We arrived at Tabi's motel and grabbed some food, Malii still feeling a bit off. The roasted flying fish arrived, much to Carol's delight, and she dug in right away.

"So it was your nemesis," asked Tabi.

"Yes, it was Cleo, but something was off," I explained. "She was extremely powerful, way more than she should be."

"Did you..." Tabi asked.

"No, she escaped after... Danalii saved us."

"What about Kage?"

"Escaped too," I replied.

I turned towards Malii.

"Danalii saved us by using this water magic."

Malii looked at me with a soft smile.

"This is a power from the Enkis Priestesses; they can call upon Abzu's power, but it takes their life energy out. She..." He paused for a moment, trying his best to hold his tears, then continued, "She dries up, using the water from her body to an extreme. I've never seen it myself, but we've heard about it many times."

We stayed silent as we ate, then Malii smiled at me and grabbed my hand.

"Simon, it isn't your fault."

"My plan failed," I replied.

"Maybe, but you tried your best. Danalii knew what she was doing. You have to respect her choice."

I nodded, and he added :

"She made that decision; she chose to sacrifice herself. You have to respect that."

I grabbed his hand in return.

"What now?" asked Carol. "What is the next step for you, Malii?"

The Enki thought for a moment then replied,

"I will bring back the Gem of Abzu to Green Tree and place it back. Danalii was our main priestess, but she had disciples that will take over. What about you guys?"

Carol and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"If you want to keep climbing," Tabi said, "you have to go to Sky City. You aren't far, but it's a good day of travel if you're walking. You could still rent a boat."

"We should walk," I said. "We need to gain experience."

Carol nodded.

"If we can find a camp or two on the way, it would be great too."

The rest of the dinner was mainly small talk. Carol and I finally headed upstairs to our room.

"Do you want to bring the Guides?" she asked as we climbed the stairs.

"Yes, I have some questions," I replied.

We decided to go to Carol's room and called both Calexa and Patate.

The white Gems showed up.

"Helloooooo!" shouted Calexa.

"Hi," said simply Patate.

"You're back already? How did it go?" Calexa directly asked.

"So you decided to attack the camp?" wondered aloud Patate.

"Yes, and it was a mess," Carol replied. "Keres was Cleo, and it was a trap."

"Oh no!" Calexa exclaimed.

"She was really strong," I interjected, wanting to get to the point. "Way too strong. She also had something wrong when I used FOCUS on her."

"You couldn't use it on her?" asked Patate.

"No, I could," I replied. "But she had two names, two levels, and two classes."

"Hybrid," Calexa said.

"Most likely," Patate added.

"Yes! It was 'hybrid' on her title," I replied.

"Demon? Beast? Abomination? What was her second class?" Calexa asked.

"Demon."

"This early, and she already went hybrid? This is crazy! Wonder who her Guide is," said Patate.

"Can you explain what it means?" asked Carol.

"Hybrid is dangerous," Calexa interjected.

"But what does it mean?" I pushed.

"Alright, let me explain," replied Patate. "Once you reach a higher level, some Revivals decide to push all their strength into the Gems. It is possible to merge with one, but doing so is a one-time thing; you can't separate after that."

"What do you mean, merge?" I asked. "She had no Gem on her armband."

"Wow, she probably used her first one," Calexa said. "If you merge with a Gem, you usually see it in a place on your body, could be--"

"Her eye," I interjected.

"Did her eye glow?" Patate asked. "What color?"

"Purple," I replied.

Both Gems stayed silent for a long moment.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Alright, alright," Patate said. "This is bad. Let me explain first what merging is. You can only merge once with a Gem - aside from specific classes if you survive that long - and it is usually recommended to do it with a higher-level Gem. While you can still gain levels and your Gem can as well, it is better to do it with at least a Cat. 4 or 5."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Once you merge with a Gem, you get an initial boost of levels, maybe one or two levels depending on the Gem Category. But that is when you are already high level; if she did it early, she might have gained more," Calexa explained. "The Purple Gems are summoning Gems; they are rare and powerful."

"Her Guide must be insane," Patate cut. "Merging this early is stupid."

"But it made her quickly stronger, especially on a low level," Calexa added.

"Correct. I guess she thought she would rush you right away with a higher level and finish this thing quickly," Patate continued. "But by doing so, she is now stuck with that Gem."

"Can you explain what it means to merge? Besides gaining levels, she had a Purple Gem, but she didn't summon anything," I inquired.

"Let me put it this way," Patate began. "Once a Revival decides to merge with a Gem, the Gem becomes part of the human. They become 'hybrid' - both have their own levels, abilities, and class. It is recommended to merge with a Summoning Gem, as it creates a completely new entity in symbiosis with you. Usually, Demon or Beast; if you're unlucky, it could be an Abomination - but let's not get there just yet. You said Purple Gem, so it's a summoning Gem, and she got a Demon out of it. It doesn't mean her Gem was summoning a Demon per se; it just means she got one of the more common Hybrid classes. Did she have a power or a spell that she seemed to be able to cast without cooldown?"

"Yes," I replied. "She could cast a fireball from her palm."

"Fire-based summoning," Calexa said.

"It could be many; fire is quite common," added Patate. "Instead of adding her Gem to be able to activate it and that's it, she decided to merge right away. It is stupid, but as Calexa said, she must have thought of getting rid of you really quickly. It's a good idea short-term, but long-term, this is going to be a mistake. Once you merge the Gem can raise level and gain additional classes, like a Revival would, but only to a certain extend. If she reached level 40 or 50, the Gem will lack behind quickly."

I pondered for a moment, then asked :

"How could she know how to merge?"

"Her Guide most likely," Calexa replied. "But why would he recommend that so early?"

"It is stupid and almost unheard of," Patate stated. "Her Guide is an idiot, and I'm not talking like our Clippy friend here. I'm talking a real fucking idiot. That was a big risk to gain strength quickly."

"I'm not gonna engage," Calexa said as holographic middle fingers spawned from her and faded away.

"Oh, I'm surprised you got it," Patate said.

"There is something else," I interjected before they got into an argument. "She seemed to know more about me than she should."

"What do you mean?" asked Carol.

I turned towards her and explained, "She mentioned my panic attack, my medication; she knew about it. How is it possible?"

"Did you know her before the accident?"

"No, never seen her in my life," I replied. "Could this be the merge?"

Calexa and Patate stayed silent for a moment.

"Somehow, did it give her a view of my previous life? Some kind of power?" I added.

"No," Patate replied. "That's not possible. You must have known her before."

"I didn't."

"There is no Gem or ability that lets you learn about the previous life of a Revival," Calexa added. "It's just not possible."

"But I really didn't know her," I repeated.

"Maybe she knew you?" Carol suggested.

We all stayed silent.

"How would that be possible?" I asked.

Carol shrugged, "Who knows?"

I thought about it, but there was nothing. Suddenly, a memory came back from the time I was fighting Cleo. She said something that I didn't pick up at the time, but now...

"She said, 'I shouldn't have died; that wasn't part of...'" I mentioned.

"Part of what?" Carol asked.

"I don't know; she never finished. I would think 'part of the plan,' maybe?"

"What plan?"

"I have no idea!" I shouted.

"This doesn't make sense," Patate interrupted. "No Revivals would know about this world and the Tower before being sent here. And if the killer managed to kill again, they are sent back, and their memory about this experience completely wiped, also they would never be picked up twice, the chance are ridiculous."

"What about the ones like us who need to reach the top?" I asked.

"I would think it's the same," Patate replied.

"Well, we don't know," added Calexa. "As no one has ever reached the top."

We went then to bed, and I used that opportunity to distribute my newly gained stats point. Decided to add once more into strength :

Level 9 Rider BASE Iron Ring of Strength Chrome Survivor suit Ring of Blood Wall Sword Of Tamius Cat II TOTAL Strength 35 2 10 8 55 Vitality 145 55 5 205 Intelligence 20 20 Engineering 30 5 35 Dexterity 50 8 58 Charisma 5 5 Luck 5 5 Chaos 5 5 Mana 20 20

I crashed that night, too much stress and too much adrenaline. My body was still sore, even if my health was back to full.

I looked at my legs, and they had scars from the burning, but it was mainly healed.

The next morning, we bid farewell to Malii and Tabi.

"Thank you again for everything," I said as I shook their hands.

"I wish you good luck on your adventure," Tabi replied. "Please be safe. Also, if you're interested, I asked around, and it seems there are two small bandit camps on the way to Flying Garden - a village specialized in vegetable farming, a good stop on the way to Sky City. Here."

He handed me a map, and I added it to my inventory. The map vanished, and the notes he gave us appeared in my map UI.

Convenient.

Malii hugged me tightly.

"Don't let guilt weigh you down, and if you see that Cleo again, send her to hell for Danalii," he said.

I hugged him back, emotions riding over me.

"I will, I promise, I will," I replied.

We set off on our way, and as we passed the door, Tabi quickly stopped me as Carol kept going.

"Simon, Carol will need your help," he murmured.

"I know, we are a team," I replied.

"More than that, talk with her."

I looked at him perplexed.

Carol stopped and looked back at us as Tabi gave me a package.

"Here are some flying fish jerky! For the trip!" he smiled, then whispered to me, "There is a note."

I nodded and put the package in my inventory.

We waved to the Watoo and the Enki and left the village.

"You know, you won't get away with it," Carol suddenly said.

"Huh? What?" I replied.

"You put the whole pack of jerky in your inventory, dude, this isn't cool, you need to share."

I laughed.

"Don't worry about it!" I replied.

She smiled.

I checked my map with the added notes.

"Do you want to stop at the first camp? Tabi's info seems to say it's quite small and on the way to the village," I asked.

"Yes, I am almost level 10, I would love to reach it before going into the village," she replied.

I nodded, and we headed towards the camp.

As we walked, I accessed my inventory HUD and separated the message from the jerky package. I could read it directly in the menu without taking it into my hands :

"Simon,

Carol asked me if I could check around and find information to see if someone named Sam or Samuel came by. I don't remember him, but she also asked me to check about a younger girl called Emma. I am not sure what it is about; I've never seen young Revivals, but she insisted and was quite emotional about it. I do not know why she asked me that, but I thought I would mention it to you. She asked me that while we were alone, pretending to ask about the food. I wouldn't have said anything, but Carol seems to need help with something and doesn't want to share. After what happened with Danalii and the failed escape, it made me think, and I believe it is the right thing to tell you. She went to help; she could have died. If she has a problem, I want to help, and I believe you do too.

Tabi."

I looked at Carol next to me; she was staring at the Tower without a word. She then turned to me.

"Do I have something in my nose?" she asked.

I laughed.

"No, I just wanted to thank you again for trying to help Danalii. I know you didn't really want to go, but you did."

"All good, we're a team."

"Yes, we are," I replied, smiling.

And we continued our travel towards the Watoo's camp.