Return of the Fallen Nobleman With an SSS-Rank Talent-Chapter 68: Dungeon [4]

After defeating all the rank I monsters, Adam carried the unconscious Zev and left the dungeon, returning to the small camp he had set up earlier.

When he stepped outside, he found the snow falling relentlessly once again. The gray sky made the landscape dull and silent.

He trudged through the snow until he reached the camp.

Once there, he carefully laid Zev down on the blankets. The bandages were already stained with dried blood.

Adam gathered some pieces of wood and lit the fire.

The flames began to crackle slowly, casting a warm light on the snow.

The heat began to dispel the cold that had clung to the young man’s body.

Adam stood for a few seconds, watching it. Then he sat down on a throne and evaluated his battle against the rank I monsters.

Although he managed to kill them all, he did so mainly using only swordsmanship and not combining it with magic as he had planned.

That frustrated him a little.

Putting it into practice in actual combat proved much more difficult than he had imagined.

Despite his talent for magic and swordsmanship, both rated SSS, Adam knew that the key lay in splitting his consciousness in two.

On paper, it sounded simple.

In reality... it was quite the opposite.

It was difficult for him mainly because never before in his entire life had he even considered the idea of splitting his consciousness. He had no references or prior knowledge.

In essence, he was experimenting.

He had previously asked Asterin, but she had told him she couldn’t help him with that.

It wasn’t something that could be taught with simple words.

Although, according to her, he was on the right track.

After all, every magic sworder traveled a different path.

Adam pushed his thoughts aside as he watched night fall over the snowy forest.

The gray sky gradually darkened, and the cold wind carried small snowflakes that glistened faintly in the campfire’s light.

All around him, the world seemed to have fallen into a deep silence, broken only by the occasional crackling of branches and the constant crackling of the fire.

Adam took some food out of his bag and held it over the flames to warm it up. The simple aroma of the hot ration mingled with the smell of burning wood that hung in the air.

He ate calmly, sitting by the fire, letting the heat slowly seep through his clothes and chase away the cold that had clung to his body during his exploration of the dungeon.

He wasn’t too worried about a monster attack. That area was relatively safe; at least, much safer than inside the dungeon.

When he finished eating, he rearranged the firewood so that the fire would last longer during the night, and then he lay down on the makeshift blankets.

For a few moments, he stared at the dark sky. Among the slowly moving clouds, some stars began to appear, faint and distant.

He still had many things to do.

Many problems to solve.

But there was one that weighed more heavily than all the others.

Curing his father’s poisoning.

The crackling of the campfire grew more and more distant, mingling with the soft murmur of the wind rushing through the trees. Little by little, his eyelids grew heavy until they finally closed.

Darkness enveloped him.

...

When he opened his eyes again, the cold had disappeared.

Adam was standing, but he was no longer in the camp.

Around him rose enormous buildings of smooth stone and glass, so tall that it seemed impossible to see where they ended. Endless rows of windows reflected a cold white light that illuminated the streets even without fire or torches.

The air smelled different.

Cleaner... and at the same time strange.

’What is this place? Why are the structures so strange?’

Under his feet, there was no earth or snow, but a black, perfectly smooth surface that stretched along the street like a dark river.

Adam took a few steps forward.

On both sides of the path were huge shop windows filled with objects he didn’t recognize: shiny boxes, black screens turned off, figures dressed in strange clothes that seemed to be watching him silently from behind the glass.

Everything was... crowded with people in different clothes, holding strange devices in their hands. But their faces were blurred.

Adam looked to one side and noticed a large woman affectionately clinging to his arm, but her face was indistinguishable.

The strangest thing was that there was no noise... only the distant echo of his own footsteps.

He frowned slightly.

Something about that place felt eerily familiar, although he couldn’t remember why.

A red light flashed on a metal pole in the middle of the street. It remained motionless, as if waiting for something.

Adam looked up.

Above him, among the giants of glass and steel, huge screens hung from the buildings, displaying frozen images of smiling faces and words he couldn’t understand.

The wind blew through the avenues.

For a moment, he thought he heard a distant sound... like a metallic roar racing down the street.

But when he turned around, there was nothing there.

Silence returned.

Adam took another step.

And then he noticed something strange.

There were no footprints behind him.

The dark ground remained completely untouched, as if he had never been there.

A chill ran down his spine.

The lights began to flicker.

The entire city seemed to shake for a moment.

And just as Adam tried to look toward the end of the endless avenue...

Everything shattered.

...

Adam opened his eyes wide.

For a moment, he remained motionless, holding his breath, as if waiting to hear something beyond the silence of the night.

The campfire continued to crackle softly a few steps away. Tiny sparks rose into the cold air before disappearing into the darkness.

The snow continued to fall slowly, covering the ground and blankets with a thin white layer.

For a few seconds, Adam didn’t move.

He gazed at the night sky through the bare branches of the trees, as the memory of the dream slowly faded away.

He frowned.

It had been... strange.

He couldn’t remember. Only scattered fragments. A feeling that was difficult to describe.

But the more he tried to hold on to the memory, the more blurred the images became, as if his own mind refused to preserve them.

He exhaled slowly, letting out a small cloud of vapor that dissipated in the frosty air.

Finally, he closed his eyes again.

Sleep returned quickly, enveloping his consciousness with the same softness with which the snow covered the forest.

However, somewhere deep in his mind, a feeling lingered.

A slight uneasiness.

As if he had walked through a place that... somehow... he already knew.

...

With the first rays of sunlight tearing through the sky and slowly piercing the gray clouds, Adam awoke from a long sleep.

The light of dawn fell faintly on the makeshift camp, tinging the snow with a pale, cold hue. The air was icy and silent, and a light mist floated above the frost-covered ground. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

For a few seconds, Adam lay there, watching the sky begin to lighten between the bare treetops.

However, the uneasiness remained.

Persistent.

It was an uncomfortable feeling, like a thorn stuck deep in his mind.

He wanted to remember... but he couldn’t.

Every time he tried to hold on to the memory of the previous night’s dream, his mind could only find confusing fragments.

It was as if a thick layer of fog covered his memories, hiding them just out of reach.

Which was painfully frustrating.

He wanted answers.

But that was exactly the problem.

How could he get answers from something he couldn’t even remember?

Adam let out a bitter sigh, and a small cloud of steam escaped from his lips before dissipating into the cold morning air.

His gaze fell on the extinguished campfire.

The place was silent.

All that could be heard was the soft crunch of snow moving in the wind and the occasional whisper of branches rustling in the distance.

Adam slowly sat up and stretched, feeling his muscles, still numb from the cold, begin to wake.

After that, he began doing some basic exercises.

After finishing his morning exercises, Adam went to prepare breakfast for himself and Zev, who was already beginning to wake up.

The smell of hot food soon spread throughout the small camp, mixing with the smoke from the campfire and the cold morning air.

Zev slowly sat up on the blankets.

Adam glanced at him before speaking calmly.

"After we eat, we won’t be going into the dungeon, so make sure you rest up and avoid getting any new wounds from monsters."

He added a little more wood to the fire and stirred the food calmly as he continued talking.

"Once we clear the dungeon, I’ll help you become a Novice Knight. I’ll also teach you how to access mana... and some swordplay."

Zev nodded.

However, Adam noticed something different in his expression.

There was a sparkle in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.

Adam didn’t know exactly what that sparkle meant.

But for some reason, it seemed like a good thing to him.