— Oh, sir!

— Where are we?

Garvus fell onto me, and I nearly choked on his rough fur. My wings tapped against his stomach a few times before he got off me.

— Phew! — I breathed out calmly, getting up from the stone floor.

"He needs to eat less!"

Before me, I saw the next notification, highlighted in large font. Nonetheless, I used that unfamiliar key and looked around.

[You won't be able to leave from here! Kill all monsters on each floor! After defeating the last boss, you'll be thrown back!]

This was news to me; I needed to go through 10 floors, killing all the monsters we encountered along the way.

I looked around; even light didn't penetrate here; it was pure darkness. There was nothing to be felt in this place.

I could only see Garvus's dim eyes, glowing like a weak flashlight.

— Don't ask anything until we get back. Our goal is to kill everyone who stands in our way.

A menacing smile crept onto my beak as I glanced at Garvus.

He gulped, looking at me with understanding eyes, grinning, realizing he would get a lot more food than before.

— Master! I understand!

This place looked like an ordinary dungeon; in my world, sometimes I encountered victims who loved reading some books. I took bloody clues with me.

That's where I learned such a word as "dungeon". Perhaps I should have been more interested in such things. Nothing interested me in so many years of my life; the only entertainment was killing.

I enjoyed breaking bones, watching them die. This world gave me the opportunity to enjoy it again. Now, with regard to sentient beings, I should have some principles.

I won't kill anyone just like that. I became curious about what might await me next.

Most likely, I was already on the first level of this dungeon. We silently moved forward; I walked my wing along Garvus, indicating him to move forward.

We silently moved forward, looking for some kind of clue. Along the way, we encountered small creatures. They squelched underfoot and needed only to be squashed, which Garvus managed.

Oh! My God, what were they called?

[Slime 1.lvl]

"So that's it!"

With one swift stroke of my wing, I split the slime in half. These creatures were so light. True, with my powers, they didn't give me anything, not even any points.

"Is it really that simple? How boring..."

I glanced at Garvus with my indifferent gaze; he continued to walk ahead of me, protecting me. With a light movement of his paw, he sent this slime flying.

From the side, it looked like hitting a baseball. The slime bounced so hilariously off the walls, losing its life from one blow.

"Everything is too simple, it's unsettling..."

Dealing with slime was very easy; they jumped on us from all sides. I repelled them all with sand magic.

My skills couldn't level up, just like me. After all, these creatures were very weak, they were like a speck in my eye.

Shhh!

Moving a little further, a chunk of slime flew overhead. Near the huge closed gates stood a monster, guarding the passage further.

These gates were unusual, red, with closed eyes pulsating inside them, as if waiting for something.

"What is this place?"

I froze in excitement; it was very thrilling. My heart began to beat, seeking fear.

[Mucro Slime Wolf]

[Level 3]

I saw a large red slime wolf; it was guarding these gates. And that meant it was the boss of these gates.

However, its level made me wish for something better. For some reason, the characteristics of this wolf weren't displayed.

It was because any monster weaker than me by several times couldn't show me its data. After that, I understood that there was nothing complicated about it.

I looked at Garvus approvingly, nodding my head.

Garvus exhaled, understanding what I wanted from him. He ran forward, throwing himself at the monster with his claws.

This wolf couldn't do anything, as its strength was much weaker. Garvus attacked it, starting to cut it with his sharp claws.

They looked like razors, very sharp. The slime wolf itself couldn't do anything. It was so weak that it died from the first two blows.

Ding!

[Guardian of the first gates defeated!]

Surprisingly, it was easy; probably because we had gained enough experience to get here. In a way, our strength had an advantage. The two of us could quickly kill everyone on the remaining floors. This would allow us to leave quietly.

[Reward received]

[Do you want to open it?]

[Yes/No]

A chest appeared before our eyes; this time, Garvus could also see it. 

— Master! — Garvus attempted to approach slowly.

— Stay...

— This could be a trap... 

I said calmly. After my words, Garvus came up to me, awaiting further commands. He was indeed very loyal to me.

"Yes! Open it!"

The chest disappeared after the accepted offer, various materials lay on the cold ground. To be honest, I expected something better.

There were low-grade items; all of this was for human hands. It couldn't belong to any monster.

[Item: Piece of Red Slime]

Item Class: F+

Type: Material

Description: A piece of red slime; by killing a red slime, you can obtain its remnants. The material is used in alchemy; also, knowledgeable individuals can transform it into something else.

When using an item of class F+:

— Effect "Nausea" reduces health by 50%.

— Effect "Urinary Bladder" reduces incontinence by 25%.

Market price: 50 gears per piece.

Other items that I happened to find were not described in such detail. Some of them didn't even have such a description, apart from the price.

"These effects look like pure debuffs. Are they indeed negative effects? Strange, of course, effects..."

This item came from the slime itself. Nothing like this fell out of other monsters, except for golems. Their eyes were indeed very valuable.

Moreover, like an item, the monster's name was green. Is this a rarity? As soon as I thought about it, I remembered that most of the names of other slain monsters were white.

This one had [Slime Wolf <green>].

The following items fell out of the chest, which would only be useful for sale. I didn't have hands to hold such items. I opened my mouth to put the slime into my inventory. First, I turned around so Garvus wouldn't be so disgusted watching this.

Gulp!

Inventory:

- Small crystals: 8 pieces.

- Gears: 3 pieces.

- Iron remnants: 2 pieces.

- Deadly berries: 10 pieces.

- White runes: 13/50 pieces.

- [Piece of Red Slime/F+]

[Rewards received!]

[Item: Tear of Mucro]

Item Class: F

Type: Ring

+5 Intelligence

A ring made of red Mucro slime; wearing it can neutralize and gain resistance when fighting slime monsters. Can be sold.

Price: 90 Gears

— "Slime Immunity" effect: You are immune to slime attacks.

— "Slime Killer" effect: Restores 1+ Energy after killing slime.

[+100 Gears received]

"So, is this the reward this dungeon can give? Weak... I expected something bigger."

I turned to Garvus, my eyes scanning the fox, then I called him.

— Garvus...

— Yes, my master?

I raised his left paw, putting the ring on his index finger. Then I looked at his stats.

"Yes, they affect not only me..."

Items:

Left paw: Mucro Ring (effects activated)

Garvus raised his paw, looking at the ring, trying to understand its purpose.

— Don't ask, it's a gift...

I didn't need the ring; I gave it to Garvus so that the effects could only affect him. The rest I just kept for myself to sell somewhere else.

The fox swallowed, starting to follow me.

The eyes on the gates opened, the pulsating red eyes began to emit a very loud barking sound. They slowly opened, allowing us to continue forward, killing wild monsters.

[Second floor]

Everything changed on this floor; weak vegetation pulsated from mana streams. In this place, echoes of wild monsters' sounds were heard.

On this floor, there were slimes with much higher levels; they resembled that red wolf. However, these were much more bloodthirsty.

As soon as they sensed us, growls began to echo everywhere.

[Big Slime]

[Level 11]

"Just don't tell me I can't see their characteristics here? Is this method blocked here?"

I tried to concentrate on activating the system, but I couldn't. As soon as I tried to discern the characteristics, my eyes began to emit excruciating pain, as if interference was passing through my eyes, striking my head sharply.

"What kind of place is this?"

The Big Slime jumped from behind to attack. I deflected its attack, striking with my wing. This ooze fell to the ground, showing its transparent mouth.

Monsters of the same kind emerged from all the crevices; they growled, trying to attack us all at once. They were very angry, very hungry monsters who wished for our flesh.

"I'll get as many points from you as it takes!"

Seeing the wild looks of Kuroi and Garvus, the slimes froze in horror, seeing the greedily eager monsters who also wanted to treat them the same way.

***

[Level up!]

[Points received!]

[White runes obtained!]

Appearance:

Magical raven

Level: 13/50

Name: Kuroi

HP: 135/160

Energy: 76/110

[Experience: 55]

Runes: 25

The statistics didn't let me down; after killing enough slime, my level increased to 13. Finally, my energy became higher than necessary to use magical abilities.

And we hadn't even reached the guardian of the second gates yet. It seemed easier than ever.

I skipped as many as three levels until the progress stopped altogether. It annoyed me; every three levels, the opponents just didn't give anything when you became stronger than the opponent by 3 levels.

We continued our way; it was not clear at all. Were we going down? Or up? Sometimes I noticed stone protrusions rising upward.

Silently, with Garvus, we moved forward, understanding each of our looks. I gave him commands to finish off some opponents.

I wasn't the only one getting stronger. His ring worked well.

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

We found more slimes with higher levels; I killed them, continuing to move forward. It seemed like quite a long time had passed since we were in this place.

[You killed the Big Red Slime!]

At this point, we came to the next gates of the second floor. Here stood a small golem made of slime. Hm, my level didn't go any further; in the end, the monster was defeated by a few blows of my beak.

[You killed the Golem Slime!]

[Guardian of the second gate defeated!]

[Level up! x2]

[Received experience points 5 x2]

[Received 3 white runes!]

I sighed heavily; the second gates quietly opened the next passage for us. 

"Gorgona, open the stats!"

Name: Kuroi

HP: 180/180

Energy: 130/130

Strength: 37, Intelligence: 33, Defense: 53

Agility: 50, Endurance: 77, Wisdom: 45

[Experience: 75], [Runes: 30]

"It's time to spend all these points somewhere..."

There was nothing left in this place but dead creatures. I pressed against the stone, looking at Garvus. My head nodded approvingly, looking at him with my calm gaze, so he could also rest from all this briefly.

I thought to increase my stats; nothing fell from the second boss except for 200 gears. The currency from the previous guardian became much larger, which means the next ones could give much more.

Strength: 37 > 85 (bonus 5x) = 160

Intelligence: 33 > 58 (bonus 2x) = 88

[+25 to Energy]

Defense: 53, Agility: 50, Endurance: 77

Wisdom: 45

I spent all my points, raising my strength by several parameters.

The same applied to intelligence; I raised it so that my energy became greater. And it happened; now I felt quite strong energy flowing from myself.

Energy: 155/155

I squinted at the next passage; we needed to go there inside to get to the 10th floor. There were still plenty of such doors left.

I looked at Garvus silent face; he smiled sweetly, watching me rest. He guarded me from wild monsters, looking around.