“Say, Logier.” On our way back to the tunnel, I began, “when you came down, you sure there was no fog barrier?”

“Yes. Don’t you believe me?” The orc sounded offernded. But I didn’t care. I had way more important things to think about than to care about an orc’s feelings.

According to Logier, every floor had a guardian to prevent monsters from moving between floors. When coming down, he met the one guarding the second floor and suffered a few grievous wounds. Theoretically, he should’ve met the one guarding the first floor too. Yet, he didn’t! Why?

Could it be possible that there was no guardian on the first floor? Maybe it was dead, killed by the rampaging goblins?

I couldn’t come to a conclusion.

No, wait?

I recalled a little tidbit I had forgotten in the heat of the moment. Logier said the Signa wanted him to stop goblins from climbing stairs. Why? The answer was simple. The first floor, indeed, had no guardian.

With this information, as if the piece to complete a puzzle finally fell into its place, everything began making sense.

First, the fog curtain was made by something that isn’t affiliated with Signa. It might be a unique being like me or a monster hiding from Signa’s detection. Second, it was not strong enough to defeat Logier. Else, it wouldn’t have hidden itself when he came down. Third, it might lack enough offensive power.

“Are you listening, little imp? Oi!!”

“What?” With a grunt, I looked at the orc. “What were you saying? I didn’t hear.”

I was too absorbed in my thoughts and failed to catch his words.

“I said Signa just gave me my rewards. It says, I completed my tasks.”

“Say what?” I gasped, surprise coloring my face. Was Signa joking? Why would it reward him when he didn’t even do anything? Could it be that it was unable to see its subjects in real-time?

With how excited he looked, it was clear Logier wasn’t joking. Things had gotten more interesting.

“Now I can use my full power! Little imp, let’s go back and crush them all!!” Logier clenched his fist and threw an uppercut to the air.

“You mean all your powers?” I enquired. If Logier could use his shout attack, we might have a chance. That thing was so overpowered.

“Yes.” He nodded. “I can even use my titles now. Those goblins are no match to me now.” Logier boasted proudly.

Looking at him flexing his muscles, I wondered what this title meant. “Does titles make you stronger?”

“They do,” Logier replied. “I have a title called Seventh Chief’s Pride which gives me the power to stop my enemies in their tracks.”

So it was basically the same as the ones found commonly in RPG games. It also bore some similarities with my [Talent] option. Perhaps, we can pull this up. “Logier,” I called his name. “Let’s go back.”

Because, why not?

I was confident that we could take on this fight.

“Good decision. Haha!! I can’t wait to crush those imbeciles’ heads.” Logier was eager to go back for some reason. Maybe it was to enact his revenge. He nearly died to those goblins’ cannon fodder tactics. He bore grudges, it seems.

Thus, we both turned around and returned to the stair room. The goblins were still in the same spot, looking at the fog wall with lost expressions.

“Little imp, let me show you the basics of our fighting way.” Logier declared, curling his fingers. A red hue overcoated his fists. “You see this red aura? We call it bloodlust, the manifestation of our desire for violence.” He explained, showing off the blood-colored energy to me.

The explanation was simple and I understood the working principles behind the energy in one go. I just had to learn the way to manifest it. So, I stared at Logier eagerly, waiting for him to spill the secrets.

He continued after a brief pause, “before I tell you how to use it, let me show you what it can do.”

Logier rushed at the goblins and punched the one that stood in the far back. His fist instantly broke its skull, splattering brain matters everywhere. Yet, neither the goo nor the blood splat on Logier’s skin. The red aura seemed to block anything from touching him.

It opened my eyes. The aura enhanced Logier’s already astounding strength by a few levels. It also had an effect on his overall speed.

Logier continued plucking goblins one by one. Unable to move, they became easy targets for him. However, I haven’t forgotten about the true terror that hid in the dark. I was on the lookout for anything strange.

“Did you see now, little imp?” Logier shouted after he finished off everyone in the last row. “This is what bloodlust can do. It enhances power, speed, and recovery.”

I nodded at him. Still, there was a question that needed an answer. “Can I do it? I am not an orc, you know! Also, my name is Alex. Call me that.”

“I’ve told you before. Even those Riverland offshoots could use it, so you can.” Logier said, taking a dead goblin from the ground and bit on its neck. With one simple crunch, he tore off a mouthful of flesh from the monster.

His actions surprised me. Why would he suddenly start to dine in the middle of battle? “What are you doing?” I asked, confused.

“Bloodlust takes up a lot of vitality to remain active. Therefore, you need to eat to restore some of your lost health.” Logier took another mouthful of flesh. “Remember, as a new user, you must not use bloodlust for too long. You will die otherwise.”

To think this ability had such a huge drawback. But to be fair, unless there was some price to pay, how can one use unique powers? Like mana-exhaustion that leads to a temporary coma for mages or an aura-depletion where the warrior would lose all their strength, bloodlust also has its unique set of weaknesses.

The pros, however, beat the cons. Moreover, I had Beastial Diet to restore lost vitality at an even faster rate. Bloodlust seemed to be a tailormade for me.

“Now that you have seen what bloodlust can do, it's time for you to awaken it,” Logier declared. He dragged a goblin corpse and came to me. “Now usually, the awakening process is time-taking, and needs a lot of conditioning. But, the shamans of my tribe have found a faster way. We will awaken your bloodlust their way.”

There was a lot of information here. But, I managed to understand all of them.

I raised a non-existent eyebrow at him, “what new method?”

“I’ll use my bloodlust to stimulate yours.” He revealed.

I had to take a step back and gasp in surprise. “You aren’t trying to beat me up until I awaken, are you?” No one uses such cliché plot anymore.

“What are you saying? Anyway, turn around and show me your back.” With a head full of doubts, I slowly showed my back to him. Now, I am not afraid that he’ll hurt me. Because, if he wanted to, I’ve no strength to resist.

I felt his large and callous hands on my back. It covered two-thirds of my upper body. Calling it huge would be a huge understatement. “Little imp, do you hate someone? Is there anyone whom you want to kill the moment you see them?”

“Why?” Well, there were a few candidates in my mind, but I wasn’t sure why he was asking.

“It's necessary. If there is someone, then think about the things they did to you.”

Paul came to mind at that instance. The bastard who was directly involved in my death. The shitstain who used me as bait to lure a monster. His mocking smile was forver etched in my head.

“Whoa!!” I heard Logier’s gasp behind me, but I was too absorbed in my memories to take notice.