I woke up after two hours of losing consciousness. Upon opening my eyes, the first thing I did was to open the system and check my status. I had taken the risk of over drafting my magic so that my maximum MP could increase.

Name: Alex Race: Infant Dream Weaver

HP: 40/40 MP: 56/56 (Regen: 0.9 MP/min)

STR: 3 AGI: 2 INT: 23 WIS: 10

Evolution Points: 10/100 (?)

Passive 1: Nightmarish Body (!)

Skills: Infrared Vision (Lv 2), Cast Illusion (Lv 3.03), Nightmare Manifest (Lv 0)

Indeed the INT increased by three points and due to it, my full MP also increased by 6 points. With these six points, I could cast a few Cast Illusions on top of it. At the very least, with the leftover MP, I won’t be losing my consciousness the moment I use the skill. I felt happy and came out of the hole, only to see both the woman in green hair and Logier were absent.

“kit!!” I assumed the worst and couldn’t help but curse aloud. That incoherent sound supposed to be ‘shit’. Due to the lack of a definitive vocal box, I couldn’t speak properly. I thought, maybe Logier couldn’t control his greed and dined on the weakened woman. As I neared the hallway where many unique battles happened, I began to hear the sounds of a weapon colliding with something. I anxiously increased my speed while praying to God that the dumb pig didn’t do what I am thinking.

Boy, am I in for a shock when I arrived at the place! That Logier, the dumb orc… he was assisting the woman in green hair in defeating and killing the goblins. He was beating them close to death and then bringing them over to her, the woman would then put her hand on their chests. The goblins would then sucked dry while the woman would look a little better. Although I couldn’t tell what she was doing, I was relieved that my assumptions were wrong.

“Oh, you are back little Imp… hmm? That magic power... you only just evolved, you are already this strong?” the woman who was still busy absorbing the half-dead goblin, asked with a very soft voice that seemed tired. Then she looked at me as her eyes bore into mine. Despite myself, I flinched while taking an unconscious step back. She was strong… despite her weakened state; I had this feeling that she could easily kill me and run away even with Logier’s protection.

I was surprised that she could detect that 6 points of MP increase. seems like the numbers corresponding to MP, I shouldn't take them lightly. I nodded while waving my hand, trying to ask her what she was doing with them. She looked surprised for a bit before asking, “Can you understand what I am saying?”

I nodded once again. I am a human… or I was. Although I didn’t have the body of one anymore, my soul still exists. I could understand her loud and clear. Her eyes widened a bit at my confirmation as she sighed and shook her head and continued what she was doing.

Hmm! That reaction wasn’t as intense as I had expected. Isn’t she surprised to find a monster could understand human-speak? Such thoughts swirled in my head due to her lack of reaction.

“I am absorbing their vitality to replenish mine.” Her voice was soft and was barely audible. If not for the silence of the dungeon, I couldn’t have heard it. Even so, I was a bit surprised to find such a method that exists in this world. I thought, wouldn’t the people become immortals if they absorb vitality every day to replenish their lost ones?

She didn’t say anything else after that and focussed on her task. Perhaps she wanted to regain her strength faster so that she wouldn’t feel vulnerable. Having to entrust her life to monsters probably wasn’t the best experience for her. In the eyes’ of this world’s humans, monsters are nothing but calamities and a means of their strength boost. How can they feel relief knowing that they are under the mercy of a monster?

I no longer bothered with her, instead, I found a few goblins to increase my EP. The goblins’ actions had officially started to worry me. The usual rampant bunch suddenly became docile and mysterious. No matter how you look at it, things are strange. I would have continued to ponder over this matter more if not for a sudden intrusion of some unwanted guests.

“Hey, guys look what we have here. It’s a girl and a few monsters.” undoubtedly, this voice belonged to a male human around the late twenties or early thirties. Followed by the rampant voice, a few laughter echoed. I darted to a corner that was cascaded in darkness and observed the new arrivals. Logier had vanished somewhere after handing the woman a few half-dead goblins. From my place in the darkness, I saw five people coming inside with varying expressions.

Although their expressions varied, they all wore similar clothing. A form of uniform perhaps. A dark purple top, same colour pants, brown gloves. They wore a type of leather sleeveless jacket above their purple full-sleeved tops. One of them stood out with the tattoo of a ‘goat’ on his face. And probably this was the very man who made that comment before.

What a rude fella.

“You are right, boss!” A man from the group leered at the woman in green hair. Hmm… if I remember correctly, her name should be Cathie. That’s what the blondie called her anyway. He came closer a few steps towards her and assumed a polite gesture, “Oh lady, can I know your good name?”

I have seen society, and I have seen all kinds of people in it. From one look, I could tell this group of riffraffs did not have a good intention towards the woman. Although she has slimmed down a lot… which is an understatement, to be honest… Cathie’s a beautiful woman. I saw her when she had yet to suffer the aftereffects of that green flame skill, she could rank pretty top if she competes on a beauty pageant on earth. Perhaps that’s why these people couldn’t hold down their intentions and tried to court her.

“You can call me Cathie.” Cathie didn’t bother to look at him; she continued whatever she was doing.

“So it’s Miss Cathie. I am Edmond, nice to meet you. Hehe” the man introduced himself and I couldn’t help but shake my head while hiding in the darkness. How predictable, at this rate in the next sentence or a few after that he will invite her to join for a drink at some bar.

“hmmm,” Cathie hummed and stood up, having done with the goblin. I saw the green thing that lost its vibrant colour and looked paler and thinner as if a starved person. She really sucked it dry… wow, this sounded so wrong.

“Haha, Boss, what happened? You lost your touch. She is ignoring you, even though she looks like that!” A man from the four, the one with cropped bluish hair laughed, pointing his finger towards Cathie.

“Parl, that’s rude! Is this how you talk to a lady?” Edmond who was called boss admonished the man who spoke out then looked at Cathie, “forgive me. My friend is a bit of illiterate and tends to make rude jokes. I hope you don’t mind it.”

Even though the man insulted her, I saw no reaction on her face. It’s as if she didn’t care what these people thinking about her, she continued to ignore them. Treating them like air. From her actions, I could tell that such a thing occurring was nothing new to her. She had even gotten used to it already. I wonder what she was thinking when dealing with this kind of harassment.

Edmond smiled awkwardly when the girl didn’t give any reaction to him. I could tell although Cathie’s actions would have sent any other man scurrying away, this one was different. He was a rascal. In the first place, they didn’t have any good intentions towards her and her being uncooperative was just like giving them an excuse.

“Lady, just because I am being nice to you, don’t think that I am a softie. Do you know who we are? This dungeon belongs in our group’s territory and you are currently trespassing it.” Now that an opportunity presented itself, the man abandoned all his pretentiousness and instead snapped at the woman while having a smirk on his face.

“That’s right. You are currently intruding upon Goat Raider’s territory. If you don’t give us sufficient… eh?” that man Parl, whatever he was saying was struck midway when they saw a huge, muscular orc coming out, holding what looked like goblins in his hands. That’s right, at the critical juncture when these people were about to show their true nature, Logier returned with a few more half-dead goblins dangling from his hands.

“Shit!! Boss, an Orc!” Parl shouted and jumped back. I have to say, this person was like a dog who only knows how to bark but no bite. Just now he was showing his pretentiousness but when a strong opponent appeared he was the first one to hide.

“What? An orc? How is this possible? This is only the first floor; how can be an orc appear on the first floor?” Edmond, the boss fumbled with his words while backing away in fright. He wasn’t the only one, the few came with him also backed away with various expressions on their faces.

Since her back was towards me, I couldn’t tell what kind of expression she had but from the loosening of her shoulders, I could tell Cathie relaxed by a lot after Logier’s arrival. Since Logier arrived, I also felt relief. I don’t know but I was also worried about her. She was the first human I talked in a while and saved her from death. If she captured and trampled by these guys, I would certainly feel bad.

I had no confidence to kill a fellow human being at that time. I might have hatred towards the kingdom that summoned me and pushed me to the edge, but I couldn’t come close to killing a fellow human just because of that. Therefore, even when the woman was picked on by those guys, I was still hesitating on whether I should use my skills or not.

I was ashamed at my cowardice at that time and somewhere at the back of my head, I was kicking myself for it. But that was the truth and something that couldn’t be changed so soon. Perhaps I wouldn’t have such feeling if I face the people of that empire, especially the man in golden knight armor. I might even jump out to kill him in the first chance I get.

That was in the future though, for now, I was having trouble even thinking about it.