A/N - Thank you, CAPTAINCAEL, Darastrix, and Rocket02025, for becoming God of Velmoryn's Patreons!
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By the time we entered the forest, it was early afternoon. The sun was nearly at its peak, but the forest remained as dark and gloomy as ever. Towering trees blocked out most of the light, and the few beams that slipped through were thin and frail, their glow barely visible. Still, despite the dimness, the temperature was mild, and the damp smell in the air was easier to tolerate than before.
I walked on the right flank of the group. Every step I took sounded like a metal ball rolling across tiny glass shards. In contrast, the other Velmoryns moved with quiet, practiced ease.
Teryo led the party, keeping a good distance from the rest of us as he scouted ahead.
Vaelari walked in the middle, still working on the same piece of wood. He'd made noticeable progress, the face of a female Velmoryn slowly taking shape. Aria and Ninali stayed near the back, but the gap between them and the rest of us was barely there.
I noticed how careful Ninali was when speaking to Aria. She weighed every word, never interrupting or contradicting her.
"Aria, what can you tell me about dungeons? I don't remember anything about them…" It was already well known that I'd lost my memory, but I liked to remind them, just to keep the act solid.
"What do you want to know?" She asked, picking up her pace until she was walking beside me.
"Everything," I said, laughing lightly.
"There is little I can say with certainty. We don't know how dungeons come to be, or how they truly function. They're… strange places," she said, trailing off as she absently toyed with a fold in her robe. "There are different kinds. Some pose no threat at all. Others are swarming with monsters. And a few are somewhere in between."
Ninali and Vaelari also moved closer, clearly drawn in by the conversation.
"I've heard some cannot be exited unless specific conditions are met," Vaelari added, tucking his unfinished carving into his pouch.
"What sort of conditions?" Ninali asked before I could.
"Some require a beast to be slain. Others demand you solve a puzzle… or endure until a set time has passed." Vaelari explained, lowering his voice.
"Are there restrictions?" I asked. "Like… minimum age, or rank, or…" I caught myself, stopping just short of the word I didn't want to say.
"Race?" Aria finished for me, her tone casual, her expression neutral. But there was a glint in her eyes, and I could tell she was enjoying herself.
"There can be restrictions," she continued. "But they are always written near the entrance. That, at least, seems to remain a consistent rule that dungeons follow. And our dungeon…"
"Has a number restriction," I said, finishing her sentence without thinking.
"If it's that dangerous, why go in at all?" Ninali murmured, barely above a whisper. Her expression was one of worry, but one glance from Aria was enough to shut it down.
"A great question," Vaelari answered instead, completely ignoring the tension between the two. "Dungeons hold essences, artifacts… but more importantly, they offer the only path to advance one's rank without decades of training or essence gathering. That matters most for someone like me, who cannot fight, and must rely on others."
"You mean, if you're lucky enough to find one without danger?" I asked, starting to piece together how these places worked.
"Yes. But if fortune turns against you…" Vaelari's voice trailed off. He pulled the unfinished carving from his pouch and drifted back into silence, returning to his place in the middle of the group.
What the hell? He just went from enjoying the conversation to pretending we don't exist?
I stared at him, puzzled, until Aria leaned in and whispered an explanation.
"His wife died in a dungeon. She was a Gold Rank mage and gave her life to protect him. Vaelari was the only one who returned."
She kept her voice low, clearly trying to spare him from reliving the moment again.
"Woah…" Ninali breathed, her eyes widening.
She didn't know? How is that even possible?
Ninali was almost two hundred years old. So, how could she've been unaware of the death of a gold-rank Velmoryn mage, especially in a tribe where Gold Ranks were so rare?
Wait… is she like me? Did she join the tribe later?
Before I could ask, Teryo gave us a hand signal from up ahead.
"We'll continue later," Aria said, her tone turning serious as she picked up her pace and moved to join him.
Teryo stood in front of the corpse of a deer-like animal, the same kind Tharuun had been feasting on when Roy's party hunted it.
The body was half-rotten, and the stench was unmistakably familiar. What remained of it had no visible damage. No cuts. No torn flesh. Not even a drop of blood spilled.
"It died from rot," Teryo said, picking up a stick and prodding the body. "Otherwise, another beast would have fed on it."
The stick sank in far too easily. Even the thick, leathery hide offered no resistance.
"Look at the eyes," he added, narrowing his gaze. "It hasn't been dead long, but the body's already rotting. How is that possible?"
He wasn't asking anyone in particular, but I decided to answer.
"I'm not sure," I said, pulling out the spider mutant's essence from my Veilspace, "but Roy and I fought something that might've caused this."
I didn't just flash it openly, of course. I pretended to reach into a pouch, like I was carrying around that thing casually.
Teryo looked me over before speaking.
"May I see it?" he asked, extending a hand.
I nodded and handed it over. I wouldn't have minded if he destroyed it. I'd just ask for something good in return, acting like it had been my most treasured possession.
He brought it close to his nose, but the second he caught a whiff, he nearly gagged.
"Yes… same stench," he muttered, forcing a strained smile as he returned it. "Thank you. I've no idea why you kept this thing, but I'd strongly advise against using it."
That small exchange was enough to soften him. Maybe initially, he'd assumed I would be a dead weight, a burden too risky to bring along. Either way, I welcomed the change in tone.
"Roy told me he had never seen such a creature before," Aria said, stepping into the conversation. She had been silently observing the entire time, and I noticed the faintest smile tug at her lips when I used the Veilspace ring and masked it by reaching for the pouch. She'd definitely noticed. "He may not be the most experienced among us, but his knowledge is decent."
"Yes. It's clearly a new species," Teryo agreed, nodding. "Either it wandered here, unless… someone brought it."
He glanced at me when he said it, causing me to frown.
Great. He's starting to suspect me again.
"Or," Aria said calmly, "they were made."
Could it be that scream?
The memory resurfaced immediately. I had scanned the entire forest looking for the source, but found nothing. That left only two possibilities - they either knew how to hide from a god… or they were powerful enough that I couldn't detect them.
Could it be another god? But then… why would a god scream?
I was still buried in thought when Teryo called everyone back to their positions and told us to move. The sun was already beginning its descent, and our plan was to reach a cave the Velmoryns used when traveling long distances.
When I asked why we couldn't just sleep out in the open, the answer was simple.
A night out here was more dangerous than we could handle.
…
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. We walked in silence, barely exchanging a handful of words.
Everyone was in a foul mood. Teryo refused to let us stop, not even to eat, and our stomachs growled nonstop as we pushed forward.
Eventually, we left the shadows of the dense, towering forest and followed the river downhill. The cave we were headed toward sat on the riverbank, carved directly into the cliffside.
My feet started to hurt soon after. Even with a strong physique, stepping on loose stones and constantly slipping was painful. The pain was worse than I expected, especially with the thin leather boots I was wearing. The material wasn't flexible, the stitching was rough against the skin, and they offered no cushion at all. I felt every single rock I stepped on.
Only Teryo seemed unaffected by the terrain. Vaelari and Ninali were also swaying uncomfortably, trying to avoid the sharp stones and still grunting from pain, no matter where they stepped.
Aria walked like she didn't care, but I was certain she had it the worst. Unlike the rest of us, she wasn't wearing boots at all, and her feet were covered in cuts. Still, her steps were silent and composed.
I was surprised at first, but then I noticed the faint crimson glow around her feet.
I didn't even notice when she used the magic…
I was curious what that spell did, but decided not to ask now. I'd save the questions for when we reached the cave.
And finally, we did.
The entrance came into view - a moss-choked opening carved into the cliffside, barely visible in the fading light. It was two heads taller than me, wide enough for five or six Velmoryns to walk through shoulder to shoulder. But it didn't go deep. Less than ten steps in, the stone curved sharply.
"Avenor, come with me. We'll catch some fish," Aria called out.
I nearly groaned aloud. My feet were killing me.
But before I could reply, Vaelari walked over.
"Take off your boots, please," he said, crouching beside me with a grimace. Even that movement made him wince in pain.
I hesitated, then did as he asked.
The sight made me freeze.
The boots hadn't just rubbed me raw, they had peeled skin off as I pulled them free. What was left was a mess of deep bruises, scrapes, and blisters. The kind that throbbed with every heartbeat.
"Now that we're safe, I can afford to spare some mana," Vaelari said, explaining why he let us suffer through the pain, himself included.
I expected glowing runes like when other Velmoryns used magic, but in his case, his hands simply began to emit a soft green light that slowly crept toward my feet.
Back when I played games, healing always seemed something pleasant, like placing a cold towel on the back of your neck on a hot day. But here, it was worse than the wound itself. The energy felt soothing for a moment… then it started to burn.
Within seconds, it felt like I had slipped on red-hot iron boots. The pain flared through every nerve in my feet, a slow, punishing crawl that made me grit my teeth.
Thankfully, it didn't last long. The moment my skin started reforming, the pain flipped into a rush of relief so intense it almost felt good.
"That should be enough," Vaelari said, smiling gently.
He was slowly becoming my favorite Velmoryn. Not just because he healed me, but because he seemed genuinely kind.
I stood, pulling on my boots, which still had strips of my skin stuck inside. I glanced over at Vaelari, now healing Ninali.
I have to convert him.
I decided that Vaelari, the only Velmoryn who could use healing magic, would be useful for my plans.
After that, I followed Aria. The fishing didn't take more than fifteen minutes. She used magic to pull a dozen out of the river with ease. And I just stood there, no need to do anything, as I was just a bodyguard in case something showed up.
When we returned, Teryo had already started a fire. He'd even caught a small animal, already skinned and roasting on a spit.
Ninali handled the fish, gutting them with quick, practiced cuts, while Aria walked over to Vaelari as it was her turn for healing.
The sun had fully set. The forest around us was slowly waking up with beasts roaring from time to time.
I planned to sleep deeper inside the cave, near Aria. That was my assigned role anyway - her personal guard. So I started unpacking the bag Vivien had given me. Inside was just a leather mat and a roll of fur. Simple, but it would do.
I laid everything out and was about to sit down when I noticed Ninali and Aria near the cave entrance, forming runes in the air.
The air shimmered around them.
Crimson light glowed faintly as several diagrams formed in front of their hands.
Do they memorize all those symbols? Or do they just visualize what they want to do, and the runes appear on their own?
I had far too many questions for Aria tonight. It was going to be a long night for her.
Wait… did that crystal the Goddess left behind have runes on it? I didn't even check properly.
I pulled out the cyan crystal and turned it over in my hands, inspecting it from every angle.
For some reason, I got completely absorbed in examining the crystal and didn't even notice when Aria returned and set up her bed right next to mine.
"What were those runes meant for?" I asked, almost on instinct. Curiosity was fully in control at this point.
"They conceal our presence," she answered, placing a fluffy pillow on her mat, which immediately made me jealous. "It erases smell, sound, sight. Unless a beast wanders in by pure chance, we'll be safe tonight."
She sat down, adjusting the fur.
"Where did you find that memory stone?" she asked, nodding at the crystal in my hands.
"Memory stone?" I echoed. "That's a thing?"
"Yes. It holds memories. Judging by how bright it is, there's likely a long one sealed inside," she said with a soft chuckle, lying down on her side. "Feed it mana, and the memory will enter your mind. It isn't pleasant, but it's safe. Just be warned. It only works once, so if it wasn't meant for you, don't use it. That's taboo."
She turned toward the cave wall, leaving me frozen.
I looked down at the crystal again, it felt heavier now.
Is this thing really holding the memories the Goddess left behind?
My hands flinched slightly as I realized just how important this crystal could be. Then I focused, attempting to channel my mana into it.
**
A/N -
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