As the trio trudged down the forest in what he figured to be the village's direction, Dar busied himself with the Soul Menu. After completing the Harvesting Chamber quest, he seemed to have jumped about three levels from the rewards. And one more from shoving one of the Rhinoheads off a cliff. However, he still felt slightly disappointed by the progression. Sure, advancing a few levels increased their overall stats by a little, but wasn't it normal in games to obtain some sort of combat skill or something the higher your level was? Though to be fair, the line between 'game' and 'reality' in this world seemed to be incredibly blurred.

He willed his skill menu to appear, and slowly scanned the window materializing in front of him. There was only one skill.

[Fractal Dreamer]: Every 10 levels you advance, you can temporarily use [Return To Past Life]

The ability's description still brought a rush of conflicting thoughts into his head. He tried to recall the Harvester's words, but even then, so many questions were left unanswered. How was he supposed to return if he'd already died? Could he somehow bring the twins with him? Or would he need to abandon them in the process?

Dar shook his head in an attempt to empty his mind. He'd long since resolved to return if only for a short while, and he was already halfway there. The idea of mindlessly living his new life despite all the unfinished business and broken promises he'd left behind, was something he would never forgive himself for. And right now, survival should've been Dar's main concern.

"Um... is there something wrong?" Dolly asked, noticing his forlorn look. "...Dar,"

"N-No." he answered, hastily dismissing the skill menu "I was just wondering whether any of you managed to get a new skill or something."

"Skill?"

As Dolly said that, her skill menu popped up in front, drawing her gaze.

"It's empty," she said at last "What about yours... Dar?"

"Same," he lied "Even though I'm a few levels ahead,"

Should I just tell them about it?

As much as he would've liked to get it off his chest, he couldn't think of a proper way to phrase it without sounding as though he was planning to ditch them entirely. No one else seemed to have [Fractal Dreamer] after all.

Before he could say anything else, Etoile appeared behind them, kicking a small log aside. She had been lagging behind a little, pulling out splinters from her foot and complaining about hiking without shoes, but now she looked between the two of them suspiciously.

"Since when have you called him 'Dar', Dolly? Don't tell me it's short for..." Etoiles raised her fingers to her mouth which were now curled up around the edges "...' Darling~'?"

Damn... that voice... I felt something there for a minute...

"No it's not!"

"Fine, fine~" Etoile said cheerily, still smirking at her sister's reddened face "But why the nicknames? How close did you two get while I was asleep, hmmmm?"

"We should get a move on," Dar said pushing some bushes out of the way. Still bickering, the twins carefully made their way through the vegetation with him in the lead. "I think the village is just over that ridge. You see that smoke, right? Girls?"

"--I only called him that since I forgot his name, and this is what the floating square said! See!?"

Dolly angrily indicated the menu before them as her sister leaned in to take a look.

"That doesn't explain why you've become all chatty all of a sudden."

"W-Well... that's..."

Dar sighed but had to admit, he'd been wondering the same thing as well. From when they first met, Dolly seemed to have constructed invisible walls around herself and rarely ever spoke to Dar unless she absolutely needed to. At first, he dismissed her as being introverted. But that didn't really explain this behaviour change.

She twirled a lock of hair into a tight knot around her index finger, then embarrassedly stepped in to whisper something in Etoile's ear.

"Pfftt..."

The elder of the two suddenly burst out laughing.

"...I should've known," Etoile said, still trying to control herself. She looked at Dar's confused expression and caught up to him as he began to climb down a rocky incline in the forest floor "I'll have to tell you,"

"Etoile,"

"Dolly's kinda uneasy around men," she explained to him, ignoring her younger sister's complaints "But when she calls you 'Dar' it makes you easier to talk to, apparently,"

"My name makes her feel more comfortable?"

"It's the name of our dog,"

"What?"

Still trying to process what Etoile had just said, Dar reached the bottom of the forest slope and extended a hand to help her down. He didn't mind Dolly thinking of him as their pet dog, as long as she was willing to speak with him. But what was this about being uncomfortable around men? Etoile should've told him about this sooner. All this time he had been wondering whether or not Dolly hated him.

"Anyway," came Dolly's voice from above "You're in no position to be complaining about me and Dar talking together! I saw you resting on his shoulder in the morning. You must've stayed up chatting with him last night, didn't you?"

It was now Etoile's turn to begin blushing.

"I accidentally fell asleep whilst I was on watch," she protested "You don't know how much effort your big sis--"

But before she could finish off her sentence, Etoile suddenly lost her grip and tumbled down the slope towards Dar, who braced himself to catch her. He only managed to inwardly question how heavy she was before the two collided and rolled back into a patch of moist earth.

"Are you okay, Etoile?" Dar asked, propping himself back up. The mud they'd fallen in had an extremely strong stench, and he began to fret for the worst.

She nodded before clasping his muddy hands in her own.

"Please ignore everything I said to you last night," Etoile begged. Now that Dolly had helped jog her memory, and she was fully alert, the realisation of the words she'd shared must've finally dawned on her. "I promise you, I don't know what came over me back then. I must've been in shock."

Is that seriously what's bothering her the most? How about getting out of this awkward position first?

She seemed to have had a similar thought as she promptly let go.

"Sorry, I'll get off real quick,"

Dolly slid down after them, still curious about the events that took place while she slept.

"So, you two were just talking? You didn't touch each other up or--" she hugged herself and shut her eyes, as though tormented by the image she'd independently conjured up "K-K-Kiss?"

"No we didn't," Dar said. These two were a handful. "What the hell...?"

"Oh... Okay..."

The rest of the journey was made in awkward silence. Not that he minded. Dar was pretty sure that none of the Rhino-headed campers caught a good look at him, but knowing his luck, they could've been hot on their trails already. He wished he had brought some extra food with him, but the fish he had tried to catch back at that pool seemed to have mysteriously disappeared overnight. This hit Dar harder than he'd expected. Now he'd never know whether Etoile was right about them tasting like chicken.

Had the three of them not been so hungry and on edge, Dar would have enjoyed trekking this forest. The plants and animals inhabiting it seemed almost magical, dashing around the underbrush and emitting the most unearthly noises. And although the threat of some giant beast ambushing them did lurk around every corner, he couldn't help but feel as though the forest was charged with the life and vigour that he could only expect from a fantasy world. The large twisting trees, massive toadstools, and swarm of blue fireflies all seemed to serve as a constant reminder that he was somewhere possibly hundreds of dimensions away from Earth.

At last, they reached a part of the forest where all the tree leaves had been dyed the colour of crimson, and their trunks were pale and skinny, like skeletal fingers. They had arrived at a beaten path, with signs of wheels and animal hoof prints embedded in its earthen surface. Dar traced its meandering form with his eyes until they finally rested on the village he had seen yesterday, now laying a good two hundred meters away from them. But to be honest, one detail still made him unsure about whether or not this was the right place.

"There's so many people camped outside," Etoile observed "Is there some sort of event being held?"

She was right. Tents and fires were set up, encompassing the village as far as the eye could see, and a column of wagons and people queued up outside the entrance. It hadn't looked like this last time Dar checked.

"Etoile, can you pass me my coat for a bit?"

Etoile unzipped Dar's jacket and then held it in front of him while he looked into the contents of its pockets. There were a couple of life force vials left, some business cards from his agency, and his phone, which was still slightly wet. But no food or water.

Dolly showed him the dagger that she still had on her and looked at him as though following his line of thought. They wouldn't even be able to last a few days with just this much.

"I guess the only thing we can do at this point, is joining the queue," Dar concluded "Hopefully nobody tries to kill us,"