Degritone looks down, seeing that Victoria is starting to stretch, as if about to wake up. He moves a few of her long, silver hairs out of her face before gently stroking the top of her head. She opens her similarly silver eyes slowly, looking up at him. He smiles very slightly, imperceptible to those who don't know him. "Good morning," he looks up. "Actually, I don't know if it's morning here. Or if time even passes while inside a dungeon, but whatever."

He looks back down at her, his facial features softening imperceptibly. She blinks a few times and finally fully awakens, looking at Degritone wide-eyed before scrambling up, slight fear on her face. She turns to face Degritone and slowly backs away. Degritone feels terrible and looks at himself, covered in the blood of the men who he just killed.

He looks down before slowly bringing his legs to the ground above the pit as he turns toward Victoria. He sits cross legged and bends forward, placing his hands on the ground just in front of where his forehead would hit if he bent all the way forward. "I mean you no harm. These men were doing some sort of magic that was pulling blood from your body. Seeing this infuriated me and I asked if whatever they were doing was to help you or hurt you.

"I asked multiple times, but their response was to shoot me with a mana bolt. Taking that response as the latter, I..." he pauses, "I removed the threat to your life." He slowly brings himself back up. "I did not mean to frighten you when you awoke. I simply forgot what I probably looked like, with my clothes torn, blood covering me, and burns."

She backs away another step as he sits back up, only to bump into one of the bodies. She looks down and looks terrified before quickly snapping her head back to Degritone. "W-what do yo-you plan-n on d-doing with me now-ow?" She asks.

Degritone responds relatively slowly, as to not mess up while talking. "I would return you to your family, but there a couple problems with that. First, we are inside a dungeon. Specifically, my Introduction Dungeon. And second, I'm not from your world, and I'm assuming that once I clear this dungeon, I'll be taken back to my world and leave you back on your world as the land taken for my dungeon replaces itself. I'm from a world that's just gotten access to the system."

"An-nd why would-d you h-help me-me?"

Degritone smiles wide, as he's about to say something he's wanted to say for a long time. He sits up fully and places his hand on his chest before, slightly more loudly than normal speech, exclaiming, "Because, my fine loli Victoria, I am the Lolicoknight! It is my duty to protect any and all lolis!"

"A kn-knight? You don't look-k like one to m-me."

"As I have said, my world just gained access to the system. I am just starting on my journey." He pauses. "Now, I need to get you some food. I know where a berry bush is a few hours away from here, and, a few minute's walk from here, I know a wood giant named Beltag. I'm not sure if they'd be willing to help, but," Degritone shrugs. "If I find out anything bad befell you after I gave him the task of protecting you, I'd just become strong enough to slay him."

"Also, I am sorry for your first sight after waking from whatever they'd done to you had to be so messy. I didn't think about clearing out the bodies or blood. My number one priority was making sure you were ok. Is it ok if I stand up?" He asks.

Victoria slowly nods. "Thank you. First things first, I need to put out the flames on those pillars to get the fog to go away. After that, if you are willing, I'll take you to Beltag. If not, I'm willing to do really anything you ask of me except kill myself. I'm under strict orders by another loli to not do that." He slowly makes his way to the nearest pillar. "Please don't get lost if you run away from me. I'd feel terrible knowing you got hurt, or worse."

Once a decent distance away from Victoria, who is intently watching him, he speeds up to normal walking speed toward the pillar. He closely inspects it and sees it's made of marble, or some similar stone. On one side, there is a stripe of a black substance of some kind leading to the top. Knocking his hand against it, he can hear it has at least some amount of hollowness to it. He looks toward Victoria and asks, "Would you be willing to bring me my sword? It's right there." He points to his sword, laying on the ground.

She slowly turns her head toward it. Upon seeing it, she jumps away from it slightly. "Should I take that as a no? If so, that's fine, I'll just come get-" he stops as Victoria slowly creeps over to it before poking its hilt with her foot a couple times. Degritone smiles at this. After determining it ok to touch, she squats down to pick it up by the hilt, but finds it too heavy to actually lift from the hilt.

"It's made of my mana. You can just drag it to me, if you want, or I can come get it. But be careful of its blade, it's sharp." She makes a determined look and attempts to lift it and manages to get its tip off the ground, but only for a few seconds, as it falls back down. "Want me to come get it?"

She looks away for a few seconds and nods, backing away from the sword. Degritone nods and goes over to his sword, picking it up. Victoria tenses up as he approaches, causing Degritone to frown and breathe out slowly, tilting his head to the left slightly as he feels his eyes almost start to water. He takes his sword and walks back to the pillar. "I don't know your thoughts on me, but I will never do anything to you without your consent."

He takes his sword up and slashes it at the pillar, chipping away a decent amount of the rock. Just in case, he inspects his blade and finds it is still as sharp as when he made it. He pats his sword once before swinging again. It takes him a total of 15 chops to get it to fall over, causing the top half to shatter, putting out the flames. Victoria watches silently.

He repeats this process with the other three lit pillars, the fog getting slightly less dense with each one, though not entirely disappearing with the last one, though he can see it very slowly fading away. "I wonder how," he switches to thinking, I didn't see the flames the first few times I came through this area, as I passed by here more than a few times while making my spiral. He shrugs. Probably summoned separately at first before being enhanced by the ritual.

"Now then, what do you want to do? I doubt I can take you to a nearby village. Want to go back to Beltag? He's much more powerful than I am, so he should protect you while I attempt to find the way to leave the dungeon."

She nods her head slowly. "Great. But stick close to me. There are Ambush Grimalkins in the woods between here and there. They're nasty things. They shouldn't cause me any problems on my own, but I don't want them to hurt you." He silently puts his four new PP into Greatsword Mastery I.

Degritone slowly walks over to Victoria, and she tenses up as he gets close. He stops right next to her. "I'm gonna pat your head, ok?" He asks just before putting his hand on her head. She tenses up more, holding on tightly to her one-piece dress, but after a few seconds of nothing else happening, she loosens up and looks up at Degritone. "I'm not going to hurt you. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I did."

"If you're willing to wait about an hour, I might be able to make you some armor out of my mana, like my sword. It should help protect you, though I don't promise to be able to do it, since I've never done so before. I can't attempt it now because I'm out of mana."

She nods. Degritone grins imperceptibly before taking his hand off of her head. "Alright. Then, I'll move the bodies out of view. You can do whatever you want while we wait. But please stay within my sight. I don't want you getting hurt." He walks over to the nearest body. "Can Soul Grasp affect dead people?" He mumbles. "I'm out of mana, so I can't test."

He picks up the body and walks it to behind the standing pillar, laying it down lengthwise to attempt to hide most of it. He repeats the same with the other bodies, then gets their heads and places them in a pile between one of the body's legs. He stares at them for a few seconds. "I'm not sorry. You deserved it. But I am sorry that I made her see you idiots." He lightly kicks one before returning to the edge of the pit, sitting with his legs over the edge. He lays back, putting his hands under his head.

He looks over to Victoria, confirms she's safe, and staring at him, and returns his eyes to the sky, closing his eyes. With 103.7 mana regeneration, he's able to watch the decimal of his mana increase. He hears Victoria approach, but does nothing about it. "Um," he hears her say. He opens his eyes and looks toward her, getting a sight he thought he'd never actually see.

I see their world can make decent fabrics. Blue used to be expensive a long time ago. Royalty? "Yes?" He asks after having enough time to take in the view and have that entire thought while she remained silent.

"Th-thank you."

He smiles large and clutches his chest. "Ahhh," So cute~ "You're welcome. Though, I was doing my job as the Lolicoknight. While I won't deny you thanking me, it was my duty," he says with a serious face.

She faintly smiles and nods, walking away. The rest of the just over 40 minutes pass in silence, the fog slowly dissipating into nothing long before the end. "My mana's full. Come here, I want to make sure it fits well when I make it."

She nods and slowly walks over. Degritone sits up and spins to face her, bringing his legs up to sit cross legged. He pulls the mana from its pool to his forehead to the world and surrounds Victoria with it. She flinches slightly as it gets close, but otherwise stays still. He makes a simple plate body making it as thick as he can without making it too heavy or using up all of his mana. A headache appears as he approaches being complete.

When he's done, he checks his mana, finding his current and maximum at 4. He checks his new skill.

Mana Armor lv1

Creates armor out of the user's mana. This armor makes the protected potions of the body completely immune to mana damage and resistant to all other forms of damage that must contact the armor.

1 minute cast time

((-7500/(SLevel+Strength*Magic/15+75)+100)% = 10.64...% damage reduction

Reduces maximum mana by an amount based on the volume of the armor while active

"It's only a little over 10%, but it should be good enough to keep you safe on the way back. Or help, at least, as I'll be right beside you. Or behind or in front, entirely up to you." She nods. "Want to hold my hand on the way there?" She nods very slowly. Degritone grins imperceptibly once more, slowly reaching down and taking her right hand with his left. Soft.

He places the flat of his blade on his shoulder. I should make it shorter so I have more control and can use one hand to fight. The blade shortens to four feet, his maximum mana increasing by 5. He nods and begins walking slowly, slowly accelerating until he finds Victoria's walking speed, staying at that speed.

Using his map, he finds their way back to Beltag, with no attacks being made against them. "Beltag! Sorry to disturb you again, but I found a little girl who needs protecting until I'm done and you can get her to safety." Beltag turns to look at Degritone and Victoria hides behind him. "She was being used in some ritual a few minutes away from here. I couldn't stand by and let it happen."

Degritone walks up to Beltag's leg, Victoria in tow. "Also, bring me up to your ear, I have something to say to you, personally," Degritone says seriously. He turns toward Victoria and takes her by her shoulders, canceling his Mana Armor on her. "You stay down here. I'm going to talk with Beltag." She nods and runs off to the nearest tree, hiding behind it.

Beltag places his hand on the ground beside him and Degritone climbs up onto his palm before getting lifted to Beltag's shoulder, where he is dumped off. "Non-serious question first, is blue expensive in your world?" Beltag nods. "Ok. Serious time." Degritone's face goes flat. "Return her somewhere safe when you get out of here. If I ever find out that something bad happens to her after I leave her in your care, I'm going to train hard, find a way to travel to your world, destroy whatever caused her harm, and then remove you from existence, understand?"

Beltag laughs, forcing both Degritone and Victoria to breathe with the pressure of the changing air. "You're an interesting one," he says. "Yes, I'll keep her safe."

"You better," Degritone says, climbing down Beltag's clothes, jumping the last few feet. "Ok, Victoria, you can come over here now." She slowly walks toward them. "Beltag here will keep you safe until I'm done and then take you somewhere safe once I'm finished here and you return to your world." Degritone returns his sword to its usual length as he pats Beltag's leg.

Victoria still looks hesitant, so Degritone says, "Come on, he won't bite." She tightly holds onto her one-piece dress as she approaches Beltag, before slowly reaching her hand out and poking Beltag. As soon as they make contact, an announcement appears.

Congratulations! You have completed your Introduction Dungeon!

For successfully completing it, you gain additional rewards, in addition to a path.

Please wait as your rewards are created.

Degritone looks around and finds himself in a white void. He looks down, and finds his body is missing. He crosses his eyes and finds no nose. He tries crossing his eyes so they face each other, but they stop where they normally would inside his head. Weird. But whatever. Was the win condition to get Victoria to Beltag? Was there no boss, or did the boss happen to die while I was off elsewhere? That seemed too easy.

Is it like Arcane Emperor with the dungeon that lead them to the city, where you're expected to complete an important task in another world, rather than a typical dungeon? Degritone attempt to shrug his nonexistent shoulders. Whatever. I'll ask Beltag.

Completion speed: 123

Skill total: 124

Adaptation rating: 259

Kills: 140

Skill created: 100

GUI modification: 55

Succeed mission: 500

Total: 1301

Completion ranking: Pending

For successfully completing your Introduction Dungeon, you have been granted the following:

Introduction Conquerer 0/500

10 free stats

100 SP

One custom skill

Additional rewards will be granted once your completion ranking is finalized.