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However, the brightness once again subsided as he was plunged into darkness. Yet, it wasn't the same as before. This time, he could feel the ground below his feet and although he couldn't see his body quite yet, he could still feel that as well.

'Menu.' He tried once more.

Nothing.

'Logout.'

Nothing.

He didn't bother to try a third time. It had been confirmed, one way or the other, he wasn't within Eclipse anymore.

Yet...he could still see his status screen. He found that peculiar but the world didn't wait for him to think.

Suddenly, his nose stung. Ain frowned at the stench that overcame him, it smelt like dried leaves if his memory served him right. However...that alone wasn't what piqued his interest.

'I've smelled this before,' He thought, 'but where?'

"Why am I beginning to feel so weak all if a sudden?" His ears picked up a hazy voice amidst the darkness.

And another that rang, "Felz?"

"Dammit," His eyes widened as he realized what was going on.

This was the stench of the beginner poison [Weaken].

"You two, rip out a bit of your clothing, put your spit on it, and use it to filter the air through your nose! Try not to open your mouth more than you need to! Breathe through your nose!"

Just as he finished saying that, he heard the sound of ripping fabric and quickly followed suit. Although he had no idea exactly what he was currently wearing, he quickly ripped a portion from the sleeve, applied his spit, and brought it to his nose.

Even as he blocked most of the smoke from entering his nervous system, a small part of it was still noticeably intruding into his body. He could still feel, albeit with a diminishing effect, his muscles relaxing and his tenseness diminishing. Even more so, his vision begun to blur even amidst the darkness, a continual click seemed to entrance his ears, and he could hardly take control of any of his other senses.

Ain quickly pulled up his skill slots, quick to see which skill he was currently in possession of that could possibly help him.

Only one skill slot was occupied.

[<Small Heal> Provide your Mana in order to heal light wounds, fatigue, and lowest grade toxins.]

Although he cursed in his mind at being reduced back to his level 0 character, at this time, he was thankful the beginner healer class skill was with him.

Ain gritted his teeth as he placed his right hand on his chest, '<Heal>.'

There was a small, low shine, at his chest.

'Looks like I'll have to heal myself ever so often,' He thought.

Feeling his strength returning to his body, he quickly called out towards the other two.

"Both of you come towards my voice right now, place your hands on my shoulder." He called out through the darkness.

It didn't take long for him to feel two, soft, hands on his body.

"Alright, at the moment, do you two also have 5 Souls? Briefly take your hand off of me if No, keep it on me if yes. For every question I ask, answer them like that for the current situation." As he said that, he quickly pulled up his stat sheet and placed all 5 of his Soul points into Intelligence.

He still felt two hands on his right and left shoulder respectively, he nodded.

"For the meantime, I'll put it all into intelligence. With that, I should be able to fire off about two more party heals if need be. Felz, one of your current highest stat is Sense right?" He asked.

Both hands still remained.

"Put all 5 Souls into Sense and try to get a feel for our current situation."

A moment later, a soft voice replied, "We're in a closed small room right now. About ten steps to cross through from all sides. I can't see much right now, Sense is too low and there seems to be a 'weight' in the air, likely some kind of smoke or fog. However, five pages in front of us, there's a trickle of light in the shape of a square...must be a door."

Ain furrowed his brows, "Can you tell if it's locked? Or at least what type it is?"

"I can't tell if it's locked, nor can I currently tell what type it is. However, there seem to be running patterns etched on its surface and it's slightly glowing. In fact...on all surfaces of this room...patterns cover it."

The first thing Ain thought was that they had currently fallen into a trap. It reminded him of one of the best traps used by the Hunter's guild when they once fought them, a [Boxed Death Trap]. It was one of the few moments they had found themselves at death's door since becoming a full three men team.

However, he soon had to dissuade these thoughts as Felz continued.

"The light, I've figured it out, it's Mana. However, it's subsiding."

It seems, at least within the current situation, they were not trapped to be killed. However, even still, a bad premonition dwelled within him.

"Aurora, your current highest stat is Agility right?" He quickly asked, never one to shy away from his intuition.

Both hands remained.

Feeling himself beginning to lose strength once more, he placed his hand first on himself and cast <Small Heal> before healing the two besides him. Now, he only had enough Mana to cast the skill fully once more.

He sighed before nodding.

"Distribute all 5 of your Souls into Agility. Watch out for that door, if it opens and you sense we're being attacked...blitz the opponent."

Even if they were currently merely level 0, not one of the trio had ever been accustomed with doing absolutely nothing in the face of possible danger. All these preparation and, albeit weak, planning brought them a sense of short safety.

Time trickled pass. A total of five minutes flew by, they remained in their position before Felz opened her lips once more.

She whispered, this time, ever more softly, "I can hear some things. Clicks of what sounds like iron boots against stone floors, there's also some small shuffling. A small voice asked, 'It's been 5 minutes already, release the poison and quickly let them out so we can place them before the majesty.' And another rougher voice replied, 'Shut your trap, you're not here to order me around you mere vessel. I'll release them but you better not do more than your job before I slice you open.'."

Ain narrowed his eyes, "Separate, do not draw any attention to yourself and hide your clot. Do not put on any airs of strength and do your best to act weakened. Remember, you should feel dizzy and powerless as well as hard of hearing. In fact, all your five senses should basically come to a crawl. Much less move, you should be worrying about your current hunger."

He proclaimed all the side effects of [Weaken] he could remember. His heart was, however, still not at rest. Beating so widely, he wondered when the last time was that he felt both this unknown danger as well as this small excitement entangled into one.

Not a beat after the trio separated did clicks begin to resound. And with that, the door before them opened as light shrouded the room.