“[If you wish to survive your encounter with the skeleton, the most optimal plan would be to take advantage of the television’s camera perspective and slip away. Of course, using up your stat points will be essential for this plan to work.]”

“Television… Like a mix between telepathy and vision? And what’s a camera?”

Hel snapped her fingers as she recalled something. “[Right, you’re clueless about everything. In that case, let’s make a deal.]”

“A deal?”

“[Our lives are intrinsically tied to each other, and we can’t be sure if either of us may go back on our word or betray the other, so a contract is necessary. It’s nothing complicated, just make sure to follow these three things.]”

She then proceeded to explain the deal in obsessive detail. It was a long and arduous process of negotiating, back-and-forth, and clarifications, but eventually, Kayden was confident he got everything.

It essentially boiled down to three rules, or ‘Laws’, as Hel had put it.

Law #1

Do not in any circumstance reveal the word ‘System’ so casually, unless given permission to do so. From now on, if Kayden wished to speak to her, he would refer to her as Hel and pretend that he could communicate over long distances. This was a precaution against Matou and any potential enemies that might know of the System. Hel had pardoned Kayden, in a way, for accidentally letting Ezekiel know about it, but the knowledge he had was shallow enough anyway that there was no real need to silence him. However, Hel had warned that if the time comes, he must be prepared to kill.

Failure to uphold this law will mean punishment in the form of not letting Kayden use the appraisal ability until the problem is solved and those that know are silenced. If it were during dire situations, however, Hel would still allow him to use the ability.

Furthermore, this law would only take effect once the imposter is gone. Kayden wasn’t sure when that would be, but Hel assured him that the time would come. In the meantime, he was supposed to act as if nothing had happened.

Law #2

Do not unnecessarily risk your life unless given permission to do so. Basically, Kayden could not be so reckless with his decisions unless Hel had assessed the risks and given him the green light. Hel explained that her life was essentially tied to his, since his death would mean that she would most likely cease to exist on Eden and return to Gaia. This law worked in Kayden’s favor as it meant that he could threaten her life by threatening his own. Against a God-given blessing, he needed every advantage he could get.

Failure to uphold this law will mean punishment in the form of restricting his ‘level features’. Kayden had no idea what this meant, and when he asked, Hel only smiled mysteriously and told him to wait until he was level 20. Similarly, in dire circumstances, the punishment will be lifted.

Law #3

Kayden was to help Hel with things that she wanted. This was less of a law and more of an agreement, as long as Kayden helped Hel, she would help him. Diving into the specifics, Hel wanted to be able to manifest herself physically in the real world. Doing so gave her freedom to move and talk, and she could help Kayden in ways such as combat, or training. Another thing she wanted was to find out the truth behind the imposter and to do that, Kayden had to do some digging. She recommended finding information about the God of Thieves to start with since he was the reason how the System got transferred to him in the first place. Doing so could help Kayden potentially find out the truth of what was happening around him, and whether or not he was being manipulated.

Hel called this “The Law of Equivalent Exchange.” Kayden had no idea why she found this to be funny, but she laughed aloud anyway.

“[These are the three rules I would like us to follow. I take it that there isn’t a problem?]”

“It’s fine. In return, I get the full power of the System, correct?” Kayden said as he extended his left hand out for a handshake.

“[Right.]” Hel took the hand, using her right hand, which was the normal looking one. “[Now let us move on to the next problem. Do you see a way out of your current predicament?]”

Kayden observed the scene on the television. While it certainly looked terrible for him, it was still possible for him to escape. The problem was what to do after that.

“Well… first things first.”

[7 stat points consumed. Increased Agility from B- >>> B]

[7 stat points consumed. Increased Agility from B >>> B+]

[0 stat points remaining]

“[Interesting decision... Now your maximum speed and acceleration can reach very high levels, which should be enough for you to completely outrun the Skeleton Champion. Unfortunately, boosting stats that you are already good at costs quite a lot, so there’s nothing you can do now.]”

Kayden had gotten a brief explanation for how the stat points worked. It took one point to upgrade stats or spells at E level, and the cost increases by two for every grade above that. Stat points weren’t the only way to increase his stats, simple training could do it too, however, there was a limit to the amount of power training could bring him. That was the best time to use stat points.

For Kayden’s case, his agility was by far the strongest stat, and so it made sense to upgrade it since he doubt he could get any faster with pure training.

“[Alright. I have an idea. What if you used your fr—]”

“No. There’s no need for me to use that ability, I can manage well enough without it.” Kayden turned from the television and looked at Hel. “Send me back. I’m ready.”

“[Are you serious? You know about the second law, right? You can’t take unnecessary risks unless—]”

“I know. But the punishment for that is ‘level features’, right? I don’t even have those yet, so this law doesn’t affect me in any way. Quick, send me back.”

Hel bit her lip in frustration. He wasn’t wrong, and so she couldn’t say anything to retort. Perhaps she should have thought about that when she came up with the laws. Right now, she couldn’t for the life of her figure out why he would refuse to use the blessing, especially under such dire circumstances.

“[Sigh. Trauma, is that it?]” Her question yielded no reply from Kayden. “[Fine, do what you want. But just know that there will come a day when you have to use it, not just to save yourself, but to save the people you care about too. At that time, what would you do?]”

She pointed her rotting finger at him, and Kayden began to fade away, signaling his exit from this ‘Realm of Consciousness’, as she had called it. Just as he was about to disappear, he replied to her question.

“This ability saves no one but myself, and the more I rely on it, the more people will get hurt. That’s why I won’t use this ability unless times are desperate. But even then, it will only be as a last resort. Don’t worry, it ain’t trauma.”

With that, he disappeared completely.

“[…Definitely trauma of some kind.]”

Hel shook her head and looked over at the television screen. It was truly upsetting that your entire existence is tied to a seventeen-year-old boy, whose every whim may or may not cost you your life. There was unfortunately nothing she could do about this, and all she could do was try her best to get along with him. To make her user angry would bring upon her disastrous consequences.

***

As soon as Kayden opened his eyes, he felt the biting cold breath down the back of his neck once again. Everything resumed as per normal as if the slowing of time never happened. With his left hand, he pushed himself off the ground and rolled swiftly to the right, narrowly avoiding the blow just like he had envisioned before with the television.

Without wasting any time, he rolled up to his feet and made a mad dash toward the skeleton. If he wanted the plan to succeed, he had to pass through the giant right here.

At this moment, a screen popped up at the top right corner of his view. It looked like a map, with a white arrow in the middle pointing straight at a large, blinking red dot. It was the mini-map, and this time, he knew what it was. Hel had graciously filled him in on how it worked, and it was integral to his plans to escape.

Thanks to the mini-map, Kayden was able to tell where the walls and corners were, despite the absence of light. Most importantly, he knew the enemy’s position.

With his newfound speed and agility, combined with his superior mana senses, he was easily able to avoid two massive swings before sliding in between the legs of the skeleton. With a burst of power in his legs, he bolted down the corridor and made a sharp turn to his right.

Immediately upon making the turn, he could once again see light, and it came from a crowd of people slowly exploring the large room. With a quick snap of his fingers, Kayden disappeared completely, leaving no trace of his existence to be found.

***

“It seems that the Crimson Menace had already passed through this area…” Zhang said confidently as he examined the massive room he was in. Ten square trapdoors, five on each side, lined the room, with its edges singed and charred. All around the room, there were trace amounts of ashes, with the majority of them gathered around the trapdoors.

“Did they encounter skeletons and sweep the remains into the holes? Damn it. I can’t see what’s in them. Whatever was down there must have been thoroughly destroyed… or taken.”

Ryan, who had trailed behind Zhang’s party together with Brandon and the D-ranks, glanced around the room as well. Not long after, he gave whatever insight he had.

“Whatever was in here, I bet the Crimson Menace already dealt with it, so it’s unlikely we would encounter anything. I would suggest we cordon off this area so that we are guaranteed to go face to face with them if they try to leave, but we can’t rule out the possibility that there’s an exit somewhere else in the dungeon.”

As Ryan and Zhang were going on and on about what the Crimson Menace did or did not do, Brandon rolled his eyes. He was bored. Incredibly bored. Just how long would it take for him to meet his fated enemy?

“Boss!”

One of the D-ranks shouted out to him. It was a young woman with a sword and buckler, and she had come to report something.

“We found another path. There seems to be an invisible wall of some sort.”

“Hmm?”

Brandon’s interest was piqued. If the invisible wall hadn’t been an intentional design of the dungeon, it could only have been one thing…

“Quick! Bring me there!” He yelled out with visible hunger in his eyes. This was a clue!

“R-right!”

He jogged behind the sprinting woman, and Ryan and Zhang did not miss his loud departure. They both looked at each other, silently agreed to talk later, and followed. It didn’t take long for them to reach the location, and it was located right outside the entrance to the large room.

“Here it is, Boss! The invisible wall! Do you maybe think that there could be hidden treasures behind it? I’ll be rich!”

As the woman went ahead and drowned in her own fantasies, Brandon observed the various adventurers entering and leaving the wall as if nothing was there. There was no doubt about it, this was illusion magic.

“I know what you’re thinking, Brandon. But we can’t be sure that this isn’t part of the dungeon. And what if it was a trick? Perhaps the path leads to a trap, and he intentionally placed the invisible wall here, knowing that it would attract the attention of adventurers?”

Brandon laughed.

“Hah! Do you really think that cheater is that smart?”

Ryan raised his eyebrow as he thought back to the fight between both of them. The thief was cunning and was certainly able to catch Brandon off guard. Though, this could just be a testament to Brandon’s stupidity.

“Putting the thief’s intelligence aside, if he’s working with others, especially someone like the Crimson Menace, who’s to say that they couldn’t direct him to do something like this?”

“You’re right… but what if you’re wrong? I say we go down this path and—”

“Shh! Quiet!”

It was incredibly abrupt, but Zhang quickly silenced the bickering duo. He also ordered the surrounding adventurers to shut up and spread the message. Soon, everyone got the idea, and a tense silence began to fill the room.

Boom!

It was hard to hear it clearly, but there was definitely something that sounded like the banging of drums.

Boom!

Or maybe… footsteps?

“Do you think those are footsteps?”

“Oh my god! Brandon! Shut the hell up!”

As soon as Brandon spoke the words on everyone’s minds, a hulking figure of black flames and white bones passed by the doorway of the other side of the room. It appeared and disappeared so quickly that many adventurers had a tough time figuring out what they have just seen. The D-ranks were easily frightened out of their wits; however.

Screams rang out as the frightened D-ranks collapsed to the ground in shock. A momentary panic began to set in, but Zhang raised his hand to silence them. If they were to make any more noise, there was no telling what might happen.

A tense minute passed, and the sound of footsteps disappeared completely as if the hulking figure had been nothing but a mirage. Perhaps it was just another illusion?

Zhang slowly lowered his arm. “I… I think we’re fine—”

BOOM!

Crashing through the doorway, an absolutely enormous figure holding an equally large blade sprinted right for them at frightening speeds. Something this big should not be able to move this fast. Both the blade and its body were swathed in black flames, but it slowly died down to reveal the undead within. As soon as the flames were put out, they could now hear the skeleton’s footsteps once more, as well as the sound of the blade raking across the ground.

“EVERYBODY SCATTER!”

But it was too late, the skeleton crashed into the crowd of adventurers like a bowling ball and sent people flying like bowling pins. Zhang was not spared from this treatment and slammed into the wall behind him.

“Ah f#ck...” He slowly picked up his battered body from the ground. “What the hell is that…?”