RED and I left the dungeon. I had no reason to keep grinding, for now. I needed some time to start planning my next steps, anyways. It would also take a while to get used to having RED living in his own body. At least he dropped the whole ‘this guide’ thing. I don’t know if I could deal with him if he continued doing that.

The desert was covered by the darkness of night. I could see my breath on the air in front of me. Looking up, the stars resembled fireflies on a summer evening.

“How long were we in the dungeon?” I asked.

“You continued to drop in and out of consciousness while fighting the monsters by the Mana Vein for about a week. You used a second week to finish your transcendence, as well,” replied RED.

I stumbled a bit after hearing just how long I’ve been down there. It didn’t feel like I was away that long. My stomach growled, though, interrupting my thoughts. Perhaps it really had been two weeks…

RED and I quickly set off towards the capital of Gransus. He couldn’t match my speed, but I slowed my pace so as to not lose him. It’d be a shame if something happened to him. RED was strong, but at level 142 I doubt he could fight against a rank 5 beast alone.

RED seemed to be absorbed in learning how to use his skills. He didn’t struggle to use mana, like I did, but he did have issues when it came to knowing the proper times to use specific skills in battle.

We met several rank 3 beasts in the desert. I used them to test RED’s capabilities. He didn’t mind, and, on some occasions, he seemed to enjoy the fighting. I grew a bit envious of how fast he adapted. It had taken me over a month to get the hang of things in this world, but he was doing it in mere hours. The information Nox pumped him with surely helped some, but I couldn’t help feeling a little frustrated.

RED adeptly fought against Bomb Scorpions, Sand Dragons, and Cactal Trappers. He seemed to innately understand how his Monk and Mage classes interwove and didn’t need any help from me.

Along the way I collected a few Desert Razer Hawks. They were only rank 2 beasts, but they were very useful as tamed pets. For one, the larger ones could give me rides in the air. The ability to analyze situations from above was huge. They could also deliver messages for me, and they were rather adept at hunting. While RED and I traveled I had the Desert Hawks hunt us some rank 1 Onion Boars.

Eventually we decided to rest for the night. I let sandy out of storage and RED helped set up a fire pit. His mage skills leaned heavily towards flame spells, so it served as practice too.

We used elongated needles from Cactal Trappers as spits to roast the Boars. Their savory meat let out tantalizing smells as they cooked. It was a shame I hadn’t considered storing spices or salt. The meat itself, while good, was rather bland in the end. In hindsight it seems obvious to bring along spices and the like when on trips. It couldn’t be helped now, though.

For some reason whenever I cut into the boar’s meat I could feel my eyes tearing up a bit. It was weird, but I didn’t question it too much. They were called Onion Boars, after all. It’s a shame they didn’t taste much like onion, though.

Sandy herself, due to the time stopping power of my storage, hadn’t slept in a good while. She curled up on the sand and I used her as a very fluffy bed.

“RED, if you like you can lie down on Sandy too. I’m sure she wouldn’t mine,” I called out. RED’s face grew beet red in response.

“N-no. I’m fine! I’ve got leftover fabric from the clothes hunt in the dungeon. I’ll make a bed for myself over here,” he said in an odd manner. I was a bit thrown off by his reaction, but I had a solid idea about why. He was probably thinking of something ridiculous. I decided not to tease him. His body was human, so of course he would have certain needs to take care of. I decided to give him a bit of privacy by turning Sandy around so she served as a pseudo wall between us.

As I drifted off to sleep, I wondered which brother placed higher in the tournament. I also wondered how Lily was doing, considering how hurt she was. It was a shame I couldn’t help her myself.

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I found myself rifling through memories of my past lives, but I couldn’t find one where I was a healer. Gertrude’s words rang in my head: ‘Your mana is pure chaos energy.’

I knew now, with all my knowledge collected together, that there were seven main types of mana energy. Chaos was, of course, the most destructive in nature. I probably wouldn’t ever be able to heal anyone with magic…

In the end, it always came down to me being a weapon. Nox wanted to point me at the other Fae, but this gun wouldn’t do as he wished. I will become a weapon, but I will be pointed at whom I so choose!

The morning came far too soon. I put a well rested Sandy and some hungover Desert Hawks into storage. I didn’t even know where they managed to find alcohol, let alone how they managed to drink it without me noticing.

We continued our journey. I didn’t grow impatient, traveling at RED’s speed. In fact, I used this time to ask him questions. To ask him about himself… But he tried to dodge anything important enough. He seemed reluctant to tell me who he was before Nox brought him here.

He did answer a few of my more mundane questions, though. His favorite color was green, oddly enough, and his favorite food was pineapple pizza. I don’t know why but those two facts stoked some kind of nostalgic feature of my own mind. They felt strangely familiar. I was beginning to suspect that, maybe, RED was from my previous world… And perhaps we even knew each other. It was weird, though. I couldn’t put a face or name to him. It was like my memories of him had been wiped clean.

I stopped myself from thinking too deeply on the subject. There was no valid reason to jeopardize my friendship with RED over such things. If it truly mattered, I’m sure he’d tell me when he was ready.

It took us a full second day of traveling before the Asmodian Woods came into view on the horizon. It was terribly strange how the desert just ended and woodland began, but I suppose that’s just the natural way of things in this world.

Once we reached the woods I decided to let Sandy out of storage full time. It was a lot easier to find water and food, so there was no reason to keep her locked in the storage. She seemed quite content with romping around the forest. RED, of course, kept his distance from her as much as possible. For some reason, the two didn’t seem to get along. It was even funnier because they were about equal in fighting strength, so whenever they did get into a spat it would result in a fair amount of proper training. I would step in if they ever looked like they were going to take it too far.

I began working on my next big project: creating deity ranked skills. Only those who’ve transcended level 1000 could create them. They were unbelievably hard to actually create, though. It was only now, with all my knowledge and vision, that I could see just how complex they really were. It wasn’t like the lower ranked skills where they could be judged based upon the amount of mana put into them.

Deity ranked skills and items were different. When they came into existence they became part of the user’s soul itself. Damage to Deity ranked items would cause actual harm to their wearers… Not that it was easy to damage them in the first place. It also meant Deity ranked skills and items grew with the users, though. They were the true measure of strength beyond level 1000. They were the reality breaking powers that enabled the Fae to dominate the worlds of the multiverse… And I had two Deity skills and a Deity ranked item.

Nox never did explain how I came to possess them. Did he give them to me when he made my husk or were they created by my soul during the acclimation process? There were so many questions I wanted answered… But now wasn’t the time to be thinking about such things.

I needed to stay on target. I needed to focus and prepare. A battle was coming, and if I wasn’t ready for it then the price would be my very soul.

Throughout our trip to the capital, RED managed to level up two times. The road ahead was long, but I knew then that we could manage it.