In bed as always, I had that strange dream again.

  Those statistics displayed my name and attributes.

  After clearing the second level, I jumped from level 10 straight to level 25.

  Honestly, that’s a huge deal—such a massive level increase could even break the dungeon in my favor.

  It would be nice, sure, but also kind of boring. Without the struggle, what’s there left to develop? I sorted the fifteen points carefully. I’m already strong enough to swing a hammer properly, so no need for more strength right now.

  We have to be really, really careful with where we put these boosts.

  For the first time, I noticed the Faith stat.

  I truly believe in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but to be honest, I lack the commitment to pray every single day.

  Still, I’m trying to get closer to Him, so I put five points into Faith and went to sleep. That night I had a dream. I felt His calm and His love.

  It was Jesus Himself—I could sense His presence so clearly.

  I woke up the next morning in the best mood possible.

  With that energy, I greeted Lupita and asked about XD, wondering why she wasn’t roaming around.

  She told me XD was updating and would be offline for a couple of days.

  During that time without her, I decided to do something for our Lord.

  I took a couple of trees, cut them into two big cylinders, and carved them as God guided my hands.

  I made a large cross with an image of our Lord Jesus Christ and secured it at the top of the nearest hill so He could watch over and guard my house while I’m in the dungeon. XD was ready the next day. She had changed—she had real personality this time.

  She was warm with me and didn’t sound robotic at all.

  I was doing my best not to jump for joy.

  Lupita didn’t understand the voice change, so I explained what “updating” meant in this context.

  She’s a really fast learner; it was almost suspicious how quickly she grasped everything.

  But maybe she’s already familiar with XD, so that’s why it clicked so easily.

  After all, they spend a lot of time together without me. After the update, XD and I headed to the pillars.

  XD wasn’t sure exactly what those pillars growing straight from the bare ground were.

  It doesn’t have to make perfect sense—we’re in a pretty weird dungeon—but I was still curious.

  I started my relaxation day so I could prepare for the next floor.

  This time it would be the third floor, so I knew I had to be cautious.

  From what I remember of dungeons in my world, there’s usually a stronger boss every five floors.

  That might not be accurate here, but it’s still a good rule of thumb. The third floor (counting from bottom to top) was completely different from anything I’d seen before.

  It felt like a literal medieval dungeon—cold, wet, disgusting.

  I loved it.

  The moment I took two steps forward, I saw a skeleton.

  It was completely clueless about what was coming.

  Thank God I still had the hammer from the previous floor.

  One solid smack and it was really dead this time. I realized I might need a map, or at least come back later to make some paper so I could track my movements.

  I didn’t know how big this maze was, so better safe than sorry.

  I was just about to head back home when I spotted a big, fancy-looking chest.

  It’s a trap—I know it, you know it, even some curious elves know it.

  What did I do? Obviously opened it.

  No matter what, a treasure is a treasure—even if I have to beat some common sense into whatever mimic shows up. The second I cracked it open, I started stabbing the chest like crazy.

  I wasn’t wrong—it was a mimic, and it died after a few good stabs.

  The loot? The most useful thing that wouldn’t break my powers: a map.

  It was empty at first glance, but when I looked closer, it started drawing the corner I’d just come from—the path from the skeleton to the chest—making a perfect replica of the maze section.

  With this I didn’t need to go back.

  Or so I thought. I started rushing through the maze, looting skeletons left and right.

  By that point I was basically treating them like PvP raid fodder.

  But rushing enemies has one critical problem: the dungeon’s natural traps.

  And of course, I fell right into one.

  The floor opened beneath me and I dropped feet-first into a hole.

  Luckily I didn’t die on impact; it turned into a slide that carried me down to an underground chamber. In the chamber there was a sword stuck in a stone.

  It was pretty—I liked that sword.

  As I reached to pull it out, it spoke.

  A man’s voice, directly in my head, just like XD can do. The sword said:

  “Hello there, traveler. I’m a bastard sword, and I’ve been stuck here for a while. Mind pulling me out and using me for something fun?”

  I was shocked, but because it was the coolest sword ever, I pulled it out.

  Looking at it, I said, “From now on, your name is going to be Wildstray.”

  It laughed and replied, “You know that because I’m a bastard sword, you don’t need to clarify it in the name, right?”

  I told him, “Nah, it’s because you can talk, so you’re a special bastard, ain’t you?”

  The silence that followed was ridiculous.

  Then Wildstray said that nobody had ever talked to him like that—not even when he was human.

  “What a curious man is holding me now.”

  But to be crystal clear, he added that he likes women, not men.

  So if he’s around and I’m going to be naked, there had better be a very good reason to pull him out of his scabbard.

  The scabbard was like nothing I’d ever seen: it was made of bandages that covered the blade.

  When I wanted to draw him, they just slipped off, revealing the great steel underneath.

  It looked way too good to be a normal sword, so I asked if he had some kind of power or anything special.

  His answer: “Nah, I can’t help you out like that. But I’ll give you advice here and there when you need it.

  Everything you’re going to do, you’ll do it yourself—because if I used power to strengthen you, you’d probably just die the moment you kicked me out of your hand.”

  He said it so convincingly that I decided to let him be for now.

  Anyway, if there’s no struggle, there’s no fun, right?

  If I just wanted to chill, I’d do it on my own floor of the dungeon—by now I already have enough to live comfortably.

  Wildstray interrupted me, asking why I was even doing all this if I could already survive and had everything I needed.

  “A chill life isn’t a bad deal in the end.”

  I just responded with what I thought was a really solid answer: “That’s not the human way of living. Whoever thinks to do that in a fantasy world is just a bitch.

  My goals are infinite—as humankind has a goal for everything.

  Humankind is only topped by our Creator and Lord Jesus Christ.

  ”The sword was practically tweaking with joy.

  Not even in a million years had he thought his new wielder would be so interesting.

  I replied to his excitement: “I don’t need anything from you as free power isn’t real. With experience and tenacity, every human can solve whatever they think is impossible.”

  Wildstray was happy and wanted to keep talking, but time always moves forward, so I couldn’t waste it.

  I asked, “Well, where’s the way to the boss?”

  Wildstray told me it was just the only door in the room, so it might be there.I opened the door, and a big skeleton in armor—clearly skilled with the sword—was waiting right in the middle.

  He pointed at a wall like he wanted me to read something.

  Engraved on the stone, you could read clearly:

  "I stand in steel, clad in death's cold mail,

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  A knight of bone, with blade that never fails.

  Many come to slay me, thinking glory near,

  Yet strike me down — and still you feel the fear. For I am but the mask, the hollow show,

  A puppet fierce in everlasting glow.

  The hand that pulls my strings stays out of sight,

  Concealed within a pillar forged of night. What seems the lord is servant to the shade;

  Break not my bones — seek where the stone is frayed.

  The master weaves from shadows, never seen,

  Until the false wall cracks... and death's true king is freed."

  I didn’t actually know what it meant, but I figured it was time to use Wildstray—my new bastard sword—for the first time.

  The good thing about this kind of sword is that it sits right in the middle between a one-handed and a two-handed weapon, so it has great mobility and a solid range of uses as well.

  I stood in front of the skeleton knight and prepared my stance.

  From that moment, I knew this wasn’t a normal skeleton. It had really nice technique—its movements were exactly what you’d expect from a knight of a great kingdom.

  It was impossible for me to beat this thing using only the sword, so I prepared carefully.

  I almost lost my life a couple of times—the skeleton even took a piece of my hair.

  While fighting with everything I had, I started dropping water onto the floor.

  The skeleton was pressing me hard, but I instantly froze the water into ice.

  On its next slash, when it tried to lean in, it tripped.

  On the ground, it tried to get up but couldn’t—the ice had turned the area around him into a very slippery place.

  Then I took the sword and cut off its head. It didn’t kill him, so I grabbed the skull, placed it on the floor, and smashed it into a million pieces.

  I thought, “Well, that’s it,” but the skull just reattached to the body like nothing had happened.

  I smashed it again and again and again—tons of bones—but the skeleton on the floor acted like it was immortal.

  So I thought to myself, there has to be a trick here.

  I started analyzing the words written on the wall.

  There were four pillars, like in my realms, but these were more like columns.

  They were different sizes, but something felt off about the biggest one.Just to be sure—while I still had the skeleton completely immobile—I started breaking the columns.

  To my surprise, inside the biggest one was a necromancer.

  You’d think, “How didn’t you see him in the first place?”

  Well, the column was hollow, and the necromancer skeleton was hidden inside.

  The moment I saw the necromancer, I beat the shit out of him, killing him and finally putting an end to the skeleton knight for good this time.

  I took the loot, and with that in mind, I didn’t claim possession of this floor of the dungeon.

  I thought it would be perfect for practicing against that respawning skeleton knight.

  I went through the door behind where the skeleton had been and headed back to my floor.

  When I got there, XD and Lupita were excited to see me again, but this time they noticed the floor hadn’t changed at all like it did the first time.

  So while enjoying a very deserved warm meal, I told them everything and introduced the new addition to the team: Wildstray.