The Great Snake's Den

They advanced towards the tunnel.

While on their way Adam asked Salma what her Mana Stat was.

She answered that thanks to this stat, she had Health Points, Endurance Points and now Mana Points.

She wasn't sure what it was about other than that, so she asked the System.

"Kayla, what's the Mana Stat? Adam and Layla want to know too."

Previously, when the System answered questions vocally, only the user could hear them. But the user gave permission here, just like how they gave permission to the others to see their stats.

[ The Mana Stat controls the quantity of Mana Points the user has. Mana Points are used when Magic Skills are used. Once Mana Points are used up, Endurance Points will start to be used, once those are used too, Health Points will start draining.]

"What's the relationship between Mana and Magic Affinity?" Salma asked.

[ Mana Points control the amount of Mana that can be consumed. Magic Affinity deals with the control of the user over his Magic Skills. The higher the Mana, the more Mana Points one has.The higher the Magic Affinity, the higher control the user has over those Magic Skills. It becomes easier to control the strength of the Magic Skill, therefore controlling how many Mana Points are used for the Magic Skill.]

"I didn't understand much, but I hope that answered your question." Salma said with a smile.

"Yes haha, it did." Adam chuckled.

"Hey" Layla called out while looking at Adam.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a weapon other than the greatsword?"

"Yes, I have a dagger that I use a lot." He showed her the purple dagger. While the blade was purple, its hilt was black. The blade was slightly curved.

"Is that it?" Layla asked, a bit disappointed.

"Yep, why?"

"Well, the Iron Mace is too heavy for me to use comfortably." She took it out of her Storage and started swinging it around. " As you can see, I've gotten strong enough to use it, but it's very uncomfortable. On the other hand, I also have the Iron Dagger, but its reach is small so it's more dangerous to use. Since my Agility is my strong point, I'll have to use the Iron Dagger I guess."

"Mmm, that's true." He had an idea. "Store." He said.

A voice that only he could hear answered.

[Please choose what you are looking for:

{Potions} {Weapons & Armor} {Skills} {Magic Scrolls} {Miscellaneous} ]

"Weapons."

[ (None.) ]

'Not yet huh?'

He looked at Layla and said "Sorry, couldn't find anything."

Salma looked at the two of them and started pouting.

"Hey. This isn't the time to be talking. Let's go into the tunnel so that we can come back out and play Peak-a-boo." Salma scolded them.

"What? We're not doing that anymore." Adam looked at her with a surprised look.

"Huh? Why nooot?" Salma shook Adam's arm around as she said that.

"Well, your Sense stat is super high. So if anything you should train in Agility or Magic Affinity until you learn a Magic Skill."

"What? I don't want to." She looked away.

Her sister Layla got on her knees in front of her.

"Come on, it'll be fun. We'll play tag." Layla said while smiling.

"I guess we can do that." Salma still wasn't happy about it.

"Alright, we'll play in the dark so that you have an advantage since your Agility is the lowest." Adam said.

"Yes! Let's go into that tunnel then. What are we waiting for?" Salma was happy once again.

The three of them were in front of the tunnel.

It was high enough for everyone to get in by bending their backs. Salma could get in with no problem. It was also wide enough for the three of them to enter at once.

"Alright, the burnt smell is gone." Layla said.

"Should we go in with me between the two of you?" Adam asked.

"Sure let's do that." Layla answered.

"What? No, I want to be in the middle." Salma exclaimed.

"Maybe next time." Layla said kindly while patting her sister's head.

The three of them got in.

After taking about 20 steps inside the tunnel, the way out was just in front of them.

No one dared to talk, they were all focused on reacting as fast as possible to what they will find on that side of the tunnel.

As they peeked their heads outside of the tunnel, many screens appeared in front of them. As they were in a group, one big screen appeared at a time.

[ You have discovered a Hidden Location inside "The Spider Queen's Lair".]

[ For two of you, this is their first time entering a dungeon.]

[You have been awarded the title "The First Pioneer's Acolytes". Check your status window for more information.]

[Additionnal rewards will be added to the dungeon clearance rewards.]

[The Hidden Location you have discovered is "The Great Snake's Den"[D-]. Will you enter?]

Once they looked inside, the space they found was huge. The walls were very far from where they were.

The space was circular, and the walls were 50 meters away from the center of the room.

The roof was about 25 meters high and it was full of holes, allowing plenty of light to enter.

They could see clearly inside.

As their heads were turned from right to left, they scanned the place.

At their right, a number of things that looked like giant eggs were lying there. The eggs were as big as Adam (1.55m).

In front of them, there was a treasure chest. It looked like a wooden chest.

Once they noticed it,

[Many Evil Spirits encourage you to run for the treasure before the others.]

Fortunately, none of them was the greedy type. And they soon knew why that chest was lying there in the open.

When they looked to their left, they saw a massive snake.

Massive was not enough to describe just how big it was.

Its scales were of a deep dark green. And it had two small horns on its head. Small compared to its body. Just its head was as big a two bears.

It was in lying in a deep slumber.

To the three, waking it up was basically suicide.

'Its length must be at least 30 meters.' Layla thought.

'What the hell is this?' Adam's legs shook.

'Mom..' Salma was doing her best not to break down and start crying.

None of them could move a single muscle in their body.

Adam snapped out of it first, he very slowly raised his hands towards Layla and Salma.

He grabbed both their elbows and slowly pulled them backward.

They all walked the whole way backward.

They did not want to give their back to such a creature.

Even if the tunnel was way too small for it, they thought it would spit fire or something.

Once they were out of the tunnel, they all ran towards the starting point of the Dungeon, away from this creature.

'What the hell were we thinking? Get stronger to fight? How can we fight something like this by running around here?' Layla cursed her naivety.

'Such a big jump from E to D. Was the Goblin Chief even stronger than I thought? Or maybe it's because that's the only enemy. Yes, that makes sense. But what the hell? That wooden chest tempted me for a second too! We shouldn't have opened that damn tunnel. Now, who knows what is going to happen.' Adam was bewildered by the unexpected strength of the enemy.

Salma did her best to run away and not scream at the top of her lungs.' I can't...I can't...wake the monster up.'

The fear they felt was above any they had felt before in their lives.

It was the primal fear of the sneaky predator. A fear ancient and ingrained in their DNA.

The relatives of humans, chimpanzees have an innate fear of snakes. So obviously, humans would too know this fear.

Some scientists even believe that the reason why humans evolved to have colored vision was to stay away from snakes.

They went to the entrance of the cave that was full of light and all sat very close to each other.

The three of them were shaking.

The thought that they might be able to get out of here seemed more and more like a far, far dream.

Their body and mind did not know how to deal with such a fear, so they fell asleep.

....

Layla woke up 6 hours later.

The light from the sky was still coming through, and it was still sunny outside.

'Does it not get dark here?' Layla rubbed her eyes. She felt something pressed against her thighs.

She looked down and found her sister peacefully sleeping on her legs.

Layla brushed Salma's hair with the back of her hand.

When she raised her head, she saw Adam about 15 meters away from them.

He was swinging his greatsword.

He swung vertically, then horizontally, then vertically again. His face was full of sweat and he looked tired.

She could faintly hear him counting to himself with each swing.

"27....28...29....And that's 30." He muttered to himself.

Just when she was about to say something to him, he put his greatsword into his Storage and started running. He ran away from the cave's entrance and towards the wall made of spider webs.

Once he was out of sight, Layla looked at the sky through the holes in the roof.

'Isn't he dedicated?' She thought.

Layla decided to wake up her sister. She shook her shoulder gently.

Salma opened her eyes and started talking.

"Layla... I had the worst nightmare. We were stuck in a cave, and there was a big snake...."

The big sister brushed her younger sister's cheek with the back of her hand.

And with a big smile, she said "Yup, that was yesterday."

Salma shot up from her place and looked around.

"Nooo!!!"

"There there," Layla said as she patted Salma's head. "I'm sorry since this is all my fault, but I'll work extra hard so this will only feel like a short holiday."

"Where is Adam?" Salma asked after she looked around.

"I just saw him running that way. Let's follow him."

"Yes... Let's!" Salma said.

They both started running at the same speed.