The moment James stepped into the paved square, he started running toward Michael. Michael threw him an awkward smile once he was within a few meters.

  “Hey, James. I—”

  “Don’t,” James immediately interrupted before taking a deep breath. “Just don’t go back inside.”

  Michael only shook his head.

  “I sort of expected you to open with that, and I haven’t really worked out what to say, but there’s an explanation.”

  James frowned. Behind him, the others approached. Elizabeth’s stare was especially penetrating. Michael resisted the urge to sigh.

  “We asked around,” James said after a few seconds of the whole group being silent. “We tried to get more information about the Consumed Territory. Elizabeth and I managed to talk to our Class NPCs about it.”

  James’ frown became deeper.

  “What the fuck are you thinking?” he continued. “I supported you when you went after Derek and Lohann. But this isn’t the same thing as that. I can’t believe you kept going back for this long.”

  Michael let out a deep sigh, failing to hold it back any longer. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

  “James, listen. I promise there’s a reason, I just can’t say what it is.”

  James gritted his teeth.

  “How important is it?” Elizabeth suddenly asked in a calm tone as James opened his mouth, making the words die in his throat. He looked at her with a furrowed brow. “How important is it that you keep fighting the Forgotten?”

  “Extremely,” Michael immediately replied. “To the point it’s my only option.”

  Elizabeth stared at him with complicated emotions in her eyes before hesitantly nodding.

  “I understand. Then, I’ll do my best to support you when you come back and when the Tutorial is over. I don’t think any of us have buff Skills that would last long enough, but I’ll try to think of something.”

  James looked like he had just been slapped. He stared at her before snapping toward Michael, who only shook his head with a bitter smile. None of the others said anything.

  For almost fifteen seconds, the group stayed silent. Michael knew that no matter what he said, he wouldn’t be able to tell his friends the truth, so it was better not to say anything at all. And truthfully, he also had no desire to have the same conversation as he’d had with his mother less than an hour ago.

  When it comes to this, I’m alone.

  No, maybe the imprisoned and chained Dragons could still offer him support, like Clyranth had, but that didn’t even matter.

  “I’m doing this for your sake,” Michael tentatively started. “I promise.”

  James looked at him with a frown.

  “For our sake? And it involves fighting such powerful monsters?”

  Michael unhesitatingly nodded.

  “Yes. I guarantee it.”

  More silence. James rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, then waved at Michael.

  “Let’s go sit down and talk for a bit. It’s been a while since we last saw you. You can also tell us the stories about how you almost died or something,” James said with some bitterness.

  Michael only nodded and started following his friend as the man turned around. He greeted the others. Naomi was smiling at him, but he could tell it was a forced smile. Anthony looked calm, Dylan seemed worried, and Thomas kept throwing glances at him. Still, without exception, they were people whom he wanted to fight for. It was particularly painful to keep hiding things from James, but there was nothing he could do about it. Michael could only hope that his friends would stay safe. The possibilities of what would happen to them if the gods found out about him weren’t pretty.

  Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Michael followed his friends to one of the houses. James pushed the door open and entered, beckoning everyone else. Once they were all inside, he closed the door and walked up to one of the beds, then sat down.

  “So,” James started. “Tell us about the Consumed Territory and what happened to you there. It’s one thing to hear it from the NPCs, and another to hear it directly from you.”

  Michael stared into James’ eyes, and his friend held his stare.

  I owe them this much of the truth.

  At that moment, he decided not to hide what had happened in the Consumed Territory. Of course, he would withhold information about his powers and how he’d survived, but he would lay everything else bare.

  In this context, Michael started to tell his story. He spoke of how the Consumed Territory was filled with nothing but darkness, and that the monsters were the broken shells of the same NPCs that inhabited the four different Villages. He talked about how they kept part of their abilities from when they were still ‘alive,’ and about how he’d almost died over and over. He told them of his injuries and of how many times his bones had been broken, his flesh charred. Above all, however, he chose to emphasize that he’d overcome all of it in the end. That he was still fine and would continue to be.

  Once he reached the end of his story, the room was so silent that one could hear a pin drop. Michael rubbed the back of his head awkwardly as his gaze moved from one friend’s face to the next. Without exception, they were staring at him as if he were about to die, baffled. He also said nothing else and allowed his friends to process what he’d just told them.

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  “…Michael,” James suddenly started, his words cutting through the silent atmosphere. “What happened to you?”

  Michael threw him a confused look and tilted his head.

  “What do you mean?”

  James scoffed in disbelief and slowly shook his head, myriad emotions in his gaze.

  “…Does any of what you just said sound even remotely like someone like us could do? Normal people?”

  Michael blinked and nodded.

  “I understand that I’ve become more powerful since the start of the Tutorial, but—”

  “I’m not talking about power,” James quickly interrupted. “I’m not talking about the Level of the enemies you killed or how great it is that you defeated them.”

  Michael furrowed his brow. James’ expression contorted into a pained frown.

  “…You fought in infinite darkness, guided only by a temporary buff, and had your bones destroyed and your flesh torn time and time again. You were burned, slashed, pierced, and crushed. How,” James hesitated, looking like a knife had stabbed through his thigh. “How did you even keep going for so long?”

  Michael blinked as understanding finally dawned upon him. In hindsight, it was an obvious point. Before the System’s descent, he was just an ordinary student without any outstanding characteristics. He’d never considered himself to be particularly strong mentally or determined. Throughout his whole life, he had never been remarkable. Despite that, once the Tutorial started, he became increasingly more used to the feeling of fighting to the death, killing monsters and even other humans, and inhuman amounts of physical pain.

  It would be easy to chalk all of these changes to the Dragon blood, but…

  He knew that wasn’t the entire truth. The Dragon blood had granted him many traits, and it was even possible that it played a hand in his mentality, but deep down, he knew that wasn’t all there was to it. His determination was something that belonged solely to ‘himself,’ as Michael Gray. There was no need to think too much about it – there was only one reason why he kept going so far, even as his body was damaged so severely so many times.

  “I have a reason to fight,” Michael replied in a steady tone. “That’s all, really. You’d be surprised how far you can go because of a single reason.”

  He was desperate. For the sake of his loved ones and himself, he couldn’t stop. It had been his choice from the moment he learned about the situation he was in from Clyranth.

  James threw him a confused stare, still looking like he was in pain.

  “…Is it worth it? Your reason. Is it worth all you’re going through?”

  “Yes,” Michael immediately replied.

  The room went silent again. Elizabeth took a step closer to Michael, making him look at her. In her eyes and expression, he could see a tinge of respect that previously didn’t exist.

  “As I said, I’ll support you,” she said firmly. “If you think your reason is really worth so many close calls with death, then you must have your reasons. I’ll help you in any way I can.”

  Michael smiled for the first time in this conversation and nodded at her.

  “Thank you, Elizabeth. I’m sorry that I can’t tell you guys more.”

  She shrugged, still keeping her eyes on him.

  “There’s a reason for that too, right? So it’s fine. We’re your friends, not interrogators.”

  The others nodded at her words, looking like they were in the middle of gathering themselves up. James, however, kept his expression and stared at Michael with a complicated gaze. Michael met his stare with a bitter smile.

  “I’ll be fine, James. I promise.”

  James gritted his teeth.

  “…You’re going back to the Consumed Territory, then. After this,” James said in a low tone.

  Michael readily nodded.

  “I am.”

  “…And you’ll go as deep as you can? Since you have to.”

  “Yes.”

  For a third time, the room went silent.

  “Stay safe, Michael. We’ll protect your mother while you’re away and try our best to support you. Just don’t die,” James said after almost ten seconds.

  Michael nodded with a smile and stood up. They had said everything that needed saying. The conversation was over, for now. He looked at the others, taking the time to look at each of them for a few seconds. Naomi’s concern was almost palpable, while Thomas just looked a bit scared. Anthony was nodding to himself, respect clear in his eyes, and Elizabeth seemed to share the same feelings. Dylan looked like he had something to say, but was forcefully pushing the words down, and James simply seemed worried.

  “I’m off, everyone. I’ll be back soon,” Michael said with a nod.

  Once the others nodded back at him, he decisively walked toward the door and left the small room. Less than a second after he left the house, the gazes of the orc ‘NPCs’ locked onto him. Shaking his head, Michael jumped straight up and landed on the roof of the house he’d just been in. As the orcs kept up their stares, he jumped from roof to roof until he was out of Redglow’s Territory.

  He then moved toward Bluestone’s Territory to get Clear Sight from Sullivan and talk to Rose. Soon after, he arrived in the land enveloped by the blue hue. As he approached the Village, Michael cast Whisper. Rose picked up almost immediately.

  “Rose,” Michael started. “I’ll be going into the Consumed Territory again soon. This will probably be the last time. Just thought that I should tell you.”

  “Yeah, sure,” the blue mouth said in Rose’s voice. “You’ll be fine. Once this Tutorial ends, there will be a lot for us to talk about, probably. Once we meet again, you can go ahead and tell me all about it.”

  Michael smiled.

  “I will. Stay safe. We’ll see each other again soon.”

  He dismissed the spell.

  Well, that was quick.

  He wasn’t sure how to interpret Rose’s words. Were they an indicator of strong trust or simply of indifference? In the end, it didn’t really matter. He would get to know her better as time passed, and once all of this was over.

  Michael arrived in front of the town hall. The line of people outside parted almost as soon as they glanced at him. With a low sigh, he pushed the doors open. Just like before, Sullivan made every other contestant get out of the hall the moment he looked at Michael. Soon, just like before, there were only dark elves and Michael in the hall.

  Sullivan looked at Michael.

  “You’ve gotten much stronger, Michael. I take it you’ve kept your secrets to yourself?”

  Michael blinked, then nodded.

  “Yeah.”

  Sullivan smiled.

  “Good. Now, you’re probably thinking of going as deep as you can into the Consumed Territory this time around, right?”

  Michael nodded again. After staring at him for a couple seconds, Sullivan stood up from his simple throne.

  “Then,” Sullivan continued. “I should do my part. I’ll apply the strongest version of Clear Sight that I can.”

  Michael smiled and hurriedly got closer to the dark elf chief. Sullivan placed his hand on Michael’s head, making him feel as if a bowl of hot water had been poured over his face and eyes. After a few seconds, the feeling disappeared like a lie. Sullivan pulled his hand back, and Michael opened his eyes. Sullivan was staring at him with a serious expression.

  “Be careful, Michael. I’m sure Tairy has already told you everything that you needed to know, but there’s merit in warning you again. Always keep your guard up and never let your attention waver. The depths of the Consumed Territory are different from the outer edges. You’ll see what I mean.”

  Michael nodded, looking equally serious.

  “I will. I don’t know if we’ll see each other again, so if not, thank you for everything, Sullivan.”

  The dark elf smiled, as did the other dark elves in the room.

  “It was a pleasure, Michael Gray.”

  Michael waved and turned around, then left the town hall. He started running through the dirt roads. He left Bluestone Village and dashed at full speed toward the Consumed Territory at the very heart of the underground expanse. After circling around several of the massive stone pillars and scaring even more beasts, he arrived at its boundary.

  Michael stared at the curtain of impenetrable darkness that limited the Consumed Territory.

  One last time.

  Explore as much as he could, for as long as he could. That was all he needed to do.