A Reason to Live Again

“Your name is Ye Yousheng, right?”

“That sounds a lot like the names used by people from other worlds.”

“I remember dragons and some demons also use names with similar styles…”

“Eh, whatever.”

“My name is Undine, though you can call me Wendi.”

“Mm, please take care of me from now on, Wendi.”

Actually, both Ye Yousheng and Undine already knew each other’s names.

Ye Yousheng had seen hers through his Observation skill.

As for Undine, she could receive Ye Yousheng’s thoughts and had learned his name that way.

“Alright then, let’s head up first.”

With a casual wave of her hand, a huge pillar of water rose from the lake.

Like a whale spraying water into the air, it launched both Ye Yousheng and Undine upward.

After being carried back to the thirtieth floor, Ye Yousheng watched as Undine repaired the giant hole and asked curiously,

“You can use other elemental magic too?”

While mixing water and earth to fill the crater back in, she replied,

“Of course.”

“I just have to consume magic power to use other elements.”

“Water magic doesn’t cost me magic power.”

“Well, provided there’s water nearby.”

“If there’s no water around, I’d have to pull moisture from the air.”

“That’s inefficient and consumes a ton of magic.”

“Done!”

“Finished!”

“Now I can finally go back to sleep~”

Not long afterward, Undine completely restored the massive crater.

Her movements were extremely practiced.

The ground looked almost identical to before.

Clearly, she had gotten very used to repairing labyrinth damage.

“Huh? Wait—”

Before Ye Yousheng could stop her, Undine suddenly transformed into white mist and seeped underground.

Apparently, she had returned to Mirror Edge Lake beneath the labyrinth.

Ye Yousheng scratched his head helplessly.

He genuinely didn’t know what to say.

What kind of familiar casually abandoned their master like this?

This was ridiculous.

“Who said I left?”

“Hm?”

A childish voice suddenly sounded near his feet.

Lowering his head, Ye Yousheng looked down.

Standing there was a tiny girl with deep blue wavy hair, barefoot and dressed in a white dress.

She looked fresh and adorable, around six years old.

It was basically a miniature version of Undine.

Tiny Undine put her hands on her waist angrily.

“Didn’t I say I’d create a clone to follow you around?!”

“Were you even listening?!”

“Oh…”

“So this is your clone?”

“You seem a lot weaker.”

Current Undine looked like she’d regressed into a little loli version of herself.

Her previous aura and pressure had completely vanished.

Even her originally ethereal voice had become a crisp child’s voice.

Tiny Undine nodded.

“I am weaker.”

“This clone doesn’t even possess one-tenth of my original body’s strength.”

“And because I can’t receive magic power from you, I’ll need to sleep frequently to recover my mana.”

“…Having no magic power really is inconvenient.”

“Of course it is!”

“So hurry up and find a way to get some!”

“I’d love to, but elements won’t enter my body.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Who said you need elements to gain magic power?”

“You know, this world originally didn’t even have elements!”

“But people could still use magic back then.”

“Magic came first, then elements.”

“You don’t even know that?”

“It’s only because elements spread later that ordinary people could gain magic more easily.”

“That’s why Ethereal Continent became an age where magic flourished.”

Ye Yousheng, who had already given up hope of obtaining magic power, suddenly felt hope reignite.

He immediately asked,

“Then how did people obtain magic in the past?”

Undine rolled her eyes.

“How would I know?!”

“I’m not human!”

“I’m an elemental spirit!”

“My mana exceeded one thousand the moment I was born!”

“If you want to know how humans get magic, go ask humans!”

“…Fair point.”

“I’ll ask someone later.”

Ye Yousheng immediately thought of Alicia.

Back when they had discussed this topic before, she had looked like she wanted to say something.

Unfortunately Yiwu had interrupted her before she could continue.

Speaking of Alicia…

Ye Yousheng suddenly realized he needed to find her immediately.

Although the surrounding monsters had already been wiped out, that Bell Girl monster was still with her.

Even if it didn’t seem dangerous, it was still technically a monster.

Just to be safe, he should find her as soon as possible.

“I still have a companion to find.”

“I’m going to look for her.”

“What about you?”

“You coming with me?”

“Obviously!”

“I made this clone specifically so I could go outside with you!”

“But maintaining this form consumes mana too…”

“Oh!”

“I’ve got an idea!”

“Let me stay inside your phone!”

“Hey, hey, my phone isn’t waterproof.”

Undine’s true form was literally a lump of water.

Putting her into his phone sounded like asking for fried circuitry.

Unfortunately, Ye Yousheng had forgotten one thing.

His phone had already gone swimming in the lake earlier.

If Yiwu hadn’t protected it internally, it would’ve died long ago.

Even the battery permanently remaining at one hundred percent was Yiwu’s doing.

As long as the goddess stayed inside, the phone would never run out of power.

Since there was already another resident living in his phone, Ye Yousheng felt he should probably ask Yiwu’s opinion first.

“Hm?”

“Isn’t a phone just a long-distance communication tool combined with a storage-type spatial item?”

“The first part was right, but what the heck was the second part?!”

What kind of phone had storage space you could physically put things into?

Well…

Technically phones had storage space.

Just not that kind of storage space.

Bzzzt—

Right then, the phone suddenly rang.

Yiwu probably had something to say.

“Oh! Incoming call!”

“I know this!”

“You swipe upward to answer, right?!”

Although Undine knew things from other worlds, this seemed to be her first time seeing an actual phone.

She excitedly jumped around and watched.

Following her instructions, Ye Yousheng swiped upward and raised the phone to his ear.

“What is it?”

“Something wrong?”

“Mhm.”

“Yousheng, you can let Wendi come inside the phone.”

“I kept trying to break the seal earlier.”

“In the end I found that while I still can’t leave myself, I can let other things enter and exit.”

“This empty room is actually pretty huge.”

“It could easily fit an entire house.”

“If you point the circular glass thing on the back at something, I’ll receive it here.”

“…”

Well then.

His phone had officially become a spatial storage item.

And not just an ordinary one either.

It had huge capacity.

At this point, he practically had the three basic RPG menus:

Status screen.

Skill menu.

Inventory.

“The circular glass…”

Yiwu probably meant the camera.

After scratching his head, Ye Yousheng pointed the camera at Undine.

“Looks like it really can put you inside.”

“Ready?”

Undine proudly puffed out her tiny chest.

“I told you!”

“Phones are spatial items!”

“Come on!”

“I’m ready!”

“Put me in!”

“Okay.”

“Yiwu, leaving it to you.”

“Mhm.”

The camera flash suddenly blinked.

Click.

Tiny Undine disappeared instantly.

Putting the phone back to his ear, Ye Yousheng asked,

“How is it?”

“Did she make it?”

“No problem.”

“She’s here.”

“Ah, hello little Wendi~”

“Huh?”

“EH?!”

“L-Life Goddess?!”

“Eh?! EH?!”

“W-What is happening?!”

“W-Why is the goddess here?!”

“Hey, Ye Yousheng!”

“What the hell is going on?!”

A sharp scream suddenly exploded from the phone.

Then came a flood of stuttering panic.

Ye Yousheng’s eardrums suffered heavy damage.

Smacking his lips, he said,

“Let Yiwu explain things to you.”

“You two get along.”

“Eh?! Wait! Hold on—”

He had no time to waste here.

He decisively hung up.

Relying on memory, he began heading back the way he came.

His top priority:

Find Alicia.

Soon, he arrived beneath the trap pit from earlier.

Along the way, he didn’t encounter a single monster.

Actually…

It wasn’t because there weren’t any.

The monsters were hiding from him.

This time, nearly eighty percent of the monsters on the thirtieth floor had died.

The surviving ones had developed an instinctive fear toward this human.

They thought their boss had dragged him away to kill him.

But the one who returned alive wasn’t their leader.

It was the human.

Didn’t that mean…

This human was even stronger than their boss?

On top of that, the monsters vaguely sensed the aura of the Labyrinth Master leaking from Ye Yousheng.

Combining those reasons…

None of them dared show themselves.

Eventually, relying on his excellent tracking skills, Ye Yousheng entered a crack in a dead-end wall.

Inside a recessed cavity, he found Alicia.

Most of her clothes had been torn apart.

Large areas of snow-white skin were exposed.

Thankfully, there were no visible wounds.

Her chest rose and fell gently.

Her breathing was stable.

Her HP had recovered above four hundred.

She had completely escaped danger.

Ye Yousheng jumped into the hollow and pulled her into his arms.

“Thank goodness…”

“Thank goodness you’re alright…”

Seeing Alicia safe and sound, even Ye Yousheng’s entire body began trembling.

This time…

He had succeeded.

He had protected someone precious to him.

He hadn’t watched her die before his eyes.

To him—

This was salvation.

And at this moment—

Ye Yousheng finally found a reason to keep living.

The flame of his will to live had reignited.