—–

“Now, can you come?” Lucifer asked.

“No, no, let’s talk a bit more. First of all, why do you even want a friend? You’re a mighty dragon. Why do you even care about that? Why do you even care about me getting down? I feel like you want to set me up for something… Wait, do you have some kind of mind change ability so you will take over my soul and escape your confinement?!” I shouted.

“W-What are you even talking about? You’re really one in a million… *sigh*… It is a long story. I have been sleeping here for generations ever since I fell in the war against enemy forces from the Heroes. Ever since then, this land has been draining my power while I slept, and when I just woke up, I found myself trapped inside a Dungeon… This miasma that you feel is part of my own power, which is constantly leaking outside,” Lucifer explained.

“Oh wow, that’s a big info dump… I see,”

“I used this miasma, which I cannot seem to be able to shut down, to lead it to the graveyard nearby. I tried to raise an Undead army to help me get out of here and also to kill the damn humans living above me. I hate them with all my soul. You were a former human, so maybe that wouldn’t have been a good thing to say in front of you….” Sighed the Fallen Dragon.

“Oh no, it is completely fine. I am no longer human, and I believe I hate them a lot too! You see, they cut off my head! Haha…” I said.

“Oh… Perhaps we are not so different then. If you can help me escape from here, I will… I… Erm, I promise to be your partner… Or your ally, or servant, whatever! And if you’re a degenerate woman, even a husband! But please, aid me…” The Fallen Dragon begged once again.

“You’re really desperate… Alright, fine… Getting a handsome dragon husband has always been one of my fantasies- Ahem, anyways, let’s go, Partner!”

*Rattle!*

“Thank you! I will be waiting for you down here. I believe there might be around 20 floors up to where I am… Good luck!”

And like that, the guy went to sleep or something, and we slowly began to walk downstairs into the mysterious and dark depths of this dungeon. The stairs slowly began to be illuminated by flames that automatically flared up at our presence.

*Rattle*

“Yeah, it is pretty spooky, Partner! But we are already spooky ourselves, so we should be fine- GYAAAH!”

Suddenly, something touched my back, something very cold! I moved away as we found ourselves on the first floor of the dungeon, and right away, a thing attacked me. It was brief, but my HP was drained! I glanced at the thing that emerged, and it resembled a cold… mass of water?

[Cold Water Slime: Lv4] [Rank: F+] [State: Hungry]

A Cold Water Slime!

It’s the first time we’ve met one of these guys here. This is really like a fantasy world. The slime trope has been fulfilled… it seems. Although we still need to find a horned rabbit! But how was it able to drain my HP if I am not corporeal?

Well, that was thanks to its [Absolute Digestion] Ability, which lets it digest ANYTHING. Even souls, it seems. Through my [Analyze] function of the Unique Skill: System, I can actually see through the stats of monsters and their abilities, like a particular spider’s [Appraisal].

Alright, I guess our first adversary is a Rimuru knock-off.

Buump!

Suddenly, the Slime charged energy through the core inside its body and bounced with the [High Jump] Ability it had, directing its body right at me!

FLAAASH!

However, I was prepared! Dark Gale!

I pointed at the Slime while in midair, as two gales of slicing dark winds were released from my phantasmal hands, cutting through the slime’s body and damaging the core!

SLASH! SLASH!

“Gyyeehh…!”

The slime shrieked in pain as it fell to the ground. Its HP had reduced down to 50%, however, it seems that damage dealt to the slime’s body is not applied. Only damage to the core can lower its HP!

“Now, Partner!”

I cheered for Partner as she moved at flashing speed towards the weakened slime, meanwhile, I used Mana Siphon.

CLAASH!

Partner kicked the slime’s core into the wall using her metallic legs and shattered it into pieces right away!

Crack…!

“Geeghh…”

The slime died!

Ding!

[You’ve gained 60 EXP]

[EXP: [60/600]

Oh?! Only one slime gave me what three Wisps would. I guess that’s some EXP escalation. After all, the creature was F+ Rank, way higher than the wisps at G. If I can kill nine more slimes, I will be able to level up to Level 6.

After that was done, we glanced at the slime, who suddenly dropped something.

“Hm? What’s this?”

I moved towards the thing it dropped, and I found a tiny, blue-colored ring inside the slimes mushed body. However, as I reached towards the item, it glowed, and then not only did the ring disappear from my sight, but also the body of the slime.

What?!

Ding!

[You’ve collected the following Items]

[Water Slime Core Ring (F-Grade): Lv2] x1

[Water Slime Cold Ooze (F-Grade)] x1

[Shattered Water Slime Core (F-Grade)] x1

[The Items have been added to your [Inventory] System Function]

Inventory? For real? Since when did I have one? I checked the Unique Skill: System and found out that when I evolved, it acquired a new Sub-Ability, simply named [Inventory], which let me store whatever I wanted…

Just like a game, I guess.

I should check the Unique Skills whenever I evolve, they seem to be connected to my soul or something, so when I develop, they develop with me… I also checked the Supreme Magic and Mana Siphon Unique Skills and found out that my Mana Siphon range became 4 meters now, and Supreme Magic increased my magic damage by an extra 10%.

Wow, that’s actually quite nice.

And now… It seems that in this world’s dungeons, you can collect items! That’s very game-like… Or maybe it is just my System and me? The System doesn’t say anything about these items though, so maybe this is something endemic of this world.

Let’s see…

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