Aster watched the wheel spin.

He wondered what his Rare Ticket would give him. 'If I got Programmer Mage option with a Common Ticket, won't I get something super overpowered if I luck out?'

The wheel spun and spun.

Before finally landing on a symbol. Aster wasn't sure what the meaning of the symbol was, but it looked like a square with a small flame inside.

[ You have acquired Variable 1x ]

Aster felt happy and sad at the same time.

He knew that he could have gotten something as useless as 2 EP, but he also knew that he could have gotten something as useful as Programmer Mage.

In the end, it was all down to luck.

He started realizing that gambling wasn't as bright and promising as he thought.

'Anyway, one more Variable is surely going to be helpful.' He thought.

In the two weeks Aster had spent in the camp, he had started realizing how to use Weakening, the second magic Zoroaster taught.

As long as he somehow played with mana inside himself and smashed it together while also imitating Enhancement, he would somehow produce Weakening by luck.

Only sometimes, though.

Because of that, it was impossible to normally use it in combat.

'Normally, that is.' Aster grinned. He had a trump card.

"Aster, Asher!" They heard a sound from the distance. It was a young woman no older than twenty.

"Rois!" Ash waved towards her.

Rois was a young woman, twenty years old, with pale crimson, curly hair and green eyes.

During their time spent in the camp, Rois recognized the potential of explorers from the Temple Of Trickery and decided to bring them into her own faction.

Cecil had refused, deciding to work by herself, while Aster and Ash agreed.

Why would they agree to be under someone?

The first reason was that Rois had promised them that they would be fully autonomous, and the only condition she had was to help her if the conflict with Tyke siblings ensued.

Which was also connected to the second, most important reason.

Ash had accidentally offended Mira Tyke. Because of that, Aster and Ash needed protection, or a fight would ensue.

'Even though we can easily win against them, we were just newcomers. It's not good to fight leaders the moment we appear.'

It was illogical for kids to lead a camp of hundreds of people, but here, power spoke.

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

And honestly, many people would rather have kids leading them than power-hungry, despicable adults.

"The only hope a person can find in such a bleak world is inside a kid's eyes."

Aster remembered the reason one of the people who were in the Tyke faction gave when he asked why that person followed kids.

Not everyone, though. Which led to the divide inside the camp.

Tyke siblings' faction and Rois's faction.

"Guys, big news!" Rois appeared cheerful but also somewhat conflicted.

"What happened?" Aster asked.

"Are you two busy now?" Rois replied with a question of her own.

Aster and Ash looked each other in the eyes before Ash replied. "Not particulary. Why?"

"We found a magic circle! We can finally leave the forbidden area." Rois said with hope in her eyes.

"Really?" Aster and Ash widened their eyes. They didn't expect to be able to leave so early and easily.

"Yes, but..." Rois paused.

'Tch. I knew it.' Aster noticed a problem appearing. Nothing on Cursed World was as easy as it looked.

"We don't know how to activate it." Rois scratched her head.

"Are you sure that it's a functional one?" Aster didn't believe that a magic circle could be preserved for so many years.

"I am sure that it's not functional," Rois said proudly.

Ash nodded. "Makes sense. But we'll leave somehow."

Aster facepalmed. He looked at the two people as if they were dumbasses. "Then how do you expect us to leave?"

"Aren't you a programmer?" Rois asked Aster with hopeful eyes.

"I am?" Aster affirmed.

Since they were friends with Rois, Aster decided to share his hobby of learning programming. Of course, he changed the story to seem as if he was learning it in his home world.

Of course, since the two of them didn't know what a programmer was, Aster had to explain that to them, too.

"Then you can surely fix the circle." Rois grinned.

"No, I think that you may be misunderstanding something." Aster tried bringing logic back into the conversation, but he didn't realize that logic was never there in the first place.

And so, he was dragged towards Temple Of Night. It was a temple that worshipped the god of night, and it had many murals depicting him.

Aster and Ash walked through the, observing the murals.

"Are you sure that we aren't getting corrupted or something?" Aster was skeptical of temples. "Or that the path is safe?"

"Don't worry, the path we travel through is safe. But just like every temple, many paths lead to danger even I can hardly comprehend."

"Many people sacrificed their lives in order to find this circle, so please, fix it." Rois looked solemn for once. Her mood was constantly changing from a sorrowful one to a serious one.

"I can't guarantee anything," Aster said. He really wanted to fix the portal and finally reach the outside world as well, but he really couldn't guarantee anything.

Just because he was the Programmer Mage didn't mean that he could actually program magic. At least, not yet.

Aster believed that in the future, he would be able to do so, but for now, he was still at the bare basics. Just Variables.

Aster looked around.

He saw the murals of the god of night, also known as night god.

It depicted the night god blessing his subjects with the powers of night.

They were all happy, praying while drawing stars on their chests.

"Stars?" Aster asked.

"Huh?" Rois turned.

"Isn't there a god of stars as well? Why would the night god's subjects draw stars?" Aster asked with a confused expression.

"I don't know." Rois continued walking while shaking her head. "Doesn't matter anyway. We are just mortals, unable to comprehend gods' thoughts."

"Yeah." Aster nodded, continuing to walk again.

Then, after some time, finally, he could see a circle drawn on the ground.

It was behind a small metal door that looked as if it was forcibly broken through.

The Temple Of Night wasn't as gigantic as the Temple Of Trickery, and because of the narrow corridors, Rois, Aster, and Ash had to walk one behind the other.

Aster approached the circle with a curious expression.

He could see a small part of it being blank, showing that someone, or something, had 'deleted' a part of it.

The circle looked as if it was made of intriguing purple sand-like material.

"It's made of magic dust, a material that can conduct mana," Rois explained.

But her explanation fell on deaf ears. Aster was entranced by the beauty of the magic circle and how it was made.

'It really is programming!' He wanted to cheer. It was possible to leave the Holy Land Of Darkness.

Aster just had to decipher a super complicated magic circle that was thousands of years old.

Yeah, just that...