“So, you can’t enter this dungeon? The news is true?” asked Raja, an explorer who quit a few years ago after he almost died exploring a dungeon for his second time. Due to him quitting early, his level was low.

He was not the only one, his friend that was coming with him to the big tongue toad dungeon quit around the same time as him. As a result, his friend was at a low level too.

After Planet Snowball vanished, they both decided to become an explorer again just like everyone else. Not for money or fame but for safety.

“Yeah… I am only one level above the limit and I cannot enter this dungeon,” said Deury, Raja’s friend.

Both Raja and Deury decided to explore the big tongue toad dungeon together but unfortunately for Deury, he cannot enter due the new level limit rule applied to the dungeon.

They did not know if they should separate or choose another dungeon. While contemplating what they should do, they saw a man with a black hoodie and a cardboard shield strapped on his left arm passed them.

“Pfft~ What is that? Is he playing around?” said Deury while pointing his finger at Cade. Not only him, everyone around who saw Cade was laughing or snickering.

“Is that guy going inside the dungeon with that cardboard? He wears ordinary clothes too,” said Raja while he was observing Cade.

“That guy must either be too poor or there is some problem with his brain,” said Deury while covering his mouth holding his laugh.

“Is no one going to stop him? Going in like that is a suicide,” said Raja. He was not laughing and showed a bit of concern at Cade.

“Well~ there is no need to worry about him. The dungeon’s new rules will make sure no one dies inside the dungeon. Even if he died, he will be revived outside the dungeon,” said Deury.

Raja nodded as he remembered that the dungeon’s rules had changed. Everyone was safe inside the dungeon. If they died, other than their level decreased and they lost all their equipment, they will still have their life.

While Raja and Deury were talking about Cade, they saw someone approaching Cade. It looked like that person tried to stop Cade from entering the dungeon with his equipment.

However, from afar, Raja and Deury saw Cade shakes his hand and made some gesture that he was fine and continued walking forward towards the dungeon entrance.

The guy who approached Cade also shakes his head with a disappointed face. Raja and Deury’s face frown.

“Someone did try to stop him but he still went forward. There is no need to worry about that guy,” said Deury while looking at Raja.

“You are right,” Raja sighed and lightly shakes his head. He continued, “he will learn it by himself how dangerous the dungeon is.”

Then, they continued their discussion about their plan to enter the dungeon. In the end, Raja decided to join someone else’s party and Deury went to apply for the license for another dungeon within his level limit.

As they were discussing what they should do, the explorers around them were betting on how long Cade can survive inside the dungeon.

Many of them betted that he will revive outside the dungeon in less than ten minutes. While others considered that there will be many other explorers inside that will help him somehow and he will last at most 30 minutes.

Some explorers just wanted to be different than others and bet that Cade will survive inside the dungeon.

Before Deury left the area, he also put in some bet for fun. He was just like everyone else betting that Cade will revive outside the dungeon in less than ten minutes.

Deury did not wait for the results however and left the area. Raja, on the other hand, found a party that allowed him to join.

All the explorers that made their bet were waiting patiently while looking at the entrance of the dungeon. A few explorers were revived outside the dungeon. That meant they died.

However, looking at all the explorers that revived, someone suddenly thought of something. All the explorers that died inside the dungeon and were revived lost all their equipment including their clothes and underwear.

That meant they were naked. How in the world will they be able to recognize Cade? They did not know what Cade looked like and all they knew about him was the cardboard.

Everyone looked at each other and they all sighed. They should have realized it earlier. Before they took back their money, someone volunteered to get inside and followed Cade.

Everyone was clapping their hands and cheering for that guy. After that, the explorer who volunteered immediately went inside the dungeon.

He kept asking about Cade to the explorers he met inside and luckily, they all saw him. There was no way they did not notice him. The cardboard attracted too much attention. That explorer followed the direction of the explorers that saw Cade.

***

On a train station far away from the big tongue toad dungeon, a beautiful girl with golden hair sat on a seat pouting with an annoyed face.

Everyone who saw her was attracted by her beauty but none of them dared to get near her because she looked annoyed.

However, even with that face, she was really beautiful. All the guys and some girls who saw her were mesmerized by her beauty. Some girls got jealous looking at that beautiful girl but did not dare get neared the beautiful hair.

The beautiful golden-haired girl was emitting some kind of aura that made everyone scared of her. There were also other explorers nearby and they all can feel how strong that beautiful girl was.

That beautiful golden hair girl was Cynthia. She was angry and annoyed that Cade did not wake her up when they arrived at the train station nearby the big tongue toad dungeon.

She woke up when the train stopped at the fifth station after the station she was supposed to get off.

Cynthia woke up in the middle of the night and saw Cade was sleeping. She knew that Cade did not want to join her and was afraid that he would leave her when she was sleeping.

Due to that, she decided to sleep while holding Cade’s arm. If Cade tried to wiggle out of her arm, she would feel it and wake up.

To her disappointment, she did not wake up and Cade left her by herself on the train. She wondered how in the world that Cade managed to get away without her realizing.

Unknown to her, it was her fault. She was sleeping too soundly and when Cade tried to let her go of his arm, she was annoyed that someone was disturbing her sleeping and pushed Cade’s arm away.

Cade did not waste the chance he got and left her sleeping by herself. He did not worry about her safety because first, Cynthia was strong. Cade can feel it when she hugged his arm.

Cade did not know Cynthia’s potential growth but he was sure that it was at least A grade.

Secondly, Cynthia was a princess and she did say that she had an item that will teleport the strongest explorer in her family to her instantly when she was in danger. If someone tried to do anything to her while she was sleeping, the item would activate by itself.

Thirdly, Cade did not believe that she had no guard at all. She was a princess and there was surely a guard or two guarding her in the shadow.

She might tell the truth that there was no guard around her but maybe that was because she was unaware of it.

Even if she said that people in Biscuit Star Sector were nice and peace-loving, that was the majority of them not everyone.

No matter where it was, there was surely some scum that caused trouble and problems. There were no such things as people with 100% kindness. That was a delusion.

Cynthia was waiting for a train that went back to the station nearby the big tongue toad dungeon. She was grumbling and complaining about Cade not being nice enough to her.

She also vowed that when she found Cade, she wanted to kick him once.

“He was not a gentleman at all!! How can he just leave a girl sleeping by herself on the train!! I thought he was nice but he was not nice at all!!” said Cynthia.

“Cade, just let me kick you once! Just once!” said Cynthia with her sinister smile but to others, her smile was angelic and she was more beautiful with her smile.

A flame was ignited inside Cynthia. She wanted to kick Cade once and also wanted him to agree with joining her party. She will never let Cade go.

Cade was walking inside the dungeon and he suddenly felt chill.