Luca and Lara watched Ethan's tense face—his brows furrowed, his forehead creased.

The look in his eyes wasn't playful at all; it was clear he wasn't joking about that threat.

"O-Of course."

"Who else knows about this?" Ethan asked.

"Us, then Nuwa and Celica," Lara replied.

Ethan sighed. His condition had gotten better, though he hadn't fully recovered yet.

He got up from the bed, which made Luca worry. She reflexively grabbed his hand.

"W-Wait, Ethan. You just recovered. You should keep resting."

"I'm fine, Luca. This won't kill me," Ethan said.

Luca turned to Lara, and the woman nodded in response.

Once Luca let go of his hand, Ethan walked out of the room and stepped outside the house.

There, Nuwa was still keeping watch over Duqu Village.

Jared had also come, greeting Ethan, who was slowly recovering. But Ethan ignored him and focused his gaze on the sky.

"Sera!" Ethan called firmly.

Hearing her name called by a familiar voice made Sera instinctively look down.

In the middle of the village, Ethan stood tall even though his face looked pale.

The good news was that he had woken up from his coma, which meant Sera had succeeded in healing him.

Her heart beat fast with relief and joy as she flew down and hugged Ethan tightly.

Lara and Luca came out of the house, watching the closeness between Ethan and Sera.

Nuwa also walked back toward the village and saw Ethan fully recovered, now holding Sera in his arms.

"I'm glad you've recovered, Ethan," Nuwa said.

"Thank you, Nuwa."

Ethan smiled and gently ran his hand through Sera's soft golden hair.

Her pleasant scent lingered in the air, and the feeling of her breast pressing against his made him a bit awkward.

"Amazing power, Sera. I'm impressed," Ethan said.

Sera let go of him and wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks.

They weren't tears of regret for hurting him—but tears of happiness because she had healed him.

"Thank you, Ethan. I'm glad you said that," Seraphelis replied.

"Next time, you have to hide your identity as the Goddess of Light. A lot of people might want to hurt you. They could kill me—and you."

"Kill you?! I won't let them do that, Ethan."

"I understand. Just do as I say. Don't tell anyone that you're the Goddess of Light."

Sera listened carefully. She raised her hand to shoulder height, making a solemn vow while looking straight at Ethan.

"I, Seraphelis, promise before you that I won't tell anyone anything about myself!" she declared with conviction.

"Good."

"Your time's almost up. You can deactivate your aggressive mode now, Sera."

"Okay," Sera said.

In an instant, her curvy, beautiful body turned into a small, cute chibi form that floated behind Ethan's back.

The duration of her aggressive mode had ended, replaced by the cooldown timer for her soul servant mode.

[Cooldown Aggressive Mode:]

[09:23:59:52]

The aggressive mode lasted one day, but its cooldown took ten days to reset.

Great power always comes with great cost and limits.

Still, Ethan was grateful that Sera had acted fast—flying them from the southeastern forest all the way to Duqu Village.

The village was much safer than the waterfall area or anywhere else, especially since Jared always treated Ethan and his team kindly.

Ethan turned to look at his teammates—Lara, Luca, and Nuwa—but Celica was nowhere to be found. That immediately made him suspicious.

"Celica's not here. Where is she?" Ethan asked.

"Celica? I thought she was guarding the south side of the village," Nuwa said.

Celica knew that Sera was the Goddess of Light. Could she be the one likely to betray them?

Curious, Ethan opened his digital map to check Celica's green dot.

It showed she was still within the village. Luca and the others leaned in to look as well.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

"Tell her to rest. I'm fully recovered. There's no need for anyone to keep watch," he said.

"Got it, Ethan."

"Oh, and this," Lara said.

She held out a glowing Star Essence in her hand and showed it to him.

Ethan was shocked—the amount they had gathered was far beyond his expectations.

"W-Where did you get all that?" Ethan asked, stunned.

"Sera collected everything—from the Silver Star players and the monsters we killed," Lara said.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't find any weapons," she added.

Ethan nodded. That didn't matter much. What was important now was that they had a lot of Star Essence.

He took them all and stored them in his system panel.

[Thousand Stars Event]

[Team Name: Sword Liberation]

[Rank: 14,123]

[Star Essence Total: 4211]

Their team rank had jumped dramatically thanks to the amount of Star Essence they had gathered.

Still, if they could get some weapons, that would help even more.

But Ethan knew—the Talent Quest was his responsibility. He couldn't put that burden on his teammates.

That night, they rested in Duqu Village, preparing to head back to Arkan City.

Ethan guessed that what happened yesterday must have caused quite a stir among the players there.

News about such great power would surely make people uneasy.

His four teammates already knew Sera's true identity, so Ethan had to be extra careful now.

They might act friendly for now, but if they ever had the chance to expose her secret, they could take it.

He couldn't truly trust anyone among them. In the end, they were all still strangers.

Sera's identity is out. I need to be careful from now on.

***

The next day.

Duqu Village.

Ethan and his team resumed their journey south—toward Arkan City.

This time, he didn't plan on taking unnecessary risks like before. Their focus was simply to reach the city and see what was happening there.

As they entered the forest, they fought and killed a few small monsters and Star Essence beasts, collecting even more essence along the way.

It took about five or six hours to reach their destination—if they didn't run into any other players or monsters.

Lara and the others gained EXP and Gold from the hunt. None of them seemed tired or afraid; in fact, it only boosted their motivation.

Leveling up felt easier now compared to before they met Ethan. Lara felt lucky to have joined his team for this event.

Not long after, they reached the southern edge of the forest and saw a large city without defensive walls, bustling with players.

"So there really is a city," Lara said.

"A big one, too. Of course it's filled with players," Ethan replied.

"Are we staying here?"

Ethan went quiet. There were too many players who might have grown suspicious of him.

He told Lara and the team to go in first, as planned. He would enter the city later at midnight.

"You guys go ahead. I'll catch up later."

"Got it, Ethan."

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