The ground was starting to tilt, cracks appeared on the pillar, and the trio started to slip towards the crumbling rocks. They desperately started to climb to save themselves from being eliminated. Jeff was near the edge and was much closer to falling down, so he took Desos off his shoulder and yelled, "Fray! Catch this idiot!" He threw Desos towards Fray, and Fray caught him frantically, saying, "What the &%*@ are you doing! You know I am not strong enough to hold him for long!"

Jeff smiled and said, "I am heavy, so I may be the first to fall. I don’t think I can save him. You know we both don’t have families. But that guy has a sister. No matter what, make sure he survives!" He yelled out, his emotions echoing within his voice.

Fray clenched his teeth and desperately put Desos on his shoulder. He wasn’t strong, but he tried his best and slowly started climbing, pushing his body to its limit. Jeff saw the struggle his friend was going through and thought, "Dang it! He won’t be able to make it!" Jeff went through his small bag and took out a low-ranked health potion as he yelled out, "Hey! Take this!" Jeff threw the potion toward Fray.

Fray glanced towards Jeff and saw the potion flying towards him. He struggled for a bit but was able to acquire the potion. Jeff then shouted, "Drink that and go on!" Despite Jeff’s advice, Fray thought for a bit, "I am weak, even if I am able to regain some of my stamina, the most I can do is carry him to another pillar. What if I gave this to Desos? He is strong and will be able to escape, but not me. I am already exhausted, and my mana is low from firing two shots of Aqua bullet. Ok, Let’s do this!"

Fray desperately opened the bottle of the potion and tried to make Desos drink it. His hands were trembling from exhaustion, and he was barely able to make Desos drink a quarter of the potion before it suddenly slipped off Fray’s hand. Jeff, who saw the bottle falling down, tried to catch it but to no avail. Their situation was getting tough, and the tension in the air seemed intense as both of them racked their brains in their own way to come up with a solution. Fray thought, "I messed up! I shouldn’t have let it fall like that. I am sorry! It's my fault that we will be eliminated. Dang it!"

Fray started remembering their journey and how they came to be who they are now. Ever since childhood, the three of them used to live together in the slums. They were best friends, and even though Jeff and Fray were orphans, Desos and his parents accepted them with open arms. They started living together, and even though they were poor, all of them lived happily.

But one day, as the curtain of the night fell, Fray woke up to go to the bathroom. As he was on his way, he heard noises from the room of Desos’s parents. He went near the door and started eavesdropping on what they were saying.

"Dear, I don’t think I will live long," Desos’s father, Ron, exclaimed in a depressed manner. These words sent chills down Fray’s spine, and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He tried to calm himself down and listen further.

"I have been diagnosed with Mana exaspiration. The treatment for this disease costs at least 3 gold coins. I was saving money for the treatment, but the physician said that I probably couldn’t live past this year. So, take this. This is almost 100 silvers. Even after my passing, you will be able to open an inn with this money," Ron said, his voice seeming depressed.

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Desos’s mother, Reiya, started to tear up, and she started crying immensely as Ron tried to console her. After some time, she wiped the tears with her hands and exclaimed in a depressed manner, "Dear, I can’t take that money."

"What? Why? Don’t you know how important this is?"

"Because I am also diagnosed with a disease."

"What?! When did this happen?"

"I was not feeling well for a long time, so I went to the physician last month. She said that I was diagnosed with the Red Death."

"What?! Isn’t that a deadly disease?! Why didn’t you tell me before?"

"I am sorry, *sob* I didn’t want you to worry about me. You come back home all tired from work, and you already have so many responsibilities on your shoulders *sob*."

Ron struck his head, showing the worry he had for his wife. "Dang it! So, what did the physician say? There is a cure for it, right?! Right?! Yeah, there must be!" he held onto hope that a cure exists, but the next words that came out of Reiya’s mouth shattered his expectations.

"No, she said that the only cure a commoner can get is death and that I only had three months left."

"No!" Ron gripped his hair, his eyes slowly turned red from depression, and tears welled out of his eyes, flowing down his face like a river. Seeing the sight of the man who always kept a smile on his face despite the harsh circumstances, Fray couldn’t control himself and slammed the door open. Tears filled his eyes, and he rushed to hug Ron.

"Uncle! Please don’t cry! I will find a cure for you! I-I will do anything and get the cure! So please, don’t give up!" He cried out, letting out all his emotions through tears. Ron then quickly wiped out his tears and said, "Fray, were you eavesdropping? That’s not a good thing, you know." Ron patted Fray’s head, and a gentle smile appeared on his face.

"Fray, you little child. You’re 14! Stop crying, how will you find the cure if you cry like that." After listening to Ron’s words, Fray quickly stopped crying and wiped his tears. "Uncle! I will find the cure! No matter what!" Fray’s voice was unyielding, and his face was determined to the core, unyielding to anything. Ron and Reiya looked at each other, and Ron exclaimed, "Ok then, we won’t give up! And you try your best too!"

"Yes! I will!" They chuckled, and Ron patted his head and said, "Don’t tell this to anyone, okay?" Fray nodded in agreement, and the night just went by like that. But fate had something else in store for us. Two months later, Desos’s mom passed away. Despite all my efforts, I couldn’t find the cure. I felt helpless, useless, as I couldn’t do a thing. Then Uncle Ron changed, he left his job and started to train Desos on how to fight. Since Uncle was a gatekeeper at a noble’s house, he knew how to use a sword. He also started to train us and gave us books on magic and fighting techniques which he bought with the money he saved. He always said one thing, "After I am gone, I don’t want all of you to suffer."

But as the months passed, he became sick and weak until he was on his deathbed. He died just after six months, and that day was the saddest day we had lived. But after his passing, Desos’s sister, Freya, got sick. We took her to a physician, and he said that she had an early stage of mana expiration. Since it was in the early stages, there was a cure for it. But, the price was 2 gold coins, which is approximately 200 silvers. We were lacking 120 silvers. Due to this, Desos became desperate and told us, "I will do anything to save my sis. You can join me or not. I don’t care."

We couldn’t leave him alone, so we worked with him and robbed people. But after hearing that by joining the Academy, we can get points, and those points can be converted to real money, we came here. But even after all of this, I still couldn’t do anything. Dang it! If I was just strong enough!

Fray was filled with guilt, sadness, and depression, and he began to feel hopeless as his body was at its limit. But then, breaking through the silence, a voice exclaimed, "Hey." Fray slowly opened his eyes as he looked up and saw yellow hair as bright as the sun, and matching eyes that were brimming with hope. Piercing through the darkness, Yota emerged as a ray of light and exclaimed, "Give him to me, I will help you."