Reyansh was seated in the back of the cab, unaware of the nefarious scheme towards his sister and himself. Amidst the questions he was answering, out of nowhere, a personal question popped up.

[Ellise: Are you first hunter in your family? Or someone showed you the ropes?]

This question put Reyansh in a spot that the pent up memories of his father surfaced. Suddenly, his demeanour changed, he appeared more alert like he was under attack.

Watching him suddenly go silent, the chat also stopped.

[Ellise: I am sorry, if it was too personal or brought up any painful memories.]

The message brought Reyansh out of his nostalgia.

’It won’t be bad if I shared a bit, I haven’t shared that with anybody anyway,’ he thought.

"Ahh...no, it’s okay. I just got a bit emotional," he stated, trying to bring the stream back to normal.

After taking a deep breath, he spoke, "My father used to be a hunter, he was found dead under mysterious circumstances."

"My father protected me when The Merge occurred on Earth. He also taught me some self defense techniques and basics of being a hunter."

"And it’s because of him, I want to be the best Hunter there is." He gave a small explanation.

He felt a weight lifted from his chest after speaking his thoughts, something he had never shared before.

[Ellise: Thank you for answering, he would have been proud of the Hunter you are becoming.]

[Dread Fist: Noble aim, Human. You have tough road ahead.]

[The Blazing Sandra: You won’t be alone in that journey.]

"Now that the talk had come to family, I have a question for you guys. I hope you guys have answer to it." He spoke, diverting the attention from the current topic while asking something he wanted to ask since the start.

"In the name of family, I have a only friend whose mother is suffering from Excess Mana Syndrome. It is term coined on our planet when someone’s body is overwhelmed due to mana."

"We have no permanent cure for it, only symptomatic treatment. If anybody knows about treating such disease, please respond here or you can also message me personally." He concluded.

He mixed in some lies with truth to throw-off any trail, if someone tried to track him.

[Raisena_Forge: We have the disease with symptoms you mentioned. We call it, Mana Core Coma. But we also have temporary treatments only.]

[Diamond_King: I have heard about this but don’t know anything about any treatment.]

[Fiery_Redina: Same here, treatment in our world help keep the disease at bay but ultimately the person has to suffer from it.]

’Some kind of prophylactic, it’s a good option but not the cure,’ he thought.

[Red Falcon: There are rumours of cure among upper echelons of few Apex dimensions. You should the Emperor if he joins again future.]

[The Blazing Sandra: I will get back to you after looking into it.]

[Storm_Knight: If a person with high rank core then they can absorb the excess mana from the patient, though it needed to be done regularly.]

Before Reyansh could respond, the cab stopped.

"On time, boss," the driver stated.

"I will be back shortly," Reyansh replied as he exited the cab.

"Thank you guys for your response, it helped me lot and narrowed down my search for a cure."

’I hope Sandra gets something useful,’ he thought.

"Now, this dungeon is a bit tricky, so keep your eyes open," he remarked making his way towards the gate.

After going through clearance, he stood at near the gate. This gate had peculiar appearance and it had undefined etchings on it instead of specific carvings like other gates.

He entered the gate, feeling the routine sensation, the next moment, he found himself in the dense green forest.

The moment he landed, he focused completely on his surroundings, using his perception to maximum.

The humidity in the air and reduced light due to dense forest, reduce the visibility and area to act.

As he expanded his perception field, he sensed the wet leaves, damp trunk and moist roots entangle together, increasing the density of the forest.

[Anonimus_Assassin: Okay, the environment itself seems heavy.]

[Dread Fist: You can’t punch or smash anymore.]

Reyansh focused on the tattoo, immediately, two short swords manifested in his both hands. He kept his hands down and remained alert for any situation.

[Dread Fist: Nice choice of weapons.]

He walked forward with measured steps, he deliberately slowed his approach because of the environment and the monster among it.

As he walked forward, he kept note of every changes, even noticing small movement of leaves in his vicinity. The atmosphere itself was eerie quite with only sound being Reyansh walking.

The chat also stopped, focusing on Reyansh and his surroundings.

He had taken few steps when, he sensed slithering sound on a branch near him. His tightened his grip on the short swords.

As the sound neared, he didn’t look with his eyes but trusted his perception and thrust his sword to the side.

Instead of expected stab in the trunk, a SQUELCH sound heard his ears and the sword pierced the monster lurking around.

[You have killed an E-rank Leaflurker]

He glanced at the notification for first time today to confirm his kill. With the monster dealt, he moved forward, his steps still calculated and careful.

[Anonimus_Assassin: Oh this is the best place to train perception for newbies.]

[Anonimus_Assassin: Though I doubt you would act like a newbie.]

[Raisena_Forge: Are all monster here the type that attack while hiding?]

[Storm_Knight: Yes, that appears to be the theme.]

Reyansh moved forward, using his sword to cut down big leaves to make way. Just as he put his next step, he sensed an attack aimed at his face.

He ducked down immediately, parrying the attack with his sword. Sensing the location of origination of attack, he threw his sword, killing the monster instantly.

The notification confirmed the kill, Reyansh pressed forward.

[Red Falcon has issued a challenge for 1000 Cosmic coins]

[Challenge: Remain untouched from the attacks of all the monsters of this dungeon.]

Reyansh stopped as he glanced at the system panel, his brows slightly raised as he thought for a second.

"I accept, I was planning on going unscathed anyway, this is just extra motivation," He stated as clear the pathway forward.

Few steps later, he found a beat up narrow path, the road to the centre of the dungeon.

Reyansh walked the path for a minute when he sensed multiple attacks on him. He performed a back flip, backing away from the range of attack.

He still couldn’t locate any monster with his naked eye, only minute sound of movement and sense of the surrounding via perception helped him locate monsters.

He felt small vibrations from ground as two monsters jumped at him. He threw his short sword, piercing the monsters and sticking it on the trunk.

He used the second sword to slice open the other monster. The moment his sword sliced the other monster, the remaining two monster attacked his legs. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Reyansh jumped to save himself from their attack and threw the sword, stabbing the head of the monster.

The last remaining monster, founding itself at a disadvantage, tried to hide behind a large leaf but Reyansh senses tracked his every movement.

He pulled out the sword from the trunk and immediately threw the sword again. It passed through the leaf and pierced the abdomen of the last monster.

"Once you are in my perception, you are just easy meat."