in a dark corner of a cave, lies a fragile body a young boy, wearing the minimum of clothes

slowly waking up, adapting to his new environment

"hi"

"my name is...... someone"

"this place is...... somewhere"

"I don't know what's happening or why is it happening, but I can't remember anything"

without having a single clue about the situation, the young boy stands up and start walking , looking for anything that fills his blank mind and write something in his fresh empty memory

slowly walking in the dark cave, he eventually sees the light at the end of the tunnel

he stretches his thin arm trying to catch something new to him, yet he ends up passing through it instead

such a thin sheet of glowing air is so visible yet untouchable

but our little friend doesn't have time to admire it

as a squashing sound approaches him from behind

he turns and see a little blob of thick blue water, slowly jumping towards him

as it approaches close enough, our little friend stretches his curious hand toward the blob

and just before he could grab it, the blob jumps and involves his hand, then immediately starts eroding it

reacting to the excruciating paine of his arm getting melted and eaten alive, he jumps back with a loud scream as he passes through the thin sheet of air

as he falls to the ground with his mind full of fear from his approaching death

he looks at the blob reacting wildly as it explode for no reason

not having time to digest all of these spontaneous events a sound pops up in his mind. LEVEL UP!

"wow, you've already leveled up?! not bad"

hearing this sarcastic tone the young boy started yelling in confusion "who are you, who am I, what is this place, what do you want from me?"

as the mysterious voice chuckles, it answered the boy "calm down calm down, I'm not your enemy, I'm here to guide you and insur you don't die before you leave this dungeon, I'll be answering all your questions when ever you need me, but about who you are I don't have the slightest idea, but, about who I am .... I'm the mask on your face"

hearing that, the boy freaked out and started yelling while trying to remove the mask

"get off my face, get away from me, get away from me."

seeing the boy's reaction the mask got angry

"get your dirty hands off me, is that how you treat someone offering to help you? it's not like I'm doing it because I like you or anything, and stop polling me off I'm already fused to your face you dummy!"

the kid shouted disgustingly "no! you're gross get away from me I don't like you" and started poling even harder which made the mask scream even harder "nooo stooop!"

and they kept on fitting non stop until the boy ran out of energy

"Boy! are you ready to listen to me now?" yelled the mask with an annoyed tone

"no way *pant* in hell *pant* I would" said the boy while laying on the floor and breathing with difficulty

the mask ignored him and started explaining regardless "boy, this dungeon is full of monsters , stay still and you'll get eaten alive, my job is to prevent it, so that won't do ,now listen, the room you're in is a safe zone, no monster can get in, and if they do they die , which explain why that slime exploded, yes slime , that blue blob is called a slime, and slimes have two weaknesses, first their speed, slimes are very slow , as long as you keep your guard up you can dodge them easily, although it's not necessary since slimes don't usually attack , because they can eat anything, usually stones and moss, the reason you were attacked is simply because you were there in it path, second their cors , every monster have a core if you smash it the monster dies , and slim cors are the easiest to find because they are the only non transparent part of their body, as well as their only weakness, hitting their body is useless, your only option is to hit the core , after killing it you'll gain 5xp , collecting enough xp lets you level up , and the amount needed doubles every 5 levels , so from level [1 to 5] you need 5xp , from [5 to 10] 10xp, from [10 to 15] 20xp, from [15 to 20] 40xp and so on and so forth, currently you're too week, level 1 ain't gonna cut it, so get your *** moving and kill some slimes! ....... hey, are you listening? .......HEY ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!! WHAT KIND OF A RUDE BASTARD FALLS ASLEEP WHEN SOMEONE IS TALKING TO HIM!!? WAKE UP! THIS IS NO TIME FOR SLEEP! YOU'RE GONNA STARVE TO DEATH!!!"

"emmm ... 5 more minutes" the kid mumbles while flipping on his other side as he seeps into a deep sleep full of happy dreams

or at least that's what it felt like, but in reality every thing was foggy , you can't discern any thing from it , although it felt like a happy dream it was nothing more than a bunch of unclear images flashing by the little boy's mind , and the voices weren't any better, it was like they were being heard from meters under water

meanwhile out side "wake up you damn idiot, don't you have any manners, I'm talking to you" the mask was yelling like crazy trying to wake up the kid

and then finally after a few hours of sleep the boy finally woke up "hmm....that was a good nap , I also had a dream but, I don't really remember anything from it, what was it all about"

"it's normal for you to not remember, after all, you've lose your memory, but you seem to have forgot another thing as well" the mask commented in a calm manner

"I don't think I did" the boy replied casually

hearing that the mask got really angry and yelled"MY HOWL EXISTENCE!!!"

the boy's expression didn't change while he replied "yes . I didn't forget that, you were just too annoying so I took a nap"

the mask was fuming with anger yet she chose to swallow it "you know what? ..... fine , I'll stop... I won't be talking anymore , but mark my word , no matter what happens to you later, don't you dare ask me anything , you're on your own mister know it all"

seeing how the mask stopped talking, the boy got up and stretched his body "alright, if this is a new world, and I don't have any memory, then all I need to do is to go explore and learn everything from the start" said the boy to himself with a face full of confidence

after which he went through the barrier once again wanting to explore the so called dungeon

it didn't take long before he found another slime

but, at that moment, the boy froze, remembering the burning paine caused by the first slime , he lost all the courage to advance

and before knowing it, he started running back to the safe zone

upon reaching it, he started breathing heavily ,and his head felt as heavy as a mountain

he couldn't help but to sit down , bend his knees and hug his legs, while shivering and sweating like crazy

that was such a traumatising experience, he was so scared , he couldn't close his eyes any more, he couldn't help but to keep them wide open while staring at the ground with fear and terror enveloping him

time passed by, and the boy haven't moved a muscle, if you see him you would think he's dead, and your suspicion will get confirmed after you see his eyes

a pair of empty dead eyes staring blankly at the ground, it was as if his consciousness has faded away, he didn't know what to do, how to do or why to do

he sat there motionless and emotionless , until he eventually muttered a single word "hungry"

seeing what become of him, the mask couldn't keep his silence, he spoke with a gentle tone " boy , get up"

surprisingly the kid stood up! he stood up obediently, with no resistance or complain

"leave this room" added the mask with the same tone

and unexpectedly the kid complied, even after leaving the room he kept on walking, and eventually he found himself once again facing a slime

seeing that ferocious beast that left a deep scar on the kid's heart , his fear surfaced, his look started changing and fear could be seen in his eyes

but it didn't last long, because at the same moment, his head got heavier , his stomach started rumbling, the lack of energie and the hunger were greater than the fear

he couldn't help but to press tightly on his stomach with one hand while holding his falling head with the other

when the mask whispered to him " boy , do you see that? that slime, do you see his core? there's food in it!"

hearing that , the boy slightly opened his mouth " f.. food?.... food?............. FOOD!!!"

the boy jumped in a frenzy, running towards the slime , disrigarding all the pain he felt previously , he stuck his hands into his body , grabbed his core, pulled it to his face and started biting it as hard as he could

the monster being still alive, his acidic slimy body can melt down hard stones, let alone the tender skin of a young boy

but the kid didn't care , as his hunger was greater than the little pain on his face

he kept on biting and biting , and eventually, the core cracked open, and a fleshy substance could be seen inside

the slimy body of that monster fell on the ground , leaving an open shell housing a piece of meet

seeing it , the boy shoved it in his mouth and proceeded to lick the shell

it didn't taste like anything , and it wasn't enough either

he threw it and ran like crazy, looking for more prey , he grabbed every single slime he could find and devoured it in the same way

he kept on hunting them , eating them , slime by slime, without a single care in the world

eventually ? he had his fill . but , at what cost?