Since it was already dark, Tin and the others decided to settle down, not too far away from where the third tower stood. Now that all Apostles were defeated, no one would dare attack them openly. As for Ae's father, he was most likely still in the process of gathering and concentrating spiritual energy to control the King of the Beast. The team could not act rashly and attack the cave as their spiritual energy has been depleted completely.

Tin built a campfire while the rest sat on wooden chairs that came from Pete's storage bag.

"Here, this should help you absorb spiritual energy much faster," Pete said as he handed out high-grade potions to Tin, Pond, and Can. As for Ae, he did not need one. He was still in the recovery phase as his core was still trying to heal. Giving him a potion might overburden his core and cause a disturbance inside.

"Thank you," Can said with a smile. "Umm...Pete."

"Hmm, what is it, Can?" Pete faced the little beast summoner.

"Well, I feel some sort of discomfort around my core. Something feels different after I woke up. I wonder if it was after that incident in the castle," Can explained as he scratched his head.

"It-it doesn't hurt!" Can quickly added as he looked at Tin. He did not want him to overreact about this.

Pete awkwardly looked at everyone. It must be related to Can's father fixing his core. When both Pete and Tin looked at one another, Tin gestured Pete to check on Can's current status with a nod.

"Alright, I'll take a look." Pete hurriedly went behind Can. Putting both of his hands on Can's back, Pete checked the current status of Can's physical health. When he sensed that there was nothing wrong with Can physically, he moved on to check his spiritual energy level and its flow inside him. Other than Can's spiritual energy being somewhat depleted, there was nothing wrong with the level of spiritual energy inside of him. Afterward, he went to check on his spiritual core.

Pete sensed his core's vast capacity to contain spiritual energy. He knew that Can was special as he could gather and contain spiritual energy at an abnormal rate, but being able to sense its vastness was amazing and frightening at the same time. Moving on, he checked for the core's condition. There was nothing wrong with it. The only peculiar thing he noticed was that it was rather stronger. He knew that Can was a tier-6 Rainbow Grade Beast Summoner, but the current strength of his core seemed to exceed that of a tier-6...

A realization slowly crept on Pete. His eyes widened as goosebumps on his body intensified.

He shakily said as he removed his hands from Can's back, "Im..possible..."

"What's wrong? Is my core seriously damaged? I mean I don't feel any pain at all?" Can became nervous all of a sudden as he came up with possible reasons for Pete's scared reaction.

Pete looked at Tin.

"What is it, Pete?" Tin said calmly.

Swallowing his saliva, Pete tried to calm down, but his voice betrayed him when he stuttered.

"His c-core... It's at tier-7..."

At that point, everyone became silent. Their eyes widened. There was a mixture of doubt, amazement, and fear.

"Are you certain?" Pond asked as he looked at Can like he was some sort of god.

"I'm sure. The discomfort that Can was feeling was due to the core's upgrade. He needs to stabilize it first," Pete replied.

"Then....are you saying that...there are two Supreme Rulers?" Pond continued to ask.

Having one Supreme Ruler was already considered a rarity. In all history of humanity, at different points of time, there were only two people who became the Supreme Ruler in the past. Now, there was Tin, which made him the third Supreme Ruler. To have another addition of Supreme Ruler to exist at the same time as Tin, this phenomenon would be considered as something that was too abnormal! Weren't the gods too partial towards Tin and Can? Were they too bored that they have decided to grant extreme power to two people who were lovers to boot!? Would Ae's father even have a chance to lift a finger against them?

"This is too insane," Pond was dazed. He could not believe it. Two Supreme Rulers in one location where one was his current master! F*cken unbelievable!

"Congratulations," Pete said with a smile. One thing was for sure, Tin and Can were extremely favored by the gods. Although the responsibility of being a Supreme Ruler was quite heavy, this could be considered as a good thing.

Ae said the same thing happily. "Congratulations, Can."

"But you must replenish and stabilize your core first. We don't want accidents to happen in the future," Pete added.

"I understand. Thank you, Pete," Can replied. Can could not believe that he became another Supreme Ruler. To begin with, he never thought of ever becoming a Tier-3 at all! All it took for him to become a tier-7 was to self-explode? It was somehow hard to believe.

"Go on and drink the potion," Tin said not too far away from him.

Even though he was in deep thoughts about his current level, he still followed Tin without realizing it. He took the cork off the potion bottle and drank its contents. The glowing and shining blue liquid inside the bottle was gone within seconds. As Can absorbed it, he felt his spiritual energy increased significantly. Still, he thought it was not enough.

"It tastes like pine...apple?" Can was quite shocked about the aftertaste of the potion that it managed to divert his attention away from the fact that he was now considered as one of the most powerful people in the world. He thought that the liquid would taste bitter just like any normal medicine.

"Ohh! Yes. These particular potions that I made would taste depending on what you crave. So Can, you were craving pineapple juice when you drank it, correct?" Pond asked to see if the potion that he made had accuracy at determining the user's craving. He intended to sell them in the future.

"Yes! That's right! This is amazing, Pete." Can showed was amazed at Pond's creativity at inventing things.

"Is that so? That's good to hear then," Pete slightly blushed. He then observed both Pond and Tin about their reaction. He wanted to know what they were craving.

"Hmm, it tastes like those expensive red wine that you guys have here on Earth," Pond replied happily as he drank the potion.

"This doesn't mean that the potion has alcohol right?" he curiously asked.

"No, not at all. Do you want it to have alcohol then?" Customer feedback is necessary if one wants to be successful in the business field. Pete would like to take this opportunity to get as much feedback on the trial products that he has from his friends.

"I would like to have that option," Pond sincerely said as he took another sip from his bottle.

"Ahh, I see," Pete replied as the two then went into a full discourse of what could be added and improved on the potion.

As they were talking, Can moved his chair closer to Tin when the latter was drinking his potion.

"How does it taste? What were you craving?" Can asked curiously.

After drinking the contents of the bottle, Tin locked gazed with Can.

"Cantaloupe," Tin uttered with a devious smile.

Can just looked at him dumbfoundedly. He did not know how to act or how to rebut him.

Soon, the heat reached his cheeks and ears, which caused them to redden.

Tin wanted to tease him more, so he got closer to Can and whispered to his left ear. "It's still not enough. I want more...."

After saying those words, the breath of air that came out of him seemed to intensify the heat on Can's left ear as it remained for some time.

"W-what are you saying? No-not here. Not with people around us," Can stuttered as he covered his reddened left ear.

"Can, what were you thinking? I was referring to Pete's potion. It wasn't enough to completely recover my spiritual energy. You...," Tin's smile widened further.

"Well, that's... I thought..."

Can became embarrassed and looked away. He thought that Tin was talking about him. Now Tin would think that he was some kind of pervert!

Seeing the flustered and embarrassed look of the person next to him, Tin let out a chuckle. He softly grabbed Can's chin firmly and directed his gaze towards him. He then leaned and kissed his lips.

As he parted with the boy's lips, Tin whispered lovingly and seductively, "Of course, I'm talking about you. You're the only one I need. And I just can't get enough of you."

He released him from his grasp and gently ruffled Can's hair. "Go and stabilize your core. I'll look after you to make sure nothing happens. Once the sun rises, we'll leave."

Can nodded. He was speechless for a moment. For Tin to tease him like that, he thought that he must retaliate somehow.

"I love you, Tin," Can said without hesitation. The seriousness of his tone was also reflected on his face as the campfire's light flickered in the darkness.

Tin stopped moving from his seat. He turned around and looked at the youth. A smile spread on his face.

Gently reaching out to Can's left cheek and caressing it, Tin replied, "I love you too. I love you so much, Can."

After uttering those words, he leaned once again and kissed Can. This time their kissing session became longer and more provocative.

Can lost this time again. He was supposed to make Tin blush, but it was he who blushed further. It was supposed to be Tin who should be swept off his feet, but it was he who got his feet swept off. It was he who still suffered the consequences. In any case, he did not complain. He liked this intimacy, after all. It has been a while too since they have become this much closer with one another.

The liveliness of the couple and discussion of improvement in Pete's business was contrasted by Ae's gloominess. From the side, Ae felt somehow terrible as he witnessed the others having a good time. While everyone else seemed to be acting normally and happily, he felt stressed and overwhelmed all of a sudden. The issue with his father, his uselessness in battle, the death of his uncle, and Pond's betrayal were bothering him all at once. It seemed that the more he got closer to dealing with his father, the more problems he had to deal with. It was suffocating him. Why did it have to come to this? Did he deserve this?

Frowning as he pinched the bridge of his nose, Ae's mind slowly descended to a dark pit. He was being swallowed by despair and suffering. He was exhausted. How long will he have to deal with this? How long does he have to suffer?

"Is everything alright?" A hand gently touched Ae's arm, which gave him sudden warmth and that pulled him out from the deep dark pit that he was in.

Ae looked up and forced a smile, "I'm...I'm fine."

"Ae," Pete tenderly said. He was aware that something has been bothering Ae. "You know that you can tell me whatever it is that's in your mind."

Ae hesitated. He shook his head as he looked down.

Pete whispered once again as he reassured his lover that everything was going to be fine, "Ae..."

Slowly hugging his waist, he continued. "I'm here. You can talk to me."

Ae felt Pete's concern and love for him. He looked up and faced him. Suddenly, the feelings that were bottled inside of him overflowed.

When Pete locked gaze with him, he could see the exhaustion and grief on Ae quite clearly. He looked miserable.

"I'm overwhelmed and I feel quite useless."

Hearing those words, Pete cupped Ae gently with both of his hands and whispered, "I understand about being overwhelmed about everything. As for being useless, I have to disagree."

Ae moved his gaze down. He doubted Pete's words. He knew that he was just trying to make him feel better.

Pete knew what he was thinking, so he explained further. "You think that you're powerless, but you're not. Your role is as important as everyone else. Without you, we wouldn't have the chance to learn and gain the necessary experience of truths and hardships in this journey."

Ae slowly looked into Pete's eyes once more. He sensed the sincerity within him and his words.

"If we went with Tin's idea of just destroying the towers without entering them, would we learn about Can's dad? How about the opportunity for Can to become another Supreme Ruler? Would we learn about Guyak Shield too? Would we be able to fulfill Pannin's wish? Would we be-"

Before Pete could finish all the words he wanted to say to make Ae feel better and more confident about himself, he was stopped by Ae's sudden kiss.

There was a hint of satisfaction and relief on Pete as he kissed Ae back.

When the two parted, Ae whispered gently as he held his lover's hands and caressed them lovingly. "I understand now. Thank you. I'm really grateful to have you with me, Pete. Thank you for not leaving my side."

He then hugged Pete firmly as he rested his head on his lover's shoulder. "You always make me feel better...Thank you..."

"You're welcome. For me, you're the strongest person out of all of us," Pete whispered lovingly and softly as he kissed his forehead. He then proceeded to hold him. As he was about to use a calming spell to allow Ae to get some rest, Pete could already hear Ae's slow breathing. He was already asleep.

Lightly chuckling, Pete whispered, "Goodnight."

Pete looked at the people around him. Can was calmly concentrating at stabilizing his power while Tin was guarding him with such a serious yet tender look on his face. As for Pond, well, he was drunk. It seemed that he mixed alcohol to the potion that he gave. He was now quietly sleeping.

Once the sun rises, they have to face the most difficult challenge of this journey. Despite the overwhelming positive revelation they had tonight, it did not mean that there was a certainty that they would easily win against Ae's father. Still, he could only rely on himself and the capabilities of the people around him. He must believe that everything would end up in their favor.

Yawning, Pond closed his eyes to sleep as he continued to hold Ae in his arms. "Everything's going to be okay."

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