(Skill Monstrous Strength is ranked up to D rank. When activated user’s strength will increase by 25 percent for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. After the duration ends user’s strength will be decreased by 10 percent for 4 minutes and 30 seconds.)


    (Skill Rapid Healing is ranked up to D rank. Your recovery speed increases greatly.)


    (Due to being exposed to a certain type of mana, Fallen Soldier’s Armor gains resistance towards it.)


    (Ice %2)


    Even though the words flying in my vision told me good news, I couldn’t help but feel like shit. Mostly due to my body. I felt like throwing up. A white cloak was covering me. My head was also on something soft. When I slightly raised my head, my eyes met with Blanche’s. It felt like her cold, ice-blue eyes looked directly into my soul.


    “Is this famous lap pillow?”


    I asked.


    “You are awake?”


    Her voice was the same as before. I expected her to be at least tired.


    “Considering I am speaking right now, yes.”


    While I tried to joke, it came out more sarcastic than I expected.


    “You were speaking in your sleep too.”


    The first thing I thought was giving information about me being a spy. But I doubted she would be giving me a lap pillow if I gave out that. Also, her thighs were pretty well built. Despite that, they weren’t hard. A perfect combination of hard and soft.


    “What did I talk about?”


    “War.”


    I raised my eyebrows.


    “You were giving orders.”


    …


    Well, shit. To her, I was just a peasant foot soldier.


    “I dreamed of being a commander since I was a child.”


    I lied to not look suspicious.


    “You certainly have the skills for it.”


    “Thanks but my aching body tells me otherwise.”


    She put her hand on my hair and started to mess with it. As I felt my body tingle, I wondered what was the last time I felt an affective touch. Yeah, I traveled with Larve but she was just a child. Now that an adult was this close to me for at least 10+ years, I couldn’t stop my face from reddening. The fact that my body was of a teenager''s also didn’t help.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    “I don’t know which is more impressive; drinking those potions and not dying or you holding a boss monster for that long.”


    …


    She seemed more and more closer. Or maybe the right word wasn’t that? She was a cold block of ice but now she seemed warmer and more relaxed.


    “Is drinking those potions something impressive?”


    “Yes. For someone who doesn’t know how to handle it, that’s it. Normally you should have bled out from every orifice and died even if you drank one potion of that level without controlling mana. You drank two.”


    Oh. Well. Guess I am just built different.


    “I know one thing that’s more impressive.”


    I said. She looked surprised.


    “What is that?”


    “The fact that I am lying on the lap of a woman as stunning as you.”


    I put on my womanizer smile. She looked both frustrated and embarrassed.


    “What an original compliment.”


    I tilted my head to the side when I heard her somewhat sassy tone.


    “When did telling the truth became complimenting?”


    She turned her head to the side to hide the fact that she was getting redder. But her skin was so white that even the smallest change was so visible. I guess I should thank Lily for teaching me how to flirt. You see, the most important thing wasn’t what you said. The most important things were when and how you said those words.


    She cleared her throat.


    “Uhm! If you are fine, we should return. I still have things to do.”


    Hmm. She returned back to her cold self. I got up.


    “Here. This is yours.”


    She threw me a mana stone. Wait, no. This one had runes carved into it.


    “It is one of the rewards for clearing this dungeon. It is a one-time use stat booster. It is a good item but I am already too strong for it to work. Come on, just squash it.”


    “It is okay for me to take it?”


    “If you ask that question again when I give you something, I am going to punish you. If you didn’t deserve it I wouldn’t have given you in the first place.”


    Very well. I was just trying to be cautious. I gripped it tightly and it broke easier than I expected.


    “What the fuck?”


    I tried to shout as I fell deep into an ice-filled void. But no voice came out. I was falling. I tried to move my body but I couldn’t. The only thing I could do was feel the cold wind pierce my bones as I fell.


    “Interesting.”


    A deep male voice boomed in my head. He sounded like a 60-year-old man who smoked since he was 10.


    “Why does a human like you have a skill only my kind could have?”


    Which- Wait. Was it…?


    (An offensive special characteristic possessed only by monsters and Magical Beast.)


    “Wait. You are not from this world. Hahahahahahah!”


    The voice laughed. His laugh made me feel like my head was bursting.


    “Also that smell. Interesting, truly interesting.”


    “Who are you?”


    I managed to spit out words.


    “You can speak in this domain? Good. Maybe you are not that weak. I understand why you have her smell.”


    “Who is she? Who are you?”


    “Who I am?”


    He chuckled.


    “I am the Unchained One. Devourer of Stars, King of Wolves, one of the countless Calamities this world witnessed.”


    Devourer of Stars. That was the thing that interested me the most. The thing that brought me here called herself a Star. And this thing eats things like her?


    “And? Will you kill me?”


    Despite the difficulty of even opening my mouth I spoke. He started to laugh.


    “No. I have no such power. My time ended a long time ago, Outsider.”


    “Are you dead?”


    He chuckled


    .


    “Yes and no.”


    “Can you stop speaking in riddles? My balls are going to fall off due to the cold!”