My World Traveling System: The Harbinger of Death

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Since Frank had entered the Dungeon that a bit more than four hours had gone by, the night was still rather young, as Gwendolyn and everyone in the house had gone to sleep around 9 pm, and Frank only had to wait an hour for them to sleep completely, which let him leave the house at around 10 in the night. ​ ​

Frank glanced at his Inventory, noticing the many icons which were the corpses and carcasses of the monsters he had hunted, thinking how much of a pain will it be to butcher each creature's Mana Cores.

Although he had not explored everything within the Dungeon, through his Mapping Skill, Frank noticed how the dungeon had a structure similar to that of a spiral, spiraling to the center, all roads that led to the center would ultimately stop in a large, circular room in the middle of the dungeon, where the supposedly Dungeon Boss Monster rested, awaiting a fitting challenger.

Although he had not explored around such a spiral, he had explored what was around the entrance and found several roads that connected to the center, finally reaching the last floor of this dungeon without having to completely explore it.

Through his journey, Frank noticed that in four hours, he had collected around fifty monster carcasses, mostly of very weak monsters, although the last dozen were rather strong, which he had found in these latest floors and corridors.

However, to Frank, this amount of monster still seemed rather small, he had expected this Dungeon to be similar to the Hunting Domains, which often were filled with hundreds of monsters.

But he realized that the structure and creation of monsters in the Dungeons of Terra were very different from the Hunting Domains originated from Earth.

First of all, Frank realized that the monsters of Earth were mostly made through accumulated negative emotions, such as the infamous Yokai, although Matsuo had also told him that certain types of monsters were able to have physical bodies that didn't dissipate into black smoke, these were often not seen in artificially made Hunting Domains.

Second, Frank realized that this was a crucial difference when he thought about the creation of monsters in Earth, and why one could find hundreds of them attacking you constantly in a Hunting Domain, this was because of how easy they were able to be created, unlike Terra's monsters, Earth monsters were, on its majority, made up of these energies, and because they didn't have true physical bodies, their creation was easier compared to those in Terra.

In Terra, monsters had physical bodies, flesh, blood, organs, and more, and they seemed way more realistic than those he had fought in Earth, instead monsters, they also seemed more like mutated animals due to their realism, and Frank wondered if the dungeon itself created them, or that they simply breed inside Dungeons more easily by some magical effect.

There were also monsters on the outside, aside from dungeons, however, these monsters seemed to breed even slower than inside of Dungeons, and were often weaker, although that only applied to these areas around the town and perhaps the main city of the Westwind Nation.

Frank had read and heard in the Guild about places named 'Danger Zones', landscapes that were not exactly dungeons, but was as dangerous as dungeons, possessing very strong monsters of high Ranks that roamed freely, such places were off-limits from nations, and existed in between the vas landscapes of the continent where he currently was.

Such places were only visited by high-ranking Magus/Adventurers only, and towns and other areas usually did not exist around such places due to their great dangerousness.

Unlike Dungeons, where monsters are contained and packed inside, granting both a defined place to find resources and also a feeling of security where monsters usually did not roam outside of such dungeons, in Danger Zones, monsters ran freely everywhere, making them incredibly dangerous places where only the very strong could survive, which didn't make much of the population.

Assuming the previously stated things, Frank thought that the reason behind the monsters not being so many even after four hours of roaming and hunting was due to their more realistic composition, seemingly resembling real animals, which needed to reproduce and grow.

Monsters on earth, however, could simply instantly spawn, and as long as they were fed with enough types of different energies, they could keep appearing almost endlessly.

Although in Terra, the spawn of monsters was still considerably fast, because, as Frank assumed, they didn't spawn out of anywhere, they would take at least a few weeks, months, or years, to fully develop as sizable enough monsters that could be slain for their resources offered through their bodies and mana cores.

As Frank walked through the corridors nearing the Boss Chamber, he began to wonder about the aspects of fantasy and realism within Terra.

"In Terra, monsters are very realistic, made out of flesh, blood, and organs, and they are even eaten openly by the people just like animals, seemingly being a very realistic take into them, however, dungeons by themselves are very unrealistic, as they simply generate treasures out of thin air, something that in Earth doesn't happen, even though the monsters there are very unrealistic, being made out of emotions and miasma, and exploding into black smoke when defeated…" said Frank.

Hades, who was at his side, heard what he had said and seemed curious about Frank's Earth.

"Interesting… So that Earth is truly quite different than my own… In there, monsters were not made through things such as mental energies, emotions, nor contaminated mana… Actually, their creation solely dependent on us, the gods," said Hades.

"Is that so?" asked Frank.

"Indeed, as I said earlier, our Earths might be similar in a few things, such as how Gods are created through prayers and belief, and well, the enormous amounts of Mana produced by humanity, which are directed to us through their prayers and beliefs… On our Earth, humans capable of wielding magic are incredibly few unlike yours. Although there was indeed an Underworld, it was vastly different than the one in your world… Well, Monsters were created by us Gods, when we were born from Humanity's concentration of Mana. In a way, we are beings made entirely out of the Mana of Humanity, ethereal. Our composition is not just Mana though, as the density that created us was when billions of mana compressed together, changing their quality into something that we call Divine Energy… That's how we were born. And through that power, we created places named Divine Realms and Fantasy Realms, where beings and places fantasized by the human's myths exist, which we used to inhabit…" said Hades.

"Oh? Well, that is a big info dump… But I kind of understand of it is there. Although I am still quite puzzled with this parallel world thing… I first thought that other worlds were simply different, but to think that many are simply other Earths where things did not go as similarly as my own… Well, it opens up for a lot of possibilities," said Frank.

"That is how the cosmos is, vast and impossible to discern truth, it is endless. In my world, there was a place named Underworld, it was a special Divine Realm I created within the depths of the world, where most of my family and servants lived. Although it was not our original work, we began to take care of the actual souls of the people that died on Earth, guiding them through the Underworld to reincarnate elsewhere… Indeed, although in the myth, I should not be doing that, it was not as if I was going to let millions after millions of souls wander in my Divine Realm for eternity, right?" said Hades.

"Yes, I suppose that you have to accommodate yourself for what you needed instead of for what such myths dictated of you… Anyways, Nezhit, Ruby, Zhulong, Ginseng, are you ready?" asked Frank, as his monster pets roared, while Nezhit nodded.

"Yes, my lord," he said.

Nezhit was now wearing a set of armor, which covered the part of his chest and his legs, such set had appeared almost in the latest floor that Frank had crossed by inside a large treasure chest.

The set itself was unsuitable for Frank himself, as the armor pieces were enormous. Frank then discovered that the Dungeons of Terra generate items that go according to the necessities, affinities, and even sizes of the adventurers exploring inside.

The Dungeon had seemingly taken Nezhit as the one being rewarded, giving him such a set of armor.

Although the armor was not the best of quality, as it was simply black iron that was slightly enhanced with some physical resistance runes, it fitted very well the giant pale warrior, who now truly resembled a Death Knight that protected Frank within his shadow.

However, he hasn't gotten any weapon, so he was still going to fight with his bare fists. Frank had considered saving up Contribution Points and buying him a nice blade, axe, or mace. Anything heavy enough that could take into good use of Nezhit's titanic strength.

Nezhit seemed to be a Monster, and although Frank already tried, he seemed to not be able to acquire a Mana Core unlike Ruby or Zhulong (who got one after eating a few Mana Cores through this Dungeon Exploration), who got their own nature, his body was made up of former beings that had one but had they're taken away.

Frank had considered that this might be a weakness that will inhibit Nezhit's strength, but Hades had told him that Undead grew differently than Monsters, and even without this world's Mana Cores, his strength could get on par with Zhulong or Ruby by using his own specializations.

Also, Hades had previously stated that Undead could gain something named a 'Death Core' after growing strong enough, which could boost their strength exponentially, so Nezhit was aiming for such a breakthrough.

By eating Mana Cores, Nezhit indeed felt like his body was growing quite strong, and it seemed that instead of a Mana Core, he could acquire a Death Core if he consumed large quantities of Mana Cores, which Frank was saving to prioritize his own growth for now.

However, Nezhit could still evolve and keep growing, so the acquisition of a Death Core could easily wait some time, Frank had already considered that Nezhit was immensely strong as he was and that his physical prowess already exceeded him in a few areas.

Frank considered that the only 'buff' that Nezhit could need now was simply a large and heavy weapon to use his immense strength with, as he was already a powerful Death Knight.

Frank's party slowly passed through the corridor, moving aside the Boss Chamber Door, as an enormous creature greeted their sight.

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