Garr gave us a run through as to who the Golden Sun was. He was the hero depicted by the tall sculpture in the middle of the village, which we hadn’t had the chance to see. Garr confirmed that Castel was a fairly recently established village. Apparently, it used to be a goblin village that was razed by an army led by the Golden Sun. Most of his men settled in Castel after that, becoming the very first members of the adventurer’s guild. According to Garr, that was the reason why the adventurers in Castel were mostly around level 20.

The most gruesome part was what the legend told. According to it, the Golden Sun lit a goblin bonfire to where the sculpture was after the conquest. True or faux, hearing that made my stomach churn, and Garr’s enthusiasm only heightened it. Before he finished telling his tales, I excused myself, saying I had to rest for tomorrow’s hunt. Bria and Shiki, of course, followed.

Nodding his head, Garr bid us goodnight. But before we could leave, he told us, “Be careful out here. New people commonly get the wrong idea about this place and think that it’s safe. It’s pretty dangerous out here, you know. Anyway, I’m sure you can handle yourselves.”

***

“So, you’ve leveled up three times during that battle?” Bria asked, eyes gleaming with curiosity.

“Yes,” I replied, staring at the floating window in front of me.

Name: Kaito Title: --- Age: 16 Class: -- Level: 16 Race: Human (Demon) MP: 80 Strength: 33 + 34 Intelligence: 35 + 29 Agility: 32 + 32 Wisdom: 33 + 4

“When I woke up, I was already at level 16,” I recalled.

“After defeating a single Three-fanged Viper, you leveled up three times?” Bria asked, confused and curious.

“Yes. Rihoku and the goblins have also leveled up. Rihoku is now level 13, and the goblins are 10, 8, and 8.” I scratched my nape, a bit confused. I thought the higher the level, the harder to level up?

“Perhaps the wide gap between levels was the reason, my liege,” Shiki offered.

Before I could reply, Bria interjected, “The gap was indeed big and warrants a level up, but it wasn’t big enough for Kaito to jump three levels. It should only be one level, or two at most.”

I furrowed my brow. Strange. Even the goblins leveled up simply by surviving. But, to be fair, I did level up just by subjugating them. My eyes lit up. Wait a minute. Could it be…

“Anyway, let’s put that aside. I wanna ask a few things,” I said, my tone becoming serious. “First, how does Subjugate exactly work? My goblins aren’t following my commands on their own free will. With them leveling up, I’m afraid they might sneak up on me sooner than later.” Shifting to a more excited tone, I continued, “Wasn’t my slash amazing, Shiki? It was almost a Crescent Slash, wasn’t it?” I looked at Shiki, hopeful for validation. Unfortunately, I received dead silence as a response. I cleared my throat in an attempt to hide my embarrassment. “Third, Let’s talk about that Golden Sun. My guts are screaming he’s danger.”

And so, the long night began. Apparently, Subjugate wasn’t a unique skill. In fact, all of Lureschka’s generals, as well as other strong demons, could use it. That, however, didn’t mean that everybody could amass an army. Unlike typical spells, Subjugate required domination through willpower, which could be achieved using bloodlust, power, or mental attacks. So even though they could use it, Shiki, who couldn’t bother about raising his own army, and Bria, who cared more about knowledge than power, rarely used it.

In addition to that, I was informed that Subjugate was actually a double edged sword. As what I had already deduced, Subjugate forced the slave to do what the master commanded. However, it wouldn’t turn the slave into a mindless puppet. There were apparently three ways to escape being a slave: earn the freedom, the master willingly letting the slave go, and the master dying. So even though Subjugate enforced measures disallowing the slave to directly kill the master, it didn’t stop the slave from plotting against the master.

Taking all that in made my head spin, but it was long from over. Shiki did compliment me for landing that strike, but I was told I was merely on the first step into the path of the sword. My attack was still nowhere near the true Crescent Slash. Weird enough, I agreed with him.

Finally, the looming danger that was the Golden Sun was discussed. Bria and Shiki weren't sure as to who he was, but they did have an inkling. According to them, he could’ve been the one in scenes Bria had shown me. To be sure, we decided to finally go to the village center and take a look at the sculpture. If it was him, we were in grave danger. But even if he wasn’t, we could still be in danger.

With that, we ended the long night, or so I thought.

***

I was back in my old world. This time, however, I had just woke up on the grassy slope. Big drops of rain were hitting my face. I sat down, hitting something hard with my elbow. A dark cylinder started rolling down. I tried to reach it, but I was too slow. The cylinder fell into the water, and I stupidly jumped in. When I dived, the water turned into thick, black tar. The thick liquid enveloped me and started to enter my orifices, drowning and choking me. I tried clawing it, but my hands were stuck. I couldn’t move, and I was dying.

Just when my vision was about to fade, my eyes shot wide. I jolted. Again, my back and forehead were covered in sweat. I looked down, staring at my hands. A white aura still blanketed it. The same as before.

I looked beside my bed. As expected, Bria was there and Shiki was a little behind her.

“Another nightmare?” She asked.

I nodded. It’s the second day now. Is my mind breaking down?

Bria didn’t even ask for my permission this time. She immediately casted the cleaning spell. After being encircled by the blue mist twice, I was clean and refreshed.

“Thanks,” I said. Shiki went back to his bed, and Bria went to her room.

***

“Can’t we go back to the Hatchery now?” I asked, scared. We confirmed that the Golden Sun was indeed the golden-haired man in Bria’s aura. With the strength to wipe out villages of monsters, I figured the current me was no match to him.

“We can, but our stay would’ve been futile,” Bria replied. It was one of those rare occasions where she was actually serious. “If what that bulky man told us was true, then another raid must be about to happen. If we turn tail now, we would lose the chance to know what they’re up to.”

She had a point, but was it worth risking our lives to do that? I looked at Bria and Shiki, deeply weighing our options. I can’t even kill a group of Three-fanged Vipers yet. What are my chances of defeating the Golden Sun? That is on the premise of being discovered. It’s also possible not to be detected, right?

I thought for a bit more, scaling our strength. We had me, Bria and Shiki, Rihoku, and the three goblins who barely reached a double digit level. Reconsidering my priorities, I said, “We’ll stay, but we’ll have to grind. Especially you three.” I looked at the goblins, who were trembling like usual.