Her body trembled with cold sweat. It hadn’t even been so long but she felt absolutely ragged. She had overestimated herself, and underestimated the guest. She had… made a few mistakes. Taking a deep breath, beads of sweat dropped, her mana was awfully low for the first time in years, keeping everything going was more than what she expected. Initially she felt like she had made the right choice, but now she didn’t know. Lost a bit too much for her liking, it was lopsided really. She would get her rewards eventually, but she didn’t know when. Or if she would ever see them at all. How, she remembered.

She walked into that conference room not expecting anything, but when it was time to choose she couldn’t stop herself. It was an impulse. Perhaps it was because it was too good to be true, and indeed⁠—it was amazing, though deep down there was a reason to why. Champions were incredibly expensive, at first she felt nothing but regret by trading that Prophecy, but afterwards she felt hopeful. Though, after all was said and done, now she was just unsure. She was just irrational.

The Guest had taken a bit too much for her liking, she liked her guest, but things developed unexpectedly. A bit too unexpectedly. It was supposed to be for her and her alone, that opportunity, that chance to see her love again. Her obsession. Instead it was ripped. Gone and elsewhere. She just felt rueful. It took everything she could to just not break. Perhaps she was obsessed, but it all felt wrong. Everything did.

And in the end, she had lost a Mythical Prophecy for it? It just felt lopsided and unfair. Any-whatever-kind of material benefits she would get from the championship contract was good until⁠— she lost a bit too much? She couldn’t help but really ask herself if it was worth it, whether it was the mana spent, how exhausted she felt, or the amount of things she slipped.

She thought she had gotten over her death, but it seems that it still haunted her. In the end…

A deep sigh left her. Maybe it was just memorabilia.

She finally regained her bearings. Unable to dwell too much, all she could do really was wait and see. A breath later, she looked at the notification within her mind, one that was previously ignored, and it did not take long before her expression became crestfallen.

Why now?

Why enable continental challenges?!

She had sacrificed so much for a proper Champion, and now it was just going to die?! She had to interfere, somehow, in some way. She knew she wasn’t trustworthy in the eyes of anyone, but maybe, if she visited that person, then with the right price her Champion might just remain alive.

Even then, she dreaded it. Fate was an uncertain thing.

First was a Mythical Prophecy, then there was something she considered precious to her, and now she just felt the need to do this? Something was wrong with her. Maybe she shouldn’t have deceived her Champion that much, perhaps it was Karma, perhaps she should’ve asked herself if it was really worth it. In the end, she didn’t want to admit how utterly foolish she was.

But alas, such was the state of things. In the end, she ultimately felt guilty. She had taken the wrong approach, and now there was no way to fix things. In the end, all she could do was provide assistance and hope to reap her rewards, if there were any to begin with. She would be thrilled if her Champion made it to the same rank as her, being honest. At least, things were chaotic for other patrons too, so maybe it wasn’t too bad. Though if she found out who paid to have Continental Challenges she would make their life hell.

Everyone was going to. Sneaking things under people's noses to change the fate of the New Planet was bound to make every single person involved unhappy. Except for the Legacy empire, of course. And to make things worse, her Champion wasn’t replaceable anymore, though it was never meant to be replaceable. The more she thought about it, the worse the burden in her mind became. At first she was just curious but at-almost first sight she had gotten overly attached.

A groan escaped her. Perhaps she wasn’t ready to nurture a Champion yet, but it was too late for regrets now.

* * * * *

Deep breaths. I didn’t know how long I spent collecting myself but at last. I opened my eyes to see the reality in front of me, the thing that came after the Skirmish, the so-called New World. Glim still listlessly floated by my side, which almost made me lose a bit of touch with reality. Ultimately, I just wanted to get stronger for now, it felt right. I wasn’t ready to think about anything else really. I still felt, off. The rock that I was sitting in seemed to have teleported in with me, which was weird but I accepted it quickly.

My eyes wandered off to the unnaturally smooth ground, it was dusty and had some rocks, but it was smooth. Like the flooring within the elven houses⁠— I stopped myself once more. It wasn’t the time for that. A quick check up and it seemed that I had taken most things with me except for my previous bow. I was… distracted. And it had vanished into thin air it seemed. So my losses were almost catastrophic, but thankfully it all seemed good. Once more, I took time to look at the ground before shifting to other things.

I seemed to be in a type of building. Though the place was desolate, dust particles floated everywhere, visible with the sunlight that came from the windows. I couldn’t help but feel some sort of familiarity with the place, it was streamlined and straight, squared even. It reminded me much of the rooms when I had been summoned. The rock was in the middle of the room, and there seemed to be a counter and a lot of metal boxes with different things. I saw cupboards, and a hallway that went elsewhere.

I was in a house? It didn’t make sense to me, but I grabbed my spear and stowed my bow on my back before continuing. Perhaps there were enemies nearby. I approached the hallway where I found my first door, I opened it and⁠—

A bathroom? I recognized it too. Once more, it was similar to The Illusionist’s place.

I wandered elsewhere, finding another door. Opening the room I saw weird things. There were a lot of oil spills, colorful ones, some on papers and others on the floor. I saw brushes, and what seemed to be some sort of picture drawn with the oils onto it? It was a bit hard to tell, squared and in disarray, but it also seemed quite nice. I admired it for a second before my eyes turned to a different place, there seemed to be a small chair with a book. I was curious about the place I was in, though it made no sense to me at all.

Wasn’t the New World supposed to be like the Skirmish? There were no structures there.

I shook my head and reached⁠—

A notification came.

[(Warning) Should there be any more interference during the Fledgling Phases of the New World, Champions and Patrons alike will be punished.]

[(Warning) Interference has occurred. Continental Challenges have been enabled.]

Ha? And then more.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

[World Quest ⁠— Continental Challenge #4: A Herald type monster roams, wild and untamed. Hidden away waiting to be discovered. Slay it. Take its crystal, and the Central Wall shall grant you passage. Secrets and opportunities await.]

I stared in silence as Glim seemed to tremble next to me. Somehow, in some way, I wasn’t really surprised by what I was seeing. Perhaps it was the detachment, my reclaimed memories or the fact that Glim was shaking, either factor seemed plausible.

[Uh oh, sooo… Someone kind of did something and now The System is pissed!]

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t say?”

[Hey, it’s not my fault someone thought it was a good idea to make such a trade! It’s just politics, okay? If the owners of this Star Cluster just decide to tinker with The System then isn’t it screwed?]

“So it’s out of our reach?”

[It’s out of anyone’s reach! The System doesn’t really get it either! That’s why it’s issuing warnings versus just snapping things out of existence!]

A sigh left me. “What happens now?” I left the room and went to the next door.

[What happens is nothing. A Herald is basically just the direct upgrade of a Guardian. You think you can kill something so strong? The answer is no. Blair, you cannot just bow shoot something the size of a house or however big it is!]

I snorted. “You think I am dumb? Sure it sounds interesting, but I am barely level 25 right now.”

[Right, sorry.] Glim apologized. [I was a bit shaken, that’s all…]

I shook my head as I reached the final door at the end of the hall. It soundlessly opened without effort, as I saw the room within very clearly. It had a bed and to my surprise, it also had portraits? It was a drawing, extremely detailed.

[Oh, a photo!] Glim bobbed as I stared at the photo.

It had a human, it was a woman of red hair with freckles, pale skin. To her side was a blurred face that had been scratched off, but she had a bright smile. I thought nothing of it as I admired other things around. One thing was for certain. I now had a shelter in the New World, even if it was strange to me and a Human one.

“How do I claim territory?” I asked Glim, perhaps I could scan the area. But at the same time, it’s not like I could actually move the house. So it was probably better for me to claim it first.

[Oh, right, right. Just think about it?]

I nodded, and thought. A prompt was generated but not what I wanted.

[You cannot claim territories when monsters are nearby.]

My mind spaced out as I heard a glass shatter coming from the room I was teleported into. Unsure whether to continue holding my spear or grab onto my bow, I let my instincts decide. I gripped onto my bow and moved forward. An arrow was generated within my fingers, familiar, twisted and full of vines. I took slow and methodical steps to the door where I peered within the hallway.

I heard a growl followed by a yelp. A black shadow streaked through my vision as it slammed against the wall, a cloud of dust exploded. And finally my vision narrowed as another monster slowly walked. It was big, walking on four legs and it stood close to as tall as me. It reminded me of the Fangtooth a lot. Its fur was white and it had a pair of crimson eyes.

[Bloodfang. Lvl. 23]

My eyes glossed over the similarity in its name as its gaze met mine. It growled and ran towards me at shocking speeds, a snort left me, I had no time to fire. I ran, meeting it head on, and at the last second I slid. Its sharp claw passed by my armor but it did no damage. After the short exchange we had switched places, but now my arrow was fully drawn and charged. I turned and soon I saw the gaping hole in the wall as the Bloodfang pounced. At that moment I felt a sudden tug of my mana towards the core of the bow, and that’s where I realized it.

It wasn’t on cooldown. I probed it and in an instant the arrow was enhanced with the weirdest kind of mana I had felt. I could see it clearly now, weaving between the arrow and its trajectory, it was illusory, but present. And then, I let go as the lines lined up with my target.

It became nothing more than a shadow as an explosion outside resounded, the arrow was enhanced with my mana but the connection instantly became weak as if drained. My eyes slowly readjusted only to see it impaled on the distant ground with Wisteria flowers growing out of its body. There was a brief second of confusion, but it was also excitement.

Immediate Fate could be used with plant arrows? Wasn’t that practically amazing? My smile deepened as I grabbed a random arrow from my storage and nocked it within my bow. But as I lined up the shot, the Bloodfang gnawed and screeched, it thrashed and the vines broke from its body though it clearly bled and its furr fell ever so slightly as it shook the vines off. Blood flew and with a blood ear-curling screech, its muscles tensed and mana gathered in the form of a mist around its body. From the base, the white hairs slowly stained red, as it progressed and shifted, steam began to rise from its limbs.

I quickly repositioned my bow and fired, but with an almost blur-like motion the arrow snapped mid air. It bared its fangs as its speed seemingly doubled if not tripled. In an instant, it became a red shadow that pounced towards me, I barely managed to raise my bow as it tackled me into the ground, its snout trying to bite my nose off.

A snort left me, but its strength wasn’t enough to actually kill me. That said, my mind couldn’t help but slightly panic for a second before an instinctual feeling popped into my mind once more. It was regarding mana and its uses, as well as my abilities.

Was this mana manipulation? I didn’t know, but I shifted some mana towards my bow, coalescing it within its frame as the Bloodfang tried to bite my head off. I couldn’t help but snort.

The only thing that is going to be blown off is your eyes.

The bow shone in a pale green light, and the familiar sensation remained. My instincts already told me what I needed to do. The Bloodfang pushed once more, but it was too late. The mana burst from the surface of my bow with a bright flash. Flashbang. I closed my eyes, and in an instant buzz rang within my ears. I opened them only to see the Bloodfang thrashing, I could somewhat hear its yelps of pain, but I was mostly deaf. I reached for my spear, and decided to let go of my bow.

The Bloodfang thrashed on the ground. With my spear in hand, I shifted my mana towards its tip and with all my momentum, I thrusted. The spear ripped into the Bloodfang’s torso drawing a pained screech, I pushed as I felt something give way within and shift, and then my mana exploded forward. Smoke billowed as its stomach ballooned, it spat a mouthful of blood, its eyes began to cry crimson as its insides were mangled.

It lost all motion, its red furr slowly draining itself of color. Blood puddled down on the floor, and finally the notification came.

[You have killed: (E) Bloodfang. Lvl. 23]

[Level up: You have achieved level 26. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIT]

A deep sigh left me. It was E rank? I guess it had died relatively fast, but I still expected it to be D rank, its strength was lower than me, and the only thing it had going was its speed and maybe slightly high Vigor considering it took an arrow and still managed to fight back. I shook my head as I tried moving the corpse outside the house using the spear as push-stick. The body slid across the ground, staining it red in the process like some wet rag.

I stared at the gaping hole on the wall, it seemed to be made out of some type of thin film of rock so not particularly sturdy in my eyes. The thing seemed rather empty. With a swing and a kick, I threw the body outside into the forest once more.

And then, I heard a growl, I was unsure if it was aggressive or not. Following the sound, I saw a small Bloodfang of white and black fur, it was a couple of meters away near the edge of the clearing. Its eyes were red and filled with fear.

[Bloodfang Cub. Lvl. 9]

It snarled, but did not seem to come any closer. It was definitely scared rather than something else. I gripped my spear to end its life, but I felt apprehensive. Maybe it was the fact that I was no longer in denial, but I decided against doing anything and simply let it be. Perhaps it would go elsewhere.

I went into the house and finally once more, tried to set a territory.

[Please select the area to claim.]

A small map appeared within my eyes.