After Victoria and Sylvia disappeared completely down the passage, silence returned to the cave, broken only by the faint, steady crackling of the campfire.
Greg let out a long breath, not in relief, but to temporarily suppress his tangled thoughts and begin taking stock of his situation.
"Fuck, is this some crappy game or what...?"
He couldn't help muttering, "I picked up one main quest, and it triggered a whole chain of side quests?"
The problems before him were painfully clear:
1. Clear the first floor of the Dungeon before the story's first act ended.
2. Find a way to get the current saintess of the Church of Light to lift his curse before she stepped down.
3. Go see that suicidal idiot of a maid within one week.
4. Figure out how he had inexplicably become a follower of the Goddess of Night.
Greg felt rather helpless.
The only thing he could be certain of was that he apparently couldn't stay here forever, quietly lying low and growing stronger. When the time was right, he would have to risk his life and head to the surface.
"Whatever. What's done is done. I'd better check my status panel first."
Greg opened his panel:
[Name: Greg Sass] [Race: Human] [Level: Level 16] [Constitution: 3] [Agility: 3] [Intelligence: 7] [Charisma: 10 (?)] [Willpower: 6] [Luck: 10 (black)] [Dungeon Explorer (upgradeable): While you are in the Dungeon, damage dealt to any being increases by twenty percent.] [Praise the Dungeon (upgradeable): While you are in the Dungeon, your effective luck value will never fall below 0.] [Dungeon's Charity (upgradeable): While you are in the Dungeon, experience gained increases slightly.] [Digestive Bacteria (fixed): When you kill enemies in the Dungeon, you have a chance to obtain a random skill or skill fragment from them.] [Redemption of the Villainous Noble: Clear the first floor of the Dungeon before the story's first act ends.] [Acquired skills: Boohoohoo Level 3, Blunt Resistance Level 2, Burrowing Level 1, Earth Magic Resistance Level 2, Earth Magic Affinity Level 1, Underwater Adaptation Level 3, Water Magic Resistance Level 2, Water Magic Affinity Level 1, Cold Resistance Level 1, Tentacle Bind Level 1]
"Hmm, none of that has changed, but..."
Greg turned to the page listing his innate skills.
[Innate skills: Ancient Language Level 1, Fireball Spell Level 1, Water Gun Level 2, Dark Magic Affinity Level 10 (new), Dark Bracer Level 1 (new), Dark Wave Level 1 (new)]
He rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
Dark Magic Affinity Level 10!?
What the fuck was this?
He remembered that neither Victoria, with her Hero's Blessing, nor Sylvia, with her goddess's blessing, had reached Level 10 affinity with any type of magic.
And Dark Attribute Magic hadn't appeared anywhere in the original game!
As a hardcore player who had completed eighty-one playthroughs, he could say with absolute certainty that the original game, "Do You Like a World Where You Can Have Fun Queueing Together Even with Girls?", contained no Dark Attribute Magic whatsoever!
The game's magic system revolved around the four basic elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, supplemented by a few rare variants such as light and lightning.
Dark magic was only vaguely mentioned in the lore of certain ancient texts, tied to the long-extinct worship of the Goddess of Night. It was purely historical background; no character could actually use it.
But now...
This Level 10 Dark Magic Affinity that had appeared out of nowhere, along with the two basic dark skills it had granted, completely overturned everything he knew.
"Could it be...?"
An absurd yet impossible-to-ignore thought surfaced. "The Goddess of Night, who was only mentioned once in the text, still exists in this world?"
"And without knowing it, I've received her favor?"
"But what does she want? And why me?"
Countless questions churned through Greg's mind like a whirlpool.
Far from giving him a sense of security, this sudden gift felt like another, deeper layer of fog shrouding his already perilous struggle to survive.
"Meow~"
A soft meow rang out without warning in the silent cave.
Greg abruptly snapped out of his thoughts and looked toward the sound.
A pitch-black cat with eerie green eyes sat elegantly on a rock nearby, its tail swaying gently as it watched him in silence.
"A cat? How did it get here-"
Just as Greg began to question the black cat's presence, he turned toward the Dark River, where a splash had just sounded.
"Seriously, is the drop rate that high today!?"
"Hmph~ How dare those idiots say I'm not strong enough to enter the Dungeon?"
A figure walked briskly along a narrow, damp stone bridge.
She looked somewhat ordinary, her slender figure brimming with energy. Though her chest was not as full as that of certain mature women, it filled out the curves of her Academy uniform just right.
She was Lilith Kahn, using a disguise item-the Kingdom's second princess and a genius who had caused a sensation throughout the Academy the moment she enrolled.
At just Level 10, she had already mastered Flame Explosion Level 1, thanks to her astonishing talent and the royal resources devoted to her.
Hailed as a genius since childhood and raised amid praise and awe, Lilith had long held one deeply rooted belief: there was nothing Lilith Kahn couldn't do.
Originally, she had eagerly planned to meet two other new students that day, both of whom were supposedly outstanding.
Victoria, who came from a commoner background, and Sylvia, who had close ties to the Church of Light.
She didn't care about their backgrounds. Only their strength interested her.
Unfortunately, her visit had been in vain.
Neither of them was in her dorm room.
Bored, the princess's eyes darted about before she made a bold decision:
She would sneak straight into the Dungeon and bring back some loot to really shock those three maids who were always nagging her!
That was why she was here now.
"What? It doesn't feel nearly as dangerous as they made it sound..."
Lilith stepped onto the middle section of the stone bridge and looked around.
She was still in the shallow reaches of the Dungeon's first floor. Though the light was dim, there were no monster roars or eerie noises. It was so quiet that it was almost... boring.
"Not even a single decent monster. How dull-Aaah?!"
Before she had even finished speaking!
A slick, icy-black tentacle shot out of the Dark River beneath the bridge without warning. Like a hunting python, it wrapped precisely around Lilith's ankle!
An immense pull struck instantly!
"Wha-?!"
With no time to react, Lilith felt the world spin as the tremendous force yanked her clear off the bridge!
Splash-!!
The icy river swallowed her in an instant.
"Glub...!"
Water pressure squeezed her from every direction, and darkness consumed her vision.
Lilith struggled desperately, trying to summon her mana and cast the fire magic she was so proud of.
But being underwater was nothing like being on land.
The current disrupted her gathering mana, panic from oxygen deprivation made it difficult to concentrate, and the icy river water was a natural counter to fire magic.
She tried several times, but each spark that flickered at her fingertips was mercilessly snuffed out by the current.
No... I can't cast it at all...
Despair began to coil around her heart like icy water weeds.
A burning pain stabbed through her lungs, and her consciousness gradually blurred.
Am I... really... going to die in a place like this...?
And die... so pathetically...
Defiance and fear intertwined.
In the final instant before darkness swallowed her vision completely-
A warm, strong hand suddenly reached through the icy river water and gripped her wrist firmly.
Before you continue