When I opened my eyes, the sky was already turning light blue. I tried to stretch my arms but noticed that Fatima was still sleeping on top of my thighs.
“Hehe…”
Seeing that she was sleeping so peacefully, my face loosened naturally, forming a smile. I patted her hair gently, scanning her body once more.
Her right arm, which had its energy circuits destroyed yesterday, was now completely back to normal. Other than that, I checked the energy pathways around her entire body, but nothing else was out of place.
After confirming that she was fine, my eyes slowly drifted toward her chest, rising and falling with her every breath. Other than her left leg and right arm, all parts of her body were still the original, after all.
“…”
I don’t know how long I was staring at it, but soon her arm moved to cover it, hiding it from view.
“You’re staring too much, Will.”
Fatima chuckled lightly. Judging from her expression, she must’ve woken up before I did and was having fun watching my actions. After having her fair share of laughs, she then stood up and stretched her body.
“Good morning, I guess? Also, thanks for last night. It was a little painful, but it felt good.”
Her phrasing was probably intentional, making me scratch my head in awkwardness.
“Then wanna try it again? I promise there’s no pain this time.”
I lightly tugged at her chest, pulling her back to my side. Fatima’s face was covered in surprise for a moment before a joyful smile replaced it.
“Well, well. Look who’s acting all grown up now.”
Her face approached mine, and I also tried to approach her myself, about to plant a kiss on her glossy pink lips…
“Ahem!”
But the sound of a fake cough made the two of us stop and turn our backs. There, beyond the gazebo, a small girl was standing with a red portal behind her, shining brightly.
“This is within my God’s Domain, so I literally can see everything. Please refrain from flirting with each other as much as possible before me. At least while here.”
The small girl, Namia, explained with a thin frown. Her face was the epitome of being unamused, almost to the point of exasperation. She then pointed with her thumb at the portal behind her, tilting her head up in gesture.
“Follow me. Everyone else’s already gathered.”
“Everyone?”
I wonder why she’s gathering us this time? Will she eject us from this place now that we’re all recovered? Fatima and I stood up and went to follow Namia, who had already disappeared beyond the red portal.
When the two of us entered, literally everyone else was already gathered in place. The girls stared at me for some reason, making me feel like a mouse being stared at by a snake.
“W-What? What’s happening?”
Disturbed by their predatory gazes, I involuntarily took a step back. However, Fatima pushed me forward without saying a word. I glanced at her, but she was just smiling with her eyes narrowed down as if telling me “No backing off”.
“Master, just favoring Fatima is unfair…”
Ember pouted lightly, moving to my side and hugging my arm. On a rare occasion, she wasn’t limiting the size of her chest and pressed them tight in their full glory. It was something I learned of later, but her size actually depended on how many clones she had left.
Since we were stuck here, she wasn’t able to do her usual tinkering with her clones, ending up not using them for the entire night.
As if competing with her, Fang rushed to my left arm and copied Ember’s action.
“Me too! I want Leader’s affection too~!”
She was giggling as she grabbed my arm tighter, her tail wagging excitedly.
Igni looked like she wanted to do the same as the two but decided not to in the end. She just stood there, fidgeting as she glanced at us with an envious look on her face.
“Are you all going to flirt the entire time, or will you listen on how to get out of the Otherside?”
Namia rubbed her temple as if holding back an incoming headache. I was just about to laugh her words off before I stopped.
“Leave the Otherside?”
Her words caught everyone’s attention.
“Right. After all, entering here is easy, but leaving isn’t. Teleporting straight to the outer world is impossible.”
She explained while pacing around, like a professor doing a lecture in front of her students. I turned to look at my ring, the server ring, but it was working fine and all, though.
“But my ring is working though? It’s still connected to all the client rings outside…”
“I’m not done explaining, after all.”
Namia sighed, pointing at the ring.
“Your ring transmits your presence to the receivers in the form of energy. And here, energy can come and go without obstruction.”
“So only the living beings have a hard time escaping?”
“To be specific, it’s only hard for non-demons to leave.”
“…”
Well, that makes sense. If it’s hard for even demons to leave the Otherside, then they would’ve been wiped out long ago. Seeing the power of every demon in here, however, another doubt popped into my head.
“But there are tons of god-level demons here. Why don’t they invade the surface along with the others?”
“Won’t you let me finish first?”
Namia shook her head as if dismissing a bad pupil who kept asking redundant questions.
“The Otherside is connected to the upper world through a gate. That gate is, however, guarded by a beyond-god-level monster.”
“Beyond-god?!”
Threya, who was quiet the whole time, suddenly reacted.
“So that realm does exist?!”
For Tamers, reaching god-level was already their finish line. However, for a few “special” cases, reaching that level was merely a stepping stone. I, too, dream of reaching the god-level one day, or even beyond it, but…
“It does exist, and I’m half a step into that realm too. Well, at least before I became like this.”
Namia sighed once more, this time with a tinge of sadness in her tone. Ever since she turned smaller, her power has never returned to its original level. It was stuck at the god-level she was at right now.
“Anyway, back to the topic. To leave the Otherside, you need to exit through the gate behind that beyond-level monster. And to do that successfully, you first need to be strong enough to survive against one or two of its attacks.”
After hearing the requirements to leave this place, everyone turned silent. After all, blocking several god-level demons’ attacks was enough to exhaust our entire team. If it follows the normal convention, then a beyond-level would be several times more powerful than a god-level.
I turned to the girls and noticed their grim faces. They, too, must have come to the same conclusion as me. We can’t survive even a single attack from a beyond-level as we are. 𝒷𝒹𝓸𝓿𝓁.𝒸ℴ𝓶
“Of course, I wouldn’t have saved you only to keep you in my palace for all eternity.”
Namia grinned lightly, raising a single finger.
“One week. Within that time, you need to increase your entire team’s level, at least until you unlock the next stage of the system’s functions.”
“But the next stage requires three 7th-stage tamed monsters?!”
Fatima quickly raised her voice, nitpicking.
As of now, only Igni has reached the 7th stage, while Ember and Fang are up next at the 5th stage, along with Minerva. Judy and Yorm were both in the 4th stage, while Fina was in the 3rd. Lastly, there’s Fatima, currently at the lowest, 1st stage.
Basically, she’s telling us to get two of the three 5th stages to level up twice within a week. That’s a pretty risky move, knowing that stabilizing energy levels after evolution takes time.
“That’s-”
“Not impossible.”
Namia cut off my words, finishing them for me. Her gaze was telling us that she truly believed we could stably do a double evolution in a week.
We did have enough essence crystals, gained from the past three days of hunting, to level up everyone once or twice, so there’s no worry in that regard. However, it was still risky.
“You have your [eyes] right?”
Namia explained.
“Use that to help them stabilize their energies faster.”
“…!”
I… never thought of using my ability to see energy in that way… Suddenly, my perception widened, as if waking up from a dream. Right! Tampering with others’ energy isn’t just useful in battles but also to help them, just as I did with Fatima last night!
“Master, let’s do it!”
Ember exclaimed with a fire burning in her eyes.
“I want to become more powerful! Not only for escaping this place.”
“Me too, Leader! Not being able to join you in fighting against god-levels is frustrating!”
Within the group, the only ones able to inflict damage on a god-level enemy right now are Igni, Fatima, and I. Ember can make armaments able to pierce their defense, but she doesn’t have the ability to harness them herself.
In the end, it looks like letting everyone level up is the only choice we have.