Calm

POV Ethan

"Ugh, huh? What? Where am I?" I said, astonished at not seeing anything around me.

There was literally nothing; everything was dark, unlike the previous blue room.

(Am I dead?) was the first thought that came to my mind.

The last thing I remembered was that kiss from the horned woman and her touch on my forehead.

*Sit Up

I sat up. The ground was cold, and I turned my head from side to side to try to distinguish anything else, but there was nothing; everything was dark.

At that moment, not knowing if I was dead or what had happened, I noticed there was a message from the tower that I hadn't read.

(Oh!) I was surprised to see what it was.

**[You have obtained the talent 'Life Pact (SSR)'!]

[Life Pact (SSR): All your healing is 800% more effective, immune to mortal diseases, all life you nurture will be blessed, great favorability with dragon-type creatures

-"It seems the river did not do a good job with you, would you accept this repentance?"]**

[You have received a credit transfer!]

"A new talent?! A transfer?! So she was an NPC who gives something..." I got excited and also felt some mixed emotions.

I felt a bit guilty thinking I might have unleashed a super-zombie or some cursed ancient boss.

I also felt a bit bad about how I had treated the woman.

(I don't understand why I acted like that...)

From that discomfort, which I no longer feel, to that momentary outburst of rage, none of it felt natural to me. It was as if I had been influenced by something.

(Maybe it's one of those VR scenarios that influence your emotions somehow...) I theorized.

I knew that such technology existed, but experiencing it firsthand was...

"Fascinating and also terrifying," I felt a bit uneasy knowing that such technology could affect your behavior.

"I also fainted," I remembered something quite relevant.

(You can really faint in this game... after all, I didn't feel anything; it was like I was asleep...)

"...What other things are also realistic in this game?" I felt a bit anxious realizing that this game also had things like real fainting.

(I'll analyze it calmly later; the first thing is to get out of here.)

I meditated for a few minutes on the floor, but nothing else appeared on my HUD.

Did she take me to a hidden chamber? Or... when she left, did the terrain lose illumination?

Both are possible, but I lean more towards the second option.

There was a way to know almost instantly. After all, I was very close to the rifle when I fainted, so if I searched a bit...

I didn't waste any time and started searching around, using my hand to feel the ground here and there.

*Touch

*Touch

Nothing on the right, let's go to the left.

*Touch

*Touch

*Touch something

(Yes, here it is.)

Just by touching it briefly, I realized it was the rifle, and with that, I confirmed that when the horned woman left, all the illumination went with her.

*Grip

Once I had the rifle in my hands, I immediately turned on the flashlight accessory I had attached to it.

Yes, among the useless things I bought for the rifle, I also included a flashlight.

*Illuminate

I illuminated my surroundings.

Rock, rock, and more rocks; there didn't seem to be anything else but that.

"Now it really looks like a natural cave," I said in a moderately loud voice, which was echoed back by the surroundings.

I made a round of the place just in case there was something else there, who knows?

"Let's go," not finding anything unusual besides some rather dangerous holes, I set off to leave through the same place I entered.

It wasn't very hard to find that passage; this place, after all, wasn't that big, so getting lost was not possible.

*Steps

*Steps

I walked, accompanied by the echo of my steps, until I reached the same place from which I entered; there was nothing strange or particularly intriguing.

Something curious was that there was no sign of that mysterious mineral I saw when I entered, as if the horned woman had taken everything.

(It's a pity), I lamented not getting at least a small fragment for a keepsake.

I looked at the entrance.

"No traces, I guess the goblins didn't find it," I felt relieved understanding that.

At that moment, a message arrived.

[You have a new message!]

**[Luke:

Luke: "Hey! Hey!"

Silent Shadow (You): "What?"

Luke: "Are you still alive or are you in spectator mode?"

Silent Shadow (You): "Alive. It was tough, but I managed to lose them."

Luke: "Wow, just as expected from the great Silent Shadow. It seems we're just obstacles to your greatness."

Silent Shadow: "...How did you guys fare?"

Luke: "So-so. The other explorer from Frederick fell shortly after we split up, and then Thomas sacrificed himself to save Yuki... he went out like a hero."

Silent Shadow: "..."

Luke: "Thanks to that recent tremor, we managed to lose them and made it to the base."

Silent Shadow: "Tremor...?"

Luke: "Yeah, it seems the goblins are more terrified of those things than we are and they just laid on the ground motionless. Thanks to that, we escaped safely."

Silent Shadow: "Got it, I'll head back right away."

Luke: "Good luck!"]**

(So a tremor...), I couldn't help but think of that horned woman.

There's a 65% chance it was her, after all, she seemed very mystical and powerful.

(By using her powers to leave, maybe she caused a small tremor,) I theorized a bit, though that was all I could do anyway.

I looked at the entrance again.

Weapon - Ready

Ammo - ...if there aren't many goblins, I can manage something.

Physical condition - Optimal.

"Let's go."

With maximum caution and focus, I set off to leave that hidden place.

--

(There it is.)

From a moderate distance, I saw Frederick's temporary shelter; it didn't take me long to return, after all...

The way back was suspiciously quiet.

There were no goblins, no animals, everything was silent except for the sound of the cold wind and some swaying branches in the forest.

Abnormally quiet.

(Maybe that tremor scared them and they hid,) I thought of a quite probable scenario.

Something that made me grateful to that woman once more.

And how did I get there? Well, the technological core has the coordinates of the Earthling bases, so it was just a matter of looking for the nearest one, and that was it.

*Crunch *Crunch*

I walked to the entrance; there didn't seem to be anyone outside.

(It's normal, with this cold, being outside is foolish.)

*Open.

I opened the entrance, and what greeted me was...

*Hug

"Waaa! Now I'm a widow, *sob, *sob."

A sexy red-haired girl hugging me and saying she was now a widow.

(Widow for a day...)