When they arrived at the town specified by Flavia, Rakna noticed something that gave him a pleasant surprise. “This town is where the Trial is located?” He asked as he looked at his map while they walked to the entrance of the town after he had disengaged GHB a few tens of meters away.

“Yes, it’s also the only Trial in this Plateau so we can do it whenever we want,” Flavia said.

“That’s good to know. Though I wonder what kind of Trial it is…” The therian muttered to himself as they passed the town’s entrance. A few people guarding it nodded at them from their posts and welcomed them in.

The buildings of this town were predominantly made of sandstone and other kinds of rocks. There also seemed to be a bit of wood but it was very rare. ‘There is probably a small greenhouse around here that provides them with some resources at a limited rate. Which means they also have an oasis somewhere. Or use external trade,’ Rakna thought to himself as they walked deeper into town.

“Do you guys know where this town’s Pavilion Branch is?” He inquired to his friends.

“Yes, I can send you the map if you want,” Nyx said and made an input on her system.

“Uh, I didn’t know you could share maps,” Rakna commented as accepted the exchange. “It’s likely that there are people who use this as a way to earn some money.”

“Yep, we met some actually,” Allan said. “They said that they were Hosts who came a few years before us. They go out of town after every Reset and map the surroundings for newcomers.”

“That’s noteworthy,” Rakna said as he marked the location of the Pavilion on his map.

Meanwhile, Marie was looking around with an entranced expression. She was observing each and every detail of the town as much as she could. Coincidentally, a child waved at her as he passed by with his mother and she waved back with a small smile.

“Enjoying yourself?” Allan asked when he noticed it and she blushed a bit.

“I am… it’s also the first time I can interact with humans without having to kill them,” she blurted out, and the blond sweatdropped. “Now that I think about it, what did you do exactly to get me out of the Dungeon?” She asked Rakna.

“Hm?” He looked over his shoulder. “Simple. I killed you; momentarily breaking the connection between your soul and body. Then, I forced your soul out before it could die along with your body to destroy the ‘chains’ that were binding you. Evelyn healed your body and Flavia artificially made your heart beat so that your blood wouldn’t stagnate. Lastly, I put your soul back by using my own soul power as a stitching tool.”

“…this is considered ‘simple’ these days?”

Flavia giggled. “That’s just Rakna being Rakna. Though, you didn’t mention the second measure. The one in her body. What happened to it?”

“It disappeared the second that she died,” Rakna replied. “So, it resolved itself for us,” he explained and closed his system. “Anyhow, I’ll be going on ahead as I said. Go visit the town with Marie if you want,” he said and flash stepped over a distance of twenty meters in the sky and before dashing toward the Pavilion at a speed barely discernable for normal humans.

Everyone watched him vanish on the horizon then they all shrugged at each other before resuming their visit. Pronos and Tyran had also stayed with them, the former having made Flavia’s cleavage his new favorite spot since unlike Kaelith, she would be careful when moving and the little snake could not be happier.

“This reptile…” Allan muttered dumbfounded.

“He’s living the life,” Marie laughed lightly.

Flavia snickered and petted the little snake’s head a bit. “Well, there’s no harm. So, Marie, do you want to go shopping? The dress I gave you won’t go far.”

The lamia hummed and tugged on her clothing. “True.”

“You also need underwear,” Evelyn added and Marie tilted her head.

“What’s that?”

“…”

Allan groaned silently as he followed them. ‘Well, let’s look at the good side of things. Shopping with the girls alone is a thousand times better than if Rak was here as well,’ he thought with a shudder.

* * *

Rakna appeared right in front of the Pavilion’s doors in a blur, surprising everyone near it. Those that were a bit informed recognized the skill he had used and the ease with which he performed it. It was obvious to them that he was someone who was way above the level of the 10th Plateau.

The therian didn’t pay attention to their stares for even a second before he entered the usual oval building. He walked to the reception, weaving through the crowd like a ghost as if he could predict where everyone would be before he chose his path.

When the receptionist saw him approach, she was about to greet him with a smile but it got stuck in her throat when she saw his cold and sharp slit eyes. It was as if she was being glared at by a wild beast.

When he reached her reception, without a word, he displayed a green badge and she tensed even more when she recognized what it was. “Give me access to a Terminal.”

“R-right away, Sir!” She said, a bit too loud, attracting the eyes of people around, and stood up with a nervous step. “Please follow me.”

Rakna nodded and trailed her to the back of the Pavilion. They took a door to the right of the Portal Room and entered a wide corridor. After half a minute, she stopped at a certain electronic door and pressed a button on the wall. The metal layers of the door retracted inside the walls and gave way to a dark room.

“W-we’re here. This is the room connected through dimensions to the 10th Plateau’s Terminal.”

“Thank you,” Rakna said and stepped inside. The door automatically closed behind him and made the receptionist sigh in relief.

“An Emerald Rank. So young…” She whispered to herself and started walking back to her post.

* * *

When the door closed, the floor immediately lit up and revealed a circular staircase leading to a sort of elevated altar in the middle of the room.

‘It looks a bit like the Awakening Room,’ Rakna commented internally and dazedly looked up. There was no ceiling, no matter how far he looked. Even Fabled Sight was only showing him darkness past at least a few kilometers.

After observing for a moment, he walked up to the altar, which up close, now became clear that it was a blank screen affixed to the floor with a sort of glowing stake.

[Place your hand on it,] Alexa instructed and he did as told. The screen blinked and for the split of a second, he was sure that he saw his hand become bluish and reveal his bones as if after an x-ray.

Then, the light in the room was turned off and the stairs disappeared. Rakna normally could see in the dark, even without Fabled Sight active, most likely due to his Dusk Lion genes, but at the moment, more than just darkness, it was truly as if there was just nothing around him anymore.

“You’re here!”

Rakna froze as heard an overly sweet voice echo in the room. Right afterward, the emptiness went away and was replaced by a landscape he was very familiar with. “My soul realm?” He muttered as he saw the purple and red roses as well as the rain of black petals.

However, there was one thing that nearly made him rub his eyes in disbelief. Along with the setting cold and volcanic stars in the sky, there was a massive building floating on what seemed to be an island of white pages. The design was similar to old European architecture and several intangible writings were revolving around it.

“It’s the library of the kid,” Higure materialized next to him in a swirl of petals.

Rakna frowned. “You’re here too? And what kid?”

“That would be me,” another voice resounded and another figure appeared from the petals. A man wearing an eastern robe and waving a fan around. “I try to tell her that I’m 500 hundred years old but she won’t listen,” he said dolefully.

“Fray…”

“Why, yes! The one and only,” he grinned. “So, ‘Traveler’, how do you like it? My library. You should go visit when you can. It’s bigger on the inside by the way,” he chuckled then closed his fan with a slightly more serious tone. “But for now, it seems you have a guest to welcome,” he said and at the same time, Rexam and Fenriu also appeared and they all seemed to be staring at something.

Rakna followed their line of sight and finally laid his eyes on the source of the voice he heard just earlier. It was a little girl that looked no older than ten. She had blond hair longer than her entire height that was piling at her feet. She had an almost disturbingly innocent and cute appearance with a flowery dress that appeared too big for her. Her bright orange eyes were staring at Rakna as she exhibited a wide smile.

“Eva,” Rakna voiced and her smile curved even more. “That’s you?”

“Yes, yes!” She nodded several times. “I’m Eva, nice to meet you!”

“…the spoiled child analogy seems to be at least half-accurate,” Higure whispered.

“Hey! I can hear you; you know?!” Eva shouted with a cute pout.

“Why did you want to meet me?” Rakna shot back, ignoring her outburst.

The little girl sulked and slowly ran toward him with her hair trailing behind. Rexam prepared to move but stopped when Rakna waved him down. Eva stopped in front of him and he looked down at her with a look that would make most people cower but she unperturbedly met his eyes with her unwavering smile.

“Why do you look so mad?” She asked with a blink.

“You threatened my life in case you forgot,” Rakna retorted.

“Eeh?! But I was just excited to see you!” She said but his look didn’t get any less cold. She pouted and looked down whilst twiddling her hands.

“Now, now, devourer, don’t be so mean…” Higure said from the side and Fray chuckled.

“Higure,” Rakna glanced at her with a stern expression. “It’s not about a kid here. We’re speaking about an emotionless abomination who creates and erases life without care. A machine thousands of years old,” he said coldly and turned back to the girl. “One that threatened to kill me unless I met her.”

Higure closed her mouth. There was no way she could say anything else to him. She knew that he was probably several times better than her at looking beyond appearances, even if she had lived fifty times longer than him.

‘But sometimes… that kind of piercing vision is terrifying,’ she thought. ‘What if you become unable of seeing the surface of things, devourer of mine?’

Eva first appeared to be stunned by Rakna’s words but she quickly recovered her cheery face and stepped back from him, an unknown light passing through her eyes.

“You’re mean, Big Brother,” she said with a pout and Rakna let out a feral growl without wanting to. Fray almost burst out laughing.

“At least, the young girl has some humor, don’t you think?” The storyteller quipped and whistled to the side when the therian glared at him.

“So, Big Brother, what did you do to my Dungeon?” Eva asked with a harmless tone.

“Smashed it,” Rakna deadpanned.

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to.”

“…”

“…”

“It’s not nice to lie, Big Brother.”

“Do you have a rule against destroying Dungeons?” Rakna retorted and she paused. “If you don’t, then it’s your fault. Why blame it on me?”

Eva’s expression almost fell for the first time but she couldn’t help the twitch of her lip. ‘I am to blame?! You are to blame! Who takes Bosses out of Dungeons?! Tch, I’ll have to make a rebranding and prohibit sentient Bosses in the future,’ she noted to herself.

“Are you thinking of remodeling Bosses?” Rakna’s sudden question almost made her panic.

“H-how would you know?” She asked with a small bead of sweat, her smile still there.

“You stink.”

“…oh. You mean you smelled my emotions. As expected of Big Brother. But it’s a bit indecent so I will have to block that skill when it’s me, okay?” She said cheerily.

Rakna instantly felt himself lose grasp on Eva’s emotions and clicked his tongue. At least, he had been able to confirm that she wasn’t just what she appeared to be. But he hadn’t smelt anything vile from her either so it meant he could trust her to some extent.

“Whatever. What do you want? Is there a penalty for what I’ve done? Will you kill me?”

Eva giggled. “No, of course not. If I wanted to, I would have ordered my General to do it. On top of that…” Her face scrunched up a bit. “Your Guild Leader is annoying. If he gets mad at me, I think I’ll start crying,” she admitted with a pitiful expression.

“Oh?” Rakna mused. “So, you can be scared of Hosts, huh?”

The little girl crossed her arms with a cute scoff. “It’s mutual, okay?! Mutual! I’m not scared! I just think it’s not worth the trouble to deal with him and some others.”

‘Interesting… I’ll have to meet that Guild Leader of mine,’ Rakna thought. “Then why am I here?”

“I’ll forgive what you did if you do something for me.”

“What is it?”

She smiled almost innocently. “I want you to kill someone.”