Reckless Behavior

"Tap!"

"Tap!"

"Tap!"

The sound of a light rhythm could be heard as Aiden's fingers tapped on the cave floors. Right now he had a heavy frown on his face, a hint that something was troubling him.

Raising his head, Aiden stared intently at something before him.

To an outside observer, Aiden was just squinting at empty air, but if one could see from Aiden's point of view one would notice a floating book, with ancient pages currently open in front of him. It read:

Name: Aiden

Race: Human (Mutated)

Level: Second Gate (0%)

Strength: 1

Speed: 6

Stamina: 9

Agility: 13

Consciousness: 1

Soul energy: 1 (1%)

Temporary points: (Stealth: 2) (Berserker Rage: 2)

Innate skills: (Semi Immortality)

(Soulless)

(Soul body)

(Soul gaze: Second Gate)

(Soul armor: Second Gate: 4%)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

(Soul control: Second gate)

(Soul Grace)

(Infect: 1/ 2)

(Soul command)

(Soul storage 0/50)

Skills: (Dagger mastery: Advanced)

(Blade mastery: Novice)

(Crafting: Terrible)

(Adaptive combat: proficient)

Letting out a sigh Aiden flipped to the next page narrowing his eyes as he read its content.

Mandatory mission-become a scholar:

read one book a week, failure to complete this task will result in strict penalties that may lead to death.

(remain time: 148 hours: 25 minutes: 3 seconds.)

"How ridiculous," Aiden thought in anger as he stared at the book.

Noticing Aiden's intense stare, a voice sounded out, "This change came after your breakthrough," Landon remarked, his tone steady and reassuring. "But we'll figure it out. You don't have to focus on the negative aspects," Landon said in an attempt to cheer Aiden.

"I know, and I'm not just focusing on the negative aspects, but how am I going to find a book in such a wasteland," Aiden muttered.

Apart from the strange problem he was facing, Aiden was completely fine. Letting out a sigh he turned his attention to the rest of the book taking note of his improvements.

For starters, all his base stats had reduced, and he also had a new stat in the temporary points tab, "Berserker Rage," Aiden muttered.

He figured that he must have gotten it after he consumed the demonic soul.

Looking at his stats Aiden couldn't help but sigh, his current stats made it seem as though he had regressed instead of advanced.

Aiden didn't feel any different than he normally would, he was just hungry as his soul energy reserves were low.

If it wasn't for the Book of Souls and the newly grown limb at his backside, Aiden would've found it hard to believe that he had grown stronger.

Apart from that, there were other notable changes in the Book of Souls. For starters, his infect skill had increased by one slot, and the tag in front of his race had gone from advanced human to mutated human.

His perception tab had also been changed to a consciousness tab, and his soul storage had increased from three to fifty slots.

The improvements in his abilities were nice and all but Aiden wasn't in the mood to explore them as he focused on the new section of the book.

"Mandatory mission," Aiden muttered under his breath before darting in, "How the fuck does the Soul Sovereign expect me to find a book in this kind of place?"

He expected some changes when the Soul Sovereign said he wouldn't be getting any new skills with his breakthrough, but he didn't expect the mandatory mission, it was just ridiculous.

"Embrace the mantle of learning my ass. More like go back and let me force the mantle of learning down your throat," Aiden grumbled as he stood up.

Looking around one could see a red-haired woman sleeping at the side of the cave, but Aiden paid her no mind.

Looking towards the entrance of the cave one would notice water clogging the entrance as though it was being blocked by some kind of force.

"Can we really survive out there?" Aiden asked himself as he descended into thoughts. In the few hours that he had been here, Aiden had run his hand through the air pocket and noticed that the currents outside were strong, so much so that it almost pulled him out of the air pocket.

Because of this Aiden abandoned the idea of swimming out of the cave.

The cave was nice and all, but Aiden also noticed something, it was getting harder for him to breathe.

If they stayed here for too long, it was possible for them to run out of oxygen.

Normally, Aiden wouldn't be worried about such a thing, but he had only one percent of his total soul energy left.

Strangely he wasn't recovering soul energy like he normally would.

For Aiden running out of soul energy was more disastrous than running out of oxygen.

"I should act without fear huh," Aiden thought to himself as he looked towards the end of the cave.

"Tap!"

"Tap!"

"Tap!"

The sounds of Aiden's heavy footsteps startled Mai out of her half-sleep state.

Right now she looked pale, her breath was rushed and her situation didn't seem to be getting any better.

With heavy breaths, she raised her head, and her eyes met a pair of black orbs staring at her with a devilish glint in its depths.

She recognized that look, it was a look that unnerved her in such a situation, the look of a reckless decision-maker.

"Yo-" she tried to say something but stopped mid-way to catch her breath, the cave's strange environment taking a physical toll on her, but she tried to remain composed despite the physical strain.

"We're running out of oxygen," Aiden suddenly quipped, and without warning he picked Mai off the ground like a princess and walked towards the back of the cave.

"Argh!" Mai groaned from the intense pain in her back, her fingers digging into Aiden's flesh.

"Ha... Were... Are..." she tried to squeeze some words through her heavy breaths, her mind in a momentary state of confusion.

But Aiden didn't answer, instead, he stared intently at the walls in front of him as though he was studying it.

"Wait, Aiden what are you up to?" Landon's voice suddenly sounded out in Aiden's head, but he as well received no response.

Aiden didn't know what was happening to him as well, but he could feel his vision change, he could suddenly see the flow of a shadowy-like substance through the cave walls.

His ears twitched and he could hear the sound activity on the other side.

The thin strands of lava along the edges of the cave were also emitting a dimmer kind of energy, making the cave look more colorful all of a sudden.

After starting for a few seconds, Aiden began to feel strained and his vision returned to normal, but those few seconds were enough for Aiden to make a decision.

"There's your weak point," he muttered as he took a few steps back confusing both Mai and Landon.

But in the next moment, he did something that made both Mai and Landon widen their eyes.

"Bang!"

Aiden sprinted towards the cave kicking it with a mighty amount of force, and Mai to her astonishment watched the cave wall explode like it had been hit by dynamite.

This explosion scattered dust everywhere in the air hindering Mai's vision but she suddenly felt her surroundings tumble as the person that was carrying her leaped into the unknown.

"Woooooo!Soooooo!"

Simultaneously, Mai heard a rushing sound behind her as the air pocket that kept the water out of the cave was disrupted.

"Argh!"

It happened too fast and all Mai could feel was collision after collision as Aiden landed and jumped again, seemingly knowing where he was going.

Sometimes she felt hot and suffocated as they passed through thick lumps of dark smoke sending waves of toxic gases into her system and sometimes she felt drowned and extremely burning hot as they passed through highly condensed explosive steam, that burned her flesh, and caused some serious respiratory injuries.

But in all, she refused to give in, she refused to panic, her mind was screaming at her body to keep calm, a testament to her resilient nature.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Powerful shockwaves mixed with flying debris that injured the skin could be felt as hydrothermal explosions resulting from the interaction between water and lava did its magic.

Around them was the ever-present sound of rushing water heightening the confusing atmosphere.

Eventually, Mai's body couldn't take it anymore and she passed out, despite her resilience she was still mortal in the end.

Aiden on the other hand didn't seem mortal at the moment, in the sense that his gaze wasn't disrupted at all by the smoke or mist, to him the surroundings had just become darker, a testament to his improved vision.

Although he could see, Aiden still tried to stop himself from breathing as he ran through the depths of this volcanic cave.

Yes, there were Inside some sort of volcanic area and as he ran Aiden was amazed by the otherworldly speed and balance his body was displaying.

His reaction was nothing short of superhuman, as he pushed his body to its limits even the scolding hot steam that gushed out of the unstable floors was evaded by him.

And in the next moment, his eyes caught sight of something in front of him, it seemed to be a cave of sorts, but the entrance was trembling as though it would collapse at any moment.

At the speed he was going he wouldn't make it in time, but that seemed to be the only way out, the situation was urgent, "should I drop her?" Aiden asked himself, but when he thought about how despicable that would be and what the Soul Sovereign would think of him, he abandoned the idea.

"Bang!"

The cave collapsed leaving Aiden in a momentary state of worry but as his eyes filtered the smoke, he noticed that there was an opening, the stones had fallen in a way that left an unstable opening.

Seeing this Aiden stopped hesitating and pushed his body to his limit and just before the cave collapsed he ran through it with Mai in his arms.

"Bang!"

The cave collapsed again this time closing for good, but Aiden was long gone.

As Aiden ran into the collapsing cave he suddenly noticed that his world was illuminated by a sudden blue.

He looked around and was shocked to discover that he was standing in the middle of a large open space the walls imbued with strange glowing crystals and minerals that glowed with a darkish blue light.

The calm atmosphere in this natural open space was vastly different from the chaotic and hellish atmosphere outside the cave.

"Ha, Ha, Ha,"

Aiden's heavy breaths could be heard as he stood there naked and covered in burns with Mai in his arms.

At first, he had his underwear on, but the thin fabric of his underwear couldn't withstand the heat and burnt off.

Mai wasn't doing any better too, even though her body armor protected her a bit she was still covered in nasty burns, and her breathing was so faint that Aiden wondered if she was alive.

If not for the fact that her Contract had close ties with the element of fire Aiden was sure that she would have died.

He survived because of his strong body while Mai survived by sheer luck.

Aiden wasn't the only one flagabsted, Landon was also in a momentary state of shock, "fucking lunatic," he muttered referring to Aiden.

There was a strange silence in the air until.

"Hahaha,"

The both of them burst into a pang of heavy laughter.

Unknowingly Aiden's actions had gotten the attention of a group of people living in these caves.

________

(Somewhere in the underground cave.)

In an area filled with tents and canopies, one would notice a large open space similar to the one Aiden was standing in now.

This space was bustling with activity as people could be seen moving in and out of these tents and going about their business.

"Boss, Boss," a frantic voice suddenly called out as a brown-haired man in light body armor ran into a huge tent in the middle of the camp.

Inside this tent was a man with long blonde hair and brown eyes, he had a robust figure and unlike the brown-haired man he didn't wear those strange and medieval-looking armor that the rest of his peers wore.

Instead the armor he wore looked similar to the one the Silence provided for Aiden and his team but on a higher level.

At the appearance of this brown-haired man, the blonde-haired man remained undisturbed.

Instead, he examined something in front of him, a small blueish stone, placed on a white table.

Upon seeing that the blonde-haired man didn't answer, the brown-haired man chose to wait, and after what seemed like forever the blonde-haired man asked his gaze never leaving the stone.

"What do you want Jonathan? I'm in the middle of something so be quick."

The brown-haired man, prompted by the go-ahead hurriedly spoke, "The forbidden zone collapsed," he said.

"And why is that a problem?" The blonde haired man asked before darting in "The forbidden zones are known for being unstable, plus, the stones there aren't that high of a quality-"

"But there is a living being in our mines," Jonathan interrupted.

There was a strange stillness in the air until the blonde-haired man spoke, his gaze finally leaving the stone for the first time, "a demon? Apart from the infected moles, I thought that initial scans confirmed the absence of any other life form in the mines. Are you sure of this?" The blonde-haired man asked.

"I'm sure boss," Jonathan quickly replied before darting in, "our scanners picked up something fast moving through the tunnels most likely running from the collapse, whatever it is it's quite fast."

"How fast?" The blonde-haired man asked, and Jonathan replied. "80.9 miles per hour."

Hearing this the blonde-haired man's expression became grim as he muttered, "Whatever that thing is, we have to kill it."