‘So…handsome…’
Koarleina mutters, as she looks at Zenith walk forward and deeper into the Dungeon. Even as she saw him decimate every single monster in the floors he descends to, she doesn’t make a sound, nor does she prepare herself for the worst, simply staring at him, entranced.
Floor after floor, he descended, and with as much familiarity and leisure as one would while taking a stroll through their own garden. With his hands behind his back, and not bothering to cover a single part of his charming body, Koarleina, who was the only one there, other than Alice of course, to enjoy this pleasurable sight, was further and further entranced, unable to even look away.
Until that moment.
*Kyaaa!!!*
A sharp, despair ridden shout resounded within the floor, reaching from within the high quality speakers provided by the Dungeon Store. Koarleina froze momentarily, unable to comprehend who it was that screamed, before she hurriedly traced the sound, only to end up seeing a frightening scene.
‘What in the world!? How did a little girl get to the 109th floor!?’
As she looked at the Ogres, with rock hard tents, grin lustfully while approaching the little seventeen year old, and she realised what would soon happen to her, Koarleina couldn’t help but shudder.
‘No! Stop! Damn it! A speed monster! Don’t I have an agility based monster somewhere!?’
Koarleina’s motherly instinct screamed from within her, forcing her into thinking how she could save the young elf from the horrible fate that awaits her, yet that moment, she hears a sudden *boom* so loud, so deafening, and so frightening, that her ears almost burst.
‘…Ahh….’
A part of her Dungeon crumbles to pieces, shattering like rubble, while that man makes an entrance. With but three words, every single Ogre in the floor, which he hadn’t burned yet, perhaps having forgotten doing so, turned to ashes.
Koarleina looks at him through the top quality television, as he reaches out to the young elf. He smiles at her, a radiant, heart fluttering smile, and she felt as though she herself was in the young elf’s place, being rescued by her Prince Charming. His appearance seemed to have become even more charming, while his smile was imprinted within her heart, and she would never be able to forget it, even if she were to die.
But that moment, as she stared at the man, completely bewitched and enamoured, unable to take her eyes off his breath taking figure and his gentle, shiver inducing smile, she hears a another sharp sound, once more distracting her from her thoughts.
*slap*
“Pervert!!”
‘….huh?....wait…..what!?!? She…she slapped him!? How dare she!’
Koarleina was enraged. Truly enraged. After all, who wouldn’t be when they see their lover(self proclaimed) being slapped? Koarleina was staring at the young elf no longer with pity and concern, but with rage.
But when Zenith chuckles and uses the Dungeon Stone to make himself clothes, that rage nearly spun out of control!
‘No!! Please don’t! That rotten girl! It’s all her fault! Why did you have to remind him!?’
Unknowingly, Koarleina had turned into something akin to a pervert, though only a certain omniscient person knows this. Yet none could blame her, since Zenith was, at the end, some one who had been displaying a charm of several tens of thousands. Granted, it wasn’t even close to his true charm value, but if he does actually show his actual charm value, perhaps even men would fall in love with him at first sight, obviously not something he would appreciate. Women, now that’s something he wouldn’t mind.
While Koarleina was raging in the last floor of the Dungeon, the two of them talk, much to Koarleina’s envy. The elven girl then panics, and starts crying and begging for the man’s help. Confused, Koarleina tries to hard to understand what was bothering her, and only after several minutes did she understand her circumstances.
‘So…she’s been assaulted by a bunch of bastards in human skin, and then she teleported herself randomly, and then she ended up in the 109th floor…wait, doesn’t that make him a knight who saves the damsel in distress!? Doesn’t that mean that elf’s my competition!?’
Koarleina had no idea that she herself could only be considered a competitor as well, and that the slot for Zenith’s first wife was filled long ago. Regardless, when she saw Emilia pull down her dress to disclose her fair shoulders, she nearly crushed the screen in anger.
‘You! Rotten elf!! Perverted elf! How dare you try to seduce him!!’
Completely ignoring her previous actions, Koarleina gave Emilia the same name Emilia had given Zenith, but when she saw Zenith chuckle while touching her shoulder, the bright red glow and their talk after that completely slipped past her ears.
‘He…he…I…d-does he…like perverts…?...maybe…I should do the same…when he reaches the last floor?’
Koarleina seriously ponders while Zenith snaps his fingers to summon the four insignificant small fries and Ari. Just as she was about to wonder if they were the bastards in human skin, they disappear, leaving behind four piles of ash, not even their clothes and armour left behind. When the two elven siblings embrace each other and cry in joy and relief, Koarleina too found herself smiling as her dissatisfaction towards Emilia was reduced significantly.
But when she saw how affectionately Zenith held Ari, and how he pinched her cheeks making her giggle, she simply wouldn’t stop the flames of jealousy burning her.
‘Noo!! I want to be pinched too!’
Unfortunately, she could only stare at the two, the charming and handsome Zenith, and the cute and adorable Ari, walk and converse like they’ve known each other all their lives.
After that, she heard them speak of several topics, ranging to weather to Cities to Kingdoms to other Continents to Oceans and Seas to, well, lots of things, really. One thing, in particular, struck Koarleina.
‘Adventurer.’
That was what the elf was, what the little elf wanted to become, and also what the man promised to let her become. Koarleina wasn’t unfamiliar with Adventurers at all. After all, except for those ordered men and women in uniform armours who call themselves ‘Soldiers’ who come to the Dungeon once in a while, all the other Dungeon Raiders are people who call themselves Adventurers.
‘An Adventurer…does that mean he came here to hunt monsters?...w-well…I..I suppose I wouldn’t mind if these mindless idiots are killed…a-and Adventurers are known for conquering Dungeons….conquering….Dungeons….conquering….me……’
As Koarleina’s mind drifts away into the world of imagination, Zenith, Ari, and Emilia had finally reached the final floor of the Dungeon, floor#217. Not surprisingly, Koarleina was so involved in watching Zenith that she didn’t even bother expanding the Dungeon, or rather, she didn’t see a need to. While most Dungeons expand themselves for making more distance between themselves and the Invaders that come from the surface, Koarleina knew the moment she felt the unfathomable surge of mana from within Zenith’s body that no number of additional floors would make a difference.
And she was right. If Zenith so wished, he could have reached the lowest floor, and even the Core Room, in but a moment. The only reason he had not done so was because he was in no hurry, and also because he rather enjoyed the conversation with the two elves, as well as occasionally teasing his wife.
“This is the Core Room?”(Emilia)
“We’re at the lowest floor of the Dungeon, Big Brother?”(Ari)
“Yes. This is the Core Room of Dungeon Koarleina, the 217th Floor.”
Before the three was a humongous door, seemingly made of a strange silvery metal, that had several tens of thousands of runes inscribed on it. Looking at them for a moment, Zenith saw a little less than four hundred different spell circles engraved on this huge metal gate, boosting their defence to unimaginable levels.
((If defence is what they want, why can’t the Dungeon Core and Spirit simply close off the Core Room on all four sides with Dungeon Stone walls? Isn’t that much sturdier?))
Alice-box tilts in confusion as she muttered to herself since information on Dungeons aren’t available even in the Archives of the System. Indeed, even the System isn’t omniscient, which is one of the reasons for Alice’s shock when she saw Zenith’s Status. In the multiverse, while there might be few things that the System isn’t completely aware of, they most certainly exist, and one of them is the existence of Dungeons.
Even the System has no clue over how Dungeon Cores have the capability of creating monsters merely from mana and thoughts and emotions, since no artificial attempt in doing so has ever borne fruit to any being other than the Dungeon Cores. Such topics, which even the System isn’t fully aware of, are collectively called the Nine Unknowns, obviously stating that there are exactly nine topics the System doesn’t have complete understanding of.
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One of them is the existence of the Dungeons, while the others are the existence of Mana, the Abyss’ hive mind, the clear distinction between the races of Humans, Beast kin, Spirit kin, Demon kin, and Noble kin, the existence of the Grimoires, a maiden’s heart, the working of a woman’s mind, why the physically stronger men find themselves incapable of winning an argument against a woman, and why a monstrous freak like Zenith exists.
Hearing her mutter, Zenith smiles before saying,
“The Dungeon Cores must have their own rules, just like the rules in society. Like being unable to completely isolate any part of the Dungeon using walls, or how every floor in each and every Dungeon has a Safe Room without fail, for example.”
((Ahh, so that’s how it is…right…of course Dungeons have rules as well…The Sentient Races would have long gone extinct if Dungeons were free to do whatever they want with their prowess…))
Alice-box bobs up and down in understanding, making Zenith laugh to himself, causing Ari to look curiously at her Big Brother who was seemingly speaking to and laughing at an invisible and inaudible person.
“Big Brother, Who are you talking with?”, she asks Zenith, curious. Zenith looks at her and smiles lightly.
“Me? I’m talking with Big Sister Alice.”
“Big Sister Alice?”(Ari)
“Yes. Since you call me Big Brother, she’ll be your Big Sister too.”
‘Big Sister-in-law, that is.’, Zenith added to himself and Alice, making Alice-box blush a light pink.
“I can’t see Big Sister Alice?”, Ari says with a confused expression while looking around her. Emilia also blinks at Zenith, realising that her master wasn’t actually crazy and speaking to an imaginary friend. As if knowing her thoughts, Zenith lightly pinches her soft and slender waist, making her yelp in shock and glare at him with slightly watery eyes.
“Big Sister Alice is speaking from far, far away right now. You remember how I brought you to the Dungeon right?”
“Yes! Ari remembers! There was four big bad men looking at Ari while taking their clothes off, and then Ari shouted at them that they would disappear if they come closer, and then they disappeared! And then Ari found herself in the Dungeon! Ah, so Big Brother will bring Big Sister here like that as well?”(Ari)
“Yes.”
Ari suddenly looked as if she had just been enlightened, and asked Zenith with an excited expression.
“Big Brother, was Ari the one who made those big baddies disappear?”(Ari)
Looking at the little elf asking him with excitement apparent in her tone, Zenith couldn’t help but smile as he poked her forehead gently. The next moment, Ari’s soul trembled ever so slightly, as she blinked her eyes in confusion when a strange, refreshing feeling coursed through her body. Unknown to her, however, Zenith had just given her a small gift.
((User Parameter Display(Status)))
User ID:[Ari]
User Priority:[Grade-10]
Race:[Elf] Age:[12 years] Sex:[Female]
Primary Class:[Zenith’s Adventurer:Lv-1/???]
HP:14.5/14.5 HP Recovery:0.013 /second
MP:3/3 MP Recovery:0.012 /second
SP:15.75/15.75 SP Recovery:0.014 /second
((Stats))
Strength:6(10) Intelligence:8(10) Mana Density:0(0)
Endurance:7(10) Wisdom:9(10) Mana Recovery:0(0)
Vitality:9(10) Willpower:17(10) Mana Capacity:0(0)
Agility:10(10) Dexterity:7(10) Mana Perception:0(0)
Control:8(10) Focus:8(10) Mana Manipulation:0(0)
Charm:30(10) Luck:???(10) Mana Affinity:12(0)
Life:???(10) Natural Recovery:6(10)
((Skills))
[Zenith’s Blood:Lv-10/10] | [Familiarity:Lv-10/10] | [Survival:Lv-4/10] | [Ut Incenderent Cinere:Lv-?/♾]
Of course, it is but a mere small gift for Zenith to give his little Adventurer an unknown levelled Skill, but it is arguably something that even the System would hold with envy. The so-called Status is, at the end, only the product of the System’s analysis based on its Archives of knowledge, but for someone like Zenith who had long since surpassed any estimable parameters, there is simply no known quantity of high enough magnitude that could measure his stats. Not to mention, his mastery over the skills he possesses is something that none in the entire multiverse had achieved before, so even if one were to analyse his skills, they wouldn’t be able to quantify Zenith’s mastery over it purely because there had been no precedent to a being possessing the skills Zenith possesses.
Long story short, Zenith is basically a unique being whose actions simply cannot be replicated. And as if proof of that, even the System couldn’t measure the level of the skill that Zenith had imparted Ari.
“Yes. Ari was the one who made those big baddies disappear. But Ari must be careful, alright? Because if Ari isn’t careful, Ari could make Big Brother or Big Sister disappear. Ari wouldn’t want that, right?”
“No! Ari doesn’t!....then…Ari will learn to be careful…”(Ari)
Ari nods her head with as much sincerity and seriousness as a twelve year old could possibly muster, but that only increased her cuteness. Zenith laughed out loud looking at her solemn expression, secretly putting a small seal on her skill, one that would inform him the moment she tries to activate it.
‘With my current perception, I’ll have more than enough time to check Ari’s victims the moment she tries to use the skill…but how come it’s a skill? Why isn’t it a spell? I was sure she’d get the Grimoire of Fire…’
Zenith shook his head, deciding not to use his Omniscience to get the answer for that question and instead figure it out the hard, yet also more interesting, way. Or rather, he simply wants to hear it from Alice, distracting her from her shock over witnessing his Status, while also conveniently hearing her voice. Truly, this man is beyond saving.
((Oh, that? Now that I think of it, you haven’t seen Emilia’s Status yet, have you?))
‘Emi’s status?’
Thinking so, Zenith casually, very casually and nonchalantly, grasps the thin and feeble bond between him and Emilia, the bond between a master and a slave, and uses it to grab her soul, or rather a small part of it, and while conveniently reinforcing that bond, he extremely leisurely copies the System’s method of analysing one’s parameters, while making his own adjustments of course. Though, the System’s expression if it was to know that Zenith had just easily surpassed what it had taken several hundreds of millennia to accomplish, was open to debate.
((Status))
Name:Emilia
Race:Elf Age:17 years Sex:Female
Class:Zenith’s Slave Lv-27/???
HP:630/630(Physique*10) SP:482/505 (Physique*5 + Psyche*5) MP:310/310(Magic*10)
HP R:6.3/sec SP R:5.05/sec MP R:3.1/sec
((Stats))
Physique:63 Psyche:38 Magic:31 Charm:42 Luck:?
Stat Points:0
((Skills))
(Dagger Mastery:Lv-4) | (Evasion:Lv-3) | (Survival:Lv-9) | (Foresight:Lv-2) | (Intuition:Lv-2) | (Gathering:Lv-4) | (Bargaining:Lv-3) | (Lucky Dice:Lv-10) | (Lucky Teleport:Lv-10) | (Lucky Guess:Lv-10) | (Lucky Strike:Lv-10) | (Lucky Step:Lv-10)
‘Wow…that’s a lot lucky skills…but why doesn’t she have a single Grimoire?...wait, could it be…are Grimoires hard to gain or something?’
((Of course they are hard to gain! Do you have any idea what a Grimoire means? A Grimoire is like the representation of someone making a skill into their own spell!))
‘…yeah……no, I don’t get it. You did say the difference between skills and spells is…ahh…so that’s how it is…’
Zenith bitterly shakes his head ever so slightly, thinking to himself that the System had truly made people dependent on it. Just based on those few words Alice had spoken, along with the little information he had gained previously, Zenith could connect the dots with his infinite intelligence and wisdom and grasp at the truth beyond any guesses and theories.
What Zenith realised, is that skills are, at the end, something that the System had given those of the Sentient Race as the immediate fruit of their effort. In other words, skills are a power that the System controls, and it is also the System that assists in the usage and activation of skills. Take the (Lucky Teleport) skill Emilia has, for example. A teleportation spell is normally casted in the order of, gathering mana, enclosing your body in mana, separating yourself from the surrounding space, using mana to tear a hole through the void and sending mana into space to which you wish to teleport, enclosing the present matter that is occupying your future position, and pulling that matter into the void, and pushing yourself into the void as well simultaneously, and exchanging your positions.
A random teleportation spell is simpler, albeit more dangerous. The matter at the destination isn’t brought back, but is instead either dispersed or disintegrated, or even simply thrown and abandoned on the void. Although the latter might cause a disaster that could lead to as small a change as a pile of whatever dropping into the ocean to as large as a pile of whatever emerging at the centre of a star, making it go boom.
Emilia’s (Lucky Teleport) skill is, on the other hand, a skill and not a spell. The difference is that while the name implies the destination depends on luck, the destination, the casting of the spell, and everything else, even the usage of mana within her, is taken care of by the System.
Whereas someone possessing a Grimoire, has the capability of controlling their spell completely. In other words, the System has no capability in interfering with the spell. Be it activation of the spell, or the order in which the spell is executed, or the flow of mana, or the expenditure of mana, or the time at which the spell is activated, or the amount of mana involved in the spell, or any form of modifications done to the spell matrix in order to change it midway to another spell, anything can be, and also must be, done by the caster himself/herself.
A (Fireball) skill cannot be changed into a (Fire Arrow) skill midway, but a (Fireball) spell can even be turned into a (Flood) spell which is of a completely different element, or even into a (Teleportation) spell of a higher ordered attribute of the Caster is component enough.
Deducing all this, the conclusion Zenith came to was pretty simple.
‘So skills are something the System gives, while having a Grimoire means you have learned and made your own at least one of the skills that the System gave you?’
((Exactly. In other words, the spells written in your Grimoires are no longer considered a gift from the System, it are instead considered something you yourself made.))
Walking forward to the large silvery gate, and watching it open by itself along with the excited Ari and the surprised and cautious Emilia, Zenith, who already knew of the one waiting for them, or rather, for him, behind the gate, furrowed his brows ever so slightly.
‘…how many people possess Grimoires in the Multiverse?’
Despite having a rather bad feeling, Zenith asks either way, yet the answer he gets was one that was far beyond his imagination.
((Zero.))
‘…you can’t have to call me by my surname, dear…you can just call me Zenith, or even love, or darling, honey, dear, husband, hubby,…’
((….accept reality, Zenith.))
Zenith continues speaking, or rather thinking, of several other names, just to escape from reality, for even his infinite mind couldn’t have prepared him for that answer.
‘…none?....like….no one?....seriously?’
((Yes. Why do you think you’re special? Why do you think the System marked you as a Grade:? Priority?))
‘…..hah….’
The large, silvery gate opens, and Zenith unconsciously walks forward, with Ari riding his shoulder and Emilia following behind him, and Koarleina, a beautiful and mature looking woman in full armour was waiting for them, her long crimson hair tied into a ponytail, and her ruby eyes staring at Zenith with obvious emotions. A large, glowing sphere, the Dungeon Core, was right behind her, while an even larger being, or rather, a monster, that seemed to tower over forty feet in height, was staring at them with unconcealed fear flashing past its slightly intelligent eyes.
The Dungeon Boss, a Level:1276 Lesser Titan, was shivering at the sight of the man who had just decimated every last one of its brethren in the entire 217 floored Dungeon, while Koarleina was trembling for a different, more excitable reason. Looking at this scene, Zenith sighs before shoving those thoughts of disbelief to the back of his head, secretly having decided on his next pet project, before smiling as gently and charmingly as he possibly could and saying in a soft yet pleasant voice,
“Hello, Ina. Ah, you don’t mind me calling you Ina, right?”
“…..Nn….”(Koarleina)
The next moment, Koarleina falls to the ground, shivering and trembling, while her eyes gloss over and she stares at Zenith in a daze, her fair cheeks now adopting a reddish glow, as a new puddle forms beneath her.