Slowly, oh so slowly I regained my consciousness. Like picking up the shattered pieces of a broken pot, and putting them back together. I thought here, I sensation there, and floating memories everywhere. Suddenly everything clicked back in place, the struggle in the dungeon my sorry state, everything. My eyes began to open to be shut tight the next moment. The bright light tormenting my pupils even through my eyelids. It took a while but I was able to open them back up, the light still bothering me to an uncanny degree. Using my left arm to shield my eyes from the light I noticed it being bandaged thoroughly, with multiple red spots here and there. My senses where extremely dull, I could barely make things out, like the cloths I am waring barely registering on my sense of touch. Hell, I could be standing right now and I wouldn't know.

A few minutes went by as I tried to make north or south of my current situation. All I can remember is in a blur but I do know I was inside the dungeon struggling to stay alive. My eyes have finally gotten used to the light but it still bothers me. Looking around I see a somewhat familiar room, with white beds separated by curtains, a wooden roof above with white walls and floor, everything kept neatly. The source of the blinding light is all around in the form of magic stones withe light runs carved on them. I can't comprehend why would somewhat set it up to be this bright but whatever.

I have regained enough control over my body senes that horrible tiredness and sluggish sensation wash over me. It is the typical feeling a lazy person who never excesses would get after a whole day at the gym. I try my best to sit on the bed I am currently laying on, it took a while since I feel sore all over. After that first task, I decide to climb down from the bed, which thankfully isn't all that tall, to begin with. I feel the cool floor through my feet, and that's when I realize my clothes are different from the ones I had before. I have no shoes or socks on, my shirt is baggy and large just like my pants. It takes me a few tries before I am finally able to stand up, my legs complaining by sending pain signals to my brain every time I tried and even now that I am standing up.

I take small steps, a few at a time but progress is progress. I already tried activating overload to try and heal myself up, but my mana pool is completely empty, at most I managed to make the whole experience a little less painful. After a minute or so I am finally able to walk past the curtain that was blocking my view to the left and right and notice a man sitting on a desk at the end of the room reading through some papers. My sight is still messy making it impossible to make his features but I already have a good idea of who he is. As I open my mouth to try and speak a sharp pain invades my throat as if I had swallowed a bunch of iron nails. I rough cough comes out instead of my voice forcing me onto the floor.

A after a few more coughs a feel a palm press gently on my back. Looking up I can see the man offering a glass of water which I greedily gulp down. The liquid flowing through made de pain subside a little and after a few more coughs it was finally gone. With a smile, the man began to talk.

"You know, its the second time you have been here. If the first time you had been knocking on death's doorstep this time you were already having tea and cookies inside its house"

The man gave small chuckle perhaps amused at his own remark before continuing.

"I didn't present myself last time, my name is Oliver O' Conor, just calm me Oliver or Oli, my friends call me that"

He gave a small sigh and as I was about to try and talk once more he interrupted me.

"Don't talk, Your vocal cords much like the rest of your body is in a complete and absolute mess. As I said before if last time the fact that you survived could be considered a miracle this time it could be thought as divine intervention. No living creature should be able to pull through something like that no matter how stubborn their life force is"

I gave him a puzzled look as I couldn't understand exactly what he was talking about. I do remember being in bad shape with cuts and bruces everywhere alongside the fact I spent I good amount of time without food or water, but it couldn't have been that bad, right?

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"Let me explain things since you look confused. For starters, your body was completely invaded by miasma, and am not talking about a small amount. if we were to make a direct conversion from miasma to mana the amount in your body would be enough to fuel a pyroblast spell the size of a small house! you have no idea how hard it was to extract and purify such a large amount not to mention your body refused to let go of it!"

He sighed and took a deep breath as if trying to push back his nerves.

"That's not all there is to it. I am not sure if you know about this but miasma causes mutations on living beings transforming them into hideous creatures. With the amount inside your body its no exaggeration to say a few hundred people could be turned into evil beings yet here you are. I am not saying everything is good and dandy, that eye of yours is proof of it"

He pointed at my left eye which I remember the white of it being a deep black that absorbed all light while the iris had a slight glow crimson red. I hurriedly placed covered it and I guess my worry was obvious as Oliver continued while shaking his head.

"Don't worry its back to normal. It turned back after we finished extracting the miasma of your body. however whatever happened to it and the rest of your body remains. We ran a few tests on your body and most things seem the same, however, we can't be sure. When you heal a little more we should run a few more tests. We will need to ask you a few questions as well to ensure nothing is wrong. For now, you should go back to sleep, it's not a good idea to strain your body right now, who knows what may happen if you do"

As he finished he took my arm around his shoulder lifting me up in a princes carry and settling me back down on the bad I had been a while ago. It was embarrassing being in a princes carry, I would never let anyone do that to me if I had my strength but in my current situation, not even a complain could leave my mouth. I simply accepted his words and silently laid there. To tell the truth, I don't feel tired, who knows for how long I have been asleep and going asleep after waking up is not that easy even if I am a lazy person. Thinking back I never took this situation seriously. Some may think I simply adapted quickly but it was more like being in a dream state, you know, like being the protagonist of your own story. But now I realize that things aren't that simple.

Recalling the events until now I can't blame my past self for being and acting how I did. It was too surreal to believe, but now that I have been close to dying twice there is no way I can keep going how I did until now. This world is far more savage than Earth, dangers lurk in every corner and me swinging a stick with a pointy edge like a kid won't do me any good. This is not like those reincarnation stories where the protagonist has a cheat ability right of the bat. I mean I do have overload but everybody else has their own unique ability as well! naive, I was way too naive. After I heal back up am going to ask George for another round of hellish training as much as I hate it. There is no use complaining about how hard it is or how tired I will be if am not alive to do so.

Well, at least a few good things came from this ordeal. First I came to this necessary realisation, who knows what could have happened if I kept going as is and ended up meeting an opponent far superior to myself, for sure I would end up dead. Second I got Naru and Pyrka, with them I won't have to worry any longer about weapons. I guess I will have to tell the old man I won't be buying any more swords. Now that I think about it Naru and Pyrka didn't have a scabbard guess I have a final request for him. By the way where are those two? I didn't see them when I stood up. I guess it doesn't matter right now, there isn't anything I can do in my current state anyway. Might as well rest, heal up and worry about all that when I can do something about it.

Elsewhere:

"Hey, Naru do you think it was a good idea to let them carry us? shouldn't we have stayed put where we were?"

"In the middle of the dungeon? Would you have Amelia venture back in without us? don't be dumb my dear sister, as strong and strong-willed she is I doubt she would willingly go in there again so soon after this sour experience"

"But what if the other humans try to hide us from her to use us for their own gain?"

"Simple, we make the entire place go up in a maelstrom of flames and wind to let her know where we are"

"You are a scary one, and I am supposed to be the evil one here, however, I do agree, but where are you planning to get the mana from?"

"The first fool who dares place their filthy hands on our hilts"

"May they rest in peace"

"Yes, may they rest in pieces"