'There's so much I don't know.'

Especially about the gods. In fact, I know nothing about them. And although the people in the empires know that the gods exist, they don't know much either, as it has been more than a thousand years since anyone last communicated with them.

When I played the game, it was just a matter of killing monsters to level up, exploring parts of the first ring, destroying the Red Bridge, and then returning to the empire via the Blue Bridge. The subject of gods was never really expanded on.

'Come to think of it... when Seo-yeon gave me the game, she said it was incomplete.'

I remember the game ended after my trip back from the second ring. So, although I know a third and even a fourth ring exist, I have no idea what happens there.

'Mmmm…'

If the game had been completed, maybe I would have found and had the answers to all my questions about the gods, the bonds, the different realms known as the rings, and so on.

'Seo-yeon said the game couldn't be completed because the core members of her company suddenly began disappearing…'

I was still in that train of thought when I suddenly halted.

'Wait a minute…'

My brows furrowed.

'The lords of the first ring came from Korea. Could it be…?'

I tilted my head as a chilling realization took hold.

'Could it be that no one could find the core members of Seo-yeon's company because they were not on Earth, but rather in this realm?'

Suddenly, it was like a chilling wave washed over me.

'That must be it… right?'

I wasn't sure yet, but a suspicion immediately registered that this had to be the case. Currently, the only person in Seo-yeon's company that I knew of was her friend, Hana. Seo-yeon said that she had also disappeared. If I saw her here when we eventually got to the King's Paradise, then that would mean that those brought here to take over as the lords were all the core members of Seo-yeon's company in Seoul.

That would also confirm my theory about this being a real universe and the game being modeled after it.

I covered my mouth with a cold hand as my brain continued to churn because with this realization came a flood of even more questions.

How did the developers know about this universe to model the game after it?

The game was made up until when Leon was supposed to get back from the second ring.

How did they know about the future events of this universe up until then?

Also... did the god who brought them here do it with the intention of changing these events?

'Aissh...'

My head began to hurt from all the thinking.

But then, Leon suddenly tapped my shoulder again, snapping me from my thoughts.

"Hmm... I answered your question so that you would get out of your head. I didn't expect that you'd fall even deeper into thought."

He paused before asking with a frown, "Everything okay?"

I looked at him, and for a moment, I was still stunned by the many theories and revelations. But then I decided to put those thoughts aside for now and focus on the hunts we were about to do.

So I nodded and resumed walking.

Leon stared at me for a second before keeping up with my pace.

***

The sun, of course, was blazing overhead, but the heat which was as a result of the causal backlash was so suffocating that it made the journey harder than it was supposed to be.

Ino led the group following the guidance of the whisperglobe, while we all trailed wearily behind. We kept on walking in silence, with the only sounds being the crunch and crackle of the red and white leaves on the forest floor.

As usual, Evelyn and Julius had it the roughest, and kept drinking loads of water just to keep up. They had enough with them, so it wasn't a problem for now.

Leon walked beside me, absently stroking the cat in his arms. And since Aika was in her raven form, she flew above sharing her vision with me, while I had my map open at my side just in case.

As we walked, I kept studying the stats of my party members.

Currently, Audrey's profile was displayed in front of me. Unsurprisingly, she was the person who was closest to leveling up.

~~~~~~~~ Character Profile ~~~~~~~~

Character Name: [Audrey Seres Platini]

Age: [16]

Level: [14]

Grade: [2]

Element: [Air]

Class: [Archer]

Class Attribute: [Arcane Archer]

Bond Name: [Toki]

Bonded Ability: [Little Birdie]

Exclusive Skill: [Talon - Lv10] [Sleight of Hand - Lv10]

EXP: [9,100 / 10,000]

~~~~~~~~ ============== ~~~~~~~~

'Just a few more kills and she would be at level 15,' I thought as I stared at her exp bar.

I then flicked my gaze from the screen up to see Audrey flying not too far from us, lazily drifting through the air while chewing on a piece of jerky.

It turned out that her bonded ability literally gave her the flight ability of a bird.

When she noticed that I was looking at her, she smiled and waved.

I returned her smile, then looked away.

…A while later, the scenery began to change. The beautiful red and white forest of the Puppeteer's Grove gave way to a rocky clearing dotted with really large obsidian boulders that were covered in moss.

Each boulder was at least two meters tall, and they were scattered randomly across the landscape like they had been dropped from the sky. It made it hard to see anything further than a few meters ahead, turning the open clearing into a natural maze.

Luckily, we had both Aika and Audrey hovering above as scouts.

We continued on, and further down the journey, we noticed that the unbearable heat had begun to subside as we were getting further and further away from the west, where the now ruined Garden of Abel was.

An hour passed without any encounter with any creatures. It was then that I muttered to myself, "I just hope we do not run into any creatures until we get to the Saurian Outskirts."

I had barely said that when Leon turned to me and sighed heavily, shaking his head. "Man… did you really have to jinx it?"

"Huh?"

A moment later, I heard Aika's voice in my head.

'Goblins!'~~

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