[Nightmare]

"The suit looks nice!" Marie proclaimed loudly with a bright smile.

Kylon blushed slightly and fidgeted with the middle button.

"It seems extra sharp with you rockin' it on purpose." Charlotte commented.

"I think it makes you look charming and confident." Riley added with a sweet voice.

"Now you're just classy. Good work." Helix chuckled.

"It's aight." Atlas commented with a bored expression.

Everyone in the group was showering Kylon with praise.

Helix suggested laying it on thick to instantly build up his confidence.

He liked the suit as much as everyone else and wanted his partners to be happy.

So he devised a strategy to make Kylon love it.

"I…. I'm still getting used to it.

But I like it…." Kylon replied nervously.

"Just wait until you see the other suits we're giving you." Helix chuckled.

"The minute the charcoal gray suit is tailored, no one will think you're a mobster."

"It's true." Atlas said dryly.

The women nodded in agreement to show their genuine support.

"I… look forward to it then." Kylon said nervously.

Helix sent a slight smile into the distance in satisfaction.

He wanted to continue poking fun at the cat but decided to wait until they achieved their stylistic victory.

The group traveled peacefully at the speed of the caravan.

They were sitting on a bench they set up behind the driver.

"Macron is getting stricter?" Marie asked.

"Yeah. Now that the weebs are used to being Knights, the training has picked up now that the weebs are used to it." Atlas confirmed.

"He's the most grueling teacher I've met. Every day we…."

He described the daily schedule and the monster hunts they did once a week.

Atlas' expressed his exasperation without hesitation.

After hearing the full description, Charlotte couldn't take it any longer.

Her face cracked, and she burst into laughter.

Atlas gave her a bitter smile for mocking him.

However, Marie and Riley were tactfully facing in the other direction.

"What a joke! Hahaha!" Charlotte cried.

"Do you want to hear what our first day with Master Tyrene was like?"

The other girls grimaced.

Then Charlotte's smile became wry, and her laughter became bitter.

"She made us run for fifty miles to a zone where we couldn't use our Nightmares." Charlotte scoff-laughed.

"Then she faced us off against a fifteen-foot, Level 55 Balkan Bear with our swords alone."

Atlas' bored face crumbled, and he shot the women a gawking expression.

"You've got to be kidding me. The highest level we've faced off against before I left was Level 48, and it took five super-otakus, five kingdom Knights, and ten men to face it!" He explained.

"You're telling me that you faced that thing [without] your Nightmares and killed it?"

"No, no. We didn't kill it…." Charlotte commented with a mysterious smile.

"Oh, I see… so it was a training exercise, and she killed it…." Atlas muttered to himself in relief.

"Beeeeeezzzzzzz! Wrong again, Mr. A." Charlotte announced with a playful smile.

"And the real answer is… drum roll please, buda-buda-buda-buda ding!"

She threw her hands in Marie's direction.

Atlas almost lost it when he saw Charlotte pointing at Marie exclusively, however—

"Helix." Marie proclaimed with a prideful smile.

"What!?" Atlas yelled.

"Yuuuuuup. He wrecked that big bad bewerrr before Tyrene could act." Charlotte announced with an excited expression.

Atlas turned to Riley for confirmation.

She was always the arbitrator.

"In one attack." Riley giggled.

Atlas shot a serious glance to Helix, who shrugged in response.

"Like we said, training was brutal.

I got a one-month headstart, that's all."

"Haaaaaaaaah." Charlotte followed up.

"Mr. Deathskie took out a Level 79 wyvern at Level 34." Marie chuckled.

"Wait… there are so many things wrong with that statement." Atlas declared in a panic.

"The highest Level fighter after an extra six weeks of training is 38…."

"That's when we arrived." Charlotte grinned.

Atlas' eyes couldn't get wider.

He looked at Helix with shock in his eyes.

Helix shrugged again.

"Like we said, training was brutal.

I got a one-month headstart, that's all."

Atlas laid down and started laughing maniacally.

There was madness swirling in his eyes.

"Helix is wearing the pelt of a Level 156 Hellhound called a Warpshire.

He and Tyrene fought it so Tinker could evolve sooner." Charlotte continued with a satisfied expression.

"It was extremely cute." Riley giggled.

"Haaaaaaaah. I'm dying! Hahaha… I can't… wait… until… you show up as the strongest." Atlas cried with tears rolling down his eyes.

"Me either." Marie affirmed with a vengeance-filled smile.

"It's going to be legendary!" Charlotte declared with passion.

Riley just smiled as she looked into the distance.

"Wait… is he stronger than you three?" Atlas asked as he sat back up.

"Core~rekt." Charlotte responded without hesitation.

"Yes." Marie giggled.

Atlas turned to Riley for confirmation.

"Despite being the twenty-one levels above Marie, he barely had weaker stats than her aside from spirit particles." Riley announced.

"T-Twenty-one…. Wait! Weaker stats!?"

The ever calm and collected Atlas was going through a meltdown.

"Yuuuuuuup." Charlotte laughed.

"It's true." Marie giggled.

"Then wait… you all have ridiculous Nightmares.

How is it that Helix is the strongest?" Atlas asked with a befuddled expression.

"He's more clever." Marie explained with a smile.

"Weren't you listening? He's wearing a Level 156 hellspawn like fall fashion!" Charlotte snapped.

Atlas looked at Riley as always.

"He's twenty-one levels above us for a reason." Riley smiled.

"How…. No, you're going to say your training was brutal." Atlas chuckled bitterly.

"No, I was going to say that I wouldn't want to fight any of these walking natural disasters in a real fight.

Then I'd say their training was brutal." Helix sighed.

Marie and Charlotte threw themselves around Helix.

"Hah. For someone who hates cliches, you're a mega hypocrite." Atlas laughed.

"And I [love] it!" Charlotte declared.

The other girls giggled, and Helix gave them warm hugs.

As long as they were happy, he'd do just about anything.

"You got stronger to protect the ones you love, didn't you, cultivator?" Atlas chuckled.

Helix gave him a wry smile.

"Exactly. But it was genuinely necessary." He responded with a slight smile.

"If it wasn't… who knows? I have a harem of beautiful women.

I'm not complaining about cliches as much these days."

The group laughed, and his partners clobbered him with bright expressions.

"However…." Helix sighed.

The group looked at him with serious expressions.

"We're going back to the cultivator world."

Everyone nodded in bitter agreement.

"There are hundreds of cliches.

I like the strong swordmaster that acts lazy, goofy, and normal.

That's my type of cliche." Helix chuckled.

"That suits you." Marie smiled.

"That… would look nice on you." Charlotte commented with a laugh.

Riley nodded.

"There are other ideal cliche archetypes.

The strong acting weak.

The retired general type.

The shiftless fool that shows up reluctantly and does something and leaves."

Helix listed off many, and his partners giggled.

Atlas stared at him with an amused expression.

He was worried that his friend may have changed too much.

"However, the cliche we're living in is the cultivator world.

People will be shocked, people will act arrogant, and some will try to challenge and kill me." Helix sighed.

"What are you going to do about it?" Atlas asked.