Sensation slowly returned to Rin’s hands as he tried to move them. Now that he was alive again, feeling was gradually returning to the rest of his body as well. And that included all the pain he had been feeling before.

’Ouch, this hurts. I did not realize being dead would be so painful. WTH, system? You said I wouldn’t die!’

Rin complained once he regained his senses.

[(’’❛ ؂ - „)ᕗ]

[The system forgot to mention that there was a chance of accidents happening. But on the bright side, you are not dead. So the system did not lie to you.]

Technically, that was true. Rin had survived this dungeon. But only because he had used the reward from the KPI mission.

What would have happened to him if he had not completed his mission? Would he have died for real?

[Rookie, please don’t think badly of the system. Your KPI reward was given to you for a reason. In fact, if you had failed this mission, then you wouldn’t have died in the first place.]

’Please. Shut up. I don’t want to hear anything from you right now.’

Rin placed a hand over his face, and the system finally stopped mocking him. An awkward silence followed where no one said anything.

The others had stopped moving and were staring at Rin as if he were a ghost they were too afraid to approach. He felt bad for them, so he decided to reassure them that he was fine.

"I...am fine...cough"

Unfortunately, his chest decided that now was the perfect time to remind him of all the pain he had not been feeling until now, and he broke into a coughing fit.

That prompted Shelly to immediately help him up.

"Rin, are you alright? What happened? I-You were dead, and I did not know what to do-"

"Shelly, calm down. It is fine now. I am still alive."

Rin tried to calm her down, but Shelly’s grip on his shoulders was iron-clad. She was not going to let him go easily.

The other two looked just as shaken as Shelly, so Rin doubted they would let him go that easily either. Still, they needed to get moving. The monsters would not wait long before coming after them.

In fact, he could already see the monsters inching closer.

"We...need to move...cough...the monsters..."

Rin broke off into another cough as he tried to speak, and Shelly’s face twisted in anger.

"Stop worrying about useless things. Do you even realize you just died? If you had not woken up again, then I-"

Shelly looked broken and distracted. Unfortunately, the monsters did not care about her mental state and decided to attack them anyway.

’Darn it! We are all going to get caught off guard like this.’

Serena looked alert, but even she was shaken by what had just happened. Thankfully, she was the first one to notice the incoming wave of monsters and managed to stop a few of them.

But their numbers were steadily increasing.

"This is not good. We won’t be able to fight these monsters off and protect Rin at the same time. I will stay back and clear a path for you. You all should run now."

Serena declared as she tightened her grip on her sword. Her intention to sacrifice herself was obvious.

But instead of feeling grateful, Rin felt burdened by her choice.

’Lady, I almost sacrificed myself so you wouldn’t have to die, and you are still thinking about dying? Don’t you have any common sense?’

Rin wanted to scold her. Unfortunately, his death had scared his people far more than he expected, and both Shelly and Albus grabbed him without thinking and started dragging him away.

"We will leave these monsters to you. Make sure you make it out safely."

Albus was the one who said this as he started clearing the monsters in Shelly’s path while she helped Rin walk.

It was not like Albus to leave someone in danger like this. Especially not a harem member he was supposed to use in the future.

This disconnect from what Rin knew of the future left him disoriented, and his head started spinning even worse.

’Wait a minute-! This is all wrong! Serena is not supposed to die here! System, don’t you have anything to say?’

[Did you call, Rookie?]

[Please don’t worry about the storyline changing here. It is all within the system’s calculations. The higher-ups have approved everything.]

What was this bullshit? Now even the system seemed to have lost its mind and decided to go along with Serena’s decision.

’Am I the only one seeing things clearly? We cannot just leave Serena here.’

Rin was not even sure why he felt so strongly about Serena. He was usually more than willing to leave people to their fate.

But something about Serena made him feel responsible for her. He had changed her future with his advice and helped shape her into who she was today. He knew it was not really his fault, but Rin still felt responsible.

’I need to do something. But these monsters...what can I do?’

Rin usually had a plan, but his mind felt blank at the moment. He wanted to blame it on the fact that he had just died.

Thankfully, the system was there to remind him of what he had forgotten.

[Rookie, you did gain a familiar. How about borrowing its powers?]

The system’s reminder caused Rin to look up. He could feel the familiar bond tugging at him, and it made him notice the phoenix flying right above his head.

’How did I miss Alex’s presence this whole time? But...would a familiar really be able to help us?’

Myth was strong, but that was likely because it had been alive for a long time. Rin was not sure about Alex, so he decided to check Alex’s stats.

Alex

[Companion Alex’s profile is available.]

[Companion Name: Alex (lvl 25)

Strength: 4000

Stamina: 2300

Intelligence: 2100

MP: 7000

HP: 12000/12000

Special Skills: Fire Emperor’s Breath, Fury of Flames, Lord of Flames

Special Traits: Loyalty (can boost party members’ skills by 10%), Immunity to Fire (takes no damage from fire and can control fire-related abilities), Emperor’s Majesty (can control any fire-related creatures lower level than itself)]

Rin felt speechless as he looked at the flawless profile. The stats of the Guardian Deity were far beyond what he had expected to see.

’Darn it! This is totally cheating. If I use Alex, then this won’t even be a competition.’