Amazing! This is the first time I've killed a Gunerush without getting hurt! I'm so great!
Kumoko excitedly performed a strange dance.
Ryu Takeno said to the dancing Kumoko, "I'm about to shed my skin. After shedding, my body will be too large for the upper layer. I need to go to the wider middle layer. Will you come with me?"
His current size made movement in the narrow upper layer inconvenient. After shedding, he'd be even bigger, possibly getting stuck in the passages.
But before going to the middle layer, he needed Kumoko to evolve again to ensure her safety.
"Middle layer? This place has upper, middle, and lower layers?"
Kumoko was confused. She didn't know the labyrinth had multiple layers.
She should have been chased by the adventurers, choosing the right path blocked by the Inseparable Trio, and falling to the lower layer. Because of Ryu Takeno's interference, she chose the left path, joining him, and didn't know the Elroe Great Labyrinth's structure.
"Yes. The Elroe Great Labyrinth is divided into upper, middle, lower, and bottom layers. The upper layer is for the weakest monsters. The middle layer is a magma zone, the territory of fire dragons, with average stats in the triple digits. The strongest leader is a fire dragon, Rend, with four-digit stats."
"Four digits!! That's over a thousand?!"
Kumoko was startled to hear the strongest fire dragon had four-digit stats. But remembering Ryu Takeno's stats were also over a thousand, it didn't seem so scary.
"Do you want to stay in the upper layer, or come with me to the middle layer?"
Ryu Takeno asked Kumoko's opinion.
He wouldn't force her if she didn't want to go.
Kumoko answered without hesitation, "Of course, I'll go with you! We're companions, aren't we? How could I leave a partner behind!"
Despite her fear, Kumoko chose to go with Ryu Takeno to the dangerous middle layer.
At that moment, hearing Kumoko's heartfelt words, Ryu Takeno truly accepted her as a companion, a comrade.
Treat people with sincerity, and they will treat you with sincerity.
Ryu Takeno made a choice, turning to the innocent Kumoko. "Shiro, I'll teach you to get stronger."
Eh?
Kumoko didn't understand.
"Who's Shiro? Are you calling me? But my name isn't Shiro; it's Wakaba Hiiro. Takeno-kun, you're terrible! You forgot your companion's name! But I'll generously forgive you! What did you mean by getting stronger? Do you have some special method?"
"Um…"
Ryu Takeno didn't know how to answer.
If he revealed her origins, would 'd' come after him? But calling her Wakaba Hiiro felt strange; it wasn't the real her.
Some say a person dies three times.
The first is when they stop breathing; biologically, they're dead.
The second is at their funeral; they're dead in society.
The third is when the last person who remembers them forgets them; then they're truly dead.
A name represents a person. A few short words represent a person's life and their existence in the world, a unique symbol to distinguish them from others.
If a person has no name, who will remember them? How will anyone know who they are?
Even if you're alive without a name, you're practically dead. Unremembered, unknown, history won't record you; you're a transparent existence.
It's a symbol of fixed identity.
Kumoko had Wakaba Hiiro's memories, but she wasn't the real Wakaba Hiiro. Even if she used that name, people would associate it with the Wakaba Hiiro from her memories.
So she needed a name of her own, to fix her identity, to establish her unique existence and life.
"Since it's a new beginning, you should have a new name. From now on, you're Shiro."
"That… sounds okay."
Kumoko thought for a moment. She didn't feel as attached to the name Wakaba Hiiro as she expected; there was no strong sense of loss.
It was strange. It was her most important name, yet she didn't feel strongly attached.
"Shiro, don't over-rely on system skills. Only what you master is truly yours. What's the difference between a swordsman who becomes a Sword God with a divine weapon and one who becomes a Sword God through their own skill?"
"(ー〃) Um… I don't understand."
The topic was a bit too broad; Kumoko's mind couldn't grasp it immediately.
Kumoko, with some of Wakaba Hiiro's memories, didn't know what a swordsman was but she had some recollections of it.
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You can read advance chapters in my: [email protected]/Veora
Drop some spirit stones if you like the story ^^
And Reviews ^^
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