Just a few minutes remain until the black wolf returns home. Biscuit's token only afforded them 12 hours, rather than the 24 granted by mine. However, in that time we did manage to get some information out of him and he got to continue his training with Biscuit. Somehow.

It’s still an interesting sight to see a burrito-shaped corgi floating in front of a giant wolf who quietly listens and nods along. I bet if he could, he would be taking notes. He has that much reverence for Biscuit.

The black wolf was about to die, then he was saved by the system and summoned to be Biscuit's disciple. Right away, he understood the majesty of the jerky addict Biscuit and his control over the primordial energy that they share. Even though his level is higher, just knowing that he was willing to learn from Biscuit and even revered him as his master shows quite a bit about his personality.

At the start of his visit, he complained and growled at us a lot, but towards the end, he closed his eyes as Vega and the other members of Group 4, gathered to pet him.

Obviously, he still complained about the wound to his dignity, but it’s not like it changed anything.

There are even a few dozen photos in Izzy’s smartphone gallery, mixed in with pictures of Vega and our group. The smartphone is being kept charged by solar panels running campsite chargers. That smartphone is now on the table nearby, playing cheerful J-pop. Tess’s favorite.

It took a while for Vega to get used to our style of sorcery, but now I notice her humming along with the phone when she thinks no one’s watching.

While others wait in the clearing, I’m sitting off to the side, moving mana inside of my body. Compressing and decompressing it, testing the limits of my body when it comes to using black mana to power my skills. It’s something I’ve been doing almost constantly here in the common area.

I’m sure I would make better progress training outside, with real danger, even so, it helps to know my limits.

How much black mana can I use to strengthen my body and how much will kill me? How long can I keep it under control? If I generate too much too quickly, how much abuse can my body take? What passive is helping the most when it comes to handling it and what happens when I turn off this or that passive? Can my epic healing passive keep up with black mana damaging my body? If so, to what point?

And there are always more questions. Testing my eyes, my strengthened mana circuit.

[Redistribution - lvl 47 > Redistribution - lvl 48]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 44 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 45]

[Mana Domain - lvl 37 > Mana Domain - lvl 38]

[Mana Crown - lvl 21 > Mana Crown - lvl 22]

The process of leveling my skills has been going pretty well, and from what I've seen, I’m not the only one from Hell difficulty taking the opportunity to train, I’m not even the only person in Group 4.

Then there are those from Hard difficulty who seem like they want to move up to Hell. There aren’t many of them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they use it after the tournament. Samuel is not one of these people, preferring to stay with his group and grow stronger as a unit.

Everyone is also using this opportunity to plan, and it might have been part of the intent behind the tournament. even the system told us to take the opportunity to speak with the other attendees, the First Generation of Earth.

The black wolf stands up and looks down at Vega, tapping on his front paw.

(Master is smart indeed, assholes, all of you,) he seemingly can’t help but say.

But that’s when Biscuit returns from the house, two purple tentacles holding a small bag which he places in front of the young black wolf after wobbling over on his short legs.

(Food.)

The curious black wolf creates two shadowy tendrils of his own and opens the bag. Inside, there are dozens of pieces of deer jerky. The ones I used to bribe Biscuit into letting me challenge the black wolf, and even more from the ones the corgi was saving up.

With his pink tongue lolling from his mouth, Biscuit's expression has all the charm of a cheeky smile.

(Master… I can’t,) the wolf sounds moved.

(Food!) The corgi’s tentacles move and slide the bag close to the wolf. his voice is firm.

In response, the black wolf lowers his head, dozens of times bigger than Biscuit. Biscuit floats into the air, lifts his front right paw, and boops his disciple’s nose.

(Thank you, master.)

Only a few seconds remain.

“I will see you soon, Wolfy! Next time, I will be stronger and I’ll make you my minion just like your master is a minion to my master!” Vega is smiling as she says so. “So get stronger so that I don’t have to be ashamed of you!”

(Crazed half demon,) the wolf snorts.

“Thank you for all the help and for enduring it all. It was nice meeting you.” Tess says, giving a small bow which the black wolf returns.

“Take care, wolfy!” Lily shouts.

“I hope you get even bigger! As big as a city!”

“But don’t forget us! I’m going to brag about meeting you .” The twins shout, seizing the opportunity to toss in their two cents, as does the rest of the group.

Just before the wolf disappears through a door we can’t see, his golden eyes find me sitting on the roof of our house.

(Asshole human, take care of my master. He is too nice for his own good as are some of the human members of your pack. You and I both know that mere strength is insufficient, sometimes you need to make hard decisions and be cruel.)

I nod.

(I saw that cruelty in you and it will help you. But, human, get stronger. Get someone to declare you a Champion candidate and find yourself a good master. You are powerful and prideful, I agree, but don’t be too stubborn to receive guidance from those you deem worthy. Like I did.)

“I’ll think about it,” I whisper.

Afterward, he turns away and takes one last gentle look at Biscuit and nudges him carefully with his giant nose.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Then the wolf disappears, returning to his world.

Isabella and Vega are watching as I craft an item. It’s just a simple dagger with the simplest of inscriptions.

I even let them try it on their own while I offer them advice.

The results are terrible, but Isabella keeps jumping up excitedly when she does something correctly.

Vega gradually changes her bearing and manages a few genuine smiles. At least they feel more honest than before, even given the presence of another.

I watch as Vega attacks Tacita again, the mute girl appearing out of nowhere for another round of teasing my disciple.

Once again, Tacita takes a harsh stance, shaking her head every time Vega takes too long to complete a task.

Vega spends the next two hours being mentored by Tacita, who seems to have taken a liking to the daring girl and for some reason seems to be fascinated by her horns.

Each time Tacita touches her horns Vega attacks her all over again, growing more aggressive with each prod.

After some time, Tacita grows bored with the exercise and leaves after touching Vega’s horns one last time.

In the living room, the twins and Min-Jae sit opposite Vega, taking a short break for some food.

When Min-Jae slides some sweets he hid toward her, Vega takes them shamelessly and quickly eats them as if she was worried he was going to take them

The young boy watches with a smile as she stuffs her cheeks while the twins make fun of her.

“You should thank him. Min-Jae was saving these sweets for himself,” I tell her.

“Master almost never thanks anyone!”

The twins stop laughing when I look at them, and Min-Jae hides his smile.

As a reward, Vega gets an extremely sour candy from me.

I watch her face scrunch and her eyes squint. I’m sure she knows why it's happening, yet the little half-demon refuses to give up even on very sour food and still eats the candy.

“Can I take him with me?” Vega asks while holding Noodle, her hand moving across his scales, savoring the sensation.

“Noodle is mine!” Isabella shouts, indignant.

“You said you wanted to be friends? Aren’t friends supposed to give each other gifts?” Vega asks innocently, but I can see her red eyes shine and the corner of her lips lift.

Even Isabella must feel her emotions.

“You… you!”

“I think you lied then.” Vega hugs Noodle and continues to pet him.

The white snake with emerald eyes just looks at me almost as if he blames me for his current situation.

Sorry, bud.

“You feel strong, you just need a better heart,” my minion says seriously.

“I already have a plan in place to make that happen. Nat, and I are going to work on some modifications. I experimented with the remains of a Fallen Hero’s heart and learned more from a Champion’s body, and Nat’s heart,” Lily declares with cheer.

“Tess, Nat is continuing to ruin poor Lily,” Maya shouts in the direction of the living room loud enough to be heard from the kitchen, where we’ve set up shop.

“Lily’s already a lost cause,” Tess shouts back.

“You are probably the smartest of master’s underlings! The gray smoke you showed me felt really strong. I’m sure it’s a skill some powerful demon created long ago. If you get a powerful heart, you will be strong!”

“I’m already pretty strong.”

“But your heart is weak,” Vega says, confused.

(Nat, can you come here for a moment?) Tess sends through the link.

(Sure.)

Leaving Lily and the minion to argue, I head to the living room and then follow Tess outside, onto the terrace.

I strengthen the field around us that makes it impossible for others to listen, and both of us disconnect from the web.

“The murderer from Easy difficulty is gone,” she says seriously.

I quickly check the anchor I placed on him, and find the connection severed.

Right after, I check our surroundings and Vega, but I sense nothing. I repeat it a few times to the point that not even Tacita would be able to escape my senses, but there is nothing.

“He’s not here,” Tess shakes her head, “he left the tournament.”

“I thought it wasn’t possible to leave the tournament.”

“Yes, we thought the same thing. We even paid someone from Easy to try to leave as the tournament started and he couldn’t. But you should check the Community numbers, Nat.”

Something in her tone makes me do just that.

Easy difficulty: 1319/2000Normal difficulty: 862/1000Hard difficulty: 241/500Hell difficulty: 39/250Beyond: 7/10

Oh. That’s interesting. Easy difficulty has one less attendee and Hell difficulty’s gained one.

“It’s possible that he got a reward from the tournament before he left, he did pretty well during previous events. Maybe it allowed him to enter Hell difficulty even though it was only possible to jump on a level higher or lower before.”

“Or he had help from our nosy friend. It sounds like something the Intent would do.”

“Yeah. That’s an option.” She says, nodding solemnly. “We wasted our opportunity to get rid of that man.”

“That’s not like you to be worried over some weak guy.”

“I know, but you could say that I’ve grown paranoid. If the Intent that’s been messing with this tutorial was willing to risk angering the Ruler of Greed and did that, he must have had something in mind. And I don’t think it was anything good for us.”

“Don’t expect it to get any better,” I say.

“What do you mean?”

“The Intent is here because of the guy who started in Beyond. The Intent is probably a fragment of a Ruler, and the Rulers have a bit of sway over the tutorial even though it seems like Ruler of Greed has primary control of our if not all tutorials. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the other Rulers come crawling out of the woodwork to watch the guy and mess with us in the process.”

Tess sighs, “That’s just great.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it. We will deal with it when we come to it. Just make sure the others are training as hard as possible when they’re in the common area. If we can get stronger, we will have more leeway.”

“They’re already doing so much, Nat. Sophie weakened some of their memories so they can continue to train and die. I know, I know. Don’t look at me like that. Not everyone can handle dying here as well as you do. But we will be ready when the 6th Floor comes. But I need to ask you once again to keep your distance so they can face real danger and improve on their own.”

“Sounds good. Gather the others so they can say goodbye to Vega and I’ll take her to Miwa and Channeler. After that, Vega is going to leave”

I’ve only got a few more hours with my minion, and after that, it’s two more days of the tournament. Then it's back to the Astral Prison.