Luke sat in a wooden chair inside one of the village houses. A few hours had passed since breakfast, and the tension had finally drained away. Hard to believe that just a short time ago, every single one of them had been fighting for their lives against an army of undead.

  The organizers of the settlement were trying to piece together what had happened while contacting authorities from the modern world. Statements were being taken. Most survivors kept praising some mysterious savior, a man wearing a stone mask. According to them, he was the one who had saved them all. Of course, none of them knew that man was Luke. Only Ronan and Luke’s group knew the truth.

  “No… move… too much,” murmured Anne, soft voiced as always.

  Luke kept still while the doll maid trimmed his hair.

  “Not too short,” he warned her.

  Anne loved cutting hair.

  After his rank up, his hair had grown a lot. Not just his, everyone had experienced their own side effects, but his had exploded in length, falling past his shoulders. He was still adjusting to the new body. His strength fluctuated sometimes; his arm felt heavy one moment, weightless the next.

  While he remained seated, he had his rank skill active.

  [Soul Infiltration (Rank F)]: Your dense, assassin nature has given rise to this power. You can infiltrate a fragment of your soul into a target’s body. While infiltrated, you can see and hear everything they see and hear. Perfect for espionage, lethal for assassinations. However, the link breaks if your body moves too far from the target. Use with care… and purpose.

  Through Jerry’s eyes, Luke watched the area outside. The range of his skill had increased dramatically, almost certainly because of the rank change. Even while chatting with Anne, he was observing the sky above the village, scanning for any sign of Jonathan or Quinn.

  Hours passed without a trace of him. But Luke knew Jonathan. He might still be around, maybe wearing someone else’s face, maybe disguised as a member of Haven. Which was exactly why none of them got too close to anyone. Haven was searching for Allison, after all.

  At least within their group, everyone was safe. Jonathan hadn’t copied any of their faces, and they had ways to prove their identities, unique skills only the real versions possessed.

  Erza was somewhere outside. Anne continued trimming Luke’s hair and would move on to the others soon.

  The door creaked open. Eleanor stepped in.

  Luke was already tracking her through the Predator’s Mark. If he’d had enough mana during his fight with Jonathan, he could have marked him too. But he was almost certain the rank up would have erased it anyway; Jonathan’s body would have been reconstructed.

  “How’s our trip to America looking?” Luke asked.

  “It’s basically immigration,” Eleanor said. “First they need to contact the government association in each state. Teleportation only works if the other side approves the entry. They can’t just start sending people over without permission.”

  She rubbed her forehead. “And apparently some important government officials want to talk to us. No idea why yet, but from what I heard, a lot of organizations have been waiting for our tutorial to end. It wasn’t just some game that gods watch every now and then.”

  Allison was upstairs in one of the rooms. Luke, meanwhile, could think of only one thing: getting back to Maine. Her family could track her down eventually, and the thought gnawed at him. Not immediately, at least, not as far as they knew. Just because a god was aware she’d been in the tutorial didn’t mean that same god would bother contacting her family back on Earth. Gods didn’t concern themselves with mortal problems.

  Which meant Allison could, for now, move on with her life. Her name would eventually surface in some report, and nobles would start asking questions. It was only a matter of days before someone discovered where she was.

  “You’re really leaving today?” Eleanor asked.

  “Of course. If I could leave this second, I would. I want to see my family more than anything,” he replied.

  Jack was coming down the stairs, the next one in line for Anne’s help.

  “All done,” Anne said to Luke.

  She held a mirror out in front of him.

  “It looks great,” he said. His long hair was now shoulder length, shorter but still fuller than the hair he had back on the day he accepted the system. He’d gotten used to the longer look.

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  Luke pulled a gold coin from his pocket dimension and handed it to her.

  “For you, Anne,” he said.

  “Anne… has… very much money at home,” the doll replied.

  Technically, she was a princess with her own kingdom. Gold wasn’t exactly scarce for her.

  “It’s not about the money. It’s for the memory,” Luke said, pressing the coin gently into her hands. “Today is special. It’s the day we came back to Earth. The coin can at least mark the moment.”

  “Thank you…” the maid doll murmured.

  Luke jogged up the stairs. He thought about going straight to Allison’s room, but stopped himself. There was something else in his pocket he wanted to check first.

  It was the letter Samael had given him. The paper felt heavy, almost metallic, and pitch black.

  He tried to unfold it. The letter didn’t budge. It stayed sealed no matter how carefully he pulled. Even when he applied more strength, it refused to open. Every attempt ended the same way, with the system flashing a message across his vision.

  [This letter may only be opened once your servant Princess Charlie has fully evolved into Rank E]

  There was some kind of enchantment on it.

  Luke exhaled slowly, then opened his system interface.

  Name: Luke

  Level: 50

  Race: Half-Demon

  Rank: E

  Class: [Demonic Predator (Lvl 60)]

  Profession: [Guardian Botanist of Mother Freya (Lvl 60)]

  Titles: [Dark Lord]

  Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Dark Demon]

  Health Points (HP): 4770/4770

  Mana Points (MP): 5600/(5600)

  Stamina: 3020/(3020)

  Soul Fragments: 303/1000

  Stats:

  Strength: 421

  Lethality: 760

  Agility: 548 (558)

  Dexterity: 324

  Endurance: 302

  Vitality: 477

  Toughness: 167

  Perception: 503 (513)

  Wisdom: 555 (560)

  Intelligence: 260

  Willpower: 599

  Free Points: 0

  Class Skills: [Advanced Blade Handling (Uncommon)], [Profane Knife Throwing (Uncommon)], [Twin Blade (Common)], [Basic Dark Dash (Rare)], [Basic Blood Regeneration (Rare)], [Predator’s Mark (Rare)], [Demonic Blade Dance (Rare)], [Wraith Form (Ultra-Rare)], [Force Infusion (Rare)], [Advanced Stealth (Rare)], [Assassin’s Tracking (Rare)], [Mana Infusion (Rare)], [Basic Archery (Common)], [Demonic Predator Hands (Epic)]

  Profession Skills: [Herbology of Mother Freya (Ancient)], [Precise Extraction (Common)], [Basic Potion Crafting (Common)], [Corrupted Plant Growth (Rare)], [Plant Sensor (Uncommon)], [Botanical Bond of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Seed Conversion (Rare)], [Plant Manipulation of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Corrupted Blood of Mother Freya (Ultra-Rare)], [Thorn Mutation (Uncommon)], [Soil Analysis (Uncommon)], [Botanical Purification (Uncommon)], [Acid Blood Arrow (Epic)]

  Race Skills: [Identify (Common)], [Demonic Perception (Uncommon)], [Dark Blood (Uncommon)], [Meditation (Common)], [Demonic Endurance (Uncommon)]

  Rank Skill: [Soul Infiltration (Rank F)]

  Bloodline Skill: [Servant of the Dark Lord (Unique)]

  Servants: [Recovering], [Angie (Stone Angel) - Lvl 0]

  Familiar: [Unavailable]

  He stepped into his room. There were a few things he needed to check. Charlie’s system was offline, which made sense; she was in the middle of evolving her rank. Now that he was Rank E, she finally met the requirements to begin the process. But at the same time, she was still recovering from the soul damage she had taken. The evolution seemed to be on pause until she healed completely. Rank changes affected the soul, after all. Her soul had to be whole before anything could move forward.

  Then there was the issue of his new servant’s name. The system listed her as “Angie,” a nickname for Angelica, but also close enough to “angel” to make him wonder if the System had a sense of humor.

  Luke touched his necklace and opened the pocket dimension. Inside was the wyvern core where Franky rested. His evolution was also paused. Luke preferred to leave him there for now. The last thing he wanted was for the serpent to wake up and grow right in the middle of the village. He needed to release Franky somewhere safe, somewhere far from people who might try to hunt him down the moment he appeared.

  The New World, from what he had learned, still had countless unexplored regions. That would not be a problem. Franky would stay in hibernation until Luke returned to Maine. Only there would he take the snake out and explain everything once the hibernation ended.

  He looked down at his hand. The magic ring glinted faintly, his new weapon. And now he had an entire new class to deal with. He was a Witch. With a deep breath, he decided to face the newest problem. He locked the bedroom door, pulled the curtains shut, and summoned Angelica.

  Black smoke poured out of his body, swirling until something began to take shape within a cloud of gray energy. A woman emerged, skin completely stone-gray, with two wings unfolding behind her. An angelic woman. Angelica.

  “My lord,” she said, immediately kneeling in front of him.

  Luke shot to his feet, flustered, and threw the bedsheet over her.

  “Angelica, you’re naked. Cover yourself first,” he insisted, draping the cloth around her shoulders.

  “I concluded it would not be a problem if it is my lord who sees me,” she answered calmly.

  “Let’s stop with the ‘lord’ thing, all right?” Luke said, helping her sit on the bed. He tried to act mature about the situation, wrapping the blanket around her like it was a perfectly normal morning.

  “I tried to pass my novice adventurer outfit into your system, but I failed. I’m sorry. I couldn’t access your system at all,” he added.

  She watched him, smiling faintly, and leaned closer. Far closer. Luke tried to back away, but she gently pressed her forehead to his. Their faces were inches apart.

  “What are you doing?” he whispered, pulling back slightly.

  But at that exact moment, something appeared on his System screen.

  [Servant of the Dark Lord System]: Every tyrant needs servants worthy of their greatness. A Dark Lord tolerates no weakness; only the strongest survive. Through the servant bond, your soldiers evolve, transcend, and march toward legend.

  Name: Angie

  Level: 0

  Race: Stone Angel

  Rank: F

  Class: —

  Titles: [Servant of the Dark Lord]

  **Full information will be processed once the Servant’s Class is selected.**

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