“I still didn’t pick mine,” Millie hurriedly answered while throwing nervous glances towards the horde out in the distance.

“Stick to the support, then,” Leo replied with a shrug of his shoulders, standing two entire steps behind the girl.

‘Learn, observe.’

With the monster core haul from the second wave, Leo became the lord and master of his surroundings.

He had more than enough mana to fully unlock the remaining two layers of his second legacy… But there was absolutely no point in doing so.

Contrary to the extremely useful first layer and then the versatile second, the other two served a much more specific purpose. And by merely unlocking them, Leo would change.

Not in a bad way, by any means.

But the inevitable reality of grasping more of his legacy was that his physique, his aura, even his thoughts… They would change.

And that would make him visible to anyone who knew what to look for.

‘For now, two layers of the second core will be more than enough.’

The horde was approaching fast.

Just like most of the simple sub-dimensions, this portal’s threat level gradually grew higher.

If the first wave consisted only of the few fiends that just happened to be near the entry, then the second wave Leo fought off grew to the level of a formidable force.

A group of fiends that battle newbies would struggle to defeat, even with the help of reasonably powerful abilities their circuits could grant.

The third wave became a horde so big, Leo had to unlock his second core to deal with it. An entire, complex system of relatively simple magic. And now, with the mana harvested from the remnants of the fiends from said wave, Leo was more than ready to deal with anything that stepped within the current range of his magic.

“Are you really sure you want to go with the berserker?” Leo turned his eyes over to Mark.

Contrary to his initial, rude attitude, he quickly came to cooperate with the rest when the horde of the fourth wave came close enough for him to truly grasp its scale. The psychological effect of watching how hundreds if not thousands of inhumane fiends charge down the plain on their hunt for one’s blood…

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“Yes, I’m sure,” Mark replied in the same, albeit slightly subdued, arrogant voice.

“Good, then make sure to stick with it,” Leo replied, rolling his eyes before giving the group a quick, overarching look.

The first of the youths, the name of which Leo’s brain still refused to register, became a mage. The other one picked the swashbuckler class.

When it came to Leo’s brothers, Mark, as he just mentioned, went with a berserker while both Rob and Millie opted to put their class choice for later.

Regretfully, while he could somehow go with the flow up until this point…

‘It really sucks that I only have a half bit of clue of what all those classes do and mean.’

Leo sighed as he glanced over at the bugged-out system of his.

With the critical circuits of the system pending, his circuit remained as inactive as it was before.

And just like Leo couldn’t learn the requirements for completing this portal before, he could now only guess the meaning and weight behind everyone’s choices.

“I really wish I had a staff or something…” the mage of the group muttered while lowering his center on mass as he bent his knees a bit while rubbing his hands against each other.

“They are coming,” Rob calmly noted, wielding a simple, short sword he picked from a Leo-made field of burnt corpses.

‘Still,’ Leo smiled lightly, comfortably standing behind the entire group. ‘The sight of a horde is really one hell of a motivation for them to focus.’

Assuming Leo’s correct understanding of the relationship dynamic between the five in front of them, this was quite the unlikely group. And while they all appeared to know each other quite well…

When put together, they should really lack the proper cohesion of a fighting group.

And yet, in the face of a great and mentally overwhelming danger, even with the reassurance and help of the circuit, it was a natural, human instinct to band together.

“I still don’t get why you are not joining…” the swashbuckler muttered with dissatisfaction under his nose, clearly struggling to voice out his complaints against someone who had shown no hint of fear or submissiveness when dealing with Mark.

And for all the faulty reasons for why this connection between the two young men existed, it wasn’t something that Leo would abhor.

Sure, it was an effect of an ill-gained respect through the use of force, be it physical or mental… But Mark appeared to really do command the authority over those two of his friends.

Still, even the biggest idiot would figure out that Leo was Mark’s oldest, missing brother by now, after all the times it came up in the past hour or so. And that, all on its own, was enough to suppress most of that youth’s dissent.

“Because you would really have to be a damn moron to believe in orcs exploding from a touch of a fire,” Leo coldly replied, watching how the five ahead of him reacted to the approaching horde.

All of this talk, preparations, and banter only served for those five to unload their nerves.

It was going to be their first big battle or the very first battle for Leo’s brothers and Millie.

“Once again, do your best but fear not, I will intervene if the three of you will be in any danger.”

Feeling the ground starting to tremble below his feet, Leo smiled and encouraged the group in front of him.

“Where is all of that confidence of yours coming from, I wonder,” Rob turned his head and asked while giving Leo a long, profound look.

There was a lot more behind Rob’s eyes than just curiosity or the desire to score a ‘gotch-ya’ on his older brother. A feeling that Leo continued to sense from him for a while now. Something much deeper than the curiosity he openly showed on his face.

“The last six years.”

Rob’s face froze.

While Leo…

‘Urgh… That was fucking low.’

It was clear that Rob had some deep, unsettled feelings about Leo’s disappearance. But this was also the quickest way to pass on the message that while obvious, Leo felt as if its deeper meaning would easily resonate with Rob’s slightly dark, retracted vibe.

Just like he didn’t appear like a victim of bullying despite clearly being one… Leo just sensed that his brother would figure out the true meaning behind the response.

Rob’s eyes twitched again… before he turned them back towards the horde.

“Right… When you said you would save the three of us…” the swashbuckler spoke out again, only to turn his eyes towards his mage-friend and then move then straight back to Leo. He stared at him for a while… But it was his friend who voiced out the clear concern painted on the swashbuckler’s face.

“I don’t think it’s us that he meant with that.”

Leo’s face didn’t even twitch. Instead, he simply leaned his head over his shoulder a tiny bit before gracing the two with a small, viciously empty smile.

“I don’t know the two of you,” Leo shrugged his shoulder with an impassive yet slightly amusing expression. Yet, despite the smile on his lips, his eyes remained cold. “So prove you are worthy to bear witness to my might.”