I reach the door.
I open it, enter, then close it.
" This woman really is skilled".
I look at the pocket sized golden luminous girl on my shoulder.
" What do you mean?".
I start walking again.
This time I start heading to the place Lysera said I can be staying.
The luminous gold girl lifts her hand up.
Then she raises one finger.
" Look up".
As she says this, somehow, her voice sounds serious.
' I clap for this little lass'.
' She has a serious voice'.
Before she does anything to me for thinking that way, I turn my head up.
But I don't see anything unusual that can make her use a serious voice'.
" Little lass, I don't see anything special".
But instead of her answering me, I see her pull back her raised arm and form a fist with her hand.
Her hand then glows.
She then talks in a very scary and creepy voice.
" You are supposed to call me master "
Her hand glows brighter.
But unlike earlier when she was pressuring me on the ground, her hand glows red.
Blood red.
She throws out her punch.
My eyes widen.
' Why does she want to hit me?!'.
' I don't...'.
Then the punch lands on my cheek.
My cheek that is hit vibrates a bit, but I feel no pain at all.
" Never call me lass again".
My already widened eyes widen again.
' I called her lass out loud?'.
" Yes, you did call me lass out loud".
I smile.
" Master, I can't see anything up there".
' Let me just avoid the topic entirely'.
The lass looks at me.
She just stares at me.
For some reason, that makes me start sweating.
I don't even dare breathe too loud.
She then starts talking after a bit.
" That is my point".
She flies to the top of my head.
" It is time for you to rest".
" After you rest, I will teach you the first thing I will ever teach you".
She then looks at my face from my head indifferently.
" Also take care of the wound on your cheek".
She then closes her eyes and starts standing as still as a statue.
But that is not what I am paying attention to at the moment.
' What wound?'.
As I continue walking to where my room is, I put my hand on my cheek.
Specifically the area where she hit me.
That's when I feel a hole.
A really small hole.
As big as her fist.
I freeze.
' Why does she have to have such power?'.
I look at the hand that I put on the hole.
But, there was no blood.
' If there is an injury, why is there no blood?'.
I shrug and enter the room.
When I enter, I just see a bed, somehow a desk and a chair.
That's it.
' So, this is what people call minimalism '.
I go and sit in the bed.
' Okay, how did it take me to reach this place'.
' It feels like I walked a big distance'.
' But how can a house be that big?'.
' Especially this is a house for one person'.
' How big is this place?'.
The gold girl on my head opens her luminous blue eyes.
" That's just one of the many mysteries of this place".
She jumps down to my shoulder.
" What are you talking about?".
' And also why are you jumping to my head and shoulders a lot'.
She moves to and fro my head and shoulders a lot.
She turns to me.
" It's not important".
" So let me go back to what I was saying".
" This place has a lot of very mysterious things".
"One of them is where this light is coming from".
I look left, right and up.
" You are right".
" I don't see anything here that releases light".
She pats my cheek.
" You don't have to even think of discovering the truth of these mysteries right now".
" Why not?".
" Because right now you are so weak".
" Sigh".
I sigh.
" Yes, I am very weak".
" But I think that is just from your perspective".
" Maybe in the whole world, I am at least in the strongest 10000, right?".
She shakes her head.
" Are you serious?".
" Top 10000 in strength".
" Hah, don't make me laugh".
Her voice is cold as she speaks.
" Entering the top 10000 is a dream you should throw down the drain".
" In this world especially".
" Huh".
I look at her.
" What do you mean?".
" Nothing at all".
' Truth be told,I think I am fairly strong'.
' Why does she say I am very weak?'.
' Right now I only have physical prowess to use'.
' Any person proficient enough with energy can beat me'.
' I don't really have a very strong physical prowess'.
' Well, none of this matters much'.
After some time, I decide it is better I sleep.
But I still continue thinking about what she said about my current strength.
And I sleep eventually while still in my thoughts.
....
" Little boy, wake up".
I hear the little lass's voice in my ear.
' Yeah, no'.
My eyes that were about to open stopped moving.
I shift my position a bit to get into a more comfortable position.
" Come back when I have the time".
As I descend into sleep, even through my eyelids, I see a red light.
And it gets brighter and brighter every instant.
' What's that?'.
But I then remember that when she made a hole on my cheek, there was a red light on her hand.
My eyes open and I jump out of the bed.
I smile.
" Dear master, forgive this student for his insolence".
I kneel.
" Master, I was too deep in sleep, and didn't know that it was you ".
My expression doesn't twitch in the slightest as I try to lie my way out.
' Truly, why does lying have to be the easiest way out'.
I look up slightly and see the lass looking at me with a very cold expression.
And as I look, a cold smile starts creeping onto her face.
" I really do have a lot of work, don't I?".
I nod my head.
" Yes, master does have a lot of work, so this student doesn't dare disturb master".
I see her floating down to the ground.
" No, no, no, I have a lot of work to instill you with respect".
' Why the hell do I need to learn respect little lass!?'.
' I only have respect for those I want to'.
' Not some little lass'.
Her feet touch the ground.
" Oh dear student, this teacher will teach you well ".
She starts walking to my head.
" I was planning on taking your training easy for the first thirty days, but for lying to your master once..".
She pauses.
Her smile becomes wider and colder.
She reaches my head.
I don't look anymore and make my forehead touch the ground.
And then she continues.
" The training will be what people call the first layer of the underworld".
That repeats in my head again and again.
' Why first layer of the underworld?'.
' I doubt she will take me there'.
" Master, I never lied to you" I say with a very wide and sincere smile on my face.
She doesn't say anything .
But the smile on her face doesn't disappear.
" You shall enter the second layer of the underworld 10 days after you enter the first layer".
' Wait, maybe the layers are sort of the phases of her training'.
" Oh, yes student".
" The first layer is the second phase of my training".
' Wait, why did she say ' second phase'?'.
The cold smile on her face disappears.
In its place is a playful smile.
" Stand up quickly we go eat breakfast".
I stand up.
" Master, you eat ?".
' How can this little lass eat?'.
' Isn't she just some energy projection or something?'.
She sits on my shoulder while holding one of the strands of my hair.
She turns her head in my direction slowly.
" You will enter the third layer in 15 days after you start the first".
I see a very dangerous smile on her face.
I open the door and leave the room.
' Why doesn't she just announce when I am going to enter all the layers one by one?'.
I start walking to the cooking area.
She stands up and starts swinging from one strand of my hair to the next like they are vines.
" Master, what are you doing?".
She doesn't stop as she answers me.
" You take too long to get from one place to the other in this house, and I'm bored".
She smiles.
Not a cold or dangerous smile.
A very genuine smile of fun.
"I might as well do something to relieve my boredom".
" And I just happen to have a walking jungle here, so I might as well enjoy".
" Sigh".
I sigh and shake my head.
' How can one be a child like this but be that scary?'.
I just look as she goes round my head again and again.
But that is when I notice something.
' Wait, she shrunk!'.
I didn't notice at first.
But she had to shrink to even be able to use my head as a jungle.
" Oh yes, I did shrink".
" How can you shrink?".
" Get strong enough and find out".
She swings from one strand then to the next.
Then she suddenly lets go.
And from nowhere, a small gold bird catches her.
The bird flies around my head.
Then from nowhere again, a hawk that's big enough to swallow both the bird and her in one bite appears.
And it's red.
"Gold, faster, faster!!!".
She shouts at her bird to move faster.
From nowhere, the top of my head starts feeling itchy.
" Don't scratch your head!".
The lass shouts at me.
' I wasn't going to anyway'.
Then the gold bird, her and the hawk start shrinking even smaller.
" You watch me play!".
She shouts at me as she shrinks too small to be seen.
And then a screen like that interface where my stats were showing, appears in front of me.