I wanted nothing more than to lie down and take a nap. Sadly, much like a pauper wishing to be a king, I was forced to accept that my wants were nothing but dreams. Orsk wasted no time in practically shoving a mana potion down my throat and had Levin carried over to me. I summoned Áine and gave her a sympathetic squeeze before slowly lowering her towards Levin's stomach. Even with the mana potion, I felt ragged. I felt raw. My mana channels jolted my insides in protest.

Me and my poor summons were granted enough leeway that we only needed to heal most of the damage to the point where he was stabilized. We could heal him later after we've had a chance to rest and recover.

If Talon ever dares complain again about bringing me along, I'll shove my pointy spear up their asses.

The mention of my spear made me realize I was weaponless. I had absolutely no idea what happened to my weapon after I fell. Tugging on Levin's arm as he got up, I grabbed his attention.

"What's wrong, Cyrus?" he croaked out, sounding as exhausted as I felt.

"What happened to my spear? I sorta need my weapon since it's my only one," I managed to say.

Even my throat felt raw.

"Your spear?" he replied, looking confused for a second before clarity showed in his eyes. "Sam took it as far as I recall. The beast didn't take too kindly to being impaled. Good thinking, by the way."

I accepted the compliment gracefully and got up myself. Giving Áine another hug, she returned back to my soulspace. With any luck, she can get some rest before being brought back out. As we walked off the wall and back to where we had left Sam and Petraeus, I finally addressed the pending notification.

Protect the Village of Holmfirth

Wave: 3/10 Survived

Villagers Survived: 98%

Time remaining till next wave: 13h: 54mins: 21sec

Stand tall, Ascendants. You have vanquished the Champion and secured precious time for the villagers of Holmfirth. Take the time to rest and nurse your wounds, for you have more to weave into this heroic story of yours.

Fourteen hours? Fuck yes,

I closed the notification and nearly dropped to my knees then and there. The ground looked more comforting by the second.

When we returned to the small house containing our other team members, Xertalus and Matias rushed ahead and nearly knocked over a few people in their excitement. Hanging by the door was none other than Petraeus. He looked ragged and dirty but better than before. Sam sat in a chair, waving at me as we approached.

Orsk waited till the brothers released the tired elf from a tight hug to step forward. "How are you feeling, Petraeus? I was sure we would have to wait till Cyrus healed you till you regained consciousness."

Was Orsk suspicious of something? I was somewhat surprised the beastkin didn't sound as concerned as I thought he would. Before Petraeus could open his mouth to speak first, Sam stepped in and answered for him.

"About three seconds after the notification appeared about completing the wave, Petraeus woke up. He sat up and puked out some congealed blood. Considering I have no healing skills of my own, I decided to administer a healing potion carefully. He stopped coughing up a lung and seemed fine after the potion's effects kicked in," she explained quickly.

Orsk nodded his and accepted what Sam said. Turning his attention back to Petraeus, he informed the man of how things went down. It was decided that I'll heal him in an hour after I recovered. Since his health wasn't in critical condition, I was less worried about healing the man immediately.

Sorry, Petraeus, you'll just have to put up with it for a little longer.

Despite the loud cacophony of groans emitted by the group, Orsk managed to marshal us to the town hall. We could all disperse after informing the villagers. And with our timer being more generous than usual, there was ample time for everyone to decompress after we finished our duty.

We were nearly deafened by a surge of shouting from inside the building. After calming down and taking in the scene, the shouts were actually cheers. Apparently, our successful vanquishing of the champion was broadcast to the rest of the village. In the corner, several men and women were bawling their eyes out, consoling each other in some sort of mournful happiness. Michael came rushing to us with a giant smile plastered across his face.

"Oh, our heroes have returned! The guards delivered us news of your fight. Truly, without you, we would have no chance to defeat such a monster on our own," Michael gushed.

With a single tear running down his face, he clasped Orsk's hand and began pumping it vigorously. Honestly, the whole scene's nearly cartoon-like level of drama made me feel like I was dreaming. It was all... Too much. The praises made me uncomfortable and the looks bordered an infectious fervor.

"Come, come, we have prepared something for you all. We may not be able to fight, but we can help ease our saviors' burden!" Michael exclaimed.

He began tugging Orsk's arm, pulling him deeper into the building.

"Uh, thank you for the offer. But we are tired, and really mu-" Orsk began before he came to a stop as Michael released his hold and gestured to the display behind him.

When I walked closer, I could see what brought Orsk up short. Behind Michael tables stacked from side to side, each holding an entire feast's worth of food on top. In the middle, a giant keg of beer or wine had been propped against the a metal stand.

The food looked fresh and still steamed in some places. A pair of women stood next to one of the ends with a cart of plates and bowls, with another smaller cart carrying cups and silverware.

I wasn't the only person to gawk at the display. And a few rumbling stomachs from our team signaled our thoughts about the hot meal before us. That, of course, brought another smile to Michael's face.

"Please, our people have worked hard to prepare this for you. We can still hear the sounds of fighting from over here. And some of the stories of our guards have brought both horror and hope to our ears," he said softly. He gestured to the crowd. "We can't fight, but we can do this."

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One of the two ladies next to the cart stepped forward.

"Please, take some food and rest. To be stuck in here and feel so useless..." the woman. She visibly clenched her jaw and tightened her fists. A slight tremor could be seen running through her body. When she looked up, her eyes brimmed with tears threatening to fall. But, she held fire in her eyes. She cleared her throat; her voice remained steady despite the shaking. "We cannot help you out there. To defend our village against waves of monsters. Forced to rely on help from complete strangers here by chance. So, to fight against the roars and screams, to deafen our children's ears to the ground rumbling explosions happening outside our walls, we did this. Once again, please, heroes, grab a plate and eat your fill. Let us contribute to this fight to help you recover so you may fight those horrific creatures. It's selfish to ask but eat. Eat and recover. To give us hope that you're at your best while we're relying on you."

When she finished her speech, nobody made a sound. Even the usually boisterous Meleena seemed more subdued. A motion to my right brought my eyes swiveling across the room. All around us, the rest of the villagers stood up. Many shared the same steely-eyed look that the woman had, even some of the children looking at us with a shaking fists.

Orsk stood frozen, tongue uselessly lifting in his mouth but words came out. He made no move to grab a plate, seemingly stunned into paralysis from the situation. Of course, Caldur gave the man a look and snorted before walking forward. The woman practically beamed at him in relief when he grabbed a plate and started piling on food. The rest of team Talon saw their leader's actions and quickly followed suit. The twins ended up looking like circus performers, comically balancing several plates in each arm.

The rest of the team grabbed their own plates and drinks and mingled with the crowd. Sitting next to Sam, I found myself resting on a random cot as we scarfed down our meals. The food tasted great. And the heat battled against the shards of ice in my veins. As it turned out, healing was hungry work. After slurping up her last spoonful of stew, Sam nudged me.

"What?" I asked, somewhat annoyed at her light nudge.

The woman's elbows were piston rods at this point—big, blue, and extremely meaty piston rods.

She gave my face a searching look before shrugging. "This is still pretty crazy, isn't it?"

"What do you mean? Are you talking about the fact we're in some sort of system-based, magical cultivation world? The fact that we've been reborn in new and strange bodies filled with magic? Or perhaps it's the idea that we're currently in a pocket dimension playing heroes in a monster invasion event?"

Most of my snark was more playful than serious. But even with the generous meal, I failed to hide the edge to my voice.

She rolled her eyes at my sass and put her bowl down. Another nudge nearly knocked me over.

"I'm already used to all of that. Remember, off-brand she-hulk beats cancer girl any day of the week. I suppose the last one fits the best. I mean, seriously, all of this is fake. Fake in a way that it's simulated life. Yet, hearing that woman's speech, seeing her tremble in fear because of the situation? It... it just felt so damn real." Sam gestured around us, briefly stopping when she spotted some of the adventurers talking. The strangest sight was seeing the pyromancer from Talon shaking hands with all the villagers. Even Sam cocked her head at the sight but lowered her hand and looked me in the eye. "They are living, breathing people who actually have emotions and thoughts right now. The idea that they're just going to cease existing the moment we are done kinda saddens me, you know?"

I paused for a moment to digest her words. On the one hand, I agreed. To create sapient life to be used merely as actors in a repeatable play was certainly questionable on the ethics of the situation. But that was the thing. We weren't back on Earth. We weren't even humans any more. And back in our world, we had video games that amounted to the same thing in a sense. A line of code certainly wasn't the same as breathing life that could scream cry, and bleed, but we didn't know how this truly worked.

They could be just figures of mana poured into a lifelike mold.

"I can see where you're coming from, but I guess I see the slight disconnect for myself about all of this. We've met literal gods, Sam, gods that exist as real entities that can shape the world. Cal was able to specify what I got reborn as. To shape something like that like it was nothing, all he had to do was sprinkle in some blood or whatever. Eraztis, a friggin mind eater who's actually a god, did something funky with my soul. And you know what? It's highly likely that they were very far from being at the pinnacle of their existence. Some being or beings out there created The Grand Weave. I guess, to me, it's really not that hard to accept that some random pocket of energy can simulate life. Everything gets swept under the rug of magical B.S., and I move on."

We sat in contemplative silence for several minutes. With nothing else to do since I was forced to wait to heal the others before retiring for the night, I decided to continue people-watching.

Petraeus drunkenly waved a mug in the air to the beat of a song nobody else heard. Notably, his brothers, who before were the more excitable ones, were now reservedly sitting around next to their elder brother. I didn't blame the older elf for deciding to get drunk. It tempted me, but I didn't need booze to addle my brain.

Edithe half-clung to Levin, and Spencer sat broodingly between her and Dyllan. Despite his exhaustion, Levin seemed to find himself as the center of attention, with several men and women listening to his retelling of the battle. Though I suspected Edithe would be serving as a formidable buffer to any of the villagers who wanted more personal time with the dashing rogue.

I spotted Orsk sitting with the village leader and enjoying a relaxing chat.

I continued gazing around the room. Eventually, it settled on the final team of the expedition. Caldur's look was similar to Spencer's. The beastkin watched, but he looked more lost in thought than I was. Meleena was busy being Meleena and sat next to Caldur with her face tilted upward. For some reason, despite her haughty attitude, I suspected she secretly enjoyed the looks of worship.

The twins made me chuckle. They loudly snored while sleeping in a ball of limbs and tails. Pieces of food stained their fur and the villagers looked on almost endearingly.

And then there was the crow. The pyromancer was the oddest person of the bunch.

From what little interaction I had with the beastkin, he was the silent and reserved type of person. But at the moment? Currently, he mingled almost amiably amongst the villagers. Several men and women patted the guy on his back, and he willingly met every hand with a handshake. Seeing him being social was like watching a fever dream come to life. It was such a difference to what I expected that I had trouble reconciling the person across the room with the person I thought I knew.

Not that I really know him. You've talked like twice, Cyrus.

I sighed and relaxed my shoulders while resting my head against Sam's. Like that, the party continued, and I finally felt I was rested enough to summon my familiar. The little fairy found herself the center of attention and was especially popular amongst the children. Seeing that little tyke's smile made me feel compassionate enough to summon Zharia as well. I spent a minute dealing with her barrage of questions, asking if I was alright, and then settled her down. The vain little bird transformed into the show's star as she performed little tricks.

"Just avoid hurting anyone. No need to bring the vibe down."

Zharia huffed and puffed flames much to the amusement of the kids below. "I wont!"

I got a few appreciative pats on the back from the parents when I made my way over.

Edithe gave me a tight hug as I healed Levin and whispered a thank you into my ears before I left. I was given similar thanks from the brothers after topping up Petraeus. Seeing as I did my duty for the night, I slowly hobbled my way outside. Even with the open cots inside the town hall, I decided to appropriate one of the empty houses to sleep in. I made sure to tell Orsk where I would be before actually leaving but was stopped before I could turn away.

"Huh? Is there something wrong, Orsk?" I asked the man as he put a hand on my shoulder.

"Ah, nothing is wrong, Cyrus. I just wanted to offer some advice before you head off," he quickly explained.

"Oh?"

"Before you head to bed tonight, try to meditate. I know you're tired, but hear me out. You don't have to do anything but should center yourself for a few minutes before you sleep. If my suspicions are correct, you'll have appreciated spending the effort after you wake up."

I scrunched my face but mentally shrugged and accepted the advice. "Thank you, goodnight."

"Goodnight, Cyrus. Rest well."

I walked around a bit before finding an intact home close to the town hall. Thankfully, inside was a massive bed with what looked like fresh sheets. Despite desperately wanting to head to bed, I ultimately decided to follow Orsk's advice and meditate. I wasn't going to try working on my mana conduits tonight, but the meditation did help me feel better. Though, it had the expected side effect of making me feel even more sleepy than before.

Eventually, I couldn't keep up the physical effort to stay awake and clocked out after my head hit the soft pillow.