Counsellor Mary was so surprised to see Zeke that her drowsiness and sleepiness disappeared. She fixed her slightly messy attire and positioned her special tools as she motioned for the gloomy youth to sit down.

“I’d like some counselling, please.”

Zeke lowered his head as he uttered those words, looking dejected and sad.

“I know it has been hard for you ever since our last meeting. I also heard about your friend’s death… my condolences.”

“Thank you.”

He wryly smiled and kept looking down, his hands clenched as he struggled to voice his thoughts.

“Let me prepare some tea for you first. It will help.”

He meekly nodded and patiently waited for her as the unique fragrance of the tea leaves spread across the oddly-decorated room.

Soon, a small cup of tea was in front of Zeke, who sipped from it.

“This one is different from the tea I served you during our first meeting. It’ll ease your heart a bit.”

Just as she said, Zeke felt inexplicably serene a minute later. A warm sebastian swelling within him, granting him a much-needed clarity of mind.

“Sometimes, I don’t know what to do, Miss Mary. I-I… I’m trying my best, but…”

His voice quietened down into silence as he rubbed his tearful eyes. It was unusual for Zeke to become emotional in front of others, but he had no one else to confide in.

Zeke knew that his siblings had their own troubles to deal with, especially Edward. Moreover, he didn’t want to appear ‘weak’ in front of them.

“Don’t blame yourself for what happened, Zeke. Life has always been a tapestry of tragic fates.”

“Amelia and Samuel were my first two friends in Erys. Look what happened when they got involved with me. Even Max almost died because of me. I used to think that with enough power, I’ll be able to protect everyone.”

Mary grabbed a wooden chair and sat next to the youth. She even stretched her hands and held his while softly speaking,

“You will continue falling into this abyss if you shoulder everything on your own. Friends and family are not just there to be protected. Rely on them just as they rely on you. Isolating yourself will not help you. Trust me.”

Seeing him slowly raise his head and look at her, Mary hesitated for a second before continuing,

“I… was an explorer once. I roamed the world with my friends, treasure hunting and chasing after many mysteries. One day, however, we were trapped in old ruins and, one by one, my friends died. I watched my lover starve to death.”

Her voice became shaky, nevertheless, Mary didn’t stop, “I’m a Mystic Diviner, so I was no fighter. I’m able to glimpse at the future and see the material plane, but I was still weak and couldn’t compare to them. Still, they protected me and ensured that I escaped that hellish place. Back then, I wasn’t the least bit happy. I was like you, if not worse, and I tried to kill myself.”

“...”

Zeke listened in silence, his eyes lingering on her sorrowful expression.

“Do you know what I thought back then? I don’t deserve to live… Why couldn’t I save them? I shouldn’t have joined them. I was going to do the unthinkable, judging myself inadequate and undeserving of kindness or even the chance to live. It’s not that I misjudged my apparent weaknesses, but that I didn’t look beyond them.”

Mary sighed and caressed his hand, “Zeke, I know that your situation is different from mine, however, don’t drown yourself in grief and sadness. Cherish your memories with those lost and honor their lives by moving forward. Don’t forget about them, but also don’t dwell on the past because no amount of regret will change anything.”

She pulled him into her embrace and hugged him while whispering calming words.

Although Zeke didn’t cry, he didn’t break free from her grasp and simply enjoyed that moment of serenity and peace.

“Thank you, Miss Mary.”

“It’s alright. I’m always here to help… not just for counselling too, okay? Don’t do anything reckless like fighting alone.”

Sensing that she knew about yesterday, Zeke guiltily averted his gaze.

“The Final Exams start today, so I wish you good luck. I know you’ve got other matters to deal with too, but I hope you return here to talk with me. It’s quite lonely here.”

“I will.”

A faint smile appeared on Zeke’s face as he bowed his head and left the room.

A couple of hours later, the first set of Theoretical Exams began.

Third year students were on edge, Second year students were nonchalant, and First years were nervous and apprehensive.

Zeke postponed his inevitable meeting with Samuel’s father to later and headed to the classroom.

The glances he got from all of his classmates were to be expected, but he paid them no heed and just sat down.

By now, all students must have learnt of Samuel’s tragic fate and since he had been close with Zeke, it was no wonder they were curious and surprised.

Even Julia wasn’t her cheerful self. Seeing Zeke quiet, she didn’t approach her and busied herself with the chatterbox Rebecca.

Azmer sat at the far back, absent-mindedly staring at the seat besides him, which used to belong to Rodrick.

“All present? Good.”

Christopher Balrant entered the classroom and swept his gaze across all of them before taking out the exam papers from a big document.

“No cell phones or electronic devices allowed. Anyone caught cheating will be expelled.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The Finals were a pretty serious matter for Erys as it determined the student’s ranking and played a huge role in establishing their foundation for the next year.

Zeke seemed detached from the whole thing as he calmly sat through for two hours and answered the best he could.

The recent and incessant problems notwithstanding, he wasn’t particularly worried about the Theoretical Exams.

As for the Practical Exams, which will begin on the 4th day of the week, they were a long series of monitored fights between the First Year students.

Throughout the day, the students were given little to no rest. Depending on the subject, the Theoretical exams took between two to four hours each with Mathematics being the longest.

In the evening, everyone’s brains were fried and they weren’t in the mood to have fun or do anything. After all, there were more exams tomorrow too.

Zeke, who was confident in scoring in the top 5, headed to the Infirmary.

“What?”

“I need your help, please.”

Doctor Xavier, looking as grumpy as ever, stared at the youth standing near the entrance with his head bowed.

“This ‘patient’ you speak of… why don’t you take it-ugh… nevermind.”

The man sighed and took off his head white coat, replacing it with a casual jacket and unfashionable hat.

“I’m going to do this once, you hear me?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Zeke didn’t hesitate to beg for Xavier’s help. He was the only one who could inspect the young girl staying at Sulong’s apartment.

‘Twas clear she was infected with some kind of sickness and bringing her to the hospital would be the epitome of folly.

The Department of Defense must be looking everywhere for her, them and the Azmer’s new ‘colleagues’.

Fortunately, Xavier had a car so the trip was short. Although, amidst the awkward silence, Xavier glanced at Zeke’s bandaged arm and asked,

“Are you experiencing any pain or difficulty in moving it?”

“Not really. It’s just numb.”

The lack of pain was partially thanks to the Pain-Junkie Path, specifically [Surge of Pain]. Zeke would activate whenever he felt tingling pain from his charred left arm. Maybe it had to do with his strengthened physique, the voltage circuit implemented in his body, or the Death Rune… whatever it was, it saved him from amputating his arm.

“You got strange runes on both hands and impressive regenerative abilities. Is this the System’s doing too?”

“...”

Hearing only silence as an answer, Xavier didn’t pry any further and focused on driving.

Soon enough, the two arrived at the workplace of the Lightning Flames Merc Group.

The office looked fancier than last time; There were boxed and unboxed laptops, a surveillance system, a large TV screen, and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff.

In addition, there was an unfamiliar man sitting behind a desk. Although it was his first time seeing him, Zeke knew that he was Stephan’s previous secretary, the one Sulong seemed to have successfully recruited. Not only that, but, from the looks of it, they got new funds too.

Sulong was the first to get up and greet Zeke and Xavier, mistaking the latter for a client.

“Hello, I’m Sulong Braveheart.”

“Xavier.”

The doctor shook Sulong’s hand while frowning in confusion.

“This way.”

Zeke didn’t explain anything, he guided the man to the corridor then opened the door to the apartment.

Inside, the young girl was momentarily startled before sighing in relief when she saw Zeke. She jumped from the bed and ran to him, tugging his pants as if trying to convey something.

“How have you been?”

Zeke crouched down and caressed the top of his head as he softly smiled.

“This man is a friend of mine. He’s a doctor.”

Zeke pointed at Xavier while uttering those words, but the girl seemed afraid.

“Don’t worry, I’m here.”

While being overly-careful not to startle her, he took her back to the bed and continued,

“He’s going to examine you, okay?”

She shook her head furiously while clutching his finger. Even though they had only met once, it looked like she trusted Zeke and didn’t mind physical contact. It was apparent that he had left quite an impression on her, which was fortunate.

“I’ll be here too. I’ll make sure you don’t feel any more pain.”

Zeke raised his pinky towards her and added, “Pinky promise.”

She tilted her head in confusion but ended up imitating him, so he grabbed her pinky and proceeded with the childish custom.

Eventually, after much persuasion, the girl lied down on the bed while holding Zeke’s hand.

Xavier’s constant frowning and his grumpiness didn’t help at all, but Zeke was able to reassure the girl.

Xavier put his hand on the girl’s stomach and closed his eyes as a faint white glow emanated from his fingers.

The girl, expecting to feel pain, gasped in surprise before biting her lips and tightly closing her eyes.

After ten to twenty seconds, Xavier retracted his hand.

“Using my ability isn’t enough for a proper diagnosis. I did discover a few things, however.”

As Zeke perked his ears and listened with a serious expression, Xavier continued,

“First, she had an unreasonable large quantity of Aether in her heart. Usually, that alone would be fatal and lead to the deterioration of the body, but her body is rapidly healing itself. Basically, it’s two opposing forces, one is the crashing wave of Aether and the other her superb regenerative capabilities.”

“Is there any way to fix this? A surgery or something?”

Xavier shook his head, looking a bit solemn, “I only mentioned what I detected. There’s definitely something wrong with this girl and since you’re clearly hiding her here, I can only presume she’s been experimented on. I have pills that would fix the Aether problem, but it’s only a temporary solution. As I said, proper tests need to be conducted.”

“...”

Zeke sighed and looked at the girl, who pulled down her clothes and sat up, drifting closer to him as she snuck peeks at the doctor.

“I’ll buy the pills from you.”

Xavier stood up and paced around the room while pressing his thumb against his temples, seemingly pondering about something. In the end, he grunted and said,

“Alright alright, I’ll give them for free. I can also bring some equipment here for a legitimate check-up. As a doctor, I can’t just pretend nothing happened after examining her.”

Zeke stared back at the man for a couple of moments before bowing his head.

“Thank you. I’ll definitely pay you back.”

“Ha! I don’t need anything. Just stop getting into trouble.”

Xavier turned around to leave but stopped after a couple of steps,

“By the way, she seems to have an ability similar to mine, but it’s in its ‘infancy’ stage and uncontrollable. Maybe she’s the key to fixing your arm.”

Zeke shook his head and retorted, “That’s not why I brought her here.”

“I know.”

*****

At the peak of a small mountain dozens of kilometers South of the Sunken Metropolis, Frederic Whitefort whistled in fascination as a small spaceship descended from the sky.

Ten Space Soldiers, led by Madam Jorie, appeared from within a stop a distance away from the wandering vagabond.

“Hello there! I’m Frederic…err, you must know that already, right? After all, you answered my call!”

Frederic seemed awkward as he waved his hand and talked non-stop.

The old woman looked around and once she received a confirmation that no one but Frederic was present, she stepped forward.

“You said you can help us find the killer?”

“I’m here to make a deal!” Declared Frederic while laughing, “I give you something, and I get a payment of equal value.”

“I know what a deal is.” Coldly said back Madam Jorie, already giving the vagabond a look of contempt.

“Great! I know who killed your precious Ambassador. I’m disinclined to capture him, but I can point you in the right direction.”

“Who was it?”

“Not so fast!”

Frederic took out an ominous black scroll from thin air and stated,

“Even Earthlings are not exempt from Divine Oaths bound by the powers of Gods. We will swear on the name of the Night Goddess. That way, there’s no room for trickery.”