Byron swiftly moved through the densely packed trees, his eyes darted left and right as he moved as if searching for something.

His swift movements abruptly stopped as he sensed movements in the distance.

He leaped from the branch he was standing on and landed in some bushes nearby.

Shortly after, three cloaked figures appeared on a tree nearby.

Byron couldn’t hear their conversation even when he infused life force in his ears to enhance his hearing.

It was like no sounds were leaving their mouths, even though they were talking.

It was a confusing sight even for Byron, who had seen many strange things since the advent of the system.

Byron watched as the tallest cloaked figure waved his hands and the ground beneath the tree he was standing on vanished to reveal a gaping hole that sucked the tree and the cloaked figures in.

The hole was bitch black and seemed to devour all the surrounding light.

Byron began to feel unnerved the more he looked at it, doubts began to creep into his mind, ‘Maybe I should go look somewhere else? that doesn’t look safe-’

Byron slapped himself before he could finish the thought, it was unnatural of him to start having doubts so suddenly, he was a confident person even before the system came that would follow through when he made a decision.

He would never doubt or regret a decision unless he had no choice in the matter, even then he would still do it with a hundred percent effort.

‘What in the five gods was that?’ The hole in front of him piqued his curiosity, despite what just happened, what dangers were ahead? Who were these people? And more importantly, what was down there?

All these questions ran rampant in Byron’s mind, excitement bubbled inside a grin slowly formed on his face as he considered the possibilities.

He knew danger awaited, he also knew that he could only grow in danger, while he liked the idea of steady growth, it didn’t fit his style.

Explosive growth felt good to him, it sounded right to him, Byron believed that one should never get complacent.

He was glad he didn’t go brain dead when the system showed him true power, he would adapt and evolve until he had such power or even greater than what he was shown.

With his mind made up, Byron dove headfirst into the gaping hole that was slowly closing up.

He found himself floating in the white void he became all too familiar with, in a flash of light, the world around him changed.

The smell of stale air assaulted his nose, he looked around, narrow dimly lit corridors stretched on into the distance, dirty puddles formed in the uneven flooring, and dirty moss grew on the black brick walls.

Ding!

‘The cosmos below? Such a strange name,’ Byron thought, he had no time to ponder about the strange name as a splashing sound broke him from his thoughts.

The darkness greatly obscured his vision, even after infusing life force into his eyes he still couldn’t see clearly, he quickly redirected the life force into his ears.

With his enhanced ears, he heard the sound again, his head snapped in its direction.

Byron coated his entire body with drain life, and took a fighting stance, the sound sounded closer each second passed.

A vaguely humanoid figure broke through the unnaturally dark darkness and entered Byron’s range of sight, it looked melted and dropped green pus that burnt the brinks when it fell on it.

Byron’s face cringed as he saw the ugly monster, he had no range attacks so he didn’t know what to do.

In a moment of genius, Byron got an idea he willed the aura that drain life produced into the form of a ghostly clawed hand and extended it toward the monster.

As soon as it made contact with the monster’s skin, it screamed and backed away, the unexpected reaction momentarily broke Byron's concentration and the ghostly hand faded out of existence.

Not wanting it to get away, out of fear of it returning with others of its kind, Byron dashed after it.

The monster turned to see him chasing after it and sped up.

It surprised Byron that the monster could move so fast; he wanted to infuse his feet with life force to catch up, but he didn’t know the layout of the dungeon.

The monster did, it could lure him into a trap and he wasn’t going to take that risk.

He willed the skill to produce the same ghostly hand and shot it after the monster’s head, once it connected Byron felt a torrent of life force enter his body through the skill.

His body greedily drank it all, his hair glowed faint green as it grew a few inches longer, and his muscles condensed as he grew taller.

The monster’s head rapidly solidified, and its body lost its ghostly green glow, it toppled over and broke apart.

Byron clenched his hands, feeling newfound strength flowing through his body, waiting for his call.

He didn’t know why his strength grew when he drained the monster, he had drained plenty of things on his way before he reached the dungeon, but they were only plants.

Byron wondered what the difference was, did plants simply not have enough life force to cause such changes? He would test it later when he was out of the dungeon, for sure.

Happy with his small victory, he started walking in the direction the monster came from, if they were so easy to defeat, he would be leveling up very soon.

Byron just hope the cloaked figures didn’t stake all the loot, that would be disappointing, that was one of the main reasons he came here after all.

Byron wondered how they even found such a place if they didn’t try to kill him first, that is.