“Drip Drip Drip.”

“Drip Drip Drip.”

“What is that sound?” I asked curiously. “Is it water? It seems to be coming from the room ahead.”

“Sounds like it.” Levi furrowed his brows. He has recovered slightly from his skirmish with the two fairies and returned to floating a few metres in front of me. “It may be the water source I mentioned earlier. We came across quite a few puddles of water but there should be a major one ahead. You should be prepared to face a large number of giant rats. I’ll go and have a look.”

“Alright.”

Levi left to scout the next room as I sat down and checked my storage belt. It was nearly full of the giant rats’ corpses and the Nazlock coins. Tonight’s harvest leaned more toward the giant rats’ corpses, totalling 51. The majority of the corpses belonged to smaller and younger rodents, but they were all worth the same amount of points in the eyes of the merchant tower.

I leaned against the wall, to catch my breath. I never stopped swinging my spear over the last thirty minutes. Now that I could finally rest, I took out an antidote and emptied the small bottle. The nasty giant rats found ways to bite into my flesh even through my new pair of pants and boots; they knew how to aim for the tiny bit of skin showing up my ankles or my hands. My pants had the Physical Resistance enchantment that blocked most of the rodents’ bites and my boots were enchanted with Haste. By using my mana, I could temporarily increase my running speed.

“What is he doing?” I waited for a few minutes in the dreadful silence of the corridor. Usually, Levi would only take one or two minutes to scout the room ahead but now, more than five minutes have passed, and the fairy had yet to return.

“Did something happen? No… Nothing can hurt Levi in this environment. He has reached the fourth circle and although he is not allowed to attack the monsters here, it should be easy for him to escape.” I mumbled as I turned my attention toward the dark room.

I hesitated. It was too unusual for Levi to take so long; could there be a trap of some sort that could trap even fourth circle creatures? A few minutes went by before I made up my mind and carefully approached the dark room.

I peeked through the doorway but as soon as my head entered the room, a feeling of dread and fear welled up. I suddenly felt an enormous pressure coming from inside the room. ‘Which monster is releasing this frightening aura?’

Humans were not magical creatures and although a mana stone was integrated into our body to allow us to use magic, our sensitivity to mana was still way too weak. Under normal circumstances, I was unable to detect the flow of mana; that was unless the user was deliberately showing off.

‘Second circle? No… The monster should at least be at the third circle. But how is it possible? The tower should not have placed monsters above the first circle on the zeroth floor.’

My heart throbbed. What kind of monster would reveal its strength for no reason? Was it possible that Levi clashed with that monster?

I scanned the dark room lit only by a few firestones. The design of this room was different from the others. There were several pools full of water which matched Levi’s guess that there was a large water source inside the tombs. I quickly noticed the source of the dripping sound; the ceiling was leaking. Drops of water would fall into the pools every few seconds.

However, there were no signs of a powerful monster, no signs of Levi, and no traces of conflict. There was not even a single giant rat roaming around this room. This room was simply too unusual. It was not very large, but I could not see the other end very well because of the low light level. The strong aura was precisely coming from the other end of the room.

“Splash!”

I froze in place as I heard the loud sound echoing through the room. A small dark brown silhouette emerged from one of the pools on the far end of the room. The strong pressure pushing down on me suddenly doubled.

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I panicked and instinctively activated the Haste enchantment of my boots, ready to run away. However, I deliberately stopped myself from doing so. I wanted to catch a glimpse of the monster; to prepare for our next encounter. To my surprise, the dark brown creature did not rush to attack me even after looking in my direction.

It looked small and had a strangely familiar silhouette. Next to the pool it was in, I saw a few small pieces of clothing that looked like the rob Levi was wearing. An awkward silence settled as I stared at the creature. Slowly, I put the pieces of the puzzle together and frowned angrily.

“Levi!!!”

“Gulp!”

The dark brown creature gasped in surprise and hurriedly disappeared back into the pool it came from.

The pressure was still weighing down on me, but I knew that it could not harm me. I was more or less certain that the dark brown creature was Levi. I took a step forward and approached the pool next to the clothes. Compared to the other pools that were full of water, this one was filled up with mud!

“Levi! Come out. I know it’s you! I knew it was impossible for a third circle monster to appear here. It was you who used your aura to scare me away.”

I frowned and impatiently tapped on the floor. Knowing that he has been caught red-handed, Levi had no choice but to reappear from the mud pool. He looked down awkwardly, averting my stare.

“Uhm… I was going to come back, but I unexpectedly fell into this pool…”

I snorted loudly. “Do you think I’m stupid? How can a flying fairy trip and fall into a pool? Then, why were you deliberately releasing your aura to keep the giant rats and me away? Furthermore… I am not blind. This is not regular mud, is it?”

“This… I…” The fairy mumbled a few words incomprehensively.

I crouched down and took a closer look at the mud. There was a stench surrounding it. It was repulsive but not unbearable. “Revilatising Mud? No wonder you soaked yourself in this mud bath.” I glared at Levi who wore a guilty expression.

“Just how many things have you taken from the tombs without letting me know? Judging by how you came to bathe in this mud so shamelessly, the number of things you took should not have been small.” I said with an accusatory tone.

“No. No. Definitely not. It is the first time.” Levi replied awkwardly.

“…”

“Then, what are you waiting for? Get out! We agreed to share the treasures equally among ourselves, didn’t we?”

“This… But I really need this mud bath right now. You know how injured I got from fighting Yrelinna and Desei. This mud bath can help me quickly recover. Besides, as you can see, there are two smaller mud baths over there.” Levi pointed at two smaller pools which also contained the same smelly mud.

I suppressed the urge to beat up the fairy. My piercing gaze lingered on him for a moment before I got up and headed toward the two pools of mud. It was currently the best course of action. I did not know how many treasures Levi took for himself but confronting Levi about them would be pointless. I checked before and made sure that Levi did not have any storage equipment on him. He did not have the Space Element either meaning that Levi could not take anything with him. However, I did not take in consideration the treasures that could be consumed on the spot. God knows how many Levi took under my nose.

I made myself a mental note: ‘In the future, never allow Levi to go scouting for more than ten seconds. As a fourth circle creature, it should take him less than ten seconds to locate the giant rats.’

I crouched down next to one of the mud pools and dipped a finger into it. Instantly, despite the repulsive smell, I felt a comfortable feeling flowing into my body. I smiled faintly and grabbed my spear. I poked the mud pool to check for traps before taking off my clothes and jumping into the mud bath. Behind me, I heard Levi let out a sigh of relief.

The Revitalising Mud was a rather common treasure that could be found in the upper floor of the tower. It was generally used to strengthen one’s physical body and could, to some extent, lengthen a person’s lifespan. Unfortunately, while humans did benefit from the Revitalising Mud, it was not as effective as it was on the other races. Humans mainly obtained their nutrients from the food they eat; while their skin was covered with pores that could absorb the nutrients on the Revitalising Mud, the process was very inefficient.

Nevertheless, I would not say no to a boost in vitality. I was not planning on fighting on the frontline, but I would not say no to having a healthier body with greater physical strength. The effects of the Revitalising Mud depended on its quality and since this mud bath fermented for a long period of time, unperturbed in the middle of the tombs, the benefits it provided were not small. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the comfortable feeling flowing through my body.

There were two main reasons I did not argue with Levi over the mud baths. First, if I allowed him to continue using the mud bath, he would continue to release his aura, deterring the giant rats from approaching us. Second, I simply did not want to enter the mud bath he was using. Although it was a mud bath that still contained a decent amount of nutrients, to me, it felt like I was sharing bathwater with Levi. I was not desperate enough to it.

I calmed down and let my body absorb everything it could from the mud bath. I could still feel Levi’s aura pressing down on me which would keep me safe for now. However, I did not notice the dripping sound echoing across the room becoming louder and more frequent.

‘It’s good stuff. Exactly what I should expect from a secret area. But knowing that such a thing was within reach, I wonder just what the treasures of the other rooms were… That cheeky bastard…’