“Why did sir Nova kill me? I was a good boy. I never caused trouble for anyone and always listened to the adults. I admired you because you’re strong. I… I liked you… more than my family… What did I do to deserve to die like this…?”

“…Like this…”

"....this..."

**

A boy with empty eye-sockets flashed past Arnold’s mind.

“!!!”

Arnold sprang up from his sleeping bag.

“Haaaah… Haaah… Haaah…” he looked back and noticed that his pillow was wet with his sweat. His upper body was also sticky.

“Fuck…”

How did Arnold von Berkley do it?

No, how did all the major villains in Star Fantasy become so evil that they could kill without remorse? Sure, some of them had difficult lives that corrupted their sense of morality while others had viable reasons for their actions.

But not all the main villains were once good people.

The truly evil villains committed genocides and got in Luke’s way every time.

Why could they commit evil so easily? Did they feel any regret at all?

Arnold killed Nait.

He killed an innocent boy in cold blood. The fact that Nait was revived didn’t make him forget what he did.

He thought he resolved himself that he had to do whatever was necessary to achieve his goals. That was easier said than done.

Why didn’t he feel remorse about James Caervil’s death? Was it because that man wronged him?

Yes. That was the difference between James and Nait. Nait didn’t do anything to Arnold. In fact, he adored this fictional character called Nova so much that he would march into danger just to catch a glimpse of Nova fighting.

A voice told him: If this boy tells anyone then you’ll be executed…

How will he face Nait as Nova again? How will he even show his face as Nova to anyone again?

If he decided to quit being an adventurer then he wouldn’t be able to see Elora again, become a guild master, obtain SS-class status and learn the guild’s valuable secrets. All his hard work will be for nothing.

The boy must be going on with his life as if nothing happened. In fact, he must be singing Nova’s praises like he always had.

But Arnold could still remember the feeling of destroying Nait’s stomach using Sword Intent. Sword Intent was very destructive when it comes into contact with blood so the damage to Nait’s stomach was more severe compared to killing Nait barehanded.

Arnold remembered Nait’s pleading eyes.

Will this interminable torture ever end?

It had been ten days since he left the empire. He managed to make it north fairly quickly and undetected. The Great Ridge also wasn’t a problem since the ravine wasn’t as big as it was farther east. One broad leap was enough for him to cross it. The ravine was miles wide at the heart of the continent.

Of course, there was a bridge that was built especially for people who wanted to cross the border but only legally. Slave traders, bandits or any other suspicious individuals would be detained.

Adventurers had a lot of privileges but that didn’t mean they could cross borders without valid reasons.

International requests from neighboring nations was common for high-class adventurers. It allowed you to have the same privilege as a senior knight or Elite Mage but only under certain conditions.

Even if he wanted to, Arnold had no proof that he received such a quest. Normally a signed contract with a stamp attached to the quest paper would be enough.

“…..” Arnold took out a pot and filled it up with water that he got from a river nearby. He placed the pot over a fire he started using a fire elemental stone.

There were a lot of other things besides the items that Vetis gave him inside the magic bag. There were hundreds of elemental stones that he could use in various ways like: starting a fire using a red elemental stone, absorbing water using a blue stone(or use the blue stone’s water once it’s filled) and fertilizing a small patch of grounds by burying a green stone.

Elemental stones were expendable items that only mages could use. Arnold had a very small amount of mana but he was able to use the stones without difficultly. Though, he had to rest to recover his measly 40 points Magic Power.

The water began bubbling. Arnold took out some meat he got from hunting yesterday.

Arnold wasn’t a very good cook. He mostly relied on Victoria to make him food back at the mansion since they didn’t have chefs yet. Most of the servants working for him were uneducated commoners who only knew how to clean and do simple tasks. They were the only citizens qualified enough to work in his mansion so he had to hire them. It was cheap anyway.

Thinking about Victoria’s food was making him hungry. Since he couldn’t have her delicious food anymore he decided to use basic recipes.

This recipe is called “Sous Vide”.

He gathered some herbs several days ago that could be used as spice if grinded correctly. Though it wouldn’t be nearly as good as Victoria’s cooking, it was sufficient enough to give him energy.

He needed that energy, after all. Killing monsters in a dungeon wasn’t as easy as it was outside. Monsters could come at him from any direction at any time. How will he know when he’ll eat or sleep?

Water was a good conductor of heat so he decided stick with this recipe. He made sure to pour out some water so that there wasn’t too much. The meat can produce its own juices so it was unnecessary to have too much water.

He added the herbs after a few minutes.

‘I’ll leave it for thirty minutes and come back.’ He had something else he had to do.

◇◇◇

Healing potions are a good investment for adventurers since you never know when you’ll have the chance to rest to recover your strength.

Healing potions are made in different ways. Some have properties of mana which allows the potion to recover not only HP but MP as well. They tend to be more expensive, though. Not everyone can combine mana into healing potions.

If you can’t get a potion like that then you’ll have to buy a healing and mana potion separately which is far more expensive in the long run.

Of course, mages aren’t the only ones who can make healing potions with properties of mana. Traditional healers could do it just as well by using their hands instead of mana.

“Alright, step 1.” Arnold took out some vials that were inside his magic bag.

He also took out the following:

1. Magic crystals

2. Higher Slime bodily fluids

3. White Pror Mushroom

4. Glowing Tree Sap

5. One lemon(for flavor since potions tend to taste like extremely bitter due to the ingredients)

These were the basic ingredient necessary to make a healing potion with magic properties.

The Glowing Tree Sap was being used in place of Holy Water. Arnold had extremely high negative karma so Holy Water(pure and diluted) would damage his health instead of restoring it. The potions Vetis gave him were luckily not made from Holy Water, which was a relief. They were made with a higher grade ingredient than Glowing Tree Sap. If he were to guess—judging by the status of the potions and grade—it could very well be the rain water of the World Tree.

The World Tree was a holy body itself that even normal rain water can become similar to Holy Water just by pouring down its bark or falling from its leaves. The World Tree is covered in a aura that is produced during their feeding cycle(photosynthesis). The water particles touch this strange aura, thereafter changing its properties.

The small pools of water underneath the World Tree are a very important resource for potion making. But humans can’t really go near the World Tree due to an agreement between the Elves and Fairies and the humans. Trespassing is illegal and you’ll either be fined a hefty amount of gold or be thrown in prison in most cases.

Only Elves and Fairies are supposed to know about the uses of the water underneath the World Tree.

It was a mystery why Vetis could get enough to fill 20 vials. He probably had more.

On another note, tree sap can heal the damaged bark of a tree and it can also be utilized as a restorative ingredient for humans if you combine it with the golden Higher Slime’s body fluids. The slime’s fluids allow the sap to turn into a much more watery substance. Tree sap is usually very sticky and rubbery.

Higher Slimes were everywhere so Arnold always had an abundant supply of them. The tree sap, however, was a bit tricky. He had to be on the lookout every day.

**

This was the World Tree Forest’s outer edges so there weren’t as many resources as there were in the inner forest. He was heading in a straight path towards the dungeon. It’s easier to avoid detection this way if he stayed away from the most densely populated regions of the Elves and Fairies.

He was very far away from the Fairy Province and was nearer to the shoreline.

“Will this work? I never tried crafting a potion with my hands before…”

He remembered how Elora did it but wasn’t confident in doing the same. She was an experienced traditional healer so she knew more about potion crafting than he did.

He only used to click his keyboard and mouse in the game. The feeling of then and now was completely different. Knowing what ingredients to use for every potion in the game was useless if you can’t craft them yourself.

Arnold shook his head to rid himself of his doubts.

Though he had a lot of high-end potions in the magic bag, they weren’t infinite. 20 potions wasn’t a lot considering the scale and danger of the Sky God Dungeon.

If it was the same as other dungeons then there should be a hundred worlds inside the dungeon. Who knew how long he would have to search for the martial book?

It could be years before he found it(he hoped not). But if the martial art skill book in the dungeon is really a pure martial art then it will be worth it.

Still, he needed some way to make his own potions. If he had the time then he could’ve gone into the inner forest to find the necessary things to make a high-end potion.

Another problem was that he didn’t have an artifact to transform himself into an Elf. Humans that are caught wandering the inner forest are usually chased and detained once caught. He could always release his killing intent as a demon lord(which will scare anything below his level away) but it wasn’t worth it at the moment.

Arnold first threw in the golden liquid of the Higher Slime into a pot. He then added the tree sap and stirred the pot. It turned purple and gooey. He cut up the mushrooms and crushed the magic crystals with his hands.

He added the mushrooms and powdered crystals together.

A purple cloud of smoke rose from the pot. A terrible fragrance followed. He quickly crushed the lemon as well which made the smell somewhat bearable.

“….”

Arnold carefully scooped up the liquid with a spoon and poured it into a vial.

He shook the vial a little. The liquid turned sky blue. That was a sign that it was successful.

Arnold sighed in relief.

“It actually worked on my first try.” He placed the vial down. He then unsheathed the dagger on his belt and rolled up his sleeve.

He surrounded the dagger in Sword Intent and cut a long line on his arm.

The burning sensation of Sword Intent made him groan. If he didn’t coat the dagger in it then it would’ve been a lot harder to cut his skin. Arnold went through a lot of body strengthening training so his skin was tougher than an ogre’s.

He was about to pour the potion on his injury but remembered that it wouldn’t work well that way. In fact, the effects are better when ingested. If he was in the game then all he needed to do was crush the bottle. A light will then surround his body then he’s healed.

Arnold gulped the potion down. He felt the sticky liquid climb down his throat. Some contents leaked on the side of his mouth which he hurriedly scooped up and sucked.

“Ugh, now I know why Victoria never wants to swallow.” Arnold gulped hard to force the goo down.

The taste was fine but the texture made his skin crawl.

“Huh, it actually worked.” The flesh wound from before was rapidly healing.

He took out his hologram card to check his MP.

· 40(+25)

The “+25” was a temporary number. In reality he didn’t have 65 MP. He had 40 MP while 25 was in reserve. So if he used 41 MP then ‘1’ point will be deducted from the ‘25’ and turn to ‘24’.

The game had this convenient trick that gave almost anyone mana but only for a short duration. The reserve mana didn’t have a definite time, though. It depended on the quality of the ingredients used in the mana potion.

If Arnold ingested a few more bottles then he could have enough mana to cast a spell using the magic sheets that he brought along. Not quite what he expected to be his first time using magic…

“Whatever, I’ll just have to make due with fighting with swords.”

He had no choice. It wasn’t like he could conveniently change his class like in the game. Class changes were rare even for players.

He never got one throughout his gaming career as Lufulur. Well, there was never a need to but having more options would’ve been convenient now.

◇

Arnold finished filling ten more vials. Together he had 30 potions, with ten being mid-rank and 20 being high-rank.

He stored the potions in the magic bag he got from Vetis. He had two on-hand right now. One was used to carry his clothes and toiletries while the one Vetis gave him had all his weapons, magic items and potions.

‘Here I am preparing to go out on a dungeon expedition while exams are underway. To think the old me was such a diligent student who never missed class.'

“I wonder if I’ll be put in the B class again in my fifth year? Maybe even lower.” Arnold thought out loud as he finished packing away his things.

The reason he thought so was because he never went to go write his written exams like everyone else. Instead he was now on a fantasy adventure, looking for a martial arts book.

If he was in the B or C class then his school life will get much harder since those classes are filled with delinquents, cliché young masters, god-complex imbeciles and many other annoying fodder.

Luke’s school career will also become much more intense once he becomes a second year student. The newbie phase might seem peaceful and one would assume the coming years to be the same but the hell starts from a student’s second year.

You could say that Luke’s story officially begins since he’ll meet most of the major characters. The School Arc was one of the longest arcs in the entire story as far as Arnold’s knowledge was. Many things will happen which Luke will have to be ready for.

“Let’s focus on the dungeon raiding and forget about what happens next year.”

Arnold main priority lay in front of him.

A mountain, spanning across the Gray Sea from one continent until another unknown piece of land was right in front of his eyes. It was so huge that it blocked the sun that came up in the east a few hours ago.

It floated above a gigantic cloud that seemed to never evaporate or lose its mass. A tornado-like phenomenon was twisting around underneath the mountain. A lot of rocks, trees and other things were floating underneath the mountain.

The sea looked like it was pulsing due to the force caused by the tornado.

“There it is… That godforsaken dungeon… I finally made it…”

So far he hadn’t met any danger he couldn’t handle. However, just because nothing threatened him outside didn’t mean the same would go for when he goes inside the dungeon.

80% of the dungeon’s entire ecosystem couldn’t be found anywhere else since the dungeon had many strange and bizarre worlds. Some of those worlds differed a lot from this one. Naturally, the creatures would also be different.

Worlds didn’t just refer to a limited piece of land that makes up a dungeon floor. There were literal worlds inside the Sky God Dungeon. It was rare to find such dungeons in today’s world. You could find them almost everywhere in the past before the Demon War.

Arnold took out his sword before he began walking towards the beach. It wasn’t his Aura or Demon Sword, but the sword he bought as an adventurer.

He coated the blade in his Sword Intent.

He could feel a certain pressure emanating from the sea. Most likely due to the dungeon’s doing.

“How am I going to cross the sea—” Almost immediately after asking so, the sea split in two.

He noticed that he stepped on something. He looked down.

“A rune?”

There was a rune beneath his feet that translated to “passage”.

He looked straight ahead.

There was a long, narrow path to walk on that was separating two walls of ocean.

Arnold was dumbfounded for a moment before he snapped out of it and began walking down the path.

‘As expected of a fantasy world… This is oddly serene but creepy.’

He had a clear blue view of the ocean and its wondrous animal and plant life. But what was bizarre were the kind of monsters swimming in the ocean.

They probably come from the dungeon. The dungeon had storms which many monsters get caught in. Some get sent here while others to unknown worlds.

Both big and small ocean life could be seen swimming around.

They were looking directly at Arnold and following him as he walked.

Of course, he wasn’t that scared since he could handle them if they tried to attack him. Still, he felt a certain eeriness being followed like this.

‘No wonder the Elves and Fairies never venture across this sea.’

His body got heavier the more he neared the tornado that was pulling up everything in its path. His clothes and hair blew upwards as he felt the force of the dungeon’s entrance pull him closer.

He was now mere centimeters away from being sucked up to the dungeon.

Arnold looked up.

A deep void stared back at him.

This place might be his grave if he makes even one mistake during his journey. He could ingest filthy water and be infected by a brain-eating disease, be killed by monsters in his sleep if he doesn’t put up defenses, and he could be killed by accidentally missing a step on a high place and fall to his death.

The point was that there were many ways to die inside a dungeon. It doesn’t matter how strong you were, there’s always a monster stronger than you lurking somewhere. Ranks didn’t matter since nearly every monster born inside a dungeon world were freaks of nature.

Arnold put one leg forward.

“This better be worth the risk.”

He was instantly pulled up by an incredible force with no means to resist. The ocean that was split in two joined together once again.

Arnold could see the entire continent for a second before he was swallowed up by darkness.