Chapter 4 Chapter 4

I sat on the dungeon ground, still breathing heavily as I stared at the dead Cave Demon Spider beside me. It was hard to believe everything that had happened until now. But the pain in my body reminded me of how real the situation was.

I was truly stuck here, and my Imprint Sigil had finally shown its worth.

I looked at the fake sword in my hand–at least that was what I had called it. It looked exactly like the sword I used to wear. What surprised me was not the detail. My Imprint Sigil had always been able to replicate the appearance of anything as long as I had examined the original item closely.

What truly surprised me was how heavy it felt now. Before delivering the final blow to the monster, the sword had been as light as a bone. But now it had some real weight to it. Not as heavy as the original, but certainly more than before.

Still–what could have happened? How did this fake sword suddenly become somewhat real?

All those questions filled my mind. But there was only one possible answer.

“Could it be? The stronger I wanted it to be real, the more real it became… Was it the power of belief after all?”

Suddenly, my stomach growled loudly, interrupting my thoughts.

It brought me back to reality. I hadn’t eaten anything since I fell down here. Plus, I had used up most of my energy in that fight. No wonder I felt so hungry, like my stomach was eating itself.

I swallowed hard and knelt beside the dead Cave Demon Spider. I knew I shouldn’t be doing this. Eating monster meat was generally seen as a bad idea. But for the sake of survival, I ignored what was considered proper and cut off a large chunk from one of its legs.

The meat looked dark and ugly, with green blood still dripping from it. Just the sight of it made me want to vomit.

Still, I had no choice.

Then a thought suddenly came to me. My Imprint ability worked on non-living items. And since this meat was no longer alive, maybe I could change it into something edible. I had my doubts, but I decided to try anyway.

“Imprint!”

I focused deeply on the meat and believed with all my heart. That was the key. I imagined it turning into proper roasted meat–something like chicken, warm and safe to eat. Just like with my sword, a faint hazy glow covered the piece. Slowly, the dark color changed.

Now it looked more like normal roasted meat, though still slightly pale.

Although I had expected this. Even my imprinted sword still weighed less than the original. This confirmed that my ability only made things roughly 40 to 50% real.

I bit into the meat hastily, afraid that hesitation might make it turn back into an illusion.

Surprisingly, it tasted like actual meat. A bit bland and slightly sour, but it wasn’t rotten or poisonous. Most importantly, I could feel my hunger slowly easing as I continued eating. It wasn’t perfect and couldn’t completely fill my stomach, but it gave me back some strength.

The 50% effectiveness was clear. The aftertaste wasn’t great, and after the food reached my stomach, I felt a slight discomfort. Probably because the imprint was wearing off.

“So it can do this as well…” I muttered to myself.

This changed everything. I finally felt like I understood how my Imprint Sigil actually worked. It wasn’t just for making weapons. If I believed strongly enough, I could turn almost anything into something useful.

All these years, I thought my sigil was worthless. But maybe the real problem was that I never truly believed in it. I had let myself be swayed by everyone else’s opinions. Imprint was actually a rare Sigil Mark. No one truly knew what it could do until now.

I cut more pieces from the spider and imprinted them one by one. I realized I could only maintain three imprints at the same time. The fourth one simply wouldn’t activate.

After a few hours of eating and resting, even though my side wound still hurt badly, I stood up and continued walking. The ground was slowly sloping upward now. That small sign gave me hope, so I kept pushing forward. Maybe I was finally getting closer to the surface.

As I walked, my mind kept thinking about what had happened. The sword. The food. Both only worked properly when I stopped doubting and truly believed. If that was the case, then how strong could Imprint actually become?

The shallow water gradually became less deep until the path was mostly dry. The blue ore veins were brighter here too. I started feeling more confident.

But that confidence didn’t last long.

I entered a wider cavern and immediately froze. A large creature was blocking the path ahead. It looked like a giant lizard covered in rocky scales, its body nearly three meters long. It was sniffing the ground, clearly following the smell of blood.

That was when I realized– it was sniffing my blood. Even though I had bandaged the wound, it still hadn’t closed yet.

I quickly hid behind a large rock, gripping the bone sword tightly. My heart was pounding again. I was still tired and heavily injured. Fighting another monster right now was dangerous.

But running away blindly might lead me into an even worse area.

I looked at the imprinted sword in my hand. Its edge still looked sharp from when I had believed in it earlier.

“This sword is real,” I whispered to myself, repeating it like a chant. “It can cut through anything. I believe in it. I have to believe.”

The giant lizard lifted its head and looked directly toward my hiding spot. Its yellow eyes glowed with hunger as it let out a low, threatening hiss.

I suppose fighting was the only option left now that I had been detected.