After we got out of the Gate, the portal behind us started to get smaller and smaller until it completely disappeared.

Black lowered Tan onto the ground while I carefully placed Fox against a half-broken wall.

Then both of us sat down almost at the same time.

Even though Black had done most of the actual fighting, I was still breathing heavily.

Running around, carrying a child, solving a dead family’s emotional trauma, and nearly getting crushed by gravity wasn’t exactly a relaxing afternoon.

"Good job," Black said and held his hand out. This time he wanted to shake hands because I had earned his respect.

"You too." I also shook his hand as a matter of giving back respect. Yeah, I wasn’t acting like myself since I had entered the Gate, but I don’t think I dislike this version of me.

And I also don’t think it is because of the Gate. This was happening to me because of the mask I was wearing. It kind of gave me a little boost to my confidence.

’I suppose I should hold on to it. Who knows, I may need it in future.’

Suddenly, as I was a little happy about clearing the Gate, a screen appeared in front of me.

Ding!

[You have cleared a Gate called ’The Lingering Emotions’.

You have received 100 points as a reward.]

When I read the contents of the screen, a smile appeared on my face. I had gotten what I needed. 100 points. Now I will turn them into mana and help Viora. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

I thought and got up from the ground. It was getting dark so I had to go back to the villa before Elena came back.

"Are you going?" Witnessing me standing up, Black also stood up and started walking toward the place where the Gate was. "Wait, I have something to give you."

After reaching the place, he bent down and picked up something shinning with green light from the ground.

’Is that a mana stone?’

The Helping Gates don’t really give rewards, so why are there mana stones? I can understand the points because it was something the system gave me, not the Gate.

But that is a different case. Was this Gate special or is there something I don’t know. Was that why the Mercenaries came here?

"Here," Black walked back to me and held out the mana stone in front of me. "Take it."

Is he giving me the only thing that dropped from the Gate? But why?

I couldn’t understand why he was doing so, but his next words cleared my confusion.

"Give this to your boss," Black continued. "This was part of our deal."

Oh right, I was working for this imaginary boss. Still, I can’t take the stone. I don’t even know who I am supposed to give this to. But if I don’t take it, he will get suspicious which is an even bigger problem.

So, I grabbed the stone and bowed a little before walking away. However, again, I was stopped by Black.

"Wait," he said and I turned around to look at him. His hand was going through his pocket to grab something from it.

As soon as he found what he was looking for, he pulled it out and gave it to me.

"This is my business card. If by any chance you need help, just give me a call."

Huh? This... Isn’t this just too much? I basically did nothing in the Gate and now he is acting like he owes me big time?

Have I earned more than just respect? I don’t know but I guess the thing I did inside the Gate must have farmed some aura.

Now, in his eyes, I am someone who is strategic and intelligent.

Even with all of this happening, the real one was still nowhere to be found.

’Seriously, where is he?’

It was none of my business now that I had got what I wanted. So I should just leave it at that and put the information card Black gave me to good use.

"Okay, then. Goodbye." Black used his power to make both Fox and Tan levitate in the air and then walked away.

I watched as they slowly disappeared into the distance. And when they did, I wasted not a single second and pulled the mask off my head.

Beads of sweat was covering my whole face. Being in the mask is really tough. You feel hot for no reason. Now that they are gone, I can finally breathe.

I pulled up the mana stone and examined it. It was big, the size of my hand and it was pointy in both sides.

While looking at it, my mind drifted back to Viora.

Now that I had the hundred points, I just wanted to go to her and resume the evolution process, but it had gotten too late that I don’t think it would be a good idea.

’For now, I should just go home and meet Viora in the morning.’

I made up my mind and walked back to my house.

’I just hope Elena isn’t home.’

After walking for nearly twenty minutes, the large villa finally came into view.

I was just gonna go inside, however when I noticed the lights were on, my footsteps stopped immediately.

"...No way."

I stared at the front door. Two pairs of shoes were placed outside. One was black and the other white. And from inside the house, I heard Elena’s cold voice.

"Where did he go?"

...Ah.

Crap.