The choice was an easy one. Some things were more important than revenge.

Carpy was about to return to master Kon when he noticed the scythe resting beside the dead man.

Carpy looked around to make sure no one was there, before using a tendril of water to take the scythe with him.

When Creators died, sometimes their lingering obsession left behind Magical Items. This scythe was one of them.

Carpy was unsure if he should bring something like this back. What if that lingering obsession was to kill master Kon?

No, if that were the case, the target would be Carpy.

Another thing that he noticed was how light the scythe was. It felt like it almost weighed nothing. Was this the weapon’s special ability?

Whatever, it wasn't his job to think about these things. Carpy put the scythe in its own water bubble, and then he flew off.

***

I kept drifting in and out of consciousness, but I couldn’t help but think about the last battle.

The scythe moved so fast that I couldn't dodge it. The attack was so fast because it had no weight behind it. Otherwise, I would have been able to block an attack like that.

At the same time, the lack of weight stopped the attack from cutting deeper and killing me.

The scythe guy's special ability was turning coins into scythes, but the weapons still weighed as much as a coin.

I could have activated Perfect Me. During my training, I experimented extensively with my ability and learned that an injury could be forcefully shut and healed.

But I couldn't afford that. There was something I needed to do, and I couldn’t activate the ability for any other reason. Something that I would need Perfect Me for.

The sound of something flying through the air woke me from my slumbering thoughts.

I opened one eye, and what greeted me was something straight out of a nightmare, an eel-like creature inside a water bubble the size of a house.

Bets and Gem were staring at it as if it was a dream.

The eel was as tall as an electricity pole and looked like an anaconda.

But I would recognize that fishy face anywhere!

It was Carpy!

Even with the crazy energy he was releasing, he wasn't quite a high rank. But that was when I remembered something.

Evolution was supposed to take weeks, months, and in some cases, even years to fully complete. So why was Carpy all of a sudden a long eel?

Was it some kind of forceful evolution?

That wasn’t something I knew was possible. It could either be a good or bad thing. In those xianxia stories, a breakthrough like this would cut someone’s future potential. But this wasn’t a world like that, and Ord wasn’t like Qi.

Did the Ord inside Carpy’s body react to his emotions? Technically that was my Ord, and I was also hoping for Carpy to evolve; that was all I thought about when creating the contract to give Ord to Carpy. Maybe that caused some kind of reaction?

A water bubble floated down to lay a scythe twice my height onto the ground next to me.

“Oh! Shit! That’s a magical item!” Gem exclaimed and went to touch the scythe before a water tendril slapped his hand away.

“This is for master Kon,” Carpy said in a gurgling voice. He only opened his mouth when he spoke and didn’t move his lips, so it looked a bit weird. “Haven’t you heard that you should be respectful to your seniors and your betters?”

“Wow, I never thought a talking Carpy would be such an asshole. And here I thought you were a nice fish. Don’t you remember how I used to spoil you all the time?” Gem pouted.

He was just making bullshit up; he never even gave Carpy a treat.

“Seniors? But Kon is the same age as us.” Bets said.

The fish tilted his head in confusion. “Hm?”

“Can’t you tell? We’re all the same age!” Gem pointed at each of their faces. “Except for baldy here, Kon and I look like normal teenagers.”

Carpy stared at the three of us. “I dunno. You guys kind of look all the same to me.”

“How can you not tell the difference?! One of us is bald!”

“Can you tell the difference between two fish by looking at them?” The water around Carpy’s bubble moved, making it look like he was shrugging. “Master just feels like an old soul. Even the one with the dwindling lifespan doesn't feel old.”

Old soul? Either that was an expression, or Carpy had some scary sensory abilities.

Bets checked on me. “You feeling okay?”

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“Never better,” I chuckled. Lying down on the grass next to a river wasn’t too bad. If it weren’t for the piercing pain in my chest, this would’ve been a perfect place to relax. “We should rest a bit and then find a hiding place. With me like this, I would only be a hindrance in battle.”

Also, I wanted to see if I could force my body to heal the injury. I remembered how Perfect Me did the healing. I just had to try and replicate that feeling.

Carpy released his bubble, letting the water crash onto the ground and flow back into the river. He then slithered around me and rubbed his cheek against mine.

I knew he was just showing his care, but he smelled fishy. However, I was surprised how Carpy could now move out of the water. Could he now breathe oxygen?

“Master! You didn’t lose against them! As a Beast Master, I’m part of your power, so you took them out! So you defeated them all!” Carpy said out of nowhere.

That was some mental gymnastics he was doing there. He was like a little kid trying to convince himself he didn’t take the candy.

I smiled and patted his head. “Of course, we’re one, after all. My victories are yours, and your victories are mine.”

Since he used to be a regular fish who was slowly rising to the top of the food chain, I always assumed he would have become more arrogant.

After I rested for a few minutes, Carpy hoisted me onto a waterbed. Somehow he had made the water dense enough so I didn’t fall in, and he flew me around.

We followed the river upstream until we ended up in front of a waterfall.

Calling it just a waterfall was an understatement. It was big, wide, and gushed down a mountain so high I barely saw the top of it from down here.

It reminded me of when those monks trained under a waterfall; if someone did that here, they would be crushed to death by the water.

Carpy controlled the water and opened a path in the middle of the waterfall, revealing a cave hidden behind the harsh waters.

At first, I hoped that it was the classic cave cliché where the main character would find a treasure hidden in a cavern behind a waterfall. But no, it was just an ordinary cave and not that deep.

Someday, I hoped something like that would happen to me.

Maybe I should stay around Agon more.

As soon as that thought came to mind, a chill went down my spine as I recalled the battle against the high class demon throwing lightning balls around. Yeah, Agon may have been a good friend, but he was definitely a trouble magnet.

“Master, I will be at the bottom of the waterfall to keep guard!” Carpy said and jumped down while at the same time closing the water curtain.

It felt weird hearing Carpy talk in that gurgly voice. But I was glad that we could now at least communicate.

“Is it just me, or does he act softer when you’re awake?” Gem asked.

“No, it’s not just you. Carpy’s voice had scary pressure when he went to chase after the other team,” Bets added.

Carpy being scary? Sure, he had eyes that were like an endless cataclysm of darkness. But deep down he was a nice guy.

“Well, I’m going to search around the river for some herbs and food,” said Bets, and the waterfall opened up like a curtain.

Could Carpy hear us up here?

Bets shrugged and jumped down, landing at the bottom of the waterfall, and Carpy escorted him out of the river in a water bubble.

Only Gem and I were left up here. I closed my eyes and was about to get some rest when he said. “I think I’m useless in this team.”

Huh? Where the hell did that come from?

“I have barely grown any stronger since I got this ability.”

He was worrying about this now? Just when I was about to sleep?

I should nip this bud before it grows into needless insecurity. “You’re our main attacker. Bets and I aren’t any good in that category.”

“With Carpy around, that seems like a moot point,” Gem looked down, clenching his fist.

From what I had seen so far, I couldn’t refute that. Since Carpy was middle class now, he had a vast amount of inner energy to work with. Also, unlike Gem, he had no weakness toward the light or anything like that.

I wasn’t going to tell Gem that, but I wouldn’t lie to him either. He wasn’t dumb enough not to notice when I was giving bogus compliments.

In the end, only one solution came to mind.

“Come closer,” I said. Due to my injury, I couldn’t get up and walk up to Gem.

He looked confused, but he still followed my words, and once he was within arm’s length, I mustered all the strength I could and punched him in the face.

His head swung to the side, and he rubbed his bruised cheek. “Huh? Why did you hit me?!”

As expected, I was too weak for the punching strategy to be effective. “Come closer.”

“Are you gonna hit me again?”

“...Possibly.”

“Then I’m not coming closer.”

“My back is hurting.” I winced and moved around uncomfortably. “I think I’m lying on a piece of stone or something. Just get close to flip me over.”

He narrowed his eyes, and his face looked like he had swallowed a lemon.

“Do you think I would lie to you about this?” I asked him as a friend and a comrade who had been in dangerous situations together. We had shed blood and risked life for each other.

Ultimately, his gaze softened, and he got closer to help me.

It was heartwarming how he trusted me so much.

Of course, I betrayed that trust immediately by punching him in the face again. This time I used Ord, and he smashed against the cave wall. “You fucking arrogant, narcissistic, stupid idiot! Do you think we’re going to win every battle? Don’t go whining on me after one minor loss.”

He rubbed his cheek and looked at me like I was crazy. “What the fuck is wrong with you!?”

“No, what the fuck is wrong with you?” I couldn’t get up, or it would aggravate my wounds. But punching him again would have been better to make sure he got the lesson through his thick skull. “Listen here, Gem. No one is perfect! In life, you’re gonna lose! The most important part is to get up and fight again, not whine like a little bitch!”

Afterward, Gem looked at his hands, clenched his fists, and got up. His gaze had sharpened like a razor. “I understand what you mean.”

Really? Because I don’t understand what I mean!

“I know what I must do,” he stared at his fist and nodded. “Carpy! Open the gates!”

The waterfall opened again, and Gem jumped down.

I stared at my fist. I knew shounen problems required shounen solutions.

But hadn’t this punching strategy been a little too successful? I only used it when I had no idea how to console someone. But this was the third time in a row it had worked.

I shook my head before turning my attention to my injury.

Now that I was alone, I could try and heal myself with Ord. I had done it a couple of times while using Perfect Me.

Gathering the Ord in my body, I guided it toward the wound.