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"Crow, how long have we been inside this dungeon?"

'Eight days, twelve hours and fifty five minutes. Feeling bored yet?'

"Quite. Feels really lonely, and....empty."

'....Hey, how about we go check out the traps you put yesterday? They might've caught another Soldier unit.'

"Sure thing, give me a minute."

It had been a week. An entire week had passed since I had been thrown into this hellhole of a Dungeon. After leveling up a few times, my status window looked something like this.

I had upgraded a few abilities and gotten a few extra skills. (Swift Stride) Allows me to dash at high-speed over short distances. I got it after nearly being eaten alive, again, by another Soldier unit. Thankfully the next one allowed me to treat my remaining scratches and cuts way easier than before. (First-Aid Proficiency), weirdly enough, it wasn't considered an Ability but rather a Skill. I had to manually activate it for my body to work, maybe because I had no idea of what to do, but Crow didn't have a solid answer either, so I just elected to ignore that detail.

Speaking of, that Stigma Integration meter. I asked Crow about it and the simple answer is the degree to which the Stigma is adapted to its user. Of course, Crow was a replica of myself, but she had no emotion, no feelings, no personality of her own. At least it seemed like that at the beginning. As time passed and the hours turned to days, I started to notice she was gaining consciousness at a really fast pace.

It worried me a little at first, but then decided to also ignore it. Crow was the only other person I could talk to other than myself in this hell that was called a Dungeon.

With that little monologue to remind me where I am and why am I doing this, I stood up from the bed I had cleaned at Roach's place and headed for the bathroom. Looking at myself in the mirror, I was covered in blood and several bandaged wounds. These days had been rough on me. Scouts were starting to seek me out on their own, there were more Soldier units on the streets, and every now and then I could almost see tentacle creatures crawling through the skyscrapers at the centre of Athenea.

My situation wasn't getting any better, but I had to keep looking for the core of the Dungeon. According to Crow it should be either close to the starting location of the gates, or in the safest place possible in the entire location. And since I had scouted the entirety of the slums already, the only place left was the city centre. The place I would be heading into today.

"Any signs of life over there, Crow?" I asked as I undressed and entered the shower, which turned on immediately and started to wash my body with precious warm water, that was relatively toxic of course. These were the slums, there was no good thing without a bad counter to it.

'I have received a few interferences in communication devices. Could just be broken equipment, but it would pay off to scout the area. Korzka building, near the edge of the South wall. Used to be a Weapons Manufacturer, you could also get enough materials to make that arm you wanted. I know it's hard to find stuff down here anymore.'

"Looks like we're going in there then. Traps caught something or was that just to get me up from bed?" I asked, a little tired as I finished washing off the blood and started to dry myself with a towel.

'....You are starting to worry me Raven, each time you go to sleep you take longer to wake up, you barely eat anything, you don't smile at anything....I know I may not be something you can trust but-'

"Someone."

'Huh?'

"Someone. You are officially a person in my brain now, Crow. I'm just....Feeling tired, that's all. Let's go before I get sleepy again."

'...Got it, Raven.'

I was trying to adapt to the situation. The meds Crow had given me to deal with the shock of the situation had worn off around four days ago, and I had a really bad anxiety attack. Could barely breathe. Crow comforted me to the best of her ability, and kept talking to me so I wouldn't go insane without hearing another person's voice or even forget how to speak. Ever since I decided that Crow wasn't a thing anymore. Stigma or just a voice made from my deteriorating mental state, she was now my partner, a companion, a friend. She was all I had now.

"Alright, gotta go South then. Shame no vehicles work anymore."

'If your Technomancy had upgraded to regular rank then you may be able to deconstruct a few and make one of your own, you know?'

"Stop teasing me with cool ideas I can't do yet, Crow...A bicycle or something would be way better than walking already."

Even though I tried to smile and keep a bit of banter going I couldn't. My head felt as if it was slowly burning away, but I paid it no mind. That was part of having nightmares every time you closed your eyes after all. With nothing left to say, I exited the bathroom and changed into my clothes. A pair of working pants, thick enough to resist the occasional corrosive rain. That familiar red jacket, a gray tanktop and that pair of boots I got from Roach. It was the same outfit I had been using for around a week, and I had washed it several times already but nothing would get rid of the stench of blood and gore.

Maybe I would find better washing machines at the office building or some rich man's house over at the city centre, at the very least better food than nutrient bars and juice boxes.

Picking up my backpack and throwing my arms through the straps, I got it on my back in one movement. I had gotten used to only having a left hand through the days, following Crow's instructions with some practice and a whole lot of effort. Speaking of, I had already tried to make a prosthetic arm with Technomancy out of Scorn plates and other electronics. But with no knowledge of the schematics of such a thing, it was taking a while to modify it to fit in place and move correctly.

That was the main reason why I didn't buy one from the shop just yet. That and the fact I was saving my creds until I got out of the Dungeon, as an incentive to keep me going so to say. I was starting to really give up hope of every getting out seven days in, so not spending a single Cred and instead deciding to have the biggest feast ever once I got out was the priority.

That and giving Crow a physical body. I couldn't afford the humanoid models of androids or dolls, but I could probably save up enough Creds to buy a remote drone she could upload herself into, according to Crow herself. Since she was a Stigma, she had full access to most electronic systems. And although that meant that she could, at most in her current level at least, only turn on and off certain things, when given a physical body they could execute much more complex tasks than before.

That was my secondary goal. To give Crow a body and then....Then what?

As I kept on walking towards the wall that divided the districts of the city, I kept thinking about it. What would I even do when I get out? Run around killing shit for money? Try to make a new life somewhere else? I had never even seen anything outside Athenea, how could I even find my way to other cities? The wastelands were almost devoid of all life, what would I do there?

While I spiralled into self-doubt, Crow called for my attention, a crowd of Scorn were apparently...Guarding? The entrance to the City Centre. We were heading into the right direction.

Two soldiers, four scouts and one of those tentacle things. It looked like some sort of giant octopus, gently resting in place as its tentacles worked as some sort of tripod with way too many pods. I had never fought one of them, but at the very least the other two types I had dealt with before. Clenching my teeth, I grasped for my knife and brought it up on my left hand with a reverse grip.

I would need to separate them, so I looked for any nearby things that could make some noise. Several buildings were nearby, all of them still had electricity, so ringing the alarms of as many locations should do.

"Crow, get some noise going."

'I'm on it. Four seconds until distraction.'

I counted. One....Two....Three....And go!

As the alarms rang and the Scout units spread to either side of the street, I sprinted directly after one of the Soldier units. Jumping in the air, I kicked my left foot back and activated (Swift Stride), dashing directly onto its back and using (Sneak Attack) on him. Since the unit had no time to see me coming, it activated, and with the energy that I carried from my rapid movement, a crack was heard and the unit went down in one hit.

Riding the corpse until it fell on top of two Scouts, trapping them underneath their comrade, I turned to face the octopus. Just in time to be hit by one of its tentacles and sent flying across the street into one of the apartment windows nearby. That hurt. A lot. But nothing I hadn't felt before. Clenching my teeth again, I sprung up on my feet again. The octopus had lost line of sight with me, but another hit from its tentacles and I would have to retreat. That singular hit almost broke my ribs after all.

Taking deep, ragged breaths, I waited until I got some energy back in me. And just then did I took a few steps back and sprinted towards the broken window. Using the frame as a support, I jumped directly at the octopus, using (Swift Stride) again to dodge its tentacle attack. Rushing at him at top-speed, I plunged my knife into what I thought to be its head.

There was no crack.

But he also didn't have time to hit me back.

[ (Accelerated Processing) Has been activated. 4 Seconds remaining. ]

I brought the knife down as far as it could go, no crack.

[ 3 Seconds remaining ]

I took the blade off and pierced the junction between the main body and the tentacles, I heard something starting to crack, but not break.

[ 2 Seconds remaining. ]

The other tentacles were starting to head directly after me. I had no time. I put all my strength into my hand and cleaved through the majority of the tentacle junctions in one go.

[ 1 Second remaining. ]

CRACK!

As my vision returned to normal and the world stopped going in slow-mo, the tentacle unit fell to the ground with no life remaining on its big singular eye. The other scouts had returned, and the remaining soldier was heading straight after me. I inhaled.

Jumping to the side, I evaded the soldier's paw attack and headed for the scouts first to deal with the rubbish before facing off against the bear unit. Evading the bites and stabbing them in the side of the head did the trick just fine, and the two were down on the ground without life faster than I had lost my sanity.

Turning towards the soldier, I managed to crouch just in time to evade its bite, jumping on its back to dodge its claws, and finally delivering several stabs directly into the junction of the metallic plates, bringing it down to the ground and killing it in the process with ease. All in all, the fight had been a little closer than I liked, but it was not bad for someone starting to go insane.

[ EXP Gained, new total: 68/60 ]

[ Level Up! ]

I took a closer look at a few interesting ones.

[ (Knife Specialist Lv 1) - Ability ]

[ The Hunter's prowess with the knife has developed their reflexes and technique that is almost to a super-human level. This ability greatly increases their proficiency with knives and short-blades, allowing for far deadlier and swifter attacks than before. ]

[ (Camouflage Lv 1) - Skill ]

[ Stealth is a useful tool, specially when dealign with inter-dimensional beings capable of tracking you down to the ends of the earth. This skill allows the Hunter to vanish into thin air when they stop all motion for a fixed amount of time. Default: 3 Seconds Duration: Until motion resumes. ]

[ (Evasion Lv 1) - Ability ]

[ A good Hunter is capable of taking many hits without going down. A better Hunter never gets hit. This ability gives the Hunter the innate ability to feel where their enemies will be attacking next, allowing a small window to dodge hostile attacks. ]

[ (Technomancy Lv 1) - Skill ]

[ The power to bend machine and metal to your will. Evolution from (Minor Technomancy). It gives the Hunter the ability to create complex structures if given the necessary materials, as well as save, edit and replicate these schematics with different materials of equal purpose. ]

"Though choices....I will be taking the Technomancy though. For the rest...Something like this should do."

[ (Technomancy Lv 1) Has been added to your Skill List. ]

[ (Evasion Lv 1) Has been added to your Ability List. ]

[ (Camouflage Lv 1) Has been added to your Ability List. ]

[ (Knife Specialist Lv 1) Has been added to your Ability List. ]

[ (Firearms Combat Lv 1) Has been added to your Ability List. ]

[ Skill Points Remaining: 0 ]

'Quite a number of new abilities. You really like the passive buffs huh?'

"Well yes, that way I don't gotta deal with activating like four hundred skills at the same time. Plus, it just so happens that most of the good ones are Abilities."

'I know of a lot of Hunters that would disagree. Though half of them are already past tense.'

"Told you. In any case, we should keep moving before more Scorn appear. We still have to traverse half of the city centre to get to Korzka."

'I'll be your eyes in the sky, don't worry.'

With that little corny line, we kept going. It would take me around half the day to even get there, but hopefully we would arrive before lunch time. I really didn't wanna eat any more nutrient bars, otherwise I would really go fucking mad.