The group stayed at the place for only one more day before they started moving again. And in that time, Aren learned the names of everyone.

The dragon boy was Reo, and the one that enhanced his power was Kite. The lightning sword user was Cane, and the exploding sword user was Ron.

The girl was called Athena, which Aren found pretty weird and worrying, because Athena was the goddess of war, and this girl carried chaos in her. It was sounding a bit more than a coincidence to him, but he did not put much thought into it, at least not for now.

There was a lot Aren had to do with the system, everything he had gained, but he decided to push that for when they cleared the maze and left, when he had enough time to do that.

Even then, without having to assign his stat points or check his new skills, he was already almost twice as strong as the moment he walked into the maze. With Riker as his summon, Fang merged and stronger. There was the ancient devourer, and the most powerful, his newest summon, the giant.

The thought of this new arsenal made him giddy with happiness. Despite how hard it was, this second trial was a great one for him.

As the group moved through the maze, they were mostly unhindered in their path. Whatever monster managed to attack was killed before it could even understand what was going on.

And it was not even Aren taking them down, everyone else just ganged up on the monsters and killed them like they had some sort of personal vendetta against them.

Aren, on the other hand, tried to get to know Athena.

"Hey," he greeted as they walked. Athena looked up, her glowing red eyes were less red now.

She had no expression on her face, yet her eyes managed to convey her intrigue in Aren.

She opened her mouth to speak. "Hello." Her reply was short and barely a whisper, but Aren managed to hear it. She looked forward after speaking, like that was meant to be the end of their discussion.

"You are pretty strong," Aren stated. She looked up again, looking at him.

"I don't like being strong, I don't like my ability," she said, her voice still a whisper.

"Hmmm, and why is that?" he asked.

She paused, looking at the ground for a moment. She let out a tired sigh and then spoke. "My emotions hurt people."

"Athena is a special person," Ron stepped in and said. "She is the sister to my friend, but he, as well as his family, died in a burning house a few years back, and so we have been taking care of her."

"Unlike us that awakened our abilities when we got to the right age, her eyes have been doing what they do since she was young," Ron said. He placed his hands over Aren's shoulder and walked him forward, a distance that she would not be able to hear.

"Her eyes have been capable of chaos right from birth, and her emotions trigger it. Before the loss of her family, she was energetic and fun to be around. But after an emotional flare, she caused the fire that killed them all.

She lives with that horror, and it shut her down completely. She acts the way she does in order to suppress every emotion and leave her in control. She has been doing it for so many years that it became second nature.

When the time for awakening came, she still got chaos, which increased the power of her eyes even more, but also made it more difficult to fight her emotions," he said, and then looked back at her, a sad look in his eyes.

"Other than her brother and me, and my party since we are all friends, no other person knows of her ability, or the fact that she had it from childhood.

She is in a constant fight with her emotions, scared to let loose."

'She awakened before even getting the system? I knew something was up with this girl,' Aren thought and glanced at her.

"I don't want her in more stressful situations, that is why I tried to get the map. I want her out of here as soon as possible," Ron said.

"I see. You are a good person, Ron. How about this, when we are about to split up, I'll draw you up a map. Hopefully nothing changes and you can make it out.

I'm hoping to see you and your group again, and maybe meet Athena again. I'd like to learn more about her," Aren said.

"That would be great," Ron responded with a smile.

Aren did not bother Athena after that. He already got the gist. She was some sort of anomaly, and it was affecting her normal life.

But he also got some key information. One being that she had the potential to be infinitely powerful if she let her emotions loose.

He pondered about her situation for a while longer until the group came upon a door that led into a trial. Aiden opened it without hesitation, thinking they would take it on, but then the system refused to let them in.

[Awakened are only permitted one trial]

This meant they could not enter, and the best route was through.

Ron and his group decided that they would face the trial and gain rewards. Aren made them a mock-up map on paper so they would not get lost.

They exchanged their goodbyes, not knowing when they would meet again, and then they entered, the trial doors shutting behind them, leaving Aren and his group outside.

"I guess we have to take a detour now," Aren said, looking at the map. A cheeky smile formed on his face. They looked at him and knew that he was about to say something they would not like.

"The shortest route from here is through the ice regions, or we have the further one that follows a normal route," he said.

"Further one," the three said at the same time.

"But the ice-"

"Further one," they all cut him short.

"Sigh, fine."

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