[ Fire Slime – Level 6 ]
One jumped at him.
"Slice!"
Adonis severed it cleanly in half.
The slime plopped. But its body melted away more slowly than normal.
And then he saw it.
There was a faintly glowing object that remained behind.
"So they really do drop," he muttered.
Nestled within the dissolving slime was a small, translucent crystal no larger than a walnut that glowed with pale orange light.
[ Ether Core – F Grade ]
[ Usage: Consume to gain 5 Units of Ether ]
Adonis crouched down and picked it up.
As soon as his fingers touched it, a sticky viscous residue clung to his skin.
It felt warm and a little disgusting, to be honest.
Unlike EXP and other drop items, Ether Cores did not simply fall free. They had to be retrieved directly from the monster's remains.
He had to wipe the core against the stone floor, then store it within his cloth bag.
Unfortunately, he hadn't unlocked the inventory function yet.
To let the players have a little realism, he had locked the function in a special quest, which will be issued automatically once someone becomes a level 10 Swordmaster.
< Ether Core secured, Master. Low-grade, but usable. >
"Boink, Boink, Boink."
More slimes approached.
This time, he fought with a new objective.
Not for speed. Not for EXP.
But for drops.
He targeted the core-bearing slimes first, slicing carefully to avoid shattering the fragile crystals inside.
Plop.
Slice.
Crack.
Each kill left behind more slime.
Each retrieval required his hand to dig into semi-liquid remains, prying glowing crystals from within.
By the time the floor became quiet, his hands were coated in sticky orange residue.
Adonis looked down at them, then at the 7 Ether Cores resting in his bag.
Ether Core (F) x7
"It's not much. But this is only Floor 10. And already I'm getting what I need. It shouldn't take too many days before I can summon my goddess," he grinned and wiped his hands as best he could and stood up straight.
Half the dungeon still remained.
But time was running out. He had already spent 8 hours according to his biological clock.
He decided to head back, lest his mother worry herself to death over his absence.
To exit a dungeon, one needs to reach the nearest exit point within it.
For him, it was the 7th floor, where he had last seen the exit.
Once he reached it, he was teleported out of the dungeon.
The exit gate was located near the original entry point.
Divers were exiting occasionally, but they were soon stopped by two strong sentinels.
"Hold your horses, mutts. Hand over forty percent of your loot, and you can leave," one sentinel said with a laugh.
"Hmph. Why should I?" a hot-blooded youth hurrumphed. "We do all the hard work, and you get all the benefits? This is blatant robbery!"
"Sheesh…Max!"
His party members quickly covered his mouth and then gave the guards an apologetic look.
"Forgive him, sentinels. He is new and rash."
The guards merely nodded, as if they had faced this situation hundreds of times a day.
"It's good as long as everyone understands," one of them said indifferently. "We're not here for charity, all right?"
"Yes, yes."
Adonis, after witnessing the exchange from close behind, immediately came up with a crafty plan.
Why the fuck would he hand over his hard-earned Ether Cores?
That was out of the question.
He was a practical person.
Without hesitation, he quietly tossed his cloth loot bag behind a bush.
At the same time, he relaxed his muscles and allowed his body to shift.
Bones adjusted. Facial structure softened. His height also shrank rapidly.
In the span of a heartbeat, he reverted completely to another appearance: a 9-10-year-old boy.
The transformation was so swift and natural that no one noticed a thing.
When he finally walked toward the exit gate, empty-handed and unarmed, the sentinels only noticed him at the last second.
Their expressions changed from boredom to confusion.
"Humm? Whose kid is this?" one barked.
The other frowned, scanning the area. "How did a child get here?"
Adonis blinked innocently, clutching his sleeves.
"Sir, I… I got lost. I was looking for my brother," he said meekly.
The two sentinels from the Order of the Gates exchanged glances. The whole situation was bizarre.
A kid with no loot bag.
No visible weapon.
No adventurer's aura.
"Did you come out of the dungeon, boy?" one asked skeptically.
Adonis shook his head quickly, replying, "No, sir. I was just waiting outside. I got scared when people started coming out."
The lie was spat out smoothly, without hesitation.
The guards hesitated, then one of them clicked his tongue,
"Tch... Some idiot probably brought his brat along."
"Get him out of here. This place isn't for children."
"Yes, sir," Adonis replied obediently.
They let him through without another thought.
Adonis walked past the gate calmly, not once looking back.
Only after he had put a fair distance between himself and the dungeon entrance did his lips curl upward.
"See, it's too easy, Vexa."
< You're awesome, Master. Vexa is impressed. >
Without dwelling too much on internal conversation, he turned down a side path, circling back toward the bushes where he had hidden his loot.
He kept his guard behind.
No one followed him. No one suspected a thing.
And just like that, Adonis Kingsbane walked away with every Ether Core he had earned.
---
Inside the castle, at a narrow corner of the servants' quarters.
Adonis stiffened for a brief moment as Adelaide's arms suddenly wrapped around him.
But he became relaxed.
The warmth was familiar. Gentle.
"I'm sorry, Mother. I went out to clear my head. I didn't mean to worry you," he replied in a soft tone.
Adelaide pulled back just enough to look at his face. Her hands then cupped his cheeks as if to confirm he was real and unharmed.
"Clear your head?" she repeated weakly. "You disappeared for half a day, Adonis. After everything that happened yesterday, how could I not be afraid?"
Her eyes were red, clearly from crying.
Adonis felt a pang of guilt.
"I know, Mother. But nothing happened. I promise. I'm safe."
She searched his eyes for a long moment, as if trying to find faults in his composure.
"You're changing so fast, my son. Ever since the Awakening, you speak like an adult, and you look at the world like one too."
Adonis could not deny it.
"I just don't want you to worry anymore," he said instead. "I'll be more careful from now on."
Adelaide let out a long sigh, then pulled him into another tight hug.
"You always say that. Just… don't vanish like that again, okay? You're all I have."
"I won't. I swear."
Only then did she notice the dust on his clothes and the faint, unfamiliar odor coming from him.
"Look. You're so filthy. Go wash up. I'll prepare something warm for you to eat."
Adonis nodded. "Yes, Mother."
As he turned toward his room, Adelaide watched his small back disappear down the corridor with a complicated expression.
Maybe pride. Maybe fear. Also an unease she could not name.
She did not know where her son had gone.
But somewhere deep inside, she felt that the path he had stepped onto was no longer one she could walk beside him.