[Warning: Pocket Dimension will collapse in an hour if you don’t fortify it.]

A notification arrived as soon as Nikolai went inside the cave, leaving his stealth. His mana was bottomed out, but he fled successfully.

‘What?’ Nikolai frowned. He checked the Life of his dimension and realized it was indeed one hour, even though it has only been 6 hours since he escaped the Vultra Clan. ‘System, why did its life decrease?’

[The life depends on what lives inside the pocket dimension. Living Beings, enchanted items, and anything that has mana require more energy to maintain.]

Nikolai sighed, but it was alright. No more vultures were roaming outside. He waved his hand, and Sergio and Yuxi appeared inside the cave.

“AH!” Sergio was startled. “We’re out!”

“You could’ve left anytime,” Nikolai said as he walked toward the two. “Are you alright?” He asked Sergio, hoping there were no side effects of entering the dark dimension.

“Bossman!” Sergio grinned and nodded. “I am. Luckily, Yuxi is well as well.”

“Luckily, yeah.” Nikolai grimaced. He looked at Yuxi, who was glaring at him with frightened eyes. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you anymore.”

“You should have never tried to begin with, Boss.” Sergio sighed. “I had to spend the past six hours making sure that she didn’t get brain damage.”

“I had my reasons. I still have them; the only difference is that you trust this girl. I won’t kill her as long as you do. I don’t want her to be a martyr.”

“Bossman, bossman, bossman.” Sergio grinned at him. “So, you care about me this much? Let’s hug!”

“Don’t touch me.”

“Hehe,” Sergio didn’t hug him but still smiled sweetly. “Whatever your reasons are, I’m sure that we can talk it out instead of choking each other.”

Nikolai stared at Sergio’s happy expression. He hated such characters: the bright ones. Lilith made sure to reveal such people’s true nature in front of him. She made him hate everyone other than her by showing him the worst in humanity.

‘However, there was an exception to that.’

Nikolai stood up against Lilith for the first time because of Sergio. Nikolai had no other friends but the alchemist. That’s why Lilith wanted to prove that Sergio was selfish.

‘That’s why she gave the King the plan of using Sergio. Sergio refused, proving Lilith wrong. In the end, Sergio was banished because of me.’

That’s why Nikolai would never hurt Sergio, not in this lifetime, not in the next. It was also the reason that Sergio was the only person he trusted.

“I have a question for you.” Nikolai turned to Sergio, not trying to test him but to see if there was another answer than the one that he had. “I wanted to kill the archer because she tried threatening me into allowing her to stay.”

“Yea?” Sergio tilted his head.

“However, she doesn’t need me. She can use her skill, the same one that she used before, to flee from the Clan on her own. She’ll even have a higher chance of escaping. She must have some ulterior motives. Right?”

“Boss…” Sergio blinked. “We’re the only people she knows in this place. I don’t know about you, but I’m scared shitless. She’s the same. I have you as a friend, and she has me as a friend, and you have us as friends. It’s only natural that we stick together.”

“Is that true?” Nikolai furrowed his brows as he glanced at the archer. She looked at him with a frown before slowly nodding.

‘Why would I threaten you if I wanted to harm you? I was just trying to stay.’ She gestured. ‘I didn’t think you would…’

She gestured before grabbing her bruised neck. Her face turned into a pained expression, which made Nikolai’s stomach turn.

‘She still reminds me of him.’

“Do you want to be mute forever?” Nikolai asked the archer, making her confused. “Why haven’t you tried curing it?”

‘I’m trying to…’ She gestured, her small fingers dancing in front of her as they paused and hesitated.

“The quicker that we get you healed, the better,” Nikolai said before turning to leave the cave. “I’m sorry for trying to kill you.”

“Hehe, I told you he was a good person,” Sergio whispered to Yuxi as Nikolai left the cave.

‘I’m not, you fucking idiot.’ Nikolai thought to himself as he entered his stealth with what recovered his mana and hurried toward the nearest lake.

After he made sure that no one was around, Nikolai took off the goggles and the hood. He crouched beside the lake and began cleaning himself from the blood.

He got to see the horns for the first time in the water. They were as long as his index finger and matt black. His ears were longer, dropping to the sides.

Nikolai’s appearance was threatening at best and outright scary at worst with his horns, teeth, and crimson eyes. Whoever sees him will know that there’s no way he was a human.

‘I need to hide the horns and the ears.’ Nikolai took out a black silk fabric from Alias and began wrapping it around his horns and ears. The clothing lifted his hair upward while strands dropped to the sides of the headband.

All that was left were his eyes and teeth. As long as he doesn’t try showing them, others won’t notice them, hopefully. His eyes can also be passed as some gene mutation, although their color was ominous.

‘Wearing a mask will draw attention while also making people suspicious. It’s best to show them the human-looking parts and make them deduce the rest.’ Nikolai decided. ‘Now, let’s check the system.’

If he remembers correctly, he remembers the system mentioning something about evolving. However, he didn’t have the time to sit down and see the changes.

As Nikolai opened his system, he found that it was the same except for one button next to the title. It was an arrow pointing upward. Nikolai pressed it.