"Hmm, he was a good person," Varth raised his head to look at the ceiling and then continued, "He was knowledgeable about a lot of things, but he was a gourmet and loved eating and drinking the most. As visiting and touring other worlds was (a part of) his job, and he traveled a lot, there were a lot of times where he had to set a tent in the wild and eat canned food. Tired of eating stale food, he decided to learn cooking himself. Thus, he ended up becoming a wizard's chef, and when we met and started touring together, he taught me too."

As Varth had gained the guidance of his friend, who was a chef that didn't only make a dish out of evolution materials but also the flesh of beasts, that's why he was able to create meals far better than the ones a person typically eats.

"For free?" Nevis asked, wondering whether that person taught everything to Varth without taking a single penny.

"Yeah," Varth nodded his head. Since that person pitied Varth, who at that time didn't have any knowledge about the world, couldn't discern right from wrong, and also didn't have a single hobby, he taught him how to cook food and enjoy eating meals.

"He must be a good person, for he gave away his knowledge without any hesitation," Vincent said.

He knew that in this world where knowledge about magic techniques and magical recipes indeed mattered, and that's why all of them came with an unimaginable price tag. 1000 contribution points are enough to feed a family for their lifetime but it's not enough for a combatant to buy a magic technique. Yet, his friend gave him hundreds of thousand contribution points worth of knowledge for free. If that wasn't a good person then Vincent didn't know what was.

"He truly was," Varth said, and the other could feel tinges of sadness in his voice.

"Do you guys know about yellow-spotted maggots?" Suddenly, he asked this question, confusing the others.

"Never heard about it." John shook his head.

The others also didn't know about it, not even Iris.

"Those grotesque creatures only exist in desolate worlds whose surface is barren, but the inside is full of energy mines. They have special poison in their bodies that is more like a curse, and they always move in a group of fifty or more. Once their poison enters your body, it spreads with each step taken. The more step you take, the further their poison spread, and after it reaches the heart, the person dies." Varth explained with a severe look on his face.

He remembered that fateful night, which was both a nightmare and his best dream. He remembered that fateful night, which was both a nightmare and his best dream. Because that day, his eyes opened to the other side of this world, light, which was far different than his desolate darkness where everyone was a pawn. And he came to believe in humanity because of that certain someone.

"Why are you telling us that?" Nevis asked, wondering if there is a reason behind him telling them about yellow-spotted maggots.

"I encountered them with my old friend. When we got injured by a group of mutated poisonous maggots in one of our adventures and had to abandon everything to run for our lives, he hid his wounds and carried me for a thousand miles to safety. His wounds got worse as he overexerted himself, and as he walked with me on his back, the poison seeped further into his body.

"Oh!" Nevis's eyes widened like saucers after he digested his words, and he felt amazed at the self-sacrifice of Varth's old friend.

"Gosh, he must be a kind-hearted soul," Leilani said

"Then, what happened to him?" Vincent asked while looking at Varth, curious about the fate of his old friend.

"We managed to find a supporter from the military in time. He was old, but he stood out because he had powerful companions, incredible medical knowledge and skills, and also a slave tattoo. He purified the poison in our body in a matter of seconds, but by that time, my old friend's legs had already been corroded from the inside." Varth recalled the past with a downcast look.

"Did the old man heal his legs back to their peak state?" Iris asked.

"The wound caused by the poison of yellow-spotted poison contains microbes that infect a person if they touch them with their hands or their energy, including healing energy. Using healing powers on such wounds is asking to be infected. Thus, the old militant had to amputate his legs and give him artificial legs." Varth finished with a heavy sigh. If it wasn't for him, would the poison go so deep?

"Why didn't you guys use a scroll to regrow his limbs?" Leilani asked innocently.

His teammates looked at him with a bewildered expression before Varth said, "They don't grow on trees, and only a peak level inscriptionist can create them. Most of them live in seclusion, hidden from the world, and the few that are well known demanded atrocious things in return to create one for us. Furthermore, my old friend preferred to use powerful mechanical legs, as that way, he didn't need to train his legs from the beginning."

Yes, not everyone was Vincent who could fuse multiple healing magic scrolls into the best magic scroll there is!

Vincent, who got lost in thoughts after hearing his words, snapped out of his daze once he came to a contract and turned to look at him before asking, "That old person, is his name, Miller?"

Leilani's and John's eyes brightened as the person mentioned by Varth indeed shared a lot of similarities with Old Miller.

"Old Miller? Who is that?" Iris asked in a curious voice, and Nevis was also wondering the same.

"He's my uncle," John answered.

"Mine too," Leilani added.

"Ahem, I don't know." Varth didn't know that person's name.