Resuming the action, he once again ate the worm meat while grilling another piece, repeating the process until he got tired.

In a single day, he had eaten and thrown up five worms before weakly falling asleep. And once he woke up, he did the same as yesterday.

However, at some point, the capacity of his stomach, as well as the overall sturdiness, increased. It became much harder to overcome the breaking point of the stomach walls, but he still did it.

Eating half a worm and breaking his stomach, he waited another minute before puking it out into the deep lake of the cave.

It was painful, uncomfortable, and disgusting, but he had to.

Just like that, three weeks passed by, Conall hardly noticing the passage of time. Being consumed by eating and vomiting everything out while in a dark and humid cave, he didn’t really understand how much time had flown away.

Almost all of the space in his inventory ring was cleared up from the dungeon's beasts. The many corpses that he was in possession of were simply eaten by him, not caring for what it was. He even ate the hobgoblins that replaced the worms when the world’s elements and life returned.

When the third week accumulated, he was spending his time with the body of an orc. At stature similar to that of a sandworm, yet much stronger, the meat was tougher and denser, but there was plenty of it.

Finishing almost one full orc, it was incredible to look at his body. Even though he ate hundreds of kilos of meat, his belly was only slightly protruding from his ordinary look. It was as if he had a separate dimension inside his stomach that stored all the food.

At the same time, when he ate the last bit, he wanted to empty it out more than ever. Still, he withstood his body’s reaction. Then, he finally felt a screaming pain. His stomach had ruptured for the hundredth time.

Immediately, he started spewing out everything to the lake. The grotesque sight lingered on for ten full minutes before he finally felt empty.

Yet, as he washed the hems of his mouth and sighed a tired breath, he looked at the space surrounding him.

Golden particles riddled the air, playing around with the light. Another miracle had been born.

[You have overcome a high curse! A truly outstanding feat! Your blessed blood has granted you a stronger blessing.]

All of a sudden, something unparalleled happened, a thing Conall would have never expected. The golden light illuminating the cave swooshed past everything, assaulting his body, especially the area near the center of his torso.

Stimulated by the golden light, the recovering stomach lit up under his skin and muscles.

[You have gained an Iron Stomach by overcoming the curse.]

Before Conall could even experience it, something ominous was leaving his body. Coming From the very depths of his spirit, the large creature that fed on his hunger slowly slipped away from the grasp of reality. Yet, whenever it first tried to oppose the feeling, his mouth opened, sucking in the curse like a vacuum and devouring it from the realms of physicality.

[Your stomach is transforming. You have gained a Golden Stomach. Alongside being able to eat anything, your hunger is satiated almost completely. More mana is extracted from eating.]

He felt it intrinsically. His newly upgraded stomach was slowly sucking in the mana from surroundings and using said mana to keep him both fed and full of nutrients.

“To gain such a thing from a curse.”

Farra gasped in astonishment, and his reaction didn’t deviate much. It truly was a wonder to gain such a reward from only a high curse.

Plopping down onto the rock-floor, he spread out his limbs before closing his eyes. It was refreshing, finally having an empty stomach after weeks of gluttonous torture.

But, interrupting his moment of peace and silence, Farra inquired.

“Incredible, it’s almost as though your stomach has become a mana core of its own. Of course, a much inferior version, but still.”

She wondered with a puzzled face. Having never seen such a curious case, she couldn’t help but express amazement.

Though, he had to calm her down somewhat.

“Well, I still wouldn’t be able to use mana, even with my new stomach.”

“... You’re right, sadly.”

“But, I do have to say, the mana density inside my blood has increased.”

He could feel it. With the mana source and Rune of Magic, he could use the instinctive sense of most beginning mages and knights, mana sense.

“That’s a good sign. The stronger your blood mana is, the brighter the future ahead of you.”

“Is that this world’s fallacy?”

She suddenly didn’t answer him. Only after a few seconds did she do so, though her tone was seemingly pouty.

“It’s true.”

“Whatever you say.”

Standing up from his little rest to grab the completely new rune, he suddenly smelled something foul, his nose quickly scrunching up. It wasn’t the smell of vomit, because he kept close attention not to dirty his workspace, but something completely different, yet equally as bad.

Smelling the uniform under his clean robe, he let out a disgusted voice.

“Ugh.”

Although the uniform was meant to clean itself regularly, it seemed the magic encryptions inside his one had been broken.

‘Why?’

There was nothing that could have really impacted the mana inside the uniform, so he wasn’t able to come up with a proper answer.

Still, there was nothing else to do but take all of it off, along with the robe a threw it in there. Taking a leap inside the clear, blue waters, he felt the comforting warmth of the lake surround his body while resurfacing. Even though it was the place where he threw out his vomit, he didn’t really take it to heart. Sensing through the waters, he knew they were perfectly safe.

Drifting away slowly with closed eyes, he spent a few minutes in the waters. It was the first time since five months that he was able to even wash himself properly, much less have a bath like this.

He could have made some soap from the fat of the monsters’ skeletons, but he also threw them away, letting the beasts of the mountain feed on them.

Besides, the water here was surprisingly enough. The density of mana inside was more than he thought. The surface, at least, seemed to be normal water. Not only that, the water appeared to have slightly increased his healing rate.

“So much mana, there must be something beneath the waters.”

Farra added, and he was of the same reasoning. His stomach was sucking in a lot more mana compared to the surface, all coming from a certain direction.

Filling his lungs with an excessive amount of air, he quickly delved deep into the lake. Opening his eyes, he saw clearly through the clean, translucent water.

There was a slight green light mixing together with the blue water. Swimming deeper, the smaller dot quickly became larger and larger, until he could finally see what caused all of this.

His eyes suddenly became sulky, somewhat.

Although he blessed his rune of luck for finding it, he could only mourn that he did.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Starting to swim up, he suddenly sensed an oddity. No matter how much he swam up, he remained in the same height of water.

Exchanging a few glances at the purple pink ore with streaks of green in it, he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

The pressure of the waters along with the mana that sucked him stopped his way upwards. He would drown if he didn’t get rid of the treasure.

Going down to the ore, he quickly used his little dragon’s abilities. At the tip of his finger, a small flame started and quickly became harsher and harsher. Soon enough, the fire became as strong and dense as a laser, which Conall used to cut the floor under where the ore was.

There was no way he could have drilled through meranh with that caliber of magic. The air in his lungs was of no problem, so he took his time.

After five minutes, he finally cut through the tough chunks of rocks. Even though it was just rock, the presence of the meranh ore influenced the material, which became stronger and tougher over thousands of years.

Swiftly storing the ore, he moved up.

After a solid minute, he finally resurfaced.

Gasping for air loudly, he breathed a few times. Despite being stronger physically, it was still uncomfortable holding his breath for so long.

Regaining the balance of his breathing, he left the lake after washing his clothes. The source of the mana disruption had been taken away, so his uniform had cleaned itself as though it was freshly new, but he still let it soak for a while.

Finally, he stood before an anvil that lost its luster, becoming no better than an iron one. On top of it, there was a certain rune with a new engraving on it.

The previous platinum had become the main color of the engraving, while the rune itself was fully green. Without further ado, he grabbed the rune before crushing it in his palm.

This time, instead of the arm, the engraving appeared right on top of his forehead.

‘Blank Rune of Invincibility.’

He thought, though, the beginning stages of the rune weren’t what he cared for. Pouring in all of his fragments that he had on hand, Conall upgraded it to the second last, glowing stage.

Although he would have to farm a lot of runes for the last stage, he didn’t worry about that. Waves of thousands of hobgoblins and orcs was something that he could easily deal with nowadays.

Coming out of the cave, the sudden light hit his eyes, though it didn’t really hurt to adjust them. Summoning his pets, they looked around with sleepy, puffy circles.

“Where am I?”

The small dragon asked, not able to keep himself up in the air correctly.

Pouring mana through their bodies to wake fully them up, Conall turned to the fiery, elemental spirit.

“Lead me to your father.”

…

A dark, hot space engulfed them, who were walking through treacherous lands with the sky above them missing. The only source of any light that one could see here was the enormous volcano stretching far beyond the world’s ceiling. Although it was very rare, the top of it would light up with an orange-red fire, spilling it everywhere.

The black, rocky land he was standing on had numerous cracks spreading far and wide, with no water in sight anywhere.

Walking together with the pets, he didn’t get bored, however, he was constantly thinking of the volcano and its insides.

Truthfully, he didn’t know whether his plan would work.

The creature inside was the only grade Ex being of this dungeon and his mission was to steal its prized possession. He had previously tried countless times, but it never happened, no matter what. It was either always him being killed, or him not even being able to steal it, nothing in between.

And he needed to steal the rune it was hoarding to complete the one hundred percent the world wished for. All of the remaining runes were currently in his possession, with this one being the very last.

He hoped that his worldly veil was something that would help him with this challenge that seemed impossible in his head.

“Uhh, I don’t like this feeling.”

The dragon that was floating beside him suddenly voiced his anxiety. Once Conall looked at him, he could see that the poor elemental creature was almost shivering.

Comforting him on the side, a green deer walked toward him in the air.

Without stopping, Conall made his way towards the base of the mountainous, volcano-like structure. Finally, after a few tens of minutes, the entrance of the volcano revealed itself to him.

The opening didn’t look welcoming in any way, screaming that there was abyss beyond itself. Nonetheless, he stepped forward, using Clairvoyance to see through the night.

Walking through the tight cave compartment, it took him a few hours to get to the specific location. There were countless spiders he had to make his way through, which significantly elongated their way forward.

However, there it was, the golden shine that lit the dark spaces of the caves. Looking at the glittering shine of the coins ahead of him, he quickly released some of his aura onto the dark cloak.

He couldn’t afford to use mana, since the creature indwelling there was basically a master at the subject. Turning invisible along with his pets, he steeled his resolve and entered the dragon’s den.

As soon as he slowly entered the place, walking as silently as possible, he could see the monster to his right. Occupying most of the area, the gigantic dragon sprawled across the coins, which were reflected in its shiny, black scales, similar to that of his fire elemental beast.

Recalling the way towards this place, he quickly made up his mind. There was no way he could have simply stolen the rune floating above the countless treasures that piled up like mountains.

Once he took the rune far away, the dragon would have surely noticed his presence. Because of that, his plan was very simple. Map down a route of escape while coming here and clear off any obstacles. All he needed to do was take the rune and slowly leave this place only once the dragon woke up.

Walking quiety and carefully, so the coins under him wouldn’t make any noise, Conall used all of his willpower to move. However, just in the middle of his journey, something made his movement drop.

The sound of breathing intensified to the right of him, and he was immediately thinking of running away. Before he could, though, the nostrils of the dragon expanded.

Clouds of deadly fire moved up towards the exit high above, releasing a volcano-like feeling. With the heat escaping through the hole, echo spread throughout the structure, which Conall used to his advantage.

Masking his steps, he sped up his advance, getting to the rune close enough that he was basically under it.

Yet, he didn’t do anything else other than stand there. He simply waited, not moving any of his muscles other than breathing.

Although his pets were bored, he didn’t say anything to them, even though his cloak retained the voice. Releasing miniscule amounts of aura that bled his soul for four days straight, he waited with bloodshot eyes, standing in pain.

Finally, the dragon once again breathed fire, which allowed the boy to swiftly grab the hovering rune by jumping. The coins and treasures underneath him rustled, however, the echoes of the fire battling against the rocky walls silenced the commotion.

Just as he was about to start moving towards the exit, however, he looked at the eyes that stared at him. Feeling his heart start to beat faster, Conall stopped in motion, waiting for what was about to come for him.

Imagining the faces of certain girls, it felt as though his aura bit deeper into his soul, hurting unlike any time before.

‘Did I fail you again?’

He asked in his heart, shame piling up inside him. Not moving any muscles whatsoever, not even those of his heart or lungs, he waited for an answer that would resolve everything. Was he dead, or was he alive? He couldn’t tell.

Fearing for the worst, he waited ten minutes, only to experience a world-shattering earthquake. Conall had no idea if it was the Luck Rune’s effect, but he thanked it indirectly, with his body shaking uncontrollably. Looking at the black dragon that flipped to its side, he heaved a sigh of inward relief.

Once again, standing in internal pain for another day, He made sure that the dragon was completely asleep before moving slowly toward the same hole he came from. Feeling the firm ground underneath his feet, he walked step by step until he heard a certain sound.

In the middle of the route’s path, he felt a sudden shaking of the cave, which prompted him to act.

Using the powers of his elemental pets, Conall felt a horrendous increase in air resistance, his face almost feeling like it hit a brick wall.

Behind him, a combination of fire and wind intertwined, bursting forward his body at incredible speeds.

Not hiding beneath the world’s veil anymore, he also used mana on his feet to increase the speed further.

As he judged it, he had probably reached speeds above Grade A's gate, however, that wasn’t enough for a dragon.

Through his magic rune, he cast a barrier that opposed the wind resistance and eased the weight of his body while keeping the strength of his muscles. In a few moments, his velocity reached such heights he quickly left the vast, dark space that surrounded the volcano for tens of kilometers.

Even for Grade A mages, it was a feat only possible under great stress and adrenaline, but, there he was, a boy whose stats hadn’t yet reached Grade B.

The only way this was possible was because the Rune of Challenger was constantly active at the last stage, even though he wasn’t fighting a stronger opponent.

Not even using a spell or technique, just pure and crude magic to speed himself up, Conall ran while hearing the thunderous roars in the sky. The dragon had been awoken, furious at the squirt that stole its rune.

He didn’t even look up, since he knew that the dragon was catching up. There was only one way for him to run away from the dragon. Taking the stolen rune in his hand, he quickly crushed it, and it appeared under his chest, engraved on the exterior walls of his heart.

The world was silenced at once as the rune’s power was returned back to the world for the price of the user’s soul and sanity. Of course, because it was the dungeon, Conall didn’t truly experience it. Like any time before, he could use their powers without any repercussions, like an almighty, omnipotent god. Well, this rune was a bit special, but he already had a solution for it.

[You have acquired the Grim Rune of Death.]

The rune didn’t have stages like all the others. Instead, it gave power at the price of the user’s life.

An ominous energy gathered at the tip of his right hand. Immediately, his right side of the body shriveled like a dried grape, life being sucked away from it.

Suddenly turning around, he locked at the target with his eyes, shooting the energy at the huge black dragon.