Eren asked, his expression full of horror, feeling deep down that he wouldn't like the answer:
"When you say traces mission and those who assaulted you, what exactly are you talking about?"
"The name of my traces mission is 'Glacier Sacrifice'; the mission required me to kill the three people who raped or tried to rape me." Alice still spoke in the same cold tone, but a slowly growing note of sincerity in her voice brought a strange sense of comfort to Eren.
After their brief exchange, Eren went upstairs, found the lighter on the man Alice had pointed out, lit his cigarette, and took a deep drag.
"Ah, finally..."
He was still thinking about his conversation with Alice and the logic behind these missions. Blowing the smoke out slowly, he absentmindedly formed a few smoke rings before calling out:
"Hey system, tell me—what exactly are these traces missions about?"
The fatigue and emotional strain of the past half hour could be heard clearly in his voice.
The system responded with the same cold, mechanical tone:
"[Traces missions are the only path to true power. The missions relate to the most tragic or most joyous memories of the user's past lives. The emotional peaks of your previous selves—regardless of whether they are positive or negative—are the only moments the system deems worthy to be called a mission.]"
Eren fell into deep thought.
"So... what if our past self was a murderer? What if their peak moment was when they killed their own family?"
"[In that case, the user stands a high chance of receiving a traces mission that may require them to kill their own loved ones.]"
Eren was in disbelief. No matter how many times he asked, the system gave the same answer. His hand trembled as he held his cigarette. His lip quivered, eyes watering—he was overwhelmed. Those few words had shaken him to his core.
"Hey..."
Turning to see Alice behind him, Eren forced a smile.
"Hey."
"What's wrong?"
Unable to decide where to start, Eren gave up thinking and decided to tell everything as it was. Alice listened patiently, and once he finished, she simply said one word with a hint of disdain:
"Idiot."
Hearing that, Eren felt she must know something. He looked at her with hope.
"What do you mean, Alice?"
"You really are an idiot, Eren. There's no black or white in this world; everything is grey. The question is, which shade of grey do you want to stand in? Whether you're a kind-hearted fool or a dark psychopath—it's all your choice. Now stop this childish whining and tell me where you're going. Maybe I'll come with you."
Her voice, cold and ruthless throughout the conversation, softened at the end to almost a whisper.
Listening to Alice, Eren admitted to himself that he had indeed been an idiot. Even Alice, who had gone through all this, remained calm—while he was on the verge of collapsing from a simple truth. He stood up, lit another cigarette, pointed toward the massive monster's remains, and said:
"I'm heading that way. Want to come along?"
His face was now marked not by worry, but by a mischievous grin. Alice narrowed her eyes.
"Do you think I care about that huge thing? I could escape it with my skills. But you, Eren—could you do the same?"
Eren's whole demeanor gave off a warmth and sense of confidence that couldn't be ignored.
15 minutes later:
"Damn it, Eren! If I don't smash your stupid head in, my name isn't Alice!"
The cold, charismatic look in her eyes was replaced by one of disbelief over the ridiculous situation.
"Come on, Alice! I just asked for a little help. No need to be so dramatic."
At 1.80 meters, Eren hugging the petite, 1.60-meter-tall Alice's back looked absurd and ridiculous.
Alice's projection was called 'Glacier Sacrifice'. It boosted her spirit energy and agility, allowing her to kill the men who tried to rape her—and the mutated dog in the attic—reaching level 5 in the process.
She had two passives: 'Aura of Glacial Shame' and 'Comfort of the Shy Maiden'. The first spread a chilling aura around her, while the second cloaked her presence in cold. Her only active skill was almost cheating—it was called 'Invisibility'. It literally made Alice and anything within a 1-meter radius of her completely invisible.
Alice's confidence in facing the worm monster had always given Eren the feeling that she was special—but even he hadn't expected such a skill combo.
On a scorching summer day, it was like riding an air-conditioned bus in the lap of a beauty, passing by monsters and miserable people without a care.
"Eren, how much farther to this place of yours?"
Feeling her spirit energy running low, Alice asked with a voice pale from fatigue.
"Relax, Alice. Just 50 meters ahead—a gas station. I just need you to hold out until then."
Nodding, Alice increased her speed, reached the station in seconds, and shoved Eren off her back before heading to the fridge for water.
"She's overdoing this cold act. I was only on her back for a few minutes."
Muttering and rubbing his sore butt, Eren stood and walked toward the monster's remains.
"Haha! You're really here, my lovely princess. Finally, I can awaken my projection too."
Seeing Alice's abilities had only increased his anticipation for his own.
"Let's finish this."
Approaching the remains, Eren saw a few centimeters of green flesh and scattered ashes from the 2-meter tall monster.
"Damn, that must've hurt."
He called out:
"System, I request to offer the ashes for the traces ritual."
After a few seconds, the system's mechanical voice responded:
"[User Eren, do you confirm using the ashes of 'Princess of the Green Moss' for the traces mission?] [Yes/No]"
Without a moment's hesitation, Eren clicked "Yes" and waited.
"[User chose to offer the ashes. Ashes are compatible with the mission. User completed the task with perfect quality. Bonus reward granted…]"
"[Bonus reward granted. User gains 1 level.]"
Eren's joy spiked. Reaching level 5 meant he could finally activate his first skill. But before he could celebrate, he found himself in a grey void—only ash swirling around him.
"Where am I?"
He couldn't hear anything. Panic rose.
"Hey, where am I? System? Alice? Say something!"
As he thrashed in the empty space, the ashes began to form a figure. It stood nearly 3 meters tall, with a frail body cloaked in a robe—like a wizard from the movies. But unlike normal wizards, this one wore a tilted crown that looked ready to fall.
The figure, made entirely of ash, approached and whispered:
"You really are worthy of being the Foolish Sorcerer of Ashes, Eren. Forgetting the dimension you created yourself..."
Before Eren could bombard the figure with questions, he suddenly found himself back where he had started—just beyond the gas station.
"What the hell was that? What is even going on anymore?"
Still swimming in unanswered questions, Eren decided to at least check his reward.
"[Congratulations. You have awakened your first traces and completed the ritual. You may now check your class and abilities via the user panel.]"
Frustrated that the system didn't give him a fancy announcement, Eren pressed his palms together and whispered in mock prayer:
"Gods—this includes Zeus and System-daddy—please bless this humble soul with some badass skills."
Repeating the prayer a few times, he called out:
"User panel."