Alnea glanced at the Blood Cards spread on the table, before glancing at his teammates. And as he had expected, except for Yuri, everyone else was staring at his Blood Card with wide eyes. Even Cecilia and Vestia. And if not for Yuri already knowing his information, she might have also had similar reactions. After all…

  “When did you break through to the Fourth Level?”

  “Is that even important anymore? Look at his privilege level!”

  “…But he broke through to the Advanced Stage only a few months ago!”

  “Now that you mention it… I remember my Spirit Power breaking through to the Fifth Level just a few days after he broke through to the Advanced Stage… and he has already made three more breakthroughs since then, while I am still stuck at the Fifth Level.”

  “…Just when I thought I was about to catch up with you…”

  “…It was just a fluke,” Alnea said, smiling awkwardly at Cecilia. “Even I did not know when I broke through, until I confirmed it on the Blood Card after returning from the Final World.”

  “…Why do I never experience such flukes?”

  “…A genius never needs flukes!”

  “…I remember that your Spirit Power has been stuck at the Second Level for over four months…”

  “…If I want to, I can increase my Spirit Power all the way to the Tenth Level in just a few months. But I spend most of my time practising my Arcanas and experimenting with Mysteries.”

  “So does Captain.”

  “…At least I broke through two levels, including one jumping between Stages, after I joined the team. What about you?”

  “…My Spirit Power is higher than yours, so it is more difficult for me to break through.”

  “Excuses. Vestia’s Spirit Power is even higher than yours, but she still broke through twice.”

  “…In that case, Yuri’s Spirit Power was much lower than yours, but she still caught up with you.”

  “You…”

  “…I think you two are missing the point here,” Karl said, pointing to their Captain’s Blood Card. “Do you not think that his Blood Card is strange?”

  “…That is what I said in the first place,” Norren mumbled. “Why does he have three stars in his privileges?”

  “…Three stars… Blood Lord…”

  “…I thought that gaining the privileges of a Blood General as just a False Wanderer was already very impressive. But Blood Lord…”

  “…If I remember correctly, that is a title reserved only for Mystic Wanderers.”

  “…And he said that you did not break any records.”

  “…I did not.”

  “Then how do you explain the extra star in your privilege?”

  “…Why are you not questioning the girls? Their privileges are also higher than yours.”

  “Our case is different,” Vestia said, shaking her head. “Even if our privileges are higher than theirs, it is still within acceptable range. After all, there is not much difference between a Blood General and an Elite Blood General. Besides, there is also a reasonable explanation for our higher privileges. If only they had also cleared all their Trials perfectly, then they too might have become Elite Blood Generals. But a Blood Lord…”

  “…There is not much difference between a Blood Lord and an Elite Blood General either.”

  “Except, one is a True Wanderer, and the other, a Mystic Wanderer.”

  “Just tell us how you got that extra star, Captain.”

  “What kind of record did you break?”

  “Idiot. He has already said that he did not break any records.”

  “But I cannot think of anything else that might elevate his privileges an entire Rank above ours.”

  “…If you put it like that…”

  “…Was it because of the number of people he killed?”

  “I think it is because of his Glyph Tokens. The ones that the girls used to blow up the Final World.”

  “…If it is those tokens, then it really is possible…”

  “…When Vestia said that she would give us a signal to leave the Final World, I never thought that the signal would be so… terrifying…”

  “…I can still feel the ground shaking beneath my feet from time to time…”

  “…I wonder what happened to the Final World after that explosion…”

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  “I remember Vestia saying that it was some kind of Eternal Flame…”

  “So, is the Final World—

  “Stop, stop,” Alnea said, hurriedly raising his hands in the air, signalling his teammates not to reveal the secrets that could not be shared. At least not while he was still in the Lost City. What if those bastards in the city’s council held him responsible for destroying Final World?

  “I will tell you everything. Just stop speaking, alright?”

  “…Are you sure?”

  “We do not want to put any pressure on you.”

  “That’s right, Captain. You do not have to tell us your secrets.”

  “Worst case, we will just discuss it amongst ourselves—

  “Stop speaking,” Alnea said, pinching the bridge of his nose. These bastards… They were doing it one purpose. “It is the Hidden Trials.”

  “…Hidden Trials?”

  “That’s right. I cleared all the Hidden Trials of the Blood Hall. Do not ask me what those Hidden Trials are, or how I cleared them. I know nothing about them either. The city just told me that it was raising my privilege by another half a star because of my performance in the Hidden Trials.”

  “…If it is the Hidden Trials…”

  “…No wonder that woman was so surprised.”

  “I think that just the three star privilege is already enough to surprise her.”

  “…Most probably, even her own privilege level has not reached the three stars yet.”

  “But that should be the case for most of the True Wanderers in the city.”

  “Indeed…”

  “If you put it like that…”

  “…I think you people are still missing the most important point,” Karl said, pointing to Alnea’s Blood Card once again. “Do not look at just his privilege level. Check out the other fields on his Blood Card too.”

  The Star Seekers glanced at Karl with confusion, but they did not question him right away. Instead, they did as he asked, and looked down on the rest of the details mentioned in their Captain’s Blood Card. Like the number of his Dependents, the Contributions he had made, and his Blood Coins…

  “…I think there is some problem with my eyes. It is reading one as fourteen.”

  “…That is quite a coincidence. My eyes are also having the same problem.”

  “…There is no problem with your eyes. That is indeed fourteen million.”

  “…Fourteen million!”

  “…I thought a million was already ridiculous enough… But fourteen million…”

  “How does anyone even earn so many Blood Coins?”

  “…No wonder he was so generous with the feast. Compared to fourteen million, ten thousand is just a drop in a bucket.”

  “…All my guilt was in vain.”

  “Mine too…”

  “And how does he already have ten thousand Contributions?”

  “Does anyone even know what Contributions are?”

  “…I do not know much, but I have heard that in the inner city, the most precious resources can be exchanged only with Contributions. Kind of like how we had to use Tokens to exchange resources in the outer city. And though Contributions are not as hard to earn as Tokens, they are still a thousand, even ten thousand times harder to earn than Blood Coins…”

  “…Can you teach us how to get Contributions, Captain?”

  “We do not even want ten thousand Contributions like you. Just a thousand would do.”

  “That’s right.

  “…I would, if I could. But I know even less about it than you.”

  “…Then how did you get your Contributions?”

  “That is also what I want to know,” Alnea said, smiling helplessly at his teammates. “I have been with you all this time. Has anyone seen me doing anything out of the usual?”

  “…Then where did your Contribution come from?”

  “…Maybe the city is rewarding me for helping it get rid of all those pesky challengers,” Alnea said, chuckling at his own words. “In any case, I really do not know where these contributions came from.”

  “…What a pity…”

  “…There is nothing to feel pity about,” Vestia said, laughing along with Alnea. “Just by hearing the term Contribution, you should be able to guess a thing or two about them. Coupled with how even True Wanderers can be seen willing to work so humbly for the city… It is probably earned by making contributions towards the city’s prosperity. Either through ensuring that it keeps on operating smoothly, or through making some achievements that would help the city enrich its foundations. Can you guess how he got his Contributions?”

  “…It is just some Contributions. We can earn them on our own sooner or later.”

  “That’s right. We are Star Seekers.”

  “Nothing can stop us.”

  “…Just do not be reckless. We will not be there to save you the next time you rush to your death.”

  “…We are not so reckless.”

  “Do you need me to remind you your ‘heroic’ deeds?”

  “…But there is nothing wrong with being a little careful.”

  “And it is not as if Contributions are everything. Sometimes, Blood Coins are much more convenient to use.”

  “And earn.”

  “…I am not asking for much. One million. Just one million would be enough for me to satisfy all my needs till I break through to the True Rank, and still have some left over.”

  “…Are you sure that you do not have any tricks to share with us, Captain?”

  Alnea glanced at his teammates, all looking at him with eager eyes, waiting for his answer. One that he did not have. What was he supposed to tell them? That the Blood Coins all just appeared on his Blood Card on their own? Fortunately, before he was forced to think of some excuses, Vestia came to his rescue.

  “Even if he did share his tricks with you, none of you will be able to use it,” Vestia said, shifting her gaze back to Alnea, flashing her dimples at him. “Rather than focussing on superfluous things like his Contribution and Blood Coins, you should pay more attention to the number of his Dependents.”

  …Maybe it was not as much as a rescue, as helping him out of one pit, only to push him into another.

  “…What is wrong with the number of my Dependents?”

  “Why is it zero?”

  “…Because I do not have any Dependents.”

  “Then what are we?”

  “You are my teammates.”

  “…That usually means dependents. Or Retainers. It depends on the intention behind the team, and how it was formed. Do not look at me like that. If you do not believe me, just look at our Blood Cards. You see this mark here. It means that we are not qualified to have Dependents. Only you are. And the only difference between us is that you are our Captain. Do you understand where I am going?”

  “But I never took anyone as my dependents.”

  “The world does not work on how we perceive it as. It works on its own principles. And according to those principles, since you are our Captain, we are your Dependents.”

  “…But my Blood Card says otherwise.”

  “And that is why I am confused… What exactly would count as Dependents in the eyes of the city? And why, of us all, only you are qualified to accept Dependents? Is it because you are our Captain, or—

  “Stop thinking so much,” Yuri said, with a faint smile on her face. “You—We will know everything once we enter the inner city.”