The moment the dragon's bloody carcass crashed into the ground, Isaac released a long, tired sigh and deactivated Freedom mode. While, for the most part, he trusted his kill notifications, the Interface had lied to Hosts before. And considering just how tough this beast had been, he wouldn't put it past it to fake its own death.

His teammates must have thought the same, as he could already see them all poking the dead monster. Elaine even jammed one of her light grenades into its ruined mouth to obliterate the head completely.

Brutal? Yes. Effective? Also yes.

Isaac turned away and scanned the surrounding terrain. With their main target dead as it could be, this would be the perfect moment for another monster to ambush them. Yet, after looking and then looking around some more, he couldn't find a single hostile nearby. It was like the creatures here saw the fight and noped the hell out.

Honestly? Understandable. In their position, he would have done the same.

Guess we can rest for a bit then, he thought, glancing at his team. God knows we need it.

With that thought in mind, Isaac glided back toward the ground, landed without any fanfare, and transformed. His teammates, seeing this, stopped poking the dead dragon and approached him. Among the trio, only Marie looked unharmed, aside from some blood covering her clothes. Though that could have been James'.

"Good fight, huh?" he said, smiling.

Elaine grimaced. "Tell that to my arm," she grumbled, poking said limp arm. "It will heal, but unlike you, it's gonna take a while."

"Same," James grunted, gesturing at the blistered skin across his torso and hands. "Stings like hell."

There was barely any surface on the older man's body that wasn't covered in burns. At the very least, those didn't look that bad. Isaac's own scorch marks had been worse after his earlier clashes with the Wyvern. Not anymore, though. As Elaine pointed out, unlike them, he healed fast, very fast. Though, he suspected Marie's ultimate helped a lot.

Might as well, Isaac thought, reaching for his Storage Brand and summoning two healing potions. He handed them to Elaine and James. "There you go," he said before turning to their final teammate. "Marie, you got enough Viron left to patch them up?"

The woman winced, shaking her head. "No. Would have helped them already if I did."

He nodded, took out another potion—one that sped up Viron's regeneration—and handed it to her. They only had three of those, but saving them for god knew what didn't make any sense. He wanted everyone battle-ready before they moved out.

After downing the potion, Marie led them toward a rocky outcrop offering a sliver of shade. There, she forced James and Elaine to sit down as her hands filled with water. There wasn't much of it, but the potion could only do so much in such a short time.

"Hold still," she chided as she cradled Elaine's unresponsive arm. "What the hell even happened to you?"

Before the other woman could answer, James spoke up. "Hey! What about me? I'm hurt, too!"

Marie shot him a glare. "You can wait. Nobody told you to charge straight through the flames like a lunatic." She turned back to her current patient. "So, what was it?"

Elaine groaned, burying her face in her good hand. "I don't want to talk about it," she mumbled. "Really, don't ask…"

That, of course, only made it worse.

James, who a moment earlier had been mid-complaint, perked up. "Now you have to tell us. Come on, princess. It can't be that bad. At least you didn't end up bald like me and boss."

Isaac grimaced. "Thanks for the reminder," he huffed, running a hand over his bare scalp. A few tiny hairs were starting to poke through, but aside from that, he was very much bald. "I need a hat."

James chuckled. "Let me know if you find one. We can take turns."

"I hate fire," Elaine grumbled. "I swear, if it ever touches my hair, I won't be held responsible for what happens next."

Marie, still focused on healing the damaged arm, gave a firm nod of agreement. Some color had returned to the limb. The bruises near the shoulder, however, still had a long way to go.

Isaac shook his head, returning his attention to Elaine. "Really? That's where you draw the line?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. "Not losing a limb, a finger, or something else. Just your hair?"

The woman shrugged. "We all have our priorities."

He opened his mouth to retort, but James' voice stopped him. "Don't bother, man. Really don't. This isn't a battle you can win."

"Well said," Marie added without looking up.

Isaac rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he grumbled. "I'm gonna check my notifications. You should do the same. Once you are good to go, we move out."

The others nodded, so he took it as a cue to proceed with his earlier plan. Yet, before he could call out to the Interface, a weak flash erupted close to him, consuming the dragon's body. He tensed, only to relax when the light faded, leaving behind not a corpse but a few items on the ground.

"Stay here," he told the others. "I will check it out."

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He stopped where the dragon used to lie and crouched. For the first time since the beginning of the Breakout stage, a defeated monster left more than just a single gem or some other lone item. Though, given its level, maybe he shouldn't have been surprised.

Not bad. Not bad at all, Isaac commented internally.

The Lava Wyvern gifted his team with exactly eight Virality Gems, all Normal-grade. This never happened before. What was more, aside from that, there was one more item in the pile. He reached out and took the small glowing crimson rock into his hands. It was warm, very warm.

Analyze.

[Fire Stone | Grade: Superior] A low-grade Origin artifact. Using it will grant the Host a very short, slightly improved temporary connection to Fire. Additionally, it grants a minuscule chance at reawakening Origin of Fire upon use. Often used in crafting.

Another one, Isaac hummed, dragging a finger across the rock's rough surface. There was a power inside it; he could feel it biting at his skin. But it was nothing like what he had experienced with artifacts related to blood.

Clicking his tongue, he collected the gems and returned to his team.

"Look what we got," he announced, distributing two gems per person. Once he did that, he raised the Fire Stone for everybody to see. "If you guys don't mind, I'm keeping this one."

James shrugged. "Fine by me. None of us can use it anyway."

The others nodded in agreement, so Isaac just put the stone in his Storage Brand. Useless or not, it might be worth experimenting with later on. Couldn't hurt to try.

Okay, let's see what's happening. Interface hit me with it, Isaac called out after consuming his share of gems. He also ignored the chatter between his teammates.

You have leveled up! You are now level 17. Distribution of Ascension Power has advanced the tier of the following attributes: Agility (III->IV). No further changes detected.

This was the first of the modified notifications to show itself. It wasn't that big of a difference, but at least now, he knew exactly what tier his attribute was without checking his status. A small but useful improvement. One point for Rakin.

Next.

The following skills have advanced tiers: Crimson Death (III->IV) Basic Filtering (II->III) Harden (IV->Max) Pain Resistance (IX->X)

Isaac's eyes widened a bit.

Neat, he commented. The progress was, like always, very welcome, but he really liked how it was displayed now. Seemed like Rakin's tweaks to the Interface weren't so bad after all.

Harden maxed out already, and it can evolve, too. Pain Resistance, though…

After the skill didn't cap at tier five, he thought ten would definitely be it. Apparently not. At this point, he was kind of worried about just how much pain he had to go through to reach its final level. And if it evolved afterward?

Yeah… best not to dwell on that. Give me another, Interface.

Your Patron has marked your mission as completed. Recorded transmission incoming.

Just like that, a semi-transparent blue screen appeared before him—a bit smaller than the one from the last transmission. It showed him the frozen form of Rakin, lounging in a ridiculously ornate chair. Best of all, like with most media players, the window had a large 'play' symbol in the middle.

Isaac blinked.

Huh, that's new.

He turned to his teammates. "Guys, you can't see this, right?"

Their ongoing conversation paused as they all looked at him. Elaine was the first to speak up, her eyebrow raised. "See what?"

"I guess that answers my question," he muttered before elaborating. "My Patron mission is done. The guy sent me a recording to watch. The screen is sitting before me."

"Oh!" James perked up. "I got something, too." His eyes darted to the side for a moment. "Huh. Just a message. Two lines. Basically says he's unimpressed, I get my reward anyway, but I shouldn't expect any help from him ever again… Ouch."

Elaine snorted. "I don't think he likes you."

James shrugged. "It is what it is. The feeling's mutual, anyway. Might be for the best, too. Maybe I can get a better Patron."

"That's the spirit," Marie said, patting his shoulder.

Isaac nodded. "She's right. Though now I'm wondering if this recording is just a fancier version of the same thing."

James grinned wide. "Only one way to find out, boss. We can always be failures together."

Isaac chuckled and returned his focus to the screen. Pressing the play button did nothing, so he simply sent it a mental command. It worked, and Rakin came to life.

"Hello there, my dear little Host!" the Overlord exclaimed, spreading his arms. "I'm glad you managed to complete my mission. I really didn't want to record another 'you failed' message. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to fake disappointment when I couldn't care less about those screwups. But, you know, protocols. I mean, sure, I could just send a boring text notification… but what kind of Overlord would that make me? I have standards. I'm better than—"

"Sir, you're rambling." A female voice Isaac didn't recognize cut through the speech.

On the screen, Rakin stiffened for a beat before letting out a sheepish chuckle. "Right, right. Thanks, Narin." He cleared his throat. "So, getting back to the subject. There are a couple of things I need to tell you, Isaac, but first… let's start with everyone's favorite thing." He grinned. "A performance review. We all love 'em, after all, hmm?"

"Not really, sir," came a dry response from the voice from before.

Rakin waved it off. "Wasn't asking you, Narin," he muttered, turning back to the camera. "Anyway, your performance! Let's just say I'm satisfied with what I saw. Not impressed, though. You gonna need to work a bit harder for that."

He wagged a finger. "My advice? Practice flying a bit. You ain't bad for a newbie, but you could do much better. And lean more into your regeneration. Don't be afraid to get turned into a charred corpse every now and then. You will heal." The alien paused, frowning. "At least you should."

Just like that, the frown vanished from Rakin's face, replaced by his signature grin. "And if it's the clothes you're worried about, don't be. Along with the reward I promised you, I threw in a little bonus. Later on, if you manage to impress me, I might present you with a more permanent solution."

"Sir, the time," the soft female voice said again.

Rakin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah… Returning to your reward. Don't use it yet. Hold off until you can manipulate your Origin without relying on a skill. You're close now. And finally, that little fire artifact you just received? Try to feel the power within. It will help you in the future."

The Overlord shot him a mock salute. "That's all for now. You will hear from me again soon enough. Right now, I gotta have words with that bastard Viktor for hijacking my Patron mission for his chosen."

"Sir," the voice pressed.

"Fine, fine. I'm coming," Rakin grumbled, standing up. He threw one last look at the camera. "Oh, and you might wanna check out that cave where you found the Wyvern. Never know what you will dig up. Ciao!"

And with that quite unique farewell, the window vanished.

Isaac sighed.

This guy…

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