Chapter 22: 22. Secret Of The Island

After having a little talk with Famir and Ryfin and discussing the deal in detail, Orion turned to Liira and Dion, who were standing far away, signalling them as he waved his hands at them.

Seeing the cue, they arrived near the trio.

"Done with your little talk?" Liira asked.

Orion nodded.

Liira then turned to look at the vast forest surrounding them.

"Alright, then let's go. Our camp is around that huge wall."

She pointed at the broken wall standing far behind the forest. This had been the destination of Orion's group since they stumbled upon this island.

"Alright, let's go."

Liira urged as she and Dion led the way. Seeing this, Orion's trio exchanged looks before following them.

After walking through the woods for a while, an awkward silence ensued, and no one spoke.

Liira, sensing the moment, took the opportunity to ask some questions.

"So, where do you three come from?"

Orion felt confused by her question. Did she ask where they came from or where they lived? Regardless, he only knew the answer to the former.

"Well, all of us were in a boat, and it got destroyed by a huge centipede. As a result, we drowned in the ocean, only to find ourselves on this island."

Liira's eyes narrowed at Orion's answer.

"What about you two?"

Orion had been curious about their origins, and seeing this as a chance to learn more, he didn't hesitate to ask her.

Liira thought for a moment before answering him.

"Before I answer, I have some bad news for you three. This island that we are on is not some place but a dungeon."

"Dungeon? Like those in the games?"

Ryfin got excited hearing about the dungeon.

Liira cast an odd gaze at him before continuing.

"Yeah, like those in the games, but much more realistic than that. So if this is a dungeon, then how will one escape from here?"

"By killing the boss of the dungeon."

Ryfin excitedly answered.

Liira smiled, looking at Ryfin.

"You are right, but not just the boss, but all the higher beings present in the dungeon. But don't worry, we have already killed all the higher beings except for the boss."

Orion, who had been walking silently while listening to them, appeared confused.

"What are the higher beings?"

Liira frowned at his question, thinking they really didn't know the basics about the dungeon or were simply faking it. Nonetheless, she answered them while they were on this topic.

"Any being that can talk comes under the category of higher beings. In this case, the monsters that can talk come under this category."

Orion nodded at her while thinking to himself.

'So that's why there are so many monsters roaming around here. But the question is, how did we end up in this dungeon?'

Now that he knew they were in a dungeon, the question became more obvious.

'Did we enter the dungeon after we drowned in the ocean, or is this entire scenario—the boat, the pirates, even the huge centipede—all part of a massive dungeon, with this island at its centre?'

He had some guesses, but he didn't know if any one of them could be true.

At this moment, a thought came to his mind.

'They should have a system considering they talked about stats and such, so all the people in this world possess a system?'

The more he interacted with this world, the more fascinated he became by it. And if what he thought were true, then this world they transmigrated to was truly a world of fantasy.

But he didn't know whether he should ask them about stats or not. Even if there was a chance—albeit a minute one—that the stats they talked about earlier referred to general terms rather than the exact stats like in the system, revealing such information could potentially lead to their secrets being leaked, resulting in even more unwanted troubles for them.

Although he had initially trusted them, Orion couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about Liira and Dion. Their overly friendly demeanour and willingness to answer all of their questions seemed contradictory to their aggressive behaviour upon arrival.

'I hope this is just my intuition.'

However cautious Orion may have been, there was another individual who seemed to be the exact opposite: Ryfin. He eagerly asked Liira about the system.

"Hey, you talked about the stats earlier, so do you guys also have a system?"

Orion facepalmed himself at Ryfin's question. He had been deliberating all this time whether he should ask her or not, and here he was, asking the exact question without giving it a second thought.

In contrast, Famir lightly slapped Ryfin's head from behind.

"You just don't stop when it comes to gaming, are you?"

Looking at the reactions of the other two to the third one's question, Liira seemed confused.

"What's with that reaction? And about the system, we all have it."

Ryfin's eyes shined at her answer.

"You all have it? Then do you know how to upgrade to a higher rank quickly?"

Eagerness consumed him as he asked another question. This time, even Orion and Famir looked at Liira for her answer.

Observing the reactions of all three of them, Liira confirmed that these guys truly didn't know anything about the system or the dungeon. But she couldn't understand why they were so uninformed.

As far as she knew, every planet in their star system had an academy that taught the basics of their star realm until they awakened their system.

However, seeing them like this, she didn't know what to make of them.

Although she had her doubts, she still answered them.

"Every human being awakens their system at the age of fourteen. As for how to upgrade yourself, that's a very complicated one. For example, if one wants to upgrade from bronze rank to iron rank, then that person has to increase one of their five attributes to its maximum potential, i.e., 100 points in that attribute. That's the first condition."

"The second condition is their mastery of their talents. If we take the previous example, then that person would also have to have 10% mastery in his talent before he became eligible for the upgrade."

"As for the last one, it's called mutagens. Now that the person's stats have reached their limit by maxing one of the attributes and they have the required level of mastery over their talent, all that is needed is a catalyst to break that limit and ascend to a higher rank. That's where the mutagens come in. And mutagens are the genes of these monsters we kill."

Orion, Famir, and Ryfin listened in silence. When Liira finished speaking, they were surprised, as they hadn't imagined that upgrading to a higher rank would be so difficult.