I nimbly > the explosions on either side of me as I attempted to control its blood. It, in response, tore off a tentacle and removed the blood from its body—it could function on water alone. At least I got some more for my blood pouch!

I also worked on my defense, turning the water to fend off the explosions. Even though it was changing color and getting oilier, there was still enough to protect us. Bella used her magic and directed it at three specific arms. I was in charge of another three on the opposite side. Since there were still many arms coming at us, it was very difficult to weave in between. Finally, I was able to get a clear > in. Even Blackmail could barely slice through it. I accidentally connected with a second arm, so I immediately used > and >, which increased in level, and was finally able to get free. At the same time, though, I was flung far beneath the water, with my health rapidly depleted. The one arm that came off disappeared, leaving an EXP shard in its place. I also caught a shard from an arm Bella sliced off. She also had to retreat after cutting off two arms.

Since we couldn't compete with the arms and explosions, I hoped Samantha could. I summoned her, and she was much better—she weaved in and out without getting injured until she removed her twelfth arm. Since she was slowly getting injured, I recalled her after another four arms. Hopefully, Bella and I would be enough for the remaining thirty. I was even more assured because I received a potion to restore my HP, and its regeneration level increased.

The regeneration only allowed me to recover a single point, but the potion recovered fifty! With seventy points remaining, I rejoined the battle.

"Bella, let's try using arrows," I said.

"K," she responded, summoning her bow.

I also brought my epic spiritual bow from my inventory. In addition to the spiritual force in the arrows, I used > with the electricity element to fire off numerous volleys of arrows. It was draining on both my SF and MP, but, along with >, I could continuously injure the enemy while it couldn't find me hidden in the depths.

Bella and I continued like this for a couple hours, until we were both getting exhausted. There were only five arms left at this point. My MP was also greatly restored, from MP recovery potion drops. There was even one condensed, which restored 250MP.

To recover our strength, we rested beneath the sea. Finally, using Blackmail, the last arm was chopped off. The main body of the enemy surprisingly disappeared once the arms were all gone. I hoped my parents assumed we were at a friend's house for the night since we didn't return home.

"We're finally finished! That was an annoying battle of attrition!" I exclaimed.

"Yep," Bella responded.

From the island, a silver staircase appeared, descending downwards. We followed it until we arrived at another one of the sub-dimensional-like areas. This one was short, and we immediately crossed to the other side. There, we encountered the tell-tale orb and stairs signifying the end of a floor!

I felt the dungeon was starting to get monotonous. It was fun, and I was already plenty strong compared to other people. I still didn't know everything about the great catastrophe, but, with my power, I didn't think there would be too much of an impact. Maybe, I thought, I should just stop after this floor.

Thinking these thoughts, I arrived at the orb. Before I could have cleared the floor, however, a silver hand arose from the void, pulling me to a strange conference room. The people here were all slightly pale, with pointed ears and blood-red eyes. I quickly activated my demon eyes so that I looked a little similar to them.

"We thank you for allowing us to gather, Elder Voidmaster Alec," the oldest-appearing one of the men said, bowing towards the hand while offering a bag to it.

The hand took the bag, vanishing. I stood there, bewildered.

"Welcome! Welcome!" The same old man exclaimed. "I am Charon, one of the last pureblooded midnight vampires. These are my friends, Sophia, Maria, Olivia, Julia, Amelia, and Claudia."

He motioned towards each of the female vampires while introducing them.

"These are Landon, Carson, Weston, Emerson, Deacon, and Anton," he did the same with the males.

"We are from different worlds. With the help of some friends, we meet every century or so to discuss the affairs of our worlds. All of us here are at least pureblooded elder vampires. I could sense you are, as well. We finished our discussion. Why don't we hear from you?"

"Interesting," Seere said. "It is like a vampiric coalition. They are all way more powerful than you, and they are also very old. It is wise not to make enemies out of these people."

"Once our power is released, we can easily overcome all of them," Foras stated.

Picking my words carefully, I responded with a lie, "I have lost my memories. I recently awoke in a new world—a world where the great catastrophe has yet to occur. I do not remember what it symbolizes, but I remember the name."

At this point, I realized I couldn't see my status normally.

"My name is Roberto—that's all I remember."

"Stay low," Maria said. "We don't know the status of this world before the great catastrophe, but it should be relatively low."

Weston added, "once it does occur, you can easily regain your former power."

"Thank you," I said. "I do not know how it's been sealed."

"It could be a restriction rune," Carson interjected." It must be a very high-level one on your soul itself. Maybe you were close to evolution before the sealing."

"I'd hate to see the powerful foe who you made an enemy out of," Sofia laughed.

"They may even be more powerful than you, Charon," Anton chided.

"I doubt so," Charon said boastfully. "Even if they are, the dusk vampires above me wouldn't be inferior!"

"I hope you find a way to recover your strength. Maybe you could invite us—we could rule the weak world together. Without the catastrophe, there should be no magic that can kill us," Amelia mischievously added.

Julia rebuked her, saying, "Amelia, we haven't done anything for our new friend. Do you think he would trust us so much already?"

Deacon agreed, stating, "It will take many centuries to build up such a level of trust. Truly, I hope you stay alive and regain your power by that time. Take this artifact. If you run into any trouble, just let us know."

He threw a small gold rope to me, which I assumed allowed me to contact them.

"Interdimensional contact artifact," Amon succinctly explained.

I couldn't store it in the warehouse, though.

Landon was the next to speak, "Continue climbing your dungeon. You will find treasures that could unseal your powers. If you end up liking your current world, you'll need the strength to defend it."

When he finished, the vampires fell silent. According to Amdusias, they were telepathically communicating. Soon, they came to an agreement.

"Take these. When your power's restored, they can prevent attacks aimed at your planet," Charon said while handing me a box filled with rubies. > couldn't tell what they were.

"These are for you," he said as he handed me three purple gems.

The first gem, he explained, prevented anyone else from forcibly summoning me or forcing me to travel across dimensions. It disappeared into my body. The second, which likewise integrated with my body, improved my dexterity by forty and my speed by thirty. It even increased my luck by two!

"The last one's from me," Carson said. "It will forcibly teach you four runes and allow you to use them, even if your technique level is inferior. There are two advanced-level soul sealing restriction runes, Dreadful Soul Stop and Sword of Soul Piercing; one self-sealing rune to hide your vampiric aura, the Aura Suppression Matrix, and the restriction dissipation rune. I hope it helps you overcome your troubles."

With that, I returned to the dungeon to finally complete the floor! I also applied the self-sealing rune, which was profound and three-dimensional. Doing so evolved my elementary techniques as well, which allowed me to combine two runes together! With the limited runes at my disposal, the only combinations I could think of were combining heat and space to create a super-heated area for things like cooking and forging and antifire and space to create an outdoor space where fire-based magic couldn't be used.

[Floor seven complete. Authority level for floor seven recognized.]

[Achievement: first time seventh floor conquered by Earth explorer. Record monsters defeated in allotted time. Reward calculated. Reward: elementary evasion techniques level up! Level 8! Cry of fright: emits a noise that frightens opponents and momentarily stuns them. Persuasion level up! Level four! Epic spiritual bow gained attribute soul-bound!]

Quickly, I named the weapon Pounce while waiting for the usual error to occur.

[Unknown interference detected. Crystal orb error]

"I am Duke Vepar. I see Furcas is already here. Like him, I shall teach you the laws surrounding the water, in all of its tranquility. Hello, everyone."

"Interesting, another duke. Hello, your majesty."

"Welcome to serving our new master," Amon said

"Hello," Amdusias said.

Foras told me, "The dukes don't always get along. I hope we can all serve you well."

Furcas was last. "Thank you for joining us," he said.

"As customary, here's your reward. I was given the duty to give you the godly shirt. It acts as armor, but it is fairly weak compared to my might. At least it isn't broken."

God's shirt (growth) (soul bound/unnamed) (Armor)

Durability: Infinite

Description: will never get dirty, nor tear. Cannot be cut. Size adjusts to wearer. Shields against all physical attacks aimed at the heart or soul. Due to possessing a blood pouch, it is also covered by the protection.

I named the shirt Temple.

"I also have to grant you a skill. Here you go. I hope you like your new feet," Vepar said.

Demon feet

Description: ignore gravity or counteract it; feet become impenetrable, and you can tell the terrain by stepping on it, as well as all living beings around. Ability works regardless of shoes or other protective feet coverings. Blood-like energy flow to feet increased.

We went onto the next floor. On this floor, there was, in the first room, another forest. Many small bugs were crawling around. They were easy to defeat, but they also rarely gave any drops. It was as if the dungeon compensated for their sheer number by greatly reducing their drop rate. We spent the next week eliminating them all, and, finally, we advanced to the next room. The next room was completely different! There were rocks everywhere, and lizard-like creatures roamed, carrying spears and spewing fire.

I battled against the first one, and I finally got the last EXP shard I needed to level up! On this floor, the other monsters had EXP shards worth four points!

[Congratulations! You have leveled up! Level 4àlevel 5. All stats increased by +5. SP + 10. Strength, endurance, wisdom exceeded 100, speed +5, dexterity + 10 instead. Calculating Reward.]

[reward determined. Class ??? Reward: all resistances below level 6 increase one level. MP increases by 300 total, SF increases by 400 total for both partners, DE increases by 20 total. MP regen -10 minutes. Class Skill Lord reward: gained friction resistance Lv 1, skill: corrosive touch. Can touch any object and cause it to corrode slightly. Skill: low heal: restore 10HP of target's, takes 10 seconds (converted from spell)]

[skill tickets gained: +6. Unknown interference detected. Skill: low heal has become intermediate heal. Remaining skill tickets: 2]

[Familiar has consumed one skill ticket.]

[Familiar has consumed one skill ticket.]

[domain congealing +5%]

[major level increase! Gained 15 stat points to distribute as needed. Domain congealing +5%! All affinities +5%, class ??? reward: unknown, class: skill lord reward: elementary familiar techniques level up! Level 4!]

The new techniques were auto summon, allowing my familiars to summon themselves and incantation, allowing me to summon them with just their name.

As for my stat points, it seemed like I couldn't surpass the 100 limit. As such, I brought speed to the maximum and remaining to dexterity.

I was still no match for Bella, in terms of speed. Especially, now that she also leveled up! We were happy and spent the day together, celebrating. The next day, we celebrated with the fairies and the queen. Isaac was there as well. It was joyous—Bella had been close for a while, but she had been unable to overcome the last remaining experience points she needed!

She also told her mother about her class reward. It was a skill for rulers of specific races, and it allowed her to command those of the same race with a lesser level, excluding me, her partner.

Once the celebrations were over, I decided to ask the queen about the one hundred-level bottleneck in my stats.

"I thought you would have already been at the five-hundred-level or 750-level bottleneck, like most fairies. Normally, only lesser spirits begin with such a low ceiling. I guess humans are similar. It must be because of your original race—even though you changed, you still had such a low ceiling."

"Ceiling? You mean my stats won't ever increase past 100?"

"No, it should be easily possible to do so. You just have to evolve."

"Evolve, what does that mean?" I nervously asked, thinking back to my transformation a few months ago.

"Relax, it's always a success, even if you don't get the desired outcome. It isn't as big a problem as changing your entire race."

I thought, "can you read my mind?" before realizing it was written on my face.

"Do you think Isaac was born a chieftain? No, his stats increased enough to allow him to evolve through multiple trials and tribulations to reach that level. The dungeon is special, as it creates monsters at any evolution level, but, for those from before the dungeon was created, they had to work hard to evolve. So do you now. You may become more powerful once your final stat reaches the threshold. Come with me."

The queen led me into her treasure room, where I had been many times before.

"While I won't reveal my current class, just like a woman never reveals her age, I will tell you I am an evolved form of a fairy. There are a few under me who have also ascended past being a normal fairy. I am excited to see what you may become, but be wary. I'm afraid the demonic influence may corrupt your transformation. Please, wear these. I've already gotten permission from Craig."

She handed me a gold and a silver chain, which combined into one chain with a small locket.

"This chain may help you evolve in the righteous path, straying away from evil. Also, it will increase your dexterity slowly over the next few days."

"Thank you!" I said, excited for my gift. I wondered what kind of superior fairy race I could ascend to, or if my demon transformations would allow me to fully become a demon. Maybe, I'd become a vampire, or, if lucky, an elder vampire! Vampires may not be nearly as strong as demons, but they at least control death energy!

While I was still with the fairy queen, I asked about vampire evolution and those I previously met. I didn't learn too much new information, but I did learn a little. One piece of information that surprised me was that there were no high-level vampires in the dungeon. She did, however, have some old blood.

According to the queen, this blood was from before the dungeon came about. She didn't tell me more of her history, but I was glad to get a large stock of blood. I said that I was going to give it to the vampires who invited me over, yet I really used it all myself.

We bid our farewell to the fairies, sure to see them soon.

[guild building construction complete]

I had completely forgotten about it! Immediately, Bella and I went to my mansion, and, after walking across the street, we were able to get into the guild hall. On the inside, there were four counters along the back wall. In the center of the wall were stairs leading up. On the left wall, there were bulletin boards with blank pieces of paper hanging. Above the boards, the word "quests" was engraved.

"It's a guild! How fun! Too bad there aren't any quests for us," Bella said.

"What are quests?" I asked.

"Some people need certain items, so they put a quest in the guild to get these items. Others need help defeating a boss, so they request such. It can involve both the connected planet and the dungeon. Unfortunately, this guild is new. No one has lodged any quests here."

"We don't need quests. We can just have fun together," I said, hugging her.

"Yep."

When I walked up to the first counter, the system asked if I wanted to hire a receptionist for $10,000BTP. I obviously chose not to—I didn't even have that kind of money!

Bella continued to amaze me with her knowledge of guilds. Usually, people go to the receptionist of one counter for quest-related inquiries, the second for selling or buying materials at a premium price, the third for storage of items, and the final counter for registration. Bella then took me upstairs, where there were numerous office rooms. These, according to her, were for guild staff. I had my own room, as the guildmaster! With Bella's help, I was able to have the system assign her the role of vice guildmaster, and she was elated.

The third floor had a practice area and medical treatment area, but everything was empty—there weren't even any other Earth explorers, so how could it already be filled?

I was slightly disappointed that those from other worlds couldn't join in my guild, but it wasn't like Bella and I needed a guild to help us in our dungeon conquering quest. We took a break for the rest of the day, and, after "going to school" the next day, we resumed fighting the lizardmen spewing fire. While doing so, my dexterity increased by one!

It took the rest of the day to get through these monsters—their fire and weapon combination made them tough opponents. The next room was similar, but the rocks were covered in a thin layer of ice.

The first lizardman we encountered looked bluer than the previous ones, and its spear was covered in ice. It surprised us as, instead of fire, its mouth breathed freezing air, making it ice. Spiritual fire was an easy counter. My powers of fire were currently the strongest in my arsenal, so this room was quick. The only part that was slightly difficult was that we had to fly, so as not to slip and fall on the thin ice.

The next room also had lizardmen. I could feel the electrically-charged air around us, hoping it wouldn't explode from a small spark.

Before encountering any enemies, Bella led me to a stone, and, after she pressed it down, a staircase appeared. We went down to where the source was supposed to be, but it was empty.

"This is odd," Bella said. "This is obviously where it should be. Everything's here except the source orb."

The ground shook. It continued to shake, and a fissure opened up. It crept closer and closer to us, and we were afraid of being swallowed by this unknown force.