"Let me see if I understand... you’re some kind of purifier who came in the name of... the God of Flames of the Valtherion house with the intention of living?"

"Let me see if I understand... you didn’t know either until Isabela Valtherion, who is your master, told you?"

Lilithine processed. "It makes a little sense..."

"Let’s say the story of what a Herald is makes sense..." Lilithine crossed her arms, "...but you don’t make sense. How can I trust that you’re a Herald?" "It’s true..." Haru thought, crouching down.

He stood up. "I have flashes of memories of future things. And certain knowledge..."

"Anomalous come from another world. A kind of other dimension. But the Custodians don’t explain this to anyone... except to those in the Cathedral."

Haru continued revealing secrets, things that only people inside the Cathedral would know:

Details he had read in the game’s fandom. Glimpses, but enough.

"Are you a spy?! Please, say no..."

"I’m a fucking gamer..." he thought.

Lilithine looked at Yukihime, who stood there staring at them as if she understood something she shouldn’t.

The Cathedral bell rang loudly, emergency chimes.

"I’ll give you my notes on this. Go see if you read them and we’ll try to practice later."

...

Mana channeling into his legs, each jump covering ten meters.

"If there are guys stronger than me there... why don’t they go somewhere like that? Why do they always prefer to go by carriage when using mana is enough?"

He appeared at the main door of Flavius’s house. The guards greeted him, then the butler.

Haru waited in the entrance hall.

"Oops!" She ran back to Haru.

Haru began walking, following the butler.

As soon as he stepped inside, the system flashed:

[WARNING: GAMER DETECTED]

```

```

◊ Name: Genius Genials

◊ Class: ???

```

◊ Genius Genials’ system has also identified you

◊ Kill Genius Genials immediately or suffer penalty

```

The world seemed to freeze, tension cutting through the air like a blade.

"Mr. Haru..." Flavius called for the fourth time.

"Please, sit down." Flavius instructed, gesturing towards the sofas.

"Haru Mizuki." Genius Genials said first.

Eye to eye. Predators ready to kill each other.

"Hmmm... I’ll go get some water." He stood up.

"Yukihime..." Haru said, "...go with him."

They both stood up at the same second.

Genius drew an ethereal sword, a bright, ghostly, translucent blue katana, defending the vertical blow, protecting his head.

The blow was stopped, absorbed. The impact vanished as if it never existed.

Before Genius could respond to the attack...

Flavius felt time freeze as he walked down the corridor.

He turned and ran back with Yukihime... who wasn’t frozen in time.

"What!? How!?" Flavius clearly wondered. "Why didn’t Yukihime freeze?"

With time frozen, Haru advanced, trying to attack again.

Haru dodged the first one by jumping. He wanted to hit another with Vorath but... his sword passed through, intangible.

The swords kept coming.

The [Time stop] ended and the world returned to color. Sound returned.

"That was a nice trick..." Haru said, breathing carefully.

Haru began to release spiritual energy, a dark aura leaking from his body, 100 voices screaming in agony inside him, echoing in the room.

*DEVOUR!*

Genius sensed the presence and smiled wider.

A kind of giant ethereal Phantom appeared behind him, an entity with several swords floating around it, empty eyes glowing blue.

Suddenly, Haru and Genius felt an overwhelming weight, multiplied gravity, crushing magical pressure.

Neither could get up.

"I can explain, Flavius!" Haru shouted from the ground.

Haru exclaimed in surprise.

"Is it true?" he asked, then looked at Genius.

Haru thought, feeling the weight.

"Yes!" he shouted. "We trained together with Master Naruto!"

Flavius released them, the pressure instantly disappearing.

At that moment, Haru received a notification from the system:

[SYSTEM LINK REQUEST]

◊ Type: Restricted Communication Channel

>[YES]< >[NO]<

"Now we’ll have to change rooms..." Flavius said, waiting for an explanation. "Let’s go. There are plenty of rooms like this here..."

"Dad, are you alright!?" Yukihime came running and hugged Haru, who was getting up shaking broken glass.

Haru read the criteria for the linking request:

[LINK CRITERIA]

- Both cannot see anything beyond messages between them

- Communication only

- Does NOT count as party formation

He looked at Genius, who was cleaning clothes, naturally following Flavius.

```

◊ Private channel active

```

Genius’s first message appeared:

[GENIUS]: Choose GENIUS... we can finish off this guy right now and take the Elegantius mansion.

then everything here is a resource.... Including him.

Genius continued walking without looking at Haru, his expression neutral, as if discussing the weather.

[GENIUS]: What do you say? If you accept, maybe we’ll accept you into our Squad.

Haru was astonished by the name ’Squad.’

"They share XP, loot, have defined roles, stable cooperation... but how can Gamers form a Squad without being penalized by the system...?"

```

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[GENIUS]: EXACTLY! I see it’s a matter of culture too!