“31 days…” I gazed up at the bright blue sky before quickly resuming my training.

It has been a month since I came onto this island and a lot has changed. With the help of the hero's ghostly form, I was able to find better shelter and a larger stream. They have also helped me with training, something I have been struggling with due to Sebastian’s absence.

“Lap 31!” Willow yelled as I turned around to run the other way.

“Damn he’s fast.” She muttered while holding onto her chin

Ignoring her I continued to run to try and clear my mind. A problem has been bothering me for a long time, and it seems to be unsolvable.

The heroes are unable to leave the island, similar to how Sebastian was unable to enter the island with me. We have been experimenting and any time they attempt to leave the island there is something similar to a barrier that prevents their ability to leave.

I bit on my cheek viciously clearly frustrated, ideas always came to me as I ran so I continued to run.

The story of Vale's betrayal also weighed on my mind. This was the same place that the ancient Dragon lived for thousands of years, and due to Vale’s contract, he had to protect the Dragon which should mean it should still be alive to this day.

I groaned as I plopped down onto the sand and gazed at the sunset. Although it may have looked like I lost all hope, a bright smile appeared on my face.

‘This… This is what I have been yearning for.’ I placed my hand over the sun and placed my head down. As I touched my face I felt a sharp stubble coming from my chin, the result of not shaving for over a month

I chucked as I closed my eyes, in the darkness of my closed eyes, paragraphs of texts appeared in my mind.

I have something similar to photographic memory, I can remember certain things I’ve read about and reread it while I close my eyes. It was quite useful in tests and for remembering things.

‘No, no’ I thought to myself, paragraphs of text were changed with each “no”.

After a few minutes of saying no repeatedly, I finally found something of use.

“AH STOP!” I yelled out

Sak turned to me confused, I quickly apologized before closing my eyes again.

‘Yes, that.’

A long paragraph of text was zoomed in allowing me to read it.

‘Barriers are created by incredible magical artifacts that are known to cost a fortune. The Empire which has a barrier covering the main castle is known to be indestructible by most magic. However, this barrier has been estimated to cost more than one million gold-’

“One million gold!” I inwardly screamed, I currently only owned one and a half thousand gold from my guild contract, and that is considered to be extremely wealthy by most people.

I continued to read.

‘They are known to be owned by extremely wealthy people who never disclose any information about the inner workings for safety reasons.’

‘Fuck!’ I opened my eyes and started kicking the sand like a child.

“I was so close… oh!” As I bitterly looked around, I looked over to Sak who was reading a book I lent him.

“Mr. Sak I have a question.”

He looked up from his book and gave off a weary smile

“Do you know how magical barriers work?” my tone was meant to sound innocent, which seemed to work. His stern face suddenly turned soft, it seems he built something similar to an inferiority complex due to me doing everything for him. Me asking him a question should help with his confidence I thought to myself as I gave off an innocent smile.

“Ah, yes I do.” His voice was much brighter and happier than it usually was which proved my point even more.

Feeling slightly bad about taking advantage of a “wounded man” I sat down in front of him.

“Corendale is actually one of the main manufacturers of magical barriers, we are known to produce some of the best and most valuable ones too.”

My eyes lit up as I heard the word valuable, I quickly urged him to continue which left him with a satisfied expression.

“Yes, we create the barriers using certain ores and magical crystals that you would not find in the Empire or Innume.”

“How do they work?”

Sak looked slightly nervous revealing it probably is a secret kept by high ranking elven officials.

“I’m learning about it and I really want to learn more about it. Please, Mr. Sak.” I desperately pleaded to him, and after some time he finally cracked.

“I guess it won’t make a difference if I tell you, remember don’t tell this to anyone.”

I nodded desperately.

“We merge extremely powerful magic crystals with large trees, where they are then powered naturally, remember don’t tell anyone!”

The happiness that I was feeling moments ago was immediately gone. How was I going to find a certain tree among the countless trees this island had?

I bitterly walked away from Sak, ignoring his confused expression.

*

“Trees?” Kile looked disdained as he held onto his neck.

“Yes, I need you guys to come with me and try and find some mana coming from trees.”

Kile looked at the other heroes for a moment before looking back at Koren.

“You realize trees also give off mana too.”

Koren shook his head violently

“No, no, it’s different it’s less natural.”

The heroes looked at Koren with pity which irritated Koren even more.

“Koren you’ve been helping us out enough, how about you get some rest.” Willow walked up to Koren in an attempt to calm him down, but his frustrated expression did not go away.

“No… no, you guys gotta believe me.” Koren slumped down bitterly.

The heroes looked at each other simultaneously, nodding to each other in agreement.

“Okay, we’ll help you!” Jinwoo chimed in as he smiled brightly.

“Okay!” Koren jerked up and started to walk out of the cave.

“He was faking it wasn’t he,” Mair commented as she started to follow him out of the cave,

“Yes, he was.” Willow had an amused smile as she followed Mair and Koren.

Jinwoo and Kile sighed heavily before following the rest out of the cave.