The village had some differences from my memory.

The some of the houses had been torn down, destroyed for whatever reason. A smoldering fire pit burned logs in the center of the village and there were various small holes in the ground.

It looks like someone had fought in this place?

Considering there was no damage to the village in the previous timeline, I could only presume that Rin was partly to blame.

Walking around to gain more clues, I ignored the golden-eyed baby basilisk around my waist.

Rin walked out of a hut near the center of the village, carrying firewood and tossing it onto the fire.

It was strange seeing Rin revert to her younger body that hadn’t grown as significantly.

“Rin, over here.” I immediately called out upon noticing her.

Immediately her sleepy looking eyes lit up and wolf-ears perked in my direction, Rin waved. “Tobias, you’re safe.”

“Thank you for waiting for me.” I strode over, ignoring the hissing of the young basilisk around my chest.

Rin gestured dismissively, staring toward the basilisk wrapped around my body and asked. “New friend?”

“More like unwanted add-on, but whatever.” I shrugged and tapped lightly on the baby basilisk’s head. My gaze turned toward the battle signs around the area and I asked quizzically, “Did someone fight around here?”

“Duke was less than pleased to leave.” Rin stated indifferently.

“Right.” I nodded ambiguously and took a seat around the fire.

That meant there was a fight between Rin and Duke.

Judging by the fact Rin is still here and Duke was gone, Rin won that particular battle.

Rin joined me by the fire, sitting nearby. She was holding a stick with thinly cut meat strips from her backpack over the fire.

I looked at the fire with a sigh, “Just warning you in advance, my ability to survive reloading is going to disappear shortly.”

“Any idea what will happen when it disappears?” Rin quietly asked.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head.

Rin silently poked at the logs on the fire, “Can you explain in more detail?”

“The time shard from before.” I reached into my pocket and held it between my fingers. The green stone glistened in the sunlight. “I think it’s allows me to keep my memories and abilities despite the universe resetting and it’s getting smaller over time.”

Rin stared at the time shard with a nod. “It does emanate certain rules of time. ”

“Regardless, it’s getting smaller… When this stone disappears, I get the feeling I’m going to disappear with it.” I shook my head anxiously.

“Where did you find it?” Rin gazed at the green stone.

“Stanley gave it to me... must’ve found it somewhere.” I bit my lip.

At that time, I hadn’t even thought to ask the location Stanley got the stone from. It was impossible to ask him now as he hadn’t found the time shard in this timeline.

“He is abnormally lucky.” Rin nodded in agreement. “The blood used to save you came from Stanley as well. He said it was a gift from someone.”

“A gift?” I felt surprised.

Rin mentioned that Stanley had saved me after I was stabbed in the heart by the maniac, but I hadn’t realized he’d gotten the blood as a gift. Who else would give top-level basilisk DNA away as a gift? Would some actually give away something that rare?

It was basically impossible to know where Stanley went and who he might’ve interacted with to acquire the time shard or the basilisk DNA, at this point.

Regardless, that only proved anyone could’ve given Stanley the time shard. Trying to replicate the feat and finding an identical one in this timeline was near impossible.

“Do you think it’s possible to get another time shard from Stanley?” I pondered aloud.

“Unlikely, the time shard has most likely disappeared from the place he took in from in that timeline.” Rin shook her head.

“Shame.” I sighed, lowering my head downward and noticed at the basilisk wrapped around my chest.

The juvenile basilisk had taken to staring cautiously at Rin, fearful of her sudden movements. While the aggressive hissing had ceased, the basilisk still expressed obvious distaste for Rin’s presence.

“You and Kara should stay safe in the residential zone. I’ll deal with the problems in that zone there before clearing the rest of Hell Difficulty.” Rin shook her head.

“The fourth zone is too dangerous on your own.” I sighed. “It’s an icy landscape. You’ll perpetually be in darkness, save for a couple days of the year. Additionally, the monsters are more numerous and perfectly suited toward that environment. Everything is countless times more dangerous than the third zone.”

“We’ve been there before, I’m well aware of the situation. I’ll team up with Stanley and Tracy.” Rin brushed off my complaint. “Stanley’s abnormal luck should prevent impossible to survive situations from occurring.”

I hesitated before speaking, unsure that I wanted to know the answer to my following question. “Am I a burden?”

Rin fell silent.

Her reluctance to respond to my question was the only answer I needed.

Clearly, I was a burden on her.

Although in normal circumstances, Rin could make up for it with her strength and skill. In a true life-death situation, I was a hindrance as she would have to ensure I survived.

Even if she was in a life-threatening situation, Rin could presume Stanley and Tracy would survive without her help.

In fact, Rin basically informed me that I was a hindrance when she stated we couldn’t be partners.

“I already knew it, I’m simply not cut out for surviving in Hell Difficulty.” I sighed, and silently brushed the head of the juvenile basilisk around my waist. “I’ll leave clearing the zones to you.”

While I tried to deny it, fight it… to be entirely honest, the only reason I’m currently alive is because I managed to befriend Rin.

Purposefully following her when it would only hinder her is unacceptable.

A proper protagonist with the luck and ability is required to clear the zones. A side-character only exists to highlight the importance of the main character or to showcase their traits and flaws.

Nobody can guarantee the safety of a side-character in a battle.

To achieve the same feats as a protagonist is countless times more difficult and near impossible when you’re a side-character.

A side-character should have the mentality of a side-character. I’ll leave the protagonist to do the protagonist’s job.

“I’m going to stay in this zone.” I quietly looked around the poisonous forest. “I prefer it here to the residential zone.”

While I hadn’t realized it before, I think Kara’s words must’ve had a greater impact on me than I thought…

Although I disagreed with her in many ways, I’ll admit that I’m only causing Rin trouble.

This is the right decision.

A peaceful life is better suited to me.

The memories of fighting with Rin, along with creating my shop and meeting various people in the residential zone were nice… but that kind of life was tiresome and my previous work my shop had been reduce to nothing by the reset.

Interacting with people on a regular basis was mainly done with the intent of enhancing my understanding of this universe’s language and I finished that task. I only kept at it because it was convenient for finding new materials and that advantage was gone now.

I'd have to start from the beginning if I wanted to rebuild the reputation of my shop and I couldn't be bothered.

At this point, I just wanted to rest.

Since I’m only a burden on Rin, I’ll stay here.

By choosing to stay in the forest, I can take advantage of my ability to stealing the life-force of plants and grow stronger over time. With the absorption ability from the world tree, I have a safe and easy method of growing stronger and the means to help Rin in the future.

Rin nodded in agreement. “Alright, staying here is safe enough with your strength.”

“Have you finished everything you want to do in this zone?” I asked with a slight sigh.

“I plan to stay for a while longer.” Rin stated after pondering the question.

“When you’re ready, we’ll head to the teleportation beacon and open it early.” I smiled to comfort her.

Although opening the teleportation beacon early would have consequences, it was worth it to avoid Kara’s death.

I vaguely remember that the teleportation beacon was closed for a year to accumulate mana.

In other words, a year could be considered the safe period to teleport in an unlimited fashion. It could only be used freely after a year of mana accumulation.

Opening the teleportation beacon early carries certain risks.

The teleportation beacon might collapse entirely if it runs out of mana. Although the beacon’s safety measures should ensure the collapse wouldn’t harm the person who is teleporting, everyone else in Hell Difficulty would be trapped should it collapse.

For the third or fourth zone, there wouldn’t be much chance of the teleportation array collapsing. The mana concentration is higher on those planets and the teleportation beacons would already be charged a significant amount by the time someone reached it.

Theoretically, this teleportation array should have enough mana to teleport multiple people without a problem.

However, there are always risks with breaking the rules.

There might be problems that occur if multiple people attempted to teleport early.

Another good reason to stay.

I think I’ll keep the little basilisk around. Since I’ve decided to stay here, having some company besides my perpetually silent daughter isn’t the worst idea.

“Make sure to come back and visit, every now and again.” I politely demanded and poke her shoulder.

“I will.” Rin assured.

“That’s good.” I sighed in relief, before continuing to speak despite my hesitation. “Don’t worry about reloading too much. Although I might not keep all my memories, a younger Tobias who just teleported over into this universe is likely to take my place.”

Rin frowned in response, but didn’t protest.

“I’d rather lose a couple of my memories than have you dying on me, you hear?” I clarified while trying to prompt a proper response from her.

“I understand.” Rin stated and leaned forward, removing cooked meat from the fire.

“Stay safe and remember to visit.” I sighed, realizing that I probably wouldn’t be seeing her that often after she left.

I had to make up that by spending time with her now.

Rin handed over the meat that she’d cooked on the fire after seasoning it with various herbs and grabbed another stick to continue cooking.

“Thanks.” I reached out and took the cooked food from her.

Before I could react, the juvenile basilisk bit the seared strip of meat and swallowed entire pieces of the meat before.

In the blink of an eye, all the meat on the stick was gone. I looked blankly at the empty stick in my hand and slowly down toward the basilisk that had stolen my food.

The basilisk had a satisfied expression after stealing the meat.

“Little thief.” I muttered to myself and rolled my eyes in annoyance.

While I could've stopped the basilisk had I been paying attention, I had basically forgotten about its existence.

I’ll have to get Rin to make another portion for me and come up with a name for the little brat.