“Let’s make a toast for our dazzling victory!” Rick exclaimed loudly, chugging his mug.

  They were at the pub, drinking beer together. Rick had insisted they all went, and Matheus followed along. Captain slept comfortably on his lap.

  While they drank, Rick would randomly start to boost of their great hunt, exaggerating all the details and making it seem he had both caught and killed the beast.

  Matheus paid him no mind. It was very much easier to ignore Rick after a successful day.

  The drink was cold and refreshing, and he couldn’t help but to cheer with the others.

  He was so excited on finishing the quest he forgot to feel awkward with the situation.

  After a while, Rick started moving to other tables, telling everyone in earshot of their great accomplishments of the day.

  Somehow, he managed to include a dragon in the story.

  “So, are you going to tell me why I can’t join your party?” Sophie asked nonchalantly.

  Matheus didn’t fail to notice she’d waited until they were both alone to ask him that.

  He didn’t understand why she would want to join in a party with him in the first place. She clearly didn’t need his help.

  He couldn’t trust her without knowing her motivations. And even so, maybe he would never trust her. But she’d help him, exactly as she promised. And he owed her at least some honesty.

  “I was cursed,” he said with a sigh.

  “Really?” She asked, clearly surprised.

  “Really. I’m in a party with Rick because he is the only type of a person I can be in a party with. I told you before, it’s not by choice.”

  Sophie thought this over for some seconds, and a mix of emotions went through her face. Matheus couldn’t say if she had gotten angry, sad or annoyed by his answer. For a second, he even thought she may start laughing.

  “That’s a bummer,” She finally said with a resigned expression. “If we are not in a party, we would only be blocking each other’s development. I guess our little hunt was our first and last collaboration.”

  Matheus didn’t know how he felt about that, so he said nothing. Rick soon returned, another mug in his hand, containing a darker and stronger liquid.

  As Rick was telling them how he managed to trick a dragon to kill itself and stole its treasure, Matheus noticed Dylan entering the pub, Derek laughing beside him.

  He frowned when he saw Matheus, probably wondering what he was doing here, and gave a small salute.

  Matheus raised his glass in their direction, hoping they wouldn’t come over.

  Thankfully, they didn’t, going instead to sit with another group of people.

  “More friends of yours?” Sophie asked.

  “I..” Matheus stopped himself, not sure how to finish the sentence. “No. Not really friends. Just people I met.”

  “We can’t really be friends with them, can we?” Sophie said with a solemn voice.

  “What do you mean?” Matheus asked, taken aback by the comment.

  “She means the common people, of course!” Rick laughed “Unfortunately, fame comes with its prices, and most people can’t handle it.” he finished, gulping his drink.

  Sophie neither confirmed nor denied it. She drank the rest of her beer and got up, a tired smile on her face.

  “That’s it, then. Good luck to you, Matheus.” She turned to leave.

  “Thank you!” Matheus got up and said suddenly. “For everything you did. I… It really is a bummer it didn’t work out.”

  She gave him another smile, more genuine this time, and left.

  Matheus saw no reason for staying longer.

  He gave some excuse after finishing his drink, carefully put Captain on his hood and went on his way, glad to be finally alone.

  On the outside, he found Dylan laying against a wall, contemplating the sky.

  He turned when he was Matheus, who quickly gave a little nod and resumed walking.

  “Matheus. A word, if I may?”

  He sighed internally. Of course the day still wasn’t over.

  “Hey, Dylan. Yeah, no problem.”

  He gestured for him to get closer, and seeing no way out, Matheus complied.

  “I needed to talk to you,” Dylan said in a hushed voice. “I don’t really know how to approach this, but honor wouldn’t let me ignore it.”

  “Ok…” Matheus said, uncertain. What had he gotten into now? He’d probably irritated the guy, forming a party right after refusing his invitation.

  “Look, I know your secret.” Dylan said, now whispering.

  “What?” Matheus exclaimed, caught off guard. “I don’t have any secrets.”

  “Don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone. And I am not planning to.”

  Matheus didn’t know how to react. He could keep denying it, but something on Dylan’s face told him he wasn’t bluffing.

  Still, could he really know about everything? There was just one possible explanation for that.

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  “Are you also a…?” Matheus didn’t finish, unsure.

  “Me? No!” Dylan laughed. “But that would be nice, I suppose.”

  Wait, if he wasn’t a Champion, how could he know about the Contest?

  That just made Matheus more confused.

  “But, it’s precisely because I know your secret that I feel I must warn you: you need to be more careful with the companions you choose.”

  Matheus couldn’t help but sigh. Would he have to explain his curse again? He really didn’t want to.

  “I know. I’ve already been warned of it, believe me. But I am doing what I need to do.”

  “Of course, you know what is best. I shouldn’t assume to know your plans. Take good care, Matheus.”

  The path to his safe cafe was relatively secure, however he wasn’t about to risk getting into a fight in the dark. He decided to go back to his room and call it a day for now.

  He ended up not getting a single coin from the Quest, which was annoying, but the real reward had always been the extra stats anyway.

  Should he make slight improvements to everything, or just choose one and give it all?

  Plus +5 strength sounded nice. Really nice.

  And yet, he knew it would make him no good to increase his strength alone. He was already doing enough damage with his hits.

  He decided the best way forward was 2 to Strength, 2 to Constitution and 1 to Intelligence. A good balance.

  For the other half, he wasn’t sure. He thought for a while, and decided to take a gamble. Increasing his core was important for obvious reasons, but his inventory still wasn’t completely full. He needed to prioritize taking everything to level 5 first.

  “Assign 3 Soul Points to Investiture.”

  Investiture has reached level 5.

  Soul Abilities have been Awakened.

  All at once, the System started changing.

  “Aether” appeared right below his mana, and Synergy, Density and Energy showed together with his other Soul Stats.

  Matheus couldn’t help but smile.

  He had no idea what those things did. He felt he was just beginning to really understand this weird System and how to best work with it. Nonetheless, progress was progress.

  Now, the only thing still unavailable from his menu was his secret stat, that he still had 42 of.

  He was one step closer to finally unleashing his secret potential!

  Or probably not. Knowing how the System had operated so far, the stat would end up being for something really stupid.

  But a boy could hope.

  If he was understanding it correctly, he could use his Aether to release abilities, the same way he used Mana to release spells.

  However, his recovery rate was extremely low. It would take almost 2 days for him to recover a single point. That was a crazy long time.

  The problem was, he didn’t have any ability to use, nor did he know how to get one. Matheus couldn't remember finding anything mentioning it on the quest’s board.

  He still decided on checking all of them again on the morrow. He knew some new ones appeared from time to time, and he wanted to choose one he could complete by himself.

  Rick wasn’t worth it. Between having no allies or being in a party with that guy, Matheus preferred to be on his own.

  It was a shame he couldn’t partner up with Sophie. With her as an ally, he could have a real chance in this Contest.

  But of course, things would never be this easy. If something was useful for him in any way, it was soon taken away. And that had been true long before he ever got into this world and gained his system.

  He’d learned long ago to accept it and move on, and he did just that.

  Captain had gotten comfortable on a corner of his bed, near his feet. The cat was already snoring, as usual.

  Well, maybe not all of his allies were bad.

  Yeah, the cat had a scratch skill that was practically useless, since it wasn’t agile enough to attack something without losing its balance. And it was taking a percentage of his exp each time he killed a monster, probably delaying his own advancement.

  Matheus smiled.

  It didn’t matter. Even without the radar skill, having Captain companionship was worth it. It made everything easier, somehow.

  He gently petted his sleeping friend and got ready to doze off himself.

  Matheus had the feeling he was missing something. It bothered him, but he was too tired to find out what that was.

  So much was happening. Before he could process one thing, two more were thrown at him.

  It was maddening. But thrilling too. And he realized he was looking forward to doing it all.

  He was excited to start a new day. When had that happened?

  Could he really have changed this much in such a brief time?

  Or maybe it was because of the beer. He had never tried alcohol before, and his head was still a little funny.

  Silly thoughts. Closing his eyes, Matheus fell asleep smiling.