Heaving, James looked at the corpse of the largest rat he'd ever seen. The animal, if he could even still call it that, had black hair and was around three meters long, from snout to tail. Its front teeth were about as large as his hand, and overall, the thing was terrifying.

"…What the fuck even is that?" he asked the others around him in a pained tone.

His fingers brushed against the claw wounds on his chest, which had been created by the beast. Each wound was almost ten centimeters long. There was no room to think about whether he had just been infected, as even if he had, there was no way to seek help, not with the world like this. James frowned and turned his head as he heard footsteps from the side. Elizabeth was approaching him with an expression of concern. She got close enough to take a good look at his wounds and also frowned.

"Let's just hurry and hope that bacteria haven't evolved like the animals," she said after a second, her voice clear.

James nodded.

It never even crossed my mind back at the Tutorial Zone, but now that we're back…

He had automatically assumed that, in an environment created by the System, there would be no need to worry about such things. But that was no longer the same. James turned to look at Allison, who was approaching him with a concerned expression.

"I'm sorry you got injured," she said. "Please, let me help."

James nodded again. Allison raised her staff. Green mana soon flowed out of it and into James, who relaxed his expression as the pain disappeared. After only a few moments, the wounds were gone. He smiled at her and smiled back, though her smile was still tinged with obvious worry.

He slowly spun in place as Allison looked away, taking in his surroundings. The buildings all looked familiar, if you ignored the massive tree roots and vines piercing through the walls and the trees that had risen in the middle of the streets.

A few meters away from him, Thomas shook his head while gaping at the giant rat.

"I've seen some giant rats in this city, but holy shit," the young man stated in disbelief.

Dylan, Naomi, and Anthony absent-mindedly nodded. James looked at them.

At least I was the only one injured.

Finally, he looked back at Allison.

She's surprisingly calm.

Still, aside from her worry, there were hints of pain in her eyes once she looked around.

"These buildings," she abruptly said. "I always liked the way this street looked. Looks like we won't even be allowed to keep our history."

James nodded, understanding her words. The System had taken everything from their ordinary lives, including even the appearance and environment of their hometown. He didn't know how to reply, so he only turned to look at Elizabeth, who was carefully analyzing their surroundings. She looked as dependable as always, but deep in her eyes, James could see she was tired and worried.

"We'll make it," he said in a low tone after a few seconds, making her flinch. "We just need to be careful. The Tutorial taught us a lot."

She raised her blue eyes to meet his gaze.

"…Yeah. I guess it did."

"You don't have to always be the leader."

She slowly shook her head and turned around without reply, clapping her hands once. The rest of the group looked at her.

"We're close to the restaurant, everyone," she said clearly but in a low tone. James could tell she was trying to keep any other beasts from hearing them. "Let's keep going."

The others nodded, including Allison, who gripped her staff more tightly. Without any further words, the group started moving again, using the same formation that they had always used. Dylan and Anthony moved in front, Elizabeth and Allison in the very center, and James at the rear, with Naomi and Thomas close to the center. It was the way they had learned how to fight. James looked around, keeping his mind sharp.

We'll still need to make our way through a good chunk of the Lower East Side. So much for finding an affordable restaurant.

He smiled to himself. They had been poor university students, so the restaurant had seemed like a great pick.

Shaking his head, James marched on. The goal was to find Michael as soon as possible.

***

Michael easily traversed the terrain like he was running on flat ground, despite the ruined streets and barriers that didn't exist before. Every enemy that he came across that was daring enough to attack him was easily killed in less than three seconds. These combat encounters allowed him to confirm his theory that the animals had evolved. Not that the giant rats were exactly subtle.

Leaping over two overturned cars like he was jumping over a curb, Michael looked at the enormous dog around ten meters ahead of him. He winced. Now that he knew they were dogs and not wolves, killing them had become much, much harder.

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Please, don't attack me.

Unfortunately, his prayers weren't answered. The giant dog turned to look at him the moment he landed on the ground. It bared its fangs, each longer than his forearm. The creature dashed toward him, making him sigh.

Damn it all.

The moment the dog chose to attack him on sight, it proved that it was a danger to all others who crossed its path, none of whom were as powerful as him. To prevent possible injuries or casualties, he needed to end the beast here.

With a pained expression, Michael pointed the Elder Chief Staff at the monster. The least he could do was make it as quick as possible.

Arcane Missile.

The longspear of mana took shape and shot forward, then unceremoniously drilled through the middle of the beast's forehead. It lost strength in its legs as it died, making its corpse drag on the ground because of the momentum. With a small sigh, Michael jumped over it and continued on his way.

Fortunately, he didn't encounter many more enemies. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Michael arrived in front of the restaurant from his memories, which seemed to have taken place so long ago. He looked at the restaurant's sign, which no longer shone with yellow light. Letting out a breath, he stopped in place, almost entranced. After a second, he blinked and hurriedly looked through the windows. The restaurant was empty.

That doesn't mean something happened to them.

Trying to contain his anxiety, Michael decided on another course of action on the spot. Without hesitation, he jumped to the restaurant's roof and cast Wind Blades. The now-formless wind made him float, then ascend. At the same time, he activated his Dragonheart.

It was as if he had been blind for his entire life, only to become able to see a beautiful sight. Like he had been deaf all along, and could now hear the world's greatest symphony. Every color, alongside everything he could see, became clearer and more vivid. The details became glaringly obvious, no matter how minute they were. Every sound he heard was extremely distinctive from any other; it didn't matter if they were the sounds of the beasts underground in the subway area or the voices of nearby teams and groups of humans. Footsteps, grumbling, pained yelps, tired heaving. Everything became much clearer.

Michael blinked in surprise, but there was no need to spend even a moment adapting to the sensation. As if it had been part of him all along, his body had already processed all the changes. Despite the incredible amount of new information, he wasn't overwhelmed in the least. It only felt like he had regained something he had once lost. He looked down at his open hand.

…Is this feeling really mine?

Or was this familiarity a simple byproduct of his lineage? He already knew the answer. Michael furrowed his brow. Regardless, he wasn't in a position to question his own power. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he expanded his senses and their range. To begin with, he could tell everything that was going on within three meters of him. Once he focused, this radius only increased. Five hundred meters. Seven hundred. Nine hundred. He only kept going.

At the same time, he blinked as he realized something had completely slipped his mind because of his anxiety. He cursed under his breath and cast Whisper. James picked up almost immediately.

"North!" the ethereal mouth yelled, James' voice cracking. "Just north!"

Michael could feel his senses sharpening to their limits. He looked north as his perception's radius expanded to over one kilometer, finding what he was looking for. James' voice reached his hearing clearly and sharply, both from Whisper and in the wind.

"Back off!" he heard it yell. "Anthony, draw its attention for just a second!"

The voice was followed by the thudding footsteps of a large creature. Alongside it were footsteps that he recognized, based on the way each person put their weight on their legs and steps. Michael heard the voice he wanted to hear the most over the roar of the beast they were facing. He instantly dismissed the wind around him and started falling toward the streets below like a cannonball, also dismissing Whisper.

Hurry!

His speed, which got increasingly faster, felt exceedingly slow. Michael gritted his teeth in mid-air and cast Wind Blades again. This time, however, once the Blades lost their shape, they pushed against his back. His speed immediately increased even more, making him land with a large thud in just over a second. The impact didn't even rattle him. Michael shot to the side, in the direction of the voices he could still hear. Unhesitatingly, he activated Lightspeed.

As he ran, a thought crossed Michael's mind.

It's much more bearable now.

Lightspeed's burden on his body was now far more manageable, since he had gotten so much stronger. Still, he could tell that was only because he wasn't using the Heritage Skill to its full potential. This had become obvious once he awakened his Majesty, and even more after he acquired his new Title.

Throwing all idle thoughts out of his mind and shaking his head, Michael kept running. Despite his speed, the surroundings didn't turn into a blur; instead, they remained perfectly clear.

After turning a corner, Michael zeroed in on the scene seventy meters ahead of him. His friends were fighting an enormous rat. He only kept running and pointed the Elder Chief's Staff at it, deactivating Lightspeed.

Arcane Missile.

The spell coalesced and shot forward, quickly covering the distance between itself and its target. The spinning longspear reached the rat's head from behind. A moment later, the head disappeared completely. The giant rat collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. His friends flinched in surprise, but James and Allison started scanning their surroundings at the same time.

Once they found Michael's running figure, they stopped and smiled. Michael smiled back, quickly closing the distance between himself and his friends and family. It took only a few seconds for him to arrive within five meters of them. Allison let out a breath of relief and smiled widely at him, making him throw her a warm smile.

"It's good to see you guys," Michael said, utterly relieved.

In hindsight, he should've cast Whisper much earlier, but his emotions had temporarily overwhelmed him.

"It hasn't even been that long," James replied in a joking manner, keeping his smile. "Still, I'm glad we found you."

The others also smiled.

"Thank God," Naomi stated with her hands on her chest. "I'm so glad."

Anthony and Dylan immediately nodded, making Thomas smile. He looked at Michael and nodded.

"Now, there isn't a single monster in this entire city who can do much to us," he said confidently, making Michael scoff.

"Son," Allison said. Michael turned to look at her. "We found a Safe Zone. Let's continue this conversation once we're inside it."

She sounded worried. Was she still unwilling to see him fighting? Michael's smile became tinged with helplessness. It was more likely that she just didn't want him to be in danger.

"I think there's one thing we need to talk about," Elizabeth suddenly said, making everyone look at her. "But we can do it in the Safe Zone, yeah."

Michael waved his hand at her.

"Just say it," he replied. "It's fine."

She let out a small sigh and looked at him.

"What happens now? What is the plan moving forward?"

It was an important question that Michael knew his mother wouldn't like the answer to.

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