Chapter 10:

I head back home after talking to Leon. When I reach home, I lie on my back outside of it. Leon's disturbing story kept on repeating in my mind. He had a sad childhood, and I couldn't imagine my life without my parents. My parents were the people who supported me most in my dream, even though they knew it was nigh impossible. They never gave up on me or belittled my dream, instead they motivated me to try harder. Thinking about their support and love towards me rekindled my desire to protect them.

Although I wanted to get stronger faster, I just wanted to rest today. The story affected me more than I thought. It was night time, and stars appeared in the sky. One of my hobbies was to just rest and stare at the beautiful night sky. Today was different though, a thought appeared in my mind, before many other ones emerged. How do stars exist? The universe is just a dungeon, there is nothing beyond the floor. How could stars appear? In Luke's memories, stars are massive balls of gases, mostly Hydrogen and Helium. Is it possible to travel into space in the dungeon? Is there even solar systems in a dungeon floor? Is the dungeon just creating an illusion? Many questions appeared in my brain, and a cool wind brushed across my body. These thoughts went through my mind for a while, before I lied down, not thinking about anything. Eyes closed, I dozed off. A dream about my past, about my conviction to clear the dungeon, flashed through my mind.

I was 8 at the time, back then I didn't really train or want to clear the dungeon, I just wanted a peaceful life with my family. Playing sports with the other kids was my favourite pastime. One day, I was walking home after a game of soccer with a few of my friends, when I heard scream. For some reason the voice sounded similar, and it took me about 5 minutes to realize it was my mothers. I dropped the soccer ball in my hand and sprinted towards my house.

I saw a familiar bakery in my sight and I noticed that the door was kicked down and a customer of my mother lying down beside it. I ran up the customer and helped him up before asking him what happened. He told me that bandit attacked the bakery and that he tried to stop him, to no avail. Then he quickly told me that my mother was still inside. Hearing that, I charged into the bakery at my top speed.

The cash register was on the ground broken and the coins inside were ransacked. The counters' window was destroyed and the glass shards were on the ground. A cut caused by a sword ran through the counter. Another scream echoed through the house and I hurriedly picked up a glass shard and ran towards the direction of the scream.

Turning a corner, I arrived in my room. I saw a 2 men, covered in black clothes, near my mother. My mother, as beautiful as she was, had a clothes ripped. I could hear the men laughing while saying they would take nice care of her. Hearing this angered me and I charged out at the men. Not quiet at all, the men turned around and kicked me away, causing my mother to scream. Slamming into the wall in the hall, I slumped down, dropping the shard. I tried getting up, but one of the men just picked me up and threw me beside my mother. I hit my bed and heard a few of my ribs break; this caused my mother to scream more and thrash around. Tears came down like a flood from her eyes as she sees me trying to struggle to get up, only to cough up some blood. She begged them to free me and heal me, to which they agreed on one condition. Only if my mother can service them good enough would they free me and treat my injuries.

My eyes went red as one of the men used his sword to cut through my mothers undergarments as she agreed. Clenching my fists extremely hard, blood started to flow out. I screamed at my mother to stop and not to do it, but she only nodded her head to tell me to stop. I was cursing at myself in my mind for being incompetent and being negligent in my training. If I trained and got stronger, I could have prevented this from occurring. That's when my motivation to train began, as I didn't want this to happen again.

She walked towards the men, and kneeled down to service them when a miracle happened. A high level adventurer from a high floor that was on vacation here noticed the commotion and decided to lend a hand.

The man swiftly entered and knocked out the 2 men with 1 hit each. He then tied up the men and healed me. My mother broke out crying in relief while I stared at the man. He noticed me and asked me why I was staring at him. I hardened my resolve and asked him to train me. Without even looking at me or thinking for a second, he answered "nope". I yelled at him why, and he just said I'm just a runt and can't endure his training. That pissed me off, and I told him I'll show him.

After that incident, I trained every day, like I do now, to gain strength so that I can protect my family and gain the recognition of the man.

After a month, I challenged the man to a fight, I got defeated in 1 hit. Not convinced at my loss, I kept on challenging him. I always lost in 1 hit, but he always gave me chances to hit him. One time, he just stood there and let me strike at him, which caused him no damage. Another time, he let me attack him with a sword, which only gave him tiny cuts.

After a month of planning, I found out a way to defeat him. I challenged him, and as usual he let me attack him. I aimed my attack at his stomach, but I quickly brought it down and hit him in his balls. It did no damage to him, but he howled in pain and rolled on the ground. I laughed and asked him if that was enough for him to train me.

He got up and stared at me a with a death glare. Pissing myself, I fell on the ground and tried to crawl away. Disappearing, he appeared in front of me and picked me up. Calling me a brat and lecturing me, he spanked my ass a few times. I still get nightmares from that day as it was extremely painful.

Once he finished, he still didn't train me for the same reason, but he would hang out me and even told me stories about the higher floors. He told me that the higher floors are extremely dangerous with dragons and hydras, but he told me that if you stop and take a look at the surroundings, it will mesmerize you. He told me that even though it is dangerous up there, it is an extremely beautiful place and resting in the safe zones is like a paradise there. Another one of things he told me were the fact that the more you climb the dungeon, the more dreams you can achieve. The fame, the beauty, the money and the exciting life is what changed by dream. My dream went from being strong enough to protect my loved ones into being strong enough to protect my loved ones as well as clearing the dungeon to gain fame and have all the riches of the world. At least that way, I can live a peaceful life with my parents without having to worry about anything. I want my kids to grow up knowing that nothing can harm them. I also want to know what lies beyond the dungeon.

The fun days with adventurer came to an end when he decided to head back to the highest floor. He told me that he will wait for me up there when I decide to climb the tower. This caused my desire to climb the dungeon to burn even more fiercely.

My pleasant ream came to an end as I woke up. I yawned loudly which caused tears to form in my eyes. After doing some stretches to warm my body up, I walked into the forest to train. Leaping from tree to tree, I went to an unexplored land. I took out my map and jumped into another tree. Right as I jumped into the tree, I hit my head against something before falling down landing on my back.

Getting up, I rubbed my back to ease out the pain, while looking up to where I hit something. Then I notice something I dread, a hornet hive. I have a deep phobia against anything like bees, wasps or hornets. I never had this phobia in the beginning. It all started one day when I was swimming in a lake, naked. When I came out of the water, I stepped on a bumblebee. Noticing this, one of its kin attacked me by stinging me in my balls. I screamed in pain and I a deep fear of bees, wasps and hornets spread out its roots in my brain. I even had a scar from that incident.

I stared at the hive as it fell onto the ground and the hornets flying out of it. My legs started shaking and I think I even pissed myself a little. Tears appeared in my eyes and I used Identify on them before sprinting full speed out of there.

Hornet Soldier Level 2

The hornet workers did not have a level, but the Hornet Soldiers did. The normal Hornets were red, while the Hornet Soldiers were red with black streaks across it. Their eyes were red.

I used Soul Sense, and found 49 Hornet soldiers. I also noticed an abnormally large Hornet with 4 huge wings, as it pop out of the hive. The Hornet was fully back with blue eyes. I used Identify and found out it was a Hornet Queen.

Hornet Queen Level 4

I sent all my mana into my feet, because even if I wasn't absolutely terrified of them, I would still run away since I was no match for them. The Hornets chased after me in anger. My tears fell out my eyes and my bowels were also emptied. I was running with shaky legs and could only think of one thing RUN! I was panicking and couldn't think of up a plan. My mana was running out and the hornets were gaining on me.

Eventually I tripped on a rock and fell. The Hornets got near me were getting ready to kill me. Just as I was going to get killed, a huge wave of water hit them. The hornets didn't die, but couldn't fly because of the water on their wings. A hand grabbed mine and pulled me up. I saw Leon, and stared at him, my saviour. Just as I was going to thank him, he said " Don't dally, run. The water will only temporarily stop them, and I can't fight all of them." Both of us started sprinting. The Hornet Queen freed itself in 2 minutes, and the Hornet Soldiers took about 6 minutes after the Queen. They started chasing us, but both of us got far away in that time. The Hornets eventually gave up after they couldn't find us. I was using my Soul Sense to monitor them.

We reached my home, and we both sat on our asses panting. I look at Leon and say " Thank you," with sincerity coming from the bottom of my heart.

He looked at me and said "No problem, but I need your help. I found the group from before, and it seems they grouped up with others. Since you said you will help me, now's the chance."

I look at him seriously, trying to ignore the disgraceful act of pissing myself. I look at him and say " I'll help you, but there will be some conditions. First I won't kill any of them and will only capture them. Second you can only kill them 10 minutes after I left. Finally I'll wear a mask to hide my face."

I said all this because I don't want my identity to be found by the enemy. This way they can't research my background and kill my family. They also won't attack me on sight. The reason I don't want to kill them and want Leon to only kill them 10 minutes after I leave is because there are some things called soul stones. These things bind to someone using their blood, showing if they are alive or not. It shows 10 minutes of memory of a person if they died; the memory is always the 10 minutes before their death. I also have one of these soul stones, which my parents keep at home. This will assure them that I'm alive. There are different types of soul stones, the one which shows 10 minutes of memory is the most expensive one, while the cheapest is ones that only show the life and death of the person. My parents got the cheapest one for me, and it still took them months of saving up to get it. There may be better soul stones on higher floors, but I don't know.

Leon puts his hand on his chin before pondering for a while. After a few minutes, he gives his hand out, to which I grab and do a handshake. He says "It's a deal, but before we go, can you please change your pants and take a bath?"

I blush while looking down.

To be continued.

Status Screen:

Spoiler : Status Window Name:Arjun HunterLevel:4Race:Black Tiger/High Elf HybridGender:MaleTitles Reincarnated One2 Souls, 1 Body Merged Souls-Health Regen:1.4x fasterMana:368 / 368Mana Regen:1.95/ Sec-Strength:17Agility:27Vitality:22Dexterity36Intelligence:49Wisdom:33Charisma:30Luck:20Spirit174Perception 21

Skill List:

Spoiler : SkillsMana ManipulationIntermediate Level 3Mana/Soul ArmourBeginner Level 4Mana/Soul ClawBeginner Level 9IdentifyBeginner Level 9Mana/Soul RoarBeginner Level 6Cooking (passive)Advanced Level 1 Engineering (passive) Intermediate Level 3Parkour (passive) Intermediate Level 8Blade Proficiency (passive)Intermediate Level 4Firearms Proficiency (passive)Intermediate Level 2SneakIntermediate Level 5ScoutIntermediate Level 7Leadership (passive) Intermediate Level 9Picklocking Intermediate Level 1Disarm Intermediate Level 2Soul SenseIntermediate Level 1Soul ManipulationIntermediate Level 1Regulus's SnareBeginner Level 2MeditationBeginner Level 3Cartography (passive)Beginner Level 1Earth ManipulationBeginner Level 2Fire ManipulationBeginner Level 1Water Manipulation Beginner Level 1Wind ManipulationBeginner Level 1

The elemental spells list:

Spoiler : Fire: Fireball

Water: Waterbullets

Wind: Wind Slash

Earth: Rock Lance, Revolving Rock Lance, Stone Wall, Rock Armour and finally Rock Spike