"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 ringalmost 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 30no, Level 35today 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.

Alica was almost done with the current book in her handsa literature text regarding the common practices of the people of H'Trae which had now been outlawed.

She had read this particular book before, but that was so long agoback when she just started frequenting the Library.

A lot had happened since then, and so she wanted to revisit the literature and see if she could have a new, more informed, grasp on what she had read before.

So far, she had encountered a bunch of mundane thingslike the outlawing of eating certain foods out in the opening.

This was done to ensure proper sanitation of the streets and to prevent dirtying the roads.

However, this rule only applied to high-brow areas like the Capital. Places such as the Adventurer City were exempt from this regulation.

A couple of financial limitations and transactional oversights were also mentioned in the book.

These concepts might have been too complicated for Alicia to grasp in the past, but she understood a lot more now.

In a way, she found this whole thing funny.

Why was she learning so much about a world that she intended on leaving very soon?

'Maybe when I get back, I should write a novel about all of this' As she chuckled, a dark thought suddenly appeared in her mind.

'Rey doesn't want to go back haa'

That thought was enough to cause her bright smile to diminish.

Before she could dwell on it too much, though, she quickly brought her attention back to the book.

While there were a lot of mundane, inconsequential regulations recently placed on previously accepted practices, there were still a few that were big deals.

One of them was slavery.

'It's hard to believe that the Kingdoms used to practice slavery up till even a decade back'

The catalyst for stopping the slave trade was the rising conflict beteeen the Humans and other Races, as well as the most important one yet.

The rise of the Dragons!

'Once the Dragons invaded, and the Human Kingdoms began to band together, a lot of reforms were made'

One of them was the abolition of the slave trade.

According to the book, there were still some who engaged in the slave tradeboth buying and selling.

However, they were considered among the highest kinds of criminals in the United Human Alliance.

They usually operated in secretdeep in the inner recesses of the Black Market.

'This is just awful selling humans as a commodity'

It seemed no matter the world, the stain of slavery remained in their history.

Thankfully, it wasn't legal anymore.

'If it was, I'd have some issues with this place.' As Alicia had these thoughts, she noticed someone enter the Library.

It was a familiar presence she could spot from a mile away, and seeing him made her smile return almost instantly.

'R-Rey?!'

Yes, the boy she had been thinking of for so long now entered the Library and instantly spotted her.

'What's he doing here so early?'

Rey usually came to the Library in the night. She still didn't know what he did in his spare time, and while she had been meaning to ask him about it, Alicia didn't think it was the right time.

"Hi." Rey said with a smile as he approached her.

'Hmm. Strange'

Whenever Rey got close to her, she usually had one single thought

'He smells nice!'

However, this time was different.

It wasn't like he smelled or anythingat least, Alicia didn't want to think he didbut he just didn't have the same ambiance.

"Hi." She responded with a smile regardless.

"Want to hang out? I was thinking we should go to the Town together."

Alicia raised her brow in even more surprise.

Usually, Rey would want to hang out with her in the library. He was often very interested in reading as much as he could, and he even sought her consultation on some books to read.

Alicia had even been thinking of introducing him to the current book she was reading once she was done.

So, this was strange

"I-I have a surprise for you. Haha"

Once Alicia heard that, she couldn't help but smile to herself.

"Another surprise, huh?"

"H-huh? I mean, yeah! Haha!"

Alicia couldn't help but giggle at Rey's awkwardness

She thought he had already gotten over his nervousness around her, and she still remembered how incredibly confident he had been the other day.

The timid version of Rey had his charms, but she liked it better when he became more assertive

It showed he was comfortable around her.

"Alright then." Alicia closed her book and rose to her feet.

"Wouldn't want to keep the surprise waiting!"

"Yeah! I know, right?"

Rey's fidgety attitude made her feel like this 'surprise' of his was a big deal, which was why she abandoned her book.

She was a bit curious to see what he had in store for her.

'Could it be a confession?!'

Alicia didn't think she was ready for something like that yet.

She liked her current vibe with Rey and didn't want him to ruin it.

'I shouldn't assume. Let's just see where this goes'

With that in mind, Alicia left her book on the library table.

'I'll continue reading it when I get back.'

That was what she thought.

*

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Thanks for reading!

I wonder why Rey came back early. He's meant to be grinding hard, isn't he?

What do you think?