Chapter 335: Dormant

Alex froze for a brief moment before looking at Sarah and then at the corpses scattered throughout the chamber. Only then did he remember that they had originally entered the Dungeon to improve everyone’s combat abilities, not to watch him single-handedly massacre almost every monster inside.

’I completely forgot about that,’ Alex realized, feeling slightly embarrassed. He had become so absorbed in testing Mana Vortex Spell and experimenting with Kinetic Mana that the original purpose of their expedition had completely slipped his mind.

"...I’m sure there are plenty of other Dungeons with similar difficulty. Besides, this place was classified as Hell Difficulty. We’ll definitely have more opportunities to train in the future," Alex eventually said, attempting to sound reassuring.

His slightly awkward explanation earned several chuckles from the others, while Sarah shook her head helplessly. Although they had originally come here to train, nobody was denying that watching Alex fight had been an interesting experience.

"Alex is right. Plus, we got to see a pretty good show, so I’d say coming here was worth it," Emma said, nodding with a smile. The others seemed to agree with her, although some were still recovering from the shock of what they had witnessed.

After discussing the battle for a while longer, everyone began collecting valuable materials from the dead Krakens. Alex approached the corpses of the High Rank Species Krakens and extracted their Gene Potentials before absorbing them one after another.

[Your Species Level has increased. Level 14 → Level 16.]

[+3 Mind, +1 Mana, +2 Free Stat Points]

[+3 Mind, +1 Mana, +2 Free Stat Points]

Alex whistled softly upon seeing the notifications. He had gained two Species Levels despite the fact that every High Rank Species Kraken he had killed was lower level than him.

’The difference between Species Ranks really is enormous. Even though I’m already Level 18, absorbing Gene Potentials from lower-level High Rank Species is still giving me plenty of progress,’ Alex thought, feeling rather satisfied.

He then turned toward Frank, who was helping the others collect materials from the surrounding corpses. "Frank, make sure you take some valuable parts from the High Rank Krakens. You should be able to sell them to the Merchants for a pretty good price."

"Thank you, Alex. I really appreciate it," Frank replied, looking genuinely grateful.

Alex shook his head and waved his hand dismissively.

"Stop thanking me for every little thing. We’re a team now, so there’s no need to be so formal about everything," Alex said, earning a smile from Frank.

After collecting everything they considered valuable, the group finally approached the enormous golden portal standing near the center of the hall. Alex removed his Fire Mana helmet, allowing him to examine the portal with his own eyes.

As soon as he moved close enough, a screen appeared before him.

[Trial of Gold (Dormant)]

[Awakening Progress: 98%.]

While considering what the notification meant, Alex glanced around and noticed several corpses lying near the portal. Unlike the Krakens he had just killed, these remains were considerably more decomposed, suggesting that they had been here for quite some time.

Among them, Alex suddenly noticed something familiar. One of the Kraken corpses had been torn into several pieces, but its damaged body reminded him of a monster he had encountered previously.

’...Isn’t that the Kraken I killed with the exploding iron piece?’ Alex wondered, examining the remains more carefully.

During the Dark Night, that Kraken had attempted to capture him and his companions, only to be killed when Alex fed it an iron piece filled with explosive energy.

At the time, he had assumed that the monster was simply hunting them to use them as food, and that was why it was capturing them and not killing them. However, after seeing its corpse near the portal and observing how the surrounding Origin Energy was being absorbed, he began to reconsider that assumption.

’It seems I was wrong back then. That Kraken wasn’t necessarily trying to kill us to use us as food. It might have been trying to capture us and bring us here,’ Alex thought.

The portal was continuously absorbing Origin Energy along with the biomatter released by decomposing corpses. Considering how close its awakening progress was to completion, Alex suspected that the Krakens had been gathering monsters and other creatures here to accelerate the process.

’After I killed that Kraken, the others must have recovered its corpse and brought it here. As for the other dead Krakens, they’re probably the ones Matthew’s group killed earlier,’ Alex concluded.

This also explained why nearly every surviving Kraken had gathered inside the hall. They had likely been protecting the portal while waiting for it to awaken.

Alex briefly wondered whether clearing the Dungeon would slow the awakening process now that its Origin Energy had been absorbed. However, looking at the enormous number of corpses scattered throughout the chamber, he suspected that there was still plenty of biomatter available to push the progress forward.

"Seems like this place leads to something called a Trial," Emma commented, examining the notification.

"A Trial, huh? That’s interesting," Joseph said thoughtfully.

Everyone turned toward him, knowing that Joseph was familiar with games and fantasy novels and might have some idea of what the term meant.

"If it’s anything like the games I’ve played, this might lead to another Dungeon-like area, except we won’t necessarily be required to kill monsters. We might have to complete certain tasks or fulfill specific conditions instead. It’s basically like the Quests you get in games," Joseph explained.

Alex nodded, understanding what Joseph meant. All games required players to collect particular items, negotiate with certain characters, or complete other objectives that didn’t necessarily involve fighting. These objectives were called Quests.

"So, if your guess is correct, maybe the portal will actually take us to another world?" Sarah asked, looking toward the golden portal, her tone a bit excited.

..

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