He was engaged.

  Technically married, but as they had not received the blessing of Alicia’s mother, he was only considered engaged for now.

  What was worse is Alicia was technically a child in the eyes of the el’vei; she was just a little older than him, but still just a child within her culture.

  Thanric had given him a brief explanation of what had just happened after they left the auction.

  As it was the first thing The Sage had chosen to explain to him, he spiralled into a state of shock and failed to comprehend the rest of their conversation.

  Alicia had just disappeared to her own quarters, Syl following after her for some unknown reason. Leaving him alone with Thanric as if he wasn’t suddenly having a personal crisis.

  The elderly el’vei man took him to his quarters to find him some clothes that fit better. Thanric was just as tall as him, but he was of a much lighter build. Thankfully, he had some old travelling clothes that were easily adjusted to fit much better than the jeans and T-shirt combo he currently wore.

  He had been handed the new clothes and just changed into them in a daze.

  Before he knew it, he was wearing a loose white linen shirt and a pair of tough leather trousers with lacing running up the side of each leg.

  Thanric had helped him adjust things to fit, as he had no experience using anything other than a zip, buttons or a belt to put trousers on.

  Just as he had been put in a chair and given a pair of mid-calf boots to put on, Syl had reappeared. Bobbed in front of Thanric for a bit, and then the next thing he knew, he was being directed through a portal into a dungeon.

  You are entering a trials dungeon.

  Entry-level limit lv. 1 to lv. 10

  Party members:

  Kai Lv.0

  Sylph lv.0

  Alicia Lv. 5

  Stumbling through the portal, he appeared in a small round room.

  Lit by a dim crystal set in the ceiling. The room was bare stone from floor to ceiling, with only the open portal he had just entered through behind him and an archway to a narrow corridor leading off somewhere hidden in shadows ahead of him.

  Just as he was getting his bearings, Syl appeared just in front of him, floating in her wisp form. “You might want to step out of the way.” She said her flames flaring as she spoke.

  “Wuh-“ he said, still a little slow on the uptake.

  Next thing he knew, he was nearly knocked off his feet as Alicia came through the portal just behind him.

  Turning around, he was met with a glare from the little el’vei woman. Girl?

  Looking down on her from this close, he noted how short she actually was; it didn't seem right with her being the stereotypical, beautiful, youthful, elven woman in every other way.

  She was wearing the same leathers she had on at his auction. But she had come equipped with a short sword on one hip and the other a belt quiver stuffed with arrows. Several slim knives strapped to her thigh. And on her back was securely strapped a little leather pack that seemed a bit too small to carry anything substantial.

  Alicia even held a simple yet functional short bow in one hand and had an arrow at the ready in the other.

  You couldn’t get any more stereotypical elven than that, besides maybe a mage or healer of some kind, he thought to himself.

  “What are you staring at?” she asked, frowning up at him.

  “How tall are you, I mean, in comparison to other el’viaran?” he asked before he could stop himself.

  Her frown deepened. “I was about five-three last time I checked, but I still have another ten years or so to reach my full height. Why do you ask?”

  There was a flare of light as Syl's little wisp form erupted in a cascade of cyan flame, revealing her true form. “Where he comes from, your kind are typically described as taller than humans; he’s still adjusting to the difference in reality and popular fiction.”

  Alicia looked Syl up and down. “System Guide, when you told me that was not your true form, I was not expecting this.”

  “Why, are you jealous?” Syl said as she did a little spin, showing off her figure. She was wearing the combat gear she had used when beating him black and blue. “And I told you to call me Syl.”

  “No, I… Syl, your eyes, they glow too.” Alicia asked as she looked between the two of them.

  “Yes, I believe it’s a physical trait of our race; not sure if it actually does anything.”

  “Your race? It's not something unique to Kai, like a skill he has?” Alicia asked as she stepped forward, reaching out with both hands to make Kai look down at her so she could examine his eyes more closely. “Interesting.”

  “My eyes glow?” Kai asked, remembering he still hadn’t gotten a good look at himself since his race change, as the visual analogue had already disappeared when he came to.

  “Light blue with a hint of purple closer to the pupil, central heterochromia,” Alicia said, holding his head in a vice-like grip.

  “Why? Do you think it's pretty?” Syl said as she drifted past, grinning.

  Alicia turned red faster than he personally could as she let go of his face and stepped back, putting a few feet between them.

  “No, it’s just interesting,” she blurted. “You said it was because of your race?”

  “I will get to that, but I think it's best we set Kai off on his first adventure. I’ll answer all your questions and give you your quest reward when we are on our own.”

  “Quest reward?” Kai asked.

  “Yes, I was able to offer Alicia a quest. First she had to offer you that contract so we didn't get bound to anyone, and then we formed a party.

  Alicia is a support type, and she has some unique connections for someone her level. That’s why I was able to get us into this dungeon so quickly. Alicia was already here with Thanric doing some training whilst they waited to join the System Event.

  I had to bribe her with my help as a system guide and the Omniglot skill. She really hesitated on the terms of the contract.”

  Alicia shifted her stance slightly at the mention of the skill or possibly the mutual contract; he couldn’t tell which.

  “And you’re certain you can just give this skill away?” He asked if I remembered the headache getting the skill from Syl had given him.

  “The system wouldn’t let me use it as a quest reward if I couldn’t.” Syl said as she continued drifting slowly around the two of them.

  “Alicia, please give Kai an explanation about this dungeon before we send him off.”

  “Oh. Did my master not explain it to him? He likes to explain things.”

  “We tried; Kai had his mind on other things…” Syl said as she drifted up to Kai and made to flick him on the forehead, her finger just passing straight through where it hit him.

  “Where to begin,” Alicia started, “This dungeon is used for initiation and training. It is a series of chambers that gradually increase in difficulty, scale and complexity. There is a reward for every five rooms cleared. The rewards are good because they seem to be based on how you performed, so you nearly always get something you need to help with the upcoming rooms. You can only enter it if you are under level ten, but the lower level you are when you first start, the better the rewards seem to be. Like you, I was still level zero when I came in. No one knows exactly how many rooms there are because no one has finished the dungeon as people are forced to give up or die trying.

  "The party I joined on my run got me to the twenty-fifth room before I had to leave to join my master for the event. I will not be able to join in on any room I have already done. But I can follow behind until the room I last got to is reached. As the dungeon scales to the number of participants, Kai should, in theory, be able to get that far, though trying solo is considered much harder. Most people only get to run the dungeon once as they either receive an injury or something else that forces them to exit. They cannot re-enter because they are past level ten or they can't find a way to be carried back to the room they last got to.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “I should have asked for a brief explanation.” Syl said, interrupting Alicia, who still seemed like she had more to say.

  “Kai, go through that archway; you’ll find yourself in a room with one or two monsters in it. Kill them. With your stats, experience and all the sparring we did together, it should be a piece of cake.” Syl snapped her fingers, getting his attention back from the archway he had turned to. “This is the important part. When you have gathered enough essence, the system will try and level you up; do not let it.”

  “How?”

  “Simply not wanting to level up yet should stop the system from doing it for you. It will feel like you're full, like you're about to burst. But you can't let the system level you up. Just clear the room and wait for Alicia and me to join you. I'll explain what you should do with all the essence then.”

  Kai just nodded, turned and walked through the archway.

  “Is he going to be okay?” Alicia asked Syl.

  “Yes. Believe it or not, he has about a thousand years of accumulated experience; he just doesn’t remember any of it. He just needs to trust his instincts and stop holding back; he will be fine.”

  “No, I mean he has no weapon, armour or recovery items.”

  “Elf tits, I forgot to get him to check his ring.”

  The goblins had already started screaming.

  The moment Kai stepped through the archway, the shadows cleared and a room appeared at the other end of a short corridor.

  He made his way carefully up to the opening to see what the dungeon had prepared for him.

  It was two short, skinny green goblins in soiled loincloths.

  They had their backs to him as they bickered with each other, neither of them noticing his approach in the corridor.

  If he was quick, he could probably take them both out before they could even react.

  Darting into the room, he put his hand out to his side to conjure a fresh blade; he was thinking a short sword would be best in the small room. But the moment he focused his intent, his hand just itched, tingling as nothing appeared; he realised his first mistake.

  He wasn’t in his domain; he was in a dungeon.

  Weaponless and charging headfirst at two goblins, he had to think fast.

  He crouched low, putting his left shoulder first, and shoulder-checked the closest goblin.

  The smelly little green man screamed as it was sent flying into the far wall.

  ‘I can't believe you actually tried to conjure a weapon.’ Syl said her voice in the back of his head.

  “A little busy, Syl.” He said as he turned his attention to the goblin right beside him.

  Luckily, it had no weapon either and seemed more surprised at Kai's sudden appearance and its companion's abrupt flight than anything else.

  Moving faster than it could react, Kai spun and brought his boot up between the goblin's legs.

  With a sickening crunch, the goblin's eyes rolled back as it collapsed.

  Standing over the poor little fella, Kai raised his leg up to stomp on its head.

  He couldn't help but think the goblin looked pitiful as it curled up into a little ball, clutching its jewels, heaving for breath.

  Suddenly the other goblin was on his back, and he found himself tumbling forward.

  The little green thing was screaming maniacally as its sweaty, long, bony fingers wrapped around his throat, long, ragged nails tearing at his flesh.

  Whether the goblin was weak or his improved stats were just that good, he didn't know, but the attempt at strangling him felt like that of a feeble old person bereft of any notable strength.

  As he got to his feet, the goblin must have realised its attempt to strangle him wasn’t going to work, so it dug its filthy little teeth into his shoulder.

  “You little-“ Kai immediately jumped and slammed his back down into the solid stone dungeon floor.

  He felt the little goblin's rib cage crumple in on itself as he hit the ground, the goblin's foetid breath whooshing past his shoulder as he rolled off it.

  Getting to his feet again, he immediately checked what the other goblin was up to; it was too busy vomiting to be any real threat.

  ‘You know, with the stat difference, you probably could have just kicked both of them in the head; they are short enough.’ Syl said.

  Ignoring the constructive criticism, he checked the goblin he had just crushed.

  It was badly winded and was struggling to catch its breath as it turned an odd shade of blue.

  ‘You had the right idea before. Make it quick and put them out of their misery.”

  Kai stepped up to the closest goblin. It wheezed as it clutched at its crushed torso.

  He half expected it to plead for its life, but the eyes that looked up at him were just filled with rage. Had their positions been reversed, he knew this pitiful thing wouldn’t hesitate for a moment.

  You have killed Goblin Wretchling Lv. 1.

  You have killed Goblin Wretchling Lv. 1.

  He had done it, stomped on both of them, putting them both out of their misery like Syl had said.

  It just felt wrong; he felt odd, numb.

  “What is wrong?” he heard Alicia ask as she entered the room just behind Syl.

  “The world he is from only just got initiated; culturally, killing is... it's complicated.” Syl said as she drifted in front of him, trying to get him to look at her. “Kai, we talked about this. You expected this the moment the system connected to you.”

  “I know; I just need a moment to process what just happened.”

  “Why were there two of them? My party only had one for each member. Made me fight mine one-on-one to make sure I had it in me before we continued.” Alicia squeaked, What happened to the corpses? They just vanished.”

  Kai looked around confused. “They’re not supposed to vanish?”

  Alicia shook her head. “We get to dismantle them for ingredients and materials.”

  “Check the ring you got as compensation,” Syl said.

  “I don’t-“ Looking down at his hands, he noticed a silver-looking ring on the ring finger of his left hand.

  The ring didn't exactly shine; it kind of glimmered, and as he moved his hand to get a better look, the light that caught it flared through the whole spectrum and back again. Looking closer, he noticed it wasn't actually one piece of metal but hundreds, possibly thousands, of interwoven, braided bands of metal that seemed to be actively rolling in on themselves.

  Pulling it off, he focused on it. Trying for his first item description, he wasn't disappointed when a blue window appeared next to the ring as he rolled it between his thumb and forefinger.

  Kai’s Soul Ring (Unique - Soulbound, Looting, Dismantle, Obscure, Indestructible)

  Made of a long-forgotten material, this storage ring connects directly to Kai’s soul, allowing him to store physical items within his nascent domain.

  This ring also possesses the looting, dismantling, obscuring, stuck and indestructible enchantments. This ring is part of a set.

  Doing his best not to react outwardly, he was ecstatic at having a storage item; he focused on the list of enchantments, hoping the system would fill him in.

  Looting will automatically deposit your ‘loot’ in your storage. Currently set to all.

  Dismantle will auto-dismantle loot. Currently set to off.

  Obscure - this item is obscured; obscured items cannot be detected or examined by others. Currently set to only those who know.

  Stuck - this item is stuck where it is. Will return if removed.

  Indestructible - This item will be restored by the system if it is somehow destroyed.

  Set 1 of 2 rings.

  “Okay, I know I’m new to this, but even I know that that is a bit much.”

  “What? I don’t see anything.” Alicia said as she watched him intently.

  “Oh, here,” he took the ring off his finger and tossed it at Alicia.

  To her credit, Alicia reacted faster than he expected and grabbed it out of the air, opening her gloved fist to find there was nothing.

  She looked about, trying to see where it had gone. “I am sorry; I swear I caught it.”

  As she looked back to Kai apologetically, Kai held up his left hand, displaying the ring that had returned to his finger the moment Alicia had closed her hand around it.

  “Stuck enchantment.” He stayed thinking that would be enough of an explanation.

  “What enchantment?” She said, her confusion writ plain on her face.

  Kai took a moment to read off the ring's description and the system's explanation of its enchantments.

  The more he spoke, the wider Alicia's eyes grew.

  His explanation over Kai switched the ring to the middle finger of his right hand; he wasn’t quite ready to put anything on his actual ring finger.

  But to his dismay, the moment the ring settled and he took his eyes off it, it shifted back to the ring finger of his left hand.

  He looked at Syl, who just smiled at him.

  “Are you certain it says soul, not spatial? I mean, I’ve heard of a spatial storage device; everyone has; everyone wants one.

  “Definitely says Soul.” Kai checked.

  “No capacity, weight reduction or time dilation.” Alicia was rambling. “No mention of killing anything living you store inside!” the little el’vei girl practically squealed.

  Alicia pulled the pack off her back and held it out to them, “This cost me over a hundred gold!” She said with tears brimming in her eyes.

  Kai looked at the pack, focused.

  Lesser Spatial Pack of Holding.

  Despite its size, this pack will hold up to 1 cubic meter or 3.5 cubic feet worth of items. Items in the pack will weigh half what they normally do and will experience 1/5 the normal passage of time.

  As this item distorts time and space, storing living matter is not recommended.

  Alicia sank down till her butt hit the ground, and she pulled her pack tight. “I hate you, stupid ring.”

  Syl drifted close to her and patted her on the head. Or at least she pretended to, “There, there, he has that effect on people. He will grow on you, I promise.”

  “It is not fair,” Alicia moaned.

  “I would tell you he is just lucky, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

  “But all my gold?”

  “Think of it this way, Alicia: with Kai around, you won't have to worry about looting stuff or dismantling.”

  “No dismantling monsters?”

  “Yup. It gets better. With Kai looting everything, there won't be any real limit on what we take from dungeons, rifts and ruins.”

  Alicia's golden eyes glimmered. “But the local economy?”

  “But your gold.”

  “Just how big is his Soul space?”

  Syl turned to Kai and let out a hmmm, “You didn’t let yourself level up, did you?”

  “I don’t think so.” Kai said trying to feel for the full feeling Syl described, there was something there that hadn’t been before, but he wouldn’t say he felt full.

  “Great, there are some things I want to talk to you both about, and if we have a visual aid, it will be easier for the both of you to understand.”

  She looked around the empty room. “Alicia, will this room respawn if Kai were to stay here for a while?”

  “No, once a room's cleared, that is it. The only time a room resets is if you retreat before clearing it. Why?”

  “Kai, loot Alicia and join us at the house.”

  “That’s possible?”

  “I don’t see why not,” Syl said, shrugging as she burst into cyan flame and was gone.

  “So I just-“ he focused on Alicia and thought about her being in his domain.

  “Wait, I-“ Alicia disappeared. ‘Do not think… good… idea. ‘Crusty Dwarf Beards!’

  Kai stood alone in the dungeon chamber and thought about how easy that had been; he hoped he could get her back out again. He better check.

  Alicia reappeared. “What the-“

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “A little disoriented, I do not like how you can-“ She disappeared again. ‘Do that!’ Alicia cried inside his mind.

  ‘If it wasn’t for the contract you two share, I doubt he could do it; you’re engaged to him; get used to it already.’ Syl said.

  The fact that he heard it meant she wanted him to hear it.

  Confused Kai took a moment as he sat down on the cold, hard tiles of the dungeon floor.

  Something was annoying him; he thought Syl liked him, but she seemed all in on Alicia.

  He toyed with his new ring, twisting it on his ring finger; he might just end up marrying the little el’vei girl if he wasn’t careful.

  Suddenly, Alicia appeared in front of him. “It worked; I was able to exit on my own.”

  She looked at him, “Syl, try and bring me back, please. He is blushing like he was up to no good, and I do not like it.”

  And just like that, she was gone again.