Hours of walking and exploring led the nameless man to a black door; this door was crafted from the same dark-stone material as the previous one.
At first, he thought he had circled back to the same door he used to escape the cave collapse. However, he quickly realized that wasn't the case. Mainly because this door was smaller and had scratches on it. Although the scratches didn't do much damage and barely left a mark. Nonetheless, they were claw marks, which instantly put the nameless man on alert.
He hadn't crossed any monsters on his way here except for that green monster, which he squashed like a bug. Nevertheless, the idea of monsters lurking out there made the man spend a few minutes on guard against any potential sneak attacks.
Minutes passed, and nothing happened. The man sighed heavily, calming his nerves. He turned toward the door and placed both of his hands on it.
"System, Can you open this door as well?"
[Analyzing]
[Lock combination detected, attempting to unlock]
[Door unlocked, Magic circle activated]
As the last message appeared, a circle of shadows appeared in the middle of the door.
The man sighed and prepared himself for any monsters that might attack him as soon as he passed through the portal. When the nameless man passed through the portal, he raised his club, ready to strike at any moment.
As he examined his surroundings, confusion washed over him. The place was a large room with a desk, bed, and bookshelf on one side and piles of books, chairs, and some unfamiliar metal items on the other side.
Everything was in terrible shape; the entire place and everything inside it had been burned. The books were in such rough shape that even a gentle breath could turn them to ash. The desk, bookshelf, and bed were no longer of any use; they had rotted away.
The only thing still somewhat usable was a mirror in the corner. When the man stood in front of it, he saw his reflection for the first time since awakening.
He was tall and muscular, with pale skin and scars all over his body. He had straight black hair that reached his shoulders and black eyes.
A grin formed on his lips as he gazed at his face. He couldn't quite explain it, but he knew he was a good-looking man. He expressed his thoughts aloud.
"To whom does this handsome face belong?"
[Master, I must admit you're exceptionally … *horse shit*... handsome] The system comment
This made the man's smile widen, but then he immediately frowned. By now, he wasn't sure which of these two voices belonged to the real system or which one to believe. Since one complimented him while the other made fun of him, he ignored their comments and simply examined the rest of his body.
The number of scars covering him made the nameless man wonder about the life he had in the past. His thoughts were interrupted when he realized something he had failed to notice before —he was completely naked.
Embarrassment flooded through him as he recalled all that had happened so far and the fact that he went through it while being naked like a wild animal.
"Damn! This is so embarrassing; how did I fail to see?" The nameless man asked himself. He was so embarrassed that now his face is red like a tomato.
Suddenly, a voice spoke out of nowhere, causing the man to jump and immediately assume a fighting stance.
"Hey you! Over here," the voice spoke.
The man's eyes quickly scanned the room, seeking the source of the voice, as he clenched his fist around the grip of his spiked club.
"Over here behind this cover," the voice said again.
The voice came from across the room, behind the pile of burned books. The man hesitated for a bit before approaching the spot.
Behind the books was a cube-shaped object covered in rags. The man took a deep breath before grabbing the rags and revealing what was beneath them. Two red eyes gazed at him, making the man's heart stop. At first glance, he thought these eyes belonged to a monster, but upon closer inspection, he quickly found out that wasn't the case.
These eyes belonged to a black bird. The man sighed heavily. This black bird was a raven, and it was trapped inside a cage. The cage was about half the man's height and had strange blue runes carved on the bars, which were glowing.
The raven kept staring at the man while he scratched the back of his head. Honestly, he didn't know what to make of this. Could this raven actually talk? Not until the raven broke the awkward silence.
"Yes, I can talk," the raven spoke, as if he knew what the man was thinking.
The man opened his mouth, but he was unable to speak.
'Damn! He can read minds too!'the man shouted in his mind
"No I can't" the raven said
The man's eyes widened, and he took a step back from the cage. He was ready to leave this place immediately, but the raven shouted at him,
"Hey, stop! Please, I need your help."
It took the nameless man a while to answer the raven. He hesitated, as he was sure that ravens don't speak, so this one must be some type of monster.
"What kind of help?" The man asked
The raven approached the cage bars and poked them with his beak before answering, "I need your help with this cage. I'm trapped here."
Hearing that the raven was trapped made the man feel relieved for a bit. The possibility of this raven being a monster was still high, but if he was trapped, then the chances of an attack occurring were slim, though not zero.
The man naturally wanted to know more. "How did you get trapped in the first place?" he asked.
The raven tilted his head a little bit before telling his story.
"The caravan that was transporting me got attacked by goblins. They captured me, but luckily, I managed to escape before they could eat me. I took cover in this place, only to end up in this cage. I was scared, so I didn't check my surroundings, and as soon as I entered the cage, it was sealed shut. I couldn't open it no matter how hard I tried."
The nameless man took note of a few details. First, the word "goblin," which he didn't recognize, Second, the raven's story appeared strange at first, but the man sensed that the raven spoke the truth for some reason.
"Goblin? What's a goblin?" the man asked.
The raven looked at the man in a strange way, tilting his head to the side. "Goblins are those hideous little evil green monsters. They are short, fast, and in great numbers. They attack villages and sometimes caravans."
The man touched his chin with his fingertips as he recalled the green monster he killed a while ago. The monster matched the description. He was about to ask another question when, suddenly, the raven snapped in anger.
"But they are not as evil as those damn humans! They tricked and deceived me. At first, they were kind to me, but it was an act to lure me into a trap. They caged me up to be sent to some alchemist for experiments. I'll never forgive them. They must pay for it."
The nameless man listened to the raven as he told his story. The man felt sad for the poor raven and angry at those people for deceiving him. But the moment the raven spoke those last words, an image flashed in the man's mind. He saw himself kneeling on the ground, covered in his own blood. What gave the man a chill down his spine was the sight of a sword piercing his heart, held by a man with a cruel smile on his face.
When the nameless man came to his senses and saw the sadness and anger in the raven's eyes, something broke within him. He felt rage. He approached and grabbed the cage, looking into the raven's eyes, and spoke words that shocked the poor raven.
"I will set you free, and then you and I are going to kill every single one of those who betrayed you."
This was the first time someone had gotten angry for him. The raven was out of words. He didn't know how to react to the man in front of him. He was confused and cautious, but he felt no hidden intention from the man. One question came to his mind.
"Will you do that for me? Why?"
The nameless man answered immediately, "I can't tolerate treachery, especially from those humans."
The man's words almost caused the poor raven to tear up, but he managed to hold back his tears. He looked at the man with more trusting eyes and nodded his head.
The man smiled at his reaction. "Alright, first, let's open this cage and get you out."
The man took a step back and then lifted his club above his head. He took a deep breath before swinging the club as hard as he could, hoping to break the cage. But instead of hitting the cage bars, the club was met with an invisible barrier. The spiked club instantly shattered into a million pieces, with only the grip remaining.
The man was shocked by what just happened. He had hoped to break at least one bar. His eyes quickly spotted that the runes around the cage glowed brighter for a moment before returning to their original state.
"So the runes protect the cage," the man noted. He scratched his chin, thinking of another solution. However, the system interrupted his train of thought.
[Master, put your hands on the cage. Maybe I can find a way to open it], the system said.
The nameless man didn't waste a second. He placed the torch between the cage bars and put both of his hands on the cage.
[Analyzing]
[Mana Flow detected]
Two messages appeared.
[Master, to open this cage, you need to find the Mana source and destroy it], The System said
The man narrowed his eyes. He had no idea what the system was talking about, but he was willing to do it.
"Alright, how can I find this source?" he asked.
[Move the mana from your body to the cage. Just imagine energy flowing from your chest to your arms and covering the whole cage. Then, you will be able to sense a core somewhere. Find it and destroy it.]
'Okay, imagining is not so hard, considering I have an empty mind with no memories. Few! Let's do it,' the nameless man thought.
He closed his eyes and started imagining, just as the system had told him. Energy flowing from his chest to his arms. Surprisingly, the man sensed a dark-red energy in his chest. When he tried to move it from his chest to his arms, the dark-red energy moved easily, like a serpent going around his arms.
The dark-red energy began to spread across the cage bars like fire in a dry field. It didn't take long for the man to spot the mana core. The core took the shape of a white orb. The dark-red energy kept circling around the core but didn't approach it. The man thought of a way to destroy it. As he remembered the shape of this dark-red energy, one word came to his mind.
'Eat it'
And just like that, the dark-red energy moved as if it had a mind of its own. The energy took the shape of a serpent, and like a serpent, it opened its jaws to swallow its prey. The energy swallowed the white core. At that moment, the runes around the cage no longer glowed, and the cage was opened.
[New skill: Mana manipulation] a message appeared
Before the man could react to the system's message, the raven came bursting toward him with wet eyes. The raven immediately hugged the man with his wings as he struggled to speak.
"Thank you!... Thank you!... I thought this is where I would die... Thank you."
The nameless man simply patted the raven's head as he smiled at him. Then the raven hopped onto his shoulder and introduced himself.
"I am Raum, by the way. And you are?"
The nameless man hesitated to answer. In truth, he had no answer for that question, as he didn't know his own name. However, he couldn't remain nameless and unknown for the rest of his life. Since he didn't have an identity, why not just create one? At that moment, he recalled the words on the coffin, and he answered.
"Aron. Call me Aron."