The red slime bursts as I pierce its core.

There we go...

I usually don't have any problems defeating this ogre and slime duo.

I don't know what was wrong with me last time.

Such an obvious feint.

Anyhow, I continue walking down this cave.

These parts are filled with monsters resistant to fire.

Big dogs, who can breathe fire and have a burning tail.

Smaller and weaker versions of the red slime.

And also some small spiders, who can float on water.

They are really small though, if they spread their legs, their total length is only as much as my height.

And they don't even have poison in them, so they are basically harmless.

There are also finally some ponds with water in them.

And although I call it water, it's really some viscous dirty liquid.

Luckily when I cast cleanse impurities on it, it turns into drinkable water.

When I do so, however, the volume decreases by quite a bit.

That's just how unclean this 'water' is.

There are some orange reeds growing near those ponds.

They are quite hard and their tips are easily sharpened, so I can use them as javelins.

But carrying too many them around is kind of a burden.

After splitting one of the spiders in half, I approach one of the pools.

The 'water' inside is basically a black liquid with some yellow dots floating in it.

I scoop up some of this 'water' into my hands.

[Cleanse impurities]

As I cleanse it, the volume of liquids in my hands decrease by half.

Bringing it to my lips, I gulp it all down.

I keep cleansing and drinking a few more times until my thirst is quenched.

After that, I pluck out three reeds and use my short sword to sharpen them.

When I'm done, I use the fabric, which ties my armor on my chest and fasten them on my back.

I continue walking through the cave for quite some time, while killing all the monsters, who try to attack me.

Compared to the ogre and slime duo, all of these monsters here are small fries.

Just one slash or stab is enough in most cases.

Sometimes a lone red ogre appears, but he is weaker than the one at the start and there is no slime accompanying him either.

Such an ogre isn't killed in a single hit, but the fight with him is still very brief.

As I walk, I finally spot the safe house in this area and head towards it.

I enter the small hole in it and look around.

It's the same rocky dome shaped building as the one I always wake up in.

The same mushrooms, that glow green, are here.

As well as the table near the wall.

The difference, is that there is nothing on the table.

But just that's now.

There is nothing on that table now.

I have encountered these buildings a number of times throughout my journey.

Every time I find a new one, there is something on the table.

Most of the time, it's a book about magic.

Sometimes, It's a weapon.

The catch is, that after I die, the item will appear in my starting house and disappear from the other one.

If it's a book, it will either add pages to existing ones or create a completely new book.

In case of a weapon, it will replace the previous one.

Last time, I got completely ripped off.

My favorite longsword got replaced by that crappy blue dagger.

But as much as I dislike the dagger, I understand the importance of these structures.

Not only do they provide me with knowledge and arms, but also for some reason, all the monsters avoid them.

They don't enter and they don't even try to attack them.

As long as I'm inside, I'm safe.

These mushrooms around here aren't safe though.

They don't release any poisonous fumes, but if I eat them, I will instantly wake up at the start.

I don't even feel any pain or anything.

And not even cleanse impurities works.

I tried to mash them and coat my weapons with the paste in the past.

But for some reason, the poison doesn't work on any monsters.

However, it's not like these mushrooms are a big hindrance.

They illuminate the room quite well so I don't need to waste my mana on fire magic.

I walk to the middle of the room and start unpacking my equipment.

Untying the cloth, which holds my armor and the reeds.

I follow that by taking off my armor and placing it alongside my sword and the reed javelins.

Then I lie on the ground using my arms as a pillow and close my eyes.

I'll sleep a bit to rest up and restore some mana.

It's important to do this once in a while.

Especially before a big fight.

These houses are great for this.

...

...

...

I see...

A village.

It's really bright.

There are some people around here.

I can't see their faces.

I can only see their black hair and wolf ears on top of their heads.

What are they doing?

They are talking about something.

There's someone similar to them, but has only half of their height.

That's...me...

They are looking at me now.

I still can't see their faces.

But I can tell they are smiling at me.

I try to reach out to them...

And when I touch them, ripples in their image start appearing.

Like when you throw a stone into a lake.

Gradually, everyone starts disappearing and I'm plunged into darkness.

...

It's dark everywhere...

Stop it...

Help me...

In the darkness, a figure appears.

It's bright white and it's extending its hand to me.

My arm trembles as I reach out...

And when our hands touch, my body is gradually swallowed up by darkness and I feel intense pain.

Nooo!

Help m-

The darkness reaches my neck and renders me unable to talk.

Gh...

Just when the darkness starts reaching my eyes, I wake up.

Instantly sitting up straight, I wipe my accumulated sweat on my forehead with one hand and holding my neck with my other hand.

"Haah..haah..."

I hate that dream.

I had it so many times already and it always ends the same.

What does it mean?

Am I seeing my past?

Where those people related to me?

What about this white figure?

Is that the reason why I'm trapped here?

...

Ugh, stop it.

Just stop.

I decided to stop caring about it.

Nothing good will come out of it if I do anyway.

I grab all of my stuff and head out again.

After walking for a while, I reach the end of the cave.

There are four tunnel entrances in the wall here.

This happens a lot, but there is always only one correct path.

The others will lead to a dead end every time.

It almost feels like the direction of my journey is predetermined.

No matter how many split paths, only one will further lead somewhere.

I wouldn't say that's a bad thing.

At least I have a clear goal.

I enter one of the tunnels, leaving the fire area.

The tunnel, just like most of these caves, is illuminated by these green mushrooms.

These passageways, that connect different areas, are never too narrow.

Even if I grew up to be twice as big, there would still be enough room to spare.

The tunnel soon ends and I enter the next area.

This one, I call the bird area.

Which is because most of the monsters here can fly.

There are little winged monkeys with long claws, blue fur and three extra eyes.

Giant snakes, who can just float through the air without any wings.

And even those white slimes can somehow fly.

This area isn't hard to pass either, but it's annoying.

I can't fly and my jump height isn't that great either.

At best, I can snipe them with magic, but that's a waste of mana.

I would much rather just cut them down with my sword.

I stick to the wall on the right and proceed onward.

The monkeys occasionaly try to attack me, but because they have no long ranged attack, they get close to me and I cut them down.

When I'm near the wall, the giant snakes won't attack me either.

Since they also don't have way to attack me from distance, they would have to ram into me and they would get stuck in the wall in the process.

Surprisingly, the slimes are the worst here.

They spin in the air and shoot light balls at me.

I try to avoid them as much as possible, but when I have no other choice, I use dark magic to shoot them down.

I finally spot the safe house in this area.

It's towards the middle of the cave, so I separate from the wall, while dragging a monkey corpse and head there.

Some more slimes start shooting at me, but when I get near the building, they leave.

Looking around a bit, I find a small pond nearby.

Leaving the monkey corpse near the house, I rush to it, scoop up some water, purify it and drink it.

I try to do it as fast as possible before I'm attacked.

After drinking a bit, I return to the safe house and enter it.

[Fire bubble]

Right after entering, I sit on the floor and start cooking up the monkey corpse.

This time, I decide to just lie on the ground a bit while eating.

I don't want to have that dream again, so I don't close my eyes.

After resting up for a while, I get up and leave the house.

I head near the wall again and resume advancing.

The monsters start to thin out as I get further.

Eventually, there are barely any monsters in sight, so I leave the wall and go towards the middle instead.

I keep walking and eventually I reach the reason why many monsters don't dare approach here.

There is a circular platform shining in white color.

It's surrounded by six white pillars.

And in the middle of the platform lies him.

Four legs, a pair of wings on his back and the head of a bird.

It has fur on its lower body and feathers on its upper body and wings.

Both the fur and feathers are black as if to emphasize the monster's existence on top of the white platform.

It's a black griffon.

The moment he notices me, he spreads his wings wide and lets out a war cry.

[Fire lance]

The fire lance flies through the air and is narrowly avoided by the monster.

I don't lose a second and charge at him while preparing another spell.

He doesn't let me close and releases a wave of dark magic from his beak.

I dodge by jumping to the side and throw another spell at him.

[Fire lance]

The monster jumps up and evades my attack.

Then, he flaps his wings and starts flying around while looking down on me.

Cheh...

I didn't get him, this will be annoying.

After letting out another war cry, he flaps his wings and shoots out a barrage of dark bullets at me.

I pour a little mana into my sword and activate its enchantment with a swing.

[Phantom force]

The bullets, without even touching my sword, suddenly change direction and head straight back at the griffon.

I immediately pull out one of my javelins on my back and throw it at him.

The griffon takes his reflected attacks head on, because it's immune to dark magic.

However, because of the barrage of bullets, he notices my javelin too late and I manage to pierce one of his legs.

It makes him shriek in pain and lose balance a bit.

Not letting this chance slide, I gather mana in my hand.

[Fire lance]

Right after throwing my spell, I pull out another one of my javelins and throw it as well.

He manages to counter my spell with another wave of dark magic from his beak, but the javelin hits his left wing.

He cries out in pain again and starts falling to the ground.

I start running to where he is falling and jump.

My sword flashes through the air towards him, but is deflected by the griffon's claw.

When I start to fall back down, I pull out the last of my javelins and chuck it at him at full force.

Without enough time to dodge, it pierces his stomach.

As we both land on the ground, I once again brandish my sword and dash at him.

He opens his beak wide and as a last resort tries to attack me with his dark magic.

But I supply my sword with a bit of mana and slash at his attack.

[Phantom force]

The attack is deflected off into a wall.

He starts gathering mana yet again, but it's too late now.

I close up on him and cut off his neck.