We soon set off, not needing to eat since we had our spiritual force. We defeated four more orcs, earning one EXP shard for each of us. We went past the location of the source and arrived before a large set of white stone stairs, descending downwards from where we currently were. We began walking down the stairs. I did not know how long we had been walking, but I suddenly noticed that Bella disappeared.

I tried calling to her, but she didn't answer. I tried using our thought-based connection. No reply there. Suddenly very worried, I tried to contact Seere.

"Seere, have you seen Bella?"

"Bella? I don't know who that is, but I, interestingly, have not seen any enemies here recently."

"So, you can't sense any enemies and neither can my mana manipulation. Are we still in the dungeon?"

"No. We are in some sort of subspace," Amon interjected. "There's less mana in the atmosphere, but that which is in the air seems odd."

"It's interesting. It's different from the void but not like what would normally be seen."

I continued walking. I must have been walking for many months before noticing something was off. I was all alone. It was sadder, though than before. I had recently, finally, had a companion to talk to. I was so happy that I didn't have to be alone anymore. Someone finally understood me.

A scene flashed before my eyes. It was from my past, when I had said something I shouldn't have. I've always been like that. I just continue on doing what I'm doing. I don't know why, but I don't care about what's going on around me.

Another scene from my past flashed before me. This was during a gym class in middle school. Here, I kept running even though the runner right next to me sprained their ankle. I didn't even notice, but many of my classmates were looking down on me for not helping. I just continued on with the race. I never much cared for what was going on in the world around me—just what I'm doing. I never really bothered with other people, nor did I think about their opinions.

That was, at least, until I met Bella. In just a few short days, we had grown so close. We revealed our secrets to each other, and we both felt like we knew so much about each other. I already knew, as long as we're together, we will always make each other happy.

I wanted to protect someone now, and I wanted to be strong for her. For the first time, I was thinking about someone else around me who wasn't my nuclear family. I go with the flow so much that I never really considered that I did. After a few more scenes passed by, many from within the dungeon, I realized how crazy everything was. I could use magic! No one had ever used magic before on earth! Goblins, orc, and slimes exist! No one else on Earth knows about this but me! I could do so much after revealing my powers. If they tried to experiment on me, I'd just escape to the dungeon.

Then, I saw a scene of my family together. It was a week before my sister moved to college, where we were having a big party to celebrate. My family and I. They couldn't escape to the dungeon. Only I could. Finally, I had found my reason. I never thought too much on Prince Keith's question of why I fight here. Now, I can answer him!

I fight in this dungeon to protect those close to me. By getting stronger here, even if other humans come exploring, I will be able to be on top. One day, I may be able to stand up to the entire army. I'll do so to protect my family, both old and new: mom, father, Emily, Grandmom, Grandpop, and Bella. If my powers ever get revealed, I'll find a way to keep them safe.

For the first time, I finally felt like I was looking at those around me—not just me and what I wanted to do—but how my actions affect everybody.

It was short-lived, though, as I also thought I wanted to fight here because it was fun and because I got to hang out with Bella.

When I came to the realization, I suddenly found myself at the bottom of a single set of about twenty stairs.

"Roberto, are you okay? You suddenly stopped walking and stood still for a few seconds."

"Just a few seconds?" I asked, surprised. I had been walking for months!

"Yes, why? Did something happen?"

"I was in some weird space for what felt like months. I am usually self-centered, but this place helped me see the world around me."

"Already?!"

"So, do you know about this then?"

"Well, I, um…"

"It's okay. You can choose if you want to tell me. I'll respect your decision."

"It's not that… It's just… We have to visit mother."

"Can we go from here?"

"Let's just go a little further. K?"

"K," I responded

We arrived in the next room, another plain, where there were a few orcs and many goblin nobles.

"Savior from the second floor, we allow you to pass by unharmed," one of the nobles said in the goblin language.

"Thank you," I said as we passed by

Bella tapped on the ground in front of us, and a door with two metal pieces connected in the center appeared before us. At the center, there was a large padlock with a keyhole.

"Just touch the keyhole. K?"

"K."

Following Bella's directions, I touched the keyhole.

[Spiritual key authority checking. Passed.]

The door opened, and we quickly entered.

We arrived, this time, directly in front of the Queen.

"Bella? What brings you back here?"

"Mother, he had a vision."

"The weakness vision?"

"Yes, it appears so."

"I see, this is troublesome to deal with. Roberto, please show me your status."

The usual system message popped up. Unlike before, though, I decided to ask what was going on here before acquiescing.

"Why do you want to see it? What's this vision thing all about?"

The Queen sighed. "You don't have to show it to me, but please look at your spiritual force."

"How'd it get to one thousand two hundred already?!" I exclaimed before realizing what I'd done.

"It seems your worries were correct Bella. I won't keep you from telling him, as your already married."

"K, Roberto. Let's go to our house."

She grabbed my hand, and we were immediately sent to our house.

"Roberto, you are becoming a spirit," she began crying.

"I'm so sorry; it's because of me. I'm at fault here. I wish there was something I could do to end our bond. I don't want this to end, but maybe there's something in the library that could dissolve our marriage and bond. I want for you to be happy with your Earth family."

"Don't cry, Bella," I said, embracing her. "I may not have known this would happen, but I also agreed to our bond. I won't give it up even if you tried."

"but, what if you become a fairy?" she said in between sobs.

"Then I do so. It'll also keep you happy, since we can be together longer. I'd hate to see you sad when I die, and you have to live on."

"But, Roberto, your family. They'll miss you."

"What's stopping me from seeing them? My spiritual glamor can make it seem like I looked just like this."

"It can?"

"yes, it's a hidden function."

"But, still, you'll no longer be a human. I don't want you giving up your race for me."

"I don't care about what race my status card says. I care about you much more." If it weren't for my recent trip, I would have never thought to say this.

"But what if your conversion fails? What if you don't succeed and become something else?"

"I have my two servants, Seere and Amon. I'm sure they can think of something."

"But, still, I don't want to lose you. I'd still be happy if I could just watch you go through the dungeon silently."

"I don't want to lose you either. You're my wife, Isabella."

"But, Roberto."

"It's okay. I don't even know what this vision is in the first place. Just because my spiritual force is three hundred away from the limit doesn't tell me anything."

She was now able to stop crying as much and pulled me closer.

"What you saw is part of the coming of age for many spirit cultures, such as fairies. It may seem to take many years, but it really takes less than a few minutes. The weakness vision, as it's called, is where each spirit must confront their weaknesses alone. By doing so, they can be considered an adult. All that is left for them is to receive their first assignment directly from the queen."

"What happens will happen. Let's go see your mom and see what she has to say. If she ends up giving me an assignment, it'll be my first real job."

Bella laughed, which was much better than her crying. Even though she opened up and wasn't shy around me, it was still the first time I heard her laugh. We proceeded to exit from the world and arrived in front of the queen.

"I have something that I hope may help," the queen said, taking a bracelet from the fairy in front of her. "This is an artifact from long ago. It is called The Bracelet of Humanity. Originally, it was meant to make us fairies seem more like humans, but, for a human, it may help you. Please, put it on.

I decided to listen to the queen, so I put the bracelet on. Immediately, I saw my spiritual force decrease to 750/1200. I tried using spiritual drain, but it wouldn't go any higher.

"It keeps my spiritual force at seven hundred fifty. I need one thousand five hundred to fully become a fairy." I said

"I'm so happy, husband," Bella said.

"I'm glad it worked. Thanks to your vision, you can clear the floor easier. It counted as a room, so you can now skip past the next room. Good luck, son in law!"

With the queen seeing us off, we returned to the room we were in before. Now, however, there was another door. We entered the door, and it directed us towards a downward passage. Following the passage, we arrived at another door. This one, however, had many dents in it. It looked as if a sword made it.

Cautiously, we entered. I had Blackmail ready, and Bella had her spiritual sword ready. When we entered, the first thing we noticed was how bright the sun was. It was almost blinding, much more powerful than the normal sun on earth. Looking around the new room, it wasn't too much different from the other large rooms. This room, however, was split into three parts. To the left and right were mountains filled with mage archers. In the center was a grassy plain with orcs in lines of four.

Quickly, we discussed our strategy. I knew I could defeat the archers on one side by myself if she drew the fire of the other side. She knew she found orcs easy to defeat. We then decided on a plan. She would create a distraction fighting the orcs, giving me enough time to use the area of effect fireball and gust forth to clean up the wooded mountains.

It took the rest of the day to clear the left side of all of its mountains. I got thirty experience points and many MP recovery potions. Bella got sixty-four. It was almost like a competition.

Together, we went to the right mountainside. We agreed to leave the remaining orcs for last. Throughout the night, we stealthily hunted many archers. With Bella's skill, we were able to get twice as many bows! I combined them into three greater bows, giving me four overall. I hoped that was enough to advance the high-end equipment.

With the four bows together, I was about to select combine, but Bella stopped me.

"Let me," she said.

She then used her spiritual force to weave between the four bows, drawing them into a circle. The circle changed from translucent to white, and some sparks came flying out. It then started rotating along with her power, eventually rising up above our heads then coming back down over the next few minutes.

"It's complete," she said, looking satisfied.

I appraised the new bow.

Epic Spiritual Bow

Rank: B-

Effects: damage restoration: restores damage to bow itself after a certain time period has passed. Far sight: increases distance of visible sight by up to nine meters while preparing a shot. Indeterminate affinity: arrows of all elements can be used with this bow, however bow will only create spiritual power-based arrows

Description: String will regenerate continuously. Capable of firing five arrows of the time with a medium increase in precision. The bow generates arrows made of spiritual force that inflict damage through spiritual force.

Not only did it increase by three ranks, but Bella's involvement also made it a spiritual bow! If I had a few more of these, I wonder what it'd be like. Since we still had a few hours before we returned home, Bella helped me learn how to use the bow. She used her spiritual power to create a bow for herself.

Even after seeing her sword skills, I was surprised she was so good with a bow. Not a single shot missed its mark, even up to almost the end of the room!

My shots were terrible at first, but, soon, I was able to start getting the hang of it.

[skill: elementary bow techniques learned]

[skill: elementary bow techniques has evolved to become spiritual bow techniques]

"Spiritual bow techniques?" I asked aloud.

"Congratulations on your new skill. As it’s a spiritual skill, it has no levels. I have it as well. Just keep practicing, and you'll learn new skills under the technique."

"Thanks for your help, Bella," I said.

"Your welcome, husband." She replied

The two skills I got were arrow shoot, which increases my precision and makes it easier for me to shoot any kind of bow, and elemental arrow creation, which allows me to use MP to create arrows of different elements.

When we were finished with our practice, it was time to return home. We weren't returning to our home together, nor were we going to the mansion. I was bringing Bella to Earth. At first, when I tried to go back, she wasn't able to come with me.

"Let me try this next. I'll be inside of your soul, husband. Please take care of me." She said as she disappeared.

She didn't really disappear, though. I still felt her presence and could still communicate with her.

"Ready?" I asked.

"K," she responded

With that, we arrived in my room. I planned it so I would arrive early in the morning before my family arrived. I was glad they weren't back yet.

"I can't wait to meet your parents," Bella said excitedly.

"Oh, right, they haven't met you yet. This may be troublesome. It isn't normal, on Earth, for strangers to be married so quickly. It would also be abnormal for us to live together. I don't know how we are going to convince my parents."

"I have an idea. Why don't you just add me into their memories?"

"I can do that?"

"Yep. It's one of your skills, 'member?"

I was reluctant to use my dungeon skills on family, but it was the best option available. It was sure easier than trying to convince them I'd suddenly married over the summer.

For the rest of the morning, I showed Bella around my house. Since most of my stuff was in the dungeon, I was glad my room was clean when I showed it to her.

"Such a small bed," she said.

"I'm sorry, but we don't actually need to sleep here. We can go to the dungeon during the nights. Plus, we don't even need to sleep in the first place."

"True, but I love falling asleep with you," she said, disappointed.

"We can still fit," I said, dragging her onto the bed with me.

When we finished the tour and were about to go outside, I heard a car pull up. Looking out the window, I saw it was my mom's van. She has two cars. The first is the van that she uses for shopping and transporting things, such as during my sister's trip to college. The second is a Maserati she got from her father for a birthday gift.

My family walked into the house, carrying suitcases.

"Roberto, please give us a hand with the luggage."

"OK, mom," I replied to her.

I went outside and brought in some luggage. Soon, we were all unpacked. My family has a rule where we don't talk until everything's put away after unpacking. Finally, I could talk to my sister.

"Hi, Emily. How was your vacation? Are you ready to go back?"

"Definitely. Do you think you'll pass the standardized test? You may be school smart, but I don't know about you."

"I think I'll be fine." Especially with my wisdom increase, I would be able to easily get a perfect score when I took it the following week.

"I still don't know," she said, rolling her eyes.

Her phone started ringing.

"Hey, Stacie. Yeah, I'm back home. Can't wait for the party next week. You sure John's gonna be there?" She answered the phone.

I guess my talking to her was done for now. Finally, it seemed my parents noticed Bella.

"Roberto, who is this? Is this a new friend of yours?" My mom asked.

"Don't bring girls over without telling us, son," my father said.

"But, it's Isabella. She lives here, since she's my wife."

When I said so, even my sister stopped talking.

"Hey, Stacie, do you know about my brother's wife? The way he's talking its normal for her to be here, but I've never seen her."

With my sister's response, I guess the mind editing didn't work. I then went up to my mom to bring her over to Bella, while I tried again to edit her memories. What I was missing was touch. As soon as I touched her, I was able to connect to her brain with mine. On the barren field where our brains resided, I saw her many memories. As such, I added a small backstory to Bella and made it, so she had lived here for the past year, after we got married. I especially made sure to include that we shared the same room.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Isabella. How could I forget?"

"It's OK," she responded while hiding behind me.

"Don't worry, Bella. They're my parents. With their new memories, there's nothing to be afraid of," I sent to Bella though our thought connection.

"I'll try for you, husband. Impressions are important," she sent back.

She then went and shook my mom's hand.

"Are you two okay?" my father asked, "I've never seen this girl before, and you are both acting like its completely normal for her to be here."

"What do you mean, dear? She's Isabella," my mom asked worriedly.

"Isabella? I've never heard of her before!" he started raising his voice. U

Using this opportunity, I approached him to calm him down. In so doing, I edited his memories, just like with my mom.

"Sorry, I guess I forgot as well. I apologize, Isabella," he said when the editing was complete.

"Accepted," she replied meekly.

She told me, through our connection, that she was scared of him, so I had to calm her down first. She still wouldn't go near him, but she seemed less scared, at least. Finally, I had to come into contact with my sister.

"What have you guys done without me knowing? My little brother's married? So young? Why would you keep this a secret from me!" She said, annoyed.

"What do you mean? You've met Isabella before" my mom inquired.

Using the opportunity, I went to drag her over to shake Bella's hand. As such, I was able to edit her memories as well. I made sure to skip those of her crazy college life, though.

"I'm sorry. I forgot. Stacie, why didn't you tell me the truth? You've met her as well?" She said into her phone. After a pause where I assumed Stacie, her best friend since middle school, was replying, Emily continued, "I know you have. It's weird you don't remember. Maybe too much scotch and vodka at that party last weekend. Maybe let one of those hot doctors check you out."

They continued their conversation while mom and father asked us about our studying. I mostly responded since Bella was still shy around them. To help her out of her shell, I told her, sometimes, about what was going on and the correct responses through our connection. This made her part of the conversation a little easier. Simultaneously, I was asking about their trip. We talked until evening, when Bella and I retreated to my room. We went to our house in my spiritual world to have a bath. I noticed, this time, that the area of the field was a little bigger and there were now some trees.

When we finished, we went back to my room, and, locking the door, we drifted off to sleep.

Early the next morning, I told my parents we were going shopping. I showed Bella around and told her a little about our culture, though, from my memories, she already knew most of it. During our trip, I was worried about the expanding land. It kept nagging me, so I finally checked my status. My available SF was still 750, but my maximum has increased by another fifty! It looks like the bracelet can only help so much!