Chapter 41: The Neutral Zone, Part 1

[T/N: 6K Words]

I crossed through the portal and arrived in a small room. The rest of the group that entered before me were waiting there. Uncle Jung nodded in relief when he saw me arrive.

Maria also crossed the portal and let out a big sigh of relief, passing by everyone. She opened the exit door of the small room and pointed towards the passage beyond before walking ahead with light and quick steps.

The hallway was made of marble. It was long and dark like a tunnel. We simply followed Maria down the hallway; the others seemed to have no idea where it led, and I found it somewhat amusing because they were scared. But when a small light appeared in the distance, I saw their expressions fill with relief.

Maria reached the end of the hallway first, and her steps halted. Then she softly opened her mouth and said with an unexpectedly clear and beautiful voice, "Korea, Area 1, cleared."

So she could really speak? That was the question everyone in the group had etched on their faces; even the girl told her she had a nice voice, and Maria just smiled at her, but she didn't say anything more.

Then more voices from other women began to say:

"Europe, Area 2, cleared."

"Germany, Area 3, cleared."

"North America, Area 4, cleared."

"Asia, Area 5, cleared."

"Africa, Area 6, failed."

"China, Area 7, cleared."

"South America, Area 8, failed."

"Oceania, Area 9, failed."

I reflected on this and found it strange; we finished almost half a day earlier than in the novel, and yet as soon as we exited the portal and crossed the hallway, the other zones did too, as if our times were synchronized, which is not possible. I know that each Tutorial Zone usually has different times to complete the missions, so I can only imagine that there is a temporal gap that readjusts the time of all the Tutorial Zones so that when they finish the tests, they arrive at the Neutral Zone at the same time. It is the only logical explanation I can think of.

I also found it strange that the reports from the different areas that the maids just announced could be understood by everyone before the synchronization occurred. I can only assume that it is an adjustment of the Tutorial so that the newcomers have a clearer vision of things without the language barrier.

"That's a bit strange, isn't it?" Hyun Sangmin murmured almost inaudibly.

"What is?" asked Yi Seol Ah, the older of the two siblings.

"Six of those areas are the six continents, right? So, how is it that Korea, Germany, and China get a separate area designation?" asked Hyun Sangmin.

"This world is governed by meritocracy; surely the Earthlings who have come from those specific zones have achieved some feat in Lost Paradise to earn that specific distinction by zone," I answered.

He nodded in acceptance, and then we saw Maria start walking again.

So we moved as well. Beyond the exit of the hallway was a large and empty area shaped like a high-end theater; in it, you could see a stage, and although the lights were off, there were some strange objects on the walls that glowed and managed to illuminate the darkness a little. But the light is so dim and the ceiling so high that it is really hard to see properly.

Maria, who was at the front, led us to a row of chairs located just before the stage. The number of chairs was exactly nine, like us. After confirming that we had all sat down, Maria went up on stage and disappeared behind the curtains.

Then a different group was seen walking down the hallway.

"I guess they are from Area 2. Was it Europe?" Hyun Sangmin spoke while turning his head to look. More than thirty people followed a maid to another row of seats.

The place where the maid took them was a little behind our group. There were a total of 32 chairs for them. The maid also disappeared behind the curtains as soon as she finished leading them to their seats.

I stayed for a while watching them and thought that having so many people survive is not so good. I believe the Gods of Paradise have made too many mistakes with the Tutorial and the evaluation criteria. This is a complete mess and if it continues this way, the Lost Paradise will indeed be lost. Luckily though, that does not matter much since I am here now, and I am more than prepared to save Lost Paradise, I will not fail.

While I was in my thoughts and looking in their direction, a young girl sitting in the middle of the first row also fixed her gaze on me; she has light brown hair held back by a headband and a pair of eyes so light brown they seem to glow softly in this darkness. She is quite pretty, but she does not seem to be more than 16 years old; in a few years, she will surely become a very beautiful woman, but for now, it is better to keep the dimensional FBI off my back.

As I was staring at her and she at me, she ended up waving at me, and I returned the greeting, but subconsciously I began to look around, searching for whether the dimensional FBI was around, to my relief, I am still safe.

Different groups of people continued to arrive, but after a while, they stopped coming, and looking at the count so far, we have nine people. Europe, thirty two. Germany, ten. North America, eleven. Asia, seventeen. China, eight.

"Does that mean there are no survivors from South America and Oceania?" said Yun Seora.

"Don't forget Africa too. When transitioning from Area 5 to Area 7, there was a brief gap there," Hyun Sangmin added his opinion.

Seeing the situation, everyone began to fall silent and each started to think about their own affairs until the curtains hiding the stage were silently pulled aside, and suddenly the stage lights came on.

We all directed our attention to the stage. On the stage was a group of 9 maids standing, all in the same attire with their hands carefully folded and resting in front of their stomachs.

Of the 9 maids, there are 2 that I recognized, one is Maria who was Han's assistant in the Tutorial, and the other is Claire Agnes from the Sicilian mafia in Italy whom I met in the underworld during the annual meetings.

And sitting in the middle of all the standing maids was just one woman. This woman is not wearing a European maid's outfit like the rest, but a thick coat that hangs loosely from her shoulders, her eyes closed and her arms crossed in front of her chest as if she were in a state of deep contemplation.

Her hair is red and wild like a lion's mane, and she has a scar that extends from her forehead to her cheek and passes through her eye. This is another person I know from the Italian Sicilian mafia, or rather the leader of said mafia, clearly Taciana Cinzia. I laughed a little at her theatricality because it is a bit like mine when I use my 'god of death' mode.

Shortly after, the nine maids began to clap in unison and then started to sing a celebration song.

"What are they doing now?" someone from the back asked, sounding somewhat astonished. The reactions of other people were not so different either. Everyone was stunned by this unexpected celebration with a singing routine.

Finally, the song came to an end. Taciana's eyes half-opened. She arrogantly lifted her head, and as if she were evaluating high-end luxury products in a store, her gaze slowly swept over all of us seated in the audience.

The theater immediately fell silent. The reactions of those she looked at were similar: either they became nervous and lowered their heads, or they furtively dodged her gaze. The sounds of saliva being swallowed could also be heard here and there. It seems she really intimidated them completely.

Taciana slowly uncrossed her legs, elegantly rose from her chair, and walked calmly to the front. Being quite tall and added to her fierce appearance, everyone became more nervous.

Taciana suddenly stopped and directed her gaze in this direction, but it was not me she was looking at, but towards where the survivors of Area 2 were seated. There, the young girl with whom I had exchanged greetings was raising her hand in the air, trying to ask for permission to speak. Taciana gave her a visual confirmation, and the young girl said, "Are you also a Tutorial guide?"

I found it funny; the young girl is bold and was not intimidated by Taciana in the slightest.

Taciana did not respond immediately; instead, she took a cigar out of a bag from her coat and lit it, taking her time to savor it before inhaling the lit cigar.

The young girl, instead of waiting for an answer and now a bit nervous, asked something else, "Or how should I call you? Who are you?"

Instead of answering, Taciana directed her gaze behind her, more specifically towards where Claire was, as if she were asking her something with just a look.

"Area 2, Odelette Delphine," was what Claire responded to Taciana's visual question. Obviously, she was asking for the identity of the young girl.

Upon hearing that name, Taciana's squinted eyes opened completely, and she looked back at the young girl. Her red lips slowly parted, and the fine smoke from the cigar disappeared. And finally, she responded to Odelette Delphine, "Just call me Cinzia."

Odelette, finally getting her answer, lowered her hand that had been up all this time.

"What have they been talking about?" asked Hyun Sangmin.

"That tall woman said her name is Cinzia. And the person who asked the question must be called Odelette Delphine from Area 2," Shin Sang-Ah said softly in a low voice.

"Cinzia? Othello Delphine? What kind of names are those?" asked Yi Seol-Ah.

"Cinzia is an Italian name, and it's not Othello, but Odelette Delphine, it's French," I said calmly, but I didn't explain further. The reason is simple; the synchronization that will allow us all to speak without worrying about the language barrier while we are in Paradise will begin shortly. And I did not have to wait long; a few seconds later, the message appeared.

[The synchronization will begin now]

I felt a slight headache, but it wasn't serious, or maybe because my pain tolerance is high enough that it hardly affects me, but I saw the others, and some held their heads tightly and screamed in pain.

I was a little worried when I saw the little girl crying from the pain, and I immediately got up to channel my mana into her to relieve it. Although I could never learn to heal anyone with my mana, that does not change the fact that just channeling mana into someone can help them relax and feel a little relieved.

My action proved to be helpful for the little girl, who stopped crying and looked at me relieved, and luckily the synchronization did not last long, just a few seconds.

[The synchronization has been completed]

I stroked her head, gave her a smile, and returned to my seat. I sat down and looked at the general situation, and after the onslaught of pain, it seems everyone was a bit stirred up.

"I think the synchronization was a little delayed. Oh well, I'm sure everyone can understand me now," said Taciana, looking as if she found the whole matter quite amusing.

Due to the painful experience and the surprise of now clearly understanding Taciana, everyone fell silent. And finding everyone's silence to her liking, the corners of Taciana's lips rose.

"It's certainly much more preferable to filter them out at least once, right? If they started talking non-stop like a bunch of parrots, I would have gotten very angry."

Her steps sounded loudly as she began to walk again and said, "As a sign of respect for all of you who are not making a fuss about the synchronization, let me inform you about something important before we begin. I don't like to beat around the bush. Besides, you must have a general idea of what this place is by now. So, I will get straight to the point," Taciana took a few more steps forward.

Then she spoke in a low but powerful voice, "This place is the sanctuary created through the combined powers of the Seven Deities of Lost Paradise, called the Neutral Zone. And in this place, all of you will be given the opportunity to prove that you are capable of surviving in Paradise. You have all received your Survival Points, right?"

She waited a bit and saw nodding in some places in the audience and then continued saying, "In short, you must increase your points to more than 1000. That is the only way to get out of this Neutral Zone. While we have prepared various methods to increase the point count, we will not worry about other methods you decide to use. However, you only have one month to do it."

I saw that many were stirred up by the news, I heard a whisper or two from some complaining that they had been told something else and that they had been deceived.

On the other hand, there are others who are calmer and seem to know more about the whole matter, perhaps they were told everything in more detail and are not worried about the situation.

"If you don't gather the points in a month—" Taciana was speaking but was abruptly interrupted by someone who spoke loudly.

"What is the meaning of this?" The strong voice came from Area 4. A man with a robust physique and a beard stood up from his seat. However, Taciana only glanced at him superficially.

"Hmph... If you don't want to regurgitate that burrito you stuffed down your throat before you got here, you'd better sit back down. I really hate being asked a question in the middle of my sentence," said Taciana, clearly irritated.

The bearded man blinked in surprise for a few seconds before his expression filled with anger. "What the hell did you say? Watch your mouth, spaghetti bitch!"

Taciana threw her head back in a strong fit of laughter. "Certainly a barbarian from the cartels aren't you? You're from Sinaloa, right?"

"How do you know?" the man asked, surprised.

"It's obvious. Of those with the authority to recruit in area 4, the only one who can mobilize the Bronze Marks en masse is located there." Taciana's laughter stopped abruptly, and she gestured with her index finger. The fourth maid from the left stepped forward and handed her a piece of paper.

"Let's see. I'm curious here if your results match that mouth of yours," Taciana said as she glanced at the paper, and a mocking smile formed on her lips. She continued, "0 points? What? Is this real?!"

The maid nodded.

"You're not even a contracted one who is at a total disadvantage, but you managed to get 0 points as a bronze-grade guest," Taciana threw the paper away and coldly looked at the burly Mexican and said, "I can't bother to speak to you again. Sit down, burrito."

"You... Bitch!" the man said, but before he could continue, Taciana spoke again, this time in a threatening tone.

"Sit down. Otherwise, I'll make those who invited you regret it." The abrupt change in the tone of her voice was so creepy and terrifying that it clearly scared most of the audience.

The Mexican man recoiled instantly and collapsed onto his seat.

"I think all of you are misunderstanding something here," Taciana said before stopping and continued smoking without saying anything for a moment before passing her gaze over the seats of the audience with the eyes of a wild beast and said, "The official title of this world is Lost Paradise. Do you understand?" She specifically emphasized the "Lost" part of the name.

"Did you all think that because it's called 'Paradise,' you could ride roller coasters and have a good time? You all better wake up. If I had to compare this place to Earth, then the place you're about to enter is a battlefield full of gunfire and explosions that happen every day. This is a war zone, where you will be allowed to survive only after all your enemies are dead," she said before discarding the cigarette butt and crossing her arms again.

"Just because you somehow managed to escape from a weak monster and some childish traps, do you think you have the right to bark at me? Don't you understand the meaning behind the Tutorial? Don't be arrogant. It's better not to delude yourself into thinking that the things you'll find in Lost Paradise are on the same level as what you experienced in the Tutorial," she said quite seriously.

From what I could see now, everyone really has fallen a bit more into the truth of the situation. I think that is how it should be and not just from the Neutral Zone or from the Tutorial, but from the selection of candidates on Earth. But as I said before, the whole recruitment method that the Seven Deities have been using has been a disaster in my opinion.

I saw uncle Jung clearly nervous about the situation, especially because he understands almost nothing of what is happening. And the girl's mother is clearly scared because she understands that she is in a big mess now.

"That's right. If you understood, keep your mouth shut, useless bunch of woodpeckers."

"Hehehe well, I'm glad to finally see someone who expresses the real situation of the place," I said while clapping softly. My action and words surprised everyone a bit, especially those in my group and more specifically uncle Jung and the mother and daughter.

"Who are you?" Taciana asked, obviously irritated at being interrupted again, this time she did not need to give a look to any maid, Maria moved on her own to hand her a paper.

"Oh, I see. Indeed, you may find all this quite adorable and funny. But, you should try to understand too. No matter how careful the selection process was, there will always be some dirt that manages to escape the filtering," she said last while her gaze moved over the mother, the girl, my uncle, and then a few more in the audience and clearly sighed disappointedly.

"Well, this will be the end anyway," Taciana turned her gaze towards Area 4 and laughed and said, "You're going to go through a lot of hardships, that's for sure. To get to 1000 points from 0, that is not going to be a walk in the park."

Hearing this, many were frightened and clearly began to get nervous in their seats.

"This is the consequence of your own actions. Who told you to get a free pass through the Tutorial?" Even the faces of some of my group members paled as they remembered that they only accumulated 250 points most in the Tutorial.

"Now that we're here, we can move on to the next point to finish the welcome ceremony, we're done with those who deserve scolding and punishment. So let's move on to the awarding of prizes for those who deserve praise and rewards," Taciana said as she let out a long sigh and searched the inner pocket of her coat.

"From now on, if I call your name, stand up. Area 5, Tong Chai."

A thin man wearing a white turban stood up.

"You already meet the requirements. If you wish, you can enter Paradise immediately," said Taciana.

"I choose to stay," replied the man named Tong Chai.

"Then, take this," Taciana threw something at Tong Chai.

He easily caught it from the air and asked, full of curiosity, "What is this?"

"What? A member of the assassination squad is asking for information?" Taciana asked mockingly.

An inscrutable smile formed on Tong Chai's face and he did not ask any more and sat back down.

"If you're really curious, then ask the maid assigned to your area who's behind me later."

"Area 1, Yun Seora."

Yun Seora stood up and simply said, "I stay."

Taciana also threw an object at her. Looking closely, it is a key and it has the number 5 engraved on the plate.

"Area 2, Salvatore Leorda," she said again.

This time, a man with slicked-back hair stood up.

Taciana did not bother to say anything and simply threw something in his path. The man caught it, bowed slightly, and sat back down in his seat.

If I remember correctly, he is one of Taciana's new trusted men, something like the rookie who is gaining reputation in her mafia, I think I saw him at the last underworld meeting that happened a few months ago.

"Area 7, Hao Win," said Taciana.

One of the Chinese men who are wearing identical clothes and are clearly from the triads stood up, he is a man with a good physique and apparently is in his mid-thirties.

"Seeing your appearance and behavior I can easily guess where you're from. So, will you stay?" said Taciana, guessing like me that the guy is from the triads. If none of us recognize him, it is because he must be from a group not powerful enough to attend the underworld meetings or someone who still does not have much influence in his group.

"That's a silly question. I'll stay, of course." The triad man named Hao Win replied calmly and happily.

"Good. Then Area 2, Odelette Delphine."

"I'm going to stay too," the young girl replied immediately enthusiastically. She quickly caught the thrown object that drew a long arc in the air. She checked it and then, quickly raised her hand high again and said, "Excuse me for a second!"

"Mm?" Taciana asked, puzzled.

"I think you gave me the wrong one because it says [Number 2] on the plate," said Odelette showing the number on the key plate.

"No. I know very well that you earned 7500 points," said Taciana.

Immediately after she said that, sounds of surprise and exclamation were heard throughout the auditorium, and almost everyone fixed their gaze on the young girl.

"If I deduct the 1000 survival points you received as an initial bonus, then your original point count is 6500. And your silver mark gave you a survival mark with a 5 times multiplier. So, you earned 1300 points during the Tutorial. Am I right?" Taciana asked with much more patience and kindness than she had spoken with so far.

"Yes, you're right," Odelette immediately responded, a bit nervous.

"How unfortunate. That amount would have been enough to take you to the top of the rankings on any other occasion. But this time, it's enough only for second place," Taciana said with quite a bit of regret in her voice.

Odelette's mouth opened wide in surprise. Most likely, she had not considered the possibility that someone else might have surpassed her in the point count.

I felt bad seeing her so sad, but I had no choice; I had to win that count for the special room in the Neutral Zone, so there was nothing to be done.

"Area 1, Seol Jihu," she said and immediately directed her gaze at me, clearly evaluating me.

"I'll stay," I calmly responded and immediately caught an object she threw at me. She did it with much more force and speed compared to how she threw it to the others. Clearly a small test, but she still underestimated me a lot; she threw it with a force and speed that allowed it to be caught within human limits.

"How many points did that guy receive, then?" Odelette asked.

"You shouldn't even ask. Just adding up the original points, it's 3,550. It is higher than yours by a whooping 2,250 points."

"W-wow!" Odelette exclaimed, clearly surprised.

"Doesn't he know what shame is?!" I heard Odelette whisper, and I almost laughed.

"You know, I find it really incredible," Taciana unexpectedly showed a certain amount of admiration and continued saying, "It's impressive that your small country has earned the right to recruit people independently, but now a second Irregular has appeared."

Thanks to the whole point issue and the extra comments, now everyone's attention was centered on me, but I just shrugged in response.

Finally, Taciana gestured with her hands, which led the maids to hurriedly descend from the stage and move to both sides of the audience area.

"What are all of you doing?! Stand up!" Taciana said strongly and continued almost shouting, "The countdown to the month's deadline has already begun! What? Do you want me to spoon-feed you?! Are you waiting for me to kindly pat you on the back to get you moving?!"

Before she continued with the roars, I raised my hand, and she looked at me fixedly for a moment with quite a bit of puzzlement but gestured for me to continue, so I spoke.

"Do you need only 1000 points to enter Lost Paradise directly? There are no other requirements, right?"

My question seemed strange to her, but she still answered, "That's right, as long as you get the 1000 points, you can request to leave the Neutral Zone and enter Lost Paradise at any time. Why do you ask? Did you change your mind and want to leave now?"

It seems she was eager to stop me from leaving the zone, but in the end, she refrained and said nothing, just waiting for my response.

"No, I will simply share my points with some people; I want them to go straight to Lost Paradise. There, I have someone waiting who will take them back to Earth. This is not a place for them, and the reason they entered the Tutorial and the Neutral Zone has already been fulfilled," I responded while pointing to my uncle, the mother, and her daughter.

Taciana's eyes opened wide for a moment, clearly showing how astonished she was by my declaration. Then she began to laugh like crazy and said, "You understand that you will need 3000 points to get those 3 people out, right? While the number of points you received from the tutorial may seem large at first glance, you may actually need every point later on and end up regretting it. If you want to send them to Earth, there's an easier and free method, you know that, right?"

"It doesn't matter; I want them to go safely; I won't regret anything," I said and passed 1000 points to my uncle, the mother, and her daughter.

They were clearly surprised, and my uncle even told me not to spend on him, that from what they had said so far, those points are very important, and if there is a free method to return to Earth, it was better to use it.

He obviously does not know that that method is to die, but I didn't tell him and instead reassured him, telling him that amount is not much for me.

The mother of the girl, on the other hand, started crying and thanking me, and the girl did not understand what was happening, but seeing her mother thank me, she also thanked me. I stroked her head and told her, "You have to grow up and behave well to take care of your mom, and you have to stay away from boys; boys have lice on their heads, and if they pass them on to you, then you will have to cut all your hair, and you will look like an old, bald, and ugly man."

"Mm, mm, thank you uncle for taking care of my mom and me. Don't worry, I will grow up and take care of mom and stay away from boys, I don't want to go bald like the old men," the girl said with much innocence and gratitude while nodding to what I told her.

Everyone was laughing at our interaction, and I could not help but stroke her head again, but this time she pushed my hand away and said, "No! Uncle, don't touch my hair! I don't want you to pass the lice on to me and then go bald!" This time the group laughed much louder.

I laughed too and continued to stroke her hair while she resisted, but then I felt chills as if the dimensional FBI was watching me, so I stopped stroking the girl's head and asked Hyun Sangmin for the list with the data of everyone we left in classroom 3-1 in the Tutorial, I promised them a reward, and I would give it to them.

I wrote some more instructions on the list and gave it to uncle Jung and told him that outside there would be a woman named Kim Hannah who would take care of taking them home and to give that list to her, she would know what to do. I also told the mother of the girl to tell Kim Hannah that I instructed her to get her a job, a new place to live, and arrangements for the girl to go to school.

After a series of more thanks from the girl's mother and saying goodbye to my uncle, they left following a maid by order of Taciana.

Then my group and I followed Maria, who was waiting for us at a different door than the one we entered the theater through. She signaled that we would now use this door.

We left the theater through the door Maria pointed out, and everyone was surprised by the view. The so-called Neutral Zone looks like one of the large and super massive shopping centers with its spectacular interior.

The ground floor is circular in shape, and wherever you look, you can find lounges, shops, and other facilities. And it looks incredibly difficult to calculate how many interconnected floors with spiral staircases there are on top.

It is hard to say for sure without leaving the Neutral Zone and seeing it, but it was not difficult to imagine what this place might look like from the outside; most likely, it looks like the legendary Tower of Babel, a tall and circular tower.

I stayed looking around this floor. The most striking thing to the eye is a giant bulletin board placed next to a fountain in the middle of the floor. On this board, there are countless pieces of paper that look like paper talismans stuck to it. And a large crowd of people had already gathered in front looking more closely at the content of the stuck pieces of paper.

Instead of going there and taking advantage of the fact that the members of my group are still around me, I said, "I will share 1000 survival points with each of you, do not take it as a favor or a loan, but as a payment for an order I have to make, I expect you tomorrow at 9 in the morning in this same place," I said and shared 1000 points with each one. Hyun Sangmin happily accepted them and promised to come here tomorrow at the appointed time before leaving quickly.

"Orabeo-nim, we cannot accept these points, they are too much," said Yi Seol Ah, calling me by a rarely used honorific that denotes deep respect and appreciation from a woman to an older man.

"It's true Hyung, we can't accept this, you have already helped us a lot just to get here without problems. If what you need is for us to come tomorrow at 9:00 am then we will be here, the points are not necessary," said Yi Sung Jin.

"Take them, if you really respect me as your Hyung and Orabeo, then you will take them without objections. You can go do whatever you want, but don't forget, I expect you tomorrow at the appointed time," I said and they could not find how to reply so they just nodded and left.

Only Shin Sang-Ah and Yun Seora were left. When I turned my gaze to Shin Sang-Ah, she seemed to realize that I would not accept her refusal of the points. She simply blushed, bowed her head, and whispered that she would be here tomorrow, so she ran away.

Only Yun Seora and I remained. She took the hood off her head and looked at me intently before speaking.

"Did you help me just because I am Unnie's little sister?" she asked very seriously. Clearly a bad answer, and this proud girl will never speak to me again.

"I already told you before when I formed the group to overcome the Tutorial, I made the group looking for the most talented people of all those who were in the auditorium. The only exceptions to that were obviously my uncle who was in a coma and the mother and daughter pair who were clearly dragged to the place without knowing what was happening by the human garbage that was their husband/father..."

"So as far as the Yi siblings, Hyun Sangmin, Miss Shin Sang-Ah, and finally you, Miss Yun Seora, I gathered you because you are the most talented people I saw there. And among all of us who were in the auditorium apart from me, I consider you the most talented person. If I considered that you are not fit to be here and it was only because of Seohui, then I would have forced you to return to Earth along with my uncle and the mother and daughter pair," I said seriously while looking into her eyes.

She also looked at me directly all the time, trying to distinguish if I was lying to her or not, but it seems that she was convinced by my words, she blushed a little and sighed.

Yun Seora covered her head again with her hood and said, "Even so, there is no reason for you to give us so many points, if you don't give me a valid reason then I will return them."

"There is one, tomorrow I will explain it. So for now please accept them and spend them if you wish, they are yours. Please attend the meeting tomorrow, there I will talk to you about something important. If in the end you are not convinced or not interested in what I will tell you, then you are free to give away, throw away, or do whatever you want with those points," I said calmly. She accepted and left.

With that, I have ensured to gather the group tomorrow. It is true that it is not necessary and I could simply ignore everyone, gather all the points and then focus only on my training, taking advantage of all the benefits provided by the Neutral Zone, but I want to enjoy my life, interact with these people who before in my first life were only fictional characters from one of the many novels I read, but now seeing them in the flesh I want to interact and share the adventure that is life with them. Besides, I cannot discard the words of the message sent by my future self 'III', "in unity there is strength, I must not discard everyone and focus on myself," if I make that mistake despite having been warned before, then my plan and the results I obtained by investigating the future with the notebook would be useless and I would be committing the same mistakes that led my other selves to fail.