[Nightmare]

"Why do you want to share the Myriad Library?

It's a point of jealousy." Riley pointed out worriedly.

"It's because I'm a cheat character now." Helix sighed.

"Every light novel [cheat character] has advantages that others don't have.

The difference is that I genuinely earned that status."

His partners gilded their eyes to the left in thought.

In their eyes, the concept was disorienting.

All three of them feared his Nightmare.

No matter how strong they were, he could crush their ability to see, hear, and disorient them beyond comparison.

"Is it because you can't use your Nightmare openly?" Marie asked.

"Or is it because your stats are destructively low by comparison?" Charlotte asked.

Helix shook his head with a bitter smile on his face.

"No. It's not that. It's because most people can't use my Nightmare.

You can't use it without battle strength because it's not lethal.

I may be able to cripple people through disorientation, but most people can't think of how to do that.

Beyond surviving it and learning how to use it, this Nightmare is bad news in general."

His partner's eyes widened, and then nodded their heads enthusiastically.

"Haaaaaaah. I always forget that because your skill sets are terrifying." Charlotte laughed.

"Even if we were level 150, I think all of us would still be terrified to fight you."

The women nodded and burst into giggles.

"Yeah. Then couple that with your low stats, and you're the weakest of everyone." Marie commented in thought.

"You're the most ironic cliche in history."

Helix chuckled and gave them smiling eyes.

"Exactly. That's why I need to slowly point that out to everyone." He reasoned.

"My story might inspire them to work harder and stop treating me like an undeserved protagonist."

The women gilded their eyes to the left.

"Well… you did get [three] grandmasters to follow you." Charlotte laughed.

"That…" Helix chuckled.

"Linus followed me because it was in his best interest to speak to me.

Master Tilo was earned. Master Tyrene… was unexpected.

Either way, I made my luck through my actions.

We can't hide from it either way. So we might as well address it."

The three nodded in agreement.

"Light novel protagonists get a cheat opportunity.

I got the attention of a god actively trying to kill me.

I wish I didn't have to explain the lack of cliche here."

"I see…. What's your strategy for releasing your story?"

"By recreating the beginning and telling them stories of our training and struggles.

We're not short on ammo." Helix chuckled.

—

"Me! I want to hear the story!"

"Me too!"

"Please tell us, Helix!"

He motioned to Maze when the women spoke up.

"I'd love to hear it." Maze replied with wide eyes.

Suddenly the men that originally reached out chimed in, and the other men followed.

Helix smiled in satisfaction.

"Okay, quiet down, and I'll tell you.

Don't be worried about the time we spend.

We have a surprise for you today." He announced with a mysterious smile.

Excitement lit up on everyone's faces, but they quickly quieted when otakus and weebs shushed them.

His request and his announcement led to conflicted responses.

However, he noted the people following the original orders and leading others.

"Okay. When we learned that there were monster sightings in Alzeria, we had to cut our training." Helix began in a calm voice.

"That left us with a bitter pill to swallow."

The otakus and weebs listened and hung on his every word.

"My spirit beast Tinker was still in the genesis-evolution state and completely defenseless." Charlotte explained.

"As the spirit beast trainers here know, spirit beasts are completely defenseless and barely able to move."

Multiple people nodded with wry smiles.

"That's why we kept them with beast trainers, basically babysitters." She added.

A few people giggled.

"However, if monsters attacked us in the first week of our travels back to Alzeria, we would be in serious trouble." Helix continued.

"It was a bitter pill that we were one week from potential evolution, but we couldn't train Tinker."

"So Hellie researched ways to speed up the requirement." Charlotte announced with a puffed-out chest.

"That's how he found out about Liskaberry.

It speeds up evolution by up to a month."

Helix nodded with a gentle smile.

Excited whispers waved through the Knights.

Many of the soul beast owners were bitter.

"It's not a good thing. So soul beast owners shouldn't worry." Marie interjected.

"Soul beasts grow with the spirit particle reserve of their owners.

Once they receive a certain number, they can evolve.

So the longer you wait and the stronger you get, the better."

Silent sighs of relief washed through the super-otakus and power-weebs.

Marie wanted to alleviate the [cheat advantage] jealousy.

However, she left out the other benefits of the Liskaberry.

Hellhounds didn't protect it without reason.

"Unfortunately, the Liskaberry was in a high-level zone far away from Lexion where we lived." Helix continued.

The Cheat hopefuls turned their attention to him again.

"However, Master Tyrene was level 217 and an ice mage with a legendary Nightmare." He explained.

"Moreover, I had a very high agility stat and am a battle circle master with sensory deprivation spells.

Therefore, escaping from the Hellhounds was reasonable.

So Master Tyrene reluctantly agreed to take the risk.

I can still remember what she said…."

—

"Boy, I don't care how crafty you are.

A Warpshire will gouge your eyes out and skull fuck you." Tyrene warned with a frown.

Helix shivered with a serious expression.

—

The Cheat hopefuls burst into laughter.

"It was the most gruesome description she's ever used." Helix chuckled.

"But she was telling me because my reason was legitimate.

We weren't considering it because we wanted simple training for Tinker."

Everyone listened closely.

His partners were just as curious because they didn't know the story.

—

"Yes…. However, having a legendary ice mage as a guide is an opportunity I'll never get again." He sighed.

"Moreover, Tinker will be a liability after evolution.

That puppy will be ridiculously strong for a first-evolution beast.

He'll try fighting the Colossus if it attacks Charlotte, and she'll get reckless trying to save him."

Tyrene grimaced, and her eyes glided to her left in thought.

"Yeah. That's a damn good point." She said with a frown.

—

"Master Tyrene agreed to go for that reason." Helix continued.

"However, she planned to do the picking herself.

I was just going because she wanted me to run one hundred miles to increase my natural endurance."

—

"M-Mass…t-ter…. Please have m-mercy… huuuuh…." Helix cried between breaths.

"W-We… huuuh huuuh… have been running at full speed for a full hour…."

"Hmmm? Did you say something?"

"Haaaaah. No. Thank you… huuuuuh… for your leniency, Master."

—

"Wait!? You thanked her for her leniency after she ignored your request for a break!?" Maze cried.

His outburst attracted everyone present.

"If you asked Master Tyrene for mercy, she either gave you a yes immediately or ignored you." Marie giggled.

"If she ignored you, and you asked again…." Charlotte commented with a bitter smile.

—

"Master! We've swung the sword five hundred times!" Charlotte cried with a flushed face.

"Breaks are normal!"

"Hmmm? Did you say something, girl?" Tyrene asked while putting down her book.

"I'm asking you for a break! Have mercy!"

Tyrene's eyes narrowed.

"Oh. I remember hearing something now…." She grinned.

"Charlotte was saying thank you for your leniency!" Marie cried.

"That's what I heard too." Riley whispered.

"Hmmm. Smart girls. I swore I heard her say she wanted another five hundred swings…." Tyrene commented while looking to the sky.

"Seems that my hearing isn't as sharp as it used to be."

Charlotte trembled before immediately starting to swing her sword again.

—

The super-otakus and power-weebs were stunned-silent.

They were trembling.

"She's not telling you a joke.

Moreover, Master Tyrene was easier on us than Helix.." Marie interjected.

"What!? Why!?" Leo gasped.

"Helix's happiness was important." Riley replied in a gentle tone.

Everyone calmed down at her quiet, gentle voice.

"If she were too hard on us, his suffering would magnify."

"Yeah. Plus, Hellie is a boss. They found out he was training [after] their twelve-hour days, so they increased it to fourteen hours." Charlotte commented with a grin.

"They only brought it down again once we arrived."

The Cheat hopefuls shivered and looked at Helix as if he were a god.

"I can't use my Nightmare safely." Helix sighed.

"So I had to work twice as hard as everyone else if I wanted to protect the people I loved.

After losing one lover, I vowed never to let it happen again."

Slight tears welled in the super-otakus eyes.

Leo, Sarah, Tammy, Lily, Millie, and Mary especially had a different degree of emotion than the others.

"Moving on. We made it to the Izian Forest in five hours with only two breaks." Helix laughed.

His bright smile improved the mood significantly.

"When we got there, we realized something important… I was the only person with a map!" He chuckled bitterly.

His partners burst into laughter, and the rest followed.

Many asked questions about the Myriad Library's access to maps, and he pointed out that books and documents had them.

A wave of realization washed over the group, and they respected the Hourglass of Knowledge more.

However, they forgot about it the instant he started talking again.

"Master Tyrene allowed me to enter as a training experience." Helix explained with a serious expression.

"She wanted to teach me a valuable lesson."

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)