Nothing much happened during the first night of the trial, save for the purple mist expanding inward towards the island.
This forced the trial takers staying at the outskirts, where it was originally safe, to head to the center of the island, where most of the trial takers were located.
Unlike Lavinia, not all trial takers actively eliminated their competitors. However, despite playing it safe, an unlucky few got ejected from the island after being defeated by monsters.
Dim Dim found a small cave behind a waterfall, allowing Alex to rest without worries for the night.
When morning came, Alex started planning his next course of action while consulting his map.
A few large dots—red, orange, yellow, and blue—blinked ominously on the map. However, they were where they had been yesterday, indicating that the four Boss Monsters had not moved around the previous night. All of them were Rank 4 Monsters, and it would require a team of people in order to defeat them.
Alex believed that even if he, Charles, and Lavinia were to work together as a team, defeating the monster was still impossible.
’But if Renard and Nessia are with us, it might be possible,’ Alex thought.
Of course, he wasn’t too keen on facing such monsters, especially since his left arm had still not recovered enough to hold a shield.
Speaking of Charles and Lavinia, two green dots showed that they had not been eliminated from the trial.
Another green dot revealed that Renard was only two miles away from Alex.
If he wished for it, he could easily cover that distance and meet up with one of the main Heroes of ELO.
’The problem is... he has trust issues.’ Alex smiled wryly. ’Even in the game, other support characters find it difficult to gain his trust. I even thought he’d be alone forever.’
Back then, Alex had even thought of making the hard-headed Renard marry a rock just for the laughs.
Fortunately, there was a supporting character who managed to worm her way into the Protagonist’s heart, allowing him to have a "happily ever after" ending.
That said, Alex had put a lot of effort into raising the affection level of said character because she was the only one whom Renard didn’t feel distrust in his story quest.
’I wonder if I can help him win her heart in the academy,’ Alex wondered as his half-smile widened into a smirk. ’Then again, it’s none of my business how he should live his life.’
This was no longer a game, and Alex was now unable to see the characters’ affection meters.
Even so, he would like to form a strong bond with the three main Heroes and the three main Heroines. If his guess was right, which was reasonable given his Hell Mode, his life in Frieden Academy wouldn’t be a peaceful one.
In fact, a bit of anxiety was seeping into him. Each character had their own routes and a set of antagonists who would make their lives miserable.
The worst part? There was a possibility that all of these "encounters" could happen at the same time. Just the thought of dealing with them sent shivers down his spine.
Alex remembered the evil professor hiding his identity as a devil worshipper and the witch who made sure that all couples in the academy would break up out of jealousy.
These initial Mini-Bosses at the start of the school year were quite annoying, and the funny thing was that... since there were six main characters, they also had six main routes.
Suddenly, Alex felt like maybe enrolling at the academy wasn’t a good idea anymore.
’I’ll cross that bridge when I get there,’ Alex decided. ’Besides, I’m sure that the Heroes and Heroines will be able to deal with their fated encounters on their own.’
At least, he hoped they would. For the sake of his peaceful academy life.
After organizing his thoughts, Alex decided to actively regroup with Lavinia since she was closest to his location.
The young lady was at least six miles away, but the distance wasn’t so far that Alex couldn’t meet her within the day.
There were only two more days before the trial ended, so regrouping with his friends was his top priority.
’I’m sure I’ll meet Renard at the center of the island sooner or later,’ Alex thought. ’I’ll make him join our team by hook or by crook.’
The young man chuckled evilly.
Sure, Renard was strong. But he would be no match if Alex, Lavinia, and Charles worked together.
The Main Hero’s trust issues didn’t matter.
Alex was certain that Renard would agree to join his party or risk being eliminated by them.
Of course, Alex had no intention of eliminating one of the Heroes of ELO. It would be a waste to do that to a cheat character.
Not to mention, the last thing he wanted was to make the Berserker Juggernaut fall into the evil route with him as the nemesis.
ELO gave players the freedom to choose which kind of ending they wanted, and one of them was treading the dark path, where the characters became the enemies of the world.
This made the game very versatile.
Good didn’t always prevail, and being a villain wasn’t always bad.
The unpredictability was thrilling.
There was even a famous quote that one of the Heroes said after becoming a villain.
’They tried to stop me from doing what I want, so I stopped them from existing.’
And that was the truth. That former hero eliminated the High Council of Avalon and hung the councillors’ heads on the city walls as a constant reminder—to both residents and travellers—that he was someone not even the royal family could touch.
But if there was one person whom Alex wouldn’t want to see take the evil path the most, it would be none other than Nessia.
Renard could still be countered because he focused on strength and combat ability.
But Nessia was a brilliant strategist.
Simply put, Alex would rather become Renard’s enemy than Nessia’s enemy.
How did he know this?
The answer was really simple.
It was because he had played the three Heroes and the three Heroines of ELO as a way to pass the time.
As such, he knew them extremely well and understood who among the six were truly dangerous.
"Time to wake up, Dim Dim," Alex said softly as he poked the sleeping bun and squished its soft cheeks.
A few pokes later, Dim Dim opened its eyes and yawned. The sight made Alex understand why the little guy liked to poke him when waking him up.
"Yes, it’s already morning," Alex replied. "Let’s eat first, then we’ll meet up with Lavinia, okay?"
"Dim." Dim Dim nodded with a sleepy face, eliciting a smile from the young man.
He then took out a pot from his storage ring and placed it over the small campfire they had made last night.
After boiling some water, he took out two cups, some cocoa powder, and a loaf of bread from his storage ring.
"Would you like your hot chocolate sweet, Dim Dim?"
After giving the Dim Sum God a cup of hot chocolate, Alex tore a piece of the bread and dipped it into his own cup.
The two ate in silence, enjoying the food they had brought for this trip.
Alex had just finished drinking his hot chocolate when the sound of fighting reached his ears.
Dim Dim quickly finished the last bit of its hot chocolate before jumping to the top of the young man’s head, already prepared to investigate the commotion.
’I’ll check it out just in case it’s someone I know,’ Alex thought as he hurriedly stored his items inside his storage ring.
Once outside, it didn’t take long for him to find out what was happening.
And just as he expected, he saw another familiar face, though it was someone he’d rather not see in the second trial of Frieden Academy.