It was the night of their third day roaming the capital city. And Issac and his friends were sitting inside Ray’s room, chatting and talking about what they saw around the city.

“I still can’t believe you went into the slums on your first fucking day, June!” Janet pulled on June’s ear and reprimanded her.

“Ow, ow, stop! I know I was wrong, but I came out safely, right?” June freed herself and rubbed her ear, which had started to become red.

“Safe?” Issac sighed and massaged his temples, “Even the slums back home are somewhere we don’t dare go, and you went to the slums of a medieval time. It’s a miracle you hadn’t gotten shanked or sold to slavery.”

“I agree with Issac here,” Ethan patted Issac’s back, “What you did was stupid as fuck, even if you had protection. Two defenseless women walking together in the slums are prime kidnapping material.”

“Okay, what’s with you guys and kidnapping?” Ray interjected. His words brightened June, only for her face to darken at his next words, “Why not let her get stabbed?”

“Why you!” she came close and hit him on the shoulder. Ray just laughed in response. Issac moved away slightly and went to the nearby table, where there was a jug full of water and a glass with a coaster covering it. He took the coaster off the glass and poured himself a drink. Sighing to himself, he took a sip. As it was, he could barely stay next to them. The miasma around them had intensified significantly. He could see it squirming around like worms on their body. The miasma was the densest on their face- it moved to and fro from every hole on their face. He could barely see their faces.

Entering into their conversation, Issac remarked, “Man, I still can’t believe there are actual Gods and Goddesses in this world. I mean, we had those too, but here, they’re semi-tangible. Their influence can literally be seen.”

“You have no idea how it felt to read all those books in the library,” Ethan laughed.

Issac nodded, “Exactly! It really topples your worldview.”

“This world is called Mir, huh? A bit oriental for my taste,” Ray laughed.

Issac looked at Ray and smiled. The awkwardness between them had dissolved. After all, they had been friends since high school. If they broke off relations from one fight, then their years of friendship might’ve been for nothing. It also gave Issac hope- that his friends hadn’t, as Nyx put it, ‘too far gone.’

Other than that, there was another change. Issac’s eyes began to show him something different- small orbs of light floating around like fairies. And as soon as he began to see them, both he and his friends began to feel more energetic and sensitive to their surroundings. All this led Issac to believe that what he was seeing was mana. Only a small amount of the mana orbs would actually enter their bodies, while the rest would bounce off. But the status screen still displayed the ‘undergoing updates’ message.

“Janet!?” June’s panicked shouts interrupted his thoughts. “Where’s your ring!?”

All of them looked at Janet’s left ring finger. Seeing it empty, everyone’s eyes widened in panic while Janet slumped down on Ray’s bed with a pale face.

“W-Wait, don’t panic, Janet!” Ethan hurriedly went to pacify her, “We just have to search for it.”

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“Search for it!?” June seethed at Ethan’s thoughtless words, “you’re going to search the entire fucking city for a small ring? Why don’t you try searching for a single specific bacteria on the seat of a public toilet?”

“Calm down,” Issac sighed and raised his hands to stop the two, “it might’ve also fallen off inside the palace.”

“It’s still unrealistic to search for something that was lost one or two days ago,” Ray interjected. He looked at the downcast Janet and exhaled deeply before saying, “I believe that instead of trying to search for it, we just ask the Queen to make an exact replica of it.”

“Ray!” June protested.

“What I’m saying is the most rational here. It’s just like you said- it’s unrealistic to search the entire city for a single ring. It would be better just to replicate it since we can’t even leave this world.”

Issac quietly sipped his water as June and Ray argued. Whatever he wanted to say, June was already saying it, and opening his mouth might worsen the situation. He and Ethan glanced at each other and decided to keep quiet. But June wasn’t going to let them.

Snapping her head towards them, she asked, “What do you guys think?”

Ethan stuttered, “I-I think we should search the castle once, and then if we d-don’t find it, make a replica.” Hearing Ethan’s neutral answer, she looked at Issac.

Issac took a sip and said with a solemn face, “Stop asking us. You both gave Janet a choice, and now it’s up to her to choose.”

Everyone focused on Janet, whose eyes seemed dull. She raised her head slowly and looked at everyone. With a heavy voice, she said, “I’ll…I’ll make the replica. There’s no way in hell we can search for it when I don’t even know when it fell out of my hands.” Her eyes became clearer and more resolute, yet it looked like she was on the verge of tears, “At least this way, I’ll still have her memory with me.”

“It’s the most logical solution. But that ring didn’t hold logical meaning in the first place….” Issac disapproved inwardly.

“Don’t worry, Janet!” June sat down next to her and hugged her, “The Queen’s blacksmiths will be able to recreate your ring perfectly. It’ll look just like the old one.”

“Y-Yeah, I hope so,” Issac said a few words of comfort to Janet and sat down on the sofa while the others talked about different things to distract Janet. He dug around in his pockets and took out a black button-like object. It was the Interceptor the Owner gave him.

And he had an inkling of what it did and how to use it. He held it in his palm, closed it in a fist, and closed his eyes. Feeling it in his hand, he focused on it. He tried to redirect his energy to the object. More specifically, he wanted to pour mana into the Interceptor, but he wasn’t sure whether he could do it or not.

The more he focused, the hotter his arm felt. He could feel this warm pulse travel from his chest to his shoulders and then to his elbow.

“…ssac! Issac!” Ray’s voice broke his concentration, and his eyes shot open. Ray was looking at him worriedly, and so were the others. “Dude, you alright? You’re sweating like crazy!”

“Huh?” surprised, Issac looked down and saw that he was right. The shirt he was wearing was wet and sticking to his body. His face felt damp, and beads of sweat rolled off. “What the fuck? Just from trying to move my mana?” Despite his thoughts, he still managed to laugh it off, “If anything, I’m feeling a bit too comfortable these days! Fucking hell, I don’t even remember sweating ever since I came here.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” June asked again.

“Perfectly fine.”

“Alright then…” June took one last look at him and reluctantly dropped the matter.

“I’ll just use the bathroom. You don’t mind, right, Ray?” Issac got up from the sofa and walked to the bathroom.

“Nah, go ahead.”

“Yeah, thanks.” He headed inside and closed the door behind him. His friends’ muffled voices could be heard as they chatted in the other room, but Issac did not pay attention to it. He walked to the sink and opened the tap. Cold water gushed out of it and swirled down the drain.

He set the Interceptor on the sink. Cupping his hands under the tap, he splashed it on his face. It cooled him down. He dried himself off with the nearby towels and threw them in the basket where there were other used towels.

He looked at his face in the mirror. It somehow felt like he had aged ten years after coming here. He inhaled deeply and then exhaled. Picking up the Interceptor, he held it between his fingers. “Right, let’s try again.”