On the edge of town, past the markets, there was a sleepy little tavern.

  Okay.

  Sleepy wasn’t the right word.

  It’d be orders of magnitude more accurate to say that by ‘sleepy’ I meant sleepy by comparison to the other taverns on the border between the unnamed city and the forest.

  In other words, only most of the customers were on the verge of passing out, reeling around shouting and laughing with one another, banging mugs and silverware against the tables, while gambling.

  And only one man tore his shirt off and sprinted face-first into the wall.

  Okay.

  Maybe two or three.

  Rose shrank back in her seat, one arm slung around her brother. Her brother, of course, despised his sister's attempts at confinement, thrashing and crawling at her grip. Rose pointedly ignored him. “Who are these people?” She whispered.

  “Just Npcs,” I said.

  “Lesser Grind, you have some fun friends,” Junior cackled, reaching toward a frothing mug of alcohol, before his sister yanked him back, and the two started squabbling, then screaming. They did that a lot. Perhaps it was a goblin thing.

  Or maybe a sibling thing.

  It was probably a sibling thing.

  Meanwhile, Axel squeezed his knees to his hairy white chest, utterly failing to fit into one of the tiny chairs. He sat opposite Sern. Neither spoke, but they seemed to enjoy each other’s company.

  They also sat several booths away from Rose and Junior. One way or another, I’d have to get the two groups to start tolerating one another.

  Once we reached the second area, we’d have to have a day off.

  A day off. That actually sounded pretty nice right about now. Perhaps there was a beach in the second area. Or a little cabin in the middle of nowhere, safe from monsters.

  For the first time in a month and a half, I found myself relaxing. It probably helped that I was seeing some old friends.

  “How have you been?” I asked.

  Dexten shrugged. “Better than some, I guess. Just doing questing.”

  Mall huffed, arms crossed, and her posture especially chosen to feel as haughty as unwelcoming as possible. It would have been more intimidating if I couldn’t see the little screen floating over her head, indicating that she had literally no stats beyond what she’d spawned in with. “Who are you?” Mall snapped.

  “Oh calm down,” Dexten chuckled, shooing her away, “he says he knows us!”

  Mall growled. “I don’t know him.”

  “I’m from the future,” I said. “Sort of. I’m from A future, not the future. This is new, actually.”

  Mall scoffed. “And that’s supposed to explain anything?”

  “You’re a lot grumpier than I remember,” I muttered.

  “I. Don’t. KNOW YOU!” She shouted back.

  Rose turned around, startled out of her fight. She glanced toward me, brushing her hair back, and trying to look like she hadn’t just been screaming at the top of her lungs. “Sir?”

  “Carry on, Rose,” I sighed.

  She was a completely different person whenever she spoke with her brother. Why? I’d have to add it to the growing list of things I already ought to know about before they start causing issues.

  Cierin frowned, stealthily slipping a dagger into his hand. “Dexten, he’s got slaves.”

  Dexten squinted. “Yeah, that’s a little freaky, bub.” He sat a hand ontop my shoulder. “I don’t know if you’ve had this talk yet, so I’ll be brief. You don’t need fifty slave women to feel important. That’s really, really weird. Stop it. Believe in yourself. Be your own man.”

  I started smirking. “They’re not slaves. Each of them can go and do whatever they want whenever they want.” My gaze drifted to Sern. “The elf is on a quest with me, but that’s different. I think of her like a daughter.”

  Cierin gagged. “You let monsters do anything?!”

  A chair flung over our heads, thrown by Axel, who had gotten frustrated, and now sprinted around the room, grabbing chairs in his metal jaws.

  “Pretty much,” I sighed, standing from my seat. “Give me a moment.”

  “You have interesting friends,” Dexten chuckled. “Which I suppose also includes me, doesn’t it?”

  I took Axel by the mouth—earning a deep growl from the monster—and wretched the jaws open, prying a mostly intact stool out of his throat.

  Axel spat wooden splinters on the ground, shoving off me. He glanced at Rose—now shielding Junior—before he let out a dark rumbling sound and hobbling back to his booth,

  Junior started cheering.

  I gave the others an apologetic shrug. “Sorry. Once Axel uses a little energy, he calms down.”

  Cierin rubbed his eyes, watching the hulking man sink down into a booth, perfectly still.

  “Your friend has such a lively personality!" Dexten said, beaming a bright and wide smile. “So, my time-traveling friend, what is it you wished to talk about?”

  Mall rolled her eyes, trying to seem dispassionate, though a squeak of worry worked its way into her voice. “You can’t seriously be buying into this, can you, Dexten?”

  “He knew our names and where we were sitting, so maybe time traveling isn’t that crazy,” Cierin mumbled. “Also he must be seriously strong—you saw him grab that thing, right?”

  “Axel isn’t a thing,” I snapped. “He’s a lovely young man.”

  Cierin frowned. “Lovely is a bit of a stretch...”

  “Anyway,” I said, forcing myself back on topic. “I came here to say goodbye."

  “You’re saying goodbye?” Dexten whimpered. “But we just met!”

  Mall shot him a glare that could’ve torn buildings off their foundations.

  I knew a lot about these people. I knew Cierin was solely focused on the safety of the two next to him. I knew Mall was upset with Dexten solely because she liked him. While it was just a hunch, I doubted Dexten so utterly believed what I’d said. He could, however, fake belief.

  I knew these three better than anyone else I’d met. And they’d practically never met me.

  Before I knew it, I was letting out a sigh. “I’ll be in the second area. I’d like to take you three with me, but I just don’t see that as possible. Not if I want to take Rose and Junior.”

  “Hang on a second,” Cierin snapped. “You’re strong enough to go to the second area?!”

  “Yeah.”

  He hesitated, trying and failing to hide the sudden fear that seized him. “Well okay then,” he said.

  “I do have some words of advice,” I said, putting on a smile I hoped they’d find reassuring. “There’s a large map of the area in the center of town, with tons of little dungeons to go to. You should join a raid party—you’re all quite capable so that won’t be an issue—then do as many one-star Cores as you can. Never a two-star.”

  Cierin blinked. “There’s a map in the center of town that just tells you where all the dungeons are?”

  I nodded.

  “How come we’ve never seen that?” He muttered.

  “Well, we don’t spend much time in the city,” Mall sighed. “You know how Captain Dexten loves his quests.”

  “I do have a recommendation,” I said. “There’s a man named Irion I’d like you to meet. He has a pretty sizable dungeon party, but he’ll be needing some help to go on a raid in the early morning. There’s a man named Bruce. Make sure he gets the core, since he’ll make the most use out of it.”

  Mall squinted. “And why’re we going to trust a word you say?”

  “Because I’m paying for dinner,” I said, passing them a small stack of three gold rings.

  Their eyes went a little bug-eyed.

  Cierin did the math first. “You could buy the whole bar with this much money.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Now so can you.” I nodded and bid them farewell. “Use it wisely.”

  …

  “What are we doing in the forest?” Rose asked, one hand clamped on her brother. If he ran off into the forest, he might never return.

  “I just need to check something,” I sighed. It’d been at least a month since I fought the Core, and after all that time learning to fight Dena, I’d mostly forgotten about him. But he was an issue. Just like Dena, I’d have to kill him at the start of every respawn, or he’d get people killed.

  “Sis!” Junior whined, grabbing for a bright blue and red beetle. “Lemme go!”

  “Those could be poisonous,” Rose hissed. “And so could the plants.”

  “But Axel's just fine!”

  A herd of pigs burst from the overgrowth. Axel shot out a moment later, running on all fours.

  Rose frowned. “Axel is a bit of a special chase.”

  Junior huffed. “And Sern?”

  Sern hobbled a little ways behind the rest of us, taking her time to smell each flower and pet each bug.

  “A little poison would do her good,” Rose growled. She turned to me, noticeably tense. “Sir, I don’t suppose we’ve visited more friends in the forest, are we?”

  “No,” I said. “It’s a monster.”

  “The good kind?”

  I shook my head.

  Soon, we arrived at a little door, built into the side of a cave.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Rose asked, prodding the handle.

  “That is the entrance to a dungeon,” I said. “Wait in the forest until I return. Sern, you’ll have to come with me.”

  I flung the door open—

  And found a stone wall behind it.

  “So cool,” Junior whispered. After a few seconds, he squinted. “That's supposed to happen, right?”

  I struck the rock, smashing it to powder for all the good that did. It was an utterly normal wall.

  “There’s supposed to be a portal,” I muttered.

  Rose perked up. “Maybe somebody already beat the dungeon?”

  “Then the door would be gone.”

  Hang on a second.

  What if the Core could respawn?

  My stomach tightened.

  “He stole a little bit of power from a time-traveling shovel. This could be bad.”

  Junior blinked. “You have a time traveling shovel?”

  I nodded, showing him the chip in Crapsholver’s blade. “But absorbing it killed him. If he’s found a way to repair himself…”

  “Axeeeeelll,” Axel hissed, appearing soundlessly behind us. His bright white hair had gotten sweaty, plastering to his face and muzzle. He was also dragging a very much still alive boar by the tusk.

  Junior glanced up, over the canopy. “Lesser Grind, Sir? Is that column of smoke supposed to be there?”

  He pointed, up above the hill, a little ways toward the city. There was a lot of smoke.

  We started running, past entire parts of the forest where trees had been scorched down to their stumps, tingling with rainbow fire that flashed and glimmered like the inside of crystals. Energy filled the air, turning acidic as we drew close, until it was painful to breathe.

  Rose staggered, then dropped to her knees in a coughing fit.

  “Grind!” Junior shouted.

  “You two go back!” I ordered. “And stay safe.”

  Their eyes flashed white under the order, and they took off like a shot, disappearing into the smoke. Inwardly, I cursed. If I ordered them around, they wouldn’t be free. I had to phrase directions as a question.

  “Axel? Could you keep an eye on them?” I asked.

  He glanced toward Sern, then launched himself into the air, vanishing.

  Sern held the neck of her dress over her mouth, eyes closed.

  “Sern, you should stay here, okay?” I asked. “Don’t come any closer.”

  She didn’t object.

  The air surged forward with a rush of new smoke, billowing out in thick pillars.

  I moved steadily closer, gradually increasing both strength and health to combat the toxic air. If the Core was still alive then there was only one person who could stop it.

  Me.

  Thankfully I was much, much stronger than I’d been before.

  The walls of smoke faded away, now that there wasn’t much of anything left to burn, leaving behind a massive blacked crater, covered in fungi mass and twisted metal, all scorched into the ground, dribbling with liquid fire.

  That’s when I looked down, and realized I’d been walking on the core this entire time.

  What was left of his face had been turned into a molten sludge, collecting in glowing puddles, along with piles of rings and exp, all fresh from his death.

  He was still enormous.

  I bent down, hands held high, then clapped.

  {Grind}

  //100,000 Str//

  Molten sludge, dirt, and decaying matter puffed out in massive clouds as the force tore into the Core’s corpse. The debris floated in the air, for a moment, before it all came crashing down, splattering everywhere.

  In the falling wreckage, I noticed several gray crystal lumps, each shattered by the heat and pressure.

  Then it all landed, piling up ontop of me.

  It took a full minute to dig myself out from the pile, but once I did, I couldn’t describe the relief I felt.

  The Core had absorbed my power. He could respawn. But that power also kills him.

  No matter what actions he or I took, the Core would die.

  I’d used my power to permanently kill a monster.

  None of my friends were ever going to get killed by it. Yet I felt a sudden dread in the pit of my stomach.

  I had the power to kill something, permanently.

  If I really, really messed up, I could make mistakes that are beyond the timeloop’s power to fix.

  That in of itself was terrifying, but I didn’t even know how my powers worked. I’d made the shovel my own through some sort of a glitch, which I still hadn’t been able to replicate, and had given it a portion of my power, without any understanding of the consequences.

  Were there consequences?

  What else could I use this power on?

  Could I make a person join me in the loop?

  Would testing it kill them?

  If I tried to use the glitch on Sern, even with good intentions, could she actually, really, permanently die?

  I forced myself to stand, brushing soot from my jeans. It’d been less than two days since I woke up, and I’d already ruined my white shirt. I’d have to buy a whole bunch of those from the store.

  After a little more thought and a little brooding, I made my way back to the forest, where the fires had almost entirely burned out. The former slaves were fine, though Sern was covered in soot and Junior was upset to have been ordered away.

  Something to learn for the next loop, I suppose.

  My breath caught, and I choked.

  “Gri—Sir?” Rose asked. “Are you well?”

  “Yeah!” I said, trying to be convincing. “Just had a thought.”

  Next loop?

  What was wrong with me?

  Had I already given up on beating the game in a single life? Each time I die, everyone else suffers all over again. Sure they don’t remember, but it’s real, and it happens.

  What if there was a life count?

  Most video games had something like that, where you’d get some many one-ups before a gameover.

  And there was a gameover. There had to be.

  My throat constricted and my stomach turned to knots.

  How do I lose?

  I could win if I beat the final boss.

  I lose if I die. But I don’t lose if I die.

  So how do I lose?

  Had I already lost?

  My chest was pounding, so I sat down, but that only made things worse as my mind spiraled out of control, picturing every choice I’d made, and every possible failure.

  But I was still playing. So there might not be a way to lose.

  And if there’s no way to lose, is there even a way to win?

  If I killed the final boss, would that be it? Really?

  There was a question I’d so far neglected to address.

  Why was the game?

  Why does it exist? What is the end goal?

  Relaxation? No, of course not. People die. Training? For what? For how long?

  Perhaps some psychotic billionaire had forced hundreds of people to play it, competing for a prize. Win a million dollars if you beat the final boss—but people died so—

  Did people die?

  What if there was never a time loop, but only the appearance of a time loop? People are stalled on death, then booted back up for the next life?

  But that’d make me the center of the universe, wouldn’t it?

  Am I the center of the universe? Or am I cheating?

  Who am I?

  The question sank down into my stomach, landing like a plate of bricks.

  A warm hand squeezed my shoulder, and I looked up, into Rose’s eyes.

  She took a step back, visibly flustered. “Sir?”

  “I’m…fine, Rose,” I lied. “Long day, that’s all.”

  So what if I don’t know who I am? So what if I don’t know what I'm doing?

  Thinking big scope wasn’t going to be any help. So, I’d have to focus on small problems. I’d take each of those one at a time. If I solved enough of the small problems, then the big ones would have to take care of themselves.

  I would not panic. I would not give up.

  It was noon.

  Twelve hours until Urgot was revived.

  After that, I’d be off to the second area. Out of the tutorial.

  I rose to my feet and started walking. The others gave me skeptical looks, but they didn’t argue, eventually trailing behind me.

  So much to do so little time.

  // {Notice} //

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  P.S : Hey yall, what'dya think of the new cover? is it cool? Is it trying to hard to feel cool?