"So..." Ari muttered with a soft voice. "What now...?"

Nate raised a brow in confusion. "What do you mean, what now? I just told you what I wanted from you."

"I get that already, but..." she clutched at the front of her shirt with a face of unease. "Is th-that all you want?"

'Wait, does she...?'

Seeing her strange mannerisms, Nate understood what she was implying.

"I think there's been a bit of a misunderstanding here. Although I suppose I'm to blame as well, since I was somewhat touchy..."

"A misunderstanding...?" Ari echoed.

"Yes." Nate nodded. "I'm not expecting any sexual services from you or anything like that. I just want you to follow behind me and help me reach the Altar in the center of the forest."

"Wh-what... that's it...?" she asked in disbelief.

"That's it," Nate said with finality as he nodded once again.

"R-really?"

"Really."

"I don't believe you." Ari looked to Nate with doubt in her eyes.

Nate heaved an irritated sigh as he massaged the bridge of his nose. He then pointed to his face. "Look at my face. Do you think I'm someone who has trouble getting laid?"

For a few moments, silence enveloped the room. Until it was broken by Ari's mocking claps.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Wow. I mean, even though it's true that you're hot, I didn't know there were people who were actually shameless enough to say it out loud like that." she sneered.

"Whatever." Nate waved her off. "Anyway, since it's like that, you don't have to look like I'm about to push you down and rape you or something. I'm not an entirely good person, but I only do bad things when I need to. And I don't see how having sex with you will benefit my cause at all."

"Oh..." Ari nodded meekly in understanding with a strange expression while letting her arms fall to her sides.

"Stop fucking around and let's get going already. You can't fight wearing only a shirt." Nate ignored the traces of disappointment on her face and stood up to head outside. "Bring your bow and quiver, too."

"My quiver? But it's empty." Despite what she said, she still made to pick up the quiver and strap it to her torso.

"Where are you gonna put your new arrows otherwise?" he retorted as he looked at her like she was an idiot. Nate opened the door and left, telling Pig and Wolf to follow after him.

"Ah, hey wait!" Ari hurriedly grabbed her bow and dashed outside, not wanting to get left behind.

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

"Understood?" Nate asked while walking, after a lengthy explanation of how the stone slab's exchange function worked, and what particular items she should invest the most points into.

"I got it." Ari nodded as she followed along, trying her best not to forget what she'd just been told.

Eventually, they made it to their destination; the plaza where the massive, glowing stone slab was erected.

"It's huge..." Ari couldn't help but mutter in amazement.

"Sure is. But that's not important. Put your hand on the stone already." Nate urged her as he ignored the curious stares he was getting from the people around them.

"Okay."

Ari took a deep breath and pressed her palm flat onto the surface of the slab. The slab flashed momentarily before returning to its original state, leaving Ari with widened eyes.

"Wow... words really appeared!" she exclaimed. Ari then whirled around to look at Nate with curiosity. "You really can't see what's written here?"

"I can't," he confirmed before gesturing for her to continue. "How many points?"

"Uh..." Ari looked back to the slab for a moment before turning back to him. "I have five thousand points! And some change."

"Five thousand..." Nate muttered in amazement. That was almost twice what he arrived here with.

'Well, I suppose it's to be expected. Every one of Ari's arrows killed a wolf, which means she killed way more wolves than I did. But I don't think that's the only reason...'

He'd had an inkling from the start. Nate felt like there were other ways to gain points than just killing things.

Was one compensated for distance traveled? Nate had walked around quite a lot right after he came to this place. Ari and the two unconscious men would have roamed around trying to find a place to stay as well.

Perhaps you got more points for surviving if you lived in harsher situations? Like how Nate and Ari's group couldn't make it to the village for the first few days. They had to survive without shelter and a stable source of food for a while.

Or maybe it was just simpler? The farther you were placed from the village, the more points you'd be given for reaching it.

'It's useless to think about this...' Nate shook his head of his worthless thoughts.

He didn't have enough data to come to a viable conclusion. Naturally, he didn't have the time to go out and collect data either.

Besides, he'd already found the path to the center. Now, all he had to do was trample on anything that got in his way.

'Fighting monsters is also more lucrative, despite how dangerous it can be.'

Snapping out of his thoughts, Nate asked, "If you have more than five thousand, do you have the option to buy magical items? Like the healing pill."

"Healing pill...?" Ari scanned the slab for a few moments but shook her head soon afterward. "Nope. All I can see are miscellaneous stuff and armaments."

"I see. Thanks."

'I guess you have to stock up ten thousand points first before you unlock the Magic menu.'

It was a minor discovery, but a discovery nonetheless. Nate was happy enough with any information, though he didn't really know how this particular piece of info would help him reach his goal.

Nate advised Ari on how to spend her points, and soon enough, the young woman had a brand-new leather cuirass protecting her torso, leather bracers for her forearms, and some thicker pants.

"Is this hooded cloak really necessary...?" Ari griped as she put on the final piece of gear she bought. "And you even specifically told me to get a green one."

"It is necessary. You look like an archer with that." Nate nodded in satisfaction after scanning her. "Now all that's left is a dagger strapped to your chest and a shortsword on your hip, then you're good to go."

"Do I really need those? Didn't you say I'll be staying in the backline anyway?"

"It's a plan B. That way, you're not completely defenseless when something gets close to you," he explained as picked up quivers full of arrows. "I'll still protect you though, don't worry."

"Fine." Ari shrugged before picking up her own quiver and tying it to her torso. Then she pointed at the quivers in Nate's hands. "Are you just gonna keep carrying those?"

"No, Wolf, my new pet, is going to be lugging it around. This guy's gonna be carrying all sorts of extra crap for us." As he said this, Nate was already walking over to Wolf with a belt then knelt down to begin securing the quivers to its sides.

"You won't make it fight?"

"Pig and I are enough," Nate explained after finishing his work. "Besides, if something strong enough to trouble me and Pig, a wolf isn't going to be much help. At the moment, a pack mule is more necessary."

"Heh~." Ari hummed in understanding.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Well, that's all our business here." he stood up and stretched. "I'll have Wolf follow you around since he's holding onto your stuff."

"Wait, you're not gonna buy anything?"

"I'm broke," Nate stated as he turned around and began to walk off. "I'm saving up to buy some new magic. Being able to do lots of things is always better after all."

"Oh... magic, huh. You need aptitude, right?" Ari looked back at the stone slab with a wistful expression before excitedly pulling on Nate's sleeve. "Hey, do you think I have magic aptitude...?"

"Don't ask me." he shrugged. "Only I and Miyu have had enough points to even confirm whether we had aptitude or not. Since it's your points, if you want, you can save up and see if you have it too. The cheapest is ten thousand."

"Ten thousand, huh... that sounds easy enough. I came here with five thousand after all!" Ari chirped proudly.

"..." Nate stayed silent as he inwardly shook his head.

'I'll just let her find out how hard it is by herself. It took almost dying to an orc to gather that much you know? It's not easy at all!'

"Hey hey. I have a question." Ari's words interrupted Nate's thoughts.

He glanced behind him with mild annoyance. "You sure like asking questions. Do you like the sound of your voice that much?"

"I do, yes." she giggled. "Besides, I'm new here, so I'm supposed to ask questions!"

"Well... I guess that's true." Nate nodded in acceptance. He lazily gestured for her to go on as he continued to walk toward his destination.

"Where are we going?"

"Oh, that?" he raised a brow as if implying that the answer was obvious. "We're going to visit your friends. Duh."

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

In front of the house where Hugo and Brent were being nursed, Nate was trying to pull Ari into going inside.

"C'mon, don't be so stubborn." he urged, his irritation growing by the second.

"But..."

Nate sighed, finally having had enough. He'd been trying to convince her for the past five minutes, which was four minutes past what was appropriate.

"You asked for this."

"Huh, what do you-- AH!?"

Ari didn't even get to finish her sentence before she was lifted up by the waist and carried on Nate's shoulder like a sack of potatoes. No matter what she did, she couldn't get off. Her legs kicked out here and there as she struggled to break free.

"Well, let's go inside then." Nate ignored her and opened the door using a tangible tentacle of dark mana, then went inside with the tantrum-throwing young woman.

"Let me off! I'll walk by myself!" she yelled, hitting his back and elbowing the back of his head in protest.

Since she didn't really put that much force into her blows, Nate just disregarded that too.

"What's with all this racket? I'm tryin ta sleep here!" A deep, voice called out in anger from within the house. Hugo, all bandaged up, walked out of the room with a frown.

"Oh? You're up? That's great." Nate smiled before unceremoniously throwing the young woman on his shoulder to the floor. Luckily, just like a cat, she was able to get her feet under her in time. "Look Ari, it's your friend. Aren't you gonna say hello?"

Ari sent Nate a hateful glare before facing Hugo with an awkward smile. "H-hey there, Hugo. Glad to see you out and about..."

"Oh! Ari! You came to visit? Come in, come in!" Hugo's face instantly morphed into a warm smile as he walked over and clap her shoulders. "Brent is inside! He's kinda out of it, but he'll live!"

"Th-that's great..." her smile twitched as she let herself be pulled inside.

Hugo barely noticed Nate, but when he did, his eyes widened. "Oh, it's our savior! Come in too, man! Me and Brent gotta thank you lots, my friend. I'd treat you to some booze, but apparently, this place don't got any!"

The big man guffawed good-naturedly as he put his hand forward for Nate to shake.

'I think I like this guy.'

Hugo was energetic, sociable, and left a good impression on Nate. The man's rippling muscles and large stature gave off an aura of dependability.

'He'll definitely be useful.'

Nate put on a sincere smile as he reached out and shook Hugo's hand firmly.

"I don't remember if I already introduced myself, but my name's Nathaniel Spencer. Everybody just calls me Nate, though."

"Yeah, I've heard about you from the pretty lady that healed us." Hugo nodded. "I'm Hugo Jenkins. I'm twenty years old, so you don't gotta be too stiff, eh? Can't say much about myself except that I'm Canadian and I played Rugby in college."

"I see, that's neat. I'm twenty-three and I sold drugs and fucked rich women for money," Nate said dryly.

"For real? Wahaha! That's hilarious!" the big man clutched his gut, seemingly finding Nate's statement funny. "Damn, my savior's strong and has a sense o' humor? This is great!"

'I wasn't joking though...'

Nate let the misunderstanding pass, however. He'd told Hugo the truth just for the hell of it, but people not knowing about his profession back on earth would still be nice.

'In any case, I'm now in a position where nobody can say anything about it even if they did know what I'd done for a living.'

He had magic, the amulet, and Pig the orc. Nate was unstoppable in this village, except if Miyu somehow started hating him.

"Hm?" Nate raised an eyebrow as he remembered the gorgeous woman from Japan. Something about what Hugo said stood out to him. "You said Miyu healed you...?"

'Wait a minute, come to think of it, this guy looks like he has fewer wounds than last time.'

Some wounds still remained, but all of them were smaller than Nate remembered.

"Hm? Yeah, she healed us with her magic! There was this glowing water thing that felt nice whenever it touched me." Hugo recounted as he waved his hands around in imitation of something.

"Huh. That's great." Nate noncommittally replied as he sunk into thought.

'Healing magic? Well, I suppose some games have water-type healing spells, so it's not completely unheard of.' he stroked his chin in thought as he followed Hugo and Ari. 'I guess even she didn't know she could do that, since Miyu didn't do it from the start. In any case, I guess someone taking Blue Magic was a really good thing for us. Now we don't have to buy those crazy expensive healing pills whenever someone gets wounded.'

"By the way, where is she? Miyu, I mean," Nate asked. "Is she still inside?"

"Nah, she left." Hugo shook his head. "Healing us must've taken a lot outta her. Said she was gonna get some fresh air and eat something."

"I see."

'Guess Blue Magic isn't too good at healing. Hugo isn't even fully healed, and yet Miyu had to take a rest already. Healing is probably just a niche ability, so it's less efficient, huh.'

Eventually, the group made it to where the two newcomers had been staying. Freddie was sitting, slumped over a table, not even noticing the newcomers. Brent, on the other hand, was sleeping on the floor with a half-eaten nutrition bar sticking out of his mouth and his messy blonde hair covering his eyes.

"Ol' Freddie over there's passed out since he had to bandage us up before Miss Miyu healed us. Let's talk quietly, yeah? Don't wanna disturb the guy." Hugo said that with a lowered voice before roughly prodding Brent with his foot. "Hey, wake up dude. Ari and Mister Nate's here."

"Whu--!" Brent spluttered awake, sending the nutrition bar flying in the air. The waste of food was averted when Nate caught it using a tendril of dark energy.

"D'ya hear what I said? I said Ari and that dude who saved us are here, man!" Hugo continued to nudge the groggy Brent with his foot, using greater strength with every nudge. "Get your shit together."

"S-stop..." Brent, still extremely muddleheaded, tried to push the bigger man's foot away before sitting up on the ground. Once his eyes caught sight of Nate, Brent tried to jump to his feet to thank him. "Th-thank you so mu--"

"It's fine, man." Nate shook his head and stopped him from getting up. "You're tired, so you should rest. Hugo already thanked me, and I didn't really save you to be thanked in the first place."

'I saved you cuz I wanted your help. So I'm not lying.'

"Hey, man! That's no good! We woulda been wolf chow if it weren't for you!" Hugo came over and patted Nate's shoulders harder than a normal person would've liked, then looked him in the eye with a serious expression. "If there's anything you need from me, man. Just say the word!"

"M-me too!" Brent chimed in as he sat on the wooden floor. Determination crossed his face as he pumped his fists. "I'll also pay you back somehow... though I don't really have anything worth giving out at the moment..."

'Well, this is rather convenient. It's great that they aren't shameless people.'

Inwardly nodding in satisfaction, Nate suggested, "Well, the only thing I really want right now is to get back home. As of the moment, the only thing that can possibly lead to that is reaching the Altar in the middle of the forest. So, if you really want to pay me back, then help me make it there. Ari here is coming along too."

He looked back to send an inquiring gaze to the young woman who was trying to blend into the wall, making her flinch in surprise at being addressed all of a sudden.

"Ah..." Ari hesitated, but then nodded in affirmation. "Yep. I don't wanna just... sit around."

"That's great, Ari. I knew you were a go-getter! Oh, and Miss Miyu already told us all about that... you need to fight stuff, right?" Hugo puffed his chest out with confidence. "I'm your man! I've been in a few fights myself! And you can just use me as a meatshield!"

"That's a bit too much..." Nate chuckled as he shook his head.

"I... I want to help out too, but..." Brent's shoulders drooped in disappointment as he raised his thin arms. "I'm kinda scrawny... and short."

'Well, that's true. He's what, 5'4?'

Brent was obviously not an ideal frontline fighter. He'd shown that he had sufficient courage despite how undependable he looked, but courage didn't equal competence.

'I don't remember Miyu mentioning what his weapon was.' Nate racked his brain just in case, but came up empty. 'I guess I'll just improvise. As usual.'

"I can give you a slingshot if you want. Since I know magic now, I probably won't be using it anymore. So I was actually looking for a new owner for it."

"A... slingshot?" Brent's eyes brightened. Even he would be useful in combat with that. "Y-you'll really give it to me?"

"Yeah. I just so happened to have lost a spear, so I'll take that in exchange. How's that?" Nate put on a slimy grin, trying to appear like a sleazy scammer.

Since Brent owed him a debt of gratitude, he probably wouldn't want to receive any handouts from Nate. Which is why Nate had to make it seem like the trade was equal.

"That... sounds great. Okay! Thank you!" Brent excitedly stood up and tried to shake Nate's hands.

"Why are you thanking me when it's a fair trade...?" he chuckled as he clasped hands with the blonde man.

"Hey hey! Lemme in on this!" Hugo laughed as he butted in, shaking Nate's other hand.

Nate didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the situation.

"Oh? What's this? Did you become a movie star in the time I didn't see you?" A familiar, male voice spoke out from the doorway.

Turning around, Nate could see Ming smirking in amusement with a very tired-looking Miyu behind him.

"Apparently, they're my biggest fans now." Nate joked.

"You bet I am! I'll follow you anywhere, Boss!" Hugo energetically exclaimed, playing along.

"Ahahaha..." Brent scratched his cheek, not knowing what to do.

"Well, good for you, 'Boss'." Ming sent Nate a somewhat playful sneer before facing the newcomers and introducing himself. "Hi, you two. I'm named Ming, surnamed Wang. Just call me Ming. It's nice to meet you."

As the two gave their own introductions, Nate asked Miyu about her healing abilities.

"Oh, that?" Miyu chuckled lifelessly. "I just remembered a game where water had some healing skills, so I tried it and it somehow worked. But it was really taxing. I've never felt more tired in my entire life."

"I see..." he nodded in understanding before sending her a relieved smile. "It's good that you can still walk around then."

"Mm..." she nodded, waving off his worries. "I'm okay. Once my mana regenerated a bit, I felt better."

"Is that so? Well then, we'll have to be careful about using magic too much then." Nate smirked.

"By 'we' you mean just me, right? You won't ever run out of mana..." Miyu sulked at the injustice.

The walking cheat code chuckled for a while before sending Miyu a meaningful glance, subtly pointing his lips toward the others in the room.

"Finally, huh?"

Miyu understood the hidden meaning in his words. Her lips formed a smile as she nodded.

'All of the people in her vision are finally here.' Nate clenched his fist in excitement. He was getting closer and closer to his goals.

'Wait for me, Mother.'