Soft warmth touched Ren's face, causing him to frown, opening his eyes only to be met with sunlight, making him squint, blinded.
"Agh! So bright… huh? Daylight?"
Getting used to the light, Ren took a look around and found the same never-ending forest as before, only this time, instead of the ominous, dark, and chilling wind, he was met with a soft breeze and gentle light.
The vibrant green leaves swayed in the wind, just like when he first woke up. Looking ahead, he peered into the opening where they had fought the monster the previous night, and to his surprise, there wasn't a corpse.
In fact, there weren't any signs of battle. The oddity caused him to ponder for a couple of moments before looking down; he found that his cloak was being used as a blanket.
His memory felt blurry after the fight, and he could only remember moving to a tree to rest. As he grew more and more focused, the blurry memories started to become clearer.
'Right, we were too tired to move after the fight, and since we didn't hear any monsters, we rested here.'
A soft breath from the side caught his attention.
"Aria?"
Aria was leaning on Ren's shoulder, sleeping, before squinting at his call. Letting out a "Hnng" sound, she slowly opened her eyes, meeting his that were centimeters away.
'Whoa, she's…'
'He's close.'
"Ren?"
He smiled at her, looking up to the sky.
"Look, it's daytime."
Following his gaze, she stared at the blue sky and bright sunlight, focusing on the swaying leaves for a couple of moments before nodding in slight relief.
"We actually survived?"
"Surprising, right? But we might have to prepare for the next night."
Since they were only here for a day, they didn't know if monsters appeared every night or if they were just incredibly unlucky and the monsters appeared on that specific night.
"Next night?"
As the words lingered, the two could only grimace. Although they were given a fresh chance at life, they were already near death's doorstep!
While Ren studied the sky, Aria sighed, noticing her staff lying nearby and reaching out to grab it before quickly stopping.
"Hiek! R-Ren!"
Ren's eyes focused as questions flashed. Could there have been a problem? Did she see something he didn't? Was there a monster nearby? Or worst of all, was she fatally injured?
"What is it?"
Turning, Ren found Aria with a face full of pain, but she wasn't in any danger, causing him to sigh with relief, realizing why she had that expression.
"Ren… I'm sore!"
She couldn't move, her eyes tearing up from the pain. Since Ren also couldn't move, he could only smile with sympathy a pity forming in his eyes.
"Me too, Aria, me too."
Despite the painful expression, she didn't seem to be bothered by it, massaging her hands with curiosity.
"I can only move my hands. It feels so unfamiliar."
As ranks increased, so did the capabilities of the body; muscles became stronger, and the mind grew sharper. For people like Aria and Ren, who were of a high rank, it wasn't often that they were overexerting themselves physically.
"You should get used to it, Aria, if we want to rank up again."
"I know, I know."
But soon after agreeing with Ren's words, Aria wore a forlorn expression, making him ask with concern.
"Is something wrong?"
Aria's gaze turned to his face before looking to the forest leaves and then slightly clouded blue sky.
"Ren, do we really need to rank up?"
He stared at her for a couple of moments before nodding.
"If we want to survive, we have to rank up and get stronger, right?"
"I know that, but when you said 'rank up', you mean back to our original strength, right?"
They had reached grand heights in their original lives, reaching a world affecting Rank 8. To save a world, reaching such a rank was required, yet now that their world's were saved or more specifically destroyed, they didn't have a reason to work so desperately anymore.
"Aren't you tired, Ren?"
Having known each other for decades, the two developed an understanding, and certain traits became apparent between them, some very similar.
That was their stubbornness in not showing weakness. Yet as the years went by, they started sharing more and more, using the pseudonyms Mr. Night and Ms. Star to ease the guilt of dumping their burdens on each other.
"Why do you think I am tired? "
"Ren… I know, because I'm tired as well."
After decades of fighting desperately to survive and save the world, it would be odd if they weren't tired.
Saving the world, the process was simple in its idea: kill or stop the big bad and live happily ever after, right?
That was on top of the fact that Aria and Ren understood the game they were sent to, knowing secret easter eggs and resources.
But the process was far from easy; sometimes sacrifices were made, sometimes they couldn't save a important person. They felt regret in these moments, thinking: If I were stronger or maybe braver, could things have changed?
Most of all, they were far from perfect. How could they remember every single thing from when they played the game? It wasn't as if they spent their entire lives playing the games they were sent in.
They questioned themselves about whether they were worthy of their goals and ambitions. They weren't rewarded for what they had gone through; of course, they didn't want to be rewarded, they saved because they could and wanted to.
'But there is never a perfectly heroic person.'
There was always a limit to a person's willpower, especially average earthlings like Ren and Aria. At first, the two always wondered why they transmigrated instead of someone stronger, like a soldier.
As they ranked up higher and higher, they got stronger in not just the mind but the body as well, but they also experienced more and more things that withered their psyche.
Ren understood what Aria wanted to convey, nodding.
"I guess I am tired, but I still have people to help."
"People to help? We haven't met anyone yet."
Ren smiled, looking at Aria. Sensing his gaze, she turned and stared back, narrowing her eyes.
"Ren, I don't need your concern; I can take care of myse-"
"Then what about your goal to return to Earth?"
Ren cut her off, mentioning one of the reasons she desperately saved her world. It was the desire to return home to Earth. Ren continued,
"Aria, I don't have any family left. Whether it be on the destroyed Abyss or back on Earth. But you do, right? Your parents."
Her eyes glowed at his words, turning to face the sky before shaking her head.
"But it's been nearly an entire century; they aren't alive anymore."
"Then are you giving up?"
The phrase lingered in Aria's mind, after a certain point in her journey, giving up had been something she always thought about.
The parents who always worried for her and the friends that she made after such a long time, they had probably passed away.
Yet she felt that she couldn't give up, and that was because of the person sitting next to her. Part of it was because of the emotional support his messages brought her, as well as the useless hope that maybe, just maybe, Earth hadn't changed in the slightest.
Another part was more twisted, the thought that someone else was going through the same thing as her calmed her. It was a thought that always created a feeling of guilt inside her.
'Does he think the same?'
Aria smiled bitterly before replying to his question.
"Ren, I haven't given up. I've just accepted that returning isn't possible anymore."
"Aria…"
Before Ren could say anything, Aria's hand squeezed his. It was an indication that she didn't want to talk about it anymore, causing Ren to shut his mouth. She then spoke softly.
"Plus, living a new life might not be that bad, right?"
"Living, huh? Yeah, that doesn't sound so bad."
…
Since they couldn't move, they sat in silence, their gaze fixed on the beautiful forest before them. It was very different from the horrifying night before.
"It's kinda calming to look at, huh? When I was in the Abyss, most forests died since the sun was blocked."
In the Abyss without sunlight, most vegetation couldn't grow, and most of humanity had to create artificial sources of light to survive. It was only near the end of his journey that this problem was solved when a powerful Light element user created a new sun using the tier 8 spell [False Sun].
"It's been a while since you saw the sun, right? You should've seen Solaris, it was way brighter than this."
As they sat, the need for action took over, and if they wanted to get anything done, they would first need to stretch.
Aria, her eyes narrowed in pain, bent her knee, and massaged her calves. At the same time, Ren stood up, or at least he tried to before being stopped by his left hand as if the hand was attached to something.
It indeed was attached to something, or more specifically, someone.
"Aria? Can you let go?"
Since Aria and Ren had fallen asleep, their hands were holding each other, and to his surprise, they didn't let go in the hours that passed.
"Shouldn't you help me up first?"
"Yea yea, hold tight."
Pulling her up, the two started to stretch before looking around, walking slowly into the opening where they had fought the furred monster.
The grass was slightly shorter in this area, and in the sunlight, they could see clearly, yet as Ren had seen previously, the monster's corpse was missing.
Making their way further through the grass, they approached the area where the monster fell, but all that remained was grass.
"Even the damage disappeared."
"And the crystal is gone."
The two could only frown in astonishment.
All their hard work was for nothing!
The reward of high quality materials and a rank 2 mana crystal was all gone.
"Well, at least we ranked up right? It could be worse."
"But Ren, the… the mana crystal!"
"Aria, it's just a mana cr-"
Aria cut him off.
"Just? Just?! We worked so damn hard for it! Now it's gone… gone forever!"
During Aria's lament, the system window appeared with animated text.
[Congratulations on surviving the night!]
[Hmm, a rank 1, a rank 2, and a weakened rank 3!?]
[Magnificent, truly! Gosh, I really expected the two of you to die, but look where we are.]
"..."
"..."
Aria and Ren stared at the window in silence, causing the system to respond with confusion, its animated text jumping up and down, its words sounding jovial.
[Hm? Why so quiet? Ah! Yes, I need to tell you what you killed, huh? Ahem Ahem..]
The two stared incredulously; the system didn't have a voice, yet oddly, it cleared its throat as if it had one and had a friendly demeanor.
[Congratulations on killing…Rank 1 [Medullis's Pale Harvester], huh? Do I really need to read all of this?! Ugh!]
[Medullis's Pale Harvester: creatures originating from the Pale lord's body, harvesting bones of other creatures they fell into corruption upon the Pale Lord's death during the 2nd Rupture, turning monstrous and being sealed in the forest of blah blah blah, the rest is boring anywa- Ahem, I meant! Read it on your own time.]
Looking away from the window, Aria and Ren stared at each other, communicating with their eyes since messaging required them to use the system.
'Ren, this system… is it alive?'
'A living system? Let's listen for now.'
The two turned back as the system moved onto the next monster
[Rank 3 [Gorge Devourer], as rank 0s, you shouldn't have even touched it, but I suppose, since it was injured and weakened to rank 2, killing it was great… I mean, glorious!]
[Let's see, since the last two are similar, I'll group them. Rank 2 [Offspring of the Gorge Devourer], haha, no wonder it was so angry you killed its parent, how awful, a tragedy!]
The system seemed far from remorseful, instead amused by what happened, but the pair watching frowned, looking at each other.
[Oh? Feeling guilty now? Tsk Tsk, they were corrupted. If you were weak, they would have killed you. Wait, I shouldn't be talking about this. Let's see [Gorge Devourer] similar to the [Pale Harvesters] originate from a god called the Devouring Heaven, oh my, to think you would encounter two creations of divinity, how unlucky!]
'Unlucky…'
Aria frowned, feeling that luck wasn't what caused this sequence of events, but the system cut into her thoughts.
[Anyways, you two truly are amazing. If you have any questions, ask away!]
Aria's and Ren's eyes lit up at the words. Since transmigrating from their second lives to their current third lives, they had plenty of questions; they would be insane if they didn't!
The two looked at each other, and Ren smiled at her, a signal that she should ask first.
"Then… what are you?"
In both their worlds of Solaris and the Abyss, systems weren't a thing people knew about or even conceptualized, since there weren't any webnovels or video games.
Since they were given systems it also didn't have many features, such as the reward system, only acting as a guide by giving them missions or telling them their stats. In fact, the most important thing about the system wasn't what it did for them but what it allowed them to do, which was the messaging function that connected both Aria and Ren together.
That begged the question: What is the system? Even though Aria and Ren had reached rank 8, they still couldn't see through it, at first they thought it was a spell, but Aria, who was a mage, couldn't feel any mana from the system, while Ren, with unnatural senses, felt that the system was no different from air.
[What am I? Don't you remember? I'm the ATLAS System! A guide to the solution!]
Ren's eyes glowed, remembering the phrase; it was what the system said when their systems broke and combined.
"Remember when we first met?"
Their respective systems broke into pieces and combined into this bigger system.
"It said 'Welcome to the Atlas System'."
Aria nodded, then asked another question,
"What is this solution you are guiding us to?"
The system became silent for a couple of moments, the text flickering as if in thought.
[The solution is a guide to kill a being; of course, I will be focusing more on your improvement in rank, not your killing potential, I mean, I'm sure you'd had enough of that in your past lives!]
Their eyes flickered, turning to each other and whispering,
"Ren, it knows about our past life."
"Well, that makes sense, right? The systems were with us during that time."
The system didn't activate at birth; it activated only after they fully recovered their memories of their lives on Earth. The process took many years, and Ren and Aria recalled it just before adulthood. Ren continued speaking,
"Hmm, since it holds both systems, it probably knows about the chat logs in the messaging function, huh?"
"That's… kinda embarrassing, isn't it?!"
Aria, feeling as if her private and potential love life had been leaked, held a slight blush as Ren tilted his head,
"Embarrassing? Why would it?"
Aria stared at Ren's dense expression before shaking her head, retorting emotionally
"J-just ask the next question!"
With a confused look, Ren turned back to the system with a smile,
"So, since you're focusing on improving our rank to kill something, what rank is it anyway?"
Ren wasn't going to kill just because he was told to, even though he lived a chaotic life; he, at the very least, kept his morality. But he decided that, in the present, extracting as much information would be best before deciding what to do.
[What rank? Isn't it obvious Rank 10!]
"Rank 10?"
Ren asked with a frozen face, his smile disappearing.
[Rank 10!]
Watching from the side, Aria tapped his arm
"Ren… It's speaking bullshit. Let's ignore it."
Staring for a couple of moments, Ren nodded in agreement as they both turned away from the system.
[W-Wait! Don't ignore me, h-haven't I been helpful in your last life!]
Aria's eyes twitched as she retorted in anger,
"Helpful? Helpful!? All you give us are stats and status! And they're shoddy at best. When I was poisoned, I felt it was pretty damn obvious when I was coughing blood! You couldn't even give me a warning beforehand!?"
Ren looked in surprise at Aria's anger
'Whoa, she's mad, mad, but….'
He started to feel angry himself.
"She's right! What about the reward system? Are you so poor you can't afford to share some scraps for us during our lower ranks!? You're oh so mysterious, but mystery doesn't help us kill gods! Do you know how much time I wasted finding potions!?"
"Yeah, he's right! Do you think we have a perfect memory?! How can I remember a hidden easter egg after 20 years?! You could've given us a mission or some kind of marker! That's right! Those missions as well! 'Survive the night'?! You might as well tell us that we need to breathe to live!"
The system's animated test flickered even more in what seemed to be bewilderment.
[N-now now calm down, you two uh.. what about the messaging system? You can't deny the connection fostered between the support of each other, right?]
Ren frowned. The system was good in that regard, but the rest was total garbage.
Aria let out a 'tsk' before asking,
"Why should we even kill a rank 10 being anyway? Can't we just ignore you?"
The system's flickering stopped at those words; it appeared as if the system took on a serious tone.
[Ah, ignore me? You can do that, but you should know if you don't listen…]
The system's text turned bolder.
[You'll die]