Elendril had arrived at the inn.

The two girls had already left using the strange resting method they had.

Elendril accepted the call from the message stone. 

A disembodied voice emanated from the blue stone.

"Elendril, is that you?"

Karson's voice said.

Elendril was almost brought to tears.

He didn't realize that he had missed his father this much.

"Yes, dad! Where are you? I'm in Falstein with two girls right now, Xinyan and Yang Mi."

The voice didn't speak for several seconds.

That's not good, did something bad happen on dad's end? The message stone can only transmit messages for a minute every week, and it's already been half a minute!

"I... see. More importantly, what are you doing in Falstein instead of Chronosum?"

He scratched his head in embarassment. He had only realized this morning that Chronosum had originally been in the east, the exact opposite of Falstein.

"I got lost, haha! I'm currently doing a system quest right now. I'm not sure who sent it, but it said to survive for the next couple days. Counting the monster wave tomorrow, the quest will be completely fulfilled."

The voice suddenly grew urgent.

"Monster wave? Okay, don't be rash and don't go to the walls, okay? And stay away from the church at all-"

The voice cut off.

Elendril quickly grabbed it, but the stone had faded to a dull blue again.

His mind raced.

Why do I have to stay away from the church? Regardless, if dad says so, something important must have happened. I better be careful of the paladins in Falstein. 

He looked towards where the girls had disappeared.

"I better ask them if they have any plans for the future then. Maybe I could join them on their journey?"

He thought of Xinyan in particular.

Xinyan... I've been thinking about her an awful lot lately.

He shook his head.

Ah, it's probably nothing. They're the only two I've really had contact over the last couple days anyhow. It's normal to think about people you spend all the time with.

-----(:)-----

Xinyan finished the call with her mother. 

Her mother was being worried as always, despite how successful she and Yang Mi had been over the past several years of streaming. 

They had originally began in the late year of high school, and done it all throughout college.

They had dropped college early on, however, planning to go fully into streaming.

Now, Xinyan was a fully grown adult at the young age of 21!

With the money they earned from streaming and videos, they made enough money to even buy a new apartment in Fuzhou last year!

Xinyan always sent 3/4 of her money to her parents so they could live comfortably and not have to work.

Going to the balcony, she watched the city skyline for a few minutes.

It was almost 12 am.

Thanks to the fact that Alkesia also acted to rest her body, she didn't feel tired despite gaming for a whole day. 

According to the Adventurer's Guild, they only had to report by midnight, as that was when the monster wave would strike.

Xinyan took the time to enjoy the ambient sounds of the city before she entered the game.

She had always lived in a cramped apartment before, so having such an expansive apartment was a novelty for her, let alone the balcony.

Before, her parents and her two siblings had lived together with her in a 60 squared meter apartment, which was considered barely enough for 1-2 people.

Now, she and Yang Mi had a 100 squared meter apartment with 3 rooms all to themselves, which was very large in a city in China. 

Sometimes, she looked around the apartment and it just felt surreal, to be in such a great apartment and have to do nothing but have fun.

With a final glance at the skyline, she entered the game.

-----(:)-----

The three of them stood in the inn room, staring awkwardly at each other.

They had just headed to the wall to find a place they could assist against the monster wave.

However, when the soldiers saw their levels, they were immediately told to get lost.

Because the stores were all closed to prevent traffic in the city, they couldn't even do something to pass the time. 

Elendril had begun to make arrows in the air with magic.

However, halfway through the formation, Elendril would frown and restart from scratch, or smash it against the wall into smithereens.

Xinyan and Yang Mi just watched while sitting on the other bed quietly.

"Hey, hey! What should we do now?"

Yang Mi whispered to her.

"Maybe we should keep trying to sense our mana? You should go and ask if there's a way to train stats!"

Xinyan whispered back.

Yang Mi shook her head and sighed.

"Hey, Elendril! Is there some sort of training we can do while we wait?"

Yang Mi asked Elendril. 

Elendril looked over at them and thought for a moment.

He smiled.

"Oh, yeah! You should keep trying to sense your mana and bring it out of your body. Xinyan, that would be especially good for you considering your lacking talent in mana."

Elendril's words pierced Xinyan's heart. 

She felt like she would cough blood at that remark!

Xinyan wanted to argue back, but she didn't feel like it was worth it.

Taking a seat, she calmed her mind, then entered her mind.

Inside, she found the avatar she had created still present. 

Yesterday, she had barely managed to create the avatar. 

She entered the avatar again.

It felt very refreshing, like dipping into a hot sauna on a cold winter day!

She could feel the mana flowing through out the avatar bubbling excitedly.

Just entering the avatar raised her mood!

Now, she tried to move the mana within her body.

She tried to use her mental energy to grasp some of the mana and bring it outside of the avatar.

However, it kept slipping away from her control!

Confused, Xinyan left the avatar.

She examined the avatar again, going through each mana circuit that she had placed.

As she examined it, however, she couldn't find anything out of the ordinary!

She had used a basic meridian chart from a martial arts game she used to play as a template, which should have no problems!

The mana pathways look perfectly fine, so why can't I grasp the mana? Let's go ask Elendril first.

She left her mind.

Elendril was no longer seated on the bed.

Where did he go?

"Can I help you?"

She looked towards the room entrance. 

From her seated position, Elendril's body covered most of the door frame. 

However, she could see a smaller set of feet poking out from drab robes ahead of him.

A new voice she had never heard of spoke, shaking in excitement.

"My... my lord! This humble servant has finally found you!"

Thump!

She saw Elendril hurriedly bend down and lift a person's arm up.

"I- Just come in first, you're making a racket."

"Yes, my lord!"

The voice said fervently.

Elendril turned to the side.

Xinyan could finally see the person to whom the voice belonged to.

They hurriedly stumbled in. 

They had a drab and tattered brown robe, covering them from head to toe. As the unknown man lifted his hood, she could see that he did not eat very often. His face had become sallow¹sallow - unhealthy/not looking natural; so like yellow! and his cheeks were sunken. His arms that were briefly revealed were extremely skinny, to the point that he was no more than skin and bones. If she saw him on the street, she would've thought he was nothing more than a beggar.

Despite all this, his face showed he was practically vibrating with ecstasy and happiness!

Elendril quickly looked outside the door, and closed the door behind him. 

He gestured towards a chair.

"Please, sit."

The man almost scrambled to take the seat.

He sat ramrod straight with picture perfect posture. 

Elendril sat down on the bed.

Seeing that Xinyan had awoken and was staring at him curiously, he smiled and patted the bed next to him.

She sat on the bed.

Noticing how close she was to Elendril, she began to slide to the left.

Elendril, seeing this, draped his arm over her and pulled her in close to him.

Her head was practically touching his chest.

She tried to resist, but his strength was overwhelming.

He grinned at her.

"There's no need to move far away, it's not like this is a private conversation. Loosen up! We've been together for the last couple days anyhow."

He looked at the man who still sat ramrod straight.

"So, who are you?"

The man immediately replied.

"I am Toya, your humble servant."

Elendril frowned.

Xinyan, who was furiously trying to ignore the heat that climbed up her cheeks, could hear some potential lore.

She began to record the conversation that continued.

-----(:)-----

"I don't know you, so why are you here? I don't think I've had any contact with you before."

The man frowned in confusion.

"Ah, my lord, do you not know of the mark of Zephyrith on you?"

Xinyan could feel Elendril almost jump in surprise.

"Mark of Zephyrith? How is that related to me?"

The man tried to speak, but began to violently cough. 

"I am one of her followers, so I was able to detect the holy energy of Zephyrith flowing from you. It was when you confronted Celeste that I first noticed."

"You're a follower of Zephyrith? Wasn't worshipping her illegal for many decades now?"

"Let me begin from the beginning, my lord. I used to be the head librarian for the lord of Falstein, Toya. 3 years ago, I had been arranging the books in the library, and I suddenly found this dusty book in a bookshelf that I had never seen before. On the title read the words The First Sword Knight."

He coughed again before continuing.

"Now, the first sword knight of the church of Terneim is already a well-known figure. But I have always been a very curious man even as a child, and I had worked as a librarian specifically so I could read books in my free time. When I saw this book, I just... couldn't resist the curiosity. So I took it home to read for a while."

Elendril nodded.

He too loved reading stories. 

A brief melancholy flashed through his mind.

He used to have a small collection of stories that his father had bought for him, but they had all burnt down with the house.

"I began to read, but unlike what I expected, the contents were completely different. It spoke of stars and portals. It spoke of a history that was not in the history books I had ever seen."

Elendril leaned forward.

"So what was the history?"

The man's eyes shifted from left to right in panic.

"No, no! I cannot mention it here! The last time I mentioned it outside, I had been cursed by the goddess! Only by the grace of Goddess Zephyrith could I be freed of it and be here now."

Elendril leaned back again.

"So, you can't tell me anything?"

The man vigorously shook his head.

"N-no, my lord! Without a barrier from the priest, if I reveal the truth, the church will immediately learn and hunt us down."

The man's face darkened.

"When it first happened, it cost me my entire family... My beautiful wife Melanie... my daughter.. Sob.. my poor daughter Cheryl..."

Although he was still suspicious of the man, he felt pity for him.

He didn't know what it felt to lose people, but seeing the tears roll down the man's face and hearing his choked words, Elendril couldn't bear it.

He stood up and gently patted the man's back until he calmed down again.

Gasp.

The man, with red eyes, calmed himself down. 

"I am sorry... for showing a weak side of me, my lord. You do not... have to comfort this old servant. But still... as I was saying. As I have already experienced it once, I do not wish the same upon my lord and make him lose his wives."

Xinyan shrieked in surprise.

"Wife??"