LENIN

We all cheered as we followed him, leading the way.

"You have to tell us more about yourself!"

"Yeah!"

Despite us all getting drinks, I would be the centre of attention. This was not what I expected, as I looked over at Felix, trying to plead with him.

Come on now, Felix, be the saint I know you to be.

He chuckled, shrugging, "Don't look at me; I'm just as curious as what you've been up to."

Traitor.

I had no choice now, huh?

I sighed, telling them bits and pieces of what I had been up to lately without giving them everything.

Of course, there were a few things that I wanted to hide from them, as they were a bit personal for me.

Nonetheless, they seemed interested in and convinced by what I was saying.

"Alright, that's it for us!" Lusan chuckled lightly, touching Felix's shoulder, "You know you're not a bad guy, Lenin. We should do this another time!" He waved at the two of us.

As the others left me, Felix was the only one who remained.

We shared a silence, as Felix was the first to speak up. "So what happened?" He looked amused.

"You knew?"

Felix nodded, "How long have we known each other? We may haven't seen each other in years, but I know when you lie."

I looked down at the ground, "It's been interesting."

"I can tell. . . Look, we don't have to speak about it." He smiled reassuringly. "But we can discuss moving forward with my science lab idea."

"Yeah, we can do that. What do you have in mind?"

Felix's eyes immediately lightened up, and I knew I would be here for quite some time.

By the time he started finishing what he had to say, I would be out like a light.

"So! What do you think?" He happily said, "I know with the Solum that the Plantea beast dropped, we could power it for a couple of weeks!"

"I mean, we could always use electricity." I joked as he waved his hand in dismissal.

"We are not using electricity. Compared to Solum, that stuff is worthless."

He wasn't wrong about that; anything else compared to Solum was worthless.

Sure, we had electricity, gold and all of that.

But why would you want all that when Solum could do everything these minerals could do combined?

"Well, I have an idea or two we can use. . ."

"Don't keep me in suspense like that!" Felix chuckled, "What's this grand plan of yours."

"Since you say that Plantea beasts are constantly attacking us, that means."

"There must be a dungeon." He answered my sentence for me, and I nodded.

Felix was deep in thought, "That's going to be pretty dangerous. . . Are you suggesting that we go and claim that territory?"

As crazy as it sounded to Felix, it was the only way we could get enough Solum to power this place to its total capacity.

Solum was everything in Vestiga, and we would have to use its total capacity to keep this village up and running.

"I am, but I'll go by myself."

He waved his hand in rejection, "Don't try to go all hero on me. We'll be there to help you."

I smiled softly, "Alright then, if that's what you wish, I won't go all hero."

He stood up from his seat, placing his hand on my shoulder. "We should probably go back to our homes. We wouldn't want to keep the wives waiting, right?" He chuckled as I nodded.

"Let's get to it then."

After a long work day, I finally arrived at my new house.

It was much bigger than our cottage, but it had that cottage vibe.

I felt a slight tap on my shoulder as I turned around to see a glistening, beautiful, gentle smile that melted my heart.

WHOOSH!

She giggled lightly as she patted me on the back, "It seems that someone missed me a bit too much."

I smiled, "What if I did?" I grinned, leaning closer to her face.

"Then I would say you have every right to miss me."

I chuckled, scooping her off the ground, "Is Maro?"

She nodded, "He's asleep as cute as usual."

"Let me take you to the bed first while I take a quick look at Maro sleeping."

I chuckled as I placed her on the bed in quick succession.

Then I looked at Maro in his crib, sleeping soundly, and he was most certainly as cute as ever.

That was enough looking at my cute son for a day as I slid into the blankets with Kassie.

"So, how was Felix?"

"Same old same old. . . But seriously, can you believe that he has a daughter?" I chuckled in disbelief.

I seriously couldn't get over that.

I would have never thought Felix could have a daughter, let alone be with Rachel.

"It's the secrets of the world," She smiled, resting her head on my chest.

"Sleep time?"

She yawned, nodding as she drifted away to a peaceful sleep.

———

"Alright!" Felix clapped his hands together as it echoed throughout the science lab.

One thing was sure: he was excited to start this day with a great bang.

"What do you have?" I couldn't help but chuckle as Felix was so excited to show this grand plan of his.

He placed the map on the table and pointed at it, "The Plantea Beasts always attack from this direction, and that could only mean one thing." He paused momentarily, "That's where the dungeon would be located."

What he said was pretty straightforward, but it made much more sense.

"So when do we strike?"

Felix's eyes gleamed, "Tomorrow night."

His plan would be crazy, but if we executed it correctly, the return would outweigh the risk 100-fold.

"But seriously, thanks for your help, Lenin." He smiles gratefully, "Without you, we wouldn't be able to do half the things we want to in the first place."

"Of course." I nodded happily, "Besides, it's nice seeing you play the role of the leader of this village."

Felix slightly chuckled to himself, "Times have changed, huh?"

"It certainly has, but I wouldn't change it for the world."

We both smiled at one another.

"I'll catch you later." He patted me on the shoulder.

With that, I had free time to do whatever I wanted and knew exactly where to go.

I returned to our house to see Kassie with Maro standing behind her.

She already felt my presence a while back.

"Has Maro tapped into Solum yet?" I asked beside Kassie as we watched him do the usual antics.

She shook her head, "No. . . But it's coming."

"How do you know that?"

She grinned, "Come on now. If anything, I thought you would've spotted it before me."

I chuckled, emitting Purpura instantly as I placed it towards Maro.

There, I could sense it slowly but surely: the Solum was building up inside him bit by bit.

"He's growing at a pretty fast rate," I muttered.

Kassie slid her arm with mine and looked up at me. "Something tells me that you're not too fond of him growing at the rate he is."

"It's not that," I paused, looking at the ceiling. I don't want him to gain powers that quickly, but he has to," I muttered lowly.

Kassie did her best to comfort me, and it worked like it always did.

"You don't seem worried at all," I chuckled lightly, looking at her face.

She didn't exhibit any stress on her face. I've rarely seen Kassie be worried, let alone stressed.

Kassie was always calm and composed enough to calm me down.

When people like us had Solum genetically, others would do anything to take that gift away from us so they could get it themselves.

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It was the harsh reality that we had to face.

"Well, you should get some sleep before the big day."

"Once again, you're right."

She giggled, looking over her shoulder, "I'm always right."

With that, I was ready for a good night's sleep.

A day passed; I stood there, ready for what was coming.

Today would be a long day, and I knew we would handle this all night if we had to.

I could only assume what was in the Dungeon.

Looming were the menacing and gleaming Plantea Beasts, ready to strike for our Solum, but this time, we could surprise those beasts.

I watched as everyone around me got ready, wearing their gear. I knew that if they were going to wear gear like that, they wouldn't make it out alive.

The armour they harboured wouldn't even last them ten minutes in the Dungeon.

No matter how good of a warrior you were, you couldn't handle those cruel attacks of the Plantea Beasts.

Even if they drank the liquid Solum they had for this battle, it still wouldn't be enough.

By that logic, there was only one thing that I could do.

"Lusan, Tara, Felix."

Their heads turned around as they approached me.

"What's up?" Felix smiled, but behind those eyes, I could tell he was frightened despite putting up this front to show his comrades that he wasn't scared of what would come.

I emitted Purpura Solum from my palm, placing it over them all.

They looked at their bodies, and they could feel renewed strength.

Lusan's eyes widened in disbelief, "This is?"

I nodded, "It's only temporary, but you'll have the same strength as me."

"Holy shit." Felix couldn't help but chuckle, "Is this how you feel daily?"

I sheepishly smiled, shrugging my shoulder, "Just don't use it when you don't need to. You only have a limited supply of this power."

They nodded in unison.

"Alright, lead the way, Felix."

We followed Felix as he took us to where he believed the Dungeon was.

While he was valiantly leading the way, little did he know that I already knew where the Dungeon was located.

I could feel us getting closer and closer until we were finally there and as expected. . .

This Dungeon was no joke. . . It was something no reasonable person would even dare to go in under free will.

Despite Felix leading the charge, I could tell he was still as nervous as ever, which was more than understandable.

After all, this was his first time having to face such foes.

I placed my hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring nod.

Hopefully, that was enough to calm his nerves.

We continued deep into the cave to hear nothing but silence. The only sound we could hear was our footsteps.

There was an unsettling shift in the air as we expected something.

"What's going on?" Lusan asked as he had his eyes on everything, "Aren't there meant to be Plantea beasts waiting to attack us by now?"

I slowly nodded, "There should be." I answered as I looked around our surroundings. Something was off, but I could not figure it out anymore.

"Tara, what are you doing?" Lusan asked.

She shrugged her shoulder, "What? I'm using the Solum that Lenin gave me to good use." Tara scoffed and continued to emit the power that I gave her.

"Lenin clearly said not to use unless it was necessary."

"Well?" She scoffed, "I'm putting it to go-"

WHOOSH

"Tara?"

We waited for Tara to finish her sentence, but she never did, as blood was the only thing she could conjure up.

I quickly looked down to a vine that had bursted open her chest as her mouth dripped with blood dropping onto the ground.

"Tara!" Lusan reached out with his hand, but I immediately pulled him away, putting myself in danger as I slashed the vine originally aiming at Lusan and freed Tara from hers.

I knew we would be attacked by vines in a few seconds.

"Felix, what do we do?" Lusan asked in desperation, trying to get an answer from Felix, but there was no response.

He was trembling where he stood and could do nothing to change that.

"Lusan." I immediately immediately grabbed his attention, "Take Felix and leave the dungeon!"

"B-But what about you." He stammered with his words.

"Don't worry about me, " I replied. "I'll take care of it, and Lusan. . . Tara will be alright."

His eyes lightened up with hope and glimmer as he resolved to safely pull the frozen Felix away, as I could no longer see them.

Now I had more important things to deal with.

I did my best to heal Tara from her fairly critical injuries, and I knew it was possible.

WHOOSH!

I anticipated the vines coming as I dodged and weaved in simple practice.

I had foresight of where they would hit as more Solum was produced in my body.

The endless vines seemed never to stop as all I did was slash and weave, but they seemed to continue.

It was obvious what I had to do now to stop this.

I channelled all the Solum I could conjure up and lifted one finger.

ZAP!

A beam of purple light cut down the vines quickly until no more was left.

It meant that whatever that thing was, it took a decent amount of damage.

I should think more smartly instead of rash actions.

But there was no time to think, only time to get things done.

Soon enough, the vines that desperately tried to get to me had stopped altogether.

Why was that the case?

I had no idea and didn't want to know.

What mattered to me now was that I could clear out this Dungeon while protecting Tara throughout my journey.

It got me thinking: was this worth it?

But in my mind, I knew I was already far too deep into this Dungeon to stop now.

There was only one thing I could do: keep moving forward as usual.

With Tara in my arms, drooped like a sack of potatoes, she would be like this for quite a while.

As far as I could sense the Dungeon with my Purpura Solumn, I couldn't feel a Plantea beast waiting to pounce on me.

I would soon find out whether that was a good sign or not.

It was also clear why we went here in the first place: This Dungeon was something else. The deeper I went into the Dungeon, the more minerals and Solum I found waiting to be cultivated.

I was surprised that no one had ever thought about going here, but it was apparent why.

Anyone stepping foot in this Dungeon would likely not come alive with their limbs intact.

This was understandable, but I wasn't normal.

As I ventured deeper and deeper into the Dungeon with the typical Plantea Beasts slicing them all down, I managed to make it to a beacon of the Dungeon.

Some would say the core.

If I didn't know better, I must have been in this Dungeon for at least a day.

That was how long clearing this Dungeon took for me to witness what only a few could ever see for themselves.

It was none other than a vault.

I had been lucky enough to see the end of what a Dungeon looked like, but this would be the very first time I could clear out a Dungeon myself.

I was also lucky to see that this Dungeon had a Vault. Usually, I would be left with the core, and that core would usually. . .

Never mind that now.

The only problem was I would have to punch through the Vault myself.

That was half why I didn't want to clear this Dungeon single-handedly.

The reason why most people went in groups, hell. . . Most people go with a whole platoon because of this very moment.

Most of the time, they would all be wiped out before they even made it to the final stage of the Dungeon. But if they ever made it here, they would have to use all their strength to burst open the Vault.

For some, it could take months to open or even years.

That was just a simple testament to how difficult it was to reach this stage.

I was a one-person army, but I was more than enough.

I channelled all of the Purpura Solum in my right hand, ready for it.

BOOM!

Right then and there, I drove my fist straight through the Vault, creating a large enough hole for me to go through.

With all the smoke and dust fading away from that single punch of mine, I squinted my eyes, and there it was.

Everything that I had imagined.

Solum.

Rich-filled Solum that had already turned to its malleable liquid form.

From the looks of it, there was an endless supply of supplies that would be highly beneficial for the science lab that Felix had wanted to power all this time.

The only problem was how long it would take to get this back to the village.

Now, that was something that I didn't want to be doing.

While I was planning how to get this back to the village, someone had finally awoken.

Tara rubbed her eyes slowly but surely. As she did, her eyes widened in utter disbelief, so she rubbed them again.

She looked over at me as I wore a simple smile.

"T-This is." Tara pointed with her uncontrollably shaking finger, which moved on its own.

I nodded, "Yeah, welcome to the very thing that will change your village." I crouched beside her as we both took it in.

When she looked at the Solum, a gentle smile appeared on her face. "You know, my father was one of the lucky few who were brave enough to enter this place. . ." Her thoughts drifted off.

It was all that I needed to know that her father never came out of this place alive.

I touched her shoulder, "Well, I hope this gives you some peace of mind."

She slowly nodded, "Yeah. . . It does; never in a million years would I have thought that I would be able to be here." Tara continued to talk, "That's why. . ."

Like before, I didn't need her to finish her sentence to know why she was so determined.

It was because of this moment.

All she could think about was her father. She wanted to do what her father couldn't do.

She would then be able to gain some closure from the situation.

I could see on her face that she was reliving the moments of what had happened before she had passed out.

"Are we ready to leave?" I looked over at her as she finally found her resolve; a glint of determination in her eyes sparkled evermore.

"Ye-"

GUH

I instantly knelt on the ground, almost like a weight of surging pressure was pulling me to the Earth's core.

But it seemed only to me that I was experiencing this rapid sensation controlling my body, a flow of unwavering and uninviting memories punched into my mind.

These flashes of memories, not of my own, had come surging.

"Those who bare the voice of control must harness it."

A voice echoed in my mind.

"Is everything alright?" Tara quickly checked up on me, her face etched with worry.

"Yeah." I nodded, standing back up. "Just needed a breather, that's all. Used too much of my Solum."

It seemed that Tara wasn't so quick to believe my little lie, but she didn't question it more.

We ventured out of the Dungeon, and a new day awaited us. We must have been in that Dungeon for a while.

Soon enough, we managed to make our way to the village, where people seemed to be already waiting for us.

"You guys made it back!" Lusan rushed over to us in excitement. His eyes grew more expansive, and he pointed to the purple-glowing sack I was holding. "Is that?"

I nodded, "It is. We got a lot, didn't we, Tara?" I flashed a soft smile at her as she shamefully looked at the ground.

"Sorry about being too rash, Lusan." She muttered.

Lusan chuckled, "As long as you made it in one piece, that's all that matters."

"Where's Felix?" I asked.

"Felix. . ." Lusan muttered, "He's in the lab; he's not taking the expedition that well either."

"I should probably catch up with him."

Lusan nodded, knowing that I was right.

As I made my way to the Lab, it became clear that our village needed a complete overhaul.

Sure, it did the job, but the quality of life here could have been better.

I remember being here when I was just a child, and this place was full of life, but now, it is simply dead of that.

Soon enough, I entered the Lab to see Felix already at work.

I grinned, leaning against the door. "Seems like someone is at work."

He looked at me with a small smile but soon faltered, realising what had happened during the Dungeon.

"Sorry about what happened. . ." Felix placed his equipment down on the table, "I just froze." He muttered, looking at his hands. "Frankly, I don't think I'm ready for anything."

I waved my hand in dismissal, "That has gotten to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard." I walked over to him, placing my hand on his shoulder, "You are the most qualified person here. You're the one who cared for this place when no one didn't. So be proud of yourself."

A small smile slithered on Felix's face.

"Besides." I chuckled, "Look at this." I placed the sack of Solum onto the table, making a loud thud, a testament to how much we had obtained during our little expedition.

"Holy shit." He chuckled in disbelief, "This is. . ."

"Everything that the dungeon had to offer and more." I smiled proudly over at him.

Felix stared at Solum. "We can do so much. With Solum, we can make medicine, buy new equipment, and power the village."

I felt the excitement surging through his body. I was excited for him.

"The possibilities are endless. . ."

I nodded, "One at a time."

"Thank you." He smiled, "You don't understand the good we can do with this."

I placed my hand on his shoulder, "Remember? I'm just doing my part."

"I should probably make an announcement, sooner or later, with what we're going to be doing with all of this Solum." He answered.

"You go do that." I chuckled, stretching my arms. "Because I have to go back with Kassie and Maro."

Felix nodded as I exited the Lab, ready to visit them.

It didn't take long to enter my house to see Kassie spending time with Maro.

"Lenin."

Though Kassie had her back against me, I could tell there was a soft smile on her face.

"Have I told you multiple times that it's creepy that you can tell I'm behind you?" I smiled, wrapping my arm around her shoulder as I watched her care for Maro.

She shrugged her shoulders sheepishly, "I could sense your Solum from a mile away; you were using it quite a lot, you know?" Kassie chuckled, looking at me.

I raised my hand in the surrender, "It was challenging. . . Surprisingly." I muttered.

"You're slipping." Kassie teased, "But how did it go?"

A triumphant smile appeared on my face. "We got all the Solum that we needed, now. We're just waiting for Felix to call us up," I answered.

"That's great to hear," Kassie responded, "But what's the end goal here." She gave you a knowing look.

"The more modernised this hometown place gets, the more attraction will get from the Kingdom of Juvo."

I sighed, smiling, knowing that she was right. "I know that's inevitable, but we'll think of something soon."

The bigger the village, the more The Kingdom of Juvo was on high alert; that's what they were known for.

While that was the last thing we wanted, especially for Maro, we knew our loyalty and respect for Felix was more.

Now, the question was, how long could we keep this up without gaining the attention of the Kingdom of Juvo?

As his friend, I would do my best to help and support Felix in every way possible. After all, he had a big task: acting as the Village of Facia's one and only leader.

It would be a heavy burden, but I would do my best to share it with him because that's what friends do.

We have each other's backs.