That night, everyone in the camp had fallen asleep except the soldiers on patrol duty.

Outside the tents, the light had nearly vanished completely—it was the dead of night.

Silence draped the darkness. I’d rarely experienced such a quiet night.

Unseen dangers lurked within this stillness.

Though I’d reunited with my teammates after some setbacks, I couldn’t feel truly relieved.

This was the job I’d chosen myself. I’d promised Miss Poppy I’d earn her trust and keep her at ease. Here, I had to accomplish one thing above all:

—Never lose my life.

At that thought, I opened my eyes and curled tighter inside my sleeping bag.

I’d already wished for several abilities to survive dangers:

*"Immunity to lethal threats,"* 1 point.

*"Ability to communicate verbally with humans of this world,"* 10 points.

*"Immunity to death by physical force,"* 1,700,000 points.

*"Camouflage ability: appearance and bodily sensations mimic an ordinary human without Wish Power,"* 200,001 points.

—These were the wishes I’d made before leaving the village.

*"Immunity to ingested substances that harm the body or disrupt biological functions."*

—This one I’d wished for during the Molehog encounter.

These abilities had saved me multiple times, but they still couldn’t guarantee my survival.

First, I’d max out the points invested in my most recent wish.

…………

After repeated wishes, this toxin-resistance ability capped at 330,000 points. The stars in the Star Sea stopped vanishing.

Though I’d felt this extravagance before—compared to ordinary people’s Wish Points—the Star Sea still showed no visible thinning.

I might lack real-world wealth, but in Wish Points, I was likely the richest being alive.

—Alright. This wish should protect against poisons. Next, I needed immunity to disease.

*"Immunity to ingested biological entities that harm the body or disrupt biological functions."*

It seemed similar to the last ability, but in my logic, this wording covered all diseases and parasites.

After all, the core difference between "disease" and "poison" lay in this subtle phrasing.

Again, after multiple wishes, this ability capped at 920,000 points.

As expected—diseases claimed lives more easily than toxins.

With these two, I’d edged further from death.

But it wasn’t enough—

*"Immunity to bodily harm or death from extreme cold."*

Hypothermia in the wild was a real risk. This wish was necessary.

Surprisingly, it capped at just 2,732 points—roughly ten times absolute zero in Celsius.

Finally, a reasonable cap. Next—

*"Immunity to bodily harm or death from extreme heat."*

If I could withstand absolute zero, I needed heat resistance too.

Seventh Ju: …

Seventh Ju: …………

Seventh Ju: ………………

After dozens of wishes with escalating points, I’d poured 2 million points into this ability.

For the first time, the Star Sea looked visibly sparser than when I’d first started wishing.

Even with millions of points, I hesitated to invest more.

This ability… seemed bottomless!!

At 10 points per extra degree of heat resistance, 2 million points should’ve granted immunity to 200,000°C! Yet it hadn’t capped!

—I’d been an idiot! Temperature has no upper limit!!!

200,000°C… this world couldn’t possibly reach that. If it did, the planet would be ashes. Surviving alone would be meaningless.

Time to stop. Next—

*"Immunity to death by oxygen deprivation; alternative internal oxygen supply."*

Cap: 160,000 points.

*"Immunity to death by dehydration; alternative internal hydration."*

Cap: 130,000 points.

*"Immunity to death by starvation; alternative internal nutrient supply."*

Cap: 110,000 points.

*"Immunity to death by sleep deprivation; alternative restorative methods without sleep."*

Cap: 50,000 points.

…………

These wishes should be more than enough for the current expedition.

The more I wished, the more I realized how fragile human life truly was.

Seventh Ju: …………

No.

Two worries still gnawed at me.

First: Wish Powers that could kill.

If lethal Wish Powers operated through physical laws, I wouldn’t fear them.

What terrified me were *fictional* Wish Powers—those defying physics.

They weren’t unattainable. From my early days with Poppy, I knew Wish Points could grant such abilities.

In theory, Wish Points allowed beings to transcend physical laws.

Living among intelligent beings with Wish Points meant guarding against death by imagined powers.

But vague, blanket wishes might be bottomless pits like heat resistance—with low returns.

I needed logic to target this threat.

Let me think…

Seventh Ju: …

Seventh Ju: …………

*"Immunity to bodily harm or death from all real and fictional forms of energy."*

If fictional, physics-defying powers could kill, they must manifest as "energy."

With my high-school physics knowledge, this was the best I could devise.

Now… let’s test if this is another bottomless pit.

…………

It capped.

At 1,620,000 points.

Though costly, reaching a cap within my tolerance was unexpected—even cheaper than "physical force resistance."

Could it be… because extreme heat carries immense energy? Wishing for heat resistance first reduced the cost for "energy immunity"?

Do Wish Powers synergize??

Just a guess, but it seemed plausible.

This wish seemed irrelevant to the expedition, but against highly intelligent unknown creatures, it might save me.

After encountering those giant "Gu" worms, meeting other lethal lifeforms wasn’t impossible.

The second worry was my camouflage ability.

*"Camouflage ability: appearance and bodily sensations mimic an ordinary human without Wish Power."*

The memory of my face scraping the ceiling after my first wish still haunted me.

After tonight’s wishes, without camouflage… what would I become?

I hastily tried adding more points to this ability. Seeing the stars remain unchanged, I relaxed slightly.

Seventh Ju: …………

But…

Camouflage was still camouflage. Beneath it, I was no longer the human-shaped Seventh Ju I’d once been.

Unless I wished away my Wish Powers entirely… but without them, I couldn’t survive this world.

I depended on Wish Powers. I even depended on the lie of camouflage.

I… am cowardly, aren’t I?

Could courage itself be wished for?

No…

If I needed a wish for courage, it would prove Seventh Ju was truly worthless—a coward to the core.

This was just about facing myself. Just that.

I could do it.

In this world, I wasn’t the old Seventh Ju anymore—the one who buried himself in textbooks, ignoring everything around him.

I had friends. A job. Experiences and wealth I’d never known before.

Because of them, I wanted to live authentically.

I wanted my *true* self to thrive here through my own efforts.

I needed one final wish to seal this resolve—

*"Mastery over my 'camouflage ability: appearance and bodily sensations mimic an ordinary human without Wish Power'."*

Cost: 200,001 points.

Shedding the disguise completely wasn’t practical—it would cost me my life here, everything I’d built.

—But I’d given myself a chance to face my true self.

A final path for my courage.

…………

…………

The next morning, Commander Puleman appeared at our second camp.

All stationed soldiers assembled—over a hundred strong.

Seventh Ju: Are we moving out?

Day High: Probably a morale-boosting rally.

Seventh Ju: Huh. Even this deep in the wilds?

Half Moon Outflow: Ahead lies terrain few can endure. Morale matters.

Seventh Ju: Mm. Yaaawn—

Li Weishe: Ah, Xiao Ju didn’t sleep well? Still yawning.

Seventh Ju: Not the best rest, haha.

Ink River: But…

Ink River: You seem different from before.

Seventh Ju: Oh? How so?

Ink River: You look… more confident.

Seventh Ju: Is that so…

Seventh Ju: That’s good.