Rey had one arm over Ajay's shoulder as they walked back to the castle. Sergei kept watch and made sure no demon jumped them. As Gloria said, most demons had fled when Rey killed the Luthrol and when she acquired her soul. However, there were still some that were lingering about. They only had demon meat on their mind for now.

  Our only defense right now is their poor decision-making.

  But that didn't mean Rey wasn't hurrying to the castle. By hurrying, they were the tortoise, and the hare was busy cannibalizing its own kind. After some tripping over corpses in more or less-than-flattering ways, Rey finally arrived at the castle.

  Filomena tapped lightly on the castle door with the butt of her sword.

  "Password?" asked an acidic feminine voice, which could only belong to the lovely Tia.

  "I am the Chosen one, baby," Rey boomed.

  There was an audible ugh from the other side. The bolt unlocked, and the door opened. Rey sauntered in with Ajay's help. Thankfully, no demons chased them through the door. The inside of the castle was as he had left it. Jerry and Maria were sitting on the stairs, as that was the only clean spot since those slimy worm demons couldn't climb the stairs.

  Kassandra was still lying face down, unconscious, on the table. A red burn still flared on her neck. It traveled from the base of her neck to the middle of her back. Her shirt was thoroughly open on the back, so it was practically useless. Unless they somehow made a coat from demon fur, she would have no shirt to wear, but that was a problem for later.

  He went to the doctor, who was slumped in a chair. She looked beyond exhausted. It was Mana fatigue. He had experienced it many times before. Hell, he was on the verge of experiencing it right now. Mana Fatigue happened when a person had completely exhausted their Mana. It caused migraines, blurred vision, and dizziness. It was like using all your mental capacity and dumping it out of your body. Thankfully, he still had some Mana remaining.

  He went to Doctor Bahar and shook her lightly. "Doctor," he whispered.

  The woman jerked awake. She had been out cold with her head on the table. She woke up and looked Rey up and down. She said something in a language Rey didn't understand. It sounded like Arabic, but he couldn't be sure.

  "Not a demon," Rey said. "You can check if you want. Also, most of it is not my blood. How is she doing?"

  "Oh…" She got over the shock rather quickly.

  I can't look that bad. Can I?

  "Kassandra's breathing is stable, and her pulse is okay. Without modern equipment, I can't say what sort of internal damage she has sustained. I did my best, but I cannot be certain. I hope she wakes up soon. Once my Mana returns, I'll give her another treatment. Hopefully, that should be enough."

  Rey nodded. "Thanks, doc."

  He caressed the back of Kassandra's head and didn't care who saw. Oh, Kassi…did I cause your demise this early?

  He couldn't live with himself if that were so, but the doctor said there was some hope. Hope that she would wake up, and Rey would cling to that hope, as that was the last lifeline he had remaining.

  First, his grandmother, then Phil, then Gloria, and now, maybe Kassandra. It was like the future was testing him. No matter what he did, no matter how many things he changed, it always reverted to how it was supposed to be. Rey clenched his fist around his scythe and moved on.

  "She'll be fine," Filomena said.

  "She better," he replied. "I can't keep losing you people. You don't even want to know what our dear demon lord is going to do to me."

  Filomena nodded and moved along to rest. Rey left towards the corridor that led to the well. He wanted to clean himself. The blood was starting to stink. He arrived at the well, drew some water, and upturned the bucket over his head. The cool water felt euphoric after the heat of battle. He did that a few more times until he cleaned himself as much as he could.

  All the time, his thoughts were on Kassandra and what he would do if she died. Last time, she had made it to the end of the year with him. She had almost made it out of these exiled lands, in other words, made it out of the tutorial and into the real Hell. She couldn't die now.

  He shook his head, and to get his thoughts away from Kassandra and onto something else, he brought up his stats. After all, he had gained a lot in the last battle.

  Stats Points: 1

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  [Vitality: 18 > 21]

  [Strength: 11 > 28]

  [Dexterity: 21 > 56]

  [Endurance: 15 > 26]

  [Magic Affinity: 9 > 14]

  [Magic Power: 19 > 25]

  [Willpower: 15 > 24]

  [Perception: 12 > 29]

  Rey's eyes bulged out of his sockets. If he were a cartoon character, they would've been hanging off springs and waving about. It was such a massive boost. He hadn't expected this much. The good thing about the system was that it always showed the difference from the last time you had seen the stats. Since he had never seen the stats since they had arrived here, it was a big bump, considering the rank they were at. He was sure the others were seeing something familiar.

  The only shitty part to this was that he hadn't ranked up, which stung, but he did kill one Rank 4 demon by himself. That meant he had gotten a lot of experience towards Rank 4. Now, he just needed to find more Rank 3 or 4 demons. He put his remaining free stat point into Magic Affinity, as that was his most lacking stat. He needed to fill that up rather quickly so he could fire off more Gravity skills.

  He pulled another bucket of water and dumped it over his head.

  He cleaned himself as best as he could and headed back towards the others. He decided that instead of filling up his Magic stats by using the Free stat points, he would practice his magic skills all the time. Even when walking down the corridor, he could use Gravitational Attraction or Repulsion on a small rock or something so he can earn stat points in Magic Affinity and Magic Power.

  He didn't have the Mana, or he would've started here and now. After thoroughly dirtying the well room, he left to join the others. Kassandra was still out, as was everyone else. He used Identify on each person and was not disappointed at all.

  [Human (Exiled) – E+2]

  [Human (Exiled) – E+3]

  Everyone had reached the second rank, even Maria, who had barely skimmed by with her hand held by Kassandra and Filomena. Then, some had reached the same rank as Rey. Ajay was one, as had Filomena, and Rey couldn't help but think Sergei was on the verge as well. The last person to have reached Rank 3 was Tia.

  This made Rey uneasy. He would never admit it out loud, but this sent a shiver up his spine. He didn't want this crazy woman anywhere near his level. But given all the demons he had slaughtered, albeit they were lower level than him, he must've made some movement towards Rank 4. He needed to maintain his lead or find a shank in his back or whatever this woman did.

  "So, what now?" Jerry asked the group, but he had asked Rey.

  Almost as one, everyone looked at Rey. Ah, the perks of leadership.

  "Did everyone have fun?" Rey asked, ignoring Jerry's question because he had no answer for him.

  "If by fun you mean, did we nearly get ourselves slaughtered many times?" Jerry replied. "Then yes, I had a blast."

  "But did you have fun killing those demons?" Rey reiterated.

  Jerry glanced at the others and then finally sighed. "Yes, I had fun."

  Rey clapped. "Yay."

  "What was the point of all that fighting?" Tia snapped. "Sure, we got strong, but we nearly died so many times."

  "You don't have a scratch on you, so you don't get to talk," Rey replied.

  "He's right," Filomena added. "You must've picked an awesome talent that lets you heal in the middle of combat."

  Not heal, my dear Pepperoni Pizza, but transfer her injuries to her enemies.

  Rey felt it was a good thing that Filomena hadn't realized the blondie's true Talent, or he feared that she would be her next victim. Something told Rey that the woman didn't want to share her Talent with the group.

  But don't you worry. I'll figure it out eventually and beat you.

  An idea started to take shape in his head, but to execute it, he would have to do the equivalent of eating shit. Now, he wasn't the least bit interested in eating shit, but there were worse things he had done to survive. His goal stayed the same—get strong enough to get his revenge by killing Zalathar. And if he had to eat shit in the pursuit of that goal, then so be it.

  From tomorrow, operation Kill Blondzilla commences.

  Tia crossed her arms. "Again, what was the point?" She said the last word with vitriol through gritted teeth.

  "The point, my lovely—" Rey couldn't finish as he almost vomited in his mouth. "Was to rank up and to get us used to killing demons. Tell me you didn't have fun. Besides, I didn't do it on purpose. It just happened, you know."

  "Right," Tia said sarcastically.

  "I, for one, am not afraid of demons anymore," Rey said. "How about everyone else?"

  Heads nodded, and even Maria nodded, who looked shell-shocked at what she had done. She had died so early that Rey never got to know her. Aside from that, she could get on anyone's nerves super easily.

  "So, now what?" Jerry asked again.

  "Now, we do the same thing that we decided on," Rey said. "We clean this place up and go loot the battlefield for some hard-earned booty. Argh, matey."

  "What do you expect the demons to be carrying?" Filomena asked.

  "Absolutely nothing," Rey replied. "But like I said earlier, their fur, meat, claws, and other things could be of use. After that battle, we're all going to need new clothes and waterskins. I was sure I mentioned waterskins."

  The others nodded, and there was a lot of work to be done. There was a lot of cleaning and a lot of things to be made; he was sure Maria was up to the task. She had quite a lot of materials to work with, provided some demon had left some good stuff behind.

  But that wasn't even the best part about this fake dungeon he had created. The best part was that everyone had ranked up, which meant there was a chance that they might withstand the shapeshifting gorilla that was coming for them.

  Getting everyone to at least rank 3 was the greatest way he could think of to massively change the future, just like he had done at the clearing when they arrived here. If they had stayed there, more demons would have attacked them. By bringing the group to this castle, he had changed the future, and most of them were still alive. Now, he had to keep making drastic changes and keep his rag-tag group of misfits alive.

  Fuck you, future. I'm getting my wrench ready. Protect your nutsack if you can.

  Rey cackled like a madman on the inside and a little on the outside, because why not.