The glare of the light made Arnold reflectively raise his arm to block the light. It felt like he was laying on a patch of grass. His eyes only adjusted to the light moments later.
He felt no pressure weighing down on him back then but his body was being pulled by something. It was none other than being teleported through space.
"….."
Arnold silently looked up as he lifted his upper body.
'A yellow sky…'
He could see two suns and another planet visible in the sky.
No, maybe that was a moon? There wasn't a noticeable difference in atmosphere from this place compared to outside.
Arnold wasn't the science type but he knew about planetary orbits that lock onto objects in space. Maybe the world he was on right now had a much stronger gravitational pull than the planet visible in the sky.
Arnold stood up and looked around.
"I'm on a different world, huh. I wonder how far I am from Earth?"
If worlds could exist inside dungeons then maybe it was possible for Earth to be in one of them as well.
Arnold knew for a fact that Liam didn't die back on Earth. He also had a life to get back to. He wanted to go back to college, get a good paying job and start a family.
But he saw no chance of that ever happening.
Arnold reached the edge of a cliff. He looked down.
There was a lake at the bottom of the mountain he was on. It was teeming with life. All kinds of bizarre creatures were either relaxing by the lake or drinking water(?) from it. The lake wasn't blue like how he imagined all lakes to be. Instead it was a kind of yellow colour that matched the sky.
Arnold suddenly heard a cry from above. Judging from how loud the cry was, it belonged to a very large monster. A massive shadow rapidly decreased in size around his shadow when he looked down.
Arnold hurriedly unsheathed his sword. He dodged to the side.
The ground where he was standing on just moments ago was completely destroyed by a bird-like creature. It resembled a bald eagle, only much larger and with rows of teeth and bigger eyes.
It was much larger than Arnold. He would've been injured badly if he took that head-on without any protection.
Its talons seemed to have gone too far into the ground so it was struggling to fly away.
Arnold slowly walked towards the monster with his sword.
◇◇◇
"I got lunch this quickly, huh. And a decent amount of XP."
The monster's name didn't appear on his hologram card so he didn't know what it was called. It gave him 3000 XP.
The magic bag he got from Vetis was able to store such a large monster.
'I'm taking this magic bag for myself. I'm not giving it back to Vetis even if he asks for it.'
Adventurers would kill for such a convenient tool. The worst thing about monster hunting was that you could take only what you could carry. Magic bags were very expensive; even the cheap ones could go for tens of gold. That was why you rarely see low-class adventurers—besides the wealthy adventurers—carry them.
Arnold was thinking he would first hunt his food then immediately eat it on the spot since the magic bag he had before had very little space inside of it. Some low-class Tower mage must've made it.
He could now store his food in the bag without having to worry that it'll spoil. The higher grade magic bags had a cooling system—just like the lunchbox Ruria gave him. In fact, nearly every item with some form of magic properties had cooling systems to either keep food fresh or liquids cold.
Magic items like this could extend the shelf life of potions.
Arnold stored his simple cooked meat in his magic bag as well which hadn't gone bad at all.
"Eating meat won't give me all the energy I need," he lifted the rocks and damp logs laying by the lake, "Ugh, this'll have to do."
He picked up a fat, wriggly worm-like thing that was the size of his hand.
It had burrowed a hole underneath the log he got it from.
Arnold swiftly began stabbing it until it stopped moving.
There is a lot of protein in bugs and insects, even more than in meat. Of course, Arnold wouldn't force himself to eat only these disgusting things just for the sake of survival. He had his meat and other dry foods so the insects and bugs were just some extra protein that'll balance his diet.
Given the magic bag's properties, he could store it for a long period of time without it going bad.
"I wish I had a horse or something… Reaching my destination is going to take a while if I don't run." Arnold said as he looked around.
Everything was gigantic. It was like he was an ant. Not only was the wildlife different from his world but the plant life was more diverse as well. Nearly every tree he could see was comparable to sky scrapers, something you don't see everywhere. There were strange flowers and plants that seemed alive.
Although everything was new to him, most of the things on this world resembled his own in other areas. The water tasted the same—despite its odd colour. The oxygen levels were high enough for life to survive and the heat of the suns was exactly the same as his world's sun during midday.
"Hmm…?" Arnold noticed that the two suns were now further apart from each other.
They were right next to each other when he came here to this world.
'This place… it seems familiar to me now… Hold up, is this….'
There was a dungeon world just like this one somewhere in the game.
It was known as Álfheimr, translated to the world of Elves. It had two suns. One sun went clockwise while the other went counter-clockwise around this world. The world itself was tidally locked to another, much bigger star that was unseen to the naked eye.
Owing to its name, the world had mostly Elves as its inhabitants. Elves aren't native to one world. They were descendants of a god of Elven origin so you can find them pretty much everywhere.
There are different kinds of Elves, not just Wood and Mountain Elves.
The variant in this world were the Winter Elves. They had this name because of their white hair and porcelain skin. There was a single boss one had to defeat in order to get a reward from its drop. The boss was a lord variant of the Elves.
But Arnold didn't have to fight any of this world's inhabitants since they're cannon-fodder who won't give him that much XP.
He wanted to fight monsters to level up but now wasn't the right time to do so. The second floor was peaceful, unlike what you would expect of a dungeon floor.
All he needed to do for now was go from world to world until he found the martial book.
It was fairly easy to find something like that, especially since it's a "pure" skill directly recorded by its creator. It had to be locked away in some ancient sect or temple given its value.
One could tell which world had martial arts or cultivators by sensing the Ki in the air. Although Arnold was born an Aura user, Sebas taught him how to sense Ki. This world had no Ki to speak of so there was no way a sect was here.
As far as Arnold knew, Elves don't practice martial arts. But there were many other interesting places in this world.
Once in a while one can encounter an ancient place or even a relic tomb in the dungeon worlds. What was special about this place was that the burial ground of a god was here. It was the god that this dungeon was named after.
Naturally his tomb had to have a lot of amazing stuff if it's here. There were disciples almost everywhere in this dungeon, searching for special weapons or magic items to place on their god's tomb as offerings.
Though he knew it was wrong to raid a grave, the one who was receiving the stuff wouldn't use them anyway. He was dead, after all.
'I have to find the Sky Castles. Where were they again… Ah right, the end of the world.'
Unlike the world Arnold was born in, this world was flat so it had an end. Of course, you can't see the edge even if you stand on the highest mountain and look in any direction. All you would see is the yellow sky. Though the planet itself was flat, it had atmospheres that wrapped over the planet's surface that made it look like a semi-sphere or dome in space.
The portal leading to the next world was somewhere near those floating castles. He wasn't sure where exactly since he's never been here as his in-game character.
Many believed that the reason the Sky God made his people bury him here was because his wife, the White Ice Queen, also perished here. Others believed that he just liked the diversity of this world. None of the creatures or plant life found here could be found anywhere else, after all.
Ignoring the disgusting, weird and creepy creatures, you'd find one of the most beautiful wildlife known to man.
Arnold began walking with his next destination in mind. He knew where he needed to go.
He needed to follow the direction of the sun going counter clockwise around this world.
He had no idea how big this world was or how long he'll be here. Whatever the case, he came here prepared to face anything.
He couldn't go back now anyway.
◇◇◇
○Sky God Castles, Álfheimr.
A group of people could be seen standing on top of a cliff overlooking the dozens of castles endlessly floating in mid-air. Below that magnificent sight was a deep, endless void.
The disciples who accompanied this group from the first floor were nowhere to be seen. Though they all gathered together at the castle, they were from different floors in the dungeon so they parted ways.
"Shirley suggested that I take two of our most strongest fighters in the class along with me. This seems like a great idea so I approve of it." Arthur addressed his classmates. His golden eyes and hair seemed even more vibrant after he was enlightened and blessed by a god.
"As I thought," Fecius whispered to Shirley, "Arthur knows Hofir will be trouble if he's left here. He's a danger to both you and the other females."
"Yeah." Nodded Shirley.
'Arthur will be there to keep Hofir under control.'
Hofir might not be the nicest guy of them all, but he was one of the strongest students of class B. He outranked Shirley in physical strength in her base form and could even outrun Fecius despite his muscular frame.
Strength mattered in this group so they couldn't kick him out. Not right now anyway. Having enough manpower was crucial in this dungeon.
"Will that be alright? Hofir? Fecius?" Arthur looked at the tigerkin who was scratching his fangs with his claw, probably to get some food out that was stuck inside.
His canines and fangs were strong enough to shred metal, a trait that his entire family was born with. He could also beastify but unlike Shirley's transformation, his increased his overall defense.
Hofir nodded in response to Arthur.
"I shall watch your back, Arthur." Fecius replied as well.
"Is the sword the god mentioned really on the other floors?" asked Shirley.
"Yes. He told me that it's somewhere on the upper floors. I can't be sure which one. He wasn't sure either. But I can feel its presence somewhere in this dungeon. I can't tell how close or far we are from it." Arthur explained briskly.
"Considering how it's the sword the first Hero used to fight demon lords, it should be strong, right?"
"Yes. In fact, I'm confident that the sword can help us defeat that monster on the first floor as well."
"Wait, we should go fight that thing again!?" Shirley shouted, "We nearly died the first few times and you want to challenge it after getting a little stronger!?"
"T-The sword will allow me to wield divine power if I'm able to find it. Take a look at this," White aura surrounded Arthur's hand, "Though not as strong as the divinity of Golden Aura, my White Aura is a variant of divine power which can be used to wield divine power as a weapon. Here's the best part…"
Arthur smiled broadly, "That monster's weakness is divine power."
"You gotta be kidding me."
Sabrina looked at Arthur as if he spewed bullshit.
"Is something the matter, Sabrina?" Arthur turned towards her.
"I've buffed all of you countless times but your attacks still did nothing. Magical attacks seemed the most effective but we didn't have enough mages to do that much damage. We were lucky to have miss Anais there to attack with her layered technique magic. If divine power is its weakness, shouldn't your attacks have done some major damage after receiving buffs from a Cleric?"
Sabrina was one of the only two priests of their class. Most of the students at the academy aren't interested in learning divine spells, not to mention taking Divine Studies as a full-time subject. Swordsmen, Knight, Magician and Martial Artist courses were the most popular so it was rare to see priests or even clerics. Clerics are capable of combat and healing/buffing others. To become a cleric means taking both Knight courses and Divine Studies full time which was a nightmare to many given the difficulty of both.
There was another priest in their class who helped Sabrina with buffs and healing but they died along the way.
"Yes, but your divine power isn't used offensively."
"…..?" Sabrina still looked confused.
"Using divine power as a weapon is different from using it to heal or buff people. This is the same as how mages can use mana to fight yet enchant magic items at the same time. Have you guys ever heard of [Cast Judgment]?"
"Ah! I have!" Anais raised her hand, "It's an area of effect divine spell that a priest can use to purify a large area of undead. The spell destroys the remnants of the soul, thereby destroying the undead lifeforce."
"That is a perfect example of offense divine power," said Arthur with a smile as he patted his sister's head. She grinned as she went "ehehehe".
"I'll do a demonstration once I find the sword. Not just any weapon can weaponize divine power. Also, it's a little difficult to do it on my own in large amounts. I'll train along the way and see if I can control my power a little better. Anyway, see that void down there?" Arthur pointed down the cliff, "That's the portal to the next world."
"Eh!?" all of them exclaimed.
"It's true," said the human disciple who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, "If you wish to go to the next world, then you must go through it. However, there is no coming back using the same portal again. If you want to travel freely to this world then you must find a certain item or look for other gates to this world."
"Right, it's just as she said. We should look for that item if we want to travel between worlds with zero restrictions. We won't have to look for entrances anymore. We can make monster hunting our priority and can stay and go as we please."
'This dungeon keeps getting crazier.'
This dungeon was the only one to restrict people from using the same portals to travel back and forth.
Unlike this floor, the first floor didn't have a portal. All they did was go through a cave. They were in this world the moment they stepped out of the cave. Perhaps the cave itself was a teleportation area that warps space between worlds?
'I'm guessing we can go back to the first floor if we wish to. It's not a portal, after all. I've memorized the path so it should be easy going back.'
The hard part was crossing that bridge again with all those monsters swimming around. Shirley was scared that she won't be able to control her instincts(to run away) anymore. The first time was hard enough but now they have to go back and come here again? She wasn't looking forward to it at all.
"What about us, big brother?"
"It's up to you guys. Do you want to go back to tell the others or do you want to wait for the three of us on this world? It's extremely unlikely for us to come back if we don't have that magic item the disciple mentioned."
'Right. There's no guarantee that they'll find it soon. It might even be on the last floor or something.'
"Proceed without us if we're gone for too long. I can't give an estimate of how long we'll be gone since I have no idea where the magic item is."
"Do be careful, young hero," the human disciple spoke to Arthur, "If a dungeon storm were to occur and reach you then all of you will be sent to who knows where. There is a small possibility of you going back outside but I wouldn't believe something like that is possible for everyone. Fate does not have a clear path."
"Uhm, thanks for the information…" Arthur smiled awkwardly at what the disciple said.
'What the hell? So the monsters aren't our only worry? I guess I shouldn't have underestimated dungeon raiding. I was a fool for acting so cocky thinking we'll make it without sacrifices.'
Some already died. What else will they lose at this rate?
"I will now leave the young Hero so that he may go on his journey," a blue magic circle surrounded the disciple, "Please be safe, Hero. If you require assistance then you may look for me on the 99th floor."
She then disappeared into nothingness after a blue magic circle swallowed her up.
'99th floor? Hmm… I wonder what's up there?'
Considering how it was the second last floor, it definitely had monsters far more dangerous than that tentacle monster.
"I never got to thank her for what she did for me… Oh well, we should get going, Fecius and Hofir."
"Mm."
"Yes."
Hofir and Fecius replied. They approached Arthur who was standing on the edge of the cliff.
"Uhm! Big brother!" Anais called out to Arthur.
"…?"
"Please be safe and come back to me!"
'Why does this look like some lovers' farewell…'
Arthur smiled in response to Anais. He waved at her before jumping down without hesitation. The other two followed him.
Anais ran towards the cliff.
"Hey!" Shirley thought she was going to jump so she was about to stop Anais.
But all Anais did was look down the cliff as she muttered:
"…Please come back…"
◇◇◇
Shirley was currently standing next to a waterfall that was coming down a mountain. She already checked that there weren't any monsters around the vicinity. Her sense of smell was very strong so she had an extra layer of security.
"…." Shirley turned her gaze to her left.
There in the distance underneath a tree stood Anais surrounded by two boys of their class. Both of them was saying something to Anais while flexing their muscles.
'Dumbasses must think Anais will fall for them if they protect her while Arthur is gone.'
Arthur was the one of the most popular guys of their grade. With good reason since he was very strong, handsome and smart. People often assumed that him and Anais were from a great household. But that wasn't the case at all. He was the heir of a vassal household that was subordinate to the Berkley Family.
They were apparently orphans who were born in the countryside.
Arthur was definitely destined to become a great person one day. However, he was outshined by Arnold von Berkley, his junior. Not just swordsmanship but peerage and academic achievements as well. If Arnold was Arthur's age then he would've left Arthur in second place in everything.
Despite this, Arthur and his sister was still very loved by the academy, unlike Arnold.
Anais was the school idol so she had received hundreds of confessions during her seven years at the academy while Arthur had received thousands, not just from juniors or his own age group but seniors as well.
The big problem though was that the two of them acted more like a couple than siblings.
Shirley always wondered why the hell they don't just get married. The empire doesn't allow incestuous marriage so they'll have to get married somewhere else.
"What's gotten you in such a daze?" someone sat next to Shirley. It was Sabrina.
"It's nothing…" Shirley looked back into the flowing river.
"Ugh, so annoying," said Sabrina when she looked at the boys who were still flirting with Anais, "They try to get into her panties the moment her big brother leaves. Anyway, I spoke to the girls earlier. They agreed that we should head back to the first floor as soon as possible. We wouldn't want to be attacked by the Winter Elves, right?"
"Yeah. Oh right, did we get a transmission yet from the outside or anyone on the first floor?"
Sabrina shook her head, "I've been checking every hour to see if the green light ever blinks. Excluding our classmates, it's been a while since we've been able to contact anyone outside. So much for state-of-the-art transmitters. We can't even get a supply drop as one would usually do in a dungeon."
"Are our supplies running out?" asked Shirley since she had no idea how much of their supplies was left.
Sabrina nodded gravely.
She wasn't just the priest of the group but the one in charge of managing the supplies too. In fact, her family provided most of the dungeon resources since they owned a large grocery store that had chains in every major nation.
"Our class' food supplies are running out. Two years worth of food is gone in just a few months. Do you think we'll be able to eat the animals that live in this dungeon?"
"I'm not sure. But if we cut them open then I'll be able to smell if their meat is edible and free of parasites."
Shirley was from a wolf race that was hailed as having the best sense of smell out of all the demihuman races. Her strong sense of smell allowed her to smell what food was poisonous to her if she ever wanted to know what not to eat.
Considering how she wasn't a heteromorphic wolf demihuman who had more traits to wolves than humans, it was possible that the food that she could consume can be consumed by humans.
A wolf's diet was more varied than just meat of wild animals. For example, if the conditions were poor for any animals to live in a wolf's territory then the wolf will resort to eating monster meat, which is more gamey and prone to cause diseases and parasites. Wolves or demihumans, regardless of their species, have stronger stomachs than humans so it will be tricky figuring out what's edible for the humans in this dungeon.
Shirley could eat raw meat just fine but her classmates, excluding Hofir and Fecius, might not have strong enough stomach acid to kill the bacteria and parasites found in certain meat.
"The water is drinkable. Maybe the fish will be edible? I never really liked the taste of freshwater fish but we have no choice, huh. Let's all try and catch as many fish as we can while we're still here."
"Got it! I'll tell the others!" Sabrina was about to walk away. She turned and looked at Shirley.
"What is it?" Shirley noticed Sabrina silently staring at her with a smirk.
"Why didn't you and Arthur have sex before he left?"
"What kind of question is that!? Why would we!?" Shirley yelled.
"The two of you don't know if you'll see each again, you know? He confessed to you when he came out of the palace, didn't he? All of us know that."
"W-What? How?"
"Are you that dense, Shirley? He's been crushing on you ever since our third year. It's pretty strange how you haven't noticed yet. Anyone can tell what he told you when the two of you were alone."
"…." Shirley threw a rock across the river as she looked away to hide her face. One could tell by her cheeks that she was blushing. Her hair was very short so it wasn't easy to hide her face.
"Fufufu, how cute and innocent~ We might never make it out of here so you should hurry up and accept him. We only live once. Well, let's think positive thoughts and hope that they'll come back."
Sabrina and ran towards the others. She wasted no time in explaining everything to them.
Shirley silently stared at her reflection. She was seeing Arthur's face in the river for some reason.
"…It's not like I like him back!"
She bent down and began plucking out the grass with incredible speed to try and forget about that particular someone's face.
"Ugh…" Shirley fell on her butt. She covered her face with her hands.
A certain scene replayed inside her head.
-"I'll come out and say it. Miss Shirley—no, Shirley, I would like to have you as my future wife."
-"…You're kidding… right?"
Arthur grabbed her hands when she backed away with a dumbfounded expression.
-"I've never been more serious about anything in my life. Please… become my fiancée."
…
"!" Shirley screamed incoherently.
'Goddammit! Get out of my head! We're busy with an important mission! I need to stay focused!'
The thing that embarrassed her the most wasn't the fact that he confessed. It was the fact that she said: "Hmm~ Maybe~?"
She was only trying to tease him by playing hard to get but he didn't seem to see it that way.
But did her answer matter now? He might never come back or he might lose interest in her. There were many girls in the academy that were more beautiful and smarter than Shirley.
'I don't even know the first thing about dating…'
Many of her sisters were already married and had children. But they weren't really good role models. Nearly all of them just picked a guy who they deemed strong and mated with them, regardless of their personalities.
Shirley just realized that she preferred the human way of dating. She suddenly thought about how humans go on dates, feed each other during a romantic dinner, make genuine love and have children they care for.
Love was never on her mind. Aiming to become the strongest king in her nation's history didn't grant her such luxury to do whatever she wants with her personal life.
She was worried that pursuing a love that wasn't there would hurt her goals.
"Maybe experiencing a little bit of love as a woman won't hurt…"
Her curiosity outweighed her hesitation at that moment.
They didn't know when or if Arthur and the other two will return. If Arthur doesn't then they have to keep moving forward.
That was what mattered most.
"You better stay alive, Arthur…"
Shirley hoped for nothing else at that moment.