Kayen felt the cold seep through his entire body, making him uncomfortable, and so he opened his eyes.
"Why is it so cold?"
As his vision cleared, Kayen realized that he was no longer in his apartment.
"Where… am I?"
The walls of the room were made of dark gray stone blocks. Cracks spread across every surface, and high up on one side of the wall, there was a narrow slit window with thick iron bars firmly embedded in place.
On one side of the room stood heavy iron bars. The metal was rusted, yet it still looked sturdy. Beyond the bars stretched a long corridor illuminated by old torches.
Seeing this, Kayen immediately asked,
"Am I dreaming?!"
Kayen desperately hoped that he was truly dreaming, because if not, then the thing he feared most had already happened.
He thought about pinching himself to find out whether he was dreaming or not. But before he could—
From the window, a cold wind swept into the room, carrying a flake of snow that landed on Kayen's hand. He felt the chill of the snowflake—it was undeniably real.
"Am—am I really undergoing a descent?"
Kayen asked in a voice filled with shock, fear, anger, and confusion.
He slapped his cheek, trying to wake himself from this dream. But instead of waking up, he only felt pain.
Even so, he kept slapping himself. Until his cheek turned red and began to bleed. Only then did tears start to fall from his eyes.
"Wh—why me? Why does it have to be me?!"
Kayen could not accept this. He had already gone through so much. All he had hoped for was to become a lower-class citizen the next day. But fate toyed with him—he had been chosen to undergo a descent infamous for its extreme danger. Only 20% of those who underwent their first descent survived. That fact alone was enough to drive him into despair.
Kayen cried for a long while before his tears finally ran dry. Even though he knew he would likely die, he did not want to die.
He tried to calm himself. His breathing felt tight, his nose was clogged, and his face was soaked with tears.
"Fate wants me dead? It won't kill me that easily."
Kayen said in a strained, broken voice.
After some time, he finally managed to steady himself. He wiped his nose and face with the dirty brown clothes he was wearing. Kayen was not surprised—his pajamas had already been replaced, something he had known would happen since childhood.
He then tried to recall everything he knew about descent. While doing so, he also attempted to remember the martial arts he had learned as a child, letting his body move instinctively.
After recalling all he could about descent, Kayen pulled back his leg, having just thrown a kick. During his recollection, he realized that he was likely a slave or a prisoner. That would increase the difficulty of his descent due to his limitations.
Kayen then thought about the screen that displayed his information. He remembered this as one of the things he had learned when he was young.
Sure enough, in an instant, a translucent golden sheet of paper appeared before him. The status panel he had read about in stories during his childhood looked more like a single page torn from a book.
Ignoring its appearance, Kayen examined what the sheet displayed.
Name: [Kayen Alvaric]
Rank: [—]
Essence: [—]
Trait: [Slave of War]
Remnant: [—]
Contract: [—]
Kayen stared at the transparent golden sheet. The black letters looked unfamiliar, yet somehow he could understand them, as if they had been translated.
The sheet floated quietly in the air. After reading its contents, Kayen became interested in his trait.
"Slave of War?... No wonder I'm a slave now."
He thought about seeing its description, and in an instant, the contents of the sheet changed.
[Slave of War]
Trait Description: [A slave used as cannon fodder. However, when a Slave of War is on the battlefield and obeys their master's orders, they receive a small temporary increase in strength.]
"Truly a slave."
Kayen had no intention of participating in war. He planned to complete his first descent using the second method. If the first method was to kill all the monsters, the second method was to escape the trial zone.
Although the Essence gained would have a lower rank compared to completing it through the first method, this was the most feasible way for Kayen to survive his first descent.
As far as Kayen knew, the average area of a first descent was around 40 square kilometers. Quite vast, but Kayen believed he could manage it.
After finalizing his plan for his first descent, from the far end of the corridor, Kayen heard the sound of heavy footsteps. The sound was weighted, as if the person was carrying something heavy.
Kayen immediately sat in the corner of the room, waiting for the owner of those heavy footsteps to pass.
After a while, Kayen saw a large knight clad in full iron armor.
There was no weapon in his hand, but Kayen felt that the man's hands alone were enough to serve as weapons.
The knight walked past his cell, ignoring Kayen as he watched him. Whether he noticed or not, Kayen could not tell.
A few moments after the knight passed, the iron bars suddenly lifted upward without anyone touching them.
As the bars fully rose, a heavy yet clear voice echoed from the end of the corridor.
"Wake up, you damned slaves."
After that, the sounds of people waking up could be heard.
"Is it morning already?"
"I'm so sleepy."
"Alright."
Kayen heard the voices coming from the cells on his right and left. He then walked out of the prison-like room.
Looking to his right and left, he saw people emerging one by one from their cells. Some looked sleepy, while others appeared indifferent.
After everyone had stepped out, from the far end of the corridor, Kayen saw the knight who had previously passed his cell speak.
"We will be attacked in ten minutes. Prepare yourselves to defend this castle."