Chapter 16: My First Dungeon

When I woke up in the morning, my eyes met my mother's face. For a moment, I forgot that I was in an entirely different world and addressed her as I would in my own world.

"Oh, my time for your attention has come, huh? What about Jasur?" I asked with a hint of sarcasm.

My mother looked momentarily puzzled, and then her face filled with concern. "What are you saying, Temir? You still haven't remembered us?" she asked anxiously.

I looked at her with bewilderment, trying to understand what she was talking about, and then Ever intervened, helping me piece together the events of the previous day in my memory.

"You forgot that you were summoned to this world to replace the previous owner of this body," she explained.

Ever's words brought back memories of the events of the previous day and the information I had received from her. Fortunately, I quickly restored all the events in my memory. I was eager to test my new abilities in some dungeon today.

My father burst into the room, followed by Jasur.

"What happened, Aizhan?" my father asked, his face showing concern. The same concern was mirrored on Jasur's face.

"What happened, Mom?" Jasur added, sounding worried. "Did my brother remember us?"

"Yes, I remembered all of you: Mom, Dad, and Jasur," I replied, interrupting my mother.

My mother looked at me with mixed emotions, displaying both panic and joy.

"But you just asked who I am," she said, a little flustered.

"Perhaps, because I had just woken up, my memories weren't entirely clear, so I asked that question. But now everything is clear, Mom," I said with a smile, trying to reassure her.

"Is it true, brother?" Jasur exclaimed with delight.

"Of course, why would I lie to you?" I replied, feeling uneasy about what they might think of my true feelings.

"That's good," Father simply said.

I looked at him, his calm face hiding subtle traces of joy that he didn't openly display. It's a pity that my family in my world isn't like this. If I had such a wonderful family there, I would feel very upset about being here.

"Today, I'm planning to go to the dungeon to test the abilities I gained from the last portal," I announced, looking at them.

Their faces turned to shock and concern, especially my mother, who exclaimed, "What dungeon? We almost lost you yesterday! I forbid you from going anywhere!"

"Yes, son, you should take a few days off and rest at home," my father said with regret in his voice.

"Brother, are you sure you want to go somewhere now?" my younger brother asked, worriedly.

I looked at them helplessly, my emotions and anxieties about going out ready to overwhelm me. I wanted to level up as quickly as possible, but at the same time, I realized that I didn't want to disappoint my loved ones.

"I'm going to ask Arman to accompany me. If he's with me, then I'll have almost no doubts that we can handle it. Please, let me go," I pleaded with my mother, feeling a mixture of determination and worry inside.

She looked at me with pleading eyes, as if asking me to stay. If I kept looking into her eyes, I would have stayed home today. However, at that moment, my father intervened.

"If your heart truly desires to go, then so be it. Let him go, especially if he's with Arman," he said with a sigh, showing his support and approval.

After my father's words, the tension in the room seemed to dissipate. My mother, who was initially against my departure, came to terms with my father's decision, and Jasur, who had been standing nearby, seemed lost in thought. As for me, I decided not to waste any more time and immediately called Arman. Fortunately, his number was saved in my phone as "Arman," which spared me the need to ask Ever to browse through my memories to find it.

As I made the call, I didn't have to wait long for him to answer. He picked up after just three or four rings.

"Hey, Temir. How are you? Did you remember everything?" he started bombarding me with questions.

"Yeah, I remember everything. Um... Can you help me?" I asked him.

"What's the matter?" he asked seriously.

"I'm planning to go to the dungeon today, can you accompany me?" I asked him, just as seriously.

After my request, there was a brief silence that felt like at least ten seconds before he replied.

"Are you sure? You still have to deal with yesterday's company," he said.

"Of course, I'm sure. I have new abilities now," I told him, adding, "Besides, I'm only asking for your conditional support. Pretend you're coming with me while I quickly clear the dungeon."

"What do you mean? Who goes into a dungeon alone? Do you suddenly have A or S-ranked abilities?" he exclaimed over the phone with an aggressive tone.

I waited for a few seconds before responding.

"Trust me, I'll quickly clear the dungeon. Plus, I can only enter a C-ranked dungeon alone, where I'll probably encounter low-level creatures like goblins," I said.

"And? Do you think that's safe just because it's one rank higher than a D-ranked dungeon? You almost died in a B-ranked dungeon, and this is just one rank above C!" he argued.

"Come on, let's get to the point. Will you help me, or should I find someone else?" I asked indifferently.

Seemingly stunned by my tone, he remained silent for a moment before finally saying, "Alright, I'll help you because you're almost like a brother to me. But you'll have to take a return stone with you," he said firmly.

"Are you talking about the universal return stone?" I asked, slightly surprised, as the memories I obtained included information about such a stone, which cost at least a hundred thousand dollars.

"Yeah, that one. I have one," he replied.

"But you only have one, and you got it by chance. You'd better keep it for yourself, as it could save you in the future," I said seriously, touched by his concern, albeit not for me but for the previous owner of this body.

"Only with it will I let you go," he stated unequivocally.

I had no choice but to agree with him, and within half an hour, we found ourselves at the portal. Making sure the portal was open for entry, I stepped in, taking the universal return stone from Arman, hoping I wouldn't have to use it.

I'd like to describe the portal for a moment. It looked like a torn patch in the fabric of space, as if someone had sliced it with a knife and then patched it up with a vacuum cleaner on the other side. Perhaps one could even call it something akin to a black hole, but not one that sucked everything in. The portal itself was closer to gray or dark, and from Ever, I learned that portals' colors range from white to black, with darker colors indicating more challenging portals.

As I approached it, I felt a gravitational pull. The feeling only came when I was about a meter away, as before that, I felt nothing. Then, I stretched my right leg towards it and felt like I was reaching into something resembling marshmallow in texture, and within a second, I found myself in a cave similar to the one where I woke up before.