The sun shone brightly, but its heat couldn’t curb the enthusiasm of a group of children standing in a field. Around them were several ‘play areas’, which Theo would later recognize as training equipment. Obstacle courses, targets for practicing throwing and archery, and racks with wooden swords and other weapons were swarmed as the children rushed to play. A few smiling adults watched over them, occasionally jotting down notes.

For most of the children, this was truly just play. But for some, ten years was already enough to reveal their talent, or at least interest, in combat. A young Theo competed happily with the other children. While he didn’t win every time, his enthusiasm and the speed at which he learned gave the adults a favorable impression. Later on, when the kids were split into groups of ‘normals’, ‘raiders’, ‘scholars’ and ‘mages’, Theo was put in the raiders group.

Until he was adopted by Ravens, Theo trained ceaselessly with his peers. On the surface, all of them worked hard because they wanted to become raiders. Very few of them truly understood what raiding was, but they hadn’t been taught to question their instructors.

That changed once Theo met Ravens.

“Listen, people don’t truly care about other people. You’re either using someone or you’re the one being used.”

After one of their training sessions, Ravens’ apprentices were lying on the ground. They were too exhausted to move, but they still listened carefully as their master spoke.

“The people at Brightstone only see you as tools. That’s why you’re trained like that from such a young age. I’m sure you’ve seen other children when we walk around the city. Did they have the same stoic expressions that you do?”

Ravens shook his head.

“Raiders need to be able to think selfishly. If you don’t have real ambition, then you won’t be able to hack it. Ask yourselves, what do you actually want to accomplish with your lives?”

“I…I want to be like you.” One of the apprentices said between ragged breaths.

The others quickly agreed.

“Why?”

Ravens’ question was met with silence. As apprentices, they were supposed to want to be like their master. The children felt somewhat embarrassed when they realized that was where their thoughts ended.

“You said that raiding was like drawing straws, once.” Theo spoke up. “Only a few people win, while everyone else is forgotten. If that’s true, then I want to be someone that people will remember, like you.”

Ravens stared at Theo, causing the apprentice to flinch. His master didn’t show any happiness, but the veteran didn’t seem angry either.

“…Maybe you’re waiting for me to say that was the right answer, but I won’t.”

Theo’s heart raced while Ravens sighed.

“If you find yourself in a life or death situation, then you’ll know if that answer was enough.”

- - -

There was no sun in the fourth layer, but an oppressive heat filled it all the same. The secret behind this paradox hid beneath every raider’s feet. The fourth layer’s red sand carried a sadistic enchantment that sucked the mana out of living beings. This mana was then used to power a large-scale enchantment that managed the layer’s temperature. Although, that alone wouldn’t be enough to maintain the spell.

In truth, these kinds of enchantments were powered by ‘mana veins’ that spread out from the dungeon’s center. Plenty of people have tried to locate and harness these veins, but no one has ever succeeded. The dungeon’s will would never allow such a thing.

Theo continued to trek through the desert. Sweat poured down his brow while the sand relentlessly siphoned his mana, but he kept looking ahead with cold eyes. Worried by his sudden change in attitude, Mavis constantly brought up new topics for conversation.

“Should have…taken…griffon with us. Looked tasty.”

“This is called…sand? Very strange. This ground…acts like water.”

“The surface is never…hot…like this, right? I would…boil.”

When Theo continued to ignore it, Mavis decided to bite the bullet and bring up something that it had been avoiding.

“Actually…I saw scary man…Ravens…before.”

Theo stopped walking. His hands shook slightly as he pulled out Mavis’s core.

“Where? When?”

“During…blood moon.” The slime’s core trembled as it spoke. “Back when I…found Vivian. Didn’t want to say because…because…I…”

Theo’s hands tightened around the core.

“SAY IT!”

“I…I almost killed…Vivi…During blood moon. Wasn’t…thinking…clearly. Couldn’t…stop.”

Mavis’s pained voice seemed to bring Theo back to his senses. He released his grip on the core.

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“Before…I did…anything…bad…Ravens…came. Was…half…there…half…not. Hit my…core…and…knocked me…out.”

Theo’s eyes widened.

“Don’t remember…everything…he said. But…he said…he owed me. He…was…glad…someone was…still alive.”

A blistering wind brushed past the outlaw, buffeting him with sand. Theo barely registered this as he stared at Mavis. The slime core was shivering in his palm like a tiny animal. After a short but seemingly long time, Theo brought his other hand over and patted Mavis’s core.

“Thanks for telling me.”

“That…someone…was…probably you.”

“…Yea.” Theo admitted.

More time passed, and Theo swallowed what little saliva he had.

“Ravens was half-visible, right? That was probably a clone created from the Divine Mirror, one of his platinum-tier treasures. The Divine Mirror can duplicate all sorts of things at the cost of some mana. It can even create temporary clones of living beings but doing that costs years of your life.”

“How many…years?”

“I don’t know. He can only make one at a time, and I only saw him use it once when all of us were…” Theo trailed off.

Mavis noticed that Theo looked a little queasy. He’d had a similar reaction when Nora brought up the floor below the fifth layer.

“Theo, Ravens wasn’t…surprised. When he saw me…talking…he spoke like normal.”

“He must have been following me, and by extension you, for a while.”

“Probably…but…maybe he has seen…other monsters…like me.”

Theo shrugged and started walking again.

“If he did, he wouldn’t have told me. I don’t know why he tried to take your core, but right now, we need to find shelter from this desert.”

The mysterious black object loomed ahead of them. By now, Theo could see that it was actually some kind of rock. Its size dwarfed human houses and was more comparable to a boulder-shaped castle. In fact, castle was an apt comparison when one considered the myriad creatures garrisoned inside. An uncountable number of holes were dotted across its surface, each leading to a system of congested tunnels. These tunnels were the only place in the fourth layer where monsters and humans could catch a break from the red sand and sweltering heat.

Theo felt some immediate relief just by being near it. The desert’s heat suddenly grew mild. When he stretched out his hand, Theo could feel the difference in temperature on each end of his body. Magic was the only explanation.

Several sets of eyes glared at the outlaw from above, but nothing attacked him as he searched for an opening that he could fit into. Once he found one, Theo tapped the cool rock with his hands before crawling inside. The cramped passageway eventually opened up into a tunnel that Theo could stand in.

“A place to sleep…”

The outlaw muttered to himself as he stumbled forward. Ahead of him was a soft pile of bedding made from sand and hair. Unfortunately, it was already occupied. Dozens of silhouettes twitched in the dark. Fur bristled, claws clacked, and the area seemed to brighten slightly as the monsters opened their gleaming red eyes.

Stepping back, Theo glanced over his shoulder at the tunnel’s only exit. He’d managed to crawl his way through once, but these rodents could clearly outrun him. Even though he couldn’t get a good look at them, Theo had a good idea of what these monsters were. Back in Jigou, he’d fought plenty of rat-like monsters and they all shared similar characteristics. The first layer’s packers had only added to his experience.

Theo ripped off one of his gauntlets and stuffed Mavis’s core inside of it. He tossed the treasure to one end of the den, but the monsters ignored it.

“Appraise that and start charging it with mana!” Theo ordered.

“Ok!” Was the slime’s muffled reply.

These desert rats were much more aggressive than the cowardly packers. After he’d thrown Mavis, Theo barely had time to react before they lunged towards him. He thrust out his remaining gauntlet and channeled mana into it. A shotgun spray of water battered the monsters. Each rodent was half as long as Theo was tall, and their muscular frames weren’t easy to push around. Even so, the gauntlet’s water pressure knocked them away.

Unperturbed, the monsters spread out and attacked from multiple angles. Theo’s eyelids sagged as he swung his head to follow them. He wanted to use his boots to dash away, but this area was too small. Grimacing, Theo took his first hit as a rat sank its teeth into his right leg. A second attacker was repelled with Voidcutter while a third latched onto his shoulder. The rat flew into a wall after being hit with a blast of water, but Theo was now bleeding from two spots. He tried to shake the rat off his leg, only to discover that the limb had gone numb.

Desert rats were relatively small for fourth layer monsters and didn’t pose much of a threat alone. However, their fangs could easily pierce non-metal armor and inject a fast-acting poison. Raiders that underestimated these rodents would be overwhelmed, paralyzed and then swiftly killed.

Fortunately, in his weakened state, Theo wouldn’t dream of underestimating them.

“Mavis!”

“Done!”

The lavender gauntlet with Mavis’s core suddenly rocketed into the air as a heavy stream of water propelled it upwards. A sharp ding rang out as the gauntlet collided with the ceiling, but the torrent pouring from its palm showed no signs of stopping. The rats looked up in surprise, but they could only watch as their den was submerged in water.

“…Stay.”

Mavis’s gauntlet waved slightly as the water lurched unnaturally away from the exit tunnel. Theo was pushed up to the ceiling, where an air bubble had formed. Meanwhile, the rats were crushed beneath the water pressure. They couldn’t retaliate before they drowned.

Once its job was done, Mavis slowly drained the den and placed Theo back on the ground. Theo crawled over to one of the rats and cut out its core. He repeated this process until his wounds recovered. Unfortunately, his fatigue couldn’t be fixed in the same way. Unable to think about anything else, Theo placed his back against a wall and promptly fell asleep.

Theo’s dreams were less than pleasant. Bloody memories of his brothers and Ravens swirled around in his head. There were plenty of times when he woke up, only to realize that he was still in a dream. Theo wasn’t a stranger to these nightmares. He’d experienced nights like this for several weeks after the incident in Jigou’s mystery floor. Theo had been improving recently, but meeting Ravens again had triggered a relapse.

“Theo…you…ok?”

When he finally opened his eyes for real, Theo noticed a gleaming core lying in his palm.

“…No.” He replied wearily. “Mavis, I told you that I was an orphan, right? I said that explaining what parents were would be a pain, but to tell you the truth, I don’t really know the answer. I’ve spent my entire life training to become a raider, and the only person who would qualify as my parent is…he’s…more of a monster than you or those rats.”

Theo could feel the core in his hand shudder slightly, but it didn’t say anything.

“Ravens took me and his other apprentices into a special floor of a different dungeon. I think it must be similar to what Nora was talking about. There were a bunch of strong monsters…and everyone else died. Ravens just let them die. He even framed me for their deaths, which is how I became an outlaw.”

“Theo…”

“But I let them die too. I fought to save myself, and somehow survived.”

The den was silent until Theo spoke again.

“What I’m trying to say is…I don’t think I’m qualified to teach you how to be a human. I’m barely ‘human’ myself.”

Theo stiffened as he felt an odd sensation on his palm. He looked down to see a tiny tentacle patting him.

“I would be…happy…to become…a human…like…you.”

Theo turned away and closed his eyes. Mavis stopped moving once it realized that he’d fallen asleep again. This time, Theo seemed to be sleeping peacefully.