At the same time the humans entered the underground tomb, Vaeril was in a meditative pose of his own. Even back on Earth, his favorite position had been to sit cross-legged in Buddhist fashion. Bhāvana, the practice of mental cultivation, was what it was generally known as.

The death of his parents five years prior had made him ever more reliant on the practice. His parents had supposedly died in a car crash, their bodies mysteriously never to be found. Investigations had been called for, but after all the “supposed” leads were followed, the case had gone cold.

Given his solitary nature, the practice was helpful in cultivating a shield against the solitude. Most of all, it had been helpful in controlling his mana with the advent of the system and the apocalypse more than three months ago. Or perhaps it was even longer than three months ago. He did not know how long his transition—his transmigration—to his second life took. To him, it had felt like an eternity in which he had almost lost himself forever.

Focusing inward, Vaeril felt the complex mana vessels running throughout his newfound body. As each individual had different and unique channels, it took some time for Vaeril to familiarize himself with his own. The mana vessels in his newfound body were far more intricate and denser than his human ones. Theoretically, mana vessels existed on a different dimensional plane, superimposed onto one’s own blood vessels. Thus came to be the uniqueness of each person’s mana vessels, contributing to the different inherent mana capacities.

Concentrating his will on the stagnant mana barely flowing through the vessels near his heart, he guided the mana to circulate faster and faster. Like a river that had broken through a dam, the mana pool in his heart began rushing forth to other parts of his body. Stimulated by the stream of mana, his mana pool that had stopped regenerating began to move, regaining a percentage every minute.

Vaeril was relieved to find the mana concept to be similar to the system back on Earth. The only difference was that his mana regeneration was unbelievably fast. What would have taken half a day for his previous human body with meditation to fully regenerate the mana pool, this new body of his would take less than two hours.

The health concept of the system had been overturned for the better. The concept of his health no longer regenerating faster below 15% did not apply to him anymore, most likely due to his inhuman body. Every minute that passed by, Vaeril regained one percent of his health pool back despite how thirsty and starving he was.

How is it that my health and mana are regenerating so fast? Vaeril asked Loliya, wanting to confirm his suspicions.

The Sanguis, your race, are perhaps the most skilled in all matters relating to blood. Inside you lies dormant the shadeblood, living blood that increases your health and mana regeneration. Living blood which you can manipulate with but a thought.

Vaeril contemplated on the legends of vampires. Does this mean I have to drink blood, like a vampire?

Yes. Drinking the blood of your opponents will contribute to the growth and rejuvenation of your shadeblood. A feeling of curiosity. What is this vampire you speak of, though? Loliya knows of no such creatures.

In the myths of my world, Vaeril explained, vampires are blood drinkers of legends with powers involving blood.

How very intriguing. If only Loliya could visit your world to see what it is like.

More than an hour passed as Vaeril waited for his health and mana to regenerate to full. And that was only with some meditation. The wait was made easier through his conversations with Loliya, him regaling her with tales from Earth and her explaining the background of Azul and some of his skills, talents, and quirks. Though most of them were half-explanations. The sword was far more interested in his stories.

What worried Vaeril, however, was that his shadeblood remained at 3%, even dropping another percent lower from its former 4%. Loliya had reassured him that the shadeblood would naturally recover as he drank blood from his opponents. The thought of blood made Vaeril hesitant. Even back on apocalyptic Earth, he had avoided taking the lives of others except for the monsters. For the most parts, he avoided human contact, considering it to be too troublesome. The strangeness of his quirks were also a contributing factor to his avoidance.

As for the other two types of energy, holy and demonic, Vaeril had no idea how to increase them. They were both stuck at 1%.

Standing up, he moved toward the black double gates engraved with a raven crest in the middle. Up close before the gates, Vaeril felt small compared to it. The gates were thrice his height and wide enough to allow ten people to pass through shoulder to shoulder.

Yearning along with pensiveness could be felt through his bond. A mental sigh. How Loliya wishes for the Internet.

Vaeril grimaced inside his mind at that. The topic of the Internet had come up through their conversations and it had been a mistake to explain it to the curious weapon. It had taken some time for her to understand the basic gist of the Internet, but Vaeril was certain she did not truly understand it. All she knew and care was that it held the answers to almost everything. The Internet was a god to her. Though he supposed she wasn’t wrong in that regard, considering how many important roles it played in modern society.

So I just inject my mana through this gate and it will open for me? asked Vaeril.

Yes. Once you inject your mana into it, the raven crest will disappear and the gates can be opened. They are specifically attuned to your mana. As I have explained beforehand, there will be five small gargoyles guarding the second chamber. It will appear as a challenge once you step into the second chamber. You must then defeat it to open the gates.

And there is no possible way I can circumvent this challenge? Vaeril was not confident of such a risky proposition, especially given that he was a lowly level 12. To boot, he did not have a great understanding of his body. And finally—his biggest concern—he was naked. Entirely naked.

If he had to put his current predicament in gaming terms, Vaeril was like a small noob playing on a different game account with a different character, albeit a more powerful one. And this low-level noob wearing only underwear had been thrown into a high-level dungeon with five gargoyles, which were usually mid-bosses in the games he had played back on Earth.

Trust Loliya. You are far stronger than you look. And Loliya is the most powerful Zenitence weapon you have ever seen. Loliya can defeat a horde of gargoyles if she wanted to.

Need I remind you that you are the only Zenitence weapon I have seen. I have no basis for comparison. That, and I don’t even know how to wield a sword.

The weapon did not deign to answer him, but instead transmitted impatience through their bond. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at her, Vaeril channeled his mana into the palm he held against the gate. The raven crest lighted up with his mana for half a heartbeat before disappearing. A slight push then allowed him to open the gates with a heavy creaking sound. Either Vaeril was far stronger than he looked or there was a magical aspect to the gates helping him push the enormous gates open.

The second chamber was similar in both size and shape. About a hundred feet across in both diameter and height of its spherical construction. But there were two differences to the previous chamber. The first difference was that instead of a sarcophagus and a sword in the middle, there was a raised dais with a raven crest in lieu of it. And the other difference was the five gargoyles guarding the dais with their backs toward it in a pentagonal perimeter.

These gargoyles were nothing to sneer at either. They weren’t the small carvings that could be found on cathedrals. No, these were hulking gargoyles more than twice his height. To look at them would be to look upon humanoid bulls. Bulls which probably could have personified testosterone or fit right as rain into the role of a weightlifting mascot that had skipped leg day back on Earth.

Their appearances were not quite unlike that of Minotaurs, except far more grotesque and stonier looking with a serrated armored tail that jutted out unnaturally from behind.

Each of the five gargoyles wielded a different weapon: a halberd, a shortsword, a spear, a hammer, and a scythe.

You call these gargoyles small? Vaeril asked, relaying a feeling of doubt through the bond. They could eat me for breakfast and still have spare room left in their stomachs. He wondered what exactly the weapon considered large.

Confusion. Silly wielder, gargoyles are not creatures that eat flesh. They solely subsist on mana converted from the Esotherial. Loliya is quite certain they will not attempt to eat you. They will attempt to kill you.

Resisting the urge to retort, Vaeril instead focused his will on the five gargoyles, using the Communication perk granted to him by the quirk [System Player].

Scan.

With but a simple word, the familiar sound of the system notification along with two blue screens appeared before his eyes.

[Scan successful. Remaining System Scan Uses: 2.]

Name: Pentagram Gargoyles

Type: Living Inanimate (Immortal)

Race: Gargoyle

Level: 62

Age: 4020

Health: 100%

Mana: 100%

Description: Using exquisite carving skills, the five gargoyles were crafted by Feyrith Craftstorm using earth, Body, Inert, and Soul magic. Live as one, die as one. The five gargoyles are bonded together into one entity and killing one of them will kill all of them. Each gargoyle is earth-resistant and a weapon master of its own respective weapon. They are weak to strong fire magic and have the intelligence of a goblin. Being immortal, the Pentagram Gargoyles cannot die from old age and cannot naturally gain Esotherial essence with age.

Next, Vaeril brought up his fire spells list as gargoyles were weak to fire magic. Fire spell.

Fire Spells:

Tier One: Ember Sparks, Fireball, Fire Manipulation, Lesser Fire Amplification, Mana to Fire Conversion, Torchfire, Warmth.

From the explanation by Loliya, Vaeril knew there were not many spells he had access to, given his low level. Each successive thirty levels granted access to a higher tier of spell. Being level 12, he only had access to tier one spells. Vaeril would need to be a minimum of level 30 to access tier two spells, even though he had a far larger mana pool than others of his level. On the bright side, Vaeril wasn’t lacking variety. He could use all ten different types of mana-based magic as well as rare forms of Esotherial energy such as demonic and holy magic, though he had not the first idea on how to use the latter two magic.

Spells were hard to learn and needed understanding of either runes, rote memorization, or impartment. Back on Earth, Vaeril didn’t need to worry about it as he could simply learn spells directly from the spell scrolls loot or from the rewards of the system quests. In this new world, he figured he could do the same as he still had his [System Player] quirk, in addition to having access to whatever spells Azul had already learned.

“Alright, here goes nothing.” Vaeril muttered to himself, finally taking a step forward into the second chamber and trying hard to forget his nudity. Time to nut up. Or shut up. A last vestige his doubt. You had better be right Loliya, that I do not need to practice first.

The moment his foot made contact against the black floor, he saw flecks of stone being peeled off from the five gargoyles. Stony eyelids slowly opened—time had taken a toll on them too despite their immortality—to reveal fiery red, gem-like pupils. With a rumbling sound of stones being grinded together, the five gargoyles stood up from their knelt positions. The transition from their unanimated state to their animated state was short, taking perhaps only a few seconds.

Channeling his mana for about three heartbeats, Vaeril pointed his free palm—the one not holding the longsword—at the closest gargoyle, the halberd wielding one. Not far from his palm, and to his surprise, an enormous magic circle about six feet in diameter appeared in front of him. It was a magic circle for a Fireball which was the strongest tier one offensive fire spell he currently had. It was a spell which he had fervently used back on Earth.

The release of the Fireball showed Vaeril that it was no puny Fireball cast by the human him. Instead, the Fireball was similar in size to the magic circle, well over six feet in diameter. It was like comparing a monster truck to a toy truck. Such an apt description—trucks truly were the most suitable.

Vaeril caught himself in time, reminding himself that his fascination with trucks came not from his own love but a falsely induced one from the [Isekai World Traveler] title.

Vaeril watched as the humongous Fireball collided with the halberd gargoyle in its chest, sending the monster flying a few feet away into a sprawl. Shards of stone broke off from the gargoyle though he could see the monster was likely only briefly incapacitated.

To his bewilderment, the broken shards of stone sank into the black floor, disappearing before his very eyes. Fearful that the floor would swallow him too, Vaeril glanced down at his feet.

Do not worry, wielder. The floor will only absorb corpses or the entities that were assigned to guard Azul’s tomb.

Her words reassured Vaeril and he once more focused on the battle. Bringing his status screen up, Vaeril kept a careful eye on his mana. More pleasant surprises. That huge Fireball had only cost him 1% of his total mana, lending even more truth to the huge mana pool he now had. It was nothing compared to when he had been human. To see with his own eyes was far more reassuring, for actions spoke louder than words. Loliya’s words, to be precise.

A slight grin on his face, Vaeril created five more magic circles of similar sizes, all of them perfectly lined up and hovering in midair in front of him like obedient soldier ants. He was taking advantage of his powerful quirk [Multichanneler], which allowed him to easily open different channels of mana. He had five mana channels opened, each one feeding into its own respective magic circle.

And if there was such a thing as muscle memory with mana, the new body he inhabited would undoubtedly have it. The formation of the magic circles. The flow and circulation of the mana. They all came far too easily. It simply could not be compared to his human body which could have handled, at best, two channels of mana.

The four gargoyles were not standing by idly as they saw their companion being blasted by a Fireball. With an angry bellow, the gargoyles rushed forth into four prongs of attack. They were smart enough to not group up against the fire mage. With their intelligence, they knew a divided front would split the attention and consequently the Fireballs.

With a flourish, Vaeril gestured his right index finger and thumb into a finger-gun sign, pointing it at the incoming scythe gargoyle.

“Bang!” Vaeril whispered as he released the Fireball from the first magic circle.

“Bang!” Almost immediately, not even half a heartbeat passing in between, he released another Fireball, this time pointing his finger-gun at the hammer gargoyle.

“Bang!” A third Fireball flew at the spear gargoyle.

“Bang!” The fourth Fireball was released toward the longsword gargoyle.

Vaeril watched the fireworks show as the four Fireballs almost simultaneously smacked into the four charging gargoyles. The shortsword gargoyle, perhaps due to wielding a less cumbersome weapon, managed to sidestep half of the Fireball, turning what should have knocked him backward from its chest into a glancing shoulder blow. The force of the Fireball, however, managed to stop it in its track momentarily, allowing Vaeril to release the fifth Fireball he had held back. The fifth Fireball flew true, smacking the shortsword gargoyle in its bull face and jerking its head backward so far that it roared in surprise, taking a few steps backward before falling on its bottom.

Why does Loliya sense embarrassment from her wielder? She commented curiously.

Vaeril coughed in light embarrassment. Perhaps he had gotten a tad bit carried away. He had only now realized how mortifying his actions were given the situation he was in. Naked and finger-gunning down gargoyles with Fireball bullets inside an underground tomb was certainly not a situation he had ever entertained, not even in his wildest dream.

Back on Earth, the Fireball spell had been his most used spell, for they were doubly effective compared to the other elements against the zombies. Vaeril was thus considerably experienced in casting it. He knew the spell’s timing and its velocity. And he would have said its firepower too were it not for the excess mana his new body held.

It took less than three seconds to form another set of five magic circles and two more seconds to release each Fireball to their respective target. He was a fair man, or rather, a fair Sanguis. One spell for each gargoyle. Vaeril did not wanted to be seen as playing favorites in front of the first monsters he did battle with in this new world.

The gargoyles never stood a chance. From the first initiative Vaeril took to the last of his salvos, the Pentagram Gargoyles were never allowed to stand back up again for more than a short moment. Sure, he could have finished the battle by focusing more firepower on only one of the gargoyles as all five gargoyles were considered one entity and he only needed to pick off one, but Vaeril needed the practice.

Counting the initial Fireball and the seven salvos of spells he fired, Vaeril had consumed 36% of his total mana, of which 1% had regenerated back during the battle.

Tring. The familiar sound of the system notification as a small blue screen popped up with the defeat of the Pentagram Gargoyles.

Vaeril didn’t have time to check the status screen before he started running toward the closest corpse which was sinking fast into the quicksand-like floor.

My Loot! Vaeril screamed in his mind as the shortsword gargoyle fully disappeared into the floor. At the same time its corpse disappeared, the other four gargoyles did so too. The distance had been too far for him to cross, given the corpse disappearing in two blinks of an eye.

What is this loot you speak of, wielder Vaeril? came the voice of Loliya.

I can loot the corpses of entities I have killed due to my [System Player] quirk, Vaeril explained.

Astonishment. Truly? You are not lying to Loliya? In her long life, she has never seen such a strange quirk.

Really? I would have thought there were other people with this quirk in this world.

Perhaps. Loliya, despite her greatness, has not been privy to all the secrets of this world. Perhaps such a strange quirk was once in her memory, but Loliya has forgotten it.

You have memory loss too?

A short silence as the longsword fell into contemplation. Not your kind of memory loss. There is a seal on Loliya, preventing her access to a large part of her past memories.

In the midst of forming a question, Vaeril was interrupted by Loliya. He could tell that she was trying to change the subject.

Behold, the treasure chest of the second chamber has appeared.

From the mental tugging he felt from the bond, Vaeril was directed toward the middle of the chamber where an exquisite black treasure chest had appeared on the dais.

Before he moved toward the chest, Vaeril inspected the system notification that had appeared.

You have attained the title [Goliath Slayer] by defeating an enemy at least fifty levels above you.

Vaeril willed the title [Goliath Slayer] to open.

Title: [Goliath Slayer]

Description: You have now embarked on a new journey, following in the mythical footsteps of David who slayed Goliath. A small, overall stat boost and a +10% damage modifier are applied against entities at least 50 levels higher than you.

Reaching the chest in no time at all, his gamer sense, the inner greedy little Chihuahua, was barking its head off for Vaeril to open the chest. Pulling open the lid revealed vibrantly verdant liquid in hourglass shaped vials stoppered with black metal caps. There were precisely three of them, all three about the length of his index finger, perfectly nestled inside the grooves of a white plate.

Extracting one of the vials, Vaeril held it a little above eye-level, inspecting the verdant liquid. A faint scenery of a halcyon, grassy field where an enormous tree resided in the middle came into his mind. There was something magically attractive about these vials. What are these vials, Loliya?

Yggdrasil’s Dew. It can cure all ailments and return someone back to full health. A rarity as the elves guard the dew of the Yggdrasil Tree zealously.

Wait. Elves? There are elves—

His question was cut off midway as he heard the heavy creaking of the chamber gates. Turning around with vial still in hand, he saw a large group of humans entering the chamber through the gates that would have led to next chamber.

At the forefront of the group was a tall woman in full leather armor, her fiery red hair and pale gray eyes perfectly framing the stoic beauty of her face, marred only by her scowl. Four men and three women in similar leather armor shadowed her closely, almost as if they were her shadows. Not too far off beside the tall, scarlet-haired woman was a short woman wearing what looked to be goggles, her brown hair sporting tints of violet streaks. Like a small child at a candy store, the excitement toward Vaeril could not be hidden in her amethyst eyes. Beside the short woman, there was a scholarly looking old man dressed in a plain, brown robe.

A little further behind and to the left of the foremost group was another old man with a long multi-colored beard that fell just short of his waist. Directly next to the old man was a younger man, perhaps early thirties, with an unshaved stubble, an annoying roguish grin, and dark brown eyes that were directly staring at Vaeril.

“Well, well, well,” said the grinning man. “Never in my wildest of wildest imagination or perhaps nightmare, I should say…would I have entertained the thought of a skinny, naked man waiting as our second challenge.”

“He looks suspicious. And no beard by the looks of it. Entirely hairless, in fact.”

“Why, what ever gave that away, old man. Him being naked isn’t obviously enough to label as suspicious?”

Their banter, translated into perfect English due to his quirk [Akashic Tongue], reminded Vaeril that he was indeed bare-naked. He had entirely forgotten that small little fact during his heated, pun intended, battle with the gargoyles and in his excitement at opening a treasure chest.

Dumbfounded by what looked to be a group of humans suddenly barging into the chamber and seeing him in his most glorious form, Vaeril was at a loss for words. He could see more men and women, well over fifty of them, follow the initial group inside. Some of their jaws dropped at the sight of the naked man with a longsword in his left hand suspiciously standing over a treasure chest.

Oh look, our next meal has delivered themselves, Loliya cheerfully commented. You should drain them dry and kill them for experience.

I don’t think that is wise. We are far outnumbered and my level is too low. Even after killing the level 62 Pentagram Gargoyles, Vaeril was only level 14, having gained only a measly 2 levels. In addition, he was no mass murderer.

You are simply no fun, wielder.

Ignoring her bloodthirst—probably a morning grouchiness made worse by the few thousand years of slumber—Vaeril saw a few hands already cautiously reaching for their weapons. In a short-panicked moment, Vaeril blurted out, “I come in peace.”