The way forward

Flint didn't know what time it was, but he had a feeling it was nighttime.

There wasn't much sound-

Just the dripping of water-

And the faint feeling of powerlessness.

He did get a bit hungry-

And- he also felt like relieving himself.

Yet- at the same time he didn't want to just use the bucket and live in the same room as his golden liquid.

Of course, that was a personal choice and that only increased his agony.

He could either soil himself while trying to restrain himself or pee in the 'bucket' like an animal.

To pee or not to pee that was the question.

But despite all that Flint focused on something else.

Namely-

'I failed.'

He failed- while giving his best.

And he couldn't even confirm whether those scum really were the ones responsible or not.

'What if they didn't?'

Then who?

And even if they really didn't, the people who did, were definitely people who were at least as strong as those three- or so he assumed.

But he could definitely confirm one thing.

That being-

They were far, far too powerful for him to be able to handle- at least alone.

After all, the enemy wasn't alone.

But who?

'People like me?'

Flint's village was destroyed and he was supposedly the sole survivor.

There was a chance he could find people like that all over the kingdom.

But at the same time-

'Would they really be reliable?'

He wasn't particularly strong himself, at least that's what he surmised with that mini clash-

The man-

The man who almost killed him- wasn't even trying.

Flint saw it in his eyes-

And that's why-

He couldn't hope to win against them alone.

And that was also why-

He focused-

Slowly breathing-

Clang!

And tore through the chains-

Almost too easily-

His arm glowed in blue and the glow slowly faded as he panted a bit.

How much was that from his skill or how much was that from the need to pee, he didn't know.

'It worked-'

He could do it-

But-

'It's unpredictable.'

And he knew it.

He knew it all too well.

And at the same time-

He wanted it-

Mastering one knight class was supposedly going to take one's whole life.

But-

'What if I just learned the specific skills on top of my Rune base?'

Flint could use the Rune knight's stance.

He could use a shield- he could use a sword- and he could use magic- at least to some degree and maybe he could learn more if he tried.

If he focused on defending, he could be a holy knight- as Anne suggested.

At the same time if he focused on just attacking- he could be a chaos knight. The forbidden chaos knight skills were said to be the best at creating chaos and ending others' lives. The sole reason why he was so intent on becoming one.

However- if he used Infusion at the same time- and also used the skills-

It was unheard of-

After all, someone could hardly master one style- let alone two.

And yet-

'But what if-'

A long while-

After a long- long while-

Flint's lips curved up-

"-I could."

And he smiled.

And he also, almost leaked- so without further ado- he somehow opened the door and blasted out- hoping to find a bathroom.

But instead-

All he got was the dark, damp, smelly underground tunnel- which was actually worse than his room…

***

Somehow Flint managed to find the bathroom-

Assuming it could be called one.

Dark-

Gloomy- and awfully slimy-

No water-

The door itself had mostly given in to the rust and termites-

'Who the fuck lives here?'

He was only going to take a piss so it wasn't a big deal but even so-

He really did feel bad about the people who lived here.

'But wait, wasn't that girl… a girl?'

To think a girl would have a bathroom like this…

He distinctively remembered how his mother cursed his father on a regular basis just so he'd keep the bathroom clean.

Yeah, Flint didn't really want to bother wasting his mental fortitude on this.

So instead-

He searched for an exit-

The hallway-

If it could be called one- was pretty dark.

He couldn't see.

Even with his eyes adjusting- he couldn't see.

He did perceive it to be cramped and if the square edges really were square like he assumed, then this place was probably manmade. Given the state of things though, he had a hard time believing so.

Times like this when he wished he could at least make a small fire on his fingertips or some sort of light ball so he could see but yeah-

He couldn't-

He tried creating sparks but those didn't work.

He did get this awful smell and sound whenever he created a spark though- so he stopped that.

Instead-

'Let's see how far this goes-'

A streamlined tunnel-

With so far three rooms.

One- the one he was in-

Two- the bathroom-

And three-

"Woah-"

Some books-

A table- a lamp-

And a girl-

The girl in robes- sleeping, her head on the table.

Flint couldn't remember her name but she was the one who saved her-

And she was also the one who kind of looked like a maniac just some moments ago-

'She did live here?'