The rest of the day was a blur for Max. When he woke up in Darius’s spare bedroom in the middle of the night, his memories were a bit fuzzy. Did he oversleep? Clutching his head, he tried to remember what happened while he gulped down the water left for him on his bedside table.

After getting his approval, a fight erupted with Elder Aris and Elder Obi declaring the session was evidence of judicial misconduct and requested an investigation into corruption. At some point, his hearing and the lights went again but the staircase reopened, so a tired Max saw himself out. Cy was waiting for him beside the stupid, magic tree. For a moment, Max panicked before realising both the tree and Cy’s five-star stories prompts were still activated. A slew of questions came before he was escorted away, taken back to Darius’s house, and collapsed on the first bed provided.

Poking his head out of the spare room, Max quickly realised it was late at night as Darius’s loud snores could be heard in every room. A bit risky, but it was time for him to move while he had the chance.

Max took his time preparing the stolen items from Cy’s room on the spare room's balcony table set. The ambiance from the steady waterfall relaxed his nerves as he stayed focused. At first, he felt a little bad when he snuck his way into Cy’s private space, but the feelings quickly ended.

Max didn’t want to be stuck in a box again. And Cy wasn’t going to notice anything while hiding away under the thick quilt. He wouldn’t miss some needles, graphite, black ink, and a few other bits and bobs.

Just as he was about to prick his thigh with an inked needle, a voice made him jump. It was soothing to be able to hear their language spoken properly. “(It’s good to see you again.)”

Max glanced up briefly to see Edric now sitting next to him. Beside the supplies Max had stolen, there was a mound of paperwork stacked high into the air. It put his application to get into the community to shame. It was also covered with sticky notes jutting out, almost like a spiky monster. On each page would be a detailed report of any notable people Edric had encountered in this world, organised by tagged members, untagged people under the system, and the unknowing.

“(You too.)” Max refocused his concentration as he began carefully jabbing the upper layer of his skin.

Edric glanced over Max’s handiwork before taking out the bottle of wine and two glasses he had brought with him. It was going to be a long night. “(For a moment, I thought you were going to tag yourself.)” Max couldn’t help smirking at the idea. “(Good to know some things don’t change. How many lives has it been since we last met? For me, it’s been two.)” He had a wide smile from them being able to have a private moment again. When was the last time?

“(One.)”

“(One?)” Edric’s shock was on full display in his voice. “(If that’s true, then June’s theory-)”

“(Are you sure it’s a good idea to be having this conversation right now? Darius will probably ask questions in the morning.)” The more they reveal, the more difficult it will be to escape his prompt. Max had been planning to save all the questions until right before leaving.

“(Darius can see, but it doesn’t mean he understands.)” Max paused to frown at Edric. “(He knows about us, knows we speak this language, could try finding the origins if he really wanted to; but it doesn’t mean he can understand or translate what we’re saying. I’ve tested him before.)” Max still seemed sceptical before resuming his makeshift tattoo. “(You can take a person to France, introduce them to French people, give them a French language dictionary, but it doesn’t mean they can speak French.)”

“(No, but they can learn with time.)”

“(Perhaps. If they tried.)” The tone was demeaning. This part of Edric always got on Max’s nerves. People like them were usually stronger. But they had countless lifetimes to gain skills and perfect them. Darius didn’t. What he achieved in one lifetime was more admirable than hundreds of theirs combined. “(You can see what I mean later.)” He placed a gentle hand on the stack of papers as a reminder of their existence. Edric was always a proud man.

Max barely glanced up at them. “(You can take them away. I don’t want them to catch me with those. It’ll be troublesome.)” Time to change inks.

“(They’ll be gone as soon as Darius wakes up in the morning.)” Edric poured out the wine for them, but he may as well have the whole bottle. Max preferred red to white.

“(Isn’t he going to know the contents as soon as he sees you again?)”

He scoffed at the idea. “(I’ve got someone else writing them. Besides if you’re worried about us talking, Darius probably knows that we’ve met before. It would be stranger if I didn’t come to visit.)”

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Max remained silent and focused.

”(And, if Darius really concerns you, you’ll be pleased to know that we’ve also developed a charm against his magic. I’ll have someone else slip it into your pocket in a bit. We’ve also got one against Cyrus, but we’re not too sure of its effectiveness… Not that you need it anyway.)”

Max suddenly felt a weight in his pocket. At least one of Edric’s people was watching their conversation. “(You’ve developed a charm that works against Darius?)”

“(When you wear it like a bracelet, it’ll activate. It’s not fully effective. But it makes the time less noticeable for him when you use it. For example, if you were to wear it right now then he’ll just assume you slept through the night unless he went digging for something specific.)”

“(…I think you’re undervaluing him. He’s very good at what he does.)” Max paused his work to check the newly tattooed rune on his reddened flesh before continuing. The scars on Edric’s body were uniform and powerful, but Max’s lack of innate magic required more depth in the proportions of the runes. Meaning each one had to be carefully jabbed into his skin to get the results he wanted.

“(I thought a private person like you would’ve hated his existence.)”

“(He saved my butt with my application.)”

“(I saved your butt. Unless you really think Elder Nova would let you in even though you burned down her office?)” Ah, that explained it. Elder Aris and Elder Obi were right. “(It wasn’t difficult to convince her after our match. She’s easy to bribe and the risky sort, willing to look the other way in exchange for information.)”

“(Is she one of us?)”

“(No, but she is very interested in the system and how it works. I think she’s trying to become one of us.)”

“(What about Elder Ji-min? Did you buy his vote too?)”

“(That was of his own free will, but the old man always had a soft spot for little Cyrus.)” Edric flicked through the sticky notes until he found a purple one marked N-CYRUS. “(You must’ve had questions about what Elder Aris was talking about. Take a look for yourself.)”

“(Later.)” It would be dangerous to read it now. Edric was a good friend, but as jealous as they came. “(You’ve completed your story this time round?)”

“(Three-stars. I know I’m meant to go for lower ones and get it wrapped up quickly in case we’re going to start another attempt at a five-stars.)” ... “(When I saw Tsujuma in the description, I decided to see what it was about. Turns out one of us was the founder, who could have guessed? Anyway, I decided to create a base here until you or June showed up.)”

“(Have you seen June?)”

“(Not yet. But I wouldn’t be surprised if she was in this world and lying low until either of us found you.)” He made a good point. The pair of them usually fought like cats and dogs if left alone. They could put their differences behind them if Max kept them focused. “(What about you? I guess you’re avoiding the system since little Cyrus can’t see your fate.)” Max nodded to show he was right. (“…Did you have a fun time with your romance story?)” There was that bitterness again. It was almost anger about how Max hadn’t been sticking rigidly to their system. “(I was in an identical word last time. If you had made yourself known-)”

“(Why? It was a one-star. I had no innate magic with that story and the runes didn’t work well in that world either.)” In hindsight, maybe there was a shift in what things had innate magic. Just like how he couldn’t tell in this world either. Either way, he hadn’t been in the right headspace to experiment. “(I would have just slowed things down.)”

“(Or got everyone organised again. We could’ve tagged some of the ones who’ve escaped us so far.)” Like the mayor and BB. Edric sensed Max’s reluctance. “(We managed to do something great last time. 76.7% of our members were able to reach their story goal because of us.)”

“(76.8%)”

“(76.8%? Are you sure?... Unless… You were successful?)” There was giddiness in his voice. “(You completed the five-star story?)”

“(Mn.)”

“(And?)”

“(Nothing.)”

“(Nothing? How could there be nothing?)” Max paused his work to give him a pitying look. He knew that expression. The desperation for an answer. The punch to the gut as a reward for all their hard work.

“(So, I wanted to take a little holiday after that.)”

It was a light way of putting the devastating feelings. His original intentions weren’t to skip just one lifetime after realising their best theory on how to escape the system had amounted to nothing. If it hadn't been for Ellie intervening, Max would've lost even more of his humanity. Five-stars, one-star, farm; his lives were headed in a more peaceful trajectory for him, and he sorely needed it.

“(By a holiday, you decided to get hitched to a random bitch in that world?)”

The question angered Max, who used an ink-stained finger to quickly draw a couple of runes on the top of the paperwork. The pages had been infused with several types of magic to keep prying eyes away, but now they were all twisted together to hurt. Edric grunted from the pain of his organs suddenly moving from their original place. Not enough to kill, but enough to cause massive, temporary discomfort.

“(I tolerated the other Elders being disrespectful towards her because they don’t know any better. But you do.)”

“(Sorry-)”

“(We’re done here.)” Max focused back on the next rune being tattooed.

Edric struggled to stand and pick up the two glasses of wine; one empty and one filled. “(Let’s speak again tomorrow.)”

“(No, we won't. I want you and all of our kind gone by daylight tomorrow.)”

Edric had to blink a few times from confusion. “(What…? If I’ve upset you-)”

“(This is part of the deal I made with Darius.)” Get their kind in line? Get them completely thrown out? What difference did it make? Maybe it would leave a good impression on the prick, Elder Aris, if he ever found out. It would be thrilling if he learned how many of them slipped in undetected. And even more satisfying to learn Max was the one who purged them. “(Leave with everyone and start a new territory. I’ve encountered a few untagged while making my way here. There must be more. Hunting them down will keep you busy for a while. But leave the one called BB alone. She is on an assignment for me.)”

Disappointment was clear on Edric’s face before it was replaced with bubbling excitement. “(And when you do finally choose a story, does that mean we’re going to try again?)”

“(If I slip up with evading the system, then yes. We’re back again.)”