The tortoise beside me groaned.

My eyes snapped open.

There were more.

They all opened their beak mouths before slowly moving them towards my body, so I immediately stood up by slamming the end of my spear against the ground.

This shot me upwards just enough for me to land crouched and then dash back.

“They’re so slow… Is it because they are attacking me while still passive?” I muttered to myself before scanning the area around me.

Though my senses, which I began to hone in the army, dulled over my unprogressive childhood, I could tell that somebody was watching me.

Was it somebody? Or maybe something?

“Come out. I know you’re there,”

I was still unsure, but this was the easiest and fastest way to confirm my suspicions.

“How did you know I was here?” A distorted and low voice comes from behind me.

But, there were only crystals behind me, what else could there be-

I glanced backward.

And I froze in place.

There was a massive crystal tortoise head poking out the wall of the dome.

[You have encountered The Boss of the Dungeon: Crystal Torterrous]

The crystals behind me from before had now risen to be shown as the crystal tortoise’s shell, which wasn’t even fully revealed.

It seemed like the remaining three-quarters of his body were stuck in the wall.

“Are you the boss of this dungeon?” I ask.

It seems like a big fish latched onto my bait… maybe a bit too big, though.

“Yes…” The tortoise replied without opening its mouth.

This is strange.

Normally, low leveled dungeons don’t have bosses, but there was clearly one right in front of me.

I was only planning on leveling up here a bit and then completing one of the wolf dungeons, but it seems I’ve encountered quite an interesting turn of events.

“How are you here?”

“I’ve always been here,”

“You have?”

“Yes,”

“*sigh*… I’m so confused… So, why me? I’m sure there are stronger people to reveal yourselves to,” I say.

“Cause you have something that I’m attracted to. There, in your pocket,”

The tortoise’s large eyes shift downwards to my right pocket, so I stuff my hand in and bring out a large golden key.

“Yes, that. How do you have that?”

“I don’t even know what it is,”

Suddenly, the key emitted a slight golden glow before settling down as if it was reacting to the tortoise in front of me.

“Such a shame….” The tortoise says before sinking back into the ground.

Dirt covered its head, and the crystal spikes from before returned to their original place.

I glanced at the golden key in my hand, and it shimmered once again.

I’ve had this for a while, but I’ve never been able to use it.

In fact, I have no idea as to where I would use it.

I sighed once again before continuing my tedious slaughter of killing a few crystal tortoises and then resting.

[Tangible Bloodlust] was the only reason I could penetrate the thick skin of the tortoise, so if I wanted to level up, I had to keep using it, which was a pain since my mana and stamina were so low.

[3 XP]

[3 XP]

[3 XP]

[3 XP]

[3 XP]

[3 XP]

…

[You have leveled up]

I looked at my status once again and smiled in content.

『Status』

[Name: Orion]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 6/10] (84/100) XP Needed

[HP: 10/10 MP: 5/5 SP: 5/5] – Normal Human

[Strength: 6] – Normal Human

[Defense: 6] – Normal Human

[Magic: 5] – Normal Human

[Speed: 6] – Normal Human

[Skills: [Tangible Bloodlust]

…

“I’m exhausted… Time to go back,” I muttered to myself as I left the dungeon.

[You have left the dungeon]

The sun was still beating down hard as always, so I shielded my eyes from the light and immediately left the vicinity.

Only a few hours had passed, as 1 hour in the dungeon is equivalent to 10 minutes in the outside world.

My gray attire was drenched in sweat, and I stunk so bad that I rushed through the hallways of the dorm and made my way to my room.

The boys and girls dorm was in a separate building right next to the actual school.

“547… 548… 549. There we go,”

I quickly shoved my silver key into the door and slammed the door open.

“Uh, what’s that smell?” I suddenly hear somebody say as I slam the door shut behind me.

“HUFF HUFF HUFF HUFF…”

I didn’t even check out the small dorm as I quickly took off my clothes and hopped into the prestigious shower.

The water was actually warm this time, unlike the boarding school which was on the verge of freezing cold and cold.

After taking a shower, I wrapped myself in a clean white towel and checked out my body once again.

I wasn’t doing this to suck my own ego, but I wanted to see if my skin was getting any better.

Strangely, I had no acne or blemishes upon entering puberty, but besides that, my skin was also very pale.

It looked as if I was a walking corpse.

Well, that’s a bit of an overstatement, but it’s not too far from the truth.

Suddenly, I heard my stomach grumble in protest, so I made my way out of the bathroom and quickly changed into a sweatshirt and sweatpants.

There were a few food chains back in the school building, but as I was too broke to afford any of it, I made my way to the cafeteria.

Upon arriving, I walked past so many cliche kids that I thought they were filming a movie.

A poor kid was getting bullied by one of the nobles.

A group of nobles were sitting back in their chairs, pointing fingers and teasing other kids from across the room.

Poor or rich kids, it didn’t matter.

What a bunch of leeches… Using their family name to have their way with anybody they take an interest in.

And, of course, I wasn’t an exception.

They managed to pick me out due to my casual clothes, which were nothing compared to their luxurious and expensive attire.

IThe clothing they wore was different, like what actual royals from the medieval times would wear.

“Oh,”

But instead of a boy coming up to me, it was a girl about my age.

She had fiery red hair and bright gray eyes.

“Kneel,” She says with a smile.

Huh…

“The fuck,” I respond before walking away.

I don’t want any trouble right now.

I haven’t observed everybody enough for me to make a rash decision.

“HEY!” She shouts, garnering the attention of everyone around.

I didn’t know if she shouted so loud on purpose, but gathering all the attention towards us just made my position more troublesome.

“How dare you ignore me!” She shouts and slaps me in the face.

It seems my senses have dulled quite a bit.

A child actually slapped me.

I chuckled to myself a bit before walking away.

“LISTEN TO ME!” The girl shouts, punching me in the back of the head, causing me to drop my plate of food onto the floor.

My food… I just got it. I even managed to grab the last slice of chocolate cake.

I stopped in place, staring at my dropped food.

“Turn around! Now!” She shouted and I could already tell she had her arms crossed.

Slowly, I turned my head around.

Silence befell the large canteen as everybody stared at the scenario quickly unfolding.

My eyes shifted off my food and towards the teenage girl.

My eyes were completely devoid of life.

“What…” I respond coldly.