They climbed the stairs and looked around - they had to wait a few days.
Rargnes suggested going to the supermarket and saw familiar figures. He no longer remembered their names, but the third one had once shared nights with them. In this timeline, the attack did not occur - they killed all the assailants before they could harm them.
Rargnes entered while the survivors were bustling, partying, or fortifying the supermarket. He calmly sat, sometimes observing, sometimes discussing with them, and giving them tricks to use energy and magic.
Then, once the portals were up, he revealed their locations and left with Sengrar and the first Rargnes.
They crossed a lone person who panicked slightly at seeing them.
"Wait." Rargnes put his hand in his jacket.
"Rargnes?" said Sengrar in invader language. "Do you want to test it on your own people?"
Rargnes nodded and pulled out his gun, frightening the man who dropped to his knees, hands raised above his head, begging them to spare him.
He fired, and hit the target straight in the belly.
The man screamed, blood gushing out. Rargnes watched the scene with a positive emotion filling his body. It felt unreal.
'Did I just shoot a human? And feel good?'
"Haha, you bastard! You prefer the invaders! You should have told me before!" Sengrar patted him on the back.
The first Ragnes seemed to find it normal.
Rargnes looked at his hand with horror, opened and closed it, then, hearing the cries of the person lying on the ground, he approached and examined him with a cold calm.
'This is not me...' he glanced at the first Rargnes. 'It seems I was right.'
Traversing the portals, Rargnes took the initiative to see the goblin mage, who joyfully welcomed them.
"It's for him," he said, pointing to the first Rargnes. Tell me if he has a power."
The goblin mage quickly pulled out his magical object and nodded.
"He has the power of dreams."
"And what does that do?"
"It allows you to strengthen a person and give them luck."
Seeing the surprised look on the first Rargnes' face, it seemed that he had no knowledge of this and unconsciously used it on his savior.
'This power would resolve my troubles, but at what price?'
He would no longer have any mental hesitation, feel good, would be able to use 100% of his capacity and any strategy he wanted. Such a cheat might even allow him to have a chance against the noble, live longer, and not end like the first Rargnes.
And yet.
Something was wrong. It was still manipulation. Would he still be a human with a choice or just another puppet working for someone else?
"Oh, he has something else." said the goblin mage. "He is influenced by the power of nightmares..."
It seems that this is why he had ended like this.
They left the goblin mage and went to the inn.
"So what do we do?" asked Sengrar, looking at Rargnes.
Rargnes remained thoughtful and then said: "In any case, we need more power. We can get maximum energy once the tutorial ends in a week or so, so the primary goal is to find one last person, and we can go."
The commander might be an extremely important pawn if they could control him.
"Okay, and then?"
"And then you're free to do what you want," he said with a shrug. "If you want to overthrow the noble, go for it, but I doubt we can do it, even with our powers."
"But he can track us, right?"
Rargnes nodded.
"In that case, it's better to confront him directly."
While Sengrar explained magic and energy to the first Rargnes, who absorbed the knowledge like a sponge, they set off towards the inn whose portals led to the commander's area.
When they entered the area, the bodies of invaders lay on the ground in a military complex.
A voice ordered to fire, and a dozen figures appeared, all armed with machine guns; hundreds of projectiles flew toward Sengrar.
He immediately summoned a green shield that repelled all the bullets.
Rargnes eyes showed shock.
He didn't have enough energy yet, one bullet and he would die.
Seeing the scene, the soldiers brought out more perforating weapons, but Sengrar advanced through the shield that remained active and walked calmly as the explosives, grenades, and bullets exploded on him.
"I wish to speak to your commander," he said with a smile, the next moment he grabbed a soldier by the throat.
"Go get him for me quickly, or I'll kill you all."
A few minutes later, the commander approached them, looking nervous.
"Well, you are now my men," said Sengrar. "We're going to defend the land! Be happy! Woohoo!"
He laughed, and they negotiated. The commander would join their group, and his army would be allies. These negotiations lasted less than two hours and were more of a forced deal.
That day, when returning from the portals, Rargnes revealed most of his knowledge and said:
"I think I'm going to leave you."
"Why?" asked Sengrar.
The commander seemed disturbed by the person on whom his power did not work, and the first Rargnes was shocked by his words.
"I don't think we'll ever beat the noble, simply. It's useless... Sengrar, if I look at your strength, there were people much stronger than you in the last apocalypse commander's army; feel free if you want to become a noble or try to become the king, but... I don't think we can do it. And even if we do, what's the point? I'll never be able to save all the doctors - it's a lost cause. I'm going to die, I know it, one day, from old age, from illness... I don't want to lie to myself and cover myself in dreams. I know that... I am more than that. I thought I was the chosen one... I talked to the inhabitants of this world... they all deep down think they are the king, goblins and humans... they all think they are the chosen one, but we can't do anything against the noble."
"Well, we haven't tried -"
"I've already tried and it didn't end well. I have the memories - I don't want to ruin your world, but... I don't think it's worth it. I'm not a hero. I've brought you as much as I could. You're already better than me in magic, and your skills are much more useful than mine; my only useful power isn't even mine and has already been used."
"Well, we can discuss it if it's temporary -"
"I just want you to be careful with my first self, that's all."
Then Rargnes ordered his mind.
'Cancel this damned power of dreams.'
And then his eyes widened and a smile bloomed on his face. He got up from his sitting position, stretched his legs, embraced Sengrar and his first self, then canceled the second power acting on him, the hyper-analysis.
His figure became translucent, and he disappeared.
In a bar before the apocalypse, Rargnes quietly watched the simulation messages scroll by, sipping a beer.
[Rargnes-rebel has canceled your power.]