LENIN

Rich filled Solum, which had already turned to its malleable liquid form.

From the looks of it, there was an endless supply of supplies that would be highly beneficial for the science lab that Felix had wanted to power all this time.

The only problem was how long it would take to get this back to the Village.

That was something I didn't want to be doing.

While I was planning how to get this back to the Village, someone had finally awoken.

Tara rubbed her eyes slowly but surely. As she did, her eyes widened in utter disbelief, so she rubbed them again.

She looked over at me as I wore a simple smile.

"T-This is." Tara pointed with her uncontrollably shaking finger, which moved independently.

I nodded, "Yeah, welcome to the very thing that will change your village." I crouched beside her as we both took it in.

When she looked at the Solum, a gentle smile appeared on her face. "My father was one of the lucky few brave enough to enter this place..." Her thoughts drifted off.

It was all that I needed to know that her father never came out of this place alive.

I touched her shoulder, "Well, I hope this gives you some peace of mind."

She slowly nodded, "Yeah... It does; never in a million years would I have thought that I would be able to be here." Tara continued to talk, "That's why..."

Like before, I didn't need her to finish her sentence to know why she was so determined.

It was because of this moment.

All she could think about was her father. She wanted to do what her father had been unable to do.

She would then be able to gain some closure from the situation.

I could see on her face that she was reliving the moments of what had happened before she had passed out.

"Are we ready to leave?" I looked over at her as she finally found her resolve; a glint of determination in her eyes sparkled evermore.

"Ye-"

GUH

I instantly knelt on the ground, almost like a weight of surging pressure was pulling me to the Earth's core.

But it seemed only to me that I was experiencing a rapid sensation controlling my body, a flow of unwavering and uninviting memories flooding my mind.

These flashes of memories, not of my own, had come surging.

"Those who bear the voice of control must harness it."

A voice echoed in my mind.

"Is everything alright?" Tara quickly checked up on me, her face etched with worry.

"Yeah." I nodded, standing back up. "Just needed a breather, that's all. Used too much of my Solum."

It seemed that Tara wasn't so quick to believe my little lie, but she didn't question it further.

We ventured out of the Dungeon, and a new day awaited us. We must have been in that Dungeon for a while.

Soon enough, we managed to make our way to the Village, where people seemed to be already waiting for us.

"You guys made it back!" Lusan rushed over to us in excitement. His eyes grew more expansive, and he pointed to the purple-glowing sack I was holding. "Is that?"

I nodded, "It is. We got a lot, didn't we, Tara?" I flashed a soft smile at her as she shamefully looked at the ground.

"Sorry about being too rash, Lusan." She muttered.

Lusan chuckled, "As long as you made it in one piece, that's all that matters."

"Where's Felix?" I asked.

"Felix. . ." Lusan muttered, "He's in the lab; he's not taking the expedition that well either."

"I should probably catch up with him."

Lusan nodded, knowing that I was right.

As I made my way to the Lab, it became clear that our Village needed a complete overhaul.

Sure, it did the job, but the quality of life here could have been better.

I remember being here as a child, and this place was full of life, but now it is simply dead.

Soon enough, I entered the Lab to see Felix already at work.

I grinned, leaning against the door. "Seems like someone is at work."

He looked at me with a small smile, but soon faltered, realising what had happened during the Dungeon.

"Sorry about what happened..." Felix placed his equipment down on the table. "I just froze." He muttered, looking at his hands. "Frankly, I don't think I'm ready for anything."

I waved my hand in dismissal, "That has gotten to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard." I walked over to him, placing my hand on his shoulder, "You are the most qualified person here. You're the one who cared for this place when no one else did. So be proud of yourself."

A small smile slithered on Felix's face.

"Besides." I chuckled, "Look at this." I placed the sack of Solum onto the table, making a loud thud, a testament to how much we had obtained during our little expedition.

"Holy shit! " he chuckled in disbelief. "This is. . ."

"Everything that the dungeon had to offer and more." I smiled proudly over at him.

Felix stared at Solum. "We can do so much. With Solum, we can make medicine, buy new equipment, and power the Village."

I felt the excitement surging through his body. I was excited for him.

"The possibilities are endless. . ."

I nodded, "One at a time."

"Thank you." He smiled, "You don't understand the good we can do with this."

I placed my hand on his shoulder, "Remember? I'm just doing my part."

"I should probably make an announcement, sooner or later, with what we're going to be doing with all of this Solum." He answered.

"You go do that." I chuckled, stretching my arms. "Because I have to go back with Kassie and Maro."

Felix nodded as I exited the Lab, ready to visit them.

It didn't take me long to enter my house and see Kassie spending time with Maro.

"Lenin."

Though Kassie had her back against me, I could tell there was a soft smile on her face.

"Have I told you multiple times that it's creepy that you can tell I'm behind you?" I smiled, wrapping my arm around her shoulder as I watched her care for Maro.

She shrugged her shoulders sheepishly, "I could sense your Solum from a mile away; you were using it quite a lot, you know?" Kassie chuckled, looking at me.

I raised my hand in surrender. "It was challenging... surprisingly," I muttered.

"You're slipping." Kassie teased, "But how did it go?"

A triumphant smile appeared on my face. "We got all the Solum that we needed, now. We're just waiting for Felix to call us up," I answered.

"That's great to hear," Kassie responded, "But what's the end goal here?" She gave you a knowing look.

"The more modernised this hometown place gets, the more attraction it will get from the Kingdom of Juvo."

I sighed, smiling, knowing that she was right. "I know that's inevitable, but we'll think of something soon."

The bigger the Village, the more the Kingdom of Juvo was on high alert; that's what they were known for.

While that was the last thing we wanted, especially for Maro, we knew our loyalty and respect for Felix were more.

Now, the question was, how long could we keep this up without gaining the attention of the Kingdom of Juvo?

As his friend, I would do my best to help and support Felix in every way possible. After all, he had a big task: acting as the Village of Facia's one and only leader.

It would be a heavy burden, but I would do my best to share it with him because that's what friends do.

We have each other's backs.

FELIX

I paced myself up and down the room, thinking of the words I would say.

I mean, I knew that eventually, we were going to get to this stage where we would have enough Solum to do something great with it, but I didn't expect it to be so damn soon.

Lenin never seems to stop impressing me in that department.

How strong will you keep getting while we watch you in awe?

Soon, one by one, they all gathered and sat.

"I'm so glad you could all come." I cleared my throat, looking over at them as they waited patiently for the following words to come out of my mouth.

But they never did.

I couldn't say what I wanted; it was as if I couldn't grasp it.

I knew exactly the words, but I couldn't conjure them up.

They all looked at me, confused as to what was going on.

"Felix had the idea of expanding and modernising the village." Lenin stood up from his seat, gesturing over to me.

I felt relieved that Lenin was able to save me from my moment of embarrassment.

"As you know, with the Solum that we have obtained, it's clear that this is the best chance of doing something amazing. Isn't that right, Felix?" He smiled.

I nodded, clearing my throat. "Well, here are the places we've been thinking about trading with." I pulled out a map, letting everyone see my intentions.

Everyone nodded in agreement; however, a voice disrupted the unison.

"Shouldn't we be focused on upgrading our village internally instead of expanding so soon?"

It was Zac who had questioned my plans.

"Well, it would be beneficial if we started contacting other villages that might want to trade."

"Still, that's not a solid enough reason; we don't know anything about them. They could be a threat." Zac added, looking at everyone, and soon enough, it seemed that he had a growing support group who voiced the same concern.

I didn't know what to do; I had never experienced something like this.

I was lost for words.

"Simple, we do both."

We all looked at Lenin, who was taking the mantle once again and saving my ass once again.

"You're right; we don't know what will be in store for us." He answered clearly, "Which is why we'll only do recon, scout the area. Nothing more, nothing less."

I watched in awe as he continued speaking with such charm.

"We'll split up the efforts. A group entirely devoted to scouting the other villages, whilst the others stay here, focusing on our development. Is that clear?"

Zac was the first to nod, even forming a smile, satisfied with the outcome.

"When do we start?" He questioned him.

There, Lenin smiled, looking at all of us, "As soon as we can."

LUSAN

Today was going to be busy, but within a couple of days, everyone was already at work with their intended goals.

Some were in the Lab, while others were on the farms, contributing to making this Village a better place for all of us, just as I was when I was younger.

Real change was in the air. As corny as it sounded, it was proper to me.

While Felix dealt with the Village, Lenin would deal with foreign affairs.

I was fortunate to be selected for this small scouting force.

We only had a few people in our Village, but there were enough to form that group.

"You ready?" I asked Tara who was currently putting on her armour plate.

She nodded, "I'm just happy to help the cause."

Woah.

That was strange to hear from Tara, out of all people.

Usually, she would have done the usual rolling of her eyes, thinking that doing something like this would be beneath her, but that wasn't the case.

"Okay, did you hit your head or something?" I joked.

She shook her head, "No, it's not that. But if Lenin says this is a good thing, then I'm excited."

I'll admit, I was excited too.

I couldn't remember the last time we ventured outside the Village besides the Dungeon.

"She's right, you know."

We looked at Zac, who walked over to us with a grin.

"It seems that Lenin guy has some brain power." He tapped his head. "Unlike Felix." He spat on the ground.

One thing about Zac was that he had always disliked how Felix did things.

He never agreed with Felix's passive nature.

"With Lenin around, there might be some good change for once here."

Tara ever so slightly glared at Zac's smug face. "Don't you dare disrespect Felix like that?" Her confidence grew again: "He has done so much for us."

Zac chuckled, raising his hand in surrender. "Of course, there's no denying that. I'm just letting out my opinion, that's all."

"We should go now. I don't want to keep the others waiting," I whispered to Tara. She begrudgingly nodded, not looking away from Zac.

We went to where Lenin was waiting for us; he knew the first Village we would scout for today.

"Tell me about the Ustrin Village." He handed me the map.

"The Ustrin Village? Well, we don't know much about it." I commented.

Zac scoffed, folding his arms, "And Felix is trying to get us to trade with them."

"He wasn't necessarily wrong." Lenin examined the map, "He just didn't have any precaution first, which is what we're doing here. Shall we?"

We all nodded, following his lead.

While our expedition was quite long, it felt like we were getting closer and closer until we did.

Lenin stopped, mounting off his horse as we examined the similar Village.

Underdeveloped and needing something special.

It was to be expected, after all. The Kingdom of Juvo, while mighty, didn't care for little villages like ours.

Hell, we probably didn't exist to those folks there.

"Is there anything interesting?" Tara asked.

"They're rich in Solum." Lenin declared casually, "They have a farm located underground."

We all gave him a blank stare.

"And you just know that? Instantly." Zac questioned in awe.

Lenin nodded, "They might not be as modernised, but they have vital resources."

"So they're a farming village?"

Lenin nodded, "Correct." He paused momentarily, "We got what we came for. I'll report this to Felix." As he looked at us for a split second, he said, "I trust that you three can scout the other two villagers while I head back?"

I nodded, "Yes."

"Good." Lenin smiled as he raised his hand, emitting Purpura Solum at us.

Instantly, I felt a surge of power. That same feeling at the Dungeon was intense, almost hard to take in.

Even the others were having difficulty taking it all in, but soon enough, we stood up from the ground.

"Just in case anything goes wrong." He smiled softly, "That'll last you guys for a whole day. . . But remember, you're not invincible when you have it."

Before we could say anything, he had already vanished.

"I heard that he cleared out that dungeon all by himself, but I didn't think he was this strong," Zac muttered, looking at his hands as they emitted Solum.

"So he was born with Solum, huh?"

I nodded, "It's scarce."

Indeed, it was.