The Hidden Dungeon

'Yup, I forgot how bad muscle pains can be,' After Noir was finished practising with the sword and making some decent progress with it, he ended his day by taking a cold bath. Which was a new experience he had to get used to.

The bathtubs in this world were similar to his previous world's ones, however, there isn't any running water in this household. For the average noble running water was the norm, but since they're poor nobles they don't have the facilities for that. He had to use soap to clean his body and then rinse it off with cold water. Luckily he didn't mind it too much since he's used to having cold baths.

Currently, it's the next day. The morning birds were twittering the day anew and every cell in Noir's body was crying out to him whenever he moved an inch. To him, the feeling of fatigue was refreshing since he stopped exercising for a long time, but it was painful nonetheless and he wanted to laze around thanks to it.

'Good thing they aren't that bad. Coach used to be a slave driver…' However compared to the training he did in the past, this much isn't worth mentioning. His coach used to be a real devil and would grind the kids to the bone. It was thanks to that Noir's mental resistance to working out is quite high.

Despite saying that, he couldn't get out of bed. His body felt heavy and he quickly found out the reason why when he looked under his sheets.

'She's sleeping on top of me, huh," Underneath his covers lay a black haired girl sleeping peacefully on his chest and legs. For the normal man, they would fantasise about this kind of situation, but Noir had other thoughts. His body was in too much pain so he didn't enjoy it as much as he would've.

'She's too defenceless,' Noir was amused by the cliche though. The way Alice was sleeping on top of him and how peaceful her face was made something inside of him want to mess around with her. As such, he began poking her face.

Her face was smooth and springy, without a single speck of dirt or marks upon it. It was quite a pleasant feeling and he figured that's why he'd see siblings do the same thing. He was an only child in his past life so he didn't know till now.

It was thanks to this opportunity did he get a better chance to look at Alice. She had thick, long eyelashes, a small yet cute nose, and her lips were light pink. Looking better at her, she really was a beauty. Noir was quite lucky to have such a wonderful sister.

'Which makes me want to conquer her already,' Though he knows acting too soon would probably mess things up. If he was being honest, he feels a little bad for wasting potential Lp he would've gained from his "Exercises" with Emma yesterday, but it was still useful for getting some of the information he wanted.

But he still had some more he needed to answer. As such…

'Since she's invaded my personal space, I guess it's fair if I do the same.'

…He decided this would be a perfect chance to ask questions to the Great Sage.

Noir closed one of his eyes and had the other one slightly opened in the chance Alice wakes up from what he's doing. Then with his right hand, he slowly moved it towards Alice's butt.

It was soft and round, with a good amount of flesh to it as he grabbed a handful of it. Noir immediately felt a reaction from below him which was to be expected. He didn't want to cross the line any further for the time being, as such he's limiting the questions to just touching her.

Though he's still enjoying the sensation of touching a girl's ass.

'Oh Great Sage, what's the best way to gain the swordsmanship skill?'

Although he wanted to know more about magic, he thought swordsmanship would be more important for the current him. It would take a while to learn magic, but swordsmanship is an easier skill to learn. He was hoping for there to be some kind of milestone required to gain the skill or something, so he knows what to expect.

[By mastering every sword possible would it be possible to learn the swordsmanship skill.]

'Huh?'

Unfortunately for Noir, the answer he got in return was one he wasn't expecting. Most system stories usually have a swordsmanship skill or a sword skill, so the Great Sage answer confused him a lot.

Enough to unconsciously squeeze Alice's ass a little tighter.

"Mmm~"

'Oops, almost forget about what I'm doing irl,' Noir quickly closed his eyes when he heard the noise and waited for a moment. After a couple of seconds, he could hear Alice make some light snores which he sighed in relief.

'Let's try again,' Seeing as the coast was clear and he didn't learn his lesson yet, Noir resumed asking more questions.

'Is it not possible to gain a skill by using any kind of sword?'

Noir worded the question carefully. He quickly figured a likely possible answer on how this world's sword skills might work, but he wanted confirmation for it.

[It is possible, though there are different requirements. There are many types of swords in this world. Just using a single sword wouldn't give you a swordsmanship skill, it would just give you the type of sword skill. For instance, a longsword skill or a rapier skill.]

'Well, that makes things a bit inconvenient,' A little headache formed after that as Noir reached his current limit. This was outside of his predictions, but as much as it annoys him, it made sense to him.

'Swords are all different. Using a sword that slashes and a sword designed for piercing and referring them under a single skill wouldn't make much sense. That's a massive misjudgement on my part. Maybe I shouldn't try thinking of this world as a cliche isekai.'

Noir was honestly wracking his head to make sense of this new information. It was almost an unwritten rule for system stories to have the sword skill to encompass all swords. Of course, there were exceptions, but who's heard of a rapier skill in an isekai before? As a result, Noir believed it was most likely the "Superiors Entity's" doing.

'I'm not gonna let just a single setback tumble me down,' Although it was a little upsetting, Noir wasn't going back down now. However, if he wanted to continue asking questions, he's going to have to get a little risky.

Preparing himself mentally, he slipped his left hand towards Alice's chest and lightly grasped her left breast. Unlike Emma's, which he felt like he could grab them and still have excessive flesh remain, Alice's breasts were the perfect size for Noir's palms.

They were firm and round, feeling almost like sandbags where he wanted to squeeze them harder and touch her directly. If not for the thin fabric between them, Noir would've lost his rationality and gone wild by now. Luckily he was able to regain himself as he asked the Sage another question.

"Big… Brother…"

But before that, Alice suddenly called out to him, which made his heart nearly jump out. He thought he was caught, but he quickly realised that she was only sleep talking. He's been having too many scares thanks to this situation.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it.

"B… ig…"

Alice was still mumbling in her sleep as she started to twist and turn. This time she had her legs wrapped around Noir's right leg while leaning on his crotch.

By now he was having a boner, and having her in contact with his rising member only made things worse. Her actions made him wonder if she was really asleep or not, but he didn't want to test it out just in case she was actually asleep.

'Though at this rate, I'm going to get blue balled,' It was a little annoying for him, but he couldn't do anything more to her than just this. So to avoid thinking about it any longer, he asked the Sage another question.

'Oh Great Sage, what's the most efficient way to gain a sword related skill other than getting tutored by a professional?'

[Other than receiving guidance from a professional on the way of the sword, the best way to gain the skill would be to master the basic fighting stance, or create your own stance, and use that against a minimum of 50 opponents. Creating your own stance, however, is more difficult than gaining the skill itself, but it is possible.]

'So I have some freedom in what I can do, but not a lot. If I remember right, my father created his own stance since he was too poor to learn from a master. He taught me some of it growing up, but I didn't finish my learning.'

With this kind of information, Noir was getting excited about the prospect of gaining the skill. Although the number of opponents needed to fight was a little alarming, it was still better than swinging his sword around and hoping that he'd gain the skill through it. Perhaps before he gets to Olivia's floor he would be able to gain the skill.

Speaking of skills, Noir had another question.

'Great Sage, do you know how to acquire most if not all skills in this world?' Noir was curious if the skill that answers all if nor most questions would know of the secrets of the skills.

[Yes, I do possess the knowledge of skills that are related to this world. Whether or not they are possible to obtain depends on how far you can soar.]

And the answer he wanted was received! He now had methods to get skills without having to rely on Olivia's skills.

The reason he wanted to know about this fact is so he can min-max his Lp usage. He could buy the skills that are hard to acquire and work for the other skills that are easier to require. That way he'd be able to maximise his builds potential and have some remaining Lp to mess around with or to power up the people around him.

Though after hearing what the Sage said, he picked up on something.

'Hmm, skills related to this world huh. I guess it wouldn't know about football unless it exists in this world,' It would be interesting to see in his status sheet a [Dribbling] skill or a [Striker] skill. Noir would've asked the Sage if he knew about Earth and its culture, but he had another headache already.

'Guess I shouldn't risk my luck too much. Let's figure out how to escape this,' Noir didn't want to ask another question for the time being as he could always ask it another time. Also, another reason was because he realised he was in a precarious position.

Alice was still hugging him with both her arms and legs wrapped around him, making it difficult to escape without waking her up.

'I'm kinda tempted to stay in and wait for her to wake up to see her reaction, but rest isn't for the wicked,' Not to mention he didn't know how long that would take. Although it was fun to imagine her reaction to what she was doing to him, Noir didn't want to waste sunlight. He could have as much fun as he wants later after all.

With that train of thought, Noir tried to carefully escape from Alice's clutches, but with his aching muscles and the unnatural strength coming from her body, it was more of a difficult task than he expected. Moving an inch seemed like a difficult task

"Mmmm… I don't want to leave bed…"

And just when he thought he could move a little, Alice clung to him tighter like a wild animal hugging their parental figure.

'Jesus, she's like a koala.'

Noir could only sigh at his situation as he tried again. Although the situation was a little troublesome, he found it cute how she was fawning over him like this. It warmed his heart to have someone do this after living alone for a few years.

After many attempts of escaping, he finally got himself out of her grapple, which left him more exhausted than the training he did yesterday.

'I wonder if I'd be able to get an escape skill if I do this with Alice often?' After that struggle of an event, he figured as the harem grows and the more he sleeps with them, situations like these would become frequent. As such, maybe prioritising on escape earlier on would do him better than having an offensive skill.

'I'll leave a note for her before I go,' Seeing his sister now hugging onto his pillow instead of him, he figured it would be best if he left her a letter so she wouldn't stress much about him disappearing. He didn't know when he'd come back after all, so it'd be for the best.

The contents wrote, "I'll be back after I finish some training today, I might be late so tell our parents please. Thanks Alice," before he placed it on the bedside table.

And with that, he changed to his usual clothes before taking some stale bread off the kitchen shelf, filling his bag with water and anything that could be used as rations before heading out.

Breakfast is usually something bland like that for the Stargazia family, but it didn't bother Noir much. As for his mother and father, they didn't seem awake yet, which was perfect for him as he silently made his way out.

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Going outside, Noir took the shortest route between his house and the south entrance. The mansion itself was in between the noble and commoners district, but it was closer to the commoners and the nobles.

Most of the commoners nearby don't cause any trouble for their family, but they do tend to look down upon them. Even though his family has a better income than most of them, when factoring out the bills, cost of land, an annual tribute to the kingdom, and various tuition fees, they were just barely above the commoners. Giving them the moniker of the "Beggar Nobles" or "Fake Nobles".

Thanks to that fact, the family is almost seen as an outlet for the commoners whenever they want to complain about the nobles. It was because they knew they could get away with saying shit to them in their face, as any actions the members of the Stargazia family do could be used against them.

Of course, starting a physical fight with a noble is a different matter entirely. Fake nobles or not, they were still given the rank from the king himself. As such, they could be glad for that aspect.

'It'd only be a matter of time before I'll have these people say the Stargazia family in respect as opposed to contempt,' Noir thought as he was walking through the commoner district. Whispers and verbal spats towards him were normal from his host's memories. Although they were a little annoying, he's heard worse from his days playing ranked games on Valorant or League of Legends.

Thinking nothing much of it, he eventually left the commoner households and entered the lower-end shopping district. A little bit further ahead of that was one of the entrances of the kingdom which was guarded by two human guards. There was a little queue in front of him and fortunately, the line shortened quicker than he thought as it was his turn soon enough.

"Hmm? A baronet? What are you going to do outside the city walls?"

In front of Noir were a man wearing bronze chainmail armour with leather scales on it and a sword hilt just beside him. He was quite a short man with short brown hair, a big nose, bushy eyebrows and a bearded face.

"I was going to go out for training you see," Noir replied with a friendly smile. It wasn't a complete lie. Going to the dungeon could be seen as a type of training in this world. So it basically fits the description. Plus it was a normal reason people his age would leave the kingdom.

However, the guards thought of Noir training as a joke.

"Pfft, training? Can someone as skinny as you be able to deal with any of the monsters that roam around the area?"

The guard standing next to the short bearded man laughed as if he heard a funny joke. He was a lanky man with blonde hair and blue eyes. The short man also laughed along with his friend as Noir was treated like a joke.

"Come on Jimmy, you mean would the monsters in the area even see him as some kind of snack or not."

"I think they'd give his carcass to the weakest of the tribe so they can keep the better meat to themselves."

Anger started building up in Noir's mind but on his face, he still had his calm, friendly smile on. The previous Noir was used to these kinds of situations and would bother with them, but that didn't mean the current Noir was immune to their disrespect.

'Those pricks.'

By now he would've roundhouse kicked them after provoking them to do the first hit, but Noir was refraining from doing that. He couldn't take the risk.

'I'm still just a nobody right now. I'll have to bear with this for now so I can avoid trouble for the time being. Once I get Olivia's skills, I'll be sure to pay these fuckers back.'

The annoying side of being a noble means you can't fight without having some sort of backing to them. Most nobles do, but for baronets, that usually isn't the case. He could get away with fighting with a commoner, but fighting against a guard is too dangerous both for himself and for his family.

They don't send just anybody into the guarding positions after all.

Just as he was getting bored of the guards' lack of professionalism, an old voice could be heard behind Noir.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, could you please make way for my lord."

Noir turned around and saw an old butler standing there. He had grey hair that was tied to a tight ponytail wearing a black butler suit and behind him was a carriage mixed with red and blue colours. On the carriage side, there was an insignia of a red lion with draconic wings breathing flames.

It was a clear sign of a nobleman and one in the high rankings, though Noir doesn't recognise it. Actually, he realised that he doesn't know any of the noble households in the kingdom. Another reason he should go to the library it seems.

"Well get on your way now kid. The nobles are getting impatient."

Luckily for him, thanks to the appearance of the noble, Noir was able to leave inspection earlier than he thought. However he still nearly frowned upon seeing the nasty look the guards gave him.

"Thank you," But since he wanted to get to the dungeon as soon as possible, he didn't comment about it and thanked him before walking through the gates. Each step he took, he could feel anger and humiliation in his heart as he squeezed his hands. Never in both of his lives did he feel this helpless.

It took him a few moments to calm down again, and as he was doing so, the carriage quickly overtook him. He glanced at it for a moment and had a chance to see someone inside it. He saw a man with red hair and likewise eyes inside that looked the same age as him.

When the two made eye contact, his bored expression suddenly turned into disgust.

"Tch, a lowly baronet…"

He couldn't make what he was saying, but that's what he thought he said. He didn't even have a chance to react as the carriage was already past him, leaving a baffled Noir behind. His lips twitched from how annoyed he felt.

'In between both worlds, we're not accepted by either side of the kingdom. The commoners view us as fake nobles without any actual powers and the nobles see us like dogs to play with. I hate it.'

It was how this world, or should I say kingdom, operated. Strength and money meant a lot to the kingdom of Freesia, and those who fall from grace are usually forgotten of their achievements and condemned.

Even the common guards were able to mock them.

'And those bastards… Calm down, Noir. Revenge is meant to take some time to start,' Noir took a deep breath to calm himself down. Once he calmed down a little, he squinted his eyes as he stared at the carriage...

'I hate when people look down on me.'

… And memorised the insignia. He didn't know who that nobleman was, nor his family but he wanted to get revenge on all the people that looked down upon the current and past Noir. Especially the guards.

His pride didn't allow him to suffer without letting the other person deal with the repercussions after all.

"Why are both worlds so fucking annoying?"

Once the distance between the kingdom and Noir was enough, he started running to the mountains to let out his frustrations. It was almost like how things were in his past school. People liked making fun of others that they deem as useless or beneath them. Unlike in the past, he can't just kick all the haters and carry on with their day. These people were a lot more dangerous with what they can do and the backing they have.

And this would only be the beginning of his problems if he doesn't get his hands on those skills soon.

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After half an hour of alternating between jogging and running, Noir entered a forest. It didn't have much wildlife inside and is usually regularly dealt with by adventurers and guards so the common folk can travel around these parts without much to worry about, but he kept his guard up just to be on the safe side.

He had just gotten over the previous incident and thought up several plans to deal with the guards and that noble. Most of which would be classified as illegal, but he didn't care much about it. Olivia's skills would be a criminal's wet dream for the crimes they could commit with them and Noir was prepared to take that route if need be.

After another hour of walking through the peaceful forest, while taking a few breaks now and then, he was greeted by the foot of a mountain.

'Alright, this is showing some promise now.'

Noir started to get pumped up again after seeing this. Halfway through walking the forest, he was worried if he had taken the wrong direction or not, and he could use the Great Sage skill to find out. Luckily that wasn't the case.

He quickly found a safe-looking path to climb up the mountain as he looked for any caves within the mountains. It took a little while but he found a gap in the mountains

"Is this the cave?" He thought to himself as he walked inside. It was a little dark but it wasn't too deep as he quickly found his way to the end of the cave. Once there he carefully began touching the wall.

'Where's the switch?' Noir was looking for the switch that turns the revolving doors and allows one to see the front entrance of the hidden dungeon. After a few more moments of searching, he finally found the rock used for the entrance as it sank through the wall.

Immediately after the wall spun, allowing Noir to enter the hidden cave

'Whoa.'

The surrounding walls were shining in a blue hue as opposed to the boring rock outside. The ceiling of the cave looked to go as high as the mountain itself and in front of him was the giant door for the secret dungeon. It had flower-like symbols all over it as the presence it gave off was awe-inspiring. As if something that came out of this world.

After being mesmerised by the structure of the door, Noir began the chant to unlock the entrance.

"The hidden dungeon only I can enter- Secretly becoming the world's strongest!"

He felt embarrassed after saying that chuuni-like catchphrase and questioned why the password was that. Was the dungeon master, or whoever created the dungeon, a chuuni?

'How are dungeons even made? What are the purpose for them? I should ask the Sage these to see if it knows.'

It's been on his mind while he was climbing the mountains. From reading different media, usually, a dungeon has a special reason for existing. So he wondered if this was one of those created by a being or if it was simply made from a condensed amount of mana. It was just his curiosity as someone outside of this world's system.

While Noir was making different hypotheses on what the reason could be, he noticed something in the corner of his eye.

'What the hell is that!?'

Noir felt a chill as he looked at it. At the top of the dungeon's entrance, an eye that looked to be of the same material as the door suddenly appeared. It was looking around the room with its beady eye before finally taking note of Noir's existence.

It made eye contact with Noir as he felt a chill. It felt like the eye was touching every cell of his body as he felt pressure over his body that lasted for a second.

It then broke eye contact with him before looking at him up and down before making eye contact again.

"Acceptable."

The eye said with a low voice that Noir couldn't tell where it was coming from nor what gender it was before disappearing immediately afterwards. It looked as though it never was there to begin with, as the door of the dungeon finally opened.

"What the…"

Noir could only stand there in fear as his mind was racing. What was that eye?

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This week and next week looks like it's gonna get annoying with the number of deadlines I'm facing, so I'll be updating on Mondays and Fridays instead for the time being. Cya next chapter!

Also, don't forget to give me power stones if you liked the chapter. Thanks for reading!