Sara was the only exception. But even then, she wasn’t strong enough to pose as a substantial threat. Of course, there was also the presence of powerful creatures. After all, this was the main reason for him not venturing too far away from the city.

‘There must be some sort of reason why they don’t go outside. Nevertheless, if they do decide to come out, a few problems might arise…’ Gorn felt pretty confident in his abilities to escape, however, the same thing could not be said about the others.

Looking at Elisa, he thought: ‘How important are they to me? What if someone uses them to blackmail me in some way?’ there weren’t many people he saw as significant, but there were, after all, a few of them. He was very fond of the little girl Ella, the twins, and Elisa. Lora and Sara were also there, a little below the rest. While Rebeca, and Sebastian were slowly reaching that place as well, it was yet the case.

“Shop!”

Power up potion (Lvl1): +10 power. Cost: 1000 gold. Limit: Can increase power to a maximum level of one thousand.

Power up potion (Lvl2): +10 power. Limit: Can increase power to a maximum level of one thousand and five hundred. Cost: 100,000 gold.

Skill slot (2/2): Two extra skill slots can be bought. Cost per slot: 25,000,000 gold.

Talent improving potion (Lvl1): Increase talent from low to medium. Cost: 1,000,000 gold.

Talent improving potion (Lvl2): Increase talent from medium to high. Cost: 5,000,000 gold.

Talent improving potion (Lvl3): Increase talent from high to epic. Cost: 50,000,000 gold.

Storage ring (Lvl1): Can store up to five cubic meters worth of stuff. Cost: 1,000,000 gold.

Teleportation scroll (Lvl1): When broken, it teleports you towards a desired direction, one kilometer away. Cost: 100,000 gold.

Traveler’s house (Lvl1): A portable house that can adjust its size from ten square meters up to one hundred. Luxurious item that brings a great deal of comfort, and protection when being on the road. Effect: Stealth (Lvl*); Durability (Lvl**); Regeneration (Lvl*). Monster cores can be used to speed up the regeneration of the building. Cost: 10,000,000 gold.

Leather armor (Lvl1): A normal piece of armor with decent protection. Cost: 1000 gold.

Leather armor (Lvl2): An improved version of the normal leather armor. Cost: 10,000 gold.

Leather armor (Lvl3): Exquisite piece of armor that combines protection with lightness. Cost: 100,000 gold.

Leather armor (Lvl4): One of the finest leather armors. Made from extraordinary materials that bring forth a special effect. Resistance to elements +25%. Cost: 1,000,000 gold.

Cloth armor (Lvl1): Offers very little protection. Special effects: Wind resistance(passive); Energy regeneration +20%. Cost: 1,000,000 gold

Heavy armor (Lvl1): Made from the finest steel. Extremely durable against physical attacks. Heavy, and movement restrictive. Cost: 700,000 gold.

Black sword (Lvl1): Sharp sword made from low-quality black steel. Cost: 500 gold.

Black sword (Lvl2): Sharp sword made from top quality black steel. Cost: 10,000 gold.

Black sword (Lvl3): Sharp sword made from the finest quality black steel. Cost: 100,000 gold.

Reaper’s scythe (Lvl1): A weird looking weapon used for mass murder. Effect: Absorbs blood to sharpen and repair itself. Cost: 500,000 gold.

Short bow (Lvl1): Good quality short bow. Cost: 10,000 gold.

Long bow (Lvl1): Used to snipe enemies from afar. Power level required to fully draw the string line: five hundred. Cost: 300,000 gold.

Arrow (Lvl1): Normal arrow. Cost: 1 gold.

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Arrow (Lvl2): Top quality steel arrow. Cost: 100 gold.

Skill level-up voucher (Lvl1): This can increase the level of a skill. Only works on level-one skills. Cost: 5000 gold

Skill level-up voucher (Lvl2): ---level two to level three. Cost: 20,000 gold.

Skill level-up voucher (Lvl3): ---level three to level four. Cost: 100,000 gold.

Skill level-up voucher (Lvl4): ---level four to level five. Cost: 200,000 gold.

Skill level-up voucher (Lvl5): ---level five to level six. Cost: 300,000 gold.

Skill level-up voucher (Lvl6): ---level six to level seven. Cost: 500,000 gold.

Skill level-up voucher (Lvl7): ---level seven to level eight. Cost: 600,000 gold.

Skill level-up voucher (Lvl8): ---level eight to level nine. Cost: 700,000 gold.

Skill level-up voucher (Lvl9): ---level nine to level *. Cost: 5,000,000 gold.

Healing potion (Lvl1): Can speed up the recovery of the body. Cost: 100 gold.

Healing potion (Lvl2): Top quality potion that heals the physical injuries. Cost: 10,000 gold.

Healing potion (Lvl3): Can cure a vast number of poisons. Cost: 100,000 gold.

The problem was the fact that he wasn’t going to be all the time with them. Having a power level of only five hundred, and no special skills, made them very vulnerable. Furthermore, not even all of them had that power. To make things even more complicated, there were also other people that were related to them, such as Amelia and Emma.

As a second note, even if he was all the time with them, he wasn’t omnipotent, in case shit hit the fence, some of them were definitely going to die. Such a scene was not desirable in the slightest.

He could use his shop to make them stronger, but that required too many resources that he currently didn’t even have. In addition, that also had a certain limit. Moreover, he wasn’t just going to use them on anyone.

‘That traveler’s house would solve quite a few problems, but that’s too expensive. Should I go find the floating island Sara was talking about? That could be even better…’

With his new acquired stealth skill, the journey should be a lot easier. It was a hard choice to make. Everything was fine at the moment, but things could take a wrong turn in just a matter of seconds. The current peace was very fragile.

‘What about me? What if I lose my consciousness yet again, and while being in a dangerous place? What’s even the exact cause of that?’

There were many hidden problems that he had to take into account when making a strategy. Right at this moment, Elisa woke up. Looking around, she asked: “Where are we? What happened?”

Gorn put her down. “We are on top of the tree. Nothing much happened, but I assume you wouldn’t want the others to see you dressed like that, and in my arms.”

“I wouldn’t mind it if that happens,” said Elisa with a straight face.

Gorn gave her a weird look. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” he was trying very hard not to cross a certain line, but lately, Elisa kept making that extremely difficult for him.

Elisa was a little taken aback by the harsh answer. After what happened until now, she definitely didn’t see that coming. “Pardon?”

A few veins swelled across Gorn’s forehead. “Pardon my ass. If I do that, might as well just take every single one of you and do whatever I want with you without any shame at all. Do you want me to do that?!”

Elisa’s mouth remained half opened: “I…”

Gorn took out a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt: “Change into these clothes,” at this point his tone returned to normal.

Silence.

Elisa listened to him, and didn’t say a single phrase. She didn’t even know how to react to his words. A little shame was also present as well. After changing into the new clothes, she gave him a quick glance, wanting to see his expression.

Gorn came in front of her, and using both of his hands, he grabbed her by the sides of her head. Considering the situation, Elisa was startled by his gesture, not knowing anymore what to expect.

“Look carefully into my eyes,” said Gorn with a solemn gaze.

At this second, Elisa felt some fear towards him for the first time. “Yes…?”

“You are important to me! Don’t forget that!” after saying those words, he pulled her into his embrace, and gave her a warm hug.

Elisa’s eyes became watery: “I…” no words came out. Instead, she extended her arms, embracing him tightly as well.

The wind was a little stronger than usual, but no one paid attention to it. The sun started to shine more and more brightly, caressing everything that it touched. Time seemed to freeze in place.

Eventually, everything started to move yet again. Gorn let go of Elisa, and smiled widely. To her, the previous fear was gone, and in its place appeared a beautiful smile. “Let’s go back, and eat something,” said Gorn while extending one of his arms.

Elisa nodded, and grabbed his palm. Both of them then disappeared from that place. Shortly, they appeared on the same, familiar branch.

“Everything alright?” asked Rebeca while at the same time letting out a breath of relief. She was searching for them up to this moment, and a bit of panic started to kick in.

“There is nothing to worry about,” comforted Gorn. “What about the others, are they still sleeping?”

Rebeca’s facial muscles loosened up. “I don’t know for sure at this moment, but they were sleeping when I left. Want me to wake them up?”

“No need,” said Gorn while arranging his hair.

“Something wrong?” asked Rebeca, a little unsure why was Gorn staring at her like that.

Gorn laughed: “Nice pajamas you got there.” She had a set of cotton pajamas that were clearly oversized, furthermore, there were multiple miniature reapers sewn on it. Those little reapers were extremely cute compared to what they really were in reality.

Rebeca’s cheeks turned considerably red. She tough that it was some important issue of some sort. “Well, the clothes are very comfortable…” her long brunette hair, the cute pajamas, as well as the now red cheeks made for quite the scene.