In this world, there were a few types of dungeons, but usually, they were put into three categories.
When finding a dungeon, it was either an artificial dungeon, a permanent dungeon, or a temporary dungeon.
Artificial dungeons were dungeons created by humans, ancient races, or even races that existed today. Some created dungeons in hopes of passing on their inheritances to those they believed were worthy, while others simply did it to create havoc.
Permanent dungeons, on the other hand, were dungeons created by the world or universe. Permanent dungeons would stay where they were formed and, in a way, were technically links to different worlds, galaxies, and even dimensions.
On the other hand, temporary dungeons were dungeons that would either break and let all the creatures within it out, creating a dungeon break where hundreds if not thousands would die, or they would be conquered, shattering and becoming no more.
That was the main reason powerful people were so sought after, as humanity would have suffered greatly without them.
Lloyd walked through the Wasparitica Queen's nest and leisurely walked toward the middle. While many in the past compare dungeons to video games, and rightly so, unlike video games where a monster would turn into pixels and loot would drop, one had to scavenge through the corps and gain any loot for themselves.
Hacking away with his blade, Lloyd finally saw something deep within the corpse.
Plunging his hand in, he quickly retracted it, yet this time a spherical object that shone with a distinct greenish light could be seen held in his hand.
While monsters who had not reached the first commandment usually wouldn't have cores inside them, the boss was another case on their own. Eventually, if one got enough cores of a certain rank, they could make a weapon, artifact, or accessory.
Monster cores are particularly rare even after the first commandment. While bosses are practically guaranteed to give you a monster core, it is very unlikely one would get a core from a normal monster. On the other hand, while it is just as rare as getting a core, normal monsters can sometimes drop items like in video games.
Of course, this only happens in artificial dungeons, yet monsters from the other dungeons can also drop raw materials, while their bodies itself can also be used to create fantastic weapons, armors, potions, and even pills.
However, despite Lloyd knowing this, something still seemed to be on his mind as he looked at the core in his hand.
The core was just a little smaller than a ping pong ball and released a green hue with a tinge of wind mana.
Having already deactivated 4-Dimensional Thought, Lloyd furrowed his brows and asked himself the question that had been bugging him for the last 3 minutes.
'When I killed the wasp queen, I felt an enormous amount of energy enter my body... Hell, I feel so much stronger now that I'm almost certain that the fight against the queen would be several times easier on the current me compared to the one who was fighting a couple of minutes ago... Though, despite having killed the wasp queen and taking her energy, the monster core filled with mana didn't get absorbed either. In fact, I can still feel a bit of mana inside the wasp queen's body, so I have to ask the question...
What the hell do I absorb every time I kill something?'
Scratching his chin, Lloyd felt a headache emerging. This topic was too much for the current him, especially after deactivating his 4-Dimensional Thought ability.
One side-effect that he noticed was that after using the 4-Dimensional Thought, his ability was that after the use of the skill, his mind would not only return to how it was before but also temporarily slow down for a couple of minutes, depending on how long Lloyd had used the ability.
Sighing and throwing his current thoughts to the back of his mind, he slumped to the ground and let out a loud and arduous sigh.
He had fought almost 3 hours straight, and while it was nothing compared to the void walk, he was still human and needed a little rest.
What he was scared of, however, was the idea of possibly going to sleep in the wrong place at the wrong time and being forcefully sent into the void without being prepared.
Despite feeling a tinge of sleepiness, Lloyd slapped himself away and stood up to ensure he wouldn't even think about it.
Looking around, he watched the cracks that appeared out of thin air while the entire world seemed to collapse.
This was known as a dungeon collapse which was a state a temporary dungeon would go into after someone completes the dungeon. Seeing that the cracks had begun to appear, Lloyd nodded before beginning to wait for the dungeon to collapse.
After a few minutes, a loud bang resounded in the area before everything turned black.
It was oddly soothing for Lloyd to be in a place like that, but his comfort was quickly taken away as the sky's lights beamed into his eyes and almost blinded him.
Covering his eyes, he walked up to one of the walls remaining in the shadows before slumping down again.
Not every dungeon had a treasure at the end of it, and the one Lloyd had entered was no exception. In reality, the only thing Lloyd gained was the monster core, yet even then, for the amount of effort he had put in, it was simply not worth it.
Others would have been paid by the government for protecting the public, yet he had done it all for free.
Of course, he gained quite a bit of strength in fighting so many creatures, but that was beside to point.
A few minutes quickly passed before Lloyd finally realized how filthy he was and how tattered his clothing looked. While he was never really hit directly, his clothes were not meant for battle and were slowly but surely being destroyed.
The fact that they were loose did not help in the least, as sometimes Lloyd would find himself dodging an attack, but instead of the creature flying away, it would rip his clothing, especially when he dodged by a hairsbreadth.
Seeing the state of his clothing, he quickly moved toward one of the bathrooms and took off his clothing. By using the self-cleaning function of his watch, all the blood and grime on his body disappeared into thin air while his body's odor vanished.
Seeing that he was spotless, he could not help but inspect himself in the mirror, but after looking for a couple of seconds, a frown appeared on his face.
With a quick wipe, all the dirt on the mirror was wiped away, and the view became clear again.
Stepping back, Lloyd inspected his body one more time, yet nothing really changed despite having cleaned the mirror. In fact, the view had become even more profound without all the dirt and grime in the way.
Right now, Lloyd was looking at his shirtless upper frame, yet he still could not believe that what he saw in the mirror was actually his body.
From childhood, Lloyd had struggled with forming muscles. Of course, he was technically physically fit because he was easily stronger than the average unawakened man, but what he was looking at now was a completely different person.
He now had a pair of pecks, defined shoulder and arm muscles, and even signs of a six-pack.
While he was around 5ft 10 before, now he was easily 6ft tall. This change was not something he realized before going to the awakening ceremony, but now that he was no longer under the stress of possibly being taken away and killed if not experimented on, he could finally tell the difference.
However, while everything might have seemed like flowers and rainbows, one thing made him worry...
A pair of violet eyes stared back at him from the mirror's reflection. While before, his eyes were clearly a very dark brown color, now they were violet, unlike in the morning when they were dull enough for no one to take a second glance.
While the color seemed to fluctuate to his emotions, he knew that maybe a pair of tinted glasses, if not some contact lenses, could work to hide them. Finding contact lenses in this day and age is extremely hard since people never choose to change their eye color. People took pride in their eye color; despite a large majority of people usually having brown eyes, people with other eye colors were seen as more beautiful or attractive.
However, no one dared to fake their eyes colors as it was very easy for people to find out if someone was wearing contact lenses or not.
Despite that, there was one eye color that was the rarest amongst all people, and at the same time, it was also considered a taboo eye color amongst most people.
That eye color was violet.
Looking into the mirror for a bit longer, Lloyd could not help but sigh while rubbing the bridge of his nose.
Quickly clothing himself, he walked out of the bathroom and went towards the stairs.
Reaching the bottom floor, Lloyd glanced around and found the exit.
The soft tapping of water droplets hitting the hospital windows reached his ears, and despite the weather being considered quite depressing by many, Lloyd liked the rain.
Putting his hood up and exiting the hospital through one of the side exits, he took a deep breath before exhaling with a wry smile. The fresh and grassy scent wafted into his nose and set his heart into a calm state. He felt as if every worry in the world had disappeared all at once. It felt like nothing could worry him anymore, and everything in his life was in order.
"Young Lloyd, you mustn't stay out for too long. You have worried your parents."
However, the calming and elegant atmosphere was quickly ruined by the interruption of a croaky, stern familiar voice. From the sound of the voice alone, Lloyd could tell that the person talking to him was quite elderly, and despite being startled, he could still recognize the voice even if it was a whisper.
Letting out a sigh, Lloyd closed his eyes and said-
"Uncle Ruber... What are you doing here?"
"I can ask you the same thing. Plus, is telling you that your parents are worried for you not enough of a reason?" Rubert replied with a wry, warm smile.
"I wanted some time alone." Lloyd opened his eyes and looked into Rubert's. For a split second, Rubert was surprised by the color of the eyes that were looking at him, but after narrowing his eyes, he saw something else.
'Master Glade was right... Something had changed about him. Those are not the eyes of a boy green behind his ears. Those are the eyes of a-...'
"In an abondened hospital?" Rubert tilted his head to the right.
"Well, you can say that this place is kind of like my... Nevermind. You know what I mean." Lloyd shrugged and began to walk, but he quickly realized that a car was in front of the hospital and someone was currently inside it.
Stepping out, they made their figure visible for Lloyd to see, and the moment his eyes landed on her, he could not help but frown.
"Lloyd... It's been a long time since we last talked alone." An elegant woman chuckled with one hand over her mouth and another holding an umbrella.
"Mrs Glade... What brings you here?" Lloyd asked with a slightly cold voice. They only spoke alone after difficult situations, an example being the 'incident.' That time was hard on everyone, but it hit Lloyd the worst, mainly because he was in the center of it.
If anything, Mrs. Glade only reached out to Lloyd when she saw that he needed support or something was wrong with him. However, despite Lloyd requiring support that day, he was almost certain that he had put on a good enough act for everyone to believe he was okay.
"Oh, Lloyd... You poor boy. I can feel your distress from miles away. Actually, your stress levels right now are a bit higher than before. You were an absolute wreck on the podium, but now you seem to have it worse." She explained, a pitying expression on her beautiful face.
'That damn ability of hers...'
"And from your emotional response, can I assume that I am right?"
Sighing, Lloyd knew he couldn't lie to her. She could instantly tell if someone was lying, yet despite knowing 4-Dimensional Thought could get him out of his predicament, he knew that she knew his abilities as they were probably displayed to most of the higher families, not that he cared in the least despite it making his predicament quite difficult.
Seeing that Lloyd was completely silent, Mrs. Glade took a long look at him, her eyes analyzing every fiber of his being from head to toe.
"You've grown a few inches and built a bit of muscle. Wow... You're going to be one lady killer. Just make sure to not go for any of my daughters. You know how my husband is about his daughters." She chuckled before her gaze finally reached mine.
"And those violet eyes..." Coldness flashed through her eyes for a split second, but it disappeared too quickly for Lloyd to see it. Rubert, on the other hand, didn't even need to directly look at her to feel her spike in emotions.
