They continued their walk, the sounds of the flowing river long faded into nothingness. The forest was quiet except for the duo’s footsteps and very distant sounds of what seemed to be multiple different animals or monsters, some hissing, some growling, and many others.

Sounds of footsteps accompanied by quiet growls approached Alex and Elara from their right, slowly getting louder. Elara quickly grabbed her spear and pointed the flashlight to the direction the footsteps were coming from, while Alex unsheathed his sword.

“Black-Furred Elanrs. 10 of them.” Elara said calmly. Shortly after, the footsteps speed up and the growling got a lot louder. Moments later, the Elanrs jumped out from the forest straight at the two.

Elara pointed her spear to the biggest one, assuming it to be the leader, and just as Alex was preparing to swing his sword she yelled, “Testicular Torsion!” Suddenly, all the wolf-like monsters fell to the ground, dead. Alex stood there confused, his sword raised high above his head in preparation.

“Tes- Wha-? What the hell even happened?” Alex asked, looking at the dead monsters before them.

“Remember that meme you saw on the internet about a wizard casting ‘Testicular Torsion’? Well, because I’ve read through your memories, I also saw it, and I decided to test it.” Elara replied simply, as if what she said was completely normal and common wizardry.

“But you don’t die from those. What else did you do?” Alex asked in confusion as he sheathed his sword.

“I wrapped around their other organs with Xen and twisted and squeezed these organs, as well as destroying every last bit of their brain and brain stem.” Elara responded, proud of herself as she teleported each corpse into the ‘Incomplete Complex World’.

“You… You’re saying it like it’s perfectly normal.” Alex said, confused rather than disturbed.

“It was efficient. And they didn’t even suffer, it happened almost instantly and I made sure to disable their pain receptors first so they didn’t feel any pain, so don’t worry.” Elara replied, her smile innocent as ever as if waiting to be praised.

Alex sighed and picked up the flashlight that Elara left on the ground earlier, and said, “Let’s just go.” He started walking on ahead, the forest slowly getting less dense.

Elara giggled and caught up to Alex, “Come on, praise me a bit for a job well done.” She said, nudging him with her elbow.

“Don’t really feel like it. And what are you going to do with their corpses?” Alex asked, listening in to the sounds in the forest.

Elara grinned, put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest, proud of herself as she said, “Well, if you really need to know, we’ll sell the corpses. And, if you don’t mind stopping and getting dirty with more blood, then we can cut them up and take out their organs because that’ll be more profitable.” Alex shook his head quickly, rejecting the offer.

“I’m good, don’t really feel like getting dirty again. Let’s just sell them as they are.” Alex responded.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Come on, all you would have to do is cut open their bellies and take out the organs that are already cut out. We’ll get a lot more money than if we hand them in like this.” Elara replied, trying to persuade Alex.

“Why don’t you do it yourself, then? As long as we get enough money for a room then I’ll be happy.” Alex replied.

“I’ll do it, but I’ll be the one in power of the money.” Elara said, proclaiming herself in charge of money.

“Only if I can veto your decisions and make suggestions, for any reason.” Alex replied.

“Are the reasons going to be reasonable or are you going to bully me?” Elara asked.

“Mostly things like not allowing you to buy useless things or expensive food when we can’t afford it.” Alex explained.

“I can accept that, I guess. Come here.” Elara said before suddenly grabbing Alex’s hand into her own, intertwining their fingers.

Alex looked at her, slightly confused before he said, “What? Are we doing some sort of contract? How long is it going to take?”

Elara giggled and shook her head, and with a smile on her face she said, “Nope, not any contract. Just wanted to hold your hand. But I pinky promise to be responsible with our money.” She started humming in a quiet tone.

Alex tried to pull his hand away a couple of times, but was not able to due to Elara’s strong grip. “Annoying.” He said, but finally accepted defeat.

After a few moments of silence, “So… when are you gonna start cutting the Elanrs open?” Alex asked.

“Already done.” Elara answered as the capital city comes into view.

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

“Exactly that. I already cut them open inside the ‘Incomplete Complex World’, and I also took out their cleanly cut organs, the only thing that’s missing is some sort of bag to hold them.” Elara replied.

“So you did it with your mind, basically?” Alex asked as he looked at her.

“Basically, yeah.” Elara answered as she looked at Alex, as if she knew what his question would be and she was challenging him to ask it.

“So I could’ve also done it like this?” Alex asked.

“Yep! But now I’m in charge of the money, since you didn’t want to do it.” Elara responded.

“I feel scammed.” Alex said.

“Tee-hee! But don’t worry, I promised that I’ll be responsible.” Elara replied, finally letting go of Alex’s hand.

“Whatever. You better be responsible.” Alex said. From how far away they were to the gate, they could see the knights guarding it more clearly.

Elara’s tone changed to a completely serious one as she said, “I pinky promised, so I can’t break it now.”

“Pinky promises are for kids.” Alex responded.

“Actually, in this world pinky promises create contracts. And a broken pinky promise is a broken contract, and the one who breaks the contract will go through some sort of punishment decided by the second person.” Elara explained.

“Wait, for real? Are you serious?” Alex asked in confusion. On one hand, it sounded ridiculous. But on the other, Elara was completely serious.

“Nope, I made it up. Hilarious, aren’t I?” Elara said.

“I wouldn’t say hilarious. You’re annoying for sure, but not quite hilarious.” Alex answered.

“Anyway. We’ll be scanned again.” Elara said as they left the forest, getting closer and closer to the guarded gate.

“Is there any chance that I’ll get to see your beautiful smile again?” Alex asked teasingly.

“Do you not value your life?” Elara asked back, shooting Alex a glare.

“I value my life greatly, actually.” Alex responded, looking straight ahead instead of at his friend.

“Then don’t ask stupid questions. You will not see my smile, because back then I smiled to be polite.” Elara said as they got within the earshot of the knights.

“Awww, come on.” Alex said, playfully nudging Elara with his elbow.

“Anyway.” Elara whispered as she stepped onto the scanner, which started levitating, scanning her like last time. Once clear, she stepped off and Alex stepped on the scanner, which scanned his body, all under the knights’ watch.

As they passed the gate and entered the quiet city, they started heading towards the guild.

“How much do you think we’ll get?” Alex asked.

“No idea, but I know that it’ll be enough to pay for the inn and a meal.” Elara answered as the guild came into their view.

“Wait, since I’m already clean and we don’t need sleep, do we really need the room?” Alex asked.

“Food, I guess. But we also don’t need to eat since we can survive by absorbing Xen from the air.” Elara replied.

“Wait, we don’t need to eat? You said that anything we eat will be absorbed by Xen and transported to our brains.” Alex said, confused.

“That was in the past. I made some upgrades, and now Xen is used to power our brains directly. And if we eat any food then it’ll still be absorbed by Xen and transported to our brains like before.” Elara explained.

“You barely created these bodies, and you already upgraded them?” Alex asked.

“That’s right!” Elara answered proudly.

“Anyway, since we don’t need sleep or food, do we really need to pay for that inn?” Alex asked.

After a moment of thought, she responded, “Well, it feels natural, you know?”

“Fair.” Alex replied as they opened the door and entered the guild.