Archie blinked as he found himself aboard Bralmir's spaceship's Lounge room once again. Looking down at the table by his legs, he saw Volos and Arsenic still devouring as much food as they could. Turning to his right, he saw Bralmir raising a brow at him while mid-sip of his mug filled with beer.

He then looked down and saw himself absolutely caked in dried blood, sand, and soot. But with a quick application of Forgesmith's Flame atop his armor and body, everything that sullied his appearance was quickly incinerated, and he was now clean.

Archie let out a quick exhale after taking in the cool air that was inside Bralmir's spaceship. Cool air is so much better than hot air, he remarked to himself as his eyes flickered toward the three System Notifications that appeared in front of him.

*Your Class has reached Lv 100 – Points allocated, +10 Free Points*

Skill Upgrade: [Spirit Bond (Uncommon → Uncommon)]

Spirit Bond (Uncommon): Spirit Link's lingering tether on your soul has left remnants of a connection to the spirit realm. Allowing you to temporarily bond with a spiritual entity using a medium, enhancing various stats based on the entity's most prominent attributes. The strength and nature of the connection may vary based on the quality of the medium used and the compatibility with the chosen spiritual entity.

With a spirit contract in place, you are able to access a state called Spirit Fusion in which your body will be greatly enhanced with varying abilities based on both the strength of your bond and the abilities of the spirits you've bonded with.

Nice, Archie thought as he dismissed the notifications and fell back onto the sofa behind him and let out a worn-out sigh as he did.

"Back in one piece," Bralmir said. "So. How were the Trials?"

"It was one hell of a trip," Archie muttered, rolling his shoulder as he let his weight sink further into the couch.

Bralmir didn't say anything. Just stared over the rim of his beer mug, one brow arched slightly higher than the other.

Archie let out a breath. "Alright. The first thing that happened was that I found myself in a place that was covered head to toe in white, I want to say like the place where we met after the Group Tutorial ended and where we had our drink."

He paused, eyes narrowing slightly as the memory pieced itself back together. "Then I found myself in a forest that was surrounded by a Mountain range in the north, a volcano in the east, a ravine in the south, and an ocean in the west. And was told for my first trial that I was to find a spirit and make a temporary contract with them."

"Let me guess," Bralmir said, "you ended up going somewhere dangerous and almost dying."

Archie snorted. "Of course I did."

He leaned forward, grabbing his mug from off the table and taking a sip of the chilled beer within it. "I ended up going up the mountain range and using the ritual knowledge I was to by the System, I managed to summon a Moderate Wind Spirit."

"And?" Bralmir smirked, already having an idea about how his summoning with the Moderate Wind Spirit could have gone.

"I so fucking lucky that he was such a chill hawk and told me that I should probably try and contract with Low Spirits as they were closer to my level. I didn't even know that C-Grades could even spawn in my trials…"

"They can," Bralmir nods. "On what I've gathered of the cycles that have passed, it's actually quite normal, in a way where those who have quite considerable talent with spirits are able to contract with those an entire grade above them. Plus, dying once in your Trial isn't a game over, you would simply respawn back in that forest you found yourself in and be given one last chance to complete the trial, else you get booted out and would have had to choose another Class to evolve into."

"Meh," Archie shrugged, leaning over and snatching a meat and cheese kebab on a toothpick from Volos, who was already mid-lunge for the same meat and cheese kebab on a toothpick. "I didn't want to risk choosing another Class as compared to this one; they were pretty much trash. And besides, I don't think I'm any sort of savant with spirits or anything like that. I just got introduced to the Multiverse four months ago, remember?"

Unbeknownst to Archie, Bralmir's left eyebrow raised ever so slightly as Archie finished his sentence.

Anyways, from there I decided that I would go to the Volcano and try my luck there," Archie continued, ripping off a chunk of meat and cheese off the toothpick kebab, unaware of the look of betrayal Volos shot him. "And thankfully, I managed to create a contract with a Low Magma Spirit called Vul, and with the contract all done and created, I moved onto Trial 2."

"Why a Magma Spirit?" Bralmir asked, extending a finger to the tray which Volos was crossing atop of and currently holding thirteen toothpicks with his many feet. "Would an earth spirit not be more beneficial for you as a smith?"

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"How so?" Archie asked, grabbing a pillow from the far side of the sofa and tossing it toward Arsenic, who had just accidentally slingshotted himself off a particularly sticky, gelatinous-looking cheese and was now soaring through the air.

"Earth Spirits are able to detect various types of metals in the ground, and considering how you enjoy traveling and being a smith, that could have been a good choice," Bralmir explained, discreetly lowering the toothpick-armed Volos onto the sofa. "Then again, considering how Magma Spirits are comprised of both Fire and Earth Elements, this Vul might be able to have some semblance of being able to do that, but it wouldn't be anywhere near as effective as a proper Earth Spirit."

"Huh, I never really thought of it like that, but it makes sense," Archie answered as he looked thoughtful for a moment. "I guess when I can make another Spirit Contract, I can think of getting an Earth one, but I'd have to research what I can do with their Affinities for my forging."

"… but then again, being able to locate valuable and rare metals does sound really useful just by itself," Archie considered. "Oh, well, I'll think about it when the time comes."

"Anyways, back to the Trials," Archie continued, unaware of Volos stealthily making his way across the sofa toward him. "Trial 2 was me going through 5 waves of fighting various beasts and humanoids while using my newly gained Magma Affinity while bonded with Vul."

"Oh, speaking of which, how was Spirit Fusion?" Bralmir asked, discreetly moving the fabric of the sofa to cover Volo's form as he crossed the distance between him and Archie. "I've never experienced it myself, due to its creation long after I became a god, and various other annoying reasons."

"Oh, uh," Archie said, stopping himself from taking another sip from his mug to think about it for a bit. "Warm… it felt warm, like being next to a forge, also your entire body gets a bit tingly then, boom! You've entered your Spirit Fusion form, and it's like you just drank like 30 energy drinks all at once..."

Archie then suddenly looked lost in thought once again, before he slowly nodded to himself and took a sip from his mug. "Oddly enough, it feels like getting a lesser boost of adrenaline, yeah, actually, that actually sums that feeling up perfectly."

"So, that's how adrenaline feels like, hm?" Bralmir asked, getting a confused "What?" from Archie. "My body doesn't produce adrenaline, because if you hadn't figured it out by now, I'm made of flame and wood."

"Bro, that sucks ass," Archie blurted out. "Getting an adrenaline rush honestly feels like the greatest thing in the world. Like all your worries just vanish and you zone in completely."

"Pretty sure you sound like a drug addict, with how fast you said that," Bralmir smirked.

"Well," Archie rolled his eyes, eating the last bite of meat and cheese kebab off the toothpick and using it to pick his teeth. "My bloodline literally called me an adrenaline junkie so, you aren't really wrong with that. Hell, even on Earth, everyone in my family called me an adrenaline junkie with how wild I was as a kid."

Bralmir slowly spun the beer within his mug as he moved his hand. "I've been meaning to speak about that with you."

"Sure, what about it?" Archie asked, when suddenly Volos leaped from where he hid and lunged at his face, all thirteen toothpicks bared at his face, while letting loose a chittering warcry.

Catching Volos midair with a mana string and holding him a couple of inches away from his face as he furiously slashed his thirteen toothpicks in his direction.

"There is a certain switch I can visibly see whenever you fight, and when that switch is flipped, you zone in completely and start fighting with all you have," Bralmir said, making the nanites that made up the spaceship create a ramp for Arsenic to crawl across and reach Archie. "As you no doubt get what I'm referring to, when you get that rush of adrenaline flowing in you, you become noticeably stronger and focus entirely on the target or targets you have in mind. Am I right?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Archie nodded as he consoled the downtrodden Volos by patting his head with his index finger. "It's also that way when I forge something that I find incredibly fascinating."

"Yes, I've noticed that as well," Bralmir nodded. "While largely nothing major has happened thus so far, I feel obligated to mention to you the risk you hold when fighting around and or with people."

"You mean me accidentally getting someone around me hurt when getting too much in the zone?" Archie asked, brow raised slightly in curiosity. "And or not noticing traps being laid out beneath me as I get too much into a fight?"

"Yes, its happened quite a few times while on Fractal," Bralmir said, gaining a confused look from Archie, prompting Bralmir to take an object from his spatial storage and place it between them, where it turned on and played a scene where he, Aoife and Tim first fought the Corrupted Silicon Golem and the second time they fought one. "When you were fighting with your friends against the Corrupted Silicon Golem, you blocked many of the shots or angles that your friends could have capitalized on to take it down a lot faster. And that was due to you being too high on your adrenaline."

Archie stayed quiet as he watched the hologram of both fights play out in front of him and watched as Aoife and Tim had to cancel their own attacks as he got in the way of the ones they were just about to launch.

"Why didn't they say anything to me about it?" Archie asked. "Them saying something could have–"

"How could they have?" Bralmir answered him. "You are Aoife's savior, you freed her from slavery and killed the one who tortured her day in and day out. How could she criticize you?"

"… Okay, but what about Tim? Why didn't he say anything about it?" Archie then asked. "He doesn't have a savior complex about me. So why hadn't he mentioned it?"

"I don't know, I'm not a mind reader, I didn't have my mind reading devices on when I saw what happened," Bralmir shrugged. "It could be many reasons, ranging from him knowing that you being a Tutorial Participant means that you suck at fighting in groups due to your inexperience to him not wanting to hurt the feelings of a friend."

"Now, I'm not saying this to make fun of you or insult you, but I just want you to keep what I just said in mind whenever you fight either alone or in a group, and especially because of where we are heading."

"… To my brother and niece," Archie said, lowering his gaze to the floor.

"Yes," Bralmir nodded. "And when the three of you go and explore around, you will inevitably get in fights to level up especially in your next Tutorial Event where your brother will have no choice but to take his daughter with him, you need to prevent yourself from getting too into the zone and potentially harming both her and your brother by letting yourself get too into it."

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