A young boy skipped on the street, humming a song. Things fell from his bag as he hopped around, but he was too lost to pay any attention.

People smiled unconsciously when they saw him, his cheerfulness was spread around like a contagious disease.

The boy still skipping passed through a large gate and arrived at the door of a fairly large house.

He reached out and pressed the lower doorbell of the house. He waited for several minutes yet nobody opened the door. He pushed the door to see it was open.

It was dark inside. Blaming it on cutoff, he threw the bag.

"Mama!"

He found it odd to see no one in Kitchen, his mother usually cooked delicious meals at this time.

He stumbled in darkness to the living room, nearly slipping from liquid on the ground. The light wasn't enough to check what it was. 

His eyes lit up when he noticed light inside the living room. Using both arms he pushed open the door.

"Welcome~"

An energetic voice greeted him. He froze in his place and his eyes widened to the limit. An old man and a blonde-haired man stood there with a wide smile on their faces.

His parents laid there with heads twisted at an impossible angle. A look of horror still present on their face.

"No!!!"

He screamed and ran as fast as he could to the door. Terror gripped his heart as he sped through the dark corridors.

"Where are you going? Next turn is yours~"

But the old man stood there with his mother's head in his hands.

"Aaah!"

Leo woke up with a scream, his mind still playing the old nightmare. He took several deep breaths to calm down and drank some water.

He started his normal workout to distract himself.

(You can talk about it, you know.)

He heard Jen's soft voice inside his mind. He paid no heed to the consoling voice and continued doing pushups. After the bath, he equipped his sword.

"Buy a cheap sheath for this," he said in a blunt voice.

(100SP)

"Okay."

A simple yet beautiful wooden sheath appeared in his hands, adorned with small runic letters carvings.

He wasn't in the mood to retort about it and enveloped the sword in the sheath

He went down to see Irene waving at him with a smile. So he joined her at the table. After forcefully stuffing himself, he went out with Irene.

"What's on our schedule today?" Leo asked.

Irene thought for a moment. "First is Orcus Labyrinth, then we will see later."

"Okay…"

Leo with Irene in tow arrived at the entrance of Orcus Labyrinth. He was amazed to see the stalls positioned all the way to the entrance of the Labyrinth.

A cute receptionist sat there behind a counter. With a pen in her hands, she wrote something while checking a status plate.

"What does she do? Record entry and exit?" 

Irene nodded her head confirmingly. "It's easier to find someone missing this way."

Dale and Tris also arrived in several minutes.

"Yo! Let's go," Dale said with a bright smile.

Tris nodded his head in greeting.

The receptionist checked their status plates and recorded it. She asked for Leo's contact information with a shy smile to which he declined politely.

***

After the entrance came a five-meter wide passage. An ore buried in the wall to act as the light source making the passage dimly lit, making it enough to see without a torch. It increased his tensions further.

'Analyze'

[Glowstone]

A stone that glows when filled with mana. Causes a blinding flash of light when destroyed.

'Flashbang?'

Leo and Irene walked in the back, while Dale and Tris guarded the front.

Irene looked at the sheathed sword in Leo's hands. "New sword?"

When she saw him yesterday he was broke to even buy clothes. Here he was today, flaunting a new sword wrapped in a beautiful sheath.

"Borrowed it from an acquaintance," he replied indifferently.

Leo kept an eye on the map for enemies. After a few minutes of walking, they stopped in an open area. He peeked up curiously to see many gray furballs jumping from the cracks in walls.

The furballs were actually monsters. Nearly two meters in size with buffed up muscular bodies, their red eyes shone ominously within the thick fur as they charged at the party.

'Analyze'

[Ratmen]

Strength: 15

Vitality: 20

Defense: 20

Agility: 25

Magic: 30

Magic Defense: 20

"Leo! These monsters are Ratmen. Not too strong but very agile. I'll distract them and you finish them off."

Dale yelled the bare minimum information and charged toward them.

This Musclehead, they all thought.

"Time to fight!"

Leo drew the sword from the sheathe. A ratman already reached in front of him, its maws opened wide to bite him.

He swung his right hand, the sword traced an arc in the air and beheaded the ugly rat. He lightly evaded to the side and slashed another monster's neck.

He smiled in nostalgia at the familiar sensation and charged inside the flocks to slaughter them.

Irene chanted a spell, while Tris guarded her from any ambush.

"Ice harder than steel, pierce mine enemies! Pierce their hearts! Ice spears!"

A hail of ice spears emerged from thin air and charged at the ratmen. Painful howls echoed in the area as most of them died under the spell, leaving only a few wounded one.

Tris dashed and finished off the rest with his dagger.

Leo came back with his sword drenched in blood.

"It stinks so bad."

His mind was refreshed after some killing.

'Jen, I'm really sorry for ignoring you like that.'

(Don't worry about it.)

'I… Thanks…'

Dale and Tris harvested the magic crystals from the monsters.

The party advanced and met a group of goblins on the next floor, which they made quick work of. It was pretty easy until the 10th floor.

His map showed 9 red dots ahead. A group of kobolds waited on the 11th floor.

Kobolds were a race of monsters possessing a dog head and hideous body.

'Analyze'

[Kobold]

Strength: 35

Vitality: 40

Defense: 30

Agility: 35

Magic: 55

Magic Defense: 30

He turned his head to Irene. "Let me do it alone."

A group fight against these monsters couldn't push his limits. He had only leveled up once after killing all these monsters. He wouldn't be able to grow stronger without putting his life on line. 

Kicking up the floor, he charged at them with his full speed, his sword  two Kobold heads off and smashed his on one head, he lowered his head to avoid the claw attack and slashed upward, bisecting the Kobold.

His breathing was already a mess. Trusting his instincts, he blocked an attack from the left as his fist crushed one neck.

"Gugh!"

He winced in sharp pain, one Kobold had sunk its dirty teeth in his left hand. He shoved his fist in its stomach and stepped back to swing the blade in a full arc to behead another two monsters.

One Kobold took this chance to pounce on his back, its claws encircled his neck trying to choke him to death.

Irene started casting a magic spell to help him.

"Don't!"

He yelled and smashed his back against the protrusions on the wall. The Kobold backbone was crushed as it fell on the ground and let out whimpers filled with pain.

He mercilessly stomped on its head causing it to burst like a watermelon.

Seeing no enemy left, he plopped on the ground in exhaustion.

'Why the hell am I so exhausted? I used to fight for hours before. What happened now?'

(Your soul is still adapting to this body. This is not your body from the earth. It is altered by 'The Creed' to give you maximum potential. It might take a few days or so to adapt.)

He breathed a sigh in relief, but someone grabbed his collar to pull him up forcefully. His eyes stared in a pair of silver eyes filled with rage and worry..

"You bastard! You could have died here."

Irene growled while tightening her grip on his collar. Her calm demeanor was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, but I need to do this. I won't die from things like this."

Her expression softened a little and she released him and took out a healing potion. 

"You are forbidden to come here until you heal."

"Okay, Onee-san," he settled, intending to rebel later.

The party climbed back up and sold the raw materials to the guild for 20,000 Luta. After a brief argument Leo was given 6000 while the rest was divided.

Irene wanted to eat dinner with him, so they strolled towards the inn.

He took out four black coins from his pocket.

"Here."

She looked at the coins for a moment before shaking her head.

"No, I won't," she replied and shot a glare at him as she entered the inn alone.

He stood there with four black coins in his hands. Shaking his head, he put them back in inventory and entered the inn.

Irene sat there with a cold face, completely ignoring his presence.

"What are you so upset about?"

"Nothing…"

"You really won't take the money?" he asked again.

Her eyes turned cold. "Do you really see me as just an acquaintance?"

"What are you talking about? Aren't we friends? Or you don't want it?"

"Of course, I want it!" she stood up and exclaimed like her cold attitude before was just a facade.

All eyes in the inn gathered on Irene, she assumed her poker face and sat down.

"Are you really Irene?" he asked in a suspicious tone.

"W-Why are you asking about it?" she asked with a puzzled expression.

Leo leaned forward with a serious expression.

"The Irene I observed is a woman, who rarely smiles. Isn't Ice princess supposed to be cold to everyone? Tell me who are you? Where is my friend?"

A soft smile briefly touched her lips. "Stop blabbering nonsense idiot." 

His smile turned to a chuckle. "Seriously, you should smile more often. It looks beautiful."

"Are you trying to seduce me?" she asked, her voice filled with honey and a hidden suggestion.

"Nope."

She hung her head and clicked her tongue in annoyance. Thankfully, Leo didn't see or he would have retorted hard.

'Does this woman really like me? Or she is just playing me?'

(.....)

The dinner came. He devoured it hungrily without any manners.

"You too have some," he said and gave her a chicken leg.

Her cheeks twitched visibly. "Eat with some manners."

He laughed and started eating faster. Irene shook her head in an exasperated manner.