As I walked out of the ogre territory, I looked at the mountains that surrounded the valley. Honestly, the mountains seemed to stretch on infinitely, and I had to wonder how big this island was, or if I was on a continent. And where was this plane, as the system called it?
I smiled at how useless these thoughts were. All I had to do was survive. As my mother said, "You are only responsible for yourself until you have a child." And she was right.
I stopped and thought. I was one hundred percent sure that the Bear King would be stronger. It was obvious, so instead of walking into certain death, I should prepare myself. I continued to walk, pondering how to do so.
Then my eyes fell upon a scene: a skinny boy, dressed in clothes similar to those I wore before I stole these, wielding fire. His control over it was impressive. As he closed the distance on the red monkey, he created a wall of fire that blocked the monkey's fireball.
Boom! Their attacks collided. The boy planted his foot on the ground and threw a kick, which suddenly increased in speed, fire trailing behind it. Bang! The monkey was sent flying. The boy jumped into the air, propelled by flames from his feet. He arrived over the monkey and started firing hundreds of flames at it, pushing his hands in and out, smiling in excitement.
He dropped onto the monkey and held its head, saying, "I got you now." The monkey's head caught fire, and it died.
I clapped, which alerted him. He turned around, angry, and blasted a fireball at me. I slapped it away with the back of my hand. I didn't mind his actions; they were a bit rash, but that's how all kids were. He glared at me, and I could see his red eyes—eyes of a beast. He grinned at me, and I offered the same grin as I walked closer to him. He started to stagger backward. He was cautious, not foolish.
More importantly, his eyes never left me. He was a monster like me.
I stopped and said, "Hey kid, you wanna join this old man in conquering this world?"
"I don't trust old people. The last old man tried to touch me, so I don't think so," he said.
That was a fair point. I wouldn't trust me either. I scratched my head, unsure how to convince this kid to join my crew. I knew that numbers were important, especially when surrounded by enemies on all sides.
There was a pause until I sighed and asked, "How long have you been in this forest?"
"About a month now. I stopped counting after a week or so," he answered, looking around to see if there were any traps. His actions were pretty obvious.
But what shocked me was that he had been here longer than me, and his level was only 35.
"So how come you're only level 35?"
A surprised look appeared on his face. "That's not nice, old man. You shouldn't be shouting everybody's business out like that."
"My apologies," I said, then waited for a response. He was a kid, too agreeable, and it seemed like he needed someone to talk to.
"Well, I figure it's because I was in a group, and the beasts we killed had their experience split among the group. I came from behind that mountain," he said, pointing at the mountain behind us.
That was funny because I came from the mountains too. Did we all come from behind the mountain?
"So why did you leave? Don't tell me you just got lost," I teased him.
"Nah, I'm a grown kid. Those old bones in the group all think they know everything. All they did was complain and eat. None of them wanted to get their hands dirty to survive, so I left."
I nodded my head in response. He then turned around in anger and walked towards the dungeon. The door of the dungeon didn't seem to open, but light appeared as the kid disappeared.
I smiled and entered too. This was going to be fun. The kid had an energy about him; his fire burned bright.
–
The dungeon was a pool of burning lava. The kid and I stood on a floating rock. I didn't know about him, but I could feel the heat through the rock. Sweat ran down my face and evaporated in seconds.
Floor 1/4 of the fire dungeon: Survive in the lava pool for 8 hours.
This dungeon was pure bullshit. They expected us to survive for 8 hours? I didn't know what to expect. They were clearly testing our endurance.
I then looked at the kid. He seemed relaxed as if he was sunbathing. He lay on the rock, comfortably taking up all the space.
"Move over, kid. I need some space too," I said. He didn't reply. It was like he was in heaven. And it might have been heaven for him, given how relaxed he was.
I then used my skill, body armour. A thin layer of essence covered my body, and immediately, I felt the difference.
"Hey, old man, how long do you think you can keep up that pathetic body armour? Have you never heard of conditioning the body? This floor is not about endurance of energy but endurance of attributes," he said with a creaky smile.
He was right. What he said made sense. I stopped my skill, and the heat hit me. I could feel my skin scorch.
"Tell me, kid, how did you figure that out?"
"Stop calling me kid. My name is Jacob. And how long do you think you can keep that skill of yours up? Three hours max. I have a similar skill too. But the point is not the skill. To wield energy, we need strong bodies, minds, and cores. And the dungeon is clearly testing that. So, to wield our energy, we need to condition it, which is why attributes are important."
I nodded in understanding. "He's right. So, does that mean I don't belong here? My energy has nothing to do with fire."
"Old man, let me guess. You're thinking that you don't belong here, right? Wrong. You will benefit from this as much as me because your body will develop the ability to withstand crazy temperatures, while mine will evolve to withstand the blazing energy in my core."
6 hours remaining.
My pants and clothes were gone. I was naked in front of this kid. He was naked too. The armour I had was in better condition, but cracks were all over it. Throughout everything I made sure to hold on to my tent stone.
My skin was dried, and small burn marks covered my body. I wasn't black anymore. I was pink, and I was thirsty.
I looked at the kid. He seemed to be in a hot tub. Even though his clothes were gone. He was well relaxed, with a few beads of sweat running down his body, but he was fine.
4 hours remaining.
I had blood covering my body. I was healing, but as my body healed the wounds, new ones appeared. My blood was boiling; I could feel it. My head hurt.
I looked at Jacob. "Hey, kid—I mean, Jacob—how are you holding up?"
He opened one eye lazily, smirking. "This is nothing, old man. You'll get through it. Just focus on keeping your mind sharp. Don't let the pain consume you."
I nodded weakly, trying to keep my thoughts clear. This was a test of more than just endurance. It was a trial of willpower and fortitude. And I was determined to pass it.
And I was starving. My body was burning through calories to maintain my heat, and the skin all over my body felt numb. I could still feel it peeling off.
The kid, on the other hand, just looked red and didn't make any sound. He seemed really focused on conditioning his body.
1 hour remaining
The skin around my hands, legs, backside, and face was gone. The temperature was definitely increasing; I felt cooked. I used my skill to cover my body, then with healing essence, I started to repair the damage. This was too much for me.
"Old man, you can't handle the heat. It's okay; it's not even your type of energy. You seem to be made of death and destruction. Did you know when I first saw you, I thought I saw a monster from the abyss? Your aura was just creepy," he said.
He took a deep breath, clearly struggling, and said, "Old man, I don't know what type of demon you're fighting against, but I will join your team for sure. You have balls."
Then he pointed at my balls and said, "Some really big ones too."
Floor 1 end
Everything started to turn to dust around us. It was amazing—the lava, the rocks, the ceiling walls, all turned to dust, and then a bright light enveloped us. A path made out of light was leading us toward a door, the light that we walked on was solid too.
Fire resistance acquired
"Nice, he was right"
We entered a tunnel filled with red crystal stones. They stuck out of the walls in an orderly fashion, all pointing in the direction the cave led. As I got closer to the crystals, their edges were sharp. I rubbed my hands over them; they didn't seem like they could cut me. The side of the crystal was a darker orange than the outside.
The heat from the first floor wasn't here, and we weren't in a wide area filled with lava. The transition from the middle of a volcano to a cave filled with stones was mind-blowing.
Then I started hearing whispers. I looked at the boy who was examining the stones and asked him, "What did you say?"
Jacob looked at me and smiled. "Old man, how long have you been here?"
"About three days or four" I replied.
"Well, old man, I've been here for a while, and I've figured that mana is alive. Well, to be precise, the mana that is around is alive, meaning that they have a purpose. Fire has the meaning to burn, water has the meaning to get things wet, and so on. So what you are hearing are those meanings. It isn't clear to you, but to me, it wants to burn. And if you're not careful, you may turn into that element, and it will affect your thinking to a level where you don't even realize what's happening," he said as he plucked a piece of fire crystal and put it near his tent stone, and the crystal disappeared.
His tent appeared. He threw the crystal through the fabric door, then he started to break apart a couple of fire crystals on the wall with his hands. He was like a machine. His actions got me wondering, though.
"Why are you taking so much, Jacob?" I asked him.
"Winter is coming. Don't you feel it outside? I don't know about you, but I prefer to be overprepared than underprepared. And my tent needs energy; I just figured it needs these stones," he said while throwing crystals everywhere.
I didn't know my tent crystal could store things, but I never tried, so how would I know? I sighed in exhaustion at how much meat and things that I could store. "Jacob, can our tent preserve meat?"
"No, it can't. To do that, you probably needed to choose that option. But you could put anything in there, such as clothes, weapons, or water."
Energy percentage 70
I started to do the same thing as I had around hundreds or so crystals. I stopped what I was doing when I saw a shadow cast over me.
Author note Discord is up:
I had Discord for 3 years and I didn't use it. It's so funny, and when I did register it gave me pure problems, but now it's working.
Anyway here's the link: https://discord.gg/VrdGNMCt
The character sheet should be up soon. and this chapter is a bit longer, close to 2000 words.
Also, I want to thank everyone and especially to creativityiskey, for all the powerstones, and keeping me motivated.
I hope to not disappoint you guys.