"Are there any more monsters nearby?" Bell turned to Ryu who simply shook her head. _Is the wolf sending them?_

But to be honest, he couldn’t care any less. He activated his [Dash] skill and in an instant he sliced through the wolves like paper. Their blood splattered on the ground and flowing into the stream, and turning it red.

But to his surprise, one of the wolf had evaded the attack and retaliated by attacking him from behind, but he immediately read the move and thrust his dagger into the wolf head which immediately ended his life.

Ryu walked out of the forest, not a single sign of emotion as she walked towards Bell. It was also like she could see, that was until she tripped and fell face first into the dirt.

Bell rushed to help up his sister as she spat out sand. The the system window opened, showing him his experience point gained but no level up so he didn’t pay attention to it.

Then a new window popped up, flashing red.

[Warning]

[Complete quest to avoid punishment]

[Current Quest]

[Pass the exam within three days]

[Time left: 06:26:10]

[Reward: ???]

[Penalty: ???]

Bell blinked.

_when did three hours pass and he didn’t notice it?_ he thought. All they had done was rest till the monster appeared, so how?

Still feeling confused, he asked his sister.

"I don’t know" Ryu replied with her usual intelligence but emotionless voice. "But we did sit here for a very long time. I thought you were sleeping"

If that was the case, there was only one way he wouldn’t have noticed and that was if the dream about the void happened longer that he thought. To him it felt like ten seconds, but maybe it was longer than that in the real world.

"Why didn’t you wake me?"

"Because you were tired"

"But what if a monster attacked us?"

"I would have woke you up. I did wake you up just now" Ryu replied coldly with her newly found intelligent voice.

Bell sighed, his gaze moving away from his sisters face and towards their bag.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes" Ryu replied as matter-of-factly.

They both sat on the ground, then Bell offered her a slice of watermelon to her. He had cut it with his dagger and took a few bites just to make sure the bleeding enchantment won’t affect the fruit, or anybody that ate it.

Besides the watermelon was really heavy in the bag, so it was better they removed it first. Ryu took the first bite, surprisingly, it was exactly the spot Bell had bitten.

He remembered Ryu saying her favorite fruit were watermelon when they were younger, but after she went blind, they hadn’t been able to go to the forest together to pick them. He still went on his own to get watermelons for her, but their mother had cautioned him about going to the forest after a boy was kidnapped.

He hadn’t been able to get them for her after that, which made Ryu cried for a few days. Their mother had tried to buy at least one watermelon a week for Ryu, but with her low income and how expensive their grandfather herbs were, she couldn’t keep up and had to stop. Ryu hadn’t eaten any since then.

That was about ten years ago, which made him wonder, _do Ryu still like watermelons?_

Ryu took another bite without saying a single word, her night sky eyes staring rather intensely into the stream.

The wolves blood were slowly flowing into the stream, turning it red while being slowly carried away to wherever the water was going. Bell looked at Ryu, wondering if she could still sense the wolf.

"Big brother?"

"Huh?"

Ryu took a bite from the watermelon before she spoke. "Did you kill the monsters?"

"Yeah"

"That was fast" Ryu said and continued eating.

Bell watched her for a while before he continued, he had too much on his mind. For starters, he didn’t know where to find the giant wolf or if he would be strong enough to kill it and even though he killed it, how would he leave the forest before six hours.

"Ryu, are you tired?" Bell asked.

"No" Ryu replied as shook her head slowly.

"Be honest with me"

"Well..." Ryu turned her face the other way, li she was ashamed to admit it. "We have been walking for a while and I couldn’t sleep last night because of a nightmare..."

"What was it about?!" Bell immediately asked, he still wasn’t sure about how far Ryu skill could go so it was better if he paid attention to every detail.

"It not that bad, I am fine after all"

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me brother" Ryu said, forcing a fake smile. "I just tired, let’s rest for the day. We can continue tomorrow"

Bell sigh, it was exactly what he had hoped for. It better he wait for the timer to run out then face whatever punishment the system had in store for him. Like his mother once said, "what doesn’t kill you, will make you stronger"

"Okay, let’s head a little bit deeper and find somewhere safe to stay. Then we can eat some meat"

Ryu nodded and stood up as Bell did the same and held her hand.

"And we’ll be living the armour here"

For some reason, he felt it was necessary to tell her. Ryu didn’t even react in the slightest, hopefully it was because she trusted her brother that much.

Although Bell had met his supposed sister just a few weeks ago and the only reason he was about to communicate with her so well was because of the owner’s memory, yet he felt like he had created a bond with her. He just couldn’t tell why he felt that way.

_What was the owner like?_ Bell couldn’t help his thoughts.

"Big brother?"

"Yes?"

"Let’s leave as soon as we can"

Bell smiled and gently pulled her closer as they walked into the forest.

"That’s the plan"