He dashed forward, slashing upward. The blade swirled incredibly fast. Instinctively, I dodged to the side moving the flow of the energy within me, thus increasing my speed.

My eyes were obviously not fast enough to perceive his sword, but my magic perception was, I felt the magic turbulence created by his sword and reacted to it.

I theorized that I could increase my physical prowess with magic, and I was luckily right.

Up, right, and down, he slashed relentlessly. Increasing my movements with magic gave me just enough speed to keep up, but my powers weren't endless; without a single doubt, I would lose. I had to attack.

I leaned in on his next attack, dodging to the side, then I rammed, with all my strength, my fist in his jaw.

He staggered, and I followed with my elbow to the wrist that held the sword. His grip lessened, and I took his word. I jumped back and threw away the sword far behind me, there was no way for him to retrieve it now.

"Stop, Jinhyung!"

"You didn't try to harm me, but simply disarmed me. Why?"

"I never tried to harm you; we just heavily misunderstood each other. We should talk this out."

"Maybe."

I couldn't react; he appeared before me; the next thing I felt was a hefty punch to my lower stomach.

The magic impulse was blocked by the remaining magic in my core, but its physical strength was still so great that I flew back a meter or so.

I couldn't breathe, a soul-splitting pain filled my stomach. I coughed up some blood and spat it on the ground. After disarming him, I thought I could put up a good fight against him, but I realized he never really tried.

"You agreed to talk this out! Why did you..." I could barely speak. My diaphragm was still cramped, and breathing was really hard.

"I was still angry; I am now calmer. Wanna chat?"

"Huh?"

He was a unique type of crazy, not yet documented by modern psychology. His facial expression warmed, and the same dumb smile painted his expression.

I was out of magic and my body was in a pitiful state, but I felt that some of my regret was relieved, as if he gave me a new chance.

Maybe was I similar? I also knew him for no more than an hour, but I still wanted to witness our next chapter. I won't even try to rationalize my behaviour. I would try to lie no longer; I would live by my desires this time around.

"Yeah, your place?" I decided to ignore his violent debate, it would be easier for me.

I originally doubted if it was wise or not to go inside someone else's cabin, but he could do anything with me right now anyway. Also he was way too dirty to let him inside my quarters.

He then picked me up by the waist and lifted above the ground.

"What are you doing?"

"I am taking you to my place."

"But I can walk by myself."

"You ran out of magic, and you're hurt pretty badly; don't argue."

I sighed and gave up. Worrying about things beyond your control was foolish. He opened his cabin and threw me on the bench, as if I was some sort of package.

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What a brute. He opened the storage box and took out a glass flask with a red liquid inside. He threw it at me.

"Drink, it will help."

-Item-

Medium Recovery Elixir

Cost: ???

Consumable: Restore injuries less than a limb.

I unsealed the flask, and a medicinal smell filled the room. I quickly drank all of the liquid. It tasted like strong, cold alcohol, but it didn't hurt my throat at all.

The moment I finished drinking, a warm feeling filled my body, and all the pain dissipated. My heart rate stabilized, and I felt good as new.

Such a powerful elixir would be really expensive, I was quite surprised. If he felt that bad after hurting me, why did he punch me in the first place? Well, I should stop being surprised by this guy's actions.

"Thank you; I feel a lot better now."

"I bought it for you."

He never wanted to kill me then; that was reassuring. But still, wasting coins due to emotions was rather childish and risky. Who knows what awaits us further?

"Why did you leave me before the first challenge?" His gaze drilled through my soul as he spoke.

I already decided to be completely honest in this talk.

"When I first saw you, I simply was scared. You were visibly stronger than me, and I also thought you followed me in order to use me to your advantage, just as I would do. I was scared of someone like me. Then, based on those feelings, I thought your friendly behaviour was all a mere facade in order to get closer and gain my trust. All of our time at the market, I felt under constant danger. Then, when we got to the elevators, I fled.”

"You see me as a threat? Then why didn't you flee again when you saw me in the corridor?"

"I saw you this way, not anymore. I thought a lot about what happened during the challenge. And, euhm, I reckon how immature and over the top my reactions were,” it was still hard for me to talk, as a hard lump grew in my throat.

"I see,” he sighed with relief and lowered his stare.

"Jinhyung, why do you care so much about me?"

"You were a loner, just like me. You decided to dodge meeting people, even if it meant you got behind. When I talked about novels and my dreams, you listened. No one else did that before; they either made fun of me or feared me. I was all alone; I never had friends, family, or even acquaintances. I thought you were special. But when I didn't find you at the Gate, I was more broken than ever. I assumed too much, as always."

Well, he wasn't wrong, but in my past life, I could easily mask my disdain for social gatherings in order to get benefits. I was surrounded by people, although I never truly felt anything toward them. They were always mere tools to me. I was disgusting. I desired no longer to be such a man.

"And earlier you wanted revenge, right? But why did you let me hit you?"

"I wanted to hurt you as much as you hurt me, but even then, I refused to believe that you were truly evil. I couldn't completely hate you, I still had lingering hope."

I wanted to ask for clarification, but I stopped as he opened his mouth anew.

"When I felt that you didn't enhance your punches with magic and then threw away my sword, I realized you held no hatred towards me; you were simply scared of my sudden attacks. But you didn't flee; your desire to reason with me was stronger than your fear."

He was quite smart, or maybe lucky with his delusion? He saw what he wanted to see; somehow he was right this time.

"Friedrich, I really want to see the end of this adventure with you. Would you stay by my side? I will understand if you do not wish too; I will forever be gone from your life and won't try to harm you."

I smiled.

"It would be a great honour to reach the conclusion with you."

Jinhyung's dirty face was filled with tears; for the first time, he had someone he could call a ‘companion’. And I, too, was delighted with this outcome.

"Oh, and how are you and your clothes this clean after a month in the forest?"

He now talked in a relaxed, happy tone. A lighthearted talk between friends.

"Well, I washed myself in a water source I found on a mountain."

"Ha ha, I was too busy refining my sword technique and my Qi control to bother about taking care of myself."

I guessed right…

"Wait, your sword; you didn't pick it up when I threw it down the corridor."

His eyes widened; he ran out of the cabin without a single word. I thought the doors were controlled by voice commands. Mayhap they were mind controlled?

I got up and looked outside. Jinhyung looked at me with scary eyes.

"It's gone."