Guardian of the Elevator

Dante walked into the light, "It's me, one of the empty heads!" He said with a smile.

"What do you want?" She didn't look wary of him, but her voice were cold and threatening.

"I'll go to [The Lower Catacombs] for a quest tomorrow morning, and I don't have a place to sleep."

As soon as Dante's last words fell, the woman's eyes narrowed.

'Why did I say it like that?'

"D-Don't worry! I'm not planning to sleep here. Furthermore, I'm not sleepy at all. I don't have anything to do in the middle of the night either. So I just wanted to talk with someone, and kill some time. As you know, today is my first day in the labyrinth, and naturally, I'm not familiar with anyone. Then, the pretty lady in the Elevator came to my mind. I'm honest, I swear! If someone needs to be blamed, blame my thr*cough*, two legs!"

'Did I do it again?'

Dante suddenly began to speak very quickly, as he neared the end of his speech, because he smelled misunderstanding. However, due to his talking speed, he almost caused a misunderstanding himself.

"Hmph! Cut the crap kid! Do you think you are the first person who had come here on the first night? I know what you want. You want a head start, but your hopes are futile. You can't get anything out of me. I suggest you to go back to the town on your 'two or three legs' while I'm still polite. Otherwise, you'll crawl until the town without 'any' leg! Now scram!"

The woman appeared to be very angry. She seemed like she was really going to attack with just a wrong word that will come out from the boy's mouth.

However, Dante didn't move an inch despite his sweat covered back.

'You think your behavior is logical in this situation? You're just a loner. Otherwise, why would you have to be so angry in front of a level 1 amnesiac?'

"As I said before, I don't want anything from you. I just wanted to kill some time. By the way, I'm sure that I'm the first person who had come here on the first night. Other than me, which amnesiac would want to be involved with a scary woman like you?"

"What did you say?"

Dante, 'It doesn't work! I need to stop! Why did I come here?'

"Other than me, which amnesiac would dare to be involved with a peerless beauty like you?"

Dante was watching every little movement of the woman and deciding his following words. However, he trusted his four intelligence points too much. He didn't even know if it was a high value or not.

Dante had expected her to be furious. However, the woman's look at him had not changed. Her eyes had even softened a little bit.

She didn't say anything for a few breaths of time and just stood there unmoving. Then, with a sudden flick of her hand, a gleaming energy arrow flew toward Dante! It exploded behind him, causing dirt and gravel to spread everywhere!

Dante only saw a flash of light and felt the pieces of gravels on his back. He didn't look afraid. Instead, his eyes sparkled.

"Wow! Was that a skill? Which level are you at?" He said excitedly.

'What's wrong with you woman? I can't read you at all!' He thought in annoyance.

The woman still didn't speak and slowly raised her hand toward Dante. Her palm started to gleam with the same color of the energy arrow.

'Damn! I'm gonna die!'

"Hey hey! Stop! No need to do such things! You obviously need a friend as much as I do! Why can't you be a little honest?" Dante crouched down and held his head in a shielding way while shouting in panic. The previous energy arrow was more than enough to turn a level 1 weakling into dust.

"Why don't you talk with the others that had come here today with you?" She asked instead of launching another arrow.

Finally, there was something in her voice other than anger. Dante smiled from the inside upon understanding this fact.

She felt a little curious toward him.

'Haha! I won!'

Dante stood up and threw the woman a cool look, "Where is the fun in talking with them? They are amnesiacs you know! It would be too boring!"

'They know less than me at this point, and I prefer talking with a beauty!'

"*Pfft*" Unexpectedly, she turned her head to the side and covered her mouth with a hand. However, small chuckling sounds still escaped from her clumsy barrier.

'Is she laughing at me?'

In the following moment, she collected herself and turned back to her usual composed self. She didn't seem to be angry anymore.

She sat back and produced another armchair and a table from her inventory. The armchair was identical to hers.

She placed the table between the armchairs and produced two tea-cups. One of them was hers, and the other should be for Dante.

However, she didn't say anything to Dante. She just sipped from her cup and waited.

'As I thought, she is a complete loner.'

Dante felt weird but was also happy to reach his goal.

"What are you waiting for? Your tea will get cold." She said without looking at Dante.

"I'll be right there in a moment!"

[Ding!]

He heard a voice inside of his head, causing his steps to stop. A window suddenly opened in front of his eyes.

[Achivement unlocked!]

[Be friends with the Guardian of the Elevator!]

[Inside of this Great Dungeon known as The Labyrinth of the First, there are only two locations which open to the outside world. One of these locations is The Elevator. Naturally, an extraordinary place like The Elevator has to be protected by a strong existence, and that is the Guardian of The Elevator.]

[Rewards obtained!]

[All base stats increased by 3 points permanently.]

[Blessing of The Guardian cast on you.]

[Blessing of The Guardian: A level 90 blessing belonged to the guardians. Increases all stats %30 for a week of time.]

After reading the info, Dante couldn't believe his eyes. He didn't even think in his wildest dreams that something like this would happen tonight.

Dante thought the elevator lady was a random character. She was unexpectedly a big shot!

Three permanent points to his base stats... That meant he would be stronger than other participants at the same level.

Blessing of the Guardian... It was a level 90 blessing! Dante was still at level 1! A level 1 participant has a level 90 blessing on him! What joke was this!

Dante immediately opened his character window.

Character Level 1 (%0)

EXP Required to Level Up: 10

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Name: Dante

Last Name: Doesn't have

Class: Doesn't have

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Health Points: 52

Mana Points: Doesn't have

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Strength: 4 + 1.2

Agility: 4 + 1.2

Intelligence: 7 + 2.1

Vitality: 4 + 1.2

Stamina: 5 + 1.5

Attunement: 3 + 0.9

Luck: 6 + 1.8

Memories: 0%

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Status Effects: Blessing of the Guardian

Most of his stats grew more than four times, but Dante didn't feel any change in his body. The biggest grow was in his intelligence stat, but he didn't feel any smarter either.

After looking at his stats a few moments, his excitement dropped a little. He realized something about Blessing of the Guardian.

'What a waste! Damn it! If I had a chance to use it later, I would get so many bonus points from this blessing! A whole %30 bonus wasted on current me!' Dante thought.

He looked at the Guardian. She was peacefully sipping tea from her cup like a normal woman.

'And there is this woman... I never thought that she was such an important character. Guardian of the Elevator… How did she become one?'

'System…? No, forget it!'

Dante was sure he would get a blank window if he asked the system. He was in a good mood now, so he didn't ask.

'I'll ask it to Elevator Lady, after learning her name, of course.'

Then, Dante realized one more fact, a strange one at that.

'Wait a minute! After this weird incident, she considered me as her friend? What a desperate loner you are Miss Guardian of the Elevator!'