Kaizen walked through the oak forest during the evening. He was keeping his eyes focused, looking for any movement. However, that forest seemed to be a peaceful place, as he couldn’t feel any danger lurking around him as he did in the Misty Woods. Still, Kaizen didn’t entirely remove the chance that Xisrith had set a trap with other players to kill him.

Although the chance of this being real was remote, and it would also be stupid to set a trap in a place as inhospitable as the Silver Mountains, he stayed alert.

When Kaizen saw a hill rising in the middle of a clearing among the trees, he knew that Xisrith was not lying. So, he went closer and saw a geometric formation resembling the mouth of a cave on this small hill, only five meters high. On either side of the mound were ancient, black columns supporting the entrance, a seemingly thick double-stone door closed, and a large red crystal in the center.

“We’re here.” Xisrith said.

“Right… So, this is where we say goodbye.”

Kaizen slowly lowered himself down, just enough for the woman’s injured right foot to touch the ground smoothly.

“Now, pass the mutant weapon you promised me.”

Xisrith did not hesitate. She handed over a single-handed sword that had a black leather handle and a black scabbard with gold details on its edges. When Kaizen removed the blade from the sheath, he saw a shiny, sharp blade whose tip was slightly crooked like a saber’s. This sword was undeniably beautiful.

[Item: Sword of the Butterfly Bear

Every Butterfly Bear protects a treasure of priceless rarity. This sword is an item that has remained for eons, stored in a trunk protected by a Butterfly Bear, and its true origin is uncertain.

Rank: Mutant

Item Level: 1 of 1𝒪𝔳𝑙xt.𝑐𝑂𝔪

Attack: 40

Defense:

15

Fitness Level needed: 20.

(Disclaimer: This is a Mutant level weapon, and only users higher than level 15 can use it.)]

“Thank you for keeping the deal.” Kaizen thanked her when he saw the great stats of the weapon and immediately started walking towards the east.

Xisrith said nothing and turned to open the doors of the labyrinth. She leaned against the door crystal and, before beaming, looked at Kaizen as she thought: ‘Who is he? He doesn’t look like a soldier from the Royal Capital, nor like a high-level player I know… He uses spear, but he is a powerful mage.’ She had no idea.

Seconds later, Kaizen saw a white glow come from his back. When he looked back, Xisrith was already gone.

“I have to remember to visit this place sometime…” Kaizen thought, looking at the door to the labyrinth.

It was about to get dark, so it was already possible to see the moon in the sky, and the last sparks of orange sunlight didn’t even illuminate the ground anymore. Soon the rate of monster spawns around the world would increase somewhat, and in some regions, this would more than double. Since Kaizen wasn’t sure where he was, and there weren’t any monsters around, he decided to log out to avoid dealing with the night monsters.

His finger glided subtly across the interface and clicked the log-out button.

When Klaus Park woke up in his room, he found it odd that the light was on because he always let it off. His eyes stung a little when he took off the NeuroGear, and as he adjusted to the brightness, Kaizen got out of bed.

On the floor, his mother was sitting with some cardboard boxes next to a dresser, apparently putting away the clothes in the last drawer.

“Mom?” he said, still opening his eyes.

The woman with Oriental features turned back, looking surprised. “Oh, Klaus, did I get in your way by turning on the light? Sorry, I didn’t think it was a problem.”

“No, of course not, you didn’t get in my way. Wait, that lack of surprise… Ard told you that I borrowed his video game, didn’t he?”

“Just in the next day you asked him, and he also already said you bought it from him… He couldn’t hold it. He was too excited to buy the cat. Well, now I don’t know if we’ll have space where we’re going to live…” She said and returned to folding the clothes to put them in the boxes.

Klaus looked once more at the drawer she was packing and remembered that he had already packed all his clothes in boxes to take to Jayaa’s apartment the next day.

“Is this Rhyzer’s clothes drawer?”

“Yes… He hasn’t grown much in the last few years and when he wakes up he’ll need to wear clothes, so I need to take at least some with me to the new house.”

Klaus could see in the look on Chun’s face that she was lying. The reason she kept Rhyzer’s clothes was not for convenience but because each of those shirts, each of the clothes carried memories that she didn’t want to try to forget. The smell of his perfume was still marked on each of his clothes, especially his favorite leather jacket.

“By the way, don’t be mad at Ard. He hasn’t even met the passionate gaming version of you, so he doesn’t understand why you were avoiding them…”

The boy got up from the bed and sat down next to his mother on the floor to help her put his older brother’s clothes away.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s impossible for me to be mad at Ard. He’s so cute, understandable, and smart that I’d feel like crap if I yelled at him.”

Chun laughed. “You’re right, you’re definitely right.”

Smiling too, Klaus thought, ‘Don’t worry, Mom. At least you’ll be able to raise a son normally, and I won’t let anything stand in the way of that.’

“You know, Klaus, it was a surprise to me when you presented Ard with that weird helmet he was asking for so much.” Chun said, looking down. “At first, I thought, is he playing this hidden from me all this time? Soon, I berated myself and came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter. You see, what I mean is that in those 7 years nothing has changed the way I think, son. If you feel comfortable again to play or not, that is up to you to decide. Your father and I will never tell you what you can or can’t do, or what you should or shouldn’t feel. You are free to make your own decisions, always have been, and always will be. If you are happy playing again, I am happy for you.”

p He knew why Chun was saying that to him. Naturally, it was not a mother’s scolding but rather a reminder that he could trust her as he always had.

“Okay… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you when I first started playing again. I thought it would be a passing thing and that I would soon feel terrible about gaming again, as I did after the accident. However, the feeling is totally new after all these years…”

“I’m happy for you, and I’m sure Rhyzer will be happy to hear that when you go to visit him on Saturday… What’s up? How are these new virtual reality games? They’re not too violent like that game you and Rhyzer played, right?”

“Which one? Doom or Mortal Kombat?”

Chun took a moment to think. “You know, I don’t know. I just remember Rhyzer pretending to plug in the video game controller for you, making you think you were playing, but you weren’t.” She laughed.

“Doom, it was definitely Doom. Today, I don’t know how I believed I was playing that because there was only one character on the screen!” Klaus laughed nostalgically.

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

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