"So you're finally awake," Yuki heard the voice of Meurig.

"How long was I out for?" Yuki asked and he yawned.

"1-2 days, I can't quite tell the time in dungeons," Meurig replied.

"So much for getting through this as fast as possible," said Yuki.

[Open inventory]

Yuki took out 2 cup ramen as well as 2 water bottles from his inventory.

"What are you doing?" Meurig asked.

"Getting our food," Yuki replied as he gave a look of "what else would I be doing?".

"And how exactly do you plan on cooking that?" Meurig asked.

"Hmm, I didn't think about it that far," Yuki said as he tried to think of something he could use to heat up the water.

Yuki considered setting the cups on the ground and let the underground heat do the job for him, however he realized that even if he could withstand the stage heat, it didn't mean that ordinary objects could do the same. Each stage difficulty is set to inform what level someone should be to survive the stage. Unless the cup ramen magically level up into a level 6 player, it would melt in an instant. While that in most instances leaves the heat radiation as a usable source, in this case, it was completely useless. The ground heat only reaches up to Yuki's ankles, the stage specifically made it to hinder the player's movement speed.

"I guess that only leaves one choice," Yuki sighed.

[Set ability: Fire control]

[Specifications: Allows the user to create and control flames to a certain extent depending on player level]

[Draw back: Gradually drains the stamina of the user]

"Are you seriously using an ability for food?" Meurig asked in an angry tone.

"Ya, what's the problem with that?" Yuki asked.

"I think you hit your head too hard when you passed out," said Meurig.

Ignoring Meurig's remarks, Yuki opened his cup of ramen in his left hand and took off the water bottle cap in his right hand with his teeth. Using his new ability, Yuki created a small hoop of fire on top of the cup. As he poured the water into the ramen, the heat from the fire would instantly make the water a lot warmer, in turn cooking the noodles. Of course, Yuki added in the seasonings as well.

[Open inventory]

Yuki took out two plastic forks from his inventory, one for himself and the other for his friend. Yuki repeated the cooking process for Meurig as well and once that was done, they could finally enjoy their meal.

"Man, this is seriously good," Meurig said.

"You think so?" Yuki replied.

"What do you mean? Don't you think so too?" Meurig asked.

"Well of course I do but it doesn't mean it's generally good," Yuki replied.

"I'm not quite sure what you're getting at, can you elaborate?"

"Well I don't remember where I heard it but I just call it the theory of absence."

"When someone is deprived of something for a long period of time, their mind and body decide to settle for the bare minimum. As such the effects of anything related to what they have been deprived of become amplified astronomically. The reason you think the cup of regular ramen noodles is so good is because you haven't had anything to eat in 2 days after a 12 hour fight," Yuki explained.

"Nerd..." Meurig said under his breath, just loud enough for Yuki to hear him.

"I'll pretend that I didn't hear anything," Yuki said.

After finishing their food, Yuki and Meurig both took the garbage they had left over and threw them in the cracks within the ground which stored magma.

"Now that that's finally done, we can move on to the next stage," said Yuki.

"Why can't you just summon and tell your monsters to clear the dungeon for us?" Meurig asked, feeling exhausted from the fight with the human torches.

"Our main goal is to level up, not to clear the dungeon. Even if we get the monsters I summon to help us, it doesn't change the fact that exp distribution won't occur. In the outside world, exp is divided equally if both people have done damage to the same monster. However in the dungeon, it doesn't matter how much damage each player does, as long as the player is present in the dungeon, they count as a member of the raid party. Exp will be divided equally amongst participants, regardless of if the amount they contributed," Yuki explained.

Seeing the exhaustion in Meurig's eyes, Yuki decided to make the difficult discussion that had to be done.

"Let's just get to the gate so we can take a break," Yuki said to Meurig.

Fully recharged and ready for battle, they both marched towards the save point. Yuki had a look of determination, as if nothing could get in his way. Once they reached the gateway tunnel, Yuki took a deep breath.

[Stage one: Complete]

[Save point reached]

[If you would like to move to the 2nd stage of the dungeon, please step forward]

[Stage 2 difficulty: level 6-7]

"A raid party member would like to exit the dungeon!" Yuki said out loud.

"Which party member would like to exit?" the system asked.

"Player: Meurig," Yuki replied.

"Save point has been reached, exp will not be taken away once the player exits. Press 'Confirm' to finish the process," the system said.

In front of Yuki was a large rectangular blue projection which said "Confirm", beside it was a red projection button which could be pressed to cancel the transitional process.

Before Meurig got a chance to intervene, Yuki pressed the "Confirm" button.

"Player: Meurig shall be removed from the raid by party leader's order," the system said.

"Enjoy your life outside the dungeons, you deserve it, good bye," Yuki said.

Meurig had been caught off guard, he was at a loss for words. Once he was returned outside the dungeon gate, he tried to run back into it.

[A player is already in the dungeon, please wait until the raid is completed to enter]

"Dammit, why?!" Meurig yelled.

Inside the dungeon, it was dead silent. Yuki didn't know what to do or how to react to what he had done.

"It was for the best, I shouldn't be controlling. That's the last thing I want to be, I experienced the pain of being someone's puppet.

"Zero, can you do me a favour?" Yuki said out loud in hopes that his guardian would respond.

"How may I be of assistance to you master?" a voice in Yuki's head said.

Tears from Yuki's eyes began to flow like water.

"...."