Kopii looked away. "Sorry!" he shouted as he ran. He didn't want to get into trouble. He heard after him: "Yeah, yeah, run away… you weakling, all you can do is run." But Kopii didn't care about those words. He had heard the same words from adventurers before. Kopii didn't care about what came out of their rotten mouths.
Kopii ran until he reached the Tower of Babel. Without hesitation, he entered it and saw the same scene that he hadn't witnessed for three weeks. Kopii remembered Rosa. "I need to check on her, maybe she already thinks I'm dead," Kopii thought, moving towards the descent into the dungeons.
His tactic was simple: go down to the seventh floor and restrain his thirst with all his might. Descending lower and lower, avoiding all the monsters, he became more and more doubtful about this idea. He might not be lucky, and when all his strength was exhausted, he would remain here forever. Or he would run into other adventurers, which didn't seem much better, because they could report him to the guild, and he would be declared a criminal. He didn't want to choose between two evils.
There was also a third outcome that Kopii hoped he could achieve. With such thoughts, Kopii descended to the seventh floor. "Ah, I guess I can do it. I just need to calm down and wait." Kopii didn't have to wait long; he heard such a familiar and distant sound that he hadn't heard in a long time.
Looking in that direction, he saw needle rabbits, there were four of them. Kopii decided not to wait for them to attack first and attacked preemptively. Jumping on the nearest rabbit, he cut it in two. Kopii again felt thirst and all-consuming hatred.
"I can do it, I can do it, I can do it. I need to suppress it. I must." He was again beginning to lose control and completely succumb to hatred and thirst. The rabbits immediately attacked all at once, but Kopii cut them all down with one movement. Kopii ignored the fallen stones and ran in a random direction.
His body was again seized by this feeling, full of hatred. Kopii couldn't resist it in any way; he killed everyone he encountered. His clothes were stained with blood, and more and more wounds appeared on his body each time. But this didn't stop him; he needed more and more. His hatred grew at an unrelenting speed until it completely took over Kopii.
At this pace, he descended to the tenth floor. His first enemies were orcs. Kopii dodged an attack and launched a swift attack on the arm, severing it. But Kopii didn't stop there, he continued to inflict cutting attacks and dodge simultaneously until the orc disappeared. He ignored the magic stone. "I need more, more." He immediately attacked the next orc, cutting off his head, but didn't manage to dodge when he received a fist to the face. Flying back several meters, Kopii coughed up blood, but even so, it didn't stop him; he felt nothing except thirst and hatred. Kopii got up and rushed towards the orc who had hit him. Evading the blow of the fourth orc, Kopii aimed at the head of the third orc.
His attack failed; the orc blocked. But Kopii didn't stop there, tightening his grip on the sword, he cut off his arm. The orc screamed in pain and hatred and counterattacked with his other arm. He blocked. Crunch. But even so, he still flew into the air from his blow. He regrouped in the air and, landing, immediately headed to attack the third orc, dodging the attack of two orcs. He made a perfect lunge into the chest of the fourth orc, hitting him in the magic stone, thereby killing him immediately.
He dodged the third orc's attack to the back. He immediately counterattacked him, cutting off his leg, but didn't manage to finish him off when the orc struck him on the head with his healthy arm. Crunch. He flew back from the orc's blow and tumbled a couple of times until he stopped.
He was finally able to come back to himself. Hatred and thirst disappeared as if they had never been there. The adrenaline began to drop. "Aaaah. How painful, why so painful," he again felt pain in all his muscles, especially in his arms and head. His whole head was just cracking. Kopii couldn't hear anything, the ringing in his ears was too strong. It was difficult for him to concentrate on anything. But or knew that he needed to get up and continue fighting. He reached for the thigh bag. After a couple of seconds, he found a potion of restoration. He smiled through his pain. "Actually, it's not so bad. Hahaha. Cough cough." After drinking the potion, he felt relief throughout his body, but the pain still remained. His vision returned to normal. Kopii reached for the second thigh bag.
Bang. Aaaah, how painful. From the pain in his hands he continued to dodge the orc's attacks. Looking at the results of the orc's strike, he was horrified. Kopii realized one thing: if even one blow landed now, he would die. But Kopii's thoughts were again interrupted by the orc's blow. Jumping aside, enduring the pain, Kopii turned his back to the orc and ran, taking two magic stones along the way.
Climbing to the ninth floor, he reached for the bag, took out a potion, and drank it in one gulp. Now he could think more clearly, the pain in his muscles was almost gone, all minor wounds were healed. But the pain in his arm and nose remained. They had not disappeared anywhere. "Yes, it's crooked," Kopii whispered to himself, feeling his nose.
Finally leaving the Tower of Babel all covered in blood and wounds, the ascent was not easy. Walking home, Kopii noticed that people were shying away from him, he immediately guessed the reason: his appearance and most importantly… Smell, smell. What a stench. He understood them perfectly.
Some time later, he lay on the bed in full thought. "I was able to regain control when the orc hit me on the head the second time. My guesses were correct. Losing consciousness, I return to normal." Clenching his fist and smiling, he was glad that at least one of the guesses was correct. Kopii had a second guess in which he was also sure: "If my feelings are stronger than hatred and thirst, then I can suppress them. After all, the first time he was even able to control the state of thirst only because he wanted to live. This feeling was able to suppress the thirst and the raging hatred within him."
Kopii looked out the window. "It's not so dark yet, maybe he's not asleep yet." Getting out of bed, he thought: "I need to update the characteristics." From the fact that he got up sharply, he felt dizzy, and Kopii lay back down. "Okay, you can update the characteristics tomorrow." And then it dawned on him: "And why? Yes, I haven't descended for three weeks, my characteristics, in theory, have not grown by even a gram. It will just be useless."
With such thoughts, Kopii fell asleep. The next morning, the dungeon was waiting for him again. Opening his eyes, Kopii decided to get out of bed, he felt dizzy again, but he didn't care. Quickly dressing, he left the room, wishing Naaza and Miaha good morning. Quickly having a snack, leaving the blue pharmacy, Kopii was in a good mood, walking at a brisk pace towards the Tower of Babel. There he met the one he did not expect to see again.
Noticing him, he began to wave his hand and approach Kopii. "Hello, Kopii, long time no see. You've already settled in Orario, as I can see."
He watched as Raven approached closer and closer, his face had the same smile. "Hello."
"As always, a little talkative. Yes, Kopii, well, enough about that, come on, tell me, were you able to join any family?" Kopii was not surprised by Raven's words. After all, he did not fully trust him and decided to hide that he was an adventurer for his own safety. Now he had no reason to lie but before Kopii could open his mouth, Raven got ahead of him.
"Okay, Kopii, let's go eat together, I know a good place. My treat."