Thalion met with Annie and Jakob at the large tree where they had spent the night. Resting against the mossy trunk. They recounted the sighting of the boat and their former owner just before drifting off to sleep. Now back in his human form, Thalion sat beside them, deep in thought. His life had transformed from being an underpaid worker who once loved his job to battling for an immortal existence. Since the system’s arrival, eternal life had become his ultimate dream.

One thing remained clear: he wanted to be a good person. Yet that ideal had drifted away ever since entering the tutorial. He still felt guilt over the humans he had killed as a glowhorn but found himself untroubled by killing orcs or the blue-robed humans. Perhaps he justified it by believing that the orcs had attacked first and the blue-robed ones enslaved others—marking them as definitively evil.

He shook his head, a contemplative frown forming. “Why does it even matter if you’re evil?” he muttered. “This world is different and he probably won’t have the luxury to hold on to his ideals for long. I’ll do whatever is necessary to live forever.” His eyes sharpened, his mind fixed on his goal, there would be no more hesitation, no more mercy. Strength was essential, especially for taking on other survivors like that woman.

With newfound resolve, Thalion began honing his movement skill, the telekinetic dash. Though rare, he aimed to push it to epic rarity. The skill allowed him to move in any direction, even upward, so he spent much of the night dashing 100 meters above the trees, pausing only briefly to restore his mana. He couldn't fly, but he could create a mana barrier beneath him, standing 300 meters above the ground with minimal mana cost. As the sun rose, he enjoyed the view, relishing the fresh breeze.

Descending was equally simple. He allowed himself to free-fall, slowing his descent by dashing upward before reaching a branch, where he summoned another mana barrier underfoot. He returned to the tree where Annie and Jakob watched, eyes wide with amazement.

“You can fly!” they exclaimed.

“Well, it’s not exactly flying,” he replied with an amused smile. “More like jumping and standing on a spell.”

“What’s the spell? It reminds me of my water barrier,” Annie said, intrigued.

“It’s called Mana Barrier,” he explained, enjoying their surprise.

Jakob then asked, “By the way, what’s your name? You never told us.”

After a pause, Thalion replied, “It’s Thalion. But don’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Why not?” Annie asked, puzzled.

“I might have at least one enemy, and I don’t want stories about a shapeshifting guy spreading around,” Thalion explained after a moment. He briefly wondered why he hadn’t just given them a false name but dismissed the thought.

“What’s the plan for today?” Jakob asked. “I’m still wary of hunting by the river because of that woman.”

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“You’re both level 23, right? Are you able to fight other humans?” Thalion asked, looking between the two.

“Of course! We’re ready to kill those bastards,” Annie replied determinedly.

“Good,” Thalion nodded, satisfied. “I have a task for you.” He handed them a map, pointing to several marked fields. “These are fields of midnight sunflowers. Usually, there are a few people harvesting there. Wait until they’re done, kill them, and bring me those flowers.”

“We can handle that,” Jakob said confidently. “But we’ll start with the closest field.”

“Alright, let’s make it a competition,” Thalion suggested with a grin. “Whoever returns with the largest pile of flowers wins. Be careful—there might be alarms. I’ve, uh, already killed quite a few people in these fields, so you’ll need to act quickly. Collect everything and get out fast.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve got this,” Jakob assured him, and Annie nodded eagerly.

With that, they parted ways. Thalion transformed into his shadowstalker form and sprinted toward his first target, taking nearly two hours and killing some mutated deer along the way. He chose a location furthest from the targets he assigned to his friends.

Upon arrival, he observed three people harvesting Midnight Sunflowers and storing them in spatial rings. They complained about the work being beneath them, especially as they couldn't use their slaves. Thalion found their comments strange but stayed hidden in the shadows.

After waiting for two more hours, Thalion struck as they prepared to leave. Two were dead before they even registered his presence. The third, a water-attuned light warrior, fought skillfully until a mistake cost him his life. Thalion bit off the warrior’s arm, finishing him soon after.

Checking their rings, he found mostly flowers and a scroll on sword fighting. After feeding their blood to the sanguine thorn, he stored everything in his ring and moved on in his shadowstalker form.

At the second field, his kills were swifter; two women didn’t even see him coming. He found a staff, a sword, and many flowers. He repeated his ritual and moved to the next location, about a half-hour away.

When he arrived, he saw seven figures in blue robes harvesting, all likely at level 25. Viewing this as a perfect test of his limits, Thalion transformed back to his human form and ascended 200 meters above the clearing. Charging a massive, condensed fireball, he hurled it at a group of four who dodged too late, throwing them to the ground and leaving them badly injured.

He followed immediately, targeting a light warrior, aware they were often formidable fighters. Using Telekinetic Dash combined with Tectonic Slam, he created an earthquake that felled everyone still standing. The vine of the sanguine thorn vine whipped down on the light warrior’s face, killing him instantly.

Without waiting, Thalion launched blood thorns at a mage while summoning a mana blade to strike a nearby warrior. The mage summoned a water barrier to block a thorn, though it shattered with the impact. The warrior deflected Thalion’s attack, but Thalion quickly overpowered both. Seizing the mage, he shattered her ice armor while her water whip inflicted a deep cut on his arm.

Gritting his teeth, Thalion hurled a fireball, which the warrior dodged, leaving the mage to suffer the impact. Thalion and the remaining warrior circled each other, locked in a tense standoff. When the warrior attacked, Thalion dodged and unleashed a charged mana wave, which sent the warrior flying back and finished him with a well-aimed Blood Thorn to the head.

“Finally,” Thalion thought, relieved, his mana nearly depleted. He quickly drank a mana potion, activated Blood Harvest to absorb life from the fallen, and collected their items before healing his arm with a health potion. The sanguine thorn’s passive effect had already started the healing process, restoring movement to his arm.

He set off back to the tree where he’d spent the night with Annie and Jakob. Once fully healed, Thalion resumed his shadowstalker form and dashed off into the approaching night.