The chilling water of the underground river makes every hair on my body stand up when I touch it. My wounds ache as the cold washes them, but I need to clean them. A dry, rough protective crust had formed on my wounds so I had to pull it out to wash and remove some dirt that got there. There is blood pouring from my left arm, shoulder, and abdomen, dispersing through the currents of the moon-shaped shallow river and going deeper underground.

I like the feeling of cold water. It’s something quite refreshing after all the heat of the fight. Quite literally the heat, both from those firebolts flying all over and the fire I started in the bushes back there.

“I did kill a person… Yes, I did. Let’s not dwell on it more than we should, alright?” I say, talking to myself. Skelones said it’s fine talking to yourself, but only if no one talks back.

This is a hard, unjust world, but what should I do? Become a hermit here and live a life of mindfulness, completely one with nature? No, as much as that would be easier, isolating myself never solved anything, I remember trying that before.

As long as humans are using this Ari-os thing to oppress each other, this world will make me angry. So let it be, I will use this anger to fuel me into destroying them.

---

◇Fighting is now level 5◇ +1 to STR, END, REF (+5 total)

I finish bathing, much more refreshed now. Going to my backpack, I take some bandages and apply them to my wounds. One day I will run out of them, I should be more mindful of using it… Or I could study healing herbs. If there are healing potions, there are healing herbs.

Scanning all the plants around here, I only found one of them mentioning having mild regenerative properties. And the fungus growing on the gems are full of mana, maybe they would be able to intensify it? There is also a root which can slow bleeding. “I will take the three of them, thanks,” I say

Rummaging through Skelones stuff, I found a few bottles. I use a dagger to cut all the materials as small as I could, then smashed them with a stone, putting all of it on a bottle with water inside. The wand of fire-starting should be able to provide some heat so the properties can be extracted more for better absorption.

Done. Let’s scan it.

SCANNING OBJECT Name: Weak potion of recovery Description: This Green mixture stops bleeding, regenerates body and mind, and tastes like mint. Lore: Your first potion! nice!

I am not very fond of mint, but sure, nice! So the moss makes it able to regenerate the mind huh? Quite useful. Let’s try it. First, I should check how much health I have.

♡45% Mind 60% ☆40/100

I forgot to change health to exact numbers. So I go there, change that and…

♡48/96 Mind 45/75 ☆40/100

It works. I see now that the max number of my body state corresponds to my endurance and my mental state to my willpower. Interesting, make sense. Time to drink the potion.

I take the mixture into my mouth and drink it fast, the mint taste lingers on my lips, giving it a refreshing feel. I watch as the number goes up, slowly…

After around half an hour, more or less, they stopped increasing.

♡65/96 Mind 60/75 ☆40/100

Not much, but enough to save me I guess.

After a while I make another one and drink it, waiting for the effects to work.

♡80/96 Mind 60/75 ☆40/100

I pick up my notebook and write my discoveries. My body regenerated less than before, so there is probably a loss in effectiveness if I take too much too fast. I think my mental state is capped on 60 as the higher I ever saw it was at 80%, and 80% of 75 is 60. Probably a side effect of my mental issues.

The wounds having been taken care of, I allow myself to get some much-deserved sleep. My body is too tired for anything anyway...

Leaves fall from the trees as the wind passes through us, singing in this cloudless night. The cold is forcing me to walk faster in search of the cozy bed awaiting me at my home. I am holding my brother's arm tightly while we carelessly traverse the street. Too carelessly, not noticing the two hooded figures following us. As we enter our home street, the figures push us to a wall. One of them takes out a pistol, placing it in my forehead and demands I take off my clothes while the other is beating my brother. I am scared, I can't move. He gets angry at me for not listening to him and hits me with the pistol handle. My brother rushes at him, punching his jaw and he falls on the ground. The other one however also had a gun and takes it out, firing it three times. They run away after that, the noise-making them afraid of the police coming. I look at myself, unharmed, thanking god fo- wait… "LEON!!!" I scream as I see my brother on the ground, in a pool of blood. I go to him, trying to stop the blood pouring out like a crimson river… so much blood… on my hands…

---

I am in my room. After my brother's funeral, I don't want to leave, ever again. He was the only one who cared about me in this family. I am all alone now and there's not much left to destroy…

I open my eyes fast, breathing quickly with my heart weighting heavy in anguish.

The same brother from the other dream… now dead. How much shit have I been through? Could so much suffering done a lasting effect on my mind and this is why it's health can't get full?

As much as that was a bad memory, knowing more about myself is important. How would I fix my issues not knowing why I have them in the first place? This is a step in the right direction if I want to get better.

Anyway, I have much to do. I have to get stronger to fight those medieval bucket heads. I think the archer I killed was a scout, so I should expect more of them all over the valley. Even more now, after what I did.

I should have got his dagger, it had quite a useful rune. Of course once you know what it does it's easier to deal with it, but with the right timing, surely a deadly weapon.

For now, I will review my training and prepare myself. Later I might explore the caves a little, there is much I don't know about them yet.

The rings now are working overnight while I sleep, albeit at a much lower rate. Probably this is thanks to my affinity getting higher

Affinities Electricity 20% Space 23% Light 12% Time 0,1% Gathering 25% Arcane 18%

So gathering and arcane are going up quite well, maybe because I used them on life and death situations?

It should be fine to explore the caves now that I recovered. Oh, I should try to make my pistol charge to show up on the hud

♡86/96 Mind 60/75 ☆90/100 P•25/25

Taking everything I need, I choose the passage with the most vegetation and delve deep into it.

There seem to be even more plants in this passage than before on the crystal hall. I walk carefully with my pistol in one hand and my light-crystal in the other, checking every moving thing.

The vegetation gets even more dense and alien as I go. Glowing mushrooms and vines giving it an eerie but beautiful look. Few gems are still present but I think there may be some reason for this much growth in the flora.

A few 30 centimeters bugs are around minding their own business so I just pass quietly, I am not going to engage peaceful creatures just to get stronger.

As I walk, I notice the cave getting wider and wider. Around half an hour, I start to see red columns up to the ceiling, meaning this is some kind of ruin. On the far end of it I can see an entrance with lots of vines and moss on the red stone it's made off. I scan it

SCANNING DUNGEON Name: Lost Temple Description: Old ruins of an unknown civilization. The marking indicates some kind of rune knowledge was present, as well as possible religious symbols carved on the walls.

No lore entry? How mysterious. Maybe this has something to do with the fact it’s classified as a dungeon, not structure? I wonder what 'dungeon' actually means for the system.

I enter the gate, cautious of any danger there could be inside. The floor is made of stone, covered with moss with shiny vines and green light on the walls. Inside, there is another gate but a big pile of stones blocks the way. There is a corridor to the left and another one to the right. I choose left and walk a little until a hall appears. The hall is the size of a house, with big walls full of markings and plants all over. The ground is full of cracks with plants coming out of them.

Approaching the wall to get a closer look, I recognize one of the runes on it, it's an arcane rune. Placing my hand on it, I focus on activating the rune. Black and red wisps appear from it and suddenly, the wall disappears, revealing a hidden room. Inside it there is a tomb, with some inscriptions I can't read. I remember from my memories that some cultures like to bury the dead with their riches. In a world of magic, there may be powerful artifacts inside, so good enough reason to get in. I place my hand on another arcane rune on the tomb repeating the same procedure as before.

The cover of the tomb disappears as if disintegrating. A corpse lay on it, black wisps dancing around. The corpse opens its eyes, completely black as if light was not allowed on them. I jump back at the sight of the aberration and prepare my pistol.

Then nothing happens. Carefully, I walk close to the tomb again and peek into it, noticing the corpse was gone. A chill runs through my spine and I feel the air getting denser. I am pushed to the ground as if gravity was far stronger than it should be. It takes all my effort just to move a little bit to look back, a floating corpse chanting words. His song was enough to fill me with fear, the pressure I felt was even worse. The only chance I got is to shoot him. I hold my pistol tight and focus all the will I have on shooting the arcane bolt, hitting the corpse on his shoulder, and ripping off his arm in the process.

An evil scream fills the room and I was sent flying to the wall, like a piece of iron to a magnet, air leaves my lungs. The corpse uses the opportunity to teleport to me, grabbing the arm I was holding the pistol while the pressure increases. With my left arm, I drop the light-crystal I was holding and try to grab my staff which I carry hanged on my shoulder. The mummy tries to grab my other arm but fails as it doesn't have enough arms to do so, thanks to my previous shot. With all my strength, I touch him with the staff just enough to activate it's power, electrifying both me and the corpse. He starts to burn as his flesh is old, dry, and frail. I almost pass out from the shock but I hold on, yelling and then stopping the electricity before I too get fried.

♡26/96 Mind 60/75 ☆90/100 P•20/25

My arm has a burn mark in the format of the corpse's hand. My body feels all wrong, the pain can still be felt. With my hand shaking, I drink one of my potions.

The undead turned to dust, as much as he was a powerful mage, his body was old and weak. In the pile of dust, one pitch-black gemstone rested. One of His eyes, it seems. I scan it

SCANNING ARTIFACT Name: ??? Description: A gem in the format of an eye. Possibly related to space magic

This might help me. I take it with my hands, carefully blowing the dust of it and keeping it safe on my backpack.

I fought an undead and lived to tell the tale, never thought that would happen.

Curiosity fills me as I wonder about the being I defeated. How was he able to stand? Was he conscious? Did he have memories? My theory is he was animated by pure magic and used his eye gems to cast the spells. His corpse a mere puppet to this place magic used as a way to guard its secrets.

Speaking of secrets, let's see if he was guarding something…

I search the tomb as well as the rest of the room. I found a few vases that I recognized being made of bronze which I compressed with the gloves for later use. There were tons of mummification tools and some gold adornments, those I also took. All in all, only one thing stood out, a dagger with an arcane rune and a gray gem on it.

SCANNING ARTIFACT Name: Vampire Knife (Dagger) Description: The dagger has multiple runes that work together in a complex way. The blade drinks from a victim's blood, drawing energy from it to charge the enchantments. A red aura of arcane energy evolves the blade when charged, making it far sharper than most weapons. Charge: 0/100

Multiple runes… this is strong. I should be careful while handling it but could be helpful.

I stow the dagger on its sheath and place it on my belt and come back to the entrance to rest safely and prepare myself to delve into it again. This exploration has just started...