Rest Time

“W-Wait, wait?! We’re just running away like this?!”

Alicia glanced back at Death Knell chasing them at full speed, and suddenly felt like this was way too absurd.

“Yeah. I don’t see any chance of winning against that thing.

And if I let you use high-damage magic to take it down, it’ll burn too much mana. Not worth it. So retreating is the best option.”

There was no such thing as pride when it came to monsters.

If you could win, you fought.

If you couldn’t, you ran.

That was it.

Just like in a game, Ye Yousheng weighed the pros and cons—and chose the most “cost-effective” option: escape.

There was another reason he didn’t mention.

His Luck was still at -999.

Until it recovered, doing anything risky would almost certainly end badly.

Honestly, killing those four Hellhounds had already exceeded his expectations.

They were the kind that could track him by scent—taking them out eliminated future trouble and netted him some experience.

A huge win.

Death Knell wasn’t slow.

In fact, it was faster than an average human.

But compared to Ye Yousheng under Wind Walk, it was nothing special.

There was no way it could catch up.

The speed gap would only keep widening.

And with Wind Walk lasting a full minute and a half, escape was guaranteed.

With the map already etched in his mind, Ye Yousheng instantly understood his position and headed straight for his goal.

On a battlefield, knowing terrain and positioning was critical.

It prevented friendly fire and helped avoid snipers—otherwise, you’d die without even knowing why.

<Due to specific conditions, a new function has been generated—Map Panel>

At that moment, a GPS-like map appeared before his eyes.

A white arrow-shaped cursor moved across it—

That was him.

He had complained before that his so-called “Game Life” ability didn’t even provide a map.

And now… it finally did.

“Huh… only gives me a map after I’ve already memorized everything… not exactly a friendly system.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Recharge the dagger. We’re heading straight to the next floor.”

With a proper map, he no longer needed to constantly think or double-check his phone.

That alone reduced his mental load significantly.

Meanwhile, Alicia skillfully took the Breeze Dagger and infused it with mana.

She had repeated this so many times that she was already used to it.

At first, she thought these low-tier spells were useless—just a waste of mana.

But after seeing how Ye Yousheng used them…

They had become life-saving trump cards.

Time and again, they escaped danger thanks to his flexible use of just those three spells.

Because weapon-bound magic required no chanting.

And Ye Yousheng could control them freely.

Thinking about it, Alicia finally couldn’t hold back her curiosity.

“Ye Yousheng… how can you control magic so freely? Didn’t you say your elemental affinity is negative?”

The elements feared him—

Yet still obeyed his will.

That made no sense.

Weapon-bound spells were standardized magic.

Even if someone used the Breeze Dagger ten thousand times, they wouldn’t be able to manipulate it like him.

It was bizarre.

If she couldn’t sense zero mana from him, she’d have assumed he was a grand mage.

“I’m not really sure either. I just imagined how to use them more efficiently… and somehow, it worked.”

“How is that even possible…?!”

Alicia suddenly realized—

His talent wasn’t lacking at all.

In fact, it surpassed most Travelers.

No mana—yet complete control over elements through weapon magic…

Maybe the lack of mana was just… a restriction placed on him.

“But honestly, you could do this too, Alicia.”

“Huh? Me?! N-No, there’s no way…”

She had always admired her grandfather—a great archmage—and worked toward that goal.

“You can. These are just small tricks. You just need to change how you think.”

“My… way of thinking…”

“Yeah. I’ll explain it properly after we get out of the dungeon.”

When it came to magic theory, Ye Yousheng might not help much.

But he could help her see things differently.

As they talked, he kept running.

Death Knell was no longer visible behind them.

After running further, he suddenly stopped, silenced his footsteps, and pressed himself against the wall—melting into the shadows.

The dungeon was full of monsters.

Even if they escaped one threat, they couldn’t relax.

Luckily, the stairs to the next floor weren’t far.

This time, they didn’t need to rely on a pitfall trap.

They could descend normally.

Although the straight-line distance was under 300 meters,

Avoiding monsters forced them to walk several times that distance before reaching the stairs.

The stairway wasn’t embedded in a wall.

It stood alone in an open area—

Like a subway entrance from his previous world.

But without doors.

Instead, there was a translucent blue barrier.

At first, Ye Yousheng thought it was glass—

But when he approached, he realized he could pass through it.

After stepping through, Alicia let out a long sigh.

“Phew… now we can finally rest properly…”

“We can rest here?”

“Yeah! The stairways between floors are protected by barriers. Monsters can’t enter. Adventurers use them to rest, repair equipment, and recover!”

“……”

Ye Yousheng covered his face with one hand and crouched down.

He felt like an absolute idiot.

In games, stairs were just insignificant transitions—

Black screen, next floor.

But this was reality.

Of course stairs physically existed.

If he had known they were safe zones…

Why the hell did he jump into pitfall traps like an idiot?!

He could’ve rested safely, recovered fully, then calmly searched for the stairs.

He might’ve even met other adventurers and gotten supplies.

The more he thought about it—

The more stupid he felt.

What he thought was a clever shortcut…

Was basically jumping from one fire pit into a deeper one.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?”

“…How do I put this… I’ve once again realized how stupid I am…”

He explained his thoughts.

“Wasn’t that dumb? We should’ve gone upward instead…”

“No way! Y-You’re amazing, Yousheng! Using pitfall traps to descend so quickly—I’ve never seen that before!

In just half a day, we went down five—no, six floors!

That’s unheard of! Normally, the deeper you go, the more complex it gets—people can get stuck on one floor for days!

And we’re running low on food too… So I think your decision was completely right!”

Ye Yousheng knew she was comforting him.

So he didn’t argue.

Water wasn’t a problem—Alicia could create it anytime.

Food, however, was running low.

She hadn’t planned to go deep, so she didn’t bring much.

Now with an extra mouth to feed—and some lost during their escape—

They had very little left.

But Ye Yousheng wasn’t worried.

If they ran out—

They could just eat monsters.

(When he suggested that earlier, Alicia looked like the world had ended.)

“Well… no turning back now. Let’s keep going down.”

“Yeah!”

Ye Yousheng stood up and led Alicia downward.

They didn’t encounter a single person.

“Man… our luck really sucks. Not meeting anyone even here.”

He said it half-jokingly.

But he knew exactly why.

It wasn’t “bad luck.”

It was his luck—absolutely terrible.

Before, with Extreme Luck, he met Alicia at death’s door.

Now, with -999 Luck—

No help would ever come.

No one would appear to save them.

Luck, once abstract, had now become painfully real.

“This is already considered the deepest region of the dungeon. Below Floor 25, only high-level adventurers come. The floors are huge, and we don’t stay long—so the chances of meeting anyone are really low.”

“Alright, don’t overthink it. Rest properly. Your mana is the most important thing. If you run out, we’re dead.”

As he spoke, Ye Yousheng untied their ankles and wiped his dagger clean with a rag.

Between Floors 26 and 27—

They finally gained a rare moment of rest.