The throbbing of the wounds all over his skin, the devoured left arm, and the uncontrollable convulsing of his body…

  Surely Mathros and Lulu could understand his plea to drink the waters from the cursed lake.

  It would only take a few sips, and he would be over the clouds once more, no pain to worry about ever again.

  “Shit, he’s relapsing!” Mathros cried out.

  “Please… Hurry…!”

  Somnu’s constant pleas only made the other two grit their teeth and knit their brows.

  Then, after a moment of deliberation…

  “Agh!”

  “Hold on!” Mathros let out, supporting Somnu to his feet.

  “What are you planning to do, Mathros?! You can't seriously be considering this?!” The bunny girl followed them, hopping from left to right, and vice versa, almost blocking their way. “Somnu, rethink this! Just consume your Terror Cores already!”

  “Stop, Lulu.” Mathros said, narrowing his eyes as he kept moving forward. “It’s clear that something happened. He can’t level up for some reason.”

  “What? That makes no sense!”

  “I don’t know either, but we can’t let him die just questioning things here.”

  “So we rely on the cursed lake that will send him into a naked frenzy again?!” Lulu hopped in front of the two and opened her still burnt arms wide. “You know we can’t defend against him in our current state if he goes batshit crazy on us! Besides, we still don’t know what other side effects these waters have!”

  “Move aside, Lulu. I won’t let him swallow any of the water.” Mathros finally revealed.

  “What? Then-”

  “Just watch.”

  As Mathros helped him to the shore of the lake, it took everything in Somnu’s being to hold on to his consciousness. The temporary loss of his System and general abilities had only served to make the sudden pain more excruciating.

  However, now, finally…

  “Ah… That hits the spot…” His entire world view shifted as his body was lowered into the shallow waters.

  He surrendered his body to the lake, with Mathros only holding his head above the surface and Lulu tracing his deteriorated skin with her dipped fingers as if disinfecting his wounds.

  “You guys… are the best…” He muttered, closing his eyes and enjoying the bliss of the moment.

  “You owe me for this, you hear?” Lulu clicked her tongue, unintentionally tracing over Somnu’s scar, making his left eye twitch a little. “Ah, sorry…”

  “Do you want to tell us what just happened, Somnu?” Mathros looked down and caught the scarecrow’s gaze as he opened his drowsy eyes.

  “... I can’t level up right now, that’s all I can say.” The floating head muttered, the white strands of his hair suddenly blocking his vision.

  “Don’t give me that! Explain it properly!” Lulu cried out, moving his bangs away.

  “I think my System is different from yours…” He revealed.

  “?!”

  Crow-Shit! Why did I say that? I should shut up quickly!

  “And right now, it’s not working…”

  Agh! Stop it! Is this the stupid lake affecting my mind?!

  As the waters enveloped his skin and returned him to a slightly drugged state, Somnu couldn’t control his words any longer.

  “That’s… unheard of…” Mathros said with raised eyebrows.

  “How is that even possible…?” The bunny girl furrowed her brows.

  Naturally, Somnu had expected such reactions when he imagined the different scenarios of revealing his secrets to other people.

  Even something so simple as his System being different, and currently unavailable, made his two teammates look at him as if he’s some weird oddity, a flaw of existence.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The same eyes he was surrounded by since childhood.

  “Well, none of that really matters, we can figure it out later.”

  “!”

  “I mean, yeah, totally, but he still needs to survive this somehow.”

  “You two…” Somnu’s eyes shot open, his teammates’ unexpected reactions catching him by complete surprise. Nobody would move past such a revelation so quickly.

  Whether they had noticed his feelings about it, wanted to focus on more pressing matters, or something else was going on, Somnu couldn’t tell.

  Nevertheless, a rush of emotions suddenly coursed through his veins, to the point it almost made him tear up.

  “Shit! Did I get some in your eyes?!” Lulu raised her arms in the air in a panic.

  “Yeah… you did…” Somnu let out, closing his eyes.

  “Liar.” Mathros chuckled.

  I could get used to this… They aren’t so bad. Somnu thought as he opened his eyes again and saw the cavern ceiling in the distance.

  Some bats were flying through the stalactites, too far away for them to cause any danger.

  That’s when Somnu realized that all his skills had been canceled when the System shut down. All except the [Multilingual Comprehension], which he guessed might be related to it being less of a skill, and more of a permanent, implemented upgrade in the brain.

  Nevertheless…

  Fala and Grudgekeeper will be pissed… The little serpent too… Ah, right. I still have to give it a name. He reminded himself.

  Then, finally, the System sent him another pop-up.

  [Reinitiating System to Sleeper Somnu ERROR!]

  [Hollow Core Rank up in progress…]

  [Full control will be transferred back shortly.]

  Finally… At least, I can deal with the pain now… The scarecrow let out a sigh. Maybe I shouldn’t say anything and just enjoy this for a little longer…

  He considered abusing the kindness of his new friends.

  ***

  “Dreadbeasts are really something…” Somnu let out as he felt his body swaying left and right.

  He was being carried on Mathros’ scaly back. He had to make sure to avoid the two horns sticking back from the lizardman’s head.

  “They sure are… Not that we should be worrying about them on this Layer in the first place.” The explorer kept a steady pace through the narrow cave back.

  The addict on his back had almost made a scene as they all left the lake behind once more. This time, hopefully for good.

  “Well, we did it once, we can do it again! Maybe after we leveled up some more though…” Lulu hopped in front of the other two, rushing back to her kinsman.

  Somnu hadn’t simply made the remark about the Dreadbeast just because of the tough fight and near death experience it took to beat it. He was currently still inflicted by the first restriction of the slime creature.

  Although it wasn’t getting any worse, it was surely not getting any better either. Unlike the Specter restrictions that went away after the Nightmare Creatures were defeated, the Dreadbeast’s effects seemed almost permanent.

  If they had been normal wounds, Somnu would have already been completely healed. Instead, they almost felt similar to a disease that invaded someone’s body.

  Somnu couldn’t begin to imagine what he would have done if the gargoyles had been Dreadbeasts instead of Specters. How would he even go about reversing the effects of something like petrification? Would the level ups even help with something like that?

  Would it even be able to regenerate his arm?

  Things are going to be inconvenient if not… Somnu thought, considering all the things he wouldn’t be able to do with just one arm. And yet, he didn’t seem as worried or annoyed as he should have been.

  Whether the lake’s effects were still messing with his senses or not, either way, he had protected everyone, and that’s all that mattered to him.

  Speaking of…

  “So, guys, what is the deal with Almon?” Seeing the opportunity, Somnu jumped at it.

  “What do you mean?” Mathros asked, tilting his head slightly, trying to look behind him.

  “Well, he never shows his face to us, for one.” The scarecrow said as a matter-of-factly.

  At the very least, Somnu and Benji had agreed on this matter without having to put it into words, so he knew Lulu most likely would agree with him on this.

  Mathros, however, seemed all too trusting.

  “I don’t know what you mean.” The lizardman readjusted his grip on Somnu’s limp legs. “A lot of Sleepers in the fort are like that. Apparently, it’s something related to the Faceless Forager religion.”

  “!”

  Faceless Forager? Isn’t that the name Mr. Emberlyn mentioned? The one supposedly related to my inability to sleep? Somnu suddenly remembered.

  “True, I remember someone saying they have some kind of Unseen skill or passive ability…” Lulu chimed in from the front. “Never mind that now, let’s hurry back to them.”

  “...” Somnu couldn’t just let it go, he would need to think about this more when his mind is clearer.

  There is a religion behind the Faceless Forager, and I’ve got one of his followers close by… The scarecrow began to consider a plan. I’ll need to ask Almon about it later.

  So far, Almon had done nothing but help his party, both before the fight and during it. He had dutifully supported Benji and stayed back with him.

  Maybe I really was wrong about him. I shouldn’t jump to suspicions just based on looks… He told himself, then remembered there was just a cloak currently hiding his dignity. My reputation is already on thin ice as it is… I shouldn’t do anything to make it worse…

  Running through the cave at top speed had only taken Somnu a few minutes. However, the return trip at their current speed might take them between half and a full hour.

  Unless something happened to get in their way again.

  Here's the Patreon link for those who can't wait and want to read 30+ chapters:

  Rating and Leaving a Review goes a long way to support the series!

  !