The elevator continued its ascent, the motion unsteady and jarring. Outside the small window, I watched as the bright lights of the surface world slowly grew closer. The metallic walls trembled slightly with each lurch. I held onto my bag containing a crucial cargo, the core that I had taken from the dog-like monster.

As I rose higher to the surface, my thoughts focused on what had happened during the fight, the flames that my body expulsed. 

I looked at the palm of my hand, my status showed itself to me.

My status has slightly changed. Some stats were upgraded, but the most important were 'Magic' and [Hell fire]. Before I didn't have them. Did they appear due to the contract that Archon and I made? It said it was going to wait for me at the third layer... No point in thinking about it until I'm strong enough. For now, I need to focus on my psyche. What is happening to me...? My mind has been weird lately. 

First, I decided to kill the guy from the orphanage even though it could have gotten me in trouble with the gang. Second, I wanted to go to the bottom of The Abyss for no particular reason, this goes in contradiction to my life philosophy. Third, during my stay in that strange desert, I started missing the feeling of having emotions even though I know very well I despise them. And finally, rage overtook me and wants me to kill not only the people who killed the girl from the orphanage, but also reach the bottom of The Abyss. 

This doesn't make sense, since when I was I like this. I don't know how to feel anymore... Should I just comply...?

I looked at my hands, carefully examining them. I remembered having my finger eaten, yet there it was, brand new. 

I began examining my body, all the previous scratches and cuts from years of life were gone, only the recent ones stayed. My clothes were somewhat tattered and had blood on them but nothing too exaggerated. My hair was no longer covered in dirt, it was nearly perfect white. A lock of my hair also became red too. Strange...

Does all this have something to do with that voice that I heard in that desert? I don't know if I like it. One of the reasons I didn't get assaulted was due to the fact that I looked dirty and had wounds all over my body. Now having my hair clean and my skin as good as new might be counterproductive. It will instead trouble me.

Whatever, I should learn to deal with it. I should focus first on controlling my emotion. Right now I feel pretty angry for no particular reason, which is weird. I have an impulse that wants me to kill people. That will bring me a lot of problems so I should control it.

My stay in that desert has shown me that without emotions, something in me is lacking. I don't want to feel like that ever again so I should not search for how to eliminate them, but instead, learn to control them. Since I can't get rid of my feelings, I should learn to regulate them and empower myself, like that fury that took over my body while I was fighting. That was useful, I don't think I could have fought like that in a normal state. Feelings can be useful sometimes, this is something I already knew but was too scared to admit... I don't like it, but it's better to learn to deal with them than to try to exterminate them. Who knows, maybe I will begin understanding that girl.

"Welcome back," A soldier said. 

Mm? When did I reach the surface? It's dangerous for me to get absorbed in my thoughts. What if something were to happen? I need to be careful.

I watched around me, this place was just like when I left. Full of soldiers and adventurers all around. I stepped out of the elevator and walked away from The Abyss.

What should I do now? 'Anger' wants me to kill the people who killed her. But I want to descend too... For now, I should sell the core and buy equipment to protect myself, I need to get enough money to buy somewhere to stay the night. Currently, I have 5 copper coins. I should check the prices of a hotel later.

I slowly made my way toward the Adventurer Guild, always looking for robbers. Luckily no one seemed to have that intention. In fact, people seemed to be avoiding my way. Seeing this, I decided to take the time to properly observe the city for the first time, something I had failed to do during my initial visit. I was preoccupied with making my descent into The Abyss. 

This was a relatively poor side of the city, and though it was still millions of times better than the slums where I came from, it was still considered poor by my old teacher. The rich part was on the other side, behind The Abyss. It is by his words, paradise on earth.

The 'poor side' was full of people everywhere. Merchants sold exotic wares, acrobats performed daring feats in public squares, and people who looked like adventurers walked everywhere in every direction. There were humans, elves, kobolds, demi-humans, and many more. 

I started to get closer to the adventurer guild, it was just like the first time I saw it. There don't seem to be that many people in it, only old men and women smoking and drinking. It was quite weird. I imagined it to be big and luxurious but that wasn't the reality at all. It's not like it was dirty, but it looked like any normal building. I wouldn't have recognized it if it wasn't because of its logo. Probably this isn't the only one present on this side of the city, it would be impossible to take care of every adventurer's information otherwise.

As I stepped inside the smell of alcohol and cigarettes assaulted me. 

"Oh~ Who is this beautiful lady? You look- Uh? Scary..."

Ignoring the old men, I went to the counter. There was a tall bald muscular guy with a suit. He looked at me and furrowed his eyebrows.

"My memory is pretty good however for a moment I didn't recognize you. You look...different. I see that you are still in one piece. You have been gone for two days, if it wasn't for the medallion, I would have assumed you died. Looking at the state of your clothes, I can assume that you did enter The Abyss"

Was this guy always so talkative? Whatever. I pointed with my finger at a pen and a piece of paper to his right on the counter.

"Ah, right" He handed me the two objects. 

I wrote 'Core'. Hopefully, he got the message.

His eyes slightly opened. He looked at me for some moments then signaled a door. "You can sell that in there"

I started walking towards the door, opened it, and entered a small room. A little bell rang as the door opened. I entered a small room with a white floor and gray walls. In the center, there was a counter with metal bars, and a woman slowly approaching. She had brown short hair and golden glasses. She wears the same attire as the man from before. She grinned at me with a somewhat forced smile.

"Welcome, how can I help you?"

I took the core from my bag and show it to her.

"Mm... How can I help you?"

Contrary to the other guy she didn't seem to have a piece of paper with her. Annoying. How do I tell her that I want to sell it?

"Mmmmmm... How can I help you...?"

I stared at her for some moments trying to convey my thoughts. Maybe it will work.

"..."

"If you don't go I will call security"

Security? What did I do...? I know humans don't like being stared at but I didn't know it was this extreme... I should just search for paper and a pen.

After putting the core in my bag, I leave the room, the woman dropped a deep sigh as the door closed. I came back to the counter where the man was, he looked at me quizzically. I signaled the pen and another piece of paper. He looked at the room where I came from and nodded.

"Oh, I see." He handed the two items to me.

I wrote 'core' again, gave him back the pen, and walked toward the room again. When I opened the door the bell rang and the woman came back.

"Welcome, how can I- ... You again, I will seriously call security. These bars are made of adamantium, you can't break them. So don't think of doing anything funny and go away"

We looked each other in the eyes, I was taller than her even though she was probably a lot older, people often told me I was pretty tall. 

I started to get closer and the woman baked off. I stopped some meters away from the counter. The woman was about to press a button, probably to call the security she mentioned. It will be bad if she did, let's take it slow.

"This is my last warning, go away"

I slowly raised my hand with the sheet. Her fingers were touching the button, ready to press it at any sudden movement. As the paper entered her line of vision, she read, her finger always on the button.

"'Core'? So you want the cores!? Leave the room, now!"

What...? What is she talking about...? Isn't this where the cores can be sold? Shouldn't it be obvious that I want to sell them? Maybe if I show her my core she will under-

"P-please just leave already!"

I was about to take the core from my bag but she stopped me, showing the red button as if it was a weapon. What is wrong with this woman? Humans are strange, their emotions scare me. I can't begin to imagine what she would do if I talked. So horrifying.

I left the room and went to the counter where the bald man was. He looked at me quizzically again. I signaled the pen on his right and he gave it to me. I wrote 'panic'.

He looked at me for some moments and nodded. "I see" He entered a room behind his counter and came back after some moments from another door.

"She's new, this her first day so she probably misunderstood something. Let's go, I will explain to her"

The two of us walked toward the room, and as we did, I couldn't help but focus and the man's bald head, it was shining brightly. Something in me was curious about it. Why I'm interested in him not having hair? Emotions are weird.

He opened the door of the room and we stepped in. The bell rang and the woman slowly arrived.

"Ernest you don't know how scared I was! A hyper-creepy girl just kept staring at me while- Uh?"

The man sighed. "She wants to sell cores, take care of her"

"Uh? ....oh"

The man sighed another time and then started to leave.

"Wait! Please don't leave me here with her!"

The man looked at me for some moments and in the end, he decided to stay.

Alright, something is weird. I don't remember being intimidating. If I was, my meals wouldn't be stolen every day at the orphanage. Something is wrong, was this caused by the contract I made? Something must have changed apart from me being healed.

"Show me the core" He said.

I give him the core and he inspects it.

"A Maledictus canis, huh. Pretty good for your first time. I have a feeling we will see regularly"

How does he know it's from a 'maledictus canis', aren't all cores the same?

The muscular man walked toward the counter and through a grate, he passed it to the woman. She looked at me and then at the precious rock. She took some instruments from somewhere under her and began doing strange things to the core.

"D-do you want to sell it?"

I nod.

"It's worth 20 silver coins"

Huh? That's a lot... 100 copper coins are worth 10 silver coins so that means that I have 200 copper coins... I'm rich.

"It's not that much, don't get surprised" the man said.

"How can you even tell she's surprised?? Her face hasn't even changed. She literally has the same emotionless expression all the time"

This woman... It's annoying me, I don't know why.

The man started walking toward her. She gave him the coins and he gave them to me.

"Do you perhaps have a place to stay?"

I shake my head.

"There is an inn close by, my friend runs it. If you want to I can present her to you. The price It's only 2 silver coins per week which is incredibly cheap. You won't find anything like that anywhere"

Suspicious...

"Don't look at me like that... I only want to help you because I feel this won't be the last time we see each other. It's not every day that a newbie from the slums survives their first day. You even got a core from a demon on your first day. That is impressive"

I see... Wait, how does he even know I'm from the slums...?

"I know you come from there because everyone who enters this guild comes from there. The rich boys go to others"

Is he reading my mind...? Whatever, I don't trust him. But I should at least check out that inn he talked about.

"Good. Wait for me to finish my shift and I walk you there. In about two hours I will be done"

Alright. In the meantime, I should buy equipment for my next incursion. I don't know why but the first time I arrived at this place I didn't search for information about The Abyss. I will search for more information related to it tomorrow while today I buy some things to assure my survival.