《TM: Monster》 Prologue I don¡¯t know how it happened to be honest. All I remember was playing video games on my computer all night and then going to sleep. When I woke up there was¡­ nothing? It¡¯s hard to describe my experiences after my death. It took me a while to realize I was dead though. At first, I thought that me floating in nothingness or should I say the void, was a dream, but after some time it just clicked. I was dead. There was no shock, no emotion, nothing really. All I could think about was the fact that I was dead. I just let it wallow in my mind a bit. I had a name, a life, family no but friends yes, but now all of it was gone.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Thinking about the past was going to do me no good but then what was my future now? Was I going to just float in the void for eternity? Luckily my doubts were answered quite quickly. My surroundings were rapidly changing and I could start to feel something. The void was starting to disappear and everything around me became murky. I was slowly losing sense of myself but oddly enough there was no panic. Soon the void faded away or maybe I faded from the void, I couldn¡¯t really say which. I was calm throughout the entire process. I just knew instinctively that whatever it was, something good was happening. Something to look forward too. Chapter 1 He opened his eyes with great effort and tried to stand up. His body felt sore and the dizziness was not helping one bit. It took a while but eventually he got a hold of himself and started to take in his surroundings. Drip Drip Looking around, he realized he was underground. The tunnel he was in was huge and there was water dripping from the stalactites above him. While he was staring at the walls and trying to figure out what exactly happened to him, he heard the pitter patter of footsteps at the end of the tunnel. ¡®Ah people. Maybe I can ask them where I am.¡¯ His body still ached slightly so he just waited for them to come instead. When he finally saw them, he froze. ¡®Oh, my fucking god.¡¯ Monsters, ugly terrifying monsters from the depths of hell. They were humanoid seeing as they had the standard four limbs but their face was ugly with big ears, a mouth full of sharp pointy teeth and big eyes. As a gaming enthusiast or otherwise known to the public as a gaming addict before his death he had wide knowledge of monsters that appeared in fantasy settings. Despite that the monsters before him while humanoid where not the common goblin or one of those kobolds. Gnolls? No, they didn¡¯t look like hyenas that could walk. Maybe they were weird mutated goblins? A spark set of in his mind, they were gremlins. Small humanoid creatures that depending on which game or whatever source you referred were either covered by scales, fur or ugly monster skin. Surprisingly the creatures in front of him had a combination of all three. It was only as they started getting closer to him was panic was starting to register to his muddled mind. Should he run away or should he fight? Maybe begging for mercy would work? The gremlins were not as they were advertised in video games and novels. They were the same size as him and had sharp claws and looked mean and scary. Not at all like some level 1 monsters found in a cave. Weirdly enough while he was scared and panicking his body didn¡¯t move at all. Not because he couldn¡¯t control it or any such reason like that. It was hard to put in words but his body wasn¡¯t scared. Mind can influence the body but the body also influences the mind. Feeling odd he took a look at his hands and then continued staring at it. His hands were ugly and murky green in colour and his fingertips ended in claws. It made sense all of a sudden. Why the tunnel was so huge and the monsters coming towards were the same size. Why he didn¡¯t tremble in fear on seeing them. It was because he was one of them. He is a Gremlin. Rather then panic or scream hysterically he just looked at the gremlins in front of him. He could see that they were surprised on seeing him. How he could tell they were surprised was a surprise in itself considering their ugly little faces. Guess it was because he was a gremlin himself. The two gremlins took one look at him before the larger one of the two hit the head of the other and started scolding him. Surprisingly or perhaps unsurprisingly he was able to understand him considering he was now a gremlin. They spoke in a very crude manner. But from the gist of it he was scolding the other gremlin for making a false alarm and wasting his time. The older one then looked at me, gave a nod and then scurried out of the tunnel. The smaller gremlin looked ashamed? It was strange how I can detect their expressions despite their ugly mugs. He looked at me and there was relief and then happiness. He then said to me, ¡°Good good, you okay. I worried you dead.¡± ¡®Dead? I tried that and it didn¡¯t suit me.¡¯ A surge of warmth came out of no where and his body stopped aching and his mind cleared up. Memories flashed in his mind and he started to realize what happened. Someone did die. The previous owner of this body was called Kryzen and he overworked himself plus he got bitten by some weird insect which resulted in his death. Some how he managed to take over this body and now he was alive again. His previous aching body and grogginess was him coming back alive. Does this mean he reincarnated into the body of a gremlin? No this wasn¡¯t reincarnation. He wasn¡¯t born again; he just took over the poor gremlins body. This was transmigration to be exact. Deciding to go over the memories later, Kryzen as he was now called told the small gremlin, ¡°I am fine, go back to mining you still have a quota to fill.¡± The smaller gremlin obeyed and went back to hacking at the walls with his bare hands¡­claws. He still didn¡¯t have a name yet, wasn¡¯t old enough. His name was Kryzen. An okay name he supposed but it will have to do. No point in using his old name in a new world. Going through memories in his head he gained a rough idea of his current situation. He was part of a gremlin community that lived in the mines. The gremlins mined some sort of ore and then delivered it to Guards every day. There wasn¡¯t much to consider from the memories. The monsters weren¡¯t smart and this applied to the previous owner of the body as well.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. They just worked every day since their birth and then died. A dull life but the only life they know. Gremlins had short life spans, 15 years to be exact. This was even shorter than goblins who had a lifespan of 20. Speaking of goblins, the gremlins weren¡¯t alone in the mines. There were a couple of communities in the mines with gremlins being the smallest and weakest of them. Goblins, gnolls and some undead minions worked in the mines. The undead belonged to the owner of the mines. The previous owner of the body has never seen his face though so it was hard to tell if that person was a human or not. Honestly, he only inferred all this from the memories in the head. The gremlins were only slightly smarter than the average 5-year-old human and their common sense was a little weird. As far as the previous owner of the body and the other gremlins were concerned this was their way of life and they didn¡¯t bother concerning themselves with anything else. They considered it to be normal to mine every day and deliver ore to undead guards and somewhere in the middle eat and get some sleep. Kryzen as he was now called realized these gremlins were to a sense domesticated. Not enslaved and forced against their wills but domesticated. They were born to mine ore the same way a pig was born to be slaughtered. Their ancestors were trained to mine ores all day and eventually it became their way of life. Whoever was in charge didn¡¯t even bother using slave collars or anything similar to handle the mines workers. They were breed for the sole purpose of mining ore so there was no need to waste resources on slave collars. These monsters would never rebel because they don¡¯t even know what that means. Bet the owner of the mines would never have considered a human soul taking over the body of weak little gremlin. I looked at the pile of ore next to me and gathered it all in a sack and carried to the nearest undead guard post. According to the memories, the gremlins had their own guard post separate from the other ¡®mining¡¯ communities. This was to prevent interactions with other species in the mine. From what Kryzen gathered the goblins were a bunch of sadistic bullies who enjoyed beating up gremlins because they were the only thing weaker than themselves. Goblins were small reaching at most 4 feet in height but gremlins were even smaller. Most gremlins reach grow up to 2 to 3 feet once they were fully matured. Unlike goblins, gremlins were not only smaller but they were also weaker physically. The only reason the gremlins had their own guard post is because gremlins were excellent miners. There claws were hard and durable and were excellent for mining. Thus, gremlins despite their weaker physiques were better miners then the other species in the mines. Its not like the owner of the mines actually cared about the gremlins though. The goblins were impacting the productivity of gremlins by the way of beating them up on sight so he or she deemed it better for us gremlins to have our own guard post. Fights or rather one-sided beatings still happen with goblins but at least it wasn¡¯t as bad as before. ¡®Us gremlins are just have to have to be the puniest huh.¡¯ Kryzen stopped for a second. He just referred to himself as a gremlin. Was he one of them though? Well he was technically a gremlin now but wasn¡¯t he a human before, shouldn¡¯t he consider himself as something different? ¡®Identity crises are for normies. I am or was a gamer. I¡¯m just living the game now as a totally different race that¡¯s all.¡¯ His thought process was a little different from normal people. It wasn¡¯t like he hadn¡¯t played games where he was a monster before or hadn¡¯t read novels where the main character was a monster. Kryzen would just go with the flow and not think about such things. This is his second chance in life, a new beginning to his story and he was not going to make it so that his story had the psychological tag. There was still some way to go before he reached the guard post so he let his eyes wander a bit. Gremlins of various sizes and looks were mining about as usual. This previous Kryzen was actually quite old among the gremlin community. He was one of the rare gremlins to cross three years of age. Most died either from exhaustion or due to stupid goblins or the bugs in the tunnels. There was only one really old gremlin in the entire community. He was 12 years old which was a big deal considering the living conditions in the mine. Kryzen decided he would visit the old gremlin when he had time. Maybe he knew something special. He doubted it though. Even the previous owner of his body had very lacklustre experiences in mine. Seventy percent of the memories were basically mining and remaining was eating. Well there wasn¡¯t even any sex in his memories. There were no females at all. All the females were in a separated and were used as breeding tools to create more mine workers. Cruel but in the eyes of the owner of the mines it increased efficiency as none of us would be distracted by sex. Wouldn¡¯t all monsters still have cravings though? Guess not because of some weird reason none of the monsters felt any lust. Absolutely none. Kryzen guessed that some weird magic was used to inhibit the lust of all the monsters or there was something added to their food. ¡®Man, this mine owner is such a bitchy boss. Poor dude died a virgin.¡¯ While Kryzen was feeling sorry for the previous owner of the body he realized that he died a virgin too. Maybe he should start thinking about something else. ¡®How do I escape this cursed place though.¡¯ Judging by the undead skeleton guards, this place probably belonged to a evil necromancer of untold power. That just made things so much harder. There is no telling if he would be attacked by zombies if he left the mines, if he could leave in the first place. There was no indication of there being an exit from the memories in his head. This was going to be hard. Kryzen figured he would just figure out his escape later. ¡®Fantasy creatures and all, and magic by the looks of it exists in this world and I don¡¯t have anything to rely on. A guide of some sort would have been super helpful. Being a human would have been better too.¡¯ Kryzen just grumbled in frustration as he finally made it to the guard post and deposited the ore, he collected in front of the skeleton guards. They were was no emotion as one of the guards took the bag and seemed to analyse its contents. There should be no problem though. The previous owner mined enough to fill his quota before dying. Very convenient for Kryzen. The guards finished whatever it is they were doing to the bag and threw it to a sort of storage room. Now Kryzen could go past the guards and get something to eat and take a three hour and nap after which he would wake up and do the same thing again and again for as long as he was alive. At least that was the case before he took over. Now he would whatever it takes to escape the mines. This second chance would not be wasted. But just as the guards accepted the mined ore and Kryzen could walk away something appeared before him. |You have fulfilled your daily mining quota| | Gained 500 SP| Chapter 2 You have fulfilled your daily mining quota Gained 500 SP Kryzen looked at the window before him in surprise, something which the guards had noticed. Before he could act, one of the guards spoke, ¡°Remember the rules. Wave away the spirit and go to your dwelling. The rules must be followed for your own safety.¡± Just as the guard finished speaking, Kryzen¡¯s arms moved on their own and swiped away the window before him. Kryzen couldn¡¯t help but be surprised at his own actions but he pretended everything was fine and walked towards the gremlin dwellings up ahead. Once there he found a good secluded spot far away from the guard post and the other resting gremlins. He sat down and looked at his hands. ¡®What was that back there.¡¯ The swiping away of the window was completely instinctual. His arms moved on their own and for the briefest moment he felt an overwhelming fear. That was not him though. Kryzen wondered why that happened and could come up with only conclusion. Even though he took over the gremlin¡¯s body there are still some residual instincts and muscle memory. The fear from before was not from him but something that was deeply ingrained in his body. Remembering the guard¡¯s words, memories flashed in his mind. As far back as the miners can remember, the guards have always ¡®advised¡¯ all the miners to swipe away what they call ¡°spirit¡±. In the words of undead guards, these windows that appear after everyone submits the ore to the guards is actually an ¡°evil spirit¡± which will devour you if left alone for too long. The guards instructed the inhabitants to simply wave away the spirit in order to ward it off. Not one of the mines denizens questioned the absurdness of this and honestly Kryzen wasn¡¯t surprised at this. These monsters were honestly all just a little more than animals. Having the memories of a gremlin, Kryzen knew well how dumb these creatures truly are and he was sure the same applied to the other monsters in the mines as well. It didn¡¯t matter though he wasn¡¯t the same as those creatures, he was transmigrated human. Now all he had to do was figure out how to make that window appear again. It should be simple enough, maybe voice commands or hand gestures would make it appear again. Kryzen waved his arms repeating the swiping movement he did before but nothing happened. He then tried making various calls. Window and spirit and many others words were shouted out but nothing happened. It struck him that the window that appeared was similar to the menus in video games so he proceeded to say, ¡°Men¡­.¡± ¡®NO¡¯ A voice boomed inside Kryzen¡¯s heads terrifying him out of his makeshift seat of rocks. Fear shook him to his core and it felt as if he was drowning. He fell to the ground and started panting. The suppressing feeling on him disappeared soon after and he took a look around. All the gremlins were just minding their own business with a few closer ones taking a curious look at his sudden antics. ¡®Where did that voice come from?¡¯ It wasn¡¯t the gremlins that¡¯s for sure but who else could it have been? Seeing nothing else happened after the shout in his mind he took a seat and sank deep into his thoughts. ¡®Am I going insane? Does it start with voices in my head and then I¡¯ll have full on psychotic breaks? Oh man, I should have known possessing a monster¡¯s body wouldn¡¯t have been so simple.¡¯ While he was rambling to himself about how unlucky he was, Kryzen couldn¡¯t help remembering his time in the void. The memories of the void are a little vague to him. His memories of that place faint even though he transmigrated only recently. Upon thinking of the void, he calmed down. He survived death. He survived floating in nothingness for who knows how long. Voices in his head were nothing compared to what he went through. ¡®I should find out more about the voice. Where did the voice come from and why did it come in the first place?¡¯ A hoarse voice interrupted his thoughts, ¡°No call spirits. It bad.¡± Kryzen looked at the gremlin before him and a series of memories played in his head. Kryzen told him it was alright and that he just tripped and fell and sent him away. Through the memories he found out that this wasn¡¯t the first time that this happened in the mines. Many monsters get curious and think of the ¡®spirits¡¯ and end up wailing in terror. Most are shocked silly and pass out from the ¡®spirits¡¯ attacks.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Eventually it was advised by the older generation of gremlins to new-born gremlins to never call for ¡®spirits. It was made into a taboo. Kryzen assumed the same applied to all the races in the mines. Kryzen was better off though probably because his mind was much stronger than the average monster. Those memories he inherited might contain the boorish life of a gremlin but they still contained valuable bits and pieces of information. If the memories were a movie then he viewed only a few clips so far, he should take some time to look at the entire video later. Kryzen decided to do that afterwards though as he prepared himself mentally as he once again attempted to summon the window. ¡°Men...¡± ¡®NO¡¯ Once again, a wave of terror passed through him and he felt as if he were drowning but unlike before he was prepared and didn¡¯t falter. Some stupid voice wasn¡¯t going to stop. ¡°Men¡­¡± ¡®NO¡¯ ¡°u¡­¡± Kryzen managed to withstand the voice and finish the word. A familiar window opened before him. Name: Kryzen Race: Gremlin Age: 3 years 7 months Realm: Mortal ¡°A status?¡±, Kryzen voiced in surprise. The status was very simple, it contained his name, race and age. His ¡®Realm¡¯ was also given but he didn¡¯t know what exactly it represented. Looking below the information he saw an arrow mark. Clicking it the previous window expanded. Attributes Strength: 5 Dexterity: 7 Physique: 10 Perception: 5 Intelligence: 25 Charm: 3 Energy: 3 ¡°So, these are my stats huh.¡± Most of the stats were self-explanatory but just to be safe he inspected the menu and tried find the stat descriptions. Clicking the stats gave him a brief description about the stat. Strength: The physical might of the body Dexterity: The speed, flexibility and reflexes of the body. Physique: The vitality, constitution and endurance of the body. Perception: Senses and awareness Intelligence: Mental capacity and comprehension abilities Charm: The likeability and attractiveness of an individual. Energy: The amount of energy the body contains. The attributes weren¡¯t too hard to understand but Kryzen was curious about his realm. Clicking on it a new window opened up. Realms: Mortal Ascended Mortal Transcendent Further realms are locked (Current realm is too low) While there wasn¡¯t any in-depth description about each realm, Kryzen guessed that ¡®realms¡¯ were similar to levels in video games. If he became stronger then maybe he could reach a higher realm. Kryzen then remembered what lead him to knowing the existence of the windows in the first place, the window that told him he earned points. There weren¡¯t any other marks on the window so Kryzen said out loud, ¡°Points.¡± A new window appeared before him and Kryzen smiled to himself. ¡®I¡¯m getting the hang of using this thing.¡¯ Points: 661000 Kryzen was pleasantly surprised seeing how much points he had even though he didn¡¯t know how to use them. Looks his predecessor¡¯s efforts in mining everyday wasn¡¯t a waste after all. Clicking on the points he discovered that the points were used to increase his stats and also for some ¡°special¡± purposes. The windows wouldn¡¯t elaborate any further unfortunately. Seeing all these floating windows and the miraculous stats and points Kryzen couldn¡¯t but wonder, ¡°What are you?¡± The System is an extradimensional force dedicated to the development of all sentient lives in the Universe. Through the system all life will flourish and surpass their limitations. Boundless growth to all who strive for it. ¡®System, so that¡¯s what these windows are called. The way it responds to me it must be alive to a certain extent. Is the System the God of this universe?¡¯ That was something to ponder upon, but right now the most important thing for Kryzen was to figure how to put these points to use. If he could become stronger then maybe he could break out of this prison and explore this new world. ¡®Wait maybe the System could tell me about that voice in my head.¡¯ Deciding to try it out, Kryzen asked the system, ¡°What is the voice that tries to prevent me from summoning you?¡± Self-inspection (Mortal) Cost: 1000 Yes/No Looking at the window Kryzen was reminded of an age old saying, ¡®There is no such thing as a free lunch¡¯. Everything had a price including all the System had to offer. ¡®Growth to those who strive for it means we have to pay up huh¡¯, thought Kryzen as he clicked yes. The points were deducted as a new window opened up before him. Results: Negative status detected. Low level compulsion Curse: A weak curse cast over a large number of targets by a mage. This curse in particular prevents targets from summoning the system in any manner. This curse is ineffective on individuals with intelligence above 30. Entities with Intelligence of 20 and above can resist the spell but cannot dispel it. Reading through Kryzen was surprised to discover he was cursed. The curse must be what prevented the denizens of the mines from using the system. Whenever anyone tried to summon the System this curse would activate. All these poor creatures thought it was the attack of spirits but it was actually the result of a curse. With the curse none if them could use the system and thus they could never get stronger. There was never a risk of any of them breaking out or rebelling. Kryzen always wondered why none of the creatures here didn¡¯t have slave collars or cuffs of any kind, it was because the curse was enough to control all of them. As long as they couldn¡¯t access the System these monsters were nothing more than slightly intelligent beasts. With a little training and the offer of food they could be used as free labour. An easy way to operate a mine of large scale. The owner of these mines must be the mage who cursed them or maybe he was a subordinate of the owner. He hoped the curse caster was the owner because he didn¡¯t want to imagine how powerful a person could be if he could have a mind controlling curse caster as his servant. Now all that was left was to use the system, become stronger and find a way out of this accursed place. ¡®How should I put these points to use?¡¯ Chapter 3 Inspecting his status, Kryzen thought about which stats he should raise first. The Self-Inspection window said that the curse could be dispelled if he had 30 or more intelligence. So, he decided to raise the intelligence stat first. He didn¡¯t want to hear the stupid voice shouting in his head every time he used the system. Even though he could resist it, it was still very troublesome and made him feel sick, knowing he was being controlled by someone else. If the stat really did raise his intelligence then maybe it would help him in future decisions. ¡®What if the mage who cast the curse detects it though? Wouldn¡¯t I be found out?¡¯ Kryzen paused upon thinking that but then he remembered that the curse was low-level curse and plus it wasn¡¯t like there was an active link between him and the mage who cast it¡­maybe. ¡®Let¡¯s not overthink this, the creepy voice needs to go and I¡¯ll get out of this shithole before anyone notices anything wrong.¡¯ Looking at his status, Kryzen didn¡¯t see any arrow marks for increasing his stats so he called out to the system, ¡°System I want to increase my stats.¡± The status window transformed and a plus sign appeared next to the stats along with the number of his points below it. ¡­ Attributes Strength: 5 [+] Dexterity: 7 [+] Physique: 10 [+] Perception: 5 [+] Intelligence: 25 [+] Energy: 3 Points: 660000 ¡­ ¡®Hmm simple enough.¡¯ Just as Kryzen was about to add a point to Intelligence a new window popped up in front of him. ¡­ Notice: Once a stat has been upgraded the changes made cannot be reverted i.e. changes made are permanent. ¡­ Reading the notice Kryzen became a little cautious. He reminded himself that this wasn¡¯t a game but real life. There was no save option which he could use to start all over again if he made a mistake. He would have to be careful when increasing his stats. Increasing his intelligence was his first priority since it would help in dispelling the curse. After upgrading intelligence to 30 he would then take some time and think about how he would proceed further. Kryzen then used the plus sign to increase his intelligence stat. Upon adding one point to intelligence his Total points immediately decreased by thousand. He paused for a second and proceeded to add points till his intelligence stat reached 30. He felt as if a mysterious shackle was removed and his mind felt clearer. Oddly enough he didn¡¯t feel smarter or anything but it probably needs a lot of stat points to notice any real change. Now he should probably check if the curse was dispelled. According to the system 30 intelligence and above automatically dispelled the curse. Kryzen exited the windows and called them back and this time there was no voice or pressure on him. ¡®It worked. That¡¯s good, now back to the status screen.¡¯ Looking at his status, Kryzen became confused and a little overwhelmed. He couldn¡¯t undo any changes and this put him under quite the pressure. Decision making was never his strong suit but there was no better time to bring positive changes to himself the in a new life. Looking at his current status excluding his Intelligence which was quite high the other stats were more normal. His physique and dexterity were higher then the rest which went along the lines of gremlins being faster and tougher. His strength and perception were on the low and his charm wasn¡¯t worth mentioning considering he as an ugly little gremlin. The energy stat was interesting as he couldn¡¯t increase it and he guessed it was similar to mana in games though he couldn¡¯t be sure. Kryzen figured that there was no point in increasing his intelligence any more as there were little chances, he would gain access to any magic during his stay in the mines. The most useful stats were the physical stats such as strength, dexterity and physique. For starters Kryzen decided to raise all his physical stats to a round ten. When he started with strength, he was surprised to find that the amount of points deducted for each increase as only a meagre hundred points. This was the same for dexterity as well it only took a hundred points for each stat point. Unlike with intelligence, the changes made by the physical stats were noticeable immediately. A warm current flowed through his body empowering him. Flexing his arms, Kryzen was in awe at the feeling of power. It wasn¡¯t much but it was still an improvement. Growing excited he decided to bring his strength, dexterity and physique to 30 making them equal to intelligence.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. When increasing the stats this time, Kryzen noted that cost this time was 1000 points. He surmised that as his stats become higher the points required to upgrade them also increased. ¡®You would think they teach important stuff like this at school.¡¯ Kryzen sighed realizing that such knowledge is probably taught but since he was prisoner/miner gremlin he was never graced with basics. After all the enhancements to his stats were made Kryzen took a look at his points. He had 594200 points left. Kryzen decided against further upgrading his stats. All the points he had now were the result of more then 3 years of hard work of his predecessor. He only gained 500 points a day fulfilling his mining quota which would be nowhere near enough in the future if the points needed to increase a single stat increased. Right now, his current stats were more then enough for him to mine and meet his daily quota without tiring himself. He could spend his free time coming up with a plan to get out of the mines. The memories couldn¡¯t provide him with enough information so he decided to get up and go explore the mines. Maybe he could find a secret passage out of here if he was lucky. He just had to be careful not to tread into the territories of the other species especially those nasty goblins. The guards were undead who care much as long as he didn¡¯t do anything too suspicious. Kryzen went out of the Gremlin¡¯s dwelling and passed the undead guards who paid no attention. Instead of going to the usual mining tunnels this time he made a turn and walked towards the ¡®junction¡¯ point in the mines. The junction was a big area where the tunnels connected to from each species dwelling. Normally no gremlin would dare come here as it was too risky because if they were caught by the goblins death and misery is what would await them. The gremlins were safe so long as they stuck to their territory as the guards would deter the other species but the junction was where their protection or deterrence stopped. The undead could care less about the deaths in the junction. If anything, it was an easy way to reduce the population of a certain species in case it was becoming too crowded. As long as Kryzen was a little stealthy then he wouldn¡¯t attract the attention of any of the monsters and he could explore to his heart¡¯s content. This was made easier by his increased stats. Kryzen¡¯s big ears twitched as he heard a scream of a gremlin in the distance. He disregarded being stealthy and rushed towards the area where the scream came from, it was close to where the gremlins tunnels meet the junction. Arriving there he saw a few gremlins standing around with scared expressions while looking forward. He walked past them and saw a pair of goblins beating up a gremlin. Kryzen grew alarmed as he realized it was the same gremlin that he met earlier today. It was the small gremlin that worried he died and brought aid when he transmigrated. Kryzen didn¡¯t know what happened and how the poor gremlin came to such a state but he couldn¡¯t tolerate it any longer. He felt a deep anger arising within him seeing a fellow gremlin being attacked. Looking around he could see the same anger in the other gremlins but it was dominated by a more prevalent emotion, fear. The goblins were stronger and bigger than the gremlins and they could do nothing when faced against them. At least that was the case for the average gremlin but not him. With his high stats he was confident he could take on the two goblins. Just to be sure though he decided to sneak up behind them in order to launch a sneak attack. The two goblins were too focussed on beating up the smaller gremlin that they didn¡¯t notice his approach. As he was lurking towards them, Kryzen took in their appearances. The goblins looked like the traditional goblins in most video games and fantasy stories. Green, ugly, small and truly very ugly. Kryzen bet their charm stats were in the negative. The goblins were only beating up the small gremlin with the intention to inflict pain and not to kill him¡­yet. With their focus on their victim Kryzen approached the smaller one of the goblins and lunged at his neck and used his claws to attack its defenceless neck. To his surprise his claws met little resistance and he easily ripped out the throat of the goblin. Green blood splashed on his face as Kryzen pushed away the body and looked at the other goblin. It was surprised at the sudden attack but then it let out a shout and recklessly charged towards Kryzen. Feeling the blood on his face Kryzen, instead of being scared he felt a searing anger instead, bloodlust filled him as he waited for the remaining goblin to him. The goblin took a wild swing at him but Kryzen stood still and simply grabbed its arm. The goblin looked shocked that a gremlin of all things stopped its fists but it didn¡¯t last long enough as Kryzen lifted it up and slammed it on the ground. He then let out a growl as he pounced on it and proceeded to rip its head of with his claws. Blood splashed everywhere as he took it a step further and mauled the dead body of the goblin while shouting angrily at the top of his lungs. After a while he calmed down and took deep breaths. Kryzen looked at the mangled body before him but he didn¡¯t feel fear nor disgust. He looked up as he heard noises coming from a distant tunnel. The noises must have attracted a group of goblins. Looking around he saw the few gremlins staring at him in awe and then he turned and stared at the half-conscious gremlin lying on the floor. Kryzen shouted at the gremlins, ¡°What are you looking at? Take him and go back to the tunnels.¡± The gremlins came out of their stupor and hurriedly followed his commands and took the small gremlin and carried him back to the gremlin dwelling. Kryzen looked towards the goblin tunnels and saw a group of goblins coming out. They spotted him and ran towards the site of the battle but stopped some distance away looking at Kryzen and the bodies of the goblins. There were five goblins and from his earlier confrontation he guessed that the average goblins had around 15 to 20 points in their physical stats. With his stat advantage he could easily suppress them in a one on one battle but against an entire group Kryzen didn¡¯t think he would fair well. Still he wouldn¡¯t back away from a fight, especially against goblins who attacked his people. Looking at the approaching goblins, the bloodlust and rage crawled back into him as he took the head of a dead goblin, holding it up and roaring at the goblins. The goblins stepped backed in fear as the visage of a gremlin covered in the blood of their kin while holding its head was too much for them. Their instincts kicked in though as the fear slowly turned into anger. It was one puny gremlin against a group of them. How could they back away from a easy victory? As both partied were readying themselves to attack, they paused hearing loud footsteps and the clanking of metal. Kryzen ears twitched as he recognized that familiar sound of bone grinding against metal. ¡®The Guards!¡¯ From his memories he knew all too well the consequences of upsetting the guards. Usually they would ignore most of the scuffles in the junction but this time he might have made too much noise, bringing their attention to the fight. Throwing the head away, he ignored the goblins and made a mad dash to the gremlin dwellings. While running away he caught the sight of a distant dog shaped silhouette. ¡®Kobolds?¡¯ Ignoring the discovery he made his way through the tunnels On his way he met the group of gremlins carrying the smaller gremlin. He scurried over to them and grabbed the smaller gremlin hauling it over his shoulder and shouted towards the others, ¡°Quick, follow me. The guards are angry.¡± The word guard coming out of his mouth alone was enough to increase the speed of the gremlins and soon they arrived near the dwelling. They slowed down after reaching the guard post and strode into the dwelling. The undead didn¡¯t mind them or their unconscious companion or the fact that one of them was covered in blood, which Kryzen was glad for as he went to deeper into the dwelling and set the gremlin down. Luckily the small gremlin was still breathing and with a little bit of food will probably make a quick recovery. He then took a look at the gremlins that were there during the fight. Their hunched backs straightened after feeling his stare as they nervously looked at him. He didn¡¯t blame them for their cowardice as gremlins were naturally that much weaker than goblins. Their fear of goblins was inherent and was rooted deeply into their minds after generations of being on the losing side. That¡¯s not what bothered him, it was the fact that most gremlins knew not to wander of into the junction. It was asking to be killed. Why would they do so in spite of the warnings of the older gremlins? Asking around he found out that these gremlins were baited by the smell of food. The food that was given by the guards was the bear minimum needed to survive so the thought of extra food attracted these gremlins. Listening to them, Kryzen sighed as he thought to himself, ¡®When did the goblins become so smart?¡¯ Chapter 4 Kryzen called all the gremlins in the dwelling and grouped them up before him. He then took a seat on his throne which was a tall but comfortable boulder. Rounding up the gremlins wasn¡¯t too hard considering his recent feats of defeating the goblins were quickly spread by the witnesses. The gremlins were also able to tell that Kryzen was a lot stronger than all of them. It was an instinct inherent in all weaker beings to sense those stronger than themselves. Kryzen watched as the last of the gremlins gathered before and then he proceeded to simply inspect the weak bunch before him, none of them were special in anyway and were all baseline gremlins. These baseline gremlins would be barely considered a level one if they were in a video game. As individuals they were nothing much but together, they were¡­ still weak. Kryzen could reveal the system to the gremlins but it probably wouldn¡¯t be of much use since most of the gremlins weren¡¯t like him and had subpar intelligence. The curse would probably scare them to death given how cowardly the gremlins are, so instead Kryzen decided to put them to a different use. He decided to use them as scouts. Given how huge the mines were there bound to be many tunnels some of which would give access to special places. Kryzen didn¡¯t want to spend too much time to search for all these tunnels himself so he would ask the gremlins to do it. Some of the older gremlins probably new of some special tunnels too so he decided to question them. Kryzen shifted a bit on his throne, coming out of his thoughts and focussing on the gremlins. The poor gremlins were fidgeting and felt nervous seeing the strongest gremlins simply stare at them. ¡°All of you will search the mines for tunnels and report them to me. If you know of any special tunnels and places then inform them to me now and one more thing, never ever leave our territory and go to the junction for whatever reason. Even if its food.¡± Kryzen finished the last part while staring at the now recovered small gremlins at the corner of the crowd, making it look down nervously. ¡°Dismissed.¡± The gremlins gave him puzzled looks. Kryzen exasperated sigh and said, ¡°It means you can go now.¡± ¡®Stupid gremlins and their limited vocabulary.¡¯ He waved them off and then called over the small gremlin. It nervously came forward and stood before him. Kryzen then commanded it, ¡°Get me some of the strongest stone ore there is the tunnels.¡± The small gremlin quickly nodded and scurried away. Kryzen had a satisfied smile on his face as he went over the events in his head. ¡®I could totally get used to this leader thing.¡¯ It was very easy to make himself the leader of gremlins given how a simple feat of killing a couple of goblins made them bow towards him. Thinking of his fight with goblins Kryzen remembered the feelings of bloodlust. He was by no means a violent person in his previous life and had no experience in any fights other then a few scuffles as a child. Kryzen looked at his hands and his eyes drifted to his claws. There was dried goblin blood on it. The sight of the blood awoke some of the bloodlust he felt in the fight. Kryzen looked away from his hands and composed himself. ¡®Weird. Must be a gremlin thing. Gremlins no matter how weak, are still monsters in the end.¡¯ The bloodlust certainly did help in overcoming any moral restrictions and fear he had towards killing. Even now when he thought about the dead goblins, he didn¡¯t feel any disgust or some sort of psychological trauma. It scared him to think so but the truth was the killing felt very¡­natural. Kryzen shook his head and turned towards the small gremlin that was hurriedly coming towards him. In its hands were a stone that was blueish grey. One of the benefits of being in a mine was that he had access to plenty of raw material. Now none of the metal ore that was typically mined was of any use to him but stone could be carved into a weapon with his stronger and durable claws. He didn¡¯t plan on getting into any fights too soon but it was better to be safe then sorry. His claws were excellent natural weapons but Kryzen thought perhaps a knife would give him more versatility in combat. A gremlins claws were very durable and given Kryzen¡¯s stat enhancements he found it easy to carve the piece of stone into the shape of a knife. It was very crude and the edge wasn¡¯t too sharp but its point was good for stabbing. It would do well for performing stealth kills if the need ever arose or maybe even a throwing weapon. Kryzen looked at the finished knife and admired his work. It was 30 cm long and was made entirely of the stone the small gremlin brought. He tore a piece of cloth from one of the sacks used to carry ore and wrapped it around the handle making it easier to grip. Now with that finished he proceeded to get up and patted the dust away. Kryzen noticed the small gremlin was nearby the entire time. He smiled beckoned it over. Having a servant/assistant would make his life much easier and Kryzen decided the small gremlin was the perfect choice. It was probably a month old and it wasn¡¯t very smart but it followed orders and that was enough for him. Seeing as how it would be with for the foreseeable future Kryzen decided to name him. ¡°You¡¯ll be called Parvin from now on ok.¡± The little guy looked happy that he had been given a name and said thanks over and over again. Kryzen then looked at a approaching gremlin. The gremlin looked to be older than him and it had waited for a long time since Kryzen was busy. ¡°Chief there is special special tunnel. I show you?¡± Kryzen nodded and followed the gremlin while admiring his new title as chief. It appeared that in gremlin groups the leader was called a chief. Did this mean he was a leader of a tribe? While he was pondering over the community dynamics of gremlins, they reached the location. It was a small tunnel situated near the border of the mining area. It was too far from the gremlin dwelling so few gremlins came here to mine.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The older gremlin told Kryzen with his limited speech that he came across this tunnel a long time ago as he wanted to mine in a different place for a change of pace. He never explored the tunnel though as it was too scary and risky. ¡°Ok you can go now, good job.¡± Sending the gremlin away, Kryzen turned towards Parvin and told him to go as well and that he would call him when needed. Watching the smaller gremlin nodding being so obedient Kryzen nodded with satisfaction. ¡®Having minions is nice.¡¯ Kryzen went into the tunnel and carefully ventured ahead. The tunnel was small but big enough for a gremlin to walk around comfortably. He had no idea where the tunnels lead but with his enhanced stats giving him a degree of confidence he slowly crept forward with his newly crafted knife in hand. The tunnel was long and winding but thirty minutes in he found an opening. Kryzen stealthily made his way to the exit and peeked outside. Kryzen gave a scared squeak and instantly ran back into the tunnel and looked back to make sure no one was following him. ¡°Fucking hell why can¡¯t I get a break.¡± Early into the adventure and he already met an army of undead. An actual full legion of Skeleton warriors with armour and everything. Hopefully they didn¡¯t notice him and just thought he was an irrelevant insect. ¡®If I had better senses maybe I could have detected absolute horror instead of having it shoved in front of my face.¡¯ No wonder the perception stat is so important in all those novels he read. Azeroth opened his stat menu and took a look at his perception stat. ¡­ Attributes Strength: 30 Dexterity: 30 Physique: 30 Perception: 5 Intelligence: 30 Energy: 3 Points: 594200 ¡­ His perception stat was a measly five. He didn¡¯t think it was that important though since he could see and hear normally but he was wrong. He needed better senses especially when he was exploring such as now as it could warn him of any danger and perhaps even help him spot special items and locations. Kryzen increased his perception to thirty bringing all his stats bar energy to a round thirty. It then occurred to Kryzen that maybe he should bring his energy stat to thirty as well as he wasn¡¯t lacking in points and maybe he would need it later. After increasing the stats, he answered yes to the System¡¯s confirmation box. Kryzen stumbled and held onto the walls of the tunnel as his brained adjusted to the increased sensory input. He felt extremely nauseous and was pretty sure the world was spinning. After a while the nausea went away and his vision became focussed. Kryzen took a look at his stats again. ¡­ Attributes Strength: 30 Dexterity: 30 Physique: 30 Perception: 30 Intelligence: 30 Energy: 30 Points: 55300 ¡­ ¡°Perfectly balanced as all things should be.¡± Kryzen grinned a toothy smile as he looked at his stats. His five senses were transformed by the perception increase as he looked around the small tunnel. All gremlins inherently had night vision but it only went so far as to make a dark cave look like a dimly lit room. Now though the tunnels were much brighter and his vision sharper as he noticed details he didn¡¯t before the changes. His hearing had improved tremendously as well as he could now hear the undead legion outside of the small tunnel. Kryzen was pleasantly surprised by his hearing. ¡®I can still hear them from such a distance.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t just his five senses that were enhanced though as Kryzen somehow felt the danger in front of him. The mysterious instinct to detect danger present in every organism was boosted as well. Oddly enough he couldn¡¯t feel any noticeable changes from increasing his energy stat but he decided to figure it out later. Taking slow steps forward Kryzen made his way to the exit again. With each step the faint danger he felt increased. The danger was still there but his senses told him there wasn¡¯t anything outside the immediate area of the tunnels. Looking outside he again saw the undead army but this time he didn¡¯t panic. The army just stood in place motionless awaiting orders. Now that his mind wasn¡¯t shrouded by terror, he saw that the skeleton warriors were quite far away from the tunnel. The tunnel itself was conveniently a hidden by some rocks. Kryzen exited the tunnel ensuring that he didn¡¯t make big noises. The undead were basically robots and when not needed could simply be stored away. They didn¡¯t need any food, water or air and didn¡¯t feel anything so shoving them all into a big room was the most convenient method. At least Kryzen that¡¯s what Kryzen thought. He looked around and spotted a tunnel far away leading away from the undead and headed to it. Slow and steady was his motto as he crept towards the other tunnel. He couldn¡¯t feel it before but with his augmented senses he could somehow sense that the undead were¡­ undead? It was faint but he could tell that skeleton soldiers were unnatural and dead. ¡®It¡¯s amazing how they just stand there, sure they are undead and all but it¡¯s still weird. Probably reserve forces or something.¡¯ Making his way out of the room filled with the undead, Kryzen found himself in a corridor of sorts with various tunnels leading who knows where. There wasn¡¯t exactly a place to hide as the corridor was clean and spacious and well-lit with glowing stones. Looking left and right Kryzen panicked as he searched for a place to conceal himself. Any moment now a undead soldier could come and slash him apart. Just as he decided to head back into the room of full of undead and return to the safety of the gremlin dwelling Kryzen looked up, there were stalactites everywhere. The corridor was very high and the stalactites were the perfect place to hide and traverse the corridor. Climbing up the walls was easy enough for a gremlin with their claws and he was up and hanging from the ceiling in no time. Kryzen was proud of the idea and couldn¡¯t help but be a little proud of being a gremlin. No on other then a gremlin in the among all the monsters could climb the walls with such ease. He slowly made his way down the corridor while straining his ears to pick up even the most remote of noises. If he heard the slightest footstep or familiar clunking of armour then he would high tail it back to tunnels as fast as possible. Kryzen was taking a huge risk being in the open and exploring uncharted territory but there was no point in waiting as only he himself could do this and there was no time better then now. As he passed by the rooms, he took a peek inside but only found them to be undead storage rooms similar to the one he saw initially. ¡®I must be in some sort of undead storage facility part of the mines.¡¯ He continued onwards and passed numerous similar rooms. There was so much undead here that it scared Kryzen and what scared him more is the thought of the master of all these undead. ¡®Surely they don¡¯t belong to one person. I mean what are the chances I transmigrate and end up in a mine ruled by a undead King or Necromancer god.¡¯ There were thousands of undead soldiers and Kryzen started to wonder if he was in a base of necromancers or whether there, he was actually in the kingdom of the Lich King. Luckily the undead were all dormant and would remain that way. Eventually he exited the storage facility and the corridor opened up to a large cave in the mines. Kryzen could see undead soldiers patrolling faraway and some taking carts full of various ore to other tunnels. ¡°Woah.¡± If he ignored the undead the cave system was actually very beautiful and gave off a very fantasy feel with glowing rocks of various colours adorning the walls lighting the entire cave up. The undead storage area was far away from the rest of the ongoing in the gigantic cave so Kryzen headed towards a couple of rocks and hid behind them and relaxed for a second. So far, the exploration has been good. There was still sometime before he had to carry out his next quota of ores so he decided to continue on with exploration of the mines. Kryzen noticed nearby that there was another tunnel. Making sure there was no guards nearby he scurried to the tunnel and climbed up to the ceiling. Steadily going down the tunnel he realized that there weren¡¯t many tunnels connected to this one and there was only one single path. Eventually he reached what seemed to be a huge cave. Looking around he saw garbage all around him. ¡®Figures that there is a garbage dump near the storage facility.¡¯ Kryzen looked around and saw various metal scraps and remains of weapons and armour. Some wood here and there and heaps of cloth and then, ¡°Jackpot¡± Right in front of him was a treasure chest. Chapter 5 Kryzen was jumping and down excitedly in front of the treasure chest and he started dreaming of all the loot inside and his future life of riches. ¡®Wait wait, gold and jewels are useless.¡¯ He piped down and stared at the chest in suspicion. As a person from the modern world and gamer at that he was no stranger to hidden traps in the chest lying in wait for greedy men. Even worse it might be one of those mimic monsters. Just to be safe Kryzen took cover behind some debris and threw some metal scrap at the chest but nothing happened. He then took a worn-out slab of metal and used it as a shield as he approached the chest. He then used his knife to open the chest. After flicking the chest open, he immediately took a leap back. There was no reaction from the chest so Kryzen slowly approached it and peered inside to find a single object. A single black crystal was lying inside the chest. Kryzen looked at it curiously before carefully picking it up with his claws. The crystal didn¡¯t look nor feel special in any way but just as he was going to stow it away and search for other valuables, the crystal hummed with life. Kryzen watched with awe as the crystal transformed into particles that entered into his hands. For a few seconds, he just cluelessly stood there in the same position. ¡®What did I just see? What just happened?¡¯ He started doubting whether he was hallucinating and whether there was a crystal in the first place when a system notice appeared. [Activating¡­.. ] ¡®It doesn¡¯t look like a system window, what is it?¡¯ [Analyzing host¡­.. ] [Calibrating¡­.. ] [Nanite system has been activated] [Requesting permission to link with the System] [Yes/No] The notices before him were more akin to holographic text. It was clear to Kryzen though it wasn¡¯t from the System itself since it was asking permission. ¡®Should I give it though it could be dangerous but nanites means¡­.¡¯ Kryzen¡¯s thoughts shifted towards all the powers nanites could give him, super strength, super healing and maybe even shapeshifting. Deciding it couldn¡¯t be so bad Kryzen confirmed yes. Moments later a regular system window appeared in front of him. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VIKI is recruiting you to join the Beyonders. Do you accept? Yes/No . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kryzen was confused by the message and didn¡¯t understand what connection it had with the nanites. For all he knew it was all a trick. This situation was eerily similar to signing off his soul to the Devil. ¡°What happens if I don¡¯t want to?¡± . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VIKI: The Basic Nano machine package will be permanently deactivated and you will forever lose the chance to become a part of the Beyonders. Second Chances will not be given. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ¡®It responded back? This VIKI person can use the system like this?¡¯ It was a difficult decision to make as Kryzen had little to no information at all regarding either VIKI or these Beyonders. It could be determined that the Beyonders were either a group of people or an organization of sort but would it be wise to join them, and what would they do to him if they knew what he was gremlin. He tried asking VIKI what the Beyonders was and what it would mean to be a part of their organization but he didn¡¯t receive any further replies. It was like VIKI deemed it useless to further communicate with him if he didn¡¯t become a part of the ¡®Beyonders¡¯. The way this VIKI person speaks about losing chances to become a Beyonder did make it seem like a big deal and its more likely an organization given once can become a member through random nanites found in garbage. ¡®Dammit it doesn¡¯t matter. These nanites could be the key to escaping this place I can¡¯t lose it.¡¯ ¡°Okay, I accept,¡± said Kryzen as he confirmed yes to the System. This time there wasn¡¯t a message or a notice from the system instantly. Kryzen was confused but he patiently waited. His gut told him something would happen arrive sooner or later. After few minutes afterwards a new system message arrived.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Welcome Recruit. Membership has been successfully registered and Basic Nano machine package has been activated. Notice: It has been noted that Recruit Kryzen is currently in a Locked Dimension. This prevents Recruit Kryzen from accessing Delivery services and teleportation services of the Beyonders. Please exit the dimension to resume services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ¡®This is amazing.¡¯ After swiping away that message, Kryzen found he could access the Beyonder site through the system. It had his details from the system as well as his current rank of recruit. There was even a beginners manual containing all the information about the Beyonders. The Beyonders were similar to a guild found in games. They were elites who performed a variety of missions and offered numerous services to those who were willing to pay. Assassinations, Bodyguards, hunting monsters and even medical services were offered. Albeit most of these services could be found anywhere, what made the Beyonders special was they were Top Tier Elites who were different from the random nobodies that could be found everywhere. Further reading told Kryzen that he wasn¡¯t truly a member of the Beyonders and right now he was considered a provision member. It was only through proving himself through the Beyonder Examination that he would truly become a Beyonder. Access to the Beyonder services in the system allowed him to explore more of the Systems capabilities. Apparently even though he was a provisional member he still had a few benefits. He was able to use the Shop services to some extent barring some tiers of products and services that were out of his reach. The items in the shop were split into different tiers based on their value and provision members or recruits such as him could access only the first tier. The Beyonder shop function featured products from fellow Beyonders and other sources. Weapons, Ships and even Live Beasts were traded. It was a platform that only people who were willing to the pay the price were granted access. It was quite exciting until he saw the price tag on those products. Even though he wasn¡¯t familiar with currency of this new universe, he could still recognize what a string of zeros meant. Knowing he couldn¡¯t use this now, he navigated to the missions section. Here there were missions which Beyonders could accept to use earn money and other rewards. The missions were also split into tiers and he could only accept tier 1 missions as a recruit. While all this was exciting and all, there was one benefit of being a Beyonder recruit that excited Kryzen the most as person from the modern world. It was access to the internet or as it was called here Universe Network or the UN. A basic name but it perfectly fitted it as this one network connected all the people of the universe. As long as you had the money, you can create a UN account and access boundless features and services. The UN was created and maintained by the System itself and thus it could be trusted by the denizens of the universe. Most communication and transactions were done through the UN to ensure security and privacy. While Kryzen was desperately wanted to search and obtain as much information as he could it had been a while since he left the Gremlin dwelling so he decided to go back. By the time he came back to the dwelling he realized there was still an hour before he had to mine again so rested on his throne/rock couch and browsed through the UN. His UN account subscription was paid by the Beyonders and since his Beyonder status was linked to his UN account he was granted access to some restricted information as well. The casual browsing brought to light many things to Kryzen. There were plenty of dimensions or planes in the universe. These dimensions could range from normal civilization dimensions to War dimensions where battle was constant. A single dimensions could in itself contain several galaxies or even star systems whereas other dimensions could be the size of a room. From his digging Kryzen was mostly inside a mining dimension. He also investigated about dimension locks remembering what the Beyonder notice told him and the results left him depressed. Dimension locks were a powerful ability that prevented or controlled entry and exit to and from the dimension. Such things could only be used by powerful entities akin to gods. This alone made Kryzen discard thoughts of rebellion and revolution. The lock prevented Kryzen from using the Beyonder services to teleport to the Beyonder dimension which recruits would normally visit upon becoming a Beyonder. Anything he bought from the Beyonder Shop would also not be delivered to him but since he was broke anyway it didn¡¯t matter much. What Kryzen needed to do now was find the mines exit. If he right then there was probably a teleportation facility in the mines that could get him out of here. ¡®Why does it have to be so complicated? Why can¡¯t I just beat up some people and walk out of a cave?¡¯ Even if he got to the teleporters he wouldn¡¯t know how to use it to get out of here and plus security would probably be super tight. While Kryzen was deep in thought it suddenly struck him that he forgot about something. ¡°Nanites!!¡± Kryzen screamed before he used the system to bring up info regarding the Nano machines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Basic Nano Machine Package Increases Hosts immunity and digestive capabilities. Allows host to survive in hostile environments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ¡°NOOOOO, COME ON MAN!¡± Kryzen roared in rage ignoring the gremlins who looked at their leader¡¯s screams with fear. ¡°Where is my super strength? My accelerated healing factor? My shapeshifting dreams?¡± Kryzen summoned the Nano machine system itself to question it. The information he obtained was disappointing. The ¡°Basis Package¡± didn¡¯t include any physical or mental enhancements at all. In order to upgrade the Nano machines he would have to meet certain conditions and pay a price. The upgrades would be performed in the Beyonder dimension as well. The basic package would ensure he could drink contaminated water and most edibles without fear of disease and also prevent common sicknesses. This in itself was a big deal but Kryzen being an otherworlder had huge expectations. Even if there was the word basic in it he thought the enhancements would be small but for it to be nonexistent was a bit infuriating. There went his plans of relying on the Nano machines to overpower the undead and escape. If that black crystal was found by anybody else outside of this mine dimension it would have been life changing and they would be a typical main character but in his hands it was like a painting in a museum, ¡°all see and no touch¡±. Kryzen got up and went to complete his next mining quota. It wasn¡¯t too demanding and he started thinking of his next plan. He decided that after completing the quota he would resume exploring the mines with the added goal of finding anything resembling a teleportation facility. ¡®I should UN it to see how it looks like.¡¯ Chapter 6 Kryzen was back at the storage room and continued searching for treasures. Mining didn¡¯t take long and those undead weren¡¯t bright enough to question his speed too so he had no worries. After an hour of searching he managed to get some useful items. A sheath for his knife, a blade that was too short to be a sword but too long to be a knife and a backpack to help him keep any new things he found. It occurred to him that within the dumpster/storage facility there were different objects from different sources, ranging for basic cold weapons like swords to wreckages of futuristic ships. It was unfortunate that the most of the more technologically advanced relics and objects were already picked apart beforehand. The basic Nano machine package must have been a case of negligence or oversight by the undead. Looking over the cave one last time, Kryzen continued exploring the mine system. He exited the cave and came before the vast expanse he saw a while ago, but this time he was going to covertly scour it for the teleporter. It had to be here given the huge space and massive amount of undead. There were cartloads upon cartloads of ore being transported through here and if he followed them, maybe it would lead him to the teleporter. Thus Kryzen followed cartloads, being careful to stay far away from them in order to not alert the undead. Some of carts went to furnaces to be further refined whereas some were directly stored in containers. He followed the containers and found they were being taken down a series of tunnels all in the same direction. Most probably they lead to the same place, which has to be teleporter. After all there was more than enough space to store them in the big cave if they wished. Kryzen followed the undead pushing the containers into a new giant cave. This cave was different as all the walls were smooth and the cave gave way to corridors that resembled ancient palaces. Before he could take a step though, he was lifted up and brought to face with a giant death knight. His head grasped between its two fingers, Kryzen came to face with the death incarnate. Black armour, a horned helmet and giant sword strapped on its back coupled with blue flames in place of its eyes, the monstrosity in front of him was the very definition of a death knight. Looking into its eyes, Kryzen was stuck by fear and froze in place. He lost his ability to even think and just stared at it, waiting for death come but instead of having his puny head crushed or his head torn off, the knight spoke to him, ¡°The Lord wants to see you little gremlin.¡± Even the evil coarse voice didn¡¯t manage to get him out of his shock and he watched on as the surroundings blurred and in a whoosh he was inside a massive throne room. Kryzen was dropped on the floor without prompt and this brought him out of his stupor. Kryzen got and up and looked around before looking at the throne which was empty. While he was inspecting his surroundings, Kryzen failed to notice he was being inspected himself by cloaked figure. Even though the mysterious figure was right next to him, he didn¡¯t sense any presence at all and was utterly clueless. ¡°A curious one aren¡¯t you?¡± A coarse voice said right next Kryzen. He Jumped back in fear and carefully looked over the cloaked figure. ¡®Lich¡¯ was the first thought that ran through his head as he looked at the monster before him, it was wearing a luxurious robe with a dark cloak over it and he could only see its head or skull to be more precise. Unlike the other undead he met so far though the lich didn¡¯t seem to carry the undead aura that made the living uneasy and the air rotten. Instead it carried a regal aura filled with power and he even dared say the lich before him was a tad bit scholarly. Not waiting for him to respond the Lich continued speaking, ¡°Did you think I would not find you? Did you think you were safe from me? Did you think I wouldn¡¯t detect the presence of a human soul within my realm?¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The Lich waved his hands and Kryzen was levitated in front of him and held in place by an unseen force. Kryzen was scared out of his mind and didn¡¯t know how to respond to the Lich. Without thought he spurted out, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, please don¡¯t kill me. I just woke up here and didn¡¯t mean to intrude or anything.¡± Kryzen was no glorious warrior or a man with an indomitable will, he was but an ordinary person from modern earth who liked to play video games. In front of such a supernatural creature Kryzen broke down and tears fell from his face as he pleaded for the Lich not to kill him and not to eat him. ¡°Tch, why would I eat an insect like you, I¡¯m an undead Lord and stop your incessant crying at once¡± said the Lich. Kryzen at once stopped crying and looked Lich with teary eyes, which was not a good look on a gremlin. Lich looked at him with unfeeling eyes but was puzzled on the inside. The gremlin¡¯s soul was only a little stronger than the typical mortal and it wasn¡¯t special in any way. Even if the Lich¡¯s enemies wanted to send a spy, they would send someone with a powerful soul that could mask itself from the Lich¡¯s senses. Since the chances of this gremlin being a spy was low the Lich wondered about how the human possessed the gremlin in the first place. This dimension was locked through the Lich¡¯s abilities so it was impossible for a foreign soul to come into this dimension without the Lich¡¯s permission. ¡°Explain how you came here human.¡± Kryzen wondered how the Lich even knew he used to be a human but realized necromancers had great expertise in souls. It was one of the key reasons they were so formidable. This Lich found out he used to be human at a glance. Kryzen gathered his courage and explained that he just woke up one day in the body of a gremlin and that he himself didn¡¯t know how it happened. ¡°Tell me about your past life then, which dimension were you from? The Indus sector or the Nova sector maybe?¡± said the Lich. He knew none of those dimensions and instead bluffed, ¡°I don¡¯t remember much about life as a human, please forgive me¡± said Kryzen it what he thought was pitiful face. Kryzen may be scared but that didn¡¯t mean he turned stupid. There was no way he was going to tell the Lich that he transmigrated from another universe. Some things were better kept to himself in his knew life and while he might tell others he reincarnated, he would never tell them he was from another universe. Whether or not they believed it Kryzen couldn¡¯t care but that small bit of information was his and his alone. He didn¡¯t know why but his intuition told him he should keep it to himself. Reincarnation was probably not a big deal in a supernatural universe such as this one and forgetting past lives was normal. The Lich couldn¡¯t detect any lies with its powers and the Lich could only guess that it was most likely true if not a little vague. ¡°I believe you, but it still doesn¡¯t explain how your soul breached my defences. Well it doesn¡¯t matter much, kill him.¡± Kryzen was relieved at first but panicked after hearing the Lich. To the Lich, an anomaly such as Kryzen wasn¡¯t truly a big deal. Killing the gremlin and then taking his soul to study would be the best course of action to take to find the source of all this mystery. Just as a familiar Death Knight appeared at the corner of Kryzen¡¯s vision, he hurriedly spoke, ¡°Please wait, I can be of use to you, I¡¯m a member of the Beyonders and can do plenty of work for your highness.¡± Kryzen grew alarmed as the force holding him in the air tightened and he looked at the glowing orbs of energy the Lich had for eyes with fear. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say ¡®woke up¡¯ and didn¡¯t remember anything¡±, said the Lich dangerously. Fearing the Lich would kill him on the spot, Kryzen quickly told how he found the black crystal which gave him Nano Machines and made him a provisional membership of the Beyonders. As he elaborated the Lich became silent and even when he finished his story there was no reaction. Looking at the silent Lich, a thought occurred to Kryzen. ¡®What if the Beyonders are the enemy of this Lich?¡¯ The Beyonder membership was all he had to stop this Lich and was the only thing of value he currently possessed. ¡°The Beyonders are quite the exclusive bunch. You have quite the luck to gain even provisional membership, but you are still not a true member and that VIKI wouldn¡¯t send even a warning for your death.¡± As the Lich spoke on, Kryzen was terrified but then the Lich continued, ¡°The Beyonders have many relics and items that only their members have access too, so I shall help you become a true member and rise up the ranks so that you may get me what I desire.¡± Kryzen quickly nodded his head up and down but then the Lich told him to sign a contract. Obviously no one would trust the words of someone they just met so the Lich made Kryzen sign a magical contract. He would bring one specific item from the Beyonders to the Lich in exchange for his life and freedom. Kryzen didn¡¯t hesitate as he would deal with the downsides when his life was no longer under immediate threat. Lich then dropped Kryzen down and began a lengthy explanation.