Once the guards lowered the magical silver barrier, Xamrus discarded the shaking human into one of the many prison cells. He was in a foul mood after he received wrath from the elders. They accused him of being lazy and taking the magical highway instead of making the two-day flight to the Grand Dungeon's entrance. Of course, they all knew that zombie would never make it to the Grand Hall for questioning after Hyveth took it, so the elders took it out on Xamrus. He reasoned that the human wouldn't have survived such a long flight since the weak thing was half dead after just a few hours. But the elders were stubborn bastards and refused to surrender on the matter. 

Xamrus grumbled as the silver barrier rematerialised. He gave a nod of acknowledgement to the senior dragons on duty as courtesy dictated. They returned the gesture with a snort and closed their eyes. Xamrus hated the leeching bastards, how they sucked up to the Arcwings and did their dirty work just for a chance to reside and sleep within the Grand Dungeons walls. Streams of mana floated through the halls and washed away the fatigue from the flight and accumulated stress. "I need a drink." Xamrus declared as he opened his broad wings and soared up the Dungeon's steps to the higher palace. He would drink herbal tea with his sister and talk about the good old days...

***

Alice gasped as the suffocating mana was slowly drained from the room by vents placed around the shining silver wall. Her noble dress was in tatters, but for some reason, the dimly lit cavern by glowing moss in the ceiling was relatively warm, considering the time of year. "So this is a dragon's prison cell..." Alice looked around at the cavern that was around a kilometre across. Lush beds of moss surrounded a crystal clear lake, and small green trees and bushes lined the sides with red fruits that smelled sweet and enticing.

Alice stood up on wobbly legs. She still felt a bit sick from the rough treatment, and her stomach had yet to settle, but the ambient mana in the place was so thick she felt rejuvenated by simply breathing. Because she has a mage class, seeing the immense flow of mana leaving through the walls was somewhat possible. "Why is the mana in the room being drained, though?" The shimmering silver wall that had materialised as Xamrus threw her in was some kind of magical barrier to keep her inside. "Oh, I know... Dragons are magical creatures, so lacking mana is like depriving them of oxygen. So that's how they keep them contained." 

To Alice, the reduced mana in the air made it breathable. When Xamrus had dragged her through the Dungeons corridors, it felt like inhaling a thick fog that burned her lungs. But now, it was like a pleasant breeze that warmed her soul. "This feels more like a trip to a spa resort than imprisonment." And she fucking deserved it. Without delay, she stripped herself of the useless dress that pulled on her body and restricted her movements. Finally feeling some freedom with just her black lingerie on, she stretched, and her poor joints popped, releasing a wave of relief that made her shudder and a smile bloom on her face. 

With a carefree attitude, she strolled over to the trees, reached up on her tiptoes, plucked a fruit the size of a watermelon and then ambled her way to the mossy banks of the lake. The water was freezing, so she cautiously dipped her toes in and enjoyed the refreshing sensation as she bit into the fruit. It exploded in her mouth with juices that were sickly sweet. She ignored all the table manners ingrained into her from a young age and devoured the ripe fruit with a ferocity befitting a starved wolf.

Once she was stuffed full, she laid on her back, wiggled around as she enjoyed the soft feeling of moss on her bare back, stared at the glowing ceiling that looked like a star-filled sky, and promptly passed out.

***

After sleeping peacefully for what felt like an entire day and night, Alice abruptly awoke to find that she had almost rolled into the freezing lake. Only her hand had fallen in and felt numb. After rubbing it back to life and devouring another fruit, the young woman took another stroll around the beautiful prison... and then another... and then another... 

"Okay, now what." Alice plopped down next to the lake, cupped the water and took a refreshing drink that helped wake her up and sharpen her mind. She needed a game plan. What was her situation, and was there a way out?

"Status." A blue screen rippled to life a few feet from her face.

[Party/Stats/Skills]

She selected the Party option, and a new screen appeared.

[Name: Alice] (Leader)

[Race: Human]

[Level: 12]

[STR: 30, DEX: 42, CON: 12, INT: 72, WIS: 56]

(Weak) (Slave)

[Name: UNKNOWN]

[Race: UNKNOWN]

[Level: 281]

[STR: 259200, DEX: 259200, CON: 259200, INT: 259200, WIS: 259200]

(Life Force Unstable) (Out of range)

[Name: Terry]

[Race: Immortal Zombie(Empowered by: UNKNOWN)]

[Level: 5]

[STR: 20, DEX, 7, CON: 999, INT: 0, WIS: 0]

(Out of range)

"Hmmm, the unknown creature's status hasn't changed or updated, meaning it has remained out of range this whole time. Does the creature care about me at all? Does it even know where I am? Terry, the idiot, mentioned that I was the creature's mistress or something." Alice frowned. It was hard to take anything that zombie said seriously, and she suspected Terry had misinterpreted the ancient creatures' instructions.

With a sigh, Alice removed the screen with a flick of her hand and summoned her stats.

[Name: Alice]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 12]

[STR: 30, DEX: 42, CON: 12, INT: 72, WIS: 56]

(Weak) (Slave)

[Blessing: Darkness]

[Class: Awakened Black Mage(Locked)]

[Sub Class: Apprentice Merchant]

[Divine Mission: None]

[Skills]

[...]

[Class Skills]

[Stealth II] 

[Sub Class Skills]

[Fast Counting I]

[Identify I]

"At level twenty, my main class will fully unlock, and I can begin choosing my progression path. Sadly my awakened skill isn't a combat skill, although stealth did save me during the wolf attack on the merchant's carriage." Alice casually activated her stealth skill. She felt mana slowly drain from her body. The mana expenditure wasn't high, but Alice felt her mana pool slowly trickle away as if her mana pool was a swimming pool with a hand-sized leak. Even with the ambient mana in the cavern moving to replenish, it was not enough to offset running the skill permanently.

Alice looked around, and apart from a few small fish in the lake, there were no other sentient monsters to practice her skill against. "Practise makes perfect, as my mother always used to say..." Alice grumbled as the picture of her mother's haunted face on her awakening day flashed through her mind.

Alice embraced the cold lake water with clenched teeth and tried to sneak up on the fish to level her skill. Unfortunately, since her awakening ceremony, she had little time to practice her new skill, so she thought now was a great time to try it. Alice had also never been in such a mana-rich environment. "I bet those old fogies in the Mage tower would lose an arm and a leg to spend a month here."

After an hour, Alice was cold and miserable. The rainbow-coloured fish that populated the lake ignored her, making her attempts at catching one a hopeless endeavour. Finally, she trudged out of the water with bright red legs from the cold and a miserable expression. She opened her stats and confirmed that her efforts had been wasted as [Stealth] remained at rank two.

With a heavy sigh, she plopped down on the moss, looked at the ceiling and cried. The warm tears streaking down her face made her feel even more pathetic. She balled her fists and shook them at the ceiling. "Fuck this world. Fuck this life, what a horrible world. How can they just throw me around like some rag doll? What about my thoughts and feelings? Do I get a say in the matter?" Her arms fell limp by her side as she curled up into a ball and tried to fall asleep. "I just want someone to... care about me for once... Is that too much to ask for?" She muttered as her body gave into exhaustion.

XKARNATION

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