Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

"To simplify it... The power that the artifacts give you gets fused with your soul. The more one uses the power, the more they get fused together, and the more the power gets mixed to each other, the greater the aftereffects the user will get."

Alan looked up at Kairen's face. 

"In other words, the more severe his punishment will be."

Kairen stared at Alan's face without being able to say anything for a few moments.

"Can you stop... storytelling and directly tell me what is going to happen to Kain?"

Alan closed his mouth. His face suddenly looked a little bit rejected, gloomy, and annoyed.

'Oh, I'm sorry!'

Were his words too harsh because of anxiety?

"Thank you for explaining but all of these explanations make me more nervous. Just tell me what is the dangerous thing about that bracelet."

"Hah!"

Alan scoffed. Kairen was sorry to behave this way but he was really starting to get anxious over Alan's complicated way of explaining.

Despite Kairen's rude behavior, Alan still answered his question.

"He won't face any problems for now if he is able to control the power, in which he will most likely succeed in doing. Also, there won't be any problems as long as he doesn't use the power more than the allowed amount."

"Then what?"

Alan shook his head with a sigh.

"The power, do you think he will be able to no use it or stop at only using a little bit of it?"

Kairen tilted his head.

"Why wouldn't he?"

"Why?"

Tap Tap

Alan tapped Kairen's chest with a finger.

"What did you do when you got the control over your power?"

Kairen slightly frowned.

"Why is it about me all of a sudden?"

Tap Tap

"Just answer me. What did you do once you realized that you can control that powerful energy?"

"Um... I used it? I beat The First with it and moved out of the water barrier."

Alan nodded his head.

"And then?"

"Then I... defended myself against that soil dude."

Alan nodded again.

"Then you collapsed and ran out of power."

"Yes."

"But what if you were still able to use your power without experiencing any pain or exhaustion?"

"...."

"What would you do then?"

Kairen frowned a little bit more. Why did this man suddenly bring up that subject? They were talking about Kain! Also, wasn't his answer clear?

"I would stop that soil dude from leaving. Capture him and talk to him about the things we had discussed before."

A smirk found its way to Alan's pretty face.

"You would continue to use that power even more, right?"

Kairen nodded his head.

"Then, how do you expect that brother of yours not to use it?"

"...."

Alan folded his arms.

"When you suddenly get your hands on a newfound and mysterious power, you would first be scared of it. Naturally one wouldn't use something that might be dangerous to them or the ones near them. But after some time passes, you would be like 'This power is so good, why would I not use it? I can achieve a lot with it! So what if I get a little bit tired after using it or throw up some blood for a while? In the end, I've achieved what I've wanted and I'll get healthy again after some time.'."

Listening to Alan's words, Kairen's eyes widened in realization. 

He was right, wasn't he?

Kairen too had such thoughts. 

He too wanted to use his power more and more when he could finally control it. He wanted to go back home and would use his power to achieve that. 

He could only sense the power a little bit, but he wanted to try using it again. He planned on talking to captain Neal after meeting Alan to ask for her help so that he could learn at least a little bit more about his power and see if he could use it again. 

Even before he could use that power, he always wanted to get his hands on it somehow. He nagged about him not being able to use his stupid power when he needed it the most and cursed his life.

Now that he thought about it...

"Doesn't it sound like being addicted?"

Kairen picked up a dry tree branch and poked the ground with it. 

"I don't think anyone can resist the desire to be a little bit more powerful than before especially if they have something to achieve..."

Swosh

Swosh

A cold breeze of wind ruffled the hairs of the two people who were sitting behind some bushes.

"Once one tastes how using the power stored inside that bracelet feels, they won't be able to stop using it. That's the nature of those artifacts. And the more they are used, the more they eat away and corrupt the user's soul. That's why I insisted that the older brat shouldn't use that power. Once you start using it, you can't stop yourself. I'm not only talking about that older brat but you as well. You must be careful about using that power of yours. Because once you pass the line, there is no coming back."

Push Push Push

Kairen pushed the soil around with the dry branch.

"You keep saying that there will be big consequences and we will be harmed. You've kept repeating the same things over and over again in different ways. Can't you directly tell what exactly will happen if we overuse those powers? Will we die or something like that?"

Poke Poke Poke

Kairen continued to poke a hole in the ground while waiting for Alan's answer. The answer came after a little bit of delay.

"I would tell you if I knew."

"Huh?"

Alan shook his head with a sigh.

"The consequences differ for each person. Even between the people who use the same artifact, the fate they face after overworking the artifact differs. Even though, they never fail to be more horrible each time."

Kairen gulped down his saliva.

"Some go crazy for the rest of their lives, some lose their mind, some get disabled, some go into a coma and never open their eyes again, some lose control of their power and kill everyone they see, some vanish without even leaving behind a corpse as if they had never existed, some get erased from the world in a way that not a single soul remembers their existence, some get trapped in their own soul, some lose their souls to the artifact's will, some turn into a child some get old, some burn to death while some get frozen forever."

"...."

Kairen had long stopped poking the ground with the dry branch and was shivering while listening to Alan's list of horrible ends.

After hearing about the 23rd horrible end, Kairen closed his eyes and raised his hands in the air. 

"I will be careful. I will not use that power so please stop!"

Alan smacked his head.

"Not only you, you should make that older brat also understand the situation he is in!"

"I will! I promise I will talk to him so stop!"

"Hah!"

Alan scoffed again. 

"Anyway brat, don't use your power or mana... don't even step near any suspicious building that might be a temple! I don't want another artifact popping up I'm too old to deal with this shit."

Kairen strongly nodded his head. He didn't ever want to be around any of those things again! Never in his life!

"I will never ever get close to anything related to the temples."

Alan nodded with a satisfied face.

"Also, make sure to keep an eye on that older brat. You are around him most of the time so don't let him use that bracelet and stop him if he overuses his power."

"Ah!"

Kairen gasped.

'So that was why he called me here?'

He said all of those things so he could tell Kairen to look after Kain? But was there a need for him to tell all of those things to reach this point? Kairen would still look after Kain even if he didn't know how horribly of a fate he might face in the future.

Really, why was this man helping them him so much?

A smile bloomed on Kairen's face.

"Thank you so much."

"..."

Alan's indifferent face turned into the face of an extremely annoyed grandpa in a second

"That wasn't how you were supposed to answer that. Why the hell are you suddenly thanking me?"

Kairen smiled even more.

"You've been helping me a lot since you joined our group! You are also looking after Kain and me, and also the others even at the expense of revealing your secret. You are really kind."

Kairen slightly lowered his head.

"You are too generous to me! Thank you so much!"

"...."

Alan didn't respond. 

After a long silence,

SHHH

Kairen heard the sound of something moving back,

"Gasp!"

And then a loud gasp.

"Um..."

Once he raised his head, he could see Alan staring at him with a wide-open jaw.

"Brat you..."

He looked at Kairen up and down.

"You suddenly look less brat..."

"...."

"Ho! I didn't expect this!"

Alan tapped his chest.

"Though the brat was possessed for a moment!"

Tap Tap Tap

"I'm too old for all this shit!"

"...."

Kairen took a deep breath, gulping down all the bitter feelings in his heart.

"A-anyway Alan, I have something to tell you about that soil dude!"

And started to tell and discuss the things that had been on his mind and were bothering him for a few days with Alan. 

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