Early morning.
Gold Star City.
Inside a room at a certain inn.
Chen Rui rose to his feet and slowly opened the door. Ever since returning from the Nightmare Plain, he had kept himself shut inside his room.
The journey to the Emerald Forest had actually yielded tremendous gains. Both his equipment crafting and potion-making had advanced to grandmaster level; he should have been brimming with high spirits. Yet his heart was exceptionally heavy.
The Nightmare Plain had become a nightmare in the truest sense. To save Blanche, he had fought his way from the Mammoth Tribe all the way to the strongest Thunderstorm Tribe, battling the three Behemoth Beast Kings before moving on to Doom Swamp. Within the Whispering Stone Palace, he had nearly been slain by a terrifying God-bestowed weapon. Yet after enduring all those bitter battles and reaching the blood cavern of Nightmare Volcano, he had still arrived one step too late. All he could find was a pair of glasses—the half-elf girl's keepsake.
Because of this, Chen Rui had fallen into deep self-reproach. The real reason Blanche had left the Emerald Forest was because of him.
He knew that the quiet, reticent half-elf girl had actually had many things she wanted to say to him. But there would never be another chance. If he could do it over again, he would choose to give Blanche a true promise while they were still in the Emerald Forest.
Unfortunately, there was no such "if."
No matter what, what was lost was already lost. All he could do was cherish all that he still possessed all the more dearly.
He would forever remember that girl, and he would completely destroy the mysterious church to avenge her.
Once he had steadied his heart, he took a deep breath, buried his