Karma and Ernest teleported in front of a tower, while Aurion and Umbriel teleported to the Ignisdominus mission.

The Queen had actually only given this task to Aurion and Umbriel. Vitra had teleported Ernest into the dungeon as master and apprentice to observe what Ernest could do.

"Where are the others?"

"Teleportation magic is not always consistent."

"Shall we wait then?"

"No, let's take the opportunity. We obviously teleported to the wrong place. I have no doubt this tower is a dungeon. In fact, if you ask me, Vitra wanted to teleport you here on purpose, but she sent me along."

Karma took advantage of Aurion's absence to secretly strengthen Ernest. One of the reasons he avoided Aurion was that he thought some of Ernest's powers should not be known.

He was going to create an unstoppable weapon and he did not want to share its secret powers with others. They entered through the tower door.

"Foolish mortals! How dare you enter my dungeon?"

In ancient times, dungeons were warehouses where wizards would store their treasures. They were lost voids in space-time, different from the inside out.

"Listen to me carefully, Ernest. This will be the perfect chance for you to train your shadow spirit. Just like Vitra, you can cast spells without saying a word of prayer. It will be a challenging adventure, though. The mana inside is different from the mana outside, you have to get used to it first."

"I don't see a problem, in fact I feel quite comfortable."

"Don't you feel the density?"

"On the contrary, the air feels too clean."

Ernest's body was more prone to the dense mana of the dungeon than the thin mana of Yarya. Karma had a theory for this.

"Vitra says that even if you are not a king, you are a wizard as old as a king. Maybe that's why you feel more comfortable."

Warning: Awakening triggered, the King returns.

Ernest's eyelids grew heavy as he saw the warning appear before his eyes.

"I'm actually starting to feel a bit dizzy now. I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to faint."

He fell asleep before he could finish his words. He was in the same environment as if he was talking to God, and he had the same headache.

Someone who looked just like him was coming towards Ernest. Ernest thought this person was God.

"Are you bored already? We were just getting started."

"I think you've played with my body enough. It's time for us to wake up."

"What?"

In fact, it was the true form of King Kaelin. When Ernest was resurrected in Yarya, he was resurrected in the same body as Kaelin. The noise Vitra spoke of was coming from the King himself.

"I am King Kaelin Aurendar, King of Arvania and all of Yarya. I have waited a long time to speak with you."

"I have often heard of you, sir, but why are you here?"

"That is a question I should normally ask myself. After all, this is my body. Everyone tells you that, but you still don't seem to understand. You were born with me."

He looked very humble for a king. Even though Ernest had taken over his body, he didn't look angry at all.

"Still, it makes no difference now. It would not be right to say that this body belongs to me alone. After all, the God who gave me this body gave you the same body."

"Do you know about my conversation with the entity?"

"Yes, I've been seeing your memories the whole time I've been asleep. Thanks to the mana in the dungeon, I've seen it all, Hope."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"You even know my name on Earth. So what happens now? I don't need to remind you, but Karma is probably trying to protect us while we fight the monsters."

"Oh yeah, you can't see out of here. Don't worry, Karma is just shielding us and waiting for us to wake up. When I say he's trying to protect us, you realize what's about to happen."

"We're going back together, right?"

"No, we'll go back separately. First you, then me."

"How will that work?"

"Actually, you'll turn into me, but your heart won't change. Because our hearts are one. When I watched your memories, I saw everything through your eyes. How do you think that made me think?"

All this time King Kaelin thought he was Hope. He had always lived as Hope in his dreams until Ernest and Karma entered the dungeon. Then the dungeon's mana managed to awaken the sleeping King in Ernest's body.

The moment he woke up, he realized what had happened. Now King Kaelin Aurendar, the majestic and powerful warrior King Kaelin Aurendar, knew exactly what it was like to be a normal mute human being. His heart had become like Hope's heart. All this was very hard to digest.

The only difference between him and Ernest was that he had more knowledge. Thanks to this secret trick of God, Kaelin was not born as a king in Yarya, but as a baby named Hope on Earth. This was how their consciousness affected their past.

"You know, we could tear this dungeon apart very easily. But we shouldn't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because if we regain our power, we will drag Yarya into the apocalypse like Lyrielle. So first we must slowly intensify the flow of mana."

"Won't that hurt people?"

"People new to magic get a little queasy. Have you ever seen Karma go bad? I don't need to tell you anyway. We'll know when we wake up."

Success achieved: King's Awakening

Skills unlocked: Single Slash, Jump, Increase Magic, Shield, Teleport, Relativity, Powerful Attack, Multiple Inventory, Soul Listening, Soul Separation, Soul Mowing, Astral Travel, Metamorphosis, Awakening, Item Boost, Item Crafting, Credibility...

As Kaelin said, when Ernest woke up he understood everything. He had to smash the numinith stones to reveal the hidden mana. But before that he had to clean the dungeon.

Aurion and Umbriel had destroyed the Ignisdominus and entered the dungeon. They fought the monsters while Karma protected Ernest.

After the awakening, he hesitated whether to use his unlisted powers to clean the dungeon. After all, these powers from the king might frighten those around him. His uneasiness was short-lived. He spoke quietly.

"Metamorphosis."

Metamorphosis allowed Ernest to transform into the forms of the souls he had captured. This time he would use Umbrus as the only soul he had.

His eyes turned red and began to glow, his hair stood up like a thorn combed back, his face seemed to have no flesh on it, and finally his armor and sword turned black. This was Ernest's Shadow King form.

Aurion was looking at Ernest while protecting himself with his sword. Ernest had never used his shadow spirit in their presence and the first time he used it he was metamorphosing. He pushed the Gladiostrix forward, finished her off and turned to Ernest.

"Ernest, is it still you?"

"Yes, it's fine."

Aurion's question was quite absurd. Anyone impersonating Ernest would of course say it was me. He himself was aware that he was asking a question as absurd as asking the person who knocks on the door, "Who is it?" and they say, "It's me". That's why he didn't feel very comfortable.

He broke Karma's shield from the inside. Karma had wanted to strengthen Ernest all this time, but after seeing Ernest in this frightening state, he was discouraged.

Ernest unsheathed his sword and made a cut in the air. The slash rippled towards the monster in front of him and cut it down. He continued to kill others in the same way.

Some of the monsters could get close to Ernest, but those that touched his shadow became his slaves and attacked other monsters. This made it easy to clear the first floor.