When I woke up, I vaguely remembered my adventure into the secret cave last night, but I was on auto-pilot then, running on no sleep.
Once I got up, I tried to look for the entrance to the cave again, but it wasn't there. I guess the moon did activate it?
While stretching, I tried to feel for anything special within my body, like a skill or something. However, there was nothing.
That was surprising; a random golden orb in a secret cave should give some power, right?
My hopes were shattered, as I believed the orb could have been the dragon's eye, but I guess I had to search more.
Maybe I wasn't supposed to eat the orb and do something else with it; however, it was too late for regrets.
Realizing how low my water supply was, I decided that venturing into that creep cave with the water source now, in broad daylight, would be my best option.
Once again, I entered the gigantic cave and inched closer into the darkness until the sound of running water finally reached my ears.
Following the sound, I went deeper and deeper into the cave until I finally heard the sound getting closer.
Just before me, a three-foot-wide river stretched into the darkness beyond me.
After refilling my water bottles and drinking some water, I surveyed the cave before finding a small path that led even deeper into the mountain.
Well, I'm here, so I might as well search there...
Resisting the urge to jump into the river and wash my filthy body, I continued refilling my water bottles, mentally preparing myself for whatever that path held.
After drinking water and splashing my face, I crossed the river using rocks and entered the path.
Moving further into the cave, I heard various sounds echoing throughout. Whether it was the sound of a bat waking up or an unknown creature walking around, the sounds never failed to make me react.
It was like I was in a permanent limbo; at any moment, I could die, yet for some reason, I still kept walking.
Was I insane?
Finally, I reached the end of the original path and saw that it opened up to a ravine-like structure.
There was a big opening in the middle, and when peering down, I could see various other openings in the walls and near the bottom.
I was in the center of the mountain.
I carefully maneuvered the walls, using the rocks that pocked out to lower myself until I finally reached the bottom.
Just when I was about to sit down to relax my muscles, I heard a sound coming closer.
It wasn't just a typical sound; something crashing down on the cave floor echoed throughout the cave.
T the footsteps of a monster.
"Guess you play stupid games, you get stupid prizes."
I had played the game of luck and lost.
Looking towards the source of the incoming steps, I realized that my only chance of escape would be to outmaneuver the monster and run into the exact opening where it came from.
Climbing was not an option as it would be too slow. The beast could easily catch me, and there was no place for me to have a dinosaur-liker-like figure approach from the cave, a mountain tyrant. The Tyrant's weakness was its short arm span; however, in a small space like this, that weakness was nullified as its short arms still managed to reach the walls on both sides of the cave.
I pulled my cheap sword out of its sheath and faced the Mountain Tyrant, waiting for awaiting-tack.
I had to get past the monster and run into that opening as fast as I could.
It was like a game of Red Rover; I just had to get to the other side, but a guard prevented me from doing that.
After a second, the Tyrant adjusted to its surroundings and finally saw me. With incredible speed, the T-rex-like figure darted at me.
Since I somewhat knew its attack pattern from the book, I anticipated its initial attack would be a charge, so I dived out of the way.
However, contrary to my expectations, the monster seemed to have some intelligence as, instead of continuing its charge, it stopped midway after seeing me dive.
Immediately, it changed directions and started charging at my new location. I was vulnerable; I didn't have enough time to dive, enough space to dodge, or enough power to kill.
Why was I even doing all this? This power shit and survival, why did I even come to the cave?
I could have stayed in the inn until my suspension and lived at the school comfortably until my expulsion.
I just had to act like some protagonist by jumping into dangerous situations without thinking, right?
Well... this situation woke me up... I wasn't some protagonist with insane luck; I was a third-rate villain.
Looking at the Tyrant nearing, I felt a sense of serenity wash over me.
For the past few days, I had put myself through constant exercise, near-death experiences, and terrible sleeping conditions.
Not to say that it wasn't worth it, as I could see my weight drop significantly through my appearance as my jawline became more defined and abs developed on my chest, but at the same time, was this what I wanted to do?
I was given a second chance to live in this world, yet I wasted it instead of doing things I enjoyed.
Looking at the Tyrant still nearing in on me, I noticed something peculiar.
Is it just me, or is the Tyrant slowing down?
By now, the Tyrant should have reached and killed me, yet it was still some distance away from my slumping body.
If this kept up... I would have enough time to dive out of the way or climb up.
Who am I to refuse if god gives me a 3rd chance? Damn, maybe I am an agonist with incredible luck!
Deciding that climbing could be dangerous as this phenomenon could stop at any time, and I would be trapped on the walls, I dived in the direction of the cave the Tyrant came from.
However, even after I dived away from the Tyrant, the flow of time stayed the same. Looking at the Tyrant, it looked like it was running in slow motion like some cartoon skit.
By now, the monster had noticed my location change, so it again changed directions. However, my speed far surpassed the beast.
For every second in the monster's eyes, 5 seconds passed in my time, so even with my horrendous stats, I was faster than it.
I ran full speed around the monster, who could not react in time, and quickly swung my sword into its right leg.
Tearing it out, I proceeded to do the same to its left leg.
The monster collapsed to the ground, unable to hold; whatever change occurred during that time seemed to stop, as the monster's arms and mouth began moving again at their original speed.
But it was too late. The beast could not retaliate or dodge my incoming attacks, as it was immobilized entirely.
Without any hesitation or mercy, I stabbed at the monster's body, ignoring its groans of pain until the beast became a corpse.
Looking at the monster lying lifeless, I immediately started climbing back to the cave exit.
After that experience, there was no way in hell that I would continue exploring this cave. Sure, I took on one of them, but there were probably over a hundred more lurking around in this big cave.
I had been given a third chance, but thinking a fourth chance would come would most likely be a mistake.
After scaling the walls and reaching my original path, I soon returned to the river where I had gotten my water. I noticed that my hands were somewhat dirty due to all the rocks I touched when climbing, so I leaned down to wash them in the river. Inadvertently, I also saw the reflection of my face in the river.
My right eye, which was originally red, was golden. However, that quickly escaped my mind as, through looking at my reflection, I realized that the same eye was leaking blood.
I quickly placed my hand near my right eye before returning it to my line of sight. It was completely drenched in blood.
How the hell did I manage for this long without realizing it? Where the hell is the pain?
I looked like Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, as the right side of my face was blood red. Using the water from the river, I cleansed my face, and thankfully, no more blood flowed out.
After my face and hands were clean, I inspected the color of my right eye again. It was golden. Do you know whose right eye was also golden..?
The villain owner of the dragon's eyes.
I guess that golden orb was it?
Also, with all that fear out of my mind, I remembered that the slowing of time earlier was probably related to the dragon eye's first stage.
But something still didn't make sense.
Why did it activate then and not earlier? If it had been activated earlier, I would have never continued searching the mountain and would have headed back down it.
I wasn't complaining as it saved my life, but I was curious. After all, what use was the item to me if it only activated when it wanted to?
After a moment, I looked at the reflection again, and my right eye was back to red.
The mysteries kept on piling up. After I went this far to obtain the item, I would be damned if I didn't make use of it.
Bracing myself, I cleared my mind of all emotions and focused solely on my right eye.
I could feel a subtle change in my right eye, like how more blood flowed towards it, so I looked into the reflection again.
My eye was golden again.
I picked up a nearby rock and threw it towards the river, but rather than moving in a fast and fluid arc, it seemed to float in the air like it was in slow motion.
Just when I was about to test the passage of time more, I felt a sudden urge of pain swelling in my right eye. It felt like my eye was about to implode from all the pressure.
After removing my brain's focus from my right eye, the pain stopped, but I still felt a weird tingling feeling.
After looking in the river again, I noticed that besides my eye color being back to red, more blood appeared near my right eye.
It seemed that using the ability for a prolonged period would lead to blood escaping through my right eye.
Though at first, it may not seem like a bad penalty, without blood, my body is unable to operate, so using the ability for an extended period would lead to my death.
Even using it for a short period could lead to significant blood loss, making it so I would lose access to some parts of my body.
Well, I wasn't complaining... I had gotten ability to slow down time!