They had not walked long before Axe had joined them. He’d stepped out of the room, throwing a door open with a kick. Despite his size and his power. The door simply swung open violently, slammed against the wall, and closed back.

He opened it a second time and walked out with a slight touch of annoyance. He nodded in friendly greeting when he saw Melmarc.

Despite his size, he was a teddy bear. Or at least that was how David believed his children remembered the tank. He was the one colleague who always greeted Ark and Melmarc with a fist bump. Always. Ninra always got a high five for reasons best known only to Ninra.

If Axe knew those reasons, he had not shared them, and David had not asked for them.

Saxi had plotted them a new path as instructed and they had walked it in silence. They avoided rooms with yellow hues around the door. They stepped over dead creatures called [Damned] useless and plentiful.

Melmarc always had a look of loss whenever they passed them. It was slight but it was there. Like a hungry child walking passed a dropped ice cream they really wanted.

Now, Saxi had brought them to a stop. The path in front of them, just down the hallway, had a few of the [Damned] jerking about.

David walked up to the farthest wall and sat casually on the ground. Melmarc moved to sit beside him.

The others arraigned themselves on the side. His team and the ones sent to save his son. From what David knew, they had been cobbled together in a rush. A poor group. Why they had arranged themselves in a line had nothing to do with him. For all he cared, they could do whatever they wanted as long as it did not get in the way of what his son wanted.

His team was probably in agreement as well because he had a feeling they had been the ones to cause the arrangement—Deoti most likely.

Melmarc and David sat and watched the [Damned] jerk about ahead of them.

“Are they enough?” David asked.

Melmarc was thoughtful for a while. “No.”

David nodded. “We will need more. But we do not have the time.”

“Why?”

David looked at him. “If what I think has happened has happened, we will need to hurry. What is your class and rank?”

“[Faker]. B.”

[Faker] was arguably a difficult class. David knew enough about them, though.

“Then you will not fight alone.” David stared ahead in thought. “For now, do what you have to.”

“Thanks dad.”

Melmarc still smiled often. For that, David remained glad. His time in the portal had shaved some of the child out of him. But he was still a child. David wanted his children to be children until they were not.

Melmarc got up and started walking forward, down the path. Towards the [Damned]. His shoulders grew slowly alert and he rounded them in slow preparation. His hands opened and closed gently. His shoulders moved slowly with each breath.

The ‘self defense’ classes had paid off.

“Boss?” Deoti said.

David didn’t look away from Melmarc. “Deoti. Saxi. Axe.”

“Yes, Boss,” all three said in unison.

David’s eyes followed his son as the [Damned] took note of him. To his team present, he had only one word.

“Go.”

…

The [Damned] weren’t too much, although they numbered up to ten. At B-rank they gave a number just a little above one hundred [EP]. So if he could kill them, he could get around a thousand [Ep]s. It sounded large. But it wasn’t much when he reasoned his [Optimum Existence]] was still at two percent.

A few steps sounded behind him and Melmarc looked back. It was a quick glance since the [Damned] now had their attention on him. There was still a significant amount of space between him and them.

Saxi, Axe, and Deoti stood casually behind him.

Deoti raised a casual hand. It was a gesture that told him not to worry about them. “Just do your thing, Mel. Your dad just sent us to watch.”

Melmarc didn’t think his dad had sent them to watch. And since there was no dissonance so there was a high chance she didn’t know.

“I don’t think that’s why Boss sent us,” Axe said.

Saxi shrugged. “Me, too.”

Deoti looked from one of them the other while Melmarc kept his attention on the [Damned].

“I miss Fendor at times like this,” Saxi said. “He’d have the witty line that he can get away with.”

Deoti shot him a glare. “I’m sure you’ve got witty lines, too.”

“Not ones I’ll get away with.”

In front of Melmarc a blue line appeared, trailing from him to a [Damned] behind the first. It was an odd thing to see. It reminded Melmarc that he still had access to Saxi’s skill [Sense of the Survivor].

Blue means a possible threat. It will attack but there won’t be any severe damage.

The [Damned] took a pose. One hand was simply a sword blade that extended from its wrist. Its pose placed the blade on a hand raised like a guard in front.

“Kid’s a [Faker], Deoti,” Saxi said. “His class fights best with Gifted around.”

The [Damned] lowered its form. The one in front of it continued walking.

“They are weak to lightning,” Deoti said. “So lightning works. Mel, don’t rush it. Take your time. Learn to use your skills, properly.”

Melmarc heard a crackle behind him. He felt the air against his skin grow charged like the time she had attacked Naymond when they’d met her.

“Ready, Marc?” Axe asked. “Because they are.”

Melmarc nodded. “Ready.”

The creature burst forward and the blue line turned a bright red.

“Mel!” Deoti called out in worry.

Melmarc responded.

[You have used skill Knowledge is Power]

Mana burst out of Melmarc and the [Damned] shot through the space between them. Melmarc braced for impact. As impervious as he was to damage, he remained not immune to pain. He used his forearm as a shield.

The tip of the rusted blade slammed into his forearm and he parried the blow. There was no sound from the impact. No clashing of objects. Nothing. The creature’s blade was tossed to the side. Melmarc winced in pain, but he’d been in too much pain in the past few days to succumb to something like this.

He recovered from the blow first and stepped forward. The [Damned] didn’t hesitate but it was slower. Melmarc drove his foot into its chest. The attack would do no damage, but damage wasn’t what he was going for.

The [Damned] was sent staggering back. Then it fell into a backward tumble. The sound of its metal sword hand clattering against the floor.

Melmarc put all his weight behind the kick and sent the [Damned] flying back. Another line appeared. It trailed a path straight for his stomach. Translucent. He moved quickly but was too slow.

Pain flared in his stomach, and while he would’ve liked to throw the attack back with a forward thrust of his hip, normal people didn’t just thrust forward when the pain of a knife stab was in their stomach. Melmarc fought the urge to fold. He only needed a moment. The pain never lasted.

The next moment it was gone. He swung a punch at it with all his might. It connected with the creature’s metal helmet. Pain flared in his knuckles and he winced once more.

The burst of mana was returning to him. The remaining [Damned] were coming too.

Melmarc rounded his back, tightened it, and set himself into a boxer’s stance. “I’ve got this,” he said to the others.

“Didn’t doubt it for a second,” Saxi said with a touch of amusement in his voice.

Surprisingly, there was no call of dissonance.

Melmarc heard a grumble from behind him when [Knowledge is Power] came to a conclusion.

[Skill Knowledge Is Power is concluded.]

[All stats are increased by +1.5.]

[Life forms detected: 19.]

[You have received 10 Potential buffs.]

[Sense of the Survivor (Mastery 0.02%)]

The Gifted is aware of the roads leading to their demise.

[Elemental Magic-Lightning (Mastery 0.00%)]

The Gifted manipulates the elements of the world around them.

[World Aegis (Mastery 0.00%)]

The Gifted possesses a body with a significant defense against attacks.

[Madness Incarnate (Mastery 15.03%)]

The Oath Exists in the chaos of madness.

[Hand of Life (Mastery 100.00%)]

The Gifted quantifies a target’s health in definable quantity.

[World of Insight (Mastery 08.63%)]

The Gifted is aware of their existent present surrounding.

[Sword of the Immortal (Mastery 02.61%)]

The Gifted cuts a target at the same strength regardless of health.

[Soul Damnation (Mastery 0.00%)

The damned damns their own soul into further damnation through the damnation of their soul by offering their soul to Caldath.

[Fist of Thunder (Mastery 2.34%)]

The Gifted wraps their fist in electricity at a mana cost.

[Stay Away From Me (Mastery 0.56%)]

The Gifted keeps a target away from their personal space.

…

[Buff mastery is scaled based on mastery of skill Bless Your Kindness. Mastery of buff will begin reduction after eight minutes.]

[Would you like to select a Buff?]

[Yes/No.]

[Remaining time: 00:02:59.]

Melmarc chose [Elemental Magic-Lightning] without hesitation, having heard what Deoti had said. Knowledge of how the skill worked washed through him as he did his best to ignore [Madness Incarnate].

He had a strong feeling it belonged to his dad.

Despite the choice of skill, Melmarc did not use [Elemental Magic-Lightning] immediately. Instead, he stepped to the side, hand already moving.

[You have used Secrecy]

[Remaining uses 3/4]

The ring of mana appeared around his wrist. His eyes sharpened as what looked like a dull holographic projection of a dome with an undulating circumference appeared. He slammed the ring of mana into the ground at his feet as a few other [Damned] rushed at him in bursts of speed.

The ring exploded into a dome of translucent blue, capturing the [Damned] inside with him. Another ring appeared as he twirled his wrist, this one brighter than the last.

[You have used Rings of Saturn]

[Remaining uses 3/4]

Melmarc had almost forgotten about the skills refusal to give him an evolution notification. Or even an alternative skill option.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

He felt the weight of it on his hand but didn’t throw the ring of mana. A red indicator dashed at him from outside the dome of [Secrecy]. The moment its body was inside, its attack seemed to taper off. Its speed was gone. Its force and power was no where to be found.

Melmarc smashed a fist weighted by a ring of mana into its desiccated face. He felt the cracking of bone before he even heard the sound of it. The creature’s face was stopped by his fist but its body shot forward beneath it.

One of the [Damned[ already downed in his dome of [Secrecy]. Melmarc turned, stepped to the side the way he’d been taught in his boxing classes and threw a right hook straight into its face. There was another crack but no notification of his victory.

It would take more than a single punch to put them down. Not that he was surprised.

He twirled his other hand and a second ring appeared.

[You have used Rings of Saturn]

[Remaining uses 2/4]

Melmarc stood, facing the group of [Damned] armed with different weapons, some struggling at his feet, within the embrace of [Secrecy], fists raised in a boxer’s stance in constant minute motion.

A ring of mana encircled the wrist of each fist.

…

[You have slain Damned(B)]

[You have gained EP 127]

[Total EP 1042]

Melmarc had a cut on his cheek. It was deep and it stung terribly. Deoti had asked him to take his time, learn his skills. And he was doing exactly that.

He didn’t know how long he’d fought, but he’d used [Knowledge is Power] four times and had swapped between three different skills. Deoti had been right. Lightning worked best against the [Damned]. They twitched at its touch and staggered as if their brains were disconnected from their bodies.

But the skill [Elemental Magic-Lightning] was not strong enough to kill them. At least not the mastery he had it at. So most of the fight had been with [Rings of Saturn] wrapped around his wrists.

The first thing he had learned in his fight was how long he could keep [Rings of Saturn] on his wrists. Two minutes. It took two minutes before his mind started to grow fatigued and his body started to slow and wan. The solution was using the rings, dull as they would finally become. Their effect was also weaker.

One had literally bounced off a [Damned], ricocheted into some random wall.

Funny enough, the moment he released them, the fatigue that clouded his mind and body left.

Then there were the skills. Right now he was working with a tanker skill. [World of Aegis] gave him thick skin. But he’d learned that it wasn’t his skin. Being struck was less painful and he weathered the blows properly.

His defensive boxing stance supported his size. With raised hands he kept his face protected and rounded his back and hunched his body so that his stomach was also protected.

If anyone saw him fighting, they would not agree that he was a [Faker]. He did not fight with flare and grace, jumping around and tossing out skills he had stolen from one person or the other. No. He fought like a boxer. Jabs and hooks and weaves and ducks.

The only thing that identified his class was the occasional adjustments he did to his technique. When he wielded lightning—Deoti’s skill—he immobilized with it. Electricity went flying with each blow. Then there would be the occasional change of pace were he was fast and precise, using Saxi’s skill [Sense of the Survivor] to evade, which made him seem more like an agility class than anything else.

Melmarc winced as a halberd struck his raised forearm.

“Hold it, Marc,” Axe said from behind him. “You have to feel the skill go through you.”

Melmarc groaned as metal staff struck him. He felt it bounce off of him. He could feel the pain and the weight of it, but his skin was surviving, withstanding. And Axe was giving out advice.

Melmarc ducked in time when a sword pierced his defense and almost pierced him. The moment he was out of the way, he rounded the [Damned] in three steps, then ducked out of the way as another struck at him.

Axe had said he should feel the strength and not shy away from the pain. As easy as it sounded, and with everything Melmarc had been through, it was a different thing to face a sword or halberd head on when he didn’t have [Knowledge is Power] active.

Rounding the [Damned] gave Melmarc a view of everyone that was watching and not for the first time he saw the look of blatant disbelief on Deoti’s face. With a touch of worry.

Behind them Melmarc’s father simply watched the battle. Expression empty. He didn’t look it but Melmarc knew he was worrying. He had said that they were running out of time.

Melmarc used [Secrecy]. A [Damned] dropped beside him like a puppet with its strings cut. Melmarc raised his leg, moved it and a ring of mana appeared around his ankle.

[You have used Rings of Saturn]

[Remaining uses 1/4]

He raised his leg over the creature’s head and stomped down on it decisively. With the stacks of the stat effect from his constant use of [Knowledge is Power] and the weight of the ring of pure mana, the moment his leg hit the creature’s head, it shattered.

Deoti looked away with a grimace.

[You have slain Damned(B)]

[You have gained EP 112]

[Total EP 1154]

With the same leg, he turned with a high kick and shattered the head of a [Damned] that had stumbled into the reach of [Secrecy]. This was a strategy. A cowardly one, but a strategy nonetheless. He could stack the effects of [Knowledge is Power] until there was no stacks left and walk into a fight.

Once that was done, he only needed to throw hands and legs with [Rings of Saturn] active. It wasn’t necessarily a strategy that would work in any scenario, but it seemed to be working here.

[You have slain Damned(B)]

[You have gained EP 102]

[Total EP 1256]

From where he was seated, Melmarc’s father finally got up. He walked up to Deoti, Saxi and Axe but said nothing. He watched, standing, waiting.

Beside him Axe gave off a slight chuckle. “Fights like his mum, doesn’t he?”

“Precise, accurate.” Deoti’s expression didn’t look happy. “Detached.”

Melmarc’s father said nothing as [Secrecy] deactivated and Melmarc used [Knowledge is Power]. He caught a [Damned] that had dashed at him like a battering ram and threw it to the side. He couldn’t inflict damage, but he could put the creature in a position that had something else inflict damage on it.

“When I found him,” Saxi said softly, “he was fighting like you.”

To that, Melmarc’s father nodded. “An imitation. Incomplete.”

They turned to look at him but said nothing. It seemed as if there was nothing to say.

By the time Melmarc was done with the remaining [Damned], his father’s expression had shifted to something thoughtful. It was minute but it was there, something most people who didn’t know him would not see.

Melmarc stood in a sea of [Damned] corpses. His chest heaved slowly. He wasn’t tired, but he’d used up a lot of mana, which was surprising because this was the first time it was happening since coming to the portal.

Is it because they are S-ranks? He wondered.

Did it take more out of him to use an S-rank skill? A brief thought told him that he hadn’t used one before. Maybe it was how long you kept [Rings of Saturn]?

His father watched him a little longer before finally speaking.

“Let’s go to the Orb.”

It was a simple statement that carried far too much weight. Clinton tensed and Jude paled. Melmarc could understand why Jude had grown pale but not why Clinton had tensed up. Now that he thought about it, the rest of the team seemed a little too tense.

Axe came to stand beside Melmarc. “It must’ve been a lot to deal with.”

“What was?” he asked.

“The skills.” Axe took a look at the cut on his cheek. It wasn’t the only one he had. “S-rank skills carry a heavy requirement to use. I think your dad wanted to see how much you could pull from us since you’re a B-rank.”

Is that what affects the mastery?

Melmarc had never thought of it that way. He’d just always assumed it was strictly compatibility based. But now that he thought about it again, those with the [Faker] class always had skills that they could not copy. Strength based classes were tricky.

But he’d just copied a [Mage] which was a mana-based class, a tank—he couldn’t remember Axe’s class—and a [Guide] which was a…

The [Guide] class was tricky. They were known to hover between agility-based and mana-based. Melmarc decided that Saxi’s was mana-based.

Deoti joined him and Axe in record time. There was no smile on her face, only worry. And she refused to meet Melmarc’s eyes.

“You’re a mess.” She raised a hand to his cheek. Her voice was low, words muttered. “You should be more careful. It’s called duck and weave for a reason. Duck. And weave.”

Her fingers didn’t twirl in a flair of actions. Instead, the effect of her skill simple moved from her fingers to his cheeks. Melmarc felt the warm touch as his cheek healed. It took less than a second before his cheek was completely healed.

Deoti touched his cheek softly, a caring aunty. Melmarc could feel it trembling against his cheek.

“Aunt Deo—”

She took her hand from his face and Melmarc kept quiet. She moved on to a hole in his thigh. He’d taken a blow from a [Damned] with a Morningstar. One of the spikes had caught him the wrong way. “Precise but reckless. You need more training.”

Melmarc said nothing. He was sixteen, barely two months old as a Gifted. And this was his first portal, unplanned and unsanctioned. Of course he still needed training. She was telling him things that anyone knew.

Personally, Melmarc thought he’d done fine against them. He’d chosen boxing because it was always good to pick a style of fighting when you had time to prepare yourself. His self defense instructor always said that only masters and fools fought with freestyle when they had the time to pick a fighting style.

Melmarc was not a master, and he didn’t like to think of himself as a fool.

Years in self defense class and you never quote master John. Melmarc fought back a sigh. This is a Delver’s life.

Deoti was done with the injury on his leg. The hole closed up, replaced by pink flesh that slowly aged into a color that was the same with the rest of his skin.

She gave him another glance. Her eyes took him in, checking for injuries. Melmarc stood there, quiet.

He stood there in silence as she picked out even the most minute scratches on him. No one said anything. Axe was silent, so was Saxi. Even Melmarc’s dad, though that wasn’t very surprising.

When Deoti was done with him, she gave Melmarc a kind pat on the cheek and he caught the moisture in her eyes before she turned away.

He looked to Axe for help when Deoti had returned to Saxi’s side. She stood there, back turned to him.

“Did I do something?” he asked Axe.

Axe gave him a gentle smile. “Don’t hold it against her, Marc.”

“Don’t hold what against her?”

“She never wanted you to become a Gifted. She meant well. You were her good boy, and her experience with Delvers is that none are good.”

That was an odd way to think. “But she’s a Delver. You guys are Delvers.”

“And we’ve done things we are not proud of.” Axe sighed. “Being Gifted is special. Being a Delver is different. If you do it long enough, you’ll get to know what I’m talking about.”

“So she thinks I’ll change, too?”

Axe placed a hand on his shoulder. “I will be honest with you, Marc. You and Ninra were supposed to be the best of us. None of us have kids so we saw you three as our own. Deoti wanted you to live a long good life. A—”

“That’s enough.” Melmarc’s father’s voice was simple. There was no authority or power in it yet it allowed no challenge.

Axe fell silent. He patted Melmarc once before taking his hand from his shoulder before stepping aside.

Melmarc’s father came to stand in front of him.

“Do not hold it against them,” he said calmly. “They mean well.”

Melmarc looked past his father. Deoti still had her back to him but it looked like she was cleaning tears from her eyes the way her arms moved.

His father looked back at her. “She had hoped.”

Melmarc found himself wondering how she would’ve reacted if he was the one that had ended up getting the [Demon King] class.

“Let us go,” his father said, turning. “The Orb is not far.”

…

Surprisingly, the path to the orb was not long. Melmarc’s father led not Saxi. They moved through three rooms, followed two hallways before they got to their destination.

It was a door with an orange hue and they met Fendor squatted in front of the door, hands messing around with it. Melmarc’s father and the others came to a stop in front of it.

“Have you found a way?” Melmarc’s father asked.

Fendor turned and looked up. He was just the way Melmarc remembered. Squared jaw. Dimpled cheeks. A smile that said he was getting older but he wasn’t ready to forget how to be a child.

“No luck, Boss,” he answered. “Oh, hey, Mel. Did you make Deoti cry.”

Deoti kicked him in the shin and he hopped away.

Clinton and his team were still yet to say anything. They’d been silent as if intimidated. Naymond, too.

Melmarc wondered if this was a thing with his father’s team or just what the relationship between S-ranks and lower ranks were. He’d heard of the gap between them even socially, but he didn’t know they were this separated.

“Anyway.” Fendor placed a hand against the door and a small mark lit up on the back of his hand. It was a soft and gentle blue with a touch of green. “Still locked out.”

Fendor looked at Clinton and his team and waved. “Hi.”

They looked confused. In the end, they replied with a nod.

“Any of you ever try going through one of these colored doors?” he asked as if they had given him perfectly reasonable responses.

“Colored door?” Claire asked with a touch of a stutter.

Fendor gave her a boyish grin. “Yep. You guys don’t see it?”

Claire shook her head.

“May I?” Fendor held a hand out to her, palm up.

Claire hesitated but placed her hand in his.

“Thank you.” Fendor pulled her forward and towards the door. “Right here, love.”

Deoti scowled. “Fen.”

Fendor dropped Claire’s hand as if it had burnt him. “Anyway, Delver who’s name I don’t know. Try opening the door.”

Confused, Claire took the handle in her hand and turned. There was a soft click from the door and it opened inwards.

In Melmarc’s eyes, the orange hue remained. If they can’t go through it, can I?

Claire looked back and Fendor gestured her forward with a smile. Melmarc saw her visibly gulp.

“How about I go in first,” he interjected.

Naymond looked from him to the others. He raised a finger as if asking for permission. Deoti shot him a scathing glance.

“[Sage],” she said.

Melmarc wondered why she hated him so much. He doubted it was simply because he was a Player.

“How about I go in.” Naymond stepped up to the door. “She’s terrified and Melmarc doesn’t like what’s going on. I could just—”

He hopped into the room.

“Shit!” Deoti hissed.

“He’s fine,” Melmarc’s father said. “We just wait.”

And they did. But not for long. In less than two minutes, Melmarc’s interface flashed in front of him.

[Congratulations!]

[Quest Completed!]

[Portal Quest: Ruins of Caldath.]

You have walked upon the ruins of Caldath, ancient city of debauchery and hate. Its inhabitants have sold their soul to Caldath and have lost it eternally. Only their servants, too unimportant to be granted such misfortune, remain. Conclude the ruination of Caldath and free these innocent servants from their unfair damnation.

[Objective Complete: Find the orb of Caldath.]

Everyone else was looking into space, most likely at their interfaces showing them the same piece of information.

“That was anti-climatic,” Jed said under his breath.

Apart from his team, no one else gave him any attention and Naymond popped out from behind the hue a moment later. He held in his hand a deep purple orb as large as a watermelon.

He looked down at it. “I don’t think this can be a personal use item.” He hefted it in both hands. “Maybe a war tool. You know, you fix it to power a building.”

He looked around at everybody. “No?” he asked. “Alright then. That’s a no.”

He held it out to Fendor.

Fendor reached out and took it. A hole appeared in the world just beneath his hands and he dipped his hands with the orb inside it.

“That’s the reward and we helped clear the—” Jude’s words died in his mouth at a look from Deoti.

[Exit Detected!]

Melmarc saw the notification only for a new one to appear. It was a simple blue indicator that pointed to the side.

He turned his head in its direction. So did the others. Right there, just a few steps away from them, was a portal.

It was a perfect copy of the one Melmarc had been shot into.

The sight of it filled Melmarc with an overbearing sense of relief. He felt as if he’d been carrying a weight on his shoulders that he hadn’t known he’d been burdened with.

He paused then turned to his dad. The moment Melmarc got his attention he walked up to him.

“A problem?” his father asked.

Melmarc reached upwards and his father leaned his head down to listen.

“I got a personal quest along with my portal quest,” Melmarc told him in a low voice. “I haven’t done it.”

His father frowned fully. “What is the quest?”

“To defeat the Demi-god, Caldath.”

“A Demi-god in a B-rank portal,” his father mused. “It must be significantly weakened. But personal quests are optional. They come with rewards but are ultimately optional.”

Melmarc felt a touch of relief, loss too. “Really?”

His father nodded. “They are optional. But do you want to complete it?”

Melmarc hesitated. “If it’s not any trouble.”

“Do you know where it is? The Demi-god.”

Melmarc shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter,” his father said. “We can find it. However, you will need a team. And I doubt mine will be allowed to help.”

Melmarc looked back at Clinton’s team. Something told him that risking their lives would not be a good idea. He turned back to his dad and shook his head.

“It’s not necessary.”

His father watched him for a moment before raising a hand and placing it on his shoulder. “Your mother always said that it was best to pick your fights. She will be proud.”

“Thanks, dad.”

His father turned from him. “Deoti. Fendor. You’ll go in first. We might have company so I need a mode of transport ready to go once we arrive.”

“Yes, Boss,” they answered.

“Mel and the [Sage] go next with me. Then the civilians. Then Axe and Saxi.”

“Yes, Boss,” Axe and Saxi answered.

The moment the words were out of their mouth Deoti and Fendor made their way for the portal. Fendor entered first. Deoti hesitated at the entrance but looked over her shoulder.

“We’ll talk on the other side, Mel,” she said. “I promise.”

Then she stepped into the portal and was gone.

Following his father’s instruction, Melmarc made his way for the portal. In a moment he was standing in front of it, staring. He’d been shot into a portal that had begun this entire mess he’d gone through.

It feels like so long ago.

Like a lifetime ago.

He looked back at the rest of the place. The old walls. The single [Damned] corpse at the turn they’d taken just before coming to meet Fendor here. The ancient feel of the place.

To his surprise, he felt as if he would miss the place.

I guess I’ll really need therapy.

For now, he had a home to go back to. He stepped forward, held his hand out in front of him and pushed his way into the portal.

[Incomplete Quest Detected!]

…

[Personal Quest Detected!]

…

[Personal Quest: Ruins of Caldath.]

You have walked upon the ruins of Caldath, ancient city of debauchery and hate. Its inhabitants have sold their soul to Caldath and have lost it eternally. Only their servants, too unimportant to be granted such misfortune, remain. Conclude the ruination of Caldath and free all from their eternal damnation.

[Quest objective: Defeat Demi-god Caldath.]

[Reward: +5% Mastery.]

…

[Dear August Intruder, you currently cannot use this feature.]

[Kindly complete all quests to gain access to Return Portal]

…

[Pending Objective: Defeat Demi-god Caldath]

[Reward: +5% Mastery]