Inside the Grand Archives of the kingdom, the air was thick with the scent of aging parchment and dust. Hundreds of scrolls and historical tomes were piled haphazardly around Junie and Miku, who had been searching continuously for hours.
Junie slammed a heavy book shut, resting her forehead on the wooden table with a dramatic groan. "Bro, how is this even mathematically possible?! We literally went to that island with our own two feet, but there's zero trace of it in any database! No maps, no historical logs, nothing about that flame-general guy either... It's like the place is completely region-locked!"
She looked up, her expression turning into a tragic, pouty reaction meme. "What do we even tell the boys now? Aryan, Rei, and everyone put 100% of their trust in us to find the coordinates! If they find out we hit a total dead end, they're gonna think we completely sold the mission!"
Miku paused, gently placing a hand on Junie's shoulder. "Hey, don't lose hope yet, Junie! We can't just throw in the towel after one try. They trusted us, so we can't break that trust. We'll keep digging until we find a lead!"
Junie sighed, her stomach suddenly letting out a ridiculously loud rumble. "Alright... but my brain is officially laggy. Let's take a quick food break to recharge."
Minutes later, the two girls were sitting at a bustling outdoor café, enjoying a meal. As Junie chewed her food, she looked around the crowded street, her eyebrows twitching in sheer confusion.
"Ayo, what is going on with the fashion trend in this kingdom?" Junie asked, gesturing toward the passing pedestrians. "Why is half the town wearing oversized baggy pants, and the other half rocking those bizarre oversized tops? I mean... it looks lowkey fire, but it's so weird!"
Miku giggled, taking a sip of her drink. "Yeah, I noticed that too! It's viral right now. Honestly... I wonder if Nakamu is wearing those baggy pants right now. It would probably look so good on him..."
As the thought crossed her mind, Miku's cheeks flushed bright crimson. She drifted into a dreamy daydream, staring blankly into space with an absolute starry-eyed expression.
Junie instantly caught the vibe, leaning across the table with a devious, teasing smirk. "Ohoooo! Look at you! Nakamu is still living rent-free in your head, huh? What kind of high-tier romance subplot is this?!"
"W-What?!" Miku squeaked, burying her glowing face in her hands. "Love?! I don't know what you're talking about, Junie! Stop it!"
"Oh, please! I've known you forever, don't try to hide it from me!" Junie laughed. "Why haven't you just confessed to him already?"
Miku slowly uncovered her face, looking down at her hands with a soft, insecure smile. "Look at me, Junie... I'm not cute or pretty like you. Why would he ever see me that way? He just views me as a childhood friend. I'm just... not suitable for him."
"Are you serious right now?!" Junie snapped playfully, shaking her head. "Don't ever say that! You're super cute and attractive, Miku! Stop putting yourself down!"
Miku smiled shyly, wiping her cheeks. "Thanks, Junie... but anyway, let's just finish eating and get back to the research."
SHING—! SHING—!
Meanwhile, deep inside the dungeon, Rei was moving like a blur. Within a fraction of a millisecond, his mind mapped out the battlefield layout, calculating enemy movements with cold precision.
Instantly, he deployed his illusion magic, creating a dense layer of mist and multiple decoy clones. The dungeon monsters panicked, wildly swinging at the empty illusions—allowing the real Rei to glide through the smoke smooth as butter, severing heads with effortless precision!
Because the move relied heavily on raw physical speed, precise swordplay, and minimal system magic, it consumed almost zero mana.
Standing a few paces back, Aryan watched Rei's technique with wide eyes, analyzing every micro-movement.
"Man... I can't directly copy his sword techniques through my system," Aryan thought to himself, "but just watching him break down those forms is insane! If I ever unlock a sword-replication skill later, I'll be able to instantly master this!"
Shaking his head, Aryan focused back on his own newly acquired arsenal. "Well, I might not have a katana yet, but these four new copied skills are pretty solid!"
Aryan raised his hands, channeling his water element. "Water Cross!"
A massive, glowing cross made of pressurized water materialized behind him, shooting forward like a pair of giant razor blades that sliced through a pack of approaching beasts, tearing them apart instantly!
Without stopping, Aryan locked eyes with another incoming monster and activated his next skill.
BULL HORNS!
A pair of thick, dark bull horns burst from Aryan's forehead. Lowering his head, he blitzed forward with massive kinetic momentum, ramming headfirst into the beast like an unstoppable train! The monster imploded from the sheer impact, while Aryan didn't feel a single thing due to the temporary defense buff applied to his head.
"Next one!" Aryan grinned, activating his third skill: Night Vision, allowing him to pinpoint hidden beasts stalking him in the pitch-black shadows.
He immediately stacked his fourth skill—his fingernails extending into sharp, deadly shadow talons! He lunged forward, executing a rapid frenzy of slash attacks across the monster's hide. The cuts weren't deep enough for an instant kill, but the heavy damage over time from the bleeding effect finished the beast off moments later.
Aryan dropped his stance, letting out a slightly disappointed sigh. "Man... these skills are cool, but compared to the high-tier stuff, they're still kind of mid, huh?"
Suddenly, a high-level beast that had been creeping through the shadows lunged straight for the back of Aryan's head! Its razor-sharp claws were extended—identical to Aryan's fourth skill, but vastly bigger and more lethal.
Aryan's instincts screamed in warning, but the beast was moving too fast for him to dodge. If that strike landed clean, his face would be torn off!
"Calm down," a serene voice echoed through the dark.
"First Form: Water Cut! Second Form: Mist and Water!"
SWOOSH—!
Before the beast's claws could even graze Aryan's hair, a flash of white mist erupted across the corridor. In less than a blink, Rei blitzed past, cleanly decapitating the monster and severing its arm mid-air!
However, because Rei hadn't fully mastered controlling the sheer momentum of his new high-speed form, he couldn't brake in time—
BOOM!
Rei slammed face-first into the dungeon wall, sliding down the stone with a hilarious, cartoonish thud.
Aryan stared at him, pushing up his green alien glasses. "Wow... the higher the aura farm, the harder the crash, huh?"
Rei groaned, rubbing his bruised nose as he stood up. "Bro... this technique is insanely hard! I literally stayed up all night practicing, and I can still barely handle First Form! Second Form doesn't even make sense to me yet!"
Aryan blinked. "Wait... didn't you literally just shout 'Second Form' right now?!"
"Bro, that was 100% just for show!" Rei laughed sheepishly, scratching his head. "I literally just yelled 'Second Form' to sound cool! It was just First Form boosted by temporary speed buffs from system coins!"
Aryan deadpanned hard. "Bro is fr faking his move set for the aesthetic... Respect. Anyway, the aura farming is over, let's head back. My mana is completely empty from spamming those four skills."
"Same here," Rei agreed, sheathing his katana. "Even though this new sword style uses less system mana, maintaining the illusion mist constantly still drains my bar. I can't fight like this for more than 45 to 60 minutes max right now. Let's call it a day."
OUTSIDE THE DUNGEON
While Aryan and Rei walked back toward the city chatting casually, Nakamu was currently suffering on the main road outside town.
An entire hour had passed, and Nakamu had barely completed 1 kilometer of his assigned 10km run! Sweat was pouring off his face like a open faucet, his legs were trembling uncontrollably, and his muscles burned under the relentless weight of the 200kg iron gear. Yet, despite the agonizing pain, he refused to stop, dragging his feet forward step by painful step.
Meanwhile, back at the rental house where Rei's party lived, Vikas was standing in the kitchen, carefully cooking something.
"I wonder if the tea in this world tastes anything like the tea back home?" Vikas murmured to himself, holding a steaming cup. "Let's find out..."
He took a small sip.
Instantly, his eyes widened, and streams of comedic, tears erupted from his eyes. The taste hit his soul with pure nostalgia.
"It's... it's actually delicious!" Vikas cried internally, wiping his nose. "All that pain and suffering in the dungeon... it was all worth it!"
A short flashback played in his mind from earlier that afternoon when he and Nakamu had first stepped out of the dungeon...
Nakamu, completely drenched in sweat, had turned to Vikas with a hopeful look. "Hey, Vikas... do you happen to know how to cook anything good?"
Vikas had scratched his chin. "I mean... I can make a few basic things, I guess. Why?"
"Please make something delicious!" Nakamu had pleaded before running off. "I need fuel for this brutal 10km run!"
Left alone in the kitchen, Vikas had stared at the counter in deep thought. "Wait... what can I even make? I literally only know how to make tea! Wait... tea?!"