《World Breaker: Depths of Despair》 Chapter 1: The Gamer *Alarm clock BUZZ* *Alarm clock BUZZ* *Alarm clock BUZZ* *Alarm clock BUZZ* *Smack* I open my eyes, staring at the boring white ceiling and let out a sigh. Another mundane day, I''m my otherwise mundane life. What am I going to do today? It''s Saturday, so no school today. I suddenly bolt upright throwing off the covers. "Wait a minute, why did I set my alarm so early if there is no school!" Frustrated, I smash my face into my pillow, muffling my scream. "AAAAHHHH I could have slept in!!!" I take a deep breath... of stale sweaty pillow and let out another sigh in frustration. I then roll over on my back and stare at the plain white ceiling again. "Typical. Just like me to fuck something up." Oh yeah! Fantasy Realm Online had a large update overnight and there is a crapload of new content! "Hell yeah! Another day of gaming! Things are looking up!" Suddenly, a loud knocking at my door startled me. "Christopher!" Shit, its dad! Stay quiet! Pretend like you''re still asleep! "Christopher Allen Smith, know you are awake in there! I heard your alarm going off!" FUCK!!! "OK, OK I''m up! My dad takes that as his que to barge in. "Oh good, you are up." SERIOUSLY?! "Come on, I have chores for you to do!" "Ugh, it''s Saturday! Do I have to?!" "Ya know, you are almost 18, in your senior year of high school, and you are still nothing but a lazy putz!" "You don''t get any exercise, you don''t help out around the house, and your grades are shit, which is surprising considering you spend all day in your room! You would think a student spending all day in their room, would at least be in here studying!" "Instead, you spend all damn day playing your Fantasy Bullshit game!" "It''s Fantasy Realm Online, Dad." "Fantasy BULLSHIT!! The real world is right out that window!!! Now get your lazy ass up and help me in the front yard!" My dad slams the door shut behind him. I let out a frustrated sigh once again. [distant]"I heard that sigh! Now get up!!" FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!! I grab my cell phone and open up my messages. "Dickhead is probably not up yet, but I''ll text him anyway." 07:40 Hey Dan! Let me know when you wake up. Patch 3.5 rolled out last night! Lots of new content and I wanna run that new dungeon asap! Need gearz! L8R dickhead! "Well, might as well get this shit over with." I throw on an Avengers shirt and the same khaki-colored shorts I wore yesterday (hey they weren''t dirty), then head downstairs to the kitchen. Might as well get something to eat before dad puts me to work. "Hey mom, anything made for breakfast?" "Sorry dear, I didn''t think you would be up this early. Accidentally set your alarm for school again?" "Yeah, then dad barged in, read me the riot act, then demanded I help him in the yard." "Well, I do wish you would take better care of yourself. You only have half the school year left. You have not said anything about your plans for after you graduate. You need to think about what you want to do with your life, sweetie." "Ugh, here we go again!" "I know you hate hearing this, but I can maybe buy you another year, then your father is going to kick out. You really need to consider your future!" "A year?! Come on, how can ANY kid afford a place of their own straight out of high school?! It''s not like when you and dad were kids and an apartment cost $25/month!" "It wasn''t that cheap. It was around $650/month here in LA back in 1993 when I was your age. But that''s beside the point. I was on a scholarship to UCSB and was able to stay in the dorms, so I didn''t have to deal with rent. Your grades aren''t even good enough for you to get into a 4-year university. The best you can do is enroll in a junior college, and then transfer to a 4-year school IF you maintain a good GPA. If you choose that course, I can MAYBE convince your father to allow you to stay at home until you transfer out." I let out the frustrated sigh of a million kids who have heard this same speech before. [Distant scream]"CHRISTOPHER!! I''M WAITING!!!" "Better go help your dad dear before he blows his cpu." I sigh again. I''m not even sure why I sigh so much. Fuck it, I am who I am. I appreciate the computer pun from my mom though. "Yeah, yeah..." I grab a Pop-Tart and fill a bottle with water before heading out to the front yard. "Shit, this Pop-Tart isn''t even frosted. What a rip!" I stuff the Pop-Tart into my face and guzzle some water to choke down the strawberry flavored desert dry cardboard pastry. "About time you got your ass out here! Ok, first you need to rake the yard, but be careful because the grass is soggy as all hell from that storm last night. I don''t want your clumsy ass ruining my grass!" "When you''re done with that, get up on the roof and clear off the leaves and clean out the gutters. I''ll be out back doing stuff if you need me." I take the rake that was leaning against the wall and look at the lawn. There is crap everywhere. We rarely see storms like the one we had last night here in LA. It''s nice and sunny now though! I take a step onto the grass and my shoe is instantly swallowed by the muddy soil. I try to pull out my shoe but only my foot came out of the shoe. The unfortunate shoe remains stuck deep in the mud. "Ahh fuck! Well, that fucked up my shoe!" I pull my shoe out of the mud which makes a gross SLURP sound, and I try to get as much mud off my shoe by scraping it on the grass. Then I reluctantly put the shoe back on. Well, I guess I''ll do the roof and gutters first. Get the hardest crap done first. Hopefully by the time I finish that, the grass will dry out and will be easier to rake without me sinking up to my knees in mud. I go to the garage and get the ladder, a broom, and a small garbage pail, then head up to the roof. My home is a Mediterranean style home with a really nice glazed Spanish style tile roof. You have to be careful when walking on that roof as these tiles are fragile and crack easily. I have had to do this chore a few times, and I have cracked a few tiles in the past. Man, you have no idea how pissed my dad was when I broke those tiles. Apparently, it''s a bitch to replace these tiles, not to mention they are expensive. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. The easy way to clean this roof is to sweep all the leaves and debris to the edge, then use your hand and push the leaves and dirt into the small garbage pail. I can''t just sweep it off the edge as the gutter is right there, and I''ll just make more work for myself if I sweep leaves into it. I was halfway done sweeping the roof when I heard my cell phone chime letting me know I received a message. "Hell yeah, Dan must be up!" In my excitement I momentarily forgot where I was, and in my struggle to get my phone out of my pocket, my mud-covered shoe slipped on the still damp terra cotta tile. I overcorrected causing me to lose traction on my other foot, and I went down. All I see is sky, roof, sky, roof, sky, roof, as I roll down toward the edge. "Oh FUUUUUUUCK!!" "AAAAAAHHHHHH SHIIIIIIIIT!!!" I scream as I roll right off the edge of the roof. SPLAT!!! So here I am, lying there, flat on my back, just staring at the sky. My heart is beating a million miles per hour. I''m breathing heavily. Adrenaline is pouring through my body. But I don''t hurt anywhere. I can see grass in my peripheral vision though. That''s strange. I reach for my pocket to get my phone, but I have to sweep mud out of the way to get to it. I pull out my phone with my muddy hand and wipe it on the front of my shirt where it''s still clean. Might as well see what my message says. 09:07 Sup virgin! The fuck you up so early for?! Yeah, I''m stoked to run the new content too. Hit me up. Hey if you want, bring your new Asus laptop over and we can play here! Virgin?! Seriously?!! I sigh in frustration. 09:08 who TF you calling a virgin, dickface?! I''ve known you since kindergarten and you piss yourself if you even get close to a girl! ?? Btw I just fell off the roof. 09:09 WTF are you ok?! 09:09 yeah luckily the muddy grass broke my fall. I''m still just lying here in the mud. Not hurt or anything, just don''t feel like getting up. It''s actually kinda comfortable. ?? 09:10 [selfie of me in the mud and a stupid smile on my face] 09:11 you are so fucking stupid! ???? 09:11 I''ll hit you up when I''m finished with my chores and I''ll head over. 09:12 awesome! See ya fuckface! Yep, that''s us. Fuckface and dickface... yeah, what a pair we are! Besties! I sit up, slowly peeling myself out of my muddy coffin. I struggle a bit to pull myself up and I get back onto the pavement. I look at the grass and there is a scene right out of cartoon. A nice Chris size indentation in the muddy grass. I chuckle a bit and head inside to change, taking off my muddy shoes first. As I walk past the kitchen my mom stops me. "OMG sweetie are you ok?! I heard you scream. "Yeah it''s muddy out there cause of the rain. I slipped and fell into the mud. I''m just going to clean up and get changed." "Ok dear, be careful." I go upstairs right into the shower and strip off all my muddy clothes. I quickly shower off the mud from the rest of me, especially my hair. Yes, my muddy clothes are still in the shower. I really don''t care. [distant] "MOTHERFUCKER!!" Huh? What was that! I hear the front door slam and heavy footsteps running up the stairs. My door bursts open and my dad, as mad as a hornet, finds me in the shower. "What the fuck did you do to the grass?! What, did you decide it would be funny to make a snow angel in the mud?!" "Technically that would be a mud angel, right?!" "Don''t get smart with me! What the fuck did you do!" I let out another frustrated sigh. Fuck my life. "I went up to the roof to clean that and the gutters first to give the grass and mud time to dry out before I raked it as I didn''t want to damage it. I ended up slipping on the wet roof tiles and fell off the roof. I landed in the muddy grass." "Jesus Christ you are something else. Next time fall on the pavement and not the grass! Hurry up and get back out there." "Yes dad." And these people wonder why I live my life in an online fantasy world. I finish cleaning up, putting on a new Iron Man t-shirt, and some denim shorts, then head back outside. "Chris, did I hear you yell at your father that you fell off the roof?! Are you ok sweetie?!" "Yeah, just fine, but apparently the grass is more important." "Oh, stop that, you know that''s not true." "Mmmhmm, sure mom. I gotta go and finish my chores." "Ok dear, just be careful!" I head back outside and grab my muddy shoes and clean them off with the hose. Then I put them back on and head back up to the roof. I was able to clean up everything in a decent time. I didn''t fix the grass where I landed. Figured it would be funny to leave my Chris cartoon hole in the grass. Fuck it, my dad can fix that bullshit. It''s HIS precious grass! 10:45 yo I''m done. I''m gunna catch an Uber and head over. Order some pizza for when I get there! 10:48 sweet! See you soon. I''ll get my mom to order the pizza. 10:49 haha your mom, you broke ass! Must suck to be poorz! 10:49 fuck u, like you have a job! You mooch off your parents too nerd! 10:50 haha so true, see ya soon. I take another quick shower as getting muddy again was inevitable. I chose a black Spider-Man Homecoming shirt this time, and a pair of grey Dickeys shorts. I had to get another pair of shoes out of the closet as my other ones were destroyed in this morning''s shenanigans, ie me falling off the roof into a mud bath. I didn''t bother combing my hair... who the hell am I looking to impress? I can''t exactly ask out one of the super busty bunny girls from Fantasy Realm Online! Who am I kidding, I don''t even have the courage to talk to the nerd girls at school! After getting dressed, I packed up my Asus ROG laptop, my pride and joy I received for Christmas last month. It has superior specs than my desktop PC has. I made sure I packed a mouse, power cord, screen cleaner, microfiber towels, and a can of compressed air. After all the essentials were squared away, I called for an Uber and head downstairs. My mom was in the kitchen getting prepared to make lunch. "Hey mom, I''m going to Dan''s house. I''ll be there all day, I won''t need lunch or dinner." "Oh, ok dear. Are you sure you don''t want something to eat on the way?" "Nah I''m good, Dan is ordering pizza for us." Well, his mom is actually paying. Broke bastard. I head out the front door and pass my dad fixing the Chris cartoon imprint in the grass. He is grumbling obscenities to himself, most likely directed at me, his failure of a son. We have entirely different personalities. He is Gen X, and LOVES to go on about how his generation is the toughest because they were outside all day, drank from the hose, burned their ass on playground equipment, blah, blah, blah. I walk past him without so much as saying goodbye. I REALLY don''t want to give him a reason to read me the riot act again. I would rather fall off the roof again into a Vietcong pitfall filled with punji sticks coated in feces. Ok, maybe that''s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get me. I park my butt on the curb and my ride arrives about 10 minutes later. It''s a 15 minute ride to Dan''s house but we get there in less than 12 parsecs cause this guy has a lead foot. I get out and thank my driver who just nods and speeds off, leaving two fire trails where his tires were. I walk straight into Dan''s house because it''s literally my second home. No knocking needed, I''m basically family. "Hey Mrs. P, how''s it going?!" "Hey Chris, Daniel is up in his cave." "Cool thanks Mrs. P!" As I head back toward Dan''s cave, she yells back, "Pizza will be here in a few minutes!" I yell back, "OK THANKS!!" I burst through his door and yell, "Sup dickhead!" "Yooo what''s up fuckface! Plug in and get patched. I was reading the patch notes and the new raid has some sick looking gear. I hear it''s item level 340!" "Seriously?! That''s awesome! I''m already patched and ready to go. I patched the game while I showered after my chores." "Nice, then log in and let''s roll!" I logged onto my character, who is a healer, because I love healing and helping people for some reason, it''s just my nature! Ugh, and YES is a super busty bunny girl... don''t judge me. I''m a pubescent teen who has yet to even feel the touch of a girl, so of course I''m going to pick the unrealistically proportioned scantily clad bunny girl! Over the next several hours we ran dungeons and raids, getting new pieces of gear, and overall having a blast. We gorged ourselves on meat lover supreme pizzas like the alpha male carnivores we are. We drank 4 Liters of Mountain Dew, putting us square into early onset diabetes. Basically, it was a typical day in the life of a gamer. Yes, we ate and drank the same thing for dinner too. Well, we threw a few Monster energy drinks in there between the Mountain Dew 2 liters. Gotta increase our chance of heart and liver failure along with the diabetes. Gotta spread the diseases evenly among your organs ya know! Around 10pm we decided to call it quits. We maxed out our weekly allocation of tokens and item drops from the new raid, so we have to wait a week for those to reset. Basically, we ran out of shit to do, and we grew bored. Not to mention another storm seems to be rolling through. I can see lots of lightning in the distance and it seems to be coming this way. What the hell man! Why did I have to almost kill myself cleaning up today if there is another storm coming in! I''m not doing that shit again tomorrow! This is odd though. Lightning is rare here in LA. We maybe get a storm that produces lightning once every 5 years. Even then the lightning is sparse. From what I''m looking at right now, there is almost a constant flashing of lightning filling the sky. I really need to get home before this crap hits! My Uber finally arrives, and I''m disappointed I don''t have my NASCAR driver I had on the way to Dan''s house. Up pulls up a Prius! Fuck, these things suck, and their drivers seem incapable of even going the speed limit! I climb in and say, "Hey is it possible you can hurry? I don''t want to get caught in this storm!" "Good evening! Storm? What storm?" "What the hell do you mean what storm?! Do you not see all the lightning?!" as I point out the window to the lightning flashing. I see the driver momentarily let his head drop, as if he is thinking, "Oh great another fucked in the head fare." "Um, are you ok sir?" He asks. I''m extremely confused. How does this guy not see this! This is the kind of storm people in Tornado Alley would be extremely concerned about! "Y-yeah, look just take me home as fast as you can!" "Ooook will do." The driver starts heading toward my home, but this storm is right on top of us now. Lightning and thunder and buckets of rain. Wait, why doesn''t he have his windshield wipers on?! I can''t see 6 inches out the window! "Excuse me, but why don''t you have your wipers on?!" "Huh? What are you talking about? Why would I need my wipers?" "Dude, this is the heaviest rain i have ever seen! What do you mean ''What rain?''!" "umm, ooooooooook" The driver looks back through the windshield trying to forget I''m even here. What the fuck is going on here! My heart starts beating faster. Beads of sweat start appearing on my forehead. Suddenly a massive bolt of lightning hits a power pole in front of us. Sparks fly everywhere, then all the streetlights go out! "HOLY SHIT!!" I scream. "SIR! ARE YOU OK?!" I''m in a state of panic now. My heart is about to rupture out of my chest. My breathing is so fast you would think all the air had disappeared and I''m fighting for oxygen. Suddenly my head snaps to the right... HEADLIGHTS?! "FUUUUUUU..." Chapter 2: Reborn What''s going on... I can''t see anything! I can''t hear anything! WHERE THE FUCK AM I?!!! I try screaming but it seems like there is no sound coming from me. I try over and over, but I can''t seem to talk. There is nothing but blackness all around me. I can''t feel. I can''t see. I can''t hear. I can''t move. I don''t even know if I''m actually in a tangible place. But I can think! I can hear myself thinking! If I can think, then I must be alive. SO, WHAT IS THIS!!! Suddenly I hear something faint. It sounds like... like crying, but it''s far away. Is... is that a baby? I seem to be hearing the muffled far away cry of a baby. Where the fuck... how is there a baby here in all this darkness. What is going on here?! Suddenly, I see a light. It''s faint but it is definitely there, and it seems like it''s getting bigger. It''s stretching horizontally, like the sunrise breaking over the horizon. It''s almost as though I''m opening my eyes. Wait, I''m opening my eyes!! I can see, but I t''s blurry. I mean it is extremely blurry. I can''t see much, just fuzzy images. Something is moving in front of me, but I can''t see what or who it is. Is there something covering my eyes preventing me from seeing?! The crying I''m hearing is getting louder and closer too. It''s getting rather annoying. If I''m hurt or in a coma or something and I''m in the hospital, why would someone bring a baby into my room?! I try to say something. "HELLO?! WHO IS THERE!" I practically scream. I didn''t hear my voice. It''s the same as when I was yelling before. Can I not talk? That crying is getting louder and louder! How annoying! "HELLO?!" The crying gets even louder. Wait... is... is that crying coming from... from ME?! I can hear the crying in my head. IT IS ME!!! Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!! I hear the blurry shape in front of me speak. It''s a woman... What did she say? I couldn''t understand it. She speaks again and I have no clue what she is saying. I''m literally thinking in English, so I can still understand English, but what the fuck is THIS language?! It doesn''t sound like any language I''ve heard before... at least, none spoken on Earth... No... This can''t be happening! NO... NONONONONO I can''t be! Did I seriously get reborn on another planet?! It''s been several weeks now. My vision has improved a little. I can only see about a foot away from my face though. Over these past weeks, I have confirmed that I am in fact a baby. I don''t know how, I don''t know why, but I''m a god damn baby! I have read stories and watched anime that had to do with being reincarnated, but this is NOT FUN! It most certainly is not cool either! Do you have any idea what it is like to have full consciousness, the full consciousness of a 17-year-old, and you STILL can''t do a damn thing?! I can''t talk, I can''t move on my own, it is like being a prisoner in your own body! I wouldn''t ever wish this crap on anyone. It''s like being imprisoned inside a small baby size prison! 0/10 I do not recommend! Oh, and that''s not the only fucked piece of news! Get this; I happened to look down when my mother was bathing me the other day... I didn''t see anything... Do you get me?! I DIDN''T SEE IT!! I''m missing a particular piece of my anatomy, and a rather important piece I had especially grown fond of since hitting puberty! Yeah... it''s fucking gone! I cannot believe this! I''m a girl... I was a pubescent hormone surging teenage male, who was terrified to even talk to a girl, and now I FUCKING AM ONE!! How the hell am I going to interact with myself?! I mean, I''m so fucking confused. There is no way I''m going to have the guts to look at myself naked! I mean if I got reborn without any memories of my previous life, that''s one thing. This wouldn''t be an issue. But seeing as how I remember everything, I''m literally a teenage boy trapped in a girl''s body! What the hell do I do with this?! This is the kind of thing that can really fuck someone up in the head! I''m only a few weeks old and I''m already losing my shit! Oh, you think that''s my only issue?! You think that''s the only mind fuck I''m dealing with at the moment?! Ok, so get this, every couple of hours guess what I have to do?! I get hungry as hell! So, I have to eat. Now, just a what do you think babies eat?! Milk... yeah... Now where exactly does this milk come from? Are you starting to see where I''m going with this?! It is BREAST MILK!!! I suck on a nipple every couple of hours!! Do you have any idea what it''s like to have the mind of a pubescent teenager and have to do that?!!! I know it''s natural and I would die without it, but JESUS CHRIST!! I have fucking PTSD (Post TIT Stress Disorder) by the age of 4 WEEKS!!! I''m on the fast track to becoming one absolutely fucked up kid, and my apparently new parents have no god damn clue! The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. But here is the vexing thing, the thing that''s really bothering me. I remember EVERYTHING about my past life. How is it possible that I remember everything? I shouldn''t know anything! Being a baby, my brain isn''t even fully developed at this age! How do I still have all my knowledge from my past life?! All my knowledge, everything I learned in school and on my own... I was a teenage boy who had unfettered access to the entire internet. I have all of what I have seen, heard, and learned... ALL OF IT!! Granted, most of it is completely useless information and cat memes, but I can do absolutely nothing with the useful information that I have. I''m a lump of flesh, incapable of practically any independent function. I even suffer the humiliation of pissing and shitting on myself! I swear I have the highest stress level of any baby in history! This is in fact, some epic-level bullshit! Several months have passed since I was born... again, so, I''m several months old now, obviously, and I''ve learned a few things. My mother is strikingly beautiful. She is young, perhaps early 20s in age, maybe younger. She has deep blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. She is above average in height, probably around 6 feet tall and has a slim build with gentle curves where it matters. Overall, she has the appearance of your average sandy blond Caucasian female. It appears we ARE human. Not sure how that can possibly be if this is a different world. Yes, this IS a different world. I''ll get back to that one in a second. For some reason I have yet to see my father. I don''t know where he is, or if he is even alive or in the picture. My mother could be a single mother for all I know. It seems I was born sometime mid-winter, as it seems to now be early to mid-spring. My mother opens the windows in the morning and the temperature is similar to that of late march. The air is still cool, but not cold enough that you would need to bundle up. The temperature is probably around low to mid 70s Fahrenheit throughout the day. Wherever we live, it''s extremely pleasant. My home is decent in size, however it''s not modern by any sense of the term. Well, modern in the sense of what I''m used to in 2023 Los Angeles. It doesn''t seem like electricity is in use in whatever time I live in here, as we have candles and oil lamps to provide light during the night. This isn''t exactly an upper middle class Woodland Hills home complete with WiFi, heating and air conditioning and a refrigerator/freezer full of soda and Hot Pockets. If I had to guess, this time I was born in seems more like somewhere in the 18th or 19th century in terms of housing construction and technology. We don''t have a kitchen per se; more like a hearth where the house is heated, and cooking is carried out. The walls are wood paneled, and the house is framed with whole logs. The floor is a nice hardwood, smooth and have some sort of lacquer or varnish on them. We have no modern appliances or any technology I would recognize, as electricity doesn''t seem to have been "discovered" as it were. My mother frequently takes me outside in a basket whenever she needs to go outside for her chores. I frequently watch her hang laundry out on a line or tend to the garden. Wherever I am, it''s really green. I mean REALLY green. The grass is a vibrant green and in areas outside of the yard, it can get quite tall, around 3 feet high. The trees are full of large deep green leaves, and they appear significantly larger than trees back home. Well, my old home that is. The trees beyond our back yard look like a cross between an African Baobab tree and a Ginkgo tree, but they are as tall as the largest Sequoias in Northern California. They also appear to have fruit growing that look like large apples. To give you an idea of the size of these trees, I see my mother clearing out fallen leaves from the garden, and each leaf is the size of the lid of a full-size trash can. They are absolutely HUGE! These trees would make for some amazing tree houses, if such a thing exists on this world. Tree houses were something from my dad''s generation. he wanted to build one in our back yard, but I wasn''t interested. I only wanted to play video games or watch videos on my tablet. That was an early cause of the strife between us. The animals here are different as well. I saw what I believe to be a rabbit, though I''m not quite sure. It was about as large as a medium size dog, and it had a spiral shaped horn protruding from its head. Its fur looked like something you would see on a cheetah. If I was still on earth, we would consider this a creature straight from the annals of cryptozoology. This is something not quite real, but rather a myth. Something some redneck down south would have created in his back yard shed to gain a bit of fame as having captured a mythological creature. It scared the crap out of me, because this thing is real. This bunnycheetahunicorn thing is most definitely real, and there are a LOT of them running around. They seem friendly and my mother doesn''t pay them any mind except to try and keep them out of the garden. They even hop up to me every now and then to see what''s in the basket. It''s rather terrifying. I read a book when I was younger about vampire rabbits, and every time one of these massive fuckers sticks its head into my basket with its beady red eyes, I think it''s going to eat me! Just suck the blood right from my baby body. The most striking thing though, even more striking than the prehistoric trees and fairy tale animals, is the sky. It''s not a pale blue color like I''m used to, but rather a deep blueish purple. It also appears to have a slight shimmer to it, but maybe I''m just seeing things as my young eyes are still getting used to seeing, but it''s absolutely beautiful. Perhaps that''s what earth''s sky would look like free of the smog and haze of the big city? I have no clue as that''s all I have ever known. Somehow, I doubt it as so far there is nothing that I have seen that is remotely comparable to the world I know. All I know is for now, this is definitely not Earth. My question is, is this really it? Is this really my existence now? Will I ever get to go back? Chapter 3: Learning Magic I just celebrated by first birthday last week, and my suspicions are confirmed. I was definitely born mid-winter as it''s cold, and snow is falling. The fire in the hearth is on 24/7... if that''s even how long the days and weeks on this world are. I don''t know as there are no clocks or calendars anywhere in my home. In fact, there doesn''t seem to be anything in this home that would appear to measure the passage of time. Not even so much as an hourglass. Oh, and my father finally made an appearance! He arrived shortly before winter set in. I have no clue what he does, but he must travel for work or something. He is a tall, well over 6 feet tall and quite the muscular build. he has black hair, blue eyes, and the physique of Arnold Schwarzenegger back in his prime. He is the polar opposite of the old me, the chubby, unkempt, beta male gamer. This man is an absolute specimen. Despite his intimidating appearance, he is extremely kind and gentle with me as well. Again, the polar opposite of someone else I knew. There is one AMAZING thing that occurred recently that has shocked me to the core. About a month ago, I was crawling around the house, heading toward the hearth where my mom was. i was just a few feet away and behind and off to the side of her. It was at that moment that I saw something I did not expect to see in my wildest dreams. She lit the hearth. I know, amazing right! Not with a match, or a lighter, or even rubbing two sticks together like a caveman. No... she said a word. For some reason this one word registered in my brain in English. At this point, I still can''t understand a word of whatever language my parents speak, but this time I did. That one word was: FLAME. She said the word and POOF! A flame literally appeared on her fingertip, like her finger was a zippo lighter. She then lit the hearth with that flame. What the fuck did I just see! No way! Did I really just see that?! I must be seeing things. How did I not notice this before?! The thing is, I wasn''t seeing things. I began to pay more attention to things going on around me. After I saw her produce a flame on her finger, I paid REAL close attention to what she was doing. What else was I missing?! The more I thought about it, the more I began to realize some things that didn''t seem quite right around here. I never saw my mother go to a river, or to a well, or even a barrel outside for water, but it was just somehow always around. Where did it come from?! it wasn''t much longer after I saw her turn her finger into a BIC lighter that I saw it happen. She went to a basin where I knew the water was kept in the house, and she said another word, again this word somehow registered in English in my mind. She said, "WATER!" A steady stream of water came pouring out from her palm into the basin! That''s not all! that night, I noticed that she did the same FLAME trick when lighting the various candles and lamps around the house. Then at my bath time, she placed her hands on the metal basin used to bathe me, and she said FLAME again! That''s how I had warm water in my baths! She literally heated up the water by holding the basin with flame covered hands! This world... this world has fucking MAGIC!!! YEAHHHHH!!! I have never been so excited in my entire life... EITHER of them! Why did I have to start this life as a baby? I want to learn this shit right now, not 5 years from now, but right fricken now! Unfortunately I''m still just a baby, and I have to bide my time with a mundane baby existence until I get older. The days go by one by one until soon a couple more years have passed. I seem to be growing nicely. My hair is black like my father''s, straight and flowing like a midnight waterfall. Oh, and I finally learned my name. Sigh, this... this absolutely sucks. My name is Christine. Oh, fuck you whatever deity pulled this bullshit! I go from being Christopher Allen Smith, the most generic NPC name to ever exist, to fucking Christine!!! I''m still fucking CHRIS!!! GODDAMMIT!! Oh, but about my last name. Um, well you see, we don''t have last names. Apparently only nobility gets to have a last name. A person of nobility receives their last name from the Royal who bestows their title of nobility to them. Royalty has three or more names as members of noble families marry into royalty, and the royal family name is added as a new last name to "overwrite" the nobility''s name. Then when members of one royal house marry into another, they gain yet another name. They then have their first name, their noble name, their first royal name, and finally their current royal name. This can continue on and on until some apparently have 6-8 names as the generations pass. That shit must make family trees into a clusterfuck of a bramble patch. Moving back to my homely family, my father I learned was an adventurer. Can you believe that! A REAL adventurer!! That explains his physique! He has a massive ornate axe that he brings with him whenever he gets home. He has an intimidating set of leather armor, padded with animal fur, and studded with steel bands and spikes. He is a warrior. A REAL WARRIOR! I guess it is only natural that adventurers exist in this world, since magic exists, and so do strange monsters. If magic, adventurers, and crazy monsters exist, then I wouldn''t doubt that Dungeons also exist in this world. This is just making me more and more excited. I can''t wait to grow up! Well, the good thing is I can now understand and speak the language. Interestingly, it doesn''t actually have a name. Whenever I ask, my mother tells me it''s just the common tongue. Does everyone speak this same language? So far as I can tell, it''s the only language spoken where we live. We live out in the countryside and occasionally we make a trip to the city for supplies. While in town, everyone there speaks the same language. Also, much to my disappointment, it seems the local city is a human city, as that is the only race of people that I see on our trips to town. I was at least hoping for a cat girl or a bunny girl! This world, I learned, is called Cardial. It roughly translates into "Great One". I am guessing this is similar to the Gaia hypothesis on Earth, however on this world, the people are much firmer believers than we were on Earth. The continent we live in is called Verdant, which means the exact same thing it does in English: Green. I told you it was green here! So green in fact, they just named the fucking place a fancy word for GREEN! I hope that kind of practice isn''t too common among these people. It would get real annoying traveling to brown city, or blue town on the beach! As I said, we live out in the sticks, in the rural countryside about 50 miles southwest from the city of Creshent. What does that name mean exactly? Well, the southern portion of the city is bordered by curved canyon, giving the city a distinct crescent shape... so you get it now? Creshent = crescent city... We''ve got a real imaginative bunch here! It really won''t shock me to travel to another town in a desert and learn it''s called brown city. Anyway, enough about where I live and the stupid unimaginative people that live in it. Fucking NPCs. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. My mother I learned was a mage, who was originally in the same party as my father, but she decided to quit adventuring to take care of me when I was born. This makes sense as she seems really adept at magic as I found out very early on in my life here. As soon as I could talk, I started inquiring about the magic I have seen her perform, and how to do it. "Mommy, how do you make that fire and water come out of your hands?" My mother just laughs and says, "You are still too young to understand my dearest. Once you reach 5 summers in age, you will have your awakening, and only then will you be ready to learn about your class." "My class? Awakening? What does that mean?!" I ask with genuine curiosity. A class I can figure out. Most likely what your job will be, like my father is a Warrior, and my mother is a Mage. However, the awakening part is what piques my interest. What is that exactly? "Well sweetie, I don''t exactly know how it works, nobody really does, but once you reach the required age, you are imbued with a talent, or skill if you will. This skill determines what your class will be. There are many classes, such as Mage like I am, Warrior like your father, Monks, Priests, Thieves, Shielders, Merchants, Fishers, Farmers, Butchers, and various other crafting classes." Well, that confirms what I assumed about what the class actually is. It interesting to note that my mother says nobody actually knows why people are imbued with skills. How can something like that just happen and nobody knows why or how? Has it always been this way since the dawn of time on this world? Do animals have similar awakenings? After all, if adventuring is a thing, then they must fight monsters that have abilities as well. How do they get their abilities? I don''t get to dwell on these questions for long as my mother continues... "So far from what I can tell, there are really no limits to classes and skills that are possible. It''s even possible, but very rare, for people to be imbued with two skills, allowing them to be two classes at the same time." "Can you get many skills, like even more than two?" I inquire. "No dearest. Such things are only fantasy. The things of legend. Tales do speak of heroes and kings of the past being imbued with numerous skills, but those are just that. Legends. Stories to entertain children." This is astounding! It''s like I''m literally in my Fantasy Realm Online! Magic, skills, classes!!! I have to know more! It''s understandable that I am literally drooling to understand the nature of this whole thing, but why does it seem like nobody in this would even ask the important questions... Why does this happen? HOW does this happen? Is it a case of, "it''s just the way it''s always been." And nobody questions it? "Do I have a choice as to the class I become, mom?" "In a limited capacity, yes dear. While the skill you are imbued with is chosen entirely at random for you during your awakening, that skill will basically determine what you are good at. If you get a skill where you utilize mana, you can choose any number of spell casting classes. Well, not exactly what I was expecting. I''m not sure what I was expecting really. Maybe a character creation screen that allows me to select my starting class? Well, that was just shot right out the window! So, whatever I get, I''m stuck with it apparently. What kind of random character generator bullshit is this?! Time to change subjects. I can learn about that later. Right now, I need to figure out how to cast magic. "I think I get it mommy. But how do you make the fire? You didn''t tell me that!" "Well, as I said, you won''t understand unless your class is mage, and you begin learning about magic." "Oh, please mom just tell me!" My mom chuckles, "OK OK dear. First, you have to understand that every living thing has mana in it. I have it, you have it, the grass, trees, and animals have it. It''s even in the very air around us." "When I wish to cast a spell, I pull some of my mana from my body to my hand. When I speak the incantation, FLAME, the mana is converted into the flame you see. The same with my water spell. I pull my mana from my body, concentrate it in my hand, and speak the incantation, WATER. The concentrated mana is converted to water." "Ummm, I don''t get it!" I lie. Oh yes, I damn we''ll do! My mom burst out in laughter, "I told you that you wouldn''t understand. You just have to wait until your time comes, my love." "Ok mommy, thanks for telling me!" "Ok dear, run off and play, I have to get lunch started." Oh, I understood. I understood it all. I just wanted her to think I was clueless. I''m not running off to play. Hell no! I''m going straight to my room to see if I can figure this magic shit out! I have to! I can''t spend two more years without being able to do magic! I will literally go insane! Over the next several weeks, I practice and practice for hours. I mainly concentrate my practice on mana control. I got to the point where I can shift my mana throughout my body. I can feel it. It feels like, almost like fluid shifting from one part of my body to another. I bring it from the core of my body to my left hand. Then I shift it from my left hand all the way back to my core and all the way over to my right hand. I can even bring it down to my feet. This is absolutely fascinating. I wonder if I concentrate my mana in my eyes, if I will be able to shoot lasers from my eyes like Supes! What about a Kameha... ya know what, I think that''s enough delusions of grandeur for today. Time to get back to the real deal. "Ok, I think I have this mana thing under control now. Let''s see if I can make this work." I concentrate my mana into my right hand. When my mana starts to concentrate, my hand starts to tingle. At this point, I say the word: "FLAME!" "Hmm, nothing happened. Maybe not enough mana?" I concentrate my mana to push even more into my hand. The tingling intensifies, almost like the vibration sensation from my video game console controller back in my past life. "Ok, let''s try again. FLAME!" I gasp as a quick puff of smoke pops out from my palm. "Oh my god! I''m almost there! I need more mana!" I concentrate even harder, pushing more and more mana into my hand until it feels like my hand is being shocked with electricity. "Oh, this doesn''t feel good. It is now or never! FLAME!!!" A flame bursts forward from my hand, but quickly dies out into a puff of smoke. "Holy shit I did it! I ACTUALLY DID IT!" I shout celebrating my success. I have to cover my mouth as I was being a bit loud there. I don''t want to alert my.... "Wait, what the fuck is that?!" I say in surprise as I see something in my vision change. I see a small blue triangle shape appear in the lower right-hand corner of my vision. It''s blinking on and off slowly. "What the hell is this?" I try to focus on it but whenever I move my eyes to look at it, it just follows my vision and stays in the same place. I try to poke it with my finger, but nothing happens. I just look like an idiot poking the air. "There has got to be a way to open this." At that moment, at the thought of opening it, the triangle glows brighter and expands to a small screen. I gasp loudly as I stare in shock at what I''m seeing. I suddenly have to take a massive breath of air as I had literally stopped breathing from the shock of what I''m seeing. How is this possible! "Is... is this what I think it is?! HOLY SHIT!!!" Chapter 4: Surprise and Trauma "This... this is a status screen!" I say staring at what should be impossible. There is a literal screen floating in my field of vision. The screen moves everywhere I move or look to.
WOAH!! It has my name, level, class and title! Though nothing is listed for class and title. That means I can level up just like in Fantasy Realm Online! It also appears I will be able to choose a class one day! I also see I have HP and MP values as well. For HP, I wonder if I die or just get knocked out if that number reaches 0. Right now, I don''t really care to find that out. That will have to wait until I ask my mother some day. MP is rather obvious as I literally just cast a magic spell that caused this whole screen to become available to me. My stats look good, well about as good as a toddler should have. My Intelligence and Mind are a lot higher than the other stats. I wonder if that has to do with my having all my memories from my previous life. It probably has to as I have access to knowledge far beyond what a 3-year-old should. It would only make sense that these stats would be higher Bored with thinking about my stats, I notice there are other tabs on the left side under the current highlighted STATUS tab. I concentrate on the next tab under the highlighted STATUS tab which is the word EQUIPMENT. The tab flashes blue, highlights, and a new screen replaces the status screen.
"Woah! That''s awesome! i wonder why these items are listed in white when every other text is some shade of blue? I wonder if that''s the quality of the gear, like how most RPG games have gear-colored different colors depending on the rarity or value of the item. Wait a second, what is this rock I''m equipped with?" I pat myself down and I suddenly feel it. In my right pocket is a small smooth stone I picked up from the garden earlier in the day. This screen actually registered it as equipment?! I will have to play with this as I pick up other things. Perhaps I could use this as a cheap way of identifying items. Then again, it is classifying the rock as equipment. The only piece of equipment I could think it would be is a weapon. Why would it automatically assume the rock is a weapon? Whatever, I will have to come back to that later. I then concentrate on the tab under equipment that says SKILLS. As before, if flashes, highlights, and opens.
"Omniscient? What the hell is that?!" I say seeing the rather big word listed there. I do know what omniscient means; however, I am not sure if it means the same here on this planet, in this language. I run back out to the hearth where my mom is. I don''t think it is a great idea to bring this up to my mom, as I don''t want her to suspect anything, but I have to know though. "Um, mom?" "Yes dear?" "Um, what does omn... omic... Omnicesent mean?" "I don''t know what you are trying to say, dear." "It''s hard to say. I can''t say it right." "Um, ommmm-nice-ent" I say trying my best to sound like a toddler trying to form a word. "Oh, Omniscient! It means all knowing. Where did you hear that?!" "Oh, never mind, I was thinking of something else. Sorry mommy!" My mom giggles, "ok dear, run along!" Omniscient... all knowing... what kind of skill is that?! Is it because I have all my knowledge from my past life? Can''t be. Even with that I still know jack shit! Even the most educated and learned men and women on earth still know jack shit in comparison to the entirety of the knowledge of the human race. Even that pales in comparison to the knowledge held by the universe itself. I say to myself, "How can I be all knowing without knowing everything?" Whatever. I''ll figure that out later. I save the existential crisis for another time. There are more tabs to open. I open the next tab with says MAGIC.
"Holy crap! The spell I just cast is already listed! I already know my first spell just by doing it?! Wait a minute.... does that mean..." I figured you wouldn''t or shouldn''t know something without having learned it first, but I really didn''t learn it. I just did it, or is that just leaning at its simplest form? I begin to wonder if this means I can figure out other spells just by manipulating my mana correctly and saying the correct spell name. I mentally click the triangle on the lower right and the whole window closes. The triangle remains a transparent blue in the same lower left location of my vision, no longer blinking as it was when it first appeared. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "Hmm. Let''s see here." I concentrate my mana into my right hand again. I force as much mana as I can until I feel the electrical shock feeling again. "Ok let''s try it. WATER!" A blast of water gushes from my palm and splashes everywhere, then suddenly stops. I am now soaked, and so is the floor. "Oh shit! Maybe I should have done that outside." Magic Skill Acquired: Water "WHAT!" I exclaim as that message flashes in my vision momentarily. No way it''s that easy! I open the status screen again and immediately open the magic tab.
"OH MY GOD!!! It''s there! I learned that magic just by doing it!!! Wait a second..." I know I used up MP using the first Flame spell, so how much MP did this spell use up? I open my status back up to evaluate my MP usage.
"Wow! I only cast Flame and Water once each and my MP is already almost gone. I don''t have enough MP to even try another spell." "I need to level up, but how am I going to level up at this age!" At first, I hesitate, wondering exactly how I am going to do this, or if this is even a good idea. I mean, I''m like 3 years old. I''m a literal toddler and I''m seriously considering going outside and trying to kill a monster to level up. I take a minute to weigh the pros and cons of what I''m seriously considering doing. I make my decision and I get up and run out my room, headed toward the back door. I have to try. "Mom I''ll be outside! "Ok dear, be careful!" I rush outside and smile as I see what I''m looking for. The bunnycheetaunicorn thing. They are everywhere. I''ll just call them bunnies. It''s too much to say bunnycheetahunicorn. I grab the rock out of my pocket and hurl it at the bunny, missing by a mile. Ranged Weapon Skill Acquired: Throw "There it is again!" I say seeing the message. That pretty much confirmed why the status screen considered the rock as a weapon, but did it really need to unlock throwing something as a skill? I walk around and gather as many rocks as I can hold. I wonder what it will say now that i have gathered so many rocks. I open up my equipment screen again and I see there is a (10) next to where it says Rocks.
"Woah it even counts how many rocks I''m holding?!" I counted the rocks and sure enough, I was holding 10! Ok, well, let''s do this! I start chucking rocks at the same smallish bunny I threw the last rock at. After 2 throws I finally hit the bunny. Agility +1 flashes in my vision "NICE!" I continue throwing rocks at the bunny that''s hopping away. After expending all my ammo, I resort to picking up rocks as I chase after the bunny, throwing them as I get them. "Yeah, another hit!" Agility +1 flashes on in my vision again. "Ok! Now we are getting somewhere!" After a while of running around and throwing any rock I came across, I''m unable to find any more rocks, so I pick up the next best thing, a stick about 1 inch in diameter. I start running faster to catch the bunny. I swing and was able to strike the bunny with the stick. Weapon Skill Acquired Single Hand Weapon: Bash I giggle at the words flashing in my vision. Apparently it does consider simple actions as skills. This is amazing! I continue running after the bunny, my legs starting to get tired. I hit the bunny several times more. My hits don''t seem to be doing much damage to the animal. I mean I am three years old, and I have a strength of 1. I doubt there is anything that''s going to take much damage from me. Strength +1 Make that a strength of 2. I swing again and hit the bunny right in its spiral horn, snapping it clean off. The bunny falls and curls up in pain. I stand over it, raising my stick over my head and swing down like an axe splitting firewood. I bash it over and over and over. I hit it in its head and in its body but concentrating most of my blows on its head. Its skin splits open in various areas and blood begins gushing from its head, blood is flying everywhere off my stick with each swing. My stick suddenly snaps, leaving me with just a short, jagged stick. I''m out of breath. My arms feel heavy. I''m exhausted! I have to finish this before i pass out from exhaustion! I take the stick and jam the pointed broken end into the bunny''s chest as hard as I can. Blood spurts out of the wound around the stick. The bunny twitches a few times, and then finally stops moving. Weapon Skill Acquired Single Hand Weapon: Stab New Level Acquired! There it is! I actually did it! I leveled up! That''s what I wanted! That''s what I was hoping for! I open my status screen.
"Woah! It worked! I actually leveled!!!" I say as I pump a fist in celebration. What I really wanted to test was to see what happens to my HP and MP. I wasn''t sure if a level would refill all my MP or just increase my maximum possible MP. It looks like the only usable MP that is added to my available MP is only whatever MP I gained by leveling. I''m still down the 40 MP from the two spells I cast earlier. I also can''t believe how exhausted and weak I am. That was just a bunny, and I was barely able to take it out. I notice my Endurance stat is 20/100. That must be why I am so exhausted. After I calm down from my discovery and excitement, I look down at myself. My clothes are completely covered in blood. My heart starts pounding. I really didn''t put much thought into what would happen when I killed something. Did my stupid little mind think it would disappear in a cloud of pixels or something?! "Oh shit!" I look down at the bunny. It''s a bloody mess, almost no longer resembling the animal it once was. I start shaking as the realization of what I had just done sets in. I killed something. I killed a living creature. I mean, sure I killed bugs and spiders in my room in the past, but this was different somehow. This was a good size animal. An animal that was just living its life and wasn''t doing anything wrong! I have never hurt anything or anyone in my short life, not even in my previous life. Even in my video games I always chose healing classes, because I didn''t like hurting things. I preferred to heal and ease suffering, not create suffering. But here I stand before a mutilated body, a creature dead by my hand. The gory scene in front of me permeates my mind... "What have I done..." Chapter 5: The Cover-up Panic starts to set in as I realize there is no way I''m going to be able to explain this to my mother! Hey mom I''m back from slaughtering bunnies!!! "I... I have to... I have to get this blood off me." I say in a near panic. "I only did what was necessary..." "But you didn''t have to!" "YES, I DID!!" I''m losing it. I''m arguing with myself to try to justify what I did. I don''t k LW why I would want to see that scene again, but I look back to the bloody mess that used to be a bunny. What I see shocks me out of my panicked state. "What the..." The mutilated bunny is disintegrating. It looks almost like it''s sinking into the ground. It is being absorbed by it! Is this what happens to creatures that die on this world?! In my video games, enemies just pixilate, vanishing as their pixels do. But this is real life. I''m guessing this is some sort of rapid decomposition. If that''s the case, will this bunny respawn? If it respawns, is it even the same bunny? Thinking of this settles me a bit. Seeing it happening like this still doesn''t make it seem like the bunny will live again. I continue watching the bunny sinking into the ground, mortified at what I''m seeing. Soon all that remains is a patch of fur. Even the blood that was splattered around is gone. The blood on me remains though. For some reason I felt the need to pick up the fur. I picked up the fur and then I noticed a small dark yellow stone hidden under the fur. I pick up the stone and put it in my pocket. I carried the fur as I walked back toward the house. I set the fur down on the pile of firewood and hurry over to the nearby bucket my mom uses to water the garden. There is still a little water in it, but I need more. I need to cast my water spell again. I concentrate and cast the spell, another sudden gush floods out of my hand, but it quickly stops. It wasn''t much water, but it looks like enough to clean up a bit. "I wonder why it stops like that. When mom does it, it''s a constant stream. I wonder why mine doesn''t do that." I quickly get to scrubbing off the drying blood from my hands and arms. I take off my sandals and scrub off the blood off my legs. After I finish scrubbing the blood from my skin, I appraise my clothes. I don''t know what to do about my clothes... they are soaked with blood. I don''t know how to wash them without my mom finding out. I need to think about how to remedy this. I look around the yard to see if I can find something that I could use to help clean my clothes, and then I stare at the garden with its fresh moist loose soil. I think I have an idea. That will work! I run over and grab handfuls of dirt and put it into the water pail. I grab more dirt until I have a nice pail of nasty mud that is sure to stick firmly to anything. I then proceed to spread the pasty mud all over my bloody clothes. I coat my clothes with as much mud as possible to ensure no blood shows through. I am actually having a bit of fun doing this. Kids love playing in the mud no matter what planet they are from. "If I can''t wash it out, I''ll cover it up!" "I''m 3 and a half years old! I''m supposed to be filthy, right?!" When I was satisfied that I had concealed my crime, I then smeared some mud on my skin as It would just look strange if only my clothes had mud on them. I ran back into the house making sure to trail some mud into the house. I know I am going to get in a little trouble for this, but it needs to be done. It''s a sacrifice I''m more than willing to make to ensure my mom doesn''t find out I slaughtered a bunny in her yard. "I''m back mom!!" I shout loudly with a big fake smile on my face. "CHRISTINE!!! What the hell are you doing!!! Get back outside right now and take off those muddy clothes!!!" My mom yells seeing her 3-year-old daughter caked with mud and tracking it in the house. Well, that''s what I was going for. The plan worked like a charm. I laugh and run back outside. I strip butt naked and fly back into the house. I see my mom filling up the bath basin for me using her water spell. In the future I am going to have to really put in the effort to figure out why she can sustain the spell and I seem to be unable to. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "Come on you filthy little girl, it''s bath time!" "Sorry mommy" I say with real sorrow in my voice, not so much for tracking in music but for killing the bunny. This was somewhat of my repentance for what I did. "It''s ok. What were you doing out there?!" "I was running with the bunnies, and I fell into some mud in the garden." "Silly girl. I''m going to have to supervise you next time you want to go outside!" My mom starts cleaning up the mud I dragged into the house while I laugh and play in my bath like a 3-year-old should. I have to explain this though. Since I have all my memories, my mentality is that of a 17-year-old teenager, well 20-year-old technically if you add these three years to my original 17 years. I don''t have the mentality of a 3-year-old like I should, so I have to actually force myself to act like a 3-year-old, so my parents don''t look at me funny, or get suspicious. It''s rather exhausting having to act like this. I''m just guessing what a 3-year-old acts like. I don''t have any memories of the first time I was 3, so that''s not of any help. How many people actually remember themselves at 3 years of age? I sure don''t! I get out the bath and mom dries me off and puts me in some new clothes. I''m exhausted from today''s events, and I know why. My endurance is 15/100. Wait, its lower now because I cast my water spell again with the extra MP I received from leveling. So, it appears that each spell I cast costs me 20MP and 5 points of Endurance. I''m so tired! I climb into my bed and curl up under the covers. Status Open
Ugh, I HATE wearing dresses. I admit they are comfortable as fuck, but I''m a guy! I mean, I was a guy! Fuck me... I''m too tired for another existential crisis. I will save that shit for another day when I have the energy to delve into the mind-fuck that is my existence. First, a nap before dinner! I close my eyes and the world goes black. I wake up to the low sun shining down on me through the window. My stomach releases a massive gurgle. Good god I''m starving. Who knew beating the shit out of bunnies would make you so hungry! Well bunny. I beat the shit out of ONE. Rather pathetic, but also a bit of psychotic behavior from a 3-year-old. "Ugh, I''m starving!" I let out a huge yawn, then roll out of my bed, and headed out to the living room to find my mom. Hopefully she has dinner ready. I haven''t eaten anything for a long time, and it looks like it''s almost nighttime. If I think about it, I haven''t changed a bit. I''m still sleeping the day away, only rolling out of bed to get food from my mom. Nothing has changed! I''m just 3 now instead of 17! "Good morning sleepy head! I tried to wake you for dinner last night, but you were out like a rock." "Good morning mom... wait! Morning?!" "Yes dear, it''s morning. You slept through dinner all the way to now!" Shit! I guess that''s what happens when you let your endurance get too low. I''ll have to remember not to push myself too hard like that. I know I will need to if I''m going to ever level again. The thought caused me to shudder as I remember what I did to that bunny. THE BUNNY! Oh shit! I left the fur out on the firewood and the yellow stone in the pocket of my clothes outside! I don''t know what that yellow stone is, but I have never seen any rocks like it before, so I wonder if it came from that bunny. "You ready for breakfast dear?" "Yeah! But hold on mom I want to show you something. I found something while I was running around yesterday, but I left it in the pocket of my muddy shorts." I run outside and carefully dig in my pocket for the stone, which thankfully was still there. I could probably check my inventory status to see what this stone is called, but It would be better to play it off as though I found it. Gotta cover my tracks! Perhaps my mother will be able to give me a better explanation of what this sone is. I''m not sure what to do with the fur though, so I hide it behind the wood pile for now, then I run back inside. "Look mommy! I found this cool rock yesterday!" I say as I run in holding the yellow stone up high. I hand my mother the yellow stone, and her eyes get wide. "Well look at that! It''s a mana stone!" "What''s that?" "All animals and monsters have mana stones inside them. When they die, their body is taken back by Cardial and these mana crystals are often all that remains." "Oh, ok. Can I keep it?" "Sure dear, you found it!" Well, that''s interesting. Finders keepers is a thing in this world. Oh, and mana stones too apparently. I wonder if there is any practical use for them. So, what the hell do I do about these? If I''m going to be mass murdering bunnies in the future to level up, how am I going to explain piles of bunny mana stones all over the place?! It would certainly raise questions if I had a pile of them in my room. Do these bunnies have spawn rates? If I kill them all, what do I tell my mom as to why there are no bunnies around anymore?! These things are ALWAYS running around everywhere! She is going to notice if they suddenly all disappear! I doubt she is going to suspect her three-year-old daughter is the bunny''s Charles Manson. Do I really have anything to worry about? I already made the decision not to tell my parents about my status screen. I don''t know if that is the same as this "awakening" my mother told me about, or if it is something only I have access to. For all I know this could have something to do with my skill, and nobody else on this world has the ability to see their status screen. I am going to have to wait 2 years until I''m closer to my awakening to ask more questions about this awakening thing, and what it really is. They will probably me much more forthcoming with information the closer I get to my actual awakening. For someone so eager to learn about this and find out, it is going to be a LONG two years before I can get some answers. Unless I figure it out for myself. We will see what comes first. Chapter 6: The Grind Over the next several weeks I spent my time trying to figure out my spells and mana flow. My main question was why my fire and water spells stopped immediately after casting them, unlike my mother, whose spells keep going as long as she wants them to. I am determined to figure out how to sustain my spells as well as my mother. Practice makes perfect, right? If only I was diligent with my schoolwork in my past life, right?! I started by just casting my Flame spell again. I figured I would stick to Flame as it would be easier to manage than the Water spell. It would be MUCH more difficult to explain to my mother why there is a flood of water in my room. Not like a blazing fire would be any easier to explain, but my Flame spell isn''t all that large, just a bit larger than a candle flame, and it doesn''t last long enough to actually set anything on fire... yet. I only get a maximum of 3 spells per day since they cost around 20MP for each cast, and I only have pathetic 70MP total. I come to the conclusion that this out is going to take some time to figure out. The first few days I just cast Flame over and over until I ran out of MP. Why wasn''t it lasting longer?! I would cast it and then it would die out in a puff of white wispy smoke almost immediately. No matter how many times I cast the spell, that was the only result. I also noticed that even with casting spells over and over, I didn''t receive any messages showing any stat increases like I did with the fight with the bunny. Back then I saw messages showing Agility and Strength increases flash in my vision. I wonder if Intelligence or Mind have anything to do with spells. If they do, those stats are already elevated for me, so I wonder if I won''t get boosts in those as I am already strong in those stats. Yet another thing I need to put on the shelf for later. I REALLY need a teacher for these things. Look at me actually wanting to be a student! The next day I had a breakthrough. Up to now, what I had been doing was just casting my spell after my mana had accumulated in my hand. I noticed after my first spell of the day that as soon as the spell activated, the mana in my hand disappeared, along with the electric feeling, and so did the spells effect. This means it probably has something to do with my mana flow. What if I''m supposed to... "Ok let''s try this." I bring my mana to my hand, and soon start to feel the shocking feeling. It''s getting easier to do, and I can get to this stage much faster now than when I first started. This time, I keep the mana flowing instead of stopping it once I feel the electricity feeling. "FLAME!!" A flame burst forth from my palm and it stays longer, but the flame starts to get smaller and smaller, threatening to go out at any time. It''s not enough mana! "I''m not pushing enough mana to my hand! I need more! GRRRRRAAAAHHH!" I feel my mana push harder toward my hand. The flame increases back to its original size. It also seems to stabilize a little bit as it is not flickering as much. "There we go!! I got this!" "Now let''s see what happens if I push even more!" I concentrate on my mana flow even harder. I concentrate and I feel the pull from my inner body increase as my mana flow increases to my hand. As a result, the size of the flame increases significantly. It is now a large flame emanating from my small hand, instead of the small flame in my palm I used to be able to manage. "I think I understand now! Oh shit!" I say as I feel myself feel funny. I start to feel dizzy and weak, like I am drained of energy from running around for an hour. The flame vanishes and my arm drops to my side. I''m exhausted. Mind +1 Determination +1 "Ohh I got more stats!" I guess I pushed my magic ability beyond what my current stats would allow for, and thus I gained points. It is kind of like working out, I guess. The more you push it, the stronger you will become. Status Open
"Oh wow, I guess pushing my mana like that took a toll on my endurance." I guess that endurance points are used up not only by just casting a spell, but also by maintaining it. I guess this is the limit of what a 3-and-a-half-year-old body can handle. I guess I got ahead of myself a bit. I need to be careful. I''m not a teenager anymore. I guess I need to wait until I get a bit older. If my working out analogy is correct, then it will become easier in the future to maintain my spells the more I do it, and the higher my stats become. Good grief it''s still early in the morning and I''m already ready to sleep the rest of the day. Maybe I''ll take a nap before lunch. "Christine! Lunch time!" Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I groggily wake up and roll out of bed, then head to the hearth. I am still not fully rested from this morning''s magic workout. I let out a big yawn as I walk in, smiling at the delicious smell of cooking meat. "Hi mommy." "Woah looks like you just ran to Creshent and back! You ok dear?" "Yes, just tired. I was asleep." "Hmm, maybe you are growing. Your father is really tall, so maybe you are going to be tall like him!" I just shrug at that comment. Becoming a woman with the physique of my father doesn''t seem like such an appealing thing... I imagine a female Arnold Schwarzenegger in my mind. the image makes me shudder and I quickly push that image away. I ate my lunch and retired to my room. I want to see if I can learn more about these stats and what they do. I flip myself onto my bed and open my status screen. Let''s see if I can do a little studying. Look at me, a good little student now! Wouldn''t my previous father be proud! "Yeah right!" I say with a chuckle. "I see! The only way to get you to study is by studying your fantasy BULLSHIT!" I say trying my best to imitate my father''s voice.
"Woah, my MP is full!" "Wait... I got a buff from my lunch?! NO WAY!!!" It would seem that eating meals not only replenishes your stats, but also provides a nice little buff as well. How have I never noticed this before?! Ok let''s see if I can get some explanation to these buffs. I concentrate on the HP and a separate screen pops up with an explanation. Hit Points: The amount of damage you can take before KO. Left number is remaining Hit Points; right number is Maximum Hit Points. Nice! if I concentrate on a stat, I get a nice explanation tooltip! Ok let''s do MP! It looks like I also got an answer to one of my previous questions. If my HP reaches 0 you just get knocked unconscious. It doesn''t say for how long though. Hopefully in the future I can coax out more information from my mother. Mana Points: The amount of mana available to cast spells and certain skills. Left number is remaining Mana Points; right number is Maximum Mana Points. "Oh ok, so there are skills that may require MP as well." That''s good to know! I wonder if they would be magic based weapon skills or something. That doesn''t matter now. I got a while before I get to that, so let''s move on. Endurance: The amount of endurance you have. The more skills, actions, or spells you utilize, the faster you deplete endurance. As endurance points approach 0, the more fatigue sets in. When endurance reaches 0 points, you will not be able to complete further actions without resting to restore endurance. The rate at which endurance is depleted is dependent on current stats in relation to skills that utilize those particular stats. The higher your stats, the less endurance skills, actions, and spells use up. "Ok, so basically the stronger I get, and the higher my stats get, the longer it takes me to get tired. That makes sense." My working out theory is starting to be proved to be a correct one. Stamina: The amount of Stamina you have determines proportionally how many Hit points you have. The amount of Hit Points gained per point of Stamina may be affected by buffs, equipment stats, and negative status effects. Base amount is 20 Hit Points per 1 point of Stamina. Strength: Affects the amount of damage you do with physical weapons, martial arts, and skills. Strength also has a slight effect on how much physical damage you take. Also effects other skills that have a physical component to the skill. Higher strength allows for wielding of heavier weapons and increases the rate at which you can attack with heavy weaponry. Intelligence: Affects magical damage of spells and mana-based skills, as well as amount of healing done by healing spells, skills, and certain items. Mind: Affects the efficiency of spells and mana-based skills. As Mind increases, the amount of Mana Points required to cast a spell or mana-based skill, decreases. Diminishing returns are in effect for this stat, particularly with high level spells and skills, limiting its effectiveness the higher your skill number reaches. Lower-level spells and skills are originally affected by diminishing returns but are no longer subjected to diminishing returns the higher your level becomes. Ahh this is making some sense now. The higher my Mind stat, the less my spells will cost in MP, and eventually these low level spells I have will cost next to nothing in terms of MP consumption, as I out-level them. This is all the more reason to get out and start grinding levels. Agility: Affects the accuracy of attacks with light weaponry (Daggers, Claws, Knuckles, certain swords, etc.), ranged weaponry, and martial arts techniques. Also affects accuracy and effectiveness stealth-based skills, such as sneaking, lock-picking, and pickpocketing. Speed: affects speed of movement, physical attacks, and ranged attacks. The speed at which spells can be cast, as well as how fast magical projectiles travel, is marginally affected by Speed. Defense: Affects the amount of physical damage received. The amount of damage mitigated depends on your Defense stat in relation to the strength stat of your opponent. The higher your Defense is over your opponent''s Strength; the more damage mitigation is in effect. Conversely, the higher your opponent''s Strength is over your Defense value, the more their attacks are inclined to ignore your Defense. Magic Defense: Affects the amount of magical damage received. The amount of damage mitigated depends on your Magical Defense stat in relation to the Intelligence stat of your opponent. The higher your Magical Defense is over your opponent''s Intelligence; the more damage mitigation is in effect. Conversely, the higher your opponent''s Intelligence is over your Magic Defense value, the more their attacks are inclined to ignore your Magic Defense. Determination: Affects the amount of damage dealt by both physical and magic attacks, as well as the amount of Hit Points restored by healing spells. Has an overall greater effect of reducing Endurance demand of spells, actions, skills, and spells, than the stat increases of any single stat. Critical hit: Affects the amount of physical and magical damage dealt, as well as Hit points restored by healing spells. The higher the value, the higher the frequency with which your hits will be critical AND the higher the potency of critical hits. Wow, there is so much information here to process, but it seems I got a good idea of what each stat does now. The issue is how they all relate to each other and how I can focus on certain stats to benefit my desired build or goal. Now, let''s get to the real important one. I open my skills tab. Chapter 7: Awakening Now that I know there are tooltips for everything so far, let''s see what this Omniscience skill is all about! Omniscience: The bearer of this skill is known to have no limits. No skill, no matter how impossible or improbable, is out of reach. The bearer of this skill breaks any and all limitations of a normal person. I sit there just staring at the tool tip for my unique skill. I read what it says numerous times and try to comprehend what it means. Well, this sounds OP, but I still don''t understand. I''m severely limited as I am right now, yet this thing says I have no limits! Why can''t this be more specific?! Like, "Hey, this is how this works..." kind of thing!! I don''t understand this skill any more now than I did when it first appeared! The next year and a half go by without much change. I still practice my spells and mana control as often as I can, which is coming along a bit faster these days as now I know that my MP is refreshed after meals, but I have begun spending more and more time helping my mother with the daily tasks around the house. I''m getting older and bigger, so it''s only natural that I ended up having to help out more. I have to schedule my magic practice around my chores. In the last year and a half, I only had the opportunity to kill two other Horned Rabbits. I learned they were called Horned Rabbits that day I saw the food buff after my mother fed me one of them. It said it was Braised Horned Rabbit. So, it''s a Horned Rabbit! I had to go a little deep into the trees behind my house so I can escape the watchful eye of my mother. I did manage to upgrade weapons. I snuck out one of the spare knives my mother uses for cooking. It actually made dispatching the rabbits much easier as you can imagine. Who would have thought that knives make more efficient weapons that rocks and sticks! I was able to unlock a Slash single hand weapon skill as well by using the knife. I can totally get into this adventuring thing. It also seems that my stats are naturally increasing as I grow, which also seems natural as my muscles are also growing as I grow. Every several months I will see a Strength or Agility stat increase pop up in my vision. My biggest gains were in Intelligence, Mind, and Determination stats as a result of my diligent practice with mana control and spell use. Once again, practice makes perfect. As a result, each Flame and Water spell now only costs 19MP. Still a lot, but I am seeing how spells will cost less MP as I get stronger. That''s probably how my mother can sustain her spells so long. Her level is probably so much higher than the low-level Flame and Water spells, that they no longer even drain any MP at all, or if they still do, it''s an insignificant amount compared to her current MP pool. As it stands now, at just a week shy of my 5th birthday, my stats look like this.
I also gained another spell over this time. I was just messing around, experimenting, and seeing what else I can come up with, if anything at all. One day I was seeing if there was anything like wind magic. Doesn''t seem like it would be of any real use, but to that point the only magic I have are spells I saw my mother use. I haven''t seen her use any other spells than Flame and Water. I haven''t even seen her engage in any combat of the sort, even when we go on walks through the woods to gather fruit. It doesn''t seem like the area we live in has any dangerous monsters or even animals that are any higher level than the Horned Rabbits that are all over the place. So, I tried to come up with possible words that would result in a spell being cast, and Wind surprisingly didn''t do anything. I guess it''s too vague. But then again isn''t Water vague as well, and that worked! I even tried Tornado, which was kind of reckless in hindsight. How would I explain to my mother that a tornado just appeared inside my room! Luckily, it didn''t to do anything, or I don''t have the mana for it. Could be either or. Maybe spells don''t activate if I don''t have the mana or MP for it? Sort of like how Flame didn''t work at first because I didn''t concentrate enough mana into my hand to manifest the desired effect. Flame also took 20MP at the time, so these spells I''m failing at may require substantially more. I will have to try again once I have a larger MP pool. So, I just decided to try something simple and benign, and I hit the jackpot. After accumulating mana in my hand, I said a simple word. "Breeze!" Sure as hell, a steady stream of air came blowing out of my hand. It was about the strength of a hair dryer on low setting. Rather useless, unless I want to dry my hair after a bath, which I would never do in the presence of my mother, or all my secrets would be revealed. Needless to say, even being a rather useless spell, it''s still new! I''ll take it! Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Magic Acquired Wind Magic: Breeze Nice! Let''s check out my skills!
Things are looking up. I''m learning magic on my own, I''m almost 5 years old, and in a few months in the summer I''m supposed to have my awakening! God, I wish I had a teacher. I can only imagine how much further along I would be if I did. I would probably have been able to learn actual attack magic, and even gone to level up with my teacher! I still believe keeping this a secret was the best choice, but sometimes I think I should have told my mom and maybe she would have found me a teacher, or taught me herself. Since I was close to my 5th birthday, I finally decided to start asking my mother more questions on this whole awakening process. I figured it would be ok to inquire about things now, as I could justify it as a preparatory thing. I have to word my questions carefully though. The last thing I want is for my mother to become suspicious of me, or worse, find out that I have actually awakened early. 2 YEARS early in fact! I have no clue if awakening early would even be a bad thing, or if what happened to me actually was my awakening. I don''t see why it would be a bad thing to have awakened early. Wouldn''t that just be like a toddler learning math they would normally learn in first grade several years later? So, you are a bit smarter and advanced, so what?! How can that possibly hurt?! Well, let''s go find out, shall we?! "Hey mom!" "Yes dear?" "Since I''m almost 5, and my awakening is getting closer, can we talk more about it, please?" "Sure dear, I don''t see why not. What did you want to know?" "Well, first, what is it? What exactly happens when the awakening occurs? How do I know it has happened?! What do you do when it does happen?!!" "Woah, Woah there, let''s take this one question at a time, ok?" I''m grinning from ear to ear. Finally! Some answers! "Ok mom. So, what is the awakening?" "Well dear, in simplest terms, you get access to your status. When it opens, you get to see the skill you are imbued with." Well look at that. It appears I already had my awakening. I wonder if anyone in this world has ever tried to cast magic before they reach the age of awakening, and thus awakened earlier? Is that something that''s still only accomplished by only me? Or could it be that it''s just so accepted that you awaken at the age of 5 that nobody even tries to cast magic early? "Ok, so what happens during the awakening? How will I know it''s time or that it happened?" My mother raises her right hand in a fist with the back side of her hand facing me. Suddenly a familiar pale blue triangle appears on the back of her hand. "Well, this will appear on your hand. It will stay lit like this, blinking slightly, until you first access your status. So, there is really no way to miss that your awakening has occurred." Hmm, I never had that blue triangle on my hand. I look on my hand and concentrate to see if I could bring it out, but nothing happens. I wonder if I''m different somehow and mine is just in my vision. Maybe that''s what happens when you force your awakening sooner than it is supposed to naturally happen? Again, this is making me grow concerned that what I experienced is unique only to me. "How did you make that blue triangle appear on your hand?!" "Easy, when you want it to appear, it will." "So how do you open your status with that?" "Also, easy. You just think ''Status Open'', then your status appears in your vision." Hmm, so I guess I still have yet to go through my true "Awakening" as it were? I guess I cheated and unlocked my status early! I wonder if that blue triangle will ever actually appear on my hand. Why would it if I already unlocked my status. It only appears blinking the first time you are to open your status. Mine only appeared in my vision, not my hand. I am not liking that I seem to be unique in this regard. "So, what do you do once your awakening happens, and you finally see your skill?" "You go to school!" WHAT! Awwww shit. I didn''t think about that. I''m almost 5. That''s right around kindergarten age back on Earth. Fuck me, I don''t want to go through school all over again! Then again, it is probably not like Earth''s school. It is most likely more like what I have dreamed about over these past two years. Someone to actually teach me how to become stronger and learn more spells. Still... school. I would be more comfortable with a private tutor. Like, hire an adventurer to teach me or something! "Why do you look so sad dear? "Oh, no no no I''m not sad! I was just thinking hard about this. So, once I awaken, we go and register me for school?" "Well, yes and no. Basically, once you have your awakening, we head over to Creshent and enroll you in school. Well, first we stop by the government registration office and get your skill registered. At that point you get issued your Citizen Identification Card, which has your name and lists your aptitudes. It''s required to have your ID card in order to register you for school. You actually need that ID to do almost anything really." Oh shit. What is going to happen when the government of this world sees my skill! A skill that says I have no limits and destined to shatter all expectations of a normal person!! I am beginning to seriously doubt there are any people alive that have a skill such as mine. That''s the kind of thing that could start a war! there is even the serious possibility that I could even be executed if I''m deemed a threat to the country! This is bad. This is very, very bad!! Chapter 8: Revelations This is NOT good! I need to find out if there is another way around this. I absolutely cannot have people, ESPECIALLY people in the government, find out about my skill. Even though even I don''t exactly know what this skill can do, I don''t want to take the chance that someone in power will know what it does, or worse, makes a false accusation of what it does! I NEED to get out of this somehow. How the hell did this go so wrong so quickly! "Um, well, w-what if I don''t want to be registered and go to school?!" "Why wouldn''t you dear? Even at a young age you seemed extremely curious about your awakening and even my magic. If I had known better, you looked ready to learn about magic right then and there!" I have no clue what to say. I don''t want to tip my hand or make her suspicious of me. I''m getting scared. I don''t know how to approach this! She already knows I had an abnormal fascination with magic, but I don''t know what she would do if she found out what I have already done! I''m stuck. I can''t think of a way to get out of this situation. "Look sweetie, this is a good thing! You get to discover what you have an aptitude for, and at school, they assign you classes that fit your aptitude. You get to learn about the classes available to you based on your aptitudes, and you start learning how to be proficient in those classes. I would think you would be excited at the prospect of learning what you are so curious about." I barely hear what my mother is saying as my mind is racing trying to figure out a solution to this problem. I just don''t know what to do. Should I just come clean? What would she say? Would I get in trouble?! I want to just run away. I''m literally shaking with fear. I''ve never been this scared of anything in either of my lives! I and going to have to. I I''m going to have to tell her! Fuck, this is not how I wanted this to go! How did this get so fucked up so quickly?! "Mom?" "Yes dear? Are you ok sweetie? You seem to be shaking a little, are you feeling alright?" "I-I don''t know how to tell you this." I squirm in my shoes, seriously nervous about this whole situation. I can''t even bring myself to look at her. I feel like a kid who just ruined his mothers wedding dress and I have to come clean about it. "What is it dear?!" "Look, I don''t want you to be mad at me!" I shout, my nervousness turning into abject fear. "What''s going on Christine? Why are you saying these things? What''s going on with you?" "Promise me you won''t get mad at me!" "Well, I don''t kno..." "PROMISE ME!!" "OK, OK! I promise. Now tell me what''s got you so riled up!" "I have already unlocked my status." My mom starts to giggle. A huge smile coming across her face. She looks at me like I''m some stupid kid that just something ridiculous. "That''s not possible dear." I put on a cold serious face. She isn''t taking me seriously! God, I was so worried about her finding out, and here she is not even believing me when I flat out tell her! Such a typical parent, never believing a damn throng their kid says. "This is serious mom! Do you remember when I asked you what the word Omniscience meant?" "That was years ago. You were around 3 years old. There''s no..." "That''s the skill I''m imbued with mother." The color starts to drain from my mother''s face. Her smile fading into a flat concerned look. She reaches out to steady herself on a nearby bookshelf. She looks like she just saw a zombie walk through the door or something. "That''s not possible." She says in a flat tone of voice." "It''s true mother. I''m already level 3. Remember when I showed you that mama stone that I said I found in the garden? The truth is, I killed a horned rabbit out by the woods that day. I did it to level up so I could have more MP to practice with. I had to spread mud all over myself to cover up the blood so you wouldn''t find out." I look at my mother and she is looking pretty nervous, but I can still see a shred of doubt fighting its way through. It appears there is only one thing I can do to convince her and drive my point home. I lift up my hand... Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. "Flame!" A large flame burst forth from my palm. I stare at it for several seconds admiring the result of years of training myself, my flame steady and unwavering, stable and clear. I give the flame a little smile before looking back at my mom. She is backing away, looking for something to sit down on. The color is starting to drain from her face, the doubt showing long gone and being replaced by extreme worry and fear. "Remember that day years ago when I asked you about your magic and the awakening? That''s when it started. Right after that, I went to my room to see if I could replicate your magic. It didn''t work at first, so I practiced controlling my mana like you told me." "I spent the next several days concentrating my mana into my hands and feet, even transferring it from one hand to the other. After I felt like I mastered that, I concentrated mama in my hand, and I was able to make this flame appear using the same spell you use. Well, not exactly like this. I couldn''t control it well at first as the flame would just vanish immediately." "It was immediately after I cast that first spell, that I noticed a blue triangle in my vision. The same blue triangle you made appear on your hand. It took me a while to figure it out, but I was eventually able to open it. My status that is. As I browsed the different screens I saw my skill, that''s when I came out to ask you about what it means." I allow the flame to go out and I walk over to the water basin. It is time to drive my point home with another demonstration. I raise my hand over the basin, just like I have watched my mother do hundreds of times before. "Water!" Water starts pouring out of my hand into the basin, a steady laminar flow of water. My mom raises her hands, covering her mouth. Her eyes are wide open. She is in complete shock as to what she is witnessing. In her mind, this is not possible. It is becoming increasingly apparent to me that I must be the only person in history to awaken early like this. Or at least the only person my mother has ever heard of doing such a thing. To these people, it is simply not possible, no matter if you are a commoner, a Noble, or a future king. Everyone awakens in their fifth summer, no exceptions, I guess. But then again, my skill DOES say I break all limits. So, why wouldn''t I be able to break the limit on my awakening? It is starting to make sense to me. I cut off the water spell before the basin overflows and I flood the house. My mom finally is able to say something. "I don''t understand. How is this possible?!" "My skill mom. I was able to read the tool tip of the skill to try and see what that skill means." I open my status and the tool tip for Omniscience and read it to my mother. "It says the following, ''The bearer of this skill is known to have no limits. No skill, no matter how impossible or improbable, is out of reach. The bearer of this skill breaks any and all limitations of a normal person.''" I close my status and I see my mother pale a bit more. "Basically, my skill allows me to break any limitations of a normal person. So, a normal person would have to wait until their 5th summer of age for their awakening. I broke that limit and awakened at 3 years old." "Well, this might also explain how you were so well spoken at that young age. You always seemed years ahead of your age. I just never paid it any mind." A slight giggle ripples through my chest. Well, there is another reason for that. Technically I''m 23 years old, but I don''t think my mother will survive hearing that her daughter is a reincarnated 17-year-old boy. I decide to keep that bullshit to my damn self. I don''t wish to kill my mother from too many shocks today. I don''t think she could take it. "So, the real reason I seemed apprehensive about going to school, really had nothing to do with school itself. In fact, I have wished for a teacher for the past two years. Learning all of this on my own was not easy. Anyway, it had everything to do with registering with the government. If they find out I have this skill, I have no clue how they would react. They could demand I be forced to be a slave to the government, imprisoned, or even executed if they fear I will become a threat." "Yeah, dear. That makes sense. Those are very real possibilities; I''m not going to lie to you. I''m not sure myself how they would react to this. Your father should be coming home any day now. We will have to discuss this with him. Unfortunately, we don''t have long to decide a course of action. It''s law that all children register with the government upon their awakening. Technically, you, well we, are already in violation of that law since you awakened two years ago." "I''m not even sure they would have believed me if I dragged a 3-year-old into the registration office. I''m just curious, do you have the blue triangle on your hand?" "That''s the odd thing, I can''t make that appear. I tried as soon as you showed it to me and told me how to make it appear. It didn''t work. I do have that same blue triangle down in the bottom right corner of my vision. That''s how I open my status." "But with your skill you should be able to make it appear, right? In fact, you should be able to make it appear anywhere you want!" "Yeah, well I have not actually figured out my skill. I''m still running into things I can''t do, such as limitations on what spells I can cast, how long I can keep them going, and even controlling my mana. I''m still limited by everything everyone else is limited to. I can''t seem to willingly break those limits." "Well, maybe you still have to abide by the natural law of things." "The skill says I have NO limits. Shouldn''t that mean even natural laws don''t apply to me?" "I have no idea dear. What we are discussing is completely unheard of. No person, as far as I know, has ever been imbued with a skill such as this. It''s actually terrifying to think of the possibilities. That skill literally makes it seem like you are a God." I laugh at that comment. My mother is not laughing though. She is terrified. She is extremely concerned for my future. I''m her only child and it seems even my strong-willed mother is breaking at just the thought of the implications. This is exactly what I was afraid of. If my own mother is this scared, how will people in real positions of power react?! The possibility of execution seems more like a reality. Chapter 9: Finding a Way Out My father returned him from adventuring a few days later. My mother, who hasn''t been the same since I revealed my secret, doesn''t even tell him right away. She only told him there is something extremely important that needs to be discussed. Neither one of us wish to have this conversation with him, in fact I''m sure either of us would be happy to never speak of it ever again, but he has to know. If anyone can think of a way to help me out of this situation, it would be him. "Ok, so what''s going on that''s so important?" My mother looks over to me, swallows hard, and chimes in, "Would you be so kind and show your father dear?" I hold out my hand, "Flame!" My father''s jaw drops, and he physically recoils in shock as the flame appears in my hand, large and steady and without so much as a flicker. My father looks at my mother and asks, "Did she awaken early?!" "My love, even you should be able to tell that someone who just awakened wouldn''t have any spells yet let alone complete control over that spell, as Christine is exhibiting." I look over at my father and say, "I awakened 2 years ago, dad. I hand no clue about the awakening or what it really means. I just copied what I saw mom doing every time she lit the candles and hearth." My dad slowly turns his head to face me. His face is a mixture of horror and astonishment. Even my father, this warrior, this mountain of a man as tough as stone, I can see is visibly crumbling at the revelation of this news. "THAT is not possible!" He says slowly. It seems he needs more convincing as my mother did when we had this same discussion. I raise my hand with the palm facing my father, "Breeze!" A gust of air shoots out of my palm blowing straight into my father''s face, his immaculate black hair flowing in the breeze I created. "YOU HAVE A THIRD SPELL?!" Screams my mother. I honestly forgot I didn''t show her this one. Shit, I am just making things worse now. A part of me is just wanting to show off though. They already know I can use magic, so who cares if I show off a bit. "Yeah, this one I just discovered the other day before we had our conversation about the awakening process, and you found out I awakened early. I practice my mana control and my spells every day. I have been doing this for two years now. I have been trying to find another spell lately, and I came across this breeze spell. It''s a silly little spell without any real use, but it''s a spell nonetheless, and I was happy that I learned it." My mother just shakes her head in disbelief. Why should this really surprise her. Is it any more unbelievable than a 3-year-old awakening and learning magic? My father looks like he is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. My strong father is about to crumble. I hate seeing the man I admire more than anything reduced to this, cowering in a chair. "How in the hells did this happen!" My father practically screams. For some reason he is screaming at my mother like she is the cause of all this. That''s not fair for her to be blamed for what I did. "I feel like I need to tell you everything from the beginning." I tell my dad, drawing his attention away from my mother who is looking more and more distressed by the minute. My father listens intently as I recount the story about my curiosity at mother''s magic early on, and how I figured it out by practicing for days and days on end. I tell him how my status unlocked when I cast my first spell, about killing the rabbit to level up, and lastly, about the skill I was imbued with. That particular bit caused my normally steadfast father to waver and pale considerably. It''s obvious that my father has never heard of such a skill before by his reaction to my reading the skills tooltip. Again, this is basically confirming that I am unique in this world, and that it''s probably not a good thing. My father turns to my mother and says in a stern voice, "You taught her magic?!" "I did no such thing! She came to me with questions, and I answered them. I told her she wouldn''t be able to understand, and she even said she didn''t understand. How could I possibly know she would actually learn magic on her own?! Such things never happen!" Oh no, the last thing I want is for my parents to start arguing over this. Worse yet blaming each other over what I did. I need to bring the talk back to what''s going on and how we can fix it. Yelling at each other is not going to fix anything. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. "Father, the only reason either of you know any of this, is because mother told me what happens after a child''s awakening. She told me she will have to take me to the city and have my skill registered with the government. At that point I grew extremely concerned about the government finding out about my skill." "I can certainly understand that! I''m freaked out as it is! I can only imagine the panic this would cause in those in positions of power! They already don''t trust the citizens, or each other for that matter!" My sentiments exactly! It seems government is just as mistrusting of their citizens and is just as dangerous no matter what world you live on. "That''s why I made the decision to tell mom about this. At first, I was never going to tell you guys that I awakened early, but when she told me what happens, I didn''t have any other choice but to tell her. We have to figure out a way to keep the government from knowing, dad! I don''t want to possibly be executed or imprisoned forever! We have to figure out how to keep my skill a secret from the government!" "We can''t do that Christine! It''s the law! Every child must be registered after their awakening! There is no way around it! Technically, we should have informed them two years ago!" "Yeah, that''s pretty much what mom told me as well. So, what happens if I just don''t show up to register?!" "You can''t do that! Unregistered people are immediately considered criminals. You won''t be able to enter any city as the guards check your ID when entering. You won''t be able to register as an adventurer or at any guild of the trades. Your only source of income will be from criminal means. Is that what you want?" "No." I say dejectedly. I had no clue how important this was. Not registering with the government was, in Earth''s terms, like living off the grid, but whereas back on Earth where it was not necessarily illegal to do so, here it is one of the worst crimes. You are basically immediately considered guilty of high crimes against the government and the people. My father with concern in his voice says, "The only thing we can do is go get you registered, and hope everything works out. We really don''t have any other choice." "I have to get registered now?!" My hearts starts hammering in my chest at the thought of having to do this immediately. Things are moving too quickly now! "Hells no! That would only create a ton suspicion. If we go now, then they will know you awakened early. It''s bad enough that you have that... skill, but if they learn you awakened early, then that might bring about its own trouble." "No, we will go in the summer; around the time you are supposed to awaken. When we go, no magic, not even mentioning your skill or what magic you already know. You will stop training yourself immediately. No more trying to learn more spells. You need to be as plain as possible. If you go in there with a shopping list of magic spells and skills, it''s over for you! They will know you awakened early." "Ok dad. I''ll try to be a regular 5-year-old girl. No more magic. But what about the skills I already have? Won''t that raise suspicion as well?" "We can probably play that one off. Seeing as how your mother is a mage, and your stats favor magic use, we could easily explain that your mother started teaching you basic spells as soon as you awakened as that''s not an uncommon thing for children to be eager to learn immediately upon awakening, especially if they have an aptitude for magic and a family member is a magic user. Your spells are basic around the house spells. If they were attack magics, that would be an issue." "So, that''s why I said no more messing around with your magic. I don''t want you accidently figuring out an attack spell. Oh, and no hunting rabbits either! You can''t be a seasoned adventurer stronger than your mother and I by the time we show up!" He lets loose a small chuckle at his last comment. I laugh and say, "Ok no more leveling." This is not how I wanted my fifth birthday to turn out. This was supposed to be a milestone birthday, a birthday of joyous celebration. A time where I can finally be taught about this world and my abilities, where I could grow and level all I wanted and learn every spell and skill I could. Where even the possibility of joining my parents on adventures and growing stronger together with them! Instead, it seems to be a birthday of fear and chaos, of possible death and destruction. Why did I have to get such a ridiculous skill?! I am now wondering if I should have told my parents as soon as I unlocked my status when I was 3. I am sure it would have been a far more ridiculous shock to them at that time, but at least we would have two more years to come up with a solution. As it is now, I am feeling more like an inmate on death row, awaiting the call from the executioner. You know how time flies by when there is something you are not looking forward to in the future? Yeah, that''s happening to me right now. The days are not just flying by, they are going at the speed of Mach Jesus! It seems like I just wake up and I already have to head off to bed. The days are boring. I kept my word to my parents, and I haven''t so much as looked at my status, let alone practiced with my mana and magic since our conversation. I spend the days helping my parents around the house. Things seem to have settled, and everyone is acting more or less like normal, though I can clearly sense an air of apprehension in everyone. that apprehension seems to thicken each day that goes by, bringing us closer to our fateful day that we must travel to the city and meet with the government to get me registered. Spring arrived, and my father has head out once again to join his party. Before he left, we all set a time for us to make the trip to Creshent for my registration. He said he would come back and meet us there on that day. I really hope he doesn''t spill the beans about me to anyone. I doubt he would do that though. He seems as much afraid as I am. However, it seems fate wouldn''t allow me to make my awakening appointment with the government. Fate, it seems, has come up with its own solution... One night I hear a sound that woke me from a dead sleep. It almost sounded like an explosion! Then there came another sound. It was chilling sound. It was a scream! A woman''s scream. My mother''s scream... Chapter 10: Taken "MOM!" I shout as I hear her scream. I hear someone yell something and a loud explosion rings out from outside. The shock from it blew open my window. I ran to the window to see what was going on. In the garden there were several fires here and there, everything seemed like it was on fire and even the trees beyond our yard were on fire. People were running toward the house! I can clearly see hey had weapons! Who the hell are these people?! An explosion erupted in the middle of a group of people charging toward the house, their bodies blown to pieces. I watch in horror as limbs are shredded and sent flying, blood splattering from the tumbling body parts. "MOM!!! Where are you!!!" I shout out the window, but the commotion of battle was too loud for anyone to hear u less they were close to me. Another explosion rocked the house and looking out the window I see more bodies flying through the air. Some are missing limbs, their head, some just chunks of flesh landing throughout the yard. That explosion was much closer to the house. There are lots of people yelling and screaming, and soon I hear the sound of heavy footsteps inside the house! Suddenly my mother bursts into my room. She is bleeding from several cuts on her arms, and one to her head. Scorch marks marred her clothes and her skin. Beads of sweat forming all over her. As soon as she sees me, she yells, "Christine! You need to run! Go no..." Suddenly I get sprayed with something wet. My vision turns red. What... what is this! I wipe my eyes and I see my mother. She is halfway from my doorway to me. There is a large sword protruding out of her chest. I can see ribs and flesh rendered around the sword. Blood is pouring out onto the floor. My mother''s precious blood! I look into my mother''s eyes, and I watch the life leave them. The sparkle once there fades away leaving half closed, lifeless eyes. "MOOOOOOOM!!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!" Tears start streaming down my blood-soaked face. I scramble trying to reach my mother. The man that killed my mother was just standing there, his sword gripped tightly, the lifeless body of my mother still impaled on it. He turns his gaze toward me and I back into the corner of my room, knees to my chest as though somehow my legs will protect me. There is nothing I could do to defend myself. He is an armored brigand equipped with a lethal weapon. I''m just a 5-year-old child in a shirt and a pair of shorts. "Well, what do we have here..." the man says as though he found a valuable piece of treasure. I feel his gaze fall upon me. It''s cold. It''s Lifeless. His eyes are seemingly devoid of any emotion. No, there is one emotion. Malice. This is pure unbridled malice. This is a man that only cares about himself, seemingly thrown away his humanity, and wouldn''t hesitate to slaughter anyone even for fun. I''m frozen in terror. I can''t move. I can''t even speak. He starts walking toward me, the lifeless body of my mother is still hanging from his sword, but that doesn''t even seem to register with him. He is now a foot in front of me. I''m scared. I have never been so scared in my life. My concerns about my awakening and reporting to the government seem absolutely trivial in comparison to the danger I am facing at the moment. What do I do! He dumps the body of my mother in front of me, discarded like a piece of scrap mean. It''s meant to terrorize me, and it succeeds. A wicked smile forms on his face. I reach out to my mother''s lifeless body, my emotions welling up, my soul crying out for help in hopes that my mother is just sleeping and will jump up and protect me at any moment. My outstretched hand touches her still warm shoulder. "You will do nicely. You are coming with me!" He grabs me by the hair and drags me to my feet. I squeal in pain. It feels like my scalp is being torn straight from my skull! He turns and starts walking out of my room, dragging me in tow by the hair. The pain in unimaginable. All I can do is slap at his fist to try to get him to let go of my hair. As we get to the living room, he releases my hair and throws me forward where I fall to my knees, wincing at the abrasions that resulted. I look around. The scene is surreal. The house is trashed. Scorch marks, broken furniture, bodies, parts of bodies, and blood everywhere. A major battle has occurred. Did my mother kill all these people?! I had no clue she had such power! This place doesn''t even resemble the living house it once was. Now it''s just a grave, a place where souls will congregate with no place else to go. "Hey kid! Look at what your bitch of a mother did to my friends!" My mother''s murderer yelled at me. The man picks me up my my hair again and thrusts me forward, forcing me to look at the carnage. The wrecked bodies and body parts of his comrades strewn about. After giving me a good long look, he lifts me up and brings me close to his face, his breath rancid from the rotting teeth in his head. "You are going to serve us now. You have to pay your mother''s debt! A dozen of my friends dead because of her!! Your life belongs to us now!!" If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. My mother''s killer throws me back to the floor where I crumple into a broken mess. Another man pulls me up by the hair again, then grabs my arms and ties my arms behind my back. My vision goes black as a bag is put over my head. Suddenly I feel something hard hit me in the head and I lose consciousness. I don''t know how long I was out, and I don''t know where I am. I awaken to find myself on a dirt floor, in a tiny room, more like a closet than a room. My hands are still bound behind my back. My hands are numb from the bindings slowing my circulation. My scalp burning from being pulled around by my hair. My knees and hands bruised from being slammed into the ground. My head is throbbing. I still have blood caked on my face and clothes... my mother''s blood. I want to cry, but I don''t even get the chance to when suddenly the door opens, and a burly man enters. He pulls me to my feet by my hair and marches me out to a larger room of whatever structure I''m now in. It''s old, musty, and dilapidated. The floor is just dirt, the walls appear like hastily stacked stones with mud used as mortar. The ceiling is a basic thatched roof which undoubtably leaks when it rains. This building is of piss poor construction. The light is poor in here, but I can still see as light from a few candles are around the room. There are quite a few people here. They all look and smell the same. Ragged, filthy clothes some stained with blood or God knows what else. Hygiene seems to be a secondary concern for this bunch. They look like a bunch who have lived a hard life running from the law and surviving away from society. SMACK! "OOOOOOWWWW" I scream! My vision is momentarily blurred as one of the men in the room smacked me quite hard on the face. My already throbbing head just hurts worse. "Hey! Pay attention!" He screams inches from my face. His breath is acrid and foul. I don''t know what came over me, but I reacted without thinking. THUD! The man doubles over as my foot makes a solid connection with his testicles. Others in the room start laughing at the man. That was a big mistake on my part. "We got a lively one here boys!" Says someone in the room. "FFFFFOOOOOOOOOOHHHH" Suddenly I double over in pain, the wind knocked out of my lungs. The man I kicked punched me straight in the stomach. OOOHHHBBLLAAARRGGHH!! Was the sound I made as the contents of my stomach violently spray from my mouth. I fall to the floor unable to breath, gagging on my vomit which erupts forth uncontrollably. Someone stomps on the back of my head, pressing my face into my own vomit. The heavy foot grinding my face into the vomit covered floor. I''m still gasping for breath, my guts shuddering from the trauma they just received. My stomach feels like it is trying to force its way out of my throat. "You fucking BITCH!! I should kill you right now!" "Knock it off!" Shouts someone else. "Fuck you! This little cunt has this coming! She should die anyway! You saw what this bitch''s mother did to our group!" "She is no use to us dead and you know it!" The man stopping me from being killed on the spot is a voice I recognize. I won''t ever forget that voice. It''s the man who murdered my mother. It seems he is the leader of this bunch. He grabs my hair and picks my head up from the floor, vomit infused mud caked to my face. He leans in close, that foul breath singeing my nasal passages with its acidity. "Listen here little girl!" He speaks. "Your life is forfeit; do you understand that? You will serve us. You will do whatever we tell you to do. You are not allowed to speak; you may only nod yes. ''No'' is something you are not allowed to say. You can only nod yes. Do you understand?!" "Yes!" I answer, my head crying out in pain from my hair being pulled. The stomach acid from my vomit is starting to sting as it is starting to damage my skin. THUD! "BLAAAAA" The man who was standing on my head swiftly kicks me in the stomach. A fresh fountain of vomit and now fresh blood erupt from my mouth. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO SPEAK!!" The man holding me up by my hair screams in my face. "Now, do you understand what happens if you break that rule?!" I nod my head yes. Tears begin streaming down my face. "Fast learner, that''s good!" The man releases his grip on my hair, and I fall to the floor, immediately curling up in a fetal position. "Now, let me continue. You will do every task demanded of you without question! You will not look at whoever is ordering you to do something. Your head will remain bowed in subservience. Do you understand?!" I nod yes once again from my fetal position on the floor. I have never felt this kind of pain in my life. I hurt everywhere. "Do not try to escape! Do not try to harm any of us. For you will be severely punished. You think you are in pain now?! You have no clue what real pain is!" "Now, clean up this mess you made!" I nod yes and slowly pull myself to my knees. I wipe my face and look around for something to clean up my vomit and blood with. "What the fuck are you looking for?!" "Something to clean wi..." THUD! I am sent tumbling across the room as a boot meets the side of my face. "I guess you aren''t a fast learner are you. I said you are not allowed to speak you little cunt!" I momentarily lost consciousness with that one. When I come to, I slowly pull myself back up to my knees and nod yes. I crawl back over to where my vomit and blood is and I start scooping dirt onto the puke puddles, mixing it together to get the dirt to soak up the vomit and blood. This made it easier to scoop up with my hands. I don''t know where I''m supposed to dispose of this shit. The man giving the orders seemed to pick up on it. "Hey, it''s your puke; put it in your room!" I guess the closet I woke up in is now my room. I crawl over to it and deposit my vomit-soaked dirt in the corner of the room. I make three more trips to get the floor all clean, and my puke back in my new room. "Good. Now that I have explained the rules, and you have experienced what happens if you don''t obey our rules, you will go back into your room. You will stay there at all times until someone comes and tells you to do something. I nod and crawl back to my room. I curl up in the corner opposite my puke, and I cry. I''m still covered in my mother''s blood, but now my own blood and puke has been added. My face and neck have slight burns on them from my face being pressed into my vomit. I hurt everywhere. My head is throbbing; the left side of my face is starting to swell up from being kicked in the face. My abdomen is the worst though. Any movement is excruciating. I know I''m bleeding internally since I puked up blood. That''s not good. I sob uncontrollably for what seems like an eternity until I fall asleep. Chapter 11: Captivity I''m suddenly awakened several hours later by a boot to the ribs. I feel a crack and a stabbing pain erupts where I was kicked. I squeal and clutch my side. I want to go home! I want my mo... "Get the fuck out here! You have work to do." I stumble out of my room and the man is standing there with an impatient look on his face. I drop my gaze to the floor remembering I''m not to look at any of them. I receive a quick snack across the left side of my face, which is already in excruciating pain. "Can you get any slower bitch?! You ain''t gonna last much longer if you keep this up!" "It seems Revus had too much to drink last night and puked all over the floor in his room. Clean that shit up, and then clean up the empty bottles. There is a trash pile out by the woods. Don''t even think about running. We will hunt you down and kill you." I nod and start looking in the other rooms to find the puke. When I find it, I use the same technique as before. I scoop up the mess and walk outside. I wander around looking for this trash pile by the woods. Well, this whole place is surrounded by woods. It seems to be a hideout smack in the middle of a dense forest. There are several buildings in this compound, and it''s arranged in a circular shape, so it can easily be defended from any side. I doubt I would be able to escape this place. I''m sure even if I tried to run some monster in that forest would kill me long before they find me. I''m not seeing any of the low-level bunnies I''m used to around here. This means this place probably has much higher-level monsters that killed off any lower-level ones like the bunnies back home. I found the trash pile just inside the Forrest line behind the building on the opposite side of the compound than the building where my new "room" is. I deposited the filth and have to make several more trips to completely clean up the rest of the mess inside that building. On my way back to my room, a different guy grabs me by the hair. I squeal in pain as I''m forcefully stopped and turned around by my hair. "Hey where you goin!" He shoves a bucket into my hands. It''s foul and smells like shit. "Go clean out the latrine!" He then kicks me in the back to send me on my way. I fly to the floor face first, my face abraded by the stone filled dirt. I spit out dirt and gravel, then I slowly get up, my back now in pain, and half ass dust myself off, too exhausted to properly clean myself up. The latrine is on the way to the trash pile, but just inside the forest line. It smells like a sewer, which is to be expected, and now I have to clean it. How did my life turn upside down so quick?! These people are disgusting. This latrine is nothing but a steel trough under an outhouse building. I had to scoop out the sewage with this bucket and take it far into the woods and dump it. I would have thrown up several times, but I got nothing left in my stomach. Instead, I get to experience extremely painful dry heaves, twisting my already battered guts. When I have finished, I walked back toward the building where my room is. On the way back, I got my hair pulled yet again and then smacked again for no good reason by a random guy just walking by me. I will learn this to be a normal occurrence from now on. Nothing easier for bullies to pick on than a child who can''t defend herself. This has been my existence for the past several weeks, or has it been a month, or more? I haven''t exactly been keeping track of time. I''m just trying to survive, which itself hasn''t been easy. There have been many nights where I wasn''t sure if I would wake up if I fell asleep. Unfortunately, I would wake up. Sometimes, I wish I would just die in my sleep, and move on to whatever next world there is. Fuck this world! My resentment of this world and everyone in it grows my the minute. I do the most disgusting chores and it''s not uncommon for the person who gave me the chore to hit me even if I complete the task. In fact, it seems I have become the punching bag of the group. I have been beaten several times, for no reason than for a way for whomever beating me to relieve their frustration. They don''t even feed me. I have to forage through their scraps for food. I have resorted to stealing sips of water from their rations while they weren''t looking as I don''t even dare use my water magic. I don''t want to even imagine what they would do to me if they found out I can use magic. I have even had to resort to taking swigs of their booze, just to get fluids in me. At least alcohol has the benefit of dulling the constant pain I''m in a bit. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I have now lived like this for an entire year, again just a guess, my life is just a constant state of misery. My eyes are almost permanently black from being punched. I''ve lost almost all remaining baby teeth from being punched in the mouth numerous times. I almost always have a broken rib or arm. I''m in a constant state of agony. I''m missing chunks of hair from it being pulled out. I hurt everywhere all the time and it''s not uncommon for me to vomit or cough up blood. I spend my nights, curled up in the corner of my room, crying until I fall asleep. I have to be quiet about my crying though, as any sounds I make will count as me talking, and another beating is the result. I''m still wearing the same clothes from that night they dragged me away from my home. Of course, they wouldn''t give me new clothes. There are no other kids around, so the lack of clothes could be just that, but I don''t get the feeling that they actually care about me enough to buy or even steal new clothes for me. They don''t even waste food or water on me. I find some comfort in wearing this shirt though, as the stains of blood from my mother are the only thing, I have left of her. Her blood makes me feel like she is still near me. That morbid thought is the only positive thing in my life. I sigh as I am faced with another day of hauling puke, trash, and shit to the forest. I have learned this group of people are simple raiders. Each night a group of them leaves and they come back the next day with stuff that''s obviously not theirs. It seems they find unsuspecting victims and rob them of everything they got. It wouldn''t surprise me if they killed every one of their targets. I know firsthand that they have no problem slaughtering people. It''s not uncommon for them to return with fresh blood stains in their clothes. I''m the one that has to wash the blood stains out of their gear. It seems this is the life my father warned me about. This is what happens when you don''t register with the government. You have to resort to raiding people''s homes and stealing what you can to make money. Even then it''s hard to legally sell their items to a merchant as every legal merchant requires ID for every transaction. It''s law. Now that I see how people live when they shun the government and society, I can see why my father was so adamant about registering me with the government. Well, let''s get this shit over with. I hate this forest. It gives me the creeps every time I come out here. I always feel something watching me. It turns out something was watching me, and today it was hungry. GROWL "What the fuck!" I turn around quickly and about 10 meters from me is what looks like a Coyote. It looks like it just found dinner. I''m by the trash pile so I start searching through the rubbish trying to find something to use to protect myself. I search while keeping an eye on this predator that''s slowly creeping closer. My hand feels something hard. I pull it out. Yes! It''s a large bone that I just threw out with this load of trash. I grasp it with both hands and back up away from the predator. "Oh shit!" I trip on a root from a nearby tree and land on my ass. The Coyote takes me falling as its signal to attack. It sprints at me with shocking speed. I scramble to get to my feet, my pain momentarily numbed by the massive surge of adrenalin coursing through my veins. I get up just as the Coyote jumps at me, aiming straight for my throat! CRACK! I swing the bone and it connects with the coyote''s jaw, teeth and blood flying from its mouth. It hits the dirt hard, shaking its head violently back and forth. I swing again hitting it square in the ribs. I hear several cracks. A high-pitched whine escapes the coyote''s bloody mouth. I lift the bone high over my head and bring it down hard on its head, like I''m chopping firewood. THUD THUD THUD CRACK THUD The Coyote makes a pathetic attempt to stand back up after my onslaught. I take aim and smash the bone on the side of its head again. The Coyote loses consciousness, but I don''t stop hitting it. My emotions take over. This past year of pain, agony, the pain of losing my mother, and the absolute hatred toward my captors, is all I know. I hate everyone! I hate everything! It all come pouring out, as a darkness begins to fill me. All of it focused on this unfortunate Coyote. I see red, literally and figuratively. I have several broken ribs, but I don''t feel a damn thing. I swing and swing and swing and swing. The bones of the animal are shattered; I only feel dull thuds with each swing now. I lost count of how many times I hit this Coyote, as I was in another world, a world where my rage reigned. I regain myself after a bit and I stop and look down at the bloody sac of fur, crushed bones, and liquefied organs. I start laughing. I don''t feel any remorse over killing this animal like I did with that first bunny I killed all those years ago. No, this feels good. Scratch that, it feels GREAT! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! Holy shit! The notification flashing across my vision snaps me out of my bloodlust. How long has it been since I have seen that? How old am I now? It''s summer now, so 6 and a half maybe? So, it''s been about a year and a half since I even so much as even looked at my status. So much has happened that I even completely forgot about this! It is hard to think of anything else but survival these days. [Distant] "Hey bitch! Where are you! Get your ass over here, NOW!" I snap back to reality as I drop my weapon and run back to the encampment. Last thing I want is to be punished for taking too long. Chapter 12: Survival and Fighting Back Oh fuck, I have been gone too long. I don''t even know how long I was beating that Coyote like animal. I start running back, but my pain is returning as my adrenalin rush is fading and it slows me down. I''m not sure if I should be concerned that I actually enjoyed beating that coyote into an unrecognizable sack of blood and bones. All I know is I enjoyed it and I really want to have that feeling back. It made me actually feel alive. I get back to the compound and the guy yelling for me starts smacking me around. My already bruised face starting to deepen in color as bruises seem to form on top of old bruises. "Where the fuck where you bitch?!" I get rocked by a sudden punch to my left temple. I hit the floor as a barrage of stomps and punches rain down on me. I ensure my already broken ribs are under me and protected. I have become pretty good at blocking or lessening the damages caused by the blows, but I can only do so much, and the beatings still take their toll. After beating on me, the man just walks away without telling me what he needed. Never mind, I know exactly what he needed, the same thing I needed from that Coyote. This isn''t uncommon. I''m the punching bag they need if their raid doesn''t go well, or God forbid someone gets killed. Then it''s a full night of beatings. I''ll be bruised head to toe for a couple weeks after that happens. There have even been days where the beatings were so bad, that I could only crawl around on my hands and knees. One time in particular was so bad that my left leg wouldn''t work for a while, and I could only get around by pulling my lower body along the ground in a sort of army crawl. I hobble back to my cell if you will and curl up in my favorite corner. I haven''t looked at my status in a long time, so let''s take a look. This whole time I thought this status, this fantasy world I was in, somehow made me special. What a fucking joke that is. All that worrying I did that day with my parents. HA! The government is going to execute me because of my skill. What a crock of shit. Look at me now. LONG past my so-called awakening should have happened, and long after I was supposed to register with that government. I''m already a criminal in the eyes of the government... If they even know I exist. Fuck them and fuck everyone! Status open.
This is a comforting sight. For so long I spent every night staring at this screen. It became my best friend. The thing that took the place of video games in this world because to me, I''m living in the game! Some fucking game huh? I don''t even know if I am going to even live long enough to really find out that this fantasy world has to offer. I wonder how many times my HP has reached 0 from all the beatings I took. There have definitely been a LOT of times where I would lose consciousness in the middle of a beating and wake up in the same spot sometime later. I would often have to drag myself away, not having the energy to stand up and walk. I might have once considered this world to be a living game, but this is NOT a game. This is real. The blood is real. The pain is real. The death is real. I can''t escape those simple truths. For now, I''ll keep on living. I''ll keep on surviving. It''s all I can do. but I will be honest, it is getting harder and harder to do. I can''t tell you how many times I just wanted to give up and sleep forever.
This miserable existence has gone on for years and years. I have lived through almost half a decade of torture. That''s half my life that I have been beaten mercilessly by my captors. Abused in ways I never thought possible; emotional, psychological, and physical abuse. I''m just an object to them, something to be used and discarded. I''m not even human. I''m not even sure they see anyone else as human. I know they sure as fuck aren''t human, not to me at least. They are monsters. God, I would love to kill these monsters. One day... maybe one day... I just need time... but I swear... Almost 5 years has gone by. It has seemed like an eternity. Every single day, with every single beating, my hatred grows. My own malice and dark thoughts have been seething just beneath my decaying morality. The result of this battered body and mind of mine. The bruises and bones heal, but the scars they leave stay with me, and fuel my rage. I need to get out of here. I have leveled up 6 more times throughout the years. Each time while in the forest, those Coyote-like creatures stalking me while I''m dumping the waste of the shitheads I serve. It''s not enough though. I wish I had dozens more levels. Maybe then I could fight back. Unfortunately, I''m nowhere near strong enough to fight even 1 on 1 with even the weakest of them. I''m still just a 10-year-old kid. Still have the same useless spells. It is rather difficult to get stronger when you are beaten every day and starved. How can I possibly fight back?! Perhaps if I wasn''t always in so much physical pain often to the point of immobility, I could have perhaps ventured into the Forrest to hunt monsters to level a bit more. Perhaps I could have used my time away to practice spells or come up with new ones. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. I''m going to have to find new spells. I need a spell that will give me actual firepower. It''s has to be something powerful. After all, my mother was able to create massive explosions that tore her attackers apart, flinging body parts all over the yard and the house. But, even with that, she still died. Even with all her crazy power, she still was no match for them. So, what can I possibly do! I have no clue how strong these guys are, but I do know how weak I am. So, I decided I would start experimenting again, and practice I did. Every night in the confines of my cramped quarters, I silently practiced. I experimented trying to find new spells. Results happened faster than before though. Perhaps it''s because I have larger MP reserves now? It only makes sense that more potent spells require more MP to activate. The first spell I figured out, was another dud. I thought if I can manifest fire, water, and wind, then why not earth?? I need a spell that shoots at a distant target. Like a bullet. That''s it! Let''s try this one. "Let''s go! Stone Bullet! A pebble manifests and is launched away impacting the far side of my closet with barely an audible noise. Really?! That''s it?! I could have found a stone on the floor and threw it harder and father than that bullshit! This spell was basically no different than if I picked up a pebble and lightly tossed it at the wall. Magic Skill Acquired Earth Magic: Stone Bullet Yeah, wonderful, new magic acquired. I let out a disappointed sigh. In the past I would have been jumping for joy, now I''m just disappointed. Well, at least it''s something. Let''s try something else. Over the next several weeks I fiddled around until I had an idea. What about icicles?! I always took them off the eves of our home and pretended they were swords. That could work, right?! It would be a sharp weapon I could create! Let''s give it a go! "Icicle!" An 8-inch icicle protrudes from my palm. Nice! Magic Skill Acquired Water Magic: Icicle Sick! Ok that''s something I can use in a pinch, I guess. Icicles are fragile though, but I could probably get one good shot in! I would have to make it count though and hit just the right spot to do some damage that would count. Over the next several days, something came to me. A piece of information from my OTHER past. I remembered something from chemistry class. In that class we frequently used a Bunsen burner to heat chemicals. The burner produced an extremely hot but efficient flame. This was due to ducts on the base of the burner that allowed air to be pulled up through the tube, mixing with the natural gas fuel, creating what is called complete combustion. That is why the flame was blue and produced no smoke and left no soot on the flasks. So, how about we see what would happen if I cast Flame and Breeze at the same time? Is such a thing even possible though? Would that work?! Theoretically the air shooting up through the flame should increase the combustion. Well, let''s give it a try and see if it works! "Flame!" Alright, the flame is set. Let''s see if I can even have two spells active at the same time. I concentrate on my mana control as I say the next spell. "Breeze!" The flame flickers as the stream of air erupts from underneath it. Suddenly, the flame turns a vibrant blue, and elongates into a concentrated stream. Magic Skill Acquired Fire Magic: [Special class] Torch Special class?! I wonder if that''s because it''s the result of mixing two spells and achieving it an augmented form of a previous spell. Suddenly my door opens. I quickly smother the spell and try to hide away. Well, it looks like my first beating of the night just walked in. "Hey shu wittl bitch!" Ahh fuck he is drunk off his ass. These assholes frequently get drunk. What else do they have to do around here. I never know what I''m going to get with a drunk asshole. A beating, get slapped around, or sometimes they just need me as a foot stool. "Comere! Wur gun have shum fun tonight!" He starts fumbling with the string holding his pants up. Oh shit! This happens every so often. One of them gets a little too happy and tries to sexually assault me. However, someone always pulls them away and redirects them. I guess they at least have SOME morals. Then I get beaten for having the audacity to seduce someone! Can you believe that shit! Why is nobody coming in to stop this guy?! Shit where is everyone?! The guy lunges for me and starts grabbing at my tattered shirt. I put my hands on his face and try and push him away. He is much bigger than me, and heavier. I''m pushing as hard as I can, but he isn''t budging! Fuck, I have to do something! I concentrate mama into both my hands and yell out. "TORCH!!" Blue flames erupt from my hands, instantly scorching my assailants face. He pulls away and I feel some of his charred skin peel off on my hands. He rolls around screaming in agony. Good! Fuck you! I wipe the charred skin stuck to my hands on my shirt. I have to leave now before someone else get here after hearing this guy''s screams! I just attacked one of the raiders. I don''t want to even imagine the punishment. It has to be now. I got to escape right now! I get up and run out of my room and head to the door across the common room. Halfway to the door, another guy runs into the room and sees me heading for the door. The guy in my room crawls out, and the other guy sees the guy''s face, mangled with devastating third-degree burns. "What the fuck is going on in here?!" "The bitch burned my fucking face!!!" croaks out the man without a face. The other guy immediately runs to me and grabs me, tackling me to the floor. With one hand around my neck holding me down, he cocks back his arm ready to deliver a bone crushing punch to my face. If I let him strike me, I''ll lose consciousness and it''s over for me! I concentrate tests mana and... "Icicle!" I manage to choke out. An 8-inch icicle forms in my right hand, and I jab the icicle as hard as I can into the man''s ribs. I feel it tear through his shirt and sink in about 5 inches into his chest. He immediately releases my neck and screams in pain. He reaches to his side and pulls out the icicle. His screaming turns into gurgling as bloody frothy foam starts forming at his mouth. I pierced a lung! I have definitely overstayed my welcome. Time to go! Chapter 13: The Depths I waste no time getting back up and I run toward the door again. As soon as I step outside, a boot lands square in my chest, sending me flying back through the door and tumbling on the ground. I gasp for air as the blow hit me right in the solar plexus, temporarily paralyzing my diaphragm making it hard to breath. Oh fuck! Suddenly several men jump on me, pinning me to the floor while others begin pummeling me. I do my best to fend off the assault, but there are too many hitting me. "Fucking cunt! You are DONE! You hear me! YOU ARE DONE!!!" One of the men yells at me. "Someone get me some rope and a sack! The rest of you, fuck her up!" Someone else yells. This is the worst beating I have ever experienced. I''m bleeding from everywhere. Blood is in my eyes and my mouth. I felt several ribs break. They are even punching my arms and legs! Suddenly someone starts tying my ankles together, and then someone grabs my hands and ties them together. They roll me on my stomach then hog tie me. The beating is even worse now as I''m tied up and have absolutely no way of defending myself. "Put her in the bag!!" Someone shouts. One of the guys picks me up by my arms, causing searing pain to go shooting through my shoulders. It feels like my shoulders are being torn apart! I get stuffed in a large burlap bag and several more punches are directed at my head, causing my consciousness to waver. My head is swimming and I feel like I could black out any second. I can still hear them talking. "The fuck is we going to do with her now?!" I hear some of them ask. "Let''s take her to the depths. We will dump her there. Let the dungeon take care of her." Another answers. Several others chime in with "Yeahs!" And expletives hurled toward me. I''m barely aware of what''s being said. Depths? Dungeon?! I definitely don''t like the sound of that. Where are they taking me?! I get thrown over someone''s shoulders and they start walking. Several of the men are accompanying the guy carrying me, and along the way they take a shot or two at me. Tough guys! Have to hit me while I''m tied up in a fucking bag! Pussies! At least I got two of them. I hope they fucking die! And suffer while they die! It seems like they have been walking for hours. At some point we entered a structure or a cave. I can''t tell because I''m in a fucking bag! I could tell we are no longer outside because the men''s voices started to echo off the walls of wherever we are. It''s about several more minutes of walking, and then suddenly I get thrown where I hit a wall and fall to the floor. Being unable to brace myself for the impact with the wall and eventually the floor, all I could do is take the damage. "Enjoy your final moments bitch! I hope your death is slow and agonizing. Enjoy hells fire with that whore of a mother of yours!" The men all walk away, and I can hear their laughter getting further and further away. Where the fuck am I?! I''m still tied up in the bag! Those assholes left me tied up in this fucking bag! How do I get out of this shit! I got an idea. I can feel the rope in my hands! I charge up my hand that can feel the rope. "Flame! The robe easily burns through, and my hands are free. A hole was burned in the burlap sack I was stuffed in, so I tore that hole wider and crawled out. I used flame again on the ropes binding my feet. I''m free but am I really. I try to stand up, but I smash my head on something, and I fall back down. It is pitch black and I can''t see a god damn thing. I rub my head until the pain subsides. I hurt everywhere. So, what''s another bump on the head, right?! I cast flame and immediately see I''m in a small space, probably 8 feet by 8 feet. The ceiling was low, just barely taller than me, and shorter than me in some places as evidenced by the shiny new bump on my head. The opening to this room is small, about half the size of a regular door, jut just the right size for me to walk through it. I light the end of one of the rope pieces on fire and turn off my spell. No sense in wasting what little endurance I may have left. I have to get out of here. But where the fuck am I?! I left the room and began walking in the direction of where I heard the men''s laughter trail off to. It''s a compact cave that twists and turns every which way. I walked for a few minutes, about the same amount of time I figured we traveled from the entrance to this cave. Sure enough, I found the exit. Well, I found what used to be the exit. Shit! If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. There is a massive boulder blocking the exit. Did those assholes seal me in here?! I try and push the massive rock, but I just end up wasting my own energy. This thing isn''t budging. I light the end of a new piece of rope on fire. And toss the other one before it burned my hand. It seems I have no choice but to go the other way. So, I make my way all the way back to the room where I was dumped and make my way back inside. I think I better get some rest tonight. I''m too battered and exhausted to continue wandering around. I set up a space using the burlap sack as a sleeping bag. I gather loose rocks and put them on the floor next to the door to this room. If anything enters this room, I will hear the gravel crunching. Not like I am in any shape to actually fight off anything that comes in. I took a piece of rope and laid it vertically leaning against the wall and I light that on fire. I don''t like the dark, especially here. I awaken quite a while later. God I''m sore everywhere. I have grown accustomed to pain, so I can tolerate a bit of exploring this place today, but still, I took an exceptionally hard beating and exploring doesn''t feel like something I want to do. Alas, I really don''t have any other options. I need to get out of here! I exit the room with another lit rope to light the way and headed in the opposite direction of the exit. It didn''t take long until I came to a stone archway, large enough for 4 people to walk through it side by side. This isn''t a cave. It''s an actual structure. It looks like a stone building built inside the cave. What the hell is this?! As I walk through the archway into the room beyond, torches on the wall started to glow and illuminate the room. Suddenly an extremely loud growl booms forth from the end of the room. "GGGRRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHH!!" What the fuck was that! Suddenly at the far side of the room, a massive creature stands up. This thing is bipedal, stands probably 8 feet tall and is holding a massive nasty looking jagged stone sword. Its arms are LONG hanging almost the entire way to the floor. The creature roars and immediately starts running toward me. "HOLY FUCK!!!" I immediately sprint back through the archway back toward the room. I have to get there quick! The entrance to my room is far too small for this thing to fit in it! I''ll be safe if I get in there! I get to the room and dive in, throwing my rope torch aside as I scramble backing all the way to the far wall. It was none too soon as the creature was right behind me. It stuck its head through the doorway and roared. Fuck that''s loud! At least it''s not able to get in! "Oh shit!" I spoke too soon. The creature suddenly reached it arm into the room and starts grabbing for me. This is one lanky fucking thing! Its arms are so long its fingers are literally brushing against my clothes. Shit, it''s going to reach me. It didn''t take long before it grabbed my leg with crushing strength! Oh my god it fucking hurts! If feels like my leg is being snapped like a twig. I concentrate mama into my hands. "Torch!" I grab its wrist with both hands as the blue flame erupts. Shit this thing is resilient. The flames aren''t damaging it as much as it should. How strong is this thing?! This same attack literally melted the face off my attacker last night! But here it is causing obvious pain, but the skin isn''t burning as easily. What level is this monster?! The creature starts pulling me toward it but luckily it can''t maneuver well in this confined area and the small tunnel outside my room. This gives me a bit more time. I increase my mana flow and the blue flames increase in intensity. The creature''s skin immediately starts bubbling and charring. It lets out another deafening roar, let''s go of my leg and pulls back its arm. Now''s my chance! I spring up and run to the door where the creature is wedged in. I grab the creatures head with my palms directly over its eyes. I pour vast amounts of mana into my hands. I have to make this one really count. "TORCH!!!" I pour as much mana as I can into the spell. The creature''s eyes immediately rupture from the heat, spilling eyeball fluid and blood all over the place. It tries to pull away, but it''s wedged in the doorway good. The arm it pulled back earlier wedging between its body and the cave wall. I keep my left hand torching its face, and I cast my icicle spell with my right. I immediately begin stabbing its neck over and over. I had to create several icicles as they are so fragile that they break easily with this thing''s tough skin. Little by little they damage the tough hide. The whole time I''m torching the monsters face with my left hand. With the last icicle I drive it with my palm all the way into its neck. Blood floods out of the wound. The warm blood slowly melting the icicle stuck in the wound. The more it melts, the more blood pours out. I have nothing left. I''m low on MP and I have no weapons. Luckily the creature wedged itself in the doorway after it tried to pull its arm back. Its arm got stuck between its body and the rock wall. Struggle as it might, the creature isn''t going anywhere unless it destroys the cave wall. All I can do is sit along the far wall with my hands covering my ears, muffling the creatures'' roars. Several gallons of blood must be on the floor of the cave soaking into the dirt. The creature has slowed its movements dramatically. It''s not roaring as much anymore either. I watch as the massive form before me exsanguinates before my eyes. It''s the perfect vision of horror. Charred cavities where its eyes were, a distorted expression on its charred face as its life drains out of its neck. Suddenly the creature is silent. It slumps and its body relaxes. Inside me, the darkness pulses to life. Watching this monstrosity suffer and slowly die, causes that darkness to swell... Chapter 14: Leveling Up! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! "What the fuck?! I gained 12 levels?! What level was this thing?!" Just what level was this thing for me to get 12 levels from it! It has to easily be 2-3 times my level for me to get this many levels. Well, I always wanted to go grind levels, and this certainly gave me a massive boost. Ohhh, my stats! I have to check this out! Wow! I''m suddenly MUCH stronger than I was just 30 minutes ago. Actually, I''m TWICE as strong as I was before. I notice the corpse is starting to be absorbed by the cave floor. Well, that''s good! I wasn''t sure how I was going to get out of here with that hulking thing stuck in doorway. Several minutes pass and it''s fully absorbed. I hear a clank just outside the room. I light my last rope and head out into the hallway. On the floor I found a large yellow mana stone about the size of a softball which I pick up and toss into the small room. A foot away from that lies something unexpected. The handle of a dagger is sticking up from where it is embedded in the dirt floor! Did this thing just drop loot?! I get that every monster drops a mana stone, and I have seen the animals I kill occasionally leave behind their pelts or a bone as that makes sense, but I never thought I would actually receive gear! I pick up the dagger and then open my status screen. What I see shocks me.
Oh wow! This dagger has stat boosts on it! I am definitely stronger now! Though, it does look like I could use a good rest. I need to check out this weapon on my equipment page next.
Oh, wow a Troll dagger and its name is colored blue, so I assume that this thing is a rare item! This is amazing! Holding this dagger, I take an attack stance holding the dagger facing downward. I totally feel like an assassin! I take a few more poses of what I believe an assassin would appear like. I probably look like a LARPing nerd. Class Unlocked: Assassin I stop my silly posing as my jaw hits the floor as the message flashes in my vision. There is no way that just happened. "Assassin class?! Did I seriously just become an assassin just by thinking about it?!" No way! That is just too easy. I notice I immediately felt lighter and somehow more agile than I was before. Is this how you obtain your class? You just chose it and POOF you are that class? I have to check out my status again and see if this is for real.
Wow! I''m actually an assassin! Let''s see what this class''s tooltip has to say about that. Assassin Members of the assassin class are considered to be the masters of death itself. Lurking in the shadows and moving with incredible speed, they master the art of dispatching their target quickly with ease and without detection. This class is noted to wear lightweight armor that facilitates ease of movement. Assassins rely heavily on Agility and Speed, and thus enjoy a 30% increase in the effectiveness of these stats. Yes... ohhhh yes! Now we are getting somewhere! I guess that 30% increase of the effectiveness of Agility and Speed account for why I feel lighter and more agile. I take a moment to collect myself after that terrifying encounter with what I assume was a troll. I''m only assuming that was a troll due to it dropping a Troll Dagger. That would only make sense. But, then again, something living dropping a weapon from somewhere in its body, doesn''t really make sense. But who gives a shit! I got a real weapon now! I settle my nerves and think about my situation. I''m trapped in a cave that apparently leads to a dungeon. The first monster was a pretty damn strong Troll whose level must be pretty high for me to have leveled 12 times. I can''t leave as the entrance to this cave I''m in is blocked by those who threw me in here. I can''t stay in this little room for long. I''m going to need to find food and water soon. I''m already borderline emaciated due to lack of food for the past 5 years. There is only so much you can eat when you have to rely on scraps, which from full grown men who tend to eat everything, is not much. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I don''t have any choice. I have to enter the dungeon and see what I can find. If I say here, I''m as good as dead anyway. I can''t even take a rest for fear that if I take too much time, that troll might respawn. I really don''t want to face that again. I head back to the stone archway, the room beyond now dark. I step through into the room and the torches light up the room once again. The previous inhabitant is no longer present. There is a closed door at the far end of this room. I approach the door and it slides to the right into the wall. I wonder if that troll was a test of some sort where the dungeon won''t admit you unless you are strong enough to kill it. Well, if you didn''t defeat it, you would most likely be dead, so what did that really matter. I wonder if any of my captors would have been able to beat it. Beyond the door a hallway stretches off curving to the right. The hallway is a decent size and four people could comfortably walk side-by-side down it. There are no torches in this hallway; however, the walls are covered with blue green algae or moss that is giving off a pleasant blue glow. It''s actually rather beautiful in here. The door closes behind me as I enter the hallway. Concerned, I go back to the door, and it slides open again. I let out an exacerbated sigh, "Whew, thank god that opened. At least I know I can go back this way." I clutch my dagger firmly in my hand, slowly walking through the hallway, ready for anything that may appear. Suddenly I hear a shuffling from up ahead. I stop and wait, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of my battered face. I swallow hard, shaking slightly, eyes dilated and focused intently at the sound getting closer. Suddenly, a humanoid shape appears. A creature appears, grunting and chittering as it walks closer. It''s about as tall as me, but similar to the massive Troll in the entry hall. It''s wearing brown tattered shorts and a black tattered leather vest. It doesn''t look too strong, nowhere near as intimidating as the Troll. However, it''s holding a decently long spear, its business end very sharp and pointy. That''s certainly intimidating. It looks sort of like your average goblin from an RPG video game. I''ll just consider it to be a goblin. The goblin lets out a loud screech and charges straight for me. I take a stance holding the blade in front of me ready to strike. Suddenly the spear is thrust toward me. IT''S FAST! I barely have time to react, and I wince in pain as the tip of the spear slices cleanly into the upper bicep area of my left arm. Blood starts running down my arm. I jump back out of its reach and assess my arm. There is a neat 3-inch slash, but luckily, it''s not too deep. It''s not affecting my arm''s function. I ready myself as we are playing for keep here. This thing is intent on killing me, and it''s blocking my only way out. I hold my dagger with the tip pointed toward the floor, in the same way it would if you wanted to stab something. I turn my body slightly to reduce my profile. I wait for my attacker to make the next move. The goblin thrusts the spear at me again, but I''m ready this time. With the flat side of the dagger flat against my forearm, I use it as a pseudo shield and swat at the incoming spear, smacking and parrying the spear with a loud crack as my dagger connects with the shaft of the spear directly behind the spear head. The spear sails wide to my left. I use my momentum to spin and when I come around, I extend my arm to slash at my attacker. My dagger hits true across the left side of my attacker''s face and a deep gash opens up, blood pouring down its face and soaking its vest. Seeing my opponents blood ramps up my adrenalin. An excitement fills me at having spill this creature''s blood. I smile as we both set for our next exchange. This time I decide to be on the offensive. I attack with several slashes and stabs, my opponent barely able to react, several on my strikes finding flesh, opening cuts, some deep, some shallow. The goblin grabs the shaft of his spear with both hands and holds it across his body like a makeshift shield. I lunge with both hands on my dagger, aiming for the goblin''s chest. If this hits it will most likely be a fatal blow. The goblin swats downward with the shaft of his spear, deflecting my blade down and to my right. Suddenly... CRACK!! Searing pain explodes in my face as the goblin smashes my face with the shaft of his spear, like a hockey player crosschecking his opponent in the face. 5 minute major for crosschecking asshole! I stumble backward, momentarily dazed by the pain. Blood starts pouring from my battered and deformed nose. My face is throbbing. My nose makes a sickly whistling noise when I. Death through it. "FUCK!! Goddammit!" This isn''t going the way I want it to! This goblin is so much smaller than the massive troll, but it''s giving me just as much trouble. Well, maybe not that much. That troll was ridiculous. I just got lucky with that guy. I need a new strategy here. I cast my icicle spell and hold that in my left hand, my dagger in my right. I take an attack stance. Here we go! "Let''s go bitch! I either kill you or I die right here!" "GROOOOOUGH!!!" The goblin yells as it takes its own attack stance. I rush forward, my dagger once again held flat against my forearm. I hold it across my body like a small shield, my left hand with the icicle at the ready back and to my left. My opponent thrusts with his spear with his right dominant hand. The spear tip aimed straight at my heart. I block the spear with my dagger and swat it to the left; my opponent''s right side is wide open. I thrust with my left hand and the icicle sinks into the right shoulder of the goblin. Its arm immediately goes flaccid, nerves severed, his grip on his spear loosens and his weapon clanks to the ground. "You''re done!" I scream as I slash with my dagger, slicing the creature''s throat wide open. The creature tries to cry out but all that comes out is a disgusting gurgle as blood gushes from its severed arteries, some of it going down its trachea. I grab my dagger with both hands and thrust the blade deep in the goblin''s chest. I rip my blade out of its chest to another gush of blood from its chest. The goblin falls to its knees, gurgling and clutching its throat with its still functional left hand. It''s of no use, it''s impossible to stop the flood of blood from the wound. It only takes a few seconds, but watching the scene feels like an eternity. The goblins hand falls to its side; the glimmer in its eyes starts fading. Its eyelids partially close and the goblins falls over to the floor, the last of its life essence pouring out of its neck and chest, then it all ceases. It''s over. I won! Chapter 15: A Dark Awakening New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! "Nice! Three more levels!" It''s as I thought, this goblin was still higher level than me. I cast my water spell to wash the goblin''s blood off my blade, and then I watch as the ground reclaimed the fallen creature. Might as well wait and see if there are any drops. Unfortunately, the only thing left behind was another yellow mana stone about the size of a peach pit. I kick the mana stone over to the left side of the hallway as I have nowhere to put it. I am still in the same clothes I was wearing when I was taken over 5 years ago. My pockets have long since disintegrated, so unfortunately, I can only keep what I can carry. "Well, that''s that. Time to keep going." I start walking down the hallway, blade in hand ready for anything. I only walk about 100 feet or so when the hallway widens out to a room slightly larger than the entry hall the troll was in. About 20 feet ahead of me is a group of 3 goblins just like the one I just fought. One has a club, another with a sword, and one with what looks like a cane. I am not liking the looks of this considering I had such a tough time with the one Goblin. I slowly back out of the room and walk back into the hallway. "Well shit, what do I do now?! I can''t take on 3 of these things." I consider my options for a minute and decide to leave the dungeon and return to the little cave to rest. I walk back toward the entrance of the dungeon, rather disappointed that I can''t proceed further. If this is as far as I can go, I''m as good as dead. I am pretty beat up, so a good rest on my burlap sack will do me well. I can re-evaluate what to do when I am more rested. I have even more HP now and my stats increased with those levels, so maybe I can win against the three goblins when I''m back at full strength. I just need to be at a full rested capacity to ensure I have the best opportunity to succeed. I reach the end of the hallway and arrive back at the door to the troll room. The door slides open, and I walk into the room, the torches on the wall lighting to illuminate the room. I''m lost in my thought while walking toward the large archway, and unfortunately, because I''m lost in thought of what to do next, I''m not paying attention to my surroundings. I''m just walking through and didn''t consider the possibility of... "GGGRRRROOOOOOOOOUUGGHHH!!!!" I practically shit myself as the massive growl erupted behind and to the left of me. I quickly turn in the direction of the loud roar, and there rising 8 feet tall is the troll, blade in hand! "HOLY FUCK!!" I immediately begin sprinting toward the archway and my small cave room. The motherfucking troll respawned!!! I''m sprinting as fast as I can. I can''t believe I let my guard down like that and didn''t consider the possibility of these monsters respawning! I need to get to the cave FAST or this thing is going to really fuck me up! "SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIIIIIIT!!!!" The troll is right on my ass as I see the opening to my cave. I dive in and scramble to the far side. The troll dives in as well, reaching out to try and grab me with one of its long arms. It wedged in the tight opening... again. I just stare at it in amazement. I raise my hands in a quizzical manner. "Seriously... is this thing really that stupid?!" It did the same thing the last troll did. I may be backed into a corner of my cave again with a murderous troll trying to grab me, but this time is different. This time I actually have a weapon, and I am stronger. Much stronger. I take my dagger and slice at the troll''s outstretched hand, neatly looping off several of its fingers. It roars loudly causing my ears to ring, and quickly tries to pull its arm back, flinging blood everywhere. Unfortunately, it once again gets its arm wedged in between its large body and the cave wall. Once again, it is stuck in the doorway, preventing it from pulling its arm out of the room. I get a serious case of D¨¦j¨¤ vu watching the troll struggle to extract itself out of the doorway, but unable to do so because it wedged itself in. Before it is able to figure out how to get loose, I rush forward slashing the trolls arm several more times, severing tendons and ligaments. I have to disable that arm immediately. My ears brutally assaulted by the loud screams of the troll in such a confined space. Its arm is just flopping around as the severed muscles render the troll''s arm useless. I just stand there and stare at the foul monstrosity before me. It is clear that the monster is at my mercy. Unfortunately for this guy, I am all out of mercy and fucks to give. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. "Well, you are fucked big guy!" I calmly walk up to the troll, stopping about a foot from its face. It''s unable to do anything but scream at me with its foul breath. I calmly raise my dagger, align it with its left eye, and plunge my dagger to the hilt, then ripping it out quickly. The troll thrashes its head around, flinging eyeball fluid and blood all over the room, and on me. I should really think before I do something. "Fucking disgusting!" I quickly repeat my assault with the right eye, this time backing away to avoid being covered in slimy eyeball juice and blood. I''m really making a mess of my room it seems. It''s alright though, the dungeon will take care of the mess soon. Well, once I finish off the troll first. I stand there, looking at the blinded and incapacitated troll. A sinister grin appears on my face as the malice begins rising from within. My eyes narrow, the grin fading into a snarl. I slowly walk up to the troll and stop right in front of it again. A new feeling comes over me, from deep within. It is a dark and sinister energy boiling up from deep within from all the years of abuse, torture, and starvation. I don''t fight it. I don''t let myself be afraid of it. I use it to fuel my rage. My prey is right in front of me, and my rage needs an outlet. SLASH Years of being treated like shit, a worthless bag of flesh that only exists to be toyed with and beaten. SLASH My only family gone, murdered in front of me. I didn''t even get to bury my mother! STAB STAB STAB Then, once my I outlived my usefulness to my captors, I was discarded into this dungeon; the cowards couldn''t even be bothered to kill me themselves. "BIG FUCKING MISTAKE!!!" I grab the massive, mutilated head of the troll, and shove my blade straight through the soft tissue under its chin. I watch as my blade passes through the troll''s tongue, then pierces the roof of its mouth. I shove hard, driving the blade through the monster''s soft palate, into its nasal cavity, and up into its brain. Blood begins pouring out of its nose and mouth as important blood vessels in its head are severed. I stand there supporting the troll''s massive head, my blade still deep in its head. I form a wicked snarl on my face as I stare into the vacant sockets where its eyes once were. I want to FEEL this monsters fear. I want to FEEL its suffering. I want to FEEL it die in my hands! As the monster shutters as my blade severs important neural connections in its brain, I lean in close to its ear. "Die" I whisper, not averting my gaze as I grab my dagger with both hands, twist my blade and slowly withdraw it allowing the troll''s blood to flow over my blade and cover my hands and arms. I bask in the feeling of its warm life essence coating me, warming me, and feeding my bloodlust. I can feel myself changing. I don''t fear it. I welcome it. I LOVE IT!!! I feel no remorse while watching the monster die. I actually enjoy it; its pain is fueling this pure malice I feel. I revel at the pain and suffering I just caused, knowing I can control the fate of something living, even something stronger than I am. I continue to stand there with the same malicious grin on my face as the dungeon begins to reclaim what belongs to it. "It should belong to me." I say coldly. New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! I don''t even acknowledge the level messages in my vision. I just continue to stand there long after it had gone, just staring at the softball size mana stone remaining. I kick the stone over into the cave by the other softball size mana crystal from the first troll, and then walk out of the cave heading back toward the dungeon. I don''t feel like resting anymore. I can''t possibly rest now in my amped up state. I need more. I need to see more blood! I walk through the troll room and then through the door beyond. I start walking through the hallway toward the large room with the 3 goblins it. I keep a tight grip on my dagger, my new best friend, fresh blood still coating my dagger, hands and arms. I''m going to slaughter everything in my way! I grunt in annoyance as something is blocking my way in the hallway. The annoying chattering of a familiar foe assaults my ears. "Oh, you are back." I say as I come across the re-spawned goblin with the spear. I don''t even stop my stride as I continue walking straight at the goblin. As I reached it, the goblin thrust at me with his spear. I dodge the spear and watch as it sails by me. "Too fucking slow!" I slash at the goblin''s abdomen as I walk past it, not even missing a step in my stride. The goblin''s abdomen opens wide as its guts spill out onto the floor. I smile hearing the wet plopping sound of intestines impacting the stone floor. I stop once I pass the goblin and turn around, the goblin having dropped its spear, it''s clutching at its intestines, trying desperately to pull them back inside. I calmly wrap my left arm around its head, placing my hand on its forehead. I pull the goblin''s head toward me as I plunge my dagger into the back of its neck at an upward angle. In an instant its brain stem is severed, and soon the dagger plunges deep into the brain. Death is immediate. I breathe deeply as the goblin breathes its last. So, satisfying! I stand there still gripping the goblins head, its head still impaled on my dagger. I stand there letting its death soak into my very being, amazed at how easy it is now, when I struggled so much before. I slowly withdraw my blade, allowing the lifeless body to fall to the floor with a thud. I don''t even bother cleaning the blood from my blade, as there will be lots more soon. I then turn around and start walking away; ignoring the ruined body I left behind. The dungeon will clean up my mess. It always will... Chapter 16: The Slaughter "Hmm, no level?" I say as I notice the lack of new level notification from that last kill. I admire the still fresh blood on my blade and arms while heading toward the room with the three goblins. My heart starts racing. A crooked smile appears on my face. Bloodlust. This must be pure bloodlust. The hunger in my belly replaced with an absolute hunger for blood. I hold up my dagger, admiring how the wet blood looks on my dagger, how the soft blue glow from the dungeon walls glistens off it. I love how it smells... the smell of iron. I almost wonder how it would taste. I reach the next room, my hunger for blood and death reaching an insatiable peak. If this were a video game, I would have the appearance of being cloaked in a bloody red vapor emanating from deep within my body. That would make me look so cool right now! In my current state, I don''t even stop to think of a plan of attack. I just walk straight toward the group. There is no point to planning this encounter. I just want to see their blood. How I go about relieving them of their blood matters not. I continue to walk toward the group, my shoeless feet silent against the cold stone floor. The group doesn''t notice me until I am almost right on them. "You are all dead and you don''t even know it." I say coldly. The group notices me as I say this, and they all cry out. The goblins with the club and sword start running at me. The one with the cane stays behind. The goblin with the club reaches me first, swinging wildly. I dodge it like it wasn''t even there, and then slash the goblin across its face, splitting its face in half. It drops its club, grasping wildly at its face as that precious blood start pouring down its body and to the floor. Glorious! The sword goblin is right behind the first one. It swings its pathetic sword, trying to cut off my head. I deflect the sword without much effort and strike with an upward slash. A massive gash opens from its groin straight through its chest. Its organs spilling out on the floor with that satisfying sound I am starting to love. I close my eyes for a few seconds to just bask in the carnage. The scent of blood permeating the air, the screams of pain and desperation echoing off the walls. I smile as I turn my attention toward the last goblin. I stop as there is something happening with this goblin. Its staff is glowing white. "What the fuck is that?!" I say in response to seeing the strange glow. Out of the corner of my eye I see the same glow. I turn and see the goblin whose face I split in half. Its wound glowing white as well as the spell takes effect. I watch as the wound I created starts mending. Flesh regenerating, bone knitting together, skin fusing back together. Blood ceases to flow and the goblin starts to recover. "Is that a healing spell?" I ask seeing what I didn''t consider to be possible. Unfortunately for the goblin, the damage I caused was too much for the weak spell to completely heal. I walk back to the wounded goblin and strike swiftly with my dagger, separating its mind from its body before the caster can finish healing the damage that I caused. "Heal that you little fucker!" I turn my attention back toward the caster. It''s cane no longer glowing, a look of anger on its face. I lick my lips, "Hmmm, squishy healer. It''s time for you to die." My bloodlust ramps up. I''m looking forward to causing this one great pain. I kick the severed goblin head out of my way, and then walk straight at the caster goblin, glaring at it with murderous intent. The goblin takes a step back, raising its staff toward me. The staff begins to glow red this time. "GUAK!!!!" It screams as a projectile of flame shoots out from the staff, rocketing toward me. I stop my advance, startled at the attack. I raise my arms to defend myself, and the blast slams into my arms, searing my young skin. "AHH FUCK!!!" That did some damage. My forearms are smoking, some charred skin crackling, but most of my arms red and blistering. I figured this was just a healer and didn''t consider the possibility that it could also use attack magic. That was a serious miscalculation on my part. "You are more dangerous than I thought!" I can''t let it hit me with that again. I take off in a dead sprint, closing the distance between us in a second. My attack was vicious and decisive. The staff and the right arm holding it, thudding to the stone floor, separated from its previous owner. I grab the disarmed goblin by its scraggly hair on the back of its head and pull its face close to mine. I peer into its eyes as I bring my dagger up to its face, the razor-sharp point of the blade millimeters from its soft left eyeball. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "This is for the pain you caused me!" I slowly advanced my blade. The point of my dagger pierces the cornea and then slowly slices cleanly into the goblin''s eye. The goblin tries to struggle and get away. I tighten my grip on its hair as I hold its head steady. I keep the blade slowly advancing, extremely slow. There is no need to rush this. I''m savoring every second of this. I advance the dagger until the eye is now severed in half; I feel the tip of my dagger hit the bone at the back of its eye socket. I bare my teeth in a cold grin as I apply steady pressure to the dagger. I feel a pop as the tip of the dagger breaks through the bone and enters the cranial cavity containing the goblin''s brain. The goblin increases its effort to get away from me, but it''s missing an arm, and I''m stronger. I hold my victim steady; my mission is to be completed. I stare straight into the goblin''s remaining good right eye. I can see the fear in the creature''s eye. It is afraid of me. It doesn''t want to die. That is just too bad, but that''s not its choice anymore. I never avert my gaze in its eye as I continue applying slow but steady pressure on my dagger. The blade sinks further and further into the goblin''s skull at an agonizingly slow pace. The goblin starts shaking as my blade slowly slices into its brain. The fear in its eye is intensifying. Its fear is almost palpable. I can almost feel it, and I can almost taste its fear. "Delicious." I whisper leaning in a little closer. The blade is halfway into the goblin''s skull, surprisingly, very little blood draining from the wound in its eye. The goblin continues to shake and struggle as my blade continues to sink further and further into its head. Finally, the hilt comes to rest against the goblins eye socket. The fight from the goblin starts slowing. I see its jaw start to go slack, the right side of its face drooping causing drool to fall from its mouth. I start applying lateral pressure on the blade, pulling the handle toward the right. The blade in its skull is slowly moving toward the left, beginning to slice my victim''s brain in half. The goblin starts convulsing as neural connections in its brain are severed. Suddenly, the goblins right eye rolls back in its head, its body suddenly goes limp as it mercifully dies. I smile and pull my blade from its head, allowing the body to drop to the floor. I stand over the lifeless body, feeling the wrath course through my veins. I have slaughtered this goblin, in a way completely devoid of any mercy. Title Acquired: Merciless New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! I smile as I see the level up notifications. "I guess I was just shy of leveling after the goblin in the hall. Because there were three goblins here, I got enough for another level after that." "That title!!" I laugh seeing that flash in my vision. Something deep down inside me finds deep satisfaction at that title. "Merciless" I say with a grin. "Fitting." The sword goblin was almost finished being absorbed by the time I turned my attention toward the two fallen foes. "Ohh, what''s that!" I say seeing something lying on the stone floor. I walk over and pick up a fur covered leather vest. This will do nicely. I set down my dagger and I take off the tattered shirt I''ve been wearing for more than 5 years now and tuck it into the waist of my tattered shorts. I''m not ready to part with it just yet. My mother''s blood still stains it. It''s all I have of her. I put on the vest, which somehow fits perfectly, and I immediately feel a bit stronger. It''s a generic leather vest, lined with greyish-white fur. The long fur sticks up around the collar, and down the front of the leather. It looks like I have an animal skin draped over me. There is a small leather guard attached by straps to the vest, which protects the upper areas of my arms. I pick up my dagger and cast my water spell to clean it off once again. I leave the blood on my arms and hands. I''m not done yet. Then I start heading deeper into the dungeon. This room is larger than I thought when I first entered it. I just doesn''t seem to end, going further and further back. Suddenly a figure appears from the shadows. "Oh god another one of these fucking things?!" I say as the Troll comes into view. "Well, ok! Let''s go big guy!" This monstrosity is carrying a terrifyingly sharp axe. I don''t care as it doesn''t intimidate me one bit, and walk straight toward the massive monster, seemingly unafraid of the certain death this monster represents. It cocks its massive axe back with its long arm and takes a massive swipe at me, the arc of which seems to cover from one side of the room to the other. It''s a deadly swing that could cut down an entire party of adventurers in half. To me, it is nothing but an annoyance. "You are sooo slow!" I say with disappointment in my voice as I easily duck under the heavy axe. I run straight for the troll''s right side and slash deep into its right shoulder from the deltoid down into its armpit, severing muscles and nerves. The arm suddenly severely injured and borderline useless, the troll struggles to lift the axe. While it struggles with its injured appendage, I have already moved behind it. SHING!! SHING!! I slice cleanly through the tendons and ligaments in the back of its knees. The monster howls in pain and falls forward as its legs can''t hold up his weight anymore. It only avoided a face plant by bracing itself with its remaining good arm. I walk around it to where its axe lay on the stone floor. I tuck my dagger in the waist band of my shorts and pick up the axe. "Holy crap this is a bit heavy!" I say as I lift the axe that''s almost as large as I am. I walk over to the troll directly in front of its face. It growls at me as I swing the axe upward like I''m getting ready to split some firewood. I drive the axe down letting its weight and gravity do most of the work, splitting the head of the troll clean in half, blood fountaining everywhere as brain material slips out from the wound and onto the floor. The troll immediately drops lifelessly to the floor. New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! "Hell yeah!" I exclaim in triumph. What used to terrify me is now nothing but fodder to fuel my thirst for blood. I''m not done yet. It''s time to slaughter more! Chapter 17: Winner! Winner!! I stick around as the troll is reclaimed by the dungeon, but alas, nothing drops from the troll, and I kick its mana stone over to the side of the room. I walk toward the door behind where the troll was standing, and it opens revealing another hallway. I enter the hallway and do a quick evaluation for any enemies. The hallway appears clear, so I take the time to lean against the wall to rest a little bit before continuing on. I have been going non-stop, my bloodlust taking priority over my own wellbeing. I''m absolutely covered in blood from the trolls and goblins I have cut down, and i am feeling the fatigue catching up to me. Suddenly i hear the sound of stones scraping together and I start falling backward as the wall slides away. THUD, I land right on my ass as I fall into the hidden room. "What the fuck! I can''t even lean on a wall and take a break!" I gather myself and stand up surveying the room I just landed in. Not much of a room really. "What?! Is that..." The room is small, much smaller than my cave room just outside the entrance to this dungeon. Sitting against the far wall appears to be a treasure chest. I approach it cautiously, as my experiences with dungeon chests in video games making me wary that this may be a mimic, if such a thing even exists in this world. I approach the chest slowly with my dagger out, ready for the worst. I poke at the chest like a caveman would poke at a car if one were to just appear in front of him. "Well, it seems to be safe." I say as nothing happens. I open the chest and inside to my surprise is another fur covered item, and what looks like a roast chicken diner. "Chicken?! Woohooo! Winner, winner chicken dinner!" I repeat the rather famous line from a particular first-person shooter mmo game from back on earth. I quickly use my water spell to wash the blood off my hands and burnt arms. One has to practice good hygiene before you eat you know! I ignore the furred item for now and pull the roast chicken out of the chest. I take a seat along the wall and proceed to dig into the chicken, enjoying the delicious juicy meat until there is nothing left but bones, not even stopping to wonder how a freshly cooked chicken could possibly be in a chest in a hidden room in a dungeon. I discard the bones in the corner of the room and let out a not so ladylike belch. Best meal I have had in over 5 years. I stand up from my seated position and make a quick note of the bones absorbing into the floor as I turn back to the gear in the chest. "This looks nice!" I say as I hold up the gear. I set my dagger down, pull my tattered shirt from my waistband setting it gently on the floor next to my dagger. I then pull off my tattered shorts, discarding them in the corner as I no longer have any use for them. I then put on the new fur covered leather piece, which again first perfectly, a fact that doesn''t slip my mind. The new gear is a subligar type piece, with leather bottoms that fit just like a bikini bottom would. It is surprisingly comfortable. The waistband is lined with white fur, matching the fur on the vest I picked up earlier. My thighs are covered by thick hide plates connected to the leather bikini bottom by straps. These leg guards are again bordered by the same white fur. I feel my strength increase after putting it on. Oh, and there is a bonus that comes with this new gear! This new piece comes with two holsters, one on each hip. I pick up my dagger and place it in the holster on my right. My old, tattered shirt I tie to my left holster. I decide to take my rest in this treasure room. I appraise my wounds received during the past few battles. Aside from the black eyes and other various bruises, still broken ribs, etc. from the beating I took before I was discarded down here, I have a clean 3-inch gash on my left arm just below my deltoid. It''s currently covered by the fur covered arm pieces of my new gear. Next, I have a broken nose from that stupid fucking goblin smashing it with the shaft of his spear. My nose makes a silly whistling sound when I try to breathe through it. Finally, my forearms have an assortment of second and third degree burns from the caster goblin. "I made sure that fucker suffered for that though!" I said with a laugh. "But what was that healing spell it cast? I wonder if I can do that!" I''m a LOT stronger than I was when I was dumped in here. I also have a fuckload more MP as well. I just need to figure out the spell''s name. I pull my left arm out of the vest so I can access that cut. It''s not that severe, so this will be a good wound to test this on. I concentrate my mana, which takes less than a second these days, and I say... Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. "Cure!" I use the name of a popular healer spell from Fantasy Realm Online. Might as well start there, right?! Nothing happens. Not that surprising to be honest. "Hmm, ok let''s try this one. Heal!" Again, nothing happens. Too vague maybe, remembering back to my experimenting with wind spells. Perhaps I need to specify the grade of heal? Thats assuming ''heal'' is the correct verbiage in the first place. "Ok, then... Light Heal!" A white light forms on my hand and starts emanating from the cut on my arm. I watch as it neatly starts mending itself, with the skin finally sealing closed without so much as a scar left behind. I smile in amazement as I watch the spell work, my success boosting my spirits. Magic Skill Acquired Light Magic: Light Heal "HA!!! It worked!!! Well, let''s get to healing up, shall we?! I then put my hand over my nose. "Light Heal!" I have to close my eyes because of the brilliant white light that appears. It doesn''t take long, but I take a deep breath as I can suddenly breathe from my nose again. My eyes feel much better too! I''m sure my black eyes were also healed. I feel my nose and its perfectly straight, no evidence of it having been broken at all, and no silly whistle noise when I breathe! "Ok, now these burns. These are pretty bad though." I place my right hand over my left forearm. "Light Heal!" As before I see the burns start to slowly vanish as if time was reversed. Unfortunately, only about 40% of the burns were healed. Unless I come up with a better healing spell, then more severe injuries will require several casts of this magic to completely heal. "I figured as much. These are much worse than small cuts and bruises." I have to cast the healing spell a total of three times on each arm to fully heal them. I also take the time to heal the various other cuts, scrapes, bruises, and previously broken bones that didn''t mend properly, that I have from the abuse at the hands of my captors. Even the broken ribs were healed, though that took two heals to fully mend. Once all that was done, and I was free of pain for what seemed like the first time in forever, I decided to get some rest, so I leaned against the wall and promptly fell asleep. I figured this hidden treasure room would make a safe place to rest up. It''s so odd falling asleep without being in constant pain. I''m just not used to this, but I quickly fall asleep as my fatigue finally puts me down. I wake up several hours later. Well, I assume it''s been several hours as I don''t have a clock with me. I make sure I have all my stuff, my dagger is secured in the harness, and I leave my treasure room sanctuary. As I enter the hallway, I grin and let out a playful, yet mischievous giggle. Rather creepy coming from a blood thirsty 10-year-old girl if I say so myself. If you saw me just waltz out from a Nebraska corn field covered in fur trimmed leather, covered in blood with a dagger strapped to my side, that would be a hard NOPE for you and you would run the other way! "Oh, I have a great idea!" I say with a giggle as I come up with a fun idea. I turn back toward the door I previously came through after my fight with the axe troll. I draw my dagger and approach the door. It slides open and I sprint straight through it. The axe troll is there again, it''s back facing me. It has no idea of what''s coming. "Dumbass!" I jump and sink my dagger straight into the back of its skull. The troll went down like a sack of bricks. Once down, I slice its throat for good measure, and I sit back and watch as it dies in short order. New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! Only two levels this time. Well, that''s to be expected, I guess. The higher I level, the more I will need to kill to level up. Status open! I whistle in appreciation of what I see.
Alright, let''s see what this equipment I got is all about!
"This is some good shit!" I say as I evaluate my new gear. "Alright! Let''s move on!" I go back through the doorway into the hallway. I make a quick stop at the hidden room with the treasure chest to see if it respawned. Of course, it didn''t, the open chest remaining where I left it. That''s too bad. It would be nice to get more free loot and maybe another chicken dinner! I continue on down the hallway, until I come to a section with doorways on either side of the hallway, with the hallway continuing on with a curve to the left. I peek my head into the open doorway on the right. There is another group of three goblins each carrying a melee weapon of some sort. In the room on the left is another group of 3 goblins and a wolf, one of them has a cane. I make a mental not to ensure that it has to die first as I remember the smell and feel of my own burning flesh. I pull out my dagger and prepare for more bloodshed. "Ok, let''s kill some shit!" I say with glee. I sprint into the room with the three goblins and the wolf, and cut them all down with ease, not a single one of them even able to get a swing in, or a spell cast at me. I leave behind nothing but a horrific murder scene with blood and guts and body parts everywhere. I head toward the other room not even caring to see if the monsters in the previous room even dropped anything good. I repeat the scene from the other room, leaving a massacre for the dungeon to clean up. New Level Acquired I come across 3 more rooms with similar groups of goblins and wolves. I dispatch all of them, leaving not a single intact body, leaving scenes that would make even the most ruthless serial murderers on earth blush with admiration. Even for all that slaughter, only one more level gained. It''s time to press on. Chapter 18: Having Fun with the Boss I continue walking and come across another door that slides open as I approach it. I walk through and inside the door is a large room, and at the far end stands two Trolls. One sporting a nasty looking spiked mace and the other one is dual wielding swords. I appraise my two victims appreciatively and I charge into the battle. "Ok, Time''s up, let''s dooo this! LEEEEERRROOOOYY..." I rush toward the two trolls, laughing my ass off for using a very old but totally appropriate quote given my current circumstances. Now that I think about it, that guy did that shit about the same year I was even fucking born back on earth! Still laughing, I skillfully dodged their attacks with ease, slicing and stabbing my foes as I pleased, making no effort to end this quickly. I''m having too much fun! Plus, I''ve come to enjoy causing suffering in these monsters. I slice and stab until the trolls are covered in cuts and stab wounds, their arms and legs rendered useless by my skillful and precise attacks that sever tendons and ligaments vital for limb control. I walk over to the troll wielding the massive mace, a hand still clutching it, the arm it''s attached to longer able to lift the weapon. With a quick slice from my dagger, I sever the tendons on the troll''s inner wrist, causing the hand to open and the mace to fall free. I holster my weapon and pick up the mace, grinning at how much stronger I am. I''m a 10-year-old girl, lifting a weapon that probably weighs 100 pounds minimum. Now that I actually look at my arms, I have developed some decent definition in my muscles I guess my increasing strength is translating into a change in my physical appearance as well. I take the heavy spiked mace and stand over its former wielder. The troll staring up at me, growling a deep growl that tells me it hates me with all its being. I don''t care. "You don''t know what REAL hate is!" I yell to the troll. I then swing the mace and smash it straight into its abdomen, the spikes slicing through its skin and organs, the heavy weapon crushing any organs not hit by the spikes. I pick up the mace and swing it again, smashing its already battered abdomen. Blood fountains out of the both the troll''s mouth and the wounds created by the first strike. I look over and the other troll is watching the horror unfold, unable to move or do a damn thing about it. Its face contorted in fear as it watches its partner get massacred. "Don''t worry, I''ll get to you next," I tell the troll while sporting an evil grin on my face. I turn my attention back to my victim. I pick up my mace and smash its right leg. I feel its femur shatter on impact, the leg muscles contracting instantly, the shards of broken bone ripping into the contracting muscles. I repeat this with the left leg, then each arm. The troll''s consciousness begins wavering as the pain overwhelms its brain. "Fine, you are no fun anymore." I lift up the mace and smash it straight into its chest, shattering its ribs, the shards of ribs piercing its lungs, the spikes of the mace shredding its lungs and heart. Its death results in seconds. I then turn my gaze toward its partner. Its eyes are rolled back in its head. Did it die from fear, or did it just pass the fuck out?! "Did you fucking die on me bitch?!" I scream at the unconscious monster. Annoyed, I remove the mace from the wrecked chest of the troll, and I walk over to the now unconscious troll. I stand there furious that I don''t get to enjoy this one. I swing my mace, smashing its head like a watermelon. Blood, brains, and bits of skull fly out in all directions. "If you weren''t dead, you sure as fuck are now!" New Level Acquired! I let go of the handle of the mace, leaving it where the trolls head used to be. I stand there, admiring my handiwork when the dungeon begins cleaning up my mess, absorbing blood, flesh, bone, clothing, and weapons alike. The bodies disappeared as they always do, leaving behind their mana stones which I kick to the side of the room. A glinting object catches my eye. It''s a dagger. It''s a dagger that looks just like the dagger on my hip. I pick it up and check my equipment screen. It''s confirmed, I now have two Troll Daggers! I hold one in each hand and enjoy the way they feel in my hands. I twirl them and flip them skillfully. All this agility I have makes wielding these weapons a breeze. I holster my new dagger, clean the blood covered one, and then holster that one. I didn''t notice before, but these trolls were guarding a large ornately decorated door. I approach the door and the two halves of the door swing open, welcoming me. I step through the door into a wide dark room. As I step into the room, torches light up the room starting from where I am and proceeding down toward the end. I hear the doors slam shut behind me. I know that''s not good, so I keep my focus on the remaining darkness. As the final torches illuminate the far end of the room, I find out why this room had that ornate door, and why it is so large. Standing at the end of the room, standing easily 12 feet tall, maybe more, is something I easily recognize. Here stands a monster straight out of earth''s mythology. The head is of a bull, its eyes a piercing red, a large gold ring hanging from its nose. Its upper body is that of a man. Its lower body the legs of a bull complete with hooves. It''s a Minotaur. In its hands it holds lethal looking swords. Not the shitty swords of the trolls or the goblins. They are actual, real deadly looking swords. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. "You must be the boss of this dungeon." I say to the towering beast of legend. I unholster my daggers and prepare for my final battle of this dungeon. I start walking towards my opponent. A literal David and Goliath match. Little 10-year-old 5''0" tall Christine versus 12'' tall Minotaur dungeon boss! I have to kink my head far back just to meet its gaze. The battle starts! I rush my opponent looking to draw the first attack from the colossal monster. I get what I wish for. A quick swipe from one of its swords, IT''S FAST!! I barely dodge the attack, several hairs on the top of my head sliced off cleanly. Any faster and my head would be rolling on the floor. I lunge toward its now open right side. "SHIT!" I exclaim as I forget an important detail. This guy is dual wielding these swords! I see the left sword coming at me just in time. I bring both my daggers in front of me, forming an X shaped shield in front of me. CLANG!! The massive sword smashes against my daggers, the force of the hit sending me flying across the room. I hit the floor and tumble over and over until I come to a stop a good 30 feet away. "Fucker is strong too! That would have sliced me clean in two!" I say in admiration of my opponent. Finally, I have a worthy opponent. I''m not even scared. Fear no longer exists for me. There is only the thrill of battle. The excitement of spilling blood, breaking bones, and severing limbs is what I live for now. I think back to my captors... "I have become death. When I get out of here, I WILL FIND YOU! For you created me!" I stand back up, adrenaline coursing through my veins. The darkness is once again boiling up from within. I embrace this feeling. It''s what drives me to survive. I start walking toward the Minotaur. "I want to see your blood." I say coldly. "I NEED TO SEE YOUR BLOOD!! I scream with absolute malice. I run at a dead sprint, luring out the attack. I watch the Minotaur ready another swing with its right-hand sword. Here it comes. I prepare every muscle in my legs. I see the sword start to head toward me. I know its trajectory. I squat down, loading the muscles in my legs. I push and jump as hard as I can. I timed it perfectly. The sword''s trajectory places it right under my feet at the height of my jump. I immediately spring off the swinging sword, lunging straight toward the monster''s head. Perfect! I thrust a dagger straight into the side of its face, the dagger anchoring me while my momentum continues to carry me over its head. As I arc over its head, my legs continuing faster than my upper body, I''m inverted as I rip the dagger up its face and through its scalp before my dagger releases and I continued sailing toward the floor behind the monster. I hit the floor feet first, and then tumbled backward to absorb the rest of my momentum, finally skidding to a stop on my feet. The Minotaur let''s out a scream then turns to face me. "YES. THAT''S WHAT I LOVE TO SEE!" The Minotaur is pouring blood from a massive gash on the left side of its face, its left eye closed with the gash extending from just left of its mouth up through its eye, and up through its scalp. Good, now I got a nice blind spot to worth with. It''s long bull snout forming a nice shield from the vision of its right eye. I immediately sprint to its left side to get into the new blind spot. The Minotaur swings its left sword wildly hoping for a connection. Too bad it was way off the mark. I easily dodged under the errant swing putting a nice gash in the left side of the beast. I dart back over to the left side, sliding under its arm, slashing at the tendons in its armpit as I pass by toward the beast''s back side. With the left arm semi-incapacitated, and me behind my target, I set up for my next rush. "OOOOOFFFF!" Escapes my mouth as the breath in my lungs is rapidly expelled, a cloven hoof planted squarely in my chest. I hurtle backwards smashing into the far wall, a glut of blood flying from my mouth. I land on my hands and knees, my daggers clattering to the ground; I am coughing and sputtering blood from my mouth onto the floor. It is suddenly so hard to breathe. "I... I''m so... fucking... stupid!" I struggle to get out. Of course, it can kick me. It has the legs of a bull. Ever seen one of those fuckers kicking at a rodeo? Well, I just received one of those kicks from a monster FAR stronger than a bull. It feels like my chest is shattered. I take a hand and clutch my chest. I can feel several of my ribs free floating as whole sections have broken free. It feels like my sternum is cracked as well. "Light Heal!" The magic does its job; the bones partially mended but doesn''t completely heal the damage. I need probably 2 more to heal fully, but it''s enough to continue the fight. The Minotaur is coming for me, I don''t have the time to cast more heals. I pick up my daggers and run at the towering monster. It raised its right arm and sword over its head. I dodge to its left as the blade comes straight down in an attempt to split me in two. The left arm swats at me laterally; barely able to do so as those muscles for that movement are still intact but the rest of the arm is weakened. The power in that swing is weak and I neatly, but painfully parry it to my right, placing me just off the left of its back, which I place a nice slash into and immediately jump back, narrowly miss being kicked in the chest again. As the monstrosity turns to face me, I sprint toward it. It swings its right sword in desperation as I''m right there. I quickly slide between its legs, bringing a dagger up and slicing through its right groin, severing the muscles and slicing clean through the femoral artery. Blood spraying from the wound as my blade passes through. The Minotaur immediately falls to its right knee as it lost its ability to remain standing. Behind my fallen enemy, I walk up to it, blades in hand. I thrust both daggers in a downward thrust through the tops of its shoulders, severing both subclavian arteries deep beneath. It lets out a low growl and falls forward on its hands, swords clanging to the floor. Blood erupts from the wounds on its shoulder. It''s over for the beast. There is already a 4-foot diameter pool of blood under it from the femoral wound. I walk around to its front. I reach down and grab the large gold ring in its nose and pull its heavy head up until its one good eye makes contact with mine. At that moment I use the dagger in my free hand to slice the monsters throat, almost severing its head. I watch as blood erupts from its neck, the beast gurgling as blood fills its trachea. I let go of the nose ring and let the beast fall into its own blood. I stand there, barefoot, wiggling my bare toes in the still expanding pool of blood, savoring its warmth and stickiness. The iron smell of massive amounts of blood excites me, feeding my bloodlust, feeding the growing darkness within me. I can feel the Minotaur''s essence flowing into me. I close my eyes as I just stand there, enjoying this feeling... the feeling of death... Chapter 19: 2nd Floor- A New Danger New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! The level up messages scroll by my vision as I bask in the final moments of this monster''s life. I revel in its blood, in its death, for as long as I can until I feel the dungeon absorbing the blood back into the floor. A large mana crystal the size of a small melon remains, and what looks like the beast''s skull. I holster my weapons and I pick up the skull and on examination see that it''s actually a bull skull helmet complete with horns! I equip the helm that of course fits me perfectly and feel more power surge through me. In my excitement of killing the Minotaur, finding its skull and adorning it like a morbid trophy; I failed to notice a chest appear along the back wall behind where the Minotaur was standing. I guess I better check this one out. I open the chest, not worried about it being a trap this time since it appeared with the boss kill, and inside are boots matching my current outfit, and a pie, a berry pie. What the fuck... why is a god damn pie in here?! Whatever, there was a whole cooked chicken in the last chest. "Fuck it, its food!" I shout exhilarated at the thought of a nice, sweet pie. I pull out the pie and the boots. I set the pie and boots on the floor next to the wall and I walk a few feet away and use my water spell to wash my blood covered feet, arms, and hands. I go back to the pie and boots and sit on the floor next to them. I put on the boots, glad to have shoes for the first time in 5 years. Now that I seem to be geared out a bit, I am curious to see what all this gear I just got is.
"Fuck yeah! All geared up!" I exclaim as I examine my new gearz. Suddenly the treasure chest vanishes, and a large blue magic circle appears on the floor in the center of the room. The sudden appearance of the magical circle causes me to raise my guard. I draw my daggers and take an attack stance. I eye it with caution, half expecting the Minotaur to respawn from it, but it doesn''t. I''m guessing this will take me back to the dungeon entrance. That would be most convenient. I could probably move the stone blocking the cave entrance now too as I''m MUCH stronger now. I''m not quite ready to leave just yet as there is one thing I still must do... "But first... PIE!" I yell eyeing the delicious berry treat. I holster my daggers once again and I ignore the glowing circle as I sit down along the back wall and scarf down the delicious pie. The only thing that would make it better would be some vanilla ice cream. Got to love a good pie ¨¤ la mode! I finish my pie, making a whole mess of things as I don''t have a fork, and then wash off my hands with the ever-convenient water spell. I then get to healing the wounds I received during the fight. I have to ensure to get those priorities straight! Pie first, and then heal! As I thought my chest wound took 3 more heals to fully resolve. That was a bitch of a kick as its hoof was about the same size of my entire chest. My ribs were absolutely wrecked. I am surprised I was even able to continue fighting with just the one heal. Once all healed up, I stand back up and head toward the blue magic circle. "Well, let''s get going! There are some old friends of mine that I have to kill!" I step onto the blue glowing circle and am immediately enveloped in a bright blue light. I shield my eyes from the light and as soon as I do, the light vanishes. I open my eyes. "Wait... what the fuck is this!" I''m not back at the entrance of the dungeon. Suddenly a message flashes in by vision. Lesser Creshent Forest Labyrinth: 2nd Floor This is the SECOND FLOOR?! This is the second floor of a fucking LABYRINTH?! Why didn''t I ever see a message like that when I walked into the first floor?! Maybe I did and just never noticed it. I was rather preoccupied with running from a massive pissed off troll looking to make me into a meal. I could have just missed it. The message does give me some reassuring information. This says it''s the Creshent Forest Labyrinth. That means it is somewhere in the dense forest that borders the northwestern side of the city. This forest is just north of the road my mother and I would take when we traveled to Creshent for supplies and food. In fact, that same forest is connected to the woods just out behind my home. At least I have an idea where I am now! I look around. I''m in a room I think, but it''s more like I''m out in the forest itself. if it is a room, then it''s a massive room. I teleported here at the base of a massive cliff face. There are large trees here and the bluish-purple sky is present, but I don''t see the sun anywhere. But aren''t I supposed to be underground or in a cave somewhere?! I look around where I teleported in. I''m looking to see if I can get the magic circle to appear so I can go back. I look for switches, buttons, whatever I can find to maybe aid my escape. I even leave the area a bit, wait, and then head back to see if it needed to reset or something. Nothing happened. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. "Well, shit. I guess the only way out is to continue." This is not looking good. If I can''t go back, there is no telling how long I will be stuck here. How many floors are in this place? It did say this was a lesser labyrinth, but that still doesn''t let me know how many floors are in a place like this. It''s not beyond the realm of possibility that I won''t ever be able to leave. I either finish the dungeon or I die trying, and even if I finish, there is no guarantee there will even be an exit! Since I never went to school, I never learned anything about dungeons or labyrinths. I never got the chance to learn about anything. It''s quite possible I''m even more powerful than even my mother was in terms of level and stats, but because of my lacking education, I don''t even have access to the spells that made her so powerful. I certainly don''t have that explosive magic spell she used that night. "I''m beginning to understand why those assholes dumped me down here." How many people have come to challenge this dungeon, only to never be heard from or seen again? Given how strong that first troll was, probably quite a few people. I doubt even my captors wanted to face that thing. Over time people probably just avoided the place knowing that to enter means you won''t ever come back. I unsheathed my daggers and head into the dense woods. Who knows what is lurking in here. How massive is this place?! If this is a room in a dungeon, it sure is massive, as I feel like I''m going to get lost. No matter where I walk, I don''t see any walls. Am I really inside the dungeon? I decide the best course is to just walk in a straight line from where I teleported in. This seemed like the correct answer as it was about 300 feet in when I came to a clearing. I immediately hide behind a tree as I see the clearing isn''t empty. Standing in the center of the clearing is a MASSIVE black wolf. This thing is the size of a mid-size to large SUV back on earth. I don''t like the look of that thing, but I don''t have any choice. I have to press on. I have to fight it. I am now geared and have leveled to the point where even those trolls were nothing to me, so I don''t think this wolf would be much of a challenge. But something still bothers me about it. I slowly enter the clearing and the wolf lets out an ear-piercing howl. I take up a fighting stance preparing for... "SHIT!" I exclaim as in an instant the wolf is right in front of me, covering the 100-foot distance between us in a fraction of a second. It''s FAST!!! It lunges straight at my head. I barely dodge in time. I can feel it''s hot breath on my face, a massive 8-inch canine tooth passing half an inch from my left eye. This thing is much faster than the Minotaur! Shit is this thing even stronger than that boss?! That''s absurd! The wolf passes me, and I immediately spin to face it. It''s coming again. I drop down as it lunges. I kick with my right foot straight up toward the sky, my boot connecting with the hard lower jaw of the beast as it sails over me. A twang of pain actually shoots through my foot at the impact. My kick didn''t even faze the massive wolf. Not even so much as a grunt or a shake of its head to let me know it even had any effect. I get up into a low crouching stance as it turns back for another rush at me. Here it comes. I dodge to the right and. "OOOFFF" air escaped my lungs as it read my dodge and swatted me with its massive paw, its claws digging into my side as it pulls me in. I try to escape as it tries to bite me, but I can''t move quickly enough. The overgrown Chihuahua chomps down on my left leg as its massive teeth shred my muscles like finely honed razor blades. I let out a scream as blood pours from my wound as I struggle, trying to get the beast to release me, it''s powerful jaws not letting me go. I stab frantically at its face trying to hit its eye or something vital so it would let me go, but its head is thrashing so violently, shredding my leg into hamburger, that I can''t hit anything vital and just end up putting slices into its face. This didn''t bother the beast at all, and it continues to snack on my leg. I can hear my femur crunching as it noms on my leg. I''m starting to get exhausted; the blood loss is already taking its toll on me. I''m even starting to feel a bit woozy from the blood loss. This thing is WAY too strong! I drop the dagger in my left hand and use my newly freed hand to grab a handful of fur on its head. I pull myself as hard as I can in an effort to reach past the wolf''s massive head. I swing with the dagger in my right hand and sink the dagger into the wolf''s neck. It''s thick fur and tough hide preventing me from making fatal wounds, but I''m making wounds, nonetheless. I stab as fast and as hard as I can in my weakened state. The wolf fur starts to become matted with blood. I strike about 20 times, shredding the left side of the wolf''s neck. Each strike able to penetrate further as the thick hide providing its defense is now shredded as well. One last swing and the dagger gets buried to the hilt, the wolf letting out a howl and flings me hard to its right, releasing its grip on my leg and sending me flying. I tumble to a stop and immediately look at the wolf to see if it''s coming back. It''s not. It''s thrashing around, blood splashing from its neck wound. I don''t have time to stare! Drop my remaining dagger and I grab my shredded and mangled leg with both hands. "Light Heal!" It''s not healing fast enough! There is too much damage! I directly grab the still broken exposed bone and pour another heal directly onto the bone. "LIGHT HEAL!" I shout and pour more mana into the spell! The bone mends but my heals are not nearly strong enough! I look at the wolf and it''s starting to recover. A new feeling creeping up from the pit of my stomach, a feeling I thought I wouldn''t feel again... Is this... fear? "Shit, shit, SHIT!!" Chapter 20: Cujo and The Blue Lagoon I''m such a fool! I have grown overconfident from what I did on the last floor. All my slaughtering of the trolls and goblins on the first floor made me think I was invincible. My ego grew too big to allow me to believe I could possibly be taken down by any monster in this dungeon. Now look at me. On the floor, desperately trying to heal my shredded leg, while I am woozy from the blood loss I have experienced. I have barely damaged this massive wolf, and it looks like I might just die here. Oh crap, I have to hurry. It''s coming! "LIGHT HEAL!!" That one did the trick and my muscles have healed enough to hold my own weight. The wound still looks like I was mauled by a bear and is bleeding everywhere, but I don''t have any time left. I pick up my remaining dagger and hold it in both hands, as the other one is still by the overgrown mutt. It focuses in on me again. Its eyes contain murderous intent. Like I didn''t fucking know that already! It''s looking at me like I am a delicious bowl of Alpo. "Let''s go Cujo! I got something for you!" The wolf charges me again. I''m not dodging this one though. The wolf opens its mouth wide, still dripping with drool and my blood. I dive straight for that mouth, reaching in as far as I can, and then I plant the dagger deep into the soft tissues in the roof of its mouth. The wolf clamps down on my arm, its razor-sharp teeth sinking into my arm. I let out a scream of pain, but the bite of the dog helps my dagger sink deeper into its head. My arm is already weakened and starting to go numb as more of my blood flows out of the beast''s maw. If I can''t slice through its outside, then I''ll get it from the inside! "EAT THIS! TORCH!!" A blue glow emanates from its maw as a blazing hot flame travels from my hand up the length of my dagger, searing straight into the wound it created. The wolf let''s out a powerful yelp in pain and tries to let me go. I grab the fur above its snout and hold myself steady, keeping the dagger planted deep in its head. The smell of burning flesh, blood, and drool is strong in the air. I pour more and more mana into the spell, making the flame grow hotter and larger. The wolf thrashes violently, this time trying to shake me off, but I won''t let go. I''m holding on to its head fur and my dagger with all my remaining strength. I can feel exhaustion really setting in as my mana, HP, and Endurance are quickly approaching 0. "Come on Cujo! Is that all you got?!" "AAAAAAAGGGHH!!!" I scream and I pour vast amounts of mana into the spell, everything I have left in the tank. Suddenly the massive wolf slows its thrashing, and then stops completely. I see a glow on the top of its head, and soon my flame bursts through its skull, the powerful flame vaporizing what remains of the wolf''s brain. The massive wolf falls over lifeless, its mouth opening as its jaw muscles relax in death. I thud to the ground with the hulking beast. New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! I stop my spell and carefully pull my bloody arm and dagger out from the wolf''s mouth. My arm is completely shredded to match my left leg. I''m amazed it''s still attached, but barely. My dagger clatters to the floor as I can''t retain my grip on it any longer. "Fuck, what level was this thing?!" I say seeing the massive numbers of levels I received. I gained as many levels as I did with that first troll when I was first dumped outside the first floor to this dungeon. Is every floor of this dungeon going to be this much more difficult than the previous one?! This wolf was FAR stronger than the Minotaur boss from the first floor. It seems that even if I become strong enough to easily beat the boss of the floor I am on, I might not be strong enough to even beat the first monster of the new floor. That''s some nasty level gap there. It is almost absurdly unfair. I seriously consider the high possibility that I am going to face an enemy that''s going to significantly overpower me, and that will be the end for me. I can''t get complacent here. This place is far more dangerous than I thought. Lesson learned! I take a seat next to the wolf that''s being absorbed by the dungeon, and I concentrate my remaining MP on healing my shredded left leg and right arm. I took a significant amount of damage this fight. That could have easily gone the other way, and it would be me being absorbed by the dungeon right now. After I finish healing my wounds, without so much as a scar to show for what I went through, I picked myself up, glance at the large mana stone on the floor leaving it where it fell, retrieved my dropped daggers, and turned toward the dense forest again. I can''t stay here. I don''t want to be anywhere near this place when Cujo respawns. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. I begin wandering through the trees and walk for what seems like an hour, still not a single wall to this dungeon to be seen. I walk and walk until I hear something amazing. "Is that... WATER?! Running water?!!! The sound is coming from somewhere off toward my right. I start running toward the sound, it is getting louder the closer I get. I emerge into another clearing where I see a large pond, probably 300 feet in diameter and as blue as a sapphire, with a tall waterfall off to the right. There is a stream off to the left of the far end of the pond from where I''m standing, where the pond water empties off to God knows where. Maybe if I follow that stream it will take me somewhere. There is a large flat rocky outcrop to my right that gently slopes into the water. It''s not that tall, about 6 feet or so. I climb up to the top and survey my surroundings. It''s a beautiful scene. If I could build a house here, I would spend the rest of my life as a happy guy... err... girl... I forgot I''m a girl. I still have the mentality of a... how old am I now? I count on my fingers, 27-year-old man. That''s still some bullshit. Anyway, the pond water is crystal clear. I can see the pond is shallow but then it appears to have a sharp drop off about 40 feet off the shore. I walk over to the water''s edge and test the water with my hand. It''s nice and cool. I cup my hand and bring some up to my mouth and I take a sip. "Mmmm, now that''s what I call high quality H2O!" I say in a particular accent. I walk back up to the flat part of the granite rock and strip off all my gear. This is going to be great! I don''t remember when the last time I went swimming was. I take off at a dead sprint and dive straight into the crystal-clear blue water. I glide through the water, taking a large gulp of the refreshing water as I swim. I float on my back looking up toward the sky, or whatever is up there that is simulating the sky. I know it''s not the real sky as I don''t feel any heat coming from the light as you do from standing under the real sun. I still have not seen the sun at all, so this place must be artificially lit somehow. The water feels amazing against my skin. It actually feels like I''m being rejuvenated by the water, as though my HP and MP are being slowly restored. I wonder if there is actually something to that, or if I''m just imagining things since the water feels so good. I decide to swim out to the drop off and see what''s out there. I take a deep breath and dive straight down. I go down about 30 feet and look around. There are no fish in this pond or any other monsters as far as I can see, though I can see what looks like a structure about 30 feet further down where the deepest part of the pond is. I head back up as I start to run out of air. I float face up on the surface like a log and think of a way to get down there. Already at 30 feet down I was already feeling really uncomfortable from the pressure. Not to mention the problem with holding my breath that long. "Wait, holding my breath?!" An idea poops into my head. I place my hand over my mouth and activate a spell. "Breeze!" I feel air rushing into my mouth. I dive under the water and take a breath. I chuckle as the air from my spell fills my lungs. I''m my own scuba tank! I dive down and slowly swim straight down. Well, that''s a downside to this. With only one arm available, I lose a good deal of propulsion. I swim deeper and deeper as I approach the mysterious sunken structure. The further I go down, the greater the pressure is on my body. Luckily, my Breeze spell seems to add a bit of positive pressure and negates a bit of the exterior pressure, making breathing only slightly uncomfortable. I finally reach the bottom and I''m looking straight at the mysterious structure. It looks like a shrine built straight into the side of the steep underwater cliff. I swim over toward the door, and I see a shimmering surface just inside the door. I touch the surface and it feels like nothing. I reach my hand through, and I feel air on the other side. How is this possible?! I think to myself, completely forgetting that I''m in a dungeon, on a different planet, possibly in a different universe, using fucking magic to breath underwater. That''s a stupid fucking question. I place my feet on the floor of the doorway, and I just take a step right in through the shimmering doorway. I cease my breeze spell as I confirm there is actually air inside of the temple. Well, more like an underwater Grotto. I turn around and glance back at the shimmering surface. That''s crazy. I wonder how the water is being kept out of here. I turn back toward the hallway and lanterns on the wall begin to illuminate with a soft bluish-green glow. I continue on down the hall until this hallway stops and splits left and right. I choose to go right and continue to walk down the hallway that has a gentle curve toward the left, when suddenly something comes out from around the corner up ahead. Is that a fucking shark!! It''s a shark, "swimming" in the air!! What the fuck is up with that?! I just stand there slack jawed, completely perplexed by what I am seeing. Suddenly the shark spots me and starts swimming fast toward me. I jolt back to reality, and I reach for my dagger on my hip. However, I only feel my bare thigh. Shit I''m still naked!! Oh, this is not good! "Ooooohhh shit!" I yell as I about face and sprint away. I hear the gnashing of teeth close behind me as the shark is determined to have some Chris filet for dinner. I have to go faster!!! I hook a quick left into the hallway leading back to the pond. I am not liking how much slower I am without the stat boosts from my gear. Soon I see the shimmering surface in the doorway. I don''t even slow down as I approach the door. "Breeze!" I yell as I slap my hand over my mouth and dive full speed through the shimmering surface. Back in the pond I kick and use my other arm to swim as fast as I can, but I''m MUCH slower in the water. There is no way I am going to get away from that shark now! I''m going to end up as shark bait! FUCK! Chapter 21: The Undersea Grotto I continue swimming but I begin to slow as I notice I should be shark food by now. I stop and look back. There is nothing there. Did it not follow me into the water?! It''s a shark! I just float there wondering why I didn''t follow me. Could it not swim? What an absurd thought that was. A shark only able to swim through air. Maybe it just couldn''t leave the shrine, like the barrier between air and the pond was a zone it couldn''t pass. All I care about is that it is no longer following me, and I can get out of here. I start swimming back toward the surface and to my gear on the rocky outcrop. I sit there drying under what I''m assuming is fake sunlight as there is no sun the light is coming from, thinking of what to do next. I really want to explore that shrine. But flying sharks?! Seriously?! Normally I would be taking a hard pass at that bullshit, but whatever, I fought a fucking Minotaur and bunnies with unicorn horns and pelts like a cheetah. How much stranger is a flying shark?! It was a big fucking shark though! I used to watch Shark Week in my past life, so I know not to fuck with these floating razor blades. I decide I''ll tackle that after I explore this pond a bit and get some rest. That last fight with the massive wolf was a whopper. I seriously almost died! I am still in shock how much stronger that first monster was over the Minotaur boss. I again just got lucky. I put my gear back on and start heading for the waterfall. This is an amazing waterfall. It seems to be about 100 feet high and 20 feet wide, the falling water the same blue color as the pond water. I guess that only makes sense since the pond would be the same color as the water flowing into it right? The rock face behind the waterfall seems to be carved out a bit. I explore that area and find a cave behind the waterfall. Oh yes, the old cave behind the waterfall. How shocked I am that this was here. That was sarcasm by the way. The cave isn''t that large and doesn''t seem to go anywhere, only extending about 40 feet into the rock behind the waterfall with a slight curve toward the left. This seems like a great place to set up shelter for the time being. I spend some time examining the walls looking for hidden doors and whatnot, before deciding the cave is safe and secure. "I dub thee, Chris''s cave!" I say giggling at the stupidity of what I said. I exit the cave and head back exploring around the pond and the stream beyond it. There is nothing of any interest here, just more trees stretching off into the distance. I still don''t even see the edges or walls to this "room" I am in. I start heading back toward the cave thinking about what I am going to do. Considering how much stronger the monsters are on this level, I''m thinking I''m going to spend some time on this floor, maybe even a couple months on this floor farming monsters to raise my level so I don''t struggle as much when I move to the next floor. It is possible that the last floor was only as easy as it was because I got gear drops that significantly boosted my stats as well. There is no guarantee that I will get upgrades on this floor, and even if I do, I doubt the stat increases will be anywhere near as drastic as me going from ripped up clothes to the rare gear I have now. That was a significant boost. As I get closer to the waterfall cave, I head into the forest to scrounge for things I may need. I wander the surrounding forest gathering fallen branches and twigs and bring them back to my cave. I then head back out and gather a bunch of the fallen large leaves from the trees. These leaves are just as large as the leaves from the trees by my house. I bring them back to my cave and lay them on the floor making a nice mat to sleep on. I stack some logs and twigs in the shape of a campfire, and I use my flame spell to light my campfire. I fold my old bloody shirt and lay it off to the side. I then lay down on my mat made of leaves and doze off to sleep. When I wake up, I head back to the granite outcropping and look over the pond. Look at that, it''s still daytime even though I slept for what feels like several hours. It''s time to explore that shrine. I cast my Breeze spell and dive back into the water. Soon I''m back at the shrine door and I pull out a dagger and then step through, ceasing my breeze spell as I pass through. I evaluate the hallway and there is no shark to be seen. Part of me was expecting it to just be there waiting for me to come back. I pull myself together seeing as how the hallway is clear and then grab my other dagger and head down the hallway, once again hooking a right at the end and make my way back to where the shark was. Sure, enough the shark comes around the same corner and sees me. It swims quickly through the air right at me. I smile as this time I am not naked and can fight back. I run at it and slide under it as it opens its mouth to bite me. I stick a dagger in its belly and slice the entire length of the shark as I slide under it. The glorious sound of wet entrails splatting on a hard stone floor greets my ear, and my wicked smile returning as I turn around in time to watch the shark fall lifelessly to the ground. Well, that wasn''t anywhere near as difficult as the massive wolf. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! "Wow really?!" I say surprised such an easy monster gave me two levels. I would expect more of a challenge if its level was that high. It was about the same level difference than I was from the spear goblin during our first fight back on the first floor. That guy gave me some problems the first time we fought, the second time, well let''s say I made a bit of a mess. This shark really didn''t give me any problems like that goblin did. Well, it''s only weapon is its teeth. If you can avoid those, it really doesn''t have much of a way to defend itself. I continue on my way walking the hallways, occasionally coming across rooms with sharks and other various carnivorous fish like piranhas, barracudas, etc. The smaller fish are extremely easy to defeat. Just slice them in half as they fly at you. I continue walking and killing and walking and killing, eventually circling all the way back to the original hallway leading to the pond. I must have slaughtered dozens of fish and several sharks along the way. Well, this seems disappointing, even though I did gain 10 more levels from the dozens of fish and sharks I killed. I consider leaving, but considering this was basically one large circular mini-dungeon, I wonder what''s in the middle? All the rooms with fish and sharks were attached to the outside walls. There were no rooms on the inside walls, leading me to believe there is something in there. There has to be a door somewhere. I work my way all the way back to the other side, completely opposite of the entry hallway, inspecting the inner wall as I walk. Once I reach the far side of the hallway, I spend some time inspecting the wall, paying particular attention to the section between two lanterns that seem closer together than they should be. As I look closer, I can faintly see an outline of a door. I push on it, try to slide it, and even say "Open Sesame!" To no avail, the door remains tightly sealed. I look at the ceiling, and nothing looks out of the ordinary. I hang my head in defeat. Then I see it. There is a small semicircular cutout in the floor in front of the door. There is a small hole leading from that underneath the door. The hell is this for?! Maybe I need to pour water in there? I mean, this is technically an underwater Grotto that''s bone dry. Maybe it requires water? Seems to make sense to me! Let''s give that a try. "Water!" Water begins to fill the half bowl shape and drain under the door. I wait, and wait, but nothing happens. Well, it seems the dungeon isn''t thirsty. "Don''t tell me I need to pee in this thing?!" I laugh at the thought. I''m not going to cop a squat in the middle of a dungeon, though technically I have been doing just that ever since I have been down here. At least this floor is a forest. That makes taking care of that business a lot easier, just find a tree out in the forest. Well, the only thing remaining I can think of is... blood. I wander around until I find a school of smallish flying fish. I kill all but one then I grab the one left over and bring it back to the door. I kneel in front of the door where the bowl is, take out my dagger and I slice the fish in half, allowing its blood to fill the bowl and the pipe running under the door. I toss the fish remains to the side to allow the dungeon to take it back, and then I wait. I continue to wait, but nothing is happening. I sigh as I realize it probably has to be my blood. I take out a dagger and put it to my left wrist. i scrunch up my face as I don''t like the thought of hurting myself. Strange I know. I''m no stranger to pain, in fact I have come to love it. It''s what keeps me going after all. "This shit better work! If nothing happens and I cut myself for nothing, I''m going to reduce this place to dust!" I yell out the warning to the Grotto. I slice my wrist, severing my radial artery. I hold my wrist over the bowl as blood pulses into it. The stream of blood flows under the door. Suddenly the lanterns flanking me turn blood red. A low rumbling sound can be heard and felt. I quickly holster my dagger and cover my bleeding wrist with my hand. "Light Heal." My wrist glows white, but my wrist is not healing. What the fuck? Why didn''t that work?! "LIGHT HEAL!" I pump even more mana into the spell, but nothing happens. My artery continues to pump my blood out of my body. That''s not good. I don''t like this at all. The rumbling increases as the door is pushed inward and swings open, revealing a large circular room probably 60 feet in diameter and a ceiling about 20 feet high. As I enter, lanterns lining the wall illuminate. A good one third of the entire wall on the far end is a massive shimmering wall of water, similar to the doorway to the grotto. There is an amazing assortment of sea life swimming serenely like a massive aquarium. This place is amazing! In the center of the room, sits a throne, a lone man sitting on it. Or it looks like a man. He is half covered in scales with long golden hair that is flowing similar to the way it would underwater. Ornate jewelry adorns his ears, neck, fingers, and wrists. His legs covered by a cloth that seems to flow like it''s made of water. The man stands and greets me. The throne vanishes behind him as he stands. "You who have sacrificed your life essence are granted audience with me. As you have noticed, your wound won''t heal in this place. Your only chance to survive is to defeat me in combat! I will match my weapons to yours. You may attack when ready warrior!" A pair of very ornate daggers appears at his sides, he takes them up and assumes a combat stance. "Well, better make this quick. I don''t have much time left do I?!" I respond to him. Chapter 22: A New Skill A smile forms on the man''s face. I return the smile, eager for the battle ahead. I take up my daggers and charge the man. Our blades clash with an insane ferocity, sparks flying off them with each clash of our blades. Every swing of our daggers is evenly matched by the other. The man is easily telegraphing my every blow and meeting my own daggers with his. It seems we are quite evenly matched. Even though I''m bleeding to death, this arena is perfect. The glow of the lanterns, the massive aquarium encompassing a third of the arena, and the blue-green stones of the floor providing for a perfect grip. It''s perfect. I couldn''t ask for a better place to battle to the death. Both of our attacks are blazing with a fury unmatched in any of my previous fights. I''m launching attacks and defending from his attacks at the same time. Sparks are flying everywhere from our clashes. Neither of us has yet to land a blow to the other. Our battle is a complex and beautiful dance making full use of the whole arena. The smiles on both our faces never wane throughout out battle. Finally, I land a hit. I parry his strike allowing for a quick counter slicing a 4-inch gash on his left pectoral muscle, the wound healing as soon as I make it. Oh, come on! How do I beat that?! The wound I notice looked like I sliced into water. There was no blood, just the appearance that he is made from water. We continue our battle, and I am able to land a few more cuts on the man, each one results the same as the first. A slice appears, but it appears like I just sliced into water. Each wound heals as quickly as I made it. I disengage from the battle and take a few hops back putting some distance between us. I evaluate this new information and formulate a plan. If this guy is made up of nothing but water, the only thing I have to combat this is fire. I guess I have no choice but to use my magic skill that''s quickly becoming a go-to for my fights. It looks like things are about to heat up! "Well, if you are made of water, then let''s see how you deal with a little heat! TORCH!!" Both daggers erupt in pure blue flame, causing them to glow red hot. I resume my attack, our clashes sparking even hotter than before. However, there is something new... steam. With each strike of my blade, there are sparks and an eruption of steam from his daggers. It seems that he is not the only thing made of water. His blades are too! It''s seems I can cause damage without even hitting him directly. I ramp up the ferocity of my attacks, I don''t have a choice. It''s been several minutes and I''m still bleeding out. I can already feel the effects of my blood loss. I push more mana into my blades, increasing the size of the flame and the intensity of the heat. My opponent momentarily recoils from this, obviously not liking the increase in temperature. Even more steam erupts with every blow. The arena is beginning to warm up from the heat from my blades, and the steam released from himself. Sweat is beading up all over my body and pouring down my face. Another parry and I land a slice across his face. A scream of agony erupts from my opponent along with a geyser of steam from the wound. The wound isn''t closing this time, steam steadily pouring out. That''s it! I change my attack pattern. My attacker swings wide with his left, I duck and slice right across his hip, steam erupting from the wound. From my crouched position I slice straight up, slicing clean up his abdomen and chest. A massive column of steam erupts along with another scream. Sweat pours off my body as I easily swat away an attack from my opponent, his attacks becoming more and more uncoordinated as I inflict more wounds on him. The wounds I have inflicted seem to be having a definite effect on his strength, speed, and the coordination of his strikes. I land several more strikes in succession on his arms, face and chest. Each wound erupting with searing hot steam along with screams from my opponent. It seems his time is running out, my blows taking their toll, and not a minute too soon as I''m reaching my limit, both in blood loss and in terms of the unbearable heat from all the steam from his body. "You''re done!" I feint an attack toward his head and when he attempts to block, I land two slashes to his wide-open left side. His arms immediately drop to guard his side and I lay his defenseless throat wide open. His eyes open wide, and his daggers drop to the floor, splashing as they revert to water. With steam gushing from his open wounds, and no longer able to mount an attack on me, he looks directly in my eyes and says, "That was a battle worth dying for." The warrior bows his head toward me. I just nod in agreement, slowly walk up to the honorable warrior, and plant my daggers in his chest. I crank up the mana to my spell and my opponent vanishes in an explosion of steam. I place my daggers back in their holsters and let out a sign of relief and wipe the sweat from my forehead. It got a bit too hot in here. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. That was not the battle I''m used to, but it''s a battle I will never forget. I truly harbor no I''ll will toward that guy. He offered me up with a challenge of battle, and I sensed no real hostility from the man toward me. It was almost like this was a test. A test for what, I have no clue. I just hope my opponent believed my performance to be satisfactory. Suddenly the throne reappears in the middle of the room, and the man swirls back into existence on the throne in a column of water. I just smile as I knew he couldn''t have actually died. It would explain why I didn''t gain any levels from the fight. "Congratulations warrior, you have bested me in combat." He raises his hand, and a white glow appears. The same white glow appears on my wrist and extends to the rest of my body. The wound on my wrist quickly heals, and I begin to feel completely refreshed. In fact, I feel better than I have in a long time. "I have healed your wounds warrior. As a token of your victory, I bestow upon you, my amulet. It''s bestowed to those worthy of being considered a ruler of the seas. I''m sure we will meet again young warrior. I won''t go easy on you next time!" With a final grin at that last comment, he swirls back into water and vanishes into the water behind the throne just as fast as he came. On the throne in his place, a small golden chest appears. I take stock of myself first to ensure I don''t have any other injuries from the fight. I notice that I seem to be completely healed. Not a single steam burn present anywhere on my body. My skin even looks better than it has in a long time. I walk over to the chest and open it. Inside is an ornate gold necklace with a 1 inch aquamarine gemstone inlaid inside it... and a plate of sushi. "Sushi?! Are you for real old man?!" I yell out in disbelief. I have a good laugh at the irony of the plate of sushi and pick up the necklace. I put the necklace on and felt of surge of mana course through me. Well, let''s see what this thing is. Skill Acquired: Water Walker
Water Walker?! What the hell does that mean? Does this mean I can walk on water somehow? What about breathe underwater?! I guess I will figure out what it really does when I get back to the pond. I take a moment to admire the arena once again, thinking this would be a hell of a place to make a base out of. I''ll have to come back and check to see if that Sea King guy respawns or not. I wouldn''t mind another fight with him, especially if he doesn''t go easy like he said! If he doesn''t respawn, then I wouldn''t mind moving in down here. Other than the flying fishies of death roaming the hallways, this place isn''t that bad! Who wouldn''t mind a bad ass room where a third of the room was a massive aquarium that''s at least 60 feet long by 20 feet tall?! I need to figure out a way to get furniture in here! I leave the arena and start making my way back toward the entrance. Oh wait!! My sushi!!! I run back to the arena, and luckily the door opens, and I run to the throne and take the small plate of sushi from the chest. Fucking sushi! I let out a laugh as I walk toward the door, plate of sushi in hand. I return to the hallways and once again start to make my way back to the entrance, enjoying my sushi along the way. I slash and hack any respawns I come across, never missing a step, never missing a delicious bite of sushi. I got another level on the way back too! Sushi and leveling. It doesn''t get much better than this! I arrive at the shimmering doorway just as I finish my final bite of sushi. I want more sushi! That was delicious! Well, let''s see what this new amulet can actually let me do. I decide to first test to see if it allows me to breathe underwater. I take a deep breath then step into the water. I just float there for a second, nervous as hell to take a breath. If this doesn''t work, it''s going to be a real bad time for me. I let out all the air in my lungs... well; it''s the moment of truth! I take a huge breath in, might as well go for broke! Nothing happens. I don''t end up drowning. Wow! It feels just like I''m breathing air! And there is something else I notice now that the worry of drowning at the bottom of a pond in the middle of a dungeon is gone. The pressure of the water at this depth is gone as well! It''s like I''m a fish in her completely natural environment! I start swimming back up to land only to discover I''m swimming just as fast as I move on land!! The water offers very little resistance to my movements. Oh, this is sick! I swim as fast as I can. Blazing ahead at full speed I breech the surface rocketing 25 feet into the air, do a quick flip exhaling a stream of water, taking in a deep breath of air, and dive right back into the water with a 10/10 dive. I blow out a stream of bubbles and inhale a breath of water. Ohhh YEAH!! "Fuck this is AWESOME!!!" I shout overjoyed! "I can talk!!! I can even talk underwater!!!" Oh, this item is amazing! I''m never taking this thing off! I swim around the pond, swimming around, leaping out of the water, and diving back in, for about 20 minutes just enjoying this new ability. I eventually go back to shore and up onto the granite outcropping. I stand there overlooking the pond, overjoyed that I took the time to explore it. It was WELL worth it. I received an item that is sure to be invaluable to me for a long time. I figure it would probably be a priceless item anywhere in this world. Seeing as I finished my exploration of the pond, and there is still plenty of time left in the "day", I might as well go explore more of this dungeon. As I walk into the trees, I think about the days here on this floor. I''m not sure if the day in this dungeon floor is corresponding to the day in the world outside. So far I haven''t seen anything that resembles a sunset or even night in here. Ah who cares? It makes me feel like I am outside, and I like that. Now, let''s go hunting! Chapter 23: Breaking the Pack I wander around the woods for about an hour searching for more clearings, but I came up with nothing. I started following the stream instead, as at least I can follow it back to the pond if this stream were to lead to nowhere. Fortunately, there were several clearings flanking the stream, each of them containing several wolves of with fur that are various grades of the color grey. Each wolf was far smaller than the massive wolf I fought when I arrived on this floor. If this floor was anything like the first floor, then these wolves would be far weaker than the massive wolf I faced when I first got here. I ignored each clearing for the time being as I wanted to continue following the stream to wherever it leads. After that I can go back and start fighting. Finally, the stream leads directly into a massive clearing, and standing in it are several groups of wolves and a few of the massive wolves just like that first one. All this crap in one clearing?! That''s going to be a hard nope from me for the time being. I had a bitch of a time with one of those monstrosities. I''m not about to take on a pack of them! I shudder at what I''m looking at and head back up the stream. I''m not about to fuck with that bullshit. If I run into that clearing now, I''m as good as dog food. I make my way all the way back to the first clearing from the pond and the small pack of wolves there. Might as start my grind here. I circle around the clearing, staying within the forest for now, evaluating each wolf, looking for weaknesses or a way to attack without just immediately getting jumped and mauled to death. I have no clue how strong these monsters are. I really need an ability that allows me to inspect my enemy to see what level they are. Skill Acquired: Inspect I stop looking at the pack of wolves and just stare absentmindedly blinking at the words I just saw in my vision. "A... Are you kidding me?!" I finally croak out, shocked at what I basically wished for coming true. Is this part of my omniscience skill? I can just think of a skill, and I acquire it? I''m going to have to test this out later. First, let''s see how this skill works and if I will actually get any useful information from it. I use inspect on the closest wolf to me: Grey Wolf Lv. 68 HP 2000/2000 MP 0/0 Skills: Bite Maul Ok that''s pretty basic. I haven''t looked at my status in a while, but I estimate I''m several levels above this wolf. I use inspect on the remaining 2 wolves and they are pretty much the same, just varying in level or two in either direction. I can beat them. I have leveled enough after the large wolf and the fish/sharks in the grotto, that I''m pretty sure I''m around the same level as these sharks. I just need to be decisive about my attack and not give them an opportunity to get me. I circle around until I am behind the group, where none of the wolves are directly looking at me. I pick up a stone and sneak into the clearing. I get about 30 feet from the closest wolf, and I toss the rock, not looking to do any damage, but just to get its attention. The rock hits the dark wolf right on the ass eliciting a small yelp from the animal. The wolf quickly turns and charges for me. The other two having not registering the threat yet, but they did turn their heads toward the yelp. They each begin to sprint toward me after they see the one wolf charging me and registering what''s going on. The first wolf reaches me long before the other two. I draw one dagger and wait for its attack. The wolf leaps at me, mouth open wide, aiming its razor-sharp teeth at my throat. The problem with jumping at your target is you can''t change your trajectory once you are in the air. That''s what I was counting on. I sidestep the airborne wolf and lay my blade across its face, slicing one side of its mouth wide open, and dragging the blade along its body as it flies past me. This leaves the wolf with a massive gash the entire length of its body. It tumbles to the floor, thrashing around in pain, but still very much alive. The other two are closing in quickly, so I can''t admire my handiwork just yet. I circle around in order to line up my attackers. Unfortunately, they are close together, so attacking one and ignoring the other would be a fatal mistake. I draw my second dagger and prepare for the assault. When the first wolf reaches me and leaps at me, I sidestep and sink my dagger into its neck, and the second dagger into its abdomen. Then, using brute strength, I arrest the wolf''s momentum, and turn the wolf toward the last wolf now airborne with its mouth wide. It doesn''t get me but rather its companion as it sinks its teeth into my living shield. My daggers being used as handles for my literal meat shield. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. I remove my daggers, allowing the wolf shield to drop to the floor while the third wolf is still mauling it thinking it''s me. I quickly slash the third wolf, severing its head. It''s jaw still clenching its writhing companion. The wolf rises to its feet and thrashes around trying to shake off the severed head that is still clamped down onto its hide. I watch with a smile on my face as the wolf thrashes around, flinging blood everywhere from my dagger wounds and comically, the severed head still clamped down on its hide. I leave the comical scene and face the first wolf I slashed from face to ass. It''s on its feet, but it doesn''t look to be in any rush to attack me. When I move to circle the wolf, I can see why. It''s face is rendered wide open, its chest has a gnarly wound with several ribs exposed, some of which have deep slices in them as well. But the worst was its abdomen where the wolfs intestines are eviscerated in several locations along the gash. I walk up to the gravely injured wolf, and it backs away in fear. My bloodlust rises when I see its fear and injuries. I rush the injured beast and it tries to cower away to protect its injuries. Unfortunately for the wolf, this leaves its neck completely exposed. I slash the exposed neck and am rewarded with a warm spray of blood from a freshly severed carotid artery. The smell of fresh blood is like a drug to me. I get an incredible high when I smell it, and even more so if I feel it fresh from the source. I love being covered in it, the life essence of my foe coating me. I would give anything for this feeling. I leave the fatally wounded wolf to bleed out for the dungeon and I turn to face the second wolf. It finally shook the head loose and I turn just in time to see the severed head rolling away. I let out a small chuckle at the site. This reminded me of the time I punted the severed head of that goblin on the first floor. Good times! The remaining wolf begins to attack me again though it''s two stab wounds, pouring blood, prevent the wolf from putting any real energy into its attack. It tries to leap at me but barely even gets off the ground. I slash with a dagger and cleanly slice off its lower jaw. The wolf no longer has any means of injuring me. I put away one of my daggers, and then I stand over the thrashing animal and grab it by the scruff of its neck. It lets out a gurgling yelp as it curls up in a submissive position. I kneel on the ground and pull the wolfs head on my lap. I then lift its head slightly, slip a dagger under its neck, and slice it wide open. I lay my dagger on the ground and rest the wolfs head on my lap while I pet it. It''s warm blood pulsing out from severed arteries and coating my legs. I continue to pet the fatally injured animal enjoying its life essence pouring out all over me. I stroke its fur until I feel it''s final gasp for air and the final pulse of blood hit my lap. I remain there basking in the carnage until the dungeon starts reclaiming the bodies, leaving me sitting there in an empty field with three mana stones. New Level Acquired! I get up, grabbing my dagger off the floor, holster it, and head back toward the stream. I head toward the other clearings where I repeat the carnage in each one, gaining 3 more levels. Once I eliminated all enemies in every clearing, except for the final one that has several of those massive wolves, I follow the stream headed back toward my pond. I made my way back to the pond but before I get to the water to jump in to wash off, I stop and think for a second. I slowly turn back toward the direction of the first clearing with the massive wolf that almost killed me. I have leveled up almost two dozen times since then, maybe more, so I wonder how I would fare against that monstrosity now. I''m feeling really good and still high from my last kills, so I seriously consider doing it. I make up my mind and I head back to the large clearing and the massive wolf that almost killed me. I soon arrive at the clearing; the massive black wolf is facing away from me. I just stand there in wonder that I actually fought that thing. It''s like fighting a large SUV if that SUV were to have teeth and claws. Let''s see what it actually is, I use inspect. [Elite] Dire Wolf Lv. 80 HP: 5000/5000 MP: 0/0 Skills: Dash Bite Maul Well, that explains why I had such a hard time with this thing. First, it was easily 20 levels above me at the time, maybe even 30 levels, making it much stronger than me. Second, it has that Elite tag, of which I have no clue what that means, but I assume gives it an even greater boost to its stats. Finally, that dash skill. That explains why it got to me in pretty much a blink of an eye. That probably increases its speed by a considerable margin. I have not taken a look at my stats since before I even fought the Minotaur I believe. I don''t even know where I stand at this point. Status Open!
I look wide eyed at my stats. Here I thought I was just about the same level as the wolves I just faced. I guess I wasn''t counting my levels properly. I cannot believe how strong I have become. When I was thrown into this dungeon, I believe I was only level 12, discarded in here as if I were trash. My captors obviously knew this place was FAR above even their levels, and it would make a convenient place to dispose of a person. Who would be stupid enough to even come looking for someone who went missing in here? It''s pretty obvious what that person''s fate would be. I close my eyes and thank them, for if they had not dumped me down here, I wouldn''t have become this strong. I may be thanking them now, but I''m still going to kill them all when I get out of here though. I''m not done yet. This is only the second floor of this labyrinth, and I intend to conquer it all. I open my eyes and fix my gaze on my opponent, blissfully unaware that I''m behind it... Chapter 24: Bloodlust I draw both my daggers and ready for my preemptive strike. I rush into the clearing running as fast as I can; the acute hearing of the monstrosity I am facing alerts the wolf to my presence a moment before I get to it. Unfortunately, there is not enough time for it to react and I land a solid slice across its hind leg, severing muscles and rendering the wolfs left hind leg debilitated. When it noticed me and reacted, it made another mistake by turning toward the left to engage me. By that point I had already sliced its hind leg and I was a few feet from its head turning toward me. My blade finds home in the left side of its neck and blood pulses foreword from the massive new gash in its neck. The blood pours over me as I pass under its neck, my bloodlust ramping up as blood coats my face with a large amount of that life essence filling my mouth. My senses are overpowered and driven into frenzy by the taste and smell of fresh, warm blood. The sudden taste of blood causes my pulse to race bringing more oxygen rich blood to my muscles and organs. My eyes widen, my pupils dilate letting in more light to reach my retinas and heightening my vision. My lungs expand, increasing oxygen capacity and letting in more of that delicious iron smell of fresh blood. My hearing is highly accentuated allowing me to hear the wolf''s heartbeat and the blood flowing through the beast''s veins. My muscles tighten allowing for quickened reactions and increased strength and speed. My whole body bursts to life with a scorching fire burning within me. Skill Acquired: Bloodlust The skill flashes in my vision and my smile takes on a wicked bloody grin. This is true bloodlust. My attack continues as I pass under the wolf''s head, and I slash its right front leg severing it in half. Its large bones are no longer a match for even my small 10-inch daggers in my new heightened state. The beast falls to the dirt as the leg snaps in half unable to hold its weight. The poor animal laying on its left side, it''s back facing me as I lunge forward planting a dagger between its shoulder blades. I rip the dagger along the length of its spine, using its spine as a guide as I filet the massive wolf from neck to tail. The massive wolf that almost made me his dinner not too long ago can do absolutely nothing against me now. The mortally injured wolf let''s out an ear-piercing howl, causing me to momentarily close my eyes and wince as it caused pain to my extra sensitive ears. I open my eyes as I hear lots of things running toward the clearing. I turn toward the edges of the clearing and about 6 smaller wolves rush into the clearing. This wolf called out for reinforcements. I don''t care as this is just more blood for me. A wicked smile creeps onto my face as I welcome the fresh blood. "What the fuck do you think you are going to do?!" I yell as I charge the wolves. In my heightened bloodlust state, they are no match for me. The first wolf I slice nearly in half from its mouth straight to its ass, its lungs erupting from its chest, its organs spilling out onto the dirt. The second wolf I grab by the fur on the top of its head, and it gets its head cleanly lopped off. New Level Acquired! I throw the severed head at the third wolf smacking it hard in its face, the blow momentarily disorienting it as I sever its front right and hind right legs completely off. I turn just in time to see the fourth wolf jump at me. I slam my dagger into the side of its head piercing its brain, the wolf perishing immediately. The fifth and sixth wolf reached me last as they came from the opposite side of the clearing. Each wolf received the same treatment as the first. They both leap toward me side by side and I split them right down their sides as I rush between them, slicing down their bodies as I pass between them. Organs fall into the dirt, and so do the bodies of the now hollow animals. I look at the clearing, enjoying the carnage everywhere. I walk over to wolves who remain alive, and I unalive them with swift slices to their throats. Meanwhile the dungeon is already claiming the first which I killed instantly. My main prey, the massive Dire Wolf, is still alive, but barely as its bleeding out. New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! I walk up to the hulking beast and grab its massive head. I begin slicing through its neck until I get to its spine. I then twist the head violently, snapping its spine and fully severing its head. I stand before the lifeless body and raise the massive head up high. I let out a primal scream as blood continues to drip on me from the severed head. New Level Acquired! Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! I throw the head as hard as I can and stand there, still in a ramped-up state of bloodlust. I don''t come down until the body of the wolf begins to sink into the ground. Once bloodlust fades from me, extreme exhaustion sets in and I collapse to the ground, breathing heavily. I guess the true bloodlust skill has a price, but fuck is it worth it! What I was feeling in my past battles was nothing like this true bloodlust skill. Sure, I felt great, and it ramped up my desire to slaughter, but this true bloodlust... it was like I was a wild animal. All my senses heightened, and my desire for needless slaughter reaching terrifying heights. My body seemed to act on its own, knowing exactly where my enemies were, how they were going to attack, and how to place a decisive counterattack. It must cost a lot of endurance to maintain, but the end more than justified the means. After a light rest, I pick myself up off the floor, holster my daggers and survey the clearing. Over by the large mana stone from the Dire Wolf sits a small pouch covered with black fur. I examine it and scratch my head wondering what it''s used for. It''s only about the size of a small purse, and it doesn''t even look like the Dire Wolf''s mana stone would fit inside of it, as it''s much larger than this pouch. I try to find straps or strings I can use to tie it to my gear somehow, but I don''t see any. When I touch the pouch to my lower gear behind my left dagger harness, it seems to attach itself to my waist. That was very odd, but convenient as I assume it would keep itself attached somehow. I pick up the Dire Wolf''s mana stone, which is the size of a melon, and I bring it to the bag. The opening of the bag opens wide by itself, and I drop the stone into it, the stone seemingly disappearing into the blackness within the bag. The bag''s opening closed on its own and the whole thing returned to its original size, as though nothing was in it at all. My eyes are wide watching this thing work, but it appears I got a magical bag of some sort. I place my empty hand at the opening to the bag and it opened wide enough for my hand to fit through. I reach into the bag, and I can feel the massive mana stone right there, even though the bag is currently MUCH smaller than the stone is. "Fascinating!" I say at this revelation. I wander around the clearing picking up all the wolf mana stones and placing them into the bag. The bag seemed to have no problem fitting them all inside. I take off my daggers and the bag open wide to accept them, then closes as they pass into it, returning to its previous size. "Nice I can store weapons in this thing too!" I open up my status screen and see a new tab named "Items". I select that tab.
It seems this bag has a storage capacity of 16 items, but it looks like items stack as the small wolf mana stones all stacked taking up only one slot. The daggers took up one slot each. I guess equipment cannot be stacked. This in good to know so I can maximize the number of things I can store in the bag. I withdraw my daggers from the bag and place them back in their holsters. I''m exhausted and need to rest, so it''s time to head back to my cave for a nice rest. As I reach the cave, I take a glace over toward the pond toward the Grotto down deep. I enter the cave behind the waterfall, and I roll up my leaf mat and place it into my new bag. I then leave the cave and walk over to the water''s edge and dive into the pond. I swim down to the Grotto entrance, washing off all the caked and drying blood on me on the way. I love this amulet. No need to hold my breath and I can move however I like. It still amazes me. I enter the grotto through the shimmering barrier and begin walking back toward the arena. The same shark comes around the corner, and I ready a dagger, but it doesn''t charge at me like before. I just watch it swim by as it patrols the corridor. Several groups of fish do the same. I assume it is either because I massively out-level them or if it is possibly because of the Sea King''s Amulet I am wearing. I didn''t notice when I left after that battle as I was busy eating my sushi at the time to really notice if these monsters became docile then. Killing fish while eating sushi seemed highly entertaining and ironic at the time. I chose to ignore all the flying fishies of death since they weren''t attacking me anyway, and I continued on my way toward the arena door. Once I arrived at the door, the aquamarine gemstone on the amulet on my neck pulsed with a bright light and the door began to open. I apparently have the key to this place. I enter the arena and it was just as I left it. The throne was still there, but the gold chest was gone. I surveyed the arena again admiring its construction. I then went behind the throne and removed my leaf mat from my bag and laid it out on the floor directly behind the throne. I lay down on my mat with my head toward the throne. This gave me a fantastic view of the massive aquarium wall. It is absolutely stunning. I open my skills screen to take a look at what Bloodlust skill is about. Bloodlust Activating this skill increases all physical combat stats (Str, Agi, and Spd) by 50%. This skill comes at a cost, draining the user''s HP and Endurance at a steady rate. The rate that HP and endurance are drained can be mitigated by Determination stat level, though diminishing returns are perpetually in effect. Wow, I''m level 90 now. Looks like that Bloodlust skill really drained my HP and Endurance quite a bit. I am going to have to be careful when using it from now on. My stomach grumbles loudly as I haven''t had anything to eat since the sushi. I don''t even know how long ago that was. Half a day? Maybe more? I haven''t seen the artificial sky on this floor turn to night, so who knows how long I have actually been here. My eyes get heavy as I allow sleep to claim me. Chapter 25: The Level Grind I wake up from my slumber, let out a large yawn and a big stretch. I take a minute to admire the building size aquarium and then gather myself. Today starts my grind. I plan to farm all the mobs from the first Dire Wolf all the way to the boss room. I''m currently level 90, and I want to be at least level 100, but preferably higher before attempting the boss. I know I can most likely beat it now, but I need to ensure I''m strong enough to face the first Elite monster on the third floor. Considering the difficulty gap between the Minotaur boss on the first floor and the first Elite Dire Wolf on the second, I don''t want to be caught in a position where I might die like last time. I leave my leaf bedding where it is as this will be my home for a little while longer. I walk around the golden throne in the middle of the room and stop at the front of it. Ya know, I have never actually sat in this thing. I park my butt on the throb and let out a big belly laugh with an artificial low tone trying to mimic a fat ruler sitting on his throne. "It''s really not that comfortable." I say noting how it''s just a hard chair with no ergonomic properties whatsoever. My stomachs let''s out a massive gurgle informing me that I have been without nourishment for some time now. I know just the thing for breakfast! I leave the arena and start making my way toward the exit to the pond. I pass many schools of lethal flying fish inspecting them closely for possible deliciousness. Nothing looks good at the moment. Then I got a good idea. I ignore all the fishies until I came to a shark. This will be perfect. I had the opportunity to try shark when we went on vacation to Hawaii, and it was pretty good! I mean I would MUCH rather have a nice stack of pancakes, waffles, or at least a frosted Pop-Tart, but alas I''m stuck in a fucking dungeon. My options are fish or dog. I already tasted Cujo yesterday, and wouldn''t mind some Cujo-Asada, I think fish would be easier to procure at the moment. Killing the shark was easy as picking it from the shelf at the grocery, since it wasn''t hostile to me at all thanks to my amulet. I just slashed it from jaw to tail allowing the entrails to fall to the floor. So satisfying. That makes my blood boil every time I see that. Once that was done, I cleaned off any attachments for the entrails, then literally picked up the whole shark and put it in my bag. Seeing the small pouch the size of a softball open wide to swallow a massive shark whole, then shrink back down to its normal size, is just funny to watch. I chuckle knowing a full 10-foot shark is inside this tiny pouch. I''m not even sure if this would work to be honest. Can the dungeon reclaim the dead shark from my inventory, or can I keep it and cook it? I stand and wait until the dungeon absorbs the shark''s entrails, then I reach into the pouch and feel the shark safe and sound inside. It looks like I can keep it. I probably just need to keep it off the ground or the dungeon will take it. I make my way back to the pond and swim back to the granite outcropping. This will do nicely for a breakfast spot. I scrounge the forest for sticks and logs until I have a campfire built. I then surround the logs with several flat rocks with about a foot of space between them. I sharpen a few sticks into skewers then set everything aside. I light the fire and then I go and retrieve several large leafs and set them on the rock. I will probably have to be quick about this before the dungeon does its thing. I pull out the shark carcass and lay it on the leaf mat I created. I begin filleting the shark. As it turns out the dungeon didn''t reclaim the shark while I was working on it. It seems the dungeon knowns if you are using something and refrains from reclaiming it until you are finished. Parts I discarded such as the head, bones, and skin of the shark were reclaimed by the dungeon almost immediately. It''s nice to know you don''t have to worry about clean up. Just throw shit anywhere you want, and, in a minute, it''s gone! I even notice my old campfire in the cave was completely cleaned as well, without a single trace of it having been there. The dungeon didn''t take my leaf mat though. Interesting. I wonder how long I can keep raw meat in my pouch. Will it go bad or will it keep fresh. It is a magic pouch after all. After slicing up the shark into smaller fillets, I start dumping them into my pouch knowing they will stack inside. I keep a couple fillets out and proceed to cut them up into kabob size cubes which I then stick onto the skewers I made. I lay the skewers on the flat rocks surrounding the fire. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. I sit back and relax as the fire cooks my breakfast, or lunch, or dinner. Who knows. It''s perpetually daytime in this place. I have no clue what time of the day it actually is outside of the dungeon. I could very well be eating at 2am right now. If I was old enough to drink, I''d be saying "fuck it, it''s 5 o''clock somewhere!" At least that''s what I heard my dad say on more than a few occasions. Had to google that one to figure out why he was saying that. My meal is finally done, and I sit back on the rocks and enjoy some nice hot shark skewers. Well, enjoy is kind of a stretch. It''s bland as fuck. I do t exactly have a professional kitchen packed full of herbs and seasonings. Would it kill this dungeon to have a fucking lemon tree?! After eating I toss any leftovers that were over cooked and headed off to the forest to begin my slaughter. I don''t even bother extinguishing my fire. What''s it going to do, burn down the dungeon?! If it does, I have a convenient underwater home I can retreat to until everything burns, or the dungeon fixes it. Maybe that''s worth a try. Burn the forest down. Maybe the dungeon will get pissed and kick me out! Yeah right. I might burn this place for shits and giggles if I get bored enough. I begin my grind back at the starting Dire Wolf. I can kill it easily enough now that I''m stronger than it is. I make quick work of the wolf with a few looped off limbs and a deep slice through its neck. It actually dropped its pelt this time. I think this will make a more comfortable bed than some stupid leaves. I stuff the massive pelt into my pouch with another chuckle at the comical scene. I goof it back to the stream draining off the pond and follow that which leads to several clearing with wolf packs. These are even easier to kill now as I far out level them. I clear out clearing after clearing until the large clearing with several wolf packs and two Dire Wolf Elites. I assume this clearing is guarding the way to the floor boss. I make quick work of the dozen small wolves and both Dire Elites leaving the ground stained red. I spend my day going back and forth from the entrance clearing to the door to the boss room, slaughtering every wolf I can find. In doing so I figured out the spawn rate for the mobs in this dungeon. It takes around 30 minutes for the regular wolves to spawn, and around an hour for the elite Dire Wolves to respawn. After I cook up some lunch, I come up with a routine for the foreseeable future. Basically, I''m going to start at the first entrance clearing with the Dire wolf, then make my way all the way to the boss room. It''s about a 30-minute hustle if I walk quickly, but I can run the full distance in a few minutes at my current top speed. I figure as I level, I''ll be able to run this faster and faster as I am able to dispatch the wolves faster. My goal is to get to the boss room as fast as possible, wait for the regular wolves to respawn, then fight my way back to the first clearing in time for the Dire wolf to spawn. It''s all about maximizing kill time and minimizing downtime. I have been keeping up this routine for about two months now, presumably. The only way I can measure the passage of time is with the respawn rates for the wolves. I spent a good portion of every "day" farming the wolves. I trudged through this grind day after day. I sustained myself off nothing but fish and wolf steaks. God what I wouldn''t do for a fucking Hot Pocket right about now! As a result, I am now level 120, and can kill an elite Dire Wolf in less than a second. I figured this was a good stopping point as gaining levels has all but stopped for me. Took me 2 and a half days of farming wolves to get from level 119 to level 120. Spending any more time here would be pointless and I would probably go insane as well. Well, more so than I already am. On the bright side I did get a bunch of gear and item drops from the thousands of wolves I killed. I found 3 more of these small black wolf pouches. I got new gloves from a Dire Wolf, and several other pieces of gear that didn''t seem like they would benefit my current build. Since my Assassin class gives boosts to agility and speed, then any gear without these stats is useless to me, even if the other stats are far higher than on the current gear I''m wearing. The exception being the new gloves, as I wasn''t wearing any gloves before, so I really didn''t care that there was no agility and speed on them. The extra boosts to my stamina strength and determination were well worth it. I also found out that the maximum amount of small mana crystals that I can stack in a single item slot in a bag is 999. The large mana stones from the Elites top out at 99 per slot. I figure it''s because they are so much larger. Fig size versus small melon size. I also obtained a crapload of small wolf pelts and a couple hundred Dire Wolf pelts. I packed another bag entirely with fish fillets and wolf steaks. I learned quickly that items stored didn''t rot, so the first few shark filets I put in my bag were just as fresh when I removed them almost a week later. The same worked with cooked foods. If I put a piping hot fish filet fresh off the fire into my bag, I could pull it out days later and it''s just as hot. These bags are convenient as fuck. I decide to check my status before I move on just to make sure I''m happy with my progress.
Satisfied at where I stand at this point in time, I see no reason to not challenge the boss and move on. I turn toward the large ornately carved wooden doors in a massive tree at the back of the clearing. I walk up to the doors and push them open. I walk through the doors and through the tunnel bored through the tree and emerged into a gorgeous clearing. Chapter 26: The Four-tailed Kitsune Four-Tailed Kitsune Skills: Chapter 27: A Battle with a Legend "Time to die..." the female voice says coming from the samurai. The samurai reaches for its sword and crouches in an attack stance. I pull my daggers quickly and not a second too soon as the samurai bursts from its position, draws its sword from its sheath and slashes at me in one fluid motion. I was barely able to get my daggers up in time to block the hit. The clash of metal on metal produces a shockwave that cracks the air and flattens the grass beneath our feet. "AAAARRRGGGHHH" I grunt loudly as the force of the hit pushes me backward. I''m sliding on my feet being pushed back by the samurai, when I look down. My eyes open wide in shock as I see the samurai''s blade has sliced into my daggers about half an inch. That''s one fucking hell of a blade to damage my daggers like that. I have been using these daggers for a long time now. They withstood direct hits from the troll''s and even the Minotaur''s blades, and not even suffered so much as a dulling of the blade. I have used them to slaughter thousands of monsters, used them to fillet fish and wolves. I have used them to cut logs for my fires and even hacked away at rocks to form items I wanted to make. Never before has anything so much as even made the luster of the blade dull down. But here is this samurai. Her blade sliced into my blades with ease. We skid to a stop, I kick with my right leg, and she jumps back then immediately lunges with another swipe from her sword. I parry the blade, but the long slender sword was able to make a small laceration on my forearm. I hop backward and assess the slice on my left arm. My eyes widen as I watch the blood oozing from the wound float away from me, headed directly for my opponent''s sword. The blood impacts the blade and I watch it soak into the blade. I hear an ethereal voice chuckle from under the helmet of the samurai. I burst forward attacking my opponent with a flurry of strikes from my blades. *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *SLASH* *CLANG* *THUD* *THUD* *CLANG* *CLANG* *THUD* *CLANG* *CLANG* *SLASH* *CLANG* *THUD* *THUD* *CLANG* *THUD* *SLASH* *CLANG* *CLANG* *THUD* *CLANG* *SLASH* My furious attacks deftly blocked numerous times by the samurai, but some of my blades connect with its armor. However, not so much as a scratch was made on the samurai''s armor. What the fuck is this shit made of?! The samurai however was able to land a few more hits on me. I have slices on my arms, legs, and a few small ones on my chest, the samurai''s blade having cleanly sliced through my leather armor like it wasn''t even there. The blood from my numerous lacerations flowing to the samurai''s blade. I notice the blade begin to take on a green hue. In the midst of our battle the samurai bounces back and yells out: "Iaijutsu- Shifu!" A lightning-fast strike comes from my opponent, I try to block it, but I was nowhere near fast enough to get my daggers up in time to make a defense. The blade slices cleanly from my right hip up through my chest to my right shoulder. My fur lined leather vest falls asunder, sliced apart by the strike like it was tissue paper. I screech in pain, grab my chest and hobble away. A big bellowing laugh emanates from the samurai. My blood is pouring toward the samurai, absorbed in a stream by her blade. The samurai doesn''t attack, and I cast several heals and the wound decreases in size until it''s about a few inches across. I cast another heal and the wound closes. I breathe a sigh of relief, then gasp in shock as the wound reopens and slowly starts expanding in the direction the slash hit, my blood once again flowing to the samurai. I heal it again and the wound closes then immediately opens again, the laceration widening by about a quarter of an inch per second. I can''t stop it! "What the fuck did you do!" I yell at the samurai. "Prey doesn''t get to ask questions from the predator!" The samurai responds with a laugh. I have to change tactics. I need to get through her armor. My blades can''t even make a scratch on it. I look at my blades and they both contain numerous gashes and chips where our blades clashed. My daggers are thrashed. Pretty soon they will be useless. The samurai''s armor and weapon far outclass my daggers and armor. The samurai takes a battle stance, holding the blood absorbing sword like a baseball bat. Then I see it. Her armpit. There is no armor covering her armpit! That''s my only area of attack! The samurai dashes at me for another attack. *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *SLASH* *CLANG* *CLANG* I do my best to fend off the samurai''s attacks, our clashes further damaging my daggers. She landed another slash on my left wrist, my gauntlets lessening the blow a bit, but the blade still finds a small bit of flesh. The samurai take another swing at me, this one coming from down low to my left, angles upward to my shoulder. I meet the blade with my left dagger, parrying the lethal blade and deflecting it higher to my right. The right armpit of the samurai is exposed. I quickly swing the dagger in my right hand at an upward angle and bury it in the samurai''s armpit. The blade sinks in about 6 inches. I quickly twist my blade and slice as I pull out the blade, the jagged and gnarled edge of my blade tearing at the flesh as it is withdrawn. The samurai screams in pain and backs away guarding the now wounded right side. I take this moment to heal the expanding laceration on my chest before it gets too large again. The wound closes but once again slowly opens back up and continues to expand. I notice the samurai''s sword is glowing green again, meaning it can do another one of those attacks now. Not good at all! The samurai readies again but doesn''t make a move to strike. That''s ok, I''ll make the move this time. I dash toward the samurai and swipe hard at its neck area, my blade passing cleanly through, but nothing is there. The image of the samurai fades away and I''m suddenly slashed from behind. My gear sliced cleanly through, and a deep laceration traverses my back from left hip to my shoulder. I grasp at my injured back and tumble away. What the fuck was that!! It just vanished and slashed me from behind! How the fuck do I defend against that? The samurai resumes its normal attacks. *CLANG* *CLANG* *SLASH* *CLANG* *CLANG* I do my best to fend off the attacks, but she gets another slice on my left forearm. Blood is pouring off of seemingly every area of my body. A cloud of red pouring out of me and being absorbed by the samurai''s sword. I see the color change from green to red. What the fuck does this mean?! I stand facing my enemy, my daggers at the ready. I don''t know how I''m going to defeat this monster. I don''t have much left in me. Suddenly... "Iaijutsu- Sazan!" Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. The samurai dashes forth with lightning speed, chunks of dirt and grass blasted from the area it was standing from the force of its launch. As it reaches me it stops and launches three slashes in rapid succession. SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! Blood suddenly burst forth from my chest and abdomen as the strikes land clean, one diagonal from my left hip to right shoulder, another from my right hip to my left shoulder, and the third directly across my abdomen. I am launched backward about 20 feet from the force of the strikes. I skid to a halt, my brain not having realized what just happened yet. When it catches up, I screech out in tremendous pain. I fall over onto my back, daggers clattering to the floor as I begin thrashing around and grasping at the massive wounds on my chest and abdomen. My blood, boiling from my wound, flies toward my opponent''s sword to charge it once again. I begin to calm down and look toward my opponent. She is standing back up having completed her attack. Shit, she is coming. My head feels dizzy and I''m getting a bit woozy from the sudden massive blood loss. I shout out quick heals in rapid succession. The samurai begins walking toward me again. I''m able to lessen the wounds significantly by the time she starts to get close to me, but they are still oozing blood, blood to fuel her sword apparently. The expanding wound that won''t heal was also healed a bit my efforts as it''s right next to the new cuts. I quickly toss a heal to the slash on my back to lessen the blood flow from that. I have to minimize my bleeding so that fucking sword doesn''t glow again! I can''t take another of those hits! I pick up my daggers and launch myself at the samurai, hoping to catch her off guard. My blade passes through the motionless samurai, the image starts to fade. My eyes go wide, and I immediately launch myself forward and to the left, the samurais strike missing my back but still landing a small cut on the back of my right shoulder. I don''t have a choice now. I have to find a way to combat this move. My only chance is that... Bloodlust. I have to make this count as this skill drains me of my HP and endurance over time, both of which I''m already running low on. It''s now or never! "BLOODLUST!!" I scream out and activate my skill. A desperate thirst rises from within my gut. A maddening desire to maim and slaughter takes over my mind. My senses immediately enhanced several times over. My muscles tighten, my heart beats faster, my lungs expand deeper. The pain from my wounds is numbed. "LET''S GO!!" I shout out and launch at the samurai, arriving in a split second. I sense something else and turn away from the samurai in front of me, as I hear its footsteps to my left. My spin to the left so fast I appear as a blur. The samurai is slicing from the left horizontally to the right, the previous samurai was a fake. I slam my dagger into the blade. *CLAAANG* A massive shock blasts from the clash as the samurai''s blade is blocked and reflected back to the left. Before she can react my right foot connects with the left side of her head. *BOOOOM* Another shockwave radiates away at the speed of sound. The samurai''s head snaps to the right and she is sent flying from the force of the kick. I blast forward and catch up with the samurai as she is still flying back. I land a slice under her left armpit as I pass by the flying warrior, my gnarled dagger tearing at the soft flesh underneath. I grab the warrior by its neck from behind and pull it into a choke hold with my left arm. My right arm is furiously stabbing my dagger into the samurai''s left armpit. The samurai thrusts the pommel of her sword backward and it smashes into my left ribs causing me to loosen the choke hold. This allows the samurai to break free. She bounds forward then quickly turns; her arms raised above her head to strike. I immediately dash forward as the samurai begins to slice downward. I make a quick upward slash with my right dagger, my blade impacting the falling sword with a loud crack. *CLAAANG* The force of the two blades sends the samurai''s sword recoiling back over her head, her arms lifted high into the air trying to control the recoiling blade. I bring my daggers down and swing them wide to my sides and then slam them both inward. The blades pierce the samurai''s chest just below the armpit into the small space not covered by the chest piece. I bury both daggers to the hilt. "Let''s see how you take this! TORCH!!" A bluish/white flame erupts from my hands into the blades. Smoke pours from the samurai''s mask as lung tissue is seared by the flames. I ceased my spell and let go of my left dagger leaving the searing hot blade buried in the Samurai''s chest. I pull my right-hand dagger from the warrior''s chest and swiftly move behind her. I rip her helmet off with my left hand and hold her head by the muzzle. I lift her muzzle up exposing her neck, then I place my blade to her neck and rip my blade against her neck. My battered and chipped blade sliced and shredded the skin, muscle, and arteries of the Fox''s neck, blood erupting from the wound. I back away watching my foe bleed out. The samurai''s sword clatters to the grassy floor as she falls to her knees. I slowly walk to my fallen foe, drop my tattered dagger, and pick up her sword. Its power is evident as I hold the weapon. I feel a thrum of power coursing from the blade through my hands and into my arms. This is definitely no ordinary sword, the slices adorning my body and my shredded equipment is an attestation to that fearsome power. I examine the blade. It''s just as sharp and pristine as the day it was forged. Throughout our battle, not even so much as a blemish has appeared on the blade. I walk behind just off to the right of the kneeling samurai, and take my stance, sword lifted high. The blade still drawing in my blood. The fox turns her head toward me, a warm smile on her face. She speaks in a hoarse voice, her larynx damaged by my dagger when I cut her neck. "You have fought honorably little one. I look forward to watching you and see how much stronger you will grow. Seek out your vengeance warrior but know it won''t satisfy you. Your true goal is much larger than those measly bandits. Take that sword as my gift to you. It will serve you well." As the fallen fox bows her head in reverence to me, I quickly slice downward, the sword cleanly and effortlessly slicing through her neck. Her head falls to the forest floor and rolls a couple times before coming to a stop. There is no blood, but a bright blinding light growing from within the fallen samurai. The light overwhelms my vision and I raise a hand to shield my eyes from the light. Suddenly, the light dissipates in a flurry of whitish/purple orbs that drift off in all directions only to fade away. I notice the sword in my hand does the same. When my vision clears and I''m able to focus again, I notice the samurai''s sword in its Saya, floating about a foot off the forest floor where the samurai fell. Chapter 28: The Stuff of Legend Utsusemi Move with godlike speed, leaving a shadow image in your stead. 30 second cooldown. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Iaijutsu Weapon skill made available through the Passive Ability: Blood Absorption. As the sword consumes the blood of your foes, the sword''s Hamon begins to glow green, red, or violet, depending on the amount of blood it absorbs. Using Iaijutsu unleashes the attack corresponding with the color displayed. May use any lesser form of Iaijutsu even if the blade is showing a higher color. Using Iaijutsu consumes all absorbed blood, and the sword reverts to its inert state (White Hamon). Chapter 29: A Legendary Power [Floor Boss] Fenrir Wolf Skills: Lesser Creschent Forest Labyrinth: 3rd floor [Elite]Greater Blue Cave Ogre Skills: New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! Chapter 30: A Tall Tail "Jesus Christ!" I say with fear in my voice. I am soooo glad that the Kitsune samurai didn''t use this weapon skill on me. That was absolutely ridiculous. That weapon skill was so overpowered. There is zero chance that I would have survived that strike. It would have been me left in a pile of body parts on the floor of the forest. A cold chill runs down my spine at the thought of it. All I can do is stand there as the dungeon absorbs the massive blood drained body parts. The blue mist of the Ogre''s life force absorbed by my armor shortly after it fell. I am still standing there long after the ogre is gone, my brain still trying to process the power that I now command. I hold up my sword, it''s edge glowing red. I look at it with a newfound respect for its power. Its item is tagged as Legendary, and now I can see why. This blade if seen in ancient Japan, would certainly have spawned the legend that spanned 500+ years. Imagine being in ancient Japan, and you watch as someone is sliced six times, then the attacker snaps their fingers and the victim bursts into a pile of body parts, his blood flowing to the sword where it is absorbed. That would terrify the whole country as that story is passed on from person to person. I sheathe my sword thinking how it''s actually convenient that I don''t have to clean blood off of it like I used to have to clean my daggers. Even my armor is spot free as the sword pulls all the blood to it. Thirsty little bastard isn''t it! I walk up to the Ogre''s mana crystal and marvel at its size. Even the mana stones from the large wolfs were not anywhere near this size. I guess it makes sense as a building is larger than an SUV. The stone is about 5 feet in diameter, and I watch the absurd scene of my tiny item pouch comically expand to accommodate the massive stone. The pouch returns to its original size, and I continue to walk on through the cavern. The back of the massive cavern I fought the ogre in slightly narrows, but the cave is still massive with over 80-foot-high ceilings and a width of over 120 feet. It isn''t long before I meet with large packs of Trolls similar to the ones on the first floor, just larger, and Lesser Ogres, each of which is about the size of a two-story house. Each pack contains 5-7 monsters and each sporting different types of weapons, spell casters are also present among the groups. I am not too concerned with these groups, or even the spellcasters as the way I am now, there is not much they could do to harm me. I am sure that the small Goblin spell caster on the first floor who cooked my arms, wouldn''t have done nearly as much damage had I been wearing my Beast Tracker''s gear, and not the tattered clothes with zero defense on them that I was wearing at the time. I cut down the first group of Trolls and Ogres without much effort, leaving the one caster troll still alive to test something out. I inspect the troll to see what he is all about. Troll Shaman Level 110 HP: 8,000/8,000 MP: 4,000/4,000 Skills: Lesser Heal Healing Wind Stone Wall Stone Bullet Cave-In Well, well! This guy has a few spells! I take note of the names of the spells that I don''t have. This is what I wanted to see. Since I don''t feel like experimenting like I did when I was much younger to find spells, I''ll just use my Inspect skill on caster monsters and note the names of their spells. Then I can play with them and learn those spells later. I already saw the lightning spell from the normal 2nd floor boss, and that''s what gave me this idea. Anyway, since I got what I wanted, I dash toward the Shaman before it could even raise its staff and proceed to slice its head clean in half. The Troll drops lifeless to the ground, and I walk around picking up the mana crystals as my sword finishes absorbing blood and my armor absorbing the blue haze of life essence. Suddenly my body glows white for a few seconds and then the glow vanishes as suddenly as it appears. I catch a glimpse of something silver and purple in my periphery and turn my head to see what it was. What I see is a fluffy silver tail with purple accent toward the tip of the tail. "Oh, I got my first tail!" I shout with excitement! I quickly check my stats to see how this affects the numbers.
Wow that''s so amazing! This armor set is so overpowered. I wonder if the Kitsune possibly considered the possibility that I might actually beat her, if she would have even fought me to begin with. After all, she was angry that I slaughtered so many wolves. Didn''t she realize that if I got access to her gear and weapon that I would become so far and away more powerful that future mass slaughter is inevitable? Well, I guess if our paths cross again in the future, I''ll ask her. After I finish admiring my stats and new fluffy tail, I continue on my journey through the cavern. I should perhaps clarify something. My tail isn''t actually physical. I can''t actually touch it. It seems to be made of just energy. When I try to touch it my hand passes straight through it. It looks very real though! I continue making my way toward the boss room, slaughtering group after group of Trolls and Lesser Ogres, until I come to another stadium size cavern with 2 Greater Cave Ogres in it. The one on the left looks very similar to the first one I faced when I arrived on this floor. It''s blue with a single horn protruding from its forehead. It sports the same tree sized club. The one on the right is a more reddish color with the same growths dotting it''s hide. It has one horn on the left side of its forehead and a smaller one on the right side of its forehead. He is sporting two massive hand axes. Each axe is as large as the front side of a whole house! This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. My sword is glowing purple again by this point, but I don''t feel like using the weapon skill at this time. It seems just too overpowered. What fun is it to just cut down a building size monster in seconds. That''s not much of a fight. I want to see how these massive Ogres fight. I walk up to the Ogres, and they begin their thunderous march toward me. I keep my sword sheathed for the time being. I want to test my speed and strength against these two. The Ogre on the left meets me first. It swings the massive tree size club at me and it''s swing is fast enough that I literally can feel the air in front of it being compressed as it passed by. I easily dodged the swing. Obvious being so massive, they are not going to be fast at all. Well, at least in comparison to how fast I am now. Even with my previous gear, I''m sure I could still dodge these attacks... well, maybe. After dodging trees and house size axes for a little bit, I decided it''s time to test out the next thing I want to see. Since I got this sword, I have wondered if I have to use the weapons skill according to the color it displays. What would happen if I used one of the others when the sword is glowing violet? Well, that''s what I''m going to test right now. I dash to my left so I can isolate the blue ogre from the red one. As soon as I have the Blue Ogre between me and the red one, I use it. "Iaijutsu- Shifu!" The first weaponskill that is available when the blade glows green. As before, I lose control of my body as it starts to move on its own. I launch off the ground with a powerful jump, the ground cracking from the pressure of the jump. I head straight for the chest of the Blue Ogre, who rears his tree to try and swat me out of the air. Unfortunately, there is no way he will get his strike off in time to stop my attack. As I reach the Ogres chest, I fear the sword up high and slash straight down creating a gash in the dead center of the Ogre''s chest. As with before, my body impacts the Ogre''s chest and springs off it in a backflip. I once again land silently on the cave floor, the Ogre''s swing at that point passes far overhead at the point where I was initially headed toward the Ogre. I stand back and watch the wound I created. It''s not large, only about 3 feet, but that''s not what matters. The cut could have been 3 inches and that''s all that I would need for the skill to work. I watch as that 3 foot cut starts expanding. It''s expanding at a much faster rate than when I was hit with it. Perhaps it''s due to the size of the target as I''m much smaller. The slice is expanding at about a foot per second in each direction on the 40 meter (131 foot) tall ogre. The important thing is this Ogre has no way of stopping the growth of the cut. I look down at my sword and it''s glowing white, the entire bank of consumed blood utilized for the attack. Perhaps that''s why the growth of the cut is so much faster than it was when I was hit with it. The effectiveness of the skill was increased with the additional stored blood. The blood pouring into my sword from the Ogre is increasing as the cut increases in size. It''s already about 20 feet long now. The Ogre seems to notice the growing cut on its chest and the blood flowing from it. It starts swatting at the blood leaving its body toward me. The Red Ogre by this time has made its way around its mountainous partner and is reading his axes to attack me. I let it strike, the massive blade''s edge as long as a regulation soccer goal falling toward me. A weapon this size it wouldn''t matter how sharp it is, as anything would be flat out crushed by it. I slash at the axe''s edge right before it strikes me, a loud resonating dong sounds out from the massive axe as my blade makes impact. My blade slices a foot into the axe''s edge and then the force of my counter strike pushes back the axe and the massive arm holding it. The force of the pushback enough to make the giant tumble backward. My blade returns to a green glow from the blood flow coming from the blue ogre, it''s wound now 40 feet long and a foot deep. I immediately use my weaponskill on the recoiling Red Ogre. "Iaijutsu- Shifu!" I again rocket on auto-pilot toward the massive Ogre, my trajectory taking me to its neck. Once there a swift slash is performed creating a 3 foot long slice across the Ogre''s neck. I again kick off the towering beast and land silently on the cave floor. I stand back and watch as the wounds expand, their victims grasping at the wounds trying to stop the bleeding. The wound on the blue Ogre is now almost the entire length of its body, and still continuing its advance. I watch as the wound starts opening up its neck as it heads higher and higher. The Red Ogre''s wound has encircled halfway around its neck, blood pouring out of its wound, but the best has still yet to come. Neither Ogre seems to have any interest in me anymore, only in trying to stop their own demise, which ironically would only happen if they were to kill me. Ignoring me seals their fate. I watch as the Red Ogre''s wound completely encircles its neck, the only way the cut has left to expand is deeper. The Blue Ogre now has a wound that has split its face directly in half. Running around the towering monster, I can see blood flowing from the back of its head as the wound had traveled over the Ogre''s head and is heading down the back of its head. I hear a crack as the horn on its forehead cracks clean open, split down the middle by the same wound. *BOOOM* A loud boom echoes through the cavern as the Red Ogre falls to its knees. Smaller booms echo through the cavern as its axes fall to the stone floor, abandoned by their wielder who is now grasping at its neck as the proverbial noose tightens around its neck. Suddenly a massive eruption of blood erupts from the Ogres'' neck as the wound carved deep enough to slice through its major arteries. *BOOM* Another boom rocks the cavern as the Blue Ogre lets his tree sized club fall as it starts grasping at its wounds. Blood now pouring out from its pants as the wound carves its way around down there and back up the other side. Soon the two edges of the wound meet and the wound completely encircles the Ogre''s body. The Red Ogre''s arms fall to its side, its eyes rolling back into its head as the wound in its neck completes. The Ogre''s head falls from its body and impacts the ground with a tremendous thud. The blue ogre lets out a roar as the same process is happening to him. The roar is cut short and the Ogre falls to its knees as the wound begins slicing through its brain. Guttural sounds are all it can produce, and muscles twitch as nerve connections are severed. It''s abdomen bursts open and massive intestines fall to the floor. No such thing as a satisfying plop sound when the intestines are that size. The smell is absolutely horrific as the wound slices even the intestines, spilling their contents all over the cavern. The scene is something out of a horror movie as the wound completes and the whole Ogre is split in two, each half falling away from each other. Guts and blood fly everywhere from the ogres exposed body cavity. I had to retreat back a few dozen feet to avoid getting splashed with god knows what that''s coming out of that monstrosity. The flow of blood finally ends and the souls of the Ogres are added to my growing collection. This attack, while presumably the weakest of the three weapon skills, is no less lethal. Left unchecked, the wound will completely sever whatever it hits. Like the blue ogre, a direct vertical slash will eventually slice you in two. Like the red ogre, even a small cut on one''s neck will result in decapitation. There is no question about it, it''s a certainty. Chapter 31: A Colossal Find New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! I''m thankful when the dungeon begins absorbing the ruined Ogres. It couldn''t happen fast enough in my opinion. The smell from the Ogre I split in half was absolutely revolting. Even after it''s completely absorbed, the stench lingers on. There is no breeze in this cave to blow out the smell. I start collecting the massive mana stones when I notice a suit of armor behind one of them. It''s a shiny silver scale mail chest piece. I pick it up and place it in my gear pouch. That will probably fetch a pretty penny somewhere. I have no clue how high people''s levels are in the cities and around the country. I''m sure there are higher level adventurers, but if a dungeon like this one is ignored, perhaps the levels of the monsters are far higher than the levels of you average adventurers. As such, I doubt even the most powerful of them would have access to gear dripped by a level 120 monster. People may drop their entire life savings trying to obtain something like this. After gathering all the dropped stuff, I continue on toward the boss room. I don''t feel like spending too much time on this floor. I don''t have much to gain from staying here. I eventually come across more groups of Trolls and Lesser Ogres. These are dispatched easily enough. While I''m making my way, I begin thinking about the magic skills I saw that Troll Shaman had a way back. Perhaps I can try out some of those magic skills on the next group of mobs. When I get to the next group, I decide to try the Stone Wall spell I saw it had. As the monsters begin to run toward me, I raise my hand and cast it. "Stone Wall!" The ground begins to shake a bit as rocks begin erupting from the ground in front of me, stacking themselves into a crude wall. Magic Skill Acquired: Earth Magic: Stone Wall Sweet! It worked! At that moment the mobs burst through my wall like it was tissue paper. That''s not exactly unexpected as my Intelligence and Mind stats are lacking. They are FAR lower than any other stat I have as the only piece of gear that offers boosts to these stats is my necklace, and that''s not even that much in comparison to the new gear I obtained. It''s time to use the other one the Troll Shaman had, Cave-in. I''m not sure this is going to be a wise idea to use this in a cave, but with my speed, I should be able to outrun the effects should things look like they are going bad, as in me possibly being buried. I leap backward a few dozen feet to give myself more space. I raise my hand in preparation for the spell. Ok, let''s do this. "Cave-In!" Another rumble of the whole cave starts and a yellow circle appears above the group of monsters. A rain of sones and boulders comes flying out of the yellow magic circle and begins pelting the advancing Trolls and Ogres. The beasts just swat at the rocks and boulders knocking them away, their advance slowed a bit while they have to deal with the falling rocks. As with the Stone Wall, this spell didn''t have much effect. It would make a decent distraction to slow down an enemy though! Magic Skill Acquired: Earth Magic: Cave-In With another spell learned, I get to work quickly dispatching the advancing horde. I collect their mana stones and move on to the next group up ahead. There is another caster and I check this one out to see if it has anything new I can learn. Troll Shaman Level 111 HP: 8,200/8,200 MP: 4,100/4,100 Skills: Lesser Heal Healing Wind Stone Wall Stone Bullet Cave-In Meh, nothing new. It''s the same skills as the last one I encountered. Well, no reason to keep these guys around any longer. I proceed to massacre them, every single one dies before they even realize what happened to them. I walk around gathering mana stones and spot a cane with decorations hanging off the end of it. I use inspect on it to see if it works on items. Shaman''s Totem (Sta. +60, Int. +60, Mnd. +60, Det. +60) Nice, not a bad little item. If I ever need to heal after a battle, I''ll equip this guy and see if it makes a discernible difference in the effectiveness of the spell. I place the staff in a pouch and continue on. I reach another massive cavern and like on the other floors, it''s filled with a few dozen groups of Trolls, Lesser Ogress, and a few Greater Ogres, two of which are standing at the far far end of the room, probably guarding the boss room. I take note that there are significantly more monsters on this floor than in the first two. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I want to move on quickly, so I explode into the middle of the room straight for a lone Greater Ogre. "Iaijutsu- Mugyourikuren!" My body takes over on its own and launches at the towering Ogre and proceeds to slash it six times. SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! My body rockets back and lands silently, a hand quickly coming up for the finish. SNAP!!! The loud snap echoes across the chamber alerting everything to my presence in the room. Dozens of monsters begin headed straight for me as the massive ogre bursts into a pile of body parts, a tsunami of blood headed straight for me. I begin slicing down one enemy after another, the torrent of blood from the Greater Ogre and the mobs I cut down, swirling around me as I dance an intricate ballet of death. Heads, limbs, and torsos, fly in all direction. The slaughter is swift and lacking any mercy for the monsters that have no idea what''s about to come down on them. The whole cavern turns into a maelstrom of blood, swirling around the room, desperately trying to keep up with me to reach my sword, it''s ultimate goal. "Iaijutsu- Sazan!" My body takes over as it does three consecutive strikes on the different enemies. SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! In an instant three heads are rolling on the ground, the attack divided among the three unfortunate monsters that just happened to have the poor fortune to be the three closest in front of me. I learned another amazing thing about my weapon skills. the multiple attack skills don''t have to hit just one enemy. They can split the attacks amongst multiple enemies that are nearby. With the sheer volume of blood swirling around the room, I''m able to use Sazan three more times, rendering 9 more monsters either headless or sliced apart in some way. It didn''t matter what way they were struck as death was immediate regardless of where they were hit. The weapon skill always chose a vital spot to strike. My slaughter doesn''t even stop as I reach the two Greater Ogres guarding the boss door. A quick Iaijutsu- Mugyourikuren rendered the one on the right into a pile of parts, it''s blood adding to the hurricane of blood in the cavern. The second ogre I reach before it has the chance to realize what happened to its partner. A simple slice from my sword severing its massive leg clean off. How my sword which is about 3 feet long total including the handle, managed to slice completely through a leg that''s easily 8 feet thick, is beyond me. I have learned not to question shit anymore. If it benefits me, I''ll take it. The massive Ogre falls to the floor, the whole cavern thundering and shaking with the impact of the Ogre with the floor. I swiftly dash to its head and in one smooth motion, separate the massive cranium from its massive body. It takes me quite a while to collect all the mana stones littering the cavern. A few pieces of gear scattered among the stones. The massive cloud of blood is finally finishing up being absorbed as well. It''s about time! There was so much blood that the whole cavern was shrouded in a thick swirling fog of blood. It was quite the sight to behold. Something like that would strike fear in even the most battle-hardened person. If I wasn''t the one that caused this massacre, then I sure as shit wouldn''t charge into that bullshit! The whole massacre nets me a good 7 levels though. After walking around the massive cavern collecting everything I can, I head back to the boss door to collect the two massive mana stones that lay there. I turn my attention to the massive door that stands in front of me. The massive stone door is easily 100 feet tall and at least 30 feet wide. I walk up to the door and give it a good shove. The massive double doors slowly creak open, dust and debris falling from somewhere up above. It''s apparent this door hasn''t been opened in quite a long time. Time to enter the boss chamber. I walk through the doors large enough to contain King Kong, and enter a massive circular room, that''s not as large as I think it should be considering the thing standing in the center of it. I crank my neck way back just to see the head of the massive thing standing here. "What in the ever-loving fuck is this?!" I say in absolute shock at what I''m staring at. This "thing" standing in a room small enough to be is fucking coffin, is about 70-80 feet tall, and it has two heads, one red, the other a light tan color. Each head probably the size of a medium sized 2 story house, contains only one single eye. One massive eye. The red head''s eye is bloodshot with pulsing blood vessels running throughout it, an iris rimmed with a glowing red circle is in the center. The tan left head sports a crystal-clear eye with a striking blue iris that seems to be rimmed with a gold glowing ring. I hope it doesn''t have vision issues, because I don''t think 1-800-CONTACTS is going to be able to do fuck all for this guy! The two heads are attached to one single massive body wearing a dark red and black studded leather armor. What animal was used to create this armor; I don''t even want to know. That''s one big fucking animal though! Its pants are the same red and black leather, with steel studs sitting all over it. It''s sporting similar wrist guards and boots. In the right hand, that''s as red as the right head, it holds a wicked looking axe that''s midnight black with glowing red accents. The left arm, also as tan as the left head, is holding a cane with a glowing green crystal embedded in the crook of it. I walk up to the skyscraper beast and consider how I am going to go about taking this thing down. I''m literally fighting a standard 8-10 story office building here, one that''s going to do everything to try and kill me. Well, let''s see what we are dealing with before it notices the ant standing before it. Inspect. [Floor Boss] Brontes and Steropes Level 150 HP: 35,000/35,000 MP: 23,000/23,000 Skills (Brontes) Laser blast Laser Sweep Cyclone Skills (Steropes): Greater Heal Healing Wind Resurrection Oh boy, it looks like each head has its own unique skills and spells. Not to mention the megaton of HP it has. This is basically two bosses in one. Well, let''s get it on! I strife up to the towering mister and stop about 20 feet from its feet. Any closer and I wouldn''t be able to look at its head. I mean heads... but, where have I heard those names before? The fact that I recognize them from somewhere begins to worry me. This generally means something bad is coming. "Hey! Big guy!! Down here!" The massive colossus peers it''s monstrous eye down at me, the other head does the same. That''s just so odd. "Yo! How''s the weather up there?!" The red Cyclops''s eye glows bright red, a blast shoots straight at me. It''s on! Chapter 32: A Colossal Battle The colossal beast let''s loose a massive blast of red energy from the right heads eye. I sprint to the right toward the left side of the beast. The searing heat from the blast instantly turns a large portion of the rock wall where I was standing into liquid magma that crackles and sputters. That was a hell of a blast I think to myself. I know my defense and magical defense are high, but I''m not sure I would like to put that to the test against that blast. It''s best if I finish this quickly. The colossal creature turns to the left to face me again. "Sorry to cut this fight so short, but I can''t spend too much time sticking around here." I say to the towering Cyclops. "Iaijutsu- Mugyourikuren!" My body takes over and launches first toward high up on the chamber wall, then jumps of that headed straight toward the Boss''s mid section. SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! 6 points of light appear where the monster was slashed. There are again one on each shoulder, each leg, the abdomen, and the right head''s neck. I land soundlessly as usual, my right hand raises up, and I let loose the snap. SNAP!!! All 6 points of light erupt in a waterfall of blood. A loud roar emanates from the boss as it''s sliced in 6 areas at once. The right head falls and lands with a loud thud on the cavern floor. Surprisingly, none of the limbs are sliced through. Apparently this big guy has some decent defense, much to my annoyance. "¦¨¦Å¦Ñ¦Á¦Ð¦Å¦Ô¦Ó¦É¦Ê¦Ï? ?¦Í¦Å¦Ì¦Ï¦É" roars the left head. A massive white swirling storm envelops the whole 10 story tall monster. I watch as the wounds I created are all healed within seconds. "Tch!" I click my tongue in disappointment at what I''m seeing. All that damage undone in an instant. Well at least the right head is gone. Without that, the massive menacing axe is out of commission, not to mention the laser it tried to attack me with. My blade recharged to red with the blood it did get to consume. I guess I''m going to have to chip away at this things MP until it runs out. What a fucking pain. "Iaijutsu- Shifu!" My body launches straight up and places a single slash on the midsection of the colossus. The wound immediately begins growing. "¦¡¦Í?¦Ò¦Ó¦Á¦Ò¦Ç!" Screams the remaining head as I head back to the floor after the attack. What the hell is it doing now?! A massive bright light appears from above the towering Cyclops, right about the area where the right head used to be. The fallen head explodes in a massive flow of blood and heads up toward the neck where the head used to be. Blood suddenly erupts from the severed neck and begins swirling with the blood from the fallen head, forming a massive ball. "What the fuck..." I mutter as I land back on the floor. The massive swirling ball of blood begins forming into the shape of a head. "SON OF A BITCH!" I yell as I realize what''s happening. This fucking side of the beast is resurrecting the other side! I immediately launch myself at the towering beast, slashing as many times as I can. I need to create as much damage as possible. I need to collect more blood. What I believed would be a pushover is turning into anything but. The healing abilities of the left head are far beyond anything I have seen thus far. They are even more potent than my attacks! Even the damage from my greatest attack was erased with a single spell! I slash and slash and slash as fast as I can, leaving deep slices all over the Boss'' limbs and body. I slice through tendons and muscle the best I can trying to debilitate it, but it''s too fricken massive. The thick leather armor puts a serious damper on my ability to slice up its body. The leather gear it''s wearing is about a foot thick, plus it''s reinforced with steel studs. I can still get through it, but the wound underneath is seriously lacking in any real stopping power. The right head finishes forming and it''s eye springs open. A rage filled growl echos around the chamber. "Oh crap!" I say hearing the roar. The right head''s eye glows red again. I immediately dash to the monster''s left again as the blast slams into the cave wall. Suddenly it begins to turn its head toward me. The massive Cyclops begins turning toward me, the searing laser roaring straight at me. "Oh shit!" I yell thinking I was in the clear. I take off running around the perimeter of the room, but the blast is gaining on me. I look to my left and see an opening between the building sized legs. I jump and land between the legs of the colossus as the laser sweeps the room, melting rock as it goes by. Suddenly a massive leg raises up and starts falling right on top me. I jump and roll back to the outside wall of the chamber, the rocks still smoldering. As I hit the scorching rocks, the massive double sided axe comes swinging in. I jump to clear the weapon when the Cyclops suddenly turns the axe vertically. Remembering what I said about your enemy jumping at you. Well, that''s about to bite me in the ass. The massive 20 foot wall of steel swats me like a fly. *BONG!* I impact the massive axe with a loud thud, the massive axe reverberating like a gong. I''m sent flying at tremendous speeds where I impact the wall of the chamber, but since the chamber is a massive circle, I tumble and slide along the wall. I tumble and slide for a full one and a half revolutions of the chamber before my momentum stops and I thud to the ground. The massive axe is coming at me from straight above and I notice it at the last minute. I try to block it with my sword but the weight of the massive axe along with the strength of the colossal beast brings me to my knees as a massive shockwave propagates from the point of impact of our weapons. The ground under me caves in and a crater forms from the sheer power of the impact. I look at the impact point where our weapons meet, and my sword has not even made a scratch in the edge of the massive axe. "What the fuck is this thing made of?!" I say in shock that my legendary grade sword couldn''t damage this Boss'' axe. I push the axe back using all my strength and immediately launch another green weapons skill. "Iaijutsu- Shifu!" My body launches and lands the hit on the towering beast''s lower abdomen below the first one, the wound immediately beginning to widen. I need to land a lot more of these wounds. I need to overwhelm the healing ability of the left head. I begin landing more slashes as fast as I can. I weave in and out of the massive legs slicing them up the best I can. I occasionally jump at the wall behind the beast in order to spring off of it and strike at its back. Enough blood is flowing that my blade soon glows green again. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Over the next several minutes I land several more Iaijutsu- Shifu weapon skills, covering the giant''s body and limbs with growing wounds. "¦¨¦Å¦Ñ¦Á¦Ð¦Å¦Ô¦Ó¦É¦Ê¦Ï? ?¦Í¦Å¦Ì¦Ï¦É" roars the left head. Once again a swirling storm of white energy encases the towering beast. As before, every wound I created is healed. The weapon skill''s wounds begin growing again, but essentially this isn''t working like I would hope. It''s just not enough damage. I need to take out that healer head or this isn''t going to end. The problem is getting all the way up there to that head. It''s not that it would be too difficult to hump that high, as I''m definitely strong enough. The problem is jumping that far leaves me open to be swatted by the massive axe. "Wait, swatted by the axe!" I say thinking of what happened the last time that happened. I remember being struck in that exact fashion and I tumbles and slid along the circular wall of the room. Well, what if I could control that and use my speed to run on that wall?! I remember my physics class back in high school, particularly about centrifugal forces. That''s the force that kept me pinned to the wall as I tumbled and slid, instead of me just falling to the ground. I need to recreate the conditions for how that initial swat happened. This time I''ll use the axe to my advantage. I begin my normal attacks just causing as much damage as possible, throwing several more weapon skills in there for good measure. I duck under the towering beast and begin shredding up the insides of its legs. It raises a foot to stomp down on me, exactly what I was waiting for. I hop back out in front of the beast and as expected, the axe comes swinging at me edge first. I start running away from it but purposely slower than it. As it nears me I jump, and the Cyclops rotates the blade to swat me like a fly once again. I orient myself so when the axe hits me, I''m feet first. The axe strikes me and I''m in a crouched position on the jet black steel. I launch myself off the blade and hit the wall of the room at a dead sprint. I activate my Dash skill which I learned from the massive Dire Wolves on the previous floor. This gives me a great boost of speed and allows me to run up the wall as I travel. After two and a half rotations around the room, I''m finally up around shoulder level with the towering colossus. As I come to the left shoulder of the Cyclops, I suddenly launch directly toward the Healer head. I slash with my blade slicing the back half of its neck clean through. My momentum carries me straight toward the right Warrior head, where I plant a clean kick straight on its jaw. This strike serves the purpose of launching me back toward the Healer head, where I slice again, slicing through the remaining attacked area on the front of its neck, completely severing the head. I travel past and impact the wall once again. I kick off the wall and head back toward the Cyclops, where my dying momentum brings me just to its arm where I sink in my blade, and use it to slide slowly toward the ground. This creates a massive slice down the length of the left arm. I land adjacent to the left of where the Healer head landed, it''s unseeing eye half rolled back into the massive head. "Resurrect from that bitch!" I shout triumphantly. There is a sudden murderous roar from the remaining head. Red energy erupts from that side of the Cyclops and envelops the now dead left side. The red color from the right side begins to bleed over the light tan color of the left side until it takes over it completely. The previously unmoving left arm I just sliced down discards the massive staff, and it grips the axe with the right hand. The whole colossus begins emitting red waves of energy as the remaining head enters an enraged state. It''s previous organized pattern of attack is replaced by wild swings of the axe. The colossus not even caring if the axe hits me or the walls of the room, leaves massive gashes in the walls and on the floor of the room. The cyclops shoots blasts of energy from its eye, seemingly all over the place, desperate to hit me. The already battered walls are melted by the intense heat of its blasts. It doesn''t matter though, as it''s far too slow to keep up with me anymore. Utilizing my Utsusemi and Dash skills, the towering monster hits nothing but shadows, meanwhile I carve away at its flesh. The damage, along with the ever expanding wounds, begins taking its toll. My blade finally glowing its beautiful violet color, let''s me know it''s time to end this. "Iaijutsu- Mugyourikuren!" My body launches for the decisive blows in this contest. My weapon with a sharpness to cut the Gods themselves, slashes at the towering monstrosity. SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! I spring off the chest of the building g sizes monstrosity, and land with the grace of a feline. What''s beginning to become my favorite thing, my right hand raises up, thumb and middle finger pressed firmly together. *SNAP!!!* The 10 storey monster erupts in geysers of blood, once again the right head severed completely. The head falls toward me, and I slice upward, splitting the massive head in two, each side falling on either side of me. New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! The towering headless body falls over and wedges itself against the wall of the room, the massive body unable to actually fall to the floor. The massive beast seems to take forever to be absorbed by the dungeon. It is extremely large after all. I mean, imagine a little bunny vs 10 story office building. Of course the office building would take longer to absorb. The mana stone it leaves behind is colossal, about the size of an full size SUV. I have to take my pouch off my waist and bring the opening to the stone. The pouch opens so wide that the pouch basically flattens out like a sheet, and I have to basically cover the stone with it like a blanket. Once done the pouch closes around the bottom of the stone and begins shrinking back to its size. Once done, I place it back on my waist. Next to the massive mana stone sits the double-bladed axe the Cyclops was wielding. This thing was strong enough that I couldn''t even damage it with my sword. It initially was absorbed with the body, but it reappeared with the mana stone, and like the Masamune before, the axe sat hovering about a foot off the ground, and much smaller than the original, but still massive in size I pick up the massive two-handed axe and use inspect on it. Chapter 33: Hell Lesser Creshent Labyrinth 4th Floor Magic Acquired: Water Magic: Frost Armor New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! New Level Acquired! Chapter 34: The Game Changer I dash straight at my foe, and he responds in kind, his blades igniting on the way. Our blades clash and a shockwave propagates from the impact along with a massive burst of steam as hot blade meets ice shrouded blade. The whole platform we are on seemed to have bounced in the magma lake as the shockwave momentarily pushed it downward. We clash over and over, our blades impacting with explosive force. This Daemon is quick, but still has nothing on my speed. I could carve up this guy in an instant if I wish, but I need to see this Spatial Movement skill in action. After a few minutes of just blocking its attacks, it still has not used any skills let alone the one I''m actually interested in. Perhaps I need to give it a little push to use it. The Daemon launches another attack and I simply parry the attack and plant a foot in its left side. The impact of the kick sends the monster flying way beyond the platform where it splashed back into the magma. I''m not too concerned because that''s where it literally came from, so it''s not going to hurt it. As expected, the daemon burst out of the magma and lands back on the platform. As it lands, I''m already behind it as it stares at my shadow image. I land another kick upside the right side of the head and the daemon tumbles on the platform and back into the magma. Once again it bursts forth and before it could even land on the platform, I''m right in front of it, my Masamune a mere inch from its eyes. Then it happens. My Masamune passes right through air as the Daemon literally vanishes. I couldn''t even see it move. Was that the skill I was looking for? I quickly turn and see the Daemon a foot away, blades already closing in for a strike. I use my Utsusemi skill and appear behind the Daemon, my blade placing a neat slash across its back. Bright Orange liquid magma pours from the wound. Suddenly, the Daemon vanishes, again I''m unable to see the movement. Is this skill faster than my Utsusemi skill? I wonder if it could be... *CRACK* our blades meet as the beast stricken from directly above me. How the hell did it get up there?! A quick slash and again my blade finds only air, the Daemon nowhere to be seen. "Fascinating skill." I say to myself as I scan the area. I walk around trying to see if I can sense the Daemon, but it''s nowhere to be found. I''ve never known a monster to run away, so this is quite odd. Several minutes pass and it doesn''t show, so I''m just going to move on. I think I''m just going to have to figure that skill out for myself. I just wish I had more time to observe it to get a better idea of what that bastard was doing. I head toward the edge of the platform to jump to a skinny but long platform leading to a tunnel in the side of the cavern. As soon as I get to the edge of the platform to make my jump, the lava explodes, and the Daemon launches out of the magma at me. I have just barely enough time to draw my sword and block the strike. I return the strike and the fucker vanishes again, my sword gliding through the air. I immediately turn to block another strike from behind me. This is like my Utsusemi skill. This must what my foes must have experienced when I used that skill. But it''s still different. With my Utsusemi skill, I''m literally using a massive burst of speed to run behind my foe. With this Daemon''s skill, it''s like he just disappears and reappears somewhere else, not just behind me. It seems it can control where he ends up. It''s almost like... We begin exchanging blows again, shockwaves exploding from the impact of our blades. Time to bring some speed into this. I''m going to turn it up a notch. The Daemon''s attacks slow down as my speed increases. His strikes coming nowhere close to me. I land several strikes in succession, being careful not to kill my foe as I still need him to use his skill. Use the skill he does, as every attack I make the Daemon vanished. Faster and faster, I make my attacks, and faster and faster my foe vanishes only to reappear elsewhere. "Teleportation." I whisper as I launch attacks. That''s what this is! I speed up faster and faster, until I''m almost 80% of my top speed, and still this monster evades my attacks with his Spatial Movement skill. Absolutely amazing. Here I thought I already had the peak skill in my Utsusemi. I''m not going to land a hit with him using this skill like this. No matter how fast I go, this skill keeps him one step ahead. Looks like I don''t have any choice. I''m going to use it. I deliberately slow down my attacks to give me plenty of time to execute this. I need a decent margin of error as I have never used an unknown skill in the middle of a fight. If this goes wrong, I don''t have much time between failure and my head being separated from my body. I begin placing my attacks in a pattern, allowing my foe to track me and counter my strikes. This allows me to guide my foe into a pattern of attack that I design. Knowing the pattern allows me to set up the perfect time to execute my plan. After several clashes, I begin with a slash from my left to the right. This opens up my left side to his counterattack. I concentrate on the space directly behind and to the right of the Daemon. As he swings with his right sword, I cast the spell. "Spatial Movement!" In an instant I''m suddenly facing the Daemon''s back. He is still mid swing, so I have plenty of time. I slice the Daemon clean in half at the midsection. As the top half falls to the ground, I follow up with a quick slice through its neck, ending this confrontation. New Level Acquired! Magic Skill Acquired: Special Class: Spatial Movement Nice! Alright, let''s take a look at this skill and see what it''s all about. Spatial Movement The Caster bends space and time to traverse distances instantly. That''s a hell of a movement spell. I turn around and see the small rock I was on when I teleported down to the mid floor. "Spatial Movement!" I instantly find myself on the platform facing the rock wall at the start of this floor. I turn back around to see the square platform I just came from. I let out an appreciative whistle as I smile. This will make moving around the floor a lot easier. I teleport back the platform where I fought the Daemon and jump to the narrow platform leading to a tunnel through the cavern wall. I run to the tunnel then slow to a walk as this tunnel is quite the sight. Both sides of the tunnel are made of walls of lava falls. I have to crank up my mana flow to my Frost Armor spell due to the immense heat in the tunnel. This is pretty bad ass. I have no clue how this tunnel is even able to exist considering there are no walls or pillars holding up the ceiling above me. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I must admit it''s pretty sick walking through a tunnel of lava. How many people can say they have done something like this?! Unfortunately, the tunnel isn''t that long, so it''s back to reality as the tunnel empties into another large cavern, this one is missing the massive magma ocean present in the last one. This massive cavern however has falls of lava everywhere. It seems there are hundreds of them flowing to small moats of lava that border the cavern walls. I walk toward the center of the cavern, marveling at the multitude of lava falls surrounding me. I feel like I''m in the lair of an evil supervillain. I let out a little laugh at that. I''m such a nerd. Suddenly, my senses pick up the presence of creatures. A LOT of creatures! "What the fuck..." I whisper to myself as I feel myself being surrounded my literally hundreds of creatures. The problem is I can''t see them. I can feel them there, I can even feel them looking at me. So, where the fuck are they?! It was the. I saw movement. The lava falls! They are pouring out from the lava falls!! Hundreds and hundreds of whatever the fuck they are, are pouring out of the falls and jumping onto the cavern floor. They are closing in on my position. There are too fucking many! I don''t know how I''m going to fight all this crap at the same time! They look like fucked up looking dogs. Like dogs cast out of rock with lava rivers flowing around their bodies. They are each the size of a big ass Golden Retriever. I quickly pack up the Masamune and take out the massive Axe I got from the last boss. I use its split skill and it transforms into two smaller axes able to be held in one hand. I figure two weapons will be easier to fight all this bullshit than one sword. At least that''s my hope. I quickly inspect the closest creatures. I inspect a few more of these things to get an idea of their level range. They are all about the same level give or take 1-2 levels, which means they are higher level than the Daemon I just faced. Thankfully it seems individually they are weaker though. Guess this is a power in numbers deal here. Guess the swarm skill is just what I''m seeing... a fuck load of them! I dash to the leading Hellhounds, and I am able to make quick work of several of them with the axes. I dive right into the group and start swinging anywhere and everywhere, slaying monsters and showering the area with parts and lava "blood". My new favorite move came when I just started spinning with my arms outstretched. I just sliced them up by the dozens. The Hellhounds begin jumping into the fray from all directions, several landing hits on me but their blows mitigated by the bursts of steam produced when they hit my Frost Armor. In the past 20 minutes I have killed probably 200 of these things, and they are STILL pouring out of the lava falls! How the fuck do I stop this?! It takes the better part of an hour to finally dispatch of the horde of Hellhounds. After the final hound is dispatched, I drop my axes and fall over flat on my back. My lungs are heaving and I''m dead tired. I can tell I''m short of MP and endurance. I haven''t been this exhausted and drained in quite a while. Amazingly, I actually gained my third tail in all that madness. So, that means there had to be around 600 of these damn Hellhounds. Best yet, I gained quite a few levels from all these monsters. After several minutes I drag my ass off the floor and begin the annoying task of collecting all 600+ mana stones. Surprisingly, nothing else dropped in terms of gears or other items. I want to go back to the platform at the start of this floor to rest up a bit. This will give me an opportunity to test one thing out though. I close my eyes and try to visualize the beginning platform in my mind. As soon as I have a good image of it, I try the spell again. "Spatial Movement!" "Oh shi..." "...t" I fucked up. I think I fucked up! As soon as I cast the spell, another image just popped up in my mind. I couldn''t help it as I''m tired and my mind just went to the first thing that I associate with relaxation. I''m kind of afraid to open my eyes. I don''t feel the heat of the fourth floor anymore, though I can hear water running! I slowly open an eye to peek at my surroundings. My eye is met with sapphire blue water that''s very familiar. I open my other eye and take in the sight before me. I drop my Frost Armor as there is no need for that here. I immediately begin stripping off my armor as I am extremely excited about this. Soon, I''m butt naked, and I jump as high as I can, flip several times, and splash straight into the pond containing the Grotto that I used to call my home. I spend the next hour frolicking in the pond like a dolphin that hasn''t seen open water in years. I spent several hours stuck in literal hell after all. Who wouldn''t want a nice long swim after that?! I jump back onto the granite outcropping and throw my gear into a bag. I then form an image in my mind of a location I''m dying to get back to. "Spatial Movement!" I open my eyes and I''m staring at the gold throne with the massive aquarium behind it. A huge smile crawls across my face as I''m back in the place I called home for over half a year. I immediately take out my wolf fur bedding and other household items and set up residence once again. Once done, I crawl into my Dire Wolf fur bed, and snuggle in feeling the soft fur against my naked body. Before I drift off to sleep, I think of the ramifications of this new skill. I can instantly transport anywhere I want; even places I have been before. That means I can actually leave the dungeon! I think on this long and hard, but I can''t seem to increase my desire to actually leave here. I am not sure why I don''t want to leave, but I guess it''s partly because there is nothing for me out there. I''m living the fantasy life that every Otaku around the world only dreams of. I have come so far in this Labyrinth, and I have grown so strong, that I want to push farther into this dungeon and see how strong I can become. I have fought immensely strong enemies, and even two who I assume are basically immortals, possibly sort of Gods even? After my battle with the Kitsune, I''m insanely interested as to what the final boss of this Labyrinth is. I''m going to stay here a bit longer; I think to myself as sleep reels me in. Chapter 35: Hells Gatekeeper It''s been several years since I acquired the Spatial Movement skill, and I have spent these years farming the fourth floor. I capped out my level at 200 several months in, but my reasoning for staying so long was to farm souls for my tails. There are several of those rooms with the Hellhounds that pour out of lava falls. In the rooms toward the boss room, there are literally thousands of the beasts that spawn at a time. Oh, another thing I discovered with the Spatial Movement skill, kind of an exploit really. When I leave the Fourth Floor to the second, as soon as I return, I noticed that everything on the Fourth Floor had respawned. So as soon as I clear the floor, I can teleport out and immediately come back and the whole damn floor has respawned. I no longer have to wait hours for monsters to respawn. This made farming FAR more efficient. Plus, it had the added bonus of allowing me to farm tons of monsters in a short amount of time and freeing up more time for exploring and relaxing. During my free time I worked on acquiring the spells and skills I noted from the skills list of monsters and bosses. I even played around and mixed skills and magic to come up with some pretty amazing skills. I have a wind blade which is really cool. Whenever I slice with my blade, a massive blade of compressed air is thrown out and it just cuts down anything in its path. I have flame armor, lightning armor, and wind armor. I even developed an auto heal skill by applying healing magic to my armor. It acts more like a heal over time spell. I have also gathered a crapload of gear and accessories, as well as more mana stones that you would think even possible. It wasn¡¯t long before the bags I do have filled completely. I farmed several more bags from the Dire Wolves on the second floor, but those filled up as well. Back in the Grotto Arena I call home; I have about a dozen bags completely filled with mana stones and gear. I even built several racks from the trees on the second floor, where I can put the gear, I find as I have nowhere else to put it. I''m about 14 years old at this time, I think, as I have no actual perception of time down here, save for one new way, I guess. I''m assuming I am around 14 years old as I''m, well... filling out, if you get what I mean. I am taller than I was, though my armor seems to grow with me as it still feels like a perfect fit. I also have started to develop, well, boobs. I''m not even going to get started on the feminine hygiene bullshit I now experience, I assume monthly. That has been that one thing that I have been using to tell the passage of time down here. Well, aside from the puberty bullshit and it is bullshit because I''m literally going through it a second fucking time, when technically I wasn''t even finished with my first encounter with puberty¡­ I''m getting sidetracked again. Fucking hormones! At least I don¡¯t have acne this time. Healing magic works MUCH better than Clearasil! Anyway, the past several years have resulted in amazing results. I have unlocked 8 tails thus far. I have been grinding out the ninth tail for the past year, but it''s going to take literally 8 times as many enemies as it took to get my 8th tail. I tried, but I''m just done with this place, so it''s time to move on. After clearing out the final room before the boss room, I turn and stand before the massive extremely ornate door to the boss. The door to the boss room looks like something straight out of Dante''s Inferno. It''s like a door to actual hell, with demonic figures adorning it. I do not like the looks of it one bit. None of the other doors to boss rooms looked anything like this. As I approach the door, it creaks open as though it was expecting me. Nope, I don''t like this one bit! I hesitantly proceed through the door and into the boss room. The boss room is a massive circular room with a lava moat on the edge. Beyond that the wall only rises about 3-4 meters then beyond that are spectator areas like in a coliseum. The spectator areas are filled with all sorts of creatures. There are demons of all sizes and shapes, and even monsters from other floors of the labyrinth. I have literally stepped into Hell''s arena! "What the fuck is this!" I say in a hushed whisper as I take in the sight before me. A large ornate iron gate on the opposite side of the entrance to the boss room slides open and out walks my opponent. I lets out an exasperated sigh as I see what walks out. It¡¯s a massive beast with 3 heads, another beast of mythology that I immediately recognize. "Cerberus?! You have got to be kidding me! Why the fuck would this thing be here?! How much Earth Mythology is in this place?! WHY is it in this world?!" I practically scream seeing more bullshit from my planet''s mythology. I guess I should be thankful that the Devil himself isn''t here, considering how much shit I killed on this floor. That seems to piss off Gods around here. I don''t really feel like I would want to fight with Satan, or Hades, or whatever mythical guardian of Hell or the underworld is in this place. Well, technically Cerberus IS the guardian of the underworld, but whatever. Better than its master, right?! ¡°Fuck it. If the Devil wants to come play, I will kill him too!¡± This thing is seriously intimidating though. It''s standing a good 4 meters tall, and each head is a good meter in size by themselves. It looks like a cross between a pit bull, Rottweiler, and those demonic hellhounds I spent the past few years farming. Each head has eyes that are yellow and seem to be burning as flames are coming off of them. As with the rest of the shit on this floor, its body is covered in what looks like rivers of lava coursing around its body. Each head sports a black collar with intimidating spikes, several of which are adorned with pierced skulls of various creatures. The teeth are long and blackish; its drool is basically lava. "Well, let''s get this over with." I say with exacerbation at having to fight another dog from hell. I unsheathe my Masamune and take my fighting stance and suddenly several of the creatures in the spectator section, jump onto the platform to join the fight. Apparently in this arena the spectators are free to join in the fight. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. "Oh, come on! Seriously?!" I say seeing a dozen Demons jump into the arena. "Fine, if you all wish to die, I''ll send you back to Hell!" I mentally facepalm after I say that. Well, I guess we are already there I guess, so that was rather stupid. I don''t wait any longer and I begin my attack, first slicing up all the demons and whatnot that jumped into the arena. Having 8 tails now is making this a menial task as I am almost twice as powerful as I was before. I''m effortlessly cutting down my foes, which include Daemons that can use the Spatial Mobility skill. I have reached a level of speed that even the Spatial Movement skill can''t escape me. I slice them down as soon as they appear. More often than not, I slice them before they even vanish, and I laugh as they reappear in pieces somewhere else. The whole time I''m doing this, the stupid 3 headed dog is just standing there drooling lava on the floor. It hasn''t even tried to attack me yet. As I cut down the idiots interrupting our battle, more decide to join the fray. Trolls, Wolfs, Hellhounds, and even those massive Ogres from the third floor hop into the arena as I cut down those that came before them. Whenever those monstrosities jump in, the shock from their landing sends everything launching comically into the air, including Cerberus. It''s a wholesale slaughter in the arena. Body parts litter the arena floor, some already being absorbed by the dungeon as others, newly severed, fall beside them. Suddenly, a loud roar erupts from all three heads of Cerberus. All the creatures in the arena suddenly move backward to get out of the center of the arena. I look up and see a massive black rod like thing falling from the sky out of a massive flaming black magic circle. The massive pillar impacts the arena floor dead center, the shockwave of the impact knocking over everything on the platform. I look in horror as I stare at the massive black pillar. It looks like it is made of tar and there are ghastly ¡°things¡± stuck in it. They are reaching out with emaciated and cachectic arms and hands. Their heads, devoid of eyes with expressions of unspeakable pain, are moaning loudly, sounding like souls who have experienced an eternity of suffering. ¡°What in the fuck is¡­¡± I barely get out as all hell literally breaks loose. The creatures stuck in the pillar being grabbing everything in reach, their arms extending cartoonishly in order to grab whatever is in front of them. The pillar of suffering doesn¡¯t seem to care what it grabs as it is grabbing Trolls, Daemons, and Goblins. Anything in its way is snatched up by death¡¯s arms. My speed allows me to dodge some of the arms grabbing for me, but there are a lot more than I can handle. Several times I toss monsters toward the pillar, basically using them as shields from the arms reaching toward me. Anything grabbed by the ghastly pillar is pulled in, stuck into the tar like surface, and the creatures begin feasting on the unfortunate victims. Once consumed, their corpses are absorbed by the pillar to be added to the collection of eternal suffering that is writhing on its surface. The cries and moans of the newly added lend their voices to the choir of pain. Finally, the Pillar lets out a haunting roar and another flaming black circle appears below it. The Pillar begins to sink into the circle, dragging with it the souls of its victims, I assume to the actual underworld. I let out a sign of relief seeing that embodiment of nightmares finally go away. I turn to Cerberus and immediately launch my attack on the beast as I really don¡¯t want to see it summon that bullshit again. My blade easily slices up its hide, thick magma pouring from the lacerations. My attack doesn¡¯t take long, but it is cut short as the cuts I make begin healing themselves as soon as they are made. ¡°I guess that is the Rapid Regeneration skill you have.¡± I am not here for a long-drawn-out fight, so I launch at the center head and slice it in half vertically. The other two heads move in to chomp me and I use my Spatial Movement to immediately appear at the left side of the beast. I launch hard off the floor heading straight to the neck of the left head. In an instant I make one slice and skid to the stop to the monster¡¯s right side. I look back as all three heads fall to the floor, the body of the hulking dog crumples to the floor. I admonish myself for spending too much time fucking around with the bullshit jumping in from the arena stands, instead of just killing the boss. That gave the boss the time to cast that fucking Pillar bullshit. I didn¡¯t get hurt, but that looked like an absolute death if I did get caught by it. That must have been the Pillar of Hades skill I saw in its skill list. I am not sure I would ever cast that spell myself, as I don¡¯t really care to witness that again. I wish I never had to see that shit in the first place. I wait as the dungeon begins absorbing the headless three headed dog, a nightmarish looking chest appearing along the left wall. Once the beast is absorbed, all that remains is a large flaming black mana stone and a spiked collar. I pick up the collar and take a look at it. It¡¯s basically the same as one of the collars on the heads of Cerberus. It even has little skulls on the spikes. ¡°The goth kids in my class would kill for this accessory!¡± I say with a laugh. ¡°Holy shit!¡± I exclaim as I view the attributes of the accessory. This thing is amazing. What quality is this though? The name is written in a pinkish color, whereas everything from this floor has been the same golden color. I guess that is what is beyond legendary grade? Unfortunately, this is MUCH too good to just put into my bag. I have to take off my precious amulet I received in the Grotto, and I put on the collar, feeling a huge surge in my power. I reluctantly put the Sea King necklace in my bag. I don¡¯t dare get rid of it though. I turn my attention toward the chest to my left. The lid of the chest has a ghastly head on it, its face distorted in pain and its mouth open letting out a silent scream of suffering. ¡°I really need to get the fuck out of here.¡± I say just completely done with this nightmarish place. I hesitantly lift open the lid of the chest and inside is a folded piece of cloth. I unfold it and hold it up. It¡¯s a long cape; the color is so black that it seems to absorb all light around it. Just looking at it is giving me the creeps. I inspect the item and almost choke on my own tongue at what I see. I hesitate to put on the cloak, as I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m going to be swallowed into the black hole of its darkness if I do. I throw it over my shoulders, and it attaches itself to my armor. I feel another enormous surge of power as the bottomless blackness of the cloak seems to erupt forth, falling to the floor like a mist of eternal darkness. I turn back to the chest and there is a bowl of food in there. Of course, there is, why wouldn¡¯t a random food item be in here?! I take out the bowl and it appears to be gumbo. I dip a finger into it and take a taste of the yumminess in the bowl. ¡°Yep, that is Gumbo! Holy shit its HOTT!¡± I shout as the spiciness slams into my face like a sledgehammer. Of course, hell would have nuclear spicy gumbo. I carefully put it in my bag as I¡¯m not up for something that spicy right now. I was never that into spicy food even in my last life. I close the chest and a glow of golden white comes from my right. Over on the far side of the arena from where I came in, the cage that the boss emerged from has changed. There is now a ornate gate in its place, radiating a golden shine. Beyond it is a translucent stairway heading up to a bright shining light, white fog rolling down the staircase. ¡°Noooo Waaaaaay.¡± Chapter 36: Stairway to Heaven Lesser Creshent Labyrinth Final Floor: Realm of the Gods
Chapter 37: Paybacks a Bitch I wake up in my wolf fur bed, refreshed at actually having achieved a decent night sleep. I put on all my gear and teleport myself back to the forest in front of the blocked off labyrinth entrance. As much as I would love to go run off exploring the world, there is still something I must do. The one thing that has kept me going, that has kept me alive during my time in that literal hell. I turn toward the East. My senses are picking up the life signs in the middle of the forest. ¡°So, they are over there. Ugh, I can almost smell their rot from all the way over here.¡± I mutter to myself, a wicked grin forming on my face. I concentrate on the life signs and an image in my head as I cast my spell. The forest before me shimmers and fades into nothing, and then the image of an encampment shimmers into view. I find myself standing in the forest just outside a familiar place. Before me stands poorly constructed stone buildings, all placed in a circle for defense. It¡¯s a place I know all too well. The stench of body odor wafts from the buildings. I decide to wait until the sun sets to make any move. I have a feeling the dark will make this much more entertaining for me. Fortunately I don¡¯t have to wait long as I seemed to have emerged from the Labyrinth in the late afternoon. As darkness take over from the day, the encampment comes alive with the sounds the men partying and drinking. It¡¯s the same routine they held every day back when I was their "guest". Not like they have anything better to do than drink themselves stupid. Suddenly, a man stumbles into view between two of the buildings. It¡¯s a man I know all too well. I smile as I see the horrific burn scars adorning his face. It¡¯s the man who tried to rape me that fateful night. I seared his face with my then newly acquired Torch spell. That led to my beating and being thrown into the Labyrinth. He is looking around, somewhat confused. He is probably trying to find his way to the shitter so he can take a piss, not that it mattered really, as this bunch saw no problem with just whipping it out and pissing behind a building. I see that the man is alone, so I decide I have to fuck with him a little.
The man stumbles out into the courtyard, trying to find his way to the shitter to take a piss. The man has been drinking a bit heavier than usual today, as some of the guys decided to pick on him. This wasn¡¯t uncommon since he got his face destroyed by a pathetic 10 year old girl. The guys never let him forget that bullshit either. He was the focus of constant teasing, some days worse than others. Today unfortunately, was one of those days, hence why he was a bit more sauced than usual. As the man was making his way across the courtyard, something catches his eye in his peripheral vision. He turns his head expecting to see one of his compatriots probably also seeking a place to relieve himself. What he sees stops him in his tracks, the bottle he was holding, falls to the dirt. ¡°That is not possible.¡± The man is barely able to get out in a whisper. What he is looking at is not one of his companions, but rather a suspiciously familiar looking girl. There is no way this could be her, but that IS her. He focuses his eyes and he notices something is off here. She is somehow the same age as back then. She has the same wounds as that day. The worst thing is he can faintly see the forest through the girl. The sounds of a girl sobbing floats wistfully on the air, but the sobs don¡¯t sound like they are coming from the girl, but rather from all around the surrounding air. Suddenly the girl starts fading away, soon completely fading into the ether. The man could swear he heard a slight giggle as she disappeared completely. The man starts to turn away wanting nothing to do with this apparition. He spins on his feet attempting to head back to the building he came from, his need to take a piss gone from his mind. As soon as he turns he stops dead in his tracks, his heart begins racing, his blood running cold, goosebumps forming all over, and sweat starts running down his face. ¡°No!¡± The man is barely able to croak out through his quickly drying throat. There, about 8 feet away from the man stands the girl. He can clearly see her now. He clearly sees fresh wounds on her face, arms, and legs. He can see blood flowing from her nose, and bloody saliva drooling out of a fattened lip. He can also clearly see that she is indeed transparent. The girl raises a hand pleadingly toward the man, bloody tears start streaming down her face from blackened, swollen eyes. The ethereal sobbing seems to grow louder. The man spins to go the other way and stops as the girl is still there, hand outstretched pleadingly. The man¡¯s fight or flight response ramps up considerably. Seeing as how he can¡¯t seem to get away from this ghost, he pulls a small dagger from the waist of his pants. He lunges at the girl, seeking to plant the dagger straight through her heart. The dagger finds nothing but air as the girl slowly vanishes and disappears. He notices something in his periphery and spins to find the girl again. He swipes at her with the dagger, again hitting nothing but air as the dagger just passes straight through the girl. Each time he attacks the girl, she vanishes only to appear behind him over and over again. The sobbing ramps up in volume each time he tries to strike her, until the sobbing is akin to a deafening roar, seemingly coming from everywhere around him. The alcohol, the fast turning and attacking, the thunderous sobbing pounding his ears, all serve to disorient the man. He comes up with the conclusion that there is no defeating this impossible apparition. He takes a careless step backward as he tries to back away without taking his eyes off the girl. His foot lands on the bottle he dropped earlier. His footing is immediately lost and he finds himself falling to the ground. His head thuds onto the ground and he instinctively closes his eyes and grabs his head as waves of pain rattle his brain. Suddenly coming back to his senses, he remembers he was fighting the girl. His eyes shoot open and his heart skips several beats and his blood runs cold as ice in his veins. He finds the girl¡¯s face is mere inches from his own. Suddenly deathly cold hands grip the sides of his face. The girl¡¯s eyes begin to fill with blood, and her mouth distorts into a demonic visage, bloody black teeth glistening in the light emanating from the buildings. Her bloody tears fall onto the man¡¯s face. His eyed go wide as his brain comes to the realization that he can feel her tears, and feel her hands on his face. His thoughts filled with screams of ¡°SHE IS REAL!!!¡± as his heart rate ramps up several notches. Suddenly, a bright light fills his vision and a familiar heat begins searing his skin. His already scarred flesh begins bubbling and sloughing off as searing heat cooks the flesh down to his skull. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH¡± The man¡¯s scream echoes off the buildings and the trees of the forest. It is the scream of someone being slaughtered in a most horrific way. The sound of the partying men coming from the buildings comes to a crashing halt. Dozens of men begin pouring out from the buildings to find out where that scream came from and what is going on. They all stand staring at a smoldering body in the middle of the courtyard, the apparition of a familiar looking girl fading into nothing. ¡°What the fuck is going on out here?!¡± comes a loud authoritative voice. A massive burly man begins pushing his way through the crowd to see what all the commotion is about. He stops in front of the charred body, smoke still rising from it. The body is so damaged that he can¡¯t even tell who this was. The only remains of his face are a grinning blacked skull, staring up into the night sky. Suddenly a sound comes from the body. ¡°Guuk¡­Gluuk¡­Grii¡­Giirll¡­¡± the guttural sounds coming out from what remains of the man¡¯s throat. ¡®HOLY FUCK!!! HE IS STILL ALIVE!!!¡± Shouts come from the crowd as many others join the shocking sentiment, as others chime in with their observations. ¡°Did he say girl?¡± ¡°Holy shit was that the girl we saw?!¡± ¡°No, you are just drunk. That was just the smoke from his body¡± ¡°Bullshit I saw her!¡± ¡°Yeah, me too!¡± ¡°Hey, didn¡¯t she look like¡­¡± ¡°SHUT THE FUCK UP, ALL OF YOU!¡± yells the leader, cutting off the conversations. ¡°Whoever did this has to be nearby! Split up and find¡­¡± AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH¡± A scream rings out from behind the leader. The whole group looks toward the direction of the scream, their faces all paling at the sight. One of the buildings has been painted with a 10 foot splat of blood. In front of the blood splat are dozens of body parts and entrails. The leader pushes through the crowd to see what happened. His blood runs cold when he breeches the crowd and sees the carnage in front of the building. ¡°Did anybody see¡­¡± ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH¡± Another scream rings out from the opposite side of the courtyard behind the group. The group spins to face the direction of the scream only to be met with another building whose front is red with blood, and body parts and entrails covering the ground in front of it. The leader begins pushing his way toward the new scene, but only gets halfway before¡­ ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH¡± ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH¡± Two more screams ring out from either side of the compound. Buildings painted red with blood, and ground adorned with entrails and remains. A general state of panic comes over the group. People begin shoving each other, unsure of which way to actually run to safety, as they are seemingly surrounded by death.
I can¡¯t tell you how many times I have imagined how I would bring about my revenge on my captors, but this is beyond what my wildest delusion of grandeur ever was able to come up with. I was just waiting in the tree line, thinking of how I wanted to go about my revenge, which scenario I came up with over the years, when suddenly, a man stumbled into view between the buildings in front of me. This was a man I knew well, the distinctive scars adorning his face were put there by me. I just had to fuck with him. I deliberately changed my form, using the ever so fun Shapeshift skill the Kitsune had when I faced her, to make it appear how I looked the night he showed up to my room to assault me. I also made myself a bit transparent, as I wanted to make it seem like he was seeing a ghost. I made my sobbing sound more ethereal, so it didn¡¯t sound like it came from me. I moved over to and stood by one of the buildings just off to the side of his vision. When he turned to look at me, it was apparent he immediately recognized me by his reaction. I made sure my Utsusemi skill was put to good use. This allowed me to appear as though I''m vanishing into thin air. He thought he could just turn around and walk away, but little did he know I was behind him the whole time. My amusement increased as the man pulled a little dagger and tried to hit me only to hit air as my after-image faded. When he stumbled on his bottle and fell, my time for messing around came to an end. It was time to end this piece of shit. I stood over the man and placed my face directly in front of his. When he opened his eyes, I used my shapeshift skill to distort my face into a demonic appearance. I figured it would only be right to end this man''s pitiful existence the same way I gave him those scars. I placed my hands on either side of the man''s face and activated my Torch spell. I''m infinitely more powerful than I was on our first encounter, so my spell made quick work searing the flesh from his skull. He let out a horrific scream and I knew we would have company soon. I scorched the rest of his body and used my Utsusemi skill to make myself vanish as the men piled out of the buildings. I kept my presence hidden, my skills allowing me to remain invisible as I leaned against a building to watch the confusion unfold. Then came a booming voice from the crowd, a voice that caused my blood to boil. The voice belonged to the man who killed my mother. He pushed his way toward the burned man and then the unexpected happen. The man I burned to a crisp started talking. The fucking bastard was still alive! The gurgling sounds he emitted made me almost bust up laughing. A man close to me seemed to notice me make a noise and turned to see what it was. I immediately grabbed him and threw him at the wall I was leaning against. I threw him so hard his body literally exploded on impact, body parts going everywhere, and leaving a massive blood stain on the wall. The man was able to get out a scream, which caused the whole group to turn toward the direction of the scream. The horror on their faces gave me the idea of how I should approach this attack. I teleported to the opposite side and grabbed another man and threw him at the nearest building. The impact result was the same as the first, blood and guts decorating the building and the ground in front of it. One man who was sanding next to the man I threw, actually pissed himself from fright. Oh man this is soo much fun! I then threw two more men on either side of the group, effectively surrounding the group with death. The whole group broke out into chaos as they realized there was nowhere they could escape the carnage. I began teleporting around, randomly throwing people at buildings. The chaos increased as the men began seeing bodies thrown against walls by some unseen force. Before the chaos got completely out of control, I decided to show myself. I appeared as the same little girl, just how they all remembered me. One man closer to me seemed to recognize me and started walking toward me. I immediately recognized the man as one of the fucks who would randomly beat me just to vent their frustrations. "I know you! You have some balls showing your face back here little girl! You think the beatings I gave you were bad? Just wai¡­¡± The man¡¯s words were cut off as my hand plunged into the man¡¯s chest. I ripped his heart from its boney protective cage. I held the still beating heart up to the man¡¯s eyes. ¡°I think you dropped this.¡± I say to the man. The guy actually reaches for and grabs his own heart from my hand, confusion momentarily fills his eyes. Suddenly, his eyes widen as his brain realizes what had just happened. The man begins slumping forward as the lack of oxygen to his brain begins to take effect, and he falls to the dirt floor dead, still clutching his still beating heart. I let out a laugh of amusement at how hilarious that encounter was. It¡¯s time to begin. My Masamune appears at my side and I draw the blade. Instantly, all the blood on the building walls and from the body parts, begins to flow toward me. The faces in the crowd begin to pale as they see the blood swirling into a fog all around them. The time has come for my revenge to come to fruition. "Drink deeply my friend." I say to my sword as it consumes mass quantities of blood. I rush toward a man and slice his head clean off, his arteries fountaining blood to be consumed by my blade. I begin my delicate dance of death, weaving in and out of the crowd, slicing off heads and limbs. I slice bodies in half and spill entrails on the floor. The fog of blood thickening with everybody I decimate. The screams of the panicking group reaches a roar, but it slowly decreases in volume as I cut through their ranks, being careful to leave just one man untouched. Finally, I slaughter the last remaining bandits and the remaining screams die out into the night. Chapter 38: Hell Hath No Fury As last scream fades into the air, I¡¯m left standing among piles of corpses and body parts, facing the last remaining of the bandits, my mother¡¯s murderer. The man¡¯s eyes are wide and vacant. He is holding his sword, the very sword I remember my mother¡¯s lifeless body being skewered on. The man is not moving a muscle, the look in his eyes that of a man that has seen a lifetime of horrors, even though my attack only lasted about 15 minutes. I need to bring him back to the present. I place my blade along his right cheek and slowly drag by blade along his face, opening up a clean laceration that immediately begins flowing blood to my blade. The man, eyes still staring off in the distance, raises his left hand and runs it through the wound, bringing his hand back and looking at it, as the blood slowly flows off his fingertips. ¡°You¡± The bandit leader says in a whisper. ¡°You should have made sure I died in that Labyrinth.¡± ¡°This cannot be possible. Nobody survives that place.¡± The man says a little louder as he repeatedly runs his hand through the wound on his face to watch the blood flow off his fingers only to be consumed by my blade. ¡°You left me there to die, but my drive to kill you pushed me to survive.¡± ¡°Nobody survives that place, especially not a beaten little girl like you! How can you possibly be here? You don¡¯t even look any older than when we dumped you in the depths?!¡± The man says finally bringing his eyes up to meet mine. I drop my illusion and the bruises and blood on my skin vanish. My height increases by a foot, and my bust fills out a bit as I am now in the midst of puberty. I remain clothed in clean versions of the simple clothes I was wearing when this man took me from my home. ¡°I faced untold horrors in that place. I faced death more times than I could count. But, I fought on. Many encounters left be broken and bleeding, but I fought on. I faced worse things than the horrors you know of in that place. I even faced the Gods themselves. In my quest to become stronger and more powerful, I killed monsters by the hundreds of thousands. I killed so many that the Gods themselves were angered by my slaughter. I challenged them as they came, we crossed blades, and I brought them to their knees!¡± The energy in the courtyard begins to thicken as my rage and power begin bubbling to the surface. My silver fur begins crawling up my body from my feet, covering everything except my head, which I keep human for now. 8 silver tails erupt from behind me, the purple accents on my tails and body lighting up and crackling with energy. ¡°How is this possible? You are not that girl!¡± ¡°When I crossed blades with the gods, I defeated them one by one. With each one that fell, I took their weapons!¡± I hold up the Muramasa and wave it in front of his face, the blood from his facial laceration still streaming blood to it. ¡°I took their armor!¡± My silver samurai armor begins appearing one piece at a time. ¡°I TOOK THEIR POWER!!¡± My kabuto helmet appears on my head, my face taking the shape of the Kitsune. The silver whiskers erupt from my face and the purple accents on my armor light up and explode with power, purple lightning cracking all over. The bandit leader just stares at what he is seeing. His eyes wide with tears forming in them, his color pale, sweat is streaming down his face. He seems lost like he was moments ago. I swift slash opens up another wound on the left side of his face. ¡°Raise your sword and face me!¡± I yell at the murderer. He doesn¡¯t respond quickly enough for my liking. Suddenly a dozen slices appear on his body. The man screams out in pain as his brain is forced back to reality. The man looks at his sword and back at me. 20 more slices appear, a scream echoes off the buildings. He takes a swing at me, but it¡¯s painfully slow. Several more slices appear on his body. He launches several more attacks and they find nothing but air. To him, it appears as though I haven¡¯t moved from where I am standing; my speed is leagues beyond anything he could comprehend. Several more swings at me and a dozen or two more slices appear. I swear this man is so weak. The first goblin I faced back on the first floor of the Labyrinth, the one with the spear, would have been a serious challenge for this guy. The man¡¯s brain seemed to have a moment of clarity and logic, and he turns around to run away from me, only to find me standing right there, my sword pointed at his head. ¡°You DARE run away from me?!¡± I scream, rage filling my being. Suddenly, over 100 slices appear at the same time, shredding his clothes and his skin, as the man screams out his soul. He swiftly passes out face first into the dirt. I take this time to heal his wounds before he succumbs to them. He shortly wakes up, his hands flying around his body, feeling the wounds that are suddenly not there anymore. ¡°Get up! Let¡¯s begin again!¡± I say with a hint of annoyance in my voice. The man doesn¡¯t move at first, as he is just staring at me, his eyes filled with fear. Suddenly 20 cuts appear on the man¡¯s body. These cuts are deeper than the last ones, which were only shallow skin cuts. Now, I am slicing through muscle, the pain is immense, and he screams out in pain. ¡°Get the fuck up! Pick up your sword and face me!!¡± Several more slices and he picks up his sword and struggles to get to his feet. He swings the sword at me, but it was absolutely pathetic. A toddler could put more effort into an attack. I slice him up dozens of times until he falls to the floor and stops responding to my slices. I heal him once again in his unconscious state. His eyes fly open, and he backs away from me. ¡°H¡­ How are you so strong?!¡± The man says his voice shaky as he realizes I can keep this up for as long as I want, in an endless cycle of torture and pain. ¡°You think this is my full power?!¡± I say with a chuckle. I ramp up my power and the ground begins to tremble slightly, the electricity from my purple accents cracks the air loudly. ¡°What you see is less than 1% of my power. You have no fucking clue what real power is!¡± I crank my power up to 5%. The tremors become violent; the man has to brace himself against the shaking. The stone walls of the buildings begin to crack and crumble, some buildings partially collapsing. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. I crank up my power to 10%. The tremors become frightfully violent. Any buildings that are still standing are swiftly reduced to piles of rubble. The lightning emitted from my body actually splits the very ground where they strike. I tone down my power to the way I was before. The murderer in front of me shaking from fright of what he sees. For around 3 feet around me, the very air is distorted from my power, like a mirage created by heat rising from the ground. ¡°Now, GET UP!¡± The man is trembling violently with fear. He loses all control over his bodily functions as piss streams down his legs and onto the dirt floor. ¡°How pathetic! If you can¡¯t control yourself then you don¡¯t deserve it!¡± A swift slice and his manhood falls to the dirt floor. The man lets out a soul crushing scream as he stares at his most prized possession lying in the dirt. Through glossed over eyes, he reaches a hand toward the fallen sex organs, only to find that arm falling to the dirt, lying next to them. In his traumatized state, he reaches for his fallen arm with his other hand, only to find that falling to the dirt as well. The man begins shaking more violently, his eyes becoming more vacant. My senses pick up the sound of his heart beat; it is becoming more and more erratic, threatening to go into a lethal arrhythmia. I knock the man unconscious before he goes into cardiac arrest, then I heal his wounds and wait for him to regain consciousness. ¡°Pick up your sword.¡± I say flatly as he regains consciousness. The man just shakes his head. I begin slicing him more and more. ¡°I said GET THE FUCK UP AND FIGHT ME!¡± ¡°N¡­ No¡± the man chokes out. ¡°So be it!¡± I say coldly. I begin hacking away at the defenseless man. I slice him and slash him over and over, healing him each time before he dies. I spend a few hours just hacking him up, severing limbs and spilling his guts onto the floor. Each time I heal him like new before beginning again. My malice and rage are fueling my assault on the man. No monster dares to get close to the compound as malice and rage emanates from the compound in waves the size of a tsunami. ¡°Please¡­ Please! Please stop!¡± the man cries out after I healed him for the latest time. Tears are streaming down the man¡¯s face, snot running from his nose. He is begging me now, begging me to stop the pain. That¡¯s not enough for me. He is only begging to make the pain stop. He isn¡¯t begging me to kill him yet. He still has a will to live. The man has his arms up in defense, as if that will stop my legendary weapon. He soon finds his arms once again on the floor. I walk up to the man and grab him by his hair. ¡°You have no clue what horrors I am capable of!¡± I say to the man¡¯s face as I slice his head clean off his body. I turn his head so he is looking at his body, his eyes going wide with shock. ¡°You are going to die in the next few seconds¡± I whisper into his ear. I watch as his eyes roll backward in his head, and he dies. I toss the head down next to the body with a laugh. ¡°Resurrection!¡± A bright white envelops the man¡¯s body, mending the severed limbs and head. Color flows back into the corpse, and life is breathed back into the wicked man. His eyes shoot open, his hands flying to his neck to make sure it¡¯s intact. I walk up to the man and grab him by his hair again. I slice his head clean off once again, and I bring the severed head up to my eyes. ¡°Oh yes, that was not a dream.¡± I laugh as I again watch the man die, and once again toss the head back to the body it came from. ¡°Resurrection!¡± The man¡¯s body is restored and life fills his corpse once again. His eyes shoot open and he backs away from me. I walk over to the man and he raises his arms in a feeble attempt to defend himself against me. Soon, he finds his arms lying in the dirt, and no way to defend against what is coming. I place my blade vertically against his face and apply pressure. The blade begins slicing into the man¡¯s face, splitting his nose, lips and forehead in two. A bit more pressure and the blade slices through the man¡¯s skull like butter, his brain putting up no resistance to the blade as it is sliced in two. The man¡¯s head flops to either side as it is completely split, the two halves of his brain flopping out of the cranial cavity. ¡°Resurrection!¡± The man slowly opens his eyes again, seemingly having expected to come back again. ¡°You have died three times now. Even I don¡¯t actually know what it is like to die. How was it?¡± The man just looks at me with an expression of horror as he realizes that not even death is a way to escape my wrath. I sheathe my Muramasa, and change my appearance to the little 5 year old girl I was when he took me, dressed in the very same clothes. I walk over to his fallen sword. I pick up the sword and examine it. It¡¯s just a common greatsword, nothing special about it. Sadness flashes across my face thinking of how my mother was killed by a piece of shit like this. Part of me wishes she could have at least been killed by a legendary weapon. At least then there would have been some honor in her death! Instead, she was killed by a piece of shit sword, wielded by a piece of shit weakling. I walk over to the man and plunge the sword straight through his chest. I let go of the handle and take a step back. ¡°You killed my mother with that sword. It¡¯s only fitting you die exactly how you killed her.¡± The man reaches up and grabs the sword that¡¯s sticking out of his chest. He doesn¡¯t have any strength to pull it out, so he just looks at it, his eyes glossing over. Soon he falls over and dies. I step over to the corpse and pull the sword from his chest. ¡°Resurrection!¡± The man is restored once again and his eyes open and focus again on me. ¡°No... No, that¡¯s not how you did it? Did you?¡± I walk behind the man and pull him to his feet by his hair. I then plunge the sword through his back, the blade erupting from his chest, ribs sundered and blood erupting everywhere. ¡°There we go. THIS is how you did it!¡± I say as I wiggle the blade a little causing blood to spurt from the wound and blood to sputter from the man¡¯s mouth. . I hold the blade steady as the man twitches and dies. I stand there holding his corpse impaled on the blade. ¡°Yes, this is EXACTLY how you did it.¡± I say coldly to the corpse. I pull out the blade while holding the corpse up by its hair. I resurrect the body and as soon as the degenerate opens his eyes, I plunge the sword into his back once more; the blade once again erupts from his chest in a shower of blood. The murderer coughs and sputters as blood flows from his mouth. I savor in his death once again. I repeat this process of killing him exactly how he killed my mother, and resurrecting him over and over again. He dies in this manner dozens of times. Over the next several hours, I kill my mother¡¯s murderer in every fashion conceivable. I ripped out his heart and made him hold it until he died, which unfortunately wasn¡¯t as entertaining as the guy I did that too earlier. I torched him like the first man I killed tonight. That one was especially painful, and it took him a while to recover from that trauma. I even used my lightning to electrocute him. This was rather gross as his eyes literally exploded as the fluid inside boiled immediately, while he was still alive. I froze him solid and shattered him into thousands of pieces. I carved him up piece by piece until he died. I shapeshifted into Cujo and mauled him to death. I even shapeshifted into one of the massive Ogres from the third floor, and I stomped him to death. Wasn¡¯t sure my resurrection would work on that, as he was literally reduced to a stain on the floor, but it worked! Unfortunately the sun has breached the horizon, and a new day has begun. I am no longer taking any pleasure in this pathetic man¡¯s pain. I spent the last 8-10 hours torturing and slaughtering this man in every conceivable way. Considering I was beaten and tortured for over 5 years, you would think 8-10 hours wouldn¡¯t be enough time, but it is. My vengeance has been realized, and the Kitsune was right, this didn¡¯t satisfy me. Well, it did as I had lots of fun, but it didn¡¯t fill the hole inside me as I thought it would. I still have questions that remain unanswered. Why am I even here in this world? Why was I made to suffer so much? What am I even supposed to do now?! Can I even get back home? I put my sword belonging to my mother¡¯s killer into one of my bags, as a trophy for what I have done here today. I turn back to my mother¡¯s killer, recently revived and coming to, and I draw my Muramasa. As soon as he regains consciousness, I slice off his arms and legs, tossing them into the piles of body parts belonging to his men. I then healed the wounds with Lesser Heals as Greater Heals would actually restore the limbs, and that¡¯s not what I want. I kneel down next to the limbless pile of shit and speak my last words to this man. At least my voice will be the last voice he will ever hear, and my face will be the last face he will ever see. I look into his eyes, eyes filled with tears that run down his face. ¡°It¡¯s a beautiful day is it not? Today will be the last you spend alive. There is no more coming back this time. You will lie here, with the remains of your men, and you will wait for monsters to come from the forest to feast on what remains of your men, and you. Use this remaining time to reflect on your life, how you lived it, and how you treated others. If the Gods do decide to grant you another life, I hope you chose a different path. If you don¡¯t I will be seeing you again.¡± I stand up and walk away from the crying man, and I head to the forest. My mission here is complete. It is time to find my mother. Chapter 39: Breaking the Law I shift my form back to my normal form, dressed in simple clothing, and I begin to walk through the forest toward the direction I am pretty sure my childhood home was located. Sure, I could easily just teleport there, but I have so much on my mind, I need a nice long walk to sort through my thoughts on what I just did. Also, now that I have had my revenge, what do I do now?! There is just so much crap flooding my thoughts, and I could really use some time to sort through it all. After a couple hours of walking around the forest, a blue orb suddenly impacts my body. I recognize it as a soul being absorbed by my armor. I chuckle as I realize my mother''s murder, who I left alive back at the bandit''s encampment must have died. It''s surprising that his soul would actually fly through the forest trying to find me. I guess there is no limit to the distance I have to be in order to be able to absorb a soul. Also, technically wouldn''t the kill belong to whatever monster finished him off? I guess I still get credit, possibly die to me killing him so many times already. Suddenly, my body immediately and automatically shifts to my Kitsune form, complete with silver fur and 8 tails. Suddenly there is a glow from behind me as my 9th tail forms. I let out a booming laugh at the thought that the soul of my mother''s killer was the final soul required to acquire my final tail. It''s ironic that the person that caused me so much pain and suffering is the one whose soul caused me to become even more powerful. More powerful I would learn is actually a massive understatement. Suddenly my silver fur begins to glow white. The silver shimmer of my fur vanishes and is replaced by bright white fur. The purple accents on my legs, hands, face, ears, and tails, fades away and is replaced by shiny golden accents in a swirling pattern. I feel my power begin to swell dramatically, even more so than the 20% stat boost the 9th tail is stated to provide by the tooltip. No, my power is increasing FAR more than it was just a few seconds ago. What the hell is happening?! Class acquired: Celestial Fox Title Acquired: Ky¨±bi no Kitsune Skill Acquired: Celestial Senses! Kitsune''s armor set and Kitsune''s Muramasa increased to Mythical quality. Wow! HOLY SHIT! This is seriously unreal! I bring my arms up into view. My fur is as white as the driven snow. The accents are shimmering gold, and the swirls they form are actually moving. The gold seems to flow with power unlike anything I had experienced before. Actually, I have experienced this power before, when I got kicked out of the Labyrinth. This power, it''s almost, well, divine! I feel INCREDIBLE! I feel like I could take on any and all challenger, no matter who they are! I bring up my samurai armor and the change has affected it as well. it is now white with the same swirling gold accents on them. My silver whiskers are now golden and appear even longer. My Muramasa is also now white with the same gold swirling accents. "What is this title? Ky¨±bi no Kitsune? Sounds distinctly Japanese." I concentrate on that title to open its tooltip. Let''s see what this is all about. Ky¨±bi no Kitsune Roughly translated to "Nine Tailed Kitsune". A Kitsune who possesses 9 tails is said to reach heavenly/celestial power. These beings gain the ability to see and hear anything that is going on anywhere in the world. This skill is commonly referred to as Celestial Senses. This title bestows an increase to stats n^1.2. This increase also affects Defense and Magical Defense stats. I open up my status screen as I am keen to see how this changes things. The acquisition of the 9th tail has really brought with it gains MUCH more than just the 20% in stats. The title alone increases my stats by an exponential value of 1.2. The increase in quality of my armor and weapon literally doubled the stats of those items. Absolutely incredible. My stats seemed to have increased dozens of times over. No, even more than that, at LEAST 10 times over! My senses are in a state of overdrive. It seems this Celestial Senses skill is always active to some degree. I can hear everything, and I mean EVERYTHING! I can actually hear the grass under me growing. I can hear animals that are burrowed deep underground. I can hear a bee, tens of kilometers away. I can actually hear the conversations of people going about their day in Creshent, which is quite far from where I currently am. I look straight down at my feet. This is totally unreal. I can literally see cities and people holding conversations on the other side of the planet! I turn toward the Labyrinth and peer into its floors. I see the final floor, the four Archangels I faced before, the endless souls scurrying about, various classes of angels and divine beings inhabiting the golden city. I can see... I can see... Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! "Wow..." I say in a whisper as my vision focuses on the face of God himself. I stand there just staring at a face no mortal has ever seen, well, at least not outside of the stories of legend told in the numerous religious scriptures around the world. This is the creator of everything, the Alpha and the Omega, the one who has my answers. I am definitely going to have to pay this guy a visit, hopefully soon. Suddenly the face I''m looking at looks directly at me, and blows, as though he was blowing away a pesky gnat. I''m suddenly thrust out of that realm, and I''m blown back where I land flat on my ass. "Sonuvabitch!" I shout, shocked that I was actually caught looking into the face of The Creator. It doesn''t shock me in the least bit that He knew I was looking at Him. Suddenly there is a golden glow from above me accompanied by the cliche angelic music I have heard before, as an angelic figure slowly emerges. It''s one of the Archangels I faced the other day. I recognize it as the Archangel Uriel. Again, the beautiful voice rings out. "You were warned to not trespass in our realm. You even dared look upon the face of The Father. He could have blown you out of existence, but unfortunately for you, he left that task to me." "Hey! I didn''t trespass anywhere! I just looked! I never left the forest!" I reply in protest. One thing I have noticed since Uriel arrived in the forest, is the presence of this Angel does not have the same effect on me as it did the last time I faced him and his brethren. Even his voice which previously caused me to fall to my knees in penitence, crying, is having no effect on me. Now, I''m just annoyed at the accusation as though I was talking to a normal person. "It matters not. Your presence was detected. You will now face divine judgement!" The Archangel draws the sword at his side, which bursts into a blue divine flame. The sky-blue wings of the Archangel explode in waves of divine energy, forming a beautiful halo of blue light surrounding the angel. I have to admit he looks really cool. A wicked smile forms on my face as I''m no longer intimidated by the power of the Archangel. As I stand now, my power far eclipses that of this angel, even with the massive level gap between us. A moment ago, I was just worrying about how I could possibly grow strong enough to challenge these Archangels, and now with the acquisition of my final tail, my new title and class provided an astronomical boost to my stats. "Bring it on you overgrown Glow-Stick!" i shout out, taunting the Archangel. Ready to face the divine creature in front of me, my Muramasa appears at my side, my hand going to the handle of the blade in preparation for battle. The Archangel instantly appears in front of me and slashes at me with the blue flaming sword, the divine energy slashing through me. Rather, what he thinks was me. I let out a laugh seeing a divine being falling for my Utsusemi skill. This angel is dead, and it doesn''t even know it. It was dead as soon as it appeared here! Apparently, the Creator didn''t feel the need to warn this idiot of my newly acquired power. Sucks to be him! "Iaijutsu- Mugyourikuren!" I launch forward and slash the Archangel 6 times, the skill no longer automatic as it once was, as I have learned to have full control over where I strike. 6 bright points of light instantly appearing on various points on its body, the majority on lethal points. My smile turning even more wicked knowing the angel''s fate is literally in my hands. "What... what have you done?!" The angel screams out in a panic. Even in a panic, his voice is beautiful. Too bad this voice will no longer be heard. "Tell your Father I''m coming to see Him soon!" I say as I snap my fingers. The Archangel bursts into several pieces, golden fluid erupting from the wounds. His head, body parts, and sky-blue feathers fall all over the forest floor. The golden blood of the angel begins covering the mossy ground. Any plants the golden blood touch instantly begin growing, the mana rich blood having provided a massive boost of life energy. I stand over the dead angel as I sheathe my sword. I turn my gaze toward the Labyrinth, once again trespassing in the domain I am forbidden to be. I cast my gaze on the other three Archangels and they immediately turn toward me as they sense my presence. Time for me to be the intimidator. The dead angel on the floor erupts into a massive ball of light and speeds off toward the direction of the Labyrinth. The faces of the remaining three Archangels take on a look of shock as they sense the soul of their fallen brother returning to its heavenly home. I issue a warning to the remaining Archangels. "If you come for me, you will share the same fate as Uriel. Don''t worry, we will see each other soon, this time on my terms." I sever my vision and communication off, returning to the forest. I stare at the spot where the angel fell. There is no sign that a divine creature once fell here, other than grass and shrubs that have grown abnormally in comparison to the surrounding flora. I continue my walk toward my old home, contemplating my new divine power. I''m no longer human, am I? I have gained the power of divinity itself. Does this mean I''m actually a God myself?! The Kitsune I faced on the second floor was pretty much a God, as she didn''t actually die when I killed her. I''m far beyond what the Kitsune was back then, so why couldn''t I be considered a God?! I spend the rest of the walk in quiet contemplation. My new abilities allow me to see my old home from a long way off, so I know I''m headed in the correct direction. I can see that the house no longer looks anything like what I remembered. I am actually nervous to return there. It''s the place where this nightmare began, the place where I lost my family, where I lost my freedom, where I lost everything. But I need this. I need to come to terms with this trauma that I never got the chance to resolve. The only mourning I was actually able to do is what I did alone in the dark dusty confines of my closet cell in the Bandit encampment. Yes, I got my revenge on the monsters that caused that trauma, and that helped tremendously, but this is my real closure. I have to make peace with what happened so I can finally move on to whatever comes next for me. A showdown with The Creator of everything perhaps? The forest eventually makes way to what remains of the back yard to my home. With nobody present to tend the yard and garden, the forest has begun the process of retaking the land. Trees are sprouting all over what used to be the grassy yard where I used to chase bunnies. The garden my mother used to tend daily is now overgrown with vegetables and fruits still growing, but now growing wild and all over the place. Given another few years and the forest will completely retake the land and if you were walking through the forest, you could walk within a few meters of the ruins of my home and not even know it was there. Chapter 41: Telling My Tale "Will you tell me what happened Christine? Where you have been all this time?" He asks, his voice trembles giving away that he is scared to hear this tale. I nod my head and start recounting what happened starting from that fateful night. "It happened about 5 weeks after you left to rejoin your party. It was just another night, and I was asleep in bed. Suddenly I was awoken by a large bang outside. I rushed to the window to see lots of people emerging from the forest tree line. There was fire in the trees. Suddenly, an explosion occurred in the middle of a group of people running toward the house. They were blown to pieces. There were body parts littering the yard." "Yeah, that''s your mother, the explosive fire mage." "The explosions kept ringing out as the people got closer and closer to the house. Then I heard lots of footsteps in the house and mom burst into my room. She started to rush toward me trying to tell me to run, when a massive sword erupted from her chest. Her blood rained down on me and I watched her life leave her eyes." "The man who killed her then threw her away like trash and grabbed me by the hair and dragged me to the living room. There were bodies everywhere, and strange men all over the place. They began beating me and slapping me. They put a bag over my head and took me to their encampment." "There I was beaten mercilessly and forced to do all manner of disgusting things. I had to clean up their filth and wash their blood stains armor and shit stained underwear. They never fed me or gave me water. I had to survive by sneaking scraps of food from their trash, and sneak sips of water or alcohol from their cups." I recount my tale of what happened to me, my fathers face contorting to one of pure hatred and malice. Two emotions that I know all too well. "You couldn''t use your water spell?" "No, I was watched constantly. I was beaten for the most trivial things, and often just for their amusement. I didn''t want to think of what they would do if they found out I could use magic." "That makes sense." My father nods. "I spent the next five years as their slave, never knowing a single second of those five years without pain. I always has bruises, broken ribs, and often one of more of my limbs wouldn''t work correctly due to damage cause by my captors." "But I managed to keep myself alive. My hatred for these people driving me to survive. A darkness was born inside me and grew with every day and every beating. This darkness called out to me to survive. It told me that I can''t die yet. It told me to bide my time and one day the time would come." "One day one of these men got too drunk and came into my room to try and sexually assault me. By that point I was practicing my magic in secret in my small closet sized room. I had developed three new spells, two of which would be somewhat useful, and one of them became a main attack I have relied on since." I raise my hand and my torch spell activated without me saying a word. My need to recite my spells name in order to activate them was a weakness I had long since rid myself of. Sometimes I like saying the spells, as it seems to be a habit from my anime watching days. I think it sounds cooler sometimes. "I developed this torch spell by combining mothers simple flame spell with my breeze spell I showed you that day we discussed my awakening." My father nods remembering that day well. It wasn''t a day he would ever soon forget. "Well, when the man tried to assault me, I grabbed his face and activated this spell. His face was scorched off, some of his skin even stuck to my my hands. I then tried to run out of there but was confronted by another man. When he saw what I did to that man''s face, he put his hands around my neck and began to choke me." I let my torch go and formed a long icicle without saying a word, my father obviously shocked that I could activate spells without reciting them. "I made an icicle like this one and stabbed them man in his ribs, puncturing a lung. I then ran out of the building but was kicked in the chest as soon as I got outside. I was sent flying back into the room where I was beaten over and over and over. I thought I was finished and they were going to kill me there and then. Instead they tied my hands and feet together, and stuffed me into a bag." "They discussed what to do with me when someone suggested throwing me in the depths. Everyone seemed to agree, seemingly glad to be finally rid of me after all these years. They carried me for what seems like forever, then threw me and I hit a wall. They left me there tied up and inside the bag. I used my flame spell to burn away the ropes and the bag, allowing me to escape." "I found myself in a dark cave. They tossed me into a small alcove within the cave. I left the cave and headed in the direction I heard their voices trailing off to, but the exit to the cave was sealed off by a massive boulder. I had no choice but to go the other way. I kept walking until I came to a massive stone archway with a room that was suddenly lit up by torches." My fathers expression fell to one of concern at what I was describing. "Wait, was there a massive Troll in that room?!" "Yes, it was there. They had thrown me into the Lesser Creshent Forest Labyrinth." "By the gods, Christine, that place is... that place is..." "I''m well aware father." I say with a chuckle. "People have gone into that place and never come out! Your mother and I went in there with our party to investigate the dungeon. We were sent there at the request of the government to investigate all the disappearances in the dungeon. We fought the Troll and even with 6 of us we barely managed to take it down. We took seriously heavy damage from that monster. We tried to clear the dungeon but we never even made it close to the boss." This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. "Yeah, that troll is one hell of a guy dad. Anyway, as soon as it saw me it charged me and I ran back to the little cave they threw me in. I knew it was too big to get through the small opening, so I thought I was safe. Well, it reached in with one of its stupidly long arms and grabbed one of my legs. I used my torch spell on its arm, but it was so strong that it took everything I had to burn it and get it to let me go." "Once it did it tried to pull its arm back, but it got stuck even worse. It couldn''t get out, and it couldn''t attack me any more, so I did the only thing I could. I used my torch spell on its face until it''s eyes were burned out. Then I used my icicles to stab its neck over and over until I was finally able to pierce its skin and sever arteries in its neck. It took a while, but I was able to finally kill it. I gained more levels than I thought possible and the Troll dropped my first weapon, my Troll Dagger, a rare weapon." I took out a Troll Dagger that I received later on in my stay after learning the Spatial Movement skill. I wanted a new dagger since I discarded my old ones. You know, as sort of a moment I for those times. I handed the blade to my father. My father looked on in awe as I recounted my fight against the troll. He was in shock that I was able to kill it by myself when he and his whole party was barely able to do it. "From there, I decided to continue into the dungeon since the guys who threw me in there had blocked the enterance with a massive boulder. I came across a spear wielding goblin in the hallway past the troll room. It gave me a bunch of trouble and I got slashed a few times and it broke my nose, but I was able to kill it, but it was a long fight, gaining more levels. I continued on but soon came to a group of three goblins. I decided I would have to come back after I rested back in my cave. I figured that little alcove was a safe spot as I already spent the night in there once." "As you know, because of all this, I was never able to attend school where they presumably teach you about dungeons and monsters and whatnot. Without this knowledge I had no clue that monsters respawn after a certain amount of time passes. So, when I was heading back to my room in the cave, I exited the hallways back to the troll''s room. I wasn''t aware of the Troll having respawned. I had to run for my life again and dove back into my room. The troll stupidly made the exact same mistake as before and got stuck in the doorway to the alcove. This time I had a weapon and was a bit stronger. I was able to dispatch the troll again, gaining lots of levels again. The sight of the trolls blood awakened the darkness inside me, and I advanced toward the dungeon on the sole need to spill the blood of everything in my path." My father listens in horror as he listens to how his daughter became an unbridled killing machine. "I mercilessly slaughtered everything in my path, quickly growing strong enough to slaughter even the Trolls on my own. I was able to get a few rare gear drops and that only made me stronger. I slaughtered goblins and trolls with reckless abandon, and soon found myself with a second dagger from a troll. I also unlocked my first class: Assassin. My class born out of my love for killing." I was also able to learn a new healing spell from one of the caster goblins, so that gave me more survivability." "Finally I walked into the boss room and faced the Minotaur." "The Minotaur?!" My farther practically screams. "Yeah, why? What''s wrong father?" "I have heard of those monsters. Only the greatest parties have come across such a monster in the Greater labyrinth in the Capitol. They are fearsome beasts taller than houses, and strong as anything ever encountered." I nod my head listening to my fathers description. Funny though, he says they are normally encountered on higher floors of the Greater Labyrinth in the Capitol. Why would such a monster be the boss of the very first floor of this Lesser Labyrinth?! "Yeah, that''s about right. It got a good hit on me, kicked me right in the chest, shattering my ribcage with that kick. Took 4 heals to fix that. I was able to beat the Minotaur though. I picked him apart untill he could no longer move anymore. Then I picked up his head by that gold ring in its nose and sliced his neck in half." If I could take a picture of my father with the face he is making, I would. The absolute shock and disbelief on his face is priceless. I reach behind me and pull out the battered Minotaur Skull that I used to wear back then. It barely survived my fight with the Samurai Kitsune, and it was the only piece that I kept. I hand it over to my father to look at. "That''s the skull helmet that the Minotaur dropped. I wore that for a long time." "After I killed the Minotaur and equipped my new gear and enjoyed my pie..." "Pie?!" My father asked in bewilderment. I let out a good laugh and explain. "Yeah, the boss chest had a berry pie in it. It was fucking delicious! Having eaten nothing but rotting scraps for five years, that pie was heaven." "Christine language!!" "Oops, sorry dad. A lots happened. I spent five years surrounded by foul mouth criminals after all." "Good point, but still." "I''ll try to control my language dad." I say with a laugh. "By the way, I have been meaning to ask, why do you look like a fox? What''s the deals with the tails?" I let out a large belly laugh completely forgetting about my form. I''m so used to by now. "It''s from my gear set, dad. I won it off the 4-Tailed-Kitsune on the second floor of the labyrinth." "The Kitsune?! You fought a God?!!" "Um, well, that''s kind of a long story, but yes I did, and I killed her. Well, not sure I actually killed her though, but I won that fight... barely." My father goes pale hearing how I killed a god on the second floor of the labyrinth. "She wasn''t the first God I encountered either." I say with a mischievous smile. "WHAT?!" Shouts my father. "Yeah, that labyrinth is crazy difficult, dad! You wouldn''t believe the shit I saw down there!" "I bet! That place was sealed off after our investigation. It was deemed far too dangerous for being a Lesser Labyrinth. It''s first floor was on the difficulty level of the 20th floor of a Greater Labyrinth. We concluded that subsequent floors would be even more difficult and we deemed the dungeon a danger, and thus it was sealed. Also, language Christine." "Sorry dad" I say with another chuckle. "From what I could tell, each floor is dozens of levels more difficult than the previous one. When I got to the second floor, the first enemy was an Elite Dire Wolf. It almost killed me. Shredded my left leg to bits, even the bone was shattered by its powerful jaws and teeth. If I didn''t have that healing spell, I would have died right there." "Did you say dozens of levels more difficult?!" "Yes, eventually I obtained an inspection skill that allows me to see a monsters name, level, HP, MP, and skills. The Elite Dire Wolf on the second level, was level 80." "LEVEL 80!! That''s not possible!!" My dad shouts in pure shock. "It was. It was FAR more difficult than the Minotaur boss on the first floor. When I made it to the third floor, the first monster was an Elite Greater Cave Ogre that was level 120." "120!!!! How can that be?!!! Even the most high level elite parties in the whole kingdom wouldn''t even be able to beat that level 80 Wolf on the second floor!" "Yeah, the level gap was something else. The Floor boss on the third floor was level 150." "150..." my dad says in a hoarse voice, as though it was impossible to even say. "Anyway I got ahead of myself here. After I barely beat that level 80 Wolf, I continued on and came across a beautiful pond with a waterfall feeding it. I found a cave behind the waterfall and set up camp there. As I explored, I found a sunken shrine 60 feet underwater in the center of the pond. When I investigated that, I found a boss door that required a payment of my blood. As a condition, my wound wouldn''t heal until I defeated the boss within. The boss within was the King of the Seas, I assume another God. It was one of my favorite fights out of all in that place. He was a skilled fighter and made entirely of water. It took some thinking to figure out how to beat him, but I did, and not a second too son as I was feeling dizzy from blood loss. He disappeared in a column of steam then swirled back into existence on his throne. He healed me and bestowed me with an Epic quality amulet. It has a pretty amazing unique skill on it that allows me to breathe underwater." "I-I''m sorry, did you say breathe underwater?!" Chapter 41: Telling My Tale "Will you tell me what happened Christine? Where you have been all this time?" He asks, his voice trembles giving away that he is scared to hear this tale. I nod my head and start recounting what happened starting from that fateful night. "It happened about 5 weeks after you left to rejoin your party. It was just another night, and I was asleep in bed. Suddenly I was awoken by a large bang outside. I rushed to the window to see lots of people emerging from the forest tree line. There was fire in the trees. Suddenly, an explosion occurred in the middle of a group of people running toward the house. They were blown to pieces. There were body parts littering the yard." "Yeah, that''s your mother, the explosive fire mage." "The explosions kept ringing out as the people got closer and closer to the house. Then I heard lots of footsteps in the house and mom burst into my room. She started to rush toward me trying to tell me to run, when a massive sword erupted from her chest. Her blood rained down on me and I watched her life leave her eyes." "The man who killed her then threw her away like trash and grabbed me by the hair and dragged me to the living room. There were bodies everywhere, and strange men all over the place. They began beating me and slapping me. They put a bag over my head and took me to their encampment." "There I was beaten mercilessly and forced to do all manner of disgusting things. I had to clean up their filth and wash their blood stains armor and shit stained underwear. They never fed me or gave me water. I had to survive by sneaking scraps of food from their trash, and sneak sips of water or alcohol from their cups." I recount my tale of what happened to me, my fathers face contorting to one of pure hatred and malice. Two emotions that I know all too well. "You couldn''t use your water spell?" "No, I was watched constantly. I was beaten for the most trivial things, and often just for their amusement. I didn''t want to think of what they would do if they found out I could use magic." "That makes sense." My father nods. "I spent the next five years as their slave, never knowing a single second of those five years without pain. I always has bruises, broken ribs, and often one of more of my limbs wouldn''t work correctly due to damage cause by my captors." "But I managed to keep myself alive. My hatred for these people driving me to survive. A darkness was born inside me and grew with every day and every beating. This darkness called out to me to survive. It told me that I can''t die yet. It told me to bide my time and one day the time would come." "One day one of these men got too drunk and came into my room to try and sexually assault me. By that point I was practicing my magic in secret in my small closet sized room. I had developed three new spells, two of which would be somewhat useful, and one of them became a main attack I have relied on since." I raise my hand and my torch spell activated without me saying a word. My need to recite my spells name in order to activate them was a weakness I had long since rid myself of. Sometimes I like saying the spells, as it seems to be a habit from my anime watching days. I think it sounds cooler sometimes. "I developed this torch spell by combining mothers simple flame spell with my breeze spell I showed you that day we discussed my awakening." My father nods remembering that day well. It wasn''t a day he would ever soon forget. "Well, when the man tried to assault me, I grabbed his face and activated this spell. His face was scorched off, some of his skin even stuck to my my hands. I then tried to run out of there but was confronted by another man. When he saw what I did to that man''s face, he put his hands around my neck and began to choke me." I let my torch go and formed a long icicle without saying a word, my father obviously shocked that I could activate spells without reciting them. "I made an icicle like this one and stabbed them man in his ribs, puncturing a lung. I then ran out of the building but was kicked in the chest as soon as I got outside. I was sent flying back into the room where I was beaten over and over and over. I thought I was finished and they were going to kill me there and then. Instead they tied my hands and feet together, and stuffed me into a bag." "They discussed what to do with me when someone suggested throwing me in the depths. Everyone seemed to agree, seemingly glad to be finally rid of me after all these years. They carried me for what seems like forever, then threw me and I hit a wall. They left me there tied up and inside the bag. I used my flame spell to burn away the ropes and the bag, allowing me to escape." "I found myself in a dark cave. They tossed me into a small alcove within the cave. I left the cave and headed in the direction I heard their voices trailing off to, but the exit to the cave was sealed off by a massive boulder. I had no choice but to go the other way. I kept walking until I came to a massive stone archway with a room that was suddenly lit up by torches." My fathers expression fell to one of concern at what I was describing. "Wait, was there a massive Troll in that room?!" "Yes, it was there. They had thrown me into the Lesser Creshent Forest Labyrinth." "By the gods, Christine, that place is... that place is..." "I''m well aware father." I say with a chuckle. "People have gone into that place and never come out! Your mother and I went in there with our party to investigate the dungeon. We were sent there at the request of the government to investigate all the disappearances in the dungeon. We fought the Troll and even with 6 of us we barely managed to take it down. We took seriously heavy damage from that monster. We tried to clear the dungeon but we never even made it close to the boss." The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. "Yeah, that troll is one hell of a guy dad. Anyway, as soon as it saw me it charged me and I ran back to the little cave they threw me in. I knew it was too big to get through the small opening, so I thought I was safe. Well, it reached in with one of its stupidly long arms and grabbed one of my legs. I used my torch spell on its arm, but it was so strong that it took everything I had to burn it and get it to let me go." "Once it did it tried to pull its arm back, but it got stuck even worse. It couldn''t get out, and it couldn''t attack me any more, so I did the only thing I could. I used my torch spell on its face until it''s eyes were burned out. Then I used my icicles to stab its neck over and over until I was finally able to pierce its skin and sever arteries in its neck. It took a while, but I was able to finally kill it. I gained more levels than I thought possible and the Troll dropped my first weapon, my Troll Dagger, a rare weapon." I took out a Troll Dagger that I received later on in my stay after learning the Spatial Movement skill. I wanted a new dagger since I discarded my old ones. You know, as sort of a moment I for those times. I handed the blade to my father. My father looked on in awe as I recounted my fight against the troll. He was in shock that I was able to kill it by myself when he and his whole party was barely able to do it. "From there, I decided to continue into the dungeon since the guys who threw me in there had blocked the enterance with a massive boulder. I came across a spear wielding goblin in the hallway past the troll room. It gave me a bunch of trouble and I got slashed a few times and it broke my nose, but I was able to kill it, but it was a long fight, gaining more levels. I continued on but soon came to a group of three goblins. I decided I would have to come back after I rested back in my cave. I figured that little alcove was a safe spot as I already spent the night in there once." "As you know, because of all this, I was never able to attend school where they presumably teach you about dungeons and monsters and whatnot. Without this knowledge I had no clue that monsters respawn after a certain amount of time passes. So, when I was heading back to my room in the cave, I exited the hallways back to the troll''s room. I wasn''t aware of the Troll having respawned. I had to run for my life again and dove back into my room. The troll stupidly made the exact same mistake as before and got stuck in the doorway to the alcove. This time I had a weapon and was a bit stronger. I was able to dispatch the troll again, gaining lots of levels again. The sight of the trolls blood awakened the darkness inside me, and I advanced toward the dungeon on the sole need to spill the blood of everything in my path." My father listens in horror as he listens to how his daughter became an unbridled killing machine. "I mercilessly slaughtered everything in my path, quickly growing strong enough to slaughter even the Trolls on my own. I was able to get a few rare gear drops and that only made me stronger. I slaughtered goblins and trolls with reckless abandon, and soon found myself with a second dagger from a troll. I also unlocked my first class: Assassin. My class born out of my love for killing." I was also able to learn a new healing spell from one of the caster goblins, so that gave me more survivability." "Finally I walked into the boss room and faced the Minotaur." "The Minotaur?!" My farther practically screams. "Yeah, why? What''s wrong father?" "I have heard of those monsters. Only the greatest parties have come across such a monster in the Greater labyrinth in the Capitol. They are fearsome beasts taller than houses, and strong as anything ever encountered." I nod my head listening to my fathers description. Funny though, he says they are normally encountered on higher floors of the Greater Labyrinth in the Capitol. Why would such a monster be the boss of the very first floor of this Lesser Labyrinth?! "Yeah, that''s about right. It got a good hit on me, kicked me right in the chest, shattering my ribcage with that kick. Took 4 heals to fix that. I was able to beat the Minotaur though. I picked him apart untill he could no longer move anymore. Then I picked up his head by that gold ring in its nose and sliced his neck in half." If I could take a picture of my father with the face he is making, I would. The absolute shock and disbelief on his face is priceless. I reach behind me and pull out the battered Minotaur Skull that I used to wear back then. It barely survived my fight with the Samurai Kitsune, and it was the only piece that I kept. I hand it over to my father to look at. "That''s the skull helmet that the Minotaur dropped. I wore that for a long time." "After I killed the Minotaur and equipped my new gear and enjoyed my pie..." "Pie?!" My father asked in bewilderment. I let out a good laugh and explain. "Yeah, the boss chest had a berry pie in it. It was fucking delicious! Having eaten nothing but rotting scraps for five years, that pie was heaven." "Christine language!!" "Oops, sorry dad. A lots happened. I spent five years surrounded by foul mouth criminals after all." "Good point, but still." "I''ll try to control my language dad." I say with a laugh. "By the way, I have been meaning to ask, why do you look like a fox? What''s the deals with the tails?" I let out a large belly laugh completely forgetting about my form. I''m so used to by now. "It''s from my gear set, dad. I won it off the 4-Tailed-Kitsune on the second floor of the labyrinth." "The Kitsune?! You fought a God?!!" "Um, well, that''s kind of a long story, but yes I did, and I killed her. Well, not sure I actually killed her though, but I won that fight... barely." My father goes pale hearing how I killed a god on the second floor of the labyrinth. "She wasn''t the first God I encountered either." I say with a mischievous smile. "WHAT?!" Shouts my father. "Yeah, that labyrinth is crazy difficult, dad! You wouldn''t believe the shit I saw down there!" "I bet! That place was sealed off after our investigation. It was deemed far too dangerous for being a Lesser Labyrinth. It''s first floor was on the difficulty level of the 20th floor of a Greater Labyrinth. We concluded that subsequent floors would be even more difficult and we deemed the dungeon a danger, and thus it was sealed. Also, language Christine." "Sorry dad" I say with another chuckle. "From what I could tell, each floor is dozens of levels more difficult than the previous one. When I got to the second floor, the first enemy was an Elite Dire Wolf. It almost killed me. Shredded my left leg to bits, even the bone was shattered by its powerful jaws and teeth. If I didn''t have that healing spell, I would have died right there." "Did you say dozens of levels more difficult?!" "Yes, eventually I obtained an inspection skill that allows me to see a monsters name, level, HP, MP, and skills. The Elite Dire Wolf on the second level, was level 80." "LEVEL 80!! That''s not possible!!" My dad shouts in pure shock. "It was. It was FAR more difficult than the Minotaur boss on the first floor. When I made it to the third floor, the first monster was an Elite Greater Cave Ogre that was level 120." "120!!!! How can that be?!!! Even the most high level elite parties in the whole kingdom wouldn''t even be able to beat that level 80 Wolf on the second floor!" "Yeah, the level gap was something else. The Floor boss on the third floor was level 150." "150..." my dad says in a hoarse voice, as though it was impossible to even say. "Anyway I got ahead of myself here. After I barely beat that level 80 Wolf, I continued on and came across a beautiful pond with a waterfall feeding it. I found a cave behind the waterfall and set up camp there. As I explored, I found a sunken shrine 60 feet underwater in the center of the pond. When I investigated that, I found a boss door that required a payment of my blood. As a condition, my wound wouldn''t heal until I defeated the boss within. The boss within was the King of the Seas, I assume another God. It was one of my favorite fights out of all in that place. He was a skilled fighter and made entirely of water. It took some thinking to figure out how to beat him, but I did, and not a second too son as I was feeling dizzy from blood loss. He disappeared in a column of steam then swirled back into existence on his throne. He healed me and bestowed me with an Epic quality amulet. It has a pretty amazing unique skill on it that allows me to breathe underwater." "I-I''m sorry, did you say breathe underwater?!" Chapter 42: Going Home "I-I''m sorry, did you say breathe underwater?!" "Yep! I can swim like a fish and even talk underwater as well!" "That... that is a national treasure quality item you have! Something like that people would murder a king for!" "Come on dad be serious." "I am serious Christine! You have no idea what an item like that would be worth. It''s incalculable. It''s absurd to even think about it." "Um, well, yeah it''s ok, but it''s got nothing on the gear I received later on. The gear I am wearing now makes that amulet look like a piece of trash." My father''s face scrunches up like I just farted in his face. His mind can''t even imagine anything superior to the amulet I just told him about. "Anyway, I made the arena I fought the Sea King in, my new home. The amulet is the key to the whole Grotto. Even the monsters there won''t attack me while I''m wearing it. Anyway, I spent the next several months on that floor just farming monsters and leveling until I hit level 120 and felt comfortable enough that I would be able to survive the first monster on the third floor. I didn''t want to be as unprepared as I was when I came to the second floor." "Y... You''re level 120?!" My dad says in disbelief. "No, I''m actually much higher than that." I say with a laugh. "You have no clue what''s down there dad." I say, honestly not believing he would even be able to comprehend the final floor of that place. My dad falls on his ass, completely drained of energy by what I just said. "Christine, just what level are you?!" he says in almost a state of shock. I notice the sun has set and it''s getting rather dark. I shift back into my Kitsune form, minus my head, the light from my fur and tails providing illumination in the dark. I stand up and hold my hand out to my father to help him up. "Let''s get out of here dad. It''s nighttime and it''s getting cold. Here take my hand." He grabs my hand and I pull him up to his feet. I place a hand on his shoulder and prepare for my spell. "Oh wait! One more thing before we go." I reach into my bag and remove the greatsword that belonged to the bandit leader. I stick the blade into the ground next to my mother''s headstone and lean the hilt of the blade against the headstone. "That''s the sword that was used to kill mother. After I slaughtered everyone in the encampment, I took the sword as a trophy. I feel it''s only fitting I leave it for mother, her murderer finally brought to justice." "By the way father, why are there no remains at our old house? There were body parts everywhere that night." "I buried them all in the forest after I took your mother here." he says as he runs his hands over the sword I placed on my mother''s grave. "Oh, I guess that makes sense." I say feeling rather stupid that I didn''t think of that. I place my hand on my father''s shoulder and prepare to teleport us away. "It''s time to get going Father." "Where are we going Christ..." With a flash we both vanish from the grave site, the light from my tails vanishing with us, returning the area to the darkness of night. We reappear on the granite outcropping overlooking my pond on the second floor. "...ine" my father manages to finish. "W... where the hall are we?! It was just nighttime, but the sun is out now!" "Is it though? There is no sun here dad, the sky is artificial, generated by the dungeon." "T... the dungeon?!" "Yeah, remember that pond I told you about on the second floor of the labyrinth?" I say as I nod to the pond in front of us. "A.. are you... did you... I... I''m..." "Welcome to the second floor of the Lesser Creshent Forest Labyrinth, dad" "How are we here?! That''s impossible!" "I have a teleportation skill, dad. I can teleport to anywhere I have been before. Well, technically I can... ya know, never mind." "By the Gods Christine. Just how powerful are you?!" My dad says shrinking away from me as though he will be vaporized by my mere presence. "Do you want to see?" I say to him with an evil smile on my face. "What... no, wait..." I grab my father''s shoulder and port us down to the third floor directly in front of the Elite Greater Blue Cave Ogre in the first room. When we arrive, my dad sees the towering monster rising as tall as a 4-story building. He falls on his ass, absolute fear showing on his face. "HOLY FUCK!!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!!!!" My dad shouts in pure terror. "Dad, language!" I say sarcastically with a smile and a giggle. "Now watch." I say as I change to my white and gold samurai gear, my trusty sword at my side, my 9 tails fanned out behind me. Sheer power cracks the very air around me. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. "Iaijutsu- Mugyourikuren!" I shout, my commanding voice echoing in the chamber. I don''t need to say the weapon skill name anymore, but I do it for effect for my father. My body launches off the floor, shattering the cave floor in the process. I rocket toward the towering beast; shockwaves reverberate from me as I far exceed the speed of sound. I reach the Ogre and my attack commences. SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! SHING!! I leap off the chest of the Ogre and propel myself all the way back to where I began next to my father. I look over at my father as I lift up my right hand. SNAP!!! My snap echoes off the chamber, my dad covers his ears as it was the loudest thing he has heard. His expression turns to horror as the massive beast in front of him explodes in a shower of blood and body parts. The entire beast crumbles to the floor in a pile of pieces, it''s vast quantities of blood fly toward me and begin to be consumed by my sword. The whole attack is over in an instant. My father just witnessed a Level 120 monster get annihilated in a single move. This was not the highest-level monster in this labyrinth by far, but it is one of the largest, save for the boss on this floor. I chose it for the pure shock value. I sheathe my sword and turn back toward my father, the color now completely gone from his face. I wave my hand in front of his face to bring him back to attention. "Hello! Cardial to father!" "So how was that? Get a good idea of how strong I am now?" I say with a light chuckle. I know it was kind of a cruel joke to play on him, but he did kind of ask for it! "W... what level was that thing again?" "120 dad. It''s over 12 meters tall too." "Incredible! I don''t think the entire imperial army would be able to take this thing down. You did it in one single move." He says sounding out of breath. "That wasn''t by any means the highest-level monster down here either. He is one of the largest though. I figured it would add a bit of shock value to see me wipe out something that big. I kind of feel bad for that guy though. That''s the second time I have killed him with that same move. He can''t catch a break, can he?!" I say the last part with a hearty laugh. My dad forces out a chuckle, but I can tell he isn''t really finding this funny at all. To him, I just exhibited power strong enough to completely wipe out every standing military on the planet. He doesn''t even know the full extent of what I can really do. I shift my form back to my normal human form and walk over to my father, who is still on his ass with a look of shock on his face. I place my hand on his shoulder again and teleport us back to the pond. I take out the Sea King''s Amulet and hand it to my father. "Here, put this on." He reaches up and grabs the ornate necklace from my outstretched hand. "What is this?" He asks wondering why I would hand him such a thing. "It''s the necklace that allows you to breathe underwater that I told you about. Remember, that thing you said was a national treasure?" He looks at it in shock that he would dare even hold something so valuable. "B... but... but I..." "Oh, just shut up and put it on would you!" He reluctantly starts to put on the amulet as he stares at me with a puzzled look. "Why do you want me to put this on so badly?" He asks as he puts it on. "Oh no reason... you smelly old goat!" I grab my father and launch him high into the air where he tumbles screaming into the pond, landing with a colossal splash. I almost hit the floor from laughing so hard. I watch as my father struggles in the water. Can the guy not swim?! This causes more laughter to burst forth from my gut, thinking of my father sinking to the bottom of the pond. I''m not worried as he is not going to drown with that amulet. It''s just funny thinking of him sitting at the bottom of the pond wondering how the hell he is going to get back up. It turns out he figured it out quite quickly and erupted from the water, landing on his feet next to me, a look of anger in his eyes. "What the fuck Christine!! You trying to kill me?!" "Relax, that''s why I had you put on that necklace." I respond still laughing. My father, clearly annoyed just huffs and turns to face the pond he came from. "Hey, I didn''t say you can get out yet." I say as I push his back sending him flying back into the pond. Another round of belly aching laughter erupting from my gut. My dad breeches the surface, raises a fist in the air and starts screaming at me. "Gods dammit Christine! Knock that shit off!" "Oh, relax would you! Swim around and clean off. The pond water has restorative properties. Bathe in it for a while then come back to the shore. I have some new gear for you." My father swims around for quite some time, clearly enjoying the skill provided by the necklace, just as I had when I first obtained it. While he is enjoying himself, I set up a fire and bring out some meats I have stored away. I season the meats and begin cooking some fillets as well as what I found to be this planet''s equivalent to a potato. My father obviously smelled the cooking meat because he came flying out of the water. I couldn''t tell if it was water falling off his face, or drool, but he looked like he was about to pounce on the meat while it was still raw. "Hey, it''s not ready yet!" I say to my soggy father as he approaches my cooking meal. I blast him with my breeze spell for a while to dry him off, so he doesn''t get water all over my campsite. "Here, take off those shitty excuses for clothes and put these on." I say as I dig into a bag and pull out a set of the Beast Trackers gear I farmed from the first floor. I have MUCH stronger gear he could use, but I thought it best to give him the bottom shelf shit so he doesn''t rouse suspicion walking into Creshent or the Capitol city wearing epic or legendary gear that would quite literally make him rival the king himself. It''s not like I worry that he would be hurt or anything, as that kind of gear would make him basically invincible to anyone attacking him. I''m just assuming he wouldn''t want that kind of attention. My father walks away out of my sight and strips off his clothes and puts on the new gear. I hear several mutterings of "Holy Shit!" come from somewhere behind me, obviously feeling himself get stronger by the gear''s attributes as he puts on each new piece. "By the Gods Christine! This gear is... this is..." "It''s nothing spectacular dad. That''s the low-level shit I wore for quite a while down here. That stuff drops off the monsters on the first floor." I say to him, not really impressed with the gear as I once was. "Low level shit..." he mutters with a look of disbelief. "Christine, this gear is unbelievable! It''s even superior to the gear I used to wear!" I let out a laugh and pull the Legendary grade Labrys of Hephaestus out of the bag containing it. This axe is spectacular, as I used it for a majority of my time farming for years on the 4th floor to get my tails. I toss the massive axe to my father. "Here, if you want to see what legendary gear is like, check that out." My father catches the axe and immediately guffaws at the massive surge of strength that flows through him. "Just so you know father, even that pales in comparison to some of the other gear I have." I say as I stand up, shifting myself into my Samurai armor he saw me briefly wearing before as I slaughtered the Ogre, my armor is now white with golden accents, having changed once I earned my ninth tail. My tails appear behind me, and energy cracks the air as golden lightning strikes all around me. My Muramasa appears at my side, and I draw it, its blade glowing a brilliant violet color. "This armor and sword are Mythical grade in quality. It''s far superior to the legendary weapon you are holding. The armor you are wearing, what you are so amazed by, is only of rare quality. It would be just as effective against my attacks, as if you were butt naked." I power down and sheathe my sword and shift myself back to my human form. I turn back to continue cooking our meal. My father has fallen to his knees, seeing what my gear and power truely are. He could feel the power pounding into the core of his being in relentless waves. He has a look of utter defeat, pretty much the way I must have looked when I faced those 4 Archangels the first time. You just could not help but to submit to that kind of power. Finishing up our meal, I put it on stone plates I made over the years. My father is still on the floor in a state of shock. I get up and walk over to him. I pick up the axe and put it back into my bag, then I help my father stand up. "Common dad, let''s eat. You will feel better I promise." I lead him over to his plate and help him sit down. The smell of the meal somewhat snaps him out of his daze, and he begins eating. The yummy meal, obviously the only real meal he has had in years, brings color and a look of happiness to his face. I smile as I watch my father enjoy his food. Chapter 43: Getting Back in Shape! We eat in relative silence, each of us enjoying our meal. This is my first meal with someone since the night before I was taken from my home, almost 10 years ago now. I watch my father eat, enjoying every bite. I can see his disposition improving by the second. I am glad that I could help him heal, and he can also help me heal. However, I''m not done with him. I need to help him regain his life. I can''t bring back my mother, his wife, but I can help him regain some of who he used to be. First, I have to get him back into fighting shape. When we finish our meal, I put out the fire, clean our plates, and pack them away in my bag. I stand up and stretch, feeling nice and full. "Ok, let''s get going. First, follow me. I want to show you where I live." "Um, ok. You mean the place underground?" He replies. "Yep, let''s go!" I dive into the pond and begin swimming down toward the entrance to the Grotto. I hear a splash as my father jumps in behind me. "Do you like the skill from that amulet father?" "Y... yes, I do. How can you breathe and swim underwater when I''m wearing the Amulet?" As we swim down toward the Grotto, I begin explaining how my Omniscience skill allows me to permanently retain any skill I see basically, even skills that are exclusive to items, such as the amulet. "Astonishing." My father says in disbelief. We arrive at the entrance to the Grotto, the shimmering barrier that fascinated me so much when I first came down here, still separates the pond from the air-filled Grotto. I watch as my father touches the shimmering surface with growing curiosity. "It''s ok, just step on through. There is air on the other side." I say, seeing the confusion on his face, obviously never seeing anything like this before. We step through the barrier and arrive at the entrance hallway. I pull a Troll Axe from my bag and hand it to my father. "Here, take this... just in case." I say with a small grin on my face. I direct him down the hallway and instruct him to take the pathway to the right. I keep a step behind him and as he takes the right pathway, my small grin turns to a large mischievous smile. Soon we arrive at the section where the hallway curves to the left. The struggle to keep from laughing is becoming difficult as I know what''s coming. Soon, the familiar Shark that scared the crap out of me the first time I came down her, comes around the corner. My eyes are completely on my father, waiting for the show. I''m not disappointed. "HOLY FUCK!" My father yells seeing the massive 5-meter-long shark swimming through the air, massive razor-sharp teeth gnashing as it swims along. My father lands flat on his ass, then scrambles to get up and run away. I tell him the shark won''t attack him when he is wearing the Amulet as it is the key to the Grotto, and this he is the "owner" of this place. My father watches with a mixture of disbelief and horror as the Shark swims past him without so much as acknowledging his presence. "W... What level was that thing?! My father asks while backed into the wall, clutching his axe. "Hmm, about level 75. It''s not as strong as the Elite Dire Wolves, but it IS still an Elite monster, meaning it''s considerably stronger than regular monsters of a similar level. They are ridiculously easy to kill though. Just slide under it when it charges you and disembowel it as you go." "Incredible." My father says, still watching the shark swim away. "C''mon old man, get off the floor and let''s get going. You will see a few more of those as well as large schools of carnivorous fish on the way. They will ignore you, so don''t worry." My father stands up and follows my lead. I hear him let out small gasps every time we encounter fish or other Sharks along the way. I chuckle every time I hear it. It''s nice to be able to laugh these days, though I can sympathize with my father, however. My first time in here it was no laughing matter, as I didn''t have the protection of the Amulet. Shit, for the first encounter with the Elite Shark, I was butt naked! We finally approach the door to the arena, and it opens for us on approach. I lead my father into the arena and the look on his face is priceless. "Oh, WOW!" He said in genuine awe at the sight of the arena with its massive almost 20 meter long, floor to ceiling aquarium. "You have been living down here all this time?!" "Yes. Well, for the past 4 years or so at least. I originally packed up everything and moved out when I challenged this floor''s boss, since I figured I won''t be coming back here, as the magic circles that take you to the next floor are one-way." "Wait, you can''t go back to the entrance in here?" "No, what do you mean? In other Labyrinths there are ways out?!" "Yes, generally there is a return magic circle adjacent to where you enter a new floor. It''s often a small room close by. You generally can''t miss it." "Well, no such thing exists down here. There are no return circles anywhere to be found. That''s why I never came out. Each floor I went to, I was stuck there until I cleared the floor and moved on to the next. It was only after I obtained my teleportation skill that I was able to freely travel between floors and outside the Labyrinth." "This place really is unusual, and I can see why so many parties that ventured in here never made it out." My father walks around my Arena home admiring the Gold Throne, the aquarium up close, and my living quarters. He wanders through my makeshift shelves holding all manner of trinkets and equipment I have collected over the years that won''t fit in my bags anymore. "By the Gods Christine! All this stuff is... this stuff is..." Poor guy can''t even form words to describe what he is seeing. The gear and items all range in quality from Rare to even a few Mystic items from the fourth floor. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. "Yeah, there''s some good shit in there. That armor you are admiring would make anyone who wears it pretty much invincible. It''s legendary quality." "Language Christine. What are you going to do with all this stuff?! Even in the Capitol marketplace, you would be extremely hard pressed to even find someone who could afford such things. Some of this is even beyond what the Royal line itself could afford!" "Hmm, that sucks to hear. I was planning a trip to Creshent to see if I could sell some of this. Most likely just the rare stuff like the set I gave to you." "I''m not sure about even this Christine. Like I told you earlier, this gear is even beyond what I used to have when I was with The Wanderers." "The Wanderers? What is that?" "I forgot you were probably never told. That was the name of our party. We named ourselves that because we wandered the land searching for dungeons and strong enemies to fight. Most adventuring groups stick to the cities and local dungeons and labyrinths as it is just convenient since the city is right there." "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Hey, when was the last time you saw your group?" "The last time I saw them is when I left for Creshent to meet you and your mother for your registration. When you didn''t arrive, I headed toward our house to see if you were just running late. But I found... I found..." "It''s ok dad, I know." "After that, I buried your mother, then I searched for you for several months since your body wasn''t there. I found no sign of you anywhere, and as the years passed, I figured you had died as well. I made you a grave next to your mother." "Your party never came looking for you?" "I don''t know if they ever did. I spent most of my days caring for your graves. I lived in the forest just adjacent to them. I would check back at our house every day in case you somehow found your way back." "Sorry it took me so long to come back. I was a bit preoccupied." I respond with a laugh. "Yeah, I can see!" My father says gesturing to my horde. "Well, that and my captivity with the bandits that raided our house that night." "Ok enough of the painful reminiscing. Let''s get going, we have to train you up!" I say as I see my father''s expression turning toward despair. "Ok let''s... wait, what do you mean?!" I hand him the troll axe I gave him before then grabbed his shoulder and teleported us to the entrance of the first floor, under the archway of the first troll room. The torches on the wall immediately begin lighting when our presence is sensed by the dungeon. Slowly the torches light the room until they finally reach the end, illuminating the Troll guardian within. My father takes a step back seeing the Troll he fought once before with his party. "Oh no you don''t!" I say as I push him forward. "Get over there and fight that Troll. You will be fine." I say with a slight chuckle. "That''s not funny Christine! That thing will kill me!" He says with genuine fear. "So what. If it kills your, I''ll just bring you back." "YOU WILL WHAT?!!" "I can bring you back. Don''t worry father. If you get hurt, I''ll heal you. If you get killed, I''ll bring you back. No big deal!" "No big deal..." he says in a whisper, his face a bit paler than before. "C''mon just go and kill that thing already! I did it TWICE, once with my bare hands when I was 10 years old with no gear at all!" I give my father another push and point forward. He gives me a scathing look then starts walking toward the Troll. He gets halfway, axe at the ready, when the Troll roars and starts charging at my father. The battle is on, and my father''s axe meets with the Trolls jagged sword with a loud crash. He is able to dodge and parry the Troll''s attacks with relative ease, the Beast Tracker''s gear and Troll axe I outfitted him with, providing significant boosts to his stats. The Troll is able to land a few punches, but no strikes with his sword. My father was able to land several decisive strikes, dispatching the Troll in only a few minutes. I walk up to my father as the Troll begins to be absorbed by the dungeon. He seems to be a bit satisfied with the result of that fight. "How do you feel? Are you hurt?" I ask my father. "Incredible! It took 6 of us to take that thing down, and that took us the better part of half an hour! I just killed the same Troll in a few minutes, all by myself." "I told you, the gear I gave you is good. It all drops from monsters on this floor, so it''s spec''d for the level of this floor." I toss a healing wind on my father no matter if he needed it or not, then I pick up the mana stone and toss it into a pouch. "Ok, let''s keep going. Did you get any levels from that?" "Several actually." I can see the confident man I once knew starting to break through the rough shell. It makes me happy to see him fight. That was the first time I ever saw my father in action, something I always wanted to see. We walk through the door into the tunnel beyond. We don''t really say anything, and I just watch my father concentrate on the dungeon. His focus is impressive. His guard is up, leaving no opening for attack. Soon we come across a familiar Goblin sporting a spear. Poor guy was left disemboweled on the floor the last time we met. I wonder what my father will do to this guy. My father rushes the Goblin, dodged its thrusting spear, then proceeds to split the Goblin straight in half. The two halves of the Goblin fall apart, spilling guts and brains on the floor. This poor guy just can''t catch a break! "Nice one!" My father just turns and gives me a smile and a thumbs up. I see he is having a good time now! I pick up the mana stone from the Goblin and we continue on down the hallway. "Hey dad, I have a question. What are these stones good for?" "Well, the color denotes the attribute of the monster it''s from. Yellow for stone, blue for water, purple for lightning, green for nature, red for fire, white for light, black for darkness, etc. Most adventurers sell them to merchants in the crafting trades, as they use them to craft items, gear, and weapons with magical attributes. The stronger the monster they come from, the more they are worth." "Hmm, how much would a 3-meter mana stone be worth?" "3 meters?! I don''t think anyone has even seen a mana stone that massive! I couldn''t even begin to tell you what it would be worth." My father says with a look of disbelief. Not sure how my father is still shocked by anything anymore. After all he has seen so far, is it really any surprise that I would have something like that?! "Anyway, pretty soon we will come to another room with 3 Goblins. Have fun!" We arrive at the second room and my father charges the Goblins as soon as he sees them. My father''s confidence is shining through as he picks the Goblins apart, leaving a slaughter in his wake. "Ok, that''s enough of a warmup." I state as I walk around picking up mana stones. "W... Warmup? What do you mean?!" "Oh, nothing. It''s time to have some fun!" I say as I put a hand on his shoulder and teleport us directly in front of the two Trolls guarding the Boss room door. "Holy crap!" My father yells seeing the two hulking Trolls. "Go get em!" I say with a laugh. I walk backward several meters leaving my father to face the Trolls. I''m getting a sick sense of enjoyment watching this unfold. My father starts defending against the Trolls immediate attacks, his axe clashing with the sword and spiked mace. Despite there being two Trolls this time, he seems to hold his own. I stand back and enjoy the show, my father having the time of his life facing TWO of the monsters that his whole party of 6 barely was able to beat one of. Now, here he is holding his own against two of them all by himself. It takes him the better part of 15 minutes to finish them off, only taking a few hits himself. I walk over to him and heal him up, then proceed to collect the dropped stones. "Ok! It''s TIME for the main event of the evening!" I say imitating a certain famous ring announcer for a famous martial arts competition company back on Earth. I gesture toward the large boss room door and tell my father to follow. He is confused at first but finally asks. "What''s through there?" He asks, his voice a bit shaken as he probably already knows. "The Minotaur!" I say with a mischievous smile on my face. "No! No way Christine! That''s insane! You want me to face that thing all by myself?!" "Of course! You are a full-grown adult. You are probably higher level than I was when I fought this thing, AND you have the same gear that I had when I fought it all by myself!" My father just shakes his head, obviously not liking the idea of facing the Minotaur by himself. I can completely understand, as he did say that these beasts are normally found deep in Greater Labyrinths and only the best adventurer parties in the world are capable of taking one down. "Look, it''s going to be tough. It''s at least 10-15 levels above that of these Elite Trolls. It''s a tough bastard, but you need this. This is for your benefit." "You don''t have a choice father. Either you go on your own, or I teleport you into that room and throw you at the damn thing." I say with a laugh, but I was being completely serious.