"Damn, that took longer than I thought."
Rod exhaled sharply, wiping the sweat off his brow. Ahead of us loomed a massive stone archway—the entrance to the final floor. The air was thick with an oppressive aura, a silent warning that this was no ordinary dungeon level.
"Let's rest for a bit," he muttered, pulling out a canteen and taking a deep gulp of water.
Adrian, without a word, reached into thin air and pulled out a handful of red and blue vials, tossing them to each of us.
"Better safe than sorry."
Elara caught one mid-air, shaking her head with a smirk. "It's still crazy how your subspace skill works. Most people struggle to even keep a few things stored without draining all their mana, but you" she motioned toward the seemingly endless supply in his hands "are out here making professional porters look bad."
"Elara's right," Marla added.
"I've heard of rare cases like this," she continued, adjusting her glasses. "Some people awaken superior variations of common gifts. It's usually tied to bloodlines—parents or ancestors having multiple gifts. Genetics are strange like that. Either that, or…"
She smirked.
"You're actually the Avatar of the God of Storage Spaces."
Adrian's expression darkened instantly.
"Stop joking, Marla," he muttered. "You know I hate relying on gods."
The shift in his tone caught everyone's attention.
"If everything I've worked for turns out to be nothing more than some divine blessing, I'd rather just kill myself."
The fire crackled between us, stretching the silence.
"Besides, there's no such thing as a God of Storage Spaces."
Frey, who had been quietly observing, finally spoke.
"Sir Adrian doesn't like gods, hm?"
Adrian's gaze flicked toward her.
"Does that bother you, Miss Wandering Knight?"
Frey hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "No. I'm just… curious."
Adrian leaned back against a boulder, exhaling slowly.
"I don't hate gods, per se. I just hate the concept of Avatars."
No one interrupted. They knew this wasn't just a passing comment.
"I get why they exist. 'A gift for humanity in times of chaos,' blah, blah, blah. But their existence alone overshadows years of someone else's hard work. You can train, struggle, bleed for your strength… and in the end, it doesn't matter. Because they'll always be on another level. The strongest warriors, the greatest strategists… none of them can compare to an Avatar, because their power is not their own. And we're just supposed to accept it."
A long pause followed his words.
"Well, you're not wrong," Marla admitted. "At the end of the day, they exist for humanity's sake. All the authority, influence, and admiration they receive, that's just the price we pay for their protection. Ordinary people see them as heroes, but for those of us who walk the path of strength, they're a wall we'll never surpass."
Rod, who had been staring into the fire, suddenly spoke up.
"I used to think like that too," he said.
His usual laid-back tone was gone, replaced by something more serious.
"No normal human has the talent to match them. No strength, no divine favor. But my master told me something once."
He closed his eyes, reciting the words as if they had been burned into his soul.
"As long as a person has the conviction to achieve their goal and is willing to make the necessary sacrifices, they can reach even the heavens. Tenacity and obsession will take you further than talent and passion ever could."
He opened his eyes again, glancing at Adrian.
"The world is just waiting," he continued. "Waiting for the first person to take that step. Once that happens, we'll start writing our own destiny."
Frey's expression was unreadable, as if she were deep in thought.
Adrian, however, just stared at Rod for a moment. Then, he slowly spoke.
"Rod… did you eat blue mushrooms again?"
For a second, there was silence.
Then, the entire party burst into laughter.
"Seriously, I almost played background music while you were talking," Elara wheezed.
"Who knew Rod could be dramatic on purpose?" Marla smirked.
Rod looked mildly offended, then started laughing too.
"You bastards."
The tension that had lingered in the air was gone, replaced by the familiar warmth of camaraderie.
Then, Kleines spoke up.
"Speaking of Avatars," he mused. "Two have already been chosen. I actually met one a few months ago."
That got everyone's attention.
"She was the Avatar of the Fire God. The young lady of the Ignisborne Clan, Thalia Valflare Ignisborne."
The name alone carried weight. Even Adrian, who usually didn't care about such things, lifted his gaze slightly.
"No offense to the others, but I think she might be the strongest of them all," Kleines continued. "I saw her incinerate an entire horde of wild orcs in an instant. It was like watching a one-man army. Those legendary silver flames…" he shook his head in admiration "…no wonder she was made heir of her clan."
"I heard the previous heir was strong too," Elara mused. "But if Lady Thalia is an Avatar, then it's only natural she'd take their place. She'll probably achieve far more than he ever could."
Adrian's expression didn't change.
But something in his gaze darkened.
Rod stretched, shaking off the stiffness in his limbs.
"Alright, that's enough resting," he said. "Let's get this over with."
And with that, the party stood, ready to face whatever lay ahead.