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Joshua
Originally written from November 9 to 21, 2021, 13 days

An older man, son of a web developer, James Joshua observed two cars driving up to his house’s front. He went out through his house’s backdoor and entered his garage from there. 
He gritted his teeth because the cars made skid marks on his driveway. 
He spent two years on that driveway. If he had a cup and a bag of unground coffee, he’d spent a good thirty minutes grinding enough for his whole family to get that driveway in order.
He exited through his garage and approached the two cars.
“What the hell are you guys on? Get that off!” He huffed through his nose in anger. “…that… Come here, come here, clean that!” He was shouting because the two people in the cars had the windows closed. He rubbed across his head and sighed because these two people were his kids. 
Joshua handed them tools to clean. His two kids cleaned the skid marks.
“Kids,” Joshua said.
“I’m not a kid anymore, Dad,” said his first son, Robin.
“Right. Kid.” Joshua was half-joking.
“Excuse me, Dad, is the equipment…?” said his second son, Mark, touching his military haircut and stretching his wide shoulders. Mark sounded unbathed in cold water and sleepy with all the war movie posters he put up last night in his room.
“Yes, yes, Mark. The equipment is coming. Just wait… 15 days. I know it’s a long time, but that’s just the way it is.” Joshua gritted his teeth. Every moment felt like a judgment toward his parenthood. He waved his hands to show “15.”
His other son entered the house already. He was about to bang the door, but Joshua was staring at him, knowing his buffoonery.
Mark, Joshua’s second child, was pacing back and forth, walking, his expression patient and calm.
Joshua frowned because Mark was much more likable compared to his other son. Mark took care of himself well and drew for a living, making beautiful, optimistic depictions of a post-apocalyptic world. He was wide-shouldered, attractive, school-smart, and muscular. He helped around the house, and provided he outgrew his shyness and anger issues, he would become a spectacular man in his adult life. He always spoke about helping people when he was down in the dumps and when things worked out for him. Mark reminded Joshua of himself.
His other son, Robin never learned the empathy that Mark embodied, but Joshua was trying to help him by giving him space and letting him buy expensive shoes and two cars even. Robin hid in his room, ranting about his radical beliefs. Joshua rubbed his chin, wondering if genetics played a role. He knew the answers, but from time to time, he asked the same questions to see if the answers were still the same.
He brushed these thoughts away for now.
“Mark, good job, but you have to be careful with those things. They are heavy… and I’ll be watching your body just to be sure.”
“Okay, Dad…” He opened the door to the house. “Thank you.” He left.
Joshua furrowed his brows and gave a subtle smile. He checked his phone, and his wife left his message unread. His wife was out there volunteering in some Christian group. Rubbing his hands together, he blamed his wife somewhat for their third son Adrian’s absence in school, but he told himself, “This too shall pass.” 
He would play that “This too shall pass” song in the car when his wife cheated on him three years ago, but she was back, maybe. He distracted himself with video games and books to work hard as if it was all just a bad dream. He was stupid, maybe, but he wouldn’t let his younger brother, sisters, and mom judge him in front of his face as if they understood him and his business. And his father was long dead due to shellfish poisoning.
A humongous truck from out of nowhere ran over him, his house, and his two sons.
Joshua got up and checked the sides of his belly. They were red and bleeding. He crawled all the way inside the house and administered first aid to his sons before he died, saving them. It was the least impressive death.
Joshua gritted his teeth and rolled around because his head ached. 
He got up because a dark forest and its noise surrounded him. He froze, shocked because of the feeling his mind was playing tricks on him. 
Because the darkness and the forest noise persisted, he grew anxious and tightened his arms and shoulders. He wanted to be calm even when a monster or insect popped into his face. He stood on tiptoe.
A red-haired boar with white skin under the nose emerged from the bushes nearby.
“What is that?” His voice was clear and healthy.
He sprinted, flailing his arms around. His trousers were hard to sprint in. He unbuckled his belt fast and raised it toward the boar. “You better be invasive…”
The boar slowed down and watched him.
He gritted his teeth because he needed to put the force if he attacked the poor animal.
The boar ran away.
Joshua stopped as well, breathing deep. “Shit, what the hell.” He was panting.
He glanced around. “I can’t see… where… this is…” 
The boar returned with a wolf emerging from another bush.
“Dangit…”
The sky pointed out its artist’s working all throughout with its sharp reliefs as a reductive painting. Joshua was tired and dizzy, associating his surroundings with his paintings which depicted these rainforests.
A woman stepped out from the dark trees.
The boar and the wolf fled.
Joshua stared in silence.
He composed himself for what she had to say, relaxing his shoulders.
The woman spoke in a throaty language which he failed to understand. Joshua rubbed his face, disappointed.
When the woman kept speaking, Joshua gestured his confusion at her.
She stopped speaking.
He stared in silence, worried that he might have bothered her. He rested the back of his finger on his lower lip, while he grew more worried that the woman might attack him with spells.
“You should really try the tea here,” the woman said.
Joshua raised his brows, nodded, put on a smile, showing he understood. 
His cheeks shook somewhat because he was anxious and existential about being in a rainforest in the middle of nowhere after seeing blood everywhere. 
It was like he was on vacation and a few hundred meters away from an erupting volcano that had not erupted for thousands of years.
The woman nodded as well and returned a subtle smile.
Shaking, struggling to stand still, Joshua tensed his smile and gave a thumbs-up because of his shock.
He cocked his head at a hill where seven white-haired, handsome male goblins stared at him and the woman. One of them was taller than the rest. 
After a while, they left, and widened his eyes because he saw goblins for the first time. 
He suppressed his reaction and pretended he was stretching his neck because he also doubted the woman. 
These goblins and this woman were fantasy creatures. This shocked him because he read fantasy books and played fantasy video games.
Joshua put on a smile when the woman kept staring at him, terrified because the woman looked like she was making a decision.
She cleared her throat. “Come with me.”
Joshua was still holding his belt. He took a deep, pursed-lip breath, calming himself down for any surprises.
He glared at her for a split-second, imagining her turning around and attacking him.
He rubbed his hands together because of the cold rainforest.
A wolf jumped out from the bushes.
The wolf bit his arm off, and he yelled.
The woman clasped her hands together, and the wolf turned to dust. She handed Joshua a red potion that she made him drink.
Joshua’s arm healed back, but he was wet. 
His head ached so hard even after he healed. He grit his teeth, while he grew more frustrated.
“Damn, okay. What did that potion do to me?” His voice sounded accusatory.
The woman raised her brow, surprised at his tone. “It gives people headaches. Don’t overuse it.”
“That’s unfair. Oh… my… bad… this is not… argh!” A spike of pain left him on the ground crawling. He lowered his voice to a mutter. “This is not right.” He gritted his teeth, desiring to get this situation he was in under control. He grabbed the woman’s hand and said, “Help me.” Through her and everything after her, he saw the life that he had to build to make sure he was safe and bringing agencies to this world. Doing the right thing all the way was what he was doing and what he would do. He was delirious.
He hardened his fists and soon stood up after he slept. The woman carried him into a small house in her city, feeling guilty about the wolf biting Joshua’s arm off.
Joshua, in his case, was growing ambitious, as he inspected the city. The people in the city and the art in the woman’s room inspired him to draw. The woman handed him the tools he needed, and he drew an ugly painting of a small city. It was enough to express his desire to learn how to live in this new world.
He explored the city with the woman for 8 hours everyday, and he learned the ties between businesses and organizations, referring to his Earth knowledge for these connections.
Becoming an adventurer was the easiest way to die, but it was the most thrilling.
He drank another potion after he became sick because of the stress from lack of sleep and adjusting to this new climate and culture.
He grinned. “My life is meaningless, and I want to be the best… that I can ever be. I have to take risks… I am a budding flower, am I not!” He believed in himself. He was delirious. 
The woman stared at him from afar, glancing around, desiring to stop him from endangering himself, but she hesitated, only giving an offhand comment to stop.
His headache gone, he stared at her in silence and soon spoke before the woman broke: “Do you want to come with me? You’re not done yet. You know that…” 
The woman shook because she never expected this foreigner to be self-willed after only a week in this city. She said, “Yes, I want to come with you.”
Joshua left and went outside, looking at the rain.
Later, two zombies growled in the distance.
He kicked at them in the head, but he missed. The zombies grabbed him, and he breathed fast. He slashed at them with a sword and kicked at them again. He hit this time, and the zombie fell backwards and sustained a cut across their chest.
Two other zombies grabbed his legs, and the woman behind him clasped her hands. One of the zombies turned to dust. The zombie still alive bit the armor that Joshua wore. Joshua kicked at the zombie twice in the chest and beheaded it with a prepared heavy swing to the neck.
He cheered, grabbing the coins that dropped when the zombies died. “This is good. Let’s collect this and start a business. You said you were an animal caretaker of some sorts?”
“That’s… right,” she said, slow to answer because she was still new to this feeling of him taking the lead. With some enmity in her heart, she gulped.
He guessed her feelings from watching people and learning how to imitate people’s expressions. He tripped on purpose, and the stress in the woman’s face faded.
He caught himself on the ground and struggled to stand, putting on an awkward smile.
The woman laughed from all the stress.
He rubbed the back of his head to feign shyness. 
He looked away, and his eyes became stern for a few moments, remembering his goal to help, save, and support people. He gritted his teeth at the frustration of his past moments of humiliation and weakness when he failed to help someone who was suffering. He furrowed his brows, wrinkled his nose, and frowned, feeling the passion and anger of someone who believed he would never be good enough. If being the way he was helped others, he would continue being the way he was and throw his whole effort into this passion.
He struggled against zombies that came his way and killed them with little delay, focusing on efficacy. He slashed their necks and struggled to pull apart their head from their torso.
The zombies flew apart.
He grabbed the coins and pouched them. “Let’s go.” He led the way out of the dungeon.
Three zombies came his way, and he butchered two of them, his expression still. The woman turned the last zombie into dust, furrowing her brows. She was worried about Joshua, but he declined any attempts at prying into his personal life. He was receptive toward her consoling, which was what she continued to do.
Joshua grabbed a small pouch and drank from it, dripping somewhat. “I suggest we join a group that specializes in adventuring because these bottom-level zombies are nothing. We need risk and help.”
“I have no idea.” The woman rubbed her cheek with the back of her hand.
“You and I both. Let’s go.” He turned around halfway and walked for a few moments before he turned around. 
He walked up to her and tapped her shoulder when he noticed she was unresponsive. “Hey, are you okay?” he said.
“I don’t know,” she said. ”This is too fast. I can’t think straight—Can I stop this temporarily—I have to break this mad cycle.”
“Sure, sure. I don’t mind. I’ll go there, though. See you soon.” He left fast as soon as he said it.
The woman’s mouth was ajar, still surprised because of his fast living.
Joshua dealt with his frustration, day and night, fighting zombies and taking care of his sensual urges when he was alone. When he finally got an answer in letter from an adventurer party, he went to the related place of meeting.
Three adventurers sat down at a table in a tea shop. “Make sure you’re not wearing anything dangerous,” said one of them, a tall guy wearing baggy linen trousers. “The new ones sometimes take magical cores with them.”
“Oh… magical cores?” Joshua said after he placed them his waist pouch. He formed a steeple with his hands and walked up to them.
“We get them from the monsters…?”
“I… don’t… know.” Joshua grimaced, sitting down at the three adventurers’ table.
“You leave them there? Oh shocks! Wasteful!” He glanced from a newspaper toward Joshua. “Oh, by the way, can you not sit there?” He drank from a cup of tea, holding it by the rim over the opening.
Joshua raised his brows, wondering if the adventurer’s discomfort was personal or cultural. He stood up and sat down on another seat at another table.
The two other adventurers ignored Joshua and only glanced at Joshua when he showed his weapon. “This is the weapon that you guys requested.” He paused, suppressing some tension in his tongue. “It’s sheathed with Grade A sheathing magic as requested.”
“Good, good. Now—”
“This works.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of him.”
The first adventurer paused, hesitating, as the two other adventurers looked at him. “Oh, okay fine. This guy’s the first one today anyway. First bird gets the worm.”
Joshua stopped himself from opening his mouth in shock. He put on a confident smile and said, “Yes, thank you.” He turned around to leave.
“Hey, where are you going?” said the first adventurer who spoke. “Come back. Let’s review your weapon to show you your results? Don’t you want to know how you did?”
“Uh, it’s good right? I already know—” He turned his head toward the other two adventurers. “…because of you guys…?”
“It’s your choice.” said the first adventurer. “Do you want us to review it to show you results or not?”
Joshua furrowed his brows, thinking this adventurer sounded scornful for a second. “Eh?”
“You don’t need to know.” This adventurer sounded sincere.
Joshua turned away and hesitated to leave. Once he was outside, he rubbed his arm, awkward about the confused end to his interaction with the three adventurers.
He slept for the night, and in the morning, he went to meet the woman with leaves coming out of her forearms again. Calling her by name, later, he said, “Chimes, where are you?”
Chimes’ true house, different from the small house where Joshua stayed, was a maze of potted plants, and Joshua was inside it.
Joshua rubbed his head, surprised because of his rude comment. He grimaced, wanting to apologize.
When he saw her, the woman was on the ground, sitting down. “Chimes…?”
She stared off in the distance, tired and weak because she was sick. “It’s too much for me, I think. I need to rest.”
“Chimes, I’ll sit here.”
She stared at his eyes, inspecting his expression. She furrowed his brows because she still struggled to understand him. Joshua was a closed book. She said, “That’s a-alright.”
After a while, while Joshua looked around and studied the plants, she said, “I can’t imagine being anyone but me.” Joshua turned toward her and ran, sitting down beside her.
Joshua took time to process what she said, furrowing his brows and compressing his lips. “That’s what being alive is like.” He laughed, enjoying himself.
“Yeah, you’re right.” She put on a grin.
Joshua stared at her for a few moments.
“Hmm,” he said.
“What?”
“Smiling.” He pressed his lips together.
“What? No, seriously.”
“Don’t get used to the smiling ‘cause it doesn’t suit you.” He had a you-know-what-I’m-talking-about look.
She broke into laughter. “Right.”
Joshua looked away and rubbed the back of his head. After Chimes kept staring at him, he ran his hand from the back of his hand to his nose, covering his nose and mouth. “What?” he said.
“Why…” she said in a mutter, smiling.
Joshua heard her, shrugging. He stood up and offered his hand. “You want to drink tea—oh, wait, you’re sick, my bad. I forgot you were sick. You’re so… energetic.”
Chimes’ smile turned into a frown. “Yeah, uh, give me a day, I’ll come with you. It’s just…” She glanced around. “I can’t think right now, and my body’s all tired…” She turned her attention back to Joshua. “Wait for me.”
Joshua raised a brow for a split-second and then looked away. “Sure.” He put on a frown. He struggled to face her. He squatted down beside her, facing off to the side.
Chimes was staring at him.
Joshua’s head edged toward her.
“Are you serious?”
“Hah. This… Yes, I believe.”
“That’s neat.” He offered to grab her hands.
She nodded.
He grabbed her hands with both his hands. “This is either going to work, or I’m dying.”
She laughed and tensed her grasp on his hands, massaging them.
He glanced off into the distance. “Plausible.” He put on a frown and stared at her with furrowed eyes. He stood up, led her to a chair, and sat down.
“Let’s get serious about it.”
“Okay, a business partnership between you and I.”
“What?”
“We’re starting a business, and you and I will be partners.”
“You have a nice way of saying no.”
“…implied?”
“I thought we were getting… married?”
“That works too!” His eyes turned somber. “But don’t expect anything. I’ll review the laws here… and because I’m still not… settled in that area”—he waved his arms around—”of life.” He took a deep breath to calm down because what he was saying was vulnerable and terrifying. He stood up, looking around.
Chimes said and gave a slow nod. “Alright.”
He touched the side of his head, remembering the memories of his family and failures of his past. His voice lowered to a mutter. “I have to get things done.”
He went out of Grimes’ second house, walking fast, and speeding up into a sprint. “I’m finally going to get things together. He stared at the ground, expressionless. “Finally!”
He clenched his jaw when he arrived at a second meeting with the three adventurers he met yesterday.
This time, he was at the foot of a dungeon beside eight adventurers
“Okay, we go in,” said one of the eight adventurers, the second speaker from yesterday. “You leave fast. We leave slow. Get that?”
He furrowed his brow for a second, annoyed because he thought the adventurer looked down on him. He cleared his expression and nodded that he understood.
When the adventurer turned around, Joshua said, “W-what’s your name?”
The adventurer stopped and turned around halfway. “I’m Lily Lavender. Call me ‘Vender.’”
“Great. Thank you, Vender.”
“Please don’t say ‘Great.’ James Joshua, it reminds me of Grant, a person who I used to know.” Vender rubbed her face, looking down toward the ground.
“Oh, okay. ‘Splendid’?” Joshua raised his brow for a second, surprised that Vender called him by the full name he wrote on the letter he sent to them a while ago. His eyes crinkled because he disappointed himself with his surprise.
“Yes, that’s better.” Vender smiled, her fingers steepled, sometimes rubbing them against one another.
A group of tall lizardmen smashed the walls to pull themselves forward to grab Vender.
Vender pulled the nails of the fingers of the lizardmen with her anti-giant weapon, pliers. The lizardmen who lost their nails screamed and fell backward. The other lizardmen who still had their nails shoved the casualties backward and healed them. 
The seven other adventurers were also fighting the lizardmen in other parts of the cave.
Vender gestured Joshua to the lizardmen she injured.
“I hate these disgusting piles of dogdump,” Joshua mouthed, his heart beating fast. “I need to get out of here.”
Joshua joined in the rhythmic shouting of the adventurers. He tried to kick a lizardmen, but he lost his right leg instead. He crawled away, and Vender protected him, telling him to drink a potion.
He forgot to get a potion because of how focused he was in helping Chimes get herself together. He gritted his teeth and said, “Vender…” He screamed from his fatal injury.
Vender helped him drink a red potion, and it healed him.
Joshua got up and promised to stop kicking the lizardmen. He slashed at a lizardman on the foot after it tripped from Vender’s attacks. He cut off a toe, and he grimaced, squinting when a lizardmen flew nearby from the other adventurers and slammed the ceiling. One of the lizardmen jumped at Vender to grab her pliers, but she dashed away fast.
Joshua prayed for speed, and one of the gods of this universe answered his prayer, boosting him with fast legs. Joshua ran, dodging attacks, and slashed one of the lizardmen in the eye. “Alright!” He was chanting with the adventurers.
One of the unknown adventurers ran up to him, handed him a potion, ran back to fight. 
The adventurer was gone healing others before Joshua could say, “Thank you!”
Joshua drank the potion later when his arm broke from a bad fall, glancing around.
The adventurer who helped him was dashing around stomping the lizardmen’s feet.
After the fight, when they collected the gold from the eight lizardmen they killed, one of the adventurers accused Joshua of stealing his potion.
Joshua raised a brow. It was the same adventurer who handed him the potion. Joshua explained what he knew.
Two other adventurers saw this and agreed with the accuser.
Vender, however, stopped them and told them she saw the accuser handing a potion to Joshua.
A fight between two sides began with Vender’s close friends backing her up.
Joshua sat down, staring at the wall, his eyes ajar because he was too tired from drinking a mouthful of red potion liquid in an hour.
He soon became half-asleep.
Vender woke him up and told him to sleep with them for the night.
Joshua declined with a hand wave. “I’m sleeping with Chimes… a friend of mine.” He meant to say he was sleeping in Chimes’ other house where he was alone, but it came across as if he was in a relationship.
“Oh, I see. Say your prayers because no one gets out without getting an offense. Adventuring is illegal, you know. That’s why we had to do this in letters.”
Joshua was too tired. His head edged toward Vender,.and he said, “Yeah, thanks.”
“By the way, it’s settled,” Vender said.
“Only 3 out of 16 survived? I heard—”
“Jake is no longer in control.” Vender was walking away.
“Okay, okay, thank you, really.” Joshua sounded passionate.
Vender stopped walking and looked back at him. “I should give you this.” She handed him a small potion. “And here’s a paper saying that it’s yours.”
“A receipt.”
“Oh, you know about it.” She shrugged with a frown. “I was wondering why you accepted Jake’s potion…”
“Oh, my head ached from drinking potions.”
“That’s normal.”
They stood and stared at one another.
After a few moments, Vender left, spinning her plier around like a knife.
Joshua’s head grew tenser as he sat down.
He stood up and followed the adventurers out the cave. A magical core dropped, and Joshua picked it up and handed it to the owner.
He met the other adventurers got to know their names. Besides Vender, the other adventures of the party were Harold, Nightdrug, Skullish, Blackdeath, Redfeast, Showoff Mad, and Jack. Redfeast and Jack were two of the three adventurers who met him yesterday.
Jack handed him a small vace as a welcoming gift. “Hey, brother, take this one and hand it to your wife with a big smile. Ladies your age like this stuff like a drug. It’s expensive.” He leaned in close, his breath touching the tip of Joshua’s nose. “Don’t damage it.”
“He’s lying,” said Redfeast, the third speaker from the first meeting yesterday. “It’s dirt-cheap. Don’t accept it if you don’t want it.”
“That hurt my feelings. Did that hurt your feelings, too, guys?” He gestured at three other adventurers, Harold, Skullish, and Nightdrug.
These three other adventurers ignored him, speeding up into a sprint to get away from him.
“Hey! Damn.”
“The propensity not to give a damn is within my reach,” said one of the three sprinting adventurers. “A preponderance of no-fucks is at hand.”
“Hey, want tocino?” said another one of the three, Nightdrug.
“I do.”
Joshua caught up to them and raised a hand as if to slap them. “Hey, Is the tocino place close by or what?”
The three adventurers slowed down to a halt.
“I’m Redfeast. You are very welcome. Take a seat.” He gestured to a horse that emerged in the distance behind them that gallopped to them. It stopped beside Joshua.
Joshua nodded and rode the horse.
Redfeast pointed in the direction of the tocino place, and the horse ran like a normal horse. The three adventurers sprinted behind the horse. “Wait for us there!”
Joshua almost fell when he adjusted himself. “Oh, fucking hell! I don’t ride horses. I don’t ride horses. I didn’t say that.”
“I need to take care of you again, don’t I?” Vender jumped from a small rooftop and down in front of him. She gestured at the horse to stop, and the horse stumbled beside her, slowing down.
Joshua leapt off the horse and hit his chin on the ground. After a while, when Vender stood beside him, he said, “Ow… hey—” He yelped when Vender stepped on his leg by accident.
Vender apologized many times until Joshua rubbed his crinkled face and told her to stop.
At the tocino place, Joshua rubbed his chin, remembering Chimes because of a passing woman whose gait was similar to hers.
“Chimes, my lady, you are Queen of Osgard, don’t let your worries be still.” His voice was a mutter. He was remembering a scene from a movie, distracted.
He noticed Vender glancing at him from the other end of the table on which nine people from the same adventurer party sat. He was one of them, an adventurer.
He stared at Vender, who was eating. 
Vender raised her brows and frowned. She pointed to his food. “Eat.”
He nodded fast and grabbed the spoon and fork beside the chopsticks on the table.
Later, after they ate, Joshua went home and slept. The eight other adventurers told him to return to the dungeon where they fought the lizards to check.
When he was at the dungeon the next morning, he shook.
The darkness was terrifying.
He put up a torch and studied at the blood stains on the ground, touching one of them to check. He gritted his teeth, running down the cave, as his shadows distorted. He took a deep breath and jumped down into the main part of the dungeon where they fought the lizardmen. He coughed because of the stale air.
“I should really make sure I’m doing something right here. The headache from the potions is gone, but this is kinda strange. I guess the darkness…”
He shook because he thought he saw the shape of the monster in the distance. “Dangit.” His voice echoed throughout the dungeon.
He ran when he saw a fast-running tiny lizardman in front of him. He slashed at the creature, but the creature grabbed him and bit him. He screamed. “Get away from me!” He hit the thing in the balls, and it disappeared.
He took a few long breaths to think.
When he turned around to leave, his skin glowed. “What is this…?” He floated upward in the air. “Frick.” He compressed his shoulders. He touched the ceiling, but he kept going and lay down. “Okay, I could die…”
He fell. He screamed.
He hit the ground. He was still glowing, and he was alive and well, standing up.
[You leveled up! You are now level 1! You hurt yourself! Good job!]
[You may pick one of three skills:]
A demon emerged from the walls, tearing herself out.
“My brother in the law. You have the genius of a brat. You actually hit the thing in the balls!”
“What?” He pushed away the system notifications and said “yes” to everything.
“You hit the thing in the balls!”
“What!”
“Yeah. You did the secret code to winning, and now, you’re finally level 1! You cannot tell anyone about this because you will die.”
“What…?”
“Okay goodbye!” The demon passed through the wall, disappearing.
He stared in the distance and he grew frustrated, rubbing his hands together. Sitting down, he rubbed his arms until they grew red. He cursed.
“Andrei, Mark, Aria. I’m gone… I’m done…” He cried, the frustration from suppressing his emotions disappeared, and he was free. “I’m done…!” He screamed and sniffled many times.
“I need…” He sniffled. “… to control things.” He hardened his fist and punched his thigh. “This isn’t right. It’s not right that I’m here like this! This isn’t correct, proper, proper, proper, proper, proper—” He raised his voice and growled, shouting, clenching his whole back. “Proper!” He gritted his teeth, remembering the forms of his sons and wife. “Argh!” He kicked at the air. “I am no savior. I am only a man.”
He ran out of the cave, tears flooding his cheeks, sprinting toward where Chimes was staying.
“Chimes… I’m leaving.”
“What?”
“I have… to become… better.”
“You’re still…”
“I am what I must become. No, I need to become what…” 
He saw her horrified face and stopped himself. “I’m going there to improve myself. You want to come with me because if not, this is stupid.”
“I’m dying.”
“I…” He turned around and slammed the gates in front of him. He cursed.
“No, no, I can fix this. Where’s that button… [Status].”
Level: 1
Skills: [Heal The Strong]
[Heal The Strong: Heal someone higher level than you are. If they have no level or are level 1, it will fail.]
“No!” He composed himself and closed his eyes, pointing at her. “[Inspect]”
“Wait, no.” His heart rate spiked.
“[Identify]”
Chimes: Level ??
He took a long, pursed-lip breath and ran up to her, using the skill [Heal The Strong], trusting her about her level.
Chimes’ face became well again, healing from her sickness.
“No, this is not. Yes, yes, yes!” He cheered.
Chimes put on a smile, but she removed it, frowning, horrified from the desperation that Joshua showed. “I can’t do this to you. Go.”
Joshua stopped jumping around. He stared at her for a long while. 
“What?” he said, his mouth wide.
“I can’t go with you, sorry.”
“This… no… it’s… I can’t…” He turned away, stared at the distance, and froze. After only a minute, tears fell down his cheeks. “It’s okay, you’re, you’re… okay.”
“I’m a high-level mage.” Chimes was crying. “I kill foreigners who look suspicious or confused about the world.”
“Stop, stop, stop. I don’t want this. I don’t want this!” He stepped away out of the gates. He threw his rage at a pond of water beside him, punching and stomping it, almost tripping. He saw his distorted reflection, tears falling again.
He ran off into the distance, and he was gone.
He woke up in another faraway place, riding a cart. “I need to chase after money. This life is not worth living without… it… something like… beautiful.” His voice was a mumble. The farmer driving the cart through two oxen glanced at him and shrugged.
He laughed in a quiet murmur. “I’m stoic and foretold, awesome and great. This close to winning. This close to… salvation. I am…”
The farmer furrowed his brows, distracting himself with thoughts about his two pigs and chicken. “I should go. Hey, don’t touch anything. I’m just taking a short pee break.”
“Got it.” Joshua’s voice was polite and friendly. He struggled to compose himself down to his body language and appearance. He had heavy eyebags, and he looked pale. He looked sick.
The farmer returned with an ax, walking up to Joshua.
Joshua looked at him, horrified, but he sat still.
The farmer furrowed his brows and frowned. “You really don’t got it in you, huh?” He lowered his ax and returned to driving.
Joshua stared at him from the back, looking away after a while. He had this empty stare.
He closed his right hand, remembering his plan to connect this world together through his plan. He wanted to make this new world a better place even if he only knew the sufferings of Earth.
Two goblins walked up behind him, and he struck them down. “You’re nothing! Nothing!”
The farmer shivered, worried about Joshua and also cold from the night wind. He grasped his ax, knowing he could obliterate the two goblins and Joshua.
Joshua slammed his foot against the goblin’s jaw. “You’re nothing!” He was screaming the same thing again and again.
The farmer covered his mouth, wanting to tell Joshua to be quiet, but he guessed that Joshua went through some bad stuff. He rested his chin against the palm of his left hand, bored because Joshua took more than a minute to kill the two goblins. “Hey, are you…”
Joshua grabbed the goblins’ heads and placed them on a boulder.
“Okay, this is worse than I thought,” the farmer said, his armor and polearm appearing from thin air. “I’m Captain Keft. You are arrested on suspicions of adventuring under the influence.”
“What!”
“I can’t imagine helping you get stronger would do anything. You look gone in the head. Come with me. I’m bringing you to prison.”
“W-wait…” Joshua rubbed the side of his head, remembering his current situation. “Okay, nevermind. How long?”
“Five months. It should be enough for some time to think, is it not?”
“Y-yeah, sure.” Joshua smiled, enjoying the farmer-captain’s new friendly tone.
“By the way, you’re wearing strange clothes.”
“Strange?”
“No, I’m talking about that thing around your neck.”
“Oh, this is a tie. It’s from where… I came from. This is the only… memento from my past life.”
“I should really show you the marketplace then. There’s two things I enjoy that you most likely will enjoy.”
“Wait, about the prison?”
“Yes, yes, we’re coming!” He sounded impatient. “That’s not the most exciting part. There’s also the lizards. Oh, the—”
“Lizardmen?”
“What? No. The lizards we use for carriages like this. Oh, this is a cart. Anyways, case in point. The lizards are so awesome, the variations, the different phenotypes and such. Just wait and see!” He raised his hands in the air, stretching but also excited because he thought Joshua would be a fun addition to his daughter’s adventurer party.
Joshua suppressed his confusion and surprise, looking as calm as a banana, frowning somewhat.
When they reached a manor, the tall farmer-captain stretched his shoulders, still excited for her daughter.
“This is my daughter, Chimes!”
“Dangit!”
Chimes returned home after the disappointment with Joshua.
“These are Redfeast, Terry, Harold, and such!”
“And such! Come on!”
Joshua stood there, stone-faced like a moai statue. “I did not sign up for this.”
“Me neither. Welcome aboard. We knew you were coming.” The one who lent him his horse to get to the tocino place, Redfeast was speaking. He lowered his voice to a mutter. “Sorry, I’m tired today after drinking a potion.”
“No, we didn’t know,” said the young adventurer Blackdeath.
“Yes, he’s right. We didn’t, but we do now!”
“How old are you from 40 to 67?” said the farmer-captain Keft.
“I’m 51.”
“That’s around my daughter’s age! Wow!”
“No, your daughters in her twenties.”
“That’s not true. We are elves.”
“Eh, but your ears?”
“We don’t need them. By the way, don’t ever refer to us as elves. Call us ‘elvish humans.’ That’s more apt.”
“You’re younger than me. What?”
“I’m 100 years old!”
“That’s not true. You’re 151.”
“Baby, don’t tell them that. We spoke on agreement, on paper! Blood pact. Animal sacrifice. Remember?”
“Right.”
“Uh, I’m going outside.”
“Don’t! Eat now!”
Vender was sitting inside, and Joshua retreated to her side. “Vender, how are… you?” 
“I’m fine. How are you?” She furrowed her brows and raised her shoulders to compress herself because Joshua looked like he desired her.
Joshua was giving her slow nods with his mouth ajar, frustrated because of the awkwardness in the group. He was also tired from traveling, his eyes still baggy. He said, “I’m good.” He looked away.
Vender soon relaxed her shoulders.
“Thank you,” Joshua said. His face twitched once. He desired to vent off to Vender, but their association was fresh out of the oven.
Joshua missed his wife for a moment, but he sat down on the table where the noise of the plates and utensils distracted him.
Chimes stared at him when her father Keft stopped responding to her random questions. 
Joshua compressed his lips and glanced at her with furrowed brows. “Good day,” he mouthed to her.
Chimes put on a smile and then frowned.
“Thank you,” Joshua mouthed to her after he cut his meat, but Chimes was looking downward elsewhere.
The adventurers initiated a conversation to Chimes about the next steps to conquering a certain dungeon. The name of the dungeon was familiar.
Joshua straightened his back and stared at Redfeast, who was speaking the most to Chimes. He was waiting to get his attention.
Redfeast noticed his specific stare and nodded at him. He gestured Joshua to him.
Joshua stood up.
Keft furrowed his brows and looked up at Joshua. “Eat.”
“Ah, right.” He sat down and stood back up. “I’ll be…”
Redfeast glanced at him and Keft. “Oh, he has been a part of the group for some time now in good faith, and we’re—”
Keft shouted. “What!”
Chimes turned to stare at Joshua and her father, compressing her lips because she knew about it.
Keft covered his eyes, and he glanced between everyone there. “Good job!” He was facing Redfeast and Chimes. “He can kill two goblins in under two minutes!”
Redfeast shouted. “What!”
Chimes said in a whisper, “What?”
Joshua was distracting himself by eating, but he struggled to eat. He raised his head toward Keft. “Yeah, I did.”
Chimes turned down the corners of her mouth and nodded, appreciating his achievement as a high-level mage.
Redfeast had the same reaction.
Keft was giving him a thumbs-up and a you-know-it, toothy smile toward Joshua.
Joshua laughed because he was awkward around compliments. “Thanks you.” He covered his mouth. “Thank you.”
Redfeast gave a good-hearted laugh. The other adventurers joined him.
Chimes was laughing somewhat.
Keft gave Joshua an it-was-all-me look.
Joshua was nodding and raising his brows toward them. He removed his hand from his mouth when the door to the room they were in opened.
Chimes’ mother, a pointy-hat–wearing mage, sat down away from the table as if she was all alone. She removed her hat and cloak, placing down on the chair she was on. She squinted her eyes, as she scanned the group.
Everyone in the room except Chimes and Keft looked nervous.
Chimes’ mother crossed her legs and rested her head against her fist. “Is it morning? Sorry, I didn’t bother to check.” She just came from outside.
It was silent for longer than comfortable for the adventurers. Redfeast’s voice was a quiet murmur. He said, “It is morning, Ma’am.”
“Good, good.” She stared at the walls as if a painting hung there.
Redfeast furrowed his brows, but he stopped when Chimes’ mother cocked her head at him. “Good job taking care of things. Is that your new recruit?”
Redfeast suppressed a grimace, cleared his throat, and said, “We are six hours away from celebrating his first week anniversary.”
“That’s amazing, Redfeast.”
Redfeast shook when she said his real name, afraid that Chimes’ mother might turn him to dust.
“Don’t worry. It’s still two hours before 12. You guys have enough time to still count as “sleeping early.”
It was a long silence before Redfeast learned that even Blackdeath was afraid of talking in front of the mage.
“Uh, uh, okay,” Redfeast said.
Chimes covered her eyes and leaned against the table.
Keft smiled and covered his mouth, while he chewed and glanced at the adventurers.
The woman lay down and fell asleep after a long silence.
Redfeast’s eyes grew wide, and he ushered the rest of the group out of the room. “Let’s eat outside,” he said in a whisper, repeating himself.
Vender left as well.
Joshua stood up, wanting to follow them, but Keft insisted that he stayed and talked to Chimes.
Chimes said it. “I know Joshua.”
Keft gave her a long, frozen smile before he covered his mouth and gave a muffled shout. “I cannot at all discern what the heck you’re trying to pull here. We just got him, and now he’s a member and a friend of my daughter? This is too much for me to keep up, youngers.” He lay down beside his wife and covered his eyes with his arm, falling asleep.
Chimes grimaced when she saw that Joshua was sitting down at the table she was at.
Joshua pretended he was alone and ate the food, putting the plates together after he finished.
He took Chimes’ plate as if she was gone and placed it at the top of the plates. “I haven’t forgotten what you said,” he said as he left the room. His tone was consoling.
Chimes clenched a fist as she rested her arm on the table. She slided her face down her arm, as she grabbed her hair. “I wasn’t going to…” she said in a mutter, her cheeks becoming wet.
Joshua sat down beside the other adventurers, and they slept somewhere in the manor.
In the morning, they set out to check a dungeon together a few days’ away from the manor.
Later, Joshua screamed in his head, as he struck a goblin. He said, “[Identify]”
Goblin: Level ?
Joshua checked his level. “[Status]”
Level: 1 (0%)
Skills: [Heal The Strong]
He ran his hands through his hair, remembering the demon that spoke to him about his level. “Argh, I can’t remember.”
The goblin fell to the ground after he bludgeoned it multiple times with a grimace on his face. “I cannot process what the hell I’m doing right now. What do these levels do? Where’s my stats? Stats. Strength? Dexterity? Constitution? Hello? System…”
He took a sip from a potion, which Vender gave him a while ago, because his hand was broken. “I’m already tired, and I’m going to get even more tired.” He cursed, wanting to honk car horns out of instinct.
The goblin was still alive and breathing. It was lying down, groaning.
He left it alive and sat down, trying to find ways to contact the system about the lack of other stats besides level and skills. “Oh, manager calling, oh, yes, it’s me, mamamia.” He laughed to himself, relieving his headache somewhat. “Mamamia.” He tried to force a joke to relieve his stress, but he failed.
“Hey, do the funny,” he said to Redfeast while Redfeast was fighting. Joshua was dizzy because of the combined effect of the potion and his lack of sleep.
“Not right now.” Redfeast pressed his lips together, failing to understand what Joshua said through his swinging and hitting. He could tell from Joshua’s tone that it was unimportant.
Joshua kicked the goblin behind him and stomped it until it died.
[Since you’re level 1, we now consider you worthy of getting notifications for kills.]
[Level 2 Goblin slain! Your experience is now up from 0% to 7% of the required experience for your level!]
“No way. That’s lame.” He covered his mouth. “This is not a video game.” His voice was a mumble. The holographic system notifications reminded him of playing virtual reality with his kids. He stared at another goblin fighting Redfeast and vented his frustration at it.
“Oh, you want to help?” Redfeast said, dancing with his blade. “Come on!” He was smiling, and his tone sounded daring.
Six goblins fought the ten-person adventurer party, including Chimes and Joshua. Chimes turned only one goblin into dust because she knew the other adventurers wanted experience.
Joshua grabbed the goblin he and Redbeast fought and sliced its the back of its neck. Redbeast did most of the damage.
[Level 2 Goblin slain with assist! Your experience is now up from 7% to 8% of the required experience for your level!]
After the fight, Joshua rested beside the adventurers, drinking milk with them. He leaned backward, resting his hands against the boulder he was sitting on. “Demon, demon,” he said, muttering.
Vender cocked her head at him. She got up and walked away.
He stared at her, confused about her reaction.
Later, when they continued traveling again, six white-haired, handsome male goblins hid in a bush, waiting to assassinate Joshua.
Joshua was mumbling, staring at a random bush. “In the wall, in the wall, hiding somewhere there.”
The goblins shook, horrified because they thought he knew they were hiding. They struggled to keep squatting. They stood up and ran away.
One of them tripped and hit their head, making a loud noise.
Joshua went up to the goblin, thinking the sound came from a rabbit. He saw the goblin’s face and raised his arms as if to attack.
He looked around, and the adventurers were still far behind.
Soon, he returned to the village and checked his status. “[Identity].”
Level: 1 (15%)
Skills: [Heal The Strong]
When they reached the dungeon two days later, Joshua found a chest with a spellbook inside. He used [Identify] on it.
**[Spellbook: read this and gain a random spell around your level bracket (1-10, 11-20, and so on).]**
As soon as he read the first page of the book, a notification emerged.
[You have gained a new skill, Summon Golem!]
“What the hell?” Joshua checked his status again and confirmed that [Summon Golem] was there. He gulped because he knew golems had a strong reputation for strength and constitution in media.
He used [Summon Golem].
“Hey, it’s me Derek.”
“Intelligence is good, too.” He turned around the golem, studying its features, biting his lip because he was excited to utilize this golem with the weirdest things.
“Can you carry me this—”
He fell to the ground, and the golem disappeared.
He ran out of energy, and he got a headache that lasted for hours.
He was lying down until the dungeon check was over.
The adventurers looked interested a while ago, but they dismissed his new skill. “Postpone that thought,” Redfeast said. “We’re professionals.”
“We’re on the job was what he meant,” said Blackdeath. “The Redfeast yesterday is the real him.”
“Yes, you’re right.” Redfeast smiled, balancing on a plank bridge at the foot of the dungeon. He tripped, and another adventurer Skullish caught him, as Skullish was also on the plank.
Two hours later, Joshua got up, his headache bearable.
“The golem makes me dizzy.” He glanced at Vender, who stood far away from him for some reason.
Chimes curled up in the grass far outside. A wolf in the distance ran away when she cocked her head at it.
“Oh, you’re a summoner,” said Skullish, nervous because Joshua’s self-willed tone and old, wide-shouldered, muscular body scared him. “That’s not a good occupation.” Skullish gave an awkward laugh.
Redfeast and the rest of the adventurers nodded, agreeing.
Skullish looked away toward Vender. He asked Vender if she was okay.
Vender shrugged and looked away from Skullish, who was giving her a toothy grin. She knew Skullish cared only about making friends, but she was too tired because of Joshua.
Joshua said, frowning, “That makes things hard.” He was thinking about both Vender and the fact that he was a summoner.
“How hard is it to be a summoner from one to ten?”
“Ten.”
“Ten.”
“Ten.”
Joshua ran his hand down his nose, mouth, and chin, growing frustrated because of both his luck and bad luck. “I can’t drink potions, then.”
“That is correct,” Redfeast said, “if you endeavor to utilize your golems.”
“Golems?”
“I heard that summon skills have a limit of 949 summoned creatures, but I opine that that is just the limit of the strongest summoner known to man.”
“Who is he?”
“The stronger summoner ever known is ‘Wasp,’ but she has passed away now.”
“That’s strangely comforting.”
“It is not. She prevented the demons…” Redfeast turned toward the outside. “…from entering this world.”
“You believe that 949 isn’t the limit of summoned creatures, but you believe she stopped demons from entering this world. How strong can 949 soldiers be?”
Redfeast raised his voice and leaned forward. “Gravely!” He calmed himself.
The other adventurers stopped staring at Joshua for the first time and glanced at Redfeast.
“Huh,” Joshua said. “What? Do you think that there’s no limit?”
“Most likely,” Redfeast said. “No one knows, but if you do endeavor, your endeavors will have meaning. Witness it for yourself.”
Sixteen goblins raided a village, and Joshua and the adventurer party intercepted them by accident.
Joshua summoned a golem in front of the tip of the goblin wedge charge formation. The goblins slowed down to a stop, and Joshua failed to command the golem with his mind. The golem disappeared, but it did its job.
Joshua was on the ground with a splitting headache, crying because of how frustrated he was at the pain feeling the same.
The goblins charged again.
The adventurers killed two goblins.
Chimes turned the rest of the goblins into dust when the goblins stepped foot into the village. She rubbed her head from a mild headache. “I’m going to sleep.”
In the night, Joshua asked many questions, as they sat down on blocks of wood in the field of a villager’s house. One of his questions was “Why doesn’t Chimes use more spells?”
“What?” said Blackdeath, smiling because he felt a sweet revenge answering questions from older people like Joshua. “Basic magic… More spells, more energy. Holding onto spells turns your head upside-down. Let go of most of them, and you’ll be able to sleep at night!” He affected another accent near the end.
Redfeast slept early.
Joshua looked at his hands that he used to point in the direction where he wanted to summon the golem. He gritted his teeth, making sure he hid this gesture well. 
He hated the headaches, and he wanted to stop trying. He thought healing might be good enough.
He asked each of the adventurers about whether he should use the golem spell or not.
They all said something along the lines of “Yes, use it, but don’t blame us if you can’t handle the pain.”
Joshua woke up tomorrow with a slight headache. He brushed it off and stood up, shaking somewhat.
The rest of the adventurers were awake and cooking food.
He smelled it and walked up to them, stretching. He glanced around. 
Chimes sat down in the distance, and Vender was walking to the opposite side of the group from him.
He suppressed a frown, interested in Blackdeath’s new interest in him as a hangout buddy.
He sat down beside him and said, “I’ll summon the golem.”
“Don’t. Save it for later. We need your help, too, you know.” He struggled to tap Joshua’s shoulder.
Joshua chuckled because of Blackdeath’s awkward shoulder tap and all the stress from yesterday. When he explained half the reasons why he was laughing to the rest of the group, they laughed with him. His chuckle turned into a full guffaw, joining the group in their cheer.
Vender was laughing, too.
She approached him later. “Do you know?”
“What?” Joshua said, removing his arm from Blackdeath, who was pouting. “I-I don’t know.”
“You know.”
“I do not.”
“You do know.”
“I don’t what we’re talking about.”
“So you don’t?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m a demon, really.”
The group’s conversations slowed down to a halt.
Redfeast and Blackdeath walked up to Vender. “Hey, you’re kidding right?”
“No.”
“Hey, she’s kidding right. You’re serious?”
“Yes, I have been hiding it for a while now. It’s been two years—why? Well obvious reasons is no one likes demons. I’m not a half-demon or anything. I’m a full-blown demon. Joshua here made me feel like you guys might let it slide since he’s a beaming light of salvation. I don’t know. What did I expect?” Tears dripped down Vender’s cheeks. She froze in place, turning her head downward.
“Hey, hey, hey, no,” Redfeast said. “If you really are a demon, you’re screwed, but you have to be kidding because we’re inquisitors. We hate demons. We kill demons. It’s part of our goals in life, do you understand? Nothing, and I say nothing will stop me from killing you if you really are a demon—”
“Hey—” said Blackdeath, touching Redfeast’s shoulder.
Redfeast shrugged it off.
“No, really,” he said. “You want me to abandon who I am? Thousand years of history, and I give it all up now because of some stupid… you’re not stupid, are you? You’re cunning, devilish, and the most horrible creature on this world. You are no human. You are a liar, a thief, a whore. You’re nothing more than just a demon… but—” Redfeast stuttered. His eyes were wet, his lips shaking, his face crumpling. He turned away. He cared about her, but his beliefs conflicted.
Vender cursed at him many times and raised her voice, walking up to him and throwing offensive gestures. She walked away when the other adventurers raised their voices at her.
After a while, Chimes returned to the group and confronted Vender.
Vender rebuffed her.
Vender returned to the group after a few hours where they sat down outside of the village because some passing children looked terrified.
Vender sat down and told Redfeast, “You swore at me.”
“I did not swear,” Redfeast said.
“You called me a…” She gave the rest of the group accusatory eyes.
Redfeast bit his lip, and after a few minutes, he opened his mouth to speak. “Yes.”
Vender, after slouching for a long time, straightened herself. “What?”
“I called you that word. I’m sorry about that, but you know being a…is it offensive?”
“No, no, it shouldn’t be.”
“Being a demon is against my beliefs. I cannot comprehend a world where I don’t obey the rules. In this chaotic world, what I believe in saves me. It prevents me from doing immoral things. If I am immoral and the rules I believe in are wrong. At least, I believe in something. Some barbarians don’t believe in anything. A good example would be demons…”
Vender opened her mouth to speak.
“… or not,” Redfeast said, compressing his lips and locking eyes with Vender. “I don’t want to kill you. If I did have to, I would kill myself.”
“Don’t do that. Just don’t. I don’t want you to do that, Redfeast. Just relax.”
Redfeast was crying, his chin quivering.
Blackdeath hugged him, as Redfeast walked far away to vent.
Vender raised open, upward palms and clasped her hands together. “And that’s that. I don’t care about antics. I do things swift, and I do things with a mind that only wants peace. Can we get this together?”
“Hold on a minute,” said Chimes. “The other adventurers spoke with me because I’m supposed to be leading. We should have a vote whether you stay or not.”
“What!” Redfeast said, walking back to the group. “No, stop.”
“Okay, 6 votes in, all yes to Vender leaving.”
“Who said yes?”
“Me,” Blackdeath said. “This is what you believe in. I care more about that than some… demon.”
Redfeast gritted his teeth because he thought he could trust them. He ran his fingers through his head, blaming himself because he showed weakness for the first time in a long time. He covered his face, believing it was his fault that they ignored his decision.
Vender staggered away like a toddler, crying. She disappeared in the distance ten minutes later.
Redfeast left the group, and Blackdeath cursed him for leaving. Redfeast suppressed his frustration, beating a tree with his sheathed sword for two minutes straight, enraged because of Blackdeath’s influence toward the vote.
Redfeast went in a direction different from Vender’s one. “You didn’t deserve this.” He gritted his teeth and stared at the ground, his face crumpled.
Joshua grabbed Redbeast and told him to return.
Redfeast stared at him for a while, remembering that Joshua had a vote. He followed him to the group where Blackdeath gave him a hopeful look. Redfeast turned away from Blackdeath and stood behind Joshua.
Joshua told the group, “We cannot make this happen. I know you guys hate demons, but this is the core of our group. Two years. It’s two years.”
The group sat down, staring at him because they regretted making Redfeast leave. They wanted a reason. They wanted someone like Joshua to intervene.
Joshua said, “I need you guys to make this everything you’ve ever wanted.” He formed a steeple with his hands. “This is better for the long run and the short run. The frustration… all of it… we can try to start a small group in the city.”
“What are you talking about?” Redfeast said, his tone dismissive.
“We need to start something, something different that would separate all this. We need to make the idea of working with a demon bearable.” He turned around and looked for Bender, gesturing the group to get Vender back.” We can work with demons.”
“No, no, no, Joshua,” said Blackdeath in a sneering tone, “what the hell are you on?” He rubbed across his head. “You didn’t even know magic, and now, you’re talking about demons.” He was grinning.
“It’s true! I’m telling you. All we need to do is—”
Blackdeath and Redfeast shouted. “Stop.” However, their tone said otherwise. They were tired of hearing about what Joshua was saying because they already agreed with the first step which was getting Vender back.
The rest of the group saw this and stood up, running to Vender and returning her in the group.
Vender went with it because she was surprised it was someone else other than Redfeast and Joshua who went to get her.
“What?” Vender said, slowing down as she reached the group.
“We need to get this done.” The adventurer Nightdrug pointed at a boulder where Joshua was arranging sticks together.
Joshua raised his hands wide and said, “This is the demon–human partnership.”
“Okay, I’m out.”
“No, seriously, I’m in,” Blackdeath said in a weak voice, covering his face.
Redfeast nodded fast.
The rest of the group distracted themselves by lying down, walking around, playing childrens’ games, and such.
Joshua explained his plan with sticks to Vender.
Vender was laughing throughout his explanation.
She was stiff at first, but Joshua sounded too sure of himself for it to be an awkward, no-laugh session.
“Good one, James Joshua.”
“What?” Joshua scratched his head, putting on a confused look. He was tired and sleepy, yet these good decisions were instinctive. He did this because research showed that people tend to build stronger bonds through mutual dislike than sharing positive feelings toward someone. He made himself the target of dislike, or his ideas. Either way, he was done. He followed the group, talking about his ideas. His joke ideas soon became his true ideas, however, while his growing, theoretical details and analytical tone grew more believable. He clasped his hands, trying to convince himself he grew out of his ideas instead of getting lost in an acting role.
The adventurer group agreed to postpone checking another dungeon, but Joshua insisted, saying that his golem could also be useful in meetings with demons. The group was laughing again. Chimes still distanced herself from Joshua, but she was giggling with the group now.
Thirty goblins charged at them, gnashing their teeth.
Another adventurer group arrived at the scene. 
“We’re the Northtroopers. My name’s Dashvult. It is our destiny to slay the monsters. Let’s join hands, shall we?”
Chimes nodded and shook his hand.
Dashvult frowned and stared at her, as she walked away. He was disappointment because he lost his epic joined hands moment before a clash. He composed himself and rode his horse, charging off.
“Oh, horsey time.” Redfeast called his horse from the horizon, as it flew a moment later to him. He rode it and charged at the goblins, grinning with Dashvult who made a statement about destiny and exterminating the monster race. Dashvult’s sure-of-himself tone reminded Redfeast of Joshua with his “stick demon ideas.”
“That’s all you remember?” Sprinting, Joshua opened his mouth wide when Redfeast spoke to Dashvult about Joshua’s ideas.
Dashvult took it as a joke, slashed a goblin asunder, and laughed in a heroic, cheery tone. “Slay the demons, slay their offspring, the goblins!”
Redfeast whispered, saying to Joshua, “Tell Vender I don’t agree with this dude.”
Vender burst into laughter, cutting a goblin’s head off with her pliers, sprinting around. She vented at two more goblins before Chimes turned half of them into dust. 
Joshua pounched at a goblin, slashing its eyes and frontal neck.
[Level 2 Goblin slain! Your experience is now up from 15% to 22% of the required experience for your level!]
Dashvult’s group took care of the rest of the goblins still alive.
Dashvult was staring at Blackdeath, who was sitting down on a goblin’s head. “Don’t do what I’m doing,” Blackdeath said. “It’s cool, but it’s uncomfortable.”
Dashvult still gave him a you-are-one-of-us wink and a thumbs-up, riding away into the distance, disappearing.
“Tell Vender I don’t like this dude,” said Redfeast. “He took my stuff. It’s all good with Chimes because she’s our law above.”
Joshua asked him about Chimes.
Blackdeath said, “She’s our leader and representative from the mages to make us an official party. She’s also our mother if that makes sense. She cleans up the messes we make. She makes risking our lives easy because we’re not really risking anything so much—oh, about when she was gone for a while, she said that she needed a break, but it looks like she met you, huh. No questions about that, I would’ve done my own running-away if I met you.” He sounded bantering, fixing his hair with an exaggerated seductive stare.
Joshua gave an exaggerated gasp, covering of the mouth, and raising of the shoulders.
He completed Redfeast’s request, and Redfeast rewarded him with a thank-you. Joshua cheered.
The next day, Joshua summoned a golem and failed to command it again, getting a head-splitting headache for two hours. The whole adventurer party waited for him because carrying him while traveling was off the table for each of them. Joshua rewarded their wait with bad ideas that he depicted with sticks, but they soon grew tired and begged him to learn how to use a golem.
Later, Joshua walked up to Chimes while they were traveling.
Chimes glanced at him and the ground. She stared at him, arranging her steps to prevent herself from tripping. She slowed down to a halt near even ground. “Who you staring at?”
“Chimes,” Joshua said after he stopped ahead of her.
“That’s all good, but I’m talking about who I’m staring at.”
“Joshua… Talos.”
“Nice, good to know.” She walked past him, too tired to talk from the traveling.
Joshua smiled, happy to know she was responsive and taking care of herself.
Vender announced while they traveling for the group to call her “Lily.” They laughed it off for a while, but Vender insisted.
“Lily, do you remember talking about some weirdo in some weird town? You said something about ‘great’ being a bad word? Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
:”Okay. I just wanted to get things cleared up since we can talk about almost anything now…
Lily compressed her lips, getting tense because the conversation edged toward awkwardness.
“…like my brilliant demon–human partnership plan!” Joshua said, dancing around.
Lily relaxed because Joshua always managed to make himself an awkward but amusing person instead of a creepy, blabbering stranger. She scratched her head. Joshua did this reversal with everyone, and she wanted to understand what made him calm all throughout.
He walked up to Chimes around the same time that Redfeast, Blackdeath, and five others did. They all asked her about Joshua.
Joshua saw Jack alone. His memories of Jack accusing him of stealing a potion were foggy because he was too tired and dizzy during that time.
He approached him as he would anyone else in the group.
Jack stared at him for a few moments, tilting his head. “Oh, you’re looking at me. Apologies for lying to you about the potion.” His voice was monotone, and he looked pale.
Joshua glanced around, and it was only him and Jack. The rest were together with Chimes somewhere else.
He sat down and stretched, staring back at Jack because he was curious about Jack and his familiar but strange stare. He found his stare familiar because it mirrored his, but it was strange because he thought it was abnormal.
Jack sat down and imitated Joshua’s pose with the steepled hands and crossed legs. Joshua rubbed his chin, remembering that Jack’s usual pose involved him resting against his palms behind him and spreading his legs wide apart.
Jack and Joshua sat around, glanced around, and stared at one another for almost an hour. Joshua believed he modeled himself after patience and self-control.
He also believed he responded well to Jack.
When the rest of the adventurers returned, he returned to their usual position and behavior in the group. Jack did the same.
He believed that Jack had the same beliefs he did. He guessed that Jack imitating his pose was a message that meant, “I know you.”
Joshua gulped and smiled because he knew he was a nobody. Any attempt at prying into his life was an exercise in futility. He claimed confidence to himself and tuned in to a passing conversation.
“I might’ve forgotten the small things, but is that a bird?” he said.
A loud bird on which ten white-haired, handsome orcs chanted.
“Dangit. I know those… ten goblins.” Joshua remembered that around the time he met Chimes, six goblins were staring at him and that one “goblin” among them was taller than the rest.
The orcs jumped down to the ground. They bounced on the ground, well. They ran at Joshua.
Joshua glanced to his left where an emerging explosion burned Lily’s face. “What… the… hell…” Spittle cascaded from Lily’s mouth. “Argh!” She fell on her knees.
Joshua glanced to his right where Redfeast’s legs melted and Blackdeath’s eyes disappeared.
The white-haired orcs were chanting.
Joshua glanced behind him where Chimes’ arms exploded. She failed to clasp her hands in time. She spun around and hit the ground like a ragdoll.
Joshua glanced ahead, and the rest of the adventurers each lost a different part of their torso.
Joshua’s stomach exploded. He fell on his knees.
“[Heal The Strong].” He pulled his arm up, and he tried to heal himself.  He failed, and he gasped.
Jack stood beside him, healing him, as his body exploded every few seconds. His body regenerated as soon as it exploded.
Joshua got up and stared at the others.
Jack ran to them and healed each of them. “It kills the soul,” he said, panting. 
“What?”
“Healing.”
“How? What?”
“Potions are fine, but healing takes the soul.”
Joshua raised his head toward the white-haired orcs, as the orcsslowed down to a halt. “Go on.” He stood up, pointing his hand at the orcs. He held a sword up and shouted at them, slashing his sword forward again and again.
“The price of healing is a piece of the soul.”
The rest of the adventurers sat up, well. 
Jack covered his nose with both his hands, took a deep breath, and he removed his hands. “16 pieces make up your soul, and I took one of them. You have 15 left. The others… have four left, except… Lily, who had three left.”
Joshua turned his head toward where the orcs disappeared in the distance. “Dangit.”
“It’s not too late to stop. I should’ve spoke, but I didn’t. I threw a tantrum, but please just go. Don’t get dragged in our mess. We’re not good enough for that. Thank you, thank you, thank you, though.” He turned his head away to cry.
Redfeast came to his senses. “You’re going to talk about that right now. Jack, keep your mouth shut.” He sounded grievous and frustrated because the adventurer party almost died again. “He’s lying. When Jack joined the group… he said that he’d focus all his energy healing himself. He said it was too tiring healing us all, but Jack, you don’t look tired right now.”
Jack’s nose was bleeding. He fell sideways and hit the ground.
Redfeast cursed. He was hoping Jack was stronger than he thought. He also knew that nose bleeds meant that Jack would be in a natural hibernation state for a month.
Blackdeath sat up, curled up, and stared at the ground.
The rest of the group followed Blackdeath’s silent example.
Joshua glanced at them, frustrated because he still felt devoid of control. He took deep, slow breaths that failed to calm him down before he initiated leaving to a nearby, private place to destress.
“The strong are everywhere,” Redfeast said, looking at Jack’s hibernating body. “Jack, we know, we know, we know. We have you and… Chimes. She’s here.”
“I died… almost,” Chimes said, frowning, squinting.
“She’s still here, and she can turn white-haired goblins into dust—” Redfeast sounded accusatory, but he stopped himself. “Okay, my bad, we need to find a way to deal with this problem. We’re this close, this close. We just have to cut… the… tiny thread that stops us from getting what we want. We want to become helpers of humanity. Everyone knows that. We want to become awesome people. Everyone knows that. We want everything, but it’s going to be hard. So pick up slack, and don’t be a douche and stop now!” His voice became exasperated. “Come on, guys.” He waved his hands in front of him. He calmed himself. “I cannot believe. Okay, okay.” He glanced at Joshua, who raised his brows. “Joshua here is a prime example of what we need to react to these problems. When Jack was talking, he what? He listened! We need to… be curious and find out what this world have for us again. Again!” He almost rubbed his head, but he stopped himself. He stood up and walked fast around the area to destress.
The rest of the group scattered, following Redfeast’s example.
Joshua rubbed his face, his voice monotone and his face pale like Jack. “This is… okay… good job I guess.”
Lily stopped walking fast and panted, sitting beside him on the ground, as she chewed. “Don’t you hate it when you exist and some random bunch of goblins make you explode? Powerful monsters and humans coming out of nowhere and just trying to kill you for cheap experience? It’s tiresome, and having a mage and healer makes an adventurer party possible. However, it’s too much, too much!” She put on a toothy grin, running off and returning to Joshua. “We’re not even doing anything wrong. This is life, James Joshua. Life.”
Joshua groaned. “Are you okay, Lily?”
“Call me Vender. It helps dissociate me from this negative energy moment.” She was chuckling while she spoke.
Joshua covered his eyes and separated his fingers to form a hole where he could look at her. “Yeah?”
“I hate it. It’s like horrible things are exploding in me right now.” She fluttered her hands around.
‘
Joshua lowered his hands to his mouth. “Uh-huh.”
“Isn’t it amazing?” Lily threw her hands in the air.
Joshua groaned because he knew everyone was coping with the trauma of almost dying and being in copious amounts of pain. “I guess it is.” Crossing his legs on the ground, he suppressed his shivering head, neck, hands, legs, and feet. He was giggling, thinking about almost dying as a fun game mechanic. He tried to intellectualize his trauma and make it comfortable to his body, but his body was a rapid virus that invaded his system and took control. He now shook with abandon. He gritted his teeth to stop the shaking, but he failed time and time again.
About a month later, when the adventurer party returned back to a relative normalness of mind and body.
The group met and greeted one another in apologetic tones, and they all agreed this sincere tone was a good enough apology for anything said during a time of trauma.
Redfeast was the only one who vocalized his apology.
Each of the group praised and thanked Jack for saving their lives even if he was a mean person sometimes, handing him gifts and souvenirs.
Jack agreed to take a temporary hiatus as a member of the group for the usual “personal reasons,” forcing the group to hire a stand-in healer.
The healer stated she was a newbie and unwilling to fight like Jack as Redfeast described him.
They accepted her because she was the only one who heard about soul pieces as if it was some memento of the still alive Jack.
They arrived at the dungeon after around 1.5 months.
Joshua shot a spear at a tall lizardman, hitting it on the belly. The lizardman fell and grabbed Joshua’s spear, breaking it. It was bleeding, and the rest of the lizardmen healed it.
Other tall lizardmen blocked his path and struck at him.
He dashed around and stomped at their feet. He kicked for the first time in over a month. The lizardmen swung their hands and claws at him. They hit the ground.
He stubbed their toe and slashed their knees.
The lizardmen all failed to grab him since Chimes turned them into dust.
Chimes walked up to him when Joshua was alone and said, “Hey.” She was smiling.
Squatting, Joshua put his clothes back on, glanced around, and glanced past her because he was in disbelief about her deciding to break the ice. He grimaced because she saw his naked body.
Chimes showed him a small tree. “This is a bonsai tree.” She was excited to show him one of her favorite things.
“My brother in the law! Johnny Johnson, my man! It is I, latent supreme king of the underworld.”
Chimes screamed.
Twittering, a demon came out of the walls, and her head stretched wide while it stuck to the wall. She pulled it until it was a meter wide before the wall let it go. “You guys have every mistake written in the book. I know you men don’t like it, but try this. Small village in the west getting absolutely bafunkled, tossed, and turned—”
Joshua approached her and said, “What—”
Chimes clasped her hands, and the demon’s legs turned to dust. The demon still stood and walked as if her legs were still there.
The dust that made up the demon’s legs returned to form her legs.
“Basically, they… are… going to kick the bucket,” the demon said.
Joshua floated in the air.
“Oh, it’s a little too late for that.” The demon snapped his fingers, and Joshua fell back down on two feet. He broke his back and legs. “Argh!” He was screaming.
Chimes clasped her hands again, and the same sequence of events occurred.
The demon spoke to Joshua as if Joshua was alone.
“Small village, west, see you, brothers and sisters! Goodbye.” The demon disappeared into the wall.
Joshua was still screaming.
The demon snapped his fingers, healing Joshua’s body.
“What’s that?” said Chimes, clasping her hands because she was terrified of the demon.
Later, sitting on a chair, Lily grabbed her chin. “We fight it and see how it reacts.”
“No, no, no, that is a horrible idea,” Redfeast said, sitting on another chair beside her. 
Blackdeath was on the ground beside them. “We can… your mom… to check the issue.” He glanced between his bare foot, long nails, and Chimes, cutting his nails with a small, safe knife.
Redfeast furrowed his brows and turned his head toward Blackdeath, confused about Blackdeath bringing Chimes’ mother up.
Blackdeath removed his pince-nez eyeglasses. “I got this from her mom.”
“What… do you mean?” Joshua said, failing to fan his back with his surcoat.
“I’m half-blind.”
Joshua furrowed his brows. “Half-blind. You mean, you can’t see far away?”
“Yes. She made me stare at a light to test my light spell abilities.”
“What?”
“It made my eyes bad. This is when we were teenagers.”
“You guys are childhood friends?”
“With Chimes? No. She’s as distant to us now as she was before. She likes her space, I get it.”
“Then, how do you…”
“We know her mother because she’s a mage. Everyone is aware of the mage in the room. Like a big elephant.” He returned his eyeglasses to his brown-skinned, flat-nosed face. “See what she does.”
Chimes compressed her lips, while her hold of her bonsai tree grew more tense.
“Come show us.”
Chimes ignored him and struggled to turn around, but she walked away because she hated feeling like an alien. Her showing of bonsai trees was her way of connecting to the world through gifts and being useful beyond being a feeble weapon of mass murder. She suppressed her emotions until she was alone where she cried soft tears.
One of the adventurers, Skullish waited for a long while before he left to console Chimes. He struggled with confrontations, but one-on-one conversations were easy for him because he grew up silent and shy.
Chimes said, “What’s going on, Skullish?”
Skullish gave her a soft, forbearing smile. “I’m fine as usual, watching you guys do your magic, literally and figuratively. You guys are amazing, and it’s not just me who thinks this way. The quieter ones in the group felt the same way.” He was stuttering as if he kept his tongue dormant for ages, but he sounded ambitious.
Chimes bit her lip. “Thank you, Skullish. Can you leave me alone for longer?” She returned him his smile.
Skullish raised his brows because Chimes knew that Skullish gave her space before he went to talk to her. “I should go then.” He handed her a piece of himself, a small potted plant. “Thanks again, Skullish.”
Skullish turned around and nodded as he left because he was the one that gave her the plants she had in her house. They both shared a love for plants and used gifts as a form of love for fellow people.
Later, in a different town, Joshua sat down, staring at the two men in front of him. These tall men with the usual adventurer getup sat down with crossed legs and smiled at him, hugging their legs. “I’m Joshua. I come from the Redfeast adventurer group.”
The tall men stared at him for an awkward while before the taller one said, “We know.” He patted his leg, took out a letter from his waist pouch, and handed the letter to Joshua. “Check that, read that, and let… us… see.”
Joshua perused the old letter. “An invitation?” He dropped the letter and caught it with his legs.
The two tall men raised their brows. “Yes.”
“Anyone can do, but you’re the one who came,” said the taller one. “So, pass the next step.”
“We want to partner with a few adventurer parties for a raiding party,” said the shorter one. “You can act as representative, I assume?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Okay, then, let’s speed this up,” said the taller man, as the two tall men stood up and exited the cafe they were in through a nearby door.
“What? Where are we going?” Joshua bumped into a chair and tripped. 
He walked toward the two tall men and struggled to open the strange cafe door and exit.
The two tall men were watching, looking away to smile and snicker. “Small place where a bunch of adventurers take extreme lengths in proving their skill,” said the taller one. “I’m kidding. It’s a long meeting where you’ll write down everything crucial that we say, you got that?”
The shorter man said, “Your adventurer group is no-name to us, so I’m guessing you guys haven’t participated in anything like this.”
They reached the place of the meeting where Joshua stared at doors for a while before he opened them.
The two tall men laughed, entertained because Joshua was struggling in their hometown.
Joshua went through eight hours of boring lecture about how the raiding party could go.
He did his best in identifying the levels and skills of his adventurer party, but he put blank in most of them. 
At the end of the lecture meeting, the two tall men let him go, sharing subtle disappointed stares.
Joshua recorded his descriptions of the many adventurer group representatives in the room. Most of them wore formal clothes, but they each gave off a notable impression. Three of them had the decal of the sideview silhouette of a lizardman over the symbol of a lightning bolt on their armbands.
The Redfeast adventurer party’s next destination was the village that the demon haunting Joshua spoke about.
Joshua chained a few goblins before the adventurer party killed them. He said, “Hey, can you do this?” He dipped his hands into a pouch of water, went behind the taller Lily Lavender, and wiped her face with his wet hands.
Lily gave a nervous laugh that the goblins interpreted as happiness.
The goblins received rewards for repeating this action.
Joshua handed them poison and told them to go out and do that with their leader.
Joshua tried to protect a village, but he makes a mistake with only having 10 golems defend it. The orcs kill a family of four, and he remembers his own family because of it. He became stronger, but he still lacks battle experience.
[You leveled up! You are now level 2! You are a proficient monster duelist, meaning you can’t fight more than one monster. Ha ha ha.]