"Hey Ace, how did you end up inside the fortress?"
Ace gave a small smile and explained that he had followed a tutorial arrow earlier.
"There was an arrow marker guiding me somewhere, so I just followed it—and suddenly I ended up here. Oh, and apparently, there's a small hidden door in this wall, so I went in. Turns out this gate can be accessed both manually and automatically."
Ren and Caiber finally understood what had happened. They immediately grew concerned something might have happened to Ace. Without saying much more, they continued their journey.
Ace and the others followed a path that led them into a dense and towering forest. This forest was once considered a treasure of the =Core Continent=, rich with resources and benefits. But because of a past tragedy, everything had changed.
Now, the local inhabitants fought to protect their land—land they had nurtured and cared for. They refused to hand it over to the villains trying to conquer the Core Continent. All of this was part of the stories told by the travelers who were on their way to the nearest city, the one protected by the inner walls of the Second Sister Fortress.
"Hmm, after hearing your stories, I feel like I'm needed for this too."
"But, where did this all begin?"
"You've only told me about the riches of the Core Continent and your rights to it, but not what actually happened."
"Is there something being hidden?"
Everyone in the group fell silent, clearly haunted by trauma. Ace understood, though, and the weight of their pain made him more determined than ever to defeat the villains lurking across the Core Continent.
How did Ace know this was the Core Continent? It was all written in a message from Noah:
=Oh hey, Ace, I forgot to tell you—actually, you're in the past. When Casca summoned you earlier, that was the start of the game you've been playing. So right now, you're in its past timeline. When you played the game, the Core Continent was already peaceful. But because of a tragedy in the past, you now have to save it. That's the whole point—the game starts because peace has been restored. And yes, that's why you met Caiber, aka (your prettiest waifu ever) :) =
"So that's why... Hmm, but if this really is the past, then who started it all?"
As Ace was lost in thought, he was suddenly snapped back to reality by Ren, who splashed him with a bucket of water—the same bucket that belonged to the traveling group.
Startled and coughing, Ace's reaction made everyone burst into laughter at the silly moment between the two.
"Hey Ace, you've been daydreaming for a while now. Are you thinking about something? Ah, no way Ace would ever think of something weird, right?"
"Hehehe."
Ren teased, while Ace just responded with his usual flat expression.
"Whatever you say."
Moments later, they heard something in the distance—footsteps, getting closer. They braced themselves for whatever was coming. Ace leapt into a tree to scout ahead.
From afar, he saw what looked like a knight being chased by a monster. Ace quickly alerted the group and signaled the knight.
"Hey everyone, heads up! Someone's being chased by a monster!"
"I'll lure the monster and take it down—you guys focus on saving the knight."
Everyone understood what Ace meant and prepared to assist. Meanwhile, Ace would handle distracting the monster.
"Hey! Knight! Over here—this way!"
The knight looked up and understood immediately. He urged his horse to gallop faster, leaving the monster slightly behind. Ace then prepared himself to strike.
"Alright, let's go!"
Ace jumped and summoned a weapon from his hand—something that looked like an iron fang.
=Wind Boomerang=
He hurled it toward the monster. The closer it got, the larger the boomerang grew.
BLAAASSH!
The monster was instantly sliced in half and exploded. Thankfully, the blast wasn't too strong and no one was harmed. Ace returned to the group afterward to discuss what had just happened.
When he arrived, he saw the knight was in pain, and the horse was slightly injured. The group gave them first aid, while Ren analyzed the knight's condition.
Upon examination, they found the knight was infected with dark magic, which was slowly consuming him. Seeing this, Ace performed an emergency healing spell.
=Aurora Heal=
The dark magic in the knight's body vanished instantly. Ace didn't forget to heal the horse as well.
A little while later, night fell. They all prepared to camp in the forest, whose name remained unknown to them.
Eventually, the knight woke up from his rest, surprised that his pain had completely vanished and his body had returned to normal.
Seeing him awake, Ace approached and offered him some food.
"Hey, are you alright?"
"Would you like to try the food we just made?"
Unexpectedly, the knight moved closer and spoke to Ace in a shaky, worried voice.
"Please... Please help me..."
"They... they..."
Ace calmed him down and let him rest by a tree, offering the meal that had been prepared. It helped ease the knight's mind a little.
"Thank you... I'm sorry for being so rude. I made a mistake. Please forgive me."
Ace responded kindly, not the least bit bothered. Then, while looking more closely at the knight, something clicked.
"Wait a second… aren't you—"
"GEN? THE LEGENDARY KNIGHT?!"
Everyone fell silent, the atmosphere suddenly awkward. The knight looked genuinely confused.
"Uh… what?"
He responded, completely baffled.