I walk with Reinier into the forest and we start walking towards the west exit.

By the way, I'm not seeing him carry the moose head.

"Where did you leave the monster's head?" I ask.

Reinier looks like he realized he wasn't with him. Soon after, he looks at the desolate ground.

"I forgot back there." He says with a straight face.

Good thing he forgot.

Even though that monster wasn't a big deal, I spent half my mana.

"Do you still have enough mana, Rei?" I think he still has enough.

"Yes, I still do. And don't call me that anymore; it's embarrassing." Rei says.

"It's because saying ''Reinier'' takes too long; it's not my fault if your name is a tongue twister." I believe that I am not wrong.

Reinier remains silent; I think he and I agree on this one.

Mana works in a similar way to muscles; the more you use it, the more it increases. To increase mana it is necessary that it runs out completely, so it will recover and increase its amount.

I, for example, only depleted my mana a few times because I only fought against low-rank monsters; this caused it not to develop.

Raising mana is a slow, time-consuming, and even dangerous process. If mana runs out, there is a chance the user will become unconscious.

"I noticed you have some cuts on your arm, I have some bandages if you want them." Rei says as we walk.

"No need; I think I better keep it in case some other emergency comes up." I answer. "By the way, why did you turn down that Gyian guy's proposal?"

"Because I actually already have a house. Don't tell me you'd accept that madman's proposal?" I was suspecting he was just kidding, but apparently he's really uninformed.

"Okay, apparently I'm going to have to explain everything about the Houses to you, am I?" I put my hand to my face and let out a sigh.

"If you insist..."

"In the Dungeon Area, there are Houses, which are a type of organization where there is the head of the house and his ''employees''. There are the Three Great Houses, or "The Big Three". They are: House Skylar, the elf; this house controls the North, Northwest, and West of the Dungeon Area. House Astrid, the cat, who controls the East and Northeast of the Area. And the last house: House Kalos, the human, who controls the South, Southeast and Southwest region. These three bosses are considered the strongest adventurers in the Dungeon Area." I hope he gets it.

"Now I get it." He got it. "That's why that guy was begging me to come into his House. What was the name of his House anyway?" Rei complete.

"Good question! He said he was part of House Litch, one of the Twelve Protected Houses." I'm sounding like a teacher giving the first class of the year.

"Okay, and what would those Twelve Protected Houses be?" He asks.

"Well, the Twelve Houses are Houses that the Big Three protect; that's why they're called ''Protected''. The Big Three give these houses the freedom to have a small territory, as if they were states of a country. The Twelve Houses are strong, so in addition to receiving protection, they receive benefits for allying with the Big Three."

"It makes sense. But wouldn't it make more sense for the Three Great Houses to annihilate the Twelve Houses? That way, there would be no danger of them rebelling." Apprentice Reinier asks.

"Excellent question, my dear student. As I said, these Houses receive benefits from joining the Big Three, so what happens is that the Twelve Houses do whatever the Big Three say, since the benefits must be great. Also, managing a large area is too much for even the Three Great Houses, so the Twelve help in that regard." I'm already tired of having to explain everything.

"It seems to be a lot more complex than I thought." Reinier scratches his head a little, It must be because of the amount of information I've given him.

He didn't even notice that I called him my student.

"The Twelve Houses are spread across the territory of the Big Three. House Kalos protects three houses; House Astrid also protects three; and House Skylar protects six houses." I complete.

"And what happens if they attack one of them?" Reinier asks.

"Well, should ANYONE attack one of the Twelve Houses, the House responsible for protecting it will have you as an enemy. That's one of the reasons the Three Great Houses don't attack the Twelve Houses." I say as we walk towards the big blue forest.

"Is there anything else I don't know about these Houses!?" Reinier raises his voice a little.

"Hm… Actually, there are still the Three Houses of the Fifth Generation, but I guess you don't need to know about them yet." I would be a good teacher, I think.

"It looks like I still have a lot to learn." Reinier complete.

He doesn't look too regretful about turning Gyian down.

"And do you have a House?" Rei asks.

"Not nowadays, but I've had experiences in smaller houses. We didn't have territory or anything like that, but it was really fun to hang out with them." It's a little nostalgic remembering those times...

A silence hangs in the air for a while as we walk towards the exit.

Halfway through I see something in the bushes with a totally different color than what I'm used to at this level. A magenta coloring, quite out of tune with everything on that level.

I veer a bit out of the way and try to get closer.

"Hey, what is that?" Rei points to the same thing I see.

I approach the bush and open them, revealing small round magenta fruits; they even glow a little.

I take one and eat.

"You're crazy!? What if this is poisonous??" Rei exclaims as I taste the fruit.

She tastes kind of sour; it's very similar to a fruit called acerola cherry.

"Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you!" Rei says very angry.

*gulp *

"Relax, this is a fruit; her name is ''Careola''. They say she regains some mana; that's probably a lie." I calm him down. "Here, try it." I hand him a fruit.

Reinier is a bit apprehensive, but he tries it out.

"Hmm… It's a little sour." He finishes eating. "I thought the taste was pretty average; I would give it a seven out of ten." It complements giving the note of fruit.

We continue walking through the forest; sometimes I look at the map to see if we are too far from the exit.

I think in about six minutes we'll be out of this.

Come to think of it, meeting Reinier was really cool, I wish our friendship didn't end here. He also seems like someone strong; it sure would be a big help to have him help me defeat the monsters in the dungeon.

He would be a perfect adventurer to integrate into a House...

I'm thinking about it again, aren't I?

I know very well how it ended the last time I tried to be part of a House. Furthermore, I swore I wouldn't try to do that again. However, with his help, I feel that this time things can be different.

I promise they will be different.

At one point, my throat goes dry, I don't know if I should ask Reinier that question.

Ah, whatever, I don't want to live without having achieved anything and live with regrets.

"Hey Rei, wanna do something crazy?" I ask in a calm voice, hiding every nervousness inside of me.

Reinier doesn't seem to care too much about the question.

"What kind of craziness are you talking about?" He responds calmly.

"I want to create a House, and I want you to be my first member." I mean seriously.

Reinier is silent.

"It seems to be quite interesting. Well, I guess I'd get into a House sooner or later. Before I say my answer to your ''proposal'', I need to ask you a question." Reinier says.

What could this question be, and is it important!?

"Why do you want to create a House?" Reinier asks.

This question is much more complex than it seems.

"Well, when I was a kid, I dreamed of having my own House and being the Fourth Great House in the Dungeon Area. I never had my own House; I've been part of a few, but none of them had a big reputation. I feel like I want to try to make my own House, with my own adventurers this time." I answer.

Reinier is silent, apparently thinking.

"And you still have this dream of being the Fourth Great House?" He asks.

Another question much more complex than it appears.

"I would be lying if I said ''no''. I believe that being the Fourth Great House is a distant reality, but if we can hire ambitious adventurers who want to be the strongest, we would be closer to that goal, even if it is one percent closer. So yeah, even though it's a practically impossible dream, I still want to try to make it come true." I answer Reinier with the most sincere words I can muster.

Reinier stops walking and turns to me; I do the same.

Looking into my eye, Reinier holds out his hand.

"I wanted to make sure you still had ambitions; if that's your dream, then I'm all for it; I want to be a member of your House." I squeeze Reinier's hand tightly, I can't contain my smile of happiness that he accepted.

After we shake hands, Rei looks a bit confused.

"Okay, I'm part of your House, but what do we do now?"