While waiting for the System Administrators or whoever is taking care of my (actually, K-N's) request, K-N gave me a list of skill suggestions that it had prepared ever since day 1. And I decided to obtain two of them right away, seeing how impressive and useful they were.

One is called [Mana Auto-Recovery]. It's a skill that constantly recovers your MP every 10th second, except when you're completely out of gas. One of the other Beginner-tier classes (like the Scout class), the Mage class, gives it away for free when reaching a certain level. Oh, why couldn't I get Mage for my Beginner class...

The second skill is called [Parkour]. It's sorta like a jack-of-all of the skills like [Running] and [Jumping]. [Parkour] gives you a positive correction to any physical movements like running, climbing, and jumping, but it lacks the special traits of the other skills.

[Running], for example, saves your SP a little, and [Jumping] can make you jump higher than what you already can. Still, [Parkour] is great for me with a body that's far from what you could call "coordinated", plus it seems easy to get proficiency with. Plus it's related to the Scout class.

And so, while I was waiting for the answer from the Administrators, I spent my MP on the [Aura of Darkness] skill in an attempt to level it up a little, which would give [Mana Auto-Recovery] a chance to get some proficiency as well. Even so, this is soooooo...

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

You have acquired your quest reward.

You have acquired the skill: [Spatial Storage Lv.1].

Forget what I just said. We have a winner! ...hmm? HMMMMM??

It seems they agreed with my suggestions.

K-N! What's the meaning of this!? It feels like I got something super-rare for the price of nothing.

Correct. It is "super-rare".

Then K-N turned the pages and showed me the info about this "spatial storage":

Skill: Spatial Storage Skill Type: Active Skill Skill Tier: 3 Attribute: --- Effect: The user can store items in a different dimension. Up to 10 slots are available for each skill level. Can store up to 10 copies of each item. Can be improved with further knowledge of spatial manipulation. The user can retrieve and store the items through special, spatial portals. CANNOT store living, or unliving, creatures.

...this may be a little too much for little me to comprehend.

Correction: it is a simple thing. As owner Garami noticed, it is impractical not having the means to store provisions or other items. However, low-ranked, low-leveled skills would not help us. It would be like throwing a glass of water into a volcano in an attempt of extinguishing it.

And what? Did you ask for this cheat skill as a reward?

Correction: this unit asked for the rarest storage-type skills the Administrators would allow us to have. It was outside this unit's expectations to obtain one of the highest-ranking skills, not to mention that owner Garami has the aptitude for it.

So it's the admins who're generous. Phew. It would be horrifying if we got the whole world on our neck because of a rude demand. And what is this about "aptitude"?

In the Terra Sol system, outside the primary- and composition attributes, there are some other "attributes" included, yet they are not. These "attributes" are only named so for convenience, but they have no connection to the other attributes, primary or composition, nor are there any skills that are of these "attributes".

Wow, that's pretty sick.

Correct. The only known example this unit knew of until now was the Force attribute. In other words, pure power. But with the addition of this new skill, information about the Spatial attribute has been included.

"Attribute-less attributes", huh. Is "time" also a member.

Undeterminable. As mentioned, only Force was previously known before the addition of the knowledge regarding the Spatial attribute. However, as the class "Fortune Teller" is included in the World System, the attribute of "Time" may also be included. However, the concept of "time travel" is impossible. That much is for sure.

Really? And how do you know that?

Because "time" cannot be altered. The divine energies that make up this world prevent any instabilities, be it from time manipulation, or even fate itself.

Wow...that's..., the scale suddenly went way too big for me to comprehend.

Understandable. However, observation of possible timelines and the past should be possible, and "aging" or "rejuvenate" should be in the same situation. However, there is no defined proof for these hypotheses, so it is simply a theory at the moment.

Not that I wanna meet someone with the power of time itself. Almost everything I've met in this world has been out to get my ass.

Returning to the conversation, a new quest has been obtained.

Already?

Correct. It is due to the Identification of this crystal that the gods have figured out the location of the Disaster of Water.

....come again?

This "customized Dungeon" is the work of the Disaster of Water.

And why did things escalate to that point!?

The gods have been trying to discover the hiding place of the Disaster of Water for a long time in the current region. The problem is the crystal in the middle of this floor.

What about it?

It is the remains of a god even greater than the Ultimate Gods. The Disaster of Water has reconfigured its divine nature to shield his hiding place, this Dungeon, and most likely, also made some renovations to it, for reasons yet unknown.

...where is the exit? Rather, why're a former god's remains being used this easily!?

Good questions. For the first, that is part of the quest mentioned. The gods know of the Dungeon's existence, but they need a little more help with how to show the rest of the world exactly where it is.

And regarding the second question, that is what makes the Disaster of Water a Disaster. They must have an incredible talent for system alterations.

Why's the system getting mentioned here?

Because it is likely that the Disaster "copied" part of the World System through the former god's powers and used it to create his own independent "ecosphere" within the World System.

...this is getting out of hand.

Agree. Set aside the plans of advancing the Scout class a little for now and focus on reaching the 1st floor and clearing the quest the gods gave us.

Can't we just flee this place right away?

Clearing the quest on the first floor before that is recommended. The reward is 5 AP, which your authority as a Champion will double to 10 AP, and a rare skill is included in the price.

I'll do it! Doing the sub-quests while running the main quest is a standard gamer's strategy.

And with that, I stuffed the Kigal-Note into my shadow again and proceeded upward the Dungeon. I hope I never need to get down here EVER again...

---

After a long track up the tunnels again, I finally reached the 7th floor. I don't even need the System Message to tell me that. This landscape says it all.

The ceiling looks like it's copying the sky outside. There are "clouds" and "the sun" there, but you can see there's a rock ceiling underneath those illusions. Still pretty cool. And it gives as good light as the real day sky.

The rest of the area feels like a miniature Grand Canyon. The ground's made of reddish rocks and there are big gaps in the ground. Size-wise though, I think "trenches" is a better word for them. The Grand Trench of the Water Knot...*giggle*.

Other than that, the room feels like being in a big bowl. Mostly due to how the rock walls of the floor are gradually turning "thinner" the closer it gets to the fake sky. Not that this floor's bowl-shaped. It's just the impression you get.

And the final piece of info for tourists is: there are two sets of castle-like structures on each side of the floor. One to the east, and one to the west. Or is it north and south? Southwest and northeast? Anyway, you get the idea.

They're quite a distance away, so all that I can make outta them is that they're made from the same material as the ground. And that they're huge. Big enough for me to see them despite a distance of at least a kilometer. I didn't notice it due to the 10th and 8th floors being so small, but most Dungeon floors are damn wide.

I wonder if adventurers (if they exist in this world) have a tent as part of their standard Dungeon-raiding equipment?

Making a bee-line straight through this floor feels dangerous. Anything bad could appear from those trenches. Instead, I'll take a long way around and follow the "bowl" walls. If the entrance from the 8th floor is south, and there are castles and stuff in the east and west, then the path to the 7th floor should be located in the north. I think. Presume. Hope.

Despite its dry appearance, there's still water running down cracks in the Dungeon's walls, and there are lots of edible plants like the burrito potato from the 9th floor. There's no problem in taking the long way to get out. The goal here's to get out UNDETECTED. A long way around free for creepies is better than walking into potential monster lairs.

Now I just gotta figure out which direction I should travel..., and it's the west! Because I heard something big and howling from the east. I don't wanna fight any boss monsters or whatever was making that sound!

Therefore, go west, young demon! There's no promise that it's gonna be monster-free, but it's better than the east with its "howling monster" warranty!

As I climbed up the rocky roads, long live [Parkour], I got a look at the "cracked earth" that was the center of the floor. I could see some shadows move in the "trenches", and sometimes, sounds of battle and blasts of blue energy-looking stuff happened.

...is this some sorta warzone? Are the two castle areas some sorta military bases for two different sources?

It's got nothing to do with me, so I just focused on getting outta this floor. Of course, without being noticed by the western castle.

And like that, I walked all day long and had to take a break at nightfall. Seems like the "ceiling" is connected to the outside sky, or it's copying it perfectly because the night was damn dark as the sun disappeared.

It makes me appreciate the invention of electronic lights even more now than ever before. I'd never guess the night could be that dark. My [Nightvision] skill may have enjoyed some good proficiency, but it's still risky to move when everyone except potential guards is sleeping, so I went to sleep.

The next day, I continued and reached the western castle area. The walls are too high for me to see inside, and I didn't have the chance to anyway. There were fish people on guard there. Think they were called "sahuagins" or something.

In any case, I made it my priority to get past there as fast as the lightning before they noticed me. Before I knew it, night had fallen again. And it was then I noticed something sneaking towards the western castles.

They're moving slowly and silently without using the trenches. Thinking about it, that way may be the most anticipated path, so using a different one would be the better way if you want to make a sneak attack under the cover of the night.

I could see several cobra-like monsters slithering their way toward the sahuagin castle. They're making good use of the night, but their mana's not concealed at all, so it's easy for me to spot them thanks to my Magic Eye.

Won't the sahuagins take damage from this? I've got no good impression of them, or better said, I got no impression of them. They're strangers to me. Meaning there's no good reason for me to try to do something about this.

...then again, that king cobra from the 9th floor did give me the scare before..., let's get some revenge on his (potential) younger siblings.

Well, another reason is that I wanna see how that bomb fruit from before works. Because there's a bush of them here on the mountain road. I cut its stalk off so that there was lots of it remaining and hurriedly threw it over the edge so it rolled down to the cobras below me.

And now, I gotta run! Take cover!!

*BOOOOM!*

That was one HECK of a blast! Can you really call those things fruits?!

There is no level-up message, so I either missed by a mile, or those cobras are tougher than I gave them credits for. Not that I'm gonna wait for them to recover and climb up. Besides, the sahuagins had to be deaf if they failed to hear that. They're probably gonna storm this place sooner than later.

And after that little incident, I went and reached the entrance to the 6th floor without much trouble. Hehehe~. Let's hope I'm not dying on this floor either...