Everyone Else Has a System

Everyone shared their own part of their story and how they wanted to send me back or whatnot with their reasons of their own, but in the end they apologised for that too.

One thing which was common among all of them was their promise that if I ever needed their help, they would be there for me. They kind of repeated this promise over and over and it was a pain in the ass to explain to them that \'yes, I am going to use them whenever I want.\'

I then met Bernette as well, who looked like a fairy after her health took a better turn. I smiled at her as I sighed thankfully before thinking,

\'That\'s another person I saved.\'

Looking at her all smiling, I guess it was worth saving her. I couldn\'t help but recall the files and videos of the Bernette who died in the last timeline. It was an odd feeling that slowly passed away, leaving only happiness in its moving.

"Thank you Zero. I guess I will be meeting you at the Arcadia Academy. If it is not too secretive, can I know which name you would be using in the Academy? Or is that… a secret as well?" Bernette spoke with a slight hopeful yet sad gaze and I pondered over her words.

\'I, sure, will be using another Identity. Hmmm.. but keeping it a secret would be near impossible if someone really wanted to dig into it,\' I thought before speaking,

"I will meet you at the Academy after the admission procedures are over. I still have to look after Irene and Reeve as well."

In my words, everyone turned at Irene and then at Reeve. They both, too, turned at each other with a slight shock before sparks began flowing into them.

"Well then, I guess I should be leaving for the Academy as soon as possible too. It is only a week since the Entrance test. Irene, when is your test?" I asked and Irene turned at me suddenly with a slight stupor before speaking.

"Uh! That… I will be there by next week. My exams are in 10 days."

I pondered a little and nodded at her. With that much time, I think she should be fine with the examination. I then turned to Reeve.

"You should come with her. I will be leaving on my own," I spoke before turning at William,"about our dea-"

"It is fine. I think I have gained more information than what I have come here for. If you want to fulfil your end of the deal, then do me a favour and keep in touch. Along with that, try looking after \'him\' every once in a while. I don\'t think \'he\' will be needing anyone\'s help, but when you are addicted, I don\'t know what might happen at the Academy. So… I guess you understand what I am trying to say, right?"

I nodded as I recalled \'him\'. Well, I really don\'t think \'he\' will be needing my help, but I guess I can help him out if anything goes from worse to worse. My eyes then turn at the Oliver for a few seconds before I ask,

"What are you going to do?"

Oliver looked at me with a pondering look as he spoke,"I will be going to meet an old friend, before I come to the Academy. That should take about 5 to 6 months before I arrive at your place."

\'I guess by that time I should get strong enough to handle Oliver, in case anything goes wrong, so it is fine,\' thinking that I nodded before moving off the bed.

"Willam. Take the others with you. Our deal is over here and I will follow what you asked for. I will contact you by the end of tomorrow," I spoke before moving towards Freya Leeway and stood in front of her.

"Let\'s go," I said and she, a bit taken aback, asked,"Right now?"

"Yeah. I want to finish all my business here as fast as possible," I spoke, and she nodded before sighing and speaking,"all right. Follow me."

The reason I was rushing was simple: I did not have anything else to do. Talking with the Leeways was already done, Bernette was already saved, Eliza too, as for the others like Irene and Reeve, their main training was going to occur when they would be in the Academy.

I don\'t exactly need to meet Elize and Cristine, cause from what I have collected, they, along with that b*tch Lucia, will be coming to that Academy as well.

\'She is planning something once again, isn\'t she?\' It made my blood boil, but I kept my calm. I want to see what she is trying to do, and what she is trying to achieve. I will break each and every move of her\'s in the most vicious way possible. I will make her realise that messing with my life is the last thing she should be doing, and staying away from me is the only way she could be happy.

It was another addition to the number of things I planned to do in the Academy, but it was going to be worth more than anything.

I then moved behind Freya as the rest of the family followed me as well, and before I knew it, we reached the basement entrance. I turned around and looked at them before speaking,

"This is something that I would like you guys to not…"

And before I knew it, everyone left before letting me complete my sentence.

\'Well, that was helpful,\' I thought, a bit amazed by their fast response.

I then turned around to look at the basement gate, which looked… quite normal. I expected it to give off some ominous feeling or something, but it was simply plain.

I turned to look at Freya, who kept her eyes narrowed at the gate before gulping and opening the gate with a sudden thrust.

And…

It was empty. It wasn\'t a basement, but a room. A small room that looked more like a storeroom which is used for, obviously, storing different things.

"What?!" Freya was stupefied, though. She moved into the small room and looked around and I too entered it, only to find an empty room with no windows or objects placed around. All there was, was dust on the walls and the door from where we entered.

\'Looks like the basement got erased as well. Hmmm… I guess, the sole purpose for the key was to open the gate to Avalon, but since the gate itself vanished, so did the purpose of the key. If I am correct, it was a dungeon created by the gate here that sent monsters around the area. The deeper you go, the more dangerous the monsters,\' I thought as I recalled back the information I had on here.

"I… do you know what happened here?" Freya turned to me with a questioning gaze and I just shook my head before asking,"you have to explain to me what is going on before I can tell you anything at all."

She looks deep into my eyes before closing her\'s and then sighing before speaking,"maybe it was related to that parasite, probably. Hmmmm… well, looks like my work needs to go another direction for now," and then looking at me as she speaks,

"I guess I should explain to you what is going on here… actually…"

Then she proceeded to explain about the basement and how she captured a few monsters for the experiment, though there was no result. She explained to me about her adventures in the basement and her findings about this place, before finally reaching the part on how the basement doesn\'t exist anymore, of which she had no idea of.

"Sounds like a dungeon to me, honestly," I said, gaining her attention in an instant.

I explained to her about the basics of a dungeon like, how monsters are formed and how there is always a purpose, and once that purpose is fulfilled, the dungeon vanishes. I also told her about the illusionary monsters and their real purpose, that is the spirit stones, hearing of which her expression turns dumbfounded as she immediately grabs my hand and takes me somewhere… probably her room.

Inside her room she shows all the spirit stones she had collected over the years and looks at the number of spirit stones, which looked to be more than 10,000. I couldn\'t help but rub my eyes to take a look at them once again.

\'Is this for real?\' I questioned before turning at Freya in order to explain about the goldmine on which she was sitting.