Vale eyed the Tower Keeper, doubt flickering in his mind at the thought of facing the enemy. But before he could follow that train of thought any further, an unfamiliar voice snapped him out of it.
"Vale?"
"Huh?" Vale's eyes widened as he whipped his head around.
Standing behind him was a lanky young man, his figure small and unassuming. The moment Vale saw him, he knew exactly who it was.
"Klein?"
"I'm so glad to see you! I hoped someone else would find the tower, but I never expected to run into anyone so soon…"
Vale studied him for a moment. The underwhelming figure of a student. Klein wore brown leather armour and carried a dark short sword in his right hand—not exactly an imposing weapon. Vale didn't know much about him, only that he'd lost to Ayla in mere seconds and that he had barely interacted with the rest of the group. Unlike the others, Klein kept to himself.
"You're alive," Vale said, though his tone made it sound like a question—as if he was surprised to see him alive.
"Oh…yeah. Got lucky," Klein chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head before continuing.
"There weren't any monsters near me, and I spotted the tower right away, so I made my way towards it. The terrain slowed me down, but… here I am."
"I see," Vale said.
"But, Vale…why are you just standing out here? Why haven't you gone inside?"
As Klein spoke, he instinctively stepped toward the tower entrance.
But before he could cross the frame of the massive entrance, Vale yanked him back—just as the dark knight lunged forward, aiming to cut Klein down.
"W—What the hell is that?!" Klein yelped, stumbling backwards and scrambling away from the door.
"It's my Quest. I am going to kill him…" Vale trailed off for a moment before adding, "…eventually."
He meant every word. Although killing the dark knight was impossible for him right now, it could change. If he ranked up his core, if he hunted enough monsters, if he got strong enough—then maybe. No. He had to. He needed to get stronger, and killing that thing was the only way forward.
Resolved burned in Vale's heart as he took a last glance at the Dark Knight before turning away.
Klein blinked a few times, watching Vale's completely unbothered expression.
"You're going to kill that thing? Wait—why isn't it attacking us now?"
"It only attacks inside the tower."
Klein fell silent, staring at the menacing figure of the dark knight.
Then Vale suddenly asked, "What's the average time to walk a mile?"
"Huh? Oh… about fifteen minutes, I think?"
"An hour…" Vale muttered, more to himself than to Klein. "That means they went the wrong way. The medallion's range is four miles—if they were heading toward us, they would've found us by now."
Klein's expression changed, a slight frown crossed his face.
"So…how are we supposed to find them?"
"We won't." Vale's tone was matter-of-fact. "The Demon Realm is estimated to be seven times larger than Earth. All we can do is keep moving and hope we cross paths eventually."
"Then, what do we do now?"
"What else? Kill monsters and get stronger—that's what we're here for." Vale let the words hang in the air for a moment before asking, "What's your quest?"
"I have to brew a Potion of Vitality," Klein said. "It's not too bad. The system provided a list of ingredients, and most of them don't seem too hard to find. I need water, scorched earth from the Land of Fire, a drop of monster blood, dried mugwort…"
As Klein read through the list, Vale felt a rare flicker of optimism. None of these sounded particularly difficult to get—most of them could probably be gathered within a day. For the first time, he felt a little hopeful.
"…and the horn of a four-armed devil."
"Of course," Vale muttered, all his hopes vanished, as the image of the creature he'd seen flashed through his mind.
"Uh… is everything okay, Vale?" Klein asked, noticing the sudden shift in his expression.
"Yeah," Vale said after a moment of silence. "We'd better get to work."
He decided not to tell Klein about the monster—at least not yet. No point in crushing all of his hopes before they even started.
Between the Tower Keeper and the Four-Armed Devil, he wasn't sure which of the two was worse.
After spending the next hour planning and brainstorming the two decided to first establish a safe place for a shelter—somewhere they could sleep away from harm, or as far away from harm as possible.
Then, they will go about finding the ingredients for the potion of vitality—at least those ingredients that they can get.
Vale had also learned of Klein's abilities.
His unique ability granted him knowledge of some sort. The lanky student seemed just as confused about the details as Vale—or perhaps he didn't wish to share those details. Either way, Vale decided not to press him.
What Klein did share, however, was game-changing. His normal ability could weaken an enemy's defenses by 15%. That might not sound like much on paper, but in battle, it was everything. It turned impossible fights into survivable ones—especially against Awakened monsters.
For the first time in a while, something ignited in Vale's chest—a flicker of hope.
With Klein debuffing the enemies and Vale striking them down, the two of them could actually stand a chance. Perhaps, even thrive.
In return, Vale shared information about his own abilities. He didn't have much to say about the spark—it didn't seem to do anything useful—but he did explain his Vine Bind ability.
After exchanging all the relevant information, they set out to find shelter.
Staying near the tower limited their choices, but after an hour of wandering through twisted roots and monster tracks, they found it—a small cave carved into a hulking boulder. It wasn't much, but it was enough.
The entrance was narrow and partially concealed by jagged rocks, like a natural barricade. Inside, the space widened into a hollow big enough for a few people to sleep without brushing their shoulders. From the cave mouth, they had a clear line of sight downhill—perfect for spotting threats before they got too close.
For now, it will have to work.