An Extra’s POV

"Huu…"

Once Rey was done collecting all the Monster Cores, he heaved a heavy sigh.

As misty breaths escaped his lips and nostrils, he could clearly see the gateway to the next Floor.

The doorway existed at the furthest end of the ring—almost as if it was being guarded by the Boss Rey had just defeated.

That was his next destination.

"I Leveled Up three times just now…" Rey mumbled, realizing just how much EXP he must have received from the Boss and his minions.

With every Level Up, it got increasingly difficult to do so again.

Considering the fact that Rey had Leveled Up a total of five times before reaching the Boss Room by killing hundreds upon hundreds of BigFoot Monsters, it was surprising that he was able to Level Up three times just from a hundred others and a Boss.

'The BigFoot Monsters here were holding weapons, so they're probably stronger than the ones I faced outside…' Was Rey's line of reasoning.

The Boss had to also be quite strong.

With those thoughts in mind, Rey was happy he didn't dawdle at all.

'I still have about two hours left. I can still challenge the next Floor, right?'

Rey knew he was pushing it, but he liked his current streak.

He didn't want to ruin the momentum.

'If I can reach Level 30—no, Level 35—today… I'll be satisfied!'

He stared at the black gate that led to the next Floor. It wasn't covered in frost or anything, which surprised Rey.

That had to mean that the gate had special properties, or… the Floor that it led to was extremely hot.

Rey braced himself more for the second possibility.

"I'll have to speedrun this one…" He whispered, more white clouds of cold air escaping his lungs.

Time wasn't on his side.

*******

Alicia silently read her book in the library, flipping through the pages with a small smile on her face.

She wasn't smiling due to what she was reading, but because of something else.

… Someone else.

'In a few more hours, Rey will come here.' She didn't want to explicitly admit to herself why she was happy about this prospect.

But she was.

her hands—a literature text regarding the common practices of the people of H'Trae which

book before, but that was so long ago—back when she just started

she wanted to revisit the literature and see if she could have a new, more informed, grasp on what

a bunch of mundane things—like the outlawing of eating certain foods

done to ensure proper sanitation of the streets and to prevent dirtying

applied to high-brow areas like the Capital. Places such as the Adventurer

financial limitations and transactional

grasp in

found

a world that she intended on leaving very

write a novel about all of this…' As she chuckled, a

want to go back…

to cause her bright smile to

she could dwell on it too much, though, she quickly brought her attention back

lot of mundane, inconsequential regulations recently placed on previously accepted practices, there were still a

of them

to practice

for stopping the slave trade was the rising conflict beteeen the Humans and other Races,

rise of the

and the Human Kingdoms began to band together, a lot of reforms

was the

there were still some who engaged in the slave

kinds of criminals in the United

secret—deep in the inner

selling

no matter the world, the stain of slavery remained in their

wasn't

place.' As Alicia had these thoughts,

familiar presence she could spot from a mile away, and seeing him made her

'R-Rey?!'

had been thinking of for so long now entered

doing here

night. She still didn't know what he did in his spare time, and while she had

with a smile

'Hmm. Strange…'

got close to her, she usually had

'He smells nice!'

this time

wasn't like he smelled or anything—at least, Alicia didn't want to think he did—but

She responded with a

was thinking

her brow in

want to hang out with her in the library. He was often very interested in reading as much as

thinking of introducing him to the current book she was