[Anonymousman: Have you guys heard of the dungeon in the Rambora region? It's a beginner dungeon for people that spawn in that region.]
Kai leaned forward so he could read more.
From what he could see, that particular thread was made a day before, and it had over forty comments, quite small compared to the other viral posts on the forum.
Nevertheless, he wanted to read more.
[Doami: Dude, I thought I was the only one. There are so many starter dungeons, and for some reason, I decided to choose that particular one. It's crazy; the monsters there were so strong, I died before I could even get to the boss room.]
[Racordan: Wait, are we talking about that dungeon with no name? The one belonging to the boss Shadow Victim?]
[Anonymousman: Yes, that one. Am I the only one that hasn't seen the boss as well?]
[Moanlover: Same here, I always die on the first floor. Why the hell does a C-Rank dungeon have five floors?]
[Racordan: A better question is, why is a C-Rank dungeon in the starter town? The fuck? Isn't that too hard for us newbies? I am literally a level 7 player right now, and you're telling me I have to defeat level 30 mobs?]
[Stranger Danger: What level do you guys think the boss will be?]
[Anonymousman: If the mobs are level 30, then definitely no one else can be higher than 50.]
Kai squeezed his face tight at the last comment, knowing they were wrong and probably going to be shocked out of their minds when they saw Lyra being a level 999 monster.
He didn't stop reading there.
The next messages continued about how they were going to warn others to avoid the dungeon and also how the admins had refused to say a word about it.
As such, people believed it was just there to make the game seem realistic—you can't always expect everything to follow a balanced pattern in real life.
However, before Kai scrolled further, he saw yet another message, one that certainly caught his attention more than the rest.
[Xxx: You all need to be reassured, we have seen the complaint. My name is Ligard, and I am the leader of the White Light Guild. My guild is level 2, and I am a level 25 player, a Beta Tester. After seeing this thread, my guild and I have decided to go there and kill the boss so other players can be safe.]
Kai's eyes narrowed a bit.
'A Beta Tester. That means he played the game before launch. But seeing how large this world is, I doubt he had the time to try every dungeon. If I am being honest, him being level 25 is impressive. That said, something about this really makes me uncomfortable.'
He hummed for a while, his finger tapping against the surface of his armrest, while his subjects watched, sweating from cheeks to chin.
'If they are coming here, it's with the sole purpose of killing me and everyone. And that really pisses me off for some reason. Is it because they consider me as something to be exterminated? Is that it?'
Sigh.
'In any case, if they are coming here, I might as well grant them a nice welcome party.'
The system glitched out, closing the window.
And for the first time in ages, Kai moved his gaze away from the void and looked towards Lyra.
As soon as she noticed he was looking at her, she flinched, scared of what he was going to say next.
"Lyra…"
"Yes, my Lord!" she responded instantly.
"We'll be having visitors soon. Do not lay a finger on them if they go by the name White Light, or perhaps, the name Ligard."
Lyra suddenly had a serious look on her face.
Her master was issuing her a task. No matter how strange it sounded, she intended to adhere to it with absolute concentration, as she had done with the rest.
Looking straight at Kai, she spoke.
"Forgive my asking, but are these guests perhaps the adventurers that have been seeking entry into our dungeon?"
"Yes. Only these are special guests of mine; I would like to handle them myself."
In that moment, Lyra came to the conclusion that Kai had lost hope in her and was punishing her by making her stay on the sidelines.
His trust in her had dwindled so much that he didn't want to let her handle the mission like he always had since she was summoned.
With a sad look on her face, Lyra bowed her head.
"A-as you command, my Lord. I shall inform the rest of the mobs not to lay a single hand on those bearing the name Ligard or White Light."
"Hmm, good." Kai smiled internally, though his expression didn't show on his foggy face.
...
During the days Kai waited for the White Light Guild to show up, he continued to absorb more and more humans in order to gather as many skills as he could.
[You have devoured Player 4567.]
[The Skill: Air Strike has been obtained.]
[You have devoured Player 334.]
[The Skill: Laser Beam has been obtained.]
[You have devoured Player 223.]
[The Ability: Instant Regeneration has been obtained.]
From what he noticed, he could only devour a maximum of five players a day, so he needed to pick the ones of higher levels in order to get a respectable skill, even though most of them were low.
Secondly, when he devours players, rather than getting their innate skills, he gets a random one relating to their class.
For example, the skill Instant Regeneration, unlike the rest that were gotten from the players' skill packs, was gotten as a request of the system pertaining to the healing class the player had.
Why?
That was the weird part.
When Kai arrived at the third player he wanted to devour, the system sent him a notification.
[The Dungeon Blessing has been activated.]
[You have gained your first Blessing.]
[Ability Attractor: Anytime you use your Dungeon Eater skill, you have a 90% chance of getting an ability relating to the class of the player.]
While Kai didn't fully understand how his Dungeon Blessing skill worked, he realized exactly what it was capable of in that moment.
Skill > Ability/Enhanced Skills > Technique > Blessing > Authority.
These were the ranks of powers in the game that Kai, of course, had known about even before he entered the game.
...
[A/N]
Well, the next chapter would probably cover most of that, and the power system would be explained along the way.
If you like the story so far, don't forget to add to your library and send power stones for support. Thank you.