At the end of it all, Galen's kill count rose to 72, including the spiders he had killed before. He reached level 10 two more times, before sacrificing them to the system.

—*—

Galen's current stats :

Strength : 41 –> 77

Vitality : 41 –> 77

Agility : 41 –> 77

Dexterity : 41 –> 77

Intelligence : 177 { Mana : 1770 }

Charm : 41 –> 77

Stored levels : 36

— —

Rhea also gained another level, but only after killing nearly 40 monsters, including two monster kings – the wolf and the scorpion – as the EXP she received from these common-rank monsters kept decreasing each time she leveled up due to the level difference.

Finishing with the monsters and feeling her strength rising once more, she turned towards Galen with joy flashing in her eyes.

But then...

She froze, her words dying down her throat.

As Galen stood there, watching the aftermath of their battle, his striking appearance completely captivated her mind.

With his long black hair that had lengthened after his recent transformation, flying freely in the wind, he casually held his smooth obsidian sword – Black Fang – in his right hand and rested it on his shoulder. 

When he saw her looking over, a faint smile played on his lips, making her already bad situation even worse.

A snap of his finger finally brought her out of her reverie, her cheeks turning a faint shade of read.

Turning her head away, she chided herself inside her mind.

'Dammit Rhea, don't you have slef–control?'

'Why do you keep ogling at him like that?'

'He is your student, for god's sake.'

Besides them, she was also somewhat curious about his looks.

'Is it just me, or did he become even more hot, all of a sudden?'

'Maybe that was the reason I couldn't keep my eyes off of him.'

'Hmm... That must be it.' Rhea Consoled herself, finding a plausible reason for her unexplainable behaviour.

Every change in her expression while contemplating about it, was a sight to behold, and Galen made sure to savour the view.

Alas, he couldn't spend all his time absorbed in that beautiful scenery.

Reluctantly peeling his eyes away from Rhea's cute face, Galen called for his mischievous system.

"Beth..." 

[ Here, Master.~ ]

"Is it possible to close down this gate with my origin mana? Since both the dimensional gates and my origin mana stem from the same source – The Higher Universe – whose inhabitants have been trying to invade us for a long time." 

[ It is possible, Master. But you'll need atleast 50 origin mana to close down an unranked gate, the one you're currently in.~ ]

Hearing that, Galen let out a wry chuckle since he only had 10 origin mana at the moment.

"Can you find any another ways to close the gate? I had already promised to Rhea that I have a way to do it." 

[ It can't be helped. I'll try to find a way for you, Master.~ ]

[ Searching for alternatives...

Search complete. ]

[ Master ! Since your soul and body have been attuned with origin mana, it is possible to close the gates by sacrificing your stats, replacing the origin mana. ]

"How much of my stats are we taking about?"

[ Just 5 in each stat will do.~ ]

"Fine then. Take it and close the gate as soon as possible." Galen said gritting his teeth. Losing even a bit of his strength, even if it was really easy for him to regain it, felt really bitter to the former Forgotten Godking.

Even so...

'It's a small price to pay when compared to breaking the promise, I had given to my lovely Rhea', 

he thought to himself with conviction.

[ Permission has been received from the Host. ]

[ Deducting Host's stat points. ]

Str / Vit / Agl / Dxt / Int / Charm : 77 –> 72

(Total loss – 30 stat points.)

[ Initiating Gate Closure... ]

[ Closing Method : Dimensional Rupture ]

[ Estimated time till complete closure : 20 mins ]

[ Safety Margin : 10 mins ]

[ Warning ! The pocket dimension housing the Dimensiomal Gate is starting to break. ]

[ Hence, Host is adviced to evacuate the gate within 10 minutes – to avoid getting caught up in the boundary between dimensions. ]

Galen's eyelids twitched upon seeing the system warning and feeling the tremors spreading across the ground.

"Damn it, BETH... You could've at least warned me about it before starting the whole process." 

"Now I only have ten minutes left to leave, which isn't nearly enough time to either harvest these monster carcases or bring them outside the gate." 

[ Sorry, Master. Since it was also my first doing it, I kinda messed it up. Teehee !!! ]

' Don't *Teehee* me. ' He wanted to shout in frustration, but controlled himself in the end. She was the reason he could even close this gate in the first place, after all.

Heaving a long breath, he looked up towards the crimson sky, noticing the faint cracks flashing into existence across the whole space.

Looking down, he turned his head towards Rhea and his eyes immediately lit up. Just looking at that angelic beauty was enough to melt through all of his frustrations, even if her whole body was currently covered in monster blood.

With a perverted smile, he flashed forward and before she could react, took her into his arms, holding her like a princess.

"H-hey ! What are you doing?" Rhea cried out in surprise, suddenly losing contact with the ground.

"You see those tears in space?" Galen said, pointing towards the cracks in the dimension.

"As I've promised, I tried to close the gate. But there was a problem." 

"I failed to consider one important thing, our escape." 

"If we don't leave this place within a minute, we're both going to die, getting caught up in those spatial tears. So I'm going to carry you to save some time." 

Of course, it was a blatant lie. 

They still had more than ten minutes to before the said disaster, enough time for them to leave without rushing.

But if he told that to Rhea, he couldn't take advantage of her – like now.

Though a bit doubtful about his statement, Rhea agreed to let him carry her with a reluctant nod.

Of course, she was also feeling giddy inside, being held like this by the first man who had enamored her just with his face, even if she was unwilling to admit it.

As you can see here, Galen lied to Rhea, while Rhea lied to herself. Yet both of them were clearly enjoying the intimacy they shared as Galen blitzed through the wasteland and the spider cave, eventually emerging from the dimensional gate the same way they had entered it.