The silence that followed Ezekiel's laughter was… strange.
The hatchling stared up at him, wide-eyed. It blinked slowly, letting out a small rumble — less a growl, more a curious noise. Concerned, even.
One didn't have to be a mind reader to know what it was really thinking.
Is this human broken?
Ezekiel didn't notice, of course.
His eyes were locked on the translucent system screen in front of him, unmoving, as if trying to burn every word into memory.
{Epic-tier Chest Opened}
The following items have been obtained:
— Skill Book: Mining IV
— Skill Book: Stat Absorption (Passive)
— Skill Book: Skill Absorption (Passive)
— Mass Teleportation Scroll (One-Time Use)
— Prism Core Dagger
— Warped Cloak
— Fragment of a Forgotten Seal
Ezekiel exhaled softly and reached for the first item. Skill Book: Mining IV. A prompt appeared immediately.
{Would you like to learn the active skill "Mining IV"?}
He gave a simple response. "Yes."
{Skill learned: Mining IV (Active)}
{Mining IV (Active)}
Tier: Pseudo-Epic
• Enables user to mine Common to Silver-tier ores through the system interface (user must remain within 5,000 meters of the ore until mining is completed).
• Chance to extract Gold-tier ores increased by 15%.
• Able to sense upto Gold-tier ore veins within 50 meters.
• Mining duration increases with ore type and quantity.
• MP Cost: 2 MP / Minute during mining.
• Can not be evolved without changing to Sub-Class Miner.
He closed the prompt and turned toward the nearby wall. It was jagged and deep obsidian in color — White Stone Ore. It shimmered faintly in the thick darkness, refusing to be swallowed by the absolute shadows of the chamber.
Ezekiel smiled, thrilled. He hadn't actually expected to be able to mine it this soon.
His plan was to return to Fwerah with the rescued victims, confirm the completion of his Quest, pick up the Miner Sub-Class change from the Adventure Association, and spend a few days leveling up his mining skill — enough to be able to mine here.
But luck had again refused to comply with his plans. He could only be thankful as he willed the system interface for mining to appear before him.
{White Stone Ore (Silver-tier) discovered nearby!}
{Would you like to mine all the White Stone Ores?}
"Yes."
The ore gave no physical reaction — no vibration or glow — but a large red timer appeared in the air above it.
{Mining in Progress — Time until Completion: 01:24:59}
That was fair. But the 2 MP / Minute cost would have set him up for sure failure if he didn't have Willpower replenishing him with 1% MP every 10 Seconds.
And failing at a system assisted mining meant not being able to mine in the same place again.
His created skills were genuine blessings, and it was proven further by the rest of the items in the chest.
One after another, he picked up the next two skill books and learned them with calm efficiency.
{Skill Acquired: Stat Absorption (Passive)}
Tier: Epic
Stat Requirement: +25 Wisdom.
• Absorbs 1 random stat from solo kills.
• For every +10 Luck → absorb +1 bonus stat point.
• Maximum of 10 stat points per kill.
• Skill is lost permanently upon death.
{Skill Acquired: Skill Absorption (Passive)}
Tier: Epic
Stat Requirement: +30 Wisdom.
• User may steal 1 skill from solo kills.
• Duplicate skills may be merged and leveled up or evolved.
• May trigger negative status effects depending on the skill's grade.
• Negative status effects — if triggered — must be resisted within 30 Seconds, or it would cause instant death
• Skill is lost permanently upon death.
Ezekiel stayed still for a moment, reviewing the descriptions, his gaze unreadable. While he was excited, his mind was occupied with making the calculations.
He couldn't use these skills yet, but he had plenty free stat points from his recent level-ups. If he just wanted to, his Wisdom stat could immediately meet the requirements.
Besides that—
High risks. High rewards.
Both of these skills had their limitations. Especially the Skill Absorption penalty. That alone would make most players avoid it.
But Ezekiel already had a failsafe.
Willpower would negate negative status effects up to 300% of his Charm.
He didn't expect the penalty to ever land — unless the enemy was absurdly above his level. Still, it was good to be cautious.
The skills even had the penalty of being lost at death. It meant after his revival, even if he were to find these same skill books again, he wouldn't be able to re-learn them.
These were not casual tools.
They were weapons.
And he intended to use them with care.
Ezekiel reached for the next item in the chest: a scroll with a deep-blue shimmer and fine silver etchings pulsing faintly across its surface.
Mass Teleportation Scroll (One-Time Use)
• Teleports up to 20 targets to a user-designated location.
• MP Cost: 40
• Target location must be a previously visited area.
He nodded to himself. This was a problem solver.
So this is how the quest intended for me to extract the victims…
Without the scroll, he would've had to escort weakened, potentially injured NPCs across treacherous terrain, defending them all the way back to Fwerah. Forget just hours, it might have taken him days. Risky and draining.
Opera had clearly balanced the difficulty by adding this scroll to the chest — but only for those clever or stubborn enough to find it.
His eyes then fell upon the only weapon in the chest— thePrism Core Dagger.
He picked it up. Sleek and elegant, its blade shimmered in silver, embedded onto a dark emerald hilt. The grip felt cool, perfectly balanced, and just right.
Prism Core Dagger (Platinum-Tier)
Level Requirement: Level 20
Level Range: Level 20 – Level 75
Attack: +120
Durability: 100/100
• Capable of channeling up to 3 elemental properties
(Elements must be fed via raw elemental cores or condensed energy stones)
• Current Elemental Properties: None
• Stat Bonuses: +10 Dexterity; +10 Agility
• Elemental Damage Bonus: +250%
• Skill: Rush Kill
~ Ignores opponent's defense up to 200% of the user's own
~ Delivers consecutive strikes to up to 5 designated points
~ Cooldown: 3 Minutes
A pleased smile tugged at Ezekiel's lips.
Finally. A weapon with reach.
His current dagger, Dark Nebula, capped at Level 15 — which meant it would soon become unusable.
Whereas, the Prism Core Dagger wasn't just an upgrade. It was an investment into the next 50+ levels. And the synergy between Rush Kill and his Vulnerability Scan was almost too good to be true.
He sheathed it without ceremony.
The chest wasn't done giving.
His hand moved to the cloak folded neatly in one corner. It looked like any other black, nondescript travel cloak, but its texture shifted ever so slightly in the light — the kind of detail a system rendered only when something was special.
Warped Cloak (Cloth — Platinum-tier)
• Allows user to alter appearance, voice, level, and aura
• Total usage time: 60 Minutes per day (can be used in parts)
• Cooldown: 24 Hours
Ezekiel examined the edges. It was lighter than it looked, almost weightless. Not only would it work perfectly with Stealth, but it also solved a more pressing issue. His avatar used the same appearance as his real body.
It was too soon for him to be recognized by the enemies of his parents, especially as he had yet to know who they were.
This cloak gave him options. Freedom. A chance to grow at a pace that was perfectly suitable for him, without having to look over his shoulder at every possible opening.
And yet…
Even all this, all the rewards and luxuries and future potential — they weren't the true prize of this chest.
No.
That came last.
Nestled at the very bottom, was a single object.
Small. Round. Gold.
An ancient coin.
Ezekiel reached for it slowly, his expression dazed in wonder.
Fragment of a Forgotten Seal (???)
• Stat Bonus: +5 Luck
• ???
• ???
• ???
• ???
• ???
• ???
It looked a little rusted. Timeworn. On its surface was the engraving of a man — impossibly beautiful, unnaturally symmetrical, like an immortal carved from divine intent.
Wars were raged once upon a time over this impossible existence of a being.
But that's a story for a different time.
Ezekiel stared at the coin, not in appreciation of the beautiful visage.
A Pseudo-Legendary item… he thought, fingers tightening around it.
And not just an item... It was a trigger.
This was what had made him laugh in mad glee earlier.
A Legendary questline that can't even be attempted until Level 100!
It was one that would literally define the direction of ReLife afterwards. Even triggering it required one to meet several conditions. The ancient coin in his hand was the most obscure one of them.
It's far too early for that path. But at least now, the path exists.
Ezekiel carefully stored it in his inventory, along with the scroll, dagger, and the cloak.
He then sat a few moments, thinking, letting his mind catch up to everything he'd just gained.
It was overwhelming.
And the more he gained, the more he realized how important it was for him to be alert at all times. Even the most unlikely places could hold treasures beyond his wildest imaginations.
Then, finally, his gaze slid toward the hatchling.
The little creature had taken full advantage of his distraction — all five of its heads were now greedily drinking straight from the blood pool. Slurping noisily, completely lost in its own little world.
Ezekiel grimaced and stood up, brushing the dust from his pants.
He walked over and grabbed the hatchling by the scruff of its scaly neck. It squeaked in protest, flailing its heads, until it saw the look on Ezekiel's face.
That was all it took.
The creature immediately froze. All five heads turned toward him with wide, glistening eyes. Guilty. Innocent. Pathetic.
Ezekiel sighed, already losing the war.
He glanced between the hatchling and the pool, then asked quietly, "Is this blood actually helping you grow?"
The response was instant — the hatchling perked up with a sharp trill that definitely sounded like yes.
Ezekiel narrowed his eyes, slightly doubtful. "Really?"
Even adult dragons didn't have such enthusiasm for the blood and flesh of other creatures.
This hatchling was too greedy.
But what else could he do besides letting it do as it wished? It's not like he had a better alternative to a pool of blood. Besides, the more it grew the more helpful it would be to him.
The hatchling was wiggling excitedly, the eagerness in its body language unmistakable.
Another sigh.
He set it down gently at the edge of the pool again. "Fine. Have at it. But don't overdo it. I'll be back soon."
The creature let out a happy screech and dove headfirst into the blood pool, disappearing beneath its crimson surface with a splash.
"…I didn't tell you to swim in it," Ezekiel muttered, rubbing at his temple. "Forget it."
He turned and started retracing his steps. The mining would take some time, and the hatchling seemed to know what it was doing. He should handle his end of the quest.
The route wasn't straightforward — more winding memory than visible map — but he still remembered the turns. That right turn from the fork in the tunnel had led him into Dhamra's trap. Which meant the other path…
He reached it in under ten minutes.
Without hesitation, he took left at the fork this time and began moving.
This corridor was different from the other. The walls were smoother, more refined. The air was less suffocating. Not quite comfortable, but tolerable.
Ezekiel's senses remained alert.
Eventually, the path opened into another cavern.
This one didn't numb his senses with the smell of blood and rot. It was still dark, and there were no White Stone Ore walls here — just plain, damp rock. He heard the sound of water ahead, and this time, it wasn't a brutal murder pit.
A small waterfall poured through a crack in the wall above, its source unseen. The water spilled into a shallow pond in the center of the cavern.
Seated in the pond were people.
Sixteen of them.
All sitting cross-legged, backs turned toward him. Still. Motionless.
For a moment, it was almost serene.
Then it became disturbing.
Their stillness was unnatural. Their thin shoulders barely moved. If not for the soft ripple of water around their necks, they could have been statues.
Ezekiel forced down a series of haunting memories. Burned into his very existence, like a mark he both despised and couldn't bring himself to separate from.
It's only a game.
He felt compelled to remind himself, so he wouldn't be swept by the terror in his heart. Ezekiel groaned.
It was a bit pathetic, if he said so himself.
Without giving his thoughts a chance to spiral again, he approached the pond with caution, checking for traps, hidden threats — anything.
This space didn't exist in the original dungeon, either, but he'd stopped questioning it all the moment the Epic-tier chest appeared.
It had finally dawned on him.
This dungeon wasn't a product of an evolved Quest. It was the exact opposite.
A Time-Limited Dungeon — a pocket instance twisted by divinity and urgency. A place with only one rule: twenty-four hours from the moment of activation.
He had triggered the quest precisely at the beginning of this phenomenon. His timing was simply luck at play.
And that seven-day timer from the quest?
It was a blatant lie.
A diversion to make the dungeon even more inaccessible than it already was.
If Ezekiel hadn't come today, if he hadn't killed Dhamra, he would've failed. And the people before him — the mission's entire objective — would have been lost.
The ending of this dungeon would have been the successful promotion of Dhamra into a higher demon consort. And once he disappeared, so would have all his traces.
The victims. The nest. The massacre. The Epic-tier chest.
The realization that a Quest like this was meant to be completed by a new player with no prior knowledge of the game sent a cold shiver through Ezekiel. He'd truly dodged a full-blown character collapse by instinctively trusting urgency over comfort.
It was no wonder the information on this time-limited dungeon didn't appear in the data that was implanted into his head.
Perhaps the Quest was deemed impossible to begin with.
But if one were able to beat the odds...
Then the Epic-tier chest was meant to be the best reward possible after all their efforts.
Ezekiel stood at the edge of the pond.
Sixteen figures. Human. Alive. All in deep unconscious states.
He stepped into the shallow water and reached for the nearest person — a young man, gaunt and skeletal. His skin was sickly pale, almost translucent and paper-thin. Every rib was visible.
Ezekiel pulled him out gently, laying him down on dry ground.
He moved to the next.
And the next.
Their condition was horrifying.
Not just malnourished — broken. Skin and bones, vacant expressions, shallow breathing. Freezing Cold.
These weren't just captives. They were victims of psychological torture.
Cognitive Loop Conditioning.
A cruel manipulation tactic — force the mind to believe it couldn't survive outside of water, and the body would obey. Even if clarity returned, they'd be too afraid to move. It was an Incubus's favorite way to mentally shackle its targets.
Ezekiel's jaw tightened.
He kept pulling them out one by one, handling each with care. Once out of the water, they would begin to recover — slowly. Their bodies would remember land. Their minds would follow.
He stopped only once they were all laid on the stone ground, lined up and covered as best as he could manage from scattered pieces of clothes and rags that he could find around the cavern. He glanced at his inventory.
He really should have bought more health potions. But there was no point regretting it now.
Ezekiel exited the cavern, then the dungeon itself. Outside, he used the Iron Sword to hack down several thin branches from nearby trees. Once satisfied with the bundle, he hauled it back inside.
Back in the chamber, he knelt near the victims and began striking two stones together. It took a few minutes, but persistence paid off — a spark finally caught.
He fashioned a torch from one of the branches and used it to light a small fire near the resting bodies. Warm, golden light spilled across the stone floor, chasing away the gloom that had ruled the cavern until now.
A quiet breath escaped him.
With the fire burning, he no longer had to worry about the victims freezing before they even had the chance to wake.
Once they do, he'd explain what had happened. Their assimilation with the cores. The failed ritual. The creature that had nearly taken everything from them.
Until then, he waited.
Waited for the mining to complete.
Waited for the hatchling to finish its feast.
Waited for sixteen lives to find their way back to the world.