[Nightmare]

"Is he okay?" Marie asked nervously.

The group was currently circling a fire in the caravan encampment.

Helix was currently sleeping on Marie's lap.

Tyrene looked at her worried expression and chuckled.

"That brat? The Mad Queen of Myriad couldn't harm that boy." She laughed.

"He's just exhausted from being an overprotective worry warrior."

Marie brushed her fingers through his hair with a slight smile.

"Master Tilo, can you teach us how to use the Gravity Tip Trigger circle?

It was the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Charlotte exclaimed after remembering his [overprotectiveness].

"Hoh? Hah. Hahahaha haha ha!" Tilo replied with bewildered eyes.

"Don't tell me that boy used that thing already!"

Charlotte panned her eyes to the others.

Everyone had the same confused expression that she did.

"My apologies. Hahaha." Tilo laughed.

"I…. I just can't believe it. He just finished modifications on that circle this morning."

Tyrene raised an eyebrow.

"Finished?" She asked suspiciously.

"Haaaaah. Yes, finished. That spell is a Helix Margrave original.

So I'm sorry, Charlotte, you'll have to learn it from that maniac." Tilo chuckled.

The expression on every woman's face crumbled.

"It's a Hellie original!? That's even better!" Charlotte cried under her breath.

Marie's eyes widened, and she looked down at the man sleeping peacefully on her lap.

His sight filled her heart with pride as she gazed at him.

"I agree." Tilo chuckled.

"How was it in practice? I saw it for the first time this morning."

Tyrene narrowed her eyes at Tilo.

"This morning? You keep saying that.

What happened this morning?" She asked.

"What happened? That boy was terrified you'd pull something, so he prepared himself for the apocalypse. Hahahaha!" TIlo cried.

Charlotte burst into laughter as well.

Marie laughed when she saw Tyrene puffing out her cheeks.

After a moment of pouting, Tyrene chuckled and gazed at the young man.

"So? How was it? Gravity Tip Trigger?" Tilo asked with curiosity in his eyes.

"How was it? Have you ever watched a god come from the upper heavens to exact judgment on a mortal?" Charlotte asked.

"Hmmm? I can't say that I have." Tilo chuckled.

"No? Well, me neither. But I swear that's what I saw!" She exclaimed.

"Get this. I was staring down this fifteen-foot behemoth in the eyes like, [yo, it's taken you long enough. Do you need an invitation to kill my ass or something]?

He's like, [uh… okay, I'll get on that].

Suddenly a shimmering light materializes above his head.

Then BOOOOOOOOOOOM!" Charlotte reenacted dramatically.

She spread her hands away from each other and wiggled her fingers.

Tilo's eyes chuckled in bewilderment at the young woman's depiction.

"I felt my damn soul getting dragged out of my body.

Rocks and twigs flew past my face at lightning speed toward that beast.

It was like the rapture.

Then the storm calmed, and I looked up.

That barely injured fifteen-foot Colossus was a double-toasted pop-tart without butter.

Dunzo, chief. And who was standing next to it without a drop of blood on him?

Helix! He didn't even look winded.

It was like he was taking a nature hike through a Level 50 zone and was like, [Hmmm…? That girl looks cute], then bam!"

The people around the campfire were rolling in laughter.

Only Helix was calm. He had a truly serene expression as he enjoyed a legendary lap pillow.

Tilo looked at Tyrene for confirmation with a smile on his face.

While he was satisfied with Charlotte's answer, he was still curious about the spell.

Tyrene nodded with a serious expression.

"It's true. That spell combo made a Level 55 Balken Bear like a Level 3 Liken Wolf pup." She replied honestly.

Tilo's eyes widened in surprise.

"The gravity spell leveled it. Even if the blade didn't reach, Helix still could have slain the beast without contest.

The gravity was so precise that it only sucked down the beast's center of gravity.

It was terrifying to watch."

"Do you have that circle on you?" Tilo asked hurriedly.

"That's not what he showed me this morning!"

Tyrene's eyes filled with confusion.

Charlotte reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the battle disc.

"Here you go, Master." She said.

Tilo couldn't get more confused.

"Why do you have this?" He asked in confusion.

"Hmmm? Hellie gave it to me as a memento for our first hunt together." Charlotte replied in confusion.

"Hah hahahaha. I'm going insane, absolutely insane." Tilo commented in between laughs.

"What is it, master?" Riley asked.

"This… only that boy would give out high-level circles for unfinished research…." He laughed with a strained voice.

"This circle… it would sell for 1000 Alzerian gold coins… if it weren't cutting edge magic…."

Charlotte grinned and gave an arm pump in excitement.

"Is that because of how restricted knowledge on magic circles is?" Marie asked with a strange smile on her face.

"Yes. That's right." Tilo chuckled.

"Now let's see what's going on here…."

Tilo narrowed his eyes at the circle, then burst into laughter again after a moment.

"There's an entire layer that's devoted to preventing the blade from touching the circle…." He cried.

"At this rate, I'm going to learn more from this kid than the other way around."

Tyrene lifted an eyebrow.

"What are you going on about?" She asked.

Tilos chuckled in bewilderment.

"This spell increases the output depending on the barrier between it and the blade.

Gravity decreases to prevent the blade from hurting the disc if there is nothing between the blade and the circle.

If something large severs the connection, it increases the gravity proportionately.

That way, he can test this stupid thing a thousand times.

He made its practical training element a lethal feature of the damn spell." Tilo explained.

"Are you surprised?" Charlotte asked with a pride-filled expression.

He shook his head in disbelief.

"Nothing surprises me anymore.

This boy wiped the floor with me during my last test." Tilo confessed.

"Me too." Tyrene grumbled.

Tilo raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, you too?" He asked with wide eyes.

Tyrene crossed her arms and huffed.

"It's not like he [won] in a match." She huffed.

"It's just that he took down a Level 75 Markov and turned the entire forest into a war-stricken hellscape.

I had to break the rules to save his crazy ass, and in the end, I couldn't even blame him!"

"Markov!?" Tilo cried in disbelief.

The other women got excited at Tilo's exclamation.

Helix groaned lightly on Marie's shaky legs.

Marie panicked, steadied her body, and ran her fingers through her hair to calm him down.

"Yeah. That brat is crafty to the point that training him takes on a whole new level of danger."

"I'm not so sure why I'm so surprised." Tilo replied with a wry smile.

"Master! Please tell us! What happened?" Charlotte begged excitedly.

The ever-reserved Riley had sparkling eyes.

Marie was doing her best to keep her body stable.

"That boy of yours… is an absurd existence.

Aside from his SP reserve, his stats are mediocre compared to the rest of you Earthians.

However, give him some chalk and an hour, and he'll bring down just about anything." Tyrene sighed in defeat.

"My final test before your arrival was to finally force him to face a beast that was too difficult for him to kill."

Tilo gave her an evil grin, causing her cheeks to puff up.

The other women found her expression cute beyond comparison.

"The goal was for him to finally run away! He never does!" Tyrene cried in exasperation.

"You girls know what you experienced today?"

Charlotte blinked twice with an unenthused expression.

Marie gave her a resting bitch face, and Riley sent her a wry smile.

"Yes, that. This boy was supposed to have one of those expressions at least once in the last month!" Tyrene exclaimed.

"You can't kill every damn enemy you see.

Learning how to retreat against the authority of another is a skill with immeasurable value."

Marie, Charlotte, and Riley gave her a face that expressed their sudden understanding.

"But he always doubles his resolve and tells himself he won't let another being's strength prevent him from saving someone he loves.

Then that thing dies one way or the other fifteen minutes later."

The atmosphere around the campfire became complex.

"Well, I messed up big time a couple of days ago." Tyrene continued.

Tilo and the young women looked at her with interest in their eyes.

"Girls, you know those three question marks above a monster that tell you to run?" She asked with a self-deprecating smile.

"Yeah… that's the first time I've ever seen those." Marie replied.

"Me too… what's up with that?" Charlotte asked.

"First for me, too." Riley confirmed.

"Those question marks mean that the monster is twenty levels or higher above you." Tyrene explained.

"I keep facing him off with those monsters trying to get him to run away.

As a result, he couldn't differentiate between levels twenty and forty-five levels higher than him.

He didn't even understand just how powerful that thing was before he ran in to kill it…." She sighed.

The revelation finally sunk in.

"W-Wait…." Charlotte gasped.

"H-He killed something F-Forty-F-Five levels above him!?" Marie gasped while holding her body in place.

"That's right. That boy took down a monster that was 45 levels higher than him.

However, he didn't understand the ramifications of taking down the alpha of a territory."

Tilo gave Tyrene a serious expression.

"How the hell did he do that?"