Matt pushed off lightly with his legs, launching himself into the air, and Silvanus landed smoothly on his back.

With each beat of Matt’s wings, Silvanus’s vision grew a little darker as they ventured deeper into the ever-thickening darkness.

Yet he felt no fear. He knew this place would never harm him.

He raised a hand and swept it through the darkness. Instead of empty air, it felt like brushing against something tangible, dense, and substantial.

His fingers parted it, leaving rippling trails like soft clouds.

But before long, the darkness became so dense that he could no longer see those cloud-like ripples.

Just as he was about to tell Matt to fly back out, a tiny spark suddenly crackled to life at his fingertips.

Silvanus paused in surprise and absentmindedly rubbed his thumb against his index finger.

The spark grew brighter and brighter before suddenly flaring into a small, flickering flame dancing above his palm.

Silvanus remembered.

This was what he had obtained in the dungeon.

Glory Lily.

The tiny flame gradually took the shape of a miniature figure made entirely of fire. Its hair was a blazing flame, while its skin glowed like ember-red charcoal. It blinked at Silvanus before wrapping itself around his hand, unwilling to let go.

[God Realm has absorbed it and returned only the purest energy to you, completely free from Happy TV Network’s influence.]

The pop-up appeared before Silvanus. Even within the darkness, it had dimmed its own brightness.

Silvanus nodded. Then, as another thought crossed his mind, he asked, "Does God Realm consume external energy?"

[As you witnessed, it previously consumed an entire dungeon.]

Silvanus: "..."

Maybe it was just his imagination, but he could have sworn the space around him had just echoed with a loud, deeply satisfied burp.

"Then do my credits contribute to God Realm’s growth?"

[Not only do they benefit God Realm’s growth, but they also benefit you. As you know, God Realm is a part of you. The stronger it becomes, the stronger you become as well.]

At the moment, Silvanus did not truly understand what the pop-up meant. He simply assumed it was referring to God Realm becoming a powerful weapon he could rely on in times of danger.

Without the slightest hesitation, he spent his credits buying valuable items from the Happy TV Network Store and fed them all to God Realm.

It had to be said that the Store’s inventory was astonishingly diverse. It stocked everything from something as meaningless as a single blade of grass to something as extraordinary as a resurrection potion.

Naturally, a potion capable of bringing someone back to life came with an equally extraordinary price tag.

Silvanus paid more attention to the reasonably priced items instead, such as healing potions, explosive tools, and protective artifacts.

According to the rules of Happy TV Network, each artist could bring a maximum of three items into a dungeon. Once inside, they were no longer allowed to spend credits. Any credits earned from viewers during the dungeon could only be used after the dungeon had ended.

Furthermore, depending on the difficulty of the previous dungeon, artists would be given a certain amount of rest time before entering the next one. Of course, if they wished, they could choose to enter another dungeon during that rest period instead of letting the time go to waste.

For most people, however, taking a break was essential. The dungeon world was filled with danger, and no one wanted to hasten their own death.

"Whooop!"

At that moment, Matt suddenly let out a cry, pulling Silvanus from his thoughts.

The moment he lifted his eyes from the Personal Panel, he found Matt’s enormous eye staring directly at him. Beneath its thick eyelashes, the amber iris seemed to glow even in the darkness.

Now that Matt had grown larger, his eyes had grown with him. A single eye was nearly as large as Silvanus’s entire head, making the sight rather intimidating.

Silvanus looked at him for a moment before quietly raising a hand.

Matt immediately closed his eye and obediently rubbed his enormous head against Silvanus’s small palm.

Feeling the soft feathers beneath his hand, Silvanus realized that Matt was still just an affectionate swan.

"What do you want to eat?"

Matt actually understood what Silvanus was saying.

He glanced at the control panel before extending his long beak and tapping several times on a pile of meat displayed on the screen.

Silvanus looked over it. The description stated that it was premium beef from the real world, yet in Happy TV Network, food like this was remarkably cheap. The only things that truly carried a high price were the tools that could keep an artist alive.

Thinking about Matt’s current size, Silvanus pondered for a moment before gesturing for him to open his beak.

Matt immediately tilted his head skyward, opening his beak into what looked like a bottomless abyss.

The next instant, an enormous slab of meat materialized in midair and dropped straight into Matt’s mouth!

Matt closed his beak, blinked a few times, then stared at Silvanus with wide eyes.

Silvanus waved a hand. "Well? Tastes good, doesn’t it?"

[...]

Clearly, Matt hadn’t even had the chance to taste it yet. He shook himself, obviously dissatisfied with Silvanus’s industrial-style method of feeding him.

As though he could feel the accusing look Matt was giving him, Silvanus couldn’t help but laugh. He rubbed the giant swan’s head and said with a smile, "All right, all right. Let’s head back."

Seeing that Matt still had his eyes tightly shut, Silvanus softened his voice.

"Don’t tell me you’re actually mad at me, Matt."

Matt cracked one eye open to peek at Silvanus before letting out what sounded very much like a resigned sigh. He exhaled softly, then gave a single powerful flap of his wings.

In an instant, they had traveled dozens of meters away from where they had been.

Sure enough, he was quick to get upset, but just as easy to appease.

...

Nick hadn’t slept for two days.

Every time he closed his eyes, the image of Silvanus lying before him, drenched in blood, jolted him awake.

He hated his own helplessness.

At the same time, the terrifying thought that Silvanus might truly be dead continued to gnaw at him without end.

Although he knew that, in the end, Erebus had descended. Erebus surely wouldn’t abandon Silvanus.

Even so, no matter how much he tried to reassure himself, not seeing Silvanus with his own eyes left him unable to feel certain about anything.

Tonight, he had expected yet another endless night haunted by relentless nightmares.

But no.

The moment Nick closed his eyes, he lost consciousness.

His consciousness... had been drawn to an entirely different place.