"No! Nooo! Why, Madi?! Why?!"
A desperate scream echoed through the house. May was crying in front of Madison’s lifeless body. Several people tried to calm her down, including their parents, who were also in tears.
Many people had gathered at the family home to pay their final respects.
"How did this happen?"
"They said she took her own life."
"Poor girl. Such a young age to go..."
Whispers filled the house from relatives and neighbors. Outside, rain poured heavily as thunder rumbled across the sky.
And right now, two figures stood on the roadside beneath the torrential rain, staring at the house. Both were still wearing their school uniforms and completely soaked.
"Lars, the rain is getting worse. We need to go," Max said as he hugged himself against the cold.
Lars remained silent, watching the grieving family from afar.
"Is this our fault, Max? Are we the reason for her death?" Lars asked.
Max didn’t answer the question. He too was still shocked by what had happened.
Later that night, Lars was unable to sleep. He kept recalling the stare Madison had given him. And the same question continued playing in his mind.
"Did she die... without forgiving me?"
The next day, Lars and Max confronted Roger.
"Haaa? You want us to go and apologize to her family? Are you an idiot? We’re not the ones who caused her death. She’s the one who took her own life!" Roger said.
"But we’re the ones who always bullied her. Aren’t you afraid her parents will file a report against us?" Lars said.
"Whatever! I don’t care about her at all. If you want to go, then go!" Roger snapped.
Lars clenched his fist before turning away with Max.
"Yeah! Go and apologize to her at her grave. Maybe she will come back and forgive you. And tell her that dying was the best way to lose weight! Hahaha!" Roger laughed.
"That’s enough!"
Suddenly, Lars turned around and grabbed Roger. The two immediately fell to the floor and fighting each other.
"Lars, stop! Both of you!" Max tried to separate them.
"Hey! Someone’s fighting in the hallway!"
Students quickly gathered around as they watched the fight. Lars unknowingly began shedding tears as he fought Roger. Deep guilt and pain filled his heart.
Even if he beat Roger to death, Madison would never come back. But right now, this was the only way he knew to make himself feel better.
"Lars... Lars... Lars!"
"Huh?" Lars snapped out of his memories.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah... I’m fine." Lars nodded. He looked around and realized they were already near the Dungeon Hub. Lars had parked his scooter here earlier, so Max was dropping him off.
Lars tried to push away everything he had been thinking about. The most important thing now was to never repeat the same mistake again.
Kreeek! Kreeek!
The car brakes screeched loudly as it came to a stop.
"You should really change your brakes, dude. They’re screaming for help," Lars said as he stepped out.
"They still work, don’t they? I will change them when they stop working," Max replied with a shrug.
"If they stop working, you will already be under a bridge or at the bottom of a ridge."
Lars shot him a look, then pulled out a bundle of cash from his bag.
"Here, one thousand Zents. Get them fixed." He placed the bills on the dashboard and stepped out.
"Hey, you don’t need to do this."
"It’s fine. Besides, you invited me to join your party today. Consider it as a thanks." Lars said.
"Thank you, Lars."
"No problem."
Lars then entered the Dungeon Hub again and saw that the VolcaCorp members were still there.
"Damn these people! They’re really persistent! How am I supposed to sell my Class Books now?"
Feeling tired, Lars rode his scooter back to his room. Once he arrived, he opened the Hunter Forum and started reading any news.
(The mysterious seller didn’t sell anything today. Is he alright? He never missed selling those Class Books every day before.)
(VolcaCorp must have detained him already. I heard they were searching for him.)
(Why do they want to catch him? He didn’t do anything wrong! Justice for Anonymous214!)
(His presence has really affected VolcaCorp’s sales lately. Of course they will try to cut him down before he can grow even bigger.)
"Sigh... it seems there’s nothing I can do right now except wait until everything cools down."
He lay down and opened his class system, scrolling through all the classes he had already obtained. Right now, he had Warrior, Knight, Mage, Rogue, Cleric, Swordsman, Brawler, and Spearman classes.
Suddenly, as he was thinking about what combination he should try next, an idea flashed through his mind.
"Can I do that?"
He immediately sat up and brought out all his Class Books. Among them were two identical Mage Class Books which he got from clearing dungeons with Justin.
"Let’s try!"
[Do you want to combine Mage and Mage classes?
10 Creation Points will be consumed.]
"So it really can be done! Yes!"
Ding!
[You have created a new class: Uncommon Rank High Mage]
[Congratulations for fusing a new Uncommon class. You have obtained 1,500 Creator Coins.]
[Added High Mage to Fusion Class List]
[You have 2 remaining slots out of 6 for Fusion Classes. Increase your Creation Level to unlock more Fusion Class slots.
"High Mage! A new class is finally born!" Lars declared dramatically as he raised the book into the air.
"So I can actually combine the same class too. This is pretty amazing! What if I combine High Mage with another High Mage? I will surely produce a new Rare-rank Mage class with pure magical power! Yes. That will be my another objective now. After that, I will combine Warrior with Warrior, Knight with Knight, and so on. The market will become even crazier than before. Ahh, I’m getting too excited."
A wide grin appeared on his face.
"But now, the problem is... how can I sell this book?"
Suddenly, while he was thinking, someone called him. He looked at his phone and saw Max’s name on the screen.
His face froze for a moment before a mischievous smile slowly appeared.
"I think I know how to do it."