"Climb on." Diane said, as if it was only natural as she showed Bella how to get on the bike behind her. "Grab my waist if you get startled. It looks like this is your first time riding."

"R-right." Bella nodded her head, mounting the bike behind Diane. I deployed Ghost Zone around us, silencing the roar of the engine before she took off. Meanwhile, I followed using Glancing Steps-X, appearing next to them every couple seconds.

Bella gripped Diane's waist firmly, letting out a small whimper as the halfling drove the two of them far away from the city. In just a matter of minutes, we were well out of sight of Elvenwall. Only then did Diane pull to a stop, patting Bella's armored gauntlet. "You can let go now. We're here."

"H-here?" She asked, voice still shaking. She looked around, seeing that there didn't appear to be any monsters nearby to hunt. Regardless, she dismounted the bike, her legs trembling from the recent vibrations. "What are we going to hunt here?" She asked curiously, while Diane temporarily put the bike into her own inventory.

"About that." I began, clearing my throat to draw her attention. "There's something else that we'd like to talk about first."

Bella gulped audibly within her helmet, looking at me. "What's… that?" She asked, concern evident in her tone.

"We know that you're a Fallen." Diane said simply, one eye staring at Bella. "We don't know why you're hiding it. Or, frankly, how you're hiding your inability to level up. However, we know you are one. Drake saw your brand when your disguise slipped."

Bella's body stiffened, shoulders trembling. "I-I don't know what you're talking about." She said, pulling off her helmet to display her lit brand. I could tell how nervous she was, just by looking at the brand, which was glowing unnaturally bright. Not to mention her expression on the verge of tears. "See? I'm a player, just like the two of you."

Diane let out a long sigh, turning to me and nodding my head. I nodded back in kind, before moving my hand to my own brand and letting the burnt mark return to normal. "Frankly, there is a mountain of evidence to know that you aren't a player. The brand is just the thing that ties it all together. You try your best to work in player slang whenever you can, but you don't know common terms the players wouldn't normally say in conversation. And when you don't know something, you just give a vague answer to pretend you do."

"Additionally, you're desperate to leave the city, trying to cling to the first party that you think is strong enough to help you get out. You're probably looking for your ticket out of the country, where you can be more free." Diane explained step-by-step, but Bella's eyes were locked on my forehead.

"You… you're one too?" She asked, and I nodded my head. As if something inside of her broke, she fell to her knees, clutching her helmet in her lap. "What… wait… you had that ten star trait, right? If they find out… why would you reveal yourself to me like this? Aren't you afraid I'll say anything?"

I couldn't help but chuckle, shaking my head and turning my brand back to 'active'. "Not really. You won't say anything for the same reason we won't. We both know how to drag the other down with us. So, can you explain what your trait is? If you're going to such lengths to pretend to be a player, it should be something special."

Bella bit her lip, looking back and forth. Eventually, she pulled a scroll out of her inventory. "I-If you both sign this, I'll tell you." She said, handing the scroll to Diane.

She unfurled it, eyes widening when she realized that it was a contract scroll. "I… I spent most of my money to get that last week. Just in case anything happened. The terms are already written out. If you sign it, neither of you will be able to attempt to claim my trait for yourselves, or try to bring me unprovoked harm."

Diane arched her brow, turning to look at me. When I nodded my head, she signed it, as did I. Afterwards, the scroll shattered into pieces of light, which sank into all three of our bodies. Bella let out a sigh of relief at that. "I was hoping that I'd never need to use that contract… Okay. My trait… it allows me to continue to level up, even though I don't have a player."

Both Diane and I widened our eyes, exchanging a look of surprise. "You have the Offline Leveling trait?" I asked, and this time it was Bella's turn to be surprised.

"You know about it? Oh, of course you do. That's how you're so strong too, right? You probably grabbed it somewhere already…" She said, her voice trailing off with a light shiver.

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Sorry to break it to you, but I'm only level one. My player abandoned me less than a minute after I was chosen. My traits are worded weirdly, and he thought that they completely cancelled each other out."

"Saywha?" Bella's eyes widened. "You're that strong… as a level one?" She asked, shoulders trembling. She actually looked more afraid now.

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"You're worried that Drake will be willing to take on the penalty of breaking the contract if it means getting your trait?" Diane asked, hands on her hips. Bella lowered her head, hugging her helmet tight to her chest.

"I'm not the type of person that would ruin another person's life just for my own self-interest." I said firmly, but Bella just gulped.

"T-then, why do you even know about that trait, if you weren't looking it up to solve your own problems?" She asked hesitantly.

"A GM told me about it." I answered honestly. "Almost a week ago, I got a visit from a GM. Because Diane and I travel together, they wanted to give me an option to trade in my trait for something else. Offline Leveling was one of the things they offered, and I refused."

"Don't get me wrong, I would love to have your trait." I admitted, causing her to shrink back again. "But I'm not going to ruin anyone else's life just to make mine better."

"You.. you're not going to set me up in a death loop to farm me for my trait?" She asked with a whimper, tears forming in her eyes. I could see just how much stress she had been under ever since her player had abandoned her, leaving her in the worst place imaginable for her.

"I'm not. Honestly, I hate those kinds of people. That's why I joined the League of Assassins with Diane, to punish those who cross the line. Even if your trait does drop while we are hunting one day, I swear that I will allow you to claim it off your body yourself. If it's a situation where you can't reclaim your body, I'll bring the trait back to you."

"You… do you mean that?" She asked in another whimpering tone, and I nodded my head. Next to me, Diane let out a sigh of resignation, though I could detect a hint of amusement in it as well.

"If you're going to pick up strays like this, you know that we have to take care of them." She chided in a teasing tone.

I could only chuckle in apology. "Sorry. Is there any way we can make this work with the bike? Obviously, we can't always do what we did to get here today. Your mana would burn out too fast."

"I'll see if they sell a sidecar attachment…" Diane shook her head. "Maybe they have a proper car or something that can seat all of us. Those should be easier to drive than a bike, even if they are moderately less fun…."

"Wait, you two…" Bella widened her eyes, looking between us. "You mean… you want to take me with you? I'm a walking time bomb. Either the Fallen will want to steal my trait, or my negative will pull boss monsters to us."

Diane sighed, walking over and crouching down in front of Bella. "Listen, Bella… Once Drake sets his mind to helping someone, there is no point in trying to talk him down. As for your negative trait, that won't be a problem for us. Drake's able to keep a stealth field up whenever he wants that hides us from monsters. If any monsters do attack us… I'm going to need more materials to make up for buying a new vehicle, anyways."

"You're… acting way nicer than you did earlier." Bella pointed out, looking at Diane. She pouted her lips, but I simply let out a laugh.

"Diane's a roleplayer. She likes to act the part of a super stoic ninja, but this is her when she 'breaks character'. Don't worry, she'll go back to 'normal' before we head back to town." Diane turned her head to lightly glare at me at that, but I shrugged my shoulders. "And, I could enchant some gear with passive stealth effects for you if you want, that way your trait can be properly managed."

Bella let out a soft squeak, unable to properly vocalize her words. She did, however, give a shaky nod. Diane stood up, stretching lightly. "In that case, I'm going to log out and get in touch with the Iron Forge. You two hunt around a bit with my Chosen, and I'll be back once I know whether we'll be getting a sidecar, a new vehicle, or just going to be getting used to walking everywhere again."

After saying that, Diane's brand dimmed, and her Chosen gave a sympathetic look towards Bella. "So, what level are you, anyways?" She asked the redheaded elf.

"I'm… thirty-seven…" She admitted, her shoulders trembling as she held back her sobs. "I… I couldn't go on many hunts with people, because I was afraid that if I… if I died, one of my skills would drop, and my secret… would be out. I could only go on hunts with guards, and those don't give much experience…"

Diane nodded her head, reaching down and patting Bella's shoulders. "We'll help you level up properly. And like Drake said, he can enchant your gear. Think of it as payback for him peeping on you and learning your secret in the first place."

"You're never going to let that go, are you?" I asked, and she shook her head. "Well, for now, let's just rest a bit. I know she said to go hunting, but Bella's in no state to do so."

As I said that, I looked around, moving off to the side of the road. There were no trees here, just grass and hills. Thus, I tried out one of my new blueprints. First, I entered what I was calling my 'draconic construction mode', and let out a loud breath on a nearby patch of land, targeting the materials I identified deep within the ground.

One of the books that Karlson gave me taught me how to make more advanced building materials, like bricks or cement. There weren't enough materials nearby to make cement, but it was easy to create the clay bricks. My breath weapon caused the earth to churn, the dirt to soften, and then harden into hard clay. It split itself into even bricks to lay the foundation, and then piled on each other for the walls.

More of the soil mixed with dry grass and water, swirling together to form mortar that went between the bricks to hold it together. Windows with woven shutters were added, as well as a woven door, and several pieces of woven furniture in the house. The entire process took about five minutes, having taken quite a bit longer since I took the time to process the materials for construction.

Bella watched with wide eyes as a small house was erected on the side of the road, while Diane just waited for it to be done before pulling the door open and stepping inside to explore. "This is officially your greatest skill ever." Diane said approvingly when she saw the woven flooring.

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