Welcome to the tower

Rohan said, "Whew, I couldn't stand being in that darkness any longer. It's kind of disturbing how dark the surroundings have become. I didn't even know something like this was possible. Well, I'd better get back to town, although now I'm out of white runes, and I'll probably have to sleep outside."

Rohan started looking for the way to the city but realized that even after searching for a long time, he couldn't find himself in the forest. 

He said, "Hm, looks like I'll have to wait until dawn before I can get back. Well, I wouldn't be able to sleep in the city anyway. I'd better get some rest."

He started looking for a place to lie down, and after finding it, he sat down on the ground and closed his eyes. He slept for a few hours, and after opening his eyes, he realized that the day had not yet dawned. He went back to sleep, and when he woke up again, he saw that everything around him was already bright.

He got up, stretched, and said, "It wasn't as comfortable as in the city, but at least I got some rest. Now, let's try to find the gate."

He started walking around the forest. After a while, he found a mountain, climbed part of it, and located the direction of the city gate. After some time walking towards the gate, he finally arrived.

Hes was at the gate, and when he saw Rohan, he said, "What happened, Rohan? Why are you only coming back now? Did you get lost in the forest?"

Rohan said, "Well, in a way, yes. I went too far from the gate."

"What a shame, but at least you must have found a lot of white runes."

"I really did, look here."

Rohan picked up one of the white runes that had lost its light and showed it to Hes.

Hes said, "Hm? Why did you bring a stone, Rohan?"

"So ... this is one of the white runes I got yesterday. It lost its light on the way here."

"It lost its light? How did that happen?"

"Well, it's a long story, but in short, it was because of this object."

Rohan took the black rune out of his rune pouch, and when Hes saw it, he widened his eyes and quickly covered the rune, saying, "Put this away now!"

Rohan was startled, quickly put the rune back in his bag, and said, "What was that, Hes? Why so desperate? Is there something wrong with this object?"

Hes said, "Well, I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with it. It's just that you were about to lose it."

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

"You know that this thing you found is a black rune, right?"

"Well, I figured as much, but I wasn't sure until now. Why did you say I was going to lose it?"

"Black runes can't survive in daylight. They get destroyed."

"What?! Are you serious?!"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you say so before?! What if I'd lost my rune because of that?!"

"I was going to explain that to everyone in a few days. I didn't expect anyone to find a black rune so quickly."

"... Got it. Well, thanks for letting me know, even if it was late."

"Not at all, but changing the subject, now I understand why your rune lost its light. Sucking the light from other runes is a characteristic of black runes."

"It's a characteristic of it? Why does it do that?"

"Well, I don't know if where you come from, there's already a study on how colors behave, but to explain it quickly, the color black represents the absence of all colors, and white light the presence of all of them."

"Yes, I've heard about that, but by that logic, wasn't the white rune supposed to suck the light from the other runes?"

"No, it wasn't."

"Hm? Why?"

"Well, I don't want to go into too much detail since although it seems simple, color theory is a rather complex subject, but basically, think of clothes."

"Clothes?"

"Yes. You know that black clothes are warmer than white clothes, right?"

"My mother told me that once, but I never stopped to think why."

"Well, basically, it's because the color black absorbs light completely while the color white reflects it completely."

"Hm, got it. You're saying that the black rune, as well as the color black, absorbs light completely."

"Yes, exactly."

"Interesting. Well, we are having a good talk, but I'm really hungry right now. How many white runes can I get for this black rune?"

"Unfortunately, it's not possible to change black runes into white ones."

"It isn't? Why?"

"Because of its rarity. We decided to prohibit its exchange to prevent participants from wasting them."

"I see, but what do I do then? It destroyed all the white runes I found last night."

"Don't worry. Because this is the first black rune you've found, you can eat and sleep for free for today."

"Are you serious? That's great. I'll be going then. See you later, Hes."

"See you."

Rohan headed towards the shelter and went to the kitchen to eat. When he arrived, he saw Welli inside and went towards him.

Seeing him, Welli said, "Hey, Rohan. You took your time today. What happened?"

Rohan said, "I got lost in the forest.", and then explained what had happened to him.

"You found a black rune?"

"Yes. It cost me several white runes, but at least I found out how to find this rune."

"That's great. Now we just need to find out where to find the red rune so that we can gradually finish this mission."

"Speak for yourself. Even if I know where to get the runes, that doesn't mean I'll be able to get them. After all, the competition is fierce, and I don't have your physique."

"Well, you're right, but if we find the location of the red runes before the rest of the people, we can concentrate on getting them before the others."

"Hm, that's true. Well, I'm going to get some sleep. I slept in the forest, but it's not the same as sleeping in a bed. I'll meet you here later."

"Okay, good rest."

Rohan then went to a room and began to sleep. After a few hours, he woke up and headed for the kitchen.

Welli was waiting for him at the door, and when he saw him, they both went in to eat. After finishing, they left the shelter and went outside into the forest.

When they reached the gate, Rohan saw Hes at the door and said, "Hes, I forgot to ask you something."

Hes said, "Hm? What's wrong? Go ahead."

"So ... you know I found a black rune."

"Yes."

"How am I supposed to get the other runes while I'm carrying it? After all, it absorbs the light from the others."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot about that. Actually, you can leave it with me."

"Really?"

"Yes. All the black runes found are always kept with the guards. Otherwise, just like you said, there's no way to get other runes, let alone find another black rune."

"Got it. Well, here's mine."

Rohan handed his black rune to Hes and then headed into the forest with Welli.

...

Two days passed, and in the meantime, Rohan managed to accumulate a total of thirty white runes.

Usually, it would be impossible to find so many white runes in just two days, especially considering the costs he had incurred at the shelter over the last two days. Still, he managed it because of one factor.

After he picked up the black rune, he returned to the same place for two days in a row and realized something. There were several white runes around the place where the black rune had been. Far more than there would usually be. That's why he got so many runes.

In fact, he could have gotten even more if the place where he found the black rune hadn't been so far from the gate, which prevented him from exploring around due to lack of time.

The next day, Rohan planned to return to the same place as always to pick up white runes again, but something unexpected happened. Shortly after he left with Welli in the direction of the forest, a group of men began to follow him.

He waited a while, thinking that they might be people trying a new way to find runes, but after a while, they were still coming after him.

Rohan stopped and said, "What are you doing? Why are you following me?"

One of the men then said, "What's the matter? Can't we follow you?"

"Well, it's not efficient. After all, we're going to fight over the runes."

"There's nothing to be done. May the best man win."

"... You're doing this because of Mai, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"... All right."

Rohan started back towards the gate, and when he saw this, the man said, "What are you doing?"

"There's no point in me struggling to find white runes with you behind me. Instead of wasting time like this, I'd rather stand at the gate."

"Hahaha, do you think I don't know what you're trying to do? The trick you used in the last group won't work for us. We'll accompany you to the gate."

Upon hearing this, Rohan said, "As you wish.", and thought, 'So it really is because of Mai that they are following me. Well, I figured that would happen. I didn't want to have to do this, but my patience ran out. If it's a war you want, it's a war you'll get, Mai.'