Five minutes had passed since the [Archer’s] departure, there was no arrow fired upon them nor was there any indication that he was still in the region. Jack was impressed by his [Constitution] stat, merely standing still and taking was enough to let his stamina recover to serviceable levels— enough for him to walk around without keeling over in exhaustion. Taking short, measured steps Jack walked over to Max’s glowing corpse with distaste flickering in his eyes, but it had to be done.

  “Loot,” He muttered under his breath, not really expecting much since he only got the most valuable item in Max’s inventory, instead of its entire contents.

  ‘350 TP,’ Jack thought with surprise flickering in his eyes, having received the single largest Tutorial Point gain barring the [Blessing] reward. He would have to kill three or maybe four [Lunar Wolves] to receive that many TP, if he could find that many. He had been wondering why the [Tutorial Shop] prices were so exaggerated, a sinking sensation setting in that this was likely the answer.

  “You done?” Sarah’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, her tone lacking any judgment for looting the dead man. After all, she had done the same.

  “Let’s move,” Jack gave her a curt nod, and then proceeded to lead the way. A minute later, there was just the empty arena and three corpses left behind— the victors of the gruesome battle nowhere to be found.

  “Say, Sarah?” Jack chose to break the silence first, in an attempt to uplift the gloomy atmosphere that had been cast over their two-man party since their last fight.

  “Hmm?” She acknowledged, but said nothing further.

  “Why don’t you buy the [Familial Contact Stone] and call your father?” He proposed, initially not having much attention to the item because he had no use for it. In hindsight, Jack found it odd how Sarah didn’t mention wanting to purchase the item at all— it was the only way to contact her family, after all.

  Sarah flinched, and her expression seemed to darken even further. That… was not the reaction he had expected. What did he do wrong?

  Silence once again befell their group as Sarah stewed in her own thoughts, seeming to struggle with a decision. It had been an hour since they had left the arena, and since then things had been surprisingly calm— no monster had jumped out at them so far, at least.

  “I… ,”She spoke, but then her voice broke before she could complete the sentence.“ I… If I call him now and… die before the trial ends, I won’t be able to forgive myself,” She whispered, her voice heavy with emotion. How would her parents feel if she gave them word of her safety, only to perish before reuniting with them. Jack wasn’t sure if he agreed with her decision, but he understood.

  “My bad, sorry,” he apologized, cringing inwardly at only having made it worse. Thankfully, Jack was spared further embarrassment by a system prompt that popped up in front of him.