I leaned in closer, inspecting the nearest plaque.

  [Venomous Crawler - F grade]

  The text was written in a simple font. The core was dark green, its surface swirling with a faint, toxic light.

  Ominous.

  Moving to the next, a black core labeled [Shadow Panther - E grade] caught my attention. The orb pulsed faintly, emitting a soft, eerie glow that seemed to suck in the surrounding light.

  So that was the black panther we saw earlier? So it was indeed a grade above those spiders.

  Excited, I continued down the row.

  This was essentially a huge encyclopedia of what I might encounter in the forest. This was invaluable information.

  [Rockbeast - F grade], [Nightmare Wasp - E grade], [Abyssal Serpent - E grade]

  Okay, what's up with the names...

  Browsing a bit more, a grey, familiar one stood out to me.

  [Dark Crawler - F grade]

  I took a closer look.

  Huh, this one is a bit different.

  The core in question was smooth and slightly shinier. The ones we had found above were rugged and dull in color, while this one was more vivid.

  Weird.

  Anyway, it seemed that this display was dedicated to low-grade creatures. I didn't know how they graded the monsters in this world, but considering we managed to kill that spider, F was probably the lowest.

  I continued exploring, moving to the next shelves.

  The cores were getting noticeably brighter. I stopped in front of one labeled [Sand Strider - E grade]. Its light flickered like the desert sun, almost hypnotic. It was the single "Sand Strider" around, so this probably wasn't a very common creature here. There didn't seem to be much sand around.

  Next to it, a deep blue and murky green orb caught my eye. [River Drake - Dual E grade] the plaque read. The orb pulsed gently, and the colors kept intertwining and separating as if mimicking the rhythmic flow of water.

  The "dual" thing got my attention. Did this mean this creature had two... what? Affinities? Powers?

  The creatures in Grade E seemed more formidable than the ones before. Their cores were richer, the energy within them more concentrated. It made sense—stronger monsters would have more potent cores.

  "Myrra can probably get more Essence from these," I considered.

  Continuing, I reached the next set of orbs. The markings here shifted to Grade D. The atmosphere around them felt heavier, the power within each core more intense. A fiery red orb labeled [Flame Hound - D grade] radiated heat, making the air around it shimmer slightly.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Can this be used as a source of energy? Or as a thermal stone of some kind?

  For some reason, this seemed the type of technological advancement this world would go for.

  More than that. Could humans get the same abilities as these creatures?

  Beside the scarlet orb, a swirling translucent orb stood. This one almost invisible. If it hadn't been right next to the fire one, I might've missed it. It read:

  [Translucent Stalker - D grade]

  Fuck, don't tell me there are invisible monsters too.

  What the hell type of world had I been thrown into? I know I'd been strolling around this underground place without much care, but... come on. Invisible monsters? Really?

  I glanced at the far end of the room, where the displays seemed to grow more elaborate, the orbs more radiant. There was still a lot to see and explore, but that specific core brought me back to reality. What if this was the lair of a bunch of invisible creatures, or ghosts, or spectrals, or... hells, anything, really.

  It was better to come here with Myrra.

  Hopefully, the library would help me make sense of this world. Living like this was unsustainable. I wasn't even sure about the laws of physics in this place. For all I knew, I could be in another universe, one where the constants were simply different, where the laws of nature were totally counter-intuitive to my common sense.

  I was lost in a complete void of absurdism.

  Sigh.

  Glancing at the rows upon rows of cores, I went ahead and took a random E-graded core from a [Nightmare Wasp].

  Let's go wake Myrra up.

  As I exited the "Library of Cores," my thoughts drifted back to how the girl had managed to breach the dome.

  I saw it clearly; her eyes glowing in a golden hue. She became... faster. It was impressive, to say the least. Even under pressure, she had the presence of mind to not panic and plant that bomb right at the dome's edge too. And what about that precise throw? It was a random stick, not a javelin.

  Did she know it would work, or was it all a gamble?

  If before I had considered it an easy win if it ever came down to a fight, now... now I wasn’t so sure.

  I should probably reassess the danger she poses.

  Just as that thought came to my mind, my extremities went cold, and my heart started beating like crazy. It was the stress talking. This started becoming a natural reaction whenever something slightly confrontational came up in my mind. I was aware that there was no immediate danger, but that was not how these things worked. My body had gotten too used to a fight-or-flight reaction.

  I breathed in and out. Mind over matter, Rio. Mind over matter.

  It was not like she gave off the impression of being a backstabber. She actually struck me as a mostly sincere girl. Plus, we were in this together, right? There wasn't really any reason for her to kill me.

  Right?

  Again, the fact that I had no clue about what was going on was showing.

  Anyway, let's put that aside for now.

  Step by step, I ascended the spiral staircase, pausing briefly to sweep my gaze across the area once more.

  This world might be absurd and horrifying. It might be teeming with zombies, monsters, and abominations. It might even be far more dangerous than Earth.

  But one thing was certain.

  It sure as hell was interesting.

  ****************

  "Hey, Myrra. Hey." I poked her repeatedly until a grumble came from her. She was sleeping in her burned rags, under the open sky. It had actually taken me a while to find her after reaching the surface.

  "Myrra, there's an unexplainable underground shelter down there with hundreds of cores ready for consumption. The place is completely unexplainable and positively amazing, I think you should wake up right now."

  She just grumbled again, like an animal, not moving. Was she asleep or awake?

  Meh, I tried.

  Kneeling next to her, I pushed the core closer.

  "Here, a core. It's E-grade. Whatever that means."

  Taking her hand and placing it over the brownish core, I watched with keen interest as her eyes began to glow, even through her closed eyelids. Then I eagerly waited for the core to disintegrate into dust, just like last time.

  It didn't.

  Instead, it merely darkened, its shine becoming a little more subdued. Noted.

  "Are you fine now?" I asked.

  She grumbled again, with a little more vigor, but still didn't really show signs of waking up.

  "Myrra?"

  "Neeei, doro trolos slaa." She complained, swatting me away, not even opening her eyes.

  Sigh.

  I sat down on the ground, and made myself comfortable. This would take a while.