Northern’s eyes flew open, his body chilled by the cruel morning cold.
Remarkably, he had managed to sleep through the night in the lake, remaining in a single position without shifting.
The Northern from before entering the rift was not that kind of sleeper.
He thrashed and crashed his surroundings while snoring as loudly as he could.
But in that hellish realm, the prison of Red Mine allowed him little to no time to sleep.
Even when he did sleep, he had to remain alert for his death angel’s arrival.
It was like those damned monsters didn’t expect them to rest!
Even after leaving the shackles of the prison mine and gaining a room of his own, he couldn’t sleep wholeheartedly.
He practically slept with one eye open, and there came a time when he had no memory of sleeping at all.
Then in the cave, he had to sleep with a monster that had almost killed him before.
Well, he’d be damned if he could still sleep wholeheartedly after that.
Northern grunted as he pulled himself out of the water, droplets rivulets running down his body, causing the lake’s surface to dance with ripples.
His pants were soaked, but he didn’t mind. He glanced up at the bright sky and allowed a small, attractive smile to grace his lips.
“This feels nice…” he mumbled, peering into the boundless white expanse of the morning sky.
He never thought a time would come in his life when he would appreciate seeing the sky.
Northern shrugged and summoned the Eternal Twilight.
The puissant leather armor with white clothes wove itself around him from shards of darkness… perhaps black light, which seemed quite ominous.
‘I wonder what people will say when they see black instead of white?’ Northern mused internally.
Since his items always materialized with black shards before absorbing the Vestige of the Chaos Prince, he figured it was probably like that.
And the black light shards was an effect of wielding void essence.
Another observation about the powerful leather armor, particularly its tunic… it was clean.
The stains of blood from frequent battle were gone, as if it had never been there.
As if the armor had been given to a dry cleaner within his soul.
This wasn’t the first time he had noticed it, but this confirmed the notion for him – items, when returned to the soul, could probably repair themselves.
Northern considered this briefly while walking and ignoring other dangers of the forest.
He had little to no information about it, so it was reckless to state it as fact.
‘Maybe I’ll just ask Instructor Anne…honestly, it sucks not knowing anything.’
And yet he had come this far…
Northern curled a gratified smile and continued down the narrow forest path.
Now that it was day, the critters lurking within the woods seemed more cautious than usual and retreated to the deepest parts of the forest.
Although he could vividly feel them, he could also sense their restraint…
‘Perhaps fear? Could it be from Night Terror… sorry, Dark Terror.’
Adjusting to calling Night Terror by its new name, Dark Terror, was actually harder than it looked.
He had to deliberately remind himself of the name change anytime he was about to call upon the monster, which was quite taxing in its own way… although nothing for him to worry about.
Northern thought about a couple of other things, including his plan to copy talents as early as possible and advance to the next rank…
After a few minutes, he reached the mansion. Everywhere was glinting at him, squeaky clean so that he could almost see his reflection on the marble ground. He walked forward.
The sets of couches and furniture that had littered the area were now arranged orderly and cleaned.
Even the bloodstain from yesterday’s skirmish between him and his neighbor was gone.
Northern paused as he reached the hallway that led to the depth where the monster had dwelled the day before.
Now, with daylight, he could see it clearly. It was just a sitting room, as large as the one after the entrance but with a mini library visible without having to walk further.
‘I don’t see that bastard around.’
It was no surprise that he also didn’t see Dark Terror and his clones.
To stay in physical form, they continually expended his void essence.
And he didn’t boast much of it, so throughout the night, Dark Terror had probably dissolved back into the Limitless Void, and the clones into his soul.
But the Corpse Eater was nowhere to be found.
Northern looked away dismissively and turned away from the second sitting room.
‘What business is it of mine caring about where a monster is?’
He walked away, intending to head upstairs, but stopped.
Right now, he was torn between having a lazy day and actually doing something.
And it was shocking… it was almost like…
Northern frowned.
‘No, it can’t be that bad… have I been turned into a lover of hardship?’
Back in the rift, he always had something to do every day – survive, train, fight… there was always something.
But right now… there was nothing… and he missed the life he had before.
Northern shook his head vigorously and remembered.
‘That’s right! I have to pick up Fluffy, and since I’ll be going there, I might as well give them the report they’ve want,’ Northern decided internally.
But he hesitated… the reason being,
‘I’m probably going to be meeting a lot of people.’
He wasn’t sure how he’d fare before a bunch of strong drifters who had been victimized like himself.
But he had no choice.
‘I have to do what I have to do…’ he whispered inwardly, his eyes intensely focused on the ground.
There was so much he had to get in order, so much!
‘A night’s rest is enough. I think I have to start acting… and that also means taking the courage to face other people.’
Even though he said that, Northern would probably still prefer not to meet them.
He was the kind of guy who really valued his space and hated interactions while growing up.
Before, it might have been because he felt they were kids and he was not.
But now, it had just developed into a habit, causing him to be socially withdrawn.
Maybe another reason was because he had spent the last few months interacting with monsters.
Perhaps he was scared that he had become one… or worse, that he would interact with the humans as though they were monsters.
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[A/N]
Sorry for the fillers, now we will be getting into the real thing.
Don’t forget to vote with power stones and golden tickets.
I also want you guys to comment please, so I can know if I’m doing it right.