Other than nodding, there was nothing else Pras could do when faced with such warm words. Though the remnants of his fears lingered at the darkest corners of his heart, he couldn’t deny the kindness from Mana’s assurance. The feeling and situation was nostalgic for him, akin to the time he met his saviour.

However, seeds of uneasiness returned with double pressure when he reached the school gate. Diana insisted on driving him home. Though Pras knew she was just being obnoxiously nice, just like her niece, he also sensed that Diana had a side motive. Yet, he was powerless to refuse the offer and thus had to bear the interrogation that happened on the whole journey home.

The childhood friend duo were not helping. Eggi was, in fact, helping Diana’s investigation while Mana was fast asleep.

Pras’ couldn’t blame the latter, since he himself was slumbering throughout the whole afternoon after he got back home. Last night and today’s activities were somewhat tiresome. It was definitely more tiresome for Mana who had to play a badminton practice match.

However, his sleep was not that peaceful since Danzo kept pestering him when it wanted to go out or enter the room several times.

After dinner, Diah tried to get revenge for what Pras did to her yesterday. Fortunately, she doesn’t have any beastmaster-like aura, thus the two hounds ignored her commands and caught the snacks she used as bait when it was airborne.

For better or worse, Danzo and Bozter only accept the attack command from Pras. Though, he himself still failed at teaching Galung that command.

Pras texted Mana when he reached his room, just to make sure if she still has problems with her studies and whether they should proceed with the call. However, Mana told him to do that a bit later since Diana kept pestering her now. She also mentioned that so far she didn’t have further problems with chemistry.

At the same time, Pitoy offered to play some RTS game since he already had his fill of Zurefgar all day long. The lazy bastard seemed to skip yet another tennis extracurricular session.

Since Mana seemed to have no further problem and was also busy, Pras took the offer. At least, now he had company in spending the Saturday night by playing some world war 2 themed RTS game.

Pras wanted to watch the Inter Milan match late at night after the gaming session with Pitoy. Too bad that his brother and father insisted on watching the premier league. He begrudgingly watched the match before finally giving up and went to sleep during half time.

He woke up a bit late the following day, around 7AM - very late morning for the standards set by his mother. After a lazy breakfast while getting an earful of advice to not sleep late from his mother, Pras took Danzo and Bozter for a morning walk.

Then, he browsed more info about his class and targeted companion beast while waiting for the 36 hour ban period to pass.

Tier immediately entered Zurefgar once the ban period was over. He appeared at the exact location his body lied down when Steven kicked him out of the game. Thinking that the area might still be too dangerous for him, Tier rode his rhino towards the post at the base of Arika Hills. There he completed his quest, then rode towards a nearby human village named Arikad.

So far he didn’t see any of his friends online, the day might be too early for them on such weekends. Renma was the first to appear online just as Tier reached Arikad.

Just when he was about to contact Renma, a portal suddenly appeared right in the middle of Arikad. Steven the GM appeared out of the portal. Bewildered, he stated to Tier, “36 hours was the minimum recommendation, you half witted dude, it doesn’t mean you should just go in right when the timer ends.”

“So, I shouldn’t play?” Tier countered.

“Not really, your custom ability is almost done,” Steven answered lightly. “Other than that, I have to give you this. Command on: Item Transfer: Tier, Double EXP Bonus 36h.”

“Command on: Accept Transfer.”

Steven suddenly threw a small bottle filled with clear liquid which Tier almost failed to grab. He didn’t dare to imagine what kind of wrath he would invoke from Steven if he failed that.

Steven, acting indifferent to his own reckless action, proceeded to ask curiously, “I still wonder how could your brain be that kind of sponge though, I mean, do you have some ego problem?”

“PTSD I guess,” Tier shrugged. He was somewhere between willing to talk about his problem and in the mood to just shake it away.

“Don’t use that kind of stuff to joke, man, a lot of people have real problems with PTSD,” Steven growled in disagreement. His expression turned serious.

The hunter sighed. Though he admitted that he had joked, he also had some sort of that problem. It was just that he had difficulties in dishing out those kinds of facts about himself.

“What if it’s true?”

“What do you mean, dude?”

Scratching his head, Tier tried to reason, “What if I do have some stress disorder that triggered when I am exposed to certain conditions that made me desperate or remembered something? You know, that enables my brain to act like that?”

Steven squirted, concern was clearly drawn on his expression. “You need help, dude.”

“My father is a psychiatrist.”

The worries on Steven's face grew stronger. He asked, “Though as a professional I know he shouldn’t take you as a patient, but have you ever tried to consult with him?”

“Of course not.”

“Then seek help, man, seek help!”

“For what? For them to give me medicine to calm my nerves down? RTS and card games already have the same effect for me.”

“Whatever, man,” Steven grumbled. “But if it gets worse, you better seek help, or at least talk to someone.”

“Duly noted.”

Steven sighed at the halfhearted answer. He quickly changed topic, “Anyway, based on what you explained, it seems that the thing is somewhat related to your fight or flight response. However, the more you are cornered, the more your instinct chooses to fight back.”

The explanation brought back some bittersweet memory again to Tier. The surge of feelings had involuntarily forced him to mumble, “Because that person told me to keep on fighting and keep on living,”

That memory made Tier feel a little awkward about his own feelings. Those words were clearly part of the thing that enabled him to keep moving forward despite being bound by his past. But at the same time, those words came as a part of a bitter past. The exact past that he wanted to erase and forget.

Relieving himself from the past meant that he would lose the significance of those words. But, was it really what he wanted? To lose the meaning of those words and the blurred visage of his saviour? Those words are all that he has to keep the darkness of his heart at bay. Yet, how could he keep striding forward if he was unable to stray away from the past entirely?

“Wait a minute,” Steven said as he seemed astonished by what Tier had said. “Those words, I think I’ve heard it somewhere.”

In that instant, Tier felt a huge surge of hope swell within him. Suddenly, the blurred image of the saviour from his past became slightly more vivid. It was a rather far fetched hope as those words could be said by anyone.

Yet, Tier was helplessly bound by the sheer desire to at last say his thanks to that person. Trembling, he asked Steven, “Where? Where have you heard those?”