Auron did not even have time to celebrate the success of his dive and spin magic attack as he blasted out of the dungeon. Flipping through the clay beach, he was able to see his screens stationary health bar tick down with each impact. He flew so hard he shot over the scar in the land caused by the giant flying monster that bit it.

After a few more flips, he came to a painful stop, his feet sloping up toward the dungeon. He could see the swamp water from where he was lying, but it was upside down. "Okay, a few notes to self about that attack" Auron pushed himself back upright and spit a wad of sand out of his mouth. "One. Need an anchor or something. I do not want to do a repeat flight." He stood up and made his way back toward the entrance. "Two. Never do wind magic while laying on my stomach." He said as he looked down at his torn up stomach. The aches and pains everywhere on his body threatened to overwhelm his senses. Auron had thought his magic would be more natural to point and use. When activating stealth, it was pretty straight forward. Wind magic seemed to be a completely different entity. In the future, he knew he would have to be more careful.

Slightly blinded by the sudden increase in light, Auron fearfully looked back at the dark water of the swamp. In the full light of midday, he was able to see that the water glowed an ominous purple with specks shining green algae also glowing. Knowing he was once wading in that disgusting toxic cesspool made him blanch in fear. A splash sounding from some distant part of the area was all the encouragement he needed to high tail it back.

Auron scrambled away from the swamp water and backed up into the dungeon, avoiding the crater in the land. He was not ready to deal with those level 5 Alligator beasts yet. He suppressed a shiver and stretched his previously mutilated calf as he made his way back inside. Auron activated healing wind to bring his battered Hp gauge back up. He made a firm mental note that his dual wind blast ate up nearly half of his Mana.

Auron chuckled at the repeated greeting message on his screen. Taking a few steps into the dungeon and tripped on something. Falling flat on his face, he quickly pushed himself up and tried to get into some sort of battle-ready position. Turning around, he did not see any kind of oncoming attack. What he saw only confused him.

He realized these must have been the drop from the Rat bat he killed when he was under the influence of dungeon madness. Auron happily grabbed the boots and slipped them on. He wondered why his wind magic did not hit them, but then realized they must have been to the side out of the range of the attack. This time equipping an item made him feel a bit tougher. His skin seemed slightly less thin. He pinched it to test and winced when it still hurt.

The feeling of toughness was most likely due to his durability going over 10 for the first time. Auron made another mental note to try and figure out the debuff set on his stats. This was even more prevalent after he ate, and only the physical aspect was removed. Auron wondered what kind of mental block was holding him back as he walked back down the cavern.

As he moved, he stretched his feet out in his new boots and kept an eye on his surroundings. Each step down to the depths diminished the light as he moved further away from the entrance.

After a few minutes of walking, he reached the remains of one of the rats. Using inspection, he found nothing. 

Auron felt indifferent as he looked at the last body. Killing something up close was much more taxing on his conscious than using his magic from a difference, but he could not entirely escape the guilt he was beginning to feel. Grabbing that feeling, he thought on it for a moment. Initially, he did not want to fight at all, but from what Zander said, it was clear this world required fighting to survive. If he needed to change, he would do so gradually. Rather than shy away from the guilt, he would take it head-on, and use it to grow as a person into who he needed to be.

Finding another gemstone and the final piece in his equipment set was enough to distract him from the existential thought process.

Slipping on the odd cape hood combo garment, Auron felt more robust immediately. He slipped the gemstone into his pocket with the other two. A quick look at his stats confirmed the minor increases given by the set.

Auron finished inspecting his updated stats and walked back into the open cavern with the stream that held his new favorite food. Remembering that he voided his stomach earlier, he walked over and knelt to pick up another handful and scoop up a few sips of the water.

Finding the water and Algae to be just as delicious as ever, Auron decided to use his newly upgraded inspection skill to reason out why. Unfortunately, he only received the same information about the Algae, and the water did not even seem to give any info at all. He held some of both in his hands toward his face and tried one more time. Nothing new happened, but he did notice a faint reaction from his skill in the corner of his eye. On the wall where the stream disappeared into, there was a rock setting off his skill. When he walked over, a message popped off.

Auron pressed the switch and watched a slot slightly shorter than him open in the wall, his mind going directly to the illusory walls found in Dark Souls. Tempted to roll dodge over to it, but remembering what Zander would think, he just walked over like a normal person. The entry was a little short for him, but he squeezed through. Auron swallowed his fear and hoped the room was not some hidden trap, waiting for a foolish adventurer to take the system at its word. The system had not let him down so far. He then crouched and walked through the passage.

After ten or so steps forward, he found a circular room about the size of a small bedroom. On the ground, there was a bedroll and a small wooden box. *Bing*

Skeptically Auron activated his inspect skill and looked around the room. There was a switch next to the entrance matching the one he activated to open this room. Scanning the rest of the room showed no reactions other than the box.

He pressed the switch, and the wall slowly closed. Even the sound of the bubbling stream was blocked off. As soon as he pushed the switch, a large XII appeared above where the door was.

Pressing it again opened the path, but the letters remained. After testing it several times and finally trusting it, Auron sat down on the poor flat excuse for a bedroll and picked up the chest.

Holding it and giving it a slight shake like he would a Christmas present Auron slowly opened it. Auron assumed the prize would be good. He felt if the system was going to have all of that fanfare, he should gain a reward for his find. Pulling open the seamless wooden box, He peered inside. Resting on a small stub was a simple looking brass ring.