‘’Is it the part about the mother of dryads?’’

Five wooden snakes lurched toward Ethan. They slithered in the air and curved themselves to every side of him before taking shapes of spears and coming at him fast. He blinked to escape, but the goddess-like creature appeared next to him, kicking his side.

The wooden snakes disappeared and reappeared around him as he was rolling on the ground. Planting his foot to the ground, he used [Long Jump], evading 4 of them. For the last one, he opened a [Fabric Tear] and sent it to his behind, many yards away. Looking at the boss of the dryads, who was chasing him relentlessly, he blinked again to distance himself another 60 yards. ‘’Look, as a matter of fact, I also found that part a bit silly.’’ The boss passed the distance in a few seconds, a hefty wooden glove appeared around her hand, and she swung a fist to his face. He side-stepped and with another [Long jump] jumped backward before offering a smirk. ‘’I mean until I found out that there was a mother.’’

The gorgeous creature was a head taller than him. Somehow her ridiculously huge bust was proportioned with the rest of her body, displaying an appearance like some greek goddess. Though, unlike the other playful and giggling dryads, this one was quite furious.

Ethan raised an inquiring eyebrow. ‘’Or were you disappointed to find out that I had no intention to ride you?’’

The boss was on him in no time. She spread her arms, no doubt planning to send more wooden weapons. Ethan didn’t miss the opening and sent two [Shadow Spikes] to her head through two [Fabric Tear]s. Her wooden armor became alive and shot four wooden spikes. Two blocked the [Shadow Spikes] with precision while the last two went for the [Fabric Tear]s. If they had passed it through, they would’ve pierced his wrists, crippling him from using both of his hands.

His eyes opened wide, and he immediately closed the [Fabric Tear] before blinking back to think about how to deal with this terrifying creature. Seriously?! How could she be so fast to react? I should start sending [Shadow Spikes] from my shoulder area. At least I’ll still be able to fight if she uses my [Fabric Tear] against me.

The dryad boss saw through the mana fluctuations instinctively, and she not only predicted the [Fabric Tear]s but also the locations of his [Blink]. And if she wasn’t fast enough to attack personally, then she was sending wooden constructs.

So far, there was no opening whatsoever.

Ethan looked at his mana and decided to go all out. Although he was still not ready for this kind of feat, he felt that it was the only way to deal with this enemy. He concentrated with Void Manual and picked locations around her before activating [Void Wrap] and blinking at a fast pace. The boss wasn’t able to see him behind the void aspect mana, and while Ethan showed his position by attacking her, he didn’t give her a chance to attack.

Wherever the dryad boss turned, Ethan emerged behind her to give a slash, sometimes low, sometimes high. He kept rotating around her like an annoying fly, bothering her with bloody daggers that go visible and invisible constantly. His mana sapped crazy fast, and he started to feel dizzy from the constant change of direction, but he finally found the perfect angle and cut her head off swiftly.

Despite the victory, he relaxed too early because as he cut the head, the armor went berserk, sending wooden spikes all around simultaneously.

Ethan collapsed to the ground with four wooden spikes piercing his body. Two on his stomach, one on the chest, and another on his right arm. Nothing was lethal, but a few that closely missed his head were enough for him to think that this was the end. The woods disappeared slowly, leaving behind bloody holes. Bleeding profusely, he checked his resources warily before giving a sigh of relief.

Health: 442/1200

Mana: 217/1300

Stamina: 520/800

It was a few hours ago that he drank a low-grade health potion. Even if he drank his emergency mid-grade potion now, it would only give him a hundred points at best and stop the bleeding. But since there were no more enemies and a few hours of cultivating was enough to get him in shape, he decided against it.

That didn’t change the fact that he was still shaken from the experience. The hole at his chest missed his lungs by an inch, and the ones at his stomach hurt like hell. Back on Earth, he never arranged the pain deduction to more than %10 in the VR, but torture-like pains became the norm ever since coming to this world.

On a good note, the shock of getting so close to death somewhat helped with the pain. When the wood touched my body, I couldn’t even use [Blink]. It was too fast and too close, with no time to think about [Fabric Tear]. If those had drilled into my head, I would’ve been lying next to the boss by now.

He shivered at the thought and tried to cultivate before bleeding too much to pass out. Cultivating was a lot harder when his body was screaming in pain and his thoughts wandering all over. This won’t do. I need more defense, whether it's a skill or an artifact. [Blink] and [Void Wrap] are making me feel safe, but this world is full of surprises. I can’t act like this is just another VR game. I only have one life, and I must treasure it properly.

Two hours passed in a blink as he was lost in thought. He wasn’t in the top condition but still chose to stop and decided to satisfy his curiosity. All of the dryads had the ability to turn themselves into a tree. Whenever they took humanoid shapes to attack, the tree disappeared altogether, except in the case of the boss. The boss had just walked out of the tree, and he was curious about the magnificent tree that stood proudly next to the door of the tenth floor.

Ethan stood up groggily. Even though his wounds had closed, the pain was still lingering. He stepped over the headless body of the boss and stopped with a weird look. The armor of the boss was gone; she lay naked on the ground, next to a piece of wood. Picking up the wood, he inspected it by sending mana, smearing a drop of blood like he did with the adventurer’s badge, and even trying to break it, but nothing worked. Eventually, he gave up and stored it in his ring as he was sure it was this small thing that almost killed him after the fight.

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After getting close to the tree, he stopped to admire it for a second. It was the biggest one he saw to this day, and there was something divine about it that he couldn’t put his finger on. He walked toward the trunk where the late dryad boss passed through and put his hand against it. His hand sunk in it, like he was pressed to sand. Pulling his hand back, he called his daggers and stepped toward the tree with anticipation. Here we go.

Just like passing through the doors of other floors, he found himself in a different environment. It was big as a regular house, but the ceiling went up seemingly indefinitely. Sunlight entered from the top and illuminated the whole place. The ground was a lush meadow, and there was only a small pond inside.

He walked closer to the pond and checked it carefully, but it was only a shallow pond with clear water in it. Dropping his guard, he sent his clothes to his ring and entered the pond with a disappointed expression. What did I expect to find in this cheapskate dungeon? If there were treasures, I bet I couldn’t even remove them. There better be some rewards once the trials finish. If I see the door of the eleventh floor on the next floor, I will sure as hell have a nice talk with the damn manager.

Ethan melted inside the pond while thinking of creative curses intended for the dungeon core. The last couple of days were hectic, and even though his body would be in top condition with some rest, his mental health was on the brink of collapse. He tried to increase his grinding speed by changing his fighting style, but this was no VR, where he could just sleep and use it while his body was resting.

Fighting against a crowd required absolute focus. Back then, he only needed to pay attention to his few feet radius as a close combatant. Now, [Blink] and [Fabric Tear] changed this, and while giving him an ability to attack in a wider range, it also demanded focus on a wider area. Even though [Mana Sense] and Void Manual helped him to detect the changes in 60 yards, constantly thinking a few steps ahead was the source of his headaches, or so he guessed.

He found a comfortable spot and gave his back to the shore, leaning with his elbows. After fetching a cold glass of Ehreneer, he gulped a mouthful of beer before giving a contented sigh. ‘’It’s not just that,’’ he murmured, looking up at where the light entered with holy vibes. ‘’It’s the stress building up. Who knows what the others are up to? After days of struggling, what if I learn that I’m the only survivor?’’

All of a sudden, the glass in his hand shattered to pieces. Just a small pressure was enough to crumble the glass, and the pieces didn’t even give him any injuries against his thick skin. Half annoyed, half amazed, he stared at the broken glasses for a moment before closing his eyes to have some sleep. ‘Ani wake me up in–’

‘DING! You have gained 1 STR and 1 VIT.’

His eyes shot open. ‘’What? Why?’’ Looking around, it took him a few more seconds to realize what was happening. ‘’Is it the pond?’’

‘Insufficient data.’

Ethan walked to the clear side of the pond and drank some of its water with the help of his hands. It tasted like an energy drink mixed with honey, weird but not bad. The liquid traveled through his throat smoothly while giving a refreshing feeling. Well, here is some data for you.

‘DING! You have gained 9 STR and 9 VIT.’

This time even without Ani's notification, he felt the difference in the stat gains. He immediately drank more and more, but there weren’t any more changes. ‘’That’s it? That’s the limit?’’

‘Your body has gained immunity for the effects.’

Nonetheless, Ethan smiled merrily. ‘’It’s cool. That was two-level worth of stats!’’ Before emptying his barrel of beer, he called for a small cup, filled it with water, and stored it with anticipation. When he called the cup back, it was empty without a drop in it. He looked up with frustration. ‘’Oh, come on! Let me have this small cup of it at least!’’

The next half an hour was spent with him trying different approaches. Unfortunately, even when he tried to carry it with his hands, the moment he left the tree, the water disappeared right after. Eventually, he accepted the irritating fact and resumed his bath in the millions of mana stones worth of water. Just a mouthful gave 20 stats, and there was a small pond of it. While thinking about how much this would sell for it, he lost all his desire for sleep.

The pond was too small for swimming backstroke, so he just floated like a dead body, eyes closed. ‘’It’s like guessing five numbers from the lottery and winning the second prize. You know?’’ When Ani’s reply didn’t come as expected, he continued. ‘’Rather than enjoying a few thousand bucks, all I can think about is the millions I barely missed. If there was only a mouthful of magic water, I would be the happiest man for the sudden windfall.’’

He moved his arms with force and splashed a large amount of water out of the pond. ‘’But now that I’m aware of the bigger prize, the supposed windfall became merely some scraps. My expectations had changed, and my mood also changed accordingly. So once again, we see that my expectations are fucking with my happiness, right?’’

‘Command unclear.’

‘’You don’t need to answer. Just listen for now. Actually, we already talked about this before. You can check it from my memories, but without the collective knowledge of the hivemind, I don’t expect you to contribute much to the topic. Hell, I don’t care about the knowledge, you can gain more with time, but the worrying part is that I have no idea what happened to your self-identity,’’ he trailed off as his face got darkened before sitting up and taking a deep breath. ‘’Anyway, we’ll figure out what’s going on with you. If not in Elisium, then in the higher realms. What I’m saying is that external factors don’t really matter when it comes to one’s happiness. Now, that’s nothing groundbreaking, but the important question is, how can I change the internal factors? Can I even change it, just like that?’’

Ethan stared at the waves on the water with a resolved gaze. ‘’Can I accept the fact that all my companions might be dead already? Is it possible to have no expectations when the subject is very important to you? Would it be still me if I accept the unacceptable?’’ He paused for a few seconds and shook his head. ‘’Yeah, I know. Since when has death become unacceptable, as it’s one of the few absolute truths we know? Still, it’s a bit easier to accept it on a personal basis but being okay with the deaths of the ones you care about is beyond me, at least for now.’’

He got up and walked out of the pond while chuckling. ‘’These conversations were much more fun when you quote from big thinkers or supply some hard-to-imagine statistics,’’ he commented before fetching a towel to dry himself. ‘’Anyhow, enough of the death talk. We’ll think about it once I've done my best.’’

Since he didn’t have the mentality for another hour of cultivation session at the moment, he decided to check out the 10th floor. After wearing a new pair of pants and a shirt, he left the tree and passed through the door next to it.

This time he found himself in an ancient ruin with spectacular scenery. If his rapid breath and the dizziness he felt from the start weren’t enough for him to be aware of the high altitude, then the cloud sea around the piece of land was enough. He was at the top of a mountain, inside the ruins, surrounded by all kinds of vegetation. A sweet and fresh smell came to him, which resembled lavenders. The sharp and cold winds turned his gaze sober as he enjoyed the silence of the solemn peak. Until he heard the cry of a beast and looked up.

‘’No, no, no!’’ he scowled, looking at the colossal wyvern that glided above him. It wasn’t the fact that the beast was at tier-5 or the fact that it was able to fly that got him frustrated. ‘’How the fuck am I going to kill that? It’s like fighting an elephant with toothpicks. Am I supposed to drill myself inside of it with my knives?!’’