It had been a few hours since Luke confirmed the location of the third and final mechanism in the tutorial. He didn't care about being seen by the statues during the day, not this time. He made sure to head into the forest in the opposite direction of his real hideout, looping around through the dense woods until he finally reached the cave. Before, that kind of maneuvering wasn't an option. Back then, his path led straight through their territory, and getting spotted had never been on the table.

Now, sitting cross-legged on the cave floor, he let his thoughts wander while using Meditation to recover his stamina and mana.

"If I go straight from here... maybe nine to eleven hours?" he murmured.

That was the estimated time it would take to reach the mission area tied to the third mechanism. If he could pull it off before nightfall, and if he had a strong enough party with him, they could get inside without worrying about the statues going active at midnight.

But his real concern wasn't the route. It was the challenge inside that sanctuary. This would be the last major task before the castle, and for that to even be possible, the Beast Lord had to die. No way two thousand people were getting through that city with a giant snake hunting them. That thought wouldn't leave his mind: how the hell do you move two thousand people through a city crawling with cursed statues, undead, and monsters?

People were going to get hurt. He needed a flawless strategy.

"Luke, I just want to say how proud I am," Artemis chimed in, her voice echoing from the pendant around his neck. "Look at you, not throwing yourself headfirst into a suicide mission against whatever's hiding inside that root cathedral or picking a fight with the Beast Lord. My boy's finally growing up."

He sighed, brushing off the ghost's usual snark.

"Hey, Charlie. Should we throw a party? He finally remembered he's an assassin, not a tank," Artemis went on.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Luke muttered. "Old Luke is gone. I'm more of a tactician now. I used to charge in because I had to. What was I supposed to do, stealth kill a giant mantis?"

"Luke, if the mantis were the only thing on your resume, I wouldn't even be giving you crap. But the orcs? Dozens of them? You've got a full-blown graveyard in your name. Still, I'm done judging. I've changed too. Now, get up and make something good for your best friend Artemis."

"Best friend? Try annoying poltergeist."

Still, if everything went according to plan, Luke wouldn't have to keep diving headfirst into guaranteed death just to survive. Charlie was growing stronger by the day, boosted by the attribute points from her second class, Pugilist. She had already started unlocking powerful skills from her main class, Death Knight, and was now nearing level 30.

The more skills she awakened, the better his odds became. And for once... he was playing it smart. There was still the matter of his future second servant. With two creatures guarding him, things would get significantly easier. And if the second one turned out to be a tank? Even better.

Luke could handle ranged attacks with his bow. He wasn't a class-based archer, but Force Infusion still worked on arrows. With two tanks drawing enemy attention, he'd have the perfect window to strike with his kukris. Especially now, with Advanced Stealth making him even harder to track. If he could lock in a second servant, the rest of the tutorial wouldn't feel so overwhelming.

The real problem?

I still have to kill that damn Beast Lord on my own. He had no idea how he'd pull it off. Maybe once I have my own Safe Zone, it'll be doable.

The foundation of his plan was already forming: level up his profession, secure the second fortress to unlock the Reward Events, build up a decent supply of healing, mana, and stamina potions, and then take down the Orc Lord. That would be the turning point—enough strength to circle back and take down the Beast Lord.

"It's the start of a solid plan," he said to himself.

"Hey, don't jinx it like that," Artemis chimed in. "Plans that start with 'this is solid' usually end in tears and body bags. How about this instead—retire early, kick your feet up, and stay home? Charlie would love that. Right, Charlie?"

Charlie was quietly stirring a pot of soup. She looked up, caught off guard, clearly not following the conversation.

"Don't mind her, Charlie," Luke muttered. "The chatterbox is just being annoying."

Charlie went back to stirring, looking oddly proud. She'd been taking her personal training seriously the last few days. Whenever there was downtime, she'd work on that soup. For whatever reason, she'd decided she wanted to make it for Luke.

The cool part? Thanks to the storage item, Luke could just toss the whole pot into his pocket dimension and time would freeze—literally. Whenever they found a calmer spot, she could pick up right where she left off. He never asked why she wanted to make it. Truthfully, he was just glad she found something she enjoyed.

What's it going to be like… when I go back to Earth? Living with Charlie?

The thought was strange. That tutorial had a way of crushing any hope of returning. But every now and then, it slipped through the cracks. He didn't care about her appearance—she was a skeleton, sure, but that didn't matter to him. Still… she'd have to go out in public. The mental image of Charlie seeing a car for the first time made him chuckle.

And what about my family?

That thought hit harder than expected. It stirred a mix of emotions he didn't want to deal with. He shook his head, trying to force it away.

Now I can't stop thinking about them.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, immersed in Meditation, slowly refilling his mana and stamina. There was a time when he'd considered the skill kind of useless. Not anymore. Not now.

[Meditation (Common)]: Enter a state of absolute focus, blocking out all distractions. While meditating, your stamina and mana regeneration increase significantly. However, you become incapable of taking any action, and your awareness of your surroundings is drastically reduced.

The skill doubled Luke's natural regeneration of mana and stamina. The only drawback? He had to be sitting still. The moment he stood up or started moving, the effect stopped.

Back when he first acquired Meditation, his mana pool was sitting around 480. His passive regen rate was roughly 208 per hour. Which is why, at the time, he hadn't thought much of the skill. Two hours of regular activity—whether it was studying, running, or fighting—would refill nearly his entire mana bar. Meditation simply halved that wait... but required him to stay put.

And really, what was the point of spending a whole hour sitting still when he could be out doing literally anything else? But things had changed. His mana pool had grown. A lot. And now, that quiet, underwhelming little skill? It was starting to show its real value.

Name: Luke Level: 22 Rank: F Class: [Demonic Assassin (Lvl 33)] Race: Half-Demon Profession: Botanist of Mother Freya (Lvl 24) Titles: [Dark Lord] Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Dark Demon] Health Points (HP): 1908/1930 Mana Points (MP): 523/1560 Stamina: 437/1120 Soul Fragments: 62/1000

Stats: Strength: 228 Agility: 194 (244) Endurance: 92 (112) Vitality: 193 Perception: 218 (228) Intelligence: 156 (161) Free Points: 52

Class Skills: [Basic Blade Handling (Common)], [Profane Knife Throwing (Uncommon)], [Twin Blade (Common)], [Basic Dark Dash (Rare)], [Basic Blood Regeneration (Rare)], [Assassin's Mark (Rare)], [Demonic Blade Dance (Rare)], [Wraith Form (Ultra-Rare)], [Force Infusion (Rare)], [Advanced Stealth]

Profession Skills: [Herbology of Mother Freya (Ancient)], [Precise Extraction (Common)], [Basic Potion Crafting (Common)], [Plant Growth (Uncommon)], [Plant Sensor (Uncommon)], [Botanical Bond of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Seed Conversion (Rare)]

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Race Skills: [Identify (Common)], [Demonic Perception (Uncommon)], [Dark Blood (Uncommon)], [Meditation (Common)], [Demonic Endurance (Uncommon)]

Bloodline Skill: [Servant of the Dark Lord (Unique)] Servants: [Princess Charlie (Skeleton) - Lvl 17], [Servant Slot Available]

Luke had a mana pool of 1,560. Naturally, it took him about seven and a half hours to fully replenish it. But with Meditation? Three hours could get him close to 1,250 mana. That was huge.

With his pool full, he could keep Wraith Form active for roughly twenty-five minutes, since the skill drained one mana per second. That drain could spike depending on how much he expanded or manipulated the mist. Add to that his kukri dance technique, his dash ability, and his enchanted quiver—which burned through 100 mana just to replenish twenty arrows—and suddenly, every single point of mana started to matter.

And it wasn't just mana. Meditation also sped up stamina recovery. Which, for Luke, had practically become a weapon in itself. Thanks to Force Infusion, he could boost the damage of his weapons, and even though he wasn't a classed archer, infusing stamina into arrows still made them hit like a truck. Meditation had turned into one of his most valuable tools—especially here, in the capital.

Those damn 52 unallocated stat points were driving him insane. He was torn. A part of him wanted to dump them all into Strength. Reckless? Absolutely. Dumb? Possibly. But the raw damage output would spike—his kukris scaled with Strength, after all. Still, the strategic voice in the back of his mind whispered that maybe, just maybe, he should distribute the points more evenly and boost all his stats across the board.

With great power, apparently, came the burden of micromanagement. Shoving the dilemma aside for now, he stood and deactivated Meditation. Right then, Princess Charlie approached him, cradling a wooden bowl of soup in trembling hands.

"That smells good," Luke remarked, noting the slight nervousness in her movements as she held it out to him.

He accepted the bowl. The presentation wasn't bad either. Charlie watched him eat, and through their bond, he could feel the pride and happiness radiating off her like sunshine through mist.

"Congrats, Charlie. It's really good. If I ever make it back to Earth and open a restaurant, you're hired."

"Don't suppose there's anything for your dear friend Artemis?" came the voice from the necklace.

Charlie grabbed another bowl, filled it with soup, and handed it to Luke, who tucked it away in his pocket dimension.

"You know, it's honestly good," he added. "With some more effort, who knows—you might even unlock a cooking profession."

He meant it as a joke… but then the idea started to settle. Could Princess Charlie actually unlock a profession?

***

Luke sprinted through the forest, heading toward the edge of the tutorial zone. A few statues stood frozen along the path—locked in place thanks to the daylight.

"Hey there," he said, slowing down beside one and leaning casually against its shoulder. "Y'know, it's been fun, this whole thing where you and your buddies tried to murder me every night. But I'm leaving soon. Thought maybe... maybe I'd take you with me."

He smirked.

"There's this gorgeous statue in the world I come from. Real tall. Real famous. Goes by the name 'Statue of Liberty.' I think you two would hit it off. What do you say—want to be my servant?"

He pressed his bloodstained palm to the stone.

[This living being has rejected becoming your servant. It is therefore unworthy.]

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Still conscious even while frozen, huh? So you're actually hearing me right now."

He stepped in front of it, facing it directly.

"Come on, man. I'm not a bad guy. You and I could rake in serious cash posing as street performers in Central Park. And Hollywood? Tourists eat that kind of stuff up."

He pressed his hand against the statue again, trying once more.

[This living being has rejected becoming your servant. It is therefore unworthy.]

"No hesitation? Not even a little inner debate?" Luke sighed. "That hurts, dude."

He pulled a strip of cloth from his storage item and tied it around the statue's head, covering its eyes.

"Don't take it personally. I just don't want you seeing where I'm headed," he muttered. "Actually... why the hell didn't I think of this earlier? I could've blindfolded all of you during the day. That would've been hilarious."

He took off running again, pumping stamina into his legs, pushing his speed higher with each stride.

"It's gonna be fun going back," Artemis said. "Can't wait to see Allison's face when she finds out I'm a talking necklace."

"I'm not sure I should tell anyone you exist," Luke replied, veering off toward a new path through the trees.

"Why not?"

"Because talking necklaces aren't exactly normal," he said. "And if I tell her, I have to explain you're a soul bound to me by a demon god. That's... kind of a lot. It's not that I'm hiding anything. I just don't want to drag people into my mess."

"Huh. Fair point. I didn't think of that."

Luke looked down at his palm, still stained with blood. A thought surfaced.

Could I use this ability on a human?

He didn't want a human servant. Not really. But the power... a servant bound by blood would always come back, as long as Luke lived.

Could I actually bring someone back like that?

But then there was Charlie. She hadn't remembered anything from before her rebirth. Maybe the process erased memories. Or worse.

That means I might be holding the power to save someone I care about... and turn them into something else entirely. Was it worth wasting that slot on a random monster here? Or should he save it—keep it in reserve for the day he finally escaped this cursed tutorial?

Humans got sick. They died. But servants didn't. His mind drifted to his family.

Either way, I won't make it back to Earth if I die here. I need a new servant. Someone who can help me survive long enough to leave this damn world.

***

Luke stood near a river deep within the forest, gathering a few last resources before heading back to the Wild Zone. He still had levels to grind for his profession, and every bit counted.

As he moved along the damp ground, something caught his eye—an unusual cluster of plants growing in the shade. Curious, he crouched down to inspect them.

[Purple Mint (Uncommon)]: A rare variety of common mint with violet-tinted leaves and a strong, distinctive scent. Its mana-infused molecular structure makes it an excellent catalyst, enhancing and stabilizing a wide range of alchemical mixtures.

Mother Freya's Note: "Purple Mint is great for stabilizing a blend. If the reaction gets unstable or the mixture needs fine control, this'll lock it in place without compromising the main effect."

"Basically, an alchemical wildcard," Luke muttered, collecting the leaves and storing them in the necklace's inventory. "Didn't think I'd find so much good stuff this close to the gate."

*Your profession [Botanist of Mother Freya] has reached Level 25! (Bonus attribute points acquired)*

[You have acquired a Profession Skill]

**[You have reached Level 23! Half-Demon (Rank F)] (+1 bonus point to all attributes, +1 free point)**

The sound of flowing water pulled him toward the river. He scanned the terrain.

"Good to know purple mint likes wet soil," he noted aloud, scribbling the observation into a makeshift notebook—one of several he'd salvaged from abandoned homes.

Just as he was about to open his interface to check the new skill... something felt wrong. The exit gate had changed.

Luke narrowed his eyes and crept closer. A dense, black fog now covered the gate like an uneven wall of ink—opaque and pulsing faintly with a presence that made his skin crawl. He picked up a stone and hurled it toward the barrier. It passed through... and didn't come out the other side.

"What the hell…?" he muttered, taking cautious steps forward.

The massive double doors that led back into the Wild Zone were wide open. Nothing about them looked out of place—except for that wall of shadow. Reaching out, he pressed a bloodstained hand gently to the surface.

[The Beast Lord has marked you as an intruder. You cannot leave his territory while he lives.]

"...What?" He stumbled back, breath catching in his throat.

"What is it, Luke?" Artemis's voice echoed from the necklace.

"Do you see a big wall of black mist covering the gate?"

"Uh… no?"

Luke backed away again, his heart now pounding. "Don't tell me… I'm trapped."

Then he heard it. The river churned violently behind him. Trees groaned. The ground began to quake. Something massive moved through the forest, knocking aside branches and tearing through the undergrowth. A colossal serpent slithered into view, its yellow eyes locking onto him like a hunter spotting prey.

Then, a voice rolled through the forest, low and wet and ancient—like it came from the soil itself:

"I've waited patiently for you, human."

[Frankzaroth, the Great Serpent (Beast Lord) – Lvl 83]

"You're trapped with me now," the creature said.

***

Allison had just come face-to-face with someone she never expected to see there. Kruger. The assassin of Bastion. A known member of the Order of Lakarion. Her blood instantly ran hot, but she kept her expression neutral. Calm.

What was he doing here?

The tavern was nearly empty—understandable, given the hour. It was deep into the night, the kind of time when most folk were either asleep or dead.

"Bob, I'll have a drink. Just water, please," she said as she slid onto a wooden stool near the counter.

The tavern keeper gave her a wary glance but nodded, pouring the drink without a word. Now she wasn't sure if she should stay or leave. Every instinct told her to walk out, but something kept her rooted in place.

Time passed. Bob eventually disappeared upstairs to check on the guest Kruger had gone to see. When he returned, the man was still alive—just some kind of debt dispute, apparently. Bob didn't ask for details. He grabbed his cloak and left the building like it had suddenly grown fangs.

Allison stayed put. Just in case. Once she was sure the danger had passed, she exhaled slowly and stood.

"My boyfriend's in room four, right?" she asked.

The tavern keeper nodded. "Yeah. He's there."

She gave a tight nod, then made her way down the hall to the room on that floor. Her footsteps were measured. Calm on the outside, storm inside.

She pushed the door open.

"Hey, Allison," a voice greeted her.

"Hey, Mason."

"You took your time." His tone was soft.

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