Chapter 72 Resurface
[You have received one gift from Lord Chronos]
[Reward: A guide to earth - By Gaia]
\'Gaia? Hey, isn\'t that the person who control this world and the one who created this dungeon... And isn\'t this Chronos guy the same guy who took over the system and sent me back in time? Wait no, if I remember correctly, he gave me a time crystal that shattered and sent me here... I think? I don\'t remember!\' I inwardly shouted and gripped onto my hair before beginning to pul. However, after a few seconds of this, I calmed down and looked back at the rewards that I had gained.
\'Book of runes and book of affinities huh... While they might be in the basic grade, they are a lot more beneficial than having Blanca around. She is kind of useless after all.\' I let out an audible sigh before another thought entered my mind.
\'How the hell am I supposed to take these things out with me? It\'s not like I have a ba-\'
*Thund*
Before I knew it, 2 pouches made out of cloth appeared in front of me, one that held 2 books while the other held one book that was much bigger than the other two.
Before I could react to the sudden appearance of two pouches, I felt and saw a bright light form around my body before a fur coat appeared out of thin air and wrapped itself in me.
\'Oh?\' I thought in delight, happy that I would not have to skin the wolf and make the fur coat on my own.
After analyzing everything that had appeared, I quickly grabbed both pouches and stood up before walking toward the exit with a satisfied smile.
Having become stronger once again, not only did I get rewards that I would never have expected to get from a mid-mortal dungeon, but I also seem to have gotten things that would let me avoid becoming complacent in the future.
\'Wait... It said I would be ejected in a few minutes so I might as well just stay in this throne room.\'
Nodding, I walked back to the corpses before walking past them, eventually standing in front of a throne as a desire to sit down spread within me.
\'I mean... What is the worst that can happen? I saw that goblin chief sit on it earlier, which was the main reason to why I thought the goblin might have a goblin king, so it can\'t be that bad to sit on it, right?\'
As the thoughts ran through my mind, I finally close my eyes before letting out a heavy sigh. At the same moment, I turned around as fast as I could and landed myself on the seat of the throne.
\'See! That wasn\'t so bad now was it?\' I asked myself with a smirk on my face as if I had one-upped someone in an argument. Unfortunately, however, the only person that I one-upped had been myself, making me look like a fool in the perspective of anyone other than myself.
After having sat down for half a minute, I looked at one of the pouches with narrowed eyes before my curiosity and desire to get stronger as quickly as possible overtook my self-control.
Taking out one of the books, I read-
"Book of Runes. It might be basic for now but I could probably try and pry the rest of the information out of Blanca... Man, I wonder how good my life would have been if I hadn\'t chosen to go with her and sign the contract.
Of course, there was the threat of her killing me the moment I refused, but now I doubt that she would have done that. Plus, I thought that she would actually be useful but so far I had gained more out of this dungeon than I had gained out of her." I let out another sigh, one filled with bitter annoyance as well as fatigue.
"I haven\'t eaten for a long time too... Matter of fact, it\'s been more than 2 weeks since the last time I had properly eaten."
Letting out a sigh for the umpteenth time, I threw those thoughts to the back of my mind and began reading the book of runes.
While at first, I was slightly bored, I found myself being almost entranced by the complicated runes that I saw in the book as illustrations, as well as the combinations of the runes that left me almost mesmerized.
[Dungeon is closing]
[You shall be transported out in 30 seconds]
Being kicked out of my trance, I furrowed my brows but still simply closed my book and stood up from the throne while throwing one last glance toward the two corpses that lay lifeless in front of me.
[You will now be transported]
The familiar feeling of space warping around you combined with the images of the world being stretched entered my eyes. It was a familiar scene not because I had seen it when I had entered the dungeon, no. It was because I had felt it before my first death. I felt it when I had been teleported to the top of the golden spaceship before being dropped onto the floor to watch the absolute destruction that they had showered my city with.
I remembered the vast wasteland that seemed to crumble more and more by the second, images of what it used to look like compared to its final moments flickering within my mind like a broken tv screen.
I closed my eyes tightly, not wanting to remember any of those memories yet that still intruded into my mind.
\'Damni!\'
I had built up my resolve for so long and had crawled out of my state of wallowing in pity long ago. Yet, even after so much time had passed, I\'d still see images of that day flash within my mind.
The feeling of agony and sorrow were not as powerful as they were back in the first week of landing in this world, but the feeling wasn\'t far off.
Eventually, however, it seemed like my mind was forced to give in, finally allowing one of the memories of my last day to resurface.
***
I was sitting down on one of the seats of the dinner table poking my food while looking at it as if in a trance.
"-rother? Brother!? Are you deaf or dead?" A familiar voice spoke from my left. A Blonde-haired girl with beautiful blue round eyes looked at me with worry as her they glimmered with naivety and youth.
This was my little sister Emily who was currently trying to communicate with me over the dinner table.
"Dear? You have been zoning out a lot lately. I something the matter?" A mature woman asked me from one side of the dinner table.
"Nothing to worry about, mom. It is just that I haven\'t been sleeping much cuz\' of the upcoming finals" I ruffled my hair and smiled warmly however, it froze for a second, yet that was all it took for my father to realize there was something wrong.
"What is it son?" He narrowed his eyes in worry.
Looking at him with a blank expression, I opened my mouth and spoke hesitantly "Just a little bit of De Javu. Nothing to worry about." before laughing.
\'Something is wrong...\'
"Are you sure son?" He narrowed his eyes further
\'Something is re-really wrong...\'
My hands had begun to shake.
My shivering breath was now audible.
My fear was now apparent.
\'What is this?\' I asked myself
Snapping out of it for a second, I tried to think of a reply but...
Something stopped me.
The moment I looked at my father\'s face, it was as if I could see right through his skin and muscle. All that appeared to me was the shape of his skull.
A skull filled with vegetation and moss as if it had been there for months if not years.
Before I could even scream, his face had returned to normal, making me rub my eyes as my hands shook uncontrollably.
***