[You have leveled up, +4 stat points]

[You are the first awakened to kill an Evolved Monster]

[Reward: Aura of the Minotaur]

[Aura of the Minotaur: Passive skill, user's presence is domineering when facing any opponent, creating fear. The greater the fear, the higher the debuff enemies face and the higher the buff the user faces.]

Aren stood there, looking at the body of the Minotaur. He stretched out his hands and pulled out the sword.

[You have gained a soul weapon, Ancient Devourer]

[Ancient Devourer, consumer of soul and blood, soul can currently be awakened with blood, power rises infinitely with the more blood and souls consumed. Drawback: if awakened soul can't get blood, it will turn on host, time, 5 minutes.]

Aren looked at the sword. This was a new soul weapon for him. A smile formed on his face, nothing was better than getting more strength.

Since he was done with that, he turned his eyes to the Minotaur and then used consume. Its body was immediately pulled into the shadows, and when it came back, it was a Minotaur shadow.

It bowed one knee to Aren, head bowed low in respect.

"Greetings master." It said, its deep voice filled with respect.

"You can still speak after becoming a shadow?" Aren asked.

"Indeed master, I can also remember everything that happened before my death." He replied.

"What? Does that mean you hate me?" Aren asked.

"Not one bit master, there is no hate for you in my heart. Who I was moments ago is no longer who I am, I am simply your shadow now." He said.

"I see, I guess I can work with that. In that case, I'll be naming you, you are my first smart awakened, I'll call you Riker,"

"Not a good name but the first that came to mind."

[You have gained a new soul weapon]

While he was mid thought, the system sent another message. He had gained a soul weapon from turning Riker into his Shadow.

"I appreciate the name master." Riker said while Aren was looking at the screen.

"Yeah yeah," Aren replied casually, already checking what this new soul weapon was.

[Ancient Devourer]

"Huh?" Aren stared at it, and it was exactly the same as the sword he held in his hands. Even the description was the same.

"What the hell? How can there be two of the same?" He asked.

"Tsk, whatever." He muttered and tossed the original to Riker.

"Have that, it's your weapon."

"Thank you Master." Riker caught it and said.

"Good, now we are done here, let's check on the others."

Aren returned with Riker behind him, and he found the others together resting. All of them sat on the ground, their backs leaned against the Minotaur statues.

It seemed after Riker was defeated, the rest returned back to their statue state.

Aiden saw Aren. He was too weak to even stand and greet.

"Whatever you did bro, thank you." Aiden said.

"Even for me, it was a lot." Zero said. "It was fun though, and I got to learn a lot about how Minotaurs fight." She said.

"I'm hungry and tired." Kira said.

And then as if filled with sudden new energy, Aiden sprang up to his feet. "How about I cook something." He said eagerly.

"I'd give you my soul for some warm food." Kira replied.

"I want some as well." Zero said, raising her hands.

"I'll eat too, I think I've burnt a crazy amount of energy." Aren replied, walking to sit against a statue that fell over.

With everyone's go ahead, Aiden rushed to start, pulling everything that he would need from his ring.

He immediately got into full chef mode, cooking a steak there.

He had everything, from wood to make fire, ingredients, utensils and all.

The others just watched as he did his thing, and an hour later, there was food on all their plates, steak with mashed potatoes.

Everyone dug in, and even if it wasn't the best in the world, the food was stunning. They all ate, cleaned up, and were ready to go.

[Location of the map has been revealed for an hour]

They had barely taken a step when the message came.

"Arghhh, you have to be kidding me." Aiden said.

"I'm seriously not in the mood to fight anymore." Kira added.

"Don't worry about that, I'll take down anyone that comes quick and fast, I'm tired of being here." Aren said and started walking.

It was like just being in this maze was taking a heavy toll on their minds. They began to care less about anything else, and just getting out became their goal.

They walked through the hall and to the throne of Riker. That was the end of it, but on the throne was something that looked like a rune circle of some sort on the backrest.

Aren walked forward and placed his hands on it, pouring soul energy, and the circle activated. The chair sunk into the ground, and on the wall behind, a large maze door appeared there.

The door opened slowly, and the same darkness they saw when they entered was there. Without hesitation, they walked through it and came out of the other side, well, all three of them except Aren.

When the darkness faded, he wasn't inside the maze, but rather standing in a vast and empty void of space.

"What's happening?" He muttered, looking around, but there was nothing there to be seen.

And then from nowhere, a figure appeared in the distance, sitting at a tea table under an umbrella. The next moment, the void changed into a beautiful grass field, and the lady still sat there under the umbrella, sipping her tea.

"Where is this? How did I get here?" Aren wondered out loud.

"Come, take a seat." She said, looking right at him, "Nathan."

When he heard that name, he froze, looking right at her. "How, how, how do you know that name?" He asked, taking a subconscious step back.

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