[You can’t leave a ‘White Land’ Dungeon without completing it. Please go back and finish the Dungeon with the rest of the party you entered together.]

“Ald, so the last hour we spent walking was for nothing?” Layla dejectedly asked when she and Alderam touched the Dungeon’s exit, enormous brick walls, and received the Gift’s message.

“Not necessarily, my Mana recovered a little and now we know we have to obey those guys and complete the Dungeon, the test they gave to us is another thing though.” Alderam picked the map he discovered that was on Layla’s backpack and began to trace the shortest path to the Dungeon’s end. “And with the information ‘White Land’ I know now where we are.”

“That’s what I was going to ask. What means ‘White Land’ Dungeon?”

Before Alderam could look annoyed at her for not knowing basic things about the Gift or the world, he remembered Devils normally don’t have the Gift and that Layla lived a good part of her life in Fuderpsy locked. “Dungeons are traps for Naturals and some of the Dungeons can be made artificially, however, the most common type of Dungeon is the one that has a ‘white land’ surrounding it.

“In that land, for some reason still not discovered by any of our researchers, the existence of Mana is negated, so it is the best place to trap Naturals as they immediately die when not provided with Mana or when in a place without Mana.”

As they walked following the map, Alderam also explained this Dungeon was the one near Redspring since his Empire, Wizcalen, only has two ‘white land’ Dungeons and the other one is in the capital far away from his frontier village.

He doubted they were unconscious for long enough to reach the capital.

“Ald, I’m sensing two forms of life at our front. And I think they are Naturals.” Layla said, flickering her small wings.

“Since when can you detect life?” Alderam asked, skeptical.

“My [Talent] received an upgrade after we defeated that Greed Devil. Since I accidentally absorbed a little of his Essence.”

Alderam opened her Gift Window to confirm.

Name: Laylasoderscim

Race: Devil 60%

Age: 429

Title: [????? Bonded]

Job: None

Rank: H

Welfare: Healthy Mana: 9/9 Talent:[Black Wings]

Constitution: 3 Mind: 3 Black Force: 50

Strength: 4 Charisma: 111 Willpower: 9

Dexterity: 3 Luck: 666 Resilience: 8

Abilities:

[Production]: None

[Auxiliary]: Pain Resistance Lvl 4, Manual Labor Lvl 1, Mana Insight Lvl 1, Black Force Manipulation Lvl 1

[Combat]: Combat Arts Lvl 1

[Manifestation]: Evil Charm Lvl 1

[Transcendent]: Familiar Bond Lvl 1, Black Coating Lvl 4

Quests:

Promotion: [Novice Evil Enchantress], [Novice Black Guardian], [Laborer]

Why she has interrogations in her title which she probably gained when becoming my Familiar?

????? Bonded: [You are the first to bond with the ????? Race, tainting your own existence. Increase the grow of the ?????.]

How strange… Layla’s Gift currently doesn’t know my Race?

Alderam stopped to think but decided to see what he initially wanted.

Black Wings: [The Devil’s font of energy that permits its immortality and ability to travel between planes. You can using it sense life to corrupt and also fly if your wings’ grow get past 50%. Current Wings’ Grow: 2%. (Please corrupt more beings from the Material Plane or at least kill them if you like more of seeing their blood flowing in your claws.)]

“Can you discern how strong they are?” He asked.

“No. Only their distance to us and how close to the death they are.”

“If there are only two, I will take care of one and you will use the other to train. You need to kill Naturals for any of your Job’s requirement, after all.” Alderam walked until he was able to the see the silhouette of two Naturals in wolf form with brown fur on their elongated faces and red fur in their tails, ears, and paws.

A strange combination of colors if someone asked about Alderam’s opinion on their color scheme. It would be better if they were only of one color to combine with the dull brown and gray color of the walls.

“... I will try.” Layla said with her voice cracking.

Alderam wanted to recover more of his Mana, so he did the usual attack pattern that let him kill Naturals for more than ten years. He threw his dagger at the left wolf Natural that was eating the body of a mangled woman and advanced at it while it couldn’t recover and act properly.

Meanwhile, Layla clumsily rushed at her enemy at the right, still not used to the feeling of using [Combat Arts] she received after being tutored by Alderam despite the Ability’s description saying it would be intuitive to her fight.

Combat Arts (Rare) Lvl 1: [Combat is intuitive to you as breathing, get on the journey that is known as fighting, glory, and power are yours if you have the courage to go beyond your peers. You can at a basic level use all kinds of weapons.]

Alderam is so used to killing low-rank Naturals alone that didn’t take no even a second to him see through the next Natural’s attack and kill it with a side slash on its heart after avoiding its desperate attack.

Layla, on the other hand, was embarrassingly using the spear’s shaft to hold back the wolf’s jaws threatening to rip off her throat after she failed on her surprise thrust at it.

Alderam sighed seeing that and began to take the Core off the Natural to it not revive after gathering enough Mana from the air. It seems it will take a while to her finish that.

Layla with a yell used all her small strength to kick the wolf at its stomach, throwing it out of her but not far enough to have an advantage on the fight. She couldn’t wrap her head around what she wanted to do and what her body wanted to do, both were out of synchrony.

And the Natural took advantage of her distress, never letting her rest to think properly. Its eyes only saw the plump meat at its front, it couldn’t care less if maybe it would die for the more powerful man.

It wanted to taste that bountiful meat before dying in bliss.

After more than ten minutes of fighting and injuries accumulating on both sides, Layla finally began to use [Combat Arts] slightly better when she accidentally saw the bored look of Alderam sitting on the ground almost yawning.

She got enraged at herself for making them lose so much time and threw the caution to the wind, making her understand why [Combat Arts] wasn’t working earlier.

Despite being immortal, she was fearing being hurt when fighting because of how she lived until now. The fear didn’t let her use all her power in the fight and obstructed the use of her abilities. Principally the ‘courage’ part in her ability showed that.

Layla let the Natural bite her leg and almost take a chunk out of it, and thrust with her spear at its throat while enduring the pain with Willpower and [Pain Resistance].

The wolf tumbled down, squirming until it died. Helping Layla in her Quest’s requirement. “Only more sixty-nine to go.” She said, awkwardly skinning the wolf off its Core and going to Alderam's side to see how will they continue their travel.

“With this amount of injuries can you by yourself heal them with your Black Qi?” Alderam asked.

“Yes, just give me some minutes.” Layla brought from within her wings a small dark energy and passed over injuries.

Black Qi was a type of Qi, a energy that different from Mana come from within oneself thanks to the wondrous training that fighters and brawlers do, that only served to increase the healing rate of the user and to a smaller degree to increase one’s bodily defense or strength when used.

However, only Devils can use it and Black Force, the primal form of the Black Arts which increase the power of abilities with the keyword ‘black’, too. Alderam is the only person known that can mimic those powers thanks to the Black Elementals in his SP.

“Did you decide what Job will you take? [Novice Evil Enchantress] or [Novice Black Guardian]?” Alderam asked when Layla finished healing herself.

[Novice Evil Enchantress] Requirements: Kill 3/333 Naturals, Kill 0/6 of Material Races, Mana Insight 1+, Evil Charm 2+, Dancing 7+, Assassination 1+.

[Novice Black Guardian] Requirements: Kill 3/72 Naturals, [????? Bonded], Pain Resistance 2+, Black Coating 2+, Combat Arts 1+, Choose the Main Element of your Black Force.

“Yes, I will become a Black Guardian. I don’t see myself gaining so many levels on [Dancing] and I want to… you know… protect you?” She said, uncertain. “Without you alive in the moment I die, I’ll be sent to Aether to be reformed there and this is the last thing I want since it will be impossible to me come back here to the Material Plane to accomplish my dream.”

“You know that you already said the second part earlier, right?” Alderam stood up and put all his loot on the backpack since he didn’t want to reveal a power from his SP to the people may be watching him. “Let’s go, it won’t be me the one to say that you wanting to protect my frail body will be a bad thing. I want you until this night to be capable of killing these weak Naturals without receiving a scratch.”

Layla’s excitement died out and she dragged her feet while feeling despondent at Alderam’s high expectations about her, it is completely impossible for her to do what he wants her to do. Why must he have so much confidence in her?

Alderam more or less felt Layla’s thoughts because of their [Familiar Bond], yet didn’t say anything about her worries, Layla was the type of woman that if left alone becomes lazy but if always making her reach expectations she will eventually do anything to be recognized. In other words, she was a deplorable and pitiful woman that will always be used by the others.

But the only flaw in her that Alderam saw was that she was too kind for his tastes, making him many times doubt she was really a Devil as he talked with her when he was younger.

Familiar Bond (Common) Lvl 1: [The yoke of two souls, recognizable as the unbreakable vow even to Deities. Share telepathic link, increased growth of abilities, and Gift Window in case one of the yoke's ends doesn't have the Gift. You can see whenever you want your Familiar’s Gift.]

Alderam and Layla continued on their long journey to the end of the Dungeon, luckily this wasn’t an artificial Dungeon with traps and puzzles that could easily wipe them without them even putting a fight, until they began to grow tired they continued to walk and slay Naturals.

Layla never won a fight without receiving an injury and her urgency to do so increased at each moment, at least her Job’s requirement was being filled and was now at 52/72 thanks to some help from her Bond.

Alderam saw Layla heavily breathing and using her spear to sustain her body after walking and fighting for so much. “Let’s rest now, tomorrow we will continue to explore the Dungeon and reach its end.”

“I can still go-”

“I said we will rest.” Alderam slowly said each word while tightly grabbing her shoulders and smiling. “We need to be at our best before the final battle to escape from here. Knowing when to rest is also an important ability to have.”

“Y-Yes, Ald.” She stammered, not because of the pressure but because of Alderam’s serious eyes that she still now wasn’t used to be so cared for. He can try to fool himself and even throw her to her death without any hesitation, however, she knew how he deeply ‘cared’ about her since he stealthily gave food to her on the basement and principally because she was his only friend still alive.

“Take the bedroll from the backpack those guys gave to us and sleep first, I will watch over you and later we will change places.” Alderam chose a place where the obscure walls from the Dungeon formed an almost closed cube to him only need to keep watch in one direction.

I could just kill her and have her tiredness ‘reset’ but that won’t do good to her mental health, it is one thing to die in the middle of a battle, and it is another completely different thing to die without being in danger.

Even I have some lines I won’t cross.

At least I think so.

Who knows?

Layla tensely entered the frill bedroll that looked like something made for a woman, not to the man which she received it from. She tried to close her eyes and think of good memories before being imprisoned, but she was too hungry for it and full of annoying thoughts of how her life will be after fleeing from that house together with Alderam.

“Can’t sleep? Wants me to sing another lullaby like when I was younger?” Alderam noted her restless.

Layla got red being caught not doing what she was ordered to and also at remembering that wonderful night which she first met him, and also the night she in more than two hundred years ate anything. “It was just one time I needed that. Your memory is so bad, and yet you always remember that, I can’t understand this nonsense.”

“What can I say? I guess that night was too memorable to me, it isn’t every day you see a Devil drooling for only an apple, after all.” Alderam laughed, momentarily relaxing before paying full attention once again to signs of Naturals coming after them.

Layla's small wings beneath her slightly flapped and she hugged herself in contention as if trying to grab the fleeting happiness she is feeling. Although she liked the rigid Alderam that had only thoughts of fighting, she liked more the relaxing and gentle Alderam when fighting isn’t his main priority or when taking care of her needs on the basement.

The stark difference between both of them to at least her made them almost two different people.

“Do you remember what I said about what happens within Free Cities? There they accept everyone, even outcasts like us as they only care about you not being racist or disturbing the cities’ operations. So what is the third worst taboo there?” Alderam said.

“... To mistake the Myth Race which is sometimes called of Monsters with the Naturals?”

“Good girl,” Alderam patted her with affection. “It is unknown why the Naturals look like the Myth Race, the dragons and others wondrous creatures, and the Myth Race hates the most is to be compared with the brainless core-creatures.

“Being not strange to view an Orc using an ‘orc’ Natural skin to demonstrate the Myth Race are different or superior. So you must promise me to never talk to them like they are Naturals. Although I don’t see a problem of you doing that only in your head if you have some kind of prejudice against the Myth Race.”

Layla nodded and continued talk about anything that came to her mind after receiving once again the warning, and eventually calmed enough to sleep, she only needed to eat something and question him one last thing. “Ald, what do you think about the information we discovered from that Greed Devil? About the only reason he was still alive was that Wizcalen’s [Heroine] didn’t finish him off? I don’t think someone so powerful would commit such mistake.”

Alderam tensed up and memories of how Bashaag killed his mother came to him, he would one day after taking care of his father go even to the Nether to ‘talk’ with the Greed Devil. “Devils aren’t exactly known for telling the truth, but I can’t see why he would lie about that. Maybe that summoned being had gone soft on him or just forgot of purifying Bashaag to him not gather Black Mana to be resurrected without going back to the Nether.

“Either way, I hope to never meet with such sloppy [Heroine] who let the Bashaag go destroy our village. If he wasn’t fleeing from her, Mother wouldn’t have died despite the injuries caused by Alastor.” Alderam’s voice got really cold before going to normal as Layla mentally cursed herself for being too stupid to touch on this subject.

She doesn’t care or understand the appeal of parental figures, but she forgot to Alderam his mother was what brought joy to his simple and hard life living on the same roof as Alastor and having to be subjected by the village’s experiments to find a way out of their curse as a frontier village.

Layla wanted to apologize, however, Alderam didn’t give her a chance and soothingly said like in the way he would do after she was tortured in the basement by Alastor. “Anyways, stop worrying about that. Let’s just focus in our immediate future of getting out of this place, and to do this you need to sleep. Anything you else you need before finally sleeping?”

“Oh… can you give something to eat? I’m hungry.” She said.

I don’t want to those guys discover about my little trick to store things, but it should be fine if I do it hidden. “I will drop them within the bedroll and you will eat them without letting the guys spying on us see them, okay?” Alderam put his hand on the bedroll and concentrated on his SP, he could do it without concentrating but he wanted to make sure nothing strange will occur.

He felt like he sank through a blank layer with his entire body, where pitch black balls are in constant multiplication revolving on eight directions differents trying to form some image.

They are Black Elementals of his stock on [Black Soul].

Elementals are the materialization of Mana existing between the planes of existence influenced by terrain, power, and feelings. Spirits and Devils are created by the accumulation of them on Aether.

After doing a quick search he found in the corner of [Black Soul] a bunch of food corrupted by Black Elementals and willed them to appear on his real hands.

Layla began to urgently put all the corrupted vegetables and meat on her mouth, as she was hiding from everyone within the bedroll she didn’t care about appearances and acted just like the Gluttony Devil she was without any grace in her movements.

“I’m going to sleep now. And Ald, I know you want to hide the fact about your [Black Soul] but aren’t all Black Elementals invisible to everyone with exception of us? Just don’t make anything corrupted suddenly disappear and no one should notice your storing power.” She said before going to the land of dreams.

Alderam’s eyes widened and his mouth uselessly fell open, how could he not notice or remember that?

Even with his Mind Attribute growing and slightly increasing his cognitive faculties, it wasn’t still enough with his bad memory which was an abnormal side-effect of the experiments he had to follow through.

As he watched over their position, Alderam began to bring Black Elementals and use them to corrupt everything he could see, even the walls and the very air itself.

As they were corrupted it meant that he could use his SP to store everything he used Black Elementals on since his SP said that the [Black Soul] could store and materialize everything with the keyword ‘Evil’. And unsurprisingly, something corrupted was considered ‘Evil’ to the Gift.

It was the trick Alderam wanted to hide if not people would think he had something like an interspatial ring that can store almost anything and only the royal family has interspatial objects.

Time passed and when it was almost time to Layla and Alderam change places his training paid off with him receiving a new Ability.

Black Force Manipulation (Primal) is now Lvl 1: [You can control the Evil itself, but only its base form is available to you. Expand the possibilities of the creations of abilities based on Black Force. + 5 to Black Force. +15 to Willpower.]

No matter what I do everything seems to lead to me losing my humanity as it is supposed to only Devils manipulate Black Force and convert it to Black Mana or Black Qi, at least the percentage on my Race didn’t get lower.

Alderam went to sleep as Layla substituted him, he easily went to the land of dreams but his journey there wasn’t of the best.

Quick visions of how he couldn’t do anything to save his mother and how he had to kill his traitorous sister appeared to him and tormented him, he only calmed down after an enormous black glob with eyes created by only his imagination within the dream surged and looked kindly at him, it was if the black ball was looking to someone dear, almost family even but at the same time not.

Eventually, Alderam woke up and together with Layla they continued to explore the White Land Dungeon while wondering why they hadn’t met anyone else yet that could also be exploring the Dungeon, it wasn’t like this Dungeon was a private property, after all.

Maybe it was because of the killing machine wandering through the Dungeon and fighting everyone it meets by the orders of someone’s voice that no even Baruchard, the Empress’ brother, thought it was possible to reach the Empire he lives in the middle of the current World War.