“This is going nowhere,” Eggi grumbled. He put his bag on his desk then walked out of the class.

Pras, after having his pent up annoyance finally vented out and also finally beating Ega, started to wonder what made Eggi keep worrying about Mana’s condition. The concern was clear as day to Pras, but he never knew the real reason.

Does Mana have some sort of illness?

Also, his now calmed mind wondered about something else completely. There was something off regarding Mana’s previous condition.

He turned to Mana and said, “Umm, if I may ask…”

“Your questions are always welcome, dynamic deskmate.”

“Dynamic?” Pras frowned. He started to feel that the way Mana called him was definitely an awkward way she used to avoid calling his name.

Did she hate him that much or what?

“Anyway.” Pras took a deep breath. “Um… as a division leader who remade your character. Don’t you have some sort of more extreme limitation than us regulars or you have it more lenient?”

Mana put her index finger before her thin soft lips that turned into a witty smile. The sight struck hard at Pras' heart as it resembled someone else’s smile from his past. For a moment, a thought passed if Mana was the one he wished to meet again all this time.

“Do not tell the others,” she said mischievously, a very different expression from all others that Pras had seen so far. “I will lose my position if I die twice before level 80 and re-register.”

“Damnit, sis,” Ega exclaimed. He was completely surprised by that. “And you wasted one just for me? I still have more to spare.”

Mana waved her hand horizontally in a very relaxed manner. “Ahahah, do not mind that. Deskmate told me that you guys are very enthusiastic to join Clashing Realms. Sacrificing one life was more than worth it.”

“But still…,” Ega groaned. “Now, I feel bad for leaving you guys last week. You know what? I’ll make sure to prioritise your safety when healing you guys. Screw Fathan, he still has more deaths to spare.”

“Well, I certainly do not mind.”

“But I do mind…” Pras said abruptly. The truth had burdened his heart. He did tell Mana about his friends’ enthusiasm, but he never thought that Mana would risk so much because of it.

This was not how it was supposed to happen. Pras thought that if Mana was as passionate about Clashing Realms, then he could rest assured that his friends will be in good hands on the next frontier.

But he was mistaken. His actions had endangered other people’s position. No one should be sacrificed for his goal to help his friends. No one but him.

“I… I shouldn’t have told you that,” Pras said. “I should have just kept it to myself.”

“Keeping things to yourself would have done no good, deskmate.” Mana smiled reassuringly. “I have not lost my position.”

Pras shook his head. “But, one more death and you will… I mean, there is no guarantee that we will be saved from Lyra or any other players.”

“Do not worry. Even if I lose my position, it is definitely not a big problem. I, for once, had to admit that being a division leader is kind of a hassle.”

“But still… I…..”

Pras couldn’t continue his words that were being held back by the crashing waves of feelings he felt. At this point, he felt he was not much different from his former teammates or his former self. They took his chance and he took theirs. He had indirectly taken away his sister’s time as well. Now, he almost took Mana’s chance of keeping her position.

With the facade of trying to help others, he hid the selfishness of trying to break away from his past. And that exact selfishness almost devoured another victim.

“Uh, I think… I need to go to the restroom,” Ega said as he left both Pras and Mana, still in a rather awkward condition.

Perhaps it was for the best as Pras also needed time to clear up the mess in his own mind and feelings.

However, it was Mana who finally broke the silence with a call that he least expected, “Pras, do not be too hard on yourself.”

The girl smiled softly and reassured him once more, “The most important thing is to fight on and live on.”

At that exact moment, Pras felt as if he was watching his past saviour stand before him and say the same thing. The teenager was rendered helpless when he was reminded of those words again.

Though there was still a painful sting on his heart due to his hatred for his own foolishness, Pras finally nodded in agreement. He said softly, “In any way, I’ll have your back.”

“And I shall have yours.”

Nothing much happened for the rest of the day, there were not many exchanges of words as well between Pras and Mana. Pras still felt uneasy regarding the whole situation even until he got home.

Tier met with Steven to register a new custom ability he just thought of recently before meeting Manna. They got through a couple of missions together with Flick who was still very enthusiastic without clear reason. Tier also realised something different about the rogue. Other than being more agile due to his item set, Flick seemed to employ more defensive abilities to avoid or neutralise incoming damage and gave him a chance to counter.

Perhaps their experience these past few days had given Flick the inspiration to improve his character.

Flick’s addition to the group had made fights against hostile creatures much easier, so Tier took his chance to train something for future usage. Every time he unleashed his arrow, Tier pictured from which angle his companion beast would effectively attack. Then he would snap his fingers as if giving the command to strike.

To train his timing to be better, Tier closely paid attention to his two melee friends. So far, the two had the highest awareness on timing and position to strike. Tier slowly learned to snap his finger right before any of them attacked.

This had caused Manna and Flick to keep glancing at Tier suspiciously whenever he snapped his fingers.

Luckily, their session ended after one hour, just before the two got even more suspicious at Tier. Though Tier can’t avoid it if they suspect that he had gone mad.

At first, Manna was hesitant to stop playing. But then, she somehow just agreed with it.

Every night during the rest of the week, a similar pattern happened. There’s Tier and Manna who played together and met with one of their friends who were also online in Zurefgar.

It was very amusing for Tier to meet Rushvatte on Tuesday since the elf had finally picked a bear form. Not just any bear, but an extinct cave bear. Tier started to wonder if Rushvatte had some sort of interest in taking extinct animal shapes.

In the real world, Pras took his training on commanding companion beasts to the next level. Using slices of cucumber and a snap of his finger, he trained Danzo and Bozter the ‘attack’ command. This had alerted his family member to the highest level. They finally interrogated him when he tried to teach the command to Galung.

His family still treated him with high suspicion even though he told them the truth. Thus he was banned from taking any food that can be treated as snacks to their pets. And thus, Pras’ training regime had come to an abrupt end because the three pets, especially Galung, wouldn’t bother much with weird commands if there were no treats involved.

On Thursday night, the deskmates met with Nubram and they met Arkengrad near a waterfall. However, the tempest paladin acted beyond their expectations. She said she’s too lazy to bully lower level players because she just got into a fight with Slicer. Other than that, she also seems to know Manna quite well.

“You do not have to be like this, Arkengrad,” Manna tried to persuade her during their conversations. “You and Lyra are better than them, it is not too late to fix your reputation. Do not meddle too long with the likes of them.”

Arkengrad could only sigh at the offer. She refused, “We’re not you, sweetie. We will never be accepted and that’s due to the injustice we faced. They even branded us as the bad guys. So, what’s the matter if I become one of the real jerks out here?”

As she extended a welcoming hand, Manna smiled understandingly. “Because you are not one.”

The words stunned Arkengrad. She confusedly stared at Manna’s hand. For a moment, Tier saw that the tempest paladin was about to move her hand and accept the offer.

But then she froze. Her eyes stared to a point behind Tier.

“Aw, no cool, you guys didn’t invite me.”

“Meispaw!”