The world came back in fragments.
"…he actually survived."
"…Even…he is still a noble."
Then he opened his eyes he was outside the dungeon. An arch of black stones its surface filled with dead runes. The dungeon aura was gone. The stone symbolized a closed dungeon.
"…young master. You alright."
A hand landed on his shoulder, Doran approached the way of address was unfamiliar especially since he had just introduced himself.
The way he said it made Kaelen pause. Young master.
He turned and looked at them.
"I-,"
"We cleared the dungeon right?"
"Yes we wanted to celebrate but a letter arrived insisting you must go back home, we thought we would enter another dungeon."
He smiled but only he knew he was screaming inside.
"Cheers for the young master." A slightly drunk man came shouting while placing his hand on Kaelen's shoulder, the force almost made him drop.
"Hah! You're tougher than you looks. The captain told me of your deeds."
"Haha." the laughter came out forced.
"Come on, let's head back. You look like you are about to collapse."
Kaelen stood at the edge of the camp, watching the last threads of purple light dissolve into the gray morning sky. Behind him, the hunters were loading onto the transport carriages, their voices loud with the particular relief of men who had walked into a death trap and walked out again. Doran was coordinating the evacuation, his face still tight with tension, but there was something new in his posture a loosening, a release.
They had survived. All of them. Against a gate that should have killed them, against creatures that should have been too strong, against odds that should have been insurmountable.
The system flickered:
[Gate Status: Collapsed]
[Anomalies Neutralized: 3/3]
[Civilian Casualties: 0]
[Mission : 100% completed]
[Mission reward: 3 Mana dense stones]
[Dungeon find: Contracted Entity, The watcher's ledger(cannot be exchanged)]
[Note: Rewards can be returned to the system and exchanged for points]
He noticed a new block on the system with the term System space and on it.
[Note: Gate collapse has stabilized the region. Estimated 2,300 villagers' lives preserved.]
Two thousand three hundred people. Farmers, mostly. Families who had been living in the shadow of a destabilized gate, unaware that their homes were built on the edge of a disaster that had been waiting to happen.
He blinked and had suddenly saved a whole village, he should have felt something, satisfaction maybe. Instead, there was only thought was…
This is why you died before.
The thought came unbidden, rising from the fragments of the novel that still lived in his memory. Reminding him his goal was to avoid trouble.
He had promised himself, when he woke in this world, that he would not make the same mistakes. He would survive, he would escape. He would find a quiet corner of this world where the plagues and floods and dungeon breaks of the novel's plot could not reach him, and he would live the rest of this borrowed life in peace.
He opened his eyes.
"What points?" he asked noticing the line.
[System: New function unlocked – point exchange]
[Current balance: 1090]
[Available rewards for exchange: 3 mana-dense stones]
[Exchange rate: 1 stone = 150 points]
[Note: rewards can be returned to the system and exchanged for points. Points can be used to unlock skills, weapons and other assets]
"What skills?"
Before he could see what the system replied.
"Young master." Doran had started calling him that for some reason.
The last carriage was waiting. Doran was gesturing for him to climb aboard.
When he sat down Doran pulled a bag and placed it on the chair. "This is your share of crystals."
He pushed the bag back, "Keep it."
"You did most of the work."
"I know you do not have enough recourses for you and your team to level up, take this as an investment you may help me in future."
"You trust a mercenary."
"You clearly are not bad people." Doran still looked unwilling.
"How about a contract." Doran's eyes shone.
He wrote one and signed it with mana then Doran signed without even reading. He pushed the bag back and Doran got off waving him bye.
Next to Doran some hunters appeared noticing the bag.
"He did not take it? Does he think it's to little."
Doran slapped his head and shushed him.
"He said he gave this to us to help us upgrade."
The others looked at him. No matter how they saw it that is not enough to upgrade but Doran was happy.
Doran walked to his tent and opened the bag to empty it into his small treasury then beside the purple stones a huge blue stone appeared shocking him senseless.
"CREEN."
The shout startled people and Creen ran into the tent the sight of the huge stone rendered him speechless. That would be able to get them more than enough money to support the whole crew. Doran picked the stone and a paper fell Creen picked it up and read it.
Keep it, a token of appreciation of a new friend.