As the sun touched down on the horizon, the clouds shifted their colour to a deep orange and red.
*Swish. Swish. Swish.*
Over the dense canopy of the visceral forest, a small red imp glided silently above the towering trees.
*Shh.*
"Hmm...?"
The imp's eyes narrowed. Something had moved in the distance.
Without wasting another second, he shot towards it.
Below, a monster prowled through the undergrowth, lizard-like in shape, yet several times larger than any ordinary one. Long claws scraped against the earth. Three thick tails swept behind it. Thousands of old scars carved across its body like a map of past battles. But now, It was searching for food.
"Okay."
The imp touched the iron ring on his finger. In an instant, the skin of both his hands transformed — hardening, darkening, shifting into solid iron.
*Tang. Tang. Tang. Tang.*
He slammed his hands together, producing a sharp, ringing sound that cut through the forest air.
"Hissss...?"
The monster froze. Confused, it snapped its head upward, searching for the source of the sound.
But the moment it looked up—
*Swish. Swish. Swish.*
Three dark blades emerged from three different directions simultaneously, slicing clean through its body — head, tail, and torso.
*Thud. Thud. Thud.*
"...That was clean."
Leon stepped out of the bushes, his expression calm and indifferent.
[Congratulations! You have Levelled Up.]
"Master." Dusk deactivated his invisibility, materialising silently beside the monster's torso. "This Vadizard has a mana core. Look."
*Bite.*
He tore open the torso without hesitation and pulled out a small, green glowing rock from within.
"Let's see..."
[Name: Vadizard's Mana Core]
[Rank: D]
[Description: A Vadizard is a very fragile and agile creature. They can alter their body colour to blend seamlessly into their surroundings. It is nearly impossible to capture one alive for taming.]
"Another D-ranked monster..." Leon muttered, his brow furrowing slightly as he glanced toward Dusk. "How deep are we inside the forest?"
"I have no idea, Master. But I believe we are fairly deep — the fact that we are crossing paths with a Vadizard is proof enough for that. They are natural prey to my kind." Dusk replied, his expression neutral.
"We need to go even deeper." Leon turned his gaze forward. "Imp, continue searching for monsters."
"Yes, Master."
The imp's hands reverted to normal. He rose back into the air and resumed his search.
Leon stared quietly at his inventory as he dropped the D-ranked core inside.
---
— Inventory —
73x F-Rank Mana Cores
52x E-Rank Mana Cores
25x D-Rank Mana Cores
500x Monster Body Parts
---
'One hundred and fifty mana cores in total, most of them F-rank. Around two hundred corpses cut down into parts. And I've levelled up to Level 20 in just one hour.
The progress is decent... but not good enough. I need to find higher-ranked monsters and get more experience points.'
Leon closed his inventory, his expression unreadable.
"Master... look."
Dusk walked up to a nearby tree and began dragging his paws slowly across its bark.
"What is it?" Leon asked, glancing over.
"A Worldroot Tree, Master."
Leon's eyes snapped toward it. "What?"
Without wasting another second, Leon used his skill on it.
[Name: Worldroot Tree]
[Race: Tree]
[Rank: S]
[Description: A mysterious tree that continuously wanders throughout forests. Cannot be spotted or identified by humans, elves, or demons.]
"I've seen one of these before..." Leon murmured, studying the tree. "Last time I crossed this forest with that slime, we passed through one just like this. But how did you even notice it? It looks completely identical to every other tree here."
"It's difficult to explain, Master. It's more like... a feeling." Dusk said. "When we draw close to one, we can sense its presence."
"I see." Leon folded his arms. "So where does this one lead?"
"That's what I'm trying to determine, but..." Dusk's paws stilled against the bark. "...something is wrong. The tree's other side isn't speaking to me properly. It's as though something is preventing it."
"What's preventing it?"
"I can't quite tell. It's communicating, but the words are... broken. Fragmented." Dusk paused, tilting his head. "It keeps saying — 'rapped in side geon.' I don't understand what a side geon is."
Leon stared at him flatly. "...Is it perhaps saying trapped inside a dungeon?"
"Oh." Dusk turned back to the tree and resumed scratching the trunk. "Are you trapped inside a dungeon?"
A short silence passed.
"It says yes, Master." Dusk replied.
Leon's eyes narrowed. "Then why can't it simply teleport itself out?"
"Under normal circumstances, no dungeon would be capable of confining a Worldroot Tree — they are far too powerful for that." Dusk's tone grew heavier. "But this one is trapped. Which means the dungeon holding it, this is anything but ordinary."
He turned to face Leon directly.
"To restrain a Worldroot Tree, a dungeon must be at minimum Realm-Hold class — or as humans classify it, SS-rank."
Leon went still.
"...Did you say SS-rank?"
"Yes, Master." Dusk nodded. "These dungeons are capable of containing entire realms within themselves and can persist for thousands of centuries. When they overflow with mana, a bridge forms between the dungeon and a world such as this one. That is when the monsters sealed inside begin to cross over."
Leon was quiet for a moment. Then—
"Can we enter it?"
"Master." Dusk's voice dropped. The usual neutrality in his expression was gone, replaced by something rare — genuine unease. "We should not go anywhere near a Realm-Hold dungeon. It would be certain death. Every monster within is sentient. Every single one of them is far stronger than either of us."
He paused, his eyes distant.
"I entered one once... out of pure curiosity. It took me three years just to escape. Every single day inside was a fight for my life."
"I see." Leon replied simply.
[Quest Found]
[Quest: World Tree's Grace]
[Rank: S]
[Description: Enter the SS-rank dungeon and free the Worldroot Tree from within. Successfully rescue the tree and escape the dungeon — and the Worldroot Tree will grant you a reward befitting your efforts.]
[Reward: Unknown]
[Would you like to accept the quest?][Yes/No ?]
Leon stared at the notification for a moment.
Then, slowly, a small smile crossed his face.
"Hey, Dusk."
"Yes, Master?"
"Ask the tree to let us in."
"U-Umm... What Master ?" Dusk asked with a confused expression.
"Ask the tree to let us into the dungeon so we can free it's other side." Leon replied with a smile.
"Master... The dungeon is-" Before dusk could've completed his sentence, his paw sank into the tree's trunk.
"Ah look... The tree opened up the path, let's go." Leon spoke as he immediately jumped inside the tree's trunk without wasting another second.
"Fuck." Dusk spoke as he also jumped inside the tree following Leon.
"Wooooohooooooooooo...." Leon shouted in joy as he slided down the tree's trunk as if it's some kind of amusement park ride.
Dusk followed behind him with a neutral expression on his face.
*Thud-Thud*
Both of them came out from the other side and a bright light shined on their eyes.
"What the fuck ?" Leon asked as he slowly opened his eyes and noticed that he was sitting on an open grassland.
The sun was shining brightly in the sky and winds were blowing naturally.
"Is this really a dungeon ?" Leon asked as he stood up and turned around only to notice the Worldroot tree.
It was the only tree on the whole grassland.
"It's a realm inside the dungeon master... I think this is a resting area of some kind. These areas are common in these dungeons." Dusk explained.
"I didn't knew these areas had kingdoms in them." Leon spoke with a neutral expression as he pointed towards the south.
"What kingd-" As soon as Dusk turned his head towards the pointed direction, his eyes widened in shock.
"T-That's not possible... A kingdom inside a dungeon. That shouldn't... be possible." Dusk spoke with a confused expression as he couldn't understand what was happening.
"Let's go and check it out." Leon spoke with a smile as he started walking towards the kingdom.
"Master... We should stay cautious, we don't know what kind of creatures are living inside-"
"Hey look there are some kids playing there..." Leon spoke as he pointed towards the children.
Some of them were humans, some were elfs and some were of beastkin.
"Now that's a weird combination of kids I have seen for the first time. Dusk turn into your cat form." Leon ordered.
"Yes, Master." Dusk replied as he immediately shaked his body and his size started to shrink down.
In just a few seconds he turned into a small black cat.
Both of them started walking towards the kids...
"You can't do that that's cheating." The human boy spoke with a serious expression.
"No, No, No... I touched the stone first so I win and you lose now you are crying." Elf girl replied with a smile as she looked at him.
"No I was talking about the magic... You used magic didn't you ?" The boy spoke with a serious expression.
"I-I didn't use magic... Y-You are lying." The elf girl replied in a stuttering tone as she looked at him.
"I think you did... Even I can't run that fast." Another beastkin boy spoke as he looked at her.
"I-I didn't used magic... Why are you guys lying ?" The elf girl spoke as tears started to appear in her eyes.
"What's wrong with using magic ?" Leon's voice came from a distance.
All the kids immediately turned their heads towards him with confused expressions.
"Isn't magic a good thing ?" Leon asked with a smile as he walked upto the kids.
"You aren't from here are you ?" One of the human kid asked as he grabbed Leon's right hand and started looking at it with a confused expression.
"How do you know ?" Leon asked with a neutral expression as his eyes immediately fell over the kid's right hand and there was a tattoo on it.
The tattoo looked very similar to a sigil with two swords crossing a unicorn's head.
"You don't have the mark of any house... are you a newcomer ?" The kid asked with a confused expression.
"What if I say, I am ?" Leon asked with a neutral expression.
"The newcomers must meet elder Morin and elder Trody." The elf girl spoke as she walked upto Leon.
"Can you take me to them, little girl ?" Leon asked.
"My name is Elissa and I am not a little girl... I am 20 years old." Elissa replied with a pouting and angry expression.
"I know someone who has a similar name to you and 20 elf years are around 4 human years. Now how about you tell me why you can't use magic ?" Leon asked as he looked at her with a neutral expression.
"The rules of our kingdom, Sephir. No one can use magic, if someone is found using magic they will be executed immediately. Although I don't know the meaning to executed but I can tell you it's not a good thing." The human boy spoke as he looked at Leon.
"It is not kid... Say, if I used magic right now what will happen ?" Leon asked with a confused expression.
"If no one sees you... Nothing but if the guards see you, they will throw you in jail." The beastkin kid replied with a neutral expression.
"Sounds like a bad place... Huh ?" Leon spoke with a smile as he pulled out a wooden bead from his pocket.
He immediately applied some blast seals over the wooden bead and threw it towards the Kingdom's entrance.
"I don't know but my mother and father says that it's a very horrible place and only bad people go there."
"Why are you throwing stones towards the kingdom ?" Elissa asked with a confused expression.
"Yeah cover your ears... especially you." Leon spoke as he pointed towards the beastkin boy.
All of them immediately covered their ears and looked at the Kingdom's gate with a confused expression.
"Kaboom.."
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
Suddenly a loud explosion took place in front of the Kingdom's gate but no one was harmed in it.
"Dusk... do it as planned." Leon spoke with a smile.
"Yes master." Dusk spoke as he immediately disappeared into the air.
-x-X-x-