John carefully positioned himself over the giant orange corpse, letting his hanging arm touch its surface. The essence was still inside, waiting for someone to retrieve it. And John didn’t hesitate.

‘I spent so much essence on that fight… I don’t have the leisure to convert it right now, so I’ll just fill my core with gaseous essence and let the rest reinforce my core.’

He focused on remaining still despite the pain constantly shooting through him, knowing any movement would only make it worse.

The essence obediently followed his arm back into his core, filling it rapidly. Then it continued to flow, forcing his core to expand and using the excess essence to rebuild its surface. John estimated another ten percent of growth.

‘That brings me up to, what, seventeen? Not a bad pace, honestly. But it’s way easier to kill ten demons than one horror, so I might stick to that in the future. Oh, what’s this?’

John wasn’t sure if the final hit in the horror’s eye would trigger the enchantment of the lucky sword, but judging by what floated in his core, it seemed to be enough.

The first purple enchantment he had seen drifted peacefully inside his center, awaiting his command. It was enough to make him forget about the pain momentarily as the excitement started building.

‘Oooh! Purple! That’s the stage over blue! And it has to do with… ‘

He tried sensing what the enchantment might give him in terms of power, but he was confused by what it told him.

‘… Twice? What the hell does that mean? Double? Double what? Where would double be useful?’

He decided to leave it for now, focusing instead on leaving this place before anything else wanted to pop up. He found it hard to believe the monkeys would simply let the body of their matriarch stay out here, unless it was part of their rules for some reason.

“... Let’s leave,” John whispered, barely loud enough for Rain to hear him. She didn’t show any reaction at first, but then she rubbed her eyes into her elbows and got up from where she sat. She stared at him silently, but her reddened eyes conveyed her emotions well enough.

Before John could say anything, she walked off in the other direction. “Rain find cave.”

‘... She’s reacting stronger than I expected. Is it really just what I did, or is there something else as well?’

Dennis came closer to him, sensing the awkward atmosphere. “She’ll be alright, John, don’t worry. She seemed to know what was happening with you while we were running, and she suddenly seemed horrified at one point. Did that necklace trigger?’

“Yeah,” John replied, thinking it was obvious. He was curious how Rain knew what happened to him, though.

Dennis nodded. “That makes sense. But that means there must be some kind of connection between you two, right?”

“... Maybe?”

“Right, I guess you wouldn’t know either. Well, let’s find somewhere for you to rest for now. We’re currently very low on combat power, so we need to be careful.”

John blinked in response and started floating after Rain. It was much more challenging to navigate Larang while lying down, but he managed it well enough by looking to his side.

‘... A connection? Is that how she finds me when we separate? Does that mean she’s guiding us to someone?’

----------------------------------------

After searching for a while, they were forced to make their own shelter under the roots of a large winding tree. Dennis did most of the work, shoveling dirt using John’s shield.

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It didn’t take long. Even if he wasn’t much of a fighter, Dennis was an aspecter. And with the added strength of the liquid essence he had cultivated, digging through dirt was a simple job.

John lay on the ground, circling his essence throughout his body. He could feel certain parts mending in real time, but he would need more essence than he had available to finish the process. So, he would likely have to wait for his core to fill naturally.

Being forced to lie still and wait to heal reminded him of an incident in his childhood. He fell from a roof and broke several bones. The doctor put braces on every limb to prevent him from moving. John hated it.

‘But Serah came to visit often, so it wasn’t all bad. Even if she’s the one who got me up on the roof in the first place… Kids sure are dumb.’

He shifted his focus to the necklace that now floated in his core, studying the remaining storage of black essence. It had halved again, bringing it down to less than a quarter of its full state.

‘That’s not bad, actually. I was tethered for quite a while. But if my body had been in a worse state… It could have taken days. And that’s not possible even if it’s filled to the brim.’

Rain and Dennis sat nearby, watching over him during the process. She had remained quiet since they met, but she seemed to be opening up again—slowly.

“Let me know when you’re ready to talk, because I’m extremely curious about how you managed to take down a horror on your own! It was obviously not without its costs, but still,” Dennis said, looking at John with reverence.

“...Soon,” John replied. His voice was still nothing more than a whisper, but the pain had lessened.

“Yeah, take your time. You were straight up dead for a while, so I can’t blame you. And I also feel responsible for what happened…”

“... I let him go,” John responded, not accepting that Dennis wanted to take the full blame. They could at least share it.

“Well… I was happy that you did. Either way, thanks for saving my life again.” Dennis bowed in front of him, looking ill at ease. “I can’t really do the same for you, but if there’s anything I can do, don’t hesitate to let me know. Anything.”

John could tell he was serious, and while he only did what he thought was right, he appreciated the gesture. “... Will do.”

“Great! I’ll hold you to it!” Dennis said, giving a thumbs-up. “I’m guessing we’ll keep traveling toward our destination once you get back on your feet. If you need the essence, I can probably hunt some monsters for you.”

John hadn’t thought about that. Even if they didn’t have much essence, it was way better than waiting for his core to fill on its own. “... Go hunt… No monkeys.”

Dennis smirked and stood back up, turning toward the entrance. “I’m not that dumb. I’ll let the two of you rest since It’s getting dark. I’ll be on guard for the night. And if anything comes, I’ll take care of it.”

“Dennis, careful!” Rain said.

“Don’t worry, I have some confidence at least. Not wanting to fight isn’t the same as not knowing how to fight.” He summoned his daggers as he said that, looking unusually cool. “Rest well, you two.”

Rain stared at Dennis as he left, not responding to him. Then she looked at John, and her brows furrowed in worry. “... Stupid.”

“... Now?” John asked, wondering why she wanted to start the argument again now that he was nearly unable to argue against her. It felt like a dirty trick.

But Rain shook her head, looking down at the ground. “Not John. Rain stupid.”

“... How?”

“Rain can’t say. Many reason. Rain… Rain bad sister.”

“No.”

She nodded stubbornly. “... John don’t know yet. Much secret.”

John hated that he couldn’t speak well, but he made a serious effort. “You’re not… You can… keep secrets… but still… family.”

His voice was quiet, but it carried a lot of weight regardless. Every word was filled with intention, and Rain could clearly feel it.

Tears dripped down her cheeks as she looked at him. “Rain not even… Rain is…” She stopped herself every time, clearly wanting to say something but holding herself back.

“Keep your… secrets… Always… family.”

She burst into tears, unable to resist the emotions any longer. John was intensely curious, but he had decided she should tell him on her own terms. And this clearly wasn’t willingly.

She moved closer to him, looking like she wanted to hug him. But she seemed scared to hurt him, so instead, she simply lay down next to him.

'At least it wasn't all about my stupidity this time... You’ve been through so much, Rain, and there's still so much I don't understand about you. But that doesn't matter. You’ve been there for me, guided us, saved us. Whatever your secrets are, they don't change who you are to me.'

He closed his eyes, feeling the day's exhaustion lulling him into a deep sleep. Rain kept silently weeping next to him, looking at him from the side.

"Rain and John both stupid... But family."

John smiled faintly at her words. The warmth of their bond was way more important than his curiosity about her mysteries. Whatever Rain was hiding, he trusted that she had her reasons. For now, being family was enough.