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.

book in her hands—a literature text regarding the common practices

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

see if she could have a new, more informed, grasp

encountered a bunch of mundane things—like

proper sanitation of the streets and to prevent dirtying the

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

of financial limitations and transactional

have been too complicated for Alicia to grasp in the past, but she understood a

she found this whole

learning so much about a world that she intended on leaving very

novel about all of this…' As she chuckled, a dark thought suddenly appeared in her

doesn't want to go back…

to cause

though, she quickly brought her attention

mundane, inconsequential regulations recently placed on previously accepted practices,

of them

to practice slavery

conflict beteeen the Humans and other Races,

rise of the

the Human Kingdoms began to band

was the abolition of the

book, there were still some who engaged in the slave trade—both buying

kinds of criminals in the United

operated in secret—deep in the inner recesses of the Black

just awful… selling humans

matter the world, the stain of slavery remained

it wasn't legal

with this place.' As Alicia had

could spot from a mile away, and seeing him

'R-Rey?!'

of for so long now entered the Library and instantly

he doing

in his spare time, and while she had been meaning

Rey said with a

'Hmm. Strange…'

to her, she usually had one

'He smells nice!'

time

least, Alicia didn't want to think he did—but he just didn't have the same

with a smile

out? I was thinking we

brow

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

of introducing him to the current book she was