Darkness. Cold darkness.

“Yaaro.”

The darkness he lay in slowly receded, bit by bit. And as it did, the sensation of his moist clothes sticking to his skin grew stronger.

“Yaaro. Wake up.”

His lungs felt like lead. The darkness in front of him slowly gave way to the hazy shape of a face.

“Yaaro!”

The face came into view.

The gold ornamentation lining the wet ear flaps twinkled in the dim light. And when his eyes finally adjusted to the extremely dim light— he was faced with a beautiful, doe-eyed face flanked by long red ear flaps on either side.

“Hyphis?” He croaked— his voice tearing through his throat. He was suddenly wracked with coughs, coughing out a lot of water in the process. The woman in question simply moved her hands like flowing water. And as she guided her hands from his chest to his head, he felt the odd sensation of his lungs finally freeing up, and something moving through his throat.

“Open your mouth wide.”

He did as she asked and through hazy eyes, watched with astonishment as a column of wobbling water exited his mouth. He could finally breathe again.

He propped his body upright, looking around at the dim crystals lining the walls of the cavern.

Aurore, Mikhael and Claire sat in a tight circle, a few metres away. In the dim lighting, their faces couldn’t be seen but he could tell from the hushed tones that it was something serious.

Something serious…?

Belatedly, as he recovered his mental faculties, he asked Hyphis the pertinent question.

“What happened?”

Hyphis’ beautiful face turned solemn as she looked away— Yaaro followed her gaze as it landed on a thin, gaunt corpse.

“I do not know… We were pushed off the bridge and fell into the abyss. After that we fell into a river and… I do not know how we are alive.”

A few vague glimpses of a memory flashed through his mind. Desperate, raw emotion, a ballooning explosion of mana, multiple writhing tentacles, and rushing water. Putting two and two together, he realized what had happened— In a moment of desperation, he projected as many tentacles as he could, digging them into the walls and catching the others. And then they had fallen into a river— explaining why he was soaking wet.

But how was that possible? He could only control a single tentacle at most. He couldn’t remember how he had done it, and every time he tried to recall, his memory would grow increasingly fleeting.

Maybe he’d sacrificed fine control of his tentacles for sheer quantity.

Although dubious, this explanation satisfied Yaaro.

… Status

Name: [Yaaro Ilay]

Titles: None

Level: 4

Skills: [Enhanced Speaking] [Mana Manipulation Lv6] [Tentacle Manifestation Lv2] [Temperature Control Lv1] [Pyrokinesis Lv1] [Mana Armaments Lv1] [Geass Breaker]

Stats: Mana-> 10,315,780 Strength-> 3 Speed-> 2 Stamina-> 3

A single, small detail— outlined with glowing gold— stood out from the rest:

[Tentacle Manifestation Lv2]

Mentally, he clicked the golden text and stared in awe as a gold-lined black panel appeared in front of him with gold text:

[Choose skill variant:]

It said, and right below it were two, minimalistic pictograms: one of a black stick figure with two tentacles behind him, and another of an arm. Before he could inspect them further, Claire walked over to them— making him dismiss the panel.

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“You saved us.” She said quietly as she sat down— her legs folded.

Yaaro had barely any memory of what happened, so he simply nodded.

“Those platforms of light and those tentacles… You aren’t a believer are you?”

Hide your power… The Chairman’s words whispered in his mind. Maybe it was the environment, or maybe it was the intense, but short fight. Whatever the cause was, he could feel the bonds between them strengthen. He remembered Mikhael, usually standoffish, valiantly standing up for him.

He hadn’t come to this University with the intention to make friends. But somehow, he had found himself with people he could rely on. And so, deciding to trust them a little bit, he answered Claire.

“I’m not. I’m a player.”

Claire looked pensive, and then nodded thoughtfully, “We won’t ask prying questions, and when we get out, your secret is safe with us. Don’t worry!”

A smile bloomed on Yaaro’s face.

“You know, when I first saw you I thought you were cold and aloof.”

Claire chuckled, “It’s always people who don’t know me who say that.”

“Hmmm…” Yaaro hummed, “Let’s get to know each other more then.”

Claire clapped his shoulder, “Once we get out of this place, we have all the time in the world.” She winked, walking away to Aurore and Mikhael.

For a moment, he stood in a daze, watching her receding back. He’d never noticed it before, but Claire was quite pretty as well. Her long, flowing black hair and ruby-red eyes would be sure to strike an arrow into any man’s heart.

And before an arrow could strike his heart, a piercing gaze struck the back of his head. Turning around he saw Hyphis looking at the crystals embedded in the wall.

Was I imagining it?

Regardless, the pair rendezvoused with the rest of the group and began to discuss their situation— where they were, and how they could get out. It was Mikhael who dominated most of the conversation with his insight into the dungeon.

Following a few minutes of discussion, it was clear that the team had fallen into the abyss and had reached an unknown floor. Where they were was considerably deep— more than 10 floors, considering that the light of the floors above them was completely gone, replaced by an abyssal darkness.

“Ah, also, check your inventory guys.” Claire said to Hyphis and Yaaro, translating for Mikhael.

Yaaro’s face contorted in surprise. As he knew it, the followers of their religion did not have access to inventories— which was the domain of players.

“I’m sorry, how do you guys have an inventory?” Yaaro asked openly. By now, everyone knew that he was a player, and nobody made a big fuss about it— an attitude that was sadly in the minority throughout the continent.

“It is an effect of the Dungeon, which grants us items upon killing our enemies.” Mikhael said (translated by the faithful Claire as always).

Of particular note, was his choice of words— something that Yaaro immediately picked on.

“I’m sorry, ‘enemies’?”

Somberly, Mikhael nodded, “Yes. Enemies.”

He pointed to Aurore, “Aurore’s father perished in that manner. He was a great man…And many were envious.”

Yaaro silently stole a glance at Aurore— that blonde girl he knew next to nothing about, other than the fact that she fancied him. He was surprised to discover that this seemingly innocent girl had gone through such tough times. Silently, his respect for her grew.

Yaaro opened his inventory as Mikhael had asked, and was surprised to discover that there was an item there.

It was a note with the title:

‘Remembrance of the Warrior’

It read as follows:

‘Remembrance of the Warrior Ephelian Loux, the former King of Ansax. Though none could beat him in a duel of strength, he was bested in a combat of wit by a sorcerer, subsequently becoming parasitized and then later, transformed into a summon.’

He threw a glance at the crushed corpse of the stick-like figure and felt a weight press on his heart. This was once a real, breathing person— a king! And even such a person of his station had been reduced to such a state.

Chills ran down his spine and he felt as if he was simply groping his way around the world— blind to the dangers.

Hide your power…

Again, the Chairman’s words echoed in his mind. Once he returned, he was definitely following his advice.

“It seems he was telling the truth… He indeed was a summon.” Mikhael remarked.

And then Hyphis added, “And that his master was Darius von Straaten.”

Her words were like a bolt of lightning.

In the flurry and chaos of the fight, Yaaro had completely glossed over that detail. But now, his blood boiled. His eyes grew feral and his hands throbbed. Everyone felt a level of fury at him, but they could do nothing until they left this place.

“How do we leave this place?” Yaaro asked, to which Mikhael responded.

“We find the stairs that go up.”

Sounds like a plan.

The group started to walk, staying close to the wall and making sure not to make a sound. As they walked, Yaaro belatedly remembered the golden text on the gold-lined black panel:

[Choose skill variant:]

Hurriedly he brought up his status panel and stared at the two icons expectantly. This was his first time he was getting a powerup and excitement spread in his body like a wave.

Just as he was about to click on it, Mikhael stopped the group.

Yaaro clicked his tongue at the unfortunate timing and looked at Mikhael for an explanation.

“Do you hear that?” Mikhael asked (with Claire translating as always).

Everyone focused their attention on their ears.

There was the sound of dripping water.

The silent howl of air running through the cavern and—

A soft, almost imperceptible high-pitched whine.

“What is that?” Claire asked, to which Mikhael firmly put a finger to his lips.

The whine grew louder.

And louder.

And then the source of that sound finally revealed itself. In the dim light of the crystal-studded cavern, rushing towards them was a kitten!