"I'm… in a forest."
Adam found himself surrounded by towering trees, with no sign of a clear road in sight.
The sky above was a normal blue, with no hint of the ominous red or second moon that often accompanied more treacherous areas.
"It's good that it isn't a creepy place. But I better get going while it's still light."
The flow of time inside dungeons was always unpredictable. Sometimes it moved faster than the outside world, sometimes slower.
With no clear path, Adam could only walk aimlessly and hope to find a way out.
After traversing half a mile, a faint, he spotted something half-hidden behind a cluster of ferns.
His eyes narrowed as he recognized the human corpse. The body lay face-down, one arm twisted unnaturally beneath it.
Adam quickly scanned the area, tightening his grip on the dagger before kneeling down to examine the body.
Its leather armor and clothes were shredded and soaked dark red. Deep claw marks ran across the corpse's back.
"It's an unfamiliar face."
He didn't recognize the man as anyone from his class, but he wasn't surprised. Different gates from different locations could sometimes lead to the same dungeon.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much to take. The pouch was missing, and only a cracked dagger lay nearby.
Just as he was about to continue searching, rapid footsteps echoed from his left.
His head snapped toward the sound, only to see a massive mouth lunging straight at him.
"Damnit!"
Adam threw himself forward, narrowly avoiding the open maw that could've torn him apart.
He hit the ground hard, rolling through the dirt before scrambling back up.
The thing that had attacked him was a grayish, furless wolf with six legs and four glowing red eyes.
"Viperwolf!"
Adam recognized the creature from the guidebook. His tense nerves relaxed slightly.
A Viperwolf was only an E-class monster with no extraordinary abilities.
The Viperwolf rushed towards him, its jaws wide open, but was promptly greeted with a blast of flame from Adam's [Fireball].
It let out a pained yelp as the flames engulfed its body, sending it stumbling towards the tree.
Before it could recover, Adam fired a [Mana Missile], penetrating its body.
The monster thrashed and let out a final whimper before collapsing dead.
"That was close. I was really careless for a second and made a rookie mistake." Adam stood over the body and kicked it a few times.
He released a [Mana Detection] spell that allowed him to identify any creature or object with mana nearby.
He sighed in relief after the range reached 35 meters with no monster detected.
But he didn't cancel the spell and instead shrunk the range to 15 meters to keep him alert.
Adam crouched beside the corpse and slit its chest.
"According to the guide, every creature in the dungeon has an Essence Core."
He dug through the flesh, ignoring the wave of disgust. Soon, his fingers brushed against something hard and smooth.
He pulled out a small, fist-sized core with an azure-white glow swirling inside.
"So this is what the entire universe is fighting for, huh." Adam sighed.
Such a small thing drove every race crazy. It could even start a galactic war.
These cores increased the life level of those who absorbed them, granting supernatural abilities and a longer lifespan.
Of course, only those with Magus talent could use them.
"This is no time for distracting thoughts."
Adam gripped the core and used the Mana circuit technique Mark had taught them.
The glowing substance reacted instantly, drilling through his palm and flooding into his body.
A strange heat and numbness spread through him. But before he could savor the sensation, his vision blurred.
He suddenly found himself floating in a vast, silent darkness.
Adam first felt a surge of panic before turning into excitement. If he wasn't wrong, he was finally awakening his Gift.
He had consulted Liz after her awakening, and his current situation matched her description perfectly.
"According to her, a shadow will appear," Adam whispered. "It's supposed to demonstrate my potential and the path of my development."
Sure enough, a dark shadow materialized before him. Adam waited in anticipation, but instead of a demonstration, the dark shadow began to churn.
It swirled violently, condensing into the shape of a featureless humanoid.
Two glowing red crescents flickered onto its face. They were eyes.
The shadow had no mouth, yet the sharp, upward curve of those crimson crescents made Adam certain that it was smiling at him.
Just as his unease turned into genuine dread, a sudden voice echoed from every direction at once.
"Found you!!"
The shadow floated toward him and he found himself unable to move or speak.
It circle around him and tapped his chest before nodding like it was satisfied with the merchandise.
"An interesting aspect of reality!"
Though the words were jumbles, he strangely understood them.
"Tsk, it's looks like this is as far as I could influence reality."
It toon turned irritated as the space seemed to shattered like glass.
Adam watched in horror the Space storm teared the void apart, and could only wait helplessly as it head his way.
"Hope this one better than the last one and survive!" Shadow muttered.
The last thing Adam saw before being torn apart was Shadow shoving a black orb into his chest.
****
Adam shot awake, sitting upright on the damp forest floor with a gasp. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his breath still ragged.
"What the hell was that?"
His mind immediately spiraled into suspicion. Who was that shadow? The more he thought about it, the more his paranoia flared.
He had never truly believed his reincarnation was a coincidence.
In a world without magic, maybe it could be a fluke. But this was a world of mana, dungeons, and gods.
Some powerful being had to be behind his rebirth.
For fifteen years, he had lived a normal life. He had almost convinced himself that he was just a lucky soul born again by chance.
But that voice changed everything. Something was watching him, waiting for him to reach a certain level before making its move.
"But why me?" he whispered. "What use would I be to a being that powerful?"
He smiled bitterly and shook his head. "There's no use thinking about this now. I'm too weak to resist. If I want answers, I need to get stronger."
Yet a dark thought lingered in the back of his mind. If he grew stronger, wouldn't he be playing right into that mysterious being's hands?
Every step forward felt like he was walking deeper into a trap he couldn't see.
He truly found himself in a shitty situation. It could be summarized as "damned if he did, and damned if he didn't."
Adam closed his eyes, searching for the change within him and his special Gift. He didn't need to search for long to know.
[Gift: Visionary]