As Gong and I walk up, moving further away from the grave, I can’t help but mull over what we discussed.

What she was saying, about making sure you are safe before you jump out there, makes sense. It also could have been an implicit suggestion to watch out on just jumping to do things.

… Things like healing people randomly, even if I know it might be dangerous.

To plan out what I’m doing better. To make sure it won’t ultimately hurt those around and close to me.

All things I should know to do, but haven’t done since coming to this world.

I know the issue. Despite coming to this world, witnessing pretty horrible situations, and even nearly dying… everything seems to work out well in the end.

I discovered I have fantastical powers, that let me understand the world better, without needing to research. Ones that let me control creatures and heal others, with essentially little cost. Except in the danger, they pose in getting me manipulated or targeted.

I came into this world with only a small number of items. Which ends up being a fortune that doesn’t get stolen from me or gets me killed. Yet.

I healed what I believed to be a bunch of kids and stopped them from being abused. And gained allies. People that are allies, if only to keep my power to themselves and from hurting them.

I head out into the world, doing what I want, according to my own morals, despite the potential consequences to me and my allies. And it has mainly benefited us.

This is how it happens. This is what they taught us in school about survivorship bias.

That because I have been making it through all these seemingly tough situations, that using my powers and acting the way I have is not as dangerous as it might seem.

I’m wrong. I know I am.

I let the strange aspects of this world influence me into being careless.

…

No more.

I’m going to be better.

I’m going to be more honest with my allies. Gong, Lin, and Ai.

Not fully, but cautiously.

These are good people. Even if they are flawed in their own ways.

As I mull over my thoughts and actions, Gong and I reach a junction. She turns to me with a quick look.

“Hey James, I’m going to work on some things for the group. Do some last-minute planning and organizing…”

She pauses.

“Actually, it might be better for you to know. I’m actually going to be attempting to turn the death of Ta Ping, the brute you killed, into something positive. Normally, we could never strike against him, since he had the blessing of the Vermillion Stripes. With the changes in power, I was able to let you do so.”

Her face is serious, but grateful.

“You shouldn’t regret killing him, especially since he was going on a killing spree. Truthfully… I wish it was me that killed him. He’s caused a lot of pain for demi-humans all around the Depths. Even with that being the case, though, there will still be consequences from this. I just hope we’ll have more notice, before ever having to do something similar in the future.”

She relaxes a little, before turning slightly, clearly about to head off. “I’ll also take care of that demi-human family, making sure that they are tightly integrated with us. That they won’t betray us. Based on what I’ve seen, they should make a full recovery and it will look as if it was normally healed. Thank you for that.”

From there, we quickly exchange our goodbyes and I’m left alone at the junction, while she heads deeper into the tunnels. Off to fix another issue, that I’ve laid into our laps. A necessary one, but still something I’ve done.

Things like this have been going on in the background. People essentially covering for my decisions and mistakes.

Whether it was Gong or Big Sis Crane, there was someone essentially smoothing things over.

Heck. Even the old man, when I got here, smoothed over my encounter with the merchant. If I hadn’t had that spirit stone, I would never have the money I have now. I wouldn’t have been able to pay Lin. And from what I’ve heard and seen, in some senses, would likely would have met someone much less “kind.”

Someone who would likely have just slit my throat and taken everything off my body.

What would have happened then?

I have a lot to be grateful for.

…

This will be it.

I’m going to head over to see if I can find the old man and personally thank him.

…

I should probably make a gift suitable for a cultivator. Maybe I can use the gift given to me by Wu Qing? Hmm… I’m not sure. My scan shows there doesn’t seem to be a taboo against gifting things that were given to you.

So, I’ll give him three of the five talismans to display my sincerity. Since they are quite expensive and potentially useful, he should still see use in them regardless of his cultivation level. As I’ve used to hear some of my friends back on Earth say, “Even a mosquito is still meat”. In addition, I’ll see if I can assist him with something alchemically.

After this trip, though? I’m done. I’m tired and I’ve been making poor decisions regularly.

It’s time to grow the hell up. And be smart about my actions. Helping those around me in right and responsible ways.

With this in mind, I begin the trek to my room near the main area.

As I come up through the tunnels, about halfway up to the main room, I sense Lin hiding near one of the tunnel offshoots. Where she is hiding, obscured by web and darkness. She actually seems to have found an excellent hiding location. One I’ll have to remember, in case we ever get invaded…

Without my scan, I would have no idea that she was hiding there.

It crosses my mind that she accidentally might get stuck on the web, but luckily, it doesn’t appear to be sticky web.

Maybe it is something like structural, hardened web. I’m honestly not sure.

Gong is basically a genius and trained her body to use a combination of different densities and chemicals, achieving a wide variety of web types.

While all of this seems slightly suspicious, I still decide to play along and act like I don’t notice her hiding.

As I get closer, I can sense her freeze up. Apparently, she has noticed me approaching. She takes a deep breath and pulls a hidden line of web, strung alongside the wall. Quickly, I send a pulse out to see where it leads.

It’s not that I don’t trust Lin… but I still need to verify. As dad used to say, ‘Trust your allies, but still verify.’

People can change.

My scan follows the string around the bends, up the halls, and across the tunnel structure. Going all the way up to the main room. Where I finally see Ai, on the other side of that line.

I can see her tie the line back into a hidden hook on the wall and sprint down the halls, away from the main room and towards Gong’s room.

Her face is pretty intense, as it is clear she is going full speed to get there.

My mind races to what she might need from Gong’s room that requires seeing if either me or Gong are nearby.

Could it be a gift? No, they look far too anxious for that. Also, they have been waiting for us, instead of preparing.

Could it be an ambush? No way, they are smarter than that. Here in Gong’s area, she is the queen. Not only that, but spiders, which either she or I can control, surround us. Plus, they already have a general idea of how absurd my powers can get.

As I go through the last scenarios, I see her round the corner, heading straight for Gong’s area.

And then makes a left… into my room.

My mind and body stop for a moment, as I attempt to process what I’m sensing.

Wait. What?

Why did she… oh?

OH.

It’s happening. It’s happening right now.

I can sense her practically rip her clothes off, which is exactly when I stop looking through my scan.

Ah shit. I guess I can’t avoid this anymore. Dang it!

Did this really have to happen after everything today?

Sigh.

I suppose this is the best time. Might as well handle this now.

God, I hope I don’t fuck this up.