Arkengrad suddenly roared with fury when she saw Macepaw appear. Chaos was inevitable as the tempest paladin lunged forward to obliterate Macepaw. The four of them tried their best to stop Arkengrad. Manna almost used her custom ability that she used on Lyra before on Arkengrad. However, due to Macepaw’s thick [Smokesteam], her ability missed.

They finally managed to get away from Arkengrad due to Nubram’s portal. To avoid further danger, they swiftly logged out from the game.

By Friday night, most of them reached level 53 while Tier reached 56 and Manna was 55. Therefore Manna suggested for them to move to Clar Continent, where human civilization flourished. It was also coincidental with the ceasefire between human and undead.

Right when they reached Ishunda, the human capital, Tier asked his friends to go first because he needed to log out to puke a bit because of his sailing-induced nausea. He then drank some sweet tea before logging back in. The process was not really smooth since the pets took their chance to disturb him.

As he returned to Zurefgar, there was an unexpected reception awaiting him.

“Welcome back, distressed deskmate,” Manna greeted with her even flat and bored tone.

She was sitting on the edge of a big water fountain - decorated with the statue of an armoured knight holding a pitcher of water - right in the middle of Ishunda. The girl was swaying her head and feet sideways as if she was listening to a calming nostalgic music in her head.

Tier panicked at the sight of the girl. He quickly asked, “D-didn’t I tell you to just go with the others? H-how long have you been waiting?”

“Perhaps around seven to ten minutes,” Manna answered lightly, still swaying her head.

“That’s almost two hours!”

“Hey, hey, calm down, I logged out to get some drinks and check on Dia-nee, to see if she has already come back home. I took the liberty of getting the missions first as well. The others also wanted to wait, but I told them to go first.”

Heat rose up on Tier’s face. His heart raced at the thought of Manna purposely waiting for him despite the fact that she needed to level up quicker.

“T-thank you, Mana.”

“You are most welcome, deskmate.”

Soon after, Tier and Manna split for a while because Tier had to get some quests first. He tried to move as swiftly as possible to reduce Manna’s waiting time. It was also during this time that Tier got a bit of time to take a better look at the city. He couldn’t do that before because he was nauseous.

Tier thought that Ishunda was modelled similar to European cities during late mediaeval or Renaissance era. The roofs of the buildings are tiled and buildings were made from a combination of stone and wood. Most NPCs in this place were from the human and elven race. There were only a few dwarves hanging around and there were no orcs, nor undeads inside the city.

There was a beautiful castle built on the northern part of the city, right on the edge of a lake. The port was located on the eastern part of the city, while the fountain where Manna waited for Tier was located right in the middle.

When Tier was taking quests, he passed Manna’s location several times. He saw several male players having conversations with her, probably trying to get to know her by offering to help her level up. Tier wondered if those guys realised the girl they were trying to help was actually far stronger and renowned than they might initially thought.

After he was done, Tier and Manna rode together outside Ishunda through the southern gate and drawbridge. The whole city was defended by walls and ditches connected to the lake on the northern part of the city.

Just outside the ditches, there were many farmlands where both NPC and players perform farm related activities. If Tier was not mistaken, some professions like herbology got some incentive by doing those farm works.

Tier stopped a while to talk with a hunter class trainer who was relaxing on a camp just outside the farmlands to check if there are new basic abilities he could learn. There were none yet, however he spent a bit of time checking on the list of upcoming abilities and his attention got caught by a weird level 80 ability named [Bowbreaker] for bow users that can only be learned from dwarven, orcish, or rakhs hunter trainer.

The ability deals massive damage but severely reduces the durability of the weapon being used and even risks it being broken. That seemed like a last resort ability with a very limited usage. There is also a gun version of the ability named [Hot Barrel] which enables the hunter to shoot rapidly while severely damaging their rifles.

“I have never seen anyone use [Bowbreaker], but I have witnessed some people that used [Hot Barrel],” Manna told Tier as they continued their journey. “Yes, I at least saw Joker use it twice during a pinch.”

“Makes sense.” Tier nodded. “[Bowbreaker] has a chance to break your bow on top of durability reduction while the other one only had the durability reduction. It’s definitely too risky.”

Manna smiled a bit as her eyes gazed at Tier. “Yet, I have a feeling that a certain someone might find a use for it.”

“Yes,” Tier agreed. “Among tens of thousands people playing here, definitely one or two found a way to use it,” he continued as he started to get lost in his mind thinking about a way to use the ability.

The further they rode southwards, the fir trees were getting thicker. Unlike the Grand continent that felt massive and spacious, the Clar continent felt more packed and crowded. The woods and geographic contour felt very different. Fields and plains could only be found near Ishunda while dense fir woods and small hills were more common elsewhere.

Tier and Manna stopped in an area named Arika Hills. They defeated some targets before talking to NPCs around the area as part of the chain mission they took from Ishunda. Then, they climbed up the hills.

At first, the levelling process went smoothly. There were enough opponents to be defeated, but not too hard to handle. They met the quest messenger once in a while to submit their quest.

During their hunt on a pack of bandits, Manna suddenly spoke, “Diligent deskmate, if I may ask…”

“Y-yup, anything?”

Manna didn’t answer right away. She skillfully used her pollaxe to trip a bandit before landing a finishing blow. A definite sign that she’s getting much better with the weapon.

As Manna took loot from the body of the bandit, she asked, “I… have heard this a couple of times… you said that you do not want to be in Clashing Realms. Are you sure?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Why? I fail to fathom why you do not want to play with the others there,” she asked again.

“Uh.. w-well.”

Tier couldn’t answer much. He knew deep down he wanted to break away from the bindings of his past, but he was still haunted by his feelings and experience from that time. For now, the most logical way that he thought could help him break away from those bindings was to help his friends achieve their goals.

He assured himself time and time again that it would be enough.

Manna tilted her head, clearly confused though she still appeared to be rather bored. She pressed on, “Playing with everyone will be fun, will it not? You know, fighting together, shoulder to shoulder.”

“Definitely…”

Tier admitted under his breath, silent enough for Manna not to hear him. Of course he couldn’t deny the truth of Manna’s words. To fight together, to try new challenges, and to once more stand up to fight to the fullest.

But, won’t those things even matter in the end?

Bitterness spread slowly from within his heart as he asked himself regarding the reason why he was still feeling so afraid. And Tier remembered about his own sins. His past mistakes in an attempt to get his revenge had ruined his name. His identity was spread and got others around him into trouble.

If he gets involved in Clashing Realms, sooner or later people will find out about him. And that would make his friends suffer the unwanted consequences. Arkengrad’s story made him feel that those things were definitely more likely to happen than not.

Tier felt a tingling sensation that made his hair stand on end. It was not because of his clashing feelings, but something physically changed in the air. As if there was static electricity being built up.

Also, his ears heard faint heavy steps walking towards Manna and him. There was another light but dragged steps and… a flying creature. Was that a companion beast? Or a Svannire?

Then his instinct roared of an incoming danger.

“Watch out!”

Tier pushed Manna to the side. A split second later, lightning struck right at the position where Tier and Manna were standing. Manna was saved, but Tier suffered a bit of damage due to the shockwave of the lightning bolt. Yet, his eyes were blinded and his eardrums were buzzing wildly.

When he started to be able to see, there were two people walking towards them from uphill. A female orc and a male undead.

It was Lyra and Slicer again.