The snoring was growing louder and louder with each passing second, and it had gotten to the point where Rain was no longer able to hold back his displeasure.

Should he just get up and smack the madman once or twice—to get him to shut up, of course?

Rain sighed, deciding not to do that. He had pulled through the deceitful pleas of the Wraiths all through the night, what was a mere few minutes of snoring?

He yawned as he rolled his shoulders, a dull ache accompanied by small cracks due to his joints shifting back into place surfacing in return.

They were stiff from him staying awake trying to recompose the faded words in his file, and despite the results not being as good as he’d wanted, it was at least a start. He had completed the section bearing his personal information, and now knew that he had been born on the 17th of August, 2007. The rest of the information yet to be recomposed would have to wait until another time.

Rain closed his file, his pen tucked within its pages, then he turned his attention towards something he had been meaning to get to for a while now; the Plexus Interface.

[Plexus Interface]

Player: Rain Leclair.

Role: Side Character.

Class: Lightweight.

Division: Saint.

Active Skill: Blade Saint (Low Level).

Passive Skill: Aura. Photographic Memory. Navigator.

Mark: Caduceus

Epithet: [Shadow of Asklepios]

Benefactor: None.

Privilege: None.

Golden Points: 00

[Entertainment Level] [Attributes]

Huh? Navigator? Rain’s eyes caught sight of an alien Passive Skill within the shimmering blue and purple words hovering before his view. But he was only confused for a moment before he had an understanding of its origins and why it was suddenly part of his arsenal.

I see… It must be because I was watching Alice all those times. The Plexus recognized me learning how to navigate… This feels nice.

Rain yawned again, this time scratching his eyes while at it. After which, he dragged his focus way down to the end of his Plexus Interface and stopped them on the section that read: [Entertainment Level].

It had been a while now since he’d been wondering what exactly this was, but there was barely any time for him to check it out.

However, looking at it now brought some sort of eerie feeling upon his body.

Entertainment…? It couldn’t be, could it?

Focusing on that section triggered something, since the Plexus Interface suddenly warped and swapped itself with a different set of words.

[Side Character Rain Leclair’s Entertainment growth is still dormant]...

Immediately heat rose beneath Rain’s eyelids as his body tensed and his muscles quivered.

His thoughts had been right. He’d sort of still been pushing it aside as far-fetched before, but now… Those Benefactors Alice was talking about at the M&S mall, they really were some sort of higher beings who had turned earth to their playground. This message before his eyes was enough proof of that; and considering all he’d seen already, it would be weird if he didn’t believe in the existence of beings such as that.

Rain gnashed his teeth and looked up at the ceiling. My family better be safe and well, you damned—

“Rain,” Sean’s voice called from his side, cutting off his thoughts abruptly. “What are you doing?” The boy was still rubbing his eyes. Rain smiled and invited him to come sit.

“Nothing,” Rain said. Sean picked up his file as he sat down beside him.

“What’s this?”

“My medical records,” Rain answered while ruffling Sean’s hair.

“Huh? Medical?” Sean thought for a moment. “Were you sick?”

I think it was worse than that…

“I don’t know,” Rain answered. “I’m not sure.”

Sean tilted his head at an angle. “Why not?”

Rain pursed his lips.

The question threw him into silence because there was only one answer he could present for it, and, for some reason, he did not feel comfortable talking about his amnesia. He had been fine doing it with J for some reason, though.

Anyways, he decided to change the subject, and he had the perfect one to bring up.

Rain leaned in closer and whispered, “Do you know anything about the Entertainment Level, Sean?”

The words were self-explanatory, so of course he had a basic understanding of what they meant, but he liked to confirm if his thoughts were right or wrong.

“Entertainment Level?” Sean’s folded expression, which stemmed from his curiosity for what Rain’s predicament used to be, faltered and then relaxed.

Rain nodded. “Alice must have taught you about it, right?” Sean nodded as well, though somewhat stiffly. “Great. Then, can you tell me about it?”

“I-I don’t know. I’m not a good teacher; shouldn’t you ask Alice instead?” Sean dropped Rain’s medical file back on the floor.

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

Rain looked at Alice who was silently lying on her side like she didn’t exist within the walls of the parlor, and then back at Sean. “She’s sleeping. And I don’t want to disturb her.”

Sean glanced over there too and sighed. “I guess I’ll try then.” All of a sudden, he took on a different mien, one so startling that Rain nudged backwards instinctively. The boy narrowed his eyes and raised a finger like he was a lecturer with decades of experience. Did he learn that from Alice? “Listen carefully. The Entertainment Level section is one that determines how a person is performing in Revelation…”

Rain’s brows pulled in. I thought you couldn’t teach?

“...When it’s no longer dormant, a vertical bar which is split from its base into sections of red, yellow, and green will appear. Red means warning, that a person is underperforming. Yellow means their performance is manageable. And green means it’s perfect.”

Rain already found out that his was dormant. As for Sean’s and Alice’s, he was obviously curious; although, he knew better than to pry. So he decided to ask something else, “What happens to a person for each section, and what if theirs is still dormant?”

“Shhh…” Sean placed his finger on his mouth. “Your job is to listen, I do the teaching. And I was getting to that.”

The corners of Rain’s lips twitched. Aren’t you taking this a bit too seriously?

“When someone’s Entertainment Level is still dormant, it means that they’ve not done enough fun things to unlock the bar.”

Fun things? What about what is happening is fun? Rain felt the spite within himself intensify.

“Is yours still dormant, Rain?” Sean seemed to have noticed his unusual expression; he quickly brought out a smile.

“Yeah.”

“Heh. There’s no need to be worried. As long as it’s still dormant you’re safe from the bad side.”

“The bad side?”

“Yup. When a person is entertaining enough, and their Level is in the green zone, they’re able to change their Role from what they currently have to a new one—a better one. Heh, the Protagonists can’t do that, though, since that Role is the highest. But if it drops to the red zone, a Protagonist will become a Deuteragonist, a Deuteragonist will become a Side Character, and a Side Character will become a Background Character.”

The way he worded the first half is different from the second half…

“In other words, you can choose to change your Role to a higher one if you’re in the green zone or not, but you will definitely drop down if you’re in the red zone?” Rain asked.

Sean nodded, using that instance to take a pause.

Rain knew that there was more. Nothing about what the boy had just told him seemed fitting for the words ‘the bad side’. At least, enough to make him worry.

“And?”

Sean snapped back. “And… A Background Character dies if they drop to the red zone.”

Rain’s breath hitched.

This was utter nonsense. Why did earth have to become an entertainment source for those Benefactors, and why did people have to die if they were boring? It was bullshit.

His eyes turned towards the sleeping J, his mind full of wonder if the same rule applied to the other species as well.

Sean continued, “That’s… That’s why when your Entertainment Level unlocks you should try to be fun. You’re a Side Character; you can easily fall down to the Background Character Role, and… and…” Sean lowered his head and Rain placed his hand on it.

“Hey,” he ruffled the boy’s chestnut hair, “Do you think Alice can die?”

“Huh? No~”

“Then why would I? Like I said before, I’m stronger and cooler than Alice. Also, if you don’t trust me, who will?” The boy was silent. “I obviously won’t let those shitty Benefactors kill me just because they are bored. Since they want entertainment, I’ll give them as much as they want.”

Sean looked up. “How?”

Rain put a finger over his mouth. “That’s a secret.”

The boy smiled, then he pursed his lips as if hesitating to say what was on his mind. A moment later he seemed to have come to a decision.

“Rain, I… I have something to tell you.” Huh? “I… I have a—”

“Sean,” Alice’s voice appeared out of nowhere, still as firm as ever. And even though it did not carry any harshness, it did well to startle Sean and keep whatever words he had been trying to let out within his esophagus.

Rain turned to see her sitting up, then he took a glance at Sean.

I see… It’s one of ‘em secrets, huh?

Rain dropped his hand from Sean’s head and smiled at Alice. “You’re awake.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” She had a fierce look on her face. Shouldn’t she be glad she had slept to her satisfaction?

“Because I wasn’t tired.” Her brows narrowed at his reply, and her eyes scrutinized him.

It was that obvious?

Alice turned to Sean. “Pack up. It’s time to leave.” Sean stood up at those words and went on with his duty. Then she shifted her attention towards the now-silently snoring madman by the door. “What should we do with him?” Rain was taken aback by that question that he was unable to come up with a reply. She looked at him. “What is it?”

Rain cleared his throat. “Nothing.” The truth? He had not been expecting her to ask for his input. “We should leave him here.”

Alice had barely taken him in with her, she was obviously not going to add another person to her crew, so he did not waste his time to pose it as an option.

And as if to prove his point, she nodded without hesitation; after which, she rose to her feet.

It was now.

“I want you to be my mentor,” Rain spoke firmly, and his words halted whatever Alice had been intending to do as she turned to him with a dazed look. Sean was no different.

“What did you just say?”

Rain spared a glance at her scabbard where her sword was tucked within. “I want you to be my mentor. I want you to teach me how to survive. Lots of thoughts made it into my head through the night, one was the possibility of increasing my Attribute points by training. I’m sure you already know what I mean.”

He had called forth his Attribute Interface a while back, and he’d noticed that his Stamina had increased by a single point. This was one of the reasons why he’d pushed his body past its limits to last until daybreak.

On the other hand, he was not sure why this had not happened until now. Maybe it was because every other time he’d been involved in a battle so it had been offset by him gaining Experience Points instead.

Well, the important thing was he’d confirmed that he could grow his Attributes without having to rely on only killing beasts. And, of course, he had to. His fight with the madman had taught him a valuable lesson. Running away wouldn’t work in this world. He had to be strong enough to fight—to fend for himself. Alice was his lifeline in that regard.

“And?” Alice queried. “Why should I cut out my time to train you?”

It was only right that she said that. Him journeying with her was not her idea, and her only priority was Sean and getting to the GEF as quickly as possible. He would have to talk her into accepting, one way or another.

“Freedom,” Rain answered.

“Freedom?” Alice’s eyes narrowed. Her expression was one of bewilderment. “Not because you want to survive?”

Rain smiled warmly.

“Survival is just a perk of freedom,” he said. “You told me that you did not want the burden of someone’s death on your conscience; well, I am the same. The stronger I am, the freer I’ll be. I won’t have to worry about my survival, or that of my loved ones; after all, I would be strong enough to protect anything and anyone I hold dearly. Not having anything weighing down on your conscience because you couldn’t do this or that in time, or due to some other circumstances, if that is not freedom, then what is?”

It came slowly. First there were puffs, then suddenly Alice laughed. It was a quiet one.

Rain was shocked—Sean too. It had only been two days since they’d been together, but it felt like he had not seen her laugh in a millennium.

His cheeks and the tip of his ears turned red. Was what he’d said so funny?

“I see. Freedom, huh?” Alice began. “I’m amused. Alright.” Rain beamed and was about to thank her when she added, “Although, I wonder how long it will take you—mmh, maybe a year or two—to realize that there’s no such thing as freedom. Most especially not in this current world.”

Maybe some other time those words would have put a dent on Rain’s motivations, but right now, the sheer prospect of him being able to grow and cater for himself in the long run was unwavering. His smile remained as J let out a deep, expansive yawn that seemed to shake the bungalow.

The madman woke up.