The sun shone harshly on the sleeping figures but failed to rouse them. They slept soundly, exhausted. It wasn't until the sun reached the height of its journey that they finally began to stir.

Logan woke up first. Every muscle in his body was sore. He could barely move, so he didn't. He just lay there and let the sun beat him. His mind wandered to last night's events. He shuddered as he remembered the grueling routine he had gone through throughout the night.

As if the journey here was not strenuous enough, Logan thought tiredly. Only after running for more than thirty minutes, cursing the pleasure-loving carriage drivers, had he remembered that he had an abnormality that could increase his dexterity.

That wasn't so bad. He could think of it as thirty minutes of exercise. However, after he activated his abnormality, the tracking mark he left on Eldon reacted, allowing him to sense where he had gone. He followed it to the city gates before stopping in exasperation.

The tugging in his consciousness led beyond the gate closely guarded by hordes of soldiers.

If it weren't for the motivation he had within him to get to the S-rank at all costs, he would have given up there and then. But he tried to think and again remembered he had an abnormality, one that was remarkably fit for just this type of situation. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, thinking that his speech at the Real Coffee Shop would have been empty talk if he could not get past this. And if there was one thing anyone had to know about Logan, he never gave promises he couldn't handle.

Logan rubbed his head embarrassedly, remembering the ensuing sequence. He had sneaked through the guard's pathways, going to the ramparts at the top of the walls. Logan thought he was doing a pretty good job until a group of soldiers drinking on duty, who he could have sworn couldn't notice him, asked him if he wanted a drink.

He then realized all the soldiers that guarded the gates were not necessarily strong, but they had sharp sensory-related abnormalities that helped them sniff out people like him trying to sneak through the gate. Panicked, he had thought he was going to be murdered or something for trespassing, but the guards gave him lifesaving information.

"You're a camper, ain't ya?" the guard had asked with a drawl. "Ain't no problems with campers goin' in an' out as long as ye don't leave the safe zone."

Logan, though relieved, was confused. "How would I know if I've left the safe zone?"

"You'll know it, boy," the guard replied. "When ye come across one of 'em scaly lizards that want ta bite ya head off, you'll know you've left the safe zone. As for whether ye can get back, that's a whole 'nother matter!"

The group of them burst into laughter at that.

They let him go after he drank a few jars of wine with them. Logan thought that would be the end of his troubles for the day, already looking forward to meeting this S-rank. He had to change his mind after spending an hour and a half marching toward the pull with no results. Logan almost turned back for fear of leaving the safe zone but persisted. Thankfully, he came upon the clearing soon afterward.

He had been confused for a while, as he well should've. Eldon and Zachary were not alone with the S-rank, and he hadn't expected to see them waving tree branches around, yelling at the top of their voice as they drenched the ground with sweat. He didn't know what he expected, but this wasn't it.

While he watched uncertainly, wondering if it was an odd requirement by the S-rank before he allowed them to join his team, Zachary called him over, asking him to join them. He also foolishly agreed to join them. After all, it looked easy, almost like they were playing around.

He couldn't have been more wrong. Logan couldn't remember exactly how many rounds he did before he fell unconscious, but he knew it wasn't more than five. Even then, no part of his body wasn't sore, a testament to the high intensity of the motions he had been put through.

Someone near Logan stirred, and Logan glanced their way. It was Zachary. He sat up, crossing his legs as he rubbed his neck.

"Damn, that was intense," he said, letting out a huge yawn. "I don't think I'll be able to move for a while."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Logan didn't think he would be capable of moving if half an hour passed, but before he could say so, the rest began to wake up.

After a minute, Eldon was still asleep, so Zachary went over to wake him up. Zachary called Eldon's name several times, even shaking him, but it was not until he tapped Eldon's face that Eldon finally woke up, sputtering.

The first thing Eldon did as he woke up was rest his hand on his chest. It was odd, but Logan assumed he was startled by the sudden awakening. Eldon had most likely been tired out, which Logan could relate to. They were both D-ranks. He was so weak even though he arrived much later than Eldon did, so Eldon was probably in much worse shape.

"Are you alright?" Zachary asked Eldon. Eldon looked around, his eyes resting on each one for a moment. He stopped on Logan, glancing at Zachary questioningly.

"Yeah, Logan's here too. He arrived during our training. I have no idea how he found us." Zachary looked appraisingly at Logan. "Maybe he does have some skills."

Logan inwardly did a triumphant fist pump. He couldn't say that was not part of why he so dedicatedly chased them—it was definitely part of it. However, he would never disclose that it was only because of a tracking mark he left on Eldon that he could find them. There was no need to undervalue himself. They did not need to know that tiny detail.

"Um, guys, can we focus on what's important right now?" Logan raised a hand. It took all his effort to do so, but this was a crucial moment. "He seems to have gone, leaving us alone here. Please tell me he promised to find us again and invite us to his team."

Logan didn't consider himself a greedy fellow. He was a simple man, through and through. However, it was natural for anybody to want more after being given a glimpse of it. Having come all this way, he would be highly disappointed if he couldn't join an S-rank team.

Zachary frowned at Logan's words. "He didn't speak a word to us. We never got to ask him to invite us to his team."

"Are you kidding me?" Logan was distraught. "You never asked? How difficult could it have been to walk up and ask?"

"Why didn't you do it then, idiot?" A chubby boy spoke, glaring at Logan. He was one of the unfamiliar Campers. "You're so smart, so why didn't you go up and ask him when you got here?"

Logan had no response for that. No, even if he had one, he wouldn't dare to say it. They were so far away from the Spire's Base, and this boy gave him a feeling similar to Zachary's. He was likely a strong fellow.

Arguments were not imperative for discussions and social encounters, so Logan believed everything was best settled amicably without resorting to violent words or actions.

"Damn it," the boy murmured, squeezing his fists in anger. "He wouldn't leave us with nothing. I know that for a fact. What went wrong?"

"You never explained why you were so fixated on joining Senior Abyss Eye's team," Eldon said quietly.

"It's a bit difficult to explain," Zachary said. "All of us from the Robin Camp—Aiken, Ray, Hollie, and I—know something other people in the world don't. Everybody would disagree with us. They would call us ignorant fools who have seen little of the vast world. But we know this for sure. It's a fact, without any shadow of doubt."

Logan leaned forward. "What?"

Zachary inhaled deeply. "Senior Abyss Eye is the strongest."

Logan sat in silence, waiting for the rest. "Abyss Eye is the strongest what?"

"He's the fucking strongest," Aiken spat. "That's it. The strongest."

Logan still felt like something was missing. They couldn't possibly mean Senior Abyss Eye was "the strongest." He had to be the strongest Camper or something. He felt like a noun was missing.

Then it sunk. The strongest. He's simply the strongest.

Camper? S-rank? abnormal? All those things were unnecessary. Regardless of the category, he was the strongest. That was what Zachary and Aiken were trying to say.

It was absurd.

"How can you say something like that so easily?" Logan animatedly waved his hands around, his tiredness forgotten. "There are fifteen Spokesmen of the Camps! All of them are S-ranks. They've never fought before, so how could we know the strongest? And then there are the Legion commanders. All of them are S-ranks, too. There's also the Spire's Guard and then the ministers—yes, the President! The President is the strongest, isn't he? How could a Camper be stronger than the President? It doesn't... It doesn't make sense... "

Logan looked at each of their faces as if begging them to back him up. The thought was ridiculous. A Camper couldn't be stronger than the President. If that were the case, the tables would have long turned around with Campers escaping the current hell they lived in.

However, none of them looked ready to back him up. The last two, whom Zachary indicated as Ray and Hollie, did nothing to disprove Aiken and Zachary's nonsensical theories. He glanced at Eldon, but Eldon reacted even less. Eldon was staring into space like he wasn't among them.

"You guys can't be serious. You can't be—"

"If you say he's the strongest, I believe you," Eldon said softly. He slowly looked into Zachary's eyes. "But that's not all, is it?"

"I'm not surprised you caught on quickly," Zachary said. "You're right. The true reason why we all want to join his team is not just because he's the strongest. It's because of his code."

"Code?" Logan asked.

"Abyss Eye has a strict personal code that he follows," Zachary said. "I won't be surprised if he goes against the world because of that code."

"What is this code?" Logan asked again, the curiosity too much for him to bear.

"I take what I want but give something in return," Aiken, the chubby boy, spoke in Zachary's place. "That is his code."