Day 17
I had a dream last night. Dreams… are weird. I’ve never experienced this abnormal thing called ‘dreaming’ in my life. Do people actually think of things while they sleep?!
It’s hard to explain. Basically when I sleep, I close my eyes to only see darkness. The day will pass and I’ll just wake up. In other words when I sleep, I would look at darkness until I woke up. Dreams are a mystery to me.
Even though I did not have dreams, I have a strong imagination. Back on planet Earth, I would often imagine myself as a hero. A hero that was chosen out of thousands and my goal would be to defeat the demon lord in order to save the world. I would find companions along the way and eventually have a harem to myself. But of course, imaginations were just imaginations.
Thinking back to my dream, it felt realistic. But as time passed, my thoughts became fuzzy. I could not remember the exact scene. However, I still remembered the context of my dream.
In my dream, I was a young human boy. I lived in a cottage with my family. We had a big grassy field that stretched through the plains. My father would work as a farmer while my mother would stay at home and teach me. Life was peaceful. One day a big fiery dragon that breathed fire, attacked the village I live in. The village razed to the ground. Nothing was left standing from the dragon’s rampage.
In order to get my revenge, I trained every day to become a knight. I would practice sword fighting till the late hours and worked out whenever I had time. While other children played with toys, I was learning how to handle a sword. Eventually, I got recruited in the army. I felt proud of finally being in the ranks of the same people who I looked up to as my benefactors. A knight that risked his life on a daily basis to protect those in need. It was every boy’s dream to join the army.
But in my first expedition, I saw the harsh reality of war. We entered a forests said to house a lot of monsters in order to kill the dragon that once destroyed my village. Passing through the forests was difficult. Every day was a struggle to stay alive. We would get ambushed by wolves and attacked by ogres. The comrades that I spent fought side by side eventually dwindled.
Soon enough only ten of us were left. Morale was low. We had lost motivation to travel. It wasn’t long before it was my turn to go. During a night raid, a bunch of trolls found our campsite and attacked us. We were caught off-guard and many of us died. The last scene I could remember was laying beneath a large peach tree in my proud full body armor that I worked so hard to get. My first expedition resulted in my death.
I then woke up, drenched in sweat. Breathing heavily, I looked to my side to see Silica sleeping peacefully. It was a pretty surreal experience. It felt so real.
Silica eventually woke up. We followed our daily schedule by eating breakfast before proceeding to the next room.
We were already in the 51st room. Time had passed by so fast. I could still remember the day I was born. I wonder what my mother was like…
Putting my thoughts aside, Silica supported me while I tore the monsters to shreds. The 51st room contained bunny like humanoids. They had animal characteristics with no resemblance to humans at all. The only difference they had from a regular rabbit was their size and the fact they stood on two legs.
The room was a rocky like place that resembled a cavern. It had a small crystal in the celling that was the only light source in the room. I had thought of putting a torch in one of my tails. But that would be inefficient if we fought the monsters in this level.
The bunnies were agile. They had fast reflexes that prevented me from outright clawing their face off. Whenever I thought I had them trapped, they would dodge before retreating. In terms of strength, I would say that they were slightly weaker than me. They had tried to punch me a few times but I hid in the shadows of the room. Their punch could break the rocks in this level.
I used Shadow Passing to assassinate the bunnies. By now, I was close to mastering this technique. The key to using this ability was erasing your presence. If you erase your presence, beings that live by their instincts would be unable to detect your location.
I had learnt the concept of presence when conversing with Silica. She basically schooled me on how the mechanic worked. If you ever encounter a tiger, you may run away in fear. But why don’t you feel fear when you encounter a rabbit? Another term for presence is called murderous intent.
If you’re intent is high, you could scare off weak enemies or in extreme situations, could even make them faint. Our instincts helps to detect this intent in order to protect ourselves from stronger foes. No one would willing die by fighting a battle they can’t win.
When Silica unleased her presence in front of me, I almost fainted from shock. Normally, she was a small fairy that I always depended on. But after she let loose, she seemed like a giant. Our difference in strength was incomparable. I was grateful for not making her my enemy.
She then taught me the basics of controlling my presence in order for me to master my ability.
As I was level 49, I could do Shadow Passing 4 times. The main issue was the mana cost of changing into human form. Switching forms burned my mana bar. It was the best skill I had but the cost was really inefficient.
Shadow Control Level Up - New ability learnt
After using my shadow form for the fourth time and killing a bunny, a window appeared telling me that my shadow control leveled up.
There were still two more bunny humanoids left in the room.
Silica made a water barrier, allowing to fight one rabbit at a time. The rabbit humanoid leaped in front of me. It aimed a left hook at my face. But I suddenly released my killing intent, making the rabbit retreat back in shock. I then ran in front of him before using my tail to pierce his heart. It moved did not dodge in time even though he noticed my attack. It was due to being shock at my sudden presence.
You have gained 42,391 exp
Silica then opened the water barrier, allowing the last bunny humanoid inside. It was shivering in fear after seeing the carcass of its brethren. I ran up to him on my fours. When I got close, the bunny retaliated by punching the air. It had assumed I would run straight at him. I was quick enough to see his attack. I dodged by ducking down before pouncing on its arm.
*Crunch*
I bit its forearm off. Its meat tasted like salmon. It then retreated back while staring at its torn limb. *chew* *chew*. Eating the arm allowed me to restore HP and MP at the same time. I’m not sure how this world works. But eating flesh or food regenerates HP while drinking monster blood restores MP. Blood was oozing out of its arm. Apparently the trauma of losing a limb was too much for it to handle.
The rabbit then ran away in fear. It made a grave mistake by running into the water barrier. Monsters that try to escape Silica’s water barrier get frozen inside the water. It prevented monsters from foolishly leaving and sent a message to the rest of the monsters. Too bad none of its kind attempted to leave the barrier earlier.
All that’s left of the rabbit was its body that was frozen solid. It looked like a professional ice sculpture. The details were really life like.
『Good job idiot. Now let’s head to the nex-』
Hey Silica I gained a new ability.
『Oh really? What is it?』
The window said shadow control level up… then something about gaining a new ability.
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『You know that you can check the description of your abilities and skills… right…?』
You can?!
『I assumed you knew as you know how to use your abilities… a-anyway just say shadow control description in your head and it should display what your ability is.』
Thanks Silica!
『I-It’s not as if I helped you because I wanted too… baka Kitsune.』
Silica covered her face to hide in order to hide her expression. But I could tell that that her face was bright red. I wanted to tease her, but I have better things to do.
*Shadow Control Description*
Shadow ControlLevel2**Description**
Shadow Control level 1
Access - Gives user the power to enter shadows freely.
Shadow Control level 2
Mark – Allows user to mark an objects or being with his/her blood. User will be able to access their shadow freely.
The descriptions are very vague… I know what <
Hey Silica.
『Yes?』
She removed her hand that was covering her face. We were looking into each other’s eyes.
Come closer.
『What are you planning? Does it have something to do with your ability? Baka Kitsune…』
Yeah I want to test something out.
I turned into my humanoid form as Silica flew closer to me. When she was close enough, I bit the lower part of my lip before kissing her. Forcing my lips to connect with hers, I then sticked my tongue into her mouth allowing them to intertwine.
At first Silica was pushing me away, but then her strength suddenly faded and she accepted my kiss. Our saliva’s mixed and I drank it down while sucking her tongue. The sensation of kissing was ecstatic and addictive. Her soft lips felt like heaven when it connected with mine. Our saliva formed a line when our lips parted. It signified the end of bliss. Her saliva tasted sweeter than honey. Only a minute had passed, but it felt as if we were connected for hours. It felt so… good.
『Wha-What was t-that y-you idiot! >\\\<
… it was my first… time…』
Silica’s face flushed bright red. But by kissing her, it allowed me to smear blood on her lips. Honestly that was my first kiss as well. As an otaku, you don’t get to meet many girls, let alone kiss one. Ignoring Silica, I reverted to my fox form before jumping into my shadow.
My shadow was special as it did not move when I hid inside it. Even when the light source changed or glowed brighter, my shadow’s size would remain the same as long as I was inside it.
When I entered my shadow, I finally understood what my <> ability was. In the shadow, there were two screens. The screens were laid parallel from each other, sandwiching me in the middle. One screen showed the exit of my shadow, while the other showed the exit to Silica’s shadow. My <> ability allowed me to connect shadows together, letting them act as a wormhole. This will allow me to assassinate monsters faster during fights. I just need to put my blood on them.
I then exited through Silica’s shadow, she flew back in surprise. It turns out that my original shadow was still in its current location. And by walking around, I did not have a shadow. My mana was also constantly decreasing as well. Was this the side effect of using the ability?
I then returned by entering Silica’s shadow before exiting through my own. My shadow had returned back to me. It turns out if I use my shadow as a medium, my mana would decrease. I then tested my ability by entering the shadow of a nearby rock while exiting through Silica’s shadow. It turns out my mana did not decrease at all. But when I entered Silica’s shadow, there was only one screen that showed the exit of her shadow.
This means that my <> power was a one way ticket to who I marked unless I use my own shadow. But using my shadow will decrease my mana….
I then experimented my ability even further by marking two different objects. It turns out that the experiment did not work out in the way I had initially planned. When I entered the shadow, there were two screens. The first was where I entered from. The second was the object I marked second. It turns out I could only mark one object or being at a time.
『W-wait a second… were you just testing out your new ability?!』
Yep. What did else did you think I was doing?
『N-nothing y-you baka Kitsune.』
Teasing Silica while she was flustered made me experience a warm and fuzzy feeling in my chest. It felt pleasant to say the least. She was shaking her head while covering her face. So Silica can be cute too huh…
We then continued on to the other rooms. With my new ability <>, we managed to keep up the pace even in the higher level rooms. It was a gap closer and allowed me to ambush monsters in my wolf form. Shadow Passing was more deadly as a skill as it’s a guaranteed assassination. But the mana cost was too much. Using <> was cheaper and faster.
Silica seemed distracted during some fights. It was pretty uncharacteristic to cast the wrong spell while we were fighting. She would usually be serious and often insulted me during fights. But today, she was silent and messed up quite a bit. I wonder what made her like this… oh well. I guess everyone has their bad days.
We conquered the 60th room before deciding to rest for the night. Silica told me that our pace would drop once we hit the 50th room. But today, we manage to make a lot of progress. It was mainly due to me getting a new ability. I was also level 83. The monsters that I encountered today were like boss monsters on the lower rooms. But this time they came in large numbers allowing me to gain experience fast.
Silica snuggled in my fur when we slept tonight. Normally, she would sleep alone on a soft rock we found on the 16th floor. But seeing how comfortably she was sleeping, I could not wake her. Silica was someone I held dear to me. I sometimes feel that she knew me better than my parents did.
*Status window open*
Level: 83
Hp: 4371/4371
Mp: 6899/6899
Species: 2 tailed Kitsune Strength915Intelligence1481Agility771Vitality529Luck1Defence610
Heh… it looks like my luck has increased. Hopefully we’ll get out of this dungeon soon. I want to live my life with Silica. Closing my eyes, I fell asleep.
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