. It was only when I moved in front of her that she finally gave me a reaction. Her red eyes met mine, her whole body trembled.


    "A- Adrian... that thing..."


    I clicked my tongue and moved to the side, making sure the body in the vines was in my line of sight.


    "What? What is that thing? Did you notice something?"


    "S- she looks like Sue..."


    I looked at her with a nk expression, not quite understanding what she was saying.


    Ah, I must have misheard...


    "Say it again...?"


    Lucia raised her hand this time, pointed to the body lying on the ground, and repeated.


    "Sue... That thing looks like Sue..."


    I slowly turned my head toward the body, this time really focusing on it.


    Her height, the length and color of her hair...


    The look on Lucia''s face became my own as I processed more details in my mind.


    "Bullshit."


    I started moving forward again, this time not caring too much about my guard. I finally reached the vines of the cocoon, but I trampled them without a care in the world. There was no reaction, no hostile feeling, my ring was silent...


    "Impossible..."


    She was lying on her side, her hair hiding her whole face. But I didn''t care, my ring was still quieter.


    From my dimensional inventory, I took out one of the spears I kept in reserve just in case, and using the pointed end, I slowly pulled aside the hair blocking her face. I did no harm, not even a scratch on her skin. Finally, when her face was fully exposed... I just stood there.


    "W- what is this...?"


    Lucia came to my side immediately after my words. She looked at the face of the body, and her reaction was the same.


    Because... she was right.


    But she was also wrong.


    The person in front of us certainly looked like Sue, but... was also very different from her.


    Sue had an ordinary body and face. Her eyes were perhaps the only thing that stood out about her. Otherwise, she was just one of those girls I''d see walking down the street.


    But the person in front of us was... different.


    Her hair was much more vibrant than Sue''s, both in color and type, although I couldn''t tell because it was wet. The tiny freckles and moles on her face were all gone. Her features were sharper. She seemed to have lost some weight, even her body was far from ''ordinary''.


    She gave off a Lucia-like air around her. Almost... almost as attractive as her.


    "This is bullshit..."


    I clenched my fist, clenched my teeth, gripped the spear tightly in my hand, and prepared to attack the... thing... in front of me.


    Because it was impossible.


    It couldn''t be possible.


    It was just an illusion... or a hideous creature mimicking her appearance. It was the most logical thing it could be.


    But, then, I paused. Suddenly, something moved in my head and the pieces of the puzzle fell into ce as if they had been put together.


    With that sudden thought in mind, I turned around and looked at the ground, or rather at the trail of blood that led here.


    The spot where they started... didn''t it look like what would happen if someone fell from too high up?


    My eyes widened, my mind filled with a hundred different thoughts at once.


    But... how had she survived?


    Judging by the bloodstains, her fall hadn''t slowed in any way. No, on the contrary... she had fallen in such a way that she should have died immediately.


    How had she managed to keep crawling even after losing so much blood? Even if somehow, by some miracle, she had survived, crawling for almost three hundred meters was... impossible.


    It simply wasn''t humanly possible.


    So... a creature using her body, perhaps?


    A parasite-type creature that had invaded and used her lifeless body?


    After all... how could she enter a ''cocoon'' ande out like that?


    It''s not like there aren''t parasite-type creatures that evolve their hosts.


    As these and other thoughts continued to upy my mind, I felt anger rising inside me.


    If what I was thinking was true...


    It was not enough that she had fallen this far, that she had died in despair... her body had been used by a creature.


    My vision blurred for a moment, I gripped my spear again. I didn''t use mana, I didn''t reach for the ordea, I just attacked her out of pure rage.


    At least that was my intention.


    But... I couldn''t.


    I couldn''t attack.


    Because there was a tiny, little hesitation in me.


    What if... when she wakes up... what if it''s really Sue?


    What if I kill her a second time?


    I was scared, I was scared of making another mistake.


    But... if this thing was really the kind of creature I thought it was, it was most likely to be the boss of the dungeon.


    That meant it would be at least a B grade, maybe a B+ grade.


    It wasn''t going to be a simple fight.


    I couldn''t make up my mind what to do, I was going back and forth between the two options... when suddenly I paused. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a change and my eyes became clear again, shifting back to the body lying on the floor. More precisely... the index finger.


    Because I saw a tiny, small movement in that finger.


    And I soon realized that I was not mistaken.


    The same finger moved again, this time a little more distinctly. Her eyelids flickered through her hair, then slowly opened.


    They were the same eyes. The same dark blue eyes... but much more beautiful than I remembered, just like every other detail about her.


    And I... after seeing her eyes... forgot everything in my mind. My spear slipped through my fingers and fell to the ground. I could only look at the person in front of me.


    And then, she also looked back at me.

 Chapter 361 Volume V - 79: The Thing Behind the Blur

    <h4>Chapter 361 Volume V - Chapter 79: The Thing Behind the Blur </h4>


    The first thing I could feel was... cold. A strange cold that enveloped my whole body.


    And the darkness behind my closed eyes, a familiar one.


    It didn''t take me long to realize I was awake, I reflexively moved my finger. I was on a wet floor, a little... sticky. And cold.


    I paused for a moment. Slowly, everything came into my mind. What happened, why I was here... I remembered touching that extremely beautiful woman, being surrounded by water and vines. And then... nothing.


    I tried to remember, I pushed my mind, but... nothing happened. I had no memory of anything after that moment.


    I moved my finger again, and then my eyes narrowed slightly. Immediately afterward... I realized how strange it was.


    There was no pain, nowhere in my body hurt, and I could move my fingers as I wanted. I felt like my normal self.


    No... I was even better than before, as light as a feather.


    The woman had kept her promise...


    I finally opened my eyes, which I hadn''t done more than a little bit of stirring, and there was none of the blurriness that every person experienced when waking up from sleep. Everything was clear, too clear, even... It was amazing to be able to see so well.


    But... there was something strange. I... was not alone. I could see two pairs of feet standing in front of me.


    I slowly raised my eyes upward, looking at the owner of the foremost pair of feet, and what I saw... was a pair of emerald-green eyes. He was a handsome guy with silver hair. Behind him stood a girl with blood-red eyes and blonde hair.


    Their clothes were covered in dirt, blood, and dust. They were torn in ces, even threadbare. Their skin was the same way. They looked like... as if they hade out of hell.


    They both had the same expression on their faces. In a word... shock. They looked like they were in shock.


    I didn''t do anything for a while. I didn''t move, I didn''t move a finger. I didn''t even blink. I just... kept looking at those emerald-green eyes. And they kept looking at me the same way.


    But, then... suddenly... other memories popped into my mind as I was left standing there.


    Aren''t these... Adrian and Lucia?


    "S- Sue...?"


    Lucia spoke first, she took one step toward me but didn''t continue. It was like... she was scared. But, then, Adrian slowly moved in front of her.


    The shock was still on his face, it hadn''t diminished in the slightest. But... that same shock had now been oveid with a new expression. His brow was furrowed, his eyes hesitant. But at the same time careful.


    Why...?


    "Sue... is that... you?"


    I didn''t know how to react to his question.


    What do you mean, is that me? Can''t you see I''m in front of you?


    And... why are you looking at me like I''m your enemy...?


    "I- is it really you?"


    I remained silent, but with his question came my answer.


    No, he wasn''t looking at me like I was his enemy. He... he was afraid that I might be an enemy. That''s why he was on guard.


    I tried to open my mouth to answer, but... I paused with a strange numbness in my throat.


    It didn''t take me long to push the talking aside, the numbness in my throat was slowly going away anyway. But I didn''t want to stay still.


    I slowly tried to get up from where I was lying. The moment I did, both Adrian and Lucia took a step back, their expressions much more serious now. They were both ready to attack or defend themselves at the slightest movement.


    But I didn''t care about them. I wanted to be able to sit up properly first. Lying like that in front of them... it was ufortable.


    So, I got up slowly, trying to get into a sitting position so as not to frighten them even more. But then... I felt something sliding right over my shoulder, my eyes shifted from the two of them to myself. And what I saw... was a piece of vine just above my skin.


    My eyes locked on my skin for a moment. It was clean, shiny even... I didn''t look like someone who had been crawling in this dungeon for weeks. In fact... it wasn''t just clean and shiny. It was smooth, t... beautiful.


    When the vine fell away, I paused, realizing another problem, the strangeness of my skin suddenly became unimportant.


    Am I... naked?


    My face suddenly became ugly. I quickly grabbed some of the pieces of vine around me, trying to cover myself a little. Then, I looked back at Adrian and Lucia.


    They looked even more surprised than they had just been.


    When I realized that the numbness in my throat had passed a little more, I opened my mouth, trying to say something... but then I paused again. My eyes widened, I felt something rising up my throat.


    I turned onto my side and... I started to vomit.


    There wasn''t any food in the things I threw up. It was just... a mixture of water and a liquid that looked like water.


    I was vomiting so much that my body felt lighter and lighter. But... it hurt just as much.


    When I finally finished vomiting... this time, I started coughing. I coughed until my lungs felt like they were on fire, then I vomited once more.


    It was only after all this that I could finally rx, I could breathe again. I was gasping for air, and I had a really disgusting taste in my mouth...


    After a short moment, I paused, raised my eyes from the floor again, and looked at the two who were just watching everything from where they were.


    This time, they looked scared... like they would attack if I came even a centimeter closer to them.


    "Ah..."


    When my throat finally cleared and the numbness was gone, that was the only thing that came out of my mouth, but I didn''t follow up. I was surprised. My own voice... it felt strange. Like it was different than it normally was. More... delicate?


    "Sue...?"


    At the sound of Adrian''s voice, I turned toward him, then smiled slightly. His eyes widened, and Lucia''s face became even more shocked than it already was.


    And I was finally able to speak normally.


    "Yes...?"


    *******


    The words echoed in my ears and all I could do was... stare.


    But I asked again.


    "I- is that really you?"


    Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she looked at me with a nk expression.


    "Do I look like someone else...?"


    I wanted to say yes. Because... she really did look like someone else. But I still didn''t care.


    "B- but... you fell... you fell in front of my eyes..."


    Her eyes stopped focusing on me for a moment, her eyelids narrowed. Sighing slightly, she shifted to a more proper sitting position, not letting go of the vine she held over her chest.


    "Yes, I fell. But I''m alive."


    Her eyes were on the trail of blood that led to the spot where she had been, her expression a little ugly. It was as if... she didn''t want to remember.


    "H- how...?"


    She looked a little surprised when her eyes turned back to me.


    Immediately afterward, her eyes widened a little and she looked at us with a nk expression.


    "Wait... you..."


    She slowly turned around, looking up. She gazed up toward the top of the huge blur we were standing next to. Then, she turned back to us, pointing with her finger to the spot she had just been looking at.


    "Can''t you see her...?"


    But instead of answering, this time, I asked a question in surprise.


    "Can you... can you see what that thing is?"


    She looked at me as if I was strange, as if... I couldn''t recognize something that was right in front of my eyes.


    But that was really the case.


    We couldn''t see what that thing was.


    So... how could she see it?


    I opened my mouth, tempted to ask a question again, but then... this huge ce, which until now had only been covered in darkness, suddenly lit up.


    The ground began to tremble slightly, and the balls of light from the sky slowed down as they stopped where they were, as if time had frozen. But... instead of doing just that, they began to glow even more violently.


    Everything happened in an instant. It was so sudden that I didn''t even have time to react properly. I had used my arms to shield myself from the blinding light, I had closed my eyes, when... I realized that everything had ended as it had begun.


    I slowly withdrew my arms and opened my eyes just as slowly.


    No, it hadn''t ended as it had started...


    This huge, dark ce was now faintly illuminated. Each ball of light floating in the air acted like amp, making our surroundings easier to perceive.


    And we were no longer where we were. It was as if... we had been thrown back about twenty meters.


    No, it wasn''t like being thrown.


    We were teleported.


    But, despite all this, I didn''t have time to be surprised or pay attention to it.


    Because... that was not the most ring, the biggest change.


    That huge blur... now, I could see what it was.


    And... it was beautiful.


    Too beautiful.


    I had always thought that Lucia was and would be the most ''beautiful'' being I had ever seen. But... this... woman was even more beautiful than her.


    She was a beauty that should not have been possible to exist.


    Involuntarily, I took a step toward it, and before I realized what was happening, another...


    But, then... she opened her eyes. She fixed her irises on me, which looked like a rainbow. And... I just froze in ce.


    Ah... I didn''t care if I died anymore.


    After seeing something like that... did life and death really matter?

 Chapter 362 Volume V - 80: An Apostle

    <h4>Chapter 362 Volume V - Chapter 80: An Apostle </h4>


    "Life, of course, has its importance."


    Even her voice... even her voice was too beautiful. It was a bit strange, though... because it sounded like several people talking at the same time. But that didn''t change the fact that it was beautiful. Even like that, it was beautiful enough to blow my mind.


    And, so, I took another step.


    "Snap out of it, human."


    Her words echoed in my ears and burned into my body. They were not simple words. It was like... an order. And I obeyed that order, even if I didn''t want to.


    For a while, I stared nkly in front of me, at this gigantic woman. Then... I realized what I had done. First I checked Lucia and Sue. Sue was expressionless, looking at the huge woman as if she waspletely normal. Lucia was... just like me. But she, too, was ovee by the woman''s charm.


    "Good, you''re all here."


    Her words echoed in my mind again. And this time... I was really surprised.


    This gigantic woman... was she waiting for us?


    "After all, I am the one who called you here, human. What am I supposed to do if not wait for you?"


    I paused for a moment, wondering how she could have summoned us. Then... I remembered the two dreams I had had and my eyes widened.


    "It... It was you who showed me those dreams..."


    She didn''t answer, but she didn''t need to. "I was also the one who helped your friend."


    My friend...?


    Ah...


    I took my eyes off her and turned them toward Sue. When I asked her how she had survived... her first reaction was whether or not we could see this woman.


    So... I no longer had any doubt.


    The person in front of us was not some creature trying to trick us with Sue''s memories.


    It was... it really was Sue.


    "You''ve done a good job surviving. Making it this far is an even greater achievement."


    Silence fell over the ce for a moment. But the woman continued.


    "Do you want to get out of here?"


    My eyes widened slightly. Despite what I had just heard, I quickly stepped forward, excitedly preparing to speak, but the woman beat me to it.


    "Yes. I can get you out of here, human. I didn''t call you here for nothing."


    I turned around. Lucia and Sue were silent, not quite sure what to do.


    I took a deep breath, turned around again, and spoke for them.


    "We... Yes, we want to get out of here."


    I saw the woman''s lips curve upward a little, and the balls of light in the darkness seemed to shine brighter for a moment. As if... they were excited.


    "Good, there''s only one thing you have to do for that..."


    Her eyes shifted slightly to the side, right where... where Sue was.


    "You remember my offer, don''t you?"


    Offer...? What offer?


    I turned around, just like the woman, and looked at Sue. She still had the same expression on her face. Only this time, instead of staying silent, she spoke.


    "I... I survived by epting her offer."


    I don''t know why, I couldn''t help swallowing.


    "The offer... what was it?"


    Her dark blue eyes turned to me, then pointed to the most obvious things around the woman.


    The chains.


    "To break the chains."


    Oh, this is... easier than I thought...?


    I don''t know why, I expected something more... dangerous.


    Without saying anything, I ran my eyes over the chains.


    Each one was as tall as us, some even bigger. To hold such a gigantic being, such chains were needed, of course...


    I paused for a moment, a question arose in my mind.


    Why is this woman... chained here?


    "I have fulfilled my part of the offer. I have returned your memories, healed your body, and freed you from your mediocrity. Your turn, my apostle."


    Thest word was particrly emphatic, strangely... as if she was amused.


    But it hadn''t escaped my notice.


    She always referred to me as ''human''. To Sue, though... she called her ''apostle''.


    It was probably part of the proposal. But... what exactly did the word ''apostle'' mean here?


    "A reflection of my power and presence. A representative of me, in short."


    Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I looked at the woman, her eyes on me again.


    My eyebrows furrowed.


    "Who... exactly are you, then?"


    Silence.


    No one said anything. But... the woman in front of me frowned.


    "Human... you really don''t know what an apostle is?"


    Huh...? Was that... something I was supposed to know?


    I opened my mouth to speak but the woman, as she had done so many times before, continued without letting me speak.


    "Interesting... do they hide themselves?"


    Dozens of questions popped up in my mind. I was getting more and more confused, I wanted to ask her questions, but... again, she wouldn''t let me.


    "Human, listen to me carefully." Her voice became more serious. Although... she was always serious, she had a monotone voice... But, this time, it was clear that she was talking about something important.


    "Apostles are those chosen by the Lords. They do not draw their power from another source, but from the Lords themselves. They carry their will, their desires... and shape the world by following their orders. Do you understand?"


    There was one word in his whole sentence that really caught my attention.


    And that was... Lords.


    I couldn''t help my eyes widening, this time in absolute astonishment as I looked at the gigantic woman. Because... if what she said was true, the person in front of me now...


    "Right."


    I saw her lips curve upward again, but... it was a smile without any emotion. "I, Attracta, am the Lord of Attraction."


    Her eyes left me again and turned to Sue, who was looking at the being in front of her with a shocked expression.


    "And you are now my apostle. Olivia Sue Gemma, Apostle of Attraction."


    *******


    Was I... talking to a Lord from the beginning? Have I... epted a Lord''s offer...?


    And am I now an apostle of a Lord?


    I stared nkly ahead of me, at the gigantic woman who imed to be a ''Lord''.


    I couldn''t ept it.


    "Why don''t you check it out yourself?"


    Huh? Check...?


    Ah, the status window!


    As a normal, ordinary person, the system was not a thing I used much. But as usual, as soon as I imagined it opening, a blue window opened in front of my eyes. I quickly started reading everything written on it.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: Olivia Sue


    Last Name: Gemma


    Race: Human


    Age: 19


    --Statistics--


    General Level: E+


    Strength: E


    Agility: E


    Vitality: E+


    Endurance: E


    Luck: F+


    Magic Power: E+


    Mana Efficiency: E+


    Charm: S


    --Apostle of Attraction--


    Affiliation: Attracta


    Connection: C


    Apostle Abilities: [Absolute Voice] -- [Shroud of Perception]


    --Passive Skills--


    [Pain Tolerance(D-)]


    ------------------------------>>


    I could see a new tab called Apostle of Attraction in the window in front of me. That was the first noticeable difference.


    "As the connection between us grows, your abilities will be stronger and you will also acquire new ones."


    I swallowed, focusing on the first ability.


    <<------------------------------


    Absolute Sound


    Allows the user''s voice to gain authority and be recognized by the world.


    The limits of this ability increase as the user''s connection to the Attraction increases.


    ------------------------------>>


    And then to the second ability...


    <<------------------------------


    Shroud of Perception


    Allows the user to change their appearance and suppress their charm.


    The limits of this ability increase as the user''s connection to the Attraction increases.


    ------------------------------>>


    "Do you understand better now?"


    I couldn''t answer, I couldn''t say anything.


    Apart from those, the Pain Tolerance skill was also new, but 15:10


    the name made it clear what it was. So I didn''t focus on it too much.


    However, there was one more difference in this whole window. Among my stats, each of which had jumped a few grades, one in particr stood out.


    My charm was S grade. Before, it was only E, but now... it had suddenly jumped five whole grades at once. I was so shocked that my mouth dropped open. I couldn''t even move my body.


    Still, I forced myself, lifted my eyes up again, and... turned them to the rainbow-like eyes of the Lord of Attraction.


    "Now... no further exnation is necessary."


    She tore her eyes away from me and swept them over Adrian and Lucia as she said these words. No, she was looking at all three of us at the same time.


    "Break my chains. And I''ll get you out of here."

 Chapter 363 Volume V - 81: The Chained Lord鈥檚 Desire

    <h4>Chapter 363 Volume V - Chapter 81: The Chained Lord''s Desire </h4>


    I turned my eyes to Sue.


    She had been staring straight ahead for a while, probably checking the status window. And judging by the changes in her facial expression... everything the gigantic woman in front of us had said was true.


    We were talking to a Lord.


    A god.


    I swallowed, nced at Lucia, who looked as surprised as we were. No, surprised was not the right word. It was as if she was out of her mind, absent-minded. She was in shock.


    I turned my head again, looking at the chains wrapped around the body of Attracta, the Lord of Attraction.


    If she is a Lord... how is she chained here? How did she end up like this?


    It just doesn''t make sense that one of the so-called Gods would be in such a state...


    But it''s also unlikely that she''s lying. Sue''s reactions are real, and if she saw anything wrong, she would have said so.


    But... it still doesn''t make sense.


    I feel like there''s something... wrong.


    "Can I... ask you a question?"


    Attracta''s eyes suddenly fixed on me. It was so sudden that my body trembled for a moment.


    "Continue, human."


    I coughed slightly, cleared my throat, then continued.


    "Who are the people who... imprisoned you here? Why did they chain you?"


    Her eyes narrowed, her lips straighter than they had been.


    As if... she didn''t like these questions.


    "I have enemies, as everyone has them."


    "Why... didn''t they kill you then?"


    "The only thing that can kill a Lord is oneself, human."


    I waited for a while, making a mental note of what she had said, but I had other questions.


    For example... why was she so needy and trying to convince us? Now that Sue was her apostle, couldn''t she give her orders? Even though her powers were limited, there were things she could do, after all. She wasn''tpletely sealed.


    The silence continued.


    Attracta, who answered most of my questions before I asked them, before I spoke, was also silent.


    My brow furrowed. But... my next question was not what I had in mind.


    "Are you really going to get us out of here?"


    "Lords do not lie, foolish human. Do you doubt me?"


    Ah, I angered her...


    I think I''d better be a little more careful, but...


    My eyebrows furrowed once more. I raised my hand and looked at my ring as the uneasiness inside me continued to grow.


    Although I had angered the Lord in front of me, it sensed no danger.


    "Why did the other Lords... imprison you?"


    Her eyes narrowed even more than they already were. Even if her tone did not change, her next words were... almost pressured.


    "Why ask a question you already have the answer to? You are even more stupid than I thought, human."


    The ring on my finger was still quieter.


    "No, I am looking for a different answer to my previous question. Even if they imprisoned you simply because you were ''enemies''... why were you enemies?"


    "Differences of opinion. It happens a lot with you humans too."


    No matter how angry she gets, I can''t sense any danger.


    Then...


    "I understand, thank you for your answers to my questions."


    Attracta said nothing. I didn''t say anything either.


    I turned around and looked at Lucia and Sue.


    They both had their eyes on me. They were both waiting for my decision.


    "You still trust me... don''t you?"


    I looked at Sue, especially her.


    She had trusted me before and... yet... she had ended up here. I had betrayed her trust.


    But...


    "Yes."


    I didn''t say anything. Sue also didn''t. Lucia was silent too.


    I took a deep breath, grabbed my spear, which was not far from me, and... turned to the chain closest to us.


    "We just need to break the chains... right?"


    "Thirteen. Just break thirteen of them."


    A smile appeared on my face as I started walking toward the chain I had my eye on.


    I transferred mana to my spear, tensed all my muscles, and then jumped.


    It was easy to get on the chain. Even though it was a big one, it was not too high.


    I took my stance, took a deep breath, and prepared to attack the chain.


    But that was not the only thing I did. I also looked at the fingers on my left hand, then turned my head back to the chained Lord.


    "You can read my mind..."


    Attracta said nothing, her eyes were on me.


    "And you know what I''m thinking right now, don''t you?"


    She was silent,pletely silent... Her expression didn''t even change.


    I raised my left hand, pointing to the tiny ring on my pinky finger.


    It wasn''t very obvious from the outside, but for me... it was different.


    "The moment I try to break the chain... my ring trembles like crazy."


    I withdrew all the mana I had put into my spear, jumped off the chain back onto the ground, and walked over to Lucia and Sue, both of whom were looking at me and the ring on my pinky finger.


    They didn''t know what it was for, of course. But I didn''t take the time to exin.


    They trusted me, after all.


    "Do you think you have a choice... human?"


    I tilted my head slightly to the side, raised my eyebrows, and Attracta continued.


    "You cannot leave without me, the only reason your ring senses danger is because my existence as a Lord is suppressed, and that restriction will be lifted when you break the chain. I don''t need to tell you that this restriction protects you from my very existence, do I?"


    "So... how do we survive if I break the chains?"


    "I will protect you from that pressure, it''s as simple as that... you stupid human."


    I waited a short while, narrowing my eyes, and looking into eyes that looked like rainbows.


    "Will you... protect us from yourself, then?"


    Silence.


    A deep silence.


    I let out a deep sigh.


    "You just told me you were our only choice, didn''t you?"


    The silence continued. But I continued, ignoring the silence.


    "But... this is a dungeon. A Recta-type dungeon."


    The fact that she didn''t speak at all, that she was inplete silence... I don''t know why, but it was fun in a way.


    "There is only one way out of Recta-type dungeons that have never been cleaned before."


    I took slow steps forward and came to Lucia and Sue, taking my eyes off the Lord of Charm, and turning them to them.


    "Kill the boss."


    I saw their eyes widen, looking at me and then at Attracta, who was right behind me. They realized what was happening.


    "This is a boss room, even though it''s quite big for one."


    My lips curled upward, this time smiling as I turned back to the chained Lord.


    "And besides the three of us, you''re the only living thing I can see."


    I pointed my spear at her, directly between her eyes.


    "The boss of this dungeon... is you, right?"


    *******


    The Boss... is a Lord?


    It was something I couldn''t have imagined before, no matter how much I thought about it. The boss of a dungeon, a god... who could have imagined it?


    But... it was right in front of my eyes.


    And not only that.


    The Lord we identified as the boss... was the very Lord of whom I was an apostle.


    And despite everything that was said against her, she was silent. As if... as if she approved of everything, even though she didn''t want to.


    "Your stupidity is really pushing the limits... I said only a few minutes ago that the only thing that can kill a Lord is oneself."


    The smile on Adrian''s face grew wider.


    "I know, I didn''t forget that."


    His eyes left Attracta again, looking directly into my eyes as he turned toward me.


    "But... you said yourself that the apostles got their power from the Lords."


    Adrian withdrew the spear he had pointed at Attracta.


    "There''s only one problem with what I''m thinking. And that is... if you can choose an apostle, you can also withdraw your powers. As soon as you do that, we really are trapped here forever."


    The smile on his face retreated, turning serious. His emerald-


    green eyes were sharp and confident.


    "But you won''t."


    Attracta''s eyebrows rose slightly.


    "Why, I won''t?"


    "This is a B grade dungeon. No matter how strange it is, no matter how full of things we''ve never seen before... the grade of a Recta-type dungeon is determined by the strength of the creatures inside. And most importantly... the strength of the boss. So, even if you are restricted, you still have the power of a B or B+ grade creature."


    His eyes wandered to the chains.


    "When I first saw you, I was ready tomit suicide in your name if you hadn''t brought me to my senses, but you stopped me. You can also control the vines and those balls of light around you. I remember well how I bounced back the first time I attacked Sue, and yet... why don''t you use the same power now to force me to break your chains? Most likely the chains limit even your charm, and you won''t even try because even if I''m bewitched, I might somehow realize that something is wrong in time."


    He paused, inhaled slightly, and continued.


    "And then there''s the matter of making Sue an apostle... I can understand that at first your intention was really to use her as a tool if we break the chains, and now I can understand why you didn''t withdraw your powers from her when things went wrong."


    Attracta, silent until now, finally parted her lips. She was calm, too calm even.


    "I take it back, human. You are not a fool."


    Adrian sighed deeply.


    "You... you were willing to die from the very beginning, weren''t you? You really want to get out, and you''re taking your chances... But if the three of us die, you''ll be trapped here forever, and you don''t want that. You don''t attack us because you''d rather die than stay here forever."

 Chapter 364 Volume V - 82: The End of the Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 364 Volume V - Chapter 82: The End of the Dungeon </h4>


    Silence is perhaps the thing that exists most in this huge ce, along with darkness...


    Now, it had fallen heavily once again.


    Adrian''s words were a real shock to Lucia and me. Even more shocking... Attracta didn''t object to anything.


    On the contrary...


    "Well done, I didn''t expect that much."


    She was approving him.


    "True, I prefer the coldness of death to being trapped here any longer. And... true again, I am the being this dungeon considers the boss. So, if you kill me, you can actually get out."


    But Adrian was not finished with his questions.


    "I''m curious about one more thing."


    Attracta took Adrian''s request with understanding. Even if she didn''t say anything, she nodded her head slightly up and down and gave him permission.


    "Does the death of a Lord... cause troubles? After all, you are a god..."


    Attracta''s lips curled upward.


    "No, the Lords are not ''gods'' in the way you humans think of them. They are merely... beings who have control over the various concepts themselves. They don''t keep things bnced or working as they should."


    It was a surprising piece of information. Because... Lords were known as gods all over Lunerra. There were even people who worshipped them. But what was known about them was so limited that there were even those who were skeptical of their existence.


    "So... what will happen to Sue? Will the powers you gave her disappear?"


    "No. An apostle''s poweres from the binding of their soul with a specific concept. It is not wrong to say that the Lords are the source of their power, but it is wrong to say that it ispletely dependent on them. The source of her power is the concept of Attraction itself, which I control. I... merely linked them together, and gave myself a ce in that connection so that we couldmunicate."


    Adrian nodded. His expression had be very serious ahead of what he was about to say next.


    "Why were you really imprisoned here?"


    Attracta''s lips curled even higher.


    "That''s one of the things I won''t say... human. The knowledge of some truths does not bring good, but harm. Ignorance is bliss, it is a truer and more iplete saying than you think. If the answer to your question is something you will have to learn when the timees... then you can be sure you will when that timees."


    Adrian did not seem satisfied. Still, he didn''t press further. He must have run out of things to ask because he was silent for a while. In the end, he could only heave a deep sigh.


    "So... how do we kill you?"


    He looked at me out of the corner of his eye as he said this, Attracta''s eyes had also turned from him to me.


    Her previous words were as much on my mind as they were on theirs.


    I... was the only one here who could kill him.


    But how was I going to do it?


    Attracta was silent, she didn''t answer Adrian''s words. She was just looking straight at me. As if... as if I already knew the answer.


    But I didn''t.


    As the seconds ticked by, I felt myself starting to sweat. I opened my status window again, looked at my abilities in the Apostle of Attraction tab.


    The Shroud of Perception was useless here. So... the only ability I could use was Absolute Voice.


    As I read the description of the ability, I thought.


    Absolute Voice was an ability that allowed my voice to gain authority and be recognized by the world. The description was rather vague, but it wasn''t hard to guess what it did.


    It probably allowed my voice to influence other people. Not that simr abilities didn''t exist in the world, this... was just a more advanced version of them.


    But... something so simple could not have enabled me to kill a Lord. So there had to be more to this ability than meets the eye.


    The authority of my voice means the authority of my words.


    I don''t think I can tell a Lord to die. No matter how powerful the ability, there must be limits.


    Then...


    While I was thinking, I studied my surroundings. I looked at Adrian. Then, I looked at the spear in his hand, I dwelled on it for a while.


    Could it be...?


    I thought for a while longer, other things came to mind.


    I looked at Attracta again, her eyes and expression were still the same. Even though she could read my mind, she wasn''t giving any confirmation.


    She was really leaving it all to me.


    I took a deep breath, read the description of the ability onest time.


    I focused on the mana inside me, imagined activating the Absolute Voice. Then I cleared my throat, opened my mouth to speak.


    "Adrian, the spear in your hand... can now kill anything my power allows."


    With each word, a huge chunk of my mana reserves diminished, all the mana around me calmed down. Then... it was drawn toward the spear in Adrian''s hand, it began to glow.


    It was just as I had predicted. The ability made my words not only affect people, no... it made them ''real''. That was the meaning of the word authority.


    My power was the only thing that could kill Attracta in the first ce. So... using it to give a weapon the same effect should also work.


    At least that was my guess...


    "Well done, you have learned how to use your power."


    At Attracta''s confirmation, I rxed, let out the breath I had been holding. I was going to deactivate the Absolute Voice, but then... I realized that even though I wasn''t saying anything, my reserves were still running low.


    Huh, so I need to keep the ability active for the effect to continue... I see.


    "Adrian, you have almost... thirty seconds. My mana won''tst much longer."


    Adrian nodded quickly, turning to Attracta as he gripped his spear tightly. Attracta simply smiled.


    "You have much to learn about your abilities, my apostle. But... be careful when you return to your world. If my enemies learn that you are my apostle, they may act without giving it much thought. No, they will. It will be up to you to convince them."


    I nodded, said nothing more, and that''s when Adrian took a deep breath.


    Attracta was now at the strength of a B+ grade. So... it was enough for him to make an attack that would kill someone like that. Still, with only twenty seconds left, he didn''t want to take any chances, so he gave it everything he had.


    First, a blue glow enveloped his body, then all the mana around him began to be drawn toward him. His hair grew long and fell over his shoulders as his eyes began to sparkle. Golden runic letters appeared on his arms, then a glow of the same color surrounded him.


    Adrian began to spin his spear slowly. With each turn, more and more mana flowed into him and into the spear. His arms holding the spear trembled slightly each time, as if they were beginning to strain, and then returned to normal. It was as if... the spear in his hand was getting heavier and heavier.


    Like that, I only had ten seconds left of mana.


    Adrian stared at Attracta, and all the mana in the surrounding area was drawn to him with great speed at that very moment. The mana around him was so dense, and kept getting denser, that it was hard to breathe.


    And... with three seconds left of my mana, he disappeared. He appeared in front of Attracta''s body, swinging his spear with a simple move.


    A dazzling light spread around, the sound of an explosion filled my ears. I could only try to... protect myself as all the mana around us came crashing down on the duo in an attack.


    I ran out of mana at that very moment, but the effects of the attacksted for a few more seconds. We had to wait a while for the blinding light to fade, and a couple more for the dust cloud that followed to dissipate.


    When I finally started to make out some things... the first thing I could see was Adrian standing on one of the chains in front of Attracta. Sweat was pouring down his forehead, his clothing was in even worse condition than it already was. But the runic letters on his skin had receded, and his hair was shorter again. He was back to his normal self. His spear in one hand, staring at the Lord before him.


    Attracta, on the other hand... had a huge gash in her body. A golden liquid watered the chains on her, spilling onto the floor. Her expression was... still the same. Only... the riot of color in her eyes was slowly fading.


    "I wish you sess... all three of you..."


    Those were herst words, as her whole body was enveloped in a golden light, slowly turning to dust. As the chains around her fell to the ground one by one, Adrian jumped backward,nding on the ground with a simple movement.


    But... even though he seemed to be in good shape, he couldn''t keep his bnce, staggering a few steps as if he had slipped. He could only stand with the support of his spear.


    Lucia ran to his side and helped him to stand.


    Just then, Attracta''s whole body turned to dust. One by one, the golden-yellow dust spread out and disappeared into the atmosphere. Immediately afterward... a system notification appeared in front of me.


    <<------------------------------


    Congrattions! You have cleared a B grade Recta-type dungeon!


    Your achievements are being listed...


    You have killed a higher-ranked main boss than yourself!


    You are the first party toplete this dungeon!


    There is a difference of three grades between you and the rmended general level of the dungeon!


    ¡­


    ------------------------------>>


    There were a few other things at the bottom, but I couldn''t care what they were. The notifications kept flowing.


    <<------------------------------


    Prizes are being shared...


    ------------------------------>>


    There was a very short, two-second wait in between.


    <<------------------------------


    For your achievements in the dungeon, you have earned additional rewards!


    --Rewards--


    Items: [Ancient Chain Fragment] -- [Skill Cube: Light Fragments (A)] -- [Ne: Golden Renewal]


    Statistics: [Mana Efficiency(+1)] -- [Luck(+1)] -- [Apostle of Attraction, Connection(+1)]


    You can summon your rewards at any time!


    ------------------------------>>


    The notifications went off after a few seconds. Behind the silence and darkness that descended on the entire boss room, a blue glow suddenly appeared. Then it grew and grew... slowly taking the shape of a dungeon gate.


    I turned around and looked at Adrian and Lucia, who seemed to have finished checking their notifications.


    But... for a moment, they looked at me with such a nk expression that I realized something was wrong and paused.


    "W- what?"


    Lucia sighed deeply, looking at Adrian out of the corner of her eye. Adrian sighed without saying anything. Immediately, the bracelet on her arm glowed slightly, and a blue glow appeared in front of it and grewrger.


    But... this time, it took the shape of a jacket. Adrian picked it up and threw it toward me, not turning his eyes in my direction.


    "Put it on..."


    Then I remembered, that I was naked...


    Moreover, the piece of vine I was holding just above my chest had been blown somewhere randomly during the explosion.


    I took the jacket without saying a word and put it on quietly.


    A strange silence fell between us. I felt like I had to say something.


    I looked at the gate waiting for us, and my lips involuntarily curled upward.


    "We... made it, huh."


    That finally came out of my mouth. Because I... I didn''t really believe we could do it.


    From the very beginning, no matter how much I tried to keep hope in me, I was sure that we would die at some point.


    And... that''s what happened to me, actually.


    I was just... lucky, that''s all.


    "Shall we go?"


    At Lucia''s question, Adrian let out a deep, really deep sigh. He fixed his emerald-green eyes on the open gate.


    "Let''s go."


    I slowly stood up and walked over to them.


    We didn''t say anything more, just walked side by side with slow steps toward the gate.


    The dungeon where we had spent every minute of almost two weeks struggling to survive... was just behind us.

 Chapter 365 Volume V - 83: After the Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 365 Volume V - Chapter 83: After the Dungeon </h4>


    Lucia on my right and Sue on my right, the first thing I saw when we made it out of the gate was the bright light of the sun hitting my face.


    It was such a strange feeling that it took me a while toe to my senses.


    When we were on the in, we were always under the green sky. And... it didn''t have a sun. So there was never a source of warm light that could shine so directly on my face. And ourst week in the dungeon was...pletely underground. I had never seen proper light, let alone the sun. Just... darkness.


    So I took it for granted and enjoyed the sun to the fullest. But then... my ears started to process different information.


    For example... the sounds of the photographs being taken.


    I opened my eyes and looked around.


    We were... right in the middle of the street where we entered the dungeon. Our position was a little different, though... but we were quite close.


    We were surrounded by almost hundreds of people, traffic was stopped. There were people everywhere using their phones and watches.


    It was extremely disturbing.


    But after a short while, out of the crowd, a man who was obviously a policeman walked slowly toward us. Sue moved behind us while Lucia continued to stand next to me as she helped me to stand properly.


    The officed had short cropped ck hair and a well-built body. He was in histe thirties. Though... he did have a slight paunch.


    "I''m Michael, Michael Unsternam. I''m a police chief..."


    After revealing his identity, he looked at the gate closing behind us, then back at us.


    "You seem to be out of a... dungeon, the ambnce will be here soon. But, for now... can you please tell me your name?"


    Lucia was the one who answered him quickly.


    "Lucia Quie, Adrian Caleo, and Olivia Sue Gemma. We have been in the dungeon for about two weeks, but we are not sure what the timeline was... The day we entered the dungeon was July 7, 2044."


    The police chief''s eyes widened as the date came out of Lucia''s mouth.


    "There were three people who were attacked and disappeared on this street... You...?"


    Lucia nodded her head in confirmation. But when she remembered the attack, her brow furrowed as if she had lost her nerve, and her voice lowered a little.


    "Yes... we were among those attacked."


    "W- wait a moment, please..."


    The police chief quickly turned around, raised his arm, and tapped his watch, opening a holographic screen in front of him.


    The next few hours, maybe even days... were going to be a bit troubling, apparently.


    But I didn''t care... I just... continued to enjoy the sun smiling down on us from above, because I knew I didn''t have much time. And it turned out as I expected.


    Soon, the paramedics who came to us through the crowd separated the three of us from each other. They put us all on stretchers and ced us one by one in separate ambnces.


    We headed straight to the hospital.


    *******


    The testimony took ce at the hospital. Which... didn''t take very long.


    I was asked how I had survived the attack and my answer was that I had gone into the dungeon that had appeared ''out of nowhere'' with Lucia and Sue. We had already talked about it beforehand, all three of us were going to give exactly the same testimony, at least in that respect. So I had no worries.


    We were also asked about what we went through inside. But... when I said that I didn''t want to talk about that, there was no problem.


    No one was under any obligation to talk about what happened inside the dungeons. It was aw that I didn''t fully understand why it existed, but I didn''t hesitate to use it because it suited me.


    So, I was at peace again. My hospital room was quiet, and there was not much wrong with my body. It was just... I had lost a lot of weight due tock of food and water. I needed to gain it back and I would have no other problems.


    So, I enjoyed thefortable hospital bed, I didn''t think about anything, I just waited. It was a good feeling... to be back, to be alive.


    ~knock! ~knock! ~knock!


    But, of course, it had to be interrupted.


    Sighing, I sat up in my bed, put myself in a straight position, and turned my head toward the door. At that very moment, the door slowly opened, and in walked... exactly the people I was expecting.


    A well-built man, one hundred and ny centimeters tall, with ck hair and equally ck eyes, and next to him, a middle-aged woman with blond hair and clear blue eyes...


    Calvin dio and Mny Quie.


    "I take it you were expecting us...?"


    Professor Calvin was the first to speak. His lips curled up slightly, he seemed pleased to see me.


    And Mny Quie, who was right next to him... she was so happy that she was practically bursting with smiles.


    It''s because she had finally found her daughter, I think... She must have been looking for her non-stop for ten days. She probably ran to the hospital as soon as she found out we were out of the dungeon.


    "Yes, I''ve been waiting."


    "Then we''ll be done quickly."


    Professor Calvin closed the door to the room and turned back to me. His expression was a little more serious now.


    "I heard you managed to get out of a B grade dungeon, and ording to Lucia and Olivia, you took care of all the creatures."


    "Yes, sort of..."


    "When you are only C grade."


    "Yes..."


    It was like he was trying to push me. But... he had no bad intentions. I could feel it, so I continued without saying anything.


    And the professor... finally decided to ask the question he really wanted to ask.


    "Did you learn to use ordea? No matter how much I think about it, it would take a real miracle for you to survive. You can''t keep fighting creatures a whole grade higher than you ande out unscathed, and there is no one among you who has a healing skill. You healed yourself using ordea all the time, didn''t you?"


    I didn''t answer, I just nodded my head in confirmation.


    The professor... although he seemed to be expecting it, was not good at hiding his surprise.


    "Can you try using it? I''m curious to see how much you''ve learned."


    I took a deep breath, let out my desires freely as usual, reached for the ordea, and... as always, it responded.


    I slowly gathered it into my hand, then onto my fingertip, as a bluish glow covered my body. Then, I looked at the professor. He certainly seemed impressed. But... not overly surprised.


    "Not bad. Considering you haven''t even had a teacher yet... definitely not bad. You''ve done well."


    The blue glow I had collected on the tip of my finger disappeared, and my eyes shifted to Rector Mny this time.


    That''s when she decided to speak up.


    "We don''t have much to say, Adrian. Once you''re discharged from the hospital, you won''t have any problems, we''ll take care of most things anyway... But... forget the formalities for now."


    She bowed her head respectfully, her words almost sounded like tears.


    "I... thank you as a mother. For keeping my daughter alive, for cleaning the whole dungeon by yourself. I... have nothing more to say."


    My lips curled upward and a smile formed on my face.


    She was really fond of her daughter, Rector Mny. So much so... that she could throw away all her image and bow her head like this.


    "What am I going to do if not try to keep my friend alive?"


    Rector Mny slowly raised her head, smiling again.


    "Then... let''s talk again when you are discharged from the hospital, I don''t want my thanks to stop here, so... when the timees, ask me for anything! I will try to help you as much as I can."


    The professor nodded his head next to her. The two talked a few more things about the future, and then... it was finally time for them to leave the room.


    It was at this point that, for the first time today, instead of answering a question, I spoke directly.


    "Can I have a second...?"


    The Professor and the Rector turned to me at the same time. Their eyebrows were slightly raised.


    "There are two things I want to talk about."


    Actually, it was three. I... I wanted to ask them something about Sue too. But, then, I decided not to, it would be better to leave her alone for a while. She needed time, at least I thought so. Almost her whole life had changed, after all. And quite suddenly...


    So, when we met again, I would ask her myself what had happened, what she was going to do. Not through an intermediary.


    "First... about the attack on the street. I know the name and face of the man who attacked us."


    There was a brief silence between us, as if they had to work a bit to process what I had said. But then... their eyes suddenly widened. And I quickly continued.


    "Before the dungeon gate appeared, he took off his mask, thinking he was going to kill us anyway. He was in his early twenties, with ck hair and ck eyes."


    The Rector quickly recorded everything I said on the holographic screen in front of him, really listening attentively.


    "His name was Revon Scs, at least that''s what he told us. It seemed a bit... important, so I wanted to tell you, not the police, and I apologize if I made a mistake."


    The Rector quickly shook her head from side to side.


    "No, you did the best. Believe me, this is going to be a real help to us. Especially the fact that you gave his name."


    She paused, as if realizing there was nothing more I could say on the subject. Nevertheless, she did not turn off the holographic screen in front of her.


    "You said you had two things to say, what''s the other?"


    I took a deep breath, and the two in front of me noticed it. They realized I had something even more important to say than what I had just said.


    "It... has to do with one of the rewards I received after cleaning the dungeon."


    I imagined the system window opening in front of me. The dungeon rewards were still waiting in the reward inventory, I hadn''t taken any of them out, and I still had no intention of doing so. Because... one of them was too special.


    And that''s what I was going to talk about.


    "Aiden didn''t wake up during our time in the dungeon, did he? Please be honest..."


    The two looked at each other and waited for a short while as if they could speak telepathically. Then, they turned back to me. They both shook their heads at the same time.


    A smile appeared on my face.


    "In that case... I would like to make quick use of the wish you have granted me, Rector Mny."


    As if they understood what I was going to say, their eyes widened, just as they had when I spoke about Revon Scs. But this time... this was even bigger and more important than that.


    "I... have something that can wake him up. Can you find a way to get me to him?"

 Chapter 366 Volume V - Epilogue

    <h4>Chapter 366 Volume V - Epilogue</h4>


    I looked with great interest at the corridors with white walls that we walked through. Dwarf technology... was one of the things that really intrigued me.


    Well... I also had to work really hard to get here. So I couldn''t help but feel justified in examining it.


    Three weeks, three whole weeks... twenty-one days! That''s how long I had to wait to get here.


    Rector Mny believing what I said, testing that I wasn''t lying, saying she would consider my request, contacting the dwarves, them also testing that I wasn''t lying, preparing the ne... and so on!


    And I hadn''t spent these twenty-one days just waiting. Apparently, the importance of what I had said was so great that I had turned a lot of things upside down, like my ordea training with Professor Calvin... Normally, we were supposed to start after I was discharged, but that had been dyed a lot.


    And then there was the news, of course. We came out of the dungeon in the middle of the street. And, somehow, a few things managed to leak out to the media.


    Three young people cleaning a B grade dungeon, one of them Adrian Caleo, the best of the CDA first-year students, the other Lucia Quie, the youngdy of the Quie Family, and thest one... an ordinary girl. Although, after cleaning the dungeon, not so ''ordinary'' anymore.


    The news spread with terrifying speed. So I had to deal with that too.


    But... in the end, I was here, I had managed to get in here after all.


    I was surrounded by dwarves, and then there was Professor Calvin... their goal was not so much to protect me but to protect the environment from me. Just in case... At least that''s what they told me.


    It wasn''t something I didn''t understand, though.


    I wasn''t... heading for a simple ce.


    I was heading to perhaps the safest and most protected ce in all of the Hr continent, no... all of Lunerra, where a hero was kept alive.


    With every step I took, excitement built up inside me that I couldn''t contain. It had been months, literally months, since I hadst seen Aiden, since I hadst been able to talk to him. And now... after all these months, I wasn''t just going to see him, I was going to wake him up.


    How could I not be excited?


    "Stop."


    With the word echoing in my ears, I stopped so fast that I didn''t realize what was happening for a moment. It was only when I refocused that I realized we had reached the end of the corridor, in front of a closed door.


    The dwarf at the front stepped forward after we had all stopped. He spoke to the six guards standing in front of the door.


    "Major Dorhud Gen''dai, behind me be Adrian Caleo and Calvin dio."


    Six guards put the three of us through a long, really long test. Our retinas were scanned, our fingerprints were taken, and even our DNA was checked... all the controls took about two minutes for each of us.


    So, after about six minutes, we were finally done. The closed door in front of us slowly opened, apanied by a transparent white gas that was released into the corridor. It revealed the huge room behind it.


    It was a white room with screens everywhere, just like this entire facility. There were five dwarves inb coats moving around inside. They were constantly checking the screens, asionally tinkering with some of the devices.


    But they certainly weren''t the most noticeable thing. Instead... it was the huge screen in the center of the room.


    It showed a view of a bed from above, from the side... from many angles. The person lying on this bed... was the reason for all these security measures, the reason why everyone here was working so hard and seriously in the first ce.


    I could see Aiden on the screen. From the waist down, he was covered with a sheet, but from the top, he was naked and open. So it was easy to see the condition of his body.


    The left side of his body was actually quite normal, it just... looked like he was sleeping, even. But the real problem was on the right side. As soon as one''s eyes moved to that side, his skin began to darken abnormally, his muscles were emaciated as if they had shriveled up. His right arm was in the worst condition, literally ck... as if it had been burnt to a crisp.


    I could tell he had been in a lot of pain. He may not feel anything now, yes... But there was no way that something that did this to his body could not be painful. I... I could only imagine it, and even that was probably not enough.


    Just then, one of the five dwarves already in the room came up to us. He had a serious expression on his face, studying me.


    Finally, he took his eyes off me. He turned to the two who had entered with me, the dwarf whose name was Dorhud and Professor Calvin.


    "You wait here, Adrian Caleo bein'' wit'' me."


    No one objected, even the dwarf''s tone of voice whichcked respect was unimportant. His work was important and serious, and it was hard to imagine the workload. So no one made a sound.


    The dwarf turned around, moving to a certain side of the room. A holographic screen popped up in front of him even though he was doing nothing, then he quickly made a few changes to it as he walked. When we came in front of the wall we were moving toward, he finished his work. The screens went ck for a moment, then they moved toward us and retreated to the sides. The door hiding behind them was thus revealed.


    The doctor did a few scans in front of the door, verifying his own identity and many other things. Then the same process was done to me. And, finally, this door also slowly opened. What was behind it... was another small room with a closed door on the other side.


    "Go inside, wait."


    I nodded my head, and without a word, I entered the small room. The door closed behind me, and then a deep silence surrounded me.


    After a short time, a transparent gas filled the room, and nothing happened for a few seconds. Then it was filled with another gas, which alsosted for a few seconds. Finally, when both of these processes were finished, the closed door on the other side of the small room opened.


    What I saw this time... was the room I had seen on the screen a few minutes before.


    I swallowed, took a few steps into the room. The door behind me closed the moment I entered. It quite literally locked me in here. And right after that, the walls on all four sides of me opened and four human-sized robots came out of them.


    They had eyes that glowed with a blue light. And... they were looking at me. Like they were ready to kill me at the slightest movement. It all showed how much Aiden was valued, so I could understand.


    I didn''t focus on any of the robots, though.


    My first and dearest friend was finally in front of me.


    Excitement, a strange feeling telling me to hurry, and... fear. I could feel many things as I looked at the bed in front of me.


    I swallowed, walked slowly to the side of the bed, and the robots around me followed suit.


    Finally, when I got to the very end of the bed, I paused. There wasn''t even a meter between me and Aiden now, I could have reached out and touched him.


    But... I didn''t.


    On the contrary, I took a deep, really deep breath, calmed myself, closed my eyes, and got ready. Then... with determination, I opened them. And... I imagined the system window.


    <<------------------------------


    This is a dimensional inventory that holds all the rewards you earn in dungeons!


    --Rewards--


    Items: [The Golden Blood of a Xavir(SS)]


    You can summon your rewards at any time!


    ------------------------------>>


    This was the only item I got, apart from a few small stats and a single skill, which was actually pretty good.


    <<------------------------------


    The Golden Blood of a Xavir(SS)


    A drop of blood that a Xavir had managed to preserve in herst moments before dying.


    Unlike the blood of most living beings, it is golden in color, almost every particle filled with unimaginable amounts of mana.


    It restores the body of the person who drinks it to its natural state, no matter how bad his or her condition, and provides unimaginable benefits to the body.


    It must be used within ten seconds of being summoned to reality. Otherwise, it will cease to exist and disappear.


    ------------------------------>>


    It was a single drop of blood, and yet... it was an SS grade item.


    I read through the description one more time, then finally prepared myself for the real thing and took the item out of the reward inventory.


    A blue glow appeared right in front of my body, then slowly materialized... A bottle, half the size of my fist, appeared grain by grain and then fell between my hands.


    I had only ten seconds, so I acted without hesitation. I removed the cap from the tiny bottle, and the moment I did so... suddenly, all my perceptions were turned upside down.


    It was mana. It was extremely intense, truly overwhelming... So much so that if I didn''t hold back so hard, I would have fainted, it filled the whole room so quickly that it was difficult to keep my bnce.


    Everything in the white room suddenly turned red, the blue eyes of the four robots around me turned the same color.


    But I didn''t care. I gritted my teeth, ignored the blood oozing from my nose, and brought the bottle to Aiden''s lips. Slowly, gently, I bent it down. And then... a single, tiny, golden-yellow drop fell from it. It went right between Aiden''s half-open lips, seeping in.


    For a while, nothing happened, nothing was different in the room except for the sound of the rm going off and the red.


    But, then... Aiden''s body began to glow with a dazzling radiance. The extremely dense mana that permeated the room slowly began to recede toward him.


    Still, I kept my eyes on him.


    I could feel it, nothing ''simple'' was happening here. It was as if space-time was breaking. My perception of time had changed, things seemed to be merging together. And at the center of it all... was Aiden.


    Still, the whole process took a very short time. My perception of time slowly started to return, and the things that had gotten tangled were fixed. The mana levels in the room returned to normal, and the glow surrounding Aiden''s body began to recede.


    Finally, when it was all over... Aiden had changed.


    No, it was wrong to say that he had changedpletely.


    I don''t know why, but he had not fully recovered. The dark mark covering the right side of his body hadrgely receded, for example, his face was nowpletely normal. But... his right arm, from the shoulder down, was still a dark color and a bit veined.


    For some reason, his right leg was the same way, even though he held the sword with his right hand. However, the most important thing was... his body had not returned to the way it ''should'' be. Something had gone wrong, even if I didn''t know what. And... I didn''t like it.


    But, then... suddenly, my eyes widened. My whole body froze, I couldn''t move a muscle.


    Aiden''s closed eyes seemed to twitch for a moment, the index finger on his left hand moved slightly.


    Then... his eyelids opened slowly.


    His gray eyes, which I hadn''t seen in months, were fixed on the ceiling, waiting. After a moment... he turned toward me.


    And that''s when I noticed another change.


    Not just his body, but Aiden himself... was different.


    His eyes were much sharper than they usually were. His gaze, the expression on his face... was much heavier than before.


    It was as if... he was apletely different person than before.


    "Ah..."


    Even his voice was different, as if... he had aged a few years.


    But, nevertheless...


    "Ad... rian?"


    A smile appeared on my face.


    Looking at my first and dearest friend... I could only smile.


    And... I could only say one thing.


    "Hi, Aiden. W- wee back..."


    --Volume V: The Breaking Seals--


    --The End--


    *******


    *(A/N: First of all... greetings. I''m your humble writer, the one who left you without a chapter for so long...


    Well, volume five is now finished... and there''s a lot more toe in volume six, literally.


    I have some things to edit, I''m going to make a few character changes... I''m even thinking of deleting a plotpletely and re-nning it. So it''s a lot of work and I need some time to do it.


    It''ll probably take me about three days to edit the plot, and I want to go into volume six with a few stock chapters, so that''s the reason for the 10-day break I''m nning to take.


    And... don''t worry, even though I''m not posting chapters, I''m still here. I''ll answer yourments, so if there''s anything you''re worried about, you can nudge me.


    For now... I''m done. Thank you all for reading my novel up to this point. See you in volume six, and again, I apologize for the little break.


    Also, if you get bored in these ten days, you can check out my second novel and give it a chance :P)*

 Chapter 367 Volume VI - Prologue

    <h4>Chapter 367 Volume VI - Prologue</h4>


    --Volume VI: Into the Darkness--


    Up until this moment... everything I nned, everything I wanted to happen, everything I worked for to be good had gone wrong.


    Bing a wiera, Justin''s death, the attack at the academy, the whole Hr continent stuff, the mess Paul created...


    At the end of it all, I somehow got what I wanted, but it was never perfect. Every time, every damn time, I lost something... or realized toote that something was wrong.


    I say I''m smart, but no... not even close. I have a bit of a good memory, I do a bit well in my studies... and that''s it.


    I''m an idiot.


    And I''ve already epted that.


    That''s why I''ve decided not to make mistakes.


    That''s why I decided not to take my next steps without taking any risks.


    I made sure that everything was going perfectly, I made sure that nothing would go wrong.


    And... I stopped relying entirely on what I remembered from the game.


    And I''m d I did.


    Narrowing my eyes, gripping my cane tightly, I looked at the scene in front of me.


    A city literally on fire, the smell of blood and burning filling my nose, the body parts ofpletely innocent people that I could see here and there, the sounds of sirens and screams filling my ears... and more.


    Saligia, the organization following the chaos, had made a different move than in the game. Their first ''big'' attack was supposed to happen a few monthster, but it was happening now. In Wiathen, when it should have been in apletely different city.


    What''s the reason? I have no idea.


    But... it doesn''t matter.


    Because... I''ve already stopped trusting what I know from the y, I was expecting something like this, something that I actually didn''t expect.


    That''s not why I was not that surprised by this event, really.


    That''s why I wasn''t caught off guard this time.


    That''s exactly why I acted quickly to ensure no one close to me would be harmed.


    However, in spite of everything... I still managed to encounter something I didn''t expect. Saligia... was really good at surprising me. So much so... that my whole body was shaking, I was having a hard time controlling myself.


    It was really hard to stay calm.


    But there was a big difference from the previous times. It was the reason why I couldn''t stay calm...


    No, it wasn''t out of fear.


    No, it wasn''t because I saw something I didn''t want to see.


    No, it wasn''t because I was about to lose my temper.


    Rather... it was excitement.


    "Oh..."


    The main target of my gaze, the figure in the midst of all this chaos and mes, finally recognized me.


    His violet eyes slowly fixed on mine. The lifeless corpse he was holding by the cor slipped through his fingers and fell to the ground.


    His whole body shook, just like mine.


    Again, not from fear or anything like that... but again, like me, from excitement.


    "You... you''re him, aren''t you?"


    The corner of his lips curved upwards slightly, and then a big... really big smile slowly appeared on his face. A disgusting smile from ear to ear, full of nothing but madness and excitement.


    I tilted my head slightly to the side, and finally... all the pressure on me disappeared. I smiled, just like him. When he received the answer to his question with my smile... he started tough. And Iughed too.


    Ourughter echoed in the street. And it didn''tst too short. But, eventually, it came to an end.


    My lips parted, and I spoke slowly.


    "Do you have any idea how long I''ve been looking for you?"


    I ced my cane inside my ring. Then pulled out my sword.


    Maintaining his expression, he replied almost shouting.


    "Oh, wouldn''t I know! After all, I was doing the same..."


    He threw back his long, brown hair. As the glint in his purple eyes intensified, he took out the daggers at his waist.


    He still wielded the same daggers. I recognized them in a single nce. They were the daggers that instilled fear in me the first time, daggers that would have traumatized me if not for the Absolute Mind.


    And... even though they hadn''t seeded in me, they had done it in someone else.


    I slowly pointed my sword at him. I couldn''t help widening my smile as the energy of chaos, caora, began to gather in my body as it always did, making my crippled body able to fight once again.


    "It is... disgusting to know that our feelings are mutual."


    He slowly took his stance, his purple eyes on me... as if waiting for me to suddenly attack him. But he didn''t stay silent.


    "We had an unfinished gamest time... we should continue it, right? And... I should pay you back for the arm you took from me, that''s only fair that way, right... right?!"


    To see that he still had the same madness, to see him talking about games... it only increased all the hatred and disgust I had for him.


    But I didn''t care.


    "I made a promise, you know...?"


    Maybe it would put a strain on my body. Maybe it was going to put me in an even worse situation when I was already crippled...


    But I didn''t care at all.


    As both of my two ascension abilities activated at the same time, with all the mana around me literally trembling, I continued my words.


    "That I will make you suffer the worst pain you can suffer, that I will send you to the bottom of a hell from which you will never emerge... not even by death."


    I narrowed my eyes, slowly breaking the smile I had kept on my face until now, and looked coldly at the man in front of me.


    "So... our game won''t be short this time."


    I raised my sword slightly.


    "Please... please don''t die. I beg you to hold on... so I can keep my promise. Okay?"


    And I brought it down quickly while using my everything.


    The city under the darkness of the night suddenly shone with a brilliant glow.


    All sounds disappeared and everything became insignificant.


    From this point, it was just me and the man in front of me.

 Chapter 368 Volume VI - 1: A Crippled Body

    <h4>Chapter 368 Volume VI - Chapter 1: A Crippled Body</h4>


    As my eyes slowly twitched, the first sound that whispered in my ear... was the sound of machines beeping incessantly.


    Strange, I thought. Usually, I would wake up to the non-existent chirping of non-existent birds, the sensation of the gentle movement of the fake soft grass beneath my body. Then there would be the fake sun on my face, a brief moment of silence... and then two people reminding me that I was not alone.


    But now, it was different.


    There was no grass, just... afortable bed. No sun, just the LEDmp on the ceiling. The silence was reced by the sounds of machinery. The two people who reminded me that I was not alone... were simply absent.


    Normally, I would have sighed in such a situation, but I didn''t. I just... watched the ceiling, not moving a muscle.


    There were too many things going through my head.


    Three months. Three months since the end of the war. So... I''ve been in aa for three months, too. But the time I spent on that dream... is four days at most. Maybe not even that.


    But in those four days alone, I learned so much. About myself, about caora, about my next step.


    But the problem is... in these four days, I also learned almost nothing I actually wanted to know.


    Aiden has kept so much from me, telling me that there are things I shouldn''t know and that it''s for my own good... but I don''t know. Even though I''ve chosen to trust only myself, there are still so many things I''m not sure about.


    ~knock ~knock ~knock!


    I sighed lightly, straightening my posture as I slowly sat up in my bed, trying not to put too much weight on my right arm. Then I turned to the door of my room, which was quite spacious and had a very rxing atmosphere.


    "You maye in."


    The door opened slowly as an elderly dwarf in ab coat walked in.


    "Good mornin'', Mr. Tenebra."


    I put a slight smile on my face, bowed my head slightly, and replied in kind.


    "Good morning, doctor."


    The doctor approached me, but instead of looking at my body, he focused on the machine right next to my bed. He clicked on something on the screens that suddenly appeared on it, checking different values one by one, and asked in a soft voice.


    "How be ya feelin''?"


    "Fine, just a little numb in my right arm and right foot. Other than those two... I''m literally as good as new."


    The doctor nodded his head. Then he pressed onest button on the screen and all the lights on the machine in front of him went out at once.


    As soon as the lights went out, the temperature in the room changed a little, and it became a little quieter as well. Up until now, everything felt extremelyfortable... breathing, moving my body, basically everything. But as soon as the machine turned off, everything went back to normal as if I had been thrown out of heaven.


    The doctor took a few steps back. He looked straight at me with a serious expression on his face.


    "I''ll be truthful, Mr. Tenebra."


    That''s exactly what I wanted, so I nodded without saying anything.


    There was really a lot I didn''t know about the general condition of my body, which I would eventually find out.


    "Thanks to the potion Mr. Caleo brought, yer body''s in better shape than it could ever be. But... not so much, at the same time."


    My eyebrows raised slightly as I focused even more on the doctor''s words. He finally sighed, as if it was difficult for him to talk like that in front of me.


    "Ye swung Durandal without a shred o'' protective armor. In truth, the sensible oue would be that ye shouldn''t even be breathin'', yet here ye stand. And now... even that potion has failed t'' fully mend yer body."


    Oh, so I''m not fully healed...


    Well, it''s not something I can''t predict with the feeling in my right arm and leg.


    "Yer right arm ''n leg will be feeblepared t'' normal. Ye can''t stroll properly without a cane. And... yer whole body''s gone hypersensitive to mana, so ye best be restrictin'' yer mana usage."


    There was a brief moment of silence between us. I felt myself getting tense with each passing second, because this conversation... was not going anywhere good.


    I asked in an involuntarily shaky voice, afraid of how it would continue.


    "H- how much do I have to limit my mana...?"


    "As much as ye can no longer partake in any fight or battle. Livin'' yer life as a regr human bein'' would be the most beneficial choice. ''Tis best that ye utilize almost no mana."


    Silence, truly absolute silence.


    I couldn''t say anything as the Absolute Mind spontaneously activated, quickly sweeping away all my tension, fears, and anxiety. I just... stared nkly at the doctor in front of me.


    It was funny, because.


    I can''t fight again, huh?


    It''s best if I don''t use any mana, is that it...?


    He''s telling me I''m a cripple. With the fate of literally all of Lunerra in my hands...


    "I... I understand."


    But I didn''t say anything to him, I couldn''t. He wasn''t guilty, after all. On the contrary, he had probably done more for me than I could have imagined.


    "Now, pleasey yerself down on the bed ''n wait for me t'' remove yer restraint."


    I did as he said, while stretching out my left arm in his direction.


    The doctor took my arm in his hands and ran them over it. There was a tiny glow, and then it receded.


    The first thing I felt when my mana flow, which had been restricted for my own good, was suddenly free... was how strange it felt.


    I didn''t even need the doctor''s words. The mana in my body was in a real mess. Before, it had a flow that didn''t bother me, even though I never spent any effort on it. Now... it was the opposite.


    But I didn''t care about that. I did what any human in my position would do, since this was the first time since I woke up that I had ess to my mana. I opened my status window.


    <<------------------------------


    --Personal Information--


    Name: Aiden (Ethan)


    Last Name: Tenebra (Subter)


    Race: Human/Wiera


    Age: 19


    --???--


    ???: %8,3


    --Statistics--


    General Level: F (C)


    Strength: F (C-)


    Agility: F- (C)


    Vitality: F+ (C+)


    Endurance: F (C)


    Luck: E+


    Magic Power: F- (C+)


    Mana Efficiency: F- (C+)


    Charm: D-


    --Status Effects--


    Abnormal Status Effect: [Divided Soul] -- [Body Dissonance] -- [Mana Flow Imbnce] -- [Crippled Body] -- [???]


    --Chaos--


    Devotion: Greed


    Status: Representative Candidate


    Grade: B-


    Control Tolerance: B-


    Limit: C+


    Authority: [Chains of Sin(C-)] -- [Mind Confusion(C+)]


    --Lineage--


    Ancestor: Lumignis


    Type: Phoenix


    Sub-Type: Soul


    Grade: B- (Downgraded)


    Lineage Abilities: [Blue mes of Lumignis(C)] -- [Phoenix''s Ascension(C+)] -- [Phoenix''s Regeneration(B-)] -- [A New Beginning(S)]


    --Masteries--


    [Swordsmanship(D)] -- [Mana Expert(C)] -- [Spirit Magic: Wind Elementalist(C)] -- [Sword Style: Ambiguous Flow(D+)]


    --Active Skills--


    [Mana Barrier(D)] -- [Ice Spikes(D)] -- [Spiritual Ascension(C+)] -- [Durandal''s Aura(S-)]


    --Passive Skills--


    [The One Who is Close to Spirits(A+)] -- [Absolute Mind(A)] -- [Poison Immunity(C+)] -- [Saturated with Mana(A+)]


    ------------------------------>>


    And... it looked exactly as I expected it to look.


    There were a few things I didn''t expect, of course. Like having two new skills, for example.


    But there was something else that caught my attention.


    And it was... the very tab that I hated to see on this screen, the one that had previously disgusted me every time I looked at it.


    "Doctor..."


    "Yes, Mr. Tenebra."


    His eyes were on me, truly ready to fulfill whatever I asked.


    "I want to try something, can you watch me and my body?"


    The doctor''s expression suddenly went dark. It was such a sudden change that I quickly raised my hands in the air and shook my head from side to side.


    "Don''t worry, it''s nothing dangerous. I mean... maybe a little, but it won''t make my condition worse. I''m not even going to do anything with the mana."


    The doctor seemed to rx a little with myst sentence. But he was still alert, as if... he didn''t like it.


    "It''s best not t'' be meddlin'' in anythin''..."Formun ¨¹st¨¹


    "I know, and I understand your concern, but as I said, I won''t even use my mana. It''s just... a little test."


    The doctor still didn''t look satisfied. He was almost... afraid.


    Ah, if anything happens to me, they''ll know from him... won''t they?


    "Don''t worry, I''ll make sure nothing will happen to you, just... don''t be afraid of what I''m going to do now, and then check my body again."


    Before the doctor opened his mouth again and said anything, I took a deep breath in, closed my eyes to focus better, and... concentrated on all the negative emotions inside me. One by one, every single one. And more and more of them.


    As a purple glow appeared behind my left eyelid, I felt the caora, the energy other than mana, coursing through my body. When I finally opened my eyes, the left side of my vision waspletely purple... just like always.


    The terror in the doctor''s eyes was the second thing I noticed. The ominous sensation of the caora was confusing his mind. I actually felt a little sorry for him, but there was nothing I could do.


    I tried to pull the caora to me so that he would be at least less affected, keeping it inside my body rather than letting it spread outside. Then... I focused on something I had never tried before, something I had only fully grasped the basics of thanks to a few things I had learned from ric.


    One by one, Caora spread throughout my body, into every part of it... especially my right arm and leg. It reced what was missing, temporarily fixing what was damaged. Quickly, yet perfectly, it literally patched me up.


    The next second... although it wasn''t exactly what I expected, what I had in mind had worked.


    The flow of mana through my body was back to the way it should be. At least a little bit...


    The numbness in my right arm and leg was considerably reduced. With a little more effort, they would disappearpletely.


    But instead of trying to verify this myself, I just turned toward the doctor and spoke in a calm voice.


    "My body... can you check it again?"


    The doctor suddenly came to his senses, his eyes widening slightly.


    "S- sorry!"


    He quickly approached the machine he had just turned off, then turned it back on by pressing the buttons on the screen in front of him.


    His eyes widened even more with each passing second as he looked at each of the values that appeared in front of him, one by one. He kept bringing up new values, checking them and getting more and more shocked.


    Finally, when I realized that he wasn''t changing anything for a few seconds, I pulled the caora back. The ufortable feeling in my body instantly returned and the purple in my vision lessened and lessened. The readings in front of the doctor changed just as abruptly as it had happened.


    The doctor''s eyes widened again. He turned to me so fast that he almost broke his neck.


    "H- how did ye... do this...?"


    I just smiled.


    "Secret, let''s say."


    *(A/N: I don''t know if anyone wille, but I had a few readers asking me for a Discord server recently. And, well... I decided to open one. If you have any questions for me, or if you want to see future character arts, or if you want to discuss with a few more readers, you are wee toe. You can find the link here, on my profile, on the synopsis page as well as on this paragraph''sment. https://discord.gg/eRZTrv6Y49)*

 Chapter 369 Volume VI - 2: Two New Skills

    <h4>Chapter 369 Volume VI - Chapter 2: Two New Skills</h4>


    Thin,fortable pants that made me feel like I was wearing sweatpants.


    A simple ck T-shirt that was a bit baggy.


    A thin ck glove that covered my entire right arm, almost as if it was one with my skin, and did not feel ufortable at all.


    And a gray cane given to me so that I could walk without limping.


    I felt strange looking at myself in the mirror, as if I was looking at someone else and not at myself, but I didn''t think too much about it.


    My lips curled up slightly as I turned around, smiling at the five dwarfs waiting just in front of me.


    "I can be discharged now, right?"


    The dwarves were... too careful. Literally too careful.


    If I hadn''t specifically insisted otherwise, they would have wanted to keep me in this room almost indefinitely. Despite the fact that I had already spent two weeks confined here.


    I mean, it''s not that I don''t understand why they behave like this. After all... I''m literally a hero to them. They''re worried about my safety, and rightly so.


    But I have a life.


    And as much as I have a life, I have things to do. Really important things.


    "I reckoned ye might stick ''round a bit more."


    My smile widened as I turned to the dwarf who had spoken. This was the same man I had fought alongside for most of the war, Rulhan, after all.


    And next to him, Durvan, who was usually, and still is, silent.


    They were not normally allowed toe near me as they were not much more than normal soldiers, but as they were almost the dwarves I was closest to, they coulde and go from time to time. And now... they were here to say goodbye.


    "There''s nothing to do. I... would be lying if I said I didn''t miss my home, my sister, and my friends. I have to go back now."


    Rulhan said nothing while Durvan nodded.


    "Don''t be forgettin'' to drop by every now ''n then."


    I smiled without holding back.


    "Of course. Why would I forget? My work here isn''t done yet."


    Besides... they were no longer in danger of death.


    After all, the war was over. Now... they were simply working in the name of security. They had a much morefortable life than the soldiers who had to spend every day fighting.


    I approached them, leaned a little, and the three of us hugged each other in a circle at the same time. And then we stepped back. In the end... the smile on my face only widened.


    "Thank you for always being there for me."


    "We be thankin'' ye."


    They both stood in a military salute as if I were theirmander... But I didn''t care, I saluted briefly in the same way. Then I turned to the one in the middle of the three dwarves who were watching what was happening.


    "Then... shall we go now, Dorhud?"


    Dorhud nodded his head, making way for me as the doctors on either side of him stepped slightly to the side.


    I took onest look at Rulhan and Durvan before leaving the room. They would be leaving after I did, so this was where we parted ways.


    "See youter, guys."


    They responded in the same way. It was an emotional goodbye for me, but I had no intention of prolonging it. So, after this final goodbye, I turned around and... for the first time since I woke up, I actually walked out of my room.


    *******


    I moved my cane to the side and slowly sat down in the cozy armchair. Inside the rather gigantic office, my lips curled upwards as I looked at the man with his usual t, cold expression.


    Although... he didn''t look so cold anymore.


    What did they call it... a tsundere?


    Anyway...


    "Hello, President Houdhin.


    How is your day going?"


    For the first time, I saw Houdhin''s lips curve upwards a little, as if he wanted to prove wrong what I had just been thinking.


    "Fine, our ''hero'' Aiden. And yours? I guess you''re looking forward to going home."


    The ''our hero'' thing was so... weird that I couldn''t stop my eyes from twitching for a moment, but I still kept a straight face.


    "I''m fine too... And yes, I''m eager to go home, but... unfortunately, the fact that I''m eager to go home doesn''t change the fact that I have things to do."


    I saw Houdhin''s eyes narrow slightly, his lips curled even higher. As if he was waiting for me to say something like that.


    "I feel like this is what you''ve been aiming for all along, Aiden Tenebra. To be the hero of the Hr, to achieve that status. But... even if that''s the case, I can''t say anything, I simply can''t. Because... you seeded. You have indeed be a ''hero''. So..."


    He held out one hand slightly towards me, opened his palm as if to give me something, and brought the other hand to his chin.


    "What do you want? Don''t be shy, say it. Not me, but directly this whole country is ready to do anything you ask. Tell us what you have been aiming for all along."


    I leaned back, the smile on my face was just like his.


    "I... want more than one thing, actually."


    Houdhin didn''t seem surprised at all, so I continued.


    "First... I''m going to create apany in the future, and it would be nice if I could get funding for it. Of course, I also have a goal of bing a noble when I return to Cevilian... so I think it''s only right that I ask for your support."


    He nodded without changing his expression as if these were all things he could easily afford.


    "Oh... and a new sword would be nice. A good quality one. Even better than the one I have."


    He nodded again, not at all surprised. He must have already heard that despite the state of my body, I could use caora to fix myself.


    "There are a few other small things I''d like, and I''ll mention them, but... thest of my big requests is an artifact that can suppress the S+ charm statistic in the system we use, and if possible even higher. A ring, bracelet, or ne would be nice."


    This was the only thing that raised his eyebrows slightly, causing him to actually look a little surprised.


    "That... might be a bit of a difficult request. But we will do our best."


    I felt a little relieved to hear that he didn''t refuse. I don''t know why, but... I had a tiny suspicion that they might not be able to fulfill my request. But I had worried unnecessarily, apparently.


    "Then... let''s move on to other things. You can be sure that these will be much simpler, so don''t worry..."


    And we did.


    When it was all over, it was finally time for me to leave the room.


    But... President Houdhin was not finished.


    "Before you go, let me tell you a few things."


    His eyes were sharp this time, his expression particrly serious. He wanted me to focus on him, to pay attention to his words.


    "There are a few things you need to know, at least... about your own situation. About this purple energy you''re using, and about those who use a simr but opposite blue energy."


    My eyebrows furrowed quickly.


    So, the Order is finally on the move¡­ huh?


    *******


    I''ve never been on a morefortable ne in my life. In every sense... the seats, the interior of the ne, the view outside... Everything is perfect.


    And it''s all thanks to an extremely advanced technology.


    ''You give the same look every time...''


    A turquoise glow suddenly appeared in the space in front of me, then a tiny spirit floated slowly in front of me.


    "Because I''m more and more intrigued every time."


    I smiled back at the Sith, and he returned it.


    We hadn''t spoken much since the moment I woke up, we had nothing to talk about except for hispany in my hospital room.


    Now... we were in a more convenient ce.


    ''You are not normally so happy and optimistic in such situations. Did something happen that I don''t know about? Is it because of these two skills you''ve acquired?''


    "Ah, no."


    I mean... they have an effect, of course. Because they''re both really useful, really excellent skills.


    Saturated with Mana is a skill that I got because my body was exposed to excessive, really excessive, amounts of mana. And it basically increases my mana reserves by a lot, and it supports Mana Efficiency by rxing the flow of mana in my body.


    Well... thatst part wouldn''t be of much use if I couldn''t heal myself temporarily. But with caora, the trump card I was able to use despite my crippled body, this skill was really perfect.


    Durandal''s Aura was even more perfect. So much so that even though I had read it dozens of times, I couldn''t stop my lips from curling upwards.


    <<------------------------------


    Durandal''s Aura(S-)


    The user can turn any object that they can use with their hands into a weapon that can cut anything, no matter what it is, transcending the boundaries of the physical world.


    ------------------------------>>


    The description was short and to the point. But... the skill itself was immense.


    I could create a ''weapon'' at will that could transcend the boundaries of the physical world, that could cut through anything. The cane in my hand, for example. I could use it as if it were a sword, even though it was simply a cane. Or I could multiply the effect by strengthening swords that were already weapons.


    But...


    "The skills are beautiful. But... the reason I''m smiling so much is simply because I''m finally going back. After all that''s happened... it feels a bit like a dream."


    A brief silence fell between us. Neither I nor Sith said anything. And then...


    ''What''s the n now, then?''


    I leaned back, a smile reappearing on my face as I looked at the view while flying above the clouds.


    "First... I think I''m going to meet ra and the others. I''ll spend two or three days with them. Then we''ll find Ulka and Alex andunch thepany we should have opened months ago. I haven''t listed the rest yet, but we''ll be busy. You don''t worry much..."


    Sith''s expression gradually fell. He didn''t seem to like the fact that we were going to be busy.


    I let out augh while Sith said nothing more.


    We continued flying towards Cevilian in silence.


    *******


    When I got off the ne... it was a much more normal scene than I had imagined.


    Cevilian, as a country, knew that I wasing back. And, of course, I would be surrounded the moment I got off the ne.


    At least that''s how it was supposed to be.


    But, instead... I was in a quite normal airport.


    ''You said you wanted to be undisturbed for a few days, right?''


    I nodded slightly, unable to keep the surprise off my face.


    ''Yes... but I thought there would be leaks and things wouldn''t go the way I wanted. They took my request quite seriously, huh...''


    Being someone in charge... feels better than I thought it would.


    Not that I canin, of course!


    With a smile on my face, I slowly made my way forward. I was a bit conspicuous because of my cane and my right arm, but with the ck mask on my face, I was sure that no one would recognize me.


    Even if I''m more famous now as the ''Hero of the Hr'' than I ever wanted to be, I''m sure there''s no one who can tell who I really am with a single nce.


    And so... I managed to get into a car that was arranged for me without any real trouble.


    My first destination was clear, I didn''t even have to think about it. Of course, I was going to my sister, whom I hadn''t seen or heard from in months.


    I could already imagine the surprise on her face and the tears in her eyes.


    After all, no one knew I had woken up except the big names. It was going to be a big surprise for her.


    "Drive to Wiathen, I''ll give you directions."

 Chapter 370 Volume VI - 3: Back to Home

    <h4>Chapter 370 Volume VI - Chapter 3: Back to Home</h4>


    "I- I didn''t understand...? Can you say it again, ra?"


    I took a deep breath, straightening my posture even more than before.


    I looked at the person in front of me, my boyfriend, who was looking at me with dted eyes.


    And I repeated my words.


    "If you can''t tell me why you don''t trust me... yes, I want to break up, Paul."


    His already widened eyes widened even more, his lips parted, but he just stood there.


    He was in shock.


    "Do you want me to say it once more?"


    I told him, everything.


    I mean... not everything. I didn''t say anything about irvoyance, but I told him about my awakening and about Memory Travel, about the conditions under which it had to work.


    At first, he thought I was dreaming. But when I showed him that I could use my mana, he just froze.


    He thought I had misunderstood the skill, but when I repeated the description out loud, he was at a loss for words again.


    Now... he was almost speechless.


    I let out a deep sigh and slowly let myself fall back on the couch.


    "Paul... I love you... I really love you, but... I believe that the most important thing in a rtionship is trust. And... and you don''t trust me."


    I had to think really hard to make that decision.


    But I was determined. No matter how much I loved the person in front of me, no matter how sweet my dreams were... I wasn''t too stupid to see that there was something wrong with this rtionship, with him.


    I just... needed some time to ept it, that''s all.


    And today, I realized I''d made the right decision. Because...


    "Now, when I ask if you let me look at your memories, you can''t say anything. When I ask you what you''ve been hiding from me, you can''t tell me anything. We''ve been dating for months and I don''t really know anything about your past, about your problems. You tell me, does this rtionship... does it really make any sense at all?"


    He lowered his head, silent again.


    One second...


    Two seconds...


    Three...


    ...


    "If you''re still silent... haven''t you already given your answer?"


    I felt tears in my eyes as I looked at him. Because... after I told him everything, I thought he could finally trust me, that we could move on.


    The moment he told me everything, I was going to tell him everything myself too, about my brother, about irvoyance, about my own secrets...


    But no. Paul... He was just silent.


    "I... I want to be alone for a while, Paul. You cane back when you think you can trust me again. But right now... no. Just leave me alone."


    Again, he said nothing. His yellow eyes were fixed on the floor, trembling.


    I sniffled slightly, wiped my eyes on my sleeve.


    I repeated.


    "Please... if you care about me at all, pack your things and get out of my house..."


    And it was at this moment that he finally lifted his head up, his eyes fixed on me.


    The change... it was so sudden. His widened eyes suddenly returned to normal, his trembling stopped. His expression... suddenly cold and nk.


    When he took a single step towards me, I finally realized something was wrong.


    Paul seemed like apletely different person.


    "Stop..."


    But he didn''t stop.


    "Paul, I said stop."


    He looked at me with the same cold eyes. As if... as if he didn''t care about anything anymore.


    "Paul!"


    He took another step. But... with only a few centimeters between us, he suddenly stopped. His eyes seemed to turn back for a moment, looking toward the door of my house.


    His eyebrows furrowed as if he had seen something he hadn''t expected.


    And finally, for the first time, his lips moved.


    "I... I''m sorry, ra."


    I felt a senseless anger building up inside me, I picked up the pillow next to the sofa and threw it at his face, but... he didn''t even move.


    "Get out of my house!"


    His eyes turned to me onest time. His lips curved upward slightly, the coldness in his eyes disappeared. His expression softened.


    I felt myself freeze.


    "I... I''m really sorry. I did something stupid. For a moment... I stopped thinking about what I was doing."


    He turned around, his movement had already stuttered for a moment.


    "If you want me to go... Fine, I''ll go."


    And... he did. He turned around and walked out of the room with slow steps. He took his phone, his backpack. He put on his hoodie and came to the front door of the house.


    He turned to me onest time, as if he really... regretted everything. But when he realized I didn''t say anything, he opened the door and walked out.


    Silence enveloped me, and then... a strange coldness.


    I felt bad. When he made that face, when he apologized, I... almost asked him to stay.


    Do I love him that much...? So much that I could think of reversing my firm decision with a single act...


    I pulled my knees up to me, put my arms around them, and buried my head down, unable to stop my eyes from watering as the minutes ticked by.


    However, after a short while, the familiar melody of the doorbell filled my ears.


    I don''t know why, my body moved spontaneously.


    Before I realized what was happening, I found myself in front of the door, holding the handle.


    Maybe I wanted to see hime back, I thought he would let me look at his memories. I... I wanted our rtionship to continue, not to end like this.


    I opened the door with this blind hope.


    But... it wasn''t Paul who I found.


    Instead... it was someone with a cane and a ck mask on his face.


    "Yes...?"


    As I studied his clothes and his body, trying to understand who he was, I finally focused on his eyes.


    And then... all of a sudden... I was frozen in ce.


    "Come on..."


    His familiar voice filled my ears, almost as if... I was in an impossible dream. But he didn''t stop there, he slowly removed the mask from his face.


    And...


    "Do you really forget your own brother? It''s been like... seven months!"


    He paused for a moment.


    "Huh, now that I think about it, it''s been a while..."


    *******


    ra''s shocked, stunned expression... Ah, it was exactly what I had expected!


    Now, I was going to go in slowly, close the door gently, and hug her. Everything was as I had imagined.


    But then... I paused. My eyebrows furrowed, my upturned lips suddenly straightened.


    "Were you... crying?"


    Her eyes were slightly red, and there was a faint trace of her clothes on her forehead.


    "A- ah..."


    Her red eyes watered again, her whole body trembled. She took a few steps back, away from the door... away from me.


    She wiped her eyes on her arm, forced herself to stand up straight.


    Without saying anything, I went inside and closed the door. I sighed as she tried to wipe away the tears that kept flowing. I approached her, took her body in my arms, and pulled her close to me.


    "I''m sorry."


    She sobbed once, her body trembling again.


    "For leaving you alone, for jumping into a war and putting so much on you. You... you''ve had a much harder time than I thought, haven''t you?"


    I took a deep breath, tightening my arms around his body.


    "But... I''m back, I''m here now, so... you can leave everything to me again."


    And, finally, she stopped holding herself back. Finally, she stopped wiping away her tears, and she too wrapped her arms around me.


    "Idiot..."


    My lips curled upwards.


    "Yeah, I guess I have to admit I''m a bit of an idiot."


    "I- I... missed you... do you know how much...?"


    "Why wouldn''t I? Why do you think I rushed here as soon as I got to Cevilian?"


    She paused, said nothing. Then... she said one thing in the same shaky voice.


    "W- wee back..."


    My smile widened involuntarily.


    "Thanks."


    *******


    ra looked first at the cane next to me and then at my right arm.


    "So... are you crippled now?"


    I choked on the tea I had just drunk and eventually calmed down as I tried to stop coughing with my left hand on my chest.


    "Hey... it''s a bit rude when you say it like that, you could be more polite..."


    One of her eyebrows raised slightly.


    "So... you''re crippled."


    As the seconds of silence ticked by, all I could do was sigh.


    "Well... sort of? But I can still fight! And without any trouble at all. It''s just... better if it doesn''tst too long, I guess."


    ra took a deep breath. As if... she didn''t like what I had said.


    She had already calmed down. If at first she was extremely surprised that I hade back, now she seemed much more rxed. She cried a bit, though... And it took some time for her to ept it, to believe that she was not dreaming.


    "Anyway. How did you manage to get here unnoticed? You are quite famous now... No one knows about my house and that you''re my brother, right?"


    "Heh, your brother is much more important than you think. I told some big shots to leave me alone for a few days and poof! No journalists, no bodyguards... nothing."


    Well, I wouldn''t say there are no guards, though...


    ra was silent for a while. Then, she decided to change the subject.


    "What happens now, then?"


    There were so many questions behind those four words, even though she was only asking one thing.


    But it was natural to worry, to wonder.


    ra was a normal person, I didn''t want her to take part in anything I nned for the future, she... just had to live a happy and quiet life.


    "It''s not much... at least not much that concerns you. Ah, the Tenebra Family will be a noble family now, though, so that might concern you a little... not gonna lie"


    She didn''t react much as if it was something she had expected. I continued.


    "I''m going to start apany. With the noble status and the support of the Hr, I n to be even more important than I already am. Then, I''ll use all these connections to create a happy future where we can live without worries. At least that''s my n."


    Again, there was no reaction. After a short time, she merely nodded.


    "Why are you so quiet?"


    I paused after my question, remembering her eyes and expression when she opened the door. Suddenly, my eyebrows furrowed.


    "Now that I think about it... you were crying before you came in. Did something happen?"


    ra let out a deep, really deep sigh. Finally, she raised her eyes to mine. And this time... she seemed a little determined.


    "I... I''ve been through a few things while you were away... I don''t know what to do, what I should do... So listen to me carefully, okay?"


    My eyebrows furrowed even more and my expression became involuntarily serious. Because... she was definitely not going to talk about simple things.


    ra said nothing for a short while. She just raised her hand and opened her palm. And then... the mana in her body was suddenly drawn into her hand.


    "Well, I... I can use mana now."


    Oh, well...


    I mean, I can''t say I''m not surprised. But... it was something that was going to happen sooner orter, and she was getting close to that age...


    It''s not a big deal if I think that all people wake up at a certain age, without exception.


    "But that''s not the problem, it''s the skill the system gave me."


    My eyebrows went up, I gave her my full focus, and then...


    "Well... I have a skill called irvoyance in my status window."


    Silence fell suddenly across the room.


    ra looked at me innocently as she withdrew the mana concentrated in her hand.


    Finally, what she said reyed in my mind.


    Seconds passed, and then more.


    "Huh...?"


    My eyes twitched as I looked nkly at the person who was my sister.


    "irvoyance... The same irvoyance I am thinking about? You know, the one the seers have...?"


    "Yes..."


    I jumped up, not caring about my cane. I quickly put my hands on ra''s shoulders. I didn''t even care about hurting her, I didn''t care how serious and frightening the expression on my face was.


    "ra... you... awakened as a seer?"


    ra looked really scared. Her eyes were on me and her body was trembling slightly.


    Still, she confirmed me.


    "Y- yes..."

 Chapter 371 Volume VI - 4: No More Risks

    <h4>Chapter 371 Volume VI - Chapter 4: No More Risks</h4>


    "Oh... so... you broke up with your boyfriend while I was away, is that it?"


    ra''s eyes twitched.


    "Is that really what we are talking about...?"


    "And the reason your eyes are red is because of that little rat, you say..."


    "Brother..."


    "What''s his name? I think it would be nice to meet him and talk to him."


    "Brother!"


    I raised my eyebrows and looked at ra, who was squinting and frowning furiously.


    "Hmm? What happened?"


    "After everything I''ve told you, that''s all you''re stuck on?"


    I shook my head from side to side in the most serious way possible.


    "No. I''ll think about... you being a seer. And I have no idea what Xaevirea and aera are. So I''m focusing primarily on what I can deal with immediately."


    "You... you don''t think I''m... lying to you or anything, right?"


    I paused for a moment, unable to stop the momentary harshness in my expression, so much so that even ra noticed it. But I still tried to recover quickly, curling my lips back up.


    "No. I believe every word you said, I just... need to think about it, that''s all."


    Quickly picking up my cane, I stood up, putting the most sincere smile I could on my face.


    "But... for now, I''m just going to go somewhere, you know, I''m quite busy and I have a lot of ces to go. But don''t worry, if I''m anywhere near Wiathen, I''lle here to sleep, so my bed better be ready! Okay?"


    ra sighed deeply.


    "Okay..."


    I looked at her face onest time as I nodded my head slightly up and down. I didn''t really want to go, but... like I said, I was busy and I had other ces to be.


    So I had to keep our meeting short.


    Still...


    "Ah, why don''t you tell me the name of that boy? I''m not gonna beat or bully him. I''m just... really curious."


    "Ugh..."


    Her fingers went to her hair, her eyes seemed to lose focus for a moment.


    "Hmm...? Are you embarrassed, or is it just me?"


    "No! It''s not even a rtionship anymore... Although, ah fuck it! Anyway... Paul, the guy I broke up with is called Paul."


    Paul, huh...


    Ah, wait... Paul?


    "Wait a second..."


    My eyes narrowed, I looked at her with such an expression that I almost scared her. But I didn''t care.


    "What are the chances that this guy''sst name is... Demens?"


    ra''s eyebrows shot up.


    "Wait, you know him?"


    There was a moment of silence between us. My eyes twitched more and more with each passing second, and I gripped my cane even harder.


    "ra, be honest with me... how long were you dating him?"


    "S- six months? We started dating shortly after you left. But what''s going on, why are you getting so serious? You''re a little... scary."


    I didn''t care what she said. I walked over quickly, sat down next to her, and kept my eyes on hers.


    "Why did you break up with him? Did you ask him out first or did he?"


    "He did... but the reason we broke up was because of irvoyance and that other skill I told you about. irvoyance seemed to be trying to tell me that there was something wrong with him. And when I tried Memory Travel on him, I realized that he didn''t really trust me, so I told him that if there was no trust between us, we couldn''t have a rtionship, and we broke up. In fact, it happened a few minutes before you arrived."


    I didn''t let my emotions get in the way of my logic. I stayed calm and called out to my mind.


    ''Sith, do you sense any magical powers on ra, like the spies we once captured, a control seal or something like that?''


    The green-haired spirit that suddenly appeared in front of me shook his head from side to side.


    ''No,pletely clean.''


    I couldn''t help frowning.


    The Paul I know doesn''t hesitate to make someone his puppet if his ns go wrong. Why hadn''t he?


    Not that I wasining, of course... But why?


    "Ah, you said that he left a few minutes before I arrived... right?"


    Is that why? Did he realize I was approaching here and hesitate?


    I didn''t feel the need to ask anything more. Grabbing my cane again, I quickly jumped to my feet and headed outside.


    "For your first question... Yes, I know Paul. And trust me, he''s dangerous, ra. He''s really dangerous. So... try not to leave the house for a while until I let you know."


    She paused for a moment, as if she couldn''t believe what I was saying. But he didn''t keep his mouth shut.


    "O- okay...?"


    When I looked at the twitch of her expression, her reaction to my words... I understood.


    However Paul had tricked her, he had really made her fall in love with him. But, even then... she still trusts me more than him.


    I couldn''t help the slight upward curl of my lips.


    "Thank you for trusting me, I''ll tell you everything when we have a little more time. Now... I have to be quick. See you soon."


    "See you..."


    I opened the door, stepped out, put on my shoes, and closed the door back.


    The smile on my face faded instantly. My eyes squinted involuntarily, I couldn''t help clenching my fist.


    I really didn''t expect ra to be a seer. I was so confused, so unsure of what to do, that I didn''t want to scare her, so I brushed it off.


    But that doesn''t mean I don''t take it seriously. No, on the contrary... I do take it extremely seriously. It''s a development that threatens everything I have nned for the future. A major development that could prevent ra from being much more involved in everything that''s going to happen and prevent me from keeping her safe.


    So I have to gradually, carefully, n everything all over again and act ordingly.


    But Paul?


    I''m not going to brush it off, I''m not going to leave it forter to think about. Just the thought of that maniac having a ''rtionship'' with my sister is enough to make me sick to my stomach, but to think that if I had arrived a littleter, if I had lingered a few more minutes beforeing here, he could have made a puppet of her...?


    I couldn''t stop my eyes twitching and my fingernails digging into my palms.


    Just imagining, just thinking about what Paul could have done to ra makes me want to tear him to pieces.


    The worst part is... it''s my fault. I should never have trusted him in the first ce. I should never have let him act freely, knowing who he actually was.


    The whole bullshit that it could have all happened because of his sister''s, Sue''s, death ends there.


    The only reason I didn''t push him too hard since I found out about his existence, the only reason I left him alone for a while, was because I wasn''t sure if he was really a bad person or not. And now... I don''t even care anymore.


    I started walking slowly, approached one of the cars waiting in front of the house, and got in without saying anything.


    On the holographic screen in front of me, I called three people at the same time, and all three answered almost simultaneously.


    One was Mny Quie, another was Ronald Potenbea, and thest one was Professor Ulka.


    Apart from Ulka, the other two already knew that I had woken up from thea. Their position was sufficient to find out such a thing. Nevertheless, when they answered the call, they had a much more surprised expression than Ulka.


    "I''m sorry for calling so suddenly, and I apologize for speaking about something serious immediately. I would have preferred to meet in a more proper way, but... I need your help with something important."


    The expression on all three of their faces turned serious with myst sentence. It was as if... all their surprise had vanished and they werepletely focused on what I was about to say.


    "I''m looking for a boy named Paul Demens who is sixteen or seventeen. He is Olivia Sue Gemma''s brother and a student at James William College. He is also a dangerous member of an organization called Saligia. I want to find out where he wasst seen, what his destination was, everything. I''m sure he''ll disappear as soon as he realizes he''s being searched, so we need to be as fast as possible."


    Professor Ulka nodded without question and left the call by himself.


    Ronald and Mny remained on the call for a short while longer. Then, Mny finally broke the silence between us.


    "Aiden... I''m just curious about one thing, are you calling this boy for personal reasons?"


    "Sort of, but it would be a mistake to say it''s only personal."


    They both sighed at the same time.


    "I get it."


    "Leave it to us."


    And they left the call.


    After a deep breath, I turned to the driver, a man in a suit and sunsses.


    "Start driving, I''ll give you directions."


    First of all... I''m going to Sue''s apartment.


    Paul has probably gone back to his own apartment, so there''s a good chance I''ll find him there.


    I''m not gonna let him get away.


    I''m going to make sure everyone knows the truth about him.


    And even if he somehow manages to escape... I will make sure that he can''t go out on the streets, that he can''t use the identity ''Paul Demens'' again, that he will spend his whole life in fear of being caught.


    There is no more room for mistakes with Paul Demens, I will not take any more risks.

 Chapter 372 Volume VI - 5: A Nostalgic Apartment

    <h4>Chapter 372 Volume VI - Chapter 5: A Nostalgic Apartment</h4>


    I was only halfway to Sue''s apartment when my watch started to ring. I quickly opened it without looking to see who it was.


    On the screen in front of me was Ronald Potenbea. He was about to open his mouth and speak when someone else joined the call, and then someone else.


    The trio I had spoken to only a few minutes ago were now back in front of me.


    Ronald coughed a little, then continued his interrupted words.


    "Paul Demens left your sister''s apartment and headed straight for his home. But... he doesn''t appear on any CCTV footage after getting on a bus when he should have arrived by now. He''s not on the bus either. Just like you said, he vanished into thin air."


    I clicked my tongue.


    Why did he run away when he didn''t know anything, when he didn''t even realize I was looking for him? I was never hostile towards him.


    He couldn''t have realized so quickly that someone was after him, that he was being investigated... could he?


    I hesitated for a moment, realized my mistake, and narrowed my eyes.


    No, I underestimate him. And more than him, I underestimate the organization he is a member of. They could have realized something was wrong and warned him. It could also have been something else.


    "Keep looking for a while longer. He''s to be tracked down and arrested on the first sighting. For now... I think he''s out of our hands."


    I closed the call without saying anything, took a deep breath to calm myself down, and looked outside.


    The people of the city were on their own, oblivious to everything.


    And Paul was among them, still in this city, most likely.


    Although... what was his purpose in the first ce? Why did he try to get close to ra? He could have simply made her his puppet... but he didn''t.


    Did he want to approach me in a natural way, maybe?


    Did he want me to trust him, to get to a point where I could let my guard down around him?


    A lot of different theories were running through my mind. But none of them were good ones.


    And that''s when the driver, who had beenpletely silent until now, opened his mouth.


    "We''ve arrived, sir."


    I snapped out of my thoughts, turned my eyes out the window, and looked at the building we were standing in front of.


    I had never actually been here before. I only... knew it because I had researched where Sue lived in the past.


    But the first thing I felt when I looked at the apartment building was somehow... nostalgia.


    It reminded me of the shabby old building where ra lived when I first came to this world. It was clearly not a very expensive ce. Probably not even ''ordinary''.


    "Wait here until Ie back."


    The driver didn''t say anything, didn''t even nod. But I knew he could hear me, so I didn''t think much about it, grabbed my cane, and went outside.


    When I reached the front of the house, I paused and called out to the spirit sitting on my shoulder.


    ''Sith, are there any puppets around?''


    My answer came quickly.


    ''Not at the moment.''


    I took a deep breath and exhaled, then took slow steps toward the building.


    ''Keep looking around, scan for anyone who might be a puppet.''


    And with that, I reached the outer door of the building. There was no lock orbination door. It was just... a door made to keep the cold out.


    I gently pushed the door, but as I did so, an echoing creaking sound escaped. I closed the door slowly, passing through the gap I had opened quickly so as not to make too much noise, and then looked at the interior design of the building.


    The first thing I noticed was that there was no elevator in the building. Just like ra''s old house.


    I walked to the stairs, heading up to the second floor, I would have to go up a bit as Sue''s apartment was on the third floor.


    But that''s when I paused, my eyes suddenly darting to Sith who had been hovering beside me until now. He was narrowing his eyes. When ? looked at him, suddenly turned his head toward one of the apartments.


    ''Did you find something?''


    Sith nodded.


    ''Yes, whoever is in that t is a puppet.''


    His eyebrows raised for a moment, he slowly turned his head in the opposite direction and looked at another door on the floor.


    ''That one there too.''


    And then to another door.


    ''And that one over there.''


    But then he paused, his eyes widening slightly.


    ''No, I didn''t realize it on the first floor, but... almost everyone in this building is a puppet, Aiden. They all have unnatural mana imprints on them.''


    I frowned, narrowed my eyes a little, and went up to the third floor without saying anything. When I got to apartment number eight, I paused.


    ''And this apartment?


    Sith shook his head from side to side for the first time.


    ''No, she is not a puppet.''


    So... Paul didn''t turn his sister into a puppet, huh...


    I breathed a sigh of relief as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.


    It was really good to know that what I was afraid of wasn''t a reality.


    ''Aren''t you going to go in?''


    I turned my eyes toward the closed door, staring at it for a while. Then... I turned away with a sigh.


    ''No.''


    The only reason I came here was to check something. And... I did.


    I don''t want my reunion with Sue to be like this, in the middle of the day, randomly. I want it to be more... nice... than out of nowhere.


    And, well... Sue never gave me her address. So... if she asks me how I found her house, I may end up in an awkward situation.


    ''I''ve waited months, I can wait a few more days. And... it''s probably better if we don''t run into each other right now.''


    Especially with big things going on with his brother.


    And so, I went down the stairs, got into the car where it was waiting for me, and called out to the driver.


    "There are people who have been turned into puppets in all the apartments except the eighth one. They will have tattoos on their left shoulders in the form of a moving, round chain. Just disfigure the tattoos with mana and do it to the whole building one by one. They won''t remember anything, you don''t have to worry."


    The driver simply tapped a few things on the watch on his wrist. After connecting to a call, he said a few words, a more simplified version of what I had said, and then turned off the watch.


    And just like that... my work here was done.


    But nothing was over yet.


    ''What''s next?


    ''The Paul thing... I think I''ve sorted it out for now.''


    I don''t think we''ll find him easily, I don''t think he''ll try anything either. Especially when everyone is looking for him. He''ll wait for things to rx a bit, to be forgotten even if a little if he''s really aware of the things going on.


    ''I don''t think I''ll have to worry about that for a while, the only problem will be his sister...''


    Paul probably won''t show up anywhere for a long time. As a result... he won''t be in contact with his sister, Sue.


    So what happens in this situation?


    I don''t think they''re going to tell Sue anything because it''s connected to something as important as Saligia. So... they''re probably going to say he''s missing or something like that. Maybe they''ll even try to fool her for a while with artificial intelligences, who knows...


    But one thing I do know is that Sue will be affected.


    I paused for a moment, my eyes narrowing. It was... unpleasant to think about it.


    Because Sue was someone who trusted her brother, who had no idea of his true nature. She really cared about Paul. Just like I cared for ra.


    What I''m trying to say is... it''s not going to be easy. It''s not going to be something that she''s just simply going to get over. No, it''s gonna be something that''s gonna cause a lot of problems in her life.


    And... there''s nothing I can do about it.


    "Heh..."


    How ironic... the first thing I do as soon as Ie back is to cause something to upset, almost break a person I care about.


    But it''s better this way. It''s better that their life is separated in this way than that she continues to interact with him.


    I will lie to her, deceive her, if necessary.


    But it''s for her sake and everyone else''s.


    I paused. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, waited a short while, and then slowly let it out when I started to struggle.


    I have to... stop for a while.


    I shouldn''t be thinking about this now, when nothing has happened yet. No matter how much I care about Sue, I need to know certain things about Paul first. Whether he''s going to be caught or not, why he''s getting close to ra, and a few other things...


    Only then can I think about Sue, see her.


    So... while Mny and Ronald are trying to solve the Paul problem for me, I''d better get on with some of my own things and get them out of the way.


    Like... going to the academy and talking to Ulka and Alexander, finally making the move to open thepany that we should have opened months ago.


    And yet... before I left, I couldn''t help but look behind me, right in the direction of the apartment.


    "I''m... really sorry, Sue."


    And that was thest thing I said.

 Chapter 373 Volume VI - 6: Future Plans

    <h4>Chapter 373 Volume VI - Chapter 6: Future ns</h4>


    Security at the academy almost kicked me out because I didn''t have any identification. But thanks to Mny, I somehow managed to figure it out, so I didn''t reveal my name.


    And... when I saw the familiar buildings of the academy, I couldn''t help but smile. I didn''t really care about the strange looks a few students gave me. I just... missed this ce, the air, literally everything about it.


    But I didn''t stay where I was for long. I moved before I was recognized by the strange looks of a few students, and my destination was... probably one of the ces I had visited the most in the entire academy.


    The Research Laboratories.


    With Mny''s help in advance this time, I went straight in without any security issues. I didn''t even have to bother with the reception desk. I simply walked up to Ulka''s room and pressed the button next to the door.


    First, I waited for a few seconds, and then the door slowly opened. And... a familiar figure looked at me through the gap.


    It was not Ulka. On the contrary, it was someone I didn''t expect to see here.


    Alexander Callidas.


    "Oh, well... hi?"


    I looked into his eyes as I curled my lips up slightly, but... he continued to look at me with a cold expression. It was almost the same expression he had before the dungeon, before we started to trust each other.


    No, he looked much worse... actually.


    Yet, shortly after he heard my voice, his expression changed. First, his brow furrowed, then a look of confusion crossed his face.


    "Aiden?"


    "Bingo!"


    "Oh..."


    For a moment, he just stayed where he was. His eyes left me, fixed on the floor as if he was thinking about something. Then he sighed slightly. When he turned his eyes back to me, this time... his lips curled upward.


    "You already woke up, huh... I thought you''d let me know first."


    "I''m being a bit... stealthy and quiet for now. You know, I''m a bit of a celebrity and all..."


    I slowly walked into theb and Alex closed the door behind me.


    I took a deep breath in and out as I lowered myself into one of the armchairs just to the left of the door, just as Alex took the seat opposite me.


    My eyes searched for Ulka, but he was nowhere to be seen. It was a bit... strange since he was always in hisb.


    But there was something even stranger.


    "I didn''t... expect you to be here, to be honest."


    Alex reached for one of the tes on the table in front of the armchairs. There were unpeeled oranges on it.


    "You said you were working with Professor Ulka. So... I went to him because I couldn''t reach you after I decided to ept your offer."


    "And you got close enough to work in hisb, huh? I don''t doubt you and your skills, don''t get me wrong... I was just a little surprised because..."


    He rolled his eyes as he peeled one of the oranges and finished my sentence himself.


    "I know, Professor Ulka is a bit... difficult."


    I smiled slightly, and then I couldn''t help but let out a smallugh.


    "Exactly. But you''ve already seeded, apparently. So it''s not that big of a deal."


    When he finished peeling the orange with his hands, he split it in half and handed one to me. I epted it without objection, and we both popped a slice into our mouths at the same time.


    The orange was... good. I cannot lie.


    "Oh, not that I remember... how''s your mom? Did the nt work?"


    Alex stopped chewing the orange in his mouth for a brief moment, his whole body just froze. It was such a strange reaction that I couldn''t help frowning, but Alex recovered quickly. He swallowed the orange in his mouth forcefully and sighed deeply as his eyes slid to the floor.


    "My mom... she''s dead, Aiden."


    A heavy silence fell over the room for a moment. The smile faded from my face as my furrowed brow slowly straightened. I didn''t even pause to ask my next question.


    "Who did it?"


    It would be another year before his mother died of her disease. So there''s no way her death is... natural. I even gave his son the nt that would help her recover pretty fast.


    So the only possibility is that one of the idiot nobles wanted to send Alex a ''warning''. I can''t think of anything else.


    "It''s nothing to worry about. I''ve already taken care of it. I was doing something simr on my side while you were fighting in a war."


    "So... you killed the person responsible?"


    It''s not... overly surprising that he could do that. Because Alex is strong, even though he''s rtively weak for the world he''s in. He''s smart, really smart, and he has a great skill that allows him to showcase that intelligence in a spectacr way.


    There are very few people on Lunerra who would want him as an enemy. That goes even for me.


    "Yes. It was Count Herun and a few minor nobles who coborated with him. I had refused to join their group before. They resented me, apparently..."


    He had a cold expression on his face as he popped thest orange slice into his mouth.


    "But I also resented them a bit."


    "I see..."


    I leaned back slightly on the couch. I was silent for a short while.


    "I''m... sorry for your loss. Which cemetery is she buried in? I''ll visit her sometime."


    "In Fuhra City, Martin Cemetery."


    And... that was that. Nothing more needed to be said.


    Yes, it was a development that surprised me... but there was nothing I could do about it. There was no point in apologizing to Alex several times. There was no point in opening old wounds any further.


    I was a little worried, though. Because Alex... was too attached to his mother, too caring. In a world without her... I was pretty sure he''d rathermit suicide, but he was in front of me now, and he didn''t look suicidal.


    Still, that didn''t stop me from worrying. So I decided to observe him a little bit, to see how his behavior was now and how his mother''s death had affected him.


    But this was a task that would take time. So... it was more important to move forward with the things we were going to talk about.


    "I''ll cal-"


    I was interrupted by the sudden opening of the door behind me. When I turned my head to check who had entered, I saw a very familiar face again.


    Professor Ulka closed the door as soon as he entered. He looked at Alex and then at me. Then, he sighed.


    "I thought you would wait a little longer beforeing."


    I smiled slightly. It was a nice coincidence that the person I was going to call showed up right on my word.


    "I was in a bit of a hurry, Professor. Why don''t you sit down? I''m going to take up some of your time today, for your information."


    Ulka didn''t say anything as if he had already guessed what I was going to say, and took one of the empty seats. He took a slice, as did Alex, who kept reaching for the oranges on the table. Then, without waiting for me, he started talking.


    "I''ve hired most of the people on the list you gave me before you left. They''re still at their jobs, but they''ll quit as soon as I send them a message. There may be a few who will cause trouble... but given the contract they signed, there won''t be many of them. In short, we have our people ready."


    I nodded with satisfaction and Ulka continued.


    "For the moment... our only problem is funding for thepany and a specializedboratory. A big one. With only the money I have, there''s only so far we can go."


    "Ah, funding and theb are not so important... You know who I am, don''t you?"


    Ulka waited a moment before answering. A look of understanding suddenly appeared in his eyes.


    "The Hr Republic... They will provide the funding?"


    "That''s right. I''ll also have them arrange the building for thepany, so it''s not something we need to think about too much. So... let''s talk about the future now, shall we?"


    They were both silent. And I continued.


    "I''ll be a noble soon. I don''t think I''ll be a marquis or a duke, but I''m sure I won''t be a simple baron. And you are a count. As two counts, we shouldn''t have too much trouble with opening apany. As for what we will do..."


    And... I kept talking like that. I told them in turn most of the things that I had prepared for the future, at least as far as thepany and the nobility were concerned.


    It was quite simple, actually. We were going to create argeboratory that would sell potions and enhanced runes to the guilds, and we were also going to create a team to do research on an ongoing basis. This would be the tip of the iceberg.


    On the invisible side of that iceberg, though... things were changing a little bit. And that''s where a lot of the things that I talked about were rted to. We were even getting a little bit illegal in that regard.


    Alex and Ulka noticed a couple of small issues and asked about them. I answered a few of them, and a small number of them were problems that even I didn''t realize.


    But at the end of the day, none of them were things that we would have found extremely difficult to solve.


    Minutes turned into minutes. And then... hours. Time flew by quickly. And so, I talked with Ulka and Alex for a total of two and a half hours. We discussed a lot of things about the n, we sorted things out, and nned even more.


    But we all seemed to be satisfied with the result. We had identified the potential problems, we had chosen the solutions, and now... all we had to do was to open thepany in a few days with my nobility and get the funding we wanted.


    And then everything would go smoothly.


    So... I had no more business here.


    "If there are any problems, call me. And send a notice to the people we have signed contracts with so that they are ready, ready to leave their current jobs. For now... I''m off."


    And they had no objections either.


    The first thing I checked after leaving the Research Laboratories was the position of the sun.


    The days were quite long because it was July of the year. So the sun was still setting. Therefore, I had plenty of time.


    So I turned my steps toward the ce I visit the most in the academy after the Research Labs... The hospital.


    *(A/N: Okay, I''ve set a new schedule for the chapters from this point onwards. There will be a chapter every two days for sure. Sometimes, if I have extra chapters, I might do a mass release, or I might publish a chapter on an off day, but that will be the general schedule.


    Now... my question is this. Should I make the chapters a little bit longer because I''m going to do it this way or not? I''m trying to keep most of the chapters around 1800 words for now, but since I''m going to be posting a chapter every two days, I can increase that a little bit. That shouldn''t be a problem. But should I do that? If the chapters are longer, will they be boring or dull? Or is it not a problem? It would be nice if you could give me your opinion.)*

 Chapter 374 Volume VI - 7: Two More Visits

    Chapter 374 Volume VI -  7: Two More Visits


    ??When I pushed the door, what I found was usually... a dimly lit room. Notpletely dark, but certainly not bright.


    This time, unexpectedly, I was greeted by a quite bright room. Theyout was exactly the same, just as I remembered it. The only difference was that themp overhead was lit.


    Ah, no... the only difference was not themp.


    "Huh...?"


    I couldn''t hold back the sound that came out of my mouth, I looked in front of me, dumbfounded. More precisely toward the bed, and... the figure on it.


    I blinked and blinked, rubbed and rubbed my eyes several times to test if I was seeing it wrong, but I wasn''t.


    Celine was sitting cross-legged on her bed. Her back was against the wall and her eyes were closed. She looked like she was... meditating.


    The strange thing was... she looked fine. Really fine... She was emaciated after months in this room, doing nothing, not eating anything properly. But now... she was just like before.


    Gone were the blue patient clothes she had been wearing. Instead, she wore casual clothes, the ones that everyone would wear.


    There was only one thing that made her look different from the way she was before, before the incident. And that was... her hair. Celine normally had shoulder-length hair. But now, it was almost down to her waist, even touching the bed.


    "Ah..."


    Is she practicing her mana? The way she seems to be meditating, cross-legged...


    Well, of course she is...


    Then... is it better if I don''t disturb her?


    It''s amazing to see how far she''se. I feel very good, really... All this, everything I''m seeing now shows how much she has improved and healed.


    I''m as happy as I am surprised... and maybe even more.


    But I feel like it''s better not to disturb her here when she''s focusing on her mana...


    "Do you expect me to say something? I know you''re there, just so you know."


    Even her voice, which had always sounded tearful before, was now... confident. Just like she always was. It was so amazing that it was like I was dreaming. The fact that she had recovered this much... it seemed like an impossible thing.


    But I couldn''t focus on it too much.


    Because as her words reyed in my mind, I remembered a truth I had forgotten.


    This girl... she could sense my existence - or rather, that I didn''t belong in this world - because of her skill... How could I have forgotten?


    "Well... sort of? Just... surprised, I guess."


    And with that, Celine slowly opened her closed eyes. Her violet eyes first fixed on my feet and then rose to my eyes. Like everything else, even her gaze had changed. Just like her voice, her posture, she seemed much more... confident and strong.


    She looked at me for a while, locked her eyes on me. As if there was something she wanted to confirm. Then, her lips curled upward and she ced both hands on her chin as she tilted his head.


    "Why are you surprised?"


    "I''m surprised that... how much you''ve changed."


    "Didn''t I say I''d be much better when you came back? Did you think I was lying?"


    Oh, right... she said she''d try. I seem to have forgotten that too...


    Her eyes left mine for a moment. First, she went to my right hand, stopped on the jet-ck glove covering my skin. Then she went even lower and looked at my cane. There was a momentary change in her confident eyes, like worry... and her eyebrows furrowed at the same time.


    "But you didn''te back in a better way, it seems."


    "Well... you could say that."


    I walked slowly, and she didn''t react as I approached her. She didn''t even move as I sat down on her bed, right in front of her. She just... kept looking at my cane.


    "It''s not that big of a deal."


    I paused for a moment.


    "Well... maybe it is?


    I''m not sure. But I can still fight, and without any problems at all. It''s just something that affects my daily life."


    "Are you a cripple, then?"


    I couldn''t stop my eyes from twitching.


    "First my sister, now you... I don''t think the word cripple is pleasant, do you? Let''s call it ''handicapped''."


    "Oh, so you''re a cripple."


    "Haaaah... Yes, I''m a cripple! How enthusiastic you guys are to call me a cripple..."


    "Is it permanent?"


    I suddenly paused, because this time she sounded... much more worried. Her eyes finally left my cane and returned to my face.


    I sighed again.


    "Yes. But like I said, it''s something that will only affect my daily life. Even if I look like this... I''ve gotten stronger. There''s a huge difference between before I went to war and now. In fact, just so you know, my general level is C."


    Celine''s eyes narrowed slightly. Her posture straightened as her hands left her chinpletely.


    "Aiden, are you... okay?"


    "Huh? Why wouldn''t I be okay?"


    "You went to a war. A really big war. Maybe you became a hero, maybe you got stronger... But it still was a war, Aiden. No one knows what happened to you. You went into aa for who knows how long and you are even crippled now..."


    She paused, she would have gone on, but it was as if she had forced herself to stop.


    "So... are you okay? Are you sure you''re okay?"


    Her words literally echoed in my ears. As I thought over and over what she said, reying her tone and expression in my mind, the smile on my face fell more and more each time. And finally...


    "I... I don''t know."


    I closed my eyes, I thought through everything I''d been through, and at the same time... I continued.


    "You remember I told you about my skill, right? That skill... has moved up a minor grade. It''s much more active and it affects much more things now. You''re right, I went to a war and I fought. I really... I really saw a lot of things... Deaths, senseless deaths... Blood, more blood than dirt. I even lost someone very close to me... I was even... captured and tortured, for weeks, even."


    I opened my eyes slowly, but I didn''t look at her face. Instead, I held them in the quilt of the bed, squinting.


    "But... I don''t know. Because I don''t feel anything. Am I really okay or not... how exactly am I? What am I supposed to feel now? If it wasn''t for Absolute Mind, what would I be like now? I have... no idea."


    I gripped my cane tightly, curled my lips slightly upward.


    "Still... nothing changes. I''m here, I''m alive and... stronger. I''ve achieved what I went to Hr for. Does anything else matter? Maybe it''s even a good thing that I''m like this now, right? At least I''m not going crazy, I''m not trying to bang my head on walls, I know who I am and what I''m supposed to do... isn''t that right?"


    I slowly took my eyes off the quilt and turned them to Celine.


    She still had the same expression.


    Ah, though... no. She didn''t have the same expression. The worry on her face... it was gone. Completely gone. What took its ce was...


    Huh...? What... is this? What expression is this?


    Regret...?


    No, something else...


    "I..."


    She paused before continuing, her opened lips slowly closing. She sighed slightly as she tore her eyes away from me. Before she spoke again, her closed lips curled slightly upward... as if... as if she had thought of something funny.


    "... don''t know either."


    *******


    My conversation with Celine... or reunion, whatever it was... was short. After the initial awkwardness, we changed the subject and focused on other things. Like what she''s been up to, for example.


    As far as I found out, Celine... was doing really well now. Her only problem was that she had trouble looking people in the eye, but she was getting better at that too. She was able to go out in themunity, to be discharged at any time.


    But she chose not to. Until the start of our second year at the academy, she would train non-stop, getting stronger, trying to catch up with the others. Also, she had too many absences in the first year, so she was supposed to fail her year, but a window was left open for her and she was going to take an exam. And because she wasn''t very good at her studies, she spent her time preparing for it.


    And that was it. After a few things we talked about, like a few things that happened in Hr and how strong I was, it was time for me to leave. And I did, I was absolutely satisfied with what I had seen and that''s why I had a big smile on my face when I left the hospital.


    I almost couldn''t wait for the summer to be over and the second year to start.


    But I was careful to keep it inside and not do more than smile. The time I spent with Celine... it was almost half an hour. So I still had plenty of time.


    So I had my next destination, and that was... the training building, of course.


    Where else would I find Adrian in this huge academy...? After all, I was pretty sure that he didn''t take any time off and spent the whole time from waking up until he went back to sleep practicing! I was so sure that I entered the building without slowing down my steps, made it to the front of the usual room, and pressed the button next to the door without hesitation.


    First, a deep silence fell in the hallway. Then the door opened wide... and I saw the sight I exactly had expected to see.


    A sweating half-elf training maniac!


    I covered my nose and pushed the air between us around with my hand, simultaneously putting a smile on my face.


    "You stink! I knew it!"


    Adrian looked at me confused at first, as if... something was wrong with him. He took a few steps back and looked me up and down. Then he rubbed his eyes a few times.


    "What are you looking at? I''m real."


    I stepped inside and closed the door behind me, then made my way to the armchairs in the corner of the room. I plopped myself down in afortable one, saw an uncapped bottle on the table, poured cold water down my throat, and then slowly turned my head back to where Adrian was still standing.


    "What are you standing there for,e here. It''s not healthy to train all the time. A little rest won''t hurt you."


    And at this moment, the surprise on Adrian''s face slowly disappeared.


    He took a deep breath first. Then he approached me with a big smile on his face. After cing himself on the couch opposite me, he took a bottle of water and drank half of it.


    "I thought you mighte a littleter, like the beginning of the second year..."


    "I''m a busy man, I have a lot to do... If I hade at the beginning of the second year, who knows what I would have been doing with both sses and tons of work."


    "I see, I see..."


    And then a deep silence fell between us.


    At first neither of us said anything, we just... looked at each other.


    And then...


    "Aiden..."


    "Yes?"


    Adrian leaned in slightly, asking in a low voice.


    "Do I really... stink?"


    I paused for a moment, looking at him with a nk expression. Then I processed the question again in my mind.


    My face twitched for a moment, and then...


    "Pfft, ahahahah!"


    Iughed so hard that tears came out of my eyes.


    "You can''t be serious, I just... can''t... Ahahahahah!"


    After a few seconds, he too joined in myughter, as if he had done it on purpose. However, he was the first to recover, as he was the one who joined inter. With the traces ofughter still on his face, he took a deep breath, this time speaking in a very calm and... somehow contented tone.


    "It''s good to see you again like this after so many months."


    As I was slowly recovering from myughter, I wiped the tears from my eyes and replied in the same tone.


    "Likewise."

 Chapter 375 Volume VI - 8: Nobility Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 375 Volume VI - Chapter 8: Nobility Ceremony</h4>


    Three days. Today was the third day since I arrived in Cevilian. I had already met and talked to most of my friends.


    I still hadn''t spoken to Sue, though. Julian and Lucia weren''t at the academy either, so there hadn''t been a face-to-face meeting, but they were aware that I had woken up.


    Everyone was aware, actually. After all, the whole world now knew that I was awake... knew what had happened to me.


    And that I would be a noble.


    The ceremony was only a few minutes away, after all. And where I was now was at the back of a veryrge, veryrge indeed, auditorium.


    Hundreds of Cevilian nobles, ''guests'' from the Hr Republic, maybe hundreds of cameras... and more.


    They were all waiting for me, for my appearance on stage.


    I took a deep breath, let myself be silent for a moment... preparing.


    And amidst all this silence, a woman''s voice echoed both in the huge auditorium where I was about to step on stage and backstage where I was waiting.


    "With your permission, I invite Aiden Tenebra to the stage!"


    And an apuse loud enough to make my ears ring.


    I opened my eyes, straightened my expression, and gave a small smile. I slowly walked on stage with my cane.


    It was just as I expected. More cameras than I could count with their lenses on me, hundreds of nobles whose faces I recognized and whose faces I didn''t...


    And me in the spotlight.


    I tore my eyes away from the spectators and turned my gaze to the person standing on the stage with me. It was someone I knew, with jet-ck hair and green eyes... Prince Lucas. He had a broad smile on his face.


    Though... he looks like he hasn''t slept a bit? He must have been working a lot, huh...


    "Ahem..."


    I cleared my throat with a slight cough and went back into the hall. They were all waiting for me, for a... speech.


    "I would like to thank all the nobles of Cevilian, the diplomats of the Hr Republic, and all those who havee to watch and listen to this ceremony and speech organized on my behalf."


    As at all ceremonies, my words were followed by an intense apuse.


    "The reason I went to Hr half a year ago was quite simple, it was a step I wanted to take as I was preparing for my future... but I found somethingpletely different. When the city I was staying in went up in mes, I had to fight, I had to flee. I... personally saw how disgusting, destructive, and exhausting a war can be."


    I didn''t want to make my speech too long, but I wanted it to be effective.


    "I was captured, spent weeks on a ship called the Caleuche... as a captive. Somehow, I managed to escape, I returned to the North Hr with many wounds, and... I was told I could go back."


    I paused for dramatic effect, sighing slightly as I closed my eyes.


    "But I... wanted to fight. Instead of going back, instead of being able to continue my life normally. Why, then?"


    I moved my eyes around the hall, looking into the eyes of all the people.


    "Not for any noble reason, to be honest. Not because I believed I could make the war end... but because I had experienced what ''war'' was like, I had seen how helpless I was in the face of it. I... wanted to be strong."


    I raised my cane slightly, curling my lips up as I showed it to everyone.


    "Yes, the war took a lot from me. But... it also gave a lot. And even though I didn''t believe at the beginning that I could have any effect on this war... I managed to be the one to end it myself."


    I calmly lowered my cane and widened my smile.


    "I had many doubts about whether I was doing the right thing at the beginning, leaving my friends and my sister behind just to fight... to be ''stronger''... it was not easy. But here I am, I made it. So... if I had another choice... I would make the same choice again. I have no doubt."


    I leaned slightly towards the crowd.


    "This... is all I want to say. Thank you for listening to me."


    And again I was met with thunderous apuse, this time longer than the others, though it didn''tst forever.


    As a brief silence fell over the hall... a hand slowly raised across the room caught my attention.


    With my eyebrows slightly raised, I looked at it curiously. Because... this was someone I knew.


    Not someone I had met during my time as Aiden Tenebra, but... from the game called The Lands of The Lunerra.


    He was Duke Laehera himself, the head of one of the five Duke Families, considered the pirs of the kingdom.


    Despite his age, he had blond hair and bright blue eyes. And... although he normally had a rather soft temperament and posture, now he looked a bit... stern and serious.


    "I have a question, Mr. Aiden."


    I nodded my head slightly up and down, I was really curious about his question.


    And Duke Laehera didn''t keep me and everyone else in the hall waiting, wondering what his question was.


    "I don''t know when you woke up from youra, but... You must have heard of the terrorist organization called Saligia."


    Oh...


    I see... how could I not have guessed?


    "The day they announced themselves to the world, all the figures that appeared on the screens had one thing inmon. Eyes that glowed purple, an energy of the same color that felt ominous... sinister. And... in a video of the war, which I think everyone has seen at least once, you have the same eye color and wield the same energy."


    The silence in the hall slowly began to fill with whispers as he continued.


    "With all due respect, I''m not trying to hint at anything... but can you exin this?"


    And after he finished his question, all these whispers grew louder.


    I tapped my cane rhythmically three times on the stage, especially to attract attention. And... I took a deep breath.


    "You saw it right. I can use that purple, ominous energy that most members of the Saligian terrorist organization can use. But!"


    I raised my voice abruptly to prevent any further murmurs, making sure that all focus was on me.


    "Do you remember, a few seconds ago... I mentioned that I spent weeks in Caleuche as a ''captive''. Do you know what I went through there, what they did to me, how I escaped? No, I guess... and also believe."


    I ran my eyes through all the cameras that turned toward me, one by one.


    "The South Hr was not alone. Saligia was working with them even before they revealed themselves to the world. How do you think they brought a technological pinnacle like the Caleuche to this world? Only the extraordinary mind of the dwarves cannot design such a thing. Even if it could, it could not produce it."


    As my vision slowly turned purple, the caora enveloped over my body, patching every part of my body, a little pale in color and density. I saw everyone in the hall looking at me with different expressions, some of interest, some of fear, some of curiosity...


    I put my cane in the inventory ring on my finger and took steps on stage without any difficulty despite my crippled body.


    "It is this power that allows me to walk without my cane. This power is what allows me to fight even though I am a cripple now. Maybe it feels ominous, maybe it looks more... chaotic and sinister than anything you''ve ever seen in your life. But that''s exactly the point. I have this ''evil'' power, but I am not against you... I am with you. And I am giving everything I know without hesitation."


    I materialized my cane again and dispersed the caora. I stood again where I had made my speech a few seconds before, this time keeping my eyes on Duke Laehera. But my next words were for everyone.


    "Are there any more questions? I will answer all of them without exception. Feel free to do so."


    But... there were not. The auditorium was silent.


    "Then let us continue, please."


    I turned my eyes to the right, in the direction of Prince Lucas, who had watched everything that had happened and had not moved an inch. In fact... it was as if he liked it. He had a big smile on his face.


    He approached me with slow steps, never taking his smile off his face. He slowly unsheathed the long, gold-embroidered great sword at his waist, just like his steps.


    When he was in front of me, he paused.


    "I am Lucas Cevilian, Crown Prince of the Cevilian Kingdom."


    "I am Aiden Tenebra, an ordinary citizen of the Cevilian Kingdom. I salute the Crown Prince."


    After my words, I knelt slowly, bowing my head to him. The Prince raised the sword gradually, cing it first on my left shoulder.


    "An ordinary citizen of the Cevilian Kingdom, Aiden Tenebra... The Cevilian Kingdom dly acknowledges you for all that you have aplished."


    He raised the sword, this time cing it on my right shoulder.


    "And also rewards you."


    He pulled the sword back, cing it softly and upright on the ground between us.


    "Stand up, Aiden Tenebra."


    It was a little difficult to get up without the support of my cane, but I stood up perfectly, resisting the pain in my right leg.


    "From this moment on, the Tenebra Family rises above the ordinary and enters the Cevilian nobility as a family of counts. As the eldest living member of this family, do you ept the position of family leader?"


    "I do."


    "Do you ept to work as the leader of the Tenebra Family, as a count, to protect the prosperity of Cevilian, to protect itsnds, and to always honor the name of the kingdom?"


    "I do."


    "Do you ept that as a count, you will not abuse your authority over thends of Cevilian, and that if you are found to have done so, you will be properly punished and stripped of your nobility?"


    "I do."


    "Do you agree to adopt the Cevilian constitution and ept your obligations under it?"


    "I do."


    The prince slowly pushed the sword toward me, letting it fall between my fingers. The sword was heavy... but not so much that I found it difficult to lift.


    "This sword will henceforth be in your custody as a token of your family''s nobility. I congratte you, Aiden Tenebra, on your entry into Cevilian nobility. And I wish you sess and glory for your future."


    I heard more apuse than I had ever heard before, so much so that my ears hurt. Still, I kept a smile on my face and kept my head down.


    "Thank you, Your Royal Highness."


    I turned my gaze to the people in the hall, looked at the cameras, even waved slightly.


    Maybe it was a simple ceremony, maybe it didn''t have much purpose... but it was important to me. To know that I was in front of everyone like this, in front of the whole world... and to be someone ''important'' in front of all these people. To be a ''noble''...


    That''s why I went to Hr, at least that was one of my goals. And now... I had seeded.


    All that was left... was to keep moving. And be so much more.


    *(A/N: This chapter was a bit... uneventful, like a filler. I know. And I''m sorry. But I had to write this as it is an important thing for the story. Ethan is a count now, after all. Anyway, thanks for reading as always.)*

 Chapter 376 Volume VI - 9: One Last Visit

    Chapter 376 Volume VI -  9: One Last Visit


    ??*(A/N: Sorry... I was hospitalized for two days because of an illness and discharged only yesterday morning. That was why the chapter was dyed this much. I will try to make up for it. Also, this chapter was thest chapter of visiting others. The next chapter starts with the second year of the academy. I hope I didn''t bore you too much with these chapters.)*


    Nobility... was something that brought a lot of changes to my life.


    I was of course aware that some things would change. There were many differences between themon people and a noble, not just differences in status.


    But before, I think I underestimated these changes... even if a little bit. And that was because of what I would gain as a noble. The fact that I was paying half the tax that I would normally pay, for example. Or priority and discounts at hotels, restaurants, teleportation centers, etc. Information, things, ces that themon people cannot ess no matter what they do...


    There were indeed many advantages to being a noble.


    But... not just ''advantages''.


    For example, there were meetings that I had to attend no matter what, now that I was the leader of a royal count family. On top of that, because I was a noble, I had to pay extra attention to my behavior, my appearance... everything. I was going to step into the political scene even if I didn''t want to. With social responsibilities and so on... things were getting difficult.


    Well... especially for ra.


    She was affected, whether she wanted to be or not, more directly by the Tenebra Family gaining a social status than me. I mean... she was a noble now, even though she didn''t ''yet'' have the same responsibilities as me. So her life changed too.


    The first of these changes was the house. She could no longer live in an apartment... so she had to move to a detached house in a particrly noble neighborhood of Wiathen.


    But she never pretended that these changes bothered her. She took everything calmly, she didn''t object... in fact, she epted it and made it easy for herself. So the first week, the very beginning of the adjustment phase, was quite... easy.


    For me... things were different.


    In that one week, I had to deal with a lot of things... really a lot of things... so much so that my sleeping hours were reduced to two or three. I had to take some special pills so I wouldn''t die fromck of sleep.


    But it was all worth it. It was worth every bit of it.


    And why is that?


    Because... Iid the foundation for most of what I had aimed for. Under my own name, or rather under the Tenebra Family, I created apany... or rather a group ofpanies. I didn''t think much about the name to be honest... I just put the family name. The full name was ''Tenebra Group''.


    I have already transferred the employees who were waiting for news from Ulka under thepany, attracted funding from the Hr Republic as promised, and taken care of other matters.


    Just a few minutes ago, I had also given approval to start construction on a building, the Tenebra Research Laboratories, which would start in a few days after the kingdom''s approval.


    In short, I was extremely busy during this week! But... now, I had taken care of most things and I couldn''t find anything else to do.


    I took a deep breath, leaned back on my couch, and stared at the ceiling.


    Ulka and Alex are taking care ofpany matters, the dwarves are taking care of the fund and what I asked them to do, the kingdom is... quiet for now. There''s nothing for me to do anymore!


    Although...


    I paused for a moment, my eyes narrowing slightly.


    Really... why is the kingdom so quiet? From what I heard from Ronald, the Order is on the move, they have already made contact with Cevilian. And not only with Cevilian, but with all of Lunerra. In short... they are aware of my existence as a wiera. I even confirmed it with my own mouth on the day of the nobility ceremony, so they have no doubts.


    Then why are they silent? Why don''t they try to reach me?


    I continued to think as I narrowed my eyes even more, and after a short while, I sighed slightly.


    They want to watch me, most probably. They want to see what I''m up to... what my intentions are, whether I''m really ''Aiden Tenebra'' or a spy using that identity.


    So... I can''t do more than give them what they want, can I?


    I will let them watch me... evaluate my actions. They will decide if I can be trusted. All the while giving me as much time as they can.


    I have noints.


    "Brother."


    All my thoughts were gone from my mind in an instant. My eyes slowly drifted away from the ceiling to the figure standing in the doorway of the hall. Then to the tray she was holding and the steaming sses on top of it.


    A smile appeared on my face.


    "You cane, I''m not busy."


    ra came to me with her lips curled upward. She ced the tray on the table in front of the sofa and then sat down next to me.


    I lifted one of the sses and took a slow sip.


    As usual, the tea was just right.


    "You seem... free today. What happened?"


    "Like you said, I''m literally free. All I can do right now is... wait, that''s all."


    "Oh..."


    She took a sip of her own tea, and then an awkward silence fell between us.


    "Since you''re free... can we continue our unfinished conversation?"


    I looked at her, raising my eyebrows slightly. It was only when she opened her mouth again that I realized what she was talking about.


    "I''m talking about Paul."


    That''s right... that maniac was ra''s boyfriend. For quite a while.


    "It''s hard for me to say anything right now... it really is. But here''s what you need to know, ra. That boy... he didn''t approach you because he loved you."


    Maybe I''ll break her heart a little... but it''s better that she knows the truth, isn''t it?


    "He wanted to use you so he could approach me naturally. You probably know Saligia, that terrorist organization that came out recently. Paul is a member of that organization."


    ra didn''t react, she just looked at me for a while.


    "Why... was he trying to approach you?"


    "I have no idea. But that''s my guess."


    "Are you... Are you sure about that? That he was a member of that organization, that he only approached me... for you?"


    "I''m sorry, ra... but yes. What irvoyance showed you, the fact that you couldn''t use my Memory Travel on him... everything supports what I''m saying."


    ra first took a deep breath, closed her eyes. After a short time, she exhaled it back. When she opened her eyes again, she stared at the ceiling for a while.


    I stood up slowly, picked up my cane, and quietly made my way out of the hall. I thought it would be better if she was a little... alone.


    But just before I left the hall...


    "Thank you, brother."


    My hand remained on the door handle.


    "I... will be more careful from now on."


    I opened the door with my lips curving upward slightly. I said only one thing before I left.


    "You''re wee. And... I''m sorry."


    *******


    The ce I finally decided to go to when I had nothing to do... was a ce I had visited before but then left.


    As I was looking at the apartment building, which looked quite old, I relived the same feeling, the nostalgia, that I had when I came here a few weeks ago.


    ''If you were going toe back here eventually, why did you wait so long?


    As I entered the apartment building and went up the stairs, I answered the question in my mind.


    ''I waited for things to... settle down a bit. To give her some time, for example. And now... I''ll check on her, did I do it wrong?''


    Sith shrugged his shoulders.


    ''I don''t know. It looks to me like you just ran away back then.''


    I paused for a brief moment before pressing the buzzer for apartment number eight.


    ''Who knows, maybe I really did run away...''


    Sith didn''t answer. So, I quickly pressed the buzzer and stepped back, the first seconds passing in silence, waiting in the cool corridor of the building.


    After a short while, the door in front of me creaked open.


    I waited for the navy-blue eyes and ck hair I recognized with a little... excitement that I tried to keep inside me.


    And I found them.


    However... the excitement in me vanished in an instant and I found myself staring nkly at the figure in front of me.


    "H- huh? Aiden?"


    Her voice entered my ears with a slight stutter. Just as I remembered, but much more... delicate and beautiful.


    "Sue...?"


    ''Huh?''


    She wasn''t the only one surprised, and neither was I. Even Sith seemed surprised.


    ''That''s... very interesting. How strange...''


    But I didn''t take him seriously. Or rather... I couldn''t.


    "Why are you... like this?"


    She was beautiful. Too beautiful, even. Almost enough to make me question my memories of her. She had a charm that rivaled Lucia''s... maybe even surpassed her.


    Sue ignored my question and studied my body for a while, as if to confirm that I was me. But then, as if remembering my question, she paused, her lips curling slightly upward. She gave a slightly evasive answer to my question.


    "A lot has happened... since you left. Would youe in? I can¡­ exin what had happened. We can talk, if you want."


    She stepped aside slightly, making way for me. And I... still in a daze... not understanding what was happening... went inside.


    "Sure¡­ that was what I wanted to do, actually¡­"


    *******


    I repeated everything I had heard several times in my mind, trying to digest it.


    I knew, of course, that Adrian, Lucia, and Sue had been trapped in a dungeon and had gotten out a few weeks ago. It was news almost as big as my awakening. It was also the reason I woke up in the first ce.


    It was impossible for me not to know.


    But I didn''t know that Sue had undergone such a change... I hadn''t seen any news about her anywhere.


    A charm that suddenly shot up to S grade, a skill called Absolute Voice, which I didn''te across in the game, and so much more...


    All because she didn''t want to be ordinary? With such a simple wish, she experienced such a change...?


    "I... understand. Well, I mean, I don''t quite understand, but... I do, I guess."


    It''s a bit... strange. Really strange. Sue looking like this, not being ''ordinary'' anymore...


    What the hell happened in Lunerra when I went into aa?


    "I mean, it''s just... like this now. There''s not much to tell."


    Sue sighed slightly, then smiled.


    "Still... forget about me, but I''m d you''re back. I really am... and thank you for visiting me in person."


    She looked as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders. As if... relieved.


    "You''re wee, I just... came to see how you were."


    It wasn''t wrong, I really came only because of this.


    Still... there was also an another thing I wondered.


    "But... I have a question."


    I asked my question quickly as I studied how she smiled, how rxed she looked.


    "Paul... your brother, I mean."


    Sue''s eyebrows raised slightly, but then she paused, as if realizing something.


    "Oh, you mean why isn''t he home? He said he was going out of town a few days ago. That''s why he''s not here. He also said I probably wouldn''t be able to reach him. He hasn''t been answering his phone for a while... but I''m waiting for the day his trip ends."


    Oh...


    Really?


    I fixed my eyes on the floor, waiting for a brief moment. I thought about what I should say, what I should do.


    And finally...


    "I understand..."


    My lips curled slightly upward. I lifted my eyes from the floor.


    "By the way... I was really hungry, is there food?"


    I could already smell it, whatever was in the kitchen was fresh and it wafted into the living room.


    Sue stood up quickly and made her way to the kitchen.


    "Sure! I''ll bring it right away, I''m hungry too!"


    She just walked out of the living room. And I just... stared after her.


    I really hope that I didn''t make the wrong decision... here.


    I just... couldn''t.

 Chapter 377 Volume VI - 10: First Day of the Second Year

    Chapter 377 Volume VI -  10: First Day of the Second Year


    ??The second year of the academy... is actually when the academy truly starts.


    The first year is literally a preparation where a lot of things are restricted. It''s not unlike a simple high school environment. Students are even required to wear uniforms...


    But from the second year onward, this high school-like system changespletely.


    Special courses with chosen specializations, no more limited contact with other years, new and more unique ''exams''... and much more.


    And not only that. This academic year of 2044-2045 is also a very important turning point for the game, The Lands of The Lunerra. The fourth part of the game''s story begins as Adrian enters his second year at the academy.


    Things escte, literally. Not only Adrian, who is yed as the main character, but the whole world slowly starts to change with this year.


    And today is the first day of this ''second'' year. It''s the morning of Monday, the start of the week.


    And in this particr moment, I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself.


    My right arm and leg with their veiny, disgusting and ck-colored structure, which was clearly visible because I wasn''t wearing the ck things that covered them... My growing height and muscr body... my gaze, my posture...


    Today was exactly one year since I came into this world. And when I thought about how much I had changed in this one year, what I had been through... I couldn''t help feeling strange.


    Still, I didn''t stand in front of the mirror for long. I changed into normal clothes, put the glove back on, and grabbed my cane.


    I was ready to leave my room. And... so did I.


    I walked out of my room in the dormitory building without a mask, not caring to hide my face anymore.


    And as soon as I stepped out into the corridor... all the students on the same floor as me froze.


    Some of them didn''t know I was here and were in shock, others already knew but still couldn''t take their eyes off me.


    I took slow steps along the corridor without looking at any of them for too long. When I got into the elevator, not a single person attempted to get in at the same time as me, and it was the same when I went downstairs and out onto the campus grounds.


    ''I thought you were used to it.''


    When Sith''s hovering body suddenly appeared in front of me, I couldn''t help but let out a sigh so no one would notice.


    ''I don''t know, they''re more intense than before. I guess that''s why I felt a little ufortable.''


    Well, the fact that I''m a war hero... the nobility ceremony... and the academy''s opening speech yesterday have done a lot for my reputation. So it''s kind of normal, I guess.


    ''So that''s how they also look at the others, is that so?''


    And by others he meant Adrian and Celine. Adrian because of the whole dungeon thing and him being an elf known, and Celine... because of her first public appearance in a really, really long time. Which was yesterday''s opening ceremony.


    Oh, he also meant Lucia and Sue...


    ''Well, most likely?''


    Sith was silent for a while after myst answer.


    I kept walking, finally entering the main building of the academy and heading toward the second floor of the part where the lecture halls were located.


    I had chosen my specializations, which would determine most of the courses I would take throughout my academy life, in two areas, Military and Hunting. Therefore, most of my sses were focused on these subjects.


    Now, I was going to the lecture hall for a course called ''Creature Analysis'' under the Hunting specialization. And it didn''t take me long to find it.


    As soon as I walked in, the whole atmosphere of the lecture hall changed, as it did everywhere I passed. First the general noise stopped, then all eyes focused on me. I ignored them and checked the ssroom.


    There were only two familiar figures in the ssroom... and they were sitting side by side. They were looking in my direction now as the atmosphere in the lecture hall suddenly changed.


    I smiled slightly, walked toward them, and took my ce next to them in the silence.


    "Good morning."


    I said calmly, and Lucia''s face broke into a smile.


    "Good morning, Aiden."


    Under normal circumstances, she would be the center of attention in an area. The mere act of speaking would cause many people to reflexively turn towards her.


    But this time it was different... and not because of my presence. Rather, it was the ne hanging around her neck with a round, red-colored jewel in the center. A dwarf-made ne that allowed her to suppress her stupidly high charm.


    Although... she is still extremely beautiful and still attracts attention. But the mesmerizing effect has been lost, at least.


    It hadn''t even been twenty-four hours since I gave Mny the ne... she had acted fast, huh.


    "Good morning."


    And this time, the other person I recognized spoke. It was... Julian himself.


    They were both friends of mine that I hadn''t spoken to in a very long time. We hadmunicated through the Study Group in thest few weeks, but this was the first time we were face-to-face in months.


    And they were still the same with me as they had been before.


    *******


    Even though the professor was surprised by my presence, he did not let it affect his attitude or his lecture. He finished without any problems.


    Lucia had no free hours on Monday morning. She had another ss after the Creature Analysis, so she had to leave.


    But Julian and I both had an hour of free time. And of course we used it.


    "War hero, huh. I knew you''de back with something big after being gone for so long, but this... exceeded my expectations."


    I couldn''t stop my eyes from twitching as we walked side by side through the garden.


    "You talked about this so much in the group already... aren''t you full yet?"


    "Talking on an app and seeing a war hero face to face are two different things."


    "Come on... all I did was swing a sword. Let''s not make a big deal about the war hero thing, shall we?"


    "No way, I''m friends with the most talked about person in the kingdom... maybe the world, even... and I''m not going to use it?"


    He stopped for a moment.


    "Also... you''ve never fought before you swung that sword? Are you trying to say that?"


    I waited for a moment, then sighed slightly instead of answering.


    "Never mind. The war is already over. I''m back, alive... and strong."


    "Ah, right... you were the new number one at the academy, weren''t you?"


    My eyes twitched again.


    He wasn''t wrong. As we entered the new year, the rankings were redone.


    And this time it was me, not Adrian, who was ranked number one among the second years.


    "Why is everything you''re going to talk about annoying me..."


    Julian shrugged, still keeping a smile on his face.


    "Who knows."


    He lowered his hands, his eyes locked on the road ahead, silent for a moment.


    "Still... it''s good to see you again. Congrattions once more, for everything you''ve achieved. And... foring back."


    I paused for a moment, unable to stop my lips from curling upwards, and was about to say thank you...


    "You know, even if you came back crippled. But we''re still friends, don''t worry."


    My smile disappeared in an instant, and Julian rushed in front of me with quick steps.


    "You... what?!"


    *******


    My program on Monday consisted of three sses of two hours each. And they went by quite quickly. Except for Creature Analysis, the other two sses had no one familiar to me.


    So, before I knew it, I had finished myst sses for today. I could have gone back to my room, I could have rested... I could have done many more things.


    But I had one more ce to visit today. And so, slowly but surely, I made my way toward the training buildings.


    I wanted to see someone else I hadn''t seen for a long time, someone I knew well... someone who had taught me how to fight, how to use a sword in the first ce.


    Halfway there, however, I had to pause, even unintentionally, and my gaze slowly shifted to a student standing a few meters in front of me, looking in my direction.


    He looked a little... nervous looking at me, but he still had a stern gaze.


    "Hi there."


    I spoke before him, putting a smile on my face as I pulled my cane in front of me and ced both of my hands on it.


    ''Aiden.''


    Sith suddenly appeared on my shoulder, looking serious. But he didn''t need to exin anything.


    ''I know, don''t worry.''


    "I think there''s something you want from me, now that you''ve blocked my path like this."


    I paused, narrowed my eyes slightly, but did not lower my smile.


    "I''m sorry, I misspoke, since ''you guys'' blocked my path. Plural, that is."


    The expression on his face changed, clearly showing that he was even more nervous now. However, as a crowd of students slowly began to form around me after my words, he recovered a little.


    "Hey, look over there... what''s going on?"


    Well, it wasn''t just me and the one who blocked me... there were other students. And naturally, they saw what was happening.


    So, there would soon be a big crowd around us, even more than there should have been.


    "Now... you don''t talk, I''ll guess. Okay?"


    The guy in front of me finally opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it.


    "Maeve or Jack? Uh, maybe Cassandra too... even though she''s in her fourth year, she''s got a lot nned at the academy. But I''ll still go with Jack."


    "The heiress of the Bistra family, Maeve Bistra, woul-''"


    I grimaced slightly and pped my hands together quickly, interrupting him again.


    "Darn, I guessed wrong. But Maeve, huh? She''s faster than I thought. I thought Jack would be first, but it''s no big deal."


    I walked slowly toward him, sweat beading on his forehead with each step I took, each sound my cane made on the floor.


    Finally, when I was right next to him, I stopped, and even though there was some distance between us, I spoke as if I were whispering in his ear... quietly, deeply.


    But this time not in that mocking tone, but in a serious and heavy one.


    "Let''s go to this heiress of the Bistra family... Show me the way."


    The guy was trying hard not to faint. Nevertheless, he managed to regain consciousness at myst word. Even if he took the first step shakily, he tried to pull himself together and slowly began to move forward.


    His sidekicks followed behind us.


    As for the crowd that began to gather around us... only rumors remained.


    *(A/N: There won''t be a day off tomorrow as I want to make up for the dy that happened.)*

 Chapter 378 Volume VI - 11: In Five Days

    <h4>Chapter 378 Volume VI - Chapter 11: In Five Days</h4>


    *(A/N: You guys know that I had to spend a few days in the hospital because of an illness a week ago. Then I was discharged, I spent one day well... and then it seems that they couldn''t cure the thing because I had to spend almost five days in the hospitalst week. Well, it wouldn''t be a lie if I told you that I was quite literally dying... so I spent two days resting. And now, hopefully, I''m back... Alive, once again hopefully. I have nothing more to say, I''m sorry.)*


    *******


    "Don''t you drink tea?"


    "With pleasure."


    I reached for the cup on the table, gently lifted the one on my side, and took a small sip.


    It was quite good... unexpectedly so.


    "Is there anything else I can get you?"


    I put a small smile on my face and shook my head slightly."


    "No, tea is enough."


    So the person sitting across from me, a pretty girl with dark purple hair and pink eyes, smiled back.


    "When I was little, I always wanted to meet one of the heroes of fairy tales. Who would have thought that my dream woulde true yearster?"


    "Oh, please... there is a big difference between me and the heroes of fairy tales."


    I lowered my tea slightly, looking him straight in the eye.


    "You, to me, are a bigger hero than I am... aren''t you? Maeve Bistra, the genius who brought the kingdom back from the brink of copse when she was only five years old. That''s what they said on the news."


    Maeve''s smile widened.


    "It''s overrated, something most people have already forgotten. All I did was see a loophole in a contract. And you... You aplished something much bigger."


    I narrowed my eyes slightly, keeping my smile as I leaned back in my chair.


    "Is that why you''re trying to get to me?"


    Maeve paused for a moment, looking slightly disappointed.


    "Get you? An interesting phrase, but of course not... I''m only making an offer."


    She leaned back in her chair, as did I.


    "Things areplicated at the academy, Aiden. Ah, you don''t mind if I address you directly by your name... do you?"


    I shook my head from side to side, and she continued.


    "At the academy, there are three major powerhouses among the students. The three groups that Cassandra Bealy, Jack Laehera, and I lead."


    She held up a finger, pointing at me.


    "And you are one of the biggest pieces that could tip the bnce between these three groups. You are the piece standing in front of Adrian Caleo and Lucia Quie."


    Her eyes narrowed even more, her smile slowly giving way to a serious expression.


    "Cassandra and Jack will do everything they can to get you three under their thumb. They will try to stop you from joining the others, they will put stones in your path... if necessary."


    I tilted my head slightly to the side.


    "And you? Don''t you want us?"


    Maeve was silent for a moment, her eyes leaving me. And then...


    "I do, but I know my limitations."


    "Oh?"


    I couldn''t help raising my eyebrows, this was... not what I expected to hear. Maeve continued as if she understood my surprise.


    "You guys are powerful. Extremely so. There have been few or no people your age who have stood where you are now. If the three of you were evenly distributed among the three groups, that would be the best scenario. But... you three are not going to do that."


    "Because we''re friends, we''ll follow each other... you say?"


    Maeve stared at me again.


    "No. Because they will do whatever you say."


    She picked up her cup from the table and took a single sip.


    "I''ve done my research, Aiden. That study group of yours, everyone who belongs to it will most likely follow you. And big names like Adrian, Lucia, Julian, and Celine are all in this group. Maybe you started this group purely for this moment, I don''t know, but..."


    She paused again, as if she wanted to prepare herself... but quickly continued.


    "I can see what you''re trying to do. You want to create the fourthrgest group in the academy, right?"


    I didn''t react, I didn''t look surprised or smile, I just... spoke calmly.


    "And you, what are you going to do?"


    "Unlike Jack and Cassandra, I will help you rather than oppose you... rather than try to stop you from growing."


    "So you''re offering an alliance to a group that doesn''t even exist yet."


    Maeve shook her head.


    "The third and fourth years have already been ced in specific groups, and the idle ones have no intention of ying the games at the academy. So without someone to help you, you''re going to have problems."


    "So... Is that all you can offer me?"


    Maeve paused for a moment. Her eyebrows raised slightly as she looked at me with a nk expression.


    "What do you mean?"


    "All you can offer me is a couple of third and fourth-year students?"


    Maeve''s raised eyebrows suddenly furrowed.


    "You''re misjudging the situation. You can''t stand up to Jack and Cassandra with just a few people, no matter how powerful they are."


    "A few people...?"


    I slowly rose from my seat, ced the finished tea on the table, and sped my hands together.


    "All the second years. I''m going to have them all under me. Who says I will only have a few people on my side?"


    Maeve sighed.


    She didn''t look surprised. She... actually looked disappointed.


    "Jack, Cassandra, and I already have plenty of second-year studentsing to our group. You''re being ridiculous, Aiden."


    "But will theye?"


    I continued quickly, not bothering to pay attention to Maeve''s reaction.


    "Five days, Maeve. In five days, all the second years will stop what they''re doing and rush blindly to get under me."


    Grabbing my cane, I slowly stood up and headed for the door.


    "Just watch and see."


    Halfway through, I slowed my pace, turned my head slightly back, and nced briefly at Maeve, who was sitting as she was in her chair, staring at me.


    "If I can''t... I''ll bring Adrian and Lucia into your group, along with myself. But if I can, you''ll be part of the group I''ll form directly, rather than in alliance with me. Not directly under me, don''t worry... but more than just an alliance. For both of us."


    Maeve didn''t say anything as I walked out, not waiting to hear her answer.


    I don''t care what she chooses to do. Friend, foe... it doesn''t matter.


    If she stands in my way, I''ll crush her like I would any other.


    And if she stands by my side... I know how to help her in the appropriate way.


    *******


    I couldn''t help sighing as I looked at the training building, my main goal for the day. Jack and Cassandra hadn''t made their move yet, but they would soon.


    Who knows, maybe they had already contacted others besides me. But I wasn''tte, I still had time.


    Tomorrow, I would make my first move.


    And now... I had another matter to take care of first.


    And so, I entered the building that stood in front of me. I made my way to the room I had been going to for quite a long time, I entered calmly.


    The usualrge room greeted me, then... as usual, a tall figure waiting for me in the center of the room.


    I closed the door gently and approached this figure slowly with my cane. When I was in front of him, I paused, staring into his dark eyes that were locked on me.


    "Hi there."


    His voice was t, calm, and... cold in a way I hadn''t expected from him. Unlike all the time I''d spent with him, as if I were someone he didn''t know.


    "Hi... Professor Calvin."


    Professor Calvin spoke without taking his eyes off me for a moment.


    "You lied."


    "Yes."


    "Then... answer me. Who are you?"


    Yes, maybe he was being cold... but there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes. A light that he could barely hold in, one that could easily disappear without a trace.


    The reason was quite simple.


    Someone who became a wiera would not be who they originally were. As their body changed to adapt a little to the caora, other things changed too... their personality, their self, their memories.


    A new person with memories of the person they used to be. Someone who feels, even knows, that they are the same person... but is just as aware that they are different. A shadow of their humanity that they left behind after bing a wiera.


    "I''m not a reflection of who I was, professor. Because I''m not a full wiera. And you know it, you believe it. Isn''t that why you''re here?"


    He wasn''t supposed to be here, actually. As a Guardian of the Order, he shouldn''t have revealed to me that he knew such things about wieras and caora, probably shouldn''t have even approached me until he considered me trustworthy.


    But here he was, in front of me. Because... he knew that I had lied at the ceremony, that I had in fact been a wiera for a long time. And... he wanted to see if he had been deceived.


    To not make the same mistake he''d made in the past. To not be used again.


    Because he was afraid.


    "I''m half wiera, as hard as it is to believe, and that''s why only half of my body and consciousness are split. And... yes, I lied, I was like that from the beginning."


    The professor looked into my eyes, waited for a moment. Then... he could only sigh.


    "I see..."


    He took an even deeper breath. He looked into my eyes again, this time a little more... rxed.


    "Congrattions, then. For the war, for your nobility, for your new rank..."


    He turned away, preparing to leave.


    I... simply smiled before saying anything.


    "I told you, didn''t I?"


    The professor looked at me with a slight turn of his head, as if he didn''t quite understand what I was saying.


    "That my goal was to get out of the academy first."


    The professor paused, his eyes unfocused, as if he was trying to remember the first time I said that sentence.


    "That was my goal for the first year. For the second year..."


    I widened my smile and spoke in a confident tone.


    "To be the one at the head of everything. That''s my goal. So..."


    I bowed my head slightly, kept my eyes on the floor, but kept my smile.


    "Even if I''m not sure what you will do next, thank you for teaching me the basics of fighting, of using a sword... for helping me achieve my goals, for being my instructor."


    The professor did not react. He slowly turned away, my eyes still on the floor, my head bowed.


    He said only one thing as he left the room.


    "You''re¡­ wee."

 Chapter 379 Volume VI - 12: The Second Date

    Chapter 379 Volume VI -  12: The Second Date


    ??My sses were ending early for Tuesday. So... I had the afternoon free.


    But I wasn''t exactly free.


    "Another date, huh..."


    The one before I went to Hr was my first one. And... I actually enjoyed it.


    And now the second one, today. And... I was walking right up to it right now.


    "You should have refused."


    I paused momentarily when Sith appeared with a slightly serious expression on his face.


    ''Didn''t you say yourself that things with her brother had to be fixed first?''


    Well, it wasn''t wrong. I did say it.


    But...


    ''She asked me herself, and she looked a bit bad... And wouldn''t it have been misunderstood if I refused? Like I didn''t want to be around her or something like that...''


    Sith sighed deeply.


    ''You''re a hypocrite, what you wanted was some time away from her. Both for her and yourself. You could have made excuses.''


    I started to move again, but this time... the expression on my face dropped a little.


    ''I know.''


    But... I didn''t. I didn''t want to. And seeing that she was in a bit of a bad mood... I didn''t want to be rude or anything.


    Did I make a mistake?


    Maybe...


    But...


    ''Anyway... if you''re going, do everything properly. I will sleep.''


    Then, hended on my shoulder, and his body slowly faded away.


    I sighed slightly, trying to clear my mind of unnecessary things, and after a short while, I realized that I had finally arrived in front of the caf¨¦.


    In the past, I would have struggled a bit to find her. My eyes would have wandered from table to table, looking for her.


    But now... I didn''t even have to look at the tables.


    Because she was literally shining. No, not literally shining... but extremely conspicuous.


    Most of the eyes in the cafe were on her. She gave off such an aura that it was impossible not to notice her. Her wavy ck hair, her jewel-like dark blue eyes, even the simple clothes she was wearing... everything.


    That was the difference of the charm statistic.


    But it didn''t affect me. And as much as it didn''t, she could suppress it to a certain extent with her skill.


    I curled my lips up slightly and approached her table with slow steps. When she noticed me approaching, her eyes left the table and shifted toward me.


    As a slow smile slowly appeared on her face, I moved to the chair opposite her and gently leaned my cane against the edge of the table.


    "Did I make you wait?"


    Sue shook her head slightly from side to side.


    "No, you didn''t."


    "Good, then..."


    I nced at the menu on the table.


    "Let''s have a light snack first, shall we?"


    Sue nodded her head in agreement, then her eyes drifted away from me and back to the table. Thoughtful, as if... something was upying her mind.


    *******


    The silence...


    Something that shouldn''t happen on a date.


    But that''s exactly what''s happening right now. Not the silence thates with eating or doing something... but simply the awkward silence thates with walking.


    "Something''s bothering you."


    Sue tore her gaze away from the floor she had been holding until now and slowly turned it to me.


    "You''re not in a good mood, you''re always thinking... you''re quiet. Has something happened?"


    "Is it that obvious...?"


    Huh... did she really think it wasn''t?


    "Quite a lot."


    Sue sighed slightly, sped her hands behind her back, and turned her eyes to the empty road ahead.


    "I''m... sorry. I dragged you along with me to maybe get some relief, but I''m gloomy..."


    I shook my head quickly from side to side.


    "It''s okay, really."


    I curled my lips up, paused, and she paused with me.


    Even though I was smiling, I continued with a serious tone to my voice.


    "You can just... tell me. It''s good to talk sometimes, you know. And I... I really want to help."


    Sue opened her mouth for a moment to say something, but then paused. After a short while, she started walking once again as I followed her.


    For half a minute, she went on without saying anything, in the same silence. But this time her steps were not random as if she had a destination.


    *******


    As I looked at the huge boulder standing in front of me, my mind involuntarily went back in time. This was where I always came to rx. But it wasn''t just my ce, Sue used toe here many times.


    She used to have lunch here all the time, for example. Before Justin''s death, when her life was being turned into a living hell by him.


    And now, we were here again.


    Sue was crouched where she always leaned against the back of the rock. I was... right next to her.


    "Go on, tell me."


    I said gently, following up in the same way.


    "Whatever it is that''s troubling you or bothering you."


    Sue slowly turned her eyes up to the sky. But this time, she didn''t stay silent. This time... she actually spoke.


    "I... I simply don''t know what to do."


    She stretched her legs out and ced her hands together just above her stomach.


    "I used to... be angry with myself for always being ordinary. I used to try different things, many things that I could be talented at... that I could somehow set myself apart from the others."


    Oh, so it wasn''t about Paul?


    "When I was a kid, I used to wear make-up all the time to be pretty, then I stopped because it was... ridiculous. I tried a few sports, again I stopped when I realized I was average. Board games like chess, lessons... everything. I was just average, or just slightly above or below everything. Arcades were the only thing different, games like table hockey... I was good at those. But that was it."


    I... am not sure if it''s good or bad that her situation is not rted to her brother...


    But even if it''s not, I should listen to her carefully... right?


    "And now... it actually happened. I''m... more beautiful than I wanted to be. When I look in the mirror, I have a hard time recognizing if my face is really mine, as if I''m looking at someone I''m not. I also have skills like Absolute Voice... for example. I became strong, without doing anything... simply by epting an offer and following a simple, forgotten dream of mine."


    She raised her hands, looked at her palms. Her mana spread around her body, gently circting between her hands and fingers.


    The mana in the atmosphere apanied herter as if it wanted to y with her... pulled towards her.


    "People are always looking at me whether they want to or not... because I have an extremely high charm, even though I suppress its negative effects. But not because I''ve achieved anything, not because I''m good at anything. It''s just... because I''m too beautiful now."


    She spread her mana further. A light breeze blew in our faces, the leaves around us rippled. It was as if they were apanying Sue.


    "And I am strangely talented now. I can control my mana at will, I''m even much more sensitive to my surroundings, and on top of that... I feel as if... as if everything wants to stand beside me, to be with me, to do what I want."


    She dispersed her mana suddenly, violently. And along with her mana, everything else around her also reacted harshly.


    "I... I didn''t deserve this. Not this beauty, not the power I''ve gained, not my skills... not even my life. I should have died there. As any ordinary person would have done. Sometimes, I couldn''t help but think... If it had been Lucia who had fallen instead of me... wouldn''t she have been able to do justice to these skills much better? Or Adrian, or anyone else."


    Her dark blue eyes turned towards me, her lips t as she continued.


    "I... I feel like I''m an extra again, like I''ve gotten things I shouldn''t have gotten. I don''t know what to do..."


    All I could do was... sigh deeply when she stopped talking.


    I narrowed my eyes slightly, looked directly into hers, and spoke a little harshly.


    "So what?"


    Sue looked at me nkly for a moment, her eyebrows raised, and her lips twitching slightly.


    "If you have things you don''t think you deserve, Sue, deserve them. So what if others could do much better with the power you have? Just strive to do even better. If you can''t... or don''t want to... then let it go."


    "But-"


    "You don''t have to do anything, everything is your choice, Sue. There are plenty of people around you who will ept you for who you are, people in our work group and me... for example. You''re scared of messing up, I get it, you''re scared of not using what you have properly. But never mind, I really mean it."


    I took her hand slowly, gently. And I smiled.


    "The Sue I know is... strong. She is someone who endured Justin''s bullying for months, someone who won friends like Lucia with her old ''ordinary'' self, someone who went into a B grade dungeon and survived... and so much more. Why do you think so little of yourself?"


    I raised my left hand, pointing at myself with my thumb.


    "I used to be ordinary, too. I was weak... but look now. I tried, I strived for more. Maybe I was going to fail, and I actually failed a few times, yes... but I did not stop. Even though I earned things I didn''t deserve, even though I made countless mistakes, I didn''t stop and... I continued to try. You can do the same."


    I paused for a moment to catch my breath, readjusted my tone, and continued.


    "But if you can''t... none of your friends will leave you. We weed you as you were. Don''t think you''ll lose everything around you because you''ve changed and can''t keep up."


    She looked at her palms once again, but I didn''t stop.


    "Or... just don''t force yourself to try to deserve what you''ve gained.


    There are so many people in the world who have power but don''t use it. Why would you, when there are others too? Just... do what you want to do. Okay? Like I said, nobody is forcing you to do anything. It''s just... you doing that."


    Sue remained silent, her expression thoughtful as her eyes fell back to the floor.


    I took a deep breath, leaned back first... and unlike her, looked up at the sky.


    Seconds passed in silence, seconds in which we both thought and thought.


    Finally, I lowered my eyes, fixed them on the trees in front of us. I thought for a while, I squinted... but then I let myself go.


    And my thoughts at the same time.


    "I love you, Sue."


    A strange silence enveloped my body once again, but this time... much more obvious and, strangely, scary.


    "But... not because you are beautiful now, not because you might be talented or strong.


    Since the very beginning, since we talked in my room after the Justin thing. You''ve always been beautiful, you''ve always been different from other people for me. So... even if you''re afraid of others, don''t be afraid of me. I''ll... I''ll always be there for you. Whether you''re beautiful, whether you''re ordinary, whether you''re talented, whether you''re weak."


    I turned slowly towards her. I saw the shock in her eyes, how rigid her expression had be. I don''t know why, a smile appeared on my face.


    "Whatever!"


    I grabbed my cane, slowly stood up, and turned my back.


    "I think it''s better to clear your head now, think about what I said. Figure out what you want to do. For now... I will g-"


    I paused when I felt my clothes being pulled behind my back. My lips curled even higher as I slowly turned around.


    Sue was standing now. She must have gotten up pretty quickly because there was grass on her clothes... but I didn''t care about these little details.


    I just looked at her face, at her slightly flushed cheeks... at her eyes, brightly fixed on mine.


    She said nothing. Twice she tried to open her mouth, but no words left her lips.


    When she tried a third time, this time, I interrupted her instead. First, I grabbed her shoulders, then I slowly pulled her to me.


    She didn''t even resist, she didn''t run away. She just... stared at me. Then, though, her eyelids slowly closed.


    I pulled her closer to me. And then... I kissed her gently.

 Chapter 380 Volume VI - 13: A Challange

    <h4>Chapter 380 Volume VI - Chapter 13: A Change</h4>


    "See you."


    I waved my hand with a wide smile on my face. Sue did the same.


    "Bye."


    Then, she walked toward the building where her dorm room was located.


    I watched every step she took, staring after her until she disappeared from my sight. Even when she entered the building, I stayed for a while.


    "Heh."


    My smile widened even wider. I turned around and started moving again in the direction I hade from.


    I didn''t care about anything, really. The world seemed... different. Brighter, something like that.


    It''s not extremelyte yet, it''s about an hour before nightfall. So I have plenty of time, my schedule is full of things I have to do.


    But I don''t want to do any of it. I''m more tempted to go to my room, lie on my bed, and just watch the ceiling. Now... I have a rtionship that I can say is official, after all.


    I''m happy... or something like that. I''m not sure.


    So it''s better to get everything done quickly, right?


    With these thoughts in mind, I made my way across the campus. I entered the main building where sses were held, walked along the second floor, and paused when I came to a lecture hall.


    The door was open. The professor who was teaching the ss was either taking a break or another ss was about to start.


    I entered the hall, tapping my cane on the floor. Thanks to the structure and the materials used to build the hall, the sound echoed throughout the hall and all eyes turned toward me.


    Some recognized me, their eyes widened. Others, if they recognized me at all, looked at me with a nk expression.


    "Why is he here?"


    That was the question most people mumbled. After all... this was a lecture hall for a third-year ss, not a second-year like me.


    I started walking down the lecture hall with slow steps, never taking my smile off my face. The eyes of the people in the hall then turned toward where I was going, stopping on one person who was there.


    "Oh..."


    "Isn''t he..."


    "Really?"


    When I got to the desk they were looking at, I paused and sat down, leaning my cane on the edge. I just looked in front of me for a short while, reading what was written on the ckboard and a question left behind. It wasn''t something I didn''t know, I could solve it with my eyes closed even though I was a second-year.


    "How''s it going?"


    I asked calmly, and... the person I was sitting next to finally stopped his pen, which was constantly writing something on the holographic screen above his desk.


    "Good."


    He slowly lifted his head, his blond hair, which he had left slightly long for a man, slid slightly to the side. His blue eyes, reminiscent of the sky, looked up at me from his desk. But he didn''t react like the other students, he was calm... and he was smiling.


    "But I''m also a little curious."


    He put his right hand on his chin, squinted his eyes slightly but kept his expression and tone of voice.


    "Why is the first rank of the second-year students, Aiden Tenebra... visiting me?"


    "I thought I''de before you visited me, is that bad?"


    He paused for a moment, then shook his head from side to side.


    "No, but I would have preferred to talk in a more... quiet ce."


    He meant the students around, the lecture hall. Not only here, but at the entrance to the lecture hall, a lot of students had gathered. Everyone was watching what was happening.


    "Nah, it''s not a big deal. It''s not like we''re going to talk about things that nobody should hear... right?"


    "Hmm... Actually, yes. We have no hidden agenda after all."


    "Hahaha, right."


    A short silence fell between us, a few seconds passed calmly with no one making a sound.


    "I''m not joining your group."


    His lips curled upward, still very calm.


    "Understandable. But... it also doesn''t look like you''re going to go to Maeve or Cassandra. Do you think you can make it...? Without a suitable backer, I mean."


    He slowly began to twirl the pen he had been holding between his fingers.


    "You don''t think no one will try to stop you... do you? Maeve might prefer to stay away from you, she doesn''t like taking risks. But... Cassandra and I are different."


    He leaned back slightly, the pen spinning in his hand speeding up for a moment.


    "A fourth group is too many for this academy, no matter who is in charge. And everyone knows it. You know it too."


    "That''s exactly why I''m here, you know."


    I put up a serious face, my smile fading a little.


    "Maeve Bistra, Cassandra Bealy, you... Jack Laehera. I want to show you all what my entrance onto the stage means... and why you shouldn''t stand in my way."


    I leaned back just as he did, slowly turning around... toward a smartwatch camera that was staring right at my face.


    It was broadcasting live. And it wasn''t just that, there were a lot of other cameras looking in this direction. Who would miss something like this, right?


    "All second-year students. All six hundred and twenty-four of you. Not a single one of you is going to be in Maeve Bistra, Cassandra Bealy, or Jack Laehera''s group... Either you are with me, or you belong to no group."


    "Are you recruiting people by threatening them?"


    "No, I give them a choice, because if they join another group, they be my enemy. Being my enemy means they never had a future in the first ce. Why should I keep people I''m close to who are against me? People I''m going to have the same ss with, for example."


    Jack gave a littleugh as if the funniest thing he had ever seen was right in front of him.


    "Ahahah, you''re funny... very funny. Why do you think that just because you say that, everyone will follow you?"


    "Because I''ll show you what happens when you don''t follow me. Two days, Jack. How about renting the whole arena after two days?"


    "Oh? And for what?"


    "To settle our matter in the most simple way possible, of course. But... I don''t just want you against me."


    Jack paused, the smile on his face slightly distorted. But I didn''t stop.


    "Everyone, Jack. Bring everyone you can get in front of me. Take Cassandra with you, even...e together. I''ll only take four people with me, and you... bring as many as you want. How''s that sound?"


    "Just because you fought in a war-"


    "Oh, you''re right, of course... let''s do this, then. I''ll take two people with me, not four, so I won''t be too much for you. I forgot that my cane and being crippled makes me look a bit weak in people''s eyes."


    Jack''s expression deteriorated further. He looked at me with his eyes narrowed and his lips t. I smiled calmly, this time resting my chin on my hand.


    "What do you think? If you really want, I can even fight on my own... it''s not a big deal. Although... the show wouldn''t make much sense, then."


    And then... an entirely different voice from Jack echoed in my ears.


    "You''ll regret it."


    The smile on my face grew wider. I ignored Jack for a moment, ncing behind me out of the corner of my eye.


    Dark blue hair falling to her shoulders, purple irises that resembled Celine''s eyes... a tall stature rtive to her peers, and an equally sharp face with the same gaze.


    "Oh, I suppose you came here as soon as you saw the broadcast... Cassandra."


    Her eyes shifted to Jack for a moment, but she never took me out of focus.


    "Of course I did, our neweat first rank hase to visit an acquaintance of mine... I had to see it personally. But... I heard things I didn''t expect to hear."


    She folded her arms across her chest, her violet eyes back on me.


    "Jack may be prideful, but I''m not like that. If it means knocking someone off the stage... I''ll use everything at my disposal."


    I grabbed my cane, slid sideways down the desk, and stood up, slowly, with gentle steps, making my way upstairs.


    "But that''s exactly what I want you to do... use everything. Don''t you get it yet? Or are you pretending not to understand, just to save face?"


    The sound of my cane echoed throughout the hall, my words causing everyone''s expressions to change in different ways.


    "Get all the fourth or third-year students in front of me, Cassandra. Every single one of them. If you want to, of course... Because your face might fall too much after that. I''m gonna crush every single one of them, after all."


    I walked past her afterward, but paused again before I left.


    "Whoever wants toe, whoever doesn''t... I''ll set up the arena, I''ll wait. Oh, and also... the answer to the question you couldn''t solve is thirty-seven, Jack."


    Then, I walked out without another word as the crowd made way for me.

 Chapter 381 Volume VI - 14: Arena of the Academy

    Chapter 381 Volume VI -  14: Arena of the Academy


    ??*(A/N: Yeah... Yeah... I know... I will not say anything from now on. I''m just tired... and I feel like you''re tired of this too. So... no ''long'' notes from now on. If I know in advance that I need to take a break, I will announce it. I just didn''t have any opportunity this time. But you can join the discord server if you want. I will try to make announcements from there from now on. Or one of my friends can also do that. Sorry... once again. And, hopefully, I will upload daily for three days.)*


    *******


    "You''re crazy."


    "Oh, thanks for thepliment."


    Julian paused, his eyes twitching.


    "I don''t think you heard what I said...?"


    "No, I heard it loud and clear."


    "Haaaah..."


    He sighed deeply, leaning back and staring at the ceiling as if questioning his life.


    I kept my smile, quickly ncing at the others I was in the same room with.


    Adrian, Lucia, Celine, Sue, and even Alysia. They were all in front of me. We were in the same room where we always met in our first year.


    And we were here for one thing.


    The challenge I presented to Jack and Cassandra yesterday. Or rather... something I mentioned at the time.


    "What you''re doing is... very dangerous, Aiden. Especially politically."


    "How, for example?"


    "Because the academy isrgely made up of nobles! And you threatened them all... And not only that, you''re trying to bring them all under you!"


    Julian looked at me for a few seconds, silently... without saying anything.


    "You... You already know..."


    I widened my smile.


    "I meant everything I said, I have my own ns for the future. And no one should stand in my way. So I want to prune all the thorns in my foot from the very beginning. That''s what I''m trying to do."


    I ran my eyes over everyone again.


    "And for that, for a very obvious reason, I need you guys."


    I broke my smile slightly this time, but I didn''t keep apletely cold expression either. I just... wanted to be a little more serious.


    "Like I said, you don''t have to stand next to me. I''m not forcing anyone to be with me. But... I don''t want you to be my enemy. That''s why I specifically asked for this meeting, to talk to you, the people I know best in the academy."


    I took my cane between my two hands and took a deep breath.


    "Be with me, please. Not just now... Not just in this academy. Afterwards, always. Stay as my friends... okay?"


    Adrian was the first to speak. With a smile on his face.


    "There''s nowhere else I can go."


    Then Sue...


    "I''m with you."


    Then Celine.


    "You didn''t have to ask."


    Lucia.


    "I wasn''t nning on joining any group... but if it''s you, sure."


    My eyes stayed on Julian for a while. He seemed to be thinking, a serious expression on his face.


    He was thinking not only about himself but about his future and his family.


    But then...


    "Okay, okay... whatever. I''m also in."


    And finally... Alysia.


    I... actually don''t even know why she''s here. I thought she would simply... ignore me and not join any group.


    Especially considering how she ignored me thest time we spoke.


    But now that she''s here, she must have something on her mind... probably.


    "Are you sure?"


    "About what?"


    "That you can take on the entire academy."


    "If I have enough support... why not? I''m not the question, Alice. The question is... will you help me? I know, thest time we met, things didn''t... go well. But the past doesn''t have to affect the present, does it?"


    Alysia was silent for a while. Then, after some time, she sighed.


    "Fine."


    Huh... really?


    Strange... very strange, indeed. I didn''t think she would ept...


    And yet...


    "Thank you, all of you."


    It feels good... that they all chose to support me.


    "You won''t regret it. I promise you won''t."


    *******


    I gently brought the spoon to my mouth. The sauce on my tongue, the meat that felt like it was melting in my mouth, the freshness and vor...


    Everything about this dish was perfect.


    So much so... Sue''s words from earlier came back to me. She''d tried everything, but everything was ordinary.


    Is this ordinary now...?


    That''s not possible. This is some of the best food I''ve ever had in my life...


    "Are you really going to finish it in the arena?"


    I dipped my fork into the te again, then took another bite.


    "Yeah. There''s no secret game. Maybe they will try a thing or two in the future."


    I paused for a moment.


    "Well, knowing them... they will. But I will also be prepared."


    Sue was silent for a while, both hands on her chin, watching me eat her food.


    "But... can you really do it? I know how strong you are, but..."


    "Don''t worry, there won''t be any problems."


    Sue sighed deeply, then stretched slightly.


    "If you say so..."


    Then she fell silent again. I continued eating, and when I finally finished my te, I smiled.


    "Fight..."


    Sue raised her eyebrows slightly at my words.


    "Do you want to fight?"


    And with that, she stayed where she was.


    First, her eyes narrowed, then she dropped her hands under her chin to the table.


    I wasn''t talking about the arena, and she knew it. She would be too weak for who Jack and Cassandra would throw at me.


    I was talking in general.


    "Yes. I... I don''t want to sit idle when I have such skills. I... I want to be useful."


    I smiled before she started to speak again.


    "As long as it''s your decision, Sue, that''s fine. If that''s what you really want to do... no one has anything to say, like I said before. But..."


    I slowly lowered my smile, putting on a more serious expression.


    "Fighting may not be for you. You can try really hard but... you may simply fail. If you realize you''re struggling, if you think it''s too much for you... don''t push yourself. Okay?"


    Sue lifted her dark blue eyes and fixed them on mine. She was silent for a while, just waiting. Then... she nodded slightly.


    "Okay."


    And so I smiled again.


    "Well... first of all, learn how to use your skills better. And pick a main weapon. I think you used a wand, I seem to remember something like that... if you feel close to it, focus on it a bit."


    She nodded her head softly. She didn''t object to anything I said.


    So, after a few not-very long pieces of advice... she had a few ideas in her head about what she could do.


    And now that my meal was finished, it was time for me to leave.


    "We''ll talk again in the evening. For now... see you."


    "Bye."


    ,I got up from the table, grabbed my cane, and headed for the door. But then something caught my attention, something in the corner of the room.


    "Huh, you know how to y a guitar?"


    Sue curled her lips up slightly before answering.


    "I''ve been practicingtely because I''ve been so bored... it''s no big deal."


    Oh...


    "Give us a concert sometime, then. It might be good for the study group... When you get to the point where you feel confident, at least."


    She nodded gently again, her eyes traveling over the guitar in the corner of the room. And finally... I went out.


    *******


    Even after Aiden left the room, I couldn''t take my eyes off the guitar in the corner of the room.


    I slowly got up from my chair, took the guitar from the corner, and sat on the couch.


    Actually... I already knew how to y the guitar. It was one of the countless things I tried as a child. But like most things, I had given it up when I realized that I wasn''t overly talented at it, and only recently I had picked it up again... That was it.


    My fingers moved across the strings, reflexively ying a melody that any beginner knows quite well.


    My fingers moved between the frets, I continued for a few seconds without thinking about what I was ying... at the end, though, I paused and sighed.


    Ode to Joy.


    It had a very simple rhythm, was not borate, and was easy to y. I could y moreplicated things than that, but still... every now and then, it woulde to me and I would y it without thinking.


    I left the guitar in myp and leaned back, my eyes fixed on the ceiling for a brief moment.


    Fighting, battling... using my skills.


    I couldn''t help clenching my fist.


    I want to do it... I really do.


    So... I will do it.


    *******


    Thursday evening, the end of the time I gave Jack and Cassandra.


    I was waiting in the very center of the arena, my cane in my hands... simply sitting on a chair.


    I was surrounded by people. It felt like this even though the arena was huge and the stands were far away from me... There were students everywhere, from all the years at the academy... even adults.


    And even people who weren''t here would be watching. I was sure there would be dozens of live streams.


    And the person in the center of everyone''s attention... was me.


    I slowly raised my arm, checked my watch.


    It was half past eight in the evening. No one else had ss, which meant Jack and Cassandra were already prepared and should be here soon... at least if they were going to ept my challenge.


    I lowered my arm, kept waiting, ignoring the noise of the crowd and everything else, just... standing where I was.


    After a few minutes... I saw some people on the opposite side of the arena,ing out of the brightly lit corridor between the stands, slowly approaching me.


    A smile appeared on my face. I slowly got up from my chair, supported by my cane, and took an upright posture.


    It was just as I expected. Jack and Cassandra were at the front, with... a lot of students behind them. Most of them were third graders, but there were a few fourth graders as well.


    "Wee."


    With my words, the voices from the stands were mostly silenced as if everyone was focused on me.


    Jack and Cassandra stopped just in front of me. They both had serious looks. However... I could see Jack smiling a little, but he was not the first to speak. It was Cassandra.


    "You can still back out of this, Aiden."


    Her gaze was sharp. She wasn''t looking at me as an enemy... but simply as an insignificant person.


    "It''s never toote."


    I widened my smile before answering.


    "You really don''t mind losing face, huh?"


    I turned my eyes to the third and fourth graders standing behind him. Briefly examining each of them, but not dwelling too much on any of them.


    "You really brought everyone, hahaha..."


    Cassandra''s eyes narrowed. She had realized that I wasn''t going to back down, that she couldn''t afford any more empty words.


    "You said you were bringing two more people... I don''t see anyone?"


    "Oh, they''ll be here soon... don''t worry. I didn''t want to keep them ready in case you were afraid toe."


    I paused for a moment, turning my head slightly back to look toward my side of the corridors between the stands.


    "Aha, here theye."


    And as I uttered those words, two figures emerged from the corridor into the center of the arena.


    One had his spear in his hand, his emerald green eyes sharp. His silvery hair rippled slightly with each step he took. His eyes were not even on his enemies, they were only on me... as if waiting for what I would say. He didn''t seem to care about other details.


    The person next to him was... very different from him. Her shoulder-length blonde hair shimmered in the lights of the arena, and her blood-red eyes were fixed on Jack and Cassandra, unlike the one walking next to her. Her simple sword hung at her waist, but she seemed ready to take it out at any moment. She seemed more resolute than ever.


    Adrian and Lucia walked side by side until they were right behind me. When they stopped, I turned around again and smiled.


    "You''re ready, right? This might be a long night."


    Jack and Cassandra looked at each other for a brief moment. They waited for a while as if they could speak in their minds. Then they turned back to me.


    "Let''s begin."

 Chapter 382 Volume VI - 15: The Duels

    Chapter 382 Volume VI -  15: The Duels


    ??*(A/N: Well... I thought that only three chapters daily might be a little too small considering the time I was away. So I decided to upload not one but two chapters for three days, then one chapter for another three days, and then the usual schedule of one chapter every two days. But the second chapters maye a little bitter, not at the same time as the first chapters, just so you know.)*


    *******


    It didn''t take us long to decide on the matches. It was quite simple... there were three of us and we would take turns to go out into the arena. And then, one by one, we would fight the enemies that we would face.


    It was as simple as that.


    The number of people we had to face was almost thirty. And we had to n ordingly, actually...


    But who cared?


    Well... most people would have cared, probably.


    But we didn''t need that.


    We had only one n, and that was the order of battle. The person in front would fight until they were tired, and then it would be the turn of the person behind them.


    And so... Lucia was the first to step into the arena on my side.


    She stepped forward with her sword drawn, her blood-red eyes gleaming slightly. Her opponent was a third year, someone on Jack''s side. He was high in the rankings... in the top twenty of the third years, if I remember correctly.


    Before the duel began, I observed Lucia''s slender body. Honestly... she didn''t seem to have changed much, except for her hair, at least. But... something was different at the same time. A little bit different from the person she used to be.


    And that''s why I actually decided to do something like this, to get two other people besides myself to fight on my side, I mean.


    I wanted to see what exactly had changed. How much she had changed... and what she could do or be able to dopared to before.


    That''s exactly why I took the long way around, when I could have gone into the arena myself and done everything quickly.


    It was at this moment that a bell echoed in the arena. A screen appeared between the duelists, and on the screen a number... three.


    Then two.


    And one.


    Finally, a "go" sign.


    The third-year student moved quickly as if he wanted to finish everything in one move. He didn''t even seem to take Lucia very seriously... his eyes were on us contrary to her opponent... as if to tell us, ''watch, it''s your turn.''


    But the biggest mistake he made was to think that his opponent was an ordinary person.


    Raising her sword slightly, Lucia tightened her grip and met her opponent''s attack head-on. Her blood-red eyes suddenly shed with fury as her surroundings rippled slightly as if they were heating up.


    I saw the eyes of her opponent, the third-year, widen and turn away from us, but by then... it was toote.


    Lucia''s me-covered fist sailed past her opponent''s sword andnded directly on his face. It was such a solid punch that it was enough to create a slight wave of pressure... and the third-year was thrown straight back.


    But he was not in the top twenty of the third years for nothing. He moved quickly to regain his bnce before copsing to the ground, ignoring the not-so-serious-looking burn on his face, looking for Lucia... only to find her suddenly in front of him.


    Lucia grabbed him by the cor, pulled him slightly toward her, and then threw him even further. Then she turned her sword slightly so that she could use it like a baseball bat and swung it at his face.


    The third-year was thrown out of the dueling arena just like that, disqualified. When he hit the wall just below the stands, his unconscious face was exposed and clearly visible to everyone.


    I heard the gasps from the stands, I saw the serious looks Jack and Cassandra were giving Lucia and I couldn''t help widening my smile.


    This... this was definitely not what I was expecting.


    Lucia had definitely changed, I didn''t even need to see more than that.


    D+ or C- grade, that should be her general level at least. The way she controls her mana, the way her body moves and so on... everything about her seems to exceed or border on D grade.


    Whatever she went through in the dungeon, she''s above the highest level she can be at this age that I remember from the game.


    And she kept proving it with her actions.


    She defeated her second opponent without breaking a sweat. Her third opponent gave her a bit of a challenge, but with her mes and sword technique, she overpowered him too. She almost burned the fourth, also the first female she fought, in a way she would never forget.


    Her performance was so good that Jack and Cassandra''s attitudes changedpletely. And not just theirs, but the stands as well.


    Her fifth... sixth... then seventh opponent.


    Finally, she faced her eighth opponent. And this one was... a fourth year. So, like her, she was either in the upper levels of the D+ grade or had already reached the C grade.


    For the first time in this duel, Lucia took her stance in particr. Her mes swirled around her body, both defensively and offensively. She had taken her other opponents seriously, but she really focused on this one this time.


    And it was good that she did.


    Her opponent was strong. Even among the fourth years. She used her fists. And she strengthened her attacks by supporting them with her mastery of the wind.


    Their duel started quite intense. Lucia dodged one wind-magic-bearing punch after another, hardly getting a chance to attack. But this was not always the case. She quickly exploited a small opening. Her sword swept delicately but swiftly through the winds that enveloped her opponent''s fists... slicing through them and moving toward her target.


    But she didn''t quite get what she wanted. The fourth-year suddenly loosened her fingers and released her fists. Then she wrapped them around Lucia''s sword, the winds moving between her fingers, acting as a barrier between her skin and the hot mes covering the sword... and gripped it tightly.


    Lucia''s back suddenly met a strong gust of wind, causing her to lose her bnce. Her opponent''s lips curled slightly upward. As her left fist, separated from the sword, approached Lucia''s stomach, she seemed to think she had won... but Lucia was calm. Her blood-red eyes were still cold.


    With that, an intense mana enveloped her body. She deliberately dropped her sword, faster than her opponent''s fist, and ced her hands on her chest. Then all the mana concentrated around her was quickly drawn into her hands.


    Walls of me suddenly surrounded the duo. They were aggressive and ferocious, rising to the very top of the arena, their heat evident even from a distance.


    After a short time, the mes dissipated. The body of the fourth-year on the floor appeared first. Her body covered in burns, her t-shirt and ckened clothes almost burnedpletely by the extreme heat.


    Then Lucia, kneeling in front of her. She was gasping for breath, clearly struggling a little. But it didn''tst long and as soon as she realized that everyone could see her. She stood up quickly, then picked up her sword and turned her eyes to Jack and Cassandra.


    She wanted to see her next opponent. And... she was determined. In fact, her appearance and posture backed up that determination.


    But...


    "Enough, Lucia."


    determined. In fact, her appearance and posture backed up that determination.


    She turned toward me from where she was, and when she saw me smiling, she nodded with a sigh. She sheathed her sword and walked over to me without a nce at her opponent on the ground.


    "You were even better than I thought. I know you can face more, even defeat more... but this is enough. Thank you."


    I had seen what I wanted to see, I had more or less understood how strong she was, I didn''t need more.


    And so, I turned slightly toward Adrian.


    "It''s your turn."


    Adrian curled his lips upward. He took out his spear that he had stuck in the ground and simply spun it around before taking a simple stance. Then, he walked slowly to the center of the arena. He had a look on his face as if he had been waiting for this the entire time.


    ******


    Adrian naturally attracted even more attention than Lucia the moment he entered the arena. He was the strongest in the eyes of most people because... the number of people who saw me in action was almost non-existent here. There were a lot of people who thought that I only got first ce because I was a war hero.


    So Adrian was seen as the real ''first rank''. And hising forward caused a lot of people to hold their breath. Including Jack and Cassandra, of course.


    But it was Adrian''s next words that really stirred the pot.


    "Send two people."


    It wasn''t a request, not a plea. With the gentle smile still on his face and his emerald green eyes on his opponents... he was practically giving orders.


    "Three is also fine."


    He was different from who he normally was. But... not in a bad way.


    It was like he was... imitating me.


    I couldn''t help but smile.


    Jack and Cassandra were silent for a while after Adrian''s words. Still... they didn''t reject him. After what Lucia had done, they didn''t want to take any risks. And so Adrian was confronted by two people at once, both third-years.


    When the duel began, one of them, a big man, with an axe held in both hands, rushed forward. The other, a girl, wielded a spear like Adrian.


    Adrian didn''t do much. He didn''t even use his mana.... His feet moved as if dancing. His spear apanied him mesmerizingly.


    As his opponent''s axe threatened to slice him in half at a wide angle, his spear ended beside him. His body felt weightless, like a feather... but his spear?


    When his spear made contact with the side of the axe, as if it actually weighed tons, it caused the student with the axe to lose all bnce. The axe slipped out of his hand and flew to the other side.


    But it didn''t matter. Because the girl with the spear used the gap created by his friend with the axe... There was nothing protecting Adrian.


    It was as if this duel was over...


    But it wasn''t.


    Adrian turned around in a sudden movement as if time had slowed down. He was like a feather again, graceful... seemingly slow, but actually extremely fast. And his spear, despite its sheer force, was as light as he was.


    With that, the girl with the spear suddenly found Adrian staring at her. She didn''t stop his attack, she kept going... but to no avail.


    Adrian''s spear moved in such a minimal way that it was very easy to follow, yet very... difficult. But the effect of this minimal movement on the opponent''s weapon was unimaginable.


    When the student closed and opened her eyes... her attack waspletely manipted, directed by Adrian. It was no longer him she was attacking... but his friend with the axe.


    And before she had time to stop herself, her attack met her friend''s body.


    That''s how Adrian''s first duel ended. With his use of pure spear techniques... without using any skills.


    Not only the stands were stunned, but also Jack and Cassandra. But Adrian didn''t care, he looked toward them and spoke indifferently.


    "Next? It might be better if there are three of you this time."

 Chapter 383 Volume VI - 16: The Last Show

    Chapter 383 Volume VI -  16: The Last Show


    ??Adrian was even more dangerous than Lucia. He didn''t even use his mana properly, he just crushed his opponents with his technique and sheer power.


    And in this way, after the duo he crushed in his first duel, he crushed two more groups in threes.


    He didn''t even break a sweat. His eyes almost never left the side where Jack and Cassandra were... without focusing on his duel, as if to emphasize to them who they were facing.


    Finally, he defeated another duo, both fourth years, without difficulty, simply by toying with them.


    With each duel he won, the facial expressions of everyone watching him changed.


    Honestly... this arena was already over. Even with Adrian and Lucia''s performance, it was clear how much power I had. Even if I refused to fight the next duel, things would be in my favor.


    But I didn''t want to stop here. What I wanted to show, my purpose was much more than that.


    "Adrian... thank you, that''s enough."


    Adrian turned toward me and looked at me with a slightly... disappointed expression. He wanted to stay longer, he hadn''t even shown anything yet.


    But as I said, that was enough. And even if I didn''t say it again, he understood it from my look.


    He just dropped his spear in the air and put it in his inventory. Then he walked over to me and stood right next to Lucia.


    Both of them acted almost like my bodyguards. Their gaze was sharp, their posture straight. They could have gone much further in this arena if I hadn''t stopped them...


    "Now..."


    I grabbed my cane and walked slowly toward the center of the arena.


    Jack and Cassandra''s expressions were quite bad. They clearly knew how dire their situation was.


    They had thought they could simply end it here instead of dragging things out... but they had found themselves right in the trap.


    And now, it was my turn.


    "They''re pretty good, aren''t they? It doesn''t matter much when you have friends like that... just the two of them are enough to open the whole way for me, after all."


    I smiled, turning slightly toward the stands.


    "But I have to prove myself too as a ''leader''... if I hide behind those standing next to me and don''t do something myself, I''ll get a bad name, I''ll be a coward... right?"


    And I slowly turned my eyes back to the other two ''leaders'', my implication clear.


    Jack and Cassandra looked at each other. I could guess exactly what they were thinking.


    If we take him down overwhelmingly fast, we can save face and then move on.


    That''s exactly what they were thinking.


    So I decided to give them a little push.


    "Come, both of you. I don''t think we need to drag this night out any longer. Your choice, of course. If you''re going to keep sending others, that''s also fine."


    There was silence between us for a short while. And at the end of that silence... they both started walking slowly toward the center of the arena.


    As they approached me, a rapier appeared in Cassandra''s hands, and a shield and sword in Jack''s.


    But they were not the only ones walking toward the arena. Behind them, two more people slowly stepped forward, both from the high ranks of the fourth-years... The third and seventh, if I remember correctly.


    "If you''re so confident, you should be able to stand by your words... right?"


    I was silent for a few seconds at first, staring into Cassandra''s eyes, which shone with a cold, purple glow. Then... a rather broad smile appeared on my face.


    "You''re right, absolutely right. What did I say... what did I say... Was it that you can alle if you want?"


    I gently reached deep into my mind, to the memories... the emotions. A purple glow faintly filled my vision, power flowed into my crippled body. My mana flow gradually improved, returning to what it should be.


    But I did not use itpletely. Only enough to make me able to fight, no more, no less. To keep me going for longer.


    "Yeah, it was something like that. So...e. I am waiting."


    I poured a little mana into my cane and it glowed blue, then slowly changed shape. It was a rtively long sword, the gray de almost eighty centimeters long. A darker line ran down the center, part of a system that would make the sword much more powerful than it would otherwise be when wrapped in mana, and around it were runes that supported it. The hilt was leather, a strange butfortable one.


    It was the sword the dwarves gave me, which was quite good¡­ so good that if it was an artifact the system gave as a reward, its rank would be S grade for sure.


    After my sword appeared in my hands, my opponents finally made their first move. And it was the duo behind Jack and Cassandra.


    One of them had a strange-looking curved sword in his hand. The other looked like she was going to use her fists.


    Their posture wasn''t bad, their movements showed that they had been well-trained.


    However...


    They were not enough.


    I didn''t do much, to be honest. I didn''t move faster than them, I didn''t apply excessive force to my attack. I just inhaled a deep breath, then poured the wild mana of the Ambiguous Flow into my sword.


    The dark line on the sword''s long, gray de suddenly began to glow. The runes around it glowed at the same time. Then the image of the sword blurred. But it didn''t stop there.


    The blur quickly spread from my sword into the surroundings, into the atmosphere... and that''s when I found my sword-


    wielding opponent in front of me.


    I didn''t panic, I didn''t even look at his body properly. I simply swung my own sword at his, shifting his center of gravity by tilting it slightly to repel it. Then I stepped back and the blurring from my sword into the atmosphere began to change.


    It was at this moment that the one with the fist appeared next to her friend. But before she could make her attack, her eyes widened at what she encountered. There were four blurs in front of her, all resembling my sword, and four attacks, eaching at her from different directions.


    Inevitably, she had to take a step back. She wasn''t sure which attack was real.


    I widened the smile on my face and muttered in a calm voice.


    "First rule of the battlefield: never focus only on what is in front of you."


    I turned around quickly, but kept my previous calm expression. I swung my sword at a wide angle, and with that, it hit something hard. A... shield. Jack''s shield.


    "Attacks alwayse from where you least expect them."


    I used the false blurs to attack Jack this time. But he wasn''t alone... he had allies.


    A barrier of water suddenly surrounded Jack, each of my attacks backfiring. I felt two intense waves of manaing from behind me. While Cassandra was protecting Jack, the other two were preparing to attack me... and this time, they were using mana too.


    And the mana they used was quite dense. Unnecessarily so.


    Not only that, but even the mana barrier protecting Jack was carrying too much mana.


    "Second rule of the battlefield: always use your resources as if they are almost exhausted."


    I gave my mana a tiny tap and the wind currents around me stirred. A strong gust of wind blew behind me, followed by two of the blurs I had been using as fake attacks.


    "If you are the first to run out of mana, you will die."


    I gave the wind currents a sudden burst of speed. What had been blowing behind me like a calm breeze suddenly became fierce, like that of a hurricane... but since I was using an instant burst of mana, I wasn''t really using my reserves.


    And so I attacked the water barrier protecting Jack again.


    "Third rule of the battlefield: never underestimate your opponent, no matter who they are."


    A blue glow appeared for a moment on the blur that was my real sword, a glow that resembled a me... and then I brought it down.


    The barrier of water dissolved in an instant. All the mana that held it together dissipated into the atmosphere. Jack''s body was in front of me.


    "They always have a trump card."


    The blue mes formed a wall behind me, a barrier against surprise attacks from the others.


    Jack quickly pulled his shield in front of him, but I ignored its presence. I didn''t even swing my sword. I simply stepped in front of him, ced my hand on his shield, and looked over it. His deep blue eyes were up above me in fear. I simply smiled.


    I pulled his shield toward me, trying to throw him off bnce and deprive him of his shield. But Jack was quicker than me, as soon as he realized what I was going to do, he deliberately released his shield and stepped back. His eyes were not on me, but behind me.


    I quickly swung the shield behind me, the sound of metal on metal echoing in my ears. But it wasn''t just one person attacking me.


    Cassandra was right behind me, the one whose attack I had blocked. At the same time, the other two were attacking me from my right and left.


    The ground beneath my feet suddenly froze, the ice spreading around me. Then countless spikes rose around me, with me in the center.


    A gray glow appeared around Cassandra. Then, in an instant, she disappeared.


    It was so sudden that it was as if she had... teleported.


    And that''s exactly what it was. It was a short-range teleportation skill, which Cassandra had.


    As soon as I noticed her shadow falling on me, I set up a Mana Barrier around me. And the moment Cassandra''s rapier touched my barrier, the whole barrier trembled tremendously. Cassandra didn''t stop, thrusting her rapier countless times into the same spot on the barrier.


    The barrier had barely been formed for a second when it shattered into pieces. I was Cassandra''s next target when I felt a wave of manaing from behind me, and then I saw daggers of ice all around me. It was one of Jack''s skills, he was back in action.


    Cassandra''s rapier was about to reach me, her eyes glittering with fury.


    The other two students were preparing their own spells, ready to attack me at any time.


    They had me in the middle.


    And it was less than a second before they attacked.


    It looked like the end hade.

 Chapter 384 Volume VI - 17: The Strongest of the Academy

    Chapter 384 Volume VI -  17: The Strongest of the Academy


    ??The duel seemed to be over. I had no chance to dodge each of the attacksing from all four sides.


    At least that''s what people thought.


    And... even though they were thinking wrong, I actually didn''t intend to move.


    I stood where I was, not even moving, letting them make their attack.


    I felt Cassandra''s rapier enter my shoulder, piercing through my flesh and touching the bone. One of Jack''s daggers went into my left arm and one into my right leg. The lightning spell from my left struck my body directly, while the fierce wind des from my right cut through my clothes and opened countless cuts on my body.


    The duel was over...


    I smiled anyway, speaking slowly, in a calm tone.


    "The fourth rule of the battlefield: you will get hurt, you will inevitably get wounded... but you must endure. You will endure."


    Blue mes enveloped each of my wounds, and Cassandra''s eyes widened.


    "The moment you copse, you will lose everything."


    I grabbed the rapier that had pierced my shoulder with my other hand and swung my forehead at Cassandra''s face, giving her a solid blow before she could teleport.


    The mes were already melting the daggers of ice and closing my wounds one by one. But I ripped one of them from my leg before it meltedpletely and quickly plunged it into Cassandra''s shoulder.


    I felt her whole body tremble, but I didn''t care. I snatched the rapier from her hand and threw it aside, then grabbed Cassandra by the shoulder and simply spun her around, sending her to the student on my left.


    I quickly turned my free hand to the student on my right and sent a huge fireball of blue mes. Without looking at the results, I quickly turned to where Jack was and lunged at him.


    His eyes were wide as if he could not believe what he was seeing. But he recovered quickly and took up a defensive position.


    "The fifth rule of the battlefield: if you can''t take it, run away. Overconfidence is deadly."


    I clenched my fist, using most of my mana to strengthen it as much as I could. Then, I simply swung at Jack.


    Jack was thrown backward with a small shockwave. But without waiting for him to hit the wall, I moved and caught him mid-air. I grabbed him by the cor, then mmed his body to the floor.


    I turned my hand behind my back, creating a strong gust of wind that knocked one of the fourth-years, who was just getting to his feet, off his feet and pulled him toward me. I caught him in mid-air too and then hit Jack using his body with all my strength.


    As the arena fell silent, I covered both my hands in mes and turned around, blocking Cassandra''s punch. Her expression turned ugly and her lips trembled as the mes from my fists clearly burned her hand.


    I quickly tripped her, and without letting her fall to the ground, I punched her hard in the stomach. She could do nothing as she copsed to the ground.


    The arena was really silent this time. They were all on the floor. Jack and Cassandra were writhing in pain while the other two students had already passed out.


    The duel... was really over now.


    I put a big smile on my face, and as caora retreated from my body, I switched my sword back to cane form, tapping the ground with a loud thud.


    "I may be stronger than you, yes. But experience is the real reason you lost today."


    With slow steps, I turned around and looked at Jack, anger in his eyes, ring at me.


    I tore my gaze away from him and turned toward the stands.


    "That''s why I advise you not to stand in front of me, because I have not only survived months in that hell called war... but I also have the strength to back up my experience."


    I stopped my eyes on a camera. It was clearly live, pointed directly at me.


    "If you want to stand in front of me, that''s fine. I will crush you all like I did Jack and Cassandra today. Either stay out of my way or get on my side. The choice is yours."


    I turned toward Adrian and Lucia, walking toward the corridor that belonged to us.


    "Let''s go."


    And we left, leaving the arena as it was.


    *******


    After the duel in the arena, many things have changed in the academy.


    First of all... everyone seems to be afraid of me now. Whether adults or students, almost everyone... and it''s not that I don''t understand why. I''d be a little afraid of myself too...


    But such things are meaningless now. Because... I have achieved my goal.


    "Three hundred and sixty from the second-years... one hundred and six from the third-years and fifty-four from the fourth-years. A lot more than I thought, huh."


    Some had written to me through the messaging app, some had visited my dorm room directly... but most had made it clear that they wanted to join me.


    Of course, there were some who didn''t take my warning seriously and went to Jack and Cassandra anyway. And there were many more who chose not to join anyone else than to join me.


    But I had gotten what I wanted. So I didn''t really care about the rest.


    Instead... I was working on improving my sword mastery right now.


    I had almostpletely mastered the second phase of Ambiguous Flow, and with a skill like Saturated with Mana, and my greatly improved mana control, it hadn''t been too difficult. And now... the third phase was next.


    The third phase was basically an advanced version of the second. Instead of creating simple illusions by affecting the mana in the atmosphere, it aimed to directly manipte and use that mana by making it wild.


    Of course, it was impossible to do this directly with the mana technique alone. That''s why this was the first phase of the Ambiguous Flow that specifically required sword techniques.


    And this was a big problem.


    Because... it was almost impossible for me to practice something like sword technique thanks to my body. My right arm wouldn''t go above my shoulder, and my right leg felt like it was going to stumble with every step I took. It was impossible to do physical training like that.


    So... I didn''t have time to train non-stop like before.


    I had very little room for trial and error.


    I had to absorb each phase in minute detail, research what I was going to do right, decide on a definite oue, and only then try it physically.


    And, well... that''s exactly what I was going to do.


    I read the guide containing the third phase of the Ambiguous Flow countless times from beginning to end, every body movement, the flow of mana, the change in the way the atmosphere reaches for mana, and everything...


    Again and again... and again.


    I tried to simte the technique in my mind, creating different ways of practicing,paring them, and trying to find the best options.


    Minutes followed minutes, hours followed hours... finally, though, I took a deep breath. It waste at night, but I didn''t care. I stood up, reached for the caora... and got a response.


    It''s much easier to get a response from the caora since I woke up from mya. Maybe it''s because of Aiden and ric, maybe it''s Durandal again... I''m not sure. But I''m notining.


    I just concentrated the caora to the point where I could use mana, and I kept it from escaping into my surroundings so that it wouldn''t disturb those in the dormitory building.


    I picked up my sword and moved slowly through the center of the hall. My footwork was perfect and it was easy to direct and manipte the mana with my sword. In this way, I was able to create illusions simply.


    Then I went to the hard part. My footwork changed, bing harder but slower. The flow of wild mana surrounding my sword slowed and intensified. The mana entering my body and extending into the atmosphere changed step by step.


    But soon, I paused, disrupting all movement and opening my eyes, which I had closed to focus.


    "I''m doing it wrong."


    It wasn''t hard to realize. My movements were right, maybe, but... not enough.


    They had to be more urate, more perfect. The same with my control and refinement of the flow of my mana.


    "Again."


    And again.


    After two or three minutes, I stopped supporting my body with the caora. I thought about the technique again from the start, I tried to analyze my mistake... and then I tried again.


    After a few minutes, again.


    ''Aiden...''


    I paused at the sound of Sith''s voice, raising an eyebrow at his hovering figure.


    ''It''s getting morning.''


    "Oh..."


    My eyes drifted outside, to my window... and then to the sunlight I could see through it.


    "I''d better go to sleep... thanks."


    I was thinking that it wouldn''t matter if I skipped sses anyway. In fact, when I went to bed, it wasn''t even about sses I was thinking about.


    It was more about... the future.


    And Sue.


    "Haaaah..."


    I cleared myself of my thoughts and tried to surrender myself to sleep, even if it was less than normal. I counted the seconds with my eyes closed, one by one.


    ...


    ...


    Then a strange sensation came from literally nowhere.


    My closed eyes slowly opened as I focused on the ufortable sensation spreading through my body. It was like as if something was... wrong.


    This feeling remained for a while. Always there and... quite disturbing. After a short while, though, it disappeared as if it had never existed.


    "Strange..."


    I couldn''t help sighing deeply as I threw myself back on my bed.


    I should go to the doctor sometime and get examined... something might be wrong with my body again.


    *******


    *(A/N: I have an important thing to do today so I will not be able to write any chapter. So the next chapter will alsoete, not at the usual 00.00 for UTC+0. Sorry, but it''s really important. And don''t worry, I will start writing the moment I get home.)*

 Chapter 385 Volume VI - 18: A Message from Brother

    Chapter 385 Volume VI -  18: A Message from Brother


    ??The second year of the academy... was making me realize more and more every day how different it was.


    And that''s mostly because of Jack and Cassandra.


    Yes, I beat them in the arena.


    Yes, I made my message clear.


    But they haven''t given up, and it doesn''t look like they will. All they''re doing is trying to do things a little more discreetly. But I can see what they''re doing. I know what they want, and I know they''re forming alliances until I disappear.


    In short, they are not very difficult to deal with. They don''t even realize what they''re up against, so I don''t have to pay much attention to them. Especially as long as Maeve is true to her word and continues to stand by me.


    They just... how should I put it... keep me entertained, a little bit? Yeah... I''d be lying if I said it wasn''t fun to deal with.


    Other than that... everything''s going as it should. Ourpany, which Ulka and Alex are doing a lot of work on, the academy, tracking Saligia, looking for Paul... everything.


    The only thing I''ve been doingtely is going on with my academy life, getting status reports, and telling people what to do.


    ''You''re bored, aren''t you?''


    Sith said these words as he sat cross-legged at the table in front of me. He was slightly raising his left eyebrow.


    "Haaaaah... yeah. Yes, I''m bored. Very much so!"


    I have no idea what to do... all I can do is prepare for what is about to happen and wait for it to happen.


    I stared for a while, doing nothing and thinking nothing. Sith continued to watch me in silence.


    ''Why don''t you hang out with your girlfriend instead of doing nothing?''


    My eyes slowly drifted away from the wall to Sith, who was rolling his eyes at the table. Then I made a nk expression involuntarily.


    "Actually... that makes a lot of sense."


    *******


    Okay, I remember the first time I came here... I realized that the rides in the amusement park were for people with mana and I turned my stomach upside down.


    Turns out even that has its limits...


    Because this time, I don''t really feel anything, no nausea, no excitement, no fear...


    Although... shouldn''t my body be even worse than before because I''m crippled?


    Is it because I''ve gotten used to the danger and action of war rather than because my stats have gone up...?


    I paused for a moment when I realized that the war was having more of an effect on me than I thought. It was an awkward moment because I was getting off a bullet train at this very moment and there was screaming all around me, but still... it was an awkward moment, and as awkward as it was scary.


    Because I felt like a war veteran.


    ''Aren''t you, at least technically?''''


    Huh...


    Actually... why did I think I wasn''t?


    "Aiden, hey?"


    I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at the person walking next to me.


    "Uh, yes?"


    Her dark blue eyes remained fixed on my face for a moment, then she sighed lightly.


    "You seem a little... bored."


    "Ah, no. Don''t misunderstand, it''s not your fault."


    I looked toward the bullet train we had boarded a minute ago.


    "It''s just... I guess these things don''t impress me much anymore."


    A look of understanding suddenly appeared on her face.


    "Oh..."


    Sue didn''t say anything for a while, took her eyes off me, and kept walking in silence.


    So we walked... and walked... and walked some more.


    Finally, we stopped in front of the Ferris wheel to rx a bit before calling it a night, and as we slowly made our way upstairs, we were... silent again.


    I curled my lips upward slightly, looked out, and watched the academy.


    "It''s a lot like the first time we were here, huh."


    Sue kept her eyes on the academy.


    "You''re not taking me to the rector''s office again... are you?"


    "I can if you want, it''s not too much of a problem."


    "No, this is more than enough... but thank you."


    She silently focused on the view, not moving a muscle. As I looked at her beautiful face, her eyes, I realized that I was immersed in her, just as she was immersed in thendscape.


    The smile on my face widened. I secretly opened my watch, went into the camera and quietly took a picture of her.


    It was perfect. The way she stood sideways to the camera, the tiny smile on her lips, thendscape behind her... it was a work of art.


    But I didn''t stop there, I opened a video this time and quietly started filming her.


    At the sixth second, she realized something was wrong and turned toward me. Her eyes shifted to my watch and her expression suddenly changed.


    "Are you recording a video...?"


    "Yes."


    Her eyes focused on the camera, looking directly at the video. She didn''t stop until she gave a slight sigh.


    "Don''t record people unannounced."


    "I don''t record other people, I record my girlfriend."


    The corner of her lip twitched. She continued to stare nkly for a while. Then she looked at me, and she continued to do so for a while. And then... her twitching lip curled upward slightly. She let out a littleugh.


    "Huh, what happened?"


    She put her chin in her hands and said only one thing this time.


    "It''s nothing. It''s just... I''m happy, I guess."


    She smiled deliberately this time, ignoring the camera.


    "So, thank you."


    She smiled so brightly, with her high charm, that for a moment I just stood where I was.


    "Oh..."


    I slowly turned off the camera and continued to stare at her like an idiot, and then a tiny smile appeared on my face too.


    "I... thank you, I guess."


    I turned my eyes back to the view and she did the same. The Ferris wheel started to take us down again.


    Even though it was quiet... it was a nice and rxing moment.


    But in the middle of this silence, a notification echoed through the cabin. And it wasn''t from me, but from... Sue''s watch.


    Sue gently raised her arm and checked the notification. Then her expression suddenly changed. Her upturned lips ttened and became serious.


    It was such a sudden change that I couldn''t help frowning.


    "Is something wrong?"


    Sue didn''t answer. Instead, she transferred the watch''s disy to arger holographic screen, erging it slightly to make it easier to read. Her eyes roamed over the holographic screen for a while.


    "Sue, can you hear me, is something wrong?"


    She paused, her eyes quickly leaving the holographic screen and turning to me.


    "Huh? Ah..."


    Her lips opened as if she was going to say something, then closed again. I don''t know how much longer she could have made it clear that something was wrong, but for a brief moment, it was as if she wasn''t sure what to say.


    And yet she finally spoke.


    And the words that fell from her lips made me stiffen where I was.


    "My brother... Paul. He texted me."


    Paul? The Paul we''ve been looking for everywhere but can''t find...?


    "But... he said weird things. He apologized, said he wouldn''t be around for a while. He told me not to worry, that he''d be back. But... but I don''t understand."


    Before she said anything to me, she typed a reply to the message, pressed send and waited for a while. But then a warning appeared on his screen, a warning that the message could not be sent.


    "W- what''s going on?"


    Her eyes left the screenpletely, turned to me. She looked at me as if... as if she was begging. As if asking for help.


    My eyes narrowed. I took a deep, really deep breath. I thought for a while about what I should do. I was torn between telling the truth and lying.


    And in the end...


    "I can look into it if you want."


    I decided to postpone it for a little while, to find out what happened if I could, to follow up on that message, and then to talk to Sue.


    "P- please do... has something happened to him? Don''t let him be in danger..."


    With every word she said, with every new thought that came to her mind, her face became more and more worried. And... all I could do was watch, nothing else.


    "Okay..."


    First, I have to understand what it is...


    *******


    After Sue and I parted ways, I contacted Mny, Ronald, and Lucas straight back. I told them what had happened and they quickly followed up on the message.


    Their final destination was... a random building in Wiathen.


    But only a few minutes after they got this information, a raid revealed that the house waspletely empty. Paul had escaped again. In the CCTV footage, he can be seen leaving the apartment, there was even an image of him staring soullessly into the camera. But then he went down the stairs and disappeared again.


    And that was the point at which I had to make a decision.


    Paul took action. He''s probably going to start getting actively involved... rather than just quietly running away.


    I have to tell Sue.


    I have to do it.


    But... I''m scared. I''m scared of how she''ll react, how it''ll affect her, and so much more.


    ''You have to tell her, Aiden. You can''t put it off any longer.''


    Sith was very straightforward. Not just his words, but his face, too.


    ''Isn''t she your girlfriend now? You have a rtionship, you can support her. She may be devastated to learn the truth about her brother, but that''s why you need to stand by her.''


    "Haaaaah..."


    I stood up slowly, step by step with my cane, and made my way outside.


    "Okay. Thank you."


    Sithnded on my shoulder, smiling a little.


    ''You''re wee.''


    And... I made my choice. I slowly started to make my way toward Sue''s room.

 Chapter 386 Volume VI - 19: Ripple on the Barrier

    Chapter 386 Volume VI -  19: Ripple on the Barrier


    ??First, I took a deep breath, not one to rx myself, but one to prepare myself.


    After the breath, silence enveloped my body. But also the room I was in. And... the person I was standing in front of.


    "The truth can hurt you, Sue. No... it will."


    With every word that came out of my mouth, her expression worsened. It was impossible for her not to realize something was wrong.


    "I talked to just about everyone."


    Lies.


    "The rector, even the prince himself."


    I''m going to lie.


    But... that''s the only lie I''m going to tell.


    "Your brother, Paul. He escaped from Wiathen, maybe even Cevilian. Escaped, I say... because he is wanted."


    I paused for a brief moment, thinking about my next words, but not wanting to be too silent, I continued quickly.


    "Saligia, the organization that came out recently. Paul works for that organization, Sue. Probably for months, maybe years. I know it''s a very... difficult and heavy thing to find out. But it''s important. Because think... if he''s innocent, why would he run? Why would he leave his home behind when he could strap himself to a lie detector and plead not guilty? You understand... right?"


    I didn''t even look at her face, I didn''t really need to. Instead, I moved closer to her, I hugged her gently, thinking that maybe it would help a little.


    The moment I felt how she was shaking, I was sure of my thoughts. Sue... she didn''t want to believe what I was saying.


    "But... I''m here."


    I hugged her even tighter, unable to stop the expression on my face from falling slightly.


    "I''ll do everything I can to find Paul... I''ll even make sure you... talk to him, if I can. As his sister, you have a right to hear right and wrong from him... don''t you? So... even though I know it''s hard, please be stronger. Please don''t throw yourself, your life, away."


    Again... Sue said nothing. I was equally silent.


    But after a while, she moved slightly. If she didn''t move much... she straightened up a little.


    "A- are you... sure...? That Paul, my brother... I mean... that''s who he is?"


    I narrowed my eyes, trying hard not to clench my fist every second I felt the tremor, the hesitation in her voice. And yet...


    "Yeah, I''m sure. I''m sorry, Sue. But... it''s the truth."


    Slowly, her arms, which until now had weakly yielded to gravity, rose. She hugged me the same way I hugged her. She didn''t say a word, but... I didn''t need to be irvoyant to know what she was going through.


    I started patting her back gently, stroking her hair while I was still hugging her.


    "I''m with you, I''m here."


    At the same time... I made another promise to myself.


    I will not only find Paul, but I will make him regret putting Sue in this situation.


    *******


    I didn''t really feel like leaving Sue alone. But knowing that she needed and wanted some time alone, I went out half an hour after our conversation about Paul.


    But I didn''t head straight to my own room. Instead, I started walking randomly through the academy to catch my breath, to take a walk. And I was... thinking... about Sue, about Paul... and about what I could do about it directly.


    And... about myself.


    I sighed lightly, turned my eyes to the sky, and started watching the clouds.


    I don''t feel... good, to be honest. I''m sure that what I''m doing is the right thing, but I still don''t feel good, like... like I''m walking crooked, even though I''m walking the right way.


    I need to deal with Paul faster, don''t I? I need to deal with it head-on, rather than letting it slide... That''s the only way Sue''s gonna feel better.


    Yeah, and so will I.


    First of all... one of the things I can-


    ''Huh...?''


    "Huh?"


    I paused quickly, staring at the space in front of me, unable to stop the expression on my face from changing to surprise. And then... the turquoise marble of light that appeared in that void. And then the Sith''s bewildered appearance, looking just like me.


    My brow furrowed quickly.


    ''Sith, is something wrong?''


    Sith looked up at the sky without saying anything. His brows were furrowed just like mine as if he was sure something was wrong. And soon, she nodded at my question, confirming my thought.


    ''The barrier. I felt a ripple on it.''


    My eyebrows furrowed even more, my eyes narrowed even more. I had an idea of what I was hearing, but... I wanted to be sure.


    ''Are we talking about the same barrier, the one you couldn''t cross when you tried toe to Lunerra?


    ''Yes.''


    ''Oh...''


    My eyebrows straightened again. The expression on my face inevitably lost its seriousness, I felt myself rxing a little.


    And Sith was quick to notice.


    ''Do you have any idea what happened?''


    ''Pretty much.''


    Spirits like Sith were creatures that could be contracted and used to great advantage in the game. Thanks to these spirits, people who were not overly skilled were suddenly able to fight, and some of the more powerful people were empowered even more.


    They contributed greatly to humanity''s ability to resist future disasters.


    But... they are not essible from the very beginning of the game. The or dimension they inhabit, I don''t know what it is, is independent of the rest of the universe. They are separated from all external factors by an invisible, non-


    physical, but truly gigantic and dimensional barrier.


    When Adrian is approaching the end of the second year of the academy in the game, this barrier disappears and the spirits descend to Lunerra. And they can do this thanks to the dungeon that Leonard Quie and his team cleared out some time ago.


    That''s why that dungeon is so important... and will be even more important in the future. So much so that people from all over Lunerra will flock to enter the dungeon, and the economy and many other things will radically change.


    Lunerra will quite literally enter a new era... an era that will be of great use to me.


    ''Did you just feel a simple ripple? Is there more to it?''


    Sith gave me a suspicious look at first, as if he couldn''t quite decide what to say. But she answered my question anyway.


    ''No, it was just a simple fluctuation.''


    So... is it still a few weeks away? It will definitely happen sooner than in the game... Sith had this reaction in the main story about three weeks before the barrier was lifted.


    I wonder what I did this time to cause even the spirits to descend on Lunerra early...?


    ''I see...''


    I started moving forward again, slowly, but this time, I had different things on my mind, very different things.


    ''You might need to get ready, Sith.''


    Sith spun around, thennded on my shoulder and gave me a serious sideways nce.


    ''You know what it is, as always. I won''t ask how you know, but... what exactly is happening?''


    ''The barrier will be removed soon,pletely.''


    Sith''s face suddenly paled, his eyes widening. Even his body stiffened.


    ''W- wait, are you serious? Then... Then the spirits can descend to Lunerra!''


    ''Yes, that''s exactly what will happen.''


    Sith quickly glided over my shoulder in front of me. He gave me a look so serious yet worried that I almost paused again.


    ''You know what this means, don''t you?''


    I kept walking anyway.


    ''Yes.''


    And Sith continued to glide in front of me with the same expression.


    ''The Council of Spirits will also descend. And, aware of our presence, they will request a meeting. In short...''


    ''We will also meet my father...''


    I couldn''t help grinning involuntarily.


    ''And he''s not going to be very happy that you ran away from home, that''s for sure.''


    An ugly expression appeared on Sith''s face. He remained where he was, his eyes fixed on the floor. But after a brief moment, his gaze returned to me.


    ''You don''t look very worried. Do you have a n again?''


    ''Sort of, let''s say. We''ll get into a bit of trouble, like when we talked about you bing a prince, but the payoff will be pretty good in the end. So don''t worry.''


    Sith let out a deep, really deep sigh. Then, as he often does, he transformed into a marble of light and entered my body through my chest.


    ''Whatever you''re doing... just keep my father as far away from me as possible.''


    As his voice got lower and lower, he said onest thing to me in my mind.


    ''Maybe I was acting like a really spoiled brat back then, I cannot lie... But there are many reasons why I ran away from there. And one of those reasons is my father.''


    And then he disappeared, without saying anything else. Maybe he thought I already knew, maybe he didn''t want to tell me... who knows.


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