You might think that Kerren is a heartless b*st*rd who didn't care about the girl at all...
He didn't. The reason is as simple as could be. They weren't friends, they weren't enemies. They simply knew each other
Both of them wanted to use each other, as for whether or not they had some kind of a feeling between them?
Well, the fact that Kerren told her the truth about what happened in the dungeon that day should tell you enough about whether or not he trusted her...
As for feelings? Well, he did like her, somewhat, she reminded him of... a girl he knew in his previous life... They didn't even look alike, thus Kerren wanted to know why the feeling was there.
Other than that... He didn't even know why she would come to him.
She definitely had a method to know where he is, it was damn obvious, even he didn't know the exact place in the city he was at!
He, however, used a spell too, to see if he's able to fool her. Of course, it was just an experiment and it's not like she would be offended by it.
In fact, it's entirely possible that she didn't even notice his scheme!
Remember that spell that welcomed her inside that spewed some random questions? It was all to distract her and imprint a complicated tracking spell!
In Kerren's eyes it was a perfected piece of magic, it didn't give off any aura even if it was active, is simply "infected" a certain piece of something near the target.
Then, that something would send a message to the owner of the spell, thus making in impossible to detect... If one didn't walk around in circles of course.
It did have a downside, however, it was obviously limited range and... if the target didn't use any mana the spell wont work either, as it infected something using leftover mana from spells.
As such, Kerren could get some information about her current location if he wanted to.
He would've used a better spell if he didn't want to check if she could find it, if she did? Well, she's hiding even more than he thought initially!
...
Some time after completing his body and checking if he looked human enough Kerren started making plans.
The easiest method would be to join groups going to high-ranked dungeons as a porter and then just k*ll everyone inside, leaving using a different-exit method.
However, it too had it's own downsides, it could only work a limited number of times. If he did that too much people would notice and stop taking random porters or even protectors in.
As such, he kept it for later. What another method he had for improving his financial status?
Well, raiding dungeons wasn't the only thing he could do. After all black markets were a thing, if he wanted to sell some secrets he could easily do that...
But it wasn't a way to go. He needed to keep those with him.
So, the only real option he had left is to scout for new dungeons around him and run in as soon as possible.
Of course, people would have lots of questions if a dungeon just appeared, closed on it's own and then disappeared, but so what?
They'll just think that some random rich guild took it! Those guys had methods that allowed them to teleport!
With time they'll understand that it wasn't the case, but it would be too late by then.
As such, Kerren spread his investigative spells around. He didn't cover an insanely big area as he saved mana, he took a different approach.
He took a bus and just rode around the city in hopes of finding a newly-appeared high-ranking dungeon.
Obviously, reality was harsher than he wanted it to be. He did find some good dungeons he wanted to raid, but...
As he was about to go in people from organization appeared and closed the area... They were simply too fast!
As if they had methods to locate dungeons minutes before they actually appeared!
Of course, that was the case. It was a secret technology that was invented in this city, with such an amount of dungeon you need to control them, dont you?
As such, Kerrens first plan failed completely. In a wekk of trying he wasn't able to get in a single dungeon! That was complete defeat from his side!
Thus, he decided to change his methods.
He decided to take "porter" approach, but he changed the strategy just a little.
Previously, he'd just k*ll all who came in with him, but now? He would simply stun them and conquer the dungeon alone!
Of course, it had it's problems since if they didn't go out in an hour or so they'd be stuck there seemingly forever... But it was their problem.
More than that, people kept lists of every single person that came in the dungeon, thus, if he was the only one who "disappeared" it would be suspicious.
As such, he would have to stalk some random high-ranking player and simply join as a black porter!
Who were black porters? Well... Those just hid themselves in the crowd of other porters and joined raids unofficialy.
Why couldn't he do that instead of other things? Because people that made lists still knew that those people entered the dungeon. They just had to pay to do so... As for whatever they loot? Not their problem, they didn't see anyone!
As for a reason behind that? Many were just greedy, some did that out of kindness as many people lost their jobs with a sudden change in the world...
Overall it was just normal to bribe someone and go in a dungeon. Many people didn't think too much of black porters.
Was Kerren one of them in his previous life? Not exactly, he was officialy registered as an awakened, so he had a right to do in some higher leveled dungeons officialy.
It's not like he was the best porter in the world, he just knew who could let him come in certain dungeons, that's all.
It was a harsh life of a porter, after all. Many people died, even more were used as bait or crippled for fun by a bad group... It was normal.
As for the present... Kerren had to change his looks again... He didn't bother thinking of something new and quickly made a random face.
He didn't bother changing his body at all since he will be covered in lots of clothes anyway. Any good porter must look like a walking pile of clothes!
Some time later he was ready... He started walking from dungeon to dungeon offering officials to let him in with some random group that was about to go...
Many simply asked for an insane price, many staright up refused... However, his hero, a guy he would save if he had a chance appeared!
He let them in out of pity! Kerren told him that he was a runaway who has nothing to it and he just needs to go in, to simply buy himself some food and pay for rent!
Of course, he didn't let him in right away, but in the end he agreed.
It's not like Kerren was grateful to him or anything, he just liked when people did good things.
If he has a chance in the future - he will certainly repay the guy for being kind to a random hobo!
Why? Because he felt like it's right to do so.