Clair POV:

The day with Lily was fun, we played a lot and mom was able to sleep. The next morning we flew back and continued our journey to the Hell Dungeon. We only need one or two more days to reach a town that is near it and used as a trading hut for the goods that can be farmed inside the dungeon.

I'm currently inside our resting house and build a cellar, where I'm going to dissect the wuxia guy.

And because the flare has to be right I have my Igor(Drull) and a few necessary tools.

Like hooks that are attached to the ceiling, a few alchemy tanks. An operating table with leather ties and a magic device that mages an eerie dimmed light.

I'm also wearing a dirty lab coat and surgery equipment for my head.

“Igor the bone saw please,” I said and laughed like a maniac.

“Master, I'm not called Igor,” Drull said and destroyed my fantasy mercilessly.

“Yeah you're not. You do not even have a hunchback. You're a really sad excuse of an Igor,” I said disappointed and took the bone saw that Drull handed me.

“Master, what is an Igor?” Drull asked and looked at the dead wuxia guy.

He's stripped on the table.

“Igor is a character of a story, he's the assistant of a mad scientist,” I said and began to saw a part of the head off. There is some liquid that is between the brain and the bone, it looks sticky.

“So now Master is a mad scientist?” Drull asked confused.

“Of course, or why would I dissect a guy? I mean look at this, his brain feels squishy,” I said and poked some parts of his now exposed brain.

It's bleeding like hell, we should have bled him out beforehand.

“This is quite a mess, what are you searching for Master?” Drull asked and gave me a scalpel.

“Something that shouldn't be in a human. I'm searching for something called dantian. Maybe he has this dantian. There are a few places where it can be, if you can believe in the stories,” I said and looked through his brain and cut it partially into fine pieces.

“Dantian? How does it look like?” Drull

“Well, there are a lot of different descriptions, none of them might be true. It can look like a crystal, can be some form of energy that disperses after death or might even be in a different dimension. I don't know. If it's a crystal, that doesn't get destroyed after death, then it might be in his head, chest or abdomen. Anyway, it's not in the brain,” I said and casually tossed the brain over my shoulder. Drull stepped to the side, evading it, otherwise, it would have landed on his chest.

“Tongs,” I said and Drull gave me a pair of large tongs.

I used them to cut his rib case open.

“Hmm, it's not under the breastbone,” I said and then cut the heart out.

“Did you know that a whole hand fits through the aorta? I once tested it with a pig heart. But my hands were larger than they are now,” I said and pushed my hand through the aorta. It kinda looks like I was wearing boxing gloves.

“Sometimes I think Master is more like a demon than a human,” Drull said and had a strange expression.

“We don't have demons on earth, we have to do the sick stuff on our own. Humans on my planet did the craziest shit you could think of. There were groups that experimented on humans. One of these groups wanted to know the inner workings of a pregnant woman, so they cut her open, without an anaesthetic. Or the reactions of a human to frozen limbs. They used ice water to freeze each limb of a person and then amputated it. At the end, only the torso and the head remained. The human was still living, well they even used that for experiments with different diseases,” I said and took each organ out and put them on a table at the side.

“That is something that we wouldn't do. We use them sometimes as cattle, but those have no mind or culture. They only learn to eat and sleep. Your humans are really disturbing. What was the name of this group?” Drull

“It was a unit, called Unit 731. They worked for the Japanese in a war that spans across the whole world. Yukina is a Japanese, but their society is not as war oriented as it was then,” I said and frowned as I didn't found a dantian in his abdomen region. Not even something that would resemble one.

“What happened to Japan?” Drull

“They lost the war. They were allied with my home country. We lost against three major countries and a lot smaller ones. The war killed around 80 million people and a lot more would have died if we haven't lost. My country was ruled by people that deemed some other people not worth living and killed them systematically.

I wouldn't be alive if they have won, my granddad is one of these people,” I said and began to skin the leg.

“80 million?! How many humans are on your planet?” He asked stunned.

“I think around 7 billion as of now,” I said casually.

“Why would a human deem another human not worthy of living? Aren't you all the same?” Drull

“Well we are mostly the same, the only difference we have is our appearance and religion, that is enough for war,” I said and inspected the capillary system of the legs. They are different than the ones in the arms. Sadly that is nothing unique and is found in every human.

“Is that the reason why Master forbids slavery and discrimination in Aeron?” Drull

“Not really, I don't really care about slavery or discrimination. I forbid it because the first believers of my religion thought I wouldn't allow it. I would have waged war against the other countries with slaves if I have something against it.

And discrimination is natural for humans,” I said, stopped to fiddle with the leg and turned to the organs. [Distant View] can work like a microscope and I really want to know how the things in a liver look like.

“Why? And can I eat that?” Drull asked and pointed at the skinned leg.

“Sure, and why? Well, we humans, and I think other sentient live forms as well, must unite things and put them in metaphorical drawers. We experience something and then put this knowledge for later use inside the drawer.

For example, a child doesn't know that fire is hot, so it touches it. Naturally the child gets burned, however, it also learns that fire is hot and will not touch other fire, that looks the same.

It's the same with discrimination. One person witnesses something bad, that another person does, and thinks that other people, who look the same, will do the same. So he acts with more care if he meets them. It can also be created without any knowledge. I just have to tell someone, who doesn't know it better, that something is evil and after some time he will believe me and even say the same. Even if he never saw this thing.

Is a remnant of our ancestors,” I explained while Drull ate the leg like popcorn to a good show.

“Well, I couldn't find a dantian, the last possible thing for me would be to test his ring. Maybe I can use it and there is something like a cultivation manual inside of it,” I said disappointed and went upstairs. I then sealed the cellar. Maybe someone will find it and have a nightmare in the future.

Drull followed me and we cleaned us in the bath. After that, I sat down in a chair, near a fire in the living room and took his spatial ring, or whatever he called it, out of my inventory.

“I hope it's enough to drop some blood on it,” I muttered and used a knife to prick my finger and put some blood on the ring.

“....”Me

A minute later.

“Well that didn't work, maybe because I have no Qi as of now? But I kinda want Qi. I liked the prospects of it, I mean normally it strengthens the body and I want more. What if something happens to my runes? Even if that's almost impossible. Runes are only breakable through magic and magic that will harm me has no effect on me. And a broken rune is something that harms me. It's good that id didn't specify the meaning of harm,” I thought out loud.

“So what do you want to do about this Qi?” Lilia asked from behind me. She came inside with drinks and must have heard me.

“I don't know, I kinda want to go to a world with Qi and learn the cultivation of it. But at the same time, I don't want to leave this world, before I have travelled it,” I said and took one of the drinks.

“Why not sending a clone? I think you said that you're able to learn what they did when they get cancelled,” Lilia

“It might work. But a few month ago, when I cancelled an old clone, I learned the drawback of the clones. The thing with personality is, that it is formed through experience.

This means that a clone, not older than a few seconds, is almost the same as me. However a clone that lived a few months or maybe even days has experienced other things than me and can influence me when I get the information from it. So I have to block the coming information, then I have to sort through them and only take those whom I need. This takes a lot of time and is really stressing for me. It's like living your daily life, but without the control over the body,” Me

“So you fear that you will change when you send a clone? What might happen?” Lilia

“For example, the relationship between us can change. If I send a clone, it will feel the same as me. But only at the beginning, it will distance itself from you and might even fall in love with someone else. This would result in complicated feelings when it gets cancelled,” Me

“Why would you think that it will distance itself from the feelings to me?” Lilia asked a little sad, that I mentioned it.

“Love might be strong, but it's not everlasting without stimuli. You can't love someone whom you aren't able to interact. Distance relationships aren't holding, they break because you can't see the person you love,” Me

“Do you really think that?” She asked while looking in my eyes.

“I do, it might be that the clone will love you for some years but I don't think it will do it for more than three. It will have to force itself to forget you so that it's able to continue with its life. Then again I don't know how long it will take the clone to learn a good cultivation method,” Me

“Why can't we go together?” Lilia

“I don't really know how to send someone to another world, I know the coordination's of this world, through the summoning circle, but none of other worlds. I thought of just sending clones through a summoning into a random world, where it will look if it's one with cultivation and then cancel itself. I don't even know if I'm able to get the knowledge if it gets cancelled. It might be too far away,” Me

“Then test it,” Lilia

“Okay,” I said and began to draw a summoning circle, that will send a person to a world with living inhabitants.

“This will bring you to a world with living inhabitants, I'm currently not able to do more. I'm not experienced enough with it. I know the runes that can bring you somewhere but I don't know the coordination's for a specific world. And it's also not possible to make it so that the world has mana, Qi or none at all. Maybe all worlds have them just in different quantities? Anyway, let's send a clone. It will be able to find the code of the world,” I said and summoned a clone, that promptly got inside the summoning circle and then vanished.

“And now?” Lilia

“I can feel the clone, it's very far away. I think I can only feel it because I have such a high LV in [Ultra ultimate high Mana Manipulation], this skill is so broken. So now we wait a few minutes,” I said and we finished our drinks.

Five minutes later I felt that the disconnection of the clone and got its knowledge.

“The clone is gone and I even got its knowledge. It seems like he came into a world with plants but it didn't try to find sentient beings. It just looked for the code of the world, which is 16da63994612h5i. Now I'll send two clones through the circle and hope that it will send them to different locations,” I said and made two more clones.

The results were good, they were sent to different worlds.

“And?” Lilia asked.

“The circle sends them to different worlds, so now I have to send a bunch of them through the circle and wait. They will look for humans and Qi cultivation. It also seems like each world has mana, just in different amounts. The clones will just memorize the way of cultivation. They don't have skill points and I don't know if they also send the Qi. Until now I only got the knowledge, not physical trained things,” I said and sent a few hundred clones trough the circle. At the end of the day, I had sent around a thousand clones and some even came back. They either found no humans or learned that there is no Qi cultivation in their world.

All clones were cancelled on the next morning and I got three worlds with Qi cultivation and their code. The clones didn't make more, as they have no money.

“Here is enough gold to buy a city, a dimensional pocket, a Reaper Dex robe and a rank five sword, try to find a school, library or someone who will teach you the way of Qi cultivation,” I said to six clones which nodded and then vanished.

“Good, now let's eat breakfast,” I said and turned around.

“We'll reach the town near Hell Dungeon in the afternoon. We forgot to raise our Rank in Lichtstadt, so let's do it there,” Me

“Sure,” Lilia

“Why do you want to raise your Rank?” Ilza asked.

“It just feels wrong when I look at my status and see a G, I want at least A,” I said and she shrugged her shoulders.

We finished breakfast and were able to see the town walls at noon. The walls were only 10 metres high. We put the bikes inside the inventory and went nearer, there was a small line and a large line in front of the gate. Countless wagons and merchants were waiting to get permission for entrance at the long line. Naturally we got in line for the non-merchants.

“Good day and welcome to Hell Town, are you adventurers?” The guard asked us as it was our turn.

“Yes, we plan to raise our Rank and explore the dungeon,” Drull said.

“Four people, that will be four silver,” the guard said and we handed him the money.

“Do you know of a good inn?” Lilia asked as he put the money in his pouch.

“The Gurgl inn is good, a lot of adventurer like it. It's down the main road, turn right at the second street and then the fifth house to the left,” the guard said and then turned to the next person.

“Let's test this Gurgl inn,” Ilza said happily and we walked to the inn. Merchants were selling monster parts, weapons, rations and other things you might need inside a dungeon.

A lot of people were out and buying, selling or just looking for the goods. Most of them had armour on and weapons on their side.

It's quite clear that this town is a town that purely lives from the dungeon.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Hey does anyone know the difference between a dungeon and the school dungeon in Turon?” Me

“The dungeon in Turon is artificial, there are special runes that create the monster from the mana of the earth. While natural dungeon, like the Hell Dungeon, is made by a dungeon heart. It's a live form that is able to reproduce the effect of the runes. It forms the dungeon and the monster through its magic. It then absorbs the experience the monster get from killing to level up. Every death or fight inside the dungeon lets it level up,” Drull explained.

“Are there a lot of dungeons?” Me

“There are, most of them are small, they don't get enough experience to make their territory larger. Nobody knows why but dungeons are only able to create one entrance over the ground, the rest is underground,” Lilia chimed in.

“Do the monster try to get out of the dungeon?” Ilza

“No, they can't survive outside of it, they shrivel up like a dried fruit and die when they go outside,” Drull

“I think that's the inn,” Lilia

The building in front of us is a large house with a swing door and windows on each side. The sound of laughter and something like a fight comes from inside and the smell of food drifts over to us.

“Let's go in,” I said and stepped inside.

Two men were fighting in a small ring to the side and other cheered them on. The house was fairly full and a lot of tables were already full. Waitresses walked through the maze of tables and took the orders of hungry people.

We walked to the counter where a young woman, not older than 20 stood.

“Welcome to the Gurgl, what can I do for you?” She asked us with a smile.

“We'd like to have three rooms and a meal,” I said.

“Sure that will be 20 silver,” she

“Expensive,” Me

“That's because it's easy to make money in Hell Town,” she said, still keeping her smile.

“Here is the money, we're only staying for a night, we plan to explore the dungeon,” I said and gave her the money.

“Food will be ready in a few minutes, extra dishes will cost more. Tamara will bring you to a table,” she said and a waitress led us to a free table.

“Tamara right?” I asked as we got to our table.

“Yes,” Tamara

“Could you tell us where we can find the adventurer guild?” Me

“It's in the centre of the town, right next to the dungeon entrance. You can't miss it, just walk along the main road and you will come across it,” Tamara

“Thanks,” I said and gave her 5 silver as payment.

“Thank you miss, I'll bring the food when it's ready,” Tamara said with a happy smile and left.

“So sleep and then Rank up tomorrow?” Ilza asked and looked at the ring, where one of the two men won the fight.

“Yes, the rest of the day is free, Lilia do you want to look through the stalls with me?” I asked.

“I'd like to,” was the reply from Lilia

“Then I'm going to try to participate in these fights,” Ilza said and pointed at the arena.

“Only use your runes when it's necessary. And don't kill them,” I said.

“Drull, what do you want to do?” Lilia asked.

“Don't know, I think I'll sleep in my room,” He replied and yawned.

The food came and we ate in the middle of laughter and cheering people.

After dinner, I went upstairs and changed into Dex.

“We'll be back when the sun goes down, have fun,” I said and went with Lilia, who was holding my hand, out.

“Mister, yes you. Come, I have an especially good looking necklace. It would suit your girlfriend splendidly,” a merchant shouted to us, not long after we left the inn.

We went over to him and he had a lot of jewellery on his table.

“This is the necklace I've spoken of, it is enchanted and lets the wearer smell like fresh roses,” he said and presented a golden necklace with a ruby in the middle.

“You can have it for just 3 gold coins. Here miss, try it on,” he said cheerfully and handed the necklace to Lilia who then looked at me.

I smiled and helped her to put it on. It really looked good, and there was indeed a faint fragrance of roses coming from the ruby.

“What did I say? It does look beautiful on the miss,” he said and Lilia blushed a little, “it looks so good that I'm ready to sell the necklace for only 2,5 gold coins. Mister, look at her, such a beautiful woman. You have to buy it,” he further said, advertising his goods like there is no tomorrow.

“Your right it really looks good on her, then again everything looks good on my Lilia. But she can't look good enough, I'll buy,” I said and tried to give the man his money, but he looked at me with a comical face.

“Mister you aren't from here. are you?” He then asked.

“Yes, we're new,” Me

“Then let me give you an advice, the merchants here like to bargain, so you have to bargain if you want to make a deal,” He

“How could I try to haggle the money for a present for my girlfriend down? She would think that she isn't worth it,” I asked in a none believing tone.

“That might be so, but we merchants won't sell otherwise,” he said with a grin.

“But...,” I tried to say something, however, Lilia interrupted me and said with a smile.

“Dex, it's okay, I know that you aren't cheap. Try to get the best price for me.”

“O..okay, then let's say one gold,” I said to the merchant.

“One gold? Isn't that too cheap? I already went down to 2,5 gold,” Merchant

“You did, but the fragrance is only noticeable when you are so near that you can kiss her. The enchantment can't be a strong one,” Me

“Okay, 2 gold coins,” Merchant

“1,3. Look the metal it scratched on this side,” Me

“You're good for a greenhorn, but I can't get lower than 1,8 gold,” Merchant

“1,5 and a charming smile from my Lilia,” Me

“Ha, okay okay, you've won, how could I turn down such a good offer,” the merchant said and I gave him the money and Lilia smiled.

“Dex, you're good, it's fun to bargain with you, I wish you two a good day,” the merchant said as we left.

“That really was fun, you'll try it at the next stand,” I said as we continued our way.

“Do you also have a skill for that?” Lilia

“Sure,” Me

“Isn't that somehow like cheating?” Lilia

“Why? They'll surely have it too,”Me

“Yes, but...,” she began but stayed silent.

“He asked for it, look there is a store with chicken on skewers,” I said and we bought a few skewers.

We kept walking on the main road until we saw a house with a book sign.

“Seems like the local bookstore, let's look for a few books,” Me

“Y..yes,” Lilia said but she seemed like she is in thoughts about something.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Yes, no, can we go back? I want to speak with you about something,” She said with a sad tone.

“Okay,” I said wryly and we began to walk back.

Did I do something wrong? I think I did the normal things. But what if she didn't like something I did? Does she want to break up? Did she notice that I'm faking a lot of my emotions? I'm trying, it's just... I just don't know how I should express my affection. Normal people use nicknames like sweety, darling or honey, but I don't like nicknames. I seldom say that I love her, is it that?

We reached the inn and saw Ilza winning a fight. But we ignored her and went up to our room, where Lilia sat down on the bed. I sat on a chair on the opposite of her.

She sighed, looked at me and then said, “ Dex, why are you buying me all these things?”

“What do you mean?” Me

“I wanted to ask this for a long time but... but I... I don't know, maybe I felt happy that someone bought presents for me?” She said with a sad smile and continued, “ I've never told you about my childhood did I ?”

“No, no you did not,” Me

“Well,” she began in a sad voice, “ I was born in Schwarzwald, near the border in a small village. My father was human and my mother is an elf. She is a medical healer and he gathered the herbs.

Relationships between humans and elfs aren't viewed in a good light. The children of my village didn't let me play with them, they often called me mud-blood and threw things at me.

I tried to went out of their way and played alone. But they often looked for me, so that they can bully me. Still, my parents loved me and were nice to me.

Then one day I played alone in the woods. I lost track of the time and it got dark. I tried to find the way back, but got lost. It was dark, cold and I was alone.

I wandered around and it came as it has to come, a monster found me and played with me like a cat does with a mouse. It had fun in watching me running for my life.

And the moment I had not enough strength left to run and fell down, it got ready to pounce on me.

But then, the moment it jumped, my father jumped between me and the monster. He must have searched for me. He had a sword in his hands, but he wasn't skilled with it. The monster jumped straight into his sword and impaled itself on it. I thought I was saved, however, the force of the jump was so strong that my father was thrown back and broke his neck on a tree.

Again I was alone and on top of that even saw the death of my own father,” she began to sob a little.

“I hugged him and pleaded him to wake up, but he didn't. He did not wake up.... I don't know how long I sat there and cried, but at some time my mother found me. At first, she was delighted to have found me, but then she saw father.

We both cried until the sun was high up in the sky.

Life got harder from then on. Without my father, who searched for the herbs, my mother had to do the gathering and brewing. She also did not cope well with the loss of father. The people didn't help us either, they mocked my mother for marrying a human.

I was sixteen as my mother got sick. We didn't know what it was, her skin built lumps and she got weaker by the day. No spell nor potion helped and she died a year later.

With no one left, I could call family, I left Schwarzwald and tried to be an adventurer. It worked for some time until they asked me about my history, I was honest.

Again a mistake in my lifetime, they kicked me out of the group and announced my origin in the guild. I had to leave the city and got into another group. Again, it went well for a few weeks, but I had to leave the group as they asked me about my background. This continued until I got a teaching request in Turon, where I finally met you.

It's true that I only looked at your appearance, but only at first. I thought you'll leave me when you have enough of me. I got know you better, your bad sides but also your vast good sides.

I think I truly fell in love with you at the school tournament, where you rescued me from the necromancer.

I learned that you won't cast me aside, but then it was too late to say that I also like you in your female form.

I didn't say anything. Maybe I still thought that you will cast me aside if you learn that I started the relationship because of your looks.

You've bought me so many things, books, dresses or jewellery. But I was never able to give you anything back, at least, nothing as worthy as those presents.

I just... I don't know, I thought it will stay like this. But we got nearer to my homeland and I felt more and more bad about not telling you. I'm truly sorry for using you like this, can you forgive me?” She finished her telling story and now looked at me with teary eyes and a pleading expression.

So it was her feeling insecure. And fearful of being cast aside.

“Heh, and here I thought you will break up with me. If we're at confessing our feelings, then let me also say something,” I began and she looked fearful.

“Silly girl, I don't care about your history. You are you and the things you do, make you yourself.

I know that love doesn't come fast, I also noticed your interest in Dex's body. As for the presents, I have unlimited resources, it doesn't matter how much money I spend on you, it's my way of showing interest in you.

And now my confession, I don't know if I'm able to love. Yes, I like you, but I think I said it once, maybe only to Ilza, but I said it. I don't really feel love, I have some kind of affection to you, however, this affection is the same I have to Ilza, Drull Lily or my parents, the only difference is that I'm sleeping with you.

I would do for you the same I would do for them, I don't know if that is love. I once heard that love comes with the feeling of heart fluttering or longing to the person, however, I can't feel that. If there is a difference between love to a family or to your lover, then I'm not loving you. Can you tell me? Do I love you?” I said and looked directly into her eyes.

She looked back and then just leaned forward and kissed me.

She then said, “You're right, that might not be the love of a lover, nevertheless it is a start. I've already felt that you're a little less emotional than others. But I think you'll understand the feeling of love with time. And if it doesn't come, then it shouldn't have been. If it comes to it, then I'll have to live with it. It's my fault for not telling you earlier. Now it's too late for me, I already love you and can only hope that you will feel the same for me. As of know I'm only glad I told you about me and am relieved that you accept me,” She said firmly and the hugged me.

We did nothing else, just hugging each other.

Do I really not love? My real mom once said that I'll fear to get tied to someone. Maybe I might lie to myself so that I feel free? Is the problem in my mentality or is Lilia the wrong person?

Should I change? Should I try to live without her, so that I know how it feels when she's not around me? I don't know. I only know one thing. I already changed since coming into this world. I would have never spoken with a woman like I do with Lilia. The fact that I'm in a relationship is already a giant change. And I think I don't dislike it. Does that also mean that I love her? I think only time will tell.

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Here it is, my finals are finally over.

About Qi cultivation, I'll make one giant extra chapter and will post it when I finished it.

So there won't be a stop with the “story”.

I can't tell how long the chapter will be, I think it will only be one chapter. It might only be around 3k of words but doubt it hardly. It'll more likely be a lot more. But it will take a lot of time because I'll write them whenever I have the inspiration.