Reject Humanity, Return to Monke

[Mask of Drakhan]

I stared at the mask that was given to me via reward for surviving a week and not getting disqualified in the games. It had a very plain design, with the mask only having two holes for the eyes and pure black for its body.

All in all, it looked like an ordinary black, full-faced mask you could find in supermarkets.

However, I can feel mana pouring off of it like a waterfall. Even with my abysmal sense of mana (which is none, I believe), I can still feel it touching my arms and fur, causing it to stand up on end.

'Yes, this is a jackpot item.' As my curiosity grew, I decided to try donning the mask. Briefly placing it on my face, I felt nothing, other than my restricted vision due to the size of the eyeholes.

But a moment later, everything changed.

'What is this…?' I felt power surge into my body like nothing before, my previous drowsiness fading as vigor replaced it. My fur began to stand on end, power radiating off of every single strand of hair.

Domino, who was peacefully sleeping atop of me, had her eyes quickly opened wide as she jumped from her spot and down on the ground, sweat cascading down her body. She looked at the source of the power and noticed me wearing some kind of mask, making her tilt her head in confusion, before shaking off those thoughts.

"Papa… What are you doing…?" I directed my gaze at my surrogate daughter, the mask hiding my grinning-like-a-maniac face as I regarded the little girl with loving eyes.

"Just testing some things out." I replied vaguely. Domino stared at me for a few seconds before shrugging and climbing back onto the hammock. Once again on top of my chest, not caring for the raging tide of power radiating from my very being. 'Based on its initial reactions, I can conclude that this mask gives me a huge boost to my physical strength, if my sudden energized body is anything to go by.

Picking up Domino from the waist and placing her back on the ground (her pout coming in full force), I got off my lazy ass and walked towards a tree that would not be missed as a test subject.

Domino's previous displeasure vanished as she curiously looked upon my visage.

Coming close to the tree, I decided to give it a little love tap. A light punch to the bark is what I'm going for.

Not cocking my fist back or anything that included wind-ups, I lightly punched the tree with my right hand. Do note that this tree's width was about half a meter in diameter, so it is a little thick.

My light punch, however, easily broke through the bark and sent the entire upper half of the tree flying a few meters away. I looked at my fist, the main cause of the impromptu uprooting of a tree and grinned.

'This mask is great!' Deciding to test my base strength next, I took off the mask and suddenly felt my body turn sluggish. It felt like I hadn't slept in days and my body was burnt out. 'Okay… I take that back. This mask is a double-edged sword…'

I put the mask in my inventory and decided to carry on with my experiment, even though I was feeling like shit. 'Just a light tap…'

Looking for a tree the same size as the last one I had toppled, I found one nearby and also gave it a love tap. Instead of uprooting the upper half of the tree and sending it flying, what happened was that the bark was punctured, and the tree toppled backwards due to the hole inside its tree trunk.

'So… It roughly increases my physical capabilities by about 250%. Not bad for a trump card.' I mused tiredly inside my head, my vision swimming as my body searched for a way to shut down without my mind noticing. Not keen on falling unconscious on the ground, I huffed it back to my hammock and slipped back inside my sleeping bag.

Domino also followed me silently and promptly laid herself on my chest, laying spread eagle once more as she dozed off. I smiled, and felt my consciousness leaving my body due to how tired I was.

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A few hours later, and I was awake once more. Apparently, using the mask gives me extreme lethargy which can be remedied with a good nap. How that is possible, I have no idea, but hey, a few hours of naptime are infinitely better than a whole day of dozing off.

Currently, I was looking at the container that Oshurkova and Catalina gave me the moment I joined their group and the day after I had sex with the catwoman. Picking up the container that the vampire lady gave me, I slowly opened it and scanned its contents.

It was a glowing orb with a note attached on the bottom of the inside of the container saying 'Please break me.'

Dangerous innuendo aside, I grabbed the orb in my right hand, and promptly crushed it in my grip, the orb turning into sand as the remains got slowly absorbed by my Dungeon.

[Linkage Orb discovered! Linking Dungeon with the designated Dungeon found inside Linkage Orb's database!]

'Oho…? Is this what I think it is…?' I looked at the glowing lightshow in front of me as the sand continued to be absorbed into my Dungeon via the soil. Once it was all done, my Dungeon shook once, before everything grinded to a halt.

Incoming Transmission…

I blinked, my mouth refusing to form words due to the suddenness of the situation.

{Good day, Jionni. It seems you've activated the Linkage Orb.}

In front of me, a holographic screen hovered, showing the face of the vampire woman smiling impishly at me.

{Let's have a little talk, shall we?}

I nodded dumbly as my mind began to recover, the implications the orb gave me now drilling into my brain.

'Well, this is new…'