Routine

After swimming and having their fun, the group decided it was time to get back home. They put their stuff in the car and started their journey home. The trip back was better than their trip going there, they were more comfortable with each other and laughed and joked the whole way back.

Red had one thing he couldn't get off of his mind, The grim reaper's set. He kept thinking about how he would get his hands on the rest of the set. "maybe i have to complete dungeons to get the rest." red thought. with all the interaction and laughs the trip back passed quickly. Red dropped the girls in front of their homes, they each thanked red and jumped off.

....

Two weeks have passed since Red went back to his training. all he did was buy vials, but he had no need to buy materials, what he discovered have helped him a lot with that. it turns out that red could return to previous dungeons he conquered, like a game save red can say the level of the dungeon he beat and he'll be back to the exact place he left from. this discovery have helped him a lot, he didn't understand when he was able to do this but he randomly thought about the ant maze dungeon where he found an abundant amount of the racaom mushrooms, they were extremely useful with crafting mana elixirs, red needed as many as he could get and buying them would end up in him losing more money than he could make. since he had to keep most of the elixirs and not sell, it was burning money. Luckily for him the monsters in the dungeon were nowhere to be seen, it's not that he was afraid but that they were too low level for him and wouldn't bring him much benefit.

Reds daily routine was very repetitive but effective. from making elixirs and collecting materials to conquering dungeons and leveling up. After some rest, Red was able to use his skills and magic again without issue, he didn't understand well what happened but he guessed that using the gods decent skill somehow used up all his spirit energy, whatever it was. Other than coming down to eat, use the bathroom or interacting with the guild delivery men, Red never came out of his room which worried his mother and sister. so they forced him to come down and sit for a talk.

"Red, sweety. i know you're working or training in there but aren't you overdoing it a bit?" his mother was very concerned, she continued "You haven't even been hanging out with your friends. I haven't seen Sam for a long time, have you guys fought?"

"No, but i still want to keep my distance from them. till now that is." Red had an angry expression upon saying the last part.

From Sam, his best friend, the party he became close with after their first near death experience and the girl from the restaurant anita. Red has been worrying that if they were too close with him they would get dragged to whatever revenge plan the masin family has been preparing. He was paranoid and stopped all contact with them.

He did miss them, he really wanted to speak with them again and enjoy himself but he was too worried.

"Checking on them doesn't mean I have to speak with them, I can just see if they're doing ok and leave." red thought, after a short pause he continued "Is that considered stalking?... No, I'm a friend."

Being already late, after reassuring his mother and sister, Red goes back to his room. "I have time for one more dungeon" he whispers

After Vanishing from his room, something new happened. red was floating in mid air, underneath him an endless sea of trees. they were all more than 500 meters tall, looking like giant green umbrellas that stood on the ground and covered the sky for creatures living below them.

When looking down from the sky, red could only see waves upon waves of greeneries, but the world instantly changed when he landed on the ground. Under the cover of dense branches and leaves, it was hard for sunlight to shine on the ground. The fallen leaves accumulated on the ground for years, and they continued to rot and turned into many dark swamps. poisonous gas and miasma filled the air.

The surface of the trees turned blackish-grey as if they had fossilized, and many vines coiled around the giant trees like the most intimate lovers, sharing the nutrients from the trees and getting a bit of the sunlight.

As red slowly descended to the ground, his feet dug into the mud ruining his shoes. "Damn it" red frowned.

He stood there for a bit looking around, he couldn't believe his eyes "Am i outside?" red thought to himself. Unlike the many dungeons he had entered, this one was odd, especially the way he came in. spawning in mid air and slowly descending was definitely a first.

After using Float, a spell red bought a while back. mini tornadoes appeared underneath his feet, and he slowly started ascending from the ground with the mud an inch away from him.

After using a water spell to clean his shoes he started walking mid air, easily avoiding all the troubles the environment possessed. all he could see were trees around. That's when he noticed something even weirder. From reds perspective, not too far from him, it looked like the trees were forming a wall. the trees were so close to each other that not even a fly could pass through. "So this really is just a dungeon." red muttered.

suddenly....

'Quest : Eliminate all the Stingal Insects 0 / 5'

"Stingal Insects?.. That just sounds stupid." he muttered while looking around "I hate insects"

Around 10 meters away from him, a giant flying creature was floating mid ear. except for its wings with the faint noise, it didn't move an inch. it was quite eerie. This insect looked like a giant black wasp.

"Oh no. it doesn't even have to be that big, i would run away from a normal f**king wasps." red muttered to himself.

Since young, red was terrified from all flying insects with stingers. a bee stung his neck when he was a kid and it traumatized him. for a kid that was the most painful thing he experienced. since then he always was repulsed by any insect.

"Whatever, i just can't let it get too close." Red thought " thank god for the steady mind skill."

After summoning both sols, Red started blasting using a mana bullet. hitting his target many times, but for some reason it didn't die, only small parts kept falling off as it fell and flew back up. it was unwilling to stay down but red didn't stop, with the slashes of sols the insect finally died. After getting the loot, being a stinger and stingal wings, Red continued his search. as he expected, all of them were stubborn but died nonetheless.

After looking around the forest and collecting whatever was useful, red got his quest reward and left.

"Just another normal dungeon." he continued "Not that normal, but no parts of the Grim reaper's set, how disappointing."

Ring Ring!

A simple phone ringing sound filled the room.

"Who's that?" said red as he walked over to his nightstand.

'Idiot Sammy' read the name, it was his best friend sam. For a while now Red would ignore all calls from everyone except his family. He didn't want to do it but saying no or rejecting someone always made him feel awkward and uncomfortable so he'd try to avoid doing so whenever he could. that included ignoring all calls from Anita and sam.

'1 voice message received' red would always get these, it was always Sam asking how he was and if everything was ok. He would call him to check worryingly. It warmed Red's heart.

"I'll listen to it in the morning, i'm too tired." red mumbled then went to get ready for bed.

After 2 hours, Red showered and was wearing his pajamas. "Maybe i'll listen to it now" red muttered, he missed his friend and hearing him would ease his guilt.

Ting!

"RED.....RED PLEASE HELP ME...." a powerful wheezing noise came from the other side "THEY'RE GOING TO CATCH UP TO ME..... PLEASE I DON'T WANT TO DIE....."

Tin Tin Tin!

With a terrifying expression, red jumped off the bed and used inventory to wear the armor he recently purchased, it was a hunting suit with metal pads on his vitals.

"FLASH" red disappeared from his spot with a flash of white light.