from F-Rank Heir to Dimensional Beast Tamer

When Liam saw the System's response, he was so surprised that all his anger vanished.

He had nothing to say. After a full minute of silence, he smiled strangely, and with a ridiculous expression on his face, he said:

"System, you should have said that from the beginning. If I'm really going to get a Mana Core, I don't mind suffering double this pain."

He didn't receive any response from the System, yet he wasn't upset by that, and calmly erased his smile, and thought.

'Everything is clear now. The System is more powerful than I thought, and its features are beyond anything I imagined.'

He furrowed his brows with a hint of determination, and without bothering himself with further thoughts, he summoned the personal status window and looked at the last line:

[ You have an unclaimed gift ]

Previously, when his rank increased, he received a notification about getting a gift, but he hadn't found the time to open it.

Without hesitation, he said excitedly: "Open the gift."

[ Obtained a Low-Level Key ]

The type of gift wasn't surprising, but even so, Liam felt a bit of curiosity.

'What's the purpose of this key, I wonder? Or rather, where will it take me if I use it?'

Despite his great excitement and strong desire to try out the key, he couldn't actually do so.

He first had to return to that mysterious palace, and only then would he be able to use it.

After sitting for a few more minutes, he stood up and went up the stairs to the first level, where he cleaned himself of the black substance that had come out of his body, and then returned to the second level.

Without any delay, he began to wander around.

The second level wasn't very different from the first, but it was almost empty.

Even after wandering for two hours, he didn't find any monsters or a passage leading to the third level.

[65:44:21]

After another hour of searching, Liam found a very wide cave, with a staircase in the middle leading to the third level.

However, he didn't head for the stairs. Instead, he stood near the entrance of the cave, staring at several human skeletons scattered on the ground.

Some of the skeletons were shattered into small pieces, while others were intact, wearing either tattered leather armor or the remains of mostly decomposed clothing.

Some of them also held rusty swords or broken wooden shields.

The scene was very strange, making Liam feel that something was wrong.

'Where did all these humans come from? And how did they all die?'

He furrowed his brows and raised his guard:

"Is there a monster hidden in the shadows waiting for me to enter?"

His suspicions were logical, so he didn't move from his spot.

He remained standing for several minutes, examining the walls and floor with his sharp eyes, but he found nothing.

In the end, he was no longer hesitant, and he slowly and cautiously entered the cave.

When he approached the stairs, he saw that one of the skeletons was holding a sword that was still in good condition.

Slowly and cautiously, he reached out his hand to take the sword, but suddenly, the skeleton moved and stabbed him with the sword.

Liam's eyes widened, but fortunately, he was prepared.

He was able to retreat in time without getting a single scratch.

Still, he felt a great shock and continued to stare at the skeleton in disbelief.

"How is this possible?"

He was baffled by what he was seeing, but suddenly he realized something. He turned and looked around.

That's when he saw that all the skeletons lying on the ground began to move, and within a few seconds, he found himself surrounded from all sides.

He didn't feel fear or panic, and quickly prepared for a fight.

At that moment, the familiar System screen appeared above the skeletons:

[ F-Rank Skeleton ]

[ F-Rank Skeleton ]

[...]

When he saw that all the skeletons were F-Rank, he sighed in relief.

At the same time, he was annoyed that the System hadn't told him earlier.

Step!

The skeletons began to walk towards him.

Without holding back his strength, he pounced on the skeleton in front of him like a raging beast and kicked it with a force that sent it flying backward, where it collided with another skeleton.

Due to the force of the impact, the bodies of the two skeletons shattered, and their bones flew in every direction.

This surprised Liam once again. The skeletons were much weaker than he had imagined, and because of this, he was no longer hesitant.

A strange smile appeared on his face. He quickly grabbed a skeleton by its head and threw it with such force that it hit the wall.

He then punched another one in its ribcage, which easily turned into small shards.

It was easy. In just one minute, he was able to kill twenty out of thirty skeletons.

Despite his joy over the easy victory, an odd sense of unease crept over him.

'Something isn't right...' His confusion lasted for a few seconds before he realized something.

'Wait, why didn't the amount of XP I get for killing each monster appear?'

His eyes widened, and he muttered: "They're not dead yet?"

As soon as he realized this, he felt a sharp pain in his leg.

He quickly looked at the ground and saw a skull biting him.

He felt disgusted and surprised, and he involuntarily screamed:

"Agh!"

With all his might, he kicked the skull away, then rushed towards it and stomped on it until it turned into small shards.

[ +7XP ]

He felt angry, and a strange shiver came over him, but as soon as the System window appeared, he muttered:

"The head is their weakness."

After understanding what was happening, he no longer attacked randomly and focused all his strikes on the skeletons' skulls.

[ +8XP ]

[ +7XP ]

[ +9XP ]

After a few minutes of fighting, he managed to kill all the skeletons in the area, and then he began to search their belongings.

But he didn't find anything of real value, just a usable metal sword, a small dagger in good condition, and a forearm shield.

After preparing himself, he headed to the third level, where he faced some skeletons and small spiders.

But the monsters were very few, so he didn't gain much XP.

Still, he wasn't bothered. He became even more excited and continued to delve deeper into the dungeon.

And so, time passed slowly. He spent most of it fighting monsters and wandering aimlessly through the intertwined tunnels until he felt tired.

When he did, he would look for a safe place to rest or sleep for a few hours.

Sometimes he would find waterways, from which he would drink and quench his thirst.

And just like that, two full days passed since he entered the dungeon.