Liliana mentally waved off her status screens as the sounds of something moving through the woods around the campsite reached her. She’d gotten several skill level-ups, unsurprisingly. [Dance of the Daystar] had raised by 7 levels, [Enhancement] by 6, [Dance of the Windsong] by 8, [Tempo] by 6, the biggest jump was [Bonding Contract] which got 10 levels. It seemed all her gains were affected partially by how strong Lelantos was and how high her skills and spells were originally. The lower leveled ones saw a larger increase, which made sense. Lelantos was level 90 after all.

Liliana looked up when Polaris bounded out of the thick, packed brush around the small clearing. The fox immediately barreled into Liliana. With a smile, she combed her fingers through his coat, removing twigs and other debris he had gathered.

“Did…you…have…to…go…so…far?” Emyr panted as he half fell out of the forest and into the clearing. Liliana smirked, seeing that Polaris had dragged him through the more laborious way. Lelantos had cleared a path with his bulk that would’ve been easier for Emyr to follow, but Polaris seemed to want to make the human suffer.

“Maybe tomorrow I won’t ask Polaris to lead you to the campsite then,” Liliana threatened idly, examining a leaf she’d pulled from Polaris’ fur.

“….Thank you for your aid,” Emyr finally ground out as he collapsed on the ground by the fire. Liliana smirked at him and shoved her hand into her pack, producing a loaf of bread she tossed to the boy. Forgetting any pretense of etiquette, he set on the food like a ravenous beast.

“Consider it Endurance training,” Liliana offered as she bit into her last apple.

“Only masochists do stat training,” Emyr spoke up through a mouthful of bread. Liliana flushed brightly at the comment and looked away.

“You... You did stat training?” Emyr asked, his food half forgotten in his hand. Puffing her cheeks out in annoyance, Liliana took a bite of her apple. Still, Emyr stared at her as she chewed and with a grimace, she swallowed and answered.

“10 points,” she grumbled, voice so low Emyr had to strain to hear it.

“In Endurance?” He asked incredulously.

“In every stat,” Liliana bit back with a glare. Emyr stared at her for a long moment, utterly silent. Liliana couldn’t tell if he was looking at her like she was stupid, or inhuman.

“Do you hate yourself?” He asked finally, and Liliana’s eyes narrowed. She crossed her arms with a harrumph.

“No! I didn’t want to die!” She explained hotly. Wasn’t that obvious? Didn’t training stats make more sense? Sure, it took a long time, and would take anyone else double the time it had her. But it was a safe way to progress!

“From what?! A Slime?” Emyr’s voice was rising in pitch as he struggled to understand her logic.

“Yes! Slime deaths are a real risk!” She shouted back as her face flushed a deep red.

“No one has ever died to a Slime! An unawakened toddler could kill one!” Emyr’s voice rose to meet her own and Liliana blinked, jerking back at the noise. Seeing her reaction, Emyr grimaced and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm himself. Liliana watched with interest. She hadn’t thought that stat training of all things would be what fully ruined Emyr’s cold exterior.

“How much time did you waste on stat training?” Emyr asked, his voice far calmer once more as he opened his eyes.

“Two months… or so…” Liliana answered, looking down at the half eaten apple in her hand.

“You wast-. You raised all your stats by... what… Thats not-that shouldn’t be-how?” Emyr stammered out a response as he stared at her in stark confusion.

Fuck. I was supposed to keep that a secret. I’m going to get a title for ‘Worst Noble Ever’, at this rate. [Deception]! Help! Liliana mentally panicked at her verbal misstep and scrambled to rectify it.

“Determination, and stubbornness. And a sadistic trainer,” Liliana stated, her voice taking on a confidence she didn’t feel. Yet her words seemed to ring with utter truth as she tried to make Emyr believe it. She watched his face cloud for a moment as he took in her lackluster explanation. Resigned acceptance finally replaced his confusion and disbelief, and Liliana breathed a silent sigh of relief.

“I just saw you Tame something fifty levels higher than you. You raising all your stats by ten points in two months shouldn’t surprise me,” Emyr answered in defeat. As he started eating his bread again, Liliana could hear him muttering about how ‘it’s just not fair’.

[Deception] has reached level 24.

Liliana waved off the notification, but it looked like the skill was pulling its own weight here. Relieved and glad Emyr wasn’t insulting her life choices anymore, Liliana resumed eating her apple.

“Were you level 1?” Emyr spoke up, startling Liliana. She nodded to his question, assuming that was the end of it.

“Well, at least you’re not some kind of demigod or something. Stat training at level 1 is normal. I thought you’d been training past that,” Emyr said with a sigh. Liliana tilted her head, face scrunched in confusion.

“What do you mean?” She asked. Emyr raised an eyebrow at her.

“You don’t know?” He asked, and there was a hint of smugness to his voice that pissed her off.

“Obviously,” Liliana drawled, her eyes narrowed. A ghost of a smirk crossed Emyr’s face as he waited in silence, enjoying her irritation.

“Years ago, thousands of years ago, there was a hero, or a villain depending on who you ask, called Invincible,” Emyr started, his voice taking on a pleasant lilt.

“Invincible? Seriously?” Liliana asked incredulously. Emyr shot her an irritated look, and she held up her hands in mock surrender. “Continue,” she said with a sarcastic sitting bow.

“He stat trained, raised his stats by 10 points per each level. It took him years upon years of training and carefully leveling to maximize his stats,” Emyr continued, and Liliana nodded. That sounded sensible to her, and a part of her mourned all the stat points she’d lost by leveling as quickly as she had.

“He reached level 700,” Liliana opened her mouth to ask how the heck he’d done that. Shouldn’t he have died before he got to that level with how long it took to level? Emyr shot her a harsh glare and her mouth clicked shut.

“His Vitality, combined with his Rank, had become so high he was immortal. For hundreds of years, he ruled the world with an iron fist until he became bored. He bid a challenge to the Gods themselves,” Emyr continued and Liliana felt a shiver go down her spine. Challenge the very gods themselves? No matter how strong a human got, they couldn’t fight a God. “He fought them, even gravely wounded Mors, the God of Death,” Liliana’s eyes widened until she felt they’d pop out of her head. How?

“So the Gods pooled their power together. They couldn’t kill Invincible, so they locked him deep away where no one would ever find him again.” Liliana shivered harder at the thought that such a person was still alive. Somewhere in their world, probably rendered insane from living trapped for thousands of years.

“The Gods decided they couldn’t risk another mortal challenging them like that. Already there were others gaining power like Invincible, hoping to become a God-Slayer.” The story completely enthralled Liliana. She leaned forward eagerly, “so the Gods combined their power. They couldn’t change the System. It’s above even the God’s themselves. But they could cast a permanent curse across all mortals. Any mortal can raise their stat points by 10 points each at level one. But after that, it becomes five times harder at level two, outside of combat. At level three, it’s ten times harder, and so on and so forth,” Emyr explained, and Liliana leaned back in shock.

That was why she hadn’t gotten another raised stat outside of combat? Even with her boon, five times harder would be ten months to raise all her stats! Then a hundred months. That was… crazy. Only someone truly masochistic would train for that long. Or someone who had already achieved immortality and had nothing but time on their hands. She suddenly understood why Emyr had looked at her like she wasn’t human when she said she’d raised her stats. Especially if he’d assumed she’d been talking about training past level one.

“So you see, everyone trains their stats at level one. It would be idiotic to just give up 80 free stat points,” Liliana flushed. She’d assumed everyone else didn’t do that, and that she’d found a really cool cheat. Apparently, she hadn’t been any smarter than anyone else.

“But past that? No, you’d have to be a masochist to do that. It’s simply so ridiculously not worth it, and well,” Emyr paused for dramatic effect and Liliana hated herself for leaning forward so eagerly, “it’s said that if someone does stat train despite the curse, there’s an even worse curse that will hit you. It’s said it’ll make it so every stat you gain causes you pain unimaginable,” Emyr continued in a whisper.

“But wait, if the Gods don’t want anyone to get that strong, why can we still get points for combat?” Liliana pointed out a hole in his logic. Emyr huffed and rolled his eyes as if she’d asked a truly idiotic question.

“The Gods had to use all their collective power to enact just that much of the curse. The System never likes to be changed by anyone. Even for Gods. They had to leave a loophole to the curse. As it is, it’s impossible to raise your stats so much through actual combat, since you have to kill your opponent to get stat points. Either you’re fighting something lower leveled than you to avoid getting too much experience, but then you won’t get the stat points since it’ll be too low leveled. Or you're fighting things your level or above, which will give you the experience you need to level, resetting the cycle.” Emyr explained, and Liliana nodded, satisfied by the answer.

“Haven’t you noticed that if you fight something ten levels below you, you don’t get experience?” Emyr asked and Liliana raised an eyebrow at him.

“Why would I fight something so low?” She asked him in answer.

“Well, if you had, you’d know they won’t give you experience, because you’re too high a level for the essence to even enter you,” Emyr explained and Liliana nodded again. The game had been like that as well. She hadn’t realized that was the same, but it made sense, if a bit more sense than in the game, which never explained why you didn’t get experience from lower leveled creatures.

“Even fighting against something five levels under you won’t get you a stat. You’d have to fight an entire horde of things five levels below you to raise a stat or two. By then you’d level,” Emyr clarified more.

“This wasn’t in any books I read,” Liliana grumbled as she picked at apiece of grass sullenly. Even Silas and Astrid hadn’t told her!

“That’s cause everyone knows the myth. You’re told it when you’re Awoken at the temple, it’s a tale of caution. To remind us that no matter how strong we might become, we all are but ants before the Gods,” Emyr answered slowly, suspicion dawning in his eyes. Liliana felt her heart pound in her chest furiously. She’d fucked up again.

“Ah yea, my Priest who Awakened me just did the ritual and told me to leave,” Liliana hastily said, frantically trying to avoid making Emyr any more curious in her than he already was.

“You should file a complaint. That’s truly gross negligence,” Emyr said, seeming to accept her answer.

[Deception] has reached level 25

“I’ll see it’s dealt with when we return,” Liliana promised, relieved to have dodged yet another bullet. Emyr hummed and looked around.

“So where is the ti-ah… Lelantos?” Emyr asked. Liliana looked around and reached for her Bond.

“He’s heading back. He just finished eating a Silver Stag,” a yip at her side brought a smile to her face, “he’s bringing back the remains for you, Polaris,” she told the fox. The little fox yipped again, jumping out of her lap to run around.

“Where does he get the energy from?” Emyr asked as the two watched the fox dance and twirl around the campsite.

“It’s all the mischief in his blood,” Liliana responded sagely. Emyr nodded, accepting the fact.

“You’re not going to ask the tig-Lelantos to eat me, right?” Emyr asked after a few peacefully silent minutes.

“Not today,” Liliana responded with a sharp smile. Emyr starred at her for a long moment, trying to determine if the threat was empty or not.

“Just don’t get in my way, and we’ll be fine,” Lilian elaborated with a roll of her eyes. Emyr snorted as he laid back on the ground, arm tucked under his head.

“I don’t want to die,” he answered.

“Neither do I,” Liliana echoed, her voice soft but heavy with sadness. Emyr turned to look at her, curious at two lifetimes of despair hidden in her words. Liliana didn’t meet his eyes this time, instead pulling out her whetstone to sharpen her naginata and ending the conversation.

Thankfully, Emyr retreated into his silent persona as the night continued. Liliana gave him her tent to use, with a careless shrug saying she’d prefer to sleep with Lelantos anyway. Despite her verbal insistences of her dislike of him, and her threats, it was obvious something had changed. The two were neither enemies nor mere acquaintances any longer. Though neither would go so far as to call themselves friends. But perhaps something in between.

“So your plan is to just walk through the gates. On a giant tiger?” Emyr asked, for not the first time that day. They would be back at the manor the next day, probably late afternoon based on the time they’d made. Liliana would have already been back if she hadn’t slowed down for the sake of getting more used to fighting with Lelantos.

Emyr had suggested she’d slowed down for him. She had hit him with her naginata and it was never mentioned again.

“Well, would you suggest I sneak the giant tiger into the estate? “"Liliana asked with a raised eyebrow. Emyr seemed to consider it for a moment as Liliana threw her arms up in frustration.

“That was rhetorical!” She said.

“Can’t you unsummon him?” Emyr asked instead, and Liliana patted herself down.

“Oh wow! I never thought of that! Let me just pull out my 300 gold summoning stone that I don’t have.” Her voice was drenched in sarcasm as she gave him a ‘are you stupid’ look.

“Why not?” Emyr asked and the innocence in his voice threw Liliana off. She stared hard at him for a moment. Trying to figure out if he was being a little shit or if he seriously didn’t understand exactly how unfavored she was.

“I don’t have that kind of money,” she finally answered slowly. Emyr’s face screwed up in confusion.

“Why not just as-oh,” Emyr trailed off quietly as he averted his gaze.

“Yea,” Liliana shrugged, though the reminder stung. For a bit, it had been easy to forget how unloved she was at home. Even with Emyr as a constant thorn in her side during this adventure, she had put the estate to the back of her mind. Forcefully.

“Besides, I want to make an entrance,” Liliana said, tone taking on some excited glee. Her mind ran over the inevitably shocked expressions of her father, her stepmother, Alistair, and the servants. When they were presented with the fact that little Liliana wasn’t so little and weak anymore. No, this kitten had claws now. Liliana laid down on Lelantos’s back and rubbed a hand over his head, prompting a happy chuff from the tiger.

Lelantos had pouted for hours the one time Liliana tried to walk instead of ride him. It had broken her heart so badly that she had sworn to never make the same mistake again. She still had to get off of him during combat. She had no skill with mounted fighting and she wasn’t a fan of falling some seven feet in the middle of a fight. Though her skill with pole-arms meant when she got the [Cavalry] or [Mounted Fighting] skill, she’d have an easier time. As it was, she’d gained a [Riding] skill and had already leveled it to 4 in the past few days.

“Still can’t believe you just… pet him. And ride him,” Emyr said, shooting the tiger as side eye. Lelantos found the human boy’s fear of him endlessly entertaining, and frankly, so did Liliana. Because of their Bond, it meant whenever Liliana tried to reprimand the creature for terrorizing the noble, he knew she didn’t mean it. Which meant he kept doing it.

“Of course I pet him! He’s too cute to not!” Liliana answered, tone suggesting it was obvious. She scratched behind one of Lelantos’s adorable ears, cooing at him.

“Aren’t you just the most handsome, cute Evanesce Tiger there ever was?” Liliana asked her Bond, getting more happy chuffs and a rush of affection from the tiger. He really enjoyed being praised, but what cat didn’t?

“Cute is not a word I’d ever use to describe him,” Emyr muttered, getting a face full of tiger tail for his impertinence.

“It’s fine, seeing a face like yours in the mirror every day would blind me too,” Liliana answered magnanimously.

“Did you just call me ugly?” Emyr asked as he shoved the thick tail out of his face.

“It’s okay, I’m sure you have a great persona-ah. Never-mind, you don’t have much going for you,” Liliana finished with an apologetic shrug and a shit-eating grin.

“I will not stand for this,” Emyr pouted.

“Then sit,” Liliana giggled. Emyr shot her a glare and stepped into the shadow of a tree, vanishing.

“Maybe one day you’ll learn how to properly banter,” Liliana called out to him with a chuckle. She leaned back down to Lelantos with an excited smile.

“Wanna make him raise his Endurance some more?” Liliana asked. She barely had the words out of her mouth before the tiger took off, the scenery passing them by in a blur.

Liliana gripped tightly to his fur as a whoop of joy slipped from her lips. After she’d gotten through the fear, she’d found riding something so overwhelmingly powerful exhilarating. She felt free.

They crossed the miles as the sun slowly set, slowing down periodically both for Lelantos to regenerate his Stamina and for Emyr to catch up. Polaris regularly disappeared to lead the other human to them whenever he fell too far behind.

When the time came to make camp, everyone was tired. Emyr had collapsed face first onto the ground and refused to move. Polaris was sitting by Liliana, tongue lolling out as he panted. Even Lelantos had fallen asleep soon after they’d found the campsite. Liliana grimaced as she rubbed her thighs. Riding was fun, but her legs didn’t agree with the sentiment. She had [Regeneration] running to repair the chaffed skin and sore muscles.

As she reheated some meat from a Horned Hare, Liliana felt an inquiry from Polaris. Pulling the food off the fire, she tossed a chunk at Emyr, who caught it with shadows rather than lifting himself from his position.

Need to learn how to do that with Light. Does he have a [Shadow Manipulation] or [Shadow Construct] skill? Liliana wondered idly as she bit into her own meat, rising to her feet with a pained wince. Polaris wanted them to walk away from the camp. He apparently wanted privacy.

Liliana had a feeling she knew what the little fox wanted, and the heaviness in her heart made the meat taste like ashes on her tongue.

When they were out of sight of the camp, Polaris stopped and turned to her, his vulpine face uncharacteristically serious. His intent carried over their Bond and tears flowed freely down Liliana’s face.

“Can’t it wait a little longer? Do you really have to?” She asked, choking on the words even as she pushed them past the lump in her throat. A sad refusal carried over their Bond, even as Polaris shook his head. Liliana dropped to the ground before him, knees hitting the dirt roughly. The pain was nothing compared to the way her heart was shattering in her chest.

“But… I need you still,” Liliana tried to bargain, her voice hoarse as more tears filled her eyes. She could barely see the little fox in the dark of the night. A warm tongue lapped at her face, licking away some of her tears, and a quiet yip filled the air. It was a hard concept for Polaris to communicate but Liliana got the feeling he was saying that she had Lelantos now, and she didn’t need him any longer.

“I don’t want to say goodbye,” Liliana whispered. The truth of the matter finally coming out. She didn’t want to say goodbye to someone else she loved.

A feeling filled her, the strongest she’d ever gotten from Polaris. It hung between them for a long moment until suddenly their Bond was severed. A feeling like her heart being ripped to shreds filled her, stealing the air from her lungs. Yet that feeling remained, and even if it felt like she was bleeding from a wounded heart, it also felt like it was healing. Ever so slightly. A last affectionate lick, one more bright yip, and then Polaris was gone. Disappeared into the forest like a ghost. Liliana rubbed her eyes as the last feeling, last words, between them imprinted upon her mind.

‘This isn’t goodbye, it’s simply see you later,’