I'm not just human!

Xia Fa was left lying on the ground, looking completely bewildered.

"Those two must be superhumans, right? And the doll girl...?"

To be honest, even just hearing that brief conversation made Xia Fa's heart flutter.

A supernatural being that can do housework, cook, and brew wine, and is probably quite cute...

Who wouldn't want this!

"A cave... what is a cave? I've never heard of it before, and I have no memory of it..."

Xia Fa pondered to himself that although he had been in this world for three days, personally encountered extraordinary events, and come into contact with extraordinary individuals like Archbishop Chestnut, he was completely clueless about mysticism.

The fragments of memory only contain information about the language and customs of this world.

"Hmm, we can ask Chestnut later."

Having made up his mind, Xia Fa continued to lie down and rest, watching the clouds slowly drift across the sky, letting the fresh steam from the fountain brush against his nose.

After a while, feeling his strength return slightly, he struggled to stand up, feeling pain all over his body.

In this situation, even the last vestige of his desire to continue exercising today vanished.

Looks like I'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'll get some sleep and recover my strength before continuing.

Seeing that he couldn't exercise, he went to the washroom to clean off the dust, and then went to the document room on the second floor of the church.

These past few days, although he had to seek refuge at the Silver Church because he had been involved in a supernatural event, he couldn't just eat and drink for free, so he took the initiative to take on some of the church's clerical work, which happened to be a good match for his previous job as a dockworker.

Every day, Xia Fa was responsible for helping the church record the identities and numbers of the relief recipients, as well as the expenditure of relief funds and some other miscellaneous items.

While he was working, he would occasionally peek into the church hall through the carved wooden windows on the second floor of the document room, preparing to ask about the burrow as soon as he spotted chestnuts.

However, even after being busy until the afternoon, Chestnut did not reappear.

when--!

when--!

when--!

Three melodious bells rang out from the depths of the church, mysterious and solemn. Xia Fa felt a chill and rose from his chair.

It was time to leave St. Vivian's Church.

Although the reason is unknown, this is a unique rule of St. Vivian's Church: after 6 p.m. every day, only members of the church's supernatural beings can remain in the church; all other ordinary people, including clergy, must leave.

The thought of facing the extreme cold of the Snow Demon's territory again soon made Xia Fa somewhat distressed.

Fortunately, once the Mithril Emblem arrives tomorrow, I will be completely free.

He walked out of the document pavilion and into the church hall. Seeing that Chestnut still hadn't appeared, he shook his head and walked out of the church.

And the instant he stepped out of the church's arched doors—

The biting cold wind rushed in, as if it would turn you into an ice sculpture.

The heavy snowflakes fell gently, instantly enveloping him.

The cold rain mixed with ice shards stung his skin.

But Xia Fa was surprised to find that... he didn't feel cold at all!

"No way, I only did a few dozen push-ups, and the benefits are so great?"

Thinking about how he couldn't sleep the past few nights because of the cold, and could only get a short nap during the day at church, Xia Fa felt like slapping himself.

You should have trained like this a long time ago!

However, although he didn't feel cold, he wasn't particularly happy.

Even if he can withstand such freezing weather and not be slowly frozen into an ice sculpture over time, the snow demon will still come the day after tomorrow.

The only difference is that if he hadn't been an ice sculpture back then, the snow demon would have drained his life essence and devoured his flesh bit by bit!

In comparison, turning into an ice sculpture seems better; of course, surviving is the best outcome.

"The Mithril Holy Symbol must be delivered tomorrow..."

Xia Fa murmured to herself, wrapped her wool coat tighter around herself, and walked toward Daniel Street.

His home was in the poorer part of the lower Daniel Street neighborhood, a rather old two-story loft.

Such a small attic, if rented out as a single room, would only cost one silver coin a week, and even if the whole building were sold, it would only cost a few hundred gold pounds.

For some reason, the original owner always chose to live alone. Even when he was unemployed, he did not rent out any rooms, which made things convenient for Xia Fa.

At 6 p.m., Daniel Street was bustling with pedestrians.

The tavern was filled with dockworkers and working-class people who had just finished get off work, while the coffee shop was filled with doctors, lawyers, and government clerks enjoying the newly launched hazelnut coffee.

The aroma of crepes filled with ham and cheese wafts through the air, emanating from street vendors calling out their wares.

In a roadside cake shop, middle-class girls dressed in Rococo-style dresses are queuing up to buy Barbara Rum cakes.

Rococo-style dresses are gorgeous and elaborate, a style that was popular among the upper class of the Kingdom of Augu in recent years. In recent months, the trend has spread to the middle and lower classes. As for Barbara Rum Cake, it is a specialty of Rum City.

But none of this mattered to Xia Fa, because... he was penniless, with only a pitiful few silver coins left.

If the house weren't his own, he would soon be unable to even pay the rent.

"I wonder how much the church will give me each week after I become a reserve superhuman..."

As Xia Fa thought casually, the rumors about the cave and the doll girl that he had heard during the day involuntarily popped into his mind again.

However, compared to the excitement he felt when he first heard it during the day, he was much calmer now, realizing that the cave was definitely not a place he, as an ordinary person, could go.

At least a year later, once their bodies are in good shape and they have become superhuman, they can attempt to get involved.

After all, the word "cave" itself sounds eerie and dangerous.

Just as he was thinking this, he arrived at his doorstep.

After fumbling for the key, Xia Fa habitually stretched out his left foot, preparing to walk to the door, open it, and go inside.

Suddenly, a hole the size of a well opening appeared on the earthen ground in front of the entrance.

The entrance to the cave resembled the enormous mouth of some unknown creature, filled with rings of sharp teeth and bordered by black, whisker-like bristles. The cave itself was bottomless, like an abyss.

"not good……!"

Xia Fa's left foot had just reached the doorway and was already stepping down when his weight shifted, and it was too late to pull it back.

The next moment, he missed a step, lost his balance completely, and fell into the hole.

"Could this be..." The moment he fell in, an utterly absurd thought popped into Xia Fa's mind.

"It's a cave, isn't it?!"

Chapter 3 The Scenery and Strange Adventures of the Underground Cave

It felt like falling into an endless abyss, surrounded by darkness, and Xia Fa felt his body constantly falling.

The wind whistled past my ears, and the speed of my descent increased faster and faster.

There was nothing on either side for him to grab onto.

"This……"

Just as Xia Fa was feeling somewhat panicked, the speed of the fall suddenly slowed down, as if he had fallen from the air into thick mucus, but without the feeling of being enveloped by the mucus or suffocating.

Suddenly, points of light appeared below, like stars in the night sky; the light was white with a hint of purple.

Xia Fa looked down and his expression suddenly calmed down.

He was still falling, but his speed had slowed down to a point where it was no longer necessary to estimate, and he was certain that landing would not cause any harm to his body.

What came into view was a vast, dark, boundless expanse of land, like a wasteland, with only soil and no roads or buildings.

Everywhere grew strangely shaped, withered trees. The trees were grayish-black, and their branches stretched haphazardly toward the sky, looking as ferocious as the claws of monsters.

Clusters of umbrella-shaped mushrooms are scattered everywhere in sight. These mushrooms vary in size, from as small as a palm to as large as trees.

All the mushrooms had white stems and purple caps, with large and small white spots on the top of the caps.

It was these white spots that were glowing, like fluorescent lights, giving this dark land a little light.

By the light, Xiafa could barely make out lakes of varying sizes. The soil around the lakes was damp, and all sorts of strangely shaped flowers and grasses grew there, some of which even bore fruit.

The thick darkness was oppressive, making it hard to breathe. Damp air swirled around him, carrying a slightly sour and unpleasant smell.

To Xia Fa's surprise, the moment he fell into the cave, the small, frigid zone that had been surrounding him disappeared.

Therefore, although the cave was cold, it actually made him feel warmer by comparison.

"Is this the world inside the cave..."

Xia Fa raised his head and looked at the dark sky without much hope. Sure enough, there was no way out.

Even if there were an exit, it wouldn't matter. He's still an ordinary person, not a superhuman who signed a secret pact to gain extraordinary power, and he can't fly yet.

As an ordinary person, having fallen into this dangerous cave, Xia Fa currently has only one thought—to escape!

“There must be an exit in the cave, otherwise those extraordinary individuals from the church wouldn’t be so eager to explore it, but…”

Using the faint light emitted by the mushroom spots, Xia Fa searched left and right with his eyes.

Even with all their eyesight, all they could see were trees and lakes, lakes and trees, and trees and mushrooms; they couldn't see a single person.

"The exit of this cave might be hard to find..."

Xiafa murmured to himself, and for some reason, information about the doll-like girl, this supernatural creature, suddenly popped into his mind again.

Since we've already fallen into the hole, as ordinary people, our first priority is to survive and find an exit. But what if... we encounter a doll girl?

As soon as the thought popped into his head, he gave a self-deprecating laugh.

At a time like this, he's still thinking about this? If it were that easy to meet a doll girl, would it even be his turn?

As long as we don't encounter any monsters, we're just thankful.

A lithe and tall figure suddenly flashed past from behind a strange tree nearby.

It rushed toward a glowing mushroom with a canopy as large as a roof at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

The figure vanished almost in a flash, but Xia Fa was surprised to see it clearly, even though he only saw its back.