He gave a small cough.

"It will be impossible for you to leave until you inherit my teachings."

"Isn't this basically kidnapping? Why the heck do I need to learn from you?"

"If you do not learn my ways, you will forever be stranded in this dungeon. With your current strength, I highly doubt you would be able to clear my dungeon." He said.

"And why would I want to enter your dungeon? Sorry but I'm not interested in bondage. Now just let me go."I said with a casual remark.

"Bondage? What's that? Anyway, you can't leave here because you have already entered my dungeon. If I were to forcefully dismiss you, your soul would disintegrate before it returns back to your body." He said.

"So if I am currently a soul, then what about my body?" I asked.

"Your mortal body will obviously be knocked out until the soul returns. Of course, there will be a couple problems if the soul goes missing for a long time but that usually isn't a problem. Either way, the time in my dungeon dimension goes on much slower than the outside world so I have more than enough time to pass on to you my teachings."

"So if I can clear the dungeon, I'm free right?" I asked.

"Why of course. Once you clear the dungeon, I will officially declare you as my successor."

"Then tell me how to clear the dungeon. I'm not interested in becoming an old fogey like you so I'll have to pass on becoming your disciple and all that successor stuff."

"Hmph, good luck on that. You won't be able to clear my dungeon unless you already know everything there is to know about formations and magic itself." Or so he said.

"Yeah, yeah. Just tell me how to clear it." I said.

He shook his head and spoke. "Very well then. If you can't clear it on your own, then you will have no choice but to become my successor. If you somehow miraculously clear it on your own, I will gladly give you all my possessions."

"Alright then, get on with it. If my body is knocked out in the open, then there could be a possibility that something will eat it." I said.

"Something will eat you? Then why didn't you go to a safer place before activating the formation?" He said, while sighing at my apparent "stupidity." I hope he realizes it was his faulty rock that activated on its own.

"Well, if you are in fact eaten, then that isn't my problem. As long as someone inherits my teachings, I will be able to rest at ease knowing I at least passed down my knowledge. Anything after does not concern me." He said.

Just how low was his intelligence? Or did he really not care? He wants to pass down his knowledge to future generations yet he doesn't care about the successor's well being? That was the same as having a baby and throwing him out onto the streets expecting him to survive on his own and pass down the family name. What a douche.

"I know what you may be thinking, but even if I wanted to do something; I can't. A couple hundred years have already passed and my actual body is probably already buried somewhere. The me that is speaking to you is only a remnant of the past: an ancient figure you could say. I am but a segment of a soul, not even in fact; I am a being that has memories, but no real reason to exist. I have already lived my life. The only purpose of a fragmented will is to pass down a legacy of some sort. Once that is accomplished, we will dissipate and finally be freed."

"Alright, enough about your existential crisis. Explain." I said.

He continued. "My main point, I am already dead and as long as someone clears my dungeon, I will be able to finally rest. It's a simple give and take relationship. I teach you and you clear the dungeon. It's as simple as that. Either way, you won't be able to leave until you clear it and I have been waiting since the beginning of time for a worthy successor. It would not make much of a difference to wait another eon for another successor if you happen to die."

What kind of bullsh*t was this. Was he truly the man hailed as the greatest wizard? He was more like a selfish and greedy piece of dipsh*t.

"Now how do I clear the dungeon."

I finally understood my current predicament. The person I was talking to had nothing to lose while I still had a life; I still had things I couldn't lose. If I could, I didn't want to clear the dungeon and wanted him to suffer trapped in this place for eternity. But I obviously couldn't do that.

"It's simple. There are ten floors to this dungeon. There are trials on every floor. Once you complete all ten trials, you will have cleared my dungeon and you will inherit my storage ring which comprises all my goods." He said.

"We are currently on the first floor so shall I start the first trial?"

"Yes."

—Rachel's PoV—

'No, we can't do this Daniel.'

As he was about to rip my clothes off, I yelped.

"Huh, it was all a dream?" I said to myself, blinking a couple times.

Squirming around, I realized I was not on the nice bed from my dream. My back and neck were sore, a feeling that I was much too familiar with. I clearly did not have time to train yesterday so the springy leaves were the obvious cause of my discomfort. That's right, I was currently in a forest.

After remembering what happened last night, it seems I was off about a lot of things. When Daniel had told me to head in first, I had assumed he was planning some type of night assault. Looking back at it, it seemed I was a bit too conceited. I had thought all the time I spent seducing him would have worked so I pretended to be asleep last night while waiting for him to enter the tent. It was the perfect scenario as well since we were in a wild area which made it much easier for him to get away with. It looked like I had fallen asleep while waiting for the impossible.

How delusional I was, Daniel wasn't that type of man. It seems I still had a lot to learn from Miss Scarlet. Now that I thought of it, he didn't seem to be on either side of the tent. Did he sleep outside?

Getting out of the tent, Daniel was nowhere in sight.

'Could he have abandoned me? No way. Was I really lacking that much appeal?'

I can't let that happen. I must make him fall for me before he turns thirteen. Thirteen was the requirement for performing the adulthood ceremony after all. I will have no way to stop him from inadvertently creating a harem once he becomes an adult. The time was ticking and I knew it. I also had to grow strong enough to survive that as well. Yes, sooner or later, I will have to confront it along with everyone else.

I ended my train of thought when I found Daniel collapsed on top of the formation rock which seemed to be a bit bigger than before.

'Why was he sleeping here?'