"I am awake."
Theresa's soft hand paused, then retreated, but her gaze still lingered on his rugged figure.
At this moment.
Damien started moving, and his heart and body temperature began to increase. Sensing her inquiry gaze, he quickly explained himself.
"Something I learned in Forsaken, helps with reducing the body's energy usage without the need to sleep."
Theresa eyes lit up for a moment, a little intrigued as she whispered softly," There is such a useful technique in Forsaken?"
Damien finds her reaction a little ridiculous as he casually said," There are many things useful in Forsaken, it is all about looking at the right thing."
Hearing this, Theresa's face lit up for a moment.
Once again, Theresa's opinion of Damien continues to change.
Just from their short interaction so far, she has learned greatly — about Damien, and of the game itself.
Of course, this was just a growing appreciation for people she considered her peers.
"Do you need to rest?" She asked with a frown, noticing his dehydrated state and jittery movement.
At this moment, Damien could barely hear her words.
Being extremely sleepy as well as hungry, his body was basically at its limit.
Even with minimal movement and energy consumption, his condition before the 'descent' was simply not 'great'.
He couldn't answer her, finding himself zoning out instead. Even right now, keeping his eyes opened was a struggle against the darkness.
"Yes, I would love to," He whispered quietly, his voice barely bouncing off the passage wall to reach Theresa's ear.
His eyes gradually closed, and the noises in the background faded. Though he did catch a glimpse of a pale shadow moving toward his face.
At the same time, Theresa soft voice called out to him.
'So warm… I just want to sleep.'
One. Two. Three. Four. He counted. And darkness came.
The entirely of the dreaming consumed him, dragged him, and carried him to a faraway land where he found comfort.
There, saw the glimpses of the past, the present, and strange future.
In the quiet catacomb passage, Theresa gaze wandered toward the two skeleton at the sole entrance as she moved her hand.
Her scratched palm rested on Damien's face as he lay on her skirt. This was the only thing she could offer him.
After a brief amount of time, maybe an hour or two, Theresa felt Damien scuffling around on her skirt.
Then, he opened his eyes, looking at her face from the bottom up.
Immediately, he was pretty sure that somehow and in some way, he ended up lying on Theresa's thigh.
Quickly and awkwardly, he got off, looking at her strangely.
"What? Something on my face again?" She asked, glaring at him like a taunted kitten.
Not sure of what to say, he quickly shook his head without uttering a syllable.
Once again, Theresa narrowed her eyes, finding Damien to be quite strange and peculiar.
She didn't understand why he was so worked up and was a little amused.
'What a strange person.' She noted in her heart.
For a moment, silence grew between them. But not for long. After all, there was little time to waste, and they had to be on the move.
"We should find some food now, unless you want to starve to death," He suggested, walking toward the catacomb passage.
"Indeed, we should." She nodded, then shook her head," What is there to eat in this damnable catacombs anyway?
At this moment, Damien thought of something and brought up.
"Catashroom?" He said, pointing at the white glowing mushroom hanging off the side of the skull in the wall.
Immediately, Damien caught the frown and slight disgust on her face.
"Why, too disgusting for princess over here?" He joked suddenly, his hand moved to pick the mushroom and tossed a few her direction.
For a moment, Theresa's face changed completely.
She wasn't sure if that was him attempting to crack a joke, or being serious.
Regardless, she giggled lowly while catching the catashroom.
Even at this moment, despite their casual banter, their voices were kept low to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.
And as they stroll down the passage, another group of skeletons greeted them. Fortunately, this time, it was just three normal skeletons.
With the way Theresa and Damien approached, they weren't detected. This was a great opportunity.
However, unlike before, Damien didn't have to explain or present Theresa with any complex strategy.
If there was a strategy, it would be — Kill them all!
This is due to a number of reasons.
After the battle with the skeleton warrior, Damien stat grew considerably. Even by himself, he could solo a group of normal skeleton easily.
Not to mention, he gained the resurrected skeleton warrior as his summon, increasing his combat power.
And don't forget, he wasn't the only one who grew after their battle. There is also Theresa.
Even before this, Damien noticed that she was quite a fit person with some combat skills. After gaining some stats, even he was surprised by her combat capability.
Quickly, Damien and Theresa eliminated all the skeletons in this passage and continued to explore their way down the catacombs.
The catacombs was truly difficult to navigate. Every room, or passage looks similar, and if not careful, it was easy to be trapped by two or more group of skeletons.
Fortunately, this was not Damien first time exploring the catacombs.
In fact, he explored the catacombs countless time in [Forsaken] before due to a number of reason.
Be it obtaining certain items needed for his 'build', or simply farming materials, he understood the layout by muscle memory.
"Are you going toward that Elite Boss monster?" Theresa asked, noticing a certain traits and mark of the passage.
It seems like Damien wasn't the only one with experience in the catacombs.
"Yes, I think we should have the stats to kill it now," He said, then glance at the pebble in her hand," What class are you trying to go for?"
There, Theresa face paused for a moment, the question lingered in her mind.
After thinking about it for a second, she answered.
"Normally, I would go with [Pyromancer], but since we're stuck in this catacomb… I have limited options. Most of the first job requirement, I can't meet."
He nodded, this was understandable.
In the world of [Forsaken], everyone started at lvl 1, basically unspecialized, or jobless.
Level 10 is considered the threshold.
Once a player reach this threshold, they can specialized. This is considered a 'job' advancement.
It could be warrior, archer, or mage.
But this job advancement is as easy as talking to x or y npc, there are requirements.
For example, [Pyromancer] requirement is to burn 100 monsters.
This is the most basic requirement among all the rare class out there.. The more rare the classes, the more unique and hard the requirement become.
Other than the class requirement, you still need to complete a series of quest to obtain the class itself.
Hence why Theresa lamented at the fact that in this location, she is limited by options.