*Evan POV*

I flipped over to the next page, and I was shocked by what I saw.

…The whole page was blurred out.

ARE YOU FLIPPEN KIDDING ME!?

NOT AGAIN!

I wanted to toss around in my bed, but the purring of the babies sleeping beside me told me it was a bad idea. In the end, I just threw the book in my inventory and lay down with my arms and legs spread apart. I stared up at the ceiling and took some time to gather my thoughts. I had been lying in bed and reading these books for the past few hours. Although it wasn't the most enjoyable activity, I did manage to gain some valuable insight into what those guys had done.

Which is why I should mention this person that they both mentioned in their diary, Akemi. He seems to be a great inventor, and I’m guessing that he was also the Hero of Skill, just like me. He seems to have made a number of things, most of them common gear or items of convenience, such as bathtubs, sinks, flintlock pistols, Boomsticks, etc. Though one of the most notable ones was the book he wrote, "How to Learn the Japanese Language in 30 Days." It's notable because everyone seems to speak English, at least from what I've observed so far. It's not particularly noteworthy, but I did think it was strange – like discovering a random piece of a puzzle that I didn't even know existed.

Once I was over getting pranked by the authors of these books, I took the last badly damaged book and remembered my lesson. I went straight to the end of the book before I wasted another couple of hours only to find out that the answer I was searching for is blurred, not written, or isn't even there.

April 11th, 994: "Interestingly, by my calculations in this game-like world, even though the system is clearly helping us, it's more like entertainment for someone or something else. I also have a hypothesis that there aren't four legendary Heroes but rather five Heroes.

Though my experiments on this aren't clear enough, I did finally find a way back to Earth. I've told the others to start packing up because what we're doing is also a huge risk to ourselves, and we might die. The others agreed to my proposal, and the plan is to leave this world in two weeks."

… Well, at least I didn't get trolled like the other books. Now I gotta spend some time reading the rest so I can piece together what’s happening here.

After reading through the entire diary, I discovered that it belonged to Akemi, the person I was most curious about. He was also a hero of skill like myself, but unfortunately, most of the pages here were missing, and the only information I found was about experiments that I already knew how to do. Moreover, there was no information on how to return to my world.

One interesting thing I found in the diary was Akemi's belief that there are five heroes instead of four. I know that the fifth hero might be either a summoner or a magician since, in the game, there are four primary classes: melee user, magic user, ranged user, and summon user. While there is technically another class called the Thrower class, it was never considered viable, and no one cared about it because it was a joke class. And you can’t make it a viable class by leveling up either since Terraria does not have a traditional leveling up system like most RPGs, where players gain experience points by defeating enemies to increase their level. Instead, a player's abilities and strength are determined by the quality of their equipment. All thrower class gear is on the low levels.

But this world is completely bonkers, so I don't want to go into detail.

Also, I have figured out that Akemi's team consisted of three other heroes. I know that the other two are the Hero of Range and Strength since I have read their books, but I don't know who the fourth one is. However, Akemi was smart enough to realize that not only was he the odd one out since the Hero of Skill doesn't exist in Terraria, but also that they were missing a hero.

Now, my main objective is to learn how to go back. I have learned that there is actually a way to go back, but how?

The books contain numerous clues that I can use to my advantage, but three, in particular, stand out. The first is the dates recorded in the diaries, the second is the diary of the mysterious fourth hero, and lastly, all these guys have mentioned meeting Queen Elizabeth of the Elven race. Unfortunately, I have no means of utilizing the second clue for now, and I am going to meet Elizabeth soon anyway. This leaves me to focus on the first one - the dates.

And to start off… I don't even know what today is…

To the Guide!

I stood up from the bed and finally noticed that the light in my room was not coming from the lamps I put in the room, but rather from the outside. I peeked outside and saw that the sun had already risen.

Shit, I had to meet up with Sarah and her queen in the morning... Wait, when did she say I had to meet them?

*Meanwhile, at the entrance of the Elf kingdom*

The entire elven army was assembled in a precise formation, each soldier mounted atop a pure white horse. They had been waiting for Evan for over an hour, the relentless sun beating down upon them. The queen of the elves, Elizabeth, sat gracefully on her own majestic white steed, flanked by her trusted advisors Tifa, Sarah, and the war captain Rudolph.

Elizabeth's brow furrowed with concern as she turned to Sarah and asked, "Are you sure he's coming?"

Sarah, her face etched with determination, replied, "He did promise. I won't forgive him if he ditches us!"

Tifa, her eyes scanning the horizon, added, "Just give him some time, maybe he's on his way?"

Despite their attempts to remain patient, the elven army grew increasingly restless as time ticked by with no sign of Evan's arrival.

*Back to Evan*

Shit, I have a feeling that Sarah is cursing me right now.

Let's put a pause on my case for the moment. I already received a satisfactory response that there is a way for me to return home, which should suffice for the time being. I sneaked out again and saw Jeff standing right beside the entrance to my mansion, so I decided to leave a message in case my family tries searching for me.

“Yo Jeff. If anyone asks, tell them that I'm out for some important business. The Elves said they needed my help.”

Jeff responded with his customary sense of duty, placing a hand over his heart and bowing slightly in a manner reminiscent of a butler.

Do whatever you want, Jeff. I still won’t like you in account of how much of an ass you are.

“Of course,” he said. “By the way, Lucy left a message for you. She left just a few minutes ago in a hurry and told me to tell you that Queen Daisy requested your and their presence."

"Welp, sorry Daisy, but I'm already booked."

I nodded in the end. "Sure. Anyway, remind me, what’s today’s date?"

“It’s January 7th, 1106.”

It’s been a hundred flipping years since those guys disappeared?!

Well, at least this explained why they didn’t know about Terraria. That game only came out like a decade ago. These guys came here CENTURIES AGO!

I groaned in annoyance, but I couldn’t do anything about it with how little information I had. Let's just leave it for now, I thought, as I pushed aside the gnawing sense of unease that lingered in the back of my mind.

For now, let’s hurry to the Elven Kingdom before I can talk to Elizabeth and ask her about what she knows of the heroes or what they did. The best possibility is that she knows how they returned home, but I wouldn’t count on that.

Regardless, I threw my grappling hook towards a distant tree and flew away into the distance. With the wind whistling past me, I moved as fast as I possibly could. Grappling from tree to tree, I utilized the charge skill of my shield and the movement buffs of my spell to propel myself forward at breakneck speed. In mere minutes, I had reached the destination.

Well, uhh… This is embarrassing.

I was standing on a tall tree, gazing down at the Elven army below who were obviously waiting for me. A hundred riders sat atop their horses, arranged in perfectly aligned rows and columns. At the forefront of this formation was Elizabeth, accompanied by Sarah and some dude who rode with an air of authority and purpose.

Oh, I almost didn’t notice, but Tifa is also there. She's behind the dude, almost blending into the background.

I was thinking of what excuse I could make, but I just decided to wing it and jumped down from my vantage point, landing in front of everyone.

I heard a crack from my legs and a red -18 floating above me.

God damn it.

“Hey, everyone! How’re y’all?” I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

The first one to chew me out was obviously Sarah. “About time you came! Do you know how long we were waiting for you!?”

That sounds like the Sarah I know of.

"Sarah, please. But I'm also curious. Did you get attacked on the way here?" Elizabeth spoke with a hint of worry in her voice.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Nothing that serious, I just overslept," I replied nonchalantly, despite the fact that I had not slept at all. Thanks to my pain immunity, I was able to push through the night with ease.

Elizabeth let out a heavy sigh. "Well, I'm still glad to have you on board with us, Evan,” she said with a hint of relief. “But we’re quite late for the peace treaty, so it’s best if we start moving quickly."

I smiled mischievously. “Alright, that’s fine, but you guys can take the horses. I'll be using my trusty grappling hook to keep up."

As I quickly grappled up to the top of a nearby tree, Tifa and Sarah facepalmed in unison, while Elizabeth looked on with a confused expression.

"Try to keep up!" I yelled down to them, feeling a rush of adrenaline as I soared through the air.

"DAMN IT EVANNN!!!!!" Sarah shouted in reply, her frustration palpable.

Despite my daredevil antics, the group struggled to keep pace with me, even though I was holding back. As we travelled, my thoughts turned to the three heroes' diaries, and the only clues I have are that those guys somehow found a way back home around 110 years ago. I want to ask Elizabeth about them, but I can’t unless we’re both alone. Other than that, the heroes also have no clue about Terraria, and they're all of different nationalities.

As we journeyed towards the Human Kingdom, my mind was a jumble of thoughts and questions.

Somehow, those guys had managed to unlock hard mode, which means that they killed the Wall of Flesh boss, waking up the good and bad spirits and making the world a living hell. But as I’ve spent a few days here, this world doesn’t seem to be in hard mode. And you can’t exactly un-hardmode a hardmode world; it doesn’t work that way.

The amulet Elizabeth had given me caught my eye, its green metal shining with a rainbow-like glow. It was made of mithril, a sure sign that hard mode had been unlocked in this world at some point. But why had it been locked again?

Also, how did Ruby find these diaries of these legendary figures?

And more importantly, was I the last remaining hero?

The weight of the questions hung heavily on my mind as we continued on our journey.