The cold wind the could freeze your lungs if you inhaled at a wrong time finally disappeared, and the cave slowly but surely got warmer.
The youths have been tired the entire time, fell asleep soundly last night thanks to the fire that Zhao Lina and Yoru made.
The first of the youths woke up, Roan, Wang Zihan, and Zhao Lina.
Since their bodies have been refined and transformed, so have their minds and their soul.
Their ability to heal was much faster than the non awakened.
Roan rubber his eyes and looked around the dimly lit cave, the checkpoint they reached was big but empty.
Not very fitting for such a small group like them.
Roan stood up and wanted to wake up the others.
He placed a hand on Jakes shoulder, wanting to shake him awake but as he did so, he might have squeezed a bit too hard...
"HIEEEK!!?"
Jake let out a yelp as he felt Roan's strong grip on his shoulder, it wasn't breaking his arms off but he felt the new strength Roan had acquired.
"Ah my bad!"
Roan pulled away and flexed his hands a bit, only now after he rested did he feel his tremendous power.
The others woke up from Jakes totally manly scream.
"Huh, what's happening?"
Amie¹ said groggily as she sat up, the blankets were pulled and now everyone else woke up.
Wang Zihan yawned, his body and soul were were much refined and he looked much more youthful. He looked at the others with a smile, making Amie¹ wake up fully.
"I accidentally uhh..." Roan started, scratching the back of his head embarrassed, "Squeezed Jakes shoulder too hard."
Zhao Lina had woken up as well, unlike Wang Zihan who had bed hair and the yesterday's tiresome activities that made him look groggy and disheveled, She was... Fine?
She gracefully stood up and took a look at everyone - now awake and looking at each other...
"That's because of your new strength as an awakened now, get used to it quickly and you'll be able to find a weapon that will suit you, along with your element and/or Path."
Then she stretched languidly, Wang Zihan stared, she had no sign of fatigue despite her literally using every bit of her Mana yesterday.
There was no sign of bed hair or the effects of using Mana, she was fine and gracefully beautiful as usual.
Then she disappeared and went into a chamber where there was a large man-made pond, a large one too.
They silently praised the work of Masked Girl, like hell they would ever say it aloud and boost her damn ego.
"What are you all standing around for?"
Everyone suddenly jolted, her stern and sharp soul piercing voice was as usual.
"Non awakened you get up and ready yourself. Check the gear, armor, weapons, supplies and all that."
Then she turned to Roan and Wang Zihan, the area suddenly cold as she took a few moments staring at them through her mask.
Then she spoke:
"Get used to your strength, we'll have a new formation and you awakened will be at the front."
They couldn't see it, but the youths felt as though she was smiling sinisterly. The twins shivered and Jakes group - Amie and Anne now included with the commoners - were so relieved they didn't awaken first...
Step.
Step.
Zhao Lina, finally done with her female rituals and cleaning up and whatever, emerged from the bath chambers.
Masked girl made sure to speak in a way that could be heard through the chambers but her questions caught her off guard.
"Where's Yoru?"
Masked Girl gave her a long look.
' Gods no... My brothers gonna get a harem!? AGAIN!?! Outrageous!!'
She thought but when she spoke, her voice was even:
"He went ahead, the battles will be a bit easy but still a hassle. He's left you all behind already."
The youths cast confused glances at each other...
But it was fine, they already trusted him enough, he must have had a reason.
***
RAAAWWR!!!
Whoosh!
Splat!
"What the hell kind of place is this?"
I muttered silent curses to myself and walked towards the decapitated monster corpse which I killed.
There were no longer golems here, now it was a place filled with odd trees and vegetation.
How could there be trees and plants within a dungeon cave?
That I did not know.
"Alteast these vile things are edible, ah I'm gonna miss Masked girls cooking."
I muttered quietly as I started chopping and skinning the creature, it resembled a weird combination of wolf and an ostrich, having a large thick skin and body, but it had feathers.
The back legs were an ostrich leg and the front was the wings of the ostrich but it had paws which was abnormal as hell!
Luckily the head was also as long as an ostrich and was easily decapitated thanks to the long neck.
I continued walking through the weird jungle, there were even birds chirping and insects singing.
What's even weirder was that there was light, it didn't seem like the sun so I kept cautious.
"Fate this, fate that. Why is she so obsessed with fate?"
I talked to myself some more.
The masked girl urged me to go in this specific part of the cave and did not tell me the reason.
Her only other reason was that it is my fate, and whatever I come across will be mine and mine alone to conquer...
' Whatever that means!'
It did get lonely though, who knew that I'd already start missing those kids.
They were useful and we're needed for survival but they atleast spiced things up in my life, now here I was, alone and wandering some unknown part of the dungeon...
The masked girl really wanted me to be ahead huh?
...
I continued walking for a long, long time. The bright light that illuminated this odd forest dimmed and turned dark.
Surprisingly, it wasn't pitch block or almost entirely pitch black, there was an alternative moon to brighten the dark place up...
Whooooooooosh....
Creak.
Creak.
"What the?"
My footing suddenly felt different, stone or dirt that I was stepping on was gone, and the plants and grass turned into leaves from trees.
The light of the sky changed as well, the moon's light seemed... Realistic now.
"Stars?"
I looked up, though it was hard to see, there was more leaves high above that blocked the moon's ethereal glow and beautiful radiance.
But the stars were unmistakably there, twinkling or whatever stars do.
Snap!
' Shit!'
The ground I was standing on snapped, like that of a tree branch as I fell through countless branches and leaves.
I was on a tree?!
Wait what's weirder is that how fast night came, wait that's none of my concern right now!
I spun around and used my Mana, solidifying it and turning it into a shield to protect myself from the large branches.
After a few more moments of crashing into large branches, I was finally free from the leaves but what I saw was a great height.
The ground was far, far below.
"You gotta be kidding m—"
BAM!!!
.
.
.
"Phew..."
I hit the ground hard, dirt and dust flew around everywhere.
I stood up, or atleast tried to, and crawled out the small crater that was left from my fall. I was able to use half of my Mana capacity to cushion my fall.
It still hurts though...
I lay on the ground and looked around.
The trees were tall and big, like giants. They reached staggering heights, and the leaves far above barely let any moon light in.
Drowning this forest in darkness, though still slightly visible.
"Damned masked girl, where the hell did she send me to?"
***
(1) It was Lia at first, then Amie, but she couldn't pick which one and decided to just go with Amie.