Out of nowhere, an image of a humanoid figure lurking in the dark with a dagger holding in its hand swiftly darted closer through him in a flash.

Everything seemed to stop at this moment, time moving slowly, as the trickle of blood could be heard for a moment of a second. Then the images came to stop and vanished into oblivion.

Awakened from the sudden information pounding its head. Olen opened both of its eyes with a grim look on his face as he repeated the image foreseen from his mind I have 1.1 seconds left!

Olen then felt his body suddenly limping as he bent his knee to the ground and felt his strength drained after activating his ability [Foresight] to foresee the foreboding feeling ahead of him.

All of a sudden, the foreboding feeling came back as it got stronger by a second. In a heartbeat, Olen forcibly brought himself from his feet and dodged through the side right in time before the dagger suddenly pierced right through his heart.

And right before he thrust his sword to the figure in retaliation. Olen's feeble strength all of a sudden held over him, as he saw the sight of the sword hanging right over on the top of his eye.

Noticing the sword aimed at the man before its eye. A slight hesitation appeared in the figure's eyes, but soon it decisively pulled out its dagger from the ground and stabbed the man in front of it. But when the dagger was about to reach its target, a green-like creature suddenly emerged from the corner, as the goblin sprang from its feet launching itself to the figure grabbing the handle of the dagger just in time. Propelling the dagger back to the figure instead.

*Splash*

The dagger pierced through the hazy shoulder of the figure as it let out an agonizing shout from the pain, enough for its voice to be heard from a distance, which startled the two warriors as they immediately rushed to the source of the sound as soon as possible.

The figure hastily pulled out the dagger from its shoulder, but suddenly the goblin sprang up from its feet with its two hands pushing the hilt of the dagger deeper into its flesh pinning the figure into the spot. As the figure let out another excruciating shout for the second time. Giving the two warriors ample time to catch up to the sound and rush to the area.

Soon enough, the two warriors reached the source of the sound with a look of horror at the scene unfolded right in their eyes, as they saw their Liege lying down in the snow hanging on by a thread.

Hearing the footsteps come to a stop, Olen immediately let out a groan to signal out to the warriors that he is still alive and able to hear them. ‘I’m just suffering in mana exhaustion!’

Feimshall quickly ran to his Liege and leaned his shoulder to Olen’s arms and lifted him from the ground. Meanwhile, Alfrick on the other side stared at the vague figure thrashing around in the snow, while the goblin continuously pinned the figure into the ground twisting the dagger to its shoulder.

The figure suddenly felt a shiver run through his spine and shuddered in fear as the sight of a man shrouded with blood appeared before its eyes. The goblin suddenly took out its hand from the dagger and cowered back to the night hiding underneath its veil.

The figure instinctually reached out for the dagger in fear, while dragging its feet away as the approaching man slowly walked to it. But before the figure managed to grab the dagger from its shoulder ignoring its pain, a sword suddenly streaked from the night with the sword suspended in its neck.

“The night might have blinded me, but your dagger tells everything where you are, you shouldn’t have made it too noticeable,” Alfrick gloomily said.

Alfrick continued: “And at this distance, it's enough for me to tell that you are a human in some sort or other creature disguised as such” while he further threatened his sword right at the figure's neck.

Frightened at the sword hanging in its neck, the figure gave out an inaudible sound from its mouth, as if it was trying to communicate with the man in front of it, however.

Olen heard nothing but a sound of feminine voice curled in its voice that sounded like it was communicating but in a more primitive language. And while contemplating the origin of the figure. Olen suddenly remembered the tone of Alfrick and Feimshall talking together, and realized they have been talking with them in his own language since the start they met.

‘It can’t be possible, who are they? the tone of their voice and speech is exactly the same as the figure, but how?’ Olen thought while reminiscing his interactions with the two warriors recently.

“Don’t kill me!, you can keep this dungeon all for yourself, Nordian!. Just let me live!” The figure said in fear while lying in the snow, panicking at the sight of the sword drawing closer to it.

Alfrick paused for a moment, pondering at the word said by the figure, then said: “How do you know I'm a Nord, and why do your tone speak exactly like us” while pressing the sword to its neck, but instead changed his mind and decided to slightly release his sword from the neck so the figure could feel ease and talk.

“Ah! a Nordian who doesn't know its origins, how ironic to find one!” Said the figure with its voice least panicked this time.

Alfrick frowned at the unpleasant tone of the figure, as he grimly replied back with a bloodshed voice: “If you don’t answer the questions that I want to hear, my sword would be the last thing you have seen in your life” wounding its neck, leaving a scar as a warning.

“I’ll talk, I talk!. I had gone from the entrance of the dungeon, one that you have entered before, if not, then that means either you are a dweller of the dungeon or part of its ecosystem” Said the figure in horror as it felt its own blood trickling from its neck.

“Ash Ka Rim, that’s the region occupied by our cursed tribe, and in the middle of it are the agglomerations of unstable gates that lead to different dimensions or currently known as dungeons,” Said the figure as it frantically answered the man in front of it.

'Dungeon? It's called rift, it's a phenomenon that separates the space, leaving a dimension or a rift in its replace. it's like a damn wormhole, it just teleports you to another place. Is this figure perhaps came from a primitive civilization?'

As Olen sensed Alfrick was done interrogating the figure, Alfrick began to raise up his sword making its decision to kill the figure right in front of him. Olen seeing that, directly groaned to Feimshall hoping that he could perceive his intentions and call Aflrick to halt.

Olen was too feeble to let out a spare of its strength, as his body was too exhausted to follow his instructions, and can only rely on Feimshall to carry his body while letting out a groan to express his meaning.

Feimshall frowned at the sudden groaning of his liege, pausing for a second racking its brain, and surprisingly decided to call Alfrick, but in a different version of what Olen had put in mind. “Alfrick!, if you can hear me you bloody bastard, The liege has taken a fancy to the feminine voice earlier and wished it to be captured instead” Feimshall shouted while looking at Olen with a manly aura.

“BASTARD!” Olen angrily shouted in his mind.

Aflrick slowly drew his sword back to his waist and lightly spoke: “Consider yourself lucky this time, I could have killed you from the spot if not for that voice earlier” bludgeoning the figure right in its head knocking it unconscious.

[Escalade: Due to your efforts, you have stabilized the [Rift] to a normal state]

[The Council] wish to know your location and rewarded you for your efforts]

[...]

[Your understanding toward your progression [Rift Dweller] has increased moderately]

[Your understanding toward the [Rift] has increased subtly]

[Due to your recent battles, you have gained a significant amount of increase in [One Handed Sword] proficiency]

[You have gained a skill from your [One Handed Sword] [Basic swift slash]

[Your understanding toward the [Mana] has increased sharply]

[Your understanding toward the [Arcane] has increased subtly]

[Due to your understanding from the spell [Illuminate] and reaching a basic understanding in [Mana] and [Arcane]

[You have gained [Evocation] as proficiency]

***

He didn’t think the first thing he would see in the morning was a goblin prancing around Feimshall while waving its hand right in front of him sleeping. The goblin was making a weird face that seemed to be adorable in the viewer's eyes, but for him, it’s nothing but a horror unfolding before his eyes.

Still reeling at the battle last night, Olen stood up from the ground with a stiff shoulder. However, he suddenly felt something like a fur as soon as he touched the ground with his hand while standing up. Bewildered, Olen was sure that there was no such ornament or blanket when he had woken inside the town hall before the night ago. Except for a table right in the middle of the hall and a fireplace that didn't seem to run out of fuel.

However, Olen suddenly dawned on him and remembered a dead yeti outside of the hall last night, as its body was covered in snowy thick fur that looked like exactly the blanket he had seen earlier. Olen realizing what it was made from decided to check it out on his own ensuring that his first day won’t be ruined by a naked yeti without a fur.

While walking toward the entrance, Olen glanced around at the design of the interior in the main hall, strolling his eyes at the aesthetic appearance of the hall.

The walls looked like it was made of rotting trees, with floors creaking at the sound of a splintered wood scraped out from it, as the freezing air occasionally slip through the pocket of air from the cracks of a splintered wood, leaving the poor Feimshall freezing in the corner while the goblin grabs his blanket from his side in a tug of war keeping their body warmth from the unforgiving cold.

“So that's why I'm so frigid when waking up!” Olen thought.

And right before the entrance, a round table was displayed in the middle of it, as the snow slowly drips through cracks of the wood coating the entire table with the snow. While in the farther end of the table, a Fireplace can be seen lodged within the wall casting its light to the entire room with a bluish fire emanating from it.

The inside of the halls resembles an old cabin that would put any guest at home to feel relaxed, exuding a sense of serenity living in the snow with the warmth of the heat caressing the shivering cold of the snow. Benches coming out in the corner and a window with a small table placed beside it, while a medieval candle on top of it.

The area was large enough to keep an entire ten people inside, a room enough for six people, and a balcony with two small chairs covered in snow, and a living room with four benches placed neatly beside the round table with the chandelier atop of it noticeably capturing the entire room with its bluish light.

Arriving out of the door, Olen started looking around for Alfrick to ask him some questions about the Yeti since there is no one here capable enough of doing such a gruesome feat. Soon enough, Olen found the outskirts of the area of the battle that held on last night.

To his surprise, there was no sight of a body found in it, but a trail of blood that seemed to be dragged to the Town Hall. However, there was no single sign of a yeti being dragged from the shape on the surface of the snow, but instead, a shape of a dead goblin carved from the surface of the snow.

'Pls don’t tell me you made a food out of them too.'

Seeing the trail leading toward the front door of the Town Hall, Olen immediately walked toward it, but as soon as he entered through it.

An unimaginable scene occurred right before his eyes, as he saw the bodies of the goblins flung out to the fireplace as the sight of the bluish fire covered throughout the body devouring the flesh as a whole.

While at the same time the pile of ashes suddenly condensed into a crystal above Alfrick's palm.

Bluish energy suddenly emerged from the crystal as it transfused its energy to the crystal in Alfrick's hand. The energy suddenly forms into a network of energies forming a link between the three crystals with the [Rift Shard] as the central core and final link.

“Alfrick, what’s this? why are you pouring goblins in a flame?” Olen asks in shock.

“Liege, this Fireplace seems strange, I can seem to hear strange sounds in my head as soon as I flung the bodies of the goblin lying at the front of the [Town Hall]” Aflrick said and continued with confusion in his eyes: “After that, I learned the [Dagger Proficiency] which displayed a screen notifying me the remaining essence that I have absorbed from the process after burning the body”

Olen suddenly shook and flustered as his voice shuddered in doubt and said: “Say whaaat?”

*cough*

Hearing the cough, Olen adjusted his posture and shrugged the embarrassing scene before him, and curiously said “Do me a favor Alfrick, send your thoughts to the crystal in the middle of the fireplace and tell me what you see” pointing at the mini [Rift Shard] hovering above the bluish fire.

Alfrick leaned his eyes closer to the crystal, and to his surprise, a blue screen floated before the crystal, as he watch the panel with his name on it and his supposedly abilities.

[Alfric Longcloak]

Species: Human

Race: Nord

Talent: Astute, Increased Tenacity

Abilities:

Skills: [Bloody Slash]

[Proficiency]

Heavy Armour: 1 (82/100)

One-Handed Sword: 15 (5/100)

Archery: 1 (10/100)

Block: 2 (10/100)

Magicka: 1 (10/100)

Essence: 1 (50/100)

Dagger: 1 (20/100)

Leadership: 1 (5/100)

[Progression]

Warrior: 3 (42/100)

“AHAHAHA” Olen violently laughed his head off, as he sent out a victory hand and uproariously clamored at the sight of the system that he had been waiting for appearing in front of him.

Who said I'm the only person who can gain the function of the shard!

*cough*

“Ahem… Alfrick, try envisioning Feimshall this time” Olen said while staring at Alfrick's seemingly reluctant expression to picture Feimshall in his thoughts.

Yeah…

After quite some time, Aflrick shook his head and said: “There’s nothing on it Liege” while looking down at the floor in shame.

‘It seems there’s a limit to it, well says a lot about the miniature look of it.'

Olen waved his hand in response: “There’s nothing to be ashamed of, It's not an order, I merely wished to test the limits of the crystal and see what it can do”

“And also about that captive of ours, where is it?” Olen said, but suddenly something clicked in his mind and continued saying: “And that yeti, don’t tell me you carved its skin out of a blanket?” sternly staring at Alfrick voicing his disgust.

“About that Liege…”

Out of nowhere, a sudden dreadful roar resounded in the air, as the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard from the distance.

‘Oh no, please don’t be a naked yeti, please don't be a naked yeti.’