Morning sunlight danced through the gap in Himaru's bedroom window curtains, touching his face and stirring the lingering wisps of dreams in his mind. The golden light slowly compelled his eyelids to open, revealing the sight of his simple yet tidy room.
The room, though not luxurious, was always a comfortable sanctuary for Himaru. Its walls were painted a soft cream color, minimalist wooden furniture added a warm touch, and a small bookshelf in the corner was filled with his favorite manga and light novels.
Himaru stretched languidly in bed. Although his condition had recovered since leaving the dungeon yesterday, remnants of the fierce battle against Jarvis Stark in the dungeon last night still lingered. His muscles were slightly sore, and there was a slight throb in his temples, but overall, his body felt light, as if a heavy burden had just been lifted from his shoulders.
A small smile tugged at Himaru's lips. A feeling of relief and satisfaction flooded his chest. He had successfully conquered a difficult dungeon, an achievement that tasted sweet after more than a year of struggle.
More than a year! For that long, he had spent his time and energy, honing his skills, learning strategies, and risking his life in every corner of the dungeon. This victory felt like an oasis in the desert, a reward for all his hard work and sacrifice.
Himaru's satisfied smile widened as he imagined the increase in strength and abilities he would gain from the dungeon rewards. Multiple level ups, stat points that could be allocated as he pleased, not to mention a new quirk that the system might bestow, and perhaps even a powerful new subordinate.
All of this swirled in his mind, fueling his spirit to continue becoming stronger. His ambition to reach the peak of power, to stand above all living beings, reignited brighter and more fiercely than ever before.
However, the happiness and euphoria of victory slowly faded like the evening sun dimming its light. The smile on Himaru's handsome face gradually disappeared along with a sudden wave of memories that surged and flooded his mind.
The memories felt foreign and strange, as if they were not his own. Wait… whose memories are these? Himaru wondered confusedly. It took Himaru a few moments to realize that the memories were recordings of his blood clone's activities. Ah, that's right… I ordered my blood clone to replace me in the real world while I focused entirely on the dungeon. How long has it been since then?
As Himaru began to process and understand the memories, his facial expression drastically changed in a matter of seconds. From happy and satisfied to confused and surprised, then shocked and disbelieving, and finally extremely annoyed and angry.
His eyebrows furrowed tightly, his eyes narrowed sharply with anger, and his jaw clenched until his muscles tightened. A vein bulged clearly on his forehead, a sign of anger that was beginning to boil and overflow in his chest.
"Damn it… what is this?!" Himaru muttered in a low tone, almost inaudible, but full of deep annoyance. His throat felt choked by mixed emotions, between anger, confusion, and embarrassment.
His eyes widened in disbelief as he watched scene after scene from his clone's memories. Apparently, while he was risking his life and fighting to the death in a dangerous dungeon against terrifying monsters and powerful bosses, his blood clone was doing something completely different in the real world. That damn clone… what's in its brain?!
The blood clone had proven to be loyal in carrying out his orders, replacing him at school and doing other routine tasks as instructed. But the clone had also done additional things that he had never expected, never crossed his mind, such as… building a harem! A harem?! That damn clone built a harem?! This must be a nightmare!
In the memory, Himaru saw his clone casually interacting with several beautiful women, throwing out ridiculous cheesy pick-up lines, and even making sweet promises that he might not be able to keep or even want to keep.
He saw his clone smiling flirtatiously, giving cliché compliments that made his skin crawl, and even, in several scenes, confidently holding the hands of those women.
"That damn clone…" Himaru grumbled through gritted teeth. His hands clenched tightly until his knuckles turned white.
Anger began to burn in his chest. He felt betrayed and played by his own clone. How could that clone have fun and flirt with beautiful women while his original body was struggling so hard in the dungeon? It felt like being slapped hard in the face in public. The irony of this situation made him even more furious and dumbfounded.
If Himaru had known about his clone's depraved behavior during his fierce and exhausting battle against Jarvis Stark, he might have already summoned the clone back and beaten it to a pulp like he did when facing an annoying dungeon boss. That clone was really asking for death!
Himaru felt a mixture of annoyance, frustration, and extraordinary embarrassment. He felt that this matter was truly ridiculous, nonsensical, and shameful.
His blood clone was carelessly flirting with those women, making false promises that he might not be able to fulfill, and then easily and without guilt passing this complicated and embarrassing problem onto him, the original body.
That clone was truly irresponsible! As if this was all for my own good! For my own good, my ass! This is clearly troublesome and embarrassing for me! Himaru thought sarcastically, shaking his head in frustration and dizziness.
Now, Himaru was truly confused about how to deal with the women who had been provoked by his clone. Should he pretend to know nothing? Or try to explain this very nonsensical situation? Or even go with the flow and… continue building the harem that his clone had started? Himaru thought irritably.
"No way… this is really crazy," Himaru muttered again, roughly running his hand through his hair. He got out of bed and paced back and forth in his room, trying to calm his turbulent emotions. Calm down, Himaru, calm down. Don't panic. Think carefully. He tried to calm himself, even though his mind felt chaotic.
After grumbling and cursing his clone with mixed feelings for some time in his room, Himaru finally decided to put aside the complicated and confusing harem problem for a while. This woman problem is really a headache. I can't think about it now.
"I'll think about this ridiculous harem problem later… What's most important and more interesting now are the dungeon rewards!" Himaru thought, trying to divert his attention from the disgusting woman problem. He tried hard to ignore his clone's memories that kept replaying in his head like a broken film. He didn't want this ridiculous problem to ruin his good mood after successfully conquering Jarvis.
He got out of bed and immediately used his special quirk to enter the dungeon world that was always mysterious and challenging. He wanted to immediately see and enjoy the rewards for his success in clearing the 2nd floor of the dungeon that he had painstakingly obtained yesterday.
The sound of system notifications ringing melodiously in his mind seemed to call him, promising extraordinary new strength and abilities. Feeling enthusiastic and burning with curiosity, Himaru opened the virtual system panel and looked at the notification log he received after successfully defeating the Sage Scientist, the annoying Jarvis Stark.
His heart beat fast, his curiosity and anticipation peaked as he looked at the list of rewards clearly displayed on the virtual screen in front of him.
[Congratulations on defeating Sage Scientist Jarvis Stark]
[Congratulations on getting 5,000,000 experience points]
[Congratulations on level up] x5
[Congratulations on getting 50 status points]
[Congratulations on getting dungeon level 3 key]
[Congratulations on getting High Elf subordinate]
[Congratulations on getting Quirk Intuition Eyes]
Himaru's eyes sparkled as he looked at the enticing array of rewards. His annoyance at his clone was slightly soothed by these rewards. Not bad, the rewards are decent. At least my efforts weren't in vain, he thought, feeling slightly better.
Without wasting even a moment, Himaru immediately allocated all 50 additional points he had received to his stats. He felt a warm wave of energy flood his body. His stats increased rapidly, his strength skyrocketed. This sensation was so pleasant, like receiving an electric current that refreshed his body and soul.
Himaru opened the status tab and saw the changes that had occurred: Physical Vitality increased, Intelligence increased, and Sense skyrocketed. He nodded in satisfaction seeing these significant improvements. With these stat increases, I will definitely be much stronger, he thought proudly.
"Amazing… I feel like I could defeat yesterday's me more easily," Himaru murmured in amazement, feeling new strength flow swiftly through his body. He clenched his fist and threw a few punches into the air, feeling speed and strength that was far greater than before.
After being satisfied with his stat increases, Himaru moved on to the next reward. With trembling fingers due to curiosity, Himaru opened the dungeon level 3 key reward. The dungeon key was in the usual gray crystal shape, indicating that the key was still not fully open. He twirled the key in his hand, observing it carefully.
Himaru examined the key closely, realizing that to enter dungeon floor 3, he had to find a special quirk first, as usual. What kind of quirk this time? Hopefully not a weird quirk, he hoped in his heart. He read the description of the dungeon key and found the keyword needed to open it: [Eat].
"Eat… what kind of quirk is this?" Himaru asked in wonder, imagining the type of quirk that had to be found to open dungeon floor 3. Eat what? Eat monsters? Eat items? Or… eat other quirks? His mind was filled with various ridiculous speculations. He shook his head while smiling wryly.
After carefully storing the dungeon level 3 key in the system inventory, Himaru moved on to the next reward, Quirk Intuition Eyes. Himaru's curiosity peaked. He immediately asked the system about the function of Quirk Intuition Eyes. The system provided a detailed explanation of the new Quirk he had obtained.
"Quirk Intuition Eyes allows the user to see the emotions of other people directed at the user through different colors," the system explained in a flat mechanical voice. The system continued its explanation by detailing the emotion colors that Himaru could see:
Pink: Feelings of love, affection, or romantic attraction. Hmm, interesting. Useful for knowing who has a crush on me, maybe, Himaru thought while smirking slightly.
Light blue: Feelings of friendship, kindness, or family support. Good, so I can know who my true friends are, he muttered.
Green: Feelings of respect, admiration, or confidence. Useful for measuring the level of trust subordinates have in me, Himaru thought, beginning to think about the practical applications of this new quirk.
Orange: Feelings of attraction, curiosity, or inquisitiveness. So I can know who is attracted to me because of my strength, or because of… other things, Himaru blushed slightly thinking about those other possibilities.
Red: Feelings of hostility, hatred, or anger. This one is clearly very useful for avoiding enemies and traps, he thought seriously.
Black: Feelings of murderous intent, deep hatred, or darkness. Wow, that's also scary. Must be careful if I see black, Himaru shuddered slightly imagining the intensity of the negative emotions represented by black.
Grey: Feelings of indifference, apathy, or boredom. This one… is less useful, but at least I know who is bored with me, Himaru shrugged indifferently.
Himaru listened to the system's explanation carefully, digesting information about the function of Quirk Intuition Eyes. A pretty good quirk... could be useful for knowing other people's feelings towards me, Himaru thought, imagining the various uses of this new Quirk.
He could use this quirk to read other people's intentions, to choose loyal allies, and maybe even… for romance. Maybe I can use this quirk to deal with that damn clone's harem problem, he thought with a sly smile.
Without the slightest hesitation, Himaru ordered the system to immediately install Quirk Intuition Eyes into his body. He felt a strange sensation in his eyes when the Quirk was activated.
His vision felt slightly different, the world seemed more colorful and alive. The colors around him appeared brighter and clearer, as if the world had suddenly become more vibrant. Wow, this is really cool, Himaru thought in amazement at this new sensation.
Finally, the reward that Himaru always waited for from the system reward pool, a new subordinate. His curiosity and anticipation peaked. Who is my subordinate this time? Why a High Elf? Himaru asked in wonder, remembering that the theme of dungeon floor 2 was robots and machines.
The last time he summoned a subordinate, what appeared was Makishima Touma, a loyal and stunningly beautiful half-vampire. Touma is very useful and loyal. Hopefully, my subordinate this time will be the same, he hoped.
Who is this High Elf that will be summoned this time? How strong is she? And why is the system giving a High Elf subordinate in a robot-themed dungeon? All these questions swirled in Himaru's head, making him even more impatient to see and meet his new subordinate.