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nSwinging his spear upward with great force, Valyr was able to bisect the skeleton into two, causing the faint light sparking beneath its eye sockets to dissipate within an instant. Not long after, the charred skeleton fell to the ground into a pile of bones, only for a notification sound to resound in Valyr’s mind not long after.

n‘No Skill Key drop,’ thought Valyr to himself before gazing at the path before him. With the help of decently high perception alongside the hyperfocus ability given to him by Gambler’s Discerning Eyes, he was able to notice quite a few skeletons roaming about along the path, most of which he could kill along the way.𝚘𝑣𝗅xt.𝒸𝑜𝑚

nIn fact, with how the path was mostly straight, he found out that the end of the path led to a large space, which contained skeletons that number into the dozens at the very least.

nWith that in mind, he bent his knees, allowing them to accumulate strength before bursting forth with his high agility propelling him forward.

nWhoosh!

nWith how drastic the change in Valyr’s speed was, a gale would form wherever he moved, causing the skeletons he passed by along the way to take notice of his presence and try to land an attack as he moved past them. However, with the large disparity between his stats and theirs, what instead ended up happening was their death under Valyr’s attacks, with the latter only needing to do a simple strike to end their lives.

n‘I think I can finally feel the effects of the innate skill…’ Though Valyr continued to move at high speeds through the surprisingly long corridor, killing the skeletons he came across with one hit, the young man seemed to notice that his spear was gradually absorbing energy from his body, causing his speed to gradually become slower with the passage of time. In fact, this effect did not only extend to his speed as he felt that the strength behind his attacks was gradually getting weaker as well.

n‘You’re not intentionally doing this, right?’ Wondering if it had something to do with the soul awakened inside his spear, Valyr went ahead and sent a message to Sana, who unsurprisingly replied at the very instant it was allowed to.

n‘I’m not, Master.’ Listening to his spear’s words, Valyr could feel a sense of guilt hidden beneath the statement. ‘After all, why would I hurt the one who had allowed me to become sentient in the first place? I would become ungrateful to you, Master, if I did.’

n‘Though, with how I’ve gained the power to harm you due to the curse, I am not entirely sure.’ At these words, Sana fell silent, giving Valyr the feeling of immense guilt the more time passed, as if his spear was telling him that it was incredibly sorry through its feelings. Eventually, a sigh echoed within Valyr’s mind as Sana’s voice resounded once again.

n‘I’ll try to figure out the root cause of your weakening, Master,’ said Sana to him. ‘You don’t have to do anything different. Just continue what you’re doing, and I’ll take care of it.’

n‘I’ll leave it up to you, then.’ Ending their conversation there, Valyr went ahead and increased the force behind his every step, wanting to make the most of every bit of strength he had before it dropped to its lowest point. Because of it, he took a lazier approach in killing the skeletons he came across, extending out his spear towards the skeletons as he allowed the momentum to do all of the heavy lifting for him.

nDing!

nYou have slain a Level 25 Skeleton (Elite). You have gained 1 XP.

nFortunately, the system considered it as a valid attack.

n…

nAround 20 minutes had passed since Valyr entered the Common Caves, his current location being the latter end of the long corridor. Just like before, his spear remained extended towards the skeletons, allowing the momentum he built up through his running to do all of the heavy lifting as he was still able to kill all of them in one blow.

nIn fact, he had already collected 4 Common grade Skill Keys because of this.

nHowever, when compared to earlier, his overall combat strength was now considerably worse, with his stats already down by 24% because of the innate skill his spear had. Of course, it was still more than enough strength for him to overwhelm the skeletons in one hit. Nevertheless, he inwardly let out a long sigh, thinking that he would have reached the large space by now if it wasn’t for the innate skill.

n‘In any case, I only need to run for a couple more minutes and I’ll be at the entrance to the space.’ Psyching himself up for what was basically a windfall of Skill Keys, Valyr took in a deep breath before doubling down on the force he put into his legs, causing him to temporarily speed up as he continued to traverse the absurdly long corridor of the Common Caves.

n‘I figured it out, Master!’ Coincidentally, just as he had begun to put in more effort into his running, Sana’s voice resounded throughout his mind, causing him to focus a bit of his attention to its voice while his body continued to slay all of the skeletons it came across.

neαglesnᴏνel ‘So, what’s causing the decrease in my stats?’

n‘Well, the good part is that I’m not the one causing it, even subconsciously,’ replied Sana, prompting Valyr to nod in understanding.

n‘And the bad part?’

n‘It’s my body that’s causing it.’

nHearing these words come from Sana, a bitter smile appeared on Valyr’s face, while Sana gave off an immense feeling of guilt once more, allowing the former to feel how sorry the latter was at what it was doing, even if it had no control over the matter.

n‘To further clarify, while you’re holding me during combat, the body that contains my soul is passively siphoning energy from you every time a certain amount of time passes, causing you to grow weaker until the body reaches a limit on how much energy it could siphon.’

n‘Is there a way to make its effects weaker?’ asked Valyr, still keeping an eye on the path ahead of him. ‘Or perhaps a way to negate it?’

n‘Unfortunately, there is none, Master.’ At these words, Valyr let out a slightly exasperated sigh as he returned his focus to what was ahead of him, channeling the slight rage and indignance he felt over the matter towards his attacks at the skeletons, which surprisingly gave him two more Common grade Skill Keys.

nNevertheless, this rage and indignance swiftly disappeared as a thought surfaced in his mind.

n‘Well, it could be worse.’

nThough, not long after, a bitter smile adorned his face as he continued the train of thought. ‘More like, it would become worse.’

nThud.

n“Finally reached the end of the corridor.” Reducing his momentum to a halt, Valyr now stood at the entrance of the large space he had seen earlier. However, unlike before, where he only saw skeletons that numbered up to dozens at most, he instead saw skeletons that numbered in the hundreds.

nWith his mouth slightly agape in surprise, he took a look at the large space in detail, taking note of the fact that the space spanned over a few thousand square meters in area, though Valyr felt that it was bigger due to its slightly uneven interior. After looking at it for a bit more, he took note that there were five doors scattered throughout the walls of the large space, prompting him to recall where the five doors would lead him to.

n‘If I remember correctly, these dungeons seem procedurally generated, having different rooms to traverse every time you enter the dungeon.’ Fortunately, it did not take long for him to remember his delves in the Common Caves back when he was a player, only taking a few seconds to do so. ‘With that, I think I need to go through 10 rooms before I can leave the dungeon? I’m not too sure.’

n‘In any case, the more rooms I go through, the more Skill Keys I am bound to get.’ Psyching himself up once more, Valyr ignored the fact that his stats were significantly lowered as he took in a deep breath before assessing the situation in front of him. Once he was certain of his game plan, he then dashed forward, allowing the skeletons closest to him to take notice of his presence before proceeding to start their offensive.

n“Offense Aura.”

nWhoosh!

nAs Valyr was making his way to where the skeletons were, with the latter group doing the same thing, a faint red haze gradually covered his body from head to toe, causing him to feel that his might had returned to what it was from before he entered the dungeon.

nThen, seeing as the skeletons were only a couple tens of meters away from him, a grin appeared on his face as he stopped in his tracks, forming a connection with Shadow Energy as he unleashed the skill he knew best that would wipe out the skeletons in one go.

n“Shadow Serpent Style.”

n“Tide of the Dark Night.”

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