[A promise has been made ⁠— Just like in times of old, compromises and promises go hand in hand. 

“I cannot do this, I will not kill you, that is a promise. In exchange, promise me that when the time comes, you’ll give your life for me, not for the empire, but for me.” ⁠— Sansan, heir of the Death Empire to Nameless.]

I stared at the notification, completely lost. Didn’t quotes only show up in titles⁠— No, that didn’t matter. The promise… Was it real? It… wasn’t it supposed to be a trap to deceive me? I didn’t have to fight to the death at this moment? I couldn’t stop thinking about it, it all seemed so… unbelievable. 

The Collector pulled his hand, helping me stand up in a wobble. I simply stared at him, the man that had strangled me before now had helped me stand up and even made a… promise? 

“So you know.” He fiddled with his glove, veins visible on his face. “Promises are very painful.” 

“Painful?” 

Din⁠— [Bracelet of Compromise has advanced to: Bracelet of Promise]

The notification went off in my mind, as if it were a chain reaction a flare of pain went off in my hand, then it traveled through the veins as if it were a pressure valve before going to the rest of my body⁠— searing pain coursed through my skin and innards. My legs wobbled before I collapsed on the ground gnashing my teeth. I could barely see the black lines through my bandage, they ran down my arm once again, and the bracelet was once again shining as if it were hot iron in a furnace. 

Had I been deceived? Had I been too careless? Too accepting? My mind rushed for answers as my vision struggled to focus on anything. I barely got to see the Collector whose face was tense, his⁠— his face was full of black veins as well. So I hadn’t been deceived…

I tried to exhale a sigh of relief, but it got stuck in my throat. The pain increased; a sensation of constant burning irritation and numbness traveled throughout my body, wherever the veins traveled and dug, wherever they burrowed, no matter the seconds that passed. The pain didn’t fade. 

I began coughing saliva onto the grass as I rolled on the ground. The pain was much worse than whenever the Bracelet of Compromise had been activated before. It continued for what felt like forever before it faded. All I could do was pathetically lay on the ground gasping for air, sweat ran through my body and the cold grass beneath me did nothing to cool me down. My eyes simply looked at the sky as I tried to relax. 

“You’re still conscious, impressive.” The Collector’s indifferent voice reached my ears. 

“You⁠—” I breathed. “Did you have to bear that pain as well?” 

The grass crunched under his steps. “It’s part of what it means to make a promise with the bracelet after all.” 

I took a deep breath. “Why?” 

“I have nothing to lose.” He took another step, his body cast a shadow over me, and he locked eyes with me. “Not breaking the promise is easy for me, but for you? It might not be so. After all, for a human you’re relatively lively after your two encounters with death.” 

My two encounters with death? I thought as the flashes of memory came to me. Ralt, and Gartz. One killed indirectly and one killed directly. The gore from the alleyway was still fresh in my mind, but⁠⁠— I frowned. 

“Most people would take quite a while to recover from what you’ve been through.” He nonchalantly said as he turned away. “Needless to say you’re much less human than what you think.” 

I tried to stand up, my chest still heaved up and down, sweat trickled down my face. “So you would still kill me at a moment’s notice?” 

He shook his head, though all I could see was his back. “Killing you would break the promise of helping you become stronger. Just like thinking you’re not human would break your promise.” 

“And…” I gulped. “If either of us breaks it…” 

He nodded. “Whoever breaks it, dies.”

I frowned. This seemed too lenient. “What is your goal?” 

“My goal?” He pondered. “Kill all monsters, that’s always been my goal. Should you become one, the promise will kill you.” 

That⁠— “It doesn’t explain why help me…” I looked at the ground, my left hand grasped onto it with the most strength I could muster. I was weak. I was so pathetically weak… 

“Part of it is curiosity,” he answered. “The other was that the person you know as The Scholar wanted you and the last reason is something you cannot know.” 

I stared at the grass. I felt as if I still had no choices. “Then what happens now?” 

He turned towards me, his face was the same as ever. “I will offer guidance to get stronger, and the means to do so. You’re now officially Collector-girl-one.” 

I stared at him. “Excuse me?” 

“Your official work title is GR1, it’s the name you must use from now on.” He said seriously. “However, I’ll call you Leah for as long as we know each other.” 

I thought for a second. “But… if GR1 is my name or title just like Paladin Number 39, then why do you call me by my name?” 

“Because titles are a necessity around here.” 

I grumbled in a whisper. “That still explains nothing…” 

“Because I say so.” Ah, he was able to hear me... “Get up and follow me.” He began walking, the grass crunched after every step. 

Rolling to face down, I put my left on the ground and pushed up to stand; it wobbled, but I still managed to stand up. My entire body was shaking from the effort I was putting in. I felt drained of all energy, the heat I once felt was now a refreshing cold, but⁠ I couldn’t stop staring at The Collector. He walked at a normal pace yet⁠— 

Had he gone through the same pain as me? 

I shook my head and chased after him, he walked through the corridor at a leisure pace as I did my best to simply keep up. But there was also something that bothered me now that I had a bit of time to think. 

Most people would take quite a while to recover from what you’ve been through. His voice echoed through my head as I remembered everything that had happened so far, a lot had happened. And yet in retrospect everytime I had woken up the feelings had mostly faded. That wasn’t particularly normal, was it? I had gotten over it too fast. 

I stared at my hands, recalling how I had tried or injured people already. It was self-defense but… I had done so, so easily… A sigh escaped me. At the corner of my eye I saw the bracelet on my stiff arm. It was different now. Its silver plain metal had now become ornamented with a myriad of carvings, its color became darker from the shadows cast inside the labyrinth of crevices. Bracelet of Promises? 

 The Collector stood on his tracks before a door, evidently we had reached our destination. It didn’t take long before he opened the door in a silent motion and stepped into the room that was beyond it. A square big open room with bookshelves and a desk in the middle as its centerpiece. Following behind him, I closed the door. When I turned around, he was already sitting behind the desk. 

“Take a seat.” He loosely gestured towards the two chairs in front of his desk. 

The light poured in from the ceiling, the dust floated around like particles of light, and The Collector simply sat there using his hands as support for his head. He had a deep frown while simply staring at me. Had I done something wrong? I felt slightly stiff waddling over to the nearest chair and sitting on it, its wooden base scraping against the floor in the process. As soon as I took my place, he relaxed on the backrest. 

“You’re a dungeon core that believes themselves to be human⁠—”

I interrupted him. “That⁠—”

“Therefore you’re human for now, since you’ve shown yourself to be more than just a murder machine,” he completed his sentence narrowing his eyes in displeasure at me. “Part of the promise is teaching you. Knowledge is power, or so they say.” 

I shouldn’t interrupt him from now on. Making a mental note to myself, I nodded on my chair feeling his annoyance. 

“This is where I ask, how much do you know of The Beyond?” My brain filtered his words as The System. “Children unlike Dungeons start off without knowing anything, as you may know.” I nodded. “So should I treat you like a child or as if you knew everything?” 

I pondered for less than a second before I made my decision. It was demeaning, but I had no options. “A child… preferably a kid who knows nothing beyond the surface level…” 

I knew things about The System, but it all felt basic. Learn a skill every ten levels. Stats increase in a uniform way and titles are the ones that modify them. Passive skills. Mana. Affinities. But I also didn’t know what exactly affinities were, nor what the stats for humans or other races were. There was only one thing that I understood. I wasn’t strong enough.

The Collector thought for a second. “Then I will ask questions, you will answer, and I will supplement your information.” 

“That works.” I didn’t waste a second to reply. 

“Very well.” He nodded. “First question, what do you know about levels?” 

I pondered trying to put the information in a concise manner. “You level up from killing beings, and each race has its own limit and xp requirement and thresholds.” 

He nodded in approval. “Though, most races do not have a limit. The descriptions generally cover the ones that do.” He took a brief moment to think. “I shall assume your corrupted race is limited.” 

I tensed up. If he knew I couldn’t grow stronger past a certain point… What would he do? “It is…”

“Then I will begin my next question to supplement that. What do you know about affinities?” 

Affinities? What I knew about affinities? “The elements I can use?” I said half-guessing myself. I recalled what The System had said. 

[Affinity: Darkness (Tier 1) ⁠— You’ve just begun to comprehend the Darkness, you can summon darkness to enhance things that you’re touching.] 

“And how good you’re with them…” I awkwardly finished my statement. 

He shook his head. “You could say that’s the basics of affinities. But what affinities truly are is the path to strength. Without high advancement in your affinities you’re a nobody regardless of level. Stats will help, but affinity tiers will be your lifeline.” 

I paused. “And… How do I increase my affinity?” 

“Comprehension.” He said without missing a beat. “Once you’ve comprehended the element of your affinity enough it advances. At the first tier you cannot do much, at the second tier you stop needing to use skills, at the third it becomes an extension of your body, at the fourth your body becomes the element. And at the fifth…” He closed his eyes. “The fifth allows you to be uncontested. Unrivaled. You control the world around you. The sixth⁠— no need to get into that for all I know is rumors.” 

“If I increase my affinity tier, then I won’t be in trouble anymore?” 

He nodded then opened his eyes. “What is your mana?” 

I sighed. “Nine…” 

He frowned. “You’re going to need mana stones or you will not last any battle.” 

I… yeah that sounded correct. But I had to ask then⁠— “What is a normal amount of mana, and what stats are normal?”

“Normal amount is 100.” He reeled his chair back, stood up and knelt beneath his desk. “A human adult will have 50 on all of his stats at level one. For a 50 stat average.” 

Huh… Before I could open my status, The Collector rose from the table and put a small vial in front of me. This time it had transparent blue swirling liquid instead of red. 

Di⁠— [Low Grade Mana Potion] 

“Drink it.” I nodded and picked up the vial.

I stared at the transparent liquid, it was a deep ocean blue color with black swirling dots. Feeling The Collector’s gaze I uncorked it with my teeth given that my right arm was useless. I stared at the potion for a second, but drank it in the end. The moment it touched my tongue I winced. It was sweet. Overwhelming  to the point it numbed my tongue, the dots⁠—beads passed through my mouth and some got stuck at the back of my teeth that I had to bite, they were sticky like gum⁠⁠ and hard to pass. 

Ding⁠— 

I ignored the notification that talked about my mana regenerating. I took shallow breaths with my mouth, the coldness of the air somewhat easing my tongue and teeth a bit. The Collector said nothing and simply stared as I regained my bearings. 

“Feel free to check your status.” 

I meekly nodded at his emotionless words. “Status.” 

Name: Leah | Branded name: Unavailable

Level: 32 | Race: D̶̻̫͗̒ȇ̸̟͖̔̇s̸͈͆̅̓c̶͇͆̎͠ͅe̴͎̍ǹ̵̢͗ḑ̵̜͆e̴̗̰͑̈́̓d̸͕̻̮̒̆̑ Dungeon Core 

Passive skill: Calculated Danger Perception | Blessing: Night’s Embrace

Attribute Average: 93 | Max attribute average: 232

Mana: 9 | STR: 101 | DEX: 121 | END: 101 | AGI: 101 | CHA: 84 | SUB: 151

Affinities: Darkness (Tier 1) Skills: Darkness Sight (Passive), Darkness Needle (II)

I was twice as strong as a level 1 adult human? That didn’t sound… How had I managed to survive in the first place? No, it didn’t matter. I shook my head, getting rid of such thoughts. I was here now, and I was going to get help in the form of a promise.

I stared at The Collector. 

Even if the possibility of the promise being twisted existed⁠—

“Do you have any questions regarding your status?” He asked, interrupting my thoughts. 

“I do…” I had a lot of questions. 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

Hours of back and forth questions passed. 

The tiers in skills increased in a much similar manner to the tiers in affinities. Comprehend the skill and level it up. Certain skills could evolve into a better form of themselves if the slots allowed. There was no maximum amount of skills that one could have, and it always stayed at one per ten levels. The reason for my race being corrupted was unknown to The Collector. I had also decided to not talk about ascension. 

The light inside the room had slightly dimmed but The Collector was as collected⁠ as always, impervious to all emotions but the indifference on his face⁠— if indifference was an emotion. 

“I have one last question…” 

“Go ahead.” I thought he’d be fed up by now… 

I hesitated but decided to ask. “Why do titles have quotes, and what are they?” 

He closed his eyes to think for a bit. “Titles tend to favor quotes from the most recent era over everything else. The quotes themselves are important moments of history, or that are deemed important by The Beyond.” He shook his head. “Such as the silly tale of love of Sansan.” 

I paused. “Tale of love?” 

“You’ll figure it out soon enough. It’s no secret what Sansan did, where it led, and where it rests now.” He opened his eyes, staring at me. “Are those all your questions?”

I almost instantly nodded, feeling urged by his stare, but managed to think for a brief second. In the end, I can’t really ask him about my quests, not about changing the era, not about ascension. 

“Those are all my questions,” I sighed. 

“Good.” He slowly stood up from the chair as he walked past me. “We got places to be.” 

I paused. “We?” 

He nodded. “A weapon to replace your stakes, and…” He looked at me from head to toe for a brief second. “Mana stones though I am unsure where you may want to fit them.” 

“Mana stones?” Right… He had mentioned them earlier. 

“It will be easier to explain on the way there.” He looked at the skylight. “This questionnaire took too long.”