‘’How do you know that I won’t be able to after a few days, or even weeks?’’ Ethan asked, sitting on a rock and playing with his runed guitar. He was making three high notes before muting the guitar and trying again.
‘’You said you were at the last stage ten days ago,’’ Evelyn replied, lying on Ethan’s hammock, eyes closed and hands behind her back. ‘’That’s called a bottleneck. The best way to overcome this is to risk your life and use your skill in deadly situations. No matter how much you ponder, the chances for you advancing [Blink] are close to none.’’
‘’Why would I risk my life for a stupid skill?’’ Ethan asked, lifting his head with a confused frown. ‘’I mean, I like fighting, the thrill is really addictive, but I always have a backup plan, at least for the fights I choose. Isn’t it idiotic to intentionally choose a battle where you might die?’’
‘’Well, if you put it that way…’’ she said with a smile. ‘’Although not many people would agree. I’ll be generous and tell you the second-best way. It’s changing your perspective by changing your routines and lifestyle. Try different things and forget about [Blink]. However slow it might be, eventually, you’ll see what you couldn’t before. That usually comes with a self cursing for not noticing such a simple thing and having to try fishing for months like an idiot.’’
Amused by the explanation, Ethan still understood the gist of it. ‘’So, we can’t really escape by being idiots?’’
‘’Exactly!’’ she sat up on the hammock, and her expression turned slightly serious. ‘’Plus, there will be dangerous conditions in the Wish Well. The guy who told me his adventures didn’t seem to be boasting. You may get your chance to advance your skill. He said he almost died more than once and that it was ridiculous to not get anything in return.’’
‘’That last part is rather sketchy. Why would they arrange such a complex system but put no rewards? Why the name Wish Well in the first place?’’
‘’No idea, but as you said, we don’t know if we don’t check it out,’’ she recited and jumped to the ground, looking at Ethan excitedly.
‘’Alright, alright,’’ he yielded and got up before storing his guitar in his ring. ‘’Can’t say I’m not intrigued either.’’ I’m sure there are other places like this dying pocket realm. Or perhaps Ani would be able to create a similar environment, he hoped.
They packed up quickly and hit the road after one last look at the place where the core resided. Jolly was strong enough to carry them both, well, four of them if you counted small ones. As the passengers got aboard, Ethan rode his loyal nightmare like a tornado, and the journey of a month at the edge of Serene Depths started.
For the first two weeks, they only encountered tier-3 beasts. Evelyn didn't join the fight if the number of beasts was low. Ethan, Beet, and Paprika were more than enough, and it was still a good exp for them. However, Beet was getting close to the peak of tier-2 and Ethan felt bad for his friend’s lack of skills. Evelyn also confirmed that mantises didn’t have bloodline skills, just like the squirrels. Still, Paprika somehow found a wood element skill before tier-1, and even Evelyn wasn’t sure if it was rank-2 or rank-3 already.
Ethan also remembered the first time he saw Paprika. With vine-like ropes, it killed the badger that was pushing Ethan quite a bit. Now, the little squirrel was about to advance to tier-3 and would likely leave the Beet in the dust for some time.
It was the fifteenth day when they found some worthy foes. Three lamias at tier-4.
‘’Keep the two of them busy. I’ll come help as soon as possible,’’ Ethan said and charged for the one that stayed separated.
‘’Be careful. We’ll retreat if it's too much,’’ Evelyn said as she started to control the wind, supporting her every step.
Ethan sent shadow spikes as he ran, but the lamia was very agile; it dodged left and right, like a professional acrobat. With no choice, he changed to close combat, and finally, his high agility showed its worth. The lamia was still a bit faster than Ethan, but its clumsy way of using the spear gave him many openings. The shallow wounds started to gather, and he only needed a few minutes more to end the battle, but he realized he didn’t have that much time.
Checking Evelyn with his [Mana Sense], Ethan knew the girl was struggling to cope with two, these nimble creatures were truly her nemesis. When one of them stabbed its spear into her leg, Ethan decided to improvise. He took the sun at his back and used [Shadow Spikes] without any [Fabric Tear]. The lamia was still able to dodge them, but Ethan appeared with his dagger wherever it dodged. Luring the monster to his rhythm, he created the perfect scene, where it looked like the lamia intentionally hit its head toward his dagger.
He pulled his dagger and ran toward the others. The fights were too fast for Beet and Paprika. They had no choice but to watch from the back with Jolly. As he ran, he tried to give Evelyn some breathing with his shadow spikes and joined the fight with his [Void Wrap]. Once he disappeared, the lamias backed off, alert, but Ethan blinked a few times before positioning himself and slashing the throat of the beast from behind.
It wasn’t enough to kill the beast, but Evelyn took the opportunity to smash the other. It wailed miserably and staggered on its tail. Ethan also blinked around his injured lamia, giving a few more spikes before stabbing its heart. When he looked at the other, he found it on the ground, getting an intense beating from a stick.
‘’Umm, maybe kill it already?’’ he pointed.
‘’That bitch was smiling when it stabbed me!’’ Evelyn said between her beating.
‘’Yeah, or just give her a petty beating,’’ he said with a smile and dodged Evelyn’s glare with a natural head tilting.
Seeing that she pierced her crimson pole to its head, Ethan was about to ask if they had cores as he didn’t sense any mana from their heads, but before that, he heard the sounds of snapping branches coming from behind.
An elf girl was running toward them in ragged clothes, covered with mud. ‘’Help!’’ she yelled in a frenzy after noticing them, increasing her speed.
Ethan exchanged a look with Evelyn before walking toward the girl. He saw that there were blade cuts on her clothes and many bloodstains, but her stamina was worse than her health as her chest was moving too fast and her steps were irregular. A mid tier-4, I wonder what happened to her. There shouldn’t be tier-5s in this area.
The girl fell down when Ethan came close to her, and he had to use [Blink] to catch her. Without hesitation, he gave a low-grade health and stamina potion to her and in no time she was giving a healthy glow. Well, she still looked terrible, but she wasn’t going to die anytime soon.
‘’Are you okay? What happened?’’
‘’Thank… thank you,’’ the elf girl said, trying to control her breath. ‘’M-My team, everyone, got s-slaughtered by bandits.’’
Ethan frowned, looking at the girl who was shaking with a terrified expression. ‘’Bandits? Why would they be here, near the Serene Depths?’’
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‘’We found their hideout by accident,’’ she said, turning her head to Evelyn, who had just joined them. ‘’We were on a mission to scout the mountains around the Serene Depths. When we noticed there were shady types camping in the caves, it was already too late. They killed everyone but the two of us. They were on our tails for three days until yesterday, when I also lost Nick.’’
Evelyn kneeled to hug the crying blonde elf. ‘’It’s okay. You’re safe now. We’ll help you. What’s your name? Are you from Ehrendil?’’
‘’Mhm, I’m Siera,’’ she replied, hugging Evelyn even tighter.
‘’How many are chasing you? And what’re their tiers?’’ Ethan asked.
Siera paused to think, leaving Evelyn’s embrace, ‘’Three at tier-4 and two at tier-3. But it’s best that we leave. I’m not sure if we could fight against them. I don’t even have my weapon anymore,’’ she noted, looking between Ethan and Evelyn hesitantly.
Evelyn stood up, looking at Ethan. ‘’Let’s go then. We’ll take her to the Well with us. No need to take risks with bandits.’’
‘’Might be a little late for that,’’ he said, pointing with his chin to the dust cloud far away that was barely recognizable. ‘’Siera, can you at least delay one of the tier-4s for a few minutes, even without a weapon?’’
Siera shivered, looking at the dust cloud, which was her nightmare for the past three days, ‘’They just don’t give up… I… I can do that,’’ she said, making a fist. ‘’But it won’t be easy. They also have a healer. It would be impossible to win if we don’t kill him quickly. The tallest man among the tier-4s, you should go for him,’’ she informed, looking at Evelyn.
It only took a minute for the bandits to arrive. As Siera said, there were five dangerous-looking people, all of them on horses. They stopped about a hundred yards away, dismounted, and separated to surround them slowly. Ethan, Evelyn, and Siera stood close to each other in a triangle.
‘’Hahaha, little elf found us even more prey. Is this a lucky day or what?!’’ one of the tier-4s said with a boisterous laugh. The others also smirked as they came close.
Siera clenched her fists and walked in front of Ethan and Evelyn. ‘’You filthy animals! I’ll avenge my friends, even if I’ve to die!’’
Ethan blinked behind her and stabbed his dagger into her heart. Surprised by her vitality, he had to twist it before pulling out. Siera collapsed to the ground with wide eyes, and everybody paused.
Evelyn took a step back, ‘’Wha-’’
‘’How did you know?!’’ their leader seethed, gritting his teeth.
‘’It’s the eyes,’’ he answered casually, kneeling calmly to clean his dagger with Siera’s clothes. ‘’You see, after everything she’s been through, her eyes lack the terror. There was no anger, grief, or any determination in them. She wasn’t in shock either. There were only a pair of bored eyes in her terrified expression.’’
Ethan lifted his head from the corpse, looking at the bandit leader with a glint of madness in his eyes, ‘’Where I came from, they say the eyes are the mirror of the heart.’’
‘’You, you killed her because of a hunch?’’ Evelyn asked with a frown.
‘’Oh, no! The hunch made me keep an eye on her all the time. I killed her because of this,’’ he replied, pointing to Siera’s collar bone with his dagger. The tear on her clothes showed a small tattoo. Ethan looked at the leader again, who also had the same tattoo. ‘’Now, this is just pure amateur work. If I were you, I would consider a career change,’’ he stated seriously before giving them a cheshire grin.
That made the man roar with rage, ‘’I want that boy alive! Attack!’’ he yelled and charged like a bull.
Ethan threw a health potion to Evelyn, ‘’Go for the leader and make sure that his hands are tied. I’ll take the others,’’ he said and disappeared.
A fireball went for Evelyn, but she evaded with a [Long Jump] and dashed to the leader with [Wind Steps] like a fallen star. As others were looking at her, Ethan appeared at the closest tier-4’s behind and cut his throat with both of his daggers.
Two [Shadow Spikes] pierced the enemy’s back, and he disappeared before the corpse fell. The bandits fell into confusion about whom to attack, but more chaos was on the way.
A vine grabbed one of the tier-3’s ankle, and before he could stumble, Beet’s scythe cut his other leg off, making him fall to the ground with a scream. The other tier-3 bandit ran to help his friend, but the same vine dissolved and materialized in a second, only to pierce his stomach. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out the vine, and the wound healed immediately.
It was the other tier-4 who failed to save Ethan’s pick but miraculously saved both tier-3s. Ethan didn’t even feel any elements, so he guessed that it was some kind of mana skill. And, of course, the healer wasn’t the tallest guy; that was a mislead from the late Siera.
He appeared before the healer and slashed her arm before blinking behind her to stab with a reverse grip. All the while, he sent shadow spikes to the leader, so Evelyn would be okay. Because he knew that the leader was going to be a problem as a late tier-4 with the metal element.
As Ethan preoccupied the healer, Beet and Paprika were about to finish the tier-3s, but the healer herself was quite unkillable. Even the shadow spikes at her heart were not a problem for her. He hoped that the brain would work because he wasn’t sure what else he could do.
The halberd that the bandit leader used sometimes got shorter and sometimes curved with a weird angle, giving Evelyn a hard time. Thankfully, she overpowered the man with her strength and looked like she could prolong the battle for quite a while.
Ethan used [Void Wrap] to confuse the enemy, but it didn’t work well because whenever he touched something in that condition, the part he touched would be visible for a short time. That allowed the healer to predict his position and avoid most of the [Shadow Spikes] with her small shield. With no choice, he used more [Blink]s for an opening.
The pressure was slowly cracking the healer. ‘’Taylor! I need–’’
A kick pounded to her chest before Ethan blinked again to stab the back of her head. ‘’To focus? Maybe?’’ he offered.
‘DING! You have leveled up!’
When he realized that not even this girl could live with a hole in her brain, he smiled slightly and gulped a mana potion before turning for the leader. The leader was even faster as he turned to run and jumped into the air, fetching a flying carpet and flying toward the Serene Depths.
Ethan sent two shadow spikes to the carpet, but he didn’t manage to pierce the artifact. The leader threw a dirty look at him, like he owed him money, and speeded up even more. Turning his head, ‘’Beet, don’t kill the last one yet,’’ he called over his shoulder and walked toward the last tier-3 who was lying on the ground bloodily while his wide eyes following the little creatures.
‘’How far is your base? How many more people do you have there?’’ he questioned.
‘’It-It’s 100 m-miles or so. We don’t have anyone else, I-I swear! Not anymore. Plea–’’
‘’Alright bud, go ahead,’’ he said and watched the Beet kill the guy with a swift slash before turning back to Evelyn. ‘’You okay? Eve?’’
‘’Y-Yeah, I am,’’ she replied, looking at Seira’s body. ‘’It’s just… It was disturbing to see you kill her like that, but if you didn’t notice, we might very well be lying on the ground now.’’
‘’Yeah, sorry for the theatrics. I wanted them to lose control and make irrational moves,’’ he said with an apologetic smile. ‘’And I’m sure we would survive even if I didn’t notice. We didn’t even use health potions.’’
‘’No, it's okay, I’m being silly,’’ she said, shaking her head. ‘’I just realized… Your play for that Jeremy kid wasn’t all act, was it? But I don’t understand. You said you weren’t even tier-1 half a year ago. Then, what did you do before that?’’
Ethan considered what he could say, he really didn’t want to lie to her, but the complete truths were also unnecessary. ‘’Well, I’m used to giving commands, and there were times I scolded my men with passion. Even when I had nothing on them, I had to carry myself like I had every right to lead them, like my existence was above them by default. That was why my act seemed natural,’’ he said with a wry smile. ‘’But… I disbanded my organization and decided to live the rest of my life for myself. I’ve realized that I want to build true connections with people without any schemes and lies. Where I can also live with my true identity, no matter how shallow it is.’’
He bit his lip as his words sounded a bit cheesy and looked at the ground, afraid the other would judge. ‘’Though apparently, I’m not doing a good job. Whenever survival is at stake, my old habits kick in, and I find myself back in my old persona, where I feel safe but still wrong, you know?’’ he said, lifting his head to look at Evelyn.
She stayed silent for a while, staring at him, and shook her head. ‘’Not really, I have no idea what to tell you,’’ she conceded before her pressed lips turned into a grin. ‘’Other than telling you that you’re not shallow at all. Whether the Ethan who plays guitar on a hammock or the scary one with psychopathic vibes, that, I can assure you.’’
She walked toward him and wrapped her arm around his, ‘’Come on! We still have an adventure waiting two weeks away!’’
Ethan also smiled slightly but stopped her nonetheless. ‘’Sure, but there is no way I’m leaving the loot behind.’’