At the same time that Silas smashed down his paw, countless realms apart, on one of the deeper floors of the Netherworld, a being sitting in the void opened its eyes with a frown. Countless thoughts and scenarios played through its mind. If one looked closely at the giant’s eyes, they would see endless carnage and a river of blood, enough to push one’s mind into a daze.


    The giant was deep in thought. After some contemplation, and with slight hesitation, he stretched out his hand. The void distorted, and space was torn open. As the giant forcefully pushed his hand inside the portal, his flesh withered, and even his hair started turning white. Yet, he did not pause, his face remaining expressionless.


    Vorrak, who was desperately trying to escape the giant paw smashing toward him, suddenly felt something. Looking to his right, he saw space being forcefully torn apart, and a skeletal hand appeared out of nowhere. The hand, reduced to bone, grabbed him and pulled him into the torn space. Vorrak couldn’t even put up a struggle.


    As soon as Silas’s paw landed, the portal leaving only a thin crack in the space.


    Now pale, Vorrak found himself kneeling inside a grand palace. A massive throne, made from the bones of ancient creatures, stood in the middle of the hall—but no one was there. The hall was empty. Remembering the skeletal hand that had reached out to him, his mind was in turmoil. This place was not unfamiliar to him… The last time he had been here was when he had received the seed of the Star Fruit Tree.


    As a multitude of emotions coursed through his mind, a calm voice reverberated through the palace.


    "Vorrak, you may return."


    Vorrak’s eyes turned red, He could not even begin to fathom the price his clan leader had paid to rescue him. He don''t know if the clan leader is disappointed he felt like he had to explain but no words came out of him mouth... he was defeated, that was the truth, at the end he chose to remain silent, he simply knelt and bowed deeply, his forehead touching the ground.


    all this while his mind was filled with arrogance of being the top genius of the clan and being valued by the clan leader... he thought he was undefeated and unrivaled in the same realm and he could even easily defeat someone of the higher realm....but this day his confidence and his arrogance were shattered...


    In the void, the giant looked at his hand—now reduced to bone. He shook his head. Was the price worth it?


    For him, yes. Vorrak was one of the top geniuses of the clan and carried his lineage. This price was definitely worth it. As for Vorrak losing his motivation after being defeated by someone of a lower realm… the giant wasn’t too worried.


    There were many strange and bizarre creatures in this universe—beings that defied all logic and common sense, enough to make one despair and question their existence.


    Thinking about the black lion he had perceived in the dungeon, the giant’s gaze flickered.


    "A member of the Nyxian Pride… They still exist?"


    The upcoming times would not be so boring, after all. Memories he wished he had long forgotten slowly surfaced.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    <hr>


    Silas, now alone in the dungeon, pushed thoughts of the giant to the back of his mind. There was no reason to worry about it—if he could kill, he would kill; if the enemy escaped, there was nothing else to be done.


    Looking at the tree in the distance, Silas reached out with his paw and grabbed the dungeon core from the altar. As soon as he did, the entire dungeon flickered like a dying lightbulb—then, suddenly, Silas was back in the forest.


    Nina poked her head out from his mane, looking around with excitement. She took a deep breath and muttered, "Young Master, the energy in this place is multiple times higher than my home world. Young Master… soon, let’s go home. I''m exhausted from all the fighting and killing… Will I get my own separate room?"


    Nina looked at Silas expectantly.


    Silas: "Home? What home…? And what do you mean by killing?"


    Silas thought about the spider that had begrudgingly taken its last breath, staring at him with resentment.


    "Home…"


    Thinking about the shabby cave he had been using as his home, black lines formed on his face. A new question surfaced in his mind— "Do monsters even live in houses?"


    He kept his thoughts to himself, forming a new priority in his mind.


    "Buy a home before Nina finds out about my situation."


    Well, now that he had all the corpses from the dungeon, and considering he carried the entire dungeon core with him, he wasn’t worried about money. The beasts they had killed should be tradeable, right? He also remembered the Nether Stones the old centipede had mentioned… and his debt that needed repayment.


    His war spoils should be enough… right?


    Maybe if he had managed to kill that giant, his profits would have been much higher—but there was nothing he could do about that now.


    He asked, "Nina, you mentioned a market where we could trade stuff, right? Would it be possible to trade for Nether Stones?"


    "Yes, Young Master, but why do you need Nether Stones? Most of what you need can be purchased using Universal Points and they have a higher purchasing power when compared to nether stones, and nether Stones don’t provide much benefit to you unless you pursue a life profession. Ah—yeah, they’re sometimes used to transfer resources since they’re a stable currency. Universal Points can''t be directly traded, so Nether Stones act as the general currency instead."


    "Universal Contribution Points are much more valuable, and there are certain perks when your points reach a certain limit. Since Universal Points are difficult to obtain, you can either kill Nether Monsters or work as a craftsman—creating and selling items via the system store."


    Silas navigated to the market tab and selected to sell all the items in his inventory except the dungeon core.


    A prompt appeared:


    Total value of items: 430 Nether Stones. Finalize the deal?


    Silas pressed "Yes." All his items vanished, replaced by an icon of pitch-dark stones with the number 430 beneath it.


    After spending so long clearing the dungeon, he was now left with only 430 stones. He still had to pay 200 as a penalty…


    Silas felt his heart bleed.


    Well, it was better than being hunted down. With 230 stones left, he should be able to afford a home, right?


    Seeing Silas''s sour expression, Nina muttered, "Young Master, if you’re willing to sell the dungeon core, you could get around 30,000 stones."


    "30,000?"


    Silas was tempted—but he held himself back.


    Nether Stones could be obtained easily, even if it took some time. But getting a dungeon core was far more difficult. This was just an Iron Rank dungeon core, yet it had Bronze Rank mini-bosses and a Silver Rank final boss…


    He could only imagine the high-ranked dungeons.


    And when you belonged to a party, your profits dwindled. Most people didn’t even try to claim the dungeon core—it would trigger the final boss monster’s appearance. Since Iron Rank dungeons only allowed Iron Rank members inside, facing a Silver Rank boss was practically a death sentence…


    Unless you were someone who didn’t fit under common sense.