Zellin responded by quickly sending a jab backwards at Liu's nose with his fist, then continued to throw him over the bench. Zellin sat on Liu’s body and sent fist after fist at Liu’s arms, which were blocking his face. “Fuck you, fuck you.” He said as he struck out.

Liu winced every time his bandaged arms were struck, and Zellin winced when he simply moved his arms. Liu immediately began to time Zellin’s punches, then suddenly threw an elbow at Zellin’s face, striking him to the ground.

Zellin simply lied on the ground, breathing heavily, with a gash on his face where Liu elbowed him. There was no more fight left in him. Liu, likewise, also lied on the ground, breathing heavily, with his arms flaring up in pain.

“Liu, she doesn’t want me here anymore.” Zellin struggled to say, discouraged.

“Fuck you.” Liu said with heavy breaths. “Aren’t we a team? Fuck your feelings, Zellin. You’re the only friends I have; like hell I’m going to let you leave.”

Zellin stared at the sky from the ground, thinking about what Liu said. He suddenly smirked, self-mockingly. Liu’s more of a man than I am, and I’ve lived three times as long as this kid. He’s as selfish as I am but he doesn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks. Zellin thought to himself. I want to stay friends too…

“Yeah, Liu.” Zellin said slowly. “We’re a team.”

A couple hours later, Zellin, Liu, and Reyal were gathered in front of the king’s throne, kneeling with their hands on the ground, struggling from the pressure the king exerted.

“If I didn’t need you, I’d extinguish your little life, here and now.” The king said, discontent in his voice. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Though the king sounded displeased, seeing how depressed these kids were gave him a strange sense of joy. When the king was told of these kids’ situation at that time the king had ordered Coral’s guards to teach these kids a lesson by saving them at the last second and allowing Coral to die. Coral had already suspected his father for doing this, since she had been guarded closely ever since she was born, and also because she knew her father the best, and his character wouldn’t see this act as being out of line.

As the king saw it, since he’s the one who sacrificed his life force to set up a Resurrection Contract with Coral and the laws of the world, it wouldn't matter too much; he'd just have to sacrifice a little more to redo the contract. Though he loved his daughter dearly, to him, it wasn’t like she was truly going to die. Plus, when he considered the torment that he had to go through to reach his level, he simply summed the whole thing up as a good learning experience.

Zellin tried to say something, but he was already struggling hard enough to simply breathe.

“Do you know the name of this city, of this kingdom?” The king asked, receiving no response. “Ultimate Super Fighter City of Super Kingdom.” The king said slowly, expressing a point. “Do you know why I’m allowed to name my kingdom like an idiot? Because my strength is sufficient enough to allow my idiocy.” He explained seriously. “But as for you kids, you kids are worse than shit in the eyes of the world! You have no right to act like an idiot!” The king yelled, the intensity of his voice causing Zellin, Liu, and Reyal’s ears to ring. “The only way for you to survive in this stage of your life is to cling to life like a cockroach, using all possible means to survive, and taking the least amount of chances possible. Thus, as your king, I’m ordering you to stay within the vicinity of the city unless I decide otherwise. Until you kids gain some insight into the dao of cockroaches you’re grounded until further notice. Dismissed.”

Though the king said ‘dismissed,’ he simply lessened the pressure exerted on Zellin and his friends. The king sat back and watched the kids struggle with all their might to lift their injured bodies and hobble towards the doors.

As the doors to the courtroom closed behind Zellin and his friends, they looked at each other seriously. “He’s right, guys.” Reyal said solemnly. “We can’t keep fucking around like we use to.”

Liu nodded in response then looked to Zellin who had some hesitance in his eyes. After a moment, though, Zellin’s eyes grew resolute. “Yeah,” he replied. “We can’t waste a second.”

When they got back to the house, Zellin went straight to work on some body-mending pills to help their recuperation. Though their HP was filled to the max, their actual bodies were still recovering.

As Zellin worked in his lab, the door opened to reveal Coral’s shy figure. Zellin turned around and was stunned into silence for a moment. “Hey, Coral…” He said cautiously. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” Coral responded shyly, unsure of how to approach. She felt quite guilty for yelling at Zellin earlier. It was an emotional moment for her, and Zellin was unlucky enough to be around. “Zellin, I just wanted to say I’m so-”

“No, Coral. You don’t have to say it.” Zellin swiftly responded. “I’m the one who should be saying it to you. But I won’t, instead, I’ll earn your forgiveness. I promise to work harder from now on.” Zellin said, the words almost feeling empty in Zellin’s mind. He’s repeated those exact words so many times in his two lives, but he usually reverts back to his lazy mindset. But this time, the experience that changed him was associated with a death of a loved one, which deeply affected Zellin. This time, it wasn’t just for himself that he desired to change, but for the well-being of his friends. I’m not going to let you down ever again, Zellin though resolutely.

Coral simply smiled in that bittersweet moment. “Friends?” She asked.

Zellin smiled back. “Friends.” He said, pulling close to hug Coral.

Sasha walked in on the touching scene and couldn’t help but mentally pat herself on the back, somehow feeling responsible for this moment.

Sasha left the room silently with a smile.

“Why are you always so mean to her?” Coral asks, noticing Sasha leaving as she releases Zellin from the hug.

"Her?" Zellin says, barely noticing the leaving figure. “I'm not sure. Instincts, I guess? Also, not quite sure how she ended up in our lives; she just appeared after a while.” Zellin said with a laugh.

“Well, be nicer to her. She’s a good person, and we’re lucky to have her in our group. If you’re nicer to her, she just might open up to you.” Coral scolded, before leaving to find Sasha.

I probably should be nicer. Unfortunately, I'm a dick. Zellin thought without too much of a care.

Once Zellin reverted back to peak condition, he began to train every day, harshly punishing his body and pushing it to the limits. Since he couldn’t leave the city to level, he was determined to raise his skill levels instead.

Zellin frequently sparred with his teacher, using several different kinds of pole-arms. Whenever he grew accustomed to using one, he would store it in his inventory, causing his weight to grow over time, and only forcing him to grow stronger. After reaching his weight limit, Zellin trained in martial arts, slowly growing accustomed to the weight.

He would also train together with his pets, improving their coordination and overall fighting skills. Zellin experimented with various tactics he could use with his current skills and matched them up with his friends’ various skills, analyzing their synergy.

During the night, Zellin continued to read about the Primordial Tongue, his mind slowly becoming accustomed to the effect the book exerted on his mind. As his wisdom stat grew, he began to slowly understand that this was a book on teleportation, which was related to summoning in a way. There were other uses for the Primordial Tongue that were lightly touched upon in the book.

Except for a somewhat detailed account of a minor explosion-type Runic Formation, the rest of the lightly touched upon subjects were useless to Zellin, and only served to expand his general knowledge of the Primordial Tongue.

Although teleportation was way out of Zellin’s league, the explosion-type runic formation was described in a very detailed manner. After numerous attempts to create the formation, he eventually succeeded in an attempt, granting him the Runic Formation skill. And with the information that flooded into his mind about Runic Formations, Zellin managed to skillfully create a minor explosion-type runic formation.

In this unusual, new manner, Zellin worked hard every day, working even when he was resting, and growing stronger each day.

Eventually, the New Year came around, and Zellin received a notification that it was almost time for the Noob Village tournament. Zellin casually brought it up to his friends and they were oddly excited for the event. They had stayed dormant within the mansion for half a year and were eager to test their strength.

A couple days later, Zellin took Reyal and Coral to the Noob Originals base to see the guild leader and join the guild. After joining the guild, they found Bo and signed up for the tournament, naming themselves Las Cucarachas.

Bo also took this time to give Zellin his share of the money he received from the World Moderators, as he rarely saw Zellin anymore. During the last summer and fall, Bo had been helping Zellin find mates for Leggy, because Leggy seemed to hate all males and ate all of her partners. As the king refused to give anymore handouts, Zellin and his friends were forced to find their own way to make money, though Zellin naturally found a lazy way of going about it.

Though Zellin and Bo split the profits of selling spider hatchlings 50/50, Zellin was still making several hundred gold with each transaction, and Zellin never actually did anything. Since Leggy became a spider elite, she would only mate with males of that rank, and Bo was forced to find these spiders, while making sure that they were below Leggy’s level, so that Leggy would be able to eat her partner afterwards. Zellin simply did nothing but take his share of the gold, causing Bo to feel quite unsatisfied, even though he was also making good money.

Bo even went out of his way to lead guild members to several spider caves, in the hopes of driving up the price for the spiders.

Unfortunately, when winter began, Leggy refused to mate, thus ending this lucrative business.

Eventually, the day came for the preliminaries of Noob Village’s Floor 1 teams.

“Well, the fated day is finally upon us.” Zellin began to recite as he waved his hands around to accentuate his words. “Let us make haste to the arena, so that we may sooner vanquish our enemies and rejoice at our victory!”

“Okay, Zellin, calm down. We all get it, we’re heroes on a quest to rule the land, blah, blah. Stop making a scene; people are starting to stare.” Reyal said in the midst of a large crowd who were on their way towards the nearby arena.

People from all over the city were gathering in the arena to watch the fun. Many guild leaders have also come, hoping to see the talent of the younger generation.

Noob Village was a trial guild, created by the kingdom’s numerous powers, and was similar to a college basketball team. It was a place for the younger generation to stand out among their peers, and ultimately show the real guilds what they’re worth. Getting into a good guild, meant less worries in life, and automatic power granted by ready connections.

Because of the many powers backing Noob Village, it also had many connections, allowing members to easily make money and slowly grow rich enough for the very expensive class upgrades, whose prices were purposely set by the World Moderators to be expensive. But they couldn't stay in Noob Village forever.

Las Cucarachas followed the crowd into the arena where they found an usher to lead them to their contestant’s seats.

It wasn’t long before the main arena was filled to the max, with many people standing along the aisles just to see the show.

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen!” Called out a well-dressed man, walking to the middle of the large platform in the middle of the arena. The crowd grew silent and focused on the man, making him a little nervous. “Who’s ready to see a good show today?” He said loudly, which was followed by more silence.

“Get on with the fighting!” Someone from the crowd yelled loudly, followed by a, “Yeah! Let’s get shit moving already!” The crowd raucously agreed.

Well fuck me for trying to put on a good show, the announcer thought to himself.

“Right, on with the show.” The announcer said, complying with the crowd. The announcer hurriedly went on with drawing lots and announced in which arena which fights would occur in. Then the people began to stream out, heading to the fights they wished to see. But many people stayed in the main arena to watch the team which was said to be the most likely to win. For the first floor, this team was Bo’s team, which Sasha’s sister also belonged to.

In a separate arena, where the crowd was somewhat sparse, Zellin, Reyal, Liu, Coral, and Sasha stood on stage opposite a group of teenage warriors, dressed in chainmail and leather. The other group’s members were all Level 8, and were all wielding either swords or axes.

“Las Cucarachas vs. Team Ravage is about to begin.” The referee announced. “Remember, to win you must either push the other team off the platform, cause them to concede, or kill them all. Yes, everyone, killing is allowed, and Noob Village will take responsibility for all deaths; not that anyone can really do anything about it. Yeah, I’m talking to you, group of fresh off the teat, Level 5s. Back out now, while you can. No? You know their team is called Team Ravage right? It means destroy, in case you didn’t know. I can literally feel that these guys plan to kill you. No? Okay, but don’t blame me. Right, everyone take a moment to get ready.” The referee said, ignoring these kids’ foolishness.

Zellin took this moment to summon Rocky, Leggy, and Sparky, who was now half a foot thick and 3 meters long.

Sasha also summoned a wolf next to Rocky, a two and a half meter long, pure white dire wolf. The dire wolf looked to its smaller, half-its-size counterpart, Rocky, and began to let out a low growl, causing Bear to back away. Sasha looked over to Zellin, and Zellin watched as Sasha’s mouth slowly curved upwards, ever so slightly, into a self-satisfied smirk.

Zellin could only frown, thinking, fuck you, Sasha.