As much as Shen wanted to check the classes and the AP Arena, he had something much more urgent to deal with.

"Teleport to Alicia Winter," he said and was surprised to not be teleported. Instead, the door opened, and he saw her waiting for him outside.

It was unbecoming for a cultivator to smile or laugh too much, as it made them not be taken seriously. However, never showing geniality was the other extreme, leading people to think of them as sour and shady.

Shen was glad to see Alicia was willing to listen to him and potentially forgive him, and it made him feel relieved. So he smiled to externalize that emotion and let her know of them without voicing his feelings.

"Hi," she said. "Wanna hang out?"

"I do," Shen replied and left the room. It wouldn't do to ask for a woman to come to his bedroom.

He found an endless white corridor with hundreds, thousands of wooden doors outside. There were no names on the doors or any indication of who the rooms belonged to. He guessed the only way to feasibly get anywhere was through teleportation.

"Do you know where we can go?" he asked.

"I don't know about you, but I'm down for some coffee. I mean, we're supposed to socialize, right? That'd be much better with coffee." Her eyes suddenly shone with an idea. "Do you think they have a Sunbucks?" Shen opened his mouth to reply, and she slapped her forehead. "Oh God, I forgot to tell you about the best franchise in America, didn't I? Teleport after me if it works. Teleport to Sunbucks!"

Alicia disappeared. Shen grabbed his spear, then followed with a "Teleport to Alicia Winter."

When the light of the teleportation faded away, he saw something Alicia had talked about in her conversations: a food court.

The room was vast, the floor and ceiling made of black crystal. It had hundreds of tables made of the same dark wood and golden details as his bed and door. The chairs were only dark wood, four for each table. Dozens of stores surrounded the tables; they looked like a mix of street vendors and restaurant counters. Most stores were light and clear, all of them unmanned.

"So this is what happens when you need to give too many people enough choices and serve them quickly," Shen commented.

The concept of fast food wasn't too different from street food, yet Alicia had said some people ate only fast food. It didn't sit right with him.

"This is a bit fancy, but it'll do. Come. Sunbucks first, then a..." She looked around. "Oh. My. God. They have a Pizza Loves Amanda! The best burger in the world! Come!"

Then she did something he hadn't been expecting at all. She grabbed his forearm and pulled.

That was bold in cultivator culture. Way too bold. He knew now that such wasn't the case in American culture, but it still made him feel uncomfortable.

The issue was, how could he tell her that without being rude?

He wouldn't have cared about her feelings a few days ago, but today he wanted to be her friend. While he didn't have experience with that, he knew he wasn't supposed to make his friends feel awkward. Right?

In the end, he just... said nothing. It was uncomfortable, but he had to admit it was also pleasant in a way. To have a beautiful girl pull him like that with such excitement was endearing, even if there could never exist anything between them.

They arrived in front of the Sunbucks. "Hello?" she said, then probably got a system message because her eyes focused on empty air. "Oh, I just order, and they give it to me," she explained to Shen, then proceeded to ask for a chocolate coffee ice cream thing for each of them. They materialized on the counter.

"Fuck, plastic straws." She took a drink and offered Shen the other. "I really hope the Guardian System turns it into light like it does with dead things. I'll be very, very upset if I'm killing a turtle somewhere."

"What do plastic straws have to do with turtles?" he asked, then sucked on the straw like she was doing.

An explosion of sweetness hit his mouth, then went down his throat. The coldness was refreshing, and the taste was overall pleasant, but the excess sugar was abhorrent. It felt like they were trying to get mortals addicted to the sugar more than anything.

"No," Alicia whispered, looking at him with a horrified expression. "You... You don't like Sunbucks?" She stepped back. "I... I don't think we can be... My mom told me to never trust anyone who doesn't like Sunbucks."

Shen had no idea how to react to that. A few moments later, Alicia laughed. "I'm joking! God, you should've seen your face. Come, let's get a burger."

Feeling way out of his depth—mortal social interactions were definitely weird—Shen followed.

A few moments later, he was sitting down, biting on the most delicious piece of food he had ever tasted.

"Ohhhh," he moaned before he could stop himself. Alicia looked at him surprised, then laughed heartedly. Shen felt himself blush, but he just couldn't stop chewing or taking another bite.

How was that taste even possible? Did the heavens take pity on every injustice it had ever perpetrated and decided to grace the world with this ultimate blessing? How could something taste so good, so wonderful, so magical? Was it an Alliance's doing? Did they send magic in the form of food to the world before they arrived?

"Hmmm," Shen moaned again despite knowing better. It was just too good. Too damn good. He could feel the sugar in the sauce too, but it didn't matter. Even the sweetness was in the right amount to achieve absolute perfection.

"So you are human after all," Alicia said with a big smile on her face.

What she called being human, and he considered being mortal, was why he enjoyed this food so much. Shen had been a mortal with broken meridians in a cultivator clan. The Eternal Empire had had fantastic food, many of them certainly much better than this burger thing, but he had never tasted any of it.

All food he had ever consumed had been to improve his health. As such, the taste had always been bland at best, and no one had ever cared for seasoning it. Asking for it would've made him look superfluous and ungrateful for the resources already spent on him, so he had kept quiet.

Well, Shen had tasted some candies and things he shouldn't, but none of that had been as good as this.

So his answer to Alicia was to just take another bite.

She laughed, amused, and he kept eating.

"That was shameful," Shen said after eating the third burger—and forcing himself to not go for a fourth. "I apologize for my unbecoming behavior."

"Are you kidding me?" Alicia replied. "That was awesome. Can you just moan one more time so I can make sure I'll remember it?"

Shen blushed slightly again. "You mock me." The feeling wasn't good, yet not as terrible as when it had happened back in his clan. It was weird, the concept of good-natured humiliation. He didn't like it, but it was bearable.

"Damn right I do," she confessed shamelessly. "That's what good friends do in America, so get used to it."

The "friend" word made him uncomfortable and brought him back to what he should be doing. So Shen stood up, cupped his hands in front of himself, and bowed until his back was parallel to the ground.

"Feng Shen asks Alicia Winter for forgiveness," he said, using both their full names and talking in the third person, respectful and slightly humble. "I have treated you poorly. I used to see you as merely a tool to advance my knowledge rather than a human being or a potential friend. I have seen the error of my ways and want to correct that mistake. Please let me befriend you."

He kept in that position for a while. When it became apparent she wouldn't forgive him after all, he sighed and straightened up to take his leave.

Alicia was holding back laughter when he looked at her. Then she couldn't hold it anymore and started actually laughing.

Shen frowned and waited for her to finish, then said, "That was disrespectful."

"Dude, you're way too stiff. Learn to relax a bit, will you? Come, let's get you another burger."

"No," Shen said firmly, and her smile disappeared when she saw he was serious. "I want to befriend you, and that means I'll adapt to your culture and accept your personality. I'm already constantly doing that. But it also means you should do the same where it matters to me. I was opening my heart to you, showing sincerity, making myself vulnerable. To be laughed at for it is very disrespectful and humiliating. I shall have no friend who disregards my feelings like this."

Alicia paled as he talked, and by the end, she was absolutely white and wide-eyed. "No," she said, then repeated, "No. I'm sorry. Sorry, alright?" She teared up. "Please don't abandon me. I'm just not good with serious talk. I... I got..." Some tears started falling. "Ever since my parents died, every time I got serious with someone, I was betrayed. I don't want to deal with it anymore. I don't know how to. Please, I'm sorry. Please don't leave me."

Shen was placated by her reaction and explanation and softened up. "Apologies accepted," he said.

Alicia opened her mouth to say something, but light flashed beside them before she could. They turned to see Mark Williams materializing right there.

The boy was wearing plate armor from head to toe, but his helmet was open to show his face. A shield was resting on his back and a sword on his hips.

"At last!" the boy said with a huge smile. "Feng Shen, let me explain to you how I'll make you Earth's hero!"

Shen immediately removed Mark's smile with a backhand slap to his face.

Mark was ecstatic. Finally, he had found his main character! He had been one step away from giving up on it, but this stage was everything he wanted and more.

Here, he would forge Shen into the most extraordinary hero ever by putting him in the suitable lessons, offering him proper coaching, and picking the right team for him.

Mark would forge—

His line of thought stopped abruptly when he was slapped. It was such a mighty blow that Mark's feet left the ground, and he hit three tables in quick succession before stopping.

He was left dazed and tasting blood.

"This is for sneak attacking me," Shen said. "Now, leave me alone. I am not interested in interacting with you unless you ask for a duel of honor. It would be humiliating for me to accept, but I would gladly take the hit to my honor."

Mark awkwardly stood up, putting his hand on his lip and moving it away to look at the blood. People didn't bleed out in the tutorial, but touching injuries did make the blood come out.

"You hit me," he stated the obvious.

He couldn't believe it. After everything he had planned and all the foundations he had laid on the second stage for Shen to become a hero, that's how the asshole repaid him?

"I did," Shen said firmly.

Only then did Mark notice someone else there. Alicia was staring at him with a mix of anger and pity. She was pitying him after betraying him.

"You again," Mark concluded. "You're putting everyone against me. You can have Ken, but Shen is mine."

Her expression hardened at that. "Tell me you didn't know," she said, and a fireball appeared floating beside her head.

"What is it you're doing this time?" Mark asked, furious. "What is your ploy to make even the hero hate me?"

"Tell me you didn't know!" she screamed, and a fireball came at him. It went past his head and exploded somewhere behind him.

Mark's fury subsided. He didn't fear dying, but he knew an opportunity when he saw it. Alicia was acting hysterical, and Mark could use it to show Shen how she refused to see reason. How Mark was the better pick.

"What are you talking about, woman?" he asked, annoyed.

"Tell me you didn't know Ken was a fucking rapist," Alicia screamed again, and that shocked Mark.

"What?" he asked, dumbfounded.

Alicia had been raped?

All schemes and ploys disappeared from his mind at once. Some things took priority.

"Holy shit," he said, "are you alright? Where is he? Attacking people deal double damage back, but we can kill someone without repercussions if we can get three people together. We just have to time it right. Unless he increased his HP, then we might need more people. I can call some acquaintances."

"You didn't answer me," she said, still angry, but she had at least stopped yelling. "Did you know?"

"What? Of course not! How the fuck could I?" His eyes widened in realization. "Holy shit, that's the reason he was always up at night when I woke up to take a pee?"

"So you knew!" she accused, three fireballs appeared in the air.

"I did not!" he defended himself quickly. Shen wasn't looking kindly at him. Time to turn the tables. "You were never attacked when I was around, were you?! It was you who betrayed me and chose to be with him, not the other way around!"

That worked. Alicia was suddenly wordless. "I— I didn't betray you." She recovered her fire. "You were just using me to learn about magic!"

"Well shit, and you were using me to survive. Quid pro quo, lady, a fair trade. I delivered the protection, and when it was your turn to give me information, you used your magic to try to kill me instead."

Her anger faded again, this time replaced with awkwardness. As much as Mark wanted to exploit that, now wasn't the time for it.

"Still," he said, "you don't deserve that happening to you. No one does. We can hunt the motherfucker together. He can't escape unless he stays in his room the whole time, but then he won't get to the next stage. We can talk after we make sure he can't get a team to get to the next stage."

"He's gone," she admitted after an awkward silence. "The system protected me."

"Really? Awesome, and I mean it. I'm sorry you had to almost go through it." He nodded. "Now, back to business. Are you apologizing or what?"