Chapter 19: Preparation For Death Dungeon

Chapter Nineteen

[New Skill Book detected.] [Would Host like to learn the D-Rank Skill: Dash?] [YES / NO]

Beside the notification was the description of the skill. With his intent, Orion was able to click on it, causing the information to unfurl before his eyes.

[Skill: Dash]

[Rank: D]

[Description: For every three points of Mana consumed, the user can explode forward over a short distance at twice their original speed.]

Orion held the Skill Book tightly in his hand, his gaze traveling back toward Uncle Dian. The elderly man had a complicated expression on his face.

"Uncle, this..."

Old Dian waved him off. "That is a gift." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I planned on giving it to you as a birthday present, but seeing you going headfirst into danger... I have no other choice."

"So take it with you and learn the skill." His expression became serious. "It would give you a better chance of fighting your way out of trouble."

Orion held the Skill Book even tighter. He felt rather touched. He had known the old man for only a few months, not even up to a year, yet here he was, handing him a Skill Book that surely cost more than a penny.

D-Rank or not, it must have cost several thousand points at the very least. The fact that Dian was willing to give it to him so casually showed just how much the old man worried about his safety.

Orion lowered his head. "Thanks, Uncle. I will surely repay this kindness someday."

Old Dian waved him off. "If you want to repay me, just stay safe and alive." His gaze became heavy. "Orion..."

The elderly man stared directly at him. "You must come back safely from Dungeon X."

Orion nodded. "Don’t worry. I don’t plan on dying." A faint smile appeared on his face. "I’ll do my best to make sure I come back alive."

Old Dian remained silent. He wanted to say more. He wanted to stop Orion from going. But he knew the boy had already made up his mind.

Orion cleared the Basic Green Dungeon a few more times that day. At this point, he was able to kill the Level Two Goblin Boss rather quickly, which went to show just how much he had improved.

What had once been a difficult battle had now become something he could handle with relative ease. After concluding his work for the day, Orion sold off the Goblin Teeth he had collected and had a hearty chat with Sis Mia before finally heading home.

On the way, he stopped to buy some snacks for the kids.

Soon, he stood in front of the familiar door. Before he could even knock... The door swung open. Several small faces were waiting for him on the other side.

The moment they saw Orion, and especially the snacks in his hands, their eyes immediately brightened.

"Big Brother! Welcome home!"

Orion smiled. "Look at you guys... you were clearly waiting for the snacks."

The children immediately swarmed around him. For a brief moment, everything felt peaceful.

Later that night, Orion stepped outside into the backyard. His gaze was calm. He had already put the young ones to sleep.

Their mother and little Iris were still far away in the Level Two City, Daylight City, and it might take many days before they were able to return. The thought of them made Orion’s expression soften slightly.

He then brought out the Skill Book Old Dian had given him. His gaze remained calm as the System flashed before his eyes.

Blue light shimmered within his grey eyes.

[Would Host like to learn the D-Rank Skill: Dash?]

[YES / NO]

Orion chose YES without any further ado. The Skill Book immediately transformed into countless tiny blue particles of light.

The particles flowed toward him before entering his body. Another System notification appeared.

[Ding!]

[Learning Skill...] 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

[This may take a while...]

Orion looked at the loading System screen. His gaze remained unchanging. Normally, learning a skill from a Skill Book took only a few seconds.

However, that was generally true for Skill Books whose ranks were within the limits of an awakener’s talent grade. For example, an S-Grade Awakener would be able to learn S-Rank Skills and skills below that rank in mere seconds.

However, if an S-Grade Awakener attempted to learn an SS-Rank Skill, the process could take several minutes or even longer. The higher the gap between the user’s talent grade and the skill’s rank, the more difficult the learning process became.

And for Orion, whose talent was only G-Grade, learning a D-Rank Skill was an entirely different matter. The gap between them was enormous. It was a task that placed a considerable burden on both him and his System.

Seconds passed. Then minutes. Then more minutes. Orion remained completely still.

Half an hour passed. Then another. One hour. Finally... After approximately one and a half hours, the System screen finally changed.

[Ding!]

[Skill: Dash has been successfully learned.]

A smile finally appeared on Orion’s face. After so long... He finally had a skill. A real skill.

Something he could actually use in battle. However, before Orion could even savor the feeling for long... Another notification appeared.

[Ding!]

[Skill Slot Limit Reached.]

[Host can no longer learn any additional skills.]

The System’s notification immediately ruined Orion’s mood. His face fell, but it quickly returned to its usual calm.

"Ahem..." A soft sound escaped his lips. He probably shouldn’t have been surprised. There was bound to be another limitation attached to a G-Grade Talent.

Apparently, G-Grade Talents only had one Skill Slot. Higher-grade Talents, such as A-Grade, could possess several dozen Skill Slots, while S-Grade Talents and above could possess as many as a hundred.

Orion shook his head. He wasn’t going to let that ruin his mood. No more Skill Slots? Who cared? He would celebrate this small victory instead.

After recovering from the burden that learning a higher-ranked skill had placed on his body, Orion decided to test his new skill. Dash.

And its effect was truly amazing. This was the first time Orion had ever been able to use a skill. The feeling of activating it for the first time left him rather overjoyed.

He would have perhaps spent the entire night testing the skill if not for one small problem... He couldn’t afford to.

His Mana Points were extremely low. That was yet another limitation of his G-Grade Talent. Every activation of Dash consumed three Mana Points.

Orion only had ten Mana Points in total. That meant he could activate the skill only three times before nearly running out of Mana. And even then, he would already begin feeling slight fatigue.

But Orion didn’t let that stop him from utilizing the skill to the best of his ability. With his Talent, one point of Mana was recovered every twenty minutes.

That meant he could recover three Mana Points every hour.

And so, Orion came up with a training plan. He trained throughout the entire night. After getting a brief amount of sleep, Orion got back to work.

He reached the dungeon earlier than usual, eager to test his D-Rank Skill against the goblins. With a bright smile on his face, Orion stepped into the Basic Green Dungeon.

The moment the goblins saw him smiling this time, they were relieved. After all, they preferred smiling Orion to cold-faced Orion.

Unfortunately... They had celebrated far too early. The moment the battle began, they realized they were cooked.

Orion, armed with his new skill, Dash, had become an absolute nightmare. Although he could only use it three times within a short period, those three uses were utilized to the best of his ability.

Every activation sent him bursting forward at incredible speed. The goblins barely had time to react before Orion was already in front of them. And they felt the full aftermath of it.

Orion cleared the dungeon four times once again. This time, however, he suffered little to no damage at all. His improvement was obvious.

The addition of Dash had completely changed the way he could approach combat.

After finishing his work, Orion said goodbye to Uncle Dian and headed toward the Dungeon Market. There, he decided to ask Sis Mia about Dungeon X.

As someone who interacted with warriors on a daily basis, she surely knew more about the dungeon than Uncle Dian. And sure enough... She did.

In fact, the moment Mia heard the name Dungeon X, the color immediately drained from her face. Her bright smile vanished.

For several seconds, she simply stared at Orion. Then she gave him only one piece of advice.

"Don’t ever get involved with that accursed dungeon."

Orion could only smile sheepishly and nod. "Yeah..." He scratched the back of his head.

Internally though he sighed. "It’s a little too late for that."

He had already accepted the offer.

The rest of the day, Orion searched for as much information as he could find about the Level Ten dungeon designated as Dungeon X. He needed every piece of information he could get his hands on.

No matter how small. He needed to be fully prepared.

Orion searched through every website, forum, archive, and link he could find. What he discovered was depressing, to say the least.

The dungeon was surrounded by mystery. There was barely any reliable information about it. And the few pieces of information that did exist seemed to have only a handful of things to say.

Stay clear of the dungeon. Don’t dare enter, or else you will die. That dungeon is cursed.

We need the help of the Knights to clear it. I’m really worried about what will happen when that dungeon breaks and whatever monstrosity is hidden inside comes out.

What will happen to the world then?

Orion skimmed through the pages, his gaze remaining calm. Everything he had read only confirmed what he already knew.

Dungeon X was filled with danger. He knew that, of course. But the more he read... The more testimonies he came across...

The more he felt that he might have underestimated just how dangerous that dungeon truly was.

Some of the comments carried a dread that could almost be felt through the screen. The people who had written them seemed genuinely traumatized.

One person even claimed that beyond the other side of that door was hell, and that everyone who entered would be tortured for eternity.

Fear and dread began clawing at Orion’s chest. Fear was infectious. It spread like a plague.

Even Orion couldn’t completely escape its influence. But he quickly pushed the fear aside.

His gaze sharpened as he closed the page. There were only two days left before the Dungeon X raid. He had to prepare for the raid as much as possible.

Every advantage mattered. Every piece of information mattered.

After all... Whether there was hell or heaven waiting inside that dungeon, Orion didn’t care.

He had already made his decision. No matter what was waiting for him inside... He didn’t plan on dying.

He would return from that Dungeon X raid alive. And hopefully... By the time he returned... He would have finally reached Level One.