After healing Hiro, Oldomus left and Aleus was about to do the same when Hiro woke up. It came as a surprise to him, after all they didn't do anything to disturb Hiro's sleep and like Jura should have remained unconscious.

  "You are up?"

  "Yeah, how long have I been asleep for?"

  "A few hours."

  "Long enough not to be considered a nap."

  Answered B One and Aleus in succession.

  "Anything happened in the last hours I should know about?"

  "As you can guess, we are back on continent. Besides this nothing, but there is what master Oldomus said."

  He paused taking a breath of air while observing Hiro's expression.

  "The first being, according to him, your injuries weren't something to be unconscious from."

  "Oh that, it was intentional. If I knew I would be treated this easily I wouldn't have done it in the first place."

  Hiro admitted to putting himself to sleep, but didn't go into details of how much it would help.

  "I take it, putting yourself to sleep was supposed to help with healing."

  "Yep, but I could only do it because you were there."

  "Thanks for the trust I guess, and here I was thinking it was something you seem to have thrown out the window."

  "How so?"

  Hiro asked with a puzzled expression while fixing himself on the bed.

  "It's simple, life force. You said you couldn't use it but that was a lie, makes me wonder how much else is a lie."

  Hiro immediately recalled the day he arrived at the capital joining the meeting of rune masters and declaring himself to be neither a rune practitioner nor someone who uses life force.

  "Ah, you mean that. What I did doesn't count."

  He replied flatly, with neither hesitation nor careful consideration. Aleus's eyes widened in shock, he could not believe Hiro was denying his use of life force.

  (Caught red handed and you still deny the crime.)

  "Since you saw me, shouldn't it be clear why I don't acknowledge it. Forcefully using ones life force to increase strength doesn't count, I can induce it but not control it."

  Hiro began to explain seeing the former's unconvinced expression.

  "Would you say being able to open the tap and letting the water flow counts as controling water, unnatural phenomenon wise?"

  "It wouldn't count."

  Aleus replied not fearing what it would to.

  "My case is the same, what you saw is nothing more than a technique that anyone alive can use. Think of it like adrenaline that encompasses life force, as long as something has life force and performs the technique they'll get the same results. Which is why it's as harmful as it is effective. Now my soul is injured and who knows how long it'll take before it heals."

  Hiro concluded and it was a sound one, Aleus was left with nothing to criticise but from the beginning it wasn't something that bothered him.

  (At the time Hiro had no reason to be honest with us, and the same can still be said now. I'm even helping him sustain several other lies, until it matters I won't pry.)

  "If you say so. Lastly there's some advice from him as well, don't go around using life force so recklessly. And this is from me, if you are willing I can teach you. The manipulation of life force is different and independent from rune craft, like fire is to cooking. So it is possible to learn this from me."

  Aleus suggested, a card played to help his goal but also an honest intention.

  "Did you forget I'm leaving?"

  "I remember, it's just I also remember you didn't give me a clear answer or said when you'll be leaving."

  Hiro was silent, as he thought of his answer. Whether Aleus would accompany Hiro was dependent on the former's mentality, Hiro had already decided. As for when to leave, this was still a tricky question.

  There were still areas in his abilities he had yet to become familiar with and use to the fullest. A few examples were Spiriton, his other improved swordsman abilities, a newly created technique and now life force was thrown in his direction as well.

  (Honestly most of these need a quiet environment and time to get familiar with before being introduced in actual combat, like my recent failed technique and Spiriton's abilities. But time, do I really have that?)

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  This was a question he could not answer himself so he turned to B One.

  "You could say yes and no. This is traveling between Worlds, it's not just going to another place but also time as well. So it depends on how that teleporter is configured. Is it built to sync all these Worlds time, meaning how long you stay here will influence what point in time you'll arrive at, in the next World.

  Or it could be they are not synced. You could spend a hundred years here or just a day but once you use the teleporter to go to the next World, you'll arrive at the same point in time. In short both coordinates of space and time are fixed.

  But even I don't know which of the two it is, I could look into it and find out but doing something as I am won't end well for anyone."

  (You are hiding from someone?)

  "I wouldn't say hiding but feel free to interpret any way you see fit."

  B One said with indifference.

  (There's no reason the Manager would give me a worst case scenario but there's definitely no harm in being cautious. I have to assume I don't have time.)

  Hiro was fine with this approach. Pressure or no pressure, it was obvious which would stimulates growth more.

  Even though it seemed like some time had passed, in reality not even a full minute had gone by while Hiro was thinking to himself before he returned to Aleus.

  "You saw how strong the fragment was right, what if I told you it's nothing more than roadside trash compared to the dangers ahead."

  (You, Hiro are roadside trash, then what am I? Worth less than roadside trash.)

  Aleus wondered, caught off guard by Hiro's declaration.

  "Are you fine with dying the moment you step outside your world?"

  Hiro finally asked, targeting the core of the matter. Aleus was just too weak, could Hiro who was expecting even greater threats afford to bring someone who needed a guardian.

  (Granted, I don't necessarily have to fight any of these potential threats.)

  Hiro thought, keeping this information to himself.

  "Do I also get the revival package?"

  Aleus asked holding onto the faintest hope.

  "No you don't."

  "I'm fine with that. If I'm not willing to die for my dreams, then what am I willing to die for?"

  Aleus was resolute, Hiro could see there was no need for this back and forth anymore.

  "You say that but how many can actually act on it. Regardless I welcome you to join me and I look forward to your teachings."

  "Trust me you won't regret this."

  "Never had any doubts."

  Hiro said as a faint smile flashed across his face.

  "It's getting late I should go, feel free to stay here or return to your room."

  Said Aleus, showing intention to leave while his excitement remained concealed.

  "Some rest is deserved I guess."

  Said Hiro as he removed the bed sheets and got off the bed. His shadow dragon scale clothing was ruined, there were plenty of gaps and holes in it. He could see it healing but he wasn't so stubborn as to wear it in its current state, not to mention from the looks of it a week was needed before it would be fully restored.

  "I'm assuming you'll need something dark."

  "That is my style, yes."

  "Luckily, if I'm not wrong what you selected before should already be styled to your taste. If not, by morning there should be something decent to put on. And tomorrow if you don't mind sharing, I want to know how you ended up winning against the fragment."

  "It's nothing to hide, just name the time and place, I'll be there to tell you all about it."

  The two spoke while they left the infirmary together before going their separate ways shortly after.

  Hiro was already familiar with Akarn's palace as such he made it all the way to his given room without any difficulty. There like Aleus had said he found a couple of clothes. Mostly medieval tunics and pants, even the robes he had selected in the royal treasury had been changed to meet this requirement, alongside being darker than before.

  (A quick shower now or in the morning to change clothes, which is best?)

  Hiro wondered.

  "You could have avoided all this if you brought an adequate amount of gear."

  Reminded B One, and Hiro had no way to refute.

  "Maybe if I had an idea how the teleporter worked I would've done just that. I couldn't just rob myself of all my belongings and going out on a beast hunt was something I dismissed at the time. But there's no regret."

  "Really, not even for that red dragon gear?"

  B One questioned but Hiro was firm. Even this gear was something he had shelved, it was quite limited. It was made from fire dragon scales and bones, and fire dragons were the ancestors of all dragons but because of this they were the lowest of the low among dragon kind.

  What they had other dragon's had, be it breathing fire or being resist to it. Thus when Hiro finally killed a different dragon, shadow dragon, it was left to collect dust. The same was true of many other gear made from different beasts. What he was wearing now was the most versatile and durable of what he had.

  "There's bound to be some beast to hunt, right?"

  He said while a cold light flashed in his eyes, hoping whatever it was he encountered in the future was something far superior to what he had now.

  "Are you also going to leave your soul as it is?"

  Asked By One seeing that Hiro was about to turn in for the night while completely disregarding the state of his soul body.

  "You don't suggest I kill myself do you, the soul corridor may be the best place for a soul to heal but how many trips would my soul need to take before it's fully healed?"

  B One didn't answer but Hiro wasn't expecting one, this was just an idea thrown out there. Whether Hiro would act based on it was reliant on how he thought about killing himself over and over.

  (My physical body and life force are already healed but the soul is far from being recovered. It will take at least a month before it's whole again.)

  Hiro was clear of his body's condition, physically there was nothing left to recover, not even a scar remained from the injuries he sustained.

  While his life force thanks to the world being rich in it, he was replenished in mere moments after it was untangled, and either of the holy swords could do this as well.

  But souls were a rarity in any World, only self aware beings had them. As such it was also the hardest thing to deal with. Normally after it was harmed a person would have to replenish it using soul medicine or potions, something that was even rarer thanks to the main ingredient being ghosts and evil spirits, at least this was the case in Hiro's home World.

  But recently he had died a second time but unlike the first time, when he left the World as a soul traveling to the soul corridor of Worlds he was fully aware.

  What this brought to his attention was that the soul corridor was a sanctuary of souls like any World was to life entities and physical entities. By simply being there a soul would regenerate several times above its normal rate in a World.

  (But this is only healing, if it grew I would consider it but no just for healing when my soul is mostly irrelevant in day to day life. Sleep is what I need now, then tomorrow I'll finally assess that technique and Spiriton.)

  With this thought Hiro said nothing more, what needed some recovery most and couldn't be postponed was his mind.

  More than fighting the fragment, having his perception pushed to the max was beyond mentally taxing. A normal person wouldn't even be able to handle something on such a level, going insane would be a best case scenario.

  The fortunate thing about the mind was unlike the soul, sleeping was one way of recovering.