Epilogue: Until next time

“Now, let’s see what we got.”

Tamashi, surrounded by everyone, proceeded to open the small obsidian chest. A small blue screen appeared before him, displaying the rewards.

Hmm, it’s not bad, Tamashi thought, going over everything. Oh, a common and a rare magic scroll. I'll give the rare one to Mika and the common one to Uyumi later, Tamashi decided on the spot.

Overall, the loot was pretty good for a level two dungeon. There were some coins, crafting materials, potion recipes and artefact blueprints—which were unfortunately useless, since Tamashi had them all written down already—and the two magic scrolls. Still, the best reward that all of them had gained was the XP.

Tamashi, Awayuki, Mika, and Himawari stayed at their current level, but Kengo, Takemi, and Uyumi’s levels had risen by one, giving them three stat points to distribute however they liked.

The main loot from the dungeon chests was usually coins. The person could then decide how to spend them, so it was pretty versatile. Only after a person reached at least a level four dungeon could they hope for some rarer and more powerful rewards.

The System was rather slow when it came to becoming stronger. That, too, was one of Tamashi’s suggestions. He feared that if the humans were to grow too quickly, he wouldn’t be able to properly control the situation, thus he tricked the Guide into lowering the quantity and quality of the rewards, while also somewhat making the low-level dungeons easier to beat, in order to balance it out.

“Alright, I already explained this to my family, but I’ll say it again, since Uyumi and Takemi are new.”

The two girls focused, and Tamashi started explaining.

“First, until you start dealing with dungeons of at least level five, stats like Mind, Spirit, and Soul are practically useless, so don’t waste your points on those. The same goes for Luck; my Luck stat is so high only because of a bug. Now, for someone using melee weapons, Physique and Agility are the most important, then Stamina, and lastly Perception. You can ignore your Mana stat, since you won’t be using any mana anyway.”

This was mostly meant for Takemi, so Tamashi turned to face her, making sure she was paying attention. Takemi nodded enthusiastically, so he continued.

“For mages, you naturally need to focus on the Mana stat. Perception is also important, so that is your secondary stat. Ignore everything else.”

“Right,” Uyumi affirmed, indicating she understood.

“As for someone who uses a long-range physical weapon, Perception and Stamina are the most important, with Physique and Agility being optional. With that said, I would recommend everyone gets their Stamina to at least ten to fifteen points, otherwise you won’t last long even standing still at the back.”

Tamashi turned to Uyumi, who now had a slight frown on her delicate face.

“Uyumi, you should put all three of your points into Stamina for now, so you can keep up better.”

“Okay,” she agreed with a meek voice.

“Takemi,” Tamashi turned to the second girl. “I would say that you’re more than strong enough for these low-level dungeons, and your stamina is also sufficient. However, you got hit quite a few times, so I would recommend putting the stat points into agility.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Takemi agreed, although somewhat reluctantly.

“And Kengo, as for you,” Tamashi addressed his brother. “It’s as I said before. You can put it wherever, just not physique. That would just be a waste right now.”

“I know, don’t worry,” Kengo reassured. “I put the points into Agility, Stamina, and Perception, to balance it out.”

“Good. And remember, don’t go over thirty points for now. Just focus on Perception at that point, or even Luck.”

A refreshing breeze coming from the ocean washed over them, cooling them down in the hot summer-like weather. As the six humans and one bird stepped inside a newly formed magic circle and disappeared from the world, peace returned to the island once again. It was now completely devoid of any life, but the wind was still blowing the air around, the waves kept crashing into the sandy beach, and the bright red sun continued shining, unbothered by the fact that it was now illuminating nothing but an empty island. Life had seemingly left this world, and yet nature continued to exist without it, as if it didn’t need life anymore—or never needed it, to begin with.

***

As everybody materialized from light blue particles inside the magic circle, once again on Earth, the circle disappeared, and the shrine regained its tranquil holiness, no longer stained by the System’s power.

I’m so glad that no ridiculous accidents occurred this time, Tamashi sighed in relief internally, allowing himself to finally relax a little.

“I know that the dungeons are dangerous and all, but that was super cool!” Takemi exclaimed.

“I know what you mean,” Kengo chimed in. “I was so taken aback the first time. Even now, it still felt unreal.”

“R-right? It’s like traveling to another world! Too bad it’s basically fake,” Mika joined in.

“Fake? What do you mean?” Takemi inquired.

“The dungeons are basically like simulations, or maybe pocket dimensions, created by the System. Tamashi told us all this before,” Kengo answered in Mika’s stead.

“Simulations? No way! It all felt so real! Besides, how could we actually get hurt if it was just illusions?” Takemi wondered, skeptical.

Tamashi, who had no mental capacity to engage in idle chatting at the moment, approached Himawari with a folded piece of paper and a book in hand.

“Mom, take these please.”

He handed her both items, then explained.

“This one’s the map of all the level one and two dungeons you need to clear. If you encounter any other dungeons, ignore them. Since those would be the new ones, they aren’t at risk of breaking down yet.”

Himawari briefly studied the map, then folded it again and dismissed it, storing it in her own inventory. Since the map was an item bought from the System store, it could be stored in a person’s inventory. Tamashi had also given the map’s ownership to Himawari just then, so it now belonged to her.

“As for this book,” Tamashi smiled wistfully. “It’s a copy of pretty much every useful potion recipe, weapon or artefact blueprint, and so on. I noted all of this down throughout the year.”

Himawari chucked, then smiled gently.

“You were always an astute and sly kid.”

“Yeah, that I was,” Tamashi laughed. “Anyway, please take good care of Mika and Kengo, Mom. I can’t help but be worried about leaving them,” Tamashi admitted.

Himawari didn’t say anything for a while, her calm and warm expression slowly shifting to something else. However, before Tamashi noticed anything, she smiled once again, meeting his gaze.

“That goes without saying, of course. I’m still their, as well as your, mother. Don’t grow cocky just because you were the System’s beta tester.”

Himawari put her right palm on Tamashi’s face, softly caressing his left cheek.

“So don’t worry, okay? I’ll take good care of them.”

Tamashi put his hand over Himawari’s and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly.

“Yeah, you’re right. Thank you.”

After a second, Tamashi slowly took a step back and faced everyone.

“Alright, this is where we part ways for now.”

Hearing those words, everybody grew quiet.

“Although I would like to stay a bit longer, I also don’t want to risk losing more time. Therefore, me and Uyumi will be headed towards the Hakodate airport.”

After a few moments, Kengo spoke up.

“Are you really planning to steal a plane?”

“Yeah, something like that. I’ll see how it goes once we get there. Don’t worry, I got a few backup plans in case it doesn’t work out.”

Yet another silence descended, only broken by Mika’s quick footsteps.

She ran over to Tamashi and hugged his waist tightly, sticking to him like a leech. Tamashi lifted her up and also hugged her, his face full of pain and worry.

“Be brave, Mika. I know you can do it. But even so, don’t be afraid to depend on your team, just as they will depend on you, okay?”

Mika didn’t answer, instead clinging to him even more, not letting go.

Everyone eventually said their goodbyes. Tamashi, with Awayuki atop his head, and Uyumi stood between the slopes of the red torii gate. Their backs were facing the shrine, and they were facing Kengo, Mika, Himawari, and Takemi. Each wore a different expression, yet they all felt the same way.

Tamashi helped Uyumi input the coordinates for the Fast Travel spell, then they both turned to their family.

Nobody said anything for a while. It was eventually Kengo who broke the silence.

“See you later,” he said, grinning.

Tamashi smirked.

“Until next time.”

He then focused his eye on Mika and smiled. His smile was full of love, but also trust, greatly moving Mika’s heart.

Then, his lips moved, and in the next second, both Tamashi and Uyumi disappeared, leaving behind the scenery of the conquered dungeon.

***

As ridiculously cold air surrounded a large city with a magnificent castle, and freezing gales blew, sometimes even toppling trees to the ground, a deafening rumble washed over the lands.

The city, along with the once great castle, was now reduced to nothing but ruins and rubble, its former glory forever lost, never to be regained.

Atop a tall hill covered in multiple layers of snow not far away, a lone figure sat calmly.

Despite the extreme weather conditions, this man wore nothing but a pure white cloak. His skin was smooth and slightly tanned, without any imperfections like acne or scars, and donned a well-maintained full beard. Long and dense golden hair, which reached down to his scapula, lashed around in the wind in all directions. He had dark, yet shining blue eyes; they pierced the white mist, observing the city's destruction from a distance.

The man slowly stood up, light blue sparks forming around him.

“Ahh, I never thought I would actually miss going to work. Never say never, I guess.”

A large bow made of nothing but golden light formed in his hands. Then, a brilliant silver light in the shape of an arrow nocked itself onto the bow’s string.

The man aimed high at the skies and closed his eyes.

“May this arrow have no doubt, as it comes from Your light.”

Lowering the bow, the man released his hold on the string made of golden light, letting the silver arrow fly.

What followed was silence.