The Author's POV

Elven tear.

Some might call it a miracle drug. The item was something that the elves were highly famous for. It could practically heal all diseases regardless of their seriousness.

It could even bring back someone from the brink of death. That was how effective the elven tears were.

But of course, just like the name suggested, it could only be created by the elves, and even then, it wasn't like they could easily make them.

In fact, it was quite hard for them to make. Perhaps in the past, back when they still had the world tree at their disposal, creating miraculous elixirs like the elven tears might have been easy. But that was then, and this was now.

Times had changed, and each elven tear was incredibly valuable.

So valuable that it had created great havoc in the human domain once upon a time when someone managed to get their hands on one elven tear and decided to sell it.

At that time, it was sold to an anonymous bidder for a tremendous price of 2 billion U.

"I need it."

Sitting on his bed, Hein leaned forward and rested both of his arms on his legs.

'I need to get that elixir at all cost.'

A determined looked flashed across his handsome face as his fists clenched tightly.

Remembering the troubles his father had gone through while he was injured while trying to provide for both him and his siblings, an inexplicable feeling arose within Hein, prompting him to clench his fists even more tightly.

"According to what Ren said, the top ten winners will have the possibility of requesting any reward."

The prize didn't necessarily have to be the elven tears. There were many other items that were more valuable than the tears up for grabs for the winners, but for Hein, the tears were priceless.

He couldn't care less for the other prizes.

'Can I do it?'

Worry flashed across his eyes as he thought about the upcoming tournament.

He knew his limits, and he knew that he wasn't strong enough to be first. If Ren participated, he may as well kiss the chances of getting first place goodbye.

But tenth?

'I have to do it.'

After all the training that he had done in Henlour, Hein had confidence in his abilities. He no longer thought that the others were as scary as he once thought.

"Hm?"

Blinking a couple of times, Hein suddenly turned his head towards the right side of the room.

"Oh no."

Standing up from his bed, he rushed towards a particular wooden desk where a shield rested on top. A small black smudge appeared by the side of the shield.

"How did you get dirty again?"

Taking out a handkerchief from his dimensional space, Hein wiped the small smudge that was on top of his shield.

This clean freak attitude was something that he had developed back in Henlour when he was scolded by Malvil for not being careful enough with his shield.

'If I ever see a smudge on that shield, I will not give you a shield! Treat it as if it's your most prized possession! It's fine if it breaks from fighting a lot, but if you show me just how much you don't care about your shield, why should you bother asking to have one made for you?'

Those words deeply resonated with Hein, who understood the intent behind Malvil's words.

As such, from that point on, Hein literally did as Malvil said and treated his shield as though it was his baby.

And just like now, whenever the shield got dirty, Hein would immediately stop whatever he was doing and clean the shield.

His behavior annoyed Ava quite a bit as she would look at him the same way Angelica would look at Ren.

Hein just couldn't

another one over

head to the side, Hein wiped

***

"Are you okay?"

I'm not. I called my own dad

to her the possibility

That could also not be

"What do you mean?"

to raise

came from. But,

"…Okay."

head, Emma thought of something before mumbling

"I don't understand."

Emma from the opposite side, Kevin

If that was her father, why didn't he greet her

an idea as to why, but it wasn't like he could share it with

just increase her

staring at the

be here. Emma

group, he must be aware of the fact that everyone

he had not revealed himself yet, it meant that he was planning something. As such, after thinking for a bit, Kevin decided

If the opportunity presented itself, he was definitely

wonder just how much stronger you've become ever since the last

those lines, Kevin's lips curled

are you thinking

had recovered

eyes, Kevin shook his

"Nothing to worry about."

face, he extended his hand in

you say

his head and checking his

got a couple of hours before

a

grabbing Kevin's,

***

to calm Waylan down, but once we managed to get back

a beautiful green garden that overlooked the entirety of the city from above, I took a deep breath of the

'This is nice.'

the air was stuffy, the air here was incredibly fresh.

a couple of your friends. Why didn't you

was Waylan who also gazed into the distance

didn't need to hold back from

Waylan

holding yourself back from

"I'm not."

the mask off of it,

don't want to meet them, it's that I

"Couldn't?"

"Mhm."

go meet them.

just

Aaron.

in

had originally expected to see myself going crazy

could be said

course, if there was one thing I was sure about, it was the fact that the anger inside of my heart

at the same time, the feelings of

some sort of scheme to try to kill me again or become wary of

happened, doing anything to

couldn't allow that to