[Ann's POV]

It’s the first day of my travel.

Grandmother wanted for me to wait another six months, but I cannot do it.

Alvin will have to walk along by himself.

Going long distances shouldn’t be a problem for he, who doesn’t need to eat or sleep.

Not to mention, he’s absurdly strong.

I can’t pluck a single strain of his hair. This much is enough proof.

I should make haste. The Old Man’s tree I usually sleep under is still far away.

***

[Alvin's POV]

I’m at the gates.

In the end I got here a little later than I expected. Maybe it’s because today is the last day I expend in the village, but… I just needed more time with the family.

We all slept in the living room today. Everyone together.

It was nice.

And now… well, now I’m being overloaded with weapons.

Forehead came with a sword, the head huntress with a bow and a quiver, and the blacksmith with a couple of daggers.

Everyone had resolute expressions when they gave me the weapons. Peeking a bit on their minds… yeah, they are thinking something on the lines of “this is what Marie expected for us to do”.

Grandma is already all over their heads, eh~~

Well, no matter.

It’s time to go.

Yeah.

A last hug on everyone.

Don’t cry Ma… I will be fine…

No use telling you this, though. You know it.

Fuuuh.

Let’s go.

“You look funny!”

It’s Alma.

“Yeah, I bet I do. But it feels nice.”

“Really? Everyone says it should be itchy because it’s new. Maybe it’s broken.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. Besides, It’s nice to have received a present like this from the family.”

I’m using the leather armor everyone made for me.

I guess it would be annoyingly itchy if someone usual were to use it, but with the amount of accumulated aura I have in my body, that’s not a problem.

If I don’t use [Last Stand] there is nothing the itchy parts can do to me. They won’t deform my skin enough to tell to my nerves “hey, it’s itchy here!”. So I don’t feel it.

So knowing I’m feeling itchy on my own choice somehow makes the feeling a little less irritating.

Why am I doing it?

Well, obviously because I need to learn how to properly use armor.

Grandma told me I should use [Last Stand] so I can feel the limits of the armor and avoid ripping it to shreds by doing movements which are too extravagant.

So, that’s what I’m doing. Feeling the itchiness’ in all of its glory.

Besides, if I start running before I’m far enough from the village, someone may see me doing it and become suspicious.

So let’s just stroll around the forest for a bit. I should be safe to do my stuff at night.

Meanwhile…

“Say Alma, want to play a game?”

“A game?”

“Yeah. How about we play [Aura Sculpture]?”

“That’s unfair! You always win!”

Heheh.

“Okay then, let’s play with the usual rules then.”

“Okay!”

The “usual rules” means Alma will be using [Aura Control] to make sculptures using aura and I will try to imitate her with a knife and a piece of wood.

I’m not good with this, but it’s fun because Alma just sucks so much at using her soul to make refined work - so it’s a friendly competition.

I took one of the blacksmith’s daggers from the scabbard and a twig from a nearby tree. Of course I checked if it was one of Alma’s first.

It’s going to be a long day now…

***

[Ann's POV]

It’s been three days.

I can see Purin village in the distance.

That’s good.

Uncle Jino should be waiting for me around this month. I told him I would come by after all.

The fields look healthy.

I guess the Forest Spirit has spread around these parts as well, since there doesn’t seem to be monster damage to the fences.

As I walk through the place, I can hear the noise of the pigs, cows and sheep.

Soon I can see them. And then the village’s walls.

The gatekeeper seems familiar.

“Ann, is that you?”

It’s Maurice. He asked me in marriage one day, while drunk.

“Yes. Good to see you, Maurice.”

“Good to see you too. So, have you seen your family?”

“Yes.”

“That must have been nice, seeing them again after such a long time.”

“Has uncle come back from the fields already?”

“Not that I remember. It’s not the time yet.”

“Yeah, the sun’s still high.”

“Come in. You can stay at my house while you wait for him.”

“Thank you.”

“Sure.”

I’m tired, but I can only stay overnight. Let’s use the time until uncle comes back to sleep a bit.

***

[Alvin's POV]

Night already.

Time surely flies when you use all of your mind’s processing power.

Well, it’s time to start running then.

Slow at first.

Aura on my legs aand…

I’m at a tree’s branch.

Nice thing about this way of traveling - it expends a lot of aura, but you look like a ninja or something. Except I can do much fancier magic and won’t run with my arms laying opposite to the direction I’m going.

They are much more useful being right at my side, since real trees aren’t all aligned perfectly.

Maybe aura can make a forest with perfect-aligned trees if I ask her, or I could do it myself.

Hum. Let’s think about this as a project for the future.

Now, let’s go.

***

[Ann's POV]

“Ann, good to see you!”

“Uncle. Good to see you as well.”

I have been wakened by someone’s presence coming close.

On our village one isn’t supposed to use [Aura Sensing] in the open like this, out of it many can’t sense it.

Besides, I’m already a Superior Being, so it shouldn’t be so weird.

“Sorry to disturb your sleep.”

“No problem. I was just resting a bit.”

“Come, let’s go to my house.”

Uncle Maurice has a simple house, much like the ones we have on our own village.

The difference is in the number of kids.

He has five of them, but no wife.

His first wife died while giving birth to his second child. Once he marries again, that one would be his fourth spouse.

That’s normal.

Woman die easily while giving birth outside of our village.

“Here, sit down. Tell me about everyone back on John’s place. Is everything alright on those parts?”

“Everyone is healthy.”

“That’s wonderful! I should go visit someday, but it’s a long trip, so it’s difficult for me.”

“Yes. Don’t overexert yourself.”

“Keep that out of your mouth, Lucei.”

My youngest cousin. He’s two.

“Is Lucei sick?”

“Yeah… I don’t know why though. I have been giving him plenty of oil recently. He shouldn’t have the worms.”

He’s pale and slow.

“Isn’t this Yellow Bug Bite disease?”

“Yellow Bug Bite?”

“Yes. Mother once made medicine for a kid in our village.”

“Then… do you have the herbs? Can you cure him?”

“Yes. Just give me some time.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Uncle.”

It’s always like this.

But it’s thanks to this kind of things that I can avoid expending too much time gathering resources.

“By the way, have you gotten what I asked you?”

“The food and herbs? Yeah, I’ve gotten them. But you aren’t thinking of going so early, right? At least rest for a few days.”

“I can’t. I have to be at the capital in one year.”

“One year. That’s a long time traveling.”

“Yes.”

Let’s start preparing the medicine.

***

[Alvin's POV]

Uhm. I can see it.

The first village in the way.

It’s called Purin village.

Interesting thing about this world… and I think, every world ever.

The one thing which says where a village will be settled is the proximity to rivers and lakes.

Everyone needs water to drink. If you have enough land to plow then, well, that’s how you make a village.

Now, villages tend to be constructed closely to each other. Half a day of traveling would be the maximum distance anyone would go ever to gather stuff in the forest, so villages tend to be found around one day of distance from each other.

Except we are a border village. And that means big trees in the way and soil which may not be the best to plow.

So our own village is three days away from Purin village, the closest one - and where our uncle lives.

Now, as I look at it, what can I say?

The place is… weird.

I mean, first are the pens.

They don’t exist.

The animals are just fenced in different areas.

Then, second, it’s the people.

I can see at least two people sleeping outside of the village.

What the hell are these people thinking?

…

Damn, they reek!

That’s no weak-beer-you-can-drink-instead-of-water, oh no sir, it ain’t!

That’s some heavy liquor they drank.

Thinking about it…we didn’t have reckless drunkards back in the village.

Even when people drank brown tea or something, they just wouldn’t go around making a fuss.

But these guys are sleeping in the manure.

Yeah.

And here’s the worst.

Filth.

FILTH!

Looking over the small mud-walls, which are quite smaller than ours own, it’s…

It’s just everywhere.

People sometimes would poop on the streets back in the village, but this place is more human waste than mud.

How can they produce so much shit?!

Except…

I don’t see any toilets.

The shit and garbage are arranged next to people’s doors…

Don’t tell me people shit on the door and then someone comes and take their shit away, I mean…

It’s ridiculous, right?

…

Yeah.

That would explain why the farmland around smells so bad.

It’s not only animal manure being used there, is it?

Let’s ditch this place.

Uncle may live here, but I never came to know him… besides, he may think something bad happened or try to keep me in the town once he sees’ I’m still only ten.

Yeah.

Let’s go.

***

[Ann's POV]

“Aaah…. Aaah….”

The Black Dragon Scale mine is close now…

I remember this road…

It should be only half a day away.

Heavens!

It hurts!

O look at my calf, wrapped as it is in plant leaves.

Still, I didn’t have the right ones, so the wound is getting worse.

Damn hound.

I was too careless.

There is no way.

I will have to use it.

I concentrate on the wound and start chanting.

First, the detoxifying spell. The pain gets worse, but I can endure it.

Now, the healing spell.

There.

It’s healed.

But I have expended too much aura.

I will have to make camp at the Dragon Scale mine. Otherwise I won’t be able to recover it.

Let’s get there.

***

[Alvin's POV]

Uhm.

There are two options for me here.

I can either follow the road or go straight to the mountain and cross it.

The good side of following the road is that I will be able to see all of the small villages in the way.

They become more common once we get closer to the capital, to the point where you have villages every half a day of distance or something.

The bad side is that it is the long road.

It would be a lot faster to go to the mountains, cross them and then head south directly.

Now, cities would be a need if I was traveling like sister and had to worry about things like shelter and food.

But I can just keep going and nothing bad will happen.

So, what should I do?

Humm…

I still have my breakthrough to go through.

Maybe I should just ditch the villages and go over the breakthrough once I reach the mountains.

Whatever happens to me, that is, even if I end up creating dungeons like last time, it won’t matter.

Because I will be in an isolated place no one goes to.

That’s it.

Let’s head straight to the mountains.

Then I will go down and follow the mountains to the West until I find the Black Dragon Scale mine.

***

[Ann's POV]

I’m finally here, and still, there are problems.

Are these people camping at the mine’s entrance friends or foes?

…

Can I avoid them?

I look at my bag.

It’s almost over.

Still, there are too many people there.

I can handle the hunger.

It’s worth it.

***

[Alvin's POV]

It feels weird.

“All… it feels bad.”

“Yeah, I know. Like as if we were in a graveyard, right?”

“Like that decaying place.”

Alma is talking about a place we visited in the Soul World.

Black skies with no stars, black dirt, chilling winds, spirits like skeletons walking around.

Almost a Graveyard World.

This place feels very similar to it.

“Maybe I shouldn’t do my breakthrough here after all.”

I thought there would be many monsters after I crossed the small garrison near the border, but I haven’t been attacked yet.

What’s wrong with this place?

***

[Ann's POV]

“DIE, YOU BASTARD!”

Huff.. huff…

Thirty down.

Forty more to go.

“To think you would take down my guys so easy like this… I bet ya’re one of those abnormals…”

Tsc.

Sixty-nine humans and one orc.

How the hell did they track me?

“But ya’know? The man pays heavy coin for abnormal heads. They have this magician or whatever which can tell if someone was one… I guess I will be taking yah there for a visit…”

I readied the sword father gave me and started absorbing the aura in the scabbard.

I didn’t want to use it, but if I don’t, then I won’t make it.

He’s smiling, the bastard.

“Look at that boys! The little bitch thinks she can face me! Let me tell yah one thing…”

His mace swings at my face with absurd speed.

Monster!

I barely have time to move my aura and get out of the mace’s way.

“My name…”

It’s coming back.

I jump.

“Is…”

Dagger!

No, I can’t stop looking at the orc.

The dagger cuts into my flesh.

It has broken my [Aura Armor], but got slowed down by it.

It shouldn’t be fatal.

“Johnson Blackscale!”

The mace is coming from the other side.

An opening.

He’s trusting this dagger to stop me. Trusting it too much.

I step ahead and trust my sword.

I got his gut.

His arm hits my head.

Everything is spinning.

“AARHG! BITCH!”

I’m flying behind.

There’s no way for me to fall on my feet. Not with this thing on my side.

I take the dagger out and hit the ground with force.

It hurts!

Sword!

I roll to the side and avoid the bandit’s blade.

Then I throw the dagger at him.

It hits his chin and I stand up.

It’s coming at me.

The mace hits my shoulder.

The [Aura Armor] breaks into pieces and I barely have time to take my shoulder bone out of the way.

My armor stretches and my muscles are crushed under the strength. I can feel my flesh ripping.

“Lousy bitch… stop… jumping around!”

I’ve cut deep enough to kill him, but he’s pretending not to have noticed.

No.

He must still think he has a chance.

He can’t accept it.

But he’s becoming sluggish.

“Aaaaah!”

The spearman coming from the right tries to impale me from behind, but he’s too slow compared to the big orc.

I get out of the way.

But this has come in handy.

I take the spear by the middle of the handle and change the path it makes.

The orc moves and avoids a more serious injury, but I have pierced his tight.

“Urgh!”

He can’t move as well as before now, can he?

Still…

Thirty-one down. Thirty-nine to go.

***

[Alvin's POV]

I have found a few wild undead so far, but nothing new, really.

There were some undead mad hounds, undead horned rabbits and even a couple hundred undead treants in a ravine.

I just fireballed the hell out of them all.

For such a dreadful atmosphere, I expected more danger.

“All… I don’t want to go anymore…”

“It’s okay, you can go back home. I will call you once I’ve crossed the path.”

“ ‘kay”.

Well, that was fast.

Let’s keep going…

Uhm.

Ooh?

There’s a weird place ahead.

In the physical plane it looks just like the regular rock, except it gets a little bit darker.

But in the emotional plane I can clearly see it changes totally.

There’s a dark spot over there.

…

Fuck this shit.

[Holy Guard]

WOAH MAMA!

There’s black goo flowing out of this thing like a geyser!

The hell is that?!

“GRRRAAUUUR!”

…

Oh shit.

Seriously?!

A fucking DRAGON?!

COMMON!

Oh, wait.

It doesn’t have a mind…

Is it just the corpse of a dragon?

Yirck!

It just spat on me!

Lucky I am for getting away… that thing seems nasty.

Uhm.

Yeah, that’s no dragon.

I can see the bones.

They are mostly human.

Still, why is it taking draconic form?

And what Is controlling this?

…

I can see the soul threads heading downwards the hole it came from.

Yeah.

This thing is here to trap big prey.

But the master is definitely down that hole.

How do I kill it?

Irc!

Take these damn dirty claws out of me!

They’re creepy!

***

[Ann's POV]

“TAKE HER! NOW!”

I jump at a nearby tree branch and almost fall.

An arrow whistles right besides my ear.

I can’t take them all together.

“AFTER HER!”

This is hard.

Even while using a lot of aura, this is too hard.

“HAHAAHAHAH!”

One of the damn bastards has gotten right next to me.

It’s a kid.

A girl around 12 years old.

She has a maddened eye, but I’m not worried about it.

I’m worried about the dagger on her hand. It’s going to cut my kidney. She’s at my right. At my sword hand.

If I try to catch her, then I will have to drop it.

…

I can’t.

I’m sorry.

I cut her down.

***

[Alvin's POV]

Now, my little bone-friend here is disabled for combat.

Movement soul-body strings safely cut.

Now let’s give a look at this…

…

This hole… it’s shallow?

It barely fits this thing.

Then, how…

Oh.

The mind strings are coming out of the rock… does that means whatever is controlling him is doing It remotely?

It must have a good mind to be able to keep control of two bodies at once.

I could do it if I tried, but… I don’t know if it would be worth it.

Well, whatever it is, it’s inside this mountain.

Should I just destroy it?

He.

No.

I don’t know if I can destroy the whole mountain at once, but it would surely be too apparent.

Let’s do something else.

[Aura Sensing], [Soul Analysis] and [Mind Reading].

Common little one, show yourself to…

ARGH!

What a DISGUSTING fellow!

URK.

Damn dungeon cores.

DISGUSTING I SAY, DISGUSTING!

Urgh.

Just a puddle of awful feelings and aura.

It doesn’t even have a mind!

It just… kills things, wait until one of them come back as undead, and then takes the body, destroying the original soul in the process.

It’s all worms and poison and… emotional disgustingness.

That’s it.

Let’s destroy this thing.

It’s buried deep in the ground, so I won’t be able to get to the core easily… but I can do better.

Yeah, I can.

Let’s just get out of this damn mountain first.

Disgusting place. Just disgusting.

***

[Ann's POV]

They gave up.

Finally.

Finally, they gave up on me.

I’m tired.

Heavens, I’m tired.

Just how much aura I used?

…

Ha.

Hahaha.

Half of it.

Half of everything it took me years to accumulate.

My eyes are hot.

The kid’s eyes.

They were insane.

How did it get right at my side?

Did she go all out in a single jump?

Or has that orc tossed her?

…

No use.

It’s no use thinking about it.

My sides hurt.

The dagger.

Ah.

It’s black.

Black and green.

It had poison in it.

Aah…

They didn’t give up, did they?

They’re just waiting until I die…

Aaah…

But I won’t.

No, I won’t.

I take out Alvin’s farewell gifts.

He gave me them right before I went out.

It’s food, but it isn’t regular food.

A peach and an apple.

No matter how many days go by, they just don’t rot.

Because they were gifts from the [Forest Spirit].

I take a bite at the peach.

***

[Alvin's POV]

Out of the peak, right at the mountainfoot, here I am!

It’s still a bit unpleasant around these parts, but not closely as much as it is on the peak.

Now, let’s start working.

First, find myself a nice tree… this one should do.

Get confortable…. Aaand…

Soul out of the body!

Urgh.

Really an emotional puddle.

This place.

This. Fucking. Soul place.

It’s like a big swamp full of worms and holes and… just disgusting.

Let’s start the job.

[Cleanse] at you, swamp!

The light hovers over the infected mud and dissolves it, showing an even deeper and more disgusting layer underneath. Let’s materialize some walls made of [Cleanse] feelings to keep the upper layer from falling down as I go deeper.

Yeah.

It’s going to be hard work, isn’t it?

Dig dig a hole.

***

[Ann's POV]

The [detoxification] spell seems to be working, but it isn’t perfect.

The poison is already on my blood.

I can only hope grandma’s technique is enough to make me resistant to it.

It doesn’t make one immune to poison, but if I have enough aura, then maybe I can avoid death.

It hurts.

But I can endure it.

I will be a knight, and this won’t stop me.

It won’t.

***

[Alvin's POV]

And here I am.

After going through layers upon layers of awful feelings and being attacked by the reactive emotions inside… also known as giant emotional worms… I’m finally here.

Hello, dungeon’s soul.

I see you’re old as hell, since you have soul crystals forming around you.

I suppose this mountain has been your house for a long time. So long you are almost becoming able to bear a mind!

But, unfortunately, I cannot allow that, can I?

Seeing the kind of emotion you’re attuned to, in the least you would surely spawn the mind of a psycho or something worse.

So goodbye.

[Cleanse]. [Holy Guard]. [Cleanse]. [Cleanse].

Done.

No more soul for you.

***

[Ann's POV]

It’s morning already.

My sweat is cold.

I have a fever.

But I’m still alive.

This should be blue heart poison. It makes one stop breathing and die in a few hours.

I’m still alive, so…

I won’t die.

At least not from the poison.

I can hear the steps.

They are coming closer to me.

I have to get up.

Aaah.

There.

I’m ready.

Four of them.

Only here to collect the body, I suppose.

“Tsc… the bitch’s still alive.”

“Just get her already, she can barely move.”

“Common bitch. Just give up. I will give you a fast death if you put the sword down. How about it?”

“You won’t give her anything slow. This bitch is mine.”

Three man and one woman.

“Yours? Oh, right, the kid. You can have her then. Just wait until we cut her hands off.”

The kid?

…

“Are you that girl’s mother?”

“Yeah, I am.”

She’s ticking her head to the side.

“Sorry for your daughter.”

“YOU BETTER BE, BITCH!”

She’s coming at me at an amazing speed.

Almost as fast as the Orc.

…

No.

It’s me who’s slower.

No matter.

She’s branding that spear as if she knew how. But she can’t even keep a right posture.

I come to the side a bit, and my sword is on her throat.

If this was a winter tale, she would have been the last one, and I would have managed to apologize once more.

But it isn’t.

The other three come at me together.

Spear, axe, dagger.

What a combination.

I jump behind and take the woman’s spear.

It’s a bad spear. It’s terribly balanced.

But it’s still a spear.

They stop midway.

“HEY! Shouldn’t this bitch be dying ? Are you sure she got hit?”

“Of course she did, morrow. Just go over… NOW!”

Ffffuuuh…

I take an instance and clove the sword on the ground.

My two hands are on the spear.

The first one to get in range is the one with the other spear.

He’s coming for a trust, and is in the middle of the other two.

I can’t do anything about him.

So I step to the side and advance against the one with the daggers.

The tip of the spear plunges deep into his chest and I fall back just in time to avoid the second trust of the one with the spear.

The one with the axe is coming by my side.

He’s too close already, so I can’t use the spear on him.

I can only move to his side and use him as a meat shield not to be taken by the next spear trust.

I drop my weapon on the ground and go for my sword.

They are too close already for me to use the spear.

The one with the axe tries to take my head while I’m reaching for the sword, but I’m quicker.

His side is unprotected now.

So I stab him and jump backwards.

I’m dizzy.

I can’t see the spear right.

It feels just like that night, that night with father.

When I’ve drank a lot of brown tea and had a match.

I can do it.

As long as I don’t commit the same mistake, I can do it.

The man is closing the distance.

He must be afraid, but I can’t see very well.

His face is a mystery for me.

Every time I look high enough to see it, my vision becomes blurry.

I don’t have much time.

I won’t be able to do fancy tricks like this.

Let’s put everything into the next strike.

He’s coming.

No matter.

My hands are held above my head, and a scream echoes from my throat as I produce a Sword of Light.

It cuts him.

Have I been impaled?

Am I still alive, or have we both died together?

…

Everything faded into dark.

***

[Alvin's POV]

Theeere we go.

Soul destroyed, but I still need to get to that Mana Crystal, don’t I?

Now, as I expand my [Aura Sensing] around, I can see that there isn’t a direct path to it.

The dungeon’s core is in a place deep underground, in fact it’s in a sealed room.

I suppose I’m expected to conquer the dungeon and then get it, right?

It would be faster to go through the maze than digging the rock directly, that’s for sure.

So, let’s just find the entrance.

It seems to be near the Dragon Scale mine’s entrance.

Here it is.

Hidden above the entrance.

By the way, is that a settlement down there?

I see fire from up here.

I wonder if the lord has given people permission to camp near the mine or if this is still considered an “out of limits” place.

Well, they can always be bandits.

Let’s care about this later.

This damn dungeon entrance is so small I have to craw to get inside.

And I’m only a ten-years-old!

Damn dungeons.

***

[Ann's POV]

I woke up when night was falling down.

I’m still alive.

There’s a big wound in my belly, but the spearman must have become scared when he saw the Sword of Light.

He changed the course of his spear while trying to scape.

Ha.

Hahahahahahahahaha.

I’m alive!

Haha.

Aaah..

Then, why am I crying?

…

No matter why.

I need to find another place to rest.

It’s been three days since I last ate.

I’ve expended loads of aura.

And I have been poisoned.

This must have been the single most unfortunate traveling week I ever had.

Let’s go…

It’s only a few hours of walking ahead of here…

***

[Alvin's POV]

This dungeon is boring.

Always the same thing, over and over.

I mean, all of the monsters which are under the dungeon’s control are now dead, since the dungeon’s soul has been destroyed and its way of taking control of the undead was by destroying their souls and then taking the wiring for himself.

So, it’s just rotting corpses all around.

The walls are boring as well. They are just high enough for the local monsters to craw on them.

This isn’t a smart dungeon.

Or one meant to be conquered, for all it matters.

Now, I don’t care much about crawling around loads of bones and corpses, since I can just toss them aside with an [Aura Hand] while I carry myself with another aura hand.

This way I can travel inside the tunnels a lot faster than if I was just traveling around.

But when there are so many corpses you need to make them into paste just to be able to craw by, then that’s just disgusting like everything about this mountain.

This dungeon’s crystal is better be worth it.

Oh, it is.

***

[Ann's POV]

Dragon Scale village used to be a miner’s city when the mine was still active.

Or at least that is what the elders are always saying to anyone who comes by.

That’s why they have so many abandoned houses, and also why they have stone walls, even if the village itself has only some hundreds of people.

But at least it has an Inn.

I can finally sleep in straw.

I can finally eat.

Unless the villagers are with the bandits.

But I don’t think they are.

The orc said something about him being a blackscale.

A blackscale noble became an Orc while trying to overcome the curse.

I can only hope I don’t have to run away from this village as well.

“Bed, bath and food please.”

“Good heaves girl, what happened to you?”

The old innkeeper woman’s name is Silve.

“Black Dragon Scale.”

“You went there?! Did you tell the militia already?”

“Yes.”

She seems relieved.

“Damn bandits started camping there three months ago. We didn’t have any merchants coming back alive ever since.”

“Why hasn’t anyone notified the army?”

“We have sent a militia boy to Dragon Path, but he never came back. They must have someone in the city.”

“I see.”

“Anyhow, just wait a minute and I will give you food.”

“Thanks.”

I’m not safe yet.

***

[Alvin's POV]

I’m here.

Yep.

It’s big, but not bigger than my own mana crystal.

To think this thing was so nasty in the soul world…

Should I purify it?

Yeah, let’s purify the remains of it.

Inscribe the purification algorithm inside and… done.

It’s purifying its own existence.

Oh.

Wait.

Why are the walls glowing as well..

…

This thing has strings on ALL of the mountain?!

Holy shit.

Dungeons can make mountains into their bodies!

They string themselves to the place around and manipulate it by using that…

So that’s how they work.

I can see why someone would be tempted to fuse with those things.

Becoming a mountain.

Well, they also take over monsters’ corpses, so…

It’s like becoming many people.

Enticing, enticing.

But it makes me wonder…

Should I really take this Dungeon Core with me?

I mean, I don’t need it.

It’s smaller than my mana crystal.

Besides, if I make an artificial soul for it while using [Chantless Soul Magic] then I could create something like Alma, but a dungeon instead.

A happy dungeon.

A place which was nice to people and stuff.

…

Yeah, better not.

I can barely watch over Alma, having a second “son” would be reckless.

Besides…

“All!”

Ah!

“You startled me! Don’t pop into thin air like this!”

“Sorry!”

*sigh*

Talking about the devil…

“Have you done something with the mountain? It’s feeling good here!”

“Yeah, I have just purified this dungeon’s soul. It was the thing making the place uncomfortable.”

“That’s good! You can go through your breakthrough now, then!”

“Yeah, I can…”

But should I?

I mean, there’s that weird camp outside, besides, the place is being purified, but isn’t totally purified yet…

Uhm.

Wait.

Isn’t this actually the perfect place for me to do it?

After all, the dungeon has spread its threads all over the mountain… or at least all over this tunnel and the places around.

I can put an algorithm on it and make it so it will suck all of the aura around and avoid wild dungeons forming.

Besides, there probably isn’t a most reclusive place for me to do it.

Yeah.

Let’s do it.

Let me just expand the place a bit.

These tunnels are really cramped.

I wonder if I can do it by using the dungeon’s core?

Let’s test some of these strings.

Here.

Aura String 1, you big, round one… if I touch you with my soul… you coil some of the aura around the place…

Hum.

Things may have been easier if I had studied the soul before destroying it. Tested the feelings to see what they did to each one of the strings.

On the bad side, things would also have been more complicated, as I would have needed to destroy all of the monsters and get here without being buried alive by the dungeon.

Well, it’s life.

String 2… what do you do…

***

[Ann's POV]

It’s been a week already, but I’m far from recovering.

The poison is still on my system.

I can feel myself becoming more and more agile by the day, but it will take time for me to go back being in a state where I can travel safely.

Grandmother’s technique is amazing, but it isn’t miraculous.

At least I still have enough money.

Someone is knocking on the door.

I grab my sword and get behind it.

“Who’s there?”

Silence.

I put the tip of the sword under the door. There doesn’t seem to be anyone there.

They have found me.

***

[Alvin's POV]

Uuuhm.

So, if I pluck strings 1 and 8 at the same time, I can make the aura around the mountain to go back and forth…

Damn, this is complicated!

I hate puzzles!

You know what, fuck this dungeon!

Just fuck it!

Here. I will just make my own strings from scratch.

First, I need to erase the current programming, so let’s make this dungeon core absorb all of the aura around itself.

There.

It’s absorbing, including the aura which made the strings.

Now, let’s erase the neutral emotions holding their programming… done…

And let’s get started on something more useful.

First, to open the space around so I can at least stand.

To do that I need to cut the rock and then fly it outside.

If I put a feeling like when I use [Aura Hand] to hold an [Aura Weapon]… like this… I can then make the aura inside the core take the form of small aura hands which will cut the rock around and take it outside.

It’s a long way, but my [Aura Sensing] can go quite far.

By the way, I could put some [Aura Sensing] on the [Aura Hand] programming as well, couldn’t I?

Yeah, let’s try doing it and then… connecting these feelings to my own Mind by emulating the way it connects to my soul’s strings of sensation…

HOLY FUCK.

STOP!

ARGH.

“All? Is everything okay?”

I ripped the damn thing off.

SO. MANY. SENSATIONS!

My head fucking hurts!

ARGH!

“Yeah. It’s okay Alma, I just… did something reckless…”

“Oh, okay.”

Too much.

It was too much.

It worked, but it was too much.

Damn.

I need a sturdier mind to do these kind of things.

Let’s just keep this as a programing now.

I can see the path to the dungeon’s entrance and feel if the rocks are being thrown outside with [Aura Sensing], so let’s use it.

There.

The thing is expanding the cave for me.

Damn, my head…

***

[Ann's POV]

I have to go downstairs to eat.

But they will probably use this time to get inside my room.

That’s why I’m going armed.

Silve has a rusted smile.

There’s nothing she can do about the guy in heavy clothing at the corner.

He isn’t someone who can be tampered with by her.

“Food please.”

“Sure. Just a moment and I will bring it.”

When will it be?

Will he come to me now, or try to sneak into my room?

I can sense his smell from here.

Damn orc.

He’s looking at my waist.

I put my hand at the sword’s handle.

He doesn’t say anything, but I won’t wait.

I release my [Aura Sensing] just in time to sense the other one sneaking behind me.

My reflexes are slow, so it still manages to get my nape with the rope. Too bad he can’t choke someone’s nape.

The orc is approaching from behind.

I bow my head and lower my knees while twisting my hips. Just in time to step away from both while the damn bastard destroys the chair I was on.

“I don’t know how you managed to kill all of my boys’ girl… but it’s personal now…”

“Oh, how afraid I am of the big mean green pig-faced asshole. What? Do you still think on yourself as a noble even after being exiled?”

He’s enraged beyond measure.

Just what I needed.

As the pawn at my side tries to hit me with a dagger again, this time I take his arm and pull him close to me while going behind.

The mace drops on his back and I can hear the backbone cracking.

There aren’t any more pawns here, but there are two militia outside.

I need to end this quick.

The orc is raising his mace again, but he’s not used with being limp.

The wounds I gave him aren’t healed yet. They smell so foul I can sense it from behind his cape. He’s dead man walking.

I go to the side and use the chance to trust the sword’s tip into his armpit.

I should have gotten his lung now.

“Cough… damn… little rat…”

He’s coughing blood.

I’ve got it.

He’s swinging the mace against me again. From left to right.

All I need to do is to get out of his reach and…

He threw it.

The mace hits the side of my chest.

I’m not using [Aura Armor].

It crunches my bones and smashes my right breast to a pulp.

It hurts like hell.

“He… hahah… bitches… ain’t supposed to…”

He’s getting closer. It’s difficult standing. It hurts when I breath, but I keep breathing.

“Try to…”

He’s getting a chair.

“FIGHT BACK!”

He broke it.

An improvised spear, is that it?

I will be a knight.

And you won’t be the one to stop me.

“DIE BITCH!”

The chair’s leg comes at my left side, leaving me in a difficult position.

If I try to dodge, then I will be under the grasp of his left arm.

I need to finish this.

Here.

Now.

I step ahead while trusting my sword.

I won’t be strengthening it with aura.

I won’t be using an Exploding Sword.

I will strengthen my own calf.

My body accelerates suddenly and the tip of my sword reaches his chest before he dodges.

It enters the flesh.

It goes through the bulky muscles, and I feel it hit bone.

Normally, that would be it.

The sword would be deflected by the bone.

I would have cut him bad, but he will still be standing to come and hit me while I’m in a bad position.

I would die.

But I have taken time to train under forehead.

So as the sword start to be deflected, I raise my wrist, force the handle of the sword and twist it in the opposite direction, going for a place a little above the bone.

My wrist bends in a weird way and I feel the tendons screaming.

Still I send aura to it, and it doesn’t break.

Instead, it changes the sword’s path while I twist my own body in order to avoid losing my hand.

The tip reaches the interior of the orc’s chest.

I fall to the ground, and the sword comes with me, still stuck in my hands.

He looks at me, baffled, as a gush of blood comes from his chest, as if a well had been drilled in his body.

He tries to raise his improvised spear again.

And then he falls dead.

Thirty-seven gone. Two more to go.

***

[Alvin's POV]

Okay.

Done.

I have a good space around now.

I can stand, I can lay, I can seat.

Everything is fine.

Let’s start the breakthrough process.

Fuuuh..

Yeah.

That feeling.

The feeling of something compressed inside of me.

Of something undoing my flesh.

And now it is going to my soul as well.

Yeah.

My body is glowing. My soul is cracking.

By the gods, I hope my soul doesn’t disappear.

It would be too ridicule if everything was to end like this.

With me dying because of my own powers.

But no.

It’s fine.

The goddess must have known what she did.

I asked for immortality… she certainly couldn’t have fucked me up like this…

Fuuu…

Uh?

How weird...

The cracks in my soul have disappeared.

And now…

Wait, what the hell is happening with my body?!

It’s bloating!

But not like before!

It’s becoming huge, like, Schwarzenegger-like huge.

And red and…

“All! You have a weird thing on your head!”

Eh?

I touch it.

A horn?

Why do I…

Why do I have a horn in my head?!

***

[Ann's POV]

I’m back at my room.

I have barricaded the door.

My body hurts.

It hurts a lot.

My breast is black and bloated.

It hurts if I breath.

My ribs are surely broken.

I’m trying to use [Healing], but it only makes my breast looks a little less flaccid.

It won’t heal the bone.

My sword is with me.

I’m waiting.

When will they come?

The militia, will they come now, or ask for reinforcements?

There is a window on my room, but I can’t escape through there.

There are four militia under it.

What should I do?

Knocking on my door.

“A- Ann… it’s okay, the boys said they won’t hurt you… they said they want to thank you.”

It’s the innkeeper.

I put my sword under the door. Someone steps on it and tries to pull it out of my hand with the sole of their boots.

I pull back.

“Then why don’t they do it right now? It seems they are right there with you, right?”

Bastards.

***

[Alvin's POV]

My body.

It has changed.

My soul… it is… feeling weird.

It has become the same form as my body.

From the legends it seems I would be a demon.

A buffed demon with red skin and two big black horns.

The space inside the cave has become too small for me again.

I’ve put the dungeon into digging duty and increased it by programming my own mana crystal to do the same thing.

What the hell is happening?

I’m not leaking aura, but my body…

Now I have brown fur in my hands.

What the hell?!

I may have masturbated a bit after sister left, but hairy hands?!

Oh, it’s spreading.

The hell…

***

[Ann's POV]

There’s whispering on the other side of the door.

They are saying something.

“It’s okay then, Ann. They will go away and you can stay in peace. Don’t worry. But please don’t travel with your wounds. We have a man who knows of herbs in the village. He can help you.”

Yeah.

As if.

…

The man are going away.

They really are.

Is it…

Really over?

***

[Alvin's POV]

Demon.

Werewolf.

Now breasts and a vagina.

I have breasts.

I have a vagina.

My dick is gone.

…

Is this…

Is this [Metamorphosis]?!

Has it finally awoken?

Because of my breakthrough?!

Or am I not being decomposed into small pieces because it was awakened since a while but I didn’t know how to use it?

…

Good for me.

Let’s pay attention to the sensation.

On how it feels to transform.

Then I can try and do something about it later.

Learn how to transform myself, that is.

***

[Ann's POV]

It’s night.

There is no militia around.

It’s time for me to go.

I open the window and look bellow.

There doesn’t seem to be anyone, but there is something suspicious on the ground.

I hang myself from the window frame and drop to the ground bellow.

It’s a sack.

There’s food inside.

Pots with things, fruits and water bags.

Thank you Silve.

But I won’t stay around to be questioned or worse.

If you really think I’m to be thanked, do it when I’m back from the Royal Capital.

***

[Alvin's POV]

In the end it took only a few minutes.

Here I was, ready to go through another awful transformation, but It only took a few transformations until the bottleneck was gone.

I became a demon, then a werewolf, then a woman, then some kind of female angel, then, I don’t know… an elf?

I had pointy years.

And then, my body grew, I got scales and almost got crushed by the cave.

I guess I became a half-lizard race or something.

And then…

I was back being myself.

And I could feel the blockage was gone.

This time my aura absorption from the void didn’t increase much, and it seems the one from my spiritual talent also didn’t increase so much.

But, still, it’s weird.

Can I metamorph by myself?

The sensation was…

It was like changing how you feel about your body?

Like, there’s me when I don’t pay attention to what my appearance is, and then I can pay attention to my hand and start feeling as if it had claws…

And claws will appear on it!

How…

Complicated.

Well, at least I have unlocked the last one of my special skills, right?!

Time to get out of this place and check that camp bellow.

***

[Ann's POV]

The next village is only a few hours away, but I’m not going there.

I will ditch that and go through the secondary road.

This way I can be sure I won’t be followed.

My chest hurts, but at least I have food now.

I may be able to recover the lost aura if I don’t encounter other problem like this in the way.

I really hope I don’t.

***

[Alvin's POV]

“So, you guys are merchants?”

“That’s right. And you midget, what do you do for a living?”

I have changed my appearance.

I look a bit different from before.

I have matured my face a bit, and added a bit of a beard.

At first I thought I would be seen as a dwarf, but it seems this world’s dwarves are a lot more bulkier than a bearded ten-years-old with the face of an thirty-years man.

“I get into holes.”

“That ain’t too bad for a living eh? HAhahahahaha!!”

In the end these guys seem to be merchants which were camping by the place.

“But you know, these stories about Miasma Coal still being found in this place… it’s all legends. No one has ever found even a single piece here.”

“Miasma Coal? What is that?”

“Yah live by these parts and don’t know? It’s a type of coal which is full of undead miasma in it. It’s how people call undead aura, because it makes you sick. But It can be used to power forges which burn very hot.”

“People pay nice coin for it, since some folks can use it to make weapons of dungeon metal.”

“Dungeon metal?”

“Common midget, are you fucking with us? You don’t even know about dungeon metals? How do you live being an explorer if you don’t know about this?”

“I’m not an explorer, I’m a chimney cleaner.”

“Wha… people pay for others to do these kind of things now?! This world is losing itself, I say to you.”

“If I have enough for food then I’m good.”

“Yeah.”

“Then, Dungeon Metals?”

“Oh, right. You know. Silvereon, Ironeon, Coppereon. These kind of stuff. Dungeons have them and people can make nice weapons out of them. Some of those even have magic on them.”

“Magic on swords?!”

“Yeah. Most are trash though. Stuff like a sword which burns your hand. Hahaha. There’s this story, about a man I know…”

He.

Interesting.

Metals with magic properties.

I wonder if it’s because dungeons have a lot of aura?

I only noticed it after fusing my mana crystal with the dungeon’s core, but the amount of aura inside that thing was insane.

It’s almost as much as I have now!

If you take metals and imbue aura on them… and if you put on the right emotional algorithm… then it should be possible.

But then, the intense emotions of people doing battle… wouldn’t those rewrite the algorithm?

On another words, these metals have magical properties not because they have been imbued with an algorithm but because of something else… is that it?

But if that’s the case…

Then what would it be?

Maybe I should test latter.

***

[Ann's POV]

I’ve reached Cinna.

It has been a long time, but I’m back.

Time to go to Old Berta’s inn and get a room.

Then I should visit my Master and see how things are going for Hadra.

I could just stay a couple days and head directly to the next village, but I don’t think that would be good.

I still haven’t recovered all of the aura I have expended with the Blackscale Orc, and Dorank is famous for being a place where people will be constantly taunted and forced to use their aura.

It’s best if I recover here.

***

[Alvin's POV]

Experiment time.

Let’s try putting aura on my dagger.

It absorbs it…

And it’s starting to vibrate.

I just made a golem.

Okay.

Let’s destroy the golem’s tiny soul, take the aura back and try again.

…

Happened the same.

…

Yeah, that’s not how stuff turns into special metals. Simply putting aura inside of them isn’t enough.

Maybe if I find some of it I will have a clue.

On the meanwhile… should I go to Cinna or head directly to Dorank?

Uuuhm…

Looking with [Soul Walk], sister seems to be in a small village in the Main Road.

But how far is she from Dorank?

It’s difficult to know, since I’m looking from the Soul World and it changes in comparison to the Physical World.

Well, she’s not in Dorank yet, so let’s go to Cinna and then follow the road from the nearby trees.

If I find sister in the way, then that’s good.

If I don’t… then I just wait for her in Dorank.

================================

End of Intermission

Hello all.

Thanks for waiting on the chapter.

As you guys could see, I have made an effort to make the Intermission Chapter different from a regular chapter.

It took me quite an effort, however, since it’s difficult to keep Ann and Alvin from becoming the same character. Each one has its own personality and desires, so it was quite the challenge to write about the high points of their journeys side-by-side.

That’s it then.

See you guys next week with the first chapter of Volume 3.