Cel has noticed by now that the system somehow took control of his path-granting quest. It was meant to be a mere Trial, to find whether Rue is worthy or not; he even aligned the quest with the tutorial main quest to a lesser degree, but suddenly, the system issued one based on his memory. And it was so real. Rita has been brought back to life. This is not right, this shouldn’t be. Is it even her?

  His stag body has gone; now he has a humanoid body. Two legs instead of six, and two arms. His body was made of crystal ice, slithering with pulsing white veins. He wore a robe with his antlers somehow extended from the top.

  Have I been cursed?

  Now, he cannot even interfere with the quest or grant Rue more power.

  He just sat there, beside Rue, as he explained his guess to Rita—a very accurate guess.

  The only time he's able to contact Rue is when he’s on the brink of death. He is able to extend his Arcana and grant him an ability. What does this mean?

  Am I in the process of being reincarnated? To be human?

  The system reward is a reincarnation. His body is undoubtedly adult, and each day, he felt this body being melded by a great force to resemble a human. Right now, his Frost body is resisting the system, his ice encases his body, and somehow holds his antlers too. Once Rue had finished the quest he had been given, the reincarnation should start.

  But, will he be born as a half monster?

  The system is more powerful than it used to be, for it to shove a quest upon Rue like this and, by extension, others, too. Will it even honour its reward anymore?

  Cel stood, and he flailed, catching himself before he fell. Two-legged. He smiled despite everything. There are so many two-legged creatures; how do they even stand? Being four-legged is strange to him, now two legs.

  Cel stumbled toward Rita, the HuGoblin…

  He missed her.

  All of them.

  Before Madness took their entire races, they were some of his closest friends. And what he had to do during the mutation war will live forever inside of him.

  ‘I have no regret,’ He remembered telling Rue that exact word.

  “I’m not a liar, Rue,” Cel said to Rue, who was still talking to Rita. It had bothered him to be called a bad liar by the human. “I just didn’t realize,” Cel muttered. Yet, his annoyance flooded away when he saw Rue crying for him. Oh, right, the blue-haired man cried too.

  Those tears rattle a warm sensation inside of him, a great sense of… Honor? No, not honor. He has just been incredibly grateful. So much. He wouldn’t have much time left; he needed to contact Rue and give him something. Just thrusting him with the progression path does not feel enough. Could he tell him what happened to his planet? What will happen if he survives and finally returns? How the portal..

  A sense of dark, deep hatred pinged inside of him. Cel spun toward where the tug pulled him. The Golden Kobold.. It's fighting.

  “But who?” Cel muttered. He fought the creature after he was freed by the reinforcement who must have acted by Rue and the humans.

  He looked at Rita, whose eyes widened as her false reality shattered, and she asked what would happen to her. But Rue did not know that, of course, he didn’t, even Cel didn't.

  “I don’t know,” Rue said softly. The HuGoblin's body shook, and she stood shielding herself from the night wind.

  “I-I need to find Yomi, I need to talk to him,” Rita muttered.

  Yomi? He is here, too?

  Is he the one fighting the Golden Kobold?

  Cel needed to see; he had to go to where the Golden Kobold is. He threw a last glance at Rita, who was being comforted by Rue and the other young human, and they tried to convince her to wait for the other team to make it to them. But, they didn’t know the Golden Kobold currently fighting, possibly their friend.

  He walked deep into the darkness of the forest, stumbling to be more accurate, especially with the thick roots that were worming around the earth, and vines that were almost invisible in the night like this. Cel had to press himself against a tree trunk countless times.

  But his hands are indeed useful; they give him more upper-body balance in this form. Hand also allows swordsmanship, something Cel has always been curious about; he would love to try it, maybe in his next life, if somehow he can remember.

  Trekking through the night draped forest with only a sense of hatred tugging at him, he finally saw two figures, one limping, supported by the other. A Hu Goblin, that must be Yomi, Cel did not know him personally as he had died, killed by the Golden Kobold, according to Rita. She always cried and told the story to Cel; she and Yomi were meant to be together, as their elder had given them their blessing. But it looked like his fate was not much better here; Yomi had lost his right hand, the stump covered by the Lusanya cloth.

  The Goblin was carried by a human who had two bloodied long knives sheathed on his belt, a streak of visceral cut across his cheek, and blood smeared inside his mouth. “I think we’re far enough,” The man said. He laid Yomi against the tree.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Yomi's hand went to his sash, summoning two health potions and a Mana Potion for each of them. The man uncorked the vial and let the substance slither down Yomi’s mouth. The effect is immediate; the stump slowly grows into a hand.

  “You drink too, Benedict,” Yomi said.

  Just then, a Kobold rushed out of thick patches of grass, with a spear coming straight at the man's head. The man, who must be called Benedict, whipped out both of his long knives and caught the spear jab with both steel, redirecting the force to the ground, making the Kobold stumble forward.

  Benedict slid both knives to the kobold's neck, ending the monster's life.

  “Benedict fast!” Yomi shoved a health potion at the man. “I will keep guard”.

  A bolt of lightning zapped through, blowing Yomi’s hand along with the potion. From the darkness, brittle electricity gave a coarse amount of light. A robe-wearing Kobold growled at them. Then Bone Warrior trickled out, two of them, along with that golden one. Their king.

  A majestic scale, that took in the brief glow of the moon through the dense canopy of the forest, its gold shone a dark light, accompanied by a lithe figure with grace befitting a king. In its hand is a slender golden bone sword wrought from the golden dragon's own ribs, and a shield directly taken from the dragon's own ember eye. So many of Cel’s friends have died because of those weapons. Both are rare weapons that a tutorial participant should not face, but what is more frightening is not the weapon..

  The most fearsome is the Golden Alchemist Kobold King himself, of course.

  Salar…

  That loathsome and slender figure of the Golden Kobold is full of deception; its strength is mighty, as proven by many corpses it had remembered vividly even after a thousand years. Memories have run back inside Cel’s mind. Whombis the Bear had his back broken in a straight collision with the kobold's golden fist. Gufam’s brother Musa had his claw broken after delivering a straight slash across the Kobold's abdomen, and Cel’s antler had been broken by its fist.

  This thing shouldn’t be alive, even as a dream.

  Rue and the other humans are far weaker than Cel was.

  Do they stand a chance? Should he hope?

  The Golden Kobold roared, and it pointed its golden sword straight at the human who refused to budge, as he shielded Yomi. Yomi, on the other hand, with one hand still recovering and the other blown apart, the Hugoblin lay dying on the floor.

  Lightning crackled from two Robe Kobolds, both aiming a fingertip without any sign of sympathy. Blue zap rippled the darkness away, as the spell gathered to their finger.

  “Dodge,” Yomi gritted out. “Leave me.”

  Benedict shot the Hugoblin a look, he ignored him, and refused to budge.

  This is it for them. If Cel cannot help them, that is.

  His power has been resisting the system. He is resisting the system. The moment it gave Rue and others that quest, Cel had stopped the reincarnation process by covering his body in ice, stopping time itself.

  Once a creature is strong enough to stand on top of many, once you reach a certain threshold, you could feel the system, the invisible thread that connects your body to it. A thrum of power that extended from his body to the star above, how many countless worlds has this thread passed over? What is the end of this thread? Both are questions Cel had asked over and over. For a hundred years of his life, he had travelled plenty of worlds, to try and reach the system, or whatever this force is. But what awaited him was always an endless adventure, so many dangerous worlds, forces that intended to conquer everything, a god-like being that also had the same curiosity, even those who tried to hijack the system.

  So many things.

  On that journey, he realized that ice truly stops everything; he could even rebel against the system as he was doing now. But it was not without cost; he knew the system would seek to fix itself, it would drown him in his desire to be reincarnated. It has sealed his power, a requirement to create the quest, but he can go back on that, as his own soul is still tied to his power; the system cannot separate him from his power unless he truly dies, and his soul finally leaves his body.

  Should he do it? The human has taken the quest by his own accord, in a way it's not Cel's responsibility. But, what about Yomi? And Rita? What if they really live and get a second chance? Likely, she’s not the same Rita he knew. She could be a new soul, born into the memory of the past Rita. That might be what is happening if they indeed kept living. In other words, they’re born from Cel himself. And this Golden Kobold too…

  Lighting zips forth. And Cel glowed with a bright, cold light swirling out of his body, he swung his hand up, forming a fist, a wall of ice extended as if they’re about to touch the moon, a blue and brilliant shivering wall of ice became the tallest object in the entire tutorial zone.

  The Human blinked, looking at the sudden miracle in front of him. “What's happening?” He muttered, before shaking himself and going down to Yomi. “Hey, Yomi, is it? Show me how to summon the Health Potion…”

  Cel blanked out their conversation as he fell to one knee, the ground greeted his legs, and as he was about to fall over, his hand steadied him by pushing against the ground. The invisible threat lessened, like a rope about to uncoil. If he loses the connection to the system, his soul would drift apart, unable to continue with his next life. The Srentam, a race that tried to dominate the system, failed, but they developed a way to sever someone's connection to the system, making one soul drift in a void forever. A worse punishment than torture itself. He had seen it happen, a thread cut just like what was about to happen to him.

  Except in his case, it will be for rebelling against the system.

  Cel wondered if anyone had gone to the void this way. The power of Frost in extension ice is probably the only affinity that could resist the system.

  He stood, his soul waning, the frail thread pulled on his soul, now wanted him to proceed with the reincarnation.

  So that's what he's supposed to do. Now, with an option to reincarnate, he can just forget all of this and proceed…

  No, I will not

  “Stag!”

  Cel lurched, he looked around, and saw the curly-haired human calling him.

  Can he see me?

  The human called Benedict looked around, supporting Yomi as his other stump now also grew. “You're here, aren’t you? Cel of the stag? The one Rue talked about. And you’re the one who gave us the quest.”

  He can’t see me. Cel realized, slightly disappointed.

  “Thank you,” The man said, limping with Yomi straight to where Rue’s camp is. By now, they should. “Wherever you are,” he added.

  Cel watched the two go. Rue group should now be able to find them first before the Kobolds do.

  “You're welcome, human,” Cel muttered to the human retreating back.

  A loud sound boomed from behind his Ice Wall. Electricity shot toward the wall of ice, and then the sound of a sword clanging madly could be heard.

  He can feel that his wall is being destroyed; the Kobold will eventually get through. Cel looked along the Ice, it's too far to run around it now. And with his soul getting weaker and weaker, he won’t be able to pull another spell like this.

  He wondered if he was lucky enough to catch the Golden Kobold in the ice, but he doubted it, as its speed is not to be underestimated.

  The Humans will need help, and the only force strong enough is himself, his past self.

  “Please, let me cast one more magic,” He pleaded to the weak thread that tied his soul.